The Vampire Awakenings Bundle: Books 1-5

by Davies, Brenda K.

  Her face fell as she tugged her shirt over her head. Ian hurried down the hall of the frat house he’d been living in since freshman year. The distinct sounds of music, video games, and sex could be heard from the rooms he passed as he made his way toward the front door. The familiar noises and smells of alcohol, sweat, and clean linen Glade air fresheners had become home to him over the past four years. It could be a jungle, sometimes the privacy was nil, but he was accustomed to that after growing up surrounded by fifteen other people. He’d miss this large house and the friends he’d made here when he graduated in a couple of months.

  Pounding down the stairs, he walked through the main living room toward the front door. A few guys were picking up the trash from the party last night. A party he’d missed due to his overwhelming need for female companionship. After four years, and his rabid increase in pickups this year, the pickings had become rather slim at the frat house parties. Last night must have been relatively calm as there weren’t as many discarded plastic cups lying around as usual.

  “Hey Ian,” a couple of the guys greeted him.

  “Hey, fun night?” he inquired.

  “Always,” one of them replied with a laugh.

  He wasn’t so sure about that, but he didn’t argue with the kid. Opening the front door, he walked across the porch and down the steps. He walked around the house toward the two guys tossing the football in the backyard. He’d just rounded the corner when the ball flew at him with a ferocity most would have considered hard and fast. The kind of throw that would have knocked a human back a step.

  Ian faked a grunt as he caught the ball against his stomach. “Nice throw,” he said before tossing the ball back to his friend Milo.

  “Nice catch.” Milo threw the ball to their friend Oscar. Milo and Oscar were the other members of the frat who had been on the football team with him. The team hadn’t made it far into the playoffs this year, or any other year, but he’d had a great time playing with these guys, and they’d become his best friends during his time here. They didn’t know he was a vampire, but they knew everything else about him. They’d been good friends, but he doubted he’d see much of them again after graduation. The whole not aging thing tended to put a damper on extended relationships with humans.

  “We going out again tonight?” Oscar asked as he passed the ball to Milo.

  “Not staying in,” Milo replied with a laugh.

  Ian caught the ball and tossed it away again. The door to the house opened and closed. Ian leaned back to watch the woman he’d been with last night walk down the sidewalk and make a right at the corner. He really wished he could remember her name; he wouldn’t feel like such an ass about what had passed between them if he could. He didn’t think of himself as a bad guy. He knew how he was behaving wasn’t entirely sane or normal, but he couldn’t stop himself.

  He didn’t know how to stop, and whenever he tried, the clawing sensation in his chest and gut made it nearly impossible to think, let alone control himself. Lack of control in a vampire could spell death for any human within reach if he were to slip even a little bit. Control was imperative and not something he’d given much thought about, until last year when his life had abruptly changed.

  Milo glanced back at the girl and shook his head. “I don’t know how you do it man.”

  “The ladies love me,” Ian replied with a laugh. “It must be my good looks, something you wouldn’t know anything about.”

  Milo flipped him the finger and threw the ball at him in a perfect spiral. Ian leapt up to catch the ball as Milo charged across the ground at him. Short and spry, Milo had been difficult to catch while playing quarterback, but he’d never been able to tackle anyone. He lowered his shoulder and plowed into Ian; they both knew Milo would never be able to take him down, but Ian faked being knocked off balance before Milo ran away again.

  “Asshole!” Milo jogged backwards with his hands in the air for the ball.

  Ian threw the ball back to him. Some of the other guys from the frat began to emerge, and a pickup game of two-hand touch started to unfold. Someone broke out the beer, laughter drifted through the air to mix with the smell of hamburgers and hot dogs cooking on the grill. Girlfriends gathered on the sidelines to cheer on their boyfriends as people from neighboring houses were drawn outside by the loud noise and the luring smell of the cooking food.

  During these times, when he’d recently satisfied his more carnal urges and was back amongst his friends, he could almost remember what life had been like before he’d stopped aging. Almost remember the laughter and carefree moments that had made up most of his days. Everything had been so easy then. He’d been an athlete, he’d done well in school, he’d had a set plan for after graduation, and he had a loving family. Now, things were completely different.

  He longed for his old life back, to be able to sleep undisturbed through the night without being plagued with the urge for sex. Even now as he joked with his friends, he could feel the urge building within him to go on the prowl for the next warm, willing body.

  He refused to acknowledge this might be what the rest of his life was like. He might go completely insane if he had to face this every day. Never had he believed the idea of endless women and sex would become boring and tiresome, but it had started to border on complete monotony a few months ago. The only problem was there was no end in sight, not for him.

  * * *

  Paige sat in the hotel bedroom, idly flipping through the channels on the TV as she stared at the changing screens. The daytime was always the worst for her. She had no idea what to do with herself during certain times of the day. She’d already been to the gym and worked out for an hour, already spent another hour having a sparring match with Nabel. Her muscles were still sore from their session. He hadn’t taken it easy on her, and she didn’t want him to.

  The daylight hours weren’t so bad when she was at home and had work to fill her days, but she’d taken this week off to follow the latest lead with Nabel. She would have quit her job if she’d had to in order to be here; she’d spent the last four years of her life searching and waiting for this kind of a break.

  Tossing the remote aside, she rose to her feet and strode over to the window. She pulled back the heavy curtains to peer out at the bright day. All she lived for now was the night, and it was still too far away for her liking. The night was when she could hunt the monsters plaguing their world, especially the monster that had been plaguing her.

  With a sigh, she dropped the curtain into place and turned to face the room. She’d spent far too many of her years living in and out of hotel rooms just like this one. Over the years, they’d all blurred into one endless array of landscape paintings, industrial carpets, and threadbare comforters. They were all some form of beige or white with crappy fluorescent lighting in what was normally a pink or yellow bathroom. This one had thrown a curveball by sporting a blue bathroom with recessed lighting, but the rest of the tiny space was like all the rest.

  Paige looked helplessly around the room; she could go back to the gym, but she didn’t want to tire herself out before nightfall. She should be napping, but she was far too wired and excited to go to sleep. Grabbing some change and her room key, she stepped into the hall and headed down to the small vending machine area. She punched in the number for a bottle of water. She watched as it fell down and clanked against the machine when it hit bottom. Walking over to the next machine, she debated for a minute before settling on a bag of peanuts.

  Heading back to her room, she paused outside of Nabel’s door where she contemplated whether or not she should knock. They spent a fair amount of time together, but she wouldn’t consider him her friend or someone she would normally pass the time with. She’d bet he felt the same way about her and wouldn’t exactly appreciate having her perched on the end of his bed talking about the weather.

  Four years ago, she would have just picked up her sketch pad and pencils in order to keep herself occupied, but it had been years since she’d sketched any
thing. She found herself pining for her old, artistic love as she headed back toward her lonely room. She didn’t think she’d ever draw again, that obsession had been replaced with a new one, but at least it would have helped her kill the time.

  Opening the bag of peanuts, she popped a couple in her mouth as she moved past his room and back toward hers. The TV was still going and Divorce Court was in session when she settled onto the bed again. She absently began to flip through the channels once more before turning back to look at the sun filtering around the edges of the thick curtains.

  Only a few more hours, she told herself. Only a few more hours and she would be back on the hunt for the vampires ravaging their world.

  Chapter Two

  Ian tipped his chair back and leaned against the wall of the crowded bar. Most of the occupants were college students, a few were older, and a handful were high school students who had managed to slip past the bouncer at the door. They must have had some fantastic fake ID’s as he knew the bear sized man at the door, who actually liked to be called Bear, was a real stickler when it came to who he let in and out of the bar. Either that or they had far more money than a kid their age should if they had managed to bribe Bear into letting them in.

  He wouldn’t exactly call the bar seedy, but its main purposes were getting people drunk and providing a place for college students to hook up. The edge of the campus was only a hundred feet away from the bar; the owner had made a fortune over the years on the crowd of young students rotating through the doors.

  The ever changing crowd was what had drawn him here in the first place. The only problem was that the one woman he’d mistakenly taken home twice was here tonight too; he didn’t feel like dealing with her if she decided to approach him again. He’d spent a night with her during his freshman year but had forgotten about it when he’d picked her up again three weeks ago. It hadn’t helped that it had been one of his really bad days, and he’d drunk enough to kill three humans in order to get through it. The girl had remembered him and mistakenly assumed his slip up meant something more. She appeared to be occupied with another man tonight, so he decided to stay at the bar and find someone else.

  All the women he took home knew about his one and done rule, his reputation often preceded him, and if they didn’t know, he made sure they did before they went back to his place. If they had a problem with it, he had to know while he still had a chance to take someone else home.

  He found enough women who were quite agreeable to his rule. Some were only looking for the same from him, others hoped they could change him, while others were merely curious. More than a few women had told him that not only had his, “hit it and quit it,” reputation preceded him, but so had his prowess and skills in bed. He may have no intention of sleeping with them again, but he was going to make sure every woman he took home had one of the best nights of their lives.

  It might be better for him if he did have a steady girlfriend, an almost guarantee of regular sex to ease him when the pressure grew to be too much, but he liked people too much to treat them in such a way. He didn’t deny this wasn’t the best way to treat them either, but he’d never encountered another vampire to set up something casual with around school.

  “Someone’s on the prowl again,” Oscar joked and elbowed Milo in the ribs.

  Milo shot him a look and finished off his beer. “Your dick is going to rot off with the way you’ve been going,” Milo said to him before sliding the beer bottle toward the bartender.

  Ian shrugged and folded his arms over his chest as he continued to survey the bar in the hopes of finding someone who piqued his interest. There were a few potentials on the dance floor, but right now they were more content to show off their dance moves to their friends rather than anyone else.

  The bartender replaced Milo’s beer and glanced at him questioningly. Ian nodded and polished off his beer before taking hold of the fresh one the bartender handed him. His gaze slid over the crowd again. A brunette across the way, sitting with her friends, glanced over the packed dance floor and smiled at him. Ian smiled back at her and raised his bottle to give a brief salute in her direction. She glanced away sheepishly. She could pretend all she wanted, it would be her he left here with, sooner rather than later. With his future date already staked out for the night, he relaxed enough to turn his attention to his two friends.

  “I’ve found who I’m looking for,” he informed them.

  “Seriously rot off,” Milo said.

  Oscar clapped him on the shoulder. “My hero. Go get her.”

  Ian snorted, finished off his beer and placed it on the counter. His gaze remained on the brunette in the corner. She kept glancing at him and then looking away. He knew it was part of the game, but he’d prefer to skip the ridiculousness of this part of the evening and get to where they both knew they were going to end up, his bed.

  Paige leaned back in her booth seat as she scanned the crowded bar. Unknowingly her body swayed with the beat of the dance music playing over the speakers. Maybe, if she’d been a normal twenty-two year old this place would have been a lot of fun to hang out with her friends. Maybe she would have gone to college, not the one near this bar, but some other college on the East coast. That had actually been her plan before God had decided to laugh and squash it.

  Nabel shifted in the booth. His glimmering brown eyes were intense as he leaned toward her. “Do you see him?” he inquired.

  Frustration filled her as she shook her head no. Due to a couple of tips from some of Nabel’s sources, they’d spent the past three days in this area, but the man she’d spent the past four years of her life searching for was nowhere amongst this crowd. There were three other bars in the area, but they’d decided to hit this one first tonight.

  Across the way, she saw the tall, massive blond man she’d seen every night here rise to his feet. She found her eyes irresistibly locked upon him as he stretched his back. His shoulders could fill a doorway, his biceps were larger than her thighs; the muscles in his arms flexed when he rolled his shoulders back and said something to the two men sitting with him. The men laughed and the bartender handed him another beer. She didn’t know what it was about the man, but every time she saw him she found herself intrigued by him.

  He was so incredibly fascinating and it wasn’t just his striking good looks. Something about him…

  And every other woman in the place felt the same way, she realized. She’d seen him leave here with a different girl every night she’d been here. Not like it mattered. She didn’t plan to introduce herself to him, learn his name, or have any kind of conversation with him, but she still found herself watching him as he pulled out his wallet and threw some money on the bar. She could see why women kept leaving with him, if she’d been a normal college girl she probably would have at least talked to him too.

  Hell, she already was drawn to him. She didn’t experience desire often, but every time she looked at him, she could feel it curling within her belly. There were far more important things right now than a man, she reminded herself as she took a sip of her water. No matter how sexy that man was, or how curious she was to touch one of his many muscles. Was it possible for muscles to have muscles, she marveled as his forearms and biceps flexed.

  The black tank top he wore hugged his broad chest and emphasized his chiseled body. Dark blond stubble lined his jaw; he rubbed at it as he looked over the occupants of the bar. The predatory gleam in his sky colored eyes only made her heart beat faster. Before his gaze could drift over where she sat, she leaned back in the booth. She didn’t know why but she would prefer it if he didn’t see her.

  Determined to ignore him, she turned her attention to the rest of the bar. Amongst the occupants, she spotted the woman the tall blond man had left with last night. She stood with a group of her friends, their heads were bent close together as they talked and laughed with each other. Paige couldn’t see him anymore, but she could feel his overwhelming presence filling the bar.

  “Is there a chanc
e your info could have been wrong?” Under normal circumstances she would never question him, she’d learned he would never reveal his secrets to her. That was ok with her, as long as he taught her how to fight better and helped her in her mission. She wasn’t a born hunter, not like Nabel and his kind, and because of that she would always be on the outside. She’d worked so tirelessly to finally be here though and didn’t want to risk her tenuous position amongst a group she barely knew but had come to count on. However, over the years, she’d come to realize she had few virtues; patience sat near the bottom of the list.

  Nabel sat back in his seat and folded his arms over his chest as he stared at her. “Our info is never wrong.” He placed his hands on the table and rose to his feet. “We should be going.”

  Questions formed rapidly in her mind; how did he know, who had told him that vampires were here, how had they known it was the one she was searching for? She thought her tongue might start to bleed from the force with which she bit into it. She’d spent over two years trying to infiltrate the hunters, trying to find them and get them to agree to help her; she refused to blow it now. Not when she could be so close to finally ending it, to finally fulfilling the mission she’d started four years ago. Excitement pulsed through her veins as she practically bounced on her toes in anticipation.

  Rising to her feet beside Nabel, she dropped a couple of dollars on the table. Following him toward the door, she glanced back at the gorgeous man still standing with his friends. A set of sky blue eyes met hers; his head tilted to the side as he studied her. Paige held his gaze for a few steps before Nabel nudged her elbow and she hastily looked away. The mountain of a man at the door pushed it open for them. Paige didn’t glance back as she stepped into the brisk April night.

  Ian stepped away from Milo and Oscar when he met the small brunette’s gaze across the way again. He’d already had enough of the game and was more than eager to leave. People instinctively moved out of the way of his large frame as he cut through the outer edge of the crowd. His lengthy strides slowed when he spotted another brunette woman making her way through the throng.