by Lucinda Dark
“I…” I had no denial ready on my tongue. My throat dried up. My words dispersed.
“Now, I think it’s time for you to wake up,” she whispered, drawing her limbs away.
“Wait,” I rasped out. “I still—”
In my peripheral, I watched as Satrina lifted her hand and snapped her fingers. The darkness of the dream fell out from beneath me.
Three
Torin
The pain was excruciating. As if all of my organs filled with blood and exploded inside my body at the same time. I gasped for breath. Sweat slicked against my brow. It was never ending. Like a million swords were being driven into my gut over and over. If that were the case, I would have lost my organs more than once. It felt like they were in an eternal state of being torn apart. My muscles all clenched in sync, fighting against the agony as it ripped through me. My vision was so blurry, I couldn’t see a damn thing past the red wave of torment.
“How’s he doing?” The voice was deeply masculine—calm and unconcerned. Any other time, I wouldn’t have cared for it. As it stood, my vampire felt the threat of someone seeing us like this.
My body seized. As if on cue, talons ripped out from my fingertips adding a new layer of sharp anguish to my misery. Fangs punched out of my gums, one of my canines slicing into my lower lip. Blood welled up in my mouth. After being denied the wine rich substance for so long, even my own blood tasted like ambrosia on my tongue.
“It’s been almost a month since his last dose of blood,” another voice came, feminine, familiar. Hated. Fucking Eloise. The bitch. Unlike the man—who could’ve been talking about the weather for all the inflection he had in his tone—Eloise sounded amused. “He managed to hold himself back for the first two weeks of his own accord, but by the end of the third, he tried to attack one of my servants.” Had I? I didn’t recall. All I knew was that as soon as I had arrived, I’d been restricted to my father’s mansion just outside of London, not allowed to leave. I hadn’t gotten suspicious until the end of the first week. For a house full of vampires, the fact that there weren’t any humans or blood bags was concerning. I was so hungry. The thirst cramped against my stomach, shredding wicked marks on the inside of my skin. Searching. Demanding. There was a brief pause as if Eloise were shaking her head. I’d like to see her go as long without fucking blood. “We’ve had him here ever since.”
“Is it true he can stand the daylight hours?” the man asked.
“Oh yes,” she answered. “It doesn’t seem to pose a problem for him at all.”
“Holy water?”
“Mild indigestion.”
“Marvelous,” the man said, the breathy quality of his deep voice showcasing his surprise and pleasure. “Arrius is a genius.”
“Yes,” Eloise agreed. “As I’ve known for quite some time. His son should prove to be his greatest achievement yet.”
“What powers can he claim from his father?” the man asked.
“He obviously still needs blood to survive, though not to the same extent that the rest of us do,” Eloise answered the unknown man. “His senses are much sharper than that of a human. He has some affinity for magic control, but we’ve never tested it. He’s been kept fairly secluded. I stayed with Katalin for several months recently, he’s practically human—or—” She paused. “He was before now.”
“I was told that he was allowed to interact with his human counterparts, is that correct?”
“Yes, he’s attended school with human children and he’ll continue to do so until he graduates or until Arrius has other needs for him.”
“Have you tasted his blood?” the man asked.
Even confined as I was, that comment made my vampire see red. I roared and shook against the bands clamped against my limbs. To allow another vampire to drink from one’s vein was an act only done between mates or by the most trusted. For me, it was different. I’d receive no nourishment from vampire blood because of my human half. Vampire blood was too weak for me. But nonetheless, letting someone drink from me was a wholly different matter. A flash of fangs sinking into my skin as I struggled and screamed ran through my half-delirious mind. I’d rather scour my own intestines out than allow her to feed from me.
Eloise sighed in response to the man. “No, of course not,” she said. “And should you attempt to do so, Arrius has promised retribution. The boy’s blood is untouchable. We don’t know what it could do to us.”
The man hummed. Had I known when I’d been called to England that I’d be forced to endure this hellishness, I might have severed her head from her shoulders as soon as I arrived. This had to be my father’s doing. The vile bastard. My talons scraped against the steel contraption I was tied to. The metal bands wrapped around my limbs creaked as I fought against their hold.
“I am no drinker of blood,” he stated in response to her words. That announcement gave me pause. Eloise treated this man as an equal. There was no condescension in her tone when she spoke to him. But he wasn’t a vampire?
“Of course not,” Eloise replied demurely, her voice lowering. “It was merely a warning.”
“How much longer do you think he can go?” he asked.
Eloise released a sigh, the sound a whisper in the otherwise empty room. Hunger churned in my gut, roiling with desire. I knew what I looked like—wild, nearly consumed by bloodlust. It was a miracle that I could think as I was. A testament to my halfling blood, most likely.
“To be honest, I’m surprised he’s lasted this long without losing his mind,” Eloise answered. “I would suggest stopping this little experiment for the time being. Arrius would be upset if his offspring were killed before he could reach his fullest potential. He does have a schedule to keep to after all, and it’s not like we can just create another dhampire. The dark witch we used before has gone into hiding again. Stupid whore,” she hissed. “As if anyone can think to defy my master and live.”
I stiffened at the mention of the dark witch. Would they know? I thought immediately. They couldn’t. Because then he would know.
“Very well,” the man said. “Give him the first dose then. Slowly. Then send him back to Katalin. I suspect Arrius’ time frame will come to fruition soon. His eighteenth birthday has already passed, has it not?”
“It has,” Eloise replied. “A hundred years ago, he would have been a man long before now.” Cold fingers touched me, trailing down my arm—a violation that made me want to rip her limbs from their sockets.
“After he’s been given enough blood to resurrect his sanity, do what you can to ensure that his vampire will remain prevalent.”
There was the light tinkling of Eloise’s laughter. “Oh, don’t you worry, after this long without blood—the reminder of blood starvation will keep the creature close to the surface.”
“Any word from the vampires in the States?” the man asked.
Eloise was quiet and though the harshness of my breathing filled my ears, even with the lack of blood, I still retained my vampire’s senses. Soft movement sounded as she stepped away and then a responding few footsteps followed as the man went as well. I had to strain to hear, the blood vessels in my arms squeezing and popping like little bombs going off and ricocheting through my body as just another addition to the multitudes of pain already swirling within me.
“Since Arrius has executed the extermination of the American hunters,” Eloise said in a low voice, “more vampire nests have been building.”
“And?”
“Though we’re not concerned with more nests or even more official covens being created, we have started to notice a higher concentration of nests in certain areas. Surrounding witches and other Supernos. It’s like the power draws weaker vampires. The higher the power of the Superno they cluster themselves around, the higher the chance of blood consumption.”
“Overindulgence,” the man said simply. “A true sin of gluttony.”
There was a small, feminine sound of disgust. “In this, I am inclined to agree with you. Overeating for a
vampire is unhealthy, it leads to an addiction.”
“What can you expect from descendants of demons?” Though it was spoken as a question, it sounded much more like an afterthought.
Eloise scoffed, the sound of her voice growing nearer again as she stepped closer to where I was bound. “You and your sins,” she muttered. “We should be focusing on the boy. He’s nearly become bloodless and as of yet, we don’t know what that will do to him.”
Of course I was nearly bloodless. I hadn’t fed in weeks. I growled as the foul scent of her lifted to my nostrils. What the hell did that have to do with anything? The thought intruded a moment before their earlier words finally caught up with my lagging mind. Blood. They were going to give me blood.
Unable to stop myself, I roared and strained harder against my restraints. Blood. I needed it!
“Seems like he heard us,” the man said. “Go ahead and inject him with the first dose.”
I roared and hissed and spit as I struggled. A sharp needle touched my arm and was slammed downward without a care. The pain was mild in comparison to the agony I’d lived in without blood. It didn’t even make a dent in my mind. A moment later, however, a wave of calm settled over me. Slow building at first and then larger. It entered through where the needle had pierced and pumped through the rest of my body with blinding speed. They were giving me blood.
Without meaning to, my body settled. My roars quieted and I sagged against the bands holding me in place. My eyelids fluttered. As the blood hit my system, I was flooded with the feeling of relief. The pain faded and was replaced with a euphoria that I’d never known before. Then again, I’d never fucking gone a full month without feeding before. I felt like a goddamn addict who hadn’t realized their own addiction until they had tried to quit cold turkey. Except none of this had been by my decision.
My mind faded as the voices of the others in the room grew distant. I was falling, I realized. Sliding back from reality as the blood hit my veins. A face loomed above me. Eyes piercingly sharp, blue as an ocean. Lips soft. Barbie.
The yearning that swelled in my chest was far sharper than that of any bloodlust. My heart pounded against my ribcage, as if it wanted to be released from its prison. I wanted, no, I fucking needed her.
Mate, my vampire said. But all I heard was mine. As soon as I got out of this fucking contraption and back home, I was going after her. It was time to stop dancing around what had almost happened between us and make it a reality. When it came to her, my vampire and I were in sync for once.
My hands squeezed into fists. Barbie was my mate. It was a fact I had come to realize as truth over the last few months, and soon enough, she would know it too.
“His heart rate was dropping, but it’s starting to increase again,” the man said. “Is there a reason?”
“Hmmm. He could be dreaming?”
No, I wasn’t. I could hear everything. I could feel everything. I just couldn’t see a goddamn thing. Metal bent and groaned under my renewed struggles.
“Shit, knock him out!” the man snapped. “With the blood, he might actually be able to break the restraints.”
“I’m getting it, hold on!”
Barbie. Barbie. Barbie. I chanted her name in my head. I needed to get out. I needed to get to her. The desire to see her was a powerful force. I felt something snap against my wrist, then sharp horizontal cuts across my wrist and forearm as I jerked one limb from its cage. I hit something and there was a grunt followed by a distant crash.
I roared. There was some scrambling, the heavy stomps of hard soled shoes on flat flooring. Another needle—this one thicker and longer—was jammed into my arm. I tried to use my limited range of motion to bat it away, but the needle was positioned high on my other arm and impossible for me to reach. The plunger was pressed downward and a new sensation flooded my veins.
The euphoria of finally being given blood—the brief bout of power I’d experienced—faded. Along with it, the room and the people in it did as well. But that was fine. I’d be going home soon. They’d admitted as much. Soon, I’d see Barbie. Soon, I’d be able to hold her. I’d tell her exactly what she was to me and she’d have no choice.
Once a vampire’s mate, always a vampire’s mate.
Four
Barbie
I cracked my locker open and retrieved the books for my first and second periods, a yawn breaking my concentration.
“You look like shit,” Olivia’s voice intruded.
I finished my yawn and looked over at her, bleary-eyed. “Gee. Thanks.” I snapped the locker closed and spun the lock. I knew I looked like shit. I felt like it, too. More, it was like someone had put my body through the wringer and left me out to dry. And just as Satrina had predicted, the effects of her powers were beginning to make themselves known. Though my senses were sharpened, I itched inside my skin. My body ran hot and then cold far too quickly.
“Hey, I’m just telling it like it is,” she said with a grin.
“Uh huh, so tell it like it is then,” I said distractedly. “What’s up?”
“Saw you arrive,” she said as we headed down the hall towards homeroom. Olivia sent me a look.
The muscles in my back tightened. “Yeah? So?”
“You never drive to school. You usually ride with Maverick. What’s going on?”
I shrugged. “Nothing.” Except that he was a fucking asshole.
“That’s some bull-malarkey if I’ve ever heard it.”
“Bull-what?” I paused on the threshold of homeroom and she did, too. First term had ended and second had begun complete with a whole new schedule and somehow, Olivia and Maverick had been placed in half of my classes. Torin—when he fucking showed up—was in the remainder.
“Don’t think I haven’t noticed the tension between you two.” She wagged her finger in front of my face. Her red-painted lips pursed in displeasure. “Fess up, what’s going on between you two?”
I rolled my eyes and strode the rest of the way into the classroom, heading for my desk towards the back left. “Hey Barbie,” someone called. I looked up and returned the smile of one of the guys sitting closer to the teacher’s empty desk. He lifted a hand as if to wave.
I wracked my brain for his name. “Hey, Ben.”
Olivia shot him a strange look as she followed me. “I’m talking here, Barbie. Don’t ignore me.” She crossed her arms and pouted.
Lord, this girl. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I yawned again and then promptly dropped my books on my desk and slouched down. Exhaustion crawled up my muscles.
First, the fucking hunt last night, the fight with Maverick, and then the dream with Satrina. I was dead on my damn feet.
“Fine,” Olivia huffed, taking her seat alongside of me. “If you don’t want to talk about Maverick, then what about Torin? He hasn’t been to school in almost a month. You went to homecoming with him and then acted like nothing happened. You and Mav talk to him. Where is he?”
“I think he’s out of the country,” I said with a wince.
It wasn’t exactly a lie. The last time I’d gotten a message from him, it’d been to inform me and Maverick that he’d made it to England safely. Called there by this mysterious father of his, he’d taken a leave of absence from school—electing to study independently or online for the most part.
Torin had been, in essence, MIA for the last four weeks and all Maverick and I had gotten were a few text messages and even fewer phone calls. The dreams I’d had with his vampire had dried up and we hadn’t even broached the subject of what we’d nearly done in the back of his SUV all those months ago.
“It’s his senior year,” Olivia said. “I can’t believe he’s not even here for it. Is he still going on the school’s spring break field trip?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“It’s coming up in a few weeks,” she said. “He better be prepared. Do you have your passport?”
I nodded. “Beth got me one.”
She smiled.
“This is so totally exciting. Last year, the seniors went to Canada. Bor-ing,” she groaned. “But this year, we’re going to Italy.” She perked up. “God, I can’t wait. I’ve heard Italian men are sexy.”
“What happened to Ryan?” I asked absently as I searched my bag for a pen and pulled it and a notebook out.
She waved her hand. “He got transferred to a new school, can you believe it? It so sucks. He was amazing in bed. It’s true what they say, artists make the best lovers. They’re great with their hands.”
“Uh huh.” I chewed on the end of my pen.
“What about you?”
“What about me?” I stopped chewing and dropped my pen against my notebook as the homeroom teacher entered, her arms full of papers and books. The final bell rang just seconds after Mrs. Hilburn stumbled through the door.
Olivia lowered her voice and leaned closer. “Well, you went to homecoming with Torin,” she repeated. “I mean, I know how that turned out...” She at least had the grace to grimace, but I rolled my eyes. Rachel was old news. I probably should have felt some measure of sympathy for her, but after seeing her nearly rip Maverick’s heart from his chest, I just didn’t have it in me. She was lucky that she’d been declared insane and would spend the rest of her days in a closely monitored psych ward in a very posh hospital somewhere in Sweden, paid for by her parents. “Give me some details. Has anything official happened between the two of you?” Olivia finished, drawing my attention back to the conversation.
