Romance: In Love With A Beast (Paranormal BBW Panther Shifter Romance) (Shapeshifter Mystery Alpha Werebear Romance Short Stories) (48 page)

But Markus likes to grab it.
She reminded herself. So, there was her answer. That was why she kept it.

Paige snatched up her make up bag as the bathroom door opened and she ducked in before Ben could get in there.

It only took her five minutes to apply her make up but by the time she came out from the bathroom their bags were packed and most of the weapons were in the car. To say Markus and Ben were careful would be an understatement.

“Here,” Markus handed her a six inch knife. “Just to be safe.”

It was the same every day. The same knife and the same five words. Paige had stopped trying to convince them she didn’t need it.

Paige slipped the knife onto her belt, slipped her wallet into her pocket and they were ready to go.

Chapter 2

The man had grey hair and deep set brown eyes. He looked from Markus to Ben to Paige before stepping out of the way to allow them into his house. “Your friend didn’t say you were bringing a dog.”

Paige stared at the man, their eyes locked for a fraction of a second before he smiled taking the bottle of whisky Ben offered. “She’s friendly.”

“I’m sure she is.” A small smile flickered over the man’s face as Paige passed him. “Eric said you were in town about a case. It wouldn’t happen to be the vampire, would it?”

“That’s the one. He said you’d know everything that was going on around here.”

“I may be too old to be out there but I try to keep an eye on everything that’s happening around town, just in case I need to call an extra set of hands.”

They entered a small sitting room. Most of the room was cluttered with books but the coffee table was spotless other than a small laptop.

“So,” Paige sat down between Markus and Ben. “Do you know anything about the case?” The boys had made it sounds like he did. They made it sounds like it was going to be a short gig and then they would be on to the next town in the blink of an eye.

“I know it all.” The man cracked the whisky bottle open and took too a long drink before he turned his attention back to the three of them. “I’ve always known about the vampire here. He’s been here for 100 years, hell, I even go out to dinner with him every now and then.” He saw the look on their faces and chuckled. “Not the kind of dinner you’re thinking of. The thing is... I know Roderick. I know he wouldn’t be doing this and I know he wouldn’t tolerate it.” The old man took another swig from the bottle. “I can’t believe I’m saying this but I’m worried about him.”

“We can check it out.” Paige piped up. “Do you have any idea where… Roderick,” She felt odd calling the vampire by his name. “Lives?”

“He lives on the east side of the city, right on the outskirts of town in an old brick house. The one with the stained glass window.”

Ben nodded. “And you’re sure this isn’t him?”

“I know Roderick, he would never… do something like this.” The man sounded convinced as he took another drink from the bottle. He glanced at Paige then his eyes locked on Ben. “Just as you know your werewolf girlfriend wouldn’t hurt a fly. It can’t be Roderick. I know it’s not… there’s got to be another vampire in town and he has to be really bad if Roderick isn’t stepping in to stop him.”

“We’ll check it out before dusk.” Markus reassured him.

The old man pushed himself to his feet. “Then you better get going.” He was right. Paige looked out the window. On a cloudy day like today the sun wouldn’t be up for much longer and she really didn’t want to get stuck in a vampire’s house as they were waking up for the night, most likely hungry.

The old man pushed himself to his feet. He motioned to Paige. “Come with me.”

Page glanced towards Markus and Ben before pushing herself to her feet and fallowing the old man out of the room. “Your aura is very clean.”

“Um… thank you.”

The old man chuckled. “It means you’re a pure wolf. It runs in your family.”

“Yes… how did you know that?” Paige scowled as he led her down a hallway. They stopped in front of a door and the old man opened it. It was a library. The books weren’t really sorted, or even on shelves. They were scattered and stacked everywhere they could be.

“Um, stay here.” The old man stepped over a pile of books and made it to the middle of the room. Paige turned to see Markus and Ben coming towards her. They smiled and Paige turned her attention back to the old man. He was stepping over a stack of books, climbed onto one and reached onto one of the few shelves that actually had books on them. He pushed a few out of the way before she saw him actually grab one. He jumped down from the stack of books and turned to face Paige.

The book flew towards her.

She caught it just in time.

“Take good care of that. It’s an old book, but there is no point in me having it when you have more of a right to it than I do.”

She looked down at the cover. There was no title. It was just a pocket sized black leather book. She opened the book to its first page.
James Maclan. 1772

“It’s a real life account of living with a wolf side, as he puts it. In other words he’s a werewolf and writes about it.” The old man made his way back to the door. “He says he is from a bloodline that dates back to the 1600s. There have only ever been six bloodlines counter that carried the werewolf gene… so there.”

Paige stared down at the book, her mouth hung open. “So… you’re giving this to me?”

“Yup. Not like I need it.”

“Wow. Thank you so much.”

The old man shrugged but didn’t say anything.

Markus cleared his throat. “We’d better get going. We’ve only got about an hour of pure sunlight and well, it would be ideal if we could get this wrapped up tonight.”

“Of course.” The old man nodded. “Come back if you’re ever in the area. And bring more whisky.” The man smiled as he walked them towards the door.

Paige’s fingers curled around the book tightly. She wanted to rip it open and read every page right then and there. She didn’t want to wait.

They said their goodbyes to the old man and piled back into the truck, this time they all squeezed into the front seat.

Markus’s arm wrapped around Paige as Ben started the truck and they headed towards the town.

“Do you know much about your family?”

“No… not the werewolf aspect of it… I never even thought to ask honestly.” Paige let Markus pull her into his arms.

“Do you think your dad would know much about it?”

“I don’t know. He’s very proud of his heritage, if you know what to look for you can see a whole bunch of werewolf stuff at the house. He never talked about it very much to be honest. He always kept it to himself. Maybe… maybe I’ll ask him about it sometime.”

Paige hadn’t talked to her family since just after she had hooked up with Ben and Markus. She figured she should warn her parents that the police would be calling to see if she was around. They had, unfortunately, and her mother had spent most of the phone call yelling at her for not calling sooner. Paige had explained she was tending to someone’s wounds. She hadn’t said it was one of her boyfriends.

Actually, her parents didn’t even know she was traveling with two men. All they knew was she was hitting the road for a while. Her dad has insisted on not knowing any of the details.

“Have you called them since… since you left your apartment?”

“No.”

“You should call them.” Ben spoke up. “They’re probably worried sick about you.”

“I know I just… I can’t. My mom was so upset with me and my dad… he sounded disappointed more than anything else. Maybe I’ll just send them a text later tonight.” She stared out the window straight ahead. The sun was setting around them and there was no doubt they were losing time.

Ben turned the music up as Markus reached into the back seat for their weapons. He grabbed the guns and a small tin.

“What’s special about those?” She asked as she watched Markus opened the tin. Not to her surprise there were bullets in there.

“Special vampire ones. They are laced with holy water and pine tree oil.”

“Oh,” Paige watched as he loaded the guns with the bullets. Over the past couple weeks Paige was beginning to realize there was a lot to this line of work. There were bullets for vampires, bullets for demons, and a whole bag of stuff Paige wasn’t allowed to touch because it had ‘werewolf tools’ inside it. Even being within a couple inches of it made her stomach turn. She could smell the silver, and the scent from the bag made her want to puke.

Markus handed her a gun. “Are you going to be able to use it?”

“Yes… if I have to.”

“Chances are you will have to. I don’t want you going in there without a way to defend yourself.”

“Isn’t that what my knife is for?”

“No, your knife is for people who try to kill you. Your gun is for the vampires who try to kill you.”

Paige didn’t say anything. She thought about something the old man had said. “Have either of you ever met a vampire you didn’t try to kill? You know, because they were nice or something.”

“No.”

“Honestly,” Ben paused. “It never even occurred to me that they might be nice… until I saw a werewolf take on a pack of zombies.”

Paige looked away, her cheeks flushed. That had been how they met.

They had been hunting zombies in the town she was working in. She had been hunting rabbits until she smelt the zombies.

She’d chased them and taken them out, for the second time in a week, before she realized there were men hunting her. They’d smelt like death themselves but when she had realized they were only human and had refused to hurt them. They followed her because she was bleeding so badly and, as they say, the rest was history.

The truck came to a stop in the middle of nowhere. “See that,” Ben pointed in front of them. A small brick house. Paige could just make out the stained glass on the door. “I’d bet my soul that’s the house we are looking for.”

Markus scowled but didn’t say anything until he popped his door open and jumped out of the truck. “Then we better get going.”

Ben popped his door open, slid out of the truck and turned to help Paige drop down from their jacked up truck.

“Why did you guys think it was a good idea to jack your truck up so high?” Paige frowned. It’s not that she was opposed to a little height, it was that she didn’t like trucks that were almost as tall as her.

“Have you ever tried to take a normal truck through a forest while chasing a pack of werewolves who have been eating little kids?” After 30 seconds of silence Ben smirked. “It sucks when you get stuck and have to turn around.”

“Okay, I guess that makes sense.” Paige held her gun tightly as they made their way to the house. Markus and Ben were close beside her. The gravel crunched under their feet.

“Every aspect of our life goes back to the job. Everything has a reason or two that relates to this life.” Ben explained. Paige nodded. She was beginning to realize that. “Does that make you uncomfortable?” he asked.

“Only a little.” Paige confessed. The idea that they had so many tools and resources to kill her was scary. She’d be crazy if she wasn’t scared but that didn’t mean she was scared of them. She wasn’t. She saw through their demon hunting personality. She knew how kind they were.

Hell, as they came to the door of the house Markus pulled the door open for her. Ben stepped in front of her to make sure she wasn’t the first one to enter the house.

It was dead quiet. Thankfully, there was still a little sunlight left. “When exactly do vampires wake up?” Paige knew she didn’t have to whisper but she still did.

“Just relax, we’ve got a couple minutes.”

A couple minutes? Did they actually plan on being out of here within a couple of minutes? Were they dreaming?

Paige gripped the gun as tight as she could. She raised it to normal chest level as they looked around the large room. It was empty, but there were clear footprints through the dusty carpet. Paige’s heart hammered in her chest. She wasn’t used to this kind of thing. She wasn’t used to being in a vampire’s house right before he woke up. Markus and Ben on the other hand, seemed completely relaxed with the idea. When Paige glanced at Markus he was smiling widely as they stepped into a retro kitchen that didn’t look like it had been used in decades.

“Oh,” Ben wrinkled his nose in disgust.

Paige stared down at a foot long pile of dust.

“Dammit it, he was right.” Ben swore.

“What? Who?” Paige asked

“The old man. He knew something was wrong and fuck, he was right.”

“What do you mean?”

“When a vampire dies by sun light the myth and them burning to death…. Well it’s true.”

Paige’s stomach turned. There were somethings she wished she didn’t know about the paranormal world.

“I’ve never met a vampire before.” Paige whispered.

“Well… I’m honored to be your first.” Came a deep voice from behind them.

All three of them turned to where the voice came from. A tall man stood before them. Paige could just make out his shadow as he reached out for the wall.

Paige blinked as the light came on above their heads. She got a good look at the man standing in front of her. Two others stood behind him.

He had caramel skin and blonde hair. His green eyes looked her up and down. A grin came over his face that made Paige’s gut turn. Her mouth went dry as he stepped towards her.

“The werewolf gene. Such a beautiful gene,” He closed in on her. She could feel Ben and Markus get tense on either side of her. “So
tasty.
” He stopped in front of her.

Paige’s eyes locked on his, refusing to look away and show her submission.
Back off!
The wolf screamed. He was much stronger and much more deadly than she was. In all reality she
should
be backing off. No, she should be running for her life.

“Let me make you a deal… you come with me and I promise not to kill your friends. Behave yourself and I’ll even keep
you
alive and conscious.” He reached out to touch her. Paige flinched and he stopped in midair. The smile on his face grew larger and more sickening. “What do you say, dog? Will you spare your lovers’ lives or will you force them to die, only to delay me from having you?”