by Alice Brown
Up in Flames
Texas Vampire Rangers [1]
Alice Brown
JK Publishing, Inc. (2014)
* * *
Tags: Fiction, Paranormal, Romance, Vampire, Erotic
Warning: For Mature Adult Audiences. Contains language and actions some may deem offensive. MF
In book one of the Texas Vampire Rangers: The law enforcement agency of the Texas Rangers is made up almost entirely of vampires, something the public knows nothing about. Well, at least not yet, but they could soon if the Rangers don't apprehend an out-of-control rogue vampire who has been on a killing spree for two years, leaving a lengthening trail of young dead women.
Meredith was in the wrong place at the wrong time when she witnessed an attack on a young woman. The assailant wants to tie up loose ends, and has hunted her ever since. When she feels she has no options left, she turns her trust over to a man who has taken an oath to protect.
Ranger Lucas Calloway was left for dead, and looking back on his life he wouldn't have changed a thing, except for one—he would have loved to have found his mate before he left this earth. No one is more shocked than him when he not only wakes in a hospital, but finds himself looking into the eyes of his mate.
Meredith and Lucas barely have time to acknowledge they are mates before the game changes. The rogues have found her, yet again, and a leak in the Ranger unit has the potential to not only crush the tight knit family, but bury them—literally.
Join the Vampire Rangers as they use their strength, and added senses to strive to right the wrongs. With the ability to live forever, time is always on their side.
Up In Flames
Texas Vampire Rangers
Book One
By Alice Brown
© Copyright April 2014JK Publishing, Inc.
ISBN#9781311560414
All cover art and logo © Copyright April 2014 by JK Publishing, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Edited by Kimberly Morgan
Artwork by Jess Buffett
Published by JK Publishing, Inc.
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Dedication
To my fans who have stuck by me since the beginning, thank you. I would have never pushed my way through the hardships if it wasn’t for you. I love hearing from you, and hope you will continue.
To my beta reader and friend, Heather—thank you for listening to me gripe when I get cranky. And thank you for being willing to help when I run into a problem area. I treasure our friendship, you are truly one of a kind!
To my editor, Kimberly, this book would have never made it without your help. Thank you for everything that you do! I know you say it’s nothing, but it means more to me than you realize. I love having someone I can trust to steer me in the right direction when the waters get murky. And a huge thank you for “applying your magic touch” to the story and smoothing things out, making it flow so much better than it started off as.
And a special thanks to Michelle. You do so much behind the scenes, that I feel you are not thanked often enough. You and Jana offered a helping hand when I was at my lowest, for which I will be forever grateful. Thank you for everything you do!
Table of Contents
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Epilogue
Books by Alice Brown
Excerpt from Sapphamire
JK Publishing, Inc.
Prologue
Eighteen months ago…
Meredith checked her makeup one last time in the mirror and tugged on her skirt. Even though it came to mid-thigh, it still felt too short. She ran her fingers through her hair and sighed as she turned off the light. It was time.
She had just passed her nursing exam, along with everyone else in her class. A group of girls she’d had lunch with a few times invited her to go out with them this evening. Even though they were going to a bar, and she had never been much of a drinker, she still agreed just for something to do. Besides, she deserved to celebrate a bit. That test had been hard, and she had aced it with a ninety-seven point two. She wanted just one night out to have some fun before starting her job search in the morning.
As she climbed into the cab, she smiled to herself. Her life was coming together. She had been worried about living on her own when she decided to go to nursing school. Although it seemed she had struggled all her life to fit in, she had been pleasantly surprised to find, if not friendship, then camaraderie with her fellow students. And she liked her little apartment. A shoebox was a better description, but she didn’t need a lot of space. She preferred to use the term “cozy” when referring to her place.
The cab stopped in front of the bar and she could hear the music from inside the car even with the windows rolled up. She’d be lucky if she didn’t have a migraine by the end of the night. But she had promised the girls she would be there, so she paid the driver the fare and stepped out of the cab.
Opening the door to the bar was like being hit with a Mack truck. The music would only have been obnoxiously loud to the normal individual, but to her sensitive ears, it was downright painful.<
br />
Plastering a smile on her face, she forced her legs to carry her over the threshold. Once inside, she spotted her classmates immediately and headed over to the table. On her way she spotted her lab partner, Cindy, on the dance floor with a tall cowboy.
Every step she took, her head pounded unmercifully. By the time she reached the table, she knew she had to leave, quickly. Her head pounded in rhythm with the bass that was so loud it was shaking the furniture. No, she couldn’t stay. There was no way her head was going to stay on her shoulders if she didn’t get out of the loud, noise-filled room.
“Hey, guys, I know I said I would come and celebrate with you, but I can’t stay. I’m sorry, I’ve got a massive headache coming on, and this music isn’t helping.”
“Well look at you, girlie. All dressed up. You sure you’ve got a headache, or a hot date?” Shirley inquired from the next chair over.
“No, I really was going to try to stick it out, but the headache is doing nothing but getting worse, and I’ve got to go lay down.”
She didn’t even wait to see whether anyone else would say anything about her leaving. She just turned around and walked right back out the door she had just entered through not three minutes ago.
Once outside, she sighed deeply. Her ears were still ringing, but at least the pounding in her skull had dulled a little. Her feet carried her away from the sound, walking without a conscious decision. Before she knew it, she was halfway home. As she walked past a small park, a noise to her right caught her attention. When she looked around, she spotted what looked like a man holding a struggling woman. Meredith hid behind a tree, watching, trying to decide whether to attempt to stop the man herself, or call 911.
Then she saw what was really going on, and knew she would have nightmares over it for the foreseeable future. The woman looked battered and bruised. The man had been holding her from behind. When he lifted his head, his fangs were clearly visible. His fangs! He had been feeding on her! She spotted a large knife in the hand he wasn’t using to hold her with. Before Meredith could utter a sound, the man slit the woman’s throat from ear to ear, letting her body drop, then fleeing the scene.
Meredith took off running toward the woman, even though she knew it was too late to save her. She faced a different dilemma. She had just witnessed a woman being killed by a vampire, and remembered seeing a newspaper article recently about the gruesome discoveries of several murdered young women in the area over the past weeks. Now she knew at least this young woman had been murdered by a vampire, she wondered if the rest of the young women had died by the same set of hands. The problem was the general public didn’t know about vampires. So what was she going to do?
After considering her options for a moment, she decided to place a quick call to the police, just saying that she was walking home and had stumbled upon the body. Yes, that way the police could do their job, and hopefully not start an all-out witch hunt because women were being murdered by a vampire. Or vampires—for all she knew maybe there was a group of them.
She called 911 and briefly reported her discovery, then headed home, walking fast then breaking out into a run. She knew the police wanted her to stay so they could take her statement, but really, what would she say? She couldn’t tell the awful truth. The police would either think she was drunk or had lost her marbles. Vampires? Really, in the heart of Texas? Not likely. The last thing she needed was to have people think she was crazy just as she was starting her job search.
She ran all the way home, her headache long forgotten. When she reached her front door, she fumbled with the lock for a moment and then staggered inside. Her phone began ringing as soon as she shut the door. She answered it, a bit out of breath. “Hello?”
“Hello, Meredith. I know you saw me tonight. We need to meet. I always tie up my loose ends.”
“Oh, God, he’s going to kill me!” Meredith wailed to the silent room as she threw the phone as if it had burned her hand. She fell to her knees, unable to stand any longer. What was she going to do now?
Suddenly, scenes started playing in her head. That it was her in the woman’s place. Her body being dropped lifelessly to the ground after being drained of all her blood. From the torn clothing on the woman, it looked like her attacker had abused her before he drained her. As these scenes played over and over in her head, it became difficult to even breathe. Meredith crawled on her hands and knees into her bedroom and over to her small closet. Reaching up and yanking a handful of clothes off the hangers, she pulled them over her as she shut the door and curled up in a little ball. Yes, this was her safety spot. The same spot she’d had when she was a kid and became frightened. She was safe. She was safe. She said her mantra over and over until her tears stopped and her breathing finally became closer to normal. She gently rocked herself on the cold closet floor. Nothing could reach her. She was safe.
It was going to be a long night.
*****
Lucas looked down at the body in front of him and shook his head. He hated rogues. They gave all of his kind a bad name, and he was sick of it. This made number eight. Eight women found dead after having been raped. Eight women who had been drained of every ounce of blood in their bodies.
The one in front of him wasn’t that much different than the others. All of them had been in their early-to-mid-twenties. The killer or killers evidently took a liking to blondes, since seven of the deceased had blonde hair, including this one; but number four had been a redhead.
It seemed they were always one step behind, no matter what they did or how hard they tried to catch these bastards. Lucas wanted justice. He was sick of going to the families of these young women and breaking the news that their daughters or wives would not be returning home. He wanted closure. He wanted closure for the victims, their families, and the team. They had been working this case non-stop, trying to keep it under wraps so as to not raise suspicions with the humans. However, it was only a matter of time. If his team didn’t find and stop these rogues quickly, it could very well jeopardize all of them.
Chapter One
He was a dead man. Okay, technically, many would say he was already dead because he was a vampire, but he didn’t believe that for a moment. He was made up of flesh and blood, just like everyone else. He had feelings. He had morals and values. He had goals in life. Goals he wouldn’t live long enough to reach if he didn’t get out of this damn blasted Texas sun and heat.
Lucas Nate Calloway was a Texas Ranger, and a damn good one at that. Most of the Rangers were vampires these days, a change the human population knew nothing about. Unfortunately, he had been ambushed by a group of rogues and left to die a slow, painful death, tied down with reinforced steel ties that even a vampire had little hope of breaking. It didn’t matter anyway; once the sun started baking him, he lost his strength. Now, after being out in the hot Texas sun for three solid days, he knew he wouldn’t last much longer.
His team would be out looking for him. They would have realized something had gone wrong within thirty minutes of the ambush. All team members were required to report in every half hour while on assignment. The problem was he had veered off-course when he caught their scent, and hadn’t had the chance to report his new position before the ambush. Then, the rogues decided to make sure he wasn’t found. They tied him to the back of his own horse and dragged him for miles and miles before dumping him, chaining him, and leaving him for dead.
He closed his eyes, hoping the end would hurry up and come. The pain radiating through his body was more than he could bear.
*****
Lucas dragged himself back to consciousness. Even before he opened his eyes, he heard machines beeping beside him, and smelled hospital disinfectant. Did that mean he had made it? He certainly didn’t feel dead. He cracked open one eye and instantly wished he hadn’t, as shards of ice pierced his skull.
“Well, glad to see you decided to join us.” His mentor, boss, and friend stated from beside him. “Had us worried there for a bit. Next time you decide y
ou want some personal attention, you just let me know. No need to go through all the dramatics to get it.”
“Ha-ha. Fuck you, Walt. What are you doing here?” Lucas asked through clenched teeth as he attempted to figure out why his head hurt so damn bad.
“Well, it seems you scared the shit out of half our team when they couldn’t find you. Then, I get a call while out in California visiting with Sissy’s family that they had found you, but that you were on death’s doormat, like something the cat brought home but had too much pride to bring in.” He stopped and stared at the one vampire who had always seemed unflappable. There wasn’t anything Lucas couldn’t do. And Walter had yet to see the man lose his temper or let anything get to him. Yes, Lucas Nate Calloway was one of the most level-headed individuals he had ever known. So what in the world had happened to put his friend so close to death’s door? “Do you remember anything?”
“Yeah, I do.” Just that little bit had cost him. His head felt like a bass drum was pounding some incomprehensible rhythm inside. “Damn, I never knew we could get headaches. I feel like I went out on an all-night binge.”
“Ah, you are probably still running low on blood. I’ll be right back.” Walter went to stick his head out the door, to alert someone that Lucas was awake and in need of blood. Then he walked back and sat down.
Dr. Weathers walked into the room a moment later. “Hi, Lucas. How are you feeling?”
“Other than my head is about to split in two, I’m fine,” Lucas stated softly with his eyes still shut.
