When the invasion first began, many had tried to deny the reality of what was happening. The news spent the first few hours reporting the attacks as mass hysteria and just a few isolated incidents of violence. She suspected that the government had tried to keep things hush-hush to avoid panic, but what they created instead was a nation unprepared to fight. By the time the invasion was obvious, civilization had run out of chances to do anything about it.
Her first close encounter with a vampire had been in the hospital. She had been doing her intern rounds in the ER when an ambulance rushed in. The victim was barely moving and she was incredibly white, but it wasn’t until they started working on her that they had realized the problem: she had barely any blood left in her body. Massive blood loss usually meant a considerable injury, but the woman had no visible injuries, except for a small set of puncture marks on her left wrist.
And that was when she’d seen him. In the frantic running around, she had lifted her eyes for a second and seen the vampire standing a few feet away. His eyes had shone bright as he watched the doctors work on the woman. There was a subtle buzzing of energy around him, almost as if he was affecting the electricity of the room by just standing there. Now she would never mistake his poised movements for anything else, but back then, she wasn’t yet convinced of the existence of vampires. So she stood in place, distracted for a second by the stranger’s unrelenting look.
When the machine finally beeped a flatline, he had turned around and left.
That first image had always defined her view of vampires: cool, unmovable. And dangerously alluring.
The idea of a rabid vampire, acting deranged and thrashing around like an animal, seemed unthinkable. So why had Marcus mentioned it? And what exactly were they?
Because if there was something else out there, something she didn’t know about, it meant the people back at the house didn’t know it either. And history had proven that ignorance would get you killed.
So before she signed her own death sentence by trying to kill the king, she needed to figure out what the world was really up against.
Marcus looked towards the blackened window and a pang of irritation hit him. The sun was up and he was still awake. This was the second day in a row that sleep had evaded him and he wasn’t happy about it. In fact, he was pretty annoyed about the whole thing. Now on top of having to deal with the threat of the rabid vampires and the void spreading, he also had a woman dancing in his mind.
It was an unsettling mix of emotions. For a vampire who had been around for centuries, it was also a startling discovery knowing a human had such power over him. He wouldn’t have minded so much if he had some way of controlling the situation, but Isabelle was way beyond his reach.
He paced, moving away from the window and towards the door that separated his studio from his bedroom. He heard a ripple in the air coming from the adjoining room and knew Isabelle was awake. It was just a small crackle, the sound of skin brushing against fabric—but it was enough to tell him she was up and moving. His stomach contracted and he cursed. He wanted—needed—more time with her. There was something about Isabelle that called him. It was a sort of electric hum that spread down to his bones and awoke his hunger. Something he’d never experienced with a human before.
Something he hadn’t experienced in a very long time.
There hadn’t been any female vampires for over four centuries. When the void had spread, it had had a devastating effect on the female side of his breed. Female vampires became erratic and violent much faster and much sooner—not only against humans but also against other vampires. Many were killed by their own partners in an attempt to crush the spreading plague. In less than a year, every single female vampire had been infected with the void and died—either of hunger or at the hands of other vampires.
Back then, many had turned to keeping human pets as a way to fight the loneliness. He had tried it too, but had quickly realized it wasn’t what he wanted. Humans were fragile and always terrified. The physical pleasure he got from them did little for his mind and his soul. What he wanted was a partner, an equal—and humans had never been able to reach that level.
Against all reason, he was now wondering whether Isabelle could.
The question had been in his mind since the moment he first realized she was immune to charming. But after last night, the question had become a lot stronger. A lot more real.
What if?
His body tensed and he had to shake his head to let go of the thought. Suddenly, he was glad he was alone and didn’t have to explain his emotions to Miles or anybody else who knew him well. It wasn’t hard to imagine what their reactions would be.
The king taking a human companion.
It wasn’t forbidden or impossible, but it was surely unheard of—and it made him uneasy. But thinking about it also sent his heart into a race and that was enough to tell him there was something there.
Of course, he knew little about Isabelle besides the fact that he couldn’t charm her. He knew she was passionate and strong. He knew that in bed, she was already his equal. Whether she could be the same outside of the bedroom was a question to ponder.
A knock on the opposite side of the room startled him. The compound was built over a long series of underground tunnels that stretched for miles. They connected all the important rooms inside the compound to each other and allowed his kind to move around without being exposed to sunlight. He remembered a time when daylight meant hiding away in cellars and caves—and he had made sure no hiding was necessary when he built the compound.
“Come in, Miles,” he said without approaching the hidden door.
A panel on the wall slid open and Miles walked in. His face was somber, tight.
“What is it?”
Despite the grave eyes, Miles seemed calm and collected. But then, Miles always looked that way. It was the reason Marcus had appointed him to deal with security. Miles was immovable. Not because he didn’t have emotions, but because he never let them affect him. At least not visibly.
“The first patrol group came back,” Miles told him. “They found a few rabids.”
“How far?”
“A couple of hours away,” Miles said. “They’ve never been this close before.”
Marcus slid into the chair facing his bedroom door. Isabelle could’ve run into one of them out there—and so could the other humans trying to reach the compound. While there was enough blood in the compound, the supply was low everywhere else around the country. He couldn’t risk losing humans to the rabids out there. On the other hand, he knew that the less the rabids fed, the faster the void would spread. It was a losing proposition either way.
He turned towards Miles, searching for answers. “How worried are you?”
Miles frowned. “More than I was six months ago.”
Marcus’ heart thumped against his ribs. “What about the guards?”
“They’re on the walls since last night. But if a group of rabids attacks—”
“I know,” he interrupted. “It’ll be a nasty fight.”
“We’ll spread the word throughout the compound tonight. Tell the humans to stay away from the outer walls.”
“How much time do you think we have?”
Miles moved closer. “Can I speak freely, sir?”
Marcus nodded. If there was somebody he could count on telling him the truth, it was Miles. They were as close as brothers. “Of course.”
“If the void keeps spreading, we’ll be outnumbered soon.”
Marcus knew it.
“How’s the research going?”
Miles shook his head slightly. “Nothing new, I’m afraid, but I was thinking… the new woman…”
Marcus’ whole body tensed up.
“There’s something different about her,” Miles continued. “Maybe we can…”
“No.”
He could feel his own eyes darkening as he looked at Miles.
“Nobody is touching her except me,” he said softly, bu
t the words burned their way up his throat.
Miles stood quiet, not a single muscle moving.
“Understood,” he finally said.
“Make sure everybody’s aware of this, Miles,” Marcus said. “If we ever come under attack, her safety comes first. Are we clear?”
Miles’ face was a perfectly-carved piece of stone.
“Yes, sir.”
As he was leaving, Miles turned around to face the king just one last time. “Marcus?”
The king looked up and saw the concern in his friend’s expression.
“I’ll be careful, Miles.”
Miles nodded, then stepped through the secret door and disappeared into the labyrinth of tunnels.
Nothing was going as Marcus had expected. When he had put the team of scientists together—the “great vampire minds,” Miles had called them—he had been hoping for a much faster resolution. He’d even sent a team around the country to collect the best lab equipment they could find—and that hadn’t been an easy task, considering the state of ruin of everything around them.
And still, they had nothing.
Coming up with a blood substitute had proven a lot more difficult than the scientists had expected. They were close—or so they kept saying—but they couldn’t nail the right combination of chemicals and nutrients. Or when they did, they couldn’t figure out how to keep the blood “alive” for more than just a few minutes.
Time was running short—especially now that the rabids were getting closer. When he’d first started the lab, the only thing he had had in mind was making sure everybody could feed even if humans disappeared. At the rate they were being killed during the invasion, it had been a very real possibility that they would become extinct someday. Now he was wondering whether having a blood substitute could stop the void from spreading. And whether the rabids could be turned back if given enough blood. He didn’t know if that had ever been attempted before. After all, it made more sense to just abandon or destroy the vampires who became rabid—or at least it had made sense centuries ago, when science could not have attempted to come up with a cure.
If there was a chance for his plan to work, though, it had to happen soon. He could feel the rabids closing in on him.
Chapter Nine
She had spent most of the day thinking about him and what happened the night before. Replaying the skin and the kisses and the fire over and over again. Until she felt like she was about to go insane if she didn’t find a way to press pause on the movie playing in her head.
So she’d kept herself busy by exploring the courtyards and trying to make sense of the layout of the place. Figuring out the connections of the different sections and where each door led gave her a headache, so she ended up returning to the memories of the previous night over and over.
By the time Miles came to get her, she was going insane with anticipation.
The minute she got back into Marcus’ room and saw the outline of his form in the darkness, a weight lifted and she could finally relax. She let out a sigh and immediately realized she’d been half-breathing the entire day.
“You can sit down, Belle.”
Belle. The nickname sounded like music on his lips.
She found a plush sofa and sat down. God, he’s beautiful. In the semi-darkness of the room, his eyes almost sparkled. Every time he moved, the ripples in his muscles flexed and tensed up. Flashes of skin against skin looped through her mind.
She blushed and he groaned in response.
“Stop it,” he whispered. “I can hear your heart from here.”
She took a deep breath and tried to steady the beating in her chest. Then he got closer to sit on the couch and her heart went on a frenzied dash again.
Damn it.
“You have no idea how tempting that sound is,” he said.
It was taking all of her willpower not to move closer. Judging by the tightness in his neck and shoulders, it was obvious he was feeling the same.
“I need to talk to you,” he said. It sounded almost like a complaint.
She nodded, mainly because she wasn’t sure she could actually speak without moaning in the process.
Before she even realized what she was doing, she licked her lips. Marcus groaned and frantically reached for her, his mouth closing on hers. There was none of the gentle touch of the night before. No exploring or waiting for a reaction.
Without breaking the kiss, he picked her up and moved her over to the bed. She felt weightless in his arms, her mind reeling in his power. She wasn’t sure how it happened, but most of their clothes were off in seconds. His scent, earthly and otherworldly all mixed into one, washed over her. It was intoxicating and she had to catch her breath because she felt like falling, sliding quickly into a dark abyss of fire and craving.
His mouth reached for her breast, then slid down her body, leaving branding marks everywhere he touched, searing, scorching heat taking over until it hurt. Until she wanted to cry out in desperation, begging for more.
His lips and his tongue moved over the inside of her thighs, teasing and tasting. With one finger, he reached down and pulled the elastic of her underwear off, the last remaining item of clothing between them gone. Then he slid the finger to rest over her swollen clit, starting a slow circling motion. Her gasp reached towards him like a wave, enticing and feverish. She could feel his hunger reaching out in return, pulling, demanding satisfaction. The craving of the beast, hammering to get out and take what it needed. What it craved.
He had an effect on her that she couldn’t explain. Once he touched her, any sense of control in her shattered, ramped-up ache and need consuming her.
The combination of his tongue and his fingers on her were driving her insane. When his tongue circled her clit and then plunged into her, she bucked into him. It was too much. Everything about him was too much. The intensity of his touch, the way he seemed to enjoy her taste, the longing he awoke in her.
Then his fangs grazed the skin of her thigh and her whole body stirred. The groan that came out of his throat in response was so guttural, so basic and primitive, it shook her to the core.
Teeth reached higher, following a trail up her thigh until they reached the throbbing pulse of a vein. Right at the crease of her thigh, so she could almost feel his breath rolling over the swollen lips of her sex. She let out a moan and he growled in response, sending delicious waves of heat up and into her, filling her and driving her insane with lust.
His teeth pressed just a little harder and the sensation was so erotic, she couldn’t hold back a cry. The realization of what he was about to do hit her just a couple of seconds before his fangs pierced her skin. He sucked on the blood flowing out, grunting as he savored the warmth of the liquid rushing in.
A flash of agonizing pleasure ripped through her body, the orgasm hitting her hard and unexpectedly. As she was coming, waves of pleasure ripping through her, he moved in between her legs and rammed into her. She was pulsing from the orgasm and the invasion felt on the edge of painful. Lusciously painful and breaching and oh-so-amazing. Her muscles clenched around him, holding on tight.
“I’ve never wanted anybody this much, Belle,” he said and the words dug into her with unexpected force, reaching for her mind, for her soul. “Seeing you come drives me insane.”
Her core tightened as the words rippled over her. She thought it wasn’t possible for her to come again, but then he pumped harder into her and something stirred, feeding the hunger and making her entire body shiver. He was so big and so deep inside her, she felt stretched, invaded. Taken.
He moved again, grunting every time he rocked his hips against her. His beautiful features were taut with restraint, a predatory glimmer over his cheekbones and the tight curve of his neck. He was holding back, trying to maintain control. And she desperately wanted him to let loose, to be so overcome with the fire that he couldn’t think, couldn’t do anything except pound into her.
She pushed into him, her hips deepening the invasion, stretching h
er more. He grew bigger, tighter, hotter, both inside her and over her skin. His control frayed, edged over the abyss. Then he opened his eyes and looked at her, a current of heat crackling between them, irradiating with such intensity, she could almost feel her skin smoldering.
“I want you to come again, Belle,” he grunted, then rammed inside her again.
The words made her gasp, tension and need building higher until she was moaning along with him.
He grabbed her thighs, holding her against him as he pounded harder and more feverishly. Reaching so deep she thought she might break. And then she wished would increase the pressure, the soreness, the delicious torture building inside her.
“Marcus… please, more,” she purred, her head heavy with the buzz of hunger and need.
A flash of darkness crossed over his face, making her moan. He reached down to kiss her, a hint of violence in the tongue invading her mouth. He tasted so real, so humanly raw. He growled into her mouth, the edges of his control blurring away.
And then the threads of her desire snapped and she came with a ferocity that made her whole body spasm. She gasped for air as the waves of ecstasy slashed into her body with unforgiving intensity.
He pulled away from her mouth and rammed into her once, twice more, riding the orgasm with her until he exploded, ripples of breathless pleasure cutting through both of their bodies.
“Ah, Belle, damn it…” he rasped, deep and raw. He spurted into her for what seemed like minutes. Thick, hot, pulsing. And also open and vulnerable, giving himself to her, to the pleasure they shared.
His body collapsed on top of her, crushing her into the bed. She was still breathing heavy when he finally rolled off her, already calm and in control again. He didn’t go far, pulling her into his arms, legs entangled and heat oozing from his body and into hers.
What to Read After FSOG: The Gemstone Collection (WTRAFSOG Book 9) Page 118
