The Kiss of a Vampire, the Heart of a Wolf (The Silver Series)

by Samantha Bates

  "I will call him, he knows Imogen and he wouldn’t hurt her."

  Theo headed back to Ben, who had pulled his phone out of his pocket just as it rang, Ben looked at him "it’s Vlad" as he answered it Theo stood closer, close enough to hear the conversation.

  "Ben we have a situation, a delicate situation, one that I would rather keep low key right now."

  Theo watched Ben raise his eyebrows "I think that is a little late right now" he heard Vlad sigh,

  "where are you I will transport to you."

  "We are waiting at the place where you took Imogen from."

  Theo was tense; he knew Vlad would be here in seconds, he was the only vampire in New York strong enough to teleport. When he arrived not more than 3 yards from Theo, he immediately saw that Vlad looked stressed and slightly haggard. Well that was tough shit, he grabbed him round the throat and slammed him against the wall.

  "What the fuck did you do to her?"

  "Let him go Theo, he wouldn’t have hurt her, but he will hurt you, now let him GO."

  Vlad was watching him "listen to your Alpha, you have 3 seconds before I kill you."

  Theo knew that Vlad could kill him just like that and although he was tempted to push it, he had to question how that would that help Imogen, so he let him go.

  "Thank you Theo", he nodded at Ben, they had been friends for a many years, Vlad and Ben had united the vampires and wolves on several occasions and he knew they wouldn’t want to break that alliance.

  "Ben my regards" Vlad and Ben had been friends for year.

  This was getting too much for Theo, "my regards, what the hell? Get to the point Vlad where is she?" He and his wolf were becoming angry, Vlad sighed.

  "She is safe, but she is not how she was" Theo could see the regret on Vlad’s face, an unusual look for someone normally so composed, as a rule you could never tell what he was thinking. In fact on many occasions he had wondered if the vampire had possessed any feelings.

  "Of course she isn’t, some vampire bastards fucking hurt her, and she won’t be the same. Where is she?"

  Vlad sighed again, with his short blond hair and almost chiseled bone structure, he was normally a sight to be reckoned with but today he seemed drained.

  "She is safe, I have taken her somewhere safe, I apologise to both you Theo, Ben and Silver Pack. It seems she was attacked by vampires and left for dead. One of my Elite warriors located her, what must have been mere minutes after the attack, he summoned me when he recognised her and I transported her to somewhere warmer and safer."

  He was furious, fucking vampires hurt her "thank you, but if you take me to her I will in turn take her home. I can take care of her there" his wolf was howling inside, he had never felt closer to the edge of fury.

  "As much as I would like to, it transpires that she is reacting slightly unusual to the attack, please trust me, I will ensure no further harm befalls her. I need to return but will send a car for you and Ben in 3 hours, it will collect you from Silvers" Theo went to step forward towards Vlad but there was some shield preventing him from stepping too close.

  "Just because I allowed you physical contact once wolf, do not presume I will again. I like you Theo and I have fought side by side with Silver Pack on more than one occasion. I consider you and your Alpha friends and respect your skill’s Theo. I expect you to trust me, I would teleport you with me, however transporting another is draining and as I have already done so once today I am unable to again. I will see you both in a few hours" and then he was gone.

  As they made their way back to pack land, he was in wolf form and angry, he was meant to protect her, when she returned he would never leave her alone again, she and Celia would be his life.

  "Theo I know it doesn’t help right now but I do trust Vlad."

  "I know that Ben and believe it or not so do I. What the hell am I meant to do for the next 2 hours 29 minutes?" He saw Ben nod to his left "start there" he turned to see Celia racing Beth, both of them on quad bikes.

  Before Lucky met Ben she had been married and already had 4 daughters. During the police investigation where Lucky and her ex had been kidnapped the girl's father had been killed, but apparently the Goddess of Destiny had plans for him and gave Lucky a potion to save him. That was over 5 years ago now, and although we knew Phil was alive and with the gods that was all anyone knew. It had been hard on the girls who clearly missed their dad, although somehow he managed to write to them.

  Thankfully the girls had become part of the pack quickly. Beth and Celia were good friends and spent a lot of time together, Beth was slightly younger than her at nearly 21 and still wasn’t quite old enough to drink but that didn’t affect their friendship, they were still really close friends.

  As they stopped the bikes way too close for comfort, Theo looked at Celia’s smiling face, all the worries and pain had slowly disappeared from her life, she trusted people now and he was going to rip it all away. She was bright, his little girl, because that is how he saw her, his little girl.

  "Theo what’s wrong? Oh god, what’s happened, its Imogen isn’t it?" When her face paled he pulled her into his arms.

  "I don’t really know what’s going on right now but I don’t think it’s good. She is alive which is the main thing" he could hear her throat catch, he knew she was fighting not to cry.

  "I don’t understand," he started walking her to Lucky and Ben’s house, he thought about going home with her but then he wanted to be ready to leave.

  "I don’t know a lot and I don’t really want to worry you, but I have never lied to you, I won't start now. Today she was attacked by vampires, do you remember Vlad? You met him when he came to help with Nicky’s problem" he could see that she was thinking.

  "The tall vampire with the blonde hair? Why would he attack her? I thought he was our friend."

  Theo sat on the steps leading up to the house, everyone had discreetly disappeared leaving them on their own, and as he put his arm around Celia he felt the weight of the all of this as he explained everything he knew to her, which frankly wasn’t a lot. When he had finished she was insistent she be allowed to come with them. It is only when Theo told her she would distract him and he pointed out the need to be on alert, enough to forcefully remove Imogen if he had to, that made Celia agree to stay behind. He knew Lucky would take care of her.

  Chapter 5

  The pain, her head felt like it was exploding, she had vomited in the far corner of the room. When HE had come into the room, she had heard the door unlock, she knew she was being held prisoner again, well she was not letting that happen. Every time she moved she felt like fireworks were going off in her head, looking down at herself she was relieved to see that at least she was still dressed.

  She had been curled on the floor in the foetal position when he entered, opening one eye the tiniest slit, she saw that he was tall and thin, she knew he was strong just by his immense presence, he didn’t look like the ones who had hurt her in the alley but experience told her that meant nothing. With his dark hair and eyes, he walked gracefully, there was no sound to his footsteps but she did hear him move just by the slight rustle of his clothes.

  She was watching him come closer, she could feel him looking at her, could hear the caution in his footsteps, the room was dark like the curtains were closed.

  He bent to touch her shoulder, she grabbed his brown hair, with it slightly grown out she could get a good grip, she jumped up with a strength she didn’t realise she had, quickly she hit him in the face, she felt bones crunch, they weren’t hers. He was flung straight into the wall, as he fell forward she moved towards the door, she couldn’t move. It was like she was gripped by some force, as if there was some invisible wall, she felt a pressure in her brain, it drained her, she fought it for about a minute before it was too much and she dropped back to her knees and drifted out of consciousness.

  Chapter 6

  As Theo watched Leon pull up in a black 4x4, he saw that Leon looked tired. Theo saw that Leon’s expre
ssion was somber; there was a tension emanating from Leon that Theo didn’t like, he couldn’t quite finger it but he saw Leon wince when he turned his head to face him. He had known Leon a number of years and was normally quite chatty but not today.

  Theo and Ben climbed into the car

  0

  "how far?"

  Theo was to the point even though he knew it would likely piss Leon off, he didn’t really care at this point, however Leon clearly did.

  "Well hello Leon, how are you? I am fine thanks Theo, had a collision with a wall so I'm a little tender, but don’t worry I won't give you the details, settle back it will take about 40 minutes to get there," great…sarcasm, just what he needed.

  Theo knew Leon was one of Vlads Elite Warriors and was his friend, in this life you didn’t need to add more enemies and Theo knew it.

  "Point made Leon", he was rewarded with a scowl, so he sat back. He was about to complain about how long the journey would take, until he took a second to think about it. If he pushed too far Vlad may try and stop him seeing Imogen, Vlad had the contacts to hide Imogen pretty damn well if he needed. He knew if that happened it could take him years to search New York looking for her, he would if he had to but 40 minutes seemed a quicker option.

  Needing something to distract him, he started memorising the route instead. Ben had been to Vlads place before but he didn’t know anyone else who had, it seemed not many received an invitation and Theo wasn’t sure if he would get a second invite.

  As they finally pulled up to a large mansion he was not surprised to see the size of it. Vlads age was something of a mystery, he always kept a distance from most people, he was definitely guarded and Theo was certain he had some deep, dark secret hidden somewhere.

  He watched as Leon typed in a code to open the gates, he knew there were other safeguards to prevent easy access, but didn’t try to guess them, it was futile. The place was huge, the front lawns were manicured and if he had to guess he would say that the gardener must use scissors to get it so precise. Vlad must love his statues; they were dotted all over the front lawns, lions, cherubs, gargoyles, fountains. Lining the surrounding fence he could see nothing of the outside, the 20 foot high conifers took care of that.

  The house had to be from the Georgian Era, with its engraved panelling around the door, the large white marble pillars and sash window’s, he hadn’t been in a house of this magnitude for decades. Theo was discreetly looking for alternative routes out of the house and the land when he saw Leon looking at him in the rear view mirror. With his bright red Mohican, Leon was memorable; he also had one blue eye and one green eye. Theo had fought side by side with him when they were trying to free Lucky, he knew what Leon was capable of, and he also knew that Leon knew what he had been looking for.

  "You won't find it Theo, no point in looking."

  Theo laughed "you never know I might get lucky."

  It was Ben who responded "I doubt it; I have never found it and believe me I have looked."

  They followed the driveway and then made their way to the door, he wasn’t surprised to have a butler open the door, but when they entered the house he was surprised. The contrast outside compared to inside was definitely somewhat unexpected.

  Inside it was completely modernised, very stark, clean and minimalistic, just how he used to like his place. Theo was taking everything in, from the wide, winding staircase to the large doorways, and high ceilings to the staff coming and going. They were taken upstairs to a large study / library, Vlad was sat behind his desk, a large wooden desk that housed a laptop and nothing else, it reminded Theo of how empty his life had been before Imogen, he wandered if Vlad felt the same or like him did he not recognise the yearning.

  Vlad motioned for them to join him round a large conference desk, like the rest of the house this room was stark but clearly a haven for Vlad, the large bookshelves spanned the walls from floor to ceiling, a screen of sorts covered the whole wall where the windows would have been, there was a soft leather recliner as well as a sofa.

  It didn’t take Vlad long to make a start, "Theo while I understand why you are distressed and angry, I take it you are now in control of your emotions?" Vlad no longer looked as burdened as he did in the alley this afternoon, but he seemed anxious.

  "As much as I will be, until I see Imogen that is."

  Vlad nodded as the butler returned with a variety of drinks, Vlad took a large tumbler of what smelled like whiskey and definitely blood, he proceeded to swallow all of it in one gulp. It was a myth that vampires couldn’t get drunk or drink alcohol, like shifters they could, but the vampires mixed their drinks with blood and needed a lot of alcohol to get wasted.

  "First off, I have men seeking those who hurt her. I am sure that you know it takes two blood mixes to turn someone into a vampire. If someone is bitten by a vampire the victim will be weakened but otherwise okay, if however the person is bitten and proceeds to share blood with the vampire on at least 2 occasions he or she has a 70% chance of becoming a vampire. That is why a licence with my authorisation is needed before someone is turned, heaven forbid we become over run by vampires, it would be complete anarchy. The more times blood is shared the higher likelihood of the person turning into a vampire" with a sigh he stood and paced, even in midst of some sort of dilema Vlad looked completely composed.

  Theo wasn’t sure where this was going, he sure as hell hoped Vlad wasn’t saying Imogen had shared the vampires blood on two occasions,

  "Imogen wouldn’t have knowingly exchanged blood with a vampire on 2 occasions. She just wouldn’t, since the kidnapping she hadn’t well….no she wouldn’t."

  Still pacing Vlad nodded "I agree with you and she hasn’t become a vampire, well not completely. Now I know vampires are made differently to wolves, but can a female mated to a wolf, turn wolf?"

  It was Ben who answered.

  "No, the person takes some of the characteristics of the wolf but cannot become the wolf. When they are mated they become more attuned to the wolves around them, their strength and life force increases and they become as immortal as the wolf."

  Ben was also looking confused which infuriated Theo "what do you mean not completely, shit Vlad just get on with it."

  As Vlad nodded, he focussed on Theo "one blood exchange wouldn’t have had any long term consequences for Imogen, even if it had somehow triggered the transformation, a newly turned vampire would be weak, it takes years to accumulate high levels of strength" he looked thoughtful as he stopped the pacing,

  "Mmmm, this doesn’t make sense, maybe…Theo is there any chance that Imogen had wolf blood inside of her?"

  Theo watched Vlad walk back to the laptop "what the hell are you talking about, of course she didn’t…. Shit she did, last night she threw something at me, it cut my lip and then we kissed, so yes."

  "You and Imogen kissed?" Ben sounded shocked but quickly recovered "about time."

  Vlad was still contemplating this new information when Theo forcefully added "I want to see her." This brought Vlad back into the here and now.

  "Absolutely but first there are some things you should know. When she came back here, we placed her in one of the bedrooms, however she seemed to be ill, one of my men went in to help her and she became aggressive, now bear in mind some of my men are very strong and old, anyway this seemed to panic her, she attacked and hurt one of my men, one of my stronger men."

  "Would I be right in assuming it was Leon she threw?"

  Vlad took a deep breath, before continuing "I take it he's still sulking, unfortunately I had to subdue her."

  Theo growled and moved forward when Ben stopped him, "calm down Theo, think of the alternative, he could have killed her" Theo stepped back and Vlad continued.

  "Anyway when I tried to subdue her mentally she fought me, and it took me…. let me tell you it took way too long. When she attacked my warrior she demonstrated immense strength, but more interesting was that her face changed a little, it took on wolf like features. I have bee
n trying to work out how, anyway now I am thinking that because she has both shifter and vampire blood inside of her, she has developed elements of both species, and the combined strength of both species."