Hunger Awakened

by Dee Carney

  So he’d gone to the humans. He’d been betrayed. The flags of war raised.

  Now, as he watched one of them run screaming from an enclosure burning in a brilliant orange, he regretted having spoken too soon about an alliance he refused to forge. In the end, it had been done.

  The fire’s scent caressed him, enfolding him in its embrace like a lover. He took it within him, agitated senses settling into a calm, helping to loosen the memories of before from his mind. Aurak rode the scent’s current to the little domicile he’d set up for the female thing—the vampire—aiding his quest now.

  It was no aggravation for him to shift. To make himself look like one of them. She would not have accepted him into her body otherwise. A small concession.

  He discarded his current task of gliding through the night and instilling general mayhem among the populace to check on her progress. To see the culmination of centuries of brawn and power of his kind deteriorate into something resembling her and her clan.

  It didn’t take long to get to her location for he kept her close to him, trusting neither her nor the others like her from interrupting his loose plans.

  When he walked into the hut, the bitter pungency of blood flooded him. From the doorway, he studied her thin frame dispassionately. Sweat flowed from her skin and dampened her dark hair such that he no longer saw the curls and twists, which had captivated him from the first. Instead, her hair clung to her already pale face...even more appallingly white now as she strained.

  Interesting that men were not permitted to be a part of this process. He, of course, would not be denied to witness the birth of evolution.

  The woman grunted again, a long, low groan as she worked hard to push the new life form from her body. More of the coppery scent of blood swirled past him, making his lip snarl in derision. He tried to view the process without inserting his head or his heart, but really, this way of bringing about new life disgusted and fascinated him. So unlike his kind. He longed for the beauty of an egg, the patterns soothing to the eye and designed for easy visibility from the sky.

  This...this way. Carrying a fetus in the body...

  He shuddered.

  His gaze went to the guardians stationed around the room. Four of them for one woman and the infant she carried. If news had breached the humans, other vampires or even the werewolves of this union, he might have stationed more guardians. A hundred if necessary. But no. She’d come to him willingly. After three miscarriages and certainty the future of his race was at an end, she managed to hold on to this one.

  He paced the room. Hating this. Hating her. The child.

  A plume of smoke followed him as he covered the ground with long strides meant to jar loose the agitation settling in his old bones. He would have sought the comfort of the sky once again, but in these times of war, when his kind was hunted for sport, he recognized the wisdom in blending in. They could not retreat to caves, sleeping and waiting for the time of man to pass.

  He’d done this thing. This horrible thing.

  Each time he’d filled her with his seed, he did it while looking like them. Fragile skin. Hair on his arms, legs, chest and pubis. Jaw short and stubbled. This form made him feel weak and insignificant, yet he would do it a hundred more times if necessary.

  The more he thought on it, the hotter the flames simmering his blood grew. Smoke plumed out of his nostrils, singing the crisp air. Something caustic bubbled in his stomach, pushing up and out, turning his insides into molten rage. Why did he ever think this would work?

  A sharp scream rent the air.

  Twisting toward her, grimacing at the new scent of fresh blood, he moved next to the bed and watched the child slither from between her legs. It landed on the cot in a heap of limbs and skin and fluid. It didn’t move, but the woman continued to moan and writhe. He glanced into her tortured face, still uncertain as to whether he should dispose of her now or later, but decided to wait on that decision. First he wanted to see what would happen with the child.

  It was a male. Still not moving. Was this the way they behaved at birth? So unlike their kind, he lamented again.

  No scales. No claws. No wings. His kind—his beautiful, strong kind—thrived with life from the moment they burst through their shells.

  Maybe this wasn’t the way. Maybe they’d have to try and build their cities again. If raging wars meant ensuring the survival of his race, then so be it. This trial did not work. This child was an abomination. And he needed heirs. Not this.

  “Toss it outside,” he ordered one of the men. “It’s dead.”

  The woman struggled to sitting, crying out at his order. “No!”

  He held
up a hand to halt the guardian when the man would have stepped forward despite her protest. For some reason he watched her. This woman bent, face pale, and touched the child. She brought it to her breast, stroking it. Talking to it. Aurak reared back when the thing actually began to move. The woman looked up at him. “Not dead, sire. Not dead.”

  Studying it, he still didn’t like the fact that it didn’t look like him—not Aurak’s true form. Then again, it had looked dead only moments ago.

  Perhaps this was a sign.

  He grabbed the woman’s chin and forced her to look at him. “One month,” he spat. “You have one month and then we sire another one.”

  She quivered with fear. “Another?”

  “You will breed until you can’t. And then I’ll find another who can.”

  He dropped his grip, no longer caring to touch her. As he stormed away, the sound of the child’s wailing began to fill the chamber.

  Yes, it was a good sign.

  Chapter Nine

  Alice wiped some of the perspiration from her brow, at a loss to explain the amount of heat surrounding her. She inhaled the clean scent of sheets, a smile curving her lips as she recognized the scent of a man nestled into the fibers as well. There. The undertones of coconut, again reminding her of a warm day on a sunny beach.

  Wait...

  She sat up, pushing away clothing and sheets and his bulk. God, he was next to her in a bed. The last thing she remembered, she’d been giving him—her hand flew to her mouth as she remembered—she’d been feeding him blood. He’d been drinking her blood.

  “Gonna be sick,” she groaned before covering her mouth with a trembling hand.

  “No, you aren’t,” Bast said gruffly. “Breathe.”

  Her stomach lurched, and Bast sitting upright made the bed shift. The movement did not work in her favor. Swallowing rising bile, Alice tried to focus on something else. Anything other than what they’d been doing not long ago. But she couldn’t stop remembering the way his mouth had felt on her. The way her body had responded every time his tongue teased against her skin. It had been too much, yet she wanted more. She would have let him stay there, drinking from her forever, in exchange for just a few more minutes of that exquisite pleasure.

  “God— “ Alice whipped her head away from him as digested pizza came tumbling out of her mouth. She gripped the sides of the bed as she leaned over it, painful waves in her belly forcing the vomit to rush out undaunted. Eyes slammed shut, she waited for it to stop, but she couldn’t stop thinking about Sebastian. The man who was supposed to be her temporary knight-in-shining-armor. The man who’d taken her off the streets for a single night.

  He wasn’t a man. He was a vampire.

  She’d kissed him and she’d lusted after him. Damn it, she’d even cared for him when he’d fallen ill.

  And in exchange, he’d taken her blood.

  Powerful hands brushed over her forehead, and Alice idly realized he was holding her hair out of the line of fire. He waited until she stopped gagging before asking, “Better now?”

  Panting, she nodded. Her face felt fevered, and she couldn’t decide if it was embarrassment or nausea that caused it. “I’m so sorry about...”

  “It’s easy enough to clean up. I suspect I’m the reason behind you getting sick. Correct?”

  “I’m so sorry,” she mumbled. Too proud to admit his role in her discomfort.

  “There’s a bathroom right there.” Bast’s fingers twirled her curls, managing to twist them into a neat little package that wouldn’t fall in her face. “Why don’t you go freshen up, and I’ll clean up out here? I need you looking and feeling better. That includes getting your stomach to settle down enough to eat. I have a proposal for you when you come back.”

  Every part of her felt shaky and she wondered if she’d manage to stand upright without collapsing, much less make it across the room under her own power. But it wasn’t until she stood, legs quivering but not yet giving out, that she turned to him. “What about you? How are you feeling?”

  With a sinewy grace, Bast rolled out of the massive king-sized bed. Alice wished she didn’t notice the definition of his muscles as they moved like quicksilver. But she did.

  “No sign of the illness yet.” He shook his head. “Look at us. We’re a match made in heaven. When one’s not sick, the other is. I think you were meant to find me, Alice. Someone in the heavens wants us to be together.”

  Her stomach rolled at that statement, and she hurried toward the bathroom. She couldn’t keep those words from echoing in her head, not bothering to sort if they were teasing or serious. Yes, she was sick, but what kind of demented god would destine her to be with someone like Bast? Then again, it was too much of a coincidence to be ignored. Granted, she took her pills religiously. While they wouldn’t make her better, they should keep her from deteriorating too quickly or at all. Maybe it was her time to go, and Bast would ease her way from this world without the suffering she might normally have to endure.

  It seemed plausible. Someone did want them together. That someone would also probably frown on her stealing from him.

  Shit. Yeah, so maybe later she’d kick herself hard for letting opportunity slip through her fingers, but he’d been kind to her. He made her feel human again and not like a composition of skin and bones, taking up valuable space on the earth. When he kissed her, he made her feel like a woman. No, she wouldn’t take anything from this house. Not even the lovely little letter opener, although that she’d hold on to for a little while longer. No telling if that Cicero guy would show up again, intent on getting at her.

  She considered it for only a moment longer, her thoughts about her nonexistent finances disintegrating when she inspected the bathroom. If the other guest bathroom had the ability to take her breath away, this one made her practically orgasmic.

  Alice walked the entire perimeter, stunned that any one person could possibly be able to afford such opulence in their home. Between the lush Oriental rug in the center of the room, where a plump recliner sat, to lighted floor tiles and the flat-screen television in the mirror, she was awed. She peered into the shower stall, separated by its own room, and couldn’t locate the showerhead. Until something told her to look up.

  There, in the ceiling, were dozens of perfect holes decorating the ceiling, set in a stainless steel panel. Twisting the knob in a far corner of the spacious area confirmed her suspicions. It was like watching rain fall from the sky.

  Exploring must have cost her twenty minutes, and she still hadn’t peered into medicine cabinets. It was all she could do to prevent herself from simply rubbing her naked body over the luxurious towels and other linens stacked so carefully in a walk-in closet.

  Taking a shower and cleaning up must have taken another twenty minutes to complete, but Alice couldn’t find the will to make herself go any faster. The water was at the right temperature. The towels, when wrapped around her damp body, were heat
ed to perfection. The mirror didn’t fog, and the toothpaste even had the right balance of mint.

  She’d taken this kind of stuff for granted not too long ago and now, faced with the best in modern amenities, she couldn’t stop taking pleasure in them. If Bast wanted her to get out any faster, he’d have to come in armed with a crowbar. Even then, he might find a serious struggle on his hands.

  Slinking into the bedroom, towel wrapped around her torso, she came ready with an excuse about not being able to operate the complicated toilet poised on the tip of her tongue. Her thoughts froze as she espied Sebastian.

  He stood in the corner, his face downcast, shrugging on a shirt over his glorious chest. His naked, holy-shit-that-can’t-be-real chest. While solidly built, it was the honed definition of someone who knew how to get hours of work lifting weights to make a difference. Bast was lean, ropes of muscle lending him a razor’s edge. She could have spent hours running her fingers over every single one of those lines, each displaying the beauty of man at its finest.

  “Holy shit,” she whispered, echoing her thoughts. The words came tumbling out, as uncouth and low-brow as her life had become. If her mother were alive to hear Alice now, she would have been spitting out soap for the next week.

  He lifted his head and turned it toward her. “I thought you’d gotten lost.”

  Alice’s mouth couldn’t have been drier. She struggled to speak again. “I almost could have been.” Hell, if she was going for uncouth and low-brow, might as well take it all the way. “Bast? What are you doing with all this? It’s just you, right? I mean, I know you guys always seem to have a lot of money in the movies and stuff, but it’s just you...”

  His expression flattened. “My father left me well provided for and it’s only grown over the years. When you’ve lived as long as I have, you get the opportunity to acquire a great many things. By now, it’s simply become habit to surround myself with some of the finer things. But honestly? I don’t even notice half of it anymore. Not until someone like you walks in and points it out to me.”