by Sophie Stern
He’d turned me into a vampire, and then he’d gotten me off.
And I’d done it.
I’d come for him.
What kind of freak was I that I would just come for him?
“There’s nothing wrong with you,” he said.
“You read my mind,” I accused. “You said you couldn’t.”
“No,” he said. “I can’t read your mind, but you’re not very good at hiding your emotions.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I whispered. I didn’t care that I was naked. I wasn’t embarrassed or ashamed. I didn’t bother hiding my body from him. I just stared at him. I hated that he thought he knew me. He was so certain he had me figured out.
“Love, your anger is written all over your face.”
“Why would you say there’s nothing wrong with me?” I whispered.
“You were a human until yesterday,” he said. “You’ve been raised in a conservative world that is pretty straightforward as to what’s wrong and what’s right, and what you’re allowed to like.”
“That doesn’t mean anything.”
“On the contrary,” he smiled, pleased with himself. “It means everything.”
“Explain.”
“Darling, you’re a vampire now. You can do anything. All of those little dark desires you’ve had? You’re now allowed to explore them.”
I was allowed to.
Because now, I was a monster.
He was right, and that just made me dislike him more. I’d been raised in a world where good people were good people and bad people were vampires. Now that I was one of them, I didn’t know what that made me, but it didn’t feel good.
“I didn’t ask for this,” I whispered.
“You wandered into the Grove, and you came to fight me,” he pointed out. “I could have killed you.”
“You did kill me,” I whispered.
“And then I brought you back to life,” he said. “Most people would thank me for that.”
“Fuck you, Liam,” I said. “I didn’t ask for this.”
He looked at me carefully, watching me. Was he disappointed that his “little human” wasn’t what he wanted? I hadn’t missed the way he’d looked at me. He wanted me. There was desire there, lurking beneath his eyes. I saw it perfectly well, and I knew what it meant. He wanted me more than he would possibly admit.
Tough.
I didn’t want him.
I didn’t care that he was handsome or that he had obviously saved me from the wrath of the more wild vampires who filled this place. It didn’t bother me that he was obviously the one in charge. He had stolen something very precious from me, and I wanted it back.
“I want to be human again,” I whispered.
Something inside of me broke, and I started to cry. I sat down on the floor and crossed my legs like a little girl, and I started to sob in front of the vampire.
And I hated myself for it.
6.
Liam
CHANGING HER INTO MY queen hadn’t changed her into a willing victim. That was unfortunate, but not unexpected. It often took new vampires a few days or even a few years to adapt to their new lives. Most new vampires were killed right away. If they didn’t die during the process of turning, they died from idiotic decisions they made shortly after their transition, namely regarding food.
The hunger a vampire felt was very different from the hunger that a normal human experienced, and it was something that Kimberly would need to learn to get used to. We all had to get used to it. That was part of the process. Once she had it under control, she’d be able to feed, but more than that, she’d be able to enjoy using her new strength. No, she wouldn’t have magic powers – I was one of the few vampires who could read minds, and that was only because I was so fucking old – but she would have the ability to run faster. She would be stronger. She would be able to see almost perfectly at night.
There were many advantages to be a vamp, and she was about to discover all of them.
We just had to get her through the first few days.
“Get up,” I told her. “And stop your crying.”
“I don’t want to stop crying.”
“Crying isn’t an option,” I said. I reached for her and pulled her to her feet, and then I wrapped my arms around her. “This isn’t going to be easy.”
“No shit,” she snapped, and I growled. I grabbed her hair and pulled it back so she was looking right at me. My fangs were extended. I wasn’t mad, but I needed to show her that I was serious.
“You can’t talk to me like that,” I said.
“Fuck you,” she whispered.
“Trust me, darling: I want you to.”
Kimberly looked at me, and I reached for her cheek and touched her softly.
“We have a lot to talk about.”
“That’s an understatement.”
“You can’t disrespect me in front of anyone, Kimberly. I mean it. I have a reputation to uphold, and the other vampires will expect me to keep you in line.”
“What does that even mean?” She whispered, shaking her head. “Keep me in line? I don’t need to be kept in line.”
“You say that now,” I pointed out. “But that’s not what others will think.”
“Since when did a big, bad vampire care what other people thought?”
“Since ignoring what people think is the fastest way to make sure nobody respects me anymore.”
“What do you mean?”
I sighed. Okay, this was going to be harder than I thought. If I was going to earn the trust of the little hunter, I was going to have to work harder than I could possibly imagine. She was turned, yes, but the work wasn’t finished.
Kimberly had spent her life hunting vampires. She’d studied our weaknesses and our strengths, but she hadn’t studied our culture. She didn’t know how things worked around the Grove, and I had a feeling that she didn’t want to know.
Well, that was too bad.
She was about to find out that life with us was going to be a little bit different than she thought it was.
She was about to find out that life among the vampires could be really wonderful, but it could also be really horrible.
“I’m the Vampire of Garnetia,” I said. “You know what that means.”
She nodded, but that wasn’t good enough.
“Tell me,” I said.
“It means you’re in charge,” she whispered. “You’re a Vampire Lord. There are vampires in cities all over the globe. In our city, the vampires all congregate in the Grove, which makes it its own little place.”
“That’s true,” I agreed, pleased with her assessment. “Although we do spend a lot of time in Ashbury, most of us have congregated in the old town. The Grove used to be part of Ashbury proper, but over the years, as new buildings came up, more and more people moved away. Now the Grove is ours.”
“You’re in charge,” she whispered.
“I’m in charge.”
“You said I’m your mate.”
“I said that,” I agreed.
“So, what you’re saying is that I need to show you respect in front of people.”
“Yes.”
“Because if I don’t, then people won’t respect you.”
“Close,” I said. “But try again.”
She sighed, licked her lips, and closed her eyes. I knew she was fighting this. She wasn’t ready to admit what she was now. She wasn’t ready to admit who she was now. She was a vampire. She wasn’t just any vampire, either. She was my vampire.
“You won’t be able to let disrespect go unpunished,” she whispered.
“There we go,” I cooed. “I knew you were a smart girl.”
“You’re saying that if I disrespect you in front of other people, you’re going to hurt me.”
“Yes,” I said. “And although the idea of spanking your sweet ass until it turns pink delights me, that’s not the kind of punishment we’re talking about.”
“What kind
of punishment would it be?” She whispered.
I leaned close to her ear.
“Darling, pray that you never have to find out.”
I pulled away and walked to the closet. I selected a lovely gown, as well as matching undergarments, and I brought them to Kimberly.
“Put these on,” I said.
She accepted the clothes and dressed easily without complaint. She didn’t ask if I was going to stay and watch, and she didn’t pretend she couldn’t dress herself. She was clever, and she understood she was no longer in control of her own future. She would have to pick her battles if she wanted to survive. Fighting over clothes wasn’t going to get us off to a good start.
That much was for certain.
Once she was dressed, I took her out of the bedroom.
“You’ll need something to eat,” I told her.
“Do I have to...I don’t really want to...Must I...”
“Are you asking me if I’m going to make you kill someone?”
She nodded.
I choked back a laugh. It was something every new vampire asked. That was something they all seemed so wildly worried about. Were they going to have to kill a human? Were they going to have to end someone’s life? It seemed like a strange thing to worry about, in my opinion, but they all did.
“Don’t worry,” I told her. “You don’t need to kill anyone...yet.”
She swallowed hard and nodded, and we walked down the hallway.
The mansion I’d chosen in the Grove was a beautiful one. It was perhaps the biggest house in the area, and it had enough space for me, Kimberly, Helena, and Helena’s lovers. We also had a few other vampires who lived with us. There were servants, sure, but there were other vampires I was close to who had chosen a life of communal living. They were free to come and go as they pleased, and many of them did, but it was often nice to have a space to ourselves.
Some of the vampires liked to have a bedroom where they could leave their treasures before going off to have vampire adventures in the world. That was fine with me. I didn’t care as long as they pulled their own weight when they were around, and as long as they always had my back, which they did.
“How long have you lived here?” Kimberly asked me.
“Longer than five years,” I said.
“Funny.”
“What’s funny?”
“You remember when we fought,” she said.
“I remember that night very well.”
It was the first time I’d ever let a human go. Before that, if I caught someone, I never let them go. I never had any interest in taking survivors. Then she’d come along and apparently, proven that I wasn’t as badass of a vampire as I pretended to be.
“You let me go,” she said.
“I did.”
“Why?”
“You know why.”
“Because I’m your mate.”
“Yes.”
“Have you had another mate?” She asked, looking over at me. I smiled down at her and chuckled.
“Why do you ask? Jealous?”
“No!” She blushed and turned so she was looking straight ahead again. We made our way down the hall and turned. Then we walked a little bit more. We arrived at the staircase and then headed down to the first floor. That was where we’d go to the kitchen and get her some food.
We walked in silence, and as we did, I watched her. She cleaned up nicely, and she looked regal and lovely. She was going to do wonderfully as a vampire. At least, once she got used to the idea. There was no doubt in my mind that Kimberly was still nervous about her new life. I couldn’t blame her for it. She had basically been thrust into a world of vampires and passion and pain, and she hadn’t asked for any of it.
Some might argue that by wandering into the Grove, she had essentially sealed her fate, but I didn’t buy it.
“Don’t run,” I told her.
“What?”
“Don’t try to escape,” I said. “You can’t.”
She glared at me.
“Who said anything about trying to escape?”
“You’re a huntress, Kimberly, and a damn good fighter. I know that you can get away with just about anything you set your mind to.”
“You’re saying I can escape.”
“I’m saying that if you try, I’m going to hunt you down, and it won’t be pretty. You aren’t the only hunter around here. In fact, you aren’t a hunter at all anymore. You’re prey. It’s time to get used to it.”
We arrived at the kitchen and went inside. Raven was sitting there at the counter, and she jumped up quickly when we walked in. She bowed her head, waiting silently.
“I trust Helena dealt with you?” I asked, ignoring her submissive stance. Raven wasn’t someone I was ever going to touch. I trusted Helena, and I knew that my second-in-command was taking good care of her vampire. Raven was something of a personal pet for Helena, and although I didn’t know the exact nature of their relationship, I had a pretty good idea.
“Yes,” Raven whispered. She looked up then and nodded.
“Good,” I said. Then I walked over to the fridge. Kimberly stood where she was, frozen. “Come here, Kimberly,” I said. Somehow, she managed to make her feet move. She kept glancing at Raven. “Stop staring at Raven,” I said.
“I can’t.”
“You’re going to have to. Look here,” I gestured to the inside of the fridge.
“What...what am I looking at?”
“Everything a little vampire like you could possibly want,” I said. “You can have blood juice or blood cookies or blood cupcakes. There are blood soups and stews and all sorts of other things involving blood.”
“I have to eat blood now,” she whispered.
“Yes.”
“But I don’t have to drink it.”
“No.”
“I thought vampires always had to drink blood,” she said.
“That’s a myth.”
“But won’t I...don’t I have to...”
“You don’t have to kill anyone,” Raven piped up. Kimberly and I both looked over at her. “Listen to Liam,” Raven added. “He knows what he’s talking about.”
Somehow, hearing her friend’s words seemed to calm Kimberly because she nodded sharply and turned back to me.
“Okay,” she said. “Is there anything else I need to know?”
“Yeah,” I said. “But eat first.”
I handed her a cupcake with blood drizzled over the frosting. The idea that vampires couldn’t eat anything but blood was false. We could eat plenty of different things, but we needed blood for energy and nutrition. To us, blood was like water. Without it, we wouldn’t last very long. We’d wither, and become inconsolable, and we’d start making really bad choices in order to find a way to sate that hunger and desire.
Kimberly examined the cupcake carefully. She didn’t seem entirely sure about it. She smelled it, and then she stuck her tongue out to flick at the frosting. Raven and I just watched her with amusement. Suddenly, she looked up, surprised.
“Hey, it’s pretty good.”
“Imagine that,” I said.
She ate the rest of the cupcake in two bites, and after saying goodbye to Raven, we finished the tour of the house. I watched her as we walked through the mansion. She seemed both amazed and excited about the different places inside.
“And you have a library,” she whispered when we got to that room.
“Yes.”
“With books from all over the world.”
“You could spend all day in here if you wanted to,” I said.
“But what about...” She looked over at me.
“What about what?”
“Are we supposed to?”
“What?”
“Are you going to breed me?” She asked, lowering her voice. She looked around, as though somebody might walk in on our conversation.
“What?” I laughed. “Did you just ask me if I’m going to breed you?”
She nodded.
“First of all, vampires can’t have children,” I told her.
“We can’t?”
“No. When I killed you and brought you back, it destroyed your ability to bear life. That just comes with the territory, I’m afraid.”
I hoped she had never wanted children, and that this wasn’t something that was going to sadden her. Luckily, she didn’t seem to mind too much.
“What about male vampires? Could they mate with a human and make a little vampire half-breed?”
“No,” I said. “That’s not the way it works.”
“Hmmm,” she said. She moved on to other things, touching the different books and looking around. I watched with amusement as she looked around. Finally, it was time for us to go to my office. I took her hand and led her to my private space. It was an office I used for just about everything I could possibly need to do.
I sat down at the desk and pointed to a chair.
“Sit,” I told her.
She stared at the chair, but then she sat down. She gripped the arms of the chair and looked around.
“I have to make some phone calls. Don’t run.”
“Stop telling me not to run,” she snapped.
“Did you just raise your voice to me?” I asked.
“No.”
“Good,” I said. “I rather hoped not.”
The rest of the day went by slowly. I went about my business and Kimberly wandered around the office. She didn’t make any moves to run away, and by the time the day was over, she was well ready to eat again. We went into the dining room and joined Raven and Helena for dinner. Michael was there, too, although he was wildly distracted and didn’t seem to notice that Kimberly even existed, much less that she was my mate.
When we finished our food, I stood up to leave, but Helena grabbed my arm.
“You haven’t finished mating,” she whispered.
“I don’t think that’s any of your concern,” I started to say.
“Liam, you know you have to fuck her.”
“I’m not doing anything without her consent.”
“She wants you.”