Two leather clad male vampires passed through the doorway and tromped down the stairs in spiked knee high boots. Posers. The singer followed.
My hatred boiled over.
Genevieve
My fangs punched out at the sight of that evil cougar gliding down the stairs, freshly showered and free of blood spatter, her sleeveless black gown with a plunging neckline clinging to her lithe body. Dior, if I wasn’t mistaken. A diamond pendant hung low into her perfect, teacup cleavage. I wanted to twist the necklace around her neck until her bones cracked from the pressure.
Genevieve ceased her singing and whooshed to her brother’s side as another group entered the room carrying a cage, roughly the size of a large dog crate. Too small for a person to stand or sit comfortably, its occupant lay curled on his side.
Alexander.
My man’s energy signature rushed to me along the connection of our bond while two burly, bald, and tribal tattooed vampires carried his cage with hands encased in leather gloves, holding the trap as far from their bodies as they could manage. As they neared, I understood why. Silver bars. The imprint of those painful bars painted Alexander’s back in bright red lines. No wonder he curled in on himself, avoiding them.
“You bitch,” I hissed at Genevieve, and tested the strength of the bonds on my wrists. They rattled with my movement, but didn’t give an inch.
She shot me a smug grin, bright with her gleaming white fangs. “That’s alpha bitch to you, half-breed scum.” She pointed to a spot on the floor in front of me. “Right there, boys. Where he can see everything that happens to this mutt.” Her attention swiveled to Dixon. “A word, brother.”
Dixon patted my cheek then stared at his sister. While they chatted mind to mind, I yanked the restraints. Did the right one give a smidge, or was that my imagination? My wrists hurt from my efforts but I’d take the pain for a chance at freedom and helping my friends.
The two burly vampires set down Alexander’s cage. Three steps, maybe four at the most separated us. I swallowed a sob, clenching my teeth to prevent its escape. Wouldn’t give her or her damn brother the satisfaction. Would show no weakness, only a strong exterior. Inside…
Oh God, Alexander. I’m so sorry. My fault. I wish I’d never met any of you. Then you’d all be safe and far away from my fucked up life—
Alexander lifted his head and stared at me.
No, Carina. We’ve had this chat before. Well, a similar one, anyway. Remember the museum? My life would be one big bore without you in it.
He smiled.
I choose you. No matter the cost. Always.
I gaped at him.
I can hear you.
His grin widened.
Yes.
I grinned back.
And you can hear me.
Yes, baby.
His endearment caressed my skin like a slide of silk, and I shivered.
I like it when you call me that.
Then I’ll do it every day.
My smile faded.
If we survive, you mean.
Don’t underestimate your power or that of our bond. Something has changed. Can’t you feel it?
Well, I hear you in my head, so that’s new, but not sure about anything else. I—
Suddenly, the words rushed out of me, as if I’d die if I didn’t tell him everything right now. I was so tired of the deception.
I had to do it, Alexander. Drink the blood. He said he’d kill them if I didn’t drink. Kill them if I told a soul. So I couldn’t tell anyone and I—
Shh, baby. It’s okay.
No, it’s not,
I wailed.
It was all for nothing. Look where we are.
Be strong, baby. You can—
Genevieve raised her palm at Alexander’s cage, smacking him with power. He spasmed and struck the silver bars, his skin sizzling with every contact.
“That’s quite enough from you, minion,” she hissed. “If I have to listen to one more second of your romantic bullshit, I’ll forget how much I want to keep you alive and see you finished once and for all.”
“Fuck you,” Alexander gritted out while his body shook and his skin smoked. The damn cougar hit him again.
I thrashed against the cross, worry for my mate overriding everything else. “I’m going to kill you, you anorexic hag.”
Dixon chuckled. “Seems your mate is as spicy as you, my kitten. If my sister doesn’t kill him, perhaps we’ll all play.” He wrapped my hair around his hand and pulled my head to the side, stretching the bite wounds and making them bleed.
Pain strangled me, but I managed to croak, “Not in this lifetime, you impotent wanker.”
“A wiseass to the end. I wouldn’t want you any other way.” He licked the blood from my neck while Alexander looked on.
My mate gripped the bars, allowing his palms to fry. “You’re dead, Dixon.”
The bastard snorted. “My sister will so enjoy breaking you, Youngling.”
He nuzzled my neck making me gag while Alexander growled and shook his cage. The acrid scent of his sizzling skin tore at my heart.
“Let go,” I begged. “You’re hurt.”
“Never. I’ll always fight for you.” The ferocity and conviction in Alexander’s voice and in his face as he looked at me, buoyed me. No one was coming to save us, with the exception of the wolves who would likely be hurt, so I was It Girl. Save The Day Woman. The damn Chosen One strapped to a St. Andrew’s cross, currently incapable of doing any of the painful, vengeful things running through my head to either Dixon or his sister. But I couldn’t give up. I had to fight. No matter what.
Genevieve power smacked my man again. “Silence, minion. Now watch your lady love die so you can get over her and get with
my
program.”
“Not even if I live for centuries, you bony bitch,” Alexander shot back.
She stomped her foot like a pouty child. “See what I’m contending with, brother? Now turn her already and make her your damn slave. I tire of my servant’s continued defiance.”
Alexander growled again.
“With pleasure, dear sister.” Dixon produced the ninth vial, again, damn it. Popped the top, brought it to my lips.
Behind him, Kai struggled and cursed. Faith surged to her feet, pulling on her chains and pleading with Dixon to stop.
He only laughed. “Bottom’s up, sweet kitten. With this blood, you are marked. With this blood, you are mine.”
He cemented my head in place with his power and forced me to drink.
The room fell silent. Everyone stared. Waited.
At first nothing happened. At first I didn’t feel a damn thing. Then the poison blood moved, slithering through my veins. Wherever it flowed, numbness followed. Down my legs, up my arms, through my stomach and lungs, up my chest. Panic and fear hammered my heart.
Dixon leered, enjoying my distress, and kissed me hard, making my fangs slice my mouth. Blood bathed my tongue. I swallowed it down, my mouth stinging from the wounds. He nuzzled my neck, nipping my skin, grazing my neck with his fangs. As if I needed more wounds, damn it. I wanted to cry out, but my throat closed. My jaw worked on a silent scream as blood trailed from my mouth to my chin and down my neck.
He lifted his head, a smug smile stretching his face, his gaze full of sexual heat.
I fought to breathe and failed, throat as tight as the bonds holding me to the cross. Was this the end? Would I die and would he turn me now? Make me his slave? What would happen to my loved ones? Despair flooded my eyes with tears.
“There we go,” Dixon crooned and caught an errant tear on the tip of a finger. He sucked it into his mouth and hummed his approval.
Faith’s sobs sounded loud in my ears, blending with Kai’s constant curses. Vampires, all male, slunk into the room to watch my death and transformation. My gaze bounced from their amused faces to those of my loved ones
—
Kai, Faith, and Alexander
—
all three twisted in horror and outrage.
Dixon whistled. One of his biker vamps tossed him a knife. He used it to slice open my T-shirt. My yoga pants followed, cut clean off until I stood in nothing but lacy black, boy cut panties, the matching bra, and the remnants of my shirt.
Sexual heat radiated from the assembled vampires, all focused on me. Maybe true death was better than what awaited me as Dixon’s undead slave.
Dixon trailed the knife across my chest, a shallow slice I didn’t feel. Blood trickled onto the curves of my breasts. “Restrained, bloodied, and bared to me. For my pleasure.” He flicked my navel piercing with the tip of the knife, making a tiny clicking sound. My belly flinched, and I sucked in my gut, trying to flee his touch. “So much better, wouldn’t you agree, kitten?”
Alexander roared and hurled his body against the bars of his cage, battering the sides again and again, heedless of his burning flesh.
Don’t, Alexander. Don’t hurt yourself like that.
My man ignored my plea and kept up his futile fight with the cage, the sizzling of his skin sending up tendrils of smoke.
Dixon pressed the tip of the knife to my heart, then cut an x deep in my skin, the numbness that claimed me preventing pain.
“X marks the spot. My heart. My body. My third mark.” He leaned down and licked the blood from the x. “You remember how this works from your brother’s turning, don’t you, love? Draining and death. Feeding and rebirth.” He nipped my ear, making it bleed. “Say farewell to your old life, little kitty. Now we begin anew.”
With his words, the poisoned blood crept into my heart.
He slid in close, and I thanked the numbness, grateful not to feel his horrid hands on my flesh, not to feel the glide of his fangs as he sank them deep in my neck and drank me down.
Deep in my core, my power made a bid for freedom, sputtering like a dying ember, trying to rally, but in the end, unable to spark to life. I lost all sense of my body then, as my mind mellowed, and my lungs stopped their fight to breathe. My pulse stumbled and slowed, and a black curtain descended upon the world.
I died once before, months ago, after Dixon and The Dark One turned my brother, and I let him feed on me. My friends saved me then.
No one could save me this time.
I surrendered to the darkness.
The dance beat pounded in my ears. Strobe lights painted the dance floor in multicolored strokes of light. I stood in the center, afraid to move. The monster would eat me if I moved. Hide. I needed to hide.
Awaken, little star. See. Feel. Breathe
.
Become…
A familiar male voice from a time long past commanded me. A whisper in my ear, a stroke across my cheek, then gone.
The music’s rhythmic thud continued. Invisible fists pounded on a golden door hovering in the field of orange poppies surrounding me. My safe space. The monster wouldn’t find me here. The pounding increased, the door vibrating with it. I backed away, the tall, bright green grass tickling my bare legs. Blood dripped from my fisted hands onto the orange flowers, speckling the petals with bright red dots.
Survive, little star. You are more than you know
. Certainty wound its way into my mind. My father’s voice. Real or imaginary? I had no idea. Was I dead? Dreaming? Did it matter?
The ground shook. The object I was attached to swayed. Wait.
I can feel my body. I’m shackled to a cross. I’m alive.
Far away, an explosion rent the air. Heat rushed over me, my heart sparked to life, and I startled awake, gasping in oxygen with starved lungs. I tried to focus, but a black veil obscured the room.
“Fuck me. She’s breathing.” Dixon’s disgruntled voice stated the obvious. “That’s…that’s impossible.”
“Damn it all, Dixie, can’t you do anything right?” Genevieve’s frustrated whine was music to my ears. “Now the wolves are here. Minions, destroy the dogs.”
A chorus of, “Yes, Mistress,” from her minions then I sensed at least half the vampire energy leave.
More deep breaths. My vision cleared, and I stared straight into Alexander’s vampire black eyes, gleaming with triumph and relief. “Now, baby,” he growled. “Now.”
His power hit me square in the chest. I cried out, expecting pain. Instead, I absorbed the impact and fed on his power, absorbed it like he was my own personal battery, an infinite gas tank filled to the brim with the exact energy I needed. I wasn’t sure why he could feed me now, but my best guess? In dying, I ended the influence of Dixon’s poisoned blood, so now, revived and renewed…
Watch out, you undead wanker.
Power like I’d never experienced coursed through me, sizzling as if I was attached to a live electrical wire. My fire power exploded to life, filling my hands with twin balls of doom for my undead enemies. I smiled at Alexander. With him by my side, I could do anything.
I ripped free of the bonds restraining me to the cross as easily as pulling a toothpick from a soft, spongy cake. Fangs long, claws out, fire at the ready, I lunged for Dixon.
The bastard roared his displeasure and met me head on.
The first time we met months ago, after my family captured him, I had the urge to pluck out his heart. I did that now. Punching deep into his ancient, giving flesh, I found that decayed organ and pulled it from his gaping chest. Cold. Red. I burned it black as coal then to ash as he watched, stunned into immobility. His power pushed at me, as frigid as an Arctic winter. My heat pushed back, his circulatory system spread out in my mind’s eye, a tasty treat we couldn’t wait to taste. And burn.
Under the onslaught of my fire, his power struggled to attack and defend. Then it faltered and failed him. He stumbled backward, putting Alexander’s cage between us.
“Impossible,” Dixon rasped, fingering the hole in his chest.
I blurred to his side, closed my hand around his arm, and burned it right off. “You keep saying that, and yet here we are.”
He collapsed to his knees, holding the arm socket, cauterized by my fire power. “The magic destroyed your vampire power. This cannot be,” he insisted, panting through the pain I caused him.