Ever After Series: Paranormal Romance Box Set (Steamy Vampire Romance)

by A. C. James

Sara smiled. “And what do you think we should call her?”

  “I kind of like Beth.”

  “I like Holly. And if we have a boy?”

  Holly Beth.

  My father must have named me before giving me up for adoption, but I’d ended up in the foster care system instead so it never changed.

  “We’ll name him Daniel.”

  “You know I’m going to get very fat?” Sara asked him in a teasing voice.

  “How fat?” My father teased back.

  “Very, very, fat. Will you still think I’m beautiful then?”

  He leaned down and planted kisses on her stomach. “I think you’ll be even more beautiful.”

  Sara was smiling, her hands in his hair. The bedroom door swung open and Charlotte yelled something about studying instead of hanging out with that boy again. Sara pulled her sweater down as she jumped off the bed. Then the vision faded and Charlotte looked at me almost as if she realized I’d had a vision. Rue told me that my grandmother was a witch. So I imagined that she’d know what it looked like when someone was having one. Her eyes were clear, focused on my face.

  “I can’t believe it,” she whispered.

  An eerie stillness filled the room.

  “What?” I asked.

  “I've been waiting for you to find me before the disease takes me.”

  The hair on the back of my neck stood on end. “Who do think I am?”

  “I’d know you anywhere. You look just like my daughter. You’re my granddaughter. The one they made me give up.”

  My mouth dropped open. “Yes, I’m Holly.”

  “I like that name. I don’t know how long I’ll be like this but I need to tell you two things.”

  “What do you need to tell me?”

  “You’re a vampire.” She nodded. “That’s good, because the strength will help you, and so will he.”

  “Who?”

  “The man in the leather jacket. He needs you more than you know, and you’re going to need him. You’ll feel betrayed but you’re going to have to trust him. Something bad is going to happen. Bright city lights. It will be bad and you’re going to need him.”

  The door creaked behind me, and that moment of clarity dissolved into a look of confusion. Its fog descended on her, and stole my grandmother.

  “I thought you were going to Rue’s after school,” she said.

  I shook my head. My breath was jagged and it took all my strength not to cry and my throat was so tight that my voice croaked out. “I can’t. I have a test to study for. I should go do my homework.”

  She gave my hand a pat and smiled. I swallowed and hurried out of the room before I started crying. Then I’d have to dazzle away her memory of my bloody tears. Grace was waiting just outside the door.

  “Can I use your bathroom?” I asked before she could say anything.

  “Straight down the hall.”

  “Thanks.”

  I bolted for the bathroom. As soon as I locked the door I slid down its surface and hugged my knees. I’d been holding back but I couldn’t anymore. Tears streaked down my face, dripping on my arm. She’d never know me, and I’d known that before Grace even opened the bedroom door, but I never thought that I’d have to sit there and pretend to be my mother. She was lucid for a moment, but my grandmother would never really know me, and that hurt like hell.

  ***

  There was a knock on the door. I swiped at my eyes and my fingers came away a bloody smear. God, I hope it’s not Grace. I rose from the tile and stepped in front of the sink. I looked like a wreck. Red-rimmed eyes, red-streaked cheeks. I couldn’t go out there looking like this or Grace would freak.

  “Just a minute,” I said, as I leaned over the sink. “I’ll be out in just a minute.”

  “It’s just me. Are you okay in there?” Rue asked.

  After a deep breath I opened the door to let Rue in and then she closed and locked it behind her. She took one look at me and her face fell.

  “Oh, no. What happened?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Fine? There were never two words in human history that meant something else more entirely, and you’re dripping blood all over the place.”

  I half-laughed, half-sobbed. I knew she was trying hard not to cry too, and at the same time she was trying to cheer me up.

  “Come on, you don’t want Grace calling the cops on us. Besides, she already has a problem with witches,” Rue said with a smirk.

  “Oh, God, Rue, I just didn’t think…I had to pretend I was my mother. She called me Sara.”

  Rue pursed her lips. “I’m so sorry.”

  “It killed me, but I didn’t want to upset her.”

  She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me. I hugged her back and for a minute we just stood in the bathroom hugging one another.

  “We should go,” I said as I pulled away. “I just need to fix my face.”

  “Yeah, Grace sent me up to check on you.”

  I turned on the facet and rinsed my face with water. I used some wadded-up toilet paper to dab at the blood and flushed the evidence. Grace would get suspicious if there was a bloody towel in her bathroom.

  “Well, let’s tell Grace good-bye. We’ve got a long drive a head of us,” I said.

  “I’m starving. We should stop somewhere for a bite to eat.”

  I nodded and Rue followed me back downstairs to where Grace was waiting in the living room. She looked as drained as I felt.

  “Thanks for letting me meet my grandmother. And if there’s anything you need, I meant what I said about helping. I’d like to visit again sometime, if that’s all right.”

  Grace rose from her chair.

  “Anytime. I’d love to have you. Let me give you my number.”

  Grace walked over to a hutch in the entryway and opened a drawer. She pulled out a pad of paper and a pen, jotting down her name and number before handing it to me.

  “Thanks for having me,” I said.

  Grace smiled. “I’m going to hug you now. Would that be okay?”

  I laughed and leaned forward to hug the petite brunette—my aunt. Grace hugged me back and then pulled away.

  “Let me walk you out,” Grace said. “It was nice to finally meet you, Rue. Charlotte talks about you all the time.”

  Rue smiled. “I practically lived here as a child. Sara was my closest friend. She was like a sister to me.”

  Grace showed us out to the porch. “Drive safe.”

  “We will. Thanks again.”

  She pulled the door closed once we’d climbed into my BMW. It was a long drive back to Chicago. Rue and I stopped off for something to eat but I barely touched the greasy diner food. I pushed the food around my plate with a fork. I felt emotionally spent, and a little weak, but food wasn’t going to cut it.

  I needed to feed soon and decided I’d order a CD donor to be sent over to the loft as soon as we got back. I dropped Rue off at her apartment above her store. All I wanted was to curl up with Arie. I didn’t want to deal with anything else today. The last thing I expected was for Harry to stop me in the lobby to relay a message.

  Chapter 13

  Harry spotted me as soon as I entered the polished oasis of the lobby and quickly hung up the phone call he was on, waving me over to the front desk. He struck me as a kind man, in his forties if I had to guess, and I knew he was married. Other than that I didn’t really know much about him. I’d talked to him only in passing. I couldn’t imagine what he wanted, and when he’d finally told me, it shocked the shit out of me and made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

  “Miss Ellis, may I have a word with you?”

  “Sure, Harry.”

  “There was a man who stopped in here looking for you today.”

  I bit my lower lip. I had a very bad feeling about this. “What did he want?”

  “That’s the puzzling thing.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “He asked for a Katarina. When I told him there was no o
ne who lived here named Katarina he muttered something that distinctly sounded like ‘she must have changed her name.’”

  Oh, shit.

  How the hell was I supposed to explain this?

  “Well I can’t imagine why you’d think he was looking for me.” I hoped Harry bought my lie because I was Arie’s guest here and didn’t want this to cause any trouble.

  “Except then he went on to clarify by asking for the young woman staying with Mr. Cush.”

  I gulped. “Harry, I—”

  Harry shot me a look that spoke volumes in terms of propriety. “Miss Ellis, whatever you’re involved in or running from has turned up here, and this is not the type of establishment that tolerates that sort of thing. We’re obligated to report suspicious or criminal activity to protect our residents.”

  “Harry, I swear I have no idea what this is about.”

  “The man left this for you.” Harry slid an envelope across the desk. “I suggest you make arrangements to stay somewhere else, and of course I’ll have to inform Mr. Cush. If you don’t cooperate I may have to notify the authorities as well. Do you understand, Miss Ellis, or whatever your name is?”

  I tore into the envelope and took out the note. The same block lettering from the note at the club. I bit my lower lip as I read the familiar handwriting.

  Katarina,

  I see you’ve changed your name. The guy at the desk told me you and Arie were out. But I’ll stop by again. I know now that I need to see you again, and maybe I was wrong. Can you forgive me?

  —T

  “Miss Ellis, do I make myself clear?”

  Double shit.

  I’d have to tell Arie now. There was no way around it. I shoved the note into my army satchel and cleared my throat. Focusing on Harry’s eyes, I did my best to dazzle him. “Harry, no one came looking for me today. This never happened. My name is Holly Ellis. I’m Arie’s live-in girlfriend, and you think I’m really nice. I don’t ever cause any problems. That’s all you know…”

  Harry looked confused and then his eyes cleared. “What were we talking about?”

  “I said it looks like it might snow.”

  “Yes, it does. I think they’re calling for one heck of a storm.”

  “See you around, Harry.”

  “Good evening, Miss Ellis.”

  I turned with a deep exhale and made my way toward the elevators. As the elevator doors closed behind me I leaned against the wall, thinking about what it meant. I thought this person looking for Katarina had been a friend of hers, maybe an ex-lover, but he knew Arie too. Or did he? I took the note out of my satchel and read it one more time.

  …maybe I was wrong. Can you forgive me?

  When the elevator doors opened I stepped out and threw the note in the silver dome trash can in the hall. I warred with myself about whether I should ask Arie about ‘T’ but even if I did ask him, Arie didn’t need to know the details of the note. He might get upset about it. Especially the one that commented on how good I looked naked. I didn’t want to do anything that would bring up the past I thought we’d left behind when Katarina died. I didn’t want to show him a note that might make him jealous. I really didn’t want to cause more conflict between us. Not when he’d already been upset about my uncaring comment about Luna. No, I had to tell him. He’d feel hurt and deceived if I didn’t come clean and ask him who ‘T’ was. But food first.

  I unlocked the door to the loft with the key that Arie had made for me and threw my satchel over the leather sofa before dialing the donor line.

  “Yeah, I need a Crimson Dusk delivered.”

  “Number?”

  “169919.” I rattled off the code for our loft.

  “Cush residence?”

  “Yes. How long will it be?”

  “Twenty minutes.”

  “Thanks.” I hung up.

  I flopped onto the sofa, too weak and tired after driving all the way out to Springfield, meeting my aunt, meeting my grandmother, and then the cryptic note from someone associated with Katarina. I could sleep for days, but it was probably because I hadn’t drunk since late last night at the club. If I could just close my eyes for a few minutes while I waited for the donor to get there, maybe I’d feel a little better. With a yawn I leaned my head back on the brown leather cushion and let my eyes drift closed.

  At first I wasn’t sure I’d fallen asleep, but then I knew it was a dream. The kind of dream that showed me things that already happened, or were going to; when I looked down at the flapper dress I was wearing I knew this was the past.

  “Luna, hurry up. You know what we’re supposed to do. We need to get in and get out. This place is crawling with vampires.”

  We were in a bathroom that vaguely looked like the ladies room at HFC, but the walls weren’t red. They were white and a gold-framed mirror hung above the sink. I was—or rather, Luna was—dusting rouge on her face in front of the mirror. A woman stood next to her with her arms crossed.

  “You want me to look the part, right?” Luna asked.

  “Fine. But get on with it all ready.”

  Luna sighed. “I just have to get him outside, right?”

  “Yeah. I’ll do the rest.”

  Luna put the rouge back in a silver rhinestone bag that matched her hair. “He just wants to talk.”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  “Promise me.”

  “Come on. It’s time. I’ll meet you in the alley.”

  Luna’s eyes reminded me of a caged animal. “I really don’t want to do this.”

  “We’ve been over it. Let’s just get it done.”

  Luna looked like she wanted to be anywhere else but there.

  “Fine.”

  Luna and the woman parted ways just outside the bathroom. Trapped as I was in Luna’s body in this vision, I couldn’t see where the woman took off to, but Luna skirted through the tables that stood in front of the stage. The lighting looked different; it seemed diffused by the cloud of smoke hovering above several of them. Which seemed odd to me considering the place was a non-smoking venue now, but I knew without a doubt that this was HFC. The people seated at the tables faced the stage, where a piano player keyed a jazz melody and a woman belted out a sad-sounding song. Luna stopped when she reached a table where a vampire sat swirling ice cubes in a highball glass.

  “Where’s your friend?”

  “She left, and I was thinking we should too.” Luna gave him a suggestive look.

  The vampire guzzled down the rest of his drink. “Let’s get out of here.”

  They headed for a side door that I couldn’t remember ever being there and into an alleyway just outside the club. No sooner had they stepped outside than Luna grabbed him by his tie and pulled him into a kiss. The vampire backed her up against the brick exterior of the club and never noticed the woman I’d seen in the bathroom with Luna come up behind him while they were sucking face.

  Too late.

  My eyes widened as she pulled out a wooden stake and pierced him through his back. Blood spurted out of his mouth and he fell to his knees. I gasped. A car pulled up at the end of the alley and a man that I couldn’t make out clearly got out and started to walk toward them.

  “No, Daeveena!” Luna screeched. “Why did you do that?”

  Daeveena. Why did that name sound so familiar?

  “I had no choice, and neither do you.” She kicked the stake deeper into the vampire’s back, and his head hit the ground.

  “We didn’t come here for this,” Luna said, shaking her head.

  “This is exactly why you are here. You’ve done well, Daeveena. Get in the car,” Victor Monti said. I recognized him from when he’d come to visit Luna at the club.

  Daeveena did as he directed while Luna continued to stand there staring at the body, which had already begun to disintegrate.

  “I said get in the car.”

  “No. I don’t want to do this anymore.”

  Without warning he struck Luna and a silver-gray liquid that must have
been her blood spilled from her busted lip. He took a step toward her and she flinched.

  “Do you want to stay here and answer to them?” He pointed to the club. “Because I don’t think they’ll be too happy to find you standing next to his pile of ashes. If you want me to leave you here…”

  Victor turned and started to walk away.

  “Father, no. Please…don’t leave me,” Luna sobbed.

  I felt so sorry for her. I knew things were bad, but seeing it through her eyes, feeling her heart break for what she’d done, made it more real than Tessa telling me she had daddy issues. No wonder she seemed so dependent—a hollow shell that echoed the sounds of the sea and got pulled back into it by the tide.

  Victor didn’t even turn around to look at her. “Then get in the car.”

  Luna slid into the backseat next to Daeveena, who looked almost as miserable and resigned as she did.

  “I told you. We don’t have any choice,” Daeveena said.

  The driver looked at her through the rearview mirror. Victor got in the passenger side. As they pulled away the vision started to fade. At the same time there was a knock at the door. When I opened my eyes I was alone in the loft but I remembered where I’d heard the name Daeveena. Julian at the club had mentioned a half-faerie, half-demon by that name when he came looking for his cousin.

  My head felt fuzzy but then I heard a second knock on the door. I’d forgotten that I was waiting for a donor. I answered the door and instantly recognized Denise, the doctor who became a Crimson Dusk donor after her son became a vampire.

  “Denise, thank you for coming. Please…come in.”

  When she came in and took her coat off, she looked haggard. Her face was gaunt.

  “Are you sure you’re up for this?” I asked.

  “I’m fine. I’ve been donating more these days. You know.” She shrugged. “For the younger ones. Extra precautions after what happened at the club.”

  I nodded. “I think Arie has some orange juice in the fridge. You should drink some afterwards.”

  “It’s fine. I’ll just do a banana bag at the hospital and if anyone asks I’ll tell them it’s for a hangover.”

  I had no clue what she was talking about. She walked over to me and tilted her neck.