Blood Craving

by Gabrielle Bisset

  “I know. I just…okay, enough of the rest of the world’s problems for tonight. This night is for you and me, right?”

  Smiling, he kissed her sweetly and whispered against her lips, “Right. So let’s get out of here. I’ve been thinking of what I want to do to you for hours, and I’m tired of waiting.”

  He took her by the hand to lead her out of the house as Kali giggled, “I think I like this new Sion, you know.”

  Turning his head, he winked at her. “I know. And I’m planning on showing you some other new things as soon as we get home.”

  *

  Kali watched as Sion stood in front of the window, the moonlight illuminating the muscular ridges of his body as he looked out toward the water. He’d changed so much since their time in Prague that now she wondered if a woman like herself was enough for him.

  “Come to bed,” she said quietly, questioning why he’d left at all.

  “There’s something coming, Kali. I feel it.” He turned back toward her and smiled. “I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to having all these feelings again.”

  “You will. It will take time. I can’t believe how different you are, Sion. But it doesn’t matter because you’ll always be that guy who spent all that time researching with me in that damp cellar in Romania.”

  Kali worried now that Sion wasn’t just meant for research like she was that he’d find her boring. Would he want a boring academic when he could have any woman he desired?

  “It’s not just because of the Bliss that I’m feeling again. You know that, right?”

  She nodded, unsure of what he actually meant but too afraid to ask. What if he said he’d changed because of someone else?

  Sion slowly walked back to where she lay and sat down beside her. “All those years I lived as more machine than anything else were my penance for who I’d been as a human. My sire should have drained me that cold night he found me. Instead he turned me and all I saw around me was horror and death. I shut down and for all that time I didn’t let myself feel because I was afraid of returning to that human I’d been.”

  Taking his hand in hers, she brought it to her lips and softly kissed the rough knuckles she knew had been instruments of pain all those years ago. “You aren’t that man anymore. He died when you became vampire. You’ve paid your price for what that man did.”

  He hung his head and sighed. “I swore I’d never let myself feel again, and then I met you and it became harder and harder to push it down inside me. You brought out emotions in me I hadn’t experienced in so long. And then seeing you when the Bliss had control over you—”

  Sion stopped talking and cradled her face. He looked into her eyes, and she saw in their greyness how much he felt for her. “I was afraid I’d lose you to that poison, and then I did the same thing to you. I’m so sorry I put you through that.”

  “Oh, please don’t say that! If only I hadn’t become addicted to it. You saved me, Sion. How could I do any less for you?”

  His lips brushed against hers, making her need for him rise even higher. She’d fallen in love with the cold, emotionless male he’d been, and loved him even more now that he could show her his true feelings.

  “I need…” Her words trailed off as his lips slid down over her neck to suck her nipple. The feel of his fangs slowly descending into his mouth thrilled her. She wanted all of him. His emotions. His body. His blood.

  Everything he was and had been she accepted.

  “I want to feel you inside me,” she murmured in his ear as he slid off her clothes. “Tell me what you want, Sion.”

  He raised his head and looked at her so intensely she worried he’d changed his mind about making love to her. Then his gaze slid down her body and back up to meet hers and he said, “I want to spend the rest of my time on earth with you, Kali. No one understands me like you do. I just want you.”

  Tears welled in her eyes as he spoke those words. No one had ever understood why she cared for him like she did. Sion was too cold, too mechanical.

  But she’d never doubted that somewhere deep inside him existed the ability to love. That it had to come out because of his addiction to that horrible drug was something she’d never wish on her worst enemy, but finally, he could love as a vampire and not be afraid that letting himself feel would turn him into that human he’d been before.

  With one slow thrust, he filled her completely, taking her breath away. Wrapping her legs around his waist, she urged him back each time he left her, hating the loss of him for even a mere moment.

  “I love you, Kali,” he said in a low voice full of need. “I’ve always loved you since the first time I saw you.”

  “I love you,” she whispered as he nudged her release closer and closer to the surface. She loved how he made love to her. Slowly and passionately, like every thrust of his cock inside her was something to be reveled in. Like her body gave him what he needed to be happy.

  She turned her head and exposed her neck to him. For vampires, it was a measure of submission, but for her it meant more than that. It meant everything she had was his.

  Sion’s fangs pierced her skin and sunk into the vein. A sense of complete acceptance filled her as they made love and he took from her body the most important part of her.

  Blood.

  Her blood contained everything she was. Her essence. Her being. All she’d ever seen and felt, and all she’d ever known existed in her blood. By taking it into him, Sion showed he wanted those pieces of her with him.

  Kali held the back of his head to her and clung to him as her orgasm shuddered through her body. When the tremors from her release finally subsided, he lifted his head and smiled.

  “I want you to feed from me. You haven’t taken my blood since we returned here to Greece.”

  It was true she hadn’t drank from him. Her sire had ordered her back to his side each night to feed from him. She knew why. He wanted to ensure his control over her. She knew he sensed she’d fallen in love with someone and almost wished he’d ordered her to tell him who. His way of playing cat and mouse games terrified her as she waited for the moment when he finally revealed how much he knew and for how long.

  And then punished her for daring to love another.

  She’d never told Sion the truth of who her sire was because she knew if he ever found out how he treated her he’d want to protect her and there was no use. Her sire was far too powerful.

  But she couldn’t hide the truth for any longer. He had to know.

  His release flooded her insides and Sion gently closed the holes in her neck. Silently, he nestled her in his arms and held her to him as she fought to find the right words for what she had to say.

  “What’s wrong, Kali? I was careful to not take too much this time.”

  Taking a deep breath, she looked up and knew the time had come to tell the truth of who she was and who her sire was.

  “Sion, I haven’t taken your blood since we returned because my sire makes me drink from him.”

  Knitting his eyebrows, he narrowed his eyes and stared down at her. “Are you his?”

  “No. It’s not like that.” Sion believed in the ways of their kind and would likely send her away if she was another vampire’s. “I’ve never told you who my sire is because he’s a very powerful vampire. I’m afraid to cross him because he can hurt me…has hurt me.”

  The stern look in Sion’s grey eyes faded to one of concern. Leaning away from her, he asked, “What has he done?”

  The list of her sire’s punishments was too lengthy to go into. For over a thousand years, he’d treated her as little better than a slave. His forcing Bliss on her was just the last painful deed in the long history of terrible things he’d done.

  “It doesn’t matter. I know that. I am his vampire, just like Sasa was Vasilije’s. The difference is that my sire will never release me.”

  Her mention of Sasa and Vasilije made Sion wince. “You’ve fed from me before. Why won’t he let you now?”

  “I don’
t know if he won’t let me. I don’t know if he knows about you. He’s a very powerful vampire, so he might.”

  “Who is your sire, Kali?”

  “His name is Nicholas,” she said quietly, afraid to say his name too loud as he had spies everywhere.

  “Who is this Nicholas and why is he powerful?”

  “Nicholas Consera. He’s a magistrate.”

  “Your sire is on the side of the Archons? Why would he allow you to be with me?”

  Kali covered her face as she began to cry. “I don’t know why he ever allowed me to work for any of you helping with the prophecy then. He’s never involved me in politics, so I didn’t think of it. But if he finds out I love you, he’ll forbid me from ever seeing you again. I know it.”

  Sion wrapped his arms around her and held her to him. “Don’t worry about him. I won’t let him hurt you ever again. But I need you to understand me. There will come a time when the choice will have to be between him and me. You will have to choose one of us.”

  Looking up at Sion, Kali saw doubt in his eyes. She shook her head, unable to think of choosing anyone but him. “I would never pick him over you. Never. I know you believe in our ways, but he’s cruel and frightens me. He made me take Bliss and never cared that I got addicted to it. I called out to him over and over as I lay in those awful places in Prague, and never once did he come to me. My sire couldn’t help but know how much I needed him, but he ignored me all that time. Why would I ever choose him over you?”

  “Because he’s your sire. This gives him incredible power, and if he’s the kind of sire I think he is, he won’t let you go. He’d rather see you dead than be without you.”

  Kali lowered her head as the tears began to fall again. “What are we going to do? If he finds out about you, he’ll take me away. And then he’ll come after you. He can hurt us. Maybe I should just go away now. I can continue my prophecy work away from here.”

  “No. Maybe I’m as selfish as he is, but I won’t let you go. I love you, Kali.”

  “What are we going to do?” she wondered aloud, seeing nothing but heartache in their future as long as her sire lived.

  Sion lifted her chin with his finger and smiled. For a moment, she thought he’d come up with a plan, but then when he spoke, it was even better than that.

  “I’m going to protect you like a man should protect the woman he loves.”

  When he said things like that, she couldn’t help but believe in him. But she needed to be there for Sion too. She knew what she had to do.

  The time for choosing sides had come, and she knew exactly where she stood.

  Epilogue

  Magistrate Consera’s suite never failed to impress Marc. He lived like a king, and Verrater wanted that life. He wanted every part of it.

  Looking around like a tourist in a brand new city, he studied the gorgeous artwork that adorned the walls. Some pieces he recognized as priceless paintings, while others he felt like he was seeing their beauty for the first time.

  The far wall of floor to ceiling windows beckoned him, and while he waited for the magistrate to return, Marc looked out the glass at the countryside below. The sun had just set below the horizon and all he saw shimmered in the sweetness of twilight.

  This was the time of his kind.

  “Gorgeous, isn’t it? I never tire of that view at dusk. This part of the day is the perfect combination of day and night. It’s the only time we get to experience the sun.”

  “Very true,” Marc answered, sort of tired of hearing that same speech about the view every time he came to the magistrate’s office. It felt like Consera liked to rub it in his face.

  “So what do you have to tell me tonight, Archon Verrater?”

  Consera sat down on the couch and draped his arms over the side and back of the furniture. It make him look like some kind of royalty and made Marc feel like a fucking peasant summoned to pay his dues to the king.

  Taking a seat across from his boss, Marc tried to mimic the draping thing he did with his limbs but only ended up sliding toward the front of his leather chair. Straightening himself, he pressed a confident smile onto his face and began his required report.

  “The American shipment reached those vampires two nights ago, and I’ve heard wonderful things already. Los Angeles and Miami appear to be particularly successful sites. Our agents expect the south to fall under Bliss’s spell by the end of the month.”

  Consera grinned and clapped his hands together. “Fantastic! Any problems to report?”

  Marc took a deep breath and braced himself to give the bad news. “The northeast seems to be a bit resistant to the drug. New York in particular hasn’t been as successful as we’d hoped, but it has only been two nights. I believe it will surpass expectations there too in a very short time.”

  “Hmmm…New York has a significant population of vampires, so we need it to succeed there. Any guesses why it’s been slow with New Yorkers?”

  Shaking his head, Marc admitted, “I have no idea. I’ve never visited the city before. Have you?”

  “Once,” Consera said as he knitted his brows. “It was a few decades ago, in fact. I found it to be a difficult place for vampires like us.”

  “Difficult, sir?” Marc asked, suddenly curious about this place that gave a magistrate a hard time.

  “They are strong-willed there, even more so than most American vampires. Living in that place makes them feel rather invincible, I believe.”

  “Then it’s going to be doubly enjoyable when Bliss takes them over.”

  “Keep your eyes on that, Marc. If I remember correctly, the Archon there is a vampire named Salvatore Nero. Let’s see what we know about his life. Perhaps he just needs a little encouragement to see how important Bliss is to all of us.”

  “Nero. Okay. I’ll have him checked out. He is an Archon, though, so I can’t imagine he won’t be on board with the plan.”

  Consera nodded, but he wore a skeptical expression. “Normally, I’d say yes, but you never know with those Americans. Nero isn’t from there originally, but that place does something to vampires. Look into him. We want to know what to use on him if he appears to be less than willing to play the game.”

  “Will do.”

  Marc wanted nothing more than to leave since a secret vial of Bliss waited for him downstairs in his desk drawer, but he had the sense that even though they’d finished discussing the American shipment, Consera had something else on his mind he wanted to talk about.

  However, he simply sat there staring out the windows at the view for so long that Marc grew uncomfortable and had to break the silence. Asking about the Sons seemed to be a good icebreaker.

  “Any news about the Sons and what they’re up to?”

  Consera’s eyebrows shot up and he turned to face Marc. For a moment, he appeared surprised at the question, but it didn’t take long for the calm to return to his face.

  “Why, yes. There is news. The born vampire has given birth to a second child. A girl.”

  “Interesting,” Marc said, in truth utterly disinterested in the birth of some vampire, especially a female.

  “Yes, it is. And completely unforeseen. None of our prophecy scholars predicted another child to be born to this vampire. I find that troubling.”

  “If I may ask, how do you know so much about the Sons’ activities?”

  Consera grinned in that diabolical way that made Marc nervous. It was a smile that showed too much of his teeth.

  “One of them works for me.”

  “Works for you? How?” Marc asked in amazement. Consera had an actual Son spying for him?

  “Being a sire has its benefits,” Consera said in a tone that sounded almost like a purr.

  “Are you saying one of the Sons of Navarus is helping you? Not some secretary for the Order or some other underling but a Son?”

  “Yes. I am his sire, so he does what I command.”

  “Then why don’t you just tell him to kill them all and be done with it?”
/>
  Marc’s question earned him another terrifying smile, and Consera’s answer made him wonder whether he was merely a power hungry magistrate, as he’d long believed he was, or something far worse.

  “The Prophecy of Idolas tells us what will happen. There’s no need to rush things. I can say, however, that the time is coming for the next move in our war with the Sons. It won’t be long now.”

  *

  The walls of the cell that surrounded Thane stood bone dry to the touch. No matter how many times he ran his palms over them, he was always surprised to find no moisture at all resting on their surface. Perhaps it was the memory of reading Dante’s Inferno that tricked him whenever he had the temptation to feel for that elusive droplet of water something in him craved. Whatever it was that made him believe again and again that some evidence of life existed there with him, he felt none.

  How long he’d been in the Underworld he had no idea. What part he was now trapped in he was unsure. All he knew was he’d been removed from the world where everyone he loved existed and imprisoned in the realm of Hades, sworn enemy of all vampires.

  Thane’s mind drifted to the vision of his friends and fellow Sons watching him as he disappeared from the world courtesy of an assassin’s stake to the heart. The picture of their eyes filled with horror and sadness was as fresh in his mind at that moment as if he’d just felt that sharp piece of wood enter his body. He’d never gotten the chance to say goodbye to any of them or to Sasa.

  Sasa.

  Just the sound of her name in his mind made his chest feel like it was being seared by a red hot poker. After all they’d endured to be together, to be taken so soon after he’d finally found love seemed unfair, to say the least. And now she was probably back with the Romanian.

  Fuck.

  The thought of her in Vasilije’s arms made something inside Thane die every time. How was he supposed to live for the rest of time in this tortured place knowing she and the Romanian had likely renewed their ties so quickly after his death?