Hearts Unleashed: A Limited Edition Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Collection

by C. D. Gorri

  “Contessa,” my sister said. “How could you slip up like that? You know there are spies all through the house. Father warned us.”

  Adalia had always been the most serious of us, certainly the smartest, and was the most beautiful, besides. I’d caught Viktor’s eyes following her long before he should have even noticed her, and I hated him for it.

  If he ever got his claws into Adalia…

  “Tessa, you should stop worrying about me—worry about yourself for once.”

  “I know, Adalia, but sometimes it’s easier to worry about someone else when you can’t do anything about your own situation.”

  Mother and Father were subdued, and I caught them shooting me furtive glances when they thought I wasn’t looking. I was sure they thought me crazy for refusing to have them buy Viktor off.

  Hell, at times, I thought I was crazy for refusing.

  “And don’t even think to say you’re doing this for me,” Adalia continued, chopping at her meat angrily. “Because falling on your sword and giving in to the king isn’t going to save me from the same fate.”

  “Of course not, Adalia.” I sighed. “But there might be some hope for you. You have two more years. A lot can happen before then.”

  I hated that we had these horrendous little talks. Without Viktor, maybe we’d be enjoying a family dinner. Maybe there’s be laughter, instead of dread.

  Maybe we could actually just be ourselves.

  “Yes, I know,” she snapped, and turned her fork to her potatoes, hacking at them like a combine. “And after me it will be Mads, and then the king will have ruined all of us. I can’t eat another bite.” She tossed her fork down, followed by her napkin, and went to stand, before falling back into her chair, her chin bowed to her chest.

  Across the table, Rafael and Markus had gone dead silent, and Mother was white as a ghost.

  “Oh, but you should stay, Adalia,” the king crooned from behind us. “I have brought something special for your sister.”

  How he always managed to invade our house without a sound, I didn’t know, but we seriously needed to upgrade our security. Of course, there wasn’t anyone in our clan who would help us out with that, not if they wanted to live.

  He stepped up next to me, brushed my hair out of the way, and ran a finger across the collar, his nail scraping my flesh as he did so. “This looks lovely on you, my dear. I cannot wait to see you in nothing but this.”

  Fear flared hot inside of me as Markus stood up so fast he knocked his chair over. Father pulled him back down, whispering a furious warning in his ear.

  I squeezed my eyes closed, then knocked Viktor’s hand away. “Shall we do this alone, Viktor?” I asked him softly. “Or do you prefer an audience?”

  “Oh, an audience is so much better, isn’t it…Tessa?” His eyes found Markus, and he licked his lips, leaving them grotesquely shiny and red. “I do so love that nickname. I believe I shall take it for my own.”

  I was miserable, and helpless to stop him from baiting my men, knowing he’d simply use anything I said or did to retaliate against them. “Fine, we’ll do it here,” I muttered, shoving my place setting and glasses away, food and drink scattering as I did so, red wine staining the white linen, the floor, soup splashing out of the bowl. “There.” I waved my hand toward the empty spot. “Is that enough room?”

  “Careful, wife,” Viktor said coolly, “My temper is short.” There was a dangerous vibe beneath his teasing voice, and I reined myself in, reminding myself of the stakes.

  “I didn’t want to do this, but you leave me no choice. Bring it in,” Viktor called to someone outside the room, his red eyes glowing as if lit from within. There was a dull scraping sound, a step-scrape-step sound that I couldn’t place. “Now we’ll see how smart your mouth is, Contessa.”

  Everything about me was shaking; everything felt like it was about to break.

  We all froze in place as the dragging sound grew closer—from just beyond the doorway, the sharp sound became the scratch-scratching of claws, the thumping of some heavy and ungainly creature moving toward us.

  We’d all heard the stories.

  But I’d never seen one of Viktor’s monsters—revenants, they called them—in person.

  All we knew was people disappeared and were never seen again.

  All we knew was that only Viktor’s magic, which was as black as his soul, could create something so hideous out of a once-vital vampire.

  I didn’t think anyone in the room, except Viktor, was breathing when the first head appeared, a gray nub with slits for eyes, a mouth with a double row of needle-sharp teeth, and two more slits for a nose. The front legs were odd, moving like a spider’s, disjointed and jerky.

  Its body was an odd, mottled gray, almost pinkish, flecked with scars and raised spots.

  The thing stank badly, like a rotting body left in the sun for too long, cloyingly sweet. It moved into the room, trampling priceless antiques, those black claws gouging deep grooves into the floor.

  A second one loped in, swung its flattened head, and surveyed the table, dragging spittle across the floor from its open mouth, and I winced when Dalia threw up in her lap.

  Please, oh please, make this all disappear, I thought desperately, as Caden shifted in his chair, moving himself closer to me, resting his left arm on his leg as if he was waiting to swoop me away.

  “Get my sisters out,” I murmured, so softly I wasn’t even sure he’d hear me. “If this goes badly, get them out.”

  He pressed his knee against mine, hard, to show he understood, and I relaxed just a little. If anyone could get them past Viktor, past these odious things creeping through my brightly lit dining room, it would be Caden.

  “There is no need for this, Viktor,” I told the king faintly. “No need at all. You know I will comply with the law.”

  “I know no such thing,” he scoffed. “You never responded to my letter. All I required was a simple response, and you denied me that. Now I must make sure you understand the meaning of duty.” He reached out and patted one of the revenant’s heads, and the thing flattened itself to the floor in submission. “This was once the prince of House Rosseau, a weak young man who thought he’d stand up to me when I took his sister. As is my God-given right as king.”

  The second revenant locked on to Madison, crept a step closer, was almost within striking distance. Viktor didn’t even seem to notice, but Caden did, and I felt his muscles tense as he readied to spring to her aid.

  I’m going to throw up. I’m going to be sick and then I’m going to die, and oh my God, can this please all just stop?

  “Duty, honor, obedience,” Viktor murmured, looking eager for the coming slaughter. “Those are the requirements of a Darkfell female. I expect them followed to the letter, but you couldn’t even rouse yourself to write a response.”

  Viktor’s letter had contained many things, but a request for a response was definitely not one of them. My lips flattened out with the effort it took to keep my mouth shut. The revenant whined like a dog denied his food, and Madison began sobbing softly.

  “I was only trying to find the right words,” I assured him, my breaths coming so fast that the words came out choppy. “I was…planning to write to you tonight.”

  Lie better, Tessa. You can lie far better than that.

  “So it is. Well, still, I expected better from you. This can be over quickly, wife,” Viktor said smoothly, spinning toward Markus when he stepped forward. “Stand firm, pup, or I’ll let them have you.”

  Both monsters fixed on him; one snapped those needle teeth. Mads was shaking so hard she sent the glasses on the table clinking.

  “Get on your knees, female,” Viktor said, his greedy gaze skimming over my sisters before resting on me.

  My chest was too tight, the collar was choking me, I couldn’t breathe at all, and yet I fell to my knees and prostrated myself before him, my face pressed against the wine-soaked rug.

  “Crawl over to me, wife.”

&n
bsp; I did it, loathing this bastard with every drop of blood in my body.

  I did it, because if I refused, he’d kill us all.

  “Open your mouth, Contessa.” He bit the end of his finger, dark, almost black blood welling up as every instinct warned me to flee. Once his blood was inside of me, Viktor could find me, anywhere in the world.

  With this, I’d become his thrall. He could call me back to him whenever he wanted.

  In short, I was completely screwed.

  Behind us, Rafael started to protest, and there was a short scuffle, a snarling that could only be the revenants, then everything went still.

  “Taste your future.” Viktor’s face gleamed while insanity danced in his red-flecked eyes as his blood coated my mouth. It was poison, and if his magic had a taste, it would be death. “There,” he murmured, his dark gaze eating me alive, my stomach churning. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

  Chapter Eight

  Contessa

  Madison had to be carried upstairs by Father.

  Adalia made it under her own power, but the look she cast me on the way out…

  It was pity. Pity and fear and almost-loathing for putting us in this situation.

  Mother cast me the same look, though hers was tinged with understanding as well. Then it was me and my men. I’d rinsed my mouth out a hundred times, and I could still taste Viktor’s rot.

  I was fucked. Totally and completely fucked.

  I’d just screwed us all.

  I’d publicly drunk Viktor’s blood—the force involved just a technicality—and now there was no amount of money that could buy my freedom. Now I belonged to him.

  The older European clans frowned upon Viktor. His barbaric ways.

  But they were also afraid of him, and now… Well, let’s just say they wouldn’t lift a finger to save any of us, because according to vampire law—archaic, primitive, and backward—once you drank the blood of a king, you, and your entire house, belonged to him.

  His claiming me in two days would have had the same effect, but somehow… I’d always imagined I’d escape this fate. Now there was no escaping, because he’d be able to control me from anywhere.

  “Perhaps you should tell us about this letter,” Markus finally said, a brimming glass of scotch in front of him, his second one, and there were bound to be more. Rafael was puffing on one of the fragrant black cigarettes he smoked when he was stressed, and Caden… Well, he was the same.

  Stoic. Unreadable. Unflappable.

  I went to the drawing room and brought the thing back, the heavy paper folded into a tiny square, and handed it to Markus. Now they’d know how futile all their planning had been.

  Markus scanned it, then handed it to Rafael, who choked, blowing smoke out in a giant cloud, then to Caden, who finally allowed his façade to crack long enough to crumple the letter up and toss it onto the table with a look of disgust.

  “Why didn’t you tell us, Tessa?” Markus asked. “You should have said something.”

  “And then what?” I replied. “I didn’t know you and Father were amassing a fortune to buy him off, and Caden had an inside track to his father’s influence. If I had…I would have told you.” I dropped sloppily into a chair, uncaring that my dress tore when it caught on the broken leg of a chair.

  But would I?

  No, probably not, I finally decided, while Markus glowered at me from the other side of the table. “You’d already left for Chicago when I received the letter,” I lied, even though it was a lame excuse. “Otherwise…”

  “Bullshit, Tessa. You kept it to yourself because that’s what you always do. You take everything on yourself, and never allow anyone else to shoulder the burden. Sometimes I think you like being a martyr.”

  “She could have told me,” Rafael said softly, pulling up a chair beside me, throwing his arm around my shoulders as the richly scented smoke curled around us. “I never left. I was right here, Tessa.”

  I hated to hear the hurt in his voice, but seriously, what would they have done?

  “Viktor was very clear in his threats, as you can clearly read. He will take your eyes, Rafael, and your hands, so you can’t write. Markus, he will take your tongue so you can’t argue cases. And he will carve my sister’s faces from their skulls.” I paused. “Clearly, he’s had time to study us, to know how to hurt us. Not that it matters, since I…swore fealty to him tonight.”

  “But why, Tessa?” Rafael asked. “You never give in to anyone, on anything.”

  “No, not usually, but this…” I waved at the letter. “Don’t you see? He would leave us all ruined, blaming one another for what happened, hating one another, once he was done with us.”

  They had to understand. I had to make them see.

  I flattened the letter on the table, smoothing out the wrinkles, noting how Viktor’s blood stained through to the back of the paper in places. “It’s not enough for him to claim me. To know I couldn’t rise against him. If he did this to us…we’d have no future, because we’d hate ourselves. Maybe hate each other.” I pursed my lips. “He means to destroy us. Our love.”

  “Well, it fucking worked.” Caden spat the words out like poison. “The bastard got what he wanted. He knew the only way to control you is by threatening those you love.” Caden set his hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “He used your big heart against you.”

  There was no scolding in his tone, and a fair amount of respect.

  “But I, for one, don’t expect you to sacrifice yourself for me. And neither do…”

  The way Caden’s words tapered off and his gaze locked on to the doorway behind me had me spinning in my chair, and for the second time today, I was rendered speechless by whom I saw.

  “What the fuck happened here tonight?”

  The interloper looked battle-worn, dressed in scuffed-up black leathers, a motorcycle helmet under one arm, his dark hair pulled back into a bun. But it was his face that had changed the most.

  Gone was the handsome rogue I’d once known, and in his place… This male looked hard-edged, reminding me of a little of Caden.

  They shared the same cold-blooded, emotionless façade.

  Silas Augustine had disappeared from my life years ago, just after my sixteenth birthday, a night I’d tried to forget ever since.

  But seeing him again?

  Everything rushed back through me, and I was left trembling, just like the sixteen-year-old girl he’d left behind.

  Chapter Nine

  Silas

  “I said, what the hell happened here?”

  Fuck, the Cormier place looked like a bomb had gone off. The room was wrecked, the carpets ripped to pieces, the floors gouged as if by huge, sharp…

  “Was Viktor here?” I demanded, turning to Markus, who chugged down his fine whiskey like it was water. Scanning the room, I noticed Caden Gauthier—we’d been on a few missions together—but the quiet guy, smoking a cigarette…he was a stranger.

  “In the flesh.” Markus walked over and held out a hand. “Thanks for coming, Silas,” he said quietly, then indicated our surroundings, a rueful expression on his face. “Obviously, we could use the help.”

  “He brought his revenants with him,” I said, though I didn’t say more. If they’d seen Viktor’s monsters in the flesh, then I didn’t have to. Fear hung thick in the air, along with the smell of vomit. And blood.

  “Is everyone okay?” It was obvious they weren’t, but Contessa didn’t seem harmed. After her initial look of shock, she hadn’t glanced my way. I didn’t know why that pissed me off…but it did.

  “Fine, for now,” Markus answered. “Look, can we talk?” he asked quietly, and that got Tessa’s attention. Her stare went straight through me, a white-hot laser of disapproval and resentment.

  “You asked him to come?” she asked Markus, still not deigning to look my way. “I should have known. First Caden, now Silas. Any other surprises you want to spring on me?”

  “Any more letters from the king you’d like to withh
old from me?” Markus shot back.

  I didn’t know what was going on, and I didn’t need to. All I knew was that we were on a tight deadline. Two days.

  “I had good reason for keeping that to myself,” she muttered, but I didn’t miss the fact her dress was torn, her face was pale, and she had a hideous necklace around her neck like some kind of obscene collar.

  “Tess,” I said softly, and, wonder of wonders, she actually looked at me.

  Well, glared, but at least I could finally see those incredible eyes.

  Like always, her gaze melted me from the inside out, not that I’d let her know that. Her incredible hair was longer, halfway down her back, and the rest of her… I stopped staring, pulled my gaze firmly up to her face, and told my cock to stand down.

  “Silas Augustine.” She bit the end of my name off like a cold snap, her fangs poking down below her bottom lip. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”

  “Markus thought you could use some backup.” I indicated the room around us, no judgment in my voice, only calm understanding. “Viktor’s revenants… The creatures are horrendous, are they not? I’ll never get used to them, not even after seeing them a hundred times.”

  Even though I was beyond furious the king had threatened her with those monsters, I kept my tone level.

  Tess was trying hard to hold it together, and I knew it.

  “There’s no shame in needing a bit of help, not when it comes to Viktor and his revenants, Tess. I know you’re worried for your sisters.” My gaze skimmed over the others. “Your men.”

  For someone who never used to know when to quit talking, Tess’s silence was unnerving, as was the dead-eyed stare she’d locked on me moments ago.