I watched as the flames slowly died. For a moment, a massive red-gold bird with sweeping wings stood before me. A phoenix. So beautiful.
The flames banked, leaving behind a woman.
Tall and statuesque, the woman strode toward me confidently. Her ebony skin gleamed in the soft lamplight. Her hair swept down around to her waist, from black near her scalp to deep crimson and then brilliant orange-red fire. The long strands flowed around her shoulders like flickering flames, catching and reflecting the light. She wore black leather from head to toe with a silver chainmail chest piece over the top. Two sword hilts crossed on her back, rising over either shoulder.
She made no move to reach for her weapons. Her dark eyes sparked like the deepest blue of a gas flame as she dropped to one knee before me.
“My queen, I come in answer to your call.”
Slowly, I reached out toward her cheek, but I paused and dropped my hand. I didn't want to injure her with the silver tips. “What's your name?”
“Vivian.” She winced and dropped forward to her hands and knees, her glorious hair dragging on the ground. “You don't want me, then. It's hard to find a queen willing to take on a woman as Blood. Only Keisha Skye made a habit of calling female Blood, and I swore never to fall into her hands. I'd burn myself up in a fireball before I'd call that woman my queen.”
“Not wanting to serve Keisha Skye is definitely a bonus. She's dead anyway.”
“Yes, I know. You killed her, so they say.”
“Who says?”
She only bowed lower, dropping her face so low she was almost touching the ground. “I have no interest in your males. I swore long ago to gut the next man who laid a finger on me, and I meant it.”
I laughed softly. “That's not a problem, then. I’m a jealous queen. I don't want any other woman touching my Blood.”
She threw her head back so suddenly that her hair seemed to explode around her. Her eyes flickered with flames. ”Don't tease me, Your Majesty. I can't bear it.”
My nose caught her scent and my fangs pulsed in my jaw. She smelled like burning cinnamon and herbs. Pungent but not unpleasant. I opened my mouth, letting my fangs descend. “Maybe I'll be the one to scare you away. My hunger is immense. Are you so sure you want to swear to me?”
She closed her eyes and a faint tremor rocked her shoulders. Then she launched at me, burying her face against my stomach. “Please, please, don't send me away. You don't even have to touch me much. Just enough to make the Blood bond final, and the occasional feeding to keep my flames alive.”
Gently, I used the tip of my index finger to lift her face up to me. “Mayte.”
Her eyes narrowed, her brow wrinkling with confusion. But suddenly my first queen sibling, Mayte Zaniyah, stood beside me, looking around her with interest.
“Is this where you are, my queen? Oh.” She noted the woman on the ground at my feet and gave me a sultry look that made my breasts ache. “Is this number ten?”
“Eleven. She doesn't believe that I would want to touch a female Blood.”
Mayte's lips quirked and a dimple appeared in her cheek as she sidled closer. “Surely not, my queen. Why would you want a woman when you have ten strapping men at your beck and call?”
She leaned in and pressed her lips to mine. So soft. Goddess. I wanted to wallow in her warm scent of flowers.
With a sigh, she leaned against me, tucking her face against my throat. “I'm so glad you're safe. I felt...” She shuddered, squeezing me tighter. “I can't imagine how bad it was for you and Rik.”
I swallowed the tears that wanted to fall again. “He's perfectly fine now. I'm just...” I couldn't say it. My throat refused to utter the words that one of them would die. Or Mayte herself. Or Gina…
“I know,” Mayte whispered softly.
The woman on her knees made a small noise that drew my attention back to her face. I thought to tease her a bit longer, but the abject longing on her face pushed me to action. I held out my hand, bending my fingers to show the silver tips. “I gained these tonight and severely injured several of my Blood while I was feeding. I didn't want to hurt you. I'm still getting used to them.”
“Oh,” she whispered. “So you don't... You wouldn't...”
I cupped her cheek and pressed the tips against her, just enough to lightly dimple the skin so she could feel how sharp and vicious they were. “When you're here, I'll accept your bond, my Blood.”
“I'm here, my queen.”
I sat up sharply, my senses immediately reaching out into the night. Rik jerked awake from a light dose. “What is it?”
“I've called a new Blood.”
“Good. We could use the help.”
My lips quirked, and I couldn't resist teasing him a little. “I hope you like her.”
His eyebrows rose but all he said was, “If you like her, then I will too.”
“I do. She's a phoenix.” His eyes tightened slightly, making me ask, “What?”
“The phoenix is always associated with the sun.”
I blew out a sigh. “Shit. I didn't sense anything off about her.”
He settled back against the headboard and drew me against him. The rest of my Blood lay tumbled on and around the bed like we'd just had a drunken orgy. Which, yeah, we had, pretty much, though all we'd drunk was blood. That was some powerful shit.
“I wish at least one of us was fit enough to act as sentry.”
Someone tapped lightly at the door. “Your Majesty?” Winston called softly. “You have a visitor. She's adamant that she needs to see you.”
“Thank you, Winston. Vivian, come in.”
Shaking his head, Rik let out a grunt of disgust. “That's why I will never trust anyone not Blood with your safety. Winston means well, but he should never have allowed a stranger into your house.”
The door opened and the woman from my dream stepped into the bedroom. She looked the same, though her hair didn't seem to be living flames. She shot a hard look at Rik that caught me by surprise. “Some alpha you are. She doesn’t even have a nest.”
Rik's voice rumbled so low that my bones vibrated. “As you see, all her Blood are here. We'll die to the man to keep her safe, so there's no need for a guard at the door.”
“I'll die to the woman too.”
He relaxed against me and gave her a nod. “Then you're welcome, Blood. Our queen needs you desperately.”
She stepped to the edge of the bed, weaving her way carefully around downed Blood. “I don't do men. Not even alphas.”
He snorted. “Good. I don't do women, other than my queen.”
She searched my face, her eyes softening with reverence. “I'd rather not do any women but our queen, either, but if you order me to fuck one of your queen sibs, I will.”
I nudged Daire with my foot to get him to move aside. Even in a heavy sleep, his chest vibrated with a low humming purr that deepened a moment as he shifted to his other side. I held my hand out to her. “In House Isador, no one is ordered to fuck anyone. Not even me.”
She planted a knee on the mattress and took my hand. Her grip was firm, her palms calloused from wielding the swords on her back. “You should know that Ra is my father. My full name is Vivian Helios, but I changed my name to Smoak when my power emerged.”
“Would you rather I call you Smoak then?”
Eyes round, she cast a quick glance at Rik as if to say, “is she for real?” “My queen can call me whatever the fuck she wants. You don't care that Ra sired me?”
“When the Great One sends me a Blood, who am I to question Her gifts?”
Rik wasn't so easily persuaded. “Do you have any ties to him that we need to worry about? Have you taken his blood recently?”
She grimaced as if he'd rubbed her nose in something foul. “Not since my cursed birth. He doesn't give his blood to anyone, especially his children. He sired me by rape, and I haven't even seen him for nearly five hundred years. Fuck Ra. I'll swear my life to House Isador in a heartbeat. If you manage t
o eliminate his taint on this earth, then I'll fucking worship the ground you walk on.”
“I already do,” Rik said mildly. “We all do.”
Vivian let out a long, soft breath that tugged on my heartstrings. “I can see that. I don’t know why it wouldn’t be the same for me, as long as you and I come to an understanding, alpha.”
“I understand you perfectly, even before you taste our queen's blood.” She looked at him doubtfully, so he held up his hand and ticked off each statement. “Even if our queen takes another woman to her bed, she has asked us not to touch anyone but her. So there's no reason for you to worry about any of us so much as laying a finger on you. Our queen wants you, and what our queen wants, she receives. I'm alpha and I never leave our queen’s side unless she orders it. As long as you don't challenge me, we're good. Any other questions?”
Vivian turned back to me, her eyes blazing bluer, as if someone had turned up the flame inside her. “You want me, my queen?”
I tugged her closer, inhaling her scent. “You smell so good. Different. I recognize the cinnamon, but what else is it?”
“Myrrh. According to legend, the phoenix makes a nest of these herbs and then dies in the raging fires to be reborn every thousand years.”
I clenched my jaws, fighting down the instant pain, regret, and desperate hope that burned through me as brightly as her flames. Coatlicue required a life. If She took Vivian's life, so she could be reborn... Maybe my other Blood would be spared.
Guilt twisted my heart into knots. I didn't want to accept another Blood, only to see her die. It wasn't fair to her. To any of us.
She must have read the turmoil and regret in my eyes. The chiseled planes of her face hardened, so coldly gorgeous despite the blazing fires in her eyes. “I'll die for you. Gladly. Especially if it's to stop Ra.”
“Because fuck Ra.” Daire sat up, delightfully mussed with a sleepy, sexy look heating his gaze. “Hey, Nevarre, another bird for you to play with.”
“Everybody out of the bed,” Rik ordered, giving a snoring Mehen a shove to wake him up. “Our queen has some serious shit to do and she doesn't need helpers for this one.”
Lightly, I ran my other hand up her arm, feeling her strength. She was built like Llewellyn, though not as tall. Long legs, slim hips, and a muscular physique that spoke of her training with the swords she carried. There wasn't anything delicate or soft about her. Even her breasts looked imposingly hard, though maybe that was the chainmail.
Her eyes were ice-cold or blazing hot—I wasn't sure which.
She leaned down slightly, and her vibrant hair slipped over her shoulder to tumble onto my lap. My eyes flared wide at the sensation of liquid fire moving over me, though it didn’t burn. Tipping her head to the side, she offered me her throat.
I wasn’t sure if my silver-tipped nails would cause her to orgasm the same way as my bite. Itztli had come hard with my nails planted in his chest, but I suspected that had to do more with the pain than the way I was feeding. “Do you—”
“Please,” Vivian said roughly, her breathing loud and ragged. “Please, take me.”
I leaned closer and brushed my mouth over her skin above the high neck of her leathers. “My bite will make you come, though we can easily do this other ways, too.”
“Bite me hard, my queen.”
13
Vivian
Desperation burned in me hotter than the deepest pit of hell.
Please, take me, as far as you can. Before it’s too late.
Before you change your mind. Before you realize…
Her fangs sank into my throat and my spine bowed. White-hot sheets of pure light blasted through me. Every muscle in my body spasmed and I thrashed against her. My cunt clenched desperately in a vicious ache of need. I wanted her pleasure.
Her blood.
Her scent.
Burning, blowing sands of the desert, softened with night-blooming jasmine. Pure, sweet water. Crystal moonlight. A balm to the punishing, blistering fires that raged inside me. She pressed her lush body closer, an oasis of touch and welcome that I’d never dreamed possible. She lay back on the pillows and drew me with her, her mouth locked to my throat.
My queen. On her back. Taking the lesser position. A queen of such power.
Ra must be thrilled.
It’s too late, I told myself as she cupped the back of my head and pulled me into the cradle of her thighs. I couldn’t turn back now. All I could do was hope that she could spring the trap.
I felt the moment she realized something was wrong with my blood. The pleasant heat curling through her burned a little too hot. A little too painful.
The alpha growled, baring his teeth at me. “What did you do to her?”
I closed my eyes, praying. Please, goddess. Great One, whoever you are. Please. Help her be the one to free me.
My flames licked through her body, burning hotter every moment, fueled by her own power. And oh, this queen had so much power to burn. Smoak screeched with glee inside me, reveling in the scorching heat.
Her alpha seized the harness holding my weapons and tried to haul me up off her. She refused to let me go, though she did lift her mouth from my throat.
“Rik.” Her voice rasped with pain. “I’ve got this.”
I didn’t want the rest to happen. I’d seen it so many times. A queen, burned from the inside out. A nightmare of screaming. Blackened flesh. Ash. Charred bones crumbling to dust. While Ra whispered in my head, “Burn the witches. Every last one of them.”
Her Blood roared and thumped and slammed around us, unable to help her. Forced to watch as she suffered, their furious fear fanned the flames inside her.
“Shara!” The door slammed open and a woman cried out, though I didn’t know who it was. “Goddess, no,” she moaned, her voice breaking. “It’s too late.”
Shara. At least I knew her name, now.
The alpha jerked on me harder and I felt a rush of power sweep by me like I was a gnat. Her Blood stilled immediately, unable to act against her will.
“I’ve got this,” she repeated. Calmly. While she burned.
I tried to ignore the way her eyes clenched shut with pain. The blood that welled from her lips, spilling down her chin. My blood, mixed with hers. She’d gnashed her own lips with the biggest fangs I’d ever seen.
Her hand tightened on my head and she pulled me down into a kiss. Her blood smeared on my lips. Intoxicating. So fucking powerful. I sucked her bottom lip into my mouth and fed through the tears she’d made in her own flesh. It probably hurt her, but I couldn’t find it in me to care. Not with the wealth of power flooding my system.
I’d never tasted a queen’s blood before. They always died before they had a chance to fully bond me. Besides, I didn’t have fangs. They would have been useless in me. My sole purpose was to destroy any queen who attempted to claim me.
Her blood. I never dreamed a queen would taste so good. I couldn’t get enough of her. Even Smoak was shaken by the taste of her, pausing from her cackling fury to lap up the queen’s offering. A queen’s sacrifice.
The eternal flames inside me dimmed. Flickered. Banked to a low roar. And then went out like a candle blasted with a gust of winter wind.
I quivered, my mouth falling open. Blood dripped from my gaping lips back onto Shara. She hummed softly and licked the blood from her chin.
She fucking hummed.
Frozen, I blinked. Waiting for Smoak to come pouring back in rage and hellfire. But she curled up and dropped off to sleep, basking in our queen’s blood.
Fucking phoenix. Asleep.
I couldn’t even. I didn’t know.
Shara laughed softly. “There. That’s better, isn’t it?”
“She hurt you,” the alpha growled, but he released the harness and allowed me to drop back against her.
She shrugged and combed her fingers through my hair. “Love hurts sometimes, doesn’t it, Vivian?”
“You…” My voice cracked and I paused, breathing h
ard. No, that wasn’t my voice cracking. It was my ribcage. My heart. Into a thousand pieces. “How?”
“I could see the flames inside you as they poured into me. Magic didn’t douse the flames, so I used the next best thing.”
“Blood.”
She nodded, wincing a little. I felt the pain inside her like a raw open wound tearing muscles apart inside me. Thousands of nerves screamed throughout my body, making me groan like I was dying. I’d hurt her. Terribly. A Blood was never to hurt the queen.
“I’m going to need to feed from you to heal this completely, though I should warn you, first. That’s why all my Blood were out when you arrived.”
She’d fed on them all? Until they’d passed out? My mouth fell open again with awe. “I thought they were asleep.”
One of the others made a low sound of disgust. “Blood never sleep, unless we’ve fucked ourselves into oblivion.”
“Or our queen has drained us to unconsciousness,” another said.
“Or both,” one man said with a deep, rumbling purr in his voice.
No wonder the air in here was thick with the scent of sex and musk. Yet she’d still called me. A female Blood with a terrible curse that made me Ra’s most prized assassin.
Her cheeks turned a soft, delicate pink. “I called you because I need more blood. My thirst hasn’t been quenched tonight despite their best efforts.”
“I should take this new Blood outside and pound her into a bloody smear on the asphalt for what she did to you.” The alpha’s voice rumbled with fury. “The risk, Shara. We can’t lose you.”
The other woman sat heavily beside us on the mattress. She wore an old-fashioned long, white nightgown and cap. Breathing hard, she fanned her face and swayed like she was going to pass out. “I told you, Shara. I need to be close. If I’d been here, I could have told you the probabilities that you’d die if you attempted to take this Blood were beyond scary.”
Queen Takes Checkmate (Their Vampire Queen Book 5) Page 11
