by Jenna Barwin
Copyright and Disclaimer
Dark Wine at Midnight by Jenna Barwin
Copyright © 2017 Jenna Barwin. All rights reserved.
This book or any portion of it may not be reproduced in any form or by any means, or used in any manner whatsoever, without the express written permission of the publisher or author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, products, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Any trademarks, service marks, product names, or named features are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. Opinions of the characters are not necessarily those of the author.
Printed in the United States of America
First printing & ebook edition, 2017
Hidden Depths Publishing
Orange County, California
www.hiddendepthspublishing.com
Cover design by Momir Borocki
Images used under license from Shutterstock.com
Interior Design by Author E.M.S.
Editing team: Katrina Diaz; Katie McCoach, KM Editorial; Arran McNicol; and It’s Your Story Content Editing
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017934603
eBook ISBN 978-0-9986549-0-4
Print ISBN 978-0-9986549-1-1
1) Urban Fantasy 2) Paranormal Romance 3) Science Fiction & Fantasy 4) Romance
Table of Contents
Copyright and Disclaimer
Jenna Barwin’s Newsletter
About DARK WINE AT MIDNIGHT
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Author’s Comments and Upcoming Events
Acknowledgements and Dedications
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About Dark Wine at Midnight
Dr. Cerissa Patel’s a scientist, not a secret agent. But when she’s ordered to spy on the winemaking vampires of Sierra Escondida, her flimsy cover story isn’t enough to fool scorching hot vampire Henry Bautista. He’s dark, dangerous, and will do anything to stop her from hurting his town. With the fate of humanity on the line, she must ignore her growing attraction to the secretive vampire and fight to uncover the truth before it’s too late.
Her cover story seems easy as pie: become a vampire’s envoy, move to Sierra Escondida, and sign-up investors from among the secret vampire communities to finance her biotech research lab. At least, it looks easy until an assassination attempt leaves the Hill vampires suspicious of her arrival. They don’t want her—or her research lab—in their small town.
Worse, she must ignore her growing attraction to Henry Bautista, a vampire winemaker with eyes the color of dark bourbon and just as intoxicating—who’s hiding his own deep secrets. He’s rich, dangerous, and as complex as the wines he makes, and he will do anything to stop her from hurting his town.
With him watching her every move, she must uncover who’s behind the vampire movement to enslave mortals—before Henry discovers what’s hidden beneath her skin…
Dark Wine at Midnight is book 1 in the Hill Vampire series.
Chapter 1
Lux Enclave—present day
Orders from the Lux couldn’t be ignored—a fact Dr. Cerissa Patel knew too well. Since her birth, they had controlled her, drumming a simple message into her head: her wants and needs had to yield to the greater good.
As if anyone truly knew the greater good.
But the Lux thought they did. So here she was, packing for her next assignment. She slammed her makeup bag into the suitcase, stuffing it into the corner, pressing it down until it fit into the last remaining space, grumbling to herself.
She didn’t want to go to New York. She didn’t want to be a Lux pawn. And she especially didn’t want to become a vampire’s envoy.
No, she’d rather stay in her laboratory, researching the human genome, and looking for ways to truly help the world, but her mother’s family had spoken; they’d insisted she take this assignment.
I’m a good little soldier, aren’t I?
She looked around her bedroom. Had she forgotten anything? If she had, she could buy it in New York. Sighing, she flipped the lid of the suitcase closed.
“Hey, Ciss, why the gloomy face?”
She looked up at the sound of her cousin’s voice. “Do you really need to ask?” she replied, not bothering to hide her displeasure.
Ari stepped through the doorway into her bedroom and brushed back his wavy hair from where it’d fallen over his eyes. It immediately flopped down again, mimicking Superman’s famous curl. With his darkened complexion and hair the color of brown mink, they could almost pass as siblings.
“Don’t grouse at me,” he said, raising his hands in surrender. “I just work here.”
“Work here? It’s your fault I have this assignment.”
“Look, kid, show a little respect for your mission supervisor. Yeah, I convinced them to put you in my unit, but only after they decided to send you. Who else could I trust to look out for my little cousin on her first big assignment?”
He grinned at her, a smirk that reminded her of their time together as children. When she’d first arrived at the Enclave, he’d taken her under his wing when no one else had, but it came with a price: he loved teasing her.
“Speaking of your assignment,” he continued, “I’ve got your final orders.”
He held out a computer tablet for her to take, the screen already open to a communiqué detailing her mission. She accepted it and touched the screen to scroll through it, shaking her head. “I still think this is a bad idea. I’m a scientist, not a spy. With my medical training, my first undercover a
ssignment was supposed to be at a government research facility.”
“Yeah, but we don’t have anyone else to infiltrate the undead. You saw the same intelligence reports I did—something’s brewing in the vampire communities, something that could threaten all humankind.”
“You’re exaggerating the risk,” she said, scowling at him. “The treaty communities have a zero population growth rule, remember?”
“It’s not just a numbers game. Sure, their population is stable now, but each community needs almost five hundred pints of blood a week, the equivalent of what six trauma hospitals use for the same time period—and they’re having trouble getting enough blood bank discards to meet their needs.”
“They still have another option. If supplies get scarce they can supplement with live feeding—so long as no one is killed.”
Ari shook his head. “The numbers are still too close for our comfort. And let’s not even consider what would happen if they started drinking animal blood again.”
Yeah, vampires could live off animal blood, but not for long—the results gave a whole new meaning to “mad cow disease.”
She tossed the tablet into her suitcase. “Tell me something I don’t already know.”
“How about something you’ve conveniently forgotten? We need eyes and ears on the ground now if the rumors about a vampire revolt are true—especially with humans on the losing end of that revolution.”
She frowned. “Evidence of a vampire dominance movement is weak. A few intercepted emails and a little phone chatter—nothing to prove there’s a real plan to enslave mortals.”
“We can’t take a chance. If it catches fire, we’ll have a harder time stopping it. You know what we had to do to stop their last war.” He held up his thumb and index finger, pinched together. “It was this close.”
Yeah, the butterfly effect. The Lux rarely got directly involved in a conflict, but when they did, they nudged events ever so slightly to change the outcome. But sometimes a larger nudge was required…and the results weren’t always predictable.
Ari plopped down on her bed next to her suitcase and lay back, tucking his hands behind his head for support. “Besides,” he continued, looking up at her, “you made first contact with Leopold. You’re the only one they could send in.”
“Another operative could have tried—someone with more covert experience.”
“You saved his life. Leopold owes you. These vampire communities, they pay their debts. We couldn’t have staged it any better.”
“You mean they were too afraid to try.”
“We couldn’t let the vampires learn about us, at least, not any more than what you told Leopold, for the same reason vampires hide what they are from humans. Once the cat is out of the bag, we’re toast.”
“I know…” she said, twisting a lock of her long hair around her finger.
“And don’t forget the enticement the bigwigs dangled in front of you. Your cover assignment comes with a pretty large bonus. If you pull this off, you’ll have your own research lab to run, independent of the Lux Enclave.”
Yeah, the lab was a huge incentive. She may not like working undercover, but Ari was right. Someone had to do it, and a twist of fate had put her in the best position to do the job.
Besides, it was a done deal. Leopold had already agreed to sponsor her. Six months of training in New York, and then she would be his daytime envoy, getting investors from among the treaty vampires for a large biotech research facility she had designed and would run. But Leopold’s support came with its own consequences: to be his envoy, she’d have to live among vampires…for years.
Though it was better than living in the Enclave. The place was a cave. Literally.
“Just remember,” Ari continued, “your job is observation only—watch and report. Don’t try to investigate; don’t ask questions. You’ll only make them paranoid.”
“Don’t you think I know that better than you do?” She crossed her arms and glared at him. “Like you said, I made first contact.”
He bounced up off the bed and gave her a brotherly hug, trapping her arms between their bodies. “You’re going to be fine,” he said, patting her back. “You’re just feeling opening night jitters. You’ll knock ’em dead, kiddo.”
Yeah, right. Knock ’em dead. That’s the problem: they’re already dead.
As soon as Ari left, dread pulsed through her. She didn’t want to live in a vampire community for several reasons, but one pained her more than the others. She would always be an outsider; she could never let them know her true self.
It just wasn’t safe.
She reached for the charcoal drawing hanging on the wall, a picture of her pita—her father—and, seeing her reflection in the glass, stopped herself. Not a good idea to bring it with me. She ran her fingers over the glass as painful memories entwined with her dread, pulling open the scar around her heart, the pain of past loss flowing out, leaving an empty well behind.
She took a deep breath and slapped the wall.
It didn’t help.
The hole in her chest wanted to be filled with something—and it wasn’t her mother’s love. Her amma had abandoned her when she was a toddler. When her father died seven years later, the Lux family hijacked her childhood. She squeezed her eyes shut and held her breath, hoping the pain would die down. She understood the reasons she never felt loved, never fit in anywhere, never seemed comfortable in her own skin, but it didn’t pay to regurgitate the whole mess again. Not when—
“Dr. Cerissa Patel. Report to Conference Room A,” the loudspeaker announced.
Duty called.
She kissed her pita’s picture goodbye, stuffed her feelings down, and grabbed her suitcase. She was going to New York, whether she liked it or not.
Chapter 2
New York City—six months later
Cerissa ran her finger along the line on the map that represented Sierra Escondida’s infamous wall. The wall formed the third leg of a triangle of protection, with two mountain ranges forming the other two legs, creating a private valley of rolling hills where vineyards flourished and vampires lived in secret with their mortal mates.
It reminded her of where she’d been born: the walled city of Surat in India. Why did people think a wall would keep them safe? It never worked out that way.
Her basic training as an envoy had wrapped up last night when she passed her oral exams with flying colors. Being grilled by three vampires on the nuances of their law and etiquette had left her wrung out, but Leopold refused to give her time off. The next phase of her training started tonight, with the town of Sierra Escondida first up on the agenda.
Leopold wanted their research lab built in the small California town, in the business district located on the public side of the town’s wall, where wineries and other vampire-run businesses were open to unsuspecting mortals. If Sierra Escondida’s council approved her project, she’d have to live in the private valley behind their wall.
She’d have to live where they lived.
Sure, after six months she was accustomed to being around Leopold and his friends, but her trust didn’t extend to these strangers. They had founded their town over a century ago, and through a clever use of zoning laws combined with a series of land trusts and a homeowners’ association, they controlled who could live there—much like the Collective controlled the New York high-rise in which she currently sat.
The clink of glass told her Leopold was in the kitchen, preparing for her next lesson. She looked around his tastefully modern living room, her focus stopping on the balcony, visible through a large sliding glass door. Gentle flakes of a spring snow fell, piling high on the balcony rail to form a steep slope, like an alpine roof, the ice crystals sparkling in the moonlight.
As CEO of the New York Collective, Leopold had the entire forty-first floor of the apartment building to himself. She’d been staying in his guest suite, and now that her basic training was complete, Leopold insisted on conducting the next phase of her tra
ining—teaching her how to persuade the residents of Sierra Escondida to invest in their biotech research lab.
Leopold joined her carrying a wooden tray laden with three wine bottles and four glasses. One of the glasses was filled with a murky red liquid that didn’t look like wine—most likely donor blood for him. A large envelope was clutched under his arm.
She stood up out of respect for her sponsor and waited for him to deposit the tray on the large coffee table and sit down. Standing, he was a little shorter than her and painfully skinny. His brown hair was cut short and plastered straight back with some kind of pomade, an attempt to defeat the natural wave of his hair. It didn’t work. A thin, angular mustache grew from his cupid’s-bow indentation to the corners of his upper lip—a style favored by the seventeenth century residents of Amsterdam, the city he lived in when he was turned vampire over three hundred years ago.
“You’ve had dinner?” he asked, his clipped Dutch accent faint but still there. “I wouldn’t want you to get tipsy on an empty stomach.”
“No need to worry about that—I ate shortly before you woke up.”
“Good.” He sat down in the brocade winged chair across from her and handed her the envelope he carried. “These are dossiers on the vampires you’ll meet.”
She read what was written on the envelope. “The Hill?”
“Their nickname for Sierra Escondida. Read through the dossiers and let me know if you have questions.” He poured an inch of red wine into one of the glasses. “Now, these are three wines produced by the Hill.”
