That thought of Arcadia’s death made her smile at him, flashing her fangs. “As his blood changed me, I began to plot my escape. He was obsessed with the need for my submission and did everything he could to break me.” She took in a shuddering breath then let it out slowly. “When I made the full transition, he didn’t let the Vampire Elite know that he’d made a fledgling. He kept me hidden away. One night, around three years after he’d turned me, he grew complacent, and I managed to escape. Unfortunately I had no idea where I was, only that I needed to get back to my family.”
Now it was Tyler’s turn to support her weight as the sorrow of the past pressed down on her like a physical weight. “They died of a plague, right?”
She nodded, her voice raw with grief as she said, “Yes. My husband contracted it while looking for me, fell ill, and brought the plague back to my household. It was his love for me, his refusal to give up the search for me, that got him killed. I wish I had died with them.”
To her shock he gave her a hard shake. “Well, you didn’t die. You’re still alive…sort of…and you’ve not only survived Arcadias’ torture, you killed him and got your revenge. Do you really think your family would have wanted you to spend hundreds of years alone?”
Her lower lip trembled. Actually, she knew her husband would not have wanted her to remain a widow for so long. Dying young was a cold, hard fact of living in the sixteen hundreds, and Lisabetta and her husband had spoken early on about their desire that the other would remarry in case of their death.
“No,” she whispered.
Tyler’s voice took on a pleading tone. “Sweetheart, give us a chance. I know I can make you happy, and I know you make me happy. We’ve both suffered enough.”
Ashamed of her own weakness, she whispered, “I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to trust anyone again, Tyler. If you know about my portrait, then you know it was my own brother that sold information to Arcadia about how to find me.”
“Baby, we’ve got all the time in the world for me to earn your trust.” He kissed her forehead. “Just give me a chance.”
Her skin prickled, and she looked with alarm at the big windows of the room where the dawn began to ever so slightly lighten the horizon. “Tyler, unchain me.”
His hold on her tightened. “No.”
“No?” She shoved him away, regretting the way his face tightened with pain at her harsh move. “Unchain me!”
“Calm down,” he said in a soothing voice. “In about thirty seconds, you’ll see why you don’t have to worry.”
Far, far away on the edge of the planet, the sun began to rise, and her body slowly grew heavy, relaxed. She fought the sensation, trying in vain to pull the silver chain from her ankle. Even though she knew on an intellectual level that Tyler staking her out to die in the sun didn’t make any sense, her instincts screamed at her to run, to get underground, to get safe. She’d been forced to spend many nights away from the protection of her home, so she knew how to find a hidey-hole, but she couldn’t do anything if she was still chained.
“Tyler,” she screamed, “let me go!”
“No. I will not let you run this time, Lisabetta. I let you go before because I didn’t understand why you refused to let anything develop between us yet kept seeking me out. We are destined for each other, meant to be together. While your mind may not be ready to acknowledge this, your body does. So I’m not letting you run to Sargon for a mind wipe. You will remember tonight, and you will sleep in my bed. I will protect you with my life while you dream beneath my covers. Please, trust me.”
She was about to claw her foot off like a fox caught in a trap when her sensitive ears picked up the hum of small engines. A moment later, steel shutters fell over all the windows, shutters bearing the crest of Sargon’s House. Stunned, she slumped to the ground and fought off the weakness invading her.
“Where…did you get those?” she forced herself to say, her lips growing numb and the words coming out slurred.
“Sargon had them installed after the fifth night we were together.” Tyler smiled at her, and she would have glared at him if she had the energy. “We actually had a bet. Sargon thought you would turn me in less than four dates, and when he lost, he had these shutters, and a bunch of other shit, done to my home so you would have a safe place to rest when you finally gave into my ‘barbaric charms.’”
The world began to fade around her, and the last thing she saw before going into a deep sleep was Tyler bending down and removing the chain around her ankle.
Hours later, the moment the sun sank behind the horizon, her body came awake with a vengeance, hunger clawing at her as she took in the delicious scent permeating the soft sheets she slept on.
A low growl of need worked its way out of her, and she opened her eyes, her instincts urging her to seek out the source of this delicious smell. As she sat up, she absently noted she was nude, but that wasn’t an issue. Her body would only make it easier to seduce and drink from the delicious male animal that tempted her.
As she rose from the large bed and the silver silk sheets slid from her body, she vaguely thought about the irrational way she was acting, but that idea was fleeting and quickly burned up in the hunger of sangue fever. Opening her senses, she quickly found the source of her need, the perfect antidote to the lava burning through her veins. As she moved swiftly through the large home, she darted from shadow to shadow and easily avoided the mortal woman washing dishes in the kitchen.
Soon she came to a back patio area that was perfectly set up to seduce her senses. Vases full of white roses graced the glass tables arranged next to the sumptuous lounge chairs. There were a few votive candles scattered about, but most of the patio was cloaked in shadows. To mortals it would be too dark to see, but to her light-sensitive eyes the whole scene was soothing. She took a step forward, her gaze going right away to the source of her hunger.
As soon as she saw Tyler standing in the middle of the patio, joy filled her, and she smiled at him.
Tonight he wore a pair of black lounge pants and nothing else, revealing the hard muscles of his body, built up from a lifetime of helping out on his parents’ cattle ranch. Memories were coming back to her now, and she took a moment to savor them, bits and pieces of a hidden past filled with pleasure and love. Tyler watched her closely, his whole body tense, the shadows creating delicious works of art on his solid frame. She flared her nostrils and took in a deep inhalation of his scent, a purr working from deep in her throat as his pheromones saturated her mind.
Tyler gave her a small smile. “Hungry, sweetheart?”
Speech was beyond her, the need heating her blood further, making her pussy wet, her nipples hard. The night air caressed her skin, and she tilted her head back, relishing the feeling of the breeze on her breasts and her hair tickling her bottom. While she’d always enjoyed the heightened sensitivity that came with being a vampire, she’d never reveled in it as she did now, embracing the arousal filling her veins, encouraging the flames of Sangue Fever higher until she glowed with the warmth. Tyler’s quick inhalation as she cupped her breasts sent a feminine thrill through her. She wanted him, and she had centuries of experience at seduction on her side.
“Tyler,” she whispered while toying with her nipples. “Come to me.”
His soft chuckle made her look up at him, and she found him giving her an amused smirk. “How ’bout you come to me?”
Instead of being pissed, she couldn’t help but smirk back. “Tyler…”
He sighed and shook his head. “Lisabetta…”
The way his voice dipped when he said her name sent a shiver of pleasure through her. Giving him an arch look, she made her way over to one of the sumptuous loungers that was more like a giant futon than a chair. The fabric was smooth against her skin as she reclined on it, lifting her knees and parting her legs, revealing the secrets of her sex to Tyler’s hot gaze. His jaw twitched, and she couldn’t hide her satisfied smile as she watched his erection jump beneath his loose pants.
“I need you,” she said, lightly raking her nails over the fabric.
He took a step forward then shook his head. “Only if you promise to feed from me.”
The thought of not feeding on him hadn’t even occurred to her, so she merely smiled. “I’ll feed from you when you’re inside of me.”
Warning bells went off in her mind, insisting that drinking from him wasn’t a good idea, but Lisabetta ignored them, and when Tyler smoothed his hands along her thighs, she forgot everything but the sensation of his touch. Her body sang beneath his knowing fingers, and he began to slowly kiss his way up her leg, pausing to nibble the sensitive skin behind her knee, and up until his breath warmed her wet sex.
He took a deep breath then groaned. “Damn you smell good.” He slid his tongue between her swollen labia. “Taste even better.”
Abandoning herself to the pleasure of his mouth, she stretched out on the lounge and shivered while he began to eat her pussy in a way that sent hard sparks of pleasure racing through her body. So far he’d avoided her clit and focused only on her outer labia, sucking and licking the plump lips until they throbbed almost as much as her clit. She tried to shift beneath him, but he pinned her hips to the chair with his hands and began to bite her inner labia, nibbling his way up to her clit.
She arched beneath him, intense sensations of pleasure and heat setting fire to her heart. Her fangs began to ache, and she clenched his hair in her hand, forcing his face away from her sex. “Fuck me.”
He started to argue, and she was having none of that. Flipping him quickly onto his back, she straddled him then sank down slowly, both of them crying out while he filled her. Tyler snarled at her and gripped her waist, holding her still while he thrust hard beneath her, fucking her with powerful strokes that would have hurt a mortal woman. However, to Lisabetta, his spearing thrusts merely spun her own desire higher until she swore she felt as if she’d burst into flames when her orgasm roared through her.
Tyler sat up, holding her close while he pulled one of her nipples into his mouth and sucked hard on it. When he offered her his wrist while still moving inside of her, she impatiently took it, sinking her fangs eagerly into his vein. Her arousal burst back to life as his rich, perfect blood filled her mouth, and her heart soared as his strength, his love filled her. Every one of her senses lit up like fireworks as he overwhelmed both her body and soul, nourishing her and filling the emptiness in her heart. He bit her nipple. The sharp pain only added to her pleasure, and then he began to suck the blood from the small wound he’d made, the sensation similar to him sucking on her clit.
She came again, harder than the first time, her pussy clamping down on him, and she ground her body against his while he began to climax inside of her. Bursting with energy, she licked at the wound on his wrist then gently moved him away from her breast, tending to the bite wound by licking her fingers then smearing her healing saliva around the mark.
The perfume of their lovemaking filled the air and blended with the dry scent of the arid wilderness around them, creating a fragrance unique to them that blanketed her in comfort. She followed Tyler back as he collapsed, still buried inside of her, while she panted against his neck. Now that her hunger was fulfilled, she struggled to keep the memories of what led up to this point at bay. This moment, this second, was so perfect that she tried to burn it into her mind forever, to never forget again all the amazing things this man made her feel because she had to somehow leave him behind and never look back.
Chapter Four
She sensed her Maker before he chose to make his presence known, an odd sensation that only came from being around a vampire that could be considered ancient. Sargon stood among the trees around a hundred yards to the right. He watched her cuddle with Tyler, and she instinctively bared her fangs at him, letting him know that she would defend her fledgling.
Fledgling, fuck, she’d made a fledgling without her Maker’s approval.
Tyler’s life could be forfeit.
With her heart racing, she sat up and ignored Tyler’s puzzled look.
“Please,” she whispered. “Spare him. I take full responsibility.”
To her shock, Sargon rolled his eyes and made a “blah blah blah” gesture in her direction.
Well, at least one thing was constant in her world. Her Maker would always be a sarcastic dick. It was kind of reassuring in a way. If he planned on killing her or Tyler, he would have just done it. Which meant he had separate motives for being here.
He stepped from the tree line into the moonlight, his ancient Mesopotamian heritage evident in his slightly tilted dark eyes. The centuries had smoothed his skin to perfection with only faint lines around his eyes and the generous curve of his mouth. Sargon had beautiful lips, the most perfect she’d seen on any man or woman, but there was nothing feminine about him. In his mortal and eternal life, he was a warrior king, a man who fought for everything he had. But, beneath all that death dealing lay a gentle heart. When she should have been killed, Sargon had instead saved her in every way possible.
Tyler followed her line of sight and let out a soft chuckle. “I was wondering when he’d show up. I must say I’m pretty impressed that you waited until now to join us, Sargon.”
Rich and deep, Sargon’s laughter filled Lisabetta’s senses as he quickly joined them. Smiling at Tyler, showing a flash of fangs that were like those of a lion rather than a man, Sargon shrugged. “How could I resist the sight of you two fucking so beautifully? I must say, Lisabetta, you have chosen a very…blessed man as a fledgling.”
Panic hit her hard, and she tried to push away from Tyler. Before she could speak, Tyler glared at Sargon. “Stop being an arrogant prick for ten minutes. I know you think talking to her like that is helping her, but it’s not. Now you made a promise to me, Sargon. You swore that if I managed to get her to spend the day at my house you’d tell me how you met her.”
She swallowed hard, the story at once both one of her favorites and one of her most hated secrets. To say she’d been savage when she was discovered by the rest of the vampire world was an understatement. Her need for revenge had known no bounds, but she hadn’t been stupid in her war against Arcadia. She’d bided her time, sabotaging his empire, slowly ruining him financially so that he was so preoccupied, in his own bat-shit crazy way, about his dwindling possessions that he became careless.
By this point Lisabetta was familiar with her enhanced vampire powers and had learned to defend herself against both man and vampire. With the money that she stole from Arcadia, she began to build her own humble nest egg. That money allowed her a freedom she’d never had before, and she’d fallen into complacency as she killed off Arcadia’s men one by one over the years, taking out men he trusted or vampires that aided him.
Looking up at Sargon, she said, “The night we met I was stalking a particularly loathsome piece of garbage named Douglas. You see Douglas would provide Arcadia with young men and women to destroy. It was…horrific, and I was elated that I would finally get to mete out my form of justice on Douglas.”
Sargon laughed and sat at the edge of the lounge chair, absently stroking her legs where they twined with Tyler’s hairy calves. Tyler grunted and kicked at Sargon’s hand, but the vampire merely gave an unrepentant grin and continued to caress both of them.
“Can’t blame me for trying,” he teased Tyler with a definite flirty smirk.
It suddenly dawned on her that Tyler and Sargon had been spending a lot of time alone together. “Just how well do you two know each other?”
Tyler sat up a bit, unashamed of his semi-hard shaft. “Considering I’ve seen him every night you’ve been here so he can wipe your memories, I know Sargon pretty well.”
“Not well enough,” her Maker murmured, and she narrowed her gaze at him. When he looked at her, he smirked. “What? You know he’s delicious.”
Shaking her head, she tried to keep from smiling. “He is, isn’t he?”
The need to stare at Tyler’s rapidly harde
ning cock consumed her, but she tried to keep her gaze off that part of his anatomy. Her greed for his body was astonishing, and she lost the will to not stare at the man she considered hers. The thought of Sargon pleasuring Tyler with her sent a raw wave of lust through her that threatened to obliterate her control. Because of their blood bond, she’d feel an echo of Tyler’s sexual arousal when the men played together. The idea of feeling Tyler’s emotions when Sargon took him made her clit throb. Sexuality in the vampire world was just another indulgence, and Sargon was very, very good at every aspect of it.
Tyler snapped his fingers by his crotch. “Stop fucking staring at my dick, Sargon, and tell me how you met and took over her blood bond.”
Instead of tearing Tyler’s head off, Sargon merely shook his head and smiled, revealing his sharp fangs. “So demanding.”
She looked from Tyler to Sargon, pretty sure the men were flirting with each other. Not that she could blame Tyler. When Sargon turned on the charm, it was impossible to resist him. God knew she hadn’t stood a chance when he’d come to the conclusion that she would be his fledgling. He’d seduced her both mentally and physically with a single-minded determination. As starved for affection as she’d been, she hadn’t been able to resist his charms for long…and if she was being honest with herself, she hadn’t wanted to. Even as damaged as her mind had been back then she knew deep in her soul that Sargon would never harm her.
Leaning back against Tyler, she looked at Sargon as she said, “I’d finally stopped playing with Douglas and let him die as I felt a…presence at my back. A warmth that blanketed me in a feeling of contentment that I’d not experienced since my mortal days. I should have been tipped off that the man behind me was more than human, I mean I was covered in gore from slaughtering Douglas, literally bathed in blood, and the handsome man now staring at me wasn’t repulsed in the least.”
“You have no idea how sexy she looked,” Sargon said to Tyler. “She’d stripped down to her shift, and it was soaked in blood, making the fabric stick to her body.”
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