The Night Watch: A Vampire Paranormal Romance (Blood Red Series Book 2)

by W. J. May

  “Try not to move.” Gently he smoothed back her hair as if to calm her. “It took me a day. Since I’m your maker, I predict it’ll be the same for you. But I swear, I’ll not leave you until you’re strong. I promise.”

  Kallie wanted to pull him over and feel his body against hers. She wanted to be lost to his kiss and spend the day tangled under his sheets. She was starving for lust and couldn’t decipher what she was lusting for. However, she couldn’t even move her pinky without the restraints of her body commanding her to stay still. “I’m a vampire.”

  Caleb chuckled. “Not yet. Soon. You’re changing. The best thing you can do right now is rest. Sleep. I’m right here.”

  Caleb gently touched his lips against hers. She found it sweet that he didn’t want to hurt her and wished she had her strength so she could slam her lips against his. He released his lips and whispered in the dark, “I can’t wait to see how beautiful you’ll be.”

  Kallie felt a small smile, the most her muscles would allow without turning her over to the pain. She closed her eyes, exhausted.

  Suddenly the door to Caleb’s apartment burst open. The light from the hallway flooded the room, making the intruders visible.

  Caleb managed one word, “Rogues.”

  Suddenly the six of them—four males, two females— were on him. They ripped him out of bed, the sudden jerk of his body against hers causing waves of pain to shoot all over Kallie.

  She cried out, as if she’d been whipped, the lashes of pain refusing to retreat. “Caleb…” was all she could whisper as she watched them bind him in silver chains. She could smell the burning skin as it seared into his flesh. Her face was wet with tears, but there was nothing she could do. She could barely move, much less fight.

  Caleb, even while being burned by the silver and outnumbered six to one fought with all the strength he could muster. He kicked one of the Rogues who burst suddenly into flames, ashes falling to the floor like a magic trick.

  Kallie watched in horror as they took him down. They took turns tearing at his clothes and scratching at his handsome face, biting and drinking from him so he grew weak. These were the monsters who took her father every month… who feasted on the pure vamps.

  Is that why they wanted Caleb? Because he was pure? But he wasn’t anymore. He had tasted Kallie and that was bound to make a difference. Perhaps when they realized… when they tasted him, they would know.

  They dragged Caleb out of the apartment.

  “Kallie!” he cried, unable to do anything more than say her name over and over.

  Kallie whimpered, trying to move off the bed to fight them. She passed out and fought to gain back her consciousness.

  “Caleb,” a voice mocked.

  Kallie forced her head to turn around, fighting through the pain. One of the female Rogues was there. Laughing at her pathetic state. Kallie had chosen this life to no longer live in fear, to protect those she loved, but she was in transition, too weak to do anything, even protect herself. Her body betrayed her, locking her in place.

  “Well, well… what to do with you?” the vile vampire scoffed. “Shall I slice you open? Drink every drop? What would be worthy of Petra’s little princess?”

  Kallie shook in fear, but she never unlocked her gaze from the vampire. She wanted to commit her face to memory. The auburn hair, red lips, and glowing orange eyes.

  The vamp’s face twisted into a cruel expression. She walked over to the window with her hips swaying in her tight black leather pants, and tore the drapes down that Caleb had used to cover the window.

  It was still dark outside… but Kallie knew the sun would inevitably rise, and with it, she would be turned to a blackened unrecognizable body by its rays.

  The vampire moved to the nightstand and turned the clock so Kallie could see the time. It was almost four a.m. She had two hours until sunrise.

  “Pretty fitting, isn’t it? The daughter of a witch, being burned alive.” Then, with a wicked laugh, she walked out of the room, closed the door, and left Kallie to die.

  Chapter 14

  Kallie stirred in the darkness, not as sore as earlier. She could make out a shadow, and feel arms around her. It had been a bad dream, a terrible, horrible nightmare. She reached up to touch Caleb’s face, but recoiled when she felt the slight stubble.

  Whoever was holding her was not Caleb.

  Kallie pushed the stranger away, and although there was no more pain, the effort of moving her arms was exhausting. “It’s okay, Kallie. It’s me.”

  “Liam?” It seemed impossible. The last thing she remembered was that evil Rogue sentencing her to death. Then she must have passed out from the pain of her transformation.

  “It’s okay,” Liam repeated. “I’ve got you. It’s daylight. The room’s lightless. Caleb has some kind of remote that put covers on the windows. Nothing will harm you here.”

  “Except you.”

  “No, I won’t. I’m a vampire. You wouldn’t understand. It was… forget it.” He sighed.

  But Kallie did understand. Hadn’t she been lost to the lust and adrenaline when Caleb was raking his sharp fangs across her skin, just the thought of him puncturing a vein was arousing. She blinked and tried to focus. “Does it have to be so dark? Can we have a little bit of light?”

  “You were sleeping.” He stretched over and switched the light next to him on, then jumped back off the bed and against the wall.

  “What?” She sat up and looked around. They were the only two in the room.

  He leaned in closer, gazing directly into her eyes. “Wh-What are you?”

  Had he lost his mind? “Caleb changed me. It was the only option. I’m a Red now.” She tilted her head. Why wasn’t he trying to attack her? Didn’t Blues and Reds have instant combustion?

  “Kallie, you’re not a Red.”

  “What?”

  Liam zipped into the next room and returned with a handheld mirror. “See for yourself.”

  Kallie blinked, the dim light still bright against her new vampire eyes. It amazed her that she felt… almost okay. Thirsty, but someone in control. She gazed into the glass, staring at her reflection.

  Her eyes, that she expected to find a crimson red, were not red at all. They were in fact purple, a light lilac color that seemed to darken to amethyst as she glared in the mirror at herself. How the hell were they purple? “Liam? What’s wrong with me?”

  Liam gnawed on his thumb. “I have no idea.”

  Kallie wanted to cry. She wanted to be a Red, like Caleb and Petra and her father.

  Liam twitched his mouth back and forth. “Vamp blood is unique. It doesn’t just flow through your veins, it latches itself on to your organs. Your very body absorbs it. That’s how it’s able to heal a human. It was still part of you, even though the flow of your natural blood was gone.”

  “Oh.” Kallie had no idea what he was talking about. A sudden thirst ripped through her body. She doubled over in pain.

  Liam shoved a straw into her mouth.

  She sucked at it, not caring what it was. She needed to quench this thirst before she died. The warm liquid inside was gone too soon. “More,” she whispered.

  He handed her another cup. “Handyman Caleb’s got a cooler full of these. All set to room temperature.” He knelt down on the side of the bed, his brilliant blue eyes filled with hope. “Maybe… maybe you could be what ends this war. Maybe you’re the link.”

  “Liam,” she said, the blood sating the hunger and letting her think. “You and I will never be together. It was a mistake.”

  “How do you know Caleb’s not the mistake? He had you at that fang club the other night. That’s owned by a seriously lethal vamp named Petra. That’s why I dove in to save you.”

  “Petra wouldn’t hurt me!”

  “And how do you know that? I’ve seen her hunt—humans. She shows no mercy.”

  “That… that doesn’t matter.”

  “You call me a monster, but she’s okay?”

  “She’s
my mother, Liam!”

  Liam’s face paled. “Impossible.”

  “Liam. She’s my mother.”

  “She’s your worst nightmare.”

  “You have no clue what you’re talking about.”

  “She freaking controls the Rogue Reds, Kallie! Don’t you see it?”

  “No… you have officially lost your mind. She protected Caleb with a daylight spell, she left my father to protect him… gave Helen, my mother, a whole new identity. She’s not evil. I refuse to believe it.”

  “Kallie… who knew you were in Caleb’s apartment?” He stood and began searching the drawers in the room, pulling weapons out and attaching them to his hip.

  “My dad, I think. Petra and…” She let her voice trail off. She stood, the room spinning, not because of nausea, but because of her sudden vamp speed. “How did you find me?”

  “I drank your blood. I can sense when you’re in distress. Having my blood in your system makes it easy for me to track you.”

  “How convenient.”

  “I saved you tonight! Whether you like it or not… I’m the reason you’re still alive. Not Petra and not your damn Caleb!”

  Caleb had said something before. Something about forcing her hand. He was a victim as much as she was. “We have to rescue him.”

  “Let him rot. He gets what he deserves for helping Petra. He’s probably a Rogue too. They probably only made it look like they were hurting him.”

  Kallie shook her head. “We need to find him and save him. He’s never drank human blood from anyone, or killed a human. He’s the same as my father.” She moved for the door.

  Liam was faster and stood blocking the door before she reached to leave. “Kallie… I told you… it’s daylight. You’re stuck in here with me until sundown.”

  The hours ticked by, and Kallie fell in and out of restless fits of sleep. She was so exhausted. Each time she woke, Liam handed her another cup with a straw. Finally, she sat up in bed, dismayed it was only noon. Liam was doing chin-ups by the door. “Seriously? This is how you pass the time until you go out?”

  He dropped to the floor and began doing rapid-fire pushups—with one hand. The old Kallie would have drooled over this, but the new Kallie just wanted to be rid of her stereotypical cop sidekick. “Vamp strength or not, I gotta work to keep this body up to my standards.” He flipped over onto his back and started doing crunches. Kallie thought about her dad and his doughy belly. I guess he’s right…

  “What about you? Still tired?”

  “Tired is the nice way to put it. I feel like I could sleep for a hundred years. How will I ever save Caleb if I don’t even have the strength to get out of bed?”

  “I hate to break it to you, but the chances of Caleb still alive and kicking are slim to none.”

  “Just a minute ago you said he was the enemy. Now you think he’s dead? Make up your mind, Liam! You’re giving me whiplash.”

  Liam popped up to his feet and sauntered over to Kallie. She had a flashback of him in her bedroom, the way he walked over to her before he kissed her. The memory made her uncomfortable. “If he’s not working for Petra, and her Rogue army, you better hope he’s dead. If not… those Rogues are going to rip him apart and it’s going to be slow, very slow.”

  “He’s not a Rogue.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “He was pure before he turned me. I made him do it. I took that part away from him.”

  Liam swung around and punched a wall.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” She stood, ready to put him through the wall. She could feel her strength growing. She wasn’t strong, but she wasn’t falling apart or in pain anymore.

  Liam glared at her, furious beyond reason. “Did you ever wonder how you got through that car accident unscathed?”

  Kallie felt the ghost of her heart beat drumming in her mind.

  Liam leaned in close, his lips inches from hers as he spoke, his eyes ignited with anger and frustration. “Well, I do. It was me, me, Kallie. Not your precious Caleb. I saved you that night. My blood healed you. Blue blood.” He dropped his head and gave it a hard shake before glaring at her again.

  Kallie had a feeling the thing he wanted to shake the most was her.

  “I didn’t hurt you then, and I wouldn’t hurt you now. Why the hell do you think I was so quick to jump at the chance to be interviewed by you? I had to see you again. Up close. I had to know you were okay. That you were able to move on from the horrors of that night. I saw the Rogues attacking your dad. I watched them drain him dry, and I saw Caleb too. He was trying to get to you, but was terrified at the Rogues attacking your father. No one was helping you! You were just left to die, your body broken from the mangled vehicle. I couldn’t let you die, Kallie. I told you, I’ll protect you. I’ll always protect you.”

  Kallie closed her eyes. She wanted to cry. All those missing pieces were finally stitched together. Everything about that night made sense. The confusion was wiped away. It was crystal clear at last. “I’m… I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I suspected, but I didn’t know what really happened.”

  Liam sighed and dropped down on the bed, closing his eyes. “Get some rest, Kallie, in a few hours you’ll feel more like yourself. If you still want to track Caleb, then I’ll go with you.”

  The thought of a tortured Caleb was her worst nightmare, and a vision she kept seeing every time she closed her eyes. She lay down beside him and rested her head on his strong shoulder. Liam kicked the blanket at the edge of the bed and it flew into the air, landing perfectly on her.

  She forced a weak smile. “I’m going to get Caleb, with or without you.”

  Chapter 15

  “How do you feel?” Liam asked as she stood to her full height and stretched on her tiptoes.

  Kallie evaluated her body before she answered. She wasn’t in pain, and she wasn’t tired—well, she wasn’t exhausted. “I’d say I’m at seventy-five percent,” Kallie answered.

  “Seventy-five percent is not one hundred percent. You need to be one hundred percent before you try to find Caleb.”

  “That could take all night, and by then the sun is up and another opportunity is gone. No, we have to go now.”

  “We need to wait.”

  “No.” Kallie moved to the other room and grabbed three cups from Caleb’s temperature-controlled fridge. He didn’t have many left.

  Liam followed her. “Why is he the good guy and I’m the villain?”

  She sucked a cup down, the red blood beyond delicious. “You’re not the villain… I just can’t think straight.”

  “I know. You need to feed faster.” He rolled up his sleeve and plunged his fangs into his wrist, then offered his wound to Kallie. The dark blood was already seeping from the gash. Kallie licked her lips. The scent of his blood was intoxicating. She wanted it. Every part of her wanted it. But what would it mean if she drank from Liam… from a Blue?

  “You need to drink.”

  “I can’t drink from another vampire.” She pictured those Rogues feeding off her father.

  He held his arm out to her, a drop of blood hit her lip. “You have to. This is survival.”

  The thirst was unbearable. It was right there for the taking, and Liam was right, she needed to feed if she was going to be strong enough to help Caleb. She took his wrist in her hands and looked up at Liam once more. He ran a hand through her hair and nodded that it was all right. Closing her eyes, Kallie covered his wound with her mouth and lapped at his blood with her tongue. He tasted different than Caleb, tarter, but still very good, like drinking a fine red wine. She wondered if the reason he tasted different was because of his diet. Liam was a hunter. Drinking from him was like sucking on a carnivore. Caleb was more of a vegetarian. But blood, was blood, and as Liam had stated before, she needed it to survive. Before she knew it, she was latched on to his wrist like a baby at its mother’s breast. She sucked and filled her mouth with his blood; she could feel it saturating her, nourishing her, faster than the blood in
the cups. She wanted more, she wanted so much more…

  A forceful hand grasped the back of her neck. “Kallie, you’re going to drain me dry.”

  Kallie didn’t care. This was what she needed. She couldn’t see right and wrong in that moment, only blood and satiating her own desires. She wanted more and she would have it. The hand pulled at her forcefully and she broke away and hissed at Liam like a wild animal. He seized the opportunity to be free of her and jumped back, separating them.

  Liam had both his hands in the air, like how he would have if he was confronting a criminal. “It’s okay… just relax…”

  Kallie realized she was crouched down in a hunting, attack position. The blood, still a wet stain around her mouth. It ran through the cracks of her teeth, distorting her thoughts.

  Her body, still used to its human dependencies, took a breath to calm her down. But no air filled her lungs. Air was no longer something she required. Blood was everything. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and saw Liam’s blood streaked across her white skin. Unable to control her urges, she licked the blood off of her hand before she finally composed herself. “I had no idea how hungry I was.”

  “Kallie,” Liam spoke softly, his voice soothing. “You’re a newborn vampire. You acted exactly as I expected you to act. I knew what I was offering. If anything, you showed more control than I thought you would.” He gave her a smile to coax her into relaxing. But she couldn’t relax. Nothing about this new life was relaxing. “But I’m sure of something, after what I just saw, it’s quite clear.” His grin deepened.

  Kallie cocked her head, why did every vampire feel the need to speak in riddles? “What’s that?” She sounded exasperated. Too many thoughts ricocheting off her brain at once. It was hard to focus.

  Liam took a step forward, his chest swelled with pride. “You’re a hunter, like me. It’s the way you drink, the way the feed consumes you. You may want to feed off of blood bags, but you’re a killer at heart. It’s in your blood.” Once more Kallie’s thoughts went to that night in her bed, as Liam’s cold fangs pierced her skin. Was he truly innocent in that moment? His longing outweighed his reason?