Prophecy: Caelestis & Aurorea (25 page)

Women were easy.

They honestly believed that he had an interest in them. He’d never associate himself with a filthy human. They were walking blood banks. They were his next meal. The compassion that some of his species showed towards humans sickened him.

He frowned when his thoughts drifted back to Mathias.

Mathias had feelings for his housemaid. Someone had to tell her that he was gone.

Valentine growled when someone walked into him and looked up to see a man standing in front of him. The man laughed, nudging his friends with his arm so they joined in. He ignored their comments about his clothing and stared at them, assessing their build and the situation. There were four of them. The street was crowded, but with big enough gaps that he could see a clear path he could use if he chose to run.

He remembered that the law didn’t apply to him any more. He’d already broken enough of them that the Law Keepers were coming for him regardless. He was tired of pandering to humans and letting them get away with mocking him whenever they saw fit. It was about time they learnt whose world they walked in and how pathetic they were. This world didn’t belong to humans. It belonged to the vampires, to the children of Hell.

Picking his nails, he waited with growing impatience for the man to stop laughing.

When he didn’t, Valentine snapped his head up and stared straight into his eyes.

“Got a problem, mate?” the man said.

Valentine shook his head. “Not a problem, more of a mild irritation, like a bug that needs to be squashed.”

The man frowned when his friends laughed at him. “You calling me a bug?”

He didn’t give the man a chance to make a move. Lurching forwards, Valentine caught him around the neck, raising him off the ground. He grinned when the man choked and his friends tried to tug him free.

“One that needs to be squashed,” Valentine said and then flung the man hard towards the shop fronts across the road from him, throwing him straight through the glass.

Valentine looked at the three men standing in front of him. They stared at him and he thought they were going to be stupid enough to say something or fight. They hesitated a little longer and then ran to check on their friend. Valentine sighed, flexed his fingers and watched the people gathering around the broken window and the man.

Turning, he glanced at the girls to see they weren’t looking so seductive any more. They look horrified. He grinned, revealing the sharp points of his incisors and growled at them. When they screamed and ran, he laughed. Humans were such easy targets.

He scanned the crowds and saw that the couple he was tracking had reached the top of the road. Swiftly walking after them, he slowed his pace when he was within a few metres and followed them down another road. The moment they were somewhere a little less public, he’d put his plan into action.

They’d be dead before they could blink.

He was in no mood for toying with his food.

The man held a black iron gate open for the girl. Valentine watched them walk into the park on the other side.

He smiled. This was just too perfect. The park was in complete darkness. Maybe he would toy with them for a while after all. All this fighting and killing was starting to make him feel a little better, and was probably going to stop him from killing Venturi when he got back to the house.

Slipping into the park, he moved off the path and onto the grass to cover the sound of his footsteps. He stilled his breathing as his face morphed into his demonic visage. His senses reached out, pinpointing and locking onto the couple while they walked. He pricked his ears, listening to them giggling with each other and their muttered lovers’ comments. His smile became a grin.

Stalking them, he waited for the perfect moment to attack. He mounted the steps that went up into the main area of the park, his eyes adjusting to the darkness and allowing him to see where the couple were. His senses alone could outline them for him, but it was more fun not to rely on them fully. He preferred it when there was a chance they could escape. It made the hunt more interesting.

He stopped at the same time they did, watching them while they laughed and kissed. He frowned and his thoughts wandered to Prophecy. It was probably the alcohol helping him shed his inhibitions, but he couldn’t get his mind off kissing her while he watched the couple in front of him. The taste of her lips and the way her body moulded against his whenever they kissed filled him with a desire the likes of which he hadn’t felt since he was newly turned and still naïve. He’d never thought he could find someone like her, even less that he would find her in the house of his family’s enemy. But he had found her, and his love for her was deeper than he’d ever felt before, even in his human life. He hadn’t even felt like this about Lucya.

When he came out of his thoughts, he realised that the couple had started moving again. He pushed his thoughts of Prophecy away and focused on the anger and frustration inside of him. He wanted to get it out into the open and get over it, and the easiest way for him to do that was to take it out on someone.

He had to take it out on them.

They were going to die anyway. Prophecy needed blood and the couple would be providing it.

He might as well expunge these feelings inside of him at the same time.

When he caught up with them where they were walking down the wide path, he stepped out onto the gravel and let it crunch under his feet.

The couple went rigid but kept walking. He listened to their heartbeats accelerate and could sense the adrenaline as it entered their veins, sweetening the scent of their blood.

He stepped off the gravel and onto the grass the other side. Slipping through the shadows, he kept his senses trained on them while he moved to intercept them. They were panicking. He could feel it in his blood. He could smell the waves of fear coming off them. Any moment now, they would run.

Only he’d be waiting for them.

The second they moved, he stepped out in front of them and caught the man around the neck. He grinned in the darkness, bringing the man’s face close to his so he would be able to see what was about to kill him. He licked his incisors and threw the man into a nearby tree trunk, but he didn’t give him a chance to slump to the floor. Moving as swift as air, he grabbed hold of the man’s shirt and silenced his panicked cry by ripping his claws across the man’s neck. A garbled noise was all that sounded from the man’s throat and Valentine tossed the body to one side.

He turned sharply, honing his senses on the woman. She had stopped. He shook his head and walked towards her.

“Greg?” she said in a shaky voice.

He smiled.

He listened to her ragged breathing and her heart as it pounded hard in her chest. When he was standing barely a few inches from her, he smiled and took a deep breath. She squeaked and then reached out with trembling hands towards him.

“Greg?” she said again.

He leaned towards her, bringing his mouth close to her ear. “Greg’s dead.”

She went to scream but he caught hold of her mouth. He laughed when she bit down on his hand and returned the favour by digging his claws into her cheeks. She whimpered and stopped biting him. He could feel her hot breath against his hand, stinging the cuts in his palm.

“Shh,” he whispered. “You would not want me to kill you too, would you?”

She tried to shake her head. He suppressed his desire to laugh again. She really believed that there was a chance he was going to let her go. That would be a miracle, and everyone knew what a fallacy they were.

Running his finger down her throat, he followed it with his eyes. Her heartbeat was strong, as was her blood. She’d make a good feed. Just what he needed after everything he’d been through.

Lowering her, he released her mouth but caught hold of her arm. He pulled her close to him, grinning at her in the darkness. She trembled beneath his fingers, her breathing coming fast and shallow now as she began to really panic. He could see how petrified she was by her expression. Her eyes were darting about, trying to see him in the inky blackness, and her brows were furrowed. Tears streaked her cheeks, shining in the light visible only to him.

She’d make a sweet kill.

Releasing her arm, he counted to three when she ran, giving her a chance to get an adequate distance away from him. When she reached the end of the path, he went after her, herding her into the trees. He slipped through them with ease while she stumbled along, her hair and clothes getting caught in the branches. She stumbled a few times and he let her run on ahead again. Nearing the river, he bolted silently through the trees, knowing she’d head towards the gap he could see up ahead.

She shrieked when she ran straight into his arms. He gripped her arm tightly and caught her around the jaw with his other hand. Forcing her head to one side, he bit down hard on her neck and wrapped his arm about her, restricting her movements. He growled and bit deeper, pulling on her blood so hard that in a matter of seconds she was dead in his arms.

He dropped the body and breathed heavily while he ran his hand across his mouth and then licked all the blood off it.

He stared at the dead girl.

She had tasted sweet.

“I never thought I’d see one of your lot acting like that.” A female voice cut into his thoughts.

He reached his senses out. It was definitely another vampire. Raising his head, he looked straight into her eyes.

“An Aurorea?” she said with a smile and twirled her dark hair around her finger. “I thought your bloodline always stayed on the continent. Eastern Europe’s your favourite haunt, isn’t it? Your family must be missing you.”

“You could say that they are looking for me,” he said and wiped the remaining blood off his lower lip with his thumb.

He looked at it.

“You killed the bloke without taking so much as a sip, but you fed from the girl. You’ve not drained her dry though. Why?”

He frowned at her. “That is none of your business. I do not have time for making pleasant conversation with a weakling.”

“You should answer my question,” she said.

He smiled at her attempted threat.

“You should not be asking any.” He turned away from her and walked back towards the avenue where he’d left the man’s body. The blood would be cooling by now and it would make it difficult to extract if he left it much longer.

“Are you a guard?”

He tensed his jaw and turned, growling at her. She flinched a little and then straightened up. That was the trouble with the weaklings. They had no manners, no backbone, half the strength he had, but they still didn’t know when to quit. It was little wonder most of them didn’t live to see one hundred. They were better off as humans.

Walking away from her, he licked his thumb clean and tried to focus on the task at hand. He sighed when he realised he had a bigger problem than the annoying girl. He had to get the body back to Prophecy. In his haste to leave the house that had been making him feel so claustrophobic, he had forgotten to bring the canisters.

“Didn’t you hear me?” she called after him.

“I did. I have to kindly refer you to my previous answer and warn you that it would not be wise to continue your questioning.”

“You’re cute when you’re angry.” She caught up with him and started walking beside him.

He snarled at her, amusing himself with the way she flinched again. She must have been young. It was either that or she was incredibly stupid to be remaining near him. A weakling like her was no match for a vampire of the pure bloodlines.

“How old are you?” he said. Even Prophecy acted more mature and sensible than this girl. Even Prophecy knew when she was treading on thin ice.

“I’m thirteen in immortal years, if that’s what you’re asking.”

He stopped dead and narrowed his eyes on hers. “If you want to see fourteen, you should leave now.”

“Is that a threat?” she laughed the words at him. “Seriously? You don’t scare me.”

He caught her around the throat and slammed her into the nearest tree. Snarling at her, he pushed her hard against it, crushing her windpipe. Her eyes widened in alarm. He remembered what it was like to be her age. Her mind still remembered the necessity of breathing, meaning she thought she was going to suffocate. He grinned and gripped her throat tighter, watching the panic surface in her eyes.

Dropping her to the ground, he walked away while she coughed and spluttered. He strode back towards the man, intent on getting the body back to Prophecy and hoping that the girl would leave him alone now.

“Okay … you’re not a guard … you’re something else. How many have you killed tonight?”

He smirked at her. “For blood, or for fun?”

“Both,” she said, looking a little unnerved.

“One, possibly two for fun. Two for blood. He counts as one.” He pointed to the body of the man.

“He does?” she said and he nodded. “You sure about that? Because he’s coming with me.”

He laughed at that. She seriously thought she was going to take his kill from him? A weakling like her?

Ignoring her, he continued to walk towards the body. She kept in step with him and the closer they got, the more irritated he became.

He was about to attack her when she pre-empted him. She swiped at him, slashing across his cheek with her claws. He growled and evaded her next attack. She rolled to one side when he went to hit her but the moment she came up into a standing position, he punched her hard across the jaw. He sneered when she cried out and tried to back flip away from him. Catching her foot, he swung her hard into a tree and smiled when he heard her bones crack. He released her foot and caught hold of her jacket, pulling her up onto her feet.

“You should have listened to my warning,” he said and ripped her head off.

Letting her lifeless body slump to the floor, he turned around and looked at the man’s body. He didn’t hold out much hope of the blood being any good now. He pressed his fingers against the man’s neck. It was cold. The blood would have coagulated and would be impossible to get out of the body.

He raised his hand when something tickled his neck and wiped away the blood that had dripped down from his cheek. She’d deserved to die for that alone. He ran his fingers across his cheek and then licked them clean.