Unclaimed: The Master and His Soul Seer Pet: A New Adult College Vampire Romance (8 page)

The demon screeched with pain, and I realized that with every word of apology uttered, my hatred and guilt lessened, and with it the demon’s hold on my soul weakened.

“I want to kill you—”

The demon wanted to flee, but it was unable to. Forgiveness replaced guilt and understanding replaced hatred, and my soul turned into the demon’s cage.

“Because he chose you. And so even if you were to leave him, a part of you will always linger. I want to kill you because no one can ever compare to the way you’ve surrendered yourself to him.”

The demon went wild and it lashed out, doing everything it could to get free. I could feel my eyes burning as if they wanted to pop out of their sockets. A buzzing filled my ears and my tongue started to swell.

“Lady Zari…” She was smiling at me, but her eyes were glassy with tears as she saw me bleeding all over. “I owe you a c-couple of apologies.”

I concentrated on her words, knowing I had to bear the pain because it was the only way for us to kill the demon for good.

Katarina started to speak. “I’m sorry I think you’re a pain in the ass – Alexandru has enough enemies as it is, but with you around he’ll have the world out for him, especially once people find out you’re a soul seer.”

“I’m sorry I think you’re so small, it should make Alexandru feel like he’s making love to a kid. I’m sorry I think you’ve got the body of a boy, it should make Alexandru feel like he’s gay when he’s kissing you.”

I coughed out a bloody laugh.

It was the demon’s death knell, and as I felt it thrashing desperately in its attempt to escape, I heard Alexandru’s voice in my mind.
We’ve found the demon.

The talons in my soul disappeared.

The demon was dead.

I collapsed to the ground.

“Lady Zari?” Katarina cried out.

“I’m…okay.” It was still hard to speak, and my words came out as a croak. “Alexandru found the demon. It’s dead now.” I opened my eyes. We looked at each other, and suddenly we laughed. Even as tears formed in our eyes, we kept laughing.

“Do you need help?” Katarina asked as she came to her feet. At my nod, she offered her hand.

I took it.

Nooooooo—

“Lady Zari?”

But it was too late.

Around me, the world had turned into orange – everything was completely orange—

This isn’t real,
I told myself feverishly, but then the fire grazed my skin, and I screamed at the pain of it.

I closed and opened my eyes. The world was still orange, and I was still guilty. I closed and opened my eyes. The world was still orange, I was still guilty, but I was not alone. She was there in front of me and she was burning alive.

COME BACK TO ME, ZARI.
It was my Master’s voice, snatching me back to reality, and when I opened my eyes, I was in Alexandru’s arms, his face ashen. I saw Katarina behind him, her face drawn with worry.

I started to cry. “
I don’t understand
.” I lifted my eyes to Alexandru. “I saw her, Master. She was still burning, and it was still my fault. The demon’s dead, but I still end up killing her. Why?”

Chapter Eight

ALEXANDRU AND ZARI

Zari and Alexandru only had a moment alone when they made it to her Master’s room. He had carried her in his arms all the way back to the resort, and when the other girls from school saw them, he had simply said, “She fainted.”

Even though she was weak and tired, the excuse had her gritting her teeth. When they entered the elevator, she hissed, “Master, couldn’t you have been more imaginative?”

But the vampire hunter with legendary cunning and skills only threw her a blank look. “What’s wrong about that?”

She sent Katarina a commiserating look before she realized what she was doing. She stilled. Would the other woman think she was rubbing salt in her wound?

But then she heard the female hunter laugh, and Zari almost sighed in relief.

“How can you be so smart and be an idiot at the same time?”

Zari gasped at Katarina’s words.

The other woman snorted. “If a girl keeps fainting, what do you think is the first thing that would occur to other people?” When Alexandru’s cheeks stained with color at her pointed question, she crossed her arms over her chest. “
Exactly.
You made everyone think she’s pregnant with your child.”

The elevator doors opened to her floor, and stepping out, Katarina asked Zari over her shoulder, “Are you sure you think he’s really what you want, Lady Zari?”

The doors closed before she could answer.

Alexandru glanced at her with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m still thinking.” But Zari ended up gasping and laughing a little, even though it hurt to do so, as he suddenly shifted her in his hold. Her arms went around his neck, her legs wrapped around his waist as Alexandru pushed her back against the wall.

Supporting Zari with just one arm, Alexandru tucked loose strands of her hair behind her ears. After the fucking scare his pet had given him, he savored even the smallest things and would never take for granted the chance to touch her like this.

He asked, “Made up your mind yet?”

She couldn’t answer right away, his playful tone wreaking havoc on her senses.

Alexandru flicked her forehead.

“Oww,” she exclaimed, more out of surprise than anything else.

Suddenly, he bent his head, and their foreheads touched.

A ragged sigh escaped him, and she stiffened at the sound. “What’s wrong?”

“I thought I almost lost you.” His voice was a strained whisper, and it was the first time she had heard him speak like this. He looked up, and he flicked her head again.

Zari would have found it touching if it hadn’t hurt a bit more. “What’s that for now?”

“For lying to me.”

“Lying to you?
”

“You said you were fine!” The elevator doors parted open, and manners prevented Alexandru from continuing. He carried her out of the elevator, his hard embrace telling her it was far from over.

Entering his suite, he kicked the door shut and, in a blink of an eye, they were on his bed, Zari flat on her back and Alexandru looming over her with a scowl on his handsome face.

“You were bleeding all over,” he hissed. “
Here. Here. Here
.” He touched her eyes, her ears, her lips. “
You were dying
!” Just remembering it made his hand shake.

The raw fear in Alexandru’s gaze had Zari placing her hand against his cheek. “But I’m alive now.”

“By the fucking skin of your teeth,” he bit out.

Since she couldn’t argue that, she just said, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I terrified you. I didn’t mean to. Lady Katarina had it under control.”

He shook his head. “What she fucking did was a wild guess,” he said tightly, “and you were just damn lucky it paid off!”

She tried to find something positive to say and only ended up with a cliché. “But Master, all’s well that—”

Alexandru snarled, “You won’t want what I’ll do to you if you dare finish that thought.”

“—
ends well
?”

Both of them froze.

“
Zari.
” A growl and a groan at the same time.

She threw her arms around him before he could punish her. “Master.” She tightened her hold and pushed her breasts against his chest.

He choked back a laugh. “Are you trying to seduce me out of getting pissed?”

Hiding her face in the crook of his neck, she nodded. She also rubbed her body against him.

His cock became fully erect and he gritted out, “I have to say…it’s working, pet.”

“Master?” She closed her eyes. “Lady Katarina said…” She felt him stiffen, but she knew she had to ask. “
She said you chose me.
”

Silence.

“I did.”

She couldn’t breathe. “Why?”

Because you own my heart now, and it will always be yours.
The words came out of nowhere. He hadn’t planned to fucking say it, but now that he did, he knew he wouldn’t take it back. It was a fucking relief that it was all out now, a fucking relief that everything was finally clear to him.

Katarina was the past. Zari, his pet, was his eternity.

When she didn’t say anything, his jaw clenched.
Zari?

Yes, Master?

You want me to strangle the words out of you?

Not a good joke—

Stop fucking with me—

Zari suddenly pushed his chest, and when he fell on his back, she climbed over him, bracing her hands beside him. Their eyes met, and he sucked in his breath at what he saw in her gaze.

He had his answer, and she knew it.

Even so, she gave him a tremulous smile as she said, “In case you need to hear it…” She wiped her tears. “
I love you, Master. Alexandru. I love you.
”

She bent down, and their lips touched.

But they didn’t kiss.

Because she started to see.

~~~~

“You sure you want to do this?” Erou asked as, at his nod, his enforcers cut the yellow tape that barricaded the room where the demon’s host had been found and killed this afternoon.

Zari nodded.

Stepping aside, he warned, “We’ve cleaned it to escape human detection, but there are sure to be remnants that you’ll notice.”

When Alexandru opened the door, Zari was immediately hit by a rotten smell that wafted out of the room. She shook her head in dismay. It was such a bad odor, she couldn’t believe most humans wouldn’t be able to smell it.

Alexandru and Katarina stepped inside first. There was no jealousy in her heart as she watched the two working together, checking all parts of the room before Alexandru came back for her. “It’s clear.”

Accepting his hand, she followed him inside and found the smell even worse, making her feel like throwing up. Nothing looked untoward about the room at all, the enforcers having done a good job at cleaning. The host’s possessions remained in their place, and those were what she was most interested in.

“Do you think she’s been its host from the start?” Zari asked shakily.

“Most likely,” Alexandru answered grimly. “If you check the shower, you’ll see dozens of bottles of hair dye. Hosting a demon will take its toll on a body, even a vampire’s, and this one had to dye the hair black constantly to avoid unnecessary questions.”

Her gaze strayed towards the host’s ID, and she recited a quick prayer for the soul of the vampire whose life the demon had stolen. It had been the professor assigned to her class’ bus, and she had been the reason why the demon had been able to sink its claws into Zari. It only needed one touch, and the host had managed that when she took the consent form from Zari’s hands.

Now, the vampire was dead, the demon was dead, but the danger wasn’t over.

Zari’s orange-colored visions were proof of that.

Taking a deep breath, she touched the ID.

~~~~

The school was burning. The hospital was burning.

People were dying all around her, but she had to be saved because she was the soul seer, and she hated it.

“Go!” It was Katarina, screaming at Zari to leave.

“Go!” It was her Master, desperate to see her out of harm’s way.

And both of them were being burned alive.

Chapter Nine

ZARI

I was alone when I stole out early in the evening. I had told Alexandru that I needed to talk to Katarina, and I wanted him to pretend he didn’t know anything about it. I told him it was to keep Katarina from feeling awkward even more, but it was all a lie of course. More and more, I was convinced that I could be the world’s best liar as long as the situation called for it.