“So the wolves are not extinct?” I asked.
My father shook his head. “Historically, wolves have been hunted almost to extinction, and that means all of them. It got to a point where it was safer for the wolves to cross over to this other place.”
“Can a vampire live in the light there?” Alec asked.
Donovan nodded. “Yes, but we are forbidden entrance to that world because we prey on the living.” He reached into his shirt and pulled out a medallion that hung from a gold chain.
“Only with this can you gain entrance to that world, but the wolves would kill you as soon as you crossed. That is, if you even knew where the entrances were?”
“Do you know where they are?” Dash asked.
Donovan shook his head. “That knowledge has been lost.”
Alec spoke up, “One of the wolves talked to me the other night. He’d been following me.”
Donovan appeared shocked. “What was the reason?”
“He claimed that Omar was a danger to his granddaughter and that the only way to stop him was to bring the secrets into the open.”
“His granddaughter? The granddaughter of a wolf?” Donovan seemed to be in deep thought.
“Do you know what secrets he is hiding?” Alec wanted to know.
“I do,” he nodded.
“Well?” Dash threw his hands in the air. “What are these secrets? What are we?”
“We are more ancient than man himself. What we are is not a curse, but a species.”
“How can we live in the light?” Alec asked.
“We can’t. Not on this side of the veil, but it isn’t because of some curse.”
“But technically, if we could find this portal, we could get through with that medallion?” I asked.
“Why are you so interested in this place, daughter?”
I wanted to tell him about Jay, but what could I say? That according to my boss, I might talk to my brother again? Even vampires may not believe in such nonsense.
“It is to soothe your pain, that you seek this place.” He’d read my thoughts. So far, he’d been the only immortal with the ability to read me.
“You can see into this place, with this medallion,” he said.
Taking it from his neck, he placed it in my hands. Immediately, everything around me changed and I was somewhere else. I was in a land that was the same as the earth, but yet different. Everything was so brilliant and colorful. The land was unspoiled, unlike in our world.
There was a small village with people milling around. All types of people and there was a lake.
From a distance, I could hear my father’s voice. “As long as you hold the medallion, you can look through to that world. Go ahead and explore.”
I did exactly that, walking along a small road toward the lake. For some reason, I was being drawn to the lake.
“What do you see, Nicole?” he asked.
“A lake,” I told him.
“Go to the lake. The lake is a window to what you seek.”
I kept walking until I was at the shore of the lake. That’s when I nearly stopped breathing. “It’s Jay,” I cried.
Jay sat on the sand with his knees drawn up to his chest. He was watching me as I approached.
That’s my tears came and I didn’t care who saw. “Jay, are you okay?” I sobbed.
Nodding, he smiled that familiar smile. “Why do you cry so much Nicki? I’m okay.”
He was calling me Nicki. Jay was the only one in the world who had ever called me by that name. “I’m so sorry baby! I swear I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
Jay shrugged his tiny shoulders. “It was just time to go, Nicki. That’s all.” Suddenly he faded away and was gone.
“Don’t go, Jay,” I wept.
I felt my father’s hands on mine and he gently pulled the medallion from my grasp.
I was back. The others were staring at me with pity in their eyes, and some confusion. They had obviously not shared my vision.
“Was that the afterlife?” I asked when I finally managed some composure.
Donovan shook his head. “It is only known as the Place of Light to the Immortals. To others it is known as Outerlands. This place exists on the fringe of reality, in a different dimension, a higher vibration.”
“It must be heaven,” I insisted. “I saw Jay.”
“No, it is as real and solid as where you are now, but a magical place. From Outerlands, there are windows into the afterlife, but the place the soul goes, exists at a much higher vibration than even Outerlands.”
“How is it you know so much about this place if you’ve never been there?” Dash asked, seemingly entranced by what he’d just witnessed.
“I am very old,” Donovan confessed.
“How old?” I asked. “When did you turn? Who were you before?”
Donovan smiled. “I have always been what I am, a born vampire.”
“I thought they were forbidden.”
“I am one of the original immortals. It is a long story and not one that any of you are ready to hear,” he told us. “Trust that I have always been what I am, but I have not always been banished to darkness. That is something that happened to our species a very long time ago.”
“All of this is what Omar doesn’t want others to know?” Alec put in. He had been quiet through most of the ordeal, but now he seemed to want some clarity.
“It is. He feeds off the hatred of the immortal. They believe they are cursed, but it’s not that simple. He doesn’t want his followers to have hope for fear he will lose control over them. He will have no power then.”
“But if we are forbidden in this place, its existence makes no difference,” Alec shrugged. “What does it matter if they know?”
“There may be a way,” Donovan said. “But first, we must change as a species.”
“Impossible,” Alec scoffed. “We are predators. It is in our nature to hunt.”
“Well, there is my recipe,” Dash reminded us, but no one was listening.
“Aside from the ancients, there are three born vampires,’ he informed us. “Three sisters, all three sisters must come together to face Omar and destroy his nest. They can then seek an audience with the Gatekeeper of Outerlands.” Donovan motioned to Nicole. “You are one of those sisters.”
“I have sisters?” I was shocked.
“You have two sisters. You must find the other two and then you will be strong enough to destroy Omar.”
“Why can’t you do this?” I asked.
“I cannot. Omar is my brother. I am forbidden to kill him.”
“Why do you know this stuff?” Alec was still skeptical.
“You could say I have some inside information. What I know is that as long as Omar has his way, darkness will prevail.”
Chapter Fourteen
Nicole
My nerves were fried, so sleep was impossible. All I could do is toss and turn.
Although the bedroom I was sleeping in had all the furniture and other embellishments you might expect in a bedroom, I couldn’t get over the idea that I was deep underground. Knowing that made me feel more like I was in a tomb than my father’s house.
I was still trying to absorb everything I’d discovered. My father was an ancient vampire who lived in an underground city, and my uncle wanted to turn me into a full-fledged vampire for some evil purpose.
What was I supposed to do with that kind of information?
Of course, I realized that in this particular situation, ignorance wasn’t bliss. The information I had could very well keep me alive.
It was just too weird.
And I had sisters too!
That seemed a little bizarre too since I’d long ago accepted that I was now an only child. I was for my mother, but apparently not my father.
If Donovan was to be believed, I wasn’t the only one of my siblings to grow up without a father. He had never contacted my sisters.
I wasn’t sure what that said about his character, but he did
have somewhat of an excuse.
According to my father, he’d felt that the less he knew about his children, the safer they would be.
Although in the beginning, he’d kept track of all three of u s, over time he’d lost track of my sisters.
How was I going to find two sisters that I knew nothing about?
My father had offered his home to us for the night, or however long we wished to stay. I felt a little awkward pushing him out of his own house, but he insisted that he had other places in the city he could stay.
Although I was tired, part of the reason I couldn’t sleep was that I couldn’t forget the fact that I was surrounded by a city full of vampires.
If I fell asleep, there was no telling what would happen. I did find it comforting to know that Alec was just in the other room. If he sensed an intruder, he would wake up.
I’d thought about asking Alec to sleep in the room with me, but I wasn’t sure how my father would react to the idea. Although he hadn’t been around while I was growing up, he did seem to harbor some kind of protective instinct for his children.
As long as I stayed alert, I didn’t mind being in the underground city too much. So far, everyone had been welcoming.
Bathing after a long trip was must, and I’d told Donovan as much, hoping he would let me go up top and get a motel.
But he had a remedy for my problem. My father had his help bring in water to fill a tub, which was how the citizens of the underground took care of their bathing necessities. Although the City of the Dead had electricity, it lacked running water. Water was brought in via a valve in the subway.
For dinner, Donovan ordered someone to bring me takeout from a fast food place above ground. The whole ordeal still had a dreamlike quality to it. I half expected to wake up at home and find that the past week had been no more than a strange dream.
Closing my eyes, I tried to relax. If I could just let go of some of the tension, sleep would come.
Suddenly, the atmosphere changed. It was the same feeling I got when I knew someone had entered a room but I couldn’t see them yet.
Someone was in my room.
My eyes flew open. That’s when I saw him standing next to my bed, staring down at me. The hunger flashing in those blue eyes made me wonder if he was planning to eat me up.
He wasn’t wearing a stitch of clothing.
Even in the dark, I could make the scrumptious outline of his body and his thick erection. As my eyes traveled over the hard contours of his body, my own hunger began gnawing at me.
Pulling the blankets back, he slid into bed beside me.
“I can’t rest knowing you are so close,” he whispered in my ear.
“I can’t sleep either,” I said, snuggling close to him. The sensation of his hard body against mine was intoxicating.
“Then we better make love so we can both get some rest.” He was already kissing my neck and his hands were exploring the most intimate parts of my body.
“Yes, that’s a good idea,” I breathed.
Stopping, he pulled back. His eyes seemed to be searching mine. “Promise me that if I hurt you at all, you’ll stop me. Don’t let me get out of control.”
I let my hand slide from his hip to his hard shaft, giving it a tantalizing squeeze. “But what if I like it when you lose control?” I asked.
Groaning, his mouth found mine. His tongue hungrily ravaged my mouth while he tore away my nightclothes.
I didn’t care what he did with my clothes, as long as they were out of the way. Caught up in my desire to feel him inside me, I rolled him onto his back and mounted him so quickly that it was almost painful.
A deep growl worked its way up from his throat. My impatience to join with him escalated his own desire. Suddenly, my lust erupted into something agonizing and my body screamed for release. This prompted me to ride him harder.
The dangers of being with a vampire or being infected meant nothing to me. I was running on pure instinct and the need to put out the fire burning inside me.
His hands stroked my breasts, but I wanted more. Grabbing one of his hands, I forced his fingers to my nipples and made him squeeze until they tingled and burned.
Alec lifted his hips so that I was forced to take him deeper. Rotating on him, I savored every inch of his flesh.
My moans turned to screams as I felt my slippery flesh tighten around him – milking him as I was consumed by fiery pleasure.
Alec threw back his head and I felt him release, throbbing inside of me. Taking a deep breath, I collapsed on his chest.
My entire body went into a deep relax mode as I savored the feel of Alec running his fingers through my hair.
“Do you think we were tame enough?” I asked, still panting as I tried to catch my breath.
“Hmm, I was tamer, anyway.”
Lifting my head, I kissed his lips. In that instant, I wanted so bad to tell him that I was in love with him, but I was afraid he’d withdraw like he did the last time the love word was mentioned. Instead, I slid off him and let him wrap his arm around my waist.
Alec’s gentle kiss was the last thing I was aware of before falling into a deep, restful sleep.
Chapter Fifteen
Nicole
The glare of the overhead light seemed to sear through my eyes and into my brain. Out of habit, I reached for the blanket to cover myself before sitting up. When I finally forced my eyes open, I saw my father in the bedroom doorway, glowering.
“I see that you have not taken my warning to heart,” he said, a hard edge to his voice.
At that point, Alec sat up but didn’t say anything.
That left it up to me to respond and I didn’t have a clue what to say. Judging by what I’d heard, me having sex with a vampire was extremely risky, but I didn’t care.
How could I tell my father that, without sounding foolish and naïve?
So what if it was foolish? It was the truth. I’d rather take the risk than be away from Alec.
But how did I tell my father that I was in love with a vampire?
“We’ll be out in a minute,” I stated, instead of offering an explanation.
With a slight bow of his head, Donovan left, shutting the door behind him.
With my father being so medieval, would he even understand?
“Well, he took that better than I thought he would,” Alec commented.
“Really?” I raised one brow. “I thought he seemed a little upset.”
“Like I said, better than I thought he would. I’m surprised he didn’t tear me to pieces,” he chuckled.
I wasn’t finding the situation all that amusing. “He’s probably saving it all for me.”
“Nope,” Alec shook his head. “You’re his daughter. If anyone’s going to get burned by his wrath, it will be me.”
Frowning, I said, “I’ll have a talk with him.”
The thought of my father tearing into the man I was totally in love with, wasn’t too pleasant.
“Do you think that will work?” Alec asked, giving me a lopsided grin.
“I have no idea.”
It didn’t matter. I had no intention of letting anyone get in the way of being with Alec. Not even my father.
It took several minutes before we were both dressed. Actually, taking my time was a way of postponing the confrontation.
When I was dressed, Alec took my hand in his. “We should get out there before he comes back.”
Sighing, I nodded.
Alec was right. All I was doing was putting off the inevitable.
The first thing I noticed when we entered the room was Dash sitting in one of the chairs. Looking over at us, Dash lifted his hands in a gesture of helplessness.
My father stood in the middle of the room, daggers flying from his cold dark eyes.
Donovan turned to me. “Nicole, do you mind waiting in the other room while Alec and I talk?”
Taking on a defiant stance, I lifted my chin and put my hands on my hips. “Now wait a minute! I am not t
welve years old. You can’t just send me to my room to get rid of me. If you have a problem with me, I have every right to be here.”
“This is between Alec and me,” he said, his eyes taking on that strange sheen of the immortal.
I opened my mouth to protest further but he cut me off.
“Only for a moment, Nicole, and then you are welcome to return and plead your case for your vampire lover.”
When I glanced over at Alec, he nodded.
Furious words were on the tip of my tongue but disrespecting my parents, let alone an elder, wasn’t the way I’d been raised.
Spinning on my heels, I stormed out of the room.
Really, I couldn’t understand why my father was so angry. After all, I was old enough to take a lover if I wanted, even a vampire lover.
Although I closed the bedroom door, I stuck my ear to it to see if I would hear anything, but the door was too heavy and thick. All I could make out were murmurs. Giving up, I collapsed onto the bed.
If I had to be grounded to my room, I might as well relax.
Chapter Sixteen
Alec
Donovan’s black eyes were burning a hole right through me. Although I’d never feared anyone, vampire or human, Donovan’s fury did put me on edge.
But I couldn’t blame him. I could understand what he was feeling better than most.
Even after so many centuries, I was still haunted by the terror I saw in my daughter’s blue eyes when a Scot’s sword severed her soul from her mortal body.
I knew exactly what it was like to want to protect a child and the rage that could take over your soul when you failed.
When Donovan spoke, his voice was cool and calm, but there was a furious storm in his eyes. “Do you realize whose daughter you’ve just taken as a lover? I thought I detected something like this when I first saw her look at you, but I’d hoped I was wrong.”
“We were lovers before tonight,” I confessed.
“But yet you haven’t turned her and you haven’t made her your feeder?” There was more than a little skepticism in the ancient vampire’s eyes.
“Never, My Lord,” I said, shaking my head. “I could never do that to her.”
Dark Seduction: A Vampire Romance (Immortal Legacy Book 2) Page 6
