Caught by His Vampire Mate [Vamp Mates 2] (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove)

by Dakota Dawn

  Seeing so many different types was driving him a little crazy. He had a sudden compulsion to go throw up the cereal he’d eaten so he could try a few of these from other countries. That would by morally wrong, though. A true marshmallow cereal connoisseur would never, never ever puke up such deliciousness on purpose. Not even to try new flavors. He mentally slapped himself for having such a horrendous thought.

  After putting the food away to hide the temptation, he glanced back into the box and frowned. Looking at Tristan, he saw that his lover was grinning from ear to ear.

  “Why didn’t Pablo send anything for you? You’re the one who sent Loco to him,” Conlin asked as he sat back down and picked up his coffee cup to take a drink.

  “I’m an empath, remember? Your euphoric happiness washed over and sank into every pore in my body. Therefore, my gift was your bliss.”

  “Oh.” Conlin scratched his chin and grinned. “That’s crazy impish.”

  “That’s an accurate description of Pablo,” Tristan said as he opened the envelope and pulled out two pictures.

  When his lover showed them to him, his jaw dropped. That wild, vicious kitten was sitting on a big muscular man’s shoulder. The furry beast wasn’t baring teeth or sharp claws. Nothing. Picture number two showed the same man with another man who was smiling and holding the orange-striped kitten.

  Tristan pointed at the man who was in both pictures and said, “This is Pablo and the other man is his mate, Justus.”

  Conlin couldn’t believe how calm and cute the furry creature looked. “What a change. Your friend is a true cat whisperer. Maybe a people whisperer as well. How did he know I love marshmallow cereal?”

  Tristan shrugged his large shoulder with ease. “I don’t know. It must be a fay ability he has. After feeling your unbound blissful joy, I’m glad he’s got that power.” The vamp glanced back at the pictures. “Pablo loves animals. That wildcat must have really touched him.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  Tristan tapped a picture. “He only collars the animals he keeps solely in the house.”

  The blue collar was perfect. It made the kitten’s pale-blue eyes shine. “Loco has moved up in life. He went from hissing and terrorizing people as well as dogs to being a lap cat. That is truly amazing.”

  “Did he really chase dogs?” Tristan asked with a touch of disbelief.

  “You better believe it. More than once I heard yelping and looked out the window to see a dog running for his life. With ears flapping, each dog would be howling and whining as it ran as fast as it could. Loco was always a few feet behind the stressed dog, hissing loudly. The only thing that saved them was their longer legs. As far as I know each dog got away with only mental trauma. From the sounds that came from each of Loco’s victims, I’m guessing every one is still having nightmares.”

  Conlin picked up one of the pictures Tristan had placed on the table. He couldn’t stop the grin that curled his lips. The little kitten looked so adorable and so content.

  “I’m glad you found a good home for him.”

  “Me, too.”

  The softly spoken agreement touched Conlin’s heart. He looked up into his lover’s eyes and got lost in their loving glow. Tristan was not a merciless, lifeless corpse. He was loving and caring. Conlin dropped the picture on the table and went to Tristan and sat in his lover’s lap and kissed him gently. No, Tristan was not an unfeeling animal at all. He’d saved Darrin and Loco for no reason other than it was the right thing to do. His heart turned to mush. Love burned through his chest and swirled through his entire body. With his hand on the vamp’s chest, he absorbed each pounding beat of the wonderful man’s heart. A part of him hoped he’d get to stay with Tristan for the rest of his life.

  * * * *

  Attinie of Roseanthia pulled the wings off another bee and laughed when it stung her. Her sharklike teeth gleamed in the bright moonlight as she tossed the bee’s twitching body just out of reach of the chained owls. One of her pet owls had died of starvation the day before. She was curious to see if this batch of earthlings turned to owls would eat the dead one to survive or would they just die as all the rest had.

  After seeing the lions on earth, she wished that had been the first animal she’d seen. Her blasted poor gene pool only allowed her to change beings on a planet into the first animal she saw.

  This planet had so many more vicious creatures she longed to have spotted one of them first. Oh, the fun she could have had. Surely the lions or tigers would have killed each other rather than starve to death.

  Sniffing the air, she smiled cruelly when death filled her nostrils. Grabbing up another bee from the jar her servant, Boashin, had filled, she tore the wings off the insect and tossed it in the direction of the owls. Damn, she’d used too much force and the twitching body landed within the circle of her chained pets. To her disgust one of them ended the bee’s life quickly. He ate half of the bee and let the owl next to him have the other half.

  Gods of Roseanthia, how she hated it when she actually fed them. On the bright side, though, it did keep them alive for longer. Needing more entertainment, she clapped her six arms and rose to her full height of seven feet. Short for a Roseanthian, but tall by earthling standards.

  Looking around the large outdoor room of the stone home she’d killed the owners for, she pointed out two of the forty earthlings she had under her spell. They moved from the crowd and stood before her.

  Pulling on the skin sagging from her chin, she eyed them both. The female was about five earth feet tall. The male topped her by six earth inches. Since she could only enthrall beings with darkness in them, the fights were always interesting.

  Attinie spoke a few Roseanthian words over the two earthlings and cackled at how easily they were manipulated. Their eyes became bloodshot and they started chanting, “Must kill…must kill…must kill.”

  The pair turned on each other, and Attinie pushed them away from her with her upper and middle arms. The two fighters stumbled and then regained their footing four feet from Attinie.

  Rearing back, the male punched the female hard in the nose. She cried out and stumbled back. Blood ran in a red river over her mouth and chin. After blinking she charged the male and tried to hit him in the face. He caught her hand and twisted it in a quick motion. The sound of her bones breaking could be heard loudly over the fighters low chanting. “Must kill…must kill….must kill.”

  Cackling with pleasure, Attinie watched as the wounded female once again charged the male. She swung her good hand at him. He caught it and twisted her arm behind her back and snapped her elbow. Her bellows of pain delighted Attinie.

  “Weak beings deserve death,” she told Boashin, never taking her opal eyes off the fighters.

  “Yes, mistress,” he answered.

  The fighters kept chanting even though the female’s chants were done between painful cries. The male punched the female again. With both arms not working she had to take the hit without blocking. She fell to the floor and then slowly forced herself to stand. Blood was now pouring from her nose.

  Attinie sniffed the air and her eyes glittered depravedly. She watched with great joy as the injured female stepped closer to the male and kicked him in the groin. He went to his knees, hands clutching his crotch. The female kept chanting as she raised her leg and kicked the male in the face. The crunching of his nose delighted Attinie.

  For a second she wondered if the female was going to win. That would be an unusual situation. The females never beat the males.

  “Do you think she’ll win, servant?” she asked Boashin excitedly.

  “Possibly, but not likely. All the males you put under your spell are large by human standards, whereas the females are usually quite a bit smaller.”

  “That’s because it’s hard to find tall females on this planet,” she snapped.

  “Yes, mistress.”

  The male surging to his feet captured her attention. He growled and, in a brash move, reached out and grabbed the fe
male’s head. One swift turning of his strong hands and the female’s neck snapped. He released her and stared down at her dead body for a moment, chanting, “Must kill…must kill…must kill.”

  Clapping four of her hands, she drew the male’s attention to herself. She spoke a few Roseanthian words, and the male’s bloodshot eyes cleared and he stopped chanting.

  “Servant, reward him.”

  “Yes, mistress.”

  Her servant tossed the winner a piece of fried chicken she’d had one of the earthlings steal a couple of hours ago. The fighter caught it with ease and wolfed the meat down within a minute.

  Pointing at one of the smaller females, she ordered, “Drag this loser’s corpse out of my house. Throw her in the pit and burn her worthless body.”

  “Yes, mistress,” the small brunette answered and bent to her task.

  Attinie watched the tiny human struggle to remove the dead body. She hoped the wimpy human hurt herself while following orders. When the earthlings followed her commands to the point of injury or death, that meant she was powerful. Here she had power like never before.

  A scowl had the saggy skin between her eyes rolling. The memory of how weak she’d been on her planet was like a knife in her chest. They’d always laughed at how short she was. How weak her enthrallment was. Here she was incredibly powerful. Here she was queen.

  Eventually she’d rule all the earthlings. Since she lived for thousands of years, she had plenty of time to take over. Right now she was enjoying playing with the earthlings. Getting rid of the good ones was the most fun of all. For now, she had plenty to entertain her in this room alone.

  Pointing at two of the smaller males, she ordered, “Come.” A cackle escaped her throat as she watched them come toward her. The guaranteed death of her playthings always excited her.

  Speaking the ancient words gave her a rush. The earthling’s eyes grew bloodshot, and she pushed them away. No need to put even her fingernails in danger.

  From four feet away, she smirked when the chanting men began to fight. The blond threw a punch which the redhead dodged with ease. The blond took a step back and then leapt in the air, planting both feet squarely in the center of the redhead’s chest. Adrenaline pounded through Attinie’s body as she watched the match.

  As the redhead landed on his butt, the blond pounced, never stopping his chanting of must kill. The blond pulled back his fist to smash the redhead’s face.

  To her surprise, the redhead bucked his body and twisted around the unprepared blond. In the blink of an eye the blond was under the redhead with his head pulled back. Reaching into his boot, the redhead pulled out a knife and slit the blond’s throat. As his life faded the blond’s lips formed the words must kill.

  Clapping all six of her arms, she laughed with glee. “Servant, reward him.”

  “Yes, mistress.” Boashin waited for the redhead to stand and then tossed the man a piece of chicken.

  “That was true entertainment. You never know for sure who is going to win. Isn’t that exciting?” Her opal eyes had shots of bloodred catching in the moonlight.

  * * * *

  Boashin looked away from the bloodlust in her evil eyes. This house was truly magnificent. The outdoor courtyard they were in had a stained cement floor and was surrounded on all sides by the various rooms of the house. All of Attinie’s pets and earthlings were kept here where they were trapped in a beautiful prison of potted plants and moonlight or sunshine. The enthralled earthlings could wander the house except for Attinie’s private area. They didn’t mind because of their mesmerized state. At least they had TV and fighting to keep them occupied. The poor owls were stuck in the courtyard. They were always looking longingly to the sky.

  Glancing back at his hated mistress, he answered her twisted question, “For some it is exciting. If you kill all the earthlings off for fun, who will be left to fight for you?”

  He inwardly flinched when evil laughter boiled up from her bowels.

  “Don’t worry about that, servant. Humans breed rapidly and most of them have enough darkness in them to easily be enthralled by me.” She laughed wickedly as her eyes scanned the beings in the outdoor room. “The rest I’ll turn my warriors on or turn into pets.”

  Attinie retrieved another bee from the jar and picked its wings off. He held back a shudder when she tossed the twitching bee just outside of the owl’s chain reach. If his honor wasn’t at stake, he’d gladly kill her.

  Pulling the skin that dripped from her chin, she remarked, “Have you noticed that four of these owls have lived from fifty to sixty years. If they hadn’t had such good hearts they would have been great warriors.” She tormented another bee and threw it within an inch of the other one and laughed when one of the newer owls dove for it and was yanked back violently when it reached the end of its chain. Blood trickled from the owl’s leg. She sniffed the air and laughed again.

  “So pathetic.” Attinie turned to Boashin. “What do good people have to live for?” She pulled at her chin skin again and then laughed some more. “Nothing at all. They have no reason to live, except to entertain me.”

  As she headed for the door, she snapped three sets of fingers. “Come give me a back rub, servant. I want to relax before I take a few of the earthlings out for more fun.”

  While walking past the suffering bees and owls, he kicked several of the bees within the owls’ reach. Four of the owls swooped in and swallowed the bees.

  Attinie turned and struck him in the head with four of her hands. “Watch your step, fool. I feed them when I feel like it. Because of your carelessness I’m cutting them off for two weeks. Since you pathetically hate to see creatures starve, you just hurt yourself, fool.” She hit him again and turned back to the doorway. “Come,” she ordered.

  He hid a smile. What she didn’t know was that he secretly turned a low light on for ten minutes every two to three nights to draw bugs into their area. Sometimes they ate quite a bit, other times they each only got one or two insects. There was no telling how many bugs would be in the area when he was able to turn on the light.

  Nevertheless, each critter they ate strengthened them somewhat. For most, like the dead one, it wasn’t enough. If he could do more, he would. He couldn’t risk being caught. If she killed him, he’d never be able to return home to his own planet. To his family.

  Chapter Ten

  Conlin started when Ghost popped into the kitchen. Tristan had just left for yet another business meeting. No wonder he hired others to work the winery, he was not around enough to produce even ten bottles a week.

  After swallowing a bite of marshmallow cereal, he said, “What’s up, Ghost?”

  “Darrin and I need to talk to you. Can I bring him up?” Ghost said as he looked around the room for Tristan.

  “He’s not here. You can always bring Darrin up. Hell, he can come on his own. I’ve told him that several times,” he replied with a grunt and then shoveled another bite of deliciousness into his mouth.

  Ghost nodded and disappeared. As Conlin finished his cereal, he looked at the box. For the last three evenings, he’d tried a new brand from other countries. He’d found that no matter where it came from, marshmallow cereal was like eating ecstasy. Every bite burst across the tongue and left a hint of sweetness on the taste buds and in the throat.

  The door to Tristan’s room opening caught his attention. After putting his bowl in the sink, he headed for the living room and hugged his brother.

  “Couldn’t wait to see me at work? I’m touched,” he said once he released Darrin.

  “I wish it were that simple, bro.”

  Ah shit, that doesn’t sound good. “What’s going on?”

  “Ghost and I have been talking, and we believe it’s time to move on.”

  “But you’re still learning how to take care of yourself.” Conlin’s heartbeat escalated. They’d just found themselves a home. Admittedly, it wasn’t a very friendly home, but it was a home. There was Tristan. God, just the thought of the vamp
sent shivers down his spine.

  Looking at their new home from an unselfish point of view, there were a lot of vampires and some elves that were willing to teach Darrin to take care of himself. Then there were their new jobs. He really liked working in the winery and thought Darrin did as well. From checking oxygen gauges on the tanks to labeling and bottling wine, he loved it all.

  The snapping of fingers brought him out of his mental wanderings.

  “Hello,” Darrin said with a bit of frustration. “I know this is hard, but we believe it is necessary.”

  “Why?” He couldn’t stop the slight whine from coming out in his voice. Tristan was becoming a huge part of his life, and he didn’t want to leave the man.

  “Have a seat,” Darrin said and sat on the couch. Ghost floated over the chair across from the couch. Darrin patted the seat next to him. Conlin sat down with a frown. He didn’t like this at all.

  “What makes you two believe we have to leave?”

  “Your safety for one. With you being the only human in a house full of vampires…” Darrin let his words trail off.

  “They won’t hurt me. They all drink the blood wine.” He had to make his brother understand. “Plus, I smell like Tristan most of the time.”

  “True, but what happens when he has to leave on business for a few days in the future. It could happen. Then you’d be here vulnerable. Two of these guys could have you drained and buried within fifteen minutes. Hell, Joaquin could probably drain you by himself in one minute or less. On a large piece of property like this your body may never be found. We just can’t take the chance.” Darrin and Ghost both nodded their heads.

  “Surely that’s not the only reason you two have? If it is, it’s not good enough. This is the best we’ve had it in years.” He stared hard at his little brother. “Do you really want to go back to starving? Where would we work? Is Ghost going to go get a job or dig up some hidden treasure he just remembered burying when he was alive?” Conlin hated the desperation in his voice, but damn it, he was desperate.