Exposure: Bloodlust Series Book 1

by L. L. Ash

  “Misha,” Clarence called him softly, his voice low.

  Mason stopped in his shuffling through papers on his desk and looked up at his brother.

  “I’m not wasting your time. I promise you. Please, try it.”

  Mason sighed before looking over at me, his face still full of irritation by my mere presence.

  He took a step forward, then another and another until I was backed against the wall, his hands on either side of me, his face mere inches from mine.

  Black hair similar to mine fell into his face in uncut, wavy locks and light blue eyes stared back at me.

  “Now,” his voice turned sultry, the blue of his eyes swirling in an almost hypnotic pool. “Miss Harper, take off your top.”

  My jaw set and I stared back at him.

  “Suck a dick, Mason.”

  He reared back, turning to Clarence in surprise before he came forward again, his nose practically touching mine.

  “Miss Harper,” he tried again, his voice still low and intimate as those eyes continued to swirl. “Touch your toes.”

  “Right after you get your face away from me,” I answered back, watching Mason’s eyes cease to churn as he stepped back again.

  “That’s impossible,” Mason looked shocked. “Only vampires and werewolves are immune to the charm.”

  Mason walked a circle around me, sniffing me like a dog.

  “She’s not a vampire,” Clarence assured. “You can smell her. She’s completely human.”

  “And virgin...”

  My face reddened.

  “Do you think it’s because of her maidenhead? I’ve seduced virgins before but it’s the only thing I can imagine.”

  Mason looked flummoxed, but intrigued.

  “Leave it to you to find the only girl on earth you can’t convince to bed with charm,” Mason laughed, slapping Clarence on the shoulder.

  “I wouldn’t ever do that Mase. You know it.”

  “Sure, sure. You, Mr. honorable. You can never embrace your dark side and just take what you want. It’s one of the few things left to us to enjoy.”

  “It’s the one thing that separates us from the beasts of the earth.”

  “No, our brain is the only thing that separates us from the beast. Werewolves included, the stupid bastards...”

  Mason went to his desk and pulled out what looked like a needle. He whipped around and faced me, and I stepped back into the wall.

  “What are you doing with that?” I asked, huddling back as far as I could.

  “Taking a sample. Don’t worry. It’ll only sting a little. Surely you’ve had your blood drawn before.”

  “Sure, at a doctor’s office with a registered phlebotomist. Not a crazed 400 year old scientist.”

  “You flatter me,” Mason grinned, gripping my arm and resting it on his shoulder before cupping the other over my bicep, pressing into the skin painfully like the rubber tourniquets they use.

  Taking the needle cap between his teeth he inserted the needle into the inside of my elbow and began drawing my blood.

  “Fuck yes,” Mason groaned, his eyes rolling into the back of his head as he pulled the plunger of the syringe.

  I glanced over at Clarence and his hand was covering his eyes as if he was fighting his bloodlust too. Then again, maybe Mason was giving into it.

  “Now, Miss Harper, I’m going to look at your DNA and see if I can figure out what is wrong with you. If I find out I’ll let your lover know and he’ll find the best way to tell you of your heinous deficiencies. As of this moment, you’re a freak of nature and that excites me beyond reason.”

  Mason slowly pulled the needle out of my skin, a droplet forming at the hole. He capped the syringe and clamped it between his teeth as he pressed his other thumb firmly onto the blood spot.

  Unclamping my arm, he took the syringe out of his mouth and slipped it between two fingers before lifting his thumb from my arm, a spot of sticky blood on the pad of his finger. The appendage was instantly drawn into his mouth.

  “Oh God. I hope you’re getting in on this, little brother,” Mason groaned as he sucked on his finger.

  Clarence was there in a flash, pushing Mason back and standing between us.

  “She is not yours to taste,” Clarence growled.

  “No need to beat your chest, Clee.” Mason waved his hand around again, taking his seat behind his desk.

  “Now, leave me. I’m sure you have other things you can do. The least of which is seeing if getting rid of that maidenhead restores her vulnerability.”

  “If it’s her maidenhead keeping the charm from working, then it’s all the more reason to keep it intact. One less way another can use her or trick her.”

  Mason rolled his eyes.

  “There isn’t another vampire within a hundred miles of us, Clee. Don’t be daft. The only thing keeping her intact is you. You and your rather English sense of duty.”

  “Better an Englishman’s sense of duty than a Russian’s lack of emotion.”

  Mason laughed and Clarence’s shoulders relaxed.

  “Don’t be fooled. I may be emotionless but none could be more cold-hearted then the frosty cunt that sired us.”

  “Mason,” Clarence warned in a low voice.

  Mason looked up and upon seeing me said in a chipper voice, “Apologies. I meant bitch.”

  I grinned.

  “He does have a sort of medieval sense of chivalry, doesn’t he,” I said out loud, sidling up to Clarence.

  “Yes, of course. And all the ladies flock to him because of it,” Mason sounded frustrated by the fact.

  “A lot of ladies?” I asked carefully as I fluttered my eyelashes at Clarence.

  “Don’t ask questions you don’t wish to know the answer to, Darling,”

  “Oh c’mon. You’ve been around for 30o years. You’ve obviously been with other women. If you hadn’t I’d think there’s something wrong with you.”

  Clarence shrugged but Mason laughed.

  “You know, Sweet Pea, I think I’m going to like you, even if you’re still young enough to suck your mother’s tit.”

  “My mother doesn’t have tits,” I swung over to Mason now, anger flooding me at his heartless words. “She got them sawed off the first time she had cancer.”

  Mason’s face fell.

  “Didn’t mean to offend you, Sweet Pea. It’s just a saying.”

  “And you’re just a bitter scientist. I couldn’t even imagine how alone you’d be if Clarence didn’t choose to stay with you.”

  Now Mason was angry.

  “I’d probably be in the same place as you would, cold and dead, six feet under the ground. He’s the only reason you’re alive Baby Breath. So don’t try to antagonize me with Clarence. He was mine far before you came around, and he will be mine long, long after you’re dead.”

  My stomach dropped into my boots and I stomped out the door.

  “Do you have to be such a careless bastard? She may be young and given to flashes of anger, but you have no such excuse. Your behavior is deplorable! I would have thought you had enough love in there for me to give her a chance.”

  “I do give her a chance. You are the only reason I haven’t drained every last drop of her virgin blood. And brother, because I love you I’m going to tell you to deflower her and drink her blood or you will lose the chance to someone else. Her abnormality will catch to the wind in one way or another and they will flock to her. Claim her or lose her.”

  “Unless you don’t know how to keep your fool tongue in your mouth nobody will find out. Threaten her again and we will see which one of us is the stronger.”

  “Don’t let her cloud your mind, Brother. She is one human. Fuck her, feed off her and leave her. That is the way it is done.”

  “She is not just a human to me!” Clarence growled and stormed out the door.

  He stopped cold when he saw me, and realized that I’d heard the whole exchange.

  “Addie… I’m...”

  “Don
’t be,” I shook my head. “You can’t control what he says and does. We only get the chance to control ourselves. Unless you’re a vampire of course, and can charm.”

  Clarence gave me a weak smile.

  “I still would have rather you hadn’t heard that… He can be crude at times.”

  “At times? You mean there are times when he’s not?”

  He shrugged and came to me.

  “I will not do as he says, though. I’ve given you my reasonings. Whether it’s your maidenhood or not causing your immunity to our power, it doesn’t matter. No one will come looking, and no one will care.”

  I gave a sharp nod.

  “Alright, bring me home lover boy. I’d rather not have to look at this cabin again. At least for a while.”

  “Fine with me,” he agreed and picked me up, moving swiftly homeward.

  “Will you stay with me?” I asked him as the sun dipped down behind the trees. “Don’t touch me, don’t kiss me if you don’t want to… but please stay with me tonight?”

  Clarence was sitting in what I now referred to as ‘his chair’ next to my desk. His arms were propped on his thighs and he looked tired.

  “I shouldn’t, Darling,” was all he said, though he didn’t get up.

  “You’re not going to deflower me by being in the room with me while I sleep,” I grinned.

  “That’s not what I’m worried about,” he smiled back. “I worry about your dad finding me here. When I was young, a man can rightfully murder a man sleeping in his unmarried daughter’s bed.”

  I gut laughed.

  “First of all, Dad would never murder you. Yell, maybe. But not murder. Secondly, he’s already likely asleep in front of the TV. So if he gets up at all tonight he’ll go to his bed to sleep. That’s it.”

  “It sounds so simple.”

  “Because it is.”

  He sat there for a moment and thought, but instead of giving him the time to talk himself out of it, I stood and dragged up my tank top, then unbuttoned my shorts and kicked off my sandals.

  I slipped under my sheets in my underwear as I always did and looked at him. His mouth was closed, his jaw tight as he watched intently.

  “I think you do get enjoyment of torturing me, Addie.”

  I giggled like a child.

  He stood and slipped off his boots before crawling into the other side of my bed and lying there, on top of the covers.

  “I cannot stay all night,” he told me. “I need to rest in my box or I become weak. But I’ll stay here with you until you fall asleep.”

  “Ok,” I agreed and cuddled back into him as he shifted his arm around me.

  “Clothes and sheets never felt like so much and so little at the same time,” Clarence mused and I grinned.

  “Funny how that works, huh?”

  “Absolutely entertaining,” he said dryly. “It would have helped if you’d have remained dressed.”

  “Oh c’mon. Who sleeps in their clothes?”

  “Many people,” he answered quietly. “Many, many people.”

  I closed my eyes, exhausted, and fell almost immediately asleep with his safe, comforting bulk at my back.

  As I woke up to yet another day, I turned and saw that he was gone. The window was closed but not locked, and his discarded shoes were gone with him.

  The man was impossible to seduce, but I wasn’t so sure I minded now. His dedication was astounding, and his morals absolutely solid as steel. And honestly, it was flattering that he regarded me so highly. I might not have the same feelings of sanctity for my virginity, but he loved me enough that he was willing to wait until I was sure of my intentions toward him. That was how much he regarded me.

  Getting up and ready for school, I showered, dressed in a tank, a zip hoodie and some baggy army fatigues I’d found at a consignment store. Capping those off with my combat boots and some black button earrings Mom had given me many birthdays ago, I climbed down the spiral stairs and grabbed some bread and barely waited for it to toast before flying out of the house.

  I was standing at the bus stop when Genie came up. She was flirting with a guy I hadn’t seen before, and their hands were clasped intimately as they whispered back and forth. When Genie and the unnamed boy reached me she grinned and made the introduction.

  “Adds, this is Bobby. Bobby, this is Addie. I told you about her on Saturday.”

  “Yeah, yeah I remember,” he said with a goofy grin. “Nice ta meet ya.”

  “You too, Bobby.”

  “Good morning,” another voice approached. I whirled to see Clarence almost behind me.

  “Since when do you ride the bus?” Genie asked with a laugh.

  “Since my girlfriend does,” Clarence grinned. “I have to backtrack, but either way I still end up at school, so why not?”

  I giggled in excitement for seeing him, but Clarence took a moment to introduce himself to the other male in the circle.

  “I’m Clarence” he said, putting out his hand to Bobby.

  “I know who you are,” Bobby laughed. “I’m Bobby. Genie and I are...dating.”

  “We’re not dating doofus,” Genie punched his arm and he groaned in mock agony.

  “Then what the heck else would you call it?” Bobby argued.

  “We’re just boinking,” was Genie’s elegant answer.

  Bobby groaned and covered his face with his hands.

  “Because that’s way better than dating.”

  Genie laughed, and Clarence raised his eyebrow, looking a little confused by the interaction.

  “Well, it’s a pleasure Bobby,” Clarence said finally, breaking up the strange dynamic going on between Genie and Bobby.

  “You too. It’s surprising we’ve been going to school all this time together and never talked before.”

  “That’s likely my fault. I keep to myself.”

  “Well, whatever. We’re buds now!”

  “Sure,” Clarence agreed with a polite smile before turning to me.

  “How did you sleep?” he asked me as he stood in front of me, hands encasing both of mine.

  “Fine,” I told him with a grin, then I lowered my voice. “Until I woke up alone.”

  “I felt the same,” he touched my cheek before dipping down and pressing a gentle kiss to my lips. “I stayed as long as I could.”

  “I liked lying with you. Maybe I can convince you to do it again tonight.”

  “I might be persuaded.”

  After another gentle kiss he stood up and held me tightly in his arms until the bus arrived.

  “I meant to tell you,” Clarence said suddenly from the dark, breaking the silence as we laid there in bed, same as the night before. “Mason looked at your blood, and there is the slightest abnormality, from regular humans, at least. It’s actually a marker in your DNA that Vampires have, and that’s why you can’t be charmed. It’s incredibly interesting, and Mason is besides himself with excitement. He hasn’t had a breakthrough like this in...centuries.”

  “So I’m a freak?” I asked, shifting until I was looking at him through the dark.

  “Not a freak. We’ve been talking about it, Mason and I. We have a theory that maybe, possibly you had gotten a touch of the virus at some point in your life. Either that or it was just an abnormality in the womb and there’s no real explanation for it. Mason’s been using your blood to further along the cure. He seems to think that you may be the link between humans and Vampires. How the virus mutated and became a human virus to begin with.”

  “If it’s a virus, can’t you just make some kind of antidote? Or even a vaccine?”

  Clarence shrugged shallowly.

  “Vampires have tried and tried for a millenia. No progress has ever been made. But any vampires who get close always end up dead.”

  “Why?”

  “Because while a majority of vampires were turned against their will, there are still many who prefer it, who savor the ability to feed and to prey on humans. They are evil demons, worthy of the name vam
pire.”

  “So it’ll wipe out vampires as we know it? That’s why they kill anyone working on a cure?”

  “Not all vampires. Just the daywalkers. The nightwalkers are a very old, very strong group, but they have nothing to do with us as a general. We keep our own societies and don’t mix very often.”

  “The idea that there is not just one, but two species of vampires kind of blows my mind.”

  He laughed.

  “Just pray you never meet a nightwalker, Darling.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because like the werewolves, they are half animal. They lost their taste for humanity thousands of years ago.”

  “Will you tell me about the Werewolves? I don’t think I want to know about the nightwalkers. They sound like the type of creatures nightmares are made of.”

  “They are. Werewolves are just mindless brutes. They are strong, powerful beasts, but they are easily outmatched by a clever vampire.”

  “Do they live forever like you?”

  “Oh, no. Not nearly. Their lives are extended simply from their strength, but I’ve never heard of one living past 100 years.”

  “I saw one, that day in the woods. You called it a pup.”

  “It was a young one. Recently turned. One bite from the beasts and you’re forever made to be a carnivore.”

  “Are they always like that? Covered in fur and hair?”

  “The young ones are. They eventually gain the skill to turn, back and forth similar to a vampire. Their hair recedes and their claws retract. But their teeth remain a carnivore's teeth, and their bulk, well… They remain muscular creatures, whether in their wolf or human form”

  “So you’re saying I could have passed one on the street at any time and not known?”

  “You likely have. Vampires too. Though being from such a hot sunny climate makes your seeing a vampire less likely.”

  “Well, that makes me feel somewhat better at least.”

  He chuckled again and pulled me tighter to him.

  “Rest now, Love. I’ll stay as long as I can.”

  I closed my eyes and fell quickly to sleep.

  Chapter Eleven

  He wasn’t there when I woke up, and he wasn’t at school. Clarence was gone.