MARKED (Hunter Awakened) (21 page)

“Okay,” I said slowly. “Does that mean it's
not this uncontrollable hunger like in the books?”

Elias shook his head, a cautious hope in his
eyes. I could tell that he very much wanted to accept that I
believed him, but that he was afraid to get his hopes too high.
“Not at all. It is very controllable, not much stronger than the
human desire for food or drink. Vampires who kill and claim lack of
impulse control are lying. They simply do not wish to control
themselves. Many like that believe themselves to be more evolved
than humans, somehow more worthy of life.”

Well, that was good to know. At least I
didn't have to worry about him suddenly biting me because he
couldn't keep his fangs to himself.

“The older a vampire is, the longer they are
able to go without drinking. Unless...” He looked away, as if
embarrassed.

“Unless what?” I pressed, curious.

He didn't turn back, but he did answer my
question. “A vampire is created with all of the power that they
will ever have. I do not understand where it comes from or how it
manifests, only that a two decades old vampire may be more powerful
than a centuries old vampire. The stronger the vampire, the less
blood is needed to appear more... human.” He brushed his fingers
over his cheeks. “Do not ask me how drinking the blood allows it
into our circulatory systems. I do not know, only that it can pass
into our veins. To do this, we will our hearts to beat.”

My eyes widened. I hadn't even thought of
that. I'd felt his heartbeat before. When we'd been in bed
together. Shit. I'd fucked a vampire. I pushed the thought aside.
That was the least of my problems.

“Weaker vampires must concentrate, and some
only manage a few beats every hour. Their skin is deathly white,
their body less supple. It is these vampires who are usually
responsible for the rumors of our kind as they are more easily
captured and killed.” He looked out the window. “More powerful
vampires, however, with some practice, are able to keep their
hearts beating. Most of the blood is absorbed into the tissues and
gives us greater speed, strength and gracefulness. What is left
over is circulated through our bodies, giving our skin color and
warmth. The more often we drink, or the greater amount at once, the
longer we can maintain our human-like appearance.”

“That's why you don't feel cold.” I suddenly
understood. The memory of his body against mine suddenly popped
into my head, and with it, another realization. “And that's how you
can have sex.” I blurted the words out, then flushed.

Elias glanced at me then, the corner of his
mouth quirking up. “Yes, the ability to keep my heart going at all
times allows my body to have the natural reactions to stimuli.”

“Well that's one way to put it,” I muttered.
My ears were burning.

Elias's finger brushed over the back of my
hand and I jumped, but didn't pull away. The intensity of his gaze
had changed and my stomach clenched.

“There are... advantages, to being what I
am.”

His voice was low and I knew he wasn't
talking about the whole staying young and handsome forever part of
being a vampire. “Yes?” I could barely get the word out.

He started to speak, but stopped as he
glanced out of the window behind me. “The sun.”

I blinked. Had I misunderstood something?
Then I followed his gaze and realized I could see the faintest
tinge of pink on the horizon. Vampire. Sun. Not good.

“We must go now.” He straightened.

While I was really curious about what he had
been going to say, I completely understood the need to get going.
Unless he just didn't want me to see him glittery, I had a feeling
that the sun wasn't exactly healthy for him. I waited until we were
back on the road again before asking that question.

“So do you like burst into flames in the
sunlight or something like that?”

He shot me a surprised look. “Not exactly,”
he answered. “Some writers have picked up on bits of truth and then
added their own fiction to it. We cannot be in direct sunlight or
our skin quickly turns red, then blisters, then chars. It is
similar to the stages a human body goes through when exposed to
fire, though our bodies do not actually catch on fire from
sunlight. The process is fast enough that more than a few minutes
with direct exposure will kill us. Tinted glass can slow the
process to nearly fifteen or twenty minutes, though it would be
excruciating.”

I wondered if the car windows were
tinted.

“Indirect light, such as would lighten the
world around us will weaken me, but it cannot kill me by itself.
Less powerful vampires are sapped of their strength much more
quickly and, often, are caught out in the open without cover. If we
are inside a building, then we feel no ill effects from the
sun.”

“You guys heal fast, though, right?”

Elias nodded. “The more powerful the vampire,
the faster they heal. Also, healing is sped up proportional to the
amount of blood being consumed and pumped through the veins.”

This was a lot to think about. I settled back
in my seat, silence filling the car again as the scenery flew by.
I'd made the decision to believe him, but I knew now I had to
decide if I was going to trust him.

Chapter Twenty-Four

We didn't go back into the city. Instead, we
went towards an area just outside of the city, but it wasn't until
we turned up a driveway that I realized where we were heading.
Built around the same time Hollywood had become a town, the house
was three stories high, well over ten thousand square feet, it had
stunning architecture and, rumor had it, over forty acres of
land—I'd looked up at that hill and daydreamed about that house,
that absolutely beautiful piece of work, for years.

It had never been about jealousy, about me
wanting to have that house rather than what I did have. I was
grateful for everything I had, but there was something about that
mansion that had always spoken to me. It was my equivalent of a
fairy tale castle, and now I had a feeling I was going to find out
that Elias had been the enchanted prince.

“How long have you lived here?” I asked as we
pulled up to the house. I leaned forward and peered out the
windshield. It was even bigger than I'd imagined.

“I built it.”

My jaw dropped and I stared at him. He had to
be joking. I now believed that he had actually built that cabin,
but this house? No way.

As if he could sense my disbelief, he
continued, “Annalisa and I parted ways in the eighteen fifties and,
after exploring the Canadian territories for a couple of decades, I
moved out here in the seventies. The eighteen seventies, of course.
It began small, but as the years passed, I added to it until it
became what you see now.”

Okay, so maybe I was a bit dense, but
something didn't occur to me until I was actually walking inside.
Elias was rich. He had to be to still own this house. Property
taxes on this thing must've been a bitch.

“Elias, can I ask you something?” I was
looking all around as I spoke, trying to absorb it all. The
interior was just as amazing as I'd dreamed. “If you have enough
money for all of this, why are you working for me?”

What could only be described as a sheepish
expression crossed his face as he led me into what I would normally
call a living room if it hadn't been so lavish. “It seemed to be
the best way to become acquainted with you.”

He crossed to the fireplace and crouched down
in front of it. Someone had set up paper and wood so that all he
needed to do was light the paper. The room was chilly, but not
cold. I started to ask why a vampire over two centuries old would
want to get to know me, but then I saw it. I really hoped that I
wasn't right, because if I was, this was going to be a very awkward
conversation.

Hanging above the massive stone fireplace was
a portrait. It wasn't a picture or even a painting. This was a full
out-and-out portrait, like something you'd see in a history museum
with kings and queens and presidents. The woman in it was younger
than me, probably eighteen or nineteen, and her cornsilk blond hair
was long, pinned up behind her head in what I could only assume was
the style of the times. Her eyes were a dark color, her features
just a touch too strong to be delicate, but they still managed to
be pretty. She wasn't identical to the reflection I saw in the
mirror, but she was close enough that we could've passed for
sisters—or mother and daughter.

“Elias, who is she?” I pointed. My voice was
flat, which was good because I wasn't sure how I was supposed to
feel at the moment.

“She is my late wife, Elizabeth,” Elias said
softly.

“Your wife,” I echoed. I felt like someone
had punched me in the stomach. “She looks like me.” I expected him
to deny it.

“Yes, she does.” He stood and faced me. “I
was in Wales when I first saw you. It was three years ago. You were
doing a press tour for the film
Let It Fly
and you had come
to London. I have never become overly fond of television, but I did
happen to see you on a talk show. I could not breathe.” He gave a
small smile. “Though I do not need to, the description is still
accurate. I could not understand how you looked so much like
Elizabeth. Then you spoke, and your voice was different, but the
same. You were obviously American, and had been born into a world
where women are treated much differently than they were when I was
born.”

The knot in my stomach grew tighter with
every passing moment. Had he come to me because I looked like his
dead wife? Or, even worse, was it possible that his child hadn't
died with her and I was descended from her and him? I felt like I
was going to be sick.

“I became obsessed, reading everything I
could find about who you were, who your family was. The more I
read, the more I saw how you possessed some of the same qualities I
had loved in Elizabeth. Strength. Compassion. But there were
differences too. Differences that I found compelling. Your sense of
humor. The way you fought back, rather than walking away to keep
the peace.” Elias took a step towards me.

“As there is no record of your parents, I can
only make assumptions, but Elizabeth did have an older brother,
Jeremiah, who was married and had two sons and a daughter. I know
that at least one of his sons had four children before I lost track
of him while I traveled with Annalisa. I believe that you are
descended from Jeremiah's line.”

Part of me thought of how that knowledge
could lead me to my biological parents, but the majority of me was
focused on the burning question still unanswered. I didn't want to
ask it because I feared the answer, but I had to know.

“Is that why you...” I couldn't ask it that
way. It hurt too much. I changed my approach. “This attraction,
then, is it because I look like her?”

“No.” The word was firm, genuine. Elias
reached towards me. He hesitated, as if he wasn't sure that his
touch was welcome. When I didn't pull away, he cupped my cheek. “I
admit that the resemblance caught my attention, but you alone held
it.”

The relief that flooded through me was almost
overwhelming. Then he was bending his head towards me and I was
tipping my face up to meet his. It started as something gentle,
almost innocent. A press of lips, our bodies separated by a few
inches, the only other contact his hand on my cheek. Then the tip
of his tongue brushed against the corner of my mouth and I reached
out to take the front of his shirt in my hands. I pulled him
towards me even as I parted my lips.

Flames as hot as those crackling in the
fireplace spilled over us, igniting something fierce and deep. Our
kisses became greedy, our hands tugging at each other's clothes in
our desperate need to feel bare skin beneath our fingers. Dimly, I
heard seams and cloth rip, whether from my clothes or his, I didn't
know or care. Louder was the rush of blood in my ears, the sounds
coming from Elias as my hands roamed his muscular chest. His heart
was thudding beneath my palm and I knew that, no matter what anyone
else would tell me, he was alive.

His hands gripped my waist and lifted me off
the ground enough to move us both back to the couch and sit me down
on it. He went to his knees in front of me, his eyes darkening to
an impossible shade. My mouth went dry as he gently pulled my legs
apart, the little smirk on his full lips confirming his intentions.
He lowered his head and I gasped as I felt his mouth on me, deeper
than before.

The gasp became a cry as Elias thoroughly
explored every inch of my most intimate parts, his tongue delving
into my core, then dancing up to that throbbing bundle of nerves.
His lack of oxygen was definitely proving to be an asset as my
first orgasm crashed over me. One rolled into two, then three,
until I was nearly sobbing. I couldn't breathe, couldn't think.
Every cell in my body was vibrating so fast that I was sure I would
explode. I fisted my hands in his hair and tugged, unable to
articulate my need any other way. The only way I'd feel complete
would be once he was inside me.

Elias straightened, his hands sliding up my
legs to my hips. His eyes locked with mine as he pulled me to the
edge of the couch. He sat back on his heels as he positioned my
body over his. I wanted to close my eyes as he guided me down on
him, but I found that I couldn't break his gaze. I supposed it
could have been the whole vampire compulsion slash hypnotism thing,
but I didn't really think that was it, and I didn't think it was
wishful thinking on my part. He seemed just as mesmerized as I was,
his expression one of awe as he filled me.

He stretched one arm up along my spine,
holding me against him as our lower bodies moved together. I'd
heard people refer to sex as a dance, but I had never fully
understood it until now. We moved to a music that only we could
hear, the sound of an ancient rite that transformed us from two
individuals into one being. We chased after our pleasure, but there
was no feeling of a need to rush or a competition, only the beat of
the song to guide us. It went on and on as time lost all meaning.
Years could have passed and I wouldn't have known it. I had no
thoughts of anything else in the world; it was as if the two of us
were all that existed.