The Vampire King (25 page)

But the appearance of no fewer than half a dozen tall, strong forms in the doorway of the mansion changed Roman’s mind. The Akyri stood on the threshold of the house’s foyer, their red-ringed eyes filled with hatred, their fists clenching and unclenching with the need for revenge.

If Roman took on human form right now, he would be competing with the Akyri for a chance to kill the warlock. There was no point. It took one look in their burning eyes to know that they could handle the job just fine on their own.

And Roman desperately wanted to find Evie. He could feel her again, closer this time than before, and he could swear that he could even smell her now for real. He smelled cherry blossoms. There was blood too, and the adrenaline that came with fear. But there were cherry blossoms. And that was Evie, up close and personal.

The Akyri crossed the threshold and Ward, now human once more, turned to face them. Recognition crossed his features, widening his eyes when he realized that not a single one of them bore his binding mark any longer.

And with that, Roman escaped through the same window the Anime had gone through, leaving the boundaries of the illusory house with incredible speed.

Almost at once, he caught sight of Thane as the Phantom King turned and began striding very quickly away from the house. Roman looked to see where he was going. A hundred feet away was a beautiful young woman on her knees, her small form bent in either pain or concentration, a small black leather book in her hands.

Evie.

And then everything exploded.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Ker-thump.

Ker-thump.

Evie heard a heart beating. It was the only thing she heard. She felt warm and peaceful and there was no sound but the lub-dub like movement of blood through arteries.

But the sound was growing fainter.

Ker……thump. Ker……….. thump.

And as she lay there, the warmth began to seep away as well. When she felt the pain, she opened her eyes, at once dragged back to the reality that had become her insane, terrifying world.

Her head rested in the crook of someone’s arm. Evie blinked, clearing her vision, to find herself gazing up at the most beautiful man she had ever seen.

“Roman,” she said softly, pleased that her voice worked despite everything.

Roman didn’t respond, however. And his expression was stark.

“She can’t come, Roman,” said someone else. It was an old voice, harsh and scraping, like dried parchment. Evie glanced to her right, straining to see who had spoken.

The old woman who’d sat beside her on Roman’s bed in the safe house what felt like an eternity ago came forward on her cane. Her blue eyes blazed with intelligence, and her lips were thin with concern. “I’m sorry,” she said, and Evie could sense that she meant it deeply. “But Dannai fell gravely ill when she healed a young woman at the mall after a Hunter attack,” the old woman explained.

Lalura
, Evie thought.
Her name is Lalura
.

Lalura glanced at her, almost as if she’d been able to read her mind. “She cannot heal her, Roman. As it is, she nearly lost her unborn children. And this… she would not be able to heal anyway.”

Evie’s fingers and toes felt cold. Not numb, but cold.

“Werewolf blood,” Roman said, not taking his intense gaze from Evie.

“This is a different wound, Roman,” said Lalura. “You know it.” She came forward again, closing the distance between them so that she stood beside Evie, who lay on the ground, her upper body cradled on Roman’s kneeling form. “Ward knew he was dying and decided to take her with him. He did not mean for her to survive.”

Roman was trembling. She could feel it where he held her so tenderly. But as she stared up at him, something hard crossed his features and he asked, “Evie, can you sit up?”

Evie thought about it. She felt strangely weak. Growing colder by the second. But she couldn't tell why. Nothing in particular hurt except her wrists, where Ward’s fangs had torn cruel gashes in her flesh.

She nodded. For him, she could sit up.

“What are you doing?” came a third voice. It was a man’s voice.

David Cade
, Evie thought. She was so good, remembering all of these names.

Roman didn’t answer, but only concentrated on helping Evie sit up on her own. His hands on her were strong, but gentle, and his touch warmed her where he made contact.

“He’s going to turn her,” came yet another voice.

Evie was sitting up now. She turned to take in her surroundings. They were in the living room of what she could only guess was another of Roman’s safe houses. There were several people there. David, she recognized. And Jaxon. There were two other men there as well, both incredibly handsome and obviously vampires.

There were three other women. One was Lalura. One was a young red-headed girl who looked to be in her early twenties. The third was a gorgeous dark-haired woman with piercing green eyes. They were both clearly vampires as well; Evie was getting used to identifying them. The dark haired woman was the one who had spoken.

They were all watching her in stark silence, their expressions as intense as Roman’s.

Evie blinked.
Wait
.

What had the dark-haired woman said?

“It’s the only way, Evie,” said Roman softly. His voice, so deep and melodic, acted as a salve on Evie’s nerves. “I know that Ward told you what to say.” He gently cupped her face in his warm, tender hands, and brushed his thumb across her lips, sending rivulets of pleasure across Evie’s skin. “Say those words for me now.”

Evie gazed at him, not comprehending. Everything felt fuzzy and disjointed. She felt light –
too
light.

“
Please
, Evie,” Roman repeated, his hands shaking where he held her. “You don’t have much time. Say the words.” He closed his eyes and appeared as if he were fighting with something unseen when he said, “Say them, Evie.
Addo Nox Noctis
.”

The words
, she thought.
The words
. She knew them now. She remembered what Ward had told her.

And as she remembered what Ward had told her, she realized what was happening.

“Ward’s spell damaged you where nothing else can reach, Evie,” said Lalura, her ancient voice nearly as charismatic in its own way as Roman’s was. “He injured your soul, child. And nothing will save you now but this.”

If she says it, then it’s true
, thought Evie. Somehow, she simply knew that. If anyone knew anything at all about the way the world worked, it was Lalura Chantelle.

Evie opened her mouth and licked her lips. “Addo…” she said – and Roman went stiff beside her. His eyes flew open, their deep, deep darkness shimmering like stars on the verge of going supernova. The room had grown silent and still around her. The other vampires in the room waited; she could sense them holding their collective breaths.

If I say this, I will become like him
, she told herself.

“Nox…” she whispered. Behind Roman, the other vampires began to move forward. Roman’s eyes widened and she caught the hint of fang behind his lips.

If I don’t, I will die.

“Noctis.”

“Restrain him!” Cade gave the command, turning to the Offspring men who had been waiting behind Roman. They responded at once, readily obeying the command.

The men blurred into vampire movement, and Roman suddenly had more than four pairs of hands on him, some securing his arms, some wrapped tightly around his broad chest.

Evie was confused, and that confusion fed into a dawning fear, but the black-haired woman was beside her, kneeling so that they were on eye level. “You have to feed from him, Evie,” she told her quickly. “You’ve said the words – now you need to finish the spell and make the transition as soon as possible.”

With vampire strength, the woman reached under Evie’s arms and lifted her up until Evie could feel her knees beneath her. She braced herself, trying to steady her body. She was on eye level with Roman.

Never in her wildest writer’s dreams could she have imagined eyes that looked like his. They had gone supernova. Now they pulsed with hellish light at every heartbeat. Those eyes ripped through her, their heat almost burning her physically. They could see into her again, into her mind – even into her soul. She knew because she could feel him there.

A dot of red caught Evie’s attention. There at the base of Roman’s neck, a small gash had been ripped. Blood welled at the opening, crimson and precious. It hadn’t been there a second before, and Evie instinctively knew that her spoken words had opened it.

She trembled violently.

“Drink now,” Cade instructed, glancing at his fellow vampires as if to tell them to hold their king with everything they had. Evie could see Roman’s corded muscles straining against the grips of his subjects.

She could also feel the magic her words had released. It pulsed in the air around her as if it waited impatiently for Evie to finish what she’d started.

“Do it now, Evie,” said the black-haired woman.

Gently, Evie placed her hands against Roman’s chest, feeling the muscles tensed there beneath the black material of his shirt.

The wound her words had opened in his throat waited, small and red and promising. With strength that she had no idea where she obtained, Evie leaned in – and placed her lips over the tiny gash.

At once, Roman bucked against her and she could feel the vampires holding him communicating with one another. She could almost
hear
it. As if she were already one of their kind. They tightened their holds on him, straining with the effort of keeping him in place. Evie could feel every one of his muscles beneath her fingertips had gone taut with barely contained power.

Slowly, tentatively, she brushed her tongue against the bleeding gash in his neck. A low growl emitted from somewhere deep within him. He tasted like a heady, potent, and salty wine. It burned across Evie’s tongue and numbed her throat as it slid down. It felt good.
Very
good.

At once, Evie closed her mouth tightly over the wound and began to suck. As she swallowed, the misery riding her body began to ebb away. The blood she lost was replaced, the wounds in her wrists stopped aching, and the fuzziness that had been sitting over her lifted and flittered away.

In its place remained a kind of peace. It was like drinking liquid bliss; it erased the agony, the uncertainty, and the torment and replaced it with soul-deep contentment. There was no greater pleasure than the cessation of pain, and this right here, right now, was the cessation of every kind of pain Evie had ever known. There was no more resentment at having lived a normal life in the midst of supernatural she had never known were there. There was no more panic or anxiety. It was all gone –
all
of it.

She continued to drink from the vampire king, and every time she pulled and swallowed the magical liquid in his veins, Roman fought harder against the grips his men had upon him.

What is wrong with him?
Evie’s sudden apprehension felt like a spear of hard, sharp light in a sea of warm, tranquil darkness. Her question was more to herself than anyone else, and went out on a mental link that she hadn’t even known she’d formed.

His blood is healing you,
Cade answered, also mentally.

Evie’s eyes widened… She’d just communicated telepathically with someone. She could actually hear the others now! Even so, she couldn’t bring herself to stop drinking. Not just yet.

“When you drink from him, it is an act that fills him with a dangerous desire, Evie,” said the woman beside her. “If we don’t contain him, he will take you all the way to your last drop before you are strong enough to heal yourself when he’s finished.”

Evie could feel something happening inside. It was almost unnerving, but not quite, because there was no uncertainty and no fear attached to this change.

Somewhere outside, lightning split the Oregon sky and thunder rolled through the safe house. The surge of magic being taken from the king’s veins and infused into Evie’s was so powerful, she felt as if she were imbibing a liquid aphrodisiac. The heat that had numbed her tongue and throat spread through her chest and slipped lower, warming her belly and moistening her panties between her legs.

She moaned against Roman’s throat, the sound involuntary and soft. In response, Roman lowered his head to her neck and Evie could feel his hot breath against her skin as his lips parted.

“Hold him!” the dark-haired woman shouted. “She’s not ready! He’ll kill her!”

“Forgive me, My Liege.” David Cade grabbed a fist full of his thick black hair and just as Evie felt Roman’s fangs graze the skin on her neck, the other vampire yanked the king’s head back.

Roman roared in outrage, and the sound echoed off of the walls with more force than the thunder had. The lights overhead flickered. Tiny pieces of plaster and dried paint crumbled to the floor. Waves of his power rippled out in anger, abrading everything in the room, including the men who were holding him. They gritted their teeth in pain, their own fangs showing, their eyes beginning to glow. But they held on.

Evie saw them all, felt them all struggling behind Roman, and she experienced a hiccup of fear that she wouldn’t make the change in time. They wouldn’t be able to hold Roman for much longer.

And then, with a slowly mounting certainty, she felt it. There it was, clicking into place, as if it had heard her silent plea and answered her.

It was like realizing every dream she had ever had. It felt like every story she had ever written was coming true. With a sense of bewilderment that left her fingers and toes tingling, Evie slowly stopped drinking and pulled away. Then she dropped her hands from his chest and straightened.

The vampire king, in all of his broad-shouldered beauty, was shaking in his men’s grasps. Evie could feel his power more tangibly now, as if it were a living, breathing entity. Where it grazed everything else in the room with unspent wrath, it wrapped around Evie possessively as if it didn’t want her to pull away.