Vampiric Nights

Frankie Belleville

VAMPIRIC NIGHTS All Hallow’s Eve

BY

FRANKIE BELLEVILLE www.VenusPress.com

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The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal, and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, places, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

VAMPIRIC NIGHTS Copyright © 2006 by Frankie Belleville ISBN: 1-59836-392-1 Cover Art © 2006 by TLW & Ravencrest Images All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form without permission, except as provided by the U.S. Copyright Law. Printed and bound in the United States of America. For information, you can find us on the web at www.VenusPress.com

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Dedication:

To my husband, who continues to inspire me to greater heights.

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Chapter One

Lightning shattered the pitch-black night as a howling wind rising from the rocky black-cliff shore tore at her thick wool cloak. She ran through the pouring rain and over the uneven slopes of Irelands’ soft grassy hills above the dark, crashing sea. Cold seeped into her body, chilling her to the core. Her fiery red hair was thrown around her face. She couldn’t keep the hood on her head if she tried, but at that point, she didn’t even care. Fear tore a path through her heart like a thick ravaging fire. For three mooncycles now, her town had been hit by a plague that she could not cure. No herbs lessoned their fever. No amount of prayers brought the color back to their face. No spell that she could find or think of spared them or those around them. She did not understand the disease enough to know how it was spread. She could protect the unaffected no better than she could the sick and dying. Within days of awaking pale, fevered, and listless, they were dead. But this night, the night of All Hallow’s Eve, as she was preparing the spells to protect the innocent from the will of the spirits passed on, and as she prepared the rites for the feast of farewell to the loved ones who had died the year previous, a call had come on the wind. A chill had run through her filled with dark foreboding. The spirits of the earth cried to her in fear and desperation. The soul of the rains pounding against the shutters of her small hut outside of the scattered little town wailed to her, begging her to flee. One who she had thought was dead, whom she had pronounced to the entire town as having died from the plague, had come back from where they had buried her in the earth. Everyone was in terrified shock, herself included. Fallon blinked the rain from her big brown eyes, pulling her belted cloak tighter around her, even soaked though it was. How was it possible? She shook her head. She had no idea. This was well beyond her understanding. She doubted seriously that even the crone, her predecessor, would have known more. Her mother had been from the village where she had grown up. She had no idea who her father was. Her mother had died before she had told anyone. That was a secret 5

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that had died with her on the birthing bed. The crone was her grandmother, though the woman would never acknowledge it. For reasons unknown to Fallon, the two of them had not gotten along. But the old woman had been kind and generous, as she’d raised Fallon to replace her when she died. She was the local herb witch, and as the herb witch, she was respected, though had never made friends with anyone but one girl, Fionna. It had broken her heart when Fionna had died. But to see her best friend rise from the dead was a terrifying thing and had shattered Fallon’s tiny world. Fionna was no longer the same beautiful, carefree woman she had been before she had died. She was pale and silent now, with a cruel twist to her once radiant smile. Her pale hair was dim. Her skin was nearly transparent. Her eyes were the only things that continued to hold any luster. They shot with a fire of fury that Fallon, her best friend, had never seen before. There were whispers of mythological creatures, beings from legends that had never reached their isle except through the tongues of foreign travelers. Bloodsuckers. That’s what the townspeople were saying in scared, hushed tones. Bloodsuckers had arrived and were taking their people and remaking them into a legion of more of the ilk. Fallon didn’t believe in the tales, but she wasn’t discounting them either. What she had seen in the past few moon-cycles defied any other explanation that she had. The only thing she could think to do was to go to Kegan Mckie, the Scottish Highlander that had settled in the old stone manor at the peak of the peninsula. He was a quiet man with an inner strength that comforted her. He had come into town on more than one occasion, seeking her out as she gathered herbs. They would talk for long candle marks about many things. She did not know why he had been banished from his clan, but she knew that he was a good man. And he had said that if she ever came across the weird and unexplained, to seek him out so that he could help. That was the only thought that was running through her mind. He might know something of these creatures. He might know how to defend themselves against them. She was out of ideas and had no other idea where to go. The manor came into view, a dim light against the pitch-black sky of the stormridden night. She propelled her legs to travel faster, nearly tripping over rain-drenched kirtle and tunic, which hung heavily from her shoulders. Her cape was no longer protecting her from the rain and it wasn’t holding in any warmth either. It was a long run down the hill to the tall stone manor. Fallon ran up the steps to the massive wooden door, rapped loudly, using the iron knocker, and stood shivering waiting for an answer. She peered out into the night as she waited in the flickering 6

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torchlight. The sea battered the cliffs relentlessly all around her. Lighting flashed nearby with an immediate and deafening booming crash of thunder. The energy of the storm frightened her. It was not the usually calm and healing song of a storm. The tone was harsh and full of anger as if something had angered the gods very few of them bothered to worship anymore. The smell of the sea, which had always comforted her before, now stung her nostrils with a sharp bitterness that made her turn up her nose. She hugged closer to the solid wall behind her and shivered uncontrollably. What was happening? The door opened and warmth beckoned for one moment before a tall man with long black hair, dark eyes, and a richly embroidered ebony tunic and trousers stepped into the small opening. He raised an imperial eyebrow and asked her a question in a language she did not understand. She frowned up at him. “Kegan Mckie, Le do thoil.” He twisted his lips in displeasure before he closed the door on her. Long moments passed as she shivered on the doorstep before the door was opened again and Kegan stood, staring at her in surprise. “Cad é mar tá tu?” he asked in Gaelic, his voice low and his green eyes filled with concern as he asked how she was. “Tá mé go maith,” she answered, her voice quivering to voice the lie in her words as she told him that she was well. A dark frown furrowed his pale forehead. His long blonde hair fell over his shoulder as he grabbed her arm and pulled her inside. “You lie,” he said simply, his eyes boring into hers. “What has happened?” She licked her lips and folded her arms over her chest to bring some semblance of warmth into her body. The manor was warmer than outside, but she was in no way warmed. “Two days ago, we buried Fionna.” “Your friend,” he murmured softly. “The fair one?” She nodded. Now that she was here, her mind felt hazy and muddled as if it were floundering in a mud-bog. “She’s—” Fallon stopped, closing her eyes as her body started shivering harder, whether from cold or from fear, she wasn’t entirely clear. She looked up into his strong and caring face. “She’s alive, Kegan.” Something flared in his eyes but was quickly dampened. He nodded and took in a deep breath. He looked over her head and said, “Bram, please go into town and fetch her.” 7

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Fallon turned and saw the dark man who had answered the door nod with respect before heading further into the manor. She turned to Kegan. “You said that if there was anything—” He nodded and hushed her with a hand. He grabbed her arms and rubbed them, his frown turning into more of a look of concern. “You’re freezing.” “The storm is angry,” she said, her voice unsteady through the shivering. He nodded. “Come. Lets see if there’s anything you might be able to wear that is warm and dry.” They walked toward a broad staircase and headed up the stairs, his blue and green kilt swinging with his stride. A strange sort of sad and heart-piercing music floated to her ears. She looked at him. “Do you have guests?” He nodded and took in a deep breath. “Your timing is not the greatest.” “I’m sorry, Kegan, but I had no idea where else to go.” He nodded with understanding, ushering her down a long, cold dark corridor banked on both sides with doors. “I want you to lock the door behind you,” he said softly. “My guests…would take too much interest in you for my liking.” Fallon nodded. Ireland was in a state of unrest. The Irish chieftains were distant, and other people from other countries had their eyes on conquering their small, rocky island. The people of Ireland were safe as long as they kept their noses low and their hands in the soil. After Trevor, a sailor from another land, who had taken quite the fancy to Fallon after stopping in their town for two fortnights, Kegan was very protective of her. He had caught the man taking her virginity against her will. It wasn’t something that Fallon wished to think long about, but she was, however, eternally grateful for his protection. A door opened up the hall and a tall, slender, eloquent woman with a cascade of dark brown curly hair pulled up artistically around her aristocratic face, stepped into the hall. Her gown was unlike any Fallon had ever seen before. It was green and shiny, and flowed well to her figure. The sleeves were long, trailing to the floor, and was belted at the waste with a gold and heavily gemmed girdle. Kegan was pushing Fallon into the room, doing his best to ignore the other woman. The woman turned and bestowed them with a smile after a moment of quiet contemplation. Her skin was smooth, dark, and supple. Her small brown eyes were heavily lined by kohl and her lips were full and heavily rouged.

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“Kegan,” she called out with a voice that held an odd accent. The woman grabbed hold of Fallon’s stunned gaze and held it captive as she gracefully sashayed down the hall. “Why do you run from me, my love?” Kegan took in a deep breath, his expression dark. His jaw tightened as he clenched his teeth. “Azadeh,” he said stiffly. He leaned down and whispered fiercely in Fallon’s ear, “Get into the room and lock the door. You will find dry clothes in the chest.” Fallon shook herself and started to turn until she felt the soft presence of a hand on her arm. She turned back towards the exotic and captivating woman, and stepped back into the protective presence of Kegan’s chest. With this woman so close to her, she felt like prey. She swallowed and blinked several times as Azadeh’s lips lifted slightly in an almost feral manner. Azadeh looked up at Kegan and said something in a language Fallon didn’t understand, but the tone was haughty and her expression stated that she found something deliciously intriguing. Kegan answered her harshly and pushed Fallon through the doorway. Azadeh reached out and grasped Fallon’s arm, holding her with a strength Fallon would never have guessed the woman had. Fallon gasped in surprise and pain. The cold was almost forgotten as she stared at the woman in front of her. Terror warmed her as she tried to wrestle her arm out of the other woman’s long, red-talon hand. “I lay claim to her,” Azadeh said in Gaelic, her lips twisting in an ugly sneer. “You will not,” Kegan answered, grabbing her wrist as he attempted to break her hold. Azadeh threw her head back and laughed evilly. “Do you see how weak you are, lover?” His gaze rolled away into the dark recesses of the corridor. “I am not your lover,” he growled. “Not anymore,” she said, stepping closer to him and bringing her mouth close to his ear. “You will be again and soon.” “No, witch,” Kegan said, staring the woman down. “You will not feed properly. You will not kill. You will grow too weak, and then I will be forced to give you succor once again.” He shook his head.

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She stepped back, blinking slowly, seductively. “I will have you one way or another. I will have you dying and once again in my bed or I will have you strong and virile, a proper warrior and protector at my side. You can decide.” “I would rather die than to lie with you again.” Azadeh stopped and pierced him with an apathetic look. She nodded slowly, tight curls on either side of her face swaying with the motion. “But would you prefer that she were dead?” “Woman,” he growled, taking her hand and ripping it from Fallon’s arm. “You go too far.” She stepped closer to Fallon and gently sniffed then backed away with a smug smile on her perfect face. “She will serve me well.” “I will not allow you to lay claim to her.” “Either you will, or you will lay claim to her yourself.” Kegan’s breath came out harshly as he swore under his breath. “Guh nih-heh on cot hoo iss guh nih-heh on jowel on cot.” Azadeh just smiled at him and tipped her head. “So, my love, what will it be?”

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Chapter Two

Kegan was silent for a long moment, his chest rising and falling in visible anger. His jaw clenched. He bowed his head slightly, taking Fallon’s arm in his hand. “I will lay claim to her before I will allow you to do so.” Azadeh raised one regal brow and took a dignified step back, crossing her lithe arms over her chest. “I would see this.” “I need to talk—” “I would see this now,” she said firmly. He stared at her, a yellow light shooting through his green eyes. “I will speak to her first.” “Speak then,” Azadeh countered, gesturing with her hand. “I await the proceedings.” Kegan turned so that his body was between the two women. He grasped Fallon’s arms and stared deep into her eyes. Fallon felt fear leap into her breast. “M’lord,” she whispered. “What have I gotten myself into this night?” He let out a breath and gently rubbed her arms. He closed his eyes and bent his head until his forehead touched hers. “I would have you trust me, Fallon,” he whispered to her, his breath fluttering against her lips as he captured her gaze. “Trust you?” she asked softly. “Of course, but—“ He placed one finger across her lips and shook his head. “I am waiting,” Azadeh called softly. “One moment, woman,” Kegan growled. He turned his attention back to Fallon. “Know that after what I am about to do there will be no going back. I cannot undo what I am about. Your friends will be lost to you. Your family. All must be forgotten.” “I have no family, Kegan,” Fallon said softly. A violent shiver tore through her body, reminding her that she was freezing. “You know this.”

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He nodded, his gaze holding hers. He closed his eyes again and held her in his arms, burying her in weak warmth. “Everything you have ever known, you will have to leave behind.” “I don’t understand, Kegan,” she said, pulling away to look up into his face. “It’s quite simple, m’dear,” Azadeh said, stepping into Fallon’s vision. She ran one long-nailed finger down Fallon’s cheek like a morbid caress. “Either you allow him to claim you and possibly live or you allow me to claim you, in which case, you will die.” “And Fionna?” he asked harshly, turning Fallon away from Azadeh’s reach. “What of her?” “A means to an end, lover,” she said cruelly with an ugly smile. “A means,” her smile slipped into something more subtle as she eyed Fallon and allowed her dark gaze to travel up to Kegan’s again, “to an end.” “You will not have me, woman,” Kegan said harshly. “I will not allow it.” “Oh, but, my dear,” she said sweetly, her eyes belying her intent, “I already have you.” “Kegan,” Fallon whispered into his chest. “What is she talking about? Please tell me what is going on.” He held one large hand to the back of her head, pressing her cheek into his chest reassuringly. He looked up and into the room behind her. “You will die if I do not do this, Fallon. Please know this. While this life is painful and full of misery, I cannot wish you dead.” “That is one reason why you should never grow too fond of the food source, love,” Azadeh said, stepping away and leaning against the wall beside them. All the beauty was stripped from her face as she snarled. “Get on with it or I will.” Kegan took in a deep breath, continuing to hold her close. “Remember that day when you called the storm?” he asked softly. Fallon nodded. “Yes.” “I need you to find your center, as if you were calling that storm. Do you understand?” “Not wholly, no.” He pulled away and held her face in his hands. “You will, and afterward, you will hate me as surely as anything. But know that I cannot willingly condone your death.” She nodded. “Kegan, please, tell me what is going on.” He shook his head and closed his eyes, pointing his face skyward.

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Fallon closed her eyes as she felt a pull of energy from her soul to his. In surprise, she attempted to pull back. His hands tightened around her face, holding her steadily in place. “Do not fight me, Fallon. Trust me.” “Kegan, please,” she cried. She felt her soul loosening, felt a small part of it leaving, though where it went, she had no idea. “Kegan,” Azadeh warned. “What are you about?” As Fallon stood there, her face surrounded by well-calloused hands, she felt that part of her that had been taken replaced…by something else, something foreign. “Kegan,” Azadeh screamed. “What are you about?” Kegan let go of Fallon and stared at her with concern. “Are you all right?” Fallon didn’t quite know for certain if she was or was not all right. She didn’t feel all right. She felt as though there was something foreign inside of her, some piece of him that was imbedded in her soul, and her body and mind were fighting it as if it were the devil. Her knees buckled. Kegan grasped her arms and pushed her toward the wall. Azadeh was standing next to him, her face filled with fury. “What have you done, you stupid little boy?” “I have claimed her,” he said softly. “As you have taught me.” “That was not what I taught you,” Azadeh said, her voice soft and full of deadly dread. “You were supposed to take her blood and claim her blood as your own. What you have done is for the ancients, not a lowly boy like yourself.” “It was how you claimed me,” he said just as quietly, turning only his face toward the other woman. “Is it not?” “I am an ancient, and now you do this to her?” Azadeh shook her head, her eyes lost in inner turmoil. “The gift I gave you, the gift of my soul…” “Has been revoked,” Kegan finished for her with a slight twisted smile of his own. “I am no longer your pet, though your life force burns through my veins. Would I could but change that, I most certainly would.” Azadeh stared up at him with horrified grief. “You were my chosen, Kegan, my warrior, my love.” “I was nothing more than a challenge.” Azadeh stepped back as if she had been slapped. “Do not say this.”

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“I was nothing to you, nothing more than a bet, and my entire life was taken from me, my family, my friends, and my home. All because you needed a new toy, a new hobby, someone new to break and to hone to your will. I will not have it.” “You were mine,” she cried through a throat clogged by tears. Fallon watched the two of them and heard their words as if they were speaking from far away. Her eyes were beginning to lose their ability to focus. Her ears could no longer grasp what they were saying. “I am no longer yours,” Kegan said, his voice piercing the confusion trampling Fallon’s consciousness. “In truth, I never was.” Fallon felt herself being moved, but as the world around her shrank to two black pinpoints, she had no concept of where she was. She could hear voices inside of her mind. She was seeing people she had never met, people from strange places that looked foreign and dressed wildly different. She listened to conversations as they ran through her mind and understood languages, so many different languages, understanding them all. “Fallon,” Kegan said from far, far away. She was staring at a land so dry there were no trees, a land so hot that the earth had turned to sand that could not be held to one place but drifted on a moon-swept breeze. “Fallon, please,” Kegan said again, though his voice sounded as if it might be closer. She stood on a mountainside, rocks jutting from the earth all around her. Her heart was heavy as she listened to a lone bagpipe wail its sorrow in the dark star-glistened distance. Farewell, my son, she heard a soft voice say. She felt searing hands upon her arms as she was shaken forcefully. She opened her eyes and groggily took in the scene around her. Kegan knelt in front of her, staring at her in fear and concern. She frowned at him. “Whatever is wrong, m’lord?” she asked. “I need you to stay rooted to this world, Fallon,” he said slowly and firmly, taking her hands and rubbing them. She closed her eyes with a slight smile, her head falling back against the chair. “But I do not think I want to.” “Please, Fallon, choose one language in which to speak.” “But I am,” she said with a chuckle, opening her drunken eyes just far enough to glimpse his worried face. “No, you are not.” 14

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She rolled her eyes and closed her lids again, watching a world she had never known. There were pale mountains in the distant background and a strange horse-like creature before her, though it was much taller and had a longer neck, and its back was strangely malformed to create two large lumps. Her eyes shot open with discontent to see that Kegan was lightly slapping her cheek and calling her name. “What is it that you wish?” she asked testily. “I need you stay in the here and now, Fallon, please,” he beseeched. She shook her head. “But these things that I am seeing, these places…” She shook her head and trailed off. “They are intriguing.” “This is indeed true, but I need you to stay with me. Do not allow them to take you away.” “Why did you give them to me, if you were not going to allow me to keep them?” she demanded. He sighed. “What is that you see?” he asked, taking her hands and staring up at her. She smiled and shook her head. “I cannot describe it. I see a dry land of sand. I see a strange beast with humps on its back. I see trees that do not make sense.” He frowned. “Those memories are not mine, as they should be.” She looked down at him with a drunken smile. “Your memories?” “Indeed.” He tipped his head. “It appears that you have been given her memories.” “Azadeh’s?” He nodded. She let out a smiling breath and stretched languidly, reaching high into the air, feeling a new power course through her. “Then I am glad, for I have never felt anything like this in my life.” He looked at her in silence for a long moment. “And my memories. Do you have any of mine?” She looked at him with a slight smile. “Of Scotland and the pipes as they played your farewell?” He nodded. “That is as it should be.” A slight smile graced his perfect lips. “Then allow me to bring more of my memories into your being and allow me to share more of yours.” Her smile grew. There was a definite change in the feel of energy as it poured from him. “How do you mean to do this?” she asked. 15

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He rose up on his knees and loosened the ties to his shirt, his face drawing ever closer to hers as he murmured against her lips, “You will soon find out, love. You will soon find out.”

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Chapter Three

Fallon was lost to a world she did not understand. However, she wasn’t entirely unhappy with it. She felt a glorious freedom that she had never experienced before. Her entire being called out for release. Her soul reached for the life energy of the world around her and grasped the wild power from the joining of the earth to the ethereal plane. She had never experienced the pull of power like this before, even on All Hallow’s Eve when the power that she might be able to use was the strongest and most virile. She looked at Kegan as he stared into her own eyes, working the knot in her cape and pushing it away to the floor. Whatever it was that he had gifted her with had opened a door to her mind that she didn’t entirely understand. All that she knew was that she could now see energy lines as they coalesced and gathered into small pools of power around her. Her eyes wandered through the room, watching the energy stream through each living thing, the stone, the plant, the fire in the hearth, through Kegan and herself, and gather in a place not far from here. Watching the streams of energy, she could almost see through the walls. She could peer through the rocks. “Fallon,” Kegan whispered, cupping her cheek in his hand. “Stay with me. Do not allow your soul to wander.” She looked at him and tipped her head, seeing him, but not. She saw his face as though it was in shadow, streams of yellow and green light emanating from her, blinding her eyes to the physical form she should be seeing. She shook her head and looked away, watching the streams burst and bubble, as it raced like rivers to a lake. Hands grasped her face and pulled her towards his. He looked at her for a long moment, his eyes shuttered in shadow. But the energy that poured forth from him, streaming from the tips of his hair and his pores, was blinding as it overwhelmed her with a sudden flash. Streams coursed through him of red and orange and yellow, and poured into her, lighting her entire being on fire. Her head fell back as she arched into the feeling that overwhelmed her. Her stomach curdled with anticipation. Her nipples hardened in instant pleasure and as she

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opened her eyes to stare back into his, she saw passionate streamlets flowing from her soul and attaching themselves to his. He smiled and set his lips on hers, softly, demanding little. She answered him with a sigh. “Fallon,” he whispered, his breath feathering along her cheek. “I do not entirely understand what you are seeing, but I must beg you to stay with me. Ground your soul in the earth so that you do not fly away from me.” She shook her head. “I do not wish to be grounded like a tree, rooted to one place forever, unable to fly where I will it.” She fell back, his arms supporting as they encircled her waist. “I feel free, Kegan,” she whispered gloriously. “I am free to go wherever I wish and I will not let that go.” “Then ground yourself in me,” he said fiercely, a light smile playing along his lips. He kissed her from the opening of her modest kirtle and tunic up to her neck. “I am not tied to one place. Together you and I can go wherever we want.” “Oh, Kegan,” Fallon said, floating in ecstasy as though she were floating on the calm, yet ever-moving waters of the inlet. “I do not know how to come down.” “Then let me show you,” he murmured and licked a slow circle against her neck, smiling as she moaned in pleasure and tipped her head to give him freer rein. His mouth moved along her neck and face in light kisses, and as his hands fluttered like a silky caress, the ley lines that she saw encircling every living being brightened. The walls around her disappeared. She could see cold, blue and white light emanating from a crowd of beings somewhere below her. They paused in their dances and stared up at her, their eyes were pits of abysmal darkness as they glimpsed her. Then that was gone as Kegan’s hands touched her now bare shoulders like brands, warming her and touching her, as she had never been touched before. She felt honored and worshipped by his caress. His searing mouth found a willing nipple and encased it in shimmering heat. His tongue encircled it and flicked the peak, causing her to gasp in ecstatic disbelief. She arched into him and grasped his head, clutching him to her breast as if he were life itself. The lifelines of energy evaporated before her eyes. All she now saw was him, Kegan Mckie, bonder of her soul. His green and yellow energy streamed towards her in burgeoning reds and oranges as his passion intertwined with her own. She loosened the ties that stayed her tunic and pushed it hurriedly from her shoulders. Her under-tunic was wet and clung to her, refusing to be lifted from her skin. But she needed more, more of him, more of this intoxicating feeling. 18

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She ripped at the ties that kept the kirtle bound to her shoulders and pushed at it desperately. He stilled her hands, pulling away from her for a moment, staring at her with something closely akin to love. As she looked into his eyes, the lines of fiery emotion dispersed before her eyes, leaving only him, only Kegan in his magnificent physical self, and she knew what it was that he was about. He was using sex to bind her back to earth, using her body and her passionate need to bind her to him. She blinked and pulled away, dazed, stunned and confused. She clasped her kirtle together in one hand and sat up straighter in her chair. Worry and concern flooded his hard, chiseled features as he gazed upon her. “Fallon,” he murmured, pulling away to give her space. “What is wrong? Are you all right?” “What are we doing here, Kegan?” she whispered. “What is this place? What are these people? What is this magick that you have awakened in me?” Kegan took in a deep breath and sat on his feet, his knees spread wide before him and his kilt draped along the floor between them. He took off his belt and laid it on the floor beside him. “This place is a refuge for the dark people of the earth. The people are vampires, a race of beings that drink only the life’s blood and the life’s force. The magick that I awoke in you is…” He trailed off, looking away. A lock of blonde hair fell over his shoulder as he gazed about the room. “I do not understand it, Fallon. I will tell you truthfully. I only know that you were in mortal danger and I did what I thought was best to take that danger from you.” “To take that danger from me?” Fallon asked. “What danger was that? The legends of the bloodsuckers, they are true? These people are them and Azadeh wanted to make me one of them?” She was silent for a long moment. “Of you?” He bowed his head and shook it slowly before looking up at her. He rose on his knees and cupped her cheek. “Know that I did not want to be made into one of them. It was not my wish. And no, Azadeh did not wish to turn you. She wished to kill you, but only after making you her pet first.” “Why?” Fallon whispered around tears of stunned disbelief. “Because I would not come to her willingly,” Kegan said with a tone full of fervor. “I would not go to her and so she thinks to use you against me.” “Why?” she asked. “Why me?”

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“Because you are my friend,” Kegan said, his voice soft. “Because I see you as a person and because I visit you more than I would her.” Fallon turned her face away and pushed herself into the confines of the chair, hiding her face. “She is jealous of that.” He stared at her as her mind searched for a rational reason behind the events. “I’m sorry, Fallon. Indeed I am. I am sorry.” “Fionna?” she whispered, pinning him with an accusatory look. He looked away, his jaw tight. “It would appear that Azadeh created Fionna. She turned her into a vampire.” “A vampi—” Fallon stopped and looked around, her eyes filling with tears. “Oh my god, what have you brought down upon us?” Kegan grasped her knees, pulling her attention back to him. “There is one thing that I can give to you that will bring you at least a moment of respite.” She looked at him, her cheeks wet with her tears. “And what is that?” His green eyes were filled with sorrow, self-inflicted pain and grief as he reached up and grasped her face in his strong hands. “This.” His kiss was far from soft this time. It wasn’t the fettered caress that he had used before. This was wild and unbridled. This was an unleashing of buried emotions, an outlet that they both desperately needed. She cried out under his assault but did not push him away. His lips trailed along her jaw and up to her ear, encasing it in the wet warmth of his mouth. “Why, Kegan? Just tell me that? Why do you give me this?” There was so much more to “this” than a moment of release, or of a hidden respite, or a sojourn into the pits of passion. “This” had many consequences. “This” was a remembrance of her first experience not so long ago. “This” brought the possibility of children. “This” brought the public shunning of her people. But “this” was all he had to give and he hoped that it was enough. He grasped the back of her neck and slashed his mouth across hers, his teeth knocking against hers, begging her to open her mouth to his battering. The moment she did, he invaded the dark, wet recesses of her mouth with his tongue, telling her without words the depth of his desperation. Desperation to live again, to love and be loved, to be something more than the monster he had been made to be. She wrapped her arms around him and clung to him, pressing her body closer to his. She felt him raise her from the chair and lower her to the floor where several pelts had been laid down beside the strong flickering fire of the hearth. She met his assault 20

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with one of her own, though her mind screamed at her to stop, told her without doubt that this was wrong, but she could not answer her mind. Her body begged for her to follow her heart. This was the one man who saw her as a woman and as a friend. No matter the fact that he was now a legendary demon, he was once a man and at that moment, he was a man again. Without the belt, the blue and green kilt that he had wrapped around his waist fell away, covering their entwined legs like a blanket. He pulled away, leaning his weight on one arm as he trailed one hand down between her breasts, along her abdomen, skirted around her womanhood and down her legs until he reached the hem of her under tunic. His eyes held hers as he smiled softly. “Do you know how beautiful you are at this moment, Fallon?” She smiled self-consciously, her hands coming up to rest on her stomach. The hand that had been raising her dress stopped and reached up, moving her hands to the floor beside her. Her heart beat wildly in her chest as she looked at him, fear and warmth battling each other in the confines. “Ever since I first saw you in that one horrific moment, I wanted to show you the pleasures of what can happen between a man and a woman.” She shook her head, her fiery hair flung out in a damp mess around her. “Please, I really don’t want to think about that.” “I want you to know that this will not be like that.” He reached up and brushed a strand of hair from her face. “This will be about you just as much as it will be about me. If you are ever uncomfortable, I want you to tell me. If you are in pain, let me know. If you want me to stop,” he said, leveling a firm look at her, “you will tell me, for I will.” She looked at him for a long moment before nodding. “Good,” he said with an almost boyish smile, “then let me show you what I’ve wanted to show you since I first set eyes on you.”

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Chapter Four

Kegan slipped her dress from her body and left her naked before his eyes. In the firelight, she felt uncomfortable under his intense yet soft gaze. She simply lay there as he sat with his weight propped up on one elbow staring at her with a warm smile on his face. The storm raged outside the one window of the room. The heavy curtains were thrown back and the panes were open to allow in the breeze and thunder to rumble without anything barring its passage. The ocean waves crashed relentlessly against the rocks below them. That only added a slight tempest to the storm that he was building inside of her as his hand lazily traveled along her silky white skin. He held one arm up and looked at it close. “Should I count how many freckles you have?” She laughed, relaxing a little. “It would take too much time. I have too many.” “Sun kisses,” he said, feathering her arm with kisses of his own. “That’s what my mother called them.” “Was she nice, your mother?” He paused for a moment before putting her arm down and tracing patterns across her belly, making her shiver uncontrollably whenever he reached a certain spot around her hip. He smiled at her, brushed the spot again, and watched her writhe before him. “Kegan,” she whispered with a playful smile, pushing his hand away. “It tickles almost painfully.” His smile grew as he raised a single eyebrow. “Then this is good.” “I don’t see how that is,” she said, sending him a mock frown. “Does it hurt here?” he asked, touching the pocket between her hip and nether parts. “Or does it hurt here?” he asked, his fingers dipping into a region she only touched in the most businesslike of ways. This was not normal everyday washing sort of touching, however. She closed her eyes and moaned as heat coursed through her body as he touched her, his finger barely skimming over her nether lips, teasing them and heightening their sensitivity. She

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moaned and dug in her heels, pushing her womanhood closer to his fingers, begging him to stop playing. He chuckled and moved his hand away, skimming a line down the inside of one leg and back up the other. “My mother was a very fine woman, the kindest woman I’ve ever known.” “Mmm,” Fallon said mindlessly. All of her attention was on his hands. She needed his hands to come closer to her…her pussy. She’d heard a few men in the town refer to the womanhood in such a manner, and right now, it felt about right. It was so similar to a cat, like the ones that travelers would claim that the rich carried with them, demanding and needy and willful. But his hand kept skirting around it. As soon as it came close, it would move over to the other, no matter how she moved so that he might accidentally touch it. She let her hips down in frustration and kept her eyes closed. She must be repulsive to him by being so wanton, especially with her history. He’d caught her with Trevor. She shouldn’t be this receptive to the idea of sex. But she’d also heard the women of the town talk about it and, while two of them said it was the worst experience known to mankind, the rest all agreed that it was well worth the hassle of keeping a man in the house. For all the trouble he brought with him, at least he was able to give her a moment or two of pleasure. She turned her face away and licked her lips, clenching her fists tightly beside her. She had done something wrong. The crone had certainly never instructed her about what happened between a man and a woman. Fionna had said that what Trevor had done was wrong and was not the proper way that sex should be had. She had said to give it time and that she would find someone she would enjoy it with. She felt a hand grasp her chin and turn her face into the light. Kegan smiled at her when she opened her eyes. “Are you embarrassed?” She nodded. He shook his head once, a wry look in his eyes. “Don’t be. I am simply taking it slow with you so that you do not get scared. That is all.” “You are not angry with me?” she asked in a small voice. He leaned toward her, lowering his elbow so that his face was closer to hers. “Why would I be angered by you?” “For seeming to enjoy it too much,” she said, looking at his mouth and yearning to feel it against her skin, but unsure how to voice that need. “Do you think I am a whore?” 23

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He shook his head in wonder. “Why would I think that?” he asked, his fingertips grazing her cheek, turning her face towards his as his mouth descended. “You are still my friend. I know you better than I know anyone else outside of my family. I know that in here,” he said, placing his hand over her heart, “there is a woman who is begging to be freed.” “But that is wrong,” she whispered into his lips. “By whose law?” he asked and touched his lips to hers. It was far from tentative, but was not nearly as fierce as their last kiss. He guided her to open her mouth and she did. His tongue beckoned hers to follow his into the recesses of his mouth. Hesitantly, she followed, unsure of what to do or what she might find there. She found that he tasted strong and male, and the feeling of his tongue sliding against hers was almost more than she could stand. She moaned into his mouth. Her hand reached up and grasped his as it lay against her breast. She was tired of going slow. She needed more and she needed him now. He broke their kiss and mounted above her, his shirttails dancing across her skin and legs. He kicked the tartan off from around their ankles and brought his head down to her collarbone, kissing and licking a searing path to her breast. She arched into his heated caress, shoving her waiting nipple into his mouth. She moaned as he suckled like a starved man. He took her nipple lightly in his teeth and flicked the tip once. She gasped and flung her arms out, grasping at anything, clawing at the pelts beneath them, clutching and releasing them, unable to stop. He flicked it again and she pushed herself further from the floor and into his face. Her cries of passion were unbearable to contain. He wrapped his arms around her and held her in this position, her back arched and willing, her breasts thrust into his face as he knelt above her, her head thrown back in ecstasy. She did not care what he thought anymore. Every sense was pinned on what he was doing to her, the fire he building inside of her. He licked a path to the other breast and around the large, hard nipple. She moaned and muttered beneath him. And when he took it inside of his mouth and sucked, he held her tightly as she bucked under him. “Kegan,” she gasped. “I need more.” “More what?” he asked, as her breast was suddenly jerked from his mouth, as she writhed beneath him. “I don’t know,” she cried desperately. “I only know that I need more.” “Do you hurt?” he asked, setting her down on the floor. She nodded, her face filled with a passion that her body could no longer contain. 24

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“Where?” he asked, pushing off of her and lounging on his hip beside her. She opened her eyes and stared at him, afraid that she had said the wrong thing, but he was simply watching her as she writhed uncontrollably beside him, his green eyes dark with desire. She took in a deep breath of courage and grasped the hand that wasn’t holding his weight and brought it to her pussy. “Here.” He looked at her and raised his eyebrows in surprise. “All ready?” he asked. “I would have thought it would take a bit more time for that.” Her face crumbled in despair as she looked away and removed her hand. Her face flooded with humiliation. He chuckled. “But that is more than fine,” he said, his fingers pushing aside the fiery curls of her womanhood. He pressed past the lips and searched until he found her waiting pussy. His finger delved slowly into the recesses as her eyes closed in the slow torment. She released a pent-up breath and raised her hips to take in his full finger. She bucked, slowly sliding along it, her passion building inside of her uncontrollably. He pulled his finger away and touched instead a node of fire. Each time his finger passed over it, her body jumped with passion. “Kegan,” she cried, her eyes open with surprise as his finger passed over it again, this time with more pressure. “What are you—” She stopped, unable to continue as he rolled his finger around that spot in a circle. “Oh God.” “Indeed,” he said with a deep chuckle. “Spread your legs.” She was so deep in the throes of fire that she did not hear him. His other hand pulled at her knee and she opened her eyes. He looked at her and said again, “Spread your legs.” She moaned, unable to disobey his soft command. She bent her knees and spread her legs open as wide as she could, closing her eyes to better concentrate on what his hands were doing. They were able to move with a freer rein now. They delved into the far reaches of her womanhood and found a spot that nearly sent her over the top each time the tantalizingly breezed past it. Her hand shot out and grasped a hold of his, keeping it to that one spot and holding it there. He flicked it back and forth, positioning himself between her legs. He lay down on his stomach, reached underneath her and grasped her butt with his hands. “Lift yourself up to me.” Her eyes opened in surprise as she stared down at him. “What?” “Lift yourself up to me,” he said calmly with an endearing smile. “I want to taste you.” 25

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“Taste me.” She shook her head. “No. No, I don’t think so.” She grasped for his hands, attempting to pull him up. “That’s not right. I’m so sorry, but—” She couldn’t speak anymore as his hard tongue reached out and flicked the one spot that she had held his hand pinned to. Where his fingers had been hard and calloused, his tongue was strong and velvety. She fell back against the furs and a hard exhaled moan escaped from her body. “Raise yourself up to me. Make it easier for me to properly please you.” Desperate and embarrassed, she did as she had been instructed, and as soon as her womanhood was within comfortable reach, his tongue flicked again, this time touching the node. Then it licked around the base of the lips before he took her hood and clit inside of his mouth and suckled on it, flicked it with his tongue until she nearly screamed with release. She was high on the pinnacle under the relentless barrage of his mouth. But when one hand left her butt and a single finger slipped into the ready and weeping recesses of her pussy, she plummeted from the top with an instant explosion. He smiled at her as he rose. “Close your eyes.” Her eyes were only half open anyway as she lay sated and overly energized, unable to control her body as it writhed beneath him. “What?” “Close your eyes,” he said, his hands going to the neck of his shirt. “Why?” she asked. “I’ve seen a man’s member before, you know.” “But rarely erect,” he reminded her. She thought about that for a moment. “Will this hurt?” she asked. “Not if I do it right.” “Do it right?” Her voice suddenly small again as her body stilled. He let go of his shirt and rested on his elbows, his face close to hers. “You must not fear me,” he said, the smell of her passion assaulting her senses. “You must trust me. I would never knowingly hurt you. I mean only to bring you pleasure.” “And you’re asking me not to look because….” “I do not want you to be afraid.” He reached up with his fingertips and closed her eyes. “Just keep them closed until you feel me inside of you.” He rose and took his shirt off, the soft breeze as it passed above her the only inclination of its leaving. “Just relax,” he said, his finger delving inside of her, eliciting a shock of sensation coursing through her still excited body. “Do you feel that?” he asked. “You found enjoyment with my finger, but it was not what you needed. You needed the completion that you can only find with my cock.” 26

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His finger was replaced by something larger, rounder, and softer. His finger was coarse and calloused, this was smooth but hard as wood as it pushed against her womanhood. One hand trailed down her abdomen as the other guided his cock into her tight pussy. “Relax, mochrie,” he whispered, calling her beloved. “Trust me. Feel me. Let the passion build again with me.” His entrance was slow and painless. She only felt how tight she was, but that eased quickly as he entered her slowly, a tiny bit at a time. When she thought she could take no more of him inside of her, he stopped and began to pull out again. She cried out, her hands rushing to his hips to stop him. He chuckled. “I will not leave you, love. Trust me. This has only just begun.” He pulled out until even the head of his cock was released by her pulsing walls. With his hand as a guide, he found her pussy again and entered, faster this time. Her hands fell away as she raised her hips to meet him. “Kegan,” she breathed. “God.” “Not yet, m’love, mochrie. Not yet.” She felt him pull out and enter her again. She could feel the fire inside of her building faster than it had before, higher than she ever thought was possible. She cried out, more of a whimper than a moan. She needed more. That was all that she knew. He answered her call. He took shallow, faster thrusts, pushing her hips into the floor and hovering above her. The head of his cock touched a spot just inside the opening, sending her nearly over the edge. He threw his head back and grunted as he pushed inside of her, raising her hips to bury his cock deep inside her sheath. He withdrew again and slammed hard into her, forcing her to take every inch of him. Her hands flew out about her, clenching and unclenching wildly, grasping at anything she could as the fires built inside of her past the point she could control. He pulled out of her and slammed his full length inside of her again and again, his balls tapping her ass, the sound of skin slapping against skin, sweat and passion’s juice slicking their bodies. With one final thrust, he roared his completion and after a couple of smaller thrusts, she followed with a growling moan of her own.

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Chapter Five

Fallon lay in the comfort of his arms, covered only by his tartan and his body. She rested her head more comfortably on his arm and snuggled closer to his warmth. “Tell me where you came from, Kegan,” she said softly, tracing a light pattern on his arm. He was silent for a long moment, so long that she thought he had fallen asleep. “What do you want to know of it?” “In all the times that we have talked, you never told me of your family or of your home, or why it was that you are here instead of there.” He sighed deeply. “It is hard for me to think of it.” “I have told you many things that were hard for me to speak of,” she reminded him. “Now I think it is your turn. Tell me of yourself.” He slid one solidly muscled leg over hers and tucked her closer to him, hugging her close with his one free arm. “My land is not so different from this one. I come from the Highlands. It is rocky and harsh, but…” He trailed off. “It calls to me even here, as if it is a poison I can find no cure for.” “A home can do that, I suppose, especially when it is lost to you.” He nodded, resting his chin on top of her head. “I suppose.” “What of your mother? You said that she was kind.” “The kindest woman I knew of.” She smiled. “It must be nice having grown up knowing your mother.” He answered this with silence. “What of your father?” she asked softly. “He—” He stopped and paused for a long moment before continuing again. “He was a strong man. He is a strong man. He is a good leader to my people.” “He is a chieftain then?” He nodded. “Yes. Duty to his people comes first and foremost. He told me that being a leader meant that one’s own needs did not matter over the needs of those who

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followed him. His people depend on him. He must be a leader to them every waking moment of his life.” She allowed the quiet to sit between them. “I was supposed to follow in his footsteps after he died. I was supposed to be their leader upon his death. And now, he has no heir. He has a daughter, my sister, but no living sons.” “I’m sorry.” He shook his head. “Don’t be. My father is a good man and will choose another who is better than I was, to follow him.” She looked at the room in front of her. She stared at the wooden feet of the chair she had sat on when they had first entered the room and the rough table beside it. “Why did you leave?” “You mean why did he throw me out and forbid me to ever set foot in my homeland again?” She shrugged with one shoulder. “Travelers came one night,” he said softly as the fire crackled behind him. “Azadeh and her entourage. She claimed to be a princess from another land, a land of sand, and asked for my father’s hospitality. Shortly after that, a plague hit our town and our manor. My mother fell to the fever. My youngest brother followed her shortly thereafter. The people were saying that the place had been cursed because of the strangers’ arrival. My father agreed and asked them to leave.” Fallon didn’t know what to say to this, so she remained quiet, listening to the storm as its rage faltered and grew more peaceful. “Azadeh stood there with all her finery and asked him if that was truly what he wished. He was so strong and so proud.” Kegan shook his head, hugging her tighter to him. “He just stood there, his hand on his sword, his back straight, and nodded. I could see the sorrow he tried to hide behind a mask of iron will. She saw a sign of weakness.” Fallon laid her hand on top of his and squeezed. “I’m so sorry.” “Before either of us could say anything, she grabbed my sister and held her. She stared at my father and at me and demanded to be allowed to stay. My father didn’t know exactly what to do. She held no weapons that we could see. But then…something changed. She became more of an animal and when she opened her mouth, there were fangs. She said that with one bite, she would make the plague take his only daughter.” “But you said she lived.”

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“She does,” Kegan said, raising his head. “I stepped forward. Azadeh had been trying to woo me since she had arrived. She had even seduced me into her bed, and though I did not tell my father, she had laid claim to me in much the same manner that I laid claim to you. I was bound to her. It was my choice to stay or go, and I had told her that I would not leave. After my brother’s death, I did not see how I could. But I stepped forward and informed her that if she would leave, I would go with her.” Fallon blinked. She could not imagine what that must have been like for him. “She was upset with me, to say the very least. She killed me then and there. She ripped open my throat, drained my body of blood, and while my father watched, she gave me hers in return.” “So he knew that you were made into a vampire.” “How could he not?” he asked. “I did not awaken until the next full moon, but all thought I had, had been killed by the wounds she had inflicted upon my body. My father had me buried, hoping that I would stay among the dead, but when I rose I came back home, thinking that I could retake the life she had tried so hard to take from me.” “Like Fionna,” Fallon breathed. “Like Fionna.” Kegan rested his head back next to hers and sighed. “My father tried to accept me back into his life, but things were hard. I could not work with the men unless there was a thick storm covering the sun. I could not go to weapon’s practice during the day. I did not eat without throwing up. I could not control my thirst for blood, and though I tried so very hard not to quench my thirst, I would awaken during the day to the sounds of screaming, as the one I had killed during the night was found.” She swallowed. “Kegan.” She shook her head and looked into the room, her eyes searching, but not seeing the room itself. “He had no choice. The townspeople asked to have my head severed from my body and my heart burned. I begged him to allow this to happen, but he refused. He just stared at me with tears streaming from his eyes.” Kegan stopped. “It was the first time I had ever seen my father cry. He simply said that he could not kill his own son, no matter the reason.” He took in a deep breath. “So he let me live and I came here, and this is where Azadeh found me.” “Do you spread this plague?” she asked. “No,” he said fiercely. “Only Azadeh does, for she is an ancient. Her bite will not kill, for she no longer needs to kill entirely in order to be fed, unlike me and those like me. However, her bite releases a fever into the body that the body cannot fight.” “So this plague is her doing.” 30

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He nodded slowly. “She will not leave me. I cannot know peace while she is living.” “Does she love you?” “I think she must,” he said softly. “I think that she needed a conquest after being so long alive, but when she found me, she found more than just someone to conquer, another soul to break. I think that she found something that she cherished and now she is realizing she cannot have it.” “Will you ever be free of her?” Fallon asked. He unwrapped his arm from her and ran his fingers along her ribcage. “I can hope so. I would wish a place for us to be where we are free of the plague, and of people accusing us of bringing it upon their doors. I would wish us a place where we can meet people and make friends, and not have to worry about them dying because of the deathbringer that follows us.” “But you said that you must kill in order to survive.” He nodded. “I do.” He placed a soft kiss on her shoulder. “I choose my prey wisely now.” “Hmm.” “Would you do something for me, Fallon?” Kegan asked, perching his chin on her shoulder. She smiled and twisted her head to look into his face out of the corner of her eye. “I will if I can.” He raised his body over hers and stared at her through the curtain of his hair. “Go with me onto the cliffs and sing to me a song of this land.” She shook her head and frowned through her smile. “But I do not sing well. You know this.” “Sing to me like you did on the cliffs that first fortnight that we met, beneath the moon as you called it down.” He reached up and touched her face. “I never feel as alive as I do when I am with you. Call down the moon for me. Please.” Her smile softened as she stared into his dark green eyes and nodded. “I will do this for you, though there is no moon this night to call to.” His face lit up as he jumped to his feet and helped her rise as well. “We will improvise, then,” he said, pulling on his clothes. “Come. I wish to take the back way so that my ‘guests’ do not see us.” She laughed as she followed him down the hall in her still dampened clothes, one hand in his. They raced down the barely lit corridor and down the servant’s stairway, 31

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through the unused cold kitchen and into the cool night air. There was a soft mist to greet them outside. The rain was gone. The wild source of lightening and thunder had dissipated. All that was left was clear, clean air and clouds high above the wet soggy earth. But without a moon to light their way, Fallon could see nothing but shadow sitting upon shadow. Kegan stopped and looked at her for one breathtaking moment, his face a lighter darkness from the rest. “Do not fear, Fallon. Tonight, let me be your eyes. Let me guide your feet.” He turned and ran slower now, her hand tightly clasped in his. He looked back at her, a carefree smile on his face and laughed as they ran towards the towering cliffs overlooking their small and dangerous inlet. She saw his smile in a distant flash of lightening and hoped with all her heart to see it more often for it was the most breathtaking thing she had ever seen in her life. He stopped at the cliff top at the uppermost point of the peninsula. He looked out into the rolling ocean and breathed, opening his arms to take in the cool sea-kissed wind. Fallon looked out over the sea and closed her eyes, feeling the wind toss her free wild hair. He looked down at her and grasped her hands. “Would you sing for me, Fallon? Sing to me of your home.” With the crashing ocean waves below her as her percussion and the wind crying through the cliffs and the low-lying grasses as her harmony, she sang a song without words, but filled with emotion. She closed her eyes and brought up the images of what her home was, but in truth, it had not become a home until after he had arrived. She saw clearly in her mind how he had arrived at her home on the pond, his eyes meeting hers, and for the first time in her entire life, she saw a man who saw her simply for who she was. She recalled the night they had spent on the pond shore, talking under the pale light of the stars, throwing pebbles into the still water and watching the ripples cascade back toward them. She recalled his laughter and his kind words as she had told him stories of her past and of their town. She recalled the night of the last full moon when he had come and asked her to walk with him along the cliffs. She remembered the look of rapture on his face as the energy from the moon she called to pooled around them, immersing them and cleansing them with its purity. And as she called those memories and emotions, and wove them into her feelings of the land she called home, she saw the lines of life that flowed from all around her. They intertwined in and around them both, folding the lines of life from each of them together and binding them more surely than anything she had ever known. He stood, 32

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holding her hands in his own, his eyes closed as if he felt it as well. And still she sang without words, speaking emotions she had no words for and could not express in any other manner. They held on to each other as the wind swelled around them and the mist slipped into a light rain that dampened their hair and ran in rivulets down their nose and cheeks. With the lines of life streaming around her, she could see as if the full moon shown. She stared at this man who had stolen her heart in a handful of fortnights and who was, by all accounts including his own, a demon of the night. She knew only that she wanted for all the world to be bound to this man, to live her life for all eternity with him and be protected in his arms. And then the spell was shattered with a horse cry and rough hands upon her arms. Kegan’s eyes shot open as he stared at her with a look of horror upon his face. He looked to the men who surrounded them. “No!” he shouted as they dragged her away and held him bound in so many arms that all his fighting could not break their hold. “No,” he cried into the night. “Do not do this. Do not!” Fallon screamed, the lines of light fading into the night, and fought against the men who held her and were dragging her kicking towards the manor. “Azadeh,” Kegan raged, his voice ravaged by fear. “I will kill you. I swear it.” “As if you could,” a chilled voice called into the night. “As if you could, lover of mine.” Azadeh materialized beside Fallon where the men had stopped. She laid a gentle hand against Fallon’s throat and looked at Kegan with a sneer upon her lips. “You are mine,” she said, her voice twisted and filled with horror. “And mine alone.”

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Chapter Six

Fallon and Kegan were dragged to the great hall where a feast and dancing were underway. The strange music that she had heard when she had first arrived, so few hours ago, ceased as soon as Azadeh and her trussed up prisoners were brought through the huge doors. Azadeh walked through the room with an angered haste, her beauty shining in a feral manner as the people stepped out of her way. The conversations stopped as Fallon and Kegan were pulled behind her. The people who filled the room were dressed in strange costumes of jewel-like auras. Their dress and hair were exotic, their features radiant and perfect as they stopped to stare. “Azadeh,” Kegan roared in her wake as he was pushed, his arms twisted behind his back, his thickly muscled legs straining against his captures with ever step, his kilt doing little to hide them. “Do not do this. She is claimed by me. You cannot take her according to the rites of the Vampiric Society.” The people around them muttered and whispered to one another. “Bring her to me,” Azadeh said, her voice twisted and harsh as she walked up the three small steps to the dais. She stopped at the far wall, unlocking the man in peasant’s trews and tunic from chains that had been set into the stone itself. He crumpled to the ground and stared up at her. She gestured for him to leave. Holding his arms and rubbing the blood back into them, he crouched and scuttled away in haste, blending into the crowd around him. Azadeh set her hard dark gaze upon Fallon and motioned to the men holding her to bring her and chain her to the wall. Fallon felt a current of fear run through her, paralyzing her limbs as she was pushed against her will up the three steps to the dais where the exotically powerful woman stood. She could do little more than moan through her throat that was closed in fright. Here stood the demon that Kegan had been telling her he was. She had not believed him until this moment, or if she had, it had not yet registered into her mind that such a creature could exist. Her eyes were locked onto the beauty before her as the men 34

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holding her raised her arms and secured them in the manacles above her head. They were made of iron and were thick. As she pulled against them, she felt them bite into her wrists and hands, threatening to break the skin if she strained further against them. Kegan was brought to stand at the base of the steps. His eyes were filled with horror as he looked at Fallon, his face contorted with unrestrained rage. Azadeh looked down at him and nodded to the men holding him. One of the burly men dressed in sapphire blues, kicked Kegan in the knee. He dropped to the stone floor, which was covered in a light layer of fresh thrushes, with a cry. The other man dressed in dark, rich browns and greens, grabbed a hold of his hair and pulled his head up to face the dark woman above him. Kegan sneered his contempt at his creator. She smiled serenely at him, her head held high and regal as she let her gaze slide across the masses. “See before you a man who would have been my equal, a man who would have been our protector and leader. See before you the man whom I chose to be one of the greatest warriors of the Vampiric Nation.” She looked down upon him with contempt. “See a man so weakened by something so insignificant as morals, laid low before you. Weakened by his inability to kill for the strength and power he needs to be my equal and lover.” “Azadeh,” Kegan growled. “If you do this thing, you will break the laws that you helped forge.” “And what are rules but guidelines to keep my subjects within my power?” she murmured softly, power seeping through the dark portals of her eyes. “I created those rules and I may follow them if I wish it.” Kegan roared and pulled at his capture’s hold, twisting out of the grip of one. The one whose grip had been loosened, reached back and cuffed him squarely on the back of the head. Kegan slumped forward for a moment, but that moment was all the other man needed to regain his grip on his arm. Kegan surged to his feet, unbalancing the men holding him, and shook like a mighty dog, pulling all his weight forward. Before he could escape, more men surged forward and brought him down, felling him to his stomach where he lay straining against the weight of four men. “If he were a true vampire as I had wished, no man could have brought him down,” Azadeh said into the silence that followed. “As I see it,” Bram said from the back of the hall, the crowd parted to allow him entrance into the cleared semi-circle in front of the dais, his Gaelic twisted by a thick

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accent that Fallon could not place, “even as weak as he might be, he is still stronger than any one man in this room.” Azadeh narrowed her gaze at the dark man who approached her. “His protector,” she sneered. “Of course.” He nodded regally. “As you created me to be so. And as such, I must remind you that you created me to be the enforcer for all laws governing the Vampiric Nation as well, no matter their station.” “You answer to me, little man,” she said darkly. “I, in no way shall answer to you.” He raised one ebony eyebrow. “As you say,” he murmured so that the people around them had to strain to hear his words. “But in my indoctrination, you said specifically that I would not be held by status in my enforcement. That, lady, includes you.” “You will not think so highly after I am finished here, Bram,” she said cruelly. She gestured toward him angrily, her fingers formed like a horned scull, her forefinger and small finger pointed at him. “Kaliopanthaneus saiou pas nal felioana.” Bram stared at her with eyes filled with determination even as he fell to his knee, his arms wrapped around himself tightly as he strained through a pain that all could see. He stayed on one knee, fighting the spell of pain she had cast upon him as he kept her gaze. Kegan took that moment to renew his efforts to free himself. With a roar, he pushed off of the ground, sending the men on top of him stumbling to regain their balance. Kegan glanced over his shoulder to Bram, and saw the other man’s jaw clenched, his eyes snapping with the effort to hold back his need to scream. Kegan ran up the steps to Azadeh whose full attention was on the man she was trying to break. He raised a hand and brought it down with considerable force towards her cheek. Azadeh broke her concentration from the dark, straining man on the floor below her and caught Kegan’s arm with a hidden strength that her slight body belied. Kegan strained, his muscles visibly rippling under the struggle to overpower the lithe woman. “You will not have her,” he gritted between his teeth. She smiled lazily up at him. “Oh, but I shall,” she whispered and threw him back as if he were naught but a rag doll. She walked up to Fallon and traced a line down her cheek with a long, fine nail. She tipped her head towards Fallon and stared into her frightened, wide eyes. “Do you know what I am about to do to you?” she asked quietly,

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bringing her face close to Fallon’s own and rubbing her nose seductively against Fallon’s throat. Fallon stared at Kegan desperately as she whimpered, her entire body shivering with fear. The woman was overpowering. She filled Fallon’s senses with a passion that only Kegan had awakened until now. Her nipples strained against her shift as she felt her body arching against the wall behind her, begging the other woman for a caress that Fallon’s mind had no wish for. Her loins filled with need that Fallon did not control as Azadeh blocked the vision of Kegan laying on the floor, panting to catch his breath and searching madly for some weapon to use against his creator. Azadeh smiled slightly, her eyes heavy with erotic passion as she stepped closer to Fallon, rubbing her body against Fallon’s own. Her opened hands ran up Fallon’s sides and to her breasts. Fallon cried out in pain-filled pleasure as she attempted to regain control over her body. “Le do thoil,” she whispered, closing her eyes and shying her face away from Azadeh’s own. “Please, do not do this. This is not my wish.” “And what do you wish, pet?” Azadeh asked, brushing her lips against Fallon’s cheek, sending pleasure coursing within her blood to stoke the fires burning in the pit of her loins. “Will you take my Kegan as your master?” she asked, her tongue darting out and trailing a line along her jaw. “Will you allow him to take your blood until you breathe your last breath so that he might be strong?” She turned away from Fallon and pinned Kegan with a look of fury. “Or will you allow him to die by my hand as you stand and watch helplessly chained to the wall only to become my prisoner afterwards?” Kegan stopped where he stood, a torch in one hand, and was held a prisoner of Azadeh’s will. The dark woman threw back her head and laughed. “You silly boy,” she cackled cruelly. “Do you really think that you can take me unless I wish it?” she cried, her laughter turning into a cry of pain as she faced him. “Do you see what I could have given you?” she said loudly, her voice rising in pitch as she advanced on him. She gestured toward his protector who lay writhing on the floor at the bottom of the dais. “Do you see the powers that could be yours if you but walked by my side? Do you see what I wished only for you to have?” The others who watched exchanged looks amongst each other, and whispered, concern and blank intention filling their expressions. Azadeh stalked the still man who had once been her most treasured lover. She tipped her head, her breath escaping from her body as ill intent filled her and twisted her 37

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perfect features. Her eyes filled with sorrow. “Do you now see what you do, Kegan, a ghrá mo chroí?” “I refuse to be the love of your life,” Kegan said painfully through a mouth, which would not work. “I never accepted to be.” Azadeh raised her head with purpose. “Then so be it, lover of mine,” said darkly, taking his hair in one hand and tipping his head to the side. “I created you and so, too, shall I kill you.” “Hold,” a thundering voice boomed, filling the room with sudden silence. Azadeh lifted her head, her fangs bared and ready as she scanned the room. The crowd parted once more and a man who was tall, elegant, and incredibly handsome with a soft yet unyielding sense of supreme power walked towards the dais. “Langan,” Azadeh sneered, retracting her fangs and pushing Kegan to the side as if he were nothing but garbage. “Azadeh,” he said softly, a twisted smile filtering across strong features. His long blonde hair was pulled back by a silken thong of scarlet that matched his rich black, longsleeved tunic embroidered with bright red threads in the shape of falcons running along his high collar and down his sleeves. He tipped his head toward Fallon and raised his nose as if searching for a scent. His brown eyes narrowed as his gaze fell to Kegan who lay stunned and unable to move on the steps. “This woman is claimed by this man, Queen of my people.” Azadeh sneered, her dark brown gaze flitting around the room. “Yes,” she said contemptuously as she walked towards Fallon. “But he will not claim her for long, for he is mine and mine alone.” Langan nodded serenely. “Is this so?” He clasped fine, soft hands in front of his dark crimson breeches and tipped his head. “But is that the Queen I created speaking or the girl who once was?” Azadeh spun, facing him. “You would speak to me in such a manner?” she asked harshly. “I am the Queen, as you created me to become.” Langan nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving hers. “But I wonder if you should not now be replaced, Aza-muir.” He looked behind him where Bram was now struggling to his feet. “When the Queen defies even the Protector in order to have her way, I wonder the right of her decision.” “I created the Protector,” Azadeh spat. “I created the rules he is to enforce. If I wish it, I can and shall break those laws in order to have what I wish.”

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“And what is it that you wish, lover?” Langan asked, his voice like silk as he walked up the steps towards her. Azadeh looked up at him as he approached. “I wish for a King to stand by my side,” she said firmly, her face twisted. “A King?” he asked supremely. “Am I not King enough for you?” She looked away from him, coldness entering the dark depths of her eyes. “And when was the last time you stood by my side?” she asked softly. “Lover? You are no lover of mine. Too long have you stayed away from my side. Your warmth no longer fills my bed.” “Then perhaps it is time I make repentance,” he said, grasping her arm tightly within his grasp. “Leave this man and this woman alone.” She pulled away from him with a look of triumph. “I will not,” she said firmly. She blinked slowly, her exotic, intoxicated mask sliding back into place. “She will be mine and through her so shall he, and he shall replace you by my side. I am Queen. You are not but the King who refuses to rule. You leave the ruling to me and my court, my wishes, not yours.” “There is much of what I do that you do not, nor ever shall, understand, woman,” he said, his tone filled with warning. Kegan captured Fallon’s frightened gaze with his own as he crept up the steps, skirting around the arguing couple in front of them. “Fallon,” he whispered to her. “Are you all right?” She nodded and leaned towards him as far as the chains binding her wrists would allow. Azadeh turned sharply with lightening movements, grasping Fallon’s hair and pulling her head to the side before either Kegan or Langan could move to intercept her. She bared her fangs, smiling triumphantly into Fallon’s gaze and buried her teeth in Fallon’s neck. Fallon cried out in pain as desire washed through her entire being. She felt her life’s blood seeping away from her as she stared at the weathered timbers that supported the roof high overhead. Her will slowly slipped away, as did her will to fight, to live and remain in the loving arms of her friend and lover. Her gaze turned toward Kegan as he roared and pulled at Azadeh, fury and desperation powering his movements. Langan set his hands upon the woman and ripped her away, throwing her across the room with a power unlike anything Fallon had ever seen.

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Time slowed as she watched Azadeh fly through the air, her golden gown glittering as it fluttered in the flickering torchlight, her face twisted in evil triumph as she crashed into the stone wall far behind her. She picked herself up from the cold stone floor and wiped her mouth with the tip of her fingers, smiling at Fallon. The exotic woman blinked into the stilled space of time and blew her a kiss before turning to flee from the room. Fallon heard Kegan calling to her as he wrestled with the chains supporting her weight. His voice was filled with desperation. She felt the chains above her head finally snap as if deciding to release their victim though the cold metal of the manacles still enwrapped her wrists. She felt strong warmth surround her body and heard desperate loss fill Kegan’s voice as he cradled her close and called to her. The light slowly faded from her sight. Langan’s face filled with timeworn patience eerily dispersed into enveloping blackness. Kegan’s cries and Langan’s soothing words fell away. The cold of the room and the warmth of Kegan’s arms disappeared into neutral blankness until the world around her ceased to exist and darkness consumed her soul with a fevered fury.

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Chapter Seven

Kegan gathered Fallon in his arms. Her body was already ravaged by the fever that Azadeh had infested her with. She was limp. She muttered something unintelligibly as he carried her through the great hall and up the massive staircase to his rooms where he laid her down upon his bed. He reached for the washing pitcher and poured cool water in the wooden bowl. He ripped a piece of his loose linen shirt and soaked it in water, tearing at her tunic and washing her body to relieve the heat. His heart beat faster than it ever had. How was he to save the one true friend that he still had? The door to the room opened quietly and shut with only a stirring of a slight movement. The bed sank a bit as someone sat down beside where he knelt at the bedside. Langan settled a hand upon his shoulder offering calm and comfort. “Do you love this woman?” he asked into the silence. Kegan nodded, bathing Fallon’s face. “I feel as though I must, though this emotion is not one that I understand or have ever felt before. I would die if it would mean bringing her life once again.” Langan sighed heavily, took his hand from Kegan’s shoulder, and placed it on Fallon’s clothed leg. “I am the oldest vampire that I know of.” Kegan looked up at him in surprise. “I thought that Azadeh was.” Langan shook his regal head. “No. She was created by me.” Kegan frowned and returned his attentions to Fallon. “Then you can do something.” “Do you wish to be a vampire?” Langan asked into the lapse of quiet. Kegan shook his head. “I am a vampire, m’lord. Of this, I have no choice.” “Is this your wish?” Langan asked firmly. “In order to live in darkness, I must kill. That is not who I am, nor who I wish to be.” Langan nodded slowly and took in a long, deep breath. “I would tell you a story of my creator, a woman who was called Hunter.” Kegan looked up at the ancient man in surprise. “Your creator?” 41

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“It was said that she came from the world we were all spawned from. It was claimed that she was a vampire unlike any other, that she had been created differently, spawned by corruption and duplicity to become the feared and ravaging hunter for the vampiric army on our mother planet.” Kegan frowned and shook his head in confusion. “Our mother planet? A vampiric army?” Langan nodded. “Much of what I tell you, you will not comprehend. It is simply outside of your ability to understand.” He looked out the window. “Let it simply be said that there are many worlds like our own where life exists very much like our own lives here.” Kegan looked at Fallon deep in thought. “I do not understand why you tell me these things, m’lord.” “Because I think that you and this woman—this healer of the earth and womb— can create a new vampire, a vampire bound not by blood and death, but by healing and life energy.” Kegan looked up at the regal Langan, his eyes flashing with wary hope. “What is that you speak?” “I believe,” Langan began, clearing his throat, “that through her ways of magic and weaving, you can create her as a vampire even as she calls upon the energies of Ethera, the Earth Mother, to change your form into something more wholesome and healthy.” “But why would you do this thing? Are you not a killer of mankind as well? Do you not need to drain a body of blood in order to retain life?” Langan slowly shook his head. “But Azadeh…” Kegan trailed off. “I do not understand.” “I feed off the psyche, as my creator, Hunter, did when she first arrived, as does Azadeh whom I created in my likeness.” He pinned Kegan with his hard gaze. “As do you, though she has not shown you this.” Kegan opened his mouth to speak, and closed it again in wonder and astonishment. “I am confused.” “You asked Fallon to call down the moon for you, is this not true?” Kegan nodded, staring at him in surprise, his mind scrambling to understand how it was this stranger knew of that. “It is an energy that calls to me,” Langan said with a soft smile. “An energy that calls to you as well, though you did not realize it, refreshed you as blood cannot.” 42

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“Then how is that if Azadeh creates vampires who feed off the soul as do you, that there are many who feast from the flesh?” “That is a hard tale to understand.” Langan shifted his weight and stared into the darkness of the room. “Hunter was sent here as a banishment of sorts. The god who had damned her to this place bid her to be born and born again until she had learned how to live without hate or fear ruling her actions. In one lifetime, she created a new vampire, though old by her standards, which drank from the blood instead of the psyche. She used the magic of the earth and of life to warp this creature into a demon of darkness. This vampire is easier to create.” Langan pierced Kegan with his eyes yet again. “However, you are not of that ilk. You are of mine and the creation of your woman has already begun in her claiming.” “How do you know this?” “Because I can see it,” Langan said simply. “Do you wish for your woman to live?” “I do, but I have no wish for her to share my Hell.” “Will you trust me in this?” Langan asked softly but with steel firmness in his tone. “First, I must know how this could come to be. You are talking about unmaking a creature and reforming it into your liking. How could this be possible?” Langan smiled beautifully at him. “This is All Hallow’s Eve, when magic is at a prime and anything is possible.” Kegan thought about that for a long moment, his gaze falling to rest on Fallon’s prone body. Finally, he nodded and looked up. Langan nodded and knelt beside him. “Close your eyes and follow my hand by the sight of your mind.” Kegan looked at him in askance as the lord of vampires closed his eyes and set his hands upon Fallon’s body. He shook his head and closed his own eyes, turning his attention to Fallon. Behind the dark veil of his eyelids, he saw streams of blue light streaming from Langan and pouring into Fallon. The blue rivulets turned almost green as they raced through her body, attacking the fever that ravished her and setting her form to right. Then something strange occurred. Fallon’s life energy tentatively reached up to touch the source of the healing energies streaming through her. Langan’s fingers of light turned to blue again and wove intricately with Fallon’s tendrils of green. Together, they reached out and drew streamers of orange and yellow from Kegan’s core and wove them 43

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into the great magical makings that they were creating until their energies combined, taking on the appearance of a large intricate web, binding the three of them together. “Do you promise to hold the binding true and protect the weak and suffering?” Langan asked of them both. With his eyes still closed, he joined his voice to Fallon’s, silently exulting in the clarity of her tone as they both assented. “Do you promise to heal and rectify that which is made wrong by those around you?” Again, they both answered affirmatively. “Then I close this binding and weaving. You are claimed by my soul, created by my hand to be vampiric healers of the kind that have never been seen before.” There was a great flash of light that seemed to filled the entire world around them, and when the light was gone, so too was Langan. Kegan opened his eyes and blinked into the relative darkness, seeking Fallon as she sat up on the bed. She looked up at him and smiled. Kegan shook his head. “I cannot believe that this has happened.” “I cannot either,” she said in a dumbfounded stupor. “It is unbelievable.” His face broke out into a huge smile. “We do not have to kill in order to survive.” She nodded, her own smile blossoming. “I know. And we do not have to be separated either.” Kegan nodded, sitting on the bed and gathering her in his arms. “You are my best friend.” “And you mine,” she replied, her head pillowed on his protective chest. “I would be honored if you would accept my pledge.” He pulled away from her and looked deep into her eyes. “I pledge you my life for as long as we may live, that you may keep it in the safety of your heart and never let go.” Fallon smiled into the night. “And I give you my heart to keep and hold protection over until holds final sway over our souls.” Kegan wrapped her in his arms and tucked her head under his chin. “I accept,” he whispered into her hair, glorying in the joys of the endless possibilities of their new life together. “I accept.”

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About the Author

Frankie Belleville has been writing for the publishing world for over ten years under various pseudonyms. She has spent a great deal of her time helping others become published in the novel world. She enjoys spending time in her garden, with her nose in a book, and while playing “ponies” with her two girls. She lives with her extended family in Colorado and gains most of her ideas from the insanity that is generated within the walls of her own house. Also available from Frankie Belleville and Venus Press… Alice Unchained Bad Girls Do It Better, Volume 6: Alone

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