by Lolah Lace
Table of Contents
Title Page
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
EPILOGUE
Authors Note
FIVE NIGHT STAND
By
Lolah Lace
Kindle Edition
Published by Lolah Lace
Copyright © 2015 by Lolah Lace
www.lolahlace.com
Cover Image Design by [email protected]
This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, including electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
EXPLICIT ADULT CONTENT
WARNING
This novel is considered romantic fiction. This is for mature audiences only. This book contains adult profane language, mild violence and strong sexual content with paranormal and supernatural elements.
***
Dedications
To the Lolah Lace readers that went out of their comfort zone and tried my new Fox Brothers paranormal vampire series.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank beta readers Patrice Harrison, Camille Crawford
and Sheila B.
***
PROLOGUE
A single family home sits on a quiet block of similar homes in a small rural town. Through the darkness the moon shines on the front window and the silhouettes of a man and woman appear from behind sheer curtains.
Behind the curtain stood Patricia Breedlove. She was thirty-five but she looked young for her age. She was blonde with shoulder length hair that didn’t mask her bright blue eyes. Her curves were dangerous. She had the face of an actress and the body of a fifties pinup girl. She gracefully placed her hands on her hips. She was having that dreaded conversation she had before. The conversation she wished she didn’t have to have now.
Three feet in front of Patricia stood Kenneth Jessup. He was tall, slender and a very handsome Black man with dark bronzed skin. He was in his thirties. He was known to lie about his age. He was dressed nicely and in a way that played up his studious facade.
Kenneth was so close Patty could smell the vodka on his breath. She silently asked god what she ever did to deserve this drama.
“Ken look, I told you it was over!”
“I apologized. I said I was sorry! What more do you want from me?”
“That’s just it. I want nothing!”
“Tell me what you want me to do!”
“I want you to return my key and leave, me, alone!”
“How can I leave you alone when I have to see you every day at work?”
“Get over it! It’s been over. You shouldn’t even be here. Does the restraining order mean anything to you?”
“No not really.”
“Well it should. You can go to jail!”
Kenneth charged toward Patricia. He bridged the small gap in between them. He grabbed Patricia by her forearms. He shook her violently and repeatedly. She tried to break free but he was too strong.
Kenneth had been violent with her before and she had enough. She never imagined herself the kind of woman to be domestically abused. She thought she was stronger than that. She thought she deserved better than some man who thought that bullying a woman was a normal part of life.
Kenneth continued to shake her before he hurled Patricia’s wobbly body clear across the room.
Patricia’s small body crashed into an end table, knocking a lamp and a few magazines to the floor before falling over on its side. The lamps light bulb blew on impact. The room was left dim.
Frightened, Patricia cowered as she looked up at Kenneth from the floor. He was towering over her. The anger and rage in his eyes made her think that he might actually end her life. Why couldn’t she reason with him? Their relationship had run its course. He could easily replace her with some other woman. She knew it was wrong to wish him on someone else but she no longer wanted the headache and the mental stress.
“Look what you made me do!”
He was crazy. She knew it more now than ever. Did he really think this was her fault? All she ever did was love him and he cheated and abused her. It was just mental abuse at first. When he started putting his hands on her she knew it was over. There wasn’t enough love in the universe that would allow her to take anymore of his brutish ways.
“Look Patty, you can’t get rid of me that easy!” He spit as he yelled down at her. He took a step like he was going to hit her. Patricia squeezed her eyes tight. In that moment she wished death on him.
Kenneth hesitated when he saw just how scared she had become. He loved her and losing her seemed to be something he just couldn’t fathom. He had tried everything he could think of but she wouldn’t budge. She wouldn’t give him the second chance he knew he deserved. Why was she being so stubborn? He knew she loved him like he loved her. The first time he saw her he knew she was the one for him, beautiful, blonde curvy.
“Patty I love you. Do you hear me? Love you! You are being a fucking bitch!”
Kenneth stormed away and out through the front door. The porch light shone through the doorway and illuminated in the darkness. Kenneth raced down the driveway. He fumbled with his car keys before entering his sports utility vehicle. He stumbled. He had been drinking heavily and he didn’t that much about that fact. He had to leave her house. He was afraid he might hurt her. He couldn’t believe the man she turned him into. He thought she had some nerve to reject him. He had women throwing themselves at him on a regular basis. But Patricia was this high and mighty bitch that thought her pussy was made of gold.
Kenneth planted himself carefully inside his Mercedes. He sat for a moment and then cranked the engine. He listened to the dull rumble. Kenneth quickly backed out the driveway knocking a large blue recycle garbage container on its side.
Kenneth was driving much too fast down the quiet dark street. Suddenly out of nowhere a quick moving orb of light jetted out in front of his car. He swerved to miss the object, an object too fast for the human eye to decipher.
The sound of burnt rubber pierced the air as Kenneth slammed on the brakes. It was too late. He had hit the unforeseen object. He lost control of his car. His car flipped over several times, careening into a large oak tree.
Kenneth realized he was very much alive. He was trapped in his overturned vehicle. It took him awhile to get his bearings. When the ringing stopped in his head he recognized that his car was upside down.
Blood gushed from the open wound on his forehead. He blinked a few times trying to remove the wetness from his blood stained eyes. Kenneth felt his body was intact. He crawled out his overturned vehicle and tried to stand
. His legs felt heavy but not severely damaged. Kenneth’s eyeballs bulged. He thought he had to be hallucinating. What he saw before him just didn’t jive with any reality he was use to seeing.
A flash of fire shot out from an unseen object. Kenneth watched in shock as the fireball struck his overturned car. The truck immediately burst into flames. Just before real deep-rooted fear could grab hold of Kenneth’s heart a ball of fire was in his direction. He didn’t have the time to scream from the agony of his burning flesh. He died instantly only a half a block away from Patricia Breedlove’s house.
CHAPTER 1
A black Range Rover pulled up and parked on the dusty dirt path in front of a modest cabin somewhere out in the middle of nowhere.
The Fox brothers drove through the night until they were back in Lincoln Nebraska. They always ended up back at basecamp and back with their Uncle Donny. His place was a shabby house that sat on un-manicured land. His place held fond memories for the brothers. They spent a lot of time there in their youth. Absolutely nothing had changed since those days. The only thing different was the brothers were all grown up and they had seen things and done things that the average person would find unimaginable.
Max Fox was thirty-three and the typical older domineering brother. He was rough around the edges and the edges were razor sharp. He was handsome in a rugged way and his hazel eyes and dirty blonde hair seemed to always have a woman or two or five taking notice.
Max and his brother Ryan Fox exited the Range Rover and walked up the porch steps. Max’s brother Ryan was twenty-nine and a baby-faced deep thinking man. This was always conveyed in his constant grimace. He was just as handsome as his brother Max but he was two inches taller at six feet four inches. Ryan’s hair was brown and a bit thicker than his brother. He was always a little bit more disheveled than Max.
Their eyes were the same color but Ryan always had a gleam of worry behind his orbs.
The screen door of their uncle’s place was unlocked. The main door was wide open. They entered the screen door and walked into the library to greet their uncle. The room was full of old books and a cluttered dusty mess. Uncle Donny wasn’t much for housekeeping.
Uncle Donny Fox was still quite handsome for a fifty something bearded man. If he lay off the excessive beer and whiskey he could be pretty fit. He always wore a baseball cap. He had a collection of caps and he never wore the same one two days straight.
Donny looked up from his desk as his nephews strolled into his study. He lifted the glass to his lips and glanced up at them. They just reminded him that he was getting old. Time flew by. He knew if his brother were still alive he would be so proud of the men his sons had become.
Ryan sat down on the edge of Uncle Donny’s messy desk. Max leaned on a bookshelf with a bottled beer hovering near his lips. He had stopped off in the kitchen before he came to see his uncle.
“You called us. We’re here. What’s up?” Max asked ready to get to business, the business of hunting vampires.
“Max I’m sorry I haven’t heard anything about Scar. No one has laid eyes on her since she vanished.”
“It’s okay.” Max felt the lump in his throat. “I stopped asking about her months ago.” He took a sip from his beer, proud of himself.
“Yeah son I know, but that doesn’t mean you’re not concerned.” Uncle Donny gave Ryan an empathic look. They both knew that Max was still very heartbroken over Scarlet and all that transpired.
Max really felt like he failed Scar. He promised to keep her safe and he didn’t do that. His heart still ached. He tried to put a bandage on his heart but he could never really forget her. She touched his heart. He wondered if she was still alive, well the undead as a vampire. He wondered if she took her own life when she turned into a vamp. Max had seen hunters kill themselves. It was a code they lived by. The lowest thing to be was a death-dealing vamp. Hunters preserved life and vampires took lives.
Max wondered, if Scar was a vamp he would have the strength to kill Scar if their paths crossed. It was his job to kill vamps and he had never had any problems killing one before.
“Guys I finally got a line on Vampir’s next move.”
“I thought we wanted to get Drack?” Ryan asked.
“We do but Vampir is the mastermind behind the hit list and the reason Scar got turned.” Max huffed.
“Yeah I know bro but we had a plan.”
“You still have the same plan.” Uncle Donny added. “These vamp assholes are connected.”
“Do you think Drack will be on his trail?” Max asked.
“Is hard to say, now that he has moved on. He picked up and left. No one has seen him. Our best bet is to go after Vampir and hope that Drack joins the party.
“Drack will show up. He has a hard-on for Vampir. All of this in fighting amongst the vamps maybe our ticket to wiping the top of their food chain out.”
“Right, Drack can’t stay hidden forever.” Ryan said.
“We can’t stay hidden forever.” Max mused.
“I’m sure he knows exactly where we are.”
“We’re at the bottom of his list of frienemies. He had you and he even possessed your body with his half demon parts. He didn’t kill you when he had the chance and I’m still not sure why. Do you know why?”
“You have asked me that many times and I have the same answer. I don’t know.”
Max didn’t believe him. He wondered if his brother struck some kind of deal with Drack. Uncle Donny wasn’t so convinced either. Ryan was different since he’d been back. It had been awhile but still it seemed he wasn’t his old self.
“Guys, are we really talking about killing Drack?”
“We’ve been talking about it like forever?” Max shrugged. “Do you have a problem with that?”
“No of course not.” Ryan curiously added. He had more than a few reasons to want Drack dead. Drack had kidnapped him. He imprisoned him in his dungeon full of monsters where Ryan was mentally and physically tortured. Worst of all Drack possessed his body with his demon half. That was the worse violation of them all. Ryan always backed up Max’s plans. So he was going to keep with that way of life.
“Not that I can think of.” Max replied.
“Boys, all that power has just gone to Drack’s head. He has to be eliminated. Let’s get rid of this hybrid vamp asshole.”
“He’s got power and I can’t wait to pull the fucking power cord. I refuse to bow down to this self-righteous son of a bitch. I refuse to let him get away with what he did to you Ryan.”
“As long as you boys don’t drink the red Kool-Aid, hashtag vampire blood, you should be okay. I know you boys can take Drack out.”
“So we use Vampir as bait. That’s our brilliant plan?” Ryan scowled.
“Yes, word is Vampir has been sending his vampire brethren scouting for some special demon kid that he thinks Drack is interested in.”
“A demon kid?”
“Yes I don’t have many details but there is a demon kid somewhere over the rainbow. You two beat Vampir and Drack to the kid and set operation Jonestown in motion.”
“Even if we lure Drack to Vampir, we’re still not sure if we can take him out. The machete doesn’t work on Drack. He’s not a regular vampire he’s a hybrid. I honestly don’t know what he is. His power is unique.”
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” Max gave positivity a chance. As far as he was concerned anything could be killed.
“Who said there was a will?” Ryan sluggishly asked.
Ryan’s lack of confidence irritated Max. “There’s got to be a way to rip his vampire or his demon right out of that host body they’re in.”
“Look boys, first things first. You need to capture Vampir. He is looking for this special kid. I hear the demon kid is held up somewhere in Plano.”
“Texas?” Ryan asked.
“Illinois.”
“Where the hell is Plano, Illinois?”
CHAPTER 2
The Fox brothers finally made
it to the rural town of Plano, Illinois. There wasn’t much to see on their journey. The long drive made them both hungry for real food. Real food for them was always something from some diner, fast food restaurant or bar. Max stopped off at Dan’s Roadhouse after Ryan saw a sign on the side of the road.
They parked in the gravel lot and sauntered into the bar. Dan’s Roadhouse wasn’t anything fancy. The decor was minimal. There were old wood panels, scratched up wood tables and wood chairs. The roadhouse was a world of wood if ever a world existed. Ryan and Max sat in a booth facing each other.
Max was starving as always. Every since he lost Scar he was completely immersed in his work. He hated having any alone time. When he was alone she would creep into his thoughts and haunt him. He knew he would never ever find another woman like her. He knew he would probably never see her again. If by chance he ran into her he knew with out a doubt he would have to kill her. That notion pierced his soul. That realization caused him plenty of sleepless nights.
There was something about Dan’s Roadhouse that gave Ryan a sense of deja vu. He squinted as he tried to recall just why the dive bar had a familiar ambiance. He looked around and tried to piece it together.
“Stop daydreaming. In the morning we head out to the local high school and look for Rosemary’s baby all grown up.”
“How do we even know it’s a teenager?”
“We don’t but what demon jumps into a third graders body?”
“Good point.”
“We go in and check to see what kids have skipped school and try to track them down.”
Ryan shook his head yes. That sounded like a good enough plan. He looked around the bar. He was putting a few things together in his mind. “Max, I remember this place. I hunted here over two years ago when I was not my self.”
Max raised one eyebrow. He knew Ryan meant when he was possessed by a demon. Not any demon, Drack’s demon. Max looked around the room at the scattered bar patrons. He needed to make sure their conversation was private.
