Terry Spear - Vampire

by Killing The Bloodlust (Triskelion) (lit)

  Even so, she knew she couldn’t attempt to kill him now, despite the inborn need to do so, or the whole house of vampires would attack. Not to mention the human hosts...though they couldn’t bite her, they could kill her in other ways.

  “Not thinking of trying to kill me, are you?” Dimitri asked.

  She was as transparent as her kitchen window. Taking a deep breath, she folded her arms. “Why did you want me here?”

  “Come with me. We can be alone.”

  Alone. She stood a chance of killing him if she were alone with him. But he, like his brother, must have ruled families of vampires. He’d been around for over a 150 years.

  Vampires were an arrogant breed. Crystal came armed to the teeth. The vampires, on the other hand, preferred taking advantage of the hunters in the ancient way, through brute strength. If the vampire felt overwhelmed, he could always vanish and reappear somewhere else. But most times, they persisted to the end, conceited enough to believe they’d win the battle. Willing the hosts to help in their cause could be an obstruction to the hunters also.

  Suddenly, she wished she hadn’t come. No matter how much her blood stirred to kill the vile creatures, the whole notion disgusted her.

  Dimitri said, “I won’t harm you...not yet. Nicolai’s claimed you for his own. And unless he changes his mind, you’re safe with me and mine.”

  He touched her arm. A jolt of electricity ran through her body. She stepped away from Dimitri.

  He smiled. “My brother says you don’t want to kill us, not really. It’s the only reason I’ve agreed to this. Come. Show me what you have that makes my brother want you so.”

  She glanced over at the female host now reclining on a black velvet sofa. Kostya ran his hand under her dress and up her thigh, then sank his teeth into her exposed neck. He sucked briefly. Then he turned to see Crystal watching him.

  His extended canines dripped in blood and his lips were colored with the sticky substance. The woman pulled at his arm to get his attention again, to offer him more of her life sustenance.

  Crystal’s stomach wrenched. How could hosts give in to the bloodsuckers like that? He smiled at her. Wanting to kill Kostya so that she could free the woman from a life of servitude, Crystal knew killing one of the vampires in front of the others would ensure her speedy demise, whether Nicolai wanted her for his own or not.

  She noted some of the crowd had dispersed to spend time alone with their intended victims. Others sat on black sofas stroking their human counterparts’ necks before drawing blood.

  Dimitri grabbed her hand suddenly. Momentarily befuddled, a breeze stirred in her face, and everything turned dark. She blinked her eyes and realized he’d transported her to a bedroom...his bedroom, she presumed. For a moment she fought being disorientated. Then concern filled her, as the blood rushed to her ears. She attempted to squelch her disquiet as she focused on her new predicament.

  Black velvet drapes trimmed in gold braid hid a canopied bed in darkness. Dimitri drew close to her, and cleared his throat. “Want to join with me there?”

  She shifted her attention back to him. What was he saying? She frowned. The notion a vampire could have sexual encounters with human consorts had never occurred to her. The thought of Dimitri and her intertwined together in his bed stirred longings deep inside her, but at the same time, her stomach turned with revulsion.

  He studied her response, his brown eyes, darkening to black again, then raised his brows. “You don’t think we can pleasure a woman?” Then he smiled. “Oh, but you do. I can see from the darkening of your blue eyes, you’re interested, despite fighting the notion.” He motioned to a black velvet sofa, but she remained standing.

  Her heart beat out of control. Did Nicolai know what his brother had in mind to do with her?

  Dimitri reached his fingers out to touch her cheek. She leaned back from him. “Yes, we very much enjoy the companionship of a woman. Kostya himself is an example of the union between a vampire and a human. He was born, not turned. There are others also. But not here.” Dimitri tried to touch her arm.

  She sidestepped his grasping fingers. Her blood turned to ice. She wasn’t human. Dimitri and Nicolai had to be mad to consider a sexual union between a vampire and a huntress.

  “Kostya wants Lila to carry his child. And she will too, once he’s bonded with her sufficiently.”

  The room seemed to grow colder. Nicolai couldn’t truly want that with her, could he? A huntress? Her thoughts grew fuzzy with the notion.

  “Why do you cover your throat?” Dimitri touched the knit collar of her turtleneck, and fingered the top edge. “You know we cannot bite you without infecting our blood.” His voice was soothing, almost whispered with passion.

  Dimitri wanted her.

  But being a vampire’s concubine would be worse than death. She brushed his hand away and triggered the dagger at her wrist to reveal its shiny blade. Better to die a huntress in the end, then become the pet of a vampire.

  In the next instant, she thrust the knife at his chest, but he jumped back to avoid getting stabbed.

  Passed down from generation to generation, the ancient magical blade, when plunged into the heart of a vampire, would end its otherwise immortal life. But she’d missed her chance.

  Just as quickly, he leapt forward, and grabbed her wrists with superior vampire strength. He slammed her against a wall. Her spine radiated with pain on impact. She gasped. Irritated with herself, she’d reacted too slowly again on the rebound. She just wasn’t cut out to be a huntress.

  “Tsk, tsk, my brother might be wrong about you. I’ll have to speak to him about your behavior here tonight. Not at all friendly.” He nuzzled his smooth cheek against hers, surprisingly warm. Had he recently fed? The thought made her swallow hard. Most likely. His cheeks were full of color.

  He smiled and ran his tongue over her lips. “And yet, you hesitated to kill me when you’d had the opportunity. Perhaps there’s hope for you yet.”

  He suddenly jerked his head toward the door. “I’ll be back for you later,” he growled. He released her hands and before she could strike at him again, he vanished.

  She ran for the door and jerked it open.

  In the hall a female human host screamed, then ran down the stairs to the first floor. A dark-haired man grabbed Crystal’s wrist and bared his wicked, bloodied canines at her. The electricity from his touch sent her adrenaline into overdrive. His unbridled action meant he intended to kill her. She had no choice...kill or be killed.

  He released her wrist, then grabbed her neck with both hands, intent on crushing her windpipe, the vampire’s method of choice for killing hunters. Before he could squeeze her throat, she shoved the spring-loaded wrist knife between his ribs and deep into his heart. The special blade worked its magic.

  He crumpled to the floor, the skin of his hands and face wrinkling with age. She grabbed her throat. Coughing, she jumped over his wizened body and headed for the stairs. Instantly, she saw what the commotion was about. Her twin brothers ran out of separate rooms, their swords dripping with blood. The vampires must have relayed their trouble to Dimitri through mental telepathy.

  Her brothers excelled at infiltrating vampire parties. She’d walked through the front door, but they’d undoubtedly sneaked in some other way. Relief washed over her to see them there, but in the next second, concern.

  Her blond-haired and bearded brother, Boniface, noticed her first and scowled. “What the hell are you doing here?” He didn’t wait for a response as two vampires charged up the stairs at them.

  His identical twin, Victor, tackled the one while Boniface handled the other. With their strength and skill, the brothers swung their swords and severed the weaker, newly turned vampires’ heads from their bodies.

  Crystal twisted around to find a female behind her, hideously hissing at her, blood-soaked teeth bared. The vampire reached her hand out with lightening speed, and grabbed Crystal by the neck. Crystal seized the woman’s wrist trying to keep the pressu
re off her throat, then jammed her knife into the creature’s heart, ending its reign of terror.

  Boniface grabbed Crystal’s arm. “Get out of here, now!”

  She glared at him. They’d given her up for dead. No way would she be ordered about by any of her family. Not ever again.

  Her brothers bolted down the stairs. Crystal headed for the rooms looking for Nicolai. She still planned to convince him to stop pursuing her.

  Her thoughts reverted to her apartment. Damn.

  Nicolai could return there anytime he wanted. She’d have to stay somewhere else tonight. Great.

  She opened one of the bedroom doors. A woman cowered behind the bed. A human host.

  Crystal hurried to the next room. Two vampire corpses, mummified in appearance. Her brothers had been busy.

  Hurrying back into the hallway, she planned to leave the house, and return home to pack.

  Suddenly, Kostya blocked her path, his dark eyes, as black as the sea, and just as deadly as a swift undertow, bore into her as if he tried to control her thoughts.

  She readied her knife, her mind warring with her heart over what she had to do next.

  Chapter 2

  When the human hosts fled from Dimitri’s house, Robert Parker knew the vampires had found his handy work...two dead bloodsuckers in one of the bedrooms. He’d had every intention of leaving the scene after that, but the woman who’d arrived in the Cougar intrigued him. Was she a human host? Or a vampire?

  She seemed different somehow. Or was it just that she was way too attractive? Her blue eyes sparkled, but they shouldn’t have. Not if she was one of them. Her pink frosted lips had surprised him too. Lip smacking gorgeous, full and nearly pouting, totally kissable. Not blackened with dark lipsticks, Goth style, like most of the female hosts colored theirs.

  A human host wouldn’t have been interested in speaking with him either, and yet she seemed to have wanted to make the effort. Her lips had parted, luscious, for the taking. He’d nearly been drawn into her charms, before he reigned in the unfamiliar longings for the woman raging through his system. Her hair was long and blonde, not dyed dark like the human hosts’ hair. Was she a vampire then?

  Considering the way she walked in through the front entrance, he knew she was one of them, either already turned, or a host. Maybe, he could use her to find the bloodsucker that killed his sister. Or was there some other reason he couldn’t get his mind off the woman? A kind of devil’s magic that made him feel something sexual for a woman he’d never even met before? The way her black denims hugged her narrow hips and her firm butt. The way the turtleneck caressed her breasts, like he wanted to. A traitorous tightening of his boxers followed. Jeez, he felt like a hunter in puberty.

  He glared at the house through the darkened windows of his car. Where the hell was the woman? If she were a vampire, she could vanish and reappear anywhere she’d been before. Anywhere. But if she were a host, she’d run out the door like the rest of them, with fear in her eyes.

  He folded his arms. He’d wait a bit longer. She’d return for her vehicle in any case, wouldn’t she? Then he’d follow her, and find out where she lived.

  Somehow, he hoped to get the information out of her. Where was Yorovitch hiding? That’s what he wanted to know more than anything else in the world. Then he’d end the vampire’s life as soon as he could get his sword into Yorovitch’s wicked heart.

  * * *

  Crystal readied her special blade to strike at Kostya’s heart, hoping instead, he’d let her leave Dimitri’s house without a fight. To her surprise, he didn’t advance on her like most would do.

  He smiled a simpering little smile. “Nicolai is making a mistake with you.”

  “He’s right about one thing. I don’t want to kill vampires. But he’s given me no choice. I won’t be his.”

  His posture was relaxed, not tense like one might expect of a vampire facing his own extermination. “We’re at an impasse. He doesn’t want you harmed, but I won’t let you kill me either. And now even his brother is interested in you. What am I to do?”

  She maintained her defensive posture, her knife readied if he wouldn’t oblige. But her palms grew sweaty and a bead of perspiration snaked its way between her breasts. “Step out of my way, and I’ll let you live for the night.”

  “I can’t let you go.”

  Taking a deep breath, she attempted to calm the uneasiness filling her system. “Then I’ll have to kill you.”

  He quirked a brow, seemingly sensing her reluctance to make short work of him. “Have you ever killed a vampire born of the womb before?”

  She hesitated to answer. She hadn’t even known they existed before tonight. Would he die in the same manner as the others?

  “I didn’t think you’d killed one of my kind before.” Kostya took a step forward. Instinctively, for self- preservation, she thrust her knife at him. He dodged back, then vanished.

  “Coward,” she grumbled under her breath. In her heart, she knew he wasn’t afraid of her. Rather, he didn’t want to fight Dimitri or Nicolai if he disobeyed them concerning harming her.

  She ran down the stairs. The velvet couch had been overturned along with tables and lamps. But there was no sign of any vampires or their human hosts. The party was over.

  She dashed outside and looked to the right...no cars or people, just well-maintained yards and an empty street. Looking left, her blood chilled. The white convertible still sat parked at the curb up the street. Except for her Cougar, it was the only other vehicle still there. Her skin tingled at the nape of her neck as she tried to make out whether the driver was sitting in the car or not.

  The darkness of the windows prevented her from seeing inside. But then the ignition switched on and a slice of concern unsettled her. What in the hell was he all about? Had he wanted her to follow him to another one of Dimitri’s bashes? Or was he Nicolai’s host and would report back to him about her being with Dimitri?

  Nothing mattered now except getting some much needed sleep. After cleaning off her knife, she snapped it back into its concealment. Then she pressed the keypad and unlocked her car door. Climbing in, she realized her heartbeat was way out of bounds. She took several deep breaths trying to calm the adrenaline still coursing through her body.

  Now if she could only return to her apartment and pack some of her uniforms for the rest of the week without finding Nicolai there again, she might make it through the night yet.

  Driving home, Crystal noticed the moon and stars had disappeared. The wind blew her car around on the road like a leaf tossed to and fro. She imagined she looked like a drunken driver swerving into the other lane in the gusty wind.

  As soon as she drove into her complex, she noticed lights illuminated her living room window. She hadn’t left any on. She took a deep breath trying to settle her discomfort. Had Nicolai returned?

  At twenty-five she was getting too old for this.

  After parking, she dashed up the stairs to her second-floor apartment. With knife at the ready, she unlocked her door, then slammed it open.

  It banged against the wall. Her brothers, Boniface and Victor, jumped from the couch, their swords readied. Both stood six-foot-two, and their impressive size gave them a decisive advantage. With her petite stature of five-foot-four, they towered above her. Relieved she wasn’t their target tonight, she took a deep breath to calm her frazzled nerves.

  Boniface wrinkled his brow at her. His blue eyes appeared as stormy and deadly as they’d been when he cut the head from the vampire tonight. “You have no business fighting vampires.”

  She secured her knife. “What business is it of yours what I do?”

  Victor snorted. “Family business.”

  “I’ve been kicked out of the family, or haven’t you heard?”

  She collapsed on a blue velvet loveseat.

  Boniface sat on the matching blue floral sofa with Victor. “You put all of us at risk when we have to save your butt.”

  “I didn’t see you rescuing
me.”

  “You must have noticed Boniface’s car parked outside the house. Why did you come in?”

  “I had my own demons to fight, Victor. And again, it’s truly none of your affair.”

  Boniface rubbed his whiskered chin. “The word has spread among our cousins; Nicolai claims you for his own. The vampires are stronger than us. That’s why we hunt together. You’ll never be able to fight them all on your own. The weaker ones, sure, but not the stronger of their brethren.”

  Victor nodded. “If Nicolai turns you, we’ll have no recourse but to kill you ourselves.”

  Crystal leaned back on her couch as she stared at Victor. “They can’t turn me. They could never turn one of our people. You know that. They’d have to bite me and my blood would kill them, as theirs would most likely poison mine.”

  The brothers exchanged glances. A secret communiqué was delivered between them.

  She narrowed her eyes. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  Victor cleared his throat. “You’re no longer one of us.”

  “Maybe not a member of the family. But I’m still a huntress, genetically. Because of this, they can’t turn me.”

  Boniface shook his head. “They openly invited you to their parties. Don’t you think it odd?”

  “Yeah,” Victor added, his deep voice just as harsh, “and Nicolai’s been here. We saw the note.”

  “You dug through my trash?” Her jaw tightened with irritation. The vampire had violated her by gaining entrance to her apartment through his persuasive powers. Now her own brothers had searched her place without her permission. Her blood boiled in anger as her face heated.

  Boniface leaned forward. “We saw the broken light bulb and the rose on the bed. And yes, when we investigated further, we found the note. We figured he’d gotten to you.”

  “He has not gotten to me. You’re wrong, both of you.” Pure malice coated her words. She loved her brothers, but they were going too far to say she was no better than a vampire’s plaything.