The Ravana Clan Vampires: a Young Adult Paranormal Romance (Complete Series)

by E. M. Moore

Despite what it meant, I couldn’t help narrowing my eyes at Nicolai as he spoke. I’d hoped he thought I was one of the best fighters, and the fact that he hadn’t come right out and said it, hurt. On the same token, he could’ve just been avoiding saying it because we all knew what that meant.

  I smiled at all of them. “No matter what happens, we’re all going to be okay.”

  “We know that, Ri.”

  Christian looked away, his jaw working. I strode up to him, the rest of the guys tensing as I took hold of Christian’s chin. Nicolai cocked his head toward the door at the rest of his brothers. “Just don’t be long, Ri. T.J. wants to see you before he goes out there. I don’t think we have much time now.”

  I nodded, waiting until the door clicked behind the other princes, and then looked Christian in the eye. I pulled myself on my tiptoes to get a better advantage, but there was still a bit of a height difference. “Everything is going to be fine, Christian. You have to start believing that.”

  A fury of red crept up his neck, and a vein feathered there. “We all said that about Jake, too, and we know what happened then.”

  Refusing to still look at me, I bent his head down. “I refuse to believe that all this happened to us just to be taken away at the first sight of some difficulty.”

  “Some difficulty?” His jaw locked tight, and then it was like an avalanche, a ball of ice tripping over itself as it grew and grew through its journey down the mountain. “You know they suggested you, right? They talked about you as if you were just a means to an end. What kind of skills you brought to the table. Did you have enough experience under your belt? Were you mature enough to take this on? What about real battle scenarios? Did they think you could handle that? Did you have enough first-hand experience, more so than the others involved? It was like you were just a thing they had to make plans with.”

  I struggled for breath. Not because I didn’t understand why they said those things, but because I’d never seen Christian so overcome with emotion. He was usually the serious, level-headed one. I reached up to cup his face and he backed away.

  “Forget it. I know you agree with them. There’s some sick part of you that thinks what they’re doing is okay, but I’m not okay with that and it doesn’t matter to me if you are as good as they say you are—as I really believe you are—I don’t want you anywhere near that place. I don’t care if you were the best warrior we had, I wouldn’t want you anywhere near there. You’re more important to me than anything else, and that’s what matters to me. My brothers and I already lost one stem to our group.” He took my arm and pulled it taught, his fingers grazing over my tattooed upper arm and shoulder, at the vines there that crisscrossed and interwove like one couldn’t live without the other if it tried. “We can’t lose another.”

  My mouth went dry. I stared at his touch, at his thin, spindly fingers that gripped me with such force, but love all at the same time, that my breath was taken away. Jake would’ve been apart of us. He was taken away too early, I’d always thought that, especially from me. I wasn’t going to let another part of us leave. “I—I don’t know what to say, Christian. We don’t really have a say in things right now. We don’t know what’s going to happen. All we can do is take it hour by hour. I don’t know what will happen with T.J.’s fight. I don’t know who they’re going to choose, but I do know that right now, we still have one another and I’m not going to spend it worrying about something that could be. Just don’t leave my side, okay? Let’s all just stay together, until…”

  Christian looked up. His blue-gray eyes a steely blue, like liquid mercury. He took a step forward, and on instinct, I took one back. He stalked me until my back hit the bedroom door. He was in full-on vampire mode, a creature of the night. I wasn’t scared. Intimidated, maybe, by his prowl, but not scared.

  “You won’t leave us.”

  I shook my head, my hands flat against the wood door behind me. “I won’t leave you.”

  “You promise.”

  “I promise.”

  His stare held me in place. His arms wove around my back until I was lifted in the air, my thighs settling around his hips. He rocked into me and I gasped.

  There was so much to do, but this was where our focus should be. On one another, in case the world did crumble beneath us.

  “We don’t have a lot of time,” he breathed out, his hot breath caressing my neck. I lifted my chin to give him ample room. His fangs teased my skin as a roll of pleasure doused me.

  “I don’t need a lot of time.”

  “They’re waiting for us,” he said, his lips smoothing over my skin.

  In answer, I reached between us and slipped the button through his pants and pulled the zipper down. The clothing fell to the floor.

  He groaned, his hips arching up to meet mine. Immediately, I wished I hadn’t gotten dressed after my encounter with Connor. It would be so easy for him just to slip inside me right now if I weren’t wearing anything. I pushed against him. “Please.”

  Within a few moments, I felt the air from the room slide against my exposed parts. I looked down to find both my pants and panties on the floor next to Christian. I couldn’t help the smile that overtook my face. “Reason number one-forty-three why I love that you’re a vampire.” I swallowed. “I need you inside me.”

  Christian’s jaw hardened right before he rolled his hips into mine. My fingers dug into his shoulders as he entered me, every inch more pleasurable than the last. He reached around and held my ass to him as he pulled in and out, his movements rubbing against my sensitive nub with every stroke. He stepped away from the door an leaned me back, my head resting against the wood as his hand crept up my stomach and under my bra to fondle my breasts. This was too perfect. Every touch was like fire. I’d been right when I said I didn’t need a lot of time. I needed like no time. Sometimes just his looks were smoldering, but with his precise movements, he could play my body right into submission.

  I clenched my muscles and Christian nearly choked. “I hope you’re close because I’m nearly undone. As if you weren’t tight enough.”

  I bared down harder, loving the way it felt. They could always turn me to Jell-O, but to think that I could do that to them. I squeezed and squeezed until it became too much and I was clenching around him involuntarily, my heart in my throat and his name on my lips.

  Overcome, Christian stepped forward until he had the door to brace us as he came. He stared into my eyes the whole time, as if claiming me, reminding me of my promise, and I held onto it, keeping it close to my heart. There was no way I was letting this go. None.

  It was perfect bliss.

  6

  The princes and I walked to the training room five across, me in the middle of Nicolai and Christian with Stephan and Connor flanking them. It was stupid, just a walk really to see T.J. before he went out there and laid it on the line, but to me, it was more than that. It was a show of solidarity. A show that we weren’t hiding anymore. It was almost as if we didn’t care anymore. None of us had said anything out loud, but there wasn’t going to be any more relationship hiding. Not when we knew who and what the real enemy was. What could they do to us now with the threat of death surrounding us? We were one, and we were letting it out there for everyone to see.

  It was refreshing, and new, and even though the setting was dismal and fear still twisted my gut, I felt a sense of empowerment as we walked into the training room. Lex and Samuel were there with T.J., along with Gregor who waited by the door. He had an uncharacteristic sheen of sweat over his forehead, and it didn’t look like it was just there because of stress, because we were about to have the first battle that counted for so much, but his chest rose and fell as if he were tired from exertion. I smiled fondly at him, and he nodded his head once toward me before the princes broke off to speak with him and I kept moving forward to the other group.

  I bit my lip as I got closer, not knowing what to say to someone who could very well be dead within a few minutes. That was only a fleeting thoug
ht though, something I really didn’t focus on. If T.J. couldn’t survive, we were all screwed. I had more faith in him than I had in myself. He was a tremendous guard.

  To my surprise, however, when I moved forward, the group was laughing. Samuel stood back a little but T.J. and Lex’s shoulders were rolling with laughter. “Hey,” I said, looking from one to the other. Other than the fact that they looked delirious, I wasn’t really sure what to make of them.

  “Hey,” T.J. said, trying his best to regain control.

  Lex did the same as well, straightening her shoulders and looking over at me with a fond smile. “Here to wish our boy good luck?”

  I shrugged. “Something like that. He doesn’t need it though. I have a feeling he’s about to kick some major vampire ass.”

  “Do you now?” T.J. said, his lips curving into a smile.

  “I might’ve seen you do it before up close and personal. There’s no way I would bet against you.” All the while I spoke, my stomach tightened more and more. I genuinely liked T.J.. I didn’t want him to die. I didn’t even want him to get injured.

  Lex clapped him on the back. “He’s got it in the bag.”

  T.J. looked down and shook his head. “The only one who’s got anything in the bag is you when it’s your turn,” he said, looking at Lex with a proud smirk. “There isn’t anyone better than you. I mean, I could be persuaded to think that I’m number two…maybe one and a half…” He held his fingers up in a barely there difference between the two and we all laughed.

  A loud voice came from the doorway. “Please. We all know you’re number three, asshole.”

  My head whipped around, and I stared straight into the face of Matthews. He sat in a wheelchair, his hands poised over the wheels as he stared at T.J.

  “The only reason why you’re going in right now is because I can’t get out of this thing,” he said, kicking his foothold.

  T.J. broke into a grin. “I still wouldn’t count you out, brother.”

  Matthews shrugged.

  “They let you out then?”

  Matthews wheeled forward. “I wouldn’t miss the fights for the world. Have to cheer my people on.” He looked around the group, even smiling at me. After a moment, he looked back at T.J., all remnants of the reunion gone. “You good?”

  T.J. nodded. “I’m good.”

  They all did the same, an uneasiness growing, and a silence falling over us as the time neared. Even deep within the walls of the estate, the crowd outside could be heard.

  Soren walked through then, his hands jammed into his pockets. I blinked, barely recognizing him. His coloring was much better, no longer the wraith-looking vampire from the dungeon, but a healthy one with a glow and fierce eyes. He caught my eye for a moment before breaking into the circle and standing in front of T.J.. “It’s Torrent. Remember, he—”

  “He has a bad right leg, favors it sometimes. Prefers to wield the big, heavy weapons. Got it.”

  Soren nodded. “They’re ready.” He turned. “Dumont’s just arrived, Gregor.”

  Gregor wiped his face with the back of his hand and stood tall, his shoulders pulling back like the statue of a man he was. One of these days, maybe they’d even put a statue up of him somewhere. God knew we were in the middle of making vampire history. They sure as hell weren’t going to be making busts of Dumont’s sorry face. We all had to make sure of that. “I’ll give you a few moments, T.J.. The rest of us need to get out there.”

  Gregor left the room and we all followed after him. T.J. held onto my arm. I turned back and looked into two soft eyes. “Can you give me a second, Ariana?”

  “Of course.”

  I looked around to see the princes leaving, uncomfortable glances back at me, but I smiled at them to quell any misgivings they might have. When everyone was gone, I turned to T.J.. His stare held mine only briefly before he started talking. “I’m about to go out there and fight, and there’s just one thing I wanted to clear up with you. I’m not sure who else they’re going to choose to go out there, but I haven’t held back on my feelings for you.” He looked away, his voice giving a little, before he turned to meet my eyes again. “Maybe it’s because I don’t know what’s going to happen out there, Ariana, but I just thought you should know, no matter how much of a lost cause it is, that I’ve never met anyone like you. I know your heart lies elsewhere, but at another time, I would’ve dedicated my win to you.”

  I shuffled my feet. “T.J….”

  “I know,” he said, his lips curling. “I just wanted you to know. Who knows? Maybe it’s some last, vain attempt on my part to show you that you can be with someone like you.”

  I shook my head. “That’s not what you need to be thinking about right now.”

  “I’m prepared,” he said quickly. “Thanks to you. You sent Soren to me. I know my opponent, which will make the fight that much easier. I’m not asking you to change your mind, I just wanted you to know that if something happens to me, I never got a chance to tell you that I’ve never been more impressed with anyone before in my life. You came into this world completely oblivious, yet you’ve grown into the guard you are. It was impossible not to feel something for you. Your strength, your power, your wisdom. In case you’ll need this talk and I don’t make it, my money’s on you, Ariana Stuart.”

  I stepped forward and put my hand on his shoulder. “You can give me this talk, if I need it, later because you’re about to go out there and kick some ass. If I hadn’t…” I shook my head. There was no use saying that. It felt like a lie that would scar my soul. “I can’t say that,” I said, smiling to him, hoping he would understand. “All I can say is, I hope you do find someone who’ll feel the same way about you. When you win this match, the girls will be scrambling to be with you. You’ll have your choice, I’m sure.”

  He looked down, nodding at the ground and my hand fell off his shoulder.

  Footsteps sounded in the doorway and we both looked up to find Soren there. “It’s time.”

  “I know you can do this,” I told T.J., but he was already in fight mode. His hands roamed over his black tactical getup. He walked toward Soren and grabbed a long, sword-like weapon that leaned against the wall. It was about three feet in length with the tip sharpened into a wooden point. I’d never seen the weapon before, didn’t even know what it was called, but I was instantly intrigued.

  Soren turned and led us out the guard hallway and further to the makeshift arena in the open space I could look down on from my bedroom window. As we got closer, the crowd roared. Jolts of energy shot up my body until my fingertips tingled. We moved closer to the opening that led to the circular grassy area. Guards and vampires alike from our side touched T.J. as we moved through, their faces covered in earnest expressions, some yelling at T.J., others squeezing him as if to give him words of encouragement. My heart lodged in my throat.

  When we were close, Soren stopped and moved aside so T.J. could continue walking into the center. He moved just off middle and I saw his opponent standing there. The vampire was tall, bulky, and muscular unlike any other vampire I’d seen. He was bare-chested with black and brown rope necklaces hanging from his tree trunk of a neck. His hair was scraggly, almost wet-looking as if he’d already sweat a gallon of water or had just gotten out of the shower. He wore a pair of cut off pants, the edges frayed and olive green strings dangling from his unhemmed cuffs. To me, he looked more like a man from the amazon than a vampire getting ready to fight. Fear struck my heart and I grasped the first thing I found. Luckily, it was Nicolai’s hand. “Holy shit, we’re not going to do this.”

  I looked up to find that Nic’s face was white. Gone were his usual shadows, his darkness that barely let the light in. He was a ghost-like figure standing there. I wanted to run out to T.J., I wanted to tell Gregor to stop this thing. What were we thinking agreeing to this?

  But before I knew it, a loud horn blew and then the tension in the air hit maximum overload, like a physical force swept over us and around us, like we were sw
imming through fear and apathy and turmoil.

  The huge hulk of a man, Torrent, Soren had called him, ran toward T.J.. He started out slow, but his vampire abilities kicked in and he was on T.J. before I could even register that he was moving slower than I imagined. From behind his back, he took out a large, wooden-handled spiked metal ball. The tip was like a metal porcupine, bigger than T.J.’s head. He swung it and T.J. ducked, narrowly avoiding the crushing blow.

  Heat shimmered behind my eyes. I felt all hope drain from me. Cursing myself, I realized I’d been a child-like fool with innocent thoughts. Look at that guy. He was going to crush T.J..

  T.J. turned and smacked Torrent on the back. The vampire growled, turning his back to us where I could see a welt starting, blazing across his backside from shoulder to hip. As encouraging as it might’ve been, Torrent just shrugged it off and came for T.J. again who was a lot closer this time. He struck out with the metal spiked ball, glancing off T.J.’s shoulder who grimaced in pain. His mouth clamped shut, and Nicolai’s fingers wound through mine. “He’s tough,” he said into my ear.

  On my right, Soren bent over to whisper, “T.J. knew all this. Torrent comes out fast. He’ll want to wear T.J. out because he knows he’s got his vampire abilities on his side. I know it doesn’t…look good, but this is about what we expected.”

  I turned an exasperated look toward him, but when a loud thwack echoed through the arena, I immediately looked back. The spiked weapon was inches away from T.J.’s foot. Flipping his weapon to the other side, I saw in T.J.’s choice what I hadn’t before, a blade about a foot long. He sliced it across Torrent’s chest and a trickle of blood immediately seeped through.

  “What is that thing?” I asked Soren. “I’ve never seen it before.”

  “Because of Torrent’s strength, we needed a strong weapon. It’s metal infused throughout with of course the wooden stake at the very end. If Torrent gets his hand on that, he’ll have a hard time breaking it apart due to the metal. If T.J.’s quick enough, he can wear Torrent down. Bleed his strength, his abilities, before he goes in for the kill shot.”