Odyssey (The Vampire Destiny Series Companion Book 1) (30 page)

Lifting her prone body in my arms, I carried her to one of the sofas and placed her against the overstuffed leather.  Her pale copper hair fanned around her head like a halo, her long eyelashes casting a shadow over her prominent cheekbones.  Her skin was paler than usual, likely due to the stress of the day that never seemed to end. Unable to stop myself, I pressed my lips against hers.  They were warm and pliable, soft pink and irresistible to me.

“I need you to come back to me, vackra.  I just found you,” I whispered against her unresponsive lips.  I would sit by her for an eternity if that would bring her back to me.  In desperation, I had attempted to read her thoughts, eager to find any clue to bring her back.  I had been frustrated to find they were blocked by a blackness that shrouded her mind.

“It is clear you love my daughter,” Kian stated simply.  He sat down on the arm of the sofa and clasped his hands together in his lap.  My focus had been on Josephine and I had forgotten that we were not alone.  “If I had any doubts, they are gone after seeing you with her. 

“Yes.”

“I have watched you for centuries as you searched for her.  Many would have given up, yet you never faltered.  It is admirable,” he said.  His green eyes, so much like Josephine’s, traveled over his daughter’s face.  His eyes shifted to me, a wry smile on his lips.  “It is amazing the things one does for the one that they love.”

“She is my fated.  I had no choice,” I replied softly.  Reaching for her small hand, I enveloped it in my much larger grasp.  Expecting to feel her squeeze it in response, her fingers were limp against mine.  My eyes swept over her, silently musing that if not for the steady rise and fall of her chest and strum of her heartbeat, she looked like a vampire in rest.

“She is immortal, Stefan.  She is also partly human.  Eventually she would have stopped aging.  Your blood and influence have caused her change to accelerate.  She will forever be as she is now,” Kian said, reaching to stroke her hair.  “I could not ask for a better vampire to protect her, Stefan.”

“You said she is immortal.  She will not need to be turned?”  A mixture of relief and happiness coursed through me at his words.  If Josephine were immortal, I would not have to kill her to have an eternity with her.  It silenced the questions that lingered in my mind, explaining why I had the vision of her when other humans were a blank to me.

“Stefan, she is still partly human and could still die a human death.  At some point, you will have to change her.  I am sorry.”  Kian stood and rested his hand on my shoulder for a moment.  “You have been a faithful servant of the Board and Council for centuries.  You will do what you think is right.  When she wakes, I wish to speak with her.  That is not a request.”

Kian departed quietly, leaving me alone with her as she slept.  There was something cryptic about his words to me during our brief conversation.  His strange words
‘it is amazing what one does for the that they love’
kept running through my mind on constant repeat.  Hours blended together as I sat at her side, silently willing her back to me.  I spoke quietly to her, hopeful that the sound of my voice would be enough to break through the darkness of her mind.

“Stefan.”

Tensing at the curl of the thick accent of Sofia’s voice, I did not turn and acknowledge the female vampire’s entrance into the room.  She was an unwelcome annoyance.

“Sofia, now is not the time to provoke me.  Find someone else to bother,” I barked in response.  Yes, she had been a willing bedmate at one time.  I had not touched her since my vision of Josephine, yet she never tired of trying to convince me that she was still willing to pick up where we left off.

“Is that any way to greet me, Stefan?” Sofia purred.  I could feel her eyes sweeping over my body like eager fingers.  She disgusted me.

“Explain what you were anticipating, Sofia.  For me to fuck you as the love of my existence slept? Hardly,” I scoffed and glanced at her over my shoulder.  She was beautiful with her long dark hair and black eyes; however, her good looks meant nothing to me now.  My words incensed her and I could see her eyes darken with undisguised fury.

“Leave her and come with me.  We were so good together.  She is nothing but a mere human.  She cannot satisfy you as I can.  Don’t you remember, Stefan?”  Sofia’s voice was a seductive whisper as she crossed the room to stand behind me.  “You must remember what we had… what we can have again.”

I closed my eyes, attempting to drown out her senseless chatter.  The fact that she chose to approach me after my declaration in front of the Council infuriated me.  Unwittingly, my mind filtered through memories of myself with Sofia.  She was simply a willing body to fuck, nothing more.

“That was centuries ago, Sofia.  You were at best a meaningless fuck that I used to fulfill my needs,” I replied quietly.  My eyes reopened and I reached to brush Josephine’s hair back from her face, my fingertips tracing over the curve of her cheek and brushing against the swell of her full lips.  All those years of anonymous bodies and forgettable mouths—they were all insignificant in comparison to her.  She was now my salvation and my reason to exist.

“Look at you, Stefan.  She’s making you weak.”  Her voice was filled with disdain.  She stepped closer and ran her fingers across my shoulders.

Moving quicker than she anticipated, I gripped her hand and rose to my feet, twisting her arm behind her back and wrenched her against my chest.  My fangs dropped as I angrily yanked her arm, threatening to dislocate her shoulder.  She struggled weakly against me as she tried to free herself from my grasp.  Leaning to whisper in her ear, my voice came out like a snarl.  “You do not get to touch me anymore.  I would rather be seen as weak than to ever fuck you again, Sofia.”

I pushed her away and watched her stumble to her knees.  She turned to face me, her fangs bared as she looked up at me.

“I’ll tell your precious Josie that we fucked.  How do you think she’ll react to that, Stefan?”

Blurring to her side, I had her by her throat before she could react.  She clawed against me as I raised her off the ground with one arm, my hand tightening around her neck.  “You will do no such thing, Sofia.  One more word from you and I will end you.  Are we clear?”

She managed a weak nod.  I continued to increase my grip, enjoying her escalating fear.  It would only take one more squeeze to snap her neck and have my revenge for her treachery all those years ago.  My hand constricted and I felt the tendons in her throat strain under the increasing pressure.

“Stefan!”

Josephine’s whimper made me forget my anger and desire to punish Sofia.  Dropping her, my focus was on Josephine.  The rest of the world could wait.

She needed me.

"Stefan," she whimpered again, her voice sounding hoarse and weak as she called out for me.   The anger drained from me, replaced by relief that she was awake.  I immediately released my hold on Sofia's neck, unconcerned with her welfare.  Only Josephine mattered now.

I blurred to her side, crushing her to my chest in a tight embrace.  In turn, she wrapped her arms around my neck, burrowing her nose against my chest.  She was scenting me, marking me as hers and her mind was a jumble of confusion.  But underneath her disorientation, she felt only relief because I was with her.  Her thoughts compared me to safety and home.

"Josephine," I murmured, my breath fanning over her soft hair.  I pulled away slightly and my concerned eyes swept over her face.  The hands that had gripped Sofia's throat in anger moments ago were now gentle as they traveled down the side of her face.  Unable to resist her any longer, I lowered my lips to press them tenderly against hers in a chaste kiss.  Immediately, the familiar need for her rose inside of me.  She was mine and I needed to reclaim her, to reconnect.

Her inner thoughts broke through the lust-filled mania that had made me lose my sense of reason. 
"How long was I out? And why were you choking Sofia? Did I miss some kind of vampire throw down?"

My mouth curled into a smile against her lips, and I leaned back to brush an errant strand of hair away from her face.  My mental voice was sharp as it entered her thoughts. 
"It is vampire bullshit.  Sofia overstepped her boundaries.  It is nothing you need to worry about."

She narrowed her eyes and a finely arched eyebrow rose.  She was not buying my story for a second.  She was insightful enough to know there was much more going on.

"I am happy you are awake.  You were asleep for nine hours," I said aloud, my eyes continuing their visual scrutiny of her body.  I expertly changed the subject to focus back on her. "How do you feel, vackra?"

It was a redundant question to ask of her.  I remembered my disorientation of waking up to my life as an immortal, my throat a parched inferno.  The circumstances were different, yet she had just discovered that she was a half-vampire.

"Weird and confused, almost like I’ve been asleep for too long.  I could really use a glass of water." She rubbed at her face with her hands again, as if that could clear the bewilderment away.

I attempted to stand and was stopped by her frantic hands grabbing my arms to stop me.  Staring at her with concern, I focused on her with a look of confusion, my brow furrowing as I read her mind.  She was petrified if I left the room, I would never return…and her emerald eyes traveled over my face as I leaned closer to her.  My jaw tightened as I felt her misguided fear.

I moved closer to her on the couch, burying my face in the silk of her hair.  My lips tickled her ear as I whispered to her, my tongue tracing the shell of her ear.  "I am not going anywhere, Josephine.  Let me get you a glass of water.  I will be back in less than a minute."

I blurred away and disappeared out of the room.  It only took me a moment to fill a glass with water and return with it, kneeling down beside her and handing the glass to her with a crooked smile, watching as she greedily drank the tepid water.

I realized we were not alone in the room.  Any happiness I felt was instantly dampened by Sofia’s presence.

"Is there a reason why you are still here, Sofia?" I questioned harshly without breaking my gaze away from Josephine.

She was lurking by the door, standing quietly against the wall.   She had always been easy to read once I knew how her oily mind worked.   She stared at us with thinly veiled contempt and jealousy seemed to exude from her, filling the room with her resentment.