Raven's Desires (Night Hunters) Read online

  Mates are driven together by fate, ripped apart by hate, but will survive from love.

  Demons always pay for their crimes. Aracdia has a place for anyone who feeds on humans and kills them, but what happens when a vampire does not commit that crime and is sentenced anyhow? Kristian Blackburn never thought the moment he met his ebony queen Raven Nowles that she would set him up and he would end up spending ten years trying to make her remember.

  The moment Kristian met Raven, he knew they were meant to be—the first vampire and slayer ever paired. Shortly afterwards, a vampire named Alec creates an injection that takes over Raven’s mind. His plan is to use Raven to open up the gates of hell to release a very dangerous demon.

  Will Alec’s plan to bring forth one of the most dangerous demons to the world destroy the first vampire slayer mate?

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Raven’s Desire

  Copyright © 2012 Aminta Reily

  ISBN: 978-1-77111-372-4

  Cover art by Angela Waters

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by eXtasy Books

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  Raven’s Desire

  Night Hunters 2

  By

  Aminta Reily

  To Tracy, without you giving me the inspiration, I would have not written again. I love you.

  Chapter 1

  Kristian Blackburn wiped the sweat from his forehead as it trickled down the sides of his face. He shifted into a sitting position, hissing as his body protested his movements. He groaned when a burning sensation started from the middle of his back and traveled through his entire body, touching every starving cell.

  Kristian held in a scream as the muscles in his body felt as if they were on fire. The pain was everywhere. His head, arms, eyes, fingers—every place were pain could hurt, did.

  Once the pain became more bearable, Kristian sighed. It didn’t matter which way he moved or how carefully he kept his movements, he would feel pain. Beside the ache his body endured daily, his mind taunted him, teased him, destroying any hope he might have that the ache would end anytime soon. Not only did he have to live in pain every day, his body was dying quickly. He needed blood. Every pore of his body craved the sweet taste of human blood. The mere thought of blood made his stomach rumble from the emptiness. Kristian didn’t just crave human blood now—any blood would sustain him. This was no ordinary hunger but a gut-wrenching necessity. He was starving. To try to get his mind off the hunger, Kristian thought of how this all came to be.

  How could his life go from being able to do anything he wanted to being trapped in a prison where he had no choice in anything he did? They told him when to eat, when to sleep, who he could talk to and how long they could talk. Everything had a limit on it and he could do nothing to change it. In all his life he never felt as pathetic and helpless as he did right now. He was helpless to himself and helpless to those who didn’t know they needed help. One particular person who needed him the most was the love of his life. She needed him to rescue her even though she didn’t know she needed rescuing.

  Closing his eyes, Kristian sent another mental call to his mate, reaching for her, hoping that one day he could connect to her—at the same time, praying she would remember him. He knew the walls of Arcadia had mental force fields around them but if once, only once, he could get a mental call to his mate, she could come and rescue him. She would remember him and be able to clear his name and he would be free from this hell hole. Free to live his life with his mate as he was meant to be. Happy. Joyful. Loved. Most importantly, together with her.

  Why had he been betrayed like this? No one would come for him. No one would listen to him.

  Kristian placed a hand over his stomach. Tears flooded his eyes. He doubled over in pain as it felt like someone had stabbed him in the abdomen with a sharp object. He breathed in and out trying to relax his body, trying to get his mind off the hunger. The pain surged through him again like energy, touching every cell in him, causing more destruction to his already fragile body. The ache continued with no signs that it would end anytime soon. He could never get used to the feel of his stomach being on fire. The feel of his head pounding. The feel of his body dying with each breath he took. This was his hell—day in and day out of nothing but agony and loneliness. Nothing he did would get him the freedom that he deserved.

  Justice be damned in his case. Justice did not prevail when it was needed. No, the only thing justice did for him was get him trapped in a place where a person would rather kill themselves before serving their time. Human criminals in jail lived the high life compared to the demons in Arcadia. Here was where you knew that you had reached the end of your life.

  Kristian cringed again at the pain that radiated through his body when the sun’s rays touched his feet. He tucked his legs under his chin in an effort to escape the sun.

  The guards had awakened him with a blast of the sun’s ray and like a creature of the night he fled from his cot and hid in the corner hoping that the sun did not shift before they decided to shut the shutters. Tiny beads of sweat coated his body as the temperature in the room rose. The heat from the cells was murder when they opened the windows during the day. The cell was mostly made of metal and steel, so once exposed to the sun for long periods of time, it could become very uncomfortable for anyone living inside.

  Tremors wracked his body as he looked down at his right arm. The tattoo of the lightning bolt that should keep him safe from the sun did nothing under the powers of Arcadia. Its powers were useless now and there was nothing he could do but accept that he was no longer a daywalker.

  A scream of agony from across the hall penetrated his sensitive ears. Kristian raised his head, trying to look across the hallway while staying out of the sun’s rays. The scream came a second time, louder than before. It echoed through the prison, sending a sickening chill up his spine. Then just as quickly as the scream started it ceased.

  “Someone get him up! He didn’t move,” the voice of a guard broke the silence.

  Footsteps ran along the hallway as they rushed to whoever was screaming.

  “God it hurts! Don’t move me! Don’t move me damn it!”

  Was that Shane?

  Kristian hoped and prayed that his friend had not given up on life and decided to sleep through the pain. No one deserved to die by the sun unless they had no choice. In this case, they did. If they opened the window, you moved. Simple. But Kristian knew Shane was stubborn as a mule. He did not like taking orders or following directions. Kristian knew Shane would not give up on life—but after so many years in here, he might have. He could not lose Shane. No matter what happened while in Arcadia he couldn’t lose his friend, not now. Shane meant the world to him. Without Shane’s influence he would have never left Rasa Beach in Rio de Janeri
o and traveled to California to experience a new life. He would have never met his mate and love of his life. Without Shane in his life he would be marr…Kristian shook his head not wanting to think of his past life and what ifs. He needed to think of here and now and getting the hell out of Arcadia.

  Again, screams filled the prison. The screams grew louder and louder until it was the only thing he could concentrate on. He could hear the suffering this person was enduring. The only time he’d heard suffering like that was when a vampire died by the sun.

  Once the screaming stopped again Kristian laced his fingers together over his head and closed his eyes when his head pounded. Harder and harder it pounded. His head throbbed with each beat of his weakened heartbeat. He dropped his head onto his knees, breathing in and out, willing his pain to subside. His heart beat harder against his chest with each struggling breath that kept him alive. His heart needed more blood to strengthen him, but he knew that would never happen as long as he was here. They wanted them all weak in this demon prison.

  The sound of movements made him look up. His sensitive ears caught the movements of a mouse behind the wall. A small nose peeked out from the hole in the wall, sniffing before ducking back inside. The mouse stopped moving for a moment. Seconds later it slowly walked from its hole on the other side of the room. So close but so far Kristian thought. The mouse moved into the bright sunlight that showed in the room—the very light that kept him crouched in the corner of the room like the beast he was.

  Sharp fangs descended from his gums. He needed blood and at this point in his life, he didn’t care if it was human or animal. Any blood would take away the pain.

  Most vampires could go a day or two without blood, but almost two weeks would drain their energy and soon they would die. He didn’t worry about dying in this hell hole. They didn’t want him dead. If they did, he would be. No, not dead—they wanted him to suffer every moment he was here.

  The window’s shade slid down, blocking the sun’s harmful rays. The moment it did, the mouse scurried back into its hole before Kristian even thought about moving. Every damn day the mouse would do that, like he knew his life was in danger. He came out when the sun was high in the room then ran back into the wall the moment darkness came.

  Kristian’s fangs retracted. He sighed in relief as the harmful rays and heat faded from his room. He still didn’t move from his position, too weak from the lack of nourishment to even craw back onto the bed. Then he thought about it, he didn’t want to move from the corner. He never knew when the guards would decide to open up the shutters again.

  Kristian didn’t know how long he sat in the corner. Maybe five minutes. Maybe five hours. Finally, he couldn’t take being awake any longer. His body needed rest. Vampires naturally didn’t stay awake the entire day. Some could stay awake all day and night with rings and other devices that helped their bodies adapt to the sun. In his situation, his body wanted rest. No, his body needed rest. His eyelids began to drop, and his breathing became more shallow with each breath. He inhaled deeply and sat up straight to try to stay awake. He knew the consequences for falling asleep during the day. He knew but his body didn’t care. It wanted one thing, sleep. His battered body immediately relaxed, too weak to fight to stay awake.

  Kristian knew he should not fall asleep. Not now. Not while the sun shined high. He would endure more pain if he fell asleep and a guard caught him. Not able to stay awake any longer, his eyes shut on their own. The moment Kristian closed his eyes he knew he had sealed his fate.

  Wake up, Kristian. Damn it wake up!

  It was too late, his heart slowed more. His brain shut down. He only needed a few minutes of sleep. That was what he craved at this moment.

  “Don’t fall asleep, vampire.” The dreamwalker’s voice startled him.

  Kristian growled, forced his eyes to open and stared at the dreamwalker standing on the other side of the bars. Just looking at this dreamwalker you would think that it was an ordinary human. He stood about six feet tall with dark black eyes that watched him closely through the loose strands of his black hair. He wore blue jeans with a white t-shirt tucked inside his jeans to make himself look, well, normal. It resembled a human but Kristian knew that out of the two of them, at this moment, the dreamwalker was more dangerous than himself and half of the creatures locked up in this prison.

  Dreamwalkers did not need sleep. They did not need food. Some lived a regular life as a human, eating, sleeping and aging to the human eyes while staying young forever. They never aged and as far as he knew could not be killed. Dreamwalkers were the perfect specimen for a prison guard. There had to be over a thousand demons in this prison and maybe only twenty dreamwalker guards. Many dreamwalkers had no life. Working in this prison all day and night was their life.

  They did not go out and socialize with anyone because there were not as many dreamwalkers on this earth as there used to be. Rumor was that most of the dreamwalker population went back to their dimension because the rising of Anarisan was near. Anarisan was one of the most dangerous creatures of this universe. It didn’t matter what the dreamwalkers were doing or why—all Arcadia’s managers cared about was that the few that were here controlled the other demons.

  “I’m not sleeping,” Kristian hissed dangerously.

  “You had better not be. I would gladly open the shutters again. Your buddy Shane was scorched the last time we opened it.”

  Kristian used what little energy he had, jumped up from his seated position and charged the bars.

  His fangs emerged again. His fingers gripped the bars tightly—he wished his fingers were around this dreamwalker’s neck instead.

  “What the hell did you do to him?”

  The dreamwalker tilted his head and the sides of his mouth curled into a creepy smile. His eyes turned a dark red color. Kristian blinked his eyes, his second mistake of the night besides charging the dreamwalker when he knew he was too weak to fight. When he focused his eyes again the dreamwalker was no longer in front of him. Kristian felt his body being turned around. Strong fingers caught him in a deadly grip around his throat as his body was slammed against the bars, knocking the breath from his body.

  “Don’t ever charge me, vampire. I could snap your neck like a twig. Your friend fell asleep and did not move when the shutters opened. You know the rules. No vampires are allowed to sleep during the day.”

  The dreamwalker smiled again. “You wanna know something vampire? His flesh looked like charcoal when I last saw him. Just like you are going to look one day. Deep fried.”

  The dreamwalker tightened his grip around Kristian’s throat. Kristian didn’t have enough energy to fight. He only wished for a quick death. He didn’t need to breathe as often as humans but he knew that if the dreamwalker kept applying pressure his neck would snap soon.

  “Etan, let him go,” Jasmine, his angel of light, ordered.

  Etan gazed past Kristian but did not let go of Kristian’s throat.

  “Now, Etan, it’s an order.”

  “He charged me.”

  “I don’t care. He could not do any harm to you. This vampire is too weak to do anything but bare his fangs. Now don’t make me say it again.”

  Etan growled before releasing him. Kristian’s legs collapsed under him and he went down to the ground hard.

  “You are babying them all too much, Jasmine. They are here because they are hard core killers. They murdered humans. The worst crime that any creature could commit. Don’t let them think they deserve better.”

  “That’s why I’m here to rehabilitate them—to have them know right from wrong, so they will go out in the world and not kill again.”

  “Vampires will never learn, and you are crazy to believe that they will never kill again. They are animals! They only know about blood. They don’t care if they kill humans to get it. In fact, I heard that some say they enjoy killing the humans because the last drop of blood is the best.”

  “Shut up, Etan! Why would you say that in front of him?
”

  “Why should I be quiet? If you are rehabilitating them, then they should be able to hear about killing and blood without going crazy with need. You are helping them remember. If you are so good at helping, then this vampire should be able to handle a little blood talk. Don’t you think?”

  A wind passed through Kristian, making him shiver. He opened his eyes to see Jasmine push Etan in the chest. He went flying back through the air. To anyone it would seem it took little or no effort for her to push him. In reality it didn’t. Jasmine was more powerful and stronger than Etan. She was older by at least two thousand years giving her leadership over Etan in the dreamwalker’s laws and here at the prison.

  Etan smiled. His body faded before going through the wall.

  “Damn it, he knows I hate when he does that.”

  Jasmine swept her golden hair away from her face then turned to Kristian. She sighed at him. He had not moved from his spot on the floor. He looked at her, then down to himself. His once blue inmate’s uniform was torn and tattered. Dirt and grime lined every inch of it. Jasmine, on the other hand, stood there with a white t-shirt on and a pair of jeans looking like she did every day. Beautiful.

  Kristian could handle the showering whenever the guards felt like letting him shower. He could handle the minor torture of letting them have blood once every two weeks. But stopping vampires from sleeping during the day was the worse punishment of all. Sleep was how they recovered. They healed quicker when they slept. What could take two months for a bruised eye on a human could take a couple of hours of sleep with a vampire. But if you deprived sleep when vampires naturally slept, then the healing process took longer than usual.

  The reason why no sleeping was a rule was to keep them tired so when night came, they slept. Which worked in the long run. It kept down the escape ratio. Arcadia had a magical force field around it that was supposed to keep all inmates in unless they had been freed. But sometimes the barrier got weak. He noticed it—everyone did. It got weak mostly on his side of the prison around two in the morning and that’s when he felt that someone could escape.