Heavenly Blood (Roseville Vampires, #2)

by Brighton Hill

  She nodded and nestled her face in his shoulder. Maybe she should have been more afraid of Lord Dyson, but at that moment her fears were mostly for her feelings toward this way too sexy guy who owned her heart. With everything that had happened—her turning into a killer and giving up her mortal life for a life unsure left her vulnerable to Radley. If he changed his mind about her, she didn’t think she couldn’t live with the choice she had made.

  At those thoughts, she tried to distract herself. It took everything to ignore that knotted feeling in her stomach, that uncertainty that twisted inside her guts. Just look at the sky, she mentally told herself. Once she lifted her head off of Radley’s shoulder and focused on the surroundings, she quickly became amazed at how thrilling it was to soar through the great expanse.

  It didn’t matter what she was feeling—the picture before her eyes was awesome. As a vampire, her vision was exceptionally clear now. She could see the lights of town below them twinkling in the early morning darkness. The full moon was magnificent from the air. Somehow the brightness and the details seemed more pronounced. And the stars and planets in the distance looked like God had opened up a big treasure chest and poured all its glimmering colors into the black firmament.

  When they landed, Radley stood before her for a moment with his wings still out. His pale face had a flushed quality that only the night wind could inflict. She blinked her eyes—for she thought she saw rays of light extending outward from his head. But when she blinked, they were gone.

  The great black wings were superb. They gave him a war-like sense of power. He looked other worldly. She thought about how when he gave her his Rose of Power necklace, he had sacrificed his own life for hers. Drew said if he hadn’t gotten it back when he did, he would have died. Now Violet realized that she was standing before a man of tremendous honor and infinite generosity. With all of her insecurities about their past separations, she should trust him. But even with all that, she feared she wouldn’t be able to override her anxieties. Her mother seemed like she loved her, but then she left without so much as a goodbye.

  “I don’t know what you’re thinking,” Radley said to her in a teasing voice with a grin on his face. He was looking at the pretty bones that connected beneath the skin on her neck causing a V shape like the first letter of her name. “But you better not think it cause you’re wrong.” He winked and strutted away like he was just some sexy bad boy in a biker gang, but she knew otherwise. His games were just covers for the man he really was.

  As she jogged to catch up to him, she was surprised to see that Radley had brought her to the entrance of the same cave they kissed in for the first time this past summer. As a runaway teenager, this was where he camped. “I’m taking you inside,” he said as he lifted her up into his arms suddenly.

  Whoa! She was embarrassed as he draped her legs over one of his arms while he held her back sideways with the other. She still hadn’t gotten used to her rock hard vampire body. What if she weighed as much as a bag of bricks?

  She looked up at his eyes that stared into the dark entrance. He didn’t seem fazed by her weight in the slightest. Maybe she was okay. “Are you ever going to put me down?” she asked, hoping he wouldn’t.

  “Not yet.” His grin turned wicked on his stunning face. Possibly he was a bit more mischievous than she surmised.

  Without waiting for another rebuttal, he carried her into the cave in the manner of a man on his honey moon and set her on the edge of the same mattress he had set up last summer. The makeshift bed was dressed in crisp white sheets that smelled clean like laundry detergent. “My home away from the castle,” he said in his musical voice that made her mind tingle just at the sound of it. “Good memories.” It was dark, but she could see him the way an animal sees its prey in the night. He raised a brow as he looked down at her through his thick lashes. She wondered if the good memories he was referring to were the times they spent there together.

  But without explaining, he walked over to a little table and lit the lantern. The cave lit up with a gentle glow that cast soft yellow hues of light on their faces and bodies.

  “That’s nice,” she whispered gazing at his gorgeous features and then at the shape of his chest beneath his t-shirt. He looked so erotic in that shirt and when he turned around and walked toward his suitcase over to the side on the ground, she noticed a little tear in the back of his low rider jeans where she could see the tiniest bit of flesh on his butt. She blushed when she realized he must not be wearing underwear.

  As she watched him looking for something in the suitcase, her mind drifted to memories of their numerous talks in this cave last summer. They both had so many hopes and dreams. He was a natural psychologist, always able to see deeply into her psyche, but he wasn’t interested in using that gift.

  More than anything, he liked to sing and play his guitar. She wondered if he was joking when he told her that he wanted to make a rock band with their future children. Even though she wasn’t one to admit it openly, Violet more than anything wanted to make a loving home. It was her dream to give her future children the love she was deprived of after her mother took off for India leaving the family behind. A band where they all worked as a unit would be a dream come true. But now that she was a vampire, she didn’t know if that was possible.

  With his back to her, Radley pulled off his t-shirt. Oh, boy. She couldn’t help but admire the muscle contours on his bare back and arms as he pulled a navy blue sweater on over his head. He looked so damn cute. Her mind immediately drifted to thoughts of running her hand under that tight sweater to feel his bare skin.

  He turned around and smiled big, showing his perfect white teeth with the slightest gap in the center adding a touch of character that made him even sexier than the average hot vampire. His emerald eyes lit up. “Were you watching me?”

  She shrugged, butterflies in her stomach fluttering. “Maybe,” she teased.

  “You better be careful.” His expression was unreadable, but his eyes seemed to dilate.

  She touched a vulnerable part of her neck. “Why’s that?” Her eyes searched his.

  “I’m a killer now.” His lids narrowed as his head tilted infinitesimally downwards.

  She gulped as she thought about what monsters they actually were. “A heavenly killer,” she said softly as she imagined what his blood might taste like. It was probably sweeter than nectar, a taste of the infinite.

  Radley swaggered over to the front of the mattress behind Violet and lied down with his scabbed hand behind his head on a fluffy pillow. He watched her profile carefully before him as she examined her pale long fingers trying to keep her thoughts from running wild. As he gazed at her, he shook his head. Damn, she was beautiful. She looked just as she had before she converted, but now all of her features were enhanced. Her lips were just a little redder and fuller, her black hair was glossier, thicker, and longer, and her blue eyes were so fucking dreamy.

  “Remember that time we toilet papered the ranger’s cabin?” he asked raising a dark brow.

  He must have been trying to lighten the mood. Violet laughed and turned to face him, grabbing one of the pillows from the head of the bed which she placed in her lap. “He was so mad.” A knot twisted in her stomach again. She liked him too much. It seemed like it had been so long since they had been alone like this. “I was so nervous that my dad would find out…”

  “But he didn’t.” He propped his pillow up against the back of the cave for support and sat up patting the feathers before leaning back again.

  “The best was when we put a rat in that bitch Claudia’s tent after she tried to beat up Ariel.” With a big smile on her face, she rolled over on her stomach looking across the mattress at him with her arms crossed over the pillow.

  “That stupid girl had a fit.”

  “The way she screamed, you’d have thought someone was coming at her with a knife.”

  He chuckled as he stretched his arms back over his head. “Somebody should have.”

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nbsp; “You were a bad boy…” she said, shaking her finger as she sat back up. “…drinking and falling into trouble.”

  One of his eyes squinted as he looked at her grinning. “Not as bad as you are now,” he teased. He was gazing at the underside of her arm as she brushed her fingers through her hair.

  “I’m not bad!” she protested.

  “Okay.” His lyrical voice was sarcastic. “I’ve noticed at school you act a little too good.”

  “What do you mean?” Her nose crinkled.

  His expression was unreadable now. “You’re a little miss goodie two shoes, acting all prim and proper.”

  “What?” Her voice sounded almost like a shriek as she put her hands on her thighs where the lace hemline met her bare legs.

  “Everybody thinks you’re perfect.”

  “I am,” she said smartly as she sat up too straight and folded her hands in her lap. The idea of anyone noticing her, let alone talking about her was a surprise.

  “You actually are flawless,” he said, grinning looking at the light twinkle in her eyes. “But I know your dark sides, even before you turned.”

  “Dark side,” she mumbled as she thought about some of her morbid thoughts she had confided in him. How sometimes she considered joining the military just so she could take out her anger on her enemies. Maybe she was meant to be a vampire after all, she thought. Last summer, Radley helped her through her inner rages, confronting her baggage, but those feelings just didn’t go away entirely.

  At that, he seemed to study her face. “What did you do today?”

  She wasn’t anticipating that question. Her eyes saddened at the inquiry. The sparkle he was admiring seemed to disappear. “I went with Ariel to check on my dad at the hospital.”

  “I’m sorry.” She noticed his green eyes seemed to take on a darker cast. The yellow light from the lantern flickered on his features.

  “He’s in a coma.”

  Radley ran his hand through his short hair and pulled the bottom edge to the side like he was frustrated. “He’ll make it through.” His voice sounded edgy. He and Ariel agreed to hide the truth from Violet. They didn’t think she needed to know that Radley caused his coma, even if it was unintentional. Maybe Daryl Paris wouldn’t pull through, the dickhead, and then Violet would never have to know.

  For a moment, she just closed her eyes. When she opened them, he was staring at her intensely. “I was just trying to be perfect so that I might hold our family together. I didn’t want Dad to leave the way Mom did. I didn’t want to upset him.”

  “Your parents are fucked up.” His jaw clenched as his nostrils flared.

  “Yeah.” An aching sensation rose up from her chest through her neck.

  As he watched her, his body tensed. And after a second, he sat up and leaned in. “It’s not your fault your mother left. She didn’t leave because of anything you did. She left because she was selfish and wanted to serve her own desires. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you.”

  Heat rose to her cheeks. “I don’t know.”

  She suspected he knew this was hard for her to talk about because his demeanor seemed to lighten. “You can’t try to be so perfect, Violet...”

  She loved the way he said her name like it was the most beautiful word in the world to him. Of course it couldn’t be, she thought, but that’s how it came across.

  “You have to be yourself. You can’t live your life trying to make your father happy. He has his own problems and he has to fix himself, not the other way around.”

  “Well, I don’t see how I can even be a daughter to him now that I’ve become a vampire.” She frowned. “And I don’t know if he’ll ever wake up. Supposedly, somebody threw him into our field and injured his spinal cord. Can you believe anyone could do such a horrible thing?” She knew that Radley had somehow gotten the Rose of Life necklace from him, but certainly he wouldn’t have hurt her father. Or maybe he would under the right circumstances.

  At that, he swallowed hard. “It’s difficult to imagine,” he mumbled. “You’re way too good for me, Violet.” He shook his head lightly. A part of him thought he didn’t deserve her. But even with that, he felt determined to take care of her. He would do everything he could to be there for her. Even though he felt she deserved a better man, he didn’t think he could handle seeing her with someone else.

  Her heart sank at his words. “I’m not good at all, Radley. I’m the one that’s not good enough for you.” She blinked a few times as she looked over at him. Her head sort of tilted over to the side as her eyebrows drew together. A terrible sadness swept over her. She cleared her throat and stood up.

  Seeing her like that with her face so flushed and those tears in her eyes caused his heart to ache. He jumped out of the bed and walked over to her. She turned away trying to hide her face, but he put his arms around her and rocked her gently. “I’m going to make everything all right,” he whispered. “Don’t worry.”

  Her body trembled at his touch. It was like his hands sent a magic force through her that excited her in a way too embarrassing for her to explain to anyone. She rested her cheek on his chest, trying to act like being with him didn’t make her want to rip his clothes off and do sinful things.

  She felt his hand stroking her hair softly. Even though it was arousing, the rhythmic touch calmed her. It was soothing to be close to him in this way again. Is this what it feels like to be in love? For so long her body ached with loneliness and now he was back with her. She never wanted to be apart again. Not even for one minute.

  He ran his cool finger along her lips. First, there was a tingling sensation that seemed to transfer from his skin to hers, but then a delicious warmth ensued that was different than anything she had felt as a human girl. He leaned down and touched the part in her lips with his tongue. That surprised her, but it sent a naughty sensation down to her private area. The feeling rose from there up through her belly. She wanted to push him down onto the bed, pull her panties off, and wrap her legs around him, but she held back.

  My fucking sweet Violet, he thought. He moved his body closer and slid his hand under her dress, up her thigh, and on her ass. It was so firm. His fingers skimmed under the curve of her body up against her hot spot, only her panties separated him from touching her directly. Her body quivered. She wanted him to go further. Her breathing that had been non-existent kicked in. “I love to hear you breathe like that,” he whispered from the back of his throat. Her breasts against his chest caused him to grow harder.

  “I want you so bad, Violet.” But he pulled away from her and shook his head, his eyes boring into hers. He wouldn’t take her.

  All she could think was that he could have her, right now, right here. She was his entirely. But she couldn’t speak. The words just wouldn’t come out.

  She looked so damn sexy the way she bit her luscious lip like that. Even though he didn’t want to, he kept imagining all the erotic things he wanted to do with her body, where he wanted to put his fingers and tongue, what her face would look like when she moaned. “I can’t do this.”

  “Yes, you can,” she whispered, looking up at him with sad eyes that made him throb.

  He thought about what lay ahead for Violet. She didn’t know what she was in for with the Viparados. An inner rage was growing within him as he spoke. “Do you feel any changes? Do you feel stronger?”

  Her face fell. “I’m just the same.”

  He studied her face for a moment. Something was different with him, but he didn’t know what to make of it. “Violet, I have to take you to your new home now.”

  “No!” she said harshly. “I want to stay with you.”

  At that, she thought she saw his body tremble as he backed away. “I thought I wanted to be with you, but now I don’t feel anything.”

  Her heart sank. His voice sounded so cruel and cold. A terrible sickened feeling came over her as she looked at the dark rocks of the cave on either sides of her. Was he already rejecting her? She should have known better.
All she could see was her mother in her mind now. At once, she ran out of the hollow and into the lonely night.

  Chapter Four

  There was a banging sound coming through the stone wall. Quickly, the servants cleaned up Lord Dyson’s bedroom, trying to ignore the struggle in the adjacent room. “Our master will be angry if that girl over there breaks the wall. Hurry up with this mess,” Ezzie said to the three older women who inwardly scowled at her. They had their reasons for jealousy, but they wouldn’t dare disobey the woman in Lord Dyson’s grace. “I don’t know why the guards don’t subdue that wench,” she continued, her heart beating fast as she rolled a different girl’s body off of his white sheets onto the top of some trash bags.

  Ezzie was the youngest of the bunch that were in the room with her now, in her mid-fifties with ash blond hair and a pencil thin physique. As a young woman, Lord Dyson used her as his human mistress just as he had with the other women in their time. More particularly fond of Ezzie, he thought about converting her to a vampire, but with his insatiable appetite, he preferred keeping her blood raw and sweet with the special odor that only human’s possessed.