Page 4 of Secret of the Vampire
Restlessly, he got up from the table and walked over to the door near where I stood. There were no windows. No way to see outside. However, I didn’t need to see out to know something was still out there.
And neither did he.
Chapter 2
Alex
Iwas obsessed.
Ever since the night I’d saved the vampire—Kenya—I haven’t been able to think of anything else but her. Whether she was okay. Whether she was safe.
Whether she was thinking of me, too.
I’d seen her around before then, of course. In order to share this fine city, my coven and hers occasionally had to work out some rules. So, the High Priestess and their master vampire would meet up to pound out details of our pact or to be made aware of something that was going on that would affect all of us. But that was normally the extent of our involvement with each other. Otherwise, we pretty much stuck to our part of the city and the vampires, at least for now, were content to live and feed within the seventy-eight-square block radius of the most sinful part of New Orleans.
As long as they didn’t terrorize the tourists and kept their victims alive and without any memories of their encounters with the blood suckers, we dealt with coexisting, with the agreement we would help one another if either of our covens was threatened.
So, of course, I’d seen the female vampire before, but only from a distance. I knew she was attractive in a sexy librarian kind of way, with her confident airs and her dark-rimmed glasses. I’d also overheard she was the one who ran the club the vampires owned, so I knew she was intelligent. And yeah, okay. I’d always had a thing for her. She was exactly my type of female.
However, until the night I’d saved her life, I’d never been close enough to see how smooth and perfect her skin was, even flushed with fever. Never knew how her brown eyes bared her soul to me. How sweet she smelled. How soft the texture of her hair was, or how her smile would stop my heart.
Even so, I knew I should put her out of my mind. She wasn’t mine. Wasn’t for me. The fact that I’d saved her life meant nothing.
But as the days passed, I’d found it harder and harder to stay away. I knew she must’ve lived, thanks to my coven’s interference, or we would’ve heard something about it. We would’ve felt the other vampire’s grief echoing through the city like shock waves from an atomic bomb. But we heard nothing. So, I knew she was alive.
Still, I couldn’t get her out of my fucking head. And so, one night long after closing time, I took the risk and entered the vampire’s territory alone so I could see for myself. She was still at the club, I felt it in my gut, and I was hoping I’d catch her alone.
Unsure of how she would react if I took it upon myself to just walk in, I waited across the street for her to come out. I didn’t have to wait long, just a few minutes before she stepped outside and locked the door. She spotted me as she turned to leave, surprise flitting across her face for a brief moment before she quickly waved me over to her.
I’d only wanted to make sure I’d gotten all of the curse out of her and that she wasn’t having any kind of after effects, or at least that’s what I’d told myself. When I placed my hand on the center of her chest to run a magical scan, the instant spark between us seemed to shock her. But I wasn’t surprised. I’d even tried to prepare myself for it. “Tried” being the key word there. There was a connection between us I’d never felt with any other woman. I’d always known it. And now it was even stronger.
Yet, even knowing she had fully recovered, even after placing a protection spell around the building where she spent her time at night and warning her not to be alone, I couldn’t stop.
I took to prowling the perimeter of The Quarter like some sort of magical watchdog, watching over her from afar. “Listening” for anything out of the ordinary. Any kind of magic that wasn’t familiar or didn’t belong.
All I knew was that night we went to the swamp house and I’d reached inside of Kenya to pull out the ugliness that was killing her, something had shifted inside of me. I’m not sure what it was exactly, or why it had happened. Maybe because my magic had been inside of her…
No, it was more than that.Ihad been inside of her. All of me. That’s what it had taken to save her. And like some kind of goddamned avenging angel, I’d felt her surround me with her light, protecting me from the darkness even as I ripped it from her weakened body. The darkness I should not have been able to save her from. The darkness that was much more familiar to me than not. The darkness I also sensed in my twin sister, Alice, although it wasn’t as strong and she would never admit it. Not even to me.
As for me and Kenya…it was like our souls had fucking touched.
And somehow, I’d known that even though the curse was gone, it wasn’t over. I’d felt something coming for weeks now. And the thought of whatever the hell that was returning for her terrified the fuck out of me. I couldn’t lose her. Not when I’d only just found her.
So, I’d kept watch.
And tonight, my stubbornness had paid off. I was walking along the edge of The Quarter when I’d felt its presence, oozing with malevolence, but no viler than what was inside of me.
Pushing aside my terror, I’d closed my eyes, reached out, and found Kenya, alone on Bourbon Street. I didn’t know who or what this was or why it was coming back for her, but the fucker would have to go through me first.
And here I was, coming to the vampire’s club once more with no thought to my coven’s anger or my own safety. I had to. I had no choice. This female vampire pulled me to her, even though I tried to resist, an erotic tug of war I had no defense against. I had to protect her.
“Alex? Do you know what it is?Whoit is?”
Kenya’s voice yanked me from my thoughts. I shook my head without looking at her. If I looked at her, I’d want to kiss her. And more. A sudden surge of desire had me gritting my teeth. Willing my pulse to slow, knowing she would hear it, I tried to get my mind back onto the threat at hand. “I have no idea,” I admitted to her. “But I won’t let it hurt you.”
I felt her stare.
“Thank you,” she told me softly.
