Dragon Romance: Dragon Fire (Paranormal Shapeshifter Hero Protector Firefighter Romance) (Fantasy Shifter Werewolf BBW Pregnancy Women’s Fiction Short Stories) (51 page)

The tall man struck at Andrei and struck again. He drove my lover back until he couldn’t back up any more. His back was against the wall. Literally.

The tall man kept Andrei’s knife away from him with his sword. He said to me, “Hey bitch. Your sister’s a good fuck. Me and twenty two of my men had her yesterday. She’s got a lot of stamina. As soon as I deal with this piece of shit as he should be dealt with. I’ll turn you too. You’re going to be better than your sister.”

That hit me where I lived. My little sister, Janice, was so young and naive. The thought of a long line of men using her for their own evil purposes made my hands shake. I felt so weak I sat down behind Stafford’s desk.

Andrei called on all of his strength and threw the tall man away from him. Andrei moved away from the wall. I could see he was wearing out. It wasn’t fair. My beloved fought an entire battle while the tall man stayed inside.

The tall man looked at me with evil lust in his eyes. I could see I was going to be nothing more than a toy to him; something to amuse himself with for a while then throw away.

I’m more important than that. I forced myself to muzzle my fear and looked around for an equalizer; something I could use to take away the tall man’s advantage. I searched the drawers in Stafford’s desk. The first three had nothing useful except a letter opener in the shape of a dagger but without an edge. The last drawer had a bottle with the answer to my prayers.

I took the stopper out and moved around the room. Andrei saw what I was doing and moved to help me out.

As soon as the tall man’s back was to me, I ran across the room and launched myself onto his back. I wrapped my legs around his belly, reached around his forehead and pulled as hard as I could.

He did what anyone else does in that situation. My move surprised him so much that he didn’t have time to try to counter it. I pulled his head back and his mouth opened. I dumped the bottle of holy water in his open mouth then put both hands on his chin and pulled hard again. I managed to keep his mouth closed long enough for the holy water to have an effect.

I mentioned earlier that garlic and holy water slow vampires down. They won’t kill them. It was enough. The tall man had to deal with his burning belly and Andrei. I added one more move that did the job. I wrapped my arms around his head over his eyes.

He slashed around the room wildly and bucked and whirled, trying to throw me off. He couldn’t get rid of me, and he couldn’t see Andrei.

My lover couldn’t slice his head off because I was too close. He grabbed a stake and mallet from the top of a file cabinet and drove himself into the tall man, knocking him down. I was on the bottom and felt every pound of the tall man’s considerable weight. I kept my hold on him.

Andrei jabbed the stake into the tall man’s chest and hit it with the mallet immediately. The tall man’s hands grabbed the stake and tried to pull it out. Andrei hit it with all of his might over and over.

The tall man screamed. The sound ripped through my ears. His arms and legs made odd, uncoordinated movements.

Andrei wailed away at the stake with the mallet, driving it deeper and deeper.

The tall man screamed one more time. Andrei hit the stake one more time; a heavy blow with all of his weight and hatred behind it. The stake penetrated the tall man’s chest. I could feel the tip touch my skin.

The tall man turned to ashes immediately.

The tall man had bitten me. With him dead, I should have felt better. I didn’t feel any different.

*****

Becky found all of the answers when she and Andrei took a shower later that day. Andrei held her in his arms from behind. He’d been scrubbing her back until he decided that her front needed some attention as well.

His hands distracted her. She wanted to know so she kept her concentration focused as long as she could. “What did you mean when you said that I should be dead?” She moaned. “That feels so nice. I love having a man around.”

Andrei said, “I love being around. Especially when parts of you are so round.” He smirked at his joke. Becky giggled. “Tell me.”

“It’s simple. Becoming a vampire has two steps. A vampire bites a human and injects a solution through channels in his fangs. He sucks a little blood. This prepares the human for the next step where the human drinks the blood of a vampire.”

“The first step happened when that man bit me at the restaurant. Except it didn’t.”

Somehow, Andre’s right hand closed around my left breast. He continued, “That’s right. You would have died if you’d been bitten by an evil vampire and drank the blood of a good one. You’d been hypnotized to believe it happened so you’d show the effects. We’d think you were incapacitated and leave you behind. Actually, the tall man did nothing at all. That’s why you didn’t feel any different when you took my blood or when he died.” He kissed her ear. “That was very brave, by the way.”

“Thank you.” She slid his hand down to her tummy. “Am I getting bigger yet?”

Abruptly, the door to the bathroom opened and Janice walked in. She’d been found by the forces of the good vampires in the tall man’s lair. She couldn’t remember anything from the time she hadn’t been human. Once the tall man died, she returned to her sweet self.

Janice screamed and turned to run out. But she didn’t run. Instead, she wiped the moisture from the glass of the shower and looked very closely at Andrei.

Becky yelped, “Janice?! Leave us alone.”

Janice stood on her tiptoes to look over the top of the shower. Andrei hadn’t covered himself up. Janice studied his body from top to bottom, lingering in the middle for a moment. “Do you have a brother, Andrei?”

Becky said, again, “Janice?! Leave us alone. We’re busy.”

“Yes, I see that. But I want a man for my own. Andrei looks very good to me. If there’s another Andrei running around, I’d be happy to meet him.” She hadn’t taken her eyes off Andrei. He grinned at her. “Yes. I have a brother named Stefan. He’s 23. He’s like me but better looking. I’ll arrange a dinner this week. You can meet him.”

Janice nodded her head and left the room, Andrei laughed. “I like your sister. She’s feisty like you.”

“I like her too. Now. I asked a question. Is my tummy getting bigger?”

“Not yet. It’s only been a week.

Becky wrapped her arms around Andrei. “If I understand correctly, I was never bitten. The appearance of that first step was caused by the hypnosis. That means I’m a good candidate to join your coven.” She happened to be looking at Andrei when she said that. She saw his canines turn into fangs. “You may bite me anytime you want.”

He lowered his head to her neck. She felt two little stings and a blissful stability afterwards. She looked at him. “That was wonderful. Do the next part.”

He cut his arm with his fingernail and let the blood drip into her mouth. He held her as she changed into a good vampire. She smiled all through the process.

THE END

Bonus Story 12 of 20

The air smelled of fresh wood and smoke, the sounds of the bustling village providing a soft background noise to his thoughts as Dallin worked to form a sturdy wagon wheel to match the one he’d just finished.  Already calloused from years of work at the tender age of 19, Dallin’s hands moved skillfully over the nearly finished piece, smoothing bumps and knots to make it perfect. 

In the six years that he’d been his father’s apprentice, Dallin’s work was already being praised by the locals.  Cannon Upchurch was a patient teacher, but he never let Dallin cut corners or sell shoddy work.  Cannon’s standards were high and as a result he made more than a typical woodworker.  The father and son drew customers from neighboring villages as well, keeping them busy year-round.

They still struggled, living in a single, wood shack with the rest of the lower class members of South Ungerland.  But they had everything they needed, and there was always food on the table.  In a time when many people struggled to find their next meal, Dallin was happy to have the life he had. 

He continued working, thoughts drifting off as he did.  The shop was open on three sides, with the back being solid wood boards held tightly together with thick twine woven between the boards.  Dallin rolled his eyes every time he thought about the back wall and its construction.  He wanted to use nails, but his father was a miser.  With nails being relatively new to the villages outside of the more populated cities, Dallin had been frustrated when his dad balked at the price. 

“Father, why not use nails when they’re less than a single pence for one hundred?”

“I have lived since 1620 and never needed a nail.  I do not intend to start now.”

Just like that, the discussion was closed and Dallin was dismissed.  He tried to argue with his father that he could do so many things that were otherwise quite difficult to manage, but his father was set in his ways.

“But Father, with nails I can produce so much more.”

“Speedy is not equal to quality.  If it can be done without nails, we haven’t need to be wasteful.”  His father turned back to his work, signaling that the discussion was over.  “I’ll not suffer another moment wasted on the topic.”

And just like that, Dallin was left to follow his father’s lead as always.

Unlike his father, whose woodworking talent leaned toward carpentry and cabinet-making, Dallin was a talented wheelwright.  With the popularity of phaetons rising, the demand for his wheels was increasing steadily.  Since a phaeton had four wheels, he made twice as many per customer than he would for a chaise, which only had two wheels. 

Dallin was distracted from his musing by the sound of footsteps passing by in front of their stand.He watched the ground in front of him, listening to the two women as they came closer.  Dallin didn’t have to see them to know that it was Esther and her mother coming around the corner.

He kept his eyes down, waiting until they’d nearly passed by to look up.  Esther walked on her mother Hannah’s left side, putting herself between Hannah and Dallin.

As her mother spoke, she turned her head slightly and gave Dallin a shy smile.  Her green eyes twinkled merrily.  Pale-faced with a light dusting of freckles across her pert nose, her curly red hair fell around her face and framed it perfectly.

The sight of her took his breath away.  He smiled back and quickly went back to work, looking from side to side to see if anyone had noticed their exchange.

“She’s out of your league, Boy.  You’d do best to remember your station in life,” Cannon said, his voice low but without anger.

“She isn’t royalty and people should be able to marry for love.”

“She is beguiling to be sure, but how would you be paying your portion for her hand in marriage?”

Dallin sighed, going back to work and leaving the question unanswered.  Esther’s family was wealthy in their own right, though far from nobility.  His father was right, but Dallin didn’t care.  He would work every hour of the day and night to provide Esther with the life she deserved, even if it killed him.

He put the finishing touches on the wheel and gave them to his father to inspect.  The old man looked them over with a critical eye for a moment before returning them.

“That’s fine work, Dallin.  Your mother would have been proud of you, Son.”  Cannon wiped his face with a handkerchief, hiding the unshed tears from his only son. 

Genevieve had disappeared when Dallin was twelve, leaving Cannon to raise their son alone.  She’d never been found, and it was something that weighed heavily on both of them.  There was always talk amongst the villagers about what could have happened to her, but they would never know.  Her body had never been found and no trace of her had ever turned up.

It was like she’d vanished into thin air.

Dallin hefted one wheel in each hand and headed to sell his latest work to the wainwright. 

***

Esther sat at the dinner table, trying her hardest to hold her temper at bay.  With her mother sitting across the table, chattering away without noticing that Esther was silent, it was hard to keep from exploding.

“And then there’s Abraham in Bradenton, who is quite brave and a good provider.  He’s already offered quite a portion for you, and tis much more than most men can afford.  You’d have a comfortable life and want for naught with him as your husband.”

Esther pushed her food around her plate, ignoring her mother’s chipper voice as she went on incessantly about the pros and cons of each man.  Esther dreamed of marrying her prince charming.  All this talk of suiters was exhausting her.

“Darling, are you ill?” 

Her mother’s voice jarred her out of her thoughts, forcing her to engage in a conversation she wanted to avoid at all costs.

“No.  I’m just tired.” Esther shook her head but kept it down, hoping her mother wouldn’t see the telltale pink in her cheeks and realize that she was angry.

“Well if you must, retire for the night so you can rest.  We have a busy day tomorrow.”

Esther was shocked. 
A busy day
? 

“Whatever do you mean, Mother?”

“Our phaeton will be finished on the morrow and we need to find a second horse to pull it.”

“What do we need with a bigger carriage?  Tis only you and I traveling around town in it.”

“Darling.  It isn’t about need.  The phaeton is all the rage in the city and we’ve the best wheelwright in the region.  It’s a solid investment and I thought for certain that you would be happy with a second horse and more room in our carriage.”

Esther resisted the urge to roll her eyes, and focused on the task of pushing her food endlessly around the plate.  Hannah didn’t understand her daughter and probably never would.  The nice clothes, the constant accumulation of material possessions to keep up with what was fashionable now was too much for her.  Esther had a simple heart and simple desires.

And the last thing she wanted to be was a kept woman for some old man in another village where she was a virtual stranger.

“May I be excused?”  She asked quietly.

“Yes, of course.  Shall I accompany you?”

“No Mother, I can make it to my bed.”  She stood slowly, though she wanted to flee from the room.  She bent low and kissed her mother on the cheek before shuffling off to bed.

She measured her pace so that her mother held onto the notion that she was tired and possibly ill.  It would be easier to avoid all this talk of suiters and she could avoid the shopping trip into town altogether if Hannah thought Esther needed her rest.

Esther slipped under the large, hand-made quilt and pulled it up to her chin.  She turned on her side, facing away from the door.

It wasn’t long before Esther heard her door creak open slowly, the light of her mother’s candle casting a soft glow on the room. 

Hannah stood for a moment, watching Esther sleep.  When she was satisfied that Esther was indeed asleep, she closed the door softly and went to her room for the night.  The big, empty bed awaited her, and she was counting the days when her husband would return from the latest battle, or if he would return at all.

But fighting the growing vampire population was necessary work, and Nathaniel Hawkes was doing God’s work.  Because of his leadership, vampires rarely were able to make it beyond the front line of the human resistance.  As long as brave souls like Nathaniel and his men continued the good fight, the rest of the world could rest easy.  The empty bed was lonely, but it was worth the sacrifice.

In the other room, Esther listened quietly through the wall.  She could hear her mother moving around in the bed, trying to get comfortable.  She waited for a few minutes until she was certain that her mother had fallen asleep.

Quietly, she moved the covers back and slipped out of bed.  She was still dressed, wearing a heavy gown in deep red.  She slid her feet into her slippers and turned to the bed.  With pillows lined up just so it was easy to believe she was still lying in the bed.  Unless her mother came all the way into the room, she would never know that it wasn’t Esther lying so snuggly beneath the heavy quilt.

She climbed onto the low dresser and out her window.  Esther was careful to push the shutters closed completely, making it appear that they were locked from the inside.

Keeping to the shadows, Esther crept along the side of the house and through the rows of modest houses.  From a few houses came the sound of quiet laughter or boisterous conversation, but most of the houses were dark and completely quiet.

Esther left the narrow row of homes and stole through the village proper, careful to stay deep in the shadows to avoid detection.  She heard footsteps and quickly ducked into a narrow space between stands and waited.  She held her breath as two guards passed, talking to pass the time while they protected the tiny village from intruders while the townspeople slept.

“I’ve heard tell that they’re going to start making duty compulsive.”

“That will never work.  Some men aren’t born brave.”

“They haven’t a choice.  More and more, the vampires are breaking through the ranks and making their way into the villages and woods beyond the battlegrounds.  It won’t be long before they’ve made their way here in droves.”

Their conversation faded as they continued, and Esther realized she’d been holding her breath as she listened.

Vampires?  Here?
  She wondered how much of that was simply idle chatter among the men.  Here and there, a vampire had slipped through their defenses, getting closer to the villages than anyone was comfortable with.  But, for the most part, the evening patrols were able to catch and kill them long before the villagers were ever in danger. 

Esther was willing to bet this was just a case of two young people trying to one-up each other.

She moved on, slipping through the gates and out into the clearing between the main fence and the forest. 

When she reached the forest’s edge, she picked up the pace.  She knew this area like the back of her hand so the soft glow of the moonlight was sufficient to guide her way.  She came upon a small clearing and her breath caught when she saw a man step out of the shadows.

***

Dallin stepped out of the shadows and Esther threw herself into his arms.  He kissed her warmly, pulling her tightly against him and inhaling the sweet scent of her.

“I’ve missed you,” he whispered softly against her ear.

“And I you.” 

He held her close and she closed her eyes, leaning into his warmth and strength.  His touch erased the strain of the day and she finally felt at peace.

“Did I keep you?”

“No.” he shook his head.  “My father was restless and took some time to fall to sleep.  I was worried that you would be alone, waiting for me in the woods.”

“For you, Dallin, I would wait an eternity.”

“As would I, my sweet.”

The kissed once more before Dallin led her further into the woods and trough a thicket that led to a small clearing. 

They were surrounded by closely growing trees on all sides but the sky was open above them.  The soft gray light illuminated their bodies as well as the ground before them.  Dallin had spread a thick quilt on the ground before them. 

Esther sat down, pulling Dallin down beside her.

She leaned against him, staring at the night sky and letting out the deepest sigh.  He wrapped one arm around her and pulled her closer, kissing the top of her head gently before resting his cheek there.

Esther knew she didn’t need to speak, and that Dallin would just be there, at her side with no explanation needed.  But her mother’s words wore heavily on her and she couldn’t hold the pain inside.

“Mother wishes to marry me off to a man in Bradenton.  There is another, but this man has piqued her interests.  No matter what I say, she just continues as if she’s doing me a favor.”

When Dallin didn’t say anything, Esther continued. 

“Is it wrong of me that I would rather leave this world than marry a man I do not love?”

“No, of course not.”

“I know that I said before I don’t wish to run away, but Mother is leaving me with little option.  My words fall on deaf ears and my wishes do not matter to her.  It’s like I’m simply a prize to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.”