What was going on with her?
Closing her eyes, she began to hum softly as she accepted the inevitability of her own mind’s desires and allowed her thoughts to caress the forbidden territory.
“You again?” the familiar voice snarled from overhead and Zoey’s eyes flew open and shifted upward towards the dark mask of night-bathed leaves, “What are you doing here? I thought I told you to stay away!” his voice echoed down, though she could not see where he was.
“I-I’m sorry!”—she lied—“I was just trying to relax.”—another lie—“I didn’t mean to! I swear! I didn’t even think you’d be here again!” Zoey bit her lip, mentally counting how many lies she’d just fed him and wondering how many he’d believe. Still looking up in the direction of the voice, she moved to pull away from the tree.
Though she couldn’t convince herself he was an enemy, she couldn’t be sure that he shared her sentiments and worried that he was going to attack.
A growl echoed from the canopy and Zoey froze as the sound of branches shifting picked up and the object of her desires dropped down gracefully to his feet, “Don’t worry, I’m not interested in killing you. I don’t need any more issues than I already have,” he sighed, shifting his eyes to the ground.
“Really?” She felt herself smile and her face went red from the reaction. She could see from the calmness in his earthy aura that he was being honest, and this realization motivated her to take a step towards him. Realizing what she was doing, she paused and looked into his mind, positive that he’d be furious if he knew of the invasion but unable to refrain from finding out more about him. Though the depths of his mind were clouded and hazy—feeling like a dense fog and containing more images and memories than calculated thoughts—she “saw” that he was wondering her name but was unsure of how to ask. Smiling uncontrollably again, she withdrew her prying aura and took another step, “I’m Zoey.”
“Zoey…” he recited the name under his breath, sounding confused and looked over at the small lake nearby that was shimmering under the moonlight and reflected the flashes from the dancing fireflies before shifting his predatory gaze back to her and nodding once. “You can call me ‘Isaac’.”
He sighed and played with the idea of running off, knowing that he should leave before this became something more severe than what it already was. It wasn’t right to get close to a vampire, no matter what. Not after his experience with their kind. He knew he was supposed to kill vampires on sight. After all, it was his job to do so…
… no matter how much he hated it.
“Isaac? I like that name.” She smiled and gestured for him to sit with her near the tree he’d been perching in, “Do you want to sit with me?”
He turned towards her and frowned, she looked fragile—too fragile, like the slightest contact would break her—as she held out her tiny arm. He inhaled slowly, looking back towards the direction of his pack and weighing his options for a moment before looking back at her and letting his eyes trace her body.
Though she was a vampire, there was no denying that she was beautiful. The intense blue of her shimmering eyes and dyed hair adorning a soft and innocent face reminded him of a sunny day and he felt a warm flush overcome him as this thought came.
Just like the previous night, he found himself reaching for her and quickly pulled away and looked down, feeling the warmth replaced by a flood of embarrassment. Her gaze was completely on him, taking in everything they saw—and more, he suspected—and her piercing eyes filled him with a sense of comfort and stability he had never felt before. He averted his eyes again, afraid that the calmness would make him weak and vulnerable to an attack. Could she be creating a distraction; setting him up while another leech attacked from the darkness? But he couldn’t convince himself that the suspicions were justified. Something in the way she looked at him made him feel…
… something he shouldn’t.
“So, what were you doing out here before you found me?” She smiled and sat back against the neighboring tree and looked out at the pond.
“I was trying to clear my mind,” he answered before frowning. He wasn’t usually this open—this honest—with anybody.
“Oh? I was too!” she smiled again, “I always come here when I need to think. It’s so relaxing here!” She smiled; her voice was soft and filled with so much passion and excitement, “I’ve always loved it here.”
He blushed and, without moving his head, shifted his eyes towards her, finding himself getting lost in everything about this enticing, albeit unusual, vampire.
He forced himself to look away again.
To become involved with their kind was the last thing he wanted. He had a mission to follow—a job that he’d dedicated himself to seeing through—and he couldn’t help but feel guilty for the thoughts and feelings in his mind.
He didn’t need to see her to know she was smiling. Something about her had a sincerity behind it, and he couldn’t help but feel that it was real; that it wasn’t just a setup. Though he barely knew her, he felt like he could talk to her about anything. He growled and shook his head.
This was not supposed to happen!
It couldn’t happen!
“Is something wrong?” she frowned at the noise.
“No. It’s nothing. I was just thi—” He paused and looked over his shoulder, hearing footsteps drawing near. He inhaled, drawing in the scent of the forest to identify the owner of the steps and groaned as he realized who was approaching. “You need to hide. Now!
She frowned and followed his gaze and bit her lip as she realized what was happening, “But what about—”
“Do as I said if you want to stay alive! Hide and don’t come out until I say so! Do whatever you can to mask your scent and don’t make a noise!” He stood and stepped towards her in one fluid motion, grabbing her and easily lifting her to her feet before pushing her out of the clearing. The brief contact of their touch sparked something within him and he frowned at the sensation, quickly turning away, and waiting for the company to cross into the clearing.
Zoey stayed quiet as she wrapped her aura around herself to keep the newcomer from sensing her.
“There you are!” A husky female voice chimed from behind the bushes as she and another female therion approached him, “We were wondering where you’d wandered off to.”
“Shouldn’t you be back with the others and preparing?” Isaac’s posture went from relaxed to ramrod-straight as soon as the two emerged.
“Aw, but without you it’s no fun!” She stuck out a far-too-large bottom lip in a seductive mockery of a pout, “Besides, more of his kin have arrived and they are cruel! Far crueler than the last!”
“I know that. But, there’s nothing else I can do about this Keith or his followers right now.”
She frowned at this, “But you’re our leader! We can’t just—”
“That’s right! And as the leader I have to make a choice that might get a lot of you killed. Until we know how it will affect us, we do nothing more than what we’ve been doing! Do you understand?”
The two whimpered and nodded.
He shook his head, clearly irritated, and threw out his hand to point off in the distance; directing them to leave. “Go. Both of you! We can’t afford a conflict with them; not now. I’ll be back soon.”
“But we’re tired of them!” The one began to step forward, obviously not liking his answer, “It’s been three cycles already and you still haven’t chosen a ma—”
He growled and narrowed his eyes at her, “I’m not dealing with this now!”
The other therion tugged at the first’s shoulder, “Come on. He’s never taken a female before. Why would he change that now?” she glared at him, driving the accusation further.
The other girl nodded slowly and turned to her friend, whimpering softly.
“Do not test my patience any further than you have! I’ve dealt with enough already without having you and the others cause any more problems! Now get back to the others
! Don’t make me say it again.” He flashed them his teeth, his eyes glowing bright in the moonlight and they scampered off.
Once they were completely out of sight and earshot, Isaac called out: “You can come out now, vampire!” Though his posture and tone had shifted from a moment earlier, he didn’t turn away from where the two female therions had been standing.
“You know you can call me Zoey!” she pouted as she stepped out.
“What’s wrong with ‘vampire’? It’s what you are, isn’t it? Why would you think it a bad title?” he asked curiously, cocking his head to one side.
“I guess because even though it’s what I am, it’s not who I am.”
Isaac frowned, not sure of how to take her statement and watched as she brushed her knees. He frowned at the realization that his curiosity had returned, and he suddenly wanted to learn more about her and her mind. He let out a heavy breath and leaned against a tree, “Should you really be spending time with your enemy?”
She smirked and shrugged, “I could ask you the same thing.” She stuck out her tongue before plopping down next to him, “Besides,”—she blushed and looked down—“I think you’re interesting. And besides, I’m allowed to talk to whomever I want! Especially since our clan is in between leaders.” She frowned at her own confession, knowing that Gregori wouldn’t have liked her talking to a therion either, let alone revealing clan secrets.
He grinned and turned his attention to her and arched his eyebrow, “You find me that interesting, eh?”
She paused and blushed, delighted that he’d overlooked the politics of the situation but embarrassed nonetheless, and began to stammer before realizing nothing coherent was emerging and shut her mouth abruptly. He laughed and shook his head, watching the moon in the pond and sighed.
“You’re not half bad yourself. In fact, I’d go so far to say you are interesting as well. I mean, for a vampire and all, I guess.” He shot her a coy smile.
She faked a pout and punched Isaac softly in the arm before giggling, “Well, thank you… I guess.”
Before she could pull her hand back he grabbed her wrist and held it in his large hand and frowned, confused at his own actions. She blushed at the contact but didn’t flinch or try to pull free, but instead shifted her hand to meet his grip. His gaze descended to the foreign sight of their clasped hands and he watched as she squeezed his fingers and returned his gaze with her brightly lit blue eyes; eyes that both challenged him and made him feel whole.
She was beautiful inside and out.
He couldn’t help but smile despite the single truth that burned in his mind, she was going to be his downfall.
Though weakness and defeat had long-since been something for him to avoid at all costs, he couldn’t bring himself to pull away despite this fact.
And that made him more afraid than he ever could have imagined.
He was supposed to hate vampires—all vampires!—and yet here he sat, feeling driven to do the unspeakable with this gorgeous female.
Instead, in clear defiance of himself and his kind, he acknowledged his need to taste her.
Her lips called to his and he suddenly needed to feel them against his. His heart had felt so cold, driving him away from the numerous advances of countless females of his pack again and again, but suddenly he felt a spark and wanted nothing more than to take this new warmth into him and make it his.
Being with this vampire made his blood boil again.
She had closed her eyes as he leaned closer and he could feel an exhale of anticipation from her as he dipped his head in and pressed his lips to hers.
Zoey gasped as the therion pressed his lips to hers!
Was this real?
Her mind was reeling; spinning and dragging her more and more into him. All logic—all the past truths and orders and teachings—was burned away by the fire spreading within her. With all she had once held on to gone, the only certainty in her mind was that she never wanted to leave this place.
She lifted her arms and wrapped them carefully around his neck to pull him in tighter. He matched her efforts as she felt his strong hands at her waist as he pulled her against his body.
Zoey gave him complete control, not caring what he did to her at that point, and moaned at the intensity of if all. She felt herself get lost in him—aching and driving to entangle herself all the more within his essence—and refused to worry about where it might take her. Never before had she felt this way; so powerful and yet so helpless and, through the chaos, so goddam beautiful. She knew he was her enemy and yet, she couldn’t find any reason to let go.
Slowly, they drew away from one-another, both breathing heavily and letting their lids open to reveal the others’ gaze. Neither wanting to release the hold on the other and they just stared at the other for a moment longer.
Zoey knew then that he was going to be her downfall; that he had her so entirely under the power of his passion that there was nothing she wouldn’t do to find herself back in its depths.
And, while she couldn’t bring herself to care about what happened to her, she had no way of pushing away the burning truth and under no circumstances could she risk her comrades; no matter the situation, she couldn’t bring herself to threaten the Clan of Vail.
And this—Isaac and his people—were too much of a threat to Vail’s security…
She felt her breath lock in her chest, knowing that she couldn’t allow her heart’s desires to go any further. In their vulnerable state and without a leader there was no solid defense against an attack.
She couldn’t do that to them, no matter how much her heart said otherwise…
“I… I need to go. I’ve been gone… and the others will worry if I don’t get home soon. I’m sorry, Isaac.” She bit her lip, fighting the welling tears as she took in his face once more, and turned away before he had a chance to respond. As more and more distance was put between them, she felt his aura begin to shrivel and stutter with his growing sadness, and as she stepped out of range and lost the heart-wrenching ache from his mind—leaving her only with her own—she heard a pained howl echo through the forest.
6
Passion
“So what should our next step be? If we wait too long we may find ourselves too late to stop what’s coming.” Zane growled as he sat at the desk with Serena and Zoey. Zoey was quieter than usual—seeming preoccupied and distant to the business at hand—and he turned to her, pausing for a moment to wait for her attention to shift. When her vacant stare remained, he shook his head and moved on. Without being certain that something was wrong he wasn’t about to bombard her with questions.
Not yet anyway.
“We need to make a plan of action. Those damned dogs will be coming soon, I’m sure!” he shook his head, “Keith’s an impatient prick, and his hold over the mutts will only last so long before they turn on him too.”
Zoey’s eyes shifted at the mention of the therions and she sighed, nodding, “Well, before we can do anything, Serena needs to be trained.”
“Hey! I can fight!” Serena glared and ignored Devon as he chuckled inside her mind.
Zoey blushed and nodded, “It’s not that you’re not strong—nothing could be farther from the truth—but your methods are, while impressive, unconventional. It’d be better to put them to the test in the safety of a training course rather than in the middle of a battle when it can mean somebody’s life.”
Zane turned to Serena and offered a gentle smile and she felt Devon’s anger flare up from his gaze. He clearly didn’t like the way Zane watched her. He was still fuming over his inability to protect her the other night from Keith and being forced to watch as the vampire-beast saved her instead.
Serena had been right; she would need to find a body for him sooner than he thought. He wouldn’t be able to stand being nothing more than a shadow much longer.
He watched Zane more carefully and grinned. Serena did seem drawn to him, and there was no denying that she’d liked it the one night when he’d take
n control of him. Thinking of that night—the way Serena had felt under his stolen touch and her response to something other than his voice—he became more and more certain of what had to be done. While he was thankful for Serena’s loyalty to him, he knew it would only last so long before the need for something more drove her into the arms of another.
And that was something he would not allow!
“Zoey is right, Serena. Though you’re clearly very skilled, your combat approach is too chaotic. Somebody with Keith’s level of control and training would find an opening in your attacks too quickly. You’ll need to train more.” Zane nodded, standing and motioning for her to follow, “Let’s go.”
Still scowling over their words, Serena stood and stepped through the doors with him.
Catching up to Zane, they walked side-by-side in complete silence as she was led through the levels of the clan’s headquarters and, finally, into a large training room that occupied most of the building’s basement. Serena looked around at the immense room, taking in the white padded walls and racks adorned with weapons that seemed to stretch on endlessly. The array of blades and bludgeons, staffs and spears, and just about any fashion of axe she could hope to raise over her head for a killing blow brought a grin to her previously sunken face. The collection was a thing of dreams!
Well… her dreams, at least.
Scarlet Night: The Complete Trilogy Page 10
