Famine's Feast (The Templar Book 4)

by Debra Dunbar

  “Yours?”

  Jerk. I wasn’t a piece of property. I was tempted to reply, but Dario spoke up first.

  “Yes.”

  Seriously? Was I in the middle of what might turn into an alpha-vampire tug-of-war?

  Simon’s eyes lingered on my neck. “You haven’t marked her. Neither on her neck nor elsewhere.”

  He said that as though he were accusing Dario of the vampire equivalent of erectile dysfunction.

  “No, I haven’t.” Dario’s tone made it clear that the conversation was over.

  Simon shrugged, giving me another once over as he turned like he was about to leave. Then he froze, staring at my wrist where my long-sleeved shirt had bunched up enough to show the bottom half of my Templar tattoo. His eyebrows shot up and he gave Dario a speculative look before turning those disturbing eyes once more my way.

  “Maybe I’ll take her for myself and mark her as mine, since you seem not up to the task.”

  This time I beat Dario to the punch. “Maybe I’ll shove my sword far enough up your ass to cut your heart out.”

  “Feisty.” A slow smile curved his lips. “I’ll bet she’s fun in bed.”

  “Don’t push it, Simon,” Dario drawled. “She means it about the sword. She’s fully capable of dicing you into tiny little pieces. And if she doesn’t, I will.”

  I smiled up at the Philadelphia vampire and fingered the steak knife by my plate.

  “In that case she’s all yours.”

  Simon gave Dario a short bow, then bestowed a toothy smile on me before striding off. I didn’t watch him walk out, but I could feel the intensity of vampire-static fade and knew he’d left the building. I didn’t need to watch. I knew Dario had my back. Sure enough, the vampire was watching the door with narrowed, hawkish eyes.

  “Do you get any flak like that from your Balaj?” I asked once Simon had left. He’d given his family the hands-off speech, but it had been months since he’d verbally announced that he had dibs on me. It still annoyed me, but that’s the way it was with vampires. They’d never respect my right for autonomy. My value in their eyes was tied to whatever vampire owned me. I got why Dario had staked his claim, but it bothered me, being thought of as a “thing” to be owned.

  So I was owned but unclaimed. It had been months since Dario had told his Balaj that I was his, yet he’d obviously not marked me. Did his family think that made him weak? What would this mean if we went on to have a sexual relationship without sharing my blood? His respect for me, his honoring my wishes clearly emasculated him in front of his family and in front of this other Balaj. I hated that. And at that moment I hated them. Why did Dario have to be a vampire? Why couldn’t I fall in love with a human?

  “No one would dare give me flak,” he announced confidently.

  “Even Leonora?” I asked.

  “Especially Leonora,” he replied. “I know you’re not a big fan, but she takes her time wooing her blood-slaves, and she’s been known to have blood-free sexual relationships for years before taking things to the next level.”

  Is that what he thought about us? That the sex-only mandate of mine was temporary? That in a few years I’d give in and truly become his blood-slave?

  “It’s considered eccentric to hold off taking blood,” he continued, “but not a sign of weakness. Other Balajs are not so enlightened.”

  I shivered, thinking of the way Simon had looked at me, and once again feeling like a dog-toy. Simon clearly was not one of those “enlightened” vampires.

  Chapter 14

  As soon as I started to walk to my car, I realized I had a problem. The half of a pain reliever, plus the chianti plus the adrenaline burst from meeting Simon all added up to someone who wasn’t fit to drive.

  “Can you give me a lift home?” I asked Dario. Hopefully the owners at Sesarios wouldn’t mind my leaving my car here. I had to work tomorrow, but Little Italy wasn’t far from either my apartment or Holy Grounds. It was another thing I’d need to get used to in my new apartment—everything wasn’t an easy walking distance.

  “I planned on it, or at least following you.” He put a hand on the small of my back, steering me to the SUV. “I don’t trust Simon not to make a move on you.”

  I wasn’t exactly the fragile type. Normally I would have appreciated the caring attention, but after being talked about like an interesting dog toy tonight, I was a little sensitive.

  “I’m a Templar. I can defend myself, even if I’m a bit tipsy right now. Besides, he seemed to accept that I wasn’t up for grabs. He left pretty quickly once he found out I had a big sword and wasn’t afraid to use it.”

  “That won’t discourage him, it will only make him more careful,” Dario warned, unlocking my car door. “Grabbing and biting you is more about me than you. It would make a statement that he considered himself above me, that he could take what’s mine without any repercussions because that’s a Master’s right. And him biting you would be a personal slap in the face since I haven’t taken your blood.”

  There was an unspoken “yet” there that I didn’t really like. Actually I didn’t like the whole thing. Once again, I was some toy to go to the highest-ranking dude, used however he saw fit, then discarded. I was a thing. I knew in my heart that Dario didn’t feel that way about me, but I was furious that Simon would discount me that way. Did the other vampires see me like that, too? Were they only respectful toward me because they called Dario “boss”? If I didn’t have his protection, if I was just a random human on the street, would they see me as just a thing? I began to wonder if even being a Templar didn’t differentiate me from the other humans in their eyes.

  I put on my seatbelt, careful to avoid my bruised hip, then looked down to see the kukri in its sheath on the floor in front of the center console. It reminded me of the execution I’d witnessed last night, about what Dario might need to do tonight.

  “Did you not want to talk about the sick vampires because of Simon?”

  “And others. Half the vampires at Sesarios tonight were his, and they were definitely paying attention to us.” He sighed, his hands flexing on the steering wheel as he pulled out of the lot and headed toward my apartment. “Twenty-three. Twenty additional vampires still starving after drinking from two donors. They’re all losing control. Pierre and Michael are worse. They’re begging and pleading with us to feed them. We ended up having to cage them before dawn last night, and they were ravenous upon waking. We tried to supply a donor to Pierre and he nearly killed the guy. Balen had to intervene. They’re so crazed that they’re beginning to throw themselves against the cage bars. We’re having to injure them on purpose so they can’t escape.”

  I winced, knowing what he meant. By breaking arms, legs, and even spines, the vampires would be rendered immobile for the evening. Once they healed, those bones would need to be re-broken before the caged vampires were able to bend the bars and escape. I couldn’t imagine how horrible it must be to hurt family like that, especially innocent vampires who were just ill. But it had to be done. If they escaped, we’d be facing a gruesome string of murders across the city.

  “I’m sorry.” I wanted to say so much more, but wasn’t sure how to word my thoughts. Dario pulled into my parking space and put the SUV in park. We both sat there in silence.

  I knew this was tearing him apart. I’d never seen such pain, such raw emotion from Dario before. He was always so stoic, but tonight I could see his grief. His brothers and sisters—twenty-three of them—were on track to die a slow and painful death of starvation.

  “You really think this is because of the plague demon? Has anything like this ever happened before?”

  “We don’t get sick. Ever. Yes, there’s the hunger and sometimes it gets the best of us. There are times when a weak vampire can never control the hunger but that’s evident soon after they’re turned, and we cull those before their actions risk the whole family. I’ve never seen anything like this. Leonora’s never seen anything like this. Normal vampires are suddenly st
arving even though they are consuming what should satisfy them. There has to be a curse, or something magical involved here.”

  There weren’t many mages specialized in curses and charms who were powerful enough to do something like this. Like Dario, I was beginning to suspect there was a connection between the plague demon and the sick vampires. Which meant if I couldn’t stop the plague demon, many more vampires might meet the same fate. Losing their territory to Simon paled in comparison to this. Dario could lose his entire family. I reached over and took his hand, squeezing it in support.

  “If there’s no hope of them getting better, then I’ll need to kill them.” His voice was wooden, emotionless. It was how he became when he needed to hide something unpleasant from me. “I can’t watch them slowly starve, hear them scream as we break their limbs every single evening. Even if we were to somehow manage to safely feed them, it wouldn’t be enough. In fact, it might just prolong their suffering.” He looked over toward me. “Michael and Pierre…I need to do it tonight. I just wanted to have dinner with you, to see you before I head back to Leonora’s.”

  Headed back to kill two of his brothers. My heart hurt for him. “Maybe if I can banish the demon in the next day or two they’ll get better. Maybe they can hold on until then.”

  He shook his head. “They can’t wait. It would be cruel to make them suffer that long. I need to do it, and I need to do it before dawn.”

  I moved my hand to rest on his thigh, wanting to wrap my arms around him and hold tight. “It’s a long time until dawn. Come upstairs with me for a few hours.”

  It was the closest I’d ever come to propositioning someone. I knew the timing was awkward, but I wanted to be close to him, to comfort him. If that meant curling up on the couch together and talking through this, fine. If that meant a moment of passion where he forgot all about what he needed to do, fine. Dario had always been there when I needed him. This time he needed me and I didn’t want to send him off alone into the cold night to euthanize his two brothers.

  He glanced down at my hand on his thigh. “I don’t think I’d be very good company right now.”

  “You’re always good company. Please. Come upstairs with me.”

  There was a second where I felt his leg muscle tense under my hand, then he reached over to pull me across the center console and onto his lap. I curled into him, pressing my cheek against his shoulder. We sat there for the longest time, him holding me, neither of us saying a word. His hand caressed up my back then pulled the elastic from my hair. Damp, dark strands cascaded down over my shoulders and across my face. I felt his lips against my forehead, his hand twisting my hair into a fist.

  “Come upstairs,” I repeated.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.” I’d never been more sure of anything in my life.

  His hand tightened in my hair, guiding my head away from his shoulder. Then he kissed me. There was nothing gentle in that kiss. It was hard, hot, hungry, as if he were drowning and I was his lifeline. I shifted, trying to turn my body around to face him, but he held me tight. My bruised hip pressed painfully against the steering wheel, my legs sprawled awkwardly across the front seats. I made a small noise, trying again to reposition myself.

  “Sorry,” he muttered against my mouth.

  The seat back slammed down into a reclining position, and I gasped with the sudden movement. Grabbing my rear with one hand and my waist with another, he lifted and turned me, plopping me down so I was straddling his lap.

  “Better?” He grinned.

  I rocked my hips. “So much better.”

  His grip tightened on my rear and I hinged forward, my hands on his shoulders as I leaned in to kiss him. He molded his mouth to mine. I felt him part my lips, felt the hot slide of his tongue as I sparked to life, kissing him back with the same need. My hands snuck under his shirt to feel their way up the skin of his chest while he bunched up my skirt, his fingers stroking their way over my bare thighs, before moving between my legs.

  “Damn it, you still don’t have underwear on. This needs to be a rule. You always wear a skirt or dress, and you’re never allowed to wear underwear. In fact, I’m going to insist you go braless from now on as well.”

  His fingers slipped inside me, and I gasped, moving against his hand. Déjà vu. “But I have some really sexy underwear. It would be a shame for it to go to waste.”

  “I’ll allow that if you don’t mind my ripping them off you.” He pulled my lips back to his before I could reply, kissing me with an intensity that left me dizzy. All the while his fingers played and teased until I was on fire, shivering with lust and eager to have more of him.

  His hand left to grip my rear again and he arched his hips toward me. My breath caught, feeling his hardness even through the jeans. This wasn’t enough, not nearly enough. I rubbed against him and bit down on his lip, pulling my mouth away.

  “Let’s go upstairs and get naked where we’ve got more room.”

  “Soon. Be patient.” His kissed my ear, then ran his mouth down the side of my neck. I felt the scrape of fangs and leaned away from him. He reduced the pressure of the sharp teeth and moved lower to kiss the hollow of my collarbone.

  He didn’t bite me. He said he wouldn’t and I trusted him, but when I’d felt those fangs, there was a moment where I wasn’t sure.

  “Did you feed earlier?” I knew he had, but I meant how much.

  “Four. Just in case this happened. I didn’t want to…hurt you.”

  Four. That was insane. Donors were rationed, but he’d taken four for his own, just so he’d keep his hunger on a leash with me.

  And then I thought of the twenty-three vampires who were sick, who would most likely lose their lives. What had happened? How had the plague demon managed to infect them? What if Dario were the next to lose control, to wind up in a cage begging for blood? What if I never saw him again? What if this was our last time together—our first and our last?

  “Take my blood.” I wanted him to have everything of me. Withdrawal would be nothing compared to how I’d feel if he were executed and I’d never shared this with him. If he died tomorrow, I wanted him to have me both body and blood, and I wanted that experience with him forever in my memory.

  He made a noise low in his throat and moved his mouth upward. I felt the pressure of fangs on my neck, then he pulled away, pushing me upright and yanking the top button off my shirt in his haste to get it undone.

  “Don’t. If you offer again, I doubt I’ll be able to refuse you. I don’t want you to ever regret sharing your blood with me.”

  My shirt tore, my bra ripped down the front. Pulling me back to him, he nuzzled the bra aside and kissed the top of each breast before taking the rounded bud of one nipple into his mouth. Hot, wet, the graze of sharp fangs once more. I arched against him, rocking my hips forward. I was so wet, I wanted him so badly. Could I somehow manage to get his pants off with the steering wheel and the center console in my way?

  “You’re right. We need to go inside,” he said, abruptly pushing me away.

  The door opened, light flooding in, and before I knew what had happened we were out of the car. I wrapped my legs and arms around him, lowering my head to claim his mouth once more as he shut the door with a swing of his hip and locked it with a beep. I stayed that way, Dario easily carrying me up the stairs to my apartment, kissing and fondling me the whole time. Yes, my shirt was torn and my breasts were exposed. Yes, my ass was bare with my skirt bunched up around my waist. Yes, I saw at least two neighbors watching us from half-open doorways. I didn’t care. We banged into my apartment, Dario kicking the door shut behind him. Without breaking stride, we were in my room, my rear bouncing on the mattress while Dario yanked his shirt over his head, then undid his belt. I kicked off my shoes, then paused to watch him.

  Holy… I wasn’t sure whether the vampirism mutation enhanced things, or he’d been that way as a human, but he was perfect. All of him. Even the scars. Even the raised crucifix mark that I’d accident
ly burned into his shoulder.

  He leaned over me, sliding the torn shirt and bra from my shoulders and tossing it into the corner. His eyes were dark, intense. All the emotion he usually hid was right there for me to see, and it was breathtaking. His gaze took in all of me, then paused. Reaching down he eased my skirt downward and off to join his clothing on the floor. Then he gently kissed the spot right above my horrible bruise.

  I couldn’t lose him. “Take my blood. What if the donors are tainted? I’m safe. I’m a Templar. The plague demon can’t infect me. Maybe my blood will give you some of my immunity.”

  He climbed onto the bed, crawling over me like a big cat stalking prey. “I don’t want that to be the reason you share your blood with me.”

  I understood, but that didn’t make what I said any less true. “I want you to. Just…” I remembered Dr. Lee from this morning. “Not my neck. My thigh. My inner thigh. Bite me there.”

  He sucked in a sharp breath, then he kissed his way down my body, brushing his fangs at the very spot I’d been imagining. “Here?”

  I squirmed. “Yes. There.”

  He placed a kiss on the spot, sucking my skin into his mouth and nipping it with his incisors. I held my breath, so incredibly turned on, so ready to cross all of the lines I’d set, burn all my bridges.

  Once more he nipped, not breaking the skin, then pressed his fangs against the sensitive flesh. “I’ll mark that spot for later,” he murmured against my thigh. “When I’m sure you really want to do this, I’ll know right where to go.”

  Before I could protest, he’d moved his mouth between my legs and I lost myself in the feel of his tongue on me, in me. What he was doing felt so unbelievably good. My body clenched and trembled until he had to hold my legs with his hands. This was sex at its most carnal and raw. All thoughts of the plague demon, Balsur’s mark, the sick vampires faded and all I knew was his tongue and the sensations he brought forth. Everything built up inside me, every muscle tensing and quivering, until I let go. His hands gripped me, keeping his mouth on me as I rode it out.