Templar Vampires - Midnight Sun Part 3

Those first few nights after they brought her to Seacrest Castle had been touch and go. To save her, they'd each given her small amounts of their blood to help her body heal.

Almost from the moment he saw her Sebastian was dangerously attracted to her and knew he had to do everything within his power to avoid her. Somehow, however, his perfect plan of avoidance didn't always go smoothly. Especially when he had two bored troublemaking Templars constantly trying to get them together.

What a b.l.o.o.d.y fool he'd been to think he could go on pretending he wasn't attracted to her, much less ignore her.

Allie was a woman a man brought to his bed and kept there until the stars burned out. Only a d.a.m.n fool would avoid a woman such as her.

Sebastian was no fool.

Raphael raised a brow when he saw Allie's Pa.s.sport. Though he arranged this, he sensed the tension coming from within the manor and wondered if he'd made a terrible mistake.

Constantine clearly sensed the tension as well. "I'll kill him if he ate her."

Raphael laughed as he parked his silver Jaguar. "I doubt Sebastian ate Allie, he's too d.a.m.n civilized for that."

Constantine snorted. "Sage is no more civilized than I am."

Knowing the man Sebastian was in life and who he was in death, Raphael agreed with Constantine's a.s.sessment of him. "You got me there. Sebastian just hides it better than you."

"I don't try to hide what I am," Constantine announced as he got out of the Jag.

No, he didn't. Everything about Constantine proclaimed his lethal nature. He may be on the same path to redemption as they rest of them, but he veered off the road too many times to count.

As was Constantine's style, he stole into the manor as stealthy as a thief. Raphael followed, slamming the door loudly behind him.

"Allie better be in one piece, Sebastian."

Striding down the hall, he climbed the stairs first. Without a hint of tact, the two Templars peered into Sebastian's bedroom, spotting Sebastian sitting on the bed. His head in his hands, he looked a mess. He raised his head and pinned them with a tormented glare. "I'm going to cut you both up and leave you for the sun."

Sebastian put the threat directly into Constantine's mind, not wanting Allie to hear what he had to say to the two scheming b.a.s.t.a.r.ds.

"I dare you to try," Constantine retorted.

"b.u.g.g.e.r off," Sebastian said aloud, wanting to strangle them. Needs raged in him, which lay dormant for centuries, threatening to shatter the thin thread of control he had on them. He stood and ran a hand over the short stubble of hair. "I can't believe you did this to me."

"Where is she?"

Constantine's demand held a note of accusation Sebastian didn't care for in the least. If Allie weren't still here he'd beat the Dragon senseless for the implication in his tone.

Biting back his indignation, he motioned to the bathroom door. "In there."

"In one piece?"

"b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l!" Sebastian stood and strode over to the fireplace. He slapped his palms again the black granite mantle in a rare burst of emotion. "Of course in one piece, you b.l.o.o.d.y b.a.s.t.a.r.d."

Allie's body might be intact, but her mind was shattered into a million pieces.

Good G.o.d, the man can kiss!

Needing to clear her head, she splashed cold water on her face. Sebastian's kiss left her as close to drunk as she'd ever come. He worked her mouth with the expertise of a man who had centuries to perfect his form.

Pulling down her bottom lip, she saw a nice gash. He caught her good with those razor sharp fangs of his. Amazingly, she hadn't even felt it happen.

Letting go of her lip, she dismissed the cut, a.s.suming accidents were bound to happen when you had fangs hanging out of your mouth.

A wonderful s.h.i.+ver pa.s.sed through her, as she wished she were still lost in his kiss. His raw masculinity woke everything feminine in her. He was all grace and beauty, with a deadly ferocity simmering under the cool facade he presented to the world.

After tasting a small sample of Sebastian's fire, Allie was left shaken and wanting more. Not even Jude, a handsome man in his own way, moved her as Sebastian did.

What a shame it wasn't going to go much beyond this kiss. Though embroiled in the same nocturnal world, they walked vastly different roads. Allie couldn't imagine the two of them mixing well together since he was of the dead and she of the living. It might work with just a friends.h.i.+p, as it did with Constantine and Raphael, but anything more could end in a huge mess, leaving her with a broken heart.

Though if a woman was to have her heart broken, she could do worse than a man as s.e.xy and mysterious as Sebastian.

Ripped with thick cords of muscle, he oozed strength and s.e.x appeal. Everything about him appealed to her, from his shorn head to the dragon tattoo on his upper arm. He was s.e.xy as h.e.l.l and it drove her insane how he pointedly ignored her when all she wanted to do was rip his clothes off.

As someone who was tattooed herself, she was dying to get a good look at the dragon piece that covered his upper arm and some of his neck. She doubted she'd ever get the chance unless she tied him down and had her way with him.

Not a bad idea if I do say so myself.

Turning off the water, she heard Raphael's voice coming from the bedroom. Quitting the black marble bathroom, Allie threw open the door that connected to Sebastian's room and waved at her friends.

"Hey guys. Here." Fis.h.i.+ng around in her pocket, she pulled out Raphael's key and handed it to him.

At the same moment, Constantine's gaze shot to her bottom lip. He sniffed at the air, a vicious snarl curling back his upper lip. "Why the f.u.c.k is she bleeding?"

Unfazed by Constantine's furious demand, Sebastian threw him a glare. Before things got out of hand, as it easily could when dealing with vampires, Allie waved a hand through the air dismissively. "It's nothing.

We were making with the nice-nice and Sebastian's fang accidentally caught my lip."

Three male jaws practically hit the floor when she carelessly threw out that tidbit.

Oblivious to the murderous glares Raphael and Constantine were directing at Sebastian, she turned around and glanced in the mirror hanging over the black lacquer dresser. "See? The bleeding already stopped."

Turning back, she finally noted how furious her friends were. Obviously it didn't seem to matter that he clipped her by accident. By their reaction one would think he tore off a chuck of her lip and was still gnawing on it when they burst in on him.

She also noticed Sebastian looked like he wanted to wring her neck.

Raphael was the first to snap out of his stupor at her flippancy. Given that his anger was now directed at her, Allie wished he was still struck dumb.

"I've known you for five months and not once did you'make with the nice-nice' with me. You're around Sebastian for five minutes and you're making out with him."

Allie rolled her eyes over his argument. "Don't go getting your panties in a bunch about it. Just because I never swooned at your feet when you tried those ridiculous lines on me doesn't mean I was immune toyou. Jeez, Raphael, look at yourself! You're gorgeous. How could I not be attracted to you? But you're my friend. And I don't know," she shrugged, "I don't see you in a s.e.xual way."

Constantine raised a brow at her. "So what am I? Dog s.h.i.+t?"

Allie closed her eyes and pressed her fingers to her temple in exasperation. "I am not having this conversation."

When she opened her eyes, she saw Sebastian casually leaning his hip against the fireplace looking entirely too amused. "This is all your fault."

He stabbed a finger at his chest and shot his brows up in askance. "Me? How the h.e.l.l am I at fault here?"

Her hands going to her hips, she matched the glare he was giving her with one of her own. "If you didn't go and kiss me, I wouldn't have kissed you back and I wouldn't have to try to convince two furious vampires that I think they're hot."

She went to storm out, but Sebastian prevented her dramatic exit when he moved with the speed of lightening and grabbed her. Again.

"Allie," he said too calmly. "Did it ever occur to you that those two," he motioned to Constantine and Raphael, "wanted us to get together?"

Why would it take her friends this long to work their scheme if they could have executed it months ago?

Ready to dismiss Sebastian's presumption, she peered over his shoulder to see two guilty-looking vampires suddenly vastly interested in the dark gray rug.

"They knew I was going to be home tonight."

Allie laughed at how guilty they looked-even Constantine-which shocked the h.e.l.l out of her. "You sly dogs."

Yanking her arm from Sebastian's grasp, she went over to Constantine, giving him a good shot to the arm. "I didn't even see this coming."

"That's because you're too d.a.m.n trusting."

"Maybe," she retorted with a shrug. "I gotta go. You guys can deal with Sebastian's anger on your own.

I'll see you tomorrow night."

Unbeknownst to her, three men watched intently as she flounced from the room.

Once she left, Raphael looked to Sebastian. "Well, Sage, how p.i.s.sed are you?" Sebastian ignored him, instead going after Allie. Constantine let out a grunt of satisfaction. "Something tells me he's not half as p.i.s.sed as he wants us to believe."

Raphael slipped him a sly grin. "Think if we bother him enough about it he'll tell us all the juicy details?"

Constantine shrugged. "Doubt it, but I'll see if I can get into his head and find out."

"Wait." Sebastian called to Allie.

She froze and turned on the darkened steps. "What is it?"

With the night wrapped around her, she looked vulnerable swallowed by the shadows of the staircase.

"I don't want you to leave thinking I was sorry for what pa.s.sed between us."

The emerald fire in her eyes nearly scorched him. "Don't worry. I don't."

"Good," he said gruffly. His body reacted violently when he saw her lick her lips. Thoughts he had no business entertaining about exactly what he wanted her to do with her tongue-and lips and teeth-hardened his body painfully.

The quick, yet infinitely tender kiss she placed on his lips squeezed at his dead heart. Reminding him what it felt like to beat with life, he'd never missed being alive as much as did then.

"Good night, Sebastian."

This time, when she turned to leave he let her go. Unable to move, to speak, he was struck dumb by the wealth of affection he felt in the gentle touch of her lips. He knew only one thing for certain right at that moment-now that he tasted her pa.s.sion and affection, he wasn't going to let her get away.

Not when her kiss gave the promise of life denied him for seven hundred years.

Chapter Four.

Hidden in the shadows of the trees, the vampire had an un.o.bstructed view of Randall Manor. The front door opened and out marched a tiny and attractive redhead. He knew her, or rather, he knewof her.

Though he'd only been in Damascus for a short while, it was impossible not to have heard about the notorious ghost hunter.

This was an extremely small town where most everyone knew each other, which was why nearly every place he went, human and supernatural alike knew her name.

Crazy Allie, yet he sensed she was anything but insane. Her eyes were open, seeing the things that lurked in the dark. Everyone else remained blissfully unaware of the dangers stalking the living, unseen inshadows as they waited to strike-as he was now.

Unfortunately for her, her mind was elsewhere, her eyes closed to the danger of him.

Surprisingly, she was prettier than he expected. He found the fall of her distinctive long hair appealing.

Even from this distance he felt her lifeforce. No wonder the Templars kept her around. Every vampire needed a pet wh.o.r.e. Even now he had his own hidden away in various abandoned properties scattered all over the vast county of Pennsylvania. What a fine addition she would make to his collection.

Detecting the scent of Sebastian of Rydon, he tensed, prepared to battle the enigmatic Templar known as the Sage. No sooner did he catch the scent that he realized the smell was coming from Allison. His stink was all over her, overpowering the aroma of gardenias scenting her skin.