Dead Girl Walking (Barbie: The Vampire Hunter Book 2)

by Lucinda Dark

  “What does that mean?” Maverick regarded me with suspicion, but I could already feel the anger inside him dissipating. The irritation and wariness was still there, but his muscles were loosening, the rage falling away in the face of my words.

  “The word aegis translates to ‘protection.’ It’s like a warding. I’ve heard that it’s mostly used for other vampires, though. Since vampires can’t usually have children, they can’t have families. This is a substitute for that. Transferring blood is like adopting you. My vampire now sees you as a part of him and will therefore have more of an urge to protect than he does to kill. I only knew it could happen with a human because I saw Katalin do it once with one of her favorite servants.”

  “Were there any ill effects?” he asked.

  I shook my head. There hadn’t been, but there also hadn’t been much of a chance to see the long-term consequences because she’d been ordered to dispose of the servant not long afterwards. I shuddered to recall Katalin’s face the night she came back from killing her lover. Coated in blood and colder than I’d ever seen. She’d locked herself away for weeks and Eloise had been forced to send human after human into Katalin’s rooms until she’d finally cracked and fed—killing three in quick succession. We hadn’t talked about it then, but I was sure Arrius had been the one to give that particular order.

  “So, what does this mean now?”

  I refocused my attention on Maverick. “We’re good,” I announced. “It shouldn’t cause any disturbance with the medallion.” I unfolded my arms to gesture towards the covered object against his chest with a grimace.

  Maverick grew quiet, staring at me from across the room. “Did you really need to control me to do that?” he demanded.

  I shrugged. No, perhaps not. But I also couldn’t risk that he’d turn the option down. That and my vampire quite liked making him feel a bit powerless in the face of what he’d done with Barbie. It was a small bit of revenge, childish as I knew it was.

  Maverick made a small noise in the back of his throat and turned away. I watched him as he strode across the room and paused with his hand on the doorknob. “Don’t do it again,” he said, low enough that I knew the words were difficult for him to say. Because they were a request, not an order. “If we’re going to be working together, being with her—together—then we have to trust each other. Don’t ever take the option from me again, Torin. Or you won’t like the consequences.”

  I didn’t answer, but I’d already resigned myself. He was no longer separate, no longer torn between the two worlds—the human and supernatural. Even if he hadn’t made his choice to take the medallion from Esperanza, what I’d just done had sealed his fate. I closed my eyes and leaned back.

  Brother of mine.

  Blood of my blood.

  And so we were bound.

  Master and Aegis.

  Thirty-Seven

  Barbie

  I stood at the gateway to Hell. Okay … maybe not literally, but it sure fucking felt like I was about to meet the devil. I glanced up as voices drifted toward me in passing from down the hallway. Olivia’s cherry red hair was the first thing I saw and for a moment, I thought about calling out to her. Then I saw the guy at her side—the one she’d been talking with. It was Ben. The guy who’d asked me about her and it looked like he’d taken my suggestion to come on the school trip.

  I watched silently as Olivia paused, turning her face up towards him, laughing at something he’d said. For some reason, it sent a pang through my heart. In another life, I could’ve been her. If my parents had been normal. If they’d left well enough alone and hadn’t devoted their lives to finding the creatures of the night and hunting them down—if they hadn’t trained me to be the hunter I was…

  So many fucking ifs, so little time.

  The door in front of me opened and a pair of steady hazel eyes stared down at me. “You going to stand out here all night or are you going to come in?” Torin asked. “You’ve been out here for the last ten minutes.”

  “How the fuck do you know that?” I asked.

  “I can scent you,” he replied before turning to look Olivia’s way. “What are you doing out here anyway?”

  “Just debating on which theme song to use as my knock,” I retorted dryly, pushing past him to the middle of the room. I glanced around, noting the empty space. A four poster bed was across the small sitting room, but there was no one else but the two of us. “Where’s Maverick?”

  “He already stopped by,” Torin answered. “And left.” The door closed with what seemed like an extra-loud click. I turned, slowly, to meet him as he came towards me. Arching my neck, I returned his gaze even as a sense of entrapment skittered down my spine.

  “He left?” I sucked in a breath. “Did he drink—”

  “My blood?” Torin smirked down at me. “Yeah, he did. He wasn’t too thrilled with it either.”

  “You know we have to keep him safe, don’t you?” I crossed my arms—a movement that only served to widen his smirk. I frowned. “He shouldn’t have come in the first place. This is far too dangerous for—”

  “He’s a man, Barbie,” Torin interrupted, reaching up and touching a lock of hair that had fallen from my ponytail over my shoulder. I froze. My entire body went on lockdown. As if that one small touch had caused all brain functions to come to an abrupt standstill in deference to my internal lust.

  You know you want it, Barbie… Satrina’s laughter echoed in the back of my head along with images of Vampire Torin looking up at me between my naked thighs. The sharpness of his fangs as they slid against delicate, vulnerable skin. The wicked feeling of his tongue against my core. The devil on my shoulder far worse than the one before me. While I could deny Torin with fallacies and lies, I couldn’t do the same to myself. Not anymore.

  “And you mean a lot to him,” Torin went on. “Can you really say you blame him for coming along?”

  I scowled, smacking his hand away as I took a step back. “He helped me out once,” I snapped. “That does not a relationship make.”

  Torin’s smirk fell away and was replaced by a look so intense and threatening that I automatically reached for my weapons. But they weren’t there. I’d left the swords he’d managed to smuggle into the country back in my room. Torin’s eyes flashed red as he approached me, a fire of anger burning within their depths, causing the color to darken and the luminosity to heighten.

  “You are a dangerous creature, Barbie Steele.” Torin’s voice was quiet. Low enough that my ears had to strain to hear him despite how close he was. “With a face like an angel, the mouth of a demon, and the body of a temptress. I wonder…” My lips parted as he moved ever closer. His hands snapped up, fingers against my cheeks as he tilted my head back, forcing me to look up at him. “I wonder if you even know the power you hold.”

  His eyes danced over mine. My chest grew tight as he leaned forward. “W-what are you talking about?”

  He stopped. His lips a scant inch from mine. He was so close that I couldn’t see them, but I knew when they curved up into a smile. It was there in his gaze. His irises glowed, the green there, the colors a swirling mixture as they were joined by a dull, quickly growing burgundy. “Maverick loves you,” he said. No. I started to shake my head. He couldn’t. We had sex, but we weren’t—“He does,” Torin confirmed, interrupting my thoughts and answering my unspoken denial. Against my will, tears began to gather at the corners of my eyes. He pulled back, his lips dropping into a frown. “Why does that scare you so much?” he asked.

  It wasn’t a hard question, and I knew the answer. The people I’d cared about my entire life were dead. People who loved me always seemed to end up dead. It was the true fear I’d had as soon as I’d met Elizabeth and Jonathan McKnight. Maverick had been a fucking asshole when I’d first met him, and yes, he still could be. We had changed, though. Both of us. I’d stopped running away from him and his family. I hadn’t answered them yet, but I knew Jon and Beth were still waiting on me to push the adoption throu
gh, but I wasn’t ready for the commitment of another family.

  Even if they didn’t know why, my reasoning was completely valid. Beth and Jon were the kind of people who donated to charity and attended high school football games to support their son. They worked hard, loved each other well, and were an inspiration on how to turn out right. But their future was not mine. Theirs was a life full of love and laughter and all those stupidly annoying motivational quotes people put on the most ridiculous of shit—like decorative throw pillows. Maverick, as their son, deserved the same fate.

  My life was going to be centered on something completely different. Blood and death. Ash and bone. I wasn’t upset by that. In the end, it was my choice to make. Maverick, however, was getting too close to the same path I walked. So, yes, I hoped like fuck Torin was wrong. It was my truest, deepest fucking wish that Maverick fucking McKnight would figure out that I was nothing more than a plague and instead of getting closer, he should run far, far away.

  If there was one thing I knew well, it was that to kill a monster, you needed to become one. And I’d followed that to a goddamn tee.

  But instead of voicing that, I shook my head as a tear slipped from one eye and ran to meet his fingers. Backing up another step and dislodging his hold, I turned away and sucked in a breath.

  “I came here for some blood,” I said. “Let’s just do that and get this over with. I don’t want to hear any more about Maverick.” That was something I could put off for now. I slid that towards the collection of things labeled ‘to be dealt with later.’

  Behind me, Torin hummed. The sound echoing throughout the room and sending shivers cascading down my spine. Goosebumps broke out over my arms and I rubbed them absently. It had nothing to do with my reaction to the sound of his voice. Nothing at fucking all.

  Keep telling yourself that, kiddo, Satrina sighed. Maybe one day you’ll believe it.

  If I throw a stick, will you go the fuck away? I snapped internally.

  Woof, she snickered.

  “Fine then,” Torin whispered. I jerked when I realized he’d approached while I’d been distracted and now stood right behind me. “I can’t say I’m unhappy to drop the subject of Maverick.” The sound of his voice drifted over my shoulder and as I turned and looked up at him, his face dropped closer to mine. I swallowed reflexively. “I’d much rather talk about you and I.” His hands rose up to my shoulders and he pressed me back. I took one step and then another and another until the backs of my legs hit the bed. Only then did he stop.

  “What about you and I?” I countered, lifting my chin in a jerky motion.

  His lips twitched as his fingers rose and skimmed down my jaw. Fire erupted in his wake, leaving my skin feeling like a flame had been dragged along the same path. “I let the subject drop after Esperanza’s. In the face of my father’s summons, I thought it better to focus on getting to Italy. I kept my distance from you—”

  “Distance?” I lifted a brow and pursed my lips. “If anything, you’ve been hovering around me even more than before.”

  “I mean metaphorically,” Torin replied. “I’ve allowed you time. I haven’t questioned you or your intentions.”

  I gaped at him. “What the fuck are you? A Victorian maiden? What the hell do you mean by ‘my intentions?’”

  “You are my vampire’s mate, Barbie.” Not this again… “I know you heard me talking about it, your comment left much to be desired.”

  “I’m not your mate,” I deadpanned. “I can’t be.”

  He tilted his head to the side, a lock of hair sliding across his forehead. I clenched my hands into fists at my sides to keep from reaching up and touching it. “Why do you think that?”

  “I hate vampires,” I said. He stared at me as if waiting. When he didn’t speak, though my continued silence had made it clear that I’d already given him an answer, my skin grew hot. Itchy. I turned my cheek. “I refuse to be.”

  “It’s not something you can refuse,” he said quietly, leaning down as my shoulders tensed. His breath moved over my neck and I inhaled sharply. “The bond between mates can’t be denied. It is what it is.”

  “I don’t have to do anything about it, though,” I argued.

  “No,” he agreed with a dark chuckle. “You’re right, you don’t, but the longer you’re around me—the stronger the pull will be. You can’t tell me that you don’t feel it, too.” My chest seized as he touched his warm lips to my skin. I slid my eyes shut as my teeth sank into my lower lip. Torin pressed a kiss to my collarbone before moving up to the space where my neck met my shoulder. When he spoke, his words drifted over my flesh. “Your presence sets me on edge,” he whispered. “Whether I’m asleep or awake, you consume my thoughts. Whenever I close my eyes, I see your face. You’re the worst sort of addiction, Sweetheart. A vampire’s mate is his living weakness and his one true strength. Without you, I would descend into madness. I know this as I know my own being. You are an impossible dream for me because you will live and you will die. Whereas I do not know how long the span of my existence will last. But as long as I have on this Earth, I want to keep you by my side.” Fingers locked onto the side of my jaw, making my eyes pop open as he pulled back. His eyes glittered dangerously as he parted his lips, the tips of his fangs visible as they descended. He sank them into his wrist, watching me as he did so, and when he lifted his head again—cupping the back of mine and bringing me slowly forward—his mouth was stained with his own blood. “I will do whatever it takes,” he said as my mouth touched his wound. “That’s the only warning I can give you. No matter what happens, I will keep you safe.”

  This was the first time I was drinking his blood while awake. I couldn’t say what it had tasted like the previous two times, but in that moment, it was pure heaven on my tongue. Rich. Warm. Delicious. Like the finest strawberry sauce poured over the top of some ridiculously expensive ice cream. I moaned low in my throat as it flooded my mouth. Torin’s hands held me close all the while, his fingers stroking my hair as I drank from him. My core pulsed as our eyes remained locked. I swallowed one mouthful, two, and three until I lost count and my vision began to blur.

  “That’s enough, Sweetheart.” He pulled his arm away, but it wasn’t enough for me.

  As soon as my lips were free, I reached up and yanked him down to me—sealing them over his.

  Thirty-Eight

  Barbie

  Torin tasted like nothing I’d ever had before. His skin beneath my fingertips was soft and smooth and I wanted to tear it open. I wanted to claw my way past his flesh and sink into his fucking bones. I never wanted to stop. He kissed me back like I was the last meal he’d ever have and I relished in it. Every touch against my skin burned and made me want to dance in the fire that had burst forth between us.

  When I kissed him, everything else fell away. My demon. His father. My vengeance. My mind cleared. It was a strange feeling—torn between tranquility and chaos.

  “Barbie,” he whispered my name as I scooted back onto the bed, my lips leaving his for a brief moment as I hurried to strip my shirt off. I flung it to the floor and reached for his. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

  “Listen,” I said sharply, “I don’t want to think anymore. I want this. You want this. Let’s not bring anything else into it. You can stay, but your clothes have to go.”

  Torin’s hands found the edge of his shirt and in a split second, he had it off and was crawling back over me, his chest sliding over mine. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited for this,” he whispered coming down to meet me.

  “I think I have an inkling,” I replied. His mouth found the upper swell of my breast and licked a path over the edge of my bra. Fingers reached around me and the clasps were undone. As soon as my breasts were freed, all hell broke loose. We lost ourselves in the madness. My pants were undone and ripped down my legs along with my underwear. Torin hurried to divest himself of his own, and soon our bodies were sliding along one another.

  Thick fingers gripped the
underside of one of my thighs and spread me open. A gasp left my mouth as Torin’s eyes flashed red. Don’t stop. Don’t stop. Don’t you dare fucking stop. My desires had completely taken over me. All of my reservations—gone. Like smoke in the wind. I wove my fingers into his hair—not unlike the first time—as Torin moved down my body, his lips trailing into secret places.

  The first brush of his mouth on my pussy was electric. I arched my back on a moan. Almost instinctively, my legs tried to close, but he wouldn’t let them. Darting a look up at me, Torin tightened his grasp and forced my legs open wider. His tongue flicked out, licking a path from my entrance to my clit. Hot. Bold. Daring. Sexy as fuck. He was all of these things and more.

  “Torin!” I gasped out his name and clenched my hand against his head as a bolt of pure pleasure shot through me. My nerves were living things—buzzing with the excitement, the thrill. And in the blink of an eye, they had overtaken me completely. Ricocheting through my body—lighting me up until my vision disappeared. In the distance, I heard a scream and it took me several moments to realize that it was me.

  As I came down from the unexpected orgasm, I felt the telltale scrape of two sharp canines. I jerked my gaze down as Torin moved back up my body. His lips were wet as he parted them—his fangs edging out and drawing my attention. “I want you,” he whispered, “like I’ve never wanted anything else.”

  I could understand the feeling. What he’d said earlier—it was true. I was drawn to him. I could feel it—a tugging inside my soul that called out for him. A desperate craving. My hand dipped low against his body—sliding over the rock hard hollows of his abdomen as I trailed against his Adonis belt and then to the base of his cock.

  “Condom?” I whispered, the word raw in my throat.