Season of Sin Read online

  But I want him to bite me.

  Darick makes a quick move and touches my hips. He shoves me forward, sliding my body off him. I feel every perfect inch of his cock rip out of me, leaving my legs feeling as though I’ll never use them again. I hit the bed and can’t move. Darick is on his knees before me, hands at his sides. There’s a slight glistening of sweat on his chest, which makes him even sexier. I touch the soft sheets and feel as though I should be under the covers. You know, cover myself up. But I don’t want to. I’m naked before him. My nectar is oozing from my body because of the way he took care of me. I feel myself throbbing, my toes keep curling as I want more.

  The craving is intense. More intense than anything I’ve ever known. Even when I was alive I wasn’t like this. I wasn’t this kind of woman.

  I push back on the bed a little and start to sit up. My body is aching in a different way. I look down and around at myself and I gasp. All the marks from where I jumped in front of the white light… the pain in my bones and my muscles…

  “You healed me,” I whisper as I look at Darick.

  He’s standing at the edge of the bed, still naked. My eyes can’t look away from the monster between his legs. He must know I won’t look away until he gets dressed. So he puts on jeans. But not a shirt.

  I gaze at the scar again and know that’s what’s happening next.

  I point.

  Darick slowly places his right hand to the scar and shuts his eyes.

  When he takes his hand away, the scar is gone. There’s a tattoo in its place. Red lines. Four with a fifth going from corner to corner. Keeping count of something.

  “What is it?” I whisper.

  That’s when Darick slowly turns to show me his back.

  His back is massive and filled with muscle.

  There’s another tattoo. Of a man driving a stake into the chest of a fanged monster.

  I don’t get it at first, but then the tattoo comes to life.

  The man turns his head and I see a familiar set of eyes.

  It’s Darick… and he’s killing… a vampire?

  I cover my mouth when I finally realize what it means and why Darick never took his shirt off before.

  “You’re a hunter…”

  6.

  The ink begins to drip down his back, the tattoo dissipating. The ink runs over the top of his jeans and begins to stain the dark blue color with the midnight black color.

  “Darick,” I say.

  He turns to face me again. The tattoo on his chest has the same red lines.

  “Are those… the ones you’ve killed?”

  “Yes,” Darick says.

  “You’ve killed vampires? And now you’re a vampire?”

  “Yes.”

  My body tingles and I sort of feel gross. That I had let the enemy fuck me so good.

  I shook my head. “Wait… what about the others?”

  “They’re not like me,” he says.

  “Do they know?”

  “Of course they know, babe. I’m sure we all have secrets, but not like this.”

  “They accept you?”

  “They have no choice. We’re bonded. And the bond is even greater because of you now. Our entire destiny together is you. All our stories mean nothing separately, but together we create a powerful force. We all need each other.”

  “You’re a hunter,” I say again. Then something else hits me. “Kyran… his… Allison… she was killed by hunters.”

  “That’s right,” Darick says.

  “Did you…”

  Darick growls and jumps forward. He’s on the bed, an inch from my face. I can smell the sexy roughness of his body. His brown eyes are hauntingly beautiful in a way that shouldn’t turn me on.

  My hands touch the sheets and I curl my lip right after he curls his.

  I may not have fangs… but I have a pussy… so I win the battle of power.

  “Don’t try and scare me,” I say. “It won’t work. I want answers.”

  “You haven’t asked any questions, babe.”

  “I shouldn’t have to.”

  Darick snarls and eases back from me. “I never hurt one that didn’t deserve it. That was my crusade. Not for blood. Well, your blood, Astrid. That wasn’t who I was. I ran rogue. An outlaw within the group. They worked together in packs, almost like those dirty fucking wolves do, but I did my own thing. I passed by hundreds… thousands of vampires that I could have easily destroyed, but I didn’t. They were good beings. The ones I did kill…” Darick touches the tattoo on his chest. “They needed to be killed. It was the only way I could survive. Doing the work heaven and hell couldn’t agree upon.”

  “I don’t understand…”

  “Those who killed for fun,” Darick says. “Those who used their existence for fear and power. Those who fed when they wanted and how they wanted. I learned the way of this life long before I became part of it. I was ready when my time came.”

  “When was that?”

  Darick moves from the bed and stands at the side of it. His back is bare now. The tattoo is completely gone.

  “I was caught letting vampires go free,” Darick says. “I never thought I would do that either. I lost everything I once had to vampires. They pillaged and destroyed all I knew in life. Burning everything to the ground. Attacking at night. Black silhouettes and shadows. The only time you saw them was when their fangs showed before attacking. I went on the run. The sounds of flesh tearing, blood spilling, the growls as a monster feeds on innocent prey. That’s when I went to the hunters. I understood what they wanted in the beginning, but it became too much. I realized that not much changes whether you have a heart or fangs.” Darick looks back at me. “Humans kill for no reason. So do vampires. So do hunters. So do other things.”

  Other things?

  “I would go out with the other hunters and watch what they did. I once stared into the eyes of an older vampire. He was beaten, on the ground, showing his fangs like a weakened animal making its last stand. And I could feel his entire existence. From birth to death to rebirth. He never harmed a soul, living or dead. And I was supposed to drive a stake through his heart and slit his throat to taste his blood for the pureness we were all sent to look for. I couldn’t do it. So I walked away. Someone else did it, but I was gone. I then had the threat of vampires and hunters. The world against me.”

  “A true outlaw,” I whisper.

  Darick nods. He slowly turns. “I kept track with their own blood.” He looks down to the tattoo on his chest. “To remind myself of what I was doing. Then I was faced with a battle. There was an elder vampire who claimed he had the blood. I never saw so many hunters in my life. I honestly had no idea what my position was in the fight. I was completely rogue, meaning I killed both hunters and vampires in that fight. Then my own fate collided when a vampire sank its horrid fangs in my neck as a hunter stabbed me in the heart. The vampire fed as the hunter began to stab me again and again. Tearing my heart into pieces. I never knew if he did that because he felt I was a traitor or he thought I was a vampire. What a way to die, right, babe?”

  I swallow hard. “Did it hurt?”

  Darick laughs. “I tell you that story and that’s your question?”

  “Well, did it?”

  “Of course it did. My life was taken from me and I was being changed at the same time. It hurts to die. It hurts to change. To have them both happen at the same time, that’s fucking torture. It’s like the devil himself taking his hand and wrapping it around your throat and squeezing. I died and was born in the same breath. The hunter tried to attack the vampire who changed me - my father - and I attacked the hunter. My first meal. A delicious meal at that. The elder who said he had the blood lied. To attract the hunters so they could fight. During the fight, he lost his life. That’s all I’m going to say about it.”

  Now Darick just stands there in silence.

  I take the entire story in.

  I then move to my knees, still naked.

  “Sit on
the bed,” I order.

  Slowly, Darick sits down.

  I creep up behind him and put my hands to his shoulders. I lean forward, my breasts against his strong back.

  “I think I’m starting to get you now,” I whisper. “You’re worried about their judgment of you. Because of who you used to be. Because of what happened to Kyran. They live in this existence with such passion.”

  “I do the same, babe,” Darick says. “But to be bound with three brothers… I don’t go for that.”

  “You’re an outlaw. A tough guy that lives by his own rules and word. But you have to function with three other voices.”

  “Four,” Darick says.

  “Four?”

  He turns and I see the way the side of his body ripples with stomach muscles that go around to his back. How is that fair?

  “Four, babe,” Darick says. “You’re the fourth. You have all the power.”

  He leans forward and puts his forehead to mine.

  I touch his face and feel tingly.

  I think I’m in love with him too. I love him just like I do Kyran, but differently. Is it possible to love two at once? What about Seth and Layre? I feel for them too…

  “This is why things go slow,” Darick whispers. “Too much at once for you and you’ll go crazy.”

  “Yeah. Because I went from some loser at a party with a camera to this.”

  “You have no idea how impactful your life was and your new existence is. There’s a world out there waging a war to get your blood. And your body, of course.”

  Darick smirks.

  I kiss him because I can.

  He quickly stands. The tattoo on his chest is back to the ugly scar from before. I can’t even imagine someone stabbing me in the chest over and over, creating a scar that looks like that.

  “I showed you the hall with those two wood carvings for a reason,” Darick says. “I took you to your death for a reason. Everything I do is for a reason, babe. Just like me telling you my story. There’s a reason.”

  “And what reason is that?” I ask.

  “You’ll have to figure that out for yourself.”

  Darick bends to get his shirt off the floor. I’m treated to the show of him putting his shirt on. I never thought in my life I would be jealous of a shirt, but I am because I want to wear Darick.

  “What were you talking about out there?” I ask. “Voting or something?”

  He curls his lip, showing a fang. “Everything I do is for a reason.”

  He opens his arms and puts his head back. He falls to the floor and there’s a whooshing thud and he’s gone. A cloud of brown dust lingers in the air. I scramble from the bed, on my hands and knees, naked on the floor, breathing in the cloud just to smell him again.

  I shut my eyes and breathe him in. I think about what he’s told me. I think about Kyran. I think about the reality of these four vampires who were once men that had lives. I think about my own life. I think I was a loser. I think about my camera and those pictures. How long was I being followed? How long was I destined for this death and new life?

  I open my eyes as I shudder.

  “Say cheese.”

  The voice is that same wickedly deep voice from back in the house where the party had been.

  I see the massive black boots step forward.

  I can’t even scream as I look up.

  Then I’m swallowed into darkness.

  7.

  By now, it doesn’t surprise me. There’s blackness, a gust of wind against my face, and then it’s like stepping into another room. I can see a jagged crack of light and I just move forward into it. I stumble down to my knees as I look around. I’m in the house with the vampires still. Which I think is good. I’m at the end of a hallway though. Behind me there’s a mirror. I stand and turn to face it.

  I have no reflection.

  Of course I don’t have a reflection. I’m dead.

  “Are you okay?”

  I scream and turn to see the four of them standing there.

  Seth, Layre, Kyran, and Darick.

  I didn’t see them in the mirror because they have no reflection either.

  I look at Darick first, but he has his black sunglasses on. He doesn’t want me to look into his eyes. Of course not. Why would he? I know too much about him.

  “I saw something,” I say. “When I was alone. Something… someone…”

  “It’s okay, Astrid,” Seth says. His voice is deep, but not like the voice I heard in the bedroom. He steps toward me. “It’s okay. We’re here to protect you.”

  “You cannot be alone,” Layre says.

  “Kyran glances at Darick and shakes his head.

  “Say a word and I throw you through the mirror,” Darick says.

  “I didn’t say a thing,” Kyran says.

  “Did you finish your voting?” Darick asks.

  “Yes,” Seth says.

  “Voting for what?” I ask.

  “What comes next for you,” Layre says. “We need to guide you through your new existence, angel. You’re going to have face some truths. But you need strength. Your own. And our full bonded strength.”

  “Okay,” I say. “Let’s go then. I’m tired of hiding. I want to know who was here banging on the door. And who was in the bedroom with me.”

  They all look at each other. I see something that resembles worry on Seth’s face. I don’t like that at all.

  “Think of it as a memory that can follow you,” Darick says. “But cannot touch you.”

  “Don’t lie to her, brother,” Layre says. “We don’t know what it can do.”

  “Great,” I say. “I’ve seen a lot so far. I know how I died. I did this to myself. I guess for you four to bond? I’ve seen the lefties and fought them.”

  Seth raises an eyebrow, showing off a super blue eye.

  “That’s true,” Darick says. “She took the lefties on and did great.”

  “Shit,” Layre says. “Forces are getting stronger. And will continue to get stronger. Until we fully bond.”

  “What does that mean?” I ask.

  “That we fully commit to each other and to you,” Seth says.

  I suddenly hope the process involves them all fucking me. At the same time. Taking turns with each of their bodies to mine, but I’m touching them all at the same time.

  “I don’t understand,” I whisper, sort of playing stupid.

  “I would die for you,” Layre says. “I mean, I’m dead, but I would have my existence shattered into dust and blow off in the wind for you.”

  My mind flashes the image of the vampire being killed. When Darick took me to the wood carving that came to life.

  “I would do the same,” Darick says. “I may try to live like an outlaw, babe, but for this brotherhood and for your blood and body, I would give it all.”

  “Same here,” Seth says. His stare is a comfortable cold, which is weird. “I would fight until my last limb is torn away. And even then, I would summon the deepest parts of hell and offer my everything to give you a chance to keep moving forward, Astrid.”

  “Why me?” I ask. “Don’t just say my blood.”

  “Fine,” Layre says. “Your beauty. Your body.”

  “The heart you used to have,” Seth says.

  “The way you taste and feel against our skin,” Darick says.

  I’m blushing and wet.

  But I realize one of them hasn’t spoken at all yet.

  I look at Kyran.

  His green eyes are as beautiful as ever. He stares, but still doesn’t speak.

  “Explain the bond,” I say.

  “The bond will help shield you,” Seth says. “We don’t know the exact fight we’re up against. The powers. Forces. All that.”

  “Nothing we can’t handle,” Layre says.

  “Depends on the bond,” Darick says.

  “How do we bond?” I ask. “Do I need to get naked again?”

  I realize how eager I sound and I quickly bite my lip. I’m like a woman
who lost her virginity well past what was normal and now wanted to make up for lost years.

  Seth chuckles. The floor shakes. “Oh, I would love you naked right now, Astrid. But it’s not that. It’s more personal.”

  “Myself?” I ask.

  “Not you,” Kyran finally speaks. “Me.”

  “You? What do you mean?”

  The other three look down.

  Kyran steps forward and reaches for my hand. His hand is soft, almost like the grass in his garden. He has that lavender smell to him again. It’s relaxing, but the stare from his eyes isn’t that at all.

  “I would… I would lose everything for you,” Kyran says.

  “Not strong enough,” Darick says.

  Kyran turns his head. They both growl at each other.

  I understand their tension now.

  Hunters took the woman Kyran loved. Darick used to be a hunter. Now they were stuck together.

  “Tell her everything,” Seth says.

  “I am,” Kyran snaps. “Give me a fucking chance here.”

  “Please, Kyran,” I whisper. I inch closer to him. I slide my hand to the back of his hand and make him touch my waist. “Please…”

  My body gently touches his.

  His green eyes glow brighter and his fangs show.

  “Astrid, to make the bond fully work, I need to believe it… not just speak it.”

  “Meaning what?”

  “Meaning… the way the others would lose their existence…”

  “You won’t do that for me.”

  “It’s not that simple,” Kyran says. “I say it and mean it.”

  “But you don’t believe it,” I whisper.

  “Please don’t feel pained,” Seth says. “We must not lose sight.”

  “It’s okay, angel,” Layre says.

  I sort of ignore them. I just keep staring at Kyran. Maybe I should be mad. Maybe I should be sad.

  But I’m not.

  “It’s because of Allison,” I say.

  Kyran stiffens and anger spreads across his face.

  The air suddenly feels wet and I swear it starts to drizzle right there in the hallway.

  “If you fully commit to me, you’re saying goodbye to her,” I whisper. “You have to let everything about her go. No matter what. You still believe there’s a chance you can get to her. Find her. Save her. Have her.”