Season of Sin

by JL Caid

  They attack her, flesh ripping, bones crunching, her screams echoing into the night.

  Darick pulls me tight to his body and spins once, bringing me back into the hallway of the house. I look to the wall and see the wood carving the way it was. The man and woman dancing, her hair and dress flying back, the man so perfect… minutes away from being attacked.

  “That’s enough for now,” Darick whispers.

  I nod.

  I’ve had more than enough.

  And here I thought the after-life was supposed to be peaceful and quiet…

  4.

  I hear their four voices carrying around the hallway. Seth and Layre returned about an hour ago and they weren’t happy. The word elder kept getting thrown around. There were yells, growls, and what sounded like someone hitting the walls. The entire house shook when that happened.

  I pace the room.

  It’s an amazing room, seriously. The highest ceilings I have ever seen in a room. Squares made of gold trim along the ceiling with deep black paint in each square. Everything smelled so soft yet rustic, a perfect blend of all four brothers. My senses could not figure out what to do. I’m surprised I even have senses, you know, since I’m dead.

  “Astrid,” I whisper to myself.

  I think about the nightmare, or dream, or reality, or whatever it was with the bright white light. Was that me dying? Was that my chance to go heaven, but I had been ripped down into hell because of these vampires?

  I didn’t know what to think. I never believed in any of that stuff. I just wish I could remember how I died. So I could get back there and piece everything else together.

  What if…

  I look around to make sure I’m alone, but I know there’s a chance they could maybe read my mind. So I’ll ask it anyway. Oh well.

  What if they killed me? Because of my blood?

  Darick took me into that room with the wood carvings for a reason. To explain to me about the hunters. That first scene was very old. Just in the woods. A vampire attacking a man who wanted to attack him for his blood. The second was of a woman being smarter about getting blood. Killing a vampire. Which in itself is strange because if you’re dead, how can you die again? Or maybe there are levels of death.

  “Holy shit,” I whisper.

  My head starts to hurt.

  I take the vial out of my pocket and stare at it. The blood is cold, very cold.

  The bedroom door opens, and I hurry to hide the vial and spin around to see the four of them in the room.

  Darick, Layre, Seth, Kyran.

  Behind them is a cloud of dust. I see super tiny small specks of debris floating through the air like a bubble in a summer breeze.

  “What happened out there?” I ask.

  Darick lifts a fist and I see his knuckles are ripped apart.

  I gasp.

  “Didn’t like what we had to say,” Layre says.

  “What did you have to say?” I ask.

  “Nothing,” Darick says in a growling voice.

  A few seconds later, the wounds on his knuckles begin to heal themselves.

  It makes me wonder if I have this kind of power. Since my blood is special, right? But if that were true, why didn’t I experience stuff in my life? I mean, I remember as a kid I played the flute and was told I was very good at it. Without many lessons.

  But that wasn’t the same as being immortal. Or whatever I am.

  “You need to stay here,” Seth says. “In this room. We’ll bring you whatever you want and need.”

  “Answers,” I say. “I want to know how I died. I want to know more about myself. I keep having memories coming back, but they’re not all the way there.”

  “It’ll come back to you,” Kyran says. “You have to be patient.”

  “Plus, you’re in our company,” Layre says. “We can kill plenty of time exploring your body.”

  His words make me shiver. I think about the kiss with Kyran and Darick. I reach up and touch my lips.

  “What’s wrong?” Seth asks.

  “She’s worried because I kissed her,” Darick says.

  “You did what?” Seth growls.

  In the blink of an eye he flies through the air and has a hand around Darick’s throat. Darick quickly breaks the hold and shoves Seth back. Seth lunges forward, a blue haze.

  Layre jumps between them, hands out. “Easy now, brothers. It was just a kiss.”

  “You should be mad,” Seth says. “We were putting our existence on the line and-”

  “I kissed her too,” Kyran says.

  Seth growls again. The room shakes. My body trembles.

  I’ve never had four men act like this near me. Like they all want me so badly. Like they are willing to hurt each other to steal a kiss from me. Maybe that’s my ultimate power. The control over their wild needs.

  “I’ll kiss you both, too,” I say.

  Seth and Layre look at me. Fire and ice. I lick my lips.

  Layre grins, nodding.

  Seth shows his diamond like fangs.

  “Fucking right she will,” Darick says. “It’s part of our bond.”

  “Your bond?” I ask.

  Here I am, thinking something bad is about to happen.

  Instead, I blink my eyes, and fire and ice are inches from me. Their auras compete and I’m left breathless. Layre occupying the left side of my body with his heat. Seth taking control of the right side with his icy chill.

  “It’s all or nothing, angel,” Seth whispers.

  “Meaning what?” I ask.

  “You don’t quite understand it yet. That’s okay.” Layre touches my arm. “But we are all yours. And you are ours. Four. One.”

  “I get you all,” I whisper, my body tingling.

  “That’s right,” Seth says. “Now, we need to make this fair.”

  “Definitely,” Layre says. “Now come here.”

  He grabs me by the waist and pulls me tight against his warm body. I put my head back to look up at him, my lips quivering, waiting for his kiss.

  He comes down to meet me, his lips perfectly soft, meant for kissing. We kiss over and over, the flirting idea of his tongue wanting to enter my mouth, but it doesn’t happen.

  “Now she’s mine,” Seth says.

  He pulls me from Layre and replaces Layre’s lips with his own.

  I gasp at the sudden change in sensation. Like from drinking a warm soothing cup of tea to throwing five peppermint mints into my mouth.

  I have this urge to explode from deep within my core.

  Seth kisses beautifully, a man that would put my pleasure over his.

  My mind tries to compare all four kisses I’ve experienced so far, but I can’t comprehend anything.

  Seth opens his mouth and my bottom lip touches one of his fangs. It’s like a beautiful icicle after a winter’s storm.

  I feel myself starting to fall, my hands at their sides, losing control of everything.

  “I’ve got her,” Darick’s voice says.

  He’s somehow behind me.

  “Me too,” Kyran says.

  I’m between them all. All four brothers, touching me. Hands on my waist, my arms, my back, an icy hand on my neck.

  My head is back, resting against Darick’s strong chest.

  “It’s okay, babe,” he whispers. “Just go with it. Tells us everything you want and need.”

  I try to speak but I make some random sound that sounds like ba-ba-ba-ba…

  “She’s not ready yet,” Layre says.

  “I am,” Darick says.

  “We have to respect her,” Kyran says.

  “He’s right,” Seth adds. “Take her to the bed. She needs more rest.”

  My lips quiver, wanting to protest, but I’m theirs for the taking.

  They easily lift me up into the air, all their hands on my back. My arms are limp as they carry me above their heads. I hear the softest and faintest sound of a piano and harp playing in unison, but I can’t tell if it’s real or from my imagination.


  “Gently place her down,” Seth orders. “Then we can each kiss her once on the neck. Send her into a slumber.”

  “I don’t know how long I can hold out, brother,” Darick says.

  “You’ll wait as long as it takes.”

  “Believe us,” Layre adds. “After what we just heard…”

  “How grave is the danger?” Kyran asks.

  “If this goes wrong,” Seth says, “then our existence is no more. We will be banished to a black eternity of suffering. Stakes driven into our chests, looking to drain our trapped and dead souls, but only slowly bleeding out. A pain no man or immortal has experienced ever.”

  “Easy with her,” Layre says.

  I’m being lowered to the bed as my eyes flutter. I feel like that time I had to get a tooth pulled. The memory comes back. Me sitting in a dentist’s chair. The dentist talking about how the original size of an apple was much smaller than today’s apple because of the way food companies modify foods. But I stare at this picture of a sailboat. He tells me to count back from ten. I get to eight and the sailboat comes to life, from the picture, right at me. Then I’m out.

  I hit the bed and feel their hands leave me. I want to scream and reach for them all. I don’t want to be left alone. I don’t want them to go anywhere. I want them all inside me. The urge is wild. I’ve never felt an urge like this in my life. Four men? Four vampires? And they are all willing to share me? Or have me at the same time?

  “Kyran, you go first,” Seth says.

  My eyes flicker and I see Kyran’s clean cut, well-defined face. I turn my head, exposing my neck. The sad lavender smell hits me as his lips press against my neck. Then he’s gone.

  “Layre,” Seth says.

  The warmth spreads across my throat as he kisses me. He nudges his nose against my ear and groans.

  I melt between my legs instantly.

  I’m a puddle as he goes away, to be replaced by Darick.

  The roughness of Darick makes me extra tender.

  His lips are perfect, even with the scruff on his face. I hear the squeaking of his leather jacket and I want to rip that jacket off him. I want to wear nothing but that jacket and tease him. I want him to bare his fangs and rip the leather jacket off me and… bite me.

  When Darick is gone, there’s only one person left.

  “Seth,” Layre says. “Then we must leave her be.”

  The cold chill blankets me and I shiver.

  “Fuck, brother, you need to control yourself,” Darick says. “She’s shivering. Ease up a little.”

  “I cannot,” Seth growls.

  Seth’s cold breath makes my skin tighten. He kisses me and then teases me with the extra sharp tips of his fangs, barely touching my neck.

  I arch my back and cry out as he does it.

  “Enough,” Kyran says. “It’s too much right now.”

  Seth moves away and I feel nothing.

  I’m able to finally move my hands and I reach out for them. My eyes open a little and I see them all standing at the end of the bed. Shoulder to shoulder. They are a wall of seven foot tall muscle. I lower my left hand and leave my right hand up.

  “Please,” I manage to whisper.

  Slowly, they all lift their right hand, outstretched, but unable to touch mine.

  I suck in a breath and feel their power raging from their bodies. There’s an aura coming from their hands. The blue, green, brown, and red. The colors hitting one another, swirling, tightening, exploding apart, fighting each other, but all coming together as the colors hit my hand.

  My body is flooded.

  And it all goes to one spot.

  No, not my heart… I don’t have a heart, remember?

  It all goes right between my legs.

  5.

  I sit up in bed and find Kyran on the end of it. He’s shirtless, his back wide and filled with muscle. There’s a tattoo on his back. It’s massive. It’s a tree. With roots at his lower back, working all the way up to the branches that move left and right. They’re all bare branches. It’s a rich black color, almost looking fresh, as though he had the ink done hours ago.

  I slide forward and want to touch him. I need to touch him.

  He hasn’t moved a bit, even with me just inches from him.

  My fingertips are a hairsbreadth away when I pause. There’s a beautiful sadness to him. I want to know more. I want to know everything.

  “You can touch it, angel,” Kyran whispers. “Nothing bad will happen to you.”

  I touch the tattoo and half expect it to move or change or something.

  Nothing happens.

  It’s just a tattoo. A tattoo on a vampire.

  The whole vampire thing hasn’t really settled in yet. Then again, neither has the me being dead thing.

  I place my entire hand against his right shoulder blade.

  “It’s haunting and beautiful,” I whisper.

  “Thank you,” Kyran says. “You’ve been sleeping well. No nightmares this time. Which is good.”

  “Where are the others?”

  “You want them more than me?”

  “I didn’t say that,” I say. “I’m just curious. I assume there are rules for us.”

  “Rules?” he asks, turning his head.

  He’s gorgeous. His skin a slight shade darker than Seth’s. His eyes… that green color… I never saw green eyes like this before. Like a green field of perfectly, untouched grass, the sun shining down, a soft breeze flirting with the soft tips of the grass.

  “Yeah,” I say. “I’m supposed to be with all of you, right?”

  “You decide,” Kyran says.

  “I decide who I want?”

  “Yes.”

  “Just one?”

  “Whatever you want.”

  Whatever I want.

  “I don’t understand this,” I say.

  “You don’t have to. Can I show you something?”

  “Please,” I say.

  Kyran moves forward and I slide my hand up to his round shoulder and dig my nails in. This wild and instinctive urge attacks me, not wanting him to move. I feel my lips quivering, then my top lip curls like I’m an angry animal. Like I want to bite him. I quickly move my tongue along the top of my teeth and check for fangs.

  I have no fangs.

  I am not like them.

  My hand scratches along his shoulder to his neck. I stop using my nails then and ease my fingers along his neck. Kyran tilts his head to the side.

  I’m aching again. I feel weak, hungry, and I want him. The need is so intense, I almost feel violent. I want to hurt him, to love him. Love? Where did that word come from?

  “What happens if I choose only one?” I whisper as I creep forward.

  My lips quiver faster until I touch his neck with my lips. Just one kiss to Kyran’s neck and I feel whole again. The tension eases from my entire body. It’s replaced with a deep and wicked desire that begins once again between my legs.

  “Then the other three will die,” he whispers.

  I kiss his neck again, my mouth opens wider this time. My tongue samples the musky scent of his skin. I pretend I have fangs and press all my teeth to him.

  That’s when Kyran stands and turns. “Did you hear me?”

  “Yes. The others will die. Seth. Layre. Darick. They will die.”

  I move forward and he gently touches my shoulder. “They are my brothers.”

  “And what if I solely choose you?” I ask.

  I feel playful. I feel flirty. I feel fucking sexy.

  Kyran curls his lip to show off his fangs. “If you choose me, then I will honor you and love you and pleasure you for the rest of our existence.”

  “We can't die, can we? I mean, we already did.”

  “We can still face destruction, angel,” Kyran says. “Your urges are getting the best of you. Let me take you outside for a walk through our garden.”

  “I want your tongue to walk through my garden,” I blurt out.

  I push away
from him and fall to the bed. I spread my legs, suddenly hating jeans. If I was wearing that orange dress from before I could just slide my panties off and show myself to him.

  Kyran makes that fast move they all do and he’s suddenly on top of me. Fangs bared. Anger in his eyes.

  “Do not play games you cannot win, Astrid,” he says.

  “I’m not playing games,” I say. “I have needs.”

  “Your needs will be cared for,” he says. “First, you must be protected.”

  “From what?”

  “Everything.”

  “I want to know more. I command you to tell me more.”

  A sly grin moves across Kyran’s face. “Commanding me. You’re beautiful, Astrid. And believe me… the things I can do to you with my tongue…”

  His hand suddenly touches between my legs. Pressing, sending a throbbing heat throughout my body.

  “Holy fuck,” I groan.

  “There is nothing holy about what I can do to you,” Kyran whispers.

  I grab for his arms and feel nothing but air. I gasp and see him standing at the door, holding it open.

  I curl my lip, pissed at him.

  But fine… I guess I could use some fresh air… to cool down a little.

  6.

  When we exit the room, Kyran throws his arm around me as though something is about to attack me. I scream and feel a rushing wind go through my body. I clutch at his shirt, fearing death. But, wait, I’m already dead. I push away from him and we’re standing at the back door to the massive house. The door is huge and I look over my shoulder and realize I’m in a kitchen. A very old looking kitchen with several pots and pans hanging from the ceiling above a large island. The appliances look ancient but are spotless and clean. Everything about this house contradicts itself, along with the four hunky men-slash-vampires that want me as much as I want them.

  Kyran opens the door and it creaks as though it hasn’t been opened in years.

  He waits for me and nods. “You first, angel. Take a deep breath.”

  I step outside and before I can breathe, I see where I am. It’s the largest garden I have ever seen. The ground before me is a rich green color with misshapen black stones that form a random path. There is overgrowth everywhere around me, but it’s beautiful. Green plants and vines hang all around me. I’m suddenly out of the house of fangs and in a garden that throbs with peace. The same kind of peace that radiates from Kyran’s eyes, but only for a moment though because his eyes then give off a sadness that makes me want to weep.