Wicked Soul

Chapter 9

NINE

THEA

“That… that can’t be true. She’s lying,” Thea croaked as she stared at Warin. He looked dumbfounded.

“She can’t lie under my influence,” Zet—the scary one with the dark hair and golden eyes—said. He looked at her with his head c****d, as if he were a cat and Thea a particularly interesting mouse. “And she confirmed my suspicions. What your Master told me sounded too similar to the old stories to be a coincidence.” His disturbing gaze shifted to Warin. “You have been granted a gift unlike any other bestowed upon our kind. Why, I cannot tell you.”

“How long will she live?” Warin asked, his usually so confident voice betraying something sounding an awful lot like fear.

Zet lifted his eyebrows in surprise. “I do not know if her lifespan is different from a regular human’s, but I cannot see it mattering. Surely, you will wish to Embrace her?”

“Never,” Warin hissed. “I will never damn another, let alone my… my soulmate.”

An incredulous look lingered on Zet’s face for a moment before he shrugged. “I suppose others of our kind may know more about this phenomenon. They might be able to tell you how long she may live without the Embrace.”

“Do you know where I might start my search?” Warin asked, unconsciously grasping her waist and tugging her closer. He’d done that a lot since they entered London, and much to her surprise—and confusion—she found she didn’t mind. She should mind, she knew she should. This was the same creature who’d slaughtered her village and hunted her through the forest to lay claim to her like some kind of a… a pet.

And yet… it felt… safe.

Thea frowned. Nothing about this… this monster should feel safe. He was dangerous—she’d seen what he was. His achingly handsome face and blazing blue eyes couldn’t erase the horrors he was capable of.

But… he’d also saved her.

She had run from him, certain that any other fate would be better than staying with him. When she’d first seen the bandits in the forest, she’d been so relieved. Other humans. Help.

She bit the inside of her cheek at the memory of their rough hands and salacious threats. Warin had come for her, his monstrous wrath not aimed at her, but the humans who wanted to hurt her. He’d saved her from her own kind.

“I first heard of this phenomenon from the Lady of Rome,” Zet said, breaking Thea’s swirling thoughts. “Perhaps your search for answers should begin in Italy.”

Warin nodded. “I know of the Lady Elyse. We will begin our travels south tomorrow night. I thank you for your time and your answers, ancient one. We will retire for the night.”

Zet and his witch watched them as Warin led her back toward the door, but when Aleric—Warin’s auburn-haired travel companion—made to follow, Zet said, “Stay, young one. Leave your Elder to his human for the night. London has much to offer, and I sense I would enjoy a night in your company. Your lip is most refreshing.”

Aleric exchanged a glance with Warin, who nodded almost imperceptibly.

“Well, I wouldn’t say no to a taste of witch blood,” Aleric drawled as Warin closed the door to the disturbing room behind them.

Thea looked back at the now closed door while Warin led her down the hallway. As any God-fearing Christian would, she’d been raised to fear witchcraft, but she still felt a pang of empathy for the woman trapped in the room with two vampires. Ever since Warin had cornered her in her hut back home, she’d feared his fangs. But he hadn’t bitten her, despite his obvious urge to bury those razor-sharp daggers in her neck.

She feared the witch would not be so lucky tonight.

They walked down the narrow streets of London, safe from the night’s rowdy drunks and lurking dangers on the arm of the monster who’d chosen her as his.

Her soulmate.

She had never heard that expression before, but it resonated through her like a church bell.

Soulmate.

Thea looked up at her silent protector—her kidnapper and savior. Yes, she had recognized him the first time she saw him, even though she was certain she’d never seen him before. Recognized something buried deep within those startling blue eyes of his. It was that same thing that had kept her from running again, after he’d saved her from the robbers. That delicate, beautiful something that seemed to tie the deepest parts of her to him, pulling her toward him even if she knew she should do anything she could to flee.

Was it his soul?

Did monsters even have souls?

He led her to an inn several streets away from where Zet kept his witch captive, and paid the innkeeper with coin taken from the robbers’ corpses. He asked for wine and food to be brought to the room, even though she’d already eaten the leftover rabbit he’d caught for her the previous night before they entered the city, but didn’t spare her so much as a glance. Instead he took up vigil by the small window in what she supposed was now their shared room, staring out into the night with a deep frown marring his pale features.

Silence fell over the room, and Thea wasn’t sure what to do. So far, he had initiated all their interactions, but now—when it seemed they most certainly had something to discuss—he was silent.

Thea took a deep breath, steeling herself to voluntarily draw the vampire’s attention to her for the first time, but before she could speak, a knock on the door announced the arrival of her supper.

She thanked the serving girl, not oblivious to the hidden looks she shot at Warin while she set up the food and drink, and felt a small measure of relief when the other woman left again. If she’d met Warin under different circumstances, she too would have been enamored by his beautiful face. When his fangs were hidden, he looked the part of a handsome young man from a faraway land in his animal skin trousers and roped hair. Thea had never seen anyone like him, nor anyone with features so angelic. It was bitter irony, or perhaps by design, that what hid beneath his so attractive appearance was anything but divine. Maybe his looks were so appealing to allow his prey to be lured to him.

She watched his profile lit up by the moonlight filtering through the window as she ate. He seemed lost in thought and didn’t look at her once while she ate, nor when the serving girl returned to clear up after her meal.

“Is this why you haven’t killed me?” She hadn’t meant to ask, but the words slipped out before she could stop them.

Warin finally turned his head to look at her. His blue gaze seemed to glow from the moonlight, enhancing his supernatural appearance.

“Yes,” he said. It was such a simple answer, but it held so much truth. Yes, he had planned to murder her the night they met. She would have been just another corpse on an unending list of people he had killed. And the only reason she wasn’t…

“How can this be? How can we be…” Thea drew in a deep breath, forcing her voice to steady. “Soulmates? We are not even the same species. You… you eat people.”

“I do not know,” he said, his glowing eyes fixated on her face. “But I know the truth in the witch’s words. You belong with me.”

“I…” She paused, unsure of what to say. As much as sanity demanded she refuse his claim, she couldn’t. Not when the truth of his words sang through her blood. She did belong with him—she belonged to a monster.

What did that make her?

Was this her punishment for those nights she’d snuck out to gather herbs under the full moon? The village priest had never trusted her, and in the depths of her soul, she’d known he had reason to. She was no witch, as he suspected, but she had felt the Earth’s magic flow through her bare feet on those nights.

And now, her soul was tied to a creature of the dark.

“Will you hurt me?” she asked.

The flash of vehemence in his eyes made her stumble a step backward.

“Never!” Warin snarled, his lips pulled back in either anger or disgust. But when he saw the fear on her face, his shoulders slumped and his pale features smoothed into grim acceptance. “I know I am… frightening. A monster. But I will never hurt you. I cannot.”

Slowly— so as not to frighten her, she thought—he walked across the floor until he towered over her. She didn’t move when he reached out to cup her cheek in his cool hand.

“I have been a monster for centuries. But for you, my Thea, I will become something else. I will always be a vampire, but I…” He paused, hesitance flickering in his gaze as he peered into her eyes. “I will find a way of chaining the beast for you. You are… everything to me.”

“You don’t even know me,” she whispered, but even as the words flowed from her lips, she knew it wasn’t true. He knew her better than anyone ever could. In his touch she felt their connection hum with an urgency she couldn’t deny.

She knew him, too.

Her soulmate. Her monster.

Slowly, as if he was trying to resist the nearly magnetic pull between them, he bent his head down toward her. She raised her lips to his, drawn in by the same force.

His kiss was hesitant—a cool brush of soft lips against her own, trembling mouth. When she didn’t pull back after that first, light kiss, he pressed against her again, so achingly gentle she would have never believed this was the same man who could rip people to shreds with his bare hands, had she not seen it with her own eyes.

Thea closed her eyes and kissed him back with all the anger and confusion and fear she’d felt since she saw her village burned to the ground what felt like so long ago. His soft lips parted for hers, a low growl escaping him at her aggression. Strong hands slipped around her hips and jerked her tight against his hard body. She moaned into his mouth at the sudden sensation of his muscles against her, suddenly no longer seeming a threat as much as a promise. Her hands roamed up his bare chest of their own accord, earning her another growl. His muscles tensed under her exploration, but despite the hardness of his form, his skin was soft to the touch.

When her fingertips dipped to his navel, the proof he’d been born by a mother rather than created by a devil, Warin’s growl rose to a snarl. He clutched the fabric of her tunic, and with a speed that shouldn’t have been possible, he ripped the garment up over her head and clean off her body. Her long dress followed, until she was left in nothing but her linen underwear.

Warin made a noise deep in his chest, a rumbling sound different from his growls. It made the small hairs on her body stand on end and goosebumps break out on her exposed flesh.

The vampire pulled back from their kiss, his blue gaze roaming hungrily over her body.

“You are… beautiful.” His voice was filled with such wonder, it made a blush rise from her chest. She’d lain with men before, but none who had looked at her with so much reverence.

None who had been her soulmate.

Thea held his gaze as she slipped out of her undergarments until she stood truly bared before him. Her n*****s hardened under his attention, her shallow breaths making her breasts swell in quick waves.

The tension in the air between them had her trembling, even if any lingering fear for the dark creature in front of her was quickly evaporating from the hot rush of yearning burgeoning between her thighs.

Warin made the rumbly sound again, the one that made her body vibrate with energy—and then he moved, faster than she could follow. He shoved her none too gently, sending her flying back on the straw-filled bed.

She squeaked in shock, but before she could sit back up he was on her, the wild expression in his eyes both terrifying and exhilarating. His fangs snapped out of his gums, and he groaned with relief before he buried his mouth in her breasts.

“No!” she gasped, bracing for the pain even as she grasped his hair to push him away from her flesh. But no sting of sharp teeth bit into her breast. He simply licked and sucked at the plump hills until his mouth closed around a stiff n****e in a cold embrace.

A groan she hadn’t known she could produce escaped Thea as shocks of crackling pleasure shot through her. Her hands slipped from his hair and her head fell back on the bed while he sucked her n****e into an aching point.

Nimble fingers slipped between her thighs, ghosting cool touches along her smooth skin until they reached the tuft of hairs hiding her s*x. Warin trailed a single digit up between her lower lips, parting her heated flesh and sending shivers of anticipation through her.

“You’re so warm,” he groaned into her heaving breasts, his mouth coming off her n****e with a wet pop. “So full of life.” On that last hissed word, he shoved his questing finger deep, penetrating her slick cunny.

Thea gasped and arched off the bed, Warin’s cool presence inside her setting her every nerve afire. He raised above her, his eyes alight with untamed yearning—for her. His beautiful face was twisted with desire, and those deadly fangs gleaming in the moonlight were a stark contrast to his angelic features. She knew she should fear him, fear his fangs and his desires alike, but every part of her only ached to unite her flesh with his.

When he curved his finger after a special place within, she lost the final shred of worry of what he was to the fire blast of raw pleasure burning through her writhing body.

“Oh! Warin! Yes! More!” Thea gripped him, every instinct within her aching to feel him, but he moved down between her spread legs before she could reach him… and put his mouth to her quivering heat.

The sensation of being kissed there, of feeling the flat length of his fangs press up against her most sensitive flesh before his tongue delved in to part her, stole her breath away. She collapsed flat on the bed with a gasp, only to arch up high the next second when his cool lips closed around the little nub at the top of her cunny.

“Warin!” Her scream echoed through the room, hands flying to his tangled hair once more. Hard, deep, waves of pleasure rolled through her pelvis, so much stronger than anything she could ever find on her own. He was sucking it, she dimly realized, but too hard and too fast for any mortal to replicate, and all the while he rubbed his finger over the maddening spot deep inside her.

Her release came before she could prepare for it, tearing through her body in a molten burst that left her breathless and boneless on the straw-filled mattress.

She wasn’t allowed a respite. The second her muscles released the vampire’s finger, he moved above her quicker than her eyes could follow. When he pressed his c**k between her still sopping folds, seeking entry with an impatient thrust of his hips, she cried out and clasped onto his strong shoulders in a feeble attempt at slowing his advances.

Warin growled, his body tense with obvious frustration, and when he finally stilled long enough to stare down at her, she saw his eyes were black like a predator’s.

“Your body is ready, your moans say you are too… Why are you stopping me?” he demanded. The pressure against her opening didn’t ease, but he wasn’t forcing himself farther in, either.

“Go slow,” she said, fighting back a smile at the frustration in his entire demeanor. It was pretty clear he’d never taken much care with his lovers before—but was trying his best with her, despite how desperate he was to be inside her. “If you go too fast, you’ll hurt me.”

He exhaled with a worried frown. Slowly, he eased down on one elbow. With his other hand he smoothed down the length of her thigh in a caress so gentle he may as well have touched her with a feather. Hungry eyes roamed over her skin, but he kept his touches soft and cautious.

“Touch me there again,” she whispered, letting her own hand slide between their bodies to the nub of nerves he had made feel so good with his mouth.

Warin obeyed, brushing the back of his hand against her palm as he found her pleasure center with his thumb. The shock of bliss was immediate, and only intensified as he rubbed circles across the small pearl.

Thea groaned and tilted her hips up for more, inviting his thick c**k inside as she did.

Careful this time, and without easing up on her clit, Warin put more pressure behind his hips. The delicious ache crested and was followed by an intense fullness that had Thea groaning and arching against him as he slid all the way inside. She may have lain with men before, but none had filled her so completely it bordered on pain.

Warin hissed above her, his fingers ripping deep grooves in the mattress as he clenched his hands in an obvious attempt at staying in control. But Thea no longer cared about the dull ache between her thighs as her insides spasmed fitfully around his intrusion. His cool flesh eased the pain of being opened wide to a delicious throb, and all she wanted in that moment was—

“More! Warin… give me more!” She wrapped her arms around his tense shoulders and pulled his body closer to hers. When he moved to follow her, rolling his hips with pained gentleness, ecstasy exploded in her blood. “Yes!” She raked her nails over his shoulders and wrapped her legs around the small of his back, needing him inside her more than she needed the air in her lungs.

A deep rumble tore from the vampire’s chest, his eyes flaming at the sting of her nails, but despite the darkness she could see fighting to take control in his heated gaze, he kept the pace slow. Full, deep, rhythmic thrusts of his hips against hers drove her higher and higher, suspending her in an ocean of pleasure somewhere beyond reality.

And behind the sweet ecstasy of their physical union, there was something else. Something more. She felt his touch every time he bottomed out deep within her sheath, not simply in her body but also her soul. It was as if the core of her very being tried to reach out and embrace the monster between her thighs as tightly as her s*x wrapped around his girth.

Soulmates, the witch had called them. Was that why being with him made her feel she was finally home? Finally whole?

Thea stared up at the vampire as he moved within her, eyes locked on hers and the deadly length of his fangs bared with the restraint he was exercising to keep their lovemaking gentle. Those fangs were the visceral proof of his inhumanity—of the monster she’d seen when they first met. But now… when she felt him so intimately, on every plane, as pleasure rushed through her veins… they were no longer a threat. They, and the hunger for blood she knew came with them, were what made him what he was—who he was. If he had been a man, they would never have found each other. He wouldn’t have come to her village, wouldn’t have sought her out.

In the final throes of passion, when her s*x clenched around his c**k and her release ripped through her body and mind, Thea knew she would have sacrificed her village a thousand times if it meant she would be with her soulmate in the end.

“Warin! Bite me!”

The vampire roared with relief, his eyes gleaming in the moonlight as he went for her throat, fangs piercing her skin and sinking deep into her flesh. The last thing she registered was a sharp sting in her neck and the cool rush of his seed deep inside. Then everything went dark.