Bound to the Vampire Chapter 6

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CHAPTER 6

Garrick

No woman, no matter how beautiful or hypnotic, is worth your life. The thought was logical, but his vampire gripped the steering wheel and ignored the warning. Garrick could only think of one other occasion where his vampire resisted.

During his full change nearly a century ago, he and the vampire inside of him were at odds, causing them to split into two distinct halves living in the same whole. Back then, it was over his first drink from the source. Now, it was over the girl sitting in the seat next to him.

They battled for dominance. The struggle was lost when a flash of purple light skirted across the road.

Having never seen magic in his life, he had known of no defense against it. He didn’t even know if he’d be a formidable opponent in battle against the mage. What was vastly understood, though, was the pack of shifters behind them were more dangerous to a vampire than a mage ever could be. One drop of shifter blood on him would mean poison. It was already bad enough the wound on his arm was slow to heal.

Gripping the steering wheel, he thought of nothing but getting the girl as far away from the auction house as possible. If the mage stood in his way, then it would be to his detriment. Staring at the cloaked figure, Garrick pressed his foot on the gas, rocketing the car forward.

“Oh my God,” the girl beside him squealed, curling inside of a seat harness as he raced toward the mage.

By the gods, his vampire hated that sound. The fear in it made him want to force his pleasure venom in her and distract her until she never made that sound again.

He gritted his teeth, focusing on the body in front of him.

From the way the mage recoiled, he didn’t expect a truck to come racing toward him. The flash of magic that had been coming to the truck scurried back to protect him, wrapping him in a cocoon. The mage tried to move, but not fast enough. His body hit the hood with a thunderous boom as he folded against the front glass and slid off the side.

“You just hit him.”

Cha, I could do with less of her commentary. If his vampire hadn’t been in control still, he would have left her at the warehouse. A disbelieving growl rumbled low in his chest as if to say yeah, right. He never would have left her behind, whether his vampire was in control or not.

A howl signaled the pack of wolves had caught up to them. He pressed the pedal harder. They followed until he met the street.

The truck thrashed around as he turned from the lot. These things were a lot bumpier than he’d imagined. He fought to control the contraption under his hands, trying not to meet his final sunfall in his attempt to save the screeching girl next to him.

The truck stopped jostling as they met the pavement. Even still, it took him a long time to figure out his bearings with the vehicle. Sure, he’d ridden in plenty in his lifetime, but he hadn’t driven one since they were invented. They were a menace then, and it was even worse now. He’d rather be on foot.

“Who are you? What do you want from me?” Several questions galloped from the girl’s mouth as they made as many turns before finding the main road. Each one was met with silence. More fear coated her scent, marring the beautiful floral aroma he’d smelled in the warehouse.

“Where are you taking me?” He didn’t know. Until that moment, his only goal was to get her away from the auction house. He should drive for an hour, then drop her off somewhere. Have her figure out the rest for herself. That way she’d be far enough away from the shifters for them not to follow her by scent. Then, he could get back to his duties.

Again, his vampire disagreed. He’d rather bring her back to the hotel he and his Captain stayed in while in this realm. Hole up and hunker down until he was sure the shifters had given up their search. At this point, his vampire was more than happy to be someplace where she and a bed were close together.

“Are you going to eat me?”

He stalled for a moment. Perhaps, he misheard her. He couldn’t smell her wetness, so why was she offering him sex?

His vampire surged forward again and pushed the confusion away. So what, if she wasn’t wet now. Give him an hour to calm her frazzled state and she could be. Then, yes, he’d eat her.

He’d experienced licking the soft folds of her kind before. Down where she’d be warm and wet. He wondered if she’d taste as sweet there as her blood smelled. Or better, he imagined what it’d be like if he’d bit her while cultivating her juices. His fangs dropped as more of her natural scent wrapped around him. The undercurrent of shifter was all over her and it made his vampire want to cover it up with his own.

What am I doing? He scowled and worked on getting his vampire to obey. It was not the time to yearn for the touch of a soft woman. He shifted in his seat. The growth in his pants would become apparent if he didn’t stop thinking about how wonderful she’d feel under him. More of her scent blew in his face, and his vampire tightened.

Ah, that was it. Her scent was triggering him. To calm his vampire, he needed to control his triggers. Feeling along the side of the car door for the window mechanism, he fiddled with several buttons until he managed to roll down the back window. That hardly helped. For the all gods, most of the back windshield was gone and her scent still permeated the front seat.

“Did you hear me?” she asked.

He heard her alright. Her heart raced. She breathed like they’d spent a night in bed together. None of it helped to keep his vampire from wanting to pull over and seduce her until the next full moon. Except the scent of shifter was still strong. He pressed his foot onto the gas pedal, refocusing on getting her out of shifter territory.

Despite his best efforts, he soaked her in from his peripherals. By the gods, she was gorgeous. Even disheveled and full of adrenaline, it made his vampire want her more.

“Hello, I’m talking to you.” Her voice was like metal against metal. His vampire hated that she tried to be the dominant. He growled and faced her.

With a squeak, she sank back into her seat, likely catching a glimpse of his fangs and the blackness of his eyes. More fear oozed off of her. Her body pressed against the door as her hand beat against it until it found the latch handle.

“What are you doing?” he growled.

She jerked the handle several times, but it did nothing.

“Stop that,” he barked when he realized she was trying to flee. They were not out of shifter territory yet. They’d catch up to her within the hour and drag her back to the warehouse if she got loose now. All of these words he should have said aloud, but his vampire launched into action before he could. He tore her backward, and pressed her against the seat. The car swerved.

“Stop!” she screamed. “Let me go.”

“Don’t be stupid, girl.” He steadied the car, but kept his body leaning over to her side of the truck, holding her back from flinging herself out of a vehicle that was moving faster than she could run.

“Let me go.” Gritting her teeth, her nails dug into his arm. Cha, she was much stronger than he’d given humans of this realm credit for. The skin under his shirt would be marked. His vampire loved that. And loved it even more when she thrashed in the seat trying to fight him off. The car swerved again.

He needed to focus on the road instead of getting turned on because some human provoked his vampire. But when she sank her teeth into his flesh, all bets were off.

A searing pleasure shot through to his groin. In an instant, his vampire was out, ready to take her. He fought for control. The rational side of his brain knew she was trying to fend him off. His vampire took it as a challenge. A mate marking. Before he could stop himself, he tugged his arm away, pulling hers with his, then bit down into her forearm, reciprocating the bite.

“Ouch,” she screamed and tried to wrench her arm from his mouth. With each movement, her blood gushed into his mouth. His vampire latched on tight, locking her arm so she couldn’t move. It had to be the sweetest thing he’d ever tasted.

His vampire pushed his pleasure venom into her. She resisted, still trying to rip her arm free, but his vampire would not let her go now. He couldn’t stop himself. He didn’t want to. Wave after wave of pleasure shot from his lips and down to his groin when he drank. He needed her. Needed this. He lost focus on everything except the frenzy that was building inside of him.

Somehow the human managed to lean in to grab the steering wheel and yanked it. The car jerked violently toward a pole. He instantly let go, finding himself again as a mass of wood rushed to the front bumper. His foot pushed the brake pedal to the floor, stopping the truck before inches from collision.

She fought for the door handle again.

“You are going to get us killed, girl.”

“Let me go,” she cried, pulling at the handle so hard, he thought she might tear it from its latch. When it didn’t respond as intended, she slammed her shoulder into the door.

“Stop that. Do you wish for the shifters to find you and take you back?”

She stopped flailing and looked at him with wide eyes and understanding, then took in her surroundings as if searching for the wolves that were surely after them. He wasn’t finished with his scolding. “Know when you’re being saved and accept the help.”

Her head tilted to the blood trickling down her arm, then back at him. Mistrust and disbelief coated her expression.

“That was… unintentional.”

“You tried to kill me.” Her hand clutched at her arm, but the wound should have started to heal by now.

“You’re the one who pulled the car to hit a pole. I believe you’re the one trying to kill us,” he barked, putting the car in reverse like she’d shown him, then tapped the gas to move them backward.

“Y-you bit me.” Again, her fierce gaze flickered to the hand covering the bite mark on her arm.

“You bit me first. Next time, keep your teeth to yourself.”

“But you drank from me.”

“That is what vampires do if provoked.” The words were uttered in a matter-of-fact way, but she didn’t seem fazed by his declaration. If she knew about mages, she must have known about vampires too.

“You mean, you don’t want to eat me?”

There was that word that made him shift in his seat. He needed to focus on something other than what she’d feel like against his tongue. He sighed. “I do not wish to hurt you.”

“Then what do you want?”

At the moment, her in a bed screaming his name instead of barking orders, but it would have been unwise to say that aloud. So, he chose not to answer, and instead, settled for a warning. “Grab the steering wheel again, and I can’t be responsible for what my vampire might do.”

A sharp gasp came from her side of the car. His vampire gave him a disapproving hiss, unappreciative that he’d scared her again. Their venom was in her now, and he wanted more of her in exchange. Her fear of him worked against that plan. Garrick inwardly shook himself. His vampire was getting out of hand. He’d had no business saving her in the first place.

It was against code. Never in the fifty years he’d gone to the auction house had he broken protocol. There were severe penalties for those who did. He needed to find his Captain to alert him of his transgression. Just in case his foolish actions put him in danger as well. Maybe there was a way to salvage this.

So much for not getting into trouble. That seemed to be his moniker on this night.

“Red light. Red li—Brake!” the girl shrieked beside him.

His heavy boot found the brake pedal. The truck jerked; the tires made matching screeches underneath the undercarriage until they came to an abrupt halt.

“Enough with the screaming.”

The earsplitting way she barked commands at him made him want to tie rope around her mouth so she couldn’t talk. At least on that, he and his vampire could agree.

The more things they agreed on, the quicker they’d fuse back together. Perhaps, the girl’s grating tone was what they both needed. He focused on how much he hated it. Slowly, he and his vampire started to become one again.

“You were going to run a red light.”

“There are no cars here, and in case you have not realized this, we are on the run. We cannot stop on a whim.”

Her head jerked to the back window. Still shattered and providing him with no relief. When she turned back, more of her scent blew in his face. It seemed to be pouring off of her so quickly the air being sucked out of the back couldn’t keep up. It was making him delirious. He felt his vampire split from him again.

“There’s no one behind us.”

Yet. He’d stolen something he was not meant to take. Even if he had won her in a bet. A bet was not the trading post. She’d been kept hidden from the auction. There had to be a reason for it.

Apparently, she took his silence as her cue to keep talking. “I get it, but when the light is red, that means stop.”

“We will not stop with a pack hunting us.”

“There’s no one there,” she protested, glancing through the back window.

“No one yet. Now, close your mouth unless you’re being useful, girl.”

“Don’t tell me to close my mouth and my name is not girl,” she snapped back, a quick flash of defiance crossing her face when he looked at her again. “Listen, whatever your name is—”

“I am called Garrick Shaw, servant of the Great King, fifty-seventh legion of the Twin Empire.”

“What?”

“You asked my name.”

“Whatever.” Her tone was soaked in sarcasm. He fought a growl.

“I believe it is customary for you to provide your name now that I have given you mine. What are you called?”

The dark-haired girl offered up nothing beside folded arms and a direct look out of the window.

Cha! Was she ignoring him? She was brave.

“I asked you a question,” he ground out. “What are you called?”

Her silence was worse for him than her grating tone. When she didn’t speak, his vampire refused to fuse back with him. He was there, prowling inside of the darkness, ready to unleash, but he wouldn’t come to join him. His vampire was content to be uncomfortable. If she was mad, he was mad. Garrick inwardly sighed again. Fine, he’d have to find another way to become one with the beast within him.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked instead of answering.

“Home, if you have one.”

She sputtered incredulously, “R-really? Why?”

“I have no need of you.”

That was a lie. A complete and utter lie and he couldn’t stop the vampire inside of him from openly growling his disagreement. He cleared his throat when she cowered back. “I am sorry. I’m still… stimulated. The beast inside of me wants you.”

In an instant, his mouth snapped shut. Why had he said such a stupid thing?

“That’s why you saved me because… he… you… want me?” Her fear rose in the seat beside him. Clearly his definition of want and hers were completely different.

“I am not going to bring you harm,” he clarified. Harm was the last thing he wanted, although there was a soft woman once who wanted him to spank her. He stole a glance at the girl beside him. For a moment, want flooded him as he imagined palming her bottom as he sucked the blood from her neck as retribution for her defiance.

Enough, he berated his vampire for pushing the thoughts into his mind. He was only going to help her this once, then leave her be.

“Where should I take you?” he asked.

“I’m from Treehill.”

Treehill. He’d heard of it before. Many at the auction spoke of it. Feared it. Many moons ago, it was legend to carry more mages per capita than anywhere else. But he’d never seen a mage until tonight, so he couldn’t be sure of its validity.

“Do you know the way from here?”

She nodded and told him it would be faster by highway. For someone who didn’t know how to drive, she was adept at providing him instruction. Giving him directions. His vampire didn’t care too much for that, but followed where she led.

She was correct; the highway was faster. The cars drove much quicker with the added benefit of little wobbling of the vehicle when he met a new turn. He settled into the middle lane as she instructed. An awkwardness shoved its way inside of the car and parked in between them until she shifted with a small groan of discomfort. She clutched at her arm still.

“Are you unwell?” He kept his vampire from touching her even though he wanted to.

She looked down at her arm. “I’m fine, it just stings a little.”

“That cannot be.” He pushed his pleasure venom in her. She should be unraveling like he was by now. “Let me see.”

Her shoulder met the door again as she cowered away.

“My bite does not harm humans. I just wish to see what it looks like. I will not harm you, girl.”

“Stop calling me that.” Her tone was clipped.

He matched her. “Then what should I call you? You have yet to provide me with a name.”

“Kayla,” she huffed. “My name is Kayla.”

“Kayla,” he repeated, testing her name on his tongue. He liked it. It was delicate yet hearty—a strong name. “Will you let me see your arm?”

“It’s fine,” she said, clutching it close to her middle. “The exit to my house is 67.”

He looked up. It wasn’t a long way from there. A few exits away.

“Are you sure? I can heal it.”

“No.” The words were quick. “I’m fine.”

It was probably better for both of them if he didn’t touch her anyway. With his pleasure venom coursing through her, he wouldn’t be able to retain what little control he still had over his vampire.

“It’s this exit,” she said quietly.

They’d driven for a long time once they were off the highway to a part of the small city where houses lined the roadways. It was like his village back home, yet cleaner. He guessed dirt roads would fill anything with dust. The paved roads here did have some benefit.

“It’s the white house after this patch of woods.”

He drove until he saw a quaint home with dark windows flanked by powder blue shutters. She looked at him with an expression he could only describe as awkwardness.

“Is this it?” he asked, pausing in front. She nodded and grabbed for the handle. The door didn’t budge. “I do not know how to open it.”

“You have to get out and open it from the outside.”

Garrick opened his door and was around to her side of the truck in a flash. With ease, the door opened when he pulled the handle. Kayla dipped out of the car, flinching when she stood. He was more concerned with the marks on her arm.

Dark purple blemishes pooled around his bite mark.

“Your arm.” He nodded toward it.

She tucked her arm behind her to hide it. “It’s fine.”

She was not fine. His vampire cornered her inside of the V of the door to inspect it further. Without thinking, he caught her hand. A painful shock jolted through him like a bolt of lightning caught his armor.

“Ah,” he growled, looking at her in surprise. What was that?

“Move,” she pleaded breathlessly. “You have to move.”

He couldn’t. The soles of his shoes melted into the pavement. Kayla pushed against him, placing her hands on his shoulders to maneuver around him. Hot. Much too hot for it to be her natural heat.

He groaned as it seared into him. The pleasure of her touch and the pain of it were incongruent. His vampire wasn’t sure if he should force her away or pull her tighter. Kayla gripped him roughly, and fire erupted from her palms and into him. It felt like she was burning his flesh off.

“Stop that.” His gut squeezed as she hoisted herself up, using his thighs as leverage to squeeze around him and the truck. His fangs drew down again when his nose touched her bare skin. His vampire needed her. Garrick closed his eyes, reveling in her touch, even though it burned.

“Sorry,” she apologized, managing to squeeze through too soon.

He growled as she scurried across the grass. His instincts for her took over. She ran and his vampire took off to chase her. Except the ground met his face instead. He toppled at an awkward angle when his feet didn’t move, stuck inside of his shoes.

He honed in on Kayla racing up the short flight of steps to the front door and retreating inside. She was his as soon as he’d gotten out of these damned shoes. He bent to unfasten them, succeeding in ripping the top of his shoes off. Close to the ground, he stopped. His vampire slowed and breathed deep. The air was not clean here.

There was an undercurrent. Faint, but concentrated. Like wet rags that had been left soaking too long in stagnant water. Shifters.

They were different from the ones at the auction house, but they were there all the same. He looked at the house again searching for any sign of them. Stalking from the bushes in the backyard, several wolves moved like assassins toward the back of the house. Calculated and slow.

Inside, sudden purple flashes erupted from the front window, punctuated by a curdling scream.

Kayla.

Dread propelled his feet. He didn’t think of the harm that would come to him with so many shifters surrounding the house.

He just went.