A howl drifted from behind him, near the house. Another sounded away to his left. One more, in front of him.
The wolves were on the hunt.
He changed direction and put on a burst of speed, fighting his body’s downward spiral into blood lust. His breath came in hard pants. The woman tried to hook her foot under his cock, but only succeeded in jamming up the churning of his legs.
“Hungry,” she said in a breathy whisper, her firm touch sliding down his back. “Horny.”
The sound of light feet interrupted the thrushing of the distant waves. The stench of shifter announced the wolves’ presence right before two burst through the bushes. More footfall indicated two more on the way.
They’d brought a large host to take this party down.
For the first time in decades, a thread of fear wormed through Moss’s middle.
He slowed, then stopped, turning to face the closest wolf. Running was futile. He’d have to stay and fight.
The woman mewed in protest when he set her on the ground. He couldn’t fight with her on his shoulder.
The closest wolf chuffed. The other lowered its heads and moved forward, its lips lifted in a silent snarl. Two more joined the semi-circle.
Moss felt the surge to change form, but without the resources of blood, it would drain precious energy. He cracked his neck.
“Well?” he asked, staying loose. He put up his hands in a come on gesture. “Are you waiting for an invitation?”
The first wolf took three fast steps before launching through the air. The next, then another, ran a moment later. He caught the first wolf body before ripping his claws down the wolf’s side and flinging it away. The next wolf nearly hit his middle, trying to knock him back. He grabbed it as the third made contact, forcing him to the side. If they got him off his feet, he was in trouble.
He punched claws into the wolf in his grasp before swiping down with the other hand, catching not much more than fur. Paws hit the center of his back before teeth tore into the back of his neck. He hadn’t heard the rear attack coming.
Easily ignoring the pain, he swung around, ripping out with his claws and opening his mouth wide so the fangs could fully descend. Canine teeth bit into his upper thigh. Another body slammed into his side.
He staggered again and this time, his feet caught on the rugged earth. His momentum carried him off-balance. More teeth, ripping at his chest. Another body, helping him fall.
Snarling, he lashed out in a frenzy. He’d go down, but he’d take as many with him as he could.
A mouth of white, sharp teeth opened, the animal standing above him. It moved in, aiming for his jugular.
Three
Shadows moved. Coalesced. Moss’s mind dizzied, watching that mouth dip to his throat. He tried to pull up his hands to protect himself. To lash out. But dull teeth bit into his wrists. Heavy bodies held him down.
Part of the wolf head disappeared into grays and blacks. Air swirled around them, thick and earthy. A knife came out of nowhere. It slashed down, without a hand attached. The blade pierced the wolf in the neck, sinking in deep.
The beast cried out and spun, snapping its jaws at the unseen attacker. A foot swung out of the unnatural mist, catching the newly dying wolf in the side and propelling it out of the fight.
A woman stepped out of the shadow, decked in tight black clothes and with a new splatter of blood on her heavy black boots.
“Six against one is not a fair fight,” she said in a feminine hum with a smile on her beautiful face. “I think the vampire needs fresh blood in this battle.” She winked at him, her version of humor.
She bent, the knife striking out, her movements lithe and graceful. Oh so lethal. Her knife dug into a furry body before she yanked sideways cutting off the howl of pain. Her face showed no emotion as she moved to the next, diving away from snapping jaws, rolling, and popping up without so much as a grunt. A bow came out of nowhere, an arrow nocked in a moment, before loosing at a wolf running into the scene. A fletching blossomed red in gray fur before the wolf staggered and died where it stood, the shot perfect.
Without skipping a beat, she slashed her knife to the side, opening a throat, then switched stance and kicked out, dislodging a jaw.
Moss blinked in utter confusion, not having seen many non-vampires fight with the ruthlessness of this woman, and never seeing such a beautiful, graceful dance when they did.
“You like when your women do all the work, yes?” The woman gave him a smile before she stowed the bow out of sight and slipped her knife back into the sheath, the movements fast, practiced and elegant, easily disguised from prying eyes with her magic. She grabbed the wolf chewing into his side and threw it. It landed on its back before scrambling to its feet.
The woman uncoiled to standing, a grin on her face, murder in her eyes.
Three wolves waited in the clearing with their heads lowered and lips pulled back from their teeth. They stared at her from wary, yellow eyes. Bloody bodies law strewn around the dirt, Moss’s being one of them. He was the only downed creature still alive.
The woman whistled, like she was calling a pet. “Here Fido. Heeere Fido. Mommy has a treat for you.” She whistled again and put out her hand like she was offering that treat. “Here boy.”
Despite the situation, and his severe lack of energy, Moss couldn’t help but smile. He liked her style.
One of the wolves took a step forward and its body braced. Moss rose to sitting, fatigue dragging at his muscles and hunger churning his stomach.
The wolf paused, its head swinging his direction. The others started backing up.
“Even nearly dead, you give them pause,” the druid said, approval in her voice.
“I am fully dead,” Moss said, struggling to standing. “Which is why I heal quickly.”
The wolf furthest away turned and loped off into the trees. A moment later, the rest followed.
“They’ll get reinforcements.” Moss staggered and reached for his pocket, needing to call Darius.
“Wait here. I’ll be back,” the druid said. Shadow formed, clouding his mind and draping across her body. A moment later, she was gone—her body, her smell, her sound, everything.
He blinked at the empty space. He’d seen the effect before, but every time, it left him befuddled.
Or maybe he just needed to feed.
“Hungry,” he heard in a weak mew.
Legs protesting, body strung out, Moss moved to the untouched human-in-transition, knowing the shifters had intended to bring him down before moving on to her. They wouldn’t have let her live. She couldn’t be salvaged at this point. Either she got the necessary blood and became a vampire, or she withered away into nothing. She was an easy kill for the shifters—entirely vulnerable. She’d be dead now if it wasn’t for the druid. They both would.
Of course, she’d be well on her way to becoming a vampire if it wasn’t for the Druid, too…
Claws morphing back into badly shaking hands, he crouched by the woman while tapping Darius’s name on his screen. The sweet scent of her body called to him, driving him to his knees. The world tilted as she reached forward and ran a firm hand up the inside of his thigh.
“Please,” she whispered. “Hungry…”
The world spun, his answering hunger blotting out thought. The phone fell from his hand and he pitched forward, fangs once again filling his mouth. He slid his body along hers, moaning when she dropped her knees wide to accept him. He grazed his lips along her neck, sucking in the scent of her. The exquisite desire.
“Oops. Probably a bad idea just now…”
That soft, sultry voice of the druid rolled heat through him. He wanted them both, at the same time.
The druid stood beside him with his phone to her ear and a nondescript plastic bag held in her other fist.
“I’ve mostly disguised your trail,” she said, “but shifters have a great sense of smell. I can’t hide yours and the girl’s like I can hide my own. So we need to get out of here,
I’m afraid.” She turned her attention to the phone. “Yes, hello—vampire call center? I’d like to order a pick-up.”
Soft lips created a trail of heat along Moss’s neck. A blue vein pulsed under the human-in-transition’s creamy skin, inviting him.
A long howl drifted behind the druid speaking on the phone, giving coordinates. Another answered it, the wolves re-organizing.
“Who’s up for a jog?” the woman asked.
A hand fisted against his back before his body was yanked from the human-in-transition. He hit the dirt and rolled, rising with a hiss.
“Wow. You’re beastly. I’ve never seen a vampire as old as you reduced to this untamed sort of creature. You guys are usually so…glossy. Refined. I rather like this change. ” The druid grinned at him as she picked up the mewling human-in-transition. “I wonder if you’ll rip into your victim’s skin? Because that could be interesting. I do love violent sex. It’s thrilling. Just don’t change into your other form before I fuck you. It’s hideous. It’ll be a deal breaker. Come on.” She jerked her head before throwing Felicia over her shoulder. “Let’s get moving. We need to get you out of here before you lose the plot entirely.”
She turned and started to jog.
“What a fun experience,” he heard her mutter. “I had no idea what I’d land in when I started this contract. Pure stroke of luck.”
The druid was right, he was far gone. Hungry beyond rational thought. He needed to be closed away from society until he’d properly fed and fucked his way back to level.
He barely remembered the jog to the small coastal road, and definitely didn’t remember the car ride where the human had been unceremoniously dumped in the back of the vehicle and he’d sat in the middle seat alone, doing everything in his power not to rush one of the two viable blood sources in the car.
They landed back at a moderately sized house on the outskirts of the small coastal town, a place of refuge on the route between San Francisco to Los Angeles. Besides the generic remodel done a few years prior, it had largely been left as is, nothing more than a daytime sanctuary and place to safely feed.
“Instead of dining in, you took your food to go?” Marie, a middle-level vampire Moss had worked with a lot lately, said as she pulled into the barren garage. She hit the button to lower the door. “And you got one for me? How thoughtful. Which is mine, Moss? The desperate human, or the silky woman with dangerous eyes?”
“If you don’t have a dong, you do not belong, love,” the druid said with a laugh, exiting the vehicle. “I want the male lost to blood lust.”
“That just makes me want you more.” Marie slid out of the SUV, her gaze following the druid through the windows.
“Maybe we’ll team up one day, who’s to say?” The druid opened Moss’s door with a flurry of her scent, raw and earthy, rich and complex. “I’ve gotten to the age where mundane sex bores me. Maybe I’ll strap on a…well, strap on. Why not. We can play at sword fighting.”
“Something is…amiss with you,” Marie said slowly.
The druid laughed, putting out her hand. Moss stared at it in a dumb-stupor, coherent thought laborious. Movement stiff and unpracticed. Her eyes sparkled and she withdrew her hand slowly before bringing up her other hand and sticking out a glittery blue nail with a sharp tip. The skin in her wrist dented with the pressure, and she drew that glittery blue across lightly tan skin. Crimson welled up in its wake.
The fresh scent of blood blasted through his awareness, firing all his nerve endings and surging electricity through him. He lunged for her, grabbing her wrist and yanking her toward him. She twisted and jerked her arm to the side, breaking his hold.
A lusty smile curled her full lips. “Shall I lead the way?”
Without a word she turned and stalked to the door at the side of the garage. He followed behind her like a starving dog sensing a meal. Through the door and she stopped at the kitchen, eyeing the fringe of curtains hanging half over the window. Her gaze took in the few ornaments along the window sill, large and colorful roosters with large plumage. They matched the brown and red roosters decorating the curtains, and that etched on the sugar and flower canisters.
“My, my. Someone really loves cock.” The druid’s eyes sparkled with humor. “It’s a different sort of cock than I am into, but to each their own.”
“It’s a farm theme,” he managed, summoning all his strength to attempt some sort of decorum.
“It’s some kinda theme.” She turned for the hall as Marie strolled through the garage door with the human-in-transition cradled in her arms like a baby. A smear of blood marked Felicia’s neck and a red trickle dribbled down Marie’s chin.
Moss’s legs lost feeling, and he sank down to his knees.
“Uh oh. Here we go.” The druid picked him up under the arms and hoisted him to his feet.
There went decorum. It had been a good effort.
Marie tsked. “Moss, this will be very embarrassing for you tomorrow.”
Didn’t he know it. But there was nothing he could do about it now.
The druid helped him into the last bedroom, the cock theme carried through in the curtains and on the bedspread. A wooden rooster adorned the dresser.
“Cocks everywhere,” the druid said as she directed him to the bed before shutting the door and throwing the lock. She huffed. “Stupid me. Vampire magic can unlock doors.” She shrugged, leaving it.
Her gaze snagged on Moss, laying on the bed, doing everything in his power to maintain control. She pulled her hands up her middle before reaching behind her. A bow and quiver drifted away to the side, her ability to keep them hidden amazing. Her knife came away a moment later, dropped to the ground.
“Ordinarily I’d just go for it, but I have a feeling you’ll rip through my clothes,” she said. “I need these for tomorrow.”
“Just say when,” Moss ground out, his voice rough and thick with strain. He dropped his head back onto the bed, desire pumping through his body. Hunger throbbing. “Just say when.”
“I’m going to fight you. Just so you know. I want to see if you can overcome me.”
“Stop fucking talking and fucking say when.”
“Hmm,” he heard, her voice silky. “Very cocky. Maybe this house was fashioned after you, only, you don’t get the joke.”
He didn’t give a shit about jokes. He needed to sink his fangs into soft flesh, and his dick into her warmth.
“Ready.”
That one single word flipped the switch. One minute he was focusing everything he had on control, and the next he’d given himself over to bloodlust entirely.
She said she’d fight. He’d seen her skill and ability. She thought she could handle it.
He’d let her try.
Four
He surged up, his age and vampirism lending him super human speeds, and his blood lust giving him a boost. He hit his feet in a frenzy, his fangs down and his cock aching.
She was ready for him, her nude body gleaming in the soft light from the window. Her hands waited at her sides and delirious anticipation spread across her face. One shapely hip was cocked sensually to the side.
He ran straight at her, seeing her hands dart up at the last moment. She struck him in the sternum with one hand and batted away his reach with the other. He pushed through it, hitting her body with his and ramming her against the wall.
She head butted him, hitting his nose and breaking it. He jerked back. Her hands grabbed his side, and then he was flying across the room, her strength incredible.
He fell to the ground, hearing her feet thumping across the floor to him. He waited a moment, strategy flitting through his mind. His goal programming his movements: blood.
She reached him, planted one of her feet, and pulled back the other, readying a kick. He grabbed her ankle and yanked, pulling her weight out from under her. She fell on him, her elbow out, cracking him in the ribs.
Blood dripped from his nose. Pain blossomed. His desire and hunger rose exponentially. Excitem
ent vibrated through his body.
Invigorated, he rolled and took her leg with him, knocking her off kilter. She tried to bring her elbow down again, but he was ready. He flipped and caught her, pulling her down on top of him. He rolled quickly, using his heavier weight to pin her under him.
She shot up with her upper body, aiming for another head butt. He dodged to the side and grabbed her wrists, forcing them above her head.
She groaned in desire, her legs spreading.
“Take me,” she said with a breathy whisper.
He released one of his hands, holding her wrists with the other, before running his palm down her chest and over her budded nipple. He let his fingers slid over her smooth stomach and pulled off of her a little so he could reach between her spread thighs.
She ripped her hands out from his grasp, but he didn’t give her a chance to pummel him. He struck down with his fangs, digging them into her yielding flesh and releasing his vampire serum.
Her moan preceded her hands speeding across his back before rubbing down to his butt.
“Holy fuck,” she said, tilting her head away so he had better access. “Holy—”
If he could speak, he’d mirror her sentiments.
Her blood exploded across his senses, soaking into him and clouding his mind. Sweet and savory, the elixir was one he’d never tasted before, delighting him. Entrancing him.
He sucked, swallowing her nectar. Unable to fight just now. Not wanting to.
He slowly ground his hard cock against her, feeling her eager gyrating to match his movements. He released her neck and licked her wound before pushing himself up, allowing his dizzied mind to settle before continuing.
Her sparkling gaze tracked him, and she ran her palms down her nude chest, watching as he unbuttoned his shirt.
“That feeling is incredible,” she mewed, approval in her voice.
“We’re predators. We stun with pleasure before claiming our victims.”
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