Fanged Fury (The Adventures of Sydney Sedrick Book 3) (11 page)

The burden of the unknown rested heavily upon my chest as sleep finally consumed me.

Daire stood before my bed, his pale skin glowing in the dark of the room from the moonlight beaming in through the window. “Hello, Selected. I’ve been waiting for you to invite me in.”

The smile on the vampire’s face made me wary. Fangs hung poised over his bottom lip.

I lay still on my bed, covered by the purple comforter I’ve had for years. “What are you talking about, vampire? I don’t remember ever inviting you into my house.”

Daire began to undo the tie adorning his neck, then continued to unbutton his shirt until it hung open, revealing well-toned muscles and flat, sexy abs male models would die for.

I inhaled slightly, not wanting to let on that I hoped to catch a whiff of his cologne again. He didn’t disappoint. The smell of him intensified my lust.

“No, Selected. I don’t need your permission to enter your home when you are dreaming. You’ve invited me into your dreams. I’ve simply responded.” He took the white, long-sleeved dress shirt off one arm at a time. Strippers had nothing on the vampire before me.

“I’m not dreaming, vampire. So, I’ll have you remove yourself from my bedroom.” I brought my knees to my chest, putting as much distance between us as possible. Being pinned with nowhere to run, I found myself in a precarious position.

My body screamed to let Daire have his way while my head shouted to get him the heck out of my house as fast as possible. He unbelted his pants, letting them drop to the floor. Apparently the vampire didn’t feel the need to wear underwear.

Now completely naked, Daire leaned over the bed. He slowly brought a leg up to rest his knee against the mattress. Before I could argue, he was coming closer.

I took pleasure in feeling his weight upon me as he covered my body with his own. “Daire, are you sure this is only a dream?”

The vampire laughed. “Yes, Selected. I would know the difference, as would you.”

He licked the pulse at my neck in a slow, languorous motion. The sensation sent shockwaves of excitement down the length of my body. Shifting my hips, I felt my body’s readiness for him. I tensed when I felt the length of his erection pressing along the inner portion of my thigh.

My shoulders slumped in disappointment, making Daire rise above me on his hands to get a good look at me. “Why would that upset you? If I would have known you’d have me for real I would have knocked your front door down.” As he spoke, he removed the sheet separating our bodies. “Much, much sooner.”

I glanced up to see Daire’s eyes as they glowed a fierce shade of red. He positioned the tip of his cock, readying himself entrance.

He nuzzled my ear. The whisper of his words electrified the sensitive skin on the shell of my ear. “Tell me what you want from me, Sydney.”

“I was hoping you’d be willing to donate some of your vampire blood to me.”

The surprised expression on the vampire’s face was priceless. He couldn’t have achieved such authenticity with a hundred years of practice.

My body shuddered as I was jerked from the sensual dream I’d shared with Daire. Was the vampire aware of my dream, or was I the sole participant? A cold sweat covered my body as I grabbed the rumpled blankets covering the bed to push them down by my feet.

I felt the sheets beside me. I couldn’t detect a temperature difference from my own. Daire wouldn’t have left a heat signature like Blake, but I couldn’t say for sure if he’d cooled the material down. I’d never had a vampire in my bed before, in life or in a dream.

Jumping up, I scoured my room for any trace left of the vampire. How had Daire manipulated my dreams? I was the Selected, supposedly immune to vampire influence. Despite everyone telling me that was true, I started to believe otherwise.

I checked my phone for the time. The blue neon screen blinked the hour. I still had enough of the night left to call Kieran.

I needed answers.

Staring at the mirror in the bathroom with the light on, I felt an overwhelming relief. No bite marks on my neck.

Clutching my phone, I headed back to my bedroom to throw on a pair of sweats before calling Kieran. The coven leader had special powers other vampires didn’t command. I didn’t want any more surprises like Kieran showing up in my bedroom while I was naked.

After seven irritatingly long rings, Kieran finally answered his phone. “Sydney? What are you doing up at this hour?”

“I have a few questions about your new vampire, Daire.” I breathed a heavy sigh, not knowing if I could trust the coven leader. He frightened me, but I had to find out the truth.

Kieran hesitated before he asked, “Sydney, has Liam’s replacement done something wrong?”

The vampire’s Irish accent became thicker the more we spoke.

“No, well, I’m not sure. That’s why I’m calling you. Kieran, this is really hard for me to talk about, okay?” I blushed, not feeling comfortable describing my physical reactions to the vampire Kieran had assigned to watch over me.

“Sydney, do not worry, I vow assistance in whatever troubles you. Now, tell me what’s on your mind.” He waited patiently for me to get a grip on my emotions.

“The moment I met your vampire, I had a difficult time dealing with my body’s reaction to him. Kieran, it wasn’t right, it wasn’t normal.” My brow furrowed. I doubted my choice of discussing Daire with Kieran.

“My dear, don’t worry your sweet head about this one more moment. I’m sure you just reacted to his attractive personality.” Kieran let out a laugh. The coven leader was attractive, but I never understood what Grandma had seen in him. The alien-like expressions threw me every time. Hearing him laugh over the phone didn’t help the situation, either.

“Yeah, you’re probably right. Sorry I brought it up.” I wanted off the phone, pronto, but I didn’t want to be rude about it.

“Sydney? This is really bothering you. I’m sorry. I attempted humor to make you feel better about it. Would you like me to speak with Daire about this”—he paused, not knowing how to define my predicament—“situation?”

“No, don’t say anything to him just yet. I wanted to make sure he couldn’t use glamour on me. He can’t, can he?” I held my breath, needing confirmation that I didn’t have to worry about Daire forcing me to use my Selected powers for evil, or even worse, donating my blood to quench his thirst. As far as I knew, the prophecy forecasted Kieran as the vampire to one day walk in the sun.

Grandma wrote that the prophecies consisted of layers. All I knew for sure was everyone seemed to have something to hide. I wanted to find out what they were keeping from me before getting caught up in their twisted worlds, more so than I already was.

Ignorance equated danger.

I was determined not to let anyone I cared for to get caught in the fray. Ignorance was no excuse.

“No, Sydney, you are completely immune to vampire glamour. Your thoughts, feelings, and, uh, reactions, are all your own. Is there anything else bothering you, my dear?” Kieran sounded more like my aunt, full of worry instead of the scary vampire I knew him to be. I had to hand it to him, he was making progress for his efforts to appear more human-like. He’d never be able to hide the red, glowy eyes, though. I wasn’t sure if even contacts could cover those babies up.

I didn’t know how much to tell the coven leader. Deciding to confide in him my fears, I said, “One more thing. How is it possible Daire is able to infiltrate my dreams?”

A low hiss sizzled on the other end of the line. That caught Kieran’s attention. “Sydney, Daire is not full-blooded vampire. He was born to one of King Alexander’s Judges.”

I bent over in my bed, feeling ill. Not only did I almost have dream-sex with a vampire, but I almost had dream-sex with a vampire who was also half demon. That’s when the odd occurrences began to make sense.

“That doesn’t answer my question. Is Daire able to manipulate my Selected powers because he’s half demon?” I was struck with the realization my newly assigned bodyguard could be a serious threat on multiple levels. Being the Selected, I couldn’t afford beings with the ability to use my powers against me or against the wolves and vampires.

I didn’t fully trust either of the vampires or the wolves, but I trusted Judges even less. Judges had their own agendas.

Kieran didn’t sound happy in hearing about the new developments. In fact, he sounded pissed that he may, once again, have a traitor in his coven. “Sydney, I’ll look into the matter. For now, I ask that you tell no one about this. I want to give the man the benefit of the doubt. He’s never done anything to make me question his intentions before.”

“Okay, but I don’t like secrecy. Withholding information from the wolf pack might not be the best idea.” I laughed despite myself. Blake was clearly hiding something from me. I didn’t understand why I felt obligated to stay true to him while dealing with Daire.

That was a lie.

I knew the reason.

I loved Blake, but I wasn’t so blind I couldn’t see the reality of what was going on. Blake was heir to the Midwestern Werewolf Pack. He would do anything to protect them. He should do everything in his power to make sure their existence continued on through time. There was once a time he made me feel he was just as protective about our relationship as he was the pack.

I no longer felt that way.

“You are mature for your human years, Sydney. I know how you feel about the wolf. I appreciate your cooperation. Give me time to have this situation dealt with. One way or the other, we’ll find out if Daire’s intentions are less than honorable.”

Still doubting if I made the right decision in telling Kieran about Daire, I noticed that my toe began to tap nervously on the carpet of its own accord.

“Keep me in the loop. Don’t hurt him too badly. I still need a bodyguard, you know.”

“You’ll be the first to know what I find out. If he does anything, contact me directly. I don’t want to alert him that my eyes are now upon him. Be yourself, however you normally act around him.” The line went dead. Kieran had hung up the phone.

Heat went through me. How was I supposed to keep acting normal around the vampire-demon when all he did was turn me on? I couldn’t deal with how my body reacted to him, let alone hang out with the guy. Plus, I seriously didn’t want to face him now that we had been intimate, even if it was just a dream. That dream was all too real. Just imagining the feel of his flesh made my body quicken with need.

Screaming for all I was worth, I threw myself back against the mattress.

Nothing happened.

I screamed again.

Okay, that didn’t make me feel better. Actually, it just gave me a headache for my trouble.

Clicking the screen button on my phone, I turned over onto the pillow with a groan. Two hours left before I had to get up for work and I couldn’t sleep.

Lying awake, I shook my head. Sometimes thinking of how my life had taken such crazy turns made me question the reality of it. I remembered the night the werewolf had attacked me in the alley alongside the store a mere few months ago. That fateful night had changed my life forever. I wondered how long it would’ve taken my mother or Aunt Judith to come clean about my being the next Selected if the wolf’s bite hadn’t triggered my powers.

Would they have asked Kieran to bite me as a scheduled event? Questions plagued my mind, making sleep elusive. I finally gave up trying to sleep, even though my head was fuzzy from exhaustion.

Hot water pelted my skin as it shot from the showerhead. I closed my eyes letting the steam fill the confined area of the bathroom. With a bright pink towel wrapped around me, I headed back to my room to get dressed for the day when my arms broke out in a cold sweat as I reached for the dresser drawer handle. A split second before pain clenched my gut, I knew a rogue was near the house. Light from the coming dawn spilled in through my bedroom window, but I couldn’t tell if the low level of sunlight coming over the horizon was enough to keep a vampire rogue in hiding, or if the rogue prowling the property was a wolf.

The muscles in my back, arms, and legs jolted with spasms. I waited for the pain to consume me. All the other times I had been so close to a rogue I had lost consciousness.

It didn’t come.

The pain in my gut began to recede as I dressed.

Relief washed over me as the pain continued to release its hold on my insides. My muscles stopped twitching. My vision returned to normal. I sighed, glad I didn’t have to call Blake for help. I didn’t want to admit that just maybe he was right. Maybe I did need him.

I hated that I needed his help with the rogues.

I hurried down the stairs after drying my hair. Scratching noises sounded from beyond the front door so I tiptoed over, listening while being sneaky.

The sound stopped. I looked through the peephole but couldn’t see anything. Figuring it was an animal getting into birdseed Aunt Judith had left in a heap on the porch, I opened the door.

My breath caught in my throat. It would have been useless to scream. The neighbors were spread far apart. No one would hear me.

“Hello, Selected.”

My question had been answered. The rogue was a wolf.

“What do you want?”

He stood just beyond the frame of the front door.

I stared at the werewolf in amazement. His hair and skin were clean, unlike the rogue who’d attacked me in the alley. The wolf standing in front of me wore clothes worn from manual labor.

He took a step forward to come into the house. Shrieking in pain, the rogue threw up an arm to shield his face.

Aunt Judith’s ward worked.

He couldn’t come into the house. I blew out a breath and gave him a wicked smile.

“I want what every young wolf wants. I want you. Dead.” He snarled, showing me his dirty, elongated teeth. A whiff of his breath traveled between us, making me cough from the horrid stench.