Odyssey (The Vampire Destiny Series Companion Book 1) (19 page)

“Stefan!”  It was that moment she fell into the abyss, her lithe body convulsing in my arms.  Holding her tightly, I sank to the floor with her beneath me, never breaking stride.  Her long legs wrapped around my waist, her heels digging into my ass in her frantic need to pull me deeper.

My hands pressed into the floor on either side of her head as I continued my rapid thrusts.  Her supple body moved with me, her gentle moans raspy and wanton.  She was well on her way to another climax when her husky voice reached out to me.  "Come inside me, Stefan," she begged.  Her nails dragged down my back, adding to the overwhelming pleasure of the moment.  “Come with me.”

I was more than happy to oblige.  I was ready to indulge her request when I whispered softly against her lips in answer.  "You are everything, Josephine."

A single tear trickled down her cheek as I drove into her a final time, releasing into her waiting body and finally granting her wish.

Collapsing in completion, I was still reeling from the power of my orgasm and the joy of still being buried inside of her.  I rolled us to our sides, refusing to relinquish my hold on her.

And as she lay in my arms, she was glorious.  Her beautiful body was glistening from exertion.  Her jade eyes were hazy and heavy-lidded, her full lips curved into a satisfied smile.  As I admired her happiness, I was overcome with so much love that my chest tightened.  As I held her, I realized she alone wielded a power over me like no one else.  Not even my maker had this much control.

I was her prisoner now.

***

The vibrating sound of my phone pulled me from sleep.  The text alert was not one I had wanted to hear.

Glancing at the bedside clock, it was nearly 4 a.m.  Disentangling myself from her arms, I groggily rubbed my hand over my face and read the text message.

Your services are needed in California.  There is a ticket waiting for you at the Cathay Pacific Airways terminal.  Your flight leaves in two hours and more information will be provided in your attaché.

Fuck!  The last thing I needed was to attend to Council business.  Things were progressing nicely with Josephine…and now I was forced to fly off to take care of what the Council deemed a problem.

My phone buzzed again.  It was tempting to crush it in my hand and pretend I had never received the messages.  It would be a mistake and would bring more attention our way.

Do not be late, Stefan.  This requires immediate attention and cannot wait.  Sofia

Of course it would be Sofia that would be in charge of sending me on my journey.  She used every opportunity to rekindle our nonexistent relationship.

There was no choice in the matter.  I was tied to the Council, forced to do their bidding.  It was the price I had to pay for betraying my maker.

I looked down at Josephine’s sleeping form.  Her stunning features were relaxed in sleep, her breathing slow and soft.  I wanted nothing more than to burrow under the covers with her, to forget my obligations.

Instead, I forced myself away from her.  Dressing quickly, I grabbed the duffel bag from the chaise lounge and hurriedly wrote her a note explaining my absence and placed it on the pillow I used.  My final goodbye was a kiss to her forehead. 

I could not look back.  If I did, I would never leave.

As I closed the bedroom door, I did not notice the gust of air that rushed through the room.  My mind was already focused on what I needed to do.

***

3 days later

The flight back to Indonesia was never-ending torture.  My body ached to return to her, my tired mind on autopilot.  It was amazing that missing something as simple as her touch had kept me from sleeping.  It had been days since I had rested, instead focused on handing out my punishment to Derek and coping with the agonizing separation from her.

Was she feeling the same pain?  My phone had been damaged soon after my arrival in California and I had been unable to reach her.  In my fury, I had inflicted unnecessary pain on him for nearly 36 hours.  He took the brunt of my frustration at my forced separation. 

When I left him broken and bleeding, I had informed Sofia it was her responsibility to fix him.  I had served my purpose and it was time for me to leave.

I had seen the suspicion in her dark eyes.  Her mind flashed with varying scenarios of how she would handle the information she had obtained simply by observing my rage and eagerness to flee.

She would be trouble.

Glancing at my watch for the hundredth time, I sighed bitterly.  Still nearly two hours from Denpasar International Airport, I rearranged my large frame uncomfortably in my much too small airplane seat and silently fumed as I attempted to block the droning conversations of the other humans on the flight.  Some might consider enhanced hearing a perk, but in confined spaces such as an airplane, it became difficult to relax.

Glancing down at my hands, I noticed the dark blood that was still embedded under my fingernails.  I flexed my fingers and turned them from side to side.  This was the side of myself that Josephine could not see…she only knew the love I was capable of.  She had no idea of the blackness that lurked deep inside of me, or how easily I could call on it when needed.

She would run from me in fear.  She would think I was a monster.

And there was a part of me that was a monster that I kept carefully controlled.  This dark side of me…it had kept me alive for a millennia.  It would keep her alive as well.  Not only would I kill for her; I would die for her.

My head fell back against the headrest of the airplane seat and I felt the oddest sense of glee building inside of me as I thought back to my time with Derek.  I had worked out all of my anger, my endless aggression on him.

My only order was to keep him alive…and he was, if only just barely.

He had broken the cardinal rule.  He had chosen to open a private vampire only bar that kept human women as blood slaves.  He had kept them in a constant state of hypnosis that likely left them brain damaged.  His greed could have exposed us all.

I had been called on to punish him, but my patience with Derek was already fragile at best.  A member of the Council himself, he thought himself to be above the rules and laws of our kind.  I was here to teach him a lesson he would not soon forget.

The look on his guileful face when he saw me standing in the doorway of his office was priceless.  He knew if I made an appearance that I was not stopping by for a social call.

He was correct.  When I showed up unannounced, nothing good would come from my visit.

I did not give him time to prepare for my assault.  Pushing him down onto the couch with a violent shove, I pulled up a chair and sat down heavily in front of him, the metal groaning under my weight.  I leaned forward and rested my forearms on my thighs and I simply watched him squirm.

My icy stare met his terrified gray eyes, and I made no attempt to hide the smile that nearly split my face in two.  "Derek Collier.  It has not been that long since our last time together.  Shall we cut to the chase and get this over with?  You have been a bad boy once again.  Either you cannot behave or you simply crave my company.  I am torn as to which it is." 

Sneering, he rubbed his palms together anxiously as his mind changed frantically worked overtime.  His future flickered before my eyes, fluctuating with each lie he was prepared to tell.  It did not matter the story he concocted.  The outcome would be the same.  "I've done…"

"Save your breath, Derek.  You forget I can see everything you plan to do…every lie you plan to tell."  I interrupted him and cracked my knuckles, raising an eyebrow in challenge.  "You can take your punishment like a man, or you can grovel like the filth you are."

"Stefan, these women were willing," he insisted pitifully.  Did he think I was an idiot?  Even a human could see none of these women were willing.  "They were compensated…"

"Compensated?  Their minds are damaged beyond repair.  They will have to be taken care of.  You have ruined them," I retorted angrily.  My mind flashed to imagine Josephine in a place like this.  Thinking of her damaged and held captive made my anger spiral out of control.  "Your hand, please."

He looked at me as if I had lost my mind.  "My hand?  I do not understand."

The monster surfaced and the enforcer took over, burying any compassion I held on to.  "Let me explain, and I will use small words so there will be no confusion.  I will start with your hands first."  I lowered my voice to a soft growl.  "I am going to break every finger, Derek.  And then I will move to your wrists…and then your arms.  When I am finished there, I will begin on your legs, breaking each one along with your kneecaps.  By the time I reach your ankles, you will be begging for me to stop."

Derek had swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing anxiously.  His already pale skin became almost gray.  "Surely there is another way.  I can pay you…"

Derek thought he could pay me to not punish him?  How amusing that he assumed I could be so easily bought.  I chuckled, a deep mocking laugh that filled the room with my morbid delight at his mounting fear.  "Of course there is.  I can kill you and be finished with you once and for all."

Derek cringed and attempted to move farther away from me.  He had nowhere to run and when he saw Sofia blocking the doorway with her arms crossed, the dire situation he had put himself in finally registered.

"Which will it be, Derek?"

He extended his hand to me.  His gray eyes closed and he braced himself for the pain I was more than willing to inflict.  "I choose to live.  Do your worst."

I had needed no further prodding.