Read Trueblood 01-The-Consolation-Prize Online
Authors: aaa
Trueblood 01-The-Consolation-Prize (17 page)
He tightened his grip on the wheel and the pain in his arm made him grit his teeth. He needed a vacation to get over this. Some dark, gloomy castle in Scotland would do fine. Then he wouldn’t think about Chloe. Her guile sickened him. He’d so nearly told her that he loved her. Oh God, he thought he had. He couldn’t get her sweet face out of his head.
Shit
. He’d thought -- damn, what he thought no longer mattered.
Trust no one, his father had said the night they parted and Luka had followed that advice. He’d thought Chloe was different and she was, just not in the way he wanted. She was a conniving little bitch. So why wasn’t that the face that haunted him? She was a sly, taunting witch. So why wasn’t that the face he saw? Instead, his mind was full of pictures of the other Chloe. Her innocent face, the happy, excited smile when she’d showed him the bags of blood, her teasing grin, her gasp as she’d unraveled in his arms. He’d been taken in because compared to Eve and Krista, Chloe had seemed like a breath of fresh air. She’d slipped in under his defenses. Luka had to hand it to Selena -- she’d played a clever hand.
Luka parked Chloe’s car in the lot at the back of Rebellion. His keys had disappeared in his abduction so he went in through the front entrance. He’d need to change the locks. Luka didn’t miss the look on Dan’s face when he walked into his office.
His
office, not Dan’s, though his manager sat on
his
chair, with his feet on
his
desk, playing with
his
remote-control mini forklift truck.
Dan sprang to his feet. “You’re back early.”
“Yes.”
Fuck, could Dan have had something to do with this
? Luka swallowed hard.
“Anything the matter?”
“No.”
“Right.”
That “no” wouldn’t have convinced anyone.
Shit
.
“Anything I can do?”
“No.” That wasn’t much better.
Dan edged away. “I’ll leave you to it, then.” He shot out of the room like a rocket.
Luka stared at the door. He couldn’t trust anyone, a lesson he’d recently relearned. He slumped on his chair, pulled up his sleeve, and looked at the dark stain winding its way up his right arm. It looked a little like an ancient, twisted olive tree. It had been growing steadily since he’d driven away from Washburn Hall and it fucking hurt. Luka rubbed at it, but it made no difference. He had no idea what it was. Maybe Chloe had poisoned him.
* * * * *
For a moment, she hadn’t been able to believe she was alive. But her heart was beating, her lungs drawing an occasional ragged breath, her body hurting. She lifted her head from the pillow, looked down, and wasted energy on a groan. Covered in bruises, her skin was speckled with bite marks and dark purple ovals where they’d sucked vicious hickeys as they’d drunk. Her lower left arm was a mess, dark bloodred lines following the veins, twisting along her skin. She had no idea what they’d done there and it was so much like her nightmare it scared Chloe to look at it.
Where was her sixth-and-a-half sense now? The bloody voices had dragged her here to die?
“
Talk to me
,” Chloe yelled in her head. What was the point? What had she done wrong?
She stared at the bottle of water next to the bed. It might as well have been on the moon. She hadn’t the strength to lift her arm. Not even the energy to cry. Maybe if she rested for a little while. Huh, as if she had a choice.
The door opened. Selena was back with a man Chloe had never seen before. Tall, dark, powerfully built, and dressed in a black collarless shirt and dark pants. Selena threaded her hands together, twisting her fingers. The fact that she was nervous did nothing for Chloe’s state of mind. Selena’s gaze stayed fixed on the man Chloe guessed to be Constantine. He strolled over to the bed and looked at her. Chloe’s fingers scrabbled against the sheet partially draped over her, but she couldn’t pull it up to cover herself.
“You’re an idiot,” he said.
“
Fuck you
.” Chloe thought the words her mouth was too dry to speak.
“Not you, Chloe. I’m talking to Selena. What the fuck have you done to her?”
He bent over Chloe and she tried to sink down into the mattress.
“
Go to him
.”
Chloe had no idea who said that. Her inner voice or him? It didn’t matter. She couldn’t move.
“
Go to Luka
.”
His eyes narrowed and she knew it was Constantine in her head. Not a little angel on her shoulder. A devil. Even if she could obey him, what was the point? Luka didn’t want her. He thought she’d tricked him.
“What’s this?” Constantine lifted Chloe’s arm and looked at Selena.
Selena gaped. “I don’t know. It wasn’t like that earlier.”
Constantine turned back to Chloe. “Did he feed from you?”
Chloe nodded.
“Did he feed you?”
She shook her head. This man frightened her. She hoped to hide a lie among the truth.
“Did he fuck you?”
One nod.
“Did he come inside you?”
Now Chloe wasn’t sure of the right answer.
“Yes, he did,” Constantine said and smiled. He kept his eyes on Chloe and uttered one word.
“Out.”
Selena fled and perversely Chloe wanted her back. Constantine slid his long, lean form onto the bed, leaned against the headboard, and pulled Chloe into his arms. His fingers stroked the skin of her stomach and it fluttered under his caress, but with fear not pleasure. He touched one mark on her body after another, circled them with the tip of his finger.
“Such nasty bitches. Not the bites of lovers. Did they hurt you?”
Chloe tried to swallow and emitted a strangled sound.
“Water?” he asked.
Chloe wondered what she’d have to do to get it, but he opened the bottle and held it to her lips.
She gulped and swallowed and could have sobbed with relief.
“Thank you.”
“I’m sorry you were hurt.”
He sounded sorry yet Chloe knew he wasn’t. Every sense she had was screaming danger --
danger -- danger. Adrenaline surged in the pathetic amount of blood she had left.
His fingers traced the ugly black lines on her arm. “Did they do this?”
“I don’t know.”
It was the truth. Chloe had no idea where it had come from. Her nightmare had become reality.
He turned her head so she looked up at him. “Are you Luka’s mate?”
“He hates me.”
“Why, my sweet?”
His fingers continued to stroke her, his eyes staring deep into hers. Chloe picked up a brick and shoved it in her wall. It fell straight through the other side.
Oops
.
“He found out that Selena is my grandmother.”
Constantine laughed. His shaking chest rocked Chloe up and down.
“You are the one in her family who survived? The little child who sat outside with a kitchen knife to fend off danger.”
Chloe nodded.
“I’m surprised she hasn’t killed you.”
“I think it’s on her to-do list after filing her nails.”
He laughed again. “I see why Luka likes you.”
“Do you know Luka?”
“I know of him.”
His fingers moved to her breast and he fondled her nipple until it hardened.
“Why do you want his sperm?” Chloe asked, trying to shift his attention from her body.
“Why do you think we want it?”
“Money? Luka heard Selena booking a woman in to get impregnated. If it didn’t work, she said she could pay for artificial insemination instead. That was a bit cheaper.”
Chloe felt him stiffen against her and wondered if she’d made trouble for Selena. Good.
“You are a little angel, Chloe. A battered one, but an angel nonetheless. Money is not the prime mover here despite what Selena might think.”
She noted the change in tone in his voice and stayed motionless in his arms.
“Have you heard of Truebloods?”
She shook her head, not trusting herself to speak.
“They are special vampires, one of the ancient clans, and they used to wield great power. They still could but they keep themselves hidden from other vampires and from the Vampire High Council because they fell out of favor. Truebloods have a number of genetic qualities the rest of us would dearly like. They claim they can stay out in the sun for a period of time after sunrise and before sunset. Since the rest of us have to sleep in daylight hours, we can’t know the absolute veracity of that statement, yet I believe it’s true. They are also fertile, but barred from procreating at will. One child permitted every hundred years and this year, an exceptional year, they are allowed another child. I suspect it’s a trick by the Council to tease them out of hiding.”
His hand slid down her stomach to the curls between her legs. He pulled them gently through his fingers. Chloe couldn’t suppress her shudder.
“So, my little mortal, why do you think I might need the services of a Trueblood?”
If not for money, then it had to be for power. “You want to control the Council?”
“How would I do that?”
“By the time Trueblood babies were grown-up, they’d be the most powerful vampires. If they could stay awake longer, then they could kill their enemies as they slept.”
“Bravo. So why didn’t Selena see that?”
“Because she sees only the benefit for her.”
Constantine kissed her cheek, one long lick along the cut Selena had made. It tingled under his caress. “She’ll pay for marring your face. But don’t worry, sweet little Chloe, you’ll have no scar.”
“Thank you,” Chloe said.
He nuzzled his face against her head. “You’d make a worthy mate.”
Oh God. Distract him, distract him
. “Wouldn’t it be a long while to wait while these babies grew up?”
Constantine laughed. “Do you know how old I am?”
He looked to be in his midthirties.
“Five hundred and thirty-seven,” she said.
He chuckled. “Four hundred years off.”
“You’re only a hundred and thirty seven?”
“The other way.”
Chloe gulped. “Nine hundred and thirty seven? That’s much older than --”
Shit
.
“Than Luka? Yes, I know. But he has what I want. The power to go out in the sun, the power to make children, the potential to take control of the Council. You think twenty years to wait for a child to grow is a long time in the scheme of things?”
She supposed not.
“Anyway, I don’t need to wait that long. Their blood is all that I require, not them.”
Jesus. He was going to use babies as blood banks
? Chloe needed to tell Luka.
His fingers slid between Chloe’s legs and she tried to clamp them together.
“Luka wants you,” he whispered as he forced her legs apart with little effort. “I curiously find myself wanting you too.”
“I’m not worth the effort.”
Constantine pulled her down the bed and dropped his face to her breast. He licked her nipple.
“Don’t you want to live?”
“Not without Luka.”
Even as the words came from her mouth Chloe wanted them back. It was too late. He laughed and sank his teeth into the top of her breast. Chloe felt the pull of every deep, gulp of her blood.
Not without Luka
. Did she mean that? The pain faded and pleasure replaced it. Chloe was helpless to resist. No matter what her mind told her, her body was reacting as if a lover touched her. She felt the coil of passion turn inside her.
No. No
. Luka hadn’t come with Selena, Chloe wouldn’t come with Constantine. She imagined he was a dog chewing her neck. A rabid wolf-type creature with dripping fangs. She shuddered and the need to come vanished.
Constantine pulled away and licked her wound closed.
“Sweet blood, little angel. Yes, Luka will return for you. You’re his mate. The mark on your arm signifies it; so does your resistance to me. I’d like to stay with you, fuck you for hours, and make him mad with jealousy, but dawn approaches. Until tonight, little one.”
He kissed her lips and Chloe clamped them shut.
“Open your mouth.”
No, she wouldn’t.
Constantine bit a vein in his wrist and holding Chloe’s nose, he pressed the wound against her mouth. Blood gushed everywhere, but one gasp for air and the thick liquid poured between her lips. Chloe flailed with her arms, trying to push him away. Only after she’d swallowed several mouthfuls did he pull back. He sealed the cut with one lick of his tongue and then laughed.
“Your resistance to my body and my blood tells me Luka fed you. Now, so have I. My blood flows within you. You’re as much mine as Luka’s.”
“No,” she mumbled.
He smiled. “One last taste.” He pushed her chin to one side and buried his face in the side of her neck. She felt the prick of his fangs and then nothing.
When Chloe regained consciousness, she turned her head and threw up. Rather tried to throw up but nothing came from her mouth. She retched and her stomach churned, dry heaves that merely exhausted her further. She had to get out. This was her chance while they slept. Somehow she had to drag herself to her feet, get dressed, and leave.
Summoning every scrap of her energy, Chloe dropped off the bed, crawled to the blinds, hauled herself up, and opened them. The room flooded with light. She’d never been more pleased to see a grey sky in her life. Not morning though, late afternoon. Sunset was coming and she had to escape before they woke.
“
Go to him
.” Oh God, who was that talking to her? She couldn’t tell one voice from another now.
A crawl to the bathroom for water, another crawl to her clothes. A struggle to get them on but finally she was dressed.
“
Go to him
.”
Chloe rang for a taxi to come from Leeds. She figured she needed the length of time it would take a cab to reach Harrogate, for her to get out of the hall. She staggered from support to support around the room as she packed up her things and tucked her camera safely in her bag.