by A C Warneke
Of course, most if not all of the Aradians didn’t give two flying fucks about humans so why would they be bothered by a little thing like a massacre? There were always a million humans willing to devote themselves to an Aradian's pleasure. If only Feryn at least pretended he wanted to seek justice, to find Taella and make sure she didn’t get up to such destruction again. He should want to discover her secrets of hiding her madness from him, the most powerful Aradian. But every time Malorie brought it up, he told her that it was over and not to worry about it.
His arrogance was going to be the death of them all.
What if the vamp-mad Aradian stumbled across her father? Gus was smart enough to be wary of Aradians but his blood might be too much temptation for the weakened Taella. She might figure out a way to entrap him and once he was caught, she would drain him until there was nothing left but an exsanguinated corpse.
She had to find Gustav, that much hadn’t changed in the week since she almost died for the second… third time.
Unable to bear her own thoughts, she walked over to the stereo and played Feryn’s favorite sonata by Beethoven, a haunting melody that seduced the soul and then broke the heart. He listened to it often, closing his eyes and losing himself in the music as an expression of such transcendence softened his harsh features. It was something she loved to watch and she hoped it would work for her.
Closing her eyes, she listened to the music, trying to capture the obscure parts of her dream that plagued her. She expected to be transported back to the caves but instead she found herself standing in an opulent concert hall, the sounds of Beethoven washing over her, through her, and a thrill crept down her spine that she was at a live performance. The ceiling soared over her head with gilded accents and elaborate artwork. The women were dressed in exquisite gowns and glittering jewels and the men wore dark, well-tailored suits, perfect counterpoints to the gilded butterflies and it was lovely beyond words.
The sickly sweet scent of humanity pervaded her senses and as she looked around the crowded opera house, Malorie realized she was walking through Feryn’s memories. It was still so weird to be aware that it was a dream, well a memory, and be unable to do anything but watch, to be able to see the world and hear it and smell it and yet only be an observer, unable to interact with anyone or linger on something that captured one’s interest.
Malorie was stunned to see a woman who looked suspiciously like her. Of course, the doppelganger’s long, dark brown hair was piled on top of her head in an elaborate up-do and she was dripping with diamonds that perfectly matched the pure white of her gorgeous gown. Her lashes were lowered as she stole surreptitious glances at Feryn and a delicate flush crept across her porcelain skin.
The world was rapidly changing around them and in the humans’ arrogance they refused to see what was glaring them in the face. No matter. In a few months, Feryn would be travelling to the Americas with his brother Jiro and son Varick to set up another Aradian compound, one that was even more separate from the necessary evil that was humanity. Feryn grinned as he drank in the sight and smell of the humans surrounding him and his small party. None of the sheep were even aware of the wolves walking amongst them as they flitted about like so much fluff.
The New World would be a good place to raise his son, who was still so young at only two hundred and fifty years old. Of course, none of the Aradians looked older than thirty in human years so they let the humans believe they were brothers, which always amused Feryn. Humans were so… inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, living so few years, some hardly living at all during their years.
Oh, but they were a pleasure to seduce! Their skin was so soft, their bodies so luscious, their morals so malleable. He continued to gaze at the virgin who couldn’t tear her eyes from his. She was going to give him everything tonight after a month of secret assignations, which was strangely appealing. Usually it only took a few days to lure a virgin to his bed and having one that led him on a merry chase for so long was going to make the reward that much sweeter.
“If you’ll excuse me,” he murmured to his brother and son, separating from the trio and stalking over to his victim knowing that the two other Aradians had their own games to play. Her lips curved up into a shy smile as she saw him approach and she couldn’t hide the increased heartbeat of her excitement or the heated musk of her arousal. So far, he had only kissed her and stroked her naked flesh, giving her her first orgasm. Tonight, he was going to drink her virgin’s blood and then fuck her. “My sweet.”
“My Lord Blackstone,” she simpered, falling into a shallow curtsy. Her eyes never left his as she offered her gloved hand and he brought the slender fingers to his mouth. “Thank you for inviting us tonight.”
“You’re most welcome,” he assured her, tucking her hand into his arm and leading the small group to his private box. As soon as the virgin’s chaperone and mother sat down, Feryn wrapped his arm around the girl’s waist and pulled her up against his hard body as he whispered, “You’ll be quiet, yes?”
Her breath hitched in her chest as she nodded her head, her gray eyes wide in her pretty face. She was trembling, in nerves and in excitement, and Feryn had to bite back a groan, knowing how delicious it was going to be to take her while the rest of the world remained oblivious.
Wrapping his finger around the back of her neck, he kissed her, thrusting his tongue into the depths of her sweet mouth….
Malorie jerked herself out of the memory before she had to witness his seduction of the virgin. A shudder wracked her body as she retained the feel of Feryn thrusting his penis into the virgin’s body, tearing her apart as he sank his teeth into her throat. Pleasure, hers and his, lingered long after Malorie slammed a door on the memory, making her feel dirty. He seduced the girl because he could, because she was prized amongst the humans and he had wanted her.
He had ruined the girl. The residual memory of Feryn sharing the girl with his brother tried to play itself out but Malorie firmly held the door closed on that one. There was so much of Feryn’s life before she was even born, so much that was difficult for her to deal with because she still viewed the world through human eyes. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t strictly human because that was the way she had been raised and it was going to take time and probably some space to deal with Feryn’s very different perspective on humanity and humans in general.
Warm hands pressed down on her shoulders a moment before a wall of heat pressed against her back. Hot breath followed by even hotter lips caressed her neck and her frown turned into a sigh as Feryn murmured, “Couldn’t sleep?”
“No.” Shaking her head, she didn't turn around as she tried to hold onto the disgust she felt from living his memories. It was unfortunate that Feryn was like a drug and his very presence made her melt. Someday she would be able to keep her sanity when he was near but that day wasn’t today.
“Is there anything I can do?” he pulled her further into his hot body and pressed his blistering erection against her back. Sex with Feryn was incredible but it wasn’t what she wanted or needed at the moment. Maybe she was learning a little restraint. Or maybe his seduction of the innocent was still too fresh in her mind. Whatever the reason, she was grateful because she had to think, to remember.
It was so difficult because Feryn was everything that was magnificent and beautiful. With eyes so green and intense, he could sear a body with a single look. He could look into a girl’s soul and give her all of her darkest fantasies. His eyes alone could make a woman forget her name and those mesmerizing eyes were set in an exquisitely masculine face of harsh cheek bones, a hewn jaw and a sharp nose, softened only by a pair of luscious lips, lips that often brought her to ecstasy.
His shoulders were broad enough to take on the weight of the world and there wasn’t an ounce of softness on him. He was all firm muscles and smooth sinew, with a ridged stomach, rock hard thighs and a succulent ass to say nothing of the erection that was making its presence known.
He was so gorgeou
s and powerful and magnificent and he was hers. He wore her extravagant mark just as boldly as she wore his, but on him it looked so much grander. The shimmering design seemed to glow as it wrapped around his trim waist, curling upwards over the hard planes of his stomach and downwards over the hard curve of his luscious ass. Continuing on, it coiled around his flank and around his groin, glimmering along his thick penis, flowing down his hard thigh and ending just above his knee. Hers was the mirror image, only proportioned to her much smaller body.
She wondered how it was going to look when she was nine months pregnant and roughly the size of an elephant.
Unlike Feryn, Malorie was slender and of average height, relying on her wits and grace to hold her own in a battle against the vampires. She had seen herself through Feryn’s eyes and she knew that he was slightly delusional because to him she was the most beautiful creature in the universe. He loved her long, brown hair and serious gray eyes, her breasts and the curves of her hips and he especially loved her mouth, since it made him think of her lips around his erection. He was passionate and the sex was frequently frenzied and all consuming. The things he was able to do with his body made her blush and drown in pleasure.
Now wasn’t the time to get lost in lust and desire, even as his lips caressed the tender skin of her neck, the shell of her ear. If she wasn’t careful, she’d let her worries and anger melt away beneath his sensual attack and she’d be in the same exact place months from now, only her belly would be too big for her to do anything about it.
“No, there’s nothing you can do,” she said with a half-smile, even though he couldn’t see it. His low grumble of disappointment made her laugh despite her resolve to remain firm. “I have too many thoughts demanding my attention right now, Feryn. I can’t afford to be distracted by sex.”
“That hasn’t stopped us before,” he cajoled, running his tongue along her neck as he slowly stroked her belly, her ribcage. Enjoying the heated pleasure of his kisses, she tilted her head to the side and let him continue even though she knew she’d be lost if they had sex. “In fact, I seem to recall your desperate pleas for it, especially when you are drowning in doubts.”
A soft chuckle escaped as she raised her hand and pushed her fingers through the thick, dark silk of his hair, unable to deny the truth of his words. “But tonight I have to think.”
“You can think afterwards.” His hand moved up, cupping her breast as his thumb brushed her nipple.
“I can’t think for hours afterwards,” she laughed softly, her eyes closing as he continued playing her body. After a moment, she forced the words past her lips, “There is something that has been plaguing me for a few days now and I have to figure out what it is.”
“Whatever it is,” he crooned, rocking his hips so his erection was rubbing against her. “It can wait until tomorrow.”
“What if it can’t?” she asked softly, turning around in his strong arms and looking up at him with worried eyes, hoping he would lose his arrogance long enough to understand her distress. Pressing her palms against his warm chest, she licked her lips and tried to explain the anxiety that was bubbling up within her and threatening to overwhelm her. “I think I have to find my father, Feryn. There’s so much he doesn’t know and Taella’s out there and I’m afraid he might do something that we’ll all regret. And in the eighteen hundreds you seduced a girl, a virgin, who looked exactly like me.”
She knew she was rambling but now that she had a moment to think, her thoughts were scrambling together and spilling out.
Feryn’s lips pressed together but he managed to bank his lust for the moment. Reaching up, he cupped her cheek, staring down at her with utter devotion, though a small, sinister part of her wondered if he truly loved her or if he only thought he did because she carried his child. Or maybe the mark he bore convinced him he loved her when it was just a mark. Or he was playing a game like he had with the virgin and she was nothing but a plaything to him. “Sweetheart, there has never been anyone else that looked like you.”
“But I saw her,” she protested, knowing how foolish she sounded since it had been a memory that was hundreds of years old. “It was at an opera house and Beethoven was playing….”
His expression changed and a slight smile tilted his lips as he remembered the moment she was talking about. “Ah, the Challenge. She had been very sweet but she didn’t look like you.”
“I saw her.” She hadn't realized how upsetting it was going to be to have Feryn’s memories in her head, how treacherous. They made her doubt him, made her doubt everything, because he had told the virgin everything she wanted to hear to get what he wanted. What if he was a bored Aradian and she was a momentary diversion while his baby grew inside of her?
“You saw her through the filter of your mind,” he explained. Reaching up, he twirled a strand of her brown hair around his fingers and smiled, “The girl you are talking about had been blond with brown eyes.”
“What happened to her once you and your brother had your fill?” she asked, unable to keep the bitterness from her voice, still upset even if the girl hadn’t been her doppelganger. Was it all just a mind fuck?
Pursing his lips, he thought about it for a moment before he answered, “She became a woman of independent means.”
“She became a whore,” Malorie spat, the fear that it was all a game making her thoughts twist and turn until she wanted to flee.
“A highly valued courtesan, one who could choose her lovers,” he corrected. “She had the ear of kings and she lived very comfortably with more freedom than any of the women of her era and most of the men.”
“Is that what will happen to me?”
“Malorie.” Disappointment colored his voice as he looked at her with solemn green eyes and she felt guilty for even asking. But why shouldn’t she worry? Apparently she was going to be around for a long, long time and if she lost herself in Feryn there would be nothing left of her to make a new life for herself afterwards.
His hand skimmed over her stomach, the touch light and tenderly possessive. He pressed his other hand against his hard belly. “You bear my mark, love, and I bear yours. It’s eternal.”
He said the words and she wanted to believe them but that didn’t stop the pernicious doubts that were painfully logical. Despite her training, she had been fairly sheltered growing up and Feryn was… he was practically a god, an ancient and powerful being who could easily rip off her wings. He had years to perfect cunning and deceit and the mark could be a ruse to lure her into a false sense of security. Trying to tramp down her fears, she asked, “What about Taella? What about my father? He might not be aware of the true relationship between an Aradian and whatever the hell we are and he might do something stupid.”
“Don’t worry about Taella,” he said, dismissing her first concern without a thought, which only frustrated her because Taella was a threat, damn it. “And I doubt your father will do anything foolish.”
“But you can’t guarantee it,” she whispered, speaking her fears as they popped into her head. “What if the Aradian he escaped with wasn’t a willing accomplice? What if he kidnapped her to escape, the same way you kidnapped me?” At his frown, she swallowed her misgivings and when she spoke her voice was softer as she reminded him of their inauspicious beginnings. “I was a means to an end, Feryn. My father is very similar to you in that he will do whatever is necessary to ensure our freedom, even if it means resorting to kidnapping and coercion. I mean, as far as he knows, Aradians are just as evil as vampires and unless he has been shown otherwise I doubt he’d have reason to doubt hundreds of years of training.”
Feryn’s black brows pulled together in a fierce scowl as he absently continued to stroke Malorie’s cheek with his thumb. “How do you suggest we go about finding him?”
She looked at him as if he was brain dead, “Um, I’m assuming you put a tracking chip in him as well?”
He smiled at her sarcastic tone, “We did, my love, but when we traced it, he wasn’t there.”
>
This time her brows pulled together. Of course Gus would have figured out he was bugged and taken the necessary measures to make sure he was untraceable. But she knew he would leave a clue for her to follow since that was standard operating procedure whenever they became separated. “Where did you find his chip?”
“An abandoned warehouse in New York City,” he said with an indulgent smile. “The building looked like it had been neglected for decades. In fact, the only things in it, other than the chip, were rats and garbage.”
“Then that’s where I’ll start,” she said, nodding her head with satisfaction that she was finally doing something proactive. Gus left his tracking chip in the decoy bunker to let her know which city to start her search. If he wasn't in the real bunker then there might be a message for her to let her know whether or not it was safe to search for him. There were still people in New York that remained loyal to the cause and they would have an issue with Feryn. Even though he wasn’t a vampire, he wasn’t human. As plans formulated in her head, she looked up at Feryn, “If it’s where I think it is then it might be better if I go alone.”
His brilliant green eyes became stormy as all humor vanished from his face. “Absolutely not. There is no way I’m letting you go on some fool mission by yourself….”
She put her hand over his mouth to stop his tirade because she understood his concern. “I know these people, Feryn. They’re going to be suspicious enough if I show up without Gus but if you’re there…. Well, our only lead will vanish before we find it.”
“I don’t approve,” he grumbled.
“It’s not like you’ll be far away,” she told him with a slight smile. Sliding her hand up and pressing her palm against his bristled cheek, she murmured, “I know that if you sense the slightest bit of trouble you’ll be by my side in less than a heartbeat. Please, Feryn, you have to let me do this.”
Pressing his forehead against hers, he took a shuddering breath, “I don’t want to lose you.”
