CHAPTER THREE
The Gathering…
I couldn’t open my eyes. They weighed about a ton. Laying flat on my stomach, I had the most delicious sensation at my back. Ronnie’s body was partially covering mine, his warmth was heavenly.
“Are you okay?” He whispered.
With my eyes still closed, I smiled. I felt his chuckle against my back, among other things. Seriously? I couldn’t even move and he was ready for round two. I shouldn’t have been surprised. Vampires were randy bastards and their stamina was king. I turned, giving him a good show when my legs fell apart. He didn’t waste any time. I watched as our bodies joined once more and his eyes dilated with desire. I reached up and kissed him because we hadn’t really explored this part quite enough.
His lips moved along my jaw as he moved. “You need to feed.”
Those four words got me going and my fangs lengthened. The minute I sank them into the hard muscle of his chest, his hips quickened. This time, we got there together and it was unbelievable.
* * *
Ronnie kissed my shoulder as I slipped back into my dress, his hands running down the exposed skin of my back.
“I need to head back out. We’re still on alert.” he said.
I felt bereft, thinking he was going to ask me to stay in his room. Looking around, I admired his space, now that the lights were on. It was small but very well designed, all clean lines and dark leather.
“You live here?”
He tucked his shirt into his jeans. “Yeah. It comes with the job.”
I bit my lip, not sure what else to say.
“I want you to come with me. You need to stay with someone tonight.”
My heart leapt into my throat. I should have known from my reaction back in the forest. Something was different. He came close into my space and wrapped his arms around me.
Crouching down so he was at my eye level, he looked deep into me. “I feel it too, the connection.”
Then he kissed me and I knew I was a goner.
* * *
The roar of the music hit me like a tidal wave the minute Ronnie opened the door. Just how far down were we? Either that or this sound proofing job was fantastic. It wasn’t easy to keep sound from the acute hearing of a vampire. I guess when you had the right amount of cash, anything was possible. And by the looks of all the security gadgets, they had it.
We emerged, hand in hand. Cade smirked from across the bar, speaking into his earpiece. Ronnie answered.
“Yeah I hear you. Got it.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Seems we have some Zombies causing problems out front. Listen, I’m going to let you hang with Onyx at the bar. Just stay put, okay?”
I smiled. “Sure.”
He thought I hadn’t noticed the extra weapons he had stashed on his body back at his place. Something was going down. Maybe I should have listened to Silas and stayed in with a good book.
He gave my hand a quick squeeze when we got to the blue lit neon bar Onyx ruled. She looked up from her last serve, her silver gray eyes assuring Ronnie everything would be just fine.
Elementals were not vampires you wanted to cross. You could easily find yourself twenty feet under with a freak earthquake. Life or death situation? No, but quite uncomfortable.
She glanced at me and lifted her chin, her way of saying, what’s up? I smiled and ordered a drink. Sipping the delicious concoction of mint and chocolate rum liqueur, I turned in my seat and observed the half naked people on the dance floor. Circular, red velvet mini stages were set up along different intervals with the club’s professional dancers doing their thing.
Their costumes were all the same, sexy devils with fishnets stocking and thigh-high boots. It flowed with the theme of the club where everything was red and black. One of the dancers jumped off the stage, how she didn’t break her neck with those five inchers was a miracle. She walked toward me after her replacement came on for the show. Through her mask I could see she was a Shifter, her amber eyes glittered with amusement. The woman had a body to kill for, all quads and abs, her long brown hair thick and teased up to match her costume.
“Hey, Ivy. What will it be?” Onyx quipped.
Ivy leaned over the bar, her elbows on the black granite. “I wish I could have a drink but I have to go back on in fifteen so make it a large water.”
“Shit. It’s past your normal time.”
“Yeah well, Cade asked me to stick around. With all that’s supposed to happen at some point tonight.”
I guess I wasn’t the only skeptical nonbeliever. Ivy seemed to agree these threats should be filed in the “rumor pile”. She must have noticed me watching her because she turned and introduced herself.
“I’m Ivy. And you’re Ronnie’s…friend?”
“She’s Silas’ twin sister too.” Onyx added.
Ivy’s face shut down, her fiery amusement going cold. I had to give it to her, she recovered nicely.
“Well, it’s still a pleasure to me you.” Ivy said.
Onyx tossed her a bottle and Ivy drank quickly. I knew the liquid in the black bottle wasn’t water. We didn’t need it. Alcohol was a good way to dull our senses but it took a shitload to get us sloshed.
I started to turn back around to face the bar and order another when the entire building went eerily silent and dark.
CHAPTER FOUR
The Rumors…
The roaring began instantaneously and didn’t stop. I thought I was going to claw my ears off. The shrieking sound, the most horrible thing I had ever heard. I lost Ivy and Onyx. The blur of running bodies, much like a stampede of gazelles in flight, pushed and pulled us in different directions. Ripping my costume mask off, I peered into the darkness. The bouncers moved through the club with flashlights, herding those in a panic out through the closest exit. I didn’t know if that was the best option when I got a load of what awaited them outside.
Someone grabbed my arm and pushed me onward. What the hell? I stumbled, trying to pull away. Whoever it was had a strength that wasn’t human. I sniffed at the air and almost puked. The pungent smell of evil saturated its essence. I coughed, trying to expunge the nastiness that had infiltrated my nasal cavity. The thing at my arm was cold and slimy. It was behind me, urging me to move and so I did. I was afraid if I didn’t, the rest of it would rub up against my backside.
Fear clogged my thoughts as I wondered how the night would end. This is what the Insurgents had planned all along. But what manner of beast had been unleashed? It had to be the workings of dark magic. If legend had been questioned before, this would definitely bring the truth home.
The screams grew louder as we got closer to the exit. Those doors opened and what was on the other side was a living, breathing nightmare. Bodies littered the street torn limb from limb. The beam of a large flashlight landed on what could only be a Zombie, feasting on a man’s corpse. I stepped back in horror and the beast at my elbow pushed me down on the pavement then limped toward me, its grotesque form bloated and rotted. I scrambled back against a wall baring my fangs, the change coming over me.
All around me chaos reigned, Legion vampires railed against the horde of Zombies. Wolves lunged and tore heads off, maggots infested the open wounds at the neck, exiting the already dead and decayed bodies. Elementals set both the Zombie and human bodies ablaze, leaving ash in their place.
The putrid breath of the one coming had me gagging. I let my vampire out and growled at it, long and hard. Having no choice, I decided to lunge but a huge tawny wolf beat me to it, taking the thing down with a howl. Its super strong jaws clamped down and tore the thing in two. Thousands of bugs skittered out of both halves, disappearing down the drains to the sewers below the city.
The wolf looked at me, the eyes familiar. All around us, the fighting lessened and one by one, the street lights came back on much like a stage coming to life for its next act. I expected to see horrible carnage but the street was clear with the normal signs of debris for a location
where clubs and bars dominated the scene. Ronnie crouched down, a smear of blood over his brow. I reached up and cleaned it off.
“Are you okay?”
I took the hand he offered and stood. “Man those were some ugly, stinky fuckers.”
He busted out laughing then pulled me into his arms. “Yeah. Tell me about it. I think I need to gargle with Clorox just to get that taste out of my mouth.”
It was my turn to laugh. In all seriousness, this was bad. Dark magic was nothing to fool with and it didn’t bode well if the Insurgents were involved.
Cade jogged toward them. “I think we’re clear. We have a meeting set up in thirty minutes. There’s some stuff we need to discuss.”
He looked at me then back at Ronnie.
“Security and all that. Cops will be here soon. We have to get our story straight.” He nodded his goodbyes and got back with the others.
I watched and thought, how stupid do they really think I am? Oh shit. Silas. He was patrolling this area tonight and was probably involved in this mess.
“Ronnie, I know you guys are involved with the Legion. Silas too, even though he won’t admit it. Please find out if he is ok? He was working tonight.
Ronnie shook his head. “We heard from him a little bit ago. He was just down the block. He’s fine.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. He ran his fingers through my hair, avoiding eye contact. “Listen, I’ll drive you home then. if you want, I’ll come back.”
The sirens of police cars blared in the distance. What seemed like hours had only happened in a matter of minutes. There was more to this and I knew they wouldn’t tell me. So I kept my thoughts to myself and looked up at the hot vampire gazing down at me with a sexy smirk.
“I would love that.”
CHAPTER FIVE
The Legion
Ronnie
“What the fuck was that? Night of the Living Dead?” Milo threw his hands in the air.
I watched from my corner of the room as those Legion warriors went at it. Being a part of this feisty group demanded patience and a very high level. My middle name was patience and it was only when they all calmed down and the testosterone level was back in check that I even bothered to speak up.
Cade threw back another drink. “I know you are back there listening, Ronnie. Why don’t you give it a crack?”
I had to hit with my jibe. “Why don’t we ask Simian?”
I knew that pissed him off. Simian was one of five Clairvoyants in the Legion. Although trained in warfare, they weren’t our first choice in a full blown Insurgent battle. Instead, they were used for their specialty, the Foretelling. Only this time, they hadn’t “seen” this coming.
I smiled when I heard him mumble, smartass, under his breath. “Obviously there was some dark shit behind this. Otherwise….”
“Otherwise I would have seen it coming.” Simian finished, his clear blue eyes frosting over with indignation.
“Okay. This bickering isn’t getting us anywhere.” Jaxon, Cade’s brother and the Legion’s benefactor. finally spoke up.
I was waiting for that. He seemed to be the only one they shut the hell up for. Jaxon was a big fucker and while he didn’t get involved in the day to day dealings with Insurgents, he could kick some serious ass when he needed too. His billions helped too.
“So, I see you Einsteins figured out the magic thing. I concur. And that is serious shit which means we are going to have to find someone who can help.”
“What do you want us to do? Put a Witches Wanted in the help ads?” Cade quipped.
I would shut my trap, given the way Jax glared at him. But I agreed. How the hell were we going to find a Witch? That species hid like bears in hibernation.
“I don’t need your fucking jokes, Cade. We need results at this point.” Jaxon snarled.
He addressed the group of twenty. “Let’s just keep our eyes and ears open.”
“Agreed. I talked to the cops and they are good to go. Had to do some convincing but we should be hearing about the missing people soon. We accounted for ten bodies which wasn’t bad given the numbers here tonight.”
After about an hour of debriefing, I left the club and headed to Sylvain’s apartment. It hadn’t been long since I left her and already, I was hard.
* * *
Sylvain
My pulse leapt when the doorbell rang. I had showered and put on my sexiest underwear. My heels, clicked on the hardwood floors. I knew he could hear them.
His hand rested on the doorframe.
“Hi.” Was that my voice? It was more like a croak.
He grinned, leaned in and kissed me. We didn’t stop until somehow making it to my bedroom. I was naked before we hit the bed. And I was all over him; my legs wrapped high around his back.
“Oh God, Ronnie. Hurry the hell up.” I begged. Honestly, I could care less for the foreplay right about now. I just wanted him to take me and hard.
He read my mind, the bastard, slamming home with one powerful stroke. I rode that wave with him as it became a tsunami. My nails raked his back and he growled my name. Damn that was hot as hell. He increased his speed, driving me crazy with ecstasy then pure bliss claimed us both.
* * *
Deep in the forest, the darkness was beginning to dissolve as dawns fingers reached out to touch the earth. I watched the colors blaze across the horizon, a kaleidoscope of amber, orange and velvet. It was a beautiful sight but one I couldn’t afford to watch for much longer. I pawed at the dewy moss with anxiety but stilled when I felt his presence.
My tawny wolf was here. I watched him prowl, pretending not to see me, then his muzzle came up and sniffed at the crisp air. I knew I had seconds before he lunged but I was ready this time. Turning, I launched into a run, going deep into the woods were a secret haven awaited us. And he followed close behind…
Velvet Dawn was born from the world of The Red Velvet Trilogy. If you enjoyed this story there is more on the way!
A Vampire’s Touch (Prequel to The Red Velvet Trilogy) is available now.
Velvet Dreams (The Red Velvet Trilogy, Book 1): ~Coming Soon~
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