Carinian's Seeker (27 page)

“But why try to take me out at all?”

“Because, my sweet Carinian,” he purred into Natasha’s ear, “I knew you were at least aware, if not sure, of what I was doing. I couldn’t risk allowing the V.C.O.E. to get to you.”

“Yeah, this is all good and fine, but you still haven’t answered my question. Why hold me here? I’m no threat to you, even if I did know what you were up to. And where the hell is
here
anyway?” She tried to block out the sound of Natasha’s ragged moans as Sidheon played with her breasts and slid his hands up under the front of her barely there skirt.

“Well, since nobody knows where you are, I see no reason not to tell you. You’re in a quaint little manor on a beach in Northern California. And while you’re here, you’re going to tell me exactly what you think of my research.”

He wanted to talk about his research? Shit. Not good. It got worse when he explained his plans for V.C.O.E. The bastard planned to use his biological weapon to blackmail the Council. If they refused to make him the leader of a rogue vampire state he would use the serum he’d developed. And since it only affected those with pure, unaltered vampire DNA, he could put it into a main water or food supply and no one would be affected except his kind. Every vamp in the area would be toast, literally, in a matter of hours.

“Let me get this straight. You want every vampire declared a rogue by the Council to be placed under your guidance so you can create a rogue state and live happily ever after?” Carin couldn’t believe what she was hearing. The man was definitely crazy. What made him think he could control a whole horde of lunatics with fangs? She was amazed at what she was hearing and forgot to put her psychic shields in place. Watching Natasha writhe and moan against Sidheon as he kneaded her breasts like bread dough wasn’t making it any easier.

She screwed up her face in disgust. Sidheon chuckled and flicked one of Natasha’s nipples into a hard, stabbing point.

“But you’re right,” Sidheon continued, “the Elders would want to know how I planned to control them. The same way I’ll control the Council. Cross me, and they die. Give me what I want or they die. Finance my projects, or they die. Simple, yes? As for you, I don’t actually need you. I do, however, want you.”

Carin’s skin crawled when Natasha’s blouse slid down her arms to the floor, a black lacy bra following close behind. Carin felt her lip curl as she watched the woman raise her arms behind her, wrap them around Sidheon’s neck and pant like a dog in heat. All the other vampires seated around the table pushed back their chairs and headed for the comfortable love seats and mounds of pillows in front of the huge fireplace. Watching Sid and Natasha make out must have given them ideas of their own. Soon the whole room was full of moans, groans and all-out lust.

“You don’t need me, Aleth, and judging by the handful of tits you’re juggling, you don’t want me either. I want to go home. Right now.”

“Now, now, my sweet Carinian. You aren’t in a position to make any demands, except one.”

“And what’s that?” she sneered, swinging her feet off the table and pushing out of her chair to glare at him.

“You can demand me to fuck you. I’ll definitely comply. In the meantime,” Sidheon growled into Natasha’s ear, his attention still on Carin, “I’ll just have to amuse myself with…other things.”

He turned sideways and pushed Natasha to her knees. She didn’t hesitate in unbuckling the rogue’s belt, undoing his trousers and sliding them to his ankles. A pair of forest green boxers followed and Carin saw more of Sidheon than she’d ever hoped to in her lifetime. She might have been impressed with the size and weight of his cock if he hadn’t been a repulsive bastard. And Natasha was gobbling the man up as if her daily protein intake was in Sidheon’s cock.

Every couch and pillow in front of the roaring fire was filled with writhing vampire bodies, the male and females paired off. A few were in threes, and all of them naked.

Sidheon grabbed a handful of Natasha’s hair and snatched her up off her knees, hiked her skirt up and bent her forward over the table.

Carin almost gagged when he pushed into the woman’s willing body and hissed about how tight the fit was. Eyes closed, she tried to block out Natasha’s groans and moans. But when the woman began screaming bloody murder, Carin’s eyes snapped open. Her dark brown eyes clashed with Sidheon’s azure blue ones. The man hungrily watched her while he fucked Natasha into such a screaming orgasm the woman clawed at the fine finish of the table.

Gross. Carin stilled, concentrated to keep a shield in place, then reached frantically across the bond calling Bix’s name in her head as loud and strong as she could.

“Easy, sweetheart. Easy. I’m almost there.”

She stiffened as Bix’s thoughts rushed through her brain. She closed her eyes and sent him a mental picture of what she was seeing.
“Take it easy? Are you shitting me? There’s a damned vampire orgy going on and you want me to be easy? Damned man. Why, I ought to…”

“Carin, move it.”

“Fine, already,”
she hissed, easing towards the door. She grabbed her stomach like she was going to throw up and ran for it.

Just as she reached the dining-room entrance, every pane of the wall of glass was blown inward. In swarmed a score of pissed off Seekers and Iudex judges with one thing on their minds. Kicking some Sidheon ass.

While her husband was taking them out in the dining room, the best thing Carin could do was stay clear of the fighting to keep him from worrying about her. She had to get out of there and the beach was calling her name. She looked behind her and gasped, praying some new energy into her legs as she flew through the foyer and towards the front door. A naked and angry Natasha was close on her heels, and Sidheon right behind with his semi-hard cock hanging out of his pants.

Her fingers wrapped around the doorknob when she was jerked backward by her hair.

She grimaced as rough fingers tightened all the way to her scalp and yanked. Hard. On a pain-filled gasp, she yelled, “So did you tell him, Natasha? Tell Sid how you really want my husband, and not him.”

“Shut up, bitch.” Natasha’s hand snaked out to land a nasty blow against Carin’s left temple while the other tangled deeper in her hair. Carin’s scalp burned and she just knew she was bleeding where the hair was being pulled out.

“You know, I’m getting tired of you yanking me around. I told my husband I’d let him handle this, but keep it up and I’m gonna have to kick your ass.”

“What’s this about her husband, Natasha?” Sidheon crooned, Natasha’s jet black locks wrapped around his hand. If she hadn’t been pissed off, she would have smiled at Natasha’s frown as
her
hair was being pulled. Maybe she’d appreciate what it felt like to have someone constantly yanking on her scalp.

“You idiot, Aleth,” Carin yelled, then grunted as Natasha pulled harder. “All Natasha wanted was to get back at Bix for rejecting her. But after you killed me, she planned to get him to mate her.”

“I see,” he drawled. “Tired of my cock already, Natasha?”

“Sidheon, she’s lying. I-I swear.”

“She never wanted your tired old cock in the first place.” Carin knew he took it for the insult it was. After all, Natasha was a mere seventy-six years old, while Sidheon, who didn’t look a day over forty, was at least one hundred and fifty.

A primal, beyond angry roar shook the building. All three of them looked back towards the dining room to see Bix tearing into every rogue stupid enough to challenge him.

“Wow, would you look at him,” Carin said in awe. Bix was every bit the bad ass she thought he was. Every blow was dealt with deadly precision. His face full of fury, he ripped out a throat here, snapped a neck there. Then when his katana cleared the scabbard on his back, he was a hurricane in action.

Natasha’s mouth was wide open as she watched Bix in battle. Carin understood because she couldn’t take her eyes off him either. He looked like death itself come to take someone to hell. His handsome face was set in tight lines as his sword and knives flashed in the light cast by the fireplace. He turned, swirled, slashed and punched. Big and powerful, he dwarfed everyone in the room except for her blond avenging angel, Alaan. Power rippled through his arms and back as he lifted a full-grown vamp off the floor and threw him out of one of the ruined windows. Rogue after rogue fell before him. Blades sheathed, his gun cleared the holster and silent shots took down several more while he made his way towards them.

Holy shit. They ashed over.

Then her husband turned and saw her being harassed by Sidheon and Natasha. Lips curled back in a nasty snarl, fangs fully bared, Bix started towards them with singular intent, slowly, as if he had all the time in the world.

Sidheon untangled his hand and backed away with a wry grin as he tucked himself back in his pants. “Well, I’ll just leave you two ladies to settle your differences, eh?” Then he shot out the front door and into the night. The sound of crashing waves filled the foyer in his wake.

Bix reached her side, took one look at her outfit and licked his lips. “Wear that for me when we get home?” He winked and took off after Sidheon, but not before he called over his shoulder. “Take care of Natasha, sweetheart.”

Just the words Carin wanted to hear.

Natasha circled Carin, stalked her like a starving wolf with its prey within its sight. Sweat dripped off her face as she managed a sadistic grin.

“I’m going to enjoy your man after I kill you. After all, Bix wanted me first. He’ll welcome me back with open arms after you’re dead.”

Just thinking of the possibility of the woman touching Bix made Carin stark raving mad. And like her grandma used to say, a pissed off sistah was a dangerous thing indeed. Holding up her hand in the universal one-finger salute, Carin met the challenge.

“Come get some, bitch.”

Natasha lunged, missing by mere inches as Carin brought her elbow down in the middle of her back. Air whooshed from Natasha’s lungs as she hit the floor. In a blur, she rolled over onto her back, sat up and scooted away so fast her head slammed into the wall behind her. Carin closed in. Every dirty maneuver Tameth and Jaidyn taught her streamed through her mind as she punched, kicked and gouged like she would never have another chance. The woman was not walking out of here unbruised or conscious. Grabbing a handful of tangled hair, Carin flung her into the middle of the foyer floor, and pounced like a lioness on the hunt.

On her feet in a flash, Natasha ran full speed at her, fangs bared and fists clenched for damage. Carin laced her fingers together, waited for the perfect moment, and when Natasha was close enough she swung her arms like a baseball bat. She heard at least a few of the fine bones of Natasha’s face crack under the blow of her double fists. She decided she rather liked baseball and didn’t stop the raining blows until Natasha lay limp and still on the cold tiled floor.

God bless vampire DNA. With her enhanced speed and strength, she’d held her own against Natasha in a fair fight, and beat the shit out of her until the female vamp was nothing but a pile of unconscious sore bones.

A quick trip into the dining room revealed the fighting was almost done. After a swift rip at the tablecloth, Carin and several sturdy strips of cloth were back in the foyer securing her quarry on the floor with a series of good solid knots.

Chapter Nineteen

Bix was right behind Sidheon as he streaked down the beach. Thankfully there was no traffic or bright lights on this part of the beach behind the house.

“Stop, Sidheon. I’d rather not kill you if I don’t have to.”

When Sidheon showed no signs of stopping, Bix turned on the steam, pumping his legs and arms with blinding speed. Sidheon was almost within arm’s reach. Bix stretched out his hands, his fingers mere inches from the back of Sidheon’s neck, when his world exploded.

Sidheon turned and fired a weapon hidden on his body. Blinding pain radiated through Bix’s chest and down his left arm. His katana landed with a soft huff in the sand as he fell face down like a fallen tree.

In all his years he’d never felt anything this excruciating. He rolled to his back in agony. The starry night sky wavered, the stars fading as his vision blurred at the edges. The pain flared and burned through his very blood. Any moment now his skin would lay in smoldering strips in the sand, melted from his bones.

“You idiot. They don’t call me brilliant for nothing,” Sidheon crowed, standing over Bix now with a triumphant grin. “Dr. Carinian isn’t the only one smart enough to make poisoned rounds. Too bad you’ve more brawn than brains.”

Sidheon raised a piece of driftwood as large as a small log at the exact moment the blistering pain across his chest begin to ease.

Moving as fast as he was able, he avoided the driftwood. It landed with a thud, throwing a plume of wet sand into the air in the exact spot his head had been. Shit, Sid wasn’t fooling around. If Bix could just stay clear of the rogue’s blows long enough to get the feeling back in his sword hand.

He rolled to the right towards the waterline. But he wasn’t fast enough. The driftwood connected with his shoulder. Damn, that hurt. Managing to raise his right arm enough to keep another blow from connecting with his forehead, Bix felt his fingers again.

His right arm stung from the contact of the wood. The next instant, his gun was in his hand and a large black hole began to spread from the center of Sidheon’s chest where a modified bullet penetrated with a near-silent hiss.

Sidheon’s eyes went wide as his fingers loosed their hold on the driftwood and it tumbled to the damp sand at the water’s edge. “How? How did you…?”

“My woman may not be the only one who can make modified rounds, but I bet she is the only one smart enough to reverse engineer an antidote to your serum, you scum.” Bix rolled to his feet as Sidheon dropped to his knees, clutching his rapidly deteriorating chest, his lifeblood flowing between his fingers to pool in the cool grains underneath his failing body. Bix pumped several rounds into Sidheon’s twitching flesh for good measure and watched the north wind carry the ash away.