"You will obey me, you are mine. I sired you! That thing that you cling to could not bring himself to make you one of us once he"d already drained you of your blood. He fought the good fight to leave you dead, but I have had my eye on you for some time, Linnea, and now you are mine."
I looked down at my back and saw that he"d slit it open in much the same fashion that he"d done Kerr"s face in. I should have been scared, but I wasn"t. I smiled and watched as my skin pulled back together. There wasn"t so much as a drop of blood left on my pale white skin.
Valentino reached out to touch me and I flung my hand up at him. His body flew back against the wall. Kerr grabbed me by my shoulders and turned my face to him. His blue eyes locked on me and he looked worried. "Linnea, you mustn"t provoke him, he"s a monster."
I caught sight of Kerr"s fangs and let my tongue run over my own. "So are we," I said pulling his mouth towards me. He threw me down and lunged over the top of me. At first I thought he came at me, but then I realized that he was headed for Valentino. Kerr"s body slammed into his and the two flew up, off the ground, and into the wall. The room shook, and I jumped to my feet. I no longer cared if my body was covered or not.
Kerr was bleeding again, but now so was Valentino. I tried to push my way between them, but was met with a fist to the face. My head snapped back and my cheek felt like it was going to explode. I staggered backwards and tried to steady myself using a chair. My fingers ran over the smooth wood and a thought came to mind. I kicked out hard and the chair slammed into the wall, shattering into pieces in the process. I slid my foot under a piece of wood and kicked it up high into the air. I put my hand out and caught it without thought.
I raced at the men and saw that Kerr had just pressed Valentino"s body to the wall. I ran past him with the wooden leg of the chair held firmly in my hand. I knew how to end this, somewhere deep inside of me I knew. I pulled my arm back and went to drive the stake into Valentino"s chest. Kerr caught my wrist and jerked my body back. "NO!"
I looked at him with wild eyes. Valentino laughed as he wiped the blood from his lip. "If you kill me, Linnea, you die too. It is the price you pay for being mine. Now, come to me and obey your master. I have needs, and your mouth can attend to them."
There was something in his voice, something that made me want to do as he said. I put my hand out and Kerr touched it lightly.
Any thought I had of going to Valentino left the moment Kerr"s fingers slid around mine.
Valentino turned and stormed towards the door. Kerr pulled me to him and I didn"t fight when he lifted me into his arms. He took me and set me down on the edge of the bed. He turned and went to the chest nearest him, and came back with a long white nightgown.
"Here, put this on. He"ll be back you know, and you can be sure he"ll think of a way to separate us. He and I have not seen eye to eye since we met, he"ll not be takin" the loss of you lightly. I expect that he"ll come after you harder, now that he knows how I feel about you." He began to turn away, but I reached out and touched his hand. It was so large and rough. It looked like it should be smooth and silky, but it wasn"t. I pulled it to my face and put the palm of his hand on my cheek. I didn"t care that it was rough. I just wanted to feel his touch.
He dropped down in front of me, wrapped his arms around my waist, and let his head fall into my lap. "Linnea, I never thought I"d see you again. I prayed." He let out a laugh as he said this and then went on. "I prayed everyday that you"d fall from the sky near me and we"d be together again. I never met to hurt you. I did not know it was you until it was too late. So many times before I"ve thought a woman was you, only to find out that it was just my imagination running wild again." He hugged me tighter and kissed my thigh. "You finally come to me and I end up handing you right to the demons I died trying to save you from. I"m so sorry, Linnea, can you ever forgive me?"
I touched his head and let my fingers run through his red hair. I had no idea what he talked about, but he was upset and wanted my forgiveness, so I gave it to him. "It"s okay, everything will be fine." Kerr lifted his head slowly and planted a kiss on my lower abdomen. My body tightened under his touch. I put my hand on his cheek and tried to remember him. I tried to remember anything about myself. I came up empty. Kerr"s eyes closed and his head tipped to the side.
"Do not strain yerself. You won"t remember who I am for a long, long time, but when you do I will be there. I have seen it, and it gives me hope. We will be together again, as we once were, as we had planned on being, but not for a very long time."
Every word that fell from his lips sounded so sweet. I loved listening to him speak. There was something about him, something that I couldn"t put my finger on, and I knew that he was wrong. We"d be together sooner than he thought.
I lifted his head and brought my lips to his. He didn"t respond to my advances. "No, Linnea, you do not have to do this out of pity for me. One day you will see me the way you once did, and I am willing to wait for the centuries for that to happen. I do not want you to have any regrets about us."
He rose to his feet and handed the gown to me. I took it from him and dropped it on the bed next to me. I stood up and let the sheets fall away as I walked towards the door.
"Linnea, where do you think yer goin"?"
"I need to feed."
"You fed from me, and my blood should sustain you for several days."
I turned to him and looked into his blue eyes. "That"s not the hunger that I need to feed."
I saw the realization of what I told him cross over his strong face. "What have I done to you?"
I shrugged my shoulders and took another step towards the door. The air shifted slightly behind me and I knew that Kerr was there. His hands hovered near my back. I could sense the struggle within him, but I didn"t care. I"d known him all of a day. I may have felt an attachment to him, but it wasn"t stronger than my need for s.e.x. Glancing back, I saw the hesitation on his face.
"Either f.u.c.k me, or let me leave to go and find someone who will," I said, void of any real emotion.
"Linnea, all I"ve wanted to do for the past thirty-five years is be in you, and hold you again, but I want it to be you, not whatever it is that stands before me now." He grabbed me and spun me around. He shook my shoulders as he yelled at me to remember him.
"I don"t know you! Don"t you understand that?"
He let go of me and I fell backwards. He tried to pick me up, but I jerked my arm away from him. "Linnea, if I told you our history you"d be in great danger. Valentino would destroy you, just to get back at me. He hates that I am not quite forty years dead and as powerful as he is. He has been alive for many centuries and he does not share power well."
I pushed off the floor and ran for the door. Kerr tackled me and we both hit the floor. I looked up at him, strangely excited by his aggression. He started to apologize to me, but I licked his neck. "Do it again," I said.
"Linnea," he said, pinning my body to the floor. I could feel him growing hard under his pants, and I could smell his desire for me.
Each breath I took made my body grow damp. I tried to kiss him, but he turned his head from me. Anger spread throughout me quickly. Heat flared and I looked up to see that I held a small ball of fire. Kerr saw it too. "No, Linnea, you don"t want to do this.
When you remember me you will regret this."
I looked up at the fire that seemed to spin in my hand and smiled. "You"ll regret this more if you don"t get off of me."
Chapter 21
I pushed the inn to the door open. After I"d left Kerr I"d felt drawn to here. I had gotten some odd looks from pa.s.serby in the street, no doubt from my wearing only a thin night gown, but I didn"t care. I needed to get to the inn, but I didn"t know why. I felt someone watching me again, and knew that Kerr was still there. I"d been sensing him since I"d left. I hadn"t actually seen him yet, but I knew that he was there.
"Madame, what are you doing walking around in that," a short pudgy man asked as I walked into the inn. "Your party has been looking for you for three days now. Where have you been?"
I moved closer to him. He had a smell about him, not offensive, but rather the smell of something wrong-something evil. I took a deeper breath and closed my eyes. I saw this fat little man touching little boys, in ways that he shouldn"t. He forced himself on them, using them to pleasure himself. I opened my eyes and looked at him. He was evil, even more than me. I couldn"t allow him to hurt another child so I took matters into my own hands. I grabbed hold of him and bared his neck. My teeth grew, as I knew they would and I sank them deep into him. I drank until I could drink no more, and then I drained him, careful not to get blood all over my white gown.
I dropped his limp body to the floor and licked my lips clean of him. I heard something then, something familiar. I moved towards the staircase and listened closer.
"I don"t give a d.a.m.n what Alodie says. We need more men here to find Valerie," a deep voice said.
"Beau, we can"t risk the men. I love her too. She just finally agreed to marry me."
I knew that voice. I took the stairs two at a time and ran towards the voices. I hit the door and it burst open. Two men stood before me. One with short, dark brown hair and tanned skin, the other with long blonde hair and pale skin, both looked shocked to see me.
"Valerie," the brown-haired said, running towards me. He swept me up in his arms and spun me around. "Gregory and I thought you were dead, we thought that ... oh, G.o.d, Val, you"re ... cold." He touched my cheek as he put me down. "You"re ice cold, Val, what"s wrong?"
"Get away from it, Beau!" the blonde one yelled.
Beau turned to the tall blonde and I could sense his confusion. "Gregory, what"s going on ... Val"s back. She"s...."
Gregory lifted his hand and Beau was sent hurtling away from me. I looked down at the man on the floor and smiled. My tongue ran over my fangs and his eyes widened. I turned to Gregory and started towards him. He flicked his wrist in my direction and I felt like someone had just hit me with a bat in the stomach. I clutched my midriff and fell to my knees.
Beau screamed out and tried to run to me, but Gregory stopped him. "She"d kill you without a second thought. That"s not Valerie."
I was confused. "Why do you call me this? My name is Linnea." I tried to stand up, but he sent another wave of his magic at me. I screamed out and clutched the rug. "Why do hurt me? I am drawn to you, and you hurt me?" I could feel the tears welling up, and wasn"t sure why.
Gregory looked at Beau and ordered him out of the room. Beau protested and Gregory looked at me. "I made you a promise in South America. We promised to destroy the other if we ever fell victim to the demon side."
"NO!" Beau screamed out. Gregory sent his power out at Beau and hit him with such a force that he was knocked unconscious.
Gregory lifted his arms and his face was streaked with tears. "I"m sorry, Valerie, but I can"t let you live like this, you"re too powerful and could hurt too many people."
There was a swooping noise behind me and then I heard Kerr"s voice. "Don"t kill her, I beg you. She was selective in her choice for a kill. She picked an evildoer when she had pa.s.sed at least twenty other people on her way here to find you.""Who are you?" Gregory asked, looking at Kerr.
"He"s the Scot ... the man before you ... the one that she.... "Beau rubbed the back of his head as he sat up.
Gregory"s green eyes narrowed. "You did this to her? She loved you for over a hundred years. She just finally agreed to marry me. I knew that she grieved for someone, but I never realized that someone was a vampire." Gregory"s head dropped down. "She never got over losing you or the babies, never, and this is what you do to her?"
Kerr pulled me into his arms and put his body in front of mine. "Magic-man, I do not want to hurt you, she obviously loves you.
She didn"t hesitate to hurt me to get to you. She"s no memory of us, or what she was, and for the record I was the one who attacked her ... I did not know it was her until it was too late ... but, I was not her maker, I fought against her being brought over."
Kerr"s body stiffened. "I was not always a vampire. I was just a man-I was her husband once, long ago."
Gregory put his arms down and shook his head. "She can"t be one of them now," he said, choking back tears. "She can"t be gone.
She"s got to be in there somewhere, right? We can get her back, we can save her."
"She will be saved, but not for two hundred years, and it will be you who brings her back to us. Mark my words."
Gregory looked confused. I bet he wasn"t near as lost as I was. I didn"t have a clue who or what they were talking about. I still wanted s.e.x, and they wanted to stand around and discuss the future. Kerr"s hand moved back and he pulled my body to him. "I give you my word that I will watch over her, and keep innocents safe from her. I ask you, please do not destroy her. I promise you that she will come back to us eventually, we must keep her safe until then."
"Why should I trust you now? You"re one of them," Gregory said.
Kerr sighed before he spoke again. "Because when I held her dying in my arms I could read her thoughts, she was both happy and shocked to have me alive, but she knew she was dying and she worried about you, and if you would be alright without her."
Kerr looked over at the candlesticks on the table and they flew across the room and landed gently at Gregory"s feet. "If I had wanted to kill you I could have. You"re not the only magic-man here, but her love for you is strong, and I will not hurt her to stop you, and I know that there will be an end to this one day."
"Your word that you will keep her from harming innocents?"
Kerr nodded. "You have my word."
I put my hands on Kerr"s shoulders and rubbed them. I couldn"t wait any longer for s.e.x. I needed it now. It wouldn"t wait. I moved my hands down and pulled at his pants. He grabbed my wrists and pulled me around to face him. "Linnea, I will not do this with you, not now. I will not take you like this. Remember me and I will, but not until."
"What"s wrong with her?" Gregory asked.
"Her maker is known for his strong s.e.xual urges, and I believe that he has pa.s.sed them on to her," Kerr said, looking down at me with lips so lovely that I tried to kiss them again, very unsuccessfully.
"So, you"re saying that she not only drinks blood now, but also has the need for...?" Gregory asked, not finishing his sentence.
Kerr nodded. "I will leave you to say yer good-byes. Do not harm her, I am warning you. And, you," he looked at me, "do not draw blood from him. Am I clear?"
"Yes," I said. He walked backwards from the room and pulled the broken doors closed.
"I will be right here," Kerr said, more to Gregory, the magic-man, than to me.
I looked harder at Gregory and thought of how lovely his soft face was. He had never lost that young man charm and didn"t look like he was out of his early twenties, but I was sure that he was much older than that. His silky blonde hair hung down and over his shoulders. He wasn"t as muscular as Kerr, but almost as tall, and every inch of him looked toned and tight.
He took a step towards me and it was me who backed up this time. I wasn"t sure if I should trust him, he"d already struck me down once, there was nothing stopping him from doing it again. His green eyes locked on me and I watched another tear fall down his cheek.
"Why do you weep?" I asked.
He did a partial laugh, partial sob and took another step to me, closing the distance between us in the process. He put his hand on my arm and caressed it gently. "You"re so cold." I looked down at his hand and then back at his face. As hard as I tried to understand the attachment he had to me, I couldn"t. I only knew that I wanted to not only be touched by him, but touch him as well.
"If I touch you, will you do your hurtful magic on me again?" I asked.
He let out a loud sob and pulled me to him. He buried my head in his warm chest and cried. I knew that I should have felt something, anything, but I didn"t. My only thoughts were on s.e.x, and I was too afraid of Gregory to ask for it. I knew that he held the power to kill me, and I didn"t want to die. I looked towards the window and sensed that the sun would be rising soon. I knew, without having to be told, that I could no longer walk in the light.
"I must go, I need to feed and the sun will be up soon."
He pulled back from me and lifted his white shirt over his head. I gave him a puzzled look as he started to pull his pants off too.
He tossed them aside and stood naked before me. I wanted to hold the length of him in my hand and to press my lips to it, but I was still afraid that he would hurt me, that this was some cruel joke on his part to lure me to my death.
Gregory pressed his body against mine and pulled my gown over my head. I didn"t fight him. I wanted him to take me then and there. He put his warm hand on my stomach and I flinched. "No, I won"t hurt you. I"m going to make sure that you do not conceive a child before you are back to yourself. Is that alright with you?"
I nodded and instantly felt a hot wave of his magic push through me. It rolled around my insides and pushed up and out my limbs.
I cried out and tipped my head back. Gregory lifted me high in the air and I wrapped my legs around his waist. I pushed down hard on him, not giving him an opportunity to change his mind, and felt the full length of him slam into me. I screamed out, a cross between pleasure and pain.
The door to the room burst open and I knew without looking that Kerr was there. I could feel his anger, his pain, and his sorrow, but I didn"t care. I"d given him a chance to feed this need I had, and he had declined. I pressed my lips to Gregory"s and rode his body with a speed that I didn"t know I possessed. I could feel the magic-man"s power moving through me and I felt my own magic answer it. I screamed out and hissed as my o.r.g.a.s.m seized me. My fangs flared and I wanted to strike Gregory"s neck. I wanted to taste his warm, powerful blood in my mouth, but something held me back.
I felt his body tighten and knew that he released his hot c.u.m deep within me. I arched my back and accepted all of him. The urge to draw his blood hit me again and I pushed myself off him and fell to the floor. He dropped down and tried to pick me up, but I could smell how fresh his blood would be and I wasn"t strong enough to control my impulses yet. "Get away!"
"What?"
Kerr appeared next to me and lifted me into his arms. I didn"t fight him. I just put my head against his shoulder as he walked towards the door. "Her demon wants to drink from you, but the woman we love is in there somewhere and she won"t let it hurt you. Do not try to find her again, at least not for some time. You may be her undoing if you do, and I do not want to see the demon within her win."
Gregory said nothing as he covered me with a blanket. The tears running down his face told me that he loved me, I just didn"t understand why.
Chapter 22
"I"m bored," I said looking out at the city below. Philadelphia wasn"t what I"d thought it would be. I"d had grand illusions of the new world and seeing it now made me feel like a fool. Kerr hadn"t wanted to come at all, but I knew that if I came, so would he. I put my arm in his and pulled him to the window.
"Do you smell that? There are so many horrible people here. We could feed for months and still there"d be more to drink from," I said.
Valentino laughed and Kerr"s arm flexed. The two hadn"t gotten along once since I"d met them, and now ten years later, they were not showing any more signs of getting along. Valentino had received word from one of his higher ups that we were to go and explore the Americas to see if they were suitable for some of our older vampires to be transported to. Europe wasn"t as safe as it had once been. Our kind had come under heavy attack by the forces of good in the last ten years.
Valentino came up behind me and put his arms around me. He pressed his body hard against mine so that I would notice how willing he was to take me where we stood. I rolled my eyes and rubbed Kerr"s arm. Valentino leaned down and whispered in my ear. "I can smell your need for a f.u.c.k. I can give you that and so much more, Linnea."
"You have nothing that I want. The one I want still does not want me, so I will be heading out shortly to handle my little problem."