Page 14 of The Firebrand
Silas shrugged off his anxious sibling and partner while casting such a deadly look that Aisen scurried to his office, probably fearful he would become a victim of the uncontrollable madness.
“Ika, bika boo.” Silas’s voice rang out as he pointed and chanted the words, striding from cage to cage. He wrapped long fingers around the bars of a cell, peeking in at a catatonic male who stared in his direction. “Boo.” Silas’s laugh, tinged with mania, echoed throughout the compound, the cries and moans from other prisoners resonating in his ears like music.
The vampire stopped in front of another cell, opened the metal door, and dragged the female out by her long strawberry-blonde hair. She clawed at his hands, kicked, but was no match for the powerful male who snickered at her vain attempts to fight. He didn’t mind that her locks were matted or that her face was dirty and bruised. He was way past caring about physical beauty. She met his needs.
Each time new prisoners came to the stockade, Aisen extracted blood samples. This female’s test had come back negative, meaning she was no longer useful to the boss. Silas was free to sell her as a human slave to the highest bidder.Later. Now, caught in the bludfrenzy, he wanted her, even if his brother did not approve.
As he dragged her from the cell toward Aisen’s office, the guards, wary of the ancient vampire, scurried out of his way. The female’s heels traced a path in the dust. Her useless screams bounced off the walls, making the other prisoners clap hands to their ears, blocking her calls for help, fearing they would be next. Attempting to break free, she flung herself from side to side, tearing at Silas’s grip.
The vampire threw open the door as his brother’s terrified eyes looked up from where he sat at the desk. “Get out.” Silas growled, the feral sound grating against the back of his throat.
Aisen hauled out of his chair, but reminded his crazed, thirsty brother not to kill the female. “Buyers will pay a good price for her.”
Silas tossed the strawberry-blonde onto the floor as he turned his cold, savage glare on his half-brother. “If I drain her, I’ll buy her. Satisfied?”
Aisen ran for the door.
The female’s scuffling movement snapped Silas’s wild eyes back to her. He wished she had more fight. It would increase his thrill. But she was only human.
The vampire toed the captive with his boot, giving her a pitiless smile, seeing her fear through the red haze of his vision. He knew his irises were solid crimson with only a small black dot for a pupil, his cheeks sunken as he thirsted for her blood. She swallowed a whimper when he cocked his head and sat on his haunches, catching her neck in his long fingers. As a lion with its prey, he shook her, snapping her spine, paralyzing her.
His fangs dropped from his gums, elongating. Like lightning, he struck, frenzied from the jolt of gratification when the life-giving fluid shot into his mouth. As he flicked his wild ghostly hair over his shoulder, he nuzzled closer, sealing his lips to her wounds. Thrusting his weight against her, he stretched out on the ground alongside the female, his macabre version of love.
When his erection throbbed, he unzipped his pants and folded his hand around his cock. He thrust into his fist while her warm blood continued to roll down his throat in sheets of ecstasy, still not slaking his never-ending thirst.
Once he drained her, he withdrew his fangs from her throat and pumped faster, frantic to bring on his own orgasm.
His release achieved, Silas rested his head on the female’s breast, his belly twisting with the ever-present insatiable hunger. His calloused, battle-scarred hand caressed the soft skin of her flat stomach. With his eyes closed, he tried to remember the male he had been before the bludfrenzy.
Who?
ChapterFour
Reinedged his arm to Braelyn’s waist, letting her slide along his leg until her feet touched the stone tile, a brittle smile not hiding his annoyance. When he pointed to a couch in the large gathering area on the main floor of the Firebrand stronghold, he grunted.
“Is that Neanderthal for take a seat, please?” She flashed a mocking grin.
Damn, I’d like to clamp a hand over her mouth, smother her, and toss her body into Lucifer’s Forge … or throw her down on the ground, suck and fuck her.Instead, Rein said, “Just sit down and shut up. I’ll be back.”
“Let’s clear something up, big guy. I don’t handle commands well.”
Between clenched teeth, he growled.Would I regret strangling the Earther?Doubtful, but his commander would be pissed.
He guided Braelyn by an elbow to the overstuffed couch fronted by a coffee table with deep nicks from years of Firebrand boots. Across from it were two he-man chairs. She scrunched into the black leather of the sofa, legs tucked under her, looking small, fragile. The pale gray walls, indirect lighting hidden behind ceiling trim, and dark stone floor tiles were as somber as her expression. And as grave as the warriors who operated out of this base.
Rein’s boots echoed across the high-ceilinged room when he strode toward a doorway leading off the central area. He entered, bypassing the secretary’s empty chair, walking to Kole’s office, not bothering to knock. No one did. Kole was commander of the Eastern Stronghold, a job Rein did not envy.
Bent forward over his desk with his massive shoulders hunched, Kole shoved papers around, fingering his close-cropped, fire-gold hair. At two inches taller than Rein, his chest was broader. His muscled, scarred arms had seen a thousand more battles. Behind him, weapons hung on the wall, taken from each dead Firebrand Kole had fought alongside. It was a monument of loyalty to his fallenfrerons.
Because the commander was most at home on the battlefield with an ax in one fist, a blade in the other, Rein knew the desk job made him edgy. All Scion Firebrands possessed an excess of brutal aggression, bordering on savagery. That’s why they were good at their jobs.
Rein’s control was slipping, violence clawing to get out. The human had that effect on him. He watched Kole from the doorway. How did he keep it together? Demons, especially animus demons, were born ferocious, an unstable breed. It was a miracle the male had not succumbed to the rage. Just like vampires, they had their point-of-no-return.Yeah, kudos to the commander for being tight.
“Rein.” Kole surged from his chair to greet him. “Freron, you have no idea how happy I am to see you. This fucking paperwork’s about to kill me where my strongest enemies have failed.”
“Freron,” Rein responded. They gripped each other’s forearm, fist to elbow.
“Chay dropped the Kalli in the Cubes. Too bad it got messy. I was thinking, remember the time we had those berserk Kallis in our crosshairs?” The Firebrand commander lowered into his chair, a smile crooking his lips, his arms laced behind his head.
