Longfellow Series: Books 1-4 (4-Book Bundle) (Erotic Romance - Vampire Romance)

by Hart, Melissa F.

  Chapter Five

  Sophia awoke shortly before the dawn. She and Logan made love again, and then she took a quick shower and got dressed in the lovely new dress he’d purchased her as a surprise.

  “If you don’t like it, you can exchange it,” Logan said, looking concerned.

  “I absolutely love it!” Sophia said, twirling in the dress and making the skirt of the garment flair out like the petals of a flower. She twirled right into Logan, making him stumble back onto the bed, where he caught her in his arms.

  “And I love you,” Logan said in a gentle voice and kissed her softly on the lips. She was so sweet, he couldn’t get enough of the taste of her, although now that she was no longer a virgin, the conflicting desire he felt to bite her had ebbed and he could enjoy kissing her more easily without fearing his own instincts. He looked at the clock and knew that dawn would soon be upon them. With a disappointed sigh, he helped her up and guided her to the door. “Will I see you again tonight?”

  “That’s up to you,” Sophia said with a coy grin. “What I said the other night, still stands. If you want to have a real relationship with me, we can’t keep hiding here in your castle. My friends want to meet the man I’ve been dating, and it will help quell the rumors about you if you get out in the world and start meeting people. Once they see how kind and wonderful you are, they’ll know you’re not the evil monster the old stories have taught them to fear.”

  Logan looked hesitant. “I don’t know, my darling. The members of my family have attempted to make friends with the townspeople in the past, and it has always ended badly. Now I am the last Longfellow left. The others died horrible deaths, stabbed through the heart by wooden stakes or silver spikes.”

  “Don’t tell me a big, strong man like yourself is afraid. I’m just talking about meeting a couple of my closest friends down at the bar for a beer. I’m not talking about hosting a lynch mob.”

  “I’m not afraid for myself; after all, I’ve survived all these centuries up until now. I am afraid for you, however,” Logan said, caressing her cheek.

  “Why would you be afraid for me?” Sophia pulled back, confused.

  Logan hesitated, not sure how much he could tell her without scaring her. Total honesty seemed the best approach and the only way to truly protect her. With a somber expression, he said, “Human beings are easily frightened, and there’s no telling how they’ll react when things go wrong in their lives. Everything might seem fine now, but someday something might happen to change that, and when it does, they’ll look for someone to blame and some way to lash out to protect themselves and calm their fears. History has shown that the Longfellow family makes an easy target for their fears, but not just those related by blood.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that anyone associated with my family can become a target of blame of fear as well. Spouses, girlfriends, even mere acquaintances have been put to death by ignorant and terrified townspeople looking for justice. It’s why I’ve chosen to live alone all these years. I saw how painful it was for my family to watch the ones they loved stabbed through the heart for crimes they never committed.”

  “You can’t think my friends would ever do a thing like that. There hasn’t been any vigilante justice or mob mentalities for decades.” Sophia brushed aside his fears.

  “That may be true, but it doesn’t take much for that to change. Trust me. I’ve seen too much to be naïve about this, and you shouldn’t be either.”

  “Nonsense!” Sophia scoffed light-heartedly. “Meet me tonight at the bar down the street. I’ll bring a small group of my closest friends. Just my roommate Michelle, my best friend Mark, and Michelle’s boyfriend Clyde. Just three people. Once you’ve met them and had a beer, we’ll come back here to the castle. I’ll make it worth your while, if you know what I mean.”

  Sophia winked at him seductively as she caressed her hands over her body, and Logan felt an erection growing at just the thought of making love to her again.

  “All right,” Logan acquiesced.

  Sophia kissed him goodbye and walked home in light of the sunrise, admiring the deep pinks and oranges of the dawn. She’d never been so happy in her entire life and she smiled contentedly, not even paying attention to where she going. That’s why she didn’t see the object in the road until she had tripped over it and fell hard against the sidewalk, landing on her hands and knees and scraping them painfully on the asphalt.

  “What was that?” Sophia cried out. She turned around and gasped in horror to realize the object she had tripped over was a woman, lying prone in the street. “Oh my God!”

  The woman had two puncture wounds that went deep into her neck, but there was no blood pouring from the wound or on the ground around her, as if all the blood had already been drained from her body. Her skin was cold and deathly white. Sophia turned the woman onto her back so she could perform CPR. To her horror, she recognized the victim’s face. It was none other than her roommate Michelle!

  “No!” Sophia wailed into the early morning sky. She performed chest compressions on Michelle, trying to restart her lifeless heart, but it was useless.

  “Don’t die, Michelle! Come on! Please don’t die!” Sophia cried, and suddenly Michelle took a gasping breath of air into her lungs. Sophia pulled back and saw that her efforts had worked! Michelle’s heart was beating on its own again! She was going to live! Someone had heard her shouting out for help and called an ambulance, as a small crowd gathered to watch the scene. The emergency workers arrived quickly and loaded Michelle into ambulance and drove away, but the immediate danger had passed and they told Sophia she was a hero.

  “I’m not the hero, Michelle is. I was so afraid she wouldn’t make it. I hope she’s going to be okay. Those wounds on her neck looked horrible.” Sophia shuddered.

  Her best friend Mark was there, drawn by the crowd. He took Sophia into his arms, holding her close while she trembled with excitement and cried with relief.

  “Michelle is tough. If anyone can pull through being stabbed in the neck like that, it’s her,” Mark comforted her.

  “Do you think so?” Sophia asked, wiping her eyes and blowing her nose softly into a handkerchief he’d handed her. Mark nodded and Sophia couldn’t help but smile. “You’re right. Michelle has great inner strength. It’s what I loved most about her, and found the most annoying. The last conversation I had with her was a quarrel.”

  “About what?” Mark asked casually, but as Sophia explained to him about her romance with Logan Longfellow and Michelle’s concerns about it, his expression changed. To Sophia’s surprise, Mark sided with Michelle and insisted that she stop seeing Logan.

  “How can you say that?” Sophia cried out, hurt by his words. “I never thought I’d love someone like I love Logan. Michelle was overreacting out of fear and ignorance. My boyfriend is not an evil vampire! You just don’t know him like I do!”

  “That’s my point exactly,” Mark said calmly, while tears ran down Sophia’s cheeks. “Why haven’t we met him yet? Why do you only meet with him at night? What’s he hiding in that castle of his?”

  “Well, you’re going to meet him tonight!” Sophia said, crossing her arms and jutting her chin. “He promised to join me at the bar by the university tonight right after sunset so he could meet all my friends. Of course, that was before I knew Michelle had been attacked.”

  “So, let me guess, you’re going to cancel your plans and we’ll meet him some other night?” Mark said suspiciously.

  “No, we’ll stick to the plan,” Sophia said resolutely. “Be there right after sunset and you’ll get to meet Logan Longfellow and see for yourself what a kind, intelligent, funny, wonderful man he is. I won’t bother telling him about your ridiculous suspicions to save you from embarrassment and having to apologize to him!”

  “I don’t care if he knows what I think of him!” Mark said, puffing his chest. Sophia had always thought of him as her best friend, but he’d always wanted to be more. Mark had
wanted to be Sophia’s boyfriend; he just never had the courage to ask her out. Now Logan had beaten her to it, and she thought she was in love with him. Mark knew he just had to prove to Sophia that she was wrong about Logan, and then he could step in and be the man she loved. Especially if he could prove to her that Logan was an evil vampire and save her life, like a real hero.

  A plan slowly started to form in Mark’s mind. His face softened and he said gently, “I’m sorry, Sophia. I didn’t mean to act like a jerk; I guess I’m just worried about Michelle. Let’s go to the hospital and check on her. I can’t wait to meet your boyfriend tonight.”

  Sophia felt at ease again. This was the Mark who had been her best friend all these years. Hand in hand, she went with him to the hospital, never guessing what troubles awaited her.

  Chapter Six

  Logan Longfellow sat up in is coffin with a sudden gasp. It was still daytime, but the heavy drapes were all pulled safely closed, blocking out all traces of sunlight, so he was free to roam about the house. He had sensed something he hadn’t felt in a long time, something so startling it had awoken him from his slumber. A new vampire had just been formed!

  He ran to his dresser and pulled out the crystal jewel that had belonged to his mother centuries before. Peering inside the jewel, he was able to see images of a beautiful young girl walking in the moonlight.

  “Sophia!” he cried out, recognizing the image of his beloved. As he kept watching the image in the jewel, he saw another young woman her same age following her from a distance. Logan watched, mesmerized, as Sophia entered his castle and the other girl stayed hidden outside in the castle garden, spying on them.

  He remembered that Sophia had given him her virginity that night, and his mind filled with the memories of suckling her firm breasts and sliding his rock-hard shaft deep into her tight, wet tunnel. It gave him an erection just thinking about her, and how wonderfully warm and soft her body was against his hardness.

  Logan shook his head to clear his mind and forced himself to focus on the images in the jewel. Logan suddenly gasped in horror as he saw a new figure enter the scene. It was one he knew well, his cousin, Peter Longfellow. Centuries ago, Peter had come to live in the castle as a favor to his father, who was Logan’s father’s brother.

  The cousins did not get along well, for Peter did not like to follow rules imposed on him at Longfellow castle. He would ask Logan to play games with him of hide and seek. Then, when Logan was hiding, Peter would commit horrible misdeeds and blame them on his cousin. Logan’s father saw through the ruse and became even stricter on Peter, banning him from drinking anything but the blood of chickens until he could learn to behave.

  “Why must we drink the blood of dumb farm animals when there is an entire town full of succulent virgins available for us to feast upon?” Peter had cajoled.

  “It is forbidden to drink the blood of the townspeople. It would kill them, and if they survived, they would turn into vampires themselves. You’ll get used to drinking the blood of farm animals and learn to like it,” Logan had told his troublesome cousin.

  “Not as much as I like drinking the blood of virgins!” Peter had said. He ran away that night, never to seen again, and many people assumed he had died. Soon after his disappearance, the little girl had been found dead near the river. Logan always wondered if she had been murdered by his dark and evil cousin, but his father had insisted it must have been a wandering stranger. Now, looking at the jewel, and witnessing Peter enter the scene, his heart filled with dread, for he knew that he was right. Peter wasn’t dead; he was a murderer.

  The image in the jewel showed him biting the neck of the young woman who had followed Sophia and draining her blood. He dragged her body out into the street and left it there, as he disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Then the image in the jewel changed, and Logan saw the same young woman being given CPR by Sophia, and her lungs sucked in air, and suddenly she was alive again! Only Logan knew she was no longer the same. She would now be a vampire. The metamorphosis was slowly taking place within her, and by nightfall she would be lusting human blood. The image faded away as Michelle was taken to a nearby hospital by ambulance.

  I’ve got to get to her first! I can lead her away from the town, teach her how to drink the blood of animals, and teach her right from wrong. Then she will not cause any harm to the people or come to any harm herself.

  Logan knew that if left to her own, the instincts of the new vampire would lead her to do terrible things. Even worse, if Peter found her first, he would intentionally teach her to do dark things and she would be his disciple of evil.

  Logan waited impatiently the rest of the day for the sun to set, forming his plans on how to best help the girl. When the last rays of light had finally dipped below the horizon, he grabbed his long coat and headed for the door. No sooner had he opened it to leave when he saw Sophia standing there, looking beautiful, fresh, and vibrant.

  “Sophia!” he gasped, suddenly remembering that he’d promised to go out with her tonight. She looked so lovely in a blue dress that matched the color of her eyes, and her auburn hair hung soft and loose over her shoulders.

  Smiling sweetly, she kissed him warmly hello. “Ready to meet my friends? You won’t believe what happened today! My roommate Michelle was attacked on the neck by some kind of wild animal. I actually saved her life by performing CPR! It was the most incredible feeling! So instead of going to the bar, we’re all going to the hospital instead, to visit Michelle. I hope that’s all right with you.”

  Logan’s jaw dropped with surprise. He hadn’t realized Sophia knew the woman she had saved in the street. This was perfect! She could take him right to her! He invited her into the castle and told her everything he had seen in the jewel. The news that one of her closest friends was now a vampire came as quite a shock to Sophia, but she was relieved to know that Logan would be there to help her with the transition and keep her friend safe.

  “I can’t think of anyone better to care for her,” Sophia said, holding his hand and looking at him lovingly.

  “Thank you, but we’ve got to hurry! I don’t want Peter to find her first!”

  “Don’t worry, I will lead you right to her. Her room is on the fifth floor of the hospital. Let’s go!” Sophia said and they ran out the castle together, arm in arm, completely unaware that Peter was hiding nearby and had heard everything.

  So, she’s on the fifth floor. Peter smiled to himself after Logan and Sophia were far enough away. Let the games begin, dear cousin. Ready, set, go.

  TO BE CONTINUED IN BOOK TWO: Lessons at Longfellow Castle - Volume 2

  ***

  Lessons at Longfellow Castle

  ***

  Chapter One

  Michelle Greene opened her bleary eyes and looked around the room, slowly taking in her surroundings. She was in the intensive care unit of the hospital. Her body ached and tingled all over with a strange kind of pain. Tenderly, she moved her hand over her body, searching for injuries. When she came to her neck and felt the bandages at her throat, she gasped as she suddenly remembered everything that had happened to her the night before.

  She was a student at the university, living with her roommate Sophia Marshall. They were complete opposites in every way, and yet they were the best of friends. Michelle was bold and outgoing, with intense dark eyes and hair she cut short and dyed purple just to gain attention. Sophia, on the other hand, was shy and demure, with sparkling blue eyes and auburn hair she wore soft to her shoulders. Sophia was neat and tidy, a dedicated student, and always worked hard at achieving her goal of becoming an intern at the Institute of Societal History. Michelle had a much more carefree attitude and had tried to instill a sense of fun in her best friend.

  “You should go out, date, and meet guys!” Michelle had said to Sophia one night, when the girl was spending another Friday night pouring over research notes and studying that creepy old castle that was rumored to be the home of vampires. It was the subject of Sophia’s thesis paper an
d had become all she ever talked about.

  “I go out sometimes, but right now I have too much work to do. There are no modern pictures of Longfellow Castle. I’m going to go there and see if the current residents will let me inside. Maybe they’ll even give me an interview!” Sophia had gushed, completely obsessed with her project.

  Michelle had rolled her eyes. “You don’t need an interview, you need to get laid! You’re twenty-two years old. This is your last year of college! Live a little!”

  Sophia had blushed furiously at the comment, as Michelle knew she would. She suspected her best friend was still a virgin and was always teasing her and urging her to put down the books and have some fun. Unfortunately, it was advice that Sophia seemed to have taken to heart. Not long after that night, Sophia changed. She stopped coming home at night, stopped working on her thesis paper, and even started skipping some of her classes.

  “What’s going on? Are you addicted to drugs?” Michelle had asked, sincerely worried about her best friend, but what Sophia revealed to her was even more worrisome. She was having an affair with an older man named Logan Longfellow, who lived in that creepy castle and was only willing to meet her at his home at night. It was weird, and Michelle was truly worried. What kind of man refused to leave his house, come out during the day, or meet his girlfriend’s roommate and friends? Something deep in Michelle’s gut told her there was something wrong with the situation.

  She tried valiantly to stop Sophia from meeting him. Sophia was so innocent and pure; she hated the thought of some older man taking advantage of her sweetness, especially since Michelle had been the one urging her to meet men. The guilt of feeling partially responsible for her friend’s situation was what urged Michelle to follow Sophia into the night, when Sophia refused to stay home.