Chains of Darkness Read online

  Pressed against him the way she was, she could feel the solid weight of him, not just his physical body, but what he carried in his soul. Rumy had said that he bore the sins of his father. Maybe that was what she felt from Lucian: the weight of all that sin.

  In that moment, she knew she really was in trouble. She hadn’t expected to be able to feel so much of what Lucian felt, to divine his soul. Her quest, which had begun with a need to find Zoey, had just become layered with elements that disturbed her deeply, that threatened how she viewed who she was, even what her life should be. She was a simple New Mexico girl with a degree in social work and a job rehabilitating prostitutes. She wanted a husband and a home of her own one day. But sensing Lucian in this way made her long for things she couldn’t put a name to.

  As he sped back to Italy, however, the effects of the flight hit her like a brick. Her head once more felt split wide and her stomach boiled.

  Can you hear me, Claire?

  She frowned. Even though she’d known that telepathy came with the connection they now shared, it was still strange to have another person’s voice in her head. I’m here. Is this real? Are we talking mind-to-mind? She winced again. Damn, altered flight hurt.

  Yes. Mind-to-mind. Sorry about the pain. I can feel that you’re hurting. Can’t be helped.

  I know. But just to warn you, I’ll probably pass out when we arrive back in Italy.

  Is Rumy expecting us?

  At the secret entrance. He said you’d know where that was. Do you?

  I do.

  She felt him shaking suddenly. Hey, you all right?

  This fucking blood-madness.

  I’ll feed you when we get there.

  I’m counting on it.

  She felt his flight begin to slow. Glancing down, she recognized the familiar Italian landscape below, and despite the pain she realized exactly how much the completion of the chain-bond had improved her vision. The night was dark, but she saw everything as though warmed by the sun in late afternoon, even though it was the middle of the night.

  She breathed a sigh of relief as Lake Como came into view. Rumy’s extensive sex-club complex ranged well into the surrounding hills, through miles of caverns and caves, invisible to human eyes. She could even see through the heavy disguise that covered the secret entrance to the club.

  A tall vampire, in black leather, with an automatic weapon slung over his shoulder, stepped aside as Lucian descended onto the small landing platform.

  The moment she let go of Lucian, however, the pain and nausea caught up with her. She fell to the pavers of the landing area, her head spinning.

  Her last thought before she passed out was that she really hoped she wouldn’t throw up.

  CHAPTER 2

  Lucian gathered Claire up in his arms, working hard to ignore the scent of her blood. The flight, however, had helped relieve the bulk of his symptoms, and he felt more like himself. Still, he knew the relief he experienced would be short-lived.

  For now he’d get Claire and himself to a private room.

  He crossed the threshold and addressed the guard closest to the door. “Where’s Rumy?”

  “In his office. He’s expecting you.” The guard didn’t flinch at Lucian’s naked state.

  Lucian nodded. He knew the way well. All the brothers had spent time at The Erotic Passage, both for pleasure and at other times to recover from battle wounds. Each had served for decades as a policing force in their world with an eye to bringing Daniel down for good.

  Moving into the hall, he veered right, headed up another hall, then made another right. The arched wood door was wide open.

  Rumy leaned against his desk, arms over his chest, his gaze falling to Claire. He frowned. “Is she hurt?”

  “Just flight sickness, she’ll be okay. Looks like we have a couple of issues to deal with. Daniel is after the extinction weapon and Claire wants to find her friend, someone called Zoey. But you know all about that.”

  “You’ve summed it up exactly.” Rumy held his gaze and smiled. His fangs were permanently on display and he even had calluses on his lips. “So how the hell are you, boss?” Rumy always called him that, though it was in no way a formal designation. He wasn’t the boss of much these days. Before he could respond, however, Rumy’s gaze once more dropped to Claire. He smiled. “So how do you like Claire? She’s got some crazy-ass courage, this one.”

  Lucian scowled as he looked down at her. “I guess she does. But these blood-chains chafe like hell.”

  “You mean you don’t like being bound, not even to a beautiful woman?”

  “Hell, no, and this one’s human.”

  “But strong.”

  Lucian nodded. “Yes, I’ll give her that.”

  Rumy looked the same, his black curls cut close and oiled. His snug black T-shirt showed off his muscled lean body. The man was short, but he’d forged a powerful place in their society as a linchpin for the underworld. No one touched Rumy.

  Even Daniel generally left The Erotic Passage alone.

  When a tremor ran through Lucian and he grimaced, Rumy left his place by the desk, passed by Lucian, then held his hand gesturing into the hallway beyond. “I’ve got a room set up for you both. You can be private, talk a little, get to know each other. I already had your clothes brought in from Uruguay.” Lucian had a home there, one Rumy had access to for exactly this reason. Rumy was one of the few vampires on the planet he trusted with his life.

  “Much appreciated.”

  Lucian had been through blood-madness recovery more than once, so he knew what to expect. But it always surprised him how long it took to get rid of the initial debilitating and dangerous symptoms—which could hit at all the wrong moments.

  As Rumy headed down one of the restricted hallways in his club complex, Lucian followed him. “So how did Claire come to be here?”

  “Daniel held her prisoner in Florida, using her to watch after a boy he’d been holding captive there. That’s what she’s been doing for the past two years, taking care of him.”

  “He wanted her as a nanny?” This didn’t make sense.

  “Daniel never does anything for just one reason. You know about Adrien, right?”

  “Not exactly. I saw him a couple of times with the woman who took him out of the Himalayan prison.”

  “That’s Lily. They’re together now. She bound him, the way Claire bound you. Josh was her son, the boy Claire took care of. You starting see how this wheel turns?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Daniel chose Lily—plucked her from the human world, just as he did Claire. Both women have strong vampire markers, real potential in our world. Wouldn’t you say that’s true about Claire? I mean, think about the disguise she made.”

  “You’re right. Even Daniel couldn’t see through it.”

  “Lily had other abilities, but mostly she could track things.”

  It all began making sense. “So Daniel’s original intention had been to use these women to bind us and create tracking pairs.”

  “Yes. But he’s lost control of the process, thanks to Lily and now Claire.”

  “And he’s after the weapon.”

  “More than the sharp points of his fangs, Daniel wants that extinction weapon. He knows that if he can get hold of it, he can rule forever.”

  “Over my dead body.”

  “I’ve sent out rumors that Claire escaped from her captors by herself but the truth is I helped get her out along with the chains you’re now wearing.”

  “Then Daniel had the chains ready to go, which means he had this planned all along.”

  “He’s a patient bastard. But now you and Claire are here. I’m sure he didn’t count on Claire having the ability to create that kind of disguise—and he sure as hell didn’t plan on me rescuing her.”

  Rumy kept them both moving, making turns left and right in what was a real maze of a cavern system. “You’ve been a good friend, Rumy. I didn’t expect to make it out alive.”

  Rumy inc
lined his head to the woman in his arms. “You owe your life to her. I only helped get her to Daniel’s Dark Cave system, but she did the heavy lifting.”

  Lucian nodded. “So what do we know about this extinction weapon?”

  “Apparently there’s more than one. Adrien destroyed the first one, and it looks like Daniel’s hot after whatever he can find that remains.”

  “Is there a finite number? Two? Ten?”

  “We’re not sure.”

  Rumy led him through several winding back tunnels near his office, a section of the club complex that only a select few on his security staff had access to. Finally he stopped before a door, then pushed it open. “Here you are.”

  The room had a basic setup, nothing special, in part because of its medical use. There were even wrist and ankle restraints on one half of the queen-sized bed. The bathroom was close, as was a nearby dresser.

  A table and chairs completed the spare decor.

  He moved inside and carefully settled Claire on the bed, on the side without the restraints, then removed her shoes. She was still out cold, which was for the best. She’d be hurting when she woke up.

  His clothes, as well as Claire’s, hung on a nearby rack.

  Rumy gestured to the dresser. “You’ll find the usual inside. Socks, underwear. The bathroom is fitted up with toiletries. You should be all set.”

  Rumy took care of the details, but then as the owner of the huge sex-club complex, he had to. “I thought you could use some time alone with Claire, maybe bring her up to speed about our world. I kept the info to a minimum. She didn’t know much when I brought her here, and I didn’t want to overwhelm her. I guess Daniel had his Florida house staffed with humans, though Claire said there were vampire rumors anyway.” He glanced around. “So, can I bring you anything?”

  “Claire will need food. So will I, for that matter.”

  Rumy nodded. “You got it. Anything special?”

  Lucian chuckled softly. “A burger would be great. Maybe some fries.”

  “I’ll be back in half an hour.”

  Rumy took off, closing the door behind him.

  Claire stirred on the bed, moaning softly. Lucian reached for his clothes. He didn’t want her to wake up and have to face the full expanse of his naked male body again.

  He dressed quickly in a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt. He didn’t bother with shoes, but it felt good to have clothes on after such a long time. For the past year, though at different locations, he and his brothers had been kept in a filthy cave in the Himalayas, naked the entire time.

  Tremors ran through him now as he drew a chair close to Claire’s side of the bed. He needed blood desperately, but he didn’t want to scare her.

  Taking her hand in his, he rubbed the backs of her fingers gently. “Claire, I need you to wake up.”

  Maybe he should have asked Rumy to send another woman to him to get this initial feeding out of the way, but he couldn’t. The blood-chains already worked on him, forcing his attention toward Claire. Besides, he’d tasted her blood; selfish bastard that he was, he wanted more of what he’d sampled.

  * * *

  As Claire opened her eyes, she blinked several times. Her head felt like it was trying hard to split wide open.

  “Good, you’re waking up. How are you feeling?”

  She turned and saw Lucian sitting beside her. She lay on a bed of some kind in a small room with very bland beige furniture and white walls.

  He held her hand, a comforting gesture given the situation. “I’m okay except for the hammers pounding on the inside of my skull.”

  At that, Lucian’s lips curved. “That’s funny. And unexpected.”

  “I’m not much of a weeper, just thought you should know.” She closed her eyes again. “I believe I hate altered flight.”

  “It can be a real bitch for humans.”

  The chain at her neck vibrated softly. As she opened her eyes and once more turned to look at him, the depth of his physical need struck her. According to Rumy, he’d been deprived for a long time, at least a year. “Oh, God, Lucian, I’m sorry. Let’s get you taken care of. So how do we do this?”

  She tried to sit up, but he shook his head. “Just lie still. I thought, if it’s all right with you, I’d take from your wrist. It’s much less invasive, and you can keep resting.”

  “Okay. Do whatever it is you need to do. Yes, lying prone for a little while longer will be better.”

  Rumy had made it clear what being chain-bound to Lucian would mean, so Claire had known this moment would come. But as he angled his shoulders, then leaned over her arm, her heart started pounding. She couldn’t believe this was happening. A vampire would soon bite her and take her blood.

  She watched his fangs descend as he hovered above the collection of veins at her wrist.

  He glanced up at her, his gray eyes darkening with need. “I’ll do this as gently and as quickly as I can.”

  “That sounds good.” What else could she say?

  She turned her head, wincing in anticipation, but she felt only the slightest prick, then his lips surrounded the wound.

  Claire looked back as Lucian began to suck.

  The sensual, steady draw on her wrist made her lips part. She’d dreaded donating to Lucian, but now that he took from her, nursing at her wrist, the room started warming up. The soft suckling sound began to remind her of other things.

  The first wave of desire flowed over her like the rush of a wave on the seashore. She drew a long breath, as her gaze became focused on the muscled slope of Lucian’s shoulders and back. She felt an impulse to cover his neck with her hand and caress him as he took from her.

  She gave herself a shake, trying to repress the sudden desire that had taken hold of her, when suddenly, while still drawing her blood, he looked up and met her gaze. You taste of the sweetest herbs, Claire, though I think I said that before.

  His voice in her head didn’t help, either, but sparked her sudden need. You did.

  His gray eyes were dark with what she knew was a desire that matched her own. She found it hard to breathe and put a hand to her chest.

  Thank you for this, Claire. I’m feeling much better. Stronger. And thank you for bringing me out of captivity. I owe you.

  “You’re welcome.” She spoke the words aloud, but her voice sounded hoarse.

  Worse, because of the blood-chains, she could feel how aroused he was. The vampire hadn’t had sex in a long time. He was very male and would have needs. Even Rumy had told her that much, trying to prepare her.

  But her own case wasn’t much different. She hadn’t been with a man in over two years because of her imprisonment in Florida.

  Yet what troubled her wasn’t so much that she might end up having sex with the vampire she’d just rescued, but how much she suspected she was going to like it.

  A shiver ran through her.

  Claire? As he continued to draw her blood into his mouth, he stroked the length of her forearm. His touch was so warm, even gentle against her skin. She didn’t mistake the invitation for what it was.

  She felt tempted as she never had before and nearly offered up what right now had become an almost painful longing the entire length of her body. But it was way too soon. She looked away from him. “I’m trying to gain my bearings.”

  Just as you should.

  She didn’t look at him again while he fed. Instead, she looked anywhere else, trying to ignore what she really wanted to be doing.

  The first thing she noticed was that someone had taken her shoes off. Then her eye was drawn to the ceiling, which she realized was quite beautiful despite the bland surroundings. A wave of what looked like light blue granite ran the entire length, but carved and polished to resemble a flow of water.

  Good. She had something to focus on besides the fact that she was feeding a vampire and really liking it.

  When he finished at last, he released her wrist, licking the small apertures at the same time.

  She drew
her arm close, looking down at the skin, expecting to see a wound. Instead the puncture marks were gone, and only a slight redness to the skin told her what he’d been doing. “This is amazing.”

  “We’ve had thousands of years to evolve. And I’ve released a serum into your bloodstream that will replace the supply quickly. You shouldn’t feel faint or anything.”

  She shifted to look at him, startled all over again by the fact that she was here in such a strange new environment, sharing a room with a vampire, and that she was bound to him.

  He sat back in his chair, definitely more relaxed. His color looked better, and his gray eyes had a brightness they’d lacked before. He was incredibly handsome, which wasn’t going to help her desire for him at all.

  “I can see that you’re feeling better.”

  He nodded. “Much better. The flight here seemed to help as well. Maybe just being away from that cell.”

  She glanced down her arm once more, then back to him. “So what’s it like? Feeding, I mean.”

  His brows rose. “I don’t know. Like breathing, I suppose. It’s just part of my life.”

  “Of course it would be.” She stared at him for a long moment, wondering so many things. She took in his new wardrobe. “You found some clothes, I see.”

  He gestured with a toss of his hand toward the wall at the foot of the bed, where a tall rack sat. “Rumy had clothes for both of us brought in.”

  When she’d initially arrived two days earlier, Rumy had given her a few basic garments in addition to the clothes she’d had on. It looked as though he’d since added to her wardrobe. “I can see that.”

  She glanced around and for the first time noticed the bed was a little different: The far side had what looked like a low steel bar running its length with some kind of cloth attached to it.

  She pushed herself to a sitting position. “What is that?”

  “Restraints. Though I’ll be stable for a while, maybe even a few hours, the recovery from blood-madness takes time, and I’ll probably spiral out of control at some point. The bindings will be necessary at least once during the process. But Rumy told you this, right, or some version of it?”