The Bite That Binds

CHAPTER TWELVE

(Sam)

Strength blasted through my veins like a hot wave, invigorating me, energizing me, galvanising me. My eyes snapped open with the shock of it. Whatever Magda saw on my face made her gasp and back away, taking that sodding spike with her. My nose quickly snapped back into place, and each of my wounds swiftly closed over. It was then my turn to gasp – that kind of instant healing shouldn’t have been possible for injuries as severe as those. I’d had giant holes in my bloody shoulders, for God’s sake.

I inhaled a long breath, filling my lungs, as I took stock. Physically, I was fine. More than fine. In fact, I felt better than I’d ever felt. But inside…inside I felt…different. More.

Effortlessly, I jumped to my feet. Lifting my hands, I saw that they were literally sparkling with energy. That wasn’t all. Those same silvery-blue glimmers of energy played around the surface of my entire body. As I wiggled my fingers, tiny sprinkles of it peppered the air. It was like I was dripping silvery-blue fairy dust.

I didn’t know what any of this meant, but I knew two things. One, something very fundamental had occurred. Two, I was so much stronger than I’d been before. But it wasn’t bad strong. Not like when I Merged with someone and felt engulfed by the power or threatened by the measure of it. No, I was simply…more. That was the only way I could explain it.

Testing myself, I played with the energy that was spilling from me, shaping it into my much beloved whip. It buzzed against my skin, leaving tingles as I threaded it through my fingers – God, I’d missed that. Hence my huge smile.

Two things, however, were quite different about the whip. Not only was it longer, but it had occasional flashes of ultraviolet – whatever the hell that meant. Curious as to just how long the whip was, I spun it around my body again and again, as if preparing to crack it at Magda. It was able to loop around me three times. This was just bloody brilliant.

Still experimenting, I lashed the whip at the ground. Tremors practically rumbled along the earth – nothing that would cause a crack, but enough to unsteady a person. Seeing the utter shock and horror on Magda’s face made my smile widen. She knew she had some payback coming. “Didn’t see this coming, did you?” I cracked the whip at her, leaving a diagonal laceration from her collarbone to her hip.

She jumped and gave a loud cry at the burn of the lash. With stunned eyes, she peered down at the tear in her dress, as if expecting it to be an illusion or something. She cried out again as the whip slashed her thigh.

“Fight me,” I insisted, just as she had me.

To her credit, she straightened her shoulders and met my gaze. But that boldness disappeared when the whip caught her cheek. Without giving her a second to recover, I slashed at her mouth, watching in satisfaction as blood dripped down her chin. I noticed then that her wounds weren’t healing as quickly as they should – or as quickly as wounds from my whip had in the past anyway.

“Come on, Magda. Where did all that bravado go? Of course, if you’ve had enough, you can always just admit defeat and beg me to stop. But I won’t stop, so it’s hardly worth it.”

I cracked the whip again. This time, I wrapped it around her waist, using it to slam her against the ground a few times. When I released her, she dragged herself to her feet, coughing and cradling the back of her head. Then the psycho actually launched herself at me, aiming that spike at my stomach. Bad move. In under a millisecond, I allowed my whip to fade away and remoulded the energy into a shield. She ricocheted off it, ending up on her backside.

“Ooh,” I said with false sympathy. “That hadn’t been wise, had it? But, then, none of this had been wise. You should have known that.”

She quickly got to her feet, but before she could make another move, I was directly in front of her and shoving her hard in the chest with the palm of my hand. She zoomed across the arena and crashed into the far wall. I heard stunned gasps all around me. Of course they were surprised. So was I. A Sventé vampire should not have that kind of strength.

Apparently deciding to copy my move, she bounded at me in vampire speed so that she was up close and personal. Having dodged the fist that was fast heading for me, I spun and kicked her hard in the face. Maybe it was a little cruel to be so satisfied at the sight of her broken nose, but ‘tit for tat’ and all that.

Movement in my peripheral vision snatched my attention. A fierce looking Dexter had joined my side and had elevated his head and a third of his body from the ground. Focused on Magda, he flattened his neck and opened his mouth – exposing the inky black discolouration – before emitting a hollow hiss. Yeah, he was well and truly pissed. I cocked my head at the neurotic woman who appeared to be contemplating lunging at me again. “You know what, I think I’ll let Dexter have you.”

I took a small step backwards, handing power over to him. Before Magda had a chance to properly process my words, the snake abruptly struck and bit into her chest. Wow, Wes hadn’t been kidding when he said that this breed was fast – the movement had been a complete blur.

She cried out in what seemed to be a mixture of shock, anger, and pain. Still, the dumb crank came at me with her blade flying high. Using more of the natural energy that was coating my body, I directed a flame of fire at the blade – a flame that was wilder and hotter than any I had released before. She squealed and quickly cradled her arm against her chest, which was now back to skin and bone…and blistering again.

Noticing how her now bloodshot eyes were going in and out of focus, I gave her a falsely sympathetic smile. “That’s stage one coming on: temporary blindness.”

Panicked, she stumbled backwards with her arms spread wide. “What’s happening?”

“It’s Dexter’s venom. It can do some extraordinary stuff…as you’ll soon find out.” I could tell that her eyesight was now totally gone. Dexter, who was weaving in and out of my legs, hissed repeatedly at her while his tail rattled like crazy. “I could be wrong, but I’d say that ticking off a venomous snake was a really bad move.”

Suddenly she started to sway and stagger, holding her hands to her head.

“Oh that’s just stage two kicking in: temporary mental disorientation.”

Making strange keening noises, she continued to stumble around for a minute until eventually she fell flat on her back. “Make it stop.”

“I couldn’t even if I wanted to. You didn’t stop when I was in excruciating pain, did you? Maybe a nice, compassionate girl would, nonetheless, try to help you. But I’m not a nice, compassionate girl – especially when it comes to people like you. And especially when you seriously hurt my fiancé. I have a huge fucking issue with that.”

It would be true to say that if she hadn’t Turned him, he wouldn’t be mine now; that if she hadn’t betrayed him, he might never have left her. But I was just selfless enough to prefer for him to have never gone through that pain than for him to be here with me.

Seconds later, she wasn’t moving at all other than to breathe. The little devil on my shoulder thought that that was a real shame. “It appears that now you’ve reached the third and final stage: temporary paralysis. Horrible that. I had a taste of it a few evenings ago. At least you’re not in severe agony at the same time. It’s always best to be grateful for small mercies, I think.”

I crouched down beside her. “Do us all a favour; bear something in mind for future reference. Being sly doesn’t get anybody anywhere. In my opinion, you should know that by now. It lost you Jared, and it lost you this fight, and it’ll also lose you the long-term fight. Maybe you were right in what you said before; maybe he does deserve better than me. But I ain’t going anywhere. Get used to it.” I stood then, addressing the entire arena. “All of you get used to it. Or piss off home, whichever.”

(Jared)

Back at our apartment, all I could do was squat in front of the sofa and stare, open-mouthed, at my beautiful fiancée…and wonder what in God’s name was going on.

The crowd had barely begun cheering when I’d teleported to her and then took us both home. Watching her duel with Magda, watching her in agony, had been an agony all on its own for me. It had taken Antonio, Luther, and Wes to keep me from intervening. Of course I’d understood their actions; if I had interfered in what Magda had implied was nothing more than a friendly challenge, it would have greatly undermined Sam. That would have seriously brought her suitability as a future ruler into question, making things ten times worse than what they already were.

Still, all I’d wanted was to step in and end the duel. And then I’d no longer had to. Well, it seemed that the intended changes were complete, but I was still none the wiser about just what had happened to her.

“What?” she demanded for, like, the twentieth time. “Why are you staring at me like that?”

Dexter, who was settled on one of the vines, lifted his head at her tone. That snake had definitely earned his stripes as far as I was concerned. He didn’t hiss at me for being so close to her, so maybe he was coming to figure out that we had a common interest – keeping Sam safe.

Exhaling a heavy breath, I handed her a small, handheld mirror. Shooting me a put-out look, she snatched it. The feistiness…That was typical of my Sam. Having her irises glint a unique mercury shade…Not so typical of my Sam.

She gaped, looking from me to the mirror. “What’s all that about?”

That had been my question since the second she’d looked up at Magda with those irises glowing while energy seemed to coat the surface of her body. Even now, wisps of it clung to her fingers. I cupped her nape. “How do you feel, baby?”

Shaking slightly, she placed the mirror on the coffee table. “I’m okay.”

“Any idea why energy seems magnetised to you?”

She glanced down at her hands, swallowing hard. “I think it’s just because I’m stronger.”

“I think we can safely guess that when you’re pissed, it’s going to basically envelope every inch of you, just like it did at the arena.” I massaged her nape, unable to stop staring at her. She had always been stunning to me, always so very tempting. It wasn’t that she was suddenly even more beautiful. Other than the striking mercury ring to her irises, not one physical detail about her was different. Not one. Yet, she now had this entrancing effect.

God, this was all so damn weird.

The knock at the door hadn’t come as a surprise. Nor had the entrance of Antonio, Luther, Evan, Wes, and Lena. All five stopped and gazed at Sam, looking a combination of spooked, awed, and anxious.

“What’s happened to me, Lena?” Sam’s own anxiety hadn’t leaked into her voice, but I could feel it.

Just as she had last time, Lena sat beside her and took a minute or so to study her. Just like last time, I held Sam’s hand the entire time. When Lena eventually lounged back into the sofa, Evan handed both her and Sam a NST. They drank them gratefully.

“Well?” I prodded, panicky.

Lena put her empty bottle on the table. “The changes to Sam’s DNA are, as you have probably guessed, complete. Her body is, once again, now frozen in its development − which means there will be no more alterations. The equations, despite being quite complicated, all add up perfectly.”

Then why did she appear so worried? “Lena, what exactly has changed?”

She turned to Sam. “Maybe I should have considered that this was what the brothers were trying to accomplish. Truthfully, I wouldn’t have thought such a thing would ever be achievable so, therefore, I hadn’t at all considered it.”

I had to grit my teeth to prevent a growl from seeping out. “Hadn’t thought what was possible?”

Lena sighed. “By making his tattoos of snakes come to life, Wes effectively makes a crossbreed. And so have the brothers.”

My mouth once again dropped open as the implications settled into my brain. The others wore similar expressions.

Antonio shook his head. “That is not possible.”

“I wouldn’t have believed so,” said Lena, “but the brothers are very powerful. Being as strong as she was before, Sam was the perfect subject for them to use. Her strength and power got her through the changes, and now she has evolved into a blend of all three vampire breeds.”

“It explains the physical strength she displayed in the arena,” mused Evan before turning to Sam. “When you sent Magda flying through the air to the other side of the arena with just a palm heel strike…Only a Pagori could have done that.”

“It also explains the compelling allure she now has,” said Antonio, cocking his head as he studied her intently. “It is much like that of a Keja.”

I scrubbed my forehead with my hand. “The mercury ring to her irises?”

Lena shrugged. “My guess is that it is much like a marker. A red ring to the irises is the mark of a Pagori vampire, just as an amber ring is the mark of a Keja. Perhaps this would be the mark of a hybrid, if it was a breed in its own right.”

“Thirst-wise, how do you feel?” I asked Sam, giving her hand a light squeeze.

She frowned thoughtfully. “A little thirsty, but all right.”

“You don’t feel a slight discomfort at the back of your throat?” I asked. That was typical for Kejas whenever they were thirsty. Sam shook her head. “You don’t feel agitated and restless with the thirst?” That was normal for all Pagori vampires.

“I don’t feel any different than I usually do when I’m thirsty. Just…thirsty.”

Looking utterly amazed, Antonio shook his head. “Pagori strength, Keja allure, and Sventé manageable bloodlust…A perfect combination.”

I slid my gaze to the suspiciously quiet Luther. “You knew this would happen, didn’t you? You knew this was how she would change?”

“In all honesty,” began Luther. “I wasn’t sure of anything. I had no idea if investigating the bungalow would have had any bearing on what happened during my vision.”

“So what exactly did you see?”

“In my vision, you and Sam and the squad were all engaged in a battle in an open field − how far ahead in the future this is supposed to occur, I have no idea. The vampires you were all up against were very strong. Sam was there, significantly stronger and much more powerful. Of course, I knew that this should not be possible, that the mercury glow to her irises were unnatural, but I had to question whether alerting you would be a positive thing or not. Your response would have been to lock her away to keep her safe. I knew, however, that if she was not so strong during the battle in my vision, she might be harmed. Perhaps even killed. I was not prepared to take that risk. I hope you can understand that.”

Yeah, I could, which meant I didn’t have an excuse to punch him for not giving me any kind of heads-up.

Sam sighed, forcing a smile. “Well, at least all this power helped me kick Magda’s arse.”

“And as for that bitch,” I growled. “She is leaving now.”

Sam laughed a totally humourless laugh. “No, Jared, she’s not.”

Literally mystified, I demanded, “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“She stays.”

“Sam, she hurt you badly out there!”

“I’m fine.”

“That’s not the point! She challenged you, knowing you wouldn’t be able to defend yourself. She’s been messing with your head since she got here. I don’t want her hurting you any more than she already has.”

“She stays.”

I shook my head. “If she doesn’t leave, I’ll end up killing her anyway.”

She appealed to me with a look. “Jared, listen to me. I despise that woman, I despise her more than you can ever imagine. I want to do a lot of things to her, but the best form of revenge I know is to make her watch while we Bind, and make her feel as your connection to her dies and you form one with me. If she’s far away, the pain will be massively dulled, but if she’s near, it will be excruciating. And I know just how excruciating, because I’ve been through it myself. I want her to suffer like she’s made us suffer, physically and emotionally. Yeah, that makes me a huge fucking bitch, but I never claimed to be anything else.”

“Sam,” I groaned.

“I need to make sure she suffers, Jared. This is the one way guaranteed to do it.”

She was right about that. It didn’t mean I had to like it. “Everyone out,” I gently, but firmly, ordered. “Sam needs some space while she works everything out in her own head.”

Nodding, they all gave her smiles, nods, and waves as they left.

She peered up at me, looking more vulnerable than I’d ever seen her. It literally tore at me. “You always know what I need. It freaks me out.”

“That’s what freaks you out? All this stuff has happened, and that’s what freaks you out?” I’d never understand this female. Ever. I ran a hand through my hair, blowing out a breath. “I’ll leave, too. Give you some time to yourself.” The last word hadn’t even escaped my mouth before I was dragged onto the sofa and Sam was suddenly straddling me. Not only that, but my shirt was gone. Christ, she was a lot stronger and faster now.

“No. I want you to stay.” Fitting her body to mine, she lightly nipped the curves of my mouth.

“So you can delay having to process stuff?” Well, in her defence, it was heavy stuff.

“Yes,” she admitted, and I felt how hard it was for her to show any weakness. “But also because I want you inside me,” she whispered huskily as she rocked her hips. “Make me forget for a while.”

Again, she nipped at my mouth, wanting me to open for her. Without hesitation, I did. Then she was thrusting her tongue into my mouth, tangling it with mine. Fire tore through both of us, just like it always did. I angled my head, needing to go deeper, needing more of her even though I knew I’d never get enough.

When she rocked her hips again, I growled into her mouth and scrunched her hair in my hands. Sharply I tugged her head back, wanting access to her neck. I swirled my tongue in the hollow of her throat and found myself groaning. Her skin fizzed slightly, like when I ate honeycomb or sherbet, but ten times better and damn addictive. I distantly wondered if it was something to do with the high concentration of power that now lived within her, but at that moment it wasn’t important.

I licked, nipped, and kissed my way around her neck, loving how she melted against me. That was pretty much the only time that Sam was ever pliant – in or out of bed. God bless her sensitive neck.

Needing her skin against mine, I peeled off her dress and unclipped her bra. My mouth literally went dry at the sight of her in just her panties. She really did have the most amazing body – a body I’d craved and ached for since laying eyes on her, a body I’d never tire of touching or looking at. I knew it better than she did; knew every curve, every hollow, and every sensitive zone.

She gave me the most sinful yet somehow still angelic smile. Only Sam could have pulled off something like that. And I knew in that moment that if she had fallen ill, if she had died, I would have stayed alive only long enough to kill the bastards that took her from me. After that, I’d have followed right behind her.

Some might call that cowardly. To be honest, I couldn’t have given a shit what others thought. If I’d been forced to be without her, I wouldn’t have truly been alive anyway. She was too essential to me, too much an integral part of me, for me to ever exist without her.

Grasping her hips, I raised her so that she was balanced on her knees, putting my mouth level with her breasts. As my hands roamed over every inch of her that I could reach, I licked a path from nipple to nipple, pausing to circle the taut buds but resisting the urge to suck on them. Of course I was aware that it would drive her crazy, and that was exactly why I did it.

Ripping her panties off, I drove two fingers inside her, curving them to target her g-spot. At that exact moment, I finally closed my mouth around one of her hard nipples. As I teased her g-spot, those soft moans grew louder and she firmly held my head to her breast. Taking the hint, I suckled harder, occasionally grazing the nipple with my teeth. She repeatedly bucked on my hand, hinting for me to deepen my thrusts. I didn’t. I’d learned early that it wasn’t a good idea to always give her what she wanted.

“Deeper,” she insisted breathily. I shook my head. Narrowing her eyes, the sneaky bitch started riding my hand. Even sneakier, before I could chastise her for it, she mashed her mouth with mine, slipping her tongue inside. See, Sam knew me just as well as I knew her. And she knew that regardless of how much I loved touching her, and regardless of how much I loved licking every inch of her, it was her mouth that I loved the most. Kissing me and letting me possess her lips was always a guaranteed way of distracting me.

When she sucked hard on my tongue, I knotted a hand in her hair, and yanked her head away, growling. “Don’t do that again unless you’re going to suck me off.”

“Next time,” she said as she lowered my zipper impatiently. My cock – which had been rock hard since the second she straddled me – sprang out, and slapped her clit. With a firm grip, she worked her hand up and down my entire length over and over, keeping her eyes locked with mine. Again her irises were glowing. Only this time, it was with arousal, not anger.

“Does it freak you out?”

I knew she was talking about her eyes. “Nothing about you could freak me out.”

“I mean, does it look bad?”

I shook my head, grunting as her grip tightened. “Totally the opposite, baby, I promise you.” I could see that she wasn’t convinced, but it was true. I went to position her above my cock, but she grabbed my hands and hung them over the top of the sofa.

She actually tutted. “Oh no, I’m in charge this time.”

Because she needed some control over something, I realised. I had to wonder if there was also a part of her that wanted to test exactly how much stronger and faster she was now. That was okay. She wouldn’t have to know that I’d be topping from the bottom.

“Don’t even think about topping from the bottom.”

Awkward, mind-reading minx. “As long as you quickly put me inside you, I don’t have a problem with that.”

She hovered above the head of my cock, but she didn’t sink down. Instead, she began tantalisingly rocking back and forth, back and forth. At the same time, she nibbled on my throat, teasing me with the possibility of biting down and drinking from me. Then one of her hands was cupping my balls, squeezing with just the right amount of pressure. I loved all of it, sure, but there was only so much a guy could take. The next time she rocked back, I gripped her hips and surged up inside her. Both of us groaned as her muscles clamped tight around me. Christ.

“I said that I was in charge this time.” She again draped my arms over the sofa, which was sheer torture for me since I ached to touch her.

“Then take control. Fuck yourself on me, Sam.” The request came out with a ring of authority that turned it into an order. Yeah, well, handing over total control wasn’t my thing. “I want to watch you fuck yourself on me.”

“Good…because I want you to watch.” Slowly, with her eyes locked with mine, she began rocking her hips, moaning softly. She dragged her nails down my chest, taunting me to move and try to touch her. I had to clench my fists against the urge to do it, the urge to cinch her hips and help her to up her pace. But I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off her for long; I could no more ignore the urge to touch her than I could ignore the urge to breathe, or sleep, or drink blood. It was that basic.

She soon fell into a steady rhythm, impaling herself on me over and over. I loved seeing her like this, loved watching her breasts bounce jauntily, loved the husky moans erupting from her throat. I grunted between clenched teeth as she paused to rotate her hips…Fuck. Then she stilled, smirking, confident of her power.

Returning that smirk, I flexed my cock inside her, making her groan; reminding her that I could still tease her, even without touching her. In an agonisingly slow movement, she began to rise on my cock, stopping when just the head was inside her. Then, smiling wickedly, she slammed herself down on me.

“Son of a bitch.” No longer able to hold back, I grasped her waist and began lifting my hips to meet her hard, fast, downward thrusts. Her head fell back as she groaned loudly. Over and over I slammed her down, not having to be gentle anymore, not having to worry about hurting her now that her strength matched mine. “Look at me while you ride me, Sam.” I had to see those gorgeous eyes; see them glazed over, giving her that sex-crazed look that always made my balls ache. With the mercury glow to her irises, the effect was even more intense.

Both our movements suddenly became more erratic, frantic even. And with me not having to hold back, this particular fuck – love or not, this here and now was a pure, hard fuck – was like none we’d had before.

Dipping her backwards, I bit down on her nipple, drawing blood and drinking it. That was when I discovered something that made me unable to pull back straight away – her blood tasted different, had a delicious syrupy quality to it that hadn’t been there before. Still, I didn’t take much, because I wanted to lift my head and stare into her eyes again. “Make me come, Sam.”

I wouldn’t have thought her bouncing could have become any harder or faster, but shit, was I wrong. Then, just as I felt her muscles beginning to flutter around my cock with her approaching orgasm, she bit into the crook of my neck, taking long, greedy swallows. That was it – I was gone. My climax slammed into me so hard, I was surprised it hadn’t hurt. Her head fell back and her body arched as she screamed my name, shuddering with the force of her own orgasm. Then she collapsed onto me, still shaking with the aftershocks.

It was a minute or so before my brain switched back on and I could form words. “That was fucking amazing.”

“It really was,” she practically slurred.

“Your blood tastes different. And your skin.” I breezed my hand up and down her smooth, slender back. “In a good way,” I added quickly. All I got in response was a lazy, aloof ‘hmm’ sound. Apparently, she was close to nodding off. I kissed her hair. “Sleep, baby.” After the eventful evening she’d had, she definitely needed it. Me, on the other hand…I doubted I’d get to sleep any time soon. Not with how confused and anxious I still was.

The brothers were right in what they had said; what they had done to Sam had made her stronger. But, was that really a good thing?

Sam was, to my knowledge, the only hybrid in the world. Sure, people might admire and respect her for it, but these people might also want her, want to use her to create more like her. With Sam’s saliva, they could Turn humans into vampires who were as powerful as her. Yes, the brothers could do that without Sam, but only providing they could find someone as strong as her to use.

In any case, would it really be wise to create more hybrids? That would be to make them a breed in their own right. And they would become a ruling breed, without a doubt. It went without saying that the other breeds would feel threatened by this new, much more powerful breed. They might all decide that, therefore, the best thing to do would be to unite, and to kill Sam and the brothers before any more like her could be created.

Given that, maybe it would be better not to announce her new condition to others, and to instead allow people to think that her strengthening bond to me was what was making her stronger. Or something to that effect, anyway. It wasn’t like they would ever suspect the truth, because it seemed too impossible to even be true. But then, so had a Sventé with a Pagori power.