Safe Hex With a Vampire (23 page)

He still had the golden hair that looked
carelessly tousled. She knew from living with him that his carefree
look took nearly twenty minutes and a lot of mousse to achieve. His
eyes were still the same sparkling shade of green that had once
made her heart quicken. He still had the same almost angelic
features, even if small lines had started to form around his eyes.
He was no longer quite as fit, but she was sure he would still be
described as a beautiful man to those who missed the sinister gleam
in his eyes.

“Beautiful,” she murmured to herself. “Oh my
God! It was you,” she said as realization dawned on her. The sudden
adrenaline rush seemed to push some of the drugs out of her
system.

“Can’t have you recovering too much,” he
said as he pulled out a syringe and injected something into her IV
line.

The added drugs were hitting her fast. “You
killed them,” she said.

“I had to keep myself distracted until I
could get my hands on you again,” he said as if he were discussing
the weather. “It wasn’t easy to get to you and I had to relieve
some tension in the meantime. They were also good practice. At
first, I thought I’d just let you go. I figured that if I looked
for women that resembled you, I might find a relative. Turned out
they were completely useless.” Then his lips curled up into a
sadistic smile. “Well, not completely useless. I really enjoyed
pretending they were you. I enjoyed it so much that I realized a
relative of yours would never work. It had to be you.”

“Why are you doing this?” she asked,
fighting to stay awake.

“For the same reason I dated you,” he
replied as he trailed his fingers down her body. His hand cupped
her breast, and she fought the urge to try to squirm away. She
would not add to his pleasure by giving him the reaction he wanted.
“I don’t know what you are, but I know you’re not human. I saw you
move something with your mind.”

Tempest tried hard to remember when she
could have been so careless. She rarely did anything that would
reveal her hidden abilities. He’d asked her out the first time
shortly before they had started medical school. Then it came to
her. “The anatomy lab. You were spying on me in the anatomy
lab.”

“Smart girl,” he murmured. “You were quite
the diligent teacher’s assistant, staying late to clean up the lab.
I was watching you. I liked the idea of watching you in an empty
building, knowing that I could have cornered you when you left.”
His voice was becoming raspy with his arousal. “Then I saw you look
across the room at the one tray of tools that you’d left behind.
You looked at them and then they floated across the room to you. I
never did find out what you were before that whore came between us.
This time, no one can come between us. I have every intention of
finding out all of your secrets, even if I have to slice open that
sexy body of yours.”

Tempest gasped.

“Don’t worry. I’ll probably make sure you’re
asleep if it comes to that. At one time I’d hoped to see if you
could breed with a human.” He intentionally brushed his erection
against her hand. “That’s still tempting. When was the last time
you had a man, Tempest?”

She smiled sweetly at him, knowing that she
was about to piss him off. “Are you offering to get a man for me,
Brian? Because all I see in this room is a little bitch who can’t
get laid unless he has a woman drugged and tied up.” Her voice
still sounded slurred, but she was proud of herself for making each
word coherent.

Tempest wasn’t surprised when the back of
his hand made contact with her cheek. Having never been hit by a
man before that day it was surprising how much it hurt. Tears
burned the backs of her eyes.

He pointed to the IV in her arm. “That’s
keeping a constant stream of the tranquilizer going into your arm.
I just gave you an extra sedative. No one is ever going to find
you, and you are completely powerless.” He jabbed a needle roughly
into her vein to draw blood. After he filled five vials, he smiled
viciously. “I’ll be back soon so we can finish getting
reacquainted.” He was just about to leave when he turned and pulled
a scalpel off of the table nearby. He used it to cut her shirt down
the front, exposing her bra. “That’s much better,” he murmured as
he stared at her. “Oh, yeah, we are definitely going to see if you
can breed with a human. I can’t wait to have you spread those legs
for me again. This time I won’t have to be gentle with you.” On
those words he walked out of the room.

She knew he wanted her frightened, and she
would be lying if she didn’t admit that she was. She had to find a
way out of here or she was as good as dead. If she couldn’t find a
way to escape she was going to have to make him mad enough that he
would kill her.

Tempest reached out her mind, hoping she
still had the strength, and she called out to the one person who
could find her no matter where she was. She still wasn’t sure how
she’d been able to communicate with him during the ceremony, but
when she reached out her mind she found the path to his mind right
away.

Aiden! Help me! Please, I really need
you.
Then she lost consciousness again.

While my father was absorbed in his efforts
to torture me, I did not stand idly and suffer. I used his
distraction to retrieve two of the knives that I carried with me. I
am fast, faster than anyone in our family. For that reason, my
father had no time to react when I threw the knives, one right
after the other. I am more skilled with my left hand, and that
knife hit its mark in his throat. The right one was off some and
entered just below his collar bone, missing his black heart.
The one in his throat was enough. My father gurgled, grabbed the
hilt, and then fell forward.

Excerpt from Roman Draksel’s blog

Aiden was picking at his breakfast. Mostly
he was moping. He knew that he could easily track Tempest down, but
his pride just wouldn’t let him do it. She’d left him without a
word. Still, he had moments when he was on his way out the door to
find her and kidnap her again. Then five minutes later he was
determined to wait until she came back to him. Of course, there was
the unpleasant possibility that she might never come back to
him.

“I’m an idiot,” he mumbled mostly to
himself.

“Yes, you are,” his uncle agreed, as he
seated himself across the table from Aiden. “You’ve been feeling
sorry for yourself for two days. I’ve been patient with you, but
it’s time to make plans to get Tempest back.”

Aiden jerked to attention. He heard her call
him for help. That would have seemed crazy a month ago, but now he
didn’t doubt that she was in trouble.

“Tempest!” he shouted, but she didn’t
respond. He tried thinking it, but he got no reply. He wasn’t
completely sure how she communicated with him, or how to
communicate back. In his mind, she sounded weak. Whether that meant
she was hurt or just farther away, he didn’t know. The idea of her
being hurt made his heart seize.

“Have you lost your mind?” his uncle asked
with some concern.

“I know this sounds crazy, but Tempest is in
trouble and I need to get to her right away.”

Roman didn’t ask him to explain. “I am
assuming you can find her.”

“Yes, I can track her,” Aiden said.

Roman nodded, “I’ll grab a few things, and
then I’ll drive since you drive like an old woman.”

It was well over a century before I returned
to my estate near London. I was a changed man. I had become cold
and distant. Still, I nearly broke down when I returned to see a
painting of Claudia hanging in my study. I knew immediately who had
painted it, but the note confirmed my suspicions

“
I am sorry for your loss. I will miss
her as well.’

It was not signed, but I recognized Viktor’s
handwriting.

Excerpt from Roman Draksel’s blog

“Wake up, sweetheart,” a gentle voice
beckoned her back to consciousness. She couldn’t get her mind to
focus long enough to figure out who it was, and her eyes wouldn’t
open. “Come on and open those beautiful eyes,” the voice crooned as
fingers gently caressed her cheek.

“Aiden,” she murmured in a faint voice.

Her eyes shot open as she felt the pain of
having her hair nearly yanked out of her head. The pressure forced
her head to turn at an awkward angle.

“Who the fuck is Aiden?” Brian snarled
directly in her face.

“What difference does it make?” Tempest
asked angrily. She tried to glare at him but her eyes wouldn’t
focus.

“Answer me bitch!” he nearly shouted as he
gave her hair another vicious tug. “Do I need to run a pregnancy
test to make sure someone else hasn’t gotten you pregnant before
our experiment?”

“It’s probably too early to show up on a
test,” she said.

“Fucking whore!” He released her hair and
backhanded her.

If nothing else, the pain managed to clear
her head some. She was now able to pull off the defiant glare she
had been trying for before.

The vein on the side of Brian’s forehead
throbbed, and Tempest wondered if he would have a stroke. He took
several deep breaths in an attempt calm his temper. Tempest knew
that he wanted to hurt her, but he wanted to be in complete
control. He didn’t want to hurt her in a rage. He wanted to fully
enjoy her suffering and helplessness. She would die before she gave
the son of a bitch that satisfaction.

“Must make you feel like a real man to beat
up on a woman who is drugged and tied up,” Tempest taunted him.

He leaned down until his nose was touching
hers. She wanted to turn her head away but she forced herself to
look at him. She forced her breathing to remain calm. “You won’t be
feeling so brave when I start working on you. Did you know that I
experimented with those other women? I was getting ready for you.
Are you flattered?”

A shiver of revulsion ran through her
body.

He smiled as he felt that shiver, mistaking
it for fear, and leaned in closer to whisper in her ear like a
lover. “How does it feel to know that you were the reason they
died? They begged for mercy. They would have done anything to make
the pain stop. In the end they begged me to end their lives. I
can’t wait to hear you begging me.”

“You are a sick bastard,” she choked
out.

“How does it feel to know that I fantasized
about you the entire time I was with them? I don’t think I can wait
to find out if you’re pregnant already. What difference does the
paternity make? It’s not like I plan to have you carry a baby to
term.” He chuckled softly against her ear as he groped her breast
roughly.

Tempest turned her head sharply and bit him.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t fast enough and he jerked away before she
could fully sink her teeth into his cheek.

Brian slapped her. “I am going to enjoy
hurting you, bitch,” he growled.

He raised his hand to strike her again when
a quiet voice spoke. “If you touch my granddaughter again, I will
kill you.”

Tempest stared in the direction of the man
who had spoken, but her eyes moved past him quickly and settled on
Aiden. There he stood, looking completely pissed off. He wore faded
blue jeans, a black t shirt, a leather jacket and boots. He
still hadn’t shaved, but his facial hair was trimmed into a neat
goatee. He looked a little like a biker. She couldn’t stop herself
from smiling at the sight of her biker vampire.

That’s Brian. The one I dated in med
school. He knows I’m different. He’s crazy and very dangerous. He’s
killed a lot of women
. She pushed the thoughts out toward
Aiden’s mind.

“Let her go, Brian,” Aiden warned. The only
sign that he was angry was his thick brogue.

Brian looked panicked. “How do you know my
name?”

“Does it matter?” the man she assumed was
Roman asked calmly. “If you want to survive you will release my
granddaughter immediately.”

“Your granddaughter?” Brian scoffed. “Hell,
I wouldn’t be surprised if Tempest is older than you. Which of you
is fucking her? Or, are you both fucking her?” He was either too
stupid or too crazy to realize how much danger he was in.

Roman didn’t respond. Tempest took a moment
to study him. He really didn’t look any older than Aiden. They were
around the same height. Both were muscular with dark hair and icy
blue eyes. Unlike Aiden, Roman’s hair was neatly trimmed and he was
clean shaven. He wore head to toe black with a trench coat
wrapped around his shoulders. Both of his hands were at his sides
and concealed by the trench coat. There was something about his
very presence that was almost frightening, even knowing that he was
there to rescue her. She sensed in that moment that Brian wasn’t
leaving the room alive, regardless of how he responded.

“She belongs to me,” Aiden said.

A week ago that would have made her want to
kick his Irish ass. Now it almost made her smile because it meant
that he still wanted her.

“Not for long,” Brian taunted. “Now unless
you want to watch me snap her pretty neck, I suggest that you both
do as you’re told. Come closer so I can see you better.”

Roman smiled, and it was truly a chilling
sight. They both moved forward and Tempest felt the energy swirl
around her. She tried to focus on the energy in the air. Aiden had
told her that they could only manipulate energy to drain it from
people, and then they needed to touch the person. It was not her
imagination; someone was commanding the energy around them. She
looked toward Brian. The energy was definitely coming from him.
With each step Roman seemed to gain strength and Brian appeared to
weaken.

“Don’t come any closer,” Brian warned, and
shook his head as if he could shake the sudden weakness. “Put your
hands up where I can see them.”