“Good. Go shower, get dressed. We’re going hunting.”
Finally.
I can’t wait.
Chapter
Four
Lucian
Iwanted to touch her, suck those nipples.
Even though I said the opposite, I’d have fucked her like that, covered in the old, dried blood. I don’t care. The need for her seems to beat stronger now that she’s like me.
That’s something I didn’t think was possible.
But it is. The pull to claim her is a wild thing, alive and merciless. It pushes against my control and allows me to feel her, sense her hunger, lust, anger, and disdain. Like fire pokers, they all sear into my skin.
And now, as she sits in the back of the SUV, so close but not close enough, her very presence buzzes across my nerves. If Vittoria wasn’t sitting beside her and Andrew wasn’t in the driver’s seat, I don’t think anything would be able to stop me from jumping across the console take my fill of her.
When Vittoria had first walked her into my office, I recognized the cold, murderous stare that glittered in Elliot’s eyes. It’s something I know well from making vampires over the years.
From Vittoria most of all.
Generally it fades with time and…I won’t use the word training, but adjustments to the change within them.
But there are others who become completely lost to the vampiric blood and lose all sense of their humanity altogether. Because essentially, they have. That’s my fear with Elliot.
I think about the others in my close circle.
Andrew needed direction after his turn, but he’s decent, loyal, and more human-like than most other vampires in VMR. It might have to do with the age in which he was turned—at the ripe age of twenty, which was considered a grown man during the early 1940s. Now, it’s barely old enough to drink legally.
Andrew’s youth and soft heart annoys Vittoria to no end, but it’s one of the things I admire about him. It’s a trait I sometimes wonder if I’ve lost in myself. That is, until Elliot strolled into my office for an interview.
My blood is old, powerful, and I gave Elliot a lot to bring her back from the dead. There’s a good chance her transition goes wrong and she’s lost to the dark gift forever…
When the SUV stops and the four of us step out, Elliot looks around the quiet, dark grounds in the Diamond suburb, a densely wooded area of Tenebris where quaint single-family homes expand into sprawling, gated properties. I nod to Andrew and Vittoria, who go ahead to scout the house.
“Is this where we’re going to eat?” Elliot asks. The night is still, and we walk across the manicured lawn. “I smell humans.”
“No.”
“Why am I here then?” She stops, which draws me to a stop, too. The violence is only barely restrained in her. “You said there’d be revenge.”
I straighten my tie, taking in the leather of her outfit. Pure fucking Vittoria, choosing that. Practical with a vicious twist. The scent of leather twines with the scent of Elliot—sun andflowers—making her more delicious, darker, something hard to resist.
“Yes. It’ll come.” I take one step closer, relishing her sharply sucked in breath. “Patience.”
Her eyes narrow. “That’s rich coming from someone who gets to do whatever they want. Drink whoever?—”
I grab her chin and squeeze, making her look at me. This time her pretense falls away, and she glitters with hateful obedience. There’s lust there, too, as much as she doesn’t want to admit it. But I know every sensation within her is amped up now as a vampire, and her need for me is no exception.
I crave it all.
Bring on the anger and hate, just as long as she fucking knows who is her master.
Her maker.
