The Vampire Awakenings Bundle: Books 1-5

by Davies, Brenda K.

  Yep, the loss of blood had definitely affected her mind, she decided.

  “For a little bit,” she admitted.

  Her thoughts chugged along sluggishly as she tried to recall everything that had occurred last night. She’d seen him in the bar, and for the first time he’d also seen her. Then she’d gone outside with Nabel and walked around to the back. That’s where they’d finally found him, the one she’d been hunting for, the monster who had haunted her dreams even before he’d become a walking dead guy. The one she’d been searching for, for what felt like forever. She’d found him, but it had all gone so horribly wrong. She’d played the scenario of their reunion out in her head millions of times over the years. In every one of those scenarios she’d been the one to drive a stake through his heart, not the one to end up being his Lunchable.

  Then… then… her memory came up against a wall. Where had Nabel gone when she’d entered the alley? How had she ended up being alone in the alley with the vampire? Her head began to pound when she tried to recall what had happened to Nabel. She’d been training for years to fight a vampire, but it hadn’t been enough, and now she was sitting in a nest of them.

  “What were you doing there?” His question brought her attention back to him.

  “Hanging out with a friend.” It wasn’t entirely a lie, but she wasn’t about to tell him the truth.

  “Your friend is a hunter,” he stated. The only part of her that indicated any kind of reaction to his statement was the dilation of her pupils. “What does that make you? Are you a hunter or one of the humans they use as bait?”

  That got a reaction as her nostrils flared. “They did not use me as bait!”

  “I guess that answers that question then, human.”

  If she’d been a vampire her eyes would have been red as fire, instead she glared at him. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Then enlighten me.”

  “I’d rather die before I ever told you anything about me, or anyone I associate with. If you want answers tear them from my mind, that’s the only way you’ll get them.” They’d all be lies, but she wasn’t about to admit that to him. “You can torture me or whatever it is your kind does, I won’t tell you anything.”

  “If I take control of your mind…”

  “You are a monster!” she spat.

  “I’m not,” he murmured. “and you will not be mistreated. Nor will we take from you what you know about your life, we’ll only change what you know about us. The hunters are dangerous; they don’t understand there are differences in all vampires, but hunters serve their purpose by helping to rid the world of some evil. I will kill one if they try to kill me, but your secrets are yours to keep.

  “They will do me and my family little good. We lead peaceful lives. I hope to never encounter another hunter again, but if I were you, I’d rethink your loyalties and what you’re doing. You were nearly killed. The hunter you were with didn’t arrive on the scene until after I did. You would have been dead if I hadn’t gotten there first, and I know the two of you left the bar together.”

  Paige didn’t respond to him; she didn’t know what to say. “So what were you doing in the bar, trying to learn how to tell a vampire from a human?” he continued. “Not as easy as you thought it would be, was it?”

  Paige felt an uptick in her heartbeat at his words. How had Nabel not known he was a vampire? Nabel had been doing this sort of thing far longer than her; he’d been born into it. Shouldn’t Nabel have known something else to look for, but then this man had been associating with humans. They certainly couldn’t have all been vampires in the bar, and every woman she’d seen him leave with had still been alive the next night. What kind of a vampire was this man if he didn’t kill?

  Refusing to answer his question, she simply stated a fact. “You left with a different woman every time I saw you.”

  “And they were all very happy and alive when they walked back out of my room.” The words were casual, but his smile had vanished. “You have some pretty ingrained ideas about what we are; you’re wrong. Not that I expect you to believe me; I can see in your eyes that you don’t, but I can promise you, I’ve never killed a human.”

  “And the others in this house?”

  “Sometimes there are things that must be done, no matter if you want to do them or not. Everyone in this house can walk in the sun, cross water, and wouldn’t have killed if it hadn’t been necessary to save themselves or someone they love.” He rose to his feet, his massive frame towered over her, but she didn’t get the impression he was trying to intimidate her.

  “You said you’ve never killed a human, you’ve killed something else then?” she asked.

  “I’ve killed vampires who deserved it before.”

  She swallowed as she stared up at him. “I see.”

  “Do you? Or do you still have me lumped into the same category of monsters as the ones of us who kill for pleasure?”

  “I know what I’ve seen of your kind.”

  “And what have you seen?” he inquired. Paige clamped her mouth shut; she’d already revealed far more than she’d ever meant to. “The scars on your neck, they’re older. They’re from a vampire.”

  Her eyes flickered toward him, but she didn’t see any reason to respond to him. He already knew what they were, which was far more than she would have ever told him. A flutter of alarm went through her belly. She’d assumed she was going to die the first time she’d learned about vampires, and she’d been certain of it again last night. Her fingers dug into her palms as she tried to bury her apprehension; he couldn’t think it was because of him.

  “When can I leave?” she inquired.

  “Soon.”

  He shoved his hands into his pockets as the small woman from earlier stepped into the doorway again. Her husband stayed behind her. Paige had no doubt he would be on her in an instant if she made a move toward Emma again, something she had no intention of doing. She didn’t trust them as far as she could throw them, but in order to survive here, her head still had to be attached to her body. Attempting to attack Emma was a good way to ensure her head didn’t stay on her neck for long.

  She glanced between Ian and Ethan, their coloring was opposite from each other, but she could see the family resemblance in their sculpted cheekbones and slim bridged noses. Ian’s jaw was narrower than Ethan’s, his features somehow softer and more inviting; something that had worked well for him if his parade of conquests out of the bar was any indication.

  Emma moved to her side and held the plate out to her. Paige stared at it before taking it from her. The delicious scent of melted cheese and crispy toast drifting from the plate caused her mouth to water, but she couldn’t bring herself to pick it up.

  Her eyes were drawn to the door as the other two women appeared there. “Jill, Mandy, and I all went to college together,” Emma said. “We’ve all been friends for five years now.”

  Paige glanced between the three of them as she fiddled with the crust of her sandwich. “I’ll take a bite of it, if you’d like,” Jill offered. “To show you it’s not drugged or something.”

  Paige shook her head and lifted the sandwich. She didn’t see any reason why they would drug her food, she was already at their mercy, and they didn’t know she wasn’t susceptible to their mind control powers. Biting into the sandwich, she was unable to suppress a low groan of delight as the warm cheese melted in her mouth.

  “She can’t boil water, but I still eat her grilled cheeses,” Emma said with a smile.

  “Hey!” Jill protested.

  “It’s true. Everything else she cooks tastes like crap,” Mandy said. “But these are delicious.”

  Paige finished the sandwich and licked her fingers. “Would you like another?” Jill inquired.

  Shaking her head, Paige placed the plate on her lap. Emma took it from her and set it on the bedside table. “Can I go home now?” Paige inquired.

  Ian looked her over. Her cheeks had taken on a rosy gl
ow, her eyes shone with life and were more alert than they’d been when she’d first woken. She looked healthy, but he found himself hesitant to say goodbye to her already. He wouldn’t keep someone against their will; no matter how much he longed to spend just a few more minutes with her. He forced himself to take a step away from her.

  Shaking his head, he tugged at his hair in an attempt to rid himself of the strange impulse he had to keep her with him. Don’t get attached, he reminded himself, it would only end in her getting hurt, and this girl had experienced far too much of that in her lifetime. He didn’t have to hear her story to know that.

  For the first time ever, he found himself curious to know more about a woman. It was probably better if she left sooner rather than later, he decided.

  “Is she stable enough to go back, Mandy?” he asked.

  “I believe so,” Mandy replied.

  “You can’t go back with your memories of us intact,” Ian told her.

  Maybe he could tweak them a little so their paths could cross again. He quickly shut that impulse down. In order to keep himself and his family safe, he had to get far away from this girl and everything she was mixed up in. This would be the last time they ever saw each other.

  “I understand,” she murmured and folded her hands demurely in her lap.

  She was taking this far easier than he’d thought she would, but then she knew there was no other choice. Still, he couldn’t bring himself to step forward and do it. He wouldn’t be the one who violated her mind and erased her memories of him from it. “Stefan, will you do it?”

  Stefan shot him a questioning look, but he approached the bed. Ian moved toward his brother in the doorway. Behind him, she spotted two other men in the hall. They both had blond hair, it was different in hue than Ian’s, but she wondered if they were some of the other siblings he’d mentioned. However, she wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Ethan wasn’t really his brother, and Stefan wasn’t his brother-in-law. Nothing a vampire says is true, she reminded herself.

  Her attention was diverted to Stefan when he settled onto the bed across from her. She had a whole new understanding of black ice as his eyes burned into hers. “This won’t hurt,” he assured her.

  “What are you going to do?” she asked, though she’d already heard what vampires could do.

  She figured pretending to be in the dark, and frightened, would probably work better for her than admitting she knew what was going to happen. She prayed her acting skills had improved considerably since her one venture into the theatre world. In seventh grade she’d been cast as Veruca Salt in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. She’d been so ready and excited for the play, until she’d hit the stage.

  The dazzling lights and the sea of faces had caused her to forget half of her lines and stutter through the ones she could remember. Halfway through the play, she’d stumbled and tripped some of the Oompa Loompas. She could still clearly recall their stuffed, little, orange bodies bouncing over the side of the stage and onto the laps of their horrified parents. It had been the most embarrassing moment of her life, this would be one of the most important.

  “He’s going to change a few memories around, and then we’re going to take you home.” Ian was the one who answered her question. “He’ll leave almost all of your memories intact, and he won’t change any of your beliefs. Your life is your own to live. I will give you this bit of advice, and Stefan will allow you to keep it, be careful whom you trust with your life, not everything is what it seems, and you were left in that alley alone before you were attacked. Remember that, Paige, and think long and hard on it.”

  She knew what he was trying to tell her, but she couldn’t process it right now. She couldn’t bring herself to believe the man she’d come to trust so much over the past year, really would use her as bait. Couldn’t believe these last years of her life may have revolved around a group who had as much regard for her life as most vampires did. She had a few more important things to worry about right now, she realized. She could think about all of that when she wasn’t surrounded by a group of bloodsuckers.

  Were they actually telling her the truth right now? Vampires were monsters, but if they were telling the truth then that meant Ian and his family had actually saved her life and intended to return her to it. Was that possible for a vampire to do?

  “Ian, it might be best if we remove all memory of the attack from her mind,” Stefan suggested.

  Ian shook his head and folded his arms over his chest. “No. She can go back, but I won’t allow her to be tossed to the wolves. She has to have that memory, otherwise we’re sending her back to die, and I would have put everyone at risk for nothing. I won’t let that happen, and I won’t have her life be worth nothing more than being used as vampire bait.”

  Everyone in the room stared at Ian before turning to look at her. The thought of what was to come no longer had her heart doing the can-can in her chest. Rather it was the impassioned tone of his voice and his words. She didn’t know what was up and what was down anymore, but she did know he meant what he’d said.

  Stefan rested his hands on top of hers, drawing her attention back to him. “Look at me.” His eyes burned into hers. “You were mugged behind the bar. You were alone, you don’t know how you got that way, but you do remember your friend abandoning you there. A kind stranger saved you from your attacker.”

  The soothing tone of his voice relaxed her, despite her reservations about what he planned to do to her. She could feel something niggling at the back of her mind, but just as she’d been promised, she didn’t feel his power seeping inside to twist her memories to something they were never meant to be. She kept her face slack as he continued to speak.

  “He took you to a friend’s house near the campus. They helped to clean you up and brought you where you needed to be when you were feeling better. The name of the man who rescued you is Mike.” There was a ripple in the hallway, one of the blonds behind Ian muttered something, but she couldn’t make it out. “You don’t remember much about his face because you hit your head. You don’t remember anything about his friends. All you know is he and his friends kept you safe. You never saw a vampire last night. You will pick up with your life where you left off before the attack.”

  Paige’s mind spun as she tried to process what he said. He really was giving her memories that would explain away what had happened last night, that would land her safely back in her small hotel room near the college. He wasn’t even going to take away her knowledge of vampires. They were going to leave her to live her life. They really were unlike anything she’d ever encountered before. She almost felt bad for pretending to agree with Stefan, almost.

  Stefan took hold of her chin. She managed to keep herself from flinching at the sudden contact with him. Ian took a step forward, his forehead furrowed; his azure eyes were troubled as they ran over her. Was she doing something wrong? Could he tell it wasn’t working?

  Drawing on her training, she envisioned a serene lake, rippling against the shore as she tried to keep her breathing and pulse rate steady. She’d been taught how to play along, instructed to keep herself as calm as possible, but she’d never been confronted with the reality of having to do so. She felt like she was blowing this right now. That somehow they knew Stefan’s power didn’t work on her.

  “If anyone asks, the house was only a few miles away from campus, but you don’t remember the exact route of how to get there.” His words made her wonder where she was located right now, but she didn’t dare ask. “Do you understand?” Paige nodded in response. “Good. Now repeat it back to me.”

  In a steady monotone, Paige recited his words back to him. Stefan searched her gaze before rising to his feet. He started to walk away from her, but Ian rested his hand on his arm, stopping him before speaking, “It didn’t work.”

  Despite her yearning to jump up and flee the room that his words caused, she kept her face relaxed and her eyes ahead when Stefan turned to look at her. From the corner of her eye, she c
ould see the scowl marring his brow. “Ian, I’ve never failed at manipulating someone’s memories.”

  “I know,” Ian said. “I don’t know how I know, and I don’t know why I do, but it didn’t work on her.”

  Stefan stared at him before turning on his heel and coming back to her. Paige’s heart rate remained even and calm, her eyes straight ahead and her face slack, but her stomach was a squirming mass or worms tumbling over top of one another. How could Ian possibly know when the others didn’t?

  Before Stefan could touch her again, Ian stepped forward and took hold of her chin. “You’re far older than us, Stefan, more adept at doing this, but I know it didn’t work. Isn’t that right?”

  Ian turned her head toward him and bent to look into her eyes. Paige didn’t fight against his grip, she remained lax and immobile, but as his gaze burned into hers, she knew he wasn’t buying it. A knowing smile curved his mouth. Before she knew what he planned, he moved closer and pressed his lips to hers.

  Reacting as if she’d been shot, Paige threw herself backward so forcefully she almost toppled out of the bed. Blankets tangled around her legs, she struggled to maintain her balance as Ethan lurched forward and wrapped his arm around Emma’s waist. He pulled her away from the bed and positioned his body so he stood in front of Emma and her friends.

  Finally managing to right herself, Paige spun toward Ian. “How dare you!” she spat.

  He simply grinned at her while he rocked back on his heels. “I think that means she remembers us, don’t you?” he inquired again.

  Her teeth ground together so hard she thought they might crack as she glared at him. She didn’t know if she was madder at him for rattling her in such a way, or herself for allowing him to slip past her cover. Either way, it didn’t matter; they knew the truth. Their powers were useless against her, for now anyway.