The Hunt for a Vampire: An Alien Vampire Romance (The Dark Series Book 1)

by T. J. Quinn

  “I am sorry about the other night at the bar. It is unfortunate that I draw attention the way I do. I guess I have gotten used to it over the years but it must be more difficult for you because you tend to shy away from the limelight.”

  “It is a small price to pay to be with someone like you. I have never felt so attracted to a female before. I must say you have a way of making me feel interesting and attractive, even though I know I’m not. I feels nice to have a beautiful woman’s undivided attention for a while.”

  “You’re more attractive than your realize. I hope your interest in me lasts because most of my relationships don’t.”

  He touched her face. “Is that why you date dozens of males and rarely the same one twice? Are you afraid to get close to males because you don’t believe the relationship will last?”

  She smiled, looked slightly embarrassed. “I have been looking for someone special that’s all. A lot of times you can tell in a date or two if it feels right. I have had short term relationships in the past that went nowhere and I am tired of that. I think my problem is that I am not a very good girlfriend. I have come back after many a hunt to find that my gentleman friend had moved on.”

  He looked at her intently and opinioned. “Perhaps they can’t understand how important your work is to those you hunt. It can be the difference between life and death. That is a mistake someone like me would never make.”

  “I think you would be a very supportive love mate. Did Selene give you my thanks for thinking to put up the ransom money for that little girl? It generated a lot of calls.”

  “She did. I wanted to do something to help you with the case. I know how it feels to be out there separated from your loved ones and hoping someone will find you. She also gave me your personal message. To be quite honest when I heard that you were with Durk again and dancing with every vampire in the bar I kind of thought that maybe you had gotten over whatever it was we had for so briefly and moved on. When Selene told me that you were sorry about asking for two months and you would have preferred to spend that evening with me it was…well it was the nicest compliment I have ever received from a woman. It also gave me hope that maybe whatever was going on with you had not driven me from your memory.”

  “You are possibly the nicest person I have ever met. Not being able to see you for two whole months has been difficult. I just had to put some time between us to be sure we weren’t both mistaking the heightened emotions of hunting and feeding for something more intimate. I get so mixed up sometimes about the people I hunt. You learn so much about them it can lead to a false sense of intimacy.”

  Alek sighed. “Well getting to know me must have been pretty boring for you.”

  She smiled and replied, “Learning about you was a pleasure because no strange skeletons came tumbling out of your closets. You can’t imagine how rarely that happens when I hunt for wealthy high powered businessmen.”

  He looked embarrassed and said “I guess you know pretty much everything about me. You reviewed all the information from my computer, looked at all my personal possessions and reviewed my financial records. You probably know how much lint is under my bed. I suppose we can kiss the getting to know you phase of relationship building goodbye.”

  Dakota tilted her head slightly and explained. “That’s not my method. I always respect my client’s right to privacy. I use the same computer crew every time I hunt. The guys I use to hack the systems sign confidentiality agreements, review information from the computers and only float information to my attention if it could impact the investigation. I gave everyone strict orders not to look at your financial records at all. I really tried not to be invasive because you were known to me and I didn’t want to totally piss you off. I was especially careful about the financial piece because you have worked your whole life to build your business and I felt like there was nothing that would aggravate a high powered businessman more than people going through his work computer and his financial records.”

  He looked extremely relieved. He reached over and took both her hands in his, brought them to her lips. “Thank you for that. I have been in no position to judge you for what you did to find me but to be quite honest thinking that you had seen all my private information has been bothering me more than I like to admit considering there is nothing remotely interesting in there.”

  She smiled, kissed him lightly on the lips. “Well rest assured your private affairs are still private. That is kind of how I feel about my weapons room by the way. I don’t really have anything private in there and all the weapons are under double lock but I still don’t like people in there. It feels invasive for no logical reason I can think of. I always thought I was the only strange person who felt that way.”

  When he didn’t speak, she continued, “By the way, you are anything but boring. I was extremely intrigued by the gorgeous male vampire that everyone including your abductors described as the nicest guy you could ever meet. It was a little strange that everyone we talked to said you were so nice they couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to do you harm. In fact for weeks I just thought you must just burry your secrets deep then I realized you were probably just a genuinely nice person. Did you know that your vice president offered to put up a substantial reward for information out of his own money? He was very supportive of our search.”

  Alek looked embarrassed. “You have a way of making boring sound just wonderful. As far as my VP goes he is a good person so that doesn’t surprise me at all.”

  Dakota said, “At the end of all the hunting I only had two questions. Will you answer them for me?”

  Alek nodded his head in agreement. “I could not for the life of me figure out why you didn’t have a female friend. Several years is a very long time for a drop dead gorgeous guy to go with only marginal attention by a masseuse one or two times a week.”

  He smiled slightly and said, “Next question please.”

  “The combination of your safe. Why did you choose that date? We tried several different combinations then Arianna looked so strange when she gave me the date to try.”

  “Maybe the answer to the second question will give you a hint about the first question.” I chose the combination because it was the date I met you for the first time…at a Christmas Eve party I think.” He sighed and explained, “I am not so different from the men at the bar Dakota, we all have been crushing on you for years. I’m afraid you are the only one who thinks I am any different.”

  She looked surprised and insisted gently. “Believe me, you are different. I remember thinking you were extremely attractive the first time I met you. It was that Christmas party at the academy. You had nice hair and you carry some muscle mass in your upper body that I find quite attractive. You looked extremely well put together that night…you were wearing a nice black suit with a ruby red shirt. I remember you had a red band in your hair instead of the black one you always wear.”

  Alek looked surprised and Nares interjected, “Those are some fairly specific things to remember two years later. Did you tell him about your sketches of him?”

  She giggled and said, “Tell Edward I said the wedding is off. I knew I couldn’t trust him to refrain from blabbering every single thing I told him to you.”

  Nares just smiled and continued with their massages.

  Alek raised an eyebrow. “What sketches?”

  “You already know that I sometimes sketch my hunts as a way to get my emotions out and move on. I showed you some of the sketches of your hunt. Well I kept on sketching during the time I spent at your house. Some of those sketches included our time together….and some of them were a pretty fair representation of the sexier things we did together…like in the shower, that time in bed and even the time we spent on the beach.”

  Alek seemed both surprised and pleased. “I definitely want to see those sometime.”

  She ran one thumb over his bottom lip. “Perhaps.”

  Alek had to admit that Dakota was absolutely right about Nares. He had large stro
ng hands that seemed capable of smoothing away every single stressor. It was the most relaxing experience of his entire life. Next Nares laid warm stones down their backs.

  Dakota murmured dreamily, “This it normally the point where I fall asleep.”

  Alek replied “I can easily see why”. He was secretly relieved that she only got regular massages.

  He leaned over and kissed her on the shoulder and whispered, “I certainly hope you can stay awake for me.”

  Dakota shook her head no, earning her a strange look from Alek.

  “Sorry, I wasn’t shaking my head about being able to stay awake for you, which goes without saying by the way. It just feels strange when you kiss me here because I am not used to experiencing those types of feelings when I am at the spa.”

  He seemed a little confused. She clarified, “You know…sexy feelings.”

  He smiled shyly, glanced down as he ran one thumb gently over her hand and replied. “I didn’t realize that is how getting kissed by me made you feel.”

  “Then you are grossly underestimating yourself as a male.”

  He brought her hand to his lips and kissed her gently on each knuckle. She ran her fingers through his hair. The conversation flowed smoothly between them and she seemed to love spending time with him and saying complimentary things to him. It felt incredibly nice.

  Chapter22

  Bloodlust

  ~ Alek ~

  Exactly two days later he visited her in her office at the academy. She was alone and clearing out her personal possessions. He brought lunch from a posh café.

  He stood beside her awkwardly making small talk. He was interested in seeing her again and looking for a good place to work that into the conversation. He about how nice it was to have the couples massage with her. Then he asked her what kind of food she liked to eat.

  She smiled slightly. “If you want to know all about me I would be happy to discuss that with you over dinner, perhaps my place, tonight…say around six?”

  “You do like to cut to the chase don’t you? I’d love to dine with you.”

  He never quite knew what to say to human women, they were a bit of a mystery to him. Throughout the course of his life he had rarely been able to successfully pair bond. The sexing he was good at, the social aspect not so much. He was awkward and just chose to focus his time and energy elsewhere to avoid all the chronic disappointment.

  He had always liked Dakota because she was beautiful, intelligent, interesting, dedicated to training young people for public service and a rather strong advocate for vampire rights. He hated to admit it but he was also infatuated with the fact that she had been one of the few people who continued to search for him. He would not have lasted much longer if she hadn’t found him.

  Watching her fight for him had been actively stressful. He was worried that the beautiful female was going to get hurt trying to rescue him. But once she fell onto his lap and fed him the relief washed over him like a warm wave. Also having her in his lap forcing her blood into his mouth was such a pleasure he had been at a loss for words.

  The time she spent nursing him had cemented his feelings for her. She was such a considerate feeding partner. He loved that she like to be held and that she gently ran her hands over him when he fed. She had a way of making him feel very welcome and comfortable feeding from her. He thought it strange but she seemed almost to crave it and enjoy it. He shook his head thinking about just how crazy that sounded.

  He knew Charles said not to fall in love with her but she was extremely beautiful and she seemed attracted to him so that was exactly what he intended to do. Hell, he was half in love with her already and one thing was for certain, he would never forget the taste of her blood if he lived to be a full 500 years old. He was extremely concerned about taking a human mate and having to watch her age away from him. That would slowly tear his heart out over about a sixty or seventy year period of time but all he could think of, was having her in the here and now.

  Alek thought about her dinner invitation. He really had no idea why humans loved to have dinner together. Feeding for him was private and he did not prefer to do it in front of anyone much less females he was attracted to. He knew humans were different. They were much more social creatures and he guessed if one weren’t forced to drink blood to exist dining would be much less stressful and more social. He sometimes envied the humans.

  He had an extremely difficult time transitioning himself back to synthetic blood after feeding from Dakota. She was such a good person and it was evident in the taste of her blood. It was pure, sweet and seemed to be chocked full of intensified…something he could not quite place but determined was highly addictive.

  He was careful to spend time preparing for his evening with Dakota. It was their first formal date together and he wanted to be presentable. He showered, picked clothing that was classy but casual. He noticed that the trendy thing males did these days to be classy but casual seemed to be pairing a nice button up shirt with a blazer but wearing it with jeans and no tie. It was a very retro look that he felt comfortable in. He brought a bottle of vintage wine. Humans loved wine and if he was expected to feed, then both of them drinking red liquid from a glass blurred the line a little and made things less socially awkward. Besides he was aware that she did enjoy nice red wine.

  Alek arrived at her place promptly at six. Her home was a huge beautiful house in an old money neighborhood. Much more home than any one person needed. He rang her bell and she answered her own door which he found a little strange but to each their own.

  As he entered her home he noticed it smelled like leather and furniture polish. The walls were deep jewel tones, the floors were dark stained hardwoods with expensive Persian rugs and crystal chandeliers.

  He frowned, somehow he always imagined her in an ultra-modern home with lots of glass walls looking out onto a Japanese style garden. She was a bit of a surprise this one.

  He also thought it strange that he did not smell human food cooking. This he noticed immediately. The smell of human food was one of the things he disliked most about this human world. None the less a dinner date with a human usually indicated that food was somehow involved.

  She led him through her foyer and into a small posh sitting room. There was a fire burning in the fireplace. He noticed that she had sat out a small carafe of synthetic blood and two wine glasses. She had a bottle of red wine and a corkscrew off to the side.

  He handed her his gift. “Brilliant minds think alike.”

  She smiled that he started the evening with a cliché. “Nice vintage. I think I will go with your choice this evening.” She handed him the wine bottle and the corkscrew.

  He immediately opened the bottle and sat it down on the table in front of them to air out.

  She poured him a glass of blood and handed it to him. He began to take a drink and she placed her hand over the top of the glass. “It’s not synthetic.”

  He sighed and sat back in his seat a bit.

  Her voice hitched slightly when she spoke “It’s Vampine made from my blood. I think you will really like the vintage.” He smiled that she had been considerate enough to provide fresh blood vampire wine for him. He was especially pleased that she used her own blood. He wondered if she realized exactly how sweet the taste of her blood was to him. He doubted she thought of such things at all being human.

  “I know you had to feed me when I was ill but just so you know I don’t feed for pleasure.”

  “Never?”

  He smiled slightly remembering his track record since being with her. “Hardly, ever.”

  “Hardly ever is not quite the same as never. By the way I did not ‘have’ to feed you when you were ill. I chose to feed you. There is a difference.”

  He sat the glass down on the table and quietly poured her a glass of wine. He handed her the glass and picked up his own. He held out his glass and toasted, “To a deeper understanding between us.”

  She gently touched her glass to his and they bot
h drank. His eyes immediately changed color slightly.

  She smiled and murmured, “You have beautiful eyes.”

  He felt his face color with embarrasment and tried to steer the conversation into a different direction. “So why does an invitation to dinner involve no dinner for you?”

  “I had a heavy lunch. Most of my vampire friends do not generally like the smell of human food. The smell of blood, fine wine and incents seems to be more to their liking.”

  Alek glanced around the room. It was dimly lit and there was classical music playing softly in the background. He had no difficulty placing the piece. It was Pachelbel’s Canon in D, Perhaps the most over played piece of romantic music in earth history. He had to wonder at her choice. Still it was an outstanding piece and very easy on his ears.

  He smiled that the human seemed to really get vampires. That was a rarity in this world. He was really enjoying his time with her.

  It could not be denied that the pretty human was considerate of his needs and seemed very attracted to him. He had not tasted human blood in years before she nursed him back to health. Her blood had tasted so very sweet, like nothing he could have imagined and he missed it still.

  They chatted on and on for hours about absolutely nothing. She seemed well versed in music, politics, science…whatever subject he landed on she held her own. He realized they had many similar interests. Alex could tell she was becoming quite enamored with him. The more she drank the less inhibited she became and the more of her blood he drank the more intensely attracted to her he became.

  Dakota showed him her sketches of their intimate time. He moved closer as they looked at her sketch book. She was a very good artist. Her pictures were warm and it almost felt like she caressed the images into being with the nub of her charcoal. He loved the way she drew the two of them together. The poses were very detailed and depicted their interactions together in a very intimate and caring manner. The images were a fair reflection of what he was feeling during those moments and he hoped she was feeling the same emotions when they were together.