Somewhere in the recesses of her mind, she wondered if this was the devil coming to claim them and make them pay for their sins. The Shadow Man was dressed impeccably and reminded Olivia of English royalty she had heard about from her father. Though it was clear his intent was anything but regal.
“And what were you two doing out here, all alone?” The man’s voice was deep and so quiet that Olivia wasn’t quite sure if he’d said it out loud, or if she’d imagined it. His dark eyes flicked to Olivia. “A beauty like you should not be out in the woods at night.” His voice dropped lower still. “You never know what might happen.”
“Leave us, sir.” Douglas’s voice, strong and sure, cut between them. The stranger’s head turned immediately to Douglas, and she felt his body tense as she pressed herself closer to him. “We are expected back in town, and I must be getting Olivia home before her parents set to worry.”
The man moved toward them slowly, his attentions directed to Douglas, and though Olivia strained to make out his face, she could not. “You will do no such thing.” He was now a few inches away. “You will walk away and leave her here with me, is that clear?”
Olivia shook with pure terror and clutched Douglas tighter. His body hummed with tension beneath her fingers, and just when Olivia thought she would scream, Douglas defiantly stepped forward.
“I said, move aside, sir,” Douglas ground out.
“Fascinating.” Confusion and awe laced the Shadow Man’s voice. “I’ve never before encountered a human who was not influenced easily by my people, let alone immune to our powers of suggestion.”
“Human?” Douglas’s voice wavered, and he stepped back, keeping Olivia behind him. “We will be on our way, sir.”
As they attempted to leave, a claw-like hand grabbed Douglas by the throat and hoisted him into midair. Olivia stumbled backwards and fell as he held Douglas against the tree.
“Run,” Douglas gurgled as he clutched at the hands around his throat.
Olivia wanted to scream, but still, no sound came. The man leered over his shoulder and hissed, revealing a set of demon-like fangs. Horrified and paralyzed with fear, she watched as he growled and bit her lover’s neck.
She covered her ears and squeezed her eyes shut, praying it was a horrid nightmare, but she could not shut out the noises the creature made as he drank Douglas’s blood.
The woods filled with a cry of triumph and then fell silent.
A gust of wind whipped around her as Douglas called to her weakly. Olivia opened her eyes, even though she was terrified by what she might see. The demon was gone, and Douglas lay on the ground at the base of the massive tree.
Crying, she scrambled across the rocky ground and cradled his head in her lap. His eyelids fluttered open, and his beautiful blue eyes stared up at her. She sniffled and wiped the blood from his cheek as he struggled to breathe.
“It will be alright,” she whimpered. “I’ll—I’ll find someone to help you.”
“Please don’t leave me.”
“Never,” she whispered. “I am yours for eternity.”
The life faded from his eyes as his last shuddering breath left his body. Sobbing, she held him in her lap and prayed for death herself. “I don’t want to live here without you.”
Tears fell onto his long blond hair while she quietly wept. A shadow flew overhead, blocking the light of the moon, and the Shadow Man landed silently next to Olivia, answering her prayers.
* * *
Olivia woke with a start. Still naked on the couch, covered by Doug’s long coat, she sat up in the safe house room and tried to regain her bearings. They had sex. Sex? That didn’t fucking cover it. Granted, she had only had sex once as a human, with Douglas all those years ago, but it was nothing compared to the combustible experience they shared last night.
Doug was fully dressed and sitting on the foot of the bed with his arms resting on his knees. Olivia pushed the mass of red curls off her face and held the coat over her nakedness as his brilliant blue eyes watched her with his trademark intensity. Hurt washed over her when she saw the way he was looking at her, and the dream from last night came roaring back in living color. She wondered, fleetingly, if that dream had been shared with him, like so many others.
“What’s going on?” His voice reverberated through the closed space. His brow furrowed as he stared her down and unknowingly answered her question. “Tell me, Olivia. Just cut the shit, and tell me. That dream I had last night was more like a memory, and if I didn’t know better, I’d say that’s exactly what it was.”
She rubbed her hands over her face and pulled her hair back, wishing like hell she had a hair elastic. She flicked her gaze to his before looking around the room for her clothing. She stood, tossed the coat aside, and strode in all her naked glory to claim her belongings. She could feel his eyes on her, and to his credit he said nothing, but watched silently as she quickly dressed.
“There’s something you aren’t telling me.” Doug swung his feet off the bed and stalked toward her as he watched her pull on her coat. He invaded her space, backing her against the wall, and placed both hands on either side of her head, caging her in. “What is it?”
Her body quivered with fear and anticipation as she studied his ruggedly handsome face. What would he do when he found out the truth? Would he be relieved? Angry? Her hands balled into fists at her side as she reached deep down for the courage to tell him and prepared herself for his inevitable rejection.
“You—” she whispered in far shakier voice than she’d hoped. “You are Doug Paxton, but three hundred years ago you were Douglas Threadgood, my lover and fiancé. I take it that you shared the dreamscape with me last night after we…”
She trailed off, on the edge of losing all dignity and jumping his bones, or crumbling into a weeping heap and begging him to forgive her. Her throat tightened with unexpected emotion as she watched the stone cold expression in his eyes soften. Confusion washed over his face, and Olivia cleared her throat. She had to explain before she burst into tears like the sniveling, stupid girl she had been all those years ago.
“The dreamscape we were in last night wasn’t exactly a dream. It was a memory.” Her voice dropped low. “More specifically, it was our memory.”
“Our memory.” It came out as a statement, but he still looked at her beneath a furrowed brow. “Are you talking about reincarnation?”
“Yes.” Olivia nodded as he leaned closer, and she pressed her body harder against the wall. “You look almost exactly like you did all those years ago. If we had a chance to look at your family tree, I bet we’d discover that you’re a descendant of the Threadgood family.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Physical similarities aside,” she whispered, “your soul is unmistakable.”
“I saw a whole bunch of stuff when I drank your blood, but I didn’t know what to make of it, and it felt like a funky LSD trip. When we made love and I drank from you, there were more images and memories.” His mouth set in a tight line. “And if I didn’t know better, I’d tell you that for about a minute and a half… I had a heartbeat again.”
“I wasn’t sure if you felt that too,” Olivia breathed.
“Okay.” Doug nodded slowly, dropping his hands from the wall. Olivia relaxed as he waved for her to continue. “If I can accept that I’m a vampire, then wrapping my brain around reincarnation shouldn’t seem so outrageous. Keep going.”
“Vincent, or as I called him that night, the Shadow Man, happened upon us in the woods. We snuck off and made love while most of the village was at the social.” Her lips lifted at that part of the memory. “We were to be married that summer, but neither of us wanted to wait that long, and the only place we could get any semblance of privacy was out in the woods at night. Although, you didn’t want to go to the woods because of the social, but I convinced you.”
Doug folded his arms over his chest, and his face remained a mask of stone as he stared at her fiercely. She wasn’t sure if he was angry, frustrated, or thinking she was nuts, but at lea
st he was letting her continue.
“Vincent tried to glamour you, and it didn’t work.” She let out a short laugh. “That still aggravates him to this day. He couldn’t figure out why you were immune. Although, now I know how he feels. I tried to glamour you in the dreamscape, but it didn’t work.”
“I remember,” he said in a barely audible tone. “Go on.”
“He told me later that when he drank from you, he went into some kind of frenzy. He hadn’t meant to kill you, but there was something about the taste of your blood that sent him over the edge.” Tears filled her eyes, and her throat tightened. “I don’t know how long I sat there weeping with your lifeless body in my lap, but it felt like forever. The next thing I remember, I woke up two days later at his Virginia estate as a vampire.”
“He turned you after he killed me? And you stayed with him?” He clapped his hands and gave her a sarcastic two thumbs up. “That’s great. Nothing says true love like running off with your boyfriend’s killer.”
“You have no idea what I felt or what I went through.” Anger flared up her back as she closed the distance between them in a split second and got right in his face, but he didn’t retreat. “He came back that night and turned me, but he didn’t exactly ask. I had no choice but to stay with him. Not only was I alone and clueless about being an immortal, all vampires are tied to their makers for the first century of our new lives. So I was pretty much fucked.”
She shoved at his chest when he said nothing and continued staring her down, but he didn’t move. The look on his face sent a tidal wave of guilt through her. Did he think she wanted to be what she was? That she watched him die so that she could be immortal and live an eternity without him?
“Where was I going to go?” She screamed and pounded his chest with both hands before he grabbed her wrists and pulled her against his rock-hard body. “I died when you did, don’t you understand?” The tears fell freely now, but she barely noticed because it felt so good to let it all out, to finally tell him everything. “I thought you were gone forever, and it was my fault. You were attacked right in front of me, and I did nothing but sit there like some silly, helpless girl, and my punishment was to live an eternity without you—as a monster.”
He stared at her intently, but if he didn’t say something soon, she was going to scream. Tension hummed in the air, but much to her relief, Doug pulled her into his arms and cradled her head against his chest. I couldn’t save you.
“That’s why,” Doug whispered as he stroked her hair and rocked her gently. “The reason that you’re rescuing damsels in distress, cats, dogs, and the rest of the world.” He pulled back and brushed her tears away with his thumb as he cradled her face. “You’ve been trying to save me.”
Olivia nodded as the tears fell. She clung to him desperately, worried that this too was a dream, and he would slip from her grasp like mist in the woods.
“You blamed yourself? All this time, you blamed yourself for what happened?” Doug placed a tender kiss on her temple and whispered in her ear. “Then I guess I was right…you had my heart before I was even born.”
“Yes, and you’ve had mine.” She linked her arms around his neck and buried her face against his broad chest. “I swear I wouldn’t have turned you if you hadn’t been dying. You do believe me, don’t you?” She sniffled and pulled back, looking him in the face again. “When the dreams started, I actually thought that it was your ghost visiting me, but when I met you that night at the club…”
“When did the dreams start for you?”
“About twenty years ago.” Olivia smiled, hugged him again, and pressed her cheek against his shoulder as she wrapped her arms around his narrow waist. “Actually, vampires aren’t supposed to dream. I hadn’t dreamed in over two centuries, so when I had the first one, I thought I’d gotten some bad blood. When they happened more frequently and only with you, well, I assumed it was your ghost. At the start of the dreams, you were quite young, and as you got older, the dreams got more… intense.”
“You’re telling me,” he said on a sigh. “Do you have any idea how often I had to change my sheets?”
The two of them burst out laughing, and he took her head in his hands and kissed her passionately. Desire stirred swiftly as his mouth explored hers, and he held her against his hardening body.
“The dreams were nice,” he murmured against her lips as he pulled the zipper of her catsuit down. “But it doesn’t hold a candle to the real deal.” He kissed the corner of her mouth before pulling back abruptly and giving her a funny look. “Were you really celibate until last night?”
Olivia arched one eyebrow as she made quick work of pulling his shirt over his head and undoing the fly of his pants.
“You bet your fangs, I was.” His manhood sprang free, and the weight in her hand made her wet. “And I plan on making up for lost time in a big way,” she said as she ran her hand up and down the hard length of him.
Olivia dropped to her knees. She looked at him as she cupped his balls and licked the head of his penis in slow, deliberate strokes. Doug groaned and threw his head back as she worked him in her hand and ran her tongue up and down this cock. He tangled his fingers in her hair, guiding her as his hips pumped faster, and she took him deeper.
“Stand up,” he growled.
Doug pulled her to her feet, spun her around, and yanked her catsuit down over her shoulders. Olivia, eager to feel his skin against hers, rid herself of the offending garment, pushing it past her hips. Knowing what they both wanted, she bent forward, leaned both hands on the wall, and offered herself to him. She glanced over her shoulder and bared her fangs.
“Fuck me,” she rasped.
He curled one arm around her and drove his shaft deep inside. Doug placed one hand over hers, tangling their fingers together as he rocked his hips, spearing into her time and again.
“More,” she whispered. “Harder. God, please don’t stop.”
He gave in to her commands and pumped into her willing body rapidly, but still it wasn’t enough. Fingers linked. Bodies locked. She arched her back as he buried himself deep, and when the sweet, torture of the orgasm crested, she brought his arm to her mouth, sinking her fangs into his wrist. Doug swore as she pierced his flesh, and when the orgasm exploded, he leaned down and drove his fangs into the soft skin along the back of her neck.
The simultaneous orgasm and blood exchange was the most erotic, carnal experience of Olivia’s life, and on a flash of light, Doug’s voice touched her mind on a whisper. Eternity.
Both their hearts began to beat.
Bodies linked, limbs intertwined, blood flowing, their hearts actually beat, and in that blinding, brief moment Olivia and Doug were alive.
She thought this part of last night’s experience was a fluke, a one-time phenomenon because of her lengthy stretch of celibacy. However, as the tiny aftershocks rippled through them and their shaking bodies, Olivia knew it was more than a fluke. Whatever was happening between them was related to being bloodmates. As their hearts finally slowed to a stop and lay silent once again, Olivia wondered what other surprises lay ahead.
Doug slipped from her body, and she spun in his embrace, linking her arms around his neck and nuzzling him contentedly. She knew she had to tell him the rest. She had to confess that they were bloodmates, but not now. Now she wanted to enjoy the little peace they had found.
“We should get dressed.” She tucked her hair behind her ear and pulled her catsuit on for the second time. “It’s almost sundown, and we still have to find the rogues’ nest.”
“Okay,” he said as he put his shirt on. Doug nodded toward the bed. “At least we don’t have to change the sheets,” he said with a wink. “So. Let me make sure I’ve got all this shit straight. As I now know better than anyone, there are vampires, and Pete said something about being married to a shapeshifter, right?”
“Yes.” Olivia nodded. “His wife, Marianna, is an Amoveo. They’re shapeshifters.”
“Got it.” He secur
ed his ammo belt and weapon before pulling on his gloves. “And, apparently, there is such a thing as reincarnation. Any other mind-fucks that you want to drop? For example, why did my turn take only twelve hours instead of two days? Why do you and I dream when vampires aren’t supposed to dream, and why have I slipped into this life seamlessly, when I should’ve had a fucking mental breakdown? And why the hell do our hearts start to beat when we drink from each other while we’re… y’know?”
“Not sure, it’s probably nothing,” she said in a tone that didn’t convince her any more than it convinced him.
Doug nodded and pursed his lips as he watched her take stock of the ammo she had left. She squirmed under his inspection but stood straight and steeled her resolve. She met his challenging gaze and gestured to the door. He knew she was holding back. Damn it.
“You know, I may not be an expert at relationships, but I know when a woman says nothing, it’s a whole lotta something.”
She met his challenging gaze and blurted it out. “We’re bloodmates.”
“Okay.” Doug shrugged and looked puzzled. “What’s that?”
Olivia burst out laughing. She belly-laughed until her stomach ached and tears streamed down her face. All this time she was terrified to utter the term bloodmates, scared that he would be furious with all it could imply, and the guy didn’t even know what it meant. Olivia swiped at her eyes but stopped laughing when she saw his irritated look.
“I’m sorry,” she said through fading laughter. “I’m not laughing at you. I’m laughing at my own foolishness. I was so scared to tell you that we’re bloodmates—at least I think we are—that it never dawned on me that you wouldn’t know what it meant.”
“Why would I be angry?” He put his hands on his hips and inched closer. “Olivia?”
“It’s a legend really. At least I thought it was until I found you. According to the legend, some vampires have bloodmates. If these mates find each other and bond with a blood exchange, then they become daywalkers.” She watched his reaction carefully, but his expression didn’t waver. He was pure concentration. “Vampires that can walk in the sun.”
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