A Christmas Peril

A Christmas Peril

Copyright 2013 Michelle
Scott

Smashwords Edition

A Christmas Peril Copyright
© 2013 by Michelle Scott

All rights reserved under
the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part
of

this book may be reproduced
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical

including photocopying,
recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without

permission in writing from
the publisher.

The scanning, uploading and
distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other
means

without the permission of
the publisher is illegal, and punishable by law. Please purchase
only

authorized electronic
editions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic
piracy of

copyrighted materials. Your
support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

Warning: The unauthorized
reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is
illegal.

Criminal copyright
infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is
investigated

by the FBI and is
punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of
$250,000.

This is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of
the

author’s imagination or are
used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons,
living

or dead, events, or locales
is entirely coincidental.

First Edition • November
2013

On the one hand, a night out with the
hottest vampire hunter in Detroit was exactly what I needed to
chase away my holiday blahs. On the other hand, a Christmas party
with a bunch of vampires and their blood partners was hardly a
perfect date. Unfortunately, if I wanted one, I had to deal with
the other.

My roommate and best friend Andrew had
been suffering through some blues of his own, but the news of a
holiday party perked him up. He chatted like his old self as I put
on my makeup and did my hair. Then he perched on the edge of my bed
as I slipped on my dress, a vintage store treasure I’d fallen in
love with the week before.

When I turned around, Andrew put his
hands to his face in exaggerated awe. “Oh. My. God! You look
amazing! Audrey Hepburn couldn’t have worn it better.”

The dress – a white, off-the-shoulder
affair with an A-line skirt, and a flashy, rhinestone pin fastened
at the waist – gave me the classic Hollywood glamour of Betty Davis
or Grace Kelly, providing they had been Arabic instead of white. My
black hair had been swept into a simple French twist, and my heels
added a good four inches to my height, making me average instead of
short.

Still, I worried. Not about how I
looked, but about how well the dress would conceal my weapons: two
ash-wood stakes overlaid with silver, and a small canister of holy
water that I hoped would work like pepper spray. I frowned,
wondering where to hide the goods. I would have asked Andrew for
advice, but he didn’t know I was heading into vampire territory. If
he’d found out, he would have chained me to my bed and locked the
door to keep me from going. Since his vampire attack a few weeks
before, even mentioning the V word made him nervous. No way would
he let me step foot inside their grieve.

I glanced in the mirror again. No, the
dress wasn’t made to hide weapons. I needed something better. I
rummaged through the back of my closet, hauling out the
bridesmaid’s dress I’d worn at my sister’s wedding. “This dress
isn’t right. I think I’ll wear this one instead.”

Andrew’s jaw dropped when
he saw the lavender pouf from hell. “You’d pick
that
over a sexy cocktail dress? Do
the world a favor and bury that thing before it breeds.” He hopped
off the bed, tore the dress from my hands, and threw it back into
the closet. “You’re gorgeous, darling. Isaiah would have to be dead
to not think so.”

I smiled. Andrew was just as gorgeous,
and all he was wearing were sweatpants and a Detroit Lions t-shirt.
It was those long lashes of his. No wonder women tended to crush on
him despite the fact he was gay.

When the doorbell rang, Andrew went to
answer it, and I went for my hidden stash of weapons. Okay, the
bridesmaid’s dress had been a bad idea, but I still needed to
conceal a weapon or two. I shoved one of the stakes down my
cleavage, and hastily tied the other to my thigh. Since I wasn’t
carrying a purse, the tiny canister of holy water got tucked into
the sash behind the rhinestone pin.

Feeling more prepared, I left my
bedroom. A peek into the living room revealed Isaiah dressed in a
tuxedo that accentuated his broad shoulders and narrow waist. The
white roses in his arms accented his dark skin. His dreadlocks
framed his face, and his silver earring winked from high up in his
ear. Normally, my heart gave a pleasant, backwards flip whenever I
saw him, but this time, it did a triple summersault. Sexy didn’t
begin to describe my date.

Gathering courage, I stepped into the
living room. Andrew smiled at me. Isaiah just stared.

For one dreadful moment, there was
nothing but silence. Had I been wrong about the dress being
retro-chic? Did I instead look like I’d raided my grandmother’s
attic? I nearly fled back to my bedroom and the bridesmaid’s dress.
Then Andrew said, “Isaiah, take a deep breath and tell Cassandra
how gorgeous she looks.”

Isaiah swallowed. “Cassie, I’m beyond
words.” He shrugged, looking helpless for the first time since I’d
met him. “You’re amazing. You’ll be the most beautiful woman in the
room.” He handed me the armful of white roses.

I grinned, relieved, and reached for
the bouquet. Unfortunately, the motion loosened my bodice, and the
hidden stake slipped free, clattering to the ground. When I made a
grab for it, the second one came loose as well.

Both men stared at me. This time, not
in a good way.

“
You’re bringing weapons
to a Christmas party…why?” Andrew asked carefully. Then his eyes
narrowed as realization sunk in. “Whose party is this?”

“
Hedda Widderstrom’s,”
Isaiah said. His deep voice could have made the windows rattle.
“And, Cassie, if she found out you brought weapons to her party,
she’d be furious.” He frowned. “I told you before. This is a
peaceful event.”

Peaceful vampires? Now there was an
oxymoron. Then again, Isaiah had always shown more faith in the
vampires than I did. Although I’d be the first to admit that Hedda
kept her grieve on a tight leash, her rules hadn’t stopped her
vamps from hurting me in the past.

Still, riling them up wasn’t a good
idea, either. If this was to be a peaceful party, I could at least
pretend to come unarmed. With a self-deprecating smile, I laid the
stakes on the table. The holy water, however, would stay right
where it was.

“
The weapons are beside
the point,” Andrew said. “Cassie, I will
not
let you go.” He stood in front
of the door with his arms crossed. My friend wasn’t nearly as tall
or broad as my boyfriend, but his marathon workouts at the gym had
given him a lean, hard body. If he wanted to restrain me, I
couldn’t have stopped him.

Andrew glared, daring Isaiah to
challenge him. “I can’t believe you would bring Cassie to a party
hosted by soul-sucking monsters!”

Instead of getting angry, Isaiah
softened. He understood how Andrew had been struggling to survive
ever since the vampires had stolen his soul. “It’s a Christmas
party. Nothing more.”

Andrew wasn’t mollified. “Since when
do vampires celebrate Christmas?”

“
They don’t, but their
human blood partners do.”

“
But we’re not
vampires
or
blood
partners, so why were we invited?” I asked. I would have rather
spent the night curled up with Isaiah on the couch, watching
superhero movies, eating popcorn, and making out like
teenagers.

He shrugged. “Hedda considers you a
friend of the grieve, and she probably wants to show her
appreciation.”

I respected Hedda, but I wasn’t sure I
wanted her appreciation. In the world of vampires, everything came
with a price. Including presents.

“
I’ll take good care of
Cassie. And Hedda’s forbidden any of her vampires to touch her. If
they risk it, Hedda will make them wish they’d never
lived.”

“
By then it could be too
late,” Andrew said. His brown eyes pleaded with me. “Please Cassie,
stay home.”

I wanted to. I really did. But Hedda
was the head of the Widderstrom grieve. I didn’t dare offend her by
not coming. Besides, with Isaiah by my side, I’d be
safe.

“
I won’t stay long,” I
promised Andrew.

“
Besides, this is a
perfect time to observe the vampires,” Isaiah added. “We won’t get
another opportunity to watch them so closely. It may help us out in
the future.”

Good point. Vampires were cagey
creatures who seldom opened up to humans. What went on in their
grieves was a mystery because they believed that humans had no
place in vampire politics. Besides, spying would give me something
to do rather than sit in a corner sipping ginger ale.

Still, I wasn’t wasting an entire
night playing vampire anthropologist. “Do we have to stay long?” I
asked Isaiah.

He arched an eyebrow. “Why? Do you
have something else planned?”

I ran my hand along his arm, reveling
in the taut muscles underneath. “I could think of a few
things.”

He offered one of his rare smiles.
“Can those things wait for an hour?”

An hour. Okay, I could get through
sixty minutes of hell if it meant an evening of heaven
afterwards.

Andrew’s forehead was still lined with
worry, but his guard dog stance had relaxed. “Swear on your life
that this woman will come back in one piece,” he ordered
Isaiah.

“
I swear it,” Isaiah said
soberly. “Nothing will hurt her.”

“
Except maybe the
paparazzi because I look amazing,” I amended. I straightened
Isaiah’s tie. “You look amazing, too.” The tuxedo, classic black
and white, fit him perfectly.

“
I look like a waiter,” he
said.

“
More like a handsome,
playboy millionaire.” A handsome, playboy millionaire with dark
skin, amber eyes, and full lips that I was dying to kiss. But that
would have to wait until after we’d partied with the
vamps.

Hedda had outdone herself. Her party
was held at the prestigious Whitney restaurant, an elegant,
nineteenth century mansion that sat in the center of a decaying
neighborhood like a crown jewel in a rusting tiara. Stepping
inside, we were met with a two-story Christmas tree bedecked with
lights and glittery ornaments. Ropes of garland and tinsel hung
from the bannisters and crown molding. A stringed octet played
Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker near a fire that roared in the massive
hearth. “It’s beautiful,” I whispered.

The moment I saw the vampires,
however, the warm glow building in my chest cooled. I couldn’t let
the splendor of the place overwhelm my common sense. We might be
Hedda’s guests and under her protection, but we were still humans
among vampires. A lot of vampires. Everywhere I looked, I saw
marble-white faces and the gleam of fangs. True, there were humans
here as well, but even so, those of us with warm flesh and beating
hearts were vastly outnumbered.

Although he didn’t comment, Isaiah
understood the danger as well. He tightened his hold on my hand,
and his shoulders tensed. He held me close to him as we crossed the
room, looking for seats.

The musical lilt of conversation and
laughter floated from both floors of the building as did the tinkle
of crystal as people toasted one another. Isaiah grabbed two
glasses from the tray of a passing waiter and offered me one. So
much for ginger ale. I sipped slowly, savoring the taste of fine
champagne.