by Anna Santos
SACRIFICE
A PARANORMAL VAMPIRE ROMANCE
The Immortal Love Series
Book 5
By
Anna Santos
Sacrifice© copyright 2018 Anna Santos
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
For information contact: [email protected]
http://www.annasantosauthor.com
Edited by Alyssa Breck
Cover design by Story Wrappers
Finding her soul-mate is a dream coming true for Beth. Eric is all she could ask of a mate, and he loves her with a passion that makes everything seem better. She begins to open up, her walls start to crumble, and she has never felt this happy. Still, it’s foretold that Alaric will come for her. A lot sooner than she expects.
Unknown to all, Marie has managed to trap her mate in a secure location so that she can give birth to their child. But Alaric is too cunning to stay trapped forever.
The young daughter of his prison guard grows enchanted by the mysterious man in the holding cell. He seduces her and convinces her that he’s in love and she needs to help him break free.
Things escalate quickly, and Alaric finds his way to Affinity where he finds out that Elizabeth is alive. Finding her with his younger brother only increases his anger.
Will Eric and Beth be strong enough to survive his wrath?
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE
THE IMMORTAL LOVE SERIES
Soul-Mate
The Witch and the Vampire King
Spellbound
Shattered
Sacrifice
COMING SOON:
Claimed – Book 6
For an updated list of books, and to have access to my upcoming releases, check our website:
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Chapter One
“Force it down his throat!” a voice screamed.
Alaric felt the blood trickle down his esophagus. His stomach burned with hunger, but he was adamant in continuing to starve if that made his mate suffer as much as he was suffering, imprisoned in that cell.
Still, his captors had held him down and were forcing him to feed. He continued to struggle, but his efforts brought nothing but failure as they overpowered him and proceeded to shove down the blood down his throat.
The hazy shapes around him slowly retracted into the distance and released him.
“I will kill you! I will kill all of you!” He yelled in rage as the fell forward. “I’ll make you pay for this.” His hands surrounded his throat as the excruciating pain escalated from within his throat and down into his belly.
Aching with an immeasurable sense of agony, he rolled on the moist, cold, and blood-filled floor of his cell. The blood healed his body as he continued to scream, “This isn’t right! You have no right to do this!”
The figures remained tucked in the darkness, and he could barely make out the faces with his blurry vision. There was light, but his eyes were unable to see anything but the sparks of the pain that pounded in his head. If he could lay his grasp on one of his captors, he would vent how angry he was.
“Marie… Marie! I’m your mate. Why are you doing this to me?”
He had no idea if she could sense his pain through their mate bond. He wanted her to. The pain, the hunger, and the loneliness that was making him go mad.
Bending forward, he threw up blood and began sweating profusely. His hands trembled, and his joints felt like they were being struck intermittently by a raging wrecking ball.
“You brought this upon yourself.” Alaric heard a male voice say. “We didn’t need to force you to drink if you followed our orders. Mistress isn’t happy.”
“We cannot allow you to starve,” another voice spoke from behind him. “We’ll restrain you to bed if you do this again.”
Alaric held his hands against his stomach and laughed. “I made that bitch suffer if she sent you here to feed me.” He coughed and spat out blood. “How is she? Is the child still alive?”
“We aren’t allowed to tell you anything. We are just here to provide for you and keep you alive. Now behave, or we’ll have to shackle you.”
“I’ll pull those cuffs until I bleed and that will make your mistress unhappy too,” he threatened.
The bulky vampire in front of him growled and moved his foot. The other guy beside him pushed him back.
“Not in the stomach,” he whispered to his companion.
Then Marie was still pregnant. Since he was pouring the blood they brought him down the drain, he had no idea if his weakness was due to the hunger or Marie’s condition.
“Why isn’t she coming to see me?” He shouted at the vampires. “I told you I would feed if she came.”
“You are in no position to give orders. Not anymore, scum.” The guy lowered down and grabbed his arms. “Now, clean yourself up and go to sleep. Tomorrow, we’ll return to feed you again.” Dragging him to the corner of the cell where there was a small shower with cold water, the vampire left him there and exited the cell.
Through hooded eyes, Alaric saw him close the door and their boots resonated on the rocky walls of that division while they climbed up the stairs.
Alaric spat and moved to rest his back against the wall. “Once I find a way to get out of here, I’ll kill you all.” He laughed, though it made his body hurt more. “I’ll skin them alive first. Then I’ll kill them. Wait! No. I’ll break them limb by limb, remove his eyeballs, cut their tongues, and make them eat their balls.”
***
The days were long and the nights even longer. Alaric didn’t know how long he was there. He tried to keep track, but he gave up after two months. Being trapped was maddening, but losing his abilities was worse. Becoming a human with all the needs and the lack of healing was the real torture to him. He had tried to starve himself but didn’t succeed. His captors would force him to eat. If he believed that being forced to drink the blood was bad enough when he had to eat food, it became even worse. Plus, his captors took pleasure in tormenting him. Especially the older one, Robert.
Through the darkness, the masculine, harsh voice called out, “Alaric! Get your corny ass up and have your meal!”
He woke up from his lethargic thoughts and sat up on the mattress. “Alaric?” “I’m Alaric, am I not?”
“Of course I’m talking to you, damn it! Are you becoming senile?”
Alaric got up and dragged his tired body to the middle of the cell.
“Drop the fucking food and leave me alone!” Alaric yelled and hoped the man would listen to him.
The vampire made his appearance in front of his cell. Tall in frame, with a silvery beard running down his face, and with eyes as dark as night, he eyed Alaric and covered his nose. “It reeks in here. Do you think I have nothing better to do than clean after your mess? Have a bath, clean the floor, and cut your beard.
Alaric’s mouth felt dry when he spoke with folded arms. “What do you care? It’s not like I have somewhere to be.”
The man clenched his teeth. “Do it, or I’ll strip you from your clothes and scrub you under freezing water. Now that you are human, you need to clean more often.”
“You aren’t putting your hands on me, you filthy faggot!”
Alaric shook his head and responded, “I assure you, Robert, you will be the first I kill when the time comes, and I walk out of that door.”
Robert laughed before tossing the plate of what looked like poorly cooked rat meat and some colored liquid by the side towards Alaric.
“Left to me, I would leave you starving and rolling in your own piss in here. But I have my orders.”
Alaric sneered. “But you are a good dog, aren’t you?”
“Sooner or later, you’ll pay for what you did, bastard,” Robert spat and turned his back on Alaric to climb up the stairs.
Alaric looked at the wall that prevented him from seeing the stairs. That was his way out. If he managed to get the keys and the door opened.
Coughing, Alaric fell on the floor and growled, “Help. Help me!”
“What the fuck is wrong with you this time?” Robert descended the stairs and looked from behind the bars. “Are you pretending, bastard?”
“Help me,” Alaric begged, stretching his hand as his face burned red.
The vampire narrowed his eyes and eventually decided to open the door to check on Alaric.
When Robert crouched, Alaric lunged forward and wrapped his hands around the vampire’s neck, applying as much force as he could to choke him.
The vampire held Alaric’s hands and laughed as he removed them with no effort.
“You still don’t get it, do you?” he spoke with extending fangs, sending saliva against Alaric’s face. “Right now, you’re lesser than the rat I killed and used to make the soup for you. You’re no longer a vampire, asshole. Do you really think you can hurt me?”
Robert got up and kicked Alaric hard in the chest, sending him sprawling backward in groans and uncomfortable moans.
“Fuck,” Robert muttered. “Mistress won’t be happy.” He moved to Alaric and dragged him to bed. “Filthy rat. No manners. He pisses on the floor when I made him a nice bathroom to relieve himself.” He threw Alaric on the small iron bed. “Your slaves didn’t have this conditions. They were treated like animals.”
Alaric was unable to speak with the pain.
Turning around, Robert exited the cell before slamming shut the locks on the other side of the door. He stared at Alaric through the slit in the steel door.
“Make sure you eat your food, or I’ll have to force you again,” Robert warned. “I’ll come back later. Clean yourself. It’s my last warning.”
“How much money do you want to let me out of here? I’m rich. You know that.” Alaric forced himself to sat up. “Not just money. I can give you power. A place by my side.”
“Eat your food and stop talking!” Robert yelled and slammed his hands against the bars.
“What do you want then?” Alaric yelled.
“Revenge, asshole. For what you did to my wife. For what your men did to me.”
“I have no idea who the fuck you are,” Alaric said.
“But I know who you are. It’s because of you that I’m like this. There’s nothing you have that you can use to bargain with me.” Smirking, Robert waved goodbye and disappeared up the stairs.
“I need to get out… I need to get out… I need to get out of here!” Alaric muttered.
He looked around the squared room, bearing a single window high up into the wall and overlooking the sea. The walls seemed to be closing on him, and he grabbed his hands to his hair and screamed.
Chapter Two
Most of his days, the only sound that Alaric heard, besides the revolving sea, were the footsteps above the dungeons of the place he was trapped.
Every time that the door unlocked on the top of the stairs, he got up and waited to see Robert or Sam with his food. Though he hated them, it was the only time he had anyone to speak. Sam, the buff guy, wasn’t much of a talker. He kept his eyes on the floor, and Alaric knew that he feared him. Even so, he wasn’t stupid to fall for Alaric’s tricks and that frustrated him.
Since Alaric had spent two days vomiting and with fever, the food had become better, and they even brought him fruit.
The returning sound of footsteps outside the walls of his room, albeit not as thundering and hammering against the floor as Robert’s alerted Alaric that someone was coming back. It brought a mix of joy and frustration to him in equal, but he kept himself calm and fixated his gaze o the door in hopes it was Robert bringing some much better meal to him. Alaric was sure that were women in that place. Someone would clean his clothes, and he had heard the sound of a female talking the first month he was there, and his vampire senses were still sharp.
Still, Robert hadn’t been stupid enough to send the woman to the dungeons.
He rubbed his crotch and grumbled. He could use a pussy. Memories of Beth rushed to his mind. He missed her the most. Somehow, he would make Marie pay for what she had done to his sweet Elizabeth. His family was also guilty of Beth’s death. If they hadn’t attacked, Marie wouldn’t find a chance to rebel against him and kill her sister out of jealousy. They could have been happy the three of them. Beth would take care of his child. He would give the baby to her. She was more nurturing than Marie. His heart hurt inside his chest with the memory of how pretty Beth was.
He punched the air. “This is all your fault, Mother!” Tears fell down his cheeks. “You came back to haunt me, mom. I miss you so much. I’m sorry for what I did to you.” He wiped his tears with the back of his sleeve. “The witch is not your mom, asshole. She was lying. Mom would never hurt you.” He sat up. “She would if she knew that I was the one who killed her.” He got up and paced around his cell. “Shut up! Mom knows it was a mistake. I didn’t mean to kill her.” He halted and fisted his hands. “But she’s dead, and I’m all alone now. All alone.”
He continued to mutter until he heard the door open upstairs. He froze and waited for the familiar footsteps, but there was no sound. He looked at the window of his cell. It was still to soon to bring him dinner.
Stepping closer to the bars, he peaked and angled his head to see if he could glimpse what was going on.
“Who is there? Show yourself!” Alaric shouted.
He waited for whoever was on upstairs to speak or make their presence known but the silence was all he got. It angered him further.
“I know you’re out there! I can feel your presence, whoever you are.”
He got nothing but the same staunch silence.
Bored, Alaric turned his back and walked to his bed. It was then that the clicking sound on the door closing alerted him that he wasn’t hallucinating.
He paused and focused his hearing on the muffled sounds of shoes descending the stairs. He tilted his head to the left and glimpsed a loaf of bread pass by him and hit the wall in front of him.
“What the hell?”
Before he had time to turn around, quick steps were climbing up the stairs, the door opened and closed. The key turned on the lock, and he was alone again.
He smirked and walked to where the fresh loaf of bread had been tossed. Picking it up, he smelled it and nibbled it. It tasted good, and his stomach appreciated the food.
With a wry smile across his thin lips, he mumbled, “This is interesting.”
Despite not being a vampire anymore, he had perceived the scent of feminine perfume. A glimmer of hope rekindled in his dark and mischievous heart.
“Really interesting.” He continued to eat and sat on his bed.
***
His shoulder-length hair and masculine features sent ripples of desire down her spine and the tone of his voice while he spoke to himself even though he was locked up made Olivia want to reach out to him and help him in whatever way she could.
She couldn’t stop dreaming of him ever since the day her father had taken her to the dungeons to clean while the handsome stranger laid unconscious on his bed. She had never seen a man that handsome before. Except in movies. Olivia had
watched as Sam had undressed the stranger and tossed her his clothes for her to watch. She had done that task with the utmost care and made sure that they smelled clean and fresh.
Washing his clothes was her favorite task. Once they were cleaned, she hugged them and pretended that they were both dancing and talking. Just like in a fairy tale where she saves the prince from the beast. In this case, the beast was her father. Why he wanted to keep a man in the basement of their home was beyond her comprehension. Though he was a vampire, he usually didn’t bring victims home. Was he using the man as a blood donor? She had many questions, but her father didn’t want to answer any.
“I’ll figure it out by myself,” she grumbled as she secured her back against the wall of her bedroom. “I’m so bored.”
Father was home again so she couldn’t sneak below and gawk at the handsome man in captivity. He seemed to enjoy every time she went there. Even if she didn’t show herself, he smiled and talked huskily for her not to be afraid. She was a coward for not facing him. Still, he was too handsome, and she felt shy.
Luckily, she had convinced her father to buy her new clothes. If she had a pretty dress, she could impress him and maybe even make him fall for her.
Giggling with her hands in front of her mouth, she waltzed her way to her bed and fell on it. Her package would arrive that day, and she could see him then.
“Yes, I’m going to show myself.”
Sitting up, she caught the book that was on the bed and flipped the pages. With nothing much to do on the island, she spent her days reading or watching TV. Though reading was better because her favorite books were romance, and she loved to pretend she was the heroine while reading.
Nibbling her lower lip, she rolled a strand of her around her finger. “Maybe daddy can let me have him when I’m old enough to be turned into a vampire. If he doesn’t kill him first.” Widening her eyes, she hugged the book against her chest. “No! I’ll feed him enough food so he won’t get weak. He can’t die.”
