Taste the Dark (Elwood Legacy Book 1)

by Nicola Rose

  “You always act weird,” I murmured. “That wasn’t weird, that was gut-wrenchingly nasty. You could have done things differently.”

  “It crushed me to hurt you like that, but I had to play a convincing role to them.’

  “But who are they? Why are they so important?”

  He shook his head, “Emory promised to come in six weeks, but he got held up with other business. He sent her to check what was happening with the hunter situation. Alexander told her he’d killed him. He kept his mouth shut about the recent attack. As far as they knew it was over. But I fucked up…”

  There was that look in his eyes again. I’d seen it briefly that night. Definitely fear.

  I waited for him to continue.

  “They know I never indulge in their activities or their games. Acting the way I did with Luna, it showed them I was hiding something. Then they saw you, your aura, they knew—”

  “You can see my aura?” Alex had mentioned the same thing.

  “All vampires can see auras. People have varying shades depending on their character, their nature, but yours… it’s pure hyper-energy, unlike anything I’ve ever seen. And they knew you were different, too. They stuck around and I thought they were just messing with me, but they were gathering information. They found out that you meant something to me. I had to neutralise that threat,” he flicked his gaze to me.

  “Neutralise? You killed them?” Was that satisfaction that rippled through me?

  “Luna proved tougher than anticipated but she eventually got what she deserved. Then I had to fix things with the Bael, explaining that Luna had encroached on my territory and made waves. That I was within my rights to take them out after they killed people on my island. My people. Ones I’d claimed. It’s true, they did kill people, lots of them. I didn’t really care though.”

  That wasn’t true. He cared a great deal about the people on South Padre not getting killed.

  “Emory is still away. He might be for some time, but I don’t think for one moment that this is over. They’ll return…” He blew out a long breath before continuing.

  “I was trying to keep you safe. I stayed away because it’s too dangerous to be around me. But then this happens,” he gestured to me, lying in the hospital bed. “And it’s nothing to do with me, or vampires, it’s just you… your recklessness. Maybe you’re safer with me after all.”

  32

  Jess

  My bedroom at Zac’s mansion was the size of my whole apartment on Port Isabel. The plush bed, covered in throws and cushions of deep red and gold, had become my prison and my freedom at the same time.

  He wouldn’t allow me to sleep in his bedroom with him, for fear of losing control with me. It felt totally wrong to be sleeping in a different room. Every night, or day, whatever the hell time it was when I tried to sleep; I lay awake, longing for him to come and join me, calling out to him. I knew he’d be able to hear my thoughts. He never came, though.

  He insisted that I couldn’t stay in my apartment with my broken leg, so I would stay with him. Where he could look after me. Protect me, said the unspoken words between us.

  There were too many questions that I knew needed answers, but honestly, I didn’t want them. Perhaps it was easier to stumble blindly along and deal with those answers if and when they came.

  Being there, in his home, was where he was the most relaxed. A great weight had lifted from my shoulders. The feeling that maybe we would be okay. That we could work through the ridiculous number of issues, one step at a time.

  Danny and Anna had visited me before I left the hospital. Worry and anger seeping out from every pore, all directed at Zac. I thanked them for their concern and eventually convinced them there would be no changing my mind. I would be living with Zac while my leg healed and I would take things from there. One day at a time.

  There was a gentle tap on the door. “Room service,” the voice called.

  I grinned as Zac came through, carrying a tray of toast, pastries, fruit and fresh juice.

  “Careful,” I warned. “I could get used to this.”

  “I hope so,” he smiled, sinking down onto the bed.

  I picked at the food. Eating breakfast in the afternoon. We always stayed up talking through the night. My stomach growled with relief and appreciation as I ate.

  When had he last… fed? Had he fed from anyone since I’d known him? Killed someone? It had been months since we met, he must surely have needed to… in all that time…

  “I rarely go longer than a few days without feeding,” he answered my hideous thoughts. “Since you arrived, it’s daily. I have to in order to maintain some semblance of control around you.”

  Daily. My insides recoiled.

  “But, how? Who?”

  “I can’t answer that right now,” he replied, and I think I found his evasiveness a relief for once.

  “Can’t, or won’t?”

  He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not ready to lose you yet.”

  “You say that like one day you will?” My stomach lurched again.

  “Nothing lasts forever. Not even for a vampire.”

  We sat in quiet contemplation for some time after that statement, and as his fingers brushed over mine I began to forget what we were talking about.

  The window was open and the delicate scent of honeysuckle petals swept through on the breeze, the plants growing around the sweeping veranda, clinging and climbing ever upwards in their pursuit of grander heights.

  Beyond that, the grounds of Zac’s estate stretched out. Ornamental gardens, fountains and swimming pools. The steady thump of music from the island bars attempted to destroy the tranquillity of his home. But it failed. There was a stillness here. Calming.

  I wondered what it would be like at Alex’s house. What went on inside those walls? What he did to the people that ended up there…

  “You know why his eyes taunt you the way they do, right?” Zac asked suddenly.

  “What?”

  “It’s because they’re not human. Same reason my eyes have the effect they do on you. Still, that doesn’t make me any less jealous about the fact you’re sitting right next to me and still thinking of my brother.”

  “Oh, fuckflaps! I’m so sorry!” I gasped.

  No matter how hard I tried, I hadn’t been able to get Alex out of my mind. The swirling blue eyes, heavy with intensity, whilst sparkling with mischief. I found myself wondering constantly about what made him so different to Zac.

  “Fuckflaps?” The corner of his mouth twitched.

  “I kinda have a thing for cussing. You have to be inventive when you do it all the time,” I muttered.

  He laughed softly, but the heaviness of his thoughts still seemed to shroud around him. Taking my breakfast tray, he set it down on the nightstand to avoid meeting my eyes.

  “You know, this mind-reading thing is starting to wear thin,” I said.

  “I can’t help it, it’s part of who I am.”

  “You once told me that it gets distracting with all the voices, like when you have twenty groupies all drooling over you, so you tune them out and just focus on what you want to. Surely you can tune me out?”

  “Why would I do that?” he asked, bemused.

  “Because I asked you to.”

  “It’s not that simple. There’s something about you I don’t understand myself. You consume me.”

  I huffed and toyed with a cushion in my hands.

  “I promise I’ll try to tune you out a bit more. But if you could try to stop thinking about me for five minutes of the day it would really help.”

  And my brother, said the words that I knew floated around his head.

  I tried to whack him with the cushion, but he predictably dodged it with one of his flashy vampire moves. I threw myself at him instead; a whole body would be harder for him to dodge than a cushion. A sharp stab ran through my plastered leg as I awkwardly lunged.

  He didn’t try to dodge this attack, catching me in his powerful
arms and squeezing. I rested my ear against his chest and tried to listen for a heartbeat. There seemed to be a faint sound, but it could have been my own pulse in my ears.

  “Alex told me something. Or rather, said I should ask you something,” I said, feeling him immediately stiffen against me. He waited for me to continue. “He said to ask you about sanguine mating.”

  His heaved breath came, as predicted.

  “Let me guess, something you don’t want to talk about?”

  “A sanguine mate is vampire folklore horseshit,” he growled.

  “If it’s horseshit, why have you tensed up so much you’re squeezing the air out of me?”

  He startled and released the locked muscles in his arms. “Sometimes, a vampire is so drawn to a human, they can’t escape the bond. They crave that person’s blood so much that resisting is impossible. At least, that’s the theory.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me this before? I mean, I know you’ve told me how drawn you are to me, but why not tell me this? It might have helped me understand more.”

  “I’ve not even allowed myself to think about it, let alone say it out loud. That label comes with expectations. In fact, I’d just been at a Bael sanguine wedding the day you arrived on the island. I won’t acknowledge my feelings for you in that way; in a vampire, ritualistic way. I wish to embrace my need as your lover above all else. That nonsense about the sanguine mating would have us believe that we’re fated for only one kind of relationship. One that I will not allow.”

  “What if you have no choice? What if you can’t control it?”

  “That’s what I’ve been trying to get you worrying about this whole time, but it’s a little late to start now.”

  A couple of days later he brought me my afternoon breakfast tray and I had a sudden urge to throw it in his face. Pent up frustration clawed behind my eyes. I’d spent the whole day tossing and turning in bed, sleep evading me, reaching out to him with my mind… pleading with him to come to me. Yet… nothing.

  He eyed me wearily, as if he already knew what was coming.

  “I already know how ridiculous and selfish I’m being,” I groaned. “But every time I see you, or even think about you, my body cries out for your touch. I need intimacy with you. Can’t we try to practice again?”

  He set the tray down on a table in the corner, knowing I had no intention of eating it.

  “I’m scared, Jess. In case I can’t control myself. I can’t let you be like—” he cut himself off and moved to the window.

  “Be like what?”

  He shook his head slowly.

  “Did you fuck her?” I bit out.

  “Who?” he asked, spinning round to face me. He looked innocent enough, but I also knew that he could compose the mask on his face without any effort.

  “That vampire bitch, Luna. She was clinging onto you like you’d just made her come.”

  “That’s nice talk, Jess, real nice. No, I didn’t.”

  I did believe him. Really, I did. I didn’t even know why I’d asked. Trying to start another argument, when things had been… calm, normal. Classic Jess move.

  “I was just wondering how far your acting went to try and convince them I meant nothing. She wanted to fuck you though, right?” I pushed.

  “Of course.” He was so matter-of-fact it made my blood boil.

  “Well, that’s wonderful. Not only do I have to contend with all your followers, I now have to try and fend off the advances of female vampires, too. As if I have a chance.”

  He smiled then, which irritated me more. “If you didn’t stand a chance then I would have fucked her, wouldn’t I? But I didn’t, because you’re all I need. You fend them off without even realising.”

  “For how long? You can’t actually fuck me, can you? Or won’t. If you vampires are as promiscuous as you say, how long is it really going to be before you jump into bed with someone else?”

  That shut him up. The silence that followed made it all too clear that what I said was true and I wished I hadn’t said it. What a horrible reality to face up to.

  Eventually he spoke, “Firstly, let me remind you that you were the one fucking another man that night. I have women throwing themselves at me constantly and I’ve resisted, but you glued yourself to him the moment things got rocky. And of course there was the other time we argued and you slept with a woman. Do I need to go on?”

  Wow. Rumbled for using sexual activities to make myself feel better. I could have done without being told the obvious. I did still feel that my actions were almost excusable that night, under the circumstances, but I chose to remain silent.

  “Secondly, and most importantly, I just need time and practice. Once upon a time I never thought it would be possible to resist feeding on whoever I wanted, but I learnt how to control myself. You’re different, but I just need to keep working at the control and I’ll get better at it. I promise that I will be fucking you senseless soon. You have no idea how much I’m looking forward to that.”

  “So you do want to practice still?”

  “Very intuitive,” he said, crushing his lips into mine and making me lose my mind.

  33

  Zac

  The warmth from the morning sun poured in through the open window and spread out across my skin. I lay next to her, the empty breakfast tray discarded on the floor. Today, I’d made an effort to adjust our patterns whilst we weren’t leaving the house. She’d been exhausted last night and fallen asleep late in the evening – as she should. So I had roused her with an actual breakfast-time breakfast.

  It had been weeks since the accident, since… since I’d let this happen to her. And it had been weeks of hell, listening to her every time she was supposed to be sleeping, feeling her calling me. The battle against the urge to go to her was slowly destroying me. I wasn’t sure if it had been worse when she was away in another town, or when she was right in my house, within reach but untouchable.

  Not to mention the building rage at having a hunter still taunting us, and evading every daily scan of the island. All we could find was a slight trace, an energy that didn’t fit, but couldn’t be narrowed down.

  I was feeding way more than normal, trying to keep a hold on all the darkness that seemed to be slipping. Tensions were too high. Having Danny still out there, carrying on with his life, didn’t help. But he’d got away when Nyle distracted me, and since then I’d been so busy with Jess. The longer it went on, the harder it was to go out there and take him. With Jess back by my side I wasn’t sure I could deal with the guilt of having him in my basement. Could I really look into her eyes after doing that to her friend?

  He fucked her.

  Yeah. I could. I would…

  My phone buzzed, which caused both of us to glance at each other in surprise. No one called me via technology, except the girl who was sitting next to me.

  I read the message and stuffed the phone back in my pocket. She tried to look like she didn’t care, like she wasn’t desperate to know what it said.

  “Are you bipolar?” I asked.

  “Fuck off! Seriously?” she glared. “I’ve come to expect that kind of labelling from most people, but not you. You can’t be like them, you’re different—”

  “Relax, Jess. I’m not saying I think you are. But this text message from Anna says ‘please make Jess take her bipolar meds’. You gave Anna my number?”

  “Shit-on-a-stick! Dammit, Anna. She’s so dead for this.” Pinkness flushed across her face and for a rare moment I wanted to smile, for real instead of pretend. “She insisted. In case of emergency. Part of her ‘keeping my friends safe policy — especially the ones dating weird assholes’.”

  I laughed. “Very sensible, I’m glad you complied.”

  “So, what do you think? Are you going to tell me to take them?”

  “No.”

  “Why?” she countered.

  “Because it’s not my place to.”

  Because people on meds taste like piss.

  “Thank
you,” she whispered, and her hot lips swept against mine, parting eagerly for my tongue.

  Had she groaned his name when he’d fucked her? When Danny had been able to do for her what I couldn’t. The thought sent dark waves crashing through me.

  You should have killed him already. He sullied your possession.

  She panted eagerly for me, her tight little body quivering against my kisses, desperate for more. My cock hurt so badly it made me wonder if I should have jerked off earlier to ease some tension.

  “I can’t take this,” I groaned. “I need to be inside you.”

  “Do it.”

  “I’ll hurt you.”

  “Why can’t you get it? I want you to hurt me.” She pressed harder against me in a lusting daze. “You know I can handle a bit of bedroom roughing-up, right? I’m not scared of you, it excites me.”

  Fucking hell, why did she have to say stuff like that?

  The Beast salivated. My cock pulsed harder against my jeans, straining into the fabric. “We both know that your fear radar doesn’t work, Jess. You don’t run even with the biggest threat right in front of you.”

  She wants you to take her. Are you not man enough to give her what she needs?

  I shifted to escape the hideous light from the window, its sickening warmth making me sleepy. Then the idea hit me. Could it work?

  There was one way to find out, and anything was worth a shot at this point.

  “The sun,” I said, standing up eagerly and taking her hand.

  She looked at me like I was insane.

  “Come with me. Outside.” I put one arm under her legs and the other round her back, and scooped her into my arms, careful not to knock her leg too much.

  “Zac! Put me down, you can’t go out there,” she giggled sleepily.

  “It won’t kill me, but it’ll weaken me. Maybe enough that I can—”

  Her smile transcended the darkness, squashing it and taunting it in one move. I carried her down the stairs and outside to the pool, both of us laughing freely like young lovers.