Is this vampire here to steal my prey? He would not let it happen. A defensive growl escaped Lucious’ dry lips, and the man’s hand moved out of sight.
“At last, you’re awake,” the man said. “The hunters injected you with a diluted colloidal silver solution. Your body would usually filter it out after you feed, but I can’t let you do that… God, this is a terrible predicament you are in, my friend.”
Lucious perked up at the word ‘feed’. That was what he wanted to do, what he needed to do. Just as he needed to find that witch and drain her dry. He wanted to bathe in the sweet nectar of her blood, for she promised herself to him. She was his.
The strange numbness dispelled and, once he was strong enough to move his muscles, he lunged for the man in a suit. The steel shackles held fast, biting into his wrists and binding him to the stone wall behind him.
“Release me!” Lucious shouted in a hoarse voice that bounced off the stone walls of the cell.
“Lucious, how do you feel?” the stranger asked.
Another growl came from deep within his chest and his eyes lit with a crimson glow. “Release me, vampire!” he yelled, yanking at the restraints.
“Don’t you recognise me?” When no response came from Lucious, he cussed and punched the nearest wall to him. “Damned hunters and that cursed Helena.”
Lucious’ thrashing halted. “Helena,” he whispered the name, rolling it off his tongue. That was the name his mind sought. She was the woman he wanted to devour. “Bring her to me…”
“Oh, you recognise the wench who made you this way.” The man sighed. “I won’t bring her here. I suggest you get comfortable because it is going to be a long week for you, old friend.”
Lucious glared at him. “You are no friend of mine if you are keeping me here.”
“Believe me, if I had another option I would take it. With your descent, you have no choice but to try burning the blood you took from her and others out of your system.”
Lucious’ head began to hurt as images of a young woman with wavy brown hair, which framed her pale heart-shaped face and the largest pair of hazel eyes he’d ever seen, resurfaced. Her beautiful eyes were polluted with the fear of him. He swallowed the bile ascending his throat and buried his head between his knees.
More images flooded through him: the hunters, Helena, the kiss they shared, and the peace that followed. It soothed some of the aches at the back of his skull, relinquishing the hold on his coherent thoughts.
“Alexander…” Lucious said in an agonised voice. “Is she well?”
A deep chuckled erupted from his friend as he lowered himself to sit on the tiled floor across the room from Lucious. “You have no regard for your well-being.”
Lucious raised his head, struggling against the urge to spring to his feet and attack his suppressor. “Answer me!”
“Alright. She is fine. I did my best not to throttle the overconfident female hunter, though. She and your human share the same quality that makes me want to snap a neck or two.”
Lucious pressed his back against the wall, enjoying the chill as it seeped into his flesh and cooled the burning in his wounded right shoulder. He glanced at it while saying, “Most likely because they are related.”
“One Helena is enough, but two? I fear that will bring an apocalypse on our heads,” Alexander said, chuckling.
A sharp pain shot through Lucious’ chest. He clutched the material of his t-shirt, tearing it at the shoulders. He arched his back and his head hit the wall. Panting and grunting, he slid to one side.
Alexander observed him with pity. “I didn’t want to tell you this, but they found out who has the demon-slaying blade. The hunters will most likely take Helena with them and try to use her as a bargaining chip since Reaver likes rare things. If you want to protect her, you must overcome this fast.”
Lucious gasped when another round of shocks hit his system. Wreathing on the floor, he willed his energy to keep his shields intact. He would not hinder her. He had to protect Helena from his mistakes.
“Save. Her,” Lucious begged between gasps.
“I’m sorry, Lucious, that I cannot do. To overcome this, you need a goal. I checked their flight booking. You have five days before they fly out to Vienna.” Alexander shot Lucious one last glance over his shoulder before he left him in the cell and locked the heavy, metal door behind him.
Lucious screamed out his fury until his throat hurt more from that than the thirst. He raked his nails along the tiles, breaking a few of them as he tried to suppress his urges.
I have to protect her. I have to fight…
Lucious hit his head against the stone wall over and over again. The pain was constant now. His throat was parched and aching. His hands were bloodied and formed fists between his thighs, but no relief came. The floor was littered with his fingernails which he tore off once they finished growing back—a short-lived pain that distracted him long enough to forget the thirst for a brief second or two.
He heard a sound of the lock turning and his eyes darted in the direction of the door.
Tanya entered the cell with a tray. She placed it on the ground, pushing it his way. “Here’s some water. It’s not blood, but it’s something.”
“Tanya, I. Need. To. Feed,” he spoke in a hoarse voice.
Her blonde brows knitted together. “I can’t do that, my love. Alexander’s orders were clear.”
“Fuck Alexander,” he snapped and kicked the tray with his bare foot. The glass smashed and water spilt on the floor along with dozens of shards.
“I’ll clean it up,” she said.
He glared at her. “Leave!”
“Lucious, please, I’m trying to help you…”
“Get out, Tanya. Bring me one of Alexander’s whores if you wish to help me,” he snapped.
She backed out of the cell. The lock fell into place and, once he was satisfied she had retreated far enough, he gathered the shards, drawing them towards him with his foot.
He opened his mouth and dropped the glass shards on his tongue before he bit down. The sharp ends cut his gums. Blood filled his mouth, and he revelled in the taste of it.
“Lucious, are you awake?” a female voice drew him out of his sleep.
He stirred, and his eyes lazily fluttered open. Once his sight adjusted to the dimness of the cell, he frowned. “What are you doing here, Zafira?”
“It’s been three days. I’ve come to help, obviously.” She brushed her perfectly manicured fingers along his swollen, cut lips. “You truly did a number on yourself.”
“Leave me be,” he grumbled, moving his face away from her touch.
She grasped his jaw, causing the glass in his mouth to slice the inside of his cheek. He cried out in pain, and she released him.
“I’m sorry. I thought you would have spat the shards out by now. It’s hard to tell what’s where with all this blood.” She motioned to the bloodstained clothes and pools of dried blood on the ground.
“It does not taste the same.”
She sat next to him and pulled him down until his head rested on her lap. Her nails ran through his hair in a motherly fashion. “Why didn’t you take her to bed or anyone for that matter? You knew if you were to eradicate the blood out of your system and refrain for a few days thereafter, you’d be fine. Why drive yourself into such a state?”
Lucious caught her hand. Using the wall behind him for support, he sat upright. “I will not touch her unless she asks it of me.”
“How noble of you.” She twirled her dark curls with her index finger. “Why don’t you take me instead? Alexander gave you a time limit. She will go with the hunters to Vienna, and you can do nothing about it.”
“Zafira, I cannot—”
“Sure you can. We have spent many nights together or has your memory of our passion become clouded by the thirst?”
“That is not what’s important here. I will conquer this by myself.”
Zafira shifted closer to him and ran her hand down h
is chest. “You are mistaken. I have seen your future with her, my dear Lucious, and it is bleak. Do not cling to her and fight this bond between your souls because, one day soon, she will take your life.”
Lucious studied her. “What do you mean?”
“It is as it sounds. She will be the one to kill you with her own two hands. I don’t know when, but it is a vivid enough vision to tell me that it’s within the next year or two.”
He studied her dark eyes, seeking anything that could prove her words to be false. Zafira’s visions were never wrong. She never faked the information she had seen, yet this could be her tactic to separate him from Helena. He couldn’t figure it out as it was becoming hard to think. He had not fed in three days and the constant yearning for blood was relentless. How long would it take him to rid his body of Helena’s blood—a week, two? Did he have enough of his conscience left to resist taking his life for the duration of his torture? Perhaps having Helena kill him was the least of his worries.
“It does not matter,” he said. “I will accept my fate when the time comes.”
She carefully cupped his face and forced him to look at her again. “You cannot mean that! She is not worthy of your life.”
“Zafira, I will decide who is worthy and who is not. You may leave now. I wish to rest.”
Her hands fell away, and she brushed off the dirt and bloodstains on her white skinny jeans. “I will return tonight. If you wish to remain at her side, you know what must be done. But, remember this. Not once did she question us about your well-being since your arrival here. You are nothing to her.”
“Leave…” Lucious settled back on the ground. His body ached too much for him to continue the argument.
When she left, her words replayed in his mind. He did not expect Helena to fall in love with him. After all, he was a monster, and she desperately clung to her humanity. He closed his eyes and visualised her in his mind. The softness of her lips, the smoothness of her skin, and the warmth of her body. All of them he wanted to claim and none of them he could have.
Staring at the metal door, he waited for Zafira to return. He had made up his mind to spend the night with her to rid his body of the blood. Without her help, he could not be with Helena to protect her. He had one day left to get back on his feet, yet he still wanted to tear the throat out of any human he might set his sights on.
He heard the clicking of heels against the concrete and the door to his confinement opened.
Zafira peeked inside with a smirk on her bronzed face. “I see you have decided.”
“You know me well.”
She sashayed into the cell and closed the door behind her. Her eyes narrowed on him. “I am disappointed you did not fight this longer. Or are you using me so you can be at her side?”
“Isn’t that what you have proposed?”
Zafira glared at him. “You know I offered it because I care for you.”
“Spare me the drama, Zafira. I do not have the time for it,” he retorted, rising to his full height.
She closed the distance between them and planted soft kisses on his lips, his unshaven cheek, and trailed them along his sharp jawline. “You, my lover, are a pain in the ass to romance.”
“I thought you hated the idea of hearts and flowers.”
She snorted. “I guess you know me as well as I know you.”
“Let’s get this over with.” He wrapped his arms around her slender body and surrendered to her touch.
Lucious was spent. He could not even lift his arm when Zafira slid off him.
She grinned at him and put on her bra. “Even when you’re crazed with bloodlust, you’re still good in bed.”
“This is the last time.”
“That’s what you always say.” She got dressed and gave him a pleased smile. “Your eyes are back to normal. Looks like you can return to society.”
Lucious tried raising his head off the floor, but the best he could manage was a roll to one side. He found that his clothes were scattered around the cell, most of which were too far for him to retrieve without help.
“Mind tossing me my trousers?”
An evil glint lit her eyes as she lifted them off the floor with one finger. “Since I didn’t get you to be my man, I’ll be taking these as a trophy of my endeavour.”
“I’ll be left bare-assed if you do that.”
“You were fine with it at my Cambridge villa.”
Lucious rubbed his tired eyes. “I swear it is not my company you enjoy but the torment you dispense.”
She crossed the cell to the door and blew him a kiss. “I’ll tell Alexander to pick you up in a few. Hopefully, you can procure a sock or two by then.”
With a chuckle, he sat up. Every muscle in his exhausted body hurt, but the thirst overriding his mind was gone. At last, he could think straight.
His eyes shifted to his palms. He held Zafira in his arms, wishing it was someone else. Yet, he could not force himself on Helena. Not until she wanted him to be with her. And, with Andrew’s return drawing near, Lucious was running out of time to claim her heart. The way she looked at his childe when he was killed at The Rift tormented him. She had to have feelings for that boy as there was no other explanation for the agony reflected in her glistening eyes. Lucious had to accept this. He wanted her to belong solely to him, but he knew that once she meets his childe again, she will flee to Andrew’s side and abandon him in the dark.
Alexander burst into the cell and covered his eyes. “God, Lucious, you could have put on a pair of pants by now.”
“Very funny, Alexander. I’m certain you couldn’t miss Zafira’s gloating over the theft of my clothing.”
Alexander’s lips stretched into a smile. “She is a fox, and I am glad I have no dealings with her outside of the office.”
Lucious pointed at the remnants of his grey t-shirt. “Mind passing it to me?”
When Alexander tossed the top at him, Lucious was too slow to catch it and the material hit him in the face, sliding down before landing in his lap.
Alexander chuckled in the corner. “Once we get you out of here, you’ll have to sleep for a day or so. Vincent was quite specific about the procedure to get you back on your feet.”
Lucious held the cloth over his family jewels and raised a brow. “You went as far as informing the Council of my descent?”
“I only contacted Vincent. He assured me that nothing will be passed on to Anna or Eliza.”
“Very well.”
Alexander draped Lucious’ arm over his shoulders and lifted him while Lucious clutched the t-shirt in front of his groin. “Let’s get you into a bed.”
When Lucious woke up the next night, the link trembled with strange emotions he could not decipher. He sat up and glanced at the half-full blood bag laying on the nightstand. His eyes focused on the motionless, scarlet liquid in the clear plastic, and he shifted closer to it.
Once he realised what he was doing, he grasped his wrist with his other hand and scooted away, warily studying the bag.
Alexander entered the bedroom with a faint click of the door. “You can drink that much every four days until you adjust. It may weaken you in the long run, but you won’t have another relapse.”
Lucious nodded but did not touch the blood. Instead, he found clothes neatly arranged on the metal chair next to the bed and put them on. “Where is she?”
His friend sighed. “When will you stop asking about her? She is with the hunters. Nothing has changed. We are due to meet them in Vienna in six hours.”
“Have they already departed?” he asked, tugging on a pair of black jeans.
“Yes, and…” Alexander paused long enough to make Lucious turn around and face him.
“And what?”
“I made a deal with Reaver.”
Lucious grimaced. Reaver was a collector of sorts—a man who scoured the Earth for rare items which he locked away in his prized, secure vault to keep them from prying eyes. The man was not known to bail on any of his trades
, and he expected the same in return.
Lucious froze in the middle of buttoning his ebony shirt. “What kind of deal?”
“The kind where we’ll give him the location of the saint in exchange for the demon blade.”
Lucious finished getting dressed as agitation set in. He picked up the blood bag, took off the cap, and gulped down the contents, leaving no time to enjoy the taste he had missed dearly. The second he finished, he tossed the empty bag back on the nightstand and faced Alexander once his temper was under control. “Are you bloody mad?”
“It was either that or no deal.”
“Helena is the only one who knows where the saint lives,” Lucious said. “She won’t betray her trust.”
Alexander reclined against the wall and crossed his arms. “Then convince her. It’s her life or the saint’s. Any normal person would choose themselves.”
“You do not know how loyal she is to her friends.”
“She won’t give up such information to me, but she might give it to you. Talk her into it. Tell her it’s the only way.”
Lucious sighed. “What are the chances of us succeeding without handing over the details?”
“Zero percent. It would be worse than breaking into the Council since there would be no one coming to our rescue when we get our asses handed to us.”
“Helena can do magic. She’s Wiccan.”
Alexander’s eyes widened. “Wasn’t she supposed to be human?”
“That was before she cast a purification spell that worked,” he snapped. “And what did you mean about the hunters trading her in?”
Alexander lifted his hand, silencing Lucious’ outburst. “Well, shit. Since she is a witch with a rare link to a vampire and can make such unearthly bonds, the hunters may, indeed, trade her without needing me to be there.”
Demon Gates (Helena Hawthorn Series Book 2) Page 13
