Scarlet Night (Limited Edition)

by Megan Parker

  This was not supposed to happen!

  It couldn’t happen!

  “Is something wrong?” she frowned at the noise.

  “No. It’s nothing. I was just thi—” He paused and looked over his shoulder, hearing footsteps drawing near. He inhaled, drawing in the scent of the forest through his nostrils to identify the owner of the steps and groaned as he realized who was approaching. “You need to hide. Now!

  She frowned and followed his gaze and bit her lip as she realized what was happening, “But what about—”

  “Do as I said if you want to stay alive! Hide and don’t come out until I say so! Do whatever you can to mask your scent and don’t make a noise!” He stood and stepped towards her in one fluid motion, grabbing her and easily lifting her to her feet before pushing her out of the clearing. The brief contact of their touch sparked something within him and he frowned at the sensation, quickly turning away, and waiting for the company to cross into the clearing.

  Zoey stayed quiet as she wrapped her aura around herself to keep the newcomer from sensing her.

  “There you are!” A husky female voice chimed from behind the bushes as she and another female therion approached him, “We were wondering where you’d wandered off to.”

  “Shouldn’t you be back with the others and preparing?” Isaac’s posture went from relaxed to ramrod-straight as soon as the two emerged.

  “Aw, but without you it’s no fun!” She stuck out a far-too-large bottom lip in a seductive mockery of a pout, “Besides, more of his kin have arrived and they are cruel! Far crueler than the last!”

  “I know that. But, there’s nothing else I can do about this Keith or his followers right now.”

  She frowned at this, “But you’re our leader! We can’t just—”

  “That’s right! And as the leader I have to make a choice that might get a lot of you killed. Until we know how it will affect us, we do nothing more than what we’ve been doing! Do you understand?”

  The two whimpered and nodded.

  He shook his head, clearly irritated, and threw out his hand to point off in the distance; directing them to leave. “Go. Both of you! We can’t afford a conflict with them; not now. I’ll be back soon.”

  “But we’re tired of them!” The one began to step forward, obviously not liking his answer, “It’s been three cycles already and you still haven’t chosen a ma—”

  He growled and narrowed his eyes at her, “I’m not dealing with this now!”

  The other therion tugged at the first’s shoulder, “Come on. He’s never taken a female before. Why would he change that now?” she glared at him, driving the accusation further.

  The other girl nodded slowly and turned to her friend, whimpering softly.

  “Do not test my patience any further than you have! I’ve dealt with enough already without having you and the others cause any more problems! Now get back to the others! Don’t make me say it again.” He flashed them his teeth, his eyes glowing bright in the moonlight and they scampered off.

  Once they were completely out of sight and earshot, Isaac called out: “You can come out now, vampire!” Though his posture and tone had shifted from a moment earlier, he didn’t turn away from where the two female therions had been standing.

  “You know you can call me Zoey!” she pouted as she stepped out.

  “What’s wrong with ‘vampire’? It’s what you are, isn’t it? Why would you think it a bad title?” he asked curiously, cocking his head to one side.

  “I guess because even though it’s what I am, it’s not who I am.”

  Isaac frowned, not sure of how to take her statement and watched as she brushed her knees. He frowned at the realization that his curiosity had returned, and he suddenly wanted to learn more about her and her mind. He let out a heavy breath and leaned against a tree, “Should you really be spending time with your enemy?”

  She smirked and shrugged, “I could ask you the same thing.” She stuck out her tongue before plopping down next to him, “Besides,”—she blushed and looked down—“I think you’re interesting. And besides, I’m allowed to talk to whomever I want! Especially since our clan is in between leaders.” She frowned at her own confession, knowing that Gregori wouldn’t have liked her talking to a therion either, let alone revealing clan secrets.

  He grinned and turned his attention to her and arched his eyebrow, “You find me that interesting, eh?”

  She paused and blushed, delighted that he’d overlooked the politics of the situation but embarrassed nonetheless, and began to stammer before realizing nothing coherent was emerging and shut her mouth abruptly. He laughed and shook his head, watching the moon in the pond and sighed.

  “You’re not half bad yourself. In fact, I’d go so far to say you are interesting as well. I mean, for a vampire and all, I guess.” He shot her a coy smirk.

  She faked a pout and punched Isaac softly in the arm before giggling, “Well, thank you… I guess.”

  Before she could pull her hand back he grabbed her wrist and held it in his large hand and frowned, confused at his own actions. She blushed at the contact but didn’t flinch or try to pull free, but instead shifted her hand to meet his grip. His gaze descended to the foreign sight of their clasped hands and he watched as she squeezed his fingers and returned his gaze with her brightly lit blue eyes; eyes that both challenged him and made him feel whole.

  She was beautiful inside and out.

  He couldn’t help but smile despite the single truth that burned in his mind, she was going to be his downfall.

  Though weakness and defeat had long-since been something for him to avoid at all costs, he couldn’t bring himself to pull away despite this fact.

  And that made him more afraid than he ever could have imagined.

  He was supposed to hate vampires—all vampires!—and yet here he sat, feeling driven to do the unspeakable with this gorgeous female.

  Instead, in clear defiance of himself and his kind, he acknowledged his need to taste her.

  Her lips called to his and he suddenly needed to feel them against his. His heart had felt so cold, driving him away from the numerous advances of countless females of his pack again and again, but suddenly he felt a spark and wanted nothing more than to take this new warmth into him and make it his.

  Being with this vampire made his blood boil again.

  She had closed her eyes as he leaned closer and he could feel an exhale of anticipation from her as he dipped his head in and pressed his lips to hers.

  Zoey gasped as the therion pressed his lips to hers!

  Was this real?

  Her mind was reeling; spinning and dragging her more and more into him. All logic—all the past truths and orders and teachings—was burned away by the fire spreading within her. With all she had once held on to gone, the only certainty in her mind was that she never wanted to leave this place.

  She lifted her arms and wrapped them carefully around his neck to pull him in tighter. He matched her efforts as she felt his strong hands at her waist as he pulled her against his body.

  Zoey gave him complete control, not caring what he did to her at that point, and moaned at the intensity of if all. She felt herself get lost in him—aching and driving to entangle herself all the more within his essence—and refused to worry about where it might take her. Never before had she felt this way; so powerful and yet so helpless and, through the chaos, so goddam beautiful. She knew he was her enemy and yet, she couldn’t find any reason to let go.

  Slowly, they drew away from one-another, both breathing heavily and letting their lids open to reveal the others’ gaze. Neither wanting to release the hold on the other and they just stared at the other for a moment longer.

  Zoey knew then that he was going to be her downfall; that he had her so entirely under the power of his passion that there was nothing she wouldn’t do to find herself back in its depths.

  And, while she couldn’t bring herself to care about what happened to her, she had
no way of pushing away the burning truth and under no circumstances could she risk her comrades; no matter the situation, she couldn’t bring herself to threaten the Clan of Vail.

  And this—Isaac and his people—were too much of a threat to Vail’s security…

  She felt her breath lock in her chest, knowing that she couldn’t allow her heart’s desires to go any further. In their vulnerable state and without a leader there was no solid defense against an attack.

  She couldn’t do that to them…

  “I… I need to go. I’ve been gone… and the others will worry if I don’t get home soon. I’m sorry, Isaac.” She bit her lip, fighting the welling tears as she took in his face once more, and turned away before he had a chance to respond. As more and more distance was put between them, she felt his aura begin to shrivel and stutter with his growing sadness, and as she stepped out of range and lost the heart-wrenching ache from his mind—leaving her only with her own—she heard a pained howl echo through the forest.

  “So what should our next step be? If we wait too long we may find ourselves too late to stop what’s coming.” Zane growled as he sat at the desk with Serena and Zoey. Zoey was quieter than usual—seeming preoccupied and distant to the business at hand—and he turned to her, pausing for a moment to wait for her attention to shift. When her vacant stare remained, he shook his head and moved on. Without being certain that something was wrong he wasn’t about to bombard her with questions.

  Not yet anyway.

  “We need to make a plan of action. Those damned dogs will be coming soon, I’m sure!” he shook his head, “Keith’s an impatient prick, and his hold over the mutts will only last so long before they turn on him too.”

  Zoey’s eyes shifted at the mention of the therions and she sighed, nodding, “Well, before we can do anything, Serena needs to be trained.”

  “Hey! I can fight!” Serena glared and ignored Devon as he chuckled inside her mind.

  Zoey blushed and nodded, “It’s not that you’re not strong—nothing could be farther from the truth—but your methods are, while impressive, unconventional. It’d be better to put them to the test in the safety of a training course rather than in the middle of a battle when it can mean somebody’s life.”

  Zane turned to Serena and offered a gentle smile and she felt Devon’s anger flare up from his gaze. He clearly didn’t like the way Zane watched her. He was still fuming over his inability to protect her the other night from Keith and being forced to watch as the vampire-beast saved her instead.

  Serena had been right; she would need to find a body for him sooner than he thought. He wouldn’t be able to stand being nothing more than a shadow much longer.

  He watched Zane more carefully and grinned. Serena did seem drawn to him, and there was no denying that she’d liked it the one night when he’d taken control of him. Thinking of that night—the way Serena had felt under his stolen touch and her response to something other than his voice—he became more and more certain of what had to be done. While he was thankful for Serena’s loyalty to him, he knew it would only last so long before the need for something more drove her into the arms of another.

  And that was something he would not allow!

  “Zoey is right, Serena. Though you’re clearly very skilled, your combat approach is too chaotic. Somebody with Keith’s level of control and training would find an opening in your attacks too quickly. You’ll need to train more.” Zane nodded, standing and motioning for her to follow, “Let’s go.”

  Still scowling over their words, Serena stood and stepped through the doors with him.

  Catching up to Zane, they walked side-by-side in complete silence as she was led through the levels of the clan’s headquarters and, finally, into a large training room that occupied most of the building’s basement. Serena looked around at the immense room, taking in the white padded walls and racks adorned with weapons that seemed to stretch on endlessly. The array of blades and bludgeons, staffs and spears, and just about any fashion of axe she could hope to raise over her head for a killing blow brought a grin to her previously sunken face. The collection was a thing of dreams!

  Well… her dreams, at least.

  “I am SO not going easy on you!” She smirked and followed after him further inside the training room, “First moment I get, I’m taking off a finger!”

  Zane raised an eyebrow and turned his entire body to face her, “You sure you’re ready to spar against me? You may have got me the other night, but to be fair, it was never my intention to bring you in damaged. Now—with a med-staff handy and enough synthetic blood to heal anything not fatal—I have no reason to be gentle.”

  “That’s fine with me!” she turned away and scoffed, “I like it rough! Besides, how tough can you be? You were just injured and laid-out.”

  He shrugged out of his shirt and smirked, his fangs already extended in excitement, “Don’t worry about that, little lady. I heal fast.”

  Serena took in the view, finally getting a good look at his tattoos in all their glory. Under the evenly-spaced and all-revealing lighting of the training center she could make out every intricate trace of the tribal patterns that covered most of his torso. A memory of her lips tracing the designs from the night Devon had possessed him surfaced and she bit her lip, suppressing it as fast as it came.

  “Stay focused! A distracted mind is a mind that’s eager to be destroyed! And I can already see that you are elsewhere! If your father taught me anything, it’s that you can’t let your emotions run rampant in the battlefield,” Zane scolded as he grabbed two sparring sticks and tossed one in her direction.

  Serena glared and grabbed the staff in midair with her aura and drew it to her hand slowly as she dropped into a fighting stance. Keeping the blunt tip of her weapon aimed at her opponent, she grinned at him, “what’s the matter; afraid to give me something sharp?”

  “We wouldn’t want Daddy’s little girl to hurt herself on her first day of classes!” Zane smirked and immediately charged her straight-on, holding his staff at one end and letting its length trail after him as he rocketed towards her. As the distance between them rapidly dwindled, he pivoted and went to swing at her; bringing the entire length around in a wide, hissing arc with all the momentum he had gathered.

  Seeing his direct approach, Serena smirked and vanished. As the end of the staff broke through the air where she’d been standing a moment ago, he growled.

  Of course the girl knew how to go into overdrive!

  And that meant she would try to…

  He brought the staff around and held it behind him—letting the length run parallel with his spine—in time to deflect Serena’s attempt to attack him from behind. The thunderous impact of the two weapons coming together filled the room and was quickly absorbed into the padding as Zane spun to face her.

  But she was already gone again!

  He smiled at her tenacity as he pushed himself into overdrive. As his vision shifted to accommodate the new speed, he spotted her as she sprinted in a semi-circle to try and take him from the side. Spinning around to deflect her attack and came in with the opposite end in an attempt to catch her behind her leading ankle, only to have her move that foot in time to avoid the strike…

  … and drive it into his stomach.

  The force from the kick was enough to knock him back, but Zane was able to stay both on his feet and in overdrive as she came at him again. As the vicious attacks continued, both held strong against the other, the combined force of their strikes straining the staffs and filling the room with a prolonged roar of supernatural battle. Another strike was thrown and blocked and both of the weapons gave out under the other’s force and as the wood tore apart their fragments and splinters froze in midair—frozen in the mortal time-stream while the two supernatural beings sparred—and hung there as if mocking their lost weapons. Neither of them deterred, they darted through the bits of wood with their fists balled and ready. Two punches landed simultaneously and the room slipped back into
normal time as the two were knocked out of overdrive and across the room until they came crashing down onto the unforgiving hardwood floor.

  Zane groaned and rolled to his knees, struggling to stand up, and when he’d finally gotten to his feet, grabbing his shoulder in pain. Wincing from the contact, he glanced at the floor and let out a heavy sigh at the sight of the massive crack that he’d put there when he’d fallen; two perfect indents showing where his back and shoulders had broken through.

  He silently thanked Gregori for his vast wealth and the assurance that the damage would be easily repaired.

  The sound of metal straining caught his attention and he looked towards the opposite side of the room in time to see one of the weapon racks—loaded with a series of Oriental swords and daggers and cracked in half down the middle from Serena’s fall—start to come unhinged. As he watched the collection of weapons start to shift, he watched as a short sword slipped free and stabbed into the floor several inches from Serena’s head.

  And the rest were sure to follow!

  Growling, he fought through his own pain and dizziness and rushed towards her, pushing his already-drained body into overdrive and struggling to maintain the superhuman speed as the room slowed around him long enough for him to snatch her body from the floor and hurling them both out of range of the slew of razor-sharpness that rained down behind them.

  Zane groaned and blinked against his worn-out body’s blurring vision and saw Serena below him; pinned to the floor by his body.

  Biting his lip at the compromising position, he hurried to pull himself off of her, hopingthat she hadn’t gotten the wrong ideaor that he hadn’t done any damage in falling on top of her. The sound of another crash reverberated in Zane’s ears and he gritted his teeth as a second wave of falling weapons rang out and startled Serena into an upright position; holding her chest and coughing as she tried to catch her breath.

  Zane sighed; at least she was safe.

  He dropped his head to look at her, she was breathing softly and her chest lifted and fell in slow breaths. He chewed his lip as he realized he was staring at her chest still and turned his attention to her face. Her dark bluish-purple gaze was pulled into his and he frowned, realizing he’d been caught. She smirked and licked her lips. Realizing he was being teased, Zane looked away and growled.