Unbound Desires in Seattle

by Felicia Tatum

  “Pan Pacific Hotel, please,” I directed the driver. Crumbling the note with the registration info up, I stuffed it in my pocket and turned to the beautiful girl beside me. “You feeling ok?”

  She nodded. “I wonder how long this will take.” She was fidgety and on edge. It wasn’t only what happened between us that was bothering her, it was something more.

  Shrugging, I glanced out at the city life passing by us. The small town in Tennessee was nothing like this. We had trees and animals everywhere, but here there were buildings as far as the eye could see. The hustle and bustle of city life was almost overwhelming. Blood scent attacked my nostrils, the small pangs of hunger starting in my stomach. I knew I’d need to feed as soon as we got to the hotel. The driver’s pulse echoed in my mind, his veins calling to me, and I gripped the door handle. Walking was out of the question, there were more people out there than in here, but I knew I was close to losing control. How much longer would this ride be?

  Elsie glanced over, seeing my despair, and asked.

  “About ten minutes, ma’am,” he answered flatly. Why was it so hard to find friendly people in the north?

  “We’ll be there soon, so think of something else,” she whispered. Her voice was so low his human ears wouldn’t hear, but I did plainly.

  Growling in response, I thought of anything but blood. I realized it’d been a little over two days since I last fed, and I kicked myself for not doing it before we left. When I’d first changed, the hunger consumed me, the vampire half of me controlling everything. When we merged, I was once again Kyle, but so incredibly different. Noticing the hunger signs was something I prided myself on, but Elsie had distracted me.

  The cabbie pulled into a hotel bigger than ten of my houses stacked on top of each other and announced our arrival. Elsie grabbed our belongings, threw cash at the driver, and hurried me out the door.

  “Stay right beside me,” she hissed, her grip on my arm tight enough to break a human’s bones.

  I agreed. Losing control wasn’t something I enjoyed, nor something I was proud of. If anything, I was ashamed of being this way, of needing someone to hold me back from slaughtering innocent people simply for being alive, the downfall of my new self.

  “Reservation for Lincoln,” she snapped at the desk, using the last name we’d been instructed to from the boss man.

  A few clicks later, the receptionist handed her our key cards and the hotel brochure. “Room 329, elevator is that way,” she said curtly, turning her attention back to her coworker.

  We rushed on, desperate to get to the room. I counted backwards from one hundred, imagining a juicy cheeseburger in my mind. When the doors finally opened, Elsie dragged me to the room, slamming the door shut as she fumbled with the bags. Tossing her hair to her shoulder, she offered me her neck. “We don’t have time to find someone.”

  Growling in half-hunger, half-desire, I threw myself at her. Clenching her hair into a fist, I pulled it as I sunk my teeth far into her neck. Gasping in pain, she wrapped her hand around my bicep and squeezed. Using my free hand, I eagerly gripped her stomach, trailing my hand to her breast and caressing her tender nipple. She thrust her body into me in response, egging me on, and I continued to drink and arouse her.

  Drinking from someone wasn’t necessarily a sexual experience, but my mother explained that when two vampires who were attracted to each other did it, they created a bond. Elsie and I drank from one another after a stolen kiss in Anna’s kitchen, creating a blood bond before we even knew what it was.

  Pulling from her, I licked my lips clean and slid my hand from underneath her shirt. “Sorry,” I said breathlessly.

  “Better?” Elsie asked, avoiding any and all eye contact.

  “Mmm,” I sighed. “I’m sleeping now.” Tossing my shirt to the floor, I flopped on the bed and landed on my stomach.

  “We have five hours until the festival begins for the day, Kyle,” she warned, tossing her hair over her shoulder as she sashayed to the shower. Her bite had healed, leaving a streak of her blood smudged across her neck.

  Watching her leave only filled my head with naughtier thoughts. Her hips connecting to mine, her moans as I brought pleasure to her entire body. Soon I drifted to sleep with her sweet scent and sexy curves on my mind.

  ###

  Sweat. Body odor. Alcohol. Blood.

  The plethora of bodies was astounding. Elsie and I stood at the entrance, waiting for our tickets to be scanned, and neither of us could take our eyes off the crowd awaiting us.

  “How many, you think?” I quizzed, looking from the right to the left and back.

  Pulling out her phone, she tapped a few times, then gasped. “Last year there were over one hundred thousand people in attendance.”

  Eyes wide, I gaped at her. “Holy hell, how are we gonna find the unbound?”

  Stepping forward, she shook her head. “I have no idea.”

  Thankful I’d fed, I followed her closely and we began our search.

  Seven hours later, we still had no leads. The crowd seemed to grow with each passing minute. Bodies pressed into each other, couples kissing and showing more PDA than I would have liked, and a ton of drunks stumbled into us. The more we walked, the blurrier our surroundings became. I couldn’t tell where we’d been and what was new ground. This mission was a complete failure thus far.

  “What do we do now?” Elsie growled in frustration. Throwing her hands up in frustration, she hit the man walking behind her and knocked him to the ground. He started to yell at her, but one look at her face, eyes flashing red and back, and he scurried away.

  Laughing, I pointed east. “That way. I don’t think we’ve been there yet.”

  She nodded and we began weeding through the myriad of people. Sweat slicked skin rubbed against mine, reminding me I would need multiple showers to wash the day away. We finally got through to a new stage. Noticing two beings on stage together, I stopped in my tracks. Their auras were different than any I’d ever seen, and I couldn’t help but stare. A mixture of browns and yellows with a streak of bright gold running the length of the middle. Auras were interesting to look at, the majority of the colors most visible above the head, but the whole body pulsed in the rainbow.

  “What it is?” Elsie questioned when she pulled and I didn’t budge. She followed my gaze to the two singers.

  “They’re from our world,” I whispered, nodding toward the stage. “But I don’t know what they are.” The entire band held the same air about them. Each of them possessed different steaks, but they were all obviously the same beings. Some bright gold, some a light purple.

  She studied them with me. The woman, a dark haired beauty with legs that went on for miles, had a magical quality about her I couldn’t quite put my finger on, but there was more. The man, tall with dark hair, held the same “more” she did. Poking the person closest to me, I asked, “Who are they?”

  The guy, a gangly band geek with the t-shirt to prove it, yelled back, “The girl, Roxy, is from Nights Embrace, and the guy is Trevor from Lunar storm.

  “Thanks, man.”

  Studying them, I wondered what they were. The auras were a blend, something I hadn’t encountered yet, and being so new to this supernatural world I had no idea what it meant. I stood staring at them like an idiot.

  “Kyle,” Elsie said urgently, shaking me from my thoughts.

  “What?” I snapped, wondering what was so important.

  She pointed, her movements slick and quick. “I heard a scream. We may have found our unbound.”

  Forgetting the band, I hurried after her, using my sensitive hearing to locate the screaming she heard. “They’re far away,” I mumbled, confused. How big was this festival?

  “Maybe a mile,” she advised. “Let’s go.” She swiftly navigated her way through the throngs of attendees, stopping every few minutes to listen once more. Using her fae affinity, she pressed against the upcoming crowd, creating a pathway just wide enou
gh for us to get through. Many commented on the sudden wind, joyful it cooled them down for a moment.

  Vampire speed would have been handy in this situation, but with so many people present, we couldn’t risk exposing who we were. Sorcery magic would come in handy, if I had any that was.

  “Closer,” she hissed. Elsie was in full vampire tracking mode, using her senses to guide her and her abilities to aid. Still learning about us, I’d discovered each vampire was different. While we all held heightened senses, not all of us could execute using them the way Elsie was. If speed were a factor, I would be miles ahead of her, but my hearing wasn’t as strong as hers.

  Holding her arm out, I stopped inches from her clotheslining me, and grunted in anger.

  Giving me a scowl, she nodded to the left of her. “We’re on the outskirts of the center, there’s someone over there using fae influence.”

  Stilling my body, I leaned, listening. The earth shook slightly beneath me and I understood. The trees swayed around us, the leaves dancing to the ground as the branches moaned against the pressure of the wind. Elsie gripped my bicep, preparing to fight against the wind with her own magic when the ground under us bubbled and dipped, causing us to both fly up and land on our backs.

  “Ow,” she groaned, jumping to her feet. “You’re gonna pay for that!” she yelled into the thickening of trees.

  Laughter rose around us, a sinister sound in the midst of the music. “Leave me be,” the unbound demanded. He sounded older, his voice deep and rumbling, echoing off the saplings.

  “Show yourself,” I stated, taking my place beside Elsie. The tumble hadn’t harmed us, only angered.

  Earth fae could control the weather, the ground, and anything in nature. They were the strongest of the fae affinities, and even with Elsie’s wind power, we were going to have to utilize our vampire abilities in order to take him down.

  The sky crackled with lightning as the wind picked up around us. Elsie counteracted it, pushing it toward the hidden unbound as it whipped around us. He growled from somewhere inside the thicket before finally showing himself. Standing taller than me at, at least, six foot five, the sorcerer/fae mix was a force to be reckoned with. His shoulders were wide, his stance ready for battle. His hands glowed with power, a look of sheer determination and anger clouding his face.

  “Uh oh,” Elsie muttered. She pushed her hands out and upward, using air to pick him up and throw him over the trees.

  Glancing around, I searched for any witnesses, and upon seeing none, ran as fast as I could to find him standing from the ground. Disoriented, he didn’t see me coming as I gripped his arms from behind, and held him steady.

  “You’re going to regret that,” he howled in frustration.

  “I don’t have regrets,” I chuckled, securing his arms as I waited for Elsie.

  Fire spread through my veins, the heat fighting to break out from under my skin. Screaming in pain, I released the unbound, falling to the ground as I clawed at my arms and legs. I was in pure agony, the aching so intense I was certain my being would burst into flames at any moment. My body heated, my organs seconds from roasting.

  “Kyle!” Elsie screamed, her voice sounding miles away.

  Continuing to writhe on the ground until I couldn’t anymore, I finally curled into the fetal position, securing my limbs close to my body and praying it would stop. Faintly, I felt her icy hands on my skin, the coolness chilling my inner inferno. Minutes passed, or perhaps hours, but finally I could think again.

  The heat diminished, leaving an overall ache. Lying still on the ground, I looked up at an astonished Elsie crouching beside me. “What? I told you it takes a lot to kill us, but what the hell was that? Was I struck my lightning?”

  “No,” she said, shaking her head. “Look at your hands.”

  Raising them to eye level, I inhaled sharply as I saw the faint glow surrounding them. “What does this mean?”

  “I think you have sorcery abilities,” she whispered, throwing her hand to knock the unbound on his ass once again. She didn’t even glance in his direction, sensing his movement and reacting immediately. Sex appeal oozed from her when she was like this, kicking ass without even batting an eyelash. It was one of the things I’d been most drawn to in the beginning of our attraction.

  Grinning, I thought of the pain he’d put me through and jumped to my feet. My legs were wobbly, the intense fire feeling causing my muscles to slacken. “Let’s find out,” I said as I swayed, grasping her to keep steady.

  Lifting my hands, I thought back to the training Olivia and Scott went though. He’d instructed her to use her emotions, rely on instinct, to tap into her powers, so I tried the same. Glaring at the unbound being held against the tree by Elsie, I imagined my magic wrapping around him, binding his powers momentarily, and securing him in place.

  Only, nothing happened.

  He laughed at me, his evil more evident with each interaction, and I hissed to Elsie, “Call D. We aren’t gonna be able to do this alone. They’re gonna have to take him in.” D was our boss, the elusive man who directed us, but never gave his name or showed his face. He sent people to do the work for him.

  “What about him?” she squeaked, her energy being directed toward the unbound.

  “I got it,” I assured her, feeling my palms tingling. Where the power was coming from, I wasn’t sure, but I had about five seconds to figure out how to use it.

  She released her hold, pulling her cell out and dashing out of earshot. Stretching my fingers, I once again attempted to imagine what I wanted, ending with nothing happening once again.

  The unbound started toward me, using his magical energy to pulsate my body. He attempted to knock me down, misjudging my vampire strength, and annoying me instead. Shaking with anger, my body filled with power, the electric currents shooting from my hands and pounding into the unbound’s chest.

  Once immobilized, I conjured a rope, tying him securely and sealing it with my power, praying it held him, and waited for Elsie to return. “What’s your name?”

  “I’m not telling you,” he sneered. “When I get out of here, you’re gonna have hell to pay.”

  Snorting, I shook my head. “You’re not getting out.”

  Elsie ran over, phone pressed to her ear. “Your name, unbound?”

  “Daniel,” he sighed. He didn’t even think twice about telling her who he was. What the hell?

  She spoke a few more words, then flipped her phone shut. “They’ll be here in less than an hour.”

  “How?” I questioned.

  “Someone is stationed close. They were afraid this one was going to be a problem,” she answered. Turning to Daniel, she asked, “Why were you terrorizing people?”

  He attempted a shrug, but it ended up looking awkward. “For fun. Nothing better to do. It’s not the end,” he predicted. Something in his voice made me do a double take, an honest, fearful tone lay beneath his cocky attitude.

  “Why do you say that?” I demanded, stomping over to him. Lifting his face to look at mine, I asked him again.

  “Because, it’s not. Not all unbound want to become puppets like you two,” he jeered. His voice was venomous, but his eyes showed the truth. Something had happened to make him not trust.

  Eyes wide, I looked to Elsie for help, but she was as stunned as I was. Puppets? What exactly did he mean by that? We were protecting innocents. Humans didn’t deserve to be punished for someone’s amusement. We hadn’t been gifted the way we were to abuse and harm. Some saw it as a curse, but I refused. It was a gift.

  Elsie crouched in front of him, smiling sweetly and turning on her charm. “Tell me, do you know of more unbound?”

  He looked her over slowly, sending a flash of anger through my veins, and nodded.

  “Tell me about them?” she cooed. She sat cross-legged in front of him, bending her shoulders slightly so he could see a generous amount of her cleavage.

  “There’s not much to tell,�
�� he mumbled. His gaze caught mine and he glanced away quickly.

  She giggled and shrugged. “Humor me.” She looked deep into his eyes, and I knew she was compelling him.

  Jealousy raged through me at their closeness, but I kept my cool. Breathing deeply, I reminded myself she wasn’t mine. She could do as she pleased. Feelings were off limits with this beautiful creature, as much as it pained me, and pushing her would do nothing but make matters worse.

  Grinning through gritted teeth, I nodded at Daniel. “Go ahead.”

  “These people you work for,” he started. “Do you know anything about them?”