“You’re a member of a coven, right? Do you think Russo will come for you?”
“He has tried to bring me down countless times.”
She placed her palms on the top of his hands and threaded her fingers with his. “Are you afraid?”
“Of what?” he asked, his breath fanning her face.
“Of being executed?”
“No. Throughout the decades, a vampire gains the ability to subdue emotions, especially fear.”
Elaina paused for a moment to meditate on his answer. “Fear allows us to feel our humanity. It’s the emotion that reminds of us of just how vulnerable we are. It’s the emotion that we feel right before we’re faced with what limits us and raises doubt in our hearts.”
“Precisamente. Fear is what happens when we risk losing something.”
“Is there nothing in your life worth keeping?” she asked, turning her head slightly eager for his answer.
“There is now.” He lifted her hair from her shoulders and pressed his lips to her neck. “Te adoro…mi rayo de sol.”
A small gasp pushed passed her lips when she felt the cool point of his fangs testing the delicate skin on the back of her neck. She closed her eyes and waited for the bite, which he seemed to delay on purpose.
“Voy a asesinar a los que te marcó,” he whispered into her skin.
“You’ll have to teach me this language,” she replied, not understanding a word he spoke.
“Through the blood. In due time.”
“When will you give me your blood?” she asked.
“I want to make sure you really want it before I do that,” he replied. “You won’t be the same once I do. It’s only fair that I introduce you to who I really am. Once you take my blood, you will become more acquainted with my dark side but I want you to know who I am as it now stands.”
“Are you also afraid that I will no longer be el sol if you give me your blood?”
“Siempre serás mi sol. Always.”
She smiled. “Marcó…? What does it mean?”
“Marcado. Voy a asesinar a los que te marcó,” he told her. “It means that I’ll murder those who have marked you.”
Remembering the mark of the District burned into the flesh on the back of her neck, she slid her palm up to caress it. “This will never disappear, will it?”
Vicq kissed her fingers. “It will…if you want it to.”
“I do.” Elaina turned around to face him, placed her thighs on either side of his, and straddled him. She initiated a kiss that lasted for several minutes. Before long, her hips were moving in tandem to the thrusts of his pelvis. She wanted him and he sensed it. Vicq brought her to stand and paid great attention as she rid herself of her boots and leather jumpsuit. He shed his clothes within a matter of seconds. Starting at her shoulders, he rained kisses all over her skin, venturing downward until his head was level with the apex of her thighs. He caressed her backside and pleasured her sex with his lips and tongue as he knelt on the ground before her.
Elaina was already wet by the time she led him back down to a seating position on the ground. She straddled him again, sliding her sex down over his cock until the length of him was buried to the hilt inside of her. Wrapping her arms around his head, she embraced him with her fingers tangled through his silky black hair. As she rode him, she bared her neck, offering her vampire lover the thickest part of her vein. This time, he accepted without hesitation. Her blood pulsed into his mouth at the same tempo as her hips moved sensuously over him.
She reached her first peak, moaning softly into his hair. “Vicq…”
He extracted his fangs and exhaled and inhaled harshly to catch his breath. It wasn’t long before he descended on her again for another taste.
Elaina rode Vicq through midnight just like that, under the stars and under the moonlight. Her adrenaline levels rose with every bite he delivered and every breath she took. When he reached his orgasm, sheer unrelenting pleasure barreled through her. He was like a drug, better than any drug. Her addiction for Vicq had grown in such a short time. This craving instilled a need so great that she just might long for his touch forever with the knowledge that Vicq offered eternal satisfaction.
Chapter 15
“Is it good?” Vicq asked, eyeing her from across the small table.
They were seated at a small twenty-four-hour diner in a town out in the middle of nowhere. Vicq had been watching her eat for almost fifteen minutes. She was on her second serving of scrambled eggs and protein pancakes.
She nodded, swallowed, and chugged down some ice-cold water. “I haven’t been this hungry in a very long time.”
“Do you know why that is?” he asked.
She frowned at him. “I’m not that different from you, ya know? I’m hungry because I need sustenance…the same way you need blood.” She added the last part with her tone lowered.
Although it was 2AM, there were a few truckers that had stopped in and were seated at nearby tables.
“A few days of me feeding from you will do that,” Vicq said.
He fumbled with the basket of toast set out in front of him. He hadn’t even pretended to be eating. He just sat there, watching her. Well, that was fine with Elaina. When it came to food and eating, she wasn’t shy. If she didn’t burn as many calories as she ate on a daily basis, she’d probably have more curves where she’d always wanted them to be.
“Then I conclude that having a Donor is costing you more than you expected.” She held up the guest bill and glanced at the double digit cost of her meal.
He laughed. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. I want you to be well fed.”
“What are our plans for tonight? As much as I love the things we do in the dark in your bedroom, I’d love to play some other ways, too.”
His eyebrow rose as he assessed her. “Have any ideas?”
“You said you’d show me how to easily track a rogue.”
“I did, didn’t I? What if I say I don’t want my woman around danger?”
She smiled. “Understood, but don’t ever forget how we first met. I wasn’t wearing a frilly dress, selling cupcakes after Sunday school then, was I? I don’t mind getting my hands dirty.”
“Oh, don’t I know it.” He grinned.
“So, is that a deal? You show me how to track a rogue without being sensed, and I might let you bite my neck again.” She winked.
Vicq narrowed his gaze. “I’ll think about it.”
Elaina shrugged. “Think all you want, but while time’s a wastin’, you’ll go hungry.”
“We’ve got a few more hours until all the rogues are likely to retreat to their slumbering places, so you’re in luck,” Vicq said as they reached his motorcycle.
Elaina stuffed her satchel into the tail box. “Do they slumber sooner because they’re not as strong as Dresdan?”
“That’s part of the reason. They also slumber often because they’re still considered fledging.” He handed her a helmet.
“Thanks.” She closed the gap between them, pressing her body against his to kiss his lips.
Vicq responded as he always did, kissing her back firmly, but gently. And what had started as a long, sensual kissing session became a series of short kisses between panting.
“Hmmmm,” she moaned as he cupped and gently kneaded her ass. “I think maybe we should finish this first.”
“Of course, I’m ready whenever you are.” He demonstrated by pressing the hard length of his cock against her belly and scraping his fangs across her neck.
Elaina wanted both his cock and his fangs inside of her. This craving for him seemed never ending, and she had yet to take any of his blood. She could only imagine what the first taste of his blood would have her doing.
She—
Her train of thought was cut off and a sharp object splintered through her shoulder. The impact was so sudden that it knocked the wind right out of her. Her knees gave out instantly and she slumped against Vicq.
Her vision went in and ou
t as a pain so great it almost made her black out. She struggled to hold on...
“No…” Vicq screamed.
Just before her eyes rolled back into her head, she saw the shooter on the roof with a crossbow. A District 5 tracker had just shot her with a poisoned arrow. She couldn’t move. It was as if everything had frozen in time.
So this was death…
Chapter 16
“Elaina, please…open your mouth and take more.” A man was talking to her.
Vicq.
“Where am I?” She inhaled deeply and smelled nothing but Earth and a metallic scent. Her blood. She was on the ground, eyes looking upward toward the dusky sky. It was dawn.
There was so much pain, and she just wanted to go back to sleep.
Vicq shook her. “Elaina…quick! I’m being trailed.”
“What are you talking about?” She licked her dry lips and tasted blood. Vicq’s blood.
“Dozens, Elaina. I can’t fight them all now. You kept passing out and I had to give you my blood. Drink more.”
Her instincts told her to take what her body needed, and she parted her lips. Vicq’s ancient blood flowed like lava down her throat.
He grabbed her against his chest and squeezed tightly. “Fuck! I can’t even shift away from here.”
“What happened?” Elaina was slowly regaining her eyesight.
“You were shot with a crossbow. I pulled it out. The more blood you lost, the more I kept losing you.”
She parted from him momentarily to get a good look at his face. It was almost ashen and mostly devoid of color. His eyes were dull hazel.
“Oh no. You drained yourself, didn’t you?” she asked and tried to lift herself up.
“Yes, but I was also shot by a sniper rifle. Don’t try to get up. The blood is helping you heal internally. It may take a couple of days. Elaina. Listen to me…” He looked over his shoulder. “I’ve been trailed. I shifted us here, but it’s likely that dozens of Soldiers are on to me. I’m too far away from any of my coven members to send a call out for help.”
“What does that mean?” She grabbed his arm, and realized that she was weaker than she’d thought.
“You’re going to stay here, behind this bus. Under no circumstances are you to reveal your location. Understood?”
Elaina looked around and realized that they were on the ground near a deserted building in a parking lot filled with buses that looked like they hadn’t been maintained in months.
“Who’s after you?” she asked.
“I smell Dresdan blood. These are no rogues. No one would dare trail me unless ordered to.”
“Russo…?”
He nodded. “I have to leave, Elaina. I can’t pull you into this.”
“Can you just fight them off?” she urged.
“It’s an option, but I sensed too many and I’m completely drained.”
“Damn it, Vicq. I wish I was strong enough to help you.”
“You have my blood and you’ll be strong enough soon, sunshine.”
He kissed her forehead and fled the area.
Elaina bit back a curse and remained huddled near the bus. Moments later, a sea of thick mist clouded the parking lot. Not five minutes after that, the mist was gone and the first rays of sunshine pooled over Elaina’s body. She shielded her eyes with her forearm. The sunshine was the last thing she wanted right now.
Chapter 17
Shit.
Dozens of Dresdan Soldiers began to materialize around Vicq, swarming him like flies, and pouncing around like rabid, hungry gutter rats in their excitement over finally catching up to him. They’d trailed his blood essence here while he was busy helping rid Elaina’s body of the poison. The lethal dose could have killed her, so Vicq had literally drained himself saving her. He estimated that he was still standing because of what little blood remained within his veins.
Yet still, he tried to fold away again, but he was just too weak to do anything.
He managed to focus on the entities unfolding in front of him, but he struggled to stay conscious. His body was trying to pull him into slumber but he tried to remain standing.
A Superior pushed his way out from the crowd of vampires. “Well, well, well…what happened to you? Did one of those trackers shoot you? You’re bleeding out all over the place. We trailed your essence from miles away.”
Vicq opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He swayed from left to right, fading in and out of consciousness.
The Superior laughed. “My…you’re drained nearly dry.”
Vicq’s knees buckled, but yet he struggled to stand. His body fought to lure him into slumber. He was too weak to shift away to his basement. That wasn’t even an option at this point. He would never reveal his place of slumber to any enemy.
The rising sun burned his shoulders. The UV rays affected him more than it did the Soldiers waiting to strike and the Superior that led them.
“It’s too bad you can’t put up a fight. Russo told me I’d have so much fun bringing you down,” the Superior continued.
Vicq swallowed hard, mustering all of the strength he had left within. “Fuck you. Fuck Russo.”
The Superior lunged. Before Vicq could dart out of the vampire’s path, someone struck him on the head with an object. He saw blackness just before the full force of sunshine hit him.
Chapter 18
A biting pang of hunger ripped through Vicq’s belly causing him to rise abruptly. He dragged himself up off the concrete floor, pulling at the heavy chains binding his arms and legs to the ground. Judging from how much he’d recovered, Vicq estimated that he’d slept for half a day.
He was locked in some kind of dungeon and enclosed in a cell no bigger than the size of the master bathroom at his manor. There were others around him in nearby cells. He could smell them, but from his position, he couldn’t see them. Some of them were even human, probably blood slaves who had defied orders.
Before Vicq could investigate any further, three vampires instantly materialized before him. One of them was Russo—the traitorous Dresdan he hadn’t seen in years. Vicq wanted to stand because he refused to bow to Russo, but the chains were pulled taut limiting his ability to rise.
“Hello Vicq,” Russo rasped. “My blood brother.”
“You are no brother of mine,” Vicq said between clenched teeth, finally lifting his gaze to meet Russo’s.
Russo’s eyes were pitch black, almost the same color as the iron cells surrounding them. He looked the exact same, sporting thick long blond almost golden hair that flowed down his back. He was tall and slender, but his smaller size had never been mistaken for weakness. And he was known for his morally deficient ways and ability to flip alter egos at any moment. His looks disgusted Vicq, but women loved him. Both human and vampire alike. It was said that he had dozens of blood slaves to quench his thirst every night.
“No? But we share the same Maker.”
“A Maker who you betrayed.”
Russo sucked his cheeks in and narrowed his gaze. “Why is putting one out of one’s misery called betrayal?”
“It wasn’t your call. If he wanted a final death, he would have done it himself.”
Russo tucked in his upper lip and shook his head. “But when? He was leading us all down a hopeless path! We were being slaughtered left and right by an agency known as District and blamed for the faulty actions of rogues and other vampire clans. We were in a era of chaos. It was time to fight back and he didn’t want to fight. He was too weak to lead us.”
“As you are.” Vicq’s voice rose to match Russo’s. “Your rage against humans has spread to your followers to the point where they don’t even think twice about lashing out and murdering innocents for blood. We are not rogues. We are Dresdan. And until this Court stops condoning the senseless acts of violence, I will have nothing to do with it.”
Russo smirked. “I didn’t give you a choice.”
“I never asked you for one. I’ll never serve under you.”
Russo scoffed and glanced back and forth between the two vampires on either side of him. “Then you shall die. You shall be the prime example of what happens to those who defy my orders and give me a bad name inside and outside of the Court. You shall burn.” Russo pointed to the ceiling.
Vicq glanced up and noted the shaded filter over an opening in the ceiling. He needed no one to tell him that what lurked above were the burning rays of the sun.
“Anything else you wish to say?” Russo asked.
Vicq fixed his gaze directly on his enemy. “Getting rid of me won’t end this. You will fail.”
“Then I’ll fail until I succeed.” Russo turned to the vampire on his left. “Unsheathe your knife and shave his head. Open the top door and let him burn. You two will stand guard today over this cell. You will rotate until he is gone.” Russo chuckled and turned to leave. “You better feed well on your breaks. This one is strong. We’ve starved him, yet he still lives. It could be weeks before he crumbles up and dies. I won’t give him the honor of a quick death like I did my wayward Maker.”
Chapter 19
Elaina used a dagger to slice through another box with some of her belongings. She tried to remember where she had put stuff since leaving her parents’ home, but her memory was all a blur. Plus, she fought to hold back the tears that were flooding her eyes. She refused to cry. Not now. Later she might, but time wasn’t on her side.
Something tapped on the outside of the storage unit and she turned her attention in that direction, thinking it was the clerk who’d given her the keys, telling her that her time was up. But no one was there.
Elaina glanced down at her wristwatch and noted that the place had closed five minutes ago—6PM—so it had been nice of the old lady up front to let her grab some things while she closed up.
She grabbed a couple of maps that her dad had given her and hastily stuffed them into one of the duffle bags.
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