Of Fate & Forbidden Desire (The Gatekeeper Duet #1)

1. Chapter One

Chapter One

Night is my favourite time, peaceful and safe. Until I cross her scent and it’s like I’m hit by a truck. She’s like a drug and I’m hooked. - Dina

“ B e careful of the night Adrina, monsters thrive in the darkness.” My long since dead mother’s voice fills my head, as I leant over the roof edge. She had given me and my sister those words of warning, every night as she tucked us into our nice warm beds. However, my problem was that I’d always been fascinated by the dark. The stars each evening had called to me, even now they seemed to call my name as they watched from above. Well I guess that makes me a monster now, I think sarcastically, banishing her words back to where they belonged, in the far recesses of my memory and turning my concentration back to the street below.

Human and Supernatural folk alike fill the streets below, queuing up to gain entrance to one of York’s most popular nightclubs. My eyes scan over the ever growing line, searching each face, looking for one that didn’t quite belong with the others and coming up blank. Ignoring the infernal chatter, I inhale the cool October air that blows my dark hair away from my face. I know that the wind is cold, it only takes a moment of watching the humans shivering in its chilled fingers to remind me. Thanks to being turned, I no longer shiver in the cold or sweat in the heat; I hadn't felt the changes in the seasons for quite some time now. I mean there had to be some advantages to sacrificing your soul after all.

Yep, that's right, according to human lore and history, I was a soulless, blood-sucking monster. A vampire. One who stalks the night feasting on the necks of young maidens. Yet in my three hundred plus years of being one I could certainly say that most of the time vampires were the last things a human should be worried about. I might be a surly bitch most of the time, but monster was a bit of a stretch.

Smiling—ok grimacing a little less than usual— I turn my focus back to the street below, searching for our current prey.

“What's got your attention Adrina?” Tilly's sunshine and roses voice almost had me jumping from my rooftop perch, as she materialised next to me. Luckily my quick reflexes allowed me to steal my spine, so that my finger didn’t so much as twitch in response.

“Nothing yet,” I say, glaring across at my old mentor. She knows how much I hate my given name, and therefore used it often enough to let me know that she knew. Her devilish smirk almost had my own lips twitching in response but then I remembered our task at hand.

In our society we have four laws that all Vampires were expected to live by and they were simple enough. One: Do not draw human attention. I mean come on, that’s a no brainer, we didn’t want human’s studying us. Two: No unsanctioned killings, we’re civilised after all. Three: No interspecies relationships, that one makes no sense to me, but who am I to judge the laws? And our fourth and final law makes so much sense: No turning of children. After all, who wants to repeat school for eternity?

If a vampire, like the one we'd been hunting for months, broke any of these rules, the Elders sent hunters and huntresses, like ourselves, to either bring them to the Council for judgement or to execute them. Our unlucky mark had been placed under a kill order, for breaking not one rule but two of them. The bastard had already drawn far too much attention from the human population, being branded the ‘Dracula Murderer’ in the papers. His kills spanned from Scotland all the way down to where we were now in the city of York, with its old buildings and dense population. I could see one set of the Roman walls and the top of an archway from my perch.

“He's clever,” Tilly mutters, her attention now fixed on the street below .

“How so?” I grumbled back, not wanting to admit this particular vamp was intelligent enough to have evaded us thus far. We were the best hunters the London coven had in its arsenal and we were still chasing our tails.

“The cities he's targeted all have a high population of supernaturals as well as humans.”

I think through her words, realising that they're true, but why would that matter to a sadistic vampire on a feeding spree? I wondered.

“It's clever because they can use the multitude of scents to mask their own.” Tilly continued explaining, forcing me to consider her reasoning.

Vampire's smelt more strongly of iron compared to humans, whereas witches smelt more like lightning during a storm thanks to their magic’s affiliation with the earthly elements. Then there were the ancient creatures who smelled of things long gone.

If our prey was indeed using other Supernaturals to hide, then what was the point of their killing spree? None of what they did made much sense to me, it was like they’re following a set of rules we didn’t understand. From the locations, to the amount of bodies they left behind… even their victim's had all been different.

The sun had set hours ago but the moon was hiding behind the thick clouds and York was bustling. Warm-bloods and cold-blooded alike flocked here in their hundreds, drawn by the two universities, the picturesque city or—in the case of the supernaturals— the ley-line that ran right through the ancient city.

Twelve droll bell tones rang out over the city as the Minister bells tolled midnight and I adjusted myself on the roof edge, not that I needed to—being almost dead and all— but the human habit of shuffling was hard to lose. Moving my bent knees from side to side I found myself on edge. Normally I loved this time of night; in the countryside it was peaceful and safe, with nothing more than god’s own creatures out hunting.

But in the cities, I’d found it was when life was at its messiest and most chaotic. In the country witches held moonlit rituals, whilst the leftover demons and Fae from ages past came out to play. However here in the city even the humans reacted differently in the dark; everything fun seemed to happen under the blanket of night.

Smirking, I looked down at the club opposite wondering what other creatures mingled inside with the unsuspecting humans. Leaning forward a little more whilst still keeping myself cloaked in the shadows, I watched as another small group of friends joined the line, shivering in the early October air.

We'd tracked this particular rogue down from Scotland, following the bodies they’d left behind. Always finding ourselves one fucking step behind. Not even knowing if the rogue was male or female. They'd been here in York for the last couple of days and had already left at least one student's body floating in the river and had abducted another.

Luckily the human police believed she’d simply fallen in the river and broken her neck while drowning, not looking any deeper. The police also hadn’t yet connected her death to the others that had been plaguing the North of the UK. We had no clue how long this particular vampire had been running riot, but recently they’d grown messier. Leaving the corpses without attempting to cover up their attacks, meaning that they’d succumbed to bloodlust, an affliction all Vampires tread carefully to avoid. It was when the taste of blood or the thrill of the hunt and kill over-ruled all rational thoughts.

"How long have you been watching?" Tilly asks, breaking into my dark thoughts, nodding towards the club.

Glancing over I noticed she'd once again dressed to impress with a low cut barely there black top, skin tight black jeans and soft suede heeled ankle boots. How she walked in them, let alone was able to fight, was beyond me but she managed. Her make-up was flawless; dark smokey eyes that drew you in, deep purple lipstick that would no doubt match her razor sharp nails. Tilly was one of the best, needing only her speed and fingernails to kill those of us that broke the laws.

I'd been lucky enough to meet Tilly almost three hundred years ago when she’d found me stumbling around Edinburgh trying not to starve or break any of the laws. My maker had abandoned me, a newly turned vampire, with the excuse that I'd disappointed him somehow. No other explanation, the fucking wanker. If it hadn't been for her I would probably be dead, well I mean really dead by now.

Tilly had found me and taken me into her coven for safety and training. However that didn't mean I trusted her completely. I'd learnt that lesson over and over and now I trusted no one but myself.

"About an hour now." I replied.

"Why?"

"It's the busiest club in the city, if he's going to hunt anywhere it'll be here." I said with determination, which was one thing she never questioned about me. I knew how to hunt the most depraved of our kind, her coven had made sure of that. Turning me from a stumbling newborn into a fierce killing machine.

I was watching the busy nightclub across from me when it hit me! It was intoxicating, a scent like no other. Ancient and floral but with the hint of something else; it was mouth watering as my fangs itched to descend and saliva filled my mouth.

Gazing down at the club line I tried to figure out what it could be as it clouded my mind, distracting me from the prey I was supposed to be seeking.

"What is it, Adrina?" Tilly asked as I leaned even further forward, "are they here?"

"No, something else." I muttered barely hanging on to any rational thoughts as my fangs elongated, digging into my bottom lip, while I searched for whatever the hell smelt so damn good.

Below our perch the line kept moving with more and more people heading inside, as others came outside to smoke or go home. My eyes narrowed on the newest group to have joined the end of the line. Four women. Three of them looked young enough to be new students, except the tallest of them, she looked older.

She kept a little distance between herself and the other three as her long dirty blond hair drifted in the wind. One of the others kept leaning back talking to her, but I couldn't hear what they were saying from up here, even with my sensitive hearing. Frowning I continued to stare, drawing Tilly's attention to the small group.

"Dina what’s going on?" she asked, staring down at the women below.

"I don't know." I answered honestly, surprised that she’d used my preferred nickname rather than trying to rile me up.

"When was the last time you got laid?" she suddenly burst out, making me look at her in shock. Tilly knew almost everything about me and she knew that I didn't casually have sex often like a lot of our kind did.

"What has that got to do with anything?" I muttered grumpily at her, my brows drawing together.

"Well, with the way your scent just changed, I'd say a lot." She laughed before turning her attention back to the street below. "Hmmm, that's strange," she stated, drawing my eyes back down, but I couldn't see anything different.

"What is?" I asked, taking the damn bait.

"They’re all women." She pointed out before breaking into hysterical giggles as the bouncer let them inside Club Salvation and they disappeared.

Other than the small blip earlier, the night was passing much the same as others had recently, me and Tilly sitting like statues, waiting and watching. We knew the bastard was in the city somewhere, one of Tilly’s contacts had predicted their arrival and the killing of their first victim. That’s one of the problems with Seerers; they only saw what “fate” allowed them to see, so they never got the full picture. I’d just settled in for a long night of nothing, when Bam! It stole through the night, that fucking mouth watering scent. I stiffened as it filled the air and automatically rose up on alert.

On the street below stood the older woman from earlier, her dirty blonde hair wafting in the wind that carried her scent up to our perch, as she glanced one way then the other. The woman stretched, shaking her head as if to clear it, before walking off down the street towards the nearest bridge that would cross into the city centre.

Why is she alone? I wondered before I could stop myself. Why am I even bothered? I berated myself.

“Dina?” Tilly broke into my thoughts as I leaned even further over the edge of the building without realising what I was even doing.

This isn’t like me, I scold myself before glancing at Tilly’s green eyes, shuddering at the concern I see reflected there.

“She’s human Adrina,” Tilly states.

“I know Tilly but…” However, there is no but, she’s human, her life would be but a blip in my existence. I’d seen far too many Vampires go berserk after losing their human companions, if they didn’t kill them while trying to turn them. I’d sworn to myself a long time ago that I wouldn’t condemn another to my own fate. I should let her go, let her disappear into the night and forget all about her, but her scent swirls around me again and I can’t think straight.

“Dina, just go,” Tilly says, resigned to the fact that one way or another I was going to follow that scent, “get the little human out of your system, I’ll finish up here tonight.”

That was all I needed as I nodded and jumped off the side of the building, falling down the four storeys and landing lightly on the pavement before stepping out of the shadows.

I followed the human’s scent like a bloodhound as it wound through the City. Street after street my focus was unwavering as my mind tried to place that ancient flower she smelt of. I’d never, in over three hundred years, been attracted to another woman, until now. I could feel my desire coursing through me, as I let her scent invade my nostrils more and more until I could taste her on my tongue.

What the hell is wrong with me? I scold myself again, walking down another deserted street behind York Saint John university.

Turning right I follow the scent of… Gardenia, that’s what she smells of , my mind suddenly supplies as I drag in another lungfull of the sweet and zesty fragrance that’s slowly disappearing from the air. Letting my nose guide me I walk past door after door until I’m standing, facing a nondescript blue one. The scent of Gardenias is stronger here than anywhere else on the streets so far and I knew, without a doubt, that my unwitting prey was just behind this door.

Itching to see her again my hand presses into the wood, aching to push harder and break down the pathetic barrier between me and her. But I pause, knowing that would make me a monster, just like the ones I hunted.

Would I really violate her privacy, like mine had been violated all those years before?

Memories try to rise up of that night so long ago, but I shove them back down to the depths in which that night belonged.

NO! I couldn’t do that to another, no matter how much I wanted to see her again. Forcing myself away from the door I glance up and down the street, making sure no one is watching from the dark windows before launching myself up onto her roof. Where I perch until the morning sun rises, tinting the sky a pale pink.

Just before I’m about to leave my perch the door below opens, and out walks the human woman who’d unwittingly captured my attention. Her long dirty blonde hair is now scraped back in a high ponytail that looks painfully tight and the jogging outfit hugs her curves leaving nothing to my imagination as I stare down at her. I watch the blood rushing through her veins, just below her creamy skin and everything about her screams breakable to me as every protective instinct I have goes on full alert. She takes off jogging down the deserted street and I follow, intrigued to see what she’s up to, it’s barely five in the morning.

Where are you going pretty lady? I wonder, following along the rooftops.

She ran for over an hour, forcing me to stalk behind her on the street as she ran down along the river, following its winding path back towards the city.

She’s crazy, I think to myself, wondering if she’d heard of the student who was still missing. Why would she want to run here, alone? I asked myself, as the trees and grass morphed back into the grey, overbearing buildings of the city centre. Birds chirped happily, their songs in tune with the early morning sounds of the city waking up. Before she looped back around through the empty old university campus and we arrived back on her street of terraced houses. She pauses, breathing hard, her chest rising and falling with each inhale as she stretches out her muscles, resting her hand against her house.

The sweet scent of gardenias floats across the street to me, as if the breeze itself is playing with my tenuous self-control. I should have left her hours ago, Tilly was going to be fuming, but I couldn’t find it in myself to leave the strange beauty before me.