Page 4 of Blood of the Damned: Thorn (Vaughn Winery #1)

Thorn

The two vampires in front of him didn’t need to speak for him to know what they were thinking, or feeling for that matter. That, of course, wouldn’t stop them from voicing their opinion, and no matter how hard he stared at Dacian, he felt his brother's determination to have this discussion now.

“You didn’t explain anything to him… before you bit him?” Dacian asked, reeling from the shock of that revelation. It was impossible to miss, regardless of their vampiric bond.

Thorn wasn’t sure what it said about him when he had no regret about claiming Ledger.

Okay, maybe a little at their mating being in a dirty alleyway.

The desire was unparalleled to anything he’d ever experienced and there was nothing that would have prevented him making his claim.

The claim his brothers could clearly see marking Ledger’s throat, because of the open-neck shirt that was missing several buttons, and had blood on the collar.

“Explain what?” Ledger asked cautiously.

On the trip to the vineyard, Ledger’s mind had been an open book to him, and he’d followed his panicked thoughts, trying to figure out the best way to approach them.

This was unfamiliar territory for him, too.

He was unprepared for a situation like this—though how anyone could prepare, Thorn couldn’t fathom—where desire and hunger became the sole focus.

For a vampire of his age, those things had become easily managed through practiced restraint.

It was laughable how easily that restraint had been removed by his dhampir. And he tried to express that through his bond with his brothers, mindful of how easily Ledger felt him blocking him. “I think we should go inside and talk.”

Ledger shook his head, though he didn’t release Thorn’s hand. “I’m not going anywhere until you explain what I’m missing. And I want you to tell me what you are because I’ve seen nothing with those big ass, beautiful wings before.”

“You winged out!” Calvert questioned, in an unrecognizable voice. “To the heavens, in public? What were you thinking?”

“He wasn’t thinking clearly,” Dacian interjected, his amusement increasing by the second. His gaze swept over Ledger. “Though I can clearly see why.”

“Get your eyes off my dhampir immediately,” Thorn snapped, his fangs dropping and his eyes changing color. His fingers tightened, preparing to move Ledger out of the way, only he had ideas of his own.

Ledger shook him off and stomped to Dacian, prodding a finger in his chest in such a manner that, were it not for the shock, Dacian would have ripped the hand away. “Right, can we have less of this wind-up merchant bullshit? I’m in no mood to humor anyone.”

Thorn’s grin made his cheeks ache at seeing his tiny omega take no shit off his brother. “Isn’t he perfect?” he gloated, uncaring he was also on Ledger’s shit list.

“What are you?” Ledger asked Calvert.

There was a moment of hesitation while Calvert waited for Thorn to answer. “Vampires,” Thorn replied. “We are ancient vampires.”

The blood drained from Ledger’s face and his eyes rolled into the back of his head as his legs crumpled under him.

Dacian, who was closest, caught Ledger before he landed on the ground. He lifted him effortlessly, offering him to Thorn. It was a wise move given the way his blood surged at anyone touching Ledger. The bond was too new for him to allow anyone to get close his dhampir.

“Well, that went well!” Dacian scoffed, without amusement.

“Fuck off,” Thorn muttered, scooping Ledger into his arms. Barely weighing anything at all, he eyed the man with concern, despite feeling their bond. “Do you think he needs to feed from me again?”

“He bit you too? Holy shitballs, what the hell has gotten into you?” Dacian shook his head, dark hair flicking at his cheekbones. “No, don’t bother answering, I can feel what the hell got into you.”

“Stop that. That’s private!” Thorn exclaimed, stomping off towards the open front door. “And ring whoever went to watch Ledger’s car and ask them to have it towed here. It’s got all his things in it. I’m sure he’ll want them when he comes around.”

“I think you have bigger things to worry about,” Calvert said, chasing after them.

Thorn headed up the big staircase to his part of the enormous house he shared with his brothers, not stopping. “And what’s that?”

“Who saw you in town?”

That was easy. “No one. I was in an alleyway.” He used his elbow to open the door to his suite of rooms, careful not to catch Ledger’s head or legs as he shuffled in sideways.

Dacian and Calvert were right behind him. “Go away,” he stated in a tone that suggested now was not the time for twenty questions.

Neither moved from their position at the foot of the large sofa Thorn laid Ledger on. He glanced at them. “Seriously, I need to talk to Ledger… alone. ”

“Shouldn’t you have done the talking before you bit him and he bit you back?” Dacian asked sarcastically, the humor grating on Thorn’s nerves.

“I’m not explaining myself to you.” Thorn knelt next to the sofa by Ledger’s head.

He caught Calvert’s sympathetic smile. Always the peacekeeper. “We just need to know that we aren’t going to find ourselves under scrutiny. We’ve lived in Bayfield for over a century without anyone asking questions about our existence.”

The concern was valid.

Vampires were an unknown entity in modern times.

As far as the population was aware, they were just lore.

The damned, the only creatures with a need for blood to survive and wiped out many millennia ago because of it.

It was far from the truth. Yes, vampire bloodlines had diminished, but the cause of that had never been pinpointed properly.

The belief was it had something to do with the need for blood containing a certain property.

This did not fully explain why certain bloodlines died out when the brothers had spent centuries perfecting a simulated blood group to prevent this.

“No, I shielded and although I might have been a little out of control, I had the wherewithal to keep my senses pushing folks in other directions.”

“A little out of control?” Dacian’s arched stare got disregarded, just like the implication that he wasn’t being honest.

Thorn looked at both brothers. “Listen, you haven’t met your dhampir so you have no idea how you’ll react, so stop fucking judging me.” Thorn returned his attention to the concerningly pale man on the sofa, stroking the blond hair off his forehead.

“He’s the heart of me,” he continued, his tone softening.

“My heart beats with his blood. There is nothing I have to compare the desire to. The gut-wrenching necessity that comes from the first drops of his blood singing through my veins, feeding my soul's desire for him. I know an eternity with him won’t be long enough to quench that desire.”

“Fuck, then count me out,” Dacian grumbled.

Whereas Calvert murmured, “I’m happy for you, Thorn.”

He kept his gaze on Ledger, feeling him stir. “Go, he’s waking up and if I’m going to have to grovel, I’d prefer not to do it with an audience.”

“Pity,” answered Dacian, smirking.

“Leave him be.” Calvert tugged Dacian to the door and a second later, the soft click told him he was alone with Ledger.

He kissed his forehead, breathing in his scent, which now held undertones of Thorn’s. “Come on, Sweetling, wake for me. We have much to talk about.”

Ledger’s eyelids fluttered for a few seconds before he groaned and his eyes slitted open.

“So not a dream then?” he murmured in a way that suggested he hadn’t quite decided if that was good or bad.

The feeling caused a knot to form in Thorn’s gut. “No, not a dream.”

Ledger raised a hand and pushed at Thorn’s chest. “I need some… space.”

Despite getting why, it hurt. Thorn sat back on his heels, resisting the urge to rub at the center of his chest.

Ledger scooted his bottom up the sofa until he was sitting, increasing the gap between them. He ran a hand through his dishevelled hair while he stared at Thorn. His thoughts were more closed off than they’d been, and Thorn resisted prying. “Vampire. You were serious?”

Thorn had to respect how Ledger didn’t shy away from the conversation that had caused his dramatic faint. He nodded slowly, thinking about where to start. Given the mostly incorrect way modern society viewed things, anything he said was just going to sound ridiculously far fetched.

Shifters believed they were superior to those who could not shift into their animal form. It was total nonsense. Non-shifters came first. If they checked their historical facts properly, they’d know this.

Thorn should know, he’d been around to see it with his own eyes. Explaining that was impossible, so he hadn’t tried. Now he needed a way to talk about it so he didn’t make his dhampir faint again.

“Winged vampires originate from Roman times. We were described as having the bodies of crows, the wings specifically. Roman mythology then turned us into a kind of nocturnal bird that fed on human blood and flesh.”

Ledger’s eyebrows shifted up his forehead, reaching for his hairline, as his lips parted and no sound came out.

“We don’t eat human flesh, never have. But it all adds to the drama of the story told. As you can see, we aren’t birds. We also aren’t bats, but suggesting to those under a thrall that we were allowed for us to go undetected and left us free to roam as we pleased.”

More lip flapping got Thorn continuing, but with a growing sense of dread that he was making things worse rather than better.

“There are vampires without wings, but they aren’t pure bloods.

My kind descend from a true mated pair, a vampire and their dhampir.

Like you and me.” For now, he decided to leave out the fact that a dhampir was usually female.

His mate was having another freakout and Thorn found himself on his ass as Ledger pushed him out of the way to get off the sofa and stomp.

Thorn rose slowly, unhurt but concerned when Ledger went to the door without saying anything. “Where are you going?”

Ledger glanced over his shoulder, the honey color of his eyes having bled to red gave Thorn a shot of adrenaline fueled desire.

“I need… fuck knows…” He threw up his arms and spun back around. “I can’t gather my thoughts… your scent… outside… if we went outside, it would be better.”

Want you so bad it hurts!

Impossibly fast, Thorn had Ledger up against the door, his hand around his throat, the other ripping the clothes from his body.

“I want you too,” he whispered, crushing Ledger’s mouth and taking him with a wild abandon he’d resisted in the alleyway.

Small hands ran up the side of his face and into his hair, gripping tight. That’s it, take me.

Yes.

Wild and wet, he could taste Ledger’s blood at the ferociousness of the kiss. Ledger lapped at his fangs and mewled deliriously, thrusting his hips like he was fucking Thorn.

Wanna bite you. Need to taste you. Fuck, I need to be naked.

Each demand drove spikes of lust through Thorn’s control until he wasn’t sure what was happening.

Everything became a blur as Thorn gave in to Ledger’s demands and felt his teeth sink into the flesh at the base of his throat.

The sting of pain heightened all of Thorn’s senses and the overwhelming vortex sucked him.

Reality ceased to exist beyond his dhampir.