Unclaimed: The Master and His Soul Seer Pet: A New Adult College Vampire Romance (7 page)

That she was the next victim, and the demon had already sunk its claws into her soul.

“How did it happen?” she asked dully.

“That’s what I intend to find out. I’m betting the demon’s found a host. We kill the host, we end its hold on you.” Alexandru was grim. “But for now, I ask you again. What has it made you guilty of?”

“Something…I can never tell you about.”

He cursed under his breath. “Zari, dammit—”

“
I can’t.
Just know that I won’t ever do it,
ever.
Even if it means I have to be another man’s—”

Never.
His tone was savage.
Haven't I made myself clear enough?
In an instant, he was on top of her, his weight imprisoning her but not overwhelming her. He pinned her arms over her head. “You are mine.”

His mouth crushed hers, and even as despair swamped her, she couldn’t stop herself from kissing him back. Soon, their mouths were no longer their only connection. He rose over her, and when he came back down, his cock slid into her. His mouth returned to her, and she moaned into his kiss even as her legs snaked around his waist and her body welcomed his possession.

With her arms still pinned over head, she could only moan and writhe under him, unable to satisfy her yearning to feel the hardness of his chest, the power in his body. “
Master.
”

He groaned at the plea in her voice, and with another groan, he pumped his seed into her. She screamed as his warmth flooded her, and arching to meet his frenzied thrusts, she rubbed her clit against him. Heeding her plea, he inserted his hand between their bodies. He flicked the nub of flesh – hard enough to have her vaginal muscles squeeze tightly.

She came, whimpering his name.
Alexandru.

When she opened her eyes again, he was on top of her, bracing himself against his arms and his gaze on her face. “Zari, believe in me,” he whispered fiercely. “I will not let harm befall you.”

She shook her head. “You don’t understand.” And she couldn’t explain to him and have him possibly hating her. That was something she couldn’t ever handle.

Honor meant everything to Alexandru.
Everything.
If he did not have honor, he would have put his own desires above everything, would have gone after Katarina and convinced her to marry him. But he had not. Because he was honorable.

Nothing, however, was honorable about murder.

“I need to leave,” she whispered.

“You’re mine.”

“And I will be yours for as long as you want me to, but I need to leave. Will you let me go to Chalys?”

Chapter Seven

ZARI

“You are…
odd.
” Rhapsody shook her head at me when I finished telling her everything. Something about my friend made me feel at ease in letting her know the truth, something about her too-old eyes that told me she would be the last person in the world to judge.

However, she could still be pretty dense and tactless most times.

“
I’m odd?”
I repeated crossly. “I’m heartbroken, not odd.” We were in her hotel room, and it was again protected by the same spell to keep our conversation private. She had performed the ritual herself, which both stunned and impressed me. She must have had seriously kick-ass professors when she had been homeschooled. But then, her Master turned out to be
the
Marquis of Sangre. It figured.

Remembering that little fact had me shaking my head back at her. “I can’t believe you’re that man’s pet.” I considered her thoughtfully. “Or maybe I can. Based on what I've heard, you guys are cut from the same block.”

There was a flush in her cheeks, adding rare color to her normally pale face, when Rhapsody answered sharply, “We have nothing in common.”

Whoa.
Rhapsody was showing emotion beyond mild interest? I opened and closed my mouth, wondering if she knew how much she was giving away.

She glared at me.

Oh Lord, she was even furious now!

“Umm, okay, if you say so.” My head bobbed several times. “Nothing in common, right.”

Rhapsody inhaled, and afterwards she looked much like her expressionless self. “Let’s not talk about my Master,” she said. “You have worse problems than I do. I’m not the one who is likely to attempt murder on my Master’s ex-lover—”

I winced.

“And whose Master hadn’t stopped me from leaving for Chalys—”

I grimaced.

“Instead of sending the other woman away—”

“
Rhapsody.
I get it.” I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Every word she had said was true.

My friend blinked, as if only realizing now how her words had hurt. “Oh.” She reached for my hand and gave it an awkward pat. “I am terribly sorry, Lady Zari.”

I shrugged. “You win some, you lose some,” I said lightly. Checking my watch, I realized it was already time. “I need to go.”

Rhapsody only nodded. She knew about my plan. “But if things do not go your way, I urge you to tell your Master about your vision.” She hesitated. “I have heard about the kind of demon after you, Lady Zari. It is not…
pleasant.
It is more revolting than most because it makes its victim do all the dirty work. The longer you withhold the truth, the harder you’ll find it to resist the demon’s urges.”

~~~~

Katarina appeared surprised to see me when she opened the door of her room. She was dressed to hit the outdoors in a tank top and exercise leggings. The short tight top emphasized her breasts to perfection and bared her well-defined abs. Just looking at her made me want to kill myself
,
and I wasn’t even listening to the demonic whispers that filled my head the moment I saw how, well,
fit
she was.

“Oh, Lady Zari.” She looked over my head searchingly.

I cleared my throat. “It’s just me, Lady Katarina.”

“I see.” A ready smile immediately appeared on her lips, and I had to give it to her. She was really good at faking. “Is there anything I can do for you? I’m actually just about to leave for training.”

Training? She still had to train?
I managed to return her smile. “Umm, great, I’ll watch you train!”

Katarina didn’t demur after that, but she did send me an odd look that wasn’t so different from how Rhapsody had glanced at me earlier. Maybe they were right. Maybe I was odd, and I’d probably appear even odder once my Master’s ex-lover found out why I was accompanying her.

We headed to the same woods, and I asked Katarina why it appeared so dead.

“Trees are extremely sensitive to the air, and
that
…” She jerked her head towards the ghost town. “Too many bad souls linger there, poisoning the air, preventing the trees from being able to properly breathe. The trees are too strong to be killed, though. I think they’ve been under the care of nymphs once and that’s why they’ve survived this long.”

“Nymphs,” I repeated dumbly. “Aren’t they…” The word
extinct
came to mind, but I didn’t think that was the right word to describe the annihilation of their race. Like soul seers, the nymphs had been destroyed by demons, too.

Sadness flickered in Katarina’s eyes. “Yes.”

We were quiet again until Katarina asked, “Why are you accompanying me?”

Rather than answering her straight, I said, “What you asked me in the past, I know what my answer is now.”

Katarina’s head swung to me sharply.

“I won’t give you my Master now.” I managed a smile. “I’ll give him to you after, once I’ve made sure you're not going to die.” My next words made it hard for me to look her in the eye, but I forced them out all the same. “When I’m sure…
I won’t end up killing you
.”

From somewhere, a demon screamed in agony.

I thought I was imagining it for a moment, but then I saw the alarm flashing in Katarina’s eyes, and I knew we both heard it.

She grabbed my hand. “
Run.
”

I didn’t bother questioning her. We ran, and I tried to keep up with her, my heart in my throat as the demon kept howling in rage inside my mind. It was furious that I had spoken the truth to Katarina, thus weakening its hold on my soul. So damn furious it wanted to kill both of us.

Suddenly, I felt it, the talons that sank into my soul, trying to rip it out of my body.

I fell to my knees, screaming.

Kill.

I shook my head.
Never.

Katarina tried pulling me up. “Lady Zari, we have to go—”

The talons dug deeper into my soul, trying to tear it into shreds, and I screamed again.

Kill.

I shook my head.
Never.
I would rather die, and I hope I took it with me.

My Master’s voice intruded in my mind, fierce and urgent.
Zari, I can feel your pain.

D-don’t mind me.
His voice came to me faintly, and I knew it was the demon working against me.
It’s nearby. Find it. End this.

Katarina was still trying to pull me to my feet. “Lady Zari, it’s not safe here—” She stopped when I tightened my hand around hers.

I wanted to tell her that there was no point in running. The demon was inside me. “Lady Katarina…” The urge to kill her now, here, the urge to fill the forest with her cries of pain smashed into me, and I wanted to yank her down—

But I didn’t.

And so the demon kept clawing against my soul instead.

“I’m sorry.
” I forced the words out.

Inside my mind, the demon roared, the words burning wounds into its skin.

I forced myself to look at Katarina, my body shaking with the effort not to wrap my fingers around her throat and squeeze the breath out of her. “
I’m sorry I want to kill you.
”

“Lady Zari, this isn’t the time—”

Cutting her off, I gasped out, “I’m sorry I think you’re too tall for Alexandru!”

The demon howled and took revenge as more talons pierced my soul.

Ignoring the pain, I went on, “I’m sorry I think you’ve got abs like a guy. I’m sorry I think you’re a heartless bitch for pushing him away but stringing him along for hundreds of years—” I choked back a sob as the demon, weakened but furious, extended its attack to my physical body.

It clawed my arms from the inside, and I started to bleed.

“Lady Zari!” Katarina dropped to her knees. I could hear the healer in her taking over as she ran her hands over my wounds, whispering words I didn’t understand. But with every wound she healed, two more appeared, and I knew that if she continued this, I might just end up bleeding to death.

“
Stop.
” I coughed out blood. The demon was working on my throat, too, preventing me from speaking.

Katarina released me, realizing that she was hurting me more.

Silence hummed and inside of me, the demon had also ceased its attack. I knew it was resting to regain some strength. Around us, the air had turned still, and the dead trees were nothing but a circle of indifferent witnesses.

“It must be near to cause this much pain,” Katarina muttered. “I should look for it—”

“No!” I coughed out more blood. “I don’t know…how it got into me…we can’t afford for it to get into you too…” My fingernails pierced her skin, and I realized too late what I had done when I saw her wince.

I released her right away. “
Sorry.
” Tears streaked down my face as I fought the urge to kill her.

Katarina’s gaze narrowed. A moment later, she said tightly, “I’m sorry.”

I only stared at her, too tired and in too much pain to ask what the apology was for.

Another moment, and she answered my question.

“I’m sorry because there are times I want to kill you just as badly.” She tightened her grip on my hand. “I want to kill you because I can see that you love him, more than I have ever loved Alexandru.”

Inside of me, the demon started to stir, its unease communicating itself to me.

Katarina’s voice remained steady as she continued, “I want to kill you because with you alive, he will never be mine—”