Almost Human

by Secret Cravings Publishing

  Alaric curled his lip. “She had no compassion. She had no soul to begin with.”

  Jairdan spoke. “So, we kill this bitch. She might be stronger, but it’s still possible.”

  Alaric shook his head. “I get the feeling it’s not. Kori tried to cut off her head. The sword passed right through her neck. Like it was made of smoke.”

  Dagger snorted. “When Kori said raised witches have incredible powers, she wasn’t exaggerating. No mortal weapon can kill this thing. I do have two immortal ones, but they’re small daggers, which is a little closer than anyone should get. Besides, they weren’t created for killing a raised witch. They were meant to kill gods. I’m not sure it will work.”

  “And even if we kill her, we still have a demon on the loose.”

  Dagger groaned. “Which can only be killed by a Gate Keeper, or a mystical weapon that is demon specific. We could try to send it back to the underworld, but that requires incredibly powerful magic that usually taints the user.”

  He took a little orange bottle of pills and a flask from his jacket pocket and popped one, washing it down with whatever was in the flask. “I could do it, but I’m pretty fucked up now. You might have to kill me if I get too much evil in me. And more importantly, you might not be able to.”

  Fallon cleared his throat. “Uh, yeah, let’s not go there. I’ve been told about the last time you went all dark side. I heard it wasn’t good.”

  “That’s the freaking understatement of the millennium, kid.”

  Fallon smirked. “Is it true you’re the cause of the current Scourge problem?”

  Dagger sighed and drank a little more. “Yeah.”

  I stared at him. “Holy shit.”

  The Scourge were a diseased breed of vampire. Faster, tougher, and absolutely insane. Like world-domination-comic-book-bad-guy insane.

  “We’ve lost a lot of hunters to those things. One of them I ended up having to kill myself. Almost died in the process.”

  Casey caught my gaze. She remembered. Lisa had been a dear friend to us both. It was one of the few times I’d been in the hospital, and the only time I’d needed immediate surgery to survive.

  Casey frowned at him. “How in the world did you create the Scourge?”

  He glowered at her, and his voice dropped to a dangerous tone. “It’s a long story, and not something I intend to discuss. Let’s focus on the here and now.”

  Alaric exhaled slowly. “So, where do we go from here?”

  We sat in silence for a second, and then Dagger spoke up. “I think we should call a Gate Guardian.”

  “No!” Casey and I shouted at the same time.

  Dagger scowled and opened his mouth to protest.

  Alaric held up a hand, cut him off, and then pointed at me. “Why not?”

  “Guardians are as dangerous as any other demon. They’re unpredictable and damn violent.”

  Dagger grinned. “I like them.”

  Alaric snorted and raked a hand through his hair. “Figures. But I need some solid information.”

  “Okay. Well they are dangerous, but it’s their job to deal with shit like this. A Guardian will have special weapons forged in his realm that can defeat this thing. And they will do anything to catch their demon, which is what makes them so scary, because they will kill humans, vampires, and anything else that gets in their way.”

  “I know who to call if we go that route. Gideon is a giant pain in the ass. He’s tried to kill me more than once, but he’s also saved my life a few times, and he’s damn good.”

  I shook my head. “You risk unleashing a rogue on society. Guardians tend to not leave this plane when the job is done, and kill indiscriminately. Destruction is their job.”

  “Well, do you have a better idea?”

  “You bring your immortal blades and we try for ourselves.”

  He snorted and rolled his eyes. “And some of us will get killed in the process.”

  “Or we might pull it off. I feel her out there. She was weakened by my spell. If we’re going to act, we should do so now. Not even death magic will keep her out of the house forever. With her power and a demon backing her, she’ll break it eventually.”

  I sighed and glanced at Alaric. “Not to mention I don’t know what effect turning me into a vampire had on the spell. It was supposed to be powered by my death, but I didn’t die. I can feel that it’s still there, but I have an ugly suspicion the spell won’t hold her off for much longer.”

  Alaric scrubbed his face with his hands. “Fuck.” He took a deep breath. “Okay, I don’t want to unleash another demon on this world. Sorry, Dagger.”

  “Fine. I get why you don’t want to, but it’s still a mistake.”

  “You got those weapons with you?”

  Dagger shook his head. “Nah, they’re stashed. Close though.”

  I interrupted. “I’ll go with him. No one should leave the house without backup. And I think most of the time that backup should be a witch. I’m sure all you boys fight well, but the only thing that’s going to hold this bitch off is magic.”

  Alaric pointed at me. “You can’t go anywhere.” I opened my mouth to argue, but I didn’t get a word out. “Shut it. You’re still weak from your transformation, and you will be for a while. You get to sit this one out. Fallon will go. They’ll just have to do without a witch. Besides, Dagger isn’t exactly untalented in that area.”

  Dagger groaned. “Great, you’re sticking me with one of Nyx’s fledglings. They’re all pains in the ass. Except his new chick—she’s a damn good sparring partner, and she’s got a vicious attitude.”

  “Fallon is the least affected by Sherra’s tortures, besides myself. You made Nyx a vampire. Shouldn’t you like his fledglings? Shouldn’t they be a little like family?”

  “Yeah, well, Nyx is a pain in my ass, too. Why can’t you come with me instead?”

  Alaric glanced at me. “I’ve got to stay here and keep an eye on things.”

  Great. That meant he wanted to keep an eye and probably other things on me. My libido leapt at the thought and I told it no. It was better to cut myself off from Alaric.

  I frowned. But why would I? He was amazing in bed, and gorgeous, and I was sure he wasn’t looking for a long-term relationship. Why couldn’t I have fun with him while I was here?

  I sucked my bottom lip between my teeth. We could have a little pleasure, and then go our separate ways.

  When I glanced at Alaric, his eyes were narrowed on me, like he knew what I was thinking and not particularly liking it.

  Chapter Eight

  Everyone went their separate ways and I stood to go after my sister. I had to apologize to her. I was still pissed, but she had good intentions.

  Alaric grabbed my arm. “We need to talk.”

  “Can it wait? I need to talk to Casey.”

  He nodded. “Meet me in my room when you’re done.”

  Ooh, something to look forward to. From his tone I knew talking meant talking, and probably not sex. Which probably meant an in-depth argument.

  I caught up with Casey as she hit the stairs. I grabbed her wrist to stop her. She glanced at me and hesitated before she told Misha she’d be up in a minute.

  Misha sneered at me. “If she comes up crying, I’ll beat the shit out of you.”

  I flipped him off as I pulled her into a room near the foot of the stairs. I shut the door behind us and turned around. I gaped. The walls were covered in paintings. There were stacks of them leaning against the walls as well, and even a few unfinished ones on the floor. The desk was covered in boxes full of art supplies.

  Casey tiptoed around the paintings to sit on the red leather love seat.

  I frowned. “Who did all these?”

  I was rewarded with a small smile, but it was nowhere near the sparkling one I knew she could give me. “All the guys. Mainly Jairdan. He doesn’t sleep all that much. Alaric and Misha say he never has. He’s always been a busy person.”

  Wow, Alaric had said he’d learned
a lot of skills over the years, but I hadn’t truly believed him. Why did him being artistically inclined make him that much hotter? I shook my head. Right now I was supposed to be apologizing to my sister, not fantasizing about surly, pain-in-the-ass vampires.

  I followed the path Casey had taken through the paintings and plopped myself down next to her. Her head was down, her hair falling around her face, obscuring it from my view. I tucked the pin straight strands behind one of her ears and grasped her chin, tilting her head up.

  Tears sparkled in her eyes. Shit, her boy toy was going to beat the crap out of me.

  “Do you hate me, Kori?”

  I sighed and grasped her hands in mine. “I could never hate you, little sister. I don’t agree with what you did, but I can understand why you did it. I understand not wanting to lose your family. I should have been easier on you. It wasn’t all that long ago that I thought you were worse than dead and it was…debilitating. And I loved Tahira, too. Of course I remember her being kidnapped.”

  I still had the scars, both physical and mental, from trying to save her. Our father had been killed in his attempts. I’d watched his life drain from the gaping wound in his throat as my small hands tried to put pressure on the wound while the vampires shoved Tahira into a black van.

  I’d managed to kill the vamp trying to take Casey and wriggle out of the grasp of the one attempting to kidnap me.

  I shook my head to clear the gory and horrifying images rolling around in it. “Besides, I’ll take my frustrations out on Alaric. I blame him more than you. He should have known enough to let me die. He doesn’t even like me. I don’t know why he gave in to your demands.”

  She frowned at me. “Don’t be mean to him, Kori. He’s a good guy. He loves me. That’s why he did it. And if the loud sex is any indication, I don’t think he minds your company either.”

  The blush bloomed up my throat and onto my cheeks, and I cursed myself. I hated that I blushed so easily. Casey burst into a fit of giggles, but her cheeks were red, too. I flung my arms around her in a tight hug before we stood.

  We walked to the door, still laughing. “We need to hang out later. It’s been a while since I’ve spoken to you when we weren’t in peril. I want all the dirt on Misha. True girl talk.”

  She danced away. “Sure thing.”

  I was headed for Alaric’s room when a hand gripped my arm. I spun around, breaking the person’s grasp. I prepared to strike, but then I noticed who it was.

  Dagger jumped back and threw his arms into the air in surrender. “Sorry, didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”

  I rolled my eyes and braced my hands on my hips. “Haven’t you left yet?”

  “Nope, I gathered supplies for spells in case the Undead Witch Bitch comes our way.”

  In spite of the light tone the comment was made in, I couldn’t help but worry. “Be careful.”

  He grinned. “I didn’t know you cared.”

  I shrugged. I wasn’t sure why I cared either. “What can I say? You’re amusing.”

  He laughed and gave my body a hot once over. “You’ve got to be one of the few people who thinks that.” He bit his lip. “If you didn’t belong to Alaric, I’d be all over you.”

  I frowned at him, taken aback by his statement. “I don’t belong to anyone. Alaric and I are having fun for now, I’m sure. It’s not like he’s looking for a relationship.”

  He put his hand on my shoulder and his smile was sad, and a little pitying. “If you think he’ll let you go, you’ve got a hard lesson coming. I don’t look forward to witnessing it.”

  He stepped around me, and then hesitated. He turned to face me again. “Do you know anything about the vampires who took Tahira?”

  I frowned at him. “Eavesdropper. And not much. It was so long ago. All I remember are the heavy, Spanish accents of the men, and the name of one was Rudolpho. Why do you ask?”

  His expression was guarded when he answered. “No reason.”

  I narrowed my eyes on him. “Liar. Do you know something? Do you know where she is?”

  “No, I don’t.” But the determination in his eyes said he aimed to find out. He turned from me and was gone before I could ask another question.

  But I only had one: Why the heck did he care?

  I continued on my way to Alaric’s room and shrugged it off. I didn’t know Dagger well, but I was pretty certain he wouldn’t share his reason with me. If he even had a good one. From what I’d heard, and the way he acted, he wasn’t all there.

  I slipped into Alaric’s room hoping he wouldn’t be there. I wanted some peace, and time to think. I wasn’t up to arguing with him. He’d said he’d be waiting, but maybe he’d talked to his brothers about what was going on instead.

  I closed the door silently and leaned my head against it. In spite of being on good terms with my sister, I wasn’t happy about what I’d become. Even now I could feel the blood lust starting to burn in my gut, chipping away at that little piece of conscience that told me not to hurt the innocent. What would happen when I was around someone my new instinct considered prey?

  Hands descended on my shoulders and I almost let out a groan. Alaric was waiting for me, like he said he’d be. Then his thumbs dug into my tense muscles and I did moan, but for a whole different reason. His short massage was expertly done. He seemed to know how to play my body so it would work against my brain.

  Bastard.

  I turned to face him slowly. He allowed his hands to glide lightly over my shoulders and collarbones. His expression was hard, but his eyes held a mix of sympathy and guilt.

  “I don’t want to fight. Can’t our discussion wait?”

  His eyes became hostile. Shit, I didn’t think I’d said anything to cause that look. His hands slid down my arms, capturing my wrists. In a flash they were pinned above my head. His mouth crashed over mine, in an angry, passion-filled kiss.

  “Oh, but we’re going to fight. So you think I only want you for some quick fun? That’s what I understand from your conversation with Dagger?”

  I glared up at him. “Does everyone in this bloody house eavesdrop?”

  He smirked. “Kind of hard not to. Vampire hearing. And don’t change the subject.”

  “Well, what more do you want? I don’t want a relationship with you. We can barely stand each other.”

  “Then why can I smell how aroused you are? Why are your hard little nipples poking my chest? I think your body knows what it wants.”

  “My body might want you, but I have a brain, too. If I let my libido make my choices for me, I wouldn’t have left your bed earlier. And I wouldn’t think you’d want a relationship anyway. A man like you can’t commit to a woman. You want a different one every night.”

  He snorted. “And you know so much about me. Maybe I’m looking for the right woman, and I happen to like you.”

  He was right. I didn’t know him at all. I was making an assumption based on no facts. But I wanted it to be true. I couldn’t have a relationship with a vampire. “I’m a vampire hunter. How can I possibly be the right woman?”

  “Correction. You used to be a vampire hunter. No more.”

  I wiggled, trying to pull my hands free.

  He moaned and arched against me. “Oh, baby, do that again, it definitely adds to the fantasy.”

  “What makes you think I won’t go right back to vampire hunting when all this crap is over?”

  “The king will have you killed.”

  I frowned. “The king? What king?”

  “Macon, the vampire king. You know, it’s surprising that a vampire hunter doesn’t know our hierarchy.”

  I curled my lip at him. “My job is to kill leeches, not do a political study.”

  “Usually Macon wouldn’t mind the vampires in his kingdom killing each other. It’s good for population control, and he won’t intercede in personal squabbles for power, but for one like you he’d make an exception. He doesn’t like vampire hunters, and you’re lucky that I’m powerful and respected
enough to keep him from killing you, because he’d probably send an assassin.”

  He chuckled, low and dark. “Besides, you might be stuck with me anyway. When Pagan was turned, Macon allowed Nyx a probationary period. If she strayed from Nyx’s side, she’d be killed.”

  “How long was the probationary period?”

  “It was supposed to be a year, but Macon lifted it at Nyx’s request. And before you think to ask, I won’t request that it be lifted.”

  I forced my arms an inch off the wall and he shoved them back, grinning. “Ooh, you’re strong.” He pulled my arms away from the wall and tugged me toward the bed. He collapsed on it, spilling me across him. “I’m stronger.”

  “I bet when I knee you in the balls, you’ll rethink that statement.”

  He released my wrists and ran his hands down my body before flipping me onto my back and wedging his hips between my thighs. “Now don’t do that, or we won’t have any fun.”

  His erection bumped my clit. I barely managed to hold in my gasp. “I’m not in the mood right now.” It was a total lie. I’d rarely met a man who could hold me down and very few that would dare to attempt it. It was exciting.

  He sucked my earlobe into his mouth and nibbled it gently. “Bullshit. I bet your panties are soaked.”

  He unbuttoned my jeans and ran his hand over my pussy. He thrust a finger into me while his thumb stroked my clit. “Mmmm, yep all wet.”

  He added a second finger to the one inside my vagina. I bucked against his hand, trying to find release, but he placed his forearm over my hips to hold me still.

  “Now when the probationary period is up, you can go, but by then I don’t think you’ll want to.”

  God, I was so close, but he kept me balanced right on the edge, not letting me come.

  “Why do you think that?” I managed to gasp.

  “Because I plan to use every weapon at my disposal to convince you to stay. These weapons include eight hundred years of acquired skill in bed, and a big dick.”