By:Kayden McLeod

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Content Copyright ©2009 by Kayden McLeod

http://personalizedmarketing.wordpress.com/

Length (word count) 26,000

Genre: Erotic Paranormal, Menage, Vampires, MMMF

Free Short Story, eighteen +

Summary:

Sara finds herself in a new world, an all-vampire community that at first seems like a picturesque scene of self-indulgent paradise, but soon she learns there’s an underbelly to this place of sun and sex. Having been a captive of a vampire’s insanity, she finds herself drawn towards two very compelling slaves who reside on the island, raising many buried memories for her, and igniting a mental agony she can’t ignore for long. There is ancient magic is afoot, presenting to her a whole new set of problems she’d never signed up for. Sara doesn’t know it quite yet, but fate has interceded and changed her destiny from being just another Hunter, into so much more.

Vocabulary

Taua: Inspirational Priests

Mana: A Taua’s supernatural powers

Hakaiki: Chiefs of the Marquesan tribes

Chapter One

Sara.

He was so going to catch me this time…

I ran through the Tahiti Chestnuts and Breadfruit trees. The vegetation blurred around me, nothing more than a montage of bright color.

If he caught me…but it was an unwelcome thought, a distraction. If I’d learned anything in my hunting experience, it was that we had to keep our minds clear, shoving everything else out but our goal.

Something I’d become very good at.

An unfortunate flip-flop became askew, and bit awkwardly into my toes. I kicked it off, along with the other to let them fly in opposite directions. Where this path led, the footwear wouldn’t be required. Plus they’d only slow me down in this delicate situation of cat and mouse.

The cliff edge was about two-hundred or so meters ahead of me. Picking up speed, I prayed my stout legs would get me there in time. The ground was uneven beneath bare feet, the unnoticed rocks digging in deep.

Teleportation was prohibited anywhere on Motane, or Mohotani to some, which was proving to be a grand annoyance. But then, the anomalous restrictions here were many.

And in the end, none of them would matter. The cliff would do just fine in lieu of such convenience. Nothing would stop me in this.

Judging the remaining distance, I began the calculations of probability just like my brothers taught and bettered with me every day. It was an acquired skill, and my knowledge of my own abilities weren’t perfect yet, which made accuracy a bitch, but doable.

His heavy breathing told me how hard he had to work to catch up with me. The heavy footfalls said he’d grown tired. I laughed, knowing it floated mockingly back to him.

My body was far more compact than his would ever be, providing me with speed, while his bulky muscle weighed him down. My leaner ones allowed me to spring and bound with ease.

With freedom so close, the surge of success was tangible.

I was a Hunter, and the chase was not only a thrill, but a necessity. This was life, one well-lived. It was second nature now, much as it was to the pursuer. This world had molded me, and I’d use it to my fullest advantage.

The land jutted into the Pacific Ocean quite a ways at the base of this cliff, so I’d have to clear that. Death resulting from the impact wasn’t likely, or so I thought anyways, but it would still hurt like hell.

But, why should such a thing bother me? Loren would just put me back together again. Humpty Dumpty here we come.

Sara.

“Not going to happen.” I taunted.

He growled, the rawness of the animalistic sound alerting the few mammals who’d withstood our noise that a predator was near. I listened carefully to get an exact location from the trashing through the trees, and pinpointed him. How could he have fallen so far behind?

The vast ocean spread out before me in a picturesque rippling scene of blue-green. There wasn’t a cloud anywhere in the sky.

It was a perfect day to throw myself off of a precipice. The jagged rim of the land ended…

My toes gripped the edge, looking straight ahead and launched into the air without a care to the staggering distance, unheeded by anything while soaring through space. I swung my arms out, jackknifing my body to plummet downwards.

One glance revealed my body had cleared the bit of land and rocks at the bottom. What was I so worried about?

The wind rushed around me, disabling my hearing to alert me to his approach. I plunged into the surprisingly warm waters surrounding the French Polynesia, to disappear into the depths.

I loved the feeling of carefree weightlessness in water. It was breathtaking to me, even now after a handful of days here.

Life was plentiful down here, but there were also many dangers to watch out for. So many predators trolled these waters, with teeth that tore through fragile human-aped flesh, even mine.

For instance…

Something large and streamlined swam just below me. My almost dead heart beat faster at the sight. Of course the well-buried human impulses were terrified of this thing, but I knew better.

I saw the tip of its fin first, which jutted out of the top of its body. My appalled eyes raked over its fourteen-foot, sleek body covered in mottled grey rubbery skin, littered with a striped pattern I knew all too well.

It was a Tiger shark!

They were one of the most aggressive marine predators in this area. This particular species were known to proactively pursue boats, showing very little fear.

Just like me. This was truly an animal I could appreciate.

Its long tail swished back and forth to move the water in gushing underwater rapids. The hungry predator circled me immediately; it would of course see me as prey in this alien place.

Humans always looked remarkably like seals and other forms of prey when seen from underneath. It was difficult for them to differentiate between us and them.

His practically lifeless eyes assessed the situation quickly and deftly. I felt he would smile with glee if his mouth were capable of it. It turned so its wide nose to face me head on.

He swam closer, zeroing in on me. My heart tried to pound against my will. My blood pressure skyrocketed.

He was close now. It would be so easy to reach out, and touch him.

But he jerked when someone else jumped into the water with us. The shark immediately turned to the disturbance, perhaps seeing dinner to the appetizer I was, to more than just him.

So my pursuer had finally caught up.

Hey Bob. It’s okay there buddy. I reached out to pat the rounded head. His nose pushed into my hand like a dog greeting his master would. It’s just Loren.

His long body turned, and snapped at a passing fish, flashing his huge teeth. They were sharp; much like my fangs would be when extended, but far more plentiful.

Prey and predator. Human and vampire.

No matter where we were in the world, there was a pecking order to be followed consistently. And what was I in this place?

Well, I certainly wasn’t the prey.

You named him Bob? Loren chuckled in my head.

Yea. Did you have something else in mind?

Uh huh, but I should’ve known.

My shark stirred restlessly. Bob wanted to go down into the depths, where he was the most comfortable. Tiger sharks didn’t come this close to the surface during the daylight.

But my habit every morning this week was to go for a swim, and Bob would always be there to meet me.

I beat you again. I needled.

I know. Tomorrow, your ass is so mine.

Funny, I thought it already was. I grabbed a hold of Bob to take me where he would.

Chapter Two

The diverse marine life surrounding Motane intrigued me, especially near the bottom where all the colourful fish tended to stay in the shelter of the low coral. It was like a whole other realm, completely separated from the surface.

A bright yellow Trumpetfish hung vertically just in front of me. He eyed my shark with what I thought of as distain.

I smiled at the sight of such a strange fish, compared to where I was from. On every swim there was something new to find, and Loren always knew what they were called, providing me with a detailed analysis on each species we encountered.

A Barracuda chased a school of Marquesan Parrotfish through the water ahead of us. The quick darting flashes of green, purple and blue were the perfect backdrop to this aquamarine world. Bob shook me loose to dart after them.

I wasn’t worried though, he’d be back.

There was a flurry at the seabed. A twenty-foot wide Mantra Ray perturbed the bedrock, and fine granules of sand in pursuit of plankton. The flat sharks were virtually harmless to us, but not so much for the little particles it ate.

Loren tugged at my ankle, and pointed out a little further out. I turned to see two Bottlenose Dolphins who hovered just above us. They watched like we did them, not in the least afraid.

All the animals I’d come across since my conversion were completely comfortable with us, not at all like they’d be with our humans counterparts. It was easy to sense we meant them no harm, and never would.

For what we ate, walked on two legs and had hands.

From here, the sharp incline up the rock was visible through the clear water, leading to a large protrusion off the island. It had looked sort of like a crab claw to me, at least when I had seen it from above.

It was only about a half-mile off. Easy peasy.

Beat you to the outcropping. I challenged.

You’re on buttercup.

Buttercup?

Moonpie?

’Kay, just stop right there. It doesn’t get much worse than that.

My short legs propelled me, but Loren shot right past. I’d already known he would, being the much stronger swimmer, but I’d figured his delicate male ego needed to win once in a while.

My love, don’t do me any favours.

I ain’t doing nothing.

You have the most interesting way of expressing yourself.

He was already halfway to our destination, but it didn’t bother me. Purposely dawdling, I watched his nice ass and strong legs kick, giving me the best view possible of his hard-packed body in the weightlessness.

But, that’s what you love about me.

One of many.

He broke the surface, and pulled himself up onto the rock until his feet disappeared.

Emerging to the bright tropical sun, it felt so much hotter than when we’d gone under. I looked up at the ridge of cliffs, and all the secrets it harboured.

From here anyone who looked couldn’t tell there was an entire Coven in the trees and bushes, one so large it still kept me in awe. Back home our own ranged from four to twenty at the absolute most. But this one easily doubled that. Yolie, Bulla and Jovial kept many servants, higher members and even some humans here, all considered under their care.

Feral sheep roamed along the landscape of trees, to eat and get out of the sun. They were one of the principal reasons the vegetation on this island compared to the others was so sparse, forcing the humans who’d at one time lived here to look for more prosperous lands.

With little fresh water or ways to sustain much life, the locals thought this isle barren and empty. But vampires didn’t need water to survive, nor did they concern themselves with any of the other reasons for this place to remain unoccupied.

This little piece of paradise was one of the rare all-vampire communities, filled with those who wanted to live completely away from almost all humans. To be what they were without fear or hesitance.

Loren slipped his hands under my arms to haul me out of the water. The obvious strength displayed made my heart pound just a little faster. He was wild, and all it took to know was to be near him.

I sighed contently while his fingers danced up my back.

“You’re getting a tan, my love.”

“I know.” I agreed. “Doesn’t do very much for my Goth image, does it?”

“Other than your hair, you haven’t worn black all week.” He commented idly. “I’ve never seen you less Goth.”

“Black is hot in the sun. I try to wear as little as possible.”

“And I’m forever thankful for that.” He murmured, making me laugh. “What would you like to do today?”

My chin rested on his pecs to stare into those familiar color-shifting eyes. His high blood-status lent him an inhuman quality, adding to an already perfect package.

This edge made vampires all around us stop and gawk at him. But they should be used to the constant pull of being around such creatures, especially with the three triplets who ran this Coven. They were firsts, and had everything to go with it.

And they’d welcomed us with open arms, in part making the past two weeks the best of my life, by far. And he was the majority shareholder of the reason why.

“Same as we do everyday, Pinky.”

His eyes clouded in confusion at the pop-culture humour, and dug in my head until he’d found it. He snorted, “Yea okay, Brain.”

I ran my fingers through his hair, and captured his tempting lips with my own. Tasting of bananas and fresh papayas we’d eaten just before our excursion to the sea, it was the perfect compliment to the fire he’d wrought.

He growled, rolling us over so he was on top. His arms caged me when his mouth crushed down on mine, tongue swiping past my sighing lips. Naked flesh concealed his steeled muscles, feeling so hot beneath my travelling fingers.

My legs found their way around his hips to hook my ankles, and lock him in place. His grin turned absolutely feral.

There were no words that could convey the complexity of emotion I felt, able to only show him in actions. But through all of it, did I love him?

One thing dawned on me over the past couple of days; I had no idea what love was.

Because of this, I was determined not to say the words, until I knew beyond doubt. He waited everyday to hear them, but he also wanted them to be true.

My stomach convulsed when I saw the untamed gleam in his eyes. Gripping his cock, I slid my hand up and down his thick length until he trembled.

I felt his eyes on my face, but mine were all for what was in my hand. He slid forward, gently nudging the opening.

My nerves purred for him, the tiny shocks of sensation making my hips shift to entice him. But he would never be rushed, always wanting to savour the moment.

Loren’s arm worked under me, tongue curling around my nipple to reveal the tips of his canines while he dragged them across my skin, raising goose-bumps even in this humid weather.

Slipping inside, his canines slipped through my flesh like butter, the pain lost in the wonder of him.

The mind-blowing strokes thundered through me, no less sensational than any time before it. By now, he’d explored every inch of me. He knew my tells; exactly when I would come and how to produce the most devastating results.

I revelled in his possession, but also the ability to have him completely at my will like this. There wasn’t anything better than to roll over in the middle of the night to find him there beside me.

He looked so angelic in sleep, so different than the man I’d come to know, and see others fear. Loren was a terrifying individual, but never to me. If anything, he coddled me even when he was angry.

I screamed to the winds coming off the ocean, and they floated away the moment each one left my lips. White and black Monarchs burst from the trees a little further up the incline, to find a quieter place to rest.

The pressure in me amplified, so acute to my central nervous system, filling my psyche just like my body. There was no part of me he hadn’t licked, kissed or sucked on at some point in the past fifteen days of restful bliss.

For the most part, there hadn’t been any thought to hunting, duties or ungrateful ex-boyfriends, even though I had kept in constant contact with my Leaders. I’d spoken with them and Kelly everyday on the only working cell phone on Motane.

Max never asked when I would come home, but he made no demands whatsoever, and neither did Corrine. They carefully avoided mentioning my recent subtraction, and for that I was grateful. It made everything so much easier to forget.

Loren groaned deeply when my blood filled his mouth. His body coiled underneath my hands, and his breathing raced. The predator shot to the surface, the Curse swirling in his eyes.

He swelled just as the sensations blew over, the added girth raking my nerves. The orgasm propelled us like the waves beyond. His mouth released me, growling deeply when my muscles tightly milked him.

We laid there in the baking sun, with no where to go, and nothing to hunt. The time was ours.

“This is what I want to do for the rest of the day.”

“Glad to hear it.” Loren hedged. “But we have something else we should do.”

His mouth traveled at his own pace, sending shivers through my muscles still soaked with desire. I melted into the rock at my back, fingers running through his hair.

“Yolie requested our presence. She wonders if I’ll allow it today.” His ochre eyes sparkled with mischievousness.

“Why?” I asked. Allow what?

Yolie requesting to see us shouldn’t have come to as a surprise. I’d spent a lot of time with her since my arrival, but something seemed off about this particular instance. And Loren’s humour didn’t help put my suspicions to rest.

She was an Original Cursed One who’d taken her brood here to live as they thought vampires were meant to. Together the sisters ruled this abnormal world.

There were rules here I’d never encountered anywhere else, but no one complained. We were exempt to most of them as visitors, but to be one of them would place restrictions on our already tightly leashed lives that made me shudder.

Loren explained for this type of society, it was necessary. And it provided them with different kinds of freedom. Would I trade one for another?

This I didn’t know, but there were benefits to be found, at least for those who ruled here.

Yolie was a sex addict the likes I’d never expected to find anywhere. She was certainly worse than all of my brothers combined, who made a hobby out of it.

To placate her never-ending hunger and those who followed her, she had a thoroughly full harem. From what Loren understood on the subject, Yolie prided herself on having the best, cultivating quite a horde. She was much like Corrine that way.

Though Corrine didn’t keep sexual beings quite like these ones.

There was a sexual charge in the very air here, especially with so many of them walking around with very little to no clothes on. I could tell the difference between the ones who served others, and those who ruled them. The differences were almost painful, and the signs agonizingly familiar to me.

But they didn’t seem to be mistreated while smiling and laughing. Some were openly revered by their masters, in a complex relationship that made me more than a little apprehensive.

But, that was when I’d paid attention to anyone but the man currently above me. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t have done for me. While that scared me sometimes, I had to admit it was also nice. He never hesitated to do anything to cross my mind, even if I didn’t ask.

He diligently followed me around during all of my explorations of the island and the waters around it, answering my endless questions about the people here, the island itself, and the Leaders.

The first thing he’d told me when I asked about them was; it would be valuable for my well-being to fear them, or at the very least be very, very careful of them. As he never said anything that he didn’t mean, I took him at his word.

Unlike at home, I was accepted here by all. Pureblood and purebred ran rampant, but there were also many welcome converts among them. The few humans here were often willing donors to those who ‘owned’ and protected them.

“She wants to give you…a gift.” Loren said with amusement. The impish twinkle in his eyes made me deeply curious to know what it was.

If I’d learned one thing, it was that Yolie never did anything halfway. If she was going to give me something- well I sort of mystified to see what it would be.

“One she’s been asking to give you for a week.”

He was so hiding something. I wondered if tickling it out of him was a possibility. For that was one of the few things remaining untested.

“My love, I highly doubt that would work out well for you.” He scoffed, but he couldn’t quite hide his smile.

“What?”

“To see the look on your face when you see them…I know what high quality these two pieces are.”

I stopped.

Pieces of what?

Chapter Three

“Sara, my dear!” Yolie exclaimed from her lush patio the moment she saw us weaving through the trees.

We spent a lot of time here, and it was one of her favourite places to be. Like the rest of the house, it was extravagant and abundant with vibrant plant-life she was very proud of. The large delicate blooms came in a multitude of colors and textures she babied with care.

The sweet fragrances teased me, coming from the hanging jasmine, ylang-ylang and bougainvillaea. Indian Almond and Temanu trees towering beyond the railing, created a private canopy that helped block out the relentless sun when one wanted to escape, but not to be indoors.

“Hello, Yolie.” My constant grin widened.

I hadn’t smiled this much in my entire life, nor been genuinely happy all of the time, and knew why that was. The reason’s arm curved around my waist, and I leaned into Loren without thinking.

I accepted the briefest of embraces and an air kiss to my right cheek. She stepped back to smile down at me from her towering willowy figure.

Flowing blonde hair fell to her knees, smelling of vanilla. A simple white sundress adorned her body, accenting well-tanned flesh and toned figure to perfection. She looked completely surreal before me with a glow no one else in the room possessed, setting off her onyx eyes to perfection. Old power marked her, and I felt it in my very bones.

“Did you enjoy your swim with Bob today?” She asked with amusement.

Yolie had gone swimming with me yesterday while Loren had been on the phone with his assistant conducting business for Foxworth Shipping.

It was one of the single moments we’d been apart for any length of time, but Yolie had made up for it in her enthusiasm and friendly nature. Even though I knew to be vigilant of her, she made it so easy to forget.

Delight had filled her, acting like she hadn’t swum in the ocean before. Yolie mentioned not being able to very often, and I could’ve sworn fear had crossed her face. It must’ve been a very long time.

“You knew that?” Loren shook his head in exasperation.

Was that a flash of annoyance I saw in his eyes? Was it so bad he hadn’t anticipated something about me?

With you, of course it makes me…anxious? I want to take care of you, and give you what you need.

It’s just a name for a pet shark. Its okay if you didn’t know that, when you’re so sure about everything else.

“Of course. Bob is a wonderful name for a shark.” Yolie exclaimed. “He’s so friendly.”

“See!” I grinned.

Thankfully, Loren’s eyes lightened considerably.

“Only the two of you would see that in him.” He smiled indulgently.

When his gaze slid further into the semi-enclosed patio, I turned to see what interested him so much.

Yolie watched me intently while my eyes moved over the abstractly shaped stones of the floor.  Then my gaze touched a single bare foot, which was connected to the most well-defined muscular leg I’d ever seen.

Another figure drew my gaze to the left. Both were stunningly beautiful, fascinatingly hypnotizing. Neither of these exquisite men so much as blinked.

Were they sculptures? No.

I could hear two separate hearts beating, their body heat and rushing blood telling, when at first glance they were more than intricate statues.

Their age hit me with the force of a tsunami. My body wanted to move forward, to be close to their raw, untapped power. Yolie, and all the Originals felt almost like this, but they were firsts.

By the smell of them, these two weren’t even pureblood. They must be incredibly old.

Yolie laughed at my fixed expression. Her eyes filled with knowing delight when she walked to stand between me, and the most interesting, memorizing specimens I’d ever seen.

“You wonder of them.” Yolie’s head turned, pointing towards the blonde one, “This is Keoni, a personal favourite of mine. He is very good at what he does, with an appreciation and thirst for knowledge in his work.”

A flicker of indecipherable emotion crossed his light brown irises, but it was the subtle twist of his lips that gave him away. The favouritism obviously didn’t work both ways.

When her attention turned to the one with thick black hair, so did I. He had strange pale eyes, but it was his torso covered in native Marquesasian tattoos that demanded notice first.

“And this,” Her fingers ran through his hair, and he didn’t react in the slightest way, “is Adoniia. The two of them are the oldest, most skilled…and eager men in my service.”

“Hello.” I smiled awkwardly at them, but they remained flesh and bone monuments.

The strict discipline didn’t sit well with me, any more than Keoni’s reaction had. What being would want to be so regulated and controlled?

When these thoughts began to get closer to the surface, I shoved them back as far as they would go, without falling out the other side of my head.

There wasn’t any way to tell if Yolie was paying attention, but the black-haired one had a ghost of a smile on his face. Obviously he was.

Loren treated them as if they didn’t exist in a conscious sense. Inanimate, much like the chair they knelt beside. How could he?

It was just wrong. Damn it. Here I was thinking about it again.

Did Keoni just roll his eyes?

Even that was spellbinding. It was the first time I’d seen Yolie’s personal brood this close up. Normally, they weren’t with us, but I’d seen them around the island.

Both of them stared at me, anticipating something I couldn’t fathom. But why were they here?

“They’re waiting.” Loren whispered in my ear.

“For what?” I muttered back, unsettled and confused.

“You’ll see.”

Adoniia’s prismatic blue eyes were truly bizarre, which was a hard thing for me to say. In my world, everybody had unusual eyes.

His thick ropes of muscle and sinew were covered with inconceivably bronzed skin. His tattoos shimmered in the sunlight, something I’d never seen before. He looked so exotic, so different than the norm.

I recognized some of the patterns that wove from one into another on his flesh, much like the natives’ on the surrounding islands.  Loren named them in my mind without having to be asked, while my eyes crossed each one.

The Fishing Net blended into what was called the Mata Hoata. Above it was a Coconut Frond, and a Marquesan Cross. All of the designs dated back far longer than either Loren or I’d been alive. They were precious art to some of the people here in the French Polynesia.

It was considered evil could enter through orifices in the human body, and they would take measures to protect against it, sitting through endless hours of painful work to help protect from these energies. A special structure was built for the event, and after completion, they’d burn it to the ground in celebration.

A huge meal would be prepared, and the act was renowned by all in tradition. When a Chief was tattooed, a human sacrifice would be brought in. But that practice long since died out, as many practices of old all over the world.

I looked to Keoni, who now stared at the floor with a sullen expression.

His shoulder length blonde hair fell around his otherworldly perfect face, to shield himself in that tell-a-tale way. While he reeked of age and power, he wasn’t the same as Adoniia, and it was only by that comparison I’d noticed.

On closer inspection, there was something significantly different about him, something labelling the black-haired one different from the rest of us.

“Adoniia was born here in about 100 AD. When I came here with my sisters for the first time, he was a Taua to his people. On sight he captivated me; the way he moved, and the raw fear he’d invoked in others, just by being around them. I couldn’t help myself. I took him when I left, converting him shortly thereafter.” Yolie patted his hair like he was a dog. “He’s been with me ever since.”

But was it against his will? Even with the lush surroundings, and the benefits from any vampire’s standpoint, was it just a gilded cage to these two men?

I shoved those thoughts away again, just in case Yolie heard them. There was no clue to what her reaction would be if she found my distaste. I highly doubted she would go fishing for the information, if I kept my surface thoughts clean as a whistle.

“Well, that’s interesting.” I replied diplomatically.

“Yes, it is.” Adoniia said, though I wasn’t sure if he’d responded to my statement or unruly thoughts.

He peeked up at me from under those incredibly long lashes. I was stunned by his raw beauty when faced head-on. His crystallized eyes sparkled like millions of cerulean diamonds, changing my earlier assessment. I hadn’t seen anything like them.

“Keoni has been with me almost as long, but came and asked to be converted.” Yolie smiled affectionately.

The way she said it, the peculiar glint in her eyes impounded Adoniia’s hinted at entrapment. And Yolie seemed damned gleeful about it.

“That’s nice.” I said more out of obligation than anything else.

“Do they please you?”

“Please me for what?” I replied distractedly. Most of my attention was still drawn to the man who stared back at me with surprising hunger. I knew want and need, but not this.

The only matter was; what did he hunger for?

Freedom.

“I offer their skills to you for the rest of the day. There’s a rather important issue to deal with, or I would’ve liked to watch.” Yolie said with relish.

Something told me that really wasn’t in my best interest. I was suddenly seeing a whole new side to our hostess, one that scared the hell out of me.

“Oh.”

“Is that all you can say?” She grinned. “You’re normally so outspoken about your opinions, yet now so close-lipped.”

“I’m not sure what I could say…thank you?”

I shot Loren a sideways glance, and wasn’t much help, though his smile wilted a degree. Unlike her, he always knew my thoughts, even when I tried to hide them.

Yolie’s smile widened licentiously. “They will do anything asked of them. Trust me, you’ll love them.”

Loren’s features turned brittle, but I couldn’t very well ask him why with the others here.

Yolie craves to keep you.

The weirdest part was Loren hadn’t been the one to answer. I really wasn’t sure who had.

“But, I must be off now. Have fun, my dears. I won’t be back for a few hours, so feel free to use the house as your own.” Yolie ruffled Keoni’s hair again when she passed.

She shot a final smile, and walked into the house to leave us alone with two strangers I didn’t know from Adam. And just what did I do with them? Well, I knew what I was supposed to do.

They still hadn’t really moved, and I think that fact more than anything else got to me. Why did they have to stay so still?

That and both were naked. I was used to nakedness, but did they really want to be naked all of the time? Surprisingly enough, these were not things I’d wondered about in my time here.

Loren chuckled, “You’re afraid.”

“Am not.” I snorted.

“Maybe afraid was the wrong word.” Loren said thoughtfully. “Leery of their way of life perhaps. I promise you, Yolie’s isn’t the only colony like this. North America in general is an exceptional gem among stones when it comes to what others practice, and you’re unused to the ways.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Adoniia flinch. There was no way, come hell or high water was I ever going to make someone sleep with me, because their master had ordered them to.

How’d Yolie, or Loren for that matter, ever get the idea I would go for this?

“My love, this was how I was raised.” Loren said softly.

I was unsure about what I should do now. This wasn’t something considered normal for me, and it was delicate ground to tread upon.

You don’t believe we want to touch you?

I stared at Adoniia, who stared right back at me. The question in his eyes mirrored the one in my mind.

“You believe I will be angry.” Loren whispered. “You think of other things, but that’s a major concern for you.”

“Well, yea.”

“You know I crave only to see your pleasure.” Loren brushed my hair back, and ignored the others. “And these two will…as you would so eloquently say it; blow your mind.”

“But, what about…” I stumbled on my words. I couldn’t banish the involuntarily thought of Gene before someone caught it.

“That man you think of,” Keoni said under his breath, “is not worth your time. There are much better things in life than to think of once was, especially when it’s a memory that should be permanently banished.”

The cadence to his voice was naturally erotic, and hearing him speak for the first time made my brain stop working correctly. Craving filled me to hear it again.

“Completely insignificant.” Adoniia concurred with a discreet nod.

The movement allowed his glossy hair to fall past his shoulders and conceal him, but one iridescent eye peaked out from between the strands.

“He was another matter entirely, and in a class of his own making. I’ve told you this.” Loren promised, finally looking at our new friends for the first time.

Something indescribable crossed his face, but choosing what emotion it could’ve been was difficult. He spent more time than me hiding, and that spoke volumes.

What altered the view from one man to the next? How’d he drawn this distinct line in the sand?

“Jealousies over Carl.” I reminded him.

“Also different.”

“How?”

“That is a conversation for another day, but it’s very dissimilar from these men. With Keoni and Adoniia, they just want to pleasure you, to hear those entrancing sounds as you come. It’s no more than sex.”

“And how would they know what kind of sounds I’d make?”

“We’ve heard you, more than once.” Keoni ghosted a smile.

“Perverts.” I muttered, shaking my head. Not that I could talk…

“It isn’t like you’re quiet about it.” Keoni countered.

“What is a pervert?” Adoniia turned slightly to his friend.

“Someone who has bad thoughts about another person.” Keoni answered without hesitance.

“I think bad things about everybody.”

“That’s what makes you a pervert.”

Laughter bubbled up my throat, and both looked amused.

I walked further into the bedroom, unwelcome deliberation running through my head. All three men could read every last part, not that I cared while Yolie was gone.

Loren wrapped his arms around my shoulders, pulling me against his chest. His chin rubbed back and forth on the top of my head as he always did when he was thinking too hard.

“What’s wrong?” He implored.

I made the mistake of turning my head to look into those mystic blue eyes. The tortured quality was back, and my heart went out to Adoniia.

Was he abused? Not in ways to be openly seen, but perhaps in a more subtle, emotional way.

But I knew he had to be in one form or another. Sometimes it wasn’t obvious as one might expect. And he certainly showed the ‘signs’.

“Would you let us touch you?” He whispered hoarsely.

Keoni’s face lifted at those words. He didn’t seem troubled anymore, and very interested in my response.

“Answer this honestly.” I hedged. “Do you want to?”

An amused grin flitted across his lips, “We both do, very much so.”

The raw sexuality of the admission took me by surprise. Both gazes travelled over my barely covered body like they were starved, but that didn’t make any sense. As sex-slaves, was it wrong to assume they had sex?

Keoni’s smile turned cocky, crawling forward like a cat, each roll of sinew bringing him that much closer. When his tongue ran across his lips, my stomach dropped right out of my body.

His eyes glittered with satisfaction when he came to heel at my right leg. When Adoniia moved, I thought my breath was just going to cease to exist. His darkly bronzed flesh looked far too tempting to be real, covering all of that well-defined muscle.

They were straight out of the most widespread female fantasy to ever exist. And to think Yolie kept even more of them. She was one very lucky woman.

Adoniia came to a rest at my left, and leaned forward to run his tongue up the back of my knee. They both stared up at me, and waited. Permission perhaps?

“Can we?” Adoniia asked.

I’d bet my life-savings this wasn’t a question he’d asked often, and was uncomfortable asking now. Yet he had.

“Yes.” I mumbled incoherently, overwhelmed with them being so close to me.

Adoniia reached out first, and ran his calloused hand up my calve, while Keoni leaned forward to press his lips against my thigh.

I stood frozen solid, never before affected by any man like this, but I’d never been with ancient vampires before. Their presence was fuller, and forced me to be even more aware of them.

Loren chuckled at my ear, and rolled his tongue up the lobe. My fingers tightened around his arms, heart slamming painfully against my ribcage.

Keoni reached for the hem of my shorts, and yanked them down my hips. Flame leapt deep in his gaze with an eagerness that excited me.

Loren took a hold of my hands, to pull them behind his neck. I entwined my fingers to lock them in place, while his hands slid down my inner arms to cup my breasts. He rolled my nipples between his fingers and provoked hot flashes through my bloodstream.

The men at my feet gave a final tug, and the shorts fell to the Polynesian Bamboo flooring. They stared at my labia like another would look at a large meal after a three-day fast.

I bit my tongue in an effort not to moan. They hadn’t even done anything to qualify for it, yet the yearning was there anyways.

Their tongues laid a delicious trail, mirroring each other while working up my inner thighs.

Adoniia pulled my leg further outward with a carnal smile. He closed his mouth over my clit, to slide down and push his tongue deep inside of me.

Keoni’s replaced it above him, and gently rolled the nub between his teeth. It became instantly apparent that his skill could easily induce insanity.

I’d never felt anything like the two of them before. They fine-tuned their strokes until I bucked helplessly. They both growled, their mouths vibrating against me.

Loren’s teeth tugged on my ear, whispering dirty little promises, holding me securely to him while I wiggled and pleaded. And just when I didn’t think it could get better…

Magic pulsed when Adoniia spoke in my head, a foreign spell to intensify what they were doing. His control was astounding, for both Loren and I had to at least mumble a spell out loud to make it work effectively.

And by the rising tension in my body, it worked beautifully. Loren’s arm held me tightly when my legs decided enough was enough.

In fact my whole body protested, wanting to melt to the floor. But between the three of them, I was more effectively bound than by any inanimate fastening.

Keoni threw my leg over his shoulder to renew the effort, sucking so hard my back arched to give him all the access he wanted.

Tipping my head back, Loren stole what was left of my breath with a searing kiss. I couldn’t stop shifting, full of clawing need so sharp it could cut when Adoniia’s hands crept up to my ass, and pulled my hips forward to aid in the quest to fracture my mind. I was nothing more than an instrument to whatever they wanted to do to me.

The orgasm rode my body, pleasure so intense it kept me in its clutches until I exploded with feeling. Shockwaves struck me when they lapped up the juices like hungry, restless animals.

I sagged against Loren when they stopped their assault, forcing him to pick me up into his arms. He kissed me soundly when both stood straight for the first time, and I saw how tall and incredibly large they were, in every way.

They moved so silently, even for vampires. I watched over Loren’s shoulder while he walked further into Yolie’s bedroom, so I wouldn’t miss a single thing.

The sweet scent of the flowers penetrated the room, heavy enough to make me feel light-headed. Or maybe that wasn’t just the flowers.

The perfume clung to the gauzy netting that was strung from the ceiling to fall to the ground in multiple flowing layers.

And the bed itself was a round white playground. The silk sheets looked inviting, and there were so many pillows, I had to wonder what she did with them all.

Loren laid me in the centre of the bed, smiling with such profound lust. The thick shaft pressed against the material of his shorts, so close it’d be easy to reach out and touch it.

I felt the energy flitter across my skin. One of them spoke to another, but the primal power of the near two thousand year-old vampires drugged my honed senses, and prevented me pinpointing who it was.

“She is beautiful.” Keoni whispered in answer.

“Isn’t she?” Loren murmured, pleased by it.

Loren was nothing, if he wasn’t abnormal. The fact that he craved this, to watch me get screwed by them, just made the craving more pronounced. We were an odd pair, but it was what made us so good together.

His burning ochre eyes glistened in the bright tropical sunlight. It made him seem more unreal than normal, as if that were supposed to be possible.

Keoni climbed onto the bed, so sensuous I couldn’t look away. My heart took up an eradicate beat. Daresay I was nervous.

Why? I didn’t know, but it was a fact.

I turned my head away, and tried to get my breathing under control. It had begun to work, but then I made the silly mistake of looking into that intense crystal-blue gaze. I hadn’t even felt Adoniia climb onto the bed, but there he was.

His unblinking stare moved steadily over my body, biting his lip when he reached my abdomen. Under his burning attention, my muscles convulsed and licks of unaided pleasure flickered.

Adoniia moved to sit beside me in a cross-legged position, which accentuated his groin to perfection.  His cock bobbed when he’d settled, and for some reason I couldn’t stop staring at it.

He was longer and thicker than the others, steel encased in velvet. His head was so swollen and tempting, it took everything in me not to just reach out and…

I couldn’t deny the wayward reaction to these two men. It closely paralleled the one with Loren, but he’d built that fire over a long time period. With them, it was instantaneous.

Shyness wasn’t a strong-suit for me to begin with, but it was there in blaring clarity nonetheless. No matter the conquest, I’d never felt this way. Was I going to flake?

The possibility of embarrassing Loren in that moment made me shudder. He’d been so good to me, and to think that I would do anything to induce that made me sick with fear.

Normally I cared little for such worries and emotion, but Loren was worming out some of my more trodden on feelings, and the unavoidable reactions to them.

“My love, do not worry over such trivial things. You’ve never embarrassed me. Keoni and Adoniia would never think badly because you’re nervous.” Loren lifted my foot into his lap to massage the heel. “I’m sure they find you as charming as I do.”

My eyes shuttered at the tenderness of the words and act. There was nothing sexual about this one thing in the face of many, but meant only to comfort. He knew it was my guilty little secret, and had exploited it where he could.

“Don’t be scared of us.” Keoni pleaded. A flash of hurt entered his eyes. “We meant you no harm, only to pleasure you.”

“I’m not scared.” I denied again.

“Really? I don’t quite believe you.” Adoniia said with amusement thickening his peculiar accent. He stared at my lips when I smiled, and then impishly he continued, “Then, let me kiss you.”

My tongue stumbled when I tried to form a response, forcing me to swallow twice before my throat would allow words to pass.

“Umm, ‘kay.”

I became hyperaware of him as he drew nearer. My mind cleared totally and tuned to him, a response I couldn’t stop.

Then something clicked. He didn’t seem normal, because he wasn’t. I had seen too much not to think of this as a possibility. He couldn’t be an ordinary vampire. Not even Yolie had this affect on me.

I remembered one of Loren’s stories about this area. The Tauas had been thought of to have supernatural powers, or what they had referred to as Mana. Would those humans have possessed something that made them this diverse?

You’re right.

About what? I asked.

I’m very different.

The rush of ultimate power peeking through the words engulfed my Curse, making it purr for him. Then his mouth closed that last inch.

When he kissed me, the commanding essence curved around me in a titillation of sensation. My eyes closed again, lost in the taste of him.

I was born of Nye, and given to the Hakaiki, never to be like anyone else.

What’s Nye exactly?

I was seriously lacking in the knowledge of the ‘other realm’ history.

The Deity of the Sea, but you call him Neptune in some of the legends. His will bore me to lead, until Yolie intercepted my fate, and he was powerless to stop her.

You can’t escape?

No. I’d like to be free one day, but have my doubts that will ever happen.

When Adoniia’s tongue rolled with mine, electricity ran between us. The shock would’ve jerked me back from the unfamiliar power, but his hands threaded through my hair to hold me in place. At each point of his fingertips, foreign sensations arched between us.

Loren groaned. His hands stroked my thigh, coming so close to my mound, only to trail back down. I growled, and Adoniia’s muscles stiffened to hear the urgency.

What is this?

I had to admit this time, I was a little afraid.

Within, I possess every power of the sea, and everything that dwells there.

Yea, that answered my question.

Have you seen an electric eel in your many ventures to the sea?

When Adoniia mentioned the ocean, it was with agony. My stomach rolled at the sound, even if I didn’t understand the root.

You possess the ability to manipulate electricity?

To control it entirely, to my liking. It is one of my human birthrights, nothing more. I have learned how to work with it, to accommodate the life I live now. It will not hurt you.

My back arched when the electricity moved lower over my skin. One after the other, every tiny hair stood on end. The pulsating caressed places I hadn’t known could be pleasurable.

Adoniia swallowed my screams with satisfaction. When my fingers closed over his biceps, they flexed to better display how incredibly ripped he was. I’d have a far time trying to find an ounce of fat on him.

Not that Loren or Keoni were any less spectacular.

Loren roughly pushed the straps of my shirt down from my shoulders to bare my breasts. His excited breathing made my heart race, the urgency of his cock against my ass titillating.

Keoni’s hand slid over my mound, knowing exactly where the shocks were, and followed just a touch behind them. When his fingers separated my lips to tease me, my breath hitched.

“You’re so wet already, and we haven’t even started yet.”

I could no longer detach who was touched what, putty under their delicious mouths and hands. The electricity flew over my skin to induce bone-deep tremors, deliberately influenced to feel like tender caresses.

Keoni pushed my thigh to one side when Adoniia released me. I watched in fascination as his head descended lower.

Loren buried two fingers deeply while Keoni’s tongue twirled over my clit, each gauging my every reaction. He purred his satisfaction in my ear.

They worked together while Adoniia manipulated the strange power up and over my breasts, completely in sync with one another, creating a storm I’d never before experienced, and doubted ever would again.

I couldn’t do or say anything else, not even scream.

Though, there was one thing I really wanted to do. My hand ran up Adoniia’s thigh to cup him, and his brow furrowed in confusion when my fingers curled around him.

“What’s wrong?”

“You’re touching me.”  Adoniia said with uncertainty. The timidity in his eyes wasn’t something I’d ever expected to see.

“Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?”

I swallowed thickly when Loren and Keoni picked up the pace in the breaking kaleidoscope of ecstasy. But Nye’s son didn’t answer right away.

“No.”

Keoni chuckled, “We’re meant to bring you pleasure, that is all.”

Those words threw a pail of ice-cold water over me.

“Doesn’t Yolie give you pleasure?”

“Not in the way your thinking. That’s not part of our job.” Keoni said without enough infliction to tell me one way or the other what his thoughts were.

His resignation bothered me. And if their expressions of wonder mixed with irritation were anything to go by, it was even worse than what I’d seen.

Loren met my eyes levelly. Would he find fault in this? He was born, and had practiced things which were alien to me, no matter how long I had lived in their world.

“That’s not fair.”

“Life will never be fair.” Adoniia responded softly.

It would if I wanted it to be.

When I moved, his eyes widened painfully while the intention became clearer. Shifting my body to close my mouth over him, he went rigid with anticipation.

His hands shot to my hair and pulled me back, but stopped himself. Yolie must’ve deeply ingrained in him not to ever partake in anything like this. However, I was a pigheaded enough person for the both of us.

This gets me off, and gives me pleasure. Yolie said whatever I wanted. It’s now part of your job.

She will not…like this.

She gave you to me, and I’m calling the shots.

What if…

Tell her I ordered you to. That’s something she’ll understand.

Even while he argued, he wanted it. I could see and feel it, and that made me want to taste him more.

My tongue ran up the underside of him, and his inconceivable reaction was devastating. His fierce growl deepened when I worked my way back down.

His upper body fell back against the headboard with a distinct thump.

So this is what it feels like.

I choked on him, pulling back a little to swallow.

You’ve never had this before?

No.

How?

Being celibate while human, there never was a chance. When Yolie stole me, it was for her pleasure.

It took only ten seconds for my scowl to turn into a grin. This one act just got much more interesting.

Chapter Four

Right then, I wasn’t sure who enjoyed this more.

He completely entranced me, and his innocent joy with something I took pleasure in drove me on.

His little moans and jerks made my craving for him spiral out of control. I’d all but forgotten the other two men, and it annoyed them with the lack of attention.

Loren’s hands closed around my waist, lifting and flipping my body so I rested on my hands and knees. He ran them down my back, over my butt to delve between my legs.

“Show him just how sinful that tongue is.” He pleaded. Was that sympathy in his eyes?

Almost two thousand years at someone else’s mercy. Loren whispered in disgust. I didn’t think of it this way before. It wasn’t like it was hard to see…you’ve changed my views on so much, so unexpectedly.

You didn’t know?

Intellectually yes. I never paid attention to such things, but you always put things in perspective for me. This is how I was raised, but that doesn’t make it right.

“Adoniia, please move in front of her.” Loren instructed aloud. The hoarseness of his voice was excruciating. I hadn’t meant to cause this for him.

The sex-slave did exactly what he was told, as any good one would I supposed.

It didn’t matter that I’d known stuff like this happened in our world. It was a whole other level to meet someone who had no power over his destiny at all. Seeing the repercussions of such an existence in the flesh made me sick.

Keoni’s body slid under mine, oblivious to my psychosomatic dilemma. The soft smile on his lips had me returning it, scattering my perturbed thought process.

“You are so different.” He mumbled.

“Oh, you have no idea.” Loren replied.

Energy sizzled over me while they spoke to each other, and not me. What exactly had Loren divulged to them?

“What are you saying?” I watched the shifting emotions displayed on Adoniia’s face. When it resolved on hope, my curiosity doubled.

“Nothing but good things.” Loren promised.

Yea, I believed that.

Keoni hummed under his breath, waiting patiently. It damned near made me laugh.

“And just what are you doing then?”

“This isn’t a position I’m allowed often.” Keoni replied with relish. This prospect affected him in the most beguiling of ways. “I haven’t watched a woman ride me in far too long.”

Oh no, was I blushing? Damn it all to hell!

My head swivelled to look up at Loren, “And you?”

His finger ran up from my lips to the rise of my butt, “The same.”

Now that was unexpected.

While Loren and I had indulged a vast range of activities together, to have him in that particular place of my body wasn’t among them. Anal sex was just another enjoyable pastime for me, but one he’d never asked for.

“Aren’t you going to ask what I’m doing?” Adoniia asked brightly.

“I already have a pretty good idea.” I lowered my head back over him. His breath caught, the expectation of this immobilizing every muscle.

By the time my mouth was halfway down the length; Adoniia’s back inadvertently arched, shoving all the way inside. I groaned at the taste and feel of him sliding down my throat, the way the pooling blood thickened the shaft even more in his excitement.

His hands threaded through my hair again, and instantly tightened when I made the next pass. He murmured to me in a slow and musical language I didn’t understand, the lazy words edged with weighted desire.

Loren’s cock nudged my ass the same moment Keoni’s head ran over my clit. Loren’s hands caught my hips to stop me from pushing back, but it was already too late.

His head passed the tight, bunched muscles and his fingers bit into my flesh. I moved down, doing the same to Keoni. His head rose to my nipples, playfully lapping one and then the other.

He surged forward impatiently when my hips moved over him, making me convulse to hear his ragged breath shuddering into his lungs.

Adoniia’s power began to flood my system in erratic spurts I knew he didn’t have a firm leash on anymore. I liked him out of control, and wanted it to get so much worse for him before allowing it to get better.

There was absolutely no discomfort as Loren slid himself into the hilt, but I knew there would never be. He wouldn’t allow it to happen if it were in his power to see it so. Hands pushed down on my lower back to adjust the angle, and we both trembled as raw nerves pulsated with need.

Keoni pulled my shoulders down so his mouth could run over my throat, that induced a flush of wet heat to bathe him. He and Loren found a delicious rhythm together, moving in and out of me in perfect time.

And like Loren, they reacted to my pleasure, and the more I responded, the less restraint they had. I was a tuning-fork, warping their wills until they were my own. Every tell my body gave, just allowed them to add fuel to a fire that already raged past rationale, straight into insanity.

Their ragged gasps and lurches were all around me, a symphony that held no equal. Loren and Keoni both growled when my next orgasm exploded, throwing me into a corkscrew of bursting nerves. I collapsed on top of him in a useless heap, driving him even deeper.

Adoniia’s thigh pillowed my head, hands petting my hair. He looked down at me with such a transfixion, and there was no clue to explain why.

The other two began to move faster, shoving him all the way down my throat. His torn cries increased when I hallowed my cheeks, and cupped his taut balls to roll one before the other.

He came abruptly, not able to help himself any longer. It was the first out of three with two more to go. His hands shook now on either side of my face, his breathing so broken, I was tempted to start all over again.

I screamed into Adoniia’s thigh, forgetting to even make an attempt not to be heard by everyone on the island. For I had no doubt, Yolie could hear me.

Drink.

My Curse sprung loose, unaffected by the sex, but by the request to take Adoniia’s blood. No, it was far more like a demand.

Something in his tone was urgent, and in the uninhibited wash of lust I couldn’t understand what it meant, nor did it really matter. The taste of real power would be unlike anything I’d ever experienced. The rich sustenance so close, it was outright intoxicating.

Though the act itself wasn’t a new to me, Keoni gasped at my throat like his friend had offered me the world.

“What?”

There was a long moment before he answered, “Nothing to worry about.”

My fangs ached to feel his raging pulse beneath my mouth. All I had to do was turn my head that last two inches, and the precious vein would be right there.

Without thought, my tongue ran across his flesh, and I buried my fangs deeply. His fingers circled my wrist to bring it closer.

May I?

Of course.

In that moment I would’ve denied him very little.

Keoni shifted to suck my nipple into his mouth, taking it as his permission too. His thin canines sliced into my breast, so quick all I felt was a slight pinch.

You are so fucking hot, too good for words. Loren’s mind coursed through mine. He absorbed every sensation and reaction to them, feeding from it.

“Take from me, so you will be strong.” Adoniia whispered, and softly stroked my throat.

With a bright flash of canine, he was in and pulling deftly from the open vein. I stared into his eyes while he fed from me, and it looked like he was entranced, much like I was.

But why? Compared to what he offered me…

You are very special to me.

My mouth released Adoniia with a ragged cry, just as Keoni freed my breast. His hand cupped the back of my neck to draw me down and lick the blood clean. When he was done, he shoved my mouth against his neck in another silent invitation I couldn’t believe.

There wasn’t any thought, just crawling need. I bit into him, distantly wondering why Loren didn’t try to feed. Didn’t all of this bother him, make him crave?

Feed, my love. They present you with something they’ve never before offered another willingly, for perhaps except Yolie.

Why perhaps?

She would take it anyways.

I found myself not caring much for Yolie anymore, not now that I was seeing a side of her which disturbed deep-seated fears I’d thought long dead.

Adoniia licked my wrist clean with soft, distracting strokes to scatter my thoughts. Affection filled his gaze, something I hadn’t earned yet. He kissed my palm tenderly.

When Keoni came, his arms wrapped around me. Loren plummeted so hotly after him, a growl passing his full lips when he pressed them against my back.

I collapsed on top of Keoni, our energy all but gone, for now. I wasn’t done with them yet, even though my pliant body said much differently.

“I think I’m dead now.” I mumbled.

“We’ll let you rest then, but we are not finished with you either.” Keoni murmured back. “That is, if Yolie doesn’t take us back in the mean time.”

My teeth gritted at that.

Now that the euphoria faded away, it afforded me time to think again. And the comment didn’t help my mindset. Turbulent emotion bubbled over the ecstasy to eradicate any thought of sex.

But in this delicate situation were nothing was private, my mind touched things that were dangerous to all of us.

And thinking of liberating slaves, who were owned by one of the most powerful classifications in our race, was plain and utter suicide.

I was nothing, if not a risk taker.

Chapter Five

A few hours later, I awoke wrapped in so much hard muscle, movement was nearly impossible.

My eyes opened to see an arm swathed in the native art on flesh. Hair covered the strong cheekbones, the strands moving with his breath.

I reached unconsciously for his face, and Adoniia jerked away from me the moment we touched. His eyes widened when they travelled across the room, frantically looking for something, or someone.

Unfortunately, I knew that expression too.

After he’d completed two full scans, he relaxed.

But I hadn’t missed the fear and revulsion flashing in his eyes when he thought it was her in his arms. He blinked to bring me into focus. Then his entire demeanour changed, the frigidness melting instantly.

Did Yolie notice this, or did she just ignore it like with so much else, shrouded in her own make-believe world.

“Good afternoon.” He smiled.

“Uh huh.” I rolled my head onto his stomach, and he tenderly stroked my hair.

Keoni and Loren were still fast asleep, sprawled across the bed and us. I smiled when they snored softly.

I ran my fingers down Loren’s arm, and his head cuddled into my hip. These powerfully dangerous men were angelic in sleep, and the only time anyone would’ve felt the need to protect them.

“Come with me.” Adoniia asked softly.

“To where?”

“To the sea. I want to show you something…” He said shyly. “It shouldn’t take long, and we’ll be back before they wake up. Then I want to play with you again.”

“Okay.” I agreed. Hesitance didn’t even cross my mind.

What was the worst that could happen?

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, and bent to kiss Loren’s cheek. He mumbled something unintelligible, his deadweight forcing me to climb over him to get to the floor and follow this strange man.

Adoniia watched me as I clothed myself, but remained naked. Something about it was degrading…like it was marking his place.

“Aren’t you going to wear anything?”

“I do not have a need to wear them.” He answered stiffly, annoyance etching his face.

But I could read between the lines.

“Huh.” I grunted. What exactly was he allowed to do then, other than have sex?

I remembered my inconceivable thoughts right before falling asleep. Loren had listened silently, but never commented on any of it while I plotted and schemed, with no plausible results.

Just what did he think of all of this?

We slipped out of the bungalow without notice from anyone, and headed through the trees towards the ocean.

He turned to me while we walked, “Why does my life bother you so much?”

“You deserve to have some say, and it bothers me that you don’t. Where I come from, we’re closely watched, but are allowed some liberties.” I admitted. “You should come to my country one day.”

“I’m not allowed to leave the island.” He breathed, and looked sheepish.

“At all?”

“Ever.”

“Huh.”

“This too bothers you.” He stated.

I merely nodded.

We emerged from the dense trees into the bright sunshine. Birds darted and skimmed just a hairsbreadth above the surf while it gently rolled up the sloping rock-face.

The blue-green water stretched out majestically, beckoning in its welcome. There were so few places that felt like this. It was freedom, much like my forest back home.

“This is my home, where I belonged.” He waved his hand over the expanse of water. He stared on hungrily, with such excruciating longing. “Before Yolie came, this is where anyone could find me, any day. Nothing could separate me from it.”

“Why don’t you now?” I asked.

He didn’t answer, but I could feel the waves of mental agony coming from him. I caught his hand into mine, knowing he would like the comfort.

My bare feet padded across the continuous hot rock, leading him to the sea. He wanted this very much, though there was too much trepidation. The time to face his fears was now, one way or another.

I felt it, though there was no reason to why. It was more like instinct. This was something I understood.

“It is very rare for me to be without my master.” He honestly smiled.

I was so glad this escapade had pleased him.

“How rare?”

Could I hear anymore about his slavery, and still just stand here pretending it was all right?

Yet no matter what crazy plan I came up with, it wasn’t good enough. There wasn’t a way to go head to head with Yolie, or her sisters and live. There was no possibility of it.

My over-active imagination raced with what I already knew, trying to fill in the missing parts. Was she cruel to them? Both Keoni and Adoniia hated her no matter how much they hid it, and that would make me think of abuse.

“She doesn’t believe she is cruel.”

“Do you?”

“I have no opinion.”

“With me you do.” I said stubbornly, having to tamp down the chilling rage which found its total focus with Yolie.

How could she treat Adoniia and Keoni this way? And what was I able to do about it? Calling Max and Corrine was an option, but to use the phone would require asking Yolie for it.

Therefore she’d be close enough to hear both my thoughts and the conversation.

“There isn’t much more of it I can take before…” He mumbled.

“Before what?”

He didn’t answer for a long moment, and then his eyes flashed a deep, vibrant crimson, “I would end it one way, or another.”

It was good to know I wasn’t the only one thinking suicidal thoughts in that moment.

“We’ll figure it out. Just give me some time to think about it. Let’s go for a swim.”

“I cannot.”

I snorted in exasperation. Then why’d we come here?

“Why?”

“I told you, leaving the island is impossible for us. Yolie makes sure of it.” He murmured, and looked terribly embarrassed. “They have perimeter spells set around the entire island. But, that’s just a precaution. She severely punishes anyone for even trying, and we’ve all learned it’s better to just do as were told.”

My heart actually leapt for him, them actually. I wished there was a way to save both of these men who didn’t deserve such a life, and not having any way to get out of it, save death.

What about the others though?

Do you honesty plan to liberate the entire island? The others…aren’t Yolie’s.

What do you mean?

Bulla and Jovial are different. They crave much nicer things, and their slaves…

Are happier?

Adoniia nodded. “Do you feel it?”

I didn’t respond, staring at the water’s edge. My step quickened, and he never let go of my hand.

“No.” I whispered.

“Why not?” Adoniia exclaimed. “It’s all I feel, anywhere on this land.”

His hand reached out, but came to an abrupt stop right before he would’ve passed from land to water. The air around his skin flared a vivid blue before settling back into invisibility.

But it was my elbow passing through the spell that caught my eye. Savageness happiness filled me at the reminder. It was his cage, but it wasn’t mine.

“I don’t understand your thoughts.” Adoniia complained.

“Shh.”

No matter what he saw in my head, the more I thought about it…yes, this made perfect sense.

I tugged his hand forwards to test my theory, and he gasped when his flesh passed through this time. A surge of triumph filled both of us.

There always must be a way around a spell, for when contrived in the mind, there is always a flaw somewhere. It was only a matter of finding it. Finding the trigger was sometimes the hardest part of a mission, and a skill one acquired over a long time period.

And for it to be so simple! This was the key. But the trigger could either disturb the spell, or collapse it all together. This only created a gateway through it.

“How…?”

I laughed at his childish delight so plain on his young face. He wore so many of the same expressions I did, and it was easy to tell what went through Adoniia’s mind without having to be in it.

Freedom.

“I think it’s a loophole, and only a theory. The spell applies to the people Yolie commands under her power and blood-bonds, but I’m not one of them. I’ve seen my brothers often work with such things, and eventually a thing or two wears off on you.”

“I knew you’d figure it out.” He muttered. “I just never thought it would be so easy. So long, and this was all it took…”

Oh, I didn’t like the sound of that. “Took?”

Adoniia shook his head, and his eyes refocused on my face.

“It’s nothing.”

“Fine then, now what did you want to show me?”

“My original plans were to show you a different kind of magic, something closer to the earth than you’re used to.” His eyes turned back out to sea, “However, the possibilities now are a little different.”

“How would you’ve done that?”

“I was going to use the wade pool.”

“So you need the ocean then?”

He nodded.

Tightening my grip on his hand, I jumped without any further hesitation. He really hadn’t expected it, when there’d been no thought to doing it, knowing how to be sneaky when I wanted to be.

His body crashed into the sea, the resulting cry of delight captivating. Together we burst through the rise and fall of the tide.

Clinging to my hand like he might drown, he wore the most charming grin, and it warmed me to see it.  He looked completely different now, not younger really, just more at ease.

“What is it like to live in your Canada?” Adoniia said the name in three separate symbols. While he waited for me to answer, he kissed my fingertips.

“Much different than here. We have jobs,” His brow rose at my choice of words, “normal day-time jobs, with clothes on all of the time.”

“I have a job.”

“Yes, but its not normal, trust me.”

“For us, such things are more normal than you really know.” Adoniia replied sadly. “Tell me more about this place you call home.”

“We try to blend in when possible, and appear human. The Council can be a little rough at times, but my friends stick with me and make such trivialities worth it. We look out for each other.”

He nodded, “Keoni looks out for me too. What else?”

“We have to hunt a lot…”

“Hunt what?”

“Rogue vampires. Doesn’t this Coven hunt? Where I come from, it’s the only reason for our existence when it comes to the establishment.”

“If someone breaks the law, the sisters deal with it,” He said without any infliction. I wondered how often it’d happened, “however they see fit. And outsiders are not our concern. No vampire comes to the Marquesan Islands without the sisters knowing about it.”

“What about the Council?”

“Out here, there isn’t a Council to govern our actions, only the sisters. They do as they please, and always have.” He answered.

“Have you ever tried to escape before?”

“Not in a very long time. In the beginning I tried everything possible, but after centuries of failure, one’s will breaks.” He sighed.

My heart lurched for him. There was a time when I’d spent my existence in a locked box, at the will of a crazy vampire. I’d grown afraid of the light touching me, for when the box opened it meant he was hungry. But that was before he’d converted me to be his little minion.

Afterwards, he gave me freedom from the box, to roam the hunting shack he called home. From then on, everything had gone downhill faster than I could blink.

“Where was your Council then?” Adoniia demanded of my thoughts. His arm curled around my waist to comfort me in the rush of memory his admission had incurred.

“They didn’t know I existed.”

“Why were you in a box?” He asked quietly.

“He didn’t want to deal, when he didn’t need me. Coren was in hiding, and couldn’t travel because the Council had a bounty on his head. He stole women from around Hundred Mile to keep himself fed.” I hated to think of him, even now.

“We don’t have to talk about it anymore.” He kissed the top of my head. “Go on about your home.”

I took a deep breath, dispelling the unpleasant hatred and unstoppable fear at the thought of that man.

“There are perks.” I started. “To go where we want, and travel the world if it pleases us. As long as we obey Council laws, most are left alone.”

“You speak of such unattainable things.”

We stared at each other in silent understanding. I remembered the first taste of freedom after incarceration, the hesitance when you wondered if it was really over.

“You’re free now.” I reminded him, and he shook his head.

“I can’t leave Keoni to her wrath. She will surely discipline him for my actions. Sometimes I think she only sees us as one entity to bend to her will.”

Well, I could agree with that. Obviously we needed a plan, and time to think of one.

“Okay. So what were you going to show me?”

“Come and see.  But we must first go for a swim.”

“Where exactly?”

“Out there.” Adoniia pointed towards the infinite horizon.
“Oh.”

His arms closed around my waist and plunged into the sea, powerfully long legs speeding us through the water. It had to have been two miles before he’d even slowed a degree.

Adoniia’s lips kept pressing to my face and head, and I didn’t understand the rapidly growing affection. It spoke of more than giving him the possibility of leaving. There was something huge I was missing here.

A Black-tip Reef shark met me face-on, startled as I was. It jackknifed its skinny body in on itself, and darted away. They were such nervous fish, but were very cool to be around.

You worry about the most trivial things.

I shot a glare in his direction, but through all the wondering and uncertainty, I wanted to know more about him.

What was your life like when you were young and human?

Not what you’d consider normal either. I didn’t know the specifics of what I was, and it enabled me to have a normal childhood, and grow to love my people. Nye had planned for me to become a Taua from the beginning, and led me towards that goal, giving me everything needed for the position he’d put me in. It was odd to be revered, loved, and inspire fear in others all at the same time.

Sounds interesting.

I’d led a good life until the moment Yolie sensed my power. She didn’t hesitate to take me against my will, even if she lacked understanding on what I was. Still doesn’t, but it doesn’t change the fact that she controls me even now.

I’m sorry you’ve had to deal with it this long.

He nuzzled my neck, running his nose up and down my jugular. I hope very soon you can appreciate what has transpired here today. I’ve never met a woman like you before.

From the sounds of it, you haven’t met very many. I bet you’re very anti-social.
True on both counts. Most times I’m not permitted to talk around the others. She doesn’t want Keoni and me with her sister’s choices. It makes life…difficult for us to co-exist with them.

I’m sorry.

Do not be sorry for a thing.

A sinking feeling gave me pause. There was something moving in the water. My senses flared, and I knew it wasn’t just a normal animal. Something so primal filled my consciousness, fear clawed up my throat.

What is that? I pointed at the shape barrelling towards us.

Yolie? I shivered.

No. I would’ve never allowed such a danger to get close while you were out of Loren’s care.

The thing swam far beneath us in long, methodical pushes of its fins. Blackness crawled over my mind; the terrorizing need to get away rode me. Would this thing kill us?

He would never hurt you.

But what about him?

Strong arms reached toward us, to pull his huge bulk towards the surface. A thick tail coiled tightly with long muscles that swished back and worth, with his beady, black eyes zeroed in on my face.

This was not at all what I’d anticipated. The raw power emanating from this being was prehistoric, and made my very bones shiver in fear. This wasn’t an Original, but something much, much older than that. My race was infantile compared to this man-fish.

Nye’s grey lips were slightly darker than his rubbery skin that reminded me of the Bottlenose Dolphins. As he left the darker waters, I noticed the polished black fins on his four-meter long tail.

When the sun beaming through the water hit, they burst with yellow, red, and blue. They blended in a sparkling pearlescent effect, almost a liquid onyx, concealing a rainbow. Long black hair floated around his head in a halo when he came to a floating stop about ten feet away.

He smiled at Adoniia, like an old friend would. While they didn’t say anything I could hear, they still conversed. Then abruptly the frequency changed.

And this is the one?

I jumped at the unexpected words in my head. My startled gaze flew to his devoid black one, seeing an impish gleam.

It is she, the one from the prophecy.

What prophecy? I demanded. A cold feeling consumed me, tricking in and mingling with the black fear of this creature.

Every part of me wanted to swim, teleport, fly to get away from it. There was no emotion on his face, a blank slate to tell me if I was an absolute idiot or not.

Suddenly I didn’t want to be out here alone, away from Loren and Yolie who protected me. If this was indeed Nye, then he was the god of the sea. If anything went wrong, something my hasty decision induced…I was screwed.

I had no chance against him, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t fight, even if this was his habitat and not mine.

She is wild, this one. Nye nodded with approval.

She is free.

As you will be. She’ll be the one to liberate you.

Yes…

Hey fishmen! Can someone tell me what’s going on?

Course woman, just have patience. Nye chuckled.

I’ve been pretty damned patient with all of this already. You don’t know me sea-god. I don’t do patience.

Adoniia drew me nearer. He nuzzled the side of my head with his cheek. Was he laughing?

I had a premonition the night Yolie decided to come for me, but a lot of it didn’t make sense at the time. I’d never imagined the idea of vampires existing; let alone the fact that I’d become one. The dreams told me patience was needed, and though there were dark times, the possibility of it taking two millennia before it happened…

But what does this mean?

Sara, you were meant to come here. Fate brought you to set me free, and you have no idea how long I’ve waited. Maybe one day you will.

And exactly how am I going to accomplish this formidable task…again? I asked suspiciously. Especially since we have to go back for Keoni and Loren.

You would succeed, but I just don’t know how. Once Yolie converted and severed me from the earth, the visions stopped coming.

So you knew this all along. I accused.

In a way, though not completely. Remembering your face from all those years ago gave me hope. I’ve watched you these past weeks, and it’s bothered Yolie. I wasn’t sure of you myself, but she never could hear my mind even with her age, so she didn’t know why I was so interested in you.

He smiled apologetically, and even seemed sincere.

I turned to Nye, and examined him more closely for the resemblances between them. Getting past the more obvious attributes, I could almost see it. He truly was a weird specimen, with his gills constantly moving on either side of his neck. Trippy.

Nye really was a fish man.

He smiled, and I had to admit it looked friendly. But how did a being smile in such a way, when one his mouth was inhuman, and two he had the teeth that put Bob’s to shame?

Hello young-blood.

That wasn’t something I would’ve ever expected to come out of a Deity’s mouth as a greeting. It was a derogatory term for the young pure or converts of any age.

How do you know that phrase?

I am one of the regulators of this earth, and I know all. Every land that touches my sea filters information to me. It comes in use when I take human form to go on land and take pleasure in what your world has to offer me.

The sly tone made me think of one thing. Adoniia rolled his eyes when that thought led me to wondering about the sexual make-up of such a creature.

They’re fish Sara.

Yes, I gathered that.

You think the funniest things.

Loren tells me that all of the time.

One question burned to be asked when I turned back to Nye, Why didn’t you rescue him yourself?

If he was an all-powerful being, couldn’t he have found some way to help his son during all of these years?

A long time ago I made a promise to one of my offspring. When he became of age, he asked that I relinquish the power over this island, so I could not walk upon it. He hated me for his existence and wished revenge. Yolie knew this from the stories and legends the locals told her the first time she’d come here, taking Adoniia away with her. At first she thought it would be safe from me on land, but there was only one place on earth she’d ever be. Once the flaw became clear, she claimed this land to escape me, refusing to give him up.

And she hasn’t left the island since?

Yolie has. I haven’t. Adoniia admitted.

The few occasions she gained the courage were few. And with each, by the time I’d figured it out, she would return. I have many duties to attend, and cannot constantly watch her, and she knows that.

Another surge of blinding rage went through me. I wanted her blood so badly, imagining the taste just made it worse. The craving wasn’t for mere food, but to drain her so dry she would crumble into dust under my fury.

She will kill you. Adoniia said worriedly.

Only if she catches me. You will be free Adoniia that I promise you.

Chapter Six

The walk back to the sprawling bungalow was peaceful for Adoniia. However, I was caught between fear, anger and happiness.

He held my hand tightly, smiling every once and awhile. Neither of us was in any hurry, since the others still hadn’t awoken. If Loren had, he would’ve contacted me immediately.

He didn’t like me out of his sight, even for a moment.

I didn’t want to be. It wasn’t reliance on him…or maybe it was. I didn’t care anymore.

With always wanting to be my own woman, the past few weeks had made me think more about life, and what I wanted from it, coming up with new views and goals for myself never before considered.

A flock of Swiftlets burst from the shade of the trees, seconds before we heard an agonized, never-ending scream. Then the previously wordless shrieks turned into one phrase over and over again.

“Adoniia!”

“So, it begins.” He grinned, looking down at me. “I know you are strong and brave, but do not wage anything you can’t handle. Yolie will make a good show of this, but remember this normal for me. Melodramatic just doesn’t quite cover it.”

He might’ve been in good humour, but the fact that he was resigned to it, pissed me off like nothing else had in a long time. I suspected very shortly my blood would begin to boil.

“I’m going to kill her.”

Adoniia whirled on me to take a hold of my shoulders in a death grip.

“Promise me,” He said with his eyes wide, filled with panic, “that you will not initiate anything with her. No matter how bad she seems, I can take it, but you cannot.”

“But…”

“No buts. Promise,” He growled, “please. This is very important to me.”

“What will happen?”

“It will look bleak, but I have to trust in the end this will work.”

Why couldn’t I believe that? And to have his confidence in this would be perfect.

“Adoniia!” She shrieked again.

Loren instantly filled my mind. I could feel his panic, but once he knew where I was, calm leaked into the swirl of malice. The sway of disordered emotion called to my sinister side, not needing any more prodding to come out.

My love, are you alright?

Find babe. Be right there.

I willingly gave Loren what information he riffled for, anything that would help us in this task. He would know what to do.

I felt leagues safer now, but my righteous anger bled back to fear, the only rational thing in my head right then. The rest were crazy, impossible tactics I had no hope of completing with a rival so vast and complete in her old knowledge.

There was doable, and then there was plain and final suicide.

“I’m coming.” Adoniia muttered under his breath.

We both knew she would’ve heard him.

Yolie was standing on the patio, looking like hell on wheels. Her long white hair flowed around her in an angry cloud that never totally settled. Her murderous black eyes glittered much like Nye’s tail.

“What do you think you are doing?”

“Taking a walk obviously.” He snapped. She pulled back as if he’d slapped her. “I should have exercise. Keep myself in fit condition for your mauling. You always complain I’m not hard enough for you.”

“I see that you have enough exercise,” She growled back, “and we both know that isn’t what I meant.”

He stood straighter, with a defiant gleam on his eyes I knew hadn’t been there before he’d known he could escape. It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him not to bait the tiger, but the arrogance on his face and the anger on hers prevented it.

It took everything in me to shove back any thoughts that would alert her to any of the day’s extracurricular activities. It was a tricky business when I didn’t possess the experience and ability to combat her power.

I will fix this. Loren promised.

“How could you share blood with her!” Yolie pointed at me, but didn’t look my way.

I blanched. The way she’d said it, the disgust in her voice actually hurt in spite of it all. As if I had defiled him. Then why give me Adoniia?

Defiant tears burned behind my lids. Why was it, no matter how hard I tried to make myself not feel, emotion always got in the way when it was least expected?

Do not fret from her banter. Adoniia soothed.

“How could you?” She shrieked.

“Quite easily, and I would do it again.”

“And how did you leave the island?” She demanded suddenly. “Don’t lie to me, I felt it.”

When Yolie turned towards me, Adoniia moved to stand solidly between us. I stopped breathing, faltering in my sureness.

I could see she wanted to hurt him, the look in her eyes was another sign my mind unwillingly recognized.

Cruelty lent a disfiguring quality to her face. Flashes of my own Maker tormented me more than ever before. Their expressions were identical, and the end result of the madness would be much the same as well. I couldn’t let that happen.

My fingers twitched, and it was all it took to make Loren move, the only indication he was even alive. His hand came up, motioning me back to stillness when my foot lifted.

Control yourself, my love. Loren cautioned.

“You will not harm her.” Adoniia said coldly. Every tensed muscle was ready to strike.

“Do you care for her already?” She demanded.

“A lot more than I ever could for you.”

“Don’t you dare say that to me!” She shrieked in a voice so loud, it pierced my eardrums.

I winced when she backhanded him. His head moved just a little, but the large canary diamond ring on her finger tore into his cheek. The smell of rich blood hung in the humidity, so tempting to us all, and adding to the already heady tension.

“The truth hurts, doesn’t it?”

“I own you Adoniia. It doesn’t serve you well to forget that.” She said with false humour, running her hand up his naked chest. “You were only supposed to pleasure her, as was our agreement when you begged for this chance. I gave it to you against my better judgement.”

Her head turned, and looked to her other ‘victim’.

“I also told you the rules.” She glared back at Keoni who was still on the bed, sufficiently ready to jump in. But in which direction would it be? “Not only did the two of you give her your blood, you took from her as well, making a connection I cannot break.”

Keoni stared back at her with cunning filled to the brim on his face. Had it been on purpose? It certainly appeared so.

“Neither of you have anything to say for yourselves other than this useless chitchat?” She scoffed when they didn’t reply.

“For the first time in eternity, we took something we wanted.” Keoni said slowly, his eyes flicking between his friend and tormentor.

“I’ll tell you what you want.” Yolie said with the cruelty returning in a rush.

I hadn’t known what to expect from her. Adoniia had promised he could handle this, but did I believe him?

Her hand was still on his chest when she summoned raw, unfocused energy to pulse straight through his heart. Even from here, I knew the jolt was so far past overkill, she couldn’t even see the line of reason from where she stood.

I lurched forward, but her power kept me still. By all rights, he should’ve been dead. Anyone else I know would’ve been, but not Adoniia.

He snarled, gripping her arm ruthlessly when her eyes turned back to me. It hurt, I knew it did. The only reason he still stood was defiance, and she would have none of that.

She snarled at his need to protect me, and she’d had enough.

Yolie turned the unseen dial all the way up, far more than enough to kill, yet it didn’t. Just what the hell was he? She’d used enough force, there wasn’t another other soul on this island that would’ve missed it, or lived through it.

But Yolie knew that. She’d never kill her most prized possession.

He fell to his knees almost immediately. I lurched forward again without thinking, and her other hand shot out to throw my body back from them. The intensity of the power ripped and tore my insides apart, or it certainly felt like it.

It was a knee-jerk reaction which made me move at all, for fear had paralysed every other sense and ability. I just hoped she didn’t kill him after she succeeded with me. That I didn’t die for absolutely no reason.

I came back to the dirt in seizures, my back arching right off the ground when she applied more pressure. The searing pain slashed at me, one scream bleeding into another, my mind melting with the onslaught.

My only regret was; I wouldn’t be around to set my fishman free.

“Yolie, stop this now!” Loren ran for me.

Keoni bound from the bed, taking his cue from him. An animal snarl rippled up his throat, and his large body hit the ground in a crouch. His lips curled back from his teeth and hissed.

The moment Loren passed through the energy, Yolie stopped. A flicker of something indescribable passed across her face. Once he’d added himself into the equation, the value had changed for her.

Well, at least there was some reason in that crazy head of hers.

“You will not do this.”

“And who are you to say anything?” She said sarcastically, belittling her own actions. “You are in my territory.”

“I’m no one, but apart of a Coven you fear. I’m close friends with the Head of a country that terrifies you because of what lays within our ranks.” Loren snarled. “And Manuel would have something to say about you murdering one of his favourite converted Hunters.”

“His favourite, you say?” She contemplated that. The war for sanity was still plain on her face. “Even still, what she did…”

“Was done in the heat of the moment, and she doesn’t know any better. None of us were really in our right minds. I don’t blame her for it, why do you?” Loren replied.

He was the voice of reason then, even though he was typically the one razing things to the ground.

She debated that for a long time while I forced air into my beaten lungs. My human consciousness still thought it was necessary, even though it wasn’t. Sometimes the deep panic would step in and take over such things, this definitely being one of them.

“You own her, so you can reprimand her. And I do expect you to.” Yolie consented. “All I wanted to do was tell you Maximus called, and then I find all of this.”

“Why do you care so much?” Loren demanded.

“I’m the only woman who feeds them.” She bit back.

He shook his head as if to dispel her nonsense. “Wait, what did Max say?” Loren demanded, backtracking.

Yolie waved it off, “One of her Coven’s humans was attacked.”

“Who?”

“Carl? Gene? Or something like that.” Her hand fluttered as if this mattered none at all. Of course to her, it wouldn’t. “I want you to take her and leave. Get off my island, right now.”

“We need time…”

“You need nothing from me, or my land. She is never allowed back here again. You are lucky Loren, for I would’ve killed your woman without even blinking.”

“I know.”

“The next time you come back, don’t bring the human garbage with you.”

“There won’t be a next time Yolie. I think I’ve had enough of your practices.” Loren replied with distaste.

“They’ve never bothered you before.”

“Because I ignored them as we were raised to. I never considered them to be actual people before, and that was my fault alone. Sara has opened my eyes to so much in the past year, this only being one of them. I see our world in a whole other light.” He said with a note of finality.

Yolie whirled, and shrieked in frustration again. She was so used to getting her own way, and the childishness showed in her quick, jerky movements. She stared at us with bafflement.

“You’ve grown soft, Loren.”

“I’m modernizing my views, for those who don’t grow, will die. The times of old came to an end a long time ago, and it’s time for us to realize that. We will perish as a people if we cannot change. The humans spread more and more over this earth everyday, and limit what we’re capable of. There is only so much tampering we can perform before we’re found out.”

“They will never come back to my island.” Yolie snarled, and then continued under her breath. “She is corrupting you. I should just kill the bitch.”

Loren growled, and Keoni shifted restlessly. Their muscles budged as they were tensed and ready.

“You would fight for her?” Yolie admonished.

“In less than a heartbeat.” Keoni answered.

“Then you will die for her.”

“And Manuel will rip your paradise down around you. Everything in this life will fall, and be no more.” Loren roared. “You might be a first, but you’ve renounced your rights to the Council. You have no say in their rulings; however I can bend their ear and make them listen.”

“What if neither of you returned? The only way for the others to know…”

“If you kill us now, Max and Corrine will bring hell upon earth to your door, investigating what happened to her.” Loren replied. “Not to mention what Gregory would do. The powers of the earth are working against you Yol, accept it. One day, one way or another, they will get to you.”

Yolie blanched, and turned to leave the room without another word. The door slammed, but I was too weak to turn and see her leave. There was no relief with her departure, only pain and lethargy.

Was the world spinning, or was it just me?
I tried to sit up, but fell to one side instead. My vision was distorted until the world around me was no more than a wash of brown and green. Bile swiftly rose in my throat.

A blurry figure appeared at my side, and I cringed away. My head started to spin more violently around me.

“My love?”

“We have to help him.” I croaked.

What do you want to do?

Take him away from here. We need to…

“I want to come too.” Keoni said firmly, from somewhere to my right.

“I thought you came to her willingly?” Loren replied.

“That was a long time ago, when becoming a vampire still held appeal to me. We are both prisoners, just for much different reasons. I’ve learned that greed is never a useful attribute, for the consequences are not worth it.” He sighed, and then brightened. “Did Adoniia really pass Yolie and her sister’s spells?”

“Sara took me through it.” Adoniia mumbled coarsely.

“How?”

“She found a loophole.” Loren said. “All you needed was to be with someone who didn’t live on this island. It’s the way the spell was designed. The sisters pre-programmed the spell to react with every occupant, but left no provision for the people who visited here. It was over-done to an extreme.”

“We need to go home, now.” I shivered.

Was I actually cold, midday in the Caribbean?

If all it would take was for Yolie to come back….well I didn’t want to be here when she decided to enact a more final revenge.

“Agreed.” Loren nodded, or I think he did.

Keoni helped Loren pick up the fallen men, with continuous glances to the door. There were no more questions to be asked, our destinies now set.

Whether we wanted them to be or not, but if fate wanted us together, then so be it.

Fate is an actual being. Like Nye is, she’s a regulator of the earth. Adoniia promised.

So there’s someone I can yell at when I screw this up?

Adoniia laughed in his head. Not a being per say. This realm’s true rulers aren’t the same as us, but a whole other species. They do not ever die, nor do their jobs ever end, for ensuring this plane is taken care of as much as they can is a continual task.

I reached to grab the railing and drag myself up, but Keoni was already there lifting me into his arms. My head rolled, creating a wave of nausea.

What the hell had been in that spell? It had started out as unfocused, but by the end I’d felt her transform it. Her rage bent it into a killing spell that was seven kinds of illegal.

“We’ll take care of you.” Keoni promised.

With him this close, I could see his brow crease with worry while checking me over.

I turned my head to see Adoniia trying to walk on his own, but still having to sag against Loren. His pasty pallor looked horrible, making his tattoos seem that much darker and more sinister.

“She comes,” Adoniia said shakily, “we must hurry.”

He stumbled away from Loren, and lurched forward to brace himself against the nearest tree.

Everything around us blurred while Keoni darted through the foliage. My lips clamped shut, waiting for the sickness to pass, breathing slowly through my nose. Darkness tried to pull me under, but it wasn’t an option. It was the only thing I could do.

It took far too long in my point of view to run through the trees. We broke out onto the flat rock, exactly where Adoniia and I had earlier in the day. Every second that passed was one Yolie could find us, and the pressure of the threat could be felt in every step we took.

We couldn’t teleport anywhere on the island, but neither could they. It would serve us to an extent. But if the three of us couldn’t run fast enough, we were toast.

Keoni jumped from the short incline with Adoniia stumbling behind us. Would we make it?

An inhuman scream shuddered the air to tell us differently. The accompanying cries were chilling, rising from the direction of the village covered by the trees. Only a half of a mile from Yolie’s private dwelling.

Loren grabbed Adoniia’s arm, and shot off in a thunder of bare feet. Keoni tucked my head into his neck, and shot off like a runningback for the goal line, with the long stretch of forty yards to go.

“We’re not going to make it.” Adoniia’s teeth chattered as if he was cold, a feeling we shared. It felt like the sun had turned into a ball of ice, all the warmth sucked from the world.

“Damn straight we are.” Loren said with determination. “My woman will not die this day.”

“Or any other day for that matter.” I mumbled brokenly, and Keoni actually had the audacity to laugh.

The tops of the trees behind us began to shake and quiver like huge beasts ran through them. A loud crack thundered from behind us, and then a series of deafening thuds sounded as whole trees were uprooted from the vampire’s temper tantrum.

With freedom so close, it couldn’t help but make the danger more acute. All we had to do was to touch them while going through the spell. Simple, wasn’t it?

“Soon, we’ll have you safe.” Keoni whispered.

There was a loud splash in front of us, and my useless eyes squinted to see. I sneered when it didn’t help any, but at least the ache in my head was slowly receding.

“They’re in the water.” Keoni said with disbelief.

I snickered. He hadn’t really believed, not until he’d seen it.

Keoni took a running jump, and his cry of joy was loud in my ears. Water crashed around us, signifying that we’d escaped.

Keoni refused to let go of me, which was preferable for now. I sunk the moment my body hit the water, and he had to clutch me tighter. While he whispered, the agony left me in leaps and bounds, leaving an exhausted ache in its wake.

Healing magic worked wonders in situations like these. Or at least that was what I thought, until my vision cleared enough to see the approaching figures.

Yolie emerged from the trees, followed by a group of angry vampires, who’d bend to her will with no objection.

Stupidly, they thought if Keoni and Adoniia had gotten through, so could they. I laughed bitterly as they rebounded off the spell like goofy looking cartoon characters.

“Get back here, now!” Yolie screamed at us. Her hands began to move in an intricate pattern, her lips racing to get the words out as fast as possible.

“She’s tearing down the entire spell.” Keoni whispered in fear.

“She’s not tearing it down, just opening a gateway so the others are still trapped.” Loren replied in a hard, knowing voice.

“So teleport us home! We’re past the spell now.” I shrieked as the water boiled around us.

A black fin broke the surface just in front of us, and forced a spray of water fifteen-feet in the air towards shore, building at an alarming rate.

A long body curved protectively around the four of us. I breathed a sigh of relief. Even though Nye couldn’t walk on this land, now it didn’t matter. We were in his domain now.

Dozens of Lemon sharks followed him with a methodical, continuous path. Their behaviour was so strange, I thought of only one thing; guard dogs.

Nye’s black head emerged the same moment Yolie’s spell cracked, allowing her to walk through it. How ironic that not even she could cross the magic without first meddling with it first.

Strong winds came in off the sea, forcing her to stumble back from the edge. I could sense the disruption in the magic when it folded back into place, to seal the island off against the breach, something that hadn’t been Yolie’s will.

Something big bumped my shoulder, and Keoni’s throat rumbled threateningly, his arms crushing around me.

Rough skin stroked my leg, and I looked down with surprise.

“Hey Bob.” I couldn’t help but grin when his tail started a little tidal wave of its own. He was once again like a pet, but this time wanting to play fetch with a vampire.

His head turned towards Yolie’s frustrated cry, and his massive jaw opened to reveal every last razor sharp tooth. He aggressively snapped shut it, and then returned to swimming around in circles with the other sharks, but far closer than the rest.

“You have nothing to do with this!” She shrieked.

Oh, I have everything to do with this.

His compelling voice came from all directions, and commanded everyone’s attention. The water became larger waves that continued to pick up speed, the threat obvious to those who were on the rocky slope.

“They are mine!”

Adoniia is mine, and always has been. He is no longer in your domain Yolie, nor will he ever be again. He is free.

“You cannot do this!”

I coughed as one of the waves caught me unaware, forcing Keoni to lift me a little higher. Loren and Adoniia swam closer, keeping their weary eyes on the enraged first. One of them brought my fingers to their lips, but my attention was all for the blonde woman on shore.

The tide changed and welled beneath us, to raise our bodies with it, instead of over us. Nye turned and smiled apologetically at me.

I’m sorry she hurt you, human. If I’d known, I would have taken better precautions.

It’s just another day in the life of me.

The men around me chuckled. The tension on our side melted, my own humour leaking to them. We would be fine, and the four of us were only beginning to realize this.

She could no longer hurt us.

Loren’s fingers found mine, and Adoniia grabbed my other hand while Keoni held me tightly. We were connected by fear and a love of real freedom.

And even through all of the crazy events and decisions of this day, it still felt right in so many ways, even though I’d just met them.

It wasn’t like there weren’t weirder things that happened in my life.

I turned to look at Keoni. His eyes had filled with power, and shimmered oddly with a distinct light. I wondered why.

“My age, little Sara.” He rumbled. “One day you will learn the diminutive nuances.”

His fierce grin looked so hot, I forgot myself in that moment.

“I hope so. It never ends.” I replied.

“No, it does not. I’m still learning.” Adoniia said, and brought our joined hands to his chest.

I watched the wall of water with fascination as it grew higher and higher, intimidating all those who still dared to stand against us. Yolie was making another attempt to create a portal, and her eyes flickered every so often to the threat.

And it was because of her insane need to keep Adoniia and Keoni that doomed them when the cresting wave struck. They were helpless, waiting for her to do something.

It pushed them up the incline, through the trees in carnage of arms and legs. Their cries receded into nothingness, but the water did not stop coming. I couldn’t even see the island through the wall of liquid.

Stupid woman. If she hadn’t kept up with trying to break the barrier, my magic would have never touched her.

She created a hole for you? I asked.

If you will.

His shark-like black eyes sought Adoniia.

It’s time for you to find a new home.

Where?

You will have a place in Canada, one more befitting of your station. There is much more to be done, but now for your new people. Stay with Sara and Loren, for they will be able to show you the unknown world, and teach you how to assimilate. Listen to them, and follow their annoying, constant rules.

I laughed against Keoni’s shoulder. His hand soothingly played with my soaked hair.

But Adoniia’s face was a mask of anguish and uncertainly. He’d been a kept pet for two thousand years, and unlike Keoni, this bothered him a great deal.

And Nye was right. I would be there every step of the way.

If you ever need me, go to the sea. I will come.

And what of Keoni? You know something you’re not telling me.

There are many points I haven’t told you, and in the future there will be many more. But heed this; even Keoni has a place in your tied fate.

Whose? Adoniia demanded immediately.

All four of you. It will be your purpose now. This is what you’ve willingly chosen. Now it’s only a matter of success.

That wasn’t what you told me my destiny was to be.

It changed because…

Of Yolie.

Nye nodded, the crash of liquid still rushing dramatically behind him. I felt like this was a very important conversation that would affect me greatly. However my lethargy was creeping deeper, gripping my intelligence in a tight hold. It was hard enough to stay awake now, especially with Keoni wrapping me in skilful healing.

The moment she took you, fate shifted for many people, but I only cared about one in this. The moment your mouths sealed over Sara’s willing blood, Keoni and you both tied your fate. You gave freely, and took in return hers for safekeeping.

Do I even want to know? I asked Loren.

I highly doubt it, my love. Welcome to the big leagues, for this is our real world, what the Council fights so hard to hide from all the new converts and young ones. They bury this part of our past and present.

Nye shot his son a sad smile, or that’s what I thought it was. The feeling of finality descended upon us.

Goodbye Father.

With a wave of Nye’s hand, everything went black. The island, Yolie and her band of slaves all faded away, and I hoped to never see them again.

We had won, but the battle was far from over.

Goodbye, my son.

Chapter Seven

The temperature of the water radically dropped. While the sun was out, it wasn’t nearly so hot. I blinked against the sunlight, to bring Keoni’s frantic brown eyes into blurry view.

Being hit with a wrecking ball would’ve been preferable to how my body felt. And something told me there wasn’t a magical cure for a first throwing a temper tantrum.

“Where are we?” Keoni asked.

Adoniia shivered violently at my side. I wasn’t the only one who’d almost died today.

I looked around and tried to get my bearings.  From here I could see English Bay, and Jericho Beach with people littered all over it. To the right was the familiar skyline of tall office buildings.

I was home.

“We’re in the Burrard Inlet.” I felt an immediate stirring in the back of my mind.

Like an opened floodgate, there was an immediate torrent of presence. It shouldn’t have surprised me that they’d known the moment I was back.

Sara?

Max?

Who else were you expecting?

Right now, a big blonde bitch named Armageddon.

Another blonde? Are you having a bad day?

Oh you have no idea, but glad to be home. Umm, there’s something though…I brought some people with me.

Max burst into laughter while he read my memories of the past twenty-four hours.

Only you baby girl would go on vacation, and bring home two sex-slaves for souvenirs.

Sorry.

Don’t be! Corrine said sharply. You only meant to help them. It’s an aspect to your personality we greatly value. There are not many who’d take the selfless risks you do to save another, especially not in this day and age.

I’m glad you agree. But what happened? Yolie got a call…

We’ll explain after we deal with your sickness. Can you manage to get here on your own? Or should I have Holly and Ryder come get you?

We can make it. Loren inserted, taking me from Keoni. “We’re going to meet Sara’s Leaders now. We have to find out about one of our friends.”

“The one who was attacked?” Adoniia asked, and pushed my hair back from my eyes when my weak hand failed to do so.

“Yes.” He answered.

Magic crackled around us. I let Loren take control to get us from the ocean, and to our Leader’s home. My head fell against his neck, and I pressed my lips against his pulse the moment everything went black again.

When the Cornwall mansion appeared in front of us, I breathed a sigh of relief to feel them in there. Against such odds, there was safety in numbers.

“Is this how you live in Canada?” Adoniia asked with amazement. He craned his neck to take in the two-story sprawling Victorian. “This is a house? How many people live in it?”

I burst out with laughter at his innocent questions. I knew then, there would be so many more of them to come.

“Not everybody does. Yes.” Loren smiled in spite of himself. “And it depends.”

“Is this where we’re going to live?” Keoni asked.

“To be honest, I don’t know where you’re going to live yet.” I admitted. “But, we’ll find somewhere.”

“We are supposed to stay with you.” Adoniia reminded me quietly. “Nye wouldn’t have said it, if it didn’t have to be done.”

“I know, hun.” I soothed. “Everything will work out.”

I started turning plans over in my mind while Loren carried me towards the house. The front door swung open in welcome, like it always had when I came here.

Surprisingly enough, I’d missed home, the familiar feels and smells. While I would also miss the constant hot sun and Bob, but there wasn’t much else to think about from Motane. Provided it didn’t follow to remind me.

“Sara.” Corrine smiled that deceptively angelic smile, one that hid a truckload of worries. And one I knew well.

Loren lowered me to my feet so I could half-stumble into her embrace. She practically cooed, happy to have me with her again. Corrine was my savoir, and would always think of her as a mother.

“Why are there naked supermodels in my foyer?”

“Oh, knew I forgot something. In Canada people wear clothes all of the time.”

“All of the time?” Adoniia repeated wickedly. Corrine chuckled.

“Well maybe not quite all, but most.” I corrected wryly.

With a lazy wave of my hand, identical black shorts and plain white tees covered their bodies. And that was it, my energy was zapped.

My love, until you’re feeling better, perhaps you should leave such matters to me.

Thanks babe.

Anytime.

Both of the men across from me glared. They shifted restlessly, and each touched the material with disdain.

“They’re itchy.” Keoni complained.

“And terribly confining.” Adoniia added with an impish smile.

“While those are very good points, you both must have clothes on while in public.” I sighed against the need to have them naked all of the time. Now that would be fun.

“We are not in public.” Keoni argued.

“It’s public enough.” I retorted, and Loren laughed.

“Not really. Isn’t public outside? Is it different here?” Adoniia asked in all innocence.

“This is going to be a regular thing, isn’t it?” I asked him.

He nodded, “Only the beginning, my love.”

“It’s illegal to walk around naked here. Do you want to go to jail for indecent exposure?” I scoffed.

“What is jail?” Adoniia asked.

“A cage of a different sort.” Keoni supplied.

“How’d you know?”

“I watch television. You don’t.”

When Adoniia began a new round of questions about jail and indecent exposure, Corrine pulled me aside.

“What happened?” I asked tiredly.

“First tell me what happened to you.” Corrine demanded softly, and pulled me toward the steps.

I could hear people upstairs in hushed whispers, and with each stride, they grew quieter. My stomach knotted when everything crashed down on me. I’d thought about it before, but now all of a sudden it made sense.

I’d almost died today. It wasn’t like every time before it on the hunts, for those hadn’t been personal.

“She was hit by a raw bolt from a first. It turned into a death spell I still can’t wrap my mind around.” Loren responded.

“Then how did you stop her?”

“I intercepted, and she wouldn’t dare harm me, not with Manuel directly at my back.” Loren said angrily.

“Oh honey.” Corrine cooed again. “Let’s get you to bed so you can rest.”

“No.” I said a little more forcefully. “What happened?”

Loren grunted his impatience. He never did that, and it told me it had to be bad.

I almost lost what matters the most to me. I do not find it beneficial to my tolerance of idiots.

Who’s an idiot?

He was in my mind and judged every reaction, but he didn’t answer me. Loren maintained the mask of cold fury, giving away nothing.

There was something big he wasn’t telling me, nor did he have any intention of doing so. I hated it when he had to go all silent guru.

Yet, he picked me up again, cradling my body like a child. He didn’t look at me while he walked up the stairs, as if he were going to his death. Each footfall felt like finality to both of us.

Corrine nibbled on her lip before she spoke, “Gene attacked Carl.”

“Why?” I looked at her over Loren’s shoulder to see her glittering purple eyes.

“Gene was determined you would’ve told Carl where you were going, and they didn’t believe Carl when he denied having the knowledge. Kenya and Gene beat the living snot out of him, too damned near death.”

“Who’s Kenya exactly?” I asked foggily, grappling with my memory.

“Oh,” Corrine muttered, “The woman…”

“The bitch Gene fucked.” Loren growled.

Both stilled and waited for me to flip out, or do anything other than what I did.

But I only stared back at them with hallow eyes. What did they expect of me? There was no emotion to feel when it came to Gene and his new toy.

I was adaptable, just needing a shove in the right direction. It never took me long to get used to something, and Gene’s absence from my life didn’t even register as a beep on the radar. Only one tiny fragment of the kaleidoscope of problems interested me.

“Is Carl okay?”

Loren growled again, but it was far worse this time. The sound rippled up his throat, and sent a shiver down my spine, reminding me how dangerous he was, and how much I liked it.

I pressed my lips against his neck, and rested my head on his shoulder. The line of his arms softened, and he ran his lips over my hair.

“He wants to speak with you.” Corrine said carefully, glancing nervously at Loren. “Alone.”

“What?”

“He won’t let us treat him…”

“Why not?” I demanded. If he was hurt, why wouldn’t he want to be healed?

He was only human!

Corrine didn’t say anything else when we rounded the corner to reveal the entire Coven standing in the hallway outside of one of the guest suites. They looked startled to not only see me, but that Loren held me. The fact I allowed it publicly would speak volumes to them.

“What the hell happened to you?” Marcus demanded, and stepped out of the crowd. His lip curled into a sneer, and looked threateningly towards Loren.

“Long story.” I answered, and his eyes grew smaller. “And it wasn’t his fault.”

It wasn’t long before my brothers were en-masse in my head. They were all pure, and this came naturally to them. There would be no rock left unturned, even though my Leaders had tried to give me a degree of privacy. But never them.

Remember that I love you.

Loren’s words sent a shiver through me. Why would he think I would ever forget that?

That’s a fact that will always be with me, babe.

Please, just don’t forget me.

Lory, tell me what’s wrong.

I will, after you talk with Carl. I will not fault you for any decision you decide to make.

I have a feeling you’re playing the martyr again. I really wish you would stop.

I probably am, and may live to regret it. You’re not completely mine yet, and I can’t make the decisions for you.

Loren…

Later, my love.

He kissed my cheek, and that feeling of finality became that much more pronounced.

Keep an eye on them.

Adoniia and Keoni will be fine, my love. I will see it so.

He walked through the open door, and didn’t even look at Carl until he placed me in the chair beside the bed, pushing it back a foot or so away from him. And I didn’t miss the murderous glare before he left, shutting the door without a word.

I was having trouble thinking still, having no idea what this meant. I turned to Carl, who stared at the closed door with distraught fear laced with satisfaction.

Had Loren chosen to say something to him about my current health? I wouldn’t put it past him.

Carl’s features were terribly gaunt, skin a sickly pale that I was sure mine mirrored. We both looked like we were on our deathbed.

“Hi.”

“Hey.” He said with a distinct rasp that hurt to hear. How could he be such an idiot for waiting? What was the purpose to this?

“Now what’s this stuff about not letting Max and Corrine heal you?”

“I wanted to become a vampire.” He said slowly, as if it caused him pain to speak.

His thoughts flooded my vision when he purposely projected to me. The sequence of memories focused on him being attacked; Gene’s enraged face and Kenya whispering in his ear, influencing him.

The final blow was how much blood there’d been, and the vicious wounds to Carl’s jugular that’d damned near killed him.

Corrine must’ve healed his neck. I would’ve hated to see him before she’d helped him.

“Did they say no?”

My stomach rolled the same moment the dizziness exploded. I would have to lie down soon, or risk passing out against my will. But, there wouldn’t be any rest until it was definite that my friend would be alive when I woke up.

It really didn’t look good.

“They would do it.” He said softly. “But, I wanted you to do it.”

An unforeseen alarm went off deep in my mind.

“Why?”

“Because.” He replied nervously.

I wished to see everything inside of his head, but there were only confusing flashes. Gene’s fangs biting, the blonde slamming Carl against the wall, demanding to know where I was. But there was something else vital, and I couldn’t quite grasp it.

Anger filled me at the bone-deep fear they’d inspired in him for nothing. He was terrified of them coming back, not that I could blame him.

My fault, my fault…

Of course Carl becoming a vampire would be the most logical option. I was the one who’d gotten him into this mess, to put him in his deathbed.

And I would be the one to take him back off the waiting funeral pyre.

Carl never would’ve been attacked if it weren’t for me. If I hadn’t ran for the hills like the coward I now thought myself to be…

He was wasting away before my eyes…Did he really look worse than when I’d entered, or was I just imagining it? The quietly ticking grandfather in the corner became louder with each passing instant, pounding the issue with more urgency.

The reason didn’t matter to me. I would do this for him.

Max?

Yes Baby girl?

Carl wants me to convert him.

Is this something you want?

My brothers, Loren and Max all stilled in my mind, waiting. None of them reacted like I thought they would. All of them were normally so opinionated, but in this they wouldn’t interfere.

It was what my friend wanted from me. If they thought I would make any other decision…

He deserves this.

Then so be it.

“Okay Carl, but you should’ve let Corrine do this. You could’ve died waiting for me.” I reprimanded harshly.

“Corrine would’ve never allowed that, trust me.” Carl grimaced. “I knew you’d come home once you found out. Are you really going to do this?”

I nodded my consent, which was a mistake in hindsight. Swallowing thickly, I forced the induced nausea away.

My Curse stirred beneath my skin and melded with my mind at the thought of blood. It was hungry, but that wasn’t new. The essence always was.

I was suddenly very aware of every beat of his compelling pulse, remembering how sweet he tasted, and how very vulnerable.

I gripped the corner of the mattress to haul my body over, and collapsed onto the bed, the need driving me onward now.

Don’t you dare give him your blood. Loren snarled.

Why not?

There was a long moment of silence before he responded.

Call it a request, please. He pleaded, much more subdued than before.

We didn’t have to give blood for the conversion to work, so it wasn’t a crucial concession. Plus I was too young for it to make much difference to this human anyways.

I pulled myself up to his neck, and that pleasurable spark lit in his eyes. This was his fetish, what he craved, but it seemed so inappropriate in that moment.

When Carl’s pulse beat just centimetres from my lips, my mouth watered. I knew my pupils were dilated, and his eyes widened to see them.

The Curse tried to take command from my hands, but I refused to let it. With having imperfect control when conditions were ideal, it would make this so much harder to not outright kill him, and finish off what Gene had started.

I bit through his skin for the second time ever, to feel his hot blood rush over my tongue like an eager lover. Even with the strange lethargy, my mind merged with his as it were meant to. I could better see what he thought about, but at first it didn’t make any sense at all.

It didn’t take very long for me to hear his heart began to beat intermittently, and then slow dramatically. When it stuttered, I knew his end was near.

In his weakness, I saw what he’d tried so hard to conceal from me. Loren’s attitude made too much sense when I studied Carl’s emotions with growing horror.

I love you, Sara.

Those were Carl’s last words, and were finalized by a brutalized roar of anguish and rage from the other side of the door.

The windows rattled, and power rent the atmosphere. Loren’s total loss of control in front of so many killed something inside of me, even though I didn’t think there was anything left to die.

Once again, Loren had known before I did. And he hadn’t interfered. He still believed I would rather choose another over him, and that pissed me off beyond belief.

Surely not all men I knew were idiots. While I’d seen Max and Marcus do very stupid things with the best of intentions, they were so much smarter than this.

Gene, Loren…and now Carl.

And then again, I knew why he’d done this.

Loren had given Carl his chance, and in the final moment he had finally broken under the pressure for his decision to play martyr.

It still baffled me that I meant that much to him.

And something else did as well; just what made Carl different than my two new appendages we’d acquired?  This was the only explosion of raw anger at any point today, and there’d been a few. Not even when coming to my defence, had he showed this kind of passion.

They don’t have any desire to take you from me.

I don’t want to be taken from you.

The pressure was staggering, and it was only a very short matter of time before I shattered under it. My silver-lining to all of this confusion was feeling physically better for the blood I’d taken. Other than that, I felt like absolute shit.

I fell off of the bed in lieu of getting down gracefully, but eventually made it to the door. Gripping the knob, I hauled my body up, only to wait until the world righted itself around me before opening it.

Corrine stood alone, and I knew she’d sent the Coven away, though it hurt to see that Loren hadn’t waited for me. I couldn’t even feel him in my head anymore, and I mourned it.

“Where’d he go?”

“Downstairs with the others.” Corrine sighed.

“He’s mad at me, isn’t he?”

“No.” She shook her head. “I don’t think you could accomplish that even if you tried. He is too careful, if you ask me.”

“What am I going to do?”

“I’d imagine talking to him.” Corrine said with a wry smile. “And what do you plan to do with the two supermodels?”

“I don’t know yet. They need to begin registration here, and that would be the most important right now to seal their fate, in case Yolie decides to come for them. It was sort of a quick decision, and wasn’t thought out very thoroughly. But I have to stay with them, to make sure the know how to survive here.” The words tumbled out of my mouth in a rush to say everything that needed to be said before I really did pass out.

I shook my head to clear it, bracing my hand on the wall.

“You know they have a place here.” Corrine offered cautiously.

“For real?”

“Of course.” Corrine nodded, but then her head jerked up at a crash coming from outside. “Damn it. Trouble, again.”

I groaned, “What now?”

“The real question is; do you really want to know?”

Well, when she put it like that…

“Not really.”

I followed her down the stairs, but I had no chance of keeping up with her yet, clinging to the banister to prevent falling down them. She waited at the bottom for me to catch up before continuing, knowing not to help unless I asked for it.

“To hell with you!”

I knew exactly who it was, and hearing that voice made my skin crawl

“I told you to get the bitch off the property, now.” Loren growled.

My heart just stopped in my chest. There were only two bitches he could possibly be referring to, and Yolie wasn’t here. I would’ve felt it.

“Don’t fucking tell me what to do on my own turf, asshole. Get back to Surrey where you belong.” Gene thundered.

I didn’t hesitate when stumbling through the door to reveal the whole Coven spread out in a semicircle around the yard. Several heads turned towards me with a wide mix of emotion on their faces. Some silently implored me to do something, and some just glared malevolently at me.

I didn’t need to know what they were thinking to see…Here Sara is, with more trouble. Would it never end?

Gene and Kenya stood together across from Loren, who looked remarkably composed from the horrific sounds he made. The only sign was his clenched shoulders. He was fighting himself, and it was a losing battle.

He had wanted to kill Gene for some time now, and this wouldn’t help his skidding self-control. No one would’ve objected, but the Council for the murder of a registered member. There was a vague possibly our Leaders would make a token effort.

When Gene’s enraged eyes slid to me, they changed completely. His mouth opened to say something, but those words never reached my ears.

Loren leapt from his post, to block me from his opponent’s view. The rippling snarls bursting from his throat actually calmed and centred me in a way nothing else could have.

Shhh, baby.

I came to a rest at his back, and knew every pair of eyes in the yard was focused on me. I saw my brothers out of the corner of my eye, and they would take their cue from me. It was our code. My fight, until I needed them.

“Loren?”

My hand ran up his back, and anxious muscles stilled under the touch. I pressed against him, placing my hands on his hips. In this state, there wouldn’t be much that would calm him, but I hoped this would.

“Yes?” He snapped back.

“It’s okay, I promise. Do you want to go home?”

“After I kill him.”

“Sara?” Gene rounded to the right, but Loren countered that and forced me to move with him. “Come here.”

“Loren?” I repeated, and ignored Gene. “Please?”

“Don’t you dare beg him!” Gene barked, eyes glowing red with malice. “You’re mine woman, and you better get over here where you belong.”

“Don’t you think she’d have come to you by now, if she wanted you back?” Marcus muttered.

“He’d need two balls and a brain for that to happen.” Kevlar snorted.

Holly and Ryder stood with utter stillness on either side of him, watching the proceedings with care, but saying nothing.

Holly’s consciousness filled mine, Ignore him. Kenya has been feeding him poison the likes you cannot conceive, but even now his obsession with you has grows worse.

Oh good. Not.

“Gene leave,” Corrine commanded, “now. This is unforgivable.”

“Leave the whore.” Kenya sneered. “Why are we still wasting time on her? She’s nothing but trash.”

My fingers clawed against my will, and I had to move my hands away from Loren, lest I scrap his skin. His hand snapped out to take my wrist.

My lip curled in her direction, and she looked defiantly back at me.

“Shut up.” Gene said with no emotion. His eyes were all for me, like she didn’t exist. This really didn’t please her very much.

It just disgusted me.

While nothing about them changed, my brothers waited with growing concern, amazed that I hadn’t taken action yet, and allowed Loren to stop me when I would’ve. I couldn’t go off half-cocked anymore, not with so much depending on me now. Two foreign vampires, a human convert…

I had to keep my head about me.

“Worthless trash.” Kenya muttered under her breath. Gene shot her another lethal glare, but she took no notice of it.

My fangs extended against my better judgement. My nails bit into my palms while I tried to get a grip on myself, wanting her blood in the worst way, even more than her death.

“Sara.” Max called. My feeble restraints were going to snap, but I waited impatiently for him to tell me to knock it off. “Go for it.”

I blinked. Was he giving me permission?

Corrine nodded her confirmation, “Give her what she gave your converts. Carl who cannot possibly protect himself from her, and Gene who is too stupid to. This is your right, to do what you will. Avenge the young-one in his absence. It is the law of our kind.”

My mouth hung open, and I somehow remembered to close it.

“My love, have fun.” Loren leaned down to kiss my cheek, but I deliberately turned my head, growling when my lips met his.

Gene instantly leapt forward, but really should’ve known better. He would not interfere. My power enfolded him, preventing his every movement while Loren took control of my mouth.

His kiss was seared with desperation that was both thrilling and saddening. Would he ever learn I didn’t want to leave him?

When I turned to Gene, it was with expressionless eyes.

“Short memory, puppet.”

“I love you.” Loren whispered in my ear.

“I know.”

Kenya watched Gene’s prone form with distaste dripping from her doll-like face that concealed an amateur predator. She was no match for me on a bad day, which this was.

For both of us.

My body dissolved, to then appear in front of her. She started violently. Fun, she hadn’t learned teleportation yet.

“Now, what do you have to say to me?”

“Whore.” She repeated with a little less confidence.

Wow, either her bleach had finally worked its way into her brain, or Gene had never taken the time to warn her about me. It was such a pity.

“Yea, you said that already. Hey Marcus, is it difficult for blondes to think about more than one thing at a time?” I called behind my shoulder, and he laughed.

“I normally don’t have that problem, but it appears I’m the solo case at this festival.”

Corrine laughed, “I take offence to that.”

“You take offence to everything.” Max replied drily.

“Very true.”

“Shut up!” Kenya snapped at them. All of us gaped at her stupidly when she wheeled on me. “You ran away! Like, how pathetic is that, if you’re his Maker and all. You couldn’t even stay here and fight for your man.”

She looked down at me. It wasn’t hard since I was short, and in bare feet. Normally I either wore heels or high combat boots, lending me inches. But nothing about today was regular for me.

“He isn’t mine anymore.”

“Yea, he’s mine now. At least he’s gained…taste.” She sneered.

I didn’t care about her ramblings, for they didn’t bother me in the least. It was her sly mind that was so determined to win this, whatever this was for her.

There was no reason in her pretty little head to give me a reason for why she pursued this, other than boredom. As I suspected since I saw her across the room for the first time, she was a selfish cold bitch.

She controlled Gene, and he really didn’t care. His only goal was to take me from Loren, though she couldn’t read that. Their complex, yet inanely simple relationship was…

Pathetic. Both of these preposterously egotistical fledglings do not deserve to live among us. We really need to start regulating who turns.

Baby, that’s your old man talking again.

His resulting laughter warmed my icy heart and mind, the most sought after sound in my world.

My hand wrapped around Kenya’s throat to throw her back against the brick pillars of the wrought iron fence. The structure shook from the force, and the bushes scrapped her perfect skin when I shoved her practically inside of them.

The impact had cut the back of her head, bringing the scent of blood to fill my nostrils. Several pairs of eyes zeroed in on her, muscles tensed and ready to strike.

She feared me, but it hadn’t turned to terror yet. And I really wanted that from her. Stopping just wasn’t a viable option. It was time she learned a lesson from the leagues she wanted to join.

Maybe, and I doubted it very much, she would gain some insight from this, if she lived.

“I should just kill you now.” I said in a conversational voice. All she had to do was look into my eyes to know she couldn’t come up against me and win.

At least if she were smart, which certainly didn’t seem to be the case.

“Go fuck yourself. You can’t do anything to me.”

“Did Gene tell you that?”

“Of course, and my maker.” The haughty little bitch replied. “I think she knows a lot more than you do.”

“Is that your final answer?” My fingernails lengthened, biting into her flesh until blood welled beautifully, to run in rivulets down her chest. Oh, that hurt.

Good.

She winced; not a lover of pain as so many of our fellows. And I’d just started giving her a lesson she wouldn’t likely ever forget, if she survived it. Unlike most, I did like to play with my food, if they deserved it.

She did. Or that was my way of thinking.

Dragging my extended nails across her flesh to widen the wounds when she struggled, I leaned in close and stood on my tiptoes.

“I’ll feed you to my Coven.” I whispered. “We think young-bloods like you are a delicacy. And when one of you fuck up, we are given la’ carte blanche to tear you apart, piece by grisly piece. And here I have two new charges that haven’t fed very well in a long time. I really don’t think you can fully appreciate the word dinner, until you become it. Don’t you think?”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Oh, wouldn’t I?”

And there was that level of terror I painstakingly sought. Yet, it wasn’t enough. This had been a bad day, and I was about to make hers that much worse.

Suddenly I felt them behind me, all three of them to be exact. Loren stood directly at my back to stare over my shoulder, with Adoniia to my right and Keoni to my left. A chillingly deep thrill went through me, a desire for bloodshed and sex in equal measure.

“This woman has caused you pain. You came to our island to get away from it.” Adoniia said as if to almost explain this display to himself. “Sara, you’re right. I am hungry. Let me eat her. Please?”

“I want the leg, very tender meat there.” Keoni said with dark humour.

The resulting look on her face was totally priceless. I just wasn’t big and scary enough, but my entourage was.

“But you can’t.” She said a little shakily.

“She’s so blasted whiney! You can’t do this, can’t do that blah, blah, blah. What does Gene see in you anyways?” I cocked my head to one side, and let her see her death there. “Am I this whiney?”

“To the first, personally I have no idea. Secondly, not on your worst day.” Loren replied levelly.

I honestly didn’t know how long we were watched, but I was suddenly aware of someone who hadn’t been there before.

The mysterious man stood on the other side of the fence, staring right at me. He had a commanding air around him, soaked with Council power. On sight, I knew him to be a Leader, but not from around here.

He wasn’t from the Foxworth’s or the Jericho’s.  The Callows Coven were all dead…

“Hello, Sara.”

“Hello.” I replied respectfully.

“Sam?” Max called, and walked closer. At least one of us knew him.

My brothers beat Loren to filling my mind with the missing facts, and what they said didn’t make me feel any better. Sam was from one of the Covens up in the interior, one of the less than social groupings.

“Hello Maximus. I’ve come to ask your member for a favour.” Sam replied in greeting, and then turned back to me. “Sara, I know she’s a little out on control, but I beg that you spare her life. She’s a disrespectful wrench, but I ask this of you anyways, even if I have no right to do so.”

The fact alone that he’d asked sent me into rare speechlessness. He hadn’t requested this of Max, but me.

“If you think so, then why?” I demanded. My claws tightened into her jugular to further prove my point.

It caught Sam’s attention, and his eyes dilated. By his expression, he really didn’t like her. Good. We agreed on something.

“My sister made her, and wants her to come home. Kenya is young and doesn’t understand our ways yet. She hasn’t made the acknowledged effort you have. Let me take her away from here, and I promise she won’t bother you any more.” Sam said sincerely.

I opened my mouth to respond, but nothing came out. It wasn’t like dealing with an everyday vampire. To deny him this, might make an enemy for my people I really shouldn’t be making.

“Well my love, does your personal brand of mercy extend to such a woman, or to the one who holds her leash?” Loren asked, far more reasonably than I.

“Never to her,” There were gasps around me at my words. Of course they’d think I would kill her anyways, “and only to Sam.”

“So you’ll release her then?” Loren clarified.

I nodded, and stepped away with my fingers dripping with blood. I would make a concession this time.

But it certainly wouldn’t become a habit.

“Thank you, Sara. I honestly didn’t expect you to be so sensible. Not after all I’ve heard.” Sam said formally, but his eyes darkened when they moved over the whimpering girl. “You have my alliance, and if you ever need it, please don’t hesitate to call me.”

That’s a big thing, my love.

By the looks of my men, it really was.

“Thank you.” I said quickly, to both of them. What else was there to do?

Sam nodded, and walked through the opened gate to take a tearful and bloody Kenya roughly by the arm, drawing her away from me.

Even though I didn’t want to release Gene, the possibility of keeping him this way took its toll on me. He sagged with relief, shaking himself like a wet dog, not hiding the fact that he didn’t like anything to do with these proceedings.

Too bad.

“Sara.” Gene called quietly, almost begging now.

I held my hand up, and stared at him from across the yard.

“Don’t even. I need to sleep, and that’s where I’ll be going. Anything else can wait.”

“Use the guestroom to the back of the house, so you’re not disturbed.” Corrine said in a hard voice.

“Okay.” I agreed readily. “Cor, if I’m not there when Carl wakes…”

“We’ll make sure he’s fed, little one.” Marcus promised. “I will not let anything further happen to him.”

“Sleep well, baby girl. As usual, clean up is all mine.” Max ruffled my hair. “Yay.”

“Ah ha!” I grinned in triumph. “Knew I’d have you saying that in no time.”

Max chuckled.

I was silently amazed when Loren, Adoniia and Keoni followed me up to the second floor. We walked up the stairs and down the hallways in exhausted silence.

The moment the door closed Loren turned me around roughly, his lips crushed down on mine.

Keoni knelt beside us, to tug on my stiffly dried shorts, while Adoniia rolled my shirt up. Loren lifted his head to allow them to strip my body, only to come back to me the moment they were done.

Keoni’s hands gently parted my thighs, and brought his warm tongue to my mound, and circled my entrance teasingly. When his lips closed and sucked, my hips arched helplessly.

Adoniia reached for my breasts from behind, to run his fingers over my nipples. When my legs finally gave, Loren growled impatiently, picking me up and carrying me to bed.

We fell onto the sheets together, and they pressed me back against the mattress.

“You’re understandably tired, so just lay there and let us play.” Loren said with wicked delight.

“But, I want…”

“When you’re rested, we can do anything you want.” Adoniia whispered in my ear, running his tongue my up lobe.

He cupped one breast with his hand, wrapping one leg around mine to pull it between his, tucking his throbbing cock against it.

“I want to fuck you.” I growled without thinking, and then bit my lip in retrospect.

How could I say something like that with two prime men right there?

Loren chuckled, “That isn’t a bad thing, my love. I promise all of us need to be inside of you.”

I stifled an unwilling yawn. My eyes closed, and then opened to see Keoni’s bright brown eyes searing me from between my legs.

“I want to watch Adoniia screw you. Last time he didn’t get his chance.” He admitted hoarsely.

My breath slammed out of my lungs, while watching Loren move to the head of the bed. Keoni lifted my upper body up so he could slip under my back and his body could cradle me. They didn’t say anything while they shifted positions.

Their clothes melted from their bodies, and I was transfixed. Blood pounded in my ears as Adoniia rolled over me, the stark desire so raw on his face.

“I need you to be inside of me.”

“Not nearly as much as I do.” Adoniia’s body blanketed mine with a sly grin on that perfect mouth.

Keoni moved to my left, and wrapped his fingers around his cock. I reached out to cover it with my hand, when Adoniia’s hips surged forward. My mouth fell open when his power began to leak through my mind, to race over my body the moment he was in to the hilt.

While we stroked Keoni’s thick girth, a small pleased smile flitted across his lips.

Loren swelled and pulsed distractingly at the small of my back. His hands massaged my breasts, pulling gently on my nipples.

There was just too much happening, and I didn’t want to miss anything. Yet it was impossible to pay attention to everything at once.

Adoniia’s power stroked me deep inside, and I shrieked. My hips picked up the rhythm of their own accord, needing him harder and faster. His hands closed on my hips to still them, slamming into me deliciously. He knew exactly how I wanted it.

But then again, he did.

Keoni moaned when he thickened in our hands, distracting me again. My head fell back to watch him, and he bent to kiss me. His tongue rolled deliciously with mine, free hand wrapped firmly in my hair as he masterfully stunned me.

The orgasm blew me apart, the electricity far more than I could stand. Adoniia groaned roughly when he came, his ropes of muscles hardened against my flesh.

I pulled myself over, and closed my mouth on Keoni just in time to taste the first spurt. He shuddered violently at the feel of me there, emptying himself at the back of my throat. Oh yes, I was so going to do this again.

When we finally lay in a semi-comfortable, ragged heap, Keoni stirred underneath me.

“Sara?” Keoni asked.

“Yea hun?”

“We’re going to be okay, aren’t we?”

“Of course we will be.” I patted the closest portion of him I could reach from the tangle, to comfort his worries, and my own.

But I would make damned sure nothing went wrong, no matter what.

I’ll be here to make certain that happens, my love.

I blinked back tired tears that crept up in the aftermath. But Loren was with me. Everything would be fine.

We have each other. Adoniia whispered.

That would be enough. We could make this work.

Couldn’t we?