by Susan Reid
“Shall we?” Gage said matter-of-factly as if he hadn’t just unloaded that piece of shocking information.
Yes, it was information that I wanted to know but I guess I wasn’t completely prepared to hear it after all.
Like a gentleman, he waited for me to climb out first, I scooted out with my weapons in tow and he followed right after.
The large, three-story, white brick and red tiled roof house was tucked into a cluster of many verdantly green, tropical trees, vines, and bushes. A curving balcony was positioned right above the double doors and a stone fountain sat in the center of the cobblestone drive leading right up to the covered front patio.
I admired the house as Fernando opened the hand-carved double doors for the both of us, and Gage let me enter first.
The appetizing aroma of grilled meat and peppers instantly made my stomach groan.
The inside was just as breath-taking and well-decorated, not something I’d expect for a single male of any species.
To the right was a large formal dining room that led into another part of the house beyond. A winding staircase led up to the second landing and then curved to the left, continuing up to the third floor.
Large paintings, unique sculptures, and a small indoor fountain decorated the spacious foyer. The white stone was carved into the form of a nude mermaid holding an open clam-shell with water cascading over the lit pearl inside of it.
Immediately, I took notice of four, young, attractive human women milling around the second and first floor.
Given what they were wearing, I doubted that they were the help.
“What’s the deal?” I looked over at him accusingly.
“They also work for me.” He answered simply.
“This way.” He gestured towards an open room straight ahead of us.
“Really? So you’re a pimp?” I questioned firmly, none too pleased at not only that prospect but maybe becoming a bit jealous too.
He laughed as we entered the open, tropical-themed living room.
Immediately, one of the females met him with an enthusiastic greeting, not at all concerned with who I was and why I was here.
“Casa Bienvenido, Señor Gage. Cena estará lista en un momento.” She said softly.
“Gracias.” Gage smiled. She dipped into a curtsy with a flirtatious, subservient smile and nothing more than a simple nod towards me.
“Why do you have a harem of human girls around you? Keeping the pantry stocked?”
He smiled, shaking his head.
“You know, I could probably wrap my head around what you just told me a lot better than this, but I’m a little uncomfortable with all these humans around —or are they also under your control too?”
“Of course they are.”
“Why? What are they here for? Why do you need to control them at all other than for the feed? I’m sure your looks alone were enough to lure them in and keep them dazzled but they’re going to discover what you are eventually.”
“No, they won’t. They’re here voluntarily and I take very good care of them.”
I glared at him with my teeth clenched. “So you are a damned pimp. Nice. They had better all be over eighteen.” The idea infuriated me and he immediately lost all cool points with this revelation. I was ready to leave now.
Smiling, he said, “They are. Things are not always as they seem in our world. Your words.”
I watched him carefully, trying to see the Jaguar in him. I actually did catch a glimpse earlier in the limo.
The eyes.
“Then explain what this really is.”
“Por favor, Senor Gage, ven a comer.” A different young girl announced from across the room.
She smiled brightly, almost like a stepford servant.
“Dinner is served.” He said getting up. I stood and followed him.
“Your cook wears Versace? How can they be here voluntarily if you’re controlling them?”
“My control keeps them from comprehending or remembering anything that they may see or hear, let alone make the connection to it being of the supernatural. To them, I’m simply a wealthy business man who has employed them, gifts them with gorgeous clothes, pays well, and allows them to live in a comfortable, luxury home as part of that salary. Occasionally, they accompany me out and about into the larger cities to shop and dine. Most don’t have that option in this small town.”
“As I said, a pimp…or hired escorts.”
“Believe me, this arrangement is nothing like that.”
I think I understood what he was getting at but having them serve as his convenient sustenance like this bothered me… and why was only the smell of steak and peppers making me hungry as opposed to their blood?
“You said this was temporary though. What happens to them when you move on?”
“This place will always be here for them live in and keep up for me when I do decide to return.”
He pulled out my chair for me and I sat.
The table was already decorated beautifully with fresh flowers and fine china.
Two long-haired, dark-eyed women rolled in a cart stocked with several domed covers up to the table.
I waited until they served us and left before continuing on with any more conversation, even if they didn’t understand or wouldn’t remember what we were saying.
I noticed that he really wasn’t eating at all. He was more so watching me with the same intrigue that I had about him.
The steaming, seared flank steak and bell peppers looked and smelled scrumptious.
“Already ate?” I raised a brow.
“I had an appetizer.” He smirked.
I frowned.
As if reading my immediate thoughts he spoke again, “I don’t feed from any of them.”
“Not directly, right?”
“Not at all.”
I was suspicious of that statement.
“Then how do you survive? How can you stand to be in here with them and not feed from them?”
“Do you feel an inclination to attack or feed from any of them?” he asked me.
I paused. “No.”
I did earlier, when I heard the scuffle on the ridge but I didn’t verbalize that to him.
He shrugged a shoulder as if I’d answered my own question.
I was so confused.
“Is Fernando the only male on your payroll?”
“Yes.”
“Why are there no old, less than beautiful, or fat women here?”
He laughed. “You sound like a jealous girlfriend.”
I blushed. He was right. I bit my lip and looked down at my plate so he wouldn’t really notice my embarrassment. Then I cleared my throat and did what any other female would have done after being called out like that.
I changed the subject.
“So, you’re a hunter who hunts down and kills Nocturna. You’d fit right in with us. Why didn’t you just say so before? Why the big mystery? We would have been more accepting of
you then.”
“No, you really wouldn’t have.”
“Yes, we would. There’s not many of us left, so we welcome all sorts of elementals and beings and we stick together.”
“I don’t fit in any part of that world anymore.” He replied as a melancholy expression darkened his face.
His words hit home. They were my thoughts exactly.
But I am still a hunter and I will always be a hunter. This doesn’t change me in the least.
“Well, I do.”
He watched me for a long while before looking over my shoulder and nodding,
“Isela, me llevo el vino especial.”
“Si.” A soft voice responded.
I heard the clicking of shoes quickly scurrying away and then promptly returning.
The girl that brought in the food earlier brought back an unmarked, black glass bottle of wine.
She set it on the table next to Gage, curtsied, and immediately left us once again.
He stood up, taking it wi
th him and moved around to my end of the table where he uncorked it, and then began to pour it into an empty wine glass next to my plate.
As soon as the cork popped open, an immediate insatiable hunger gnawed at my stomach. The scent had me salivating once again and I already felt my teeth beginning to lengthen.
What the hell?
Gage poured the extremely dark red, syrupy liquid into the glass, filling it almost to the top.
It was strong yet sweet and enticing, the contents instantly chilling the glass without ice.
I began to tremble, nearly ravenous as the heat inside of me began to simmer with a mounting energetic intensity.
I know it was blood but…
I found myself panting softly, shaking as I gripped the table in order to keep from snatching the glass and devouring the blood in one swallow.
He appeared nonchalant as if he expected my reaction and set the bottle back down.
“Go ahead. Drink.” He offered the glass.
I swallowed hard. The hunger pain I was feeling was more psychological than physical. It was a desperate need to quench something other than my thirst, which I found bizarre.
I wiped the saliva beginning to dribble from the corner of my mouth. Even though he wasn’t turned off by the display and what I was turning into, I still felt ashamed for him to see me this way. I couldn’t look him in the face.
“What is that?” I whispered hoarsely, holding the back of my hand against my mouth.
He sat down in the chair on my left.
The overwhelming desire to fight, feed, and fuck was hitting me all at once and he was no help sitting this close to me right now. Somehow though, I think he already knew what I was feeling.
“Here.” He picked it up and took my hand to place the glass in my grip.
I jerked my hand away and shook my head, jumping up from the table. “No!”
I didn’t want to give in to this curse. Who knew what the first taste of blood would do to me. If there was a possibility of reversing what I was now, then I didn’t want to taint it with the first feed even if it wasn’t from a live person.
I briskly headed towards the front door, nearly running, wanting to desperately get out of here but having no idea where I was or where I’d go.
I heard him right behind me and his hand was already on my shoulder just as I reached for the door handle.
“It’s alright, Kai. It isn’t human blood. You’re going to have to feed whether you want to or not.”
I whirled on him, heaving with intense hunger and desire and trying my hardest to fight against all of it.
“Not human? I don’t wanna drink animal blood either!”
He briefly laughed with amusement and then sighed.
“It isn’t animal blood, I promise.”
My brows furrowed. I hated the foreign feel of fangs in my mouth and the itch to sink them into something.
“What?”
“It’s Nocturna blood.”
Chapter 15
Ifell back against the door as if he’d just slapped and shoved me. Breathing hard to control the growing hunger really hurt and I wanted to hate him from forcing all of this on me at once.
How had I not recognized the scent? It smelled different to me now, nothing like the repulsive and noxious aroma that it had been before.
“You and I were carelessly created anomalies that should have never been. We haven’t really turned into anything new. I don’t consider myself to be one of them and neither should you because we don’t have any of their weaknesses. Nocturna venom awakened our ancestral animas and brought it dominantly to the surface, nothing more. I crave and need their blood to survive, so I kill and feed from them, and now—so will you. We’re stronger, faster, and far deadlier than they are though. Everything about you as a hunter has been amplified to its fullest potential, which is why you feel the way you do, especially when you scent their blood.
It’s almost as if they gave us the means for vengeance when they took the chance in trying to feed from us. I’ve been on a mission to find out if there is any way of ever reversing the effects and just how many of us may exist. But it hasn’t been without extreme risk and danger. Vishinkatura means Cannibal in the Nocturna language. Also, know that this means that you will eventually become hunted by all members of the Ascendants for total eradication if they discover and see you feeding from any of them. You must never, ever leave any of them alive for that reason. They’ll know that we’re slightly different from normal hunters but they have no idea what to expect from us, so remaining elusive is an extreme necessity and our only defense.”
I was on the verge of losing all control to the growing, visceral hunger. Though I was trying to pay attention to everything that he was revealing to me, it wasn’t working.
I held my breath, trying to block the scent of Nocturna blood. The thought of it made me want to vomit but the smell of it was like the scent of a well-brewed, ice cold beer on a steaming hot summer day.
Gage was leaning over me, standing so close that the natural scent of him and his cologne were just about as tempting as slamming down that whole bottle of Nocturna blood.
He leaned in even closer, his sexy lips barely a half an inch from mine and he was looking down at me through lowered lids.
“I know exactly what you’re feeling right now. Do whatever you need to do to satisfy all of it.” He whispered seductively, tantalizing me with the sacred offering of himself.
The ache of wanting him paired with the hunger was an open invitation that my inner beast was begging for me to take him up on. The feel of his warm breath on my lips was maddening. I wanted to kiss him for starters but I couldn’t. I didn’t know anything about him let alone if everything he was telling me was truth.
Our eyes met and locked, suspended in a cautionary moment that I tried to find reasons to ignore. Had he been planning this all along? Part of my good sense wanted to believe that but then again, he had no idea that I’d even show up tonight. He was waiting for me on the off chance anyway though.
My hesitation made him step slightly away from me and then he turned to glance over his shoulder. He called for two of the girls, Gabriella and Anjelica, to keep the food warm and to tell Fernando to get the limo ready for us.
Then he faced me once again. “If you deny yourself the feed, you’ll continue to grow weak with starvation, which will eventually leave you vulnerable and easier to kill if you get my drift.”
He stepped close to me again. I wanted badly to lick and suck on the soft, tender flesh of his appetizing bottom lip.
“Regular food is still appealing to me.” I whispered defiantly.
“It won’t be enough. Trust me.” There was a distinct glimmer of seriousness in his dreamy eyes, which continued to shift between a cool, light-blue to a gray kaleidoscope of hues that mesmerized me.
My eyes change colors like that too sometimes but something about his were different. I don’t think it was just the Nocturna or the Jaguar in him either.
He finally turned and returned to the table to down the glass of Nocturna blood that he had initially poured for me. I wanted to be sick to my stomach at the sight but instead, craving beyond thirst tortured my stomach again and I licked my lips, dying for a taste. It was stronger than the need and want of regular food.
I lingered by the front doors for a moment before finally rejoining him in the dining room. I could feel the curious eyes of some of the girls watching me.
I was glad that he had gotten rid of the blood but the half-filled bottle still remained unopened. I was salivating again and it took everything I had not to pick it up and desperately chug the rest or lick the residual from the wine glass he had just finished off.
“You never intended to help me, did you?” I finally asked him.
He took his time answering. “If you had allowed me to help you that night, I could have.” He replied defensively.
“If you would have told me that was the case and what was going to happen
, then maybe I would have.” I stepped closer to him.
He laughed quietly more to himself. “You wouldn’t have believed me. You guys were too hell bent on killing and destroying to take into account anything that I said.”
I had no reply or come back for that logic. We had our reasons though. To us, he was a clearly a Nocturna and that was all we needed to know.
“How would you have been able to help me?” I wanted to know even though it didn’t even matter anymore.
He sighed. “I could have neutralized and stopped the venom from spreading with my own and then sucked it out of you.” He explained matter-of-factly.
Why did the thought and vision of that in my mind completely arouse me?
I sighed. My doom was my own fault is what he was essentially telling me.
A long stretch of silence hung in the space between us and his eyes travelled the length of my entire body from head to toe.
I did the same, my infrared vision notating the bright red glow of his beating heart having just consumed the Nocturna blood. The warmth and heat was flowing, filling and settling all the way down to his…was he...? Wow.
—Very nice.
A wave of desire shot through me at that realization and it was difficult to ignore when I looked at him. My face burned with dirty thought after dirty thought of both he and I.
The impish grin on his face told me that he knew what I was gawking at and exactly what I was thinking.
I cleared my throat, forcefully pulling my attention away from his groin.
“So, what garde did you train with and join?” I decided to ask since I had his attention at the moment.
His brow arched slightly and he took his time replying as if he were thinking long and hard about something in hesitation.
“Shields of the Citadel in Aldeur.”
My eyes widened with astonishment. So that was where the air of regality was coming from in my assessment of him last night.
Aldeur was a very wealthy and well-fortified city. We’ve all heard a lot about them being very self-sufficient and well-protected by a strong army.
“When did the Ascendants attack and take over your home city?”
A cloud of both annoyance and sadness immediately shadowed his face. Had I hit a nerve of some sort? It would be understandable but that was something that we all shared in common if that had been the case.
