by A. K. Koonce
A slick hand shoves up and around my throat so hard that I’m staring up at the steeples and spires of the church, gazing up at the stars that paint the night sky beyond. His other hand slams over my lips and when he comes back into my view, giant black wings rip out from the back of his suit. They tear through the cloth and his black dress shirt falls away as inky lines of smoky tattoos and eerie red marks of color kiss his flesh here and there.
He truly does look like a storybook monster. And it appears that I’m to be his next victim.
His slick body lowers over mine, his chest pressing into me in a familiar way.
“Don’t ever fooking insert yourself into things you don’t belong in!” Rival seethes against my neck like a lover’s promise. His hold around my throat tightens.
My lashes start to feel very heavy.
His body against mine is a strangely calming weight. My eyes close tiredly, but my heart continues to pound with reckless determination.
My hands cease clawing at his flexing forearms.
“Why aren’t you helping her!?” I hear someone scream.
“Because she doesn’t need us,” a lazy, distracted voice answers. The sound of that warm tone ignites memories within me. He’s someone I’ve known for several lifetimes over. His smile and laughter rings through my mind, lighting me up with mementos of love and lust.
A memory drifts in of my Prince tangled up in white sheets that match the color of his horns. His hands are around my waist. His body is smooth and hard against mine as he lifts my thighs and wraps me nicely around his hips. His mouth is hot against my neck, my shoulders, and my breasts.
The warmth of his body and the blaze of our kiss fades out.
“Get up, Miss Vega,” he growls lazily from somewhere in my mind.
My lashes flutter, and I look back up at the crazed vampire leaning over me. It’s a conflicting feeling, even as I know what I’m about to do.
I don’t want to hurt him, I thought he was my sister’s protector.
But I won’t hesitate, I’ll kill him for everything he did.
My hand flings out, and it’s like I knew where I left it all along. Or maybe my senses are better than I realize. Damp grass slides over my fingers before I grab the sleek object around the middle like a makeshift weapon. The red bottom of my stiletto is in my hand in an instant and fling it forward, hard. His scream accompanies his thrashing as I sink the pointed heel deep into his neck. His black leather wings spread wide, but never lift him up. Dark blood trickles out as his fangs flash out with a gravely hiss.
His teeth drag across my throat, but I hold him back.
Just a little longer!
His mouth is hot across my flesh and his teeth are sharp scratches that keep scraping closer and closer.
Until…
My hand comes down hard once more. A cutting breath leaves his lungs and blood slides down my fingers as the heel sinks deep into his chest.
Just over his heart.
His shining starlit eyes stare down on me.
“Cuishle,” he whispers oddly.
My heart stumbles as I gasp for a solid breath for the first time in what feels like an eternity. And then I shove him off. He hits the ground at my side with a heavy thud.
Gentle hands wrap around one of mine and Aston steadies me carefully as he pulls me up against his side. His hands hover around my face, but he doesn’t touch me.
He’s always so careful. So aware.
So…
I wrap my arms around him in an instant and he lets me. He holds me hard, and my body sings from the feel of it.
I just killed a man.
I’m a literal vampire slayer.
And all I want is to be held for a little while.
Twenty-One
Kira
“You tried to kill a High Councilman!” Zavia’s red lips purse harder and harder every time she speaks. “You’re lucky I don’t deal with you personally!”
Pavel and his assistant Nicco stand quietly behind Zavia. Prey kneels before me and attends to my wounds with a wet cloth. He doesn’t try to meet my gaze, not even once. He keeps his attention averted in a respectful way that eats at me with each passing second.
“You’re lucky I was able to get to Rival before the blood settled in his heart.”
My teeth grind.
“You saved a killer then.” I square my shoulders as I look up at the one woman I was told not to talk to.
“Rival Royale is no killer.” Her deep green eyes blaze with authority.
“Acessa is dead!”
“We do not know what happened between them tonight.”
“We will by dawn,” I say and Prey’s hand pauses. His pretty gaze drags slowly to meet mine. “I called Creature Control.”
Zavia’s eye twitches.
Pavel looks to Nicco and I hear the young man whispering loudly to repeat what I just said. “Kyra called Creature Control to investigate the High Council.”
“Oh, Zavia will not be happy about that,” Pavel announces so loudly that Zavia’s eye twitches all over again.
Aston’s lips part and I just faintly hear a curse whisper out from the corner he leans in.
“You called Creature Control?” Her voice lowers to a deadly tone.
“They’ll be here at sunrise to collect Royale.” I don’t know why I challenge her so hard. It feels good though. It feels good to force justice into this world where they were so happy to just toss a victim into a used grave and forget about her entirely.
I won’t let that happen, though.
Zavia’s jawline tightens as she swallows hard before turning on her high heels and storming to the stairs.
“And someone go find the Prince! I leave this house for one week and literally all Hell breaks loose!” Her young assistant chases after her, scribbling notes furiously in a little worn notebook.
Nicco holds out his hand and assists Pavel into croft number two. The old vampire is laid to rest and Nicco seems relieved once the lid to the coffin is finally in place over his master. Nicco’s heavy sigh follows him as he too heads upstairs.
Prey continues to wipe the dry blood from my hair, but a new and familiar scowl is lining his face.
“You’re an idiot for attacking him,” Prey grunts as he runs the cool rag delicately across my cheek.
“She’s a badass,” Aston says with a smile.
“Can she still be a badass if she’s dead? Because that’s what Zavia will do to her if Creature Control investigators riffle through our house and Rival turns out to be innocent.” Prey’s head shakes back and forth like the good little prep boy he is.
“And you’d rather she died without a fight in the cemetery? You’d want to bury her just like you did Kyra?”
My mouth falls open.
“You buried Kyra?” I ask, gripping his wrist in an instant to stop him from his busy work with my fucking face.
A scent like smoke and sugar explodes right next to him. The vampire swings without thought. His fist and wet rag collide with the hard jaw line of a mysterious demon prince.
“Yes, do tell how you buried Kyra in a used up hole in the ground without so much as a goodbye Lassie from her family.” My Prince leans against the croft I’m sitting on and rests his head against his hand, ignoring the light drip of blood slipping from his lower lip.
“Stop trying to get Kira to kill me next,” Prey whispers with a hard pull of his down turned lips. “Rivale asked me to bury her. And really… I didn’t like the idea of someone she didn’t trust giving her her final resting place.
“Final resting place,” My Prince mocks in that high-pitched girl voice he likes so much. “As if any of you ever rest. Even after death.” He rolls his bright blue eyes so hard I’d swear he were demonically possessed if he wasn’t already demonic royalty.
“I believe you,” I whisper suddenly and all three of them snap their attention to me. “What? I do.”
“Why?” Prey asks on the quietest voice.
&nbs
p; My heart kicks up as I look at him and the cruel disbelieve lining his face.
“Because you’re my mate and I know when you’re lying, Prey,” I say.
His Adam’s apple bobs as he shifts his attention to the ground.
A tension pulls tightly between us and all I want is a hint of decency between us. Mates doesn’t have to be lovers. But I truly want some form of friendship with my sister’s closest friend.
She trusted him.
I want that for us too.
“Being someone’s mate doesn’t mean anything, Pretty Human,” he tosses the rag down at my side and strides away from me.
“You’re afraid,” My Prince speaks loudly and clearly, letting his accusation crawl the walls around us. “You’re afraid she’ll never want you just like everyone else in this fucked up little society. Humans are beneath them but vampire’s assistants, they’re just barely above humans, aren’t they?”
“Wow. Demon man woke up from imprisonment and chose violence,” Aston says under his breath.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Prey level’s his stance in front of the demon and I just know the two of them will end up with more fists thrown if we’re not careful.
“If you’re not afraid,” My Prince tilts his head slowly with a smile carving up his face, “then kiss her.”
“Wwhat? I’m sorry, what?” Aston interjects and it’s the first time I’ve ever seen him stunned.
And I agree.
“Our lives are not a RomCom for you, DP. I’m so sorry.” I fold my arms as I look at the demon but for some reason snickers, actual snickers of laughter, are shaking out of him.
“Did you just call me DP?”
“You won’t tell me your name. I’m just going to have to go with Demon Prince and that feels incredibly weird to say.”
“And you thought DP was the better option,” My Prince says and all three of them are giggling like a lunch line of little girls.
“What is the big damn deal with DP? What?”
“Nothing. No. I love it. Definitely call him DP. It’s just the penetratingly accurate is all.” Aston’s nodding harder and harder.
What?
My eyebrows lower but I still don’t know what their issue is.
“Can you—do us a favor—please ask for DP. Just like in a voice that says you’re parched and maybe a little bit in pain but like a good girl pain, you know?” Aston hangs on my silence as I glare at his weird fucking request.
“You’re such an undead idiot,” I finally say and Prey and DP both nod in agreement.
How did I get sucked into the lives of such strange and messy men?
“It’ll strengthen both of you if the mark is accepted,” Demon Prince says after a moment of casual silence settles in where mocking laughter once was.
Prey’s head snaps up and he looks at the demon for several seconds. He doesn’t believe him.
Or maybe he really is afraid. What if I lower his power instead of increase it?
“She has a vampire’s mark, a wolves mark—”
I cut him off hard. “A wolfs mark?”
He rolls his eyes as he lifts my hair and points to something at the back of my neck.
I touch but feel nothing there.
…I swear if I marked on Vuitton too… Two of them? How could I have marked on two men? Jesus it’s like the fucking apocalypse. They just keep infecting me. And I keep going right back like more dick might be the antidote.
“And now,” DP continues as I’m still rubbing at the back of my neck, “the magic of a demon is in her heart. You’re a fool if you think she’s weaker than you.” My Prince remains impassive in appearance but I know he’s invested in this.
Why?
“You gain power when I gain power.” I arch an eyebrow at him.
His smile broadens. “You’re clever, Miss Vega.”
Prey turns and there’s a question in his searching eyes as he looks at me.
Black smoke blooms all around but then the demon’s closer to Prey than he was before, his face just an inch from the vampire’s.
“Kiss her,” he whispers like a dirty little thought.
Prey steps between my thighs and I let him. Curiosity prickles through the room like a crawling, needy parasite. Prey leans in and I’m drawn to him as much as he seems to be drawn to me. His lashes lower.
My gaze lifts.
And I lock eyes with Aston as Prey grips the back of my neck, and seals my lips to his. Red burns into the whites of Aston’s eyes as he holds my gaze. My tongue slides out to meet Prey’s and I can’t help the moan that shakes through me as Aston licks his lips and Prey kisses me harder.
Sparks burn through my veins.
His mouth lowers and the warmth of his tongue rolls over my throat. Sharp teeth scrape over the mark I know is just beneath his lips.
His mark.
“Lie back,” Prey orders and my hands shake as I lean back against my elbows before lowering my back to the hard lid of my croft. “You smell so fucking good.” His breath fans across my thighs as his head disappears between my legs.
My Prince flicks his sapphire eyes slowly over my body before meeting my gaze.
“What are you thinking?” he asks in a mystified, far off voice.
Fingers lock around my panties and the drag of lace over flesh makes me shift in place.
“Um,” my eyes close but I can’t think as soft lips press lightly over my inner thigh. “Uh… I’m thinking that fate is an asshole to mark me with a man who has so much hate and so little brains.”
A grunt hums over my flesh as sharp teeth nip at my thigh.
A shiver tumbles all through me.
“You think I hate you?” Prey’s breath is hot against my center as he talks low and menacing. I smile as I realize he’s ignoring the low blow in that description of himself. “Hate fucking is best kind, Pretty Human,” he whispers as his fingers trace back and forth along the apex of my thighs.
My legs shake but I try to keep my composure.
Every good vampire movie needs a little hate fucking…
My head lifts and Aston still watches me. He’s moved toward the bottom of the stairs though and he’s just about to leave.
He should leave.
He should.
“You like him,” My Prince whispers with that nagging curiosity in his tone. “Mmm he’s uncomfortable. Make him more comfortable, Miss Vega.”
My heart pounds to tell him to leave. To save whatever good image he has of me in his mind.
I shouldn’t fuck Prey.
But so much of me wants him. Even if I know he’ll never want me.
I just want to know what it feels like. With the mate I’ll never truly have.
Just once.
A hot mouth presses over my wetness and with one big swipe of his tongue he covers me fully. His hands hold my legs open hard and his mouth devours me even harder.
A gasp tears from my throat and still I cling to that pained hooded look in Aston’s emerald eyes. Energy tangles through me with every swirl of Prey’s cruel tongue. Too many sensations climb inside, settling low in my core. Breathless moans are all I have. And as I watch Aston, I see that same erotic neediness within him.
Because he feels so much. He feels so much of me.
I want him to feel more.
“Aston,” I moan, my head falling back but I keep gazing into the sensuality shining in the depths of his eyes.
At the sound of another man’s name on my lips, Prey thrusts two fingers in hard. He arches them deep and grinds into me in just that one spot of pure intensity.
“Look at me,” Prey growls as he fucks me harder with his hand, making me insane with every small move he makes.
Pain and pleasure shake through me as my spine arches hard, my attention struggling to do what Prey asked. He leans over me, putting even more pressure against my sex as he works me faster and faster. His hand wraps around my neck and he pulls me up despite the bow of my body. His lips h
over over mine as he speaks.
“You’re fucking mine. Your slick pussy,” his fingers press harder against that perfect spot, “you moans and screams, and your fucking orgasm, are all mine.” And with a slam of his lips and a thrust of his hand my sex clenches around him. All those reckless emotions crash down on me in a rain of euphoria trembling all through my body.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I whisper against his lips and flicks his tongue against my curses before his teeth drag over my lower lip.
And he bites there hard before sucking sweetly. Warmth trickles down my chin but I’m oblivious to anything other than the feel of his bliss washing into me. Magic bight and white lights me up. It tingles all through me and he pulls back before it fully settles low in my core.
“You’ll always be the one I can’t have, Pretty Human,” he whispers against my lips. “Luckily for me, I don’t want you.”
He pulls his hand away, leaving me confused and with a new emptiness between my thighs where he once was. My Prince sits lazily on top of Pavel’s croft, munching… is that popcorn?
I blink at the room and find the spot where Aston watched me from across the room. Except he’s gone now.
Because I chose a man who will never want me.
Despite what fate may claim.
A heavy thought of embarrassment fills my chest but I shove it all away. I stomp it. And then I look up at the vampire storming away from me.
With a haze of blood red mist I’m in front of him. I flurry in with sparkling magic drifting around my hair and eyes as I stare up at the arrogant asshole.
“Fuck your mark, Prey. And fuck you too.” My chin lifts. I still want him.
The push and pull between us is electric and sparking and the hate he wears for me, it just makes all that needy energy burn up when we’re near.
“Don’t claim me.” I lean in close to him, nerves firing through me with the brush of our hair as I whisper along his ear. “Spend the rest of your miserable fucking life without feeling the ecstasy a mate can bring you.” My lips press to his cheek with a sweet fuck-you goodbye.
But his hand snaps around my jaw before I can pull away. Sparking energy strikes between us. His other hand grips my thigh and he lifts me without warning. My back slams to the wall and his hips press into me nicely. He weights me against the brick and his head buries in my neck as he grinds into me slowly at first.
