by Ariel Marie
Nadira had saved the life of a young man named Adam a few years ago. She and Teague were jogging one night and she heard a yell and a commotion. She found Adam with two black magic witches who had beat him within an inch of his human life deep in the woods. After Teague killed the two witches, they brought Adam back to their home. She nursed him back to health. While healing in the Olaru estate, Adam came to learn and understand about vampirism. He pledged to serve Nadira as her slujitor sânge for as long as she needed him to.
“What is a slujitor sânge?” Cooper asked, looking around the room.
“Blood servant,” Toma said, smugly. “Nadira needs blood. She is weak and looks pale. Vampires cannot go too long without blood.”
Cooper looked sharply at Nadira who suddenly found her clasped hands interesting. Concern showed on his face as he looked at her. Nicu scowled as she refused to look at Cooper, as if she was ashamed of what she was.
“Ți-e rușine de ceea ce ești Nadira?” Nicu snapped. Are you ashamed of what you are?
“Niciodată!” she exclaimed, looking up at Nicu with wide eyes. Never
“Do not hide who you are, Nadira. Even in front of this human. This is who you are,” Adrian said. “Dacă aceasta este partenerul dumneavoastră, atunci el trebuie să vadă real tine.” If this is your mate, then he needs to see the real you.
She nodded as someone knocked on the door. Adam, her blood servant walked through the door. A smile graced his face, as he looked her way. His smile slowly faded as he saw the human pull Nadira close. Cooper frowned at Adam. Nicu had thought that Adam had feelings for his sister and the look in his eye as Cooper pulled her close, confirmed it.
The bite of a vampire could be sexual in nature. It was common for the donor to orgasm while the vampire drank their fill. Some of the human donors tended to grow attached to their vampires. Nicu made a mental note to keep a closer eye on Adam, even though he would be a fool to cross Nicu and the Olaru clan.
“Princess, are you not taking care of yourself again?” Adam asked, concern showing on his face as he walked towards Nadira.
“I’m okay, Adam. Really,” she tried to sound convincing but failed.
“Do you want to do it here?” Adam asked, glaring at Cooper.
“No, we can step out to the sitting room next door,” she said as Adam assisted her from the couch. Cooper’s eyes followed her and Adam as they walked out the room.
“Now,” Nicu said getting Cooper’s attention. “Can you help us get the bodies from your medical examiner?”
11
~Nadira~
“Who is that human, Princess?” Adam asked, as he followed Nadira into the sitting room, sitting on the loveseat. Adam had always been drop dead gorgeous in her book. His sandy brown hair and green eyes stopped women in traffic all the time. He was slightly shorter than her brothers at six-foot-one, but still towered over her.
She paused before answering, closing the double doors to the room for privacy. She hated that she needed to get her blood from another male, now that she had found her mate. Sadness washed over her as she felt as if she were cheating on Cooper. She knew she wasn’t since they were not bound, but deep in her heart, she knew she should feed off of Cooper, not Adam.
Adam had always been good to her. Ever since she saved him from the witches, he had been a loyal slujitor sânge, even her friend. She knew that he wanted more from her but he had never openly said anything to her. She had fleeting thoughts in the past that if she did not find her mate, maybe she and Adam would take their relationship further.
Now, she’s found her mate.
They had come close to having sex many times, while she drank from him. Not wanting to cross that line, she always got a hold of herself. He climaxed plenty of times. She remembered how embarrassed he was the first time. She had warned him that it could happen, but he hadn’t believed her.
“His name is Zac Cooper, he’s a police detective,” she said avoiding the elephant in the room. Adam nodded his head, not taking his green eyes off her. She walked slowly towards him, stopping to stand in front of him. She looked down at him, noting the heat in his eyes. As if sensing her hesitation, he blinked his eyes, clearing the emotion away. She sat next to him, reaching for his wrist.
“No, Princess. I can tell you have gone too long without sustenance. Here, drink from my neck,” he unbuttoned his shirt, baring his neck to her. Her fangs descended from her gums, as his pulsating vein captured her attention. He helped her up on his lap so that she could straddle him, pulling her close on his hardening length. She gasped, as she felt him between her bare thighs as her dress settled around them.
“Sorry, Princess,” he murmured as his face flushed slightly, knowing she could feel his erection. “I can’t help it.”
She nodded her head. She leaned in nuzzling his neck, and then slowly licked the side of his neck, preparing to feed. She would never want to hurt her slujitor sânge. She could feel him shiver as her fangs slowly pierced his neck. His warm coopery blood filled her mouth as she pulled from his vein. His fingers squeezed her ass, pulling her closer to him as he moaned while she drank. Her fingers gripped his hair as she held him in place while his nourishing blood flowed down her throat. She already could feel the effects of his blood in her system; her strength returned and her vision became sharper.
“Take as much as you need, Princess,” he whispered, panting while he ground his erection to her core. As with any other time drinking Adam’s blood, she could feel herself becoming aroused. She shifted her hips against his length, eliciting a deep groan from him, as he slipped his hands underneath her dress, running his hands along her bare legs and the edge of her panties. She rotated her hips riding his thrusting pelvis, his jeans scraping her clit through her panties. She whimpered, refusing to come as she took one last deep pull from his neck as he shuddered, rocking his hips up towards her moistened core, calling her name as he spilled his seed in his jeans. She pulled back, licking the two small pinprick holes to seal them.
She leaned her forehead against his, both of them breathing heavy. His eyes were closed. “Did I take too much?” she asked worried that maybe she did go too long without taking in any blood. He quickly shook his head, opening his eyes to look at her.
“No, Princess. You didn’t hurt me,” he said, looking down at his jeans as she scooted back a little. He laughed slightly, “I need to change my pants. There’s no way I can walk around like this.”
* * *
~Cooper~
A feeling he had never known before entered Cooper’s chest as he watched Nadira walk out of the room with her blood servant. Pure rage. He wanted to hurt someone, particularly the servant. Cooper wanted to bash his face in until it was unrecognizable. Much less, rip his fucking head off. Cooper could easily tell the guy was head over heels in love with her.
Once they left the room, Cooper made a few phone calls to his captain and Dan, the coroner. The captain refused to release the bodies but when Nicu took the phone from Cooper and spoke with the captain, all of a sudden the captain agreed. Nicu must have used some vampire voodoo shit over the phone to convince the captain. Dan, on the other hand, was all too happy to get the bodies out of the morgue, even volunteered to help transport them himself.
“Adrian, gather Ronin and Khalid. I want you all to go down to the police station and see what you can find out. Get all of the details that the cops have. I want everything, witness statements, crime photos, you think of it, I want it,” Nicu ordered.
“You can’t just walk in the police station and take all of our evidence!” Cooper stated firmly.
“We have our ways, Detective. You don’t need to worry about your precious evidence,” Adrian responded, narrowing his eyes at Cooper.
“The bodies will need to be taken to the containment center where we can lock them up. If the necros have already raised one, they will raise the others,” Nicu said, as a deep moan sounded through the walls of the office from the sitting room.
A
couple of Nadira’s brothers snickered at the sounds, as the moans and gasps grew louder from the other room. Cooper glanced around, rubbing his hand over his face. Toma caught his eye. “This is our nature. Are you sure you want to hang around?” A devilish smile slid across his hardened face as he glared at Cooper, his fangs peaking from under his top lip.
The other room grew silent. Cooper’s mind raced as all sorts of thoughts came to mind. Was she fucking him? Did she mean what she said last night? Rage burned inside Cooper’s chest as he thought of Adam putting his hands on Nadira.
She’s mine.
Cooper’s phone rung, breaking through his jealous haze. “Yeah,” he answered.
“Cooper, where the hell are you?” Sam’s voice came through.
“I’m not home, what’s up?”
“We got two dead bodies, same MO,” Sam’s said grimly. He gave Cooper the address, who promised to meet him in twenty minutes, and then hung up.
“They just called in two new murders that fit the same bill of the others,” Cooper said to the room.
“Toma, you and Teague go with Cooper,” Nicu directed standing. “If these are the same as the others, they will need to go to the containment center too.”
Cooper followed the vampires out of the office at the same time Nadira and Adam came out of the sitting room. Cooper’s eyes locked on Nadira, instantly able to see the difference in her. Her crimson irises slowly morphing back to her normal ice blue. He could even tell that her eyes were brighter and she had more color in her cheeks.
Cooper stiffened as he glanced at Adam, noting the smirk on the servant’s lips, his half-buttoned shirt, and the wet spot on his pants. His eyes zeroed in on the two small pinprick holes on the side of Adam’s neck. Adam kissed the back of Nadira’s hand, before nodding to her brothers and walking away.
“How do you feel, Nadira?” Nicu asked, assessing her as well.
“Better, thanks,” she said, looking at Cooper. Her eyes held a look of sadness before she blinked, and it disappeared. “What is going on?” Toma told her how they were going to get the bodies and that Cooper just got called to investigate two new deaths.
“I’m going with you,” she said to Cooper.
“No, you’re not!” Nicu said sharply. Loud chimes rung throughout the house. The vampires all looked around at each other.
“What do those bells mean?” Cooper asked Nadira as she came to stand next to him.
“My parents have returned,” she answered with a smile that lit up her face as her brothers jogged down the hallway, leaving the two of them alone. She paused, looking up at Cooper with concern in her eyes. His heartbeat sped up as he gazed into her ice blue eyes. She was so beautiful that he couldn’t help but stare upon her. She moved closer, placing her hand on his chest above his heart. “We need to talk,” she said softly. “I’m sorry you had to hear what went on in the other room.”
“Did you fuck him?” He ground out between clenched teeth. He just had to know. The night they shared last night was the best night of his life, and he didn’t think that he would be able to let her go. He pulled her close, grabbing the back of her neck, needing to touch her. Her lust-filled stare hit him square in the chest. “Did. You. Fuck. Him?” he asked again, softer, pulling her closer to him.
“No,” she said shaking her head, her ice blue eyes grew larger, placing her small hands on his chest.
“Good,” he said just as he crushed his mouth to hers. She gasped as he angled his head, kissing her deeper, pulling her flush against him. “I don’t like the idea of you taking blood from him,” he said pulling back. “Or him touching you.”
“Adam has been my slujitor sânge for years.”
“I don’t like knowing that he gets pleasure from you,” he said, kissing her quickly one more time.
“This is a part of who I am, Cooper,” she broke away from the kiss, staring up into his eyes. “Come on, my parents are here,” she said as the bells stopped ringing. “We will talk later.” She pulled him behind her.
They made their way through the house. He refused to let her hand go the whole time they walked through the mansion. He entwined their fingers, keeping her close to him. They walked out of the front entryway of the house, pausing alongside her brothers to find a steel gray Bentley Mulsanne parked in the driveway with a black Mercedes parked behind it. Two large men in black suits stepped out of the Mercedes. Security detail. Cooper could tell that quickly as they each scanned the property while standing next to the expensive car. The driver dressed in a royal uniform got out of the Bentley, opening the back door.
A tall, fit man, about fifty years old, with midnight black hair with a hint of grey near his temples and piercing brown eyes got out of the car. His expensive tailored black suit probably cost more than what Cooper made in a month.
“Daddy!” Nadira let go of Cooper’s hand as she rushed down the stairs towards her father, who caught her as she threw herself at him, squeezing her tight. Love radiated from the king’s eyes as he glanced down at his only daughter. The driver assisted her mother, the queen, out of the car.
“Is he the only one that gets that type of reception?” the queen asked with a small smile on her face. The queen, an older version of Nadira, with the same brown and blond-streaked hair pulled into a bun, placed her hands on her hips. Her pale pink pants suit was flawless on her.
“Daddy’s girl,” Teague muttered, laughing as he ran down the stairs, sweeping his mother in his arms. The other sons joined their parents, laughing and welcoming them back home. Cooper didn’t feel left out at all, as he watched the family. Seeing them together, joking and laughing almost humanized them.
Nadira came over smiling softly, grabbing his hands. “Come on, I’ll introduce you.”
“I’ve never met royalty before,” he hesitated for a second.
“You’ll be fine. You won’t be expected to bow or anything; you’re not a vampire,” she said, laughing as she pulled him off the porch. The queen pulled away from Toma as she saw Nadira nearing with Cooper.
“Who do we have here?” the queen asked. The king walked over too, his gaze locked on Cooper. Here we go again, Cooper thought as he met the gaze of the king.
“Zac Cooper, my lady,” he said, breaking the king’s stare to place a kiss on the back of the Queen’s hand.
“Alin Olaru,” she said with an accent and a small smile.
“Sir,” he said, offering his hand to the king. The king looked at him for a second, before taking his hand in a strong, firm handshake.
“Vladimir Olaru,” the king said, with a slight accent also. He released Cooper’s hand, turning to Nicu. “We need to discuss some new developments. I have much to share with you.” He grabbed Nicu by the shoulder, walking towards the house.
Cooper turned to see Nadira whispering with her mother. She smiled as she caught him observing her.
“We better go now,” Toma said with Teague standing next to him. Cooper looked one last time at Nadira. She waved before following her mother into their home.
12
~Nadira~
“Why is there a human police detective in our home?” her father asked as they walked into the study. He continued over to the bar, pulling a bottle of his favorite blood type out of the small refrigerator.
“El este colegul meu,” Nadira said softly from the couch. He is my mate. Her parents looked at her sharply.
“Oh, Nadira,” her mother gushed as she sat down next to her. “Are you sure?”
“A human?” A frown formed on her father’s face. “Why would the Fates give you a human mate?”
“It is not for us to question,” her mother snapped, looking at her father and Nicu. “The Fates and the Gods do not make mistakes. If Nadira recognized him as her mate, then he was made for her and her for him.” Her mother gripped her hand, smiling. The king mumbled something under his breath. He wouldn’t dare cross his wife, the queen. Nadira’s father may be the king of the vampires, but the queen truly ran the
family.
“Nadira, honey, does he know that you are a vampire?” her mother asked gently.
“Yes, I’ve told him,” she nodded. “We actually have met twice.” Nadira went into detail on how they originally met, her being forced to erase his memory, then them meeting again after the car chase and the attack. Her mother shot a glare at Nicu, who avoided the queen’s gaze, when she got to the part of Nadira having to erase Cooper’s memory.
“You’ve been busy since we have been gone,” her father verbalized. “Speaking of attack, we might as well talk about the necromancers and their threats.” He paused, looking at Nadira.
“While in Paris, I met with the European Vampire Lords Council. The Council states that the same types of cases are popping up all over Europe. There have been at least fifty accounts of dead bodies being found with no markings and no straightforward cause of death. There have also been several cases where the dead have walked out of the holding rooms,” her father said sitting in one of the high back chairs in the room.
“Are they building an army?” Nicu asked.
“We don’t know for sure, but it looks like it. We don’t know how many more they are killing. These humans, who have no sign of death, are probably being lured by a necro, and then drained of their life force, killing them. Then when they need them, the necros raise them.”
“Nadira has already been threatened and attacked,” Nicu informed their parents. The queen gasped as Nicu described the elevator scare and the car accident. Fury lined their father’s face as he listened to Nicu.
“You need to take a leave from work,” Vladimir started. He held up his hand as Nadira went to protest. “We are not going to argue about this. Right now, it’s not safe. You will take a leave from your job until we can make sure you are safe.”
