Eternal Damnation Read online

  She averted her gaze and licked her lips. "Forgive me but our history not only teaches that vampires prey on the weak and consigns their souls to eternal damnation, but your fleet is poised to destroy humanity at this very moment. I don’t find that fact extremely comforting."

  Exasperating wench! Even in her dream state she had a steel trap of a mind. He hoped his comrades met with an easier task or they would fail, doomed to wander through space seeking a new home.

  So she wanted to make a power play? He rose out of touching distance and stared at her, a grin tugging at his lips. "It is not my people who are threatening your world. It is the Carpathians who have returned to attack. We will do all that we can to assist your people in fending them off."

  He gave her a piercing look, trying to storm her defenses much as Nikolai stormed her world. "But first, your name? Tell me the name of the fair maiden whom I propose to help."

  Laughing she lifted her leg and tried to touch him with her flexed toes giving him a miraculous view of her glistening treasures. "I’m a warrior, not a maiden. Am I a POW that you want my name, rank, and serial number? Does knowing my name give you special powers over me?"

  He floated higher and crossed his arms over his chest. "Perhaps. Or perhaps I just want to know what such a lovely vision is called."

  She licked her lips and gazed at him coquettishly, tempting him unmercifully. Since when were warrior princesses wantonly seductive? "You’re in my dream. Don’t you have to do as I say?"

  "Is that in the dream manual? I must’ve skipped that chapter." He thought of a delicious torture to inflict until she decided to cooperate. Turning around, he nestled between her legs and flicked her silky folds with his tongue.

  "I can’t possibly consort with our mortal enemy."

  "You’re dreaming. Anything goes in a dream. You can live out your wildest, most decadent fantasies. You can make wild, passionate love to me, master me, and be mastered by me. No one will be the wiser. You won’t even remember our passionate encounter upon your awakening. "

  Passion flickered in the depths of her eyes and she reached for him. "As long as it is truly a dream."

  Veiling his eyes so that she couldn’t glean the extent of his lies, he whispered huskily, "This is merely a dream that will evaporate with wakefulness." The lie clawed at his gut, but it was necessary to gain her acceptance, to save not only her, but humanity and their world.

  They moaned and writhed together. She tasted so luscious, her scent was so exotic, he could barely form a coherent thought or remember his sacred mission.

  Tanya caressed his head, running her magical fingers through his hair orbing him out of the Third Level of Hell into Heaven. He licked his way down to her swollen labia, parted the pink lips, and slurped her freely flowing juices.

  He parted her legs wider, spread her lips and drank deeply. Coming up for a breath, he asked, "You ready to tell me?"

  "Never." Tingling, she wriggled against his face. "Keep torturing me," she commanded.

  Torture her? She could be sarcastic now, but when he stopped at the critical moment, she would know torture. He prayed she cracked soon as his cock hung full and heavy with his seed ready to burst, yearning to bury itself deep in her folds.

  She traced the tip of her tongue over her lips. "Zanna."

  Zanna, God’s gift. Since when did God give him gifts? He had to quell a tremor of trepidation.

  "I thought we were rid of you, vampire. I told you never to darken my world again." A dark, ominous voice sliced through the sultry night, icing it a terrifying chill.

  Ashlok, Nikolai’s most heinous minion….

  Dmitri tensed and lifted his head, licking Zanna’s juices from his lips. He pulled the sheet over his life mate to preserve her modesty from the monster and whispered, "Prepare to fight." He hoped her warrior instincts kicked in against real monsters.

  Zanna nodded, almost imperceptibly. The passion in her eyes dulled. Gone was the luscious lover to be replaced by the wintry soldier.

  "Ashlok! To what do I owe this monumental displeasure?" Dmitri whirled around, tugging on his pants, his fangs fully bared.

  Zanna looked about her, squinting in the world of shadows. Her oceanic-colored eyes glowed almost turquoise. "What is this place?"

  "The astral plane. The realm of nightmares. Be careful. Every nightmare ever conceived runs amok on this plane."

  "You brought me here?" She glared at him as she floated up from the bed, away from her body. She stared back at it, looked at her astral form, and fingered the silvery umbilical cord that kept her attached to her body.

  "Not exactly." He hadn’t meant to drag her into this dangerous zone or put her at risk. He needed her alive and well to stop the war and persuade her to allow his people to return home. "You have lifted yourself out of your body."

  "You called me," she hissed, eyeing the demon. "If the astral body dies, does the physical body?"

  He let his breath hiss out and chanced a glance at her while trying to keep the fiend full in his sight. "As I’m technically already dead, I can’t die, except for a very few exceptions. I am disappointed that you don’t remember."

  She opened her mouth to speak, hesitated and closed it. Then her voice vibrated next to his ear. "If this is the nightmare world, will we meet our own nightmares? Or other people’s?"

  He grimaced, his lips stretching uncomfortably across his fangs. "Both."

  Anxiety lit her gaze. "You’re one of the worst nightmares." She pointed at his fangs.

  Dmitri quelled his hurt. Couldn’t she see beyond his outer shell? Look into his soul? Was their no glimmer of remembrance?

  Ashlok slithered forward while they whispered, his shadow inching dangerously close.

  "There be monsters here, Missy." Ashlok, already hideous with a gray rodent-like torso, mottled flesh, and human head sprouted snakes from his tail and head. Five inch daggers sprang from its fingers and toes.

  Zanna visibly recoiled from the repugnant creature. "I didn’t dream him. I’d remember that monster, awake or asleep."

  Ashlok peered at them with his beady black eyes and twitched his pug nose. His snakes hissed, stuck out their forked tongues, and writhed around his body. "Why do you invade our world? You will regret your transgressions."

  "Vampires habitually travel on the astral plane."

  * * * *

  Shocked at the revelation, she hissed. "So I’m not dreaming? You were kissing me--licking me--down there…? This isn’t a nightmare?" Her vaginal walls clenched and she tingled all over. How many other times had her dreams been real? The astral plane had always been a myth, one of the many frivolous pursuits of the zen-loving cults she had thought beneath her notice.

  "No. Yes. And no." The Lion was so helpful she wanted to strangle him if they escaped alive. He scowled. "At least no one else has ever compared my lovemaking to a nightmare."

  She grimaced at his reference to his demanding love life.

  "Why did you invade my dreams?" To kill her? But he’d had ample opportunity before she’d reached lucidity and he hadn’t. He had made love to her, very erotic, sensual love that made her quiver with lust just recalling it.

  "Why think you? Some great military mind are you?" Ashlok snorted and shook his head, the snakes writhing, flicking their forked tongues.

  "Not to kill me." She really doubted it was love at first sight although her physical reaction to Dmitri had been swift and fierce, to her complete chagrin.

  "We wanted to persuade you that my clan is peaceable and presents no danger to you. You wouldn’t let me near you on the Third Dimension." Dmitri stood proud and thrust out his chin regally.

  Fury flashed through her like wild fire. "You thought you could invade our innermost psyche, seduce us, and that we would welcome you into our beds and our planet? And you claim to be better than your rivals who blatantly threaten to murder us if we don’t bow to their hideous demands?"

  "Our planet. It’s our home, too. Your ancestors had no right to
force us to leave." Pathos laced Dmitri’s voice but she wasn’t going to feel sorry for him. Military leaders did not betray the civilians they had taken oaths to protect. She suppressed shivers. By allowing him into her bed, even if it was in her dreams, had she been a traitor to her people?

  "You had no right to invade my dreams! And your actions most definitely prove your kind is dangerous. You attack at a most insidious level, below our awareness and you expect us to trust you?" The Lion was a monster as much as the rat creature twisting with snakes. His bite would be just as lethal and she didn’t welcome him or his clan in her world anymore than she wanted this nightmarish creature.

  Dmitri took a step toward her, his hand out. "My only crime was to make your acquaintance, to show that I wasn’t a threat in an effort to pave the way so that we could discuss matters rationally."

  "Next time please use diplomatic channels and introduce yourself formally--shake my hand, and then tell me your name and business. We’ll negotiate." Was he a vampire or a caveman? He might as well have grabbed her by the hair and hauled her to his lair. Simultaneously, she thrilled and recoiled. Since when did she thrill to the command of a macho alpha male? She commanded many such men. They answered to her, not vice versa. But this one spoke to her on a deeper level. This one she couldn’t control and order about. This one excited her on a very primal level.

  She was a soldier, wasn’t she? As such, she would do her sworn duty. She summed up her enemies wishing she had a weapon. Although she was an expert at hand-to-hand combat and held a black belt, she had never battled a nest of snakes or mastered the secrets of the astral realm. She hadn’t believed the astral realm truly existed and it was difficult to wrap her mind around the concept.

  Did the same rules of physics apply? If she died here, would she die in real life? She suspected that the answer was yes. Her mother would think she had died peacefully in her sleep, a dishonorable death for a soldier. Although she didn’t fear death, she did not welcome it either.

  An even more important question bothered her, could her soul die in a dream?

  "Was that what your weapons were doing? Talking peace?"

  "Nor were your fangs. She vaulted at him, feet first and flung him several feet into the air. This is your final warning vampire. Leave and take your clan of monsters with you. Forget you spawned from Earth."

  Dmitri jumped to his feet lithely as if he hadn’t just been knocked half a parsec away. Perspective was difficult on this shadowy plane. "Never. This is our home and we have just as much right to live on this world as you. We were born here."

  "You mean you were made here."

  "I was born in Russia in the eighteenth century and migrated to America. I lived here until the Second Carpathian Wars of 2087. This was my home for hundreds of years. You’ve only lived here thirty at most. Perhaps you should leave." He cartwheeled, flew into the air, and landed behind her. Before she could reel around to face him, he had hauled her back against his lithe form. His warmth seeped into her and he spoke huskily into her ear, his breath tickling it. "Earth is my home. My birthplace."

  "And mine." She blocked out how wonderful his body felt and the memories that rushed back of his powerful lovemaking. He was her mortal enemy. If she reminded herself often enough, perhaps she would begin to believe it. She grabbed his arms, and flung him over her head. Then she flung herself on top of him and they wrestled until he pinned her to the floor as she gasped for breath. She had met many worthy opponents, but none as strong or lithe as him. She grunted her grudging admiration for his skills.

  "Give your word you will let us stay." He stared at her throat, his eyes passion glazed, reminding her that he would rather drain her of her blood than make love to her. What folly it would be to permit a whole blood thirsty band loose to rampage and pillage Earth’s citizens. To let them wander through their minds and dreams at will.

  "I do not have the authority," she said between gritted teeth. Which was true. "I’m a mere soldier, not a politician."

  "But do you have influence on the governing board? Surely they must trust one of their highest ranked military officials." His hands encircled her throat, and he caressed it with the pads of his thumbs. His thumb settled over her carotid artery through which her blood pumped.

  "Sometimes. I cannot guarantee they will listen to me." More and more lately, she was not finding favor with the council.

  "Will you give your recommendation?" He straddled her, his robe flapping open. His groin ground against her reminding her of their earlier erotic encounter. She could definitely give him a high rating in the sexual prowess category but that didn’t prove him to be trustworthy.

  "If this is a sample of how you will treat us once you are back on world, no." She bent his thumbs backward and then kicked him off, hurling him several feet into the air.

  A fire breathing dragon with twin heads swooped down and scooped her into its claws. Fire flamed from both heads and its big dick scraped the floor until it gained incredible height.

  She noticed that her silver umbilical cord tangled around its testicles. She pulled on it with all her strength, strangling the gigantic balls, eliciting a horrific scream from the creature. She almost felt sorry for it until it dropped her from its great height, and she free fell, hurtling into a black void. Cursed darkness closed in on her. She was a creature of light and goodness and abhorred the dark void. Then flames shot from the twin mouths, lighting the nightmare realm, missing her by bare inches, the heat singing her.

  Steely arms caught her and huddled her against a strong chest with a beating heart. Ragged, her breath tore from her lungs in bursts. She struggled to get free until Dmitri’s deep voice soothed her. "It’s your friendly neighborhood vampire. See? I’m not such a bad sort to have around."

  She savored the moment in his arms until sanity crept back. Did he take nothing seriously save his return to Earth? "Admit it. I’m not a monster." He smiled down into her face, his eyes twinkling.

  When she pursed her lips, his grip slipped fractionally as if he was about to drop her. "Oops. You know you should go on a diet. You’re a lot heavier than you look."

  Self-preservation made her loop her arms around his neck and press tighter against him. She wanted to wipe the sarcastic grin off his pretty face. He was full of shit. She had no hang-ups knowing she was well within military weight regs. "Bite me."

  He wiggled his brows and lowered her to her feet. "Love to, darlin’. Soon as we outrun these monsters."

  "Can’t you just orb us out of here? Are we not able to wake up?"

  "It’s a little more complicated than that. If it was that easy, we’d be out already. Our friends don’t seem to want us to leave the party yet."

  "Party?" Ashlok’s eerie voice snaked around them. "You mean feast?"

  Her mouth went dry. Dying with honor fighting demons to save her people she could take. Being the entree, she could not. "There has to be a way. What’s got them so up in arms?"

  "Why?" A chorus of voices hissed from Ashlok’s hideous body. "Because his army of vampire freaks has invaded our realm."

  "You’re calling us freaks? Look in a mirror lately?"

  The import of the monster’s words hit her full in the chest and her lungs tightened unbearably. "Your clan is in here, too? Can’t you call them for help?"

  Dmitri turned to her, his brows tented further into his forehead. "What? You want the help of demon freaks? You want us to be your allies?"

  She gulped hard, swallowing her pride. Digging her clipped finger nails into her palms with sufficient force to draw blood, she said, "Yes."

  "Say pretty please."

  She blinked. No soldier had ever said that to her. Granted, he wasn’t one of her troops who she would have put on report for such insolence. The crazy vampire made her feel so impotent among a myriad of other unpalatable crazy desires and sensations, maybe she was the crazy one.

  "Say pretty please with sugar on it."

  How could such a joker make her blood
boil? And not with anger? She bit back a scream of frustration. No one else drove her so crazy either. "You’re nuts."

  He blew a kiss to her. "I could also be your salvation and your heaven."

  She knew all about the heaven part but vampire and heaven--two terms she had never equated together. Preposterous! Yet, deep down, she didn’t doubt it.

  Ashlok rubbed his paws together, sparks flying off his claws. The coarse hair on his back stood out straight like a porcupine’s. "No one can save you now, Lion. You belong to us."

  "Ladies first." Dmitri nodded at the vile creature and swept his arm out in deference to her.

  "I thought you wanted to be my ally?"

  "You didn’t say pretty please."

  "Pretty please," she said between gritted teeth, planning to strangle the infuriating vampire as soon as she took care of the other enemy. She had never battled a creature with several writhing heads before. Mortal, snake venom could kill her. Being immortal, Dmitri was the obvious choice. It seemed that vampires could be very helpful. She wasn’t a fool.

  Dmitri kissed her hand and bowed low as Ashlok advanced stealthily.

  "Any day now," she mumbled under her breath trying to ignore the wildfire licking her groin.

  "Get back," Dmitri whispered. Once she had followed his bidding he performed a beautifully powerful back flip and kicked the rat man in the face with his boot heels.

  Wind stirred her hair and she whirled around expecting to find more dragons. Instead she came face to face with a gross ball of mangled flesh filled with feral eyes and gnashing metal teeth. Was it alive or machine? One of its mouths opened so wide it almost encompassed its whole body and then snapped at her, narrowly missing decapitating her. Nothing had ever looked more demonic, not even the snake-covered rat man.

  She ducked and rolled out of the way, only to be mired in foul green-glowing goo that tried to suck her into a deep void. "Dmitri! I can’t get out!" She held out her hand to him.