Page 1 of Blood Lust
Chapter One
Isat quietly on the private jet that was destined for a former plantation home in South Carolina. Lucas and Roman had merged their covens into one, Lucas reigning as their sire after the two vampires rekindled their previous romance. Apparently, almost losing Lucas to Enzo’s collectors after they kidnapped my mom brought the former lovers back together again. At least something good came out of the psychopath vampire taking my mom so her life-blood could juice him up.
Thinking about my mom and Enzo made me cringe. I was in shock after hearing Enzo had fallen in love with my mother, and it raised so many questions. Did she love him too? Was she happy to be reunited with him? I had a hard time staying in the positive when it came to her. For all I knew, she was in love with him too, and that meant I was the love child of a maniacal psychopath and a blackout drunk. Par for the course in my unfortunate life it would seem.
“Hey baby,” Zac and his brilliant bronze eyes greeted me as he sat across the table from me in a high-back, cream leather chair of the luxurious jet.
I snapped my head up and forced a smile. “Yeah?” I answered, trying to get out of my head about all the bullshit that had taken place after that crazy witch had planted the magic fireball in me. It was seriously starting to fuck with my mind.
I hadn’t told my guys about it, and strangely enough, they hadn’t picked up on the subtle changes happening, but eventually, they would. I was hoping that the inner magic my ancestor, Morgana, had implanted in my DNA would be enough to handle this without sending everyone into a frenzy to help me.
“Damn, Elle,” Zac reached across the table and stroked my cheekbone. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you look like hell.”
“Maybe it’s just flying all over the damn globe to escape witches and all-powerful vampires that’s starting to wear on me,” I said, wondering if this lifestyle really was starting to catch up with me.
“No excuses,” Cole said, sliding a meat and cheese board in front of me. “Eat this, doll.” He half-smiled and studied my eyes with his green ones. “Your complexion is changing. Something isn’t right. How are you feeling?”
The question made so many thoughts run through my mind. How was I? Uh, not great, buddy. On top of the fact that we’d all narrowly escaped imprisonment and being forced into procreation by a vengeful witch the week before, and then with learning my biological father’s identity and being cursed all in the same day, I’d also completely lost any physical interest in my vampires. That wouldn’t be abnormal except for that fact it wasone-hundred percentabnormal.
At first, I thought it had to have been the shock of everything that had happened, but too many strange feelings had been happening since that witch cursed me. Not wanting to be held or even touched by my guys was definitely not something normal.
“I’m fine. What about you guys? You haven’t fed, and since I’m the only one you can drink from, I know you’re not getting the nourishment immortal vampires need.”
Cole glanced at Zac who smiled and slid the charcuterie board closer toward me, encouraging me to eat. “The benefit of consuming life-blood is that it seems to last much longer than the average supernatural blood we’ve drunk our entire existence. It does much more than just make us stronger, it makes our senses much more acute, and it lasts an insane amount of time. It’s amazing.”
I swallowed what should have been a tasty bite of prosciutto and smoked gouda, but it was bland and tasteless. Odd again. “It’s only been a week or so since you all fed. What’s the normal length of time you go without?”
“Before you, the longest we would typically go is about three days. After that, we start to look…” Cole stopped and studied me closer. “Well, we sort of start looking like you are looking now.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“You’ve seen it. Dark circles under our eyes, pale, ashy skin, and we sort of just slow down both mentally and physically.”
I ran my fingers under my eyes, guess the concealer I was using had faded. “I’m obviously not starving. I eat every time you put a plate of food in front of me.” I smiled at Cole, “Speaking of which, it seems I’m on an every two-hour feeding schedule.”
Cole nodded, “I’m about to up it to every hour until we figure out why you’re so damn pale and looking like a starved vamp, doll face.”
I licked my dry lips and took a drink of water. “I think I could use some rest.”
“Try to eat a bit more. Don’t forget, that witch fucked with you with her dark magic. This could be a side effect. You’re sure you’re not experiencing any other symptoms?”
“Food just tastes bland.” I forced another bite and swallowed, “You don’t think she forced some kind of magical spawn of Satan into me, do you?”
Zac laughed. “If that were the case, we’d hear a heartbeat. You’re not preggo, baby.”
“What if it didn’t have a heartbeat because it was some creation of hers.”
Both vamps’ expressions froze, and Zac rubbed his forehead as he looked at Cole. “Please tell me that warlock, Edgar, is going to be with Lucas and Roman when we get to the plantation.”
“He will be there.” Cole absently rubbed the back of his neck, “Whether or not he can do something witchy to see what’s up with Elle depends on how powerful he is. Don’t forget we are dealing with dark magic and an ancient witch too.”
“God, I can’t listen to this.” I stood up. “How much longer until we get there?”
“Long enough for you to sleep.” Zac took my hand and helped steady me after I got a head rush. He pulled me into his side and wrapped his muscular bicep around me. “This shit is starting to worry me,” he said to Cole. “Get Lucas on the phone and let him know what’s going on. Get that warlock prepared to help her after we get in late this afternoon. I’m taking Elle to lie down in the back.”
“Good call.” Cole nodded then peeked around at me. “Zac’s going to stay with you if you’re cool with that.”
“Actually, I am. I’m freezing. It’s like I’m getting sick or something.”
