Raven's Desires (Night Hunters) (14 page)

Raven didn’t know where this would end but she needed to find out what this vampire really wanted.

“How do you know it’s willingly?”

Alec laughed. A deep, dark laughter that sent chills up her spine. He reached for her but she slapped his hand away again.

“Don’t touch me.”

“Feisty, I like that. But the reason I know it’s willingly is because an angry vampire would have tried to tear your throat out and your marks wouldn’t be healing so nicely. I’m sure that you would have a scar or two if you had been attacked. Also, a vampire out to kill wouldn’t bite you in an intimate spot there.” He pointed at her neck. “He would be going more for here, right under your chin. Just like a dog trying to kill someone.”

“So what if it is willingly?”

“Then that only means one thing. It’s true.”

Raven frowned.

“What’s true?”

“That there is a slayer with a vampire mate.” Alec inhaled deeply. “He bit you, but you and your, to not sound disrespectful, mate have not had sex yet. Is your vampire lover going through the whole
take your time
road? If he is, I really hate to admit being a vampire.”

“No, he’s not. I just told him I’m not ready and he respected that.”

Alec rolled his eyes. “Must be some half-breed.” He shrugged. “Well I’m here in peace and I don’t tend to do anything but enjoy these last weeks of school. Maybe find a few virgins to deflower myself. That’s always tasty.”

Raven frowned at him again.

“What?” he questioned.

“I can’t just let you go around biting people. Aren’t we supposed to fight or something?”

Alec let out a deep chuckle.

“I know you are untrained, little slayer, and I do not wish to cause any confusion. If you would like I will go to the council and get my renewal.”

“Why haven’t you gotten that before now?”

“Let’s say I was in a deep sleep for the pass hundred years or so.”

“Deep sleep?”

“Yes. Vampires who want to pass a century or two can go into a deep sleep. We don’t need to feed, just rest.”

“And you decided to sleep for a hundred years?”

“Give or take. I woke to this new world. Very vibrant and exciting. I just want to have a normal life again. Find out what this new world is all about.”

Raven took in Alec’s appearance. He could pass for an eighteen year old kid. Maybe his deep voice and the way he carried himself would give him away, but besides that he shouldn’t have any problems fitting in.

“How do I know I can trust you?”

“You don’t. But you have to understand that your gut feeling is what you have to go on now. I promise you no harm will come to these delightful teenagers. And if it makes you happy I will not bite them, just deflower. Is that something you can agree with?”

“No. Because I really don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing here.”

“Slayer, I assure you if I wanted you dead or anyone in this school, I could have done it before you knew what happened. I will not cause any trouble.” Alec reached into his pocket. “If you need to contact me, here’s my card with my cell number on it. I read up overnight that many people are crazy about these little portable devices. Once I learn to work this smart phone I think I will become one who loves them also.”

Raven looked at the card. She really didn’t trust this guy, but what could she do? She didn’t believe for one moment that she would be able to take him down.

“Okay. I will let them know about this.”

“Them?” Alec asked.

“You know, the Council.”

“Very well. I will be in contact. Until then, have fun with your mate. I bet he’s going to love the ground you walk on.”

Raven placed her hands on her hips.

“And how would you know that?”

Alec smiled again.

“Do you know how tasty slayer’s blood is? It can drive even a sane vampire insane if he gets just a drop. Not insane in a bad way, just crazy in love with the slayer and they would do anything and I mean anything to have another taste.”

“You act as if you have had slayer’s blood before.”

Alec stalked closer to her until he was only millimeters away. Raven had the urge to back up but she knew the force field would stop her.

“I was once a very dangerous vampire and I killed many slayers over the years. Not that I’m happy about those victories now. I tasted blood made of liquid fire. All slayer’s blood is different and once I had just one taste I couldn’t get enough. I drained my slayers because I couldn’t stop. I went crazy when I couldn’t find another slayer. That’s why I went to sleep for so many years. I had to detox myself. I will never touch that stuff again.”

Raven heard the sound of moaning. Mr. Washington slowly pushed himself off the floor. He grabbed his head, looking around the hallway. He shook his head again and walked off.

“I bet he’s feeling like he never felt before,” Alec told her.

“I thought you said it was only a sleeping spell?”

“It is, but my sleeping spells are so much more relaxing. He just feels that he’s floating on air. Now, little slayer, I’m off to this chemistry class that is supposed to work my mind.”

Alec waved his hand and the barrier disappeared.

“Wait.”

Raven grabbed his arm as he turned to walk away. She tensed waiting on him to snarl or growl at her for touching him. Instead, he smiled at her and politely waited for her to say what she had to say.

“Yes, slayer?”

“Why are you here?”

“I told you before.”

“I know about you wanting to go back to school but to me that sounds a little more like bullshit than the truth.”

“Slayer, if you were sleeping for over a hundred years then you would understand my reason for wanting to see everything. I’m not going to stay around and pretend to be a teenager forever. I have many things I have to attend to. Many businesses I’m willing to run. The money I have in the vampire’s bank is not actually enough to keep me living good for very long. If I can’t get my renewal from the Council then I will have to make my own money. Remember, I killed before, and the Council tends to frown on that type of activity. I spent my time in prison for it, but before I decided to sleep I had not been able to get the Council back on my side. Now, little slayer, can I go to class, or are we going to talk about this all day?”

Raven knew that if Alec had any other plans besides coming to Meadville High to be a student she wouldn’t get it out of him this way. The only thing she could do was sit and wait for him to fuck up
—
then, she would be able to take action. In the mean time she had to learn what to do in these types of situations. She needed to go work out or something.

“Fine. You know I don’t really trust you right now, and I will keep an eye on you.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way, my little slayer.”

Raven waited until he walked off before pulling out her cell.
God damn it!
She didn’t have Kristian’s number to call him. She might have gotten it if she had not been trying to get away from him so quickly last night.

She pressed in the code to get to the Council. She might not be able to get to Kristian but she knew that someone should know about this vampire who claimed to have been sleeping for the past hundred years.

* * * *

Kristian walked into the main room of the Council. It reminded him of a small arena. There were rows after rows of seats in a circle. The middle area had a long wooden table that could seat about twenty people.

The right door opened to the top part of the arena and people started to pour inside. They were talking amongst themselves as males and female vampires, werewolves, shadow demons and other mystical creatures sat in the empty seats.

“Man, it must be big for them to call everyone in the area,” Shane said, then patted him on the shoulder.

“Must be.”

“You going up?”

“Yeah.”

Kristian followed Shane up the stairs into the upper part of the arena. When they reached the empty seats, Arthas and Jana walked into the room.

The talk ceased immediately once they took their seats at the table.

“Thank you all for coming so quickly. Last night we had a tear into our world from a Karlem’s hell dimension.

“What!” The word flew from half of the room.

“Did any of them get out?” Jason, a shadow demon who was second in command of the area, asked.

“We have workers at the open site now examining it. So far, no trace of any Karlem demons entering this world.”

“You know that if any one of those demons escape it will be hell to pay,” Jason spoke.

Everyone in the room began to speak at once, some agreeing with what Jason had said.

“It’s been over fifty years since a Karlem demon has walked this earth,” Arthas reminded everyone. “We will make sure that none escape while this portal is still open.”

“Still open!” Shane jumped up. “How?”

“We have no idea, young Shane. It seems that they tore a hole in the timeline itself.”

“Are they attempting to close it? When will it be closed?” Jason questioned.

“They have our best warlock on the case now. Everyone knows Calvin Nolan. He’s there and we hope to have this closed soon. I don’t think…”

The room began to protest at the thought that this portal was still open. Arthas tried several times to speak.

“Silence!” Arthas’s voice boomed in the area.

The room quieted.

“As I was saying, I don’t think any of the Karlem demons where trying to escape. Maybe it was torn from the outside. I don’t know but we will find out later how it happened. Right now, our only concern is closing it.”

“Where is this hole? I would like to go and make sure that none of them will escape,” Jason offered his services.

“It was opened right behind the homes on Samville’s Drive. It is close to Raven’s Nowles’s home,” Arthas said.

“What!” Kristian jumped up. “Is she all right?”

Kristian wanted to know where Raven was right now. He didn’t have any contact information for her. He could detect her but didn’t know where or what she was doing at the moment. The blood connection between them would only connect once Raven took some of his blood.”

Arthas raised his hands and silently asked Kristian to sit.

“Your slayer is safe, Kristian.”

“What? A slayer?” Jason asked. “Why wasn’t I notified of this? Is that why the portal opened?”

“We are not sure why it opened. It could be because a new slayer was born. It could be that something was trying to get out. We don’t have time to figure out why it happened. First we need to control the situation, then figure out why. I want you all to patrol the area tonight, see if you can detect any signs of a Karlem demon in the area. You know their scent. If one has escaped we have to contain it and get it back to hell at once.”

Kristian had to get to Raven. If a Karlem demon had escaped he would want Raven. Slayer’s blood could heal someone faster than killing a hundred humans. Since the portal was opened, he didn’t want Raven anywhere near it until they were able to close it. Raven being there could draw unwanted attention from the demons inside the portal. They would try to claw their way through that portal and then this world would be in trouble.

Karlem demons weren’t exactly tameable. They were ugly creatures with leathery looking skins, horns on their foreheads and a tail that could penetrate steel. They were evil bastards who had two goals in life, to consume and destroy the planet they were on. Many universes had fallen to destruction because of Karlem demons. Once they were at full strength there was no stopping them.

Over the centuries many Karlem demons had attempted to consume earth. Luckily, there were stronger and more powerful witches and warlocks to send them to a hell dimension prison that a warlock created many years before. It kept them there where they could suffer, then die. Some tried to get out, some lived there until they perished. If one of them ever thought about coming to the good side, there was no telling the evil they could let loose on this planet with just one Karlem demon.

There had been many attempts to convert one to good, but it didn’t go the way they planned. The Karlem demon only pretended to be good in order to consume the planet. They had to subdue it, then send it to hell.

“Kristian.” Arthas brought him back to reality. “Your mate is in great danger there. Find her and bring her back to your home. I don’t want to give any of those demons a reason to come to the surface.”

“She’s not going to want to,” Kristian said, making everyone look at him.

“I know you are trying to give her a chance to make up her own mind.” Arthas stood from his seat. “Here is a quick explanation to everyone. The prophecy about our kind mating with a slayer is true. Kristian Blackburn will be the first to mark a slayer as his mate. This will keep our slayers alive and wanting to live longer.

This slayer is very young, only nineteen, but I know that she is ready to help out in this world. We all are a dying race and I feel that our gods are looking down upon us and will give us a chance to live. We cannot let evil wipe us from this planet. We will get rid of them! Now, I don’t care how or what you tell Raven, but do not let her go back to that house. If you have to subdue her, then so be it. She will forgive you later. With her family, go there and wipe their minds, program them to whatever you want. I don’t want any missions coming back to me as failed. I know this slayer is a lot stronger than she knows and if needed, she will strike. You have to be stronger, Kristian. Do you think you can do this, or do I need to send someone else?”