Eliza looked at Levi now. “Do you promise?”
He didn’t reply. He just swallowed deeply. He had perhaps grown even paler than before.
“Your problem is with me, and not my sister,” Eliza said to the Queen. “Kill me and let her live. Please. If not for me…or for her…then for our father. He couldn’t bear to lose both of us at once.”
One of the vampires in the line coughed, but it was a strange sound, like they were trying to stifle a sob. She glanced in that direction, but moved her attention back to the Queen and Levi.
“Go on,” the Queen said, now turning to Levi. “Kill the half-dead.”
Eliza gasped. Of all the horrors she had faced in the past few days, this one seemed especially cruel. The Queen seemed to agree. She had her lips curled in an especially devilish snarl. Perhaps this was Levi’s punishment as well. At least, he seemed to see it as punishment. Despite the fact that he was closer to the Queen than he let on, he clearly was not a cold-blooded assassin. The tall, sturdy man looked ready to crumble. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to hit him or hug him.
“No,” he said firmly.
The Queen snickered at him. “That’s not the right choice, Levi. Haven’t you considered the advantages? If you wanted her, then you wanted to drink from her too. Now you can. And you don’t even have to restrain yourself. You can relish every…last…drop.” She drug out the last few words for effect. Levi did seem tempted. He sucked on his bottom lip.
“You don’t yet know who shared their blood with her,” Levi said. “That person is the true criminal. She is the victim. If you kill her now, you’ll never find the person who truly deserves to be punished.”
The Queen’s sneer faltered. She looked like she had become bored with this game. “If you won’t kill her, then we’ll just need to kill both of you, won’t we?”
Eliza shook her head at him slightly, catching his gaze. They both gave each other a long deep look. She no longer believed that he had deceived her. He had wanted her to run so she wouldn’t end up in exactly the situation she was in. And now, even after only a few days of knowing her, he was prepared to die rather than take her life. She didn’t know if vampires had a soul, but if he did, his was pure.
Eliza lamented a lot of things about this situation. She hated that she had dragged her sister into this. Of course, she grieved for herself. But she also felt bad for Levi. Three hundred years of life—of history, or memories—and he was about to throw it all away for her. To him, he had only known her for a blink in his long life span. He must have been with hundreds of women in his life. He shouldn’t have to die for his latest escapade.
“I said no,” Levi said again.
A few other vampires, who looked they might have wandered out of ancient Egypt, advanced toward Levi. However, before they could strike, a female vampire bounded over the crowd straight toward the Queen. The Queen and her guards might have been prepared for Levi to strike, but Eliza could tell that they hadn’t been expecting this. The darker skinned vampire slashed at the Queen’s face with her nails and Levi bared his teeth, ready to pounce on the Queen as well. However, one of the guard’s advancing on Levi took advantage of the distraction and plunged a spear into Levi’s back. The blade went so deep that Eliza saw it emerge from the other side, right through his heart.
He found her with his hazel eyes, now filled with terror and pain.
“Levi!” Eliza shouted.
“Eliza, what’s happening? It hurts.”
Eliza turned to see several vampires taking their opportunity to feed on Rachelle. She rushed to her sister. Three male vampires, one of whom looked about thirteen years old, and one of whom looked to be about eighty, had sunk their teeth into Rachelle’s two arms, and one into her leg.
She screamed and Eliza knew that far more than the pain had filled her with terror. She couldn’t see these vampires. She only knew her skin had spontaneously broken open and she gushed blood.
“No!” Eliza shouted. She went for the oldest looking vampire. Apparently he had made the shift to vampirism to cheat a death that had been right around the corner. The pale skin on the older body looked even more odd. She could see all of his veins clearly. Eliza wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled him off Rachelle. She hissed at him in a very inhuman way and he slinked away.
Eliza turned to attack the pre-teen vampire next, taking them out in backwards order of perceived strength. The last one—the one in Rachelle’s leg—looked about as strong as Levi. However, Eliza saw that she wasn’t alone in the fight. A female vampire had already removed the young boy and now slashed her nails through the back of the last vampire.
The woman looked quite different than she had once. Much paler. And covered in blood. Her eyes wild like an animal. But Eliza would have recognized her anywhere.
“Mom?” Eliza asked.
She ignored Eliza, too busy continuing the attack on the largest vampire.
Eliza shook her head. She must have been seeing things. It had been such a long time since she had seen her mother. For many years she had imagined seeing her everywhere.
Eliza removed the leather straps from around her sister’s hands. Many of the vampires had fled and the remaining ones were fighting amongst each other. Now was their chance.
“It’s okay. It’s going to be okay,” Eliza whispered to her.
Rachelle had become hysterical. Sobbing and wheezing as she watched herself bleed.
“Now we run,” Eliza said. “Or rather, I am going to run.”
Eliza helped Rachelle stand and she clutched at the open wound on her thigh.
“Jump on my back,” Eliza said.
“What?” Rachelle said.
“No time to explain. Piggyback ride. Right now.”
The dazed Rachelle followed her sister’s bizarre order, hoisting herself up on Eliza’s back. Eliza got a good grip on her thighs and said, “Hold on.”
Before she ran she did what she had vowed not to do twice already today, she looked back at Levi. Once her sister was safe, she would come back for him. However, she didn’t see him in the parlor anywhere. She told herself this was a good thing. He was an immortal vampire, and he probably just got right back up and walked out. Based on Levi’s words before, it seemed as if vampires could indeed die, but she didn’t know what was needed to make that happen.
Then Eliza ran directly back toward the front door and down the porch steps. She wasn’t a full vampire, so carrying her one hundred and twenty pound sister at a full run still took quite a bit of effort. But she could move amazingly quickly. Rachelle gasped and wrapped her arms around her neck so tightly that she nearly choked her.
Eliza helped her sister into the passenger seat of the rental car and ran around to the driver’s side. Rachelle tried in vain to use her hands to stop the bleeding and the seat belt shoulder strap was already stained with blood. She definitely wasn’t getting her deposit back. Rachelle continued to cry, watching herself bleed in open-mouthed horror.
Eliza reached over to squeeze her bloody hand. The smell of the blood was still tempting, but much less so now. Just like she wasn’t interested in stopping for a cupcake while running from vampires, she could resist this temptation too.
“We’re safe now,” Eliza said. “It’s okay.”
Rachelle looked over at her—her eyes wide and red.
“I’ll explain everything,” Eliza said, and she knew that this time, Rachelle would believe her.
Chapter Six
Eliza met their father at the hospital. She thought he had sprouted a few extra wrinkles from the corners of his eyes over the past few weeks, and his second daughter being rushed to the hospital didn’t help. Eliza hadn’t seen him since she disappeared from the hospital, so she ran into his arms as soon as she saw him, relishing in his warmth and familiar spicy scent.
“What happened?” he asked, squeezing just as hard back. “Where have you been?”
“Dad, I hate to do this, but now that you’re here to be with
Rachelle, I need to go. My…boyfriend was also injured in the attack. I need to help him.”
“Attack? Boyfriend? Lizzie, what are you talking about?”
“I love you, Dad. I’ll be right back.”
She kissed his cheek and turned to run back out of the ER. Part of her wanted to stop and ask if…by chance…his wife had turned into a vampire at some point, but that question would have to wait. Now, she needed to find the man who sacrificed himself to save her.
As she ran out of the hospital, a man in a wheelchair watched her with wide-eyes and gaping mouth. She realized that she was probably running at Olympic sprinter speed…maybe faster. She had to be more careful. Well, she would be more careful later. Right now, she had to get to Levi.
She willed herself to only drive ten miles per hour over the speed limit on the way back to the vampire neighborhood at exit 152. If a cop tried to pull her over, she might end up trying to suck his blood. And that probably wouldn’t end well.
She thought she would have to go back to the palace at the end of the lane, but she noticed that Levi’s front door was ajar as she drove past. She stopped at the side of the road and ran across the lawn and through his front door without knocking or announcing herself.
“Levi!” she called.
She had terrible déjà vu from only hours before when she went walked into her house calling for her sister.
“Levi!” she said again.
Then she realized that as a half-dead, she had better ways to find someone. She tried to relax enough to be able to use her senses, and she smelled him. That intoxicating pheromone that turned her brain to a rose-pink haze.
She bounded up the stairs, taking three or four at a time and ran into Levi’s bedroom. She had expected to find him there healthy and whole. After all, he had made it back to his house. He must be okay. She gasped when she saw him.
His pale skin had turned more translucent, much like the older vampire. He looked like he was already a ghost. The large gash in his chest gently oozed blood, much less than a human who had impaled, but still, she could tell that he wasn’t in a good way. Immortal or not, vampires lived on blood, and he seemed to have lost most of his.
She took his hand and used her other hand to gently stroke his pale hair. He tilted his head toward her like it took great effort, and he smiled.
“Eliza,” he said in a struggling voice.
“You’re dying,” she said.
His blinks were far too long. She feared that his eyes would close and never open. In an impulse, she leaned down to kiss him. His lips felt colder than before, and he could barely move them. But if he was going to die, she needed to kiss him one last time.
“What can I do?” she whispered with her lips inches from his.
“Blood,” he said.
Of course. She didn’t even think twice. She put the back of her wrist to his mouth so he could bite. She gasped at the pain, but didn’t flinch. He sucked hungrily and her arm began to tingle as he drained it of blood.
But she knew that the treatment was working. He had closed his eyes in pleasure and relief and held her hand and elbow with a quiet reverence. His skin was regaining a bit of his color. She hadn’t noticed that he had any color at all until he had lost it. He had a pink blush on his cheeks again.
He stopped to let out a moan. The blood must be working, because he had the strength to climb on top of her. Her fingers and toes tingled but now for different reasons. The blood coursed through her body as if it wanted nothing more than to touch Levi’s mouth.
She could also feel the blood pulsing between her legs, wanting him there too, the blood calling him. She felt tight and warm at once and knew she was ready. He pulled down her new skirt and removed her panties so quickly that she heard them tear.
However, Levi had something unexpected in mind. He sunk his teeth into her flesh in the inside of her leg, very high, and very close to the part of her that was throbbing with need. She knew there was a large vein there and he tapped it, groaning again as the blood rushed into his mouth. He moaned as he drank from her and she could feel the vibrations in her flesh.
She was aroused, but also afraid. He had said before that if he drank from her, he wouldn’t be able to control himself. She already felt lightheaded and tingly, which didn’t feel bad. Almost like a gentle buzz from red wine. But what if he just kept going?
The actual sensation of his drinking was very pleasant. There was only a slight pinch and burn at the site of his teeth. And he seemed to call even more blood to her pelvic region, so she continued to throb. She knew that just a brush of her clit would make her crazy.
He drank in a deep, rhythmic pattern, taking long swigs then stopping to breathe. The rhythm reminded her of his thrusting and now she moaned too.
At the sound of her moan, he gently inserted his finger inside her as he continued to drink. It was a delicious tease, just enough to make her need to cry out, but not enough to take her to the brink. He then used his now wet finger to rub her clit and Eliza gasped in pleasure.
Her toes on the leg he drank from had gone numb, but she could still feel every sensation between her legs. She didn’t want to die, but if she had no choice, man, this would be the way to go.
He pushed his finger inside her again, moving in and out in the same pattern as his swallows. She thought that motion wouldn’t be enough to make her come, but she was getting very close. She rubbed her own nipples as he continued to bring her waves of pleasure.
Right when she thought she was about to lose it, he pulled his teeth out of her leg and immediately staunched the blood with his discarded T-shirt. He tilted his head back and breathed deeply. He looked like someone who had just slid into a cold pool of spring water after roaming the desert for days. He looked more human that she had ever seen him. His skin glowed, almost to a normal hue. She thought he had been sexy as a vampire, but he looked even more beautiful brimming with life. Sweat glistened on his tanned chest even his lips were a darker red.
She reached up to run a finger down his abdomen, just enjoying the view.
“I hope this isn’t over,” she said quietly…her voice weaker than she had expected.
With his hand still over her wound, he leaned down close enough that she could feel his now warmer breath on her ear.
“Just give it a minute or two for you to re-gain your blood. Your body does it quickly.”
“Okay,” she whispered. “But don’t make me wait too long.”
While he waited for her to re-gain her strength he kissed her. Everywhere. He kissed her lips one at a time. He kissed her down her collarbone. And on the underside of her breasts. He ran the tip of his tongue right across the top of her bikini line, which made her actually tremble.
He kissed the spot where he had first bit into her wrist, and kissed up her arm, lingering in the inside of her elbow, and then kissing the far side of her breast right under her arm—a spot no man had ever thought to kiss her before.
When he made it back up to her lips he asked, “How do you feel?”
“I want you.”
He smiled. “That’s not what I mean.”
“Well, that’s all I feel right now.”
He laughed quietly and said, “Okay.”
He finally gave her what she wanted and eased himself inside her. He thrust into her gently, as if he was still afraid she might break. She could indeed feel her blood already replenishing. The pleasure seemed to follow the blood as it re-flooded her body. Her stomach, her breasts, even her face seemed warm with pleasure. She thought that he might only need to kiss the tip of her nose and she would cry out.
“Faster,” she said, arching her back eagerly.
He shook his head with a mischievous grin.
“Patience,” he said.
“It feels so good to have you inside me. I can’t wait.”
He let out a long breath slow breath, like he couldn’t take any more teasing either. He held on to her legs for leverage and continued to thrust into
her slowly, but with increasing speed and intensity. He found the perfect pace to match her needs. As he began thrusting more decisively, using his full vampire strength to guide the motion, Eliza knew she had been taken to the perfect breaking point.
When she felt the orgasm coming, she arched her back again, but the orgasm seemed to hover at the top, waiting to crash. Then it fell in a long, slow, plummet of pleasure.
As she came, he moaned so deeply that it vibrated her entire body, adding new dimensions to the already glorious sensation.
He collapsed on top of her, still panting and let his weight go. Perhaps he was still a little weak, but he seemed to just melt on her. She wrapped his arms around his back and felt his previous mangled heart pummel against her breasts.
She lay next to him just enjoying his scent and the sound of his beating heart, and then suddenly realized that she didn’t know how long she has been there. Had she fallen asleep and then awoken? It was dark outside.
She sat up suddenly and the blood rushed to her head.
“Rachelle,” she said. “I can’t do this to her again.”
“How is she?” he asked sleepily.
“Fine when I left her. Just getting stitched up. But now that I know you’re okay, I have to go be with her.”
He squeezed her thigh. “Go on. I think you’ve proved that you can handle yourself out there.”
“What about the Queen. Is she still alive?”
“Probably, but she was injured too. Vivian launched a vicious attack.”
Eliza felt a rush in her stomach like she was at the top of a roller coaster.
“Vivian?” she asked. “That’s another vampire?”
“Yes. And I owe her my life. She is the one who took me out of the palace when I was injured. She’s also the one who attacked the Queen before she could have me killed. To be honest, I’m not sure why she sacrificed herself like that for me.”
BILLIONAIRE ROMANCE: The Unforgettable Southern Billionaires: The Complete Collection Boxed Set (Young Adult Rich Alpha Male Billionaire Romance) Page 90
