Chapter 4
Chapter
Four
Lucian
Iwanted to touch her, suck those nipples.
Even though I said the opposite, I’d have fucked her like that, covered in the old, dried blood. I don’t care. The need for her seems to beat stronger now that she’s like me.
That’s something I didn’t think was possible.
But it is. The pull to claim her is a wild thing, alive and merciless. It pushes against my control and allows me to feel her, sense her hunger, lust, anger, and disdain. Like fire pokers, they all sear into my skin.
And now, as she sits in the back of the SUV, so close but not close enough, her very presence buzzes across my nerves. If Vittoria wasn’t sitting beside her and Andrew wasn’t in the driver’s seat, I don’t think anything would be able to stop me from jumping across the console take my fill of her.
When Vittoria had first walked her into my office, I recognized the cold, murderous stare that glittered in Elliot’s eyes. It’s something I know well from making vampires over the years.
From Vittoria most of all.
Generally it fades with time and…I won’t use the word training, but adjustments to the change within them.
But there are others who become completely lost to the vampiric blood and lose all sense of their humanity altogether. Because essentially, they have. That’s my fear with Elliot.
I think about the others in my close circle.
Andrew needed direction after his turn, but he’s decent, loyal, and more human-like than most other vampires in VMR. It might have to do with the age in which he was turned—at the ripe age of twenty, which was considered a grown man during the early 1940s.
Now, it’s barely old enough to drink legally.
Andrew’s youth and soft heart annoys Vittoria to no end, but it’s one of the things I admire about him. It’s a trait I sometimes wonder if I’ve lost in myself. That is, until Elliot strolled into my office for an interview.
My blood is old, powerful, and I gave Elliot a lot to bring her back from the dead. There’s a good chance her transition goes wrong and she’s lost to the dark gift forever…
When the SUV stops and the four of us step out, Elliot looks around the quiet, dark grounds in the Diamond suburb, a densely wooded area of Tenebris where quaint single-family homes expand into sprawling, gated properties. I nod to Andrew and Vittoria, who go ahead to scout the house.
“Is this where we’re going to eat?” Elliot asks. The night is still, and we walk across the manicured lawn. “I smell humans.”
“No.”
“Why am I here then?” She stops, which draws me to a stop, too. The violence is only barely restrained in her. “You said there’d be revenge.”
I straighten my tie, taking in the leather of her outfit. Pure fucking Vittoria, choosing that. Practical with a vicious twist. The scent of leather twines with the scent of Elliot—sun and flowers—making her more delicious, darker, something hard to resist.
“Yes. It’ll come.” I take one step closer, relishing her sharply sucked in breath. “Patience.”
Her eyes narrow. “That’s rich coming from someone who gets to do whatever they want. Drink whoever—”
I grab her chin and squeeze, making her look at me. This time her pretense falls away, and she glitters with hateful obedience. There’s lust there, too, as much as she doesn’t want to admit it. But I know every sensation within her is amped up now as a vampire, and her need for me is no exception.
I crave it all.
Bring on the anger and hate, just as long as she fucking knows who is her master.
Her maker.
“Let’s get one thing straight, Ms. Montague. I don’t live the life of a king. I follow the rules I helped set up, too. None of us gets to run around and kill whomever we feel like killing. Not me. Not Vittoria. Not you.”
The hate in her expression twists into loathing. “You’re weak.”
“Never that. Pragmatic. Besides, it passes,” I say, “the uncontrollable thirst.”
She looks at me now with a blank face. But she doesn’t fool me. This stage passes, too. And Elliot will be herself again.
I hope.
I release her.
“If you’re going to be with us, then I need to be able to trust you, otherwise there are…ways to end a vampire permanently.”
She takes a step back, dark shadows painting her eyes. “Ways?”
“Yes.”
I’m not about to elaborate. I don’t need to give her any ideas.
“So then what am I supposed to do here?” Elliot asks as Vittoria strides back to us from the darkened house, a gun over her shoulder. “Do I at least get a weapon?”
“We are the weapon. And no gun for you.” I look past her to Vittoria. “Got something?”
Vittoria nods. “Five humans inside. Four men, one woman. They have a cache of things we might be interested in, and some connections, too.”
“I’ll be there in a minute,” I say. “Take Elliot.”
Vittoria approaches and drops her tone just for me. “She doesn’t seem to be handling the change well.”
“Unlike you,” I say.
Vittoria ignores the sarcasm. “I wanted all she wants, but I never enjoyed the confines of being human. I didn’t change. Just learned.”
“Let’s get this done.”
Her expression is long-suffering, but the redhead just sighs and beckons Elliot to follow her. “This way.”
Alone, I prowl the perimeter, slipping through the iron gate and into the backyard that disappears into trees.
But I don’t get far.
Beyond the elegant sweep of stone patio and manicured hedges sits something obscene in its innocence. A swing set, its chains unmoving, and a towering wooden treehouse nestled in the branches of an old oak. Entirely out of place against the fortress of stone behind it.
Then I see the light.
Two narrow beams flicker behind the slatted wood, cutting through the dark. Flashlights. My jaw tightens.
I close my eyes and let the world sharpen. The night exhales. Blood speaks.
Two rhythms reach me. Small. Quick.
Fuck.
Children.
There weren’t supposed to be children here. How had Vittoria and Andrew missed that during their sweep?
I rip my phone out of my pocket to send Vittoria a message, just as gunfire cracks from inside the estate. High-pitched screams pierce the dark from the treehouse, and a figure darts across the grounds.
A flash of gold curls confirms my fears.
Two small girls scramble down the rope ladder, more falling than climbing, and their terror rides the night air. When they spot Elliot barreling toward them, they shriek and scatter in opposite directions.
I’m already moving, sprinting for Monty.
She pivots, instinct narrowing her focus to a single target, and lunges for one of the children. I collide with her mid-lunge and drive us both into the ground. The impact rips the breath from her in a sharp, broken grunt as dirt and grass explode beneath us.
The surprise throws the little girl off balance and her small body pitches forward. Trapped beneath my weight, Elliot claws for her.
I crush her with my power of compulsion.
“Stay the fuck down.”
Snarling, Elliot freezes in place.
I’m on my feet in seconds and standing over the child. Her mouth opens to scream again as she stares up at me, but I hush her.
“It’s okay, no one’s going to hurt you,” I say. I push more power into my words to mesmerize her. “What’s your name?”
“O-Olivia,” the kid says, sniffling.
“It’s going to be all right, Miss Olivia. Look at me and you won’t remember any of this. You and your little friend just had a nightmare from too many scary stories.”
“I want my mommy…”
Fuck. I bet her mother is the woman Vittoria had mentioned was inside the house.
I stare at the girl until her breathing calms, her heartbeat returning to normal.
“You don’t need your mother,” I say. “You’re brave. And it was just a nightmare.”
“A nightmare…” she repeats. Her eyes start to flutter closed.
“Sleep now. The rest of your dreams will be peaceful and serene.”
Nodding slightly, the girl lies back into the grass and drifts off.
The sound of approaching footsteps forces me to look up. Vittoria is stomping our way, the second girl tossed over her shoulder, also lost in deep sleep. On Vittoria’s face is pure irritation and anger.
“I never agreed to babysit,” she says, her gaze flicking to Elliot who’s still pinned belly-down in the dirt.
Elliot’s baby-blue eyes burn into me, her lip curled in a silent snarl.
“This could have ended far worse than it did,” I say. “There were kids—”
Vittoria’s jaw tightens. “An oversight. One that won’t happen again.”
“It had better not.” I roll the tension from my shoulders. “How many dead?”
“Inside?” She hesitates. “Two.”
“Did the woman survive?”
“She’s been mesmerized.”
“Good.”
Vittoria’s eyes cut to Olivia, then back to me. The pieces slide into place. “Lucian.”
She wants to reprimand me for caring but restrains herself.
“Put them back in the treehouse,” I say. “Help Andrew with the clean-up. I’ll meet you back at VMR.”
She wants to push back more, but her lips press into a thin line. She picks up Olivia easily and tosses her over her other shoulder before walking off.
Then I turn back to Elliot.
The blonde picks herself up from the ground, her eyes blazing with unholy fire as they fasten on me and she wipes the dirt from her cheek.
“Fuck you, Lucian. You did this to me. You turned me into a monster.”
She stomps off, past the treehouse, into the full coverage of the wooded backyard. I debate whether or not to follow her, but since she’s such a wild card still, I groan and march after her.
“Get away from me, Lucy,” she bites out, speeding up. “Leave me alone.”
“Never.” I catch up to her easily and seize her by the back of the neck. She squeals.
“Lucian!”
De Santis’s estate is barely visible through the tree line, and being alone with her, in the darkness, has lust spinning high. This is regular lust. Nothing to do with blood. Everything to do with sex.
I shove her forward, pressing the front of her body into the rough bark of a tree.
“I almost bit a child,” she grunts from the force of it. “I could’ve killed her.”
“But you didn’t,” I say and step closer.
“Only because you stopped me.”
She struggles against me, but I push harder so the side of her face is pressed into the tree, her back curved, and her sweet ass is out. At least she feels some remorse for what almost happened. That’s a good sign that she hasn’t become completely lost.
“I’m a monster,” she whispers. “Even now, I still want to eat her.”
“It’ll pass.”
She growls low.
The need for her is feverish, burning in my veins.
I should be disgusted. Annoyed. I’m definitely the latter, but not close to being the former.
Because she’s only exploring what I made her.
Trying to tame the beast, but her instincts are still making all her decisions.
It happened to all of us, but it’ll pass.
I just need her to understand…
Maybe I can redirect that bloodlust into something else.
I look down at her. Bent over like this, she’s in the prime position for me to take her. She’s trapped and completely at my mercy.
As if she can sense the shift inside me, her limbs twitch under my hold and her thighs clench together.
She’s thinking the same thing I am.
“Undo your pants and pull them down,” I say.
“Screw you.”
“That’s the idea.” I grin. “Your pants, Monty. Now.”
She wants to fight the order, but her hands shake as they move toward the button of her pants. “You’re compelling me again, aren’t you?”
“No, Monty. This is all you.”
She pushes the leather down as far as she can with me still holding her neck. They make it to her knees, and it’s enough to show her glistening cunt in the moonlight.
Fuck me. It’s a sight. Absolute perfection.
My cock twitches in my pants.
Slowly, I lower the zipper and pull my cock out, tugging at it. It’s been too long since I’ve had her. And now, as a vampire, I don’t have to be gentle. I can destroy her like I crave.
Elliot licks her lips, and the gesture nearly has me coming already. She wants me just as much as she wants blood. Just as much as I want her.
“Lucian…please,” she breathes.
Her desire streaks through me, and I line myself up to her pussy and push in, sinking in right up to the balls.
There’s a sharp gasp, but then she shudders, her body stretching to accommodate me, and I start to fuck her, still gripping her neck with one hand and her hip with the other. I slam her against me, to meet me stroke for stroke.
It’s a wild ride. She’s so small compared to me that I can manipulate her body with more pressure from my hands, so I tilt her pelvis more, making her bend her back, and the position has me going deeper.
Elliot cries out.
It only makes me fuck her harder.
And then she says one thing:
“More!”