“Defend? Wait, Raven, you are misunderstanding me. My family’s bloodline is very rare, and my parents have this expectation of our family. No half breeds or humans have ever had the name Blackburn. Yes, it’s going to be difficult for them to accept, but they will have to. One day I hope to have children of my own and I will accept their mates no matter whom or what species they are.”
“Children? Are you telling me that vampires are able to have children?”
“Yes. We have working, functioning bodies. Our hearts beat and push the blood through our bodies just like a normal human. We can eat, which really doesn’t do much for our health, and our bodies break down every drop of food for very little energy. Blood sustains us and keeps us alive.”
“Why does the sun bother you? All the other myths I heard about vampires are false. You know the mirror trick and garlic, but why is the part about the sun true?”
Raven lay back on his chest when he pulled her to him. The closeness made her feel calm again.
“You know, Raven, after many centuries, we have not figured that out yet. Vampire’s blood is different from humans. If it is exposed to natural sunlight, it boils. Whoever made the very first vampire had to know what he or she was doing. He wanted a creature like me to not be able to live a normal human life.”
“That’s interesting. I’m glad I know about you being able to have children.”
“Why?”
“I’m not interested in having any kids right now. I am just living—and to get pregnant, what would that be like with you? I’m a slayer and you are a vampire.”
“There are hybrids as I told you. A vampire can get a human pregnant. Not very common, but there are a few running around.”
“Is Shane a hybrid?”
“Yes, Shane was turned by a female a long time ago. She left him once Shane could not show that he was able to keep his sexual need for other women under control.”
Raven laughed.
“Can you?”
“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know, control you sexual need?”
“I’m not interested in other women and now that I have you, I may never want to be with anyone but you. My worry is that I don’t want you to get bored with me. I would be extremely jealous if a man so much as touched you or if you were interested in another. But one day if it comes that you want to leave—and I hope it’s many centuries from now—know that I will always care for you.”
Kristian’s words made her want to cry. This man who had changed her in just a few hours made her feel like she could have it all. But right now, all she wanted in her life was Kristian.
“And all I want is you,” he said.
Raven breathed in then settled closer to him.
“I don’t know,” she whispered.
“About?”
“My mom may not like the thought of me dating an older man. When she thought you were sixty she freaked. What would she do if I told her your real age?”
“Maybe try to put you away for a very long time in a crazy house. You do know that you can’t go around talking about what you are or what we are?”
“Yes, I know. I thought about it, but then it came to me that not everyone would take this as I have. Scientists would give their right arm to examine something like us to find out what gives us everlasting life.”
Raven closed her eyes when he stroked her hair.
“You are right.”
“This feels so relaxing, being here with you.”
“Yes it does.” Kristian breathed out.
Raven watched television, and the feel of Kristian’s arms around her made her feel so safe. Soon her eyes fluttered close and she drifted into a light sleep.
Chapter 8
“Oh my God, I can’t believe you did that!” The sound of Veronica’s voice woke Raven from her sleep.
“You dared me and I did,” Shane answered.
Raven groaned and opened her eyes to see Shane and Veronica walking by the living room area. She smiled when Kristian’s arm tightened around her waist.
“How long was I sleeping?”
“About an hour.”
“Why didn’t you wake me? We were supposed to be watching a movie and talking.”
“You were tired and needed to sleep.”
Raven stretched. “I guess so.”
“Looky what we have here,” Veronica’s voice made Raven look up. “A vampire and his whore.”
Raven shook her head. What had Veronica just said? She couldn’t have heard her right.
“You heard me, bitch. Now stop fucking around and let me out of this fucking place!”
“What?”
Raven pushed herself off Kristian, who hadn’t said a word about what Veronica had said. She looked back at Kristian but jumped up when she noticed she lay on the man of flames. He laughed.
“What’s wrong honey, I’m too hot for you?”
Veronica and the guy of flames both began to laugh. The walls and the floor fell away from Raven leaving only a tiny space for her to stand on. Walls of fire blazed up around her. She could hear people screaming down below her. When she looked down she saw nothing but fire.
“I will see you soon!”
Raven looked up to see a large creature with gray skin and silver eyes looking down at her. His eyes changed from silver to red.
“I am going to eat you alive, slayer!”
“Fuck you!”
The demon laughed at her outburst. “I don’t do that with outsiders, but if you need to be fucked I have many willing slaves that would fuck you daily while you are here with me.”
“I will never be here!”
A wind built around her, swirling faster and faster until she knew it would knock her off the small piece of floor she stood on.
“Come on, slayer, my time has come. I will live again!”
He threw his head back and laughed, the sound vibrating all around her. The wind grew to the point she couldn’t hold on any longer.
Raven screamed as she fell into the pit of fire. Her flesh started to burn. Blisters formed as her skin fell away from her body.
* * * *
Raven sat up and screamed, her hands running over her body, trying to put out the fire.
“Raven.” Kristian’s voice made her open her eyes.
Before she could protest, he gathered her up in his arms, holding her.
“You are all right,” he murmured to her.
Raven breathed in and out. Her heart pounded against her chest, and sweat coated her body. It took a long moment before she realized that she sat on the couch in Kristian’s home.
“It was a dream?” she whispered.
“Yes, it was.”
“Raven, are you okay?” Veronica’s voice made her look up to see her and Shane standing in the doorway.
“She’s fine, just a bad dream.” Kristian answered for her.
Raven held on tighter when Kristian tried to pull away. She didn’t want him to leave her and end up back in that place.
“Give us a moment,” Kristian told Veronica and Shane.
“Raven, love, I’m not going to let go, but you have to tell me about your dream.”
“I went back to that place, Kristian. Hell! But it was here this time. The fire was all around and the guy of flames was still there.”
“Did he say anything?”
“Yes, he made a joke. What got to me was the other thing there.”
“Other?”
Raven shook her head. “Yeah. He had silver eyes, gray looking skin with tiny horns on its head.”
“You saw this?”
Did Kristian sound nervous?
“Yes. Here.”
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I have to let go just for a moment. I need to have them look around for any open portals.”
Raven let him go.
“So it’s me then?”
Kristian put his cell up to his ear then looked back at her. He shook his head at her.
W
ell if it wasn’t her then who was it? There had been two open near her since she had become a slayer.
“Let me speak to Arthas?”
Kristian smiled at her, then turned back to his conversation.
“Arthas, I believe that either there’s another hole open somewhere near my home or a Karlem demon has gotten his claws on a fucking Dreammer, and if he has I’m pissed off.”
Kristian listened for a couple of moments.
“He’s hunting her in her dreams, and if he is then that means someone is helping him.”
Kristian hung up his phone after listening again for a few moments.
“What’s going on with me? Why am I having these dreams?”
Kristian sat on the couch with her. He held her close to him, stroking her hair.
“Well, it’s hard to say if a Dreammer got to you—meaning that some little shit is taunting you in your sleep, and if he is I’m going to kill the little bastard. Or, this Karlem demon is closer to the surface. Or…”
“Damn, that’s a lot of ors.”
Kristian chuckled. “Yes, and or something has escaped the Karlem dimension. I’m hoping it’s that one over the other two.”
“Why is that?”
“With a Dreammer, it’s hard to find them because they are very small and very sneaky. They somehow get inside you and they feed off your fears and your dreams. The dreams can actually kill you in real life. I have never heard of someone actually getting rid of a Dreammer before death. The second option is that if the Karlem demon is at the surface we have a problem if that portal is still open. Now, if one of his little minions has gotten out, then he’s easy to catch. Not like you can miss a burning flame walking around.”
“That’s true. But you think I have a Dreammer in me? What would I feel like?”
“I don’t really know. It could all just be something in your mind and you had a regular nightmare. I just don’t want to take any chances. I want you to go to the Council and get a scan. I heard they have scanners to detect a Dreammer. We can work on it one at a time.”
“But I’m a slayer—how could he just waltz up to me and enter my body?”
Kristian caressed her face. “You are very new to this, and you don’t know how to fight off things mentally. Once you understand everything and are able to defend yourself, you will have all types of invaders who want you.”
Raven stood from the couch.
“I don’t know if I made a good decision.”
“About what?”
“About accepting my destiny as a slayer. It’s been nothing but hell since this happened to me. The only good thing that came out of this is you. I found you and I would never want to change that. This other shit that’s happening, I just want it gone. I don’t think I can do this, Kristian. I want to be able to go to sleep and not have nightmares about a damn fire demon. And not have to worry about things entering my body. I—”
Raven jumped when the front door burst open. A blast of wind blew into the room.
Kristian had laced his fingers with hers to keep her from moving.
“Way to make an entrance Calvin,” Kristian said.
Raven looked at the man at the door and she knew that he was not fully human. He stood about six feet tall with black hair and very dark eyes. He had on a pair of brown slacks and a light colored brown shirt.
“May I?” the man asked.
“Yes, come in.”
The man moved inside with grace. The door closed on its on behind him. Once he made it up close to her he inhaled deeply.
“Could you not sniff me until we’ve been introduced?”
The man cocked his head and examined her, then Kristian.
“I thought I would never see this day. A vampire and a slayer together like this.”
“Calvin, this is my mate Raven. Raven this is—”
“Calvin Nolan at your service,” the man interrupted.
“What do I owe the pleasure?”
The man reached out then turned his hand over. A black candle fully lit sat on his palm. He placed it on the coffee table.
“Your mate here is infected.”
“Infected?” both she and Kristian said at the same time. What else could happen to her?
“Easy, nothing too serious. I came here once I closed the portal but there is some, as we would say, portal residue on her.”
Calvin walked around her, a little too closely for her liking.
“Tell me, slayer, have you been having awful dreams?”
“Yes, just a moment ago. Kristian thinks it’s some Dreammer thing.”
Calvin laughed. “There hasn’t been a Dreammer spotted in many years. What you have is just a little residue on your soul. When the portal opened, it did so right in your room. We thought it was out back, which it was, but it was a back door one. The main entrance opened right into your room. When it did, you got infected by whatever Karlem demon has his eyes on you. The sneaky bastard was going to torment you to death in your dreams.”
Raven shook her head not wanting to think that she would never sleep again.
“Give me your hand, dear,” Calvin said, then held out his hand.
Raven looked up to Kristian who nodded. She extended her hand to the man. In a blink of an eye Calvin’s hand came across hers, slicing the palm of her hand.
“What the fuck?”
Raven pulled back but Calvin held on to her hand. He began to mumble under his breath. Her blood dripped from the cut. A cold chill ran up her spine as he began to chant louder. Her blood stopped. It stopped dripping right in mid-air. The pictures on the wall started to vibrate. The couch she and Kristian had lain on earlier shook. The blood that had left her body began to draw back into her. It looked so neat, the way it moved back into her body. The cut on her hand sealed and the pain stopped. The moment her hand looked as if nothing happened to it, Calvin stopped chanting.
“There now, all clean. If I could get my hand on that Karlem demon I would show him what torture is.”
“Thank you so much,” Kristian finally spoke.
“My pleasure. Now take care of this lovely young slayer. Train her well, vampire.”
Raven examined her hand. When she looked back up Calvin was gone.
“Wow, where did he go?”
“I have no idea. He’s a big show off sometimes.”
Raven heard what had to be Calvin’s laughter.
“What was he?”
“One of the most powerful warlocks I have ever met.”
“And he took away what was happening to me?”
“I’m a hundred percent sure he did. I’m just glad that it wasn’t any of my suggestions.”
Raven looked around the room. “Where are Veronica and Shane?”
Kristian pointed upstairs. “They are, well you know, having sex.”
Raven rolled her eyes.
“I’m sorry,” Raven said.
“For?”
“We have had only a little time together and I know you want to be with me like that. I’m sorry for making you wait.”
Kristian moved in front of her so she could look into his blue eyes.
“Raven, I would wait a life time to be with you. It’s not as important to have sex with you as it is being with you.”
“You say the sweetest things.”
“I try to.”
Kristian kissed her briefly on the lips before pulling her with him.
“Where are we going?”
“Down to the basement.”
“To the basement? Why?”
“You will see. First go change into some workout clothes then we start.”
“Wait, I don’t have any of my clothes here.”
“You should, they brought your clothes here while you were sleeping. It was a lot, so I’m sure you have something there that you can put on.”
“Okay, I’ll go look.”
* * * *
Kristian changed clothes and was waiting downstairs for Raven. Things had been crazy lately and
now they needed to relax before they moved forward with their relationship. He needed to teach Raven to open up and accept her abilities and then she would understand that physical training was not necessary.
“Wow, this place is big,” Raven said as she stepped down into the basement.
Kristian turned to his mate, admiring her from afar. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. Her thick black hair was back in a ponytail. She had on a white t-shirt and a pair of loose fitting jogging pants. Raven differed from many women he had come into contact with. It wasn’t that she was over the top beautiful, like one would see in a model. No, Raven had more muscle mass than a model, which in model terms would be considered fat. He always liked trying the different races of women, black being his preference, but he didn’t care which Raven was, he wanted her.
“What are you looking at?” Raven asked with a smile.
“My lovely mate.”
Raven’s face began to flush. After all they had been through, she was still shy.
“Oh yea, I wanted to ask you about this mate thing.” Raven moved toward him.
“We can talk about it while working out.”
Raven smirked. “I don’t think I will be able to do both.”
Kristian stood straight on the mat facing her.
“Here is what it all boils down to, Raven. Being a slayer and protecting is not being the strongest. Shane is a lot stronger than you by all means, but you were still able to overpower him earlier.”
Kristian grabbed her shoulders making sure she stood where he wanted before releasing her.
“Relax your shoulders. You are too tense. Don’t think about what’s going to happen. Clear your mind and think with your soul.”
“Soul?”
“Yes. You already know how to fight. You learned it like a computer uploading data the night you were converted. You know all the different types of fighting. Now, you just need to know when to use what technique.”
Kristian did not give her a warning; he swung at Raven, not hard but just to get her attention.
Raven fell to the ground, escaping the blow. Kristian reached down them pulled her up.
“Think with this,” Kristian said as he placed his hand over her heart. “Not this.” He touched her head.
“Yeah, but you just swung at me.”
Raven's Desires (Night Hunters) Page 13