Bound Through Blood

by Alexis Kennedy

  Bound Through Blood

  Alexis Kennedy

  When Devin lost his true love to the 18th century witch trials, he thought he'd lost his only chance at ever having love and a mortal life again forever. But then the vampire tastes his true love's blood in another—her tenth generation great-granddaughter. Suddenly, that life is possible again but only if he can convince Salena Saunders of their destiny.

  Fighting against the forces who want to protect her and the men who want to have her—including his own long-lost vampire brother, Gabriel—Devin struggles to get close enough to prove his love and intentions to Salena while protecting her from Gabriel and her own superstitions.

  Salena Saunders works as a tour guide in a New Orleans historical home—unraveling the past for tourists—when her own past begins to haunt her and mythical stories actually come to life right before her eyes. For the first time ever, she seeks guidance from fortunetellers and voodoo priestesses for answers—ones that both promise to shock her and guide her to true love and her destiny.

  Beyond the realm of mythical creatures and superstitions, as well as her very own cultural surroundings, Salena must come to terms with being Bound Through Blood.

  Categories: Romance, Paranormal, Vampires, Fantasy

  Words: 53,000

  Thank you to my parents, Steve and Sandy, for supporting my dreams, and to my son, Steven, for inspiring them.

  First Edition

  Copyright © 2013 Alexis Kennedy

  All rights Reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database, or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  Kennedy Entertainment

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Louisiana colony, 1720

  Devin was a taker; he took what he wanted without asking, ever. He was a predator and a master of seduction. He took what he wanted, when he wanted it, until something was taken from him—-- Salena while protecting her from to prove his love and intentions.ing his own long-lost vampire brother, Gabrielhis heart.

  More lovely than any woman Devin had hunted before, her fair skin—curtained by silky black hair and adorned with sparkling blue eyes that made the clearest of skies jealous—tugged at his will power. She was such a rare beauty with her exquisite delicateness; it was impossible to take your eyes off her.

  Devin watched her for a night, and the next day as well, before he approached her. She was as unable to resist him as centuries of women had been. But, unlike other women, she was not the evening's fare—she had become his heart's desire. Her destiny was to be bound to him through blood and become his savior—she had the power to bring him back to a mortal existence...until the colonists decided otherwise and took his chance and his love away from him.

  New Orleans, Louisiana—May, 2013

  Devin was hungry; it had been two days since he'd fed his thirst. He'd been wandering around the Midwest, but something drew him back here, almost three centuries later. He didn't think he'd ever walk these grounds again—his place of pain; his own personal hell—yet here he was, and the night wound around him as he crept through its shadows in search of his prey.

  It was dark outside the building he surveyed, but a single light on the third story caught his attention. He saw the buxom blonde pass by the window and knew she was tonight's feast. He waited until the light was out.

  Madison stirred from her sound sleep when a strange sensation overcame her. The room felt hot, even though she had the ceiling fan on and the window open, and it was hard to breathe. Her instincts reveal to her, though, that it's not the muggy air making her breath come in short gasps; she has the distinct impression she is no longer alone in her room. At first, she thinks her roommate must have returned, but then she gets goose bumps as a pleasant, musky fragrance reaches her.

  Frightened, Madison searches the shadows, trying to adjust her eyes. Then the clouds give way to the full moon, and it outlines a large shape at the foot of her bed.

  She knew she should scream, but something stopped her—an unexpected paralyzing excitement—something to do with the fragrance. She breathes in the unfamiliar musk and lets it wash over her senses and pet her intimately. Intoxicated now, she feels drawn to this mysterious shape. She slowly climbs from her bed, and her white, filmy nightgown clings to her voluptuous body from perspiration. Hesitating, she approaches the shape, which now encourages her with a velvety, deep, and hypnotic voice.

  "That's right, come to me."

  As she approaches the figure, excitement burrows deep and hot inside her, and she finds he is larger than she'd first thought. He is well over six feet tall, has sexy broad shoulders—curtained by long, dark hair—and fills the tiny room. He is wearing a white shirt, black pants, and a smile—a menacing but intoxicating smile that taunts and teases her—there is something she can't put her fingers on about that smile. Again, she knew she should be frightened, but she can't move away and can't look away.

  He stares into her eyes and slowly takes strands of her blonde hair between his fingers.

  She purrs with expectation.

  He lets his fingertips glide from the edge of her delicate shoulder to her neck and caresses it, lingering over her pulse. As he does so, he feels her heartbeat quicken; yes, he has her now. He leans in to kiss her lips, slowly.

  She feels a heat encompassing her and tries to deepen the kiss, needing to have more of him.

  The force of Devin's will restrains her. Not too much too soon, he wants this to be perfect and under his total control.

  She moans from her frustration, no doubt, and he replies with a low throaty laugh at her innocence. The laugh surprises her, but her lips don't hesitate; she needs this stranger. Madison hungers for him, and it is obvious between her milky white thighs; she feels her silky panties dampen and cling to her swollen mound. She's never done this with a stranger before, but a magnetic force is pulling her to him, and she is helpless to fight it. The entranced woman reaches up to touch him, but in a movement too quick for her to comprehend under her haze, he grabs her wrists and restrains them behind her back. She should be frightened, but something about that was so arousing, she simply sighs. Madison looks into his eyes—mysterious black eyes—the color of a starless night. They touch her in intimate places and send an electric tingle through her fervent body. Again, he smiles that seductive, peculiar smile. She can't pull her eyes away from his perfect lips and teeth—it is the teeth—that's what's different. His teeth are much sharper looking than they should be. She should be terrified…

  He claims her lips again with more urgency this time, wanting to prepare her. He trails slow movements along her jaw line and cascades down her neck. The pause over that strong, steady pulse takes much restraint—he hungers. It would be too easy to feed that hunger and leave as if he'd never been there. But this woman, this night, is different. He wants to feed another hunger as well. A lingering memory of what it would be like to relish that former life again beckoned, and his groin responded to the heated call. His sharp senses notice the welcoming moisture at the apex of her legs. It's been so long since he'd savored, since he'd felt, since he'd relished...

  Devin slows his trail of heated kisses as he marvels in his distant memories of what pleasures a woman's body can bring. He knew no woman could deny him if she had tried. There was no reason to reach between her legs to know that this one didn't want to try—yet, he does. While continuing the blazing path down her neck, once
again pausing at the welcoming pulse, he lets his free hand slide down her waist and over her hips to take its rest under her gown. She is wet, so wet, and her lips are full and swollen for him. She makes such a wonderful sigh as he begins to tease her pink jewel. Her dew already there makes the movements easy. He works it in slow circles, feeling it harden more and more under his expert touch. He lets go of her wrists, so his other hand is free to clutch her buttocks and push her further onto his probing fingers, now slipping between her petals.

  She gasps and grabs his shoulders with urgent desire. Her body yields to his touch, begging for more. All her senses are on fire.

  He caresses and kneads her softness one last moment before thrusting a finger into her restless body. His flesh joins with heat, moisture, and pure need. Her muscles convulse around him making him groan from his own desires. While his finger moves around inside her, finding her pleasure point, his thumb continues to torment and pet her swollen bud. His own obvious desire presses against her, feeding her frenzied passion, while his most urgent hunger grows and puts his mouth back into action. He presses on past her neck to a spot above the top of her gown. Tired of having her body concealed from him, he removes his hands from her flesh and rips the gown in half making it crumple to her feet.

  She should have been shocked at how easily he tore her clothing, but the fire burns through her in an all-consuming frenzy. "More," she states.

  His only reply is to take a dusky crest into his mouth, suckling and savoring—and she thinks biting even.

  Pain shoots through her, but she can't think to react under the blaze of passion engrossing her body.

  His finger takes its place back inside her, and the exquisite torture continues. When she reaches to encompass his iron-hard tumescence in her small hands, he sweeps her up and carries her to the bed. He lays her out in her full naked form and slides on top of her.

  She clutches at his clothing in an eager attempt to get him naked and receive his pulsating rod inside her, before she bursts from the heat. With a movement too quick for her to comprehend, his clothes are gone. His body is astounding. She marvels at the perfection of his rippling muscled body thinking he must be a god. The moonlight glistens off his steely contours and amazing male form and causes her eyes to widen from lust at the sight of his virile masculinity—he is much larger than anyone she'd ever experienced before, and now she is shy.

  Devin catches her look of modesty and starts to distract her from her concerns by working his mouth down the length of her body.

  A moan of ecstasy escapes her lips as his mouth trails down to the delicate softness between her trembling thighs. His skillful mouth moves over all the parts his hand had once been and causes a current of feminine essence to flow from her.

  He allows the nectar to trickle down her thigh before he can contain his appetite no more. He bites into her sweet, glazed flesh, and the warm blood flows into his starved mouth.

  She cries out at the pain and surprise from the puncture, but she cannot fight against her passionate trance. Her head swarms trying to make sense of why she can't scream, can't try to run away. Her body is wracked with overwhelming spasms of sweet release from the expertise of his mouth when it, once again, returns to torment her slippery cleft.

  Not wanting it to be over without his other craving being met, he moves from her quivering mound up her body.

  She squirms underneath him, expecting what will come next, and he fulfills her wish with a long, powerful thrust inside her molten passage. Explosions of light flash behind her eyes as she experiences pleasure like never before.

  His hips flex to bring her passion crested gratification, over and over, while his mouth seeks the soft flesh of her full breast.

  Again, she feels the pain of liquid fire as his teeth sink into her. Again, she feels her warm blood seeping out into his eager mouth. Why? She can't voice the question, yet, she doesn't even care. She wants this, needs this, and craves this; until she is suddenly overcome with listlessness, and her eyes flutter briefly before they close a final time—la petite mort, the little death, indeed.

  Devin paced the woods, shape-shifted into a black wolf, and recalled last night. He could still taste the sweet blood in his mouth, and his groin recalled the other morsel he had allowed himself to sample; his thoughts made him hungry again for both. He wondered, briefly, if anyone had found his lifeless victim from the night before—it's not personal, it's life—well his existence. It is because he is. He wasn't too worried about it though. His existence had remained a secret for almost seven hundred years; this was mostly because the bite marks he left faded rapidly—it was part of his disguise. Sure, there were voodoo priestesses who spoke of the damned and even vampire tours right here in New Orleans; but where was the real proof? Who really believed?

  Wondering where to find tonight's treat, he shape-shifted back into human form and headed out into the evening. The sun was starting to go down over the horizon, and Devin laughed at the tales that claim vampires can't be in the sunlight. They, or at least he, simply preferred the night—the quiet, the smells, the shadows, the seduction of the dark and the moon. Since he had picked out the sexy blonde last night, he decided he'd try a sultry brunette or redhead tonight—variety is the spice of life, right? He entered a nearby tavern and instantly spotted his choice. It didn't matter that the petite redhead had a man close to her, with his hand possessively on the small of her back. Men weren't an obstacle for him; they made his conquests more fun. He might even have him for dessert—no, on second thought, male blood didn't sit as well with him. He likes estrogen rich, feminine blood; it's sweeter to the taste.

  There was that other matter to consider as well, he remembered once he caught sight of her aroused peaks showing through the gauzy top she was wearing. Dangling between her perky breasts was a necklace with a crucifix—perhaps she believed? Well, no matter, it's only another vampire myth.

  Bianca was already tipsy and playfully fending off her horny boyfriend, Jeremy. She knew they were going to have sex, but she intended to be out on the town for a while first. He never took her anywhere, she thought wistfully, and remembered thinking lately that she should dump him for a man; sure, he was a man, but very much a boy in the way he behaved. He nuzzled her neck, but just as she was getting into it, she felt a presence at her other side—a very strong presence. She looked up and found herself staring into the darkest eyes on the most gorgeous face she'd ever seen. Her mouth gaped open in an, "Oh," as he smiled a sexy, inviting smile at her.

  Jeremy looked up when he felt Bianca leaning away from him. He also found himself looking into black, soulless eyes, but they didn't invite him in; they warned him to back down. And instead of a smile, he was met with a smug smirk as the stranger took Bianca's hand and helped her off her stool. "What the fuck?" Jeremy shouted as his girlfriend walked off, hypnotized, by this man.

  Bianca didn't even glance back at her boyfriend, but Devin did—he gave him a glare that said loud and clear, Let her go—you lose.

  Thinking this was too easy, and he wanted to drag it out a little, Devin led the starry-eyed woman onto the dance floor. "Take Me Home Tonight" was playing on the jukebox, and he mused, Of course I will. She pressed her body against him as they danced together, which gave him a hearty chuckle. How funny that this woman believed she could seduce him—a master of enticement. He's the predator here. He asked her in his mesmeric voice, "What's your name, pretty lady?"

  She gasped out, "Bianca," stunned by how his voice stimulated her.

  "Good, now I know who I'm going to eat tonight," he said huskily. She blushed and looked away, assuming, of course, he meant that in a sexual way.

  As soon as the song ended, Devin led her away from the dance floor, the crowd, and the still fuming boyfriend—out the door and into the night. Not thinking anything of it, she eagerly went with him.

  Not wanting to wait so long to feed his longing tonight, he took her around the corner of the tavern into the alley. No one was around,
and who cares if there was someone, what could they do to him?

  Devin pressed her against the wall and hiked her skimpy skirt with one hand while pressing his other hand against her perky breast. He teased the nipple, still hard, but not as hard as he was. He was not surprised the woman was wearing a thong—her whole outfit screamed tease. No wonder the boyfriend was so upset. He deftly yanked it down and began to massage her nest of downy curls while she tried to kiss him. Wanting her to receive some pleasure before demise, he moved his finger around her pearly bud while he accepted her tongue into his mouth. She thrashed her body as his finger brought currents of ecstasy to her; this is what she'd been longing for—a man.

  He told her, "Turn around," and she immediately obeyed; his forcefulness was hot. Much to her delight, the finger that was teasing her before was replaced by his thick, turgid shaft. "Oh God," escaped from her lips as her body stretched to accommodate him.

  Deeply embedded into her slick sheath, Devin moved in a rhythmic symphony with her. He kissed the back of her shoulder while pleasuring them both with his long, hard strokes.

  Pulsating waves of ecstasy seized Bianca, and her body exploded in sensation down the length of his hardness. Soon after, she was riding yet another wave of exquisite release when she felt a sudden sting in her shoulder. She couldn't focus on it, though, because she was helpless to fight the spasms of rapture pulling at her.

  Devin prodded her passion-moistened depths and was flooded with a fountain of molten heat down the length of his shaft. It was amusing to him that he was draining her of bodily fluids at both ends.

  They both became aware that someone was watching—Jeremy. Devin didn't stop though; instead, he continued to thrust—rocking her body and shoving it relentlessly against the wall.

  The ripples of ecstasy from her pelvis overrode the feeling of guilt she had over her long-time boyfriend. She met Jeremy's bewildered gaze and felt sorry for him, but she couldn't stop the undulated rapture she was experiencing; she'd make it up to him later—so she believed.