Dark Mate (MATE series)

by Kristen, Natalie

  Her face split in a grin. It felt so good to be home.

  She turned to see Gabriel standing behind her. He glanced around her apartment, his eyes wary.

  “Um, don't mind the mess. Have a seat, if you can find something to sit on,” she said, picking up an armful of clothes from the sofa. She found folding laundry such a chore. She preferred to just grab her clothes from the pile. In time, the pile would disappear, and the chore would be done. Ta da!

  “Do you live alone?” he asked suddenly.

  “Yes.” She raised a brow at him. “I can afford the rent on my own. I don't need a flat mate.”

  “Have you ever...invited a vampire into your home?”

  “Huh? No.” She chewed her lip. “I...don't really have any paranormal friends. I just never...” She shrugged and admitted, “You're my first.”

  She caught the heat in his eyes and gulped, “I mean, you're my first paranormal...friend.”

  “Friend?”

  She stared at him for a moment, then lowered her eyes. “Maybe not. You...you're not even my friend, are you?” she mumbled. “There may be a blood bond between us, but...there's still a lot I don't know about you, Gabriel King. I am a police officer, and you...you're a wanted vampire. You are a rogue vampire, misting in and out of the city, hiding from the PAC Enforcers. This...” She gestured back and forth between them. “Us...”

  “What about us?” he snarled.

  “This may be...” She turned away suddenly. “What was I thinking? Well, I wasn't thinking, that's the trouble,” she muttered angrily.

  “Eva.”

  With a shake of her head, she turned to him. “I can't, Gabriel. This is not going to work. I...I can't be mated to a...a rogue, a criminal. I can't be with you, Gabriel.”

  “You can't be with me,” he repeated, his voice very low and quiet.

  Eva looked into his eyes, but saw nothing there. No anger, no sadness, no pain. His eyes were just flat and cold.

  “No.” Her voice was clear and strong, even though her heart broke. “Even if you kidnap me again, force me to stay with you, I won't truly...”

  “I won't force you, Eva. I will never force my mate.” His lips curled almost derisively.

  “Gabriel...”

  His eyes burned golden as he growled, “I won't lose you, Eva.”

  With that, he turned and strode to the door. “You are mine. And you will be with me,” he said over his shoulder.

  She started, and in a blink, he was gone.

  He had misted away before her eyes. Out of her home, out of her life.

  Eva sunk to the floor, staring at the door. It felt almost as if she could will him back to her if she stared hard enough. Was she hoping that he would walk through the door and take her in his arms again?

  She pushed herself up and released a long sigh. No, she wouldn't think of him. It would never work. Now that she had returned to her world, to reality, she saw too clearly that they were from different worlds. She walked in the light, on the side of the law, while he moved in the dark, a lethal, remorseless predator.

  One of her ex-boyfriends had complained that Eva was too guarded, too afraid of her heart. But now she had real reason to be afraid. She feared that her heart no longer belonged to her.

  Eva turned away from the door and felt a hand close around her throat. Her scream was choked off as long, cool fingers dug into her neck.

  She gasped and stared at the woman in front of her. The woman was smiling as she held Eva by the neck. Eva felt her feet lift off the ground as the dark-haired woman smiled wider, baring her sparkling, sharp fangs.

  The woman had flowing, black hair and blood red eyes, and she was wearing a figure hugging, see-through crimson gown. She was tall and voluptuous, her skin smooth and flawless. Eva could see her naked body under that sheer, shimmering gown. Her breasts were high, round and full, her curves sexy, perfect. Her arms were slender, but there was no mistaking the strength and power in them.

  There was a cold, savage beauty about her, and Eva sensed that the woman was no ordinary vampire.

  Eva tried to aim a kick at the woman's face, but she only laughed and tightened her fingers around Eva's neck.

  “Come,” she cooed seductively. “This won't hurt.”

  Eva stared helplessly into those red eyes as the woman licked a drop of blood from Eva's neck. Eva gasped, as she felt herself plummeting into those swirling red depths. Eva blinked hard, unable to look away from those hypnotic eyes that were the color of blood. In a few blinks, Eva saw the woman's eyes fade to hazel, and she saw her as she was two hundred years ago.

  Eva saw the woman lying on a slab of stone, naked and bleeding, her eyes wide open with fear and loathing. She was staring into a cage, staring at...an animal, a monster. No, it wasn't an animal. It was a bloodied vampire, slamming against the bars of the cage, trying to reach her. He wanted her blood, wanted to drink her. She made a sound of disgust as the vampire fell back to the corner of the cage, slipping on the blood on the floor. With a roar, he threw himself to the floor and started lapping up the fresh blood at his feet. That was her blood, her blood that had been spilled all over the floor of the cage for him.

  For Gabriel.

  Eva gasped. She had looked into the woman's eyes, and she had seen her past. Hers and Gabriel's.

  “You...” Eva wheezed. “You're Vonetta, Gabriel's...” What? What was she to Gabriel?

  The woman cocked her head at Eva.

  “I see you have access to his memories. That means you have his blood in you.” She smiled. “I knew he had taken you. And now, I can smell him on you, in you.”

  Eva clawed hard at the hand holding her by the throat. When Vonetta's grip loosened, Eva's hand shot out and she raked her nails across Vonetta's face, narrowly missing her eyes. Sniffing, Vonetta flung Eva to the floor and pressed her sharp, stiletto heel into her chest. The point was sharp, and Eva felt the sharp point stabbing into her chest, twisting slowly through her flesh.

  Vonetta bent down, showing the swell of her creamy, bountiful breasts. Her hair brushed against Eva's skin, and Eva suddenly felt relaxed and calm, like she was being massaged and stroked by soft, gentle fingers. She sighed and a strange high-pitched giggle bubbled from her throat.

  Eva jerked, and forced herself to stay alert. Why was she giggling like a schoolgirl when there was a blade burrowing into her chest towards her heart?

  She glared up at Vonetta's smiling face, and saw that the scratches across her face had already vanished completely.

  “You...you're not a vampire...” she stammered.

  “Oh, I am. I am most certainly a vampire. But I am more than just a vampire.” Vonetta's beautiful face twisted and she spat, “I am what I am. Because of Gabriel King.”

  “W-what do you want?”

  “I think you know that already, but I'll humor you. I want Gabriel,” Vonetta answered lazily, but Eva saw the glint in her eye. “He's been looking for me. I wasn't interested in letting him find me then. But now...” She jerked Eva to her and dragged a fingernail down her cheek, slicing it open. She licked her finger and smiled. “Now, I have something he wants. And he has become something I want.”

  “So, I think now, I will let him find me, through you.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Gabriel stood outside Eva's door. That was the farthest he had managed to mist.

  Outside her apartment, in front of her goddamn door.

  He raised his fist, and held it for a second before pressing it against her door.

  “Come in, Gabriel,” a female voice said.

  Gabriel started. The voice was familiar, but it wasn't Eva.

  He inhaled sharply. It couldn't be.

  Before he could move, the door swung open.

  He could smell Eva's blood but she wasn't in the hall. The door closed soundlessly behind him.

  A hand lighted on his shoulder and slid languidly down his back. “Gabriel King.”

  He turned at her voice.

 
She was wearing a long, see-through red gown, her black hair rippling around her as if blown by a slight breeze. Her face was fair and flawless, and she prowled towards him with the swaying gait of a woman practiced in the art of seduction.

  Her deep red lips were curved in a smile, and he saw her lick her fangs as she traced the tip of his ear and ran her finger down his jaw.

  “What's wrong?” she purred. “Don't you remember me, Gabriel? You don't seem too happy to see me.”

  Gabriel's lips parted but his voice seemed to have fled. How could this be? He had been dreaming of this moment all his life.

  “Vonetta,” he finally managed.

  He stared at her as she smiled wider. He remembered her all right. How could he forget her? But she was right. He felt no happiness, no joy. For so long, he had only imagined how happy he would feel to see her again.

  But now that she was standing right in front of him, he felt...nothing.

  No joy, no happiness, no love.

  He stared into those red eyes which had once been hazel, and filled with hope and innocence.

  He took a step back, and her hand fell away from his cheek.

  He looked deep into her eyes, trying to find a flicker of warmth and affection. But he saw nothing.

  It was like he was staring into the dark, bottomless eyes of a stranger.

  “Where is she?”

  Vonetta's eyes flashed.

  “Where is Eva? What have you done to her, Vonetta?” Gabriel grabbed her arm. The scent of Eva's blood was fresh in the air, and he could sense her fear and her pain.

  Vonetta winked at him, and he released her immediately, almost against his will. Gabriel shook his head hard. It felt as though she could command him with just one look, one smile.

  It was like he was being compelled to obey her, to please her.

  “Where is Eva?” he snarled.

  She clucked her tongue and waved towards the sofa. “She's right here.”

  Gabriel started towards Vonetta, then turned suddenly. Eva was lying on the sofa, her eyes closed, with a cut on her cheek and a patch of red blossoming over her chest. But she was alive.

  He made a strained sound. He had just glanced at the sofa barely a second ago, and he didn't see her there. And now, there she was.

  He breathed in slowly. Just because he didn't see her there didn't mean that she wasn't there. Vonetta had managed to hide her from his sight. That was how she had managed to avoid him all this time. She had hidden herself from his sight. Until now.

  Slowly, Gabriel pivoted to face Vonetta. He stared into the chasm of her dark, red eyes. They were just a few feet apart, yet more than two hundred years separated them. The sleek, sophisticated, overtly sensual woman standing before him was not the innocent, suffering young woman that he had been searching and yearning for all this time.

  There was only one woman in that room with whom he felt an undeniable, overpowering connection.

  And it wasn't her.

  Vonetta had changed.

  So had he, Gabriel realized. He had changed from a naïve, helpless young man to a cold, cruel vampire. And he had grown strong and ruthless enough to kill his Master.

  The last time he had stared into Vonetta's eyes was through the bars of his cage. His violent grief and rage served only to heighten his Master's sadistic pleasure. Even after two hundred years, the guilt still weighed heavily on his shoulders. He had been helpless to save his betrothed from his Master's evil clutches. She had suffered, and she blamed him for it. He had seen the hate and contempt in her eyes as she lay on the cold stone slab in the middle of the dungeon. She hadn't uttered a single cry even as her body was being ravaged by his Master. Her eyes were dry, showing no emotion as the Master savagely fed from her.

  Gabriel's eyes flicked to Vonetta's throat, expecting to see the horrific reminders of her ordeal. Her long, slender neck was completely smooth, flawlessly white against her black hair.

  Vonetta smiled when he finally met her eyes. “You look different, Gabriel. You've changed.” She laughed at her own little joke. “You've grown...bigger, older, more powerful. And...more handsome.” She lowered her eyelids and smiled. “We have both grown older and more powerful. Am I not more beautiful now, Gabriel?”

  Her tone was playful, flirtatious but Gabriel heard the challenge and veiled hostility in her words.

  “Vonetta, I never thought I'd see you again,” he said honestly. “It's...”

  “It's been more than two hundred years,” she laughed, waving her long, manicured fingers in the air, as if she could magically erase two whole centuries worth of pain and suffering.

  Her fingers were adorned with diamonds and precious stones. Like him, she had grown older, wealthier and more powerful. There was a strange cold power emanating from her, and it seemed entirely possible that she had erased her past and rebuilt herself. In fact, it was obvious that she had. The woman standing before him was rich, confident and powerful.

  She turned her head and Gabriel saw her fangs inch out as she studied Eva. Every protective instinct in him flared and he moved to stand in front of Eva, blocking her from Vonetta's shrewd gaze.

  Vonetta looked up at him, and as he stared into her swirling red eyes, he was aware of an insidious chill invading his body, numbing his brain and blocking his thoughts.

  He stepped back and asked slowly, “What...are you, Vonetta?”

  “Why? Does it matter to you what I am?” she countered, arching a perfectly drawn eyebrow. “I'm your Vonetta, your beloved. Shouldn't you be taking me into your arms, and kissing me senseless? You found me, Gabriel. You finally found me,” she whispered, sliding her hands up his chest to his shoulders.

  Gabriel tensed at her touch. She was right. He should be out of his mind with joy and relief at having found her at last. For years, he had dreamed of finding her. He had searched endlessly, doggedly for her.

  But now that she was right in front of him in the flesh, he felt only a wary detachment.

  Had they both really changed so much?

  She was circling him slowly, her hand caressing his shoulders, his arms and moving seductively down his back. She leaned in to press her lips against his ear, and he had to suppress a shudder.

  “Oh, Gabriel, I used to love the way you looked at me, like I was the only woman in the world, the only star in the sky, the only thing that mattered to you. We were about to be married, weren't we, Gabriel? But we never got the chance to become man and wife,” she whispered, her fangs scraping down his neck. “We would have been married and lived a happy, simple life. We would have watched our children grow up, get married and have children of their own. We would have led happy, contented lives. But you changed all that,” she hissed. “That night, on that road, you shouldn't have stopped the cart. I told you that the child crying at the side of the road was no ordinary child. But you wouldn't listen. You had to walk up to the child, and help him up, hold him close to you—and let him fall upon your neck. And when the Master swooped in to grab me, I screamed. I screamed for you, Gabriel. But you didn't come. You didn't protect me,” she smirked, fisting his shirt.

  Vonetta dragged one curved nail down his cheek. “You would protect a strange child, a vampire child, instead of me.”

  She stared at him impassively. “What are you?” she mimicked him. A thin smile spread across her face. “What am I? What am I to you, Gabriel King?”

  “The Master turned you. I saw...”

  Vonetta laughed a high-pitched, brittle laugh. “Oh yes. You saw, didn't you? You saw him ravage me, in the most brutal, bloody fashion. He took my blood, my body, but he didn't kill me. He forced me to drink his blood, and then he sold me.”

  Gabriel swallowed painfully at the memory.

  “After using me, he still managed to squeeze a profit out of me. You've got to hand it to him. He sold me to a demon, an incubus.” Her red eyes glowed as she stepped back.

  “Vonetta, I...”

  “You're sorry?” she sneered.

 
“Yes. I'm sorry, Vonetta. I never...”

  “You never thought of me.” she said matter-of-factly.

  “I thought of you constantly,” he blurted out. “I've been looking for you all this time. I never stopped searching. I knew I'd find you. All this while, I thought...” I thought I loved you.

  “Really? So, do you still want to marry me, Gabriel? Claim me as your vampire bride and mate?”

  At her question, Gabriel took a step back, his body gravitating towards Eva.

  “Take me, Gabriel. Claim me as your one true mate. We can be together, for eternity,” Vonetta said, advancing towards him. “Make good on your empty apology. Make it up to me, Gabriel King.”

  “I will make it up to you, Vonetta. I...will take care of you. I will make sure...”

  She came up to him and placed a finger on his lips. Gabriel stared into those dark eyes and experienced a momentary sense of vertigo, as though he were staring down into a bottomless fiery pit from a great height.

  “Vonetta,” he breathed.

  “You said you'll make it up to me, Gabriel,” she whispered. “Isn't that right?”

  “I...”

  Laughing, she sliced her fangs across her bottom lip and let the blood smear across her mouth. Her tongue darted out to lick her bleeding lips and she smiled. Tilting her face up to him, she hissed, “This is what I am, Gabriel.”

  Before Gabriel could stop her, she pressed her lips hard against his, pushing her tongue deep into his mouth. She bit his lip and swept her long tongue across his lips to take his blood.

  Gabriel gasped and sputtered as her robust, bitter blood burned his tongue and slid down his throat.

  No, no, she couldn't be...

  He had failed to save her two hundred years ago. How could he save her now?

  With a snarl, Vonetta pulled away, baring her bloodied fangs at him. Her eyes flashed and her features rippled as though something had just slithered across her face just under the surface of her skin.