Almost Human (9 page)

He sighed and sank onto the bed. He pulled me into
the crook of his arm. I tensed, and when I discovered that it felt
natural to be with him like this I tensed even more. I could feel
my shoulder blades trying to grind together.

He ignored my taut body, or didn’t care. “I
was thinking about Jairdan. He was the first person I ever turned.
Seeing Sherra again brought back horrible memories.”

“Tell me.”

“I came from a family of serfs. But I was
chosen to be a knight. My brothers stayed and worked the fields. I
rarely saw them. When I wasn’t fighting I was partying, and when I
was home it was like being around strangers. I was always angry
about that. Because of me, they had moved up in the world. They
lived on my land and ran my estate, but I wasn’t family to
them.”

“One day I fell in battle. Darius found me
and turned me, which is a different story entirely. I returned home
a different man, knowing that if I’d died in that wretched battle
they probably wouldn’t have missed me. I wanted to know them. I
spent as much time as possible with them, all the while keeping my
new nature to myself. Back then I was a devout Catholic, and while
I firmly believed I was going to hell for what I was, I clung to
life. I taught my brothers what I knew best—killing.”

He fell silent and remained that way for so
long I had to glance at him, to make sure he hadn’t fallen asleep.
“My lord arranged for me to be married. Another knight had died,
and he was required to marry off the man’s daughter. I reluctantly
agreed. I could have any woman who wanted me, and plenty of them
did. I knew I could only father children under very specific
circumstances, and the woman would have to know what I was for that
to happen.”

He sighed. “But then Sherra arrived. All
thoughts of not wanting a wife fled from my head. She was
beautiful, graceful, and she became my world. My brothers were even
taken with her, and they had always been surly men.”

For a second I felt an unreasonable stab of
jealousy. I was in no way a graceful, delicate flower like a woman
from his time period would have been. I couldn’t measure up to
that. I pushed it to the back of my mind and continued to listen to
his story.

“I didn’t know she practiced witchcraft, or
that her servant’s child was actually Sherra’s. And I’ll never know
how she found out what I was. What I do know is that when I
returned home, I found the keep in ruins and my brothers were long
gone. One of her servants was waiting for me. I was instructed to
go to her old home, alone, or my brothers would die. So I
went.”

He laughed bitterly. “But she didn’t know
that I was almost an army all on my own. I butchered the guards she
had stationed there, and I blood bonded her to myself so I could
control her forever. Hours later, she died. I didn’t know it then,
but a blood bond is poison for a witch. When I found my brothers,
the twins, Fallon and Misha, were banged up but would survive. But
Jairdan would have died if I hadn’t turned him.”

It was hard not to understand where he was
coming from. Even if I felt he’d made his brothers into monsters,
if I’d had the power to save my sister’s life, it would have been
impossible not to take it. He had the same relationship with his
brothers that I had with my sister. He’d raised them. Stood back to
back with them to fight off the world. He’d had to save them, even
if he’d wondered if he was cursed.

He tightened his hold on me. “She would have
killed them for knowing a vampire, and they would have never known
why. When I saw the state of them, I wished she were alive so I
could kill her slowly.”

I wasn’t sure what to say to him. Sherra had
been a terrible woman. Even my mother wouldn’t have killed human
relatives of a vampire just for knowing him. Most people didn’t
know any better, and when they got past the shock, assumed their
vampire relations were still the same people. And that was if they
ever knew at all. I couldn’t find words to comfort him.

I frowned. “Fallon and Misha are twins?”

“Oh yeah. But they were turned at different
times. Misha caught the plague at eighteen, and I had to turn him.
I’m not sure what the circumstances were for Fallon. We were forced
to leave before people realized we weren’t changing. Fallon was
left to run the estate. All he’ll say is that he got into a little
scrape with Nyx and was turned. Which actually happens a lot with
Nyx, so it’s not surprising. The man likes to turn people who
annoyed the shit out of him but fought well against him.”

I snorted. “I guess that explains why Pagan
was turned.”

“Actually, she was poisoned and he saved her
life, but I imagine he would have turned her anyway. I told her not
to go after him, but she and that brother of hers don’t listen.
It’s like they actually are my children.”

I rolled over and braced myself on my elbow
so I could look at him. “Geez, I’m getting way more info than I can
handle. I knew a vampire had raised them, but you? You don’t seem
like the adoptive daddy type.”

His deep laugh echoed around me. “I’m not,
but they turned out all right.”

“Why did you save me? And don’t give me the
‘Casey asked me to’ line. Surely there was more to your decision
than that.”

He shrugged. “Vampires are mercurial
creatures. I was bored. You offer a lovely complication to my life
for a while.”

Anger flooded me, but I resisted giving in.
As much as the idea enraged me that he’d affect my life in such a
way on a whim, I knew he was lying.

“Don’t bullshit me or try to provoke me.
Give me the real reason.”

He sighed shortly and glanced away. “Maybe I
respect you and admire your loyalty. You went against your mother
and spared your sister’s life. You were willing to leave me and my
brothers in peace, even though it goes against how you were raised.
All because you trusted Casey.”

“Fine, I’ll accept that answer, but why did
you let me live in the alley before you knew anything about
me?”

“Honestly, it was arrogance. I assumed you
weren’t a threat. I don’t mean that as a slam, but I’m a
battle-hardened crusader with centuries of practice under his belt.
I’ve been battling vampire hunters since I was turned. You’re
certainly formidable to other mortals and younger vampires, but
with every year a vampire grows stronger. It’s a rare hunter that
can take down one my age. I’m not in the habit of butchering people
I consider to be unarmed, and I beat you easily. How did I do that,
by the way?”

“I felt my sister die. Between our
relationship and the fact that we’ve done so many spells together,
we’re closely linked. It incapacitated me.”

“If I’d known who you were, I would have
killed you. I know your line is dangerous. It’s why my brother
hesitated to tell me about Casey. I might have killed her, knowing
the hell that would rain down on us by turning her. I knew someone
related to her would be able to track her. If I’d just eliminated
her you wouldn’t have been led to us, but my brother loves her, and
I couldn’t.”

He closed his eyes and tilted his head
farther back on the pillows with a sigh. He released me and
stretched his arms out to the side.

I watched him for a moment while he let all
the tension drain out of his body. The sound of his heartbeat,
which I’d somehow managed to ignore while he spoke to me, became
louder.

I’d never thought of heartbeats as an erotic
sound. It actually kind of freaked me out, but lying with him made
it feel erotic. He smelled great, and he looked amazing with his
jeans hanging almost too low. I wanted to lick him from head to
toe, starting with the vein that throbbed in his throat.

On impulse I slid up his body and caressed
his neck with my tongue. He hummed and wrapped his arms around me.
He placed a hand on the back of my head and pressed me closer,
arching his throat against my mouth.

My gums ached a second before my fangs
descended. The sound of blood rushing through his veins drowned out
everything else.

God, I wanted to bite him. I tried to pull
away, but his grip tightened on me, and he kept my face pressed to
his throat.

“Do it, Kori.”

“L-let me go.” I shoved against his chest,
but he was too strong and kept me pinned to him. I tried to kick
him and he wrapped his legs around mine, effectively stilling
them.

His erection pressed against my mons. I
shuddered and almost lost control. I wanted him rubbing against my
creaming pussy. A vivid image of him thrusting into me flashed
through my mind.

“Bite me, damn you. Stop being
stubborn.”

“No. Alaric, let me go. I don’t want to do
this.”

“Too damned bad. I know you. You’ll let
yourself starve until you either become a threat or you die. You’ll
take from me at regular intervals until I can trust you to feed on
your own. Bite me, or we’ll stay like this forever. I’ve got all
the time in the world.”

He might have time, but I couldn’t stay like
this, breathing in his scent, his cock pressed against me. I bit my
lip and my fangs sliced into it. My mouth filled with blood.
“Ouch.”

Alaric released the back of my head at the
same moment his snapped up. His gaze focused on my bottom lip.
“Damn, you couldn’t take my vein so you had to spill some of your
own blood?”

He inhaled through his nose and his pupils
dilated. “Maybe I’m going about this the wrong way.”

He ran his tongue over my bottom lip before
sucking it into his mouth. He moaned as he thoroughly cleansed the
blood from it. “God, you taste good. I can’t wait to eat you.”

“What?” I squeaked.

He unwrapped his legs from mine and rolled
me onto my back. He shoved his knee between my thighs and forced
them apart, sliding his body quickly between them. His erection
pressed against my core. All that separated us was his jeans and
the little bit of satin I called underwear. He rubbed against me,
putting delicious pressure on my clit.

“Alaric.” I wasn’t sure if I was asking him
to keep going or stop. I tried to clear my head, but I couldn’t
focus with him rocking against me. And the bloodlust. My stomach
ached with need, and my mouth watered at the thought of drinking
from him.

I had to get him to stop. “Alaric, this is a
bad idea.”

He nipped my throat with his teeth. “I think
it’s a fantastic idea. You’ll lose your self-control and feed, and
I’ll get to sink my cock into your warm, wet pussy. See that’s the
thing about vampires, especially new ones. Your sexual impulses are
intense. Things you could deny as a human, you can barely control
as a new vampire.”

I shuddered. God, he did make this sound
like a good idea. I’m sure it didn’t help that his erection was
rubbing against my swollen clit.

He grabbed the hem of my shirt and pulled it
up my body. I stretched my arms above my head and arched my back so
he could pull it off.

He kneaded my bare breasts. “God, you have
pretty tits. They make me plan all sorts of naughty things.”

I moaned and arched into his hands. “Like
you didn’t already have plans.”

“Hmm…you do have a point there. I planned to
get you in bed the moment I saw you.”

Alaric bit his bottom lip, and blood welled
to the surface. The coppery scent filled my nostrils. I leaned up
and licked the drop before it could fall. He thrust his tongue into
my mouth, mimicking his body.

I put my hands on his hips. “Lose the
pants,” I panted.

He sat back on his knees, undid his pants,
and shoved them down. His thick erection sprang free.

I was dying to take him into my mouth, but
with my fangs fully extended the idea seemed problematic at best. I
sat up and cupped his heavy balls. I licked a pearly drop of
pre-cum off the head of his penis while I fondled his sac.

He wrapped his hands in my hair and pulled
me back. He pressed me back on the bed, pulled my underwear down my
legs, and tossed them away before settling over me.

He grabbed his dick and led it to my pussy.
I gasped at the width of him as he slowly forced it inside me.

“Hmm…you’re snug. Sure feels nice.”

I looked down the length of our bodies. I watched
his erection sink a little farther into my tight vagina. He
stretched me almost beyond tolerance.

“Don’t just watch. Touch me.”

His throbbing cock sank inside me another
inch. God, that was erotic.

When he was all the way inside me, he
circled his hips before slowly drawing back out. He thrust back in
hard.

I gasped and dug my nails into his ass,
urging him on. Each short dig hit that delicious little spot inside
me, building one inferno of an orgasm.

I grasped his hard shoulders and wrapped my
legs around his waist to meet his thrusts. Pleasure arched from my
vagina and my body broke apart.

Alaric’s warm throat pressed against my
lips. With the taste of his blood still on my tongue and filling my
nostrils, I couldn’t resist. I wrapped my arms around him and sank
my fangs deep into his throat. His blood burst over my tongue like
sweet, rich wine.

The bite pushed him over the edge. He
spilled his seed deep inside me as he shouted my name.

He collapsed on me. He was so heavy I could
hardly breathe. He cupped the back of my head, holding me to him,
and rolled off me, taking me with him. I took several hard pulls.
Each one made him shudder against me.

I released him, and he relaxed against the
pillows, cradling me to him.

“Alaric’s a whore!” One of the men called
from somewhere in the house. The voice was full of laughter.

I pulled back and stared down at Alaric. “My
God. They heard that?”

He shrugged. “They’re vampires. Even with
ear plugs and noise-reducing headphones playing loud rock music,
they would have heard us.”

I stared at him, genuinely mortified. I sat
up and raked a hand through my hair. “But my little sister is out
there.”