Ironic Sacrifice Page 6
His expression softened slightly as he looked at her. “It’s not something best discussed with a female.” He raised a sardonic brow at her, unable to resist a taunt. “Not that you resemble such a creature at the moment.”
Akasha looked down at her grimy coveralls and attempted to wipe a smudge of oil from her cheek, missing it completely. “Dude, I just got home from work so it’s not like I’d be wearing something pink and frilly.” She leaned forward and met his gaze, completely undaunted with his vexation. “So Jayden cock-blocked you, then?” she asked.
The vulgar term made him choke on his smoke. When he had his coughing under control he met her gaze again. “Your command of the vernacular never ceases to amaze me, little one.” Then the meaning of her words appeared to sink in. “How did you reach that conclusion?”
She favored him with a mocking grin and took a deep drink of her beer. “I thought this wasn’t a ‘subject for females,’ despite the fact that I'm pretty sure the subject is a female.”
“Don’t try my patience tonight, woman,” Razvan growled.
To his obvious ire, her amusement only increased. “But it’s so fun!”
He sighed. “You women are all mad with your silly games. Now would you please tell me how you know that Jayden, ah, my pet, was unreceptive to my advances this evening?”
Akasha’s eyes widened at the slip. “You see her as a person, don’t you? It goes beyond her powers and her attempt at suicide. You actually care about her.” She polished off her beer and grabbed another from the mini fridge under the end table. “And apparently you didn’t rape her.”
“Rape her?” Razvan nearly spluttered in disbelief. “What in God’s name are you talking about?” Akasha’s attention was suddenly unduly focused on the fireplace. “Well?”
Her gaze crept back to his. “I had a talk with Jayden when you first brought her to my shop. I needed to confirm that she was with you willingly,” she said quickly. “And well, she let it slip that you…um…did her, and that she didn’t exactly say yes, but she didn’t say no either…and, well you made such a big deal about her being ‘your pet’ and ‘owning’ her life that I thought—”
“You thought I would rape her?” Razvan’s voice was low and dangerous. “Do you truly believe that I would do something so despicable?”
“Well,” Akasha said, studying the carpet. “You are kinda a prick.”
He ignored her. “And I suppose that Jayden is under the same misapprehension…Damn it!” The coffee table shuddered under his fist before he stood up and strode out of the room, the tails of his silk shirt flapping ominously.
“Holy shit,” Akasha breathed to the empty room. “I think that son of a bitch is falling in love.” She chuckled and lit a cigarette. “And the poor bastard doesn’t even know it.”
***
Jayden jerked the covers to her chin as the door opened. Razvan flicked on the light and regarded her with a terrifying sneer. “Must you cower like a frightened rabbit? If I’d wanted to hurt you, my fangs would have been buried in your throat seconds ago.”
“Oh, that’s reassuring,” she snapped before she could stop herself.
Razvan’s eyes glowed like banked coals. Every step he took towards her was rife with impending violence. Jayden’s eyes darted around searching for escape, or at least a weapon. She found none and was filled with impotent anger at her helplessness.
“What did I do?” she asked, sounding like a little girl and hating herself for it.
He stopped at the foot of the bed, looking way taller than he really was. “I understand that Akasha gave you the impression that I would force ah…my affections on you.”
Her cheeks flamed at his words even as relief surged through her that his anger was not directed on her…or was it?
“I know now that you won’t,” she said.
The vampire’s eyes narrowed. “You would have known if you had simply asked me, rather than playing a silly game.”
“I didn’t know that I could ask you!” Jayden protested, tossing the sheet away in frustration. “I don’t know how to act around you. I don’t know anything about you besides that you’re an ancient bloodsucker. I don’t know what’s going to happen to me!” She got up from the bed to face him. “Do you?”
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, avoiding her gaze. “Well, you are going to learn to control your powers…”
“And then what?” she demanded, ire creeping back into her voice.
“I do not know.” His tone was unreadable.
A bitter laugh escaped her lips as she stalked forward. “You don’t know either. That’s just great. Well, what about now, then?”
He raised a brow. “What do you mean?”
Jayden’s head was spinning with desperation. “What am I now? Am I your slave, your snack, your girlfriend, or a burden you feel responsible for?” She stopped in touching distance of the vampire. Her spine tingled at the proximity, but she resisted the temptation to step backward.
Razvan’s eyes had stopped their eerie glow and he looked uncomfortable. “Must we have a specific label?”
Jayden fought back a groan. He may be centuries old, but he still sounded like a typical man. “I need to know where I stand. Not knowing is driving me crazy.”
He sat down on the bed hard enough to make the headboard smack the wall. “I haven’t been with a human woman in centuries. The rules have changed a lot since, although I suppose it wasn’t any easier then. Vampire females don’t seem to need so many words.”
She nodded, reassured a little by his clumsy apology. Still, jealousy surged up in her at the mention of other women, especially the vampire women. Surely they were better lovers, with all those years of practice.
“I’m just so confused,” she whispered. “I don’t know what to do.”
He took her hand and gently pulled her down to sit beside him. His fingers caressed her wrist. Jayden gasped, amazed at the intensity of such a soft touch. The strap of her nightgown slipped off her shoulder and he eyed her bare flesh like she was a prized treasure.
“What you can do, Jayden,” he leaned in to whisper, “is stop your worrying and just enjoy things as they are.” His other hand stroked her back in a soothing motion, even as his lips at her ear tantalized her. “Let me pleasure you, I can smell your arousal just as I did the other night. You wanted it then, and I know you want it now.”
“That was different,” she protested weakly. Every nerve ending on her body tingled.
“How is it different?” Razvan’s voice was like rich chocolate. His tongue flicked over her neck and she gasped in pleasure.
“Be-because,” she stammered, trying to regain her senses, “I thought I was going to die that night and I wanted to go out with pleasure.”
Razvan’s lips trailed up and down her neck and shoulder, making her weak with desire. “You want pleasure now.”
He made a very good argument. His teeth grazed her neck and she moaned.
“Please, Jayden, may I make love to you?”
“Yes…” The word escaped her lips a second before Razvan claimed them in a mind-bending kiss. They sank down onto the bed. His weight on top of her was filled with promise. She buried her hands in his hair, reveling in its texture and subtle spicy scent.
After what felt like a blissful eternity, the kiss ended. He gazed down at her with fathomless black eyes, and she was struck by his dark beauty.
“May I taste you, Jayden?” His deep voice rumbled through her body, making her tremble beneath him.
“Yes,” she whispered and turned her head to the side, exposing her neck. His weight lifted from her and she closed her eyes, preparing for the strike of his fangs.
That wasn’t what he meant, she realized as she felt his hands gripping the bottom of her nightgown, hiking the fabric up. He cupped her ass in his hands as he kissed the insides of her thighs. She cried out when he kissed her through her thin satin panties. Her core seemed to throb in excitement and he hadn’t ev
en begun. Slowly his fingers grasped the cloth, sliding it down. Jayden gasped as cool air caressed her moist heated flesh. Then his tongue flicked across her clit and she bit back a scream at the powerful sensation.
Jayden gripped the blankets like a lifeline as her hips writhed beneath Razvan’s mouth of their own accord. His tongue worked dark magic on her flesh, sending her into spasms of ecstasy.
“Mmmm, you are delicious.” The vibration of his voice broke the tenuous hold on her senses.
The climax rushed through her, tearing a scream from her throat. It was too intense. She squirmed to get away, but he held her hips firmly as his mouth continued to ravage her and wave after wave of orgasm roared through her being.
“Please,” she gasped, not knowing what she was asking. “Please.”
He pulled away and she whimpered with mingled relief and sorrow. Her breath came in heaving gasps as she struggled to regain her awareness. She paid little attention to the noise of rustling fabric until she heard the unmistakable sound of a zipper. Jayden’s eyes snapped open and she was treated to the glorious sight of his naked body before he gripped her thighs and entered her in one smooth slow thrust.
The aftershock of the orgasm was still upon her and she could feel herself pulsating around him. From the awed look on his face, he could feel it too. His hands slid up her hips, across her stomach, and up her torso before he gripped her and pulled her up towards him.
“Wrap your legs around me,” he whispered.
Though her limbs were weak and trembling, she managed to comply. He held her in his arms tenderly as he thrust inside her hard. The contrast drove her insane with lust and her hips bucked against his, matching the furious rhythm.
Jayden leaned in to kiss him and her eyes widened as she saw his bared fangs and the feral look in his eyes.
“Do it,” she cried, tossing her hair back.
His fangs plunged into her throat the same moment another climax hit. She screamed and clung to him for dear life, afraid the intense pleasure would send her hurtling from her body never to return. Razvan continued to feed as she felt him spasm inside her, drawing the shock waves out until she collapsed in his arms.
“Are you all right?” he asked softly.
“Mmm hmmm,” she managed.
Razvan chuckled and lay down, not releasing her from his embrace. He stroked her hair and back until the tremors ceased.
Never before had she had a more attentive lover…or one that she knew almost nothing about. She thought about his sexy accent. That was as good a place to start as any.
“Razvan?” she began.
His eyes slowly opened. “Yes?”
“Where are you from?” She hoped the question wasn’t to forward.
He released her and propped up on his elbow. “You will laugh.”
She frowned, confused at his response, and indelibly curious. “No, I won’t, I promise!”
He sighed. “I was born and brought up in a village in a land that was once considered part of the Hungarian empire, but is now part of Romania.” At her blank expression, he added, “Transylvania.”
She took a deep breath to hold back a startled giggle. “You’re kidding. Transylvania? That’s where all the vampire stories come from.”
“There have always been vampires everywhere.” His stern frown seemed to dare her to contradict him.
“Hey, I didn’t laugh.” Still, she couldn’t keep from smiling at the irony. “I wonder why so many vampire legends came from there.”
His frown deepened in irritation with the subject. “One can only imagine.”
“Akasha said you have a brother…” she ventured again hoping she wasn’t toeing the line of propriety.
Naked pain slashed across his sinister features. Jayden swallowed in fear that she had angered him.
Razvan took a deep breath and released it in a long sigh before he replied, “Yes. His name is Radu. We are twins. I haven’t seen him since our mother and father were killed.”
“I’m sorry for the loss,” she placed her hand tentatively on his. “How did they die?”
“The villagers set our castle aflame one morning. I do not know if the flames or the sun got to them first.” He closed his eyes as if in remembrance. “I wasn’t there. Radu and I had fought.”
She longed to ask about the fight, but the shame and sorrow on his face made her hesitant to prod. But she doubted she could hold back her questions for long. His story was more intriguing than she imagined. Twin vampires living in an ancient Romanian castle, vampire parents slain by angry villagers… A thought struck her. If his parents had been vampires, then…“Wait a minute, vampires can reproduce?” she blurted.
He shook his head, “No, we were adopted. Do not worry, Jayden, I cannot impregnate you.”
“Why would a vampire want to adopt children?” This conversation was growing more fascinating by the second.
“Our father, Alexandru Nicolae, was Voivode, lord of our ţări, or what you would call a village.” Razvan’s gaze grew distant in remembrance over unfathomable centuries. “The people knew what he was and often provided him with sacrifices. If the humans they offered were indeed terrible criminals, he would kill them, but often the crimes were either small or imagined. In that case, he would feed and then release them with riches, except for my mother. Crina was sacrificed to Alexandru by her own husband. She had suffered a fourth miscarriage and the bastard accused her of witchcraft.” His lip curled in derision. “She wanted children very much.
Admiration shone in his eyes. “She wanted to be a mother so much, in fact, that when the Voivode fell in love with her gentle beauty, she refused to become his consort because he couldn’t give her children. Father was not a man to allow anything to keep him from his desires, so he scoured the village in search of a child for his lady.”
Jayden leaned forward, absorbed in his tale.
“One night,” the vampire continued, “Alexandru came across a peasant hut in which a woman was giving birth to twins. The couple was very poor and had five children already, so they did what many in that situation used to do. While the firstborn fed at his mother’s breast, the husband took the second born out of the hut and into the woods to abandon it to the elements. I would have died if the Voivode had not taken me.” Before Jayden could form her astonished reply, Razvan added, “Alexandru then decided to take Radu as well. He left a fortune in gold in the empty cradle. When our new father brought us to the castle, cradled in each arm and with a wet nurse trailing behind, Crina was overjoyed and she agreed to let him Change her.”
“Wow,” Jayden said, flinching at the lame response, but unable to do better at the moment. “What was it like, being raised by vampires?”
Razvan smiled, “Besides being on a predominately nocturnal schedule so that our mother was able to dote on us, I would say that our upbringing was the same as that of any child in the nobility. We had the best of everything, fine clothes, skilled tutors, and anything we could ever desire. In fact, I believe that we were luckier than many noble children in that we had each other for companionship, while they were often raised in solitude.”
He yawned, the gleaming fangs in his gaping mouth gave her a start; hitting home the reminder that she was sharing a bed with a predator, not a normal man. “I believe you must rest now. You have your training tomorrow and I have business in my city to attend to.”
He rolled over and turned off the lamp without so much as a kiss goodnight.
Jayden lay in the bed and stared up at the darkness, marveling at the enigma that slept next to her. She had learned so much about him this night. He was Romanian, his brother’s name was Radu and their last name was Nicolae. She suppressed a bitter chuckle that she’d slept with a man without knowing his last name. There was a country song about that out there, she thought sleepily.
The bedside clock read six A.M in a soft green glow. It was past dawn yet Razvan’s soft breathing was still audible. Now she also knew that vampires did not turn into co
rpses during the day. Jayden sighed. Still, there was so much she did not know about him. One minute he was generous and tender, the next he was sinister and secretive. And what about his brother?
Akasha said that he used psychics to try to find him, but he still hadn’t asked her to try, even when she brought it up.
What would happen if I did find him? Jayden closed her eyes and imagined Razvan’s sardonic features soften into joyous gratitude…perhaps even love. Yes, love, she admitted to herself. This mysterious man who had turned her world upside-down while simultaneously offering her shelter and pleasure had woven his spell around her. She was helpless to resist. Now in the cool hush of morning she recognized that her earlier outburst had resulted in panic that he’d leave her once Silas had finished her training. But if she succeeded where all others had failed, if she actually found Radu, then surely Razvan would not give her up.
She imagined his cold, cynical visage softening into joy. She imagined two brothers embracing for the first time in centuries.
I will do it, she decided. Her mind raced as she pondered the risks and possibilities of using her powers intentionally for the first time.
Chapter Eight
After an hour of futility in their practice sessions, Silas could tell that Jayden was preoccupied. “What is the matter, lass?” he asked carefully.
She sighed before beginning. “Silas?”
“Yes, Jayden?” Silas hid a smile of amusement at the woman’s hesitant tone.
“When Razvan um, requested your help in finding Radu, how exactly did you go about it?” She looked down at her toes.
“Ah, so he’s enlisting your aid now, is he?” He raised a brow. “I thought he’d given up.”
“He hasn’t asked me,” she said quickly, blushing strawberries and cream. “I just wanted to…that is, I thought I could…”
“Help him?” the vampire prodded gently. It was obvious the poor lass was infatuated with his maker. A wave of pity engulfed him. Though she was taller than his wife, Jayden was a timid little mouse compared to Akasha. He was not at all certain if she would be able to stand up to Razvan’s bouts of cruelty or withstand his mind games.