He tried a window but it remained in place and Jemmy considered breaking it. He was far enough away from the others that he would be undetected.
Unless there is a mortal in the house. The noise will scare her off.
Jemmy thought of the woman running through the thick of the forest, him in hot pursuit and a sudden bolt of arousal sprung through him.
How long had it been since he had chased a mortal? How long had it been since he had felt the blood of a kill on his hands or the taste of a fresh mortal on his lips?
The urge was overpowering now, his head becoming heady with the idea. His old-world instincts took hold and he could not stop himself. Jemmy turned to the ground, his irises training on a rock at his side. Smiling to himself he picked up the mass and hurled it at the window, shattering the front room pane into a thousand pieces.
Chapter Fourteen
“Here,” Cozul announced, dropping the drug infused body of the donor at Nelo’s feet. “Alive and ready for harvest.”
Nelo glanced at Cozul and then at the mortal staring up at him in fear.
“Wow!” Nelo cried, rushing to move the donor into the cocoon. “This is the biggest one we’ve ever had! Is that a male? I have never seen you bring a male before, Cozul.”
Cozul shrugged.
“I had to make up for the last one,” he told Nelo, turning away from the blood bank. “He looked like he would be a good substitute.”
Cozul was anxious to return to Nira. He had been consumed with worry for her in the past eighteen hours, desperate to see her face.
“Cozul!”
The hybrid spun to look at the Lesser.
“What is it?”
Nelo pointed at the donor’s now naked form.
“Wh-what happened to…?”
“His member? He will not be needing it any longer,” Cozul replied, slamming the fire door in his wake.
“Hello?” Jemmy called, pushing aside the drapes. “Anyone home?”
Her heart was pounding, Jemmy could hear it as he stalked about the salon, sniffing the air. She was still in the house, of that he was certain.
“Show yourself, mortal. I can smell you here.”
There was no movement but as Jemmy entered the hallway, he became dizzy with the prospect of her nearness. Her scent was overtaking his senses. He wrenched open the door to the basement and stuck his head down the stairs.
“Mortal?” he asked pleasantly. “Are you down here?”
Suddenly, a kick to his back toppled him down the steps and the door smashed closed at his back. Howling, Jemmy lunged toward the landing, rattling the handle but it had been locked from the outside.
“Let me out!” Jemmy screamed, enraged. “You cannot escape from me!”
He pounded angrily against the wood but there was no response, no movement. Jemmy watched the thin ray of light under the door, grinding his teeth. Suddenly he saw something skitter by and he smiled bitterly.
So, I was right. There has been a mortal here. Cozul will never know freedom again.
He heard the front door open and close and Jemmy fell against the wall, formulating a plan for escape. She could not go far, not in the north. Someone would find her and when they did, Cozul would be finished. The thought filled him with joy.
Suddenly, light poured in from the landing and Jemmy stared up. His blood turned to chips of ice.
“Do you wish to explain why you have broken into my house?” Cozul snarled.
“Keep him away from me!” he bit. “If I see him on my property again, I will be on trial for the unlawful practice of murdering our own.”
“Cozul!” Amaia gasped, shocked at the threat. “Recant immediately!”
But Cozul did not waver.
“You are meant to uphold the laws of our Order and yet you allow for your own to run amok! He broke into my home, smashing a window under the guise of righteousness. This is no order! This is no different than what the mortals did to us.”
Amaia’s mouth pursed into a fine line and she regarded Jemmy’s angrily.
“What have you to say for yourself?” she hissed.
“There is a mortal in that house!” He screamed, a slight madness coloring his face. “I could smell her!”
Amaia shook her head, gesturing at Ettore.
“Take Jemmy into the chamber. I will deal with him forthwith.”
Ettore grasped the leader’s arm and pulled him toward the door as Jemmy began to spit.
“You are making a mistake!” he growled at Amaia. “You will regret this, mark my words!”
Amaia turned her attention to Cozul.
“He will not trouble you again. Going forward, you will have dealings only with me.” Cozul nodded curtly, turning to leave.
“Cozul.”
He paused but did not turn, his fury almost palpable.
“If Jemmy is right and you are harboring a mortal for whatever reason – “
Cozul whirled to stare at her.
“You too?” he snarled. “Should I simply pack my belongings and head into exile?”
“Of course not, Cozul. Just remember, the punishment for such a heinous crime will be worse than death for you.”
“I brought you the donor which you requested and you treat me as a criminal. This Order is losing touch with its origins,” Cozul retorted. A small smile toyed on Amaia’s lips and Cozul was afraid he had gone too far.
“Yes,” she agreed. “A mortal missing his member. It is most curious. I wonder what the story is regarding that.”
Cozul swallowed quickly, maintaining his annoyed expression.
“Perhaps you should ask him,” he retorted. “Am I dismissed?”
She waved him away but Cozul could feel her staring after him.
“You must stop panicking,” Cozul told Nira, stroking her hair but she could not be calmed. Cozul had only returned from delivering Jemmy into Amaia’s furious hands. As he tried to comfort Nira, he knew that while Jemmy would no longer prove to be a problem, they were not safe.
If it is not Jemmy then it is Byana. If not Byana then it will be Amaia. We will never be safe from scrutiny.
“He almost caught me! If you had not returned at that time…” Nira choked, her eyes wide with the recollection of how close she had come to losing her life.
“But I did, Nira, I did. I will always protect you and our child,” he told her.
“How?” she demanded. “We were lucky this time but how can you guarantee my safety in the future?”
Her words weighed heavily on him. There was only one choice; Nira had to go home.
“I will return you to the South. Today.”
Nira’s face turned ashen.
Return me to the South for what? She thought. So I can wander alone, searching for my way with a child who will be hunted on delivery? So I can move back into a can of sardines with other people who live in fear, piled on top of one another? So I can never see Cozul again?
“No,” she replied slowly. “I can’t go back South. My place is here, with you and our baby. I will find a way to hide until the child is born. Right now, his safety is my number one concern.”
“I will visit you often,” he told her, emotion choking his voice. “When the child arrives, we will find a place to hide…”
“No! If you are caught living in the South, you will be tortured and murdered, just as our child will be. We must only hide the baby here while I am pregnant. He will be safe after he is born.”
Cozul stared at her, his hands cupping her face and he stared deeply into her eyes.
“There is another way,” he told her. She looked at him, her eyes bright with faith.
“What? What other way?”
Cozul pulled her into his embrace and rocked her, inhaling the sweetness of her hair.
“I can make you one of us.”
Epilogue
Amaia sat back against her chair, her long fingers curled tightly against the arms as she took in the scene before her.
Jemm
y was correct.
“What is the meaning of this?” she seethed. Cozul stepped forward, pulling along the hand of the female at his side. She could see she was swollen with child. The other members of the council drew back, hissing slightly.
“Forgive this unexpected intrusion,” Cozul announced easily, stopping before Amaia. “This is Nira.”
Nira’s smiled beguilingly and Amaia began to relax as she realized the female was not mortal.
“Nira,” Amaia replied, eyeing Cozul. “Why have you brought her here?”
“She is a lost hybrid,” Cozul told the elder and Amaia raised a white eyebrow skeptically.
“A lost hybrid?” she echoed, laughing. “That is ludicrous. The elders retrieved all the hybrids. We made sure of it.”
Cozul shook his head.
“No, Amaia. I encountered her in the South. She is one of us, somehow overlooked by the elders in the aftermath of the Second World War.”
Amaia glanced at the other originals and they murmured among themselves.
“She is with child,” Amaia commented. Cozul nodded.
“Yes. It is mine.”
Amaia regarded the couple, taking in the glowing green eyes of the female. Amaia’s eyes traveled to the eggplant colored scarf around her neck and took in her translucent white skin. The girl was immortal, that was a certainty but where she came from, well, that was another question.
“Welcome, Nira,” Amaia said, rising from her throne-like chair and grasping her hands. Nira bowed respectfully, accepting a goblet from Ettore.
“Let us drink to the healthy birth of your child.”
The women put the cups to their lips and sipped deeply, their eyes locking in a silent understanding.
“Thank you for coming by. It is a pleasure to welcome you into our fold, Nira,” Amaia declared as they finished the last of their saccharine drink. “But I fear I am very tired and I cannot entertain for long today.”
“Thank you for seeing us,” Cozul said and Amaia could hear the relief in his voice.
“You are dismissed,” she told them, nodding regally. Cozul claimed Nira’s hand and they quietly left the study.
“She is no lost hybrid!” Ettore cried. “He turned her!”
Amaia glared at him.
“You have no proof of that accusation. If you are not careful, you will find yourself in the same position as Jemmy.”
Ettore clamped his mouth shut and stared stonily at the floor and Amaia settled against her throne.
What Cozul did was a violation of immortal law, punishable in the worst way known to our kind. Turning a mortal was a worse crime than harboring a mortal. If it is ever proven…
Amaia blocked the thought from entering her mind and smiled to herself.
No one is going to discover his indiscretion. I certainly am not going to investigate.
Amaia closed her eyes and fell into the memory of when she had met her own fated mate. She would never stand in the way of true love, no matter how ill fated she sensed it to be.
Nira unwrapped the silk kerchief from around her throat, gingerly touching the wounds in her neck.
“They will heal in a day,” Cozul informed her and Nira could already see that they had closed significantly. A strange wakefulness filled Nira as if the shadow of her childhood had disappeared the moment Cozul had sunk his teeth into her, turning her into his eternal companion.
I am undead and I have never felt more alive.
“What are you doing?” Nira asked, running her tongue along the sharpness of her teeth. Everything seemed much sharper, clearer as if her senses had been asleep her entire existence until that moment. Cozul was leaning over his computer, peering intently at the screen.
“I am looking for a donor,” he told her. To her surprise, Nira found herself tensing at the words.
Another unsuspecting woman will be snatched in the night, she thought, closing the space between them.
“Surely, they will not call on you again for a long while,” Nira murmured, looking at the screen. Her eyebrows shot up.
“Probably not,” Cozul agreed, turning his face to look at her. “But when they do, I want us to be prepared. I want to have a donor prepicked.”
Nira pointed at the screen. He was perusing the Universal Police System’s most wanted website.
“Why are you looking there?” she asked, uncomprehendingly. “They are the worst of the worst.”
Cozul nodded, smiling. He rose to embrace her, his hand grazing over her womb.
“That is the point. No one deserves to be subjected to a fate as terrible as that of a donor. Only the truly wretched should be used.”
“Ones like Delano,” she thought, remembering the bouncer’s body entrapped in the cocoon of the blood bank.
He had been in a semi-conscious state as the hemoglobin was stolen from his body but he had seen her, recognition glimmering in his dark eyes.
He knows I am responsible for his demise, Nira had thought with satisfaction. She had experienced a sense of freedom which she had never known at that moment.
“Yes,” Cozul murmured. “Ones like Delano.”
He brushed her auburn waves from her full face, his eyes reflecting the adoration he felt for her.
She has done so much for me in such a short time. I no longer feel plagued by the stigma of my birth. I feel reborn, like my energy has a purpose now. My purpose is Nira and the baby. I am not an immortal monster. I am a lover and a father.
Cozul leaned forward and kissed Nira on her waiting lips which she accepted eagerly. When they parted, Nira smiled at him slyly.
“What are you smiling about?” he asked, kissing her forehead.
“I need to drink,” she replied.
*****
THE END
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Paranormal Romance Collection
Her Two Vampires
Description
What is better than one hot vampire? Two vampires with rock hard abs taking care of me, right?
Curvy Azurdee is a noblewoman, yet she wants nothing to do with the arranged marriage to that scumbag Frederick. The only thing she can think of right now, are two incredibly attractive vampire brothers that helped her make it safely out of the deep woods. They keep haunting her dreams. Deep down, a part of her yearns for them – yearns for what she can never have. It isn’t fair.
Kai and Noah are infamous in several districts around their native islands. Expert pickpockets. Even better burglars. Vampire vigilantes for the lower-class. As hunters, they could kill anything – or anyone – with one single bite. But the only thing they want to nibble right now are Arzudee’s delicious curves after they saved her life in the woods.
With her arranged marriage coming closer, there are only two people she can trust and wants to be with…Kai and Noah. Will they prove that there’s light even on the dark side of the moon or will their savage, lower class nature turn them against the noblewoman? In the end, when emotions run high, when risks are at every corner, the only thing worth trusting is your heart.
Chapter One
Azurdee woke up just as the sun was disappearing behind the horizon. The last rays of sunshine painted her beautiful native island in brilliant oranges and fiery reds.
Most citizens were only now getting up to start their day. Their pale skin and blood red eyes were not accustomed to the brightness of the sun. Those who were less sensitive ventured onto the streets, shielding their eyes from the dying sunlight.
Luckily for Azurdee, her roo
m was protected by heavy, blackout curtains.
Some didn’t have such luxuries.
Those of the lower class were already out of bed and headed for work. Some were already slaving away in coal mines or working in the capital’s various construction sights. Others farmed the animals that served as blood donors. Most drank sheep’s blood, but the elite had the privilege of ’dining’ on pureblood stags that roamed freely on the island’s mountainous coast.
Members of the elite often belittled the lesser vampires for their undersized fangs and their inability to control their bloodlust. There were even rumors of aristocrats keeping members of lower class clans as pleasure slaves.
But those, of course, were nothing more than that - rumors.
Azurdee groaned as she turned her pillow over to the cool side, but there was no cool side anymore. She whipped the covers off her body, feeling inexplicably hot which was unusual for a high-bred vampire of the Hallowed clan. Beads of sweat formed on her temples, running down her cheeks, causing her lovely golden locks to become moist.
Finally, she opened her eyes, staring at the ceiling.
Today was the day.
Today she turned twenty-one.
It was a milestone in every vampire’s life, especially for an elite like herself.
She groaned.
Her mother planned the ceremony for almost six months, ranting about it over and over again until Azurdee thought she would go insane.
There was a knock on the door.
“Azurdee, dear, are you awake? We must prepare you to meet your soon to be husband! You mustn’t keep him waiting.”
Azurdee bit her lip to stop herself from saying anything profane.
It was a vampire tradition for members of the elite to marry someone from a similar standing through an arranged marriage. Parents gleefully found the best mate for their offspring, ensuring that the bloodline remained pure. All her life, Azurdee had been prepared for this moment, learning all about manners, etiquette, and the art of appearances.
A Secret Baby for the Vampire Page 10
