Willing (The Un #1)

18. Asher

Eighteen

Asher

The turning is complete.

At least I think it is.

But she died on my cock as I came inside her. I wasn’t even able to control my orgasm. She ripped it from me as I forced her soul into merging with my own.

The thudding of her strong heart is gone. She must have felt it when her heart skipped beats and shuddered to a stop.

Fuck.

What the fuck?

And my cock is still inside of her…

Pulling myself gently out of her, I watch as the load she tore out of me leaks onto the sheet.

I wanted to torment her. I wanted to punish her for making me wait so long. To punish her for the wickedness she’s put me through all these years...

But she brought out every single fucking instinct to claim her and mark her as mine. I could have been gentle. I could have done a million things different, but I could barely control the blood beast.

She brings out the monster in me.

Did I make a mistake?

Did I turn her correctly?

I’ve made vampires before. Besides Raphael and Ambrose, I’ve turned each of my children.

Chloe is my soulmarked. Her blood should be drained until she is almost dead, then she is to be given my blood as her heart begins to fade.

Panic is threatening to take hold of me. I can feel all the little hairs on my body stand up as if I’m inside some giant electromagnetic field.

Pressing my ear to her still warm chest, I listen to the silence that pervades there. There is no sound of breath. No subtle thump of her heart beating blood through her.

Nothing stirs within her body beyond the blood I forced her to drink. It’s there, in her cooling stomach. The vampiric property slowly changing and enhancing as it slowly works its way through her system.

When a vampire is turned, we die.

That’s the difference between us and ghouls, truthfully.

Humans who drink from vampires without dying become ghouls.

Ghouls are a necessity in our lives. They provide us many things, such as protection during the day and a supply of blood if we cannot find living humans. But they die. The toll it takes on their bodies is thorough and complete. They quite literally can’t last long enough.

Yet we can’t turn women unless they’re marked. It’s maddening at points because of how many problems it would solve if we could.

Did I turn Chloe into a ghoul? Did I fuck up the process?

I can’t believe that I did.

No, I couldn’t have fucked it up.

She is my soulmarked, there is no way around that.

We both know that she is and will forever be a part of my soul, as I am hers.

But what exactly happened?

She fought her death hard, like she was fighting her past.

Does she blame me for the pain her birth brought on her?

I remember looking up at her mother’s sweaty face as she held Chloe in her arms. I remember her being named. I also remember the nuns taking her away.

It was all so easy... A child was born with the mark. Take the child, let the parent die in an accident, and then train the child to be a stooge for the Order.

The hunter in the basement is proof of that. Especially since it seems the Order has them drinking blood as some sort of protection.

Was his first mission to see if it would work against me?

Sighing, I take the shredded remains of her garments and throw them across the room. Then I pull the sheet up her wondrous body. She won’t feel temperatures now, but I figure some modesty is better than nothing.

It’s a shame though , I think as I allow the memories of her body thrashing against my own to cloud my eyes, such a beautiful woman shouldn’t have to cover perfection .

I wonder if they ever thought of the meaning behind her name—fertility.

Did they understand this beautiful creature before me would bring light into my life?

I very much doubt it. The Order cares very little for such things.

Short-sighted humans.

Pulling the sheet past her mark, I shiver at the sensation of soft cotton rubbing against me.

How the fuck did it do that?

Tracing my finger along the mark, I feel as if a finger is going up against my spine.

Unholy gods, we’re truly connected.

That means the turning was successful.

My body feels so alive with her blood flowing through me, it’s as if all my synapses are firing for the first time in years.

My eyes crave to watch her body go through all its changes, but through the minutes that have gone by since she entered chrysalis, my cock has remained rock hard. Absurdly so.

Even after spending myself inside of her, my cock is fully engorged. It most likely wouldn’t be wise to be so vulnerable when she awakens in her feral state.

The frenzy is never easy, no matter who it is.

She’ll sleep like the dead for however long it takes for her body to go from human to vampire. Every change is different. For some, it only takes mere hours. Others, a full day.

It’s a waiting game.

A waiting game that is pins and needles for the one who waits.

Pushing her arms to her sides and closing her legs, I’m forced to think of something beyond her for the moment.

Or, well, at least beyond her in this bed with me.

She’ll need necessities, like food.

Standing from the side of the bed, I pull my pants on then look for my shirt. And for a second time in two days, I’ve found myself with a shredded shirt.

Fuck.

I don’t even remember taking it off.

Searching around the room, I don’t see any spare clothing, and that’s going to be an issue for the both of us.

I’ll be damned if anyone sees her in her raw naked form. She’s fucking mine . She’s under my fucking protection now, and no one is ever going to pull us apart again.

I’ve wallowed in too much self-pity all these years. I’ve become too soft for my own good. It isn’t her fault that I allowed myself to become that way, but it must change if I want to take hold of this city and my coven’s fate.

Was it whatever cancer I felt eating away at me that made me go soft? Could it have been my own weakness of mind?

I don’t have the answers to those questions, and I don’t really give a fuck.

I can feel the blood flowing through me, and I can feel her essence reaching inside of me. It feels like a rampaging river ripping through my veins. Each and every drop of her blood is tearing through me, pushing open long-dormant parts.

Leaning my head back, I roar into the night.

My throat aches from the challenge I issue to all who would come between us.

I’ve claimed what’s mine .

Challengers will fall to their deaths if the come before me.

There’s nothing now to keep us apart.

Except for her to fully turn.

Fuck.

My roar goes unanswered in the room. Its reverberations settle quickly, and I’m again left alone with my thoughts.

Moving to her side, I look down at her face. Gently brushing a stray lock of blonde hair from her cheek, I tuck it behind her ear. I still can’t process how beautiful she is. Or how remarkable it feels to have finally taken her as my own.

A scream of pain travels up through the floor, and my eyes immediately drop down.

Isaac… That’s what the little shit’s name is.

The fucking Order’s little hunter.

He’s still alive.

Growling, I look back at my beloved Chloe.

The hunter wasn’t talented at all. He didn’t get close enough to save or murder her.

I wonder though what would have happened if the pack hadn’t been there to intercept him?

Would she have been in danger?

True danger?

I somehow doubt it.

Whatever was happening between these two wasn’t of murderous intent, unless I’m seriously mistaken. He was protecting her. She knew I was coming for her and must have called him in.

But she’s made her choice now, there’s no going back on what we did.

Another scream from below scratches like nails against my spinal column.

The children must be at play now that their sire has finished his fun times.

Rubbing my hands up and down my face, I feel the stickiness of blood. Chloe’s blood. Tongue lashing out to the corner of my mouth, I taste that sweet nectar of life. An entirely different mood rushes through my body as my cock stiffens yet again at the barest of tastes.

Watching her peaceful features though stops me from doing anything more than staring at the feminine curves of her body. If only she was Snow White waiting for her lover’s dick to awaken her from her magical sleeping enchantment…

Shaking my head, I chuckle. I don’t think that’s what they meant by true love’s first kiss.

I give Chloe one last kiss on her blood-stained lips before quickly leaving the room.

If I don’t leave now I won’t be able to stop myself from staring at her in a foggy haze until she awakens.

Fuck.

Even now, I feel the urge to go back into the room and watch over her.

Forcing myself to shut the door, I turn into the hallway and find Andrei leaning against the wall. White earbuds in his ears, his head bobs slowly to music.

“How long have you been there?” I ask loudly enough to cut through whatever dark and brooding shit he’s been listening to.

Andrei looks at me as if he’s measuring me up for something.

“Since the beginning,” he says after a few seconds, moving away from the wall. “I chose to be on protection detail.”

“Did I need a protection detail?” I ask with a smirk.

“With all the caterwauling that came from the room? I doubt you would have heard the start of war world whatever.”

Rubbing my hand across my forehead, I ask, “Any news from the city?”

“None,” Andrei says. “Dav has his men circling the city. They’ve been looking for Nikolaos, but the rat is burrowed somewhere deep.”

“The den?”

“Desolate. Nothing going in or out. Dav sent in a couple of guys to check, and it’s been emptied of all life.”

“Good. What else?”

“I had him torch the building. Whole thing is in flames as we speak,” he says with a small grin.

I can feel my fangs showing as I ask, “Oh? And on whose authority?”

“On the authority of doing what’s best for my sire and his bride,” he snarls back at me.

I bristle with the need to put him in his place.

But he’s right. I would have done the exact same thing, or worse, if I were in his shoes.

Sighing, I motion for him to follow me as I walk into the living room.

“You’re going to need to run your tests again,” I say while moving to look out the window.

“Did claiming her not help?”

Shaking my head with a small laugh, I thump his shoulder with my fist. “Quite the opposite, actually. I feel… stronger than I have in years. My mind has a focus now that I never knew I lost.”

“Are you sure?” he asks as he stares at me.

“Positive.”

Andrei mumbles to himself then moves so quickly I barely have time to register that he’s left my side.

When he returns, he carries his heavy black medical bag.

I watch as he takes a couple of cotton swabs from a ziplock and holds them up to me.

“I need samples of her blood,” he says, and starts wiping it from my cheeks.

Eyeing the blood mournfully, I reach for the swab and he swats at my hand.

“What the fuck?” I pull back, laughing.

“You’ve had enough of her.” He scrapes at my face before carefully putting the swabs in small plastic bags.

“Andrei,” I grumble. “I don’t think I could ever have enough of her. I understand Ambrose’s lunatic mind just a tad more now. It truly was ambrosia.”

“I need your blood now, and hers when she wakes.”

I growl at the thought of anyone touching her or taking from her. “Is that really necessary?”

Andrei lets out a long, deep sigh as he looks me straight in the eyes. “Do I ever do things half-assed or unnecessary? I’m not asking for nocturnal rights, sire. I’m asking to potentially save the lives of our kind. Deal with it.”

Pulling a kit used for drawing blood from his bag, he motions for me to give him my arm. “Especially since your blood and her blood are mixing. I want to see the results as soon as possible.”

Nodding my head, I hold out my arm to him. “I need Raphael to head into the city and get us both clothes. Chloe wasn’t prepared when she left her home to be with us.”

“Ripped all her clothing off, you mean?” Raphael asks as he walks into the living room.

I want to deny the statement, and I can’t figure out why.

Shaking my head, I say, “Fuck off.”

Raphael ignores my response and goes off in an entirely different direction. “Ash, we need to talk about the hunter downstairs.”

“Yes,” Andrei agrees, “we do.”

“What is it?” I ask, looking at them both.

“All of us are a little fucking disturbed that he has her fucking blood in him,” Raphael says with a disgusted look on his face.

“Did you happen to get a blood sample of his, as well?” I ask Andrei.

Andrei nods. “First thing I did when we got him strapped down.”

“Not only do you drink blood, you fuck, but you also take it in syringes? Fangs not good enough for you?” Raphael jokingly says to Andrei.

“My fangs work better than your dick,” Andrei retorts and finishes drawing blood from my arm.

“Back to the topic of the hunter,” I grunt.

“Yeah, something isn’t right about the whole thing, beyond him drinking blood,” Raphael says. “That in itself is fucking disturbing. But he’s also still resisting our compulsions. We can get him under for a little bit, but then he snaps out.”

“Are you sure?” I ask.

“Yeah,” Raphael answers, “it’s fucking creepy. He also flipped his shit when we all heard you turning Chloe.”

“Mentally or physically?” I ask.

“Both. He went apeshit trying to break free from the chair we’ve chained him to,” Raphael says.

“Something about this is off,” I say. “Andrei, have you ever heard of the Order feeding their hunters blood before?”

“Never, and trust me, I can’t imagine the amount secrecy they’d need if they’re doing it with the soulmarked,” Andrei mutters as he puts his vials away. “That just doesn’t make sense. It makes even less sense to have a soulmarked and a hunter that’s drunk her blood near each other. Unless…”

“Unless they set up the Marked as the bait,” I say.

“Like a lamb to the slaughter,” Raphael says with a growl.

“Meaning our brethren are being murdered by hunters when they’re trying to reach their soulmarks,” Andrei says.

“Fucking gods,” I mutter.

A ringing blasts through the room right before Raphael yanks his phone from his pocket. Putting the phone up to his ear, he says, “Raphael.”

A moment later he’s handing me the phone.

“Sire, Maddox and I will be at the house within two hours,” my son, Caden, says.

“It’s fucking good to hear that,” I tell Caden with a huge grin.

All my children are coming home.

“I understand there’s cause for celebration,” Caden says with a laugh. “I’ll bring the drinks.”

“We’ll need a lot. I have a feeling we all need a few to kick back,” I say. “I’ll see you soon.”

Disconnecting the phone, I hand it back to Raphael. “Caden and Maddox. Where’s Christos and Kellan?”

Sighing at me as if I’m some doddering old fool, Andrei says, “Christos is working his way from Spain, he was on his yearly pilgrimage. Kellan is still in Norway trying to shore up our bank accounts.”

I try to remember when I was told about these things but I draw a blank. “Let me guess…”

“Yes, Ash, it was during one of your… periods,” Andrei says quietly.

“We still need to talk about what the hell was going on,” Raphael says with an accusatory stare at Andrei.

I wave him off. “And we will. Let’s get more of us here first.”

“Fine.” Raphael glares at me for a long moment before he turns around and heads back to the basement. “Let’s go look at the fucking hunter and avoid talking about what the fuck is going on with you. That’ll be productive.”

Shaking my head, I look to Andrei. “Has he eaten anything today?”

Andrei shrugs his shoulders. “Yeah but it was off some clean-cut guy who had drugs in his system.”

“Aw, does my poor son have a tummy ache?” I ask Raphael’s back as I follow him down the hallway.

“I’ll fucking stab you in your sleep, Ash,” Raphael snarls as he stomps heavily down the stairs.

Fucking hell, I feel good right now.

My mind is so clear and free of that fog… Even my body feels stronger than it was before, and that’s saying something.

Each of us has one thing that sets us apart from other vampires.

Andrei is a stealthy big asshole. Brilliant of mind and body.

Raphael is the berserker. His mind goes bye-bye and his body becomes the monster inside of him.

Matthias well… he’s an asshole.

And my strength is unmatched. I wonder how much stronger bonding with Chloe has actually made me?

All vampires carry a trait in them from when they were human that bleeds into their undead life. Sometimes it can be something as small as being a hunter, like Matthias, that turns into a major skill.

I wonder what Chloe will be able to do?

My tongue wets my lips at the thought of her name. Just one little thought of her and I’m feeling the pull to go back and taste her thighs again. To lick her delicious cunt. To flick her tiny pearl with my tongue and taste her heavenly lips.

My cock starts to swell and I’m forced to rearrange myself so I don’t walk like some fucking teenage boy.

Raphael turns to me as we descend the stairs and stares first at my crotch then into my eyes. “What the absolute fuck, Asher?”

Using one of the more modern phrases I know that gets under his skin, I say, “Don’t fucking judge me.”

Pushing past him, I reach the bottom of the stairwell and walk directly into the basement. It’s an open basement that doesn’t have much in the way of walls or décor.

Seated right in the middle is Isaac.

“Isaac, the hunter…” I find myself sneering at the pathetic man. “It just gives me shivers down my spine.”

The human twists his head toward me, blood, sweat, and bruises all over his face. His bellowing quieted by the duct tape slapped over his mouth.

“Hunter of vampires,” I continue as I walk around him. My hand lashes out to claw a deep gash across his tattooed chest. “How very fucking frightful.”

Leaning against a wall, Matthias puts his phone back into his pocket then chuckles. “Anyone want to take bets on how many of us he’s killed?”

“I’ll drop an even fifty grand saying this fuck hasn’t wetted his blade on one of us yet,” Raphael says.

“It’s a losing bet,” I say and look down as I rest my bare foot between the hunter’s legs, right on the edge of his seat. “I bet he’s still a virgin, in more than one way.”

“Truly?” Ambrose says from the corner. He begins to waltz toward us. “It’s been a decade since I’ve drunk from a male virgin!”

Andrei steps up beside me and pokes me in the ribs. “I need his blood before you fucks mess with him too much. Preferably untainted.”

“Is that an attack on me, my dear newly-obtained brother?” Ambrose asks, putting his hand over his chest in what appears to be genuine sadness.

“No, it’s a warning to you all. I need to know what the hell he’s been drinking,” Andrei says and tries to move me aside.

Standing my ground, I inch my foot up to the poor hunter’s balls and begin to step down on them with my bare toes. It’s quite an unsettling feeling, but it’s comforting to hear him scream in pain behind his gag.

“I want to know where he got her blood and for how long he’s been doing it,” I say, lifting my toes slowly off his balls.

“Ask him when I’m done then, dammit.” Andrei pushes at me again, and I let him move me slowly.

It wouldn’t be good to let him win too easily.

Turning from the hunter, I wrap my hand around Ambrose’s bicep. “Come, I need to ask you something.”

“Of course, sire,” he says airily as we move away.

Motioning at the hunter, I ask Ambrose, “You’re a part of my coven now, Ambrose. Do you understand the meaning of this?”

“As much as I can, sire,” he says, barely lifting his shoulders in a shrug. “I’ve never had brothers before, or much of a sire.”

“Then understand this, we are a family. We keep no secrets that could aid each other, and we protect the coven with our lives.”

“I… I understand.” His eyes focus on me. “Does that mean you’ll tell the truth about the illness you had?”

“Yes.” I wince. “I’m betting you knew about it back in the den.”

“I did.”

“How?”

“I could smell it on your skin,” Ambrose says, “and an inky black sickness oozed out of your pores.”

Ambrose continues to stare at me for a long time, his eyes losing that distant look of not being entirely in this realm.

“You were dying,” he goes on. “It would have been within the month. You would have simply fallen into one of your living dreams and not return.”

My brain forces my body to resist the blood-chilling shudders that want to crawl up my spine at his words. Was I really that close to death? Why was Andrei the only one of my children who could see it?

Nodding my head slowly, I say, “You’re more than likely right…”

“No,” Ambrose says firmly, “I am right.”

“What do you know of the Benedictine’s hunters? Have you ever seen something like this before?”

Turning away from me, he looks long and hard at Isaac. I can see just from the way Ambrose’s shoulders tense under his frock coat that whatever’s going on is upsetting him.

“The abomination… No, I know nothing. He should be put down like a sick animal, only not with kindness,” Ambrose says before he walks away from me. “I shall watch over my mother until this whole unpleasantness is finished.”

Watching his back as he moves up the stairs, then listening to his dancing feet move across the floor, I wonder if I’m giving him more trust than I should.

Allowing him to watch over my Chloe feels like asking a lion to watch over a chicken coop. If there wasn’t blood and a connection between us… I wouldn’t let him anywhere near her.

My mind thinks back, though, to his words on the hunter. Isaac drinks the blood of humans… he’s not natural.

This hunter is an abomination to both vampires and humans. Even the pack knew something was off with him.

Blood-drinking humans.

This is the stuff of nightmares.

Moving to the hunter, I look at where I slashed his chest. The blood is clotting faster than a normal human’s would.

“Chloe’s blood must have given him some of her healing.” I motion to his chest. “That’s not fucking normal.”

“I was going to bring that up with you,” Matthias says. “He’s bruised and bloody but it’s all superficial wounds now. Nothing major.”

That’s incredibly fucking disturbing.

Humans don’t heal like us. They don’t fucking magically get better so quickly.

Magically.

Fuck.

“When was the last time we knew of a witch in hiding?” I ask out loud. “Fuck, for that matter, when’s the last time we heard of a witch even existing?”

The deafening silence around me is all the answer I need.

Grabbing the black bag off the floor, I yank it over the hunter’s face.

Staring down at the bound, gagged, and now hooded figure, I get a creepy-crawly feeling all over my body.

“Don’t ask questions if you don’t want the answer,” Raphael growls at me before slamming his fist into the side of the hunter’s head.

I watch as the body and chair topple over to the side. A small oomph comes out of the hunter’s hood before he starts snoring.

“Matthias,” I say, turning to him, “get on the phones. Be discreet but ask the question around. I don’t want to spook the whole fucking world.”

“Got it, but you should know, Ash, any question I ask about witches still being around is going to cause hairs to stand on end,” Matthias says.

“Just get it done as quietly as you can,” I say.

Matthias nods.

I motion to Raphael. “Secure him to the floor. I don’t want him going anywhere.”

Raphael walks over to the hunter and stares down at him.

Moving to the stairs, I address Andrei. “When Caden gets here, have him go out for clothing and food. He’s still nomadic enough that he shouldn’t be tied to our coven as easily as the rest of us.”

“I’ll call him now and tell him to drop Maddox off a couple miles from here,” Andrei says.

Pointing to Raphael, I say, “You’re off clothing duty.”

Nodding his head, Raphael chuckles. “Thank fuck.”

“After you’re done with the hunter,” I add, “I need you to call Dav and consolidate what we can within in the city. Then arrange for him to come here.”

“So soon?” Raphael asks.

I nod. “Once Chloe awakens and is ready for company. If I’m to ask him about witches, I want it to be in person and just between the two of us.”

“Fucking hell,” Matthias spits out. “I fucking killed a witch four hundred years ago and swore I never wanted to do it again! I almost fucking died for real that time.”

Shrugging my shoulders at the whole fucking mess my large-ass feet have stepped in, I can’t do anything but agree.