Vampire Coven Book 3: A Vampire's Embrace
Read Vampire Coven Book 3: A Vampire's Embrace Online
Authors: C.L. Scholey
Tags: #Occult, #Vampires, #Horror, #Paranormal, #Romance, #Erotic Romance/Paranormal, #Genre Fiction, #Literature & Fiction
VAMPIRE COVEN BOOK 3:
A VAMPIRE’S EMBRACE
by
C.L. Scholey
TORRID BOOKS
www.torridbooks.com
Published by
TORRID BOOKS
www.torridbooks.com
An Imprint of Whiskey Creek Press LLC
Whiskey Creek Press
PO Box 51052
Casper, WY 82605-1052
Copyright
Ó
2014 by
C.L. Scholey
Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 (five) years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
ISBN 978-1-
61160
-761-1
Credits
Cover Artist: Gemini Judson
Editor: Melanie Billings
Printed in the United States of America
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING ABOUT
GAME ON!
This is one married couple whose appetites for each other grow ever stronger with each passing year. They thoroughly enjoy discovering new ways to keep the spark alive and thriving. Allowing another couple to share in their fun only seems to increase the possibilities. Keeping the love alive is certainly not a problem for Mac and Jenney, which makes their escapades deliciously fun to read.
~ Coffee Time Romance
ENGULF – NEW WORLD BK 5
Abri is a strong female heroine. She didn't let deafness define who she is. Raiden is a likeable guy. Why? Even though Abri is deaf, Raiden picked her for his female.
C.L. Scholey has done a terrific job of creating this futuristic romance series. We have action, romance, adventure & mystery all in 102 pages.
~
Romance Bookaholic Traveler
THE BRETHREN OF TAVISH – VAMPIRE COVEN BK 1
The Brethren of Tavish is a wonderfully written book. The characters are well rounded and bring you into the story as if you were really there. The story flows smoothly tying one part to the next. The plot is well thought out, giving you plenty of action… ~
Night Owl Reviews
Other Books by Author Available at Torrid Books:
Game On!
Enslaved
New World Series
Shield
Armor
Impenetrable
Apparition
Engulf
Guardian
Vampire Coven Series
The Brethren of Tavish
A Vampire to Watch Over Me
Unearthly World Series
Bay’s Mercenary
Zuri’s Zargonnii Warrior
Elements Series
Fire’s Flame
Viking Warriors Series
w/a Constantine De Bohon
Valhalla Hott
Valhalla Wolf
Valerie Heat
Norse Valor
Viking Warriors Mega Book
Dedication
For Asha and the others.
Prologue
Rome: BC
The light clinking of his armor resounded down the long corridor as the Roman warrior moved with purpose. Servants and slaves stopped to make way and lower their heads in submission. He ignored them as always. Rhett’s wife, Cecily was giving birth to their first child. The woman’s screams could be heard as he approached the bedroom-turned-birthing room. Rhett wasn’t concerned. Women gave birth every day, and his Cecily was strong.
As Rhett crossed the threshold of their apartment room in his father’s massive holding, he stopped short for a mere second as he heard the sharp cry of a babe. His normally placid face lit with a wide grin. He was a father. Praise be. His renewed, purpose-filled stride was confident when he entered the main bedchamber. When he looked to the bed, Cecily lay white-faced; sweat dripped from her beautiful brow. Her amber hair was in disarray. She looked at him happily, triumphant.
“You have a daughter, my husband.” His wife was trying to peer at the midwife who swaddled their babe, but the old woman said not a word. Nor did she meet Rhett’s gaze.
Rhett smiled down at his wife when he stood by the bed. He was elated. In truth, he wanted no sons. Having grown up in the tyrannous shadow of his father, he knew boys born to him would experience the same fate. Ripped from their mother’s breast, a man in Rome was a warrior or no man at all. Cecily knew this, her joy was apparent.
“You defied me on purpose.” Came a loud bellow. Lucius, Rhett’s father, stormed into the room. “You contrived to have a girl to smite me.”
Rhett should have realized his father would have been informed immediately.
Lucius strode to the babe, but Rhett reached his child first, taking her from the midwife who bowed demurely and left. “You will not harm my babe.”
Lucius looked furious. “I would harm no babe, especially a girl-child. You have a sister who is well and whole.”
The sentence made Rhett scowl. His sister had been wed at thirteen to a fat, decrepit, wealthy man of forty. At twenty and two she had aged beyond her years and given birth to four sons and looked withered and frail. His nephews had all been taken from her for training at the age of four, the twins most recent, being the last—his sister had cried her heart out each time. Thankfully, his Cecily would not experience the same heartache with her first child.
Feeling smug, Rhett un-swaddled his newborn daughter then recoiled as his father began to laugh. The deformity was apparent. The child was retarded, the facial features were unmistakable. Rhett’s stunned, horrified face turned to his father.
“You know our laws.” His father’s look was a mask of loathing. “This cannot be in our house. It is to be thrown to its death by your hand.”
“
No,”
Cecily screamed from her bed.
“You would take the alternative?” Lucius asked his son.
Rhett held his babe close to his chest. The girl looked up at him; her bright-eyed stare seemed to look through him into his soul. This child was his like nothing in his life had ever been before. He owned his armor, his sword, her mother, but the babe was different. He didn’t own her, how does one own oneself? Half of her was him. His blood ran through her veins. He was responsible for her safety, her life. A warrior need do his duty but was that duty usurped by blood? That she wasn’t perfect wasn’t her fault. Who was to say she wasn’t perfect? She was his child; she
was
perfect.
“Well, my son,” Lucius said in a smug tone. “Would you fight the lions to save this?”
Every day Rhett saw death and cruelty until it was bred into him. Rhett could kill without thought, he was a trained warrior. What did life mean to him? The babe made a tiny mewling sound indicating the need to suckle. Rhett held his very own life in his hands. Rhett turned to confront his father. In his eyes his babe was beautiful.
“Yes.” It was a revelation, Rhett adored Cecily, but this very second he learned he was in fact capable of love. The tumbling of emotion washed over him, Rhett was in love. The sensation crashed over him, almost toppling him to his knees. Never in his life had such a protective instinct fired.
Lucius returned the look and for just a moment Rhett thought he saw—panic. “My son, you can’t be serious. The child isn’t right. You know the life she would lead. It would not be fair to her. It would not be fair to you or Cecily; you can have another—have a girl, I couldn’t care less. This one can be disposed of humanely; I will look the other way. The midwife would say nothing. We could declare the babe stillborn.
No one need ever know
.” Rhett was surprised; he had never heard that tone from his father.
“She is my child, my blood,” Rhett replied. “If need be, I will fight a hundred lions.”
Rhett took the babe to her mother who cried a heart-wrenching sob when she laid eyes on the babe. Lucius gave one last hard look to his oldest and only son. He then turned and walked away.
* * * *
Cecily cried all night in Rhett’s arms; their babe, Acca, remained nestled next to his chest pressed between them. Rhett smiled each time he touched her tiny cheek, or kissed her sweet fingers. He, one of the emperor’s best and most powerful warriors, was smitten. Acca had the ten cutest toes in the entire world. He wondered how something so tiny could be so perfect.
“You will die,” Cecily’s tone was that of impending death.
“Perhaps.”
“You will leave us alone.”
“You will be safe whether or not I win the battle. My father has sworn it. Even he would not dare deny a last request of his only son. There is a beautiful cottage my mother went to when it was time to give birth to both my sister and myself. It is yours and Acca’s now. No harm will come to you there.”
“We will be outcasts.”
“You will have servants, wealth, but yes, you will be outcasts.”
“Is there no other way?”
“None. If we run, we would be hunted and all three of us would pay the price. I am a man of honor.” Tears streamed down his wife’s beautiful face. “Do you have so little faith in me?”
“You are the most powerful warrior I know. But my love, three lions against a man and his sword…”
“I will not fail you.”
“Why must it be this way?” His wife continued to sob. “Why must it be you? We have slaves, gladiators. Why you?”
“You know why. You cannot fight; indeed you’ve never lifted a weapon in your life. I am Acca’s father. My father has power but even he wouldn’t defy the Emperor. I am high born and will be allowed weapons and armor. There is always a chance.”
Rhett knew win or lose, he would not fail his wife or daughter. Either way they would be spared, and so he had won even if he lost. That was all that mattered.
* * * *
The great arena was filled to overflowing as he knew it would be. Rhett turned in circles as he gazed up at the many blurred faces that had come to watch him die. They wanted to see blood, his or the lion’s it mattered not. Already, the restless calls for the lion to be released were being screamed as feet stomped and fists waved in the air.
It was a treat to see one of
his status
forced to fight to the death. Behind a sturdy cast-iron gate, Rhett could see the mad pacing of a lion. Only one. As the gate was hoisted by chains, the noise in the coliseum grew to such an intensity the great cat zigzagged into the opening. The beast was growling with terror, not even noticing the lone man who whipped his blade back around a wrist in a display of great mastery.
Rhett grinned. Power surged through his being as it always did before battle. He was a warrior, not a simple soldier. All his life he had been taught to battle. Rome was a hard place to live. To lose was to die. He had learned this while still suckling from his mother. The second he could walk, a sword was placed into his small hands. Hands that grew larger, stronger each day of his life until a weapon was an extension of himself, a limb of destruction.