Mary’s Virgin: Vampire Romance

by Iva Britt

  Rory watched the news from the huge television in her and Michael’s living room. It still seemed weird to call the lavish penthouse her own, but he had assured her that it was her home. Rory still couldn’t believe the strange road that fate had thrown her down and neither did her parents. When she told them she’d met the billionaire while out for a run, they didn’t believe her until Michael got on the phone and told them himself. It was a much more believable story than being the chosen savior of Earth and her alien companion.

  Michael had gone back to working in the office building below the penthouse and Rory had gone back to being his assistant. Most of the time, she helped him decide how many charitable events were too many to attend and helped him fix his superhero costume if it got ripped or torn. Lately the job description had changed to joining him stop robbers, vandals and assaults. The news had caught wind of it and now they were running with this whole justice league thing. She thought of her old co-worker, Max, and wondered what his theories were this time.

  She was now a week into her semester at Columbia University and although it was harder than she imagined, she was so happy to be there at all. She hadn’t declared her major yet, but she was almost certain that she was going to choose counseling. In fact if there was a way that she could help girls like her get on their feet when they ran to New York to chase their dreams, she would do it in a heartbeat. By the time she graduated, she would figure out a way to help young people find a job and have hope after the city inevitably kicked their asses. She knew that Michael would be there to help. It would be a charitable donation he was most interested in.

  Their hunch about Michael no longer being ageless had also been correct. They were visited by one of his kind shortly after the Dark Society from Nebula Six had been vanquished. “You were one of our best soldiers,” he told Michael. “This version of yourself will be the final version of yourself.”

  Michael clasped Rory’s hand tightly. “It will be good to slow down,” he said brightly. “I’ve finally got everything I need.

  So Rory’s life became a strange routine. She’d wake up and go to her classes, she’d come home and have dinner with the love of her life and then he’d share his memories of their past lives. Of the people they were and family they’d had. Rory would stare in wonder when she would look up her previous life’s offspring and they were real tangible people. She almost felt sad because she had all these strains of family that were all completely unaware that their parents, grandparents and so forth had been reborn again. Even if she reached out those that were still alive, would they believe her?

  “We will have a family again,” Michael told her on a day that she cried as she realized one of her former children had lived just blocks from her old apartment. “I’m sure of it, and this time you will get to watch them grow without the threat of the enemy hanging over your head.”

  “I’m sorry that I’m so emotional about all of this it’s just so strange,” Rory replied. “I spent the last five years of my life thinking that I was utterly alone and here I am a mother already. If I had known that maybe I would have stopped feeling sorry for myself.”

  It was at that moment that Michael asked her, “Do you want to see something amazing?” Before she could say no, he was taking her by jet back to England and guiding her to a place that was bustling town. He guided her to a spot in the middle of the town. It reminded her of an old village the way all the shops were all surrounding a small town square. “This. This right here is where I met you for the very first time all those many years ago.”

  At that moment, Rory could feel it too. They had a history that so many other people would die for. She had more children and grandchildren than most. Michael had brought so much into her life that it made fighting the enemy worth it.

  So as she listened to the television call her and her beloved New York’s Justice League, she couldn’t get mad. It was like Michael had said. Earth was a simple unaware planet. They had no idea how many sacrifices she and Michael had to make to protect it. How many times they were separated and found each other again. Now they were finally free.

  She grabbed her backpack and headed to the elevator. When she got to the eleventh floor the doors opened and he stood beside her.

  “Off to school?” he asked.

  She nodded, “I’ll be in sociology until three.”

  Michael leaned over and kissed her hair. “I’ll be waiting for you.” He reminded.

  “I know. You keep on changing the world.”

  He smiled at her warmly. “You as well.”

  The elevator opened on the lobby floor and the pair went their separate ways. Michael went to speak with receptionist about greeting a new client when he arrived later in the day and the other went out the door and into the sun to wait for the bus. She wondered if her true identity was now as obvious as Michael’s had been that day and if people asked who she was what she would tell them.

  “I am the savior of Earth.” She would tell them triumphantly. “I am a hero.” Then she shook her head as the bus arrived and she climbed on. This world was already too obsessed with superheroes and comic books, and she didn’t know if they could handle the truth. After all, the truth was often worse than fiction.

  THE END

  Bonus 16 of 30

  Wild and Free

  Description

  Julie never imagined that life in New York City would be so difficult. She had such big dreams when she arrived from out West. She would have it all: success, a loving husband, beautiful children. She would be looked up to by her peers. But things haven’t quite turned out like that. Yet despite the setbacks, after five years of living in the city, she is finally on the cusp of a major career breakthrough. And her relationship also seems like it is moving closer and closer to marriage.

  Little does she know that a storm is brewing. Within twenty-four hours, her entire life will be upended and she will be left in a state of despair.

  But that's when a certain sexy, tall, blonde, green-eyed professional quarterback gallops into her life. The way he looks at her, the way he smiles, the way he licks his lips, it all drives her wild with desire.

  Is this the man she's been waiting for? Is he the one that will sweep her off her feet and away from her safe, dull life and introduce her to pleasure, danger, and adventure?

  Yes! Yes! Yes!

  Chapter 1

  Trent stretched his arms high into the air and grimaced. The season had ended a couple weeks ago. He was slowly recovering from all the hits he’d taken throughout the year. But every muscle in his body still felt sore. No matter how banged up he got, he never complained, never asked to be rested. That’s not what quarterbacks did.

  “I’m glad you finally got your head out of your ass,” Glenn said. “There’s only so long that you can play the field.”

  “Is that right?” Trent said skeptically.

  As the wedding drew closer, he could feel his entire body filling with doubts. Was he really making the right decision? Was he doing this for the right reasons? Those were the questions that had swirled around his head for the last several days, weeks, months.

  So many people had pushed him into it, at least that's how he felt at the time. Everyone in his life had said that getting married would be the best thing for his career and for his life outside of football. It was time to settle down. That's what they’d said. Time to finally grow up, leave his bad boy, playboy ways behind. He was sick of hearing it.

  “Listen, I'm not going to lie to you,” Glen said.

  Trent frowned and groaned. He hated when people said things like that. In his experience, “I'm not going to lie to you,” was always followed by a lie.

  “Don't give me that look,” Glenn said. “It’s not like you’re going to jail or anything. You're getting married to a beautiful…” Glenn's voice trailed off and he turned his eyes away.

  A wry smile formed on Trent's lips. Yeah, he's not sure what she is either, he thought. Every week it seemed like she wa
s launching herself into some new creative career: modeling, acting, photography, dance. She’d dabbled in all of them, flitting her wings from one project to the next, leaving all of them half finished, quickly losing her enthusiasm once she realized how hard she would have to work. That's how it had always been with her. Hard work, sacrifice, dedication, and commitment just weren't in her blood.

  She’d been spoiled, too damn spoiled, all her life. Parents, boyfriends, sugar daddies, everyone seemed to beg and bow before her. It was hard to blame them. There was something about the way she carried herself, head held high, long blonde hair flowing down her back, emerald green eyes, confident, imperious, alluring. She was a stunner. No question about that. The kind of woman that oozed sexual energy, especially those eyes and those full, pulpy lips. For all of her flaws, and they were certainly legion, Trent had to admit that he still found her incredibly sexy. Whenever he thought about calling off the marriage and moving on with his life, the image of her large pink nippled tits spilling out of her lingerie, as she sauntered around the house in the a.m., surged into his mind.

  Could she even be trusted to cook, clean and maintain the fort while he was at practice, working his ass off, grinding to the bone, either on the field or in the film room? Nope. It didn't take long for Trent to figure out that there was no way that he'd ever be able to trust her to do those basic traditional wifely duties.

  His mother and grandmother had both been strong-willed women who weren't afraid to speak their minds. Neither one would hesitate to put a man in his proper place if he dared step out of line. But despite their strong wills, they never raised any objection to fulfilling a woman’s more traditional role when that was called for.

  “She's out of town,” Trent said. “Another acting role.”

  There was a tinge, or maybe even a little bit more than a tinge, of bitterness and sarcasm in Trent's voice.

  It wasn't that he wanted to control her, make her submit to his will, stay in the house all day baking cookies. Nope, he wasn't that sort of guy –jealous, weak, and insecure, constantly worrying about where his woman was and what she was doing. He didn't have any problem giving her the space she needed to be herself. He just wished that there was a bit more balance in her.

  He wished that she was one of those women who took pride in how well they performed duties around the house, as well as their career ambitions and accomplishments. He’d hope that the prospect of marriage and starting a family would help Pamela slow down her fast Lane lifestyle, just a little bit. If she did, then it would make it easier for him to finally break away from his own wild, over the top ways. Everything he did made the news, the blogs, the podcasts, trended on twitter, and became a hot topic on everyone's burning tongue. He’d always loved the attention, the fame, the adoration, and of course the girls. Girls, girls, girls. They were always around, always offering, tempting, promising so much with their lust filled eyes.

  “I saw the last movie she was in,” Glen said, looking up and away from Trent's piercing eyes as if he were searching for an answer on the ceiling. “What was it called…you know the one I'm talking about.”

  Trent couldn't remember the name of the film either. There was nothing memorable about it, absolutely nothing, except for how amateurish the whole thing seemed. He couldn't remember the name, nobody could, but he had no problem remembering how enthusiastic Pamela had been when she came home with the reel. She wasn't onscreen along, barely had two lines of dialogue, but the director had made sure that she would be half-naked for the duration of the cameo.

  Trent was past the point where he would bother to get angry or annoyed about that kind of stuff. He’d always known that she had a touch of sluttiness in her. He knew that from the moment he laid eyes on her. He could see it in the way she moved her hips, could hear it in her sultry southern voice. He couldn't help himself. He'd always been attracted to those types of women. The wrong types. That's what his mother had always told him. He loved his mother but never spent much time listening to her dating advice.

  He'd always been attracted to women who vibrated with a wild, unbridled feminine energy, the type of woman who would scream, kick, hurl objects and insults, and then fuck your brains out. It was common knowledge: crazy women had the best pussy. And that's why they could get away with unpredictable, erratic behavior. They were the kind of women that men would try to break away from, only to be dragged back between their magical thighs by the undeniable power of the pussy. They were the worst and the best. They were the bane of his existence. They were also the only type of women that seem capable of holding his attention.

  “I don’t remember what it was called either,” Trent said. “But don't worry about it. By this time, she's probably forgotten the name too.”

  “Trent, you’re becoming a little too cynical,” Glen said. “That’s not good for your image I'm afraid. The fans want you to smile and succeed. No sweat on the brow. Cool as ice. That's what they want. The fans and the sponsors.”

  That word sponsors always got a rise out of Trent. He didn't need the fucking money. Not one dime of it. He hated all that image stuff. He was sick of having to worry about his image. He just wanted to be free.

  He could feel the desire for a road trip welling up inside. Maybe he needed to get out on the open road. He was sick of having to walk around on eggshells, like the next wild stunt he pulled would bring his whole career crashing down, even though that was certainly a possibility. He couldn’t continue getting into trouble and relying on other people to drag him to safety. He'd already done that one time too many.

  “You guys are going to be a power couple,” Glen said. “I'm sure of that.”

  Trent was relieved when the meeting with his agent was finally over. Everyone in his life seemed to be saying the same thing. There was only so much that he was going to be able to tolerate.

  He spent the rest of the day at the practice facility, attending team meetings and watching a ton of film for the next game.

  He hadn’t heard from Pamela all day. He’d sent her several texts and hadn’t yet received a response. Not a word. It shouldn't have bothered him, at least that's what he tried to tell himself. But it wasn't true. All throughout the film session, he’d been checking his phone, expecting to hear from her at any moment. He was her freaking fiancé. Maybe he was getting a bit of his own medicine. Over the years, he hadn’t been the nicest in his dealings with women, ignoring them, getting on with his hectic, hedonistic life, pretending as if they didn't exist, until of course he needed something, wanted something from them again. When Trent got home that night, his two pit bulls greeted him enthusiastically, barking, wagging their tails frantically, and jumping up on him.

  He smiled and petted them. He didn't know what he would do if those dogs weren’t in his life. Their love, their enthusiasm, their dedication, their commitment was unconditional. They would never betray him. That was foreign to their nature. They were the exact opposite of the women that he constantly found himself entangled with.

  Trent pumped his fists in the air. He still had his strength, his mojo, his fighting, warrior spirit.

  Actually, he'd already started doing that, investing in real estate in the Southwest. This was another source of tension between him and Pamela. He would have preferred that she limit her modeling and acting and focus on growing his business. But she didn't have the discipline to sit down and work all day.

  After struggling in his first few years in the league, most people had given up on the notion that he would ever be successful. So many people had ridden his coattails for so long, kept their hands out and their mouths open, always willing to receive something.

  Trent didn't know where his career was going. He had no idea. Just a couple of years ago everything had seemed so clear to him. He was going to be a top draft pick. Number one overall. He was going to be the star of that night at Radio Music Hall in the heart of Manhattan. His 6 foot five, muscular frame, and perfectly tailored suit, caught all the eyes.


  There was an energy, a charisma that just seemed to emanate from him. He was the type of guy that made women swoon and made men red in the face with jealousy and envy.

  That's who he was. The big man on campus. He'd always been that. It was his daddy, Big Daddy Daniels, oil tycoon, billionaire, mogul, who had given him that confidence and swagger. And unfortunately, for Johnny, his daddy had also passed on a few vices as well. Drinking and women. And on some occasions he would mix and mingle with some harder stuff.

  In college, he’d been able to cover it up. He’d been able to get by on talent alone. He wouldn’t think twice about staying out all night the day before a big game. And there was no bigger game than the one against Alabama. He was up till four in the morning, woke up a few hours before the game with two naked women laying in his bed, their legs and arms intertwined with his. The room reeked of cigarettes, and sweaty, stinky, hot breath sex. There was an ashtray full of butts. The floor was covered with bottles of vodka, whiskey, beer, wine. And they were all empty. Every single one of them. That's how he'd always wanted to do it. Do it in style, his way. Once he’d shaken off the hangover and few bad throws in the first half, he went on to throw three touchdowns and lead his team on a last-minute 95-yard touchdown drive.

  That was the day that cemented his legacy. He would never be forgotten in Texas. Never. It was also the day that he locked up the Heisman Trophy.

  But now he couldn't help feeling that he’d squandered so much. He’d wasted his time and his talent, two things that he would never get back. He’d become a joke, a laughingstock, the biggest bust in the history of the NFL. Ryan leaf. JaMarcus Russell. He made those guys look like overachievers.

  He couldn’t stand sitting on his couch, nervously flipping through the channels, afraid that he may end up hearing more scathing, mocking criticism.