SEDUCTIVE SUPERNATURALS: 12 Tales of Shapeshifters, Vampires & Sexy Spirits (243 page)

“So, what’s next?” she asked, trying to sound cheery about the rest of their sightseeing schedule.

“I want to show you some of the houses I designed.”

“That’s a brilliant plan.” She leaned back in her seat, the tails of her scarf trailing in the wind behind her.

He headed for the Hollywood Hills, and she asked, “What happened to your house?” She added with trepidation, “Was it burned completely to the ground or was it salvageable?”

“It was destroyed.”

The bodies that been torched inside of it still gave her an uncomfortable chill. The vampire who’d lit the match crowded her thoughts, too. She hated picturing Anthony returning to Simone’s bed. It actually made her stomach retch. It didn’t matter that Simone wasn’t who Anthony would have chosen for himself. She was still his vampire maker, his lover, the woman he’d been sleeping with since his supernatural inception.

After tonight, Tessa would be losing Anthony. He would be nothing more than a desperate memory forged in the achy recesses of her heart.

He turned onto a narrow street and parked in front of a driveway. “That’s one of mine.”

She gazed at the little vine-covered house. Instantly, she imagined living there, holed up inside, like the recluse she was sure to become once again. It looked like an enchanted cottage. A bit haunted, as it were. “It’s captivating.”

He shrugged. “It was a common design back then. In those days, this neighborhood was Hollywood
land
, not Holly
wood
. It wasn’t as costly as the other side of the hills. But I designed mansions on the other side, too.”

Continuing the tour, he took her to the mansions. Some of the sprawling estates he’d designed had been modernized, but others remained true to the original architecture, with renovations that preserved their history and vintage style.

“Your work was exceptional,” she said. “I’m thoroughly impressed.”

“Thank you.” He drove away from the hills. “I’m just glad I was able to leave my mark on the world.”

“You’ve left your mark on me.”

He smiled, looking as dapper as ever, his hair catching the breeze and his button-down shirt rustling against his chest. “My bite marks.”

It was more than that, she thought, as her heart continued to fall. So much more.

The Vampire Pendant: Chapter Ten

Tessa tried to concentrate on her work, but all she could think about was missing Anthony. Two days had passed since they’d said goodbye. Forty-eight hours, and already her loneliness had reached a ridiculously painful level.

Every glance in the mirror was devastating, too.

Her doorbell rang, and she stiffened in her chair. She wasn’t expecting supplies. She frowned at the door. Was it a landscaper leaving a business card? Or someone eager to discuss his or her religion?

Whoever it was, they buzzed again. Persistent. Pesky. Tessa ignored the summons.

A few more tries, and the intruder gave up. Thank goodness. A moment later, Tessa’s cell phone ringtone chimed.

Good grief. She left her chair and checked the screen, but the caller was unknown. She went ahead and answered anyway, using a hands-free device. The phone wasn’t nearly as invasive as the door. Besides, it could be work-related, maybe a potential client.

“Tessa?” the caller said. A man’s achingly familiar voice.

“Anthony?” Was he out and about, granting a wish? It seemed too soon for that. “What are you doing? Where are you?”

“Outside your door.”

“That was you?” Her heart skidded to a near-stop. “I can’t see you now.”

“Why not?”

“You know why.”

“Because you don’t want me to see your scars. Tessa, I’ve seen them. I’ve known all along what you look like.”

Before her legs turned to jelly, she pitched onto the sofa. “You saw me from the pendant when I was at the magic shop?”

“Yes, and while we were at the hotel. I was able to bring your scars back any time I wanted to see them. On the night of the play, I made love with you while I was viewing your true appearance.”

A wave of dizziness came over her. She went into the bathroom and dampened a cloth, holding it against her skin. “How could you do that to me?”

“Because I wanted to be with the real you. I love you, Tessa. And I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

“That’s crazy talk. You’re a hybrid, and I’m human.” An ugly, ugly human, she thought, taking a disturbing glance in the bathroom mirror.

“I’m mortal now. It started happening soon after I got back to the magic shop.” He explained how he’d become hungry for food and was locked out of his pendant. “Darrin and I contacted Mathieu to discuss it with him. Mathieu didn’t understand it, either. But today he discovered that it was the effect of a spell that was placed on the pendant long before he’d added it to his collection. Apparently a romantic little fairy had sprinkled the cross with fey dust so that if a gen-vamp was ever captured inside it, he or she would be released by true love.”

True love
. She clutched her middle. “How can you love me knowing how I look?”

“I think your scars are beautiful, Tessa. They make you unique. Darrin calls them your badges of honor, and I agree.”

She refused to accept it. “People would look upon us with disdain. They’d wonder how a handsome man like you could be with someone like me.”

He argued his point. “I’m connected to more than your flesh. I’m attached to your soul, too. I feel a bond with you that I’ve never felt with anyone, and I don’t care what other people think.” He paused. “Don’t you want to be with me? Don’t you want us to be together?”

God, yes. But not like this. “You liked being a gen-vamp. You were happy the way you were.”

“And I’ll be happy being mortal, as long as I’m with you. I’ll be able to provide for us, Tessa. Darrin gave me the pendant, and I’m going to sell it. The ruby is worth millions.”

Was he trying to bribe her to be his mate? “Money isn’t the issue.”

“No, but it’s important for me to know that I can take care of my wife.”

His wife? “I can’t marry you, Anthony.” She would feel inadequate next to him. The ugly duckling who wasn’t destined to be a swan. “I love you, desperately, but I don’t have the confidence to open the door and talk to you face-to-face, let alone marry you.”

“Damn it, Tessa. Don’t ruin our chance at happiness.”

It was already ruined, burned by sixteen treacherous candles and fueled by a stupid hat. “We need to hang up now.”

“I’m not going to stop pursuing you. I’ll wait outside your door all night if I have to.”

“I’m sorry, Anthony, but I’m not coming out there.”

She ended the call and cried like a self-centered baby. She was giving up the most perfect man in the world.

Because she refused to accept herself.

* * *

Later that evening, Tessa peeked through the peephole of her front door and saw a shadow on her stoop.

It was Anthony. He’d kept his word. Apparently he
was
going to stay all night. She wanted to go to him, to sit beside him, to put her head on his shoulder. But she was afraid of the ramifications. Once she crossed the threshold, she would belong to Anthony. Going back to her lone existence would be impossible.

She paced her book-cluttered living room, then looked out the peephole again. It was a dark night, barely a moon in the sky.

Why couldn’t she have remained pretty? Why did it have to turn out this way?

Because life wasn’t a fairy tale, she told herself, even if genies, vampires, and spell-casting fairies existed.

Go
, her heart said.
Be with the man you love
. Her soul was telling her the same thing. But her damaged face said otherwise.

Screw her stupid face. Fuck the fire. Tessa needed to live, to be whole again, and Anthony was offering to teach her.

A gen-vamp gone mortal.

She smiled. He’d become human for her. That was a wish neither of them had considered. But a fairy had considered it. Tessa thanked the anonymous little sprite.

She unlocked the door and opened it a smidge. The creaking sound caught Anthony’s attention. He stood up and turned in her direction. Her heart blasted in her chest. She could barely see him, which meant he could only vaguely see her, too.

She opened the door all the way and stepped outside. He reached for her and took her in his arms. They kissed like long-lost lovers.

After an excruciating amount of time, she invited him inside. The lights in her living room were low, but not low enough. His appearance had become visible, a reminder that she could be seen, as well.

He looked the same. In a sense, she supposed that she did too, because he’d always been able to see her genuine appearance.

No magic. No pretend prettiness. No lies. What was between them now was reality. Still, she wanted to turn the disfigured side of her face away from him.

But she didn’t. This was her first step in embracing life. He kissed her again, and she led him to her bedroom, where a golden-hued nightlight shimmered.

They made love in sensual positions, caressing and kissing, putting their mouths on each other’s bodies. She could feel the changes in him, his warmer skin and the beat of his pulse. His fangs had disappeared, too, and his eyes would remain forever brown. He was, for all intents and purposes, a thirty-eight-year-old human male.

“I’m going to like being mortal,” he said.

“And someday I’m going to like being me,” she replied.

“Someday soon,” he assured her.

She hoped so.

“Are you going to marry me?”

“Absolutely.” She longed to be his bride. “But I need time to prepare, to center my emotions. I want to be strong at the ceremony, not hiding beneath a veil.”

“I’ll wait for as long you need me to.”

“How did I get so lucky to have a man like you?”

“I’m the lucky one.”

Once again, they kissed and caressed. She climaxed in bursts of erotic joy, her inner muscles clutching his cock. Her orgasm triggered his, and he came, too, bathing her with white-hot seed.

Breathing in unison, they fell back on the sheet-tousled bed, holding hands and keeping the connection.

After a bout of sweet silence, she asked, “Do Simone and Nicholas know that you’re mortal?”

“Yes, I was able to tell them. Darrin brought them out of their jewelry so we could talk. Nicholas is happy for me. Simone is, too, but mostly because I’m one less gen-vamp that Mathieu can use to fuel his kingdom.”

“Speaking of which, how is Mathieu taking this?”

“He’s outraged about the spell, but there isn’t anything he can do to reverse it. He’s especially pissed that the same spell was enacted on Nicholas’ and Simone’s jewelry.”

She couldn’t imagine Mathieu allowing Anthony’s brother, much less the beautiful and temperamental Simone, a chance to be free. “Is he going to relocate them into other jewelry?”

“He can’t. Once gen-vamps are placed inside their crosses, they remain there for all eternity.”

“Unless they become mortal.”

“I think I’m the first one who’s ever become mortal.”

“I hope Nicholas and Simone find true love.”

“Nicholas is hopeful, but Simone isn’t. She doesn’t give a fig about love. But who knows if it will happen for either of them or how long it will take? It took me decades to find you.” He lifted his hand to the scarred side of her face.

She winced and closed her eyes. Habit. A bad one. She opened her eyes. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. You’re being brave. And you’re only going to get braver.”

“And live up to my badges of honor?”

He smiled. “Most definitely.”

They tumbled into each other’s arms again and relished the moment, steeped in the magic of love.

THE END

The Vampire Bracelet

Prologue

“Tell me more about them,” eight-year-old Marie North said. She loved hearing about gen-vamps. She’d been taught that all sorts of “mythical” beings were real, either existing in other realms or living undetected among humans. But gen-vamps were her favorite because Uncle Darrin actually owned a handful of them.

“I have six in total,” he said.

“And all of them live inside of antique jewelry and grant wishes for the exchange of blood?” She knew they were sometimes called blood genies because of their feeding habits.

“That’s right, Baby Girl,” he replied, using the nickname he’d given her. “I have three who grant wishes to women and three who offer their magic to men. But the wishes are only temporary. They only last for two weeks.”

“How come?”

“Gen-vamps aren’t strong enough to grant lifelong wishes.”

“Because they’re hybrids?” she asked. Uncle Darrin had mentioned it the last time he’d told her a gen-vamp story. Not only that, but he trusted her to keep all of this a secret. She’d vowed to never, ever tell anyone. And she wasn’t going to, either.

“Yes,” he confirmed. “Because they’re hybrids. But they used to be human, like us.”

She spouted off her knowledge. “Then they got turned into vampires. And after that, they got made into gen-vamps and their hearts started beating again. But they still don’t have a pulse.” She considered them only sort of dead, whereas vamps were full-on corpses. She angled her head. “Who made them into gen-vamps, Uncle?”

“A big bad genie king named Mathieu. He’s the most powerful ruler in his realm. He has thousands of gen-vamps under his control, and their energy is what makes him so powerful.”

She pictured Mathieu with a gnarled face, deep-sunken eyes, and pointy fingernails. She also imagined him living in a dark and scary castle surrounded by ghostly trees and gray clouds. She gave a little shiver. “I don’t like him.”

“Most of the gen-vamps in my care don’t like him, either. Especially Simone.”

“What kind of jewelry does she live in?”

“A diamond ring.”

“Does she grant wishes to men or women?”

“Women.”

“Is she nice?”

“Truthfully? She’s rather fierce. She liked being a vampire, so being turned into a gen-vamp made her angry.”