Taste the Dark (Elwood Legacy Book 1)

by Nicola Rose

  When he returned he slid his hands around my waist from behind and pulled me into his stiffness. He licked the edge of my ear and brushed his lips over my neck. Hot damn, he made me so horny. I closed my eyes and turned, grabbing behind his head and pulling his lips to mine.

  He was different, less cautious. His tongue thrust into my mouth and I wobbled. Shit, surely the days of passing out to his electric kisses were behind me? Was the threat of losing my mind over those dizzying sparks ever going to pass? I hoped not.

  His hand cupped my breast with an urgent squeeze and I grabbed his ass to feel that delicious erection pressing harder against me. Let the whole damned boat watch us, I needed him so much. The ease of his hands on my body drove me wild, roaming freely over my curves, his kiss demanding and uncaring. No tension, no threat of him retreating, he submitted to me.

  This was the way it should always be. Free to explore each other, free to touch and taste without fear and tension. Only the desperate aching need, surging free—

  He was suddenly torn away, and there was snarling. A lot of snarling. It took a moment for everything to stop spinning. And when it did, none of it made sense anyway.

  Zac had pinned Alex to the deck and the whole gathering on the boat fell silent, watching. Alex was grinning and Zac, well, he looked like Satan himself.

  “I’ll fucking kill you,” Zac hissed, his hand tight on Alex’s throat.

  “All these years of trying and all it took to put a fire under your ass was a girl,” Alex laughed, tight and strained as his throat was crushed.

  It was like I was in one of those bad dreams where you need to run, or speak or something, but you just can’t make anything happen. I stood like a useless fool. Where did Alex come from? Why were they fighting like that?

  Alex made eye contact with me and winked, like that hand around his throat wasn’t about to crush it entirely.

  From the corner of my eye I noticed Eva and Leon tearing down the boardwalk and onto the boat, flanked by Alex’s guys. Didn’t they have lives of their own? Other places to be?

  Zac stood, grabbing the shirt at Alex’s shoulders, and lifted him up. He launched him onto a table which practically disintegrated at the contact. Glass and wood flew around them. A girl who’d been sitting at the table screamed as she pulled herself from underneath the mangled wreck, blood gushing down her leg. Just fantastic. Now all the vampires were probably struggling to keep their fangs up.

  Staff from the boat started shouting and trying to order the fighting animals off the deck. Then other people joined in with the shouting and gesturing, myself included.

  Alex had got back to his feet in a second, still grinning and moving with lazy ease, managing to somehow look even scarier than Zac, which was some accomplishment.

  Zac hurled himself forwards again and crashed into Alex, who stumbled backwards. He tipped over the railing and pulled Zac with him, landing in the water with barely a splash. They sank beneath the waves and all I could see was water.

  Someone shrieked and threw a life ring over. I laughed, high pitched and a little hysterical. Mainly because the water was hardly more than a couple of metres deep, but also because of the absurdity of two vampires needing buoyancy aids.

  Even so, a wisp of fear started to creep into my lungs when an eternity passed and they still hadn’t resurfaced. Eva and Leon weren’t paying attention to the water, they were too busy standing their ground against Alex’s guys.

  A whoosh of relieved sighs erupted in unison around me as a drenched man appeared on the surface. He approached the boardwalk and did some sort of un-human leap, landing himself quietly on the wooden planks. Dripping wet, frozen with rage.

  The other crazed man copied. Now there were two deranged psychopaths blocking the only exit from the boat. Eyes ablaze with a fire that couldn’t be explained.

  Panic swirled amongst the crowd. Mutterings about how they did that, how did they get out of the water like that?

  I moved towards them, willing my feet not to fail me in the face of this chaos. They stood, side by side, shoulder to shoulder, chests heaving – watching me advance. Alex rolled his bottom lip between his fingers.

  A flash of realisation passed through me. The reason the kiss had felt so different.

  Fucking hell! It was his lips that had been on me! He was the one kissing me? How had I not realised?

  I think my stomach dropped right through my feet and into the sea below, washing away on the tide. I had nothing inside me but anxiety. Every shred of the human façade had crumbled from Zac. I was torn between the fascination of watching Alex, the way he looked at me like he’d won and owned me, it made my heart do weird things.

  But I couldn’t take my eyes off Zac, either; the man I loved, dissolving into a monster before me. That made my heart tear into pieces, too. I looked backwards and forwards between them.

  “Maybe we should take this somewhere more private,” Alex said in a low voice. “Where we can behave normally without people noticing.”

  Zac nodded to Eva and she wandered into the crowd. I turned to watch as she ran a hand serenely over every person that she passed, the lightest of touches. The buzz in the air began to quieten.

  Zac shot me a look of pure disgust before telling Alex, “The Strip,” and turning away. He walked down those wooden planks like a ticking bomb, leaving a trail of wet footprints behind him. I wasn’t prepared for that fierce look. Rage and loathing, boiling over and spewing out of his tormented eyes.

  I watched him go. He didn’t grab me and pull me away. He didn’t even look back. He just left me there, speechless and motionless.

  He left me with Alex?! What the actual fuck?

  The devil himself cocked his head in my direction and held out a hand.

  Eva knocked it aside with a growl.

  At that moment, it took every shred of energy left in my body to walk away from him, away from the gravitational pull into his dark and twisted arms.

  43

  Zac

  I paced up and down the road, the oppressive night choking and seeping into me. The whooshing in the air indicated how close the sea was, just over the dunes on both sides. I kicked at the yellow ‘road ending’ sign – still lying there, cracked and broken in the sand, after Jess’s little joyride on my motorcycle. That felt so long ago. How naive she was then. Not that she was much more enlightened now.

  And how ironic now. Road ending. This was it. The long-awaited end to a painful journey with my brother. Brewing for years and pushed into place by Jess.

  Finally! Let go… the release will be exquisite.

  But what did I expect? Nothing. Truth be told I’d always known it would come down to something like this. Something fucked-up. It was never going to work.

  I tried to use the rhythmic rise and fall of the tide to calm myself. Fucking useless plan that was. I’d never felt this unhinged before. Ever. Not even before I changed. In my darkest days I’d felt more restrained than I did right then.

  The need for Jess was so deep in my core that I was barely able to hide it on the outside; holding that shit together on the inside was destroying me. How long could I keep pushing back the Beast before it broke free? I was living on borrowed time.

  Eva arrived with Jess in tow. I listened to them talking further down the road.

  “Listen,” Eva said. “I don’t want you to see this, but I have to be here in case he needs me and I can’t leave you alone anywhere.”

  Jess made a move towards me, but Eva stopped her. “No. Do not say one word, no matter what happens here. Don’t try to reason with him while he’s like this. You’ll make things worse.”

  Too fucking right she would. Why the hell was she even here? I stormed over to them in a second.

  “I told you to take her to our place,” I said, refusing to let my eyes land on Jess.

  It didn’t matter that none of this was her fault, that she was helpless against our lure. I hated her. I hated her for being everything, for calling out to
my darkest desires with her whole being. For pushing and taunting me, for making me feel like an eternity in hell would be less painful than loving her.

  Because I did… love her.

  I hated her and I loved her.

  It’s time. Claim her. Wed her. She’s only fit for one purpose…

  “I’m not leaving you like this,” Eva said to me.

  “I’ve got the other guys. Get her the hell out of my sight, Eva, I’m not fucking around here. I don’t want to hurt her.”

  Jess’s pulse jumped. She clutched her stomach like she was going to be sick.

  Time ran out to argue about it because Alexander arrived with his men. They strolled towards us, the cheery sound of his fucking whistling drifting along on the ocean breeze. I went forward to meet them halfway, my guys at my back.

  “Let’s cut the crap, shall we?” Alexander said. “She wants me.”

  “Fuck you.”

  “That’s right, she does want to fuck me. You not giving her enough fulfilment in that department?”

  His ever present grin tested me. I surged forward. His men moved in front and blocked the way. He wouldn’t let me get to him again until he’d finished with the verbal diarrhoea.

  “You don’t even want her,” I spat.

  “Wrong again, brother. On the contrary. I have feelings for her almost as strong as your sanguine bonding. Tell me, how does that feel to find the woman you’re fated to kill, but your own pathetic conscience stops you?”

  I paced back and forth in front of his battle line, his men smirking at me.

  “Don’t beat yourself up, Zachariah,” he continued. “It wouldn’t be the first time she’s chosen the bad guy. She has a history of picking them. Ex cons, cage fighters, drug addicts. She’s a pretty bad judge of character.”

  “You don’t know shit about her.”

  Alexander laughed, “Oh, but I do. A little nudge against old contacts, some digging here and there. If you weren’t such a pussy you’d have done the same thing for yourself.”

  “Why would you do it?”

  “The bigger question is why you wouldn’t, given that she’s not an average human? But Zachariah, I’m offended. I’m only looking out for you. If this vixen is getting her hands on my brother I want to make sure she’s suitable material for you. Unfortunately, she isn’t. She’s a nasty bitch and you deserve better. She’s more my type. we both know I don’t deserve any better.”

  He glanced in her direction and drifted forwards.

  “If you take one more step towards her I swear I’ll rip you apart.”

  “Your threats to kill me are becoming tedious. I see I’m still standing,” he shrugged.

  I hissed and spat at the fucktards standing in my way, surging into them, trying to break through. Alexander was like the eye of the storm, walking calmly and composed, smiling from ear to ear, in the middle of a wave of violence. My men were at it, too, raging beside me, teeth grinding.

  “Call your fucking goons out of the way and deal with this one on one, Alexander. I dare you,” I yelled.

  And just like that he gestured his arms wide and the men before him cleared, swiftly retiring to the sidelines. I snapped my head and my Cell followed suit. They wouldn’t attack until I told them to.

  I flew through the air and his nose shattered as my forehead met his face. He wiped at the blood and let his grin grow wider. It was infuriating. No amount of physical damage I could do would even come close to hurting him the way he hurt me.

  Emotional hurt was out of the question with someone who genuinely doesn’t care about anything. Which left only that one option I’d been analysing and threatening.

  Killing him wasn’t going to cause enough hurt, but at least I wouldn’t ever have to see him again. That was some small consolation.

  You’ll lose the Legacy if you kill him. Set me free, but do not end him… do not…

  He took advantage of my distraction and launched himself forward, pushing me down into the road. Towering over me, he stomped hard on my chest. I heard my ribs cracking but didn’t feel a thing. He aimed his boot at my face. I rolled out of the way and caught his leg, dragging him down with me.

  We struggled, each gaining the upper hand and then losing it. Bone crunching blows rained down, over and over. A deluge of blood, swearing and snarling. I had a slight advantage on speed, but he was stronger. When it came to the crunch though, we were too damn evenly matched.

  Regaining upright positions, I circled, waiting for him to come back at me. Instead he reached out, grabbing the person that had been thrust towards him. Jess screamed my name, struggling in his grasp. He pulled her in tight, his hand squeezing around her throat, fangs at her neck.

  I whirled around to see Eva on her knees, clutching at her chest.

  Fuck! Fucking assholes.

  “Nope,” Alexander warned as I turned back towards him. “Stay there. Don’t make me destroy her, Zachariah, it would be a terrible waste.”

  Jess was gasping, her eyes bulging, his grip on her neck too tight. I took a step back and he loosened off a fraction.

  He started whistling again. Smiling. Pressing his nose into her neck and breathing deep. His fingers tightened as I considered attacking.

  I held my hands up.

  “Checkmate,” he smirked. “I will give you two choices, Zachariah. You give her to me, or you give the Legacy to me. But know that I’m taking one of them. I’m not leaving this round empty handed.”

  Snarling rage circled my mind, rattling against the cage. This was it. His big game plan. Only two things in this whole world that I wasn’t prepared to give up and he was going to make me pick one.

  “Get over yourselves, you fucking idiots,” Jess suddenly spat, taking us both by surprise. It made my anger surge higher and his laughter grow deeper. “I’m not a fucking pawn for you to play with. I choose where I go, not you.”

  He laughed in her ear, “You can be so damned cute, darlin’.”

  “Oh yeah?” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a silver pendant necklace. Before he could register what it was she’d pressed it against the hand holding her throat. He pulled away sharply, cursing. It wasn’t enough to cause him any major pain, but it had been enough to shock him. And a split second was all I needed.

  She ducked away and before he could grab her I charged and knocked him off balance. I got hold of him and lifted his body into the air. Launching with whirlwind speed, I dropped him onto the metal pole of that broken road sign with such force that even his fortified skin couldn’t defend him.

  The pole pierced straight through his back and out his chest. Shock plastered his face as he looked down at the bloody metal sticking through him, and then up at me. I moved eagerly onwards, knowing what I had to do.

  The frenzy of his men behind was deafening. I didn’t need to look back to know that the scuffling and snarling was from my own Cell blocking and preventing them from getting close. They wouldn’t be able to hold them back long. The power of a Cell whose leader was in mortal peril is unmatched.

  “Wait,” Alexander yelled, blood spluttering from his lips and choking his words. “Just wait… think this through. You know it’ll cause more problems. You can have the whore. You win.”

  I paused, some distant part of my conscience pleading with me not to kill my own brother.

  Jess wrapped herself around my body, melting into me, sobbing uncontrollably. “Please don’t,” she cried.

  My resolve fizzled, the darkness fuming behind the bars. It was almost there, so close to breaking free. One little nudge.

  Killing my brother would be that push. I’d lose it if I did that shit. No turning back.

  She quivered into my chest, dissolving the rage further. Fuck!

  I stepped away from her and raised my fist, smashing it into Alexander’s already broken nose. My fangs slid out, bringing with them a surge of instinctual hunger. I licked the blood from his face, tracing the thin silvery line of his scar to belittle him.

/>   Grabbing hold of his shirt I pulled his face up to mine so that the pole slowly tore out of his body. “Call her a whore again, I’ll kill you. Come anywhere near us again, I’ll kill you. If you so much as think her name, I will fucking kill you.”

  I let go and the pole crunched back through him. Walking past his snarling men, held back by my own animals, I revelled at the sounds of him struggling to free himself.

  44

  Jess

  Eva took me under her wing as usual. Zac wouldn’t look at me in the immediate aftermath, he stormed off and disappeared. When we got back to the house I found him in the living area, blood trickling from his lips, down his chin, dripping onto his bare chest. The buttons on his shirt were torn open. I watched, mesmerised, as a line of blood gently ebbed down towards his nipple.

  Before I could allow the inappropriate thought of licking it off to develop further, I sought out his face again; the pain in his eyes, the fury still resonating. Small veins had spread around them, etching little blue spiderwebs across the normally perfect, smooth skin.

  He wiped his mouth with the back of a hand and smeared blood across his cheek.

  “W… what…?” I began.

  “What do you think it is?” he turned the full force of his malevolent stare onto me.

  “It’s cool,” Eva said. “He needed to feed. Better them than you.”

  Better who than me? What the fuck? He couldn’t have just happened across a murderer on his way back from the Strip.

  “We can tell you about the basement a different day,” Eva said softly, Zac’s angry glare shifting to her.

  She guided me upstairs and left me in her room. I sat on the silk bedspread and tried to cry. Maybe it was the shock setting in, but the tears wouldn’t come. I don’t know how long I stayed like that, with the dry silent crying.

  Eventually Zac arrived and I shrank away, trying to sink deeper into the mattress. I’d never seen him look so terrifying, his shirt still hanging open revealing a bloodied chest, slashed and bruised, just like his face.