Vampire Falls 02 Morganna's Sacrifice

AMPYRE

ALLS

: M

ORGANNA

’

ACRIFICE

…Excitement built and curled inside her. She glanced at

the ground far below and suddenly an orgasm swamped
through her and she screamed with the unexpected pleasure as
she convulsed around him, bathing him with her cream.

His unrelenting hands bracketed her arms against the hard

granite as she arched against him, overcome with sensations.
He felt so much bigger, so very rigid inside her, expanding her
beyond what she had known before. Hot and cold magnified
as her heart galloped in her chest.

He leaned forward and she felt the sharp edge of his teeth

track across her shoulder and up along the column of her neck.
The world spun away. The only thing she was aware of was
Keelan. His body claiming her, his sharp teeth pressing against
the pulsing beat at her neck, his cock spearing her, his hands
manacling her. His earthy scent filling her as he possessed
every inch of her.

“Yes, Keelan. Take me. Make me yours again. In every

way. If it’s my blood you want, take it. Everything I am is
yours. I can’t live without you again.”

The pressure of his incisors lessened and he raised his head

to look at her, piercing her with their darkness. “Is that what
you think? That all this is about your blood? And your
permission?”

She rocked her head back and forth. “I don’t care, Keelan.

I just need you so much. And I want to give you anything you

want. I have to.”

He kept her gaze fastened to his as he circled his hips and

the tip of his cock buried deeper inside, touching the heart of
her.

“Yes, my love. Yes.”

LSO

DRIANNA

ANE

Achilles’ Charm

The Argadian Heart Trilogy

Azurene: Divine Seduction

The Boy Next Door

Breathless Peaks

Carnal Carnivale

Closing Time

Come Into My Parlor

The Diary Of Lillian
Manchester, Book I:

The Stranger

Esmerelda’s Secret

The Exile: A Seductive Tale

Fertility Rite

Graphic Liaisons

If You Dare…

I Want

Images Of Desire

Immortal Treasure

Jebediah’s Promise

Jewel Of Niveka

Legend Of The Beesinger

The Lion and The Rose

Mariposa Soul

The Midas Bride

Nights In White Satin

No Choice

Primal Magic: Scent

Primal Magic: Swan’s Lake

Realm Of The Ice God

Ruthless Acts

Sequestered Passion

Smooth Finish

Sully’s Heart

Sylvie’s Gift

Tempt Me Not

Therapy

Train Me

Unicorn Craving

Vampyre Falls: Animal Heat

A View To Possession

Whisper

Wings of Salvation

VAMPYRE FALLS:

MORGANNA’S

SACRIFICE

ADRIANNA DANE

MBER

UILL

RESS

, LLC

http://www.AmberQuill.com

AMPYRE

ALLS

: M

ORGANNA

’

ACRIFICE

MBER

UILL

RESS

OOK

This book is a work of fiction.

All names, characters, locations, and incidents are products of

the author’s imagination, or have been used fictitiously.

Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales,

or events is entirely coincidental.

Amber Quill Press, LLC

http://www.AmberQuill.com

No portion of this book may be transmitted or

reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission

in writing from the publisher, with the exception of brief

excerpts used for the purposes of review.

ISBN 978-1-60272-197-5

Layout and Formatting provided by: Elemental Alchemy

PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Thanks to my family who have always

supported me in my writing..

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

CHAPTER 1

Morganna carefully removed the potent, bubbling liquid

from the fire and placed the container on the counter. The
fumes alone were already beginning to affect her and she
giggled at the airy feeling that began to ooze inside her.
Usually she was more careful when handling the heady
potions. But not today.

When she’d prepared the poppy seeds she hadn’t planned

to use them on herself, she was simply restocking her supply
in case she had need of it. Being a faery doctor carried great
responsibility, and she tried to adhere to the requirements of
that position. Of all her faery sisters, she had been the one
gifted with the strongest healing abilities, and she had

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

dedicated herself to learning her arts. Until Keelan
Moonhunter entered her life. At that moment her world had
altered dramatically.

No longer did she join her sisters in the human world to

play upon the emotions of men. No more dabbling with lovers,
then leaving them desperate and yearning when she returned
to her own world. No, Keelan had stolen her heart and soul,
leaving her with a black void of longing only he could fill.
That depth of emotion rarely touched a faery and she had to
wonder, why her?

Since her elven lover’s mysterious disappearance she had

again committed herself to the role of healer. If only she could
truly cure her own heart-pain once and for all. The pinchers of
suffering gripped and squeezed tightly. She finally recognized
and accepted that it would never ease away completely. She
was not meant for the simple, uncomplicated joys her sisters
shared—taking lover after lover with no depth of concern
when they tired of them. No, her soul had recognized its one,
true mate and apparently would allow her to settle for no
other.

There were long periods of time when she could ignore the

piercing ache, managing to attend to her duties. Then suddenly
the pain would overwhelm her. It was those times when the
intensity rose to unmanageable proportions that in desperation
she resorted to the twisted magic of the goblin alchemist, Syril
Grimstarker. But not tonight. Tonight she would summon the
memory, embrace that which she yearned for with every
burning breath.

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

Moving back to the counter, she picked up an empty vial

and carefully poured the potion into it, then stoppered the
container. Exiting her cottage, she made her way to the forget-
me-not littered glen where they had always met.

She’d gathered the stones earlier in the day. After carefully

washing and oiling them with fragrant rosemary, she had
placed them in a ring, end to end. She collected the forgotten
limbs and discarded, vibrant orange and red leaves to build the
fire from only those broad, sturdy oaks and tender, lean ash
beneath which they had made searing love in times now past.
Ah, the memory of his hands on her body beneath the starry
silent nights still made her tingle. She could feel his long,
tapered fingers as they traced arcs of infinity over her
abdomen. She remembered how warm they felt when he
cupped her breasts, the pads of his fingers brushing across her
erect nipples driving her to peak after peak of passion, leaving
his stamp upon her senses deeply embedded forever.

With the gnawing ache twisting inside, she now

approached the ring of stones, the sun a descending vibrant red
disc in the sky. She waved her hand beseechingly, chanted
secret words of potent desire, and flame burst free from the
heart of the circle. The heat of the crimson fire blanketed her
with its fever as she called upon the elements of her
remembered love to draw the recollected passion of images
intimately around her. Tightly gripping the elongated silky
smooth, gentian stone pendant—etched with his elven
glyphs—she slipped to the ground, summoning his memory to
bare itself to her.

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

Morganna downed the contents of the vial, licking the last

drops from her lips, and felt the liquid slide down her throat,
as she embraced the searing heat, feeling it spread through her.

“Keelan, come to me. Come to me. Come to me.” She

waited, heard the crackle and snap of the hot fire. The pendant
grew warm against her flesh and began to pulse, to become a
living thing within the cup of her hand.

“Yes. To me. To me. To me.”
“I am here, Morganna.”
Her eyes snapped open and she sighed as she saw him

standing on the other side of the fire. Her beloved dark elf.
The firelight undulated across his naked body, drenching him
in flickering heat that pulled her to him. The fiery passion
licked at her bare skin as she approached, at first with hesitant
steps. And then her gaze dipped to follow the shadowy,
wavering light embracing the blue stone pendant nestled
against the golden sheen of his strong chest. She remembered
how, when she lifted up on tiptoe, her head had once fit so
perfectly in that very spot. How she would lick and kiss her
way across the breadth to suck at his nipples, and slowly make
her way down his body. He was sleek, yet tall for a dark elf,
dwarfing her with his height. So unique even among his own
kind.

She raced toward him and he caught and lifted her against

his heart, his mouth blazing a fiery trail across her skin. Oh,
how she had missed him.

She traced the crest of his pointed ear, then licked at the

tender flesh. He shuddered beneath her touch. It was the same

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

delicious response her mouth had always elicited from her
lover. His hand brushed along her spine, cupped her rounded
buttocks as he lifted her higher. She wound her legs around his
waist and his stiff cock pressed between her lips, nudging at
her wet entrance.

She skimmed her hands along his sharply defined, muscled

arms, stroked his long, silky raven-black hair, drawing forth
every inch of him, pulling deep from inside herself. She so
wanted to savor this moment in his arms.

Winding her arms around his neck, she pressed against his

warm, solid body. This time, she would not let him go. He
dropped to his knees and she felt the heat of the red fire curled
against them, roaring with life. Reaching down she embraced
his thick shaft, remembering the breadth and measure of the
elven tool and how it fit within her channel so snugly. So
perfect.

“Put me inside you, Morganna.”
At her peripheral the scene started to waver and shimmer

and a fist clutched at her heart. No. Not yet.

Desperately, she reached down to enclose his erection, to

position it at her wet, engorged entrance. A thrust and he was
deep within her. She yielded to him, allowed him to press her
to the earth as he thrust powerfully inside her. Yes. Her nails
dug into the granite hard muscles of his back as she arched up
against him, tracking down over his firm buttocks, locking
him to her. He lowered his head to claim her lips, his tongue
piercing through to bury itself inside her mouth.

She sucked on it desperately. Her body locked to his,

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

welcomed him, fought to keep him. She felt the burning
presence of the pendant in the valley between her breasts. She
needed the searing pain. His pendant dangled in front of her
and she sucked it into her mouth. It pulsed as she licked,
tracing the glyphs rooted there as he surged and retreated
inside her.

His cock brushed against her clit, sending sparks spiraling

through her. They were connected in so many ways, on so
many levels. The climax raged through her and she cried out
with the pleasure. She felt his climax, his seed pouring into
her.

Wrapping her arms around him, she pulled him closer.

“Don’t leave me,” she begged.

“I’m always with you, my love.” His last words echoed

before the vision slowly dissipated.

“No,” she screamed, her arms empty even as her body still

quaked, as the scent of him lingered in the air around her.
“Don’t leave me.” She rolled to her side, sobbing. The world
had gone cold and the fire was now mere gray ash.

She should have known the pain would be worse. She was

drained completely. He was never coming back and she was
going to have to learn to live with that fact.

But how?

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

CHAPTER 2

Keelan lay back on the bed as the echoes of sensual pain

surged through him after the encounter with Daffyd. His mind
wandered as he felt the weight of the blue pendant against his
chest.

“How do you feel?” Keelan glanced up at Daffyd who

stood next to the bed, holding a goblet. He offered it to
Keelan, his black gaze traveling expertly over his naked flesh.
“This should help.”

Keelan’s body responded to the imperative look, his cock

rising to rigid attention as he accepted the goblet and drank
down the herb-laced blood. The thick liquid zinged through
his system and he felt his strength returning. The bed shifted

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

as Daffyd sat down next to him. His cool hand brushed lightly
across the cuts and bruises on Keelan’s torso. Leaning
forward, he licked at the tantalizing droplets of blood leaking
from one long wound.

As his tongue dipped and swirled along the seam, Keelan

hissed sharply at the stinging, yet seductive sensation that
erupted inside him. The chasm of dark desire yawned wide to
draw him down toward the blackness. “I’ve never tasted Fae
blood quite as rich as yours.” His heavy, deep gaze slid up to
embrace Keelan’s from beneath long, sooty lashes. “Do you
regret your choice in joining me?”

Daffyd had saved his life, had accepted him into his world

without question. There was no room for regret, even as a
pretty fae face flickered at the corner of his mind. Keelan
tamped down the memories of his former life in the Fae realm.
That was all behind him now. After what had happened to
him, what he now was, he could never return. He stroked
Daffyd’s strong jaw. His skin was cool and smooth,
unblemished as fine porcelain. Carefully, he leaned up, feeling
every bruise. He pressed his lips to Daffyd’s.

The vampire pushed him back, his own body anchoring

him to the bed. His mesmerizing, fathomless eyes pinned
Keelan beneath a swirling black look. “Do I give you what
you need, Keelan?”

“Yes, Daffyd. I don’t regret allowing you to turn me. And

you must know you give me what I require. What my body
and mind demand.”

Daffyd’s glance lowered to the pendant he always wore.

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

“But you still think of her.”

Keelan looked away. “I can’t help it. I loved her—I still

love her.”

“But you need me.” He pressed his sharp nails into

Keelan’s broad muscular chest and Keelan arched up into the
pain. Because of his experience, he needed it now and his cock
grew thicker, more rigid than before. He wanted Daffyd to
track his nails down his torso, to draw the lines of blood and
then to feel his tongue on his flesh as he savored the taste of
him, drawing the exquisite forbidden passion from his body.

“Yes. You saved my life and I’ll never forget that. And I

need you.”

“She wouldn’t understand, would she? About this hunger

for pain that has now been ingrained into you.”

“I wouldn’t want her to know.” Morganna was such a

passionate creature, so finely tuned to her environment, to
happiness and love. He could never draw her down into his
world.

“So you stay here to protect her. From yourself.”
Daffyd yanked him up into his arms. He bared his teeth

and razed them across Keelan’s lips, drawing blood, which
dripped down onto his chest. Keelan leaned forward and
hungrily fastened his bloody lips to Daffyd’s mouth, locking
his arms around the seductive vampire’s shoulders.

Slowly, Daffyd leaned away to look at Keelan. His tongue

snaked out to lick at the dark drops still clinging to Keelan’s
mouth. “Is that why you stay?”

“In part, yes. But I also believe in what you’re doing, or I

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

wouldn’t have let you turn me. I wouldn’t have given you my
blood willingly.”

Daffyd nodded, apparently satisfied by Keelan’s answer.

He reached over to a table and picked up a blue glass jar.
“Lean back and let me apply this salve to help with the
healing. We don’t want to take the chance of an infection, do
we?”

Keelan complied with the request and he felt the cool

cream embrace his wounds. Unlike the older scars on his
body, these fresh wounds were the result of several hours of
demanding pleasure beneath the punishing attentions of his
vampire sire.

His hand fisted around the pendant. It was his talisman, the

thing that had kept him alive until Daffyd had saved him.
More or less. He was now a different person than when he had
been Morganna Starlight’s lover. With her, he had been
tender, wooing her slowly, delving into her body sensually. He
remembered the beauty of holding her delicate, ethereal
softness in his arms. He still hungered for her. The ache in his
tormented soul was far different from these newer demands of
his body.

He could never let her know what he had become. She

didn’t deserve that. She was a doctor, someone who healed
pain, not inflicted it. His soul had been corrupted, his spirit
darkened, and that was something she couldn’t fix.

He allowed himself to submit to Daffyd’s touch. Daffyd

Angelus was not so much his lover, as his master. The love he
felt for Morganna could not be applied to his relationship with

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

Daffyd. It was not that same intense, soul-lifting communion.
Yet, Daffyd had offered him a choice. He could have left, and
lived the rest of his life as an outcast in the human world
because he could never go back to his own realm. Not the way
he was. He would have killed the one who had caused this and
damned himself even more.

Instead he’d provided Daffyd his blood, allowing him to

better fight against the evil that had almost killed Keelan and
continued to taunt the world with evil. And would continue to
kill others if they weren’t stopped. He wouldn’t have the love
of his life, but he could at least do something good to help
keep her and the others of his kind safe. Providing Daffyd
with his Fae blood at least helped to even the playing field.

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

CHAPTER 3

“He’ll be in the clearing. Meet him there.”
Morganna glared at Syril. If she didn’t owe him, she

wouldn’t be in this situation right now.

“Why tonight? What does this human have that’s so

important to you?” Usually they set these meetings up far in
advance. For every dose of the graying potion he provided her,
she owed him one task of his choice. It was unfortunate that
she’d felt the need for the numbing drug more and more.
Especially after that last incident with the poppies. But this
was totally last minute.

“It doesn’t matter why. You owe me and you have to do

what I tell you. When I tell you. I told him you’ll be there at

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

midnight. The asking price is a faery kiss. Whatever you may
negotiate beyond that is up to you.”

She glared at him. As though there would be any need for

further negotiation. But she didn’t have a choice about the
kiss. She couldn’t refuse the ugly little goblin, and she never
reneged on a bargain.

“Whatever, Grimstarker.” He’d summoned her at sundown

and now she had to prepare. “What does he look like?”

“Does it matter? He has something to bargain with and I

want what he has. And a kiss from you is the price. And you
know how much I hate it if I don’t get what I want.”

Oh, yes, she knew just how evil the little goblin could get.

She’d felt the bite of his teeth on several occasions and didn’t
want a repeat of his form of punishment.

“Don’t worry, I’ll do what I must.”
He narrowed his beady yellow eyes at her, clasping his

leathery hands in front of his mound of a belly.

“You wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t been so besotted with

dark elf cock. You wouldn’t need what I give you. Come
closer so I can apply the glyph. I assume you want your dose
before you leave.”

“Screw you, goblin.” Yet, she stepped toward him, eager

for the graying effect that subdued all emotion. He curled his
long skeletal fingers around her upper arm, pressing the
leathery palm to her skin, and held it there for long seconds.
His cold touch made her skin crawl, but she suffered the
contact for what it would give her. When he released her, the
goblin’s glyph was prominently marked on her skin. Over

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

time it would slowly dissipate as the effect of the dose of drug
diminished. She peered at it closer. “It looks different than the
usual mark.”

He shrugged. “A few alterations to the potion, nothing

more. Your will is mine tonight, Starlight. You give it to me
freely when you accept my goods. Don’t forget it. So don’t
give me any grousing about doing this deed in repayment. Fair
is fair.” Then his gaze traveled up and down her body. “And if
you’d like to add screwing to the bargain, feel free. I’ll be glad
to oblige anytime you want. I’m sure we can come to some
satisfactory arrangement.”

Morganna shuddered at the thought of fucking the little

reptile. “In your nightmares, Grimstarker. That wasn’t part of
the bargain.”

He shrugged. “Whatever. But don’t say I didn’t offer.

Satisfaction comes in a variety of packages. I’ve never had a
complaint. If I were you, I’d think about the offer.”

“Kind of you, but I have no wish to be bound to you any

closer than what we are.”

She slammed the door of the little hut and stalked off

toward the river. She shuddered at the thought of being
touched intimately by the lizardy goblin. That was never going
to happen, no matter how desperate she got.

It was several hours yet until midnight when she would

cross from the faerie realm into the human world to meet this
mysterious man who was so important to Syril.

She shrugged. What did it really matter. She found

survival much easier when she succumbed to the potion. Gray

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

suited her. Already she was beginning to feel the effects and
she embraced the numbing that scoured through her. It just
never seemed to last quite long enough, and thus she found
herself visiting the evil little goblin more frequently as time
went on. She had grown so weary of the pain and had sworn
never to fall in love again. She hated the yearning left in the
wake of a lost love. Desperation had sent her to Syril
Grimstarker. Dark potions were his specialty, not hers. In
return for her service to him, his magic potion doused all her
passions.

Somehow it wasn’t what she had anticipated. She hadn’t

expected to feel nothing at all as though she walked in some
void, not caring about anything. She’d simply wanted the ache
for Keelan to be quenched. But it was as though she entered a
dark cloud, fighting for each step. She accepted the
consequences, had grown used to the numbing. She had even
stopped making her own potions and medicines and now paid
others to keep her shelves stocked. She had been destined to
be a great faery doctor, but now…she simply didn’t care about
anything. That’s what the goblin had given her.

Be careful what you wish for.
She still owed him, and though the payment was steep,

he’d given her what she wanted. He used her and her faery
beauty to acquire objects he wanted from the humans to add to
his collection and to make his black potions. He didn’t care
that the humans were never the same after a kiss from her,
bewitching them so they wandered aimlessly in their own,
human world forevermore. Bargains with the Fae Folk were

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

very dangerous things. Too bad humans always thought they
knew better and could surmount the magic.

Her gaze traveled over the fragrant herbs growing near the

river bank. There would have been a time when she carried
her satchel and gathered the lavender and mint, witch hazel
and rue, at midnight and then spent days in her cottage
blending and creating the medicines to cure her people. But
Syril had dulled her senses as well as her emotions. And her
conscience.

In those early years she’d tried to forget Keelan. She’d

even gone into the human world to find lovers to dilute his
memory. But nothing had worked. And then she’d heard about
Syril’s dark potion.

It wasn’t the best solution, but at least for now it served to

dull the yearning. To end the bargain all she needed to do was
walk away and accept the inner pain as part of her life. Was
she a coward to continue to wallow in her gray world? At the
thought of the return of the unending pain she had suffered,
she cringed and retreated from the thought of doing without
the potion as much as she detested Grimstarker.

Her family had banished her when she had altered her

healing practices. Grimstarker’s potion muddied her abilities,
even after the effects wore off, and thus the potency of her
healing. Her mother refused to watch her destroy herself. Her
sisters had all gone on to accomplish wonderful things, and
live happy lives. Several of them now with children of their
own.

She’d accepted the banishment, maybe because her

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

emotions were simply no longer engaged, and she just
couldn’t summon up the energy to care. Possibly because
there had been a time when she had cared too much and she
shied away from ever letting that happen again.

Shadows crept up around her and she felt the dawning of

midnight. She had a task to complete and she might as well get
it over with. Not that it mattered much one way or the other.

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

CHAPTER 4

Daffyd’s stride as he entered the sitting room alerted

Keelan to a sense of urgency. He had just returned from a
meeting of the Vampyre Council.

“Is something wrong?”
Daffyd stopped in the center of the room and stared at

Keelan for long moments. He laced his hands behind his back
and turned to look out the window. Keelan knew it never got
anyone very far by pushing Daffyd for answers. He gave them
when he was ready.

Keelan walked over to the other side of the room and

poured a glass of cognac and then took it to Daffyd. The
vampire accepted it and downed it quickly. Definitely a sign

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

something was wrong. Daffyd usually savored the fine drink
slowly, like he did Keelan’s blood. Something must definitely
be bothering him.

“A note was delivered to us at the meeting. Apparently,

Romulus and his followers are at it again.”

The name of Daffyd’s ancient, sadistic sire had Keelan on

alert. Already he could feel the pain of the old scars. It was
Romulus and his cult that had put them there. “What did the
note say?”

“Your old friend has struck a new deal. This time a faery.”

Daffyd finally turned to look at him.

It seemed he felt every single scar on his body burn

beneath that searing, angry look. “Who? And when do they
plan to take her?”

“Tonight.” Daffyd turned and strode back across the room.

He poured himself another drink and downed it as quickly as
the first, then whirled around to confront Keelan. “Her name is
Morganna Starlight.”

If Keelan had thought his world had been shattered when

he’d been kidnapped and imprisoned, it was nothing to the
rage he felt now. “I have to go. I can’t let them take her or
everything I have sacrificed is for nothing.”

“She’ll know you’re alive. Do you think she will thank you

for saving her when she finds out what you’ve become? Let
me send someone else.”

That was something he couldn’t do. She was his love and

he had to be certain nothing went wrong. He couldn’t leave it
to chance. Not with the likes of Romulus. He could not even

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

begin to envision her forced into the same hell he had been
subjected to, echoes of which he lived with daily. “No. It has
to be me. But then I think you already knew that, which is why
you told me.”

Daffyd nodded. “I thought as much. You’ll bring her

here.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yes. If she goes back, he’ll just find another way to settle

the bargain. She has to be somewhere safe. This is the only
place she’ll be protected.”

“You mean that you’ll protect her. What are you going to

tell her?”

“I don’t know. The first thing I’ll need to do is make sure

they don’t get her. The rest will come later.”

“Do you really think she’s going to comprehend your

special desires? Will she understand what you require of me?
What I am to you? I hope she’s worth the chance you’re
taking, Keelan. She could turn on you, kill you. That’s what
your kind does to ours.”

“She’s worth the risk. And her safety will always be worth

any sacrifice.” That’s one thing there would never be a
question about in his mind.

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

CHAPTER 5

The black, limitless sky was littered with stars tonight. She

had always been drawn to the night, which was probably why
she’d fallen in love with a dark elf in the first place. But now
the night held no illumination for her, not as it once had.

She listened intently to the silence. Something wasn’t

right. It didn’t feel…balanced. The man she was supposed to
meet wasn’t in the clearing. Yet the welcoming fire burned at
the center. She could smell the fragrant incense that called to
her sensual faery nature. There was no resisting it as it curled
around her will.

Someone knew her weakness and it couldn’t be human.

Trying to fight the call, she fought each step that drew her

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

closer, pulling her from the realm of safety.

Within seconds she was totally vulnerable, and no matter

what she did, she couldn’t fight the tendrils of smoke that
pulled her and anchored her here.

“What have you done, Syril?” She’d walked into a trap of

some sort, and it could only have been the demented goblin
who could have revealed her vulnerability.

From behind something cold and hard wrapped around her

neck. A rough hand yanked her arm up.

“Yeah, she’s the one. She’s got the mark.” Quickly, the

iron collar snapped into place circling her neck, sapping any
remaining power she might have in the human world,
imprisoning her. The strong smell of the mineral was
overpowering. Energy bled from her as she dropped to her
knees, strength oozing away, leaving her weakened and
helpless.

This shouldn’t be happening. It was supposed to be a

simple extraction from human hands. Just like all the rest. No
more, no less. She clawed at the collar as she wheezed.

Cold, ruthless hands yanked her arms behind her and more

iron was clamped around her wrists. They shoved her onto her
back and quickly shackled her ankles.

“We have her,” she heard a deep, raspy voice say above

her head.

She tried to open her eyes and found it almost too difficult,

but she had to know who had done this. If the iron was left on
too long, she would die. It was the one metal completely toxic
to her. Unlike some who were simply weakened by its

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

presence, Morganna was allergic to the metal. The reaction to
the lethal metal was already beginning to close her windpipe
and constrict her lungs. She could easily suffocate. It’s one of
the reasons she stayed out of the cities unless absolutely
necessary. She fought the constriction, her lungs lead weight
in her chest.

Fear enveloped her when she saw the two creatures who

had restrained her. Pale and bloodless, human, yet not. Her
skin crawled when she realized they were servants of the
blood-hunting vampires. She couldn’t believe Syril would
have betrayed her so completely. She should have realized the
mark on her arm wasn’t right and that it meant something
dangerous. Syril had so deadened her instincts and emotions
she had walked into the trap like a newborn fawn innocent to
the ways of the world. Totally unprepared. Completely
vulnerable.

Suddenly, from the right, a tall, dark figure burst upon

them from the shadows of the forest. Morganna rolled away as
he shot past her, a blur of momentum boldly confronting the
two attackers. Screams of rage rent the air as he cast some sort
of net over the first who had surged toward him. The white,
wispy material bound the creature almost like a cocoon, until
both her attacker and the web completely disintegrated right
before her eyes. She’d never seen such magic used before.

The second creature flew at the solidly built man, but he

spun around to meet him. A weapon shaped like a cross, the
end long and deadly sharp was gripped in his hand. He
confronted the oncoming assailant, his hands a blur as he

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

defended and attacked, swiftly burying the sharp instrument
into the heart of his foe.

Whirling around, he crouched low and brought his hand up

at a diagonal, reaching past the faint defense. Morganna’s eyes
widened as the man’s fist punched deeply into the chest cavity
of the creature. A quick twist and his hand came away
clutching his beating heart, which he crushed and tossed into
the fire.

The creature gaped down at the hole in his chest and then

crumpled to the ground, a corpse before his last breath.

Morganna couldn’t move as the tall, ghostly pale man

turned away from the carnage and his smoldering gaze landed
on her. Her heart stilled as he strode toward her with a familiar
gait.

With his bare hands he crushed the locks on the iron

restraints and flung them away.

He couldn’t be who she thought he was. It simply wasn’t

possible. The dark elf she had known did not possess such
power. She still had problems breathing, and he lifted her to
her feet.

“You must come with me, Morganna. It’s no longer safe

for you here. Now that Romulus has marked you as his
property, they won’t let you escape so easily.”

“W-who are you?” She was afraid to hear his answer.
A smile stretched his blood-red lips, not reaching his

moonless dark gaze, and revealing the sharp, white teeth of a
vampire. “Has it been so long, my love, that you no longer
recognize me?”

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She stumbled back. “No. You are not him.” She lifted her

head and stared him straight in the eyes. “You can’t have my
blood, vampire. I will not consent. I don’t care what form you
take to entice me.”

No vampire could take Fae blood without consent. It was

one of the unwritten laws of her kind. It would turn to molten
acid in their veins without it, offering them an eternity of
hellish pain. Yet, looking at him, she realized he was more
than vampire, his pointed ears proclaimed him one from her
realm. Which was probably why he could take on the
appearance of her lost lover. He probably had reached into her
memories. She’d been too weakened by the iron to prevent it.

She shied away as he stretched a blood-drenched hand out

to touch her face. A blank expression crossed his features as
he allowed it to fall away.

He straightened. “He sold you, Morganna. Bartered you

away as easily as any of his possessions. Just as he did to me.”

“No,” she gasped. “Not even Syril would do that to his

own kind.” But she knew that’s exactly what had occurred. It
really wasn’t uncommon and it’s probably what she deserved
for consorting with his unscrupulous kind.

“How wrong you are. They’ll send more. If you don’t

come with me now, you’ll end up food for the blood-thirsty
coven that negotiates with your goblin. Is that what you want?
And they won’t wait for your consent. They’ll take and take
until you become like them. And you’ll live in eternal pain at
the mercy of a sadistic vampire who cares little for humanity.
He will feast on your pain and turn it into something…

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inhuman.”

She shuddered at his words. “Why now? Why me?”
“There’s no time.” He grabbed her hand and yanked her

after him as he ran for the forest. She struggled, but couldn’t
break his hold. Once the trees enfolded them he lifted her
effortlessly and slung her over his shoulder.

“What are you doing?”
“You don’t have the strength or the speed to keep up with

me. This will be faster. Your life depends on it, Morganna.
Don’t fight me. It’s too dense to take flight from here.”

Then they were racing through the forest, leaves and

branches speeding by her faster than viewing a trolling
gargoyle in sight of his prey. Even his speed on foot was
preternatural.

She still couldn’t grasp that any of this was happening. Nor

that the dark elf she had loved and who had left her, now held
her in his arms. But this man wasn’t Keelan. He couldn’t be.

He was vampire. Her lover would never have consented to

being turned by a vampire. It simply wasn’t possible. So
where could he possibly be taking her that he considered safe?
And what would she discover when she got there?

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

CHAPTER 6

“What is this place?” Morganna looked around the vaulted

gallery housed within a web of intersecting tunnels and
chambers inside a huge cavern. It was an underground city
with individual apartments scattered throughout. The
atmosphere was subdued, similar to the whispers of a
monastery, shrouded individuals silently traversing its
darkened, torch-lit corridors. In the few days she had been
here, none of the inhabitants had ever ventured to speak with
her. This particular gallery was hung with large, heavy
tapestries of a bygone era, in rich colors of gold and maroon,
depicting gothic darkness throughout, images of sacrifice and
redemption.

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Keelan handed her an etched glass goblet. His fingers

brushed against hers and sparks of contact rushed through her
hand and up her arm. “Drink this. I think you’ll like it. The
wine is made from grapes and honey produced here in the
Falls.”

Morganna took the glass. In the time she’d been here, the

time they had been together, she’d studied him. She’d finally
accepted the fact that this man was indeed Keelan, the elf
she’d once loved, but he’d changed drastically. Hs skin was
pale as pearl, his eyes deep, dark pools of some emotion she
couldn’t quite name. She wanted to take him in her arms, to
soothe him, to press her body to his and touch him, to share
what they once had together. But there was an invisible barrier
that locked her out, kept her at a distance.

She had spent the last few days trying to decide why she

was here. No solid answer was immediately forthcoming, and
she was out of her element in this place. What she did surmise
was a vast amount of magic existed here. What kind of magic
was yet to be determined. There was depth to the atmosphere,
melding and mingling of different magicks she had yet to
identify.

In a personal sense she remained here simply to discover

the answers she’d waited years for. Keelan’s disappearance
had left such a void in her life. Their gazes clashed and the
remembered electricity shot across the room, curling around
her, her body humming with arousal. Even as a vampire she
found him irresistible. Tearing her attention away, she raised
the glass and sipped at the drink. It tasted of honey and

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

berries, a touch of something she couldn’t quite identify.
Maybe cinnamon?

“You haven’t answered my question.” As attracted as she

was, Morganna was still leery of him, knowing that he was not
the same lover she had known. That he was vampire.

He turned and walked away. Since that first night he

hadn’t touched her and had kept his distance. Yet she saw
things in his eyes. There had always been a darkness to Keelan
Moonstalker, a bit of rebel she had found dangerously
seductive. She shouldn’t have fallen in love with the dark elf,
she should have known their relationship had been ill-fated
from the start. But she had fallen so deeply in love that she
couldn’t see anyone else, and never would.

He walked over to the balcony that looked out upon a

village below. The entrance he had escorted her through to
reach this cavernous city overlooking the town was hidden
behind a huge waterfall. Without close inspection, one would
never know that a huge metropolis lurked behind the veil of
the falls almost as sentry over the town surrounding the lake.
Filled with vampires. It made her shudder to think about it.
Yet, so far, she had been safe. None of them had approached
her.

“I’ve a feeling you have quite a few questions.”
“Let’s start with the first. What is this place?”
He straightened his shoulders and then spun to face her.

There was a silent, predatory swiftness to his actions that took
her breath away. She had to admit it was enticing. Even as a
healer, her magic filled with light, he had drawn her to the

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

defiant challenge she saw in his eyes. At every turn he
practically dared her to love him. She had flouted every
caution of her mother and sisters to accept that seductive
challenge. Would now be any different?

She remembered missing him so much that first year. And

then Syril had offered to provide her with the graying potion,
which, at first, she had hesitantly accepted. But what about
now?

“You are in Vampyre Falls. It is a place created as a

sanctuary for species like us—those who are not entirely
human. Those who are hunted. You are safe here. The
protection spells are strong around the falls.”

“That’s something else you need to explain. What

happened back there? Who were those…creatures?”

He was silent for a long time as though trying to decide

what he should tell her and what he should not. And then she
saw him take a deep breath. “Syril was never to be trusted. I’m
not sure why you pacted with him. Fae blood is highly prized
by vampires. It provides them with powers far beyond what
mortal blood can do for them. It allows them to walk in
sunlight, to change their appearance, to go for longer periods
of time without human blood, and magnifies their vampire
gifts. Let alone it allows them to more easily identify our kind,
and to enter our world with little restriction.”

“But they can’t take our blood unless it is offered by our

free will. Not anymore. That powerful spell was cast to protect
us eons ago. Boundaries between our magic are set,
unbreakable for thousands of years. It’s what has helped to

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

maintain the balance of our worlds, to keep us safe. Yet you
tread both worlds now and it seems far too easily. How?”

“That’s the way it used to be—at least in our province. But

times change. A potion has been created that allows them to
ingest our Fae blood without permission. The magic has been
breached.” He looked at her. “Syril is the one who helped to
create it. He sells it to them. In return, they procure anything
he wants. He’s a very rich goblin, with more powerful friends
than you can imagine. Even the Faerie Court falters to harness
him. And now it is too late.”

“But if our people knew this, they would banish him. We

are a lenient people, but this goes too far. It puts us all at risk.”

“He is feared for who he knows and what he can do. And

he’s smart enough to stay away from the faerie courts and
remain secluded in the woods.”

“So, you’re saying he betrayed me to them.”
Keelan nodded. “Apparently you became expendable to

him. Or they had something he wanted enough to offer you in
payment—something that went beyond their initial bargain.
And, frankly, he hates our kind, his own people. He doesn’t
care about the pain he causes.”

She whirled away from him. “I can’t believe any of this.

He’s turning on his own people. For profit.” She turned
around to look at him. “What about you?”

“It was fairly easy for him to discover our meeting place.

You are powerful in your own right as a faery doctor. I think
he did it to try to diminish you. And because my blood is
darker, rather more powerful than a faery’s blood, it is worth

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

more to the vampires.”

“But you’re here. And you’re vampire.”
He nodded. “I was saved from an eternity of unrelenting

pain. I don’t know why I was saved, but since then I’ve sworn
to help any of our people I can.”

“Why don’t you just kill Syril? It’s well known that

vampires have no conscience.”

He winced at her words. She hadn’t meant to hurt him, it

was simply a fact well-known among her own people. “That is
what we all have been taught to believe, isn’t it? But it’s not
true. Some of them are ethical. Some of us have a conscience.
I saw it in the vampire who made me. It is why I allowed it.
Those here at the Falls work for life, not death.”

She stared at him across the room. “Did you choose to

become vampire, Keelan? Did you offer your blood freely?”

He met her gaze steadily. “Yes. I became vampire

willingly. Not to the vampire who imprisoned me, but to the
vampire who saved me, and taught me a different way.”

She circled and gripped the back of a chair. “Why did you

bring me here? Why did you save me? All these years you
could have let me know you were alive and yet you didn’t.
Why now?”

She hadn’t heard him cross the room, and she stiffened

when she felt his firm hands on her shoulders. “Because I love
you, Morganna. I have always loved you. When word came to
us that you had been targeted, I couldn’t stay away any
longer.”

She trembled beneath his touch. “Who exactly is ‘us’?”

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“Daffyd Angelus is the vampire who saved me. He’s one

of the founders of the Falls.” He turned her carefully to face
him. Tendrils of remembered emotions beat against the
drugging potion that still bound her, although the effects were
diminishing.

He dipped closer and she felt his breath whisk across her

cheek.

“Are you ready to be free of him, Morganna?” He turned

her arm to look at the fading glyph. “Why, Morganna? Why
would you pact with a twisted goblin like Syril?”

To kill the pain she wanted to scream at him. But she

didn’t. “I-I don’t know.” She looked up at him. There were
glimpses of the dark elf she remember, but there were
frightening differences as well, particularly in the preternatural
energy that now surrounded him. “I loved you, Keelan, more
than my life. But you’re different now. How do I know it’s not
just my faery blood that you want?”

He pressed her to him and she felt every inch of his hard

body against her. His stiff cock thrust against her as he stared
into her eyes.

“If it was just your Fae blood, I could have had any of a

number of faeries quite willingly over the years. I didn’t have
to risk coming after you. I have no problem in drawing them
to me. Particularly now.”

She flinched because she knew that was probably quite

true. She felt the seductive pull herself. Even before, when he
had been her lover, there were many faeries who’d been more
than happy to take her place with him. They’d never

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

understood why she wouldn’t share.

She cupped his face. His crimson-lips parted and she could

just make out the hint of his dangerous teeth. What would it be
like to feel them piercing her? She shuddered at the thought of
such poignant pain. Her pussy clutched at nothing and
suddenly she needed to experience the vibrant emotions that
this tantalizingly passionate elf had always instilled in her. He
was real. It wasn’t a vision induced by the ingestion of
poppies. Suddenly, nothing mattered beyond that fact. He was
real.

“Kiss me, Keelan.” She couldn’t find it within her to be

afraid of him. No matter what he had become.

She waited as he bent closer. His beautiful mouth. Moist,

succulent lips parted, his reddened tongue about to pierce her.
She yielded, closing her eyes as his demanding lips fastened
over hers.

And the dam surrounding her emotions burst wide open.

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

CHAPTER 7

Keelan lifted her, his arms like steel bands wrapped around

her. Emotion poured from her, swamping her with need that
had been bound in pain for so long.

The kiss lasted for an eternity as he sucked every bit of

Syril’s potion from inside her, releasing her from the gray
mists. She felt light-headed and giddy. Passionate desire
soared through her. Gray transformed into a kaleidoscope of
colors, of feeling, of want, of need.

Finally, he drew away to look down at her. His eyes were

swirling deep chasms of emotion and she tumbled into them
willingly.

“Make love to me, Keelan. Oh, please, I need you. I need

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

you now.”

His gaze darkened as he stripped the gossamer dress from

her body and once again enfolded her into his arms. Her naked
breasts brushed against the silk of the shirt covering his solid
chest. Sensations whisked over her. The petals of her mind
and body peeled open, with no thought of denying him. She
wrapped her legs around his lean waist as he strode with her
locked in his arms out onto the balcony. Her spread lips,
exposing her inner wet core brushed hotly against him, driving
her higher and higher as he moved toward the stone parapet
protecting the room from the heady plunge to the earth far
below.

“As I remember, you always liked the tang of risk.” He

settled her onto the narrow arm of the rail and she felt the wet,
clinging drops of mist fasten to her skin. His hand smoothed
down over her outer thigh, along the curve of her calf and he
unwrapped her legs from around his torso, spreading her wide,
staring down hungrily at her wet, glistening center.

“With you it was always dangerous. Always exciting.” She

looked at him and felt her nipples screw into pebble tautness,
her breasts swelled at the thought of him touching her, of his
mouth and tongue questing over her skin. Of feeling him
inside her. “Now, Keelan. Now.”

“Not yet.” He stroked a hand over the mound of her full

breast, tweaking at a distended nipple. He plucked it between
two fingers, twisting it between his thumb and forefinger. She
gasped at the sensation which arrowed hotly down to her
vagina. “It’s been too long and I want to savor you. Your skin

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

always tasted like the dawn’s dew, drenching me with sweet
anticipation. I could never get enough. Like midnight wine,
heady and fragrant.”

“And you,” she whispered hotly, “tasted like the forbidden

absinthe, addictive, decadent and delectable. Always making
me want more and more. Kiss me, Keelan. I have to know this
is real.”

He wedged himself between her legs and she felt the

length of his thick erection, hidden by his pants. Quickly, she
released his cock from the fabric, needing to feel the hard
length in her hand, to re-acquaint herself with his flesh. She
heard his groan of pleasure as her fingers surrounded him and
she wanted to taste him. Would his cum taste differently than
it had before he was made vampire? She wanted to find out.
She acknowledged and eagerly embraced the dangerous edge
of intimacy with a vampire, knowing she walked a very fine
line.

He pushed her hands away, shoved her thighs wider and

sank into her greedy channel. She was home, at last, yet the
feeling was bittersweet. How long could she hold onto this
pleasure? He filled her, and her sheath expanded and
conformed to him, welcoming him inside her.

He cupped her ass cheeks and then suddenly she was

weightless as he lifted them both from the balcony, soaring
upward.

“Keelan,” she gasped. “What are you doing?” This was

one ability he’d not had as a dark elf.

He pressed her to him. “Something exciting I couldn’t do

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

before. Hold on.”

She gripped him as close as she could, feeling every inch

of his cock buried inside her, the damp air surrounding her and
whispering across her body, his hands cupping her buttocks.
And then she felt the hard rock pressing against her back. He
grabbed her wrists, yanked them up and locked them against
the cold rock above her head.

Excitement built and curled inside her. She glanced at the

ground far below and suddenly an orgasm swamped through
her and she screamed with the unexpected pleasure as she
convulsed around him, bathing him with her cream.

His unrelenting hands bracketed her arms against the hard

He leaned forward and she felt the sharp edge of his teeth

“Yes, Keelan. Take me. Make me yours again. In every

way. If it’s my blood you want, take it. Everything I am is
yours. I can’t live without you again.”

The pressure of his incisors lessened and he raised his head

to look at her, piercing her with their darkness. “Is that what

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

you think? That all this is about your blood? And your
permission?”

She rocked her head back and forth. “I don’t care, Keelan.

I just need you so much. And I want to give you anything you
want. I have to.”

He kept her gaze fastened to his as he circled his hips and

the tip of his cock buried deeper inside, touching the heart of
her.

“Yes, my love. Yes.”
He thrust in and out, her juices easing his way, her nerve

endings tingling with awareness, of welcoming. She thrust her
hips. He dipped his head and sucked in a sensitive bud and she
felt his teeth pressed again her flesh. She screamed as another
orgasm washed through her.

His mouth tracked back up over her skin, sucking at the

drops of water and sweat that clung to her. She arched and
thrust her hips as he pounded into her. It was too much and not
enough. He swelled inside her, filling her, overfilling her as he
supported her. It was as though she weighed less than a feather
in his grasp.

She felt him tighten and then his seed flooded into her

womb.

She soared without wings. Everything she was belonged to

Keelan, and if he wanted every drop of her blood right now,
she would die happily to give him the last bit. No single
moment had ever been more precious than this. And she knew,
right then, she would sacrifice everything to stay with him
because each second in his arms, even as vampire, was worth

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

more to her than acceptance in her own realm without him.

Slowly, he drifted downward to the balcony with her

cradled against him. He slipped from inside her, lifted her into
his arms, and carried her back into the room. Laying her on
the couch, he knelt down beside her and brushed a wisp of hair
back from her face.

“I will let you go, if you want it. If you stay, there will be

sacrifices to be made.”

She leaned up to stroke his hair. “Why didn’t you take my

blood?”

He looked away from her. “It’s not my place.”
“What do you mean?”
It was a long time before he turned back to look at her.

Leaning down, he placed a hungry kiss on her swollen lips.
“Not now. Rest for a while and then I’ll take you to meet
Daffyd. There’s plenty of time for more explanations.”

He rose to his feet, unfolded a blanket and covered her

with it.

“Don’t leave me.” She was so afraid of losing him forever.
He gazed down at her. “I won’t be far. There’s a lot for

you to consider, and as much as I want you here, you need to
think clearly about your options. I love you, Morganna, more
than you could possibly know. I stayed away because I
thought it was better for you, to protect you. There’s so much
you don’t know, some of it you may never understand. But not
right now.”

There was something behind his words that frightened her.

She latched onto his hand and drew him back down. “I love

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

you, Keelan.”

He stroked her hair. “I know, love. But I’m not the man

you knew. And I can’t go back. I made choices and sacrifices
you may never be able to comprehend. I can only hope that
you will come to accept who and what I’ve become.”

She hoped he was right because she wasn’t sure she

wanted to try to go on without him again.

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

CHAPTER 8

Keelan was stretched out on the bed, his bare backside

exposed. His bound hands gripped the bed posts. Much as
Morganna had needed Syril’s potion, he needed the element of
pain only Daffyd could provide. Because Daffyd needed the
exact same thing himself and had learned its bite from
Romulus.

He tightened and groaned as the slender whip Daffyd

wielded struck his back. The pain wrapped around him. He
felt the euphoric release take hold of him, like a drug
spreading through his system.

“Again,” he cried out.
Daffyd’s fingers trailed across his hot, throbbing skin,

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

cupped one of his cheeks and squeezed, then trailed down the
back of his thigh, over his calf and along the sole of his foot.
Keelan shuddered with the mingled sensations. He trembled
when his sire trickled a thin line of cold water along his spine,
allowing it to drench his crack, bathe his balls and pool
beneath them. He moaned with the dark desire that swirled
through him.

“This is what you need, Keelan. If I didn’t give it to you,

your mind would shatter with the yearning. Do you remember
those first months when you tried to fight it? What it did to
you?” Daffyd’s tantalizing fingers played across the welts
decorating his back.

Keelan recalled far too clearly what it had been like when

he’d tried to resist the new hunger for the pain. It had
practically splintered him apart, sending him into so dark a
place, he thought his mind had been totally destroyed by
Romulus. But then Daffyd had shown him a different way,
and drawn him from the precipice Romulus had thrown him
over. He’d shown him how to survive, how to accept the pain
he was now addicted to without destroying himself
completely, and had given him back the ability to experience
pleasure.

Even during those black days, he understood the vampire

had his own agenda as he seduced Keelan. He wanted his
surrender, his blood, his devotion. But for different reasons
than those Romulus demanded.

Yes, Daffyd provided exactly what he needed. He was his

master, his sire, and in some ways, his lover. He felt the

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searing heat of each stripe, lovingly displayed across his back.
Before the whip, Daffyd had applied the paddle to his buttocks
and thighs to warm his flesh for what was to come. Searing
sensations enveloped him, lifted him, freed him. Yes, he hated
the pain. But with a part of himself he also embraced it.

“Daffyd,” he cried out as his tears wet the bedding beneath

him. “Again.”

But this time, Daffyd refused. “No more. Your back is a

bloody mess.”

“Then feed.” He wanted to feel his sire’s teeth piercing his

flesh. The ache of pleasure, that intimate moment when his
blood flowed for his sire, giving to him freely, sparked
through him, his cock hard and demanding, pressed into the
mattress.

Daffyd released the bonds and kneaded his arms and

shoulders. “I’ve never had anyone demand and accept as much
of the whip as you. But then no one has ever lasted as long in
Romulus’s hands as you did. I thought when I found you that
you were already dead.” Keelan shuddered beneath him as his
expert fingers traced a long, enflamed stripe across his back.
And then he bucked and arched as he orgasmed beneath the
onslaught of Daffyd’s tender caresses infused by the throbbing
bruises layered across his flesh.

He shuddered, and the calmness finally settled over him.

Balance was restored. Daffyd carefully tilted his head to the
side and Keelan gasped when his teeth pierced the pulsing
artery in his neck. Yes, such dark bliss. It was a need that had
been sown while he was in the hands of Romulus, at first

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forced upon him against his will. He had never admitted to
himself the moment when the pain had turned to unwilling
pleasure, and the reason he had survived the sadistic attentions
of Romulus. But Daffyd had drawn the dark secret from him,
exposed his self-hate, and had taught him a different way to
deal with the tortured memories. With Daffyd the pain subtly
shifted into searing passion, no longer invoking the nightmares
of his captivity, but a form of pleasure beneath his sire’s
hands.

Daffyd completed his feeding and carefully withdrew his

fangs from Keelan’s neck. He sensuously swirled his tongue
to lick the last droplets from the twin wounds, then he rose
from the bed. Keelan closed his eyes, sinking into the
throbbing awareness of his body, replete after his demanding
submission to his vampire master. He jumped when he felt the
cool, wet cloth on his back as his sire attended to his flesh.

“How are you going to tell her about this?”
His mind was cocooned in euphoric exhaustion. “When the

time is right, I’ll find a way to make her understand.” His
words were slurred as he attempted to remain alert to the
conversation. Daffyd’s hands stroked expertly across his
inflamed cheeks, parting them, and a finger penetrated his
anus.

“Will she understand this?” he asked as he drove deeper

inside. “Will she understand that you may speak of love for
her, but you need what I give you? Possibly more than you
need her?” His finger sawed in and out of Keelan’s rectum,
and Keelan groaned with need.

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“I won’t give her up, Daffyd. Not even for you. I’ll bear it

all if I have to, but I won’t give her up.”

Daffyd widened his channel with two fingers, pressing

inward, and Keelan felt his cock rise in rigid response to the
pleasurable ache. His breaths turned to pants of need as
Daffyd worked him, pushing him hard, forcing him to
recognize his own desires.

Three fingers shoved deep.
“I won’t give her up,” he yelled as he orgasmed powerfully

once again.

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

CHAPTER 9

Morganna navigated her way through the maze of

corridors until she came to what looked like a sitting room.
She stopped at the doorway when she saw the two men
already inside posed intimately together. She recognized
Keelan, but not the other man, who was approximately the
same height.

His head was close to Keelan and the gaze they shared

spoke of an intimacy that she had once enjoyed with Keelan.
His knuckles grazed along the definition of Keelan’s strong
jaw. Keelan’s hand was wrapped around his wrist, a thumb
grazing across the skin of the fisted hand.

And then Keelan turned his head toward the door and saw

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her. Slowly, he moved away, removing himself from the
lover-like embrace and walked to her.

“Come in, Morganna. I see you found your way. I was just

about to come get you.”

Carefully, she stepped into the room, her attention focused

on the brooding eyes of the stranger. “Were you? It seemed to
me you were quite involved in something a bit more
engrossing.”

He tucked her hand beneath his arm as he drew her across

the room. “I want you to meet Daffyd. He’s a very important
part of my life now.” He looked at Daffyd and she saw
something pass between them. “This is Daffyd Angelus, one
of the founders of Vampyre Falls. He saved my life.”

Daffyd offered her a polite smile as he studied her. “I’m

very pleased to meet you at last, Morganna. Keelan has
spoken of you often.”

She met his look, determined not to waver, but something

in that black look, the pinpoint of silvery light at their heart
seemed to draw her energy. She felt herself folding and her
head began to hurt. She lifted a hand to rub at her temple.

“Daffyd, don’t. This is not a contest. She’ll tell you

whatever you want to know.” Keelan led her toward a black
velvet love seat. He encouraged her to sit and wrapped a
steadying arm around her.

The pain in her head began to subside and she straightened

away from him. Jumping up from her seat, she strode away
from the overwhelming energy of the two men. Whoever
Daffyd Angelus was, he was extremely powerful.

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“Don’t let him frighten you, Morganna.”
Her attention shot to Keelan. “Frightened? I’m not scared

of him. I just don’t know what he wants. And he tried to get
inside my head—without permission, I might add.”

Daffyd shrugged. “I apologize. It’s habit. Anyone new

who comes to the Falls. I’m suspicious, especially with
someone from your realm. Keelan may trust you, but I don’t
know you, do I?”

She riveted a look back at Keelan. “Why did you bring me

here, Keelan? He’s obviously your lover now. What do you
want from me?”

Keelan glanced at Daffyd quickly and then back to her.

“It’s complicated. I won’t lie to you… I do care for Daffyd.
He saved my life and since I’ve been here we’ve
become…close. But it doesn’t change how I feel about you.
Or the fact that I want you with me.”

She paced around the circumference of the room as she

studied them both, arms folded across her chest. “How did you
know what Syril had planned for me?” Daffyd’s wary dark
eyes tracked her movements, she could feel the magnetic gaze
locked onto her. It made her feel like a moving target and he
was just waiting for the moment to pounce. He wanted
something from her.

Keelan was the one to answer her. “Daffyd has a spy

among the coven that Syril bartered with. A witch.”

“Enough, Keelan. Don’t reveal too much.”
Keelan wheeled on Daffyd. “She’s not going to betray us. I

told you she can be trusted.”

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“She worked for Grimstarker. How can you possibly know

what she’s capable of after all these years? Her kind want us
all dead.”

Keelan turned to Morganna.
She saw the trust in his eyes, remembered the love they

had shared so long ago.

“Because I know her as well as I know myself. She would

never betray me.”

“How do you know she didn’t deal with Grimstarker all

those years ago? Maybe she has something more in her sights
than emotion. She’s a faery and they’re not know for their
depth of emotion.”

“Stop it. I’m right here. Stop talking about me as though I

weren’t. You are the ones who brought me here.” Morganna
turned on Daffyd. “I would never do anything to hurt Keelan.
How dare you suggest such a thing.” She studied him intently.
“But you. Why did you allow him to bring me here if you
don’t trust me? You want something from me; I can feel it.”

His gaze was dispassionate as he returned her cold look.

“You’re here because Keelan wants you. I’ll admit you are
appealing in a faery sort of way. Your blood…interests me.”
He stepped toward her. She refused to back away and stood
her ground as he approached and stopped in front of her.
There was something in the way he looked at her. His gaze
was smoldering, and the thick wisps of lust stroked and
penetrated her. The energy emanated from him.

Something split open inside her in response to the vampire

, and her stomach twisted, her breasts swelled, and her nipples

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grew tight and sensitive. She felt the steady rush of her blood
throb in the vein at her neck. At that moment, his attention
dropped to her neck, and she knew exactly what he yearned to
take from her.

Her faery blood.
“He was right about you. I can see it. But not for the

reasons you think.”

As he leaned closer, she held her breath. One of his hands

brushed lightly across the fullness of a breast, and she hissed
at the touch, yet she still couldn’t bring herself to move away
from him.

“Keelan.”
“I’m here, Morganna,” he said from across the room. “I

won’t leave you. And Daffyd’s not going to hurt you. Are you,
Daffyd?”

His gaze captured her like a moth drawn to a bright, deadly

flame. She should have been able to fight the draw. She was
faery, not human. And then she realized why. Her gaze
slammed to Keelan.

“It’s your blood. That’s why it feels like I’m…” She didn’t

want to finish the thought. “That’s why he’s stronger,” she
amended.

“Yes. I told you, things are complicated.”
“Do you find me repulsive, Morganna Starlight? Or are

you simply afraid of what you don’t understand. Does your
response to me frighten you?”

This time she did step away, although it was difficult to

manage. He followed her. “Do you even want to understand

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our world? The world that Keelan lives in now?”

“I-I don’t know. I don’t belong here.” But, if Keelan was

right, she couldn’t go back, either. Could she?

He leaned closer and inhaled deeply, then exhaled on a

sigh. He turned to settle a look at Keelan. “Her blood smells
delightful. It’s very powerful, almost as powerful as yours. It’s
clean and pure, infused with sweet energy. I can understand
how you were drawn to her. She must be one of the most
potent of her kind.” Then he straightened and stepped away.

Keelan moved to her side, a set look on his face. “Daffyd,

leave us. I want to talk to her alone. You always have been a
bit too overbearing in situations like this.”

Daffyd shrugged. “Very well. I’m going down to Silver

Creek. My company will be welcome there.”

“Daffyd—” Keelan began.
The vampire held up a hand. “No. If she’s to stay, she

needs to understand what will be expected. And you did say
she’s a skilled healer as well. We could use one of those. I’ll
return later. We can talk then.” Talk was not what she saw in
his eyes as he studied her for long moments before he whirled
around and vanished from the room.

Once he left, she faced Keelan. “I think you need to tell me

what’s going on.”

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

CHAPTER 10

Silence fell between them after Daffyd left. Needing some

distance, she walked across the room to study a painting
depicting a passionate encounter between a dark-
complexioned man and a young woman, her thoughts in
turmoil. The man reminded her of Daffyd Angelus.

“Talk to me, Morganna.”
She couldn’t look at him. Not just yet. “I don’t know what

you want me to say.” She bit her lip, and remembered how
abandoned she had felt, which brought back flashes of pain. It
was that unyielding ache of loss that had driven her to Syril
for a dark potion. “I don’t know what’s between you and
Daffyd Angelus. I don’t know what you want from me.” She

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

turned around and finally confronted him. “I don’t know if I
dare trust you.”

He met her look without flinching. There was nothing in

his expression that hinted of subterfuge. But he wasn’t the
dark elf she had learned to love so desperately. He was now a
vampire.

“I would never hurt you, Morganna. You must know that. I

brought you here only to protect you. You don’t know what
they would have done to you. Romulus is sadistic. His
followers thrive on pain.”

“Who is Romulus?”
“He is Daffyd’s sire. Daffyd broke away from him long

ago. He and the others who came to Vampyre Falls were
wounded and hunted. They wanted a place to hide and heal.
It’s since become a sanctuary for more than just vampires. The
strength of the magic here keeps Romulus and his kind at bay.
Daffyd has made it his mission to save as many people from
becoming Romulus’s victims as he can.”

“And he saved you.”
Keelan nodded. “I was close to death and he healed me.

I’ve come to know him, to respect him, and to want to help
him.”

“So you gave him your blood.”
“In order to fight Romulus it takes great cunning and

strength. My blood mixed with his gives him an advantage.
The two of us together gives us even more leverage.”

“And you want to make me like you are. You want to add

my faery blood to the mix.”

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“No one is going to take from you by force, Morganna. I

would never allow that. I’ll find a way for you to stay even if
you can’t become one of us. We have a need for a healer as
Daffyd said. That alone would provide a home for you here.”

“But I can’t return to my home.”
“Not if you want to live.”
She hesitated a moment before speaking again. “There are

things you aren’t telling me. Why doesn’t Daffyd just outright
kill Romulus and his followers? Wouldn’t that end all this
once and for all?”

“He can’t. There are strict laws even among vampires. As I

said, Romulus is his sire. He would be hunted as a rogue by
every vampire out there, both good and evil, if he destroyed
his own sire, let alone another vampire. Right now, the best
we can hope for is to thwart him. To try to remedy the damage
and destruction he creates. For every one of his followers we
destroy, he creates ten more. And he is cunning.”

She turned away. “I don’t know, Keelan. So much time has

passed.”

She felt his hands grip her shoulders. “I love you,

Morganna.”

“But you love Daffyd, too. What if it came to a choice?”
“It won’t.”
“How can you be so certain?”
“Daffyd has always known of my love for you. He knows

you own my soul, love. He would never make me choose
between you. I hope you won’t either. There are things I share
with Daffyd that I cannot share with you. That I would never

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

want to share with you.”

She reeled at his words. When it was said like that, it felt

as though he had slapped her. She faced him. “So you would
keep secrets from me? From the woman you say you love?”

“You don’t understand.”
“Then help me to do so. If I stay, it means I sacrifice

everything I have known. If I become…like you, it means I
can never cross back over. I’ll be as hunted as you. I’m
surprised you didn’t just kill Syril for what he did to you.”

“Do you think I haven’t thought of it? But I have some

principles left. I won’t kill one of our own people in our land
and destroy my soul even more than it already is. Not even
Grimstarker. I can’t kill one of my own kind any more than
Daffyd can. But if Grimstarker ever steps foot onto human
soil, the outcome may be different. He’s wily, but even he
knows his limits.”

“What is it you share with the vampire that you won’t

share with me?”

He stepped away from her and looked at her for a long

time as though attempting to come to a decision. She saw the
war of emotions in his expression, pain and yearning among
them. Then he pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it
aside. She gasped when she saw his scarred torso and flew
across the room to him.

“Oh no. What happened? Who did this to you?” His arms,

chest, and neck were riddled with tiny crisscrossed scarring,
others longer that snaked around his body. There were several
spots of bruising, which appeared fresh.

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

It was as though a mask dropped over his expression as he

watched her. “This, for the most part, is what they did to me.
From the moment they took me, they feasted on my blood,
thrived on the pain. Pain that never left me. They said it made
my blood pump faster, made it thicker and more appealing,
and they planned to keep me alive for a long time. It was only
with your memory locked inside me that I could tolerate it to
any degree. The only thing I wanted was to return to you. But
what they did also changed me. I did want to die. But then
Daffyd found me, barely alive, and brought me here.”

“He healed you?”
“The scars cover my whole body, Morganna. And I’m

changed because of it. Daffyd and I…well, we have both
known the twisted sadism of Romulus and his followers. He
understands something I hope you never know. Without him,
you could suffer at my hands simply because I can’t stop
myself. I love him because he fills the void they left inside me.
He has changed the darkness they created into something I am
at least able to tolerate.”

She trailed her fingers lightly over the ridges of the scars

and tears spurted. Wrapping her arms around his waist, she
hugged him close, wanting to take away all the pain. “Oh,
Keelan, what you’ve suffered. If only I’d known. I would have
found you. I never would have stopped until I did. I thought
you left because you wanted to. Our kind are not known for
their fidelity. I thought you had simply grown bored with our
relationship. You’d always spoken of traveling in the human
world. I simply thought you didn’t want me dragging you

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

down.”

His arms enclosed her. “Never, Morganna. Your memory

was the only thing that kept me alive. Your light the only
warmth I knew.”

She lifted her head and his lips captured hers. She wanted

to take every bit of the pain away. She wanted to share it with
him, to become a part of him once again. And, yes, she would
sacrifice everything to stay with him.

“Come with me. I’ll show you the town. Maybe that will

help you to decide.”

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

CHAPTER 11

Keelan was surprised when he’d first realized how

organized Vampyre Falls was. Apart from the Vampyre
Council of Thirteen, there was a town council as well, which
governed the town proper encompassing the numerous species
that now lived here. Laws were set down and modified on
occasion as the need warranted.

And there was the liaison established with the human

residents of Silver Creek. Many of the species who lived here
had often warred amongst themselves, but one of the first rules
in order to be offered sanctuary here was no infighting among
the residents. Everyone respected another’s properties. The
law of no random preying among residents was strictly

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upheld. In Vampyre Falls cross-species relationships, such as
had developed between Daffyd, a vampire, and Keelan, a dark
elf, were not forbidden, as it tended to be in their own realms.
There was a tolerance in Vampyre Falls that existed nowhere
else.

“This really is an unusual place, isn’t it?” Morganna asked,

wide-eyed as Keelan escorted her around the town, allowing
her to get used to the layout. “And the laws are strictly
upheld?”

Keelan nodded. He was hopeful that she would want to

stay. “Those who are here are tired of hiding, of constantly
running, weary of being hunted. This is the only sanctuary of
its kind, protected both by the magic of the elements and the
magic of the people who live here.”

“But there is no healer? No doctor to help the sick and

injured?”

“No. There was one a long time ago from what I

understand, but he was killed in an avalanche on the other side
of the mountain. Sometimes, if there’s an emergency, we go to
the human doctor in Silver Creek, but he can only do so much.
You are needed here, Morganna. Your special skills will truly
be put to good use.”

“It is beautiful,” she admitted. They walked around the

lake and came to a small vacant cottage. “Does anyone live
here?”

“Not now. This house belonged to a shape-shifter who

returned to the outside world when he fell in love with a
human. It has remained vacant since then.”

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

“I won’t live in that dark cavern. If I decide to stay. This

place would work. And it has a patch of earth just right for a
garden.” She whirled around to look at him. “If I stayed,
would you be with me? Or remain with…him, up there?”

To answer her, he must tread carefully. He didn’t want to

hurt her. “I will always be here for you. I am committed to
you. But I can’t turn my back on Daffyd. I owe him too
much.” He paused. “I need him, too.”

“I know, he fills a need I can’t.” He could tell that she

wanted to understand, she really did. That she didn’t want to
be jealous of his relationship with the vampire. But maybe that
could only come with time. She had been separated from him
for too long to readily accept another person in his life. They
weren’t human, and she should understand that liaisons among
their own kind were not the same as with humans. Yet, the
thought of sharing him with the vampire appeared to come
hard for her. Maybe it was because he was vampire that she
balked at the liaison.

“Someday I’ll try to explain. But don’t ask me to do that

now. Not yet. Maybe if you choose to share…to be what I
am…the understanding will come easier.”

“All right, Keelan. But no matter what I decide, I can’t live

under that vampire’s thumb. I’ll need a place of my own. I
can’t administer to these people living up there. I must become
attuned to the rhythm of their daily lives in order to be
effective.” She stepped away from him and walked inside the
cottage. He followed her through the door.

She stood across the room, highlighted by the amber glow

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of a setting sun. Her dress was practically transparent,
exposing her lush, curvy frame to him, and his cock pushed
quickly to full attention. He was drawn across the room by her
sensual energy. Sometimes he didn’t think she was even aware
of the erotic vibrations that drew men to her. It was that
innocence of intent that had inflamed his passions from the
beginning.

“Do you remember that autumn eve when we exchanged

pendants?”

He saw her reach up to clasp the stone nestled between her

breasts. “I remember.”

“Right now, you look like you did that day. I remember

thinking no one could love a person more than I loved you at
that moment.” He brushed his thumb over his own pendant.
“Every day we’ve been separated, you’ve been with me. Your
glyphs right next to my heart. They took a piece of my soul,
marked me forever, but you have always held my heart,
Morganna. All of my soul that remains is yours as well. That
will never change.”

He saw the tears sparkling in her eyes, crystal dew drops

tracking down her cheeks, and he strode to her. He kissed
every bit of salty moisture away. “Stay with me, my love.”
She shuddered within his arms. “If there can be a place for us
to find any peace, any happiness together, I think it is here.”

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

CHAPTER 12

Morganna found herself wandering around the bedroom,

unable to sleep, thinking about everything Keelan had
revealed to her. Who were these vampires who prayed on
victims from the Fae realm? Was there a way to stop them?
Was there a way to stop Syril?

And the terrible scars littered all over his body. If only she

could heal him. Those reminders alone must weigh on his
thoughts. What did the vampire give him that she could not?

She wished she had her books with her. The spells and

recipes, her potions she hadn’t touched in so long. She wanted
to help, to find a way to stop Romulus and his followers.
Suddenly, she knew she had to go back. Not to stay, but to

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

gather what she would require to help fight the evil Romulus
and heal Keelan. She didn’t have a choice.

But would Keelan understand? Would he try to stop her? If

there was one thing she knew about him, if he couldn’t stop
her, he would try to go with her. And that was something she
couldn’t allow.

Right now probably few among her people were aware of

what had happened. As a faery she could cloak herself in
invisibility, allowing her to slip away from the Falls without
being seen and stopped. To attempt to replace her more vital
belongings would be an endless process and unnecessary. It
wouldn’t take her long to gather what she needed from her
cottage.

There was an entrance to her realm at the bottom of the

mountain. She had detected the telltale signs alerting her to its
presence. Walking over to the desk, she pulled out a piece of
paper and a pen. Quickly, she scratched a note and wrote
Keelan’s name on the outside of it. If he came looking for her,
at least he would know she planned to return.

As a vampire Keelan couldn’t enter their land with her. He

would be murdered on sight. She had to do this alone. One last
trip home.

She moved quickly and silently. With no time to waste,

she hurried along the tunnel, passing near several doorways.
She stopped when she heard someone cry out. It sounded like
Keelan. Turning, she headed back in the direction of the cry.
Silently, she moved to the door and her eyes widened at what
she saw.

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

It was Daffyd and Keelan. Daffyd had a whip in his hand

and Keelan was bound to the wall. Her first instinct was to run
to Keelan and free him. But as he turned his face to the side,
the look there stopped her from entering the room.

“Don’t stop, Daffyd. It’s not enough.” She heard the

words, but was unable to comprehend the meaning. And then
Daffyd wielded the whip, flaying it across Keelan’s naked
back. She winced as she heard the loud, echoing snap. She
looked at Keelan’s face, expecting to see a drawn look of pain.
She was surprised when that wasn’t all she saw. Blended into
his expression was a look of sublime ecstasy.

She wanted to confront them both, but something held her

back. This wasn’t the time—not when he was at his most
vulnerable. Not when he was like this. She flinched when she
heard the crack of the whip again and again as it wound
around his body, leaving stripe after stripe of red weals in its
wake.

What had they done to him? Is this why he needed Daffyd?

To administer punishment? Was it what he didn’t want her to
know? It wasn’t just Daffyd, because she had heard Keelan
tell him to continue.

Daffyd finally dropped the whipped and walked over to the

bound man. Every muscle in Keelan’s back was tightly
defined, his skin moist with sweat. She couldn’t hear what
Daffyd said to him, but watched as he stroked a loving hand
over Keelan’s back and down across his reddened buttocks.
She saw him reach in front of Keelan and suddenly Keelan
shuddered and cried out. At that moment, Morganna’s gaze

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

widened as she saw Daffyd sink his fangs into Keelan’s neck.
She fell back from the doorway, realizing that just as Keelan
orgasmed, the vampire fed from him.

Yet she couldn’t tear herself away completely, some

fascination held her rooted in place, watching them, realizing
that deep inside herself she wanted to join them, even in this
savage intimacy. And that feeling frightened her. Her whole
body tensed, tightly drawn. Was there some dark side to her
nature she’d never been aware of before?

She wanted to touch Keelan, as Daffyd fed from him. To

stroke him, letting him know she was there with him. She
wanted—

She heard Keelan’s long, drawn out sigh and Daffyd

stepped back. He whirled around and his black gaze caught
and held hers. The span of time seemed to go on forever and
then he licked the droplets of her lover’s blood from his lips
and placed a possessive hand at the small of Keelan’s back.

Something in his gaze tried to pull her into the room and

she fought it. She wasn’t ready. The air strangled in her chest.
Whirling away, she raced down the corridor.

Reaching the main entrance to the caverns, she realized

there was no moon tonight. The night was a black void, with
unidentified whispers echoing around her. She couldn’t think
about what she had just witnessed, that dark passion that had
tried to reach out to enshroud her within its thickly seductive
texture. The black night should work in her favor. Not all
paranormal species could detect the presence of someone with
Fae blood. She was counting on that.

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

Concentrating, she felt the shimmer enfold her, drawing on

her energy. Moving into the night she became one with it,
blending into the darkness. She had to hurry before all of her
strength disappeared. Maintaining the transparency took a
great deal of energy and thus she could only maintain it for so
long before weakness overcame her.

Quickly she glided through the trees and down the

meandering paths until she reached flat land. She solidified
and waited, weaving slightly, feeling a bit light-headed. It
would be a moment before she regained her equilibrium.
Breathing deeply, she closed her eyes and leaned against the
trunk of an ancient, gnarled tree.

She felt a bit of her energy returning as she drew renewing

energy from the earth. Enough for her to get where she needed
to go. Opening her eyes, she focused and saw the glow of an
opening into the faerie realm. Moving quickly, steps light, she
passed into her world. Her wings materialized almost
immediately and she took flight, determined to reach her
destination without delay. Her wings would be something she
would miss. There were definitely parts of her life in the realm
that would be sacrificed. Yet, she felt she had already come to
terms with that acceptance. After all, no choice was perfect. It
was what she would be required to sacrifice that make her
choice easier. In her heart Keelan was worth it.

Reaching her home near the river, she looked around

before crossing the clearing and hurrying inside. Grabbing her
old, worn satchel from the hook near the door, the one she had
often used for gathering herbs, she pulled down books and

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

jars, stuffing them inside. Ancient texts handed down mother
to daughter over the generations of her family could not be left
behind. Using more magic, she reduced their size so that
everything would fit until she exited back into the human
world. She grabbed the bottle of blue enlarging dust and
pocketed that separately. She would need that to return things
to normal size.

Looking around, she realized this would be the last time

she saw this house, that she would be in this realm. She felt
some pang of regret that she might never see her family again.
But it was her choice and she was not going to change her
mind.

Whirling toward the door, she stopped in her tracks.
“Syril.”
His wily eyes studied her for long moments. “You

shouldn’t be here, Morganna.”

She straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin. “I

know. You betrayed me. Unlucky for you.”

He stepped inside. “I would say unlucky for you, you faery

vixen. You will not queer this deal for me. I’ve been promised
a vial of Romulus’s blood for you.”

“You can’t make me do what you want any longer. I know

what you did to Keelan.”

He narrowed his gaze. “It makes no difference. That

damned dark elf is dead.”

“How could you do that, Syril? Why?”
He shrugged as he moved closer to her. She wanted him to

admit what he did. She circled away from him. There was a

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

glittering menace in his eyes.

“Do you have any idea how much I hate your kind? Do

you think I’ve always looked like this?” He pointed a bony
finger at her. “One of your blood did this to me. I was once
tall and strong and more handsome than that dead elf of yours.
Every faery at the court was mine for the taking. Until a stupid
game of jealousy played by a faery bitch made me into this. I
swore I would have my revenge. On all of you. You won’t get
away again, Morganna. And I hope you suffer for a long, long
time.”

She reared away from the stench of his hate. He had

cloaked it so well over the years, but now it hit her full force.
“Keelan never did anything to you, Syril. Why?”

Suddenly he leaped across the room, something gleamed,

stretched between his fists. She sidestepped, but he anticipated
her move and was there before her. He sprang up, twisted and
the thing in his hands wrapped around her neck, choking her.
She grabbed it, meaning to rip it away, but it singed her
fingers. There was no space between her flesh and the thin
width of metal for her to yank it away. The more she tried, the
tighter he twisted.

Iron.
“This will simply weaken you for a bit, until my friends

get here.”

Her lungs began to constrict. Syril didn’t know the normal

weakness in the vicinity of iron for Fae folk went further with
her. With her allergic reaction, it wouldn’t be long before it
killed her.

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

And then she felt the heat of the pendant against her skin.

Keelan’s stone reminding her, drawing her back from the
brink of defeat. Her hand brushed against the counter and her
fingers gripped her favorite green mixing bowl. She swung her
arm in an arc, the bowl connected with Syril’s head. His grip
loosened, just enough for her to break free, the wire cutting
deeper into her skin. The pain didn’t stop her and, in fact,
inflamed her will to survive.

Frantically, she scoured the room as she yanked the iron

band from around her neck and it clattered to the stone floor.
Her lungs still felt like metal bars bracketed them tightly, but
she would not give up. Syril had almost gained his feet, when
she caught the glitter of her digging blade lying on the counter
to her left. Launching herself toward the counter, she curled
her fingers around the familiar enamel handle.

Syril grabbed her from behind and she knew she had no

choice. If she waited any longer she would never get free and
she would be dead long before his benefactors arrived if he
managed to get that narrow iron band around her neck again.
Gripping the blade and using the last of her energy, she thrust
back.

The blade met with some small resistance and she plunged

deeper, feeling the tear of muscle, hearing the sucking of flesh
and blood, and the scream of rage. Pulling the blade free, she
thrust again and again, the blood spurting from the goblin’s
wounds burned her skin. Until finally, his grip lessened and
the goblin toppled to the floor, dead yellow reptilian eyes
glaring up at her.

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

She crawled away, gasping for air, her skin burning, her

stomach churning at the stench of his spent blood. Her neck
hurt and her throat burned. With shaking hands blistered from
his blood she grabbed for the satchel, pulled to her feet and ran
out the door. She couldn’t get her wings to function and she
had little strength left.

She ran through the woods, branches tearing at her skirt,

her face, her arms. She saw the opening, and forced one last
burst of energy as she broke free of the realm, running head
first into a brick wall.

Hard hands fastened onto her arms and she reared up,

determined to be free. She stilled as she met the burning glare
of Keelan’s anger. Exhaling, she folded against him and he
lifted her into his arms.

“Headstrong as ever,” he muttered before he turned and

sped off at full tilt, back up the mountain.

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

CHAPTER 13

“Why did you go back?” Using a soft cloth doused in

antiseptic, he patted at the thin bloody line lacerating her neck.
“It was foolish.”

“How did you know?”
“You mean before I found that damned note?” His eyes

seared her with fierce intensity. “Daffyd told me you saw us.”

“I should have known.”
“I came after you because I thought, after what you saw,

you might never come back. I followed you to be certain you
were all right.”

She stilled. “You wouldn’t follow me into the Realm. Tell

me you wouldn’t try to do that. You would have been killed.”

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

“And it looks to me like you almost were. What

happened?”

She winced as he pressed the wet cloth against the injury

on her neck. “There were things I needed to get.”

“You should have done without. Nothing was worth your

life.”

“After I saw you and Daffyd it was even more important

that I go. I knew there was an entrance close by so I took it.”

He looked down at her bandaged hands, brushing his

thumbs across her palms. “And your hands? It’s apparent to
me that your life was in danger. And your neck. Who used the
iron on you?”

“Syril confronted me at my cottage.”
Keelan frowned. “He did this to you? I’m going to finish

this once and for all. No matter what the laws demand. He
needs to be stopped. I should have said to hell with the Faerie
Court and their edicts long before this.” He started to pull
away and she grabbed his arm, hissing as her damaged hand
tightened around his hard bicep, determined to stop him.

“No, Keelan. There’s no need.”
He whipped around to glare at her. “What do you mean?”
“I-I killed him. That’s why my hands are burned. It’s from

his blood.”

He leaned down and cupped her face. “Are you certain

he’s dead? Do you realize what that means? What they’ll do to
you if they find you?”

“I only went back to retrieve my books and some of my

herbs and potions.” She pointed to the bag at her side. “For

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

this. I didn’t go back there to stay—to get away from you and
what I witnessed. There were things I had to get so I could
help you. Help the people here.”

He sat down and gathered her into his arms. “Do you have

any idea how close you came to dying?”

“I’m sorry, Keelan, but I had to do it.”
“He used the iron necklace to bind you. It could have

killed you. He didn’t know about the real danger of the iron to
you, did he?”

“No. You’re the only one I’ve ever trusted with that

knowledge. I love you, too, Keelan, and I’ve made my choice.
I’m going to stay and help you fight. And somehow I’ll come
to terms with…the other.”

“You mean what you saw.”
“Yes. I don’t know what happened to you, but I won’t be

left out of any part of your life. Even if it means I must accept
Daffyd. I’m willing to do whatever it takes.”

His hands on her shoulders tightened. “Are you certain?

Some of what I’ve become, what I need, is dangerous. The
one thing I don’t ever want to do is hurt you. Nor do I want to
see disgust for what I need in your eyes.”

She cupped his jaw. “I just want to understand. Help me to

understand what’s happened to you.”

He stared at her for long moments before nodding. “I’ll

talk to Daffyd. We’ll figure something out.”

“What do you mean? There’s nothing to talk about. I told

you, I’ve made my decision. I’m staying here with you—as
one of you.”

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

“Are you certain, Morganna? It’s not that simple. It will

require you to accept Daffyd as part of the deal.”

“You’ve said that before. What’s so complicated? You

make me what you are. That seems simple enough to me.
Daffyd has nothing to do with that.”

“Say it, Morganna.”
It wasn’t easy. Her kind had always been taught to fear and

hate vampires, and now she was practically begging to
become one. She was an outcast of her people. She’d killed
one of her own kind, compounding it by doing it on her home
ground. Were there any laws she wasn’t breaking?

“Make me vampire, Keelan. I don’t want to be separated

from you any longer. If I stay, it won’t be a half measure. I
want to share your life with you. I don’t want you to be a
shadow in my life. I want us to be equal. That can only happen
if I become like you.”

He kissed her and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

He pushed her blouse off her shoulder and nibbled along her
flesh. She shuddered with desire. Arousal and need bloomed
immediately.

“When, Keelan?”
He lifted his head to look at her. “I have to speak with

Daffyd first. He must be the one to turn you.”

Her hands fisted in the cloth of his shirt. “But I want you

to do it. Why can’t it be you?”

He shook his head. “He’s my sire, Morganna. If you truly

mean to fight with us, the connection must be strong between
the three of us. To some extent it links us with Romulus as

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

well because he is Daffyd’s sire. Being faerie, you can block
any intrusion by him into your mind. That’s something
humans are unable to do. The bond with Daffyd must be
strong. It magnifies our defense. It’s dangerous, but the only
possible way we have of tracking Romulus, of being certain he
doesn’t get to us first when we are in his vicinity.”

“You’ll be there with me, won’t you?”
He leaned forward and kissed her eyelids. “I wouldn’t

leave you alone. I’ll be right there with you.” He looked at her.
“And then I’ll teach you how to use the new powers you will
have, and how to control the increased intensity of your own
abilities.”

There would be no turning back once she did this thing.

Desperately, she reached for the opening of his trousers. “I
want you to make love to me, Keelan. Right now.” Releasing
him, she enclosed his stiff erection, curling her fingers around
his girth, stroking, swirling the tip of her finger over the broad,
flared tip. She needed him inside her, to connect with him.

Slowly, he undressed her. When she was naked, she

shifted to kneel on the floor and removed his boots and his
trousers as he pulled his shirt over his head. Once he was
naked, she again took his cock in her hands and looked up at
him. Her fingers brushed across the glistening slit, circled
beneath the ridge, feathered along the silky hard shaft. “I love
you. I never stopped aching for you all these years. If only I’d
known.”

He stroked her hair. “If you had known, you would have

tried to come after me. The life here is dangerous enough.”

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

She gazed at the tall stalk, noted the littering of tiny scars

across the hot, tight flesh and stroked it lightly. Another pearl
of fluid breached the tiny hole. She glanced up at him. “How
much pain is there? If I touch you, does it hurt?”

He cupped her face. “Nothing you could do would hurt

me. What pain there is, is now filled with pleasure at your
touch. Daffyd has made that possible. It’s difficult for me to
explain the difference, what it feels like. How the intensity of
the pleasure is altered and magnified because of my
relationship with Daffyd. He releases something dark inside
me that allows me to make love to you without the fear I
might hurt you.”

She swirled the tip of her finger across the head and

watched as more pre-cum leaked onto her skin. Lowering her
head, she sucked it into her mouth and licked him clean. She
glanced up as her tongue swiped one last time across the
glans. “I want to understand what Daffyd gives you. Why you
need him.”

He shuddered at that last lick. “I can’t explain it. He needs

me as much as I need him. We give to each other. There’s
some balance I can’t relate to you that you would understand.
Most likely because he also suffered Romulus’s sadistic
tortures.”

Morganna leaned up and settled herself between his legs.

“I want to be there the next time. You can’t shut me out. If he
gives you something that I can’t, I want to know what it is. I
want to be a part of it.”

He looked at her for a long time. “I don’t want you to

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

despise me for what I now require.”

“That won’t ever happen.” She climbed onto his lap.

Reaching down between them, she positioned his cock at her
slick entrance. She needed him filling her, needed the intimacy
of connection with the man she loved. He thrust upward and
buried himself to the root inside her.

Closing his eyes, he leaned his forehead against hers. “I’ve

missed you so much. I’ve needed your light. When I’m inside
you it’s like being bathed in starlight, wrapped in gossamer
wings.”

She tipped her head and then she felt the sharp rasp of his

teeth trail along her neck, pressing against the pulsing vein.

“Do it,” she whispered, desperately wanting him to be the

one to take her blood.

He drew away and looked down at her. “You have no idea

how much willpower I must exert not to do it, Morganna.
Daffyd must be the first, he must be the one to turn you. He
needs the reinforced magic your first blood will provide.”

Her eyelids fluttered closed. If she was going to stay here,

she knew she must adhere to the laws that were set down
before her arrival. If she wanted Keelan, she must agree.

Keelan lifted her and then thrust up, sending delicious

tremors through her body, filling her, reaching into all those
dark recesses, healing the impact of their separation. She rode
him, lifting up and dropping down, again and again, reveling
in his body.

He was not the same dark elf she had fallen in love with so

long ago, but he was more. Mysterious and complicated,

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

without the same devil-may-care attitude he’d had back then.
He was a vampire elf honed by sacrifice and pain. A strong
man she was honored to be loved by.

She ground against him, feeling his heat ride against her

channel, frictioning deep, and she felt the orgasm bloom
through her.

“Yes, Keelan, yes,” she cried as she exploded, spilling her

pleasure over them both. He stiffened and his seed filled her as
he came with equal force, his head thrown back, razor sharp
teeth exposed as the pleasure enveloped him.

This was something she could give him. Her whole being,

everything she was, belonging to him. Bringing him the light
in her magic that he needed.

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

CHAPTER 14

On the night of the full moon, Keelan came for her.
“It’s time.”
Her choice had been made. She placed her hand in his,

trusting him implicitly. His grip tightened. She rose up to
place a kiss on his lips and his tongue burrowed inside. They
clung together for long minutes before he pulled away.

“He’s waiting. Are you certain you want to do this?”
She nodded without hesitation. “I have no regrets.”
They followed the darkened tunnel for a short distance,

then he led her up a set of narrow stone steps carved into a
thick, sturdy column. They ascended higher and higher until
reaching a tunnel buried within the lacing of intricate passages

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

near the summit of the caverns. Keelan led her along the
tunnel, finally stopping at the entrance of a chamber. Looking
inside she saw it was illuminated by what seemed like a
hundred candles resting on ledges, on the floor, high in
recessed areas above them.

There was a wide opening above them and the full, yellow

moon looked so close all one had to do was reach out to touch
it. The loud thunder of pounding water filling her hearing, so
this chamber must be on the same side of the caverns as the
giant falls.

Daffyd Angelus awaited at the center of the room. Dressed

all in black, his long, ebony hair tied back, he seemed to blend
into the shadows. His eyes glowed red in the darkness and
Keelan led her toward him. The firm grasp of his fingers
wrapped around hers, reassured her and enforced her
determination to accept whatever was required to remain with
him.

“It’s all right, Morganna. You have to trust him.”
“What if it’s just my blood he wants, Keelan? What if he’s

been duping you all along and it’s just the faery blood he’s
after?”

“I realize you haven’t had a chance to get to know him yet,

but he’s not like that. He would never take you away from me.
He knows how much I love you. And besides, your healing is
needed here. He isn’t like Romulus, or what we’ve been
brought up to believe about them. Only time will help ease
your concerns.” He turned her to face him, framing her face
with his strong hands. “Do you trust me?”

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

She looked into his eyes and knew, even if it did mean her

death, she had to trust this vampire—for Keelan’s sake.
Straightening her spine, she walked to Daffyd.

“I don’t know anything about you, but I love Keelan. If he

trusts you, then that has to be enough.”

His lips curved into a half smile, yet his eyes retained the

intensity of demand, forcing her not to look away.

“That is enough. I’m not asking for your love, simply your

obedience if you choose to remain here. Do I have it?”

She knew she didn’t have much of a choice. If she wanted

Keelan, she had to agree. “Yes.” She lifted her chin. “But I
won’t live in these damp caverns. I don’t know how you stand
it. I want the house in the village. Keelan knows which one. If
I’m to be a healer here, I need to be near the people. I need to
have a garden.”

He looked at her for a long time. “It always comes down to

barter with you people. Very well. You’ll be assigned the one
of your choosing.”

“Okay then.” She tilted her head and offered her neck,

watching him closely. “Do it and let’s get this over with.”

Suddenly, he pivoted away from her and sauntered over to

a red velvet-covered table. Lifting a crystal decanter, he
poured a shimmering green liquid into three cut glass goblets.
He turned to look at her.

“I’m not a savage, Morganna. I’m not about to rip out your

flesh and gorge myself on your blood.” He looked at Keelan,
who stood behind her. “He thought much the same thing,
especially after his encounter with Romulus’s clan.”

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

He crossed the room and offered her the glass. “A bit of

specially blended absinthe to toast our pact. It’s laced with
three drops of my blood to show good faith.”

With a trembling hand, she accepted the goblet.
Keelan moved to the table and picked up the other two

glasses. Returning, he handed one to Daffyd and kept one for
himself.

They formed a circle, the moonlight illuminating the center

of the room. Daffyd raised his glass. “To our new association.
May many lives be saved.” He drank down the glimmering
green liquid. Keelan followed suit. Inhaling, Morganna lifted
the glass to her lips and drank deeply. The liquid raced
through her liked the heated path of a comet had just entered
her system. The heat of lust blossomed, traveling through her
blood. She could almost feel the path raze hot and fiery
throughout her body.

Once the glasses were emptied, Keelan took them back to

the table. Daffyd shifted closer to Morganna. He reached out
and cupped her neck, staring intently into her eyes. She saw
herself mirrored within them. It seemed like molten mercury
had been injected into her bloodstream. At his touch her body
turned pliant and sensitive, heartbeat racing. Her sigh was one
of passionate surrender. It was as though she could smell the
aroma of Keelan’s blood running through Daffyd’s body,
stroking her aura, demanding entrance. That sense of Keelan
wove a spell around her, drawing her to the vampire.

“The taking of blood is a very intimate act, Morganna. The

turning will make you a part of me as we share blood. Are you

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

truly willing to accept that level of intimacy with a vampire?
Are you ready to submit to your sire?”

His words were melodic to her ears, seductive and inviting.

Like a breath of cool, starlit night brushing across her skin.
She was intoxicated by the sound. No wonder he had seduced
her lover so easily. She felt herself yielding, bending toward
him caught up in the dark magnetism of his eyes. She was like
the bewitched snake responding to the charmer’s flute. His
hands kneaded her shoulders as he stared into her eyes. They
stroked along the column of her neck, embracing her throat,
pressing lightly against the throbbing pulse of her artery. She
surmised the strength he held at bay as she looked deeply into
his eyes. His thumb stroked over the pulse, a cadence of
seduction swirled around her. Her breaths turned deep and
cleansing, as though he drew out her old life, to replace it with
something new, preparing her to accept what he was about to
offer.

She felt Keelan behind her. She hadn’t seen or heard him

move, but now he was removing her dress, undoing each of
the tiny buttons along the back. And then she felt the cool,
moist air as he shifted the dress down over her arms and it
dropped to the floor. She stood naked between the two
vampires.

She should have been afraid, but instead she was

mesmerized, excited, her body awakening in ways she didn’t
understand. She was drawn toward darkness, almost floating,
pressed between them. The call of Keelan’s blood was strong,
undeniable. It sang to her both from the man standing before

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

her and the one behind her. She’d felt that same response
when she’d first met Daffyd. Inside him was a part of Keelan,
and that was the part that seduced her now, the part she
answered.

Daffyd wasn’t really touching her intimately, but Keelan’s

hands now cupped her breasts, brushing his thumbs across her
nipples, drawing circles over her areolas.

And Daffyd’s hands still encircled her neck, his thumbs

rhythmically stroking her flesh. There was an erotic intimacy
to that simple, repeated touch. It connected her to him.
Keelan’s hands moved down across her ribs, smoothing slow
circles over her skin, pressing a palm to her mound, sliding
ever lower, until two fingers pressed between her thickened,
wet labia lips.

She gasped at the sensation as they pierced her, pressing

inside her, and his thumb began to draw sensuous circles
around her swollen clit.

All strength seemed to leave her as she gave herself into

their hands. Her head dropped back, her eyelids fluttered
closed as she yielded her inner light to their combined, velvet
darkness. Her skin burned with sensation, aroused by their
closeness, but the hands elicited her passionate responses. The
urgency for intercourse gripped her, demanding her
submission, placing her power into their hands.

She felt the climax surging, and thrust her hips against

Keelan’s fingers buried so deep inside her. And then she was
over the edge, pulsing, shattering. Caught in the pleasurable
throes of the intense orgasm, she barely felt the pricks of
penetration as Daffyd’s fangs impaled her.

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

CHAPTER 15

Keelan’s hands dropped away and Daffyd’s arms wrapped

around her. She felt her blood being sucked from her body, her
strength ebbing, consciousness receding.

There should have been pain, she was certain of it. But

there was none, only a euphoric feeling of floating above the
ground and away from reality.

“Keel—” She couldn’t manage more than a murmur of

sound. The arms binding her to the vampire tightened. Her
own arms dropped away and like a rag doll she lay within his
embrace as he drained her life’s blood away.

Her eyelids grew heavy and it took all her energy to open

them. It was a strange feeling as she stared up through the

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

opening at the clear night and the moon high above which
seemed to be drawing closer and closer. And then she realized
it wasn’t the moon moving toward her, but she was rising up
toward it.

Finally, Daffyd lifted his head. He scooped her up into his

arms as he carried them higher and out into the night. She had
no strength to resist. Suddenly, the world seemed far smaller
than it had been before as he transported her away.

They dropped to a ledge so high above the ground she

could hardly make out the valley below. Mere dots of light
wavering at a distance. He settled her at the edge of the
precipice, steadying her so she wouldn’t tumble from the
ledge. He stood behind her, one arm wrapped around her
midriff, a hand cupping her naked breast.

“I can see why Keelan never forgot you. Your blood is rich

and almost as powerful as his. You are magnificent as well as
courageous.”

She stiffened and gasped as his teeth sank once more into

her pliant flesh, feasting on her blood. She shuddered at the
dual sensation of pain and desire. His hand kneaded her
swollen breast, sending tingling ripples of electricity through
her body. In that moment she felt the connection lever into
place, linking her with Daffyd and with Keelan. Pain and
pleasure threaded through her, spreading to every corner.

As consciousness started to drift away, he helped her to lie

back onto the ground. Through slitted lids she gazed at the
moon. How was it she felt like she was flying, yet could feel
the cool, unforgiving rock beneath her?

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

Daffyd licked her neck, drawing his tongue slowly over

the surface of the wounds in her neck, swirling his tongue in
delicious circles. She could have told him not to bother, that
her own faery nature would heal the wounds naturally, but she
was far too tired to try to speak. And the touch of his mouth
was hot and arousing.

“Open your mouth, Morganna.” The deep, mesmerizing

tone of his voice made her obey the command without
question. Her lips parted and she felt the warmth of slightly
metallic liquid drops heat her lips, trickling into her mouth,
down her throat. She licked and tasted Daffyd’s vampiric
essence in full measure for the first time. A jolt of hot
electrical energy raced through her and she arched and
tightened.

He pressed his wrist to her lips. “Drink, Morganna. Drink

deeply.”

And again she did as he commanded with no thought of

denial. Hot, spurting blood flowed down her throat. Her
stomach churned at the intense, spicy heat, twisting with a
flare of denial. And then she was gulping and sucking,
swirling her tongue over the punctures, opening her mouth
wider to receive his dark gift, reveling in the taste of him,
feeling the magic of Keelan’s blood mixed with the vampire’s.

After long moments he pulled his arm away. She looked

up at him as she licked the last of the blood from her lips.
Slowly, he lowered his head and kissed her, sealing the pact
they had consummated.

Allowing her lids to flutter closed, she drifted away. The

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

sound of the night, the falls, of her own breaths seemed
magnified.

She didn’t know how much longer she lay like that in a

state of semi-conscious euphoria, but sharp agony had her lids
snapping open in fear. Her insides began to tighten like
someone winding a piece of rope tighter and tighter around
her intestines, a cruel fist crushing her heart leaving her
gasping for breath.

She bowed against Daffyd, and his arms wrapped tightly

around her, supporting her, chaining her fast.

“Give over to it, Morganna. The turning has begun.”
She tried to relax to allow it to happen. She had asked for

this. But the panic grabbed her and she fought the effect of
Daffyd’s blood within her body. She curled inward, grimaced,
then finally with a strength that she’d never had before, ripped
herself from Daffyd’s arms, crouching against the back of the
small ledge.

She looked around and everything appeared different.

Sounds assaulted her, the look of the world around her had a
slight halo cast to it. Even Daffyd. She reached down to pick
up a rock, curled her fingers closed and crushed it.

And she could smell the blood, could feel it pulsing in

Daffyd, and beyond. A voracious hunger pulled at her and she
couldn’t believe it when she growled and bared her teeth.

“It will ease,” Daffyd said as he moved toward her. “Every

feeling will be more intense and you will learn to control it.
You will have abilities you could never imagine. I wouldn’t be
surprised if your healing arts will become magnified as well.”

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

“Where’s Keelan? Why isn’t he here?” She sniffed the air.

She could smell an eagle, hear it perch on a rock high above
her head. Smell its blood. “How do you stand it? How did
Keelan manage to not take my blood with scent and sound so
overpowering?”

“He has learned to control it. I taught him to control it.

This is all new to you. It will get better. You will learn to
harness the power.”

“But the thirst for blood. This appetite, the gnawing

hunger, is painful.” She licked her lips. She felt so parched, so
needy.

“You will master the desire. And you will have help. You

won’t be required to hunt for blood, it will be provided.”

“How?”
“That’s where Keelan has gone. He went to Silver Creek.

We have agreements with the human citizens there. Those of
us who require blood regularly are assigned human donors
from the town. We care for them and they provide for us. A
lottery was held earlier tonight and your donor has been
chosen. Keelan is bringing him to the mountain tonight, so
you may become acquainted.”

“They do this willingly? Why?”
“For them it is an honor to be chosen as donor to one of us.

We’ve been here for centuries. It is our method of retaining
civilized behavior. We are not savages and humans are not our
prey. It is part of our belief system here in Vampyre Falls. We
respect each other, our numerous societies, and the humans
who help us. The same will be expected from you.”

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

“This is going to take some getting used to. Everything

looks so different. Feels so different. Even my own skin.”

“The power must be harnessed. If you had been less than

you are, I wouldn’t have taken the chance. Keelan wouldn’t
have been as dedicated to you, if you were less.”

She turned to look at Daffyd and tilted her head as she saw

him differently, surrounded by a pale yellow aura. “I love him,
Daffyd. I know what it’s like to be without him and I don’t
want that to ever happen again.”

Daffyd nodded. “I understand that. But we are all

connected now, or will be soon. You must accept what is. That
Keelan has darker needs than you alone can fill. Your own
needs may eventually change as well. Now come, we must
return.”

He held out a hand and after a brief hesitation, she

accepted it. They flew downward back to the lighted chamber.
Keelan and another man with blond hair were waiting for
them. Keelan strode forward, and wrapped a warm, gold silk
robe around her and then enfolded her into his arms.

“You’re all right?”
She reached up to touch his face. He looked different, even

more beautiful than before in some ways. “I think so.” She
could smell his powerful elf blood and it took restraint as her
incisors started to throb. She leaned up to whisper in his ear. “I
want to taste you, Keelan.”

He stroked her hair. “Soon, love.” He turned her to face

the other man in the room and he walked her over to him.
“This is Jared Cain. His family has been in Silver Creek for

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

generations and several members have served as donors in the
past.” He turned to Jared. “This is Morganna Starlight. She is
my woman and newly turned. She will have need of your
assistance if you are willing.”

Jared dipped his head and offered Morganna a shy smile.

“Pleased to meet you, Ms. Starlight.”

She studied him for long moments. He was an attractive

young man, probably in his mid-twenties. Extremely well-
muscled with the golden tan of an outdoorsman to emphasize
his rugged good looks.

“You’re willing to be my donor? You’re certain?” She

found it difficult to believe a human would agree to such a
thing.

“Yes, ma’am. More than willing. Silver Creek isn’t like

other towns. I guess you’ll find that out soon enough. If you
need blood, I’m your man. Whenever, wherever, you just send
word and I’ll make myself available.”

She could smell his human blood and her eyes riveted to

the pulsing vein in his neck. He was a strong man, how much
did she dare take? She’d never done this before and she was
afraid of hurting him. Suddenly, she turned to Keelan,
reaching out for him.

He grasped her hands and she felt his energy surge into

her, helping to steady her. “I don’t know what to do. Help
me.”

He turned to her donor. “Jared, why don’t you have a seat

on the sofa over there. It will be a bit more comfortable.”
Jared sat down and Keelan escorted her over to him. He

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

looked at her, his gaze locking with hers. “Your instincts will
guide you. Listen to them, love.”

Long moments passed and then she turned to Jared.

Kneeling next to him, she slowly unbuttoned his shirt and
folded it back. She ran a tongue across her newly formed
teeth, felt the pull of his rich, human blood. She stroked her
hand over the column of his thickly muscled neck, easing and
probing. His skin felt so hot to her touch. She could hear his
heart beating.

Closing her eyes, she allowed herself to listen to her

newly-acquired instincts. Her fangs throbbed, drawing her
closer to Jared and the source of nourishment. She could smell
his strong, human scent. Drawing her head back, she then
lunged forward, burying her fangs in his neck. The sweet, hot
blood poured into her mouth and she gulped it down greedily.

This then was her new life, what she had agreed to. She

felt Keelan’s strong hand reach inside her robe and cup her
breast, letting her know he was there. She sighed at the bliss
that enveloped her.

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

CHAPTER 16

They walked hand in hand toward the edge of the crystal

clear lake. The night was silent, enfolding them into its
shadows.

“It’s not so bad,” she finally broke the stillness. “Once you

get used to it.” His hand tightened around hers.

“I wouldn’t have wanted this type of life for you, but there

seemed no other choice.”

“I know. You didn’t force it on me, it was by my own

choice.” She turned to face him and reached up to cup his jaw.
“After you left, I wasn’t truly alive any longer.”

“I’m sorry. What I turned into after Daffyd rescued me—”

He stopped speaking and turned away. “I thought you were

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

better off without me. He kept me alive and showed me I
could live, even with the pain. He showed me how to use it,
how to embrace it.”

“I know. And one day you’ll let me share those secrets that

you only share with Daffyd. One day you’ll trust me enough.”

“I do trust you, love. But that side of me… You’ve

sacrificed enough. Too much, I think.”

“You saved my life, Keelan. Syril bartered me away

without a thought. If it wasn’t for you, I’d be dead now. And it
feels good to be helping people again. And here, no one
judges. No one seems to covet what another has or is. Daffyd
and his followers have created something unique here.”

Keelan nodded. “I know. It’s worth fighting for. And to

actually realize that there are humans who accept us as we
are… They don’t fear us.”

She pulled something out of her pocket. “Sit down and

take off your shirt. I’ve made a new lotion that I want to try on
your scars.”

“Morganna, you shouldn’t be wasting your time on me—”
She pushed him onto the bench. “I want to do this for

you.” She helped him pull off his shirt. He really did have
such a beautiful body. That was something that hadn’t
changed. Even with the scars. But they represented badges of
courage that he had survived such a terrible ordeal.

She poured some of the lotion into her hand and began to

knead his tense muscles. She moved her hands across his
shoulders and down his back. Back up again and over his
arms. Then she circled around and knelt in front of him. She

VAMPYRE FALLS: MORGANNA’S SACRIFICE

placed her hands flat against his chest, rubbing in circles,
moving lower over his tight, flat abdomen.

“Do you remember the first time we met, Keelan? When I

found you trying to steal one of my mother’s pies?”

She heard him chuckle. “What I remember is that viperous

tongue of yours.” He reached out to touch her hair. “And your
hair. You looked like a wild northland faery with your long,
fiery hair snapping with sparks.”

She leaned up. “Yet you came back.”
He cupped her cheek and smoothed a finger over her jaw.

“I think I will always come back to you, Morganna. From that
first moment, I knew I had to have you.”

“My mother was furious. All she kept saying was that

those dark elves are all a bunch of thieves. Little did she know
exactly how great a thief you were. How much I allowed you
to steal. No sacrifice would ever be too great, Keelan. My love
for you is endless.”

He lifted her and wrapped his arms around her. “You are

my starlight and my sunrise, Morganna.”

She leaned against him and inhaled his scent. Turning her

head, she scraped her incisors against his neck just enough to
draw droplets of blood. She licked the velvety elven drops,
merging his blood with her own. They would both heal after
the long separation. And she would never regret becoming a
part of his world. The sacrifices seemed small compared to
regaining the richness of her lover’s passionate embrace.

DRIANNA

ANE

Theresa Gallup uses the pen names of Tess Maynard and
Adrianna Dane. Theresa has been writing since the age of 10.
A legal secretary for 30 years, she is currently working on
another erotic romance, as well as a full-length romantic
mystery/suspense. She has been married for 30 years and has
three grown children (a daughter and twin sons), and is a new
grandmother.

Writing as Tess Maynard, her first published short story
appeared in the ezine, The Whispering Forest, in January of
2004. Writing as Adrianna Dane, where adding sensual heat to
romance is her motto, Esmerelda’s Secret was her first foray
into the erotic romance genre.

Having traveled and lived from the East Coast to the West
Coast, Theresa receives inspiration for her stories from a
variety of sources, including music and poetry, and her tastes
are eclectic.

For more information about current projects, visit Theresa’s
web sites at:

www.tessmaynard.com

www.adriannadane.com.

* * *

Don’t miss Vampyre Falls: Animal Heat,

by Adrianna Dane,

available at AmberHeat.com!

Hot. Hard. Handsome. And dangerously ravenous—for Rainna
Spaulding.

Rainna knows there’s something different about Treynor Black
and if she could just keep her hands off him for five seconds she
might find out what it is. But five seconds in his company and
she’s overwhelmed by the most intensely lustful, searing heat she
could imagine, and common sense is not on the menu. So what if
he likes his meat rare and his rendezvous at midnight during a full
moon? She could handle it. He had secrets, well so did she.

And then she meets his brothers, Carson and Donovan. Talk
about turning up the heat to scorching! Who were these
brothers?…

Or maybe she should ask what were they?

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