Laurna poured coffee for all three of us and finally sat down with us. She laughed, “I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to people saying under a century is a baby. Ashley says he is young too, but he remembers when cars were invented.” She sipped her coffee.
Laith looked up at her. “You don’t care that he’s a Vampire,” he asked, the timber of his voice had changed ever so slightly.
She shook her head a vigorous no. “I don’t care that Mace is an AoD, I don’t care that you’re a werelion. I don’t care that Ashley Donovan is a Vampire. What I do care about is what he carries inside him. Like the two of you, he is a good person. Human or not and unlike Macyn I don’t believe Vampires and Shifters are demons. A different species sure but demons, no,” she moved the sugar bowl closer to him.
He heaped sugar into his cup. “It’s nice to know that not everyone believes we are monsters. You sure Donovan’s the one for you,” he winked at her. We all laughed. It felt good. It felt normal compared to the rest of my day.
You are an AoD do you really expect normal? His amusement matched my own, damn Vampire in my head. You know if Donovan knew how your brother was cozying up to his woman, he would kill him, I sighed.
You guys are too territorial Laurna is her own woman, not his woman. I growled back.
She is his, just as you are mine, Macyn. There is no point in denying it. He was feeling smug. I have mentioned I hate smug.
I am not yours! I yelled into his mind. I don’t even like you.
His laughter was rich; it certainly felt like you liked me earlier my sweet. Are you so fickle?
Shut up, I put up my shields again, now that I was strong enough. I ate I really needed to intake as much as possible build up my strength naturally again. I couldn’t count on a Vampire to bail me out every time I got myself good and hurt.
He was an AoLi how was that possible?
I had a truly terrifying thought, what if he was my AoLi? Shifters weren’t the only ones who had only one mate in their lifetime. AoD did too. We could only breed with our AoLi, life to our death. Apparently, AoLi were life incarnate they didn’t have the same limitations we did. That must have been how my mother had, had Laith but my father only had me. Iris was his true mate the only one in the world for him. What was I going to do? I finished my food.
Laith and Laurna chatted quietly about the Shadow-born. She had lots of questions and I still wasn’t entirely comfortable talking about it. Besides he had a viewpoint I really didn’t. It was almost dark I needed to get ready to go hunting.
“Mace, where are you going?” Laurna asked as I got up and stuck my dishes in the sink.
I shrugged, “I have to get ready to go hunting. Laith might not be the bad guy but I’ve run into enough Dream-walkers and Vampires lately to know that isn’t the case with all of them. It’s my job to protect humanity.” I headed toward the stairs.
“I’ll come with you,” Laith got up and headed toward the stairs to.
I stopped effectively stopping him. “I want you to take Laurna home then we can meet up. Can you do that for me?” I asked. I really thought she had a better chance with the big mean werelion than with me.
He looked back at Laurna. “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” he nodded. “Come on sweetheart, I get to body guard you till you get home.” He grabbed his jacket from the rack near the door. He raked his eyes over her, “It’s such a good body to guard.”
Laurna frowned a little, and then stood up. “I don’t like this Mace but I’m not gonna fight you on it. Be careful out there,” She warned.
I nodded, “Don’t worry about me hun.” I ran up the stairs. I didn’t want to deal with her fear. I was scared enough all by myself. Laith had said the Shifters were looking to kill me. Not that I hadn’t already known that but having one of them admit it to my face just made it more real. Just what I needed a pack of monsters chasing me down.
Chapter 12
I could sense the creature not far from me. The alley was dark. It smelled funky like three-week-old trash and sewage. How did creatures with a better sense of smell than me stand it? The streetlights were blown out. Good thing I could see in the dark.
There it was… hunched over a body it made wet sucking sounds. The body in it’s clutches was silent. I let my senses rush over them. Damn, I was too late the human was already dead. I ignored the disappointment I felt. I whistled, loudly, the Shifter’s head snapped up pulling something that looked distinctly like entrails with it. I will not vomit, I told myself. “Hey dog boy,” yeah he was of the wolf variety, “look fresh meat.” I wiggled suggestively at him. Hopefully he was too gone in blood lust to realize I was an AoD. He charged me, yep too far gone. Score one for me. He was easy, too lost in anything but the need to kill. I pulled my sword and took his head. See easy, messy, but easy. Blah, I wiped the blade on his shirt.
Unfortunately, for me, it was a trap. I heard the clapping as his body hit the concrete. I turned toward the sound. Orson, that big bastard from my dream, stood about a hundred yards from me. Two of his buddies stepped out of the surrounding buildings. Why, oh, why hadn’t Laith called me back yet? It sure was taking him a long time to drop Laurna off. One of the new guys was big like Orson and looked like he’d had his nose broken more than once. The other skinny and rather rat like. Another two stepped out from behind the dumpster. These two were the same size, same make, twins maybe. One had dyed his hair fire engine red. The other had dyed his bright blue. Five of them a whole pack just for me… I took a deep breath. “Nicely done,” Orson said. “Are you an AoD or AoLi,” he asked. Obviously, brains hadn’t been a big priority in his genetic makeup. AoLi couldn’t kill.
I shrugged moved my hand on my gladius so I had a better grip. “Does it matter,” I asked.
One giant black eyebrow rose. “Of course, if you are AoLi I might be persuaded to let you live.” He licked his lips in a very suggestive manner. Ewe!
I laughed the sound reverberated off the silent buildings and dumpsters in the outlying area. “How about I just kill you and your buddies then I don’t have to persuade nobody. I like that plan.” I could play tough with the best of them. I crouched waiting for one of them to charge me.
He laughed it was a deep frightening sound. I was suddenly very glad I wasn’t an AoLi I didn’t want to survive in that guys tender care. “Answer the question girl. AoD or AoLi,” he clenched his big ole hands. Rat boy kind of wavered in toward me and back out again as Orson’s caught him with a warning glance.
“I have never been quiet so pleased to be able to say I am an AoD and you aren’t going to live much past today,” I still waited. Let them make the first move I told myself again. During training, I always rushed dad and he always wiped the floor with me. Wait, I told myself, wait. They began to shift. My heart beat against my chest no wonder they were so big they were bears, the whole lot of them big-ass werebears.
All of them were taking their fighting form. Deep calming breaths I told myself once again. Why, oh, why hadn’t I allowed Laith to come with me? I was thankful Shadow-born don’t use guns. Well most of them don’t. One of the twins, the one with the red hair, lurched toward me I stepped to the side. I was waiting for him but I hadn’t expected him to be so quick. I swung my blade wildly and managed to slice into his side. It was a shallow cut but I’d drawn first blood. I was happy.
The other, the one with blue hair, lunged while the big one and the rat closed in. I fell to my knees the bears being so much bigger than me in the first place drove their claws into each other. I was trapped in a wall of legs. Red was closest. I kicked him in the knee as hard as I could in a crouch. It made a crunching sound and he fell back. I rolled out from between them and took Blue through the back with my sword while they untangled from the heap they’d gotten themselves into. I think I hit spinal cord, the blade didn’t slip free as easy as I thought it should.
Unfortunately, I hadn’t been tracking Orson. He stepped out from behind me and gouged his claws down my
back. The armor I wore shredded beneath his deadly claws. I spun to face him. He struck again, man, something that big should not be that fast. He hit with both claws. One met my blade but the other ran across my belly. These beasties tore through my armor as if it were tissue paper.
I swallowed hard my flesh was next. He closed his claw around my blade and tried to wrench it from my grasp. I jerked it hard and it split his hand sliding down his arm and taking a good chunk of flesh with it. I’d caught with it. That gave him time to take another swipe at my belly. This time he made contact. My blood splattered his arm and left side. That probably wasn’t good. I blocked the pain as best I could and moved to a better defensive position.
I heard another Shifter growl as he came at me from behind. I threw myself to the side and Red ran into Orson and they both went down in a tumble of fur. The one I’d gotten in the back wasn’t getting back up. Thank God! Orson and Red were tangled but getting up and the other two moved toward me. Take out the weak one first, I told myself. I drew a dagger from the holster next to the one I used for my gun. I threw it at Red, prayed and forcibly drove toward the rat looking one. He was smaller than the rest.
I don’t think he was expecting me to go for him because he stepped back giving me the advantage. Penetrating his sternum the blade passed into his heart. I slid back and took in the astonished look on his face. My blade stood out from his chest. Two more, Woo Hoo, I turned to face them!
Orson smiled. “I worried you were lying and were actually an AoLi I am glad you’re not. I won’t regret killing you.” He and the other big guy pounced at me. I blocked Orson who I saw as the bigger threat but the other one brought both his claws into my torso. I screamed, the sound echoed through the night. Orson flinched at the sound then backhanded me in an attempt to silence me. Apparently, they both had very sensitive ears. Blood trickled from the other ones ears. Cool, but I was losing blood. I had more holes in me than I cared to count. I needed to finish this. I jumped on Orson, clamping my knees around his big barrel chest and brought my gladius two handed in an overhead strike in desperation. He clawed my hips as he tried to pry me away from him. For a moment I worried, I’d missed but slowly he fell to the concrete with a big wet meaty sound.
Red was on me again the moment Orson’s body hit the pavement. He had me in a bear hug, literally. My arms were pinned to my sides and I bled pretty profusely. This was so not how I wanted to go. In desperation I head butted him as hard as I could right on the bridge of his nose. He let go and I fell but his head was so damn hard I had kind of knocked myself silly for a moment. I sat on the cold wet ground blinking and tried to focus on where that scary Shifter had gotten himself off to. I heard the slightest movement off to my left and suddenly I didn’t care if the entire San Franciscan police force heard me I pulled my Sig and shot him. I pulled the trigger until it just wasn’t firing anymore and I think I continued to pull it for a couple of seconds after that too. He fell to the ground but was still moving. Like I said before bullets just slow Shadow-born down you want them dead you have take the head or heart. I stumbled over to him climbed onto his chest and straddled him. I lifted my silver knife high over my head and plunged it into his heart. He made a brief gurgling noise and then gave up his struggle.
I shuddered, then turned toward the last one damn he was big. My chest rose and fell heavy with the effort it took to take in every breath. Steam rose from my mouth and nose in the cold as I stumbled toward him. He looked up at me with fear in his eyes.
Ha, he was scared of me! I laughed it was just too much. I was bleeding to death before his eyes and he backed away from me like I was the monster. Well I guessed to him now I was. I certainly felt like one. Blood both my own and the others ran in rivulets down my body, making my clothing uncomfortable and sticky. I stalked toward him. I lowered my head aggressively. The bear actually whimpered. It was then that I realized just how young he was. He might have been older than me by decades but in their world, as Laith had said, he was still a baby, a really large baby. “Tell the bastard that sent you that next time there will be no survivors,” I said softly to him. He nodded vigorously, backed away from me. “Go!” I yelled and he did, he ran from me, leaping over the bodies of his fallen pack.
Damn kid, the world kind of started getting fuzzy, the whole passing out thing was becoming habit with me.
I wobbled; strong hands gripped my shoulders “I have you my sweet,” that voice, I knew that voice I thought as I fell into darkness.
I woke in a soft cloud of satin. This was not my bed. The room smelled like sandalwood but the sheets themselves smelled of cedar, Dayton. My skin felt too tight. I lifted the blankets to take a look and found most of my body was covered in bandages. The only thing I was wearing clothing wise was my panties. Great, I was in the Vampire’s bed and I was naked, er, well mostly naked. “I like you naked in my bed.” His voice came from the doorway.
“I need clothes,” I answered. I scrunched up to the top of his monstrous sized bed. All the while trying to keep everything covered up. What did anyone need a bed this big for anyway? Where did you get a bed this big?
He held his hands out, “Well I’m not in any mood to acquiesce to any of your demands at the moment.” He continued to move toward the bed. I found myself having a hard time breathing again. His chest was bare; the pair of jeans he had worn earlier rode low on his hips, his black hair spread around his shoulders like liquid silk. In short, he was mouth watering.
“Are you using your powers on me?” I asked my voice high-pitched and slightly panicked.
His eyelids dropped to cover half his eyes as he gave me a demure glance. “I don’t have to use my powers on you Macyn. It seems you are just as attracted to me as I am to you.” He continued that slow walk toward me.
I put out my hand in an attempt to make him stay put. “No, you are a Vampire. You are not my AoLi,” I hissed at him.
He continued toward me. “Are you sure Macyn?” God I wished he would stop using my name it was causing all kinds of bizarre reactions. He licked his lips a slow glide of his tongue over those lush planes. “I have healed you twice now and my powers have not suffered in the slightest for it.”
“That doesn’t mean…” I shook my head. “You didn’t heal me fully the second time. I can still feel the wounds.”
He nodded, “You were very near death. I have never healed anyone so close to death successfully before.” His eyes bore into mine, “and I am very angry at you for coming that close to dying on me, but we will discuss that later.” That liquid amber made me feel all melty inside.
I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to look at him. “No, you are using your powers on me.” I denied. Denial was something else I was getting good at.
“Block me out then AoD. If I am using my powers on you, block me.” His voice was much closer than it had been a moment ago.
“I can’t,” I yelled opening my eyes again. He was at the edge of the bed. His gaze was hungry and I don’t mean the I need food or blood type of hungry, I trembled.
He fisted the satin and began to crawl towards me. I backed away but there was nowhere to go. “I am not using my powers on you Macyn. Your body reacts to my presence just as mine reacts to yours.” The air left me in a whoosh, man he was gorgeous. So unbelievably sexy, I whimpered. His eyes rolled in pleasure. “Your scent is killing me Macyn,” his hands brushed my legs and I could feel his heat even with the blankets between us. His eyes were glowing not the neon of a Vampire but amber with a rim of white like mine when I glowed only mine were green. They glowed with the power of an Ao. Oh, what was I getting into? He rubbed his face along the length of my legs, across the outer thigh, then against the inner, closing his eyes and letting out a low gravelly sound of satisfaction.
I moaned, I couldn’t help it, the feel of his flesh so close to mine, the sounds he was making, the heat of his skin through satin. I wanted this. I wanted this so badly I couldn’t stand it. “Dayton,” I growled. His head snapped up and he crawled
the rest of the way to my mouth. He lowered his mouth to mine and captured my lips with his. My blood boiled beneath my skin. I dropped the sheet. My motor skills weren’t working so fantastically anymore. He cupped my chin with one hand while the other slid around to grasp my neck. He held me immobile while he plundered my mouth with his tongue. I shuddered beneath him. Cool strands of his hair moved over my shoulders and across my breasts.
I surged toward him aggressively doing some exploring of my own. I ran my hands along the cool plains of his back. His skin was soft like velvet. He broke free of my mouth and traced his lips down my throat. “Macyn,” he whispered reverently, I shuddered. He nipped at my collarbone. My body undulated under him. I had never felt anything so potent in my life. Even the pain of being sliced open by Shifters was nothing compared to this. His hands slid under the sheet pulling it down further to give him better access to me. “I’d nearly given up hope.” He whispered his breath hot on my breast. He took my nipple into his mouth tonguing the hard little crest. I cried out loudly. The sound reverberated around the room.
He moved to the other breast, I struggled to move, but his heavy body held me in place. “Dayton,” I whimpered again.
I fisted his hair and pulled him away from my body. I dragged him forward so he was kneeling directly in front of me. He looked down at me heat radiated from his gaze. I glanced up at him and smiled wickedly just before I ran my tongue over his belly tattoo. He threw his head back and shouted “Yes,” I could feel his erection against my chin. I nipped at his AoLi mark. He fisted my hair as I had done his earlier. He jerked my head back and leaned down to take my lips again. I reached for the button to his jeans and jerked it free. He let go of my hair as I reached for his zipper and looked up at him again I wanted to see his eyes when I took him into my hand. His eyes glowed; he was breathing heavily, his fangs slid down over his lower lip. His fangs… oh God what was I doing!
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