SV02-06. Slave to a Vampire

by Katrina Kahler

  I have never loved another being more in my life, the thought raced through her mind. And I know you feel the same.

  Catherine never expected love, never dreamed of marrying the man who once enslaved her, but now with him holding her close, his need plain on his face, she knew there would be nothing able to come between them. That love, that fierce undying love, terrified her more than anything else on this earth.

  “Catherine, I will never let you go again,” he promised, pressing his lips to hers. “I swear it to you. You have my heart, love, and I will forever treasure yours.”

  There were no more words to be spoken. His kisses burned against her skin and she ran her hands through his hair, pressing him closer. He nipped and sucked along her shoulder, fangs digging into her body as he drank from her. Catherine gasped as wave after wave of pleasure coursed over her skin. He tugged her dress aside to reach even more flesh as his tongue traced patterns and soothed over the punctures left in the wake of such intense desires to mark every part of her. She shoved at his shirt, wanting to feel the hard planes of his chest beneath her touch and the smoothness of his skin. He shifted his arms for her until he was half naked in the darkness, but Catherine could see every perfect detail with clarity. He was perfection. She licked her lips in want and Bastian cursed, slanting his mouth over hers until she moaned for more.

  As his lips caressed her and her dress slowly came undone beneath his hands, Catherine knew she would never have enough of this man who had saved her life, her very being, who promised her everything and wanted the same in return.

  Unless you turn to the darkness, the nagging voice whispered in her mind. Unless you turn into nothing more than a monster.

  Her hands stilled on Bastian’s chest, but he did not hear and did not notice her sudden pause for panic, fearing that the voice might be right. She had killed Charlotte without a moment’s hesitation, and Ridley after that. She would have slaughtered them all to protect Bastian. What did that make her?

  Spurred on by fear and the need to chase the voice away, she gave into Bastian’s touch and let the rest of the world fall away around them. Her dress slipped from her shoulders and down her arms, revealing her body to him. His eyes narrowed at her nakedness to the waist and Catherine’s chest grew heavy under his intense gaze. She sighed, leaning into him when his hands held her, massaging her soft mounds and running his thumbs in circles until she squirmed. When she shoved her dress the rest of the way off her body, letting it pool at her feet, he cursed vividly and wrapped her in his arms then laid her out on the soft underbrush beneath him.

  Bastian’s body surrounded her with his promise of an eternal love so deep and undying she felt it in her very bones. When he sank his fangs into her breast, her nails scratched down his back at the intense heat rippling through her body. Each touch sent her further over the edge until all she wanted was to tumble over with him to catch her. Their bodies shifted and moved against each other until Bastian’s breeches were gone and there was nothing between them, not even air. Catherine arched up into him and as he gently lifted her body to his, she realized this was what it meant to be completely and utterly lost in someone else.

  He was careful at first, so gentle with her body, but Catherine didn’t want him to hold back. This night had been stolen away from them and it was far past time they took it back. With each deep thrust of his hips, she lifted hers to meet him. He groaned against her shoulder, lips moving lower until he captured her breast in them and blinded her with an insane burning passion in moments. Catherine wanted him, every last bit of him he had to give her. As her nails racked along his back, digging deep furrows into his skin, he bit down hard on her neck, drinking from her as she cried out, body quivering with release in his arms.

  But it was far from finished. With her newfound strength, Catherine rolled them over until she straddled him, amazed at how his skin glowed in the darkness from its pale sheen. His eyes caressed her naked flesh, hooded with arousal not yet fully satisfied. She moved her hips and bit her lip for a moment.

  Instantly his hands stilled her hips and worry covered his face. “Did I harm you?”

  The smile that spread across her face was seductive and she shifted her hips again. Bastian’s hands tightened on her hips and he bucked beneath her. “You could never hurt me,” she whispered, catching sight of the single drop of blood at the corner of his mouth. Her blood.

  Catherine bent down and licked it from his mouth, savoring the taste of herself on his skin. “Damn it woman,” he growled and sat up, readjusting their bodies so he could move within her and hold her against himself as he claimed her mouth.

  With one warm hand wrapped securely behind her, his other hand slid between her breasts, gliding down lower until he found a spot never touched before. Catherine gasped, her head falling back as they moved faster against each other. Bastian unmade her that night on the island, and as he put the pieces back together, he branded each one with his very essence until Catherine was filled with him. If she ever doubted his love before, there was no room left for such thoughts now. Bastian was hers and she was his.

  “Bastian,” she moaned as his fangs pierced her again and she cried out. The need to return the favor was strong and she bared her fangs, but still worried about hurting him.

  He removed his own fangs from her neck and tilted his head to the side. “Do it, Catherine,” he whispered huskily. “You won’t hurt me.”

  Catherine hissed and bit down on his neck. He thrust up hard inside her as she drank his blood, clinging to him as though he gave life itself from his veins. Her fangs throbbed within him as he did the same inside her and together they let the fire consume them, their bodies quivering against each other in the night.

  He held her against the hardness of his body until the world righted itself and they fell back down to the brush. She laid against him, licking the last of his blood from her fangs and his neck. She took in the night and the new soreness of muscles she hadn’t even known were there. She was sated and exhaustion crept in, calling for her to sleep.

  “I’m so sorry, Catherine,” he said suddenly as he kissed the top of her head. “I’m sorry.”

  She lifted her face and glanced at him confused. “For what? You saved me.”

  “After I saw your throat slit,” he said and frowned. “I should have listened to you, back at the plantation. I should have trusted that you would never…that you would not….” He sighed and cursed.

  Catherine smoothed the lines from his forehead. “That I would not turn into Victoria?”

  He kissed her gently. “Yes. I was afraid I would lose you and that fear almost got you killed. I will never doubt you again, love, never again. Watching you die once was more than enough,” he growled and hugged her close, as if afraid she would vanish from his arms.

  Catherine let him hold her, all the while wondering if she should tell him about her own fears for becoming a killer. It had been so easy to watch Charlotte die. If given the chance, would she do that to others without a moment’s hesitation? This was a new world and everything she thought she knew about herself had changed in just a few short nights of being beaten, tortured, and turned into a vampire. But as his fingers trailed up and down her back, kindling those flames of need again, she closed her eyes and let the worries drift away with the wind.

  For tonight, she was going to let him hold her and love her as she had wanted from the first time he kissed her, so full of heat and longing. It wasn’t love, not at first, but as she laid there beside him, she wondered what else could let him hear her thoughts. Never before had she reached someone by simply sending her thoughts towards them. She was certain Liam would have not been so kind to her over the years if he heard half the things his sister thought of him back in the village growing up.

  “Bastian,” she said, sitting up to see him. “Why can you hear what I’m thinking?”

  “I don’t know,” he said. “But I have a feeling you are not the only one who can do something…uniqu
e.”

  “Can you?” she asked, thinking back over the time they had spent together. Although beside him slowly stealing her heart bit by bit, she had never noticed him do anything strange.

  “Not what you do, no,” he licked his lips, eyes narrowed in thought. “But the vampire who wanted me seems to think I am of special value for one reason or another.”

  She sat up all the way. “You were not able to read my thoughts before I was taken.”

  “No, but that’s not from me, that’s from you, Catherine. Right now, I don’t know what you’re thinking,” he said, smiling as he tucked her hair behind her ears. “Though from the look in your eyes, I don’t need to.”

  Her eyes slid closed when his hands traced patterns on her back and slid around to her stomach. “No, I suppose not, but Bastian, this Master, who is he? How does he know what you can do?”

  His hands paused and she mentally berated herself for asking and ruining what she knew would have become another heated bout of love making. “I’m not sure if I can do anything,” he added softly. “But he was the monster who turned me.”

  Catherine growled, remembering the details of that night as vividly as if she had been there to witness it. A flash of pain skipped across his face before he tucked it away. He lost everything he was that night, or thought he had lost it. She knew from the way he held her, part of the old Bastian had returned, but would it stay if he had to face down that bastard again? He came close to losing his humanity in his fight against Victoria. As she lay dying, she saw exactly what he did to that woman, and though Catherine was glad the bitch was dead, that was a side of Bastian she never thought to see.

  “What I wouldn’t give to be able to know what you’re thinking,” he said with a laugh. “Catherine, this man, whoever he really is, he will come for me again.”

  “Then we will leave the islands,” she said. “We can go somewhere he can’t find you.”

  “It’s not that simple, love,” he said. “God I wish it was, but we killed a number of his newly turned vampires and Victoria. He will notice and I will not lead him to you.”

  Catherine captured his hands to still them, giving her a chance to think clearly before he distracted her. “Bastian, whatever happens, I will stand by your side. You can’t make me leave you, not after what we just went through.”

  He hesitated, but smiled and sat up with her, kissing her forehead. “Of course not. I just don’t want us going into this unknowingly. Come,” he said and stood, holding out his hand to help her to her feet. “I was not hungry before, but you have aroused an appetite in me now.”

  She wanted to believe him, but with her senses on high alert, she picked up on the subtle ways his gaze shifted from hers, how his hand twitched. He lied. Somewhere along the way, he would try to sneak off and deal with this man on his own leaving her out of harm’s way, but no matter who came after him, she would not let him face an enemy alone.

  He picked up her dress and scowled at the blood staining the front. Pain clouded his face and Catherine immediately reached for him. “I’m alive, Bastian,” she whispered, turning his face so he looked into her eyes. “You saved me, so do not carry around any guilt over what happened.”

  “You died,” he whispered. “I watched her slit your throat and you died, Catherine. That is something I will never be able to erase from my mind.”

  He held her dress until she took it and slipped it back over her head, the dried blood cracking and flaking as she did. He dressed in silence beside her and when she was ready to go, he held out his hand for hers and together they took off into the jungle, on the hunt for more prey. The silence between them stretched on, but Catherine could not read his thoughts to know what ran through his mind as they raced onwards…or could she? If she was able to send him her own thoughts, why could she not in turn read his?

  Another large cat loomed ahead. She smelt it and the burning in her throat returned, but she shoved aside the instinct to focus on that and instead thought only of Bastian. But when she reached the thin veil that separated her mind from his, Catherine found herself lost in a world of darkness.

  She froze, opening her eyes wide as she glared around. “Bastian?”

  There was no answer except his name echoing back to her. The jungle was gone and she was utterly alone, lost in the abyss. Too frightened to take a step, she closed her eyes and cursed, trying to focus on her own mind and getting back to Bastian, but nothing happened. She hissed at the darkness, sending out her senses to try and find something, anything, but it was pointless. There was nothing except her in the shadows. She pushed her mind, searching for Bastian, but she could not even feel the bond between them and fear gripped her heart tighter. If she could not feel him, where did that place her? Unless this was his mind…and she was lost within the monster she always told him he was not.

  But this could not be his mind, there would be a sign, a feeling, and she felt nothing but coldness. She refused to believe this had anything to do with him and a moment later a deep and sinister laugh surrounded her, tightening its hold on her body until she couldn’t move.

  “Well now, isn’t this an interesting turn of events,” a man’s voice hissed. “I did not expect to ever meet you, let alone find a use for you behind being bait.”

  Catherine tried to turn her head, but her muscles wouldn’t cooperate. “Who are you? Show yourself!”

  “To you? Oh my sweet thing, not yet,” the man crooned. “You are certainly not what I assumed, but you will do nicely, a perfect addition to my collection so far. Yes, I must have you, my beauty.” She flinched when ghostly fingers brushed through her hair sending shivers down her spin until her bones ached. The being, whoever it was, took in a deep breath, pulling her scent into his lungs and Catherine fought the sudden urge to be sick.

  “Get away from me.”

  “Oh I think not,” he snarled. “You smell of another, of my Bastian. That is a shame it is, but don’t worry, he may think he has claimed you, but not for long. Soon enough you will be mine, you both will, my dear sweet Catherine.”

  Her eyes darted left and right, catching the silhouette of a tall figure before it sank back into the shadows. “I will never be yours! Who are you? Show yourself!” Was this the Master? The monster who turned Bastian? How had he found her?

  Laughter swirled around her, harsh and pricking her skin like a thousand sharp needles. She cringed, face scrunched as she fought to move, to shift at all, but whatever power was over her did not relent and soon a scream tore from her throat. It was too much, far too much!

  Bastian…Bastian!

  “He cannot help you now,” the man leered. “He won’t even be able to help himself.”

  Catherine’s eyes closed and she stopped listening to the man’s words. Bastian. She needed him to hear her. Bastian please…Bastian!

  Chapter 2

  Bastian held Catherine in his arms. One minute she stood beside him as they made ready to attack and the next she collapsed, every muscle twitching, baring her fangs at an invisible enemy. He shook her gently, trying to rouse her, but nothing happened.

  “Catherine, open your eyes, my love,” he pleaded, smoothing her hair from her face. “Catherine!”

  She shifted and he sighed in relief, but then she sagged, dead weight in his arms. If he still had a beating heart, it would’ve skipped at the thought of losing her. Nothing happened for a few long, terrible moments and then her face contorted in agony and she fought against his arms, struggling to get free.

  “Catherine! Damn it, it’s not real,” he muttered, trying to hold her still before she hurt herself, wishing he knew what tormented her. He needed something real, an enemy he could tear apart, not an evil being toying within her mind. “Tula! Haddie!” The sudden burst of strength from Catherine knocked him to his back and he rolled to pin her to the ground, calling out again for the others. Never had he seen this before.

  “Bastian! What’s happened?” Tula asked, sinking to his knees beside them. Haddie arr
ived close behind, her face wearing a confused expression as she took in the scene. “Why won’t she wake?”

  “I don’t know,” Bastian growled when Catherine raised her head, snapping her jaws. “She was fine and then this happened. I don’t understand!” He grimaced, holding her hard enough to break bone, but she was no longer just trying to break free. If she got loose, she could easily go after one of them and hurt them, maybe even kill without realizing it. “Catherine, please just open your eyes.”

  Haddie glided closer and bent down, pressing her palm against Catherine’s forehead. Bastian snarled in warning, but her eyes flashed red with power. “Be still, Bastian, I only seek to aid her.”

  Bastian exchanged a look with Tula, but there was nothing else for it. He could not reach Catherine. He gripped her harder when she tried to go after Haddie. As his desperation grew, he hung his head when he heard Catherine’s voice whisper as if she stood right beside him. His head whipped up to stare at her face, but Catherine’s eyes remained closed.

  “I heard her,” he hissed quietly.

  “What do you mean?” Tula asked. “As before?”

  Bastian nodded as Catherine’s voice sounded again. “She’s calling for me…she’s in pain,” he growled, glaring at her face and willing her to open her eyes. “Catherine! I’m right here, love, just come back to me!”

  “She can’t,” Haddie whispered. “She’s trapped. Someone is keeping her in the dark.”

  “What the hell does that mean?” he snarled. “Bring her back!”

  “I can’t,” Haddie replied. “He’s there and he won’t let her go.”

  Fear and rage exploded in Bastian. “Who, damn it?” When Haddie took too long to reply he almost lunged forward and went for her throat, but then she fell back into the dirt as if something threw her, shaking her head. “Haddie, what happened?”

  “He threw me out,” she hissed under her breath. “It’s him.”

  The Master…Bastian’s blood boiled. “Catherine, you listen to me. He does not have power over you. You are stronger than he is, show him. Show me,” he growled fiercely. “Show him you are not his!”