Blood Curse (11 page)

"Don't mock me, son. I know what I'm talking about. I can see inside your mind, remember? I already know how passionate you are to protect her. I know you dream of her. When did it begin?"

Rialto cursed beneath his breath as they continued to move through the park. From the moment she'd changed him over she'd been able to read his mind like a book. “Twenty-six years ago, when she was born."

Seta's eyes widened. “That was fate telling you your mate had arrived."

"That's ridiculous, Mother."

"Then why else would you dream of a complete stranger? You're already in love with her. You're just too scared to admit it aloud."

"And I have reason to be scared,” Rialto snapped. “I still haven't forgotten what happened to the last innocent woman I loved."

"What happened to Antonia was awful, but you can't let her death stop you from loving again. Antonia wasn't who you were meant to be with. Maybe that's why she didn't take to the change."

"So it was fated that I had to kill her?"

"I'm afraid so,” Seta answered, lowering her gaze to the ground.

"Well, then, fate can go to hell!” Rialto stomped away, cursing vehemently as he tried to purge images of Antonia out of his mind.

"Rialto, I don't think you fully realize what this all means!"

"What does it mean?” Rialto stopped and glared at his mother. “Why don't you explain clearly what fate has in store for me."

"Do you recall The Blood Revelation?"

"That fairy tale about predestined mates saving the world from Satan's wrath?"

"Three sets of vampires who can reproduce, creating warriors, one of which will save the world from eternal darkness."

"Yes, what about it?"

"The dreams the two of you share are erotic, are they not? You wanted her before you ever laid eyes on her, and you've told her things about our kind that you normally wouldn't even think of telling a mortal."

"What happens in our dreams is none of your business, Mother."

"It's every vampire's business. She is your soul mate, and the two of you are destined to create a child who just may grow up to save the world from destruction. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a baby, Rialto? Haven't you ever wondered what it would feel like to be a father?"

Rialto frowned at her. “I believe your magic has driven you insane. I couldn't possibly father a child."

"You could if you were one of the prophesied three couples, and you are, Rialto. Two people who dream of each other, as you have, and share the same aura are predestined. You and Aria together make one of the three sets!"

"It's impossible."

"I could argue that it's impossible for you to read her mind when she's not one of us, but I know you can, Rialto, so don't deny it."

He shook his head adamantly and started walking again. “There must be some other explanation."

"There isn't. Although you've inherited enough magical ability from me to read the minds of mortals while you feed from them, that's the extent of your telepathic abilities. You know as well as I do that vampires can only read the minds of other vampires. She's a vampire waiting to happen, Rialto. It is your destiny to change her over and take her to your bed where you will create a child, a warrior."

He shook his head even more adamantly. “Then my destiny shall remain unfulfilled. I vowed long ago never to change over another innocent person, especially not someone I care for. I can't risk the chance of losing another woman the way I lost Antonia."

"If you don't change her over, you will lose her anyway. She'll grow old and die."

"Yes, and she'll go to the Lord as she should. Why should I do anything to prevent that?"

"To save—” Seta stopped mid-sentence, her eyes widening as her body stilled. Rialto could tell she was picking up on something, so he opened all his senses, pushing them to their limits, until he smelled the decay.

"This way,” Seta instructed, quickly walking north.

Rialto followed her until they reached the body. They found it lying halfway under a patch of vines, the body of a brunette Caucasian woman, complete with two small rotting holes in the neck. What was left of her body was a shriveled husk. There was no doubt she'd been drained dry. Rialto used his hypersensitive hearing to locate the positions of the police. They were still far enough away to allow them time to examine the body.

Seta kneeled beside the corpse and placed her hands over the jeans clad legs, careful not to move the body. The police would need to find it just as it had been left. Rialto watched as, with her eyes closed, Seta flinched. Her body went stiff with the onslaught of images and emotions that were being pulled from what was left of the woman's aura. From the degree of decay Rialto could see and smell, he knew she wouldn't get much. Whoever the woman was, she had been dead too long.

A moment later, Seta broke contact with the body, quickly backing away and wiping her hands on her pants as if to get rid of residue left by the woman's aura.

"What did you see?"

Seta shook her head. “The woman wasn't scared, not at first. She thought he was a nice young man, well-educated and mannerly. I saw a needle. Something was in it, something clear. I saw blood, lots of blood. And I saw Eron."

"Eron? Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm positive it was him."

"Eron couldn't be the killer."

"Of course not!” Seta looked back down at the body, her brow furrowed. “I couldn't see the killer. I can't get anything off of this body that will lead me to him, and I think he has me partially blocked."

"The body is too old. Maybe if we find one that hasn't been dead as long."

"Maybe,” she said but he could see the doubt in her eyes. “Do you smell what I smell?"

Rialto kneeled next to the body and sniffed. What he discovered caused his blood to chill. Mixed in with the scent of rot and decay was an unmistakable odor. It wasn't as strong as it should be, as if it were diluted with some other substance, but it was there. “The scent of a vampire, but not quite vampire."

"I know. It's barely there, and whoever he is, he's blocked me. Only a vampire, another witch, or someone knowledgeable of black magic would make sure they couldn't be tracked by a witch. He actually cleansed her aura of all traces of himself."

"But you know she wasn't scared of him."

"Yes, but I can't get a face or a name."

"Why did you see Eron?"

"I don't know, but it worries me. He's missing."

Rialto stared at her in surprise. “Missing?"

She nodded. “I haven't heard from him in a while, and his Keeper hasn't seen him."

Rialto examined the holes in the corpse's neck, trying to shake off his feelings of unease. “The bite marks look real, Mother. Why wouldn't they heal?"

"I don't know. And all of the blood has been taken. You can tell by how shriveled she is. Maybe that has something to do with them being unhealed."

"What exactly happens if you continue drinking after death has set in?"

She shrugged. “We get our strength from the blood that still has life flowing through it. As you know, Christian drinks bagged blood. It merely sustains his life, but it has no power to it."

"Could the killer be a new vampire? Someone too ignorant to know that you're supposed to stop feeding when the heart ceases to beat?” Rialto could feel the dread creeping into his voice. How was he going to tell Aria that one of his kind had, in fact, killed her mother?

"No.” Seta shook her head. “No single vampire could stomach that much blood, even if a pack of them feasted on this woman they wouldn't have taken every single drop. Once the heart stops pumping blood, it's hard to extract. Whatever evil being did this, it was not a vampire. “

"But, the scent—"

"That doesn't matter. It isn't the right scent for a vampire. I have no idea what kind of creature is doing this, but we will find out."

Aria slept fitfully, waking repeatedly throughout the night. The sixth time she awoke, a shadow loomed over her bed. She gasped, jolting upright.

"It's me,” Rialto said as he sat beside her, easing her back down against the pillows. “Relax."

"Did you find anything?"

"We found a body but I'm afraid my mother wasn't able to get enough off it to identify the killer. We're not through yet, Aria. Not by a long shot."

Aria tried to bank down her disappointment. At least they were trying. She shook her head in wonder, still a little surprised that the vampires were turning out to be the good guys. More surprising was the fact they still wanted to help her after the way she'd reacted when Seta had entered the room. The woman must have thought she was unbalanced. “I'm sorry about earlier. I saw a beautiful young woman and I thought that . . ."

"I know,” he said, smiling knowingly, and Aria knew he could sense her confusion as she tried to sort out the jumble of emotions coursing through her. “She looks much younger than I do. I have to remind myself of that when we're out in public. If I call her Mother, we get quite a few odd looks."

"I can imagine. I hope I didn't offend her. Where is she now?” She hoped the woman wasn't staying away because of her earlier behavior.

"Actually, she likes you a lot, but reading auras off the deceased takes a lot of energy. She needed to feed.” Rialto grinned again. “Now go to sleep."

"I can't. I keep waking up."

"Bad dreams?"

"Incredibly good ones.” She could tell by the way his eyes dilated that he knew exactly what she'd been dreaming of. He was leaning over her, his mouth close to hers, and Aria threw caution to the wind, grabbing him by the back of the neck and pulling him closer, giving in to the attraction she'd been trying to fight.

"Aria—"

She stopped his protest by covering his mouth with hers, quickly dipping her tongue inside to discover the depths she had so recently explored in her dreams. Rialto started to pull back, but she quickly wrapped her leg around his and rolled, landing on top of him in the big bed.

"Aria, you're coming out of sleep, out of a dream."

She shook her head as she stared down into his gorgeous face. “I'm not asleep. I want this. If I'm going to be honest, I've wanted this all along, despite knowing what you are."

And that was no lie. The longer she was with him, the more dreams she remembered and dreamed anew, the less she thought of him as a creature. He was a man, a sexy as hell man who would continue to haunt her dreams until she finally discovered what he was able to do to her body in reality. If it was half as good as what he delivered in her dreams, she'd be a fool to deny herself that pleasure.

"Aria, I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't."

"I could."

"You won't."

She kissed him until she felt him respond, matching and surpassing her own intense passion. Clothes were strewn across the room as they continued their foreplay, kissing, touching, and licking every body part they could find. She wasn't a virgin, but she felt as though she had never been touched by a man before this night. No other man had ever mattered. This man, this vampire, was who she belonged to. It might seem insane, but it was a fact she knew in her heart.

She gasped as his fingers sought entrance to her throbbing body, mimicking the same action his tongue played inside her mouth. She tightened her fingers over his shoulders, trying not to come apart. Not yet. She wanted him with her when she went over the edge.

"Rialto, please—"

"Not yet,” he groaned as he bent his head to take one hardened nipple into his mouth, swirling his tongue over the tip.

"Ri-ahl-to!"

"Not yet.” He continued suckling at her breast, stroking her with his fingers as though playing a piano, hitting each note just right. Aria felt the first sweet tickle starting from that very spot, then spreading through her body until she shook from the enormity of it.

"Rialto!” she gasped, breathing heavier now as her body was racked with a pleasure she had never thought possible. Would it always be like this with him? She knew sadly that it wouldn't. He would either leave her or else stay only to watch her grow old and feeble, unable to satisfy him in this way.

You can go with him, be like him.

She stilled as the whispered voice invaded her thoughts, and Rialto cupped her cheek. “Are you all right?"

She nodded, unable to find words to explain what had just happened. She shrugged off the odd feeling that she was being guided and gripped his narrow hips. “Your turn,” she breathed, raising her own hips to meet his, sliding him deep inside her body and sighing with pleasure as she felt every hardened inch of him slide against her slickened walls until she was completely filled.

He groaned low in his throat and started to move, gliding in and out, alternately fast and slow, his hands over her breasts as his mouth mated with hers, stifling her cries. She moved with him, riding out one orgasm after another as he continued to find that magic spot and stroke it just right. Oh, how to make this last? Whatever she had to do, it would be worth it.

You can be with him like this forever.

How? Aria asked silently, hoping whoever was guiding her could give her the answer that would make Rialto hers for eternity.

Share his blood.

The thought should have disgusted her. Instead, she found the concept highly erotic, remembering when he had taken her to the alley to watch him feed. He had looked so powerful, so strong, and she remembered the smell of his blood as his neck was scratched, the delicious aroma that had whet her appetite.

Growing hungry with the thought of it, she bit down into Rialto's lip and suckled at the juicy flesh. Her body screamed with pleasure as the first tangy droplets touched her tongue, electrifying her instantly.

Rialto pounded inside her until he groaned, his body shaking as his own orgasm hit him fast and hard. Aria continued to drink from the tiny spout she'd created in his lip until he pulled away to dip his head against the hollow of her neck. She felt something scraping across the skin at the side of her throat and cried out in ecstasy as she was hit with another bone jarring orgasm.

Then something changed. Rialto pulled away, his face etched in horror, his eyes glowing. She could see blood on his lips, hers and his. The hunger inside her sent her flying for his mouth but he grabbed her before she could reach it, pinning her to the bed with her hands raised over her head. She struggled against his grasp. Although she felt a new and powerful surge of strength inside herself, she was no match for him.