“Don’t tell me you are planning to go a little rogue? The old habits die hardest, don’t they?” Kyran said with a wicked smile.
Amber stared at Kearn.
Kearn glared at his brother. He wasn’t intending to take Amber’s blood. He knew the law and he wasn’t going to break it by using her blood purely to get high. He had only taken a small amount for testing purposes. That was as far as it went. This wasn’t the same as back then. He hadn’t known he was breaking the law. He hadn’t known she was tainted.
It was typical of his brother to bring up his past. Kyran had always found it amusing to make him uncomfortable but that trait had turned vicious since Kearn had become a Venator, to the point where Kyran took intense pleasure from saying things that would get him into trouble. He was convinced that his brother did it to see him suffer, to make him pay for the things that had happened between them centuries ago, so he bore it as punishment for his sins against his own blood.
He bore it in the hope that one day they would finally move past what had happened and would be able to forgive each other.
“Why are you here?” Kearn looked hard at his older brother and then moved back to the door of his apartment. It wasn’t like Kyran to hide in the dark and he could smell blood other than Amber’s. The flat dull smell of vampire blood. It all smelt the same, not unique like human blood. He turned on the ceiling spotlights. “And why are you bleeding?”
Kyran touched a gash on his face. It wasn’t the only cut. A myriad of thin red lines covered his face, neck and hands. He grinned.
“I was playing with Earl Huntingdon and Marchioness Montagu. You know what they can be like.” Kyran’s grin widened. His blue eyes shifted back to Amber. “Although if I had known you had such sweet company, I would have come here earlier.”
Kearn crossed the room, grabbed Kyran’s arm, and led him over to the small dining area in the far left corner of his apartment. He didn’t relinquish his grip on his brother.
“She does not know what we are.”
“Kinky,” Kyran whispered and raised a dark eyebrow in Amber’s direction. “Do you intend to reveal it during the act?”
Kearn tightened his grip on his brother’s arm, bringing his attention back to him. Kyran frowned down at his hand and then into his eyes.
“She is a lead on a case. Bait.” He kept his voice low so Amber didn’t hear him. He wanted to tell his brother that he wasn’t interested in drinking from Amber, or anything sexual, but couldn’t bring himself to lie. His eyes threatened to stray to her, to take in her beauty, but he kept them fixed on Kyran.
“A Source Blood?” Kyran went to look at Amber again but Kearn stepped into his path.
“If you reveal what we are—”
Kyran slapped a hand down hard on his shoulder and smiled. Kearn could see straight through it. Whatever his brother was going to say, it was a lie. The look in Kyran’s eyes screamed trouble.
“I will not say a word out of place.” Kyran removed Kearn’s hand from his arm and was past Kearn before he could stop him.
Amber still stood by the door, an air of hesitation about her, as though she had noticed the tension between him and his brother and didn’t want to be caught in the crossfire.
“I have been unforgivably rude.” Kyran stopped far too close to Amber for Kearn’s liking. “Permit me to introduce myself. My name is Kyran, and I am Kearn’s older brother.”
“Amber,” she said and then peered around Kyran to him. “Brother? You don’t really look alike.”
They had looked alike before he had become a Venator. His hair had once been black like Kyran’s and his eyes had been an equally deep clear blue. In terms of stature and build, they had remained much the same, and he could see himself in his brother’s face. His eternal torment.
“Kearn looks like our father.” Kyran’s tone was sharper than razor blades. Kearn could sense the hate and the hurt in him. It was never going away.
Kyran should have been Venator. It was the tradition in the Noble and Lesser Noble families. The eldest son carried on the duty of their father as Venator. He had wanted it to be that way, because Kyran had thought of nothing but becoming a Venator since they had been children. Kearn had fought the Sovereignty, had tried to convince them to give the duty to his brother, but they had given it to him regardless. Kyran had hated him ever since. A part of Kearn still hated his brother in return for his role in what had happened, but the pain of what he had gone through was nothing compared to the fact he had stolen his brother’s dream.
Time had healed some of the breach between them, but sometimes Kearn got the feeling that nothing had been forgiven or forgotten. No matter how much progress they made with each other or how they tried to get along, the past would always stand between them.
The countess would always stand between them.
There was something akin to concern in Amber’s eyes as she looked at him. Why? Because of his silence or because of the mix of sombre and fiery feelings that accompanied his thoughts? She would be able to sense them if she tried. The connection her blood in his veins caused between them was open and transmitting the emotions in his blood back to hers.
Kearn reached out to her through their connection and felt the concern in her. He closed off his emotions and monitored her in case the vampire tried anything.
She forced a polite smile at Kyran.
“You mentioned an earl and a marchioness. I’ve never met anyone who knew fancy people like that.”
Kyran looked over his shoulder at him, his black eyebrows raised again. Kearn shook his head a fraction, enough that only his brother would notice the answer to his silent question. No. He hadn’t told Amber about them and their family and he wasn’t going to let Kyran mention it either. It was best she knew as little as possible.
“Kearn doesn’t approve of Earl Huntingdon. He believes him a bad influence. Don’t you, brother?”
Kearn left the dining area and came to stand near Amber in the open space between the four areas of the main room of his apartment.
“Because he is.” Kearn held his hand out, indicating the living area beyond the wall of the open fireplace. “Perhaps we should sit down since Kyran seems to have no intention of leaving soon.”
“Sounds like a wonderful idea.” Kyran flashed a smile and held his arm out to Amber. “Shall we?”
She hesitated, looking unsure of what she was supposed to do, and then slipped her arm around his brother’s one. Kearn glared at his brother’s back as he led Amber to the couches, his eyes shifting to red for a moment and the world sharpening with it. Kyran would feel the threat. Hopefully, it would improve his behaviour.
Kearn turned away and went into the kitchen area, trying to clear his head. What was Kyran playing at? Of course he despised Earl Huntingdon but Amber didn’t need to know that, or about anything to do with the sordid man. Earl Huntingdon was an animal. His family had always relished power and embraced the myths surrounding vampires, and had always been the most blood-soaked and violent because of it. Sometimes Lesser Noble families had no sense of breeding.
He took a fresh glass from the cupboard and filled it with water.
Kyran wouldn’t talk to him about what had happened during his century of exile from their family, but he knew that Earl Huntingdon had invited him into his home and treated him like a brother. The earl was young, almost the same age as them, and had taken the role as head of his household when his parents had died around two centuries ago. He had been only one hundred and fifty at the time, the equivalent to a human fifteen year old, but he had been bloodthirsty and ruled in violence with his sister.
Kearn carried the glass with him across the room to the living area and rounded the black couch that faced the window. Kyran was sitting on the one against the wall, his legs crossed, revealing a rip in the knee of his black tailored trousers. Had Kyran been out killing tonight with the earl and marchioness? The three of them were prone to such acts of debauchery when together. He could
n’t smell human blood on him, but it was difficult with Amber in the room. The heavenly scent of her blood drowned out everything else, filling his mind with the need to take more.
His gaze roamed to her where she sat on the couch that faced the window, staring out of it. Forbidden. Why did that word only make her more tempting? He placed the water down on the coffee table in front of her and she looked up at him.
“Thank you.” She smiled and then it melted away into a frown. Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Does your brother know what you do?”
Kearn flinched internally at that question. He could feel Kyran’s eyes on his back, boring a hole through his chest as though he wanted to rip out his heart with thought alone.
“Yes,” Kearn said in a tight voice and sat beside her. She shuffled over to give him room and then sat with her hands in her lap, her body angled towards him and his brother.
He tried to think of something to talk about that wouldn’t give Kyran an opening to hate him, ridicule him, or reveal anything about them and their family.
“I think Kearn has some more bandages if you need some.” Amber smiled in Kyran’s direction. She toyed with the cream crepe bandage around her hand.
“Did something happen to you?” Kyran sat forwards, resting his elbows on his knees. He reached a hand out to Amber.
Something inside Kearn said to knock his hand away and not let his brother touch Amber again, but he kept still. He didn’t have any claim to her and his brother was behaving himself. If he stopped him, the next thing his brother said would probably be something about his penchant for blood drinking. The introduction had been bad enough. Permit me to introduce myself? He might as well have said—I’m a ridiculously portrayed vampire from a cliché low-budget movie.
Amber placed her hand into Kyran’s. His brother cooed over it in a way that made Kearn want to hit him.
“This is terrible. You poor thing. What happened?”
It would have been more convincing to Kearn had his brother not been drawing a deep breath the whole time, trying to catch the scent of her blood.
“A man attacked me. A vampire, actually.” She eyed Kyran closely.
“Damned vampires.” He rolled his eyes.
Kearn did take her hand away from Kyran now, and gave his brother a dark look for good measure.
“I take it you know about them?” Amber put her hand back in lap and started toying with the bandage again. Kearn kept a close eye on her, concerned that the vampire’s hold over her might not have faded completely. Since it was the vampire’s blood in her body, and not the other way around, he would still be able to find her using the lingering connection between them until tomorrow night, or even beyond that, but Kearn had expected his ability to control her to have left her system by now.
He picked up the water and offered it to her with a smile. A delightful blush stained her cheeks. She had reacted the same way when he had smiled at her earlier tonight. Did she like it? He smiled again and she took the glass, running her fingers around the rim of it with her eyes downcast. Shy?
He could feel Kyran’s eyes on him. Watching. It wasn’t illegal for him to study a human and Amber fascinated him.
“I know all about vampires,” Kyran said in a tone as black as an abyss. Kearn looked at him when Amber lifted the glass to her lips. Kyran blatantly ignored the silent command not to watch her by staring at her throat while she drank. Red briefly ringed his irises. “I know about them and the terrible things that Kearn does to them.”
Amber choked, coughing and spluttering, her hand over her mouth. Kearn quickly took the glass from her. She stared at his brother with wide eyes. He didn’t like the question he could see in them. She didn’t need to know what he did.
He touched her shoulder and used the connection between them to give her feelings a slight push. Not too much influence over her thoughts. More of a suggestion than a command. He wouldn’t control her as the other vampire had.
She rubbed her eyes and yawned. “I feel tired.”
“It is late.” Kearn placed the glass down on the square coffee table, feeling Kyran’s glare on him the whole time. “Perhaps you should rest. You have had quite a night. I will stay on the couch. Please, make yourself at home in my room.”
“Really? I couldn’t.” Her beautiful hazel eyes met his, full of warmth and honesty. They backed up the message her blood sent to his. She felt bad for taking his bed.
“I insist.” He took her elbow, bringing her with him when he stood. Kyran was still staring at him. He led Amber past him and to the bedroom, and turned the light on for her. “The bathroom is just through that door. The control for the blinds is on the bedside table, as is the remote control for the television, in case you feel uncomfortable sleeping without background noise tonight. I will be here if you need anything.”
She nodded and he closed the door. The moment it clicked shut, his eyes changed to red and he looked at Kyran. Scarlet eyes stared right back at him.
Without a word, Kearn walked to the door of the apartment and opened it. Kyran stood, stalked across the room, and stopped toe to toe with him.
“That was uncalled for. I was merely making conversation.”
“I did not like the direction your apparently innocent conversation was heading.” Kearn’s red eyes locked with his brother’s ones.
“Do you really believe the lie you are telling yourself when you say she only needs to know as little as possible?”
Kearn frowned.
“It is a lie, brother, and a shallow one. You do not keep her in the dark about your true self because you believe she doesn’t need to know it in order to play the role you have assigned her.” Kyran stepped past him but remained facing him, his back to the hall. “You do so because you are afraid of what she would think of you if she found out what you are… a vampire no different to the one who attacked her… a fiend lusting for her precious blood.”
Kearn curled his fingers into a tight fist at his side and gripped the door hard with his other hand.
Kyran stepped back into the hall.
“She will find out, little brother.”
He was gone.
Kearn growled under his breath at the truth in his brother’s words.
It was only a matter of time before Amber saw past the façade.
For some reason, he didn’t want her to see him for what he was.
He didn’t want her to fear him.
Hate him.
Not even when it felt inevitable.
Kearn cursed and slammed the door.
CHAPTER 5
Amber woke slowly to an unfamiliar view. She lay on her back, staring at the ceiling, and could see the edges of the brown walls either side of her and the window behind her that formed another wall. She felt very calm, as though she had slept deeply. It surprised her. After what she had been through last night, she had expected not to sleep at all. She had drifted off waiting for the nightmares but felt as though her dreams had been pleasant, or non-existent.
Perhaps her dreams and reality had swapped places. She was living a nightmare and dreaming her old life now. The fear that had settled in her heart last night hadn’t gone anywhere. It was quieter now, lessened by the steps Kearn had taken to protect her, to make her feel safe, but it wasn’t going away. Deep inside her heart, a voice whispered that she should fear Kearn too, but for some reason she couldn’t bring herself to feel that way, not even when a part of her knew that there was something different about him.
It didn’t matter what he was. He was protecting her and she could help him. They needed each other. In order to swap her dreams and reality back around, she had to be strong and get through his, and she would, with Kearn at her side.
The quiet noise of the flat panel television built into the oak wardrobes opposite the foot of the bed filled the silence along with her breathing. She stretched. Kearn’s bedroom was soothing. She wanted to sleep here forever.
The bed was soft and warm, the room peaceful and q
uiet, and she felt safe.
Amber rolled onto her side and took a deep breath. The brown pillows smelt like Kearn. She hadn’t noticed it before. It was a warm smell. She smiled. Probably a very expensive warm smell.
There was no doubt in her mind that Kearn’s job paid well. The car, the apartment, and the terribly modern décor that gave it an air of something out of a perfect homes magazine, all pointed towards money.
Another smile touched her lips when she remembered him insisting on her taking his bed. Very chivalrous.
And then there was his brother.
They looked alike in some ways and the very opposite in others. She imagined Kearn with blue eyes and black hair cut short around the sides but longer on top. They would definitely look alike then.
His brother had a different personality though. He was open, playful, and seemed to take great amusement from saying things that Kearn thought weren’t suitable. If they hadn’t told her that Kyran was the older brother, she would have thought him the younger.
Kearn seemed so cold in comparison, and more distant than she had first placed him. His behaviour around his brother, the flashes of anger swiftly chased by sorrow that had crossed his face at times, and the way he had ended the night so abruptly, all of them increased her feeling that Kearn was hiding something. What did he want to conceal?
Kyran had said that he knew vampires and he knew what his brother did to them. What did Kearn do to them? She had been about to ask him when she had felt incredibly sleepy. The tension in the apartment had risen the moment Kearn had closed the bedroom door on her and then the front door had slammed. Had they argued? Because of her?
Amber sat up on the double bed and pulled the brown duvet to her chest, covering her bare breasts with it.
Why would they argue because of her?
Because Kyran had been too friendly or because he had said something he shouldn’t have?
Amber looked over at the bedside table.
Forbidden Blood (Vampire Venators Romance Series) Page 5