Templar Vampires - Midnight Sun Part 16

Maybe the lyrical voices were wrong.

The movement of his hands caused her gaze to shoot a glance down, gaping in shock when his hand moved to cup his erection through his pants. His other hand, the top of which was branded, brushed through her hair. His touch was gentle, keeping her from running as her hair spilled over the pale flesh of his hand and arm.

"You can't begin to imagine the things I want to do to your body."

'Oh G.o.d...'

No, she couldn't imagine. She knew nothing of s.e.x firsthand, having never even been kissed before.

Those voices kept her body pure, yet now they drew her toward this formidable vampire. They compelled her to want things from him she'd never thought twice about with any other man.

She wanted to know those things he wanted to do to her. Yearned for him to show her, to bring her body to life. The mere thought of his mouth and hands on her were enough to make her heady with needs she never knew burned within her.

It took some effort but Lex remembered they were in front of a church and that he wasn't merely a man.

Yet when she finally gained the ability to move, instead of heading back up the stairs she stepped toward him. As if he knew how badly she craved his touch, his hand left her hair. His calloused palm felt rough against the flesh of her arm when he took hold of her.

His touch came and went faster then the span of one heartbeat to the next. With fangs bared he let out a hiss that raised chills over her.

"Christ," he ground out between clenched teeth. "You're Allie's sister.

Lex was not surprised this vampire knew Allie, since most of the nocturnal population of Damascus did.

From what her sister told her, even they knew her as Crazy Allie.

Pride rose in her, ready to defend her sister even at the cost to her own life. "Yes I am. And you better not call her crazy because she's not,"

"I know she's not crazy," he said quietly before sighing with resignation. "You have to go, elf."

Yes, I should.

Too bad she couldn't get her body to cooperate and walk her away from him.

She asked his name with no expectation of him actually answering her, and was pleasantly surprised when he did.

"Constantine Draegon."

"What an amazing name." She rolled it over in her mind, liking the way it sounded. "Since you know Allie, I guess you know I'm Lexine." He inclined his head politely, licking his lips again, as if he tasted the air around them. "Good night, Lex."

"Good night, Constantine," she whispered back softly.

The moment was suspended in time with them simply staring at each other. Finally, Lex turned and rushed down the block to where she'd parked Allie's old car. Since the Pa.s.sport wasn't in great condition, Allie kept the old Dodge in case the SUV broke down, though the blue monstrosity was in even worse condition.

Driving away, Lex felt as if something profound pa.s.sed between her and Constantine Draegon.

Once the air no longer crackled with the intensity of her lifeforce the fingers squeezing Constantine's dead heart eased their stranglehold.

b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l.

Allie's sister. How the h.e.l.l didn't he sense that long before she came out of the church? He should have discerned her bloodline long before he touched her. Something prevented him from detecting such a vital piece of information about her.

He also hadn't been able to push inside her mind. No matter how hard he tried, it felt as if he kept hitting a brick wall. At first he a.s.sumed she made a deliberate effort to hide her thoughts from him, but that wasn't the case.

Lex hadn't kept him out of her thoughts.

Something else did. The force blocking him was stronger than any supernatural power he'd ever encountered. Yet she seemed oblivious to it. He believed she truly had no idea what was inside of her.

Nor, he a.s.sumed, did Allie.

b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l.This was going to add another complication to their already convoluted existence.

The possibilities of what the power within her was were endless. As were the consequences to her for possessing it.

Constantine lingered long after he watched Lexine Parker drive away, still feeling as if a piece of her was with him. The fact that she was Allie's sister twisted his gut and had him cursing Fate.

Seemed she was forever giving him the big cosmic "f.u.c.k you".

Pure. That's what Lex was. Pure. He felt the innocence of her body with an intensity that nearly knocked him right on his a.s.s.

He wanted to taste that purity, take it into himself to know what it felt like to be so clean. He thought the last true innocents vanished from this world long ago. He'd been dead wrong. And then to have such purity wrapped in a package of striking beauty made it nearly too tempting to resist taking her right in the front of G.o.d's house.

Looking at the cross gracing the steepled roof of the brick church, Constantine wanted to believe the day would come when he'd step out of the shadows and into the glory of G.o.d's love. Though it was doubtful. Creatures such as himself were doomed to h.e.l.l even before they took their first breath of life.

Now Lexine-G.o.d Himself would come down to personally escort her home.

With one last glance at the church, Constantine headed back into the shadowy park across the street.

His run-in with Lex left his body hard and hurting. The bloodl.u.s.t was quickly rising to a dangerous level.

If he didn't feed soon things were going to get ugly.

With a bar located on the other side of the park, he always found one or two drunken women wondering around. Always good for an easy f.u.c.k and a quick meal, they'd do to slake the hunger and the s.e.xual needs awakened in him by Lex.

Even as Constantine took another woman, he knew he'd be seeing Lex. The image of her was branded into his mind as deeply and permanently as the seal on his hand.

Eying a small group of women gathered around a bench in the center of the park, Constantine didn't find any of them attractive. Not one of them whetted his appet.i.tes. Nevertheless, they were perfect.

As they smoked and laughed, their words slurring drunkenly, he knew they'd be easy meat.

He would pick one and use her until dawn began its ascent. His needs would be sated and he'd return to the Manor to wait out the day.

f.u.c.k it, why not take all three.

h.e.l.l, he'd need them all to satisfy the l.u.s.t and the hunger one tiny blue-eyed girl woke in him.

Chapter Sixteen.

"Jesus Christ," Lucian hissed when he caught the unmistakable scent of fresh blood and death permeating the air. "Not again."

They were already too late. Another girl was dead and the renegades responsible long gone.

"I smell it too," Raphael announced, walking beside him through the thicket of trees. "What a reek."

Lucian tried not to smell the blood on the air, fought hard to block it out, but couldn't. It drifted through him, letting him know beyond a shadow of a doubt when they found her it was going to be a gruesome sight.

They were heading toward an old, abandoned house hidden deep in the woods. Houses like it peppered the countryside, many little more than crumbling lean-tos, which was why the Templars were having such a difficult time locating the renegades. The b.a.s.t.a.r.ds were jumping from house to house, and as long as they cleaned their trail, it was nearly impossible to track them. Strictly by chance Lucian and Raphael came upon this place. They'd been heading back to Seacrest from a bar in Mount Pleasant when Lucian caught the subtle scent of human blood in the air.

Since they had to go deeper into the woods, they left the Maserati on the side of the road and went off on foot. They didn't get far before the stench of death mingled with the blood, causing Lucian's gut to twist. He knew what they were going to find when they came upon the source of those odors.

"Luc, look there."

Lucian's intense stare cut through the dark. "I see it."

The boarded up windows were a good indication that vampires had been here. Following the metallic scent carrying on the warm summer breeze, it led them to the door of the house. Though neither Templar detected the stench of renegades, they weren't taking any chances. Lucian kicked open the door, charging in with sword drawn. Raphael followed, battle-ready for what might await them within.

As soon as they entered the house, their vampiric senses were a.s.sailed with the odors of blood, terror, s.e.x, and death. The evidence of renegades was everywhere, clear they left mere hours ago. Their scent was still strong, mixing with the more noxious odors. The place all but hummed with the remnants of their energy and their victim's fear.

Lucian led the way to the bedroom, already stiffening with dread, knowing what they would find.

Lying on a mattress was the naked body of a young woman. Her body was a map of pain, evidence she'd been tortured for a long while before finally given the release of death.

From her matted blond hair right down to the blood smeared over her inner thighs, Lucian felt her suffering run through him.

The only difference between her and the others was the look in her eyes. They held no terror, only a strange peace as they stared unseeingly at the ceiling. Her cracked lips gaped open, frozen on her last gasp. The entire left side of her throat had been viciously torn away by the monster who'd killed her.

Lucian instinctively knew they'd found Amanda Driver.

"Jesus Christ," Raphael whispered in horror as he came up behind Lucian. "How long do you think she'd been here?"

Seeing the condition of her body, Lucian wanted to hurt the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds who'd done this to her. The need for retribution burned dangerously hot within him. "Too G.o.dd.a.m.n long."

He didn't understand why he gave a s.h.i.t about these women. G.o.d knew he'd seen the death of innocents before. h.e.l.l, he'd even done his fair share of killing. Yet with every one of these girl's deaths he felt he lost a piece of himself.

When he found who was responsible, he was going to bring a reckoning to them and send every last one of them to h.e.l.l.

Raphael placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Come on, Luc, there's nothing left for us to do here.

Dawn is coming. We have to go." "Go wait outside."

"Lucian..."

Lucian ripped his shoulder out of Raphael's hold and pulled his sword free of its scabbard in one fluid motion. His fury pushed him nearly beyond reason.

Such a state of emotion was a dangerous thing. Even more so for a Templar, who was above the average vampire in strength and ability.

Raising his sword and holding it above his head in a battle-ready stance, Lucian bared his fangs in a ferocious snarl. "Don't question me on this. Get the h.e.l.l outside. Now."

Raphael threw up his hands. "I'm going. But for G.o.d's sake, Luc, you have to calm down. You can't go back to that place again. Remember what happened last time."

Remember? How the h.e.l.l could he forget? The night continued to haunt him even after seven hundred years.

Though, he couldn't rid himself of the blind rage that tore through him like a violent storm, Lucian lowered his sword. "I'll calm down when I take the heads of the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds responsible for this."

"I know, Knight. Believe me, I feel the same way. But right now, we have to get out of here before dawn comes. You'll be no good to this girl if you're ash."

The threat of the sun calmed him somewhat. At least enough to have him lowering his sword. He felt the coming dawn like a million pinp.r.i.c.ks on his skin. Nevertheless, he couldn't leave Amanda this way. After what she'd obviously suffered she deserved to be laid to rest properly, even if her soul was gone and wouldn't find peace until it was released to G.o.d.

"Go wait for me outside. Please."

It had to be the "please" that finally got Raphael to give Lucian a few moments alone.

As soon as he was gone, Lucian stabbed his sword into the floor. He tore down the cardboard that covered the windows. Amanda suffered long enough in dark.

He sat on the mattress next to her, struggling against his emotions and the hunger her blood woke in him.

He smoothed her dirty hair away from her face before running his hand down her smooth cheek. Her youth and beauty were radiant even in death. "I'm sorry I couldn't find you sooner."

He wrapped her in the sheet with infinite care. When he lifted her off the blood-soaked bed he saw something that chilled him to the marrow of his bones.

Written in blood beneath her on the mattress was his name.

G.o.dd.a.m.n it.

As he suspected from the start, this wasn't about the Daystar. This was abouthim. Lucian retrieved his sword and carried Amanda's body outside. Raphael was waiting for him none too patiently. "Find wood," Lucian barked, ignoring the incredulous look Raphael threw him.

The sensation of the approaching dawn made him uneasy. Nervous. The p.r.i.c.kling at the nape of his neck had him wanting to tear away the flesh to ease the discomfort.

He didn't want to be here, the one to have to lay another murdered woman to rest. After witnessing too much death in his time, he was tired of it. The pain and suffering he'd seen, the destruction, it all took a terrible toll on him. He longed for the indifference the others had. Wished for it with everything he was, especially now.

His skin beginning to p.r.i.c.kle as dawn inch closer, Lucian wished he were locked away in the dark where the deadly rays of the coming sun couldn't touch him. Couldn't burn him to ash.

They'd all been to that party and Lucian had no desire to do that dance again. Not ever.

With Raphael off finding kindling, Lucian laid Amanda out on the dirt. He wasn't going to tell Raphael about the sick present left for him. The less Rogue knew, the safer he would be-or so Lucian hoped.

After carefully arranging her body on the ground, he said a quick prayer over her. Again, he hoped G.o.d would accept the prayers that came from the tongue of a vampire.