Ravaged: A Dark Vampire Reverse Harem Romance (Dark Vampires Book 2) Read online

  Ravaged

  Dark Vampires Book 2

  Zara Novak

  Copyright © 2019 by Zara Novak

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Epilogue

  Also by Zara Novak

  Mailing List

  1

  My horse ran through the dark forest, her hooves smashing against the ground as I fled for my life. The new world was dark and delirious, a melting pot of chaos and violence that held little mercy. Despite that chaos there were still rules in this world. They weren’t written down in ink, they weren’t etched into brass plaques, there were no constitutions or governing bodies here in the outlands. Everyone had their own rules for survival. God knows I had my own.

  Don’t stay out after dark.

  Don’t go into the forest.

  Never travel alone.

  Somehow, I’d broken all three.

  Breath misting on the cold night air, my hands gripped the reins fiercely as I glanced back to see my pursuers. Four vampires on horseback galloped through the forest behind me, their black steeds twice the size of my own, with red eyes that burned like coals in the gray forest mist.

  Their vampire riders were dressed in black cloaks, their own faces obscured in shrouds of dark shadow, riding as black phantoms, their dark gaze fixed solely on me. Though they looked like men I knew them better for what they were. Monsters. Demons. Savages.

  Creatures that I had spent my whole life avoiding.

  “Faster!” I urged my horse, digging my heels into her body to gain any iota of speed. I was a stupid girl to have got myself in this situation, one that I swore I never would have fallen prey to. I had been reckless with my time; I had stayed out too late and now I would pay the price. The safe haven was too far away. I’d never get there before they’d catch me.

  I forced my horse across a brook and over a fallen tree. The undead couldn’t cross running water. Right?

  Wrong. Old myth. Myths got a lot of people killed.

  Despair beat through me as I saw the four riders clear the stream with an effortless leap. I knew my horse had little left to give. She had already been running on empty when the chase had started. Those giant hell stallions could easily catch a horse like this, but for some reason they were hanging back. For some reason they were steering me. Shepherding me, pulling me away from my destination. Toying with me.

  I didn’t want to let them, but there were four of them and one of me. They were faster, better riders and seemed to know the land well. Looking back, I saw only two behind me. Had I given two the slip? Then I saw their dark figures break in the distance, emerging from the trees as they came straight for me.

  They’d surrounded me.

  I pulled the reins tight, my horse kicking up onto her back legs as I tried to cut a sharp left. In my own panic I pulled too tight, and as she kicked back, I lost balance and fell through the air in slow motion. I heard myself shouting as she burst into the night.

  The air left my lungs as I hit the forest floor. Dead leaves did little to cushion my fall. With no air to breathe I found myself gasping, but I was up and running within seconds of falling. Stopping meant capture. Capture meant…

  A shiver broke over me before I could even contemplate the rest.

  I bolted over fallen trees, my feet pounding the cold hard ground as I followed my horse. There was absolutely no way that I would catch up to her, so I cut another right, jumping down into a natural ditch and into a thicket of trees that was too crowded for horses to follow.

  The cold air burned my throat. My thighs were screaming, and my lungs were crying out for air. There were better runners in my tribe, and I was certainly fit enough to run with the best of them, but the chase was demanding, and I didn’t know how much longer I could go.

  Then I heard them, their voices barking through the darkness like taunting wild dogs. They shouted to one another in broken vampire tongue, a thin and slithering language that sounded like metal sliding over rock.

  “Varakas! Arak! Dusadelas!”

  We’d never been able to decipher vampire tongue; despite all the years we’d spent running from the creatures. I’d heard the words before though, or one of them at least. Varakas, a cold and slicing word, was often heard when a party of hunting vampires were closing in on a target. We had no idea what it actually translated to, but in my own mind I thought it to mean ‘Now!’, or ‘Attack!’.

  With the words ringing in my ears I pulled my sword from its sheath and held the silver blade in my hand. I really wish I had a laser gun right about now. With my other hand I ripped the vial of holy water from around my neck and crushed the paper-thin glass orb with my arm stretched out overhead. The blessed water burst over me, flowing down my neck and onto my tunic. For the most part I knew the water was useless, it was just another myth. Some vampires didn’t like it though. I had to take every chance I had.

  Then one of the figures jumped onto the path in front of me.

  “Varakas!” he snarled, his voice cutting through the air. I immediately stopped dead in my tracks, my feet skidding over dead leaves as I readied my sword to fight him. In the cold silver moonlight, I saw a wicked smile in the shadow of his hood. He was enjoying this. He could smell my fear. The hunt was a game to him.

  Time seemed to stand still and neither of us took a step towards the other. My own racing breath was now the only sound in the midnight forest. My gaze flickered over the horizon, taking in the surroundings as I tried to trace the other riders. There was no sign of them. Where have they gone?

  The huge vampire took a single step, I thrust my sword forward into the air, making my body as big as I could to try and intimidate him. A dozen paces or so separated us now. The deranged beast could no doubt close the distance in a second. This wasn’t my first time facing a vampire. In some parts of the world the creatures were civilized, but here in the outlands they were wild. The figure standing mere feet away from me no longer had a semblance of humanity, it was wild, a savage beast that only looked human in appearance.

  “Stop! I’ve killed your kind before, this sword has seen plenty of vampire blood!” I warned him as I held the sword high. My taunt was a lie. I’d never actually killed a single vampire. This sword was deadweight to me mostly. Our tribe was smart and avoided known vampire territories. Most of my time was spent hunting game with a bow and arrow. I was a good shot.

  I wish I had my bow now. Anything apart from this stupid sword.

  The silver blade was neither sharp nor pretty, but it didn’t have to be. Its dull edges weren’t a problem for its intended target. The metal alone could cut through vampires like butter. It was a crude weapon, crafted in a homemade forge by an amateur smith.

  He took another step and from the tension in the air I knew his attack was only seconds away. There was no use in trying to reason with these creatures, they didn’t understand words or logic, their own minds had fractured long ago, driven into dark shadows by the thirst that thrashed within them.<
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  A low growl escaped him, and he brought his hands to the side. Fingers danced slowly in black gloves, looking like an outlaw preparing to shoot at high noon.

  My brow knotted ever so slightly as I saw the puzzling movement. The creature was toying with me, but how could that be? The beasts had no capacity to do such things, they hunted and killed. They defiled and humiliated. That was all that was in their blood.

  A feral like this didn’t even have the capacity to talk outside its own crude language.

  But then he growled again, this time the low and rumbling sound wasn’t a primal sound. It was a word, as clear as day. A word that shook me to my core.

  “Mine,” he said, the word thundering through the air as an iron whisper.

  I kept my hand gripped tight on my sword, but my own breath quickened as I tried to understand what was happening. Ferals couldn’t talk. Vampires in this part of the world were dark and savage beasts.

  “What the fuck did you just say?!” I whispered, the word shaking on my breath.

  He took another step forward, leaves crunching underfoot as he stole another yard from me. The word repeated from his lips. It took hold of every thought and instinct. It stapled my feet to the floor and turned me to stone.

  “Mine.”

  “I’m warning you!” I said as I broke from the spell. I realized what was happening now. He was using his power. His vampiric intention. I could feel the billowy magic moving through the air as smoke, trying to smother me and pull me into his will.

  Another unknown. Ferals couldn’t use vampiric influence to control their targets. Their minds were too far gone for such powers, they resorted to using brawn and force alone.

  Then the vampire pulled back his hood to reveal his face, and I felt my world shatter into a million pieces. The dark cloth dropped to his broad shoulders and silver moonlight fell upon him, bouncing off his pale skin like light upon brilliant alabaster marble.

  He was beautiful. Large eyes burning into me, his red pupils blazing like coals. It was the kind of face that would make any girl stop dead in her tracks. Short dark hair, straight and thick. Strong brows, pronounced cheekbones, a perfect roman nose, full lips and a jaw that could cut steel.

  I couldn’t understand it at all, none of it made any sense, he didn’t look a thing like other ferals I had seen in my time. The depraved creatures were slaves to their own thirst, their appearance long mutilated from years of fighting and savagery. Most ferals looked like the walking dead, their thin skin drawn tight over bones like yellowed paper. Dark veins, sunken eyes, long sharp teeth jutting past dark and broken lips.

  Truly horrific creatures, ones that had killed many people I had called friends.

  But nothing like this one. Nothing like this beautiful man before me.

  “Mine,” he repeated. His black eyes shining with his blood madness. Then I saw something falter on his expression. The fierce thirst burning in his eyes changed to concern, even if just for a second.

  On the distant air I heard more voices. I knew the rasping snarls as the cries of true ferals, the worst of all wild vampires, taunted creatures that had no humanity left in them.

  “Down!” the vampire yelled. He couldn’t have possibly said that. He had already said one word. Two was unheard of. Ferals couldn’t talk. Ferals couldn’t think. Ferals… didn’t look like this.

  Everything slowed down as adrenaline took hold of me. The vampire’s hands pulled two black blades from his waist and threw them up into the air. The daggers were hewn from obsidian, somehow carved with an intricacy I didn’t realize was possible for the black glass. I held my breath as they turned through the air, dancing like twins of death above him.

  Each blade had three stands running from hilt to point, carved to look like the obsidian had been braided around itself. I thought it strange my eyes could pick up such a delicate detail in such a quick moment. It’s funny what you focus on when adrenaline is kicking your ass.

  Then it all returned back to normal speed. He caught his blades in both hands and ripped forward through the air, barreling straight for me as he closed the distance. I had no time to strike at him or even jump out of his way. In one effortless move he caught me in his arms and then the world was a confusing blur of shadow and moonlight.

  The journey stopped as quickly as it started. I was still now, and I realized I was high up in a tree, looking down at the space I had been stood in only moments before.

  He had moved me.

  Then I saw why.

  The pack of ferals broke through the trees. Their clothes were mostly gone, torn to shreds by time and the elements. Thin and ragged creatures that moved with speed and wild ferocity. These were the creatures I knew as vampires. Their hollow faces, thin bodies and ghoulish features drove terror through my heart. There was no time to count them, but I estimated there were at least fifteen.

  The tide of madness closed in like a bear trap, and my heart stilled as I saw the mysterious rider at the center of the clearing, waiting as still as a statue.

  “Do something!” I shouted.

  Why the fuck did I care?

  Fire broke through the darkness as the vampire began. His blades danced through the air in a ballet of death, turning through the silver clearing as missiles made for hearts. I gripped the branch tightly as I watched him kill, whirling through the space with the grace of an expert fighter. Ferals were mindless zombies practically, but they were still dangerous, especially a pack as big as this one. For the vampire to cut them down with such little effort…

  It was impressive.

  Within seconds his daggers had churned through the pack, leaving their bodies as flame and ash on the wind, their dying screams only echoes in the distant trees. As the last figure erupted, he returned his blades, and then he became completely still as his gaze came back to me again.

  He looked up at me, something deep beating inside me as I stared into those deep depths.

  Then he was moving again. This time my eyes caught a fraction of movement before he grabbed me, his silhouette blurring through the air as a ribbon of shadow. Once more the world blurred in a ferocious flash of shadow and light as we turned and sped through the forest.

  The journey ended with me gently hitting the forest floor. Looking around I could see we were in a completely different part of the woods now. A carpet of moss spread over the soil, rocks, and branches. Tall and ancient looking trees twisted up towards the silver blue sky. Shafts of moonlight broke through the clearing as though the world was now a picturesque dream.

  Looking up I saw the vampire standing only a few feet away from me. His eyes were so black I couldn’t see any white. The color seemed darker than his obsidian blades.

  “Mine,” he said, growling that word once again. A tingle ran down my spine. I shuffled back across the ground on my elbows and noticed my sword was still on my side. Why hadn’t he disarmed me. Why were we now here?

  I pulled the sword out and pointed it at him. This time my resolve was starting to waver. I was still out of breath from the chase and I already knew this weapon meant nothing to the vampire. He was far too fast and agile for me.

  “Leave me alone,” I said, my words quiet in the midnight woods. My sword was shaking in my hand. “Go!”

  Shaking his head, I saw his lips curl. Something glimmered in those black depths. It was recognition, it was almost as if he understood me. Then he lunged forward. I swung the sword out and struck for him, but he caught the blade in his hand, laughter hissing on his breath as he continued to stare me down. He twisted the blade until I had to release it.

  He tore the sword from my hand and threw it back into the darkness, the dull weapon clattering into shadow as it ricocheted off trees. He still had his gloves on, so the metal hadn’t affected him.

  He growled again, a new word leaving his lips this time. “Obey.”

  The invisible threads of his vampiric power whipped through the air and snarled around me, wrapping around my body like cords of
molten lead. I tried to fight against the hold, but my body was completely still despite my desire to run or fight.

  “Stop!” I said, managing to purse the word through my stone lips. He pulled both of his gloves off. His hands looked strong but looked after, much unlike the gnarled claws of other vampires in these parts. This man was a demented vampire, that much I knew was true, so why did he have so much humanity?

  He brushed the back of his hand down my cheek, marble dusting over rose. There was shocking warmth to his body, one that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. My heart started to quicken in my chest, my breath raced over my frozen lips.

  Good god. He had me. I was entranced. His control, it had… it had taken me.

  “Stop!” I said again, somehow forcing another word through my closed mouth. He chuckled; the dark sound accompanied by a wicked glint in those black eyes. He had me now, and he knew it.

  His full red lips parted as the smile took over his features, and there in his mouth I saw the two white fangs, glistening in the moonlight like knives made from bone. One bite is all it would take. He would lose control, drink me dry and leave me for dead among the dying leaves.

  But as he moved closer and brushed his hand over my face something happened. Lightning sparked between us, I felt myself falling into those black depths, tumbling into an unknown void that swallowed me whole.

  I saw his mind; I saw everything he was thinking. I knew what he wanted. I knew every intention.

  Darkness encapsulated me as the vision surrounded me. Both our bodies naked as he took me from behind, his powerful muscular figure taking mine with a primal and animalistic lust. Sweat beaded between our bodies, our cries echoing through shadow as cries of pleasure crowed from our raw throats. The vision felt so real that I could have sworn I was there, and then it was over as quick as it had begun.