Honoria Ravena (14 page)

Zarek nodded. “Yes, but the sperm supplier would have to be human. One side of the DNA has to be human. Don’t ask me why, I’m not a scientist. That’s just the way it is.”

Jason stopped pacing. “So how did our parents have us? They were both vampires.”

Zarek shook his head. “No, your mother was human. They wanted two children, so they had them close together, and then he turned her.” He leaned forward in his chair and clenched his hands together. “Anyway, when they came here, Giselle was pregnant, and this is no place to raise children, so they ended up leaving. Alec was young for a vampire. He had dreams of a white picket fence in Suburbia. He wanted Giselle to be some little soccer mom. Giselle wanted it, too, but she didn’t have her head in the clouds like Alec. She knew Navarro would come for them, and she asked that I teach them both to fight before they left. See, Alec was Navarro’s fledgling. The first one he had made since his move from Spain. Giselle was just fifteen when Navarro kidnapped her and took her with him to the States to be his sex slave.

“When he made Alec, he’d given Giselle to him as his first blood. Usually, Navarro doesn’t share, but he was tired of Giselle. She was nineteen and too old for his tastes. He was hoping Alec would kill her. But Alec… God, I should have known who you were the second I fought you. Alec had more determination and fight in him than that. He’d never murdered anyone and wouldn’t start with the angel who’d been tossed into his cell naked and bloodied.

“So, Alec healed and gained Navarro’s trust enough to let him out of his cage. Even though Giselle didn’t speak a word of English, they’d still managed to fall madly in love. Alec realized the situation and wanted to get her out. When he discovered later what exactly Navarro had been doing to her, he wanted to go back and kill him. Giselle and I kept him in a cell for a solid week before we convinced him not to go back. I don’t think we would have won, except Giselle told him she was pregnant. All the fight went out of him after that.”

He stared at me. “I should have known. With your fight and those long red curls, I should have known exactly who you were.”

He shook his head again as if bringing himself out of the past. “I just got off the phone with Alaric. When he rescued you from Navarro’s assassins, he decided to officially adopt you under vampire law. He also requested that the king give him a protective warrant for you. This keeps any vampires from killing you legally, and it kept you safe from Navarro.”

“Well, then, what the fuck happened? Why is he after us now?”

“Isn’t it obvious? You’re vampire hunters now. You’ve committed treason against the society that took you in.”

Jason rolled his eyes. “We’ve hunted for years. What took Navarro so long?”

Zarek shrugged. “He probably put you out of his mind. He figured you were untouchable. Most children raised by vampires won’t hunt them. Also you were probably hard to locate.”

“So what do we do now?” I asked.

Zarek’s gaze shifted to me. “We kill Navarro, and then you’re under my guardianship. The king can’t protect you anymore. It’s against his personal rules to help anyone that ever hunted. Besides, you’re vampires now, the protective warrant would be useless. The king rarely guards our species. He believes we should be able to take care ourselves, and if we can’t, then we deserve whatever happens to us. Most of us were turned for our battle skills. Later, it became about beauty, but in ancient times it was all about the skills. The king was turned after a battle. I was turned after a battle. Most of the old ones were.”

I was curious. “How were you turned?”

“I was a warrior of the Dorians that invaded early Greece. One of those sissies stabbed me in the back, and I was left to die as the fighting continued. The man who turned me was far older than those early Greeks and lived apart from them. He’d been watching the battle, because what else is there to do when you’ve already lived an eternity and you’re looking at forever? He was impressed with my skills, and he’d been alone for a long time. So, he turned me. And the rest is definitely history.”

I snorted. “No shit.”

Chapter Thirteen

Zarek turned to my brother. “Jason, you look exhausted. Laedan, escort him to the bar. You need to eat, too.”

Jason glanced at me and I nodded. I’d be fine with Zarek. I hoped, anyway. They left, and we were alone.

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry if I’ve insulted you. Surely you understand. My parents were killed by your kind in front of my eyes.”

“They’re your kind too, now.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Yeah, and I’ve got to admit that pisses me off. You shouldn’t have turned me. My brother told you I wouldn’t appreciate it.”

“You’re not pissed, you’re afraid. You just can’t admit it, being the heap big vampire slayer you are.”

I cringed. He was right. I’d become what I hunted, and that terrified me. In my experience, vampires were dangerous murderers. Even Alaric occasionally killed his prey. He showed no remorse. I didn’t want to kill like they did. And since I’d spent my life hunting vampires, they would be after me. I would never be safe.

He squeezed his eyes shut. “And as I told you, I couldn’t watch you die. Maybe I could have saved you through our blood-bond, but I doubt it. Besides, this way you aren’t a slave, you can leave anytime you please, if I allow it.”

“If you allow it?” I shouted in disgust. “That’s the same thing as being a slave to you. If you allowed it, I could have left then, too.”

“Yes, but then I had power over your mind, and if I bound you closer to me to save you, I would have had more. This way I’ve got power over you for a limited amount of time. If you escape after that time and block yourself from me, I might never find you.”

Power crackled around him as he stalked toward me. I backed up until I hit the wall. He braced his arms on either side of my head and loomed over me.

“But you’ll have to escape first. I have no plans to let you go. I want you, forever. I’ll keep you in that little cell during the day if I have to.”

I refused to cower. “I enjoy my freedom, Zarek. I’ll never love you. Is that what you wanted? My love? How could I love something I hunt? Someone who is holding me captive? You’d better keep me away from the weaponry; I’d love to kill you.”

A grin lit his face a second before his lips crashed over mine. His tongue thrust between my lips. What had I said to elicit this reaction? I’d threatened him, for Christ’s sake. I tried to pull back, but he grabbed a handful of my hair and held me to him. His tongue twined with mine and I groaned. God, he was good at that. My brain didn’t stand a chance when he kissed me like that.

I wrapped my hands around his waist and pulled him toward me. His erection pressed into my belly and I gasped. My pussy clenched with need. My mouth muffled his satisfied chuckle.

He drew back slightly. “That’s definitely a gift of vampire blood. It makes you so very responsive.”

He undid the buttons of my shirt and parted it, eyeing my breasts. My nipples tightened under the scrutiny and he sighed. “You’re beautiful.”

I blushed. No one had ever called me beautiful before, including Nate and my ex-husband. “Uh, thanks.”

He smiled and when he kissed me this time, it was gentle slide of his lips against mine. He kneaded one of my breasts and his other hand slid down my back. He squeezed my ass before his hands moved to his pants, sliding them down enough to free his erection.

Whoa. “Hey, we’re still fighting here.”

He licked my bottom lip. “Oh, are we? I couldn’t tell. I thought we were at the angry make-up sex stage.”

He lifted me so my breasts were level with his face. I was forced to wrap my legs above his waist to keep from falling. His erection slid against the lips of my pussy. He grazed his fangs across a nipple before rolling his tongue across it and sucking it into his mouth.

I threaded my hands in his hair, fighting the urge to press him closer, and tried to push him away. He grumbled and brushed his fangs against my breast, threatening to bite me. I stopped tugging on his hair, not willing to fight over that particular spot.

“I can’t think when you do that.”

“Well, I can’t imagine why I’d want you to.” He took one hand off my waist, and I was forced to steady myself on his hard shoulders. Even those distracted me. His muscles were like steel covered in warm skin.

He strummed my clit with his finger and I bucked, rubbing myself against his erection.

“See, when you are thinking, you’re bitching at me, but when I do things like this…” Groaning, he thrust two fingers into my cunt and I let out a high-pitched moan. “Mmm, so snug and wet. When I do things like that, you buck against me and make all sorts of pretty sounds. Do you get it now?”

He seemed to have that incredible ability to turn my mind into mush. All I could think about was his hard cock sliding into me. “God, I don’t even know what we’re talking about.”

His laughter rolled over me. He pulled me away from the wall and stumbled toward the bed. We tumbled onto it, and Zarek braced himself over me. He stared down at me with that dark, hungry look in his eyes before he flopped onto his back, bringing me along with him.

“Ride me, Regan.”

I eyed him as I ran my tongue over my fangs. There was no way I could pass that up. His flushed shaft arced over the lower planes of his stomach. I straddled his waist and lowered myself onto his thick cock. He slid his hands up my thighs to my hips and yanked me all the way down.

I cried out and panted. “I thought I was driving?”

He drew back and thrust into me. “You’re too slow.”

I closed my eyes and smiled as I met his strokes. “You’re so impatient. God, you feel bigger this way.”

I ground myself down on him and hissed as the delicious pressure began to build. Curls of fire slid up my spine with every thrust.

“Open your eyes. I want to see them.”

My eyes fluttered open, and I stared down at him. He was gorgeous. I watched the thick vein in his neck throb, and it made my pussy clench.

Zarek gasped under me and tossed his head back. I wanted to sink my fangs into his throat. I could smell the blood rushing under his skin. I could hear the thump of his heart.

I squeezed my eyes shut and turned away. “Oh, God.”

“Damn it, Regan. We’re both close, keep going.”

I hadn’t realized I’d stopped moving, but I knew if we didn’t stop now I was going to bite him.

He growled something in a language I didn’t understand, and then I was on my back. I gasped, shocked, and my eyes popped open. He drove into me and I shrieked.

“You are a vampire.” He slammed his hips against mine. I raked my nails down his back. “Accept it.” Thrust. “And move on.” Thrust. “I gave you the option of drinking from me willingly, but if I have to force you, I will. I’ll be damned if I’ll let you die on me.”

Fire cascaded down my nerves. I shouted his name as the orgasm ripped through me. My fangs sliced my lips as I tried to keep from piercing his neck.

“Bite
me
, damn you!”

His neck came level with my face, and I couldn’t resist. I sank my fangs into the soft skin of his throat and drank deeply. He shoved into me once more and came with a roar.

He collapsed over me, panting. I took one last swallow of blood and drew back. We both groaned as he pulled his limp cock from my body. Rolling off, he gathered me into his arms and wiped a thumb across my cheek. I hadn’t realized I’d been crying. I rested my head on his chest.

“How did you know I’d have problems taking blood?”

He shrugged. “You had trouble drinking from Laedan, and you were starved at the time. I figured you’d put up a fight.”

I nodded.

“You’ll be okay, you know. You’ll get over this and be happy again.”

“I hate you, Zarek.”

His arms tightened around me. “I know, but enough sex will fix that.”

I rolled my eyes and couldn’t stop my lips from curling up. That was just like a man. My smile faded as quickly as it came. “You should have let me die.”

His hand slapped over my mouth and I yelped. “I have a new idea. It’s brilliant. My best yet. Every time you decide to argue with me, I’m going to fuck you so hard you can’t remember what day it is. No matter where we are. Hell, I’ll bend you over a table in my damned bar in front of everyone.”

He moved his hand, and I propped myself up to stare at him. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Go ahead and argue. Vampires have excellent recovery time, and I’m pretty much hard for you all the time. If you’d really like to go again, I’m sure enough bitching will persuade me. Maybe you’ll even piss me off enough to make me ream your ass sometime.”

He climbed out of bed, and I smacked his ass. “That could be fun.”

He rolled his eyes. “You’re impossible to threaten.”

“I am when you’re that good in bed.”

He rolled his eyes. “Well, come on. Whether you decide to let me screw you or not, we both need a shower. I’ve got a bar to run.”

God, a shower sounded fantastic. Between sweating from the poison and my transition and having sex, I probably smelled disgusting. I felt gross. I pushed myself off the bed and followed him. I paused at the doorway and took it all in. The bathroom was huge and spotless. The tub was large enough to seat three or four people. I trailed after Zarek to the shower.

“Holy crap. This thing is as big as a walk-in closet.”

He turned on one of the four showerheads. “Yeah, I…I like the space.”

I arched an eyebrow at the hesitation in his voice. “Do you actually like the space, or do you need the space?”

He snorted and shook his head. “Oh, so you caught that did you?” He sighed. “Yeah, so I have a bit of claustrophobia.”

Weird. It was such a normal, human fear to have. I’d never really thought of Zarek as a human being. “Why?”

He glared at me. “Why do you care? Why would I tell you about any weakness of mine? So you can mock me? Use it against me? No, thank you.”

He faced away from me, dumped shampoo in his hand, and scrubbed his head.

I nibbled my bottom lip. “You know all my fears, but I know none of yours. You want me to stay with you, but I know nothing about you. Nothing about what made you the man you are.”

He rinsed his hair, rivulets of foamy shampoo rolling down his muscular back. He turned around and examined my face, scowling before he nodded. “Fine, you want to play this, we’ll play then. I’ll answer truthfully if you do.”

I glowered at him. I didn’t like the sound of that, but I guessed it was only fair. Hesitantly, I nodded.

“Okay then. Back in the day, when people used to actually hunt vampires, some humans stormed my home. I’d dug a tunnel under it to escape, just big enough for me to crawl away. When I used it, I found it had collapsed in a cave-in. But the humans had burned my home to the ground, so I couldn’t turn back. It took me a week and a half to dig my way to the surface. Since then, I haven’t liked small spaces. Or humans for that matter. I’ve avoided them at all costs. I usually feed off wereanimals.”

I nodded. Though he told it as unemotionally as possible, I could tell it still bothered him from the tone of his voice.

“Now it’s your turn. Why do you hunt vampires?”