Taste of Torment (Deep In Your Veins 3)

Although I had been made a commander on my first night here, it hadn’t been the position I’d applied for when I arrived from London. Having been scouted by Antonio’s tracker, Sebastian, I had participated in the try-outs for a place in the legion. The majority of people there, including Jared, had thought it completely ridiculous for a female to attend. Although I’d passed each stage and was rare in being a Feeder – a vampire able to absorb and manipulate energy – I was denied a place. It was then that Antonio made me Jared’s co-commander. Jared’s issue hadn’t just been that I was female. No, it was also that I was a Sventé vampire – the weakest of the three breeds.

Although Keja vampires weren’t as strong as Pagoris, they were still powerful in that they were hypnotically beautiful. All three breeds had a preternatural allure, but Keja beauty was enchanting enough to bewitch people, ensnaring their prey. Also, like Pagoris, their vampiric gifts were often very substantial. Kejas were identifiable by their fangs and the amber tinges to their irises – tinges that glowed when they were angry, thirsty, or horny.

Sventés, however, couldn’t boast of much. Our vampiric gifts were mostly defensive rather than offensive, and we didn’t have super strength or a bewitching allure. Still, we were stronger and faster than humans and had incredible agility. We didn’t have visible markings – no fangs, no glowing irises – and our bloodlust wasn’t overpowering. All of that enabled us to blend well with humans, and therein lay our power. But the other two breeds didn’t perceive that as strength. To them, Sventés were inferior in that we were tame and too human-like as opposed to the ultimate predator.

Although Jared overcame his prejudice and wasn’t the narrow-minded arsehole he’d once been, the vampire community hadn’t been keen on me Binding with him. As Antonio’s Heir, Jared was destined to one day hold the position; to rule and protect vampires worldwide. As his mate, I would share that position as ruler. The vampires needed to be secure in the knowledge that their rulers could protect them. As such, having a Sventé as a ruler hadn’t been an attractive idea to them.

It was only the fact that I was very powerful as a Feeder – a gift that should technically only run in Pagori lines – that had stopped a riot from occurring. Instead, the guests had spent the week approaching the ceremony testing my patience and strength. Fate had decided it would be funny for me to be weak at the time. Yep, thanks to two vampire scientists, I had been gradually altering while at the same time weakening. No one had known how I was altering or what the bloody hell would happen. We had found out pretty quickly. The sociopathic scientists had been trying to create a hybrid – a mix of all three vampire breeds.

The wackos had also succeeded.

Thanks to them, I was now the only hybrid in the world. In addition to having the Sventé manageable bloodlust, I also had the hypnotic allure of a Keja, and the strength of a Pagori. Nonetheless, I was a Sventé at heart.

A side effect of this hybrid business was the new mercury tinges to my irises – tinges that glowed when, yes you guessed it, I was thirsty, angry, or horny. Jared swore they looked beautiful, but I personally believed he was talking tripe and I rather missed having normal eyes.

Some might think it would be fabulous to be a hybrid, to be so strong. But the very few of us who knew about it were all set on keeping it secret, coming up with bullshit reasons for the new mercury ring to my irises and my sudden increase in power. Everyone believed Antonio’s excuses as they had no reason not to; they trusted him. If they knew the truth, they might not be too comfortable with letting me live. After all, if hybrids became a breed in their own right, they would be stronger than the other three, messing with the current dynamics. Pagoris would lose their ‘throne’, Kejas would be knocked down a notch, and Sventés would be even more vulnerable than before. No one would like that.

Less than ten minutes later, Jared and I were ready to leave. Before going to meet with the squad, Jared unfortunately lived up to his word and teleported my presents out of the apartment and hid them somewhere. It was probably for the best. I was addicted to the ‘Vampire Nation’ game, so there was a high chance that I would have dug it out and played with it again before my birthday came around.

Finally arriving at our destination, we found six of the squad gathered at the long bar, ordering drinks. Damien, Salem, Butch, Stuart, and Denny were making a huge fuss of David, who had proven to be the most valuable member on this particular assignment – they were like a football team, ecstatic with a player who had ‘scored the winning goal’. The youngest of the squad was actually the strongest; David’s gift was to produce a psionic boom that could cause such extreme pressure on the skull that it totally overwhelmed the brain and led to a temporary coma.

“It wasn’t all me,” I heard David say as Jared and I approached. “We’re a team. Plus, if it wasn’t for Butch, I wouldn’t have got close enough to the building to get inside.”

That was true. Butch used his ability to negate or deflect anything that came at him to produce a shield and protect David – being so powerful meant that David was always an immediate target. When the others turned to Butch and made the same fuss of him, he smiled and nodded. One thing I had noticed about Butch was that his crooked grins never quite reached his eerily dark eyes. Whether that meant he wasn’t good with emotion or that he was simply a sociopath that experienced none, I wasn’t sure. Given how creative he could be with his kills, it could very well be the latter. But I didn’t have much room to judge.

Noticing Jared and me, they all turned and greeted us with pats on the back. Yeah, they thought of me as one of the boys. I wasn’t sure whether to be offended or touched. Even out of work hours, they all called me ‘Coach’ rather than Sam. Of course, that didn’t stop Damien dishing out a compliment purely to annoy Jared.

“Coach, you’re looking good.” Seeing the murderous glint in Jared’s eyes, Damien’s dark skin paled slightly, but he was still as amused as always by Jared’s degree of possessiveness.

Groaning at Damien, Salem nudged him. “Maybe you should astral project onto the dance floor before you say something else that will endanger your life.”

Damien snorted. “No way. The last time I left my body alone with you bastards, I got back to find myself naked with some of Chico’s thorns stuck in the cheeks of my ass. My body didn’t wake up for, like, three hours.” Chico’s gift allowed him to release poisonous thorns that caused a victim to temporarily lose consciousness.