Vampire Coven Book 3: A Vampire's Embrace Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  VAMPIRE COVEN BOOK 3:

  A VAMPIRE’S EMBRACE

  by

  C.L. Scholey

  TORRID BOOKS

  www.torridbooks.com

  Published by

  TORRID BOOKS

  www.torridbooks.com

  An Imprint of Whiskey Creek Press LLC

  Whiskey Creek Press

  PO Box 51052

  Casper, WY 82605-1052

  Copyright Ó 2014 by C.L. Scholey

  Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 (five) years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  ISBN 978-1-61160-761-1

  Credits

  Cover Artist: Gemini Judson

  Editor: Melanie Billings

  Printed in the United States of America

  WHAT THEY ARE SAYING ABOUT

  GAME ON!

  This is one married couple whose appetites for each other grow ever stronger with each passing year. They thoroughly enjoy discovering new ways to keep the spark alive and thriving. Allowing another couple to share in their fun only seems to increase the possibilities. Keeping the love alive is certainly not a problem for Mac and Jenney, which makes their escapades deliciously fun to read. ~ Coffee Time Romance

  ENGULF – NEW WORLD BK 5

  Abri is a strong female heroine. She didn't let deafness define who she is. Raiden is a likeable guy. Why? Even though Abri is deaf, Raiden picked her for his female.

  C.L. Scholey has done a terrific job of creating this futuristic romance series. We have action, romance, adventure & mystery all in 102 pages. ~ Romance Bookaholic Traveler

  THE BRETHREN OF TAVISH – VAMPIRE COVEN BK 1

  The Brethren of Tavish is a wonderfully written book. The characters are well rounded and bring you into the story as if you were really there. The story flows smoothly tying one part to the next. The plot is well thought out, giving you plenty of action… ~ Night Owl Reviews

  Other Books by Author Available at Torrid Books:

  www.torridbooks.com

  Game On!

  Enslaved

  New World Series

  Shield

  Armor

  Impenetrable

  Apparition

  Engulf

  Guardian

  Vampire Coven Series

  The Brethren of Tavish

  A Vampire to Watch Over Me

  Unearthly World Series

  Bay’s Mercenary

  Zuri’s Zargonnii Warrior

  Elements Series

  Fire’s Flame

  Viking Warriors Series

  w/a Constantine De Bohon

  Valhalla Hott

  Valhalla Wolf

  Valerie Heat

  Norse Valor

  Viking Warriors Mega Book

  Dedication

  For Asha and the others.

  Prologue

  Rome: BC

  The light clinking of his armor resounded down the long corridor as the Roman warrior moved with purpose. Servants and slaves stopped to make way and lower their heads in submission. He ignored them as always. Rhett’s wife, Cecily was giving birth to their first child. The woman’s screams could be heard as he approached the bedroom-turned-birthing room. Rhett wasn’t concerned. Women gave birth every day, and his Cecily was strong.

  As Rhett crossed the threshold of their apartment room in his father’s massive holding, he stopped short for a mere second as he heard the sharp cry of a babe. His normally placid face lit with a wide grin. He was a father. Praise be. His renewed, purpose-filled stride was confident when he entered the main bedchamber. When he looked to the bed, Cecily lay white-faced; sweat dripped from her beautiful brow. Her amber hair was in disarray. She looked at him happily, triumphant.

  “You have a daughter, my husband.” His wife was trying to peer at the midwife who swaddled their babe, but the old woman said not a word. Nor did she meet Rhett’s gaze.

  Rhett smiled down at his wife when he stood by the bed. He was elated. In truth, he wanted no sons. Having grown up in the tyrannous shadow of his father, he knew boys born to him would experience the same fate. Ripped from their mother’s breast, a man in Rome was a warrior or no man at all. Cecily knew this, her joy was apparent.

  “You defied me on purpose.” Came a loud bellow. Lucius, Rhett’s father, stormed into the room. “You contrived to have a girl to smite me.”

  Rhett should have realized his father would have been informed immediately.

  Lucius strode to the babe, but Rhett reached his child first, taking her from the midwife who bowed demurely and left. “You will not harm my babe.”

  Lucius looked furious. “I would harm no babe, especially a girl-child. You have a sister who is well and whole.”

  The sentence made Rhett scowl. His sister had been wed at thirteen to a fat, decrepit, wealthy man of forty. At twenty and two she had aged beyond her years and given birth to four sons and looked withered and frail. His nephews had all been taken from her for training at the age of four, the twins most recent, being the last—his sister had cried her heart out each time. Thankfully, his Cecily would not experience the same heartache with her first child.

  Feeling smug, Rhett un-swaddled his newborn daughter then recoiled as his father began to laugh. The deformity was apparent. The child was retarded, the facial features were unmistakable. Rhett’s stunned, horrified face turned to his father.

  “You know our laws.” His father’s look was a mask of loathing. “This cannot be in our house. It is to be thrown to its death by your hand.”

  “No,” Cecily screamed from her bed.

  “You would take the alternative?” Lucius asked his son.

  Rhett held his babe close to his chest. The girl looked up at him; her bright-eyed stare seemed to look through him into his soul. This child was his like nothing in his life had ever been before. He owned his armor, his sword, her mother, but the babe was different. He didn’t own her, how does one own oneself? Half of her was him. His blood ran through her veins. He was responsible for her safety, her life. A warrior need do his duty but was that duty usurped by blood? That she wasn’t perfect wasn’t her fault. Who was to say she wasn’t perfect? She was his child; she was perfect.

  “Well, my son,” Lucius said in a smug tone. “Would you fight the lions to save this?”

  Every day Rhett saw death and cruelty until it was bred into him. Rhett could kill without thought, he was a trained warrior. What did life mean to him? The babe made a tiny mewling sound indicating the need to suckle. Rhett held his very own life in his hands. Rhett turned to confront
his father. In his eyes his babe was beautiful.

  “Yes.” It was a revelation, Rhett adored Cecily, but this very second he learned he was in fact capable of love. The tumbling of emotion washed over him, Rhett was in love. The sensation crashed over him, almost toppling him to his knees. Never in his life had such a protective instinct fired.

  Lucius returned the look and for just a moment Rhett thought he saw—panic. “My son, you can’t be serious. The child isn’t right. You know the life she would lead. It would not be fair to her. It would not be fair to you or Cecily; you can have another—have a girl, I couldn’t care less. This one can be disposed of humanely; I will look the other way. The midwife would say nothing. We could declare the babe stillborn. No one need ever know.” Rhett was surprised; he had never heard that tone from his father.

  “She is my child, my blood,” Rhett replied. “If need be, I will fight a hundred lions.”

  Rhett took the babe to her mother who cried a heart-wrenching sob when she laid eyes on the babe. Lucius gave one last hard look to his oldest and only son. He then turned and walked away.

  * * * *

  Cecily cried all night in Rhett’s arms; their babe, Acca, remained nestled next to his chest pressed between them. Rhett smiled each time he touched her tiny cheek, or kissed her sweet fingers. He, one of the emperor’s best and most powerful warriors, was smitten. Acca had the ten cutest toes in the entire world. He wondered how something so tiny could be so perfect.

  “You will die,” Cecily’s tone was that of impending death.

  “Perhaps.”

  “You will leave us alone.”

  “You will be safe whether or not I win the battle. My father has sworn it. Even he would not dare deny a last request of his only son. There is a beautiful cottage my mother went to when it was time to give birth to both my sister and myself. It is yours and Acca’s now. No harm will come to you there.”

  “We will be outcasts.”

  “You will have servants, wealth, but yes, you will be outcasts.”

  “Is there no other way?”

  “None. If we run, we would be hunted and all three of us would pay the price. I am a man of honor.” Tears streamed down his wife’s beautiful face. “Do you have so little faith in me?”

  “You are the most powerful warrior I know. But my love, three lions against a man and his sword…”

  “I will not fail you.”

  “Why must it be this way?” His wife continued to sob. “Why must it be you? We have slaves, gladiators. Why you?”

  “You know why. You cannot fight; indeed you’ve never lifted a weapon in your life. I am Acca’s father. My father has power but even he wouldn’t defy the Emperor. I am high born and will be allowed weapons and armor. There is always a chance.”

  Rhett knew win or lose, he would not fail his wife or daughter. Either way they would be spared, and so he had won even if he lost. That was all that mattered.

  * * * *

  The great arena was filled to overflowing as he knew it would be. Rhett turned in circles as he gazed up at the many blurred faces that had come to watch him die. They wanted to see blood, his or the lion’s it mattered not. Already, the restless calls for the lion to be released were being screamed as feet stomped and fists waved in the air.

  It was a treat to see one of his status forced to fight to the death. Behind a sturdy cast-iron gate, Rhett could see the mad pacing of a lion. Only one. As the gate was hoisted by chains, the noise in the coliseum grew to such an intensity the great cat zigzagged into the opening. The beast was growling with terror, not even noticing the lone man who whipped his blade back around a wrist in a display of great mastery.

  Rhett grinned. Power surged through his being as it always did before battle. He was a warrior, not a simple soldier. All his life he had been taught to battle. Rome was a hard place to live. To lose was to die. He had learned this while still suckling from his mother. The second he could walk, a sword was placed into his small hands. Hands that grew larger, stronger each day of his life until a weapon was an extension of himself, a limb of destruction.

  “Come to me, beast, and get on with it,” Rhett yelled.

  The lion finally took notice and displayed sharp teeth with a mind-numbing roar, which silenced half of the audience. Rhett threw back his head and laughed. Cowards, the lot of them. The lion would not have been fed; Rhett was to be its breakfast.

  Not likely.

  In its hungry haste, the lion attacked. Rhett lopped off its ear as he spun out of the way of huge claws. The crowd went wild as blood drizzled down the lion’s head. Rhett listened to the cheering of the people. The blurred faces became real. Spittle and food flew from cheering mouths. More blood, they bellowed. Rhett had seen his share of violence towards slaves, gladiators, fellow soldiers who couldn’t pull their weight. The weak died, life went on for those who could survive.

  Standing there, a loathsome bubbling of bile filled his guts. Those in the audience were the animals. They wanted to see blood and why? Because they thought his child wasn’t perfect. Were those screaming for blood perfect? Were those wanting death human, because they weren’t humane. Rhett possessed mercy; on a rare occasion, the suffering of a woman or child would move him into action. His father claimed it would be the death of him.

  The lion attacked again. Rhett was tired of games; he was disgusted with the animals in the stands. The lion was weak from hunger. There was no battle to be found here. The lion came at him again. Sadly, Rhett slipped his sword between the lion’s pitiful rib cage. Rhett backed away with nary a scratch on him as the lion went down and moved no more.

  “It is done,” Rhett heard his father yelling over the condemning screams of the people. They didn’t want a merciful dispatch.

  Rhett began to walk away, feeling disgusted. He had no doubt his father had picked the sorry beast for him to fight. Being so close to the beast, Rhett had a new respect for the animal. If they didn’t stop the fights there would be no more lions to fight, or tigers or bears. He planned on speaking to his father the second after he had taken Cicely and Acca into his arms.

  “Nooo.” Rhett heard screamed.

  Rhett spun. He should have realized the Emperor would have his own agenda. Three more gates lifted and three new healthy male lions appeared. For a moment, they battled one another until their pecking order was established. They were the emperor’s cats, well fed, pampered, used to humans thrown to them for sport. The people would be given their pound of flesh.

  All three lions surrounded Rhett. For a second, he could hear Cecily screaming from the stands, no doubt holding their babe. The first and largest lion sprang forward and Rhett sliced into its belly; a mortal wound, but it would not down the beast yet. Rhett felt four claws slide across his back tearing at his armor. He began to laugh wildly, he couldn’t help himself. A laughing man in battle was a terror to his opponents.

  All his life he had fought and been faithful. This was his gift. To leave life in battle, an unfair one to be sure. The Emperor would never let one of his warriors be embarrassed by a sickly lion. A powerful jaw closed over his calf and squeezed until Rhett felt the bones break in his leg. Still Rhett laughed as the crowd cheered. Oddly enough there was no pain. His blood was pumping too fast, he surmised.

  Rhett whipped his sword up, then down in a lightning gesture to impale the great cat gnawing through his flesh. All three beasts were a whirlwind of movement and jerks as they attacked, then died. Rhett took a slash to his face. He felt the skin sag and saw a woman retch in the stands. Only his blood loss slowed him down. His breast plate was grabbed and ripped from his body; his chest was exposed to an assault. It came swiftly. Gutted, he’d been gutted, but in the process the lion lost his paw. The claws remained hanging from internal organs.

  Rhett killed all three of the big cats. But he knew he was done, blood dripped in rivers across his entire body, his guts were exposed. As he dropped his sword and fell to one knee he could just make out the image of h
is father racing to him—sword in hand.

  “Well, wonders never cease,” Rhett muttered. Dear father come to save his son.

  As he toppled forward, his father reached him and gathered him to his chest. Whispering almost incoherently.

  “I did not know, my son. I did not know.”

  Rhett laughed. “Of course you didn’t. The emperor has always had a strange sense of humor when it comes to his beasts.”

  “You are dying.”

  “Of course I am. Just make certain my wife and child are safe.”

  His father said not a word. It was then Rhett stopped smiling. He looked towards the stands where his wife, screaming, was being taken away by two men. A sick feeling washed over him. Rhett had died for nothing except entertainment. He struggled in his father’s arms wanting to rise. Three other warriors, none he had ever laid eyes on came to lift him out of the arena. As his father followed, one of the three men turned to stare into his father’s eyes. Without a word his father turned and left.

  Rhett was spirited away as he lost consciousness. In wanting to save everything, he had lost everything.

  * * * *

  “Would you like to live forever?”

  Rhett could hear the words in his mind. He was consumed with thought. Darkness rolled with the light he could almost feel. He should go to the light, it was so beautiful, so compelling. There was love in the light, and peace. Peace was a gift. But the voice was cajoling. Rhett was then hit with the words that would seal his fate. He could still save his wife and child.

  “It was my men who spirited them away to safety.”

  The second he heard the words Rhett turned from the light to follow the voice into darkness. He would walk into Hell for those he loved most. If there was a chance...

  “There, it wasn’t that hard.”

  Rapid blinking of his eyes and Rhett could see the three men who had taken him from the arena. He lay on a couch which he quickly vacated. The men were smiling. All three had dark as night hair and blue eyes, as did Rhett. All three were as powerful as Rhett, if not more so.

  “Where do you hail from?” Rhett asked suspiciously. “Never have I seen any of you.”

  “My name is Tavish,” said the largest of the men. His longish hair was out of place in Rhett’s world. The man looked like a barbarian. His voice was deep, strong, he was a warrior but from where, Rhett had no clue. “This is Laken and Caine.”