Forbidden Blood (Vampire Venators Romance Series) (11 page)

It wasn’t the only reason he didn’t want to greet her.

Amber was glaring at the woman and he wanted to go to her instead.

“Go on,” Kyran said. “I will make sure that Amber is safe here. I have teased you enough and will not reveal anything to her.”

He still hesitated.

Kyran pushed him forwards.

Kearn felt Amber’s gaze on him again but walked over to the female Venator. She lowered her head when he reached her.

“Lord Savernake.” She pressed her right hand to her chest. The silver markings on it were different to his. She was shorter than he was, possibly even more so than Amber, and was much weaker. Females that became Venators were never as strong as their male counterparts were. The role passed from father to eldest son. Daughters were only involved when there was no son in the Venator line. He studied her. She wasn’t a Noble either.

“Venator. We are above such formalities, are we not?” A remnant of his old self, buried deep inside him, said that she was below him. A Lesser Noble. She deserved to scrape and bow at his feet. Weaker blooded, poorer connected, and lower bred. She was beneath him in all ways. The only things worse than her kind were Commoners and humans.

She kept her head bowed.

“Welcome to my territory. I hope our meeting is fortuitous and not a sign of something else.” He kept his tone warm, trying to tamp down his thoughts. The woman was a Venator. They were equals, and he had no right to judge her by her blood when he was an outcast of his own family.

She raised her eyes now, green irises and wide pupils betraying her shock at his words. Her expression only added to her appearance of youthful innocence. She looked as weak as he sensed her to be. Far too young to deal with their duty. He placed her at no older than two hundred. To the humans around her, she looked like a twenty year old.

“You have noticed, have you not?” he said and she glanced towards Amber.

“You are struggling against the effects of blood.” Her voice was soft but he could still hear her.

The corners behind the speakers were far quieter than the rest of the club, and Lesser Noble and all Noble vampires desiring to protect their hearing favoured them. It was a good place to discuss business, and afforded them a view of the entire room so they could pick out prey at their leisure without suffering from the ear-bleeding volume of the music.

She gave him a shy look, as though she felt guilty for confirming that she knew he had recently tasted blood from a Source, and then her expression gradually changed back to awe. Had she never met another Venator? How many vampires had she killed and how long ago had she been given her duty?

“You have seen the human with those vampires.” He didn’t look their way but he could feel Amber’s eyes on him and the female. “A vampire I have been seeking for several years attacked her and fed his blood to her. I tasted her blood to confirm her as a Source Blood and so I could maintain control of her and question her. The human is now bait in my plan to lure out the man and sentence him.”

“I see.” The woman peered past him. “It is forgivable then. Did your plan include her leaving?”

Kearn turned on the spot. Amber was gone.

“Excuse me,” he said and crossed the dance floor to his brother.

“She wanted to go.” Kyran shrugged. “We tried to make her stay and wait, but it seemed the little thing did not like seeing you with another woman.”

Kearn glared at him and then hurried through the club. Had Amber really left because he had been speaking to the Venator, or was Kyran lying? The thought that she might be jealous warmed his chest but he didn’t allow himself to believe it. He had given Amber no reason to feel that way and he had no reason to feel anything in response to it.

What was he getting himself into?

He pushed through the throng, growling under his breath about the way people were hindering his progress and the growing awareness of his feelings towards Amber.

She was bait. It was just her blood making him act this way. And that was just a lie.

It ran deeper than blood. She had entranced him even before he had tasted her. It had been difficult to keep his eyes off her in the street when he had fought to protect her from the man, and in his car as he drove her to his apartment. He had been under her spell since the moment he had met her.

Amber meant something to him.

But she was human. She was beneath him, fit only to serve his kind.

Kearn broke through the crowd and out into the night.

He wished he could bring himself to believe that but he couldn’t. She didn’t feel as though she was beneath him. She felt above him, beyond his grasp.

Human or not, he wanted her to be his.

He couldn’t see her in the street. He searched all of the side roads that branched off the main road outside the club and then got into his car and drove around. The remnant of her blood in his veins wasn’t enough for him to track her. Searching for her so randomly didn’t have a great chance of success, but he had to find her. The vampire might have been at the club tonight and might have seen her leave. Without him, she was in danger.

He couldn’t allow that.

He would keep his promise, no matter what.

He wouldn’t let anything happen to her.

CHAPTER 7

A
mber stormed along the street, walking blind in the hope of there being an Underground station ahead. She cursed her heels when her ankle gave out and hobbled on, defiant in the face of pain and the sliver of fear running through her veins. The streets were dark and there were only a few people around. What time was it? Judging by the lack of cars and people, it had to be close to midnight, if not already past it. She hoped she could reach the Underground before the last train. Her gaze darted around, taking in the dark brick and sandstone office buildings surrounding her, her heart beating fast against her chest. She couldn’t believe that a club she had been to catered to vampires. A shiver bolted down her spine. How many times had she flirted with one? How close had she come to being nothing more than a midnight snack? And why had Kearn dressed her in such revealing clothing? She had never had to dress so sexily to fit in and attract attention at the club before.

Every man she walked past ogled her breasts and her thighs. It was freezing in the ridiculous stupid damn clothes that Kearn had bought for her.

And what good had they done?

The only men in the club who had shown the slightest interest had been a few less than savoury characters and Kyran. He had come over to her the moment he had spotted her and offered to keep her company, inviting her to meet his nice friends and keeping her away from the fiends that patrolled the club. He had been kind and attentive, ensuring that she felt included in his circle of friends. She hadn’t minded the way he had remained close to her. It had been comforting and she had felt safe around him, protected from the vampires.

Kearn had gone and spoken to that other woman instead.

Her blood boiled.

Kyran had tried to stop her from leaving but she had been determined to get away. She had wanted out. Not just of the club but of everything. She didn’t want to play bait anymore, not now that she had realised why she had agreed to it in the first place.

It hadn’t been because Kearn could keep her safe and get rid of the man who wanted her blood.

It had been because she was attracted to Kearn.

The woman was a much-needed reminder that Kearn wasn’t hers, and that he hadn’t even hinted that he was attracted to her. He had seemed very comfortable with the young woman and hadn’t looked at Amber once while he was with her. Kyran had explained that the woman was another Venator and Kearn had to greet her, but it hadn’t made Amber feel any better.

A man wolf-whistled at her from across the quiet street. She stuck her fingers up at him and kept walking. She was sick of this stupid game of cat and mouse. Kearn could find himself a new mouse.

The low growl of an engine echoed around the street, bouncing off the office buildings around her and she walked faster. Lights punctured the dim street and threw her shadow out long in front of her. A moment later, the white Audi R8 pulled to a halt just a few yards ahead of her and she slowed down. He had found her.

Well, he was a hunter. She supposed that his kind could find anyone they were looking for. She smiled cruelly. Although he couldn’t find his man.

“Get in the car.”

Amber looked down at the open window and empty passenger seat.

She kept walking, sure that there would be an Underground station nearby. She had enough money to get a ticket back to her place and out of Kearn’s crazy world.

A car door slammed behind her.

“I said to get in the car.” Kearn’s footsteps were loud in the quiet road.

“Clearly, I don’t want to.” She carried on. He wasn’t going to order her around. Not now.

He walked past her and stopped in her path, his eyes narrowed with his frown. She looked into them, not hiding any of her anger or contempt, and they darted between hers, searching. Was he trying to see in them why she had left the club and was refusing to go with him? If he couldn’t figure it out for himself, then he was a lost cause.

“Get out of my way.” Amber went to pass him but he blocked her. She shoved him aside.

Kearn grabbed her arm and pulled her backwards, towards his car. That wasn’t going to happen. She stamped on his foot, using her heel, eliciting a short noise of frustration from him. His grip on her arm tightened.

“Get in the car.” Anger laced his dark tone, turning it blacker than a thundercloud and just as threatening.

“No.”

“Why not?”

Amber glared at him. He glared right back. She didn’t care if she had hurt his foot. He deserved it.

He deserved a lot more than it.

“You should go back to the club. Your girlfriend will miss you.”

His dark silver eyebrows rose and his eyes widened. It was as though a light had clicked on in his mind and she was seeing the external effect.

Amber yanked her arm free and tried to keep walking but he caught hold of her again and pulled her back to the car. She stumbled and landed on the bonnet. Part of her wished she had hit it harder and put a dent in it with her backside. Perhaps that would hurt Kearn enough to satisfy her.

“I do not have a woman.” Irritation joined the anger in his tone. Did her lack of obedience frustrate him? Good.

She pushed away from his car.

“Where are you going?”

Amber whirled to face him and his gaze dropped to her thighs. The motion had sent her black skirt flying out and had probably given him a view of her underwear. That drove her to confront him. She was going to give him a piece of her mind, set him straight, and then leave.

“I’m going home to get some real clothes.” She started out small. Her insides fluttered at the thought of confronting him about everything. It was frightening but exhilarating at the same time, sending a dizzying rush of adrenaline through her.

“Those are clothes.”

Every inch of her warmed as his gaze drifted over her body, leisurely taking her in, his pupils widening the whole time. She blazed so hot that her skin prickled, the cold forgotten. His eyes roamed over her again, from her heeled boots, over the tiny skirt and tight corset, to her throat and then her face. He stared into her eyes, desire visible in his.

Now he was eyeing her up? Too damn late for that.

“No.” She placed her hands on her hips and his eyes settled there, burning into her, as though he was trying to see through the small black skirt to her knickers beneath. “This is something a whore wears. I don’t know what circles you move in, but sluts dress this way.”

Kearn was silent for a moment, a stunned edge to his expression.

“I thought it looked nice.” No trace of anger touched his voice now. It was low and cautious, edged with huskiness. If he could sense her intent to explode, then he was stupid for complimenting her for looking good dressed as a two-bit prostitute.

“You would. You’re a man! Or whatever it is you are.” Amber turned on her heel and stalked away.

He was in front of her again before she could make it five paces.

“There are no Underground stations around here and you cannot walk to your home.” The spark of desire that had been in his eyes was gone, but their green depths weren’t empty. Concern filled them.

“I’ll get a cab.” She tried to step past him but he moved with her.

She wasn’t in the mood to dance.

“And pay them with what?” He countered her again.

“With money at my flat.” Amber curled her fingers into fists and tried to pass him.

He wouldn’t let her. He blocked her path and stepped into her, forcing her backwards.

“And you have keys for that flat?”

Checkmate.

Amber cursed him under her breath. Her keys and things were at his place. She hadn’t been planning to ditch him.

“Leave me alone,” she whispered and unclenched her hands. Her shoulders sagged and she stared at the pavement. “I’m tired of playing slut for you and your vampire friends. Just leave me alone and find them yourself.”

Silence.

She hated the sound of it. She wanted him to say something to make her stay, to make her feel as though she was more to him than just bait, but she knew in her heart that it wasn’t going to happen and she had a feeling why.

“I need your help.” His eyes shone in the light of his car, open and honest. He needed her help and she needed answers. If he gave them to her, confirmed her suspicions or put them to rest forever, then she would go with him.

Her fingers went to the bandage around her right palm.

She stared deep into his eyes, holding his attention. “Then you’d better be straight with me, starting with this.”

Before he could move, Amber tore the bandage off and thrust her palm in his face.

He recoiled and turned away.

“No.” She moved around him, unwilling to let him escape, her heart beating like a jackhammer against her ribs. “You’re like them, aren’t you? You’re a vampire!”

She pushed her hand in his face, keeping up with him as he backed towards his car. He tried to swat her hand away but she wouldn’t let him. She kept it in his face, wanting to see if she was right about him. He stared at her palm, his eyes so wide that she could see the whole of his irises, and swallowed hard.