As the light faded, I heard Darrien stirring from within the shadows of the cave. From behind, I felt him wrap his arms around me.
“Did you get any sleep?” he asked.
“A little.”
Darrien gently moved my long hair out of the way so he could kiss the back of my neck. “I want you again.”
His touch and the desire in his voice sent shivers through my body. We’d made love before I’d gone to sleep, and every day since leaving Reno. Still, my need for him was as great as it had been the first time we came together.
Being the object of his desire was pure heaven, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that he wanted to make love to me so much because he knew there would be no tomorrow, at least not for us. I wouldn’t voice my doubts. I wouldn’t taint our time together with regret.
Leaning my head back, I look at him and then I felt his lips on mine. His kiss was tender, but with an underlying heat that couldn’t be denied. When the kiss ended, I smiled.
“I’m starving. We can’t live on love alone,” I told him.
“I know, unfortunately.” He scowled. “What do you want to eat?”
“A cheeseburger,” I told him, mischievously. I knew he would have much preferred to go in search of a rabbit and cook it over a fire.
“A cheeseburger?” Darrien drew his brows together. “And which hamburger stand did you want my dear? The one at mile marker 128 or the joint near mile marker 150?”
I stuck my tongue out at him and giggled. “I can wait until the next town.”
A wicked gleam entered his eyes and he started moving toward me. “I don’t know if I can wait that long to eat.”
Laughing, I backed away, but Darrien quickly tackled me to the ground. “You would be a nice little scrap to tide me over,” he whispered.
Placing my hands on both sides of his face, I peered into his dark eyes. “I love you.”
The laughter fled from his eyes. “I know you do.” His lips devoured mine as he kissed me hungrily.
I had to pull away so I could catch my breath. “Darrien, I don’t want to live without you.” The tightness in my throat made it nearly impossible to say the words.
Darrien rolled off me and sat up. “Sarah, please don’t ask me to do it again. I love you too much to see you die or to witness the ravages of time take you from me.”
“But what about what I feel? Doesn’t that matter?” I shot back, angrily.
“Yes, of course it does.”
“Then stay with me, Darrien. There has to be a way for you to turn me. Maybe that would make you feel better about it, but don’t make me suffer life without you,” I pleaded.
“We should be going,” Darrien said, getting to his feet.
Sighing, I started gathering the few belongings that I’d been able to bring with me.
Every time I brought up the subject, Darrien would clam up on me and become distant. I was finally beginning to see how my mother could have been so possessed with her need, that she would risk anything to be with the man she loved.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to me. “I know that you mentioned my father, but you didn’t say anything about my mother. Is she with him?”
“I don’t know anything about her,” Darrien told me, but he wouldn’t meet my eyes.
“Darrien I can feel it, you’re lying. What do you know about my mother?”
“That is something you need to bring up with your father. It isn’t my place.”
Without pushing for more, I continued to watch him. He was hiding something and from the look on his face, I suspected that whatever he was keeping from me wasn’t pleasant.
Chapter
Twenty-Three
Dash
The rope around my neck made it impossible to move without cutting off the blood flow to my brain. According to myth, the vampire does not live, so there is no blood flow. If only that were true I would really be invulnerable. Unfortunately, the slayers knew which myths were true and which were simply stories told over hundreds of years - years in which the human population had grown to hate and fear the creatures of the night.
In the flickering candlelight, the chapel above the catacombs of St. Domitilla seemed far more sinister than holy.
“You must listen to me,” My voice was weak as the slayer pulled the noose tighter.
The end of the rope was draped over the rafters above the altar. When they tired of torturing me, they could simply pull on the rope and hang me until I lost consciousness. They would then decapitate me and burn my remains. This way they could be sure that I wouldn’t reanimate.
When I emerged from the catacombs below and entered the chapel in search of help, the two men came out of nowhere. They were slayers, the worst kind of killers. If you were a vampire, they killed mercilessly.
There was a priest with the two slayers and though he was an older man, he was no less formidable. It was the priest that recognized me for a vampire when Nicole approached the man to ask him about Alec. Although I’d hung back, the priest had known.
He might have guessed that I was a vampire but I’d had no idea the man was a slayer.
Whoever heard of a priest vampire slayer?
“My friend is in trouble down there.” My words were cut off as one of the slayers pulled the rope tight.
The priest’s hard eyes rested on me. “Why would we care what happens to a vampire? You are the spawn of Satan, and we must send you back to the hell from which you came.”
“I know of no Satan.” I strained against the unyielding noose, forcing the words from my mouth. “And hell - hell is the curse of eternal darkness.”
“Repent now! Beg God to have mercy on your soul!” the priest roared.
A laugh escaped my dry and injured throat. “Sorry, I did that a long time ago.”
An instant after the last word left my mouth, a spray of holy water hit me in the face, but my flesh didn’t blister and burn.
“Please! Destroy me if you must, but help my friend. She is no vampire and her life is in danger,” I begged.
Father Rovati motioned with his hand for the slayers to loosen the noose’s hold on my neck.
“Is this some trick?” he asked.
“She’s in the catacombs. We were ambushed by these - these things. I hesitate to call them vampires.”
“What kind of rubbish is this?” The priest’s anger surfaced.
“She is searching for the one that talked with you about the Book of Anu. You know she’s no vampire.”
The priest seemed to withdraw into silent contemplation.
“How many?” Father Rovati finally asked.
“Two that I know of. They drug her away and I couldn’t keep up. When I searched for her, she was gone. I think they have her hidden,” I explained, my face twisting into a painful grimace. The effort to speak was almost too much, the pain too great.
“Why would you care what happens to her?” Rovati narrowed his eyes, suspicious.
“She’s my friend,” I told him.
The priest’s eyes rested on the two slayers. “Let him go. He can lead us to these other vampires, and the girl.”
Chapter
Twenty-Four
Alec
I shook uncontrollably, the grief and self-loathing too much to endure. Tears spilled from my eyes as I stared down at the unmoving form in my arms. She was so pale - so lifeless. It would only be a matter of moments before she succumbed to the ultimate sleep. Death would claim her and I’d done it to her.
This is what Julia wanted. She wanted me to feel this self-hate and disdain for what I was. She was amused by the fact that it would ultimately be my hunger that would steal the last breath of my humanity.
A small amount of blood still oozed from the wound on her breast, it lay scarlet against her pale skin. The sight didn’t invoke my hunger, only the pain of knowing that I’d killed the only person that mattered. I’d doused the single flicker of light that had still illuminated my world of darkness.
My
hunger had been too great. I’d tried to withdraw from her, but my need to feed had consumed me. When I finally came to my senses, Nicole had grown limp and pale - her life essence nearly gone. She’d sacrificed herself to ease my suffering, but the pain of taking her life was far greater than the agony of starvation could ever be.
Closing my eyes, I tried not to see her face as she died. But even then I could see her beautiful - pale face in my mind’s eye. Nothing would take away this moment. I didn’t even have the blissful nothingness of death to look forward to.
Nicole’s breath rattled deep within her chest, and with one last gasp, it was gone.
I cradled her body while she suffered through the throes of death. The only way to save her was to turn her, but it wasn’t what she would want. How could I condemn her to the same hell that I wished to end for myself?
# # #
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Author
Lorraine Kennedy is the author of the Immortal Legacy and Skinwalkers, as well as several novellas and short stories. Ms. Kennedy was born and raised in Utah but has lived in several different states. She attended Weber State University, majoring in Criminal Justice and Anthropology. Lorraine Kennedy and her family now make their home in Utah. You can get Lorraine Kennedy news by visiting her on the web at www.lorrainekennedy.com
Dark Temptation (Immortal Legacy Book 4) Page 8