Desire at Dawn

by Fiona Zedde

  Belle cupped the back of her neck, eyes swimming with bloody tears. “Don’t ever run off like that again. Okay?”

  “Okay.” Kylie found a smile as she pulled away from Belle. “Mama…”

  She felt her mother go still at the word she hadn’t called Belle since her second night as a vampire. Kylie clenched a hand behind her back and forced herself to continue. “I know I’ve made things hard between us.” She bit her lip. “I’ve actually been a complete bitch.”

  Her mother looked at her in surprise then nodded. They both laughed, and tears slipped down Belle’s cheeks before she could wipe them away.

  “I was jealous of you and Silvija, and I was afraid of so many things. I’m not anymore.” She unclenched her fist and took her mother’s hand. “I’ve seen and felt things in the last few days that showed me how stupid it is to carry around bullshit resentments just because I can.” She squeezed Belle’s hand. “Forgive me?”

  “I’ve already forgiven you, darling. I’ve just been waiting for you to forgive yourself.” Belle smiled through her tears and gripped both of Kylie’s hands.

  The tension in her stomach dissipated. “Thank you.”

  Belle smiled. “Stop thanking me for just being your mother.” She wiped away the new tears that managed to escape. “Now let’s go to the debriefing room. We need to get a handle on this situation.”

  Kylie nodded and tucked away her own trembling smile. They left the roof and quickly made their way to the clan’s meeting room. It was the safest room in the massive penthouse with thick sound and bulletproof walls and an elevator at the rear of the room that led directly to the helicopter pad or to the lobby of the twenty-five-story building.

  It looked like any other meeting room with a large rectangular table that comfortably seated twelve, plain white walls, and a hidden panel in the front wall where they kept enough guns and ammunition to serve a small army. Silvija stood in front of her chair at the head of the table, watching the others who were already seated. Olivia sat at the chair to Silvija’s immediate left.

  She looked uncomfortable but determined.

  I guess you didn’t bargain on a new family with this new life, did you?

  Kylie bit the inside of her cheek, the anger beneath her skin like a cold fire. She tried not to stare at Olivia.

  They walked deeper into the room, and Belle claimed her seat at Silvija’s right and pulled a chair close for Kylie to sit with her. Kylie hid her surprise, instead allowing herself to enjoy the unexpected closeness without wondering at an ulterior motive.

  “Tell me,” Silvija said.

  She still hadn’t put a shirt on. Her muscled arms and shoulders flexed as she braced her palms against the table. The black sports bra shifted from the weight of her breasts.

  Kylie hesitated before she began thinking very carefully about her role in what happened and what her clan would do to Olivia if they knew just how deeply involved in the kidnapping she was. She felt her mother’s eyes on her then a hand on her knee, a light squeeze. So she told them everything, leaving out only what Bertram had told her about Olivia’s motives and how Kylie ended up in her apartment.

  Silvija turned to Olivia who sat in the chair between her and Ivy. “Your family hunts vampires.” It wasn’t a question.

  “Yes.” Olivia shoved out her chin. “We’ve hunted you for generations, ever since my great-grandmother was seduced and drained and turned mad by one of you.” She paused and pursed her lips. “By one of us. My great-grandfather was devastated and began training an army to destroy any vampires they found.”

  “And it wasn’t long before they started actually looking for us, right?” Rufus spoke from his casual sprawl in the chair.

  Olivia looked at him then did a double take, eyes widening when she seemed, for the first time, to recognize him from his other life as a rock star. She swallowed. “That’s right.”

  “Your family is coming for us,” Silvija said. “There’s no doubt about that.” She tapped a long finger on the tabletop as she watched Olivia. “The only doubt is whether or not you will help us to put them down.”

  Olivia visibly swallowed but did not look away. “I’ll do what I can to help you both.”

  Silvija nodded with satisfaction, as if she’d expected nothing else.

  “We found your family with the locator beacon in Kylie’s phone. But that’s technology everyone has these days. How did you get Kylie to come to you?”

  Everyone in the room focused their attention on Olivia. She shifted under their stares but kept her gaze on Silvija. After all, she was the one asking the questions.

  “I…” She pressed her lips together. “The Bertrams, my human family, developed a scent in the lab that attracts vampires.”

  “Why the fuck would anyone want to do that?” Liam stared at Olivia.

  “To trap and decapitate us, silly,” Violet supplied helpfully from her chair next to his.

  The temperature in the room dropped several degrees as the clan waited for Olivia to continue.

  She visibly swallowed. “I sprayed it in the curtains and on my balcony. I even wore it as a perfume when I went out.”

  “That’s quite a risk,” Rufus said. “You were lucky you didn’t get drained and tossed aside.”

  “It wasn’t luck.” Olivia shrugged. “I knew what I was doing. And my family taught me to protect myself.”

  “That killer perfume didn’t work on me,” Violet said. “Or Silvija.”

  Belle looked at Olivia. “Maybe only the young ones like Kylie are susceptible,” she said softly.

  Silvija chuckled, but her eyes remained cold. “You brought us quite the specimen, little one.” She tilted an eyebrow at Kylie before turning to the rest of the clan. “The Bertrams outnumbered us, but that wasn’t the problem tonight. Our scout”―she inclined her head briefly in Belle’s direction―“noticed they had rocket launchers. Radio scans showed they were getting ready to use them. Getting shot down would have greatly compromised our rescue mission,” she finished dryly.

  “What’s the plan?” Violet asked, already sitting up at attention, her elbows braced against the edge of the table.

  For the first time, Kylie noticed that Ivy was not in the room. She hadn’t gotten into the helicopter with them even though she remembered seeing her on the riverbank. She frowned, wondering what Silvija was up to.

  “First”―Silvija nodded in Kylie’s direction―“escort our guest to one of the spare rooms where she can clean herself up. Then you take care of your own needs.”

  Kylie had been dismissed. She squeezed her mother’s hand and stood, gesturing for Olivia to follow her.

  “Wait.” Rufus turned in his chair to face Olivia. “Before you go,” he said. “Tell me who turned you.”

  For the first time, Olivia looked almost frightened. “It…it was my brother.”

  Kylie frowned. But Rufus only tilted his head toward her, wordlessly encouraging her to continue.

  “He shoved me into the cell with Kylie, knowing she couldn’t stop herself from feeding on me.” Olivia drew a trembling breath. “I died then but woke up with another vampire’s blood in my mouth. It was a young boy that my brother had forced to turn me. When Max was sure I was awake, he killed the boy in front of me.”

  Rufus nodded as if he already knew. “And this is the family you want to protect?”

  Olivia looked away. Wordlessly, Kylie took her arm and led her to one of the bedrooms, refusing to feel pity for her about what her brother had done. She quickly left Olivia for her own room before she could say a word.

  She shut her bedroom door behind her and pulled off the black shirt that smelled like Silvija, preparing to toss it on the bed. A sudden female scent assaulted her senses. She froze. Then noticed for the first time that she wasn’t alone. There was a human woman in her room. A naked one.

  She was suspended from the ceiling and tied up in a pretty design, the ropes twisted around her voluptuous body, pressing into her sand-colored s
kin, encircling each plump breast, her torso, and each spread thigh. A red ball gag parted her luscious pink lips. Between her thighs lay equally luscious pink and brown lips. Arousal dripped from the woman’s pussy.

  She watched Kylie cautiously. There was no fear in her face. Simply a waiting.

  Her pulse thundered in her throat, a contrast to the calm façade she presented. The sound of that pulse made Kylie want to ravish her right then and there. The T-shirt dropped from her limp hand.

  Her mother had chosen well, had chosen thoughtfully. The woman wasn’t a pretty stick figure. She was delightfully plump, with thick thighs Kylie imagined would be soft and juicy under her teeth. As she watched, the woman dripped even more, the clear, viscous fluid dribbling from her pretty cunt, readying her for whatever her imagination had created. Kylie stared, wanting simultaneously to look away but also to keep staring. She felt guilty about the way her mouth watered for the woman’s sweat and sex that smelled so delicious in the hot room.

  “Well, isn’t this nice.”

  Kylie jumped. She turned to see Olivia in her doorway.

  She had showered, washed all the blood from her face and body, and brushed her hair, leaving her magnificent transformation even more apparent. Her skin glowed, richly dark with hints of red, and her short hair was thick around her beautiful face. The loose white tank top and black leggings she’d gotten from somewhere perfectly fit her slender body, the black fabric of the tights outlining the lean legs that posed with feline grace in the doorway.

  She looked better than well; she was intoxicatingly lovely. The woman Kylie had been unable to resist before had been only a shadow compared to this radiant goddess in her bedroom. Olivia as a vampire was a powerful creature. A sleekly muscled panther waiting to spring.

  Olivia closed the door behind her, and the mechanism clicked as it slid home. She looked at the human again, a single intrigued glance, then dismissed her.

  “You smell even better than I remember.” She walked close to Kylie, eyes raking her nakedness from hair to foot then back up again. “You smelled good to me before, but experiencing you like this, with these new senses, it’s like being inside you.” Olivia drew a deep breath, baring her sharp teeth, wetting her lips. “It makes me want to be inside you for real.”

  Something hot sparked in Kylie’s belly. With Olivia watching her, she felt naked in a way she hadn’t before. It was a vulnerability mixed with powerlessness, a softness to Olivia’s hard, liquid to her flame. Arousal slithered under her skin. Her nipples tightened painfully. She restlessly shifted her thighs, trying to relieve the growing ache between them.

  “You shouldn’t be in here,” Kylie said.

  “Why?” Olivia crept toward her, sleek and predatory on bare feet.

  “Because I don’t want you in here.” Unable to help herself, she backed away from the predatory gleam in Olivia’s eyes. “You already got what you wanted from me. Get out.”

  Olivia made a low noise, one of amusement. “I haven’t gotten what I want from you. Not by a long shot.” She moved closer. Fast then slow, like she didn’t yet know how to control her new vampiric speed.

  “Leave,” Kylie said.

  Olivia grinned. “Make me.”

  “I don’t want to play games with you, Olivia.”

  “I’m not here to play games with you, Kylie.” She said her name teasingly, her eyes holding a new life’s worth of darkness.

  Time and movement sped up then slowed as Olivia approached her. Kylie was caught up in Olivia’s inexperience of her new life, catching her in a blur of movement, a flash, before she was aware of her being close, closer than she should have been, her sharp teeth and sharper gaze close enough for her to touch.

  Then Olivia did touch. She lifted a hand to Kylie’s cheek. She flinched back, but Olivia followed. “You feel warm. Why is that?”

  “It’s an illusion,” Kylie said, unable to look away from the dark eyes and flowing beauty in front of her. She was angry. She was furious, but that fury couldn’t translate into movement. She couldn’t make herself step away from the seductive darkness that was Olivia.

  “I like it.”

  Olivia touched Kylie’s throat, then drifted her hand down the smooth skin to her chest, a fang catching her own lower lip as she watched the movement. Kylie felt like she couldn’t breathe, that she needed to breathe. She backed away again and found herself trapped between the wall and Olivia’s warming body.

  “God! I could just eat you up.” Olivia’s hand fell to her bare breast. Squeezed the fullness of it. “You’re so beautiful.”

  A tremor ran through Kylie. “Don’t.”

  “Don’t what?” Olivia cupped her breast, brushed a thumb over her nipple. “Don’t stop? Don’t want you so much? Don’t make you beg?”

  A whimper of sound leaked into the room. Kylie thought it had come from her own throat, but as Olivia’s fingers continued their maddening caresses, she realized it was the human woman. Bound and gagged and distressed. The scent of the human’s arousal rose higher in the room.

  Olivia smiled. “She’s not the only one who’s excited.”

  The words gave Kylie the strength to pull away, shove away the hand that was disintegrating her thoughts, making her wish and want and feel shame and regret and other things she was barely aware of to even put a name to.

  “Beautiful, beautiful girl.” Olivia whispered the words with a smile.

  Then, moving quickly, she shoved Kylie back against the wall, pinning her arms. The wall was cold, solid. Olivia’s touch felt hot, feverish on her skin. Olivia kissed her. The hot mouth on hers froze her where she stood. She was unable to believe what was happening.

  The careful human that had once worn Olivia’s body was gone. In her place was a ravening beast bent on taking what it wanted. Kylie longed to convince herself that she didn’t want the same thing. But the hot mouth and firm grip stroked a deeper arousal between her legs, a plumping of pussy lips, heated wetness dripping down to coat her thighs. Her nipples were hard as agate, begging for a touch, a mouth, fingers. Anything.

  Olivia’s lips pressed against hers, gentle but insistent. She licked the corners of Kylie’s mouth, the full bottom lip that fell open in response to Olivia’s firm touch. The cool tongue slid into her mouth, licking the warming interior with firm intention while hands tightened around her upper arms, keeping her pinned to the wall.

  Only her hands touched Kylie, controlling her movements, while her mouth slowly heated them up. Olivia pulled back and Kylie followed her mouth, moaning with need, wanting to keep that hot feeling. She hated that her desire ruled her so effortlessly. Hated that the cravings of her flesh made her so easily forget all the things that Olivia had done to her. But in that moment, she didn’t care. She wanted that warmth. She wanted that satisfaction and firm control those hands on her arms promised. The rising temperature between them made the room seem hotter than before, melting. She whimpered.

  “Damn,” Olivia said softly.

  She released Kylie’s arms only to grab her wrists together, trapping them with one hand behind Kylie’s back, forcing an arch to her spine. Her breasts thrust out. Her nipples tingled.

  “I’m going to fuck you,” she growled and buried her face in Kylie’s throat. “I’m going to fuck you until we both die again.”

  Kylie moaned, closing her eyes. She remembered suddenly, from a lifetime ago, watching two women making love in their little apartment, how the woman’s breasts had jutted out when her lover lashed her wrists behind her back, the noise she made then and how Kylie, still inexperienced in the ways of sex, had been excited to see her that way.

  Olivia put a hand between Kylie’s legs and groaned out loud.

  “The way you smell is driving me crazy. I don’t know what’s happening to me.” She groaned the words as if tortured, but she didn’t stop the exploration of her fingers between Kylie’s legs, the slow glide between her pussy lips, inside her, one finger. Two. “I can’t stop myself.”


  And her fingers sped their motion, roughly shoving into Kylie. She bit her lip at the fullness inside her, the firm possession that made her belly clench with arousal and heightened desire.

  “I’m sorry,” Olivia moaned. “I’m sorry.”

  The bones of her wrists ground together from Olivia’s firm grip. She hissed from the pain, mouth opening to protest. Olivia thumbed her clit, and she cried out with passion instead. Firm strokes of fingers inside her pussy, a thumb making hot circles on her clit, and before she knew it, she was gasping with pure bliss, her thighs stretching open, wider and wider, shoving her hips into the talented fingers, her head banging against the wall as the delight inside her climbed higher.

  “You smell so fucking good.”

  Kylie didn’t know if Olivia was talking about her or the human. She smelled Olivia, the blood heated scent of her cunt, warm and intoxicating and mixed with the clean cotton of her leggings. But there was the human’s scent, a thick earthiness, as she watched Olivia fuck Kylie. Her pussy streamed with arousal and her hips twisted in the ropes.

  Olivia licked Kylie’s throat, sucked on the heating flesh while her fingers plumbed Kylie’s depths, bringing her closer to her satisfaction.

  Kylie clenched her eyes shut as the cum rose in her, a shattering that she felt would ruin her forever. Olivia sank her fangs into Kylie’s throat, and she came apart. A hot gushing of liquid between her legs, her entire body fisting and releasing, tremors laddering through her body until she felt on the verge of collapse.

  She panted, unable to believe the feelings rising up inside her. With Olivia fucking her, she felt alive again, getting breath back in those precious moments that heat flowed between them, when wonder existed between one touch and the next. Kylie leaned her head back against the wall as breath rushed past her lips, drying them.

  She flinched as Olivia slid her fangs from her throat, licking the ravaged flesh. Her pussy clenched fiercely at the pain. Olivia’s head rose and she looked at Kylie, her eyes nearly black with desire still unfulfilled.