Escaping from the Vampire Rogue- Chapter 6

Published: February 16, 2020

6

GARRICK

No woman, no matter how
beautiful or hypnotic is worth your life. The thought was logical, but his
vampire gripped the steering wheel ignoring his warning. Garrick could only
think of one other occasion where his vampire resisted.

During his full change nearly a
century ago, he and the vampire inside of him were at odds, causing them to split
into two distinct halves living in the same whole. Back then, it was over his
first drink from the source. Now, it was the girl sitting in the seat next to him.

They battled for dominance. The struggle was lost when a
flash of purple light skirted across the road.

Having never seen it in his life, he had known of no defense against magic. He didn’t even know if he’d be a formidable opponent in a battle against the mage. What was vastly understood, though, was the pack of shifters behind them was more dangerous to a vampire than a mage could ever be. One drop of their blood on him would mean poison. It was already bad enough the wound on his arm was slow to heal.

Gripping the steering wheel, he thought of nothing but getting
the girl as far away from the auction house as possible. If the mage stood in his
way, then it would be to his detriment. He stared at the cloaked figure and
pressed his foot on the gas, rocketing the car forward.

“Oh my God,” the girl beside him squealed, curling inside
of a seat harness as he raced toward the mage.

By the gods, his vampire hated that sound. The fear in
it made him itch. All he wanted to do was force his pleasure venom in her and distract
her until she never made that sound again.

He gritted his teeth, focusing on the body in front of him.

From the way he recoiled, the mage didn’t expect a truck
to come racing at him. The flash of magic that had been coming to the truck scurried
back to its owner, cocooning around him. The mage tried to move, but not fast
enough. His body hit the hood with a thunderous boom as he folded against the
front glass and slid off the side.

“You just hit him.”

Cha, he could do with less of her commentary. If his vampire
hadn’t been in control still, he would have left her at the warehouse. A disbelieving
growl rumbled low in his chest as if to say yeah, right.  He never would have left her behind whether his
vampire was in control or not.

A howl echoed signaling the pack of wolves had caught up
to them. He pressed the gas harder. They followed until he met the street.

The truck thrashed around as he turned from the lot.
These things were a lot bumpier than he’d imagined. He fought to control the contraption
under his hands, trying not to meet his final sunfall in his attempt to save
the screeching girl next to him.

The truck stopped jostling as they met the pavement. Even still, it took him a long time to figure out his bearings with the vehicle. Sure, he’d ridden in plenty in his lifetime, but he hadn’t driven one since they were invented. They were a menace then and it was worse now. He’d rather be on foot.

“Who are you? What do you want from me?” Several
questions galloped from the girl’s mouth as they made several turns before
finding the main road. Each one was met with silence. More fear coated her scent,
marring the beautiful floral aroma he’d smelled in the warehouse.

“Where are you taking me?” He didn’t know. Until that
moment, his only goal was to get her away from the auction house. He should drive
for an hour, then drop her off wherever that led him. Have her figure out the
rest for herself. That way she’d be far enough away from the shifters for them
not to follow her by scent. Then, he could get back to his duties.

Again, his vampire disagreed. He’d rather bring her back
to the hotel he and his Captain stayed in while in this realm. Hole up and hunker
down until he was sure the shifters had given up their search. At this point,
his vampire was more than happy to be someplace where she and a bed were close
together.

“Are you going to eat me?”

He stalled for a moment. Perhaps, he misheard her. He
couldn’t smell her wetness so why was she offering him sex.

His vampire surged forward again and pushed the confusion
away. So what, she wasn’t wet now. Give him an hour to calm her frazzled state
and she could be. Then, yes, he’d eat her.

He’d experienced licking the soft folds of her kind before.
Down where she’d be warm and wet. He wondered if she’d taste as sweet there as
her blood smelled. Or better, he imagined what it’d be like if he’d bit her
while cultivating her juices. His fangs dropped as more of her natural scent wrapped
around him. The undercurrent of shifter was all over her and it made his vampire
want to cover it up with his own.

What am I doing? He scowled and worked on getting
his vampire to obey. It was not the time to yearn for the touch of a soft
woman. He shifted in his seat, the growth in his pants would become very
apparent if he didn’t stop thinking about how wonderful she’d feel under him.
More of her scent blew in his face and his vampire tightened.

Ah, that was it. Her scent was triggering him. To stay his
vampire, he needed to control his triggers. Feeling along the side of the car
door for the window mechanism, he fiddled with several buttons until he managed
to roll down the back window. That hardly helped. For the all gods, most of the
back windshield was gone and her scent still permeated the front seat.

“Did you hear me?” she asked.

He heard her alright. Her heart raced. Her voice became
shrill. She breathed like they’d spent a night in bed together. None of it helped
to keep his vampire from wanting to pull over and seduce her into next week.
Except the scent of shifter was still strong. He pressed his foot into the gas
pedal. He needed to focus on getting her out of shifter territory.

Despite his best efforts, he soaked her in from his peripherals.
By the gods, she was gorgeous. Even disheveled and full of adrenaline. It made
his vampire want her more.

“Hello, I’m talking to you,” her voice was like metal
against metal. His vampire hated that she tried to be the dominant. He wouldn’t
allow it.

He growled and faced her. She sank back into her seat, likely catching a glimpse of his fangs and the blackness of his eyes. More fear raked off of her. Her body pressed against the door as her hand beat against it until it found the latch handle.

“What are you doing?” He growled.

She jerked the handle several times, but it did nothing.

“Stop that,” he barked when he realized she was trying to escape. They were not out of shifter territory yet. They’d catch up to her within the hour and drag her back to the warehouse if she got loose now. All of these words he should have said aloud, but his vampire launched into action before he could. He tore her backward and pressed her against the seat. The car swerved.

“Stop!” she screamed. “Let me go.”

“Don’t be stupid, girl.” He steadied the car but kept his body leaning over to her side of the truck, holding her back from flinging herself out of a vehicle that was moving faster than she could run.

“Let me go.” Gritting her teeth, her fingers dug into
his arm. Cha, she was much stronger than he’d given humans of this realm credit
for. The skin under his shirt would be marked. His vampire loved that. And
loved it even more when she thrashed in the seat trying to fight him off. The
car swerved again.

He needed to focus on the road instead of getting turned
on because some human who was fighting him provoked his vampire. But when she sank
her teeth into his flesh and all bets were off.

A searing pleasure shot through to his groin. In an instant, his vampire was out, ready to take her. He fought for control. The rational side of his brain knew she was trying to fend him off. His vampire took it as a challenge. A mate marking. Before he could stop himself, he tugged his arm away, pulling her with him, then bit down into her forearm, reciprocating the bite.

“Ouch,” she screamed and tried to wrench her arm from his mouth. With each movement, her blood gushed into his mouth. His vampire latched on tight, locking her arm so she couldn’t move. It had to be the sweetest thing he’d ever tasted.

His vampire pushed his pleasure venom into her. She
resisted, still trying to rip her arm free, but his vampire would not let her
go now. He couldn’t stop himself. He didn’t want to. Wave after wave of pleasure
shot from his lips and down to his groin when he drank. He needed her. Needed
this. He lost focus on everything except the frenzy that was building inside of
him.

Somehow the human managed to lean in to grab the steering wheel and yank it downward. The car jerked violently toward a pole. He instantly let go, finding himself again as a mass of wood rushed closer to the front bumper. His foot pushed the brake pedal to the floor, stopping the truck before they hit it.

She fought for the door handle again.

“You are going to get us killed, girl.”

“Let me go,” she cried, pulling at the handle so hard,
he thought she might tear it from its latch. When it didn’t respond as intended,
she slammed her shoulder into the door.

“Stop that. Do you wish for the shifters to find you and take you back to the warehouse?” He asked. She stopped flailing and looked at him with wide eyes and understanding, then looked around as if searching for the wolves that were surely after them. But he wasn’t finished with his scolding. “Know when you’re being saved and accept the help.”

Her head tilted down to the blood trickling down her arm
then back at him. Mistrust and disbelief coated her expression.

“That was… unintentional.”

“You tried to kill me.” Her hand clutched at her arm,
but the wound should have started to heal by now.

“You’re the one who pulled the car to hit a pole. I believe
you’re the one trying to us,” he barked, then put the car in reverse
like she’d showed him, then taped the gas to move them backward.

“Y-you bit me.” Again, her fierce gaze flickered to the
hand covering the bite mark on her arm.

“You bit me first. Next time keep your teeth to yourself.”

“But you drank from me.”

“That is what vampires do if provoked.” The words were as-a-matter-of-fact
and she didn’t seem fazed by his declaration. If she knew about mages, she must
have known about vampires too.

“You mean, you don’t want to eat me?”

There was that word again, having him shift in his seat.
He needed to focus on something other than what she’d feel like against his
tongue. He sighed. “I do not wish to hurt you.”

“Then what do you want?”

At the moment, her in a bed screaming his name instead
of barking orders, but it would have been unwise to say that aloud. So, he
chose not to answer, but provided her a warning instead, “Grab the steering
wheel again and I can’t be responsible for what my vampire might do.”

A sharp gasp left her. His vampire gave him a
disapproving hiss, unappreciative that he’d scared her again. Their venom was
in her now, he wanted more of her in exchange. Her being afraid of him worked
against that plan. Garrick inwardly shook himself. His vampire was getting out
of hand. He’d had no business saving her in the first place.

It was against code. Never in the fifty years he’d gone to the auction house had he broken protocol. There were severe penalties for those who did. He needed to find his Captain to alert him of his transgression. Just in case his foolish action put him in danger as well.

So much for not getting into trouble. That seemed
to be his moniker on this night.

“Red light. Red li—Brake!” The girl screeched beside him.

His heavy boot pressed the brake pedal. The truck jerked;
the tires made matching screeches underneath the car until they came to an abrupt
halt.

“Enough with the screaming.”

The earsplitting way she barked commands at him made him
want to tie rope around her mouth so she couldn’t talk. At least on that he and
his vampire could agree.

The more things they agreed on, the quicker they’d fuse
back together. And the girl’s grating tone was what they both needed. He
focused on how much he hated it. Slowly, he and his vampire started to become
one again.

“You were going to bulldoze through a red light.”

“There are no cars here, and in case you have not realized
this, we are on the run. We cannot stop on a whim.”

Her head jerked to the back window. Still shattered and
providing him with no relief. When she turned back, more of her scent blew in
his face. It seemed to be pouring off of her so quickly the air being sucked
out of the back couldn’t keep up. It was making him delirious. He felt his
vampire split from him again. He groaned.

“There’s no one behind us.”

Yet. He’d stolen something he was not meant to take.
Even if he had won her in a bet. A bet was not the trading post. She’d been
kept hidden from the auction. There had to be a reason behind it.

Apparently, she took his silence as her queue to keep talking.
“I get it, but when the light is red, that means stop.”

“We will not stop with a pack hunting us.”

“There’s no one there,” she protested again glancing through
the back window.

“No one yet. Now, close your mouth, unless you’re being
useful, girl.”

“My name is not girl,” she snapped back, a quick
flash of defiance crossed her face when he looked at her again. “Listen, whatever
your name is—”

“I am called Garrick Shaw, servant of the Great King, fifty-seventh legion of Magest.”

“What?”

“You asked my name.”

“Whatever.” Her words were soaked in sarcasm. He fought
a growl.

“I believe it is customary for you to provide your name
now that I have given you mine.”

The dark-haired girl offered up nothing besides folded arms and a direct look out of the window.

Cha! Was she ignoring him? She was brave.

“I asked you a question,” he ground out. “What are you
called?”

Her silence was worse for him than her grating tone. When
she didn’t speak, his vampire refused to fuse back with him. He was there, prowling
inside of the darkness ready to unleash, but he wouldn’t come to join him. His vampire
was content to be uncomfortable. Garrick inwardly sighed again. Fine, he’d have
to find another way to become one with the beast within him.

“Where are you taking me?” She asked instead of
answering.

“Home, if you have one.”

She sputtered incredulously. “Really? Why?”

“I have no need of you.”

That was a lie. A complete and utter lie and he couldn’t
stop the vampire inside of him from openly growling his disagreement. He
cleared his throat when she cowered back. “I am sorry. I’m still… stimulated. The
beast inside of me wants you.”

In an instant, his mouth snapped shut. Why had he said such
a stupid thing?

“That’s why you saved me because…he…you wanted me?” Her
fear rose in the seat beside him. Clearly his definition of want and hers were
completely different.

“I am not going to bring you harm,” he clarified. Harm
was the last thing he wanted, although there was a soft woman once who wanted
him to spank her. For a moment, wanting flooded him as he imagined palming the
girl’s bottom as he sucked the blood from her neck.

Enough, he berated his vampire for pushing the
thoughts into his mind. He was only going to help her this once, then leave her
be.

“Where should I take you?” he asked.

“I’m from Treehill.”

Treehill. He’d heard of it before. It was legend to
carry more mages per capita. But he’d never even seen one until tonight, so he
couldn’t be sure of its validity.

“Do you know the way from here?”

She nodded and told him it would be faster by highway. For someone who didn’t know how to drive, she was adept at providing him instruction. She was correct, it was faster by the highway. The cars drove much faster with the added benefit of little wobbling of the vehicle when he met a new turn. He settled into the lane as she instructed. An awkwardness shoved its way inside of the car and parked in between them until she shifted with a small groan of discomfort. She clutched at her arm still.

“Are you alright?” He kept his vampire from touching her
even though he wanted to.

She looked down at her arm. “Yeah, it just stings a little.”

“That cannot be.” He pushed his pleasure venom in her. She should be unraveling like he was by now. “Let me see.”

Her shoulder met the door again as she cowered away.

“My bite does not harm humans. I just wish to see what
it looks like. I will not harm you, girl.”

“Stop calling me that.” She said shortly.

His tone matched hers. “Then what should I call you? You
have yet to provide me a name.”

“Kayla,” she sighed. “My name is Kayla.”

“Kayla,” he repeated, testing her name on his tongue. He
liked it. It was delicate yet hearty—a strong name.

“Kayla, will you let me see your arm?”

“It’s fine,” she said clutching it close to her middle. “The
exit to my house is 67.”

He looked up. Not a long way from there. A few exits away.

“Are you sure? I can heal it.”

“No,” the words were quick. “I’m fine.”

It was probably better for both of them if he didn’t
touch her anyway. With his pleasure venom coursing through her, it would be all
he could do to control his vampire.

“It’s this exit,” she said quietly.

They’d driven for a long time once they were off the highway to a part of the small city where houses lined the roadways. It was like his village back home, yet cleaner. He guessed dirt roads would fill anything with dust. The paved roads here did have some benefit.

“It’s the white house after this patch of woods.”

He drove until he saw a quaint home with dark windows.
She looked at him with an expression he could only describe as awkwardness.

“Is this it?” He asked, pausing in front. She nodded and
grabbed for the handle. The door didn’t budge. “I do not know how to open it.”

“You have to get out and open it from the outside.”

Garrick opened his door and was around to her side of
the truck in a flash. With ease, the door opened when he pulled the handle. Kayla
dipped out of the car, flinching when she met her feet. He was more concerned
with the marks on her arm.

Dark purple pooled, like bruises around his bite marks.

“Your arm,” he nodded toward it.

“It’s fine” She snatched her arm behind her to hide it.

She was not fine. His vampire cornered her inside
of the V of the door to inspect it further. Without thinking, he caught her
hand. A painful shock jolted shot through him like a bolt of lightning caught
his armor.

“Ah,” he growled, looking at her in surprise. What was
that?

“Move,” she pleaded breathlessly. “You have to move.”

He couldn’t. The soles of his shoes melted to the
pavement. Kayla pushed against him, placing her hands against his shoulders.
Hot. Much too hot for it to be her natural heat.

He groaned as it seared into him, the pleasure of her
touch and the pain of it were incongruent. His vampire wasn’t sure if he should
force her away or pull her tighter. Kayla gripped him roughly, fire erupted
from her palms and into him. She was burning his flesh.

“Stop that,” his gut squeezed as she hoisted herself up,
using his thighs as leverage to squeeze around him and the truck. His fangs
drew down again when his nose touched her bare skin. His vampire needed her. He
closed his eyes, reveling in her touch, even though it burned.

“Sorry,” she apologized, managing to squeeze through too
soon. She backed onto her grass.

He growled as she scurried across the grass and up the
short steps to the front door. His instincts for her took over. She ran and his
vampire took off to chase her. He toppled at an awkward angle when his feet didn’t
move. Stuck inside of his shoes.

He honed in Kayla retreating inside. She was his as soon
as he’d gotten out of these damned shoes. He bent to unfasten them, succeeding
in ripping the top of his shoes off. Close the ground, he stopped. His vampire
slowed and breathed deep. The air was not clean.

There was an undercurrent. Faint, but concentrated. Like
wet rags that had been left soaking too long in stagnant water. Shifters.

He looked at the house again searching for any sign. Stalking
from the bushes in the backyard, several wolves moved like assassins toward the
back of the house. Calculated and slow.

Inside, sudden purple flashes erupted from the front window, then a curdling scream. Kayla.

Dread propelled his feet. He didn’t think of the harm that would come to him with so many shifters surrounding the house. He just went.

Click here to vote on what happens next

Author’s Note: Does any of this make any sense?! Haha, I feel like this chapter was all over the place. With Garrick being essentially two beings in one and his second-half trying desperately to get to Kayla, his motivations tend to shift kind of abruptly. But did you see Kayla’s reaction to his pleasure venom? Very, very different than Erica’s reaction to Julius. (I’ve asked for your input about her reaction in the voting. I’m curious as to where I should go with it.)

The winning responses from the voting:
Q1: The mage is a syphon, but he cannot stop a car. (I took this to mean: run his ass over hahaha)
Q2: Get some answers from her dad. (We’re getting there, but a cozy heart to heart by the fire doesn’t seem to be in the cards. But, lots will be revealed next chapter!)

There is a deleted scene from this chapter.

It’s a fun little diddy that happens while the duo is on the road. While on the highway, Garrick proves that driving is hazardous in the human realm. I removed it because it didn’t really fit the tone of the latter half of the chapter.

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Post Note: Did ya’ll see that Amazon is giving away 2 free months of Kindle Unlimited?! Yo, if I didn’t already have KU, I would be snatching that all the way up. (BTW I tried, they wouldn’t let me.) I’m not sure how long they’re going to have this promotion. So, if you’re interested, you can get *2-Months of Kindle Unlimited Free Here.

A new chapter goes out next Sunday evening! See you soon!

Sabrina

*Affiliate Link- Full disclosure, if you sign up for KU through my link, I make a small commission from Amazon. (It’s the Zon, they’re cheapskates, it’s not that much $) But it will help pay for the production costs for Rogue including the cover design and editing.