Blood Betrayed

  Blood Betrayed

  I am everything forbidden. I am vampire.

  Haunted by betrayal, Saint hides in the human world, giving his heart to no one and finding the only solace from his past in the arms of human women. Now as the Archons begin their takeover of the vampire world, this Son of Navarus has been marked for death.

  Summoned to defeat the Archons by the world that shunned him, Saint must face his past and Solenne, the woman he loved and lost a century ago, for only in accepting her will his body and soul finally find salvation.

  BLOOD BETRAYED

  GABRIELLE BISSET

  Blood Betrayed is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events are the products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to events, locations, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  2012 Gabrielle Bisset

  Copyright © 2012 Gabrielle Bisset

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

  Published in the United States

  Cover Design: Talina Perkins

  Editor: Yvonne Glanville

  eBook ISBN: 978-0-9847243-6-9

  First eBook Edition: May 2012

  Adult Content: Contains graphic sexual content

  Dedication

  For every woman who ever questioned if her memory stayed with someone long after she was gone, Saint is the answer.

  I am everything forbidden.

  I am a haunted creature.

  I am darkness and shadow.

  I am vampire.

  Chapter One

  Real betrayal — the kind that tears the heart and soul out – is never a solo endeavor. True betrayal needs another villain to share the guilt. Together, two can harm so much more than one.

  Declan Collins stood silently, his eyes focused on the far walls of the Archon's chambers. On and on the men and women around him continued to debate the case against him. Their words enveloped him, a jumbled mess that threatened to smother him.

  What the fuck did he care what they thought? They only knew what they'd been told. Nothing more. Nothing real.

  He'd given up his chance to defend himself, against the advice of his lawyer who'd begged him to help — to do anything — to help his case. What was the use? Nothing they could do to him could be any worse than what he could do to himself. Whatever the verdict, it would pale in comparison to the torture he'd already begun inflicting on himself.

  It mattered little that he wasn't responsible. When did that ever truly matter? What mattered was that he'd been who he'd been accused of being, just not how they said. Defending himself would've only meant hurting someone he loved and the end result would have been the same.

  Maybe he was guilty of this crime, but he wasn't cruel. No matter how much cruelty he'd endured and would live with the rest of his time on Earth.

  "Declan Collins."

  The Archon's hollow voice roused him from his thoughts, and he trained his eyes on the man who sat behind an enormous old desk. Lawyers and other officials fell silent, and Declan felt his own lawyer gently touch him on the shoulder, as if to offer condolences on the verdict they both knew was coming.

  "You stand charged with breaking one of the most sacred laws of our kind. The relationship between sire and vampire is one of the cornerstones of our world, and you are accused of dishonoring this relationship. Before I pronounce my verdict, do you have anything to say in your defense?"

  Declan felt their gaze on him as everyone in the room waited to hear even a word that would show he wasn't the monster he appeared to be. If he wanted to, he could speak words to disprove everything that had been said about him.

  Love.

  Devotion.

  Betrayal.

  He said nothing and waited to hear his punishment.

  "As you refuse to defend yourself, I have to assume the charges are indeed true and sentence you to a solitary life with your own vampires for a term of no less than ten years."

  At the heavy sound of the Archon's gavel, everyone in the room resumed their activity. His lawyer spoke of the leniency of the Archon and his good fortune to only be shunned from the rest of the vampire world for ten years, but Declan ignored him.

  A solitary life with only vampires of his own. He had none. No soul on earth had made him wish to bring them into the world he was now forced to leave.

  Ten years, one hundred years. What did it matter? No amount of time would change what had happened. The Archon had done him a favor. He didn't belong in this world. He belonged in the world he'd been forced to leave the night his sire had robbed death of its due.

  An icy wind bit at him, but even the feel of it whipping against his skin couldn't dull the pain of hunger that tore at his insides. How long it had been since he'd tasted the blood of one of his own he couldn't remember. To do so always reminded him of her...

  The streets he strode down one after another remained deserted, denying him of even that brief respite from his pain that human blood provided. Did no one live in this godforsaken village full of empty streets? If only he could find one, maybe two souls to give him what he needed.

  Snowflakes flew into his face, sticking to his eyelashes and blinding him momentarily, and he was forced to halt his march down a darkened alley. Through the whiteout, he felt his way over the face of the building next to him, running his hands over the weather–worn bricks to a doorway. Still blinded by the storm, he slid his hands down the wooden door to the doorknob and turned it sharply to the right as he pushed all his weight against the entrance.

  Inside the darkened house, his eyes quickly adjusted to the blackness surrounding him. Was this place abandoned like the rest of Suceava seemed to be? Slowly, he scanned the room hoping to sense a warm body nearby but found nothing.

  Saint inhaled deeply and his nose located what his eyes hadn't. Someone — at least one person — was in the building with him. Silently, he moved toward the door and began ascending the staircase. The scent of the human grew stronger with each step, and as he reached the top stair, he heard the faintest sound of someone breathing.

  Searching the room in front of him, he saw a figure crouched in the corner clutching something. Three steps closer and he saw the human he'd sensed one floor below. In the darkness, a woman held a baby tightly to her chest as she looked up at Saint with eyes wide with fear.

  "Please…please don't hurt us," she begged in a shaky voice.

  He extended his hand and in the darkness touched hers. It trembled against his palm. Closing his fingers around it, he gently pulled her to her feet. "Come."

  Saint touched the baby's head, tenderly running his fingertips over the soft down before he whispered, "Lay the child down."

  The woman obeyed his command without question and silently placed the baby in his crib. She turned with hesitation from him after whispering a promise to keep them safe from harm and stared up at Saint.

  Her expression showed her fear, and he gently ran the back of his hand down her cheek to calm her. "I won't hurt the child if you give me what I need."

  In a tiny voice, she replied, "I have nothing but him, but take whatever you may find in this house. Please just spare my life and my son's."

  Saint studied her in the darkness, noting her eyes so full of fear of him were also beautiful and expressive. Her long hair was dark and fell back from her face as she looked up at him. "I don't want your life. Just your blood," he whispered as he trailed his fingers along the tendrils that hung over her shoulders. "Give me what I need, and
you and he will remain unharmed."

  He heard the sharp intake of her breath as he explained what he'd take from her. "I promise you won't be hurt."

  "Vampire?" she asked softly.

  "Vampire."

  As if resigned to her fate, the woman moved to the bed near the child's crib and sat down as Saint followed. Seated next to her, he began to speak the hypnotic chant into her ear and felt her body calm next to his.

  "Tell me your name."

  "Alina."

  Taking her face in his hands, he turned her head to look at him. "Alina, I take from you because I must. You'll feel no pain."

  He watched her close her eyes in silent permission, and with his hands still cradling her face, he bent his head to her neck. The first brush of her warm skin against his lips brought his fangs into position. Inhaling deeply, he smelled the gentle scent of her skin, exciting him.

  Blood wasn't all he hungered for. The thought of taking so much more from her made his cock harden, and his fangs cut into his lower lip in need. Stubbornly, he forced himself to remember he should only have her blood.

  Pressing into the tender skin of her neck, he had to wait only for that long moment before the human body gave up what he craved. She cried out just once, a soft keening sound, and then fell silent as he began to pull gently at her vein.

  Her blood tasted sweet and tangy on his tongue, and he savored it as it slid toward his throat. Never as potent or fulfilling as the blood of one of his vampires, or any vampire for that matter, human blood could take the edge off the constant hunger that had been with him for longer than he could remember.

  With each pull he felt the hunger recede into the darkness inside him. Alina's hand moved to cradle his neck, and the soft caress of her fingers on his closely shaved head made the urge to take more than blood surge in him.

  Moaning against her skin, he reveled in her touch as she gently stroked the back of his head. The need for the closeness of another grew to match the earlier need for blood and lifting his head from her neck, he saw a look of desire on her beautiful face.

  "Please tell me your name," she begged.

  Knowing he would dissolve her memory as he left, he answered, "Declan."

  "Declan," she repeated in a dreamy voice, as if his name pleased her.

  He ran the pad of his thumb across her bottom lip and imagined sucking on its full plumpness. At the corner of her mouth, he rubbed his finger over her soft skin, touching the faintest hint of a frown. She turned her head and took his thumb into her mouth. Softly at first, she sucked just the tip, making his mind dance at the thought of her mouth on his cock. Desire for more pressed into him, overwhelming his strength to fight it.

  Nearby the soft coo of the baby as he began to rouse from sleep made Alina turn her attention to the crib, leaving Saint to watch as her desire turned to concern.

  "I am all he has in this world," she said quietly looking down into the crib.

  Sadness pinched at his heart as he listened to her words. Whatever the world had seen fit to deal her, she had that one soul to love and who loved her in return. And him? He had everything a man could wish for and more. A vampire for one hundred years, he was eternally young, free to do as he pleased when he pleased, a servant to no other soul on earth. But still she had more than he.

  As self-pity threatened to choke him, he did as he'd always done and gave into the only thing that had ever been able to make him forget all that he so desperately tried not to remember.

  Greed.

  It had given him the strength to get up each night, the power to amass the wealth and possessions that meant a life of luxury full of whichever vice he preferred to deliver the contentment he craved. Encircling her arm with his hand, he pulled her to him and held her close. Brown eyes looked up in surprise at him, but the demon inside saw nothing but what it desired.

  "Come. He'll be fine."

  Through a door they entered a smaller room, empty except for a singular armoire on the far wall. Need reared up in him and he roughly pushed her back against the sturdy piece of furniture. Whatever affect his hypnotic words had produced earlier remained just enough for her to still want what he wanted, and she put up no struggle as he quickly stripped the clothes from her body.

  Almost a century of experience took over, and Saint's mind went blank as he performed the motions that would give him what he wanted. She'd enjoy it, as all the others had, but he'd feel nothing inside. Never had another's actions been so rote yet so pleasurable.

  His hands cupped her full breasts as he dipped his head to capture a soft nipple in his mouth. Flicking the tip of his tongue over it, he brought it to a hardened peak and softly bit down, eliciting a sweet moan from Alina. Pulling him closer, she pressed her hands against the back of his head, signaling her desire for him to continue. Her passionate mews spurred him on, and he dropped to his knees to taste her moist sex.

  Hidden within her soft curls was the tiny spot that he sought out with his tongue. With his thumbs, he gently opened her up to gaze upon her gorgeous pink cunt. Softly, he flicked his tongue over her exposed clit, loving the sound of her needy moans each time he stroked the tender knot of nerves that quivered under his touch.

  This vice — making love to human women — was one of his favorites, and he sought it out as often as life allowed. Unlike other vampires, he didn't have sex with those he sired or any other vampires. For almost a century, he'd only been with human women.

  What should have been physically pleasurable was more a means to an emotional end. No doubt he enjoyed being inside a woman, as he would with Alina in a few minutes, his cock pressing against the soft walls of her cunt. But the end was the goal. In those brief moments as a woman's body closed around him signaling her climax, he wasn't alone.

  Then it would end and he'd leave, knowing for at least a short time he'd made another soul happy and stolen some of that happiness for himself.

  Saint rose to his full height and licked his lips to enjoy the taste of Alina. Excited to feel what he'd temporarily denied her, she tore at his clothes as she clawed at the fabric to feel his skin under her fingers. Aroused by her eagerness, he shrugged out of his clothes with little effort, pleased by the surprised look of happiness that came across her face.

  "Little trick we vampires can do," he teased as he lifted her and moved to wrap her legs around him.

  "Can you do anything else?" she asked shyly as she laced her fingers at the back of his neck and stared into his eyes.

  Nodding, he placed his hands on the small of her back and pulled her toward his stiff cock. Slowly, he pressed into her warm and willing body, and when he was buried inside her, their bodies pressing against one another, he whispered, "Take from me, Alina. Take from me as I take from you."

  With the first thrust of his cock, she pressed her lips against his, devouring him with her passion. He had no idea of what her life entailed other than the child in the next room and the sensations she was creating in him each time she tipped her hips upward to take him as deeply as her body could, and he didn't care. He'd give her the pleasure that would relieve a few moments of his loneliness, and she'd give him the blood he needed. No one would be hurt, and when he left, he wouldn't even be a memory in her mind.

  As he thought this, he pumped into her cunt and focused only on that moment of sublime bliss she'd give him as she came. Each thrust shook the heavy wooden cabinet and Alina clung to him as he inched her body closer to climax. Her soft panting filled his ears, intermingled with moans and desperate pleas for him to continue.

  He wouldn't stop. He needed that feeling too much.

  His mouth moved to her neck for one last taste of her blood. No longer hungry, he sunk his fangs into her skin knowing it never failed to bring a woman to the edge he'd eagerly enjoy taking Alina over. Each draw on her vein made her beg for more and made his anticipation grow.

  She raked her nails down his back as the first hint of her release was born, making him pump into her faster as he yearned fo
r that moment as much or even more than she when her body would surrender completely to his.

  "Declan…" she cried softly into the darkness of the room. "I… please don't stop."

  As the beginning of her orgasm took hold of her, he left her neck and braced his hands on the cabinet behind her. Her body contracted around his cock and she came, and what he wanted she finally gave him.

  Closing his eyes, he felt the blissful feeling of pure pleasure wash over him. Alina's body spasmed its ecstasy and he felt his own climax begin on top of hers, flooding her insides.

  And then the world stopped around them. Alina became the only soul that existed for him in those incredible moments when he knew, beyond any doubt, that he'd brought her happiness. In that happiness, he found the closeness of another he'd searched for each night for almost one hundred years.

  Then it was gone.

  Saint returned to Alina's neck and closed the holes he'd made when he fed from her. When he raised his head, she kissed him tenderly on the lips, but the magic that had touched them in their joining was lost.

  Gently, he moved out of her and set her on her feet on the floor. Cupping her face in his hands, he looked down into the sweetness that gazed up at him. The effects of the hypnosis would vanish when he spoke the words, but before that he wanted to take one last look at her.

  "Alina, thank you for what you've given me."

  Without another word, he led her to the bed next to her son and lifted her in his arms. Placing her down, he lay next to her and in the darkness chanted the ancient words to make her forget.

  In the last hour before dawn, Saint walked the path he'd taken from Vasilije's home in the old monastery just outside of town. The storm had ended, leaving a layer of fresh snow, and he braced against the bitter cold that crept into his bones. Each step away from Alina was another step back toward the loneliness of every waking moment of his life. But this was his fate.