Greater Vampires
Trudie Collins
Copyright © 2017 Trudie Collins
All rights reserved.
Also by Trudie Collins
Diary of a journey through Hell
Diary of a journey through Hell
Diary of a Journey Through Hell - Kris's Story
Tor's Quest
The Guide
The Maze
The Bard
The Pendant
The Assassin
The Beginning
Vampire Hunters
Vampire Hunters
Greater Vampires
Standalone
Kwin
Soul Eaters
The Tor's Quest Saga
Fox Among the Demons
Sentinel
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Also By Trudie Collins
DEDICATION
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am with her on this one
The eye candy has improved I see
I was one of the hostages
Get Doc here, now
If I was human this wouldn’t have happened
I have to leave
I won’t let anything happen to her
Why can’t I control her
That is a vampire bite
Then ask for forgiveness not permission
Why isn’t Anna dead
Go away Sarah
Thank you for beating some sense into me
He talked you into it I see
I have been suspended from duty
I can’t just forgive and forget
I’ve left her
Don’t even think about it
Kiss me the way you kiss your husband
Gabriel killed JD
Should we operate
Possessive, isn’t he
We may have a problem
She can’t be controlled
There is always a choice
I’d let him suffer
We will only use him as a last resort
Guilty
I can make him do anything I want
Are you having an affair
You should have told them
That goes beyond evil
Does she know what she is letting herself in for
You can’t make me do this
I wasn’t in control
I really hope you are joking
Are you seriously trying to kill me
I have given up hope
That’s inhuman
She deserves to die
It’s too late for that
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Also By Trudie Collins
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to Laurence O’Bryan and all members of the BooksGoSocial Facebook group. Thank you for your advice and encouragement.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you to Pete, Julie, Wendy, Terry and Tony for their feedback
Chapter Summary
I am with her on this one
The eye candy has improved I see
I was one of the hostages
Get Doc here, now
If I was human this wouldn’t have happened
I have to leave
I won’t let anything happen to her
Why can’t I control her?
That is a vampire bite
Then ask for forgiveness not permission
Why isn’t Anna dead?
Go away Sarah
Thank you for beating some sense into me
He talked you into it I see
I have been suspended from duty
I can’t just forgive and forget
I’ve left her
Don’t even think about it
Kiss me the way you kiss your husband
Gabriel killed JD
Should we operate?
Posessive, isn’t he
We may have a problem
She can’t be controlled
There is always a choice
I’d let him suffer
We will only use him as a last resort
Guilty
I can make him do anything I want
Are you having an affair?
You should have told them
That goes beyond evil
Does she know what she is letting herself in for?
You can’t make me do this
I wasn’t in control
I really hope you are joking
Are you seriously trying to kill me?
I have given up hope
That’s inhuman
She deserves to die
It’s too late for that
I am with her on this one
“This isn’t normal,” JD said as he held back Sarah’s long blonde hair so she could vomit down the toilet again.
He waited until she had finished, then handed her a bottle of water. She took a mouthful, swilled it around, then spat it out. Experience had taught her not to swallow it as she would just bring it up again.
“Yes it is,” she said as she sat back into his waiting arms. “I’ve spoken to both Doc and Silvia. It’s just morning sickness. I should count myself lucky. At least I’m only sick in the mornings. Silvia was ill all day and all night for nearly the entire nine months.”
“That’s not going to stop me worrying.”
“I know.” She stood up and walked into the bedroom. “I’m going back to bed.”
JD watched his wife pull the covers over herself then sat down on the bed beside her. “Do you want me to get you anything?”
She shook her head. “I’m going to try to go back to sleep. I’ll eat something later.”
“Make sure you do,” he said then kissed her forehead. “I’ll check up on you in a few hours.”
Her eyes were closed before he left the room.
JD went straight to the dining room, where most of the other occupants of Sanctuary 14 were already eating breakfast.
“Sarah throwing up again?” Katie asked when she spotted him.
“Unfortunately. I’m getting worried about her.”
“Don’t be. Take her some dry biscuits later. I found they were the only thing I could keep down in the mornings for a few weeks.”
“I will, thanks,” JD said as he took the seat next to his sister-in-law. He wasn’t in the mood for eating and, as a vampire, he had no need to, so he just poured himself a cup of coffee.
While he drank, he looked around the table. Katie was seated next to her husband, Jonathon. Her long dark hair was, for once, hanging loose. Usually it was tied back, especially when she went on a hunt, and JD couldn’t help thinking she looked a lot better with it down.
Jonathon, JD’s younger brother, was in a heated discussion with Craig, Sarah’s best friend, about the advantages of being married. Natalie, Craig’s girlfriend, had recently given up her room and moved into Craig’s and Jonathon was doing his best to convince him that he should consider popping the question.
“We just aren’t ready for that yet,” Craig said and Natalie backed him up. “As far as I’m concerned, marriage is a serious commitment and is for life. It’s not something to rush into. Natalie and I haven’t been together long enough to make that sort of decision.”
“You’ve been together longer than Katie and I were,” Jonathon pointed out.
“That’s different. You two knew each other since you were born. You grew up together. You trained together. You hunted together. You knew each other better than most couples.”
“Yet she still agreed to marry him,” Scott said. Scott, son of Doc and Silvia, was the youngest resident at Sanctuary 14. He was studying medicin
e at university, but never let his studies get in the way of his other life as a vampire hunter.
The only other person in the room was Jane. Jane had been dating another of 14’s hunters and they decided to move in together just before he was killed. She went ahead with the move and was now a valued member of the hunting team.
“He must have drugged her,” she said. “It’s the only possible explanation, especially given his reputation.”
Before settling down with Katie, Jonathon was a player. He had more women than hot dinners, as JD once put it, but stopped sleeping around when he became serious about Katie. He was a remarkably attractive man, and he knew it, but he had stopped flaunting the fact. He was happy with Katie and he no longer had any interest in what any other woman thought of him.
“You’re just jealous,” Jonathon said. Then he realised what he had said. He had meant to just tease her by saying she was interested in him, but the look on her face told him that she had taken the comment the wrong way. She still mourned Simon and was jealous that others were in serious relationships with the loves of their lives while she had lost hers.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—” he started to say, but she cut him off.
“I know. It’s alright.” She stood up and left the room. JD waited until she had closed the door before addressing his brother.
“You need to start thinking before you open your mouth,” he said.
“That will be a first,” Craig said, earning himself a glare from JD.
“It never even occurred to me she would misunderstand,” Jonathon said.
“Normally she wouldn’t, but it’s coming up to the anniversary. We all need to be a little more sensitive around her right now.”
Everyone was aware of the date; they did not need reminding. None of them would ever forget what happened that night. Christina, Natalie’s sister, had set them up. She sent them into an ambush. The vampires vastly outnumbered them and it was a miracle that only one of them died. Katie had been severely injured and lost Jonathon’s baby as a result, but nobody else had received any serious injuries. The fact that JD had hunted Christina down and killed her was common knowledge in the vampire hunter society, but nobody ever spoke about it. JD had not enjoyed doing it, but it was something that had to be done.
“You should eat,” Natalie said to JD.
“I’m not hungry. Watching someone vomit tends to put you off eating.”
“Do you need blood?” Jonathon asked, but JD shook his head. His hunting team took it in turns to supply him with the blood he needed to survive, though he drank from Sarah most often. She was the only one he would bite in the neck. It felt too personal to do it with anyone else.
Since she had told him she was pregnant, JD had refused to take any blood from Sarah. He never took enough from anyone to harm them, but nobody had heard of a human and a vampire breeding before so he was taking no chances. He would not do anything to risk the life of his wife or his child.
He had tried to stop her training, but she had put her foot down about that. She took it easier, but was adamant that she wasn’t going to give it up entirely. She did, however, agree to not go hunting until after the baby was born.
Christina had tried to come between JD and Sarah and they started looking for a house to buy together so they could move out of Sanctuary 14 and away from Christina, but once she was no longer around, they saw no need to move out. They were both happy living there, despite the fact that having their own place would give them a lot more privacy, and Scott had moved into a different bedroom so that they could convert the room next to theirs into a nursery.
JD glanced at his watch. He had a training session with Jonathon and Katie in half an hour and had promised to work out with Sarah later in the morning; the work he needed to do over the weekend would have to wait until the afternoon.
JD was a lawyer, as well as Sanctuary 14’s trainer, and was very good at what he did. Other than Scott and Silvia, all of 14’s residents had jobs, which they somehow managed to juggle with their hunting. Katie was a vet, Jonathon an accountant, Jane worked in a bank and Natalie had recently taken on a waitressing job. It didn’t pay much, but it got her out of the house and she finally felt that she was contributing to the household instead of living off it. Natalie was the only person present who was not a hunter.
Sarah and Craig worked at the same IT firm, though in different departments. They met at university when Sarah started to date Craig’s friend, eventually getting engaged to him. When he died, Craig helped her cope and they had been close ever since.
“See you in the arena in half an hour,” JD said to Jonathon and Katie, then headed to the kitchen.
He searched the cupboards and found some water biscuits. He took the packet up to his room and left them beside the bed, along with a fresh bottle of water. Sarah was fast asleep and he hoped she would appreciate them when she woke.
As he had time to kill, JD went to Doc and Silvia’s suite. Sarah had told him her sickness was nothing to worry about, but he would rather hear it from Doc. Doctor Frank Duggan was a surgeon, as well as Sanctuary 14’s leader. His wife had been a nurse, but quit her job to help him run the Sanctuary when they got married. She hadn’t been part of the hunter society, but was able to accept what they did and the way they lived.
Silvia opened the door when JD knocked and invited him in. She was short and plump and always had a smile on her face.
Doc was sitting on a sofa in the lounge and indicated to JD that he should take a seat. He was of average height and build and his hair had turned completely grey. He looked so much like an older version of Scott that anyone seeing them together would be able to guess at their relationship.
“How can I help you?” he asked.
JD ran his fingers through his almost black hair. He kept it neatly trimmed, as was befitting a lawyer, and was always clean shaven. He was an attractive man, both in looks and physique, but most women preferred his younger brother. When Sarah had first started training with him, he thought she was one of them and it came as a complete surprise to him when she made a move on him instead. He was already in love with her and couldn’t believe his luck that she felt the same way. Drawing a line between his role as her trainer and his role as her boyfriend, and now her husband, had been difficult, but they managed to make it work.
“Is Sarah really alright?” he asked. “Is her being sick each morning really normal?”
Doc smiled. JD was always in control of his emotions, except where Sarah was concerned. Despite being a vampire, JD had kept all of his humanity. Usually when a hunter was infected, they would be killed. They believed that death was better than being turned, but Sarah had convinced everyone to help keep JD alive and he was as much an asset to the hunter society now as he had been before he was attacked, probably even more so.
Being a vampire gave him abilities that helped him hunt. He was stronger, faster and all of his senses had been enhanced. He had no qualms about killing his own kind and did so regularly.
“I would say stop worrying,” Doc said, “but I know you won’t. Trust me. She’s perfectly fine. I’m keeping a close eye on her. Other than first thing in the morning, she’s eating normally. So far, everything is progressing like a normal pregnancy. So tell me, have you convinced her to stop training yet?”
JD grunted. “What do you think? No matter how many times I argue that, as her trainer, I get to decide when she does and doesn’t train, she always points out that if she wasn’t my wife I would let her keep training, therefore it’s her husband requesting that she stop not her trainer and she can ignore her husband.”
Doc laughed. “She does have a point.”
“I know, but shouldn’t she do as her husband says at least some of the time?”
“She abides by your wishes most of the time and you know it,” Silvia said. “I am with her on this one. Completely stopping all exercise would be bad for her, both physically and mentally.”
“Just keep slowly r
educing what you allow her to do,” Doc said. “And remember what she was like when she got shot. Being unable to train with you drove her insane. You don’t want to put her through that again unless you have to.”
JD wasn’t happy, but Doc and Silvia were right.
Before heading to the arena, he checked on Sarah again. She was still asleep. He was tempted to get back into bed so he could cuddle up beside her, but he was afraid he might wake her, so he left her in peace.
As Katie and Jonathon weren’t due to start their training for a few more minutes, when JD arrived at the arena he locked the door and took down his sword. He would go through some of his routines while he waited for them. For safety reasons, the arena door was always locked whenever someone was training. Katie and Jonathon would use the door to the balcony, then either slide down the pole or use the ladder to reach the arena floor.
The arena was a large room with a balcony along two of its sides. The walls were covered in weapons, mostly swords, and a large urn full of Bo staffs stood in the corner. JD made his students use the Bo for fitness only as they were no good against vampires, who could only be killed by decapitation.
Katie and Jonathon were late to arrive and both appeared out of breath.
“Do I want to know why you’re late?” JD asked.
Jonathon grinned at him. “Probably not.”
“You both owe me an extra half an hour. You may be my brother and sister-in-law, but you are still my students and I do not accept tardiness. Now grab your swords.”
Both of them knew better than to complain.
The eye candy has improved I see
Anna walked into the building and took a deep breath. She had only been away for six months, but it felt like a lifetime.
She walked up to reception and gave her name. The man behind the desk must have been new as she had never seen him before. He asked for identification and handed over her pass once he was satisfied that she was who she said she was.
He started to tell her where she needed to go, but she stopped him. She probably knew the office layout better than he did.
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