Unholy Night

by Candice Gilmer

  The Templars didn’t allow it.

  Though many, from both breeds, had certainly tried over the centuries. Legend spoke of an epic battle between one of the oldest vampires and a pack of wolves that even now influenced some mythical prejudices.

  Dale cursed. “Believe me, if I had realized, he wouldn’t have been invited.”

  “So he has not always been a vampire?” Liam looked bored, his attention was focused on his cigar.

  “He wasn’t the last time I saw him three months ago,” Dale said.

  “He is young, eight weeks out of the ground,” Liam didn’t bother to look up from his cigar, using a slang term, since most vampires really weren’t buried when turned.

  “Anything else?”

  Liam did turn his head this time, his dark eyes meeting Adrian’s. “We should ash him now.”

  Though Dale was head of their pack, he tended to repress his violent tendencies, preferring more diplomatic solutions to outright violence. “Is that necessary? I mean, I’ve known Kirk a long time. Hell, he dated Marissa for a while. He may not be the nicest guy, but he’s not…”

  “He broke the laws,” Neil countered. Were he not such a trusted friend of Dale’s, his very contradiction could bring forth a challenge against Dale’s leadership—something that even a pacifist like Dale wouldn’t take lightly. And he had never been quite as forgiving as Dale.

  Especially considering that Kirk had attacked Marissa; Neil’s protective instincts flamed at the thought of letting Kirk walk away from what he’d done.

  “What he was is irrelevant. What he’s been doing, is.” Liam said.

  Neil stared at Sir Liam. “You don’t mean the killings, do you?”

  “Most of those cases have happened in the last few months. By unregistered mythicals,” Adrian said.

  “Naturally,” Dale grimaced.

  By law, all mythicals who even considered turning a human into a mythical had to get permission from the Templars. It was a complicated process, but it served a purpose —not many law-abiding mythicals would dare turn a human. Many humans couldn’t mentally adjust to their new mythical status, and wound up going crazy—the last known case was a woman in the south who’d been turned a little over a century ago. She went insane, killing over twenty human males before being caught and killed by the Templars.

  That was the last known case of a mythical turning a human before the Knights began meticulously monitoring the turning process.

  Liam raised his brow at Dale, a challenge in his eyes. Liam was probably one of the scariest Templars—the man knew things just by looking at a mythical.

  Keeping any kind of secret from Liam was not a good idea.

  “My brothers are meticulous about safety and precautions,” Dale snapped.

  “Not completely.” Liam’s gaze rested on Neil.

  “What are you talking about?” Neil snapped.

  Adrian produced a piece of paper from his pocket. “Where were you on October first?”

  “Locked up, like I always am.”

  The Templars exchanged glances. Liam didn’t say anything, just shifted his position so he was facing Neil fully.

  Adrian held up a piece of paper. “We have you outside your shelter, here.” The map was covered with a red track, showing the travels of a registered werewolf, in animal form.

  “That’s not possible,” Neil shook his head. Could he actually be getting out at night? They took all the necessary precautions! The compound was secure—no one could get in or out once lockdown started.

  Yet in the back of his mind, he remembered the dreams.

  They’d finally started to ebb a bit, but they were still there. The attack on a woman. By a vampire.

  “So someone cut open your wrist, stole your tracking bar, ran around with it, and stuck it back in your wrist all while you were in animal form?” Liam replied.

  Dale snagged the map, studying the location. “And there was an attack here.”

  Adrian nodded, a curt jerk of his jaw.

  “So what are you going to do, ash me too? I didn’t attack anyone!” Yet the dream still stained his brain.

  What if?

  What if what they said was correct?

  Stars, what else could he have done while in that form, unable to control his impulses? It couldn’t be true—there’d been cases of maulings and attacks all over the city for months. Surely they had to be wrong.

  The two Templars exchanged a look before narrowing their eyes on him. “The vampire already confessed to that attack. The woman who’d been attacked kept talking about a dog defending her.”

  “Almighty Zeus,” Dale muttered, running his hand over his face.

  “Zeus will be the least of your problems if you don’t get your pens fixed,” Adrian said. He met Neil’s gaze. “Liam needs to do his thing.”

  Neil nodded. He didn’t want to—not for anything in the world, but all of them had to know what happened. How he’d gotten out, and what had happened to the woman.

  Liam stepped closer and Templar let out a breath as he grabbed Neil’s arm.

  Everything went dark.

  As if an inner light had been ignited, his memory opened. His thoughts, his, but not, consumed him. Animalistic, powerful, he surged forward. Slamming against the window in the pen, one, two, three, then the window opened, the cold air of night hit, and the animal was loose.

  Running, powerful legs working at speeds he couldn’t quite comprehend, pushing him forward, almost flying across the ground.

  Then the smell hit him. That horrid smell of blood and decay littered the air.

  Leaping forward, what was left of the man inside him registered the vampire attacking a woman. The animal and the vampire fought, primal and horrific, snarling and beating on each other.

  Another thought registered, animalistic in nature, but true nonetheless: the vampire wasn’t strong in the traditional sense. A newly-turned. Easy prey.

  Then the vampire, showing his cowardice, had flown off into the night.

  The animal faced the woman, sitting on the ground. She stared at him, stroked his nose.

  Neil shuddered as Liam released him. “Marissa,” he whispered as his knees faltered. Dale caught him, holding him upright, Liam’s mindreading trick making him weak.

  Yet the smells.

  He could still smell them in his mind.

  The hunt, the blood.

  The floral.

  His face paled. Everything came back to him in a flash.

  Liam raised his brow. “You knew the woman?”

  He shook his head. At least in the moment, he hadn’t known her. “I thought it was a dream, something not real, nightmares plaguing me.” he said, and froze. The woman’s image stained his brain, and for a second, he saw her clearly in his mind’s eye.

  Marissa!

  It was Marissa. He’d saved her. The smell… why hadn’t he put it together? She was the woman he’d saved. He remembered everything. Her petting his snout, the way her body smelled of rich floral and death. He knew it.

  It had to have been Marissa. If she was the one he’d saved, she was the one he’d been looking for. She was the one who wasn’t afraid.

  The fated one.

  Neil started walking away.

  “Hey,” Adrian called after him. “We’re not done.”

  “I have something I have to figure out,” Neil said, not bothering to turn back to the Knights.

  *

  Neil burst into the house and grabbed Marissa’s arm. “Let’s go.”

  She jumped at his sudden appearance. She’d been watching the door ever since Neil had gone outside. No matter that Kirk had disappeared with the big SWAT guys, she still fidgeted. She wanted to be near Neil. He made her feel safer than she’d felt in years.

  Even Deanna and Kristy’s reassuring presences were not enough.

  She should have known, though. She’d practically felt him come back inside. She’d written it off as wishful thinking, but suddenly, there he was, righ
t in front of her just seconds after she’d thought she felt him coming.

  “Uh,” she said, but she didn’t get more out as Neil wrapped his arms around her and inhaled her in a kiss. The searing of his lips to hers felt like she’d combust in his arms.

  Neil forced her lips open, and his tongue stabbed into her mouth, desperate, needy, and ravenous.

  She moaned as her own tongue met his in a frantic dance of exploration. Her tongue found his long canine, and she hesitated in his arms. Neil’s arms wrapped around her, pulling her into him, and her body screamed for release.

  Neil broke the kiss, growling as he did. “Come,” he said.

  She licked her lips. “I almost did.”

  Neil cocked his eyebrow up. “You have not discovered what it truly means to come.” His voice was thick as he started to pull her toward the door.

  Deanna grinned at her and Neil. “Go get a room you two. And wear a condom.”

  She smiled back at her friend. “Hopefully several.”

  Neil’s firm grip as he tugged her out the door sent waves of arousal through her body as they were met by the night sky.

  “I hope you parked close,” she said as he escorted her down the walkway, almost running toward a small black sedan that sat at the foot of the driveway.

  “Always,” he said, and opened her door for her, but before he let her get inside he placed another kiss on her lips, this one a bit softer, but nonetheless sending the same waves of intense pleasure through her.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Dale still talking with the two SWAT guys. Even though Kirk wasn’t anywhere in sight, tension made her hesitate before getting in Neil’s car.

  “What is it?”

  “Kirk,” she whispered.

  Neil gestured to the SUV parked in the street. It rocked as if someone was getting it on in the back.

  Or someone was trying to get out.

  “They’ve got him well contained,” Neil said. She nodded, climbing into the car. She thought she should question Kirk’s detainment, but she didn’t. One of the SUV’s rear doors had a red iron cross on it, not terribly large, but big enough to be noticed. For some reason, the gothic symbol comforted her as they passed the vehicle.

  Neil took off like a shot through the side streets, his hand laying lazily on her thigh, stroking her back and forth, slipping closer and closer to her center with every stroke.

  God. Had she lost her mind? This was so crazy. She didn’t know this guy, she didn’t have a clue who he was, and yet, here she was, letting him take her home.

  And probably screw her senseless.

  Yet her whole body screamed for him to do it. She wanted this, she did. On the most primal level—that part of herself spouted out directions to her house.

  However, her voice choked twice as his hand slid toward her middle.

  Neil only smirked. As they turned into her residential area, he slowed the car. “I don’t want to do anything you’re not comfortable with,” he said, his hand resting on her knee, the caresses stopping.

  She felt like she was suddenly unable to breathe. “If you leave me hanging tonight, Neil, I’ll beat you within an inch of your life.” She blushed at how heady her own voice sounded.

  Neil grinned, the streetlights highlighting his long canines. “As you wish.” His fingers darted under the hem of her short skirt.

  She trembled in the seat. “Here,” she said, pointing to her little brick ranch house.

  Neil pulled into the driveway. “Nice place,” he said, his fingers grazing the straps on her garter belt. He mumbled something akin to a growl as he stroked her skin at the top of the stockings. He withdrew his hand to throw the car into park and turn off the engine.

  Then Neil reached over to her, pulling her to him, and a noise deep in his chest emerged as he stuck one hand in her hair, bringing her to him for another searing kiss.

  She moaned and quivered as he slid his free hand back up under the edge of her skirt. Their tongues fought each other as they kissed, both of them rocking their heads side to side, frantic in pace with the kiss.

  Neil’s hand grazed her curls hidden beneath thong underwear. He came off her lips and traveled down her neck, nipping and biting.

  “So wet.” He pulled his hand away from her center and brought it up her body, stroking her breasts, and her nipples tightened against the sensation.

  She arched forward into his hand, moaning as he ran his thumb over the hardened peak.

  “I want you,” she said.

  Neil growled as he lowered his head to the front of the silk camisole and nipped at her breast.

  She pushed up on him. “Inside,” she whispered, “now!”

  Chapter 5

  Barely inside the door, Neil yanked Marissa’s lush body against him. He covered her mouth in kisses, then shooting down her neck with nips and bites as he ravaged her throat with his tongue.

  Marissa cried out as he pulled her jacket open and palmed her breasts, feeling the hardened peaks under the silk material. He leaned down enough to take one in his mouth through the fabric; he licked and bit at it, and Marissa’s legs started to buckle underneath her.

  He picked her up. Placing a hot kiss on her lips, he felt her moan as he situated her in his arms.

  “Where’s the bed?” he growled at her.

  “There,” Marissa pointed toward a hallway, one arm wrapped around his neck, the other caressing his face. “Second door on the left.” She licked and nipped at his throat.

  He almost ran to the bedroom, bursting into the room; forcing himself not fling her on the bed like an animal. Marissa sighed as she lay down on the unmade bed and stared up at him.

  He started pulling at his costume, trying to get the damned thing off, and he heard laughter coming from the bed.

  “Here,” Marissa said, standing up and starting to help him with the clothes. She undid the cape knot and helped him get the medallion off.

  “Thanks,” he whispered, smiling at her. “I can get the rest,” His body screamed for him to just rip the clothes off, to strip them away and then rip off hers.

  “Let me.” Marissa said, putting her fingers on the buttons to his shirt. Neil tried to stop her, she was taking her sweet time opening the buttons, but she batted his fingers away. “Stand still.” She undid the top two buttons, her hand slipping inside his shirt.

  The feel of her hand against his chest made him shudder, her fingers threading through the hair on his chest, tugging on the dark hair, and he felt himself start to throb.

  He let out a growl as she released another button, reaching for his nipples, the scant nails she had scratching at him.

  Marissa leaned forward and licked a trail across his bared chest. “I knew you’d be hairy.”

  “I hope that’s not a problem,” Neil said.

  She let her tongue wind through the hairs. “Not in the slightest.” Her slow pace must have been getting to her, because she quickly finished the rest of the buttons, her hands roaming all over his chest, flicking his nipples, down his stomach. Her fingers swirled in the hair, pulling on the black strands as she traced a path down his stomach toward his pants.

  She made quick work of his pants, and Neil put his hands in her hair, tugging on the pencils tucked into it. Her locks tumbled down her back, surprising him at how long they were.

  Marissa started to kneel in front of him, but he stopped her.

  “No,” he whispered, his pants loose, though his cock remained firmly covered. “Lie down,” he told her.

  Marissa pouted at him. “But I wasn’t done.”

  “Yes, you are,” he said. His body throbbed so hard, one touch and he’d explode all over her, and on her chest, although appealing, wasn’t where he wanted to explode.

  He wanted to be inside her.

  Ravage her.

  Make her scream.

  Marissa lay back down on the bed, her hair fanned out around her, a shiny chocolate color that made her look like any man’s wet dream. He lay dow
n next to her, leaning forward enough to smell her warm skin—the scent that had him lost—and pressed kisses against her throat.

  She moaned and purred as he licked the flesh under her ear, sliding his hands down her body and over her breasts. Pulling on the flesh, he felt her shake and grabbed the edges of the thin top and pulled it over her head.

  Marissa cooed when he returned to her breasts, licking the edge of her bra until he felt her buckle, her body quivering against him.

  “Lord, Neil,” she cried as he slid his hands behind her and unfastened her bra. She pulled the barrier away and tossed it onto the floor. He took his first taste of her skin and growled as he clamped down on her, his mouth on one breast, his hand fondling the other.

  Marissa arched into him, shoving her breast deeper into his mouth.

  “Amazing.” He released the one, sliding over to her other breast. His hands slid down her sides, finding the edges of her skirt and tugging at the clasp to loosen it.

  Marissa helped him shove the skirt off to reveal her garter belt and tiny panties, and he paused to examine the sight.

  “Oh, Zeus,” he muttered, his hand sliding down the edges of her garter belt and across her almost non-existent panties.

  Marissa’s hips bucked.

  “You like?” he said, placing a kiss on her stomach.

  “Ughn.”

  Neil worked his way down lower, feeling every part of her.

  She was amazing. Breathtaking. Incredible. He could feel her heat and moisture through the soaked fabric, her hands rubbing against her breasts as he slipped a finger inside the edge of her panties. His finger grazed her center, then her clit, then back, sliding up and down, a slow rhythm she started pumping her body against.

  “I need you now,” Marissa moaned. “Now!”

  He nodded, a moan of his own escaping. He stood to shuck his pants, pulling a condom out of his wallet, while Marissa struggled with the garter belt and panties.

  “No,” he said, rolling her over, then grabbing the edge of the thong and sliding it out of the way. He poised himself in her entrance, and tested the space with a soft nudge.

  Marissa cried out as he entered. Her cry sent him over the edge, losing all control of himself, and he slammed into her, hard and fast.