Redemption: My Vampire Lover Part #2 (A Dark Realm Novella Series) (5 page)

“How much blood are we talking here, vaa…”
Quickly she added, “Raphael.”

“A few drops, that’s all. Anything more and
we’d have to get married.”

She laughed hesitantly, but I heard her voice
go up an octave. “Are you serious?”

“Somewhat, yes. An exchange of blood between
the Fanged is a sacred act. A bond between the two. Do you know
what I’m talking about? You’re familiar with this concept,
right?”

“No, not really. My aunt couldn’t tell me
anything really about the Fanged world. She said they are
supernatural creatures who fight against evil. That’s all she
really said. Is that who you mean?”

“Yes, exactly. I wish I had time to tell you
more.” I kept wondering over and over why I had not claimed Lord
Asmodeus as my father. I spoke of him as some demon I didn’t know,
some ruler beyond hope. Wasn’t he? He took great pleasure in
delivering pain and death at every turn. It was his goal in life. I
should have told Caroline the truth, but I couldn’t. How could I
admit to this lovely angel that he and I were related? Moreover,
how could I tell her I suspected her relatives had been added as
decoration for my father’s trophy wall? And that she was probably
next? If she drank some of my blood, she’d be safe and perhaps she
could escape Father’s wrath. It was the best I could offer her.

“What if I say ‘no’?” She asked with an
amount of resistance I was starting to expect. She lifted her chin,
meeting my stern gaze straight on. A challenging smile crossed her
face.

I arched an eyebrow at her and gave her my
seductive vampire expression, hoping to convince her without any
more argument.
Defiant.

Caroline tilted her head questioning and then
nudged her cap a time or two, scratching the side of her temple.
“This thing itches. Can’t I take it off?”

“No,” I growled. “I apologize. Just keep it
on for now, okay?”

She fidgeted with her jacket and the cuffs of
her sleeves. I realized I needed to get her attention without
barking at her. Since nothing else seemed to work, I rattled off a
few phrases in Fanged. Surely that would focus her attention.

“
Con la luna e le stelle, deve essere così
testardo mia bellezza? Cosa c'è di qualche goccia di sangue tra
amici. Siamo amici. Non siamo?”

“You’re not cursing me out, are you?” She
stuck her nose up in the air and popped her fists on her hips more
violently than I think she wanted to do. A twinge of pain crossed
her beautiful features.
Definitely defiant.

Glancing around us again to survey the
situation, I stifled a low laugh and sighed. “We don’t have that
much time, Caroline. Decide. Forget your fear or your apprehension,
if you want to call it that, and trust me. I’m the best option you
have.”

“You’re the only option I’ve got I do
believe,” she grunted as she rescued a long strand of her golden
hair from her cap and twirled it around her long fingers.

She remained quiet for some time, playing
with her hair. She glanced up at me now and again, refusing to
speak.

“Fine,” I finally said. “By the moon and
stars, must you be so stubborn, my beauty? What’s a few drops of
blood between friends? We are friends. Are we not? That’s what I
said to you, my princess. Now stop horsing around, so we can make
tracks. Please.” I tapped her on her deliciously cute button nose
and waited for her response. I knew that would get a rise out of
her.

She rubbed her nose a few times, obviously
debating my offer and considering her situation. I didn’t want to
tell her I had already smelled Father’s scouts and they’d be
closing in fast if they picked up her scent. I’m sure Father failed
to tell the hounds to track my familiar smell as a way of finding
the she-wolf.

Suddenly Caroline exclaimed, “What is that
smell?”

“A lovely aroma of rotting corpses and burnt
onions?” I mused.

“Yes, what
is
that?”

“Hellhounds. They haven’t caught our scent
yet, so we have a little time.”

Caroline’s eyes grew very wide and I saw the
fear surface behind them. She backed away from me. “You mean
hellhounds, don’t you? I can’t go up against… I mean I can’t. I
can’t shift without the Wolf. I can’t. I…”

“Stop that.” My hand clamped down on hers
before she ventured any further. Instantly my heart responded,
beating wildly with a new life I still couldn’t understand. It was
as if her touch, her gaze, her very presence had reawakened my
soul. “Yes, you can,” I argued. “You can do anything you put your
mind to. With this wolf you keep referring to or without. Listen to
me.” I pulled her again into my arms, hoping I managed to be
gentler with her than before. A warmth from her closeness spread
through my hands and arms to my chest and down to my dick, leveling
it out into a rock-hard salute.
By the moon and stars, how am I
going to let her go?
I swallowed down the enormity of my
emotions and focused on her eyes, insisting she return my gaze.
When she did, I whispered to her. “We’ll do it together like a
team.”

“Like friends?” Caroline asked.

“Yes, like friends. Allies. A partnership.
Whatever you’d like to call it. Just because you are a werewolf and
I’m a vampire, sworn enemies of the realms, doesn’t mean we can’t
put that aside and do this. Your life is in danger and I’ll help
you get out of this, okay? I just need you to trust me. I’ll trust
you if you trust me. Okay?”

She nodded and yanked her cap off. “I hate
this thing. I can’t stand to have anything on my head. Raphael,
technically I’m not…”

I waited for her to finish her sentence, but
she didn’t. She bit her bottom lip and refused to go on. Seeing her
mass of glorious golden hair spill over her shoulders, I was
suddenly speechless. She ripped off her jacket and rearranged the
knot in her shirt. I caught a glimpse of her flat stomach and my
body responded. I wanted to take her right then and there. I wanted
to remove the rest of her clothing and delicately explore every
inch of her body, down to the first caress, the first kiss, the
first thrust. I wanted to claim her for my own, not set her free.
My heart ached and I died a hundred deaths inside as I watched her.
She’d be out of my life very soon.

“Okay, I can do this. Of course I can do
that. I’m a Werewolf Princess. I’m King Lycaon’s only daughter. I’m
fearless. I can do this. Okay. Okay. Okay.”

“Just think, ‘Kill or be killed.’ My blood
will do the rest.” I waited for her to agree with me or at least
acknowledge I had spoken. She continued messing with her clothes.
“Caroline, you’re shaking!”

“No, I’m not.”

“Quickly, here, drink my blood. Just
remember, I’m on your side. Okay?”

Not wanting her to see me drop my fangs, I
distracted her. “Let me check something. Do you see anything yet?
Look over there for a moment, would you?”

Once she had turned and cried out, “What,
where?” I sank my fangs into the fleshy part of my hand. The warm
liquid coated my hand and I knew I had found a juicy vein in the
meat behind my thumb.

“Here,” I said as I forced my hand into her
face. “Drink just a few drops and we’ll get moving.”

Chapter 4 – Caroline’s New Sense and
Sensibility

Author’s
Note: This chapter is told from Caroline, the heroine’s point of
view.

The luscious smell of his masculinity hit my
nostrils the minute I licked the first drop of his blood from his
hand. The Wolf in me awoke and I knew I had to control my savage
lust that sprang up in me or I’d shift again and possibly run off
into the night. As I slowly and purposely cleaned off the remnants
of any remaining liquid from his hand, I thought of melted butter
dripping over a freshly baked loaf of bread or warm butterscotch
oozing down the side of an angel food cake. My mouth watered. The
blood’s salty sweetness reminded me of a flavor I couldn’t define.
Honey? Cinnamon? Vanilla? All three? I couldn’t make up my mind. I
lavished in the thought process as I refused to let go of his hand.
The taste entranced me as I immediately realized I wanted more.
Would the essence of Raphael’s manhood taste like? It sent visions
of hardcore ecstasy racing through my mind. I savored the flavor of
the vampire’s blood in my mouth and I knew, as a shifter, I had
crossed a point of no return.

Breathe, just breathe. This blood is
extremely powerful. This is very interesting. The essence of a
healer. Very unlike any creature here. Keep breathing,
Caroline.

I heard the Wolf’s words in my head, but I
couldn’t focus on the intent of his meaning. Later. I’d have to ask
what his discovery was later. Right now, I wanted to jump someone’s
bones, preferably the man I was eyeballing.

“Caroline, I need my hand back,” he
whispered, breaking our intimate embrace. I had moved to sucking on
his fingers when he yanked his hand away. “Stop it,” he
growled.

I let out a long, deep sigh as I caught a
glimpse of his repositioning his manhood under his clothing.
Raphael’s blood had set my body on fire. I felt everything, every
pore of my being. Every molecule of my desire rushed towards my
brain and my inner core. I tore off all my clothes as the warmth
threatened to consume me. I turned to him with what I assumed was
probably passion in my eyes.

He spoke not a word, simply staring at me
intensely. I felt an eager affection coming from him. “Your eyes
are like jewels,” he said. “I’ve never seen such a color of gold.
And yes, I realize you want to claim me. But now is not the
time.”

I smacked my lips in response and lowered my
head, ready to leap on him. My inner walls pulsated in response to
his denial.
Take me now. Make love to me now. Raphael. Right
here. Right now.
“Now is the time.”

Raphael’s face turned several shades of red.
I could see every color that registered on his face. He had heard
me. My eyesight was omniscient, psychedelic, out of this world. It
was as if every light in the universe had been turned on. I could
see everything under the red moon. My surroundings had been bathed
in the Golden realm’s morning sunlight or so it seemed.

Before he could stop me, I pushed him into
the massive rock we had been standing in front of. The red moon
cast a shadow upon the structure and we fell back into darkness. My
eyesight adjusted again and I unzipped his pants, reaching inside
to feel him. He was already hard and ready for me.

“I want you so badly Caroline, but not here.
We have to get you to safety. The hellhounds.”

“Fuck the hellhounds, Raphael. I want you
now.”

He moaned, giving himself to me, and rested
his head against the rock. His wavy black hair framed his face like
a dark angel.

As his manhood lengthened fully in my hands,
I savored the smoothness of his shaft. The warmth of touching him
sent my mind into chaos. My entire body tingled in anticipation.
The beat of my heart became savage.
I was not taking no for an
answer.
“Raphael, I can’t deny what I feel. Please make love to
me here. Now. What if this is the only chance we get?” Briefly, I
swallowed down a sob of grief that wanted to rip through me.
What if this was the only chance? What if this was never meant
to be? What if I was a fool forcing him? Was I forcing him? What if
he refused me? Did he want me the way I wanted him? What if we were
discovered, out here in the place? Should I be afraid? Was
I?

His response calmed my beginning panic. He
took my free hand as I blatantly held his cock in the other one. My
boldness surprised me greatly. He placed my hand on his heart and I
gasped.

“Do you feel that?” he asked.

I nodded up at him, seeing his eyes rage with
passion. “I feel that and more,” I teased.

“No, listen to me. Do you feel that?”

Wondering what he meant exactly, I closed my
eyes for a moment. The sounds of his heart slammed into my hand. He
kept my hand cradled in his against his chest while he covered his
other hand around mine holding his divine manhood. His heart was
beating, wildly beating like my own. My eyes flew open. “Do
vampires, does your heart? I mean,” I tripped over my words as I
almost stumbled out of his grasp.

He didn’t let me move. “You’re right. I don’t
know about other vampires, but I know the minute I laid eyes on
you, my heart came to life. It beats now and it beats for you
alone, Caroline. That spark between us. Do you remember? I almost
fell down when we touched? I rushed to the table to collect my
thoughts. I sat there realizing my heart was working, for the first
time in my life, I felt alive. Quite literally. You did that. I was
dead inside, but your touch, your gaze into my eyes brought me to
life. I can feel your energy running through my veins. I want you
to be mine. Forever. If you’ll have me.” His voice trailed off as
he leaned closer and brushed a kiss across my cheeks.

“You’re telling me you didn’t have a
heartbeat before?”

He smiled at me smugly and focused his
attention on my hips. I followed his gaze. He wrapped both of his
hands around mine as I held his cock against my naked belly. He
stroked my hands, and then opening up the palms of his large hands,
he quietly encouraged me to assume the task. When I took charge, he
mumbled, “You’re stronger than you think.”

A fever of blushes covered my face. “Oh my
goodness, did I hurt you?” I wanted to blush again, but his
declaration, that he felt something quite literally when he had met
me surfaced in my mind and sent me into oblivion.
True love.
I gazed up at him, marveling at the look of pleasure on his face.
True love.

He moaned and rocked his hips gently into my
hands.

I rubbed the head of his cock with my thumb,
feeling a sweet stickiness at the tip.

Raphael moved his hand between my thighs and
rubbed my clit, his fingers pumping inside me a few times.