Unleashing Vampires: A paranormal revenge novel (Unleashing Series Book 2)

by C. J. Laurence

  I’d never ventured this far onto the estate. Sam and I had yet to agree on a landscape designer we wanted to maintain the gardens.

  We’d interviewed some people in the last few days but where she wanted the older more experienced people, I wanted cute young men—eye candy. There was nothing else in the village worth ogling over so if we’re going to spend money, we may as well spend it wisely. Sam disagreed.

  Until we settled on a compromise, the grass was still knee-high, weeds growing everywhere, and the picturesque little stream winding through this furthest point of the grounds ran freely over the land instead of between carefully sculpted grass banks.

  As I wandered through into the deepest corners of the garden, a shiver ran down my spine.

  If I’d learned anything about being a witch and being in the supernatural world, it was that listening to your body’s natural reactions were vital.

  I stopped dead. Maxi froze next to me. His ears were up and pointed, seemingly fixed on something up ahead, amongst a small copse of gnarly old trees.

  “More firewood,” I said to him, giggling. “Wonder if Azazel would bill me for that, too.”

  I laughed to myself as I thought back to the first time I’d met the two demonic brothers—although at that point I’d thought they were the hot Worthington nephews I’d gone to college with.

  My burning cigarette, which I’d thought had been blown out by the wind, had set fire to an ancient oak tree on the boundary line between this estate and the pub where I worked at the time.

  Azazel, then posing as Ben Worthington, had tried to make me pay for the damage. He’d been quickly told where to go of course.

  Now though, looking at how eerie and unwelcoming this collection of trees were, I’m sure he’d have no problem with me burning them down.

  However, my affinity with the elements, earth in particular, had me sympathising with the agonising shapes they seemed to be twisted into.

  “What are you looking at, boy?” I said, bending down to his eye level. “What you seen?”

  Silence fell around us. Even the usual buzzing and ticking of night time insects stopped. All I could hear was the steady beat of my own pulse in my ears.

  I blinked, mentally switching on my ‘aura vision’ as I called it.

  When I’d first started seeing colours around everything and everyone, it had been really off-putting and difficult to concentrate on anything.

  As part of my mental barriers and shielding myself from the supernatural world and any distasteful beings, I’d learned to switch this on and off at will.

  It had baffled me at first that we all hid from each other, but when I understood the depths of my powers after almost losing myself to an evil witch, I realised staying hidden would be my most solid protection.

  Maxi lit up like a rainbow next to me. His aura was all bright, cheerful colours. Scanning across the darkened area in front of me, the steady glow of yellow peeked through the long grass at me.

  I frowned. Yellow was the aura colour for wolves—werewolves.

  “Sam?” I said, standing back up.

  My best friend was a member of a werewolf pack but as far as I knew she’d never turned outside of her initiation ceremony.

  The yellow glow moved. As it glided through the grass, I could make out the outline of a huge wolf.

  I stepped back and held my palms face down. The familiar burn of energy waiting to be released fizzled through my skin, but I waited.

  The long grass in front of me parted around the over-sized grey wolf. It stopped and looked at me, dark brown eyes staring into mine.

  “Dylan?” I said, curious why Sam’s younger brother was prowling through the estate.

  The crunching and clicking of bones sounded through the air as he morphed back into the fine form of an alpha male.

  Unlike most legends tell, he didn’t transform back naked, unfortunately. When werewolves shifted, their clothes became a part of their fur and vice versa.

  There was no denying he was gorgeous, but he’d never spared me more than a few sentences throughout the time I’d known Sam’s family.

  “Hi, Kyla.”

  “Why the hell are you lurking around in the bottom end of our garden? Does Sam know you’re here?”

  “No,” he said, shaking his head. “And she doesn’t need to know either.”

  I frowned. “What’s going on?”

  “Something’s up,” he said, shrugging his broad shoulders. He looked behind him into the twisted copse of trees. When he looked back at me, his coco coloured eyes were full of confusion. “I sensed another supernatural when I was out with the pack. I followed its scent here but there’s nothing.”

  “Maybe you lost its trail or got confused?”

  “No. It was distinct. It smelled like cherries.”

  “And it ended in the bottom of our estate?”

  He nodded and took a step towards me. When he placed his shovel-sized hands on my arms, I jumped in shock. He towered over me with his six-five height and the fact he was touching me crossed boundary lines he’d never expressed an interest in crossing before.

  “Just be careful, please? I can sense something’s off. I’ll come back later tonight, see if I can pick up the trail again.”

  I nodded. I wanted to step back out of his hold but at the same time I didn’t.

  Whilst Azazel may be my demi-soul, Lucifer’s crude revelation of that secret promptly dowsed out any passion that may have been underlying between us. We’d done nothing more than go out on a few dates before he went back to Hell.

  Dylan however, had always been on my ‘want’ list. The fact it wouldn’t ever really go anywhere now put me off instead of turned me on.

  “Thanks,” I said, breaking our contact with two steps backwards. “Call me if you find anything?”

  He nodded and motioned behind me. “I’ll walk you back.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out Maxi’s tennis ball. “Looking for this by any chance?”

  I grinned. Maxi yapped excitedly.

  Dylan hurled it through the air with such force, it seemed to go further than what it had when I used my magick on it. Perhaps all I needed was a muscly guy to accompany me on dog walks.

  Chapter Eleven

  Arana

  After meeting Lilith, I ran back home, eager to tell Lina of the latest developments.

  Just to rain on my parade, she’d already gone out. I searched through the kitchen cupboards and found three big glass mixing bowls.

  Heading outside into the communal garden with one of the bowls, I dug through the recently planted flower beds and filled the bowl with fresh mud. Then, I skipped back upstairs and set about making me some mud pies.

  When I was all done and dusted, I sneaked around the six different levels to our apartment building, looking for any forgotten leather shoes.

  It surprised me when I managed to find four different pairs, all left out in the halls. What was wrong with people? Did they expect their belongings to be left in a public place and be left untouched?

  I shook my head at their stupidity and told myself they deserved to have their shoes stolen if that’s how silly they were going to be.

  My mud pies were all set. I had no mealworms but the soil I’d stolen did have some normal worms in it so I hoped they were good enough to give me some ‘brownie points.’

  I called a local taxi firm and asked if they knew where the Worthington estate was. When the old lady on the other end of the line responded positively, I booked a taxi and waited eagerly.

  When the driver showed up about ten minutes later, he looked at the mixing bowls I was carrying and gave me a questioning look.

  “Kids party,” I said, giving him a flattering smile.

  His skin was wrinkled from sun exposure and his body thin and drawn, like the life had been half-sucked out of him already. “At the Worthington estate?”

  As he opened the rear passenger door for me, I glanced at his left hand, overjoyed to see he was w
earing a wedding ring. I sucked in a deep breath, trying to pick out the scent of cherries over the stench of stale beer, old smoke, and BO.

  It was there, faintly. This guy hadn’t had sex for a long time. He probably jerked off in the darkness of his cab when he parked outside the pubs at kicking out time.

  I shrugged my shoulders. “That’s where I was told to go.”

  “Ok, lady.” He waited for me to slide across the back seat and then shut the door.

  He drove at the speed limits which annoyed me. The roads were quiet, there was no reason to go so slowly. The anticipation was killing me.

  My stomach grumbled at me, reminding me I needed to replenish my magick loss. I changed my mind, grateful he had taken the time to stick to the speed limits.

  “So, you local around here?” I asked.

  “Born and bred.”

  “I’m new around here. Is there anywhere you’d recommend visiting?”

  “Well, I can tell you that the Worthington estate has been abandoned for over twenty years since old Henry died. He left his fortune and his estate to his two nephews. They rolled up a few months back, moved a couple of girls in, then disappeared again.”

  This piqued my interest. “That’s odd.”

  The guy laughed a deep chesty laugh that had him coughing for a few seconds after. “They’re a peculiar family. Believe me.”

  “Any ideas where the nephews went?”

  He shook his head. “Not a clue. They looked different though to what I remember. Mind you, they hadn’t visited their uncle in years.”

  “Did you know the family?”

  “Yes. I used to go to school with old Henry. We still had a catch up now and again over a beer. The last time I saw his two nephews, they were weedy, quiet little things.” He snorted. “They’ve grown into quite the opposite, believe me.”

  “How so?”

  “They’re both built like carthorses for starters. Must be steroids and the gym I’m guessing. But their faces, their eyes, something about them just didn’t seem quite…right. You know when you look at someone and get the chills? That kinda thing.”

  I thought back over my time in the lair. Some of the older Lamia had quite a crush on some of Lucifer’s demons. Two of his demons in particular were allowed a vacation every year for three months. In fact, those two had returned from their vacation whilst my sister and I were in the lair.

  I wonder.

  “You married?” I asked. My stomach had started cramping, desperate for a fill.

  “Err…yes. Forty-seven years.”

  “Nice. Still have an active sex life?”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  I shrugged my shoulders and grinned at him. “Just curious. You hear so many stories of sex drying up in marriage, I’m curious if it’s true.”

  The man laughed, coughing again afterwards. “A pretty young thing like you needn’t worry about that.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Oh really?”

  “Definitely. I’m sure you have a queue of men waiting to take you out.”

  “Well, I’m quite picky when it comes to guys.”

  He nodded. “Good for you. Keep it that way.”

  I sat forwards and put my arms over the seat, resting them on his chest. “I like my men older,” I whispered. “So much more experience.”

  “Hold on, girlie. I don’t know what you’re trying to do—”

  “Oh come on,” I said. “Who’s going to know, hmmm?”

  “I’m a married man, young lady.”

  I slid my hands lower, grinning when I noticed the car swerved violently to the left. “And I bet your wife hasn’t made you feel wanted in years.”

  As soon as I reached his crotch and squeezed it, he groaned. “I’m a faithful man. I love my wife.”

  I moved my head around the headrest. My face only inches from his. “That’s what they all say.”

  “It’s true. I love Edna. She’s my soul-mate.”

  I giggled. “Of course she is. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have some fun with someone else does it?”

  “Edna is the only lady I wish to pleasure me.”

  I squeezed his crotch again and reached forwards to nibble the end of his earlobe. He jerked his head away from me and turned to glare at me.

  “I have nothing to offer you and you have no reason to be interested in a wrinkly old man like me. Leave me alone. We’re nearly there.”

  “Oh but you have so much more to offer than what you realise. Do you not want to feel good? Feel wanted by a woman again?”

  “I am wanted,” he said. “I’m wanted by my wife.”

  “I don’t think you are. Let me make you feel young again.”

  He stamped on the brakes, sending me flying through the gap in the seats. The mixing bowls, my precious mud pies, all clinked together in the backseat.

  I glanced up at him, ignoring the gearstick digging into my back. “Well, if you wanted me in your lap, all you had to do was ask.”

  “Get out,” he said. “I’m not standing for this assault any longer.”

  My stomach growled in protest. I was determined to get this guy’s blood one way or another.

  I looked him dead in the eye, focusing on nothing but him, everything around me became a blur.

  His blue eyes stared back into mine. Over several seconds, the anger in them seeped away. What remained was nothing but a blank, impassive stare.

  “Are you listening to me?” I said.

  He nodded, completely spaced out.

  “You’re going to finish driving me to the Worthington estate. Then, you’re going to say you want me to sleep with you.”

  He nodded, looked back up at the road, and carried on driving.

  I picked myself up and sat back in my seat. I grinned to myself and licked my lips. Dinner was nearly ready.

  Chapter Twelve

  Spencer had his secretary book him a hotel in Minster Arch.

  Being a growing town, Minster Arch had recently acquired a Premier Inn.

  This suited Spencer down to the ground as using small, local B&B’s had taught him coming in at all hours of the night often wasn’t favoured by the owners.

  Begrudgingly, he’d left Evie at home. He’d wanted to bring her with him, have a few naughty nights away at the expense of Her Majesty’s government, but he secretly feared what Evie could potentially get up to whilst he was out investigating.

  He wasn’t naïve; he knew if she was going to sleep with someone else, she’d do it regardless of whether she was at home or somewhere new, but the chances of it happening with new people were greatly increased if he took her away with him.

  He was being a dick, but he didn’t care. His dogged determination had set in and he was determined that this time was going to be the time for them both.

  Taking his case details out of his bag, he sprawled all the pictures over the bed and tried to figure out the pattern.

  The guys were all in the same age bracket—all being around thirty, but that was mostly due to the fact they’d all been in a bar, except one, in their last moments.

  Two dark haired, one blonde, one ginger. No hair colour preference.

  Two were broad, muscled gym gods, the others just regular guys. No patterns there.

  He frowned and glanced over their statistics. Their heights were all different. The few background details he had on their family life proved startling differences there too.

  One came from a highly privileged background, two were your average family lives, and the other was from the system, having bounced in and out of foster homes until he hit eighteen.

  Looking over their contact details for their next of kins, he realised that they all had serious girlfriends.

  He sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair. “Poor fuckers.”

  Two of his colleagues had been sent to deliver the bad news to the families. That was a part of the job that Spencer absolutely hated with a passion.

  He’d done his days of delivering b
ad news and was now in the position of being able to delegate the thankless task to his lower ranking staff members.

  There is no nice way to tell people that someone they love and cherish is dead, never coming back. That their last moments of life were full of pain and anguish. That they suffered greatly.

  He shivered and reached for his car keys. It may be late on a Sunday evening, but he needed to familiarise himself with the area. Crime scene investigations would begin in the morning.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Arana

  The taxi driver dropped me off in the car park of some abandoned pub called The Phantom Horse, telling me the Worthington estate was behind it.

  Thanks to my seamless compulsion, he told me he wanted to have sex with me, so I gained my meal.

  Compelling him wasn’t as much fun as seducing. After all, the Lamia are fun time girls and we thrive on the challenge of being evil temptresses.

  In all honesty, this kill was quite an unsatisfying meal but when a girl is in need then desperate times call for desperate measures.

  Leaving him dead in the driver’s seat with a purple rose jammed down his throat, I walked around the back of the pub and grinned. I set my mud pies down on the ground, along with my bag of leather shoes, and figured the easiest way to survey the surroundings was from above.

  Shifting back into a bat, I soared above the extensive grounds, marvelling at how much land one house could have. Spotting a dark corner of trees, I flew down for a closer look.

  I’d barely taken in the gnarly trees in front of me when something hit me with the force of a hurricane, literally knocking me out of the sky.

  Bouncing across the grass, I finally came to a stop at the bottom of a tree trunk with a crude doorway cut into the middle of it.

  I looked behind me to see a yellow tennis ball rolling across the grass. Had someone seriously just thrown a tennis ball at an innocent bat?

  Anger boiled in my veins. Immediately, I wanted to take flight, hunt them down, and drink them dry, but my nose caught scent of something interesting—something human. I sniffed the air again to make sure I was right—garlic bread and citrus shower gel.