Eternal Demon: Mark of the Vampire (21 page)

She watched his face tight with tension and desire, the bands of tension in his neck, the muscles in his arms and chest bunching and flexing.

“Yes,” she said breathlessly.

He purred. “And your last, Hellen?”

“Yes!”

“I love you. Fuck, I love you!” He covered her mouth with his and entered her in one deep thrust.

Hellen had never had a male inside her, but there was no pain when Erion sank his cock deep. She was slick and hot and ready for him—more than ready—and all she wanted was for him to claim her body as he had claimed her heart.

She wrapped her legs around him and thrust her hips up, grinding against him, letting him know that she was desperate. His kiss intensified, and as he pleasured her mouth, he slowly fucked her.

Tears pricked at her eyes again. Not because of the heat that surged inside her or the delicious feeling of being completely and totally filled with the male of her dreams—the male she loved—but because, for the first time in her life, she was allowing herself to take without guilt, love without fear, and need without reproach.

Erion tore his lips from hers for a moment and lifted his head so he could stare into her eyes. He had such amazing eyes, so dark and soulful. And they were heavy with desire for her, all of her.

“Your pussy is so tight, demon girl. It sucks me in and refuses to let me go. I don’t want to go. I want stay inside you forever.”

“Stay,” she implored him ardently. “I love you inside me. I want you inside me always.”

She moaned and jacked up her hips, and Erion answered with thrust after thrust into her slick pussy. He was impossibly hard, and her clit pulsed with need once again. Would she ever grow tired? Would she ever not need this to breathe, exist?

“You are mine, Hellen,” he uttered, moving within her, his thick cock stroking her. “And I am going to mark you now. My seed inside you. But first . . .” He gained in speed, battered her cunt until she saw stars again, until she writhed and cried out and seized and trembled around him.

And then he allowed himself to come too.

It was like an animal’s mating—
No, a demon’s,
she thought blissfully. His face had changed fully—lionlike, demon eyes, fangs extended—and he snarled and growled and pumped himself into her, making tears escape from her eyes once more.

They were mated.

Well and truly mated.

And she would never give herself to another.

Erion pulled her close but remained buried inside her. His face inches from hers, he nuzzled her nose. “I wish to stay with you, in your bed, sleep with you until the morning, when we leave this place forever.”

Her heart seized at his beautiful words. “I want that too.”

He grinned, purred.

“You look happy, demon beast,” she said, feeling his cock pulse inside her. There was no rest with him.

“I am most happy,” he said, his grin widening. “I never expected to feel happiness like this. It’s pure and raw.”

“Just like you,” she whispered, kissing his chin, nipping it with her teeth.

He growled at her. “You are mine, Hellen—you are my unbeating heart, my insides, my family, my future.”

She stilled with his words, those raw words.
Family. Future.
She hadn’t thought of that. Why hadn’t she thought of that? Maybe because she’d wanted him so badly. But a family, children . . . Would he be happy, content with only the one?

“What is it?” he asked, concern in his voice. “Are you all right? Am I hurting you?”

“No, no.” Her gaze dropped to his mouth. “You know I can’t give you children.” She released a breath. “If you wanted more, I would understand.”
I’d hate it, perhaps lose my mind over it, but I’d understand
. “If you wanted to find someone who could—”

“Hey.” He lifted her chin, forced her to meet his gaze. It darkened even as he stared at her. “Listen to me, and listen well. When I was born and my mother realized I was
mutore
, she tossed me out like trash. I was a bad omen, something broken and unwanted. Something that didn’t deserve to be loved.” He cupped her face. “Can you give me love, demon girl? And the loyalty of a mate? Because that is what I truly need.”

The honesty, the open vulnerability of this male tore at her insides. She leaned in and kissed him. “That I can give you, Erion.”

He lapped at her lower lip and whispered, “And I promise it to you as well.” He drew back. His eyes deepened and grew in intensity. “I love you, Hellen. I ache with it.”

She’d heard him say it right before he’d taken her, and she’d believed him. But like this, wrapped in his arms, satiated and warm and safe, it meant a thousand times more. “I love you too.”

He smiled, though a flicker of worry lit his eyes. “You will be all right leaving your home?”

“As long as I’m with you,” she said, though she knew it wouldn’t be that easy to walk away. “I don’t think I belong here anymore. Not after what I’ve done. No matter what Eberny says, I fear I will be despised.”

“You did what you had to do, my love.”

“I know.” And she did. She had no regrets—only relief that everyone she cared about was safe. “But I am ready to start my life.”

“Our life,” he amended with a grin. “And we can live anywhere you want. New York, France. Me and you and Ladd.”

Her heart sank a fraction. The boy. She wanted the boy to be happy, and she’d seen him that way with the female vampire. “He will want to be with Kate. He clearly adores her, and she him.”

“He will. I would never take him from her.” His brows came together. “But he is my son, and after witnessing Abbadon’s cruelty, I want more than ever to be a good father to him.”

“You are a wonderful father,” she said with passion, touching his face. “You went into hell to save your son. That makes you a real father.”

He grinned proudly. “And you, the way you threatened to attack Kate—that is the act of a loving and overly protective mother.”

“No.” She drew back, shaking her head. “No. I’m not a mother.”

“What do you mean?”

“I fear what is in me now. I have the power of my father in me. I can feel it when I get angry or possessive. It pushes to come out and fight and take without asking and . . .” She shook her head. It was so ugly, this truth, this fear of the unknown that raged inside her blood. “I would die if I hurt a child—”

“Stop, Hellen.” His tone was fierce, his eyes too. “No matter what you think you have lurking inside you, you are not your father. You are no devil.” He gathered her up in his arms, his mouth a breath away from hers. “You are an angel. My angel.”

He kissed her softly, sensuously, convincingly, and as he did, he purred and started to move inside her. “I wish to take you again, but I know you are sore.”

“I am demon,” she returned, biting at his lower lip. “We don’t get sore. We get demanding.”

He grinned. “My perfect mate. You demand, my love, and I will give you everything you desire.” He pulled out of her and flipped her over onto her belly.

“Wow,” she said on a gasp.

His arm tunneled beneath her and he eased her hips back so she was on her hands and knees. “Wow, indeed,” he uttered, his voice dark and heavy. “If I wasn’t so desperate to get inside you again, I might have to eat you this way. You are so pretty.”

He moved over her, his chest against her back, until she felt the head of his cock. It was so hard he didn’t need to guide it. She gasped as he entered her, stretched her.

“I have only just filled you with my seed,” he whispered against her ear. “And I already want to give you more. You have the tightest, hottest pussy. It begs me to fuck it, weeps for me to fill it.”

One hand brushed past her hip and found her sex. He groaned, and she felt his cock swell further inside her. “Do you know how wet you are, Hellen? It’s running down your thighs, soaking your skin, soaking my hand.”

She arched her back and pressed against him, ground her ass against him, wanting him deeper, wanting everything as the pressure built inside her once again.

“Hold on, demon girl,” he said, his fingers dancing lightly over her clit as his strokes gathered speed. “You’re about to come again, and when you do, I’m going to fuck you so hard you won’t be able to breathe.”

“Yes, Erion! Please!”

He rammed up inside her and froze.

Hellen’s breath was caught; she panted as she felt him close to her ear.

“Oh, shit,” he whispered, his voice otherworldly. He was demon now. She didn’t have to see his face to know it. “I’m hungry, Hellen. I can’t hold out any longer. You’re mine. Your blood is mine.”

Without warning, he bit down hard on her shoulder, and she screamed. His cock swelled again and he started fucking her, slamming inside her so deep, she dropped her head and prayed her legs wouldn’t give out beneath her. As he clung to her shoulder with his fangs, pulled on her vein and took her blood into his mouth, Hellen fell over the edge for the fourth time that night. She was utterly gone, hovering somewhere where only madness and heat and mind-blowing climaxes were allowed to exist.

Trying to remain upright, she let him work her over. He was pumping inside her, flicking her clit, and swallowing her life’s blood all at the same time. Happiness and pleasure spread through her. In the bed where so many nights had been spent crying and plotting and coming to an understanding about her dismal future, she was being fucked—no, she was being made love to—in every way she’d never dared to imagine.

For the first time in her life, she’d witnessed a happy ending in Hell.

And it was hers.

•   •   •

“Where did you find her?” Alexander asked the moment the door of the Manhattan hotel room opened.

Whistler backed up and allowed them to enter. “Bronx Zoo.”

Still living with the shock of such a possibility, Celestine gaped at the male. “What?”

The Eye closed the door and headed past them into the room, took a seat on the couch. It was a generous suite, paid for by Alexander. He hadn’t wanted the female brought to his home yet, not until her parentage was confirmed. But he also didn’t want her in the park or in some shitty motel.

“She was living near the cages of the animals,” Whistler informed them, putting his feet up on the coffee table.

Alexander put a hand on Cellie’s and found it trembling. “Why would she do that?”

Whistler shrugged. “You’ll have to ask her.”

“But you’re sure she’s . . .” Celestine broke off with a whimper.

“Oh, I’m sure. She carries the blood scent you gave me.” He leaned back on the couch, his hands behind his head. “Shall we open her vein and have a closer look?”

“No!” both Celestine and Alexander answered at once.

The Eye chuckled, then turned his head toward an open door to his left.

Out of instinct, Alexander’s body shifted into high alert.

“Come here,
veana
,” Whistler called.

There was a sound of a soft snarl, then footsteps. “I am not a
veana
.”

When she entered the room, Celestine gasped. “Oh, my gods.” Her hand went to her mouth, muffling a cry.

Alexander’s fighting instincts evaporated, but he couldn’t move. Shit, he could barely breathe. He just stared at the wary, snarling female before him. The heavily pregnant female. It was the strangest sensation. Like looking at a different form of his true mate.

“She looks . . .” Celestine uttered, but she couldn’t finish the thought.

Alexander did it for her. “Like Sara.”

Celestine burst into tears and ran from the hotel room.

•   •   •

Hellen woke with arms wrapped around her.

But they weren’t Erion’s.

The shock of that knowledge came swiftly and she bucked and slammed her elbow back into the body that carried her through the corridor archway, until it released her onto her feet.

She glanced down at the ash on the ground and at herself. She was wearing a blue robe, not unlike the one her captor was wearing. Her gaze slammed upward and into the serene face that had practically raised her after her mother died. “What are you doing, Eberny? Have you gone completely insane?”

In the dark lavender evening light, the hybrid looked especially foreboding. Eberny nodded. “I apologize.”

“For what?” Hellen demanded, her hands on her hips. “Coming into my room unannounced? Taking me from my bed? From my mate’s embrace?”

The hybrid’s eyes shuttered. “Yes.”

Hellen’s eyes narrowed. “What’s going on? It is still night.”

“We must talk.”

“And it couldn’t wait until morning, when we open the portals?”

“When
you
open the portals,” Eberny corrected.

“Me, you—what does it matter?”

“It matters a great deal,” Eberny stated, the hybrid’s expression graver than usual. “Do you think I have the power to do such a thing?”

Hellen stared at the hybrid, something moving inside her. “I’m guessing no.”

“Abbadon was the only one with that power.”

“Are you saying I won’t be able to manage it either?” Suddenly panicked, Hellen moved past the hybrid and walked over to the massive rock that had once been a portal. “Is that why you brought me out here? To tell me you think we’re all stuck in the Underworld—Erion and Ladd. Kate.”

“No,” said the hybrid calmly. “The others will be able to leave as soon as you open the portal.”

Hellen whirled around and hissed. “Eberny, you’re starting to piss me off.”

“Did you enjoy your night with the demon vampire?”

“Very much,” she said in an almost protective way.

“I am glad. You needed to.”

“What does that mean?”

Eberny’s face remained impassive. “Sex unlocks the final shift, the devil magic you will need to open the portals.”

A slow, terrifying vibration started to move through Hellen’s blood. “What are you talking about?”

“You are your father’s firstborn,” the hybrid explained. “And that gives you most of what you require. But not all. Sex is the key, the final step in the fertilization of your true magic.”

Hellen attempted to reel in and process what the hybrid was telling her, but it wasn’t easy. She had the power—sex with Erion had not only been the best moment of her life, but it was the key to opening the portals. She brightened at the news. “This is good, then, right?”