Dark Mate (MATE series) (11 page)

She turned her head and
Gabriel saw her fangs inch out as she studied Eva. Every protective
instinct in him flared and he moved to stand in front of Eva,
blocking her from Vonetta's shrewd gaze.

Vonetta looked up at him, and
as he stared into her swirling red eyes, he was aware of an insidious
chill invading his body, numbing his brain and blocking his thoughts.

He stepped back and asked
slowly, “What...are you, Vonetta?”

“
Why? Does it matter to
you what I am?” she countered, arching a perfectly drawn
eyebrow. “I'm your Vonetta, your beloved. Shouldn't you be
taking me into your arms, and kissing me senseless? You found me,
Gabriel. You finally found me,” she whispered, sliding her
hands up his chest to his shoulders.

Gabriel tensed at her touch.
She was right. He should be out of his mind with joy and relief at
having found her at last. For years, he had dreamed of finding her.
He had searched endlessly, doggedly for her.

But now that she was right in
front of him in the flesh, he felt only a wary detachment.

Had they both really changed
so much?

She was circling him slowly,
her hand caressing his shoulders, his arms and moving seductively
down his back. She leaned in to press her lips against his ear, and
he had to suppress a shudder.

“
Oh, Gabriel, I used to
love the way you looked at me, like I was the only woman in the
world, the only star in the sky, the only thing that mattered to you.
We were about to be married, weren't we, Gabriel? But we never got
the chance to become man and wife,” she whispered, her fangs
scraping down his neck. “We would have been married and lived
a happy, simple life. We would have watched our children grow up,
get married and have children of their own. We would have led happy,
contented lives. But you changed all that,” she hissed. “That
night, on that road, you shouldn't have stopped the cart. I told you
that the child crying at the side of the road was no ordinary child.
But you wouldn't listen. You had to walk up to the child, and help
him up, hold him close to you—and let him fall upon your neck.
And when the Master swooped in to grab me, I screamed. I screamed
for you, Gabriel. But you didn't come. You didn't protect me,”
she smirked, fisting his shirt.

Vonetta dragged one curved
nail down his cheek. “You would protect a strange child, a
vampire child, instead of me.”

She stared at him impassively.
“What are you?” she mimicked him. A thin smile spread
across her face. “What am I? What am I to you, Gabriel King?”

“
The Master turned you.
I saw...”

Vonetta laughed a
high-pitched, brittle laugh. “Oh yes. You saw, didn't you?
You saw him ravage me, in the most brutal, bloody fashion. He took
my blood, my body, but he didn't kill me. He forced me to drink his
blood, and then he sold me.”

Gabriel swallowed painfully at
the memory.

“
After using me, he
still managed to squeeze a profit out of me. You've got to hand it
to him. He sold me to a demon, an incubus.” Her red eyes
glowed as she stepped back.

“
Vonetta, I...”

“
You're sorry?”
she sneered.

“
Yes. I'm sorry,
Vonetta. I never...”

“
You never thought of
me.” she said matter-of-factly.

“
I thought of you
constantly,” he blurted out. “I've been looking for you
all this time. I never stopped searching. I knew I'd find you. All
this while, I thought...”
I thought I loved you.

“
Really? So, do you
still want to marry me, Gabriel? Claim me as your vampire bride and
mate?”

At her question, Gabriel took
a step back, his body gravitating towards Eva.

“
Take me, Gabriel.
Claim me as your one true mate. We can be together, for eternity,”
Vonetta said, advancing towards him. “Make good on your empty
apology. Make it up to me, Gabriel King.”

“
I will make it up to
you, Vonetta. I...will take care of you. I will make sure...”

She came up to him and placed
a finger on his lips. Gabriel stared into those dark eyes and
experienced a momentary sense of vertigo, as though he were staring
down into a bottomless fiery pit from a great height.

“
Vonetta,” he
breathed.

“
You said you'll make it
up to me, Gabriel,” she whispered. “Isn't that right?”

“
I...”

Laughing, she sliced her fangs
across her bottom lip and let the blood smear across her mouth. Her
tongue darted out to lick her bleeding lips and she smiled. Tilting
her face up to him, she hissed, “This is what I am, Gabriel.”

Before Gabriel could stop her,
she pressed her lips hard against his, pushing her tongue deep into
his mouth. She bit his lip and swept her long tongue across his lips
to take his blood.

Gabriel gasped and sputtered
as her robust, bitter blood burned his tongue and slid down his
throat.

No, no, she couldn't be...

He had failed to save her two
hundred years ago. How could he save her now?

With a snarl, Vonetta pulled
away, baring her bloodied fangs at him. Her eyes flashed and her
features rippled as though something had just slithered across her
face just under the surface of her skin.

“
Well Gabriel, now that
you know what I am, are you going to give me what I
need
?”

Eva's eyes fluttered open and
she tried to raise her head, but it felt as if a great weight was
pressing down on her. Her eyes and mouth widened, but no sound
escaped from her lips. She was aware that she was lying on her own
sofa, on top of her pile of laundry, but she just couldn't push
herself up. Her arms and legs seemed to be weighted down, even
though she could see nothing holding them down.

She drew in a sharp breath.

Vonetta.

Vonetta was no ordinary
vampire. She had done this. She had pinned Eva down on the floor,
then kissed her full on the mouth. Eva had tried to struggle, but
she couldn't move. Vonetta's kiss was relentless, ravenous. Eva
felt her strength, her life, being sucked right out of her. Her body
had weakened, and her thoughts became jumbled and fuzzy. She
couldn't even stay conscious. She just felt so very tired, and lost.

And her eyes had closed.

Vonetta had subdued her, with
one deep, demonic kiss.

Eva gasped. Vonetta was half
vampire, and half demon.

Her eyes finally focused and
she saw Gabriel standing stiffly in the middle of her living room,
his eyes closed as Vonetta dug her nails into his back. She leaned
in and purred, “Gabriel, my love.”

Gabriel jerked when Vonetta's
hands curled around his neck. “Kiss me, Gabriel,” she
said huskily. Her voice was musical, mesmerizing, floating and
spinning around Gabriel like a web.

Gabriel bowed his head and
whispered raggedly, “Vonetta, how did you become...a succubus?”

“
Half succubus,”
she corrected with a slow smile. “I have vampire and demon
blood in me. The Master kept me alive with his blood, and sold me to
my new demon master, who plied me with his blood to make me crave
him. He was an incubus. He needed sex to survive, and he wanted me
to need him, need him and crave him like a drug. It's like an
addiction.” She laughed. “It worked. I needed sex more
and more. I was turning, but I didn't realize it. I was turning
into a demon like him.”

Gabriel looked up and gripped
her arms fiercely. “There must be a way...”

“
To undo everything that
has been done to me?” Her laugh sounded demented, demonic,
echoing round and round the room.

She stopped suddenly and held
his face in both her hands. “I am a vampire and a succubus,
Gabriel. I need blood and sex to survive. Make it up to me. Give
me what I need,” she growled.

Eva opened her mouth to shout,
but her voice wouldn't work. She watched with wide, horrified eyes
as Gabriel leaned in stiffly towards Vonetta.

She couldn't see Gabriel's
face, but she felt a certain sick, sinking feeling in her stomach
when she saw him take Vonetta into his arms and lower his face to
her.

No! Don't do it
, she
wanted to scream.
She's going to hurt you!
She'll suck
your life, your will right out of you!

Vonetta
licked her fangs and
smiled
in satisfaction.
Over
Gabriel's shoulder, her red eyes locked onto Eva.
Slowly,
she parted her lips and tilted her face up to Gabriel.

Their lips touched.

Eva screamed.

Her scream smashed into
Gabriel like a sledgehammer, shattering Vonetta's hypnotic hold on
him. He staggered back from Vonetta, shaking his head hard as if
trying to wake from a dream. Eva felt herself being yanked up from
the sofa, and Vonetta pressed her fangs against Eva's neck.

“
What did you do?”
she hissed at Eva. “What have you done?” she shrieked.

There was a deafening sound,
and Eva turned to see her front door explode into splinters.

Everything seemed to happen in
an instant.

Her door was smashed in, and
PAC Enforcers stormed into her apartment, guns and blades gleaming.

Eva screamed when a tall human
Enforcer took one look at Gabriel and swiftly fired a shot at him.

Gabriel charged at the
Enforcer, his fangs out, and more silver bullets were rapidly pumped
into him. The bullets burrowed in his thigh and chest, effectively
preventing him from misting away.

Eva gasped as Gabriel stopped
in his tracks. Even with his body full of silver bullets, he
remained standing. He swiveled round to look at her, and she heard
him whisper her name.

Gabriel's eyes moved from her
face to her neck, and his eyes blazed with fury when he saw that she
was bleeding.

Vonetta was holding Eva in
front of her like a shield, so the Enforcers were unable to get a
clear shot.

Gabriel didn't wait. He
lurched forward, flying straight towards Vonetta.

Eva felt Vonetta's fangs
pierce her neck. “Say goodbye to your mate,” she
taunted.

Eva didn't know if Vonetta's
words were directed at Gabriel or her. All she knew was that she was
losing way too much blood. Everything was beginning to grow fuzzy.
Even the shouts and shots sounded muted and distant.

Her body felt too heavy and
Eva felt herself sinking, dropping like a sack of potatoes.

But she never hit the floor.

The last sound she heard was
Gabriel's roar of pure rage and pain.

She could feel the searing
pain in her chest and in her leg. It felt as if she had been shot,
and white hot bullets were tearing through her flesh, burning her
from the inside.

She could feel Gabriel's pain,
share his agony. But the feeling of being shot by silver bullets was
nothing compared to the crushing pain in her heart.

The bitch sure knew how to
hurt.

Gabriel smirked at the two
burly Enforcers glaring at him from across the room. The two big,
blond bear shifters had their arms folded across their chests but the
looks on their faces told him they were thinking of ripping his head
right off his shoulders where he sat. But they were here to question
him, not kill him. He'd heard their boss, Jett Riley, giving them
the order. Jett was the one who had fired the first shot at him.
That human wasn't one to be trifled with.

Jett might not be a
paranormal, but he hunted and terminated rogue paranormals with
brutal efficiency. He also had a team of well-trained, well-armed
paranormal and human Enforcers under his command. In all ways, he
was much more powerful than Gabriel.

Gabriel might be proud, but he
wasn't too stupid to see that.

Only a fool would not
recognize a formidable adversary.

Gabriel looked round the
sparse interrogation room. It wasn't designed for comfort, that's
for sure. There was nothing but two tiny chairs and a table in the
room. Gabriel leaned forward, hearing the flimsy chair creak under
his weight, and placed his hands on the table. He had purged the
silver bullets from his body and his wounds had healed, but the
silver handcuffs around his wrists burned and weakened him.

Gabriel narrowed his eyes at
the two Enforcers. “Look, if you...”

“
I'm going to kill you,”
the taller of the two Enforcers snarled at him. Gabriel saw that his
claws were out, and golden fur was racing up his muscular arms.

Gabriel arched a brow. “You
want to kill me,” he repeated in a mocking tone.

“
Levi, don't do it,”
the other Enforcer warned.

“
Stay out of this,
Scott,” Levi growled.

The silver cuffs around
Gabriel's wrists weakened his powers significantly, but they didn't
slow down his reflexes. He raised his arms over his head just as
Levi charged at him, his claws slashing down. Claws met metal with a
loud clang.