Eternal Kiss (New Orleans Vampire King)

Chapter Six

Dinah

I handed the sword to Laurent, pushed my tangled hair off my face, and headed to the kitchen.

I was thirsty, and I smelled blood.

Jerking open the fridge door, I spotted bags of blood.

I pulled one out and punctured it after calling forth my fangs.

This was my life now. No more pizza. No more cheesecake. No more…

“How do you eat human food?”

I asked Luke.

“Because I’m an Ancient. That means I was created by Lillith, the goddess of the underworld. The rules for vampires turned by other vamps don’t apply to me. I can consume human food and drink. Go out in the sunlight. I don’t need blood as often as someone turned.”

My heart sank.

I had been turned, which meant life as I knew it was over, and that pissed me off all over again.

Not at Luke.

He could have let me die. I was angry at the female who tried to kill me, and if I ever saw that bitch again, I was going to rip her heart out the way Luke had Darius’s.

Luke crossed the kitchen, and when I polished off the bag, he took the empty and tossed it in the trash. “Let me feed you. Fresh is better than bagged.”

Thinking about him feeding from someone else had me seeing red. Luke took a step back. “Dinah?”

“I don’t want you sinking your fangs into some rando.”

“Oh, Sweetheart. Never again. You are my beloved, and yours is the only blood I crave.”

“Well, good. Now feed me.”

Luke arched a perfect brow, and I added, “please.”

“Let’s go get cleaned up, and I’ll feed you while the shower is heating.”

If that meant seeing Luke naked, then I was all for it. When we got to the bathroom, I slid my arms around his waist, resting my head on his chest.

Luke snuggled me tight as he asked, “Not that I’m complaining, but what’s this about?”

“I’m pissed, and when I’m mad, a hug helps.”

Honestly, I wanted to feel him up. Lukas Benoit was a sexy ass man. Vamp. Whatever. And according to him, I was his beloved. Did that mean I got to hug him whenever I wanted? I had so many damn questions.

Luke pressed a kiss to my temple, then stepped away. He reached into the enclosure and turned on the water.

“Let’s get you fed.”

He extended one of his claws, sliced his forearm, and pressed it to my mouth. As soon as the scent of his blood hit my nose, I dove at his arm, gnawing at it with sharp teeth. His blood called to me, and I answered, drinking it down as fast as I could.

“Easy, Sweetheart. I know you’re thirsty, but you need to pace yourself.”

I did as he suggested as the most delicious flavor burst across my tongue and down my throat. Luke’s blood was a hundred times better than that bagged stuff.

When I was sated, I withdrew my fangs but kept hold of the wrist I had drank from. There was no sign of where he slashed his arm or where I’d dug my teeth into his skin. “That’s crazy.”

“One of the perks of being a vamp.”

“Are we going to shower together?”

“I had planned on it, unless it’s too soon.”

I shot him a heated glare. “I wanted to peel your suit off the second I laid eyes on you.”

“You’re welcome to get me naked anytime you wish.”

Luke unbuttoned the shirt I assumed he’d put on me. His eyes darkened the more skin was revealed. His fangs extended, and I shivered.

“Are you going to bite me?”

“Later. Your blood is divine, and although I am dying to taste it again, we do need to change locations. But I promise you this, as soon as the threat is over, you and I are going to spend weeks getting to know one another, both in and out of bed.”

His fangs receded, and he took a step back. “Let’s get cleaned up, shall we?”

He removed his clothes before I could blink. When I got a look at all his fair skin, I froze. How utterly perfect was this man?

I finished undressing and joined him under the water.

Luke took care, washing every inch of my skin before shampooing my hair.

There was no conditioner in the enclosure, but I would deal with the tangles later.

I relished the feel of his fingers on my scalp.

Every touch sent an aching need coursing through my body. I didn’t know if it was a beloved thing or a Luke thing, but the cause didn’t matter. It only mattered that I wanted him for an eternity.

“Earlier, you said this is one of your houses. Are you rich or something?”

“You could say that.”

“But you’re a manager of a club.”

“Only to be around your father.

I bought the club long before I met Doug, but after I turned him, he became my best friend, and I gifted it to him, along with his house.

He came to New Orleans to play at a different location, and when I heard him, I was mesmerized.

I introduced myself, offered him a job, but he turned me down because of you and your mother.

Later, I made a trip to Memphis to hear him play, and there was a riot.

Doug was caught in the crossfire, and when I got to him, he was bleeding out.

I couldn’t let him die, so I turned him, then brought him back to New Orleans once he had his blood craze under control enough to travel that far.”

“Sounds like you cared a great deal for him.”

“I did. Now that I think about it, I believe Doug was brought into my life so you would be as well.”

I didn’t tell Luke I would gladly go back to my former life if that meant my dad could live because it would be a lie. Maybe he wasn’t the only selfish one. “You managed the club much longer than a decade.”

“I couldn’t tell you the truth when we met. How would I explain how I look thirty but worked as a manager for much longer?”

“I get it now.”

There was so much I didn’t know about Luke, but now that I was like him, I had plenty of time to find out all his secrets.

Luke didn’t have a brush, so I detangled my hair the best I could with my fingers after towel-drying it. I had to borrow one of his T-shirts since my blouse was…

I had no idea where. Thankfully, my pants and shoes were blood-free. Luke dressed in one of his expensive suits, and I wanted to rip it off his body.

His eyes darkened again at seeing me in his clothes, but we didn’t have time for horizontal shenanigans.

We met Laurent downstairs who was standing by the door with his sword over his shoulder.

He pointed to Darius’s sword that was lying on the sofa. “I think you should have that.”

When I didn’t move to take it, Luke picked it up, stepped back, and swung it in an arc. “It’s a good blade. I’ll get you a sheath for it.”

He pulled a throw off the back of the sofa and wrapped it around the weapon before handing it to me.

“Shouldn’t you keep it?”

“I have several.”

“Well, then, thank you.”

I’d never held a sword before that night, but if we were going up against Ancient vampires, it made sense for me to have one.

Luke walked over to where Darius had disintegrated and lifted his clothes, shaking them. He then dug through the pockets until he found the man’s cell phone, handing it to Laurent. “I have an idea.”

He explained it, and I was amazed at what he was capable of, including what he called glamour. I couldn’t wait to see him in action.

“If you’d like, I’ll drive and you two can sit in the back in case Dinah needs to feed again.”

Luke inclined his head. “I would appreciate that.”

“How often will I need to feed?”

I asked Luke as he passed the keys over to his brother.

“If you were a normal vamp, I would say every few hours the first day, then once a day for about a week.

With me feeding you, it’s possible you’ll get your blood craze under control much sooner since mine is Ancient blood.

It worked for your father.”

Laurent narrowed his eyes. “You told her?”

“She is my beloved,”

Luke responded. “She had a right to know.”

Laurent exited the house first, then told us it was clear.

I wasn’t used to this cloak and dagger stuff, but now that I knew what I meant to Luke, I would need to be on my guard.

Once we were on our way, I asked Luke, “How big is your coven?”

“In New Orleans proper, around one hundred, but my territory extends farther than the city.

I oversee close to three hundred vamps.

Laurent has his own territory, as do other Ancients.

There are some areas which are led by made vamps, but we leave them alone as long as they aren’t killing humans and threatening our existence.”

“How old are you? If that’s okay to ask.”

Laurent chuckled from the front seat. “We’re called Ancients for a reason.”

I stared at him in the rearview mirror. “So really old?”

Luke put his arm around me. “A few thousand years, give or take. Unlike made vamps, we can’t be killed by stake or sunlight.”

“Or a bullet,”

I muttered, thinking of my father.

“Doug was staked, Sweetheart. I cleaned up his ashes, then I found a homeless person to replace the missing body and compelled the medical examiner to claim it was a bullet, otherwise there would have been too many questions.”

“We need to find the blonde bitch so I can return the favor.”

“The blonde bitch?”

Laurent asked.

“The woman who tried to kill me,”

I hissed. “The same one who killed my father.”

“Do you have a lot of blondes in your coven?”

he asked Luke.

“Too many to narrow it down.”

Luke pulled me closer and kissed my temple. It was a sweet gesture. One Blake had never given me. Why I wasted four years with him was a mystery.

When we got to the Garden District, Laurent pulled over and put the car in park, killing the engine. Luke tipped my chin and kissed my lips. “You know the plan, and no matter what I say, remember I am playing a part. Now let’s get this over with.”

Laurent disappeared, heading to the back of Doug’s – my – house.

It didn’t feel like mine since I had never seen it.

Luke glamoured himself to look like Darius, then he helped me from the back seat.

Gripping my elbow, he escorted me down the sidewalk until we came to the house my father had called home.

It was a white three-story with sage green shutters, surrounded by an ornate wrought-iron fence.

It was gorgeous.

Luke opened the gate, and we both got into character.

When we reached the steps, I pulled against his grip, my claws slashing at his arm. This was the part I hated. I didn’t want to hurt him even though he assured me it didn’t. The gashes would heal quickly.

We made it through the front door, and if Luke hadn’t already warned me about the mess, I would have been pissed upon seeing all my father’s belongings destroyed. Luke pushed me to my knees and “compelled me”

to stay there.

“Darius. What the fuck is this?”

a dark-skinned man demanded. He appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent, and his accent matched.

“Thought you might like a gift. Benoit found her quicker than we thought, but before I could take his head, he grabbed her and took her to a house. I had to fight off several of his coven before I could get inside.”

“And where is Benoit now? I demanded his head!”

The front door opened, and the blonde bitch rushed in. She froze when she saw me. “What’s going on?”

“You!”

My part in the scheme flew out the window when my rage took over. Using my newfound speed, I rushed her, grabbed her by the throat, and lifted her off her feet, slamming her onto her back.

“Let her go,”

Montrose commanded.

I slowly turned my head, my gaze turning red. “No.”

His eyebrows shot up, and I dropped my fangs. He then took a step toward me, but a sexy voice stopped him.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Montrose turned around to confront “Darius.”

Luke, with the sword poised to strike, dropped the glamour. “Tell Lillith I said hello.”

He swung the sword before the other Ancient realized what was happening, and his head rolled off his shoulders, landing with a thud on the hardwood floor.

“Luke? Oh, thank the goddess you’re here,”

the blonde cried, struggling to get out of my grasp. She clawed at my arms, but I had Luke’s blood and was stronger than she realized.

Luke closed the distance and demanded the woman stop fighting. “You sided with the wrong vamp, Arabella. Why?”

“I gave you everything, but to you, I was nothing but someone to boss around. The club should have been mine. This house should have been mine. But instead, you gave everything to a washed-up musician.”

“How did you get Doug alone that night?”

“I told him you were attacked while closing, and he came running.”

Luke stood next to me, staring down at his assistant. “Move back, Sweetheart.”

I did as he asked, and Arabella jumped to her feet.

“Lukas, please,”

she begged.

Luke swung the sword, slicing from her neck to her groin. “That was for being a duplicitous bitch.”

He then closed the distance and kicked her so hard she hit the wall ten feet away. Luke followed, driving the sword into her chest, pinning her to the wall. When she tried to claw him, he broke both her wrists. I cringed at the crunch of bones, but it was also satisfying. Luke grabbed her jaws and wrenched them open, pulling her tongue out. Using a claw, he sliced it off and tossed it on the floor. I was glad Luke had a cleaning service because that was nasty. “That was for turning on me after all these years.”

He used his bloody nail to rip open her face. “That’s for killing my best friend. But this?”

He removed the sword from her chest, blood dripping everywhere. “This is for trying to kill my beloved.”

With one swing, Arabella’s head was separated from her shoulders. Her body followed it to the floor. Within seconds, she turned to ash.

“Dammit, I wanted a shot at her,”

I griped until I noticed Luke’s chest heaving. His gaze on me was intense. He was a sight with blood splatter covering his hands. Some had gotten on his face, so I walked over and rubbed it off with my thumb. “Thank you.”

“For?”

“Avenging me and my father.”

Luke dropped his forehead to mine as he calmed down.

“So, this is my house, huh?”

“Yeah, Sweetheart, this is your house.”

Between the broken antiques, the shredded artwork, the torn-apart furniture, and the dead Ancient, I knew I couldn’t live there. “I don’t think I want it now.”

“I don’t blame you. I’ll have it cleaned up, and you can put it on the market.”

“I’ll buy it,”

Laurent offered, coming out of hiding. When I frowned at him, he grinned. “What? It’s a great house.”