Phoenix Dead (New Adult Dark Romance) (The Vampire Years) (24 page)
Read Phoenix Dead (New Adult Dark Romance) (The Vampire Years) Online
Authors: Ann Vremont
Tags: #New Adult Vampire Erotic Romance
I wrapped my arms around him. "I'm burning for you, Paul," I screamed before descending into the insane laughter that had bottled up inside me with the certainty that Casey was dead. "Is it as hot as you always dreamed it would be?"
Paul struggled, this time to escape my embrace. I heard the crack of Danny's sniper rifle and then the side of Paul's face disappeared. The force spun us, putting me briefly outside the fire.
I didn't let go. Paul was still alive, squirming and clawing at me. Outside the fire, he would heal. I leaned forward, sending us both into the fire, my body trapping him beneath me.
I was aware of my name being shouted again, as if I were at one end of a long tunnel and the caller at the other.
The shout was followed by the fastest sprint of Chris's mortal life.
Hands wrapped around my legs. My body was dragged from the fire. I was rolled in the dirt. Someone cried human tears that fell and stung my flesh, making me cry out in a way the fire hadn't.
Next to me, the flames flashed higher and then there was an explosion of muscle and blood and bone.
"Stop fighting!" Chris screamed, throwing his body on mine to smother the last of the fire. "Damn it, Lee, he's dead. Stop fighting."
The sniper rifle fell next to my head and then Danny was on his knees, pushing Chris out of the way. The KA Bar he'd picked up in Robles' shed flashed for an instant in the firelight and then Danny cut himself and held his wrist to my mouth.
I licked it, stopping the blood flow. I didn't want to be whole, didn't want to be healed. I wanted to crawl back into the fire. I'd cost Casey her life and ruined Danny and Chris's because of the obsessions of other men.
"Why did you do that?" Danny asked, his voice angry. "Why did you risk your life like that?"
I knew he wanted to shake me. I could see it in his eyes. He just didn't know where to put his hands. I looked away. I had no answer that I could be sure of. Maybe I knew Paul would follow me into the fire and it was the only way I could think of to destroy him.
Maybe I just wanted to burn.
I was still burning -- even if there were no flames or smoke visible. The fire had found its way into my blood. It consumed me, kept me from healing. In agony, I forced myself to sit up. The skin on my arms and legs was blistered and bleeding. I could feel the same acid tightness in my face as coated my limbs. Most of my clothes had burnt away or were bonded to my flesh. Bone showed itself in my left hand.
I pushed up with my right, ignoring the pleas from Danny and Chris to feed. I walked to the blanket and the small, lifeless lump beneath it. I uncovered Casey's face and studied the slack, bruised surface.
Sinking to my knees, I whispered, "Burn her, please." Chris and Danny came to lift her and I put my hands on the body, stopping them. "No, not with him."
Leaving me, Chris gathered the wood that Paul had been feeding into the fire. Danny knelt next to Casey. He reached beneath the blanket to find her hands and folded them across her chest. He brushed the hair from her face and tried to clean the smudge of dirt and tears from her cheeks. Before he tucked the blanket back around her shattered body, he pulled the crucifix from his pocket and placed it in her hand.
I waited transfixed until Chris coaxed me away and laid the wood around the body. When she was covered, Danny brought over a lit branch and placed it on top and then another and another until all of the branches and logs were ablaze.
The smell of the soiled blanket turned to that of smoke and burning flesh. I stumbled to my feet and started walking. Danny and Chris called to me, following me when I didn't turn back or stop.
"Lee, baby, the station wagon is in the other direction." Danny grabbed my shoulder and I cried out in pain. "Lee, the wagon..."
I twisted free from his grip and staggered further from the fire. The moon was up high and I could see down the hillside. Trees gave way to the dirt and brush floor of the desert. Looking out on the landscape, I couldn't think about getting back to the station wagon. I thought only of the direction ahead, of the thousands of bodies buried or left to decompose, of the border town whore houses and white slavery rings, of the drug tunnels and the part that Oscar and his gang played in all of it.
Danny grabbed me again, catching my hand, his fingers unintentionally touching the exposed bone. Screaming, I collapsed. Danny and Chris collapsed with me. Blood touched my lips. Danny had sliced himself again. He begged me to take it. They were both bleeding, both begging me not to turn away again.
This time I didn't refuse.
Broken, scarred. Nothing beautiful was left of me, but they touched me like I was sacred to them. They opened their veins. The blade cut into their arms, across their chests. They opened themselves. I drank. I drank until there was little life left in them and then I opened my own veins, feeding them my memories and strength.
We fell to the ground, the three of us. Chris rolled onto his back, bringing me with him to shield my still raw skin from the dirt and rocks. Danny pulled away the last of the clothes that had fused to my flesh. I drank from them again, their scents and sounds no longer distinguishable as we writhed on the ground. I offered myself -- and offered myself. I let them touch, taste, bite, suck. I bit back, kissed, licked. One of them entered me, trembling as he did so. The other fed at my throat and I wrapped my hands around his cock, squeezing and milking both lovers.
I lay flat, my back against a hard chest. Another hard chest pressed against my breasts and I felt the slide of a second cock inside me. Lips kissed my lips, a tongue slid into my mouth. Hands pushed at my thighs, holding me hot and open. I breathed fire and blood.
We rolled until I was on top of one lover and beneath the other. Our moans flowed together, falling down the hill as if from one mouth. I forced my eyes open as my climax slammed through me. My vision was blurred. I blinked, focusing in time to see the splash of my tears against Danny's warm brown skin.
The tears were clear - no hint of blood. I blinked again, a sob of fear or relief ripping through me at the sight of their liquid transparency. I looked at Danny. Tears of red bled down his cheeks. He was vampire now. They both were.
But what was I?
Phoenix Rising
From first release of
Becoming (Part One of The Vampire Years)
in 2010 until now, there has always been a plan for more stories set around Lee, her lovers, and the vampire clan that hunts her. They're in my head, crafted in stolen moments between other books under other names. You can release them, you can turn those other books into those crafted in stolen moments and bring
Phoenix Rising
and
Solandro
into being.
How? Reviews, ratings, word of mouth that drowns out my other projects.
Until then, you can find backlist (more coming soon) at annvremont.blogspot.com or on twitter/i_am_valk.
Legal
Copyright © 2010
by Ann Vremont (writing as Chance Valentine)
All persons and entities are fictional or fictitiously represented. Not for sale to libraries. No lending outside distributor (e.g. Kindle/Nook) terms of service. Otherwise, re-distributing, lending, or reading this e-book without first purchasing a license to do so is illegal and subject to heavy fines.
Table of Contents
