The Dark Vampire: Last True Vampire 3 (13 page)

“You know what it means and why it matters.”

“I don’t. Neither one of us has ever seen a vampire until now. How do you know what this tether is? He could be lying to you. He’s a shady-looking bastard. What if he’s tricked you in order to take advantage of you?”

Why did everyone think she was stupid and weak? It was Bria’s turn to be angry and indignant. “
I am a vampire.
Don’t you think I’d know?”

“How? Tell me, how are you tethered to that male?”

Bria let out a slow breath. Putting words to something that was both magical and deeply personal was harder than she thought it would be. “The transition is painful,” she began. “I wasn’t sure I’d survive it. So much worse than the slayer’s blade when it cut my throat. There’s pain and then . . . there’s
nothing
.”

“What do you mean?”

They knew so little of their heritage. Even now, Bria didn’t know what to expect. “My soul, it disappeared. As if something had sucked it right out of my body. It opened up this hole inside of me. It’s dark, cold, emotionless, and
so
empty. But it doesn’t hurt. What’s left in the soul’s absence is a sort of apathy.”

Lucas’s brow furrowed and he raked his hands through his hair. “It sounds horrible.”

“It’s not.” She gave him a soft smile. “There’s strength. And power. I can see and smell and hear things that I couldn’t before. Everything is sharper. More intense.” The memory of her fangs breaking the skin of Jenner’s throat for the first time caused chills to race over her flesh.

“And the tether?”

“When I saw him, it all came rushing back. The emptiness was gone, the gray apathy vanished. I felt full to bursting. Even without knowing what it was, I recognized it. I recognized him for what he was to me.”

Lucas averted his gaze. “It doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t mean he loves you. You don’t have to stay here with him.”

She wanted to say that she wasn’t staying for Jenner, because of him or anyone else. But as the words formed on her tongue she tasted the lie. “I’m staying here for myself,” she said at last. “To learn more about what and who I am. And because in my soul, I know I can’t turn my back on our tether.”

“And you can make that determination after a matter of days? Bria, I’ve known you for
centuries
.”

She couldn’t explain her sudden loyalty to Jenner any more than she could the intricacies of their tether. “You really want me to go back there?” Angry tears stung her eyes. “Knowing that I’m nothing more than a prisoner?”

“At least you’re safe there,” Lucas countered. “There’s no telling what he’ll do to you. He looked as though he could barely control himself.”

Bria averted her gaze as her fingers wandered to her bare wrist. Her cheeks flushed and her body heated at the memory of the things he’d said to her the night before, the heady scent of his arousal, and the hard length of him that had pressed against her belly as his big body leaned over hers.

Lucas’s expression fell and his eyes flashed silver. “He’s fed from your vein.” The words left his mouth in a pained choke. “Hasn’t he?”

The rules of their coven were strict. Her uncle didn’t allow members to drink blood whenever the whim struck. Feedings were only permitted when necessary, and intimacies such as feeding from the vein at the throat were prohibited. And Bria had never been allowed to feed another member of her coven. Not even Lucas. To Lucas, letting Jenner take her vein was the equivalent of letting him take her virginity.

“He won’t let you stay,” Lucas said with renewed confidence. “Not when you’re still at risk.”

Bria rolled her eyes and threw herself down on the couch. For as long as she could remember, her uncle had feared an ancient enemy. A witch who wouldn’t be satisfied until everyone in his bloodline was dead. Bria had been told that her father had died in the Sortiari wars and shortly afterward her mother had been found dead at the bottom of a ravine, leaving Bria’s uncle as her sole
guardian. After that, he’d become a recluse. Convinced that the only way to protect them from the evil that hunted them was to hide away from the world.

“I’m a vampire now. I can protect myself.”

His pitying expression only fueled her ire. Always perceived as weak. Incapable. The one who needed to be cared for and watched over. Bria was stronger than her uncle or Lucas thought. She was braver than the most stalwart member of their coven. She’d simply never been given the opportunity to prove herself. Well, that part of her existence was over. And through her transition—and now her tether—she was going to live her life on
her
terms.

“Can you really leave us so easily, Bria?”

Us or him
? Bria knew what Lucas expected. What her uncle had promised him. But she’d never seen him as anything more than a friend. Lucas was like a brother to her. And her tethering to Jenner proved that Lucas was not meant to be her mate.

“You make it sound as though I’m abandoning you.”

Lucas scoffed, “Aren’t you?”

“That’s not fair. I deserve to make my own choices. To take my own risks.” Bria rose from her chair and crossed the living room to where Lucas stood, one arm braced on the mantle of the enormous fireplace. “This isn’t a prison transfer. It’s
freedom
. Finally! And instead of being happy for me, you want to return me to my cell.”

Something tugged at her chest and Bria felt Jenner’s presence even before the sound of his footsteps reached her ears. She pulled away from Lucas with a start, not wanting a repeat of Jenner’s earlier display of temper. One sharp fang pierced her bottom lip and a drop of blood welled from the wound. Lucas’s gaze locked on her mouth and Bria took another step back as Jenner strode through the living room, his rolling gait as graceful and full of purpose as any predator.

He looked from Lucas to Bria, his brow arched curiously. The male had murder in his gaze as he reached out and brushed the pad of his thumb over Bria’s bottom lip. He looked pointedly at Lucas before bringing his thumb to his mouth and licking her blood away.

Dear gods.
The simple act nearly caused her knees to buckle. Jenner exuded power and sensuality without even trying. Lucas’s anger became apparent in the change of his scent and the sudden tension that vibrated through him. She didn’t understand Jenner’s territorial show. He’d refused to let her feed from his throat, ushered her back to the house last night like an errant child, and rejected her advances despite his obvious desire for her. Now he taunted Lucas with his perceived ownership of her. What sort of game was he playing at?

“Your uncle wants to see you before he leaves.” Jenner’s deep, rumbling voice brought chills to the surface of Bria’s skin. “He’s waiting for you in Mikhail’s study.”

She hesitated. The quicker she said good-bye to her uncle, the quicker she could get Lucas out of there. Then again, saying good-bye would require her to leave Jenner alone with Lucas.

“All right,” she said slowly.

“We’ll speak again soon, Bria.” Apparently Lucas had lost his mind, hinting that he’d be back. Jenner looked ready to tear Lucas’s arms off and beat him with them. She just hoped he’d wait until she was out of the room.

Bria made her way down the hall to Mikhail’s study. A sense of elation swelled within her and not an ounce of guilt. Jenner wouldn’t hurt Lucas; somehow she knew that beneath his violent, growly exterior was an honorable, decent male.

And though she wished that she could make Lucas understand that what he saw as a curse had been her salvation, she wasn’t about to bend over backward to make it
happen. This was
her
life. Finally, she had a chance to live it.

“Jenner said you were leaving?”

Her uncle stared at some unknown point before bringing his gaze to hers. “I am. How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine.” She was better than fine.
Amazing!
Rubbing it in her uncle’s face, however, wouldn’t do anyone any good.

“I’m glad. And Jenner. He’s been kind to you?”

The way her uncle made it seem, she was a pet being transferred from one owner to another. Her stomach twisted into an angry knot and Bria fought for composure. “We haven’t known each other long enough for him to be anything other than cordial.”

Her uncle gave a sad shake of his head. “The notion of a tether . . . it’s savage.”

How could he think that? “It’s our nature,” Bria said.

“It’s
their
nature.”

“It’s
mine
.”

His eyes shone with sadness as he stood and went to her. “Did I make the wrong decision in bringing you here?”

If he’d asked her that question a couple of weeks ago she might have answered with a resounding yes. But now . . . “No,” Bria said. “You didn’t.”

He let out a slow sigh. He took her in his arms and held her tightly. “I’ll be back in a few days. Should you need
anything,
call.”

“I will. Don’t worry; everything will be fine.”

“You might be right, Bria,” he said. “You might be right.”

Jenner
seriously needed something to take the edge off. His brain buzzed with Bria’s scent, the taste of her blood still lingered on his tongue. That one drop taken from her lip had only served to reignite his thirst. He’d sought to make a point with Lucas. In doing so, he’d only managed to torture himself. Gods, how could he possibly crave her so badly after knowing her for only a short time?

“You didn’t have to do that, you know.” Bria came into the room like a vengeful wind once her uncle and Lucas left, her eyes flashing with quicksilver. “It was nothing more than a childish power play.”

Jenner liked that behind her naïve, sheltered façade was a fiery disposition. He didn’t have to ask her what she was talking about. Obviously, she was trying to look out for her boy. Save his feelings and all that. “It was a power play,” he admitted without an ounce of chagrin. “Hardly childish, though.”

“You heard us talking, didn’t you?”

Jenner hiked a casual shoulder. He wasn’t going to deny it. Lucas had sounded like a brokenhearted sap
when he found out that Jenner fed from Bria’s vein. The smug sense of satisfaction he’d felt at claiming something no other male had pushed Jenner to further goad the dhampir. If anything, to gauge his reaction.

“You’re sort of an ass, you know that?”

Yeah, he did. A selfish, undeserving son of a bitch. “He would have broken you down. Convinced you to leave with your uncle. I made sure that wouldn’t happen.”

Bria’s eyes narrowed. They were lovely rimmed with silver, but Jenner liked the natural amethyst color even better. “By rubbing our tether in his face?”

“By showing him that you no longer belong with your coven.”

“You listen to me; I’ve spent my entire life under someone’s thumb. I did not escape that unbearable control just to answer to some other high-handed male who thinks he should make my decisions for me. Do you understand?”

Jenner suppressed the smile that threatened. Such a surprise, this female. He admired her show of strength and declaration of independence. That didn’t mean he didn’t take her uncle’s warnings seriously, though. Crazy or not, Thomas had been concerned for Bria’s safety. Concerned enough to hire a couple of ruthless vampires to protect her. Jenner wasn’t about to discount that. “I get it. But like I told you last night, there’s something
you
need to understand. The attack on your coven wasn’t an isolated incident. The city is swarming with slayers ready to kill us and you are one of six vampires currently inhabiting the earth. Freedom is one thing. Carelessness another.”

She canted her head, sending the cascade of dark hair over her shoulder. Jenner’s fingers itched to reach out and touch the silky length. “You think I’m careless?”

“I think you have a lot to learn.”

Bria bucked her chin in the air. “You don’t know anything about me.”

“I know your thirst is mounting. And that if you don’t feed soon, your control is going to slip.”

She swallowed and Jenner found his gaze drawn to the delicate column of her neck. He sensed her thirst, but it was his own that raged like an inferno. The thought of piercing her flesh consumed Jenner. Before his tethering, any vein, any willing body, would have taken the edge off, albeit temporarily. Now he could think of nothing but Bria. Anyone else’s blood would surely sour on his tongue.

“I’m not ashamed to admit it,” Bria replied. “Claire says it’s common in the first few weeks.”

Ashamed?
“There’s nothing shameful about an act that’s wired into our biology, Bria.”

She averted her gaze. “Then why won’t you let me feed from your throat?”

Fuck.
Jenner raked his hand through his hair. She might not have thought she was naïve, but the female was painfully innocent. So much so that it only served to reinforce Jenner’s decision to keep her at arm’s length for now. “Can you manage your thirst? For a few hours, at least.”

“Yes.” She studied him with an intensity that caused Jenner’s breath to stall in his chest. “Why?”

“Because we’re going out.”

“Out. As in
out
out?”

Christ on a crutch, what are you thinking?
“Yes. Get whatever you need and let’s go.”

She hid her excitement well, though Jenner didn’t need an outward show to know how she felt. A twinge of anxiety tugged at his chest and he hoped he’d made the right decision.

Bria smoothed her hair back and glanced down at her
tattered T-shirt and leggings. “I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.” She rushed toward the staircase, pausing at the first step, and said, “Don’t leave without me,” and headed up toward her room.

“Thomas Fairchild is going to have your ass if you defile his niece.” Ronan strode into the room with a shit-eating grin on his face. “You’re taking her out? As in
out
out?”

Jenner growled at his friend’s mocking tone. “You want to keep her locked up in this house the way her uncle did?”

“No, but she’s newly turned. She’s barely got a couple of weeks under her belt. Sort of like taking a starving person to an all-you-can-eat buffet, don’t you think?”