by Ashlee Sinn
The amused smile almost made me slap him. “You noticed that?”
“Do I notice every single time you scent me or the air around me? Yes, of course I do. It’s creepy.”
He chuckled. And that sound twisted another round of excitement in my lower body. “Creepy. Okay.”
I shook my head and crossed my arms, too tired to try and interpret anything Viktor was saying. “Can we just get this night over with?”
A split second later, Viktor was standing in my face, no more than two inches away. His baby blue eyes were now surrounded in a ring of black. His fangs had dropped, causing two small dimples to appear in lips where they pressed against them. Almost eye to eye, a rush of dread seized my body as I wondered if I’d finally pushed him too far.
He brushed his hand along the side of my face, the side that contained the bite. “Most humans love to be marked,” he whispered in an all-too-seductive voice. “They love the power that comes along with it. They love the heightened sensation. The extra confidence.” He rubbed his nose against my neck liked he’d done outside of the club several hours ago. “The increased need for sex.”
I closed my eyes, enjoying the sensation whether I wanted to or not. Did I actually like that I’d been marked? A thousand thoughts rushed through my brain, but the final vision was what snapped me back to reality. It was a future I couldn’t bear to see. A future where all of my friends had been murdered by the vampires chasing after me.
“I don’t want to have this mark,” I finally managed to say.
Viktor slowly lifted his head back so that he could look me in the eyes. “That’s not what your body is telling me, Sophia.” He ran his finger over my bite and brought it back to his lips. Tasting the tip, he continued to stare at me. “There is a part of you that wants to be desired by us. You’ve always craved that which you could not have. But now that you have it, do you really want to give it up so easily?”
Did I? Shaking my head, I answered, “I don’t want them to get hurt because of me.”
Viktor’s nostrils flared once more and he stepped back. “Truth,” he breathed.
“Of course I’m telling the truth,” I said. “Sometimes you need to find out for yourself that the grass isn’t always greener.”
Viktor tilted his head. “I don’t follow.”
And suddenly, our generational difference hit me. Viktor had been around a long time. He’d seen many wars and probably fought against many enemies. But he’d neglected to keep up with some of the sayings of our time. And that made me like him just a little bit more. Viktor could be vulnerable, even if only for a moment. “It’s just a saying,” I mumbled with amusement.
He studied me a little longer and then finally straightened out his jacket and sighed. “There is a way to help lessen the effects of a bite.”
I perked up. “Really? What is it?”
“Come. I’ll show you.”
He held out his arm with an invitation to escort me to our next stop. I accepted and tucked myself against his body, enjoying the feeling of his hardened muscles. Three blocks later, we finally reached our destination. A family-owned coffee shop that prided itself in being open all night and in serving the best cinnamon buns in the city. I’d visited this place once before, when I was on a hunt and had followed a vampire here.
“So, sugary pastries will help control my sexual urges triggered from this bite?” I asked as we reached the three small steps leading into the shop.
“No,” Viktor replied with a genuine smile. “But caffeine will.”
“Caffeine? Seriously?”
He nodded and held open the door. The delicious smell instantly made me relax and after we’d ordered drinks and a cinnamon roll, we sat next the window in the far front corner of the shop.
“Have you ever marked anyone before?” I asked Viktor once I had enough courage built up.
He didn’t answer for a long time. Or at least it seemed like a long time to me. Finally, he cleared his throat and shifted in his chair—a small movement not typical of vampire behavior. “Once. Yes.”
“And have you ever removed a mark before?” I wasn’t sure if that was the right way to ask the question but he understood what I meant.
“Yes.”
“How many times?”
“Once.” His voice drifted off in memory and I swear I saw a bit of pain cross his face.
I sipped my coffee and broke off a piece of cinnamon bun. Dipping it in the small cup of extra icing, I let Viktor sit with his memories for a while. I also needed to build up the nerve to ask him my next question. “How is a mark removed?”
Viktor sat still, eyes focused on the wall behind me. He had his own cup of coffee in his hands that had remained untouched up until now. When he finally took a sip, he refocused his attention to me. “Do you know how a vampire is made?”
Hoping this would ultimately lead to an answer, I shook my head. “Well, I understand that it’s different than most of the folklore. But we were never taught the exact process.” It was a small lie, but I didn’t want Viktor to have insight to all of our trade secrets.
His lips twitched. He knew I was lying yet he didn’t say a word. “It’s a multi-step process. One that many people don’t survive. There’s a delicate balance between the magic used to end a human life and reinstate the immortal one.”
“Blood,” I said with a nod. “It involves the exchange of blood, right?”
“Yes,” Viktor said quietly. “But only the blood of the creators can truly make a vampire.”
I pondered what he was saying. “So a vampire, created by the magic in the necromancers and sorcerers, can’t make their own kind?”
“Not usually,” Viktor said with a slight hesitation.
“Not usually?” I asked. My hunter instincts flared to the surface with this new information.
“It’s rarely a successful endeavor and most vampires are killed for trying.”
“Most?” I didn’t miss the vagueness in his words.
He nodded and said nothing else. Taking several more sips of coffee, I waited for him to continue. When it was evident that he didn’t plan on elaborating, I let out a sigh.
“So what does this have to do with removing my mark?”
Viktor’s finger twitched, a movement so small I probably wouldn’t have noticed had I not been watching his every reaction. And as I studied him more closely all of the pieces started to click into place. Perhaps it was because of the caffeine curbing my libido, but I suddenly saw more clearly than I had all night.
“There’s only one way to remove my mark, isn’t there?”
Viktor’s gaze tore through my own accusatory one. “I’m afraid so.”
“You need to turn me.”
CHAPTER 4
The realization that Viktor could take my mark away only by exchanging his blood with me had all sorts of emotions stirring through my core. A vampire wasn’t permitted, or usually capable, of turning a human. It failed all of the time. I’d seen the consequences before, even if I didn’t let Viktor know the extent of my knowledge.
“I…,” I stumbled over my words. “I can’t do that.”
Viktor grabbed my trembling hands, his cool skin a reminder that he wasn’t human anymore. “I know,” he agreed.
“So, what?” I asked, angry with him now. “So when you said you could take my mark away you knew that it wasn’t really a possibility?”
“I didn’t say that,” he whispered.
More ambiguous words and cryptic responses. Anger flared in my blood. “So then how exactly is it possible?” Several nighttime patrons glanced over at my outburst. I didn’t care.
“You should drink your caffeine,” Viktor replied.
“That’s not an answer,” I snapped.
“It is for now.” He looked around the shop, someone in the far back corner catching his eye. “We can talk more about your options later. For now,” he glanced at the man again, “we need to get out of here.”
And then I f
elt it. The tingle of electricity notifying me that a vampire was nearby. My bite flared to action, my hunter instincts doing their best to squash the sexual sensations and instead focus on surviving. The hairs on my arms stood on end the second Viktor jumped to his feet.
“We must go,” he said, his old European accent once again coming to the surface.
No sooner had he spoken than I caught the first sign of something amiss outside. The streetlights appeared to dim as shadows passed underneath. When we opened the door, the uncharacteristic silence warned us to stay inside. In instinct, I grabbed Viktor’s hand. He flinched and almost looked down, but stopped himself when a figure stepped out of the darkness half a block away.
“Son of a bitch,” Viktor growled.
I squinted but couldn’t quite see who the man was that caused every muscle in Viktor’s body to react. But then my bite flared to life again. My hunter instincts told me that several vampires hid in the shadows around us. But my bite reacted to the one standing alone in the street, unafraid and commanding attention.
He called me forward in silence.
With no control over my movements, I pushed Viktor aside and started down the first of the three small steps. Our hands were still clasped, so by the time I’d lowered myself to the street, my arm was twisted behind me at an awkward angle. It took a moment for Viktor to react. I’m not sure why, but the second he realized what I was doing, he yanked me back toward him. I fell on my butt, the concrete stairs digging into my tailbone and sending a wave of pain up my spine.
“Ow,” I said, trying to pull free of Viktor’s grasp.
“What are you doing, Sophia?” In one swift movement, Viktor pulled me back up to my feet and pushed me behind him.
“I have to go to him,” I said, once again unable to stop the words from forming.
He turned and looked at me, concern piercing his bright blue eyes and a hint of fear dancing across them. And then his gaze landed on my bite. In an instant, his concern turned to rage. His fangs dropped, his face contorted into something not quite human, and the feral hiss the escaped his mouth had my skin trembling in fear. He spun around to face the vampire in the street a second before I thought he was going to attack me.
“Sebastian,” he snarled. “Stop this now!”
Sebastian. The vampire who’d marked me and the one calling to me now through some freaky connection I couldn’t explain. My body wanted his. Wanted to be as close to him as I could. But my hunter blood helped glue my feet to the stairs a little longer. Perhaps Viktor and his rage had something to do with that too.
“She is mine now, Kaska. Don’t fight what you cannot change.” Sebastian’s menacing tone wafted through the street, spoken without anger or fear.
“She will never be yours,” Viktor replied, unable to hide his emotions as well as Sebastian.
I shifted on my feet, fighting the urge to run to the vampire who’d claimed me. No, I couldn’t let him win. I needed to be strong. For me, and Ezra, and especially for Silas. If I let Sebastian take me, I had no doubt Silas would lose his life trying to bring me home. And I couldn’t allow that to happen.
“Leave me alone,” I whispered. I knew Sebastian could hear me and the slight tilt of his head confirmed it.
“But you don’t really want that, do you Sophia?”
I opened my mouth to reply, but nothing came out. Instead, without conscience effort, I started to walk down the stairs again. Viktor reached for me just as a vampire jumped out of the shadows and knocked him to the ground. I heard the fight scuffling at my feet, but I didn’t stop walking. Even when they almost tripped me, I calmly stepped over their legs and continued my forward momentum toward Sebastian.
“That’s it,” Sebastian cooed as I made my way closer.
More vampires stepped out from the shadows, forming a pathway of sorts for me to walk though. My hunter instincts sensed them, but Sebastian had a larger hold over my actions.
“Come with me, Sophia. Accept that you are mine.”
Sebastian’s hypnotic voice drowned out all other sound. As though a slow, melodic song played in the background of my mind, I could think of nothing but being in Sebastian’s arms. His solid grip, his smell, his fangs…all of it. I wanted all of it. I needed it.
The smile on the vampire’s face grew with each step of mine. He had me and he knew it. I thought I should feel more upset. Be more upset. But I couldn’t quite rationalize those types of feelings right now. With a small brush of the bite with my fingers, I began to accept what was to become of me.
“No!” Sebastian screamed out in anger a second before I felt a hard body slam into my back. Large arms wrapped around my waist and my neck jerked back in whiplash as I was propelled forward at an incredible speed.
I barely had enough time to see Sebastian spin around and reach out toward me before I was at the other end of the street. Viktor set me down and turned to see who was chasing us. I did the same and felt my knees weaken at the sight of at least thirty vampires baring down on us.
“Do you have your stake?” Viktor asked, once again pushing me behind him.
I fumbled around my side, looking for my purse. Thankfully it was still there and a second later I had my small stake in my grip. “There are too many of them,” I whispered, not at all liking the fear trickling through my words.
“We’ll be fine,” he snapped.
Several vampires jumped over the top of us, landed on the other side and completely surrounded us by a circle of fangs and killer intentions. I had no idea how we were going to get out of this alive.
“We need a better position,” Viktor said.
“No shit,” I mumbled. This certainly wasn’t the time for sarcasm but that had always been the way I’d handled difficult situations.
“Can you run?” Viktor asked, watching each vampire as they crept closer. He eyed them up, one by one, estimating their strength and forming some kind of plan.
“Not as fast as you.”
Viktor huffed. It almost sounded like a small laugh, but not a humorous one. “I’ll get us started and then you need to lead them into an alley.”
Another vampire landed loudly behind us. I sucked in a startled breath, and turned with my stake in hand. The female didn’t move any closer, but she crouched like a lioness and hissed in warning.
“We’ll be trapped if we go down an alley.”
“That’s the point,” Viktor said like I’d made the dumbest observation of all times.
“We’ll be trapped,” I repeated. “With them.”
He spared a quick glance in my direction, eyes passing over the vampires behind me. “We need to face them head on if we’re even going to have a chance.”
I suppose that made a tiny bit of sense. But I still had no idea how we were going to break through the circle of minions surrounding us now. Viktor stared at me, something feral passing over his face. The look made me shudder in anticipation of…well, I don’t know of what exactly. “What are you staring at?” I snapped.
“I’ve never seen you look so strong before,” he commented.
Strong? What the hell was he talking about? The heat in his eyes could have been from the excitement of the pending fight, but with the way his gaze traveled over my body and settled on my cleavage, I had a feeling there were other primal instincts at work here.
“Are you ready?” he asked with a smirk uncharacteristic for him. His blue eyes glowed in the light, his dark hair falling over his forehead and making him look normal for a moment.
“Ready for what?” I asked.
He winked and a second later he pushed me forward and out of the circle. I fell to my knees, the concrete street digging into my bare skin and scraping a few layers off. At the same time I pulled myself up, I saw Viktor rip the head off of the hissing female vampire and using it as a dodge ball of sorts on another one.
“Run, Sophia!” he screamed at me.
I didn’t hesitate, even when I couldn’t get the image of the woman’s head fly
ing through the night out of my mind. Jumping up to my feet, I kicked off my heels and sprinted toward the nearest alley. It was only half a block away, a hundred yards at best, but by the time I reached the opening, my chest hurt and I could barely catch my breath.
A second later, Viktor grabbed my hand and yanked me further into the darkness. I tried to keep up, but my legs weakened with the loss of adrenaline. He practically dragged me to the end of the alleyway where we were met with a dead end.
“We’re trapped!” I yelled out.
“We’re right where we want to be,” Viktor replied calmly. He turned and adjusted his stance. His expensive suit looked torn and ragged, yet somehow he managed to still command attention. I credited that with him being hundreds of years old.
Scuffling at the entrance to the alley had both of us focusing our sights there. The hoard of vampires, chasing us since we’d left the club apparently, now blocked our only exit. Fear surged through me, my hunter instincts telling me it was safer to flee than to stay and fight. But Viktor stood solid and ready. He slowly removed his suit jacket and tossed it to the side. Rolling up his sleeves, his eyes never left the group now moving closer toward us.
“You ready?” he asked without looking at me.
“No,” I replied instantly.
Viktor chuckled and then spared a glance in my direction. “I’ve heard so much about the great Sophia Glen. You are somewhat of a legend amongst my kind. Are you now telling me that a few vampires are scaring you?”
I glared at him. “No, of course not.” Regaining my composure I readied my stance. “I’ve killed too many to count. What’s a few more?” I winked at Viktor and he returned it with a smile.
“Good. Because here they come.”
Chapter 5
At once, they attacked. Like a tidal wave pushing between two buildings, the group filtered down the alley with fangs bared and snarls distorting their faces. I gripped my stake and Viktor cracked a bone in his neck. Both of us seemed a little too calm for the situation we now faced.