Once Prey, Twice Forsaken Read online

  ****

  Blaire sank into the soft bed as David laid her down, almost unable to believe that this was actually happening. She'd dreamed of him for so long, the thought of actually getting to touch him again felt surreal.

  He pulled off her jeans only moments later, but David still wore his pants. That didn't seem fair, so Blaire reached for his button fly when he settled down next to her. He chuckled as she helped him even out their clothing ratio.

  Then his lips were back on hers, body next to her on the bed. The hand he wasn't using to prop himself up explored her body, featherlight across her breasts, rougher grasping her thighs.

  He traced his tongue down her neck, her chest. Settling on her breast, he licked her nipple, then pulled it into his mouth. His skin was rough against hers, he hadn't shaved in days and she basked in the sensation.

  She gasped and put her hands on his head, feeling the softness of his hair between her fingers. He nipped her lightly with his teeth, while his hands moved to her other breast.

  "I missed you so much," she gasped.

  He paused, then looked up. His hot gaze drilled into her, so intense she couldn't look away. Finally his eyes moved back to her body, and he whispered, "I never thought I'd see you again."

  Mouth moving lower, he pulled off her panties and kissed her in her most intimate place. Blaire arched beneath him, moaning. "David," she whispered. "Please."

  Ignoring her pleas, he continued to kiss and lick her until she couldn't think, couldn't feel anything but the growing heat he caused. Finally, when she was on the brink of losing herself, he moved back and pulled off his underwear.

  She licked her lips as his cock sprang free, and when he moved back to her, she murmured, "My turn."

  She pushed him lightly onto his back and straddled his legs. As if sensing her need to be in control, he let her take over. With butterfly kisses and quick licks left in her wake, she moved from his neck to his chest to his stomach.

  Finally settling on his erection, she breathed on him, and he shivered in response. Satisfied that she had the same effect on him as he did her, she licked him.

  Gripping the mattress under his hands, his breath came in quick gasps. He groaned as she took him into her mouth. She reveled in the power of it, the feeling of him under her, wanting her.

  A few moments later, David pulled her up his body and flipped her on her back. He kissed her, hard, settling his body between her legs, then positioned himself at her hot center.

  He pushed, sliding into her wetness easily. He moved deliberately—too gently. She urged him on by nipping at his neck, then digging her nails into his buttocks.

  He obliged her, quickening his pace. He thrust into her, sliding in and out so quickly she struggled to breathe. Suddenly, the most shattering climax she had ever experienced took her, then he followed her with a guttural cry of his own.

  ****

  "How did it happen?" He traced the line of her jaw with his fingers, chin pressed to the top of her head.

  She tensed in his arms. "After the first night, when they started hitting the cities, I knew I had to get home. Make sure everyone was okay."

  He nodded, the side of his face rubbing against her hair. Vague recollection of the small farmhouse her folks lived in flitted through his mind; they'd lived well outside of the city.

  "I moved, after you left. I just couldn't...be in the old apartment anymore I guess. I was lucky though, living where I did. It was kind of an industrial area. A dump, I thought." She laughed—a short noise that sounded more derisive than happy. "They hit around the college the first night. It was a good time to be living in my dump."

  David tightened his hold on her. "So you went to your parents' house?"

  "Yeah. I was so happy. They hadn't hit the outlying areas yet." Her voice caught in her throat. "They started on them the night I got there." She swallowed hard.

  "You don't have to talk about it—"

  "No, I need you to know." She hugged him tighter.

  He ran his hands up and down her back, wishing he could take the pain from her voice.

  "They came that night. Katie opened the door for them, invited them in. I don't blame her. How could a ten-year-old resist the thrall?"

  He shook his head. A strong adult could be coerced if the vampire was strong enough. A child didn't stand a chance.

  "They grabbed her first. The sound of her screams woke the rest of us." Her voice broke. "We should have had an adult guarding. Should have taken better precautions. But we didn't know. How could we?"

  "You should have known," David said, voice rough. "We should have told you. If the witches had come out sooner—"

  "It still wouldn't have been soon enough. Not for my family, anyway." She sighed. "Don't blame yourself, David, or your people."

  "Maybe we didn't pull the trigger, but we should have known there was a loaded gun out there, pointed at the heads of innocents."

  "If it weren't for the witches, the humans wouldn't have stood a chance. We wouldn't have gotten our world back." A harsh laugh escaped her. "We… Guess I don't really count as part of the group that won, do I?"

  Her question sounded rhetorical—sarcastic even, but he answered it anyway. "You do, Blaire. You weren't part of the Invasion. You're one of the victims."

  He could feel her head shake. "No one's ever going to see me that way. No one, but you."

  David smoothed back her hair and kissed her forehead, wishing he could lie to her. "It won't be easy. It might..."

  "What?"

  He didn't want to finish the sentence. What if she agreed it would be easier? What if she left him? But he wanted her to be happy, to feel safe again. Even if he had to give her up to do it. "It's just—there are groups of vampires, ones who are under a truce with my people and the humans. You would probably have an easier time of it if you were with your own kind."

  He knew it was the wrong thing to say the second the words left his lips. She tensed in his arms, then sat up and faced him, her eyes full of fury.

  "Easier? Really? Have you ever been around a vampire clan? It's a caste system, the youngest at the bottom of the heap. I was a slave, the property of the one who made me." She winced. "You don't know...you can't—"

  "Shhh. It's okay." He pulled her back against him. "No one is making you go back there. I swear it."

  She shoved him back a couple of inches and looked him in the eye. "No one's making me do anything, David. Not anymore."

  He smiled at her, overwhelmed by the strength she'd found in herself. She came from a situation that would have broken most people. Instead of broken, she’d grown stronger than he'd ever seen her. The things that probably happened to her—no. He forced the thought away. He couldn't think about it. Not and remain sane.

  Feeling blessed to have the love of such a woman, he gathered her back in his arms and showed her how much he loved her.

  ****

  When the sun began to peek over the horizon, Blaire watched David cast protection spells around the building, ensuring their safety while they rested. He warned her they would take a lot out of him, so she shouldn't be alarmed if she couldn't wake him for several hours. But, the spells would keep their camp safe from intruders for days. Giving them time to rest, time to figure out what to do, where to go from here.

  Though the sunlight didn't touch her skin, its presence beyond the walls of their hideaway drained Blaire's energy. While vampires weren't actually undead, the virus that gave them their inhuman strength and speed also caused an allergy to sunlight. Or so they told her. Blaire wasn't so sure.

  Her heart pounded against her chest when she ran, and when David took her into his arms, but part of her wondered if embracing herself as a monster would make her life easier.

  Or, even more importantly, his.

  David's face looked so peaceful as he slept. Hard lines smoothed, and the tension he had always carried, even before the Invasion, disappeared.

  She touched him tenderly, tracing one of the
scars on his arm from shoulder to elbow. Blaire smiled. She was safe.

  But at what cost?

  Her smile faded as she considered what he would have to give up to keep his promise to protect her. What would he face? Banishment from his own people, perhaps a price on his head. Even if they only banished him, he would lose his family. His people.

  For her.

  Realization hit hard and her throat tightened. Everything she'd lost to the vampires, she was asking him to give up. Her very presence forced the choice on him.

  No.

  She detangled herself from his arms and stared at him, memorizing his face. As if she could ever forget the way his hair feathered on his brow, the small, faded scar under his eye, the way all the worry lines on his face relaxed while he slept. It seemed unfair, leaving him this way. But, if she waited until he woke up, she knew he would try to talk her out of it. He'd succeed, too. Easily. She wanted nothing more than to curl back up against his side and rest easy, knowing she was safe, but it would be...selfish.

  Though he'd offered her the opportunity to leave him earlier, he wouldn't let her go. Not after they connected. Not now that he knew how much she still cared for him. Not now that he realized how much he still cared for her.

  She was stuck with her lot in life, a vampire in a world where vampires were reviled and feared. Tying him to her fate would be the final nail in the coffin that made her a monster.

  Giving him one last glance, she left to face the sunlight.

  ****

  The second the door shut behind her, Blaire wanted to turn around. David's arms had been a refuge, given her courage and filled her with a passion she hadn't dared to ever hope to feel again. The sun-drenched world before her offered no solace.

  Shivering from the chill of her emotions more than the cold morning air, she turned from the old furniture store and walked, pulling her jacket tightly around her body.

  Weakened by the sun, she moved like a zombie through the abandoned city. The sun-weakness wouldn't fade immediately after walking in it for a whole day, but once night fell she would be able to resume close to her normal speed. She grimaced. The price for daywalking wouldn't be pleasant, she would be ill for days because of the one-day jaunt, but a little sickness was a small thing to pay for the miles she would gain.

  Chest aching, loneliness she had no longer thought herself capable of feeling assailed her. Each step she put between them made the pain worse. After finally rediscovering meaning in her life, she was walking away from it.

  By evening she had left the city behind her. She stuck to the road, unsure of how she would find her way in the forests. Getting lost was exactly what she didn't need right now.

  Blaire trembled from the weight of her emotions, from the knowledge that she had no idea where she was going—her beacon of hope grew farther away by the minute. But it was the right thing to do.

  Confident in her decision, she trudged on through the brilliant light.

  ****

  David woke slowly, stretching his arms and legs, a sated smile on his lips. He reached for the woman he'd finally realized was his reason for being. He knew, even if she didn't realize it yet, that they had been created for each other.

  The bed next to him was cold. She was gone.

  He sat up and scanned the room. Nothing moved in the quiet store. Striding to the window, he looked out to the empty street, a skinny cat slinked across the road, glancing at David before dismissing him and moving on.

  "Blaire?" he yelled, knowing she wouldn't answer.

  Anger burned in his chest. How could she leave him like that, after what they shared? How could she not see he would do anything—fight anything—for her? Was it possible she didn't feel the same way? That she had used him, used his feelings for her to escape her Hunter?

  Understanding hit him, drowning the suffocating anger filling him. She did know. She knew exactly how he felt.

  The fact that she left proved she felt the same way.

  He grabbed his pants and pulled them on, reaching for his boots.

  "Dammit," he mumbled. She thought she was doing him some sort of favor. Saving him from living a life on the run with her.

  Maybe she's right, a small insidious voice whispered in his head. It would be a harder life for him with her in it. Convincing the council she wasn't a threat would be difficult, to say the least. Even if he succeeded, some people wouldn't trust her, would never trust her.

  He sat down hard on the bed, boots in hand, mind reeling.

  Would he rather live a simple life without her, or would he be better off with Blaire: a tough life, running from city to city, barely resting along the way?

  It wasn't even a choice, not really.

  He shoved his feet into his boots, tying them quickly. He grabbed his shirt, jacket and bag as he headed for the door. He'd lost her once, during the Invasion, convinced she'd died in the first attack. He had to find her and make her realize that he didn't have a life without her. He didn't want one.

  ****

  David cast a tracking spell after leaving the furniture store. Blaire's tracks flashed into his second sight, appearing like a trail of shining breadcrumbs on the ground where she'd walked, glowing a blue-green.

  Frowning, he crouched down and looked at the glow more closely. Her trail was apparent, but off somehow. It looked doubled-up.

  Did you retrace your steps?

  No, one part of the trail was much older than the other, its glow dimmed by the passage of time. That one fit the timeline for when Blaire had left, the other looked less than two hours old.

  It was following Blaire, and the blue-green color meant vampire.

  ****

  Tracking the vampire was easy, catching it proved more difficult. Playing cat and mouse, the monster followed Blaire's trail before slipping away, and rejoining her path several miles later. After veering off after the other vamp and then running right back into Blaire's markings for the second time that day, David decided to stick with hers. The vampire followed Blaire, and following its trail only slowed him down.

  Which is exactly what it wants.

  Not pausing for more than the occasional quick rest and meal, David closed in on the vampire the third day. The warehouse was old, probably damaged and dangerous even before the Invasion.

  "Cutis dura facies. Nunc ut petram. Statim." Piercing his finger with a knife, David swiped the blood across the protection charm he wore at his neck.

  The door swung open slowly, needing only a small push to encourage it. David stepped into the large room, leaving the door gaping behind him. The light revealed a relatively empty room, with a dirty concrete floor littered with trash. Grease spots and an old rubber smell lingered in the air. Someone had stored cars here, maybe trucks.

  A vampire stood in the corner. He watched David, like a cat with a fly—ready to pounce. His stringy black hair hung down to touch his shoulders, and his T-shirt and jeans were stained with dirt and blood.

  "Why are you following her?"

  The vampire grinned, revealing fangs, yellowed by age or poor hygiene. By the looks of the rest of him, David was willing to bet on the latter.

  "What's it to you?" His grin widened into a full smile, showing stained and darkened teeth. "Concerned for a baby vampire?" Abruptly his smile disappeared. "Her bounty is mine, but I don't mind the extra payment I can get for you, witch." He snarled, and jumped at David, moving faster than David's eyes could follow.

  Taking a quick step to one side, David felt the bloodsucker brush his coat as he slipped past. Swinging his body around, his sword arced at the vampire. He felt resistance as the tip of the sword sliced through the beast's arm. David moved so only his side was exposed to the vampire and planted his feet, ready for the next assault.

  The vampire turned, already on the other side of the room, and hissed. It clutched its arm, blood ran down, dripping off its fingers. "You'll pay for blood with blood, witch!" The beast lunged, eating the distance between them in only two
jumps.

  Unable to move in time, David took the blow and fell to the ground, his sword clattered, flying across the floor. The vampire chewed at his neck, trying to break through the protection spell. Struggling to breathe, he pushed at the vampire with one arm, using the other to try to angle his knife between them. The beast proved impossible to budge, so David stabbed awkwardly at its back with the short blade.

  The vampire shifted, moving away from the blade. His movement gave David enough room to kick up, throwing the vampire off. While the vampire struggled to his feet, David jumped up from the ground and turned to face him. Striking with the knife, David caught him in the chest.

  The vampire screamed and swung his arm, hitting David in the side of his head. Protection spell weakened by the assault, sparks flashed in David's eyes, and he struggled to stay upright. He lunged forward, knife poised, barely able to see the beast through the darkness that threatened to engulf him. He felt the knife connect, burying to its hilt before the vampire yanked free.

  "Ignis!" David shouted, arm outstretched.

  Then the world went black.

  Chapter Five

  Blaire realized someone was following her less than a day after she left David. She felt someone watching her, making the hair on the back of her neck stand up, then after a couple of days, the eyes disappeared. The creepy feeling of being followed returned, but not until nearly a week later. Still on the edge of the Badlands, she moved closer to populated areas in an effort to gather provisions.

  "Twenty, that's my final price." Heavy droplets of sweat formed on the man's balding head, treading their way down the sides of his deeply wrinkled face, despite the chill in the early morning air. Dressed in dirty jeans and a ripped coat, the man looked like most humans Blaire had seen since her escape, though she hadn't journeyed far from the Badlands.

  "I'm not giving you twenty dollars for a box of granola bars and a few apples. Ten."

  "Fifteen, and not a dime less!"

  Blaire handed the street merchant the cash, gritting her teeth to hold in a sigh. Taking care to look anywhere but at her eyes, he took it with a quick nod. Strangers were not trusted, even those who came at midday.