Page 230 of Flirting with Darkness

VAMPIRE CHAINED

KAREN TOMLINSON

1

ELLIOT

My head snapped to one side, pain exploding through my cheek bone.

Victor grinned, his eyes alight with wicked satisfaction

Straightening my neck and spine, I pressed my lips together, my face blank, just as it always was when I was forced to endure his attention.

Hard eyes scrutinised me. Victor Hamilton was a vampire of the First Order. That meant he was powerful. He was also a sadistic son-of-a-bitch, and my stepfather. His corded muscles rippled as he rolled his shoulders and stretched his neck. He was toned, fit, and covered in a sheen of sweat. I tried not to shrink in on myself. As always his size and strength made me acutely aware of my own physical shortcomings. I dropped my gaze to his booted feet, where the hem of his combat trousers covered the metal bootlace hooks, before raising my gaze to his chest, not his eyes. The fucker was strong and handsome and could charm anyone not clever enough to see the evil beneath. I’d learned long ago to be submissive and act beaten around him. It was a matter of survival.

“Come now, Elee,” he drawled, pronouncing my name in such a way as to make it an insult. I hated it. Almost as much as I hated him. “At least try and fight back. It’s no fun for me when you don’t. Besides, if one day you manage to stop me, maybe I’ll keep my promise and clean the human part of your blood.” He grabbed my chin and tilted my head, exposing my neck. His sharp thumb nail scraped over my vein. “I could make you a part of this coven, Elee.”

Chuckles from his small group of guards filled the air. They fanned the anger I normally locked away. Ever since I hit twenty-five years old, I’d found it harder and harder to swallow down my hatred of my father and his coven. Being part of this coven was all I’d ever wanted. Growing up, I’d believed that it would bring an end to the constant beatings and torment. Now that I was older, I realised that if I were to be turned, Victor wouldn’t be the one to do it. He’d never agree to it. Still, the little boy in me wanted his approval, to make him proud enough to call me his son and accept me into his beloved circle. That was why I hated myself. I both wanted to run from the monster who was the only father I’d ever known, and stay and beg him to love me. It was seriously fucked up considering how clear he’d always made it that he detested me and the very air I breathed.

Victor’s mouth twitched at my scowl. He rarely showed any emotion except disgust or disdain when I was around.Shit!He’d only torment me more now he knew I wanted to fight back. A quick glance around told me this would end as it always did, only worse. I would be the First Order’s punching bag, their amusement for the few minutes it took to beat me until I was unconscious.

Victor struck fast, as only a vampire of his age and power could. I saw the attack, could even project where it would land, but knew nothing I did would prevent it. So did he. My ribs cracked as his heavy boot struck, and I collapsed to my knees. The pain from my chest joined forces with that of my face and my already damaged limbs. I breathed in through my nose, hissing despite trying to hide my agony. There was a lull and I used the reprieve to climb to my feet, leaning forward and holding my ribs. Being a good sport was not Victor's purpose in allowing me to rise. Quite the opposite, in fact. His only purpose was to knock me down again.

From the moment my mother had given birth to me, until now, I’d been the whipping boy for this coven of Made vampires. A familiar anger reached right into my bones. My mother, an Original Vampire, had escaped her mate’s cruelty for all of three days before he’d found her and dragged her back to his stately home on the outskirts of Prague. No matter my resentment at her for dying and leaving me here to suffer alone, I had to hand it to my mother, she’d come back pregnant, which from what I’d heard, had saved her life—for a while. Victor had believed it was his. It was only when she’d pushed me out that Victor discovered I was half-human. That was when he’d killed her in a fit of rage. And every day for the past twenty-five years I’d paid for my mother’s transgression. When I was five, I’d asked Victor why he hurt me everyday. His response was since he could no longer punish my mother, he would punish me until he decided to kill me.

Being only half-vampire made me too weak to be a competent fighter, and my mixed blood was no use as nutrition either. I was nothing. The lowest of the low in this world of vampires and human slaves. When I’d hit puberty, a newly Made vampire had become obsessed with me and bitten me against my will. I’d laughed until tears ran down my cheeks when he’d projectile vomited all over the floor. Apparently, I tasted sour, and I’d made that fucker ill for days. Of course, Victor had punished me, not the fledgling vampire. Still, at least I’d been spared their fangs, if nothing else, all these years.

A phone trilled from across the room, vibrating against the top of an old oak writing bureau. Victor frowned and turned away without a second thought, his powerful body eating up the space in no time. Impatiently, he picked it up, but his voice changed the moment he answered it. It was his superior. I had no idea who was more powerful than Victor, and I didn’t want to know. At least that phone call meant he’d be distracted.

Relieved, I started to limp away.

“Briony! Keep him there, I’m not done with him yet.”

Briony, a tall, elegant woman with a flawless face and long auburn hair smiled coldly. “You heard him, stay there,ass—assin.”

I ground my molars and ignored the insult in her address. Victor had made Serge, the First Order’s combat tutor, train me to kill with a blade and any other close hand to hand weapon starting at six years old. Of course, all the weapons were locked away when I wasn’t training. Over the years, I’d often wanted to kill Victor or one of the First Order, but the rune burned into the skin below my right ear prevented me from harming any of them. Not only that, Victor’s compulsion not to run kept me a prisoner in this house. I’d tried burning that damned rune away; I’d even cut it out once, but the witch that put it there was powerful, and it just grew back.

I carefully watched all eight of the vampires who surrounded me, my resentment growing as they stared, their pale blue eyes consumed with loathing. My ribs hurt like a bitch, but I wouldn’t show weakness under their scrutiny. I stood as straight as I could, letting my hands hang in a relaxed fashion by my sides. It was best to just steel myself for more punishment. I inhaled slowly and deeply, concentrating on the throbbing ache in my face. Oddly, it helped block out the agony from my ribs. Even my father’s voice faded as I readied myself for the next round. I rolled my head and shoulders, stretching them. By the time Victor had ended his call, I was ready. Focusing on his face, I prepared for his attack, softening my knees and balling my fists.

He stopped in front of me and regarded me through narrowed pale blue eyes, and his brows pulled down. After several beats of silence, he spoke. “You have your first assignment. You are to kill Count Balthazar Rossi.”

The collective murmurs of the First Order were the first clue this was not a good thing. My heart slammed against my broken ribs. “An a-assignment?” My stammer wasn’t something I could prevent. I might have been trained to kill, but I’d never had to actually do it. Shit, I’d never even left this house, let alone tried to plan an assassination. Fear dragged at me, and for all my determination over the years to somehow get away from my tormentors, my palms were sweating. I knew nothing of the world outside this mansion. No, that wasn’t true. I knew enough to survive. I’d prepared as much as possible for the day I could escape. That thought settled into my brain, giving me a modicum of calm, which allowed happiness to surge through me. I’d actually be leaving this mausoleum of a house behind! It was almost impossible to hide my overwhelming joy at casting this place and everything it represented aside, but I concentrated on keeping my breathing regular and my pulse steady. After all, managing my reactions and fooling these sadistic animals was the only bit of control I had in my life.

“If you succeed, our Lord has given permission for you to be made a full vampire. If you fail, I will kill you myself.”

I swallowed hard. This could be my chance to belong, to have my father look upon me with something other than hate, to treat me with something other than cruelty. Rather than run away into the unknown to have a better life, I could actually belong…

Confusion clouded my thoughts. Did belonging mean more to me than freedom?

“Yes, father…” I whispered, realising my mistake as soon as the words left my lips. Pain bloomed across my face again.

“I am not your father, you disgusting half-breed,” he sneered. “But if by some miracle, you manage to kill the most powerful Original Vampire in Europe, I’ll deliver you to our Lord myself and recommend he keep you in his household. If nothing else, it’ll get you away from me.”

I kept my eyes down. I could live with that. Not only would I become a full vampire, I’d get to live somewhere other than with him.

2

ELLIOT

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