Black Scar
Authors: Karyn Gerrard
Evernight Publishing
Copyright© 2013 Karyn Gerrard
ISBN: 978-1-77130-423-8
Cover
Artist: Sour Cherry Designs
Editor:
Marie Medina
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
WARNING:
The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is
illegal.
No part of this book may be
used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission,
except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
This is a
work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any
resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or
dead, is entirely coincidental.
DEDICATION
A big thank you to my critique partner and writing friend,
Gayl Taylor, who provided continued support and input for this book.
Thanks to Evernight Publishing for their continued
enthusiasm for this series.
To my paranormal characters that reside in my Blackthorne
Clan series. What I thought would be a trilogy will now be much more. They
wanted me to explore their stories further. No worries. I’m on it.
BLACK SCAR
Blackthorne Clan, 4
Karyn Gerrard
Copyright
© 2013
Glossary
Bloodling—
a
newly turned Vampire. Blood and sex needs are at their peak during this short
stage, emotions are often heightened.
Blood
Brothers
—Two male Vampires who enter into an exclusive
exchange of blood. A close bond, a joining of souls that is usually not sexual
in nature, but can be if they choose.
Blood
Lust
—A perfect blending of the blood and sex need,
the two are intertwined. While most Vampires slake their blood needs with a
plasma bag, they still experience the roar of the Blood Lust.
Dhampyre
—Born
of a mating between a Vampire and a human. Half-Vampires are extremely rare.
Life expectancy unknown though it is surmised it is several hundred years.
Formator
—
The name given to a Vampire who “turns” another. They become that
person’s “maker” and they train the new Vampire to accept their new life-state
and become their guardian or sponsor.
Lycans
—Second
in the Wolfen hierarchy and almost extinct.
They are also wolf shape-shifters but have Were
tendencies, such as shifting into a Were during the new moon.
Quarter
—Even
more rare. Born of a mating between a Dhampyre and a human. The person in
question has one-quarter Vampire blood. Lifespan also hundreds of years but not
as long as a Dhampyre.
Mate
Bond
—
(for
those with Vampire blood)
A complete joining of mind, heart and soul with
another person. Often first identified by scent. When the bond is verbally
accepted, the one with Vampire blood “marks” their mate and drinks their blood
to seal the bond.
Oriundus—
A Vampire resurrected from ash. Forbidden by the Bureau and out of
practice for centuries. Oriundus Vampires are considered soulless and were used
as assassins in the past. Dangerous and unpredictable.
Primoris
—A Vampire not turned, but an “original”, a first. Very powerful and
rare. It is not certain who created these first Vampires.
Sectators
—Mercenary
hunters of the Shadow World. Their primary objective, to ensure no harm comes
to humans. They hunt down and destroy any creatures that break this covenant.
They also have been known to be hired by one faction to attack another.
Shadow
World
—All beings that are not human.
The
Concealment
—A rare malady or madness that strikes select
Vampires, usually “turned” ones. It has varying levels of madness, and the
attacks can be centuries apart. While in the Blood Lust, a Vampire can kill
without knowing it. Any Vampires found with The Concealment are destroyed.
The
Hunt
—In the past, all Vampires “hunted” for their
blood, selecting victims to drink from. The Bureau organized blood outlets for
Vampires at the turn of the 20th Century. Very few Vampires hunt today.
The
Rapture—
A state of sexual oblivion that only someone
with Vampire blood can achieve. It does not happen often. When it does the
Vampire is lost in a blood-fueled “other plane” for a short span of time.
Thropes—
The
elite of the three factions of Wolfen creatures in the Shadow World. They are
born wolf shape-shifters and are very powerful and devious.
Twilight
—
Lost in a place between two life-states and between
two mortalities. A deep coma in which the person does not age. Neither human
nor Vampire.
Weres
—
Werewolves.
They are the
drones of the Wolfen. You have to be born a Thrope or a Lycan, but Weres are
made. Only a Thrope can make a Were. A Were turns into a wolf-man beast during
the full moon.
Chapter One
When the
nightmares came, Marcus Steele reluctantly relived every agonizing moment of
his attack. It didn’t matter if it was day or night, as the terrors came
regardless. No amount of painkillers or medicinal sleeping aids kept them at
bay.
Marcus tossed and
turned in his bed, the feeling of restlessness overtaking his battered and
scarred body. Sweat trickling down his face, he moaned and drifted in the
twilight of consciousness, neither in deep sleep, nor fully awake.
The night terror
always began with him drinking at The Rusty Anchor Pub, standing alone at the
bar and feeling sorry for himself. Deegan Black, a man he admired, hell, a man
he
loved,
had rejected him so he
drowned his sorrows in a vat of Alexander Keith’s beer. Never mind that the man
in question was the Vampire Blackthorne Clan leader, and his Formator or maker.
Marcus had been
born a Thrope, a wolf shape-shifter. His fondness for firm, male flesh was a
secret he’d held close, as Thropes did not tolerate sexual anomalies as they
called them. Any member of the Pack indulging in sexual acts outside the express
purpose of breeding were put down or if they were lucky—merely banished. The
fact he was the younger brother of the Alpha Pack leader, Devlin Steele,
wouldn’t have saved his hide.
His brother.
He snarled subconsciously. Devlin had offered him up
as a damned breeding experiment. Well, he offered himself, since honor dictated
nothing less. Hard to believe not two months had passed since he’d been bitten
by Deegan and turned into a Vampire. His brother wanted to infuse Vampire blood
into the Thrope line.
His life had not
been the same since. The Vampire blood had taken over his body, his emotions,
and his life. Marcus had been barely twenty-one when turned, and now he would
be twenty-one forever.
His fractured,
dreamy thoughts drifted back to The Rusty Anchor Pub. Standing by the bar was a
striking male. At least two inches over six feet in height and cover model
handsome, the man made his way to Marcus. They exchanged first names only. The
man introduced himself as Julian. Marcus needed to forget, and he sensed this
Julian did as well. He invited him back to his hotel.
Flickering,
erotic images flashed through Marcus’s mind. The hours in the hotel were filled
with raw, pounding sex as if both men were striving to reach beyond the here
and now and drown the past.
Marcus, in his
many encounters with men, never allowed himself to be the bottom guy. Control
was certainly the main reason, and no doubt his Thrope beast tendencies also
played a part. For some unknown reason he’d let Julian take control the entire night.
Vampires had no compunctions about being with either gender for blood and sex.
Strange the men did not drink from each other, as Julian informed him of his
life-state as a Dhampyre, a half-Vampire. This encounter was not about blood.
Hell, it probably wasn’t even about the sex.
Julian pushed
Marcus and bent him over the armchair. Sweat ran in rivulets down the valley of
his spine as he clenched his teeth and waited for the thrust of Julian’s cock
again. He growled as Julian began to pound his ass with wild abandon. He
reached for his own erect cock and stroked vigorously.
Julian’s desirous
groans turned to bestial, animal snarls. Marcus heard a ripping sound. A few
seconds passed for him to realize the skin was being shredded from his back. He
then made a fatal mistake; he turned his head to glance over his shoulder. What
he had glimpsed in those few terrifying moments would stay with him the rest of
his existence. Julian had morphed into a ferocious beast. His handsome features
were distorted into raging evil. His hazel eyes burned with a dangerous fire.
Long, jagged talons had sprung from his fingertips, and his fangs had elongated
into a length a saber-tooth tiger might have possessed. Those claws were the
last thing he had seen flash before his vision.
