Aris Reigns: The Kingdom of Vampires. Devin Morgan

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      After Gabriela and Richard left the apartment, Aris watched Sarah as she slept. His sensitive ears could hear the soft whisper of her breath and the slow, quiet beat of her heart. Even in the dim light his Immortal eyes watched the rise and fall of her chest, the pulse of her blood just beneath the tender skin of her throat.

      He was filled with a burning human desire and as he watched the steady throbbing of the artery in her neck, his vampire nature began to surface even through his measured restraint. He ached to hold her, to make love to her in time to the rhythm of her pounding heart. Yes, and to drink her blood as it pulsed through her beautiful throat. As he thought of their coupling, a deeper more beastly yearning raised its ugly head. He struggled to resist with all his Immortal strength, yet the same vile phrase haunted him over and over. “Take her. Make her Immortal. Do not wait. Take her now. Take her while she sleeps. Take her now.”

      He knew he could. He could make her his. For a moment, he was overwhelmed by his own dark vampire drive to taste her blood, to drink her, to possess her. As if in a trance, he rose from his chair and moved toward the bedroom door.

      Reaching the threshold, he stopped abruptly as if an invisible wall stood between him and the trusting woman sleeping peacefully in his charge. “What am I doing? What am I doing?” Grasping either side of the doorway, he closed his eyes as he fought for control of his dark nature. A battle between love and evil raged within him-ripping at his very soul. His limbs quivered as he fought to silence the beast that demanded her human life. After what seemed to him an eternity, his blood rage subsided; he was able to open his eyes to gaze at the human he adored. She slept soundly, trusting him completely.

      Devastated by the thought of what he might have done, his shoulders slumped as he buried his face in his hands. He could have taken the only human life that truly had value to him. He would have betrayed his Immortal Queen and his society. He would have broken the Blood Oath for the third time. He swore to Queen Akira he would never break it again. She would have turned from him for a last time.

      Slowly he returned to the chair. He sank into it, his long legs stretching out in front of him. He knew in his deepest soul he could never have Sarah while she was in her human form. But eternity without her would be an eternity without meaning. Would she ever care enough to give up her human life for love of her own free will?

      Hours or perhaps only moments passed while she slept, but to Aris it was all the same.

CHAPTER 4

      The gray morning fog hung like heavy drapes pooling on the streets of London as Aris lit a fire in the fireplace for the still sleeping Sarah. After she was in bed the previous night and before Richard and Gabriela left the flat, the three Immortals devised a plan. The two women would spend the day together, freeing Aris and Richard to meet in the Catacombs with Bartholomew. A soft knock on the front door announced Gabriela’s arrival. She laid her coat across the arm of the sofa, then busied herself in the kitchen. Catching her attention as she opened the refrigerator, Aris waved good-bye, before quietly closing the front door behind him.

      Sarah woke as the fragrance of freshly brewed coffee permeated the air. She wrapped a soft robe around her as she walked into the sitting room and curled up in the brown wing-back chair in front of the fireplace. Leaning against the velvety upholstery, staring into the dancing flames, her mind floated in that sweet place between sleep and wakefulness. There were brief moments when she wasn’t even sure where she was, London or her condo in Chicago.

      Memories of her life in Illinois flooded her mind. She thought of Carlos Havarro, the handsome young Latino man who had changed her life. Without his hypnotherapy sessions with her as his facilitator she would never have met Aris. Carlos died to save his family from gang violence and there was still a deep ache in her heart for her lost friend.

      Thoughts of Colleen Stevens-Drake, her best friend in the states, made her smile. Colleen’s cocky attitude and her sensitive heart had helped Sarah through her messy divorce and without her suggestion, Carlos would have never begun his sessions with Sarah. As his parole officer, Colleen’s recommendation of hypnosis for anger management brought him to Sarah and therapy.

      She remembered all her friends and her life before Aris. She had found stability and contentment through her work. Her successful book added clients to her practice and rebuilt her confidence after her husband ended their marriage for another woman. Bonnie Petrillo, not only a dear friend, but her therapist, had been instrumental in helping her find herself once more.

      Before Aris life had been predictable. Calm. When he first spoke through Carlos she thought he was a figment of her client’s imagination. How could there be such a thing as he claimed to be. Vampires just didn’t exist, not in her world anyway. But as their sessions progressed and she grew to know him, her disbelief turned into curiosity, then acceptance, and then something much more.

      When Carlos died and Aris took over his body, her initial thought was to run away, but his kindness and understanding drew her to him. Her trust in him led to friendship and as she learned more and more about him, ultimately to love. With him life was magical, full of passion and adventure, a tight-rope that spanned fantasy and reality. She couldn’t imagine being without him.

      Returning to the safe life she had lived before him was simply out of the question. She was convinced he was her soul-mate and she would be safe with him no matter the circumstances. Yet try as she might, she couldn’t see into the future with him. Vampire or human? A decision she knew she would one day be compelled to make. Even though she knew she wasn’t ready to decide just yet, she also knew she would love him as long as she lived. Now here she sat in London after having been kidnapped by evil vampires and taken to Spain. How could it all be possible? СКАЧАТЬ