Dark Secrets (18 page)

I walked over to where Eiven stood staring at me with a
naked kind of hunger that my body responded to. I crossed the distance between
us and licked Julian’s blood from my lips.

A mewling whimper sounded from a vampire to my right and I
found him staring at Julian. I stroked a hand through his hair and turned his
face to mine. His eyes were angled up at the corners, hinting at an Asian
ancestry.

“Would you like to feed?” I asked.

He trembled beneath my touch, every fiber of his being
straining to get closer to me, but he knew better than to reach out.

“Yes, your majesty.”

I glanced at Julian’s hanging body, then at the crowd. Their
need pulsed through me stronger than the tiny beating heart in my body.

“Then feed.” I motioned to my sire. “Take Julian’s blood.”

A gasp sounded, echoing throughout the room. “Wha—?”

Taking another’s blood without their express consent,
especially from one more powerful than you, was a grave insult.

“All of you,” I called out. “Show my sire what happens when
you fuck with the queen. Feed, but do not kill him.”

The masses descended on Julian like a pack of feral dogs and
I laughed. They were all cattle. Some I’d keep, others I’d slaughter. Under
Julian’s command, the vampires had weakened—another reason my sire deserved his
punishment.

I met Eiven’s gaze and crooked a finger at him. The
packmaster stepped forward and slid his hand around my waist, the heat of his
palm melting through me. He rubbed the steel length of his cock against my hip,
drawing more amusement than arousal. Did he think I was easy? That I’d start
panting like a bitch in heat?

“And you, wolf—” I grabbed a handful of his hair, forcing
his head back. He moaned low in his throat and I drew my nose across his neck,
scenting his blood. My fangs pulsed and I teased his flesh with the tips. “Do
you oppose me?”

He slid his hand to my ass and brought me tight against his
body. The muscles in his arms, chest and stomach flexed—each set straining
under his disciplined control not to throw me on the ground and fuck me.

His voice was low and sexy. “I’m at your disposal, my queen.”

Too bad I only wanted one thing from him. I struck hard and
fast, sinking my fangs into his throat. Hot, rich blood spilled into my mouth.
I drank deep, my throat convulsing at the rush of liquid. He jerked against me
and groaned as if my bite stroked his cock. Pleasure gave his blood an
undercurrent of flavor, something I imagined ambrosia might taste like.

A line of heat moved down my spine and drew me from my
bloodlust. I retracted my fangs and swept my tongue across the punctures before
I turned to see who’d entered the room.

Micah.

I ran my gaze over him, welcoming the carnal need sweeping
through me. My pussy pulsed, slickening with desire. My breasts ached and my
swollen nipples tingled. We were connected, the demon and I. He stood in the
doorway, fists clenched at his sides, his mouth a tight line of displeasure I
found amusing.

I reached out with my power and encountered a steel wall
around his mind. I narrowed my eyes and tried again to no avail. I couldn’t
control him, not like the others. How very interesting…

A small smile curled my mouth. I had always enjoyed a
challenge.

Adrenaline, shock and rage combined, piling a huge, steaming
load of shit on the anguish shredding my insides. I should have felt relieved
to discover Ella wasn’t dead. Instinct warred with self-preservation. Part of
me wanted to cross the room and pull her into my arms, to prove that she was
flesh and bone—that she was real. The other part, the one dominating my motor
functions, waved a big fucking red flag in front of my face.

Eiven—the punk-ass wolf—trailed his hand up the center of
Ella’s blood-slicked stomach, between the swells of her breasts, and cupped the
front of her throat. Gaze locked with mine, he bent his head to hers and very
deliberately dragged the tip of his tongue through a rivulet of blood dripping
from the corner of her mouth. The demon in me raged. Flames licked from my
palm, almost as fierce—as hot—as the betrayal unfurling inside me.

“What the fuck?” I growled, the edge in my voice sharp as a
knife.

The creepy-as-hell smirk Ella flashed me curled into a
full-blown smile. She threw her head back and laughed. The husky, feminine
sound of her amusement echoed over the moans dominating the back of the room
where a horde of writhing vampires fed from something—someone—pinned to the
wall.

Each breath I drew was laden with the metallic scent of
blood, the aroma so potent I tasted the salt and rust of it on the back of my
tongue. With each second that passed, it became clear the creature standing in
front of me wasn’t the woman I’d fallen in love with—the one I’d do anything to
protect.

No, this version of her was…different.

Like locks tumbling into place, the answer slammed into me
with a resounding click. I blamed shock for me not connecting the dots sooner. She
no longer had a soul. I’d felt it being ripped from me, from her. The pulsing
spark I held on to for dear life was merely an echo of her presence.

I closed my eyes and called up the image of the knife
sticking from her chest, experiencing the pain all over again. Eli had been
right about the Blade of Souls. Richard had found a way to get to her—to steal
her from me.

An addictive power radiated from Ella, consuming everything
around her as if she controlled the air itself. The demon reacted to the sight of
her in a visceral way that had my lip curling up in a possessive snarl. The
wolf’s death flashed before my eyes in a vision of severed arteries and broken
bones.

He would pay for touching what was mine.

Ella’s laughter faded. She looked at me and traced her lower
lip with a single finger before pressing the digit into her mouth to suck on
it. Her cheeks hollowed. Heat filled her eyes, distracting me from the thin
ring of scarlet surrounding her bright-blue irises. My cock pulsed despite the
warning bells alerting me to the wrongness of the situation.

Memories of Ella on her knees in front of me, the dark
curtain of her hair falling over her shoulder, my cock sliding between her
lips, surfaced. Lust addled my brain, blocking everything except a consuming need
to fuck her in the Fenrir’s blood.

Something dark and cold pressed at the corners of my mind.
The sensation squeezed and it took me a moment to realize Ella was trying to
get in my head. Yeah, I didn’t think so. I broke her gaze and searched what I
once imagined was an elegant room in an effort to figure out what the hell had
happened, why my Ella wasn’t my Ella anymore.

Even though she was coated in blood, her dress nearly black
with it, I didn’t see any obvious injury or any sign of Richard. Vampire ash
and abandoned assault rifles covered one section of the floor. Broken glass
glittered nearby, reflecting light from the overhead chandlers. Dark-red
speckles of blood dotted a path I followed. Where was Julian?

The person affixed to the wall moaned, but I couldn’t see
around the feasting bloodsuckers to tell who it was. The pained noises were too
deep, too guttural to be female. A vampire with deep copper hair chose that
moment to push the captive man’s face to the side, exposing a profile I knew.

I found Ella’s sire—what was left of him anyway.

My heart knocked against my chest in a fierce tempo and I
struggled to keep my face void of emotion. Was that the end of a champagne
flute shoved into his eye? Were those his intestines hanging from his stomach?
Gashes deep enough to expose bone split open the skin on his face and dripped
blood. Two female vampires trailed their tongues up the pink, fleshy slit in an
oddly erotic gesture that reminded me of licking pussy. The women turned to
each other and sealed their lips together, exchanging a lot more than spit.
Disgust curled through my stomach and I looked away.

“Oh lover.” Ella’s voice was lower and sexier, the
calculating tone making her sound nothing like my girl. “The look on your face
is priceless.”

She shoved Eiven away from her and crossed the distance
between us, her heels clicking over the floor. Even the way she walked was
different. There was a confidence in her stride, a smoothness that hadn’t been
there before. With each step she swayed her hips like a fucking supermodel
walking down the catwalk.

I swallowed when she got close enough to touch. The urge to
reach out and run the tips of my fingers down her arm that no longer held our
mating marks was a compulsion I valiantly fought. Ella took matters into her
own hands. She caressed my cheek and stepped into me, pressing her blood-soaked
body to mine.

Her skin was icy. Her heart utterly still.

She was dead. Sorrow filled me and it felt as if I was
losing her all over again. Ella pressed her mouth to mine and flicked her
tongue out, painting my lower lip. Lids still shut, I pictured the woman I
remembered, not the façade in front of me. My control snapped. The
demon—knowing what it wanted, liking what it felt and not giving a damn about
the circumstances—took over with a ruthless determination that nearly knocked
me on my ass.

I growled and grabbed the back of her neck, crushing her
lips to mine. Our tongues tangled in a wet slide of pure need. She tasted of
blood and darkness. Evil. The demon—thoroughly seduced—responded with hunger. I
plundered her mouth, devouring her. I cupped her ass and drew her to me until
we were chest to chest. Her nipples were hard points against me. The leg she
fitted between mine had my dick straining to get closer.

She trailed her hand down my chest, nails scratching, and I
groaned at the bolts of sensation tearing through me. The muscles in my stomach
flexed, my entire body anticipating a touch I’d thought lost to me forever. She
palmed my cock and rubbed the length of my straining shaft, jacking me off
through my pants. Pleasure numbed my toes, had me arching into her palm.

Fuck.

A loud moan from the back of the room had me fighting free,
coming back to my surroundings. This wasn’t Ella. Without her soul, she was
just a body—like all the other women I’d fucked to forget my obsession for her
all those years ago. I caught her wrist and squeezed as I tore my lips from
hers. “That’s enough.”

“I want to fuck,” she stated.

The demand was clear in her voice. Her eyes held no emotion,
just a primal need that told me if I didn’t do it, she’d gladly pick up with
Eiven where they’d left off.

I shook my head and debated between shoving her away from me
and holding her close. I racked my brain, wishing I knew what to do to bring
back my woman.

“Who did this to you?”

“Now
that
is an excellent question,” she purred. Ella
closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. When she opened her lids, her eyes
were full of power—more red than blue. “Julian freed me. Can’t you feel it?”
She grinned, the sight…off. “They’re mine, all of them. I hear their
secrets—know their lies.”

Julian?

She spun away from me to study the vampires who licked and
sucked on her sire’s splayed flesh.

“That’s enough,” she called out and the vampires pulled away
from their forbidden feast to stare up at her in absolute worship. As if she
were looking for something, Ella slowly surveyed her audience.

“You.” She pointed to a male vampire in the middle.

Something silent passed between them. The airwaves shifted
at the surge in her powers, but I couldn’t figure out what the fuck she did.
The man’s face paled and he swallowed. He jerked forward, parting the crowd, at
the crook of her finger.

He sputtered, the adoration melting into a kind of fear that
I’d never seen before. “No…” He shook his head.

“What’s the matter?” she asked sweetly, innocently, as if
she was concerned.

But she didn’t care. I saw it in her eyes, in the casual,
almost amused way she moved. The woman before me had no qualms about the pain
she inflicted and the additional hurt she was about to mete out. This situation
was worse than I’d thought.

Ella, while in possession of her soul, was badass and
lethal—an assassin who’d spent her entire life learning the best way to kill.
Remove her morals and restrictions and you were left with a threat I’d never
encountered before. Her power was immense, but her knowledge—that was where her
true strength lay. In the span of a few hours, she’d become—was becoming—the
thing she’d feared most in the world, a ruthless killer.

Ella pointed to a chair tucked partially beneath the large,
banquet table dominating the room. The object flew through the air at her
silent command, landing where she indicated in front of her.

Right. That probably wasn’t a good sign. I needed to get her
out of here, back to the house where Eli and Hannah could tell me what to do to
restore her soul. I refused to believe there wasn’t a way.

“Sit,” she ordered the vampire. At the command, he collapsed
into the seat.

Ella traced a finger down his neck and walked behind him so
she and I were face-to-face.

“I’ve figured it out. I understand how Lizbeth kept them all
in line, why she did it. This one dilutes my power.” She looked at me with
beguiling eyes full of eager anticipation. “He creates minions, siphons from my
energy. I feel them skittering around in the darkness like fucking roaches that
multiply by the hour.”

“I didn’t,” the vampire whispered.

Ella’s face shifted into pure menace. Day to night. Light to
dark. She snarled. Grabbing his jaw, she ripped his head back and bared her
fangs at him. She pressed her hand to his forehead. The vampire screamed, his
limbs flailing as he convulsed. A cruel stinging wave of power rippled out,
excess from whatever she did. Ella gritted her teeth, exerted more force and
the vampire’s screams rose.

Everyone around us, including Eiven and the two other wolves
he had with him, fell to their knees and clutched their ears. Bright trails of
blood leaked from their noses, the corners of their eyes.

Pressure drilled into my skull and it took a concentrated
effort to keep her power from touching me. Why I was immune I didn’t know, but
I sure as shit would use it to my advantage.

“Stop,” I said calmly and pushed through the wall of energy
surrounding her.

Her glare shifted to me. “No.” There was no love in her
eyes, no recognition of the passion we’d shared. The low-level hum of arousal I
felt in her presence faded.

A shiver of trepidation raced down my spine. I stepped
closer and stroked her cheek, hoping there was something left inside her that
would respond to me. At my touch, she released the man and the oppressive
weight in the air lifted. The vampire slumped forward and dissolved into a pile
of ash.

I forced the sight from my mind and licked my lips. I ran a
finger down the side of her throat, over my bite, between her breasts to her
navel. I palmed her stomach, the tips of my fingers teasing lower to the sweet
spot between her thighs. She arched into my caress as if begging for more. Soul
or no soul, her body still belonged to me and I’d do what I had to in order to keep
her from doing something she’d regret for the rest of her life.

A tiny spark of life roused under my touch, a flash of heat
under the tips of my fingers that filled me with hope—somewhere buried deep
inside was my mate. I needed to get her out of here, somewhere safe until I
could figure out how to fix her.

I teased my hand across her stomach to cup her hip, pulling
her to me. “As much fun as this is, I want you to myself. I’m not in the mood
to share.”

Her demeanor shifted from evil mistress to soft and sexy,
making her resemble the woman I loved a little too closely. It would be so easy
to pretend this was my girl, to lose myself in her. Fuck. No. I focused on the
blood staining her skin, the drops splattering her cheek and how they’d gotten
there. This version of Ella wasn’t real.

“Hmm,” she purred. “You’re up to something, I can taste it.”

I licked the bow of her upper lip and dug my fingers into
her ass. The breath I blew over her moistened skin teased and I hoped it was
enough to convince her. “Give me a few minutes and I’ll taste all of you.”

She pulled away and I leaned forward, knowing she wanted me
to chase and give into her whim like a good boy.

Pleasure lit her eyes, letting me know I’d played the right
card.

“I’ll go along with your game—for now—but you should know,” a
cold mask settled over her features and her voice dropped, “if you fuck me over,
I’ll shove a blade through your heart before you can blink.”

She meant every goddamn word. I conjured a smile, the one
Ella always said I practiced in front of a mirror, and fit her lower lip
between my teeth. I tugged, swept my tongue across the sting. “Let’s just have
some fun.”

“Fun.” A perverse kind of pleasure filled her gaze.

“Wolf,” Ella ordered and Eiven came to her side.

I met his gaze over her shoulder, annoyed at the possessive
glare in his eyes.

She’s mine, asshole.