by Tilly Hart
Calvin waited by the bench on the run-down industrial estate, his hulking figure clear from a mile off amongst the rusting fences and aged brick buildings.
‘It’s about time,’ he said, his voice gruff as he spoke without looking at me. Vampires were usually good at coming upon people without being heard, but not with the wolves. Even in human form, their hearing far surpassed the standard.
‘I was busy.’
‘So I’ve heard.’ Calvin turned to face me as I sat on the graffiti covered, cold metal bench.
‘It was an accident.’
‘How is pushing someone’s head under a bus a fucking accident?’ An angry-looking vein pulsated by Calvin’s temple as his hands formed fists in his lap.
‘They were waiting for me. Three of them, out in public. He had a fucking stake, Calvin, and if she hadn’t pushed him off, I’d have been a vampire kebab by now.’
Calvin’s shoulders fell as he rubbed at his temples. ‘There were no planned hits, we aren’t looking for a war with you vampires.’
‘You might not be, but someone is. I’d hazard a guess he’s the fucking unhinged one baying for blood. You saw what they did to the girl last month, didn’t you?’
Calvin’s face greyed.
‘They ripped her to shreds. She looked closer to minced beef that a human by the time they were done with her. God knows what they did to her before they killed her. I know you weren’t involved, but that was only two of them. What happens when half the club is out there and under the influence of the moonlight? What if they open the rest of the cages? I know you’re not an evil guy, Calvin, but you will kill if they let you out. Do you want that on your hands?’
His head shook slowly as he lifted his eyes to the almost full moon. There were only a few days to act.
‘You know it’s not what I want. But if I kill Greyson, I’m as good as dead when the next alpha takes his place. You don’t question authority.’
‘It’s the right thing to do. If they massacre half the city, we’re all dead. The wolves, the vampires, the demons, not to mention the rest. It’s not like all they have these days is pitchforks and stakes. I don’t want to live on the run again, I don’t want to feed off of unsuspecting humans to survive. I’ve done it before. It’s no way to live. You are young, it’s still exciting, but that goes.’ I shuddered as I remembered the centuries gone past, the cries of my many victims as my fangs pierced their skin.
Calvin sighed, and we sat in silence for a time before I spoke. ‘Pres is getting antsy, we can’t afford to wait much longer. You can take out Greyson and get the rest of the pack in line, or we have to do it for you. We don’t want to make enemies, and I don’t want to kill half of your pack.’
‘I’ll take care of it.’ Calvin’s mouth set in a determined grimace. Turning on his own kind was eating him up inside. ‘Do you know where the girl is? Greyson wants her.’
My stomach twisted as I looked at him. ‘I do. I won’t hand her over to Greyson.’
‘Is she important?’ Calvin’s voice was hollow.
‘Yes. She’s mine.’
‘Then keep her underground. If she’s spotted she’s his, and you’ll wish it was only death that awaited her.’ Calvin gave me a level look. ‘I mean it. Keep her off the streets.’
‘He needs to die,’ I muttered as I narrowed my eyes, thoughts of ripping Greyson’s throat out filling my head.
‘Yes, he does.’ Calvin left me there, his shoulders hunching as he disappeared into the shadows.
I hung my head down into my hands as murderous thoughts overwhelmed me. Greyson was one sick puppy, but his days were numbered.
I just had to keep Rebecca safe until then.
Nine
rebecca
Two days had passed since Jed had blown my mind - via my nether regions - and he’d barely touched me since. We’d settled into some sort of ships in the night pattern where he slept most of the day and then went out most of the night. He still wrapped me in his arms while he slept, but had yet to try anything more exotic after that one orgasm.
He was impossible to figure out. I didn’t doubt that he wanted me, his erection pressed into me whenever we lay together, but he’d sooner drop into a deep sleep than put it to any use. I hadn’t left the room since he’d told me not too, only eating and drinking what he brought to me, and watching TV on my phone while he slept.
But my body itched with boredom, I needed to talk to someone, to do something.
While Jed snored softly, I unlatched the door and peered out into the clubroom. It was empty other than Angus. I grinned. Despite Jed’s warnings, I was certain that Angus posed me no threat. He had been jovial and welcoming, unlike the other brooding members of the Guardians of the Underworld.
Angus smiled as I approached, his wrinkle surrounded eyes glinting. ‘Just making some grilled cheese, you hungry?’
‘Yes,’ I said, taking a seat by the bar. I sat in companionable silence as Angus cut the cheese and buttered the bread, toasting it on the stovetop in an ancient looking pan. At last he joined me, passing me a plate.
‘Thanks. I’m famished.’
‘Jed not feeding you?’ he said, between bites of melted cheese.
‘He does, but weird food at weird times of the day. He brought me chow mien for breakfast.’ I shrugged as I tucked in.
‘He keeps odd hours, they all do.’
‘You don’t?’ I asked.
‘Sometimes, but I’m getting on a bit, not so easy to keep up these days.’
‘I can’t figure out if he likes me. He’s so hot and cold. It’s like one minute he wants me to stay forever, and the next he pushes me away.’
‘What do you want?’ Angus said, opening a beer and passing one along.
I bit my lip and lowered my gaze to the sandwich. ‘I don’t know.’
‘Listen, Rebecca, I think you’re a likeable girl and I know you went through something terrible, but this is no place for a girl like you.’
‘Why not?’
Angus shifted his eyes to Jed’s room before answering. ‘Everything isn’t always as it seems.’
‘That’s a vague statement. So… they aren’t a club full of bikers who live on the wrong side of the law and engage in warfare with their rival clubs?’
‘They are, but there is always more you don’t know.’
I searched his face for an answer to what he was avoiding saying. Was it drugs? Arson? Ransom? What could be so terrible that he couldn’t tell me?
‘Okay, tell me one thing?’
Angus nodded his acceptance.
‘Is Jed a bad guy?’
‘No, he’s not a bad guy. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t disregard morals from time to time, but he’s not out to hurt anyone unwittingly. Does it matter? You are only here for a few days. You have a home and a guy waiting for you. A normal life to return to when this little fantasy sours.’ There was no anger in Angus’ soft words, only resignation, as though my going back to Ben was inevitable.
‘The normal life wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. It’s been a long time since I loved my ex, even longer since I felt loved by him. I’m not saying whatever is going on between Jed and I is love, it’s only been a few days, but it feels more raw and real than the past eight years of my life have felt. I like him.’
‘You’re making a mistake. You should go back now, before you get any deeper into the shit. I like you, Rebecca, but if you stay you may end up giving up more that you can afford too.’
I stared at him, floundering for words and finding none. He was right; I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I only knew that I felt safe and wanted to be in Jed’s arms, even when he was holding me at arm’s length. I wasn’t going anywhere.
I rose to my feet and cleared away my dishes, all the while Angus remained seated, sipping on his beer and avoiding my gaze. ‘If they are so bad, why are you here?’
Angus looked up and smiled wistfully, ‘They are my family, all I’ve known since I was fifteen. This is my hom
e.’
‘Rebecca, what are you doing out there?’ Jed’s voice rang through the room. He stood in the doorway, shirtless and imposing, and I got a pang in my pants just looking at him.
‘Sorry, I was hungry. It was only Angus out here.’
‘I don’t care if there is no one out there, you’re in here while I’m sleeping.’ I strode back into his room and rounded on him as he shut the door.
‘Look, I know I need to be here in case the Sons of Cerberus come after me, but I’m not your prisoner. I’m not even your girlfriend. You can’t go bossing me around when you’re either not here or sleeping most of the time.’
‘Yes,’ Jed growled under his breath, ‘I can.’
‘I’m bored stiff, and you don’t care whether I’m here.’
‘I care,’ he said, moving toward me until I backed against the wall. ‘I care about you being safe, and you can bet your ass I care whether or not you are in my bed.’
With fire in my belly, I straightened my shoulders and stared him right in the face. ‘Then prove it.’
Jed pinned me against the wall as he devoured my mouth, and with each flick of his tongue, my doubt disappeared. He didn’t kiss me like a man who was just horny; he kissed me with the passion of a man who couldn’t slake his thirst no matter how much he took.
My resolve disappeared as he stripped me down, discarding his clothes with my own, his fingers tracing electric all over my body.
‘Fuck Rebecca, you don’t know just how badly I want you.’
‘Show me,’ I whispered as he led me into the bathroom, turning the shower on and kissing me all over as the room filled with steam.
The water hit as he lifted me against the shower wall, his hardness grazing my thighs as he continued to pour his frustration and desire into me with lust-filled meetings of our mouths. Rivers of scorching water danced over our joined skin and my body begged to receive his, but he wasn’t one for getting to the point. He flipped me around so that my back pressed into his stomach, his cock sandwiched between the cheeks of my ass. His hands taunted and touched, skimmed and surveyed my torso as his mouth dropped to my neck, kissing and sucking on the extended flesh as I tipped my head back.
And then his fingers dipped lower, finding that spot between my thighs that made my knees weak.
‘Oh god,’ I moaned as he wound me into an even tighter coil, with one hand, while the other all but held me up by the waist.
I bit my lip and closed my eyes as he continued to tease me, thwarting any of my attempts to wriggle enough to get his erection between my legs.
It wasn’t until the tremors of orgasm spread through my body and I started seeing stars that, at long last, he slid into me as I pulsated around him, driving my orgasm to new depths.
I opened my eyes and reached forward, steadying myself on the wet glass shower divide, as Jed pulled back and thrust into me once more. It was then that I noticed my bent over form in the chrome shower fittings, but rather than seeing Jed behind me, pinioning into me, I only saw myself.
I looked down at my hips, where Jed’s tattooed hands gripped at my skin, the flesh tight and twisted below his fingers. His breath was still in my ear and his cock speared me, spreading me open. Another glance in the chrome told my brain the impossible. He wasn’t there. Only me, bent over. Yet my body still moved in time with his thrusts.
I pushed away from him, turning to see him there, his abandoned cock bobbing in the pouring water, his eyes filled with confusion and his wet hair pushed over to one side.
‘Are you okay?’ he said, reaching out to touch my arm.
I flinched and moved out of reach, slipping and banging my knee.
‘Shit, Rebecca, what’s going on?’ He switched the shower off and tried to help me to my feet, but I dodged out of the way and fled to the bedroom. ‘Rebecca? Stop it. Did I move too fast? I thought you wanted to fuck?’
My mind reeled in my head, coming up with nothing that explained the situation. Was I going mad? Had I died that night, and this was some weird afterlife? Was I dreaming? In a coma?
‘You had no reflection.’ Jed cursed, and he grabbed a towel and threw another at me.
‘I can explain,’ he said with a sigh, his face marred with a frown.
‘Am I dead? Dreaming?’
‘No.’
I cowered back against the wall and gripped my towel to my chest.
‘In a coma?’
‘No.’
Jed came forward and stood close to me while my legs trembled. He licked his lips and fixed his bright green eyes on me. ‘Don’t freak out, okay?’
I nodded, but his words left with me with little to do but freak out.
‘I’m a vampire.’
Ten
jed
And there in her eyes, I saw the hurt, the disbelief and the terror that I had feared. Her body curled up against the wall as she saw me for what I really was, a monster. I’d hoped that seeing the true me might have given her pause, but the judgement was there, regardless.
‘Rebecc—’
‘No.’ She cut me off as she grabbed her jeans and roughly pulled them on. ‘I don’t believe you. Vampires don’t exist.’
‘We do. But most of us aren’t the beasts that the media loves to portray. We’re still people.’
I moved to take her hand, to connect with her, but she cringed and pulled back, so I stayed by the bed, giving her space.
‘You had no reflection.’
‘Yes, that’s true.’
‘But you ate garlic in the pizza sauce.’
‘Garlic has no effect on vampires, I love it.’
Her face changed as she looked at me, the disbelief making way for realisation as her eyes widened. ‘The guy had a stake, didn’t he? I thought it was a weird dull knife, but it wasn’t. Did I kill a vampire hunter?’
‘No. You killed a werewolf.’
She paused mid pulling her tee-shirt over her head. Her voice was muffled as she repeated the word. ‘Werewolf?’
‘Yeah. In human form, but a wolf all the same.’
‘So that’s why the full moon is important.’ She started gathering her possessions and throwing them in her bag.
‘Rebecca, you still can’t leave, it’s not safe.’
‘Well, I can’t stay here. What was the plan? Keep me here until you are ready for a snack? I’ll take my chances out there.’ A tear dripped down her cheek and her hands shook as she tried to pull her phone charger out of the wall.
‘Idon’t intend on eating you. I like you. I wanted to keep you safe.’
‘Are they all vampires? Out there?’
‘Yes. All but Len and Angus.’
‘So your plan to keep me safe was what? Keep me like a pet chicken in a den of coyotes?’
I pushed my wet hair out of my face and sighed, Pres was right, she’d never accept me as I was. Who would?
‘Listen, you are safe here. We don’t use humans as food anymore unless the blood is willingly given. We use donor blood, or animal blood. Very few vampires in the US feed on human victims.’
‘You said anymore, so you did, before?’ The accusation was like a stab to the side, because she was right. For centuries I had fed on people, not always killing them, but it had happened.
‘I did. I didn’t know any other way. The animal blood is weaker than human blood, and it takes more to fill us, the donor blood is better, but is a scarcer resource. People like Pippa, the girl you saw with Vance that night, she is a willing donor, a blood junkie. She gets a high when they feed, they don’t need to take much to get a boost.’
Rebecca shuddered. ‘She comes here and let’s them bite her, willingly?’
‘Yes. They say the high they get is unparalleled.’
‘Have you drank her blood?’
‘No. Addiction is addiction, and I want no part of that. It’s a downward spiral, and eventually she’ll give more in a day than she can afford to while chasing the high, and she’ll overdose, which is deadly when your body n
eeds blood to survive.’
‘Were you tempted? To bite me?’
I bit my lip as I considered my response I could lie and tell her no, but I’d deceived her enough. I grabbed my jeans as she waited, fastening them with a sigh.
‘Yes, I was tempted. I’d by lying if I said otherwise. When I kiss your neck, I can feel your blood rushing through you, and your vitality, your humanity, is hard to resist. But I resisted, and I always would. I would never want you to be like Pippa, like the other girls. Seeing you so desperate for the high you’d throw yourself at any vampire who’d have you isn’t what I want. I want you to be my girl.’
The words rooted her to the spot, and I hoped she was on the verge of accepting what I was and seeing past it. Seeing how much I liked her.
‘You’re immortal, right?’ It wasn’t the response I’d expected.
‘Yes…’
‘So what was the game plan here? Even if you avoided snacking on me, I’d live another sixty years if I’m lucky, and you? How long? How old are you?’
‘I was born in the 1700s.’
Her reaction wasn’t good. She looked one step away from vomiting on the floor. ‘You’re three hundred?’
‘Thereabouts. But it’s not like I’m an old man. When you’re turned you freeze at the age you were, cognitively and physically. I’m less a three hundred-year-old and more of a perpetual thirty-year-old.’
‘And what about when I’m eighty, and you are still thirty?’
‘After centuries you realise that some things are less important. Living your life with an unending string of twenty-year-olds isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I want a love that lasts, just like everyone else does.’
‘I can’t love you. You’re not even alive.’
Her words went through me, tearing their way like a barbed arrow through the heart. I’d been fooling myself to think a human could accept me. If only I’d had more time with her before she discovered the truth, perhaps she would have seen me for the man I was beneath the fangs.
‘I’m alive. I still feel pain, I still get hurt, I still want what you want. This isn’t a life I chose. I’m just doing the best I can with the life I’ve been given. But maybe you’re right. Why bother with you when you could never love a monster. You got what you were looking for, a few orgasms and an exciting adventure. It doesn’t matter about me, right? I’m nothing but a cold-hearted, undead asshole. I can’t give you a steady life, marriage, babies, a nine-to-five life. I didn’t think it was what you wanted. But maybe you’re right, maybe you should fuck off back to wherever you came from.’
