Eternal Prey (24 page)

Along with the pain came the need to screw someone. Nothing emotional about it. Only the mindless compulsion to fuck and fuck and fuck until he was drained and
dead
. But he couldn’t move. He could only kneel in the dirt while he hung over the edge of the biggest freaking orgasm of his life. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he strained toward the freefall to end all freefalls. Nothing. He just hung there.

Despair wracked him. No one except Kione could ease his agony. But Kione didn’t seem about to ease anyone’s pain right now.

That’s when he heard Fin’s voice in his head.

“I’m going to black out your vision for a moment. When I do, it’ll break your connection to Kione. Then look at something else, and don’t look back. I can’t be there right now. I have something else I have to handle.”

Then everything went black. Utah immediately turned his head. And when his vision finally cleared, he knew who he’d be looking at. Lia was staring back at him. Her face was white, her eyes wide with the memory of Kione’s compulsion.

“Fin was in your head too?” He fumbled at his zipper, hoping she didn’t notice.

Lia nodded. “I didn’t know . . . I never thought Kione could . . .” She swept her hand across her eyes. “We have to stop Kione from killing the vampires.”

“Why?” He thought the vampires deserved anything they got. Death by sex. Before meeting up with the fae prince, Utah would’ve thought that was a good way to go. Not now.

“Because they’re under Jude’s protection. He’ll be obligated to challenge Kione. He’ll die.”

Utah noticed that even as she spoke, she made sure she kept her distance from him. Since when had he become a pariah? Then he tried to think logically. She’d just risen. Lia would probably be leery about getting close to anyone for fear of killing them. Made sense, but it didn’t make him feel any better.

Utah turned just enough to see Ty and Spin without looking at Kione. They’d returned to human form and were facing away from the action. So Fin had gotten to them. “I don’t know how we can keep Kione from doing what he damn well pleases.”

What evidently pleased Kione was explaining a few things to the vampires before he destroyed them. Good. That gave Utah a few moments to figure a way out of this mess.

“You should know the truth before you die. You weren’t with your clan, so perhaps you need to see what they did. I’ll narrate since I didn’t have time to fill in any subtitles. Watch.”

Suddenly, images filled Utah’s mind. Kione was including everyone in his show-and-tell. A clearing in a heavily forested area. Wooden structures. Lots of men, no women in sight. Utah wasn’t a historian, so the men’s clothing told him only that this happened a long time ago.

“You’ll notice me there. I’m the naked guy chained to the post. Iron chains. Not my favorite metal. Leaves a nasty burn.”

Kione’s voice was so cold that Utah felt it as a physical layer of ice touching every exposed part of his body. He pulled on the coat he’d taken off earlier, making sure he didn’t look in Kione’s direction.

“Also notice the lack of women. My bad luck. I knew little about your clan before they captured me. I didn’t know that in your clan males lost the ability to have sex as they aged. The ancient ones felt no stirrings at all. They were all ancient here. Your females had left centuries ago. But that didn’t mean that they didn’t
want
to feel something.”

“They discovered what I was, what I could do. And even though they were the most powerful vampire clan on Earth at the time, they wouldn’t have been able to capture me under normal circumstances. But I had a fatal weakness. The one and only weakness I’ve allowed myself during the millennia of my existence. Step into my memories and know why you die tonight.”

The scene shifted, and suddenly, Utah was no longer seeing the event from a distant place, a place that allowed him to feel some detachment. He was there, surrounded by the vampires,
one of them.

The flavor of lust. He rolled it around on his tongue, reacquainting himself with its taste. For so long he’d felt only the one hunger. But no amount of blood could wash away the memory of sexual need, something he’d thought never to feel again. Now he gloried in the hardening of his body, the rush of raw sensation, the
excitement
.

Soon it would be his turn. He’d sink his fangs into the unseelie bastard’s neck even as he buried himself in its body.

They’d forced the fae abomination to their will three seasons ago, and he never tired of his explosive release each time he used the creature. He knew only one disappointment. No matter the pain they inflicted, it never cried out. He wanted to hear its screams of agony. He and the others of his clan now competed to see who would be the first to hurt it so badly that it couldn’t hold back its cries.

The line moved forward. While he waited for the next male to begin, he stared at the thing’s face. Meeting the creature’s gaze caused his lust to rise, his body to tighten, his hunger to run unchecked. If his power wasn’t so strong, he knew looking at its face would destroy his will. Even now, he had to exert all his strength to keep from falling to the ground and crawling to it.

He glanced at the males around him. Any of them would do for what he wanted, but it was not allowed. They could not take their pleasure with each other, only with the one who had no ties to Earth, who was less than they. Their master was right in his ruling. Once they became lost in sexual frenzy with each other, the unseelie thing might use their distraction to rescue his female and escape.

The male in front of him turned to grin at him. “Thank the gods the fae are immortal. We can take pleasure from it forever.”

He snorted his contempt. “Not the gods, but our own hunting party that captured its mate.”

A human woman had chosen to love the unseelie animal. She deserved punishment, but they had to keep her alive to ensure the creature’s obedience. It had allowed itself to be bound by their magic in return for her safety. But he did not trust that magic or iron chains would hold the creature if it decided to exert its power.

“I like not the look in her eyes. Do you see madness there?”

He wished the male would stop talking so that he could enjoy what was happening at the front of the line. But he did take a moment to glance at the woman.

She stood between two of their guards, as she’d stood every night since the beginning. It was necessary that she watch each night. The creature needed to see that she still lived. Fury, despair, and love shone from her eyes. But he thought he saw something else in her gaze tonight, something he couldn’t identify. It made him uneasy.

Both guards held spears aimed at her heart. One wrong move by her fae lover and she’d die. Not even a creature with its immense power could reach her in time to stop her death. It knew, and the knowing kept it biddable.

“The guards grow lax.”

He shrugged. She’d grown weaker. And not once had she attempted to escape. So if one of her guards occasionally left her side for a moment, he could see no harm. He frowned. They needed to feed her better or something. She could not be allowed to die.

Ah, he was next in line. He licked his lips in anticipation as he watched the male who’d spoken to him take his turn. Cuts, bruises, and blood covered the fae creature’s bared body, but still it kept its unearthly beauty. The beauty helped him forget that he was reduced to taking his sexual pleasure from one such as this.

He grew even harder as he watched his fellow male flip the dark fairy onto its stomach, free his cock, and drive into its body. The male yanked its head up by all that tangled hair and sank his fangs into its throat. He took the creature in the most savage way he could. Males of his clan enjoyed inflicting pain. Watching another’s agony made their climaxes more intense.

But just as the other male finished, making room for him, shouts broke out. He turned to see what was happening. Whatever it was, he would not let it interfere with his pleasure. He’d waited in a long line for this.

It was the woman. The guard had grown too careless. He’d been so busy watching what the other males were doing that he’d taken his attention from the creature’s mate.

The woman had thrown herself on the guard’s spear. Even with all the blood, he could see it had pierced her heart. Her dimming gaze was fixed on her mate. Her dying words were weak, but he had no problem hearing her.

“You are free now, Kione. Know that I love you.”

And that quickly she was dead.

He slowly turned back to the . . .
Gone.
All that was left were its chains. Foreboding touched him, but he pushed it aside in favor of anger that he had missed his turn.

He rubbed at his eyes. What was the matter? He felt as though he were racing backward, the scene growing ever more distant. And then . . .

Utah shook his head and blinked. His mind finally caught up with reality. He was back in the rose garden. Damn. He never wanted to go along on one of Kione’s memory trips again. Whatever sympathy he might have felt for the five vampires had disappeared.

Lia. Had she experienced the same thing? God, he hoped not. He looked for her.

She was crying. Lia didn’t cry. Ever. It went along with the never-being-afraid thing. Why was she on her knees? She stood, keeping her head down, trying to control the pain she felt for Kione, the hate for his abusers, the sorrow for the woman who’d died to save him.

And when she felt a hand on her shoulder, Lia knew who it was. Utah. She kept her head down, didn’t look at him.

“He escaped them, Lia. He’s here, he
survived
. And no matter what was done to him, what he lost, he lived. We need to celebrate that, because it’s always about keeping on.” He massaged her shoulder as he murmured his comfort.

“Maybe he didn’t survive, I mean, the part of him that counts. He’s never gotten over it.” She tried to wipe the tears from her eyes. “God, who could?” Had anyone grieved for Kione, for the unknown woman?

He didn’t make cheerful sounds, he didn’t demand she look at him, he just gave her his silence. And that was enough.

Lia’s instinct was to keep her face hidden until the tears were gone, her traitorous emotions under control. After all, she had a kickass rep to defend. But maybe she didn’t want to defend it tonight.

Maybe tonight, with this man, she’d allow herself to be human once more, with a human’s unapologetic expression of horror and grief for what Kione had endured. Sort of ironic that she should turn to her human side when she was no longer human. Dad would applaud.

Lia raised her head and met Utah’s gaze. She blinked at the tears blurring her vision. She didn’t apologize.

He didn’t smile or try to make her feel better. He didn’t rush into words meant to take her mind off what she’d seen. He simply wrapped his arms around her and held her. And that was enough.

Slowly, though, something else intruded. Something unwanted, uncontrollable.
Hunger.
A need so powerful she couldn’t contain it. Not normal even for a newly made vampire. God knew, after a lifetime spent around them, she recognized what was normal for vampires.

Her gaze fixed on his throat, the pulse beating there. She could hear the rush of his blood, almost smell the coppery scent. Her fangs lengthened even as a killing frenzy gripped her. She opened her mouth and struck.

Utah must’ve been on his guard because he jerked away from her at the same time he gripped her arms, holding her in place. “What the hell’s the matter with you? And don’t give me that crap about being newly risen and needing blood. You’re stronger than this.”

Lia almost tripped in her frantic effort to put distance between them. Utah let her go.

“I don’t know what that was about. This feeling just came over me. I knew I had to kill you.” She pushed her hair from her face as she tried to calm herself, to think. “Until further notice, I think you need to stay away from me.”

Hurt flashed in his eyes just before he wiped all expression from his face. “Sure. No problem.” He looked away.

She couldn’t deal with this now. Lia forced her attention back to what was happening in the center of the field.

Kione finally spoke. “As you saw, it was tough being the only date in town.”

His words might sound light, but Lia heard the layers of hate, bitterness, and heartbreak in his voice.

“I was weak, but when I felt her die, strength came from somewhere. I broke their spell and their bindings. I returned to the unseelie court, where I gathered a force. Then I returned. We destroyed them. But I could not find her mortal remains.” He paused, and Lia could feel his despair at not being able to lay her to rest. “I did not love again.”

And in that stark statement, Lia heard the depth of what the woman had meant to him.

Kione’s attention was totally on his five enemies. “I will free you enough so that you can speak. I wouldn’t deny any man his last words.”

The vampire who’d been the first to step forward must’ve been their leader because he was the only one who spoke. “How do we know you tell the truth? You have the power to paint any pictures you want in our minds.”

“I didn’t expect you to believe me. All these centuries, you thought I’d destroyed all of your clan. I didn’t.”