Chapter 11
I’m up well before Elly. She doesn’t stir when I stretch, not that I can’t blame her after the amount of alcohol she consumed last night.
Rolling over to face her, my hand reaches out, fingers gently caressing her cheek, craving every touch I can get.
She sighs softly at the contact, relishing my hands on her skin even in her sleep.
But then I remember the soft, whimpering moans she made when Alix and Désirée tasted her blood. The memory shoots straight to my dick, and I’m rock hard within seconds. I groan, rubbing my hands over my face and peeking at Elly, contemplating taking her while she’s still asleep.
“Shit,” I curse under my breath, the mental image only exacerbating my predicament. “You really have no idea what you do to me, do you, love?”
Elly snuggles closer against the pillow in her arms, and I smile, deciding to let her sleep a little while longer. I guess I really am going soft on her.
I carefully slip out of bed and tuck her back in, head to the bathroom to get ready, and then quickly grab my phone from the nightstand as I make my way out of the bedroom. The screen lights up briefly, and I note the message Loxley sent me late last night.
The door clicks shut behind me as I lean against the wall, reading her text and sending a reply. Then I head to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. Sure, we don’t need to eat, but it’s a quick and sure way to replenish energy. Plus, I like cooking for her—more than I thought I would.
Opening the refrigerator, I opt for something simple, considering how she’ll be feeling.
I pull out a few eggs and a pack of bacon.
My magic stirs inside me, indicating that she’s awake.
I better get started. I take off my jacket, draping it carefully over the back of a chair, and roll up the sleeves of my shirt.
Preheating the oven, I break and whisk a few eggs in a bowl.
When the oven reaches the desired temperature, I place slices of bread inside to toast. Next, I bake the bacon strips and set them aside, wrapped in tin foil to keep them hot while I reuse the greasy frying pan for the scrambled eggs.
The eggs are just done when Elly enters the kitchen. Her eyes sparkle with delight at the sight of my red skin, and that sparkle turns to pure joy upon seeing the frying pan in my hand. The smile on her face makes my pulse race.
I set it down on the turned-off stove and bury my nose in her neck, inhaling her sweet scent of vanilla and lavender.
“Good morning, love,” I say, pulling her close and placing a soft kiss on her lips. “Sleep well?”
She puts her hands on the back of my head and kisses me back hard—biting my lip and slipping her tongue into my mouth. I groan as my hands drift to her ass, pressing her closer.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” I say when Elly steps away and takes a seat at the kitchen table, licking her lips, her eyes twinkling with mischief.
She smiles at me, and I turn to plate our breakfast. The oven dings, and I take out the toasted slices of bread, putting them on a plate along with the bacon and eggs.
“Are you going to make me breakfast every day from now on?” Elly asks, her eyes filled with delight as I set the plate down in front of her.
“Depends on the kind of night we have.” I wink, pouring myself a mug of coffee and tea for her before joining her at the table.
We eat our breakfast in silence. She’s still waking up but clearly enjoying every bite.
A strange kind of happiness fills me, a warm tingling spreading through my body.
It makes me proud that she enjoys the food I make for her.
Even my magic buzzes under my skin in appreciation.
Looks like she’s all the reason I needed to pick up this old hobby again.
After all, having no one to cook for was why I stopped.
“You often share women with the neighbors?” Elly’s sudden question catches me off guard, washing away my fluffy feelings.
I choke on my coffee, needing a moment to get through the coughing fit.
Elly looks at me apologetically, though she clearly wants to know—needs to know, even—which I should have expected after Désirée’s remark. Damn it.
“Used to,” I correct. “Alix and Désirée throw parties every now and then, and I would join them whenever I could.”
“You mean orgies,” she notes, easily seeing through my choice of words and quick on the uptake. Looks like she’s surprisingly jealous, if the underlying tone of her voice is anything to go by.
The smile I give her in return is clearly enough of a reply.
“And me being your wife is why you don’t want to share me.”
I narrow my eyes at her, not liking where this conversation is going.
It’s clear that both Alix and Désirée are interested in more than just her blood, but if she feels the same way about them…
Even though Alix and I have shared several women in the past, Elly’s not just some woman we picked up. This is different. She’s different.
I’m well aware of how possessive I can be. I don’t know if I want to—hell, I don’t know if I can share her without ripping them apart for touching her like that.
Shit, I should probably tell Elly about Désirée and Alix at some point. Something tells me she won’t take well to me saying she can’t have them and then following that up with informing her that I’ve fucked both of them—on multiple occasions. This is going to be a problem.
“Yes,” I hiss at her, deciding to save that conversation for another day.
“Why?” she retorts quickly, sipping her tea as if she doesn’t have a care in the world. But I know better. If her posture isn’t enough indication, her magic is filling the kitchen, hanging heavy between us. I wonder if she realizes she’s doing it.
“Because I don’t share.”
Her magic crackles against my skin in warning, running wild—so at odds with how composed she sits in front of me. Elly picks up a piece of bacon, nibbles at it, and then seems to decide to let it go. Her magic retreats, and she relaxes in her seat.
“Will you tell me about them, about their kind?” she asks as we finish up breakfast.
I throw a look at her mostly untouched plate but don’t push it. “You mean vampires?”
She nods. “Vampires, and whatever else there is besides humans.”
I get up to refill my mug and offer her another cup of tea, which she declines. Returning to my seat, I consider where to start. “I have some books if you’d like,” I tease, and Elly rolls her eyes at me.
“Just give me the abridged version now, and I’ll read up on it later.”
I smile at her over the rim of my mug. It’s a good thing she wants to learn, because there is so much more to the world she once knew.
She will have to re-familiarize herself with it, for nothing is as it seems to the human eye.
Like Désirée said, most have been born into this world.
Those that are made in one way or another are rare and far between.
Even the vampires don’t turn humans as often anymore as they once did.
Add to that the fact that she missed almost two hundred years while being imprisoned with me, and it could end up being a lot to process.
“Vampires like Alix and Désirée,” I begin, “started out as witches—earth witches.”
I think for a moment, needing to make sure I explain this correctly.
“Witches usually have at least some inhuman blood in their veins, granting them their magic. Earth witches are the only magic users that don’t, and they have always made sure to keep their lines pure human.
Their magic comes solely from their connection with the earth, with nature. ”
Elly gives me a nod in understanding, urging me on.
“Though earth witches have become rare, there are still a few covens around. They’re neutral and tend to stay out of everyone’s business if they can help it. But back in the day, there was a rather large coven that wanted more.”
I look down at my mug, at the black coffee inside, remembering the day it happened as if it were yesterday.
Their coven was the one I initially intended to contract before I found Loxley’s.
It was centuries ago, but I had just procured this piece of land and needed earth witches to bless it.
They did, and we became friends, which led to Alix and Désirée now living next door—on the only land that still holds a remnant of their original magic.
“They were the only ones of their kind who wanted something their humanity couldn’t offer.
They craved true immortality, as so many often do.
In search of a way to achieve this, they began to bend their magic, shaping it into something dark.
Nobody knows how they managed it, but I suspect they had help—a pureblood vampire looking to have some fun, to see what would happen. And something happened, alright.”
Images of that day flash before me: the carnage, the chaos, and the destruction that erupted from their folly.
“To this day, they refuse to tell me what exactly transpired. But they got everything they wanted. At a price. Their desire for immortality transformed them into a new kind of vampire, forcing their coven to fight for a place among the older, already established vampire covens.”
“Are those the bloodlines you mentioned earlier?”
I nod in affirmation. “There are quite a few variations of vampirism, and most tend to be solitary. Those who didn’t form covens evolved into civilizations, all wanting to rule over their own land.
They fought among themselves, splitting the human world into factions and establishing their own communities, hiding in plain sight. ”
“Wait,” Elly starts, her eyes filled with fascination. “How does that work with other inhumans living in the human world?”
I shrug. “It’s pretty much a live-and-let-live situation. The vampires rule themselves while making sure to abide by human laws. As long as other inhumans leave them alone, they do the same.”