Chapter 16
Sixteen
Marlon
“Who is it?” Blake whispered as I shoved him behind me and kept ahold of his arm.
“Shh, they’re just outside. I do not know this scent,” I murmured without taking my attention off the front door.
It was strange to smell another of my kind, but there was no doubt there was another vampire nearby.
A floorboard creaked behind us, and I spun both of us around while pulling my mate close and preparing to attack.
There stood a person—not a person, a vampire—I had not seen in nearly a century. The man who had convinced who I thought was my mate to care more for gold than me. My lip rose in a snarl, and if Blake wasn’t behind me, I would have already torn his head from his body.
“I heard you had escaped your prison, but I didn’t believe it,” he growled low and deep.
He looked the same as he had the last day I’d seen him.
He’d probably been in his late twenties when he was human and was very tall and thin.
His hair was still as dark black as it had been then, but now, he wore it in a modern cut and dressed the same as the other humans did.
“Rupert Downs,” I spat his name out at him. After I’d forced him to tell me what he had planned for my mate, I let him go with a promise he’d never return to Occident. That bit of mercy had been a mistake.
“Did you miss your ‘mate’?” he mocked as his eyes darted behind me. Blake’s hand gripped the back of my shirt, and I forced myself not to pull him closer with my hand that still gripped his arm. I would die defending him. This creature had stolen nearly a century from me, and he would pay.
“I see you wasted no time in finding someone else,” a voice from the past that I had missed with all of my heart, said from behind me. I turned and backed up enough to press Blake against the wall behind us.
“The same could be said for you.” Baring my teeth at him, I hoped he knew how much I wanted to tear him limb from limb. “Josiah.” Blake gasped in a startled breath and buried his face in my back.
“I see you found one of my decedents as a replacement.” He clasped his hands behind his back and paced in front of me while the other vampire waited, probably hoping they’d be enough to destroy me.
“He is my true mate,” I growled, and squeezed Blake’s arm a little tighter, but not so tight it would harm him. In an instant, Josiah was in front of me, his face so close I could feel the puff of his breath on my lips when he spoke.
“I was your mate,” he growled.
“You held my heart, but we did not share a bond,” I said, my voice now composed and waited for his response. His eyes widened before he leaned in even closer, and for a moment, I thought he’d try to kiss me. Instead, he gripped the front of my shirt and bared his teeth at me.
“Why didn’t you just die?” he yelled before gripping the back of my head and shoving it down enough to grip Blake’s arm.
“Marlon,” Blake yelled before being yanked away from me and into the arms of Josiah. His breaths grew heavy and rapid as he recoiled from Josiah’s grasp, while Josiah moved close enough to smell his neck, inciting a growl from me.
“Release my mate.” I lowered into a crouch, prepared to attack, and stared at him. He smiled as he flipped Blake around to face me while keeping his hand to his throat. Blake’s eyes were wide with terror, and he shook as he stared straight at me. His eyes begged me to help.
“I could snap his neck in an instant or rip his throat out, spilling that precious blood I know you’ve been feeding on. I can smell you on him.” He buried his face in Blake’s hair and inhaled deeply. I locked down my muscles, forcing myself not to move, knowing if I did, Blake would die.
The other vampire hadn’t moved from where he stood to the side of Josiah, wearing a satisfied grin while he watched.
Hate that I had never experienced boiled up in me, making me see red and forget all reason.
Blake’s eyes widened, and in an instant, it was my hand around Josiah’s throat as I pulled Blake away from his grasp and took advantage in the split second he was startled.
“You were never my mate,” I growled in his face.
“Aren’t you curious about how we trapped you, and why we’re here?” Rupert asked with a chuckle as though his impending death wasn’t near.
“It matters not to me. Never touch my mate again.” I pulled Josiah closer to me, so he had no choice but to look at me while Rupert still rambled.
“After you ran me out of town I snuck back but stayed away from you. Josiah didn’t need my help, but I was more than willing. We ground up silver, and he started consuming it in small amounts. We knew it wouldn’t hurt him, but eventually it would hurt you when you fed from him.”
Josiah’s eyes widened and darted to where Rupert stood. “Shut the fuck up,” he yelled at Rupert.
“You betrayed me.” I spoke so low I knew Blake would not hear, but both Josiah and Rupert reacted as though I’d yelled.
“Once you were weak enough, we drained as much of your blood out of your body as we could. The two of us tied you up as securely as we could manage, even knowing the bindings would not hold you if you were able to feed and regain your strength, but we made sure that couldn’t happen,” Rupert continued as he paced to the side of us.
“You were not his mate,” Blake yelled from behind me. “You couldn’t have even thought of hurting him if you were.”
Josiah’s eyes moved to see him, but Blake was still behind me, hidden from his view. “Don’t worry, human, you won’t be alive long enough for him to turn you,” Josiah said.
“He is everything to me,” I roared.
Rupert chuckled and stepped a little closer, obviously not worried about my presence or unaware that even though he was a vampire, he was not nearly as strong as me.
“After we got back, the two of us drank some of your blood—well, we drank a lot of your blood—but nothing happened. Until I shot Josiah, and filled his mouth with more of your blood,” he said.
Josiah pointed to a mark on his forehead with a grin.
“What have you done?” I asked and tried to control the icy fear and shock that ran up my back.
“Rupert helped me do what you would have never done. He found a way for you to share your gift, and once I was changed, I did the same for him. We’ll never die, and we’ll never grow old, and we’ve had lots of time to get rich and do whatever the fuck we want to do,” Josiah sneered, and I wondered if this was how he’d always been or if greed had made him so cruel.
“Create no new vampire,” I repeated the one rule I’d lived by all those years ago.
In a blur, I released Josiah and tore Rupert’s head from his body before he could react or realize what had happened.
He wouldn’t be completely destroyed until he was either burned by fire or by the sun, but there’d be time for that later.
I turned just as Josiah tore into Blake’s throat. One hand held his forehead while the other squeezed him so tight I feared he’d broken some ribs. Blake’s eyes focused on me, but they were no longer filled with fear or dread. Now they reflected only peace—and love.
“No!” I screamed and tore him out of Josiah’s grip.
“You’re too late. There is no saving him now.” He laughed as blood—my mate’s blood—ran down his chin.
“Blake,” I yelled, but now his eyes stared off without responding. I could hear his heart still beating, slower now and growing faint.
“You were right, I’m not your mate,” Josiah said, before wiping his mouth. “Now you’ll watch him die.” He burst through a window and disappeared into the night just as the front door opened.
“Marlon? What happened to Blake?” Aaron yelled and ran to where I now held Blake in my arms. He glanced at the body of Rupert before focusing back on Blake. “We need to call an ambulance.” He reached for Blake’s wrist, and I was so overcome with grief I ignored it.
“It won’t get here soon enough. His heart slows as his blood drains,” I whispered and tried to control my shaking hands. Tears filled my eyes as the reality hit me. His fate was sealed.
“Save him. Don’t let him die. Blake’s the best friend I’ve ever had. Please don’t let him die,” Aaron pleaded.
“I can’t. He won’t be the same, and it is forbidden.” His hand on my shoulder forced my eyes away from where Blake lay nearly dead.
“Marlon, please. I don’t understand what is between the two of you, but I know he has a connection to you that goes beyond just being a couple. You’re a vampire, fucking save him,” he yelled and tugged at his hair.
My eyes went to Blake, my mate, and a feeling I could not resist washed over me.
Before I realized I’d moved, I shifted him in my arms. “I’m sorry, my love, I never wanted this for you.
” I sunk my teeth into his neck and drew out the last of his blood before slicing my wrist with my teeth and forcing it into his mouth.
At first there was no reaction at all, and the only sound in the room was the sound of Aaron shaking as he knelt next to us.
“Is he—”
His eyes fluttered, and his lips moved, pulling more blood in as his wounds began to heal. In a burst of motion, he sprang up before turning and landing in a crouched position. His eyes landed on Aaron, and I put myself between them before speaking. “Blake?”