The Vampire Awakenings Bundle: Books 1-5

by Davies, Brenda K.

  The woman’s head turned toward him; her striking turquoise colored eyes met his. Her black eyebrows furrowed as she stared at him over the top of her slender, pointed nose. The freckles speckling the bridge of her nose, and the roundness of her cheeks, gave her a youthful appearance, but he guessed she was at least twenty-one. Tall and lean, she had the lithe body of a ballerina and moved with the grace of one as she cut through the crowd. Her step hesitated when her eyes met his then the man at her side nudged her elbow, prompting her to keep moving toward the exit.

  She gave a brief bow of her head before slipping out the front door. Ian watched as Bear shut the door behind them. Turning away, he searched for the other brunette who had caught his attention. He spotted her in the booth. Leaning out, she looked toward him before giggling and ducking back again. He took a step toward her with the resolve of sealing the deal and getting this over with, but he found his attention drawn to the door and the mystery woman who’d just left.

  The man she was with was probably her boyfriend, he told himself. He still stood there, torn between his sure thing and the woman who had just walked out of the bar. There had been something about her, but then there was something about all women. They were all so tempting and attractive; he’d yet to meet one he could refuse. He’d also never met one with eyes quite that color before, or one who had him turning on his heel and walking toward the front door. Bear opened it up for him as he approached.

  A cool breeze drifted through the open door, cooling his overheated skin as he stepped free of the crowd. They may be tough about who they let into the bar, but they weren’t great at adhering to the occupancy limit. He was almost to the door when he heard a small squeak. He froze, his ears adjusted to hear over the music, and the heavy breathing and low moans of a couple having sex in the back storage room. A room he had used a few times before when the opportunity presented itself. Stretching his senses further into the night, he picked up on what sounded like a scuffle behind the building. Worry filled him, what if the woman who had just left was the one in trouble?

  “Leaving alone?” Bear’s tone was one of disbelief when he stepped out the door.

  “Maybe,” Ian muttered.

  He didn’t look back, but he heard the click of the door closing behind him. He hurried down the side of the building toward the alley running between the bar and the back of a bank. An empty beer bottle rolled across the pavement; it clinked as it knocked up against the brick wall of the bank. A small squeak sounded; no other noises followed. If he didn’t know better, he’d think the woman and man were back there having sex, but the alluring scent of sex wasn’t what he smelled right now. No, the cloying, sickly sweet scent like that of an overripe peach hung heavily in the air. He recognized it as the aroma of fear. The rapid beat of an accelerated heart drummed against his ears as he slid around the corner.

  There, between the dumpsters and the buildings, a hulking figure hunched over someone. Instinct alone told him the figure wasn’t human before the foul reek of rotting garbage emanating from the vampire filled his nostrils. His gaze slid to the woman in the vampire’s arms. Anger speared through him when he saw the spill of chocolate curls flowing over the vamp’s forearm. Pouring on the speed, Ian lowered his shoulder and smashed into the side of the vampire who had been too focused on his prey to notice Ian’s approach.

  The man let out a low grunt as he flew twenty feet in the air before crashing into the corner of the opposite wall. Ian glanced at the woman lying on the ground. Her head was turned to the side; blood trickled down her neck from the ragged gashes torn across her ivory flesh by the vampire’s fangs. Her heart beat sluggishly, but she’d survive if he could get her out of here soon.

  The vampire he’d thrown across the way staggered back to his feet, shook his head, and released a low snarl that may have made other vampires run. Ian only laughed instead, “Bring it.”

  In the dim glow of the streetlights spilling into the alleyway, the vampire’s eyes glistened like rubies. The vamp’s fangs flashed when his lips skimmed back and he released a hiss. Bracing his feet apart, Ian waved his hands at the vamp in a come on gesture. The vampire raced across the short distance and leapt at him with his arms and legs outstretched in the Superman position.

  Idiot, Ian thought. He darted to the side at the last second, clasped his hands together, and smashed them into the back of the vampire who had mistakenly believed he was some sort of comic book creation. A burst of air exploded from the vampire; a vertebrae in his spine cracked from the force of Ian’s blow. The vampire’s facedown impact onto the pavement broke his chin and jaw. The coppery scent of his attacker’s blood filled the air. Ian inhaled it eagerly, his fangs pricked, but he fought back his yearning to feed. Grinding his teeth together, he stalked toward the man rolling over on the ground. Blood streamed from his broken nose but was slowly starting to ease as his healing abilities kicked in.

  Before the man could regain his feet, Ian slammed his foot into his chest and shoved him down again. Blood sprayed from the vampire’s mouth as a round of coughing wracked his body. Those red eyes burned up at him hatefully. Ian grinned at him, revealing his own fangs. He grabbed the stake tucked into his waistband and pulled it free. Never leave home without it, he thought.

  The man’s eyes widened when he saw the stake. Ian’s smile grew as he flipped it in his hand. “Normally I wouldn’t do this. I’d let you go about your way, but you smell like a landfill, which leads me to the conclusion she’s not your first victim, and unless I end you she won’t be your last.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, what smell?” the man snarled.

  “No, you wouldn’t,” Ian replied. “Pity too, because if you could smell yourself, you would have stopped killing. Oh, well.”

  The man seized hold of his calf and tried to yank Ian’s foot out from under him. He leaned more heavily into the man’s chest, feeling the satisfying collapse of ribs beneath his foot as bones gave way beneath the pressure of his weight. The man released a howl that would draw Bear’s attention, but he planned to be out of here before Bear arrived. He wasn’t much for torture, he didn’t enjoy killing, but he had to admit he’d been enjoying this.

  Lifting the stake above his head, he was about to drive it into the man’s chest when the sound of approaching footsteps caught his attention. The man, taking advantage of his distraction, jerked Ian’s foot upward. A startled curse escaped Ian when his leg was knocked out from under him. He fell back, and would have landed on the ground, if he hadn’t managed to flip himself around in the air and land on his other foot.

  The vampire launched to his feet, his upper lip curled into a sneer. Instead of launching himself at Ian, he turned and fled into the shadows lining the alley. Ian took a step after him to finish what he’d started, but the dwindling beat of the woman’s heart brought him to a halt. He’d take care of the vamp later if he could find him, right now he had to get the girl out of this alley. She couldn’t stay here, not with the proof of the attack on her neck, and her life rapidly slipping away with each drop of her blood.

  Spinning away, he raced toward her and carefully lifted her off the ground. Her eyelids fluttered open briefly, her dazed eyes met his before closing again. The sound of the approaching footsteps echoing off of the buildings and slapping against the concrete spurred him into motion. He cradled the girl against his chest as a figure came charging at him from around the corner. He’d been expecting Bear, instead he came face to face with the man she’d been inside the bar with. A thunderous expression crossed the man’s face when he spotted Ian with the woman in his arms.

  Thrown off by the arrival of the stranger, he didn’t immediately see the crossbow in the man’s hand until it was rising up to aim dead center at his heart. The twang of the arrow releasing reverberated in his ears before he spun out of the way. He felt the brush of the arrow tip slice across his back. The warm trickle of his blood slid down his flesh from his split skin.

  He almost lau
nched at the man but the woman in his arms, and his need to get her to safety, stopped him from doing so. If he went after this man, she would most likely die. His lips skimmed back, his fangs elongated as the man reloaded the crossbow and lifted it toward him. Ian didn’t stick around to see this arrow fired. He spun on his heel and fled into the night.

  Chapter Three

  Ian ran faster than he’d ever run in his life with no idea where he was going. He couldn’t take her to the hospital, not with those marks so evident upon her neck, and not with the blood loss she’d sustained. The puncture wounds could be healed with his saliva, but then there would be no explanation for the blood loss. He couldn’t abandon her without the doctors having some idea of what was wrong with her and the delay in getting her blood could spell the end of her life. The idea of sticking a note in her pocket fluttered across his mind, but he couldn’t leave her there, not without knowing how she fared and he doubted it would make the news. If he just left her for someone else to find, he would always wonder if she survived.

  He couldn’t take the risk someone might be able to figure out what had happened to her. Humans loved to live in the world of denial when it came to the supernatural and events beyond their understanding. However, there were those who didn’t live in the sunny state of denial, those who knew all about beings like him, and they hunted his kind. Instinct told him the guy in the alley with the crossbow was one of those people. He would bet his life the man intent on spearing him with an arrow was a vampire hunter.

  He had no idea where her attacker had gone. He refused to take the chance the man would somehow hunt her down in the hospital and finish what he’d started. The scent of her blood on the air would be enough to keep the vampire on their trail, but he didn’t sense anyone else amongst the dense trees zipping by him in a blur.

  He barely felt the weight of the woman in his arms as he ran through the thick woods surrounding the campus. His mind continued to race through the possibilities of what he could do with her. He couldn’t bring her back to the house, the guys there let a lot of things slide, but they wouldn’t overlook him carrying an unconscious woman who was bleeding all over the place into the house. And the smell of her blood…

  His nostrils flared as he inhaled her delicious scent. Her blood carried the faint hue of cinnamon and surprisingly, apples. He’d detected a scent like cinnamon in people before, but never apples. Perhaps she ate a lot of the fruit, or maybe it was her natural, heady scent. His mouth watered as his fangs tingled. He felt like the worst sort of ass; the woman had nearly been killed, and his mind was focused on what she would taste like and how good her blood would feel running down his throat.

  Just as he cursed himself, her heart gave a stuttering beat. Ian pulled up sharply to stare down at the bundle in his arms. The blood flowing from the gash on her neck had slowed, as had her pulse. A hitching, rattling breath escaped her. Shifting her in his arms, he bit into his wrist. He stared down at the blood beading on his skin before glancing at the girl again. He’d never shared his blood with another before, but as her heart gave another lurching beat, he knew it was either this, or she died.

  “Shit.” Before he could think too much about it, he shoved his wrist against her mouth.

  At first the girl didn’t respond, but then she began to reflexively swallow the blood trickling into the back of her throat. He stared down at her, marveling at the paleness of her skin that made the freckles dusting her nose and cheeks appear darker and more obvious. As the healing ability of his blood seeped into her system, color began to return to her cheeks, her pulse picked up and started to smooth out. She still required medical attention, but the jagged tears in her neck were knitting closed before his eyes.

  He shut his mind down to the pathways opening between them due to the sharing of his blood. He never allowed himself to see into another. She may be unconscious, but he couldn’t take the chance she might learn anything detrimental about him. Besides, it was a habit of his to stifle the feelings of others; he didn’t really care what someone else experienced when he fed from them.

  He knew he didn’t harm them, and he made sure they weren’t frightened while he fed by taking control of their mind and soothing them. Afterward, he erased all memory of what had transpired between them. Even still, a glimmer of heartache and suffering slipped from her mind into his that pulled at his heart inexplicably. He didn’t know what she’d experienced in her lifetime, but he sensed enough to know it hadn’t been good.

  As the wounds faded more rapidly away, they left behind two diagonal scars on the right side of her neck that ran from the center of her neck toward her collarbone. At first he assumed they would heal too, but as the fresh marks vanished, he realized these scars wouldn’t heal. They were at least a couple of years older and located to the left of the deep wounds she’d sustained tonight.

  A different vampire attack, he realized. What had this girl gone through, and what was she mixed up in?

  Pulling his wrist away from her mouth, he stared down at her as he listened to the increased beat of her heart and tried to figure out what to do with her. Adjusting his hold on her, he dug his phone out of his pocket. Flipping through the numbers, he pulled up Ethan’s and hit send. He would have preferred to keep his older brother out of this, would have called his younger brother Aiden instead, as he had no wife, but Aiden still hadn’t reached maturity and lacked strength. Aiden was powerful, but he was no match for Ethan’s capabilities. Ian knew he required as much strength as he could get right now. On the third ring a groggy voice answered the phone. “Someone better be dying,” Ethan grumbled.

  “It’s a possibility,” Ian replied.

  He could hear the rustle of sheets as his brother sat up and the thud of his feet hitting the floor. “What happened?” he demanded. Ian hurriedly filled him in on the events that had unfolded tonight. “Where are you?”

  “In the woods, by the campus.”

  “Get out of there. Stay hidden and stay in touch.”

  “Ethan, that man knew what I was, and this girl was with him earlier tonight. I also don’t know where the other vampire is. I think I lost him, but you could be walking into a trap.”

  “I’m on my way.”

  Before Ian could respond the line went dead.

  * * *

  Ian ran out of the woods when he saw the headlights entering the back parking lot. He’d traveled more than thirty miles away from his school, a school he didn’t think he’d ever see again after this night. The Jeep pulled to a stop fifty feet away; before the headlights could turn off, he pulled the back door open. His eyes landed on his brother-in-law, Stefan, sitting in the backseat, a resigned expression on his face.

  “You shouldn’t have come,” Ian told him as he slid into the car with the woman still curled unconsciously in his arms.

  The inside light of the SUV caused Stefan’s dark eyes to shine like onyx; his black hair stood in disheveled spikes around his face. “Was it a hunter?” Stefan demanded.

  “I don’t know,” Ian admitted. He went to close the door when something poked him in the thigh. Reaching down, he tugged a stake from a holster tied around her waist. He hadn’t bothered to search her while he’d been trying to keep her hidden; she wasn’t exactly capable of trying to kill him right now anyway. The stake was confirmation that whoever had left the original scars on her neck hadn’t bothered to erase their existence from her mind, he realized as he lifted it before him and then flung it out the door.

  “Nice,” Stefan muttered and shook his head.

  Ian gave her a quick pat down search. He uncovered two more stakes he threw out the door, before closing it. He glanced nervously back at the woods; he’d caught no hint of anyone else amongst them in the hour he’d been out there, but he wasn’t about to take any chances with the safety of his family.

  In the front passenger seat, Ethan’s wife, Emma turned to look at the woman. “Is she ok?”

  “I gave her some of my blood to keep her alive, b
ut I didn’t want to give her too much. She needs medical attention. Unfortunately, she hasn’t woken up, so I can’t alter her memories.”

  “I called Mandy to help. David and Mike went to pick her and Jill up. They’re going to meet us,” Emma told him. Her gaze fell on the girl again before she turned around in her seat.

  He briefly met Ethan’s emerald eyes in the rearview mirror before his brother shifted into drive and pulled out of the parking lot. “Where are we going?”

  “A cabin Brian and I own in the Cascades. I haven’t been there in years, but Brian said he still uses it once in a while,” Stefan answered.

  Ian lifted an eyebrow at the mention of Stefan’s old, sort of friend, Brian. He knew his brother-in-law and Ethan weren’t fans of Brian. Stefan must have been more troubled than he was letting on, if he’d been willing to involve Brian. “Is Brian going to be there?”

  “No. He knows we’ll be using it, but he’s on the East coast right now.”

  “What’s he doing there?”

  “I didn’t ask and I don’t care.”

  Ian may not mind Brian as much as the others, but he also didn’t care to know what the vampire did in his free time. He glanced down at the woman in his arms. The creamy color of her skin and the black lashes curled against her cheeks intrigued him. A primal urge he didn’t understand, caused him to run his finger over her silky cheek. Her lids fluttered but didn’t open.

  “How did you get Isabelle to stay behind?” Ian asked Stefan as a way to distract himself from the warmth of her body.

  “I didn’t wake her before I left,” Stefan replied.

  Ian released a snort of laughter. “She’s going to be pissed.”