Not Another Vampire Book (3 page)

Another,
longer pause.  Clearly, not a question Birdman wanted to hear.  “It’s 1893. 
No. 
Tw
o.  It is 1892.”

“Aw,
crap.”  Kara tilted her head back and looked at the planetarium sky. 
Why,
why,
why, why, why?
  “I’m suing my father.  He’s owns the damn
elevator.  He’s liable for all of this.”  She ran a hand through her hair.  Focus. 
She needed to focus.  How could she wake herself up?  “There’s no place like
home.  There’s no place like home…”

“Enough.” 
The stranger obviously wasn’t a
Wizard of Oz
fan.  His entire demeanor
shifted into predator mode as he stalked forward.  “I can discover your purpose
without
your cooperation, then.  It will be more fun that way, anyway.

Lady Melessa gasped as the rough hand jerked her
around.  A man stood there.  Not just
a
man, but the most magnetic man
she’d ever laid eyes on.  He swamped her senses with his masculine power, as he
pulled her against his massive chest.  All thoughts of running away were gone. 
Even the horses stood silent, as his penetrating blue eyes swept over her
quavering figure.

“I am Slade.”  He whispered.  “At last, I’ve found you
my Eternal-One.”  Then, he kissed her.

Passionately.

Eternal
Passion at Sunset- Chapter Two

Kara
couldn’t help taking a small step back as the stranger swept towards her.  The
guy was big, with a powerful body that dwarfed her own.  On her best days, she
wore a size twelve, so she’d never really seen herself as a petite girl, but
next to him she was downright tiny.  Helpless.  More than just his physical
presence, the stranger had an energy about him that had the hairs on the back
of her neck standing up.  An aura of darkness that permeated the air as he
moved.

Wait
a minute…

‘An
aura of darkness?’

What
the hell kind of melodramatic garbage was
that
?  Why would she even
think of something so stupid?

 “For
too long, I’ve waited for this day.”  The stranger grabbed hold of Kara’s arm
and dragged her closer.  She could feel the heat coming off him, feel the
muscles in his chest as he pulled her against him. “Is that why you’re here? 
To try and stop me?”

“What
are you talking about?”  She fought to get loose of his hold, but his fingers
hung tight.  It didn’t hurt, but… Wait.  Should she be able to actually
feel
the pressure of his grip in a dream?  The ramifications of that idea made her
fight harder.  “Look, I don’t even know where
here
is.  Do whatever you
want with the skulking and vengeance, okay?  I don’t care.  I just want to get
out.”

“I
don’t believe you.  I saw you appear from nothing.  I can feel that you’re
different than the other humans.  You don’t belong here with them.”  He swung
her around so her body was pinned between his and the wall of the house.  “You
don’t belong at this party or in this… place.”

“Yeah,
tell it to my neurosurgeon, buddy.”  Kara glared up at him, breathing hard.

He
gave his head a slow shake.  “Why do you fight me?  Do you really think you can
win?  That I couldn’t already have killed you, if I so chose?  Admit that
you’re my enemy and be done with it.”

“If
I had my purse right now, you’d already be maced, jerk-off.  So, yeah.  We’re
enemies.  I admit it.  Now, let me go, before I start screaming.”  She arched a
brow.  “Unless you have an
invitation
to this party and you’re just
moonlighting as a peeping-tom for twisted reasons of your own, I don’t think
anybody’s gonna be happy to see you out here.”

“Perhaps,
but I suspect you weren’t on the guest list, either.”  He leaned closer to her,
the brim of his hat still shielding his eyes.  For a guy carting around a live
bird, he smelled really, really good.  “And you can cease looking so
attractive.”  He hissed.  “Your revealing clothes and soft curls will not sway
me.”

“What?” 
Since when was a business suit revealing?  Gemma’s pet peeve was Kara’s drab
wardrobe.

“Why
are you here?  Tell me.  Now.”

Kara
felt a brush in her mind and she knew it was him.  From out of nowhere, she had
the bizarre realization that he was trying to read her thoughts.  As ridiculous
and
X-Files
as it sounded, she abruptly and completely believed that he
was attempting to pry open her brain.

It
was
not
going to happen.

“Son-of-a-bitch.” 
Kara shoved him with all of her strength and had the momentary satisfaction of
seeing him stumble backwards a step.  The bird flapped its wings.  Lucky for both
of them, the guy caught himself with a walking stick.  The silver handle was
shaped like a raven.

Where
had that come from?  Had he been carrying it before?

He
gave his head a quick shake and touched the center of his chest.  “Your
thoughts are… different.  How are you doing that?  I can feel them, but I can’t
focus them.”

“Aw,
too bad.”  Kara sneered.  “You shouldn’t have even tried, ya pervert.  What
kind of creep goes peering into other people’s brains?”

“You
aren’t an ordinary human and you aren’t one of
them
.  So, how did you
find me?”  He straightened back up to his full, imposing height.  The cane was
gone, again.  Somewhere.  “Are you a Witch?”

“No,
I’m not a Witch!  And I am
too a human.  And, I’m serious, stay out of
my mind.”  Had she ever said any of those sentences before?  This dream kept
getting stranger.  “I mean it.  I probably have enough people poking around in
there with scalpels, right now.”

He
was losing patience.  “How did you find me, woman?”  It was a venomous snarl.

“I
don’t know!”  She shouted back.  “I was just… dropped over there.”  She pointed
at the walkway.  “I have no idea why I’m here, but I’m ready to leave, if
you’ll just let me go.”

The
stranger digested that silently for a long moment.  “You must be here for a
reason.  Nothing happens without a purpose.”

Vocabulary
words were one thing, but pithy zen talk was just taking it too far.  “Oh yeah? 
Explain the reason for
Jersey Shore
, then, Confucius.”

She
could feel him scowling at her.  “You’re mocking me.  I can tell and I don’t
like it.”  It was a warning, the words bit off, sharply.

Kara
rolled her eyes.  “Too bad.”  Still, at least the threat hadn’t been delivered in
Yoda-ese.  That was progress.  And it wasn’t
all
his fault.  He was just
a figment of her own imagination, lousy dialogue and all.  He had to be.  He
couldn’t help what she made him say.  “Look, it’s not really you I’m mocking,
okay?  It’s the whole situation.  Don’t be so sensitive.”

“
Sensitive?
” 
Now, he sounded insulted.

“Yeah,
get over it.  Trust me.  If you had my perspective on things, you’d be mocking,
too.”

“So,
you admit that you see more than you’re saying.”  His voice turned thoughtful.  “Perhaps,
that’s why you’re here.  To assist me, somehow.”

“Why
would I do that?  ‘Cause you’re such a nice guy?”

The
raven made a sudden “craw-ing” noise.  It was better than “nevermore,” but not
by much.  Kara gave a jolt and frowned at that creepy looking thing, trying to
will it into a parrot or something.  This was her dream, so it seemed like she
should be able to fix the bad parts and she seriously detested that bird.

The
man’s head snapped around to stare at the French doors.  “He’s here.  He’s
finally come for her.”  He grabbed Kara’s arm, again.  His entire body tense as
he gazed into the unfamiliar mansion.  “Do you know that man?  The truth.”

Now
what?

She
puffed out an agitated sigh and scanned the ballroom.  “Which man?”

That
earned her a glower.  “Don’t play dumb.  That one.”  He pointed through the
glass.  “The large man, right there.  The one who all the women are staring at.”

“Oh. 
Him.”  Kara watched as Dr. Smooth oozed his way through the party.  Sure enough,
women were indeed falling all over themselves to get closer to him.  And no
wonder.  The man looked like Brad Pitt’s sexier clone.  The kind of guy who
could battle sea-monsters and be home in time to ravage you on the kitchen
table.  The kind of guy who could fix your roof, and order off the menu in
French, and make several billion on the Tokyo exchange, all in between his day
job as a Top Secret Agent.  The kind of guy who didn’t really exist, because he
was perfect.

And
this guy
was
perfect.

Perfect
in every possible way.  Perfect tousled sun-kissed hair.  Perfect strapping
body.  Perfect cheekbones.  Perfect lips.  The only slightly imperfect thing
about him was his eyes.  A flat blue, they scanned the party with barely
concealed impatience.  But then, his elusive disinterestedness only made his
perfection all the more perfect for the girls fluttering to his side.

Oddly
enough, his golden majesty left Kara completely unmoved.  Intellectually, she
could see that he was a beautiful specimen, but she had no desire to take him
home and study him one-on-one.  Truthfully, she felt a lot more physically
aware of the weirdo beside her, than of the underwear model strutting around on
display.

Awake
or asleep, she had lousy taste in men.

Kara
made a ‘huh’ sound.  “Well, he’s pretty.”

Vlad
impaled her with another scowl.  “You still claim not to know him?”

“Well,
I think I’d remember that guy if we’d met on the L.”  She snorted, as The Brad
flashed a studied half-smile at one of his new groupies.  “Jesus, I bet you can
see his teeth shining from space.”

“Oh,
no doubt.”  The stranger drawled, obviously still believing that she was in
cahoots with The Brad or something.  He gave a humorless snort as Handsome B.
Wonderful slowly circled the ballroom.  “Just as I thought.  He searches for
her.  You see how predictable he is?  Their entire race is like that.  Pathetic
drones to their biological instincts.”

“Yeah,
well, aren’t we all?”  Kara mused.  Not that she got to act on her biological
urges very much.  And why did this imaginary serial-killer make her reevaluate
her priorities on that subject?  Maybe he really had done something to her
mind.  Or maybe it was just general sexual frustration revealing itself in her
dream.

It
must have been the wrong thought to share, though.  “No!”  The stranger
snapped.  “Perhaps the humans are controlled by their feelings, as the Vampires
assuredly are.  But, the Wizard Warlocks have
never
been slaves to their
emotions.  We were a strong race.  And now I feel
nothing
but my need
vengeance.”

Kara
froze.

Her
gaze very slowly swiveled around to stare at him.  “What did you just say?” 
She whispered.

“I
said, I am nothing like Slade and I never will be. 
That
is why I will
win our battle in the end.”  He leaned closer to her.  “I don’t know what side
you are on, but be warned, this is my victory.  Slade has a weakness.  A
heart.  A woman.  And if I take her from him, it will destroy him.”

Kara
blinked.  Her mind refused to process what she was suddenly suspected.

She
reached down and pinched her arm as hard as she could.  “Ow!”  It hurt.  She
could actually feel it hurt.

“What
in Gods’ name are you doing, woman?”

Kara
ignored that.  She had to think, rationally.  Concentrate and figure this out.

She
moved back from the window and looked around, again.  Really looked.  Everything
was solid.  No misty dream-like edges.  No loss of detail.  She could hear the
insects buzzing in the flowers.  Smell the jasmine.  See each piece of gravel.

When
had a dream ever been this clear?  Even one of her Technicolor style dreams?  This
really,
really
didn’t feel like a dream.  But, it had to be...

Because,
the only other logical alternative was… crazy.

“Damien?” 
She breathed.  “Is your name Damien?”

His
attention stayed riveted on her.  “So, you
do
know me.”

“Oh,
God.”  Kara slapped a hand over her mouth and gaped at him in horror.  “I’ve
gone crazy!”  It was the suddenly the most likely explanation for this madness. 
“How did
that
happen?!”

“What
are you yammering about…?”

Kara
cut him off.  “Oh, just shut-up!”  This was
Damien
, last of the Wizard
Warlock’s. The stupid bad guy from the stupid book she hadn’t even wanted to
read.  There was no way this was happening.  No. 
Way
.  And yet, there
he stood.  “You’re not even real, you know.  I’m sorry to tell you that, but you’re
not, and I’m having a shit day so just have some respect for my meltdown. 
Alright?”

He
crossed his arms over his chest and watched her, broodingly.  “You’ll attract
attention with your ranting and I won’t let your hysteria ruin my plans.  Your
very presence is disruptive enough.  I really should kill you and I have no
idea why I don’t.”

“Because,
you don’t kill anybody this chapter, genius.  It’s all about the foreshadowing,
so far.”

He
made a frustrated sound.  “If you think a lovely appearance and some
nonsensical jabbering will distract me from my goal, you’re wrong. 
Nothing
will stop me.  Do you have any idea how long I’ve been awaiting this night?”

Actually
she did.  “Six hundred and sixty-six years.  Ever since the gypsy lady told you
Slade’s Eternal-One would be come of age on this day and you vowed revenge for
something-or-other.  I forget the rest of the stupid back story.  I only read the
first chapter.”