Passion Follows Pain (Passion Series Book 3)

by Melville, J. A

  Suddenly his mobile phone rang, startling him and he pulled it out of his pocket staring down at it. He didn’t recognise the number and he went to divert the call to his voicemail, not wanting any pointless conversations now but at the last moment, changed his mind and answered it.

  With his patience bordering on next to none, he hit the connect button and snapped down the line, figuring anyone just wanting to waste his time would probably be put off by his tone and hang up. “What?” He growled and waited for the click to indicate they’d hung up but there was nothing.

  “Hello?” He tried again but all he got back was the sound of breathing over the line. Great, a prank call now of all times. His finger hovered over the disconnect button ready to end this time wasting call when a voice tentatively spoke to him down the line and he froze, his stomach instantly tightening.

  “Hello? Lucian? It’s...it’s me, Arissa.” She said hesitantly and sudden tears burned in his eyes at the sound of her sweet soft voice.

  “Oh god baby? Baby where are you?” Even he could hear the relief in his voice. She was alive, she was fucking alive.

  “I don’t know. I can’t find a name for this motel and I can’t leave. Father has me shackled to the bed.”

  “Where’s your father now?” He asked, keeping his tone soft since she sounded very emotional. He needed to keep her calm, reassure her, although when she was god knows where, with a violent abusive asshole, how could he reassure her, convince her it would be ok?

  “He’s on the bed unconscious, but I don’t know how much longer he’ll stay like that. I have nothing to tie him up with.”

  Lucian frowned at her words. What had happened? “What do you mean your father is unconscious?”

  “I smashed him over the head with a lamp but he’s come around once already and I had to knock him out again. I’m not sure how long I can keep doing this for. I’m so scared Lucian.” She whispered and he felt his stomach clench at the sound of the tears in her voice.

  Sirene turned and whispered to him. “Keep her on the line, I can pinpoint where she is by using a spell to tap into the phone.”

  “God baby, you’re so brave. We’re coming for you but we couldn’t get an exact location on you. Sirene did a location spell which got us headed in the right direction but that was all. She will try to find your location again but you need to stay on the line ok?”

  “Ok Lucian, please hurry.”

  “We are baby, we are. You are such a brave, strong woman. Hang on just a little bit longer.” He told her, looking up when Sirene suddenly started scribbling something on a piece of paper. She held it up to him and he grinned. It was the motel name, she’d done it.

  “Baby we’ve got the name and we’re close now only about 10 or 15 minutes so hang in there ok?”

  “Ok.” She said but then he heard her cry out and he could hear a man’s voice in the background. She cried out again, a sound of pain and Lucian growled, his fangs descending with his rage. The bastard had come to and was hurting her. No, don’t let him hurt her. Not before they got to her. He couldn’t bear it if they were too late, just by minutes but every minute counted, he knew that.

  “For fuck sakes Fabian, drive this fucking thing faster; her father’s awake and hurting her, hurry before we’re too late.” He yelled not caring that he was disrespecting his sire and that never went down well with him.

  “Lucian!” She screamed her voice distressed, frantic and then the line went dead.

  “NO! No, no, no!” He cried out, his tone anguished and not caring that he was in the presence of his sire and Sirene, he dropped his head into his hands feeling his tears seeping between his fingers. He was so fucking scared they wouldn’t make it in time and he raised his head briefly, begging Fabian to drive faster.

  Arissa

  “Lucian!” I screamed just before my father ripped the phone away from me and with one sharp tug, he pulled the lead out of the wall.

  “You fucking little bitch, you whore. Look what you’ve done to me. Look.” He yelled, spittle flying from his mouth and spraying me in the face. He had his hands up to his head before lowering them again, flashing his fingers in my face so I could see the blood.

  He looked terrible with the blood oozing from a couple of head wounds and his nose crooked and swollen. Unfortunately I hadn’t knocked him out well enough, and now he’d managed to take me by surprise and had come to while I was on the phone to Lucian.

  “You’ve done it now girl. You’ve really done it now attacking your own father like that and for what? What did I do that deserved a bloody lamp to the head? You’re going to pay missy, believe me.” He climbed off the bed and came towards me.

  I backed up eyeing him off warily but there was nowhere for me to go and when I hit the end of my tether chain I waited to see what he was going to do. He advanced on me, his expression terrifying. There was so much rage and something else I couldn’t work out but it scared me, it terrified me, that look in his eyes.

  Suddenly he raised his arm and swung. I tried to duck but he got me, the back of his hand slamming into my face and I felt pain explode over my left eye. I cried out, falling to the floor, wanting it to open up and take me away, to save me from more of my father’s wrath. It didn’t happen though and I cowered as he bent down and grabbed my hair, hauling me to my feet. He dragged me over to the bed, flinging me down and with a sharp angry tug; he ripped my panties off me.

  I groaned, my body nothing but a mass of aches and pains, my vision blurred on the side where he’d just hit me. Frantically, needing to know where he was, I tried to focus on him, but everything was starting to become hazy. God don’t let me pass out, I couldn’t pass out, not now, not while father was punishing me.

  I heard a whistling sound and screamed when something sliced into my side, searing pain like a branding iron causing me to buck up from my position on the bed. Through my blurred vision I could see my father was brandishing his belt and I closed my eyes, waiting for the next blow.

  It didn’t come; instead I felt his weight settle on me, his cock hard and pushing between my legs. I moaned, in too much pain to fight, everything too hazy to struggle, but just when I felt his invasion of my body, there was a noise, like a door, then voices and suddenly the weight of my father was gone. I tried to look and see what was happening, but it was too hard. I couldn’t see properly, everything was cloudy and the pain was so intense. I didn’t know what was happening but I suspected that Lucian had arrived. I tried to see, I struggled past the clouded vision and the agonising pain that consumed every part of me. I just couldn’t fight it any more though and with a tiny sigh, I let the darkness claim me.

  Lucian

  When they pulled up at the motel where Arissa’s father was holding her, it didn’t take them long to work out which room she was in. They could hear the noises, the sounds of crying and a man yelling.

  Fabian burst through the door first. One of the advantages of motels, they didn’t need to be invited in first to gain access as hotels, motels, any form of accommodation were neutral ground.

  Lucian followed hot on his sire’s heels and when his eyes fell on the scene before him, he cried out, a loud, guttural kind of battle cry and lunged at the man who lay on Arissa, rutting like some sort of animal. He grabbed him by the back of the neck and ripped him off her. The bastard screamed with shock and fell to the floor when Lucian released him. As he cowered on the thin grey carpet he took one look at Lucian’s face and began to hastily try and back up, sliding on his ass. Lucian simply reached down, pulled him up until they were face to face. He even managed to crack a small smile when he saw the damage done to the prick’s face by Arissa, before he drew his fist back and watched with an almost detached kind of fascination as it connected with the nose of her father. He smiled again when the man screamed and blood sprayed out everywhere. Normally he might have been drawn to the blood, perhaps even sampled it, but there was no way in hell he wanted anything to do with the blood from this man, this an
imal, this bastard who had abused his own daughter for most of her life. All Lucian wanted with the prick’s blood was the pleasure of seeing it flowing freely from his body, to watch him bleed out. Now that would bring him a great deal of satisfaction.

  “Don’t kill him son.” Fabian warned him and Lucian abandoned Arissa’s father and rushed to the bed where Sirene was gently brushing her blonde hair back from her face.

  “My god, look at what that bastard’s done to her. How? How the fuck does a father do that to his own daughter?” Lucian climbed gently onto the bed where Arissa lay. “Baby, can you hear me?” He asked softly. “Arissa, we’re here, open your eyes. I’m so sorry we didn’t get here sooner but we tried. Come on, please, open your eyes.”

  He looked down at her face which was almost not recognisable to him. Her hair was matted with blood. One cheek was swollen and bruised, her left eye swollen shut, there were various cuts and abrasions on her face and her lip was split and bleeding.

  She was wearing a nightgown, probably the one she’d put on last night before she’d gone to answer the door and been taken by her father. It was splattered with blood and he could see it had adhered itself to a bloody wound beneath it.

  Gently he lifted the fabric wincing when it peeled off a nasty looking long wound that sliced across her side and stomach. It was about two inches wide and he wondered what the hell the bastard had used on her. When he noticed the impression in her skin of a buckle, only then did Lucian notice the belt lying on the floor with blood coating parts of the leather.

  He pulled her nightgown down again to cover her from Fabian and Sirene’s eyes and his gaze travelled over her legs until he reached the shackle around her ankle. He pulled on the chain and saw that she was attached by the chain to one of the legs of the bed. The bed was anchored to the floor so he wasn’t sure how they were going to get her free without a key.

  His eyes shifted back to her face and pain lanced through him at the sight of her. God she was a mess. Her own fucking father had done all that to her. How, how the hell could her own father treat her like that?

  “Baby, come on, it’s me, Lucian, I’m here for you. Please open your eyes.” He begged, taking one of her small hands in his and raising it to his lips before placing it back down on the bed.

  She groaned, her one eye that wasn’t swollen shut opening and she turned to look at him, wincing with pain. As he watched, tears began to run down her face, squeezing out from under the swollen lid of her left eye and a ragged sob was torn from her.

  “Lucian? Oh god Lucian, is it you? Are you real?” She reached out to him with a shaking hand and he took it.

  “Yes baby, it’s me. We’re here to help you, to save you. That bastard can’t do anything more to you now.” He kissed her cold hand. “We have to get you out of here; we need to leave soon, once it’s dark. Can you move?”

  “You can carry her Lucian, Sirene you pack up the bedding, her father’s clothing, anything that he’s brought into the room. I’ll go and get the rope and masking tape. Once it’s completely dark, we’ll leave. One of us has to drive his car. It’s not staying here. We’ll dump it somewhere along the way. Nothing is to be done to him until we get home.” Fabian gave Lucian a warning look. “Once we’re home we’ll put him in the dungeon until we decide what to do with him. Nothing will be done until the girl is better. She’s more than earned the right to decide his fate. Is that clear?”

  Lucian nodded. He wanted to tear the bastard apart but he knew now was not the time and he agreed with his sire, Arissa was entitled to choose her father’s fate. She’d suffered for years because of him and the bastard had beaten her almost beyond recognition and raped her. It was only fair that she was the one to choose what happened to him.

  “Lucian, I wet myself. I’m so ashamed.” Arissa drew his attention back to her and he reached for her when she began to sob in earnest.

  “God baby, don’t worry about that. You’re tied to the bed, you couldn’t reach. It’s not your fault. We need to get you free. Do you want anything?”

  “I…I’m so thirsty. Can I have some water please?” She whispered.

  “Of course, hang on while I get it for you.” Lucian climbed off the bed and went through to the bathroom to get her a drink. Sirene followed him and her expression was concerned when she met his eyes.

  “Are you alright? We got to her Lucian. This is not your fault. She is strong, she will survive but we need to get her home. We can help her heal if we give her blood but she will need a lot of blood. Her injuries are quite severe.”

  “I want to kill him.” He admitted quietly. “To walk in here and see him on top of her.” He raised anguished eyes to Sirene through the bathroom mirror. “He was raping her. He had his fucking cock inside her; his own daughter. Do you have any idea how much that sickens me? I hate him, no, I loathe and despise him. I just want to tear him to pieces, starting by ripping that fucker’s cock off. That prick will never fuck again that’s for sure if I have my way but then he’ll never do anything again, if I have my way.”

  Sirene placed a hand on him. “You will get your chance but you have to keep calm. We need to get out of here without drawing attention to ourselves. You have to concentrate on your girl now. Don’t let her feel like she’s dirty because you’re so angry about her being raped. She might think you’re disgusted by her and you don’t want to risk her feeling like that. Now get her that water and go help her. She needs some blood so she can be moved without causing her too much pain. Go Lucian.” She patted his arm and he filled the glass with water and walked back out to Arissa.

  Arissa

  I ached, god my body hurt. I don’t think there was a part of me that didn’t hurt. I opened my eye, the only one that would open when I felt the bed dip and Lucian climbed on with my glass of water in his hand. I stared at him, still finding it hard to believe he was here, that he’d come for me.

  He looked so angry, so…well, I wasn’t entirely sure, but something was bothering him.

  “Here you go baby. Can you sit up a little? I don’t want you choking on the water.”

  I tried to slide up the bed so I could rest my back against the headboard but it was so incredibly painful. I cried out when pain in my side stabbed through me from where father had used his belt on me.

  “God baby, no, let me help you. I’m so sorry that I didn’t get to you in time to stop that bastard. I’m so sorry, so sorry.” He whispered and I reached out for him, needing to reassure him that it wasn’t his fault when I heard the pain and despair in his voice.

  He supported the back of my head while I drank; the cold water feeling so good as it ran down my parched throat, although the stinging of my split lip made me wince. When I’d had my fill, I collapsed back on the bed and met his beautiful, but tormented eyes. It was obvious from the emotions crossing his face that he blamed himself for what had happened, but no one could have predicted my father would be lying in wait, to grab me.

  “It’s not your fault Lucian. If it wasn’t for Sirene’s abilities you probably still wouldn’t know where I was, and if I hadn’t reached that phone or managed to memorise your phone number…” My voice trailed off. I was reluctant to think about what could have been. Father was going to rape me and possibly kill me or hurt me so badly I might never have recovered. “Where…where is father?” I asked.

  “He’s on the floor. Fabian’s restrained him for when we leave. He’s bound his arms and legs and gagged him. You don’t need to worry; he can’t hurt you anymore.”

  “When he was raping me all I could think of was you Lucian. I pictured you as I saw you last night, without your shirt and that made it easier to put up with what father was doing. I learned one thing from this, no more being scared of my own shadow. He’s not going to break me, I want to live, to feel, I want you. I want you to teach me. I want you to help me live.” I looked up at him to see how he was reacting to my words.

  “Oh god baby, you are so brave and strong and I don’t deserve so
meone like you. You are sweet and kind, so beautiful.” He placed the water on the bedside table before lying down beside me and carefully putting his arms around me.

  “Don’t touch me I’m all dirty.” I said and promptly burst into tears again. “I smell, I wet myself and I want to shower. I’ll make you smell and I’ll bleed on you.” I sobbed.

  Lucian’s arms tightened around me in response. “You don’t smell and I’m not going to let you go unless I’m hurting you. You can’t have a shower here, because we will be leaving soon. We need to get you home and we need to get your father back to our home. We have to be careful we are not discovered. Fabian works hard to make sure what we are, is never discovered. The staff here will work out something happened but, we’ll have taken all evidence with us. This motel’s not exactly five stars so it’s unlikely anyone will investigate to find out what happened here.”

  “Can you get me free? I don’t know what father did with the key but I don’t want to be on this lead any more.”

  Sirene came over to the bed and sat down by my foot that had the shackle around it. “We don’t need the key Arissa. I will get you free using witchcraft.” She said and slipped her fingers under it. “Release.” She gave the quiet command and I gaped in surprise when the shackle fell away from my leg.

  I tried to sit up now I was free and although Lucian released me to let me move, it still hurt too much. He sat up and kneeled beside me on the bed. “Baby, I need you to do something for me and not freak out. Vampire blood can heal a human. I can’t give you enough to heal you completely. It would take too much for now, but I want you to feed from me to help ease your pain. Will you do that for me?”

  I stared at him in confusion. I didn’t have fangs so how could I feed from him? “I don’t understand. How do I feed from you? I don’t have fangs like you do.”