Can we balance our life with our need for human souls and blood?
“Fuck me,” the girl says as she releases my cock. I lift her onto the sink and send her into a trance. Ellington follows my lead and I thrust into her pussy. Its wet and warm, and everything I need to gain more energy. I feel my cock pulse inside her as her eyes close. My fangs break the skin over her vein with an audible pop. I drink my fill of her blood and release her. She sighs and slumps so she’s leaning against my chest. The bathroom provides a sitting area by the door, and we take the women there, arranging them as if they sat down to take a break. I straighten my tie and leave the bathroom, closing and locking the door as we go.
When we arrive back at the ballroom, the women are standing at the bar, ordering another drink. Ashera is watching the room while Ansley has her body positioned protectively at her side. I’d talked to Ellington about our problem, and while he isn’t a resident of Nashville and our territory, he came into town for the day to catch up and meet at a public place where we could go to hunt. He promised me Ansley would make sure Ashera was fed and protected while we talked.
“Better?” I ask as I wrap my arm around her waist. She nods and leans into my side.
“You?” She looks up at me through her long lashes, and although she’s shifted to look like someone she’s not, I can still see the Ashera I know in her eyes, and her scent is powerful.
“I’m ready to head back to the cabin,” I answer her. It’s an honest one, too. While I am not jealous of her fucking another man, my predatory side wants to bathe her and fuck her until that human male’s scent is off her skin.
Chapter 12
Ashera
We head toward the front of the hotel. The males give the valet drivers their tickets and rejoin Ansley and I at the curb. Cassius takes my hand and pulls me close to his chest. I know it’s because he is worried for my safety.
“I had a good time,” Ansley says with a wink. She’s brightened since our feeding, and I have to admit, it was fun hunting with her. I could see us becoming good friends if she lived closer. Maybe one day I can go to Miami for a visit.
“I hope we can do that again,” I reply. I feel rejuvenated. The feeding was everything I needed, and I hope I can go more than three or four days before I have to come back into the city again.
“We will see each other soon,” she promises as their car arrives. Cassius releases me so I can hug Ansley. She kisses me on the lips, lingering there for a moment. “Mmm, Cassius. She’s very sweet. Take care of her.”
“Of course,” he responds and shakes Ellington’s hand. He kisses Ansley on the cheek while his friend does the same to me. They wave goodbye as they hop into the car, and then we are alone.
“They like you,” he announces, tightening his hold. I’m back in his arms again, and I rest my cheek against his heart. There is no heartbeat, because he is dead. We both are. Lucifer took our lives when we were changed, and that’s the only way we stay immortal.
I’ve learned so much from Cassius in the short time I’ve known him. These things were never told to me while I was held hostage in Kieran’s dungeon. How could anyone enslave another human being? All I want is for my new life to be explained to me. I want to hunt and feed without being tortured. Getting to know Ellington and Ansley today gives me hope.
“I like them.” I watch as the valet arrives with the truck. He opens the door for me and helps me inside. Cassius pauses for a moment to tip the driver and starts to climb up in his seat.
A loud bang rings out, echoing in the covered parking area of the hotel. Cassius’s body jerks as his eyes widen. Blood blooms from a bullet wound in his chest, and I jump across the armrest to grab him before he collapses.
“No!” I scream and pull him into the truck. Thankfully, I have extra strength, and I use it to haul him over to the passenger seat, jumping over him to sit behind the wheel. Another shot lodges a bullet in the side of the truck, and everyone around the valet station hits the ground. I throw the truck into gear and speed away, the door closing on its own from the force of my acceleration.
“Cassius! Talk to me!” I’m panicking. I don’t know what to do, and I sure as hell don’t know my way back to Sal’s home by driving this truck. Tears bloom in my eyes as Cassius gasps for air and sits straight up in the seat. I try to look at the hole in his chest, but I have to pay attention to the road.
“I’m fine! Fuck, I’m fine!” he snarls and pats his pockets for his phone. “Just drive until I tell you otherwise.”
“Was that Kieran’s gargoyles?” I swear to Lucifer himself, I will take a sword to those bastards’ throats for shooting Cassius.
“I believe so,” Cassius replies and punches a button to place a call. “Unless you have someone else after you.”
I don’t have time to even form a reply before he’s talking to Salvatore. He puts it on speakerphone so I can hear what’s being said. “I’m texting Ellington and telling him to get out of town as quickly as possible.”
“I want you two to drive back to the cabin and stay there!” Salvatore is angry. If I didn’t know he would be the first person Cassius calls, I wouldn’t have even recognized his voice. “I will bring you humans to feed on if I have to until this is over.”
“We will make due,” Cassius replies. “I need Kieran taken out.”
“We’ve called in a favor, but it will be a few days before we can get the extra people in place to go after him.”
“We are going back to the cabin to lay low for a while,” Cassius reports. “Call me with updates.”
“Will do,” he replies.
Salvatore ends the call and Cassius directs me toward the cabin. As we drive, he lifts his shirt and checks the spot where he was shot. It’s completely healed, and I breathe a sigh of relief. “It still doesn’t seem real that we heal that fast.”
“Just because we heal doesn’t mean we don’t feel pain,” he grimaces. “That still hurt like a motherfucker.”
“Are you okay now?” I ask, glancing over as he leans back in his seat.
“Yes, but what energy I got today from feeding is gone,” he growls. “I need you to stop at the strip club about ten miles up the road.”
“No problem,” I reply and continue on our journey.
“Do you want to feed with me?” he asks.
“I can,” I shrug. “I’m always up for an easy meal.”
We spend about an hour and two hundred dollars at the strip club. Its seedy, and with the right amount of money, anyone can take a girl to the back room for some one on one time. The woman is left in a trance after Cassius feeds. She’s out cold, and the bouncer notices. We’re saved when he curses and mumbles under his breath, “I’ll sober her up.”
By the time we reach the cabin, the sun is setting and the temperature is getting cooler. I haul in firewood while Cassius camouflages the truck. It takes me a little longer to light the fireplace and grab a pot for a quick meal of soup over the flames. I fumble around in the small cabinet to the left of the table and find a sleeve of crackers. We sit at the table in silence while we eat. We’re both exhausted from the events of the day, and although we are okay, I see the strain in his eyes.
“I feel helpless sitting in this cabin while everyone else is out looking for Kieran,” Cassius announces as he takes my bowl to the small sink. He uses the jug of water on the counter to wash our few dishes.
“Do you think we should go back to Sal’s place?”
“Your safety is more important,” he mumbles, not looking up from his chore.
“Maybe I should be in plain sight,” I suggest, but think twice about my offer when he turns to me with blood-filled eyes. “Just hear me out.”
“No, Ashera,” he states, slashing his hand through the air.
“We can’t hide here forever,” I say, knowing I’m right. “Kieran only wants me. He doesn’t give a fuck about you or the others. He will kill you if you get in his way, but he is focused on getting me back into his dungeon.�
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“Why does he want you so badly?” Cassius muses aloud.
“I don’t know.”
“Did you overhear anything else he might have said while you were there that could give us a clue as to why he kept you and not the others?”
“No,” I reply, trying to sort through my memories of the last nine months.
“Think harder, Ashera,” he urges. No matter how hard I think, nothing comes to mind. “There has to be a reason.”
The first night I met Kieran, I was hired as a call girl. I remember my boss saying he specifically asked for me and paid an exuberant amount of money for me to stay with him for two weeks. I didn’t even bat an eyelash at the length of time, because I was given a huge bonus upfront.
He was a demanding lover. I expected that, too. Any man with that amount of money and specific demands was bound to be a bit dominant. Again, no big deal.
After a few days, other prostitutes and call girls began to show up. One of them was sent home because she wasn’t to his liking. The male prostitute stayed, and after the second night of being there, he was introduced to the man who eventually took him home when he awoke from the change.
The fifth night, Kieran had thrown a party, inviting his friends. I now know they were other incubi from other regions. We drank and ate expensive foods, mingled throughout the night, and once the party wound down, things turned weird.
I walked in on Kieran feeding from one of the other call girls. When I screamed, the ones who he called friends turned into monsters. Their eyes were full of blood and fangs grew in their mouths. Anyone that was human was attacked, and I heard Kieran’s voice over the screams saying, “Ashera is mine!”
I tried to run away, but I was captured before I ever made it to the door. Kieran was waiting for me when his men threw me into his bedroom. I thought he was a vampire, and I begged him not to kill me.
“I will kill you tonight, and tomorrow you will be my queen,” he snarled as his feet left the floor. He flew across the room and pulled me to his chest. I heard the blade as it slid from the sheath at his hip. “My master says your blood is pure enough to be my queen.”
And with those words, he slit my throat.
Chapter 13
Cassius
“He said my blood was pure enough to be his queen,” she gasps, coming out of her thoughts.
“Kieran said that?” I ask, coming to her side. She sits heavily on the bed and looks up at me with fear in her eyes. I kneel in front of her and take her shaking hands.
“I remember now.” She pauses as a shiver rolls down her spine. “Right before he slit my throat, he said, ‘My master says your blood is pure enough to be my queen.’”
“Pure?” I frown. She wasn’t pure in the biblical sense.
“I sure as hell wasn’t a virgin when he killed me,” she scowled. “I don’t even know what he was talking about.”
Pure? What could be so pure about her that Kieran wanted her to be his queen, and what was that anyway? Territory leaders were not royalty to Lucifer. The only way Ashera would be Kieran’s queen was in his own use of the term.
“I don’t know what this means, but I should call Salvatore. Maybe he will know more.” I didn’t even know what to tell her to assure her it meant nothing other than Kieran Wylde was just insane.
“That’s the only thing I can think of that seemed off…well, more off than the fact that he killed me and buried me in his fucking yard for a few days.”
“Let me call Salvatore and see if any of that makes sense to him,” I offer.
“Okay,” she says, walking toward the window by the sink. I see a hint of concern on her face, and it’s obvious she’s thinking hard about her time with her maker.
I’ve tasted her blood, and it is beyond anything I’d ever tasted, but what was Kieran saying about it being pure? I’d never heard the term before, and like with all things unknown, I call Salvatore.
“Do you know what that means?” I ask, watching as Ashera moves about the cabin. Her long, blonde hair is up in a high ponytail and the ends curl ever-so-slightly. They bounce softly as she moves, and my eyes trace the lines of her hips as I attempt to keep my focus on what Salvatore is trying to tell me.
“It means Kieran Wylde is insane in the medical sense,” Salvatore replies. “We don’t have queens in our world. The only time a female would be considered a queen is if Lucifer crowned her, and I highly doubt Kieran would be the male our leader would pick to rule with his queen on Earth.”
“He’s insane,” I agree. “We need to take him out of power.”
“Agreed,” Salvatore says, but I don’t hear what else he has to say, because the front of my cabin explodes, sending wooden shards through the air like out of control missiles.
“Ashera!” I scream, flying through the air.
The scent of burning wood reaches my nose as my body falls to the ground. It’s raining pieces of wood, furniture, and my fucking truck. My ears are ringing and my vision blurs. I scent blood and know it’s my own, but I ignore it as I begin to crawl through the rubble. I don’t know where my phone is, but at this point, my only concern is Ashera.
“Ashera!” I scream, throwing chunks of siding out of my way as I dig. I can feel shards of wood in my back, but it doesn’t hurt.
“Cassius!” Victor yells as he appears where the door to the cabin used to be.
I’m desperate to find her, and I can’t even muster up the words to tell him she’s under the destruction. I know this was the work of Kieran’s gargoyles, and I vow right then and there to find her maker and send him to Hades as a failure. I hope Lucifer boils him for eternity.
“Over here!” I hear Salvatore yell. I didn’t even know he was here.
“Ashera,” I breathe when I see her face. She’s panting, gasping for air. Her angelic face is covered in blood and black soot from the explosion. “Come on, little one.”
I pull the largest piece of siding off of her body, and all three of us gasp. A piece of my truck has impaled itself into her side. She curses under her breath when she looks at the damage.
“Am I going to die?” she asks even though she can’t breathe well.
“No,” I promise, shaking my head. “We need to get you to Salvatore’s so I can take this out. You’re going to need a lot of blood and energy.”
“Hurry,” she gasps. “Hurts.”
“I know it does,” I reply and look over my shoulder. Victor is on the phone; most likely with Memphis. Salvatore is at my side, and he places his hand on my shoulder when I get my arms under her body. I nod, and in a blink of an eye, we reform in the guest room Ashera originally stayed in the first night she was here.
He helps me set her on the bed, and I don’t waste any time wrapping my hand around the twisted piece of metal. There is no warning, and I don’t want to even tell her I’m going to do it, when I pull it free from her body.
A loud, ear-piercing sound comes from her as Salvatore presses a towel to the six-inch hole in her side. It will heal, but not as quick as my bullet wound. This may take thirty minutes, and she will bleed out until it’s sealed.
“Drink, Ashera,” I demand as I press my wrist to her mouth. She doesn’t hesitate to strike my vein. The pain is sharp and I hiss from the sting of her fangs. Within seconds, the pain subsides, and I climb up in the bed so I’m closer to her head. Salvatore is still pressing on the wound, checking it every few minutes.
“I can’t take anymore blood from you,” she pants as she releases my wrist.
“Take mine,” Victor says from the doorway. I move aside, allowing him to take my place. Ashera’s eyes are on mine, and I reach over and squeeze her leg as Victor leans over her. His brow is furrowed, and I see the worry in his eyes. “I just fed earlier, Ashera. Take what you need.”
“Energy…I need energy,” she begs, taking Victor’s offered wrist.
“I need to find her a human male.” Salvatore curses, “She’s still fucking bleeding.”
“Cassius,
” she calls out. I watch as she pushes Victor’s wrist away so she can speak. I want to yell at her to tell her to keep feeding, because I see the light fading in her eyes. “Fuck me, please. I can’t wait for a human.”
“As long as you’re okay with us being here,” Victor interrupts, moving his wrist toward her face. “You really need to drink my blood, Ashera.”
“Energy, Cassius…please,” she begs again.
My hands tear at her clothes. Victor moves away while Salvatore is still pressing against her wound. Blood has coated the bed, and more is leaking through the towel and his fingers. Salvatore reaches up with his free hand and rips her cotton shirt down the middle, taking her bra in the process.
Her large breasts come into view, and I feel my cock swell. Ashera’s eyes are pleading, and I know she needs everything we can give her. She may not die from bleeding out, but not having blood and energy, she will wither away into a comatose state.
“I’ll feed her when Victor cannot,” Salvatore promises, leaning his forearm against the wound so he can use his free hand to roll up the sleeve of his button-down shirt. He’s ready.
“Ashera!” I yell when her eyes start to flutter close. She jerks and awakens, but she’s weak.
I pull at her pants until she is naked beneath me. I yank at the button of my jeans and push them down enough to free my cock. Her scent hits me full force, and I touch her. Her pussy is already wet for me, and I use my fingers to work her body. She needs to be built up before she orgasms so the energy she needs will help her heal.
“Pinch her nipples, Victor,” I demand. “She likes a bite of pain.”
Ashera throws her head back as I guide my cock into her awaiting body and Victor does as I ask. She inhales deep and pulls away from his vein, only to reach for Salvatore’s wrist when he offers it. “The bleeding is slowing.”
Thirst (Incubus Tamed, Book 1) Page 7