“Disease?” she whispered.
“Nothing so simple. The Mongols were sweeping across the country. Many died in their wake, including myself.” He smiled wearily, tired of thinking of the past. The burden heavy on his conscience. “I woke on the battlefield the night I died. Alone and changed. I did not understand what had been done to me. Like any man, I made my way home only to find my wife and children massacred.”
She gasped, her hands fisting his shirt. “Viktor…”
He pressed his fingers to her lips. Not wanting to hear her sorrow. If she wanted to know what had driven him to madness, then she had to listen while he could still speak it. “I have had ages to mourn and made peace with that loss.” He had also had ages to leave a trail of bodies. “What I want you to learn is something I discovered too late.” He sat forward, pinning her stare with his. “I explained not to abstain from drinking blood. You will not win. The bloodlust is too strong and your instinct to survive will always overcome your desire not to kill.”
Trixie swallowed visibly. “What if I can’t find a willing donor? It seems so complicated. I’m not a hunter at heart.”
He shook his head. “In this age, there are many options.”
“Is that what happened? You tried not to drink anyone’s blood.”
“Unfortunately, yes. I did not know of vampires. My desire for blood seem so unnatural, my aversion to light and increased strength. I thought I had been made into a demon. Science had not been practiced widely yet and witchcraft was very strong in my land.” He leaned back against the wall again and stared down at the names. “Every time I starved myself, my bloodlust grew worse and the less control I had on it. I killed many people and lived like an animal in the countryside.”
“For how long?”
He scratched his chin. “I do not know. I discovered a vampire nest once I crossed into Europe. Italy, if I remember correctly. Their leader took pity on me. Chained me in their dungeon and fed me until my sanity returned.” He closed his eyes. “Since then I have struggled.”
She rested her head on his chest. “So, the moral of the story is don’t fight what I’ve become.” She took a long shuddering breath. “What about my sister? How long before she’s safe around me? I’ve been around other humans without a slip.”
“You have done very well and I was here to make sure you were always fed. Can you do the same by yourself? Are you willing to chance your sister’s life if you do slip?”
She shook her head. “I still have a lot to learn.”
“We keep you well fed. You do not visit your sister unless you’ve had blood within a few hours.” He frowned, recalling her sister’s stabbing glare. “We teach her as well. She must follow the rules or her death will weigh upon you forever.”
“Oh God, I don’t even want to think about that.”
He opened his eyes.
Trixie had her hands pressed to her mouth. “I managed to feed from Carlos without hurting him though.”
He grinned, pride swelling his chest. “Yes, you did.”
She lowered her hands and smiled. “That’s a step in the right direction.”
He had not needed to restrain her or pull her away. Her kind heart contained a strength most vampires lacked. She would not become a killer, his beautiful Trixie. She would be a beacon, someone other vampires would try to emulate. Including himself.
“So, you can’t go hungry.” She met his gaze, her eyes clouded with confusion. “What’s the problem, then, with all the modern options you imply we have? Why the continued murders?”
“I am weak.” He set her aside Jumping to his feet, he paced the small room. The prison he could easily break out of, but where to go? The safest place for Trixie was under the protection of the wolf pack.
That admission burned like silver poured straight into his vein. Christopher was all snarl. He would not harm Trixie. The werewolf’s soul wasn’t that dark, and there would be too many repercussions to the action. She had powerful friends in New Port’s pack. Not to mention, Viktor would kill every Riverbend werewolf in revenge.
“Hundred years ago, our race pledged not to kill. We want to live quietly. But the old ones, like myself, find control slipping through our fingers.” He glanced at her, hoping to find understanding and did not.
She crossed her arms. “Murder is not a mistake.”
“I know this,” he shouted. “My threshold is thin. Every time I starved, it grew thinner. My need for blood stronger.” He dropped his head into his hands. “The guilt is worse. I asked Eoin for help. He is the only one in the city strong enough to physically stop me.” He flung himself in the chair, tempted to return to her bed, but Trixie sat so stiff and shocked. He had to wait. He did not wish to touch her until she could forgive what he could not. “It’s a madness with no cure.”
Viktor continued to stare at nothing, every muscle in his body tight until he appeared made of stone.
She wanted him to stop killing people for obvious reasons, but the top one was the guilt was destroying him. How long before it drove him permanently mad? The people she cared about were a short list and she protected them with every fiber in her soul. Viktor was now on that list. “What you’re doing now isn’t working.”
He rose slowly to his feet, looming over her. “No.”
“Alone. You’ve done this alone for centuries. Every addict needs a support group, Viktor. Consider me your sponsor. Let me help you.”
He blinked and wouldn’t look at her. “I have been alone since the day I woke on the battlefield.” He cleared his throat. “I am not sure how to be anything else. Even when I lived among vampires, I had really lived alone. With them but apart. A wild thing no one wanted.”
She kissed him on the jaw, on his cheek, her love fierce. He had been too stubborn to die, in those days, and she was too stubborn to let him go now. “I don’t know how to be a vampire. We’ll help each other.”
He pulled her into a hug, her ribs creaking pleasantly from his strength. So, this was how it felt to be a couple.
“First, we need to break out of here.” She glared at the locked door. There was no way Viktor was facing that nest without her and she wouldn’t waste her breath trying to convince Chris otherwise.
Viktor returned to the small twin bed, his huge body taking three quarters of the space. “Number one rule of being vampire, never escape during the day.”
“Well shit, I almost made toast of us.”
“More like charcoal.”
She shuddered. “Thanks for the visual.”
He patted the mattress. “Come, show me how not to be alone in bed.”
She snorted. “I thought vampires were supposed to be better at seduction than this.” Yes, she moved closer.
“Too many movies.”
She crawled in next to him. “Maybe you should watch more.”
He rolled on top of her.
Caged between Viktor’s strong arms and pinned to the mattress by his weight, Trixie gasped. All words lost as her throat locked.
He leaned in so close all she could see was the midnight of his eyes. “A kiss.” He waited for her slight nod before his lips descended upon hers.
She had no words to describe this raw primal sensation that spread through her, melting her tense muscles. All because Viktor and his firm lips that tasted so slowly.
Too slowly.
She moaned into his mouth. Gripping his shoulders, she pulled herself up since he was too strong to budge.
He licked along the seam of her lips.
Oh, yes. Wanting more, she opened and dared to reach out with her tongue.
He made a low, deep noise which curled her toes.
When it felt as if he lifted his head, she arched her back toward him and demanded more.
He pressed a kiss to her throat, his fingers slipping under the hem of her shirt. “I want to taste your skin.”
“Yes.” Husky word.
Rising, he pulled her shirt over her head.
Automatica
lly, her hands went to his chest, stroking the chiseled muscles that were Viktor.
“No touching.” He pried her hands away. “I want to go slow. Touching me will make me…crazed.” He undid her jeans and slid them off, leaving her exposed in only her bra and panties.
She had the power to make him crazed? It seemed impossible.
Looming, his gaze devoured her, lingering on her lace covered breasts. He traced the delicate pattern and she shivered.
It was instinct to curve her body up toward him.
His gaze snapped up to meet hers and then he was upon her, gripping her jaw so he could take her mouth in a feral kiss that was all tongue and fangs and heat. His free hand slid under her body and released her bra fastenings. Sliding the straps off her shoulders, he followed their descent with small nipping kisses. The lace vanished with her other clothes, tossed over Viktor’s back. Big, strong hands cupped her breasts, kneading, molding, kissing…oh…sucking.
She moaned, thighs spreading to welcome his big, gorgeous body as it pressed her into the bed. Fingers plucked at her nipples as he continued to kiss lower along her abdomen.
That was when she realized she was in over her head.
He kissed her navel.
She couldn’t catch her breath. Her head spun.
“Tell me if you like this.” Skimming over the small triangle of black lace, he ran his fangs over her inner thighs.
A shuddering breath. “Yes.”
He slid her panties off, following their path with more nips and kisses, then with a sinful smile, he pulled her legs over his shoulders.
Her heart stuttered. “What are you doing?”
“Tasting you.” He gave her such an intimate kiss her mind blanked then sparked with such a fever of want. She’d never understood, hadn’t known. Sure, she’d read about it in books and heard her friends discussing it. The act had sounded embarrassing. Right now, she wasn’t embarrassed. She was on fire and needy and so pleasured it hurt.
She felt the surge of raw sexual delight until her thoughts fractured into a long, shuddering satisfaction.
Viktor rolled back along her body, licking and tasting his way to her throat. His heavy weight a delicious blanket.
Her hand traveled under his shirt once more. His skin hot and firm.
“Bad vampire.” He nipped her skin and rolled her on top of him. “The sun is rising.”
“What about you?”
He licked her bottom lip. “We have plenty of time for that another day. Now, we both need to sleep. Tonight will prove to be interesting.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
The bang on the door rattled Trixie’s teeth, jarring her awake to sit up straight in bed, blanket pooling around her hips. She pressed her hands to her ears. “I’m awake, I’m awake.” She blinked at the unfamiliar surroundings and recalled yesterday’s werewolf adventures.
The knocking stopped.
Viktor sat in front of the television but his attention was focused on her. Or should she say, her naked breasts. “Not an evening person?” Amusement pulled at his lips as if he’d discovered a special secret.
“No.” She pulled on her discarded shirt and it fell to her knees. Oh, not hers. Viktor’s. He was bare chested.
He abandoned the television and opened the unlocked door.
In the hallway, holding bagged blood stood a large tattooed man. Burly, like an older bike gang member. His glare could have melted plastic. “Not again. Trixie.” He growled her name and she squeaked like a dog toy he’d just bit.
Betty’s dad.
Viktor tossed her a concerned glance over his shoulder. Grown women shouldn’t make those kinds of noises. She knew this, but she felt like she’d been caught…with no pants on, which was the truth.
She shut the door closed in his face before he could say anything else. Pulling off Viktor’s shirt, she tossed it at him. “Get dressed.” She fell to her knees, looking for her clothes under the bed.
Chuck shoved the door open, but Viktor blocked it with one hand. She heard an oomph as Chuck collided with the unmoving object that was her sire.
She mouthed a silent thank you as she dressed at hurricane speed, shirt backwards and jeans inside out, but all the important bits were covered.
Viktor dropped his shirt on the floor, before letting Chuck in. “I assume you know each other? I am Viktor Petrov.” He held up his hand.
Chuck stared at it as if Viktor’s touch was contagious. His glare darted to her. “So, the rumors are true. I thought the alpha was mistaken when he called me. You really allowed him to turn you into a vampire.
“Hey, Chuck.” She gave a halfhearted wave, feeling eight years old all over again. Betty’s parents had decided that since she and Ruby didn’t have any, they would fill in that role.
It was a shifter thing neither she nor Ruby understood, but Betty’s parents were awesome, so bonus. They got the occasional check-in phone call and obligatory dinner invite when they were in town visiting.
Trixie had never been on the receiving end of the dad glare. It was awful.
“I thought you had a better head on your shoulders.” Chuck’s ears were red as he held up the blood he carried. “You’re going to have to live off this for the rest of your life. You’ll have to hunt humans. What do you know about hunting?”
Her mouth opened and closed repeatedly. It was like her vocal cords had short-circuited. She had never seen him so upset. Heat coated her limbs as her skin flushed.
Betty’s dad turned on Viktor. “And you.” He jabbed his finger into Viktor’s chest. “I’m going to personally skin you alive and use you as a throw rug if I find out you hurt her.”
Viktor’s eyes went dead. His skin felt cold to Trixie’s touch. “What did you accuse me of?” He bared his saber tooth fangs.
She had to give Chuck credit. He didn’t give Viktor an inch. “I want to speak with her alone.”
“Why? I’m sworn to protect her and I don’t know you from shit. What assurance do I have you will not hurt her?”
“That’s enough.” She held her hands, inserting herself between the pissed off supernatural creatures. She was tired of being fought over. All her life she’d had to take care of herself. It was wonderful both these men cared about her, but she was a big girl wearing vampire pants now. She thought she could handle an upset werewolf daddy. “Chuck is Betty’s father. And sort of my adopted one.”
“Sort of? We’ll discuss that another day.” Chuck set his hand on her shoulder and pulled her behind him. “And Trixie’s well-being is also my concern.”
She pleaded with Viktor, over the werewolf’s shoulder, to calm down. “I trust Chuck with my life. He’d never hurt me. Look, he brought breakfast.” She pointed to the bag blood.
“Let Trixie feed first.” Viktor crossed his arms, those pecks flexing in the most inviting way.
Chuck passed her a bag over her shoulder. “Go for it, kid.” He didn’t move.
She sighed and wondered how Betty had survived being a teenager with such a protective father. “Why did Chris call you?” Eyeing the bag, she tried to figure out how to drink it without freaking Chuck out. She was hungry and her stomach cramped.
Viktor retrieved a glass from the bathroom. He gestured for her breakfast. With a sharp fingernail, he punctured the plastic and helped her pour the contents inside.
Betty’s father frowned with thin lips. “You’re Betty’s best friend. You’re family! Of course, he called me. We’re pack.”
Technically, she wasn’t pack, but he didn’t use the term literally. He meant he cared.
“No, she’s not pack.” Viktor discarded the empty blood bag and pushed the full glass back in her hands. “She belongs to me.”
She could all but see Chuck’s fur stand up on his spine. He growled. Viktor couldn’t have said anything worse to an overprotective old werewolf. She’d been reading a lot on shifters ever since Betty’s mating.
“You need to be quiet now.” She pointed at Viktor. “I don’t
want to have to pick pieces of you out of Chuck’s teeth.”
Both men snorted and ignored their mutual reaction.
Trixie wiped her mouth and handed Viktor her empty glass.
Chuck eyed Viktor. “Interesting tats. Didn’t know vampires’ skin could be tattooed.”
“Viktor’s a tattoo artist. He seems to be well known. He was featured in tattoo news magazine for the work he did on New Port dragon.” She bit the inside of her cheek before she continued.
Viktor poked at his skin where the densest patch of names existed. “It’s a process to tattoo my kind. Not many would tolerate it.”
Chuck leaned forward, inspecting the writing. “What do all those names mean?”
She elbowed Chuck in the side. “I thought you wanted to talk to me?” Betty’s dad didn’t need to know how many people Viktor had killed. That would give them another thing to fight over. She pushed between them. “Let’s go. The night won’t last forever and Viktor has somewhere to go.”
Chuck exchanged nods with the guards in the hallway. He led her to another safe room at the end of the hall. She glanced over her shoulder at the two shifters quietly talking with her sire. “They’re nervous about him.”
“They have a reason to be.” He held the door open for her.
She sat on a bed identical to the one they slept on. “How many safe rooms does your pack need?”
“Can’t have too many. It’s rough on the teenagers, especially the dominant males. Rumors are Chris spent almost a year down here.” Chuck pulled the chair around to face her and set down. “When did this happen?” He gestured with his hand up and down her body.
She assumed he meant her vampirism. “A couple days ago.”
“Does Betty know?”
“No, what kind of friend do you think I am?” Betty should be howling at the moon or hunting buffalo or whatever wolf shifters did to be romantic.
“One who is in over her head.” Chuck went down on his knees in front of her and grasped her hands in his big rough palms. “Did Viktor force this on you? I can help you get away from him. Arrange a ride back to New Port. The pack will make sure you never see Viktor again.”
Not His Vampire: Vampire Romance (Not This Series Book 3) Page 18
