Page 64 of Taken By the Vampires
What Ginevra had set out to achieve—the hurt, loss, betrayal of these Vampires and of my family—I was about to undo. Centuries of wrong-doing set free and in doing so, I would find my own, sweet liberation.
I settled between them. My Vampires. My lovers. Myeverything.
I held a trembling wrist to Davon’s lips, the other to Cassius. The heat of their lips scorched the delicate flesh. A delicious anticipation pulsed through me. Heat. Awareness. Desire.
Xander came behind me, brushing the hair from my neck. He placed a delicate kiss on my skin. “You don’t know how much you honor us, Tu Ena.”
“It is you who honor me,” I whispered. Truer words had never been spoken.
His teeth settled on my neck, denting my skin when the front door slammed open and loud. Angry voices shattered the peace, the foyer, my dreams and my future.
“Blasphemers!”
We’d been found.
Chapter Forty Four
I faced the hard, angry countenances of the most powerful people in the region. The people who had treated me poorly and had made my life a living hell.
“You could have slept with me, Ella. And you choose these…things?” Comedic horror spread over Gary’s face.
Gary, who I had never chosen before, even knowing it would have made my life a little more bearable on the outside but would have torn me up on the inside. Gary, who was dizzy with his little bit of power. Gary, who was a sick sadist.
Choose? “There was nochoice, Gary. These men are a thousand times more than you could ever hope to be. I choose them over you any day.Everyday.”
Gary’s mouth opened like a fish. His double chin wobbled a little. “You can’t mean that, Ella.”
“I will never choose you, Gary. Never. Do you understand? You can’t force someone to want to be with you. It doesn’t work that way,” I said.
“But…why?” In that moment, Gary looked like the man he was. A spoiled, overgrown man-child who had been given everything by his too-powerful father and taken it all for granted.
“I’ll give you one chance, Ella, knowing who you are. Come back with us now. We promise we’ll get the devil out of you. You’ll live through it. But if not, well that devil can be very hard to remove. As well as the devil in your mother,” Minister Jeremiah said. The huge cross he always wore bumped against his rotund belly as he spoke.
Jeremiah held his cross out like it would protect him and stepped towards me. A sinister growl left Xander’s chest and the minister took the step back again, paling.
“Are these the men you spoke about, Ella?”
“They are the true evil in this town, yes,” I said.
“Think about your mother, Ella,” Jeremiah said. A smirk pulled at his mouth, twisting it into a cruel line. “And God. Think about what He would think about this.”
My fists clenched so hard, I punctured my skin with my fingernails. Behind me, Cassius and Davon rose to their feet. Even dying, they still supported me. I felt their support and anger flare. I held out my arm. They were in no condition to fight for me, despite knowing their mind and bodies thrummed with the need. They would protect me until the very end, if they could.
I sent a pulse of love through our connection, hopefully letting them know not to engage. The townspeople were on edge and if we fought, I’d lose everything. The townspeople were the key. If the Trinity lost power, they lost everything.
“You leave my mother and everyone else out of it. You wouldn’t know God if you tripped and fell over Him.” I was sick of them using her and anything truly divine as leverage against me.
And they had since childhood. It was clear to me now. How each request they made of me had been a veiled threat against my mother to control me.
“Come now, Ella. We’re only trying to help,” Ellis Myer said.
“Enough! You don’t help. You control. You enslave. A whole town forcenturies. You lie and deceive and dominate.”
“It is you who are wrong, Ella. We have only tried to help you. I offered you a bank loan on your farm when no other bank would come near you,” Herman said.
“You did it at an exorbitant rate I could never hope to pay off. You did it to ultimately own my farm. Own me and own my mother,” I said. Who knew how far his reach went? I’d applied for other loans and I’d been rejected. Too many, without something or someone interfering.
Herman guffawed, tucking his thumbs into his waistband and adjusting his pants around his barrel-shaped waist. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, Ella. I put my bank at risk for everyone in this town.”
