Taste the Dark (Elwood Legacy Book 1)

by Nicola Rose

  The foolish girl and the beastly vampire who would feast on her.

  The sun nearly blinded me, my perfect vision becoming tainted. The burning buried itself into my skin, dulling my senses and slowing my mind. It felt fucking horrific; a vile brightness contaminating my core.

  I carefully placed her onto a cushioned sun lounger. She laughed, spirited and free, as she hobbled up to standing and suddenly half hopped, half ran… straight into the pool. Clothes and all.

  “Jess! I didn’t mean—”

  She surfaced, shrieking and giggling.

  “Your cast, Jess!” I shouted.

  “Fuck the cast,” she replied, splashing the water playfully over my feet.

  Her body, with her wet shirt clinging to it, was a sight that threatened to devour me. Tall and lean, perfect curves. She attempted to swim a width, her plastered leg floundering behind her, and her rounded ass bobbed below the surface in her little shorts. I needed to spank that ass, bite it, fuck it.

  I whipped off my clothes and leapt in to join her, finding some relief from the sun under the water. I grabbed her as she sank under and was, I think, drowning from the weight of the cast. Pulling her back to the shallows, I stopped to stare at her.

  Water dripped from her flaming hair and into her eyes. Her cheeks flushed with excitement. She looked more alive in that moment than I could ever remember. Throbbing pain hammered behind my eyes, but I could still see the vein in her neck, hear it calling me. This wasn’t going to work.

  She put her arms over my shoulders and kissed me. In a split second I ripped all the clothes from her body, discarding the scraps of fabric to float around on the surface. For the first time, we were both naked.

  My cock pressed into her, fitting perfectly in the gap between her thighs. She floated up, wrapping her good leg around me tightly, the other poking out behind me.

  I pushed against her opening and a thousand shards of darkness broke loose. I couldn’t get my thoughts together. Urges to take her battled with the primal need to escape the sun and find safety. Everything tore at me. Everything hurt. But her pussy pressing urgently into me was such intense pleasure that I lost it. My fangs descended.

  I couldn’t let her see. She mustn’t see me looking like that, strained and depraved. I darted back to the sloping pool steps, dragging her mercilessly with me, like an animal with its kill. I had hold of her neck, choking her, forcing her face downwards, away from my eyes, from my fangs.

  I shoved her mouth onto my cock. She took me in whole, then drew back, licking the tip, circling her tongue around and down the shaft. She lapped and sucked at me with such enthusiasm, like she was tasting the most delicious thing ever.

  Snarling darkness clawed at me.

  Burning sun consumed me.

  Exquisite pleasure ripped through me.

  Combined, they obliterated my mind. I was lost. Buried somewhere beneath it all.

  Her hot mouth wrapped around me, drawing my cock all the way in. The tip pressed against the back of her throat. I took her hair and pressed deeper. She gargled and gagged. I was vaguely aware that my grip was too tight and I managed to release her head, but she didn’t withdraw. She sucked harder, faster. I grabbed my own head, fingers clawing at my scalp, growling like a demon.

  Taste her… let go… feed…

  I was laid bare to her. Every piece of me belonged to her. My heart, my body, my mind. Except the darkness. That was not hers to control. The Beast wanted to control her. To devour her.

  And it would succeed. It would take over and claim her. Right now.

  Let me free. Stop fighting.

  I pulled on her hair, but she resisted, sucking me tight. She thought I wanted to stop her, to pull away as usual.

  I wasn’t trying to stop her. I just wanted her neck up here where I could suck on it.

  Her fingers dug into my hips. My eyes widened when I tore them from her bobbing head and realised that most of her back was scar tissue. Her soft, pale skin puckered and tight, creased and shiny. All down the right hand side of her back, across the top of her shoulder. What had happened to her? I snarled louder, wanting to take away whatever pain she’d endured.

  Then she swirled her tongue around as she sucked, finding the perfect angle, suddenly hitting a spot that made me yell with rage and desire. Nothing else mattered.

  Except claiming your sanguine mate. That matters most.

  “Fuck, Jess,” I lifted myself upwards and she repeated the same motion as before, over and over. My balls tightened.

  I needed her blood.

  I need to escape the sun.

  Fuck it, I needed to come.

  I pressed into the back of her throat and climaxed loudly with a carnal growl. She didn’t stop, wouldn’t stop sucking, swallowing me down.

  I spurted into her warmth as my own blood spurted into my mouth. Disgust and pain filled me, my fangs buried in my own wrist to give them somewhere to go. Such sweet pleasure and agony, burning torture, all mixed together.

  Slumping back, I pressed my palms over my eyes.

  The release went some way to quelling the darkness. My fangs retracted, aching and disappointed that they hadn’t tasted her, but I was more overtaken with the urgency to escape this light.

  “Shit, Zac! Your skin is smoking! You’re burning, you didn’t tell me that would happen.” She was suddenly scrambling to get up, her leg heavy and useless, weighted down with water.

  “It’s because I’m naked… too much skin out… less skin is OK,” I garbled.

  She threw my shirt over my head while I sat there, dazed and confused. Then she scrambled around, trying to fish remnants of her own clothing from the edge of the pool.

  “No, don’t get dressed. I haven’t given you anything yet.” I reached for her pussy.

  “Are you joking? You just gave me something I’ve spent weeks dreaming about!” She gave up on the clothes and shuffled back into the house, ushering my burning body along with her.

  34

  Jess

  The nurses at the hospital greeted me with heavy tutting and eye rolls as they took in the sodden plaster cast on my leg. I could feel Zac’s stifled laughter beside me. I bit my cheeks and tried my hardest to keep a straight face.

  “Don’t tell me, you accidentally fell into the pool, did you?” the pointy-nosed nurse asked.

  “Nope, I jumped in,” I beamed at her.

  She huffed and fretted, muttering to herself as she replaced the cast and informed me I’d receive the bill.

  Plaster cast or not, I think I could have skipped out of that hospital if Zac hadn’t insisted on carrying me. I couldn’t stop grinning. At least, now that his skin had stopped smoking. For a while I’d not smiled at all, watching him groan and writhe in pain. Thankfully, once we’d got back inside the house he’d recovered quickly.

  It had worked. We’d been more intimate than ever. I knew this was positive. It was a good sign.

  “It wasn’t a victory. I mean, it was amazing, but—” he huffed, almost as loudly as that shrew-faced nurse.

  “It was a huge step in the right direction.”

  “Really? Having a boyfriend that needs to go and burn himself in the sun just to keep a grip on the darkness while you touch him. That’s good, is it?”

  “Don’t. Please.”

  “I nearly lost it. I had to bite my own fucking arm.” He looked away in disgust.

  “You were happy and laughing twenty minutes ago. What changed?”

  “Being back here. This place. Back to reality.”

  “Right then, Jess. Time for a girly night.” Eva appeared in the doorway, her cheery voice making Zac squirm.

  She stared at him. Warning him just to try and tell her to leave. I swear silent words passed right through to each other.

  He glared a while longer before conceding, “I do have stuff that needs my attention. I won’t be long.” He kissed me and sulked away, leaving Eva to bounce into the room.

  Considering how bitchy women ca
n be, she could have been totally pissed at the introduction of another woman to the group, but she never showed that.

  She plucked a bright red nail polish from a box and motioned for me to give her a hand. She loved red. She always had this awesome style going on; cute little corsets and dresses that accentuated her perfect hourglass figure, heaving bust, high heels, and black hair curled up with rollers and ruby lipstick.

  “I take it you’re from the fifties era?” I asked as she began painting.

  “I sure am,” she laughed. “But probably not the century you’re thinking of. Try seventeen-fifty.”

  “Holy shit. You look good for your age!”

  I’d been floored by Zac’s true age, this seemed inconceivable.

  “You must have seen and done so many amazing things. What’s it like? To have seen the world change around you so much?”

  “To be honest, I’m a bit blasé about all that. Yes, things have changed and I’ve experienced much, but at the end of the day I’m still the same person after all that time. Still just a vampire doing my thing.” She gave me back my hand, already complete with perfectly painted nails.

  “That can’t be entirely true. You must have started out as a vampire… like, more like… you know? Before you got with Zac…” It sounded offensive no matter how I put it.

  “You mean I must have been an evil bloodsucker once, with no regard for who I took? Sure. But just because I control it now, doesn’t make me different. Not really. I am to you, on the outside, but I still have the same desires inside. Zac must have told you that already. We can’t change what we are, we can only manage it better.”

  “So he keeps saying, but I still don’t get it. I don’t get why he brushes off being told that he’s good. I know I can’t comprehend what’s inside you, but it’s your actions that define who you are and he subdues the darkness, so he’s good. I wish he’d stop trying to push me away.”

  Daily. He told me he fed daily. He wasn’t lying. He wasn’t good. When was I going to wake up to that?

  “He doesn’t want to, Jess. He wants to be with you more than anything. But he worries for you, and he worries for himself. And for all of us. Being involved with humans is a big deal, it rarely ends well.” She gave me back my second hand.

  “There’s always a risk of a relationship not working and people getting hurt. But you can’t choose who you fall for, you just have to go with it and hope for the best. No point worrying about shit that might not even happen,” I said, surprising myself by my faith after so many miserable failed relationships.

  “Hmmm.” She located a hair brush from her box and sat behind me, combing through the tangles. I didn’t dare point out that her pampering of me was getting a bit weird. “And the problem is, he knows that, too. I’m afraid he’s been there and done that. I don’t suppose he’s told you that he was in love with a human before?”

  “What?” I flipped round as she was mid brush and it yanked on my hair. She clucked her tongue and shoved me back around.

  “Don’t get your panties in a twist,” she said. “Everyone has past relationships and you’re no different.”

  “But this kind of relationship is different. What happened?” My stomach felt like it was caving in on itself. I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear what happened. He’d surely killed her.

  “That’s a story for him to tell when he’s ready. But it tore him apart. And that’s when we met. I gave him a shoulder to cry on. He came to me on the rebound; we attempted a relationship of our own while he taught me his ways, but it was never going to work. I stayed by his side though. He changed my life and I will always love him.”

  I sat quietly while she continued to brush. I couldn’t hide how anxious I was feeling, my body must have given her plenty of signals, but she kindly pretended not to notice.

  “You and Zac. You were together.” I said. Of course they were. It was obvious. He doted on her.

  “I’m pleased you’re here, Jess. He’s never been happy the whole time I’ve known him, not really. Then he found you and over the top of all the fights and trauma, he is happy. He needs you. So please try and understand the difficulties that you present to him. He’s working so hard to overcome them. He needs your help to make it work.” She pulled harder on a knot in my hair. It made it feel like her last statement was a threat. I better not fuck him up.

  “I wonder how many other things he hasn’t told me?” I mused out loud as we lounged around on a pretty polka dot blanket that Eva had brought into the living room. “He must have a million secrets and know so many things that I still don’t understand.” Was I pouting? Yes. I think I was.

  “Has he told you about his special ability?” she asked.

  “Everything he can do is special.”

  “I adore how love-struck you are!” she laughed, before continuing. “Most of us have certain things that we excel at. Leon has a more sensitive radar for darkness; he helps us, with our food choices. Caleb has strength. Zac’s is speed. We’re all fast, but he’s extra fast. When he wants to be, anyway. He doesn’t get much chance to demonstrate it without drawing attention.”

  “That’s cool. What about you?”

  “I can manipulate people through contact with them. I mean, we all can, to a degree, but I do it best,” she grinned. “If I touch them I can sway their thoughts and instincts and make them do what I want. Sometimes my persuasion is so strong I don’t even need to touch them.”

  I’d gathered as much from watching Zac and Alex after that fire. The way they’d waltzed around leaving a bunch of confused people in their wake.

  “That’s not fair on the human population.” I tried to think about all the times she might have touched me. Had she made me do things?

  “I would never influence you. That would cross a line that Zac wouldn’t forgive. We’re all forbidden from messing with you.”

  That offered some relief, in a messed-up way. He had promised me too, that he’d never do it to me. “What about Alex?”

  “He’s extra powerful with his mind. He can project thoughts easier than most and get through barriers. There’s a faction of the Bael that went rogue, called the Unaligned. They have a huge array of extraordinary abilities. They take on new members occasionally, training them to unearth and harness greater hidden powers. Alex has always been desperate to get in with them, since he doesn’t have access to the Legacy power. One day he’ll succeed, and then Zac really will be in trouble.”

  “It’s hard to see him as someone so bad. He doesn’t seem—”

  “Don’t judge a book and all that. Alex is an expert at appearing playful and harmless, but the depths of his depravity knows no bounds. He’s a demon disguised as a man. The predator that no one sees coming.”

  You could be like us… Alex’s voice sounded, clear as day, through my head.

  “Zac is always so evasive about all this Legacy and Bael stuff,” I mused, suddenly not wanting to talk about Alex because my pulse had doubled in a second.

  “I’m sure he’ll tell you more when he’s ready. It’s probably safer if you know less.”

  “What are you doing in here, Eva? With her? Come join us,” came an irritated voice through the doorway.

  “I’m having a girly night, Ruben. Lord knows I’ve earned it after all my years in this house,” Eva said.

  He scowled at me, “Eva, seriously, come on. We’re going to the dunes.”

  “Ruben, seriously, no.”

  His clothing choice continued to astound me. This big, bad Mexican with his black ponytail and moustache, wearing what can only be described as breeches, waistcoat and velvet tailored coat.

  He sped away on his heels, his coat tails fluttering, muttering to himself.

  “I apologise for my brother,” Eva said.

  “Why does he do that?”

  “He’s not a people person.”

  “No, I mean, dress like that.”

  “Because he refuses to come and join us in the present day. And to wind Zac u
p, to act as a constant reminder that he’s older than him. Basically because he’s an idiot.”

  “He doesn’t like me.”

  “No.”

  “Thanks,” I laughed. “I thought girly friends were supposed to sugar-coat it?”

  “Sorry, I don’t understand human interaction like that. Anyway, don’t sweat it. Just avoid him where you can. I know he’s my brother, but he can be a total jerk.”

  “I thought that was a normal trait for all vampire males?”

  She paused, straight faced, before bursting into laughter with me.

  By the time Zac returned it was well into the early hours of the morning. I’d not long been in bed. Eva had given me an evening that far exceeded my expectations of any relationship with her. She’d opened up to me, not just about herself, but about Zac. Told me things he probably wouldn’t be happy about.

  She trusted me. The others in the gang… I knew they didn’t. But the fact that she did, for some reason, it meant a lot to me. Women standing together I guess.

  She’d apologised for the tameness of our night together and promised that once I was out of a plaster cast, she’d show me how a vampire girl did a real wild night on the island. I’d nodded enthusiastically, despite the voice in my head telling me I shouldn’t know. I still didn’t quite understand the logistics of how they… sustained themselves. Chalk it up to another fact I was happy to keep in the dark.

  The invisible boat upon which I stood was rocking, swaying on a swell tide of unanswered questions, fear and excitement. One little rock in the wrong direction and I was going to fall off.

  Zac entered the room in complete silence; an unnatural quiet. It shouldn’t be possible to move without any noise, as if the sound itself was absorbed by his being. He crossed by the window where the moonlight illuminated that haunted face. So beautiful, so strained. He pulled his shirt off and slid into bed, tucking me into his cool body.

  His chest rose and fell with shallow breaths. My fingers grazed over the tattoos on his chest. It was one of my favourite things to do – to trace those lines, feel the hard contours of his muscles beneath my fingertips. I could just make out the shapes and swirls as my eyes tracked the lines I was tracing. Such vibrant coloured art, burning brightly against the utter whiteness of his skin.