I leaned forward again. Who was Diana?
He was focused on the two identical giants. Both had shoulder-length black hair, tan skin, and honey-brown eyes, like liquid gold.
“Diana was our kind.” The dark giant on the left pointed straight at me. “She is a human. She has already been told too much.”
My chest tightened painfully and I gasped for a breath. The vehemence in his voice burned. The air around me seemed warmer than usual and I gasped again, drawing in another scalding breath. I backed toward the bedroom door, but froze when I heard a scuffle downstairs.
A flash of bodies and growling moved up the stairs at the speed of light. Suddenly Erick stood in front of me, blocking their advance and the two men from downstairs were staring angrily down at me from the top of the landing. More growls were exchanged back and forth. The twins’ golden eyes were glowing almost orange like a fire burned within their very beings.
“She is a guest of Sanctuary and she is mine,” Erick snarled. “Stop.”
“You haven’t taken a mate in three centuries. Why her?” The giant on the right spoke again, reining in his anger, his eyes changing back to a light brown.
I couldn’t see Erick’s face, but his shoulders were pushed forward and his stance was solid, ready to lunge forward at the other men. He stood between them and me, protecting me from people he knew. Perhaps even men he called friends.
Standing slowly, I approached Erick’s side and the men’s gazes softened. One twin cocked his head to the side. His nostrils flared as he took a deep breath and I noticed his eyes narrow in on my neck. I brushed my hand across the place where Erick had bitten me, but couldn’t feel anything. He’d healed it completely. Did something still show?
“The bite is gone, but the smell of your blood remains fresh, little one.” His voice was deeper than Erick’s, darker and kind-of scary.
“You both need to go. Now.” Erick’s chest rumbled.
I touched his arm and felt the rigid tension in his muscles. “I’m okay.” I glanced back at the two men, poised, breathing like bulls about to charge. They were only trying to protect their own. Protect their town. “If Rose didn’t want me here, wouldn’t she have said? She welcomed me to the town and I promise I will do nothing to endanger anyone here.”
Their eyebrows rose ever so slightly. It was almost comical.
“Brave little thing, Viking.” The giant on the left spoke again.
The last thing I wanted was Erick having to fight his comrades, but I really didn’t want to pack up and leave tomorrow, either.
“If Rose didn’t ask her to leave, then she stays,” the other man rumbled. “We shouldn’t have tried to interfere. It’s obvious the woman means more to you than a passing whim. We should have spoken with Rose before jumping to conclusions.” His gaze refocused on Erick, whose shoulders had relaxed slightly.
Tension released from the muscles in Erick’s arms and he relaxed his stance. He wrapped his right arm around my waist and pulled me in tight. It was an embrace more than a restriction and I allowed my body to melt into his.
This man, this supernatural being, wanted me with him enough to fight two giant, probably ferocious men … supernaturals of some sort. Their eyes didn’t speak to any species of Other I’d learned about in school, but that didn’t mean anything. I’d already learned about sirens and pixies today—two species that had obviously remained hidden after the riots. More unknowns weren’t surprising. I still didn’t know what Rose was.
“You guys really need to work on your tact,” Erick snorted. “No wonder Rose sends me out to do the sensitive work.”
One of the twins snarled and I couldn’t help a squeak slipping out. Though the sound was terrifying, I was shocked to see his face split into a wide grin.
“Quit scaring her,” Erick snapped.
“Sorry.” The other man frowned and stretched his neck from side to side.
“Bailey. These assholes are men I’ve called friends for a very long time.” Erick gestured to one and then the other. “The Blackmoor brothers, Miles and Eli.”
I stared, trying to find some point of reference to tell them apart. Finally, I noticed a thin scar above the right eye of the man on the left.
The first one who’d spoken—the one who’d been angry when Erick brought up the woman named Diana—smirked at me as if he knew I was trying to figure out which brother he was. He also was the one with the scar.
“I’m Miles,” he spoke again. His deep voice made me shiver. I wanted to run and hide under Erick’s bed. The air seemed warmer again, stifling, almost as if the heat were coming off their bodies in waves. “My brother Eli is the polite one, apologizing for our shit-storm and all.”
The one he called Eli laughed. His voice wasn’t quite as deep as his brother’s and his jovial mood set me more at ease, but his eyes were still the color of molten steel—bright yellow, swirling with red. “My words might be more polite than his, but my hands would find hours of pleasure torturing you until you screamed in ecstasy.”
Erick’s arm tightened again. I gulped at the visual. These were the men who ran the club. The Castle.
“With your permission, of course.” He grinned at Erick and then at me again.
“I don’t like to share,” Erick’s softer, velvety reply rumbled back at them.
“It never hurts to offer,” Eli replied.
The two men turned and moved down the stairs with the same speed they’d ascended. Erick followed with me in tow. My feet were lifted from the floor and air rushed past my face. When he stopped we were sitting on the couch in his living room again.
Miles and Eli were lounging in chairs opposite us. The furniture was large, but their size made it seem small. In fact, with all three of them in the room, I suddenly felt cornered. I took a deep breath and tried to focus on slowing my racing heartbeat. It wasn’t working. Instead, my breathing sped up, too.
“Step outside, kjaere. Get a breath and then come back.” Erick pushed me up from the cushion and I looked back at him and the other two. It crossed my mind that they could attack me now. They were closer to me than he was. I shook it off and continued to the front door, opening it and stepping onto the porch.
Erick trusted them. Eli had apologized for their behavior. I was fine. Safe. Right?
I stood in the open doorway, drinking in the fresh air and sunlight. It helped. He’d somehow known exactly what I needed. I smiled. Was there a pheromone for everything?
CHAPTER SIX
I turned back to the door.
Erick was standing there. He hadn’t made a sound.
I threw my hand against my chest, sucking in a quick gasp. The man certainly knew how to sneak up on a girl. “You all need to slow down a little.”
“Are you all right? I know Miles and Eli can be overwhelming, but they usually growl before they think. I promise you will like them after you get to know them.”
I nodded and he slipped an arm around me, guiding me gently back to my seat on the couch. The other men had beers in their hands now and smiled at me. They didn’t seem quite as scary as they had only a few minutes before. Granted, they weren’t growling and standing over me aggressively. Now they just looked like regular, albeit oversized, guys throwing back a couple of drinks. Friendly even.
They looked completely human. No wonder they’d been able to hide their kind so easily. Whatever their kind was …
“You know, I haven’t heard Erick call a woman kjaere since the Middle Ages,” Eli started, taking a swig from his longneck.
Miles growled, sending his brother a look that would’ve frozen the blood in my veins.
Erick waved his hand. “Elinor was very special to me. He does no disrespect by bringing that to light.”
Miles relaxed back into his chair and nodded. I made a mental note of their ability to shift moods very quickly. And that they growled when a human man would have raised his voice and shouted.
“Who was Elinor?” I asked softly—very curious ab
out a woman who had lived more than a millennium ago. I didn’t know much about the time period. The concept that Erick and these two men sitting in his living room had lived for so many years was overwhelming. How does a person cope with so much change? So much loss.
“She was my wife for a brief ten years. I loved her dearly and treasured every moment I had with her. Your strong spirit reminds me of her.”
“Did she die?”
“Yes,” he answered. His eyes held sadness, but so much love. “She was human and made me promise never to use my blood on her. Even when she lay dying in my arms, bleeding out, she reminded me of my promise. Losing her was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Even harder than watching my family grow old and die until there was no one left who remembered me.”
“You said you had a sister.”
“We call each other family, but she’s not from my human life.”
I’d lost my parents years ago, but that pain still resonated inside me. I knew what it was to feel loss. But to lose a wife, too? I’d never loved a man before. I thought when I first met Kevin he would be a man I could love. Yeah, that didn’t work out as planned.
“I’m so sorry.”
He nodded.
I glanced at the men across the room. Both zeroed their gaze on me in an instant, curiosity in their eyes. An uncomfortable silence fell on the room. Squirming in my seat, I said the first question that came to mind.
“What are you?” I didn’t direct the question at any one of them particularly. “Your eyes … they look normal now.”
Eli straightened in his chair and set his beer on the coffee table. “My brother and I are Drakonae. We run the Castle.”
“Drakonae… like dragons? Like King Arthur and the round table? Knights fighting fire-breathing dragons kind of dragons?” I remembered reading tales of knights and ladies from a castle called Camelot. It’d been one of my favorite books from the stash in that old ramshackle barn. “Erick said name of the club is the Castle? But why is it called the House of Lama-dis or Lamidae?”
“Did you tell her everything already, Viking? Damn. You could leave a little mystery for us to share.” Eli tried to sound peeved, but the twinkle in his eyes said otherwise. His amusement was comforting. As secretive as they all were about themselves, they seemed willing to share with me.
“We are very old. Older than King Arthur. Our race is called Drakonae. The Castle, or club as you said, is the home of the Sisters of Lamidae.”
“So the club is a front?”
Eli shook his head. “The club is very real.”
I turned to Erick. “You’re not going to influence me and make me forget everything, are you?”
“No. If you choose to remain in Sanctuary, you need to know everything about it to help protect it. In our world, ignorance is not bliss. It’s a death sentence.”
He brushed his fingertips along my jaw line and leaned toward me. His fingers threaded into my hair, cradling my jaw in his large palm. He brushed his lips over mine and sucked my bottom lip into his mouth.
His statement worried me, but my fears fled for a moment when his lips were on mine before embarrassment reared its head in their place. I pulled away. Heat rushed to my cheeks. I wasn’t used to displays of affection in front of anyone, much less two very intimidating dragon men.
Erick smiled and placed a gentle kiss on my forehead before releasing me and dropping his hand from my neck.
I spoke again, with more confidence this time. “I knew the castle had to be protecting something or someone. What or who are the Sisters?” The two men both snapped their mouths closed and frowned.
Not quite the response I expected.
“That is a story for another day.” Miles stood from his chair, his jaw set firmly. “We should head out,” Eli stated, rising to stand next to his brother.
My knee bounced, a nervous habit I’d had since I was a kid. Erick ran his palm over my thigh to settle me. Not even a single twitch dared to go against his soothing touch.
The way he could calm my body or settle my nerves with a touch or a word baffled my mind. The idea that a man would be thoughtful to my needs was foreign. The world I’d grown up in didn’t cater to women. It used them.
The twin brothers ambled to the door. Erick pressed down gently on my leg before rising and following them out to the front. I stayed exactly where he left me. Exactly where he wanted me.
It was rapidly becoming exactly where I wanted to be. The thought of leaving him, of leaving this town full of its amazing and unique people, grew more difficult by the minute.
I could hear them talking outside, but couldn’t make out the conversation. Only a few moments passed before the door clicked shut and the wall in front of me shimmered blue for just a moment, reminding me why I’d been running in the first place.
Sanctuary might have welcomed me. Rose might not mind my being here now. But when Kevin found me, hell would break loose and they wouldn’t want me anymore. Erick wouldn’t want me if he really knew what that monster had done to me. And Kevin was a monster. He might not have fangs or claws, but he could tear apart a person’s soul. He was still trying to finish off mine.
Staying in Sanctuary for very long wasn’t an option. No matter how much I wanted to stay with Erick, I couldn’t risk exposing his friends to my ex. Whatever they were protecting was important. A lot more important than little ol‘ me.
“I leave your side for but a moment and you’re upset again.” Erick leaned against the doorframe, his tall lean body called to mine, banishing my previous thoughts. “I assure you my friends mean you no harm … they were merely concerned about me.”
“Why?” I asked, glad to focus his attention away from my thoughts.
“When Elinor died ...” He paused, staring a hole in the floor for a moment before meeting my gaze again. “I left them for over a century. I wallowed in my sorrows and did many things I’m not proud of. Things that would have broken my sweet Elinor’s heart.”
“Grief and anger are difficult beasts to conquer,” I whispered, remembering the rage I felt after my parents’ accident. When the social worker and police took me to the foster house, I wanted to hurt anyone and everyone around me.
“Did you conquer them, min kjaereste?” He beckoned me toward him with outstretched arms. I stood and walked across the room to him, allowing my body to be tucked tightly against his, shocked how much I wanted to be near him. Shocked more that I allowed myself that pleasure.
“I learned how to bury them.” My words were muffled by his shirt, but it didn’t matter. He’d heard me.
“The thing about burying beasts is that they keep coming back.”
“Mine keep me alive. I learned to survive on my own because of my demons.” I pushed away from him. I couldn’t let myself become dependent on his strength, no matter how comfortable he was. My battles were just that—mine.
“I will let you go … if that is what you really want. But if you want a home, you’ve found one. You were right earlier. If Rose didn’t want you here, she would have made it very clear. Instead, she almost seemed to be expecting you,” he paused, his gaze drifting away from me.
I saw the light in his eyes and the determination. Like he’d just had an epiphany. Why would Rose have been expecting me? We’d never met. I’d only been in Texas for three months.
Leaving wasn’t what I wanted, but it was inevitable. Kevin always made sure of it. The friends I made in Florida had paid dearly for their association with me. I read in the news, not two days after he’d tracked me there, the nursing home where I’d lived and worked had been burned to the ground, claiming over forty souls. After that, I stayed away from people. I never socialized and worked as many shifts as I could find. I’d learned over time, the more I worked, the less likely I was to be hassled by male staff. I never took breaks. Never smoked. Never spoke unless spoken to.
“I will only bring pain to this town. It follows me wherever I go. I can’t stay … even though I want to.”
“Try.”
It was just one word, but it said everything. He was right. I’d already given up. I didn’t try anymore? It wasn’t worth it. I never stayed anywhere long enough to care. My thoughts were getting all jumbled.
He stepped toward me, but I backed up, keeping the distance between us the same. “I do want to try, but then I think about you, and Rose, Maven and Raven, and Calliope, and everyone else I haven’t met yet. I know what’s coming.” Tears burned down my cheeks now in a waterfall of pain.
“I want you to stay with me,” he stated slowly.
“Why?” A whimper slipped out. “Didn’t you hear me? He’ll kill you. He’ll kill anyone that won’t help him find me. He killed Matilda and Joe, and George, and the others. I know he did.”
My body shook from sobs. I’d never admitted it out loud before, but I knew the fire had been his fault. The news reported it as an accident. They said it started in the room of an elderly resident named Matilda Jones.
It hadn’t been an accident. It had been my punishment. He’d found out they were my friends.
I crumbled, my legs gave way, but my knees never hit the floor. Erick’s arms encircled me, lifting me away from the hardwood, and he whisked me up the stairs to his room.
“Things are different here,” he murmured, laying me gently on the satin covers.
The bed dipped under his weight as he crawled next to me and tugged me firmly against his hard chest. I tucked my arms between us and accepted the comfort he was providing.
It wouldn’t last. It couldn’t. Nothing good in my life ever did.
“I will protect you.”
My mind raced, struggling to process what he’d just said. Maybe he was right. Maybe this town could protect itself. But, maybe not. I sucked in a gasp between sobs. Just being supernatural didn’t make you immortal. Even vampires could be killed.
“I can’t just hide here in your house for the rest of my life. I thought staying here might be a good thing. But, I can’t hide in a small town. There’s no way to blend in. No crowds to disappear into. I’m vulnerable here.” The pros and cons list in my head started to appear. My usual habits and ways of avoiding detection wouldn’t work in Sanctuary.
My Viking Vampire Page 8
