Forbidden Blood (Vampire Venators Romance Series) (22 page)

It left Kearn with little to go on.

All he knew was that the man was of noble blood and that he would come for Amber again.

Kearn tilted his head back and the water bounced off his face.

The image of the man and Amber flashed across his closed eyes.

Bastard.

He clenched his fists. He wanted to rip the man’s throat out for laying his hands on her and hurting her. Amber would wake knowing what she had done. She would remember it all. The cut on his arm stung under the hot water and he licked it again. She wouldn’t forgive herself, even though it hadn’t been her fault.

It was his fault.

He turned the water temperature down to cold but it did nothing to quell his anger and his desire for blood.

The man had to pay.

Power rose in Kearn’s right arm, trickling upwards from his fingers, warm and fierce. He let it fade away. This wasn’t about his duty now. It was about her. He wasn’t hunting the man on orders, not anymore. He was hunting him to protect Amber, to protect the woman who had become the most precious thing in his dark world.

He couldn’t deny his feelings for her. He loved her without a doubt, and even if there were no future for them, he would protect her, with his life if it came to it. Sacrificing his existence for the sake of hers would be an honourable death.

Kearn looked down at his right arm and the marks on it when they pulsed. Water streamed over his head, running in rivulets down the long strands of his silver hair like a waterfall.

He hated them. These marks were the reason he had to act so humbly around his kind, lowered to nothing more than a Commoner amongst them. He clenched his fist and cursed the power and the Sovereignty. If it weren’t for them and his foolish acceptance of their offer of revenge, he would still be the man he had once been, the man he longed to be.

He looked at the wall separating him from Amber.

She meant something to him. If he hadn’t walked the path he had chosen and had remained nothing but a Noble, he never would have met her and felt real love. He would have been lost to the darkness of lust, forbidden blood, and the life his parents had planned for him.

Status meant nothing in a world where he had no freedom and had no love. In his world without status, without rank amongst his peers, he had fallen in love with someone he never would have considered when he had been a Noble—a beautiful human woman.

Amber.

The marks on his arm flared into life and burned. He gritted his teeth and clutched it to his chest, screwing his eyes shut against the pain.

The water no longer touched his body. A chill breeze replaced it and he shivered as it froze the droplets on his bare skin. He opened his eyes and glared at the high dark grey stone arches of the cathedral-like room around him. The thick pillars supporting the arches and vaulted roof led his eyes down the length of the long dim rectangular room to the bright altar at the end.

The marks on his arm faded and the power disappeared.

Kearn cupped his groin with both hands to protect his modesty and frowned at the altar as he walked towards it. The dark flagstones were freezing underfoot. He had never seen any room besides this one in the building but they had shown him the outside once when he had asked about it. It was a gargantuan stone fortress hidden between planes, in neither Earth’s realm nor the demonic one. It bridged the gap between them, and the Sovereignty watched all, ensuring none of the laws of the species it governed were broken.

When he reached the crescent-moon-shaped pool that arched around in front of the altar, set into the flagstones, he stopped. He wouldn’t go any further. He had tried to once and they had punished him by sending him to the eternal darkness to suffer with the souls of those who had broken the law.

His gaze dropped to the still black water in the pool. It wasn’t pleasant in there and he had no desire to make a return visit.

“I thought I said never to bring me here from my apartment?” Kearn glared across the pool to the altar.

Nine figures stood there, all veiled in translucent long white flowing layers. Pale light streamed in from an opening above them, causing them to glow ethereally and hiding their faces from view. They were female, he knew that much from their voices, and they were all the same height and had the same figure. And they weren’t human or vampire. Whatever they were, they had long ago accepted the role of adjudicator over the nine species of demon, and they were the last of their kind, thousands of years old.

“We do so enjoy your visits,” the one in the middle said. Her voice was the youngest, always lined with an edge of playfulness. She was the one he felt most at ease with and he often left wondering if she represented his species. “You are doubting us again.”

He cursed under his breath. It was impossible for him to hide anything from the Sovereignty. They often watched him and were aware of every Venator from every species, and if they focused their power on him alone, they could sense his thoughts through the marks they had given him.

“I never stopped doubting you.” He pulled his shoulders back and stood tall. He didn’t care that he was nude before them because they had seen him naked before, but he kept his hands over his genitals, unwilling to give them a free show.

“Venator Greystone will visit you tomorrow night.”

Was that the female Venator’s name? A Lesser Noble. Greystone were one of the lowest ranked families. No wonder she had been so polite. His own family, Savernake, ranked third of all bloodlines, only lower than Montagu and the archduke’s bloodline, Pendragon.

“And why will she visit me?” The darkness in the crescent pool shifted and revealed an image of the woman. She was talking to Duke Montagu at the ball.

“She has come to test you.”

Kearn’s head snapped up and he frowned at the nine Sovereigns.

A blood test?

His heartbeat quickened. He had taken blood from Amber, enough that it would put him over the limit. The Sovereigns had to be aware of what had happened to her and what he had done. Were they trying to turn a Venator against him? If he measured over the limit, Venator Greystone could easily spread word to other Venators that he had broken the law. Even if the Sovereignty didn’t decree it, they could hunt him for it.

The Sovereign in the middle stepped forwards.

“It is important that you allow her to take your blood.” Her voice echoed around the dark stone walls of the hall. “We need you to do it.”

“Why? My blood will measure positive and she will—”

“You are not to question this order.” She turned away from him.

He watched her walk through an arch at the back of the altar, fury sweeping through his blood at her behaviour and order. He wanted to go after her but didn’t dare. The others turned and followed her, leaving him alone in the hall. He looked down at the moving image of the other Venator in the pool.

Why did they need her to test him?

If it wasn’t to incriminate him, or set the other Venators on him, what reason could they have for doing such a thing?

The image in the pool faded and his arm burned again. He growled and held it, waiting for the shift between their world and his.

Light swallowed him and when his vision came back, he was in his apartment.

In his bedroom to be precise.

Kearn covered his groin and his eyes darted to Amber. She was still sleeping soundly, his jacket acting as her blanket. He cursed the Sovereign. She had placed him back in his bedroom on purpose. He hated it when they amused themselves with him. It wasn’t as though he could return the favour. If he stepped out of line, they would kill him and send him back to the darkness.

He shivered at the thought and went into the bathroom.

The shower was still running. He turned it off, dried himself, and wrapped the brown towel around his waist. He was about to leave the bathroom when he caught his reflection in the mirror above the oval sink and black cabinet. Green eyes met his. Silver hair framed his face, icicles with staggered tips that brushed his nose, jaw and cheeks. Did Amber like how he looked?

She didn’t know him any other way and was attracted to him, so she had to like his appearance. He looked hard at himself and swept the hair from his eyes. Perhaps it was part of the reason she was falling for him.

Much as he might not have met her had he not become a Venator, her feelings for him might have been different if he had blue eyes and black hair.

His appearance suddenly seemed less repulsive.

She was changing him. He no longer truly hated his duty and what he had become. He was starting to accept it because of her.

He took the remaining bandages from the black cupboard under the basin and walked into the bedroom. Amber was still asleep. He set the bandages down on the end of the bed and opened the left side of his wardrobe. He threw on a pair of black trunks and black trousers, and then tossed the damp towel into the bathroom.

Taking the bandages, he went to Amber and sat on the bed to her left. The digital clock on the bedside table read three in the morning. The Sovereignty had kept him a long time. He had gone into the shower around one thirty. Time always distorted when they called him to them. What was minutes there was hours on Earth. He was glad that Amber had remained asleep. If the vampire had attempted anything or had come for her, he would have made the Sovereignty pay for taking him purely to announce his impending blood test and to amuse themselves with his nudity. It wasn’t the first time they had taken him from his shower or his bed. It happened at least once a year, and that was why he had forbidden it last time it had happened. He might be theirs to command, but he wasn’t theirs to toy with.

Kearn tore the length of crepe bandage into two pieces. He wrapped one around the wound on his forearm, tying it tightly, and the other around Amber’s neck, securing it with a safety pin. It would catch any blood and stop her from accidentally reopening the cut.

He touched the bandage on her throat and stared at his fingers. He didn’t know what he would have done if the vampire had bitten her. Things were getting too dangerous.

Amber frowned in her sleep and stirred.

He smiled when her eyelids fluttered open to reveal her hazel irises.

He would keep her safe.

Because he loved her.

CHAPTER 15

A
mber’s head throbbed and it hurt to swallow. She blinked her eyes open and the world gradually came into focus. Kearn sat beside her on the bed, shirtless and with tender concern in his dazzling green eyes. They smiled at her and she could feel his relief. There were other feelings there, mingling with hers, but they slipped through her grasp and fell away. The light in his eyes began to fade. She wouldn’t let him close his heart to her again. She still wasn’t sure how the connection between them worked but she wasn’t going to let him sever it.

His eyes held a hint of surprise and then his shoulders relaxed and he reached towards her.

The back of his left hand brushed her jaw and cheek as his fingers stroked her throat. She went to raise her hand and touch his but it felt too heavy. The soft warm bed was comfortable beneath her and she wanted to lay there with Kearn watching over her like a guardian angel.

She frowned when she remembered calling him a demon. Her memory of the night was hazy but she could recall some parts of it clearly. She had danced with Kearn and it had felt wonderful, and then she’d had to dance with Duke Montagu and she hadn’t liked it, and then the man had appeared.

Her pulse doubled, blood thundering in her temples and making the left side of her throat throb. Her eyes widened as she remembered what had happened during her dance with the man. With a lot of effort, she brought her hand to her throat and felt a bandage around it. Panic washed through her, prickly hot and turning her insides. She held Kearn’s gaze, silently asking him the question quivering on the tip of her tongue.

“You will be fine. The man cut you to test your blood,” he said serenely and his fingers touched hers when he drew his hand away. “I have sealed the wound for you and I am using the blood I took from you to keep the man out. I will not let him control you again.”

She continued to stare into his eyes, a little relieved but still trembling all over. The man had drunk her blood. He knew what she was now, and could control her again. Would he come after her? Would he make her do things against her will as she had at the factory?

“We almost had him this time.” Kearn smiled but Amber felt only sorrow inside her.

Her eyes shot wide. The man had already made her do something.

She had attacked Kearn.

She went to sit up but he pressed his hand against her shoulder. Her head spun and she collapsed back into the bed, a deep wave of fatigue crashing over her. How much blood had she lost? Every inch of her felt drained and weak from just moving a small amount. Her heart beat feebly in her chest.

Her gaze shifted to the bandage around Kearn’s right arm. A few spots of red marked the cream material. A terrible feeling twisted her stomach and she looked away. She could remember it all now. She had tried to kill him.

Tears filled her eyes and she wasn’t strong enough to stop them from tumbling down her cheeks.

Kearn’s hand was soft and gentle against her face and she closed her eyes, savouring the feel of his touch and the meaning behind it. He cleared her tears away and brought her head back around to face him.

“It was not you.” His smile made her heart tremble and beat faster, stronger. “You were under his control.”

He sighed and she felt the meaning behind that too. He wasn’t happy. His words weren’t what she was feeling inside. She felt upset, angry, and hurt, and none of them were her emotions. They were how he felt about her attacking him.

His hand left her face and became a fist.

“I let my guard slip. The vampire had your blood. I should have been more cautious… but I… I had to get you back.” He looked down at his knees, the silver strands of his hair falling forwards to veil his face. “I had to protect you.”