Blood Rising Read online

  Lukenon is in mortal danger around me. We’d had our night of passion. I’d given him my virginity before transitioning, and even then, I hurt him physically. If Alexei wouldn’t have been hovering close by, Lukenon would be dead. I’d killed six high fae since my transition. Six of the ten gifted to us on our mating night in Delos.

  Out of the ten fairies gifted to us, I’d killed four. I’d assumed Alexei, Gregory, or Emilio killed the rest. Turns out they were feeding them to Narella. Another betrayal she tossed in my face just the other night.

  My last fairy, a male, lay naked and broken in her arms. His cock torn completely off, bone’s broken at odd angles and sweet blood leaking from his ears as she sipped from the wound between his thighs.

  Such a terrible waste of life. There’s no need to destroy your food when sipping from them sustains the pleasure. It’s hard to resist the monster inside urging you to take it all but you can. The fae lives to produce more blood. See? I’m trying to be better than my feral nature. Trying hard not to become anything like brutal Narella.

  Emilio and Gregory thought I’d gone into a bloodlust rage as they pulled me away from a laughing Narella. It was rage all right. No, it wasn’t fae blood induced lust that had me seeing red. It was the brutal way Narella flaunted her power from the cell they kept her in.

  She requested the fairy, my last fairy, and my harem obeyed her. She was first mate, after all. First Queen of the Vampires and they were her harem first. She ruled them from behind her bars and assumed that she ruled me too. Well she’s not my mate. She’s not my queen. I won’t be influenced by her.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Plans for Escape

  It broke my heart to see Cherad broken and wasted in Narella’s arms. Not because he was food and belonged to me, but because he’d become a friend. I’d grown fond of all my captive gifts. Okay, yes I lost my shit because she took my fae gift and destroyed it.

  As much as I want to humanize this situation, I can’t. I suck, but she sucks worse. The difference between us is, I’m trying to make things right. Trying to befriend my fae captives. I realized that if I view them as the sentient beings they are, I am less likely to fall to the blood rage and kill them.

  Even the angry Griffin that Alexei enjoyed fighting with and feeding from, had come around in the last couple of weeks. Once I realized I was just as much a captive as they were, I’d started plotting their escape.

  Wren, my beautiful royal high fae, even offered me his wrist in a show of trust. High fae are what humans refer to as elves. They hate being called as elves though. Wren says it’s a human term for something humans will never understand. They aren’t the tiny creatures of myth, heck even the fairies weren’t anything like I’d expected with my human upbringing.

  These elves were less ‘shelf elves’ and more Lord of the Rings. Wren was tall and lithe, with golden hair and an angular face. He was a prince in the Fae Realm, and the other’s looked to him for guidance. So he proved to them he trusted me completely. I proved to him I was in full control over my blood lust by only taking a sip of succulent blood.

  That started the fragile friendships that budded between me and my fae gifts. Wren leaned against the bars of his cell as I wept. “I’m so sorry, Wren. I failed Cherad and I’m afraid that I’ll fail you too.”

  His long, elegant fingers brushed a tear away. “You vampires shouldn’t weep.”

  He held a bloody finger in front of me, and I immediately began wiping my tears. He chuckled, “You’re just making it worse.”

  “How can you laugh when Cherad is dead?”

  Fingers retreated through the bars as I met his crystal blue gaze. “We were all dead the moment they locked us under this mountain, Nevaeh.”

  My gaze traveled over the three other high fae watching from a safe distance. All three females. “Narella prefers males. You’ll be next Wren and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. She trumps me with my harem. If she requests you, they’ll come for you.”

  His blue eyes looked away from mine. We have similar eyes. It was one fae trait that my vampire side didn’t consume. Most vampire eyes paled when the transition had finished. Dark brown eyes pale to a light brown. Blue eyes lightened to pale blue. Emerald eyes like Alexei’s became a soft light green. My gray-blue eyes had brightened and deepened like gems. I even have a ring of midnight blue around my irises.

  “If it’s the wish of the universe that I meet my end here, there’s nothing I can do about it.”

  My gaze dropped to perfect white teeth as he smiled at me. “Bullshit. You’re not supposed to be here, Wren. None of you are. I can’t believe you’re fated to die here at the hands of that lunatic.”

  The image of Wren, broken and bloody. His cock torn from his body and Narella enjoying the flow that poured out the wound was too much. “You’re not fated to die here.” Wren was mine. They were all mine, not hers. I don’t care who Alexei mated first.

  “What do you know of the God Realm?”

  Wren stiffened as the griffin in the next cell began making urgent bird chirps. He cocked his head, eyes shifting towards the half eagle, half lion creature. I followed his gaze and found the griffin pushing his beak through the bars. He ruffled his feathered head and snapped his beak several times. Then he gripped the bars with his huge talons and shook them in rage. His bird chirps turned into loud screams as rage took him. We all covered our ears and cringed.

  When the crazed griffin settled, I asked Wren, “I don’t suppose you know what that was all about?”

  He shook his head slowly. “I could guess that he has something to say about the God Realm but is too damaged mentally to get his point across.”

  Yeah, Alexei had abused the poor beast. It was so out of character for my mate to abuse anything, but there was something about that griffin that made him violent. The griffin wasn’t without defense, though. It’s not like Alexei was beating a poor defenseless puppy. Alexei risked life and limb by feeding from that beast. He suffered serious injuries, life threatening, if he had been a lesser vampire.

  I whispered to the beast. “I’m sorry.”

  The bird’s eyes closed as he rested his head on his talons. His long lion’s tail flit back and forth as he sighed. I say he, but in reality, I didn’t know what gender he was. The griffin never turned its back to me when I was present. He stopped raging and trying to attack me through the bars, but he still didn’t trust me enough to turn his back to me.

  Wren said, “You should end him.”

  My gaze jerked back to his. “What? No.”

  Wren shrugged. “You can’t set him free, Nevaeh. He’s mentally unstable and too vicious for the Human Realm.”

  A soft voice said from two cells over. “You’d be unstable too if you were him.”

  I carefully walked down the bars until I was staring into the cell that held the faun. A half deer, half-human creature not unlike their cousin the lusty satyr who were half goat. Fauns are often depicted as half goat too, but I could plainly see that she was half deer, not goat. She’d never spoken to us before. I didn’t think she could speak until I heard her voice just now.

  “How do you know?”

  Large doe eyes on a half deer, half human face held my gaze a long time before she admitted, “I understand him.”

  My gaze narrowed suspiciously. The faun never spoke to us before, never interacted except for when Alexei, Gregory and Emilio brought her out to feed off of and fuck her. All of which she seemed to enjoy. She’d bleat and whimper as she came for them. Even taking Alexei balls deep as she rode him. A feat I’d only been able to do when my womb opened to him for breeding. My males wanted to me to join them but I have yet to feed off the faun. Though I have enjoyed feeding off my males full of her blood.

  “You understand him? As in you can talk to him?”

  She nodded slowly, dipping her antlers downward. “You could too. If he gifted you with his vein.”

  I shook my head slowly. “Gifted?”

  She grinned as
she lifted her gaze to mine. “It’s what your king was trying to achieve. The knowledge of the magic. Except you can’t take that knowledge, it has to be gifted.”

  My gaze slid to the creature in the cell next to us. “That’ll never happen.”

  She laughed slightly. “Not with that attitude it won’t.”

  I sighed heavily. For all I know, this faun was trying to trick me into feeding myself to that great big beak. She said lightly. “One must be trustworthy to earn the trust of the mighty.”

  I snorted, “Beware the naked wise woman who offers you her shirt.”

  She laughed loudly now. “Indeed.”

  As I walked away she added, “But then rare is a goddess who appears to her followers in her full glory. Most likely, she appears as a fool.”

  I glanced back. “Or as a vampire.”

  A smirk was her only reply. The sun was peaking over the horizon. Yet another obstacle in my path to freedom. I was too young to day walk. Full sunlight burned my retinas and my flesh. Alexei said it might be a hundred years before I could tolerate full sunlight without risking my immortal life. What if the God Realm was sunny all the time?

  Shit, why even worry about that when I don’t have a way into the realm yet. Here’s what I knew. Gods and goddesses can walk between realms without the use of an existing portal. The text doesn’t describe how, though.

  Do they cast magic or is the magic within them? I’ve studied magick all my life. My adopted mom fancied herself a witch. As a child, I was in tune with my fae qualities. I cast magick easily. As I matured, I lost the ability to see the unseen. But fae god magic is not the magick I grew up studying. Now that I’m vampire, my fae side has all but vanished. I’m pure evil to these creatures. Pure predator. They know it and so do I.

  Of course I hadn’t minded until now. I can read the blood of the weaker. I can see better in complete darkness, even seeing the surrounding energy. My ability to charm humans strengthened. I no longer have to even speak my wants or make eye contact. I just wish it so. The power of the predator is greater than the power of even these fae.

  Before, I could convince someone to do something and eventually they did it, but only if it was within their moral confines. Now, I can make the happiest human commit suicide. Not just humans, most high fae too. I’d definitely used a bit of charm on Wren, but then my motives weren’t sinister. I wanted to make peace with the remaining fae in the cells under the mountain.

  The griffin was immune to my charms. The shifter wolves, too. I hadn’t even tried to charm the faun. She knew something though, and I wasn’t above using a bit of persuasion to get information. She would just have to wait.

  Rah and Jah, my woodland nymphs, came into my room carrying my little girls. The sun was high now, but my girls were human until they transitioned. While my body wanted to rest, I struggled to remain awake for most of the day for them.

  Rah held my dark Leila close to her as she smiled at me in greeting. Her green hair and iridescent dogwood markings on her skin caught the light. She’d been the winning huntress during the wild hunt at my wedding.

  Jah had been disqualified after losing her human male to the hounds. Hounds that were trained to hold prey at bay, ripped him from her arms and shredded the poor soul. She stood soaked in his blood while they honored the other hunters with gold and fortunes.

  When I showed interest in her welfare, Alexei simply waived a hand and they took her with the others to our awaiting super yacht. Her skin was lightly decorated in orchid, and jasmine flowers. Her hair was a pale blue.

  These two young beauties were my preferred daytime meals. I had to feed more the longer I stayed up during the day. Drinking from these two was like being nourished by mother nature herself. They were nature deities, as close to a goddess one could get. As I fed my twins, they laid close on the bed with me.

  “What do either of you know about the God Realm?”

  They met each other’s gaze over the top of my feeding babes. It was Rah who answered, “The fae simply do not come and go through the God Realm.”

  I said, “But I’m not fae.”

  Jah answered quietly. “No mere vampire can enter the God Realm either.”

  She gazed down at Inara. “One must be a god or goddess to travel the worlds.”

  “What about decedents of the gods?”

  They shrugged. Rah added doubtfully, “You are a direct descendant of Lilith. It’s possible, if you appeal to her…”

  “I’m also a direct descendant of Leto.”

  They both jerked their attention to me. Rah asked, “You are a daughter of Apollo?” They both knew Artemis was pure.

  I shrugged, “When the Measure tested my genetics, they said my line goes back to Leto and Tityos. I know, I know legend says that Leto didn’t bear children with Tityos the rapist. But even my mother’s genetic tests pointed to them and a sea nymph that accompanied Poseidon.”

  They remained silent, and I continued. “Pair those two facts with the one that has me directly related to Lilith through my father, Juliss.”

  Jah whispered. “You’re practically a goddess triad.”

  I met her forest green gaze. “So how does a goddess triad, ascend to heaven?”

  Rah met Jah’s gaze and blurted. “We should meditate on it.” Was Jah about to tell me something Rah didn’t want her to?

  I placed my sleeping infants in the nymph’s arms. “Please say nothing to the males about this. If you help me, I’ll free you before I leave.”

  Rah snorted, “If we help you, you’ll take us to the God Realm with you.”

  Jah added eagerly. “Oh yes! Please take us with you.”

  I looked between them disbelievingly. “If I can, I will.”

  Rah held my gaze a moment. “Tis a dangerous journey we begin. If we fail, you’ll merely be imprisoned. We’re liable to lose our lives.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  Crypitc Messages

  The three of us reached out to the gods and goddesses we believed might help us. When we didn’t receive much from the gods, we came together in secret, during the day, within the mountain.

  We sat on the antique couches, in the large cavern that Alexei once called his home many centuries ago. Now more of a storage area, it held large ancient statues, wooden crates stacked almost to the ceiling, glass cases full of antique books and three cavernous cells lining one wall.

  My cell was deeper inside the mountain, next to Narella’s. So deep, no one could hear us call for help. No male vampire could scent my heat. Buried away and hidden deep, like the treasure of a dragon’s hoard.

  Still, we spoke in whispers for fear of being overheard. Not from the fae in the cells, but from prying vampire ears. I yawned, my eyes watering as I desperately tried to remain awake.

  “So? What have you got so far?”

  Rah spoke for Jah, as usual. “Cryptic messages, at best.”

  I sighed heavily. “More than what I’m getting. Poseidon won’t even respond to my attempts to communicate with him.”

  Jah offered quietly. “Maybe you should try Amphitrite.”

  I peered at her curiously. “His wife?”

  She nodded and whispered. “The sea god might not bother with a sea nymph, but Amphitrite loved her female companions. Was in fact the daughter of Oceanus and should be a relative of yours.”

  “I’m such an idiot.”

  Rah smiled indulgently. “No, just inexperienced.”

  I nodded. “Okay so what are these cryptic messages you received?”

  Rah leaned forward, her voice low and reverent. “Something about, ‘Use the tools you have.’ Also, they show that the triad goddess should let go of what she loves and make a sacrifice of the flesh to receive her gift of passage.”

  “Well, that doesn’t sound foreboding at all.”

  My nymphs didn’t get sarcastic. Jah whispered, “But it does. Let go of what you love. Do they mean your daughters?”

  I pursed my lips. “Not going to happen. I als
o love other things too. Alexei, Lukenon, my harem, but I don’t think they mean them. I’m already willing to let them go for the safety of my girls. No, this is something else.”

  Rah added. “Agreed. What do you think they mean by make a sacrifice of the flesh?”

  I shrugged and offered. “Animal sacrifice?”

  Rah wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “No. They rarely call for that anymore.”

  Jah whispered, “It might also be an offering of the flesh as well.”

  Rah narrowed her gaze at Jah. “Which is it, nymph? Offering or sacrifice?”

  Jah recoiled. “I… don’t know.”

  Rah scoffed. “You don’t know. It was your vision, Jah. How can you not know?”

  I lifted my hands. “All right, all right. Calm down. Jah, can you ask for clarification on this? Ask the god or goddess offering or sacrifice.”

  Jah nodded slowly, keeping her gaze warily on Rah. Wren’s soft lyrical voice spoke up from behind the bars. “Ladies… all three of you are pent up and irritable. Maybe I can help you relax.”

  I smirked at Wren. “You just can’t resist a romp with a nymph, can you Wren?”

  He returned my smirk with a devilish grin. “You know what they say about the high fae…”

  I snarked, “They taste too good to waste?”

  He scowled. “No, well… yes but I was going to say, nymphs can’t get enough of the high fae cock.”

  Rah scoffed lightly. “I think you have it backwards elf.”

  He smirked at her. Wren was so fucking cute when he was flirting with the nymphs. “Maybe but I’ll have you both backwards, upside down, on your back and even against the bars of this cage I’m in.”

  Rah glanced at Jah and Wren directed his next words to Jah. “I’ll spend hours worshiping you with my tongue. Days, even. I’d be so grateful for just a taste of you.”