Barbie- The Vampire Hunter Boxset

by Lucinda Dark

  Yeah, I made a deal with a demon and I fucking liked it. What was so wrong about that?

  Chapter 9

  Torin

  Sunlight illuminated my surroundings as I left the plane and made my way across the private airfield towards the hangar. Human employees milled about, but I watched them anyway. Suspicious. Distrustful. I'd never felt particularly safe with Arrius or his underlings before, not even as a child, but now—after the last four weeks—I was even more on edge.

  I studied the movements of the people around me with sharpened senses as I strode towards the open hangar doors to the bike that I'd called ahead for and had waiting for me. There was no possible way for Katalin to be waiting for me and I wasn't quite sure if I could handle being cooped up in a car at the moment. The interior of the plane, though lavish and clean, had felt just as much like a cage as my father's English mansion and Eloise's metal bands.

  Reaching down, I absently rubbed my wrists. The bruises had faded quickly upon being given blood. The bones I had broken in my madness had mended. But the memories were still fresh. Every grinding second of the torture of the last few weeks was imprinted in my mind.

  I bypassed anyone that might stop me. Officials. Workers. It didn't matter. I headed for the bike and found the keys in the ignition just as I had requested them. I tightened the straps of my bag on my back and slung one thigh over the body of the motorcycle. Turning the key, it roared to life. Something moved within my flesh, hissing at the brightness of the burning sun as I kicked the stand up and pressed down on the accelerator. I left the cover of the hangar and drove past the people as I steered towards the road leading into town.

  I gripped the handles of the bike and leaned over the fuel tank. The machine rumbled and growled beneath me as I forced it to go faster. Wind whipped over my cheeks and through the hair that had grown longer at the top of my head, the strands twisting into my line of vision. No matter that it was warmer here than it had been in England, I was chilled to the bone, frozen to my very core.

  My skin stretched too tight over my body. I was merely a container, a prison for a much more powerful being slithering beneath my flesh. My muscles tightened with the restriction this human body presented. Denied blood for so long—even if I was fed now—had left my vampire room to move closer to the surface. Once he had been set free for such an extended amount of time, it was harder than ever to suppress him. My blood cravings had grown. Even as I headed back into town, I didn't feel like the same person who had left. I was darker somehow. More destructive. Hungrier.

  The handles of the bike groaned under the pressure I was exerting, threatening to break. I loosened my grip as I blew past a sign. Blue and red lights flashed in my rearview mirror. I had no time to deal with this. I needed to get back. I needed to find her.

  As close as Eloise had watched me over the last few weeks, she hadn't picked up on what allowing my vampire so close to the surface had done for me. I focused on the reflection of the cop car in the side mirror, letting his power fill me. It stretched through my veins, the slow crawl of lava over vast lands. Steady. Quiet. But no less potent. Unstoppable. With mild effort, I slid into the mind of the man gaining on me and erased his memory of me. There was a minor resistance so futile it was almost laughable.

  I delved deeper and let a fog fill his head, confusion came through the mental link as murky as a dirty pond. The flashing lights went out. The cop car slowed down. He wouldn't even remember that he was chasing someone, much less that he'd seen a speeding man flying down the highway. I turned the handle and pressed my foot down harder until the pedal whined at my harshness.

  The bike bolted forward, going faster. Flying.

  Less than thirty minutes later, almost half the time it should have taken to return from the airfield, I pulled up outside the Priest Mansion and cut the engine off. The doors opened and an older man exited to hold them open. I shoved the kickstand down, swung my leg over the bike, and took the steps two at a time.

  “Where is she?” I barked, not caring that I sounded like an asshole.

  The man ducked his head. “Madam Katalin is in the library,” he answered quietly.

  I didn’t stop to thank him or respond; I headed for the staircase leading up to the library and I found what I was looking for minutes later.

  Chest lifting and falling with the strength of my breaths, I stopped in the doorway. My gaze flicked briefly to the metal shutters covering the windows and then back to where Katalin sat, a book in her lap. Her head lifted. Her gaze met mine.

  “Did you know?” I didn’t stop to think of the consequences of her answer. I just blurted it out and hoped—fucking prayed that she had no clue what I was walking into when she told me Arrius had sent for me a month ago. “Tell me you didn’t,” I ordered. “Tell me I have no reason to rip your head from your shoulders.” I wouldn’t like it but my vampire would. His bloodlust roused, his fury rose up beneath my skin.

  Katalin’s book closed with a quiet noise and she set the volume to the side as she stood up. Her eyes searched over me, roving over my body as if she could pinpoint everything that had been done. All that I had been through in the last four weeks. “I didn’t know.”

  Relief coursed through me. So hard and fast my own breath seized and stuttered in my chest, stopping altogether. Though she had warned me not to trust her, the fact still stood—I saw this woman as my sister, as a substitute mother. She had raised me, cared for me, trained me, and helped me to understand my vampire. I released a breath.

  She met my gaze once more and moved forward, her hands lifting as she ran them down my arms. I jerked at the electricity of her power. “Stay calm,” she urged. “I’m just checking you over. I want to see how much damage they might have—” She stopped, her eyes widening as they darted back to mine.

  “What?” I demanded. “What is it?”

  “How close is your vampire?” she asked.

  I clenched my hands into fists. “Very close.”

  She swallowed reflexively and took a step back, her hands leaving me. “That’s to be expected,” she said quietly. “When we are threatened or hungry, the vampire side will take over. You’ll need to keep up your blood intake for a while. At least a few months. How long—”

  “Almost two weeks,” I answered her unfinished question. He’d been in charge, completely dominant for nearly fourteen days. The effects were still ringing throughout my body.

  Her lips parted and she shook her head. “I wouldn’t recommend going back to school in your condition,” she stated. “The hunger will be greater the longer you remain around humans. You may also find your senses have heightened.”

  “I’m fine,” I said. “I’ve got it under control.”

  “Torin.” Katalin’s tone was razor sharp. I paused, half-turned back to the threshold. “Was there anything else?”

  I chose my words carefully, unwilling to lie but at the same time, the whole truth would be dangerous. Katalin was as loyal as she could be, but in the end, she was nothing more than another one of Arrius’ puppets. She would do what he ordered because to refuse would result in her death. I had to be cautious for both our sakes.

  “They didn’t discover anything else,” I said.

  She watched me, and even now that her hands were gone from my skin, the prickle of her searching magic moved against me, over me, sensing for a lie—detecting the rate of my heartbeat, the sweat in my pores. Anything and everything. When it seemed she was satisfied, she nodded and turned away.

  I stepped back into the hallway, stopping only when her voice followed me out, her words just as deliberately constructed as mine had been. “Before you go, you should be made aware. There has been a rash of raids in the local area,” she said. “Minor vampires who’ve succumbed to their bloodlust have been targeted and taken out. Another vampire hunter, it seems.” I said nothing as I waited for her to finish. “Watch your back, Torin.”

  Chapter 10

  Barbie

  “He’s back!�
�� Olivia’s shriek rattled my fucking eardrums and made me want to turn and punch her in the mouth. It took every ounce of my strength not to turn and do exactly that as she came screeching to a halt at my side. “Did you hear me?” she asked with breathless excitement.

  “I think everyone in the state heard you,” I said, starting forward once more, squeezing the books in my arms to keep from doing something stupid. My skin felt alive—electrified. Like at any moment, I was going to start climbing the walls or lighting things on fire. It had been present ever since the night before when Maverick and I had nearly … I shook my head and tore myself away from the thoughts and memories of what would never be. But at the same time, my stomach practically cramped with the need rolling through me.

  “Did you know?” Olivia asked. “You had to have known. He’s looking for you.”

  “Know what?” I asked absently as I focused on putting one foot in front of the other. This day was going to be a hellishly long one. I could already tell. “Who’s looking for me?”

  “Torin is!”

  I stopped so fast one of the girls trailing after us slammed into my back. “Bitch! Watch where—” I turned and leveled her with a glare, stopping her bitchy comment in a nanosecond. Her friend—a shorter girl in a bright yellow t-shirt—widened her eyes, snatched her friend’s arm and dragged her around me. As they sprinted for their own class, the final bell for third period rang, announcing the fact that everyone left standing in the hall was late.

  I looked down at Olivia, whose own expression was shocked. Her eyebrows neared her hairline and her mouth gaped open. “Where is he?” I demanded. I wasn’t going to class.

  She took a hesitant step back. “I just saw him in the library,” she said.

  I didn’t stop to thank her or apologize for my behavior. I turned and headed for the library. Without a mirror, I couldn’t see my own expression, but from the way people gave me wide berth as I made my way through the hallway, I was certain that it wasn’t friendly.

  When I reached the library doors, I spotted the top of a familiar head over the bookshelves. Snatching the door handle, I yanked it open and strode through the book detectors, my feet eating up the distance with remarkable speed. I dropped my books into my bag and left it on one of the couches as I passed and kept going. Rounding the bookshelf, I saw him. For the first time in four weeks, Torin was in front of me.

  His hair had grown slightly longer and if I wasn’t mistaken, he looked skinnier—as if he hadn’t been eating properly. But his face was still as chiseled and unreadable as ever as he looked up from the book he was holding.

  “Barbie—”

  “Where the fuck have you been?” I hissed. If he was surprised by the level of animosity that question had, he didn’t show it.

  Slowly, he lowered the book and closed it. “England,” he answered, sliding the book back into its place on the shelf.

  I strode forward another few steps, until I was right in front of him. Touching distance. My mouth watered. I tried to ignore it. “For a whole fucking month?” I stared at where the edge of his shirt hung low, baring a hint of his collarbone. My thighs clenched in need. With my heightened senses, I could smell every nuance of his scent. Need pulsed within me. He smelled so fucking good.

  Torin watched me with cautious curiosity. No, they weren’t completely hazel today. The swirl of brown in the normally mixed colors was darker, more prominent today. “I wanted to come back earlier,” he said quietly, “but it wasn’t possible.” His arms flexed, and my eyes were drawn to the muscles in his biceps as they stretched the sleeve of his shirt. I licked my lips. He stepped forward, his gaze roving over me. “Barbie? Are you okay? You smell…” He paused, leaning forward, sniffing the air around me, his nostrils flaring and his jaw hardening. “Why do you smell like sulfur?”

  My eyelids drooped as I stared at him. “You told me I smelled like fire and chocolate,” I mumbled absently, fog rolling into my head. Or rather, his vampire had. In the sex dream that had happened months ago. Perhaps, he didn’t remember.

  “What?” He blinked. I took a step forward and stumbled. Torin reached out and caught me against his chest. I inhaled and found myself nuzzling into the softness of his shirt.

  Fuck, what was I doing? I pulled away, but doing so felt like I was ripping every piece of flesh from my bones. It physically hurt to remove myself from him. I slumped back against the opposite bookshelf, panting. I would have crumbled straight to the ground had it not been for his arms.

  “Barbie?” Torin’s eyes darkened as he looked down at me. “You little fool,” he hissed as he pressed his nose to the top of my head and inhaled again. “What have you done?”

  “I-I—” I couldn’t manage to get out a sentence. The need was a raging inferno. Sensing my weakness, it unleashed its fury. My skin was on fire. Everywhere he touched was consumed by the heat and everywhere he didn’t shivered as if encased in ice.

  I tried to warn you, Satrina’s voice filtered in through my mind as if coming out of the other end of a long tunnel.

  I groaned, my head turning against Torin’s lips, twisting away. “I have to…” I panted as I struggled to get my legs back under me. My knees shook. “Go…” I shoved the last word out, but it was nothing more than a whisper on the air. So quiet, it was almost an invisible, silent plea. “I have to go,” I repeated, slightly louder this time.

  “What’s happening to you?” Torin asked.

  I shook my head. I couldn’t concentrate with him so close, with his skin on mine. Try as I might, though, I couldn’t push him away either. I shook in his grip, my entire body trembling. My blood heated, slugged through my veins like slow moving lava. The closer he came to me, the less power the agony held over me. My chest rose and fell in rapid movements.

  “I need…” I couldn’t fucking believe what I was about to ask for. I shouldn’t ask for it. It would only complicate things, but if Satrina was to be believed then this is what she had warned me about. This was the result of my ignorance.

  “What do you need, Barbie?” Torin pressed, pulling me closer, leveraging me against his chest.

  There was a ruffle of movement in the corner of my eye. A startled librarian with her fuzzy brown hair pulled up into a haphazard bun, her glasses tilted slightly to the side as she came to an abrupt stop at the end of the aisle. “Young man,” she said, her stern voice brooking no argument. “You’re not—”

  “Leave,” Torin barked.

  “Excuse me?”

  Torin swiveled his head towards the woman. I didn’t hear him say anything, but I was too focused on the flames licking up a path over my thighs and through my stomach. The cramps grew deeper, harder. Giant teeth tearing at my intestines, ripping them from my body. Though he hadn’t said anything, the woman stepped away, disappearing back around the corner. Minutes later, the click of the library doors locking sounded and the lights went out.

  “W-what did you do?” I stuttered, my fingers latching onto the fabric of his shirt, clutching at him. I focused hard, using my vision as a way to escape the rending of my insides. I counted to ten in my head. When I got to seven, he answered.

  “I sent her away. She won’t bother us and neither will anyone else until you’re better.”

  My cheek turned one way and then the other. “I won’t get better,” I told him. “I have to have … I need…”

  Torin cursed as my voice trailed off, drying up completely. Pressing me against his chest, my nose just under his jaw, he reached back and withdrew his cell phone. Jamming a finger against a button, he put the device to his ear. In the silence of the library, I heard the ringing, then a brief pause as whoever was on the other end picked up.

  “What?” My body jerked at the familiar brisk voice, and I hissed as the action immediately removed what little of Torin’s skin was pressed to mine and the pain rushed back. Torin glanced down at me and then settled me more firmly in his arms, resting back against the bookshelf with me practically sprawled on his lap. Who
would have thought? The vampire hunter at the mercy of a fucking vampire. I groaned again, shame crawling up my throat to choke me. And definitely not in the sexy way.

  “I’m in the library with Barbie,” Torin said. “I didn’t bring a car today. Get your truck and meet me at the side entrance of the school.”

  Maverick didn’t immediately respond, but when he did—it sounded as if he were already moving. His breath coming faster. “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m not sure yet but she’s down. Just get the car. I’ll bring her and meet you there.”

  “Done.” The line went dead.

  Torin lifted me up into his arms and started walking. “My bag—” I gasped as a bolt of electricity shot through my core. My nails sank into his chest.

  “Got it,” Torin grunted, lowering me next to the couch I’d dropped it onto. He kept one arm around me and yanked the strap up over his shoulder before swinging me back up.

  Perhaps, it was my weakness. Perhaps, it was the craving of being close to him, but I let my arms drift around his shoulders. I pressed my face to his neck and my lips to his skin. I wanted to bite him. Inhale him. Let his blood run over my lips. I wanted him to shove me against a wall and unleash unholy hell all over me.

  Chapter 11

  Torin

  Who would have guessed that my reunion with my mate would take a turn like this? I certainly hadn’t. Yet I couldn’t deny that she felt right in my arms. I stalked down the hallway towards the side entrance of the primary school building, sending out regular psychic pulses to keep others away. If anyone thought to come near, they quickly found themselves inadvertently led away—rerouted.

  Barbie nuzzled my jaw, sending shockwaves through me. Though I’d just fed that morning—overfed as much as possible before risking coming to school—my fangs throbbed with the need to release. Her scent was cloying as it lifted up to my nostrils. Fire and chocolate, that’s what she’d said. She was right. She did smell like fire and chocolate, though I didn’t exactly recall having told her that. An image of red silk sheets flashed through my mind—gone just as quickly as it’d come.