Jacques descended upon Eva, not noticing Nessie’s return to the living. He smacked her, yelling demands for more information in between the blows. Eva, however, remained tight-lipped, which only drew more violent blows.
And then, Nessie’s stirring body disappeared from the floor. She reappeared behind Jacques, her fur shorter now and her face appearing more human-like than before. She grabbed his collar with her clawed hands, ripping him off her mother and throwing him across the room. He fell against the opposite wall, pieces crumbling around him. His gaze widened as he stared at Nessie standing in front of her mother.
“What the?” Jacques stuttered. “You...you’re dead. I just killed you.”
“Do not touch her again,” Nessie growled, her voice distorted as she stood in front of her mother, eyes blazing bright gold.
“You’re dead. How? How are you...alive?” Jacques’ eyes snapped over to him, his gaze filled with fury as comprehension dawned on his bruised and beaten face. “You did this! She’s your fucking mate?!”
Damn right. He glanced over at Nessie, her eyes fixed on Jacques, the whites of her eyes glazing over red. Her irises dazzling a bright gold.
“You bastard! This is how you repay me?!” Jacques got to his feet. “I gave you life, and I can take it away!” He charged towards Charlie, but before he could reach him, Nessie appeared before him, shielding his body from Jacques’ incoming attack.
“Touch him and die,” she threatened in that distorted voice. “He is mine.”
Jacques ignored her, coming right at her. And Charlie knew why. Jacques had a few handfuls of centuries on her. Nessie was a freshly-turned fledgling. A split second later, Nessie’s fingers fisted in his pale hair, forcing his head to one side. Her mouth opened wide as she exposed Jacques’ throat. Charlie’s breath caught as he saw the mouthful of fangs. Her canines protruded much like his own fangs, but the rest of her teeth had shifted into more razor sharp fangs instead of remaining human as vampires did. Her mouth looked like it belonged to a wild animal. And it tore through the old vampire like butter.
Blood spurted from the wound and Jacques scratched at her face, pushing her off of him. But she was like a dog with a bone, relentless, slashing at him. Darting in and out until she got an opening and latched onto his throat. Her claws slammed into his chest, and a moment later, Jacques’ heart was clutched in her hand. She let him slump to the floor, clutching the hole in his chest as her haunting eyes found Charlie’s.
And then she knelt down in front of him, laying his vengeance at his feet.
***
Nessie’s head thumped, as if cymbals were crashing behind her eyelids. Her eyes fluttered. It was a struggle to open them. The pain intensified as she blinked in a blinding light. Her eyes finally focused, seeing that the blinding light was actually the flickering flames of the fire in the hearth. Why did the firelight feel like she was staring into the sun?
“Vanessa?” a booming voice called from behind her. Her hands clamped over her ears as she turned to see who was yelling. Eva shuffled toward her, her hand reaching out to brush a piece of hair from her face. “Are you alright, honey?” her mother’s screechy voice echoed, making her wince.
“Why are you yelling? I’m right here,” she snapped, clamping her hands over her ears.
Her mother glanced beside her, where she saw Charlie kneeling on the floor. Still in chains. In front of him lie…a heart. Still pumping on the floor. Her gut clenched at the sight.
And there, lying in the midst of a large puddle of blood, was Master. His eyes were a black void, wide and unblinking. Claw marks streaked across his face. Several patches of hair missing, and her stomach churned as she realized his head had been nearly gnawed off.
A rush of emotion filled her chest at the awesome spectacle of sweet karma as the scene reminded her of her father’s brutal murder. As she reached out to assure herself that the monster was truly dead, her eyes locked onto her hand...which was completely covered in blood. Her breath hitched as she realized barely an inch of her wasn’t splotched with it. She glanced at Charlie, who had only been a few feet from the body. Charlie...who was still chained up.
Had she done this? Had she killed Master? She glanced around for a weapon, but couldn’t locate one. With her bare hands? How? A human was no match for a vampire, especially one as old as Master.
Emotions flared again as her attention turned to the oddly pleasing taste in her mouth. Terror. Disgust. Relief. Guilt. She didn’t know what she felt. It’s a toss-up when you wake up covered in blood, and loving the taste of it. Her gaze snapped back to Charlie. His big, blue eyes focusing on her as his throat moved. A wave of lust washed over her as her gums began throbbing.
She sucked in a breath as comprehension struck her. The oddly pleasing taste in her mouth; Master’s body missing quite a few pints of blood; his throat almost gnawed clean off; the fact that a faint glow of firelight was killing her corneas. Her eyes narrowed on Charlie as Eva knelt to undo the chains. “You bastard,” she snarled, rushing towards him. Ready to detach his head.
Her mother stepped in front of her, halting her.
“He saved your life, Vanessa.” Her mother glared at her, trying to hide a smirk.
“I didn’t fucking asked to be saved!” she roared, giving Charlie a look that could kill. Being turned into a monster wasn’t her idea of being “saved.” More like being cursed for all eternity.
Eva rolled her eyes. “Stop being so dramatic. You’re alive and that’s what matters.” She pulled Nessie into a tight embrace. Nessie stiffened as the scent of Eva’s blood bombarded her senses. “Thank you, Charlie,” Eva murmured against her skin.
Charlie nodded his head while she yanked from her mother’s grip. “Typical vampire! I give you an inch and you take my fucking mortality away,” she snapped, crossing her arms over her chest. How dare he turn her. He should’ve known she’d never want this. To be like…Master. Like Logan. Like all of them. She’d never met a vampire that didn’t hurt her in some way.
“How could you do this to me?!” Hot tears stung her sensitive eyes, making her scream. “I thought you cared about me!”
“He saved your life, Vanessa,” her mother murmured, stroking her cheek.
“He should’ve left me die then! At least then I wouldn’t be a monster!”
Her mother pressed her lips together, her eyes darting over to Charlie. An odd look passed between them, as if they knew something she didn’t.
“We can’t always choose our fate. You have been given a second chance at life. You should start thinking about how you want to use it.”
Making the rest of Charlie’s life hell sounded like a good plan right now.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The last rays of sunlight vanished behind the distant mountains by the time the three of them washed all the blood off. Charlie poured a bucket of water into the hearth, dousing the flames. And the ashes that were all that remained of Jacques, and the last four hundred years of his life. He stared into the smoke, wondering when he’d feel the weight of his revenge lift. When the happiness he’d been imagining for this moment would wash over him. Eva packed some canned goods she found in the cupboards in a makeshift pack she made from the rug.
She patted Charlie on the back. “She’ll come around. Whether she wants to admit it or not, she’s happy she’s alive. Even if she’s not happy about the circumstances. She’ll realize what you’ve done for her eventually.” She gave him a reassuring smile and headed out the door.
Nessie came barreling out of the bathroom a few minutes later, refusing to look at him as she stomped past him.
He frowned, sighing as he closed the door on his past and took a shaky first step into the unknown future ahead of him. His gaze was continually drawn back to Nessie, the mate who hated him. The only person in the whole world he actually wanted in his life. And she couldn’t even look at him.
Then, Nessie vanished. Eva was still trudging along ahead of them, unaware that Nessie was no
longer following her.
Glancing around, he spotted her in the distance, flinging her arms in the air. He sped over to her, hearing her growl.
“I’m fine!” she snapped, walking back towards Eva.
“Your body can go much faster now. It will take time for you to adjust,” he said. Because she needed someone to help her with her new abilities. And like it or not, he was her only option.
“I said I’m fine.”
He laid a hand gently on her arm. “I expect you to have questions. I am here to help however I can.”
She yanked her arm from his grasp, her eyes glowering at him. “You’ve helped enough, I’d say.” She turned and began trekking back to her mother, her speed once again getting away from her as she stopped a few hundred feet further behind Eva and had to backtrack to her.
***
By the time Nessie started to get her speed under control, it was close to daybreak. An hour left perhaps. Her new eyes detected the hint of midnight blue creeping into the inky horizon, and she felt her skin tighten in anticipation of the oncoming dawn.
She turned to her mother. “We need to find shelter,” she and Charlie said in unison. She met Charlie’s gaze, who was smiling at her. Don’t smack him.
Why not? He deserves it.
“Your instincts are developing quickly.” Charlie’s gaze bore into her. Don’t smack him.
She shrugged at him. “I was always aware of when dawn approached. I’ve been surrounded by vampires my entire life, remember?”
Charlie’s smile faded and he nodded. “Right. Well, let’s hope there’s a cave nearby.”
Nessie groaned. Another cave? Hadn’t they spent enough time in damp, cold caves? She trudged along after Charlie, half hoping they would find no cave.
“What would we do if we can’t find a cave?” she asked. Since shelter from the sun was now vital to her own survival, she figured there had to be alternatives to caves.
Charlie glanced back. “Well, honestly, the farther north we go, the less likely we will come across fellow vampires and shelters made specifically with us in mind will be hard to come by.”
Nessie stopped. “So, what exactly are you saying? Without caves, we’re fried?” What a nice thought.
Charlie turned to face her. “No. We would need to cover ourselves with enough earth so that sunlight could not penetrate.”
Nessie’s jaw dropped. They would have to be buried...like corpses. She crossed her arms, staring up at the star-dotted sky, more blue chasing away the darkness. “I guess that shouldn’t bother me given that I’m technically dead.”
“You’re not dead.” Nessie heard her mother say from behind her.
She didn’t bother looking at her as she watched another star disappear into the lightening sky. “I was. I remember dying. Like a hazy dream. Something came over me when Master marked Charlie’s chest with an ‘x’. The thought of him getting staked…I just...snapped, I guess. Next thing I remember Master is hovering over me, pummeling the shit out of me. I tried to keep my arms up, but they were too heavy. I just wanted the pain to stop. Anything to make it stop. And then, it just…did.”
“Oh,” her mother cried. “My poor girl!” Nessie braced herself for her mother’s smothering, but the weight of her mother pressing into her barely registered, as if a feather, and not a full-grown woman, had just flattened themselves against her.
Nessie’s eyes locked with Charlie’s, his jaw tense and his eyes unusually moist. She wanted to hate his tears. To hate that he cared enough to have them. Look where all his caring had gotten her.
A gripping sensation pulled her from her thoughts. Her throat burning as if she had swallowed a lit match. Each breath brought a delectable scent accompanied by more burning. Charlie’s eyes flickered over her face before his eyes widened.
Nessie barely noticed. She was busy lowering her head, following that delicious smell. So good. Her mind fogged. Was she running her face through her mother’s hair? Her nose rubbed against her mother’s neck. Bite, a voice screamed in her head. Blood!
“Nessie, no!” someone yelled in the distance as she opened her mouth against her mother’s throat.
But before she could get a taste of whatever sweetness lie under her mother’s skin, somebody yanked her from her mother’s embrace, pulling her further and further away from the source of her sweet treat.
She flailed, fighting against the arms entrapping her as they carried her off.
No! The voice inside her head screamed. Blood! Blood
She turned in his arms, faintly registering Charlie’s face, mouth open wide as she prepared to strike.
He dodged, avoiding her fangs. She snapped at him again and again, but he was too fast.
“Calm down, Ness,” Charlie grunted in between dodges. He continued to talk to her as she raged against him, sometimes stern, sometimes soothing. Eventually, his voice permeated the red haze that had shrouded her mind from reason and her attack ceased.
Her body slumped against him, going still. Even her breathing stopped. She didn’t feel out of breath, but her body was suddenly exhausted beyond comprehension. Where had all that energy gone? Was it the threat of dawn draining her?
She somehow found the strength to lift her head from Charlie’s shoulder. “What’s happening to me?” She felt as if her new body, with all of its abilities, had taken complete control of her. Was this to be her life now? An endless battle with herself? A struggle against her new uncontrollable impulses?
“You need to feed.” Charlie told her.
Nessie shook her head furiously. No way. Gross.
“The longer you wait, the more violent and frequent these hunger rages will become. Your body will get what it needs, even if it has to sabotage your mind to do it.”
Nessie let her head fall back, groaning. So, trying to sink her teeth - scratch that, her fangs - into everyone in sight was a common occurrence when you were a bloodthirsty vampire. Great. She glared up at Charlie. “You just love making my life hell, don’t you?”
Charlie frowned. “I’ve been trying to keep you alive long enough to escape and truly be free. Unfortunately, freedom is hard to come by in this world, especially for humans.”
Nessie huffed. “Well, I’m not human anymore. You saw to that.”
His jaw ticked as his eyes grew sad. “I can’t deny that I turned you to save your life. In all honesty, it was selfish of me to turn you. I couldn’t bear the thought of losing you when I had finally found you.”
Nessie wanted to snap at him, but his words gave her pause. He admitted he turned her out of a selfish desire to keep her in his life. “You haven’t just found me. You’ve known me as long as I can remember. And you didn’t mind letting me go all those years ago.”
Charlie nodded. “If I had known then what I know now, I would have made very different choices. I’ve only come to realize how much you mean to me since I got back from the council. It felt like I had no time at all with you. I wasn’t ready to let you go so quickly.”
“Well, isn’t this a touching moment,” came a snide, male voice.
***
Charlie whipped around, planting himself in front of Nessie and cursing himself as he saw Eva clutched in the grip of a young male. He’d forgotten that Eva had been leading the trek while he’d been preoccupied with Nessie.
The young male’s light brown waves and hazel gold eyes matched an older male behind him to a tee. No doubt the two were related. He eyed them warily. Because humans didn’t just wander around these woods alone.
Nessie stepped around him, giving him a nasty look before she turned her attention on the newcomers.
And the older male seemed very interested in her. Both of the females, actually. Fuck me. Not this again.
“Torin,” the older male stated, authority oozing from his mouth. The younger one turned to look at him. “Release her.”
Torin’s face held shock for a moment before he obeyed. He stepped toward the older man. “But, pop, they’re va
mpires.”
The older male nodded toward Eva, who was…smiling at him? “She’s human.”
Torin rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but, they aren’t,” he said, pointing towards Charlie and herself.
Eva stepped in front of Torin’s pointing finger, but her eyes remained on the older male. “The girl is my daughter, just recently turned.” The idiot woman was about to get them both killed, and herself back in the slave market.
Charlie tugged on Nessie’s arm, trying to get her to run with him. But she pulled her arm away, glaring at him.
Don’t touch me, he heard her voice echo in his mind. Relief flooded him. He’d forgotten about this little perk. Turned mates could communicate telepathically. Finally some luck.
We need to leave. There could be more of them.
Nessie’s head snapped over to him, her eyes wide as her mouth fell open. D…did you just?
Yes. Welcome to immortality. We need to go. They’re lycans.
The older man’s eyes narrowed on Charlie, his jaw ticking. “I suppose the male one’s responsible for that?”
Eva went right on telling them their life story. What was wrong with her? “Yes. He saved her life from our former master, who ended her human life as we watched in chains. Had he not turned her, she would be gone forever. I am grateful to him.”
The man’s eyes softened a bit. Well, he didn’t look like he wanted to rip Charlie limb from limb anymore. “It is nearly dawn,” he stated. “The two of you should have sought shelter by now.”
Charlie felt his own mouth fall open. A lycan…help them? “I’m sure we’ll come across something suitable soon.”
“Could you help us?” Eva blurted, her eyes locked onto the older male as if she were trying to hypnotize him or something.
“As if we would help a couple of bloodsuckers,” Torin snapped, squaring his broad shoulders and sticking his chin in the air.
First Kiss of Freedom: A Vampire Shifter Hybrid Romance (The Whitemoon Warriors Series Book 1) Page 12
