by Eve Newton
Lilith
Vampire Queen Series, Book 1
Eve Newton
By Eve Newton
Copyright © Eve Newton, 2021
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or
dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
About the Author
Also by Eve Newton
Chapter 1
Lilith
I stand at the top of the thick, deep red-carpeted stairs and look down into the entrance hall. I live in an old gothic-style mansion, deep in the woods in a remote part of the country, built for the sole purpose of being the source of power for the Dark Raven Coven. My father’s all-powerful Coven. I’m only half Witch. My mother is one of the strongest Vampires ever to have lived, born from an ancient megalomaniac and a mysterious woman from a different Realm. I say ‘one of’ because my strength and speed matches hers. Unfortunately, that means I’m doubly powerful and was thrust into the role of Vampire Queen only a few months ago. We are being Hunted. I don’t mean that in an every now and again sense. I mean we are being sought out and killed on a daily basis and the panic that reverberated around the supernatural world, especially amongst the Vampires, called for a leader. My parents decided it would be me.
I’m not of royal blood, just powerful blood.
It annoys me that I wasn’t even consulted about this. I just had a crown dumped on my blonde head and told to rule.
Gee, thanks.
I’m twenty-three. I didn’t ask for this, I don’t want it, but seeing as I’m here, I’m powerful and don’t take orders very well, hey, I might as well do the job and do it well. My parents live out in the cottage a few hundred meters from the mansion, well within the protected walls of the land. Strong wards keep the Hunters out, but their mages, humans who practise magick, are getting stronger and more familiar with our magick. We have to keep on top of it to keep everyone safe. We are a refuge, and I won’t turn anyone away who comes to our door seeking asylum.
I descend slowly, trailing my hand lightly over the dark wooden rail, my heels sinking into the soft carpet. My long, floaty black dress swishes around my ankles as I take the stairs one by one, deliberately making this look sexy as hell.
“Hey,” Lloyd murmurs to me, looking up at me as I make my way to him. His forest green eyes behind nerdy glasses, light and heat up at the sight of me. He runs his hand through his short black hair nervously.
He is my father’s third-in-command. An extremely powerful and talented Warlock, he is older than me by about a hundred years or so. He’s not immortal, but he isn’t exactly on death’s door either. He looks like he could be in his thirties if he were human. Super cute and awkward unless we are alone…then he is super flaming hot.
“Hey,” I murmur back.
He grabs my elbow and steers me in the direction of the huge hall closet, ducking inside and shutting the door behind us. He shoves the coats aside and flicks on the low-level light.
“You got something on your mind?” I ask seductively.
“Always,” he breathes out and presses me into the wall, his body up against mine as he wraps his arms around me.
He drops his mouth to mine, and I open up for him, clinging to his plaid shirt that would look lame on anyone else. He makes it sexy as fuck.
His tongue touches mine lightly before he deepens the kiss. I twist my tongue around his with a soft moan. His hands go to my ass, bunching up my dress, making his intentions known. Trouble is, I don’t want to fuck him in a closet. Not this time, not anymore. We are engaged in a forbidden tryst because of his position within the Coven. My father will go ballistic when he finds out what we’ve been up to in closets, in the basement, in the dark corner of the grounds behind a massive bush. However, it’s time. I’ve fallen in love with him and I want our relationship out in the open.
“Do you love me?” I ask, pushing him away suddenly. I know that he does, but I need to hear it.
“You know that I do, Lily,” he whispers, rubbing my bottom lip with his thumb.
“Then it’s time,” I state and fold my arms so that he can’t wiggle his away back against my body, tempting me.
“Fuck,” he mutters. “Lily, we’ve been through this. Draven will fucking kill me.”
“I hate to be that gal, lover, but it shouldn’t stop you if you want us to be together.”
He purses his full, sexy lips at me.
I sigh. “Look, Lloyd. I’m falling for you, I want us to have a relationship out in the open. I want to take you to my room and make love to you in my bed. It’s not that unreasonable.”
“I know, it’s not,” he relents. “Give me a day or two to work up the courage, please, Lily. He terrifies me.” He smiles to show that he is only half joking.
I reach out to stroke his face. “Thank you. I want everyone to know that we are together, that’s all.”
“I want that too,” he agrees and then watches me as I duck around him and open the closet door a fraction to peek out, making sure the coast is clear.
I don’t look back as, seeing no one lurking, I head out and into the drawing room on the right side of the huge double front doors.
“My Queen,” a silky-smooth voice with a hot British accent, purrs at me from a darkened corner.
I smile to myself and turn towards the voice. “Axl. I didn’t know you were in here. It’s daylight out. Shouldn’t you be in the barracks downstairs?”
He takes a deep pull on his cigarette and blows the smoke in my direction, not answering me. I grimace but can’t help the heat on my cheeks. He is the epitome of sex on legs. Light blonde hair, cool blue eyes, head to toe black leather, sleek and predatory. I don’t know how old he is. We have never discussed that. He has been here for only two weeks, having landed on my doorstep, half on fire from running from the Hunters.
“You’ve healed up well,” I say, because I have fuck all else in my repertoire. I don’t usually, but I get a case of jitters around this guy.
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He pushes off from the wall he was leaning casually against, and hovers on the border of the dappled sunlight that is cast into the room. “One of the perks, love,” he says. “You hide in closets a lot?”
My hot cheeks burst into a blush so furious, I want the ground to open up and swallow me whole. “Uhm,” I stutter. “Uhm…”
“It’s okay, love. I’m not going to tell tales. You can do better though than that Warlock. Be with one of your own kind…” He trails his hand slowly and seductively down his lean, muscular body. I follow it with my eyes, starting to get sweaty and a bit breathless.
“He is one of my own kind,” I breathe out, meeting his dark, soulful gaze. “Half kind anyway. And why are you spying on me?” I add, annoyed and concerned.
“I won’t tell,” he murmurs. “For a price.”
Blackmail? Bold. It pushes all of my flustering aside and lights a fire in me. “You want to be careful with your words, love. My guards don’t take kindly to threats.”
“Do your guards know that you sneak into cupboards for hot, sweaty sex?”
“Hah,” I gasp, going back to flustered. “We weren’t… it wasn’t… mind your own damn business.”
He laughs quietly. “Wasn’t what, pet? Hot?”
“Fuck you!” I snarl, getting pissed off now. I’m about to stalk over to him and see if he’ll set on fire again by dragging him into the patch of sunlight, when an ear-splitting shriek resounds around the mansion, alerting everyone to the fact that someone has tried to get through the wards at the gates.
Chapter 2
Lilith
I turn towards the front doors and lunge forward, with Axl growling behind me. He can’t follow due to the sunlight, but I forget about him as Lloyd and I reach the doors together. He drags them open and rushes out with me close behind. Witches and Warlocks from all over the Coven grounds are heading towards the gates to see who or what has landed on the edge of the wards. It is so often a forest creature, so panic doesn’t really kick in until we see a large black Wolf, wobbling and then toppling over right outside.
“Stay back!” Lloyd calls to me and throws up a force field which doesn’t halt me, but sure as shit slows me down.
“Dammit, Lloyd,” I snarl, but he ignores me.
He is right to. I know that. My Queen head knows that, so I shove the lover's indignation aside.
I might be powerful; my Witch powers are inherent and strong, but that doesn’t mean I’m a flawless magick-wielder. Quite the opposite. I have to work twice as hard because the Vampire in me detests the Witch side. More often than not, my magick goes awry with drastic consequences. I cast a glance at the scorched earth near the gates and cringe with embarrassment.
As I approach at a more cautious pace than the Coven, I note that our visitor has a huge wound on his flank that is bleeding profusely. I’m guessing it’s a ‘he’ due to the size.
“Let him in!” I cry out, pushing past the magick as hard as I can to catch up to everyone else. I burst through it with a zing that sets the magick pinging all over. Half of the Coven duck for cover, having already experienced my out of control magick. Lloyd doesn’t and it pleases me. He gives me a wry look that I return with a beam before I lunge forward and drop to my knees in front of the huge, black, wrought iron gates.
“Let him in,” I demand again. “Or I will.”
“My Queen,” Aster, a junior Warlock, stutters. “We don’t know who this is. He could be a Trojan Horse for all we know.”
“He’s hurt!” I exclaim, standing up to face the young Warlock. “We do not stand by and watch supernatural creatures die on our doorstep!”
“Drop the wards,” Lloyds says quietly. “We don’t want another fire,” he adds with a smirk at me.
I grimace at him and shift my weight, the reminder of my last attempt to break the wards when Axl arrived, crunching under my feet.
I wait impatiently as they mutter a chant to break the magick. I should be able to do this with a click of my fingers. It’s the only time I dislike the Vampire in me. Every other time, I prefer it over the Witch. The blood, the bite, the thrill…
I blink as the wards drop and the gates are dragged open to haul the Wolf inside. As soon as he is past the perimeter, the wards are erected again. I kneel down again and place the Wolf’s head in my lap, stroking him.
“Hey,” I murmur. “You’ll be okay now.”
I rear back in surprise as he shifts in front of me to his human form. Yep, definitely a ‘he’. I can’t seem to draw my eyes away from his very naked and very engorged cock.
“Uhm,” I lick my lips and tear my gaze away to his strikingly handsome face, only because Lloyd started growling under his breath and would’ve given the game away if it had continued. I don’t need my dad finding out about us over some petty jealous bullshit. It needs to be dealt with finesse and caution. “Tell us what happened,” I say to the Wolf Shifter, stroking his short chestnut-colored hair.
His slate gray eyes meet my magickly enhanced silver ones with a faint smirk playing at his lips. “Like what you see, princess?” he asks, with a grunt of pain.
“Get him inside,” Lloyd barks out, snapping his fingers to get the junior Warlocks to move.
The Wolf is hauled off my lap and carried away. I stand up and shake my head slightly at Lloyd.
He scowls at me, but doesn’t say anything as I turn on my heel and stalk back towards the mansion to find out more about this mysterious Wolf that has landed in my lap.
Chapter 3
Lloyd
I watch Lily walk away from me, a bit pissed off at my attitude. I know that, but I couldn’t help the reaction it caused in me to see her eyeing up another guy’s dick. I love her so much. I have since the day she looked up at me with those stunning silver eyes and licked her full lips, flirting with me, only a couple of years ago. I fell like an idiot for her and have remained under her spell ever since. I don’t think that I will ever escape her web. Not that I want to. I want to be with her forever. She is a creature that fascinates me. She has fire and wit and a maturity about her responsibility that staggers me. She rarely shows her temper, but when she does, you had better run. She can kick the ass of any Warlock here with her fists, but her magick is skewed by the Vampire inside her. She knows and is careful with it. She doesn’t launch into situations with her magick flying wildly. She respects that she needs to stand back on occasion for the Coven to do their jobs.
“You love her, don’t you?” Draven says from right behind me.
I spin around with a groan. I didn’t need him to blindside me with his query, but that’s how he works. He has probably known about us from the get-go and was watching me stew before he decided to flay me alive for touching his daughter.
I gulp and lift my chin higher, staring into his bright blue eyes. “Yes,” I state, seeing absolutely no point in denying it or trying to talk around it.
“I see,” he murmurs, putting his arm behind his back. He is dressed in a black Hugo Boss suit with a white shirt and looks impeccable. “Does she love you back?” he adds.
I blink, caught off guard. I’d expected to be halfway across the grounds by now with a sore ass where he’d kicked me.
“Yes,” I say, my mouth so dry I don’t even think a gallon of water would quench my thirst.
He nods. “Does she know how old you are?” he asks.
I frown at him. “Yes, of course.”
“And you don’t find it a problem being over a hundred years older than her?”
“No, and she doesn’t either.”
“She has a destiny in front of her that requires a man of strength by her side,” Draven says, still in that quiet, calm voice that is unnerving me.
I pause, trying to weigh up what he is saying exactly. He tilts his head at me, his black shoulder-length hair falling like a curtain across his face.
“I am a man of strength,” I point out. “You know that, or you wouldn’t have me in the position that I am in the Coven.�
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“Indeed,” he murmurs. “How do you feel about the Vampire?”
His questions are ones that I didn’t expect. To be fair, I didn’t expect any questions at all, just a fist in my face and an order to back the fuck off.
“I love all of her.”
“Does she bite you?”
“What?” I spit out. “You can’t ask me that!” I blush furiously.
“I’ll take that as a ‘no’,” he says dryly. “Keep it that way.”
I’m dying to ask him why, but I know better than to question the Head of the Coven.
He turns to walk away, but then he stops and looks back at me. “If you hurt her, even so much as only managing to piss her off, I will skin you alive, inch by inch until you wish you had never been born. Are we clear?”
“Very,” I croak out. “I love her, Draven. I won’t ever do anything to hurt her.”
“I know,” he says softly. “But remember that is a promise, not a threat.”
I nod and then he is gone.
I’ve gotten off lightly. Very lightly. So much so that I know this isn’t the end of it. I start to sweat as I realize that maybe Draven isn’t the one that I had to get past with this.