COMBUST
Underground Encounters 7
Lisa Carlisle
Contents
COMBUST
Other Books by Lisa Carlisle
1. Nike
2. Maya
3. Nike
4. Maya
5. Nike
6. Maya
7. Nike
8. Maya
9. Nike
10. Maya
11. Nike
12. Maya
13. Nike
14. Maya
15. Nike
16. Nike
Epilogue
Author’s Note
Acknowledgments
About the Author
COMBUST
Underground Encounters 7
Lisa Carlisle
Caught between two worlds…
Nike has had a strange reaction after being attacked by a vampire. The symptoms are increasing, and the thirst for blood is too powerful to ignore. After attacking a woman she lured from an underground club, she hides from the world with her immortal lover, Michel.
However, her friend Maya seeks her out. And when Maya asks her to be her maid of honor, Nike must make a choice.
Which world does she belong in?
Weddings are stressful enough, but neither anticipates the danger that awaits…
Combust is the next fiery installment in the Underground Encounters series.
Step into Vamps and discover a thrilling new world of steamy paranormal romance featuring sexy shifters, thirsty vampires, passionate witches, and gorgeous gargoyles!
COMBUST
Copyright © 2018 by Lisa Carlisle
Edited by EV Proofreading
Cover by Willsin Rowe
The right of Lisa Carlisle to be identified as author of this Work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the publisher. You must not circulate this book in any format.
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To obtain permission to excerpt portions of the text, please contact the author at [email protected].
All characters in this book are fiction and figments of the author’s imagination.
Find out more about the author and upcoming books online at lisacarlislebooks.com, facebook.com/lisacarlisleauthor, or @lisacbooks.
Created with Vellum
Other Books by Lisa Carlisle
Underground Encounters series
Steamy paranormal romances set in a underground goth club that attracts vampires, witches, shifters, and gargoyles.
Smolder
Fire
Ignite
Burn
Heat
Blaze
Combust
Chateau Seductions
An art colony on a remote New England island lures creative types—and supernatural characters. Steamy paranormal romances.
Darkness Rising
Dark Velvet
Dark Muse
Dark Stranger
Dark Pursuit
Underground Encounters series
Gargoyle shifters, wolf shifters, and tree witches have divided the Isle of Stone after a great battle 25 years ago. One risk changes it all…
Knights of Stone: Mason
Knights of Stone: Lachlan
Knights of Stone: Bryce
Seth: a wolf shifter romance in the series
Knights of Stone: Calum
Stone Cursed (a Zodiac Shifters paranormal romance)
Knights of Stone: Gavin (coming soon)
Stone Sentries
Meet your perfect match the night of the super moon — or your perfect match for the night. A cop teams up with a gargoyle shifter when demons attack Boston.
Tempted by the Gargoyle
Enticed by the Gargoyle
Captivated by the Gargoyle (coming soon)
Night Eagle Operations
A paranormal romantic suspense novel
When Darkness Whispers
Vampire Blood Courtesans
A multiple author shared world series.
Pursued: Mia
Berkano Vampire Collection
A multiple author shared World Series.
Immortal Resistance (Division 3)
Visit LisaCarlisleBooks.com to learn more!
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www.lisacarlislebooks.com
Nike
“I can’t ever go back there.” Scooting back on our bed, I spread my arms to the side.
“Come now, Nike.” Michel sat beside me and put his hand on my knee.
No, it was more than just going to Vamps. I couldn’t trust myself going anywhere after what I had done. “You should keep me locked up here, so I don’t hurt anyone.”
It wouldn’t be too bad. We had a nice place. I’d moved all my treasured goods in, so I could entertain myself with B movies, eclectic music, and all sorts of books. Our home was tucked in a secluded corner of Boston’s North Shore, giving us privacy from neighbors. He’d been a vampire for centuries and knew how to exist among humans.
“It was a…situation,” he said. “We’ll deal with it.”
“The situation is—I attacked a woman. I bit her against her will and drank her blood. That’s more than a small snafu we can deal with. I should be prevented from hurting anyone again.”
The taste of Ally’s blood still made me want to moan in decadent pleasure as I relived the sensation of the warm flow over my tongue. That forbidden rush of something wrong that tasted exquisite.
“She’s fine,” Michel said. “And you will be, too. You’re tormenting yourself for doing what is in our nature. It’s as natural as a human eating food.”
“I’m still human. At least I think I am.” I flailed my hands up in exasperation. “I don’t know anymore. These freakin’ fangs that pop out and this damn thirst signal otherwise, but I haven’t burst into flames when I’ve gone out under the sun.”
Michel was a nightwalker—but it sounded like a classic vampire to me. Immortal, surviving on blood, and unable to venture into sunlight. But I wasn’t one. At least, I still didn’t think I was.
Yet, I seemed to be moving down this dark path more each day…
“Nike, you can’t hide from the world. I will be by your side until you feel more like yourself again.”
I fixed my stare on him. “That’s a big if. Will I ever?” With each passing day, I doubted I could ever go back to my old life—the one in which I was a firefighter, helping people rather than attacking them.
It had all started a couple of years ago when I was twenty-two, on a night that I’d gone to an underground club called Vamps with my friend Maya. She was also a firefighter, and we liked to unwind by dancing at the unconventional club. I’d spotted my rock-climbing gym crush there that night, who’d always left me t
ongue-tied. And we’d started to flirt.
Just when things had started getting exciting, Michel’s enemies had caught up to him—and I ended up a casualty in a nightwalker feud. After being bitten, I’d dealt with strange reactions that increased with time. The thirst for blood had been growing more difficult to ignore, overpowering my self-control and compelling me to do things I’d never dreamt. It left me feeling more lost every day. Not only was I losing control over my actions, but my identity. Once an independent woman, I was now trapped between two worlds and dependent on Michel. This couldn’t continue. Something had to change.
The ringing of the doorbell caught our attention.
Michel gave me a quizzical look, as if inquiring if I was expecting anyone.
I shrugged. “No idea.”
He stood. “I’ll be right back.”
As Michel headed to the front door, I leaned forward to listen better. I didn’t have Michel’s extraordinary senses, but they were enhanced since he’d given me some of his blood.
A woman’s voice grew louder as she approached.
Shit, it was Maya. I’d been avoiding her calls as I buried myself in this self-imposed isolation. I didn’t trust myself anymore. What if I attacked her as well? It was safer that I stayed far, far away.
Michel was trying to convince her this wasn’t a good time, but she sounded adamant.
“Don’t try to keep me from her. What are you afraid of, that I’ll find her a drained carcass because you couldn’t control yourself? I’m not leaving until I see that she is safe.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. Oh, how close she was to the truth. Only it wasn’t him attacking me…
Maya burst into my bedroom like an inferno, gesturing with wild arms and expressive features. Her blue eyes widened and she mouthed an O. “Oh, thank God, Nike. I thought… Never mind. You haven’t returned my calls, and I thought the worst.”
I slinked back to the headboard and pulled the comforter higher. It was ridiculous since down feathers wouldn’t protect anyone.
Michel flashed a wry grin and announced, “Maya’s here.”
She tossed her dark hair over her shoulders. “I had to come. I’ve left you like 900 messages and you haven’t called me back. What was I to think?” She raised an arm for emphasis.
I arched a brow. “From what I overheard, you thought Michel might have drained me of blood and left an empty carcass.”
She shooed my words with a dismissive wave. “Enough of that. I can see that’s not the case. When your best friend is living with a vampire, it’s a reasonable assumption.”
How about when your best friend is becoming more like a vampire?
She sat on the bed and I scooted a few inches to the side.
“Jeez, Louise, what’s up with you?” She scrunched her face in question. “Did I do something to piss you off?”
“No. I’m just having a difficult time right now.”
She narrowed her dark blue eyes. “Tell me?”
Shame flooded through me as destructive as lava flowing from a volcano.
With a groan, I confessed, “I did something terrible.” If there was anyone besides Michel whom I would trust with my secrets, it was Maya. I explained the situation. “The other night, I was overcome with a thirst for blood. I lured an innocent woman from Vamps to the beach, where I forcibly drank her blood. If I hadn’t been stopped by Danton and tossed into the ocean, I don’t know how it would’ve ended. Probably much worse.”
Maya leaned back. She glanced from me to Michel and back. He sat in a corner flipping through a business magazine, pretending not to listen. I knew he stuck around because I wouldn’t feel safe being left alone with Maya. When her gaze caught mine again, I glimpsed her wariness. After all, she was alone with a vampire and a pseudo-vampire. Not a wise move for anyone.
She studied me and asked, “And how are you feeling now?”
My eyes widened. “I’m not going to attack you, Maya.” At least, I hoped not. Well, Michel would make sure I didn’t do anything rash that I would regret.
“I know, I know.” She raised both hands, palms forward. “Just checking.”
“So, the reason you’ve been trying to reach me is to make sure I’m okay?” I asked.
“Yes. And I wanted to tell you something.”
I scanned her for signs. Good news, bad news? When her mouth spread into a jubilant smile, I had my answer.
“Tristan asked me to marry him!”
“Hot damn! That’s fantastic, Maya. I’m so happy for you!”
If there was ever an odd pairing of opposites attracting who’d found a way to lasting love, it was Maya and Tristan. She was exuberant and quirky, and he was introverted and aloof. They both had secrets, which might have helped them bond.
For a moment, I forgot about my cursed existence, as I was elated for them. “Do you have a date?”
“As soon as the snow melts. I’d like a garden wedding. I’m thinking a small gathering outside our house on the first day of spring.”
“Wow, that’s soon. I don’t know anyone who could pull together a wedding in a couple of months. And March can be tricky in New England.”
“True,” she said. “It could be beautiful and spring-like…or freezing with a freak snow storm. We should be okay with a heated tent. Plus, if I keep it small enough, we could easily move the reception indoors.”
After we gushed about how excited we were and contemplated all sorts of questions and ideas about her wedding, she said, “Actually, there’s something I came here to ask you.”
“Go for it,” I said.
“Would you be my maid of honor?”
Maya
What the hell was going on with Nike? She wasn’t a vampire. I hated seeing her all cooped up in her room like she was sick. She was only twenty-four. She should be out experiencing life, not hiding out with her vampire lover. Her auburn hair was pulled into a messy bun. Without the cat’s eye makeup she often wore to Vamps to accentuate her light eyes, she looked even younger, like she’d be carded for another decade.
And what was wrong with me? After what she’d revealed, I’d asked her to be my maid of honor. Jeesh.
She stared at me with a wary glint in her eye. “I don’t know if I can do that, Maya.”
True, it had sounded ridiculous to ask her to join my wedding party, but she was my best friend. If I was going to have a maid of honor, it would be Nike. We’d bonded over the years working at the firehouse and then going to Vamps whenever we’d had weekend nights off. And since we’d trusted each other with secrets that most people would never understand, we’d grown even closer. There had to be a way to work with her situation and make it happen. After all, she wasn’t the first supe to function in a human world.
“It’s not like you’ll be there alone. Michel will be there.” I turned to Michel. “Won’t you? We’ll have a nighttime wedding.”
I wasn’t crazy about this French vampire dude, but he and Nike seemed to be committed. It wasn’t as if Tristan and I were normal ourselves, after all. He was a witch who could see auras and I had an affinity with fire, which played a big part in choosing my career as a firefighter. But we were human, not the undead. And we were certainly not drinking blood.
Michel stared at me in that unblinking way that unnerved me and made me want to slap his pretty face, with his perfect Bradley Cooper hair and facial scruff.
“If Nike feels up to it, yes, I will gladly attend,” he replied. “And ensure that your guests will be safe.”
At least, he was cooperating. “Great. We could have someone like Danton there, as well. As backup.”
Danton was a bouncer at my fiancé’s nightclub, Vamps, and also a gargoyle shifter. Discovering that he shifted from a stone statue in the club had been quite the shock. How many times had I danced there, not knowing the stone eyes of the statues could see? It sounded a bit like supernatural Big Brother to me. But he was a good bouncer, wired to protect. And supes were more common in my world now, as Vamps
seemed to attract them like a pint of Ben & Jerry’s “The Tonight Dough” would lure me.
In the small world way—in which everyone is connected to everyone else—Tristan had bought the club from Michel. It had been damaged in a fire, and Michel and Nike had headed to Europe to seek answers about her mysterious reaction to the vampire attack. I’d met Tristan there, and since we moved in together, I’d taken over booking acts and running theme nights at Vamps.
Nike pulled her knees up to her chest, as if trying to disappear into the bed. “I don’t know what to do,” she said.
“Just come,” I insisted.
She fixed her eyes on me with a pointed stare. “What if I get crazy with bloodlust and lure one of your aunts to a shadowy nook where I have a little apéritif?”
I swallowed and forced away the unappetizing picture Nike had painted in exchange for a more celebratory wedding one. “That would be silly. I’m sure Tristan would want to have an open bar at the reception.”
Nike arched a brow. “You know what I mean.”
With a shoo of my hand, I replied, “Of course I do. But I’m not going to be worried if Michel and Danton are there.”
She pulled her gaze to Michel. “What do you think?”
“This decision is yours.”
“Do you think it will be safe?”
Michel ran his hands through his hair and fixed his stare on her. “I don’t know. I’m as mystified about the situation as you are.”
Combust: a vampire and firefighter paranormal romance (Underground Encounters Book 7) Page 1
