EMBRACE THE DARK (The Blood Rose Novella Series) (18 page)

I have pathed your war frequency. I know what is coming.

He glanced at her and smiled.
Why am I not surprised
?

Yes, her eyes were still glowing. They were one, as the Invictus were one. He could understand now how the pairs were able to function in perfect unison.

I am keeping my thoughts quiet
, she pathed.
Just move forward and I’ll read or sense what you intend to do next. I’m with you.

She was with him.

Extraordinary.

He was not alone.

Never again so long as she lived.

So what came to him was the absolute necessity that she live, that whatever decisions he made from this point forward, Abigail must survive.

He squeezed her hand.

He walked with her up the long hall and into the dark of night. He pathed to Derek,
How close are you? Abigail and I are leaving the compound doors. Can you see us?

Yes. Wraiths are circling overhead. Several vampires and other realm-folk bonded to the wraiths have emerged and are now levitating as well.

Those in the air are all Invictus, but I see many slaves about.

What do you want us to do?

Retreat a distance of two hundred yards. What must happen next, I’ll accomplish alone.

One of the wraiths shrieked. “Look. The enemy is departing, fleeing.” A long stream of laughter followed.

He felt for his personal telepathy. Even though he knew Abigail tracked his thoughts, he pathed,
Ready?

Yes.

He closed his eyes and as he extended his left arm, summoning his war power, she slung an arm around his neck and planted her foot on the top of his heavy boot.

He looked up into the sky and saw that a dozen wraiths circled in an excited state.

Slaves huddled near the walls of the building.

His power began to build.

He heard violent shrieking all above him, where wraiths and the wraith-bonded realm-folk circled. The enemy finally understood, but it was too late.

He released his power and it was like a red wall of fire that rolled upward in the direction of the levitating Invictus. Within a split second, the monsters were on fire and raced in every direction through the air trying to stop the burning, but the flames only grew brighter and higher.

He smelled charred flesh and heard the sounds of death groans. He set his body in flight, just a foot off the ground and sped his way north faster than ever before. Within seconds he reached Derek, who hovered above the trees.

“You will escort us back to the castle at which time we will make plans. Follow me. I’m taking Abigail home.”

Derek gave a brisk nod and called out the orders.

Gerrod adjusted his arm around Abigail, savoring her warm soft body pressed against his. He held her tight.

He turned and once more set his tremendous speed on a path to the castle.

As Derek, Jason and the rest of the Guard, as well as their attending forces, gathered in levitated flight behind him, flying in a solid
V
formation, Gerrod smiled.

Mastyr Vampire Gerrod, Mastyr of Merhaine, smiled.

He felt fingers on his lips.

You’re smiling
, Abigail pathed.

Yes. I am.

*** *** ***

Abigail was changed.

She stood in Gerrod’s library, at the top of the table, her fingertips touching the dark polished oak. Her gaze was fixed to him as he spoke with Derek and Jason. He was sending them on the much needed rescue mission.

She could feel her frequencies developing within her so fast that it amazed her. Vojalie had said she would become vampire, and so that change was underway as well, while Gerrod spoke to his men and orchestrated the next step in the battle against the enemy.

“The acreage near the compound has become verdant farmland. I saw many workers. Slaves, no doubt.”

“Our realm-folk?”

“Undoubtedly. I know that as I released the war frequency, at least a dozen Invictus couples were destroyed. There might, however, be more in the compound. I’m not sure. Take the Guardsmen and finish what I began.”

Jason smiled. “With pleasure.”

The men left the library, walked quickly through the great entrance hall, and began calling their troops together.

She followed Gerrod to the front lawn and watched the score of powerful men launch, flying fast in that strange foot-above-the-ground levitation that many realm-folk could master in time.

He took hold of her hand and for a long time she stood with him in the open night air, taking a moment, a breath, to just be.

She had come home to Merhaine, no longer just human, but more.
Vampire
.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

She nodded, squeezing his hand. “Changing,” she said.

He turned her toward her. “How are your gums?”

“Sore. How do I release the fangs?”

He smiled softly and kissed her lips. “It will just feel right then you’ll release them.”

She sighed. “This is all so strange. My body feels like a cauldron of weighted sensations, of change, of frequencies forming.”

Did he just growl?

“What was that?” she asked laughing.

“You’ll have your own frequency now, your own personal waves of energy.”

“Oh,” she murmured, her brows rising high on her forehead. This had possibilities. “You mean, like the frequency you have? The one that pounds on me?”

He nodded.

She lowered her gaze from his then focused internally, on the various frequencies crowding her body. She searched through them, as though picking each up by the hand then releasing them.

Finding the frequency that called her mate, was like touching something electric. She looked up at him, and as though understanding all at once, she opened the waves of energy and let them flow.

Gerrod took a step back and put a fist to his chest. “By the Goddess’s pink nipples…”

He recovered swiftly and with his chin lowered, he took her in his arms and kissed her. Because her frequency was open, and he suddenly pounded her with his frequency, she shrieked and backed up. Her eyes rolled in her head as all this sensation flowed over her body in lightening waves. She was instantly close to an orgasm.

He caught her and kept her from falling, and gathered her in his arms once more.

That was when her fangs slipped through her gums and were suddenly just there.

She stared at his neck. She wanted to bite him.

But because her connection to him was so profound, she also felt that Jason was contacting him telepathically. He stared down at her his eyes wide, dilated, his body trembling. “I need to take you to bed.”

“Or throw me across this table.”

His eyes fluttered.

Jason’s path rang louder this time.

“Hold that thought,” he said.

He opened the pathway and she heard Jason’s voice as clearly in her mind as it was no doubt speeding through his.
The Invictus are toast, to the last symbiotic pair. We’re burning what’s left of them now. Derek has our realm-folk in hand. All alive. Much weeping and giving of thanks to the Goddess. At least a hundred had been enslaved to serve this, I don’t know what, tribe maybe?

Gerrod’s voice rang through her mind as he pathed,
See that everyone is returned home tonight.

My thoughts as well. When we’re done, do you want us back at the castle?

Only those Guardsmen on scheduled duty need return here. But tomorrow night, please have the entire Guard come to the training compound. We’ll talk then. Let everyone rest.

Derek and his team will be patrolling the wastelands until dawn.

Thank you, Jason

See you tomorrow, mastyr.

*** *** ***

Gerrod shut his telepathic pathway down, hopefully for the rest of the night.

He had other critical business to attend to and held all that business in his arms, his gaze fixed on the sharp points of Abigail’s fangs. The human was now vampire, his woman, his blood rose, his savior.

He leaned down and ran his tongue over her lips, over the upper portions of her fangs, felt her mouth open for him, and he thrust deep, avoiding the razor points. He pulled her tight against him, wanting her to feel all that he was as a man, all that he wanted her to have, all that he needed to give her.

And he wanted to travel down her frequency, taste of her waves over and over. “I need you in my bed.”

She smiled.

He slid his arm behind her knees and picked her up, carrying her back into the castle.

Gus waited at the threshold, dancing from foot to foot. “Mastyr?” he inquired. “What is the news?”

Gerrod smiled. “Jason and the Guard have rescued all the missing realm-folk. The Invictus, at our wastelands, are dead.”

“Thank the merciful Goddess.” His gaze shifted to Abigail. “And will the Mistress be staying with us?”

Gerrod turned to Abigail then leaned down and kissed her. “I have it on excellent authority she never plans on leaving Merhaine again, except to visit her family, of course.”

Abigail smiled.

“Oh, blessed night, most blessed night.” Augustus continued in this theme, but Gerrod moved past him and carried his prize deep into the castle, down the long hall to his private suite. He slammed the door shut with his foot, turned, and locked the damn thing. Ethan would have been proud of him.

He wasn’t exactly sure when he would emerge, or when he would next let the castle staff see Abigail, but the rest of the night was his.

He carried her through the bedroom and into the bathroom. He didn’t set her down until he had her near the shower. He turned the water on, glancing at her over his shoulder. She was staring up at the ceiling touching her new fangs, then wincing when she punctured her thumb. “Wow, they’re sharp.”

A growl left his throat unbidden.

She blinked at him and smiled.

“You look so pretty with those fangs.”

She turned and moved to the sink to look at herself in the mirror. “How do I get rid of them?”

“Don’t. Not yet. You’ll need them and I want them.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “I just want to practice.”

He unbuckled his boots and removed them.

“So what do I do?” she asked, still prodding her gums.

“It is sometimes helpful to merely focus carefully on what it is you want to do.” She turned toward him ready to ask another question, but at that moment he slid his leathers down his thighs so that now he was fully exposed and aroused.

She blinked several times, her gaze low. Her tongue made an appearance. “You are so wicked. But I want to get the hang of this.”

He finished removing his pants and smiled. “Then by all means, you should practice.”

He hopped in the shower and soaped up. He scrubbed hard, wanting to get clean of his captivity. He had just finished washing his hair, when he felt her near. Then her hands were on him and she was stroking his pecs, running her fingers the breadth of his chest.

For just this moment, a vibration passed through him that had nothing to do with either of their frequencies. He felt as though the universe had just shifted position, making an adjustment long needed, and suddenly the world was right, entirely right, wholly right.

When she put her arms around him and laid her head against his chest, and his arms found and held her, he knew the adjustment had been made, finalized, perfected. He was home.

But there was one last piece of this puzzle, that which Vojalie had warned them was necessary to complete the final bonding to his blood rose so that every other mastyr vampire would know she belonged just to him.

An exchange of frequencies while mating.

Like hell he could tolerate any other mastyr vampire getting within a yard of her until she was well and truly his.

“I want to wash my hair,” she said kissing his chest, then looking up at him.

“Allow me.”

He took his time and washed it for her, lathering up all that glorious long red length. This was how everything had begun just a couple of weeks ago, in the shower, hair shampooed, rinse applied. But this time, he was caring for her hair.

He added the crème rinse and took a moment to turn her toward him, to fondle her breasts, her stomach, the soft flesh between her legs, until he buried two fingers inside her. He kissed her deeply, her fangs now receded to safety, so that he could plunge his tongue into her.

I love you
, he pathed.

An odd sound like, mnmhmnnn, came out of her.

He drew back and smiled.

“Ah, that half-smile of yours.” She kissed both sides of his mouth then looked up to meet his gaze. “I love you, too, more than I can say.”

“Let’s rinse your hair so I can take you to bed.”

A few minutes later, he carried her into his bedroom.

*** *** ***

Abigail lay in the middle of Gerrod’s bed, her bed now, staring up into the eyes of the vampire she had come to love. She still couldn’t believe that this had happened to her, not just that she was now vampire, but that love had found her.

He leaned down and kissed her, his lips soft, moist, sensual. His frequency was open and pummeling her all over, very low right now. They were just getting started. He had his car on idle and even in this state it was pure heaven.

She smoothed her hand over his cheek, just savoring him, the look of him, feel and smell of him. It was like being surrounded by mountains and oceans and everything big on the earth.

He was propped up on his arms, holding himself above her, his knees between her legs, his rigid cock stroking her abdomen very lightly, a wonderful promise.

“This is more than I ever expected to know in my entire life,” she said.

His head dipped and his smile emerged again. He kissed her hard, pushing his tongue into her mouth. After a long moment, he drew back. “Words cannot express all that I feel. I am overwhelmed one moment to the next. I will ask only this: What can I do for you? Tell me what can I do.”

“Well,” she drawled. “My blood is a bit lumpish. How about you start by taking care of that?”