Birth of a Vixen (Shadow Faith Book 1)

by Colleen Tews

  I snickered as I walked closer to the circle. Sometimes I missed not having the opportunity to go off to college. I shook my head. “Wow.”

  A blonde stoner jumped from his place on the floor with a glass pipe in his hands still lit. “Here.” He choked out the worldwide stoner chant. He had on a black t-shirt that read, “If you ain’t chokin’ you ain’t smokin’”.

  “Thanks.” I took the pipe. The glass felt comfortably warm in my cold hands. He flicked a cheap lighter to relight the already burning herb within. I inhaled a deep breath then pulled back from the mouthpiece. It burned as it traveled down through my lungs.

  I leaned in as if to pass the hit off to the already chokin’ smoker who offered me the pipe. His face lit up. I could practically hear the stretching of his pants from the anticipation of my lips against his. At the last second I broke the lean to bend over one his buddies that wore a baseball cap. I pressed my lips against his; slipped my tongue between his parched lips and exhaled.

  “Hey!” the blonde whined.

  I gave him a questioning look in his blood shot blue eyes. “What? Dude, if I had passed it back off to you then I would have broken the flow of the circle. Come on puff, puff, pass.”

  The one in the baseball cap lost the hit in a sudden giggle fit. Everybody laughed at him, except the preoccupied couples. The laughter spread around the circle faster than the pipe ever could. The blonde smacked his friend on the back hard. “Breath man; in with the good air out with the bad. Here take another hit.”

  Out of respect the guy in the baseball cap stopped him in mid-pass. “No dude I already got mine from the chica next to you. Remember.”

  “Oh yeah. Here,” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. “Have a smoke then. Clear out the lungs.” Seems I didn’t miss much by not attending college after all.

  “Oh god! Oh god! Oh god!” The redhead screamed as her back rubbed against the glass. Her legs kicked the air with great enthusiasm as she reached climax.

  Conversations around the room stopped cold. The music seemed quieter by comparison to the orgasmic inflection in her voice. In the dimmed silence I noticed a man standing silent in the corner. He wore a black leather trench coat. His long, black hair hid his face. His arms were folded across his chest. A shiver ran up my spine.

  I left the circle and began my ascension toward the second floor. The hallway wrapped around the staircase. The walls were covered with posters of rock bands and naked women. The music on this floor was louder than the tunes on the first. It also had a larger, packed in crowd. Aside from the bathroom there were two other identical doors bookend the hallway, one closed off to the public with sounds echoing the living room came from within, while the other was where I was headed. The room I approached was filled with six intoxicated men. I stopped short in the doorway.

  There was wooden paneling on all four walls. Dark green curtains covered the two windows that faced the street. A black light hung from the ceiling. Its soft blue glow transcended the pornographic artwork plastered over the walls into erotic glowing demons. Empty beer cans and unfinished assignments littered the furniture. There was a black computer desk beside the door and a bookshelf across the room. The bookcase faced a twin bed. The computer played music. A deep growl of an alternative rock band with a female vocalist blasted from the surround sound.

  My main course with the puppy dog eyes sat on top the green and gray plaid comforter that lay folded at the end of the bed. He held a bottle of tequila in hand. A dozen shot glasses rested next to him on the bed.

  I leaned against the doorframe, folded my arms over my chest. “So were you serious about that drink?”

  “Huh, yeah come on in.” He tapped the spot on the bed next to him. His cheeks flushed.

  An unavoidable smirk played across my face brought on by his bashful nature. He was so innocent. I was more than willing to lay bets that he was a virgin. I shoved off from the wall and slid my way over to him. “Excuse me boys.”

  Five others boys sat on wooden folding chairs. Four brunettes sat clumped together in a corner. A blonde man in a robin’s egg blue sweater that showed off his bright blue eyes checked me out. He showed he approved my appearance as he was forced to readjust his pants.

  I stepped through the semi-circle they created for themselves in the cramped room to the bed. My hips swayed with each footstep accentuating every curve. I pivoted then slipped between a brunette and Mr. Puppy Eyes and stood in front of the offered seat. I opened my coat. My tight tan blouse with bell cuffs was cut low; it revealed my neckline and cleavage. The blouse was tucked into a full-length blue jean skirt. A slit ran up my right leg up to the middle of my thigh. As I set the coat on the bed I smelled the rise of pheromones over the crisp pungent smell of tequila in the air.

  Mr. Puppy Dog Eyes quickly moved the shot glasses before I sat. “Thank you. I’m Veronica by the way. And you are?”

  “Mark. These are my friends,” He started naming the boys in the room starting at the blonde and worked left towards the bedroom door. “Brad, Jason, Chris, Walt and Scott.”

  “Hello boys.” I smiled politely at them all.

  They all responded with either a “Hey” or “Hi.” Jason and Chris smacked one another in the shoulder. They whispered whimsical nonsense about me to one another.

  “I heard drinking is in order for tonight.”

  “Absolutely. We have beer, wine coolers, wine….” Mark started to get up oblivious to the bottle of tequila in his hand.

  “Like I said earlier tequila is my drink of choice.” I pointed to the bottle in his hand. I hoped his level of intoxication wouldn’t affect how fast this all went down. For that matter I hoped his blood didn’t make me too incoherent. I still had a meeting to attend.

  “Tequila? Oh yeah.”

  “Here Mark let me handle this.” Brad snatched the bottle from Mark. He gave the impression that he was older than the rest. The alpha male as it were. “Shot glasses” He held his left hand out. Mark handed him the glasses. “Lemon.” Scott handed him the fruit and a knife to cut it. “Salt.” Chris passed him the salt from inside a desk drawer. Brad piled everything in his lap. “Veronica is it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, Veronica let’s get drunk.” He was definitely a take-charge kind of fella. I rethought who was I was going to taste tonight. Perhaps someone needed to be taught a lesson in humility.

  “Sounds like a plan to me.”

  Brad cut the lemon. Its juices sprayed Mark in the face. “Oh man! That got me in the eye.”

  “It’s the price you pay for being a douche. Alright.” He cut enough pieces for Mark and myself. He offered me a lemon slice. “Training wheels for the ladies in the room.”

  “First off, who said I was a lady? Second, I don’t need training wheels? Here,” I snatched the bottle from Brad. “Let me show you how it’s done.”

  I took the glasses from his lap and passed them out to each of the other men. I poured tequila in each shot glass for everyone in the room except for Brad. “A toast?”

  If looks killed I would be dead because Brad’s eyes pierced through me like daggers. I challenged him with my own piercing gaze. I never took my own dark eyes from his baby blues as I rubbed up and down Mark’s right thigh. “To sex, drugs and rock n’ roll. May he who drinks the most fuck the longest. Cheers.”

  “Cheers!”

  We chugged back our drinks. The others hooted and hollered after their shot. It seemed the poor boys could have used training wheels after all. I hardened my fixed gaze on Brad.

  “Are you gonna play nice?” The arrogance in my voice couldn’t be mistaken for anything else. I had come into his inner sanctum and dethroned him with a single shot in front of all of his lackeys.

  “Never.” Brad smirked in defiance. Then he lunged towards me as he went after both the bottle and my waist.

  I fell back on to the bed and used his momentum to bring him down with me. Both of my arms ended up over my head
so the bottle and the shot glass didn’t get crushed between us. His body pinned me to the bed. He held my wrists crossed together in his large right hand. His left hand landed on my waist. Our faces were inches apart. My daring grin grew into a wide, toothy smile. This couldn’t have gone any better than if I had planned it.

  “You’re full of spunk.” He said. The package in his pants spoke volumes.

  “And you are full of shit. But that’s okay. You’re ballsy, I’ll give you that.”

  “Ballsy! Bitch you don’t know the meaning of the word. But by the end of the night you will.”

  “Oh I will, will I?” It was fun antagonizing him this way. I liked playing with my food. Sue me.

  “Damn straight.”

  I gave a small laugh. “Prove it.”

  “What.”

  “You heard me. Prove it.”

  Brad grounded his hips into mine. “I’ll give ya proof.”

  “Do you always talk this much?” My question took him off guard. He stopped in mid-thrust from sheer shock. “No wonder you are in a frat house with a bunch of virgins instead getting laid in some random room like the couple downstairs. Looks to me like you’re the one who needs training wheels. Seems I need to teach you another lesson.” I kissed him. I strained my neck down through my pinned shoulders as I lifted my head so my tongue could thoroughly explore his mouth.

  It took him a few seconds before he caught on. I felt Brad’s already half erect penis growing against me. His free hand explored my side. He pulled my shirt out the jean skirt. His fingers felt warm and strong. Brad kneaded up my waist until he found the edge of my bra.

  I dropped my head back against the bed. I ended the kiss to let him catch his breath. His head fell to my left shoulder. He panted into my ear.

  “Now that’s how it’s done.”

  “Yeah.” He whispered breathless.

  “Do you want more?”

  He gave no verbal response, but his body language was all I needed. He quivered with anticipation. The tip of his dick moved side to side in its instinctive search for an opening.

  “I said do you want more?” My lips brushed the fine hairs on his ear. To add a bit of punctuation to the sentence I bit his earlobe and pushed my hips up against his groin. He made a small almost inaudible whimper. I began a rhythmic pelvic sway against his body. “Should I take that as a yes?”

  He nodded in quick vigorous actions into my shoulder. Brad traced my neck with quick butterfly kisses.

  I licked up his ear. At the top of the earlobe I brushed my teeth against the tender skin. My tongue then traced down along his neck. I sucked on the surface. Goosebumps traveled down his skin. The tiny hairs on his neck stood on end. His pulse quickened. His artery pumped thick and hard with each fastened heartbeat. With his face in my shoulder I extended my canines and bit down.

  His muscles flexed under the grip my mouth had on him. My aim was perfect. He could die within minutes. The thought of his demise made his blood taste sweeter. Or maybe it was the alcohol and pot. His blood was thin and intoxicating. I knew I would be more that a little buzzed when I finished. Whether or not I drank him dry, I would still be hungry because of the THC that ran through his system. Munchies.

  His earlier whimper grew into a moan of orgasmic exhilaration. My kiss had this effect on people. He never knew a better touch from a woman. With one nip of my teeth and suckle on his artery I had ruined any chance he had of feeling the truest forms of absolute pleasure from any woman in his future.

  His body reacted to this form of pleasure the only way it knew how. His hips moved in time with my own. We moved together like ocean waves beating against the shore. I spread my legs as if I invited him in. However, there was to be no sex between us tonight. There was no need. For what we were doing went beyond mere pleasures of the flesh.

  His speed intensified. He was reaching the greatest climax of his life. With my mind I reached out to his emotion and raised what he felt ten fold. Unlike the redhead downstairs he won’t shout for god. It would be me he prayed to. In the end he would pray for a sweet death. But I refused to kill him. Instead I gave him a small death, a death of his seed.

  I felt his body spasm. He came so hard he soaked through his own blue jeans. It had seeped onto my skirt.

  I released him. Before I let him up I licked the wound. It healed instantly. There wasn’t even so much as a scratch. I lapped up what little blood had spread across his neck with quick flicks of my tongue. “That’s how you prove it Brad. Next time you won’t get off so easily.”

  “Okay.” His voice came out shaky.

  “Alright, up we go. I think your friends have had enough of a show.” He slid off of me. Every fiber of his being was exhausted. I, on the other hand, felt fantastic. I sat up on my elbows. “Well, would you look at that,” I glanced at my wrist, though I wasn’t wearing a watch. “Time really does fly when you’re having fun. I think I am going to have to call it a night. We’ll have to do this again sometime.”

  The other boys sat flabbergasted. Poor puppy dog eyed Mark stared, slack jawed. While Brad sat with a silly grin on his face, wet pants and all. Chris and Scott nodded silent as church mice. They appeared to be the only two capable of movement at the moment.

  I patted Mark on his thigh. “Thank you for the drink. It was fabulous. Really.” I kissed him on the cheek, grabbed my coat and exited the room. I got halfway to the stairs when I heard the cheers from the boys.

  Chapter 13

  “Well done.” The silent man from the living room leaned against the guardrail. I hadn’t heard him come upstairs. The fact he snuck up on me wasn’t the most shocking part about him it was his stunning gaze. Now that his hair wasn’t in the way I noticed his eyes were the same color as the vibrant blue haze that surrounded the moon the night before it was full. Under his daring exotic eyes was a slender nose and full kissable lips that curved into a tantalizing smirk that enhanced his high cheekbones.

  “Excuse me?”

  “The boy. I won’t lie. That was kind of hot. You’re new in town?” His voice was deep and sensual. He seemed to exude pleasure, sexual or otherwise, with every syllable.

  I tried to walk around him, but he blocked my path. "Yes, I am." I shuffled my feet and buttoned my suede trench coat.

  “I'm Raphe.” He extended his hand, palm up. “And you are?" The blood beneath his almost milky white flesh was not pumping. I took his hand and felt his aura cascade over my skin.

  He was without a doubt a vampire. It wasn’t just the lack of a pulse or the strength in his aura that told me what he was but his scent as well. A human would never have been able to recognize it. Their brains shielded them from sensing things they could not comprehend. I took a second to taste the air around him and picked up on the smell of ages. He was an old vampire, powerful, too. He may have been as old as Lucian. This was just one of the many new tricks I learned in the last couple of months.

  “Veronica. I moved here from Cincinnati. Sorry. I know I shouldn’t hunt in someone else’s territory before I introduce myself, but I was starving. I haven’t had a chance to settle in weeks."

  “In that case beautiful, allow me to personally escort you to the meeting hall. With me by your side you shouldn’t have any problems.”

  “Oh really?” I recalled my cover story and opened with the damsel in distress routine. “I just fled one town that thought I was in league with the rebels. Do you really think that if I go up there with you I won’t have that problem again, especially after I hunted without permission?”

  He rolled his eyes over my body, head to toe. Those inhuman crystal blue eyes of his penetrated me as they searched for the truth. “Are you with Lucian?”

  “No.” I managed to lie matter-of-factly and without shifting my gaze from his studious gaze. Believe me. Believe me, please! I am cashing in all the karma points I can spare if you just believe this one lie

  “Why should I believe you?”

  “Why?” I leaned into him and let my lips
brush his ear. “Because I have no reason to lie to you. I don’t know you. You don’t know me. What we do know is that we are two people fighting for our lives during a very, very bad time in our species’ history. Besides if I am lying I’ll give you first crack at ripping out my heart.”

  He chuckled. “Then, yes, I can guarantee your safety in this city.”

  Hallelujah! “Then I would be much obliged.” I slid my arm through his and we made our way to the frat house. The games had begun.

  Once we reached the tenth floor Raphe untangled our arms and placed his hand on the small of my back as he escorted me into the smoky meeting hall. I estimated around twenty vampires lounging at various tables. All the faces looked familiar to me, most of the people I knew sat at the same tables as before. I instantly recognized Primus Grump and Father Khel at the rectangular table.

  There was a woman that passed for a librarian who sat with them that I did not know. Her brown hair was pulled taut in a high bun and she wore a black turtleneck tucked into a thick dark flowing floral skirt. Though her appearance screamed uptight hippie she didn’t seem out of place amongst the suits. There was a take-charge personality rolling about the air around her. At any moment I expected her to yell ‘Silence.’

  We circled the large room to the table furthest from the door. The unmistakable Maarten House sat at the back tables. Their loud rambunctious ways never ended. Brutus stood in the middle of our path. Raphe sent me through first then slid behind me.

  I fought against all of my basic fight or flight instincts as Brutus’ piercing grey eyes scrutinized me. The fear from the last time I saw him wormed its way up my spine. My shoulders tensed and fists clenched for a moment.

  “Don’t worry,” Raphe said. “He won’t bite.”

  Then, thankfully, Raphe led me to the closest seat to the Primus’ table. “Sit here and I'll find out more in a second. Oh, by the way, Grump may ask what House you come from. What should I tell him?”