“Let’s go back inside. It’s a little too crowded out here,” he said and wrapped his arm around my waist as we walked back into the hallway of the bar. He tugged me to a stop midway and gently shoved me against the wall, positioning himself in front of me, his hands pressed against the brick beside my head. His gaze caught mine in a sensual stare, his large body shielding me . . . from everything except him. When he skimmed his finger down my cheek and along my jawbone, I closed my eyes and pressed my face into his hand.
“Lily.”
I melted at the sound of my name uttered in his rich, throaty voice. I opened my eyes to see his beautiful heat-filled gaze captivating me and I felt as if I were under his spell. I was. The magic of his desire made me want to forget all about Dorian and the danger he posed.
“I’m sorry about those jerks out back. I didn’t know they were out there or I would never have let you go out first.”
I shook my head. “You have nothing to be sorry for. You had no idea they were there. Besides, lucky for me, you were with me.”
“I’ll always protect you.”
Preston’s lips pressed against mine, and within a few seconds, everything around us dissolved. I found myself opening to him, pulling him closer to me. Wanting more. Unable to deny the pleasure of his taste, I melted as his tongue slipped between my parted lips, and his fingers played against the nape of my neck. His digits tangled in my curls, while his other hand splayed against my lower back. Lost in his embrace, his body so firm against mine, I placed my hand over his chest, skimming my fingers over the taut muscles just inside his black shirt. I wanted to touch him, to experience everything that he was. I’d never been kissed the way Preston kissed me. There was so much passion and need behind every movement. My breathing became heavy. I wanted him more than I wanted to breathe. But as much as I desired him, the power of what would happen if I allowed him to take me the way I wanted, no . . . needed to be taken became too overwhelming. I could do major damage to human creeps like the one in the alley earlier tonight, or vampires like Hallow Cheeks, but I was nothing but putty in this sexy man’s arms.
When he stopped kissing my mouth, his lips trailed down my neck.
“Please, Preston,” I huffed out between breaths. “We can’t.”
“Lily, we’ve been meeting now for three months. I don’t understand you. Every time we kiss, you stop us before we can even get started. You allow yourself to feel. Your desire for me is evident, yet you won’t allow yourself to enjoy what I know you want. Let me take you away from whatever it is you fear.”
“I can’t.”
“Tell me why.”
I shook my head as uncontrollable tears dripped down my cheeks. “I can’t.”
“Lily, whatever it is that’s making you cry, keeping you from being with me, I will crush it. Trust me. There’s nothing in this world too big, too difficult. Let me help you. Please.”
I wanted to trust him. I wanted him to take me away from all the pain and suffering, but I couldn’t bring myself to trust the fact that Dorian wouldn’t harm him the way I knew he could.
“I do trust you, but I can’t be with you this way. Please just accept that for now. Trust me,” I countered. “I want to be with you, I do. Someday, we will be together. I promise. But for now, please.”
“I worry about you. I can’t stop thinking about you. Let me take you somewhere right now.”
“I don’t have much time.”
“It won’t take long. You can leave whenever you like. Just let me show you something.”
“Where to?”
“Trust me.”
He picked me up and cradled me in his arms as he flashed us to a large, flat, metal slab. As I quickly glanced around, I realized that we were in the middle of the ocean, high above the water on some sort of metal platform. Waves rolled and licked the rocks below as I looked back at the coastline, which from my view, seemed to be miles away.
“Where are we?”
“We’re on the top of the Mile Rocks Lighthouse. It literally sits in the middle of the ocean on a bed of concrete and rock. Though it’s not a lighthouse anymore. They removed the lamp and lenses that were on top of here. Now, it’s used for helicopter landings.”
“Who in the hell would want to land a helicopter on top of this, in the middle of the ocean? Where would they go?”
He laughed.
“I have no idea. But I come here all the time, and I’ve never seen one land. Maybe they do that more in daylight.”
The wind was strong and cold, and I began to shiver. “Why do you come here?” I asked as I wrapped my arms around myself.
He pulled me close, enveloping me in his embrace. “I’m sorry, I should have thought about how cold it was before I brought you here.” He released me and shrugged out of his jacket to drape it around my body before wrapping his arms back around me. “It’s peaceful here with no noise from the city. I usually sit on the edge and let my legs dangle over the side. I come here mostly just to think, when I have important things to ponder. I’ve been coming here a lot lately.”
He lifted my chin up with his finger as his mouth captured mine again. I let his kiss take hold of me, and imprinted the softness of his lips on my memory. I never wanted to forget how amazing they felt. My breath hitched as his hand splayed across my stomach. As his fingers skimmed up to take my breast in his palm, I tensed. As much as I wanted to let this go further, as much as I wanted him to take me right here on this . . . metal contraption in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, fear enveloped me. I needed him to stop. “Please, Preston.” I slowly stepped out of his embrace. “I need to go. I’m so sorry.”
Chapter Three
Elvis, aka Preston
Multiple rays of fluorescent light filtered through the heavy smoke inside Club Royal—one of the few places left in San Francisco where smoking was still allowed. What the fuck did we care? It wasn’t like we’d die of lung cancer. Hell, three quarters of the patrons were vampires who didn’t give a rat’s ass about health issues. Most of them were here to hook up for blood and sex. And a lot of them smoked. Personally, I’d never liked the taste of tobacco, but I didn’t mind the smoke.
Sweat dripped down my back as I strutted across the stage, my guitar secure in my hands. My fingers strummed the first chords, and Crazy resounded from my lips as if I were Steven Tyler himself. Everyone had expected Jail House Rock, but I wasn’t in the mood for Elvis. They’d all been prepared for it, but the quick song change had been quickly recognized by Lane, Cian, and Gage, and they were all able to keep up. I knew they would.
I once had the pleasure of jammin’ with both of those legendary artists—Tyler and Presley. Back in the days of Elvis, it was cool to have long side burns and short-cropped hair that flopped over my forehead whenever I bopped my head to the beat. All the women adored me back then. Don’t get me wrong, they still loved me, and I never had any problem in that area. Ever. I guess I did look a bit like the king of rock and roll whenever I donned the dark glasses and tugged up the collar of my black shirt with the sleeves rolled up the way the real Elvis used to do. And when I started gyrating my hips, every woman within viewing distance screamed as if they were having the orgasm of their lives.
These days, I still kept my hair short, but without the long side burns. People changed, and I was no exception. I still wore the dark shades, though. It was a necessity where I was concerned. Sun-scorched eyes were no fun, so I was always prepared. I’ve gotten caught out in the sunlight a few times—not long enough to do any damage—so I always liked to be prepared. But the shades were just the beginning. My leather jacket had recently been magically altered to protect me from the sun’s brutal rays, as well, thanks to a certain powerful witch I knew. Except that didn’t do much for my head or the lower portion of my body. It wasn’t the best protection, but it was good enough to keep my energy from being drained until I could get back inside.
Sunlight is a vampire’s kryptonite, rendering us helpless. If we stayed out
in it too long, it could kill us. It wouldn’t disintegrate us instantly like in the movies, but, if all your energy dissipated through your skin as if your pores were a sieve, you’d surely die. Though I didn’t know of any vamp who’d actually died from sun exposure. I did, however, know that it hurt like a son of a bitch to get caught out in it. And I heard it did nasty things to your organs if major dehydration occurred.
I belted out the last chorus and had the thought that Steven Tyler would have been proud. I glanced at Cian, and he swiped his hand across his throat, giving me the signal that it was break time.
“Thank you!” I shouted into the microphone. “Thank you very much,” I added in true Elvis fashion. Everyone loved it. “We’re the Lost Boys, and we’ll be right back after a short break.”
Moans and groans came from the crowd, and I glanced out into the audience, searching. A sigh of relief flowed through me as I saw those mesmerizing, beautiful cognac eyes, and almost black, long, wavy hair. Lily smiled up at me and waved as a tingle swept through my balls. I wanted to fuck her so badly. I’d waited to have her for the last few months, but she wouldn’t have it, and I wasn’t an asshole about it. Vampire women were usually so free with their bodies, but not Lily. I sort of liked that about her, even though my balls grew blue whenever I was around her.
She’d left me in such a hurry last night, I wasn’t sure she’d be here tonight. I wanted to dispense with the no-mingling-with-patrons-during-intermission rule and go to her, but my brothers were important to me. I respected them, and they respected me. It was usually too distracting and too difficult to pry some of the women away from us. We didn’t stray from our directives unless we were all in agreement. But Lily wasn’t their concern or business, and I wasn’t about to make it so. I just hoped she would still be sitting at that table when we returned to the stage.
“Hey, Elvis. What happened to Jail House Rock?” Lane asked me as we walked into the cool and spacious room behind the stage. The temperature in the room was always kept at around sixty degrees because when we got off the lighted stage, we needed to cool down.
Elvis was a nickname. One I’d never asked for, but the guys thought it would be a great stage name, and I went along with it. It never bothered me until recently. Mostly because Lily called me Press, or mostly Preston, my real name. I’d been born Preston Charles Knight. But I’d been Elvis for the past forty years or so when the four of us started performing together. Gage, Lane, and Cian were the other members of The Lost Boys. The name of the band had been Gage’s idea after he watched the movie in the eighties. No one protested, so it stuck.
Lane grabbed the bottle of whiskey—his way of cooling off—and took a long pull on it as he plopped down in one of the four recliners in the room that flanked each side of the pool table in the middle of the space.
I shrugged and headed for the fridge and grabbed a bottle of ice-cold water. After chugging the entire thing, I crunched the bottle to a flat disk and tossed it in the recycling bin.
“I wasn’t feeling the Elvis thing tonight.”
“Hey, no big deal,” Cian said, taking the bottle of whiskey from Lane.
“Hey!” Lane complained.
“You have to share, brother.” Cian poured two fingers into a few of the glasses that sat on the table then passed one to me before lowering himself into the black leather recliner set off to the right side of the room.
“He was sick the day they learned to share in kindergarten,” Gage joked.
Cian laughed and then added, “Sorry, Lane. I think Elvis needs the booze more than you do. So, El, what’s going on? Anything you want to talk about?”
I leaned against the wall and swallowed some of the golden liquid.
“It’s that sexy vamp he’s been seeing. Lily,” Gage supplied as he sat in one of the other chairs. “She won’t let him in her pants.”
I glared at Gage, wishing I could shoot fire daggers out of my eyes into his dead heart. I loved the guy, but sometimes he really knew how to get under my skin.
“You’re just jealous because that chick, Jillian, took off for New York, leaving your sorry ass.”
Gage flipped me off. “She had issues, man. Vanessa’s cousin or not, it wasn’t gonna work. She was in love with the idea of being in love. She wanted me to meet her fucking parents. Do I look like the kind of guy someone takes home to meet Mom and Dad?” he asked, shooting us all a wide-fanged grin. “I ended up putting her on a plane back to New York, but not before wiping her mind of me and everything that happened out here.”
“Good thing.” Cian nodded. “Someone like that could be detrimental to our well-being.”
“Why waste your time with a girl who’s holding out, Elvis? There’s plenty of other hot and willing pussy out there tonight, and they’re all waiting and wishing you’d strut your stuff all over theirs.” Lane chuckled at his own self-proclaimed clever wit. His hair hung loosely over his shoulders to the middle of his back. A few of the short front straggler strands stuck to his forehead, drenched with sweat. He lifted one of his black leather-clad legs and propped his large booted foot on the chair beside him. Lane was the epitome of rock and roll with his black silk shirt open to his navel, exposing his pale, muscled chest. We all had our roles to play.
Cian on the other hand, was more subdued in appearance. He kept his hair cropped short and his jeans tight but clean. For twins, they were like night and day.
I let out a short laugh and took another drink from the half-empty tumbler I held. Lane was right. But, unfortunately, none of the women attached to those pussies had gorgeous eyes the color of cognac, a soft, tantalizing voice, or the silky-smooth skin that Lily had. The woman did something to me. I hadn’t felt this way about a female in over . . . well, ever.
“He’s got it bad for the flower chick,” Gage said and ran his large hand through his long, blondish hair. Sweat beaded on Gage’s forehead, and he took a paper towel from the table and wiped it over his face. “Fuck, Cian. What’s wrong with the air conditioner? It’s like a fucking furnace on stage tonight.” Gage was a big guy. Bigger than the rest of us. Stronger, too. He’d recently taken to wearing black leather pants like Lane. I was surprised they made them that large. His hair was long too, though not as long as Lane’s. I was a comfort freak. I liked my leather, but only as my jacket. My comfort and freedom of movement were priorities, so my jeans were soft, well worn, and dark.
“I know. I’ll have Ari look into it,” Cian supplied and snatched his phone from his pocket before he tapped a button and stepped away—to talk to Ari, I assumed.
Gage and I had become close back in the early sixties. July fourth, seventeen sixty-three to be exact. I’d been a fairly new vampire back then, and Gage, well, he was older than dirt and helped me get through some lonely times. He hadn’t sired me. Though I wished he had. I’d been turned by a sex-starved vampire who thought it would be great to have a companion, but then left me without a friend in the world. I didn’t know any other vampires, and becoming friends with humans was out of the question since all I’d wanted to do back then was suck on their veins.
Gage had spotted me one night, sitting alone in a dark, dismal little tavern, my shirt and face still bloody from a recent feeding. I’d been down and out, lonely too, and had never bothered to clean up after I fed. When he’d asked if he could join me, I simply shrugged.
He’d sat down across from me and told me it wasn’t a good idea to walk around with my dinner still on my face and then inquired if I had a place to stay. I did, but I didn’t want to go back there, so he offered me his place to clean up. We’d been together ever since. Gage and I were as close as any two brothers could be, maybe even as close as Cian and Lane, and that was pretty damn close considering they’re twins.
“So, this Lily, does she live in the city?” Lane asked, bringing me out of my reverie.
I shook my head and headed toward the door without answering. Truth was, I had no idea where Lily lived, but I was anxious to see if she was still
out in the audience. When I walked on stage and glanced at the table where she’d been sitting, the chair was empty.
Chapter Four
Lily
I’d left Preston at the lighthouse last night fearing we’d go too far if I stayed. I enjoyed his affection too much. Though, as I sat here tonight, watching him on stage, I wished I’d stayed with him. All the females in the club were crazy about him. He was the sexiest and nicest man-turned-vampire I had ever encountered. Something about him had me completely awed. He was kind, sweet, and also a badass when it came to protecting what was his. Each time we met, it just kept getting harder and harder to deny the need to be touched by him.
I slipped out of the club while the band was on break. I hated that I hadn’t been able to get a message to Preston to tell him I needed to leave, but then I’d have to explain why. I couldn’t tell Preston about Dorian, the vampire I lived with—whom I was supposed to be in love with, or rather pretend.
But Dorian had some special social engagement tonight that I needed to attend with him, and so I needed to leave.
I’d managed to sneak away from my room—or prison cell as I liked to think of it—by telling Malik that I still needed to sell a few of the bags I’d been saddled with last night. Malik said he would cover for me, knowing how much trouble I’d be in if I didn’t get the full amount for the shipment.
When I left the bar and materialized back at Dorian’s complex, no one was the wiser. I had returned just in time, too, shucking my dark purple, hooded coat a mere moment before I heard Dorian approaching my room.
I quickly messed up the covers on the bed as I heard him enter and yawned when he walked in as though I’d been resting. Pretending and hiding my emotions was difficult but necessary. If I let my guard down, he’d know immediately that I had been gone. I knew I’d never be able to hide my feelings from him if Preston and I ever took our relationship to the next level. Dorian was a monster that dealt in horrific matters. Someone I never wanted Preston to come in contact with. If Dorian ever found out where I snuck off to, I’d risk Preston’s life, as well as the other members of the band—and Julian. That was the last thing I wanted to do.
Possessed by a Vampire Page 3
