Nightmaster
Rumours of war are rumbling in the vampire city of Erebus. Undercover agent Trinity Ward must pose as a blood slave to unearth the truth and keep the peace between vampires and humans. Acting now as a serf to Ares – a powerful Bloodmaster – Trinity must give herself to him…Yet one look into his striking eyes turns submission into burning desire. The fiery beauty has the same effect on Ares, but as their passion grows so do the risks.Now Trinity's betrayal could cost her the mission—and the man she loves.
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âIâm a little confused,â she said, âwhy did you claim me?â
âYour spirit intrigued me. You speak our language well, and I have some interest in the human perspective. Perhaps you can provide me with a new one.â
Trinity looked at him as if he were slightly mad. As he would be, in most Opiriâs eyes.
She rubbed her arms as if she were cold, though nearly all of Erebus was kept warmer than most of her kind preferred. âI know I have no rights. But I am ⦠glad you won me.â
Yet her eyes were soft, her lips parted, her face flushed as if with desire. The unmistakable scent of sexual arousal rose from her body.
Ares grabbed her by the shoulders, lifted her face to his level and kissed her. His teeth grazed her lower lip, giving him the smallest taste of her sweet blood.
SUSAN KRINARD has been writing paranormal romance for nearly twenty years. With Daysider she began a series of vampire paranormal romances, the Nightsiders series, for Mills & Boon>® Nocturneâ¢.
Sue lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with her husband, Serge, her dogs, Freya, Nahla and Cagney, and her cats, Agatha and Rocky. She loves her garden, nature, painting and chocolate ⦠not necessarily in that order.
As always, with thanks to Lucienne Diver and Leslie Wainger.
Contents
Chapter 1
Trinity Ward waited with the other dozen convicts, her wrists aching from the grip of the padded cuffs that kept her hands locked together at her waist.
Not that she would have fought to escape. This was where she was supposed to be, among these poor, lost souls whose punishment was to be more terrible than mere imprisonment. Or even death.
They were condemned to a life of blood slavery to some Nightsider master in the Opir city of Erebusâan existence of unending servitudeâuntil they were too old to provide blood or serve in any other capacity.
But these living offerings around Trinity, men and women who had committed only the most minor crimes, were not old. Some were in their late teens; the eldest couldnât have been more than fifty. If not for the Treaty and the need to maintain the Armistice, they might have lived normal lives, sentenced by the Courts to jail time, probation and reparations.
Except that there were only two jails in the Enclave, and they were nearly empty. Crime had dropped to levels unknown in all of human history. Dropped so far that the bloodsuckers were growing restless.
âWhat did you do?â a young woman standing next to Trinity asked in a surprisingly calm voice.
Trinity met her gaze. She knew what the woman saw: normal human eyes, not the catlike pupils of a half human, half Nightsider dhampir. In a way, the contact lenses were like shields, not only concealing Trinityâs identity, but also helping her keep her distance from those around her.
Distance, Trinity thought, shouldnât be a problem. She had been chosen for this assignment because she was known as the most unflappable, most controlled operative in all of Aegis. The one without close friends or lovers, because she wanted it that way.
Still, it was hard looking at this womanâs face, knowing she hadnât earned the fate that awaited her. None of these people had.
âI didnât pay my taxes,â Trinity whispered. âYou?â
The womanâs brown eyes filled with tears. âI stole a pair of earrings. They werenât expensive at all, but I hadnât had something pretty like that inââ She broke off, her calm dissolving in grief and fear.
âIâm sorry,â Trinity said, awkwardly touching the womanâs arm.
âIt wouldnât be so bad if it werenât for my daughter,â the woman said, wiping her eyes on her forearm. âSheâs going to stay with my parents now. Theyâll take good care of her. But Iââ
She didnât have to finish. Trinity knew what it was like to lose family. Not that sheâd ever really had one. Her Nightsider father, whom she didnât remember, had been killed at the end of the War when Enclave soldiers had found him in possession of Trinityâs mother and their daughter, treating both as prisoners rather than anything a human would call a âfamily.â
Trinityâs mother had taken her back to the Enclave. But there had never been another father. And Trinity had grown up half vampire in a world of humans who feared and hated the part of her that made her so different, so much faster and stronger and keener of vision, able to see in the dark and with teeth made for drinking blood.
Something most dhampires would rather die than sink to.
âMy name is Trinity,â she said to her companion.
âRachel,â the woman said, raising her bound wrists. âI canât shake your hand.â
Suddenly they both laughed, the laughter of people without hope. Trinity wasnât completely faking it. She knew her odds of coming out of this alive and free were minimal, but that wasnât what she feared. She had to obtain the necessary information and get word out of Erebus. If this was to be her last assignment, she intended to make it count.
