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

by L. C White

  “You did good Maeve, don’t close your eyes.” Liz’s words encourage me to stay focused.

  She helps me to my feet, and pulls me further away from danger. Daniel is staring at me, his eyes start to show a deep distress as he sees all the damage caused. He sees Ben’s body, and Dom kneeling over him.

  “Lillian, I told you I’d kill you,” he says.

  Daniel moves in a hazy flash. He covers the entire length of the club, with Lillian in his grasp. He has her throat in his hand, as the coven wake and stand to witness his power. It’s so tense. He has her body pinned up, and she chokes with a grin on her face, enjoying it.

  Liz makes a move, but I stop her.

  “I am nothing like you!” Daniel yells.

  “But brother… you are,” she snickers.

  “NO!” Daniel howls out in agony, dropping to his knees, and he allows Lillian to fall free.

  Liz suddenly whooshes across the room. I’ve never seen anything move so fast. Her body becomes transparent, and I can only just visualise her as she pulls the blade out from Laurie’s neck, and grabs Lillian. I take a step, gasping, as she straddles Lillian’s waist. But Lillian just flicks Liz up high, and the blade lands by Daniel’s hand.

  Adrien runs to Liz’s limp body, and I charge toward Daniel. Sara and Nathan now have full movement. Both try to save Ben, as Dom’s grieving cries bounce off the corrugated steel.

  I’m watching everything unfold in slow-motion, screaming as I race toward Daniel. Both Lillian and Daniel reach for the blade, and I pray as they fight over it. Lillian’s hand flies out to whip my bloody bruised cheekbone. I land on the floor with my knees to my chest, watching as Lillian falls on top of Daniel. I scream, unable to see the blade as both of them lie lifelessly. A silence consumes the room as I crawl to Daniel’s hand.

  “Daniel… Daniel,” I gasp, grabbing his fingers.

  Lillian is laid widthways across his body. I’m trying to see whose blood is pooling on the floor, but I can’t tell.

  Adrien and Liz frantically pull and roll Lillian from Daniel. I see blood on his bare skin beneath his t-shirt, but no blade. I look across to Lillian, and see the handle protruding from her stomach. I squeeze Daniel’s fingers hard, as Liz shakes him.

  “Give him blood,” Liz yells.

  “No!” Gwen’s white eyes scan Daniel’s body from head to foot. “He’s alive.”

  I sigh out, getting up onto my knees, kneading his hand in mine.

  “No more blood,” Gwen states. “That’s what got him here.”

  Daniel’s fingers twitch as I hold all my emotions in my chest. His eyes flicker open. His sweet, normal green eyes. He turns his head to look at me, as Adrien holds Liz, both relieved.

  “Thank you,” he says in a groggy voice.

  I wipe my eyes, with a distraught smile curling my lips. I can’t speak. I’m so screwed-up by it all. Everything, since I managed to escape, has happened so fast. I’m still being fuelled by adrenalin, expecting any moment some other bloody battle to start.

  “Maeve, honey,” Gwen slides her hand under my arm. “Let’s get you out of here.”

  I don’t want to go anywhere. I need to stay, and refuse to move. Daniel gently shakes my hand, still staring at me.

  “Maeve,” he says, quietly. “Go with Gwen.”

  I press my lips together to taste my tears, as Gwen guides my shaky body up to stand. She leads me through the carnage. I listen to Dom and Nathan yelling, as they try to bring Ben back. I repeatedly glance over my shoulder, watching Liz and Adrien help Daniel sit upright. My legs numb, my knees weaken, and I stagger a few steps.

  “Come on, Maeve. I’ve got something that will take the edge off.” Gwen’s arm tightens around me.

  I’m being led out into the carpark by a blind witch. I’ve just witnessed a vampire war. There are bodies scattered everywhere I turn. I’ve been attacked. I’ve declared my love. And at one point, thought I’d lost him. My head is spinning, and all I can think about is Daniel.

  Gwen opens the boot of a midnight blue Range Rover, and makes my traumatised body perch on the rim. Huffing and puffing, she fumbles through her brown carpet bag.

  “Here, this is my mother’s recipe.” She holds out a chocolate chip cookie.

  What the fuck? Her intentions might be sweet, but after what I’ve just witnessed, the last thing I want is a damn chocolate cookie. In fact, I don’t think I’ll be able to eat for a month.

  I roll my stinging eyes at her, crossing my arms over my chest.

  “It will help,” she says, annoyed.

  I lower my head, focusing on my dirty wet blood stained pumps. Gwen sighs and drops the cookie back into her bag.

  “He will be fine, eventually,” she rubs my arm.

  “Eventually?”

  “Yeah. It’s going to take him a long time to recover from this, and you’re going to have to give him space.” I look up to see her slipping a pair of designer shades over her nose. “He needs to find his new place. And only Liz and Adrien can help him through that.”

  “Will he be able to control it now?”

  “He’s made a start, thanks to you,” she smiles. “But you have to allow him to choose you all over again, without his darkness having a hand in it. You have to let him go.”

  I sniff up as the waterworks return. She’s right. We have something we share that is destructive, intense, and ravenous. I don’t know the real Daniel, because he’s been searching for himself his whole life. The realisation of how much has been lost, and how much things have changed in the short time we’ve known each other, hits me hard. We can’t just forget about all this and go on a date. We are both way too damaged for that.

  I weep into my hands. Gwen rubs my arms, then pulls me in for a mother like hug.

  “This will blow over honey. I know you feel lost right now, but this will shape you, make you stronger.” She pulls back and again holds the cookie out to me. “Eat this. It has a magic calming ingredient,” she winks. “You go lie down in the back. You don’t need to see this.”

  I look passed the carpark to see vampires walking around. Some injured, some helping others, and a few being punished for being traitors. I take the cookie from her, and push myself up from the boot.

  Gwen opens the backdoor for me. I climb inside and she shuts me in silence, smiling sympathetically before she disappears. I glance down at the cookie melting in my hand. I’ve gathered it’s a happy herb biscuit. I don’t need it. I don’t want it. I drop it onto the parcel shelf, and lie down on my side in the foetal position, closing my eyes to hold in the heartache.

  ***

  I’m not sure how long I’ve been lying here, waiting. I’m numb to everything. I’m trying to snap out of it, but my mind is going over and over what I’ve seen.

  “Maeve.” Daniel’s voice and a tap on the window, break my living nightmare.

  I clutch my chest, feeling my heart thumping against my ribcage. Air chokes me as I sob tears, seeing his pleading sorry eyes through the glass. Gasping, I open the door and he grabs me as he drops into the backseat. He has my face in his hands, my tears trickling over his fingers. He kisses me, without saying a word. He draws back, but I refuse to let him go. I lean to him, watching his eyes shimmer, and his lip squeeze together tight. I kiss him with desperate breaths.

  “Maeve… Maeve,” he says into our kiss, taking my wrists in his hands. “We need to talk.”

  I sniff up, biting my cheek. I know what he’s going to say, and just for now, I don’t want to think about it. He’s with me, and he’s now the only thing in this world I have left. Good, bad, evil, or heavenly, I don’t fuckin care.

  “Don’t say it,” I say, as his hands come up to hold my cheeks. “I don’t need to hear it, Daniel.”

  “God, I do not deserve someone like you.” He swallows, dipping his head a little. “I want to love you. I want to be able to give you everything you deserve, but I can’t do that right now.”

  “I know.”

  “I
need you to forget tonight. I need you to forget everything, and go find some happiness. Live as though you never met me, Maeve. Do whatever you want. What we have right now between us, can’t exist. I cannot be with you.”

  I take hold of his wrists, to pull his hands away from my face.

  “You’ve never been able to be with me,” I say, feeling less upset and more frustrated.

  He hits his chest with his hand. “Maeve, you own my heart now. I won’t ever love another. You are my fuckin Muse.”

  “Then I’ll wait for you.” I gaze through teary eyes, with determination. “Because I can’t imagine not being with you again.”

  “You’d do that after everything I’ve done to you?”

  “Yes… I love you!”

  His hand curls around my neck and he kisses me with such emotion, my lungs don’t work. This is what he’s going to leave me with; this one moment of lost true love.

  Our kiss slowly drifts apart, and his touch leaves me.

  “I don’t know when. I don’t know where. But I will find you again, Maeve.”

  “That’s it then?” I snivel.

  “I’m sorry.” He steps out of the car, breathless and as wounded as I. “Be happy, please Maeve. Just do that for me.” He slams the door and disappears into the night.

  Chapter 34: Memorial

  Daniel

  “Hey, you listening?” Nathan elbows my arm, as I stand in the dressing room of: Beaumont Tailors, in Paris.

  “Yeah,” I hum, looking blankly at myself in the full-length mirror.

  Nathan folds the collar of his white shirt over a light blue tie, as the tailor, Andre, offers a variety of other different coloured silk ties, which hang over his forearm.

  “It’s fine, Andre.” I see Nathan gesturing his head at Andre in the reflection. “We’ll shout if we need you.”

  “Okay, Monsieur.” Andre dips his head and walks across the red carpet, closing the dark oak door behind him.

  I’m not going to do this right now. I don’t need fuckin telling again, how wearing fancy uncomfortable tight suits, comes with the territory. I’ve heard it over a thousand times since I landed in Paris.

  For two months I’ve been here, staying with Nathan and Sara. It took me a month of being on lockdown to get over what happened: going through withdrawals, climbing the walls, and being on the verge of death. I’m still not a hundred percent, but shit, I’m a hell of a lot better. I’ve finally put back on the weight I lost. The night terrors, hallucinations, and intense hunger, have mercifully stopped. And I’ve not touched a drop of blood in months. I’m eating normal human food, sleeping well, and I no longer want to kill everyone I’m near. I had to go through hell, but I’ve figured out who I am. I’m just a guy with a hidden demon inside, and I had to fight it. I had to keep that demon under my control. Now I keep him locked away. I’ve mastered over it. I understand it. And I now know I’m stronger than it.

  “Demetrius will be coming tonight. I know he’s a dick, and still thinks he runs the show, but remember, tonight is about Ben,” Nathan says, turning to the mirror, brushing down the sleeve of his black jacket.

  “Ben has nothing to do with Demetrius,” I say, pissed-off.

  “He said he might check-in. See how you’re getting on. So just leave the talking to me. Don’t want you threatening to knock his head off again.”

  Demetrius survived that night. He’s a Pure. All he needed was a tiny drop of blood and he came right back. Ben however, wasn’t so lucky. There was a warehouse full of blood supplies, and I remember how hard the coven tried. Blood was poured into his mouth. Dom’s distraught howling. Adrien’s frantic desperation. But no matter how hard they fought to bring him back, he’d let go. He wouldn’t heal.

  It was fucked-up, and I still carry the guilt for his death around with me. I punish myself everyday over it. That’s why I haven’t gone near Maeve. I don’t deserve that kind of normal, and it’s been so hard. She was the one who gave me strength that night, no one else. If she didn’t stop me, god knows where we’d be today. She should be with a normal man, who’ll give her love, protect her, and even give her kids. I’m unable to do any of those things for her, and it’s cooled my heart. It’s numbed me. Even though I love her, I can’t risk loving her to death.

  “When do my parents land?” I ask, eyeing up the black suit I’m wearing.

  “Around Six.”

  I haven’t seen Liz and Adrien in a month. I’ve spoken to them over the phone. Quick awkward conversations like always. It was decided by all the powers that be: the Sang, the Vigore, the one Pure left, that I should be given a position of power in this dark world, working alongside Executives. They see me as a tool I guess. I put the fear of god into the vampires. Because of my presence at the top, stability has been restored, and blood prices are lower than ever. The world is full of happy vampires, and business flows smoothly. Adrien did protest. He didn’t want this kind of life for me. It took him a lifetime to get out. But I’ve gone along with it. I guess I’m doing it to make amends.

  “How’s the fit?” Nathan asks, removing his red silk lined fitted jacket.

  “It’s shit.”

  I’d rather be wearing jeans, my wide fit comfy boots, and a basic plain t-shirt. These trousers are so fuckin tight. The black tie chokes me. And the jacket has shoulder pads in it for god sake. I look like an Executive, and I hate that look.

  I unbutton the jacket and yank it off my arms, then loosen the blue tie to pull it over my head. That’s better. Not perfect. But more casual.

  I toss the jacket and tie on a red leather chair in the corner, and grin a little, noticing Nathan’s pissed expression.

  “I’m losing the jacket, and the tie,” I say, unbothered.

  “Fine.” He threads a hanger into the arms of the jacket he wants. “One condition. You don’t pull up outside Le Royal, on that stupid bike of yours. You can borrow the Audi.”

  I frown. “What you taking?”

  He grins, cocky. “I’m taking the Lambo.”

  I smirk as he makes his way into the shop, deciding my bike it is then.

  ***

  I pull up outside Le Royal, on Rue Saint-Antoine, as Nathan drives his new silver Lambo, into Le Royal’s private parking area at the side. He let me know how pissed-off he was, that I’d chosen to ride my bike, by papping his horn at me, as I sped by him under the Arc de Triomphe.

  As I pull off my black helmet, Nathan kind of jogs around the corner with Sara trotting behind him. He storms right up to me with huge eyes, blowing out with his hands on his hips.

  “The Audi?” His brows rise to the middle of his head.

  “It’s where it should be.” I have to stop myself smiling, watching Sara sniggering at his back.

  “Okay, what’s with this?” He flicks my biker jacket, then his view drops down onto my boots and jeans.

  “I’ve decided to go for comfort. I’m a grown man Nathan.” I pat his shoulder and smile. “You don’t have to dress me.”

  “Honey.” Sara links up to Nathan’s arm. “Leave him alone.” She tugs a pissed-off Nathan toward the glass panel doors.

  Le Royal has been reserved exclusively for the vampire kind tonight. It’s one of the key social hotspots for doing business. In the UK, it is usually a nightclub. In the States, a bar and grill. Here in Paris, it’s the swanky restaurant.

  I unzip my jacket, holding my helmet beneath my arm as I open the door. As soon as I step foot inside, Liz is right in my face. I have to admit, I have missed them. I’ve even missed the words of wisdom Adrien has to offer.

  I smile as Liz clings to me, overexcited.

  “Okay, you can let me go now.” I peel her arms away from my neck.

  Adrien goes for a more subtle greeting; a firm fatherly handshake.

  “How was Italy?” I ask.

  Liz and Adrien didn’t handle the whole me being an Executive very well. Liz went ballistic, stating how Demetrius was an asshole, and had no right. And Adrien, ranted and rave
d about how hypocritical Demetrius was. That they had spent years hiding me away, and now Demetrius wanted me in the vampire limelight. It was I who suggested they get away from it all. That I could handle it, and they should cut me loose. I’m never going to know my place, if they can’t give me the space to find myself.

  “Well, I’m not going to lie Daniel.” Adrien gives Liz a cringe worthy look. “It was what we needed.”

  “Drinks,” Dom yells, carrying a tray with a bottle of whisky, wine, and a stack of glasses, through the modern dining area.

  Liz smiles sweetly at me, then goes over to the long table beneath a wall of modern art. She embraces Sara with cheek kisses, and they both whisper gossip, which is obviously about me.

  Adrien pats my arm. “It’s good to see you Daniel.”

  He approaches the table and I follow, placing my helmet on a small table for two.

  Dom holds a glass of whisky out to me. I see it in his eyes; it happens every time we meet. The horrors of that night, Dom can’t seem to shake off. I remind him of Ben, and that spark of fun he used to have, has sizzled out.

  I take the whisky, feeling kind of awkward. I never know what to say to him.

  “How you doing, little dick?” He chuckles, and I’m kind of confused to see his jackass side, shining tonight.

  “I’m good, jerk.” I wave my glass at him, then take a swig.

  His eyes move over my shoulder, nearly bulging out of his head like a cartoon character. Frowning, I peer behind me to see Leanna, winking at him.

  “You and her?” I nearly choke on my drink.

  “Oh, you have no idea,” he grins.

  “Okay,” Nathan calls out as we all find a seat around the table, but remain on our feet. “Everyone has a drink.” He peers around. “Good. Adrien, I’ll let you.” He dips his head.

  Adrien holds his whisky to his chest, his head lowering as he fills his lungs.

  “It’s real good to see you all together again.” He gains back that firm stand he has when doing a speech. “We’re here, finally able to give Ben a send-off he deserves. We all knew him in our own way. He was a dear Brother. He was a comrade in arms. He was loyal to each and every one of us without a fault. He, like Connor, may not be here with us now, but they will always be a part of what we are. Tonight we celebrate them. They lived, died, and lived again. So,” he hoists his glass, “a toast to absent family.”