Eternal War Rising to the South: The Beynok Vampire Series (17 page)

I passed the fourth floor…

I passed the third floor…

I passed the second floor…

SMASH.

I felt the ground break and crumple beneath me. My left foot and right knee hit first, damaging the solid clay floor. I was able to keep my body upright and land like a pro in a crouching position. I had never landed a fall from that far up before nor had I ever tried. Years of training let my instincts take over, so they could do what they do best—save my life while killing others. I said a short thank you instead of the usual curse to Vladimir for all the long hours of training he forced upon us.

My eyes were closed, and I felt dizzy. I was too scared to open them. If I had landed right in the middle of a group of enemy vampires, I would be screwed. From what I could tell so far, the peace law wasn’t as strongly enforced as I was hoping.

I was debating on whether or not I should open my senses or not. My decision-making was interrupted when I suddenly felt a hand placed on my shoulder. I opened my eyes instead of my senses. The first thing that came into view was the destroyed ground beneath me. Then the tail of a Laceverto curled itself under my chin and pulled my face upward. I could feel my heart pumping the adrenalin through my veins. One fight ended to have another one start. I really shouldn’t have been shocked. The full force of the supernatural world was much more dangerous than sitting on the sidelines and engaging in fights when needed as a Beynok. This was my world now, and I needed to be ready for anything at any time. I was getting the hang of that concept. There was no safe place.

When my eyes met the eyes of the Laceverto, it was like looking into two different universes. Each of its eyes wanted to tell a different story. At first, they looked exactly alike. Then I noticed each one come to life. They were golden yellow in color with an amber tint. Tiny burnt orange circular lines moved around inside like ping pong balls. In the center of each eye was an elongated black hole that I knew could easily put me into a trance. I was captivated by their depths and wanted to travel further and further in.

Then it happened. I heard his voice. The voice I had longed for, for what felt like eternity. His voice pulled me out of the depths of the Laceverto’s eyes, only to view something just as immobilizing … him.

“Princess, we need to move.” Sorin latched hold of my eyes with his. He had a lot more he needed to say to me than that. The smell of lavender filled my nose. I wished I hated his scent, but I didn’t. I couldn’t read the meaning of his facial expression, but the way his adoring eyes washed over me made me want to melt. Looking at him again both joyed and angered me. I wanted to collapse in his arms and punch him in the face. I stole a few seconds with a deep breath and shock of my view.

“Can you move Princess?” Sorin was sticking to professionalism, so I would, as well.

I shook my head in disbelief, “I think I’m fine. Just a little … shocked … that’s all. I’ll get over it.”

I felt Sorin squeeze my shoulder before he removed his hand. A large part of me wanted to protest when I no longer felt his touch, but we needed to get out of there before I caused yet another scene.

The Laceverto was in front of me when I stood, even closer than before. I was face to face with one of the most dangerous beings that walked the earth. Shit, even heaven or hell for that matter. He was sculpted like a human but covered in green and blue scales. No telling if this was his natural color or the color he chose to be at that moment. His lips, nose, mouth, and even his ears looked human. The eyes were another story all together.

He opened his mouth to speak, and I had to ask him to repeat himself because I was too amazed at the sight of him to catch what he said the first time. I was really wondering why he was talking to me and not trying to kill me.

“Okay, I’ll say it again,” said the Laceverto. “We need to move, Princess, and now.”

Shit. The killing machine was on my side. Shock hit me again. Then I felt Sorin slide my jacket up my arms and the hood fell into place.

“I went to the room as soon as I got here,” Sorin said. “I found your jacket outside your door just as Galloway came stumbling out of the room where you stashed him and the others.” Sorin looked pissed. “I’ll tell you Galloway is upset with you for taking off like you did with no backup, and so am I. You never consider your safety, do you? Anyway I figured you would need your jacket once I found you.”

The Laceverto cleared its throat and said, “Really, you two, we need to move.”

With the Laceverto to my right and Sorin to my left, we broke through the large crowd that had started to form a circle around us. I’m not sure why the commotion didn’t cause a bigger scene, but it didn’t. Maybe strange things, like people falling from a building happen all the time around here? There were no words exchanged as we dodged through the streets of Salvuscol and escaped. They guided me with pushes and tugs.

For the most part, I kept my face down and my senses closed up tight. I felt a strong tug to the left from Sorin. We had entered a set of doors into a building. The street noise turned to silence. I still had my head down, so I could really only see the ground I was walking on. My feet went from walking on clay and dirt to peach and cream marble. I guess peach was a popular color when they developed their cities.

A door was opened, and in I was pushed. When the door closed behind us, it sealed out all the light. I felt the hood being pulled off my head.

“We’ll give you a second to let your eyes adjust the best they can. We have six flights of stairs to go down, and we need to hurry.” Sorin wasn’t kidding when he said a second. I think I blinked once to help with the adjustment, and I was forced down the first set of stairs with both males still attached to either side of me.

Sorin was treating me almost like a prisoner, and I didn’t like it.
Gone for days and thinks he can come back and treat me like this.
I looked to my right at the Laceverto. His touch told me a body was there, and the glow of his eyes confirmed it was him. His eyes stood out even more in the darkness. They were beautiful. I was tracking the moving circular shapes inside of them. I thought I might as well watch something since I really couldn’t see where I was going, anyway.

I could tell he turned to look at me because both eyes came into view. The darkness helped me forget I was rudely staring at a notoriously bad-tempered Laceverto.

“Is there something you see that you like, Princess?” His voice was smooth and deep. His breath felt like a cool breeze running over my face.

“I’m sorry for the staring. I’ve never thought I would be this close to a Laceverto and not be fighting. I’m just fascinated, that’s all. I didn’t mean to be rude.” I sure hoped he accepted my apologies.

“No apologies needed.” He turned his face forward so only one eye was in view.

We hit a landing and a door swung open, filling my eyes with light. My eyes adjusted, and an empty room came into view. Five hallways led in different directions off this main room. I thought about letting my senses run down each hallway, but Sorin’s face told me there was no danger, so I stayed closed off.

Sorin and the Laceverto nodded to one another, and the Laceverto was about to leave down one of the hallways. I stopped him and said, “Excuse me. What’s your name?” I wanted to know what type of name a creature like that would have.

The Laceverto studied me deeply. I think he was seriously debating on whether or not to tell me his name. Then, “My name is Abadden,” he said, at last. He turned and continued down the hall without another word.

The name seemed familiar. I watched him as he disappeared around a turn. His broad shoulders were the top of a solid slated mountain. Defined muscles ran down his back to a tight butt. His legs looked powerful; his feet hit the ground with purpose in each step he took.

With each stride, a weight of influence … warrant … predominance screamed to come out. While watching him walk away, it hit me why his name seemed familiar. My mouth dropped opened. I’d heard that name used in stories about the king of demons.

Of course, he was not a real king, but he might as well be. He had been in more battles and killed more in his lifetime than I will in all four of my rises. Creatures submit to him, fear him, and follow him. Having him on my side was the first positive news I had received since joining this war.

I felt a tug on my arm. I’d had it with the tugging from Sorin.

“That’s it. Don’t touch me again. Do you understand?”

Sorin snorted, turned his back on me, and walked down the opposite hallway from the one Abadden had taken. What was I to do? I had no other halfway sane choice but to follow the vampire I wished had never existed. He had confused me. He’d made me make choices I thought I would never make if he wasn’t in my life. He’d changed me from the moment I first sensed him in the woods the night we fought the werewolf clan. He’d placed doubt where I never had doubt before.

Down the hallway we went. It was as undecorated as the main room we’d just left. Sorin stopped in front of a gray steel door. It offered no indications as to what was behind it.

“After you, Princess.” Sorin opened the door, and I walked in. He followed, but waited first, putting distance between us.

The room followed the rest of the place’s scheme. The walls were gray. The floor was slate. There was a king-sized bed in one corner and a table and chairs in the other corner. It looked like a holding cell. Off to the left, there was a full bathroom.

Great. What was I going to do here in this empty room with Sorin? I knew I had to turn myself against him and erase all my feeling for him if I wanted to keep my head in this war. It was clear I couldn’t handle what I felt for him and what was needed from me for the war simultaneously. I needed to do what was responsible, cut myself off from Sorin.

“Your heart is beating fast. What’s wrong?” Sorin kept his post by the closed door.

“I’m thinking.” I walked to the table putting myself as far from the bed as I could manage without looking completely uncomfortable.

“Thinking about what? The war? Galloway and the others? The attack? … Me?” He started walking toward me.

“You should really stay by the door. You’re supposed to protect me. So the best place for you is by the door.” Oh, my God. I was not ready for this. My mind was saying
you shouldn’t want him
, but my body was saying yes. With every step he took closer toward me, I could feel the reaction from my body rise.

“What’s wrong? Your heart is pounding harder than I have ever heard it before.” Sorin continued towards me.

I could sense the outer pressure from his emotions dying to invade my body. I fought to keep myself closed, but gradually they started to seep in. I placed both hands over my heart to apply pressure, and that was still not enough to slow the pounding.

Before I knew it, the sensation of lightning crashing into me took me to my knees. Sweat broke out on the back of my neck and on my forehead. I became filled with Sorin’s emotions, and there was nothing I could do about it. I was defenseless. He was there to witness how badly he affected me.

“I’m sorry. It’s been a few days since I’ve been with you. I can’t help the way I feel.” He placed a hand on my shoulder and started to kneel down before me.

“Stop! Get away from me. Take your hand off me … I mean it.” I was trying to stop myself from weeping. “You’re no good for me, Sorin. Can’t you see that? When we’re together, bad things seem to happen. Between running, fighting, chasing, and being chased, there’s nothing for us but that. We have to keep our distance from one another if we expect to win this war.” I was gradually winning the battle against his invading emotions.

I was still down on the floor with my hands over my chest and my head down. I couldn’t face him. I couldn’t look into the depths of his amethyst eyes. They would burn right through me and tattle tale the truth that I loved him more then I loved anything else. The past few days without him I had secretly wanted to die because I would rather die than be without him. Finally admitting that to myself, I knew I was making the right decision.

Winning the war should be the most important thing to me, not loving Sorin. I couldn’t let the love I had for this vampire tamper with the outcome of the war. It was more important.

“It doesn’t have to be this way, Anya. We can be together. You belong to me, and I belong to you. We can fight side by side and love one another.” He removed his hand from my shoulder but continued in his kneeling position. “Please look at me.”

A minute must have passed, and I was still determined not to look him in the face. “Look at me.” This time Sorin’s voice was not compassionate. It was direct and stern.

The lightning sensation was easing up, and my heart wasn’t pounding as hard. He placed his hand under my chin and forced my head up. His stern jaw line came into view, and somehow it looked even more squared off than usual. Then his full, plump, red lips came into view. I closed my eyes just before our eyes met. He could lift my head, but he couldn’t make me open my eyes.

“Fine. You want to play it that way.” Again, he had no compassion in his tone. I knew his animal side must be taking over. Vampires don’t like to be told no or lose any challenge, and I was a challenge.

I felt his breath move over my face. Lavender filled my nose and a crazy supernatural power filled my body. He was aroused and determined to get what he wanted, and I was just as determined to deny him.

Sorin placed his lips over mine. He moved slowly placing small kisses on my lips. I refused to cooperate. I could sense his frustration.

“Open your eyes and look at me. I want to see the refusal in your eyes.” He was counting the seconds as they went by. “Open your eyes, Anya. If you’re refusing me, I want to know you mean it.”

I only hoped my eyes showed him what I wanted them to show. I tried to push hatred into them. I tried to think of all the reasons why we shouldn’t be together. Why it was bad for both of us. Nothing came to mind. He had me so worked up I couldn’t even think straight. My eyes opened and met his adoring yet angry dark amethyst eyes. He stared into my eyes as though trying to read every flicker of light and blink of purpose. I tried to fill my body with numbness and push rejection out of my stare.

“I’m going to kiss you again. So prepare yourself and try your best not to show any emotion.” He wanted to impair me, and he was off to a good start.

His eyes stayed focused on mine as he kissed me. I felt small kisses overlapping one another. He paused with his lips still pressed to mine and his eyes boring into my eyes. I felt him pull my bottom lip into his mouth. Then his soft tongue gently moved back and forth, caressing my lower lip.

I wanted to close my eyes and fall into tempo with him, but I couldn’t give in. I started to pull away, but I felt his hands wrap around my shoulders, keeping me in place.

I was strong, but not as strong as he was.
I need to stay calm. If I show emotion, who knows what might come out?
I stopped my struggling and let him keeping sucking on my bottom lip. My body went limp in his hands. Soon I was feeling the soft swirls of him in my mouth. I did not join in, but my breathing picked up, and I knew he could tell.

“That is it, Anya,” he said. “I know you want me, and I’m going to show you how badly you do.” His voice was filled with anger. Sorin pulled me up from my kneeling position off the floor with his strong vampire hands and took me over to the bed.

“Sorin … No. This isn’t right, and you know it.” I was going to try to guilt him out of what he wanted from me. “Please leave.”

“Leave? You want me to leave? When I’m done showing you how much you love me, you’ll beg me to stay.”

He climbed onto the bed after taking off his boots and undoing his belt. He was filled with desire, and I think my unwillingness was only adding fuel to the fire. I felt the hardness between his legs slide along my thigh as he made his way up to me on the bed.

When he reached my lips and started kissing them, I not only felt his tongue but his fangs as well. He was definitely aroused both as a male and as a vampire.

He pulled my hair back, and his lips slid down to the throbbing pulse that was now exposed on my neck. He sucked and licked and sucked at it. Was he going to bite me?

“I want to taste you so badly. You don’t know how much self-control I’m using right now.” His breath was heavy on my neck as he spoke. “I want to dive into all of you at this very moment. I want to rip off all your clothes. I want to feel your skin on my skin. Then I want to taste you between your legs.” He paused to look at me. “I want to taste you because you smell so enticing right now. I know you want me and you will no longer deny me because your body’s reaction to me is overwhelming.”

I wanted to curl up and die right there. Here I was trying to be strong, but the scent of my body betrayed me.

He continued. “After I’m done teasing you, I’ll bring you to the point you desire and suck and lick the inside of you with my tongue. Then I’ll fill you with the part of me that’s throbbing to be inside of you. I won’t be nice either. I’ll slam into you so hard it will teach you to never deny me again, and you’ll beg for more. You’ll scream with the ecstasy of pleasure. Your pulsing orgasm will force me to explode inside of you. While I release myself into you, you’ll want me to fill myself with your blood. You will beg for it.”

This couldn’t be happening. My neck was already tingling with desire from his lapping while he was seducing me with his words.

“With strong draws from your neck, the taste of your blood will arouse me again. With each thrust I push inside of you, you will want to cum from the sensation of my fangs. When you orgasm the second time, so will I.”

Sorin hovered over me. He made his body weightless on mine. “After we are rested, you will want me to do it again. When we finish and leave this room, you will be marked as mine forever. You’re going to say yes right now because you love me and you know we are supposed to be together. There’s nothing you desire more. Say it.”

I felt his hands start to travel my body to remove my clothes. He pulled my shirt over my head and removed his as well. Sorin lay on top of me with our bare skin touching, starting his scenario without my permission. Pleading, he held my face aggressively in one of his hands. “Say yes, Anya.”

How could I resist the only man I have ever desired? The only man I will ever desire. “Yes,” I whispered. I gave up on the fight for denial and gave in to the love I could no longer resist.

It was just as he described but better. He lavished himself in everything my body had to offer him. I was sure he would be wrong about his fangs, but he was right. When I felt my skin break and his fangs slide in, I braced myself for the pain of the venom traveling my body as it did when Gallagher bit me. There was no venom this time, only pleasure. My body tensed and then relaxed once his fangs were securely inside of my neck. With the draw of my blood came orgasmic sensations I cannot describe in words. My moans of pleasure and screams for more didn’t give it justice. I was amazed at what I felt.

He said when he was finished I would want him to do it all over again, and he was right to a degree. Only this time I wanted to have my own exploration.

Three hours later, I was exhausted. I rolled off Sorin only to have him pull me back in close to his body.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Sorin whispered.

“I need to do female things in the bathroom. Is that all right with you?” I needed some freshening up.

“Yes, but don’t take too long. I want you back in my arms in less than a minute.” He released me from his powerful hold but not before running his tongue over my bite marks on my neck.

“I’ll take as long as I need.” I gave him a seductive smile as I shut the bathroom door behind me. Well, as seductive as I could make it.

I took care of my screaming bladder first and washed my face and hands. When I wiped the dripping water from my face, I was not pleased to see the reflection in the mirror of the two holes in my neck. They were nothing like the small vampire bite marks I’ve seen on victims. They were swollen with purple circles around them. There was nothing dainty, small, or concealable about them.

My God! Why didn’t he just stick a straw in me and suck out what he wanted? What were the others going to think of me with marks like this on my neck? I was thankful my shirts come up a little high on my neck, but I don’t think they would quite cover both holes. I wondered how long it would take them to heal. This wasn’t going to happen again. If my hormones hadn’t been going crazy, I would have said, “Absolutely not a chance are you sticking your fangs in me.”

I swung the door to the bathroom open and the seductive smile I gave Sorin when I shut the door was replaced with a “what the fuck?” face.

“How long will this take to heal?” I demanded, pointing to the holes in my neck.

“The swelling and bruising will go away, but the holes will never heal unless I’m killed or … you know what I mean. I gave them to you to bond us. They would have sealed by now if your body wanted to reject them. The holes are still there, so that means something. It means you want to be bonded to me. I thought you understood what it meant to be bonded. We are supposed to me together, Anya.”

“I’m not a vampire, so, no, I didn’t know what it meant to be bonded to a vampire. Why would I? No one ever really fully explains anything to me. Why would this subject be any different?”

Sorin was off the bed and in my face before I could blink. “The bond is not complete. You have to drink from me for the bond to take full effect.” He moved in closer than I thought possible. His amethyst eyes were slowly turning black. The vampire in him was on full alert. “Don’t worry. I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to do.” He snorted and looked down at my neck.