Edmond returned his attention to Constance while Patrick’s strength dripped onto the forest floor.
“While your mate left me to rot in that prison, he built himself a new life, even finding a mate.
What is it that intrigued him so with you?
Was it that blonde halo?”
He yanked her hair and she whimpered.
Turning Leaves sat back on the log and folded her hands in her lap as she watched.
Patrick cried, turning his useless hands.
“Turning Leaves, please.
I’ll send you home to your tribe.”
“My journey is corrupt, because of you.
They will never accept me.
I could not accept their pity.”
She turned back to Edmond.
“She hates you almost as much as I do, Patrick.”
Edmond went back to Constance.
“Perhaps it was these full ripe breasts.”
He scored deep gashes with his talons and she moaned.
He inhaled.
“The cunt, I think that’s what it always comes down to.”
He ran a talon down her slit.
“Make her cum.
Make her cum for you even though she doesn’t want to. Can you do that?” Turning Leaves asked excitedly.
“Of course,” he casually replied.
“Constance, pay attention to me.
For every minute you delay your climax, I will have our little Indian friend score down Patrick’s back with my knife.
He’s already bleeding out pretty well. Don’t you agree?”
Turning Leaves retrieved the knife from the pack and knelt behind Patrick, willing Constance to fight it.
She had a broad smile on her face and glanced from the knife to his back.
“Can I cut his shirt open?
I want to see where I slice.”
“That’s a very good idea.
Why don’t you cut off all his clothes?”
She shrugged.
“Okay.”
She had to cut through the arms and legs to get the buckskins off without removing the manacles.
She flicked Patrick’s flaccid penis with the blade, thinking about the times he used it in her pussy, ass and mouth.
“I believe she’d like to remove your cock.
What nasty games did you play with the sweet girl?” Edmond didn’t expect an answer.
“Now, then, think hard about this Constance.
Your mate’s health is in your cunt,” he laughed.
She felt his finger travel her cleft and wailed.
Patrick had been the only man to ever touch her.
Her humiliated tear-filled eyes looked at her mate once then she closed them.
She tried to think of his smiling blue eyes as the beast drew her juices. Constance flinched when he said, “That’s one.”
Turning Leaves drew a long gash down Patrick’s back. He gritted his teeth and groaned.
Constance cried harder.
“She’s a juicy one, Patrick.
I believe I’ll sample her myself to get an even better understanding why you knew she was the one.”
Constance’s eyes flew open at the sound of his laces pulling through the holes on his pants.
“No, oh please, no.
Patrick, do something,” she begged.
“Kill me, Edmond,” Patrick screamed.
“Do it now.
I can’t watch you take her like this.”
“But you will, Patrick.
I had centuries to dream of the mate I’d never have as I waited for you to return.”
Even in his shattered state, he knew taking Patrick’s mate in front of him was worse than his final death.
He plunged into her moistness with one thrust and she sobbed.
“Turning Leaves, plunge that knife through my neck, through my heart.
If I ever get free, our previous games will seem like nothing,” he threatened as he tried to enrage her enough to kill him.
Patrick wondered when the vacant look had appeared in the Indian’s eyes.
Other than his nights with her, he never paid her any attention.
He reached out with his mind to influence her, and found nothing to grab onto.
“No, Patrick, I think I like Edmond’s games better.
Are we at two, yet?” she asked the monster.
Edmond continued to thrust and nodded.
Turning Leaves made another cut.
Constance’s shocked mind registered her mate’s pain and once again, she tried to imagine it was Patrick between her thighs.
The beast rolled her clit and finally she summoned a remote spark of passion.
Just after the third cut, she managed a small shuddering climax.
“Well, not the passionate bitch I would have thought you would tame.” Edmond thrust twice and roared his expelled seed into her. She lay shocked and silent on the ground.
Darkness had fallen hours ago, with an almost full moon lighting the clearing.
Turning Leaves curled up by Edmond and he stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head while he held her.
Turning Leaves was finally at peace and spent the first night in a long time with no fear as she relaxed in the creature’s arms and silently watched the Vampires.
Patrick managed to move closer to Constance and rolled on his side, kissing her cheeks and crying silent tears as he tried to heal her torn gums with his tongue.
Blood seeped from the wounds in the cuffs and cuts down his back. Constance was seeping from her speared hands and what energy she had was being forced into trying to repair her legs.
When the sun came up and shone into the clearing, they were pale and could barely whisper to each other.
Patrick watched her eyes glaze over as the sun drained her remaining strength.
“I love you Constance.”
He willed his heart to stop.
Edmond studied them with a bemused expression.
He hugged the girl curled up in his arms and pretended she was his.
She had been for a little while.
The insane creature had shown the girl more tenderness than she had ever experienced at the hands of the people strewn around the small clearing. Even as he drained her, she thanked him for his kindness to her.
He laid the Indian on a soft carpet of moss and curled her small fist around her treasure. “Sleep now, little Indian.
Your ghosts are gone.”
She’d died with a peaceful smile on her lips.
He collected his manacles and knife and gazed dispassionately on the dead Vampires.
The joy he expected to feel was missing, and he grumbled insane curses of disappointment.
A breeze carried a familiar scent to him, and he smiled and trembled with excitement.
He threw his head back and the black matted tuffs of hair whipped against his back as he inhaled.
What’s this? Damon and Nathan are here, too?
He danced in a circle and scented deeper.
There were two younger, fresher beings and the faint traces of some others.
“Mates,” he whispered.
He looked back at Patrick and Constance and planned how he‘d make the rest of them pay. Grabbing his pack, he traveled quickly away from the approaching Vampire.
When Lucien reached the settlement, the village was on edge.
They told him they hadn’t seen Robby, Turning Leaves or the Vampires since yesterday evening.
Sidelong glances at each other confused him.
“What is it you’re not telling me?”
“Lucien, sir,” the Slave-master began, “things have changed.
We want to move to your settlement.”
“What?
Why?
I thought you were happy here?”
He so did not need this revolt right now.
“It’s the Indian girl.
Lucien, Robby and the Vampires beat her.
They’re so cruel to the poor girl.”
Gertie, the elder woman, began crying.
“We’ve been trying to figure out what to do.
We think they have her tied up in the woods someplace, torturing her.
We heard screaming after dinner lasting well into the night.
She may already be dead.
We’re afraid to try and stop them, but we can’t stand to see the light fading from her eyes.
She doesn’t even speak anymore.”
Lucien was shocked.
What had been happening here?
Robby seemed so gentle.
He’d known Constance and Patrick for centuries.
Lucien became unsettled.
He’d come to warn them about the rogue.
Could it be his friends who were doing this?
It didn’t explain the insane hatred or stench.
Lucien would judge when he saw his friends.
He decided to physically remove Turning Leaves if he had to.
When he lifted his head he immediately smelled the blood.
Confusion passed his features.
He didn’t scent Patrick or Constance. Lucien hurried into the woods and abruptly stopped in the clearing.
Robby’s battered body was to one side, Turning Leaves had been obviously carefully placed as if merely sleeping.
He stared in disbelief at the tortured remains of Patrick and Constance, lips almost kissing, laying at his feet.
Lucien’s roar of anguish forced birds to light off branches within a mile.
He studied poor Constance’s tortured body and his heart ached.
It must have been agony for Patrick to watch.
Lucien’s face fell and his stomach dropped out. “Ariel,” he whispered.
He ran toward the settlement.
The settlers moved quickly aside as Lucien burst from the woods, eyes red with anger.
He mounted his horse and was galloping before his foot grabbed the other stirrup.
Whipping the horse to top speed with his reins, he flew out onto the prairie.
“Who are you?” he screamed into the wind.
CHAPTER 10
EDMOND
The hall was dark and the settlers turned in their sleep, trying to get comfortable on the beds they’d laid out on the tables and floor.
Ariel restlessly turned over again.
Nathan placed her on the floor of the hall by the fireplace.
The chill from the floor was seeping through her bones.
She missed Lucien’s warmth and her enhanced hearing picked up the sounds of the other Vampires whispering or quietly expressing their passion.
It filled her with despair.
Ariel finally gave up on sleep.
She rose and wrapped the blanket around her shoulders, deciding to check the garden.
It wasn’t far from the hall and her night vision was as acute as Lucien promised her it would be.
She quietly left the hall and made her way down the fence line.
The beginning sprouts of the spring crop were coming in nicely she noted, as she walked the neat rows.
Her long auburn hair flowed around her in the cool night breeze.
The light from the moon even afforded the plants a little color. She turned to walk down another row and a man stepped in front of her.
He’s as tall as Lucien
.
The moon was at his back and Ariel studied his dark silhouette, trying to place him.
He didn’t dress like an Indian and she didn’t remember him from Patrick’s Clan.
Something about him made the hair rise on her nape.
“I’ve come to see Lucien,” the deep voice said.
The protective instinct for her mate was something unrecognizable and new to her.
Still, she knew it wouldn’t be a good idea to tell him Lucien was gone. “He’s sleeping,” she lied.
Edmond scanned the pretty woman.
She reeked of Lucien’s scent and he forced himself not to rip her throat out for trying to protect the Vampire, at least, not until Lucien could watch.
He forced himself to be calm.
“Perhaps I can sleep in your stable and meet with him in the morning,” the man suggested.
Ariel bit her lip as she decided what to do.
She figured this would give her the chance to ask the other Clansmen about the stranger.
If her unease was just her imagination, the man could be hurt.
There was a dangerous bear on the loose.
She finally admitted it might be best to let him use one of the stalls. “Okay.
That would be alright.”
“Can you help me with my packs?
I’ve been walking for hours and my back is killing me,” he rolled a shoulder.
Ariel didn’t understand her agitation.
Inside her head she was screaming to run back to the hall.
She rubbed her temples.
“Um, sure, where are they?”
“Just over here.”
He led her toward the tree line and turned to make sure she followed.
When she bent over to pick up the smaller pack, he grabbed her hair and covered her mouth with his hand.
Ariel started kicking and flailing her arms.
“You’re such a young thing for Lucien to claim.
You hardly have any strength at all.”
Edmond smelled her neck.
“Why, you’re just a few months old, a mere infant.
It’s a shame you won’t get to enjoy your new transformation much longer.”
He threw her over his shoulder and bolted for the trees.
Her screams didn’t bother him.
He wanted Lucien to know she was gone.
The spot he’d prepared for the meeting when he discovered the valley a week ago was perfect.
Dark shadows from the tall pines edged a perfect view of the glaring sun on the prairie.
Discovering Lucien had a mate and capturing her was an added surprise.
His eyes glowed with anticipation at the new ways he could torture the Vampire.
He tied the deceitful little hell cat to a tree while she shrieked.
Drawing back his hand, he slapped her so hard her head rocked and her lip split.
“Shut up, already.”
Ariel whimpered even as she felt her lip heal.
The man turned to face her and the moon lit his face.
His eyes narrowed at the blood from her cut mouth. That was the first time she realized he was another Vampire.
She could also tell there was something very wrong and dangerous about him.
“Who are you?” she stuttered.
The tall man took a step back and bowed.
“Edmond.
And who do I have the pleasure of speaking with?”
He’s crazy.
Lucien, please help me.
Her thought called out to her mate.
The emotion from his mate’s plea slammed into Lucien’s mind.
He changed course on the grasslands away from his settlement.
He could feel his mate’s fear and anguish.
Oh, god, I’m coming Ariel.
He kicked his exhausted horse harder.
The scars on the Vampire’s face which she originally thought were pock marks, were actually holes in his skin.
Her stomach retched as bone showed in several places.
A pinkish fluid oozed from the sores.
Grabbing for some way to stall the creature from whatever plans he had for her, she decided to try to keep him talking.
“I’m Ariel.
How did you know I was Lucien’s mate?”
“I can smell the bastard on you,” he snarled.
His personality changed in a split second as he stood before her and steepled his hands.
“Actually, I can tell you quite a few things about Lucien.”
The man’s smile didn’t reach his eyes.
Ariel was becoming more frightened and confused.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t remember him mentioning you.
Where do you know him from?”
That was probably the worst thing she could have said.
“He never mentioned me?” the man screamed.
“He never mentioned me to you, and you’re his mate?”
He began pacing and pulling at his wild hair.
Ariel trembled and began crying.
The man stormed over and viciously punched her in the stomach.
She raised her legs to ease the pain and sobbed, “I’m sorry.
Maybe he did.
Maybe I wasn’t listening.”
His insane red glare froze her speech.
He went back to pacing around the tree line, impatiently waiting and ranting to himself.
“That son of a bitch didn’t even mention me to her.
He hasn’t thought of me at all.”
Ariel listened to the confusing mutterings, willing herself to be quiet and hopefully remain unnoticed.
Her head was aching and she felt the unfamiliar surge of two of her ribs knitting back together.
The man lifted his head and turned toward the settlement.
She saw his nostrils flare and he smiled.
Quietly walking through the trees, Lucien edged toward the scent of the putrid being and his mate’s blood.
He had to caution himself to slow down with the feelings of anger and fear battering his senses.
He’d dismounted the horse he’d borrowed from the Indians at the edge of the grasslands.
The horse trotted toward the village.
A familiar underlying scent attacked his senses mixed in with the stench of the rogue.
It can’t be.
Lucien’s plans for sneaking up on the creature dissolved when he looked at the knife he was holding to Ariel’s throat.
The terrified look on her face had him shaking.
“Hello, Lucien.”
Lucien could sense the man’s lunacy without the crazed eyes and drool slipping from a fang.
He willed himself to calm down.
“Edmond.
Obviously, I’m surprised to see you.”
“Your little mate and I were discussing that.”
Edmond stroked her cheek with his rotting tongue and she shuddered.
“As a matter of fact, Lucien, she said she’d never even heard of me.”
The creature tried to assume a pouting expression.
“Did you forget about me so completely?”
“Lucien,” Ariel whimpered, “who is this man?”
Lucien looked into her wide frightened eyes.
“Edmond is my brother.”
Confusion mixed with her fear.
“You told me he died.
It was in Europe centuries ago, during the inquisition.
You said that was one of the reasons you came here.”
Edmond clapped his hands, still holding the knife.
“So he did mention me.” He sounded pleased.
The red stare turned angry again.
“You were a little quick on my obituary, brother.”
Lucien walked slowly forward with his palms up.
“Edmond, I don’t understand.
We searched the ruins of the monastery for days and never found a thing,” Lucien explained.
“I know. Patrick told me,” he acknowledged.
Lucien thought of Patrick and Constance’s bodies and figured Edmond was planning a similar fate for him and Ariel.
His mind worked to figure out what to do.
In his crazed state, his brother had drained three bodies within the past few days.
Lucien was confused why he wasn’t bloated and immobile with the lethargy that should be consuming him to process all the fluid.
There was no question his skills and strength would be immense.
“I take it you found my traitorous old friend?” Edmond grinned.
“I scented your approach.”
Edmond started stroking an absent thumb over Ariel’s breast.
Lucien willed them both to be still and not react.
“I found them,” Lucien replied, as calmly as he could manage.
“That was a cruel thing you did, Edmond.
Patrick, Damon, Nathan and I mourn your passing every year.”
“Cut the crap, brother,” Edmond snapped.
“You have all been too busy with your little Clans in the mountains and mates … mates,” he exploded, “to have given me a thought.
I’m your brother, Lucien.
How could you not sense I was alive?”
“I don’t know, Edmond.
Maybe they weakened you too much.”
Lucien thought of the inquisitors’ manacles.
He knew immediately that was what his brother had used on Patrick.
“Oh, I was weakened, alright.
The manacles worked on Patrick just as they did on me, and just as they will on you.”
He pointed a finger at Lucien and wiggled it playfully.
“Edmond, let Ariel go.
She had nothing to do with this.
You can take out whatever punishment on me you think is fair.”
Edmond laughed.
“It certainly shows that Patrick took my place by your side.
He tried to bargain the same arrangement with that blonde whore he mated.
Did you know what they did to that little Indian girl?”
He thought a moment.
“Of course you did.
You probably joined in her torture when you visited.”
Ariel had no idea what they were talking about.
The man still had a knife to her throat and was stroking her.
She tried to stay quiet and not distract Lucien from whatever plan he’d come up with.
Edmond kicked something heavy toward Lucien.
Ariel looked down at a weird assortment of chains and cuffs.
“Put them on, Lucien,” Edmond growled.
Lucien arched his brow.
“That would be rather foolish of me after seeing Patrick, don’t you think?”
“I have no intention of sealing your fate as quickly as Patrick.
The Indian girl talked me into a lot of that.
It seems she wasn’t enjoying her stay in their little settlement.
As a matter of fact, she didn’t like them very much.”
He looked down at where the chains lay tangled on the ground.
“Now, put them on or I am going to slice your pretty little mate’s face.”