Ancient One: Paranormal Romance (Protectors of the Veil Book 1)

by Ruby Wilder

  He moved a fraction closer and said, 'Alright, goodnight, Maeve, see you tomorrow.'

  He was gone. And I was alone and aching.

  9

  Adam

  I could smell her, her sweet blood and her hot musk.

  It was almost unbearable. She drove me insane.

  I wanted to rip her throat out and drink her up while taking her completely with my body. I would have to control myself. I couldn't murder the Ancient One. Not before Samhain.

  Earlier at the stones, it had been easier, she hadn't smelled so... so... irresistible.

  I knew it was the old magic binding us now, but I had found her compelling before the magic had kicked in. That first night I met her in the gift shop I'd been attracted to her. I had tried to hypnotise her, so she would feel the same way.

  My intentions had not been honorable.

  I had planned to seduce her later than evening, fuck her half to death, then drink what was left.

  I indulged in a human now and then.

  We all did.

  It was a small price that they had to pay for our protection.

  But it hadn't worked. She was immune to me. I'd known then she wasn't human, even though Conri insisted she was.

  Then she became the Ancient One and we were bound. She was mine and I was hers. Perfect - except now I couldn't rip her apart and drink her delicious smelling blood.

  I didn't mind sharing her with the others - it was commonplace in the vampire community, very few were exclusive.

  But what I hadn't bargained on was her being so fucking irresistible. Her tall slim body and flowing red locks, throw in her smell.... well, it was too much. I couldn't handle it.

  So I'd fled.

  Instead of a night of passion, sex and fun as I'd planned, I'd had to run before it became a night of blood, lust and murder.

  I ran my hand through my hair.

  Jesus, what was I doing? I'd only just become a Protector. It wasn't that long ago that I was hanging out in a New York apartment, sharing the fruits of our hunting with the other vampires. Fucking each other in the blood and entrails of poor prostitutes and homeless men.

  But I'd felt empty - until that night I had an epiphany and decided to go straight.

  I'd been walking back home along 42nd street when I'd heard some vampires in a back alley. It sounded like they were having fun, so I thought I'd join them. I could smell blood and knew they were playing with their food. But I hadn't bargained on what I would see. There were four vampires, and they'd wiped out a family. The young mother lay on her back, alive but dazed, with her unborn baby and womb spilling out into the street. The father - he looked like he was in his mid-twenties - was dead, his neck snapped. But what got to me was the little blonde-haired child - I think it was a girl - they were tormenting her and to stop her from screaming they'd ripped the lower part of her jaw off. She was wandering about, drooling blood and saliva. It was too much. I'd never hurt a child before and I wasn't going to start now.

  I left the scene and promised myself that I would be a good man, protect the humans like we agreed to do all those years ago.

  I straighten myself up and came home to England to enlist.

  They took me straight away, of course. Not many vampires wanted to protect. We are amongst the strongest, but not known for our compassion.

  What I didn't expect was to be bound to a fucking smoking hot Ancient One that I couldn't control myself around.

  This certainly threw a spanner in the works.

  Did all the Druids smell like that? She was the first I'd met. I should maybe go and sniff her gran out, see if I could control myself around her.

  After I left Maeve’s house, I wandered around the streets for a while, not knowing what to do.

  I was thinking maybe I should go home, go to bed and try again tomorrow night, when I felt something. It was like a pull, a calling. It was leading me to the stones.

  I tried to resist it, I didn't like the idea of something controlling me like that, but it was impossible. I could have transformed and flew there, or ran fast, getting there instantly, but I didn't. I walked as slow as I could, almost at human speed. It was hard, but nothing was going to make me rush. As I said, I didn't like being controlled.

  I was concentrating very hard on walking slowly when I heard my name being called. It wasn't out loud, it was in my thoughts. It was Maeve.

  'What?'

  'Where are you, Adam? I have to get to the stones, and quick.'

  'You can feel it too?'

  Then Conri called me.

  'What's going on, Adam?'

  'I don't know, I just feel like I have to get to the stones.'

  'The rest of us are already here. We came as quick as we could. Where's Maeve?'

  And there was the difference. Everyone felt it and hurried to get there. But I resisted, dragging my feet. I would've denied the calling if I could have - gone to the other side of the earth to get away from that irresistible pull. Was I even a Protector?

  'Adam, come get me.' It was Maeve.

  'Okay, okay, I'm coming.' And within seconds I had her, and we were at the stones.

  Everyone one was there, and I didn't miss the jealous stare from Conri as I carefully put Maeve down.

  I gently brushed a thick red strand of hair away from her eyes and gave her one of my rare smiles - it was a childish thing to do, but I couldn't help it.

  What was wrong with me? I was acting like a lovesick teenager.

  It would have to stop, I was one hundred years old for fuck's sake.

  10

  Maeve

  Adam put me down gently and smiled, brushing a strand of my hair from my eyes. It threw me for a second.

  Two smiles in the space of an hour? What was going on?

  I regained myself as best as I could, but Adam had a special way of unnerving me.

  I never knew whether he wanted to kill me or kiss me. I was an intoxicating feeling. I loved it.

  'Does anyone know why we have been drawn here?' I asked, loudly.

  Conri, Adam and Levi all shook their heads, whereas Drago, Vig and Fiona nodded.

  Ah, so the newbies didn't know, but the pros did.

  'Anyone want to enlighten the more inexperienced of us in the team?'

  Drago spoke up. 'They rise, making ready for break,' he said shrugging.

  'But I can't hear anything, they are quiet.'

  'You Caller?' Drago asked, clearly impressed.

  'Apparently. But they are quiet,'

  I listened hard while everyone kept quiet, eventually shaking my head. 'Nothing.'

  'Very strange,' Drago said, 'It not normal for us to be drawn here for no reason. In past, we come because magic is weak and something getting ready to break loose.'

  Fiona broke her silence saying, 'Are they tricking us?'

  She looked at me and said, 'Ask them.'

  Ask them? What did she mean ask them? Ask who?

  She nodded at the stone circle and said, 'Go on, ask them.'

  I stared at Fiona, who tutted and rolled her eyes.

  She pissed me off, as usual, so I shouted at the circle - Are you tricking us? - just to be a dick.

  I wish I hadn't.

  As soon as the words came out of my mouth, a blinding light came from the stones followed by an unearthly screech.

  It dropped me to my knees.

  No matter how hard I shut my eyes and ears, the sound and the light were still there.

  I couldn't hear myself screaming, but I knew I was because my throat was dry and aching.

  I was going to pass out, black spots danced in front of the blinding light and the sound of waves lapped over the screeching.

  I would be a relief.

  Then as suddenly as it started, it stopped.

  Peace.

  I was standing, not kneeling and everyone was waiting around normally as if I hadn't been struck by this terrible experience.

  I heard a voice say, 'Don't shout at us - you didn't
like it did you?'

  'Okay, I'm sorry. No, I didn't.'

  'What do you want? Why are you calling us?' the voice said.

  'I want to know why we have been called here.'

  The voice laughed. 'Why should I answer you? You have trapped us down here for millennia. Why should I do anything you want?'

  'Because I am the Ancient One, and I demand the truth.'

  I was being cocky. I didn't know what else to do. Again, bad move.

  The blinding light and screeching started, but I was ready this time. I pulled the magic from the earth below and wrapped it around me. I could feel the comforting blue glow. It blocked the light and the sound.

  It worked!

  I laughed. The voice from behind the veil growled menacingly and turned up the volume and brightness. It didn't work, it couldn't get past my magic.

  'That's not working, is it?' I taunted.

  The light and noise began to pulse, but it still wasn't strong enough. My magic was holding it at bay.

  'Tell me what I want to know!' I demanded.

  It all stopped, and a tiny voice spoke.

  It was the voice of a child, but the things it said should not come out of a child's mouth.

  'You are broken, Druid. Ruined. We will be victorious come Samhain. You are not bonded to your Protectors. We will triumph, just as we did over your mother. She was unbonded too.'

  'You will not win, my Protectors and I will...'

  The childish voice laughed, stopping me.

  'Shh, fool. Your Protectors, ha! One wants to rip you apart, murder you and drink your blood while violating you in the most exquisite ways.

  ‘He would be a welcome addition to our world. Right now he fantasises about biting your jugular while ramming his hard, icy cock into your softest places.'

  Adam.

  I turned to look at him, but he stared ahead, frozen in time, by some sort of spell cast by the underworld.

  'Another is so jealous, he cannot think straight. He would rather you be dead than be with another.

  ‘He would tear you apart with his claws and eat your heart before he shared you.'

  Conri.

  He was also frozen in time.

  He must have been moving as the spell was cast because his shiny hair was spread all about his head, forming a golden-brown halo.

  'One will not touch you because he finds you repulsive.

  ‘He was once bonded to a Druid from your bloodline whom he loved very much. You pale in comparison. He would not even be able to get hard with you.

  ‘You are less than nothing to him.'

  Drago

  He was stuck in a running pose.

  His grey floppy hair was standing on end and his mouth was slightly open.

  'Two of them, do not like you. They prefer the opposite sex, both wanting hard cock, which you cannot give.

  ‘You will never bond with them. They also find you repulsive.'

  Fiona and who? Vig?

  Fiona was looking at me, she was the only one. She stared blankly through me.

  It was unnerving.

  And Vig, was he gay? Perhaps. He had his arm out reaching for something, his mouth formed into a word he was going to shout.

  'And lastly, this one wants to torture you. He wants you to beg for mercy at his cruelness. Your pain will make him hard and when he is hard he will cause you more pain.

  ‘He will break your will and your soul. He will let you live, but only for his pleasure. You will wish you were dead, but he will not allow it. He wants a plaything, and you are it.

  ‘He will ruin you and you will beg for mercy.'

  Levi.

  He was standing still when the spell hit.

  His face was frozen in a dangerous grin, his pale grey eyes narrow and sly. Out of all the Protectors, I feared Levi the most.

  Then it was gone. The voice, the spell, everything.

  'Are you alright?' Conri asked.

  I was shocked by what the childish voice had told me and it must've registered on my face.

  But it had only told me what I already believed - that The Protectors didn't want me.

  'Adam, get her home,' Conri shouted.

  As Adam walked toward me, I saw Conri set off running at an incredible speed, Fiona transformed into a bird, Drago flickered and changed into a dragon, flying away with Vig holding onto his foot, and Levi disappeared.

  Adam had me at my front door in no time.

  'Can I come in?'

  I nodded.

  He carried me into the kitchen where Levi was already lounging, feet up on another chair.

  'Sit,' Levi said patting the chair next to him.

  Drago and Vig came in, followed a second later by Fiona.

  'Conri will be last, he's the slowest,' Levi said, grinning.

  Sure enough, Conri was last, arriving a minute later and out of breath.

  He put his hands on the kitchen table saying, through gasps, 'You lot have gotta work out a way to help me travel. I'm exhausted!'

  'How did Vig hold on to you, Drago. I thought you burned?' I asked.

  'Only scales burn. No scales on feet.'

  Fair enough.

  'What happened at the stones, Maeve?' Adam asked.

  Levi, Fiona, Drago and I sat at the table in the kitchen. Conri was at the sink pouring himself a glass of water. Vig sat on the kitchen counter like it was a normal-sized bench and Adam stood in front of me.

  They all stopped what they were doing and looked at me.

  'Um, I'm not sure what happened to you lot. You all just froze.'

  'That's what you did too, Maeve, you just stopped,' Adam replied.

  'What happened?' Conri asked.

  I didn't want to tell them what the voice had said. So, I just shrugged.

  'I have no idea,' I lied.

  But I did know. I knew that they didn't want to be with me, and that would make us weak and vulnerable.

  11

  My gran's kitchen seemed to be the Protector headquarters now. There was always one or another of them around.

  Today, Levi was here.

  This demon scared the hell out of me.

  I didn't like being alone with him. He watched me as I made tea, I felt like he was a predator, and I was his prey.

  Every time I caught his eye he was staring at me.

  He leaned back in his chair, balancing on the back two legs. One booted foot was on the floor, the other on a chair. His old leather jacket was thrown on the kitchen table, and he wore a white v- neck t-shirt and blue jeans. He was half-turned with his elbow over the back of the chair. His huge hand dangled behind, the wrist was adorned with leather straps and trinkets that clinked as he moved.

  His grey eyes followed me around the kitchen.

  He was handsome, perhaps the most handsome of all The Protectors.

  He was taller than Conri at six foot five inches, muscular, with blond hair, long on the top, but shaved at the back and sides going into a long stubble that was almost a beard.

  I would like to have stared at him, took in every inch of him, appreciating his manliness, but I couldn't.

  He was too scary - so I got on with making my pot of tea.

  His eyes were burning into the back of me. I felt myself redden.

  'Why are you uncomfortable around me?' he asked eventually, breaking the silence.

  I turned to face him, my cheeks still flushed.

  'Because you scare the shit out of me, Levi,' I answered honestly.

  His face took only a split-second to register what I had said - I don't think he expected the truth - and he roared with laughter.

  It was so loud, the kitchen shook.

  'You could just blast me with your Druid magic,' he said.

  Was he taking the piss? The grin on his face said he was. Could my magic hurt him, or not?

  Only one way to find out.

  I began to pull my magic from the ground...

  'Whoa,' he shouted, and at the same time, he was up, acro
ss the kitchen and had hold of both of my wrists.

  'H-how do you move so fast?'

  His grip was tight around my wrists. This was the closest I'd ever been to him.

  It was unnerving.

  His huge hands had hold of my wrists like they were sticks of liquorice. I could feel the heat coming from his strong, muscular body. He smelled of leather and soap, it was intoxicating. I felt tiny, as he stared down at me.

  His brows had been furrowed, but they now smoothed out. 'I'm a demon, remember?' he said.

  We stood staring at each other while he held my wrists uncomfortably tight.

  Fuck, he was hot.

  What did the child's voice from the portal say? That he would make me beg for mercy? Looking at him like this, I'd do it willingly right now.

  He smirked at me, a cocky grin, and slowly let go of my wrists.

  I rubbed them, not realising how tight he had hold of them.

  'We don't play around with magic,' he chided.

  I glared at him, the blood causing pins and needles in my hands as it returned.

  'Do we?' he asked, louder this time, staring intensely at me.

  Still, I glared, but I could feel myself weakening. Something in his eyes frightened me but attracted me equally. I knew I was playing with fire, and it would be me who would get burned.

  I didn't see how it happened as he moved so fast, but he grabbed my wrist again and pushed it up behind my back, causing me to throw my head backwards and arch myself towards him.

  He growled close to my ear.

  It was a demonic noise, not like Conri's werewolf growl. Levi's growl was loud and terrifying. His hot breath panted against me.

  He rested his forehead against my temple and said, 'Well?'

  I was turned on. Oh, fuck was I turned on. I never knew I liked it rough.

  Well, well, well, Maeve, you are a dark horse, aren't you?

  My throat ached with longing and a fire burned deep in the pit of my belly, but I managed a small, 'No.'

  He roughly put his other hand down the front of my trousers and slid two of his thick fingers inside me. I gasped.