Ninth Orb
Page 32
“Enough wench!” His voice was a low growl and the command riveted right through her and yet aroused her at the same time.
“Cease your struggles. It will only make your plight more enjoyable for me.” His last words were spoken barely above a whisper. His lips scraped the sensitive skin of her neck, just below her jaw line and she gasped as his hot tongue licked the smooth crease just beneath her left ear.
“Hhmmm,” he purred. Her body heated and she felt the folds of her pussy thicken with her juices.
What is wrong with me? Celeste looked down at the hand still fondling her breast, with its crimson skin and sharp pointed black fingernails so stark against the white of her corset. She had been so distracted by her initial arousal that she hadn‘t noticed he was not an ordinary man.
The Vampire Chronicles Book One
By
Nicole Ash
© copyright January 2013 Nicole Ash
Cover art by Eliza Black, copyright January 2013
This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and places are of the author’s imagination and not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or events is merely coincidence.
Carol stepped to the yawning entrance of the alley with a bottle of mace held in a death-grip, straining her eyes in the dim light and taking a quick look around, dreading the moment she would have to step into it. She hadn’t always been afraid of walking down dark places like this. She had been living in her apartment on the sixth floor of the building for so long she knew just how many steps it took to pace from one side of the small living room to the other and had, in fact, worn a path through the carpet in numerous places. She was only scared now because of all the stuff in the news lately. Make that terrified.
People had been disappearing at night, gone without a trace. It was mostly women, but even some men had been reported missing. Maybe that was the scariest thing about it. It was easier to understand a woman going missing. It was something else entirely when a grown man couldn’t take care of himself. It hadn’t just been a handful of people, either. Lots of people were gone, just disappearing in the night.
There was talk it might be a cult. One man alone couldn’t possibly be responsible for all of it, but that just made it harder for the cops to do anything about it. They had no leads at all and in a big city like Atlanta where everyone had seen everything – when the cops started getting really worried it was definitely time for everyone to start worrying! The cops were the ones that had recommended everyone start taking different routes wherever they were going, whether to school, work, or the grocers. Which is what had brought her to this point and her current predicament.
Damned cops and their stupid advice. There weren’t very many different ways to get to her place. It was hard to be unpredictable, almost impossible. At least when she got this close to it. She would definitely be going home the old route tomorrow.
Okay, we can do this. Just breathe. She looked around again, nervously, before taking a deep breath and running through the alley like a bat out of hell. She reached the other side with her heart pounding in her ears, but relief blossomed in her chest as her gaze fell on the old red brick face of Lansdale Apartments.
Thank god I’m home! She glanced both ways, not surprised to find the street was abandoned. The only people that were going out after dark these days were the ones that worked third shift. She would have quit her job in a heartbeat and gotten something with safer hours, but everyone else had already had that same idea and she just couldn’t afford to keep her apartment if she didn’t keep her job, too. It had gotten so bad lately that the night clubs had actually started opening up during the day, just so they could stay in business, and the mayor was talking about enacting a curfew that would cripple the whole city.
The whole place has gone to hell in a hand basket. Carol scurried across the road and up the steps, keying in the entry code and slamming the door shut behind her as soon as she had stepped inside. Relief flooded her immediately. Safety at last. Well, the closest thing to it at this point. Several of her neighbors had moved away in the last few weeks, but she didn’t have the money to move and there wasn’t anywhere for her to go anyway. So she stayed.
She dropped the can of mace into her purse and started up the stairs, counting floors as she went and feeling the tension leave her body the closer she got to her own.
* * * *
Watching from the rooftop, he saw her. Amusement flickered through him at the sight. She was running along a dark alley now, scurrying around like a little mouse. He wasn’t sure what she thought any of that was going to accomplish. He knew exactly where she was at all times. Changing paths was hardly enough to throw someone off if they were watching you from the roofs of the buildings surrounding the one you lived in.
Actually, it was her oddity that had first drawn him to her. That, and her lovely red hair. He had always felt a certain admiration for dark red hair. He could only faintly recall how much lovelier it was by sunlight, but even the light of a candle brought out the fire.
These new lights …. It seemed to him they only detracted from it, turning it more of a brassy color. To say nothing of what is did to a person’s coloring.
I don’t really care for this modern world. The amusement he felt that time was grim. From everything he’d heard, that problem was soon to take care of itself. Of course not everyone believed, but he wasn’t the only one that felt that way.
Running along the rooftop and leaping to the next building when she near enough he knew he’d soon lose sight of her, he shadowed her movements. Some of his companions considered it a waste of time the way he stalked his prey, that he watched until he’d learned their habits and their little quirks, but at his age any distraction was a welcome one. The thought of the distraction below brought a smile to his lips. She would be a great one indeed.
There were no secrets from them here. They all knew that the humans were starting to become nervous. They had all heard how the officials were telling people to change their habits. How could the humans have fathomed that it wouldn’t do any good? That there was nothing they could do?
The woman below was the only one he had noticed that had continued to follow that flawed advise for more than a few days. He liked that about her. It was a show of discipline, a necessary trait in a slave.
He took another running jump and made it across the street to the building where she lived. It felt good to stretch muscles long unused.
It will feel even better feeding after such a long time. He watched to make sure she entered the building before turning and making his own entrance. He planned to be there when she got home. He’d waited long enough, anticipated long enough. Tonight was the night.
Table of Contents
Copyright
other books by the Author
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty One
Chapter Twenty Two
Chapter Twenty Three
Chapter Twenty Four
Epilogue
Excerpt from Oath of the Dragon
Excerpt from JA’RAEL’S LIONESS
Excerpt from ROMANCING THE STONE
Excerpt from RAIDERS OF VAMPYRA
Excerpt from DARK CARNIVAL
Excerpt from The Vampire Chronicles Book One