Bite the Bullet (Bitten Book 5) (19 page)

She rubbed her forehead. “It also means that I have possession of one of the darkest, most dangerous grimoires in history. The warlock who created
animavore
must have been one hell of an evil bastard, because they require some nasty business to be created.”

Asher cleared his throat and nodded. “I believe he was definitely insane. His writings remind me of the musings of a mad scientist. He created this being out of curiosity and studied it.” He hesitated. “I think he might have made Cornelius and Rhys as well.”

My eyes widened. Holy shit, if the original text was thousands of years old, that made Cornelius and Rhys older and more powerful than I’d believed possible.

Kerry’s eyes also grew big. “I need to have a look at this book,” she stated, getting to her feet.

Finn grabbed her wrist. “Not yet. Rhys will be here at any moment. I’ll go upstairs and put the book somewhere safe. We can look over it after he’s gone.”

“Perhaps we should find out the name of Rhys’ maker,” Asher suggested.

Kerry nodded, her focus elsewhere. I knew she was itching to get her hands on that book and read.

The doorbell chimed and everyone tossed their napkins in their plates and got up from the table.

“I’ll bring him into the study,” Conner stated.

The five of us moved into Conner’s office and took seats around the room, leaving the chair closest to the center of the room empty.

When Rhys entered the study, he appeared unfazed, taking in the group of us with a nod and a smile. “How nice to see you all again.” His gaze moved to Donna. “Hello.”

“Hello,” she responded, keeping her distance. As soon as he turned to sit in the chair, she mouthed to me, “He’s pretty.”

Trust Donna to mention his looks right away. She always made me smile, even when we were about to have a very serious meeting with a thousand year old supernatural being.

“I see you’ve met Rhys, lass,” Conner drawled.

She grinned cheekily at him. “I did.”

I smirked at their byplay and shook my head. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rhys’ mouth quirk as well.

“We appreciate your offer to help us,” Kerry said, bringing all our attention to her.

“My brother’s powers have grown darker with each century. Each time someone has tried to stop him, they’ve failed. When I heard that the prophecy of the Five was true, I hoped that you would be his end.”

“It might help if we learned more about his beginnings,” Kerry responded. “Can you tell us who made you?”

“A warlock named Gaius. He had a fondness for adolescent boys, so he purchased my brother and I at a slave auction.”

My stomach turned at his words. I wondered why he stated it so bluntly, but his next words were explanation enough.

“When we grew too old for his…attentions, he decided to find other uses for us. We were subjects in his experiments. You see, he was obsessed with the concept of immortality. He’d been trying to create a way to increase his life span beyond that of a vampire.” He gestured to his face. “My eyes are a result of one of those experiments.”

Kerry frowned. “I’m so sorry, that must have been an excruciating experience.”

Rhys didn’t reply verbally, just tilted his head.

“You said there was a ritual that would kill him?” she asked.

“Yes, but it requires a great deal of strength.”

“Can you give me the ritual? Will I need certain herbs or supplies?” Kerry probed.

Rhys shook his head. “I’m afraid not. I have to protect myself. You understand, don’t you?”

I could tell that Conner, Finn, and Asher didn’t like that response, but like Kerry and myself, they understood it. Just as Rhys was an unknown to us, we were an unknown entity to him as well. We had each other and it seemed Rhys had no one. If this ritual could kill a soul eater, then there was the possibility we could turn it against him.

“I understand,” I answered. “What can you tell us about Cornelius? Anything that might help us?”

Rhys nodded. “He’s arrogant, calculating, and ruthless. His power is immeasurable and he’s been biding his time for decades. Maybe even centuries. The older and stronger he grows, the more convinced he becomes that humans should be slaves to supernatural beings, hiding from us in fear rather than the other way around. He’s been a member of the Order for a long time, but he’s finally convinced them that he’s right.”

“The Order?” Finn asked.

Nodding, Rhys answered, “Yes, the Order.” When he realized we were all confused, he asked, “You’ve never heard of the
Ordinem Gladii
?”

“Order of the Sword?” Asher replied. “That’s a legend. They’re the bogeyman of the supernatural world. They don’t exist.”

“Like the prophecy of the Five is a myth?” Kerry asked archly.

“Good point,” Asher conceded.

“The Order has always held the belief that supernatural beings should be running the world. They’ve made it so, but from the sidelines and behind the scenes. They own businesses and property, befriend politicians and rulers, and are members of secret societies. They’re hiding in plain sight, pretending to be human. Cornelius has taken their beliefs and leapt forward. He wants to subjugate humans, force them to work as slaves or become our food. Unfortunately, he doesn’t understand how the modern world works.”

“Because he can’t use electronic devices to access it?” Conner asked.

Rhys shrugged. “That’s part of it. The largest issue is that he’s been—” He paused. “—hibernating, for lack of a better word. He slept for several hundred years and awoke to a new world.”

“Why did he sleep for so long?” Kerry asked.

Rhys turned to her. “I tried to kill him. I nearly succeeded too. He was too weak to track me down and fight me, so he hid himself away. When he woke, it was to a world where people are dependent on their technology for survival. He may not understand how a cell phone works, but it didn’t take him long to realize that if he removes all that, it’s back to the Dark Ages and humanity won’t have the necessary survival skills.”

“How could he destroy technology?” I interrupted.

“Whatever it is that makes us unable to use it, I think he intends to magnify its power.”

“Like a global EMP,” Conner muttered.

Rhys tilted his head and looked at Conner in confusion. “A global what?”

“Electromagnetic pulse. It wreaks havoc on technology. If Cornelius could create one large enough…”

My body felt cold and stiff at the thought. He could control everything if he made it impossible for humans to communicate across long distances or fight back.

“How do the five of us fit in?” I asked. “Why does he need us?”

“The power,” Rhys answered. “He is very powerful, but not quite powerful enough. He needs what you have. By consuming the power of the five of you, his strength will triple, perhaps even quadruple.”

Adrenaline rushed through my body. Cornelius was already incredibly strong. If he became more so, then the human race wouldn’t be able to defend itself. One being would actually be strong enough to rule the world.

“He may not have technology or understand how the modern world works, but my brother has other skills. He’s been planning this for a long time. As soon as he realized who you were, he knew that you and your friends were the key.”

Asher turned to me. “So all of you together would prove impossible for him to resist. We’ve been keeping you apart all these months. If we have you all beneath the same roof, he’ll come.”

Rhys listened to Asher, nodding. “He’s right. My brother will see it as the perfect opportunity, and he will attack quickly and viciously. My source isn’t privy to the details but my brother is forming a plot to get you all under his control and in his custody. You’ll need to organize this as quickly as possible.”

My eyes met Kerry’s and she shook her head slightly.

Our only choice was to follow through with our own plans, remain as protected as possible, and hope that Cornelius didn’t strike first.

F
or the first
time since Asher turned me, I was truly exhausted. Until tonight, my energy hadn’t waned since the morning I’d woken a vampire.

Rhys had left hours ago and all of us had gone back up to the library to do more reading. The only reason we didn’t eat dinner around the table is because Kerry had a conniption about food being anywhere near the antique texts.

Despite my worries about the future, I enjoyed having a meal with my friends again. I missed Ricki and Ivie, but it was nice to have Kerry and Donna close by, to talk to them.

After dinner, we hit the books again and my thoughts were sluggish. After my eyes blurred for the fifth time, I excused myself from the research, thinking a hot shower and a cup of coffee would perk me up.

I went to my room and stripped down as soon as I entered, dropping my clothes on the bench at the end of the bed. Heading straight to the shower, I turned the water on as hot as I could stand it and stepped inside.

The water warmed my skin quickly. I hadn’t realized how cold I’d been until I stood beneath the stream.

Lowering my head, I let the water wash over my hair and the back of my neck. A wave of dizziness swept over me and I slapped a hand against the wall to keep from falling over.

I opened my eyes in an effort to focus and took a slow deep breath. The giddy feeling in my head receded but left me feeling even more tired than before.

Hands clasped my hips and I gasped. Immediately, I knew it was Asher, but I was surprised I hadn’t heard him come in.

“You should have told me you were getting tired,” he murmured, pulling my body back against his and supporting my weight.

I sputtered as the water began to hit me straight in the face. “Drowning here,” I choked out.

Asher took a step back, taking me with him and I could breathe again.

“Thank you,” I muttered.

“Are you dizzy?” he asked.

I nodded, leaning against him more fully.

“You’ve gone too long without feeding.”

As he held me closer, I became more and more aware of the thud of his heart against my shoulder blade. I could even hear the whisper of blood in his veins. My fangs extended, poking my bottom lip, and my stomach twisted with hunger.

“Yes.”

Asher turned me, my face even with his chest. He lifted me off my feet and I wrapped my legs around his waist. I brushed his hair away from his neck as he cocked his head to one side.

“Feed, Shannon. You can’t afford to be weak right now.”

I pressed my face against his throat and inhaled his scent, trailing my lips along the lightly throbbing vein. Touching my tongue to his skin, I tasted him. My senses swam and I became acutely aware of the sensation of his damp chest against my breasts and the play of his shoulder muscles beneath my hands as he lifted me a little higher and leaned my back against the wall.

I gasped when my skin met the cool tile.

“Feed,” he prompted me, cupping the back of my head and tugging me closer.

I opened my mouth, my lips closing over his skin as my fangs pierced his flesh. The first taste was incredible. Before, when I drank, we were always in the middle of sex, usually scant seconds away from orgasm. I’d been too distracted to savor the sensations.

He tasted rich and decadent, like red wine or chocolate. There was no coppery tang, just Asher.

I moaned against his throat and drew deeper. The connection between us clicked into place and I could feel everything he was feeling: the sweet sting of the wounds I’d made, the tug of my mouth as I drank from him. I could feel his love and his longing.

I moved restlessly against him. As my need for blood diminished, my need for something else built. I was beginning to understand that the two would always be intertwined with us. The desire for blood and the desire for sex coexisted side-by-side.

As I fed and my body heated, Asher’s hips shifted and his cock slid inside me. Moaning, I clung to him as he moved, his thrusts slow and deep. I could feel everything he was feeling and I moaned louder as the dual sensations assaulted me.

In our short time together, sex had mostly been raw and wild, mating rather than making love. Tonight Asher made love to me.

I released my hold on his neck, running my tongue over the bite. Asher fisted his hand in my hair, tugging my head back and fusing his mouth to mine. I gasped as his fang nicked my bottom lip and he licked the wound.

I tightened my legs around his waist, moving in tandem with his thrusts. My need to drink sated, I leaned my head back and looked up at Asher. He was beautiful and fierce, his blue eyes burning brightly.

Lowering his head, he kissed me the way he fucked me, slow and deep, pouring everything he was feeling into it. It was a different sort of feeding, not that of my body, but of my soul.

The climax overwhelmed me unexpectedly. I broke the kiss and threw my head back as the sensations washed over my body. Before the bliss could wane, Asher sank his teeth into my throat and the orgasm swelled once again. My body bowed and I dug my nails into his shoulders.

Asher’s hands gripped my hips, keeping me anchored to him, and he groaned against my skin. His thrusts lost their rhythm as he found his own release.