Revenge of the Witch

by J. M. Davies

  That you are perfect.

  His words entered her mind and she smiled at his praise.

  Joined as we are, my love, we share a telepathic connection.

  Isabella wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and tasted the blood on her lips. Sparks of rampant desire fizzed through her veins like fireworks erupting. She panted and stalked toward Roman. Her rational thoughts evaporated. She smoothed her hand up over her breast, touching herself as a sex-craved wildness grew like a fever inside.

  “Animal blood doesn’t taste as rich as human blood or ours—it’s coarser—but as you can see, it revitalizes and stimulates you.”

  Roman walked back as she closed the gap, ready to strip off her torn dress, which was covered in mud and debris.

  “I want to fuck,” she said, her voice high-pitched.

  Roman grabbed her and pinned her against the wide evergreen, dipping his head low to whisper at her ear. “Vampires are highly sexual creatures, Isabella, and now that you’re one of us, you must learn the rules of our culture. Vampires are either marked or not. If you are marked, it means you are claimed and belong to a vampire. If you aren’t marked, you are free to mingle. If you choose to have sex with me, Isabella, you will be mine eternally. As a new vampire, the sexual lust can overtake your rational mind in the early days. My home is empty right now because of your unexpected transformation, but it isn’t always the case. I work from there and usually, I am surrounded by male and female vampires, humans as well as others. It would break the law for another vampire to touch you as you’re marked mine, but I couldn’t take a risk with you. You wouldn’t want to be fucking a stranger, now would you? As for your offer, I’m flattered, but not until you know your mind.”

  Isabella flicked her tongue out to lick her lips still covered with blood and Roman stopped talking, studying her instead.

  He leaned in and licked the blood from her lips, but pulled away fast. “Like I said once before, if you choose me, I will sign an exclusivity contract, which is binding for eternity. I will fulfill every desire and fantasy you have ever imagined. I’m a relentless lover, Isabella. If we mate, know this: I will kill anyone who tries to take you from me—even Jake. I’m a monster, not a human, and I don’t abide by their laws. I protect what is mine to the death.”

  The way Roman spoke aroused her. She squeezed her thighs together and slid her hand through her glossy hair. The ferocity of the way he delivered his words made it seem like a sinful promise of earth-shattering sex, and she was on the verge of an orgasm right now just thinking about what he would do. The vampire wasn’t a monster but a master at seduction, and she craved a taste.

  “This feeling. This urge I have for you—is it part of the transformation?”

  A wide smirk broke over his lips. “It could be, but usually the overwhelming desire happens within the first three days. Of course, I was a total gentleman and gave you relief in other ways.”

  She slapped his face, and he covered his cheek with his hand.

  “I’ll give you that, but believe me when I say, the last week has put a whole new spin on the word torture.”

  Isabella rolled her eyes at him, but remembered her naked and needy state earlier as she sat on the bed. She hadn’t been in her right mind or in control. A violent thirst and desperate need held her hostage. I’ve been a raving nymphomaniac for a week?

  “I may be a beast, but I would never take advantage of you. I want you to remember the earth-shattering orgasms I give you.”

  Roman brushed her hair away from her face, confirming she had been a mindless, sex-crazed wanton and he had looked after her. Resisted her demands. She pressed her hand to her mouth, needing to know what this new life entailed.

  Isabella snorted. “And what if I want to have sex with someone beside you?”

  His eyes never left hers, and his features betrayed no outward sign of emotion.

  “Unmated, you have the right to choose a partner or multiple partners, if that is what you prefer. I would remove my mark, and introduce you to a suitable male from my close circle of friends only because I trust them. Perhaps Lucius, my second-in-command, would be a good fit, despite being a little narrow-minded. But, I stand by the decision I made before you sidetracked into my world. If you want freedom from me, you only have to ask, and I will give it.”

  “So it wasn’t part of the plan after we married to persuade me to join the dark side?”

  She didn’t believe Roman had not thought about turning her. But it struck her in the two years she had known him, they rarely discussed anything of a serious nature or anything real at all, for that matter. When they were together, they mostly clashed and argued. She hadn’t wanted to get to know the man or imagine the possibility of a future with a vamp. The thought terrified her.

  And now I’m a bloody vamp! Now I’m his vamp!

  “Isabella, as my wife, it would have been expected. My people demanded it, but I would’ve given you time. I did broach the subject many times.”

  She narrowed her gaze to study the sincerity in his voice. Maybe he spoke the truth, and she had ignored him, which was ironic considering the situation now. “And what now? You broke off our engagement, letting me go.”

  “No one knows that. I propose we continue as before and unite our people. But if you do not wish for that, I will honor my promise to you and let you go.”

  “How honorable of you. And what if I choose Jake?” Her anger drove her even when she saw him clench his fists and raise his head to examine her. Even when Jake’s name rolled from her lips, it fell flat to her own ears. Roman supplied the answers, despite looking as if he wanted to throttle her, but she wanted to needle him.

  “I would not advise an attachment with any human. If you choose to fuck him and keep him as a pet, that would be frowned upon, but accepted. Anything further is against our laws and forbidden. There are too many risks. Besides, eventually he will die, and you will not. It’s really not so bad being a vampire, my love. Our women are treated with respect and are equal in every way to their men. They are highly regarded, even revered, as the bearers of our young. Although pregnancies are difficult. Some even carry babies to full term.”

  A baby. Vampires can get pregnant. What if they don’t want to get pregnant? Is there birth control?

  “It is not something mated couples worry about, as pregnancies are rare.”

  Talking about something so intimate pulled at an invisible cord. She opened her mouth to launch a million questions that popped into her head, but she snapped it shut. As a vampire, she still had choices. She would crave blood and with it, sex. It sounded like a sick joke. The sight of blood as a child made her faint and yet, she overcame that to become a fearless hunter. And now she would need to drink it to survive. What about working with Orion? Do I have to stay with the vampires? With Roman? With each question, her fury soared. A week ago, she was the master of her own destiny. Now she belonged to Roman.

  One minute, she stood examining her options, and the next, she was flying full speed through the trees like a missile. Everything passed in a blur. She didn’t choose this sort of life. It wasn’t life. She was dead. A feral scream sounded out from her lips. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Isabella wasn’t one to make plans for the future. Come to think of it, she never pictured herself sitting on a porch with a husband and baby like Ella, either.

  What am I going to do now?

  Not taking care where she went, she charged at a furious pace, whizzing through the tall snow-covered trees until she stood at the tip of a long frozen lake and stared at the gathering of crows that flanked her on either side, sitting on the branches. The queen of war, the Morrigan, had stolen her life. Her chance to explore a relationship with Jake. Today, she existed, but that’s all it was. She may have choices, but it wasn’t the same. Nothing would ever be the same again.

  No matter what happened, one thing was certain: the Morrigan would pay.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  When Jake demanded h
e take Isabella, the human had no clue what he was asking. Roman had been a vampire for five long centuries, and for the first one or two, fed and fucked every woman in sight. It hadn’t been an easy transition or one of his choosing. His maker had been a beautiful, exotic, Spanish woman named Madame Maria La Belle, a whore but a vampire. He had been an Italian soldier lying on the brink of death on the battlefield after fighting the Spanish forces. Madame Maria serviced and fed on both armies. She had stumbled across Roman strewn across the muddy field and his distinctive features stopped her. When she examined his dark, broody face, she said she had not been able to resist the need to transform him because of his rugged good looks.

  Damn her to hell!

  After Maria changed him, she brought him to Madrid, Spain, where she lived in luxury and comfort. When he was coherent and able to make sense of the horror of his new life, he left on a bloody rampage. He slaughtered hundreds of humans, consumed with the blood lust and a violent rage. It took years for him to gain control. During that time, he befriended other vampires who helped him. Accepting his new power and the abilities that came with his immortal life, he decided to use it for his benefit, and he went home to seek out his family back in Rome.

  Returning here with Isabella in his arms, almost lifeless, he couldn’t delay what needed to be done. When he lay her down on the bed, he studied her absolute perfection. Jake asked him to save her and bring her back. But that wasn’t possible, not in the way the mortal imagined. He doubted he would understand or accept what she needed as a vampire. The driving force to feed would never change. The sex part he may be up for until he realized that vampires were stronger and could fuck like rabbits all night long. Humans tired easily. Vampires tended to be sexually demanding, even forceful at times.

  Over the years, he had worked his way through his fair share of human conquests, usually after feeding, but there had been no emotion attached to it. In those days, he had been a cold and ruthless vampire. As time passed, he settled and chose to stick to his own kind for sex—less hassle, and less chance of killing them. Although, his appetite over the last century for his own kind had been harder to please. When he started building his acquisitions and merger empire, De’ Luca, it gave him a purpose, and with that, his status within the vampire community grew. The number of vampires who pledged allegiance to him ran in the thousands and with that came responsibility, and the need to establish and enforce laws. He acquired blood from the hospitals or blood banks for a healthy donation, reducing his need to feed from either a vampire or human, also reducing his desire for casual sex.

  Finding a partner to share his extraordinary life seemed unobtainable. Something lost to him, and he had almost accepted it, until he met Isabella. When he discovered her two years ago, she intrigued him. His fangs protruded at the thought of her pale loveliness. Wondering and debating over the options, he dismissed them. He didn’t care what anyone else wanted. Not even Lucius. He couldn’t exist in any world without Isabella in it. God help him, he was a monster. Without wasting anymore time, he sank his teeth in her neck, draining her blood and flying around her body, sinking his teeth into her soft skin to empty nearly all her blood, until her heartbeat slowed to almost a standstill. At that point, he held the frail woman in his arms and sliced his wrist open, forcing her mouth over his open wound.

  Roman didn’t know for certain whether she would have the energy, but his Isabella was a force of nature, and the smell of blood roused her enough that she opened her mouth. That was all it took for him to let his blood drip onto her tongue. The taste and smell kick-started her desire for more. To complete the change from a mortal to vampire, she needed to drink a lot of his blood, eradicating her humanity and stopping her heart. When Isabella grabbed his hand and sucked at his wrist, his entire body convulsed with immense pleasure. The thrill of her drinking his blood drove him wild, and he soaked her in.

  Each pull and suck she took laced him with a ferocious desire for her, the like of which left him shattered. It was pure, and he wanted to explore and savor it. And yet it made him fearful also. Isabella was everything he craved and needed. The light in his dark world. Once he started, he couldn’t turn back. Waiting as her heart stopped, praying she would wake into her new life, he cursed the gods for this mess. Once she stirred, relief flooded him. For the entire week, he had been at her beck and call, tending to her every need, entwined in her glorious and naked flesh as she writhed in agony.

  He wouldn’t leave her side, easing the pain with blood and providing her with pleasure. When the agony of the transformation turned to ecstasy, he thought he would go insane as the need to claim her consumed him. Instead, he ran his hands over every inch of her skin, touching and stimulating her, watching her orgasm under his touch and it gave him tremendous joy, stirring an emotion he had long forgotten. Instead of giving in to his impulse, he reined in and tightened his control. He may want the witch for keeps, for eternity, but only if she wanted him in return.

  He wanted her as a mate. His equal.

  And if she agreed, he would kill anyone who touched or harmed her. This possessive need to be near a woman was intoxicating and dangerous. He had always taken what he wanted as a vampire. With Isabella, he exercised a patience long forgotten. She pulled at something old inside him, reminding him of the man he had once been.

  Standing here now, alone in the forest as Isabella darted through the trees, he counted. Roman wasn’t afraid he would lose her. He knew exactly where Isabella would go and he wanted to give her a little head start. Just enough for her to have a taste of freedom. Her scent, mixed with his own, left a trail easy for him to follow. It was time for her to realize where her future lay. Roman wouldn’t take second place; he wanted Isabella to face Jake, and figure out her feelings for herself. He wanted her to understand why a future with the human would be impossible. He had ripped the Band-Aid off and now he had to go and make sure she hadn’t killed the mortal, even if he would be okay with that.

  Roman followed the trail that led to Steel’s mansion along the coast in Maine. Angry voices shouted from the formal dining room, the doors to which lay open. Isabella’s voice boomed from inside. Shit. He flew inside. Marcus stood there, facing him, with Ella nestled in his arms. Isabella held Jake pressed down over the table, clutching his neck with her one hand squeezing. He stepped into the room, raising his hand to instruct Drayton to remain where he was.

  “Isabella, my love—let Jake go. I know you don’t want to hurt him, and you’re scaring your friends.”

  She hissed at him, but he flew to her side and bared his teeth to hiss back until she lessened the grip around Jake’s throat. At this stage, she could kill the mortal in seconds just by adding pressure or ripping his throat out. He wouldn’t mind either way. The desire to drink human blood was excruciating with its rich, scintillating bouquet. This was the ultimate test for Isabella, but still, he waited. He needed to test her strength and observe her reaction to Jake as well as the others. He studied the male specimen spread-eagle on the wooden table, pinned down by his fledgling vampire. Two chairs lay smashed on the ground alongside glass, presumably from a vase as flowers lay scattered on the rug.

  “Roman, you shouldn’t have brought Isabella here if she isn’t ready. Get control or I will have to intercede,” Marcus said.

  Roman snapped his head toward him and flared his nostrils. “And exactly what would that entail?”

  The fact Isabella hadn’t already devoured the human demonstrated just how incredible she was, but he wouldn’t divulge that fact to any of them. Either way, he held no feelings for the man who held Isabella’s rapt attention. He was simply here to ensure no harm befell him because he knew it would destroy his witch.

  “It’s okay. Sparkles won’t hurt me. Will you?” Jake pushed up, but he couldn’t free himself.

  The new vampire’s strength would exceed Jake twice over. His lips curled at his beauty. But enough. Her dress, or what was left of it, exposed far more of her flesh than he knew in norma
l circumstances Isabella would be happy with or indeed was he. The need to feed dominated her mind and when she squirmed over the man in a provocative way, he snarled.

  Isabella snapped her head to the side and stared hard at him. Roman slid behind his witch, molding into her back, and wrapped one arm around her waist and slipped his other to cup her breast. He gently massaged her while staring down at Jake, whose baby-blue eyes widened in shock, and he flinched, looking away. Isabella responded to his touch when stimulated and the distraction made her easier to handle.

  Over the past week, he had learned a lot about the woman in his arms, and he didn’t care what anyone thought of his actions. What he cared about was Isabella. If she killed Jake, she would believe herself a monster, and there would be no coming back from that. Sniffing her neck as he fondled her breast, she moaned and sagged back into him. He kissed her neck softly and eased her away from Jake to stand by his side, holding her.

  “I apologize for the interruption. This wasn’t a planned visit, but Isabella needed to see you all. Next time, it will be easier.”

  Jake sprung off the table and grabbed his arm, pushing his face into his. “What the fuck is wrong with her?”

  Roman shoved the human away, not with any great force, but enough to disentangle himself from the man before he ended his life. He disliked his tone and his statement. “Don’t ever touch me like that again or I’ll end your pathetic existence without another thought. There is nothing wrong with Isabella. Have you forgotten how you pleaded with me to take her as she lay on the ground? Her life draining away? What the fuck did you think I would do?”

  The fury and bite of his words made Marcus step closer as he leaned toward Jake, ready to strike him down, but the man didn’t back away.