Vampire Queen 8 - Bound by the Vampire Queen Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Acknowledgements

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  SOMETHING ABOUT WITCHES

  PRAISE FOR JOEY W. HILL’S

  VAMPIRE QUEEN NOVELS

  Vampire Trinity

  “Only Joey W. Hil can make me yearn for blood and fangs.”

  — Romance Junkies

  “One amazingly phenomenal sexy novel that wil keep the pages turning, your imagination running, your dreams carnal y vivid and your partner very happy.”

  — Bitten by Books

  “A Joyful y Recommended Read . . . Joey W. Hil impresses me with every word she writes.”

  — Joyfully Reviewed

  “Ms. Hil is a talented writer with a style that can only be deemed exclusively hers . . . Al of the books in this series are ardently poignant romances at their finest.”

  — Risqué Reviews

  Vampire Mistress

  “Keep a fan and a glass of ice water handy; this one wil raise your temperature.”

  — Romantic Times

  “The Vampire Queen novels are more than a reader ever needs to indulge in a world where connection with the characters is amazingly intense and al -

  consuming, leaving you very, very satisfied.”

  — Fresh Fiction

  Beloved Vampire

  “Lock the door, turn off the television and hide the phone before starting this book, because it’s impossible to put down! . . . The story is ful of action, intrigue, danger, history and sexual tension . . . This is definitely a keeper!”

  — Romantic Times

  “This has to be the best vampire novel I’ve read in a very long time! Joey W. Hil has outdone herself . . .

  [I] couldn’t put it down and didn’t want it to end . ”

  — ParaNormal Romance

  A Vampire’s Claim

  “Had me in its thral . Joey W. Hil pul ed me in and didn’t let me go.”

  — Joyfully Reviewed

  “A Vampire’s Claim is so ardent with action and sex you won’t remember to breathe . . . another stunning instal ment in her vampire series.”

  — TwoLips Reviews

  “Sure to enthral and delight not only existing Hil fans, but also those new to her writing.”

  — Romantic Times

  “A great vampire romance . . . [an] enticing, invigorating thril er.”

  — The Best Reviews

  Mark of the Vampire Queen

  “Superb . . . This is erotica at its best with lots of sizzle and a love that is truly sacrificial. Joey W. Hil continues to grow as a stunning storytel er.”

  — A Romance Review

  “Packs a powerful punch.”

  — TwoLips Reviews

  “Hil never ceases to amaze us . . . She keeps you riveted to your seat and leaves you longing for more with each sentence.”— Night Owl Romance

  “Dark and richly romantic.”

  — Romantic Times

  “Fans of erotic romantic fantasy wil relish [it].”

  — The Best Reviews

  The Vampire Queen’s Servant

  “Should come with a warning: intensely sexy, sensual story that wil hold you hostage until the final word is read. The story line is fresh and unique, complete with a twist.”

  — Romantic Times

  “Hot, kinky, sweating, hard-pounding, oh-my-god-is-it-hot-in-here-or-is-it-just-me sex . . . so compel ing it just grabs you deep inside.”

  — TwoLips Reviews

  MORE PRAISE FOR THE NOVELS OF JOEY W.

  HILL

  “Everything Joey W. Hil writes just rocks my world.”

  —Jaci Burton

  “Sweet yet erotic . . . wil linger in your heart long after the story is over.”

  — Sensual Romance Reviews

  “One of the finest, most erotic love stories I’ve ever read. Reading this book was a physical experience because it pushes through every other plane until you feel it in your marrow.”

  —Shelby Reed, author of Holiday Inn

  “The perfect blend of suspense and romance.”

  — The Road to Romance

  “Wonderful . . . the sex is hot, very HOT, [and] more than a little kinky . . . erotic romance that touches the heart and mind as wel as the libido.”

  — Scribes World

  “A beautiful y told story of true love, magic and strength . . . a wondrous tale . . . A must-read.”

  — Romance Junkies

  “A passionate, poignant tale . . . the sex was emotional and charged with meaning . . . yet another must-read story from the ever-talented Joey W. Hil .”

  — Just Erotic Romance Reviews

  “This is not only a keeper but one you wil want to run out and tel your friends about.”

  — Fallen Angel Reviews

  “Not for the closed-minded. And it’s definitely not for those who like their erotica soft.”

  — A Romance Review

  Berkley Heat titles by Joey W. Hill THE VAMPIRE QUEEN’S SERVANT

  THE MARK OF THE VAMPIRE QUEEN

  A VAMPIRE’S CLAIM

  BELOVED VAMPIRE

  VAMPIRE MISTRESS

  VAMPIRE TRINITY

  VAMPIRE INSTINCT

  BOUND BY THE VAMPIRE QUEEN

  Berkley Sensation titles by Joey W. Hill A MERMAID’S KISS

  A WITCH’S BEAUTY

  A MERMAID’S RANSOM

  Anthologies

  LACED WITH DESIRE

  (with Jaci Burton, Jasmine Haynes, and Denise Rossetti)

  UNLACED

  (with Jaci Burton, Jasmine Haynes, and Denise Rossetti)

  THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada

  (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Group Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.)

  Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia

  (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.) Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India

  Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand

  (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196,

  South Africa

  Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R

  0RL, England

  This book is an original publication of The Berkley Publishing Group.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control o
ver and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  Copyright © 2011 by Joey W. Hill.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  HEAT and the HEAT design are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  PRINTING HISTORY

  Heat trade paperback edition / December 2011

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hill, Joey W.

  Bound by a vampire queen / Joey W. Hill.—Heat trade paperback ed.

  p. cm.—(The vampire queen series ; bk. 8) ISBN : 978-1-101-55277-3

  1. Vampires—Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3608.I4343B58 2011

  813’.6—dc22

  2011004515

  http://us.penguingroup.com

  Acknowledgments

  In past books, I have thanked those invaluable folks who have contributed to the books in terms of production, research, critiquing, suggestions and overal moral support for the process, al vital things to help an author offer the best book possible.

  However, equal y important are those who read the books, who take them into their hearts and become so enthusiastic about them that they spread the word and share that love with others, contributing greatly to the success of the books.

  Thank you always and forever to my readers, who are so generous in this regard. You give me so very much, more than I can express, and I treasure the chances I’ve had to meet you through email and face-to-face, sharing the joy of reading and writing this genre.

  A very, very special thank-you to those who have volunteered to do even more, actively promoting the books merely because of your passion for them.

  This includes Terry, who started the very first Yahoo!

  fan group, and Jaime, Sandy and Kat, who helped with its ultimate transformation into the Joey W. Hil fan forum. I’m amazed with what you’ve done with the idea and what it’s become. And a huge shout-out to the Femme Fatales for their tireless “street team” work!

  Last but not at al least, to Karen, who has taken on the daunting task of creating a series bible for the Vampire Queen series, something I’ve never had the time to do (and therefore has led to some humorous and sometimes painful gaffes in the books. If you haven’t noticed, then just ignore that statement

  — grin). She has tried to keep me out of trouble in this book and going forward. As always, any mistakes made, despite her heroic efforts, are al mine.

  I wish I could list everyone, but please know I owe al my readers so much. Thank you for everything!

  1

  JACOB squatted on his booted heels on a mountain of broken concrete. Looking down the slope of rock and across a thicket of ruined foliage, he wondered how hard it was to pul off a fairy’s wings. He’d sure as hel like the chance to find out.

  His lady and Fae Lord Keldwyn were a few hundred yards away, standing next to the clump of twisted trees where the verandah used to be. She cal ed it the mangrove, evidence of her macabre sense of humor, given that the trees used to be a pack of rabid vampires. That is, before she turned them into future firewood, and crushed the surrounding marble and concrete like popcorn.

  Thanks to his ability to be in her mind, Jacob could easily hear their conversation. Which was why he was envisioning wing extraction. Of course, since Keldwyn’s wings were currently concealed, Jacob would settle for breaking a limb or two.

  “As long as you had no true grasp of Fae power,” Keldwyn was saying, “the court had no interest in you. You were like solitary elementals; pixies, dryads, gnomes. The peasantry of our kind. Less than that, even, because of your inferior vampire blood.”

  Through his lady’s mind, Jacob watched the Fae lord’s eyes, like onyx and pale moonstone, slide over the center tree. The shape of the trunk was undeniably like the tortured body of the male vampire trapped within it. One large aboveground root kinked up like a leg, in a futile struggle to push out of its prison.

  “But this, and the potential of your parentage, has set your future course. The Unseelie queen demands you come before her, for assessment and possible acknowledgment. If she determines that you are significant, you wil be made a member of her court, one of her subjects, required to attend her wil as she deems appropriate.”

  “What are they saying?” The question came from Lord Mason, sitting at a lower point on the pile of debris. He had his elbows braced on a jagged slab of what used to be the veranda steps. His long legs were stretched out, ankles crossed.

  “He’s saying he misses us. That he wants us to come join the conversation.” Jacob rose, and with a couple of graceful leaps, was on the ground near Mason’s polished riding boots.

  “The same tight-assed bastard who said ‘the vampires need to wait here,’ like we were lepers?” Mason arched a brow.

  Jacob gave him a grim smile. When Keldwyn had issued that curt directive, not even by a twitch had Mason reacted to being treated like chattel on his own estate. Of course, that wasn’t surprising.

  Though Jacob had warned Mason of the Fae’s contempt for vampires, Mason had dealt with plenty of egos in his own world. Hadn’t they al ? Jacob’s lip curled at the thought.

  “Yeah, he’s had a change of heart. He’s feeling al warm and fuzzy about us now.”

  Mason snorted, but Jacob knew neither of them gave a rat’s ass what Keldwyn thought. Lyssa was their mutual main concern. As such, when he headed toward the mangrove, he was aware of Mason rising to fol ow him at a sauntering pace, ostensibly to check his surviving roses, but Jacob knew he had his back. A Fae might be able to kick a vampire’s ass any day of the week, but kicking two of them, as wel as dealing with Lyssa, might be more than Keldwyn wanted to do. He’d muss his perfect hair, after al .

  Jacob. Easy. Lyssa spoke in his mind. Let’s see where this goes.

  I’m ever obedient to your will, my lady.

  He felt the touch of wry humor, saw it flash through her jade green eyes as her gaze flickered his way.

  Stil , he meant it. He wasn’t as good at poker faces as Mason, but he could keep his mouth shut when needed. As Keldwyn noted their approach, his expression got sour. Lyssa spoke before he could say anything, however.

  “And if I prefer to remain solitary?” Unlike him, his lady had an exceptional talent for not revealing anything about her true thoughts on a matter, so Jacob knew the edge to her voice was deliberate. Keldwyn turned his gaze back to her.

  “Then you should not have done this.” He nodded at the trees. “This is dark magic, with a clear Unseelie signature. Your father had blood from both the Seelie and Unseelie courts, so it remains to be seen if your abilities wil stay in the realm of one court or expand to both. However, as of now, you’ve made an indelible mark on the Unseelie queen’s universe, and so her eye is turned toward you. This is not an invitation. If you choose to refuse it like one, you wil not have months to live like a fugitive in the woods as you did when the vampires shunned you.

  The queen wil destroy al you hold dear. She can have you brought to her in chains and keep you as a pet at her feet, until she feels you understand obedience.”

  Keldwyn’s voice was flat, his gaze utterly impersonal. Even so, Jacob sensed something beneath that, an elusive sense of urgency, enough to underscore and make his words unsettling truth, not a goading threat.

  Ever since they’d met Keldwyn, months ago, this was the way it had been. Jacob’s gut was always on high alert around the pointy-eared bastard, scanning for something that felt not quite . . . right. Of course, Jacob had Irish roots, and before her death, his mother had regaled him with bedtime stories of the Fae. Fascinating, beautiful and wondrous, they were also capricious, unpredictable and moral y neutral at best. At worst, they could be and do things much like Keldwyn had just described the Fa
e queen doing. In short, it was best to give anything smacking of them a wide berth.

  I am part Fae, Sir Vagabond. Lyssa’s amusement was evident in the thought. I think you have lost that chance.

  Because of his background as Renaissance Faire knight, drifter and vampire hunter, it was her preferred endearment for him when she was in a good mood. Less frequently—usual y when she was reminiscing much further back—she sometimes cal ed him Sir Knight, recal ing his past life as such.

  Regardless, he was glad she was calm about this, but then Lyssa had fought in the Territory Wars and seen a thousand years of crises. She tended to consider a matter careful y before getting too excited about things.

  Mason, with a similar relaxed mien but one Jacob knew could conceal a panther about to tear into the soft underbel y of his prey, had taken a seat on a wrought-iron bench. He stretched a powerful arm across the back, propping one boot against the base. Like Jacob, Mason kept his amber eyes trained on the Fae. Keldwyn continued to ignore them both.

  “To go to her court, you wil have to cross into the Fae world. She won’t simply throw open the gate.