Later that Aya came running into the room waving a magazine excitedly. “I knew I’d see that man Damon before.” When she was out buying herself a new dress for this evening’s party she passed a magazine stand and a familiar face caught her attention.Anna was in the middle of pinning up Liya’s curls on her head and had several bobby pins in her mouth, She mumbled something no one could make out when she saw what Aya was holding.She held the tabloid magazine in front of Liya’s face, “Megastar? Aya, what is this?”“Look!” she shook the magazine again.That’s when she saw the familiar violet blue eyes, “Holy cow!” the headline stated, Billionaire Playboy raises $1.3 million at Local Art Auction. Underneath the headline was a picture of him and the woman he was with. Lydia Soft, Lauders new model….she stopped reading and pushed the magazine away while a lump formed in her gut.Anna spit out the bobby pins, “That’s what I said!”“…He’s rich Liya. Very rich! H
Damon didn’t miss the desire he felt off the young man speaking to Liya. Instinctively, he wanted to rip his arms off. However, when Liya stepped out into the hall, he really couldn’t fault the poor bastard. She was a sight to behold. He knew she was beautiful, but no words could describe her at that moment although he tried, “Liya. You are ravishing.” He took her hand and placed a soft kiss on the back of it. She blushed. He then turned to the young man as Liya introduced them. So he has his sights set on you, my love. I might have to discourage him.Jeff watched the two together and it bothered him. It wasn’t because he was worried about her, it was obvious the man was sincere in his feelings and also, her friends were going with her. It was the way they looked together, and for the first time in his life he felt very insignificant. He watched the way they looked at each other. There seemed to be a silent understanding between them, like shared secrets. Even though it was
Damon’ other hand went to the back of her neck and caressed the soft flesh at her nape as he rested his chin on top of her head. It seemed to be the most natural thing in the world to hold her and have her body fit so perfectly against his. After a moment of holding her close he felt that undeniable urge to taste her innocent blood rise in him. He was able to hold it at bay, but it wasn’t easy. He nearly lost control in the hospital the other night just by the mere scent of her innocence. He could feel the blood flow through her. Combine that with the powerful pulsation of desire she created within him from pressing her delicious body against him, it almost made him lose control. Also, it didn’t help that she was a sight behold tonight and he had more than one kind of hunger to contend with. How the hell was he going to try and pull this night off without influencing and seducing her? He pulled away and gazed down at her for a moment. He had sworn an oath that he wouldn’t take
Forty-five minutes later the Hummer coasted down a private road to an estate framed with a set of eight foot high wrought iron gates and a solid stone wall of equal height. Another Limousine was just allowed entry by two security guards stationed at the gates. They just waved the Hummer through, obviously knowing who was in it.Anna eyed the tall gates as the car slid through, “Afraid of visitors, Mr. Baal.” She smiled and stated it in a joking manner, although she was being sarcastic.He didn’t miss the sarcasm, “I have nothing to hide.” He locked his gaze on hers, ”I’m not afraid of much of anything Anna.” He purposely used her first name“I can understand that Damon.” She dropped the formality as he had. “But isn’t that the price for fame.”Liya’s eyes shot to Anna, catching the tone in her voice. Damon squeezed her hand reassuringly. He managed to give her a cold smile, “You ever pull a journalist out from under your bed?”“Your bed?” Liya and Aya said i
Damon entered his study where Liya still lay in a peaceful sleep. He approached her and went down on one knee in front of the couch watching her for a moment. He then followed Amon’s movement by gently turning her head to one side exposing her neck. He traced a path down her neck with his fingertips. “For someone who usually knows how to handle just about anything, I’m at a loss when it comes to you.” His answer was slow rhythmic breathing. He lowered his forehead to hers and closed his eyes.“You should be more careful, Damon on openly showing her.” Amon suddenly vaporized behind him.Damon remained unmoved. It had taken him centuries to get used to Amon’s sudden appearances. Another long developed talent of his was being able to sense Amon before this happened. He was too preoccupied with Liya and never felt him arrive.Amon knew this, “You are becoming a danger to yourself.”“I know.” Damon stood to face Amon.Without warning, Amon raised one of his boney
Damon had his back to her when she first hopped in. Now he turned to face her, his shirt unbuttoned, “Lost?” He tilted his head slightly, not the least bit surprised that she was there.She shook her head, her eyes probing his naked chest. He was perfect, she thought. What a gorgeous body. From his thick chest to his flat rippled abs, there wasn’t an ounce of fat on him. It made Aya itched to run her hands down the sprinkle of hair that splayed over his upper half. Hell, she’d like to trail her fingers down the thin ling of hair that dissected his flat stomach to disappear into the waistline of his expensive slacks.“Hiding from an angry wife?” he said doing his best not to display the disgust in his expression from reading her thoughts.She looked up at him, a sensual smile slid across her lips, “Not quite” Her voice slurred a little.“I’m running out of guesses Aya. What’s left doesn’t leave much to be desired.” It
Late afternoon the next day, Liya crawled out of her bed. She looked over to the other bed in her dorm room and it was occupied. Liya also came home. She must’ve not found herself a date for the night. She wasn’t sure if Anna had made it home or not. She last saw her with Nathan and remembered seeing him later in the evening, but not Anna. However, the way she was hanging off him made her know that they had something going. However, there were a huge amount of people there, she didn’t remember seeing Aya later either. Damon must’ve sent her home in the car like he did with her but she was so tired she didn’t hear her come in.She was still stinging from Anna’s words. It was just so unbecoming of her. Part of her was angry at her, besides being curious to the sudden change in attitude. However, she never went out with her before, except that first night she met Damon. Maybe she was like this around men. She walked to the window that looked out onto the street and park below
That evening Liya finished a term paper in the library then went back to her dorm room to get some studying done. Aya was gone when she returned, most likely out with friends. She sat cross-legged in a chair at her desk and chewed the end of her pencil thinking of Damon and wondering if he was thinking of her. This was no way to get any work done, she scolded herself. She stared out the window at the fading daylight, and suddenly realized she’d spent most of the day daydreaming. However, she was thankful that she at least got one paper done. She hadn’t heard from Damon all day and let the thoughts creep into her head that she’d turned him off her the previous night. If she really thought about it, she cried, fainted and acted very needy. She blushed at the incidents. No wonder she could never get a date, some fun she was. Not only that her two friends were so much prettier and were probably better entertainment than she was. At least they knew how to treat and act around a
Natalie shuddered with fear as the dark demoness stepped forward. “Aren’t you happy to see me?” Latoya asked in mock innocence.Gabriel glanced over his shoulder at Aiden and Latoya, and gently laid Natalie on the floor. He pulled his long black coat off and carefully wrapped her in it before he scooped her up.Natalie tried to ignore her throbbing body as he stood and shifted her in his arms. The pain from everything Ellish had done to her was still fresh, though not as sharp as it should have been. Her shoulder screamed when she was jostled, was the “inner” pain that hurt most. All of her blood vessels shook, and the underside of her skin trembled from the seizure-like state and the burning sensation that had coursed through her. Her mind still reeled from Ellish’ invasion, and she was so weak.Somehow what he’d done to her body paled in comparison to the rest of it. She remembered him laughing at her “primitive fears” and saying that he could do something much more terrible to her.
He shook her violently so that her teeth clacked together. “What do you have to say to that? Do you still want to insist on your innocence? Where is that device?” He clawed at her body with his free hand.“I don’t have any ... device!” she cried. Tears Stabbed her swollen eyes and the room swam. She didn’t understand why he was doing this again.“Liar!” He threw her to the floor. Her elbows locked painfully, but she saved her face from slamming into the concrete.She tried to roll away, but he knelt down quickly and grabbed a handful of her hair in his fist. He used it to pull her head back and force her to look at him. “Where is it?”“There isn’t one! I don’t know what you’re talking about!”Cain stood behind them, his arms crossed over his chest and a sneer on his face. “Then how did he find us?”He? Could they mean…? A white hot spark of hope filmed inside her. “He’s here?” she asked, unable to stop he
The vampire who’d spoken a moment ago asked, “How doyou know she was ever at his den? Surely Aiden is smart enough to keep her in a less incriminating place?”“Now you’re suggesting Miles lied?”Ellish asked lightly. “Or do you suggest his brother lied to him?Do you think he made up a false location, intending to go andretrieve her himself and return her for his freedom? Are youimplying he intended to let his brother die for his sins?”The vampire looked exasperated. “I don’t know whatI’m implying. I wasn’t here when you interrogated Miles.”“You’d be sorry you missed it,” Cain commented,snickering. “He screamed and begged– ”“Enough.” Ellish motioned him to silence. “Miles Informed me that the plan was Aiden’s from the beginning, as part of our little war. He and Marcus were brought into it, so to speak.”Natalie tensed at the mention of Marcus’s name,but she tried hard not to make her interest obvious. Did this h
The room was a large one, like an open basement complete with cement floor. A glowing chandelier hung above her andin front of her sat a large wicker chair. Draped lazily in it was ayoung man who might have been sixteen. He had blonde hair, coldgreen eyes and a face made for boredom, snobbery, and cruelty. Hewas flanked by two large men. A host of others were visible outsidethe ring of light, all moving closer and gazing curiously at thenew prisoner.“Who is she?” the boy in the chair drawled. Hisvoice was bored and peevish.Cain answered from behind Natalie’s prone body,“It’s Marcus’s human, the one Gabriel’s claiming now.” He snickeredand prodded her in the side with the toe of his boot.“Interesting.” The blonde stood from the chair andwalked towards her languidly. “What’s so special about her that twomen would go to such effort?” He walked around her in anever-tightening circle and finally bent down to examine her faceclosely.
Natalie sought a nonexistent escape and tried to figure out what she was going to do. Despite LaToya’s concern,she doubted Gabriel would return in time to save her. He’d alwayscome before, just when she had no hope left, but somehow she couldfeel that he wasn’t going to this time. And when he didn’t whatwould happen? Would they really take her to Ellish? Would he kill her? Was this really how her life was going to end, to die in a pool of blood and terror?LaToya stood over her looking thoughtful, then suggested casually, “She has enough blood on her to look like a battle, but you should rough her up a little to make it more convincing.”Cain nodded in the affirmative and grinned. “Don’tworry. I’m sure she’ll be plenty roughed up by the time we getthere.” He turned his head and called over his shoulder, “Won’t sheboys?” Two voices agreed with him from the obstructed depths of themotel room.Natalie’s stomach dropped at the sound of
Natalie woke. She blinked in the dimness, her eyesdrawn to the open bathroom door. Light flooded out of it and gaveshape and depth to the small motel room.Gabriel was still next to her on his back, his arms under her head. His dark lashes lay on his pale cheeks and hisraven hair pooled against the crisp white pillowcase. He wascovered from the waist down in the ugly bedspread and the bathroomlight gleamed on the smooth expanse of his chest.She looked away from him to the water stainedceiling. She closed her eyes tightly to blot out the world andasked herself the requisite “what have I done?” morning-afterquestion, only she truthfully felt no regret. It was simply a gameshe played out of habit, a society imposed guilt complex thatfailed to actually make her feel guilty. No, she knew what she’ddone and she wasn’t even slightly sorry, only vaguely excited atthe warm memories.She rolled towards him and tentatively brushed hisnaked f
After the strange silence in the warehouse, the car seemed too loud. Gabriel’s anger was palpable; the air seemed to pulse with it. Natalie didn’t know what to say to make it better.She stuttered a question, “Aiden wouldn’t really…” but couldn't bring herself to finish it. Would Aiden really kill her because his wife had been killed? As if it was all Gabriel’s fault.“No,” Gabriel said with force. “He wouldn't dare.”She nodded but found no more words for fear of enraging him more. She wasn’t afraid that he’d hurt her, or even be mean to her. In truth she wasn’t sure what she was afraid of, but she didn’t want to make him any angrier. They pulled into the motel and, after parking the car, walked around behind the building to their windowless room.Once they were inside, Gabriel shut the door and clicked all of the locks into place. He absently ran his fingers through his long,dark hair before he threw himself on
The silence was so thick she felt she would choke on it. Her ears strained for every tiny sound: a rat scampering across the floor, the breeze whistling softly through the broken windows,the flap of a sheet of plastic that hung against the wall. Her eyes searched the gloom and she tried not to jump at every shadow.Really, she didn’t understand why Gabriel’s business couldn’t have been in a nice restaurant, or at least somewhere with electricity!She was so busy eyeing a pile of mysterious refuse that she didn’t notice Gabriel stop suddenly and ended up bumping into him. He held his body rigid, so completely still that Natalieswore his heart had even stopped beating.Her search for the gloom revealed nothing, but her clutch on his sleeve grew tighter. She opened her mouth to ask what was going on when he broke the silence with a single word,“Latoya.”The woman seemed to appear from nothing. Her dark skin gleamed in the pale light, a
Gabriel joined her. “Here,” he said as he handed her one of the motel keys. “Go on in. I have something to attend to but then I’ll be alone.”She opened her mouth to ask him what pressing errand waited for him elsewhere, but thought better of it. She didn’t see anyone in the gloomy shadows, but how did she know that some creature of the night wasn’t camouflaged in the darkness? Ifvampires were real, then what other monsters from the nightmares of humanity were lurking and listening to them?He walked down the sidewalk and she watched him until he turned sharply, and disappeared around the far side of the building. Her curiosity piqued, she thought about following him,but resisted the urge. The memories of the vampire manor were still too fresh in her mind.The key didn’t want to fit into the scarred lock,but finally it surrendered with a groaning click, and she opened the door and was met by the smell of stale cigarette smoke. Shewished she