Obsessed with the Vampire: A Paranormal Romance (Vampire Enforcement Agency Book 2)

by Kellie McAllen

  “You’re making a scene, Roric. This is my work! You need to leave,” Caroline hissed and walked away, taking the glass of wine she’d poured to her customer. Her hands shook as she walked.

  “This conversation isn’t over, Caroline,” he barked at her then stomped away.

  Caroline somehow managed to make it through the rest of her shift without falling apart, even though her emotions were like a piece of glass, crazed with a spiderweb of cracks, ready to shatter at any moment.

  She thought about going to Roric’s after work, but she was exhausted, and she didn’t have the energy to fight. So instead, she turned off her phone, headed home, and went to bed, even though it wasn’t dawn yet.

  She woke 10 hours later, feeling better, and turned her phone back on. There were several missed texts and calls from Roric, but no voicemails. The texts grew progressively more worried sounding, asking if she was coming over, if she was okay, where she was — but none of them were apologies.

  She knew she needed to discuss this with him, but she didn’t want another fight. She sent him a quick text telling him she had gone to bed early and was fine. Then she promised to come over after work. That seemed to settle him down some.

  She took a shower, washing off the grime of the night before, but the hot water didn’t do much to cleanse her mind or refresh her spirit. When she got out, she still had so many emotions clouding her brain, it was as fogged up as her bathroom mirror.

  She wiped her hand across the glass, revealing her reflection. It still surprised her every time she looked at herself that she didn’t look any different, even though she felt like she’d changed dramatically.

  She was still the same person, the kind of person who took responsibility for herself. She had made the decision to turn Houston, now she needed to be responsible for him, whether Roric liked it or not.

  She still had a few hours till she was due back at work, so she grabbed her phone and dialed Houston. She stared around her tiny apartment while she waited for him to answer. It was a hovel compared with the beautiful, old mansion that Roric lived in, but at least here she was her own boss.

  If she ever moved in with Roric, would he think he could control her every move? She didn’t like that idea, at all. She’d been on her own, making her own decisions since she was 18, and she wasn’t about to give that up to some bossy guy who thought he knew what was best for her or wanted to keep her under his thumb.

  Houston didn’t answer for several rings. Was he still sleeping? Most vampires were at this time of day, but he was probably still on human time. He finally picked up right before she was about to end the call.

  “Caroline.” She could practically hear his broad smile in just that one word.

  She tightened the towel around herself and sat down on the bed. “Hi Houston. How are you doing today?”

  “I’m good. You’re friend, Piper, was great. You’re boyfriend, not so much.”

  She sucked in a loud breath and clutched the edge of the towel. “Did he do something to you?” Roric wasn’t typically violent, but he obviously didn’t like Houston at all.

  “Nothing other than try to intimidate me. I didn’t think I’d hear from you again. He made it clear that you would not be mentoring me.”

  She stood up and started pacing, one hand clenched around her waist holding the towel in place. “That’s not his decision to make. I don’t feel very qualified to mentor you, but I can’t leave you to figure this all out on your own. I’m sure you have a ton of questions. Would you like to get together to talk?”

  “Sure, that’d be great. What time should I pick you up?”

  She glanced at the strip of bright light peeking around the curtains. “Uh, Houston, are your car windows tinted?”

  “No. Is that important?”

  She walked towards her closet to pick out something to wear. She was going to work in a few hours, and her uniform could pass for street clothes, but she didn’t like to wear it out if she didn’t have to. The vee neck tee shirt was too tight and low cut, and the skirt was too short for her comfort, even though she wore dark tights under it.

  “Lesson number one, Houston. Stay out of the sun. How about if I pick you up? I can be there in an hour.”

  “It’s a date. I’ll see you soon.”

  She wanted to contradict him, but he hung up before she had the chance. The question of what to wear suddenly seemed a lot more complicated. She eventually settled on a pair of jeans and a thin, patterned, long-sleeve blouse that was pretty but not form-fitting.

  Hair and makeup posed the same conundrum. She wanted to look nice since they were going out, but she didn’t want him to think she’d made an extra effort to look nice for him. She decided the same amount of makeup she normally wore to work would be okay since he’d seen her in it the day before.

  Finally satisfied with her appearance, she headed out towards the address Houston had given her. It was a nice, two-story house in the suburbs with a classic design and mature landscaping. His parents’ house, maybe?

  She plopped a floppy hat on her head to shade her face and neck and stuck her hands in her pockets as she hurried up to the door and rang the bell. Houston answered a few seconds later wearing jeans again with a baseball shirt, white with blue sleeves that ended in the middle of his forearm. The bright white mimicked his wide smile, and the blue complimented his topaz eyes.

  He dragged his eyes up and down her body, making her feel very self-conscious. “Wow, you look nice. Should I go change?”

  “No, you look great.” She cringed and wanted to slap a hand over her mouth, but tried to recover instead. “I mean, you’ll be fine as long as you keep your hands under your arms while you’re outside. You’ll want a hat, too.”

  Houston nodded and dug in a nearby closet, coming out with a baseball cap that he tugged over his golden hair. It was a shame for him cover it up; it shined with several different shades of blond in the sunlight.

  “Have you eaten?” She turned around and headed back towards her car.

  He followed her and hurried in front of her to open her door. “Food or blood?”

  She startled at the move. Guys her age weren’t usually that chivalrous. She climbed in, and he closed her door then jogged around to the other side and got in. “Both, I guess.”

  He adjusted the seat and buckled his belt. “Well, I had a bowl of cereal earlier, and your pal, Roric, hooked me up with a bunch of blood bags, but I could definitely use something more substantial, on both accounts.”

  “How are your cravings?” She remembered those first days after she was turned like they were yesterday — a constant ache in her throat and belly that roared like an animal any time she got near a source of blood. She still felt it, but it had dulled some and was a lot easier to suppress. She could work now without wanting to rip everyone’s throat out.

  The air vent started blowing, stirring up the rich scent of Houston’s blood and presumably hers, too. He swallowed hard and stared at her neck with his mouth half open. Eventually, he croaked out, “Pretty intense.”

  She turned and reached into a small cooler in the back seat, pulling out a blood bag and handing it to him. He frowned a little but tore it open and started drinking. “Lesson number two and maybe three, always be prepared so you can drink whenever you’re craving. Don’t assume you can handle the temptation. You probably can’t. Not yet, anyway.”

  She drove out of the neighborhood and headed towards a street with several restaurants. It felt strange to be out in the middle of the day. The world looked different in the daylight with the bright sun illuminating every detail. It had only been a month since she’d been turned, but she already felt out of place in the sunshine. The night was much more comfortable for vampires.

  “Would you like to get some lunch?”

  “Yeah, that’d be great. How about that Mexican place?” Houston pointed towards a small taqueria with big, arched windows on every side of the stucco building.

  She snorted
and shook her head. “Only if you want to sizzle like a plate of fajitas. Most restaurant windows aren’t tinted, so if you go out during the day, you need to find a place that’s safe.”

  “How about that place?” He pointed to an old-fashioned cafe with blinds in the windows.

  “Much better.” She grinned and pulled into the parking lot.

  They went inside, and Caroline pointed out a booth in a secluded corner to the waitress, a round, middle-aged woman in a tight, aqua-colored, polyester uniform dress. “Can we sit there?”

  The waitress smiled and winked and waddled to the table, setting menus in front of them. Caroline immediately closed the blinds and took the side facing the rest of the dining room. She wanted to be able to see if anyone was nearby, overhearing their conversation.

  “This table will give us some privacy so we can talk. Humans aren’t supposed to discriminate against vampires, but believe me, a lot of them still do. It’s easier if they don’t know you are one.”

  Houston shook his head and curled his lip in a smile. “You’re a really great mentor, Caroline. I’ve only been with you for five minutes, and I’ve already learned like five things. Why’d you think you wouldn’t be good at this?”

  Caroline stared at the menu and ran her hands along the edges, speaking quietly. “I haven’t been a vampire very long, and I wanted nothing to do with them when I was human. I don’t know that much about their history or culture or anything like that. All I know is how to survive those first few weeks after turning.”

  Houston pushed his menu aside without looking at it and knit his brows. “Were you turned by a rogue?”

  “Yes, a vampire followed me from the bar after work one night and attacked me.” Her hands shook a little as she said it, rattling the plastic pages of the menu.

  Houston dropped his hands on the table inches from hers like he wanted to touch her and stared into her eyes like he saw inside. “So we have that in common, then.”

  “Ya’ll ready to order?” The waitress came back then, interrupting the intimate moment, and Houston ordered a burger and fries.

  Caroline hadn’t even cracked open the menu yet, so she asked for the same thing. The waitress took the menus, and Caroline dropped her hands to her lap, not sure what to do with them.

  Houston crossed his over his chest and leaned back. “How’d you hook up with Roric? Is he your mentor?”

  “Sort of. He… found me after the attack and took care of me. We’ve been together ever since.”

  “I guess that explains why he’s so possessive of you.”

  “He’s not possessive, he just—” The waitress brought their drinks, interrupting them again. Actually, that’s exactly what Roric was, but Caroline didn’t like the way Houston made it sound, like it was a bad thing.

  “All vampires are like that towards the person they share blood with. He doesn’t like the idea of anyone else drinking from me. You probably noticed it was kind of intense.”

  “If by intense you mean better than an orgasm, then yeah. I felt that. I thought maybe it was just us.” He yanked the paper off his straw, stuck it in his drink, then took a long draw, staring at her over the top of the glass.

  Caroline pulled the paper off her straw and fiddled with it, rolling it in a tight ball. If she was honest, she didn’t know for sure if it was that intense with everyone. She’d only drunk from two vampires, and she’d been surprised at the way her body responded to Houston and the way she still felt a pull of attraction to him. It made her question her attraction to Roric. Even now, the way Houston was staring at her made her pulse speed up and her hands quiver.

  “So you and him feed each other, huh? Don’t vampires only do that with their mates?”

  She flicked her eyes up at him. How did he know that? Obviously, he wasn’t as clueless about vampires as she had been.

  “You don’t have to be mated, but usually you’re pretty serious when you start doing that.”

  He made a face. “Haven’t you only known him for a month?”

  Caroline took a long drink, giving herself a chance to think for a second. Finally, she said, “I guess we just connected.”

  There was no other way to explain it. They had very little in common. He was exactly the opposite of what she would’ve said she was looking for in a man. She didn’t even really understand why Roric liked her. She never did what he wanted her to do.

  “I hated vampires… before. But Roric showed me they’re not all the monsters I thought they were.” Was that the only reason she was with him, because he wasn’t a monster?

  The waitress brought the food, sliding plates piled high with burgers and fries in front of them. When she was gone, Caroline took the opportunity to change the subject. “What about you? How do you feel about being a vampire now?”

  Houston took a big bite of his hamburger and stared at her for a moment while he chewed. “It’s tough. I don’t know any vampires, so I feel kind of alone. And I feel like my life’s been derailed, so I have to figure out a whole new path. Plus, I have all these… urges I’m not sure how to control.”

  She understood all of that. Even though her future hadn’t been as bright as his, becoming a vampire still limited her opportunities and made her feel isolated. She didn’t know what she would’ve done without Roric. He’d been a huge help to her, and she wanted to do the same for Houston.

  “I’m going to help you, Houston. I’ll be right by your side every step of the way.” She reached out and squeezed his hand, and he squeezed back, smiling. Her stomach fluttered with attraction.

  Chapter 13

  Taven made it two hours before he called Ivy. Of course, she didn’t answer. A million possibilities ran through his mind, each worse than the last. She was out with a girl friend and didn’t want to interrupt their chat to answer the phone. That was the explanation he liked. Or they were out dancing and she couldn’t hear over the loud music. That wasn’t too bad, either.

  Or maybe she’d met some guy while they were at the club and she was making out with him. That got his blood boiling. Or maybe she’d had a date with someone else, and they were having sex and drinking from each other. Just the thought of that was enough to turn him into a raving animal.

  He resisted the urge to throw the phone across the room and instead left her a voice mail. It took him a while to calm down enough that he could speak without yelling, so there were several seconds of heavy breathing at the beginning of the message, but then he managed to get out some words that were gruff but didn’t sound like a threat.

  “Ivy, I miss you. I hope you’re okay. Can I take you out tomorrow? Call me when you get this.”

  Ivy texted him back a few hours later telling him to pick her up the next night at 5. He had to work at 8, so that only gave them a few hours, but Taven breathed out a loud breath and texted her back, agreeing. He still didn’t know what she’d been doing all night, and it was tearing him up inside, but at least she responded.

  He went to bed early for once so he’d be up in plenty of time. When he got up, he showered and dressed in his typical uniform of dark jeans and a black tee with his leather weapon holster strapped across his chest. No, he needed to do better than that tonight.

  He yanked off the holster and tee shirt and grabbed a royal blue dress shirt out of the back of his closet. It was too small to button at the collar, but he sure as hell wasn’t wearing a tie, so it didn’t matter. He traded out his heavy boots for some nicer shoes while he was at it and spritzed on some of the cologne his father gave him every Christmas. He even combed his hair instead of raking his fingers through it to style it. He glanced in the mirror and thought he looked like an asshole, but hopefully Ivy would appreciate it.

  He left the holster on his dresser, despite the fact that he felt naked without it, and headed out to his cruiser. On second thought, he went back in and grabbed the keys to the Beemer. His family had a garage full of nice wheels, including his beloved Porsche, but he was on duty more often than not, and i
t was usually easier just to hop in the cruiser. But he wanted tonight to be special, so the BMW would be perfect.

  A few minutes later, he knocked on Ivy’s door, feeling nervous all of a sudden. Would she have that same look of irritation on her face at the sight of him that she had yesterday? That had sliced into him like a paper cut, a tiny thing that stung like a bitch.

  Her eyebrows went up in surprise when she opened the door, then her lips curled in a small smile. It wasn’t the grand welcome he was hoping for, but it was a hell of a lot better than the scowl she gave him yesterday.

  “Wow, you look… nice.” Her eyes scanned him, pausing on all the things that were different. He wasn’t sure if she meant it or was mocking him, but at least she recognized that he’d made an effort.

  She looked gorgeous, as always, in jeans so tight they looked like they were spray-painted on and a slinky, silver tank that was just loose enough to give him small glimpses of her bare tits when she moved. A long, silver necklace dangled between them, drawing his eye from her beautiful face to her luscious breasts and down almost to her waist, like an arrow pointing to a target between her legs.

  His appetite for food completely disappeared, and a new hunger took over. He didn’t want to go out. He didn’t need to eat, and he didn’t want to share her with the rest of the world. All he wanted to do was take her to bed and bury his dick and fangs in her.

  But he’d promised her a real date, so he was going to have to suck it up and suppress his urge to go caveman on her for the next few hours. She had to know the effect that outfit would have on him, though, so maybe she’d reward him later.

  “You look amazing.” He wrapped his hands around her small waist and pulled her close till her soft breasts pressed into his chest. Then he tilted his head and claimed her full, red lips. He had to at least get a sample before they left.