SweetHeat (2 page)

Chapter Two

Juliette shivered with a horrible sense of hopelessness as she stood in front of thirty female vampires and awaited her fate. Earlier in the evening they had cast their secret votes on whether she would be accepted entrance into
Vampira
.

It had happened so fast. Her decision to run and join
Vampira
had seemed easy. Escape the arranged marriage. Join the secret clique. Live among the humans.

It was anything but simple.

After making her way from her father’s castle, she ventured into the small village tavern run by vampires. A discreet mention of her problem to the female bartender suspected of being associated with
Vampira
got
her,
to her utter despair, the cold shoulder.
The female looked at Juliette as if she’d gone mad, shooing her away and hissing at her to never come back with such nonsense talk.

Another round of desolation and misery wracked her as she huddled in a cold back alley behind the tavern, unburdening herself of a washer full of tears. It was then she realized how much females were made to be so dependant on males in the Traditionalist world, for she had no idea what to do next.

She had no skills or friends she could trust to seek help from. And the rumors her friends and father’s wives had whispered about a clique of powerful vampire females had been just that.
Rumors.

How naïve she’d been to venture away from the safety of her sire’s castle. How his wives must have laughed behind her back over the decades as she asked them questions about
Vampira
! They had been playing with her all along.
Making it all up to feed her dreams of freedom.

Playing her for the fool she was.

Now she had no choice but to pull
herself
together, return home and present herself to her selected males. Just as she’d resigned herself to enduring the same brutal reign as had befallen her mother, out of the silky mist, a beautiful woman appeared. Her face glowed red from the winter cold and her head was hidden beneath a white fur hat. She was dressed in a most exquisite fur-lined coat and her hands were shoved into gorgeous, white, fox-fur hand muffs.

“
M’aime
, why do you cry so?” she asked as she bent over Juliette.

At first she’d been terrified when the woman handed her a linen handkerchief scented with lemon. She was afraid the human would guess her a vampire and she would have to use her memory-erasing power. She hated erasing someone’s memory. It felt so invasive.

Juliette found herself staring at the lady. This was the most beautiful woman she’d ever been so close to. Someone of such beauty and such a healthy red complexion could not be vampire.

Could she?

But when the woman asked if she was the runaway Traditionalist earlier in the tavern, Juliette knew she was saved. The woman, who introduced herself as Monique, turned out to be a vampire and a French member of
Vampira
.

Monique ushered her into a nearby cottage and after Juliette bombarded her with questions, Monique explained she would give her some injections. They were of a temporary nature and more would be given if she were accepted into
Vampira
.

One, a scent disguiser, prevented her father or anyone who had taken blood from her, from homing in on her whereabouts. The other, a daylight vaccine, would allow her to walk unharmed in sunshine. These vaccines had been invented by vampire scientists who worked exclusively for
Vampira
.

It had been decided by
Vampira
not to share the vaccines with other covens. This ensured the relative safety of
Vampira
females. The non-sharing would cut down on the chance of vaccines falling into the wrong hands, where an enemy could come up with a counter vaccine that would eliminate their effectiveness.
Vampira
females, Juliette was told, had many enemies who would love to see the empire fall and reveal the identities of the females who hid among the humans.

Thus Juliette’s life as a human began. Because
Vampira
were urged to appear as human as possible, Monique could not transport her via dematerializing and rematerializing to where she wished. Instead, the female accompanied Juliette onto a large water vessel. For weeks she endured an endless view of blue ocean waves before finally stepping once again on firm ground.
This time, in the United States of America.
She was immediately whisked to Maine, to an exquisite white Victorian home with olive-green shutters. A home owned by a female she knew only by the name of
Mati
Smith.

Mati
was, according to Monique, the founder of
Vampira
. She’d not only escaped life as a blood-slave to vampires who preferred vampire blood over human, she’d also escaped life as a concubine to three ancient vamps, as well as survived brutal punishments the blood-slave traders inflicted upon her every time they recaptured her. Her final escape from the traders had almost been the death of her but she’d been saved by two male vamps
who
she’d fallen in love with. In order to protect her newfound lovers from those who hunted her, she’d run away from them too.

Changing her identity,
Mati
had tried to lose herself among the humans. Pretending to be human hadn’t been easy. She could only work at night, for sunshine and daylight would set her body on fire.
Literally.

She had to move constantly to avoid vampires who tracked her by the blood mind. Blood mind sensing enabled males to home in on females they had drunk from, and vice versa. But there were always several hours time lag and many females could sense it when they were being pursued. The slavers were constantly tracking her, which made life difficult.

Eventually they grew tired of pursuing her. She went about purchasing old yachts, had them repaired by handymen and resold them for huge prices, leaving her with enormous profits. In due course she purchased a lucrative shipyard and docks on the coast of Maine and was now in the import and export business.

With her money, she created
Vampira
, building it to the most powerful clique for females who wished to escape the clutches of the Traditionalists and other suppressing regimes.

To ensure the Sisterhood of
Vampira
would always come first,
Mati
had created the Number One rule. No sex with a male—human or vampire. No male lovers.
Ever.
This rule, it was hoped, would help prevent a female from taking a male love into her confidence, inadvertently revealing she was a member of
Vampira
.

Juliette now knew she would have to agree to the Number One rule as well as other rules for
Vampira
to give her sanctuary. If she did not, her memory would be erased. She would have no recollection of
Vampira
, and they would return her to her Traditionalist family and the arranged marriage would be carried out.

Now as she stood in
Mati’s
home, the females of
Vampira
remained silent as they surveyed her with cool, emotionless stares.

They looked gorgeous though. All of them did. So beautiful, dressed in long hobble skirts and flawless makeup that cleverly concealed the white vampire skin glow.

Overwhelming envy slashed Juliette. Oh how she wished to be like them.
Independent, powerful and beautiful in the human world where she could choose her own destiny.

All the females stiffened to attention when
Mati
walked into the room and Juliette’s tummy hollowed out with sick dread at the other females’ gloomy expression. She could see the answer in
Mati’s
eyes.

No. They did not want her.

“You have told us you ran from an arranged marriage,”
Mati
began. Her voice was cool and controlled and it sent shivers of dread along Juliette’s spine. “From the research to confirm your story, I received a report and shared it among the females before the vote was cast. I will divulge that report with you so you understand why the answer is what it is.”

Juliette found herself nodding in numbness. They did not want her. She bit back the swell of tears and forced herself to remain at attention, her gaze wavering over the females as she looked for some reassurance that her instincts were wrong. Even a smile from any one of them would give her encouragement. But no smiles came.

The females said nothing. They had sealed her fate and closed themselves off to her desperation. But why would they? She’d come here for help. Surely at one point all of them must have been in her shoes before approaching the clique?

“Your father is one of the most powerful vampires in France.
In the whole of Europe.
Did you know this?”
Mati
asked.

“Yes,” she answered.

Mati
continued, “He arranged this mating because it would unite your coven with another strong and wealthy coven making both more powerful.

“What you do not know, or perhaps neglected to tell us, is that upon your birth, those two males you were arranged to marry were brought to your cradle side and allowed to gaze upon you.”

“I had no idea.”

“When you opened your eyes and gazed upon them, it was said the males felt something stir between them.
A stirring deep within themselves, allowing them to feel each other’s emotions and read each other’s minds.
And for the briefest of moments they were able to read and feel yours as well.”

What did this have to do with anything? So the males could read each other’s minds. Surely it had nothing to do with her.

“This stirring is very rare. So rare that when something like that takes place, the future males and female must be kept separate. This is done in order for the female’s body to fully develop before being re-introduced to the males. She is usually of the age of two centuries, as you are now, when she is able to handle the links to both males naturally. This abstinence allows the males’ emotional, body and mind links to grow strong between them. Only when their links are strong are they fully able to tap into the female. But that can only happen when they meet again.
Usually as per Traditionalist ways, at the mating ceremony.
Which you ran from.”

As Juliette listened to
Mati
, she felt as if the woman was speaking about someone else. Not her.
As if this had nothing to do with her need for independence.

“Have you been told of this?”
Mati
asked softly, perhaps sensing Juliette’s confusion.

Juliette shook her head. “No, I was never told this. I had always thought I had never met them. But I don’t see what that would have to do with me. If anything the thought of two males reading my mind and dominating my thoughts makes me wish to avoid such control at all costs,” she replied truthfully.

Mati
nodded.
“As I thought.
You don’t understand what this means. It changes things and does make them more complicated.”

“I don’t understand.”

Mati
sighed, seemingly not wanting to proceed. Not wanting to shatter Juliette’s dreams perhaps?

“If
Vampira
accepted you and some day you meet these males, even by accident, you would find it extremely hard to resist them.
Much harder than the average female.
It is why
Vampira
sisters have overwhelmingly voted against accepting you into the Sisterhood. You are an extreme risk to the safety of
Vampira
because if you defy the rules we would have no choice but to oust you. And, unfortunately, by then the mind erase would not work, as it works best when the memory is fresh.”

Devastation flooded Juliette. She suddenly wished she had been sitting instead of standing here in front of all these females.

A wave of lightheadedness swept over her and she clutched the fireplace mantel to keep from sinking to her knees in utter devastation.
They didn’t want her
. The words slammed into her like stakes through the heart.

Mati
continued to speak and her voice seemed to be coming through some long, desolate tunnel. “Having explained their reasons, however, doesn’t make the decision final.”

Juliette’s head snapped up and a hushed murmur swept through the room as some of the females began whispering among
themselves
. “W-what do you mean?”

“It means that I, as the leader of
Vampira
, am always left with the power of overturning their decisions. I have never used that veto power.”

Again the claws of rejection swept through Juliette.

“That is, until now. I veto the Sisterhood’s decision and in turn fully accept you, Juliette
Dárques
, as a full-fledged member. Welcome to
Vampira
.”

Welcome to
Vampira
. Those three words reverberated through her ears like a saving grace. Relief slammed into her, urging her to sit upon the fireplace hearth.

Seeing doubt, dismay, as well as surprise
wash
over the other females’ faces made Juliette secretly vow to make
Mati
never regret her decision. She swore she would do them all proud.

Chapter Three

Aphrodite, Florida

Current day

“Good morning, Ms. Sandalwood,” Julie’s human office assistant, Selena cheerfully sang out as Julie quickly brushed past the young woman’s workstation and rushed into her office. Closing the door behind her, Julie slapped her purse on her desk, plopped onto the cushy office chair and snapped down the intercom button.

“Morning, Selena. Sorry, I’m late,” she breathed.

“That’s okay, boss. You’re entitled. I mean it’s like only the third time this week and it’s only hump day,” Selena chuckled and Julie couldn’t help but smile at the young woman’s easygoing banter.