by Amy Richie
Infinite
Immortal Love Series
By Amy Richie
Cover by M. Gibbs
Edited by Brittany Carrigan
Copyright © 2015 Amy Richie
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
Chapter 1
Eva
I pressed myself deeper into the shadows, my own self-consciousness making me want to hide even when I knew there was no need. Dominick laughed loudly at something I couldn’t hear. I heard him though; I could have picked him out of any crowd.
My thoughts drifted briefly back to Neleh and the things she had tried to teach me. Where was she now? I hadn’t heard anything about her in all the time I had been here. Last time I saw her, she had promised we would meet again.
I flushed at the thought of her seeing me here with all the Letrells. My only purpose in life had been to kill Dominick, and now here I was at his family gathering.
Family.
I glanced again at all the vampires gathered in the room I was too chicken to enter. No one in there would hurt me. Even if Claudia was the only one who really liked me, they wouldn’t hurt me because of Dominick.
My lips turned up into an involuntary smile just at the thought of his name. He was perfect. His tall, sturdy frame and dark hair and eyes. How could I ever have thought he was evil?
Even though I knew the Letrells weren’t really brothers, they actually all had similar dark looks. It was strange; even their skin tone was similar. I narrowed my eyes in thought as I watched them talking and laughing as if they didn’t have a care in the world.
“In the days of the warriors, travel was limited.”
I whirled around at the sound of her purring voice.
“Kiera!” She had crept out of the shadows, nearly scaring me to death.
She smiled lightly. As always, her face betrayed no strong emotion. “The brothers.” she nodded towards them, but I kept my eyes on her. “Travel was limited,” she repeated. I raised one eyebrow, but didn’t ask. She didn’t normally speak to me one-on-one and it made me nervous.
She glided closer until she was only a few feet from where I stood, tense and ready to bolt. “The humans mated among each other,” she continued as if she couldn’t tell I was uncomfortable, “and their coloring remained similar.”
“Oh.” I nodded my understanding. She had heard my thoughts and was explaining. How nice of her, I thought dryly. I saw her lips twitch and hurried to control my thoughts. “That makes sense,” I hastily added.
“I remember Neleh,” she said unexpectedly.
My mouth dropped open in shock. “What?”
She nodded. “Yes. It was I who changed Neleh to this… Life.”
I noticed her hesitation to call vampires life and remembered that Dominick had told me Kiera had never gotten comfortable with being a vampire. “I didn’t know that,” I responded lamely.
Her face remained passive, but her usually tame eyes exploded with brief emotion. “I was angry over the war,” she began. “So many useless deaths because of one woman who had no desire to live. I’m sure Neleh must have told you about the war?”
I nodded quickly, my heart beating too hard in my chest to form many words. It was strange that Kiera was talking to me, but her voice was magnetic and I couldn’t look away for fear of missing something.
“I vowed that I would die—one way or another.” She took a deep breath, but it might have just been the effect of talking so much. “Starvation was my final attempt.”
“Starvation?” I gasped, unable to hold back.
“Foolish, I know that now; but I was desperate. I was weak and nearly crazy with hunger when I saw her. She was a young girl from one of the villages. Very young. Her long blonde hair blew in the breeze; her scent came to me.” She stopped talking abruptly, but I could fill in the blanks. “After it was over, I ordered my guards to care for her and I ran.”
Not far enough to escape Damien Letrell, though. “Did you know what she would become?”
“I didn’t care.” It wasn’t said cruelly though, just a fact. “But you must understand, Eva, that she was once just a young girl carrying a basket into town. I ruined her life.”
Neleh was now the most powerful vampire in the world, with hundreds under her command. I guess ‘ruined’ was one of those ‘in the eye of the beholder’ things. “You didn’t kill her, though.”
She shook her head, more confusing emotion on her lovely face. “What I did was much worse.”
Even if I knew what to say, I didn’t get a chance to say anything. Dominick and Damien were suddenly there, moving almost as quietly as Kiera, and invaded our small moment of bonding. A look passed between Kiera and Damien—something I didn’t understand. I looked up at Dominick and found that he was looking down at me.
“I was wondering where you disappeared to,” he murmured.
“I was talking to Kiera.” When I looked back at her, she was already gone, along with Damien. “She’s…” I was confused, but of course she could move that quickly and that quietly.
“I heard.” He pulled me closer to him now that we were alone, but still far enough away that I could look up at him.
“Did you know Neleh back then?” I searched his face.
He shrugged. “She took over as soon as the brothers were dead.”
“And everyone just followed her?” That didn’t sound like an innocent young girl to me.
“Not everyone,” he winked.
The Letrells. Of course. That was why Neleh hated them so much. “She must have been different though,” I insisted. I don’t know why I was so intent on finding some good in Neleh, but Dominick read right through my questioning.
“A lot of people got pulled in by her; you have nothing to be ashamed of.”
“I’m not.” I wriggled in his arms, my nose scrunching up without any conscious thought. “Why didn’t you fall into line with the rest? What makes the Letrells special?”
“We’re bonded with something different than blood,” he tapped my nose with one finger. I rolled my eyes, but quit trying to get away. “And Silango created us.”
I cringed at the familiar name. After Claudia’s tale of Silango and the things he had done, I couldn’t hide my dislike. “So?”
“Silango was never controlled by Kiera, so he never told any of us to obey Neleh.” I nodded slowly. “But mostly we’re just special because,” he looked down at his own chest with raised eyebrows, “well…”
I rolled my eyes again and this time pulled free of him. “You’re all just so irresistible,” I mocked.
“I don’t know about this rascal.” Rueben came up and draped his arm across Dominick’s shoulder. “But I know that would be true for me.”
“You? Irresistible?” Paris came to join us, making the small space even tinier.
“Yep.” Rueben grinned widely at me. I returned it without thought.
“Are you guys trying to scare her?” Claudia ducked around them to press her tiny frame into my side. No one else could possibly fit there.
“We were talking,” Rueben fired.
I laughed lightly at his tone, knowing how close Rueben and Claudia were. “About how irresistible they all are.”
“Oh, please,” she rolled her eyes dramatically.
“I know you can’t resist my good looks,” Paris teased.
“I prefer men with long hair,” she joked back, not missing a beat. Paris and her Marcus might be twins, but they certainly didn’t act the same, and Marcus kept his hair long. I was amazed at how comfortable Claudia was with them.
I caught Dominick’s eye and almost stopped breathing at the love I saw there. And it was all for me. How had I gotten so lucky? I smiled stupidly.
/>
“Hey,” Claudia jabbed my side, “did you hear me?”
“What?” I blinked her back into focus.
She sighed but smiled. “Anya and Lexi are waiting for us. I told Lexi it was her turn.” She winked.
I nodded excitedly. “Okay.”
Paris and Rueben filed away, followed closely by Claudia. I tried to join them, but was pulled back by a strong hand. “Where are you going?” Dominick demanded roughly.
I was eager to hear what Lexi had to say, but I let Dominick pull me close again. “I’m going to talk to Anya and Lexi.”
“Haven’t you heard enough stories for today?” He put both hands on either side of my head.
“No.”
He smiled and kissed the tip of my nose. “They’ll like you; even if you don’t listen to their stories.”
“I…” It was weird that I needed to explain anything to Dominick. He already knew everything about me before I said it. “I want to learn everything I can about your family.” I laid my head on his chest, embarrassed for him to see my need to be accepted. He would just say I was being silly; and maybe I was.
“You were accepted as a part of our family the moment I claimed you as mine.” I felt the rumble of his voice and the steady thump of his heart.
“I know,” I replied, feeling suddenly surer than I ever had before. “I still want to know how Lexi met Paris.” I pushed myself away from him and rose to my tiptoes so I could kiss his lips.
I meant to dart away and catch up with Claudia, but he pulled me tight for an intense moment. “I love you,” he murmured before letting me go.
Claudia was there, pulling on my arm almost immediately. “Ready?” she asked happily.
Forcing my attention back to Claudia, I nodded eagerly. She led me back to where we sat earlier. Anya and Lexi were still there talking happily. I was surprised to see Kiera with them. I hoped she wouldn’t stay the whole time. She made me uncomfortable.
“There you are.” Anya smiled kindly.
“I got distracted.” My eyes swung over to Kiera briefly, but she only smiled lightly. Like usual.
Claudia plopped gracefully on the couch like she didn’t have a care in the world and patted the place next to her. It would put me right next to Kiera, but what choice did I have? I sat down carefully, not wanting to bounce too much.
Kiera stayed sitting.
I tried to breathe normally and remember what we had been talking about. Nothing came to mind, though. Kiera made me too nervous. It surprised me when she was the first to speak.
“Damien created the sisters.” She spoke in her airy voice. “Love or lust,” she shrugged. “After killing Lexi’s family, he sent her to be with them.”
“They’re notorious in the vampire world,” Lexi continued without hesitation. Maybe I was the only one nervous around Kiera. “I went with them when I was eleven.”
“It wasn’t until almost ten years had passed that I found out about her,” Kiera added.
“And you sent Paris to get her back,” I concluded.
“I didn’t want to be rescued, though,” Lexi laughed.
“You didn’t want to leave the sisters? Aren’t they dangerous?” Dominick had told me a little about them.
“Maybe,” she admitted,” but I did want to stay with them.”
“So, what happened?” I leaned forward slightly.
“The wolves.”
I shuddered at my own memories of werewolves. “Wolves?”
She nodded. “Gloria had taken us into a highly populated area.”
“Gloria is one of the sisters?”
“Gloria, Melody, and Liza.” Her nose wrinkled slightly over the last name. I wondered why, but kept silent as her voice started to take me to a different place.
Chapter 2
Lexi
The mud felt good on my sore feet. I squished my toes in deeper, reveling in the cool balmy wetness. I pulled one of my feet out slowly and dipped it in the shallow puddle that was already brown with mud. It cleaned it enough, though.
I winced at the sight of the huge blister on the heel. We had been running too long today, they usually remembered I was human and carried me most of the way. They must really be worried about the wolves.
I glanced up at the sky, frowning. There were still hours to go before it got dark. Would we be on the go the entire time? Why were the wolves still following us anyways? It couldn’t possibly be the same pack.
I sighed and shoved my foot back in the mud. I better just make the most of the break they were giving me. I tilted my head back so I could feel the wind on my face.
I had been with the sisters since I was eleven and even though they didn’t always keep me from injury, they would never let something really bad happen. They couldn’t. Damien had ordered them to keep me alive. For that reason alone, I didn’t hate the still mysterious Damien as much as they did.
My three babysitters—that was what they liked to call themselves. At least Melody liked me most of the time instead of seeing me like a responsibility like Gloria did or a burden like Liza saw me.
I shifted my shoulders slightly. It would be nice if I had enough time for a real shower soon. A change of clothes wouldn’t be so bad either.
“Hey.” My head snapped back up at the sound of Liza’s voice. I had to be careful if she was talking to me, she seldom said anything nice.
“What?”
“What are you doing?” She kicked the side of my leg.
“My foot hurts.” I pulled it out part way to show off the huge blister, but there was too much mud.
“I don’t see anything.”
“It’s under the mud.”
“I hope it gets infected. Gangrene even, then you’ll have to cut it off.”
I rolled my eyes as she sauntered off to where the other two sat. The three of them were beautiful; I could see why Damien had once liked them. Then, he threw them aside, so they bonded together to form their own little family.
Gloria was the tallest, pale with strawberry blonde hair that she kept cut off at her shoulders. Melody was tiny, barely coming to my shoulders. She was darker than the other two and more friendly. Her curls were gorgeous, but she kept them short and manageable. Even now the chocolate colored mess was flying all around her face.
Then there was Liza. She was striking with a short pixie haircut, eyes almost as black as her hair, and a rim rod straight posture. She reminded me of an evil fairy, though.
They sat close to where I was, not wanting me too far out of their sights. They weren’t usually so protective—at all—but with the wolves all around us, they had to be careful. I once again silently thanked Damien.
“You should have just left him alone,” Melody said suddenly.
I didn’t know what they were talking about, but Liza rolled her eyes, so I could guess.
“Did you see his face, though?” Liza laughed loudly. “He never even saw it coming.”
Gloria rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. “You were lucky none of his brothers were around,” she scolded.
“And you’re lucky that Lexi wasn’t hurt,” Melody added.
I smiled at her gratefully, but Liza only snorted her disagreement. “Maybe we’ll get lucky for real and one of these hairy beasts will cart her off for a little whoopi.” She wriggled her eyebrows in my direction.
“Liza,” Gloria warned, “that’s not helpful.” She patted my knee affectionately. “Don’t worry, Lexi, we’d change you before we let that happen.”
“Like hell,” Liza scoffed. “Then we’d really be stuck with her.”
“We already are,” Melody reminded her, but then turned to quickly flash her smile at me, “Not that we mind.”
“She’s human,” Liza sneered, “how long could she possibly live?”
“She could easily live for another fifty years or more.” Melody was only trying to help.
I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to my feet. I wondered absently what my hair had to look like.
I kept the thick mass long and so it had to be braided down my back to keep it out of my face; especially when we were running from wolves—or the Letrells. I wasn’t exactly sure which ones we were running from.
By now I was sure that it was dirty enough to match the mud instead of the golden honey it usually resembled. I tried not to sigh; it would only attract the attention of Liza.
“The wolves are looking for mates,” Gloria said. Again. We already knew that, but she was the most worried.
“I just don’t understand why there are so many of them,” Melody worried out loud.
“There was always a bunch in this area,” Liza shrugged.
“Not like this, though.” She shook her head quickly, sending her short brown curls bouncing.
“It’s only because of Jewell,” Gloria explained in her no nonsense tone. “It didn’t hit far from here. All the packs around these parts are desperate for mates.”
Liza smiled wide in my direction. “See, Lex? You might get you a boyfriend after all.”
“Shut up,” I growled. “That’s not funny.”
“Awww.” Her lips turned down into a mock frown, “is little Lexi scared of the big bad wolf?” She was the only one that laughed.
“No one is taking Lexi for anything,” Gloria came to my rescue.
“It would solve a lot of our problems.” She crossed her arms over her chest and let them fall away just as quickly. “She slows us down.”
“You know we can’t do that.”
“We wouldn’t anyways,” Melody piped up. They both turned to glare at her.
Yes they would.
“It doesn’t matter if we would or not, we can’t.” Gloria turned her head at a sound I couldn’t hear. “Besides, we wouldn’t leave her to the wolves no matter what.”
I followed her line of sight. I couldn’t see anything, but thick woods, but I shuddered anyways. Were they watching us right now, waiting for the chance to capture me?
I looked back at Gloria. She was watching me, her eyes wide. She wasn’t worried, but there was something there that I wasn’t used to seeing. It was almost like fondness for me.
