Blood Hunger (An Adult Paranormal Romance) (Deathless Night Series #1) (16 page)

   
 
“Maybe. But what? Also, we noticed a group of our Vampires were suddenly missing the same night Luukas disappeared. It consisted of a number of besotted males who were unhappy with the Council for one reason or another, and who we’d heard had been hanging around with Leeha. Having fancy dinners, talking a lot of shit. Oh…
and
she told us she has him.”

   
 
Emma looked up at him in shock. “She told you this? When? Did she say anything about my sister?”

   
 
“No. She just told us that she has Luukas.”

   
 
“She didn’t mention anything at all?” she asked with a note of desperation in her voice.

     He shook his head.

     “Then tell me again why you think Keira is even with her,” she said indignantly.

     Sitting forward to rest his elbows on his knees, he admitted, “Actually, as I told you at your house, we don’t know for sure, but let me continue before you go all ballistic on me. A few months after she claimed to have Luuk, one of the guys heard about your sister going missing. We knew of your family already, and we put two and two together.”

   
 
“That still doesn’t explain to me why you think she’s there,” she insisted.

     “Like I told you, we think she’s there because the only way Leeha would be able to hold Luuk anywhere he didn’t want to be, is by having some way of keeping him weakened enough that he couldn’t escape. There are only two ways of doing that. She can starve him, obviously, but that takes time. Older vampires only need to feed a few times a month, so how would she hold him there long enough to get him so malnourished that his power would be weakened to the point where he couldn’t escape?”

   
 
“I know. I know. A witch.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

    
“Exactly. A witch. And your sister,” he said pointedly,  “is the only one we know of who can’t be accounted for during the past seven years. Having a powerful witch on her side, Leeha would have the upper hand. There are spells that can weaken even a Master vampire like my brother.”

   
 
“I just can’t believe that my sister would have kept a secret like that from me,” Emma muttered, “Or that she would ever do something like this. She’d never purposely hurt anyone. She just wouldn’t.”

   
 
The hurt he could hear in her voice tugged at his insides. “I’m sure she had a very good reason for doing it.”

   
 
“Yeah, I guess.” After a breath, she asked, “How did you know about my family? Is there some kind of supernatural online community I don’t know about or something?”

   
 
He barked out a laugh. “Yeah! Allsupes.com - Meet other supernatural beings in your area! Vamps! Find your favorite blood type in our human donor database! Wolves! Looking for that perfect bitch? Just answer our questionnaire…”

   
 
Emma squinted at him in annoyance as he threw his head back and laughed. “I’m so glad you can amuse yourself at my expense. Wait…did you say ‘wolves’?”

   
 
He nodded as he wiped at his eyes and tried to get it together. “Yeah, wolves. Like werewolves, you know?”

   
 
“
There are werewolves
?” Emma’s face was so shocked, Nik started laughing all over again.

     “Nikulas! Would you
please
stop!” Emma had to shout to be heard over all the noise.

     “Sorry. I’m sorry.” He took a deep breath and wiped his eyes again, fighting to control himself.

    “Ok. Sorry. Um…no, there isn’t a website. At least not that I’m aware of. And yes, there are werewolves. You may meet some of them in Seattle. They like the colder climates. They run kind of hot. I’m surprised you’ve never run into any living out in the country where you do.”

   
 
“I don’t get out very much,” she said distractedly.

     Sitting back in her seat, she looked bewildered as she tried to absorb the fact that everything she’d thought she’d known about the world was false.

     “Vampires, and witches, and wolves…are faeries real too? Magical elves? Dragons?” Waving away his answer with a muttered, “I really don’t want to know,” she returned to her original question. “So, my family? How did you know about us?”

   
 
“I’ve never met them personally, but vampires and witches have worked together throughout the years, for the ‘greater good’, so to speak. And the Moss family has always played a prominent role in that association with us, up until recently.” He smiled at her. “You witches agree to help us, and we agree not to feed on you. Unless it’s by mutual consent, of course.”

   
 
Ignoring that last comment, she asked, “Helped you how?”

   
 
“Witches from the family in our area have helped us control the Legion. And before that, there were different reasons. Vampires are notoriously territorial, so fights spring up all the time between each other or between us and another species. As witches are the only ones who can really hurt us, it was in our best interest to form an alliance with them right from the start.”

   
 
“So what you’re admitting to me, is that I’m the only one on this plane who could hurt you?
”
  

   
 
At his nod, she wondered aloud, “Is that smart of you to tell me that? Aren’t you worried about giving me that power over you?”

   
 
“Are you going to hurt me, Em?” he asked her in a low voice.

     “Of course not,” she answered softly.

     “Good,” he answered back.

     Which reminded him, “Speaking of which, as much as I hate to admit it, Aiden is right about one thing. We should work with you on helping you to control your ‘witchy side’ as he likes to call it.”

   
 
“I still think that I would know if I was a witch,” she insisted.

     “At the risk of sounding like your worst Freudian nightmare here, why don’t you tell me about your childhood? Whatever you remember. What about, like, premonitions? Or, did anything ever happen if you were feeling really emotional? Like really angry or something?”

   
 
Thinking back over the expanse of her brief lifetime, she had to admit that yes, there have been quite a few “incidents”.  And not just around her. Things happened around Keira too. At least, they did when they were younger.

     Although, as she was thinking about earlier, those types of things seemed to have tapered off for her sister as the girls got older. Emma, on the other hand, had never gotten a grip on it until she’d started working out so much. Wearing herself out physically seemed to help keep her on an even keel - meaning less “incidents”.

     “Yeah, I’ve had some weird things happen when I’m upset. Keira too. We never really talked about it. It was just something that happened. I don’t think we even realized it wasn’t normal until we started school.”

   
 
“Your parents never mentioned anything to explain why this stuff happened?”

   
 
“No. Not a word. They just acted like it was no big deal for things to fly across the room when I was mad that I couldn’t have dessert, or whatever.
”

   
 
Shifting in her seat towards him, she crossed her legs and folded her arms across her body in an unconsciously defensive gesture. “In retrospect, Keira did go to a lot of ‘dance classes’, in spite of having the same social issues as I did.”

   
 
She didn’t elaborate any further on that, but Nik caught the tone of doubt in her voice.

     “We had to change schools a lot until eventually, our parents just pulled us out and home schooled us. That’s when I had my first inkling that we were
not
normal, not by any means. The other kids were horrible to us, so we learned to just lean on each other.”

   
 
Moving past those unhappy years, she continued, “Once I got out of school and started working, things got a bit easier. I had to bounce around jobs a lot, but it wasn’t so bad. Every time I started over somewhere it was like having a clean slate. No one knew about my past. I never applied anywhere in my town. I’ve been at my current job for over a year.”

   
 
“Why did you have to change jobs so often? Was it by choice?”

   
 
With a look that told him it should be obvious, she said, “Because people are uncomfortable around me. And I can’t say that I blame them. I work out a lot, and that seems to help, but sometimes I can’t control it. If I lose my temper or something, occasionally, things happen.”

   
 
“Yet, amazingly, nothing has flown through the air to be smashed over my head during any of our previous conversations. Other than some jumpy salt and pepper shakers at the bar, of course. Why do you think that is?”

   
 
She shrugged. “I don’t know. You’ve certainly deserved it a few times. And it’s not like I haven’t thought about it.”

   
 
Hiding his smile at that last comment, he asked, “Did you never wonder why these things were happening?”

   
 
She shrugged again. “I’ve always just felt like I didn’t belong. I never had any friends, except my sister. She had the same problems in school as I did, but it never seemed to bother her as much. I’ve always just thought she was stronger than I am. I guess I never really questioned it.”

   
 
“I’m not uncomfortable around you, and I can introduce you to someone who can help you learn to control it, if you’ll let me. You won’t ever have to feel like an outcast again, Emma.” Reaching across the narrow aisle, he took her small hand in his.

     She jumped at his touch. Ever since their encounter earlier, he’d made it a point not to be anywhere within three feet of her, not wanting to tempt himself more. But after hearing her story, he felt the need to prove to her that he’d meant what he said.

     Accepting his small gesture, she threaded her fingers through his. “What you were saying earlier? About when humans and vampires mate and what happens when they exchange blood? Does that work if it’s only one way?”

   
 
He knew this question was coming, he’d seen it click in her head earlier. Looking down at their joined hands, he gently played with her fingers, hoping she wouldn’t remember the ass he’d made of himself when he’d woken up. “I can sense you when you’re nearby, because I’ve had your blood, if that’s what you’re asking.”

   
 
He narrowed his eyes at her as she bit back a smile. Guess it was too much to ask that she didn’t catch on to that. She didn’t tease him about it though.

     “What exactly do you mean by ‘sense’? Just that I’m there?”

   
 
“Where you are, and your general sense of well-being. I can feel it if you’re angry or upset, or sad, like you are now. But I’ve always been able to do that; it’s just stronger now. Stuff like that.” Watching her reaction closely, he asked, “Does that bother you?”

   
 
Did it bother her that he was so attuned to her? No, she couldn’t say that it did. And
that
bothered her.

     “Em?” When she didn’t answer, he started pulling his hand away.

     Closing her fingers tighter around his to keep him there, she told him affirmatively, “No. It doesn’t bother me.”

   
 
Letting out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, he carefully squeezed her hand in response. “Good.” Clearing his throat, he released her, and attempted to steer the conversation back on to safer ground. “When we land, if you’re not too tired…”

   
 
“What is this Nik?” she blurted out. “With us? I mean, are you just playing with me for your own amusement? Is that it? The naive human? Or witch? Or whatever I am?” She tried to keep her voice strong, without much success. “Because if that’s what you’re doing, please just…stop.”

   
 
“Emma….”

   
“Are you just acting like you’re interested in me to keep me here so I’ll help you? Because you don’t have to do that either. I would help you anyway if there was any chance at all of me finding my sister.”

   
 
“It’s not that simple,
”
he argued.

     “Sure it is, Nikulas. If it’s just your…predator instincts, or the thrill of the chase… or whatever, causing you to run all hot and cold with me, knock it off. I have enough on my plate right now without having to deal with any more confusing emotions caused by you.”