Dalakis Passion 4 - Eternal Brothers

by N. J. Walters

what it means, but I feel it in the marrow of my bones, in the every cell in my body."

  His face was somber as he delivered the line that would change her life. "You belong to

  me."

  Sophia could feel the heavy beat of his heart beneath her hand. Did vampires even

  have heartbeats? Her mind was whirling. There was no denying that she was attracted

  to him and that attraction went beyond the physical. She knew what he meant when he

  said that he felt it in the marrow of his bones. She felt it too and it frightened her.

  She knew better than to depend on anyone. She'd been on her own since she was

  sixteen, depending on only herself for everything. Being that connected to another

  person, especially when one of them wasn't human, was beyond scary.

  "Do you drink blood?" She'd avoided the question long enough. She knew the

  legends the same as everyone else, but what she didn't know was what was truth and

  what was fiction. Maybe if she got him to talk about it, she'd be able to figure out just

  how deeply he believed this fantasy. It definitely didn't feel real.

  Right now she still wasn't convinced that she hadn't hallucinated the whole thing

  due to lack of sleep and hunger. Perhaps she was asleep and dreaming all this. The only

  other explanation was that it was true and that wasn't something she was sure she

  could deal with.

  Zane nodded, ignoring her as she involuntarily jerked away from him. "Yes, I need

  blood to survive, but I've never taken enough to kill anyone." He continued when she

  said nothing. "These days, I purchase blood through a dummy corporation. It's not the

  best option, but it does the job."

  "What do you mean?" A part of her was appalled by what he was saying, but

  another part of her was fascinated by it. She'd always been inquisitive. It was that trait

  that had led her to her profession and it was that part of her that needed answers.

  "There is nothing like the taste of fresh, warm blood."

  Zane licked his lips and she couldn't help but shudder, imagining his mouth

  caressing her skin, his tongue licking every inch of her body. She knew she should be

  terrified, but instead she was drawn to the darkness she sensed swirling inside him. Her

  nipples puckered tight against her thin shirt. She was thankful the blanket was covering

  her so he couldn't see. Unfortunately, she could tell by the look on his face that he

  misinterpreted her shudder as one of disgust. He shifted farther away from her.

  "Do people change when you take their blood?" Unconsciously, she rubbed her

  neck with her fingers.

  "No." His words were clipped now as he continued. "The world would be littered

  with vampires if that were the case. Most vampires are born that way, but I have heard

  that some can be converted."

  "How?"

  His smile was cold. "The victim must be drained of blood and then must drink from

  the vampire. If she lives, then she is reborn a vampire."

  "Okay." She tried to absorb what he was telling her, but it felt totally unreal, more

  like a tale used to scare kids around a campfire. "You said you heard. Don't you

  know?"

  "I've never attempted it. There is a chance the person might not live through it and

  also the possibility that they might go insane after the conversion. Besides which, living

  as a vampire has its drawbacks."

  "What are they?" The reporter in her wanted the facts. The woman in her wanted to

  know everything about the man seated beside her.

  "Sunshine will kill me. I can stand a few minutes after dawn and before dusk on a

  cloudy day, but that is all. During the day a deathlike sleep comes over me, leaving me

  vulnerable to attack. Many vampires over the years have had their existence cut short

  by a stake through the heart or a quick beheading. Then there is the obvious fact that I

  need blood to survive." He paused briefly before continuing. "But other than that, I live

  quite well. The night is a place of beauty and endless fascination."

  She asked the question that she'd been putting off. "Exactly how old are you?"

  "A little more than two hundred years old. I was born in the year of our Lord 1800."

  Two hundred years old. Her head was spinning at the mere thought of it. If what he

  was saying was true, he'd seen so much, done so much. And maybe she was losing her

  mind to even consider believing him. Then his phrasing struck her as odd. "In the year

  of our Lord? I thought vampires couldn't go into churches?"

  He laughed. "Pure fiction. I took great solace from a particularly kind minister back

  in 1852. Holy water and garlic won't hurt me either. That is nothing more than a

  writer's imagination."

  Sophia nodded, still trying to absorb everything.

  "You know what I am." He slowly stood, towering over her supine body. "I have

  long suspected that the Dalakis are vampires as well. But we are not so different from

  humans. There are evil vampires and good ones. I'm just not sure where these men

  stand."

  "If they're evil? If they're responsible for the death of Janice Barton, what will you

  do?"

  "They can never be brought to justice in the traditional way."

  He sounded almost bored by the conversation, but she wasn't fooled. Sophia

  pushed aside the blanket and sat up. "What will you do?"

  He shrugged. "What I have to."

  She surged to her feet. "What will you do?" She was almost yelling now, her heart

  thumping at the mere thought of him being hurt. There were three Dalakis brothers--

  not to mention their ex-cop--and only one of him.

  Zane stared at her, and the eyes that watched her were merciless. "Kill them."

  Chapter Five

  "Are you crazy!" Sophia jumped to her feet, practically shoving him off the sofa.

  The blanket fell to the floor forgotten as they faced each other. She was magnificent in a

  rage. Her eyes snapped and her cheeks were a rosy red, which was much better than

  the pale white they'd been for the past few minutes.

  He wasn't quite sure exactly what she was referring to. "Perhaps."

  His nonchalant answer seemed to make her even angrier. She tilted her head up to

  meet his gaze. "There are three of them." She poked her finger into his chest, one time

  for each word she spoke.

  He nodded, enthralled by the concern she exuded.

  "Well then." She threw up her arms.

  "Well what?" She was so close that he could see each individual eyelash, wanted to

  reach out and see if they were as soft as they looked. Her brows scrunched together as

  she frowned and he rubbed his finger between them to smooth away the wrinkles. She

  jerked her head away and frowned even harder. She wasn't going to give this up any

  time soon. He sighed and tried to follow her train of thought.

  "We're agreed then." She stared at him earnestly. He had no idea what she thought

  they'd agreed to.

  "Sophia?"

  "No. It's the only way. Until you know what's going on with the Dalakis family and

  their former cop, you and I will work together, pool our resources and try to get to the

  bottom of this."

  Zane shook his head adamantly. "No. I don't want you anywhere near the Dalakis

  family or Sam Cassidy. Not now. Not ever." The memory of the poor woman from the

  cemetery was burned into his brain. It was all too easy to ima
gine Sophia in her place,

  and that was enough to chill his blood. He could not allow that to happen. Would not

  allow it. She would listen to him.

  "Sorry." She untangled her feet from the blanket and headed toward the hallway.

  "I'm already involved. You seem to forget that I'm the one who got the phone call last

  night sending me to the cemetery. I'm the one who found the note." She bit her lower

  lip and glanced away.

  "What note?" he growled. "There was no mention of any note in the police report."

  "Umm, why don't you forget I said that?"

  "Sophia?" His voice was little more than a guttural groan. His vocal cords were

  tight as he clenched his jaw to keep from yelling at her. What was she up to now?

  "Okay." She threw up her hands. "But remember, I know something about you that

  you don't want known either, so you can't say anything about the note."

  He was across the room before she could blink, crowding her body back against the

  wall. "It's not wise to threaten a vampire." He kept his tone low and menacing. By God,

  the woman needed to be afraid of him if it meant she might actually listen to him.

  "Probably not." Her voice broke and she cleared her throat. "But you've had plenty

  of time to hurt me if you wanted to."

  Zane thought his head might explode at her faulty logic. He pressed a finger

  beneath her chin and tilted it upward before letting his hand graze the seductive curve

  of her neck. "Maybe I like to toy with my victims first. Get their trust."

  She swallowed hard and shivered even as she shook her head at him. "No. I don't

  think so." Her words were little more than a whisper.

  "You don't think so." He moved his fingers up and down her neck slowly, feeling

  the blood rush beneath her silky skin. "But you can't be sure, can you?" Leaning down,

  he stroked his tongue over the fluttering pulse at the base of her neck.

  "Zane," she moaned as she pushed closer to him.

  He groaned, all thoughts of frightening some sense into her forgotten beneath the

  onslaught of need that coursed through him. She tasted so sweet and she was here with

  him now, her hands clutching his shoulders and tugging him closer instead of pushing

  him away. Wanting to feel her hands against his skin, he cursed his shirt. A red haze

  filled his brain. The instinctual need to taste her, to pleasure her, to claim her

  overwhelmed him. Nothing else mattered at this moment.

  He trailed small, nipping kisses up her neck to her ear. Gripping the succulent lobe

  between his teeth, he tugged. She was wearing two small silver hoops in her ear. He

  pulled gently on them one at a time, savoring her whimpers of pleasure.

  His cock was swollen and aching, pressing against his zipper. He leaned his hips

  inward, thrusting his erection against her stomach. Her hands fell from his shoulders

  and gripped his hips, pulling him tighter against her. His lungs were working hard as

  he buried his face in the curve of her neck and sucked in air.

  "Sophia." He grabbed her hands and tried to put some space between them. She

  threw a leg over his hip and yanked him back. "Sophia," he gasped again. He was

  almost to the point of no return, but he needed to be sure.

  Cupping her face in his hands, he leaned down so that she could see the red

  tingeing his eyes, see the sharpness of his fangs as they protruded through his gums. He

  could feel the need for blood mixing with his lust for this particular woman. If he didn't

  stop soon, he wasn't sure he'd be able to. He'd always had control. But not, apparently,

  with Sophia.

  "We have to stop now," he gasped.

  "Why?" She shimmied her hips closer even as he tried to stop her.

  "I've never felt this way before, Sophia. I want to taste you, to lick you." He finally

  did what he'd wanted to do ever since he first laid eyes on her. Leaning down, he

  captured her bottom lip between his teeth and sucked on it. It was plump and ripe, and

  he took his time, running his tongue over every part of it before releasing her. She was

  breathing hard, her eyes glazed with desire. "I want to taste every inch of your

  delectable body. Lick the slick folds of your pussy until you shriek with pleasure." He

  nipped at her top lip, eliciting a moan from her. "I want to hear your voice begging me

  to fuck you." He stroked his hands down her collarbone and between her breasts until

  they rested just below the small mounds. "Then I want to fuck you until we're both a

  sweaty, writhing mass, screaming our releases."

  She licked her lips and he groaned. He could hear the whoosh of her blood as it

  hurried through her veins, could smell her arousal as it wafted up between them. It was

  enough to drive a sane man mad. And Zane was no longer certain of his own sanity.

  "Do you know what I want to do then?"

  She shook her head, her eyes wide and unfocused.

  "I want to sink my teeth into your soft, supple flesh and taste your sweet blood."

  She whimpered as he stroked the undersides of her breasts with his thumbs. She wasn't

  wearing a bra beneath her thin tank top and he could feel the suppleness of them. "I

  won't take too much. Just a taste. Just enough so that we have a connection."

  "What do you mean?" she gasped. "A connection."

  "It means that I would be able to read your thoughts if I wished to. I would be able

  to find you, no matter where you went. It might take me some time, but there is

  nowhere you could go where I could not eventually find you."

  "Why?"

  He understood what she was asking him. In response, he ground his pelvis against

  her, letting her feel his heavy arousal again. "You belong to me."

  "I belong to myself." She groaned as he flicked his thumbs over her distended

  nipples.

  "There is something between us, Sophia. Something powerful. If I take you, you are

  mine." It took every ounce of strength he possessed to let her go and push away from

  her. Her strength was no match for his, yet she almost held him prisoner with the

  lightest touch of her hand. "Be sure." He reached out to touch her face, thought better of

  it and dropped his hand back to his side. "If we do this, there is no going back. For

  either of us."

  Sophia reached a shaky hand up to her face. Her lips still tingled where he'd nipped

  and licked them, her breasts ached from where his thumbs had stroked them and her

  pussy throbbed with a powerful need unlike anything she'd ever experienced. His raw

  promises echoed in her mind and body. She swallowed hard. Fear and lust warred

  within her.

  Zane would demand much from her. For a woman who'd never found it easy to be

  in any kind of relationship, this was scary. She was finally beginning to grasp the fact

  that Zane wasn't just a man, but a supernatural being. She could no longer deny the

  evidence of her own senses. No longer find a logical way to explain it all away.

  What was she thinking to even consider starting a relationship with him? But it

  wasn't really a relationship, was it? It was sex, primal and hot. Her body was screaming

  yes, but her head was shouting out a warning. She could try to fool herself that it would

  only be sex between them, but she'd be lying to herself. There was already something

  between them, some connection that neither of them could deny.

  Staring a
t him, she saw the unvarnished need in him and, for a split second, the

  vulnerability. He wasn't any more comfortable with this than she was but, like her, he

  could feel the ties that were somehow binding them together.

  How had they even gotten to this stage so quickly? She'd just met him, for heaven's

  sake. She'd never considered jumping into bed this fast with a man. In fact, she'd only

  ever had two lovers and she'd known both of them for some time before she'd had sex

  with them. They'd gone from arguing about the note she'd found to this in mere

  seconds.

  Zane's gaze softened. "It's all right if you're not ready yet."

  Yet. That one word stood out between them because she knew he was right. It was

  only a matter of time until it happened. There was too much sheer chemistry and

  attraction between them for it not to. If they worked together, it was inevitable. The

  alternative was to never see him again and her very soul cried out in anguish at that

  thought.

  What to do?

  Her body was throbbing for his touch. She wanted him to do everything he'd

  promised. She wanted his hands on her, his tongue and lips tasting her. She wanted his

  cock inside her, driving them both over the edge. But did she want the rest of it? Did

  she want him to take her blood? She unconsciously rubbed her neck with her hand and

  could feel her pulse pounding there.

  "Sophia." His tone was softer now and she couldn't resist its unspoken plea.

  She looked up at him and saw the understanding in his face. That more than

  anything else helped her decide. "I'm not sure about the whole blood thing, but I want

  the rest of it."

  Zane's big body shifted closer to her. She could feel the heat surround her. "I may

  not be able to stop myself. When the bloodlust is upon me, I may not be able to resist

  the lure and temptation of your blood."

  Would it be so bad? It was only a small amount of blood. She probably lost more

  when she donated to the local blood bank. Then there was the connection that it would

  create between them. "You'll be able to read my mind?"

  "Yes." He placed his hands on the wall on either side of her head and leaned his

  forehead against hers. "But I promise not to trespass unless I feel you are in danger."

  "Okay." There was nothing else to be said. She wanted him as much as he seemed