Hunger Embraced (The Hunger Series) (15 page)

He heaved a sigh and clutched his left side. He had never spoken to me in such a way. Our brief, formal visits imparted an impression of invincibility and strength. Now that veneer was stripped away to reveal an injured, tired, damned irritated being. Injured or not, he could crush me with an absentminded slap to the head. I made sure to stay out of striking range.

I flirted with the idea of an apology but discarded it. He was right in many ways, but wrong too, and I refused to give up any more ground.

The skin on the back of his hand was cool to the touch. “Why did you call me here?” A labored breath streamed from his lungs, and he wrapped his jacket tight to his frame. “Father?”

“It wasn’t intentional. You are weak, unfinished.” He gripped my forearm and squeezed it until I shirked away in pain. “You’re going to get yourself killed.”

I wasn’t weak. A good bunch of this mess was his fault—not mine.

“Do you remember the night you told me I had to fuck one of your coven in front of everyone? Do you have any idea what that did to me? How much it scared and embarrassed me? How did you expect me to react? I was eighteen years old! Raised as essentially a human!” I slapped him hard in the shoulder in frustration. “What exactly was I supposed to do with the information? Run down the hall and pick the cutest vampire I could find and shag him right then and there? I’d never even been kissed, and you told me I was going to be the main attraction at some kind of orgy! Why did you let me kill that boy? Why didn’t you stop me? To punish me?” A sob left my lips, and angry tears flowed over my cheeks in hot lines.

His eyes flared with anger, and he straightened to his full height. “We couldn’t have stopped you. Your gift is the most powerful I have ever seen. I would not risk my people for one human boy. I offered you a great honor. A celebration of your Blooding. It was to be a time of great celebration and return of hope to our people, but you—”

I crushed the lapels of his coat in my hands. “I was not raised as a vampire! I didn’t know what the Blooding was! Now I’m being stalked by some asshole who claims he’s my king… I sure as hell don’t want to be anyone’s broodmare. Maybe all you fucks should just go and die already!” My voice rose and rose as I shouted until it broke, cracking around the words.

He stepped closer to me until I had to crane my neck back to see his face. I’d never realized how tall my father was. “You are and always have been a vampire. A half-formed one that is going to have to adapt or die. You little fool, have you rejected your king? Do you know what has happened at my court? I betrothed you to him to protect you. I had you raised as a human so you could blend in better with the rest of the world.” He grabbed me by the arms again and shook me until my teeth rattled. “Find a Guardian if you insist on rejecting your king. They can guide you through the ceremony and find someone to act as the consort. Or you will die. It is the only way to gain control of your Hunger. If you do not harness your magic it will destroy you.”

His hands dropped from my arms, and he turned his back on me. “I handled things badly with you. I am sorry. I just wanted you to grow up surrounded by things a child should have. A Chosen Childe’s path is never easy. It is almost always the tale of a warrior. I wanted you to have something to hold onto when you were alone in the dark.”

The admission made something in my heart soften, but he left before I could speak past the lump in my throat. My father glided away, his footsteps silent even in his dress shoes. I wondered when he’d started wearing them and how he’d managed to transport them here, to this…place. I paced a slow circle in my beam of light, wondering what to do. I was sure my friend Slug-o was out there somewhere.

Well, dawn would have to come sometime. I plopped down on the ground to give my feet a rest from the bitter cold and let my butt get frozen instead. I tucked my knees up to my chin and settled in to wait.

Chapter Ten

Shocks of pain reverberated up my legs. Running on cobblestones had ripped the soles of my feet to shreds. They were healing, but I didn’t have the luxury of sitting around with them elevated. Every step reopened the scrapes and put pressure on the bruises. Sneakers would have been more comfortable than boots, but I needed a place to hide the keys Lane left me. The key ring slid down the space between my jeans and the leather shaft nice and cozy.

Worry for Daniel curdled my stomach. There were too many variables for what could have happened to him. Prisoner, execution, torture… He could be chained to a wall somewhere right now or hundreds of miles away. I had no way to know. The thought bothered me more than I wanted to admit.

I headed down Fairmount Boulevard toward my father’s mansion—twelve thousand square feet of understated wealth set way back from the road with a converted carriage house.

The house appeared empty. I walked right up to the front door and tried the knob. Unlocked. I stepped into the two-story foyer. My feet echoed on the slate floors as I wandered from room to room until I found myself in the kitchen at the back of the house. The door to the basement hung open.

I trailed my fingers over the knives on the counter, wondering where I could hide one. I’d probably hurt myself with it. Daniel needed to get busy training me when we escaped. We
were
getting out.

A buzz of energy tingled over my skin, and I turned to see a female vamp standing in the doorway. Her skin was gray and her clothes and hair were stained and dirty, but she was familiar. Perhaps she belonged to my father’s coven. I had no idea.

“You are expected. Come.” Her soft, ragged voice carried across the space between us, and I had to strain to hear it. When she turned to head back down the stairs, I stared at her hard, trying to see her aura. It looked wrong. Thin and full of holes. Like a used-up tissue.

She descended on silent feet. Maybe those knives were a good idea. I selected one a little larger than a steak knife with a curved blade and tucked it into the top of my boot. I stepped into the basement doorway. She disappeared from view, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t being watched.

Crap on toast. A low-level hum built of energy swelled out of the stairwell. I’d never met a vampire with an aversion to the sun before. At least the enclosed stairs would keep hands from busting under the riser and grabbing my ankles. I kept one hand on the wall next to me and took my time going down. I’d never been in this part of the house before and had no idea what to expect. My heart beat triple-time, and the urge to vomit rose. I swallowed it down and concentrated on not falling on my face.

The vampire waited for me, staring straight ahead like a mannequin. She turned to her right and walked into a room lit by a low, flickering source.

Let me get out of this alive. Don’t make me have public sex. And please, please, please, don’t make me stay down here. I think I’ve been doing penance for a really long time, and I could use a damned break already.

When I stepped through the doorway, my breath caught. A raised dais, huge chair, and long tables off to each side dominated the end of the room. Hundreds of candles and old-fashioned oil lamps lit the space. I wondered if my father had had the room set up this way or if the arrangement was new. Vampires stood, crouched, and lounged everywhere. The pressure of their gazes hit me with the crushing weight of a hammer to the skull.

Images of sex spun through my brain fast and hard. There were so many starving vampires in the room that the mental onslaught drove me to my knees. Yet my body responded with a gush of moisture to my pussy, inner muscles clenching in anticipation. Phantom hands caressed me—up and down my thighs, breasts, lips, neck, I felt the graze of fangs and ghostly fingers. The smell of musk filled my nose, and sweet pressure brushed my clitoris followed by a sharp, stinging smack on my ass.

“Ah! Stop! Please stop…” I croaked the words and curled on the floor around my abdomen, panting from the horrible sharp pain between my eyes and the throbbing between my legs. They were all so hungry, so very, very hungry.

“So, it’s true. We had not believed Phillipe would be so neglectful of his duties. And yet here you are. The proof of his folly.” I managed to grind my face against the carpet and look toward the voice. It was strangely melodic and had no place coming from the mouth of the creature that addressed me. “Of course, he was ridiculously easy to dispose of. And this coven? Pathetic, really. So weak, so bloated on beauty and fleshly pleasures.”

The face possessed the sharp lines and features of a vulture. He had a bald head with a narrowish, long nose. Blue veins crisscrossed beneath his frail-looking skin. Terrible, yellow eyes met mine across the hall, and I shuddered.

He could only be an Empath. I’d heard the Feelers began to resemble the nature of the emotions they fed on, but this…this was a horror I could not have imagined.

Fear.

He fed on fear and horror. He must. Feeding on those emotions would leave a body twisted and malformed like his.

I squeezed my eyes shut against the sight of it, of him, and I clamped my arms around my head, trying to cradle it and muffle the moans escaping my lips. My body rocked between pleasure and pain.

“That is enough. She is untrained and has not completed her Blooding. This demonstration will end now.” I recognized the voice, even if it held a coldness and contempt I’d never have imagined him capable of.

I opened my eyes and rolled them up to take in Daniel’s face set in hard, angry lines and thinned lips. His aura crackled with blue fire in a swirling nimbus. He wore dress slacks and a button-down shirt. Even his hair looked business like, combed back from his forehead in that universal guy hairdo. He looked imposing—scary even. The surfer boy I’d shoved out my door, the one who’d fed me spruced up pizza and wandered around his apartment in gym shorts, was replaced with a persona I didn’t recognize.

“I see you found some product,” I whispered. He flicked his attention to me for a second, no more, then turned back to the Feeler.

Something happened then, something changed in the room, because I could breathe and smell only the wool of the carpet under my nose. My body lost the tingles and caresses, but my head still pounded.

Daniel lifted me from the floor without any visible effort. He cradled me to his chest, and I inhaled the salty, sweet smell clinging to his skin.

He was more powerful than I’d thought. They listened to him, obeyed him although this was not his kingdom. I don’t think it was my father’s anymore either.

I swiveled my head around at the sound of rustling fabric behind me. Had the Feeler done it on purpose, gained my attention through a petty trick of sound rather than addressing me directly?

“What is your purpose here today? Why have you come before our court without invitation or compulsion?” The ugly monster settled into the throne and clasped his hands in front of his chin.

That seemed important somehow, those words. They were carefully chosen and delivered precisely. I tried to raise my head to take in the look on Daniel’s face but couldn’t. I couldn’t even deliver a thought to him with the headache throbbing through my forehead and wrapping around to the base of my skull.

“I came seeking my father. Recent events led me to believe it was time to reconcile our relationship.” I pitched my voice low, but I was sure he heard—whoever
he
was.

“Your father has been replaced. He lost his hold here as ruler.” The vampire held his hand up, pointing at himself. “We are the leader of this coven now. You may address us as my lord or my lord Stephan.” He leaned forward, putting both hands on the arms of his massive chair. The beady eyes burned a hole into my head. “Only a member of the coven or an emissary could pass the ward lines around the property. That means you, by deed and blood, are a member of this coven and as such fall under our rule.”

“I don’t think so.”

For the first time, I acknowledged my agreement with the voice in my head and had to stop a nod. Screw this guy. I struggled in Daniel’s grip until he set me on my feet with a disapproving glare. Yeah? Well, he could bite me. I’d screwed up and hadn’t waited for him to call me, but he didn’t know about the severed head and hands in my refrigerator or that my sex maniac stalker was going to kidnap me soon if I didn’t sort my shit out.

Even if I really was considered a member of this coven and under Ugly’s rule, Daniel and Adrian both asserted that I was Adrian’s mate. So he’d probably come for me if Stephan took me prisoner.

My knees wobbled, but I managed to straighten up and keep one hand on Daniel’s elbow. I swallowed a snide remark. Daniel’s skin thrummed with barely contained fury and fear. The fear surprised me and gave me pause. I chose my next words with care.

“I came seeking my father, nothing more. I am a human with no affiliation to this coven beyond my parentage, hence my ignorance of the political structure of this court.”

The Feeler’s eyebrows had practically crawled into the strings of hair still attached to his head when I finished speaking.

“We will remind you one time and one time only. You will address us by our title or face punishment. Regardless of how you view yourself, you are a member of this coven and a vampire. One does have to wonder why a Chosen Childe would refuse to acknowledge their superior nature to that of beasts, beasts that are little more than vermin. Your blood will bear witness to that if you require further proof beyond the power you have harnessed in your unworthy form.”

I opened my mouth and almost stuttered out an enraged reply when Daniel’s hand tightened on my arm just hard enough to hurt.

“As I said before,
my
Lord
, she has not completed the ceremony, and we are aware of her upbringing.” The dripping sarcasm in his voice pissed me off. I stomped his foot. He shook me and ignored my futile attempts to reclaim my arm.

“Shhhhhh…stop.”

I started and tried not to let my face betray what I thought I’d just heard. A new voice. Not the female one I was used to—a tiny whisper from Daniel. I almost thought I had imagined it, but I stopped struggling and stood still, staring at the floor and fuming.