Betraying Blood (Stand Alone Tales Book 5) Read online

  Born against the odds, Elurra is hunted by her aunt and saved by seven miners who whisk her to safety until her prince can claim her.

  Elurra’s mother was infected by a vampire. Magic held the effects at bay, but when her daughter was born, her mother left the world. Raised by her doting father, Elurra was content with the arranged marriage to a young sandman. His species was known for their skilled and devastating armies, and hers was known for magic and agrarian skills. It was a match that had to wait until the timing was right.

  Elurra’s father is poisoned, and her stepmother immediately begins a systematic regimen of starving Elurra of the blood that her vampire nature requires. Days stretch into years, until one day, seven dark strangers announced that the sandmen are on the move, and they are coming for Elurra.

  Her aunt moves to kill her, the miners set out to save her, and her prince comes to her in her dreams. Elurra is tired of being tossed around, and she gets ready to make her own place in the worlds.

  Survival is no longer enough. She wants to win.

  The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Betraying Blood

  Copyright © 2020 by Viola Grace

  ISBN: 978-1-989892-14-5

  ©Cover art by Angela Waters

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

  Betraying Blood

  Published by Viola Grace

  Look for me online at violagrace.com and your favourite ebooksellers.

  Betraying Blood

  Stand Alone Tales Book 5

  By

  Viola Grace

  Chapter One

  Raina held onto the side of the carriage as it careened toward the castle. She kept a hand to her neck and chanted over and over to hold back the change. What should have been the happiest day of her life was now a day of horror and loss.

  The unmanned carriage barreled through the gateway. It rolled up to the main doors of the castle, and a beloved and familiar voice called out. “Raina!”

  She smiled and waited for her fiancé to come and get her. She just wanted him to hold her before she died. The vampire’s curse was crawling through her veins.

  Light filled her eyes where darkness had been closing in on her. The bedroom was bright and cheerful. Her nightgown was clean and soft, and the tearing at her neck was healed. She also wasn’t alone anymore.

  Raina looked up at the man who should have been her husband. “I am alive.”

  He nodded. “Yes, dearest. I used everything I had to keep you going. The wedding is still on, no matter what.” He stroked her forehead.

  She swallowed and looked at him. “I don’t know why he attacked me, but he did. He forced his blood into me, and all I wanted was to get to you before it took me over.”

  “You burned him to ash, so you won’t feel the tethering to your maker. You are safe now.” He knelt at her side and kissed her hand and pressed it to his cheek. “The wedding is still on.”

  She smiled, and she saw her future with him. She would hold their daughter and breathe her last. That was ten months of joy with him, and she was willing to do it. Her handsome king. The love of her life.

  * * * *

  Ten years later

  “Elurra. Stop running.” Her nanny was huffing as she tried to catch up.

  Elurra slowed but dodged her nanny, pelting down the hallway to the throne room where the visitors were.

  She sprinted to the back of the throne and peeped out from behind it at the strange golden men who were in her father’s court. They looked sort of like her father, but they were younger and far more intense. Her father’s good nature always preceded him and wrapped around those around him with a golden glow.

  One of the older of the men was very serious, another one looked bored, but the youngest man was just barely an adult. He was lanky and was paying attention to the conversation taking place in the room. He met her gaze and blinked in surprise.

  She stared at his golden eyes and giggled. People were always surprised by her gaze. Her mother’s people had brilliant blue eyes, and she looked just like her mother.

  Her father paused. “Elurra, come out here.”

  She stepped out from behind the throne, and the older men gasped.

  Her father held his arm out, and she bit carefully so as not to cause him pain.

  “This is the daughter that you are making a suit for, Emric. I only have one child. The man who marries her will be a rich man and in control of a very healthy trade corridor and a lush world, but there is a price.”

  Elurra stopped drinking and used healing magic to seal his wounds. He had taught her himself when she was old enough.

  “This changes things. I had no idea she was a drinker.”

  Elurra looked at the older man. “You consume animals wholesale, you tear their flesh and roast it. I take a few ounces of blood from voluntary sources. No one dies. There is no madness, no violence, and there is consent. Always consent.” Well, aside from defending herself but that had only happened once.

  The man blinked. “Apologies, princess. I did not mean to offend.”

  “I am a drinker by curse. A vampire by design. A princess by birth, and a debater at heart. I am my father’s daughter and my mother’s orphan. Do not play politics with me. Speak plainly.” She smiled. “Oh, and I also absorb what I consume, so as I have been drinking from adults, my mind is the equivalent of three dozen adults, and I can hold infinitely more.”

  Elurra smiled, and her father chuckled. “That is enough, dearest. Go and climb some trees.”

  She curtsied formally, and then, she sprinted past the men and out the main doors. From there, she ran around the castle and to the gardens. She loved the gardens.

  Elurra was up in the tree and hanging upside down an hour later when the young man came to find her.

  “Good afternoon, princess.”

  She stared at him and finally answered. “Good afternoon.”

  He bowed low. “I am Alric Kharmin. Prince of the dream hunters.”

  She grabbed the branch and jumped to the ground. “Princess Elurra of Metguard, owner of the interstellar trading route for the sector and chess champion of the castle.”

  She looked up at him and cocked her head. He was very tall. If he filled out similarly to his male relatives, he was going to be massive when he was done.

  He knelt down and extended his hand to her. “I am pleased to meet you, princess.”

  She opened her mouth to bite his wrist, and then, she closed her jaws with a snap. “Apologies. This is how blood is offered to me.”

  He looked at his wrist and then her. “Take what you will.”

  She bit him and took a sample. His blood was rich, and there was something else in it. She was almost drunk, and that wasn’t good.

  She opened her mouth and healed him. “What is in your blood?”

  He held her hand. “Nothing. Just the way I am.”

  Elurra nodded. “I see. Why did your people come here?”

  “Your father sent for us and offered your engagement as part of a very nice financial package if my father could come up with a husband for you.”

  “A husband?” That thought was alarming.

  He chuckled. “A fiancé. When I have finished my service and you are an adult, I will return, and we will be married.”

  S
he scowled. “Why would you want to do that? Your father really doesn’t like me.”

  Alric smiled. “He likes the potential of the union. I think you are going to grow into an interesting woman. I like your ears.”

  She covered the pointed ears the vampire curse had given her and made a face. “Interesting is another word for weird.”

  Alric eased her hands down to her sides. “They are adorable and part of you. Come on. Your father wants to speak to you.”

  She went with him, holding his hand, walking through the gardens.

  He asked, “How did you get so far up the tree?”

  She smiled. “Matter manipulation. In this case, my own matter. I make myself lighter to climb the tree. It makes up for my lack of upper body strength.”

  He paused. “Where did you learn that?”

  “My father. It is the same as the healing that he taught me from my mother’s books. Stimulating the clotting factors and generating new skin is surprisingly simple.”

  “I see. Are you going to continue your studies?”

  “Of course. I read everything that I can get my hands on. My situation means that I don’t socialize with others much.”

  He chuckled. “If you are vampire, how is it that you are out during the bright daylight?”

  She sighed. “My mother was on her way here for the wedding. A vampire of an unknown species attacked her. He infected her with the DNA-altering virus, but she defended herself, blasting him to ash. She kept enough of her own blood to keep herself alive until she arrived at my father’s castle. He gave her what she needed, and he kept her safe and well until she had me. That is when she died. She could only keep one of us alive, and she and my father agreed it would be me.” Elurra frowned. “I am still not convinced she made the right decision. My father has been so sad without her.”

  “Parents choose what they think will be the best in the long run. That is why I ended up here. After meeting you, I think that the decision is correct. I think you are clever, and that is something that I admire most in the people I associate with.”

  She snorted. “It will be at least ten years.”

  He shrugged. “I have to serve my world for the next twelve, so it’s fine. You will grow up. I will survive my service, and then, we will be together.”

  She chuckled. “Well then, hooray for survival.”

  He smiled, and when her father saw them standing a normal distance apart, her face cheerful and Alric’s face serious, he signed the contract.

  Elurra chuckled. Her mother’s sister was coming next week, so her life was going to change for the better. More social interaction was always a good thing.

  Chapter Two

  Eleven years, nine months later...

  Elurra walked down to the main hall for the formal ceremony. It was time to receive the rare mineral offerings from the mine, and no one else could accept them. It was a bond between her family and theirs.

  She stood next to the throne and glanced at her aunt Vietta sitting where Elurra’s father should be, but he died seven years ago, and nothing would change that.

  With her expression hollow, she watched the elaborate formalities begin.

  “You took your time, Elurra,” her aunt snipped.

  “I have been having a hard time waking, Aunt.” Elurra didn’t look at her.

  The queen snorted. “Well, if you weren’t such a disgusting creature, that wouldn’t be an issue. You would be able to get your nutrition from food. Not people.”

  The slow parade of shadowed figures walked toward the throne. When they stood ten feet ahead of the throne, they bowed low.

  “Regent, we bring you the offerings of the mine. What will you give us in return?”

  The ritual words were specific. The minerals had to be exchanged for fair value. Every year for the last six years, currency had been exchanged for the data crystals and other gems.

  “I offer you the princess Elurra.”

  The court gasped.

  Elurra paused and was watching the men when one looked up and a flare of a ruby-red gaze locked with hers.

  “We cannot accept her, but we will take an hour of her time in exchange.”

  Vietta chuckled. “Take her then. You have an hour from the time her door closes.”

  They nodded, and the speaker held his hand out for her. Elurra held her head high and took his hand with hers.

  “I will expect the gems when you are done with her.” The queen chuckled.

  Elurra was stunned. Out of all of the agonizing tortures that her aunt had set up for her in the last few years, sacrificing her body to the emissaries was the worst. She swallowed her pride and focused on her life and surviving. She led him and the rest of his party to her chamber. The bare walls, broken window, and empty chamber except for the bedding on the floor near the fireplace were her only sanctuary.

  She curtsied deeply once they were in the empty room with the pallet on the floor. “I apologize for the surroundings. I was not expecting guests. You are welcome to whatever I have, good sirs.”

  Elurra’s blurred senses fought to understand when they knelt around her. The dark arm in front of her pressed itself to her lips, and one of them spoke. “Princess, take what you need.”

  Her mouth watered, and she snapped her jaws shut. “I can’t. She’ll know, and you will be punished.”

  One of them took her wrist, and when he removed his hand, she was wearing a gold cuff.

  The speaker whispered, “It will hide your body and the strength you gain. You will be able to consume what you need. She will not see it. She will see you with hollow eyes and sallow cheeks. This is not what your father wanted. Take what you can from us, and we will give it.”

  He was stroking her cheek, and she looked at the other red eyes within the dark hood belonging to the man exposing his forearm to her. She leaned forward and bit in, her eyes closing as the hot rush hit her tongue.

  She took in the knowledge of who he was and what he was, stopping herself before she began to suck on him.

  She licked her lips and inclined her head. “Thank you.”

  His skin closed swiftly, and there was a grin. The flash of white teeth disappeared as he moved aside, and the next miner took his place.

  Elurra was surprised. “What is going on?”

  “Today is your birthday; take your fill.”

  She looked at the ruby eyes in front of her and leaned forward, tasting him swiftly, taking the two ounces that she needed.

  This was repeated five more times. She could feel the cuff on her wrist humming as it tried to contain what she had just taken in. Elurra was standing with the speaker for the group holding her as she waited out the acquisition energy that burned through her.

  The speaker smiled. “So, we have given you what you need, will you give us what we need?”

  Elurra blinked, and she said, “Whatever I can do for you will not replace what you have given me. I had forgotten what it was to feel.”

  He smiled. “You consume blood; we consume pleasure. We will not make full use of you, but we will seek your pleasure. Is that acceptable?”

  She blinked. “Um, all right.”

  He held her against him and turned her head so that he could kiss her. She whimpered as she was lifted and held, parallel to the ground, with hands running over her. She twisted in their grip as the hands got closer to her breasts and the juncture of her thighs.

  She connected to them by blood, and she could feel their lack of hostility or even lust. They needed what they were doing to her, needed her rising pleasure. If it were similar to what she felt when she took in blood, she would give them all she could. She fought her fear and let their caresses sweep her away.

  When fingertips brushed against her core, she blushed and tried to accept the sensation. As the fabric moved away from her and a hand slipped inside, she quivered. Still, the slow motion that took her breath away rocketed her into a shocking sensation that was
nearly pain, followed by a heavy, languorous pulse in her body. The fingers circled again, and she jerked as every last reaction eased her to a resting state with her eyes closed and murmurs of satisfaction all around.

  She was set on her feet and held steady until she could stand on her own. She could not tell which of them had been touching what, but the satisfying hum in their auras was gratifying. They had gotten what they needed, and they would let her go.

  The speaker said, “Princess, you are in great danger. Your aunt is planning against you. Do not trust anyone.”

  She looked at him, and feeling stronger; she asked, “Not even you?”

  He grinned. She saw the bright flash of teeth.

  “Our needs are simple, and we will protect you if you call. We owe it to your father. He gave us our riches and our world.”

  She blinked. “You knew my father?”

  “Yes. When he travelled, he was often on our asteroid and explaining his plans for the future. His hopes for you. What she has done to you is horrific. You could be so much more.”

  Elurra smiled. “Thank you for this day. I will just keep going until either she kills me, or she drops dead.”

  He cocked his head. “Don’t you want more?”

  “There isn’t anymore. Now, we must return to the throne room, and she will beat me in front of the court.”

  He gripped her arms. “What?”

  “She watches through the lenses in the corner of the room. She will see that I haven’t been damaged and make up for it.” She straightened her shoulders. “Come along.”

  He gripped her shoulder. “She can’t see us.”

  She smiled. “She can see the entire castle. Even some of the trees are wired.”

  He chuckled. “We put out a signal that is difficult for your tech to see. That is why your father asked us to begin contact after your sixteenth birthday. She knows she cannot see us, so I am afraid that we need to make you look a little more ravaged.”