Resurrected

by Kim Faulks

  Resurrected

  A Vampire Blood Courtesans Romance

  Kim Faulks

  Michelle Fox

  Copyright © 2016 by Kim Faulks

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Thank you to a few people. Monica for her stunning covers and killer editing skills. Rebecca for juggling family and beta reading—I really appreciate all your effort.

  But mostly Resurrected is for you. For all those who messaged, reviewed and asked for more Nova and Kol.

  I’m so glad these characters mean as much to you as they do to me. So sit back and enjoy Resurrected…

  Contents

  Introduction

  1. Nova

  2. Kol

  3. Nova

  4. Kol

  5. Nova

  6. Kol

  7. Nova

  8. Kol

  9. Nova

  10. Kol

  Afterword

  About the Author

  You can't keep a bloodthirsty vampire down.

  The Holland brothers are dead and now I'm a vampire.

  But a newborn immortal isn't supposed to crave the blood of their own…

  Don't tell anyone, Kol tells me. Not Rurik. Not Angelique.

  He's scared.

  I'm hungry.

  And this is only the beginning.

  Nova

  Please Nova.

  I curled my toes in the numbing cold sand, and raised my face to the dying sun. The once warm rays were fading, taking with it the vibrant colors of this world. Wherever this world was.

  Come back to me.

  Kol’s tortured words echoed like a forgotten memory, filled with suffering and loss. I sucked in a breath. The cold spread out with icy fingers, stealing the last traces of my warmth.

  Maybe it was already too late to go back.

  Maybe I was meant to stay here…waiting, always waiting.

  The thought plunged me into despair. I gasped and clutched my breast. The dull, rhythmic thud of my heart stuttered, then slammed against my chest.

  No. Please, not yet. Just a little longer.

  A rumble dragged my gaze skyward. Menacing grey clouds hovered at the edge of the horizon. Somewhere amongst the storm, a bolt of lightning tore free.

  I won’t let you go. Kol’s broken words pierced the divider between us. I yanked my hand backwards, and expected blood. Because I cannot live without you.

  But I wasn’t ready to leave. Not until I saw her.

  “Yes you are, sweetheart. You’ve always been ready.”

  I spun at the gentle voice. A bitter breeze scattered my hair, blurring my view. Between the strands I saw her, standing there fit and strong with her arms crossed over her chest. Her white cut-off jeans were tinged with specks of sand, as though I’d interrupted her playing. The sleeves of her shirt flapped in the breeze. I stared at the bold pattern, trying to remember the colors in this washed-out world.

  Lines creased on her face when she smiled, just the same as I remembered, before cancer stole her away. “Mom?”

  She held out her arms. “Come here pipsqueak.”

  I dove toward her, leaving gouges in the soft sand. And for a second before we touched, I was gripped with a sense of fear. Would my fingers pass through her like a ghost? But then I wrapped my arms around her waist and buried my face against her breast. She was warm, and real and…here. “Mom.”

  I breathed deep and smelled faint apricot shampoo. The same kind she used for years. She combed her fingers through my hair and held me tight. Her words echoed inside my chest. “My Nova.”

  My fingers dug into her arm and the warmth spread. She was here, and there was so much I needed to say. “I love you. I love you so much.”

  She slid her hands to my shoulders, and then held me at arm’s length. “I love you too, sweetheart, but you shouldn’t be here.” She lifted her head to the sky. I could feel her shudder before she dropped her gaze to me. “You don’t want to be here when it’s dark, Nova. This place is full of monsters. You need to leave.”

  I shook my head. She didn’t understand. “I can’t…”

  “Listen to me.” Her voice turned cold. “I loved being your mother, and I’d give anything to have you back again. But that time’s gone. I’ve passed and it’s time for you to move on.”

  I turned my head. Tears blurred my view. She didn’t know what she was saying. She didn’t mean any of this.

  “Yes, I do sweetheart. I can feel the need inside you. You want me back. You want me whole. You have to find something worth living for.”

  And someone worth dying for. The thought came alive, and Kol's face followed. Blue eyes found me, calling me back. I could see his lips move, calling me, desperate for me.

  Would I die for him?

  Yes…

  But would I live for him?

  The stars in Mom’s eyes didn’t sparkle anymore. They glinted with a razored edge and her soothing words hardened to stone. “Go back, Nova. You don’t belong here. You have good in you. More than you know. But you also have darkness. You need to find out who you really are, and you can’t do that here.”

  Her hands slipped, abandoning me once more. “Leave this place and never come back.”

  A boom rocked my chest, shattering the bond around my soul. My heart gave one final throb…and then silence.

  “Hurry, Nova.”

  The sand spilled out from under my feet, swallowing my toes, and then my ankles. Kol reared like a stallion in my mind, fierce and powerful.

  “Mom!” I clawed the air for her hand. “Help me.”

  “Go.” She turned from me. The fading light clung to the outline of her face as she turned her head. “Be careful out there, Nova. Monsters are real, and now you’re one of them.”

  Nova!

  Kol’s roar pierced my head. Lightning tore along my spine and cleaved my chest. The cold earth swallowed my legs, racing toward my thighs. I tried to lunge free. The bitter sand gripped my feet and dragged me deeper. “Don’t do this. Mom! Please don’t do this!”

  She never moved, never turned as I sank to my hips. The earth clenched around my stomach and raced over my chest. I sucked in tiny breaths as grit spilled into my mouth and ran along my tongue.

  Come back. Kol screamed. Nova, come back to me!

  His voice was all I heard as the dark closed in, stealing the grey from my world, and then finally Mom.

  “Nova,” Death whispered in my ear.

  I cracked open my eyes and light rushed in.

  Death smiled. His eyes sparkled blue. “That’s it my love, open your eyes. I am here.”

  “Kol.” An acid stench filled my mouth as I whispered his name. I sucked the dust-filled air and stilled.

  “Nova?” Blue eyes moved in close, shimmering like a nebula. His lips tightened, the corner curled. And there was that smile—the same one that haunted me, even in death. “Welcome back.”

  Dust and blood filled me, and underneath the scent of blood, perfume cut through the air. But it wasn’t apricots. It was stronger, jasmine and…

  “Vanilla. One bean steeped in oil. One dab behind my ears is all I need, otherwise the perfume is overwhelming to our kind.”

  Our kind?

  I turned my head at a woman’s voice and blinked through the shadows. Our kind. Fragments of memories closed in. The detective in my apartment.

  Trapped, in the back of a police car.

  Sparks of panic filled me and the memory of my heart thundering in my ears.

  I grasped my che
st, pressing finger to bone.

  But it was a memory. Just a memory.

  I pressed, gouging until an ache spread from my touch.

  Only silence filled me now.

  The flickering of a candle dragged me back to the past. I searched the ruins. The Holland brothers were waiting for me, slithering out of the shadows of my mind like snakes and no matter how hard I fought, their words filled me.

  My brothers and I are going to enjoy you, Nova.

  They were inside me. Touching my body. Touching my mind.

  Horror reared. I shook my head and tried to tear its nails from my thoughts. But the past held me under, and somehow I tasted sand.

  He won’t come, Nova. But if he does, he’ll die. Right here. Today. You’ll stand in his blood. I think I like the thought of that. You’ll stand naked in his blood and all you’ll look at is me.

  I swallowed hard and shook my head. I couldn’t get the voices out of my mind. I wasn’t strong enough. Their grip was around my throat, clenching tight.

  Blood rushed, sliding warm down my chest. Too much blood.

  A whimper slipped free. I slid my hand to my neck.

  Too much blood to survive.

  “You’re okay. You’re safe now,” Kol whispered. “They can’t hurt you ever again.”

  His words dispelled the terror inside my head. He reached out, brushing my hand. I winced at the touch.

  I lifted my head and saw him. Hope flickered in his eyes. This was Kol. My Kol, who risked his life to save me. His love screamed louder than my demons ever would.

  “You should get her out of here.”

  Clipped words echoed around me. I turned toward the male at Kol’s side and shuddered. Brooding brown eyes found mine. His skin shone with the glint of silver, while he stood half in the shadows and half in the light. He looked no older than Kol, but there was something about him—something that ran deeper than skin and bones—something ancient.

  Those knowing eyes searching mine for a second before he spoke. “I’m Rurik, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Nova.”

  “I wish I could say the same,” snarled the female vampire at his side. “Is any mortal worth all this?”

  Her blood-splattered clothes stuck against her skin. Her face was smeared with more of the same. She was stunning, standing straight with long shining black hair and not a strand out of place.

  “She is,” Kol answered her, and then turned to me. “Angelique’s men risked their life to save you. I would risk every life to save you. Nothing else matters.”

  Men…death. Something nagged at the edge of my mind. Desire was a faint spark inside me, searching for life. I licked my lips and turned to Angelique. “How many?”

  Surprised closed in on her face. Her brown eyes widened. She jerked her head to the vampire at her side before she answered. “Ten. Ten men died here to save you.”

  Ten men. I scanned the rubble as a sharp, irritating drone reverberated in my head. The sound grew louder and crisp. Sirens wailed in the distance, drawing close. That tiny spark inside me grew brighter, flickering like a flame taking hold, urging me to get up, to find the men who had died here. That spark was all I had…that spark of goodness.

  My mom’s voice resurrected inside my thoughts. You have good in you, Nova. More than you know. I turned my head, searching the rubble. “I need to…where are they?”

  “You don't have to worry about that now, sweetheart,” Kol whispered. His blue eyes searched mine.

  The wail of sirens bounced off the walls. I closed my eyes. The wail was all I could hear. Everything else was silent—including me.

  My breaths were silent. My chest was silent.

  Gone was the familiar throb. Gone was the feeling of being alive.

  I slammed my palm against the ground, kicking rocks and boulders from my path. The world moved in slow motion, rocks took minutes to tumble out of the way. They were still falling, still clattering, one slow tumble after another as I raced across the warehouse to the far wall.

  I tried to breathe. My spine bowed. My shoulders lifted. The air lingered inside my nose, but drifted no further. My lungs were still, silent and lifeless—just like my heart.

  “You’re transitioning—becoming one of us. Your heart has stopped. Your body is changing, growing faster, stronger than you’ve ever been before. I gave you my blood. It was either turn you or let you go.”

  Kol’s voice filled my head from across the ruined warehouse. He rose to his feet and found me in the dark. His lips moved with a whisper—but it may as well have been a shout. “And I couldn’t let you go.”

  I waited for the thud. I waited for the rush. But only the deafening sound of the sirens remained. Tires squealed. I could smell the rubber and the brakes. I could hear the crackle of the radio as one of the doors opened, and underneath the grating sound I could hear the constant boom of the officer’s heart.

  “You have to get her out of here. We’ll remain behind and explain what we can. But they can’t see her, or you’ll have every damn mortal cop beating down your door.”

  Kol stared at the ground. “The sun. It’s still too bright.”

  “She came from you,” Rurik murmured. “Maybe she can walk in the sun.”

  I followed Kol’s focus to the dull light on the ground. Sun. Would I ever feel its warmth again?

  The heavy thud of footsteps drifted in. Kol lifted his head. His gaze caught mine. One second he was across the room, and the next he was at my side. His hand grasped mine. His once icy touch was warm, blending into my own.

  “You could try, Nova. Just a fraction, that’s all.”

  I glanced at the fading hue as boots echoed from the garage, and I took a step. My fingers gripped his as I reached for the light. Soft yellow rays covered my nails and reached along my fingers. This was working. This was working. I could live like Kol. I could…

  Acid spilled with the sunlight, searing the flesh from my bones. The smell was stifling, filling my nose and turning my stomach. I retched at the smell as voices cut through the air.

  “This is the police! Hands up where I can see them!”

  Blackened fingers blistered in my grip, agony gnawed my knuckles and ravaged my bones. Kol’s hands were a vise around my waist, pulling, lifting me, and my feet left the floor.

  Wind buffeted my face as Kol raced toward the far end of the building, finding stairs and climbing. Shadows smothered me as he pushed through the open door, and for the first time in my life I welcomed the dark. The searing heat left my hand, throbbing with a beat until it faded.

  “You’re okay here. You’re safe,” Kol whispered in my ear, pressing me close.

  I turned my head into his body and clenched my hand. My fingers moved, the soft skin now healed.

  His eyes found me in the dark. I could see every strand of his hair, feel every tremor in his body. “Five more minutes and the sun will be gone.”

  Five more minutes waiting in the dark.

  I turned my head toward the doorway as the first shot rang out.

  It might have been an eternity.

  Kol

  Demands filled the dark as cops rushed in. “I said get your hands in the air!”

  I licked my lips and turned toward the doorway.

  One of them had taken Nova from me before. Would they dare try again?

  Urgency burned in my veins. The taste of blood lingered on my lips.

  Kill them all. Every last one of them.

  A sweet murmur dragged me back to the woman in my arms. I would level this building to the ground. I would be both salvation and retribution if anyone touched her again.

  My fangs scraped the soft flesh inside my mouth. Her desires mingled with my own. I tightened my grip, pulling her close. Faint memories lingered like a perfume I couldn’t deny. I shifted my stance. My cock twitched, punching my zipper. The need to have her reared its head. I pressed my face into her hair as the sunlight receded.

  Sex mingled with another need, something more primal. S
omething stronger. I wanted to protect her, and comfort her. I wanted to feed her and keep her safe. Was this how Rurik felt when he changed me?

  I searched my heart and knew the truth. There were those who turned humans for sport, or a thrill—their line became weak and brittle. But not Rurik.

  Instead of leaving me to die, he turned me. That day I stepped from the shell I’d once been, and became a weapon. I loved him for that, just as I loved him for saving me once more, by doing the one thing he’d swore he’d never do again—walk amongst the mortal world.

  Nova coursed through my head, sweeping aside my own wants and desires and filling me with her own. I turned my thoughts inward, following the tether to her mind. The image of a woman filled my head. Traces of Nova lingered in her face. She was older, smiling that same sad soft smile that crossed Nova’s lips. The word Mom filled my head, and an ache in my chest followed.

  A second shot ripped through the air. I turned to the open door. Rurik.

  “Fire that thing at me one more time, and I’ll make a fresh pile of bodies to photograph.” My maker’s growl filled the air, and silence followed.

  I edged closer toward the opening. The officers had Angelique and Rurik boxed in on all sides, scrambling over debris and bodies. But Rurik wasn’t concerned, in fact he seemed to be enjoying himself.

  He raised his head. One slight nod was all I needed.

  The sun took its sweet time retreating, sulking away like a cornered beast. I watched through the web-covered windows until the last traces of daylight disappeared. Flashlights danced below as cops circled the rubble and pulled bodies free. I edged closer to the doorway and descended the stairs.

  Rurik straightened, turning as a beam of light swept across a pile of bloody bricks in my path. The sound of boots echoed, pushing metal and rubble out of the way as an officer headed toward me.