“Still not ready to talk?” David asked with a laugh. His hand was covered with blood as he moved it away from Roken’s head. Blood he licked from his fingers with relish. Blood that belonged to Roken. “So easy to torture. I don't actually need to hurt you at all.”
“I don't know anyone called Rhea,” Roken muttered.
“So, you do talk. Good.” David smiled cruelly. “Rhea is mine. I own her. She tried to run, but you see, no one runs from me. If they get too far, they lose their memories. Makes them very easy to pick up again if they don't know why they are running.”
“I don't...”
“Still not ringing any bells? Your head must really hurt. Tell me everything, and I'll get a healer down here.”
Everything? That was a tall order for someone who couldn't remember anything.
“Start small, just a name to begin with,” David suggested.
“Roken.”
“And what are you, Roken?”
“A shifter demon.”
“Who didn't shift. Why?”
“I didn't?”
“You didn't,” David confirmed.
“Why not?”
“Tell me about your friends.”
“Friends?” Roken asked, frowning.
“Tell me about the people you live with.”
“I live with people?”
“Wow, your head really is screwed up,” David mocked him. Roken’s fist clenched briefly in anger but there was little else he could do in his current condition. If he could move, Roken would not tolerate such tones from a vampire. But he couldn’t move, so he lay quietly, conserving his energy and biding his time. “You are beginning to annoy me,” David continued, like it was Roken’s fault.
More footsteps approached, and a woman stopped beside David. She was tall and thin and in a long, black dress that hugged her figure tightly, like a claw. Another vampire.
“May I introduce Lady Jade.” David kissed the woman’s hand as he stared at her adoringly. “She will help you think, help you remember.”
Lady Jade placed her hand against his injured head and began muttering. The pain in his skull spiked and Roken screamed until he passed out.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
A rlo sat at the table holding Heather’s hands. He wanted to tell her everything would be ok, but he didn't have the words. Crying made her look awful. Her face was blotchy, her eyes were red and puffy, and her lips were fat, but none of that mattered to him. The fact she was grieving so openly about one of their own proved she was part of the family.
“Arlo? Thoughts?” Seb questioned.
Arlo hadn't been listening. Seb and Oscar had been arguing for half an hour. Should they go and find Roken or wait for the vampires to come to them? Arlo had caught enough to know neither of them trusted the vampires. After all, they were… well, vampires. If that was the best reasoning the pair could come up with, Arlo was best keeping out of it.
“Stay or go? You get the deciding vote.” Oscar forced him to respond.
“I see both sides. If we stay, we keep Heather safe, but risk Roken. If we go, we risk Heather and might not find Roken, so it seems we should wait and give them longer to come back to us.” Arlo gave his answer as diplomatically as he could. He didn't want to annoy either of the hungry vampires, but he hadn’t said what Seb wanted to hear, so the older vampire just kept pacing the floor by the patio doors.
“We all want Roken back,” Arlo sighed. “Maybe I could go out and have a sniff around. If I find anything, I'll let you know, and if not, we wait.”
“Fine.” Seb nodded, and finally stopped pacing. “But feed while you're out there. We need at least one of us at full strength.”
“You didn't get a chance to feed?” Heather gasped.
“We're ok. We didn't have a chance to feed before Seb shouted to get home,” Arlo answered. He had never seen Seb as scared as he had been the moment he felt the defences breached.
“Speak for yourself,” Oscar huffed.
He was always the first to get grouchy if they didn't feed often enough. Oscar felt they sometimes used him as a gauge. When he got irritable, they knew it was time to feed before they felt the hunger. Seb's age alone was enough to give him control over his hunger, and Arlo’s thirst only really bothered him when he shifted.
He had been in shift form when he was bitten, so while he had bitten the vampire back and gained the curse, only his wolf form had been affected. As long as he was in human form, he didn't feel the thirst the way his companions did, but Arlo was about to shift, and he hated the hunger it would bring. He stood up and walked to the door, and as Seb pushed the glass door open, Arlo shifted and leapt out. He sniffed the cold, still air, but there was nothing. The scent of vampire was long gone, but he wondered if there was something at the front.
He ran around and sniffed at the blood where Roken had suddenly appeared. There wasn't much, just a few drops, but enough to pick up Roken's trail. He stepped out of the garden, through the protective field around the house, and let out an excited yip as his nose detected the scent of vampire lingering faintly on the street.
There was a sudden rustling in the bush opposite him, and his ears perked up. He turned, body poised, ready. He couldn't help it. He wanted blood. That poor rabbit! He didn't just bite it. He practically ate it whole. His nose clung to the ground, chasing the scent of the next rabbit. Blood. He needed blood.
Then he smelt it. The strong, iron-rich smell of blood. Shifter blood. Roken's blood. It was a good scent, a traceable scent. It led him all the way back to the alley where they first met Heather and past the club. His coat was so dark it was practically black, so he blended in well with the darkness and shadows. He heard a comment from a pedestrian, something about his size, but he went otherwise unnoticed, and before he knew it, he had wandered miles from home. He was no longer in the familiar territory of his normal hunting ground, and though Roken's scent continued ahead, Arlo was forced to stop at a tall wire fence surrounding an old industrial estate.
It reeked of vampires. There had to be hundreds of them in and around the buildings, and from outside, he couldn't tell where in the compound Roken had been taken. At least he knew where he was, but this was as close as any of them would get to him. Three against a whole group of vampires were not good odds. What was a group called? A nest? Whatever they were, Arlo had to go back and tell Seb the bad news about…
Rabbit.
Arlo's head snapped quickly to the left, and his blood-red eyes locked on to its little bobbing tail as it lolloped away from him. He pounced. If anyone had been watching the perimeter, he had given himself away, but it was worth it for the little snack.
Twelve rabbits later, Arlo had pounced, snuck and chomped his way around half the perimeter fence. It was time to go home and report his findings.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“C an you hear me?” Lady Jade’s voice cut through the darkness.
Roken floated in the darkness, alone, unhindered, pain free. “Go away.” Roken spoke calmly, the inner peace was unlike anything he had felt in recent years.
“I’m sorry, it doesn’t work like that.”
Ah, yes, the vampires. He remembered them and their snarky tones far too well.
“Your Human body is weak and injured. We have put you in a shift state to help you think clearer,” the lady’s voice explained. “Now, let’s start with the last thing you remember and go from there. Tell me about your vampire friends.”
A frown crossed Roken’s brow. “Vampires?” The last time he had fought vampires had been in a bloody field of bodies not of his doing. When he had faced Seb for the final time. That was the last time his shift beast had walked the earth, the last time he had changed. But in this shift state, that could change. The trouble was, he lived in his shift form. He wasn’t sure he could remember how to change.
“More recent. You live in a big house with three others. Two vampires and another shifter.”
“Seb, Arlo, and Oscar.” He
remembered now.
“Yes, them.”
Roken frowned. He knew of them. He lived with them. But he wondered, did he really know them? “What about them?” Roken sighed.
“The protection spells at your house are old. Age has made them more powerful. So, what secret have you four been protecting all this time?”
“Spells?”
“For the love of Satan!” David cried out in despair.
“Quiet, my love. He is in a delicate state,” Jade’s voice soothed. “We don’t want to distract him.”
Roken frowned. He remembered now. He wasn’t floating peacefully. He was lying on a cold stone floor bleeding from his head.
“This lovely, young lady is like Rhea. She will jog your memory.”
The lovely, young lady Jade referred to reached into his trousers. She took hold of him and started rubbing and caressing. He couldn’t let her uninvited attention anger him. Seb had trained him to suppress his beast with anger. But it did anger him. His resistance caused him pain. Actually, moving hurt him, but there was something about mixing the pleasure with the pain. That was when he connected with his beast, those few brief seconds when the pain became unbearable, right before the relief of orgasm. That was where his beast reared its ugly head. Their form of torture was to hold him there. To bring him to a sexual peak and then deny him release. And all the while he was there, he could stare his beast in the eyes.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
H eather was so relieved when Arlo lolloped through the back door, but a little horrified by the blood around his muzzle. Her mind began to race with thoughts of what horrors the poor wolf had endured in his attempts to find Roken. The blood and the fear made her nauseous while her heart beat twice its normal speed.
“You’ve been eating rabbits again.” Oscar looked at the bloody, matted fur with a chuckle.
“Rabbits?” Heather sighed with relief and reached out and to tickle the top of his head. Seb quickly caught her hand and pulled it away with a gentle shake of his head. Heather wasn’t sure why until Arlo shifted back to his human form. He stumbled around the island top to the sink, retching as he went. The sight of the man’s naked body hunched over the sink throwing up turned Heather’s stomach more than the sight of the blood.
Raw and kicking rabbit, it seemed, was much more appealing to his wolf form than his human side. She had to turn away. He was mostly gagging but the thought of it made her heave too.
“If he drinks before the bloodlust gets to him, this isn’t a problem. We don’t have this often,” Seb added.
Arlo uncurled himself from the sink, clutching his abdomen as the spasms lingered for a moment. He drew in a deep breath then slowly allowed the air to escape his lips. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and turned to face his companions as if his confidence could make them forget what he’d done.
“I managed to find Roke’s scent and track it back to an industrial estate on the edge of town. I think we might have an infestation on our doorsteps.”
“Infestation of vampires?” Seb was angry, but Heather couldn’t tell if it was because of the infestation or Arlo’s choice of words. “Damn it!”
“At least we know where Roke is.” Oscar walked behind Seb as the larger vampire paced the room. “Getting him back is something we can work on now.”
“Are there any other people who don’t like vampires gathering together? Shifters? Werewolves?” Heather questioned, trying to be helpful, but her comment didn’t seem to go over well.
Werewolves? What a stupid idea, Oscar thought. Heather didn’t know anything about werewolves. They couldn’t be trusted or relied on. 28 days per month they couldn’t even be found. That small three-day window was too far away. Roken needed to be home and healed long before the next full moon, so Oscar stepped forward to voice his concerns.
“No, a werewolf would kill their best friend as likely as killing their sworn enemy. There’s no reasoning with them.” The only reason it had been so successful during Roken’s last attack was the 90% chance they would see a wolf form as friend rather than foe.
But they did need help from someone else. Raiding a large vampire stronghold was going to take numbers they didn’t have. But who? They didn’t know anyone. Heather didn’t know anyone. Oscar sighed and sat himself down in the chair wondering how the hell they were going to get out of this mess.
“What about shifters?” Heather turned to look at Arlo, but the man dropped his head with a negative shake.
The idea of relying on shifters seemed laughable to him. Yes, they detested vampires, but they would be more inclined to kill the three of them for asking for help, than to rally and attack a vampire stronghold unprovoked. Arlo hadn’t spoken to another of his kind since his original pack turned their backs on him so long ago.
“Right.” Seb filled his lungs with air as he prepared for the hard task ahead. “Oscar, I need you to rally the werewolves, and see if any will help us with our cause. Arlo speak to the closest shifter pack. Try to get them on our side.”
The hard task was getting his two companions to accept their jobs. He knew how hard it would be to get Arlo to speak to the species who shunned him, and how hard it would be for Oscar to convince humans to donate their wild sides to a battle they had no stake in.
“And what will you do?” Oscar snapped.
“I’ll talk to the humans,” Seb replied. “The ones that know about us, they have a stake here. This many vampires poses a risk to the humans around here. Someone must be willing to help us.”
“And me?” Heather muttered optimistically.
“Speak to everyone you know,” Seb said, assigning her task as kindly as he could.
She had half risen from her seat before his words truly registered. She knew no one. She had no one to ask. That kept her in the house, kept her safe, but it didn’t make her happy.
“I want you to use me as bait,” Heather announced weakly, her voice barely managed more than a croak, but they heard her, and all three men turned to look at her.
“You know, to get Roken back,” she continued, drawing in a deep breath as she prepared to be a lamb to the slaughter. She hated to say it, and she could see the others were torn by the same thoughts. Giving her up for Roken would undermine everything he fought so hard for. He wouldn’t want her putting herself in danger after he nearly gave his life to save her. “But I’d really like it if I could stay with you guys after. I feel at home here.” As tears pricked her eyes, Heather turned her back on them.
No one spoke. They all just stared at her. They knew she was right, but no one wanted to admit it.
“Right,” Arlo muttered, breaking the silence with an edge of uncertainty. “Where did my joggers go?”
CHAPTER THIRTY
R oken's mind swirled with the scents that surrounded him. The new girl had the same heather smell as Heather, the same touch, the same hunger. All the while, his head was imploding. The more frustrated he felt, the more he squirmed in his shackles. The more he moved, the more he hurt, until he couldn’t bear it any longer. His scream was louder than ever as his fangs burst out.
“Roken, can you hear me?” He heard her. And the fear in her voice. “You can’t shift. Your collar with choke you.”
He could feel the collar, a strip of metal locked around his throat. He didn’t care. He wanted to spill her blood. That was when he decided to surrender himself to his beast form, knowing there would be no going back.
“Those are not wolf fangs,” Lady Jade observed, taking a cautious step back as his fangs extended and thickened into razor sharp blades that put Arlo’s to shame.
“All the better to eat you with,” Roken muttered, his body changing even as he sat upright. He had seen Arlo shift so many times, springing from one form to another, but he seemed to be shifting slower, almost bit by bit. Maybe it was time, maybe with practice he could be as instant as Arlo.
He watched Lady Jade back away from him as he shifted into his beast form like shedding clothing
that had been too tight.
“Run rabbit, run rabbit, run, run, run,” he taunted her in a sing-song voice, ripping free of the restraints binding him. “I'm gonna kill you just for fun, fun, fun.”
She turned and ran from the dungeon.
“I'll get by, without watching you die.” Roken was barely human, his shift almost complete. “So run rabbit, run rabbit, run, run, run.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
H eather watched Seb prepare to go out. There was something sad and absent minded about the way he tied his shoes. She longed to ask his thoughts, but this was not the time for idle questions. Arlo and Oscar shared the same quiet resolve as they too prepared for what was to come. They were willing to die for her, these men she just recently met and yet knew so completely. The easy way out was so simple, yet none of them had mentioned it. They would sooner talk of war, of rallying old allies, of fighting against the odds. They had never considered exchanging her for Roken.
Maybe she had liked it there. Maybe it had been her life and she would have chosen to go back if she remembered it. Maybe she had been a sex slave, used to pleasure the vampires’ needs, or was about to be sacrificed to a vampire God. Or just maybe she had gone to be turned into a vampire, gotten cold feet, and run? Being a vampire didn't scare her now. It excited her. It would mean she could join an immortal race and enjoy forever by the side of these four wonderful men.
“Turn me.” The words just popped out of her mouth as innocently as asking for an apple. It wasn’t because she hadn’t given it enough thought. In fact, it was all she could think about, and her voice found a more demanding tone as she focused her words on Seb. “Make me strong enough to help.”
“Not an option.” Seb rejected her outright. “Even if I agreed with your reasons, it would take too long to turn you.”
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