Dangerous Love (14 page)

“Oh, Sage…” she whispered softly as she tightened her arms around her human. Over the years, she tried to find people she could be with, not always romantically.
Just people that would accept her for who she was. Humans usually feared her and vampires worshipped her. For the first time in centuries, Vayna finally felt like someone accepted her, “You’re welcome.”

“Come to bed, lover,” Sage murmured as she eased herself out of Vayna’s arms. She stood up and helped the vampire stand back up, a tender smile on her face as she spoke, “I’m tired and I’d like to fall asleep with my vampire’s arms around me.”

“Anything you wish for, Sage,” Vayna murmured as the two went inside. After Vayna cleaned herself  up, the two proceeded to do just that. They fell asleep in each other’s arms, unaware of the passing time. When reality finally pulled them from their sleep, it was late afternoon and the two lounged about in bed, content to just stay in each other’s arms until they couldn’t any longer.

Chapter 10

In the darkness of her mind, Vayna didn’t know who she was or what she was. She felt like she was floating in a dark abyss with no light, no sound, no feeling. There was nothing, she was nothing. There was only the darkness and her. What was she, she wondered. She wondered how she could wonder. How did she know she was floating in an abyss when she couldn’t feel or see anything? She couldn’t move her body; couldn’t open her eyes. Did she even have a body to move or eyes to open? She couldn’t understand what was happening. She felt so tired. So tired and so alone...

She felt a sudden warmth drip onto her lips and she fought against the dark abyss, wanting to know what it was that she felt.
She must have a body, otherwise she wouldn’t be able to feel such blissful warmth, she thought. She fought to open her mouth, to taste the warmth that was so foreign to her. A few drops dripped into her mouth and taste exploded on her tongue. It was sweet. So very sweet, and whatever it was, she was starting to gain strength enough to pull away from that dark abyss into the world of light that suddenly seemed to shine above her. The more she tasted, the stronger she became, and the brighter the light was. She struggled and finally raised her head, her mouth opening wide enough to suck on the warm skin where the blessed liquid flowed from. Her fangs descended and she instinctly dug them into the Sage’s arm. Her fangs caused the blood to cascade into her mouth and everything came rushing back to her.

With a sharp gasp, she sat up and looked around wildly. The taste of blood was still in her mouth as she gazed around her darkened room.
Nothing moved except her and the gentle up and down motion of Sage’s breathing.

A dream.
It was nothing more than a dream.

Vayna pushed the covers off of her and stood up as she moved across the room and out into the hallway. Her footsteps were quieter than a cat’s as she moved into
the bathroom and rested her hands on the edge of the sink. The person staring back at her in the mirror looked wild and frightened. Her eyes were wide and her hair was all over the place. Parts of it even managed to end up in a knot. Shaking her head, she reached down and washed her hands. She wanted to wash the taste out of her mouth, but knew it wouldn’t do any good. Water would just end up making her sick, even if she didn’t swallow any of it. Sighing heavily, she merely stood there and tried to push the dream out of her mind.

“Vayna?”

Her head whipped up and she looked over toward the doorway where Sage was standing. Her human wore a sleepy, confused look on her face as she looked at the ancient vampire. Vayna gave her a small smile as she asked softly, “Did I wake you?”

“No,” she said as she shook her head softly and moved into the bathroom to stand behind her vampire lover. She wrapped her arms around her waist and rested her head on her back, “I woke up to find you missing from bed and wondered where you went off to. Is everything alright?”

“Strange dream,” Vayna murmured as she closed her eyes and took comfort from Sage. It was strange. She normally didn’t rely on others for comfort, and yet she couldn’t help but soak up the comfort her human was giving her.

“Care to talk about it?” Sage asked as she opened her eyes and gazed toward the wall. She felt the vampire relax in her arms and smiled. She’d seen the alarm, the frightened look in those blue eyes of her l
over when she first stepped into the doorway.

“Not particularly. I’d just like to forget about it,” she replied quietly and shook her head. It wasn’t a particularly terrifying dream. But the years
she spent right after she was created were lonely and that dream felt almost as if she were back in that time. Alone, afraid, and unsure. Except it was worse because she wasn’t able to see or feel anything in her dream.

“We could always go back to sleep,” Sage offered as she lifted her head and rested her chin on Vayna’s shoulder.

“I doubt I could sleep,” Vayna said as she shook her head and turned around. She wrapped her arms around Sage’s waist and pressed a light kiss to her human’s lips. She sighed softly as she spoke, “I think I’ll stay up for a while. You go get some more rest, my petite amour.”

“One of these days I’m going to make you tell me what that means,” Sage said as she slowly slid out of her vampire’s arms and padded out of the room toward the bedroom, “When I’m more awake, that is.”

Vayna merely laughed and watched Sage head back into the bedroom. Her smile slipped from her face as she turned the other direction and walked into the kitchen, her mind buzzing with different thoughts.

Chapter 11

The knock on the door startled her out of her thoughts as she jerked her head up from staring blankly at the kitchen counter. Who would be knocking at this time of the night? Setting her cup down onto the counter, she walked over to the door and opened it without looking to see who it was. Jeran stopped in the middle of knocking again as he said, “Don’t you ever look to see who’s knocking?”

“Didn’t think I’d need to,” she replied as she turned and left the door open for him to walk in.

He walked into the apartment and shut the door behind him as he said, “We need to talk, Vayna.”

“You never did waste time,” she replied as she went and got another cup and filled it with blood. Handing it to him, she said, “The council?”

“Is demanding that you meet with them. They know about Sage,” he said with a nod as he took the cup and drank a sip. He made a face as he looked down at the dark liquid inside, “I still can’t believe you drink this packaged stuff. Fresh is so much better.”

Vayna growled at him softly. She didn’t want to talk to the council, least of all about Sage. She avoided the council as often as she could, appearing only when needed to. She absolutely hated the fact that she wasn’t able to avoid it this time. She just knew they were going to harp on her about being their
Pharaoh. She absolutely hated that.

Jeran took a step back and held up his hands in surrender, not wanting to aggravate her anymore than he had to. He knew how much it pissed Vayna off having to deal with the council, and he honestly couldn’t blame her. It was very annoying dealing with them. They all thought they were right and that the rest of the world was wrong. The only one they ever thought about listening to was Vayna, but she had to a
ccept becoming Pharaoh. That was the only way they’d listen to her. And Vayna wanted nothing to do with being Pharaoh.

He heard rumors of when she was willing to be
Pharaoh. That was a long time ago, when the vampire world was just starting out. Back then, she was a very harsh, very cruel person, or so he heard. He hadn’t even been alive when that happened, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to see her like that. When he met her, she was a very carefree, let loose and live type of girl, as much as vampire could live, anyway. So it shocked him to hear that she could be anything but. He never asked her if that was true, not wanting to know if she was as cruel as he heard.

Vayna was his friend, even if they didn’t like each other very much anymore. She was the closest person he had to family that was still alive. She annoyed the hell out of him, and he out of her, but he still relied on her during the years they existed. It was more than enough that he had someone who would back him up, even if they hated each other. It really as a love
hate relationship.

He sighed deeply as he shook his head. Placing his hands on his shoulders, he said, “I know you don’t
want to deal with them, but they’ll come here to you if you don’t. And that will cause a scene.”

“I know,” she said with a heavy sigh. She really didn’t want to even bother going to the council, but
she really didn’t want to explain to her neighbors why there were suddenly half a dozen vampires standing in her hallway. She nodded her head with some reluctance as she said, “Alright… I’ll go.”

“And what about her…?” he asked hesitantly as he nodded toward the living room. He didn’t want to bring her up, but she was a part of this, and the council was going to want to know. Even if she didn’t go, and Vayna kept her away from the council,
they’d find a way to see her. And he knew what their response was going to be.

“She has no part in this,” Vayna said angrily as she glared at him. Even she could tell it was a lie. She just
didn’t want those heathens to get a hold of her human. She knew how ruthless they could be when they wanted to be. They would tear Sage apart for lunch, literally if she let them. Not that she would. Sage was her human and she would be the only one tasting her blood. She sagged against the counter as she whispered, “I have no choice, do I?”

“Not really,” he said with a shake of his head. He didn’t like it either, but it had to be done. The council
already knew that Sage existed. They just didn’t know the true nature to their relationship. He looked at her sadly as he said, “You created the rules, Vayna. You of all people know what needs to happen.”

“Don’t remind me,” she said with a soft hiss. She knew very well that she created the rules. She just didn’t want to admit that there was no other option she could take. It was either go to the council
herself, on her terms, or have them come to her and risk Sage’s safety. At least she could keep Sage safe while she was there. She really hated the fact that she created those blasted rules in the first place.

Long time ago, when she was still a young vampire, she banded together with the
sparse amount of vampires that she turned and made a system of rules. That was back when she thought she could still be a ruler of her people. Of course, she learned over time that she just didn’t have the urge to rule anymore. She ruled people all of her human life, and she finally had a chance to see what it was like to live a commoner’s life. To make her own choices, live how she wanted to live. She became reckless after that and it almost got her killed.

At one point, though, while she was still ruling the vampires, she came to realize that they needed some kind of rule system in place or else the vampires would multiply and overrun their food source: the humans. That was when she sat down with some of the most brilliant minds back then and created rules that would keep their people
safe for many centuries to come. That was what she naively believed back then, anyway.

Now that she was truly old enough to call herself wise, even though she didn’t feel like it, she knew that the rules she created weren’t as effective as she hoped they would be. They actually hindered her race to a point, but she felt helpless to do anything about it. The only way she could chan
ge the rules was to become Pharaoh again, and even then, there was very little hope of actually changing the rules with the council still being in charge. They wouldn’t let her do a thing if they really didn’t want to, no matter how much they claimed to listen to her. They were nothing but greedy pigs in her mind. Hungry for blood, lust, and power.

She refused to give them the last of that. Being the original, she was the one person that could change someone without needing to drain their blood. She had the most power of all the vampires, and she knew how to use every little bit of it. Her weaknesses were
fewer than those of other vampires as well. She was the strongest and most powerful. They wanted her in a position where they could use her and make things happen the way they wanted them to happen. She refused to let them have that.

She sighed tiredly as she shook her head and moved out into the living room.
Sitting down on the couch, she said, “I really don’t want to take her to see them. You know what they’ll say.”

“I do, but you have no choice, Vayna,” he said as he stood in the doorway and folded his arms across his chest. There really wasn’t much she could do, so the best way would be to get it done and over with as soon as possible. That way they could all move on with their lives… well their undead lives for the most part. He wished there was another option, any option for her, but there just wasn’t.

She sighed and nodded as she dropped her head back on to the edge of the couch and thought about that beautiful human sleeping peacefully in her bed a few rooms over. Her heart ached at having to take her with her to see the council, but she knew she didn’t have much of a choice. She looked over her shoulder long enough to murmur, “Thank you, Jeran. I know how much you hate having to deal with me.”

“I never disliked you, Vayna” he said seriously as he walked through the room
.  He walked over to the door as he spoke, “You’re just very annoying to put up with sometimes. Besides, I really don’t have much of a choice, do I?.”

“
Not particularly,” she replied with a small chuckle. She turned her head and gazed blankly at the TV and sighed heavily. She really didn’t want to do it, but… “I’ll contact the council and set up a time. I just don’t want her to get hurt.”

Jeran stood just inside the doorway to
the apartment and gazed at her. He could tell, even if she wasn’t ready to admit it, that the vampire was very much in love with the human. He only hoped both of them would be ready for the consequences that were about to come. Things were going to get very difficult from here on out, and he hoped there was enough strength in both of them to keep going. He nodded his head as he murmured softly, “Good luck.”

She snorted softly at that. She was going to need all the luck she could get dealing with those fools. She really didn’t want to talk to the council, but… her eyes closed and she dropped her head back onto the couch again. Life just loved to make her undead existence difficult.