“And hopefully you won't have to do it anytime soon. We only sanction those who've turned or killed a human. Or if you’re attacked and need to defend yourself. Besides, it's not an easy thing to drive a stake through someone's chest,” he said, surprising her with the hint of hesitation in his tones.
As a Council Member, Ben had to have done his share of permissible terminations so she wondered at his reticence.
“Why the doubt, Ben? You've done at least – ”
“Three dozen or more between here and my family's farm,” he said, although he seemed uncomfortable with the admission. Especially as he tacked on, “My first kill was at eight. My father had taken Bartholomew and me hunting in the woods behind our home. We came across a vampire who had just ripped out the throat of a young girl. She couldn't have been more than five or six.”
Blooded at eight years old.
It was hard for her to imagine dealing with vampires and death at such a young age.
“Why didn't your dad do it?”
Ben shrugged his massive shoulders and shot her a pained look, but even without that glance, she could see his disquiet in the darkening of his aura. The serene blue was now shot through with swirls of red that were slowly assuming control. “He thought it was time I grow up. Learn what I was expected to do in life.”
“Because you were born into a Slayer family?”
He nodded. “It's all I've ever known.”
And for twenty years, he had fulfilled that duty before losing his own life.
She couldn't hold back from reaching out and cupping his cheek. His beard was rough, his skin chilly beneath her palm as she stroked her thumb across his face and said, “I'm sorry.”
“Don't be. At least I had a family.” He jerked away from her touch and surged ahead, his body limned with crimson from his upset.
Not that she wasn't equally upset with his jibe. He was right that she hadn't had a family. At least not in a long time. She'd been raised by an aunt since her mother had died in childbirth, but then her aunt had up and died when Rhiannon was all of six.
With no other family or friends to take her, she had entered the system and been shuffled from one foster home to the other. Homes where she just represented a little more cash each month and affection had been minimal, especially since she might be gone any day if someone adopted her.
Only no one had.
She had set out on her own at seventeen, found work here and there, and places to hole up for the night. She eventually had been recruited by the Slayers.
She'd had her doubts at first, but the package they'd offered her to join had been too hard to resist, especially to someone who'd been living hand to mouth and had no one else who cared about her. She'd finally felt not so alone with the other young adults taken in by the Slayers.
And then there were the powers that had come as she had cleared each level of her training, especially this last one. But it wasn't just about the way something inside her had awoken with this latest gift.
It was about the connection to the power of the other Slayers, or at least to Evangeline and Xander, that hinted at the fact that maybe this was where she was meant to be.
That the road to becoming a full Slayer was the right direction for her to take.
But standing right in the middle of that road like a giant stop sign was Ben.
Big, beautiful, and all too tempting Ben, she thought as she trudged along just behind him, trying to stay alert to all that was happening around them. Trying not to let the tumble of her emotions and thoughts distract her.
Distractions could prove deadly.
He stopped and she nearly bowled him over. He blasted her with an angry look and then raised his index finger to his lips to warn her. He pointed out spots of blood on the ground and using hand gestures, he instructed her on where to look and move as he withdrew a lethally sharp stake from the inside of his leather jacket.
She did the same, tightly clutching the smooth wood of the weapon. Moving as he silently commanded until they were standing on either side of another opening along the tracks.
The soft, pained, and very female moan that came from within warned that this vampire wasn't snacking on a rat. But then another moan came, followed by an entreaty.
“Yes, oh God, yes. More,” a woman urged.
Rhiannon peered into the gap in the wall.
Beyond the short passage from the tracks, the area opened into a larger space that held assorted pieces of furniture. Dead center, and right in her line of sight, was a large bed where a woman was eagerly riding a vampire.
Blood dripped from an assortment of bites on her shoulders and arms, but there was no doubt she was enjoying herself as was the vampire as he growled hungrily before sinking his fangs into the woman's shoulder once more.
Rhiannon shifted her gaze to Ben and motioned him away from the gap.
As they neared the center of the tracks, she shuddered, both from the increasing chill in temperature and the thought of the woman so eagerly giving herself to the demon.
“A fang hag. I just don't get it,” she said and kicked at a rock sitting on the track. It skittered along the ground and the sound bounced around the walls of the tracks.
“It's what vampires were meant to do. Fuck and feed,” Ben said with a nonchalant shrug as he walked beside her again.
She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. His good side was to her with all the masculine beauty that had made so many women fall at his feet before he had been turned. His comment made her wonder.
“Is that what you do now, Ben? Fuck and feed?” she said with a little more bite than she might have wanted.
Chapter 3
“Jealous?” he asked with a half glance her way and a very masculine and self-satisfied grin.
“In your dreams,” she replied and faced forward once more. “I just don't want to worry that I might have to stake you if you get carried away with a fuck buddy.”
Benjamin knew she was trying to get a handle on the real issues bothering her. Her attraction to him, for one. He'd have to be dead. . .well, okay he was dead kind of. . .so maybe it was safer to say brain dead. . .not to notice that he wasn’t the only one feeling it.
A possible second issue: Evangeline's likely instructions to stake him if he even took the tiniest little step out of line.
“No need to worry, Rhi. I'm not involved at the moment.”
For that matter, he hadn't been with a woman in the many months since he'd been turned. Passion could unleash the vampire and he was too recently turned to risk losing control because of physical desire.
So he forcefully tamed his thoughts of Rhiannon being his fuck buddy and motioned for her to continue down the tunnel.
They ambled up the tracks, well past the places any normal people might travel.
At several points, Rhiannon paused and investigated the thrum of vampire power she had sensed. Luckily for the vampires and maybe for them, most of the demons were tucked tight in their lairs for the afternoon. Waiting until dusk to emerge in order to fulfill their vamp needs.
Blood. Sex. Violence.
Only Benjamin had recently met vampires who could control those basest instincts. Who were capable of so much humanity.
That knowledge had created more conflicts than he could ever have imagined.
Especially since he was now one of those vampires. One who wanted to somehow recover the human life that he had lost.
A human life where maybe, just maybe, it might be possible to share it with a woman like Rhiannon.
As they exited the tunnels in the high Nineties, dusk had settled over the city. All around them the lights in the buildings were twinkling to life and the vampires would be shaking off their daylight-induced stupor and preparing for the night.
With the undead awakening, it was time for them to police the demons’ hunting grounds. So he guided her toward Central Park, a favorite spot for the undead.
If they’d been normal people, it might have
been romantic.
They walked side-by-side, their shoulders brushing together. With night falling, the paths were dimmer, lit only by an occasional streetlamp and the light from a full moon. Providing intimate spaces here and there for lovers to enjoy. Overhead a smattering of stars was strewn across the night sky.
Every now and then she’d toss him a sidelong glance to confirm that everything was going well.
As they continued along the path, moving deeper and deeper into the park, he picked up the pulse of undead power coming up behind them. It trailed them as they got closer to a dense section of trees that anyone with common sense would avoid now that full darkness had fallen.
Up ahead, an underpass beneath a footbridge created just the spot for lovers to have some privacy for a risky hook-up and a place for one of the undead to attack careless humans and feed unnoticed.
He eased his arm around Rhiannon’s waist and drew her near.
She tensed and he bent to whisper against her ear, “Stay alert.”
She turned her face and her nose brushed across his cheek. He met her gaze and her exotic eyes had mixed shards of green and gold amongst the hazel. As close as they were, he could smell her, an equally enticing blend of clean citrus and flowers melding with the aroma of leather.
With gentle pressure, he urged her body around, her chest to his, while walking her back into the privacy of the tunnel beneath the footbridge. As she leaned onto the rough cement wall, she shot a quick glance over her shoulder before focusing on him again.
But that one glance was enough to tell him that she, too, was aware that they were being hunted.
He leaned into her, bringing their bodies flush. Chest against chest. Her long powerful legs against his. His growing erection pressed to the flat softness of her belly.
“Ben,” she said with a husky sigh as she laid her hands on his shoulders.
From behind him, the beat of vampire power grew closer.
“Rhi, I need you,” he said and rocked his hips along hers, knowing that for vampires the rise of passion was like chum was for sharks.
With a little moan that made his dick jerk in anticipation, Rhiannon trailed her hands down his body to his buttocks. She clasped them in strong hands and urged him closer. Opened her legs slightly to welcome the press of his erection at her center.
“Fuck,” he groaned, fighting the need that made something deep in his core come alive. As the heat of his demon raced along his nerve endings, awakening the vampire, he sensed the rush of undead power dashing at them.
They surged away from each other and assumed fighting positions just as the vampire attacked.
But not in time to avoid the angry slash of the vampire’s sharp nails across his rib cage, opening thick gouges in his side.
“Fuck me,” he said and the pain loosened the final bit of control over his demon.
With a growl and a blur of vampire speed, he engaged his attacker while calling out to Rhiannon, “Time for you to learn.”
As he grappled with the vampire, Rhiannon approached, stake drawn.
Benjamin released the demon and took a spot at the mouth of the tunnel to keep him from escaping.
The vampire looked from him to Rhiannon, realizing he was trapped.
Eyes blazing bright, he growled a warning straight out of a bad B movie. “You won’t take me alive.”
Ben couldn’t contain a chuckle and smile that exposed a bit of his fangs. “That was the plan,” he said, the rumble of the vampire alive in his own voice.
The vampire stared at him intently, clearly surprised. “You’re a vampire. Like me.”
“Not like you at all,” Rhiannon said, drawing the vampire’s attention to her since she knew this was supposed to be her battle. Her day to get blooded and pass into the next phase of her education.
The vampire turned and eyeballed her, sizing her up. Apparently finding her less of a challenge than Ben, he rushed her.
She had never faced a real vampire in a real battle, only Slayers in pretend fights.
This wasn’t pretend, she thought as she blocked the vampire’s first blow.
The strength of it stunned her as pain traveled up her forearm, but she swept his arm aside and curled inward to avoid the swipe of his razor sharp nails.
The vampire’s move had him slightly off balance and she took advantage to land a blow to the back of his head with her elbow and drive him downward.
He faltered, nearly dropping to his knees before recovering and whirling to face her again, his grin filled with malice and sharp teeth.
“You must be new, Slayer. I’ve had worse gnat bites.”
“Don’t let him distract you,” Ben instructed while he continued to guard the mouth of the tunnel.
“So sad. A loser teaching another loser,” the vampire taunted.
“Then let’s see who’s going to be the last loser standing,” she retorted, trying to be appear unfazed by the demon’s comments. But on some level deep inside, it was impossible not to fear that this might be her first and last battle.
The vampire emitted a high pitched scream and rushed her once again.
She dodged him the way a matador would a charging bull. Repositioned herself to keep him contained in their makeshift arena.
Another attack was followed by a feint where she used her stake to land a glancing blow to her opponent’s side, making him grunt with hurt.
As the vampire glanced down and noted the wound she had opened up, he smiled and held up his hand, showing her the stain of blood, dark in the dim light. His gaze traveled to her arm where he had sliced through leather to wound her.
She had been so intent on getting to him, she had allowed him an opening to hurt her. Not that she had noticed since her adrenaline was flowing, blocking any sense of pain.
They went at each other once more and this time, she freed herself of fear and let something instinctual take over. It flowed through her, awakening strength she hadn’t thought possible. Making her aura shimmer with a rainbow of colors.
She wore down the vampire, evading his vicious nails and teeth time and time again. Moving almost as quickly as he did, allowing only on occasional glancing blow while she exacted grueling punishment, landing punch after punch, kick after kick, until the vampire was staggering. Barely on his feet before her.
“I will kill you,” he said through swollen lips. His face battered by her blows.
She raised her hands and wiggled her fingers in invitation. “Then have at it,” she said, feeling amazingly confident.
He bolted at her, arms outstretched. His chest open for that final fatal strike.
Ben had been right when he said it wasn’t easy to drive a stake through someone’s chest.
The first pierce of her stake into his flesh met the protection of bone and the blow sang up her arm.
Her attempt to stake him brought her perilously close to the vampire’s fangs and nails, forcing her to retreat, but only for a moment.
Reeling from that first kiss of her stake, the vampire stopped dead in his tracks and she took advantage of that.
She reared back with her arm and put every bit of force she had into striking her stake into his body, just below his sternum. Reaching deep for the power to push upward, she drove the wood straight through his heart.
They stared at each other then, shock on both their faces for only a second as the vampire’s knees crumpled and he fell dead at her feet.
Ben walked over to her and laid a gentle hand on hers to remove the stake from her hand.
“Rhi, you’re hurt,” he said as he noticed the slices in the arm of her jacket and the blood that had wet the leather, darkening it.
“Doesn’t hurt,” she said, her gaze transfixed on the body of the vampire. It had already started to decay and within hours, it would be nothing but a pile of dust and ash.
She’s in shock, Ben thought, but he couldn’t deal with her just yet.
They had to act fast to avoid discovery by the humans. He quic
kly moved the vamp’s body to the underbrush on the edges of the tunnel. It wouldn’t take long for the vampire’s body to disintegrate, helping to keep the secret of the underworld that existed unbeknownst to most New Yorkers.
When he was satisfied that the vampire’s body would remain unnoticed, he walked over to Rhiannon.
She hadn’t shifted even an inch and still stood there, staring down at the spot where the demon had dropped to her feet.
“Come on, Rhi. Let’s go,” he said and wrapped his arm around her waist.
He felt it then, the aftershocks of battle that had her body trembling. He stole a fleeting look at her face. She was deathly pale and her skin was clammy beneath his palm as he cupped her cheek.
“It takes time to get used to it,” he offered to comfort her although the truth of it was that you never got over taking a life, even if it was a vamp’s life.
Their travels into Central Park had brought them back downtown and they were only a dozen or so blocks away from his apartment.
As her knees wavered and she started to crumble, he swept her up in his arms and transformed, releasing the vampire.
With a surge of power and speed, he hurtled toward his home, only one thing on his mind.
Rhiannon.
Chapter 4
The speed of the vampire made them virtually invisible as he sped with her through the rest of the park and to the condo building in the Sixties.
As he neared the residence, only Jason, the vampire night doorman, was at the entrance. He slowed and let Rhiannon drift down to her feet so they could walk in, but as they did so, Jason recoiled as he detected her Slayer power.
“It’s okay, Jason. She’s a friend,” he said, not that he was sure Jason considered him a friend. Many of the vampires who worked for the building’s vampire owner, Ryder Latimer, were still uncertain of just where Benjamin fit into the scheme of things.
“Whatever you say,” Jason said and held the door open for him.
Rhiannon was still so out of it, he was almost half-carrying her to the elevator, but as it arrived, she seemed to rouse, although her body still trembled beside him and her face had not yet regained a hint of color.
Taming the Vampire: Over 25 All New Paranormal Alpha Male Tales of Contemporary, Military, Shifters, Billionaires, Werewolves, Magic, Fae, Witches, Dragons, Demons & More Page 131
