by Wendi Zwaduk
You Complete Me
by
Wendi Zwaduk
Battle Scars
Copyright © Release 2014, Wendi Zwaduk
You Complete Me
Media > Books > Fiction > Romance Novels
Vampires, werewolf, shape shifter, second chance, paranormal, psychic, telepathy
Digital ISBN: 978-1-62237-351-2
Digital Release: January 2015
Editor, Shelby C. Madison
Cover Design by Calliope-Designs.com
Stock art by istockphotos.com
All rights reserved. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work, in whole or part, by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, is illegal and forbidden.
This is a work of fiction. Characters, settings, names, and occurrences are a product of the author’s imagination and bear no resemblance to any actual person, living or dead, places or settings, and/or occurrences. Any incidences of resemblance are purely coincidental.
This edition is published by agreement with Turquoise Morning Press, a division of Turquoise Morning, LLC, PO Box 43958, Louisville, KY 40253-0958.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
ABOUT WENDI ZWADUK
DEDICATION
To all those readers who like vampires and happy endings, this one is for you.
To JA because you put up with me.
To JPZ because you really do complete me.
YOU COMPLETE ME
I’ve got your back, if you’re willing to trust your enemy.
Hagan Dean thought he was helping his friend. He was playing the role of savior…except he ended up left for dead in the sunshine. Vampires and sunshine don’t mix. Even worse? A Hunter—one of the sexiest women he’s laid eyes on—is ready to kill him. He’s got a lot to survive for and the odds are stacked against him, but he’s a fighter. Will the Hunter let him live another night? Or is this vampire destined to fry into a pile of soot?
Emily Cross is a born Hunter. Her life’s work is to keep the balance between the Supers and the Supers who have stepped out of line. She’s never been keen on the Rogues taking over the Hunters. She doesn’t want to kill all the Supers…she is one! When she finds a nearly charred vampire in the woods during one of the hunts, her thoughts turn from killing to keeping him alive.
Will these two opposites come together to find common ground in order to help end the war? Or will the passion crackling between them tear their worlds apart?
Chapter One
He was dead. Had to be. Hagan stared into the darkness surrounding him. He’d been out in the sunshine for too long—nasty business for a vampire. Sunlight ensured death. He shouldn’t have been in the daylight at all. He should’ve stayed in the cave…but he had to keep Ava alive. If she didn’t make it, then no one would know the true extent of what Maslow had done. Someone had to change the tide of the war.
He wondered if she’d made it out. He hadn’t seen her when he went back to the cave. He’d damn near burned to a crisp in the sun. His hands and arms were practically black and peeling. So much for trying to help. But when had he crawled back into the cave? The last he knew, he was still outside in the sunshine.
Hagan groaned. So this is what death felt like…a charred steak left in blackness. It wasn’t as if he was going to head to heaven. Nope. Vampires weren’t on par with angels. He’d be lucky if he received passage to hell. At least there, he’d see his other vampire friends. He hadn’t done a thing to earn him an audience with the Sources.
“Do you know where you are?” a thin male voice asked.
He froze, although he wasn’t sure if movement was possible in the vast vacuum of darkness.
“I’m lost and confused,” he confessed. “Where am I?”
“You’ve been found. Sit,” the male said.
Hagan still wasn’t sure who was talking or where to sit. He glanced around at nothingness. As he looked, the darkness faded and he noticed an outcropping of rocks. The stones arranged almost like a chair. Huh. He’d seen rocks like that before, but only one place and it was while he’d passed through… He’d heard about stones and darkness where the Sources held court, but surely, they weren’t talking to him. Was he in the presence of the oldest beings in the world? The Sources?
“Yes, Vampire. You are where you believe yourself to be.” A light appeared, illuminating a figure clad in a crimson robe. Dust swirled in the light, obscuring the individual’s face.
“Sir.” Hagan dropped to his knees and bowed his head. He was really in the cave of the Sources. No freaking way. The Sources only called the most important Supers into their presence. He wasn’t important.
“Speak the words on your mind,” the male Source said.
“I don’t know why I’m here.” Hagan didn’t look up. “I should be dead. I was in the sunshine. Did I save Ava? Is she my mate? What’s going on with the war?” Good Goddess, he had a lot of word vomit in his head.
“Ah. The vampire of many questions.”
“Will you tell me?” He had no right to be so demanding, but they had told him to speak.
“You’ve been summoned.”
“And saved? Or am I dying?”
“Your journey is not at the end.”
The Source talked in so many stupid riddles. Hagan bit back a growl. “Then what am I to do?”
“Continue on.”
“How?” he blurted. He didn’t even know where he was going or how he was supposed to get there.
“Trust your heart and your calling. The war is still not won and can be lost on good intentions.”
His calling? Lost on good intentions? Why in the name of the Goddess did they have to be so cryptic? “I’m confused.” He couldn’t see much more than the Source’s robe. They could reveal themselves to him. It wasn’t as if he’d live to tell anyone about what he’d seen. He hated not knowing what was going on or seeing the face of the person talking to him.
“As expected, you are confused. Your journey is long and hard. You will return to the Earth. Find your mate and continue on your way. Trust.” The being snapped his fingers. “Go.”
The Source would have to sound like a mystical sci-fi character from the movies—all enigmatic and bizarre.
Before he could say anything in return, Hagan fell forward. A breeze whipped around him. Were they throwing him out of the cave of the Sources? Pushed out for being too nosy sounded correct.
Something crackled and a deep pain spread through his body. He couldn’t move. His arms and legs refused to cooperate. Everything ached. He finally managed to open his eyes. The scent of leaves and wood surrounded him. Leaves? Trees? Where in the heck was he? He’d been pitched out of the cave and into the woods? What woods? Where?
Footsteps crunched on the ground. Someone—whoever was out there—was coming. Shit.
“There are vampires all over these woods. According to intelligence, one named Hagan was last seen running in here from the east,” said a male voice.
He’d been seen running? The Sources must’ve wanted to give him a good back-story or the guy was making up what he’d seen. Humans with the blood of the Supers were like that—they lied to get what they wanted without any thought to what their words could do to the Supers. Wouldn’t they be interested to know that the same blood they were hunting ran through their veins and made them potentially dangerous, too?
Hagan groaned. He needed to get away from the Hunters. Streaks of sunlight—daylight or late day sun, he wasn’t sure—charred his skin. Two tiny entrails of smoke drifted fro
m his forearm. Damn it. He crawled under a brush pile and hoped the leaves would cover him. He thought about what the male Source said. Their words were mysterious. Find a mate and a future? He’d be lucky to survive the night. As for finding a mate, well, he didn’t trust his luck. The vision of a blonde haired woman came to mind. He had to be hallucinating. His mate was Ava and her hair wasn’t blond…unless she dyed it. Maybe she would come to the forest and save him. He hoped. If the Hunters didn’t find him first and he burned to bits for the final time. Wasn’t being part of the undead a bitch?
****
Hunting helpless creatures seemed inhumane. Emily clenched her shotgun tighter and gritted her teeth.
“We’ve got to search high and low for these creeps. They could be anywhere and dangerous as hell,” Ben said and rushed in front of her.
She winced. Everything her partner said revolved around killing Supers. She suppressed a groan. They could see the Supers. She and Ben both possessed supernatural blood, allowing them to pursue their specific calling—hunting the Supers as true Hunters. The job description included killing Supers, yes, but not only for eradicating the species, but to terminate those who went mad and were essentially dangerous to the rest of the population. They hunted the Supers who’d gone rogue. No one said a word about killing the vampires, shifters and faes—among others—simply for the sake of taking lives. According to Ben, they needed to eliminate all Supers.
Emily trudged behind him. She could hold her own up front and defend the attacks with ease, but she wanted distance from Ben. The negative vibe swirling around him unnerved her.
“I see it,” Ben shrieked. He bolted away, leaving her in the pitch-black woods. She gazed into the darkness and focused. She didn’t hear a sound, not even the critters creeping around and that wasn’t right. There should’ve been something in the brush moving if he’d spotted something. She crinkled her nose. The scent of something came to her…death? Decay? Dead things left a definite gross smell behind, but this wasn’t the scent of decomposition. This particular pungent odor reminded her of a wet tiger or charred hair. What was it?
A round object caught her attention. Nothing in the woods was perfectly rounded…not like a shoe. She glanced over to where Ben had taken off to, and then when she didn’t see him, she crouched to look at the object. She figured she’d hear Ben coming when he returned. Unlike vampires, Ben wasn’t stealthy. Freight trains were quieter than her partner. She didn’t see him when she looked again. Thank God.
Emily crept up to the rounded thing and studied it closer. The object was a shoe, connected to a foot. Were other Hunters leaving their kills in the forest now? Couldn’t be. If the person was indeed a Super, then the body wouldn’t be around—it would’ve disintegrated. A human body would decompose, but still be evident. She moved the leaves aside. The leg led to a full body. The person was so still. She glanced around again and uncovered the face. The guy’s mouth was open, allowing her to see his teeth. Sharp, bright white teeth.
A vampire.
The Super they were after was already dead? That couldn’t be. This Super was still intact. She inspected his shoe and the exposed part of his leg. Burn marks. From the sun? He’d charred his skin and she guessed he’d gone into the light long enough to get to the deeper darkness of the woods before he collapsed.
“Hey! Emily! Where are you?”
Shit. She didn’t want Ben to find the vampire. The poor Super had been through enough without having her partner attack him. At least he deserved a chance to fight back when Ben struck.
She shoved the leaves back over the vampire and crawled away from him in the underbrush. She refused to bring attention to the vampire.
“I’m over here.” She emerged from under a partially collapsed tree. “I tripped. The tree broke my fall.”
“You?” Ben stood over her and offered his hand. “You never trip. You’ve got the balance of a cat.”
“There was a root. I didn’t see it until the last minute.” Good Lord. She had double the strains of Super blood in her veins—part Fae and part Seer—and if he found out, he’d kill her.
“Why do I think there’s more to the story than you’re letting on?”
“Ben, I fell down. It happens.” She dusted the dirt off her pant legs. Her hair hung in her eyes from where it fell loose from the elastic. “I’m good.”
“You’re good now.” He tugged her close and wrapped his arms around her. “Admit it. You wanted me to save you.” A wicked smile twisted his lips. “I knew it.”
She pressed her lips together. Not long ago, she’d wanted Ben to rescue her. She wanted him to notice her. She dreamed about them being a gruesome twosome in the Hunter’s world. No holds barred except around each other. They’d be the best together—or at least that’s what she thought until she saw him with a vampiress. The poor girl hadn’t had a chance. He acted so sweet and nice to her in order to lure her away from the nightclub. She hadn’t been crazy or dangerous. No, she’d simply chosen the wrong place to party and the wrong man to go home with. She’d been a full Super and exactly what Ben wanted. He determined she needed to die.
Emily had thrown up in the parking lot when she came across the vampiress’s mangled body. She hadn’t died yet, but was close as Ben stabbed her. If Emily had known he’d tear the Super apart, she’d have stopped him. But she hadn’t. The guilt ate at her.
“Em, if you’d have just told me you wanted a date, we could go out.” He tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. “Be honest with me.”
Oh, she’d be honest all right. “I never could fool you.” She faked a smile. Ben hadn’t been her first choice as a partner, even though she’d once wanted to screw him senseless. Once she got to know him, his arrogance appalled her and his attitude cancelled out his good looks. On the outside, the man embodied sexy. On the inside, he was made of garbage.
“Name the time and place. I’m there.” Ben kissed her on the cheek, missing her mouth only because she turned her head. “I like that you’re being modest and letting me catch you finally. It’s hot.”
“Something like that.” She inched away from him. The vampire being so close bothered her. If he wasn’t fully dead and disintegrating, then she wanted to know why.
“Let’s go to the cars.” He waved his hand. “Come on. I’ll escort you.”
“I’m good.” She swung her shotgun onto her back and headed out of the woods behind him. Along the way, she memorized landmarks to get back to the vampire. An oak tree with letters carved into the trunk was five trees from his position. A rock with chipped edges and knife marks demarcated the bend in the path. She sniffed the air. His scent wasn’t as strong. How was Ben not detecting the vampire? She committed the vampire’s scent to memory. He was too strong to forget.
Once she reached her Jeep, she placed the gun on the rack behind the seats. Ben needed to go. Now. She could only stall for so long before he’d get antsy.
“So. When and where?” Ben asked. He leaned on the rear corner of the Jeep.
“When what?” She rummaged through her duffle bag, buying herself time.
“When do you want to go for our date?”
Okay, she’d let the charade go on for long enough. No need to lead him on when she wasn’t interested. “Ben, we’ve been teamed up for search and destroy, not romance.”
“We could have all three—the searching, the destroying and the hot as fuck sex. You said you wanted it all.” He bobbed his eyebrows. “Come on.”
“You’re right. I did say I wanted all that, but things change. Everything with Maslow and the war is escalating. We never know if Laing is finally going to attack. I couldn’t lose you.” She’d only given him a partial lie. As a Hunter, he was a damn good shot. He caught what he shot and very rarely missed. As a man…he left a little to be desired.
Ben winked. His brown eyes sparkled. “Fair enough. Should I escort you home?”
“And risk the Supers seeing us together? We’ve already been out here long enough
without cover. I heard Laing’s army is growing. He’ll take over the world. We’re better to play it safe and be as subtle as possible.”
“Smart. I’ll wait for you to go then I’ll leave.”
“Go ahead. I can handle anything in these woods. Get a good rest so we’re fresh for tomorrow night.” She patted his arm. The move meant to reassure him, but instead he smiled and trailed his fingers down her cheek. She fought off the shiver.
“Until tomorrow night.” He winked and climbed into his truck. The man didn’t wave or flick his lights to say goodbye. Instead, he peeled out in the dirt and sped away. She waited for his taillights to disappear on the edge of the woods.
“Thank you,” she whispered. She shoved her handgun into the holster at her hip and headed back to the vampire. A thought occurred to her. He wasn’t fully dead. If he was still there, then he could’ve been playing at looking deceased. Did he want to lead her on? She doubted he was playing possum. She learned the ways of the vampires and she’d done her research on Laing’s group. His army was supposed to be dangerous, but everything she’d learned pointed towards defense. They weren’t out to rule the world, just save themselves from death by the Hunters. Were they crazy? Had they lost mates or something? Not according to the intelligence, but then again, the people she worked with wanted Laing and his friends dead no matter what.
Another thought occurred to her. The vampire could drain and kill her, especially if he wasn’t dead and was playing her. Christ. She was supposed to be a badass vampire Hunter—not stupid as shit.
She located the brush and kicked at the vampire’s foot. He hadn’t moved and his burns seemed darker. Her heart lurched in her chest. He wasn’t going to move. Not now. Burns shouldn’t darken unless the sun exposure was taking its toll on his body. He was truly dying a slow death. She gauged his size. Could she pick him up? Possibly.
Emily grasped his ankles and dragged him out of the brush. To her shock, he moved easily. The dead weight she’d expected wasn’t there. Leaves covered parts of his upper body, preventing her from seeing his face. She moved the debris from his burns, revealing him little by little. In another life, he’d probably been handsome. Dark hair matted to his head and scruff covered his cheeks, but the sexiness still shone through. The sickly paleness wasn’t attractive but with a little blood and some soap, he would clean up nicely. Maybe that was the problem. She was attracted to him.
