The Vampires: Alaric and Faina Novel – How could his voice be so firm, so strong when telling me he’d used another woman? “You dare dare to touch me with hands that you just had on her?” I asked him coldly. The only thing holding me upright at the moment was my pride. He’d cheated on me, in every possible way a vampire could cheat. The man I loved more than my own life just walked in here and casually admitted he’d turned to another woman in all ways. Ways that had been just mine. Only mine since we’d married, and even before. From the moment he met me. “Faina,” he said sharply, but his tone was filled with concern. “Don’t make more of this than it is.” “You’re going to want to take your hands off of me,” I said calmly, but there was pain in every word. “And how many times have you turned to her?” His face was calm as he took a deep breath. “This was the fourth time.” Four times. Four times. I could be just as calm. “Tomorrow, I’ll be petitioning to have our union dissolved and then you can make that woman your new bride.”
He was late. Alaric was late and he hadn’t texted or called. That was so unlike him, and even though I knew he was pretty much indestructible, I still worried. So I paced. And paced some more. I tried calling. I tried texting. Nothing. Finally, two hours after he told me to expect him, his car pulled into the driveway. When he walked in, I rushed to the door…and stopped. Because he’d stopped. For a moment, we just stared at each other, and there was something off in his eyes. So I said the most wifely thing that could have come out of my mouth at that moment. “Are you hungry?” His eyes remained steady on me. “I already fed.” What? That wasn’t possible. I was his blood bride. Ironically my blood froze in my veins at his statement. I swallowed, trying to remain outwardly composed. I refused to lose my dignity by making a scene that was so abhorrent in our world. “Who?” My voice was so faint that I could barely hear myself.
“Daylin.” How could his voice be so firm, so strong when telling me he’d used another? And not just some unknown. She was his CFO. One I knew had been after him. One I hadn’t been concerned about since I was his bride. Since the moment we met, he’d fed from no one but me. No one. But what worried me even more was what happened after he fed from her. The dizziness took me by surprise, and I breathed through that odd feeling. Alaric loved me, and yet — “And after you fed?” “Don’t make me say it, Faina. It meant nothing.” The only thing holding me upright at the moment was my pride. He’d cheated on me, in every possible way a vampire could cheat. The man I loved more than my own life just walked in here and casually admitted he’d turned to another woman in all ways. Ways that had been just mine. Only mine since we’d married, and even before.
From the moment he met me. I must have swayed because Alaric was suddenly in front of me, holding me by my arms. “Faina,” he said sharply, but his tone was filled with concern. “Don’t make more of this than it is.” That was a sentence that could take a while to unpack. “You’re going to want to take your hands off of me,” I said calmly, but there was pain in every word. Since Alaric had never heard that tone in my voice before, he didn’t know he shouldn’t ignore it. So he didn’t release me, and I wasn’t strong enough to shake him off, nor would I try. That infuriated me, and I repeated that he needed to let go of me in a tone of pure ice that he’d never heard from me before and became colder with each word. If I sounded emotionless, I was and it only reflected my frozen insides. Alaric listened to me that time. “You dare — dare — to touch me with hands that you just had on her?” I asked him coldly. “With her blood coursing through your veins? I want you out of this house.” That got to him. “Faina, you will hear me out and understand. Your blood has been sour in my mouth for the last few weeks.” Of all the things he could have said, I wasn’t expecting that life-altering news. “And that’s a reason to cheat on me?” “It was nothing more than a feed and release.”
“And how many times have you turned to her?” His face was calm as he took a deep breath. “This was the fourth time.” Four times. Four times. I could be just as calm. “Tomorrow, I’ll be petitioning to have our union dissolved and then you can make Daylin your new bride.” “No, you won’t. I won’t give you up, Faina. It’s not her that I love.” “Well, I’m sure you’ll learn to,” I said coolly. “And I’d guess you’re well on your way after being with her four times.” — I asked Alaric to give me a moment, and I felt myself drifting toward the master bedroom before I took a right turn because I didn’t want to be anywhere near the bed we had shared. When it had meant something. My blood had turned sour weeks ago, and Alaric had not said a word. He’d simply turned to someone else. Had shared. Had meant. Had turned. Had not said. Past tense. The saddest tense in the world when viewing it from what was to what is no longer. I sat on the edge of the guest bed and looked at the floor.
The doorknob rattled, drawing my eyes, but I had locked it, wondering if he’d come back after I had told him to leave. The anguish in my eyes had made him decide that giving me space to process his betrayal would be the wisest course, but deep down I’d known he’d come back before he even made it out to the car. Alaric wasn’t one for space, and never had been since the night we first met. I can’t bear to be away from you, Faina. Such a lie. Asking him to give me a moment had given me just long enough to get to a room and lock the door. “Stay out.” Worded in that particular, compelling voice that I had never before used on him, Alaric had no choice but to obey me. If I could manage to sleep, I’d need to remember to wake just as the sun rose and compel him to stay away from me again, otherwise, free from the compulsion, he’d burst in here and demand to talk.
But I needed an entire day free from Alaric to plan and prepare…and to begin the process of dissolving our bond. His fists hit the door as he bellowed my name, a strange experience to witness since vampires rarely lost their cool. However, despite his superhuman strength, he couldn’t hit the door hard enough to break it down because of my words compelling him to stay out. Despite my sour blood, our bond still existed, giving me the power to compel him “Faina!” Yell my name all you want. It won’t do you any good. Better yet, bellow Daylin’s name. I’m sure she’d be happy to answer you. This was going to be a long night if he kept up the door pounding and yelling. Why he wasn’t in his car heading over to Daylin’s, I had no idea.
Guilt? He shouldn’t be guilty. He’d had no problem feeding from and banging that woman four times now in who knew how many days. My blood had soured weeks ago, he’d said. Weeks ago. Two? Three? More? Our bond had been crumbling and he’d not told me, hadn’t given me the dignity of a proper dissolution before turning to someone else. Bang, bang, bang “FAINA!” Why call for me now, when it’s too late, Alaric? When it no longer matters? I considered what two words I would use to compel him as the sun rose. What I was doing to him was rare. As the donneuse, I had the ability to compel him to stop feeding. But I had never tried to control his behavior like this before. I wasn’t sure any donneuse had, yet it seemed to be working. Two words. Two words to save my life if he ever became so lost in my blood that he couldn’t stop.
The danger to my life was the only thing that could rouse me from the fugue I went into the very second his fangs pierced my skin. A state I would remain in until he removed his fangs. Unless he became lost in my blood, and I would be shocked awake with two words on my lips. Stop feeding. But Alaric had supreme control and never had he lost himself. Never had he even come close. I wouldn’t risk you, Faina. I would never endanger my very heart. When he finished feeding, he would bring me back to full awareness by stroking my cheek or my hair oh-so-gently with the tips of his fingers, and he’d call my name softly, lovingly, so as not to startle me. It was a lesson in control for male vampires because when they finished feeding, they needed release. It was a lesson in his love for me overriding his need for me. Need wasn’t quite strong enough a word to convey the impulse, the primal urge to be inside me, to bang me, to give me my release and to find his.
The feeding triggered the need to bang and it couldn’t be denied. He couldn’t stop himself, but male vampires practiced control with their blood brides and forced themselves to wait. To go slowly and gently until we signaled that we wanted a little more, then a little more. Fortunately, when we came back to awareness, the feeding had also triggered a need in us as donneuses and slow and gentle steadily turned deeper and more insistent. “FAINA!! FAINA!!” His voice was desperate and agonized, and I couldn’t find it in myself to care. He hadn’t cared when he’d turned to Daylin once. Twice. Three times. Four times. I walked to the door. “I’m going to sleep now, so stop calling my name and banging on the door unless you’re even more selfish than you’ve already shown yourself to be, and you care even less about me than you’ve already proven.” “Faina, no! I love you! I love you! Please open the door and talk with me. I want to explain everything.” “You should go spend the night at Daylin’s.”
Since you’ll soon be living with her. “We can talk later.” Like, later when we were in front of the council officially dissolving our bond. “I don’t want her. I don’t want her, Faina.” “Lies, Alaric. You’ve turned to her four times.” “Feed and release, Faina, feed and release. That’s all. Nothing but a need for a feeding.” “Behind my back, Alaric. With someone like her, someone that you work with every day. Four times. Four. Times. I bet the chippie is gloating that she finally has you.” “She doesn’t have me!” “Really? So her blood isn’t coursing through your veins right now? Your shaft wasn’t in her earlier tonight? It was all a horrible lie?” BANG BANG BANG “Open the door, Faina! LET ME IN! Open the door NOW!” Ah, the rare joy of hearing a vampire unraveling because he knows he’s singlehandedly responsible for blowing up the life that he professed to love and cherish. The very life he said he’d defend to the death that he ended up dealing the killing blow to himself. Alaric, always used to having control in every aspect of his life, would be losing his mind the longer I refused him what he wanted. I would be refusing him for a while.