Lorne (The Dark League 1)

I glanced back, unsure, as I hurried along the dark alley. Although I could not see or hear anyone, I felt as if someone was following me. It was just this vague sense of foreboding. I could have put it down to the fact that I was running along a dark alley, alone, at this time of night. Any woman would probably feel the same in this situation. Completely understandable. But it was not that. This was something real. A presence. Something dark.

A cloud drifted in front of the moon, increasing the darkness in the alley that was only weakly lit by a flickering lamp further ahead. It was like in one of those horror movies – people would have been thinking that no woman would be stupid enough to go out alone, at midnight, in an area like this. I was the first to call out ’cliché!‘ at movies like that. I really did embody the stereotypical woman in those films and I was probably going to fall over now. Normally I would never do anything as stupid as this. But that evening I had made two mistakes. Firstly, I had met up with the wrong man and secondly, I had been so stupid as to leave my purse at home. I had been single for nearly two years and mostly I had been happy about that, but Mary, my friend, had persuaded me to go on a blind date. Unfortunately, the guy turned out to be a complete idiot, as well as an ass-hole. He had picked me up in his car, but when our date started going downhill, he just abandoned me outside the restaurant. With no money, I could neither call for a taxi nor take the bus. And to top it all: my mobile battery had died.

“A stupid mistake!“ I cursed myself quietly. “A really stupid, stupid mistake!“

“I can only agree with you, sweetie,“ came the voice of a man behind me and I stopped, as if rooted to the spot. A man was standing right in front of me. How had I not noticed him coming? It was almost as if he had appeared out of nothing. I realised straight away that the dark presence that I had sensed a few minutes earlier had come from him. He was wearing black cargo trousers and a football jacket. His blond hair fell wildly onto his broad shoulders. Even with so little light I could see that he was breathtakingly stunning. But the smile on his full lips betrayed endless cruelty, as did his eyes that were boring into mine almost hypnotically.

“Who are you?“ I asked. I had the vague feeling that this guy was not human. There was something very dark about him.

“The answer won’t be of any use to you, but I don’t wish to be impolite. I am Ian McTavish. And to answer your next in advance – no, I’m not human. I’m a vampire. And you, my sweet, are my –
midnight feast
.“

I stared,

as if petrified, into his aristocrat face.

‘Run, Trisha! Go on!‘

my subconscious was urging me, but it was as if I was frozen to the spot. ’
Then at least scream, for goodness‘ sake! Scream!‘

And I did just that, but then this Ian roughly pulled me into his arms and my feet left the ground. We lifted into the air and my scream literally stuck in my throat. This had to be a nightmare. I closed my eyes, trembling. We flew away, high above the buildings of New York. I felt everything beginning to spin, then I felt nothing at all.

Lorne

“We have no information about how many vampires are staying in the nest,“ said Duncan, looking around the group. There were six of us. Duncan, our team leader, Darius, Lothaire, Nikolai, Sean and myself.

“How reliable is the tip-off?“ I asked.

Duncan’s eyes fell on me.

“The tip-off came from Ikarus,“ he replied and a murmur of disappointment came from the group. Ikarus was a deserter. He had once been a warrior of the Dark League, as we were, but he had fallen in love with one of the renegades and had then joined the rebels. As far as I knew, his mate had been killed a year ago by a gang of lycans. That had led to a bloody act of revenge and the atmosphere between vampires and lycans was more tense than ever. The fact that we warriors of the Dark League had nothing to do with it made no difference to the lycans who were set on a blood feud.

“How can you still trust him?“ asked Darius angrily, saying what we were all thinking. Ikarus was a traitor and he was unstable. Some say that he has lost his mind because of his mate‘s death. “This could be a trap.“

“Yes, it could be,“ Duncan admitted, looking hard at the group. “So, if any of you would rather stay here today where your ass is warm and safe!?“

Again, a murmur of discontent. No one wanted to be considered a coward. None of those present would stay behind. We were a team and it was unthinkable for anyone to oppose the word of our leader.

“We’re the better warriors!“ said Nikolai, standing up. “We’ll chase the bastards into hell!“

Shouts of agreement sounded and everyone stood up, raising their fists to salute the League. I glanced at Duncan. He seemed to be relieved that he had, after all, still gained the agreement of the group. It was important that everyone went into battle motivated because we never knew what awaited us.

“Then let us begin making preparations. We’re setting off in forty minutes,“ he said and the hunters left the room.

Trisha

I woke up and immediately regretted not remaining unconscious. A scream came from my throat. The face looking down at me was clearly not human. It had human features, those of the man that I had met in the dark alley, but it was strangely contorted and his teeth ... they were coming closer. Frantically, I began to thrash about. His eyes were boring into mine and I felt so strange – weak and disorientated. Whilst I registered, on the one hand, that I was in the greatest of danger and my heart was pounding furiously with fear, I felt, on the other hand, a shocking indifference – as if all of this was not happening to me.

‘Don’t fight me, human. It won‘t hurt.‘

Where did that come from? Angrily, I stared into the eyes of the beast above me. They were so beautiful. I could not see anything apart from those eyes.

‘Yes, that’s the way. Surrender yourself to me, sweetie. Don’t be afraid!‘

The face came closer. A hand tenderly stroked my neck and I groaned quietly. I closed my eyes. I did not want to die. And yet I felt this strange yearning within me. I wanted to let myself go. It was so much easier. The voice inside my head so seductive and gentle.

‘So sweet. So pure. Soon you’ll be mine.‘

A sharp pain in my neck made me utter a quiet cry of surprise. Then I felt a sweet weakness run through my body. My heart was beating loudly in my own ears but my body became limp and heavy.

‘You’re delicious, my sweet. Much better than I had expected.‘

Darkness closed in around me. I felt so weak. Somewhere deep inside I was screaming, wanting to resist this suction that was pulling me deeper and deeper, but I could no longer resist. I could still hear my heartbeat. It seemed to be getting weaker and weaker. Then I heard screams. The suction stopped abruptly and I could hear awful sounds. The darkness was so close. It seemed to be calling to me.

‘Fight, Trisha,‘
said a voice deep within me. ’
Don’t let yourself go. This is not yet the damn end.‘

But the darkness pulled at me. And I was so weak.

‘Don’t give up!‘

‘So tired. I can’t.‘

‘Fight!‘

‘Tired.‘

Lorne

We hurried along the dark alley. I could make out the scent of a vampire. And another scent was there, too. That of a human. Of a woman. I hoped that we were not too late.

‘He has a woman here,‘
I could hear Nikolai’s voice inside my head.

‘Yes, I hope we‘re in time.‘

‘He’s close,‘
Sean joined in.

We came to a weakly lit area. The woman was lying on a mattress, a vampire over her. I registered in a glance that the woman was no longer moving. The vampire did not sense our presence – he was too engrossed in his blood lust.

“There’s the bastard,“ called Darius.

“Leave him to me!“ snarled Nikolai.

The vampire finally noticed us and turned away from his victim. The overdose of blood made him crazy and dangerous. With a furtive glance, he crouched on the bed, snarling at us. His eyes shone red and his face was contorted into a wild grimace. He was high on blood. That was what the Renegades wanted. The high. Like junkies they craved for the next fix.

“Are you wanting a sip, too?“ the Renegade mocked. “I’m afraid I haven’t left much.“ He laughed crazily and I wanted to pull him to pieces. It was highly probable that we would do precisely that right now. At Duncan’s signal we attacked. The vampire fought with incredible strength. That was because of the overdose that, for a short time, gave a vampire a huge amount of strength. But that effect only lasted for a while, and if we were not here to kill him, then he would very soon fall into a coma that could last hours, days or even weeks.

I left the bastard to my brothers in arms and bent over the woman. She was already too weak. Death was close. How sad! She was absolutely beautiful. Her red hair framed her white face in heavy locks that must have gone down to her hips when she was standing. Her eyes were closed. Long eyelashes threw shadows onto her transparent cheeks. She had a few freckles and her rosy lips looked soft and smooth.

“Sorry, little one. I wish we‘d come sooner,“ I said, gently stroking a strand of hair from her face.

Her eyes opened, blinking, and I jumped. Green eyes were looking at me, frightened and pleading. Her lips trembled as she tried to form a word.

“Pl...ea-se,“ she uttered weakly.

I did not think twice about what I was doing. I raised my wrist to my lips, tore open a vein, then held the wound to her mouth.

‘Drink, little one. It’s the only way. Drink.‘

She did not seem to need any further encouragement. She sucked greedily at my wrist and I groaned quietly. My cock came to life and was pushing hard and demandingly against the material of my trousers. I looked into the woman’s eyes – they were misty. Inside I was calling myself a fool for doing this. It was insane. It was forbidden. Duncan would give me a kick up the ass as soon as he realised what I was doing. But it was already too late. I could feel the woman gaining strength. From now on she would need me and I knew that Duncan loved women too much to deny her what she would soon need. He could not damn me without damning her.

“Fuck! Lorne!“ I could already hear Duncan’s voice. “What do you think you’re doing?“

“I’m saving her,“ I snarled. “She was still strong enough. “She begged me, Duncan. What was I supposed to do? Let her die?“

“It might have been more merciful, Lorne, and you know that!“ replied Duncan angrily. “She might have begged you to help her, but I doubt that what she meant by that was that you should make her into one of us! You know that I should hand you over to Victor!“

“Yes, but then she’s lost and you won’t let that happen, will you?“

Duncan snarled angrily, but he added nothing more. He would not betray me to Victor. Victor was the eldest. He was the law. He lived in a large villa outside Las Vegas. The estate was shielded and people could only enter by invitation. Victor was surrounded by his own little special unit and the Secret Oracle that consisted of three vampire sisters.

“She has enough,“ said Duncan, glancing at the woman. “She’ll feel like crap if you give her an overdose.“

I knew that Duncan was right and, reluctantly, I took my hand from her mouth. I had enjoyed giving her my blood – enjoyed it far too much. There is nothing more intimate than sharing ones blood. The woman had lost consciousness and I felt an unfamiliar feeling of tenderness in my heart as I looked down at her.

“Come on!“ said Duncan miserably. “We have to get away from here. Don’t forget your new pet.“

I glared at him. There were vampires who transformed a woman to keep her as a sex toy. In our circles we used the term ‘pet‘ to refer to those women. But that had not been my motive when I gave her my blood, and Duncan was well aware of that. What was more, the vampires that kept a pet only gave the women their own blood which made them dependant and damaged their minds. I did not intend to do anything like that to the woman before me. I would teach her to hunt as soon as she was up to it. I would not make her dependant on me.

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