“I don’t understand.”
“The things you have shown me. Life sure has changed in the last two thousand years.” She began to fade.
“Wait.” Lydia took a step forward.
“My blood no longer flows through your veins, sweet Lydia.” She reached up and cupped her cheek. “I can rest now… I am free.”
“Will I ever see you again?”
“When it is time…”
Lydia jerked awake. Sweat beaded her face and her heart pounded out of control. She threw her legs over the side of the bed and gripped the headboard for support.
The room spun for a moment before settling into a sharp contrast of shapes and colors. Her hearing magnified, picking up activity that shouldn’t be possible, such as birds chirping, the murmur of guards along the surrounding wall, dishes clinking together in the kitchen.
“Roman?” Lydia covered her ears with her palms, to no avail. The sounds only seemed to intensify.
“It’s okay.” Roman engulfed her in his arms. “I’m here.”
“I can’t stop the noise,” she stated, her face pressed against his chest.
“Deep breaths, Lydia. I can help you.”
Lydia sucked in great gulps of air as Roman pulled her arms down to her sides. Warmth penetrated her brain, bringing with it blessed peace and silence. “How did you do that?”
He continued to hold her close. “I’ll teach you soon. For now, I can hold it in place and lift it gradually until you learn to compartmentalize different sounds. It won’t take you long to master it.”
She held him tighter, breathing in his seductive scent. If she thought he smelled good before, he was downright overwhelming now. Her pussy clenched.
“Lydia…we can’t.”
Her breathing accelerated, and her nipples pebbled into tight points of pain. A wave of heat rolled through her, sending her new fangs racing toward her bottom lip. “Oh, God,” she moaned, grinding on his thigh.
“Fuck,” Roman barked, ripping her jeans from her body. Her yanked his own down and shredded her panties before lifting her and impaling her with his cock.
Lydia’s eyes rolled back with the feeling of Roman’s thick shaft stretching her, taking and dominating her.
He walked them backwards and dropped her onto the bed, never slowing his thrusts. His body came down over hers; he gripped her thighs and pumped into her hard enough the bedposts scraped across the floor.
The scent of their arousal coupled with Roman’s unique essence invaded Lydia’s senses, taking her to a place she’d never imagined possible. She grabbed the back of his head, jerked him forward, and sank her new fangs into the vein in his throat.
Blood…something she’d never thought of as more than someone’s life force gushed down her throat in erotic bliss. Her entire body locked up with an orgasm so intense it paralyzed her. Her vision turned red, chills peppered her skin, and her pussy contracted uncontrollably as tears of blood dripped from the corner of her eyes.
Roman’s shout could be heard just seconds before his seed exploded inside her. His hips continued to flex for long moments after Lydia’s fangs retracted from his neck. “Lydia?”
“Hmmm?”
“I love you.”
Lydia’s stomach flipped. Cupping the sides of his face, she brought his head up. “Say it again.”
“I love you, Lydia Hughes…since the moment you opened those sky-blue eyes and looked up at me near that alley.”
“Love at first sight.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Ione,” Lydia whispered, watching for changes in his expression.
He stared down at her without moving, their bodies still attached. “Yes. We were to be married.”
“She knew about you?”
“Yes. And yet she stayed.” His gaze turned inward. “Simon needed her to be free of Svetlana, so he took her in the middle of the night. Svetlana found them together before he’d had time to act on plan. She drained Ione and then Simon before feeding Simon from her own vein.”
“What happened next?” Lydia’s heart ached for Ione’s loss. Not just for her life, but her love for Roman also.
“Ione had been raised very religious and never wanted the dark gift. She walked out into the sun the next morning, ending her life before it began.”
“And Simon?”
“Became bound to Svetlana, the most evil of all vampires.”
“Why doesn’t he just kill her?”
“Remember the curse I told you about? Ione’s blood made Svetlana one of the most powerful vampires in the world.”
“Was Ione a virgin when Svetlana took her blood?”
Something flickered in Roman’s eyes. “No, she was no longer an innocent.”
“You took her virginity.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes.”
Lydia let that sink in. “I gave you my virginity and my blood. Doesn’t that make you more powerful than her?”
“She isn’t after me, love. Simon is the object of her desire.”
“And if she finds Simon, she finds Jacie,” Lydia pointed out, pushing at his chest. “When are we going to search for them?”
“As soon as night falls again. It will be daylight in less than an hour.”
Lydia’s mouth fell open. “I slept all night?”
“You slept for two nights.”
“Oh, my God, Roman. Simon has had my daughter for two days? She’s sick and needs care. She—”
“Has Jeanie,” he finished for her. “I’ve known Simon for centuries. He won’t harm Jacie as long as he needs her. It’s you he’s after, and he has no clue of your transformation.” He brushed her mouth with his. “We hold all the cards here. We will get her back.”
Lydia prayed he was right. “How will we find him?”
“Sawyer, Niko, and Alex are out scouting while Madison mans the phones and Internet. He’s in my territory, Lydia. Trust me, we will find him.”
Calmness flowed through her the longer she looked into his eyes. She would tell him about her dream visit with Ione later. Much later, she thought as he gently ground his hips against her. “We have an hour.”
“Then we better make the best of it,” he growled, continuing his sexy torture.
Lydia’s head fell back in ecstasy as Roman made love to her body and soul. Being in his arms kept the demons at bay, and she had eternity to be in his embrace.
* * * *
Simon Le Blanc hadn’t survived two thousand years by being careless. Someone was close by. He could feel their energy coming from their body as they slithered through the woods like a snake.
Svetlana? It couldn’t be her. He would know her sickening essence anywhere. No, this one was young and definitely not vampire, he surmised, throwing his legs over the side of the bed to stand.
He wandered close to the window, shut his eyes, and took a deep breath. A shifter. So, Roman had sent a wolf to scout out the place. A smile curved Simon’s lips as he thought of the look on his poor, unsuspecting guest’s face when he realized he had only minutes left to live.
Blurring his way outside, Simon slipped into the woods undetected by staying downwind and followed the young wolf back to the house. He’d had seen the guy before, guarding the wall at the Island of Misfits. It seemed that Roman had every kind of riffraff imaginable bunking at the compound.
“Looking for someone, puppy?”
The kid spun around, his lips pulled back over his teeth. “I’m searching for Jacie Hughes. Now tell me where she is.” The guttural sound of his voice told Simon the boy was close to shifting.
“Tell you where she is?” Simon grinned and extended a hand. “Simon Le Blanc… And you are?”
He backed up a step. “The name’s Max. Now where is Jacie?”
As much as Simon wanted to stand there and toy with the kid, time wasn’t something he had the luxury of at the moment.
He pressed into Max’s mind with everything he had. There was no subtle entry with this kid; his subc
onscious was too strong for that. “Heel.”
Max dropped to his knees and bowed his head. Tremors racked his frame with the effort of fighting back.
Simon almost felt a grudging respect for the kid. Almost. “Come. Let us go indoors.”
Max got to his feet and entered the house with his head bowed low. He didn’t speak as Simon took him to the basement and secured him to the wall with silver chains. “You’re lucky I added the leather cuffs, else you’d be screaming in pain throughout the night.” He turned to go. “Stay quiet down here until I can figure out a use for you.”
Simon didn’t expect a response as he climbed the steps back to the first floor. Max’s mind was restrained as surely as his body.
“Something’s wrong with Jeanie,” Jacie whispered as Simon stepped back into the den.
Simon froze in horror. “What are you doing down here?” The dark circles lining the child’s red-rimmed eyes were in stark contrast to her gray skin, giving her the appearance of a corpse.
“Looking for you.” She stepped forward and took hold of his hand. “Hurry, Mr. Simon.”
“You know my name.”
“Jeanie told me.”
“Of course she did.” Something shifted in Simon’s chest as he looked at their joined hands. Her small, warm palm resting so trustingly in his larger one left a foreign feeling in his gut he’d never felt before. “Lead the way.”
She led him up the stairs, half pulling him along behind her. “She’s sick. I don’t know what’s wrong with her, but I know what it’s like to be sick.”
“How long have you been ill?” Simon wasn’t sure why he asked the question. It just came out before he could stop it.
“A long time. I have leukemia. It’s a cancer.”
“I know what it is. I’m a doctor.”
She stopped at the top of the stairs and gave his arm a tug, pulling him down to her level until he knelt in front of her. She brought her hands up to his face, cupping his cheeks. “You don’t look like a doctor. And your skin is too cold.”
“What do doctors look like?”
“Their hair is white and they have lines in their skin and they wear glasses.”
Simon laughed. “That sounds horrid. Perhaps I should have considered another profession.”
“Where is your family?”
“I…” He cleared his throat. “I don’t have one.”
“You should get one. Everyone needs a family. Okay, let’s help Jeanie.”
Simon got to his feet and followed Jacie into her bedroom. Jeanie lay on the bed, pale and unmoving. He pulled from her mind, watching as her eyes fluttered open. “Jacie,” she gasped, reaching for the child.
“It’s okay, Jeanie. Simon is a doctor.”
“You get away from her!” Jeanie cried, rolling toward the edge with her hand extended.
“Sleep,” Simon murmured, watching as her eyes slid shut and her body went limp.
Jacie’s eyes were huge in her face. “How did you do that?”
He took hold of her tiny hand. “It’s a neat trick. I’ll show you someday.”
“Show me now, please. The doctors say I’ll be going to heaven soon, and I want to be able to do it when I get there.”
She doesn’t have long to live. Simon’s black heart cracked a little. He’d never cared about who lived or died before; then why did this small child affect him so? “Come back downstairs so that she can sleep.”
He exited the room, assuming she would follow. “You must be hungry?”
“Not really, but Mama says I have to eat when I take my medicines.”
Simon slowed his step. “Have you taken your meds for the night?”
“Not yet.”
“Where does Jeanie keep them?” he asked coming to a stop.
“In this black bag.” She held up the bag in question.
Smart kid. “Come,” he muttered, once again leading the way.
Arriving downstairs, Simon pointed to an overstuffed chair in the center of the room. “Have a seat. You can watch television if you’d like.”
“Okay but I’m only allowed to watch G-rated movies,” she replied, climbing up into the giant chair.
Great, Simon thought with a mental cringe. “Do you like pizza?”
“Yes. Cheese only, please.”
Simon rummaged through a desk until he located a phonebook. He grabbed his cell and dialed the local pizza joint and ordered the child a large cheese pizza and a caffeine-free soda. “It’ll be here in approximately thirty minutes.”
“Thank you. Would you like to watch a movie with me?”
Simon ground his teeth. He couldn’t let himself feel pity for the child. She was a means to an end for him, nothing more, nothing less. “I’m not really—”
“Please, Mr. Simon?”
“Okay, but only until your pizza arrives, and then it’s bedtime for you.”
Chapter Eighteen
Two hours and three slices of pizza later, Simon adjusted the sleeping child now curled up next to him on the overstuffed chair. She stretched, mumbling something in her sleep as she snuggled closer, and laid her head on his lap.
His hand hovered for long moments over her little bald head before he let it fall away. If God really existed, surely he would spare the life of this little girl, Simon pondered, staring at her innocent profile.
She’d somehow managed to weasel her way under his skin in a matter of hours. He’d consumed pizza, of all things, and would no doubt regret it later while his body digested the foreign substance.
He wondered if saving her life by giving her his blood would justify turning her in his mind. Simon shook his head. There were worse things than death, and being a child for eternity, never aging; never maturing beyond her youthful body would be a living hell. No, he couldn’t do that to her.
A thought occurred to him as he sat there lost in a damnable Sponge Bob episode. His own blood wouldn’t work, but a shifter’s might. The physician in him speculated, remembering the wolf chained in his basement.
He glanced down at the sleeping girl on his lap. If what he had in mind actually worked, she would become the thing he hated most, but she would be alive, and that was all that mattered to Simon in that moment.
The hair suddenly stood up on the back of his neck, and chills passed through his tall frame. A feeling of hatred settled in his gut as he eased Jacie off his lap and rose to face his enemy. There was no denying who evoked such emotions in him, who always had… Svetlana.
“Your tastes seem to be running a little on the young side these days, my sweet.” The sound of Svetlana’s voice was like fingernails on a chalkboard to Simon.
“What are you doing here?” he questioned, placing himself between her and Jacie.
She stepped farther into the room. “Is that any way to treat a guest?”
His body tensed for a fight even though she could easily overpower him. She had taken Ione’s blood along with his, marking him as her own. He’d become her minion, her slave, her prisoner…and he despised her for it.
“Do you what you came to do and get out.” Pain sliced through his skull as unseen fingers wrapped around his brain and squeezed. He dropped to his knees, his teeth locked together to keep from screaming.
Her fingers moved to the top button of her blouse. “It’s been a while, my sweet.”
“Not here,” he ground out, pushing to his feet.
A smile curved her ruby-red lips. “Lead the way.”
Simon had been so absorbed in thoughts of saving a small child that he’d let his guard down and allowed Svetlana, his most-hated adversary, slip up on him undetected. He trailed off toward his bedroom.
Svetlana entered behind him and locked the door. “Take off your clothes,” she purred, unbuttoning the rest of her blouse.
Nausea rolled through his gut as he undressed, standing before her while she perused his naked body.
She removed the rest of her clothes and held her arms out. “Do you like what you see?”
Simon let his gaze move over her small frame. Her golden locks were loosely piled up on her head while stray wisps fell along the sides of her face. Her dark blue eyes were lined in black, giving them a smoky appearance that accented her red lips and rosy cheeks. Her outward beauty was a force to be reckoned with, but her insides were a rotted corpse of evil, the nightmare of all things vile. “Let’s get this over with.”
Her smile faltered. “Get on your knees.”
“I’d rather stand.” His muscles shook with the power of holding back. She pressed into his mind, lowering him to the floor against his will.
“That’s a good boy,” she purred, coming to a stop directly in front of him. “I know you just ate, but I hope you left room for me.”
* * * *
Simon stumbled to the bathroom and nearly fell into the shower. Dry heaves racked his body as he viciously scrubbed every inch of his skin. He brushed his teeth again and again before pulling on clean clothes and trailing back to the den.
The overstuffed chair where he’d left the little girl sleeping was empty, as was the rest of the house. Her presence couldn’t be felt anywhere on the property. He blurred to the basement where he’d left the wolf.
“You better pray she isn’t harmed,” Max snarled, struggling against his bonds. “I know Svetlana was here.”
Simon gripped his neck, slamming him back against the wall. “I know better than anyone that she was here. She has taken the child, and you are going to help me get her back.”
“How could you let her leave with Jacie?” Max growled, straining to break free.
“I did not let her,” Simon sneered, tightening his grip. “As long as she lives, I am beholden to her. I do not expect you to understand, but I don’t need you to understand. I need you to do as I say, and there is a chance we can get her back.”
“Let me go,” Max ground out. “Hurry, we are running out of time.”
Simon hesitated, staring into the eyes of his natural enemy. “If you try anything— anything at all—I will kill you. Do I make myself clear?”
“Perfectly.”
Letting go of his throat, Simon released Max’s bonds and stepped back. “We must make haste.”
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