by Maya Nicole
"You said you were taking me somewhere special." I stayed close to him, chills running down my spine as we went farther and farther into the forbidden area.
"I can't believe you and your brothers have never explored this." Val squeezed my hand as we came to a metal door. My eyes widened as he turned the handle and it squeaked open like it hadn't been used in forever. "Look what you've been missing."
The door opened into a large atrium that was full of weeds and vines. Several glass panes in the ceiling were broken.
I planted my feet firmly on the ground and refused to budge. "I'm not going in there," I whisper-screamed at him.
He turned and smirked at me. "I'll protect you."
I rolled my eyes and let him lead me through the door and into the abandoned atrium. "I wonder why this section of the castle is abandoned. My mother wouldn't tell me."
"My father told me that a blood oath was broken here." He led me past a large broken fountain in the middle to a blanket and picnic basket laid out. Unlit candles were spread along the floor.
"What's this?" I couldn't stop the smile from spreading across my face. "We aren't performing a ritualistic sacrifice, are we?"
He pulled a fire starter from his pocket and lit a candle. "I could arrange that, if that's something you're interested in."
I sat down on the blanket and watched as he used the first candle he had lit to light the others. The glow from them cast eerie shadows around the room.
He sat down next to me and pulled me against him. "Happy anniversary, mi amor." He kissed my temple and then pulled a bottle of champagne from the basket.
My heart fluttered. I didn't know how I had gotten so lucky.
"Do you remember that night in the atrium?" I played with the hair at his neck as he ran his tongue along mine.
"Mmm hmm." His fangs scraped against the sensitive skin at the base of my neck and I shivered, my nipples hardening against his chest.
A movement to our left caught my attention. A pair of eyes, nostrils, and ears stared back at us from just on top of the water. I clung onto Val and he turned to look at the bloat of hippopotamuses that were appearing as if out of nowhere.
"Chingado," Val muttered, moving me behind him. "Hello, Regina."
The hippo at the front of the bloat huffed and water sprayed toward us. I had seen hippo shifters before, but never this close. They were huge, which was always the complete opposite when they weren't in animal form.
"Maybe we should just head back. Let them be."
With a splash, the hippo, whose name was apparently Regina, shifted, revealing a pissed-off woman with dark brown hair. From what I could see of her, she was petite and busty. Her breasts were almost as large as the woman from the porno we had seen.
"Val. Who is this?" I rolled my eyes at her snotty tone. "You said you'd be back."
Very subtly, Val started moving backward. What had he done to this woman and why did I suddenly want to punch her in the tit?
"It's been a long time, Regina. Centuries and centuries. The last time I saw you, I was barely a man. But yes, here I am now. Unfortunately, I am no longer available." He held his arms out to his sides and raised his shoulders. "We'll just be going now."
I opened my mouth to say something but was grabbed from behind and yanked toward the shore just as Regina shifted back and lunged for Val.
"Swim!" Amari pushed me in the direction of the shore and swam back toward Val.
I wasn't a fool, so I swam. I hadn't realized we had drifted about forty yards out. I stopped when Nico swam past. "Go!" he shouted.
I made it to the shore and stood there naked and tried to make out what was happening in the water, but there was so much splashing.
Finally spotting Val, I covered my mouth with my hands as two hippos charged after him. I didn't see Amari or Nico anywhere.
"Here." Kage appeared next to me and took off his shirt, handing it over. I slipped it on; it barely fell past my ass. "What happened?"
"She knew Val and didn't like that he didn't come back."
Kage rubbed his forehead and shook his head. "Pissing off a hippo is never a good idea. Did you know they can open their mouths one-hundred and fifty degrees wide? That's why they’re so good at blow jobs." I shot him a look. "I m-mean, so I h-hear."
Just as I refocused my attention on the lake, I spotted Nico's squirrel floating on top of the water. "What the..." Amari's green eyes flashed in the faint light of the moon. Nico was on top of Amari's panther's head.
Things got hectic as guards down the shoreline came to help. I couldn't even tell what was happening. "Where's Raphael?"
"Grumbled about being summoned and had to go back to Earth. Said he would find us when he got back." He watched the water in front of us with a slightly open mouth. Small gasps left him as bodies clashed in the water.
The splashing stopped and the two groups separated from each other. I met Nico and Amari at the edge of the water as they carried Val out and laid him on the sand. He was a bloody mess and had a chunk missing from his leg.
"He needs blood." Amari ripped off his shirt and held it to the gaping wound on Val's thigh. He pulled a knife from his belt and handed it to Nico. "Cut my wrist."
I kneeled next to him and took over holding the shirt to the wound. It was already starting to soak through. Raphael should have been there to heal him.
"Wait! Cut my wrist!" I held out my arm. "I don't know what it will do to him, but Raphael isn't here to heal his leg."
Nico shook his head but then sliced across my wrist anyway. Amari replaced the shirt I was holding with another one someone had given him.
I held my wrist to Val's mouth. The blood just dripped onto his lips and down the side of his face. I grabbed his cheeks between my fingers and squeezed, opening his lips. "Come on, drink, you stubborn bastard."
Kage kneeled at Val's head and pried his mouth open, allowing my blood to drip fully into his mouth. Val groaned, and then it was like his vampire sixth-sense kicked in and he grabbed onto my arm and roughly pulled me toward him.
His fangs sank into my wrist and I whimpered, but didn't pull away. The idiot had gone too long without drinking.
"The bleeding is stopping." Amari sounded relieved.
Val suddenly shot up from the ground, sinking his teeth into my neck. I shrieked, but waved off Amari and Nico when they looked like they were going to pull him off.
My muscles were tense as I felt my blood being sucked from my vein. It was nothing like when he had drank from my thigh. This was animalistic and fueled by hunger.
"Val, that's enough." I grabbed a fist full of his hair and pulled at him. I was starting to feel dizzy. "Val, stop!"
I fell back onto my ass as he was ripped from me and laid there looking up at the sky. I blinked several times. It had to be the blood loss, but I could swear the sky was dark blue and not black.
Chapter 12
Samara
I moaned, my head throbbing, as the smell of food woke me from sleep. I rolled onto my side to find Nico watching me. He gave me a tight smile before bringing his hand to my cheek.
"Is Val okay?"
"He almost sucked you dry and the first thing out of your mouth is if he's okay?" He rolled his eyes.
"Well, is he?"
He grunted. "His leg is healed, but he attacked Amari. We tied him to a tree."
"He hadn't been eating..."
"Well, he is now." Nico rolled onto his back. "The sky was a weird color last night." My stomach dropped. I thought I had just been seeing things from the blood loss. "And there haven't been any storms. That's odd, don't you think?"
I didn't say anything, because I didn't need to. I traced my fingers over the squirrel tattoo on his arm.
He turned toward me. "I'm scared I'm going to lose you. There are too many variables that are uncertain."
I didn't meet his eyes and instead ran my nail over each and every line of his tattoo. "We've been alive for a long time, Nico."
"What d
oes that have to do with anything?"
"Humans on Earth live about eighty years. Why do we live so much longer?" I tapped a finger on my lips.
He scoffed. "Because we are better than them. Whoever created this place might have thought we were doomed from the beginning, but we thrive."
"Some of us. Others don't. And for what purpose? To battle it out over a stupid chair and piece of metal on our head?" I finally met his eyes which were looking at me with concern. "Don't look at me like I'm crazy."
"I'm not. What exactly are you trying to say?"
"Life is long. Why run when shit gets rough? We might die tomorrow, but we've already had our fair share of time."
He grabbed my wrist and brought my hand to his lips. "Not enough time with each other."
The flap of the tent opened, and Amari stuck his head in. "He's awake."
Nico jumped up and rushed out after Amari. I stood to follow but was still dressed in just Kage's shirt. I quickly grabbed a pair of pants out of my bag and pulled them on.
Val was tied to a tree and wasn't happy about it. His features that had seemed older the night before were now back to normal.
As I approached, I could tell he wasn't back to normal. His eyes were dark, and once I was close enough, they landed on me. His fangs came out and he hissed.
"Val?" I took a few tentative steps forward before Amari stopped me.
"He's experiencing bloodlust. This has happened a few times before. We just need to wait it out." Amari put his hand on my shoulder. "You need to stay away. He's been asking for you. That means he wants your blood."
"Shit." I squeezed my eyes shut. "How long does it last?"
"Depends. The longest he's told me it's lasted is a week." He frowned. "It must have been before me."
Not once in our one year together had he mentioned experiencing bloodlust. Most vampires could control their urges. Those that couldn't were locked away or killed.
"Let me see her." Val's voice was distorted from his fangs protruding from his mouth. I tried to look around Amari's broad chest, but he stopped me, shaking his head. "You can't keep me from her! She's mine!"
I heard a grunt and then a moan. "Shut the fuck up, bloodsucker." Nico had punched him.
"Go. Kage is around somewhere. We're going to leave shortly."
"But what about Raphael?"
"He said he didn't know when he'd be back, and when he returned, he'd find us. He said something about being able to tell where you are. Do you know anything about that?" Amari raised his eyebrows and backed me away and toward the camp.
"I'm done trying to figure things out. It makes my head hurt." As I spoke, he turned me to face the camp and gave me a little swat on my ass. "Really, Amari?"
I looked over my shoulder and he grinned. "I couldn't resist."
We were almost to the village my people lived in and there was no sign of Raphael and no change in Val's state. I rode near the front with Kage while Amari and Nico rode at the back with Val.
He was tied up tightly by ropes and both men had ahold of the ropes tied to him. I had to hand it to Val, he had good balance to stay on the horse without holding on.
"Who else lives in this village besides dream demons?" Kage had been quiet most of the way.
"Incubi, succubi, some elementals, quite a few nulls."
"Nulls? They're accepted here?" He sounded surprised. Most villages either treated nulls like shit or didn't allow them at all.
"They are fed on here, but do so willingly and are held in high regard." It was hard to explain to an outsider.
"D-do we need to w-w-worry?" I could hear the panic in his voice. The last thing he needed was a dream demon feeding off his fears and causing him nightmares.
I had been thinking about how best to approach this without hurting the guards and my men. I would be safe, but the others were fair game by coming here with me. They would leave me alone, hopefully.
I had been thinking a lot about their safety. This was my battle, not theirs. "I want to go in alone."
"You what?" He raised his voice and I nearly fell off the horse.
"Shhh!" I cut him a look over my shoulder and made sure no one could hear us. "Can you imagine these men around succubi? You thought Riley was a lot, but she is a baby compared to the women and men here that feed off lust."
"Is it the guards you're worried about, or us?"
I bit the inside of my cheek. I decided to change the subject. "I'm glad you’re feeling more comfortable around us."
He laughed. "My stutter is still there. I just feel relaxed right now with you."
"Are you normally never relaxed?"
"Not often," he admitted.
In the distance, I could make out the first houses of the village. I stopped our little caravan and turned my horse to face the others.
"I need to go in alone." Nico and Amari glanced at each other. They were unable to get to me with Val situated between them. "It's too risky taking all of you in there with me. They won't hurt me."
"You can't know that for sure," one of the guards said. "Take the brownie in with you as a precaution."
I looked over my shoulder at Kage, who nodded. He could stay invisible and would be safe. "Fine. If I'm not back by breakfast, then you can come get me."
Before Amari and Nico could stop me, I took off with Kage. He had gone invisible so no one would see two of us approach.
I just hoped I wasn't making an epically big mistake going in without the others.
I sat at the long dining table in my cousin's house. He was much older than me, by centuries, and was one of three dream demons left from our family. Reve and Taylor were the other two. There were other families, but ours had long had the most power.
"You're here because you need my help to do what exactly?" His wife sat next to him, regarding me with a slight tilt to the head. She was a succubus and made me feel uneasy about having Kage with me.
"The Infernal Council is plagued by men who have ulterior motives. I want to put together a whole new council." I sat up a little straighter. "I also think it's time to vote to get rid of the monarchy."
Raymond threw his head back and laughed. "No one will ever go for that. Who is sitting on the throne right now?"
"No one." I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Taylor is still alive."
Raymond nearly choked on his food. "I searched for him. He was nowhere to be found. This changes things."
I narrowed my eyes. "What do you mean?"
He shifted in his seat. "When did Reve denounce the thrown?"
"A few weeks ago... in front of the council."
He shook his head. "He left Inferna, didn't he? When?"
I wasn't sure. "It had to have been centuries ago. He was held prisoner by Lilith for a while, then she sent him to kill Lucifer and he helped sever the hold she had over him."
"If he left Inferna then it's possible his powers slowly started transferring to Taylor since Reve doesn't have a son. If he came back and renounced the throne, it is possible that Taylor already has the alpha powers because they certainly didn't pass to me."
I stood abruptly. "He's been creating vacants. Is that an alpha power?"
It went so silent, I could hear Kage breathing. I quickly sat down and shoved food in my mouth, chewing loudly in a completely unladylike way.
My cousin's wife, Darcy, narrowed her eyes on me and then looked in the direction I knew Kage was standing.
Fuck a hippo.
"Are you sure they're vacants and not something else?" Raymond looked confused. "If he can suck all the light out of them through a dream or vision, then he is more powerful than any dream demon ever was. Have you been in contact with Reve? Does he have his powers still?"
I kept my eyes on Darcy and considered how much to tell him. He was family, but also someone I hadn't been around much. "They're vacants. I've seen them up close. As for Reve, he still has his powers. They are dulled a bit on Earth though."
He folded his hands on the table. "If I
give you some of our men and you take them to the castle, then what? They get turned into vacants?" He shook his head. "I can't take that risk."
I frowned. "I would only need them to fix the mess the council has made."
"And what is Taylor up to? He's not trying to take his place as the now rightful king?" He crossed his arms over his chest.
Darcy had gone back to eating her food, but I was worried she knew someone was with me. If she said anything then I was certain my cousin wouldn't send men with me.
"He's headed north. We don't know why. We want to deal with the council then go after him."
"We?"
I sat up straighter. "Me and my men."
This caught Darcy's attention. "As in your lovers?"
"Honey, leave the girl alone," Raymond warned. "Not everyone has a harem like you."
She laughed. "Powerful women need powerful men to support them."
I took a long drink of my wine. "Where are your other men?"
"They come and go. Just like yours. Sometimes one is with me, like you have with you now. Sometimes all of them are with me."
Raymond didn't seem to notice what she had said. He cocked his head slightly. "Are you bonded with them?"
"Bonded with them?"
"It's like a mate bond but done through a blood oath. It increases your power. You have come into your power, right?"
We didn't exactly advertise that the only daughter to the king was a null. Although, now I wondered if it had something to do with my mother being hit by lightning when she was pregnant with me.
"Of course." They didn't need to know that my power involved weird healing abilities while I slept and who knew what else. "Are you bonded to all of yours?"
"All five. Five to keep me balanced. How many do you have?"
My eyes widened. Despite being nervous around her, Darcy was a fountain of information without even realizing it. "Five."
"And they all found you around the same time?"
"Two of them I already knew." I wanted to know more, but if I didn't stop the conversation I might say more than I wanted to. I turned back to my cousin. "Will you let me borrow some of your men?"
