by Cat Miller
On the sofa in Chase’s studio apartment in the back of the club, Brandi allowed Brooke to kiss her once before it began to feel too much like cheating. Even if it was a girl, cheating was cheating and she was with Greyson. So, she enthralled Brooke more deeply and sent her the same feeling of pleasure building toward the release she experienced when Greyson showed her what a man his age had learned to do with his corded body. Brooke moaned and rubbed against Brandi’s leg, grasping at her sides while Brandi drank deeply of the beautiful blonde. This could be an option for Brandi. Feeding on a girl felt somehow better to her than embracing a man that wasn’t Greyson.
Once Brandi sent Brooke back to the club and went to check her appearance, the alcohol in Brooke’s blood began to creep up on her. Suddenly she felt overheated and wanted to strip out of her dress. Her head was spinning and the room tilted just a bit, causing her to bump into the dining room table. This was not the silly high she had experienced in the past. This was a sticky, thick headed feeling that made her limbs feel heavy and her skin overly sensitive. Oh, shit! Brooke hadn’t been drunk. She was high.
Brandi staggered out of the club in search of a cab. She had driven there, but no way was she driving home. Even if she didn’t care for her own safety, which she did, she’d never endanger others by driving under the influence. Taking a cab was her best option, because she didn’t want to hear the lecture she’d get from her parents on the evils of drinking from impaired humans if she called for a ride. Brandi walked toward the corner feeling as if her feet where sinking into the sidewalk. Her limbs didn’t want to work and all she wanted to do was stop to rest. The street lights were making strange trails as she passed them and Brandi couldn’t resist the urge to reach up, trying to touch the light with her tingling fingers.
“Well, well, look what we had here, boys.” An ominous voice startled her just before she was hauled off of her feet.
Brandi knew the voice and knew she was in big trouble, but she couldn’t work up a good scream. It was Nick. She found herself over his shoulder, staring at the pavement of the alley behind the club. His fingers dug roughly into the flesh of her thigh entirely too close to her ass. Swinging and bouncing limply as he strode down the alley, Brandi had a sickening thought. This is how she would die. She had survived multiple gunshots and a painful rehab just to be raped and murdered in an alley. She should have called her dad.
“This is a really bad idea, Nicky,” Jason tried to reason with Nick, “You can’t just snatch a girl off the street. We’re all gonna go to jail, man!”
“Stop being such a girl.” Doug pushed Jason into a dumpster.
“Screw this. I’m leaving. I get that you’re pissed we got kicked out of the club, but I won’t watch you hurt her.” Jason began to storm down the alley. Nick called out. He wasn’t about to let him go send up alarms about his actions.
“Stop, Jason. Come back and help me teach Brandi here a lesson.” Nick had laced the command with a strong compulsion.
Jason stopped and returned to Nick’s side. Doug looked at Jason, trying to figure out what had changed his mind so quickly. Jason trudged along beside them staring forward in a silent trance.
“Don’t worry boys. Brandi had some fun with a friend of mine. Brooke kindly shared her drug of choice with Brandi. Brandi won’t be remembering what happened here. It’s too bad, really. I wanted to share in the fun between the two girls, but Brandi is a greedy little bitch.” He smacked her ass with his free hand, “I bet it was hot, too.”
Nick propped Brandi against the brick of a building two blocks from Thirst. It was quiet and deserted in this part of town at night. A satisfied gleam lit Nick’s eyes when he looked over his prey. She shouldn’t have pissed him off. Now he would take what he wanted instead waiting for her to give it freely.
“Take her arms. Hold her up for me.” Nick ordered. Jason blindly followed his instruction.
Doug now hesitated, “You not really going to rape her are you? I thought we were just going to scare some respect into her.” He reached out and snapped his fingers in front of Jason’s unblinking face.
“Hold her up, Doug.” Nick forced his will on one of his oldest friends. Doug and Jason had no memory of how many times he had used them to help him get his way. They had unconsciously taken part in plenty of nights like this with human girls. Brooke had been his mark for the night, but the reappearance of his long lost lover had made him ache for the creamy flesh of a brunette beauty.
****
Derek watched in male fascination while the two women danced shyly but provocatively in the middle of the floor. Damn it. It was every guy’s dream, but he was disturbed, even a little jealous. He wanted to be the one touching her skin and rubbing against her curvy body. This was the first time in the five months since he was released from his cell at The Nest that he’d been able to get more than just a glimpse of the girl who haunted his every waking and sleeping moment. His informants on the Enclave had assured him that she had survived the shooting. It had been close, but she made it. Her name was Brandi Vaughn and he couldn’t have picked a worse girl to lose his shit over. She was the daughter of a prominent Councilmen and the sister of the girl he had helped kidnap. If she ever saw him, she would likely have him arrested. She would hate him for what he did, for what he continued to do, but he just couldn’t stop himself from checking up on her. He needed to know that she was safe and healthy.
Several times he’d made his way to her family estate and tested the security, looking for weak points. He’d actually made it onto the property and right up to a rear entrance, but he stopped there. What would he do if he got inside? How would she react to finding him in a dark corner of her bedroom? She’d think he was there to take her back to the Master. Why wouldn’t she think the worst of him? He was a man who had done many evil deeds.
“Holy shit,” his friend Nate hissed from behind him, “Is that the girl you’ve been panting over all these months? No wonder man. If you’d told me she was into girls too, I would have understood.”
“That’s her.” It was all Derek could get out.
He was hypnotized by the sway of her hips and the shimmer of her short black dress. Nate was a good friend and a fellow prisoner of the Master. Derek did the Master’s bidding to protect his helpless mother. Nate was protecting his father, who wasn’t helpless, but mentally unstable. Nate’s dad had been lured into the Rogue’s web by talk of a new nation of vampire controlled freedom. Nate’s father believed in the Master, but he also believed an alien invasion was eminent and figured they had better stake out claims of the human cattle before the Martians snatched up all the food. Nate felt an obligation to look after his father since the rest of his family had written him off.
“I don’t think she’s into girls. She doesn’t look very comfortable. She’s probably just feeding,” Nate commented. “Damn shame, too.”
Derek grinned and looked down at his partner in crime. Nate was shorter than most vamp males he’d met, but solidly built. His thick biceps stretched the fabric of his t-shirt and the dark goatee on his face made him look older than histwenty-four years.
The two girls disappeared into a back room and before too long the blonde reemerged looking tousled and sated. Brandi followed shortly after and staggered out of a side exit.
“Do you mind if I check out the blonde? She looks like someone I’d love to make friends with.” Nate’s eyes had shifted from hazel to black while he continued to watch the girl dance on the edge of the crowd.
“Have fun. I’m going to make sure Brandi gets home safely. She looks trashed.”
“Why do you keep torturing yourself, Derek? Get it into your head that you have no future. That’s what I’ve done. I’ll never have a mate or a life of mine own with the Master’s foot on my neck. It makes life easier when you have no expectations,” Nate chided. Derek knew his friend was really trying to convince himself. It made it easier to live the way they did and settle for nothing more than an occasional one-nighter with
a human if you believed it was the only choice.
Derek wished he could return to that way of thinking, but it was impossible. He’d tried but something happened to him in the entry way of the Country Club all those months ago. Something inside of him shifted and clicked into place. He should have killed her. She had swung a golf club at him, nearly taking off his head. If the other girl hadn’t screamed, Brandi would have completely taken him off guard. He’d moved in the nick of time, taking the blow to his shoulder. The rage building in him fizzled out when their eyes met and held. He tried to disarm her instead of killing her. When her body pressed back to front with his the contact had burned and left an indelible imprint. It felt like she belonged right there in his arms. Then, she’d actually burned him. He knew pyrokinetic vamps had existed in the past but he’d never met or heard of one in the present day. She was amazing and stunningly attractive. The deep blue of her eyes could drown a man.
It still tied his stomach in knots when he thought of Darren witnessing her ability. To that day he didn’t know if Darren had seen her throw the fire ball that incinerated their van or not. They’d been wrestling over Darren’s gun at the time. Derek believed that Darren would have traded that information for another dose of the Hypnovam in order to trap his estranged mate if he’d known where the flames had come from. But, it was too late for that now. Soleil Danielle Vaughn had blood bonded herself to the son of her father’s best friend, leaving Darren to suffer for his sins.
Making his way to the street, Derek hopped on his bike, but stopped before turning the key in the ignition. The sweet scent of honey and wood smoke wafted to him on a breeze just before the faint whimper of a female reached his ears.
****
The skin of her back was being rubbed raw. Brandi’s bare shoulders were stinging. She wanted to scream. She wanted to fight and scratch his eyes out. Brandi tried to stoke the flames in her belly and burn his ass, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t even spark an ember. His hands were all over her body. He had enthralled the other guys who held her roughly against the wall.
“I should take you here in the alley like a common whore. Maybe that will teach you to behave as a female should. But I wouldn’t do that to my mate.” He smirked.
“You shouldn’t be out hunting in a club. Don’t your parents provide for you up on that hill? Aren’t they watching out for the interests of your future? This is exactly why our society is going to shit. You’re a female with too much freedom. When I broke up with you before I left for college, you were supposed to beg me to come back to you. You were supposed to keep yourself pure and clean for me, not run off and find another guy, you slut. Your parents should have accepted the bonding proposal my parents offered them. You are a female.” Nick snarled in her face, “What the hell do you need a college degree for? Your mate should be providing for you while you putter around pregnant and obedient.”
He grabbed her jaw, slamming the back of her head into the brick wall. Brandi prayed he would do it again, because she didn’t want to remember this if he was going to do what she suspected. She had no idea what he was rambling on about. They had decided together to end their past relationship and she had never been told of a bonding offer from him or his family.
“Did you enjoy my friend, Brooke? I gave her a little something special to help you relax. I wanted to share her with you, but you were a greedy girl. Just like a Vaughn.”
Closing her eyes tightly she put everything she had into heating the core of her soul. Normally she fought to contain her fire. Now she wrestled to set it free, but it was useless. Nick lowered his head to inhale deeply at her neck. He ran his tongue from her collarbone up to her ear.
“It’s not too late, Brandi,” he practically purred. Nick’s entire demeanor had changed between one second and the next.
“I’ve decide to keep you after all. I think I’ll bond you to me right now. I will take your blood and give you mine. Then we can work on teaching you to be a proper female. My mother could instruct you on the finer points of caring for your mate and his home.” Nick kissed her, forcing his tongue into her mouth. It was revolting.
Suddenly she found herself on the ground with something sharp poking her in the ass cheek. They had dropped her and she’d fallen to the dirty ground. Her head lulled to the side and landed on Jason’s shoulder. Doug was sprawled out in front of her, the back of his head resting in a puddle of questionable liquid, since it hadn’t rained in a week.
Just as suddenly as she had been dropped, Brandi was scooped up and cradled tightly against a firm chest. He was walking quickly away from the scene of her assault. She struggled to place the familiar scent of her champion. Lifting her head to look him in the eye wasn’t working. She inhaled deeply and it all came back. She’d dreamt of him for months. She’d done everything in her power to erase the warm citrus aroma from her memory, but it still haunted her. How many times had she caught the scent on the wind and followed it only to be disappointed when it faded to nothing? It was her dark-eyed obsession,in the flesh. Holding her and murmuring nonsense sounds of comfort.
SIX
She was clutching at his chest. Derek tucked her more tightly into his body. The feel of the supple bare skin of her thigh contrasted sharply with the way the sequins on her dress scrapedagainst his chest. He could simply hold her away from his body, but having her close felt too good to let the opportunity pass. He might not get another chance.
Brandi pulled weakly at his shirt and gave a whimper. Damn it. She was probably frightened to death. She was incapacitated and he knew exactly why. She smelled of Hypnovam and it pissed him off. He was this close to her and the sweetness of her was diluted by a drug she shouldn’t have come in contact with. That was a huge problem he was going to have to get to the bottom of.
The asshole in the alley had laced the blonde from the club with a drug meant to take out vamps, but he hadn’t been anyone Derek knew from The Nest. How the hell had he gotten his hand on the Hypno? Too bad he’d choked the bastard out in a blind rage before he could beat some answers out of him. When he’d found the mancovering Brandi’s body with his own and the two enthralled humans holding her down, it was all over. He had snapped. Derek would have to catch up with the loser another time.
It seemed like Brandi had had just enough Hypno to weaken her and make her easy prey, but not enough to take her out completely. Now that she was safe in his arms he had to find Nate before he also sank his fangs into the pretty blonde.
Derek stopped in a doorway and sat on the stoop to balance Brandi in his lap while he called Nate. He called several time before Nate answered the phone sounding harassed.
“What, man? I’m busy here,” Nate huffed. A female voice in the background complained about the interruption.
“Do not drink from that girl, Nate. She’s laced with Hypno. I have Brandi and she reeks of it.” It felt as if a heavy weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He had reached his friend in time.
“What? You mean the blonde? I’m not with her. She was too polluted for my taste. I found an alternate menu.” Nate paused a moment and Derek could practically hear his warning sink in.
“What do mean she had Hypno? How?” Nate asked.
“I don’t have time to explain now. I have to get Brandi off the street. All I need is to get caught with the daughter of a Councilman, unconscious from Hypno. No one will believe I didn’t intend to take her to the Master. I can’t take her to The Nest and I can’t take her home like this.” He explained while absently stroking Brandi’s back.
“Why can’t you just drop her at the gate of her family’s estate? They’ll take care of her. Just don’t get caught.”
“Are you kidding me? Their security is a joke. I’ve slipped by them numerous times. She is completely defenseless. I won’t leave her until she is able to fight back any intruders that come for her.” He had to think of a safe place to hide with his precious burden. “Cover for me if I’m missed at The Nest?”
“You know
I will, but this a bad idea. You already have an issue with this female. Spending time with her conscious or not won’t help you, my friend.” His tone had softened to that of a concerned older brother.
“I know, but I can’t leave her,” he confessed, “Not yet.”
Derek disconnected the call and looked down to find Brandi staring up at him. Recognition lit her eyes. Her head lulled on an unstable neck, but she held onto his shirt.
“I won’t hurt you, Sparky. I swear it. I’m just going to keep you safe until you’re able to defend yourself.”
He gave her the most reassuring smile he could muster and slid a finger down her flushed cheek. He tried not to think about the fact that her ass was cradled between his thighs. Brandi looked deeply into his eyes before blinking at him in what seemed to be acceptance and leaned into his chest. Derek felt that damn shifting in his chest again. She relaxed against him and trusted him not to hurt her. She’d just been drugged and assaulted, but somehow she looked into his eyes and found someone she could trust. Why hadn’t she seen the things he had done in the past and the things he was still capable of doing?
“Let’s get going, Sparky. I didn’t find your purse so I’m going to steal your car. I don’t think it would be safe or inconspicuous if I strapped you to my bike.”
He stood and headed for the little silver Jaguar he had followed around town so many times and hoped she had really good insurance, because he was about to do some damage.
She seemed to have drifted off by the time they reached their destination. He hoped his friend wasn’t in town so he could slip in and out without involving anyone else. Silently he performed a one handed break and entering at the back door while propping Brandi against the door frame. Once inside the dark kitchen he let out a relieved sigh. He had found a safe hiding place. That was what he thought until he found himself face planted on the floor with a knee in his back. It happened so quickly he didn’t see it coming. Derek began to struggle violently. Where had Brandi gone? Was she hurt? Had he been followed?
