Seduced by the Vampire King

Gun still tight in his grip, he dragged himself on his forearms, pulling the dead weight of his body toward a gravel path that ran alongside the building. His muscles screamed, sweat stung his eyes and his gasping breath scorched his throat. A thirst more intense than any he’d ever felt made his tongue feel thick and his fangs ache.

As the building’s shadow covered him, Nikolai could move no more. He hoped the kingdom he’d refused to lead these long months would survive the succession crisis his death would leave behind.

Regrets. Oh, so many regrets.

Bitter cold bent his bones until he was sure they would snap. He shivered, sending his teeth and fangs clattering against one another. How wonderful it would be to have the warmth and companionship of a mate right now.

He had not strength enough to even chide himself for the thought.

A black fog descended, stealing first his sight, then his hearing. Tortured thoughts remained to the end until, mercifully, they too faded to nothing. Just like him.

Chapter Two

One question kept repeating itself in Kate Bordessa’s mind: What the hell am I doing here?

She stuffed her gloved hands in the pockets of her parka and ducked her face against the cold night air. It was one-thirty in the morning and the street was empty, except for her. Unanswered questions and a sense of anxiety had kept her awake until she’d finally given up on sleep, thrown on some clothes and hopped the underground metro at the university. She thought walking around Red Square and seeing the cathedrals, palaces and towers there would cheer her, would remind her why she had come to study in Moscow. But not even the vivid colors of Saint Basil’s or the festively lit outline of the GUM department store had made her feel any less like something wasn’t right.

So she’d walked, hoping physical fatigue would drive away the unfounded anxiety. Though she remained firm on the reason she’d fled the States—her parents wanted a destiny for her she could never accept—Kate couldn’t escape the restlessness that always left her feeling she wasn’t doing something she was supposed to do. Under the surface, a sense of unease, as if she’d forgotten an important appointment or a commitment, nagged at her. In quiet moments, a gloom of foreboding descended over her, setting her heart to racing and making her momentarily sure some tragedy had unfurled—and she might’ve stopped it.

It was all making her crazy. And homesick. Maybe it was her looming birthday that was causing her unease. Though you wouldn’t think turning twenty-one would be traumatic.

Pausing at an intersection, Kate swept her gaze in a circle around her. The can of mace in her pocket boosted her confidence to be out here, but a woman still had to stay aware of her surroundings. Finally, the light changed and she tugged her hood snug to her face as she crossed the street. Shops, businesses and office buildings gave way to apartment buildings. She didn’t know this neighborhood well, but she was familiar enough with the city after living here for five months to be certain if she kept going a few blocks, she’d come to a metro stop on the line she needed. Hell, maybe she’d even pass the closest one and keep walking until the one after.

A couple tucked against each other passed her on the sidewalk. Their low voices and laughs heightened her loneliness, unleashing a deep-seated fear she’d never find that sense of belonging others seemed to develop so effortlessly. It was as if she was a square peg in the round hole of life. Never had a boyfriend. Barely been kissed. Parents urging her to join them in something she couldn’t fathom. And the closer it got to her birthday next Friday, the more acute all these confusing, ridiculous feelings became. It was almost as if a clock was ticking down to…something? What, she just didn’t know.

Suddenly, her scalp prickled and the hair on her neck and arms rose. Her stomach clenched and flip-flopped. What the hell?

Sure someone was stalking her, Kate shook her hood off and whirled, but the street was empty. Still, the ominous feeling was so convincing, it took every ounce of willpower to restrain her desire to run..

Finally, she stopped trying to resist, and broke out into a jog, relief flooding into her when the squat red M of the metro came into view up ahead. Gloved hand grasping the mace, she passed one apartment building, then another,.

“Shit.” Her ankle twisted off the edge of a broken curb she hadn’t noticed. Thankfully, the height of her boot prevented her from rolling it enough to cause a sprain. Damn thing still hurt, though. She paused and leaned a hand against the corner of the building, her exhalations fogging on the cold air.

Take a freaking breath, Kate.

She rotated her foot and stretched her ankle, reassuring herself it was fine. She just needed to go home and go to bed. Everything would look better in the morning.

The breeze kicked up and…Kate froze. What was that smell? Something spicy and warm. She couldn’t begin to place it, but all at once she forgot her panic. Swallowing the saliva pooling on her tongue, she inhaled more of that enticing smell like a lioness scenting the most delicious meal on the wind. She looked up at the apartments, but everything was dark. Behind her, the street remained empty. To her left, a driveway disappeared into darkness…

And the darkness concealed the source of that scent.

She wasn’t sure how she knew it, but she did.

One step. Another. Lured into the darkness. By something that called to her very soul, that appealed to her on a primal level. She had to…what? She wasn’t sure. Find it? See it?

Taste it.

The urges were so instinctual she didn’t even think about questioning them.

Shaking off the odd haze, Kate removed her smartphone from her jeans pocket and woke up the screen to provide a bit of light. A series of selections turned on her flashlight application and cast a brighter, broader illumination.

Boots. The first thing she saw was a pair of big black boots.

She gasped so hard and unexpectedly, the cold hurt her throat.

The man attached to those boots was huge, unmoving, and facedown in the dirt and stones of the driveway.

Without question, he was the source of the scent.

* * *

She had the oddest sensation of being sucked through a tunnel, or of seeing her life replayed in fast-forward behind her eyes. And, either way, the end led her here. To this moment. To this alley. To this man.

Weeks and months of foreboding and worry and dread all culminated right here.

Pomogite mne. Help me.

At the sound of the distant voice, Kate spun, wielding her flashlight phone like a weapon and shining the light around. “Who’s there?” But the alley was otherwise empty.

Trembling, she cut the glow back to the man and scanned his body with it. Blood soaked through the dark fabric of his pants on his right thigh. A lot of blood. A hole tore through his coat near his right shoulder. Long strands of blond hair peeked out from underneath a black knit cap.

She stepped to the other side of him, the dull ache of her ankle forgotten, and crouched near his head. Her light shined on the side of his face, but between his position and the cap she couldn’t make out much except… “Oh, shit.”

Blood coated his jaw, neck and the arm he’d collapsed on, and it had dripped to the ground beneath him, not soaking in but pooling on the frozen surface. Heart in her throat, she gingerly peeled back the lapel of his coat. Her stomach turned. His neck was literally torn apart.

Thoughts shot through her brain in a rapid-fire barrage. Is he alive? Oh, God, he’s gotta be dead. Could the shooter still be here? That blood…that freaking blood is what I smell. But how? Help him. Help him!

Kate dialed 03 on her phone and waited, eyes still on the man’s form, trying to discern movement. Gently, she laid her hand on the middle of his back. There! Her hand felt the soft rise and fall her eyes couldn’t perceive.

Relief rushed through her.

The operator answered in Russian, inquiring about the nature of her emergency and her location, and Kate had never been more glad for her fluency in the language. “I found an unconscious man. I think he’s been shot. He’s bleeding really badly from his neck and leg.”

“Did you see the shooting? Is the shooter still in the area?”

She whipped her gaze to the right, then the left. All remained silent and still, except her. But what if whoever did this was hiding? Watching her. Watching him. Rage shot up Kate’s spine, almost stealing her breath. She was nearly disoriented by the emotion’s intensity and unexpectedness. No one will hurt him again. Dizziness threatened at the bizarre thought. She shook her head and struggled to be present in the moment. “Uh, no. I…I didn’t see anything. And I don’t think anyone else is here.”

The dispatcher fired off a stream of questions Kate did her best to answer. At the woman’s suggestion, she yanked off a glove and sacrificed it to the cause of applying pressure to his neck wound.

Anything to help him.

She turned down the offer to stay on the line until the ambulance arrived. The flashlight feature drained her cell battery quickly and it was already running low.

Nuzhna pomoshch′. Need help.

Kate fumbled her cell phone at the reappearance of the voice. Her nerves were just frayed. That’s what it was. Must be. There was no one else here.

She set her phone on the ground next to them, light shining where she was working on his neck, and blew out a breath that failed to calm. “Come on, mister. Hang in there. Help’s on its way.”