Page 9 of The Vampire King's Gift

Or for our own,Julian said.

As the king and his consort, all Acolytes are ours,Daemon explained.

Oh, so best of all worlds.Julian grinned.

Exactly.

And he was glad that Julian was seeing some perks to being royal.

“I’ll tell you what. We’ll meet again, and, if you still feel this way, we’ll have an offer for you,” Julian told her, his eyes burning redly.

“Your eyes…” One of her hands lightly touched Julian’s cheek. “So beautiful.”

She’s a keeper,Julian chuckled.

And then he moved out of the way so that Daemon could feed. With a movement too fast for any of them to anticipate, he had the woman bent back. His fangs had sunk into her flesh and her blood was nourishing him in great gulps. The young man swayed there, unable to stop him and not wanting to at the same time. He wanted to take the young woman’s place. And soon, he did.

Daemon gently placed the young woman on the blanket. She was in a swoon, but she would recover, feeling well-rested and happy. Daemon then fastened his mouth on the young man’s neck. He gasped and dug his fingers into Daemon’s back. It was like a kitten’s grip to Daemon, not even that really, where it would have hurt a normal man. His heart was strong and beat powerfully, sending the blood nearly jetting into Daemon’s mouth and down his throat. The blood was hot and filling.

Julian put a hand on his back and drew it up and down his spine in a caress. Then his fledgling was curled over him, kissing his neck and head and back. Fingers carding through his hair and body pressed tightly against him.

A spike of arousal went through Daemon. He bit hard into the young man and had to force himself to stop. The urge to simplydevourhim and then take Julian on the sand was almost overwhelming. But his sensitive fledgling would be afraid and upset by such an act. He would have Julian, but not on top of the young man’s corpse. So he pulled himself off and laid him down beside his girlfriend. The two of them were asleep and Daemon positioned them so that they were wrapped around one another.

“We shouldn’t leave them here. Someone might hurt them,” Julian said with a frown.

Daemon felt a wave of affection for his fledgling, but a little sadness, too. Julian would learn that they could not save everyone. But, for now, he would do his best not to break that to his impressionable beloved.

“We won’t,” Daemon assured him. “We’ll watch over them while they sleep. Why don’t we take that swim?”

Julian looked out at the velvety black water and a smile curled his lips. “Yeah. Definitely. Let’s do that.”

ENEMY MINE

What do you mean that you’re going swimming?Balthazar sent to Daemon when he realized that neither the Vampire King nor his fledgling were in the house.The Kaly are coming here to meet you tonight. And the Mirryr likely as well! What am I going to tell them?

I’m sure you can handle it, Eyros. You are so good with people, Daemon responded with a lilt of laughter in his voice.Besides, I am in no mood to entertain.

Balthazar winced. He looked to where Ridley was closing Elena's door behind her. He felt a mixture of anger, pity and helplessness. He understood Elena’s pain. If Christian was taken from him, he would have done far worse than Elena to the person who had caused his Second Death. He wouldn’t have cared if they were a king or a commoner. He would have his revenge. But Heath’s Second Death had been necessary and Daemon was going to bring him back, if he could. And Elena had tried to hurtJulian. She should have been given her Second Death. But Daemon had held back.

Maybe he shouldn’t have,Balthazar thought but then sent to Daemon,I understand. I’ll hold them off until...

For a moment, Balthazar could see through the Vampire King’s eyes and he glimpsed a quite beautiful site. Julian–completely naked–running into the inky black sea, tossing a smile of challenge over his shoulder at Daemon. Balthazar pinched the top of his nose and shook his head. Daemon and Julian would not be back anytime soon.

…until you return, Balthazar finished dryly.

You will do wonderfully, I’m sure! The Kaly, after all, want to ally with your House as much as meet me, Daemon chuckled, but already Balthazar knew he had lost the Vampire King’s full attention.

Go have fun,Balthazar said with a sigh and closed out their connection.

He didn’t want to catch a glimpse of the frolicking. He wished he had grabbed Christian and headed for the beach before Daemon and Julian had. Then the Vampire King would have to have played host instead of him.

Speaking of Christian…

Balthazar glanced down the hallway. His fledgling had gone to speak with his mother. She was still upset about Elena. Unfortunately, Elizabeth was proving Daemon in some ways right about human and Vampire morality not mixing well. If only they could havehidsome of that stuff from her.

Luckily, Henry had been with Arcius, discussing history. He was trying to calm his wife down. Not having seen what happened was making Henry more malleable in terms of thinking that it wasn’t as big a deal as she was making it out to be. He wasn’t altogether happy that they were using this blindness of Henry’s to influence Elizabeth. Not that she was buying it. But he saw that Christian was in the hallway on his own.

He opened his mouth to call to his fledgling. But then he stopped himself as he saw that Christian was staring at something intently in one of the darkened, empty bedrooms. His fledgling was taut as a bow. His eyes were wide with fear. Balthazar flew to Christian’s side and immediately placed himself between his fledgling.

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