A Vampire's Rise (16 page)

Sunaria!

* * * *

Trapped.

Nights came and went.

Another valuable lesson was Sunaria’s stubbornness.

“Whatever you want,” I relayed to her. “Whatever you want me to be to you, I will.”

Buried deep within the earth, I unraveled. My initial hyper-arousal settled. Despite resisting introspection, I had nowhere else to go but within, into unfamiliar territory. The first few days, I had only sleep to be grateful for and when awake, denial eluded me.

After the fifth day, I yielded.

Like a fleeting shadow, Sunaria’s presence swept over me, offering a moment of solace. News that she had Jacob caused me to sob pitifully. I relayed my thanks, but feared that she might disappear with him. I begged her not to.

Jacob, I’ll find you.

Quiet again.

Terrified of earthly creatures munching on my flesh, I dreaded my mind disintegrating. Madness lingered but soon scurried off, lurking not far enough away. Deep within my burial ground, I knew Sunaria’s true punishment. She haunted my waking hours as well as my dreams.

And then silence.

I let go, a sublimely surrendering to the isolation, and gradually what had been a suffocating trap became a safe dwelling. All that I’d known slipped away. Rules no longer applied down here, in here. Thoughts that had served me well in the past had no use now. A new way of seeing my world begged for discovery.

Sunaria offered me hope, dependence impossible to deny.

“Forgive me,” I conveyed.

She came to me in thought, utterly possessing me, and I gave myself over to her.

* * * *

Sunaria deemed me ready.

I ascended out of my dark grave and, as though I needed it, I sucked in the fresh air.

Sunaria’s hair was pulled up behind her head. A few trailing strands fell over her face. She stared through me with those almond eyes of hers, pouting with full red lips, exotic features that I’d once tried to disregard. Now though, I realized her devastating beauty and felt beholden to her.

Unable to make eye contact, hesitant to view her austere expression, I fell to my knees.

I panicked when I didn’t see Jacob.

Sunaria stared down at me with her arms folded. “Jacob’s safe with your sister.”

These were the words that I needed to hear more than anything.

“Alicia and Miranda are safe in Nuevo Portil, near Palos,” she continued.

I wanted to ask why she’d waited this long to tell me this, but I didn’t want to remind her of my arrogance.

She sent me a mind message, a vision of Jacob safe with Alicia, proof that Sunaria told the truth. I marveled at this ability to convey without words.

She stared off. “If you ever displease me, I’ll personally put you back in the ground.” She tugged on my locks, insisting I stand. I was slightly taller than she. Despite her closeness, I wanted her closer. Thoughts of her enslaving me were exhilarating. Never before had I been dominated and never before had I desired subjugation. Yet here, now, I yearned for it and craved to please her, pleasure her. The shudder came and went, confirming the wisdom of relinquishing. The tone of her voice was stunning.

Glancing back at the hole in the earth, I dissociated with the man who’d been buried there, my new life reflecting nothing of the old.

Leaving behind all resistance, I followed.

She commanded me to keep up with her and as my confidence increased, so did my ability to run with a mind-blowing, lightning speed. The land opened up to reveal a vast nightscape and I pursed my lips, afraid to swallow something other than air.

“Imagine yourself already there,” she said.

Though I had no idea where ‘there’ was, I followed her direction nevertheless, trying to free my mind of preconceptions of how fast I believed I could actually sprint, bewildered with the pace which she maintained. We raced across land, over hills, and through valleys, my teeth chattering from the excitement.

Within minutes of arriving at a creek, I stood dazed from our supernatural trek, sans clothes, grateful for the thick forest, surrounded by dense trees, their leaves hanging low.

A moment of calm brushed over me.

I shuddered from the rush, hesitant whether this ability to move so fast could be considered a benefit. Sunaria took a moment to admire my naked physique, her gaze lowering and then settling. For the first time, I allowed myself to envision how those lips would taste, or what I could get away with doing to her.

She shoved me head first into the shallow stream.

* * * *

I knew the mausoleum she led me into, the very tomb where I’d first seen her, the eerie place stirring terrifying memories, though here with her now, I sensed that new ones would replace the old. Even the cobwebs had gone.

Fresh clothes awaited me, a gentleman’s attire. She’d even gotten my size right. Sunaria had removed the coffin and replaced it with reams of material, rich silks and soft velvets that softened our bedding, luxuriating our place of rest.

She climbed in first.

With a nod from her, I slid the stone lid over us and hugged her into me. Despite the dark, her turquoise-eyed gaze pierced mine. Her beauty extraordinary, a resplendent vision, I traced the tattoo of an ancient design on her left arm. “What does it mean?” I asked.

She softened into me.

“You’re beautiful,” I whispered.

She nuzzled into my chest and I conveyed gratitude for being here with her, thankful that I didn’t have to go through this on my own, whatever this was. Sunaria’s expression was still. She’d been like a phantom floating in and out of my life, and now she lay in my arms, this moment devoid of all understanding.

A preternatural awakening, an epiphany of what had befallen me, hinted that I might even cheat death, lessening my sadness and absorbing my attention, and providing the courage to turn inward. I drew comfort from this mysterious woman, captivated by her alluring timelessness.

The promise of this woman like a sublime rite of passage from my world to hers.

With her nod of permission I made love to her, worshipping her, demanding nothing less With a glance at her half-lidded gaze and the soft sound of her sighs, I confirmed that she approved. With her fingers wrapped around locks of my hair, tugging, I felt beholden for the chance to serve her.

Not so long ago, deep underground, I’d allowed my imagination to run to this moment. How I’d ever disrespected her, I don’t know, couldn’t comprehend that I’d once allowed her to walk away. My thoughts obsessed over her, and even this close there was the need to be closer, and for this fierce intimacy never to end.

I didn’t want to ever cease, responding to the arch of her back and her soft moans, subtle movements that clued me in on her unspoken words. I wanted to punish her this way for making me so indebted, provoke her to scream in ecstasy as I continued on, refusing to relent until she commanded me to.

Sunaria’s domination of me was a bewitchment of extraordinary tenor.

Chapter 24

LYING IN SUNARIA’S ARMS within the mausoleum, we waited for the sun to set.

Strange how I’d developed an aversion to daylight, more alarming the very idea that I might draw blood as sustenance and indeed find pleasure in it. It scared me to my core, and I tried to hide my fear of damnation. Yet at the same time, I fantasized about the act. The most fiendish of desires burned within.

Still wary of staring directly into Sunaria’s eyes, I avoided her gaze. Instead, my fingertips traced the outline of her tattoo.

“It’s the symbol of a master’s ownership,” she said softly.

“You were a slave?”

“Once.”

I followed the curve of the design.

“I was sold to a Roman. As a child.”

She sent me a mind image—a twenty-three-year-old female slave ending the bond with her master.

Her turquoise eyes glistened. “I loved him.”

“But you killed him?”

“I did.”

“How old are you?”

With delicate fingers, she stroked my face and kissed my cheek and with that very movement, she conveyed she didn’t want to talk about it. She guided my chin up so that she held my gaze. As I stared into that unending blueness, I sensed the last remnants of daylight slipping away, an internal awareness, a natural connection to the night.

A chill reached my bones. “Help me to understand.”

“I will.”

“We’re being followed?”

She sighed. “They’re easy to evade.”

“Who are they?”

“The elders.”

“Are they like us?”

“Yes.”

“Why are they following you?”

“There are statutes that we must follow.”

“And you broke one of their rules?”

She stilled and moments fell away, then she let out the deepest sigh, like a dark whisper. “I turned you.”

I gestured for her to continue.

“Elders rule our kind.” She twisted her delicate fingers in my hair. “Or try to. They deem who is to be turned. Who is worthy.”

“I wasn’t considered worthy?”

“It’s complicated.”

“How many of us are there?”

“Impossible to keep track of. Wayward nightwalkers are turning people all the time.”

“What would they do to you?”

She sighed as though bored with my questions.

I didn’t like the idea that we were being hunted. An internal coercion ignited my senses, the promise of what the night might offer. “I need to see my son.”

“And you have unfinished business.” Her gaze left mine. “To have any chance of surviving, you must see it through.”

I acknowledged Sunaria’s command and slid the tomb lid open. I offered my hand to assist her. When we withdrew, I had a strange feeling that we were being watched and discreetly studied Sunaria to see if she also detected it. She didn’t seem to.

Within several minutes, we arrived at the edge of the graveyard where a horse-drawn carriage was parked. The horseman’s face was half-hidden by a low tipped hat.

“He works for you?” I asked as I climbed in after Sunaria.

“Tonight, he does.”

“You feel safe like that?”

“One thing you’ll learn, Daumia, and this is imperative for your sanity, we easily mingle.”

“Does he know we just slept in a mausoleum?”

“Of course not. But he knows he’s paid well.”

The carriage lumbered forward and we were off.

She folded her arms. “We don’t need to hide in the shadows.”

“Are we being followed?” I tried to shake off the feeling.

“The only enemies we have are those who consider themselves superior to us.”

“Well, that pretty much includes everyone in Vigo,” I muttered, not sparing the sarcasm, and stared out of the window. “Am I condemned to hell?”

“You’re condemned to a lifetime of sensuous pleasures and luxuries most never get to enjoy.”

As she reminisced, I sensed she’d tasted such pleasures beyond my wildest imagination and she turned her head slightly. Staring at me, her bright red pout seemingly promised that I would, too.

We rode out of Santiago De Compostela, our carriage rocking along the well-worn pathway.

I wondered if I’d ever return to the city of my birth. “I’m so afraid.”

* * * *

Conflicted, I yearned for Sunaria, yet at the same time my independence.

Her hold on me was due to my fear and she knew it. With little knowledge of what I’d become, I conveyed gratitude for her continued guidance. My confidence in making the right decisions was lacking. I’d arrogantly judged those whom history had deemed satanic—Prince Belshazzar, Julius Cesar, and Judas Iscariot came to mind. I couldn’t find any difference between them and me, and believed that my sins now equaled theirs.

I shook off the melancholy, fascinated with my ability to feel less. Nature’s way of lulling the guilt, I assumed.

My courage to hold Sunaria’s gaze increased and with such an exquisite vision sitting opposite me, I was comforted. Fantasizing about her was a delightful distraction to more terrifying thoughts.

She smiled, having picked up on my musing.

Sensing that she heard my every thought, I tried to control them. She’d haunted me as a boy, a mysterious apparition, appearing and then withdrawing, altering life’s course. Sunaria had saved me on numerous occasions and, more recently, she’d saved my son.

I reached for her.

Sunaria raised her long leg and pressed her foot against my chest, pushing me back into my seat. Her shoe traced down, lingering between my legs. Nervous of her heel and yet enjoying myself, I bit my lip.

She lowered her foot and crossed her legs with an imperious stare. With her head held high, she gazed out of the window.

I let out the deepest sigh.

From the familiar countryside, we were getting close. Far off, a deer galloped across a grassy ridge and over. Estimating its distance, it appeared at least four miles away. I marveled at my new ability to see with remarkable sharpness, but it also alarmed me.