THE SANCTUARY
#2: THE VAMPIRE’S PASSION
ATHENA BLACKROSE
CONTENTS
Also by Athena Blackrose
Join The Sanctuary
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
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ALSO BY ATHENA BLACKROSE
The Sanctuary Series
The Sanctuary #1: The Vampire’s Secret
——
The Sanctuary #2: The Vampire’s Passion
——
The Sanctuary #3: The Vampire’s Promise (Available August 15th 2017)
New Sanctuary novels are scheduled to arrive monthly!
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ONE
THE COLLECTOR
Have you ever heard the sound of ripping flesh?
A smooth slice of a knife tends to be silent when it penetrates the skin.
But ripping skin?
That’s an entirely different symphony.
It sings — a soaring growl that crescendoes into a mighty ragged vibration that satisfies the ear in a way that few sounds can rival.
It’s savage and yet freeing. And once the skin tears away from itself, the serrated edges frayed and jagged, the truth of life is unleashed. Bursting forth from the skin like the juice of a plump grape, the scarlet nectar rushes from the veins like it’s lived its life for that very second.
The blood has come to fruition. Its job has been completed.
The life it held so precariously together has been allowed to let go and the blood and its prisoner are both free.
Blood-letting.
It takes on a whole new meaning when you think of it that way.
And I liked to think of it like that. It was easier for me to imagine that I was freeing the blood and the person at the same time when I sank my teeth into their flesh.
When I watched the life drain from the eyes of my companion, I liked to believe I was setting them free.
Some might call my thoughts twisted.
I called them creative. I called them survival.
As I ripped through the supple skin of the creamy inner thigh of the frail lanky blonde splayed out before me, the rage that had been boiling inside of me throughout the night was numbed.
I only heard the symphony.
The moment the skin ripped apart was truly just the beginning. Followed by the ecstatic rush of blood, which sounded distinctly like waves crashing ashore, and then the sounds that inevitably passed from my companion’s pretty pink lips.
A scream.
A sigh.
A weak whimper of defeat.
And then, my favorite part of all…
It’s a cross between that last whimper and a sigh, but there’s a subtle sinking into the pleasure, a final act of giving up, that floats just above the rest.
Just a glimpse of a note that lingers alone in my ear, that tells me that we’re close to the edge…
The veil.
The thinnest veil that separates life from death.
That sound tells me my companion is lifting their foot, taking the first step through the flimsy fluttering curtain of death and if I don’t pull back, if I don’t stop sucking the poison from their veins…
That moment is pure torture, I tell you.
It’s the ultimate temptation.
I’m already full, the savage hunger that got us all here in the first place long satiated. At this point, I’ve eaten all but one piece of their cake in one sitting, and I’m staring down that last piece like a greedy vulture.
Anything else is pure gluttony.
Do I press on?
Do I indulge my sinful desires?
Do I have any sense of humanity left at all?
I lifted my head from the blonde’s well, holding her gently in my arms, trailing my eyes around the mess in my hotel room. Bodies were littered throughout, even more than the night before. But this morning, these bodies weren’t stirring.
Not one chest rose with air, not one vein pulsed.
I’d gone through them all, drowning myself in each of their unique symphonies. Their blood covered my bare skin, their sweet perfumes still permeating the air.
I closed my eyes and once again heard each of their final songs, tasted the last crumbs of their cakes on my bloody tongue…
A slow smile spread across my face, the memories singing in my head…
It was worth it, I decided.
Each of their lives had been worth it.
I looked down at the beauty in my arms, her head rolling back in submission, her blonde locks falling over my forearm like a silken waterfall, the life in her azure eyes draining away like the blood pouring from her torn flesh.
I shuddered at her beauty, at the sheer power she held over me…
Life.
Freedom.
I bent my head as my smile widened, my fangs sinking in, ripping, tearing, emancipating……
Pure joy filled my heart as I cried out into the lifeless room.
I barely recognized the evil laugh that tore from my throat as my own, but the joy, the ecstasy, the sweet symphony that this flaxen-haired beauty played for me in her last, final moment — it was as familiar as coming home.
TWO
ADDY
He was dying.
He was struggling, fighting it…
Who wouldn’t?
“Shh, Leo, just let go, baby…” I caressed his forehead. He shuddered and a ribbon of my blood ran from the corner of his mouth. I scooped it up with a fingertip, sliding my finger in his mouth and spreading the blood across his tongue. He’d drank so much of it already, before the dying began.
I watched quietly, holding my breath as the color drained from his face.
The paleness left behind would define him forever.
Seconds later, my love lay dead before me.
“I’m so sorry, Leo,” I cried, my voice echoing in the empty room, my beating heart the only sound in the room. I put my head on his chest, waiting through the silence for the strong punch I knew was coming soon, the rebirthing, the reliving.
“Please forgive me, please forgive me…”
I’d made a huge decision, with tremendous consequences, and now I was responsible for the aftermath. I’d never leave him. I’d deal with whatever happened. But more importantly, I’d have to keep him safe.
I quickly jumped up and tightly tied his arms and legs to the bed with bedsheets, knowing it was a weak attempt. It was useless, and it was all for show, but I had to do something.
Three hours.
I had three hours to get this newly born vampire under control and out to the boat at sunrise.
Once he came to, he would be as wild as a trapped animal. He wouldn’t know what to do. He wouldn’t understand what he was.
I stood watching over him, waiting, waiting…hating myself every second.
He was a good man.
And I’d turned him into…well, into me. I wasn’t sure I’d ever forgive myself. Why should he?
I jumped when his body seized, jolting from the bed into the air and landing with a heavy thud back on the bed. He gasped for air, his eyes flying open, wild and full of fear.
“Shhh, Leo,” I whispered. “It’s okay, babe, you’re okay…”
He didn’t hear me through the fear. Panic filled his eyes and he let out a low, guttural moan.
“Leo…” I murmured.
He began flailing against his restraints and my heart broke watching him. I hated it, but I had to do it. If I left him free to roam around the hotel room, he’d break everything in it.
His grass green eyes had turned a deep shade of emerald, with sparkling flecks of gold that hadn’t been visible before now shimmering like shooting stars. The whites of his eyes had grown even whiter, brighter, illuminating the emerald orbs from within. Rippling and flexing, his forearms bulged with veiny determination as he fought against the knotted linens. He easily could have ripped through them, but he didn’t know that yet.
He was just learning.
Like a baby, he had to start over from the beginning. He had to learn what he could do and once he realized that there wasn’t much that he couldn’t do, there would be no reasoning with him. If I got through to him before he realized his own strength, there was a chance he could understand and he would cooperate with me and I could get us both out of here alive.
It was a small window.
We had an even smaller chance.
But I couldn’t think about that right now.
Right now, he needed me. Guidance, understanding, empathy.
I’d created him, now I needed to nurture him until he could stand on his own. In the meantime, I’d ignore the look of hatred seeping from those breathtaking emerald eyes that once ignited a fire deep inside of me.
Leo didn’t need a lover right now.
He needed a mother.
THREE
THE COLLECTOR
Loud banging tore me from my revelry and I discarded the blonde like an old doll. I wiped the blood from my mouth with the back of my hand and stood up, staring at the door with regret.
I’d ordered breakfast last night, a full spread. Of course, that was before I’d run into Addy. She’d pissed me off royally, sending me into a wild, drunken rage that ended up with me going way too far with all these probably dead humans that now littered the floor and bed of my room. I’d be charged out the nose for this, but it wasn’t the first time this had happened. Many of us got out of control occasionally. Especially here. That’s what the fines were for.
“Just a moment!” I called, while I pulled bloody sheets and blankets over the bodies. I surveyed my work, satisfied they’d pass for sleeping bodies instead of completely drained bodies, at least long enough for the breakfast cart to be wheeled in.
The banging sounded again, which only reignited the anger I’d been trying so hard to release.
“I’m coming!” I shouted angrily, as I flung open the door. “Bloody hell, do you have to bang so fucking loudly, I was —.”
“Dr. Dane Benjamin?”
Two severe looking men dressed in black suits flashed their badges at me. Vampire Police.
Great, just what I needed, I thought.
“That’s me,” I replied, pulling the door shut behind me. I was naked and covered in blood, but if there was anywhere in the world that was expected, it was here. “What can I do for you gentleman?”
“Dr. Benjamin, you’re under arrest for the murder of Stefan Fredericks.”
“Who’s that?” I asked. “Look I know I went a little too far. Just put the fees on my credit card. Since when do the Vampire Police arrest you for killing a human at the sanctuary?”
“Stefan Fredericks was a vampire.”
“What!” I exclaimed. “I didn’t kill any vampires.”
“You’ll need to come with us, sir.”
“I’ve been in my room all night.”
“Do you have any witnesses to that fact, sir?”
I thought of the many witnesses lying dead inside my room and cringed.
“Well, no…” I said. “But this is absurd! Why would I do such a thing? I have no reason to kill one of our kind!”
“We have evidence, sir. Now, if you’ll come with us, please.”
They grabbed my arms, one on each side, and I attempted to get away but two vampires are always stronger than one.
All I could do was shout and squirm.
“I didn’t kill anyone!” I screamed. “Let me go, you bastards!”
FOUR
ADDY
His red eyes flashed with anger. His fangs dropped, sharply pointed and gleaming.
“What have you done?” He growled. I watched in awe as his hair grew before my eyes, the square of his jaw seeming to sharpen, his cheek bones growing higher.
“I had no choice, Leo,” I whispered, shaking my head. “You were dying.”
“Am…I…a…a…a…vampire?” His voice was full of awe as he stared back at me with wide eyes.
“I’m so sorry, Leo.”
“You…you did it…”
“I did. You had a heart attack, you were dying…”
He lurched at his restraints suddenly, growling again.
“Let me go!” he seethed.
“I can’t. Not yet. Not until you listen to me.”
“Let me go!” he roared. If he just flexed his muscles a little harder, he’d be free.
“Listen to me!” I screamed. I needed to get through to him quickly, I needed to make him understand how crucial the next few hours were, how important our next steps were. “There’s so much more to tell you than what I’ve already shared, Leo. You’ll have a million questions. But right now, we have to concentrate on getting out of here. I have a boat coming for us at sunrise and if all goes well, we can escape without anyone seeing us. I don’t know if they’re looking for us, but I know they’ve found the body by now.
“It’s important that you stay as calm as possible. If anyone suspects I turned you, they’ll never let me leave. We’ll have to leave without anyone seeing us. There’s no acceptable way to explain this. Do you understand? You’ll have to remain as quiet as possible, you can’t react no matter what you see, no matter what you smell.”
He sniffed the air, his eyes widening with temptation.
“Young vampires struggle the most with impulse control,” I continued, keeping my voice as calm as possible. “Once we leave this room, the smell of human blood will be thick in the air no matter where we go. If you don’t control yourself, it’ll call attention to us and we’ll miss the boat, at the very least.”
I gazed at him, my heart bursting with love for him. For the man he used to be. I had no idea who he would be now. All of that would be revealed, but the man I’d fallen in love with was gone, merely a shell surrounding the monster I’d created.
“Okay, now, listen to me. I’m going to give you some bottled blood, Leo. Drink it all, enjoy it, as you undoubtedly will. But that’s all you can have right now. I can’t risk bringing in one of the humans now. You’ll have to make do with the bottled stuff…until…”
I let my voice trail off, because honestly, I had no idea how he was ever going to feed off a human in the near future. This entire situation, creating an unregistered vampire, was new for me. We’d not have access to the resources that would make this easy. Instead, Leo would be considered ‘illegal’ and would be forced to live in hiding. At least in hiding from the Council.
But what’s done was done. I couldn’t think about that right now.
“Do you understand, Leo? You have to control yourself completely. You have to fight any urges you have, you have to be strong.”
He nodded slowly, his eyes still red and glowing.
“Okay, I’m going to untie you but you have to remain calm. Can you do that?”
He nodded again and I untied him slowly, keeping a cautious eye on him as I went along. He balled his hands up into tight fists and took a deep breath as he looked around the room.
“Here,” I said, grabbing a bottle from the stash and handing it to him. He took it from me, sniffing it first and then bringing it to his mouth, pouring the blood down quickly. He downed it all and I handed him another, watching as he finished this one, too.
“I want more,” he growled, his lips stained with the glistening ruby blood.
The Sanctuary 2: The Vampire's Passion Page 1
