“We should park up front instead of in the garage,” I said.
Zeke shrugged, doing as I suggested.
“What’s wrong?” Maciah asked me.
“I don’t know. Maybe nothing, but don’t you find it weird that so many lights are on?” I asked.
“The others are probably waiting up for us. They usually do that when we go out on missions like this,” Maciah replied.
Oh. Well, that made sense. I was more on edge than I realized from earlier. A good night’s sleep was probably all I needed.
“Want me to head into the garage, then?” Zeke asked before he turned the vehicle off.
“No. We’ll take care of it later today. We’ve all had a long day.” Maciah got out first, and I followed him. Zeke was already at the house by the time I came around the SUV.
I scanned the area as we approached. The scent of death was heavy in the air and there was blood dripping from the roses on the bush nearest to the front door.
The foreboding feeling I’d been holding on to ignited within my chest, but I was too late to warn anyone. Zeke had already stepped inside and there was a sword to his neck.
A man I’d never seen was standing just inside the doorway, holding Zeke hostage. “Welcome home, children.”
Mother freaking Silas.
It had to be him. There was no one else I could think of that would call them “children.” He pulled Zeke out of the entryway, keeping the sword at his throat, giving us a view of the many vampires inside the mansion that didn’t belong.
“Come on in, and let’s chat,” Silas said. His voice was rough, as if he’d been punched in the throat one too many times.
He wore black cargo pants and a white t-shirt that was tight around his chest and arms, showing off muscles I didn’t expect from a centuries-old vampire who was supposedly dying. His face had minimal wrinkles, and his dark blond hair showed no visible grays.
His dark red eyes roamed over me. “I can’t believe you tried keeping her a secret, old friend.”
“We were never friends,” Maciah replied with a snarl, staying close to me.
Zeke was facing us, not at all scared that he could be dead at any moment. The sword was beginning to cut into his skin, beads of blood gathering on the silver blade, which also had to be burning him.
“You know, I had hoped you learned something from me during our time spent together, but the fact you left your home when you knew I was getting closer was such a disappointment. I’d brought my men here, promising them a fight, but there was little fuss as we took over your compound,” Silas taunted.
“What do you want?” Maciah asked.
Silas chuckled. “Don’t play ignorant with me, boy. Give me the girl, and I’ll leave here with minimal damage. You can keep your precious home and lifestyle, and we’ll never see each other again.”
“I’ll kill you before you get your hands on her,” Maciah seethed.
Silas had us right where he wanted. Maciah could act like we had a leg to stand on, but there was no back-up coming anytime soon and Maciah couldn’t actually kill Silas. Though, I could and that was tempting, but I didn’t stand a chance against the horde of red-eyed vampires around us. None of Maciah’s nest was anywhere to be seen.
“Well, then. That changes things.” Silas slid the sword further into Zeke’s throat, and blood spilled onto his shirt.
“Wait!” I called, stepping forward. I had one plan that could possibly save Zeke and the rest of us.
Silas paused. “Are you offering yourself up?”
I nodded, and Maciah pulled me back. “You can’t do that, Amersyn.”
My eyes met his, and I hated the fear held within his dark features.
“Trust me.” I turned back to Silas, but stayed in Maciah’s grasp. “You don’t actually want me, right? You just want my blood.”
The vampire shrugged. “Technically.”
“If you take me, then you’re going to have people after you. Not just Maciah, but others who are searching for me. I assume you’re familiar with Viktor. You might not feel threatened by this nest, but Viktor could pose problems you don’t need if you take what he’s looking for. Wouldn’t it be easier if you just took my blood and left us all alone?” I asked.
Silas considered my offer but didn’t lessen his hold on Zeke, who was beginning to sag, causing more blood to spill from his open wound.
“I need a lot of blood, and if you fight me at any point, I will kill you and still take your blood,” Silas said.
“You won’t find any resistance from me.” It’s not like I wanted to die, but I knew that doing so wouldn’t actually mean the end of my life, which made the thought of death a little easier to swallow. Even though I very much did not want to be a vampire, if that was what it took to save Zeke, then I’d choose to be one of them any day of the week.
These vampires had shown me true friendship in the time that I’d known them. They had given me a new purpose, and I was going to repay that.
“Amersyn,” Maciah pleaded with me, but I refused to meet his stare. He was afraid and rightfully so, but I needed to do this. Nobody had to die this way.
“Let me go, Maciah,” I said, looking only at a smirking Silas.
“No.” His hold on me tightened.
Steeling my resolve, I finally turned to Maciah. “You have to let me do this.”
“Actually, I don’t.”
“You’d let them all die for me? Because that’s what’s going to happen otherwise.” I didn’t normally let my opponent know when they had the upper hand, but it was so clear here that there was no pretending differently.
“I’d let the whole world die for you, Amersyn.”
His words were like a punch to my gut, but I didn’t have a moment to revel in them.
Silas hissed. “Enough! Give me what I came here for, or the offer is off the table.”
“Let me go,” I said with conviction, staring at Maciah’s furious and nearly black eyes.
His grip tightened for another second longer before he let out a heavy breath. As a leader, he knew I was right. Everything about my choice felt right, even if they were all willing to die. This was the better option.
“I’m not okay with this,” Maciah finally said as he released me. There was so much hurt lacing his words, but that wasn’t something I could analyze too deeply at the moment. We’d have to get our frustrations out after there weren’t vampires trying to kill us.
After Maciah let go of me, I turned back to Silas. “Send your men outside except for two to keep things even and Nikki will go wherever you’re holding our vampires and make sure they’re still alive. If you’ve killed them, the deal is dead.”
Silas released Zeke, and he dropped to the ground at his feet. Rachel moved to grab him, but Silas pointed the sword at her. “Touch him and your head comes off.”
She sneered at her creator, tears in her eyes and ready to fight for her friend, but I could already see Zeke’s neck closing up. He was going to be okay.
“I need you to watch my back,” I said, pulling her toward me and giving her something else to focus on.
She straightened and nodded, standing next to Maciah.
“The rest of your nest is out back. You’ll find them…mostly okay,” Silas said, and Nikki took off in a blur.
Rachel pulled her phone out a moment later. “Yeah.” Pause. “All of them?” Then, she hung up and confirmed everyone was still alive.
I stepped to Silas, with Maciah and Rachel right behind me. I held out my wrist, because there was no way that psycho was getting near my neck.
“If I’m not taking you with me, then I need something to put your blood in,” Silas said, stepping on Zeke’s back as he tried to get up.
That was interesting. I would have thought he just needed to drink it. This was better, though. The bloodsucker’s lips wouldn’t have to stay on my skin.
Rachel disappeared and was back within a few seconds. She threw a liter-sized glass bottle at him.
“There.”
Silas laughed. “Yeah, that’s not going to be enough.”
She hissed in return, leaving to go get more. I wasn’t sure how much blood I could lose and not die, but hopefully Rachel knew from her nurse training and would only bring back enough containers to keep me under that threshold.
Silas grabbed my wrist as we waited, jerking me toward him and out of Maciah’s reach.
Maciah moved to grab me back, but Silas had his sword up and pierced Maciah’s chest. “Touch her and you’re both dead.”
Maciah snarled but stepped back just enough that the tip of the sword slid out of his chest. I hated this more than any of them would ever know.
I tried to pull away from Silas, but he was just as strong and powerful as Maciah had warned.
Rachel was back with three bottles the same size as the previous one, and I did my best not to show my concern at how much blood was going to be coming out of my body.
Silas’s fangs tore into my wrist without notice, and I cried out. Maciah came toward me, but I held my other hand out to stop him, trying to breathe through the pain as the sinister vampire drank from me.
I grabbed Silas’s long hair and jerked him up. “Take-out only, asshole.”
My blood covered his lips, and he smirked at me. “I just needed to test the goods first, but I’m glad to see you have some fight in you.”
He still had the first bottle in his hand and turned my wrist until my blood began pouring into the glass. “You better hope that vein stays all the way open. Otherwise, we could be here all day,” Silas added.
Evil freaking bastard.
After the first bottle was full, he grabbed another, smirking. “I might need to take another bite. The blood is slowing.”
This would be the only time I wasn’t glad to have accelerated healing.
Rachel handed me a silver dagger she must have had on her. Best friend ever.
Halfway through the second bottle, I cut my wrist with the silver blade. Given my heritage, I hoped that would keep the vein open longer than Silas’s fangs.
By the time we were working on the fourth container, I was swaying and could no longer stand. Maciah brought me a chair since Silas didn’t seem keen on leaving the front door, even though he still had two vampires behind him that had kept quiet, but on guard.
“Almost there.” Silas was giddy.
His two vampires began picking up the bottles of my blood. I tried to watch every detail, but I couldn’t hold my head up any longer.
Rachel was at my side, keeping me upright, and I could sense Maciah still behind me, hopefully keeping watch for anything else Silas might have been up to.
“All done. I’d say it’s been a pleasure doing business with you, but that would be a lie.” Silas eyed my wrist, and I tried to hold it close to my chest, but I didn’t have the strength to do so.
He leaned down, getting eye level with me. “We’ll be seeing each other again, Amersyn.”
Before I could respond, Silas and his vampires were gone.
Rachel carried me to the couch, and I wondered why it wasn’t Maciah doing so. “I’m going to go get you some blood from the fridge.” The horror must have shown on my face, because she elaborated. “I can give you an IV.”
A blood transfusion. I could handle that.
Maciah and Zeke were speaking in hushed voices, then everything went quiet.
“Maciah?” I called weakly.
He stood above me, face hard and eyes dark with threads of crimson. “You have no idea what you’ve just done.”
“I saved your nest.” I’d known he was going to be upset with me, but I didn’t expect his harsh tone.
“They would have gladly all died instead of letting that bastard have the power that’s in your blood. You have no idea what Silas is going to be capable of now.”
“We’ll kill him. We’ll get help, and everything—”
He cut me off. “No, Amersyn. We won’t be doing anything. Not anymore.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me! I almost just died to save Zeke and likely the rest of the vampires here. Silas hasn’t done anything with my blood yet. We can go after him as soon as the others are back. I made the right choice.”
Hadn’t I? I didn’t like that Maciah was making me second-guess myself, but unless he’d failed to tell me something—again—then I couldn’t think of any reason for him to be so furious.
“You won’t be able to kill Silas once that amount of your blood mixes with his. You will be his creator, Amersyn.”
Yeah, that was something I should have known, but I wasn’t going to be pissed at him for not knowing. We couldn’t change what had already happened. We needed to work together. If I could see that now, why couldn’t he?
Maciah turned without another word, disappearing from my line of sight, and there was nothing I could do as another wave of nausea rolled through me from the blood loss.
I knew without a shadow of doubt in my heart that Silas was going to die. I’d made the right choice, and we’d get another chance to end that vampire.
As I waited for Rachel to return, I began to plot how I was going to kill Silas, immortal or not. I just hoped Maciah could sort out the real reason he was so furious with me and be by my side when I finished what I’d started.
The story continues in Vampire Ash, releasing December 2021!
Want to read other books from the Mystics and Mayhem world while you wait? Check out Broken Court and Luna Marked next!
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Also by Heather Renee
Scorned by Blood
A New Adult Vampire series featuring a supernatural hunter and the sexy vampire bound to protect her no matter the cost.
Luna Marked
A complete New Adult wolf shifter series (dual POV) featuring a strong-willed leading lady and a patient, yet fierce alpha male.
Broken Court
A complete New Adult Urban Fantasy series featuring an unconventional and anti-heroine leading lady, a broody love interest, and a fae kingdom with a vile king.
Royal Fae Guardians
A complete Young Adult Urban Fantasy series featuring fae, magic users, a sweet romance, along with snark and humor.
Shadow Veil Academy
A complete Upper Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy series featuring shifters, elves, witches, and more.
Elite Supernatural Trackers
A complete New Adult Urban Fantasy series featuring witches, demons, a smart-mouthed female lead, alpha males, and a snarky fairy sidekick.
Raven Point Pack Series
A complete Upper Young Adult Paranormal Romance series featuring wolves, witches, vengeance, and fated mates.
Blood of the Sea Series
A complete Young Adult Paranormal Romance series featuring vampires, open seas adventures, and the occasional pirate.
Standalone
Marked Paradox - A complete Young Adult Fantasy fae story about a realm divided and one fae to bring them back together.
Acknowledgments
A big thank you to my husband and daughter for their continued support in making my dreams become a reality! I love you both so much!
As always, massive thanks to my editor and bestie Jamie Holmes. I love you long time!
Thank you to my assistant Michelle for your continued support. It means so much to me!
Lots of thanks to my cover designer Jay. I couldn’t imagine publishing these books w
ithout your creative genius!
Another thank you to Brittney Proffit for naming the bar in this series: Crossroads. And thanks to Kimberley Richardson for naming the night club Nyx!
Lastly, thank you to my readers for your continued support! I’m so thankful to each and every one of you!
About the Author
Heather Renee is a USA Today bestselling author who lives in Oregon. She writes urban fantasy and paranormal romance novels with a mixture of adventure, humor, and sass. Her love of reading eventually led to her passion for writing and giving the gift of escapism.
When Heather’s not writing, she is spending time with her loving husband and beautiful daughter, going on their own adventures. For more ways to connect with her, visit www.HeatherReneeAuthor.com.
Vampire Heir (Scorned by Blood Book 1) Page 19