Ela swallowed, the tightness in her throat was becoming uncomfortable. “Yes.”
Turning to face Ela, the woman took a generous bite of the pear. After several seconds of chewing, and with her mouth still full, she smiled. “I’m Kesora. I am – let me see, how should I put this – Mateo’s pet.”
Ela shook her head, still finding it difficult to focus as the woman’s voice and smell continued to roll over her like warm waves. “Pet?”
Kesora put the half eaten fruit down on the table and began to slowly unbutton her blouse. Ela was mesmerized and found it impossible to move though every muscle in her body wanted to lunge at the woman and feed on her. “What are you doing?”
“Showing you what you want to know.” Kesora was undressed in short order, standing in front of Ela. Her five foot, four inch body was perfectly toned. Her skin was pale and flawless. Ela was enthralled by her eyes. There was no color in the irises, just a thin black band outlining them.
A sudden surge of blood rushed through Kesora, and her pale skin turned a bright red. The woman hunched over, there was a series of loud cracking sounds as her shoulders and hips dislocated. A mild electrical charge filled the space, and Kesora was gone.
Ela blinked several times, not believing what she was seeing. Where the beautiful woman had been standing, there was now an equally beautiful white and black spotted leopard. The animal looked identical to one she had seen as a child when Rilla had taken her and Delia to the zoo in Krakow.
Ela took several steps back, a feeling of vertigo overtaking her as the intensity of the memory rushed through her. Shaking her head, Ela was brought back to the present when she caught the animal’s scent. It was the same smell that had drawn her to this room in the first place.
Ela’s mind raced as she processed what she had witnessed. She had heard whispers of such things from other members of the clan. Gahiji had talked of shape shifters he had met while still roaming through Egypt and other parts of the Middle East. Ela had thought his stories exaggerations, but she had obviously underestimated him. “Change back. I have questions.” Ela demanded.
The odor of burning leaves and salt filled the room. The white leopard whimpered moments before Kesora stood in front of Ela again. “You found your confidence pretty quickly.” Her voice cracked slightly as if her vocal chords hadn’t completely reformed yet for speech.
Ela shrugged. “Not much shocks me.”
Kesora laughed, the falsetto tones from earlier completely returned. “Mateo said as much.” She walked toward Ela with her hand extended. “Nice to meet you.”
Ela gasped when she took her hand. Kesora’s hand was much hotter than a human’s. Her entire body radiated heat. “Amazing.”
Kesora smiled. “Nice of you to say.”
Ela pulled her hand back. “What did you mean when you said you are Mateo’s pet?”
Kesora walked back over to her discarded clothes and began getting dressed. “I’m a shifter. My blood is like a drug to your kind, and in return for me sharing it, Mateo shares his.” Ela furrowed her brow. “Let me explain.”
Kesora gestured for Ela to sit with her on the sofa. Finishing with the last button on her blouse, the lovely woman turned to Ela. “I age at a human rate, but if I consume vampire blood, the aging stops.” Kesora leaned back and ran her fingers through her blonde hair. “So it works out for both of us.”
Ela wanted this woman. She rarely had sexual urges outside of hunting, but the mingling of primitive smells and energy radiating from Kesora was intoxicating. Ela felt the pressure of desire building in her, and she lunged toward the woman.
To Ela’s surprise, Kesora dodged her advances. She pushed herself off the couch and landed on her haunches several feet away. Ela lay sprawled across the arm of the sofa.
“How did you do that?” Ela panted.
Kesora slowly rose. “I have skills besides shifting. Now, are you going to act civilized, or will I have to tie you up?”
Ela smirked, her eyes glowing. “Don’t tease.”
Kesora laughed and cautiously walked back toward the sofa. Ela sat perched on the edge of the sofa, her legs spread. Kesora stepped between them and placed her hand under Ela’s chin, tilting her head back. “You’re more beautiful than I was led to believe.”
“Who led you astray?” Ela took a deep breath, intent on absorbing as much of Kesora’s scent as possible. The taste of earth, water, and flesh gathered in Ela’s mouth.
“Mateo.” Kesora turned Ela’s head to the side and then back again. “Extraordinary.”
Ela wrapped her arms around Kesora’s waist and pulled her into a tight embrace. The woman gasped as Ela ran her hands under her shirt and down her backside. “Stop.”
Kesora stepped away. Ela pounced, and knocked the woman to the floor. Pinning her hands on either side of her, Ela began kissing and sucking at Kesora’s neck. Her incisors scraped at the soft flesh.
Kesora moaned and extended her neck further. “We can’t. He’ll know.”
Ela hesitated, her teeth millimeters from Kesora’s neck. “Mateo?” She leaned back.
“Yes.” Kesora frowned and pushed on Ela’s shoulders.
Ela rolled off of the woman and sat on the floor next to her. Mateo was like a maker to her and had taught her more than Coleen ever could. In spite of this, she had no actual qualms about betraying him, but she didn’t want to incur his wrath.
Kesora got up from the floor and extended her hand to Ela. “Come on.” Ela refused her hand, rose on her own, and walked to the sofa. Kesora joined her, tapping her foot nervously as she sat next to Ela. An awkward silence fell between the two women.
As if on cue, Ela smelled Mateo coming down the hall. He walked into the library in a pair of black swimming trunks, a towel draped around his neck, and his thick black hair still damp. “I see the two of you have finally met.”
Patting his face with the towel, Mateo sat in an overstuffed chair across from Ela and Kesora. “So, Ela, what do you think?”
Ela looked at Kesora for several seconds, the taste of her still lingering in her mouth. “Amazing.”
Mateo smiled. “She’s really something.” He crossed his legs. “The shifters are fascinating creatures. They have remarkable skills.” Kesora got up and sat on the arm of the chair next to Mateo. Ela could see by the look in Mateo’s eyes that he had a genuine affection for the woman.
“Kesora was just explaining to me that her blood is like a drug to us.” Ela looked at Kesora and then at Mateo. “How does that work exactly?”
Mateo sighed and put his arm around Kesora’s waist. “I’m not sure why it affects us like it does, but the sensation is amazing and prolonged. Unlike human blood, whose effects can fade within hours, a Shifter’s blood – even in small amounts – is twice as potent and lasts twice as long.”
Ela bit her lower lip. “Can I have some?”
Mateo laughed. “Not yet, but eventually.”
Ela frowned. “Why should I wait?”
Mateo smiled. “Anticipation.”
***
“You knew about her?” Ela asked Nuria as they lay under the shade of a cane apple tree.
“Yes. Mateo introduced me about ten years ago.” Nuria turned on her side to face Ela. “You seem agitated.”
Ela shook her head. “No, not exactly. I just don’t see how I could have been here for three years, and never so much as caught a whiff of her.”
Nuria smiled. “They’re discreet. Mateo isn’t interested in sharing.”
Ela’s eyebrow arched. “He said I could feed on her at some point.”
Nuria laughed. “He told me the same thing – ten years ago.” Nuria rolled back over onto her back. “He doesn’t share well.”
Ela sat up. “Why didn’t you tell me about her?”
Nuria closed her eyes and sighed. “What’s the point? She’s a non-event for us, Ela. Mateo and she are symbiotic. Mateo won’t share her blood, and Kesora wants to live forever.”
Ela fro
wned. “Why doesn’t he turn her?”
Nuria shook her head. “Isn’t that obvious? It would change the makeup of her blood, and then what good would she be to Mateo? Besides –” Nuria hesitated.
Ela narrowed her eyes. “Besides what?”
Nuria shrugged. “I’ve heard from Gahiji that a mingling of the lines is forbidden. The shifters’ ancestors are lycans and, by Mateo’s way of thinking, a lower class.” Nuria looked up at Ela. “She’s technically a servant. I mean, Mateo could manage without her, but without Mateo, Kesora would age rapidly and die.”
Ela lay back down with her arms folded under her head. “How rapidly?”
“Kesora is over a hundred and fifteen years old. If she doesn’t consume Mateo’s blood regularly, she will start to look it.”
Ela nodded. “Is she bound to a single vampire at this point or could she feed from other vampires?”
Nuria let out an exacerbated sigh. “When a human or shifter takes our blood, but isn’t turned, there is a connection – a bond formed between them and the vampire. I don’t know if that can be severed or overridden by another vampire. Frankly, I don’t care.” She looked at Ela for several seconds. “And neither should you, my friend.”
Ela did care. She cared that Mateo had kept this from her and even now wasn’t willing to share. Ela got up. “I’m going to talk to Gahiji.”
Nuria furrowed her brow. “Ela, let it be. Besides, what’s that fool going to be able to tell you that I haven’t?”
Ela was undeterred and continued walking toward the archway of the garden. She made her way through the maze of hallways to Gahiji’s room.
Over the years, Ela had minimized her interaction with the large man. He wasn’t particularly intelligent, and she found him unnerving with his unnaturally high-pitched voice. Ela had asked Nuria why his voice was so high and pinched. She had told Ela that before Mateo turned him nearly two hundred years ago, he had been a house slave in Egypt. To avoid any temptation to fraternize with the female servants or his owner’s wives, he was gelded at the age of twelve.
Ela was thinking about this intimate detail when Gahiji opened his door. He smiled. “Ela. Hello.”
“Ah, hi, Gahiji. I need to speak with you.” Ela stepped back indicating she had no intention of going into the man’s room.
Gahiji nodded eagerly. “Sure, sure.” He stepped out into the hall and closed the door behind him. “Let’s walk.”
Ela smiled. “Thank you.” The man’s shoulders were broad, and she was forced to slouch her shoulders so they could walk side-by-side down the narrow hall. “Gahiji, what do you know about shifters?”
The man turned his head toward Ela, a frown forming on his lips. “Shifters? Why do you ask me this?”
Ela forced a casual tone. “I met Kesora the other day and find the whole thing fascinating. Nuria said you are very clever about these things and I should talk to you.”
Gahiji smiled. “Nuria said I was clever?”
Ela nodded. “Of course.”
The two entered the large vestibule of the compound. High, arched stucco ceilings where painted with ornate pastoral scenes and elaborately decorated tiles adorned the walls and floor. Gahiji looked around and then back over his shoulder before speaking. “The shifters are very old creatures. Their bloodlines come from lycans many, many years ago. They can change into anything.”
Ela squinted. “Anything?”
“Well, it has to be alive and about their same size.”
“What about their blood?” Ela asked.
Gahiji looked away. “What do you mean?”
Ela forced a smile. The idiot’s evasiveness was starting to irritate her. “Mateo told me the blood is very good.”
Gahiji, relaxing at the mention of Mateo, nodded. “Yes. Vampires and shifters have a natural connection. Their blood makes us powerful and ours makes them immortal.”
Ela nodded. “Can they turn into a person?”
Gahiji’s eyes widened. “Yes, but it is very hard and only the most skilled shifter can do it.”
A noise echoed in the hall they had just exited. Gahiji stepped back from Ela. She looked at the hall and back at Gahiji, then she took his hand and patted it. “It’s okay. Why are you so nervous talking to me about this?”
Gahiji shook his head. “I – I was told – Mateo said not to discuss these things.”
Ela bit her lower lip. “Why?”
Gahiji shrugged. “I don’t know. He just said shifters were his business and no one else’s.”
Ela let Gahiji’s hand go. “I see. Thank you. I appreciate you talking with me.” Ela smiled. “Nuria was right, you’re very clever.” Gahiji grinned, his incisors protruding from under his upper lip.
Ela walked away, her mind racing. She wanted Kesora, and Mateo’s secrets weren’t going to stop her from getting what she wanted.
***
Ela sat perfectly still in the library for two days. She could tell by the denseness of Kesora’s scent in the space she frequently visited the room. Her patience was rewarded when she smelled and then heard Kesora coming down the hallway toward the library. She watched from the shadows of a corner chair as the woman moved gracefully from shelf to shelf. Kesora casually leafed through books, and then took three large, leather bound volumes to a wooden table near the center of the library.
Ela moved quickly and in a single stride stood directly behind the shifter. Ela placed her hands on Kesora’s thin shoulders. The woman started and spun around in the chair. “Shit, Ela. You scared me to death.”
Ela smiled, her incisors fully extended, her eyes an iridescent lavender. She pulled Kesora up from the chair and turned her around. Kesora tilted her head to the side, her eyes narrowing as she considered Ela. “You know that I can’t. Besides, you think I don’t understand that I am a means to an end for you?”
Ela laughed. “That’s ironic, considering you use Mateo to stay alive.”
Kesora eyes filled with tears. “You really don’t understand.”
Ela was growing weary of this game. “Fine, Kesora. You’re terribly put upon and vampires are all bastards.” She grabbed the woman’s upper arms and, with a split second motion, sunk her teeth deep into Kesora’s neck. The blood that rushed into Ela’s mouth was hot and tasted of salt and something Ela couldn’t identify, but it was thick and savory.
An electrical current surged through Ela and she felt the most intense euphoric sensation course through her. She took deep, desperate gulps, listening intently to Kesora’s rapid heartbeat slow.
“Ela, please. You’re killing me,” Kesora whispered.
Ela, summoning a strength she didn’t know she possessed, turned her head away and pushed Kesora to the floor. She hadn’t stopped herself to avoid guilt or even repercussion from Mateo had she killed Kesora. Ela stopped because she wanted more. She wanted that feeling today, tomorrow, and forever. The only way to do that was to keep the woman alive. In a moment of clarity, Ela understood Mateo’s motives.
***
Throughout her nearly ten years with Mateo’s clan, Ela had frequently set out to roam Western Europe in search of Rachel. She had moved through central France and into Germany. Near the end of the second year of her search, her path crossed Coleen’s.
Ela was leaping from treetop to treetop as she stalked a gypsy caravan that was moving through the western most part of the German Black Forest. This was her ideal hunt because she didn’t hide in the shadows or sneak up on her prey while they slept. She stalked the heartbeats and plucked them up in broad daylight. Her blood rushed as the remaining humans would begin to panic and cower in fear as their kind disappeared one-by-one into the dark woods.
“Remarkable restraint. I would have thought just massacring the lot of them at once would be more to your taste.” Coleen’s voice was melodic as it reached Ela’s ears. Crouched nearly fifty feet off the forest floor on a pine tree branch, Ela pivoted to face the direction her maker’s voice had come from. Sitting ten feet away, with he
r feet dangling casually over the side of a large pine tree branch sat Coleen.
A surge of longing rushed through Ela, and she squelched the urge to embrace Coleen. The uncontrollable affection she had for her maker sickened her, made her feel weak.
Ela swallowed several times before she dared to speak. When she finally spoke, her tone belied her inner turmoil. “I’ve learned all sorts of things. No thanks to you.”
In a single, swift movement, Coleen was perched next to Ela. “So I’ve heard.” She reached out to take Ela’s hand, but stopped as a low growl rose from Ela’s throat.
Coleen shook her head and leaned back against the trunk of the tree. “I see more of Mateo in you now.” She looked closely at Ela. “There’s hardly anything of me left.”
Ela had always assumed Coleen had knowledge of where and who she was with. The fact Coleen never sought her only added to Ela’s disdain for the woman. “You’re right. I have his strength and resolve. None of your weakness and restraint.” Ela spat the words at Coleen.
“Restraint as a fault? Interesting way to look at it.” Coleen sighed heavily. “I suppose you have bought into his doctrine. His archaic beliefs in the bloodlines and the one tr –”
Ela lunged toward Coleen and grabbed her by the throat, her teeth bared. “You don’t speak of him. You’re not worthy to even say his name.”
Coleen didn’t move. Her eyes glowed blue as she spoke calmly. “I’m nearly five hundred years older than your glorious savior; so I will speak of him however I choose and as often as I choose.” Coleen grabbed Ela’s wrists and effortlessly snapped them.
Ela collapsed backwards. She grabbed for the branch, but had no strength in her hands. Falling to the ground, she landed with a loud thud as her head struck a rock at the base of the tree. A persistent humming echoed in Ela’s ears as she sat up and twisted her head to the right, then slowly back to the left.
Grinding and popping replaced the humming as Ela’s broken neck mended itself. Her wrists were already healing. She placed a hand on either side of her head and pulled up. The vertebrae in her neck realigned and she sprung to her feet.
Ela: Forever (Waking Forever) Page 12
