Dalakis Passion 3 - Stefan's Salvation Read online

  An Ellora's Cave Romantica Publication

  www.ellorascave.com

  Stefan's Salvation

  ISBN # 1-4199-0747-6

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

  Stefan's Salvation Copyright© 2006 N.J. Walters

  Edited by Mary Altman.

  Cover art by Syneca.

  Electronic book Publication: October 2006

  This book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written

  permission from the publisher, Ellora's Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-

  3502.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales

  is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors' imagination and used fictitiously.

  Content Advisory:

  The following material contains graphic sexual content meant for mature readers. This story has been

  rated E­rotic by a minimum of three independent reviewers.

  Ellora's Cave Publishing offers three levels of RomanticaTM reading entertainment: S (S-ensuous), E (E-

  rotic), and X (X-treme).

  S-ensuous love scenes are explicit and leave nothing to the imagination.

  E-rotic love scenes are explicit, leave nothing to the imagination, and are high in volume per the overall

  word count. In addition, some E-rated titles might contain fantasy material that some readers find

  objectionable, such as bondage, submission, same sex encounters, forced seductions, and so forth. E-rated

  titles are the most graphic titles we carry; it is common, for instance, for an author to use words such as

  "fucking", "cock", "pussy", and such within their work of literature.

  X-treme titles differ from E-rated titles only in plot premise and storyline execution. Unlike E-rated titles,

  stories designated with the letter X tend to contain controversial subject matter not for the faint of heart.

  * * *

  DALAKIS PASSION:

  STEFAN'S SALVATION

  N.J. Walters

  * * *

  Dedication

  To my husband who shares my love of vampire lore and all things gothic. Thank

  you for your support and input and for caring as much about the Dalakis family as I do.

  Special thanks to Sally Painter whose help with research was invaluable to me.

  Thank you to Pamela Cohen for loving the Dalakis brothers. Your enthusiasm for

  Stefan was inspiring.

  Thank you to my editor, Mary Altman, for all the hard work and encouragement

  and for caring as much about Stefan and Laurel Rose as I do.

  And to the many readers who have fallen in love with the Dalakis brothers, thank

  you for taking these remarkable men into your hearts.

  * * *

  Stefan's Salvation

  Chapter One

  A vampire walked into a bar.

  Stefan Dalakis smiled inwardly as he pulled open the weathered wooden door and

  walked into the dimly lit bar, leaving the dark of night behind him. It amused him to

  wonder what the patrons would think if they only knew what walked among them.

  But there was no joke to follow the opening line.

  The door banged solidly shut behind him and every head in the place turned his

  way. They all eyed him suspiciously. His gaze swept the room, cataloguing each patron

  in turn. Even though the room was poorly lit and he was wearing mirrored sunglasses,

  he saw everything. His vision was many times greater than any human's and there was

  no place on earth where it was so dark that he could not see.

  He knew very well what they saw as they stared at him. At six-foot-six, he was a

  tall man, but he was heavily muscled as well, which gave the illusion that he was even

  bigger. The long, black leather duster that he wore was open, revealing a black linen

  shirt and a pair of black jeans. He pushed his waist-length, black hair back over his

  shoulders and ignored the barely veiled looks of mistrust as he ambled toward the bar.

  His boot heels scuffed across a scarred plank floor that had obviously seen better days.

  The bartender eyed him uncertainly as Stefan came to a halt in front of him. "Did

  you lose your way, mister?"

  Could he be any more obvious? Here's your hat, what's your hurry? Clearly they

  didn't get many strangers here. And why would they? This was a rundown roadside

  bar nestled deep in the mountains of North Carolina. From the outside, the place was in

  rough shape. The paint was peeling from the sides of the building and the gravel

  parking lot was rutted with potholes. If it wasn't for all the trucks parked in front, one

  might think it was nothing more than an abandoned building.

  Slowly, Stefan reached up and removed his sunglasses. He wore them whenever he

  drove at night to cut down on the glare of the oncoming headlights. Folding them

  carefully, he tucked them safely inside his shirt pocket before raising his eyes to pin the

  bartender with his glare. The other man gasped and gripped the side of the bar, his

  fingers digging into the thick wood. It was perhaps an overreaction, but Stefan was

  used to it. In fact, these days he encouraged it.

  The corners of Stefan's mouth turned up slightly, but it by no means could be

  misconstrued as a smile. He glanced into the mirror hanging behind the bar. His eyes

  blazed a brilliant emerald green...Dalakis eyes. They were a family trait that marked

  him, his brothers and all other Dalakis males who had come before them. "No, I'm not

  lost." He turned his gaze back to the man standing behind the bar.

  The bartender swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing. He opened his mouth to

  speak and croaked instead.

  Stefan waited patiently, listening with half an ear to the strains of country music

  blaring from the jukebox in the corner of the room. He preferred classic rock, but he did

  enjoy some of the older country songs.

  The other man finally cleared his throat. "What can I get you?" He picked up a rag

  and began to wipe down the top of the bar. Stefan didn't know why he even bothered.

  The rag was more gray than white.

  "Beer. Whatever you've got in a bottle."

  The bartender was starting to relax the longer Stefan just stood there. He reached

  behind him and opened up a cooler, pulling a frosted bottle from its depths. Opening

  the bottle with a flourish, he placed it in front of Stefan. "You visiting?"

  Stefan had been expecting the not-so-subtle probe for information. It was the same

  everywhere he went. Ignoring the question, he dug into his pocket, pulled out a few

  bills and tossed them onto the counter. Grabbing the bottle, he turned his back on the

  bartender and ambled over to a table in the corner.

  Plunking the bottle down, he snagged a chair and placed it directly in the corner.

  Satisfied, he settled himself on the chair, tipping it back so that it balanced on two legs.

  Taking his time, he surveyed the room.

  It was mostly men hunched over the tables, drinking and talking in small groups.

  There were a few women--not many, but those who were there had obviously come

  looking for a good time. With their skin
tight jeans, skimpy tops and high-heeled shoes,

  they were walking, talking sex. Two were blonde and one was a brunette, but all three

  of them wore their hair teased into high, poofy styles that seemed to defy gravity. Their

  eyes were rimmed in dark mascara and their lips were painted the same crimson red as

  their long fingernails. The two blondes sat by themselves at a table. The brunette was

  laughing and chatting with three men who were hanging on her every word.

  One of the blondes eyed him with interest and he returned her stare. She nudged

  her friend and bent to whisper in her ear. They thought they might get lucky tonight.

  Stefan heard every word they said as if they were sitting right next to him. His hearing

  was as acute as his vision.

  Sex. That was something that hadn't interested him much in decades. But that

  wasn't totally true, he reminded himself. He'd been very interested a couple months

  ago when he'd watched his brother, Lucian, have sex with Delight. He'd envied the

  close bond between them. He'd shared the experience with them, yet been apart from it.

  But tonight, he found himself noticing both women's bountiful breasts. He could

  imagine them stripped naked and lying on a bed just waiting for him to do as he

  pleased. They'd spread their long legs at his command. God, he could almost smell

  their heat--the heady aroma of an aroused woman. There was nothing else quite like it.

  And it had been a long time since he'd felt much of anything other than a deep,

  unanswered yearning to find a woman of his own. A true mate.

  Maybe he'd get them to pleasure themselves while he watched. He could imagine

  their red-tipped fingers sliding in and out of their hot cunts. No. One of them could

  pleasure herself while the other sucked his cock, her red, pouty lips sliding up and

  down his length, taking him deep into her throat. The low moans would get more

  frantic and when he was ready, he'd toss both of them onto the bed and fuck them.

  And when they were sated, he'd lower his mouth to their necks and drink from

  them, appeasing his own hunger. Just the thought of it had his cock rock hard and

  straining against the zipper of his jeans.

  The beast inside him rumbled to life. Every heartbeat in the room pounded in his

  ears. He could hear the swoosh of their blood pumping through their veins. The

  sensation was hypnotic. He licked his lips, almost tasting the tang in his mouth.

  He was hungry and they were sustenance.

  Closing his eyes, he willed the beast back into submission. It wasn't easy. He could

  feel the sweat trickling down the back of his neck. As the nights seemed to grow longer,

  it had gotten harder and harder to even have the will to fight his very nature. It would

  be so easy to take what he wanted with no consequences.

  Taking slow, steady breaths, he ignored his throbbing erection and centered himself

  until he was back in total control. He opened his eyes and carefully scanned the room

  again. Nothing had changed. No one here knew the battle that had just been fought and

  won. No one knew that their lives had just been spared.

  The beer was cool and the bottle sweaty in his hand as he took a long pull. He

  welcomed the bitterness of the brew as it slid down his throat to his belly. It did nothing

  to still the hunger within him.

  He knew he had to feed. His brothers usually drank blood that they purchased

  from various blood banks through dummy companies. He didn't mind living that way,

  but on the road there was no other way for him to survive except to eat straight from

  the source. Stefan was always very careful not to take too much and to implant a

  pleasant memory in the mind of the donor. They were no worse off when he left them,

  so it didn't trouble his conscience any.

  He raised the bottle and took another swig. That was, if he even still had a

  conscience. Some days he wasn't sure.

  His brothers would be appalled at how close he was to the edge and it was that fact

  that constantly pulled him back from the point of no return. He walked a fine line

  between survival and insanity. His nights grew darker and bleaker as each one came

  and went.

  He knew he could return to New Orleans. His brother, Lucian, and his new wife,

  Delight, would happily include him in their lives. Or, for that matter, he could fly to his

  homeland of Transylvania and spend time with his eldest brother, Cristofor, and his

  wife, Johanna. He was truly happy his brothers had found the women who completed

  their lives and made them whole.

  But it was for that very reason that he stayed away.

  Watching the two couples and their obvious happiness had almost driven him out

  into the killing sunlight. Almost. Stefan Dalakis was no coward and no quitter. But

  more than that, he would not do anything to hurt his brothers, who he loved more than

  his own life.

  As the youngest of the three, Stefan had grown up being watched over by both Cris

  and Lucian. Even now, they still tried. But those days were long over. He was more

  than capable of taking care of himself.

  His brothers, although both extremely dangerous and powerful men, had grown

  lax. He, on the other hand, had survived by pushing himself to his limits both

  physically and mentally, constantly testing his powers and learning more.

  He'd wandered the world over the past few centuries and, for the most part, he'd

  enjoyed himself. He didn't know what had made him stop at this particular roadside

  bar. Maybe loneliness. He'd been on the road for several months now, traveling the

  countryside in his specially customized truck. After Lucian and Delight had married,

  he'd just had to get away.

  He knew what had led him to North Carolina though. He felt a small, but genuine

  smile cross his face. How could any vampire resist visiting a place called Transylvania

  County? The tall mountains and trees of the state reminded him of home and he had

  enjoyed several days there before moving on. But he hadn't gone far. Just down the

  road really, a few counties north. For some unknown reason, he'd felt compelled to stop

  here.

  So here he was, sitting in the corner of a dingy bar not really knowing how he'd

  gotten there. Maybe some hot, raw sex with the two blondes would lighten his mood.

  Maybe pounding his cock into their wet warmth would help him feel connected to

  another human being, if only for a brief moment. A quick glance assured him that the

  two women were still interested. One of them caught his attention when she opened her

  mouth over the long neck of her beer bottle, letting her lips slide up and down over its

  slender neck. His cock jerked. Oh yeah, he could use some of that tonight.

  Taking another mouthful of beer, he casually listened in on the conversations going

  on around him as he pondered if he should try and find a motel close by to rent a room

  for the night. Most of the chatter he tuned out immediately, not really interested in

  whose wife was cheating on whom or why someone thought their boss was a shithead.

  "...gonna be a problem."

  Stefan's head shot up as he focused intently on the speaker. His heart was

  pounding in his chest and he had no idea why. With all his attention centered on the

  two men talking in low whispers on the other side of the room,
he listened.

  "She just needs a little more encouragement, is all." The larger of the two men had

  long, shaggy brown hair and a bushy beard. He punctuated his words with a nod and a

  mouthful of beer.

  "You think?" The smaller, skinnier one glanced around as he spoke. His leg bobbed

  in a nervous rhythm.

  "Sure," the big man nodded again. "Laurel Rose is a woman living on her own up

  in the hills. How hard can it be to scare her into moving?"

  "I don't know, Aaron." He pushed his thinning, dirty-blond hair back from his face

  and swiped a hand across his chin as if thinking about what his friend had just said.

  "She don't seem to be the type to scare easy."

  White teeth flashed through the bush of facial hair as Aaron smiled. "Don't you

  worry, Clem. She'll be ready to sign them papers and move by the end of the week."

  Clem nodded, obviously more than willing to believe every word the other man

  said.

  Stefan sat frozen in his chair. He had no idea who this woman was and,

  furthermore, it was none of his business. But some primal instinct had kicked in at the

  mere mention of her name. Laurel Rose. He rolled it over in his mind, examining it from

  every angle. He whispered it under his breath. It was a good name, a solid name, and

  just saying it brought him more peace than anything else had in years.

  His eyes narrowed at the two men as the hunter in him surged to life. He needed

  more information. But first he needed to appease his hunger in order to be at his peak

  strength. Leaving the bottle still half full on the table, he rose and strode out of the bar

  without looking back.

  Once again, he felt all eyes on him as he blew back out into the night as swiftly and

  silently as he'd entered. Only this time, he sent out a mental command as he left. He

  walked around the side of the building and into the darkness. Leaning against the

  outside wall, he crossed his arms and waited for his company to arrive.

  Chapter Two