Dark Mate (MATE series)

by Kristen, Natalie

  “Well Gabriel, now that you know what I am, are you going to give me what I need?”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Eva's eyes fluttered open and she tried to raise her head, but it felt as if a great weight was pressing down on her. Her eyes and mouth widened, but no sound escaped from her lips. She was aware that she was lying on her own sofa, on top of her pile of laundry, but she just couldn't push herself up. Her arms and legs seemed to be weighted down, even though she could see nothing holding them down.

  She drew in a sharp breath.

  Vonetta.

  Vonetta was no ordinary vampire. She had done this. She had pinned Eva down on the floor, then kissed her full on the mouth. Eva had tried to struggle, but she couldn't move. Vonetta's kiss was relentless, ravenous. Eva felt her strength, her life, being sucked right out of her. Her body had weakened, and her thoughts became jumbled and fuzzy. She couldn't even stay conscious. She just felt so very tired, and lost.

  And her eyes had closed.

  Vonetta had subdued her, with one deep, demonic kiss.

  Eva gasped. Vonetta was half vampire, and half demon.

  Her eyes finally focused and she saw Gabriel standing stiffly in the middle of her living room, his eyes closed as Vonetta dug her nails into his back. She leaned in and purred, “Gabriel, my love.”

  Gabriel jerked when Vonetta's hands curled around his neck. “Kiss me, Gabriel,” she said huskily. Her voice was musical, mesmerizing, floating and spinning around Gabriel like a web.

  Gabriel bowed his head and whispered raggedly, “Vonetta, how did you become...a succubus?”

  “Half succubus,” she corrected with a slow smile. “I have vampire and demon blood in me. The Master kept me alive with his blood, and sold me to my new demon master, who plied me with his blood to make me crave him. He was an incubus. He needed sex to survive, and he wanted me to need him, need him and crave him like a drug. It's like an addiction.” She laughed. “It worked. I needed sex more and more. I was turning, but I didn't realize it. I was turning into a demon like him.”

  Gabriel looked up and gripped her arms fiercely. “There must be a way...”

  “To undo everything that has been done to me?” Her laugh sounded demented, demonic, echoing round and round the room.

  She stopped suddenly and held his face in both her hands. “I am a vampire and a succubus, Gabriel. I need blood and sex to survive. Make it up to me. Give me what I need,” she growled.

  Eva opened her mouth to shout, but her voice wouldn't work. She watched with wide, horrified eyes as Gabriel leaned in stiffly towards Vonetta.

  She couldn't see Gabriel's face, but she felt a certain sick, sinking feeling in her stomach when she saw him take Vonetta into his arms and lower his face to her.

  No! Don't do it, she wanted to scream. She's going to hurt you! She'll suck your life, your will right out of you!

  Vonetta licked her fangs and smiled in satisfaction. Over Gabriel's shoulder, her red eyes locked onto Eva. Slowly, she parted her lips and tilted her face up to Gabriel.

  Their lips touched.

  Eva screamed.

  Her scream smashed into Gabriel like a sledgehammer, shattering Vonetta's hypnotic hold on him. He staggered back from Vonetta, shaking his head hard as if trying to wake from a dream. Eva felt herself being yanked up from the sofa, and Vonetta pressed her fangs against Eva's neck.

  “What did you do?” she hissed at Eva. “What have you done?” she shrieked.

  There was a deafening sound, and Eva turned to see her front door explode into splinters.

  Everything seemed to happen in an instant.

  Her door was smashed in, and PAC Enforcers stormed into her apartment, guns and blades gleaming.

  Eva screamed when a tall human Enforcer took one look at Gabriel and swiftly fired a shot at him.

  Gabriel charged at the Enforcer, his fangs out, and more silver bullets were rapidly pumped into him. The bullets burrowed in his thigh and chest, effectively preventing him from misting away.

  Eva gasped as Gabriel stopped in his tracks. Even with his body full of silver bullets, he remained standing. He swiveled round to look at her, and she heard him whisper her name.

  Gabriel's eyes moved from her face to her neck, and his eyes blazed with fury when he saw that she was bleeding.

  Vonetta was holding Eva in front of her like a shield, so the Enforcers were unable to get a clear shot.

  Gabriel didn't wait. He lurched forward, flying straight towards Vonetta.

  Eva felt Vonetta's fangs pierce her neck. “Say goodbye to your mate,” she taunted.

  Eva didn't know if Vonetta's words were directed at Gabriel or her. All she knew was that she was losing way too much blood. Everything was beginning to grow fuzzy. Even the shouts and shots sounded muted and distant.

  Her body felt too heavy and Eva felt herself sinking, dropping like a sack of potatoes.

  But she never hit the floor.

  The last sound she heard was Gabriel's roar of pure rage and pain.

  She could feel the searing pain in her chest and in her leg. It felt as if she had been shot, and white hot bullets were tearing through her flesh, burning her from the inside.

  She could feel Gabriel's pain, share his agony. But the feeling of being shot by silver bullets was nothing compared to the crushing pain in her heart.

  The bitch sure knew how to hurt.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Gabriel smirked at the two burly Enforcers glaring at him from across the room. The two big, blond bear shifters had their arms folded across their chests but the looks on their faces told him they were thinking of ripping his head right off his shoulders where he sat. But they were here to question him, not kill him. He'd heard their boss, Jett Riley, giving them the order. Jett was the one who had fired the first shot at him. That human wasn't one to be trifled with.

  Jett might not be a paranormal, but he hunted and terminated rogue paranormals with brutal efficiency. He also had a team of well-trained, well-armed paranormal and human Enforcers under his command. In all ways, he was much more powerful than Gabriel.

  Gabriel might be proud, but he wasn't too stupid to see that.

  Only a fool would not recognize a formidable adversary.

  Gabriel looked round the sparse interrogation room. It wasn't designed for comfort, that's for sure. There was nothing but two tiny chairs and a table in the room. Gabriel leaned forward, hearing the flimsy chair creak under his weight, and placed his hands on the table. He had purged the silver bullets from his body and his wounds had healed, but the silver handcuffs around his wrists burned and weakened him.

  Gabriel narrowed his eyes at the two Enforcers. “Look, if you...”

  “I'm going to kill you,” the taller of the two Enforcers snarled at him. Gabriel saw that his claws were out, and golden fur was racing up his muscular arms.

  Gabriel arched a brow. “You want to kill me,” he repeated in a mocking tone.

  “Levi, don't do it,” the other Enforcer warned.

  “Stay out of this, Scott,” Levi growled.

  The silver cuffs around Gabriel's wrists weakened his powers significantly, but they didn't slow down his reflexes. He raised his arms over his head just as Levi charged at him, his claws slashing down. Claws met metal with a loud clang.

  “You took her, and you tortured her!” Levi roared as he reared up to attack Gabriel. “You made her fight a monster! I will kill you, for what you did to Rebecca...”

  Sitting in his chair, Gabriel managed to block all but one of Levi's enraged blows. As Scott lunged forward to grab Levi and haul him away, Gabriel scowled and dabbed the blood from the corner of his mouth where Levi had cut him.

  “Stop, Levi! Hey, hey, easy now. Get a hold of yourself. Calm down, just calm the heck down, will you?” Scott shouted.

  Gabriel flexed his fingers and glared down at his cuffs. If he didn't have these cuffs on him, he would have ripped out Levi's throat even before that crazy bear shifter
was halfway across the room. Those big, lumbering werebears wouldn't stand a chance against him.

  Gabriel spat out the blood from his mouth, keeping his eyes locked on the two Enforcers.

  Scott still had his arms around Levi's heaving chest, and Levi still had that murderous look in his blue eyes. What did Levi have against him?

  “You mentioned Rebecca. Who is Rebecca?” Gabriel asked, looking amused. “Friend of yours? I don't recall shagging any female by the name of Rebecca.” He shrugged “But I never remember any of their names, so...”

  Levi roared and lurched towards him, but Scott held him back.

  “Rebecca is my mate!” Levi bellowed. “How dare you...!”

  “Your mate? I would never take anyone's mate.” Gabriel shook his head, frowning. “If she's your mate, I would have seen your mark on her, and I wouldn't touch her.” He held up both his hands. “I swear, I have never touched anyone's mate.” It was the truth. If he saw or scented a mate mark on a women, he left her well alone. It was just too much trouble. Why bother taking someone's mate when there was plenty of fish in the sea, hundreds of horny females in the city? Food was food, and sex was sex. Simple and hassle-free. There was absolutely no need to complicate things.

  But Levi wasn't appeased. “You hurt her! You misted her away to her shitty ex-husband, and you locked her up and let him hurt her...”

  “Her ex-husband?”

  “Yes! Phin Lester,” Levi spat out the name.

  “Phin.” Gabriel nodded slowly. “I remember him. I discovered he had this strange ability to see through the eyes of a PAC Enforcer. So I used him. As a reward for his services, I agreed to deliver his ex-wife to him.”

  Gabriel looked up and met the furious stares of the two Enforcers. With a slow smile, he nodded. “It was you, wasn't it?” he said, staring straight at Levi. “Phin Lester saw through your eyes.”

  Gabriel laughed, and put his feet up on the table. “I have to say, your mate put up a good fight. She held her own against Phin. Honestly, I didn't think she'd make it.”

  Thick golden fur was rippling up Levi's arms and neck, and his claws were elongating. His wrath was pushing his bear to the fore, and it looked like he was fast losing control over his beast.

  Gabriel stood up to face him.

  Scott tried to wrestle Levi to the ground, but the bear was too powerful. With a terrible roar, Levi's enraged bear emerged, and charged towards Gabriel.

  The bear was going to kill Gabriel for having hurt its mate.

  Gabriel's deadly fangs extended as he faced the raging bear squarely, even though his wrists were shackled. He knew he was greatly weakened by the silver cuffs, and there was no way he could take down that ferocious bear, but he was still strong enough to defend himself.

  Gabriel leaped cleanly out of the way as Levi barreled towards him. The great bear smashed headlong into the wall behind him. The impact did nothing to slow the beast down as Levi whipped round to charge again. Levi's blue eyes were shining with maniacal fury and resolve. Gabriel saw the murderous intent in those brilliant blue eyes, and he braced himself. It was clear that Levi wouldn't stop until he had finished him off and avenged his mate.

  Scott gave a shout as the door burst open suddenly, and a slim, petite female Enforcer with midnight blue hair stood in the doorway. She slammed the door shut behind her, and the lock engaged automatically. The pint-sized female moved with lightning speed. In a flash, she was standing in the middle of the room, putting herself between Gabriel and Levi.

  She turned to address the maddened bear, who was staring past her shoulder at Gabriel.

  “Levi! Don't do this,” she said quietly but firmly. “Rebecca is safe now. She's safe, happy and well. She wouldn't want you to get in trouble now. He's not worth it.” She threw Gabriel a scornful look over her shoulder.

  Gabriel raised his brow a little. He could sense that this female Enforcer was a vampire, and a pretty young one at that. But she stood unflinchingly, almost authoritatively in front of a snarling bear twice her size who could take off her pretty head with one swipe of its claws.

  “What are you doing here, Bryn?” Scott asked her, putting a hand on the bear's heaving shoulder. “This is not...”

  “I'm taking over from Levi,” she answered pointedly. “I'm your new partner.”

  Gabriel watched the young vampire in front of him with interest. Quietly, he observed the stripes and badges on their jackets. The silver stripes on Scott's black uniform indicated that the bear shifter outranked the vampire. Levi's Enforcer uniform had shredded from him when his bear emerged, but Gabriel knew that these two brawny werebears were Senior Enforcers. On the other hand, this little vampire was just a rookie Enforcer, and she reminded him a lot of another rookie law enforcer. A young, gutsy, resourceful human woman.

  Gabriel's breath caught as a sharp pain stabbed into his heart. He had to see her. Just before the Enforcers brought him down with another round of silver bullets, he saw Vonetta teleport away with Eva. A couple of vampire Enforcers had given chase, misting after them. They would have found Eva. If only they would let him see her one last time...

  Gabriel flicked his eyes up as Scott huffed loudly. Bryn was walking towards Levi, her hand outstretched. In a low voice, she told Levi, “Jett wants to see you right now. Come on, you don't want to keep Jett waiting.” She put a hand gingerly on the side of Levi's massive leg and guided him towards the door. Unlocking the door, she cocked her head and urged, “Go on. Scott and I will finish up here. Go.”

  The bear growled and glowered at Gabriel as it exited the room. Bryn locked the door swiftly and strolled back to stand beside Scott.

  “So what have we here?” She folded her arms. “A rogue vampire, that's what,” she said disdainfully. “You may be a Master vampire, Gabriel King, but you're not a good Master.”

  Gabriel narrowed his eyes. He was much older and much more powerful than her. But this youngster wasn't afraid of him at all. And even though he towered over her, she still managed to look down her nose at him. She didn't bother hiding the scorn and disgust in her dark, flashing eyes.

  “You are a very young vampire,” Gabriel said, sizing her up. “Definitely not a Master vampire.”

  “A Master vampire?” she scoffed. “I have no desire to become a Master vampire. To become a Master vampire, I will have to destroy my Master, the vampire who turned me. I have no intention of destroying my Master. In fact, I will gladly fight for him and those he loves. I owe him my life, and I will lay down my life for him. He is a good man, a great Master vampire. But I guess you don't know what that means.” She shrugged. “You don't know what it takes to be a good Master vampire.”

  Gabriel frowned at her. His Master had controlled his vampires using terror and torture. He had been abused, humiliated and tormented at his Master's cruel hands. The only way he could escape his hellish existence was to destroy either his Master or himself. To survive, you couldn't show any mercy, any weakness, any love. His Master had seen his weakness, and had tortured Vonetta, to torture him. He'd felt justified in destroying his Master. It felt right, even though he'd felt empty and numb.

  How could any sane vampire be willing to die for her Master? Shouldn't she be plotting to destroy her old Master, and be free and powerful?

  This young vampire spoke of her Master with pride, respect and love. And from the way she handled herself and those two senior bear Enforcers, she was free and powerful. Gabriel shook his head. Was she for real?

  “Who is your Master?” he demanded.

  She rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue. “Why should I tell you? You are not fit to utter his name.”

  Beside her, Scott spluttered out a cough and rubbed a huge hand over his mouth to hide his chortle.

  “Anyway,” she went on. “You are not here to ask questions. We—” She gestured at Scott and herself. “—will ask the questions, and you will answer them. Sit.”

  Gabriel went back to the table and pulled out the chair. He sat dow
n and watched as the two Enforcers exchanged a look. So obedient? Something must be up.

  With an almost imperceptible nod, Scott moved to stand guard behind him while Bryn took the chair and sat down opposite Gabriel.

  This was interesting. The Senior Enforcer was letting the little rookie lead the interrogation.

  Gabriel smiled as Bryn narrowed her eyes at him. This female vamp was a little spitfire, fiery and feisty, just like his Eva.

  He started. “Where is she?”

  Bryn's eyes darted up to Scott. “Who?”

  His temper rose. They're playing dumb.

  “Eva. Eva Stone...” My Eva. “The NMPD officer,” he growled.

  Bryn glanced over his shoulder at Scott again, then exhaled sharply. “You answer our questions, and I will answer your question. Just one. All right?”

  Gabriel's eyes blazed but he nodded. “Yes,” he said tightly.

  Bryn leaned forward and began to fire off her questions. “How many vampires do you have in your coven?”

  “I don't have a coven.”

  “You are a Master vampire,” she snorted. “Are you telling me that you've not turned some unsuspecting humans into vampires and have them do your bidding? Come on, how many have you turned? Just a handful, or an army?”

  “I have turned a handful, just a handful. Four to be exact. Three of them have been hunted down and destroyed by the PAC Enforcers. One escaped, but I don't know where she is. I can't sense her and I can't Call her as her Master. I'm being blocked. I suspect that she has been collared by the PAC.” Gabriel smiled wryly.

  Bryn kept her face straight, giving nothing away. “What is her name?” she pressed on. “Your one surviving vampire.”

  “Amelia Jones.”

  Bryn leaned back and gave a slight nod. From her reaction, he knew that he was right. Amelia had been caught and collared by the PAC. The collar allowed the PAC to monitor her movements, and prevented her from misting. It also blocked his link to her, so he couldn't Call her to him and control her. She was as good as lost to him.