Taste the Dark (Elwood Legacy Book 1)

by Nicola Rose

“How long have you been out here?”

  “Too long. I was waiting for you to leave, so that it was your decision to see me. It felt like waiting to die, you took so long to come—”

  He pressed his forehead to mine and inhaled deeply, groaning with pleasure. After a tentative kiss, we wasted no time in getting ourselves back to his place.

  Something that surprised me was the number of guys that appeared to live with him in his stately mansion. Ten or fifteen of them. They came and went around us. Clearly part of his gang, but not one of the handful of inner circle members that were generally glued to him. I couldn’t tell you any of their names, we barely spoke. We encountered each other with cursory nods of the head and awkward smiles.

  A few of them passed through the cavernous living room where we were lounging. They asked Zac if he needed anything and off they went. They always checked if he needed anything. Bowed their heads respectfully to him. Like he was their king.

  “They treat you differently to the way Leon, Caleb and Eva do,” I stated.

  He glanced up at me and shrugged. “Pecking order I guess. They’re not close friends. They just follow me.”

  “Are there other vampires here, apart from you and Alex with your gangs?”

  “Just us at the moment, that’s still too many.”

  “I can’t believe Anna has been living here for years, all this time surrounded by this danger. It’s terrifying. She could have been killed. She still could be. How do I live with that knowledge without warning her?”

  “I wouldn’t worry too much. They don’t kill people on the island either, unless their scent is overwhelming, which is rare. If she’s been here that long then she’d already be gone if she appealed to them.”

  That didn’t make me feel any better.

  “We’ll keep an eye on her. If she matters to you, she matters to me,” he said.

  “Thanks. I don’t know how you can live here with them, too. You know what they’re doing, but you ignore it? What happened to that missing girl we found? Alex was involved.”

  “I don’t have any choice,” a hard edge came into his voice. “It’s their business. There are vampires all over the world killing people, it’s not my problem. Just because he’s my brother, doesn’t mean I have to try and stop him. I gave that up a long time ago. He loves to antagonise me, but I try not to rise to it.”

  “I still don’t understand why he hates you so much.”

  “I hold him back.”

  “How? He’s not part of your gang or lifestyle. He does what he pleases as far as I can tell.” I played with the silver necklace that I’d recovered from its hiding place at the bottom of a drawer.

  “He could do a lot more with me at his side.”

  “And hating you, causing you shit, that’s going to get you there? That’s madness.”

  “Don’t be deceived, he’s no fool.”

  “Oh, I know that. He’s on your territory, under your nose, killing the people around you, people you might care about.”

  He growled, and my throat went tight.

  “I don’t care about anyone. I mean…” he frowned. “Not before. I guess now it’s going to cause problems. He’ll somehow try and use you as leverage against me.”

  “What for?”

  “For the Legacy. It’s why he does everything he does. It’s the cause of most of my problems.”

  “It sounds very imperial… The Legacy,” I mocked, with a posh emphasis on the word.

  “It’s no joking matter. If I went ahead with my calling and activated the Legacy bond… it would grant us both with unmeasured power and ability.”

  “And you don’t want that, because—?”

  “Because Alexander and I would be inextricably linked, bound together in incomprehensible ways. The darkness would run wild. I would be rampant with power and need, I wouldn’t be myself any longer. I might learn to control it again, at some point, but it would take time. I’d be lost in the early stages of transformation.”

  “And Alex wants nothing more than to have all of that.”

  “He thinks it would give us the ultimate freedom. He doesn’t see it. We’re nothing but slaves to the darkness.”

  His hands wrapped around my waist, cold and firm. He was darkness. And light. Walking the line in between. And here I sat, following him blindly into the unknown.

  “I fear him, Jess. Because he’s stronger than me, because he would take everything from me without hesitation if he stood to gain from it, and mostly… because I could become so much worse than him if I fall off this path.”

  We discarded the tension from our heavy discussion by letting our lips do the talking for a while. His kisses transported me to another world, far away from this one… somewhere I belonged.

  I raised my hand and traced the line of a deep vein along his forearm. Why do some of us find those veins so damned sexy? Maybe it’s the indication of muscle and strength?

  “You have veins.”

  “Yes, Ma’am,” he chuckled, before sucking in his breath. “That feels a little too nice, Jess.”

  “It does?” I asked hopefully, a dirty smile spreading across my face. I officially couldn’t help myself. Being next to him made me constantly rampant.

  “Careful,” he warned lightly. “That looks like the sort of smile to get us both into trouble. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were going to try and seduce me.”

  “Don’t be silly.”

  “Exactly, I mean, what kind of idiot would try to seduce a vampire?”

  “Not me. I never look for trouble. Little Miss Boring. You sit back and carry on telling me about yourself, don’t you mind me and what I’m doing, it’s nothing…” I unbuttoned his shirt, willing my fingers to stop shaking. I realised that the entire room had, at some point, emptied of the usual occupants. Had he telepathically told them to go?

  “I’ll play along for now. You’re so ridiculously desperate to see my abs, it would be rude not to comply.”

  “Oi! Stop reading my mind!”

  “When you’re thinking about something so much, it kind of shouts out to me like a megaphone.”

  “Oh yeah, well how about this one?” I stopped moving and he tilted his head in curiosity.

  “Ouch,” he said dryly. “If you think I’m going to be that much of a disappointment then why are your fingers on my shirt again?” He lifted his eyebrows and licked his lips, making my stomach flutter.

  “So they are,” I whispered, undoing the last button and sliding the shirt off his shoulders.

  I didn’t mean to let my breath catch the way it did at the sight of him, but damn, his lean, inked body was perfection. He watched me with tense concentration, waiting for my next move. I had to kiss him, had to run my tongue over every inch of that body. But would he let me?

  He shook his head the slightest amount.

  “What about handcuffs? I have some at my motel you know, I like to keep them handy for kinky fun,” I continued to ogle every contour, my fingers itching to touch.

  “You think handcuffs could hold me?”

  “No. But it sure would be fun to try.” I flooded my mind with filthy fantasy.

  “You’re such a tease, you don’t play fair,” he moaned. “You’re a very naughty girl.”

  “So punish me. We both know your power and my subservience is where it’s at. You’re my vampire master.”

  “Well now, that certainly is more my style,” he grabbed my waist and pulled me right into him, as if I weighed no more than a feather. “Although I assume you’re only referring to time spent in the bedroom, because you don’t take shit from me elsewhere, Miss. Layton.”

  “Well, that’s bollocks. I’m under your power, and we both know it,” I moaned.

  He moved slowly, cautiously, his lips hovering just a hair’s breadth away from mine. Dominating not only my mind and body, but the very space around us, stealing the air from my lungs. His tongue ran along my bottom lip and with one blink my mind emptied of all ration
al thought.

  Instinctively, I dug my nails into his back, grinding myself into his erection. The kiss lost its gentleness, his tongue roaming forcefully into my mouth, his fingers curled around my hair. The feeling of his cool breath against my mouth, vaguely metallic, panting into me…

  Need consumed me. The need to have him inside me. To feel him hard and strong, driving into me, filling me, owning me. I gasped and wriggled, rubbing myself against him, pushing for more.

  His hand still tangled in my hair, he yanked it back, exposing my throat. My lips parted in anticipation of the pleasure, a groan escaping me. Overcome with desire, I closed my eyes and floated away to a different place.

  His whole body tensed up and in a second he was away. Fucking hell. My life was going round in circles.

  “You really are that willing to give yourself over to me completely? Sex is one thing, but you’re so eager to offer me your throat, too? You have to help me here, not make it harder,” he gripped a table, his face dark and anxious.

  A loud cracking noise snapped me out of my daze, a little dizzy, like I’d just woken from heavy sleep. “I told you, I can’t help it. My body just reacts and I don’t even have a chance to think. Anyway, don’t you dare blame me. You’re the one that decided to expose my throat.”

  Now wasn’t the time to tell him that the idea of him munching on my neck also didn’t seem so bad to me. At least, the outcome of that seemed like it had possibilities.

  “I thought you wanted to practice, and so we did,” I snapped. “You can’t keep shouting at me every time we try and fail. That’s what practicing means.”

  “Offering me your throat is too much.”

  “I didn’t offer it to you! You pulled my head back and nearly fucking took it, all on your own!”

  “Well, at least try and deter me then. Don’t conjure up images of me biting you, and you loving it. I’d really appreciate it if you could spend a little less time thinking about sex and a little more time thinking about the danger you’re in.”

  “Oh sure, I’ll try real hard to remember that the next time you wipe my mind and body of all rationality with your impossibly intense kisses. But so help me God, if you don’t figure out the control soon I’m going to explode.”

  “You just have to be good for a while longer, while I figure this shit out.”

  “I don’t want to be good, I want to be bad. I can’t suffer this intolerable rejection any longer. For fucks sake, I want you to fuck me! I want it so much it hurts.”

  He snorted and pressed a hand to his forehead. “It hurts? Do not talk to me about hurt. What hurts is what I have to go through, every second that I’m fighting the urge to kill you.” I cringed and he continued, “And as if that agony isn’t enough, you pull shit like that and increase it by the hundreds. Look at the fucking table, I’ve split the wood. That’s pain, Jess.”

  I went to storm away but he caught me in his arms.

  “I swear, you have a death wish,” he mumbled. “You should be running a mile from me, not luring me in further like some crazy siren.”

  Thrumming filled my ears, my head felt distant, away from my body. I pushed out from his grip.

  “You know what? I’m a little sick of you making out like you’re the only one with problems around here, and worse still, that those are my fault. Seriously? It’s my fault that you want to kill me?” I stormed around the room, gathering my stuff.

  “My therapist taught me a name for that,” I went on. “It’s called victim-blaming. Maybe you could use some counselling sessions yourself? In fact, yeah… do that. You come find me once you’ve got your head screwed on, because for once in my life, it’s not me with the problem. It’s you.”

  27

  Jess

  So, the answer was no. We couldn’t have a day without fighting.

  He was an ass. I had enough problems in my life at the best of times, without now having a boyfriend that wanted to kill me, and had the nerve to blame me for that. I might be the expert in fucked up relationships, but this was a new level, even for me.

  I meant what I’d said to him, too. He wasn’t the only one with problems. I’d felt it building when I got mad with him. Felt the static tingling through my fingers. Heard the buzzing in my head. He was so wrapped up in what a danger he posed to me, but what if I was the danger to him? What if I lost control and conjured up something inexplicable, something that could hurt him?

  The firehouse alarm dragged me from my melancholy.

  I scrambled with the crew as Danny yelled that we were needed on Port Isabel.

  When we arrived, there was already one crew in attendance, battling the blaze. It seemed to be an old factory unit. An area out the front had been cordoned off with police tape, a white sheet draped over a body.

  The heat bombarded me as I helped Meat with the hose and joined in with the efforts. My second fire since arriving on the island, after Danny had assured me how rare they were around here.

  My chest heaved, the breathing apparatus felt too constrictive. From the corner of my eye I noticed the arrival of Zac. And Alex. My immediate reaction was to rush over to them, but I had hold of the hose. I was on duty. I couldn’t just walk off and do as I pleased. And this time, I wouldn’t let my anxieties distract me from the task in hand.

  Even so, I tried to keep watch on them, at the same time as the flames, which were gradually receding. What were they doing here?

  Zac kept glancing at me. As did Alex. Body language tight and strained. They stood right next to the police tape, officers and fire crew swarming around, apparently oblivious to their presence; as if they were invisible.

  Eva arrived, and Leon, and men that I recognised as part of Alex’s entourage. They moved gracefully amongst the chaos – calm, but fast. Touching their hands to shoulders, whispering in ears. Before my eyes the police took on confused expressions, standing and swaying, then one by one, they shuffled away.

  Alex moved under the tape and picked up the body, disappearing with it in a blurred flash. The tape vanished just as quick. My blood ran cold. The vampires were doing something to them, to their minds. Making them forget, or think differently. To walk away from the scene as if nothing was there.

  Danny approached Zac and I tried to scream at him, but the sound of the hose and the fire, the commotion; it sucked the noise from me and drowned it out. The hose fell from my grip and Meat turned to yell at me. Picking it back up, I watched as Danny took a swing at Zac. Zac caught his fist, his face full of menace. After a moment, Danny’s head dropped and he turned… and walked away.

  I threw the hose down and shrugged away from Meat as he tried to grab my wrist. Marching straight to Zac, I took a swing at him myself. He let me make contact, my fist against his temple. My knuckles cracked. He glanced around and pulled me aside, down the side of another building.

  I threw a look behind me, spotting Eva talking to Meat.

  “You can alter what people think?” I couldn’t get as much anger into my words as the anger I felt buzzing through my head.

  “Touch manipulation. Mind manipulation. Some of us are better at it than others.” His eyes had a look of remorse. He reached out to put a hand on my hip. I jumped backwards, batting him away.

  “Stay away from me.”

  “I would never use it on you.” He stepped back himself, an attempt at reassuring me.

  “Am I supposed to thank you for that? It’s bullshit. You own me, and you know it. You’re a control freak. You hold me like a puppet on strings, dangling me around for your own amusement.”

  “That hurts, Jess.”

  “Does it?” I spat. “Boo-fucking-hoo. The immortal man with everything he wants in the palm of his hand is offended at being called out on it. Quit pretending to be Mr. Perfect and own up to the fact that despite all this ‘I am the light’ bullshit, you still love your power.”

  “I have never claimed otherwise.” His gaze took on a certain ferocity. My instincts told me to step further away, but I roo
ted myself firmly to the spot.

  “Seems to me that at least Alex doesn’t lie about what he is.”

  The growl that flew from his throat made me gasp, his face twisting in rage.

  “You know nothing of him,” he roared. “And seriously, when have I lied? I’ve told you repeatedly that I’m not the good guy. That you need to leave.”

  Despite the continuing assault on my nerve, I remained glued to the spot. He wouldn’t make me back up again.

  “You’re right. I clearly don’t know what you are, or what you’re capable of.” I didn’t dare look into his eyes, in case the anger would be forgotten. In case the pull towards him would take over and I’d fall into his lap like a mewing kitten.

  But his anger had brought him back close to me, so that I had no choice but to see every fleck in those magical eyes, every fiery spark that made them glow like amber. Lashes so thick and dark, blackness framing the burning brightness. There was a storm brewing in his eyes, and I had the feeling it could be catastrophic if unleashed on me.

  “Why were you hiding the body? Which one of you killed that innocent person under the white sheet out there?” I hissed.

  Surprise passed his face. “That wasn’t a human out there, it was one of Alex’s men. Decapitated and drained of every drop of blood. Splayed out in front of the burning building, for the world to see. A building they knew you would be called to attend… to deliver a message to us.”

  “What?! Why? Who?” I stuttered.

  “I guess the hunter wasn’t working alone after all,” Zac replied. “You must understand, I don’t take messing with people’s minds lightly. I had to do this, Jess. I couldn’t leave a dead vampire lying around.”

  “They weren’t from your gang, what do you care?”

  “It’s my island.”

  “Seriously? You’re still claiming to own this shit-hole?” A deep, southern drawl made my skin thrum and my heart skip about ten beats in one go. “Nice to see you again, Jess,” Alex said, stooping to kiss the back of my hand with a graceful bow.