Bitten by the Vampire

by Bonnie Vanak

  Hungering for a taste, he framed her face with his hands and settled a soft kiss on her rosy, parted lips.

  Lucien kept kissing her, needing and craving this connection. He siphoned away her anger, her fears, replacing them with his calm, icy control. All the while his own control slipped.

  When they finally broke apart, Mara looked languid and pliable. “Now where?” she asked, looking like a woman ready for love.

  Lucien gritted his fangs. She wasn’t going to like this, but he had little choice. “And now, you sleep.”

  He passed a hand over her face, catching her as she slumped into unconsciousness.

  Chapter 9

  The paved driveway resembled a small road as it wended through field and forest. Acres of pines and oaks and gently rolling hills surrounded the red-brick house. The leaden sky was sullen and the remoteness made city-born-and-bred Mara queasy. It was a perfect home for a vampire who wanted to hide himself away.

  Too far away for her.

  Near the house was a detached garage, big enough to house a yacht. Mara studied the angles, seeing possibilities. Seeing a place to evade Lucien while she planned her escape. She guarded this thought, knowing he could read her mind.

  “It’s private,” Lucien told her. “In case you were wondering.”

  “Your little bordello where you seduce all your lovers?”

  His dark gaze was steady. “It’s Petra’s sanctuary. And she and I have the only key, in case you thought of the garage as a place to evade me.”

  Her mouth opened and closed like a fish. So much for shielding her thoughts. Lucien gently tipped her chin up, amusement on his face. “Inside,” he told her, opening the door. “Hurry, night is falling.”

  His home was quiet, filled with luxurious furnishing and antiques. While dinner was being prepared, she paced the guest bedroom. But the canopied bed and the elegant furniture didn’t impress.

  Letting her leave would deeply impress her.

  Ever since waking up to find herself inside a stretch limo, she’d tried to quell her emotions..

  Sex with this vampire had left her feeling vulnerable. Mating with him again would siphon out more of her strength. It was too dangerous. Lucien with his dark eyes and wicked hands, could turn her into a shadow of herself.

  Making her vulnerable for future attacks.

  It meant she had to resist the feral attraction her demon felt for Lucien, and fight her angel’s longing to bond with him.

  The closet contained stylish clothing all in her size, but for a baggy sweatshirt and sweatpants with a UM logo. Lucien had been prepared for her. Mara dressed in the fleece, scraped back her hair into a careless ponytail and looked at her face in the dresser mirror.

  If the cultured vampire got turned on by fleece, she was in trouble. Sporting a smirk, she bounced downstairs.

  Mara went into the lavish living room. Sprawled on the leather couch, Lucien studied flames crackling in the fireplace. A glass of red liquid dangled from his lean fingers.

  Breath fled her as she realized he wore only a pair of cranberry silk pajama bottoms. Firelight gleamed off his hard chest.

  Lucien looked up with a slow, sexy smile.

  Ignoring him was going to take a hell of a lot of restraint.

  “Good evening, Mara. Please sit.”

  When she went to the chair, he arched a lean brow. “On the sofa. I won’t bite.”

  Gathering her resolve, she curled up onto the leather. Then he added, “Yet.”

  Mara tucked her legs beneath her. “Be careful who you bite, Lucien. I have my father’s blood in me and I’m certain it tastes like molten fire. Or bad wine.”

  “Taste is always an individual decision. But speaking of wine, will you share a glass with me?” He took a sip. “It’s quite exquisite. Like you, rich and rare.”

  Heat pooled between her legs. Stop it.

  “Got any beer? Domestic? Cheap beer?”

  There. Her plebian taste should turn him off.

  His smile widened. Lucien waved a hand, and the mini-fridge behind the wood bar opened. A brown bottle floated into her hands.

  “Petra enjoys this. She prefers it warm, but I keep a few bottles chilled, just in case she changes her mind.”

  Damn. Mara opened the bottle with her teeth, took a long slug and belched. Lucien regarded her over his glass.

  “If you’re trying to diffuse my interest, Mara, it’s not working. The sweatshirt only makes me hunger to see what lies beneath. The taste of beer on your tongue makes me long to kiss you, and sink my tongue into your mouth. The tightly bound hair causes me to envision how I’d loosen it, run my fingers through it while I take your mouth.”

  Her entire body clenched with need.

  Lucien leaned toward her, his gaze fiercely intent. “And when I take your body again, there will be nothing between us but flesh, and the bond we will create.”

  Mara clenched her teeth, set down her glass. “Sex is sex, Lucien. You can’t mate me. Because there is a monster out there who will hurt others, and I’m damned anyway. I will kill Jones. He deserves to die.”

  “But you deserve to live.”

  She went to respond when she saw the torment swirling in his gaze. Insight filled her. “Why are you determined to save me, Lucien?”

  “You remind me…of someone. The fire I see inside you, the strength, and the sweetness.”

  “Who?”

  His gaze grew distant. “Someone else I wanted to save. And failed.”

  The white light flooded her being with the need to comfort. Insight hit her. “It was another Darklighter.”

  Judging from his widened eyes, she’d hit the mark. “What happened, Lucien?”

  A cold stillness settled in the air. His jaw turned to stone as he stared at rain beading the window. A storm was brewing. She sensed the internal storm would be far more brutal.

  “She was an assignment,” he finally said. “I was to destroy her.”

  “Like me.”

  A sideways glance. “No. This Darklighter had already lost her innocence and turned evil. So I was informed.”

  Icy chills shivered up her spine. “You killed her.”

  More silence. She could sense that the vampire was hurting deeply. He had been forced to terminate a life, and suffered greatly for it. Unlike true evil, he took no pleasure in hurting others.

  Mara slid across the couch. For once she would pay attention to her angelic half and follow her heart.

  “You’ve never forgotten her.” She took his hand, wanting to provide comfort.

  “She was…special to me,” he whispered.

  Lucien set down his wineglass. His hand was icy, and she chafed it between her palms, warming him.

  “She had not turned evil. I discovered afterward I had been deceived. The Society had hired a specialist to flush out evil beings. He lied about the crimes she’d committed. When I found out, I wanted to destroy him myself, but could not. The Society had sworn him protection and any paranormal being hurting him would be severely punished. They banished him, but it was too late for the Darklighter.”

  He seemed so distant, his eyes like broken glass. Mara’s heart twisted.

  “You can’t fix the past. I realized that when my parents were murdered. I’m not the kind of woman who retreats into the past. All you can do is go on, and keep living. Because there is so much more to life. You know this. You’ve done it far longer than I have.”

  His expression thawed slightly as he glanced at her with an expression of longing. Lucien needed her.

  She picked up his hand, gave one of his fingers a long, slow lick. “So much more…to taste.”

  Lucien groaned as she sucked on the digit. “Your dinner will grow cold. You must eat.”

  “I’m not that hungry,” she said, watching his jaw clench. Mara touched his mouth, running a wet finger over the firmness. A new power rose inside her, the feminine power of making a man sweat. “At least not for food.”

  His body grew taut a
s she continued teasing. “Don’t push me, Mara. If you agree to lie with me again, it will be different this time. There will be no going back.”

  The words sounded ominous, yet she felt intrigued. Mara thrilled at the challenge. “Sounds dangerous.”

  Suddenly he seized her finger. Arousal rippled through her as he lightly bit, then swirled his tongue around the digit. “I am very dangerous, more than you know.”

  “And like I said, I’m not a going-back kinda girl.”

  The desire in his dark, compelling eyes thrilled her. His dark curls were mussed and a beard shadowed his taut jaw. He was tall, powerful and leanly muscled. He ran his gaze over her as if she were a doe and he a hungry wolf.

  When he threw her over one shoulder, she squealed a protest. Lucien gave her a light smack on her bottom and jogged upstairs with her.

  He dumped her unceremoniously on his bed and freed her from her clothing.

  Then Lucien stripped. Her fascinated gaze tracked every bulging muscle, each sculpted limb, the dark, crisp curls there, tapering to a fine line at his flat torso until flaring out into the thicker nest at his groin.

  A hank of hair hung rebelliously over his forehead as he watched her quietly. She felt an urge to brush it back, fully see his eyes.

  Would they be shining with desire? Or speculation?

  Suddenly she didn’t want to know. She only wanted to sink fully into the dream of being cherished and loved by this man. Let it caress and take her where it would.

  Everything happened in a haze of pleasure. Lucien touching her, stroking her naked bottom. Whispering words of passion, urging her to bind herself to him. His tongue dragging slowly over her shuddering flesh. A nip of fang as he kissed her.

  Reaching between her legs, he slowly stroked, coaxing more moisture from her aroused body. She cried out in pleasured shock.

  He loomed over her, his big body pressing her into the soft mattress. His erection nudged her slick folds. A sob escaped, but this time she opened herself wide for him.

  Suddenly he flipped her over to her stomach. Intrigued, she glanced up to see him reach for a tube. Mischief danced in his gaze.

  The berry-scented oil heated beneath his expert fingers. He massaged it deep into her muscles, pausing to flick his tongue over the spot he caressed. Mara rested her head on her arms, moaning as he worked magic with his hands.

  Lucien parted her buttocks, slid an oiled finger along the taut cleft. His strokes were light and teasing as he spread the slickness over her clit. She felt dripping with want, aching with need, and she arched her back in a silent plea for more.

  “Now you are ready to take me,” he murmured in satisfaction.

  Drawing her back on all fours, he grasped her hips. She felt the hardness of his thick shaft nudge her tender folds. Lucien slid his cock along her soaked cleft, tunneling through it in long, teasing strokes. Her vagina clenched in an agony of need. Fill me, she begged silently.

  Then he drew back, found her opening. He pushed inside her and took her, hard and fast. One hand slid around her front, teasing her clit.

  Mara arched and cried out as the tension burst within her. He joined her, pumping deep inside with a hoarse shout of her name. As her body finally quieted, she felt him loom behind her, powerful, strong, dangerous.

  “You’re mine, Mara. Forever,” he whispered, nuzzling her neck with his wet mouth.

  And then he bit her.

  Pain surrendered to rapture as he pierced the skin with his sharp fangs. Lucien drank deeply from her, each pull a lick of fire between her legs. Mara reared up, but he wrapped two steely arms around her and held her fast. Another orgasm shuddered through her.

  He stopping drinking, gave the wounds a slow, sensual lick. Trembling, she lay on the bed, still shivering from the aftershock of climax.

  A slight sting was the only reminder of his fangs on her skin. But deep inside, she felt her demon give a last, protesting shriek, and the white light cried out as well. And then both darkness and light were quiet, leaving her hollow and empty.

  Chapter 10

  He’d taken her blood. The delicious languor faded, replaced by sheer panic. Mara felt the forces inside her fading as if someone had uncorked her like wine. She sat up, struggling against the sudden weakness.

  Lucien pressed her back onto the mattress. “Easy,” he soothed. “You’ll be slightly dizzy for a while, it will pass.”

  “You took my blood. You drained me!”

  “I warned there was no going back. Your blood is inside me now and I can track you anywhere. A necessity, after what happened in Miami. I will not risk your life anymore.”

  “What if someone comes after me? How the hell am I supposed to defend myself?”

  “I will protect you.”

  Mara drew in a labored breath. “If I were so damn dangerous, why would I give up everything to get a job at night and work my way through school? I only wanted to be normal. Tell me something, Lucien, did the Society have any reason to go after me before Jones took me? Did I do anything to warrant their interest?”

  He fell silent, searching her face. “Ah, Mara, sweet, it’s not that black-and-white. The Society spares no one they deem dangerous. Only humans are excluded from their patrol. It was only a matter of time before they decided to focus on you. All these years, they have watched, and waited.”

  “I gave them no reason for their scrutiny!”

  “You are a Darklighter. The moment you were born of an illegal mating, they condemned you to be on their questionable list.” Lucien’s jaw became taut. “They have done so since another half-breed caused them to question their policies.”

  She was hunted without cause. The thought panicked her. “And now you’ve weakened me and left me helpless to become their prey? Pardon me if I don’t thank you.”

  “I drained part of your destructive darkness. It’s up to you to harness the power for good.” His gaze softened. “Let go of your anger, Mara. You must surrender your thirst for justice and leave Jones to the human authorities.”

  “That’s not fair! How can I ever forget what he did?”

  Torment shadowed his face. “You must, to find peace within yourself. To find balance. Use the white light inside you to draw strength from the darkness. Alone, each will always struggle for control. Blending them together gives you the ultimate power and will allow you the peace you seek.”

  “And how am I supposed to do that? Is there a guidebook?” She felt close to tears.

  “You’ll know when the time is right. When you make a decision and it’s not based on anger or any negative emotion, but because it’s the right choice.”

  It sounded easy and nice and sensible. She was not feeling sensible at the moment.

  Beneath him, she lay naked and helpless. A droplet of blood rolled down her neck, beaded on her bare breast.

  Tracking his gaze, she saw his eyes widen with lust.

  Mara hardened her heart. “You’re right, Lucien. Of course. I’m lucky I have such a powerful Ancient to protect me, who wants to mate me.” Her voice became a seductive purr. “Kiss me.”

  When he dipped his head down, she reared up. But she missed, her head hitting empty hair instead of his skull.

  Those damn vampire reflexes, she thought, grumbling.

  Lucien rolled off her, watching her like a predator as he lay back and hooked his hands behind his head. Mara flexed her hands, willing her talons to emerge. Nothing.

  Not even the white light inside her pulsed.

  “Your powers will return.” All lethal grace, he slid out of the bed. “You need food, energy. I’ll see about getting dinner warmed.”

  The twin globes of his taut naked butt vanished beneath the whisk of a silk robe. Mara watched, the space between her legs wet and wanting all over again. Burying her face into her hands, she tried to think of a solution.

  She hated this, feeling helpless. Trapped.

  Nothing to do but wait, and escape at the first chance when her strength returned. />
  Chapter 11

  The following day, thick clouds chased across a leaden sky as Mara curled up in the overstuffed armchair in the library with a lurid horror novel.

  The book suited her mood.

  A familiar scent of woodsy spice teased her nostrils. Mara looked up to see Lucien in the doorway. Dressed in a black cashmere sweater and black wool trousers, he looked urbane as ever. Except this time he appeared weary and spent. Lines bracketed his mouth and there were purple shadows beneath his eyes.

  He looked as if he hadn’t slept at all. Not since she climbed out of his bed and locked herself in one of the guest bedrooms. She set the book down and gave him a pointed look.

  “Checking up on me?”

  “Lunch is ready downstairs.” He sat in the armchair’s twin, feet firmly planted on the polished wood floor. “Your powers should return by nightfall. In the meantime, you should eat to regain your strength.”

  “So you can use me as your private blood bank again? No thanks. I’ll starve.”

  “You must eat, Mara.”

  Ignoring her grumbling stomach she shrugged. Wishing she were anywhere but here. Wishing she was anything but who she was. No one trusted her. Believed in her.

  All I have is myself.

  Mara tried to ignore the lump rising in her throat. She’d had sex with this man, let him into her body and into her soul. And yet she sensed he hid something deep inside and would not share it, share himself fully with her.

  He talked of balance while the emotional scale tipped firmly in his favor.

  Lucien walked over to the window, lifted the lace curtain with the back of one hand. “Sometimes winter arrives early here. It is not unusual to get a sudden snowstorm.”

  “Wonderful. Cold and nasty. And you dragged me out of sunny Miami for this?”