by Kaia Bennett
“I swear it! If they find us, I’ll end it quick, but I swear first to try and save you.” I sensed time running out and tried to breathe through my tears. “I know you hate me. I hate me, too. I hate what I’ve done to you. But, I’m gonna make it right. I’m gonna make it right, because I don’t want to live in a world where you don’t exist. I don’t want to be something you hate.”
The door to her room swung open, just as she pressed her forehead to the glass. Just as her tearful gaze touched mine. She swung to meet the intruders head-on, to fight. She struggled, and I screamed for them not to hurt her, as they dragged her from the room.
Before the door swung closed, she cried out over her shoulder.
“I don’t hate you!”
The door she’d exited slammed shut. The lights went out in my room a moment later, leaving me in darkness.
I laughed and slid to the floor, leaving the tracks of my fingerprints and tears on the glass. How fucked up. The barest minimum of admissions from my mate had seized my heart in a vice.
She doesn’t hate me.
27
I dreamed of Evie, running just ahead of me, with vampire speed. I didn’t know if I chased her, or if I pushed her into the cover of the woods to escape our pursuer, but we ran with all our strength.
Veering off the road we dove into the same woods I’d taken her from. Ponderous, we skidded to a halt when the glow of a bonfire drew us closer. In the light of that fire, a couple was braced against a tree. Recognizing Evie and her boyfriend meant my mind chased its tail, returning to the first night I’d seen her. Only now, she gave in to his touch, as if she’d never sensed hunters stalking her.
She pulled him close by the back of his head, running her fingers over shorn black hair. He dwarfed her as they kissed, shoving her jeans and panties down her hips to rub her wet pussy. This time she didn’t push him away. She spun around to brace her hands against the tree and arched for him with a moan. Plumes of breath accompanied her labored breathing, marking her excitement.
When I bent down to kiss the back of vampire Evie’s neck, I realized Evie and I had morphed into both couples, somehow. The couple silently watching our prey, and the couple fucking in the glow of firelight, a mockery of Evie and her real boyfriend.
That’s what she’d be if I’d passed her by. That’s who we’ll never be.
The alternate universe Jesse drove into her from behind. I watched from the tree line as Alternate Evie reached behind her to press my doppelganger’s head closer, exposing her throat for his bite.
“You hurt me.” The real Evie whispered from our hiding place as she watched the couple against the tree. “You always hurt me in the end. You’ll never be like him.”
But I want to be. I want to be the man you give into completely. I want your embrace.
The couple fucking, the couple we would never be, climaxed against the tree. Alternate Evie giggled and my double groaned, his hair sprawling to curtain them. I wanted that sensation, to relish her fingers tugging the strands that would shield us from the world. She pulled him in for a bloody kiss and my lips tingled with the desire to take Alternate Jesse’s place.
The ‘other’ me pulled out of her and tucked his cock away. She fixed her clothing and gave him a seductive grin. They held hands and made their way toward the party. A party caught on fire. Straight into the blaze of an inferno they walked, like the one my mate and I started in the second rite.
Still hidden in the shadows, Evie and I watched the other couple’s feral innocence melt into the fire. They never screamed even as their flesh charred. The dream we’d never be blackened, like a polaroid photo burning.
I grabbed Evie’s hand and tugged her away from the past. I tugged us away from the hunt, from my bite, from fun and family, and the night that changed everything for us. We can’t go back. We have to leave.
I marched us down the path I’d chased her along when she fled for her car. We started a jog. Then, we ran at full speed, side by side, rocketing toward a pathway that would take us out of the woods. We ran until we collided with the real Evie of my memories, the one I’d bitten and taken captive that night with Vaughn and Liam, the one who’d chosen me to imprint on. A choice made in the midst of stolen choices. Like the one I’d have to make when—
I woke slowly, my heart rocketing in my chest.
She didn’t hate me, but only because she needed me to survive. She consented to survival, not to being my pet, not to being my mate. She should hate me. I’d never be Manny. We’d always be on the run now. Deep down, she’d never forget being the girl who screamed for help and sprinted with all of her strength toward freedom I’d stolen. I knew all about running. I knew how futile running would be, yet I promised her I’d run. For her. For that girl in the woods.
The lights flickered on automatically, signaling morning. I sat up and groaned at the stiffness in my joints. Still healing. Still starving. My wounds hadn’t closed completely, but my fangs were nearly reformed. I still felt tenderness deep inside my gums were my venom rested, though. I tested them, running my tongue over the sharp points. Blood flowed instantly, but the pain had lessened. The body in the corner had been removed, but I hadn’t been brought another to feed on.
I’m starting to think you haven’t given me enough blood on purpose, Daddy Dearest.
As if reading my thoughts, a moment later, two guards entered.
The man on the left spoke. “We’re here to escort you upstairs, sir.” I recognized him from the day I’d been dragged down to the basement.
I stood on shakier legs than I’d have liked and followed the two vampires. I used to walk through my father’s estates and wonder if, one day, these men and women would work for me, or if I’d have to hire new employees. I didn’t know the ins and outs of my father’s business beyond confidentiality agreements and how vampires were restricted to their territories. How did the transition of power work? Would these guards have guarded my secrets? Would my servants have found serving me tiresome after centuries?
I’ll probably never know.
I didn’t dare to dream we’d succeed, that we’d outlast my father and make a life in spite of him. I didn’t think Metis would forgive me if he did find me after running. I just knew I wouldn’t let Evie suffer. For the first time in my life, I’d made a vow that extended beyond looking after my crew.
The elevator dinged. We reached the seventh-floor suite my father usually reserved for me when I visited this safehouse. I walked, naked and bloody, into millions of dollars’ worth of real estate, the sun shining directly in my eyes. I squinted at the glare bouncing off the glass. The fragments of light from adjacent skyscrapers threw dagger-sharp rainbows.
No need to lock the door behind me this time. Everything I wanted and needed would be in this apartment, per my father’s orders. He knew I wouldn’t run with Evie in his clutches. I scanned the familiar black leather furnishings, the modern, minimalist kitchen full of stainless steel. I didn’t hear another soul, just the slap of my bare feet on the stone steps as I descended into the living area. I walked down the hallway to my left and into the bathroom to suffer through a hot shower. Touching the soapy cloth to my wounds reminded me of Vaughn, after I’d tortured him in Austin.
Karma might be a bitch, but she had a cryptic sense of humor.
Truly clean for the first time in days, I stepped out of the rain shower and dripped dry while I scrubbed water out of my hair. I brushed my teeth and spit out blood and the stench of death, then stared at the weary vampire I’d become, the bags under my eyes, the gaunt lines of my face from hunger. I inhaled and straightened my spine with a wince, then shook my head.
I expected at some point for my father to join me, or for him to send in food, but when neither happened after half an hour, I stumbled into the bedroom, slid under the covers and tried to get the sleep I’d sorely missed. Sleep wouldn’t heal me like blood would, but sleep would help me gather my strength.
I didn’t dream. I sank into a wary
unconsciousness, thinking of what Cai said. I’d know when the time came to make my choice. I’d know and I’d be ready.
My eyes snapped open. I reached out to grab the throat of the intruder.
Altani narrowed angled eyes at me, choking under my grip, but refusing to struggle. I sat up and looked around the room, remembering Cai’s words.
You’ll sleep, heal just enough to mate with the queen, then you’ll meet with Metis about your new job. Or, this time tomorrow, you’ll be the prodigal son of a vengeful vampire.
This couldn’t be what he meant. I didn’t see my mate anywhere.
What Metis has coming for the girl and you is an old ritual.
You’ll know what you have to do soon.
“Why are you here?” I frowned and looked at the queen who stared daggers at me until I loosened my grip around her throat.
“I came to check on you. You look like shit. Pining for your half-breed whore?”
I sat up and tightened my hold. The queen swatted my aggression away with a graceful lily masquerading as a hand. She turned away from me and posed, sweeping her hair over a shoulder, showing the creamy pale expanse of her back crisscrossing with sheer detailing. Her silver dress glittered in the sunlight, geometric patterns catching my eye as they slinked over her curves. I’d been asleep for two hours or so, based on the angle of light filtering through the blinds.
Altani sauntered around the master bedroom, inspecting the space and tracing her hands over random details in the wood or the walls, as if for the first time.
“I had to sign a confidentiality agreement saying I wouldn’t speak on that atrocity masquerading as a vampire. So, don’t worry your pretty head. I won’t let out your secret upon penalty of death. A painful death at that.”
“Why are you here? In North America? You don’t know me. I’m thinking you don’t even like me, but you want to breed with me?”
She turned to smile at me like I’d become an ignorant child. “I don’t have to like you. I barely have to look at you, Jesse, though you are very fine to look at. It’s hard to make a child stick even under the best circumstances, and it never happens after the first fuck. Attraction helps.”
I swept the covers away and swung my legs over the side, so she had a full view of my injuries.
“I look fine to you? Even like this?”.
She swept her long hair over the other shoulder, cradling the straight black mass in her hands like a beloved pet until she curled the ends around her finger. She looked like a sculpture. I didn’t doubt for a second she knew she’d been beautifully crafted. The look she gave me from under the shadowy fringe of her lashes said she’d studied every angle of her form, every glance. She knew when to lift the tip of her nose in the air, and when to bite the delicate slash of her pink lips. She knew that her dress drew the eye to her small high breasts, and the smooth expanse of skin between them. Her heels barely made a sound on the stone tiles because she glided instead of walked.
“You’ll heal. It’s customary to fast before the mating. Afterwards we’ll feed and try again. Several times before we give up and wait for the next full moon. I’m sure by then, you’ll have returned to your usual vigor and perfection.”
A trained, murderous sculpture. A month ago, I’d have already been inside her, fucking her savagely to wipe that glossy look of perfection off her face.
“This is what I was born for, Jesse. You aren’t the first man I’ve mated with—”You’re not my mate, bitch.
“—and you won’t be the last. Trust me. Complications come with the territory. I’m willing to make the best of it, if you are.”
I almost felt sorry for her. A walking, talking incubator with the bearing of a principal dancer in Swan Lake. Maybe she sensed this from my expression, because she sighed.
“I’m guessing this is your first time breeding?”
“Yes.”
“And the witch hasn’t helped.”
She perched at the foot of the bed, pale shoulders back and angled to show of her posture and curves. Her hair, shimmered and fanned against the shoulder facing me. I wondered if she’d made that happen, if she’d planned where she’d walk and sit from the moment she entered the room.
I gave a noncommittal grunt in response.
“That’s alright.” This time she gave me the gorgeous and vicious smile I’d seen in Asylum. A mockery of desire. “She came in handy after all. There’s still enough witch in her that she bleeds during the full moon. Once we’re done feeding from her tonight, we’ll kill her. You’ll be able to concentrate when she’s out of the way.”
My gaze snapped up to hers. “What?”
She uttered a phrase in Mongolian that sounded like a curse. “This is what happens when a father indulges his son and lets him run from responsibility.”
Or this is what happens when a father is in denial about his own mortality.
He’d sacrificed everything he cared about to ensure his rule. I used to think he’d indulged my free runs because he cared about me as much as one of our kind can. But, maybe he just liked holding the reins of power too much. If I were out on free runs he didn’t have to face his eventual death. Sometimes I didn’t think the bastard could truly die.
I hope I’m wrong.
“They make us hungry so we’ll want to fuck, and they give us a witch as a gift. A necessary gift. The blood from her womb will feed us and help plant the seeds of conception. And tonight is a full moon, so they found your pet just in time. We lucked out, though, if this one doesn’t take, we have a few others ready.”
I felt ill, physically ill for the first time since coming out of the vat.
“I thought we’d become acquainted first,” she ventured, angling her neck to seduce. “They took away all my toys in preparation for tonight. I’m bored and hungry.”
“I’m not.”
She made a face that said, ‘I can see that.’ Her gaze wandered over my battered form and my ‘fuck off’ snarl.
For the first time, Altani looked like a girl instead of a designer vampire. She actually pouted and slapped the down comforter. “Can’t you use your fingers or your tongue at least? I wanna fuck.”
“How old are you?”
“Rude.” She wrinkled her nose in distaste. “And not really of consequence. I assure you, I’m still fertile.”
“That’s not why I asked.” I stood and scratched my balls. She watched the movement, tracking my muscles with a hunger that made me realize my own. I needed to feed. Soon. My cock jerked in agreement, despite my disgust.
“I’m….” She had to think, as most of us do. Age really isn’t of consequence unless we’re at the beginning or end of our lives. “I’m about three hundred and twenty.”
“And how many children have you had?”
This answer came quicker. “I’ve birthed two heirs. It’s always been hard to find witches… and keep them alive long enough to bleed on the full moon. But your father hinted at plans to fix that. I’ll have plenty more if he succeeds, maybe for you.”
“He tell you that before or after he fucked you?”
She grinned at me. “After. I’m very good.”
As if I should be proud that Metis brought her to me and worked out plans for world domination.
I should’ve been proud. That I knew of, no other continent had used V-Sep to track down the genetic strain that identified witches. We’d be the first, the pioneers of witch hunting. But what did I know, I’d been fucking and killing in a zigzag across North America since my father stopped training me on survival and left me to my own devices.
“Don’t you ever want something else?”
She laughed and stood, mincing her way toward me with girlish steps. “I’ve traveled the world, while every ruler I’ve serviced had to stay in the territory of his birth. I’ve fucked the most beautiful slaves and vampires, and tasted witches from every continent. I’ve even had a wolf or two. I’ve birthed heirs and then been left to my own devices. What else is there to want,
Jesse? I have everything I need and then some, to feed the bloodlust.”
Altani stood within arm’s reach, staring up at me, taking in my features with wary approval. Down my neck and over my shoulders her gaze roamed. She ran her fingers through several strands of my hair, pulling the length to her while she perused my chest, my abs, my hardening cock and my legs. Her tongue slicked her lips and she stepped fully into my space. The fabric of her dress teased my naked skin.
“I’ll give you a gorgeous son, Jesse.”
“And if the child’s a girl?”
She shrugged. “I’ve birthed several potential queens. But we’re only as good as the sons we carry. We have to keep our species on the throne and your numbers—the male heirs, I mean—are woefully short.”
Her sigh brushed my throat. Tall in her heels, tall out of them. What would a son from this woman look like? Me, with angled eyes? Me, with straight black hair instead of brown? Her, with a strong jaw and high cheekbones?
“I can suck your cock first.” She angled her chin upward, so her lips could be claimed. She wrapped a bold hand around my cock, her rings scraping the underside and her nails biting into the edge of my shaft. “I know how you like it. Then you can make me come to make up for Asylum. I wanted you then, but you only had eyes for the turned witch. All that passion reserved for a barren thing, so silly. I can show you what a real woman has to offer.”
Her russet eyes bloomed black and fangs sharpened her beautiful smile.
“I can make you come and give you a child. A gorgeous son, just like his father.”
Like father, like son.
I breathed shallowly, and despite my cock’s insistence that she continue, I stilled her hand. I slid her palm off my hardening flesh, which bobbed in protest.
“A tempting offer, but I think I’d rather save my energy for tonight, Altani. I sense you’re demanding and I plan to fuck you into submission. I’ll need my strength.”
She took a step away, the anger of rejection warring with piqued desire. Wanting someone she couldn’t have, exactly when she wanted to have them, must not be something a queen was used to.
