by Ines Johnson
“What will become of the prophecy?”
I raise my head to see Itzel. Gaius’s hold on her hasn’t slipped. She doesn’t appear to care about her life. All she’s ever cared about is the damn gods, not the flesh and blood woman that I am.
“As I told my mate, prophecies are rarely what they seem,” says Virius, his voice still reedy from his near death. “But with this one, it looks like everyone got what they came for. So we’ll call it even. Let her go, brother.”
Gaius’s fingers twitch around Itzel’s neck. He takes in a deep breath. Then he looks at me. He’s giving me the choice.
“It’s your land,” Gaius says. “They’re your people. It’s your say.”
I don’t hesitate. I know exactly what I want to do. I turn to the women who have been there all my life. They raised me to think I was something special. They taught me to fight, to take care of myself. But they never allowed me to define my own destiny.
“Go home.”
A bristle runs through the crowd, much like a cat who’s had her fur rubbed the wrong way. My words aren’t directed at the crowd. They’re directed at Itzel.
“I’ve listened to your words all my life,” I say. “And they nearly killed me, and the man I love.”
I look to Viri, who has sat up on the makeshift altar. The wounds on his chest and wrist are healing slowly. Not as fast as they would normally, but I can see that his life is no longer in jeopardy.
“I think this prophecy was meant to bring us together. All of us.” I look around the room at the shifters and vampires under one roof. Or, rather, one cave. “You’re the only one who tried to tear us apart.”
Gaius shifts his hold on Itzel. His face contorts with guilt.
“You,” I say to him, “I think you’ll come around.”
He raises a brow, and then sighs in a reluctant sound of agreement.
I turn to the rest of the women gathered. “You all have a choice of what path you’ll follow. You can either stay here and build this community. Or you can go back to the old ways with her. It’s your choice, which is more than I ever got.”
I don’t wait to see what choices get made. I only care to focus on one person’s wellbeing. Viri has to lean on me and my strength as we walk out of the cave. But I barely feel his weight as Gaius is at his side, Hadrian is at his back, and Cari’s hand is in mine.
This is my new family. They aren’t perfect. They’re a little crazy. But they have accepted me with no strings or prophecies attached, so it’s an improvement.
I tuck my head under Viri’s chin. I can hear his heart beating in his chest. His breath ruffles my hair. His strong arms are around me, holding me tight, and letting me know he’ll never let me go.
Epilogue
Virius
The rays on my face warm me from the tip of my nose on down to my toes. I’m barefoot as I stand in the sunlight, waiting for it to set as I wait for my mate.
“You’re going to roast if you don’t come into the shade.”
My nose wrinkles, more at the smell of the lotion full of SPF than at Hadrian’s voice. Some of my supernatural powers stayed with me when my blood was drained.
I am still abnormally strong, but I think that has more to do with my genes than anything else. I am still fast, though now everyone in my family could outpace me. Everyone except Marechal, who is the last remaining human hold out.
I can walk in the sun now, though I still would burn. Just not to a crisp like other vampires. Because I’m not exactly a vampire anymore. Nor am I a shifter. I’m also not exactly human.
But my skin will sunburn if I don’t protect it. Already there is a red splotch on my forearm. So I heed my brother’s words and step back inside the kitchen as the sun sets.
Hadrian isn’t standing at the glass of the door, glaring at the solar orb like he’s done every dusk for the last two hundred years. Instead, my vampire brother is at the stove, cooking a meaty dish in a wine reduction. It’s wine from this year’s harvest of the Balam Vineyards. The first year’s vintage was in such high demand that the jaguar shifters working the land are now well into selling next year’s crops.
Outside, the men and women of the Balam shifters come out of their homes and start the nightly ritual of tending to the vines which will secure their families’ futures.
“Come away from the door,” says Hadrian as he flips the meatballs. “She won’t get here any faster with the screen open.”
I give the long driveway one last lingering look. If she’s more than a few yards away, I won’t be able to hear her. My vampiric sense has deadened, but my hearing has grown sharper than ever. The crunch of gravel from a mile down the road tells me she’s almost home.
“Ah, brother, you’re making my favorite.” Gaius appears in the doorway to the kitchen. The silk robe he wears is easily worth more than the grapes brought in this harvest. “Animelles.”
Hadrian smacks Gaius’s hand with the prongs before he can snag one of the fried testicles from the hot pan. “I thought it fitting, as this is the anniversary of our first year here.”
“One year,” muses Gaius. “Hard to believe, as so much has changed.”
Everything had changed. This land is no longer ours. We’re guests in our own house. But not one of us has any inclination to leave. Not when our mates love the land.
That is the most important change. We are all happily mated. And not one of our mates is psychotic or sadistic.
“You’ve got some balls on you, honey,” says Cari as she comes up behind Hadrian.
“They’re Gaius’s favorite.”
“I’m not eating that,” says Marechal as she makes her way to the sink to wash the soil from her hands.
“You eat frog legs and snails,” protests Gaius.
“You really want me to put another man’s balls in my mouth?”
“It’s a bull,” he says, kissing her neck and then staring at the vein of her jugular. “It’s like eating a hamburger.”
I ignore the jibes between the two couples as a car comes to a stop in the driveway. I step outside into the moonlight as my own personal sun rises from the driver’s seat of the Tesla. It was a mighty task trying to get my wee kitten to spend the money I signed over to her, but she got the hang of it pretty quickly.
My eyes latch onto the six-inch heels that hug her slender feet. I’m already peeling the designer jeans from that lush ass with my mind. She flashes those sharp canines at me as I prowl up to her.
“There’s my strong Roman,” she purrs as I scoop her into my embrace.
I take her lips in greeting. My salutation is to slip my tongue into her mouth. My fangs are still there, but they’re not as sharp as they once were. They are sharp enough to nick her tongue.
I lap up the droplet of blood I find there. I don’t need much blood these days. But Zahara’s essence is still an addiction.
“Guess who’s the only student who got a hundred percent on her midterm?” she says when I release her lips.
“I don’t need to guess,” I say, carrying her out of the driveway and into the house.
“Hey, Z.”
“Good day at school?”
“We’re sitting down to eat in thirty, you two.”
Zahara can’t answer any of our family members with my tongue back in her mouth. I feel her hand leave my back as she waves a greeting to them. Then she yelps when I toss her onto our bed.
“You’re being rude,” she says after bouncing on the bed.
“I’m having dessert first,” I say, unbuckling my pants.
“You’ll ruin your appetite,” she says while slipping out of her own jeans.
“Nah, I think I’ll whet it,” I say as I spread her thighs.
The flesh I find there is already flushed and red. Without preamble, I take her bud into my mouth. Zahara digs her claws into my hair as she presses me to her.
I lick and lave her pretty pussy until she trembles not once, but twice. Before she comes down from her second orgasm, I sink my fangs int
o my favorite of her femoral arteries.
Zahara howls as I gulp down a mouthful of her sweet, rich, endorphin-laced blood. A third orgasm rips through her as I suck. Her friend Frankie pulses with impatience for his turn.
He’ll have to wait until I’ve strapped him up. We’re pretty certain that getting Zahara pregnant is now one of my superpowers. But we’ve decided to wait, at least until after Zahara finishes university. Maybe longer.
It doesn’t matter, the length of time. Though I know I gave up an eternal lifetime for her, I don’t doubt for a second that every moment with her and with the child we will share someday will be worth every century I’ll miss.
I take Frankie in hand as I prowl up her body. Zahara is blissed out from her three climaxes. I ease my way into her tight sheath. As always, it’s a tight fit. But my woman, my mate, is eager to take all of me. And not just the part that is crazy about her.
She takes all of me, as I take all of her. She is the light that led me out of the darkness. It is for her that I came back to life after centuries of being the walking dead. It is because of her that I now truly live. Because, being with her, I am finally free.
The End
Want more vampire romance by Ines Johnson?
Read Arneis Durand’s story where he meets, makes love to, and falls in love with -yes, in that order- a vampire princess in His Vampire Princess, available exclusively in the All Souls’ Night anthology!
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Read the whole series for more of your favorite vampire BDSM club:
Alpha’s Blood by Renee Rose & Lee Savino
Her Vampire Master by Maren Smith
Her Vampire Prince by Ines Johnson
Her Vampire Hero by Nicolina Martin
Her Vampire Bad Boy by Brenda Trim
Her Vampire Rebel by Zara Zenia
Her Vampire Obsession by Tymber Dalton, writing as Lesli Richardson
Her Vampire Temptation by Alexis Alvarez
Her Vampire Addiction by Tabitha Black
Her Vampire Lord by Ines Johnson
Her Vampire Suspect by Brenda Trim
His Captive Mortal by Renee Rose & Lee Savino
The Vampire’s Captive by Kay Elle Parker
The Vampire’s Prey - Vivian Murdoch
All Souls’ Night - A Midnight Doms Anthology
Her Vampire Assassin - Erin St. Charles
Her Vampire Knight -Ines Johnson
Also by Ines Johnson
Midnight Doms
Her Vampire Prince
Her Vampire Lord
His Vampire Princess exclusively available in the All Souls’ Night anthology
Her Vampire Knight
The Last Dragons
The Dragon’s Reluctant Sacrifice
The Dragon’s Ambivalent Sacrifice
The Dragon’s Willing Sacrifice
The Moonkind Series
Moonlight
Moonrise
Moonfall
The Knights of Caerleon
First Knight
One Knight
About the author
Lover of fairytales, folklore, and mythology, Ines Johnson spends her days reimagining the stories of old in a modern world. She writes books where damsels cause the distress, princesses wield swords, and moms save the world.
If you liked Ines’ Vampires, then you’ll love her Dragons; alpha male shifters, fated mates, and steamy romance with a touch of 80’s nostalgia! To grab a free book from the world of the Last Dragons just visit https://ineswrites.com/ReaderGroup