Thirst: A Dark Paranormal Romance Read online

  Thirst

  By

  Sara Fields

  Copyright © 2020 by Stormy Night Publications and Sara Fields

  All rights reserved. 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.

  Published by Stormy Night Publications and Design, LLC.

  www.StormyNightPublications.com

  Fields, Sara

  Thirst

  Cover Design by Korey Mae Johnson

  Images by Shutterstock/IgorZh, Shutterstock/vecstock.com, Shutterstock/COLOA Studio, Shutterstock/KDdesignphoto, and Shutterstock/fergregory

  This book is intended for adults only. Spanking and other sexual activities represented in this book are fantasies only, intended for adults.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Epilogue

  More Stormy Night Books by Sara Fields

  Sara Fields Links

  Chapter One

  Fucking hell.

  Not another one.

  I sighed. I knew better. There was always another one. I was in a fucking graveyard, for God’s sake. To be honest, there were a thousand other places I’d rather be on a Friday night, but nevertheless, here I was anyway.

  Hunting.

  The rips and snarls from a freshly risen, pain in the ass vampire echoed off the stone walls, reverberating loudly enough for anyone in the nearby vicinity to hear. Quickly, I spun around the corner and pressed my back against the rock wall of the two-story crypt behind me, using the cold stone as cover. Gripping a thick pointed stake in my fingers, I prepared myself for the next inevitable fight. I was slightly winded from the vampires I’d already killed, but I was ready to take down whatever came at me next. I was looking forward to the moment I drove the wooden stake into each demon’s heart, ending the inevitable reign of terror before their afterlives even began. I always enjoyed watching as their remains quickly desiccated into nothing but shimmering dust bunnies that ultimately drifted away with the wind.

  It was almost cathartic in a weird sort of way.

  I had trained for this all my life. Ever since I was young, I had been a part of the Demon Hunters, an organization of humans that worked together to defeat the evil that walked the Earth.

  It was dark, the moon rising high overhead, and the twinkle of only the brightest stars shone down through all the high-rise buildings surrounding the cemetery. I’d been sent here tonight because there were whispers of a new threat, but so far, I’d only just found the usual newbie vamps stumbling as they struggled with coming to life once more. The only thing I’d been able to tell was there were more of them than usual. Our sources had hinted at a very strong vampire, one of the oldest in existence. Not much was known about him, but recently, there’d been a surge in vampire activity, both old and new. It almost appeared as though someone was building an army. Whatever it turned out to be, I was going to stop it.

  I took a deep breath, preparing myself for battle, and spun out from behind the ancient stone tomb I’d been hiding behind only to come face to face with not one, but two newbie vampires. They turned their heads in an unnaturally quick way, their red angry eyes finding mine. They reminded me of snakes in the way they bobbed their thick skulls. Their lips rolled like a feral animal’s and I drew in an excited breath. I lived for this.

  One of them was as big as an NFL linebacker. The other was only a little smaller, but formidable looking all the same. They’d been young when they died, maybe in their early twenties, and freshly turned. Their eyes were bright red, indicative of their newbie vamp status. Their sharp pointed teeth had just sprouted, bright white under the light of the moon. Pale faces flared with anger at my direct challenge and I readied myself for the fight, keeping low and bending my knees so I’d be as maneuverable as possible. They’d be strong and very fast, abilities that would allow them to catch their prey despite their fumbling, fledgling status. They took a step toward me, hesitant like a newborn fawn. Then they took another, and I tensed.

  They’d be ravenous for blood. Human blood. My blood.

  I gritted my teeth, squatted down a bit deeper, and surged forward, using their momentary confusion to my advantage. They would expect me to lie down and let them take me, but I wasn’t about to give in like that. I was strong, incredibly fast, and I’d killed a fair number of their kind. Using the muscles in my legs, I used my heel to deal a powerful kick to the smaller one’s chest, knocking him back about a foot while I swung my fist around to catch the bigger one in the chin.

  The big one snarled and I chuckled in return.

  Fucking stupid meathead.

  The big one ducked low and reached for me, but I dove out of his reach just in time. I twirled in a tight circle, catching the smaller vampire off guard. I punched him once square in the nose and caught his jaw with a tight right hook after that. He staggered backwards and I spun as swiftly as I could before plunging my stake deep into his chest, spearing right into his cold dead heart.

  The bright red of his eyes flickered for a moment. The look of shock on his face was obvious, but it didn’t last very long. I watched as his body withered into dust, only to be carried away by the breeze that was making its way through the cemetery. The other dude roared in fury and rushed at me, trying to get revenge for his dead friend. As quickly as I could, I shifted my weight from one leg to the other and ducked, just missing his grimy fingers grasping at my shirt. Damn, he stank. It was rancid. Why did new vampires always smell like ass?

  He came toward me, but his movements were slow and not very calculated. He was bigger than me, but I’d fought worse than him before by a longshot.

  A rumble passed through the air. It felt like thunder, but it carried with it something far more sinister and powerful than just a simple storm. It reeked of magic and I wrinkled my nose with displeasure as a tingling sensation raced across my skin. What the hell? I looked around, trying to determine the source, but there wasn’t a single clue for me to go off of. It felt like it was everywhere. Chewing my lip, I figured that there was something far bigger at work here than I had originally thought. Maybe someone had convinced a witch, or more likely a group of witches, to do their bidding or maybe it was something else. Whatever it was, I had a feeling I was about to find out.

  The very air around me crackled with electricity and the big vampire’s eyes rolled back in his head. After a brief second, his pupils reemerged, only there was something different about them now. Instead of his irises being simply just red, they were a much deeper scarlet and there were flecks of black and gray within them. It gave him a certain otherworldly quality, one of an ancient evil that I’d never seen before. I took a step back and drew in a nervous breath.

  “Ruby...” the vampire murmured, his voice low, gruff, decidedly alpha male, and very different than the grunts I’d heard out of him only just moments earlier. He crossed his arms over his chest as he cocked his head toward me. How the fuck did he know my name?

  “You’re not the newbie vamp I was just fighting anymore, are you?” I asked tentatively, and he grinned with an unnerving cocky arrogance in my direction.

  This was really fucking bad.

  I sucked in a breath, my mind trying to understand what was happening, and then it hit me.

  Holy shit. He was possessed. By another demon.

  Possession from one demon to another like this just wasn’t possible. As far as I knew, witches could only attempt it on another human and it was temporary at best. None of the Demon Hunters’ books, scrolls, or writings mentioned the possibility of an ability for someone to take over a monster’s mind. Not like this. Magic this powerful must be ancient or have been extremely well hidden for a very long time. I chewed my bottom lip, staring at the man. Who the hell was this?

  The left corner of his lip curved up in a smirk. An arrogant expression of confidence passed over his features and I hissed low in response.

  “Who the fuck are you?” I demanded. I pulled back my shoulders, doing my best to cover up any hint of the rising fear that was boiling in the pit of my belly.

  “I’ve heard a lot about you, little human. How you’ve been killing my soldiers. How you’ve been thwarting my efforts to turn the tide in today’s world. You’ve been killing my monsters for a long time, Ruby, haven’t you,” he chided.

  The more he spoke, the more uneasy I began to feel. I shouldn’t have come out here alone. Logan had insisted I take a partner with me many times, but I always found that another slowed me down. I was stronger and faster on my own, but right now, I was beginning to question that decision more than ever. Shit. What do I do now?

  Gritting my teeth, I stared back at him, preparing myself to go on the defensive should he make a move toward me. He lifted his arm toward me and turned his palm to the sky. His fingers flicked upward and a small red flame appeared just above his hand.

  “That’s not possible,” I whispered in shock. Witches couldn’t access their magical skills when they took over another human’s mind, l
et alone this strange demonic possession I was witnessing. I raised my eyes up to those terrifying dark red and gray ones and took another step backwards. I had a distinct feeling that the longer I was in this man’s presence, the less I would understand.

  “You’d be surprised at what is possible for me, Ruby,” he answered, his gaze appraising me up and down with appreciation. He flicked the fingers on his opposite hand toward me and a wave of desire rolled over my body from the very tips of my toes straight to my core.

  What the fuck was that?

  The feeling passed quickly, coming and going in under a few seconds and the distinct metallic taste of magic washed over my tongue. He’d done that with his power. He’d made my body react to him like that. I rolled my upper lip, preparing myself to fight. Or run. At this point, I was ready to do either.

  He simply laughed at me. His smug arrogance was astounding but I was beginning to understand that he had earned that right. I was also figuring out that I was in far more trouble than I originally thought.

  “Who are you?” I demanded once more. I narrowed my eyes, studying his mysteriously dark expression, but I could garner no clues from him. Nothing about him gave anything away.

  “My name is Cain,” he answered, and I froze. Shit, this was far more than I bargained for. This was even more ancient than I had even thought possible.

  “As in the one referred to in Genesis?” I whispered, my voice beginning to shake with fear.

  “One and the same,” he replied, his voice strong and far more confident than mine.

  The Demon Hunters had thought that the recent rise in vampire activity was due to an older vampire, but none of us had any idea that it would be the fault of one this old. We all knew who Cain was. We feared his name so much so that he’d taken on a mythical status. He was mentioned in the Bible as well as a number of scrolls that were far more ancient. In the stories, he’d murdered his brother and lied about it to God. There were clues that this initiated a blood curse that led to the creation of the very first vampire, leading to the creation of him. Certain writings and parchments mentioned his name throughout history and in every instance, it described him as an extremely powerful monster. Those texts said he was to be feared. He was the reason vampires existed in the first place. He was the very first one. The original evil.

  Cain snapped his fingers and spread them wide, dark red electrical pulses radiating outward from his fingertips. All at once, the graveyard came alive. One vampire rose after another, emerging from the dirt of all the freshly dug graves. Then older ones started to turn, and even more demons rose from their eternal slumbers. Vampires stumbled out of the old crumbling tombs and crypts along the edges of the cemetery and for the first time in a very long while, I was afraid.

  Holy fuck. This was really, really bad.

  In moments, I was surrounded by freshly turned vampires and demons alike, at least fifty of them. I took a deep breath and brought my fists up, blocking my face from their advances. I started to fight, kicking and punching in order to find my way out of this mess, but it was no use. Even as I took out one vampire, another would ultimately take its place. The cycle occurred over and over, and my muscles started to burn from the exertion of the endless fight. I started to lose hope, but still I looked for an escape route. Grisly hands grabbed at me and before long, I was quickly overwhelmed. Strong hands gripped each one of my limbs, lifting me up off the ground and holding me captive. Strangely, not a single one of them bit at my flesh. From several feet away, Cain appraised my capture, his gaze shadowed, and my blood ran cold.

  Even I knew I wouldn’t be able to escape this with my life.

  “Bring her to me,” Cain ordered.

  He cast his fingers in my direction and after that, all I knew was blackness.

  Chapter Two

  The next time I woke, I found myself in a dark room, lit only by a small window that was too high up for me to peer out of. I blinked several times, allowing my eyes to adjust as I pushed myself up and off the floor. Rampant muscle soreness radiated up and down my limbs, making the transition from lying down to sitting up much more difficult than it should have been. Behind me was a cool stone wall and I used it for support, leaning against it as I began to study my surroundings. A chill raced down my spine and I shivered.

  “What the fuck happened to me?” I whispered into the dark. No one answered.

  Distinct shapes began to form in the shadows and a cold nervousness raced beneath my skin. I realized I was in a cell of some kind with thick unyielding metal bars. I narrowed my eyes and blinked again, trying to see beyond into the darkness, but I couldn’t make anything out. Sluggishly, I pushed myself up to my feet and groaned as my achy body protested my movements. At least my t-shirt and jeans still covered me and offered a small bit of warmth. I wrapped my arms around my chest in an effort to heat myself further.

  I moved toward the bars and wrapped my fingers around the thick metal. It was cold, possibly steel and likely strong enough to contain any evil creature in existence. The probability of breaking through any one of them was unlikely. I sighed. This really wasn’t good.

  Where the hell was I?

  The events from the night before came rushing back to me and I pressed my forehead against one of the chilled bars, trying to figure out what my next move would be. All around me, I could hear sounds of rancid breathing of other beings stuck inside cells similar to mine, the pangs of death rattling in some and groans of pain from others. Whatever dungeon I’d been thrown in, it was likely that its inhabitants never saw the light of day ever again. Absentmindedly, I wondered if I would die here, all alone in this cool, dank cell.

  Shivering from the mind-numbing cold, I backed away from the bars. Even the chill from the icy stone beneath my feet crept through the bottoms of my sneakers. On the right side of the cell was some sort of fold-up cot and I curled up on top of it. Once I was no longer standing on the bare stone floor, I found some semblance of warmth by curling my arms around my legs. I laid my right cheek on my knees and closed my eyes, hoping that this was just a nightmare and that I’d wake up soon.

  I slept for some time, but I had no idea how much time passed. When I was awake, the hours crept by and the only way I could determine at least an estimate of how much time had passed was the light of the sun peeking in through the small window in my cell. For a little while, the brightness allowed me to see more of the prison that held me captive and I was grateful for it. From what I could gather, it appeared as though my cell was in a hallway that was closed off by another barred door. There were additional cells beyond that held others, but I couldn’t see enough to make out who was inside any of them. My cell was far enough away from them that I couldn’t ask them where we were either. At least, I didn’t dare without seeing who they were first. There could be monsters in here with me.

  One day passed. And then two. At one point, a hooded figure stopped by and pushed a rather large glass of water inside between the bars, but other than that, no one came to me. In my thirst, I drank it all, not caring if I lived or died. If it was poisoned, better I perish now rather than suffer later at the hands of some demon. My stomach growled and I pressed my fingers to it, trying to ignore the twisting agony of my terrible hunger pains.

  I was so tired. So hungry. Eventually, I closed my eyes and just slept, trying to conserve both my mind and my energy for whatever was to come.

  On the morning of the third day of my imprisonment, the screams of someone in the distance woke me from my slumber. Whatever was happening to that man, it likely wasn’t pleasant for him. I crinkled my nose as his screams intensified. Nope. Definitely not.

  The squeal of the door opening outside of my cell made me lift my head. A single large male figure moved inside toward me. He was hooded in a black cape that just brushed the ground, made of what appeared to be expensive black silk fabric. I gritted my teeth and steeled myself for whatever torture was about to come. But he stopped and stood just outside the bars, maybe six feet away from me and just stared in my direction for a long few minutes. It was deeply unsettling, and I swallowed anxiously as I waited for what would come next.

  In the dim light, I could hardly make out his features, but something about his presence made my stomach churn with anxiety. He felt powerful, like someone who was used to giving orders and receiving instant obedience. I worried my bottom lip as he finally moved and opened the door to my cell, making his way into my prison with me.