Redemption: My Vampire Lover Part #2 (A Dark Realm Novella Series) (7 page)

“I’m not a werewolf,” I yelled. “The Wolf
comes to me. He says when and where. But I’m not a werewolf!”

Oh yes, we are, Caroline. Breathe. Just
breathe. And prepare for battle.

A rush of energy and overwhelming emotions
collided and I howled at the top of my lungs. I couldn’t stop it. I
huffed over and over, trying to catch my breath.

You will give yourself to the vampire.

“Raphael, the voices. Make them stop,” I
yelled, and then I felt my jaw break and a massive amount of sharp
teeth fill my mouth. I reached for him, seeing the length of my
hands elongated and bony. My claws were five inches long if they
were an inch.

Wolf, what have you done?

Caroline, what have YOU done?

Welcome to the Fanged army, little wolf.
I’ll be with you forever.

Finally Raphael’s voice came to me. “I’m
here. I’m here. It’s okay,” he announced. He was immediately by my
side.

My heart flip-flopped and I clung to him. The
Wolf’s words sent me into a panic. The unfamiliar voice frightened
me to pieces. Hearing Raphael’s explanation only furthered my
mania, but having him near me helped to calm me some.

“The magical elements in my blood, from my
mother. That may be what you are experiencing. Or did my blood talk
to you? Could you hear my dark side? What do you mean you’re not a
werewolf, Caroline?” Raphael asked.

I shook my head. I didn’t speak for fear of
lashing my tongue or worst. I didn’t want to try. Raphael saw my
hesitation. I groveled at his feet, undeniably nude except for a
thin layer of blonde fur now covering my body. I felt like I was
wearing a transparent suit of fabric, a mouth of teeth and gloves
with razors attached to the end of every finger. My hair whipped
around my body. It appeared it had grown several feet in length
during this transformation. I debated using it to cover my body,
but feared I’d only cut myself in the process.

This can’t be happening. This can’t be
happening. This can’t…

“
Riesci a capirmi
?”

My eyes locked with Raphael’s. I heard his
words without seeing his lips move.

“
Sì, posso capire.
” I responded
telepathically, telling him I could understand his question in
Fanged before I realized he had spoken another language.
Yes, I
can understand you.

“
Dimmi di nuovo nella tua lingua. Sei un
lupo mannaro o no?
”

Hearing his words, ‘Tell me again in your
language. Are you a werewolf or not?’ exasperated any reason I had
left. I extended my mouth and breathed outwardly. Gritting my
teeth, as I wanted to do, would surely slice apart my tongue.
Mentally I threw a response to him. “
I’m called a Werewolf
Princess because my father is a werewolf. Zeus cursed him. However,
the curse wasn’t passed down to me. I don’t shift unless the Wolf
comes to me and then it’s just into a wolf. No, I’m not a werewolf.
Or I wasn’t. I didn’t think I was until now. I’ve never howled at
the moon before. I just howled at that moon.”
I pointed an
unbelievably long claw at the sky. “
That red moon right
there.
”

“This is my fault. I should have consulted
Orlando first,” he exclaimed. He left my side and stomped around
the ground, clearly upset with himself as he voiced his concerns.
“I didn’t realize that. I didn’t know that. By the moon and stars,
what have I done?”

The movement of his black boots vibrating the
dirt fascinated me. As I listened, I watched each foot slam into
the earth, sending a cloud of dust upwards, I immediately realized
the ground was baked and without any nourishment. A wasteland
indeed. I also became aware that I could see Raphael’s movements.
Before they were blurred. Now they weren’t. Another realization
made me want to howl at the red moon again because if I had access
to this form when I found the demon that killed my brother and
aunt, I wouldn’t need to call the Wolf. I could kill him
myself.

“My blood unlocked your destiny, I’m afraid.
The elements of your Lunar ancestors. You have werewolf in you.
Somewhere,” Raphael stated matter-of-factly. “This wolf you keep
referring to. Does he have a name?”

I shook my head and sent a response
telepathically since I didn’t trust myself to speak out loud, and
since I didn’t understand what he meant. “
I’m sorry.
What?
”

“
What is the Wolf’s name?
”

I shook my head again.
“He won’t tell me
his name.
” When I got a whiff of the first hellhound, I
growled. Raphael heard me and dropped his fangs in response.

I saw three or four hellhounds come into view
and I knew we were probably surrounded. Because Raphael had pushed
his back to mine to protect me, I couldn’t see how many there were.
A circle of two headed black dogs with red eyes and fangs was
enough for me to see. Eight. Maybe more.

Fight.

The Wolf’s voice ordered me. Demanding me to
engage in a fight I knew I’d lose. If I was in
mid-werewolf-transformation, my shift was not complete and I
couldn’t begin to fight off these fiends. They growled and hissed,
slowly closing the circle around us.

Fight.

Feed, little wolf. Feed.

The unfamiliar voice surfaced again. That had
to be Raphael’s blood speaking to me. His dark side. It wanted me
to kill and take the nourishment I needed.

You can do anything you put your mind
to.

Raphael’s deep voice flowed into my mind and
drowned out the Wolf’s and the Blood’s commands. Raphael spoke to
me in Fanged and I immediately understood his words.
If the
hellhounds were dead, they couldn’t report back to the demon. It
would give us more time.

When I heard him unsheathed his swords, I
jumped into action.

I ran as fast as I could and dove at two of
the dogs. I slid underneath the first animal and sliced his stomach
open with my claws, from top to bottom. His guts spilled out all
over the baked earth and steam rose to the sky. The second one I
impaled with my claws as he looked on in horror. Seeing a naked
wolf-woman racing around the night likely was not a normal sight
for him, I assumed.

By the time I had a chance to look up,
Raphael had killed three hounds and was going for two more. “Count
your kills! They travel in packs of nine,” he called out
telepathically.

I flew into action, making a circle around
Raphael and the remaining dogs. My two. His three. Two more for
him. Seven total. That leaves two. Two more. I had two more to
kill. After about four or five strides, my body completed its
transformation and I felt the heaviness of being changed into
werewolf form. My female form vanished and I realized I was a large
mass of fur, claws, teeth, and muscles. Each movement I made as I
stalked the remaining two hounds, now wide-eyed and frozen in their
place, sent waves of electricity down my spine. The feeling of
power and strength was orgasmic. I’d never felt anything like it. I
gnashed my jaws a few times, getting Raphael’s attention.

His sword slammed down into the skull of the
second hound as he glanced my way. His smile deepened into
laughter. “You want the last two,
mia bella lupo
?”

I responded by shaking my fully furred body
as I ran. The sensation again sent a surge of energy through every
limb. My vision went red and I bounded over to the remaining
hellhounds. I could already tell being a werewolf was going to be
extremely enjoyable. “Hi guys, how are we doing tonight?” I asked
mentally as I sliced open their throats with my claws.

***

As I finished tidying up and hiding any
evidence, I realized hellhounds tasted a lot like chicken and their
blood reminded me of huckleberry wine. I didn’t want to tell
Raphael that because he’d probably think I was crazy. I searched
around the large rock where we had been, expecting to see him.
Suddenly I realized he had disappeared. A twinge of panic hit me.
Where was he? Had I?

Out of nowhere, a black leopard nudged me
hard in my shoulder. I heard a low, rich purr. “
Caroline, I’m
right here.
”

“
You’re kidding me,
” I replied
telepathically, realizing the leopard was Raphael.

The cat raced away, starting to cover
ground.

I remained frozen.
Vampires couldn’t
shift. But this vampire had already shifted into a cloud of smoke
and now a black leopard.
What could he
not
do? I
wondered.

Raphael returned quickly. I heard the low
purring sound again as he leaned his forehead into mine and spoke
telepathically. “
We have to move now. Jump in the first river
you get to.
”

“
You can shift too, Ralph?
” I mentally
asked him.

He blinked his dark eyelids over gleaming
blue eyes. His blue eyes instantly went icy cold and he glared at
me. He shook his panther head, showing me a row of razor sharp
feline teeth. “
Don’t call me Ralph. My father calls me Ralph and
I hate it.
”

“
Understood. I’m sorry.
”

Another smell of rotting corpses and burnt
onions distracted us. We both raised our heads in unison and
growled at the dark sky.

“
Come on.
”

I flew into action, running alongside Raphael
at breakneck speed on my all fours.

***

Once I saw the river come into view, I
thought about stopping because I wasn’t sure where Raphael was.
When I heard a growl at my left side, I hastened my pace and dove
into the water. I thought for a moment that the water may be too
shallow and I’d break my neck or that the width of the river
wouldn’t be wide enough for me in my werewolf form to maneuver
through safely.

What I didn’t expect was for Raphael to shift
back into his human form and drag me beneath the current. As I
fought my way to the surface again, I saw the opening of the river
sealing shut.
I’ll drown. I’ll drown. I’ll drown. And never
avenge my brother and aunt’s deaths.

“
It’s a portal, Caroline. We have to keep
moving. Dive down.”

I heard Raphael’s words assuring me, but I
struggled to trust his judgment because he was dragging me down,
quite literally deeper into the waters.
Couldn’t I trust
him?

***

“Wake up, sleepy head. We have to meet
Orlando and the others.”

Hearing Raphael’s low, sultry voice in my
ear, I smiled to myself. Again he was right by my side. The warmth
of his body ignited my desire instantly. I rolled over and gazed up
at him. When I saw the sunlight shining over his shoulder, I
freaked out and sat upright with a jolt. “The sun! It’ll kill
you!”

He shook his head at me as a few wisps of his
black hair fell in his eyes. He pushed them away. “I’m okay. I have
these.”

Shoving his sky blue shirt off his shoulders,
he turned around and showed me his back. It was covered with a
series of designs that appeared to have been carved into his
rippling muscles with jet black ink.

“What are they?” I asked as I traced the
designs with my fingers.

“My tribal signatures,” he said. “They
represent my current regiment in the Fanged army and the one I hope
to be in someday. They protect me from the sun. Every member of the
Fanged army has some signature.”

Oh really
, I thought, wondering now if
I had any designs. The Blood’s words surfaced again in my head.
Welcome to the Fanged army, little wolf. I’ll be with you
forever.
I shoved the notion to the back of my brain.
Later.
“The leopard designs I get, but dragons. Why
dragons?” I gasped. “Don’t tell me you can shift into a dragon
too?”

“Okay, I won’t tell you,” he chuckled with
that laugh I was growing to love. “I’ll show you instead.”

“Oh no, you don’t.” I reached for both sides
of his shirt and pulled him down upon me. My lips briefly touched
his. “I’ve had enough adventure for one day,” I whispered. Seeing
that I too was in my human form made me think of the werewolf
transformation as a dream. It couldn’t possibly have happened, but
I knew it had. I would no longer be the same.

“Actually I can’t shift into dragon form, but
I hope to be able to once I join their ranks,” he replied as his
finger tenderly traced the line of my cheekbone and jaw.

“I could see that. How is it that you can
shift? I thought only wolves could do that.” His nearness sent a
shiver of delight through me.

“I don’t know really. I’ve always been able
to manipulate my physical form. My mother taught me how when I was
a very young and Orlando helped me refine it. But I can’t shift
into just anything. I have only a few shapes I can do
successfully.”

“And that of a dragon isn’t one of them?” His
nearness was overwhelming and I recognized that it was difficult to
concentrate on his words. The closeness of his presence caused my
heart to beat wildly and I fought back the urge to taste his lips.
Purposely I stared at the cleft in his chin as he talked.

“No. Each form takes a great deal of
concentration. I can’t do it if I’m low on blood like I was earlier
before we killed the hellhounds. Being a member of the Fanged army,
I can shift into the shape of a cat. I prefer the leopard. Once I’m
accepted into the Order of the Dragon, then I’ll be able to work on
my dragon form.” Raphael twirled a portion of my hair around his
fingers and studied it. “Is every woman in your realm as beautiful
as you are, Caroline?”

“Possibly,” I replied. “Why?” The grin on my
face expanded as I leaned up close to him, ready to kiss him.

He shrugged his shoulders, refusing to say
more as he continued to play with my hair. His gaze fell to the
expanse of my neck and he contemplated it for some time.

“You’re the most incredible man I’ve ever
met,” I offered, leaning closer still to him so I could breathe in
his male scent. It was a dark, rich fragrance of spice like warm
cinnamon or nutmeg. I wanted to drink from his fountain and possess
him. “Kiss me,” I ordered. “I want to be yours, Raphael. Here in
this beautiful place. Alone with you.”