Bitten Surrender (8 page)

“Wait. What?”

The room around her changed, and she whirled around to try to figure out her surroundings. She was in some kind of study. It was dark outside with only lights from the candles illuminating the room. Jerome sat in front of a desk looking at a book.

“I’m the only person in town who can read.” He raised his head to stare at her. “Sorry about the whirling around. You aren’t going to be asleep for very long and we have ground to cover.”

She tapped her foot on the ground. “I hate the dreaming thing.”

“Tough. Hanzi will never tell you what you need to know. He’s silent, and he thinks he’s protecting you from his monster. Feri arranged the whole scenario to give you the knowledge you’ll need to make your choice. I’m how he managed tonight to manifest. I’m not real. The actual me has no idea you’re seeing me at all. Let’s go where we need to go. Shall we?”

She sat on the side of the desk. Hanzi hadn’t been able to read. Had he learned to read? He’d had time. She’d have to ask him.

“What does the book say?”

“It says the witch had no choice but to destroy our town. A very wealthy man who wished to have more took her son and told her to kill us or lose her child. She did as he asked. Ema and the others, they dropped dead before they went to bed. But the witch had given some of us an out—a way to find revenge for the deaths of the others—she’d turned some members of our town into vampires. Right as you watch, I—the version of me who was real—am reading the book, and I don’t understand it. Vampires weren’t a concept any of us were familiar with. Hanzi and ninety-nine other strong males would crawl from the graves I dug them or simply stand up where they had fallen. They would be filled with bloodlust, and I’d be drained several times before the particular night ended.”

He stood and walked to the window. “I don’t know how I felt about what happened? I’m Feri’s manifestation of me. I know how Feri felt and it wasn’t pretty. He hasn’t given me Jerome’s thoughts. How do you feel about happened?”

She rubbed at her nose. Truthfully, she’d rather not over analyze. “Utter horror. I can’t imagine waking a vampire tomorrow.”

“The witch wasn’t done. She knew their lives after death would be horrific. To give them revenge, she’d made them monsters. They had to live in the night except someday they would have the chance to find a love—a woman to mate with—have children with. They’d be matched.” He stepped forward and touched her wrist. “For example, you and Hanzi.”

Once again the strawberry birthmark played a role. “The wedding part I know.”

“It got worse.”

She hugged herself as a cold wind blew past her. Where was the breeze coming from? She looked around. Nothing seemed out of order. Was she cold wherever she slept in the real world? Dreamland sucked.

“Okay, we have to go on then. Whirling again? Flying somewhere else?”

Adrienne blinked, and she was in a field. A dark landscape at night. The moon lit the grass, and Jerome stood to her right.

“I wasn’t here for the battle to come. Once I stepped back into our township, I never could leave. For two thousand years, I’ve lived within the borders, one way or another, where I was born.”

“Jerome.”

She sucked in her breath. Hanzi had been put through hell and so had Jerome. She had no idea. He seemed so chipper. She was going to have to do something for him. Although she had no idea what an appropriate gift for him would be.

“No feeling, remember? Not from me here.” He pointed at the field. “The scene in front of us is Feri’s memory the night he and Hanzi had their first battle. Thirty years later. The man who wanted their land is long dead, throat slit. So is the witch. Her son. All of their living relatives. And countless others.” He turned to look at her. “See the crowd forming over there?”

She stared in the darkness. There did seem to be people there who hadn’t been seconds earlier. How had they gotten there so fast? “The scene in front of us is about to be very bad, isn’t it?”

“You already know, I assume, that vampires are made through the sharing of saliva to blood during the feeding. They didn’t know right away. There were hundreds upon hundreds of vampires made in the three decades after my friends were turned. Consequently, the original vampires called themselves the royals. All new vampires were lesser creatures in liege to them. Those years were heady. My brothers had come to enjoy their dark selves. Hanzi’s vampires will kill Feri’s. Slaughter them in blood and flames.”

Adrienne tried to make sense of what she had been told. She had a lot of information to process. Things which had never been explained before were starting to take shape in her mind. She wanted to scream from frustration.

“They made an army of vampires. The ones I know from home, they’re them?”

“Likely not. This poor group will be slaughtered soon. The ones who don’t die find they can do something the witch made impossible for my brothers to do without their destined mate—they can breed.”

She sucked in her breath. “The new ability would mean hundreds make hundreds and more.”

Her head hurt. The ramifications were startling. After enough generations passed, the world would be overrun with vampires.

“When my foolish friends finally pulled their heads out of their asses, they realized they had a problem, if for no other reason than their food supply would soon be at risk. They finally stopped fighting long enough to remember we had once been close. Rules were set. If nothing else, the original vampires were stronger, faster. They became the police. Breeding policies were put into place. How and when to feed. The life you’ve lived back in the United States is controlled by a series of highly documented rules, the breaking of which would mean death to all of them. The royals are scary. They have talents. Feri can move into minds. Hanzi can find anyone. Others can manipulate the world around them.”

“The vampires near where I grew up were very meticulous about things.”

Jerome snorted. “They would have to be. No modern vampire wants the royal vampires showing up to enforce the law.”

“And policing is what Hanzi does? He keeps things in order.”

“No.” Jerome shook his head, and when he did he changed. She gasped as his whole form altered. Where one second he was Jerome, the next, with a switch of lighting, he was Feri. Hanzi’s brother stared back at her. The same distant gaze which had freaked her out before still did so. She wanted to take a step back, but shit,
here
was her dream. Where was she going to go?

“Adrienne,” Feri reached out to touch her arm. “Hanzi is our hunter. When someone breaks the law, tries to run, Hanzi finds him or her. He delivers the deathblow. Without him, we would be in serious trouble. I know you think you’ve been given a raw deal. You had no choice. Fate picked you and decided you should be his companion. Perhaps you have not a single altruistic cell in your body. I’m not asking you to consider him for charitable reasons. Imagine you have been gifted the single most powerful monster who will love you forever. All you have to do is make him think he might actually deserve you.”

Adrienne sat straight up on the couch. She shivered uncontrollably. Feri’s words resonated in her brain. Hanzi was no ordinary vampire. He was the vampire other vamps were frightened of. The image of his sad eyes when he looked at her, when he spoke of himself, flashed through her mind. Hell, the man needed her, and he was beautiful to boot.

She rubbed at her face trying to force her body to calm. Feri’s run around in her head had to be done, or she was going to show them all a fit they’d never seen before.

“Hanzi.” Adrienne called out.

Where was he? She’d fallen asleep on him and he’d left her? When he didn’t answer, she popped off the couch. He’d destroyed her clothes, so she quickly went into the bedroom and changed into some new ones.

A quick glance in the mirror showed her that her black yoga pants and long tunic made her look presentable, if not stylish. Still, it was the mark on her neck that caught her attention. Two small marks where Hanzi bit her still marred her neck. She rubbed her fingers against it, and a surge of warmth passed through her body, specifically through her lady parts.

Actually, having his mark on her was kind of sexy. She’d been properly laid, and she had a real mark to show the world, a really outstanding hickey. Adrienne had never been opposed to permanently placing things on her skin for the world to see. She loved it.

Damn it. She’d always been such a horn dog. Hanzi was only going to make her sexual cravings worse—if she found him. Where the hell had he gone?

She put on her shoes and walked out into the hall. Unlike earlier, Jerome didn’t meet her at the door. Was she to be given free range of the castle?

“Hanzi.” She called out one more time into the hall. When she’d exited to go to town, she had gone left, and it seemed as good a direction as any considering she didn’t know where she was going.

The castle had been outfitted with electric lights, although the decorations, mostly paintings of men wearing old fashioned clothing with serious looks on their faces, made it easy to imagine what it had looked like when it had been built. Had the vampires put the place together for him?

Now that she knew a bit of his story, she’d have to ask.

The lights flickered, and she stopped walking. Did they have a lot of power outages in this small vampire-laden town? She kept walking in the direction of the door. Maybe she should have pressed the button to summon Jerome.

A shiver travelled her spin,e and she quit moving. In the movies, the girl with the heebie-jeebies would make a mistake. She’d turn around and see who was behind her. Or go back to investigate a noise. If her memory served, she had two more turns before she made her way to the front door.

Adrienne made a decision. It was possible there was nothing behind her. Someone might see her freak out and think her ridiculous. Shit. She didn’t care; she ran for the front door. If no one chased her, so much the better. She wasn’t going to wait to find out.

The lights flickered again as she ran. Her breath came in and out fast, and she heard her own heart in her ears. Another dimming and surging of the lights.

Feri’s voice in her mind from the dream. Some vampires manipulated their environment. As she had the thought, the lights went out entirely. Somehow she didn’t think clapping her hands was going to put them back on.

A growl sounded behind her. Yes, she was certain she’d become someone’s prey if she didn’t get out of there right now. Well, this woman was making it out the front door. Then she’d figure out what to do next.

****

H
anzi bent over Feri’s very dead mate. Detachment kept Hanzi alive. In the other room, Jerome held a bellowing Feri back from slamming through the door. Hanzi couldn’t allow the noise to distract him, not when he had to figure out what had happened here.

“Let him in Jerome.”

Feri flew through the door and skidded to a stop. “I bit her three times. Three exchanges. Do you think it’s enough? Can she make the change?”

Hanzi turned to look at Feri. His friend’s halted English sounded frantic. In the few minutes Hanzi had been in the room, Feri had paled considerably. The cool, collected Feri was nowhere to be seen. In his stead, a very worried vampire waited for Hanzi’s response.

“Then you did not do it on purpose.” Hanzi rose to his feet. “It was not your intention to end her human life.”

“No. Not yet.” He grabbed at Hanzi’s shirt. “I didn’t do it. I went for some air. To cool off. I saw how out of control you got. I left her sleeping. When I came back, dead. Answer my question. Three bites from me. Will she rise?”

It had been a thousand years since any member of the royals had made a vampire purposefully, other than their mates.

“Maybe.”

Feri’s eyes widened. “Maybe isn’t an acceptable answer.”

“It’s the only response I have. Let go of me. If you did not kill, and for the moment I am going to believe you, then we have to figure out what happened here. You can let go on your own or I can make you.”

A muscle ticked in Feri’s jaw. “You threaten me?”

“Its not a threat. I’ve always been stronger, which is why you raised an army against me. We’re past our disagreements. Let go of me. I can find who killed your lady.”

Feri dropped his hands and staggered backwards. “She can’t be dead. I only just found her.”

Hanzi ignored the twist of his own stomach. Adrienne slept peacefully in their rooms as Feri’s lady had done. What if he came back and found her dead?

“Jerome, I find I cannot concentrate. Go check on Adrienne, please, my friend.”

“Yes.” Feri nodded. “And Ambrus too. Tell him what happened. So he can be on alert.”

Jerome nodded and with a quick gait left Feri’s rooms. They were identical to the ones he and Adrienne shared. Feri watched Jerome in silence until he exited and then rounded on Hanzi.

Hanzi held his ground. Feri had never frightened him.

“If she does not rise, I will be a monster such as you have never seen.”

Hanzi had seen many things in his days, including vampires who had lost their loves. He had no doubt of Feri’s words. A heartbroken undead creature was a powerful force of evil.

“If need be, I’ll put you to death.”

“Right.” He nodded before he knelt in front of the couch where his mate lay dead. “She will wake and all will be well.”

“Tell me about her.” Hanzi liked details. They led to captures. The more he learned about his prey the better.

“Her name is Faiga. She’s from Berlin.” He placed his head next to her and closed his eyes. “And she was everything good and warm.”

Hanzi knew Feri’s response wasn’t possible. Adrienne was everything good and warm. For the present he wouldn’t argue. It seemed somewhat inappropriate.

“Her family works for the vampire community in Berlin?”

Feri sighed loudly. “They’re first generation.”

“Really? How did they become involved with...?”

His question remained unasked because a bellow of pure rage from further into the hall sounded through the walls. Ambrus. Hanzi would know his anger anywhere. He’d been on the other side of it many times. Ambrus had a temper to be reckoned with.