The Dark Vampire: Last True Vampire 3 (7 page)
Read The Dark Vampire: Last True Vampire 3 Online
Authors: Kate Baxter
Tags: #Romance, #Fantasy, #Paranormal, #Vampires, #Angels
His wrist?
Rejection stung at the center of Bria’s chest. Did he not want her close? She’d fed from the wrists of dhampirs in her coven. From Lucas. Tethered, yet little more than a stranger to Jenner, she’d bared herself to him. Offered her throat to him. If he’d lingered at her vein much longer, she would have given him her body as well. Now that the frenzy of feeding had left him, he treated her with cold indifference.
Really, what did she expect? The tether bound their souls but not their hearts. It hadn’t formed an instant affection between them. She’d misinterpreted his arousal. There was pleasure to be found in the drinking of blood. Bria knew that now. Pleasure could be emotionless. Detached. If this was what Jenner wanted from their tether, then that’s what Bria would give him.
Searing pain radiated in Eric’s gums as one fang, and then the other, was ripped from his mouth. His own blood coated his tongue and a growl gathered in his chest that was just as much hunger as it was anger.
“They’ll grow back.” His mother’s assurances did nothing to comfort him. “It’s only temporary.”
“Temporary.” Edrik Salo, the vampire lord who ruled their territory, did nothing to hide the sneer
in his voice. “It’s unfortunate that the female your son drained can’t claim her death as such.”
His mother would be wise to hold her tongue, lest she be punished alongside him.
“My liege—”
“Silence!”
His father bowed his head at
the vampire’s command. To see his father, a powerful vampire warlord, bow in shame tore at Eric’s meager composure. It would do his father no good to plead his son’s case. He had killed the female. Drank her to the point of death. His guilt was unquestionable. The act itself, unconscionable. At only sixteen years of age, he knew the severity of what he’d done. His parents thought to explain it away. He was simply a young dhampir who hadn’t known better. But Eric was fully aware of what he’d done. He’d been seized by lust. Mastered by it. Driven mad by the taste of her blood on his tongue. And once his fangs had broken the skin he’d been unable to stop.
Even now, he craved more. With his gums bleeding, his fangs gone, beaten by Lord Salo’s guards—Eric’s father’s own brothers-in-arms—and brought to his knees, he wanted more.
Needed more.
A thirst such as his was unheard of among dhampirs. They needed to feed four or five times a year, and even then, those feedings lasted seconds. He had feasted on the female for long minutes that seemed to last for hours. He’d taken pull after pull on her vein until her heart ceased beating. Her lungs no longer took air. She’d gone limp in his arms and still he hadn’t pulled away.
A shudder passed over his body. He’d always known it would come to this. Not even the newly turned thirsted like he did.
The vampire’s eyes flashed angry silver as he regarded Eric. “You will never be turned,” Lord Salo said with such finality that Eric felt the words vibrate in his very bones. “Your body will be marked so that all of vampire-kind knows never to offer you the gift of transformation. I see your soul, Eric Jenner, and it is dark and black and unfathomable. As a vampire, you would become a monster. Uncontrollable, insatiable. Dangerous to our kind and others.” The vampire lord turned his attention to Eric’s father. “You and your family are banned from this and every other coven. You are outcast. Do you understand me?”
Eric’s father’s hurt expression caused a fissure of pain to spread across Eric’s heart. His mother wept silently beside him and a sorrow so heavy weighed upon him that Eric didn’t think he would ever walk tall again.
“I understand, my lord.”
From the corner of Eric’s eye, he watched as two vampires readied their needles and ink. He would be marked. Branded as a warning to anyone who looked upon him. He was, as the vampire lord decreed,
a monster.
Jenner gave a rough shake of his head as he dislodged the unpleasant memories that darkened his soul even centuries later. The tenuous hold he had on his control slipped away with every second that passed. The taste of Bria’s blood, rich and sweet, lingered on his tongue. The scent of her arousal drove him mad with desire, stirring his own body into a state of unfulfilled want. It was the taking of his vein that affected her, Jenner told himself. Nothing else. The inability to control her lusts a result of being newly turned.
Jenner knew all too well how difficult it was to master those urges. Even now, the darkness within him roared, demanding to be freed.
Ronan had called her virginal. She’d admitted that she’d never offered her vein to another. If no one had taken her vein, Jenner suspected her body was untouched as well. That he was the first to drink from her sent a surge of male satisfaction roaring through him. No other had tasted her. Taken that heady nectar on their tongue. Put his mouth to her delicate throat.
Her jeweled eyes became rimmed with silver and Jenner’s gut twisted into a painful, hungry knot as she sealed her mouth over his wrist. Without preamble she bit down, sinking her fangs into flesh, and his cock pulsed hot and hard behind his fly. Her bite was a sweet torture he’d endure over and again. A pleasure unlike anything he’d ever known. The rush of delicious heat had no equal. An effect of their tether? Or perhaps a reflection of his own unceasing need.
Bria’s lids fluttered and her blissful expression commanded Jenner’s attention. Her nails dug into his wrist as she held him tightly against her mouth. The deep suction sent a wave of sensation from his wrist down the length of his torso, and it settled in the base of his sac. Jenner shuddered. His want of her was absolute. He didn’t know a damned thing about this female, but he was certain that she didn’t deserve to be tethered to a miserable bastard like him.
Time slowed to a standstill. She fed for mere minutes, but to Jenner it might as well have been years. When her fangs disengaged, his chest tightened. As much as he didn’t think he could endure another minute of physical contact with her, neither did he want it to end. He pulled away too quickly, nearly jerking his wrist from her grasp. Dark brows pulled down over her eyes and Bria’s
tongue flicked out at his blood that painted her full bottom lip.
“I can close the punctures for you.”
“No need,” he grunted through a renewed surge of lust. He didn’t think he’d be able to endure her tongue gliding over his skin without tossing her back on the mattress and fucking her until the sun rose. Didn’t think he could stop himself from ripping open her vein and drinking her dry. “They’ll close on their own.”
“Oh.” Her disappointment sliced through him. “I didn’t realize.”
Vampires and dhampirs both possessed a venom that kept wounds in quickly healing supernatural skin from closing immediately. But vampires healed much faster than dhampirs did. The closing of punctures was a courtesy and sometimes an act of affection.
“Who did you feed from after your transition?”
Her expression grew wary. “Lucas,” she said slowly. “A member of my coven.”
The thought of her tongue sliding over the flesh of another male filled Jenner with an instant and violent rage. His hand snapped out and seized her wrist. “You will feed from
no one
but me,” he said low. “From this moment on.”
Bria’s eyes widened a fraction of an inch and a citrus tang infused the space between them. She gave a shallow nod of her head and her jaw took on a stubborn set. “And you will feed from no one but
me
.”
Jenner hadn’t expected her to counter his mandate with one of her own. She didn’t realize what a dangerous bargain she struck. The dark need within him surged, hungry, greedy. He should feed from anyone but her, anyone at all. Jenner’s lips moved against his better judgment: “Agreed.” Despite the danger to them both, he knew he’d never bother with the blood of any other after tasting her.
His thumb circled the petal-soft skin on the underside of her wrist where her pulse beat a steady rhythm. A frustrated growl built in his chest and he released his hold before pushing up from the bed.
“Where are you going?”
Jenner kept his back to her. If he stayed another second he’d ravage more than her throat. “I’ve been away for too long and I need to talk to Mikhail.” He paused, his hand on the doorknob. Should he offer her something? Hell, he had no fucking clue. “I’ll stay close. In case you need to feed again.” He wanted to say something else. Something
more
. Jenner wasn’t good with words, though. Violence was his forte. Destruction his only talent. “Come find me if you need me.” He stepped through the doorway and closed the door behind him.
He stood out in the hallway, his fingers wrapped so tightly around the doorknob, he was surprised it hadn’t snapped. Bria’s scent swirled in his head; the skin at his wrist still tingled from the wet warmth of her mouth. The contact had been so innocent, and yet Jenner felt it over every inch of his body. She’d wanted him. Her legs had fallen open the second he settled between her thighs. He could have easily taken her. Fucked her until he collapsed on top of her and sated the lust that burned through him like fire.
Jenner wouldn’t have thought twice about taking her had his soul still been vacant from his body. He would have rutted over her like the animal he was had she been any other female. Despite her innocence, Jenner had never beheld a more seductive female. Maybe it was because of that innocence. Her wide eyes and soft mouth had beckoned him. The softness of her skin begged to be touched. Sullied. Even now, Jenner considered turning around and going back in there to tear her clothes from her body. He
wanted her bare to him. He wanted to bite her again and again.
Gods.
Claire had thought that feeding would help to calm him? Instead, he felt less in control than ever.
It took a surprising amount of effort to let go of the doorknob. He’d promised he’d stay close—hell, he’d been paid to keep Bria glued to his side—but with each step he took away from her Jenner didn’t think he’d be able stay under the same roof without doing something rash. Bria could easily learn to hate him if he allowed her to see that selfish side of him. The side that didn’t give a shit about consequences. The side that needed,
craved
without reason or restraint. If he didn’t ease himself into their tether, he’d ruin them both. Jenner’s soul wouldn’t bear the burden of hurting someone as delicate as Bria. He had to get the fuck out of there.
“How’d it go?”
Jenner hit the top of the stairs to find Claire smiling up at him from the first-floor landing. He averted his gaze, too damned ashamed of his own wicked thoughts to look her in the eye. She’d championed him and he’d barely made it through feeding Bria without ripping her clothes off and fucking her senseless.
“Fine,” he grunted as he headed down the stairs. “I need to get out of here for a while. Can you keep an eye on her?”
“Sure.” Claire turned as he brushed past her in the foyer, her brow furrowed. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah. Just gotta jet.”
“Jenner.”
He paused, halfway out the door. So close to putting some distance between him and Bria. Claire needed to wrap it up before he changed his damned mind and rushed back up the stairs. “Call me when her thirst mounts again,” Jenner said as he headed out the door. He turned
to face Claire and shame flared in his chest at her disapproving stare. “I don’t want her feeding from anyone else.”
Her frown turned to a wry smile. “Gotcha. It’s going to be okay. You know that, right?”
Did he? Jenner gave her a crisp nod and closed the door behind him. Right now he felt as though nothing would be okay ever again.
5
Bria rubbed
at her wrist. The ghost of Jenner’s gentle suction still lingered on her skin. For days he’d kept his distance, only coming to her when they both needed to feed. And then it was all very polite and civilized. He was always present in the house, though. She felt him like the brightest light burning in the center of her soul. As though he watched over her from afar, he kept his distance until their hunger crested and they could bear the separation no longer.
Once again, they sat together in the guest room—never on the bed as they had the very first night—on a short love seat that allowed them no room for anything but sitting. They exchanged equally polite conversation before and afterward before Jenner inevitably made an excuse for his continued absence. The exchange of blood had become so routine.
And Bria hated it.
Their first night together, Jenner had given her a glimpse of what her vampiric nature truly was. She’d be
come a creature of intense appetites. But since that night Jenner had proved to be no better than her uncle. Jenner didn’t treat her as his tethered mate but more like he was a steward who’d been entrusted with her safekeeping. She hadn’t given up hope that things might change between them, though. She simply needed to give them both some time. She was sure that once they got to know each other better Jenner would loosen up.
Well, as loosened up as a male like Jenner could get.
“What did you do last night?” Bria’s curiosity burned to know how Jenner had spent the night. It had been the first time since their tethering that she’d sensed he’d left Mikhail’s property.
“Ronan has a client who’s got a stalker,” Jenner said. “I provided extra security for a charity event he attended.”
“I didn’t realize you worked with Ronan.”
Jenner averted his gaze. Nervous? No. Almost . . . guilty. “Yeah. He’s sort of a risk management consultant for the rich and famous.”
“It sounds exciting.” Bria had always found it sad that she lived in one of the most adventurous cities in the world and had never fully explored all it had to offer. “Is it dangerous work?”
Jenner flashed a feral smile. “Only for anyone who crosses Ronan.”
Or Jenner,
she surmised. “Does he live here with Claire and Mikhail as you do?”
At first Bria had assumed that both Jenner and Ronan lived with Mikhail. But it had become apparent that Ronan had a place of his own. Did Jenner? Did he have another home somewhere, but he chose to stay here close to her instead? Bria’s stomach did a backflip at the thought. Getting information out of Jenner was like pulling teeth. His reluctance to talk about himself only caused Bria’s
curiosity to eat away at her. Where did he go when he wasn’t here? Whom did he spend his time with? What was his coven before he came to serve Mikhail?
