Donald: Dalton’s Kiss: Vampire Paranormal Romance (Dalton's Kiss Book 3)

by Kathi S. Barton

  Her cry of pleasure was more than he could have hoped for. She came three times even before he moved. Her hands wrapping around his shoulders gave him her throat. As soon as he licked the pounding pulse there, he heard her cry out with her need to be bitten, as strong as his need to bite. Sinking his teeth into her throat, Don came.

  It was profound. Magical. Every Christmas and birthday he’d ever had. His body bowed back, his mouth still at her throat when he came a second time. Taking her harder hurt him, his body nearly spent as it was. But when she dug her nails into his back, rising up, literally up and off the bed, he emptied himself into her once again before he dropped over her as they floated to the bed.

  He knew he was heavy. That he needed to roll off her. But there was nothing left of him. Not even the strength to make her more comfortable. Closing his eyes, telling himself he’d only rest for a moment, Don knew he’d be lucky if he ever rose again. She had quite nicely killed him with sex.

  Chapter 5

  CJ wasn’t as much worried about Don as she was missing him. He’d been sleeping, resting, Bancroft told her, for three days now. Checking on him again, he was still in the same position he’d been when she’d left him the morning after they’d made love.

  “He’s resting, CJ. There is very little that can be done to wake him. I’d say it’s also the magic you told me you received that day. He’s an old vamp, so he maybe has to blend what he has with what you’ve given him.” That made sense, but she didn’t like it any better. “I promise you. He will wake and be rested up enough to chase you around the house again.”

  She hoped so. But she wasn’t getting anything done, making sure he was all right. Going back down to her office, she was glad to see everything was up and running. The computer she’d ordered was perfect. She’d have to thank Kelly for hooking her up with someone that could get her into a secure network. After that, she’d been able to tweak things, so she was about as safe as she’d ever been when using her computer.

  Picking up the phone, she called Bancroft. “There are currently five nests you had me find for you. One of them is just about ten miles from where you currently are.” She gave him the address. “It looks like there are ten people in the lower levels of the house. I can’t tell if they’re human or not, but their heat signatures are nearly blue.”

  “Tell me again what that means. Before I forget to tell you, there are people in town looking for your sister. No one is giving them any information, but I wanted to give you a heads up.” CJ thanked him. “It’s my pleasure. Now, what does them being blue mean again?”

  “They’re cold. As in, I’m thinking they’re human, but they’re being drained slowly by the vampires.” He asked her if there might be more that had already died. “Good possibility. I can check on that without you going there if you want.”

  “You can? Great. I’d like to know what I might meet up with first. If you can do that, you’ll save me a bit of time and bloodshed.”

  She went to the window in her office and reached out beyond where she was. She didn’t need to have the window open to do that, but she got a better connection with earth when there was nothing separating her from it. CJ could have reached the other nests, too, to see how many people were around them, but she didn’t want to overwhelm him. Bancroft seemed really stressed out lately. Going back to the phone when she had his information, she knew he wasn’t going to be happy with what she had to tell him.

  “There are four still alive as of a few seconds ago. The signatures have faded out to nothing, so the others are presumed dead. The vampires are having themselves a nice party with the remaining four, and they’ll be dead before anyone can save them. You should also know that the vamps are not very old. I’d say less than a year, all five of them. Aren’t they supposed to report to you or something?” He told her they were supposed to be, but he’d not been notified. “You’ll have to teach me how to tell how old they are, as I’m only guessing about their age by how they’re acting like idiots. I’d think older vampires would be a stick in the mud like you are. Also, I’m not sure this is important or not, but four of them were turned by the same vampire. I don’t know who the original baby vamp maker is, but I’m thinking he’s dead. His child turned the others.”

  “So this guy gets turned, and then he turns a bunch more to be with him. That is grounds for death. I wonder if he’s aware of it.” She closed her eyes, concentrating on the single maker. She told Bancroft he felt he was above such laws. “Is he one of those vampires that think all humans are just cattle?”

  “No, he’s just a dickhead that wants to be able to kill indiscriminately, and there is no one stronger than him. At least as far as he thinks. He did kill his maker when he brought him to task about making more vampires. This kid—because that’s all he is at eighteen—is really getting on my last nerve. He’s just killed one of his babies. They’re dancing on his body. Why don’t you let me take care of them for you? In fact, it would make my day.”

  “How?” She asked him if he really wanted to know. “When you put it like that, no, I guess I don’t. However, I’d have to be there, or you could face charges for taking them out. I’m not sure why that rule is in there. I’ll have to work on taking it out. The issue being that if I remove a rule, I have to replace it with another one. Dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of. Anyway, when do you want to meet there?”

  “I’m not busy right now.” He laughed and said he’d meet her there. “All right. Don’t be alarmed when you see the warrior faeries with me. I don’t know if you were told this or not, but they’re mine to call upon while I’m in this realm.”

  “I didn’t know that, but it’s good to know. Are faeries afraid of vampires? I don’t know why, but I think that was something I heard once.” She said these weren’t. “I wonder where that came from then.”

  “More than likely because of the rule you’re going to remove. They were never allowed to kill your kind when necessary because of that law. Faeries don’t kill just for the sport of it, but your kind has been known to kill them. If you can take that rule out, I will promise you that they’ll come to you too when you have a nest problem.” He thanked her again. “No problem. I’ll see you there in a few minutes.”

  Calling to her army, she knew that once they were at the nest, all of them would be armed with not just magic but also armor. These faeries were not ones to fuck with. When they were told to kill, they did it with the fastest and most deadly way they knew, usually going for the heart and out the other side of a body.

  She was standing there waiting on Bancroft when Don finally contacted her. CJ nearly fell to her knees. The relief of hearing from him was so profoundly wonderful. When he asked where she was, she told him and then asked if he’d join them. He was there before she could give him the address. He told her he’d followed her scent.

  Bancroft called to the vampires. They had no choice but to come to him. He wasn’t one to mess with either. When the four of them came out of the house, she shook her head. They hadn’t even bothered cleaning themselves up before meeting their king. Not only were they covered in blood, but they were covered in the ash of their fellow vamp they’d killed. She knew just who the leader was as soon as he bowed to them and smiled.

  “Oh, lordship of the vampires. What is it we can do for you today? Or did you bring us a tasty treat? She looks fine.” Both Bancroft and Don growled. Even the hair on her arms stood up. But dumbass seemed to either be dumber than she thought, or he had no idea what the fuck he was up against. “What? You don’t think we know a fine piece of ass when we see it?”

  The others were laughing now. Since their leader seemed to be doing all right, they figured they could as well. One of his babies came to stand in front of her. Smiling at him, she suggested he back up.

  “What do you say you and I have us a little fun?” Putting her hand on Don’s chest, she told him she had this. “Yeah, big boy. Go away
and let the adults play.”

  When the vamp touched her, putting only his finger on her cheek, he was dead even before he realized she’d killed him. All it took for her to end his life was to say back off once more, then she took her sword and removed first his hand, then his head. He was ash when she looked at the others.

  “Woo, that isn’t right.” She took a step toward the others as the ringleader kept telling her she wasn’t playing fair. Bancroft was also telling them the laws they’d broken, as well as the penalties they were facing. “We don’t need no stinking laws.”

  He turned to the others and laughed. They were no longer joining in on his fun. It was obvious to all of them that they were beginning to realize they’d fucked up. As soon as the dumbass turned to her again, Bancroft told them they were going to die.

  “Any last requests?” He only laughed at her when she made it clear they were going to die. “Do you have a family? Someone we can tell that you’re no longer around? Ah, so you killed them as well. Well, it’s been real. Warriors. Kill them.”

  She turned her back to the carnage. There would be little to nothing left of them when the warriors killed them. A bit of cloth here, some toenails or fingernails as well. Bancroft looked at her when she told him it was finished. Also, that her army would take care that their deaths would be filed away as natural causes.

  “In a few hours, someone will find the bodies of the ones in the lair here. It will look like a bad accident, and their deaths will be blamed on the heating element going out or something like that, and nothing more.” She grinned at him when he cocked a brow at her. “Or if you have a better idea, we can do this your way.”

  “Remind me never to get on your bad side.” She said he’d not so long as he allowed her to help him on occasion. “All right. Why? I mean, it was over so quickly, it’s doubtful there was any kind of joy for anyone.”

  “It wasn’t joy they were seeking, my lord, but the opportunity to do something for the vampire king.” Lola sat on her shoulder as she spoke to Bancroft. “These men have caused us great harm as well in what they’ve done here. The earth in this spot is dead because they had to be killed. The house that sits there, it is no longer a place we’ll go to when we need to hide from the weather or humans. It is spoiled. But if you would allow us to, we’ll enrich the ground, remove the house, and let the earth begin again. If you would so wish it.”

  “I do. And thank you. Your mistress here, she said you’d help me, and you did. Thank you all. I will be happy to furnish you with treats, as well as other things for your help here today.” Lola thanked him before flying away. Bancroft asked CJ if that was all they needed. “Yes. For now. But if you’d allow them free reign with this sort of trouble, they’ll clear out a nest before they cause damage to the town they’re in.”

  “I can do that. So long as they report to me before they do it.” CJ said she’d make sure he had plenty of warning. “Thank you for this, CJ. You have saved me a great deal of trouble by helping today. I owe you.”

  “You can repay me by making Don your second.” They both looked at her. “You need someone. And I’m thinking with what he has and what I’ve given him, there is no one better to protect the king of vamps. Besides, as it stands right now, you’re going to need more protection when your children are born.”

  “We’ve not told anyone that they’re twins.” She said she was one with the earth and knew shit like that. “Christ, you make me laugh so much. Yes, I’ll take Don as my second if he will do it.”

  “I will be honored, Banny.” They shook hands on it, and Bancroft disappeared. Don took her into his arms and held her. “You’re very sneaky when you want to be, aren’t you?”

  “I can be. How rested are you? I mean, I’ve been waiting for you to wake for the last three days so that we could have some more fun.” He asked her if she was kidding that he’d really been down for three days. “No. Bancroft said you must have needed it for the magic. Now that I see you up and around, I think he was right. You were out so that your body could get used to the magic.”

  “While I haven’t any idea to dispute your word on that, I have to admit that I do feel a great deal better than I have in a while.” Don kissed her on the top of her head and then pulled her back enough to look at her. “Your eyes, they still look like a solar system. Is that because we’ve bonded, or something else?”

  “I don’t have to hide anymore. I can let more of me show at a time, and no one will be surprised by it. Little things like my eyes, they’ll see it, but not mention it as they might think they missed it before.” She grinned at him. “Do you think anyone will notice if I suddenly start walking around with these big fucking wings dragging behind me?”

  “I don’t know. I mean, it seems to me that when you’re around, people only notice how simply beautiful in your heart that you are.” She told him he was being sappy. “Perhaps. But I love you anyway, so that’s all right. I have about fifty things I could do to you today, but since I’ve been out of it for so long, there are things I have to check on.”

  “Me as well. I was waiting on you to get up and didn’t get shit done. Now that I know you’re all right, I feel like I can get away from you for a little while.” They both laughed after looking wounded. “You know what I mean. I’ll see you later?”

  “Yes. I’ll contact you when I need you. Don’t forget there are the house things we need to pick up as well.” She told him what she’d done out of boredom. “Good. I love that you ordered everything online. There is one thing I’ve never been fond of doing, and that’s shopping. Thank you for that.”

  As they parted ways, she was contacted by Bancroft again. I give you and your team full authority to take care of the other nests in the area. I will talk to other leaders of kisses around the world and see how they want to handle the issues they might have going on. She said she could do that. I only need you to give me the same information every time you go out. Where it is when you took care of it, and if you can, the names of the vampires. Also, Kelly said with that information, she can make sure any bodies on the premises are found.

  I like that. Teamwork. However, I will let you know that sometimes it might only be a single vampire that needs to be taken out, and we might not have time to notify you. He told her so long as she could justify it, he was fine with her taking care of it. Thank you. I guess you’re not as much of a stick in the mud as I first thought.

  Gee, thanks. He laughed. I just spoke to Don. He and I have to form a bond as well. Just a blood-letting thing. If you’d be there, along with Kelly, I’d appreciate it. It’s formality doing this, but I’d like to go by the rules as much as I can.

  After telling him she’d be there with Don whenever he said, they closed the connection. Sending Lola on her way to take care of the other nests, she made her way to the hospital. There were things there she still needed to take care of as well.

  She entered the hospital and went to the third floor. Cody had told her a man had died that morning of what appeared to be a bloodletting. CJ was asked to go and check it out and not to let Bancroft know. The only reason she did it was so he could be ruled out as the one that had killed the young man. Bloodletting was a serious way to get your ass in trouble with Mother Earth. As soon as she entered the morgue without anyone seeing her, she had a good idea what had happened. It was none of the vampires at the house, but she had a good idea who had killed Josh Hinkley.

  ~*~

  Don’s first duty to Banny was to find the killer of a human that had been in the jail locally. He already knew who had killed the young human. He also knew now why he’d been in jail. According to the information he’d gotten from Banny, as well as from Lizzy that morning, he had a good handle on a lot of reasons that someone might well have wanted the man dead. He was, in a word, a dick.

  “Why are you here?” He smiled at CJ and told her where he’d been told to start. “Well, that’s just stup
id. I told you where the man was, and coming here is a waste of your time. Did he even listen to me when I gave him the information? I swear to you, one minute I like the man, then for the next two or three days, I want to string him up by his balls. Why aren’t you where I told you the man—?”

  To stop CJ from ranting more, he pulled her tightly into his arms and kissed her. The morgue wasn’t the most romantic of places, but he had to come here for the soul reason that he’d been told to. Telling CJ that had her ranting against his palm over her mouth.

  “We must do this by the books.” She asked him why that mattered. “Because the man is in the public, and killing him outright will cause a lot of trouble for a great many people. What do you think will happen when they first find out he’s disappeared? Then secondly, that he’s a vampire? I’m betting no one he works with is aware of that. And if they are, they’re going to hide him away if we say a word about him doing this. It’ll be justified in their minds.”

  “Oh.” He let her go. “I guess you’re right, but I don’t have to like it. He murdered the man for no other reason than he was annoying. Everyone is annoying to me. What if I went around killing off people when they annoyed me? There wouldn’t be anyone left. That’s what would happen.”

  “I’m so very happy you restrain yourself.” He watched her face to see if she could tell he was joking with her. Sometimes when she was intense about something, she wouldn’t get it. “Are you going to keep following me around, or do you have something else you can do? If you can’t decide, I’d like for you to find something else to do. I’m sort of excited to be doing this for Bancroft.”

  “I know you are. And I know you won’t get hurt. But this guy, he’s killed once. I’m worried he’s going to have done it be—” She stopped talking and moved him back against the wall. When the door beside them opened up, he pulled shadows around them both.