Love Bite (Just One Bite #1) (13 page)

Both women
started after him, puzzled by this attitude. Lizbeth started to say something,
but Diandra just shook her head, tears rolling down her face. In one day she
had made a friend, learned to fly, tested her speed and strength, shapeshifted
into a tiger, and actually ate people. Plus she saved her lover’s life and lost
the friend she’d managed to make who had the answers she needed. It was too
much for her overtaxed brain to handle, and she fled the parlor as fast she was
able, her sobs echoing behind her.

Lizbeth was
sick at heart as she watched Diandra struggle over the next few weeks. She had
cancelled all her obligations that first week, something that was very unlike
her. Dia’s joy came from helping others, but instead she spent all day in bed,
refusing to do anything except take care of RaeLynn. Lizbeth was certain that
Dia didn’t eat that week, either. She was too pale and she looked as though she
were literally wasting away. She wondered if it was possible for a vampire to
commit suicide by not taking any blood, but who could she ask? She hadn’t seen
Eamon at all since he left that night, and she was scared. She needed him.
Diandra
needed him!

The second week
brought some improvement. Dia had some color to her face again, and though she
still didn’t go back to work she did spend all day outside on the beach
practicing her skills. Since Margaret had the next month off to visit her
sister in Ireland and there was no other staff, it was safe for her to work
outside. The beach was private and secluded and there was no one for miles who
could see her. The largest portion of her day was spent practicing her
shapeshifting. Diandra was adamant that Lizbeth and RaeLynn not come outside
while she practiced. The blood lust was nearly uncontrollable and she was
terrified that she would hurt one of them. That was unforgivable. She still
wasn’t certain she’d forgiven herself for eating those men. She knew for damned
sure she’d not survive hurting the two people she loved most.

Lizbeth took
to sitting at the sliding glass door, RaeLynn at her feet, where they would
watch Diandra shift for hours. Every time she successfully shifted into some
new and exciting creature, RaeLynn would clap her little hands with excitement.
Diandra had already mastered a hawk, a parakeet, a cat, a Labrador retriever,
and of course the tiger. All her forms maintained the lavender eyes and had
either copper feathers or fur.

RaeLynn
underwent the biggest changes of all, however. She was only three months old
but she was already sitting up by herself and attempting to motor herself
across the floors. She babbled constantly and a few times the women heard her
say something that closely resembled the word “mama.” She seemed to have
excellent control over whether she was visible or not and always came back at
the sound of her name. She actually trained herself by using her gift to play
her own version of peekaboo.

Lizbeth was
once more settled back in at work handing a sudden influx of current cases
ranging from domestic disputes to assault and battery cases. She was supposed
to be working Narcotics, her old department but a different precinct, but she
was needed elsewhere, so she filled in as needed. After the first couple of
days Alexar had quit asking her about her scheduled meeting that night. She
hated lying to the man, but what else could she do? She told Alexar that when
she showed up at 9:00 p.m. no one was there, and she waited fifteen minutes before
leaving. She had assumed that it was merely a joke at her expense and had
returned home. Alexar had trouble believing her story but there was nothing he
could do since she stuck to it and didn’t change a single detail. He never
asked for the wire back.

The story that
was all over the news the next morning was about a wild animal attack at a
warehouse in Rehoboth Beach. The police were working with animal control and
many other agencies to try and identify what animal or animals had been
present. It took nearly three weeks for all the men present to be identified.

Speculation on
what all these prominent men had been doing there was all over every major news
channel. Finally a press conference was scheduled and the men were announced as
having been suspects in a drug smuggling ring. Several papers had appeared
anonymously with their names as well as the warehouse address and a list of
numbers. The numbers correlated to the amount of various deposits in offshore
bank accounts each man had held. Not a single man who died in that warehouse
was buried with honors.

In addition,
the press conference revealed that many other arrests had been made in the
case, among them Lizbeth’s former boss. He had been among the men she knew was
guilty but was not present that night. Mysteriously absent from the list of men
dead or arrested was the Assistant District Attorney, Giles Carson. He was not
listed as a suspect or a person of interest. Lizbeth was puzzled by this, and
she finally confronted Diandra about it.

“Dia, honey,
you wouldn’t by chance be the donor of a mysterious set of documents listing
those guilty in the drug smuggling case, would you?” Lizbeth asked casually
over dinner that night.

Diandra looked
up from her meal, puzzled by the question. “No, the papers were put into the
safe in the bedroom until you or Alexar had a plan for them. Why?”

“Haven’t you
kept up with the news?” Lizbeth questioned her, honestly stunned. When Diandra
shook her head, she filled her in on what had been reported. Diandra listened
attentively and somewhere during the conversation she set her fork down, all
interest in her meal gone.

“You
understand the implications of this, right?” Dia asked. “Someone else knows
what is going on, and they made sure not only that Jonah’s name stayed out of
it but that Carson’s did as well.” They exchanged worried glances, and without
a word spoken between them they headed upstairs to watch the news.

They curled up
on the bed, RaeLynn snuggled down happily between them as they watched a few
minutes of the mindless reality show currently on the local channel. A short
while later their patience was rewarded when a special news bulletin
interrupted the whining of the competitors. The front steps of the courthouse
could be seen behind the reporter who introduced the story. The caption below
the reporter read: District Attorney Murdered- New DA Sworn In. Diandra turned
the volume louder so they could hear what was being reported.

A man opened
the door to the courthouse and stepped up to the podium. Diandra hissed and all
the color drained from Lizbeth’s face. The reporter announced, “The new
district attorney for the state of Delaware is Giles Carson!” The audience
applauded loudly while Lizbeth shook her head repeatedly, saying, “No, no, no.”
She couldn’t believe this was happening! When weeks had gone by without a word
about him or from him she had assumed he fled the state. With so much other
news to report it was understandable that this might not be mentioned.

“Good evening,
ladies and gentleman, and thank you for such a warm welcome,” Carson said
solemnly. “I am saddened to announce one of those bodies found three weeks ago
in the warehouse in Rehoboth Beach belonged to Jason Hemmings, the former
District Attorney. There were many bodies present and confirmation only came in
this morning that he was one of them. I cannot give details about the case. I
can only state that he was killed in a different manner from the other men. It
is unclear why he was there that night or what his involvement with these men
might have been. We are working hard to solve this crime. We urge anyone who
knows anything about the events that happened that night to please come
forward. Thank you, and have a good night.” With that he gave a sad smile and
turned from the camera. As the reporter came back on screen to discuss Carson’s
speech, Diandra turned off the television, let out a primal scream, and threw
the remote across the room. It imbedded itself into the wall and the women
blinked in surprise.

“Well,”
Lizbeth laughed, “my sentiments exactly. So now what do we do? This man is still
loose and won’t have forgotten us, Eamon hasn’t returned, and Jonah is still
out there somewhere. Any ideas, baby?”

Diandra smiled
and pulled Lizbeth close for a kiss. “We know it isn’t over, but it’s over for
tonight.” She scooped RaeLynn up and carried her next door to the nursery. When
she came back she walked over and settled herself between Lizbeth’s thighs.
“After all, there’s always tomorrow, and I say let tomorrow take care of
itself.” For tonight, they took care of each other.

Kay Glass is
the author of the Just One Bite series, the short stories Heaven Can Be Hell
and Table of Blood, and the upcoming Strange Curses series. She also writes and
publishes under the pen name Kendra Glenn. She lives in Delaware with her
husband, their two children, and a variety of beloved pets. When she's not
writing, she can be found reading, swimming, and spending time with her family.
 

Connect with
me online!

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 And if you enjoyed this tale, I'd love to read your review! Please take a
few moments to return to where you purchased this story and leave a review.
Thanks so much! And read on for an excerpt of the second in the series, Bitten
By
Regret.

~~~Kay~~~

Chapter One

Diandra Malone sat on the rear
deck of her Bethany Beach home with a cup of coffee in hand, much as she did
every morning when the weather was nice. It was a typical August day on the
beach, and that meant that it was a comfortable 80 degrees at 9 a.m. much to
her delight. Enjoying the comforting sunshine, she reclined on the pale blue
lounge chair wearing her favorite black sheer robe and a pair of oversized
purple rimmed sunglasses.

RaeLynn was in her playpen on
the deck with a sippy cup of milk in one hand and a teething biscuit in the
other. She was four months old now, and her curly strawberry blonde hair was
shoulder length already. A gentle breeze whipped it up and around her face, and
she dropped her cup to try and catch the hair as it blew into her eyes,
giggling at this newfound game. She caught a fistful and tugged, then let out a
little yip of surprise when she learned the hard way that the fistful of fun
was actually attached. Diandra looked down at her precious child and once again
marveled at how special she was. In some ways just a baby, in others she was so
much more.

"Hey, you," Lizbeth
said as she stepped out onto the deck. She was already dressed for the day in a
pair of comfortable hip-hugger jeans and a hot pink tank top. Her chestnut colored
hair was pulled back in a stubby ponytail, the best she could manage since she
kept her hair rigidly at shoulder length. Her face was shiny and clean, free of
makeup. Lizzie hated to wear any makeup, even just some lipstick. She wore a
light coat of foundation, a touch of blush, and a tinted lip gloss to work, but
on the weekends she skipped it altogether.

Lizbeth set her coffee down on
the low ivory-colored table in between the two lounge chairs and stretched
thoroughly, making sure each part of her body felt loose and easy. Then with a
smile she bent down and gave Diandra a long, lingering kiss. "Good
morning, love." RaeLynn made cooing sounds, holding her chubby hands up in
the air, opening and closing them in her demand to be picked up. Lizbeth laughed
and scooped up the baby, raining kisses all over her chubby pink cheeks.
"Good morning to you, too, Princess!" RaeLynn giggled and started
making smacking noises with her lips- her own version of giving kisses back.

Lizzie sat down in her lounge
chair, a pale rose color, to play her usual morning game of peekaboo with
RaeLynn while Diandra looked on fondly. Lizbeth would say, "Peekaboo,
baby!" and Rae would giggle and disappear from sight. Lizbeth would then
make a pretense of trying to find where the baby had gone, and after a few
seconds RaeLynn would drop the veil that protected her, making her visible to
the human eye once more. While this little trick had terrified both women in
the past, now it was a part of everyday life for them, especially since this
gift had helped protect RaeLynn while Diandra had rescued Lizbeth. It was only
a month ago but on days like this one it seemed like another lifetime.

After spending some quiet time
on the deck, the two women went in to have breakfast. Margaret, the housekeeper
who had been with Diandra for the last eight years, had their breakfast ready
for them as she did each morning. The woman was truly a wonder in the kitchen,
and the never failed to enjoy whatever meal had been placed before them. Since
Diandra hadn't excused herself to go to another room for a bit, Lizzie assumed
her lover had already consumed her morning baggie of blood. She normally did so
before indulging in coffee so it was a safe assumption. The women shared a
breakfast of bacon, French toast, and fresh strawberries while Lizbeth
reminisced.

It was hard to believe that it
had been nearly a year since she had come into Diandra's life. This time last
year she had been homeless for nearly a month, still struggling to survive each
day. She had survived and persevered, and somehow she had made it from that
life to this one with barely a stumble. She looked around, taking in her
surroundings. Everywhere she looked she saw gleaming wood, glistening glass,
and dust-free antiques, all due to Margaret's loving ministrations. The house
didn't necessarily scream money- it was more like it bore a discreet plaque. It
was all very tastefully decorated but, if you had an eye for it, you could spot
a large bank account at work.