The Man Behind the Vampire (The Silver Series)

by Samantha Bates

  "What do you fuckers want?" he had to have small man syndrome, at 5 foot 4 inches he was tiny, with long dark greasy hair, his brown eyes were stoned and the tattoos on his arms told everyone how much he loved his mother, father and various other females. Darius had met Carlos on a handful of occasions. Initially scared of him, Carlos soon learned that Darius was somewhat restricted by human laws and this made him even more cocky towards him, who was just waiting for a reason to kick his ass.

  "I need to see Leila" he could see the indecision on Carlos' face, should he risk turning them away, or risk letting them in. Eventually he let them in. The apartment was a mess, it was cluttered and dirty, coming past the kitchen he saw two other men in there, both wasted, dishes overflowing, cigarette ends on the floor, paper strewn every-where. The old fashioned yellow wall paper peeling, nicotine stains on the ceiling. The smell of rotten food infiltrated the room, drifting into the hallway.

  "LEILA, get your butt out here!" the voice brooked no argument, the command was obvious.

  He heard a sniffling "I will be right out, I am nearly ready."

  She came out of what he assumed to be a bath room; it was Darius' turn to gasp. Her eyes were red and puffy; he could see the trembling hands which explained the poorly applied make up, the remnants of black eyes were still there. She was limping quite badly; her nose had been broken some time ago. But it was the gash on her cheeks and neck that stopped him in his tracks, deep cuts that had never been stitched; he could see they were slightly pus-filled and if he had to guess he would say they were infected.

  Leila was only 25 or 26, but she looked tired and old, her dark brown hair was cropped short into her neck, her petite frame was tucked into a small black dress. Unsteady on her feet Darius gently took her arm and led her to a table in the kitchen, Mitch moved the other men out. He could hear her intake of breath with every step, he had no doubt she was still working.

  "Why are you two here? I don’t understand?" Knowing Carlos was at the doorway, he made it up, explaining how he had couldn’t find her so he checked the police databases and eventually found this address.

  "Leila, listen to me we need to get you checked out by a doctor, those gashes look sore and infected."

  With a wince she touched the one on her neck, and then looked around the room. He could see her embarrassment at the conditions she lived in.

  "Sorry about the mess. Thanks for coming but you don’t have to worry about me. I have been using antiseptic cream" she was shaking even more, trying to avoid looking at him, her eyes kept flicking to Carlos.

  "Don’t look at Carlos Leila, you ARE going to leave with me tonight, we are going to get you help, and if Carlos has a problem with that he can deal with me not you" he heard movement behind him.

  "You motherfu…."

  He didn’t need to move, Darius knew Mitch had been waiting for a reason and as he heard the scuffle he knew Mitch had taken him down, albeit temporarily. Carlos was a Mexican who flexed his power by hurting others which is how he ruled his women. He tended to have at least one other big guy with him in the apartment at all times, another one stayed on the streets watching the girls. His tats were the most intimidating thing about him; the spider web on his cheek, a chain running down his neck.

  "Leila, listen to me, I have a safe place for you to go. There are people waiting for you and a doctor who is one of the best. All I need to know is if you are willing to come. It's a chance to get out of this life but it's up to you?"

  It wasn’t really a question, if he had to sit here all night convincing her to go he would. He just wanted her to want to get out.

  As she nodded, tears fell down her cheeks streaking her mascara, pulling her dress down as she stood, she was shaking so badly that Mitch lifted her "is there anything you need from here Leila?" In Mitch's arms she looked like a small child, a terrified small child,

  "There's a small bag under the bed, a red one. It has photos of my mother."

  Thirty minutes later they arrived at the Elite Silver Haven, it was a huge house with electric gates and cameras dotted all over the palce, "wow what is this place, its huge."

  "This is a refuge of sorts; it was started last year by a friend of mine. Imogen won't mind me saying but she was kidnapped and abused by a witch. She was later attacked by vampires and left for dead. She then met some women, who had been pimped by a vampire; she saw the need for a safe haven. It is targeted at women who have been abused by other species. It’s a place where you will have access to counselling, doctors, and training programmes with the Silver Wolf Pack, self defence classes, pretty much everything you need under one roof. There are always security people around the place. So far it has been pretty busy although it’s quiet right now. The people who work here are great, but I suppose I am biased."

  "Why" he could see from the mirror that she was trying to take everything in, but in the darkness her view was pretty limited.

  "Most of the people here are my friends; I even help out when they are short staffed. Now I know this is scary and a lot to take in, but please don’t worry everyone is great. The counsellor Cane is a witch but a really nice guy, the doctor is called May, she's only 15 but she’s amazingly gifted, Theo and Imogen do the self defence classes and the security is ran by both vampire and shifters."

  Darius and Mitch waited until Leila was settled in the house and had seen May who was the junior doctor. Even though she was only 15, with her eidetic memory May had breezed through medical classes and was an amazingly talented doctor.

  After examining Leila, she came out to where Darius was waiting in the corridor. May suspected that she had fractured her hip and had at least one broken rib, which explained the pain, two of the six gashes were infected so she started her on antibiotics.

  Imogen had arrived and arranged for some general basics for Leila, like night clothes, toothbrush, slippers, he didn’t know why slippers were important but Leila seemed to appreciate it. Darius knew that tomorrow, May would arrange for full medicals, Imogen would arrange for Cane to come and chat with Leila. Cane was a trained counsellor; he chose the profession after the wolves had helped remove him from a cult a few years ago. He now came to help the residents here. Cane's sister, Morgan was mated to Nicky who was one of the wolves, and Ben's brother.

  Turning towards the knock at the door, he saw Emma enter. She was one of the first residents who had come here; well she was one of six prostitutes that had prompted Imogen to set the place up. Vlad and Ben had assisted Emma and 5 others in remaining in the Country and this heralded the start of the Elite Silver Haven and Emma's role here.

  Imogen had been training with Vlads Elite at the time when she met the women. The Elite hadn’t known Imogen's background, so when they sent her into a house pretending to be a vampire prostitute, they had no idea that she had previously been forced into this role. Imogen flipped and killed the pimp who was also allowing humans to pay for the privilege of feeding vampires in front of others. The law set strict rules on feeding, not in public, the host has to be fully willing and no money can be exchanged. If someone wanted to feed vampires, they can donate blood to be bottled. For Darius feeding directly from a human had been a necessity until the species came out and bottled blood became available. He had always made sure to only drink from a human once before moving on to a different person; others were not this considerate, as Imogen found out.

  Imogen had been so pissed that after killing the vampire, she also ripped into the leader of the Elite team, named Ice, who was an intimidating bastard, Ice was an appropriate name for him. However hard this had been for Imogen, it had been this that prompted her to start the haven and for this he was grateful.

  "Hey Emma how are you?" Emma was from ???????, her accent was strong but she was a valued member of Imogen's staff team.

  "I am good Mr Darius, Mr Mitch it is good to see you also" she turned to Leila.

  "Hello Miss Leila, my name is Emma and if you will let me I would like to help you get through the ne
xt few days" she watched as Leila looked to him and then back to Emma, he saw her eyes well up with tears as she nodded.

  Leila was shown to her room, each was similar yet different, this one like the others, was thoughtfully decorated and furnished. The furniture was all in light colours, the bed was large and the pillows made it seem cosy. The curtains matched the beige bedding that was adorned with lilacs. With the sofa on the other side of the room, Darius knew Imogen had put these in each room for those who were uncomfortable in the bed. The pictures on the wall depicted scenes of wolves, Imogen's sister Celia was doing an art degree and donated each of the pictures. Overall the room was designed to relax and calm the residents.

  "Good, good, now can I suggest your two friends leave so you can rest, do not worry I can sit with you if it will make you feel safer." He watched her nod again, relieved Leila understood the broken English. As he and Mitch left he felt better knowing she would be safe.

  They headed back to where they had started, near Mary's place. Parking the car away from her shop and apartment they wandered, watching and listening for any sign of drama. Mitch checked in with Josie, who confirmed that the only problems that had come in had been dealt with by Vlads Elite Vampires. Every time the vampires or wolves had an incident while patrolling they had to file a report with the PTF. The laws worked differently now, the vampires were under the rule of Vlad, he had laws for them and he had the power to enforce these. Ben was the head of the wolves including the rogue wolves; so he had laws for them and the power to enforce them. Danissa was the head of the witches and Dirk headed the warlocks, each had laws with the same principles. To make sure no one group embraced the power and made moves for overall control, a council with the heads of each species including the humans met every month. Here each group accounted for any interventions, discussed general progression in the ultimate aim of living together in peace, and decided on a plan of action for any problems.

  "D, any chance you feel like telling me what's so important about a book store?" he had been wandering through the streets aimlessly, not really taking anything in. Stopping and actually looking around, he noted the streets quietening, still no lights on in Mary's, she must be asleep.

  "Huh, what?"

  "D, we have walked this same street 3 times in the last hour, and each time you try not to look at it. Now, even though I am a mere god warrior I am not that unobservant." There was a hint of laughter in Mitch's voice but it wasn’t mockery, more curiosity.

  Surely he hadn’t been avoiding looking at it; surely they hadn’t walked this way 3 times. Maybe they had, that would explain the reoccurring thoughts of Mary behind the window. Understandably in his head she was naked, with all of those luscious curves on display just for him, oh and she was definitely wearing her glasses with the light behind her, just waiting for him,

  "Uh hello Darius, you still with me?"

  "What, oh yeah, I am not looking at the bookstore I am just being cautious. You never know who is hanging about" he was trying to convince himself as much as Mitch.

  He had deliberately turned away from Mary's, moving forward, watching the cars pass. It wasn’t a great neighbourhood to live in but it certainly wasn’t the worst. Before they left the station he had checked out some facts about the neighbourhood, finding some low level dealing, the occasional burglary.

  "That's good, it means you won't want to know that a cab's just pulled up outside and a pretty brunette just got out carrying a large box."

  He swung his head round and saw that Mitch wasn’t kidding, there she was at 2am in the morning, on her own carrying yet another large box that was clearly too heavy for her. Before he realised what he was doing he headed towards her, it wasn’t far maybe a hundred yards. Taking the box out of her hands, she couldn’t even see him over it.

  "Hey, what the hell?" as she saw him he watched her blush, "oh hi Darius, I didn’t realise it was you," she looked lovely tonight, in a charcoal silk blouse, black trousers and a pair of sexy as hell stilettos, and oh yeah she was wearing the glasses, the ones with the black frames.

  "What are you doing out here at this time of the morning, alone and carrying yet another box of books."

  She laughed a soft and gentle, yet sad laugh "I have been to a dinner/dance for new authors, hence the new books" the night was still cold, so much that he could make out her peaked nipples through the blouse.

  "That doesn’t explain why you are on your own, you could have got the cab driver to carry the box in" didn’t she realise that anything could have happened to her, anyone could have been waiting. The urge to wrap her up and run away somewhere safe was pulling at him.

  "I didn’t go on my own, I just returned on my own. I could have got the driver to help me, but then I would have been letting a stranger into my home, surely you wouldn’t recommend that. But now you are here, you can carry it in for me." She had a point, letting a stranger into her home would be just as dangerous. He followed her up the narrow staircase to her home. The bottom door wasn’t very secure, only a flimsy lock to protect her from people outside.

  "What do you mean you didn’t go on your own?" The thought of her with another man made his fangs elongate, the urge to mark her, make her his, was strong inside of him. He could smell her perfume, sweet and tantalising like her. The scent of alcohol followed her; well at least she wasn’t roaring drunk with some man trailing behind her, for that Darius was grateful.

  With a big sigh she pulled a second set of keys out of her purse, looking over her head he was pleased to see this door was a little more secure, with a dead lock and sturdy door.

  As she opened the door he saw a small but well cared for apartment. Looking around at the open space there were only two doors off from the main living area, one he assumed was a bathroom, the other a bedroom, not just any bedroom but Mary's bedroom, where Mary slept, possibly naked. The living area was completely her, soft and gentle. The tones in yellows and soft red, the furniture was mismatched but looked good, throws and pillows adorning the sofa.

  The beeping of his cell brought him out of his haze of watching, mesmerised as Mary slipped off her shoes. She was rubbing her feet, those lovely feet with red nail polish on the toes. Reading the text from Mitch he smiled; he had gone for a walk and would ring if he needed anything.

  "I am going to have a glass of wine. Would you like one Darius?" her voice was a little higher pitched than normal, her tone more flippant than normal. Her body didn’t look as tense around him; the alcohol might have reduced her inhibitions.

  Mmm moving his gaze upwards he shook his head. Watching her walk across her small wooden kitchen he saw the sway of her soft round bottom, and felt his cock stiffen with immense arousal. When she opened the fridge she had to bend down, giving him an even better view of her curves. He knew he was stood there staring, but he couldn’t think of anything to say, he just wanted to look. As she turned, glass at her lips and caught him staring, she stopped still, splashing just a little of the wine onto her chin.

  "Why do you look at me like, it's like you want to eat me, it makes me a little nervous."

  He could smell her fear but he could also smell her arousal. He stepped forward until he was in front of her; he watched her gulp as he took the glass from her, and set it on the worktop next to her. Bending he licked the wine from her chin.

  "I do want to eat you, just not in the way you fear" her skin felt soft on his tongue, the scent of her perfume slightly stronger now he was closer. He wanted to be closer still.

  As he touched his lips to hers he could feel their softness, she didn’t recoil so he kissed her more fully, she opened her mouth slightly, and he nipped at the bottom lip. She opened a little wider and gently touched her tongue with his. He could taste the wine, and as she responded to him he deepened the kiss. He could hear her heart beat increase, the scent of her arousal was slightly stronger, he stepped a little closer, deepening the kiss. His erection was straining hard against his jeans, painfully hard.

  Chapte
r 5

  As he watched from the shadows making sure he couldn’t be seen, he thought through everything he had seen. He hadn’t been surprised when he watched the two men approach the prostitutes with coffee. Darius had always had a weakness for ladies of the night. It was hard to think of him as Darius, although the name change made him smile, he had always been predictable and he guessed it would be similar to his birth name.

  When Darius and the other huge male entered the dirty, dank apartments he didn’t know what they were doing but they left with a clearly injured female. He continued to follow them to what could only be described as a mansion, a very secure mansion.

  He wasn’t sure what the place was but he had noted the presence of guards, the electric gates and cameras. Knowing the risks going in unprepared he had made a decision to go back to the place tomorrow and find out exactly what it was. From the state of the female they took in there it couldn’t be good, the woman certainly looked scared and in pain. No matter, if he could find a way to get her out undetected and somewhere safe he would. He wasn’t surprised to see that Darius was acting true to form, seducing vulnerable women, hurting them, but have no doubt he would put a stop to his reign of terror permanently.