As I watched Zoey, I could feel the heat of my passion crest. It was boundless. I couldn’t control myself. My body reacting with explosive sensations. My breathing deep. My eyes changing from blue to blood red. She had torn apart my soul and I was ready to take her, taste the warm sweet blood of my passion, and make her mine. Change her so we could be together forever.
She is so beautiful and I’m beside myself with awe and I can’t hide it. Just knowing that I could be near her made me feel alive yet I didn’t want her here. Why is she here? Who invited her and why is she with that human Ryan Cole?
Doesn’t Zoey know she’s in danger?
Never had she done what was expected of her and never would she. She had been stubborn from the day I set eyes on her lovely little terrified face, with her large eyes looking up at me. Then she held out her arms for me to pick her up, and I did with everyone looking at me wondering what the Prince and heir to the Vesper throne of vampires would do.
This little girl kissed my cheek as I held her and she whispered in my ear, “I love you. I will love you forever because you are so kind to me.”
When I left her in front of that church in England when she was fifteen, she thought I didn’t care. She screamed at me when I walked away, “I hate you. I hate you.” If ever I could have died, I would have then because of the sound of her voice had driven a stake into my heart deeper and stronger than Aare could have done.
I had pleaded with her to walk into that church, but her stubborn nature wouldn’t let her and she searched around for me. I was never far from her, but I couldn’t risk Aare and Samantha knowing where she was. I had hoped she would go back to the church, but she walked the streets calling out my name and every sound of her voice weakened me.
Hearing her voice in my sleep many nights, chills rose on my body. I felt responsible for leaving her there alone. I know she blamed me once she realize who I was. When I recognized that she would never stop searching for me, it was then I contacted Detective Ryan Cole, who headed the search for missing children. He brought a team to England, and they found her cold and hungry sleeping behind a tree.
When I first saw Ryan Cole with Zoey, I knew right away that he loved her and would protect her, but I didn’t know he was so young and handsome. I wished her well and still I couldn’t get her out of my head. The dreams became too much for me and I had to see if she was okay so I moved to the US to watch her grow up. I left my home and my parents to the treacherous and diabolic nature of Aare.
Aare was almost able to take everything from me including Zoey.
Now Ryan Cole is doing that without my help. He is replacing me and I can’t do anything about it. I must see Zoey this one last time. I have to feel her body next to mine and tell her why I consented to marry Samantha.
The guest would be arriving around midnight and I have little time. Samantha expects me in her chambers before I dress for the ball.
“You should keep your windows closed,” I said to Zoey as she entered the room after leaving her shower. She reached for a robe and placed it around her beautiful youthful body. “Why are you covering yourself up like I’m a stranger?”
She glanced at me with disdain and said, “You are a stranger.” She looked around. “How did you get in here?”
“After all this time, do you have to ask?” I moved to her and she moved back.
“You’re not afraid of me.”
“Of course not.”
“Then why run from me.”
“Because I don’t want you around. You’re marrying that evil woman who tried to kill me. I almost died if it wasn’t for Robbie.” I opened my eyes wide. It was the first time I heard Zoey explain what had happened to her.
“I didn’t know,” I said my voice breaking. She could always make me nervous and afraid. I had never been afraid of anything in the world, but Zoey had a way of letting me know that the things you love can be taken away, and I loved her more than anything in this world and I wasn’t ready for her to die, by me or anyone.
“Marrying Samantha is a small price to pay to keep you alive.”
“So that’s why you did it. You left me all alone and then you expected that woman to keep her word?” I grabbed her by her arms.
“I didn’t leave you alone. Robbie and Terry were there to protect you.”
“Why didn’t you ask me what I wanted? I would rather be dead than to live without you,” she said to me. Her eyes sad her voice soft.
“Then why did you have to bring Ryan Cole? You know he loves you and I can’t bear to have him near you.”
“I know he loves me,” she said to me. I touched her arm and wrapped my hands around her heated wrist. I felt her pulse and the blood pumping through it to her heart. “All I know is that I want to be with you, and you don’t want me.”
“Can’t you understand that I am freeing you? When you love you have to let the one you love be free.”
“I don’t want to be free. I want to be your slave,” she said.
“I am your slave. And I will remain your slave until I die,” I said.
“Then what do we do?” she asked.
“We love each other when we can. We see each other and I try to figure out how to rid myself of Samantha. She is using Aare to consolidate her power. She has him under her control and she is powerful now. With her charms and spells and potions not even a vampire would risk her wrath. That’s why Aare gave into her. She knew where he slept and it was easy to put a steak into his heart because she can walk in the day and night, therefore, he joined with her to control me and to save himself.”
“Where do I fit in?” She asked. I looked at her. I knew she didn’t want to hear this but I had to make her aware of what he would do.
“He would impregnate you and then give your baby to Samantha for god knows what.” I could see the horror in her eyes and feel her body shudder in my arms.
“You could marry me. It would be both of us against them. I can learn how to fight Samantha. She’s a woman like me.” I put my finger over her mouth. “You don’t know what you’re saying. I would have to change you, and I would rather she killed me than to have you like that.”
Zoey pulled away from me and took her warmth with her. I felt the cold and chill of my lifeless soulless self. I knew then I couldn’t live without her.
“I will go and talk to Samantha. I will reason with her one last time. If she tries anything then I will make sure she never touches you again.”
“What are you going to do, Sebastian?”
“Don’t talk. Let me love you,” I whispered. “I want to feel your burning passion.” She fell into my arms and I carried her to the bed. I stripped away her clothing and mine. “I have never seen you like this.” Her breasts full, her hips round and shapely. “You became a woman in front of me. I must have been blind not to see how desirable you are.”
Looking down at her warm full lips, her extended nipples, her shapely body, and I ached for the fulfillment she offered me.
All I wanted was to kiss her and trace every inch of her body. I watched at her breasts and passed my hands over her nipples. “You are so cold,” she murmured, “yet it feels so natural.”
“I need your warmth. Don’t you realize that? I need what you have to make me human. I know I can never be human again, but when I’m with you and next to you, I feel almost as if I am. As if I have a soul.”
Never in my five hundred years had I been that honest. It was because she was so innocent and trusting of me. I had never seen her rely on anyone the way she had been with me.
My family had taken everything from her as a child and now I have a chance to give her back what she had lost. I knew now what she required of me and I had to give her what she sought.
“What do you want more than anything, Zoey?” I asked her as she opened her eyes and looked into mine.
“I want you. I want to be your wife and have your children.” I was stunned. Did she think that she could be with me and become as I am and have children? That’s what I wanted and dreamed about, but I didn’t think it would become possible.
“If you are to bear my children, then you have to remain as a mortal.” I could see her mind thinking. Her eyes showed she considered what I had said to her.
“I want children most of all with you. If it means not being immortal then I will be with you the way I am. I don’t care if Samantha does something to me as long as I have your children and I will die a happy person.”
“She will not harm you. Never again,” I whispered into her ear. Her finger touched my lips as I eased into her. Her hands gripping my shoulders as my body collided with hers. I became one with her body and no one existed but us.
I left Zoey in the bed with another promise that I would return before the party. I went to talk to Samantha. I had a new resolve. Zoey knew what we were up against. I opened Samantha’s door after knocking.
Walking into her room, I looked around. She wasn’t there but when I turned she stood in front of me smiling, “What are you doing here? You should be getting dressed. You aren’t going to wear those drab black things are you? I have some friends coming in from Europe and they wanted to see the handsome Vesper King.”
She walked close to me and then her face wrinkled. I heard her heart race. “Where have you been? I smell that human on you.” Her eyebrows rose. Her nostrils flared and then she calmed. “Saying goodbye I suppose. I’m not angry with you. But there is one thing I want from you?” She slid her fingers through my hair. I tensed.
“What is it?”
“I want to know how it feels to have you feed on me. Not so you will kill me, but the way you fed on those women you used to court before I killed them. It was so erotic that I wanted to have that sensation, too.” She had reminded me of how horrible we both were and how she stalked me and the women I thought I loved.
When I met someone I enjoyed sexually, and when I made love to them I became enthralled by their blood, which I would occasionally take in small amounts. I had control then, and I knew their blood was good, but it wasn’t sweet and intoxicating like Zoey’s blood. Yet I drank it with delight.
Samantha pulled her long dark hair around and let it fall to the side. I watched at her beautiful skin and I leaned in. This was my chance to be rid of her, I thought.
My fangs extended and then pierced her skin. She held me and I stood there repulsed at the thought of her when I would rather have Zoey’s blood.
And then I felt heat push through me. I pulled away and looked at her.
“Do you think I would let you have that woman? I will see you dead first. I would see your children dead, and that Zoey dead before I let you have children with her. She will never have your children.” I fell to my knees looking up at her black cruel fiery vindictive eyes.
“What have you done to me?” I asked my voice weak.
“Don’t you know? You shouldn’t go around feeding on a witch after you have fucked a human. You promised to marry me but you broke your promise. Now I will summon Zoey to watch you die. You will never have another woman living or dead. And I will kill her when she marries that Ryan Cole and kill her children by him before her eyes.”
It was a chilling last thing to hear.
My voice had left me and I fell on my back unable to move. “I’ll be back with Zoey. This is going to be the best day of my life,” Samantha said with a frightening loud laugh.
I just lay there unable to speak and paralyzed. I heard in a distance Zoey’s voice. “Don’t die Sabastian. I don’t want to live without you.”
“Don’t worry you won’t live very long. Now I have guests I have to see to,” Samantha said with a casual laugh with a closed smile.
And she swirled around and exited the room. My eyes were open, but I couldn’t say anything. The thought of leaving Zoey made tears pool into my eyes and when my tears dropped to my cheeks, she kissed them away. She held me up in her arms.
“What did she do to you? What?” I couldn’t say a word. I couldn’t stop Zoey from bolting from the room, and then I heard her screaming for Robbie. Robbie and Ann came immediately and so did Loren and Terry. I just lay there looking upward.
“She poisoned him,” Robbie said. “That’s the only way she could have gotten to him. It had to be poison blood.”
“Then he has to take fresh blood,” Zoey said. She raised her arm to my mouth. “Take it. Take my blood.” Robbie flicked a large claw on his finger and cut Zoey’s skin and dropped the first blood it into my mouth.
“Be careful,” Ann said looking at Zoey.
“He could go too far if he likes your blood and you could end up like...it’s too frightening to say,” Terry said on her knees beside Zoey and leaning over me.
“Shut up, Terry,” Robbie shouted and furrowed his brow.
“Don’t talk to Terry like that,” Loren said with his fangs extending and his eyes blood red.”
“Please. He didn’t mean it. We don’t need a werewolf and a vampire fighting because we know where that’s going to end up.” It was a voice of reasoning. It was Ann. If I make it I will have to buy her a present, I thought.
At first I took my time savoring every drop of her sweet lifesaving blood, and then something came over me and I began to gulp it down like an animal who’s dying from lack of water.
I reached for Zoey’s wrist and put it to my mouth. I could feel sensations coming back into my body and I thought of nothing but my own satisfaction and desire. I had entered that place where you couldn’t go back. I had crossed over to an insatiable cold bloodied killer and now I was in jeopardy of slaying the only mortal that I ever loved, and I didn’t care and that’s what frightened me.
But not enough to release her.
Then Zoey laid near me and sang a song I had sung to her when she was a child and when she was frightened and couldn’t sleep, “Lullaby and Goodnight...Thou shall wake on my breast.”
Then she said in a soft voice, almost a whisper, “I’m pregnant.”
It was those words and that song which prevented me from taking her into the deep dark depths of my existence.
The End
Book 3 Coming Soon!
Book 3 The Soul of A Vampire Coming Soon.
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