Age of Vampires- The Complete Series

by Caroline Peckham

  I tore at his neck with muddy fingernails, wrapping my thighs around his waist to try and get nearer. I never grew tired and neither did he, but a pressure was mounting at the base of my spine, promising me the sweetest of endings. Erik's hand fisted in my hair and he pulled me into another fierce kiss.

  His hips slowed and I ground my teeth with urgency as he brought me toward a climax that took my entire body hostage. My toes curled and my mind exploded with stars. I was in his palm, molded like clay and sculpted by his will.

  He pressed his forehead against mine, groaning my name as he reached his own relief. A thrill danced under my skin at making him feel that way and I held him tighter as my muscles clenched and finally unfolded.

  “Fuck,” he breathed with a boyish smile.

  My arms fell either side of me as I laughed, the tension floating out of my body and up, up, up into the sky. Erik joined me in my laughter and I felt like the earth had flipped on its axis. How was it possible we were here in the dirt naked when I should have been dead just hours ago?

  Because I'm a vampire.

  The word resounded in my head like a broken record.

  Erik rolled onto the ground beside me, pulling up his pants. “Just so we're clear, that was not my intention this evening.”

  “What was your intention?” I asked with a wide smile I couldn't get rid of.

  “Well an hour ago, I was scared shitless I'd lost you forever. So making sure you survived the curse was my priority. And then...”

  “And then?” I prompted.

  “My turning was so fucked up, I wanted to make it better for you. Easier. You like being outside so I thought if I laid you in the grass...” he trailed off and my heart blossomed at his words. I rolled over, propping my arm on his chest and running my finger close to the bandage over his shoulder.

  “Thank you.” I whispered, then swallowed hard, worried the bloodlust might creep up on me again. “How often do I have to drink?” I asked, my nose wrinkling.

  “Every few days,” he said. “But once a day is best, it keeps you sharp.”

  I frowned, hating the idea and he rubbed a muddy thumb across my cheek.

  “Let's go inside. We can talk. You'll feel better once we talk.”

  “I do feel better and not because we talked.”

  He grinned, pushing me upright and I gained my feet with a smoothness that felt strangely natural. My clothes remained in ribbons on the ground and as Erik stood up, I expected heat to find my cheeks. But my blood wasn't warm and instead a strange coolness ran through my blood, like a kind of vampire blush. Interesting...

  Erik eyed me with undisguised lust and I bit down on my lip as he stalked closer. He pressed a hand to my waist, brushing his thumb up and down my skin. “Let's go inside and find you some clothes before I get carried away again.”

  I giggled and the sound was a musical thing that had no business coming from my throat. Erik kept close as we headed back through the garden and up to the house. I eyed the brightly lit porch with a flicker of concern as I searched for guards.

  “Everyone's off duty tonight,” Erik said, evidently reading my thoughts. “Except the guards outside the gates. But if they could see you from here, I'd have wrapped you in a plastic tarp by now.”

  I released a soft laugh.

  Mud clung to my skin and a few leaves tumbled from my hair as I followed Erik into the house. Quiet reached my ears but I listened harder and found all kinds of sounds filling the building that I'd never noticed before. The buzzing of the refrigerator in the kitchen, the ticking of a clock, and suddenly, the hum of something I knew as well as my own pulse.

  “Nightmare!” I started running, moving in a burst of speed as I tore upstairs into my old bedroom and found it waiting for me on the wooden table at the heart of the room.

  I hurried forward, reaching for it before a flutter of fear passed through me. What if I couldn't touch it anymore? It was designed to hurt vampires. Me.

  My heart ached and I knew I had to try, it was too tempting not to pick up my old friend. I gently brushed my fingers over the hilt and it purred in response. With a breath of relief, I took it in my grasp with a swell of victory.

  Moon Child has been made, it whispered and a shiver darted down my spine. So it was true. This had been the line of the prophecy. And the fact sent a ripple of relief through me.

  At least jumping from that damn statue hadn't been for nothing.

  Erik appeared, wrapping me in a fluffy white robe and immediately drawing the curtains. He turned to me with a faint look of surprise as he spotted Nightmare in my hand. “I wondered if you might still be able to wield it.” His eyes brightened further. “Perhaps the sun won't weaken you either.” He moved toward me at speed, cupping my cheek and pressing a feather-light kiss to my lips, nothing like the fervent kisses we'd shared in the woods.

  “You're filthy,” he said with a grin, plucking a twig from my hair. “Go shower. I'll join you shortly, I just have something I need to do first.”

  “What?” I frowned and he gave me an awkward smile.

  “Fabian's still in the trunk of my car. Your sister ripped his head off and I'm trying to delay the inevitable before I let him heal.”

  “He can heal from a severed head?” I asked, fighting a laugh at what Callie had done to him. I mean, it wasn't exactly cool, but I still kind of admired it.

  “Yes, but I might wait until tomorrow...I should bring him inside at least.”

  I nodded and he headed away. I made a path for the shower, taking Nightmare with me and placing it beside the basin in the ensuite. I ran the water hot, then swung it to cold, feeling the gush of it over my hand. I could sense the change, but not in any way that affected my blood. I left it somewhere in the middle, moving into the stream and washing the mud from my body. I wondered vaguely if Erik had already washed me before now. There certainly must have been a lot of blood on me after I'd hit the ground...

  I shuddered, horrified at the thought of my sister finding me like that. Of all of them finding me like that. I wondered where she was now. If Erik had let her go, I hoped that meant things were mending between him and the slayers. Or they were tolerating him at least, which was certainly something worth holding onto.

  I knew I was putting off the inevitable. I needed to call Callie to tell her I was alright. But I was terrified of what her reaction would be.

  Time slipped away and the more my thoughts overwhelmed me, the more I couldn't feel the pass of the seconds. It could have been minutes or hours before I exited the shower and wrapped myself in a towel.

  I took a measured breath as I prepared to face the reality of my situation. I was a bloodsucker. One of the creatures I'd grown up despising. But so long as I had Erik, I was somehow sure I'd be alright. That we'd figure out the prophecy together. We'd already taken a step in the right direction. And surprisingly...I didn't feel all bad. In fact, I felt kind of invincible. The blood was my biggest issue. Even the prospect of having to face another bottle sent a wave of nausea through me. I tried to convince myself that I despised it, but as I thought about human blood, a longing grew in me. I was never going to be rid of that need until the curse was broken...

  Taking Nightmare in my hand, I stepped into the bedroom, finding the lights low. My eyes adjusted to the darkness and the clock on the wall told me it was well past midnight.

  How long had I been in that shower?

  I spotted a still form on the bed and my heart softened as I found Erik asleep. He was still half-naked and muddy all over, but it was the sweetest sight I'd ever seen.

  His face was totally relaxed and his awkward position told me he'd practically fallen asleep the second he'd sat down. I wondered how long it had been since he’d rested before now.

  I crawled onto the sheets beside him, gently lowering him down the bed into a more comfortable position. He murmured something incoherent, but I was pretty sure my name was amongst his words as he slid an arm around me and pulled me to his chest.
>
  I soaked in the closeness of him like a wolf with her mate, coiled up against him.

  Sleep didn't come for me, my mind was swirling with a thousand thoughts. But I didn't move, because being that near to him, safe, alive and nowhere near the slayers' fury, filled me with so much happiness it was hard to believe my body could contain it.

  We had to abandon the village and run north. North to the snow, the wind, the rain. Moving in the daytime was a severe disadvantage to us. We needed more hours of darkness to ensure the slayers wouldn't catch up. The cover of clouds and shorter days.

  I despised running from the slayers, but I was badly injured and the others had confirmed there were a whole host of them on our tail. Perhaps we could have taken them in a fight if we'd planned our attack better...pushed ourselves to our limits. It was pointless to chew over it, but I had nothing else to occupy my thoughts as we journeyed on.

  Fabian had suggested we recuperate a while and ask Andvari to assist us again. But I'd pushed for another option. The battle of Atbringer was still fresh in my memory. I'd killed too many with the god's power...spilled too much blood. Even if we could manage it that way, it didn't sit right with me.

  My decision wasn't out of kindness to the slayers. The fact that they'd hunted us across an entire ocean set a rage burning in me that hungered for their demise. But they were still only mortal.

  Instead, I came up with a simple plan that would ensure Magnar and Julius would never be a threat to us again. Once we reached the snowy lands, we'd break apart, head separate ways and remain deeply hidden for a hundred years. By then, Magnar and his companions would be long dead. The Blessed Crusaders would be no more. And all without spilling a single drop of blood.

  My siblings finally agreed. I sensed they were eager to stop killing for a while too. Our time in the village had proven peaceful. Trust had been built between us and the humans. Blood had been given willingly in exchange for our help. That was the sort of life we wished to build for ourselves again one day. And I held onto that dream with all my heart.

  We're not monsters. We can be better. There is a way to live like this that doesn't result in more death.

  We'd taken shelter for the night in a dark cave after we'd found our way into a mountain range. The ache in my side had finally dulled and it was slowly knitting over. The damage done by the slayer's blade would leave an eternal scar. But I didn't care. The mark would only serve to remind me of the man who had made it. Magnar Elioson was determined to make himself my enemy. But we would outsmart him and the others in a way that they could never fight against. We had time on our hands. And a hundred years was nothing if it meant we would be rid of them.

  Rain formed puddles beyond the cave, the world turning to a deep shade of blue outside our haven.

  Clarice stalked back and forth in her dress; it was shredded in places and she'd soon need something new to wear if she wasn't going to be walking around naked for the next few weeks. I doubted she'd care about that. I, on the other hand, would rather my sister wasn't baring it all for the rest of our trip. She might not have been a sibling by blood, but since we'd been turned, our bond had grown more familial and I knew Fabian and Miles felt the same way about her. We were protective of each other, nothing more.

  “We should seek out a village soon,” I said and Fabian moved for the first time in a while, stepping away from the cave wall.

  “Blood,” he rasped, nodding firmly.

  “And clothes.” My own shirt was in tatters after my fight with Magnar. “But we must do so without leaving a trace. Without hurting anyone.”

  Fabian nodded, moving to the edge of the cave. “I'll find a bird. In fact I might find a few so we can keep an eye on the slayers too.”

  “Good idea.” Miles jogged to follow him and the two of them stepped into the pouring rain, disappearing off through the trees.

  Thunder rumbled overhead and adrenaline spiked in my veins. Clarice drifted toward me, perching on the rock at my side. “They'll never stop hunting us.”

  “That's why we're going to hide.”

  “And what of their children? And their children's children?” A flicker of fear flamed in her dazzling blue eyes and I rested a hand on her arm.

  “They will not hold the same anger in their hearts as these slayers. As generations pass, they will not feel so wronged by us.”

  “How do you know that? Idun could instill the same hatred in them. We could be facing an eternity of being hunted. And one by one we will fall. Eventually we have to. The odds won't always be in our favour.”

  “Clarice,” I sighed. “This is our only option for now. What else can we do?”

  “Talk to them?” she suggested quietly. “It's the gods who drive this fight, what if we went against them?”

  I shook my head, knowing it was pointless. “The slayers don't see it that way.”

  “But maybe we can make them,” she begged, her tone laced with desperation. “I don't want to live in caves, watching my back at every turn. I want to have a real life, Erik. We had one at the village of Bel Vedere and they stole it from us.” Her voice broke and I sensed she was on the verge of tears.

  I pulled her closer, rubbing her back in soothing circles. “We will have it again.”

  “When?” she begged.

  “I don't know, but I promise we will. I'll make sure of it.”

  “You always did know the right thing to say to make a girl feel better.” She sniffed, sitting upright.

  “I'm not sure about that,” I grunted. “But you know I'll do everything in my power to look after those I love.”

  “I know,” she whispered, reaching up to place a kiss on my temple. “It's why Kyla loved you so fiercely.”

  A chasm of regret opened up inside me at the mention of my dead lover's name. She'd died by my teeth on the night I'd been turned...lost to the bloodlust. A woman I'd promised to look after had been killed by my own hands.

  I glanced away from Clarice and she took in a breath. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you.”

  “No...you're right to mention her. We rarely talk about them anymore. I think of my sister often. When I see my reflection, I recognise her in some parts of my face.”

  “I see her too,” Clarice whispered, running her thumb over the line of my cheekbone. “You'll find her again one day in the afterlife. We'll find all of them.”

  I nodded vaguely, unsure if that was true. Our souls were tainted now. Even if we could somehow break the curse and become human again, perhaps we'd already done too much wrong to afford us a place with our families in the afterlife.

  A sniffing sounded beyond the cave and I lifted my head, spotting a wolf and its three cubs eyeing the shelter intently. The mother was perfectly still, her eyes pinned on me as water dripped from her grey muzzle.

  I tilted my head, seeing something of myself in her. She padded into the cave and her three little cubs followed.

  Clarice's lips parted in surprise as the animal shook off the rain and curled up on the dry floor to nurse her cubs.

  “Why isn't she afraid? Or aggressive?” my sister breathed into the cool air.

  “Maybe she knows we're not her enemy,” I murmured, a strange feeling stirring in my chest. A wolf protected its own at all costs. No one lay judgment on it for that. Wasn't that the same as what we were trying to do? If that was the case, maybe the gods really would forgive us one day...

  We travelled further north, using Fabian's Familiars to scout out small tribes. We fell into a routine, sneaking into their villages at night, taking unsuspecting people and knocking them unconscious before feeding from them. We never drank too much, never killed, and left as little trace as we could. When they woke, we hoped they'd put the painful bites down to snakes. It was the best we could hope for. And at least no one had to die in the process.

  When we finally reached a snowy land where mountains huddled on the horizon, I knew it was time for us to part. We'd each head deeper into the northern territories, spreading
out, east and west until we all found somewhere we could live undetected.

  We'd taken clothes from the towns, wrapped ourselves up in furs so we resembled the natives as much as we could. We couldn't do much about our pale skin, but that was why we'd all agreed to continue with our plan of taking people surreptitiously for as long as possible.

  We stood in a ring, snowflakes dancing between us. One drifted down to land on my hand and didn't melt. I couldn't feel its icy touch, my own skin was impervious to it.

  “We reunite in a hundred years,” I said as Miles rested a hand on my shoulder. The others did the same so we were linked in a circle. “Return here when the times comes.”

  Fabian took a knife from his hip, striding away from the group towards a black boulder that jutted from the ground at an angle. He swept the snow from the side of it and etched a cross into the stone.

  Clarice embraced me and a sadness weighed down my heart at the thought of parting with them all.

  “We're family. Forever,” Miles said. “Never forget that.”

  “We won't,” Clarice promised and tears slid down her cheeks as she pulled Miles into a tight hug.

  “We should unite under one name,” Fabian said, strolling back to join us. “As true siblings.”

  “We could name ourselves after the people of Bel Vedere?” Clarice suggested, raising a brow.

  I liked the idea. The village had been full of people who'd loved us. Even if their belief in us had been wrong, that didn't change who we really were. But maybe it was something to hold onto. Something to remind us that we could be better than the thirst. Stronger than it.

  “Belvedere it is,” Fabian announced, gazing around at us with a sad smile. “I'll miss you all.”

  “See you in a hundred years,” I said in a low voice, an ache growing in my heart. “And when we reunite, we will be free of Magnar and his bastard friends at long last.”

  The dank boathouse we’d found to take cover in smelled of rot and mildew.