by Nora Ash
Yes.
Hopefully she’d had enough time while he slept to accept his claim.
Movement to his side alerted him to Aleric's awakening. He waited for his brother to push through the grave next to his, blue eyes sparking with the same thirst for life as they had every night for the past two centuries.
“I’m starving,” he said the second he was free of the ground, offering Warin a fangy grin. “Are you sharing your pet?”
Warin narrowed his eyes at the auburn-haired vampire, a possessive snarl rising in his throat. “She is mine!”
“Sure, whatever.” Aleric raised both hands in surrender, but that didn’t stop a huff from escaping him. “Guess I’ll hunt. But this far away from civilization, it’ll probably mean we’ll sleep apart come dawn.”
“Eat a deer,” Warin said, his attention wavering as he pushed his preternatural senses toward the clearing. The only sounds of life seemed to be from a family of foxes and the rabbit they were hunting. “I want you close.”
“Ew,” Aleric said, a revolted grimace marring his clean features. “No fucking way. I’m not drinking animal blood while you feast on that feisty little human. If you want me to stay close, at least offer a wrist—“
“Shut up,” Warin snapped.
“I’m just saying—I’m your brother. I’d offer you my pet.” Aleric sulked.
“Shh! Listen.” Tense, painful pressure built in Warin’s gut, right below his ribcage. He pushed his fist against it, trying to ease the swirling sensation of intense dread.
“I can’t hear a thing,” Aleric said after a moment’s silence. He frowned at Warin.
“Exactly,” Warin muttered. He sprang forward, launching himself through the forest, not waiting for Aleric. The pressure below his ribs increased to the unbearable for every step. Why couldn’t he hear her? What if something had happened while he slept?
What if she was…?
He stopped abruptly at the center of the clearing. The fox family had moved on upon his approach, dragging the rabbit carcass with them. The creek he’d bathed in the night before trickled merrily to the east. Wind rattled leaves on the tall trees surrounding him and carried with it only the scent of the forest.
She was gone.
“Well, that’s what you get for refusing to use Compulsion.” Aleric's pragmatic tone ripped him out of the sense of drowning. Warin stared at him, trying to make sense of what he was saying.
“Seriously, brother, I know you’ve not been one for using charm when a nice dose of fear will do the job, but if you’re going to threaten a girl with rape and torture, maybe Compel her before you leave for the night.” Aleric strolled over to the ashes left over from her campfire and kicked a charred log with the toes of his boot. “Looks like she left the second the sun cracked the horizon.”
“I didn’t threaten…” Warin’s voice died when his own words echoed in the back of his mind. The sooner you accept your fate, the less pain you will receive. His Sire had spoken those same words to him so many times. Pain had always followed. Pain so severe, it had broken him from the inside out.
If he had been able to, he too would have fled from the wielder of that treacherous promise.
The pressure below his ribs sunk, turning to a hollow pit in the depths of his gut.
He’d spoken those words many times since he killed his Sire, to a multitude of people. So many of their faces blurred into a shapeless pink mass, the only distinguishable feature being a wide, open, wailing mouth.
Pain.
It was all he knew. Pain. Force. And the sadistic pleasure of imposing his will on the pitiful creatures he captured to sate the beast inside.
In a rush of clarity so sickeningly clear it made the pit in his gut ache, Warin knew why Thea had run.
She had run from him like he should have run from his Sire. Because she had seen him for what he truly was.
Monster.
He had told her himself. Told her those same words his Sire had told him. Over and over.
The blurry image of the thousands of souls he had tormented for his perverted pleasures flickered and faded until Thea danced for his mind’s eye, screaming in agony.
The agony he had promised her if she resisted his will.
“Warin?” Aleric's voice seemed to come from far away. Worry marred his deep baritone. “If you didn’t plan to hunt her, why didn’t you Compel her? You must have known she would flee.”
“I can’t,” he whispered. “I can’t Compel her. I can’t hurt her.”
“What do you mean, you can’t?”
“I have to find her.” He pulled his mind back from the swirling vortex threatening to swallow his sanity and stared at the ground. Seconds later, he picked up her trail.
Warin ran.
Chapter 6
Aleric
Something was wrong.
At first, when Aleric had seen his brother attempt to be civilized with the human girl, he’d thought that maybe this meant Warin was finally healing from the darkness brought on by their Sire. That maybe he was starting to lose the urge to maim and torture just for the fun of it, turning his attention to healthier pursuits—such as the warm, wet bliss between a woman’s thighs.
But the expression on his Elder’s face as he’d stood in the clearing in the woods, staring into nothingness… Aleric knew then. He wasn’t healing. He was possessed.
Not like the stories that said a few very strong witches could possess a vampire. There wasn’t magic around him—not that Aleric could detect, at least. But something… something was wrong with his brother, and it had to do with the little blood sack he’d found in that cursed village they’d raided.
In Aleric's entire preternatural life, there had been one constant: Warin. Warin’s strength, Warin’s companionship… Warin’s blood. The same blood that ran through his own veins and tied them together with a bond deeper than death itself. Warin had been his mentor when Aleric was too young to survive on his own, his Father in the absence of the monster who’d turned them both. And later, as Aleric came to mature into his new life, his blood brother. His friend.
He had known him for two hundred years, and this night, as he saw the horror and defeat cross the dark-haired vampire’s features, Aleric knew he was no longer the same.
Something was wrong.
And it tied back to her.
As he followed his brother through the dark forest in a wild sprint, Aleric silently hoped they would find her dead. If she’d fallen into a ravine and snapped her neck, whatever magic she’d woven over his brother would be broken and he would be back to normal.
Or as normal as Warin got. But however feral his blood brother was, he had never scared Aleric more than he had tonight. That look of horror and defeat as he realized this Thea had run… that had scared Aleric more than anything that had come before.
“We’re close,” Warin said softly as he stopped by a tree. A single, long hair was stuck against the bark.
The dark-haired vampire caressed it absentmindedly as he sniffed the air. Eagerness bordering on desperation played across his features, making the sense of unease in Aleric's gut twist. What had that girl done to his brother?
And how?
Warin suddenly jerked, his fingers falling from the bark as wild, unadulterated fury mixed with absolute terror flittered across his face. Aleric smelled it in that same second.
Human males. Unwashed bodies. Dried blood. Her blood.
Aleric followed his brother as he burst through the underbrush so fast he hardly touched the ground.
A feminine scream. Rough laughter.
Warin roared, his rage echoing through the night.
The laughter stopped. Steel sang—a half-drawn dagger.
And then they were there—in the small camp between tall pine trees.
There were five men—bandits, from the looks of them. Thea was on the ground next to the campfire, her wrists tied and blood scabbing on her temple.
They never stood a chance.
Aleric had seen his brother slaughter thousands over the years, all in gruesome ways. He had never seen him butcher with quite this much prejudice before.
Warin was a whirlwind of destruction, ripping off limbs and tearing out throats. Blood sprayed across the clearing, flinging chunks of still-quivering human flesh onto the soiled ground as the humans screamed in terror. Two of them tried to run. They didn’t make it so much as a foot out of the camp before Warin ripped their spines from their bodies.
It was over in less than a minute.
Though the forest had rung with screams and howls only seconds before, silence fell over the camp when Warin tossed the final robber to the floor. Only Thea’s gasping breaths and faint movement from the only man still halfway alive could be heard.
Warin retracted his fangs and sank down on his knees next to the girl. His face was a study in sorrow and regret as he gently cupped her cheek. “I am so sorry,” he murmured. “Where are you hurt?”
Thea stared up at him—at his blood-covered lips and the obvious regret in his eyes. She looked like she didn’t know if she was better off with her attackers gone and the feral vampire crouched over her.
“Just… my head,” she finally said. “You came in time.”
Warin brushed his fingers against her temple with a butterfly-light touch, his eyes zeroing in on the blood there. It wasn’t bleeding anymore—the robbers had clearly only intended to stop her from fighting, rather than kill her.
“Don’t run from me again.” The words were the same ones he’d spoken the previous night, but this time, they came out as a plea, not a command. “I can’t protect you during the daylight hours, and if you run, others can hurt you.”
“Why would you want to protect me? You killed my people. You… you captured me.” She sounded more confused than accusatory. Aleric didn’t miss how she never looked away from Warin’s blue gaze, as if something in it pulled on her. The same way her eyes seemed to pull on his brother.
“I don’t know,” Warin admitted. “But I do. I need to. I can’t hurt you, Thea, and I never will. But I cannot be without you, either. Please. Don’t run from me again.”
“I don’t understand,” she whispered. “Who are you?”
Warin didn’t answer her this time. He only folded the fingers not supporting her head around her hands, gaze locked on hers. The look of wonderment on his bloodstained face was clear, even from Aleric's perch by the dying man.
* * *
“You need to take her to an Ancient.”
Warin’s responding growl was fully expected, but Aleric held up a hand, stopping his Elder’s temper from unfolding just yet.
“You need to know what she is, Warin. Why she’s making you…” He grimaced and waved his hand. “Feel things.”
“There is nothing wrong with her, or what she makes me feel,” Warin said, voice low.
“I didn’t say there was. But you cannot deny that she has changed you. That she influences you in some way that even you don’t understand. She’s not a regular human, you know that. We need to know what she is to…” Aleric hesitated for a brief second at the look of warning on Warin’s face. “To make sure she’s safe. An Ancient is our best hope of learning more about her and this… connection you have.”
“And who’s to say an Ancient will tell us the truth?” Warin asked as he glanced over his shoulder in the direction Thea had gone. She’d left the camp to bathe in the nearby pond, and the dark-haired vampire had been visibly on edge since she left his sight, even though they could both still hear her.
Aleric sighed. He knew his brother had an ingrained mistrust for the Ancients of their kind. The few vampires who reached the age of one thousand years were considered the ruling power in their fractured society. Each had their own territory where their word was law, and any vampire residing within would submit to their rule or die the Final Death. Their strength was insurmountable, and they’d often gathered more wisdom in their long life than could be found in any royal library across the continent.
Their Sire had been an Ancient.
“Why would an Ancient lie about the girl? The closest Ancient in these parts is the Night Lord of London. He has never even heard of us—he has no reason to trick us.” Aleric gestured toward the bushes shielding the pond from their vision. “If we go to him, he is duty bound to offer his assistance. And we need his assistance, Warin. We don’t know what this girl is or how she will affect you. We don’t even know if she has the lifespan of a human, and since you don’t wish to Embrace her… this twisted little romance of yours might come to an end someday.”
There. He’d played his trump card. Given the way his brother acted at the scuffs the girl had obtained at the hands of those robbers, the prospect of her death was likely the only thing that would persuade him to do the smart thing.
From the look of begrudging defeat on Warin’s face, Aleric knew his plan had worked.
“Fine. But we must be wary—you know an Ancient will never offer his help without a price.”
Chapter 7
Warin
The Night Lord of London may not have heard their names before, but he did know about their arrival in his territory.
From the moment they stepped foot on London’s windy, cobbled streets, both Warin and Aleric knew they were being watched.
A short, lanky vampire followed them from the shadows, slipping behind barrels and dodging into narrow alleys as he trailed after them. He was barely a century old as far as Warin could tell, when he carefully tested the wisps of power radiating off the young man. Barely more than a child. He was no threat—which was why Warin knew he was there only as a lookout from someone more powerful.
“We should teach him not to spy on his Elders,” Aleric mumbled in Saxon.
“He is undoubtedly the Lord’s servant. We will do nothing,” Warin warned, tightening his grip around Thea’s waist. Every instinct in his preternatural body was on high alert—at the best of times, he hated the tight spaces and stench of human waste unique to bigger cities. This night, when he had a frail human to protect, he was in no mood to risk an Ancient’s wrath because his brother was bored and spoiling for a fight.
Since the robbers, they’d both only fed on forest critters while making the journey south, and Aleric was in a foul mood as a result.
Warin glanced down at the girl by his side and couldn’t hold back a small smile at her open-mouthed stare at everything they passed. She’d lived her entire life in that small village. Seeing a town like London was undoubtedly overwhelming. She didn’t even resist his hold, seemingly content with the protection his presence next to her presented.
She still feared him—he knew that much, from the wary way she regarded him and how she flinched if he reached for her. But in the nights since he had slain her attackers and pledged to never harm her, she hadn’t run, either. Every sunset when he rose, she was there. Waiting for him.
“We could still spook him,” Aleric grumbled. “Or at least stop for a taste of the local cuisine.” He eyed up a pretty whore batting her eyelashes at him from the doorway across the narrow street.
“Can we?” Thea asked, the excitement in her voice clear. What exactly Aleric meant by “local cuisine” seemed to have gone over her head.
“Are you hungry?” Warin said with a frown. He’d ensured she was well fed on their travel here, catching prey for her every night.
“Well, no, maybe not hungry, but…” Her gaze swept over the many buildings to Westminster, lingering on the impressive architecture for a moment before she looked back up at him. An unmistakable spark of the same excitement evident in her voice shone from her verdant eyes, before she bashfully lowered her eyelashes, a subtle rose coloring her cheeks.
Warin stared down at her. For just a moment, he’d gotten a glimmer of who she truly was. She’d been so overcome with curiosity of the city, she’d forgotten to fear him.
“Fine. Go find a snack,” he told Aleric. “We will meet back here when the h
our strikes midnight. Do not be tardy, and do not cause trouble.”
“That’s rich, coming from you,” Aleric grumbled, in Saxon so Thea wouldn’t understand his lip.
Warin narrowed his eyes at him, but Aleric pretended not to notice. He cast a glance over his shoulder at their shadow and said, “I’ll see if I can lure him my way—show the lad a good time, while you wander around town with your gawking human. Since my Elder is apparently determined to play lovesick fool with his pet.”
“Is he angry?” Thea asked, drawing Warin’s attention to her, rather than his obstinate brother. She’d apparently picked up on Aleric’s discontent, if not his words.
“No.” It wasn’t anger Warin felt hum in their bond. Frustration, yes. And confusion. Even fear. He supposed it wasn’t an odd response—Warin himself didn’t understand why he was humoring the girl in her desire to see the town, when they had more important matters to attend. All he knew was that the excitement radiating off Thea in waves meant she forgot to keep her guard up for small bits of time as the wonders of the city seemed to overwhelm her. And Warin wanted more of that—more of her, without the shroud of unease she’d displayed since they met.
“Come,” he said, holding out an arm to indicate the way to the river. “Let’s see the city, then.”
Thea spent most of their walk through the bustling streets of London with her mouth agape in wonder. Churches and buildings stretched toward the sky higher than even the trees surrounding her village, and when they stopped at the river to look at the massive bridge construction spanning halfway across the Thames, her eyes seemed alight with almost reverence.
“Humans have built all this? This city, and all these wonders?” she asked, not taking her eyes off the half-built bridge.
“Most of them.”
“I never knew… there is so much out there, in the world, isn’t there? So many things to see. So many people to meet.” She looked up at him then, only a sliver of hesitance in her gaze. “How many places like this exist?”
