Red Knight Box Set (Books 1,2,3): Contemporary Vampire Romance

by L. C White

  “You’re in London, Maeve. The Shard,” Liz says, walking to my side.

  My lips part, but not a noise emerges as Liz guides my flaky body back to the couch, coaxing me to sit down.

  My butt drops onto the firm grey suede and I notice I’m wearing plaid pyjama bottoms, with a baby pink t-shirt. Who the hell stripped me off?

  I rub my stinging eyes with my thumb and finger.

  “How long have I been here?” I say through a croak.

  Liz perches a few feet away from me. “A week.”

  “A week!”

  “Maeve, you’ve been hysterical,” she says.

  “Why… why my dad?” I sniff up, wiping a tear from my cheek as Adrien sits down next to Liz. “He had nothing to do with this.”

  Adrien squeezes Liz’s knee, exhales, and removes his reading glasses.

  “I’m going to explain some things to you, and you must have an open mind. Understand he did what he did, because he loved you. Can you do that, Maeve?” he asks.

  Scowling, I tilt my torso back in confusion, nodding yes. This is bizarre. I need answers, but I have the feeling what he’s about to tell me, isn’t going to help me at all.

  “Your father was one of us,” he says.

  “Nah… no way was he a vampire,” I squeal out.

  “I’m afraid it’s true, Maeve,” Liz adds.

  “When your mother crashed the car, she wasn’t alone, your father was with her,” Adrien explains, as my thoughts spiral back in time.

  The night my mother died, has always been a bit of a blur. I know I was at a sleepover at a friend’s house. I know my father was working. I remember him taking some time away after the accident, because the grief was too much for him. And I had to stay at my nans house in Glasgow. The day he came back for me, he didn’t say a word. Just swooped me up in his arms, and took me home. I’d have known if he was a vampire, surely.

  “How… how do you know all this?”

  “It was I your mother swerved to miss,” he says, lowering his head.

  “You… you killed my mum!”

  “No,” he says, sharp. “The car your mother drove, was on the wrong side of the road. It was a blind spot, and there was no way to see what was coming,” he explains. “But yes Maeve, no matter whose fault it was, at the time I felt responsible.”

  “Adrien had to do it.” Liz’s fingers run down my arm and I shrug her away.

  “It was too late for your mother,” Adrien nods. “But your father begged me, like he knew what I was. He told me about you, and I had to do it. That is why we have been in contact all these years. He worked for me.”

  This is way too much to take in. This is crazy. I start to rock back and forth. I can’t stop my body doing it. It’s an involuntary moment of insanity. My entire life from the age of seven, has been a lie. I’m in London, in a penthouse suite, with a group of fuckin vampires. I’ve been attacked, stripped of clothing, and drugged. I’m having a mental meltdown right now.

  “The Sang who attacked you, murdered your father in his office,” Adrien says. “He was trying to hide your whereabouts.”

  A tear drops from my jaw, onto the back of my hand. “What am I doing here?”

  “We need to keep you safe,” Liz says.

  “From who?”

  “Daniel.” Liz blinks slowly as Adrien gets up from the couch, unable to listen anymore.

  Hearing his name has that void feeling growing inside my chest. I never thought he was a danger to me. I resided to the fact being with him was an impossibility, after what happened between us. But I labelled it a fling. An intense sexual fling that had to happen, so we could move on.

  “You know Daniel isn’t like us,” Liz says. “He’s one of a kind. If he has been given your blood, then he may change.”

  “Into?”

  “Into what was born inside him. You’ve seen a glimpse of it yourself.”

  “Where is he?” I ask.

  “We are working on it now.” Liz looks across to the table. “Let me show you.” She stands up, gesturing her hand for me to follow.

  I walk over to the table as Nathan strides up and down, rubbing his head. Sara is trying to calm him, but he’s furious.

  “We’ll go and follow up on it,” Ben says, as he and Dom walk to the door.

  “Find out who that girl is,” Nathan orders, rolling up his shirt sleeves in a flustered state.

  I take note of the exit, in case I need to get out of here.

  Adrien grabs a sheet of paper from Sara, and scowls down at it. His cheekbones sink as he bites down.

  “Not possible!” he yells as Liz takes the paper from him.

  I watch Liz cover her mouth with her hand. I’m so out of my depth here. I don’t have a clue what’s going on, and feel like a useless piece of broken furniture.

  “I should have known,” Nathan yells. “I have been screwed right over. Why the fuck has no one come forward!”

  Liz lets the piece of paper fall from her fingers. She moves back to the couch, and drops down with her head in her hands. My eyes land on the cause of her upset. It’s a CCTV image of three pixelated figures. Absorbed in the image, and forgetting where I am for a moment, I bend to lift up the picture. I squint down at it. I see a man in a suit. He’s kind of evil looking, even in this blurry image. I see a girl with straight hair down to her waist, but her face is not visible. Then I see him, Daniel, climbing into the back of a car. Wherever he’s going, he’s going willingly.

  “The Order punished him by death,” Adrien mumbles in a confused breath.

  Nathan snickers. “The Order has vanished. Blood has dried up, and some other fucking source is selling. Laurie is well and truly, a-fuckin-live, and he’s running the Voax.” Nathan yells. “I have two dead Executives. The Vigore council cease to communicate with me. All the damn money has gone, and our Sang in the government, are shitting themselves. This takeover has been going on for years, before even I was in charge. I give it a month, and our kind will be feeding off humans!”

  “Calm the fuck down, Nathan,” Adrien barks.

  Nathan doesn’t respond well to his advice, and is now being held back by Sara.

  “STOP IT!” Liz screams.

  Both Adrien and Nathan silence, like she has power over them. I slowly, one tiny step at a time, make my way backward toward the door.

  “I’m sorry Liz, but you know Daniel has a hand in this,” Nathan says. “It fuckin destroys me, but shit, we have to stop him.”

  Liz shoots up from the couch as I get closer to the exit, unnoticed.

  “We don’t know that for sure,” she shouts.

  Adrien makes his way to her and pulls her body into his arms, but she thrusts herself away.

  “Until we know exactly what is happening, we do nothing. Do you hear me!” Her eyes turn black, and it’s enough to have me turn and jog to the exit.

  I grab the handle and open, but it’s no good because Liz has her hand wrapped around my arm, before I can run. I struggle against her grip pointlessly, as she glares at Nathan.

  “I know Daniel, and he’s been fighting this since birth. He’s in love with this girl, and love is a powerful thing,” she yells, pulling me through the room. “I know him, and even if he has fed from her blood, he can come back from that.”

  I stop fighting at the sound of that word, love. Maybe he does love me. Perhaps I love him too. But he’s gone, lost, and I can’t stay here. I want to see my dad. This is madness and I need to know for sure if it’s all true. I can’t trust these vampires.

  “I’m not fuckin staying, and you can’t keep me here.” I yank my arm free. “I want to see my dad!”

  They all stare at me. I should be afraid, but I’m not. I’ve got nothing to lose. They clearly need me alive for some reason.

  “She’s right,” Sara says. “We have enough to cope with, without whining demanding bitches.”

  God, she’s a nasty piece of work.

  “I’m begging you,” Liz says, desperately. “G
wen told me all about who you are, and you may be able to help him.”

  I almost agree, she’s so distressed, but quickly shake my head at her.

  “I’m nothing,” I sigh out.

  “He has a connection with you more than any other,” she says. “You feel it, I know you do. Look, I know what you’re going through. I know you need that closure on your dad. I know you can’t trust us. But if what I’m saying is true, I know you can get through to him.”

  This is so damn stupid. I’m human. I don’t want this kind of life. I want my old life back. My dad. My shitty job. My screwed up friends. I’d even settle for the crappy Scottish weather for an eternity. I don’t want to be a part of some war. I feel like I’ve been roped into some supernatural version of the godfather. Covens. Blood wars. Goddamn mafia like shit.

  “Give us a few days,” she pleads. “If you feel one ounce of love for him, please just stay.”

  “And do what exactly?”

  “You stay here. He’ll be able to sense you. He might even try to communicate.” She runs her hand down my arm. “If you leave, you don’t stand a chance on your own. You’re safer with us.”

  Fuck, she’s right. My dad was murdered. What’s to stop them coming for me. Tears fill my eyes, as I begin to understand this is all too much for me to handle alone.

  “Thank you, Maeve,” Liz says.

  Chapter 19: Lost Cause

  Daniel

  I’m not sure how long I’ve been here. I don’t even know whether it’s day or night outside. I’ve adjusted to the dark and damp. What I do know, is at some point each day, I can hear movement and talking in that warehouse on the other side of the door. Also the shit music which vibrates through the brick, coming from the blood suckers nightclub. I’ve made it a habit to scratch one mark in the dirt, the moment the first song is played. Now I’m counting six, that’s six days I must have been locked in this shithole.

  I’m being calm. I have to be. I might not get out of here, and I’m determined not to give them what they want before I die. I haven’t eaten or drunk a thing offered to me, and the only source of food, is Maeve’s blood that’s in the corner. My mind is becoming stronger as my body becomes weak. I still want her, but I won’t take her. She’s never deserved to be a part of this.

  I hear the locks on the door being opened. I crawl to my corner and lie on my side, facing the wall. I won’t give the fuckers the chance to see my face. They need to know I’m willing to die in this prison.

  The light from the warehouse beams through. Even though I’m not lying in the light, my eyes sting as it bounces off the mouldy bricks and into my face.

  “Are we still sulking?” Lillian’s nasty voice has an amused ring to it. “What’s this doing all the way over here?”

  I know what she’s doing. She’s bending over to pick up Maeve’s blood, so she can toss it at me again.

  “You know Daniel, I’m in awe of your loyalty to your family… and that girl.”

  I hear her steps closing in on me, and smell Maeve’s scent. I shut my eyes and pray for her to just fuck-off.

  “I’ll just leave that there for you.” She drops the blood bag next to the back of my head.

  I scratch the cold concrete with my fingertips, hard, waiting to be shut back in the darkness. But today or tonight, whatever time it is, she remains, taunting me. She’s a bitch. A sick twisted bitch. Laurie is a pussy cat compared to her.

  “You do know Daniel, Maeve’s blood here is going to turn stale soon.” She’s smiling, I can virtually hear it. “We might have to go and get you some fresh, now we know where she is.”

  She’s done it. I’m turned over, sitting up, facing her. She looks like a slut in her tight leather trousers, black corset, curly hair, and stripper boots. It’s kind of funny. It’s like she’s watched some action vampire movie, and took that to be the international vampire dress code.

  “Where’s your dad?” I ask, needing to know Maeve is safe.

  “Oh, he’s working.”

  “Working on what exactly?” I’m trying to make my voice sound unbothered, but it’s impossible.

  “Making your throne you dummy.” She rolls her weird eyes at me. “Why don’t you just drink the blood? This is getting tiresome now, Daniel. We understand you feel you have to protect the coven, but we’ve always known where they are, hiding at the top of their tower. We now know where Maeve is. So just stop being stubborn, and do it.”

  Her boots scrape the ground as she turns to walk to the door. With what strength I have, I push myself up to my feet.

  “Don’t you fuckin go near her?”

  She gives me a caustic smile over her shoulder. “Oh don’t you worry, Daniel. On Laurie’s orders we are only to watch. However, the Dhampir in me, likes the smell of your Muse. I’m trying to keep a lid on her, but she is one hungry bitch.”

  “I want to see Laurie,” I demand.

  “Drink and join us then, Daniel.” She swaggers through the door, and shuts me in the darkness.

  I bring my cuffed wrists up to my head, my fingers clutching at my dirty hair. While I’m locked in here, I can’t do jack-shit.

  Still pulling at my hair, I drop down to my knees. I don’t have a choice. To get out of here, I need to be strong. The Dhampir will consume me. But the dark protecting Maeve, is better than no protection at all.

  Tears fall from my eyes as I grab the blood bag. I wheeze out with my eyelids shut so tight they throb. My mouth opens and I tear the bag open with my teeth. Maeve spills out and trickles down my arms. I drink, feeling hidden fangs cutting through my gums. She’s so sweet. So fuckin sensual on my palate. She is absolutely essential to me.

  Agony rips through my soul as I fall onto my side in a ball. An overpowering force is surging throughout every muscle, constricting with fire. I’m now vomiting her back up.

  My Dhampir rises to the surface of my eyes as I claw the air. My chest and mouth release the pain in a deep yowl. I see her image in my mind. Feel her soft skin against mine. And I see her tears. I can feel her pain like it’s connected to me.

  I writhe around the floor, my body jerking and bones cracking abnormally, but it doesn’t hurt anymore. There is something embracing me. The inevitable darkness is wrapping me up in its arms. I’m feeding from it, and it’s growing my confidence. An air of silence and peace makes me still.

  I sit up with my legs to my chest and a smile on my face. I feel so fuckin powerful, strong, and capable of anything. Nothing is more important than this. All those years fighting this. All the anguish. All the doing what others tell me; what is for the best. It’s all gone. The deadweight has been lifted and I’m feeling free.

  The door opens on me. I’m laughing with release, looking at what’s left of Maeve on my skin. She is mine, always has been. And I require her at my side.

  Laurie stands in the doorway as I cock my brow at him. He’s smiling at me. What he’s done to me, should have me tearing his head from his shoulders, right where he stands. But he’s also helped me. He’s woken me, made me understand what I am.

  “Welcome Daniel,” he says to me, waving the keys to the cuffs. “Let me give you a tour.”

  I smirk, jumping to my feet with sprite. I hold my wrists before my face, and pull the cuffs apart as easy as tearing tissue. He backs away, and he’s right to.

  “You’re safe… for now,” I say.

  “We have organised your things, Daniel,” he says. “Your bike is in your quarters.” I peer down at my blood stained clothing with my arms out. “Clean yourself up, and explore your new world. You’re free to do whatever you please.”

  I walk out into the warehouse with my head held high. I see Vigore silence in my presence. I sense their apprehension, and I have to say, it feels kind of fuckin great.

  Chapter 20: Pain & Comfort

  Maeve

  I’ve given them more than the three days they wanted, and fuck all has happened apart from the frantic comings and goings of vampire. Blood has now become a rare
commodity, and I’m only safe at the moment, because Nathan has a secure stash for emergencies. If that runs out, then I’ll be a free for all buffet.

  I’ve spent ninety percent of the time in this room. A room with no doors, only a wall panel that acts as a secret passage out into the penthouse. The dressing table is full of take-out containers, most still full of food. How can I eat when all I can think of is my dad? I don’t know where to go from here. He was the only family I had. There’s my Nan in Glasgow, but I’ve only seen her a handful of times since I left with Dad all those years ago. Besides, I’m a grown woman now. If I turn up on her doorstep, like a frightened child in need of reassurance because I’ve got myself tangled up in the vampire world, she’ll just laugh in my face. For now, I’m fuckin stuck here.

  Dom walks through the secret doorway, holding a bucket of southern fried chicken. Jeez, is this what they think nutrition is: pizza, burgers, fried chicken, and frigging noodles?

  I sit up, with my back against the headboard, wiping the remnants of a sobbing fit from my cheek.

  “Dinner is served.” He holds the bucket out to me.

  “Just put it with the rest.”

  He walks over to the dressing table, and looks down at all the uneaten food with a sigh. He slides the bucket between the Chinese take-out container, and a bottle of diet lemonade.

  “Maeve, do you want a salad or something?” he asks, turning to face me.

  I laugh a little. Dom’s the kind of vampire that makes light of everything. He’s always got this happy aura, despite what shitty situation he’s in. If he was human, Dom would be a good reliable friend I bet.

  “I’m being serious. It’s no good you dropping dead of a clogged up artery.” He puckers his lips. “Did Ben bring you all this junk?”

  “Yep.”