secret Of The Vampire (paperback)

He was my deepest revelation and my darkest secret.

Bad boys were never my thing, unless they existed within the pages of a book. Until Alex Moss came to my rescue like some sort of avenging angel. He saved my life, which is why I believed him when he told me the threat against my life was back, and only he could protect me. With his dark hair, golden eyes, and broad shoulders, the warlock was hard to resist. Yet even as his kisses made me crave more, there was something about him that frightened me. It wasn’t until I tasted his blood that I knew it wasn’t magic that brought us together, but fate. The warlock is MINE.

I saved her from a curse, only to get caught in her spell.

Kenya Darce was like no other vampire I’d ever met. Adorable, quirky, and sexy as hell, she turned me on with one look over the top of her black-rimmed glasses. But ever since the night I exorcised the spell from her body, we’ve had a connection between us. It was completely unexplainable, but it was there. And now the thing that tried to kill her is back, and I’m the only one with magic dark enough to fight for her. Forbidden to go near her, I couldn’t stay away.

Nothing and no one will keep me away from her.

Kenya

* * *

Something slick and evil crawled over my skin, like a thousand tiny spiders slipping beneath my clothes, making me shiver in the damp, night air. 

It felt menacing. 

Angry.

Someone was watching, and they wanted something from me. Something I instinctively knew I wouldn’t give up willingly. I could feel their intentions all the way down to my bones.

My gums burned as my fangs shot down into my mouth, every muscle in my body tense, ready to strike. To kill, if I really had to. 

Though I truly wished I wouldn’t have to.

Somehow, I kept my keys in my hand even though it was shaking like crazy, pretending I was having trouble with the lock to the door of the club. Pushing my glasses up with one finger, I  glanced discreetly to my left. 

Bourbon street was in full-on holiday mode, the balconies and street poles wrapped in Christmas lights, with sprigs of evergreens here and there to break it up. Even the usual stench that seeped through the ground wasn’t so bad, thanks to the cooler air. 

It was Thursday night, and the crowd at The Purple Fang—our vampire-owned, male strip club where I tended bar and kept the books—had been sparse. Killian had decided to close it down early so he could go home to his Lizzy and the rest of the coven could find their amusements elsewhere in The Quarter. I’d stayed behind alone so as not to impede on anyone’s fun. I was still trying to catch up on some reports that I’d missed when I was dying.

Yes, dying. Unheard of for a vampire, I know. 

It’s a long story, but not really surprising if you knew me at all.

At first I saw nothing unusual. A few groups of die-hards who didn’t want the party to end even though the street cleaners and trash trucks were starting to rumble through the streets, a homeless person, strippers making their way home or heading to a late night party.

I twisted the keys in the lock and pulled them out, backing up a few steps as I dropped them into my bag with my laptop. Lifting my chin, I scented the air, searching for whatever it was that was making me so uneasy. I smelled alcohol, fresh vomit, body odor, trash, sewage, and the warm blood of the few humans still on the street. Keeping my expression impassive, I turned and started to walk away. Our residence was only a few blocks from here. I just needed to make it to the house. And hopefully the guys would be home by now. 

Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t helpless. Far from it. But ever since my last brush with magic, I’ve been a little on the jumpy side, and the devilry I felt hovering in the air tonight felt way too familiar. It was unnerving to say the least.

Terrifying was more like it.

The hair lifted on the back of my bare neck before I could take more than a few steps, and I would swear to anyone who asked I felt hot breaths on my skin beneath my hairline. Spinning around, I flashed my fangs with a hiss…

But there was no one there.

I adjusted my glasses, checking again. Breathing hard, my eyes darted up and down the darkened street, my nerves on edge, and when my cell phone buzzed in the front pocket of my black slacks, I barely caught myself before I shrieked like a teenager in a bad horror movie. 

I hated horror movies.

Especially ones with stupid teenage girls.

With a shaking hand, I tugged my phone out and answered the call, pushing up my glasses with my free hand as I glanced over my shoulder. My one complaint about becoming a vampire was that, strangely enough, it hadn’t corrected my vision. “Hello?”

“Get back inside the club and lock the doors. Right now,” the voice on the other end growled. “I’m on my way.”

“Alex?”

“Just do what I fucking say, Kenya.”

I opened my mouth to tell him…something smart and female empowered, but he’d already hung up. After a moment’s hesitation, I dug the keys back out of my bag and got my ass back inside. Someone, or something, was out there, and it did not want me to make it home. So, I swallowed my initial reaction to being ordered around and did what Alex told me to do.

He had helped me once, after all. I had no reason to believe he wouldn’t do so again.

At least, I didn’t think I had any reason to believe that. He was a bit…intense.

If any humans had been paying attention, they would’ve seen a woman standing on the sidewalk looking scared and confused one second and gone the next. But I had no time to worry about that. Luckily, anyone still stumbling around Bourbon Street at this time of night either wouldn’t notice or wouldn’t remember. They would probably just blink rapidly a few times and tell their friends how good the Hurricanes at Pat O’Brien’s were.

Plus, I had bigger things to worry about right now. 

I locked the door and backed up toward the bar, stashing my bag underneath. Taking off my coat, I folded it over my arm and tucked it on the shelf beside it. Then I kicked off my heels and stretched my bare feet. I needed my movements to be unhampered. Whatever was out there, common sense told me a locked door wasn’t going to keep it out, and I wasn’t about to just sit around and wait for Alex to get here and “save” me. 

Opening the screen on my cell, I started to tap out a quick text to Killian, the master vampire of my coven and head of the only family I’d ever known. But then I paused. Alex was on his way, and if Killian caught him here without his permission there would be hell to pay. And if I had to choose a champion, I’d rather have a scary witch on my side to fight dark magic.

Deleting the message, I slid my phone into my bag where it wouldn’t get damaged. I could always call Killian after the fact to walk me home.

If I made it out of here.

The club was dark except for a light over the bar, and I moved into the shadows near the door. My pants and blouse were both black, and with my dark skin and hair, it would hopefully give me a chance to surprise them.

I needed one second to get the upper hand.

Just one.

Time ticked silently by, and although I felt that whoever or whatever was stalking me was still outside, it made no move to try to get into the club. Yet I could feel how restless it was becoming, like vibrations in the air. Could almost see it pacing the sidewalk just outside. 

I swallowed down my anxiety and tried to calm my heart, which was doing its best to break though the cage of my breastbone. My glasses slid slowly down my nose, but I didn’t dare move. 

It had been stupid of me to stay here alone, especially after I’d promised Alex I wouldn’t when he’d checked on me after my illness. But nothing had happened for weeks, and we had all started to relax back into our normal lives. Even Killian, the ever-watchful master vampire, had only given me a thoughtful glance when I’d told him I was going to stay late to catch up on things. Then he’d given me a nod and told me not to get caught by the sun before he’d hurried home to his mate.

As I waited, my mind wandered back to the night Alex had saved my life. Killian had hidden me at the swamp house after I’d fallen ill, and no one had known what was happening. But I did. I was dying, rotting from the inside out, something unheard of for one of my species. Vampires died by things like beheadings or sunlight, not from a horrible case of the flu. 

But what I’d had was much worse than a common virus. It was a curse. And not a normal curse. With no other options, Killian had called in the witches we shared the city of New Orleans with. But even they hadn’t known where it had come from or who had placed it. Lucky for me, Alex had stepped up completely on a whim and tried to help. He’d torn it out of me with his bare hands. 

Well, it was magic, but it sure as hell had felt like his bare hands had reached inside of me to rip it out.

Quite a different feeling from the way he’d touched me the next time I’d seen him, right here at the club at closing time, his large palm flat against my chest, radiating heat through my body as he searched for any remaining signs of the curse. 

A noise outside the door brought me back to the here and now with a vengeance. I hissed, my fangs bared and my hands up, fingers curled into lethal claws. Whoever was coming after me, I wasn’t going down without one hell of a fight. 

The scent of blood assaulted by senses. My own. Vaguely, I noticed the tip of my left middle finger was bleeding. I must’ve nicked it on something coming back into the club.

“Kenya! Let me in.”                                                    

It was Alex. Even if I hadn’t recognized his voice, I would’ve known it was him by the way my body immediately went on alert, ready for a different kind of battle. 

One that involved who was going to be on top.

“Kenya!”

Shaking off the untoward thought, I unlocked the door and stepped back out of the way of the door. Alex hurried inside, closing and locking it behind him.