Unending Desire: Outlawed Realm, Book 1 (23 page)

On his knees at her side, he stroked her hair with care and tenderness. Sazaar swallowed. Her lids slipped down.

“You take it,” he murmured, “I want you to be strong for tonight.”

Her body tensed instantly, her happiness fading faster than it had peaked. He’d offered the blood only so she could find Regina and Nikoli. So he could use them to return to E2. Not because he cared.

Before she could stop them, the words spilled from her. “Once we’re back in our true home, will you love me then?”

Andris trailed his fingers down her temple to her throat, touching the spot where he’d first fed on her. “You and I will rule our realm.”

A tear slipped down her cheek, catching on her jaw before falling free. “But will you love me, Andris?”

“I love you now.” He latched on to her neck, his fangs piercing her skin, though not to drink but to claim.

So easily, too easily, Sazaar’s heart opened to him yet again, allowing her to ignore his lie. He didn’t love her now, but he might once she gave him what he needed most. What no one else could.

Turning her face to his, she licked blood from his smooth cheek, savoring its metallic taste. As he eased back, she held him with her hands, her palms on either side of his head, cleaning the rest of the blood from his face, licking the points of his fangs, longer than the others, more deadly.

Excitement coiled in her belly at Andris’s savage allure. At the thought of ruling with him, waves of anticipation tightened her sheath and chest. There, a muscle ticked, mimicking a heartbeat, a sensation she’d forgotten since being turned, one she relished now. Lips on his, fangs withdrawn, Sazaar coaxed Andris’s tongue into her mouth, still flavored with the protector’s blood.

Enraptured at the taste of human and vampire, she suckled hungrily, unable to help herself.

Andris allowed their kiss for several minutes, then tore his mouth free. Gripping her upper arms, he asked, “Do you smell the woman?”

Regina’s scent, so familiar to Sazaar, rode the clear night air where it mingled with millions of other odors, some pleasant, some foul. They drifted in and out, masking Regina’s fragrance but not hiding it.

“Yes, I smell her,” Sazaar answered.

Andris’s grip tightened on her arms, his claws digging into her flesh. “Where is she? Is Nikoli with her?”

He was. Even if she hadn’t smelled Nikoli’s scent, she knew he wouldn’t abandon Regina. He loved her too much.

A new wave of grief cut through Sazaar at what Regina so easily commanded from a man. Sazaar had given so much—she’d lost everything in her pursuit of the same and still didn’t have it.

She looked from Andris’s hands on her to his face. Her body weakened as it always did at his unearthly beauty.

“Do you know where the woman is?” he asked, shaking Sazaar as one would a recalcitrant child, impatient for a response.

She couldn’t give it. Too many questions filled her mind. Once they were on E2, how long would he keep his word to claim only her? A year? A month? A day? An hour? Would such a short time be enough to soothe her battered soul? While he enjoyed others, both female and male, would she be able to fill her eternity with memories of his promises and her foolish hopes?

Brows drawn together, Andris opened his mouth and hissed.

His fetid breath aroused her. His anger brought no fear. For a few precious moments, she had his attention. He noticed no one else in the room. “Yes,” she answered at last. “And Nikoli is with her.”

Pleasure transformed Andris’s features from vile to angelic. Releasing her, his claws retracting, he ran his fingers over the edge of her black gown, tracing the neckline above the swell of her breasts. Sazaar trembled in delight.

Andris whispered, “Bring me to them.”

“I will.” She’d deliver Regina for him to feed on and kill. There was no other outcome. Regina had no purpose on E2, so turning her would be cruel. The woman had done nothing to harm Sazaar. She’d only tried to help. And with her gone, Nikoli’s grief would be so great he’d welcome an end to his own pain.

In death, Sazaar could give them both what they wanted…the chance to be together for all time. In that way, she’d assuage any guilt.

Andris rose to his feet. The other vampires followed. Glancing up, Sazaar drove away the last of her doubt as to the course she’d take. Doomed by love, she stood and began the transformation. What their human protectors would see but not hear.

She missed none of the sounds of her bones compressing, becoming a fraction of their size. The noise resembled the grinding of stone, the squeal of metal reaching the limits of its strength before snapping. Searing pain ripped through her, stealing her breath and her agonized cries.

Head thrown back, her mind begged for a pause to the agony, a chance to rally her endurance.

Her body took no notice or pity. With a creaking sound, her shoulders continued to narrow even as she shrunk one foot, two, three and more. Her milky skin darkened, the smooth flesh growing leathery. Where once had been arms, she now had the wings of a bat, no different from the others.

The sound of their beating wings thundered through the loft as they flew to its ceiling. Beneath them, the protectors watched, their expressions a mix of awe, horror and excitement.

With the change complete, Sazaar’s suffering ended as quickly as it had begun, the lack of pain delivering relief and drowsiness. Fighting it, she led the way from the lair, entering the ceiling vent, traversing its murky contours with skill born of heightened senses. In this form and as a vampire, she saw, heard, smelled what humans could not.

Regina’s unique fragrance called to Sazaar. Free of the building, she headed into the cold night with Andris at her side and the others following. Gliding above rooftops, she caught the rancid odor of vegetables and eggs decaying in a bin. Beneath it, Sazaar identified vanilla. Banking to the right, she turned, following the scent.

Below, the horns of several cars honked. Red, yellow, green and blue lights glowed on the neon signs atop businesses. Humans talked and laughed unaware of the movement above them. Several cats noticed and stopped their nightly prowls to lift their heads and look.

The vanilla scent grew stronger. Swooping down to follow it, Sazaar came upon a squat brick building. Steam poured from several vents on the roof. On its facade was an image of bread in brown-and-white paint. Words circled it, reading Temple’s Bakery.

Andris flew closer, emitting a high-pitched cry, wanting to know if Sazaar had found Regina and Nikoli.

In answer, she pitched to the left, winging past several downtown structures, catching the scent of peaches this time, along with the vanilla. At Regina’s office building, Sazaar hovered in place, aware of Andris’s building impatience and the tension of those behind them as they awaited her sign that she’d reached the correct goal.

Sazaar wasn’t certain. Although the fragrance was indisputably Regina’s, it seemed far too faint, as though it were no more than a residue of her scent.

To test it, Sazaar’s mind reached out to Regina’s
. “Invite us in,”
her thoughts whispered,
“allow us to join you.”

A cat hissed. One of the vampires broke free of the formation, falling through the air, landing on the animal, draining its blood within seconds.

Sazaar’s mind called to Regina again.
“Let us in.”

This time, the city’s sounds responded—a clamor of noise Sazaar had once found vibrant. Tonight, its shrillness unnerved her.
Where is she?
Flapping her winds, gaining altitude, Sazaar floated on a wind current, her mind focused, her senses elevated.

On her third whiff, she recognized Regina’s scent…and Nikoli’s. Their odors merged like lovers, almost indistinguishable, mocking Sazaar.

He hadn’t loved her for a moment. He’d given her nothing more than his honor. Jealousy ripped through Sazaar along with a primal thrill of a predator on the hunt.
“Lead me to her,”
her mind asked the scents.
“Show me where she and Nikoli are hiding.”

A new current of wind rushed past. On it, the fragrance was stronger. It came from the left, leading her in a new direction. Seamlessly, she turned to follow it.

The other vampires mimicked her movements with Andris flying closest to her. The sounds he emitted warned Sazaar to hasten the search, to find their prey.

She concentrated on nothing else. Not the traffic or the humans below. Not the downtown area she’d just left. Not the stately houses in the residential area she’d just entered. Here, dogs barked at the sounds she and the others made. Humans shouted for their pets to be quiet. A car moved down the street, its engine humming smoothly.

The scent grew stronger, nearly overpowering, the same as when Sazaar had sat across from Regina in her office. Focused, she chased the fragrance to the end of the street, a two-story house of red brick with three gables, a black roof and a fenced yard overflowing with trees and bushes.

Regina’s home.

Relief swept through Sazaar, along with an emotion she chose not to identify. With their wings beating the chilly air, she, Andris and the other vampires circled the house.

Chapter Fifteen

Face lifted to the bedroom’s ceiling, Regina held her breath. She and Nikoli stood in the center of the shadowed room, the fire’s waning light their only illumination.

Outside, wind rushed through the trees, shaking branches. The boughs of several firs hit the windows, making faint tapping noises on the glass. Underneath it, Regina heard something else, a sound like sheets slapping in the breeze…or the flapping of wings.

“Invite us in.”

She flinched. Sazaar’s request sounded from everywhere and nowhere. It seemed to be inside of her.

Pressing her cheek against Nikoli’s shoulder, Regina fought to remain calm, to reason, not to react. In a whisper, she said, “They’re here.”

He didn’t comment. Through his sweater, she felt the fierce beating of his heart. She sensed his doubt.

“Nikoli, don’t,” she cried, grabbing his arm.

He wasn’t having it. Tightening his grip on her wrist, he removed her hand from himself, then bent down and whispered, “Go into the bathroom. Lock the door. Don’t listen to whatever Sazaar says. Don’t come out until day—”

“No.” She twisted free of his grip and edged away to the fireplace, her attention moving back to the ceiling.

Regina focused on the sounds, what seemed to be faint clicking noises. The bats landing on the roof? Their tiny claws trying to tear through the shingles?

“Let us in.”

“Regina.” Hands on her shoulders, Nikoli pulled her back.

Again, she wrenched free. Not only to stand at his side and fight with him, but because Sazaar’s entreaty drew her, enticing Regina with its alluring silkiness, its underlying comfort. No different than a mother’s soothing words to her child that everything would be all right, the father she loved still adored her, and someday she’d see him again; they’d all be a family.

“We’ll take care of you,”
Sazaar’s words promised.
“With us, you’ll never be alone.”

As she would be without Nikoli. As she had been before meeting him. Images flashed in Regina’s mind of her mother’s last hours, holding the woman’s limp hand after she passed, kissing her papery cheek, smoothing her wispy hair. Grieving not only for an end to the woman’s life, but for her own loss and loneliness.

She swallowed at the memory and spoke before she knew she would. “I couldn’t stand to go back to the way things were.” To wake up each morning alone, this time without Nikoli’s caress, the hope and peace she found in his presence. “Not again.”

Nikoli pulled her back forcefully. “Whatever she’s saying to you, Regina, she lies. Go into the bathroom.”

“We love you, Regina.”

She bit her lip.

“We’ll be your mother and father. We’ll be all that you need, along with Nikoli.”

“Now,” he snapped.

“He’ll come with us too.”

Yes. They’d all be together. They’d—

He swung her around to face him. Regina saw his terror and his love. It broke Sazaar’s unearthly hold on her.

“Lock yourself in the bathroom,” he said. “I can handle them.”

“No. I won’t leave you.”

“Regina, Regina, Regina, Regina, Regina, Regina, Regina, Regina…”

Her hands flew to her ears to quiet the echoing enticement. It continued, hounding her. Battling temptation, forcing herself to reason, Regina backed away from Nikoli, toward the dresser where he’d left the device. With it, she could open a portal, luring the vampires inside the void between the dimensions, away from Nikoli, keeping him—

Her thoughts stalled. She whirled around as Nikoli shot past her, grabbing the instrument. He bent his head to it, then glanced up suddenly, this time seeming to hear what she still did.

“Let us in, Regina. Let us innnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.”

She ran to Nikoli, grunting in frustration as he held the device out of her reach. With his free hand on her upper arm, he yanked her toward the bath. Regina’s foot caught on the area rug. Mouth open on a gasp, she stumbled, knocking Nikoli into one of the chairs. Its legs skidded across the hardwood floor. His hand fell from her to grab it for support.

Seizing the opportunity, she snatched the instrument from him, then backed up quickly.

He growled, “Save yourself.”

“Never. Not without you.” She pointed the device at the wall where he had watched her for weeks. Thumb poised over its screen as his had been, recalling what he’d told her about opening a gateway, she shouted, “Come in!”

The clicking and whapping stopped. Abruptly, a dog’s howl cut off. And then the wind quieted. Regina heard only the rush of blood in her ears and Nikoli’s strained breaths.

He lunged at her, sending the chair smacking against the window.

Regina spun away, the instrument cradled to her chest, keeping him from taking it, from dying to protect her.

Behind him, the last of a log popped, sending a spray of sparks shooting upward. Regina’s pulse pounded. She stared at a stream of soot falling from the chimney, dousing the bright beads of light. Hearing the faint sounds too, Nikoli snapped his head to the side.