Vampire Mate: BBW Paranormal Romance

by Natalie Kristen

  “Will you...be all right?” he asked over his shoulder, without looking at her.

  Her answer was a bare whisper. “Yes.”

  Glenn walked straight out the opened doors without glancing back. If he looked back at her, he knew he would never, ever be able to leave.

  Getting into his car, he turned the car around and gunned down the long driveway. The gargoyles unfurled their stone wings as the gates clanged shut behind him. Squinting up, he saw a long, silver dragon body slither out of the clouds and follow his car.

  “Harvey,” he said under his breath. He suddenly reached for his phone and dialed Harvey's number. He heard the ringing tone and then Harvey's voice came through. “Yes, Glenn?”

  “Harvey, how are you able to pick up the phone when you're flying through the clouds, directly above my car?” Glenn asked calmly.

  “Hands-free set,” came his CEO's droll answer.

  “You shouldn't be here.”

  “I was just in the neighborhood. How was dinner?” Harvey said, cutting straight to the point. “Did he talk much about the land?”

  “No, he assigned his assistant to handle the acquisition.”

  “Hmm.”

  “Hmm indeed. Get yourself home now, Harvey. I'll talk to you in the office tomorrow.”

  “Okay, drive safe.” Click.

  Glenn saw a flick of a magnificent silver tail in the sky as the silver dragon receded into the distance. Philomi must have told Harvey where he was, and Harvey being Harvey had come and circled Kron's lair until he saw Glenn drive out the gates in one piece. Under that retiring, unassuming manner, Harvey was loyal, cool-headed and courageous. He was a good CEO and a great friend.

  Glenn sped towards the city, but he didn't want to go back to his silent, empty penthouse right now.

  A crowded, pulsing blood bar was where he needed to be right now. He needed to drink. Not think, not feel, just—drink.

  He needed blood, but all he could think of was her blood. The sweet, fair column of her throat, the curve of her neck flowing into her round shoulders, her inviting bosom...

  He could still see her brilliant green eyes, eyes that held no tears but so much pain.

  With a growl, he shook her image away. He couldn't even think straight right now. He needed to check himself into a blood bar, stat.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Charlene followed him to the front door and watched him leave, forcing her shaking knees to hold up until she heard his car roar out of the gates. Once she knew that Glenn had left Sideous Kron's compound, she turned and slumped onto the sofa in front of the fireplace, all her bravado and belligerence leached from her.

  She wanted to bury her head in her hands, or throw something, preferably something expensive and fragile. She glared at the row of snow globes on a shelf beside the fireplace. Something wasn't quite right about these globes. For one, the glass was dark and opaque, rather than transparent. Through the dark glass, she could sense rather than see something trapped within the globe. Unconsciously, she gulped and inched further away from those dark globes. There was definitely something sinister about those snow globes.

  Charlene closed her eyes and recalled Glenn's tone and look of revulsion and contempt. Her fingers curled into fists as her breathing quickened. Who was he to judge her? He was a vampire, a blood drinker, and he was judging her? Pot and kettle much? Even if he was a very handsome, very intense, very hot pot, he still didn't have the right to look down on her and revile her for being a blood demoness!

  And he had turned his back and just walked out of her.

  To think that she had...liked him. Well, it was a lot more than like really. She felt like she belonged to him, with him, and that he was—the one. The one, and only one, for her. Charlene gave herself a big mental kick in the butt. There was no such thing as 'the one'. She wasn't a giggling, starry-eyed young thing. Yet she was holding on to such silly romantic illusions. The one. Yeah, right.

  But when she looked into his eyes, she had seen something that was deep and real. The want, the anger, the pain. His conflicted emotions had been raw and real. He had walked away from her, yet she wanted to run to him, run straight into his arms. That was where she belonged. In his arms, in his bed...

  With a gasp, Charlene forced her eyes open. The erotic image of their entwined, writhing bodies sent a rush of heat down her body. She blinked hard but still the image of her in Glenn Constantine's bed refused to dislodge from her mind. She could see their bodies joined as one, moving against each other, holding and clinging to each other as their fangs pierced into each other's necks...

  Charlene's hands flew to her throat. Her heart was beating so fast, and she felt so hot, and so wet between her thighs. From what she saw in her mind, she knew, without a doubt, that taking Glenn's blood would be a very intimate, pleasurable act. When she fed from her victims, she had taken their blood by force. It was an act of necessity, violence and retribution. But with Glenn, it would be so different. It wouldn't be just feeding. Blood and sex were inextricably, intimately linked. They would be connected and bound to each other. They belonged to each other.

  “No,” she whispered. “It can't be. It can never be.”

  The flames leaped and cackled, mocking her for her girlish fantasies.

  You, a vampire's mate? You can never be his mate. You are a blood demoness, a slave, a monster!

  She jerked her head up as the fire dimmed and shrank back. The fine hairs at the back of her neck rose, but she took a deep breath and forced her spine to remain rigid. She threw her shoulders back and held her head high as she counted the seconds under her breath. “One anal demon, two anal demon, three anal...”

  Sure enough, not five seconds later, Kron teleported into the living room in a puff of smoke.

  Kron stood in front of the fireplace, rubbing his chin and frowning, as if contemplating what to do with Charlene.

  Finally, he stated the obvious. “The vampire left. And he didn't touch anything.” Was he referring to just the food?

  “I guess he wasn't hungry.”

  “Oh, he was, Charlene. The Master vampire was very hungry.” The demon bared his fangs in a smile.

  Charlene put up her hands. “Look, I didn't chase him away. He...just left. You didn't tell me you were inviting a vampire to dinner. I didn't know I was supposed to keep him here.”

  Kron reclined in his armchair and let his horns unfurl slowly from above his ears. The light from the fireplace cast a looming, menacing shadow behind him as his horns extended and curled. His shadow seemed to swivel its head to appraise her even as the demon lord himself sat stone still in his chair.

  “You're not.”

  Charlene started. “Not? What? I don't understand.”

  “You're not supposed to keep him here.”

  Charlene made no response, just swallowed a gulp as the demon's shadow stretched and grew across the wall. A shadowy clawed hand was creeping across the floor towards her even though Kron's manicured fingers remained on the velvet armrest of his chair. His pose was relaxed, unruffled, but his shadow spoke louder than his body language.

  “Do you know what you're supposed to do, Charlene?” Kron leaned forward in his chair.

  Charlene shook her head.

  “You're supposed to go to him, my dear.”

  When Charlene's eyes bugged, Kron went on smoothly, “I am sure that you felt Glenn Constantine's hunger. That vampire needs blood...and sex—from you.” The demon lord's thin lips curled in an amused smile, but his red eyes were hard and calculating. His tone was nonchalant, bored even, but Charlene heard the command in his words.

  Go to that hungry vampire, feed him, bed him, get him drunk on you, and get me what I want.

  “For sex and blood, what do you want me to get from him?” Charlene asked in a dead voice.

  At this, Kron smiled broadly, looking pleased. “I've put in an offer for a prime piece of real estate that his company owns. I've upped the price, but Mr Constantine doesn't seem intereste
d in selling the land. I want that land, Charlene. Get him to sign the sale agreement.”

  “That's it? You just want to buy a piece of land from him?” All this for a lousy piece of land?

  “That land is rich, Charlene. It is the richest piece of land in the whole continent!”

  “You mean there's oil, or gold, or...I don't know, diamonds, buried underneath?” She gestured with her hands.

  “You are still thinking of riches in human terms,” Kron admonished lightly.

  “So riches in demon terms would mean there are...lots of souls trapped there?” she muttered.

  Kron huffed loudly. “I am a demon Lord of Beasts and Bloodshed. What good are souls to me? Souls are just ornaments. Pretty to look at, fun to play with, but useless to me.”

  At his words, a violent shiver coursed down Charlene's spine and her eyes crept to those dark snow globes.

  Ornaments.

  Souls are just ornaments. Pretty to look at, fun to play with, but useless to me.

  Those weren't snow globes. They were soul globes!

  She made a strangled sound.

  Kron smiled at her, noting with pleasure the horror on her face. “Yes, my dear, that is my collection of souls. If a Made demon is destroyed, either by his own hand or by another without first being freed by his demon Maker, his soul is trapped forever by his Maker.” He clucked his tongue. “Some of my Made demons thought they could escape by offing themselves. Such foolishness. Well, now they can never escape. But enough talk of useless souls. We're talking about the land. Why do you think that piece of land is so rich, Charlene?””

  She forced the words through her constricted throat. “There are...some beasts buried there,” she ventured. “Livestock.”

  “Livestock!” Kron made a face. “Really, Charlene, you weren't Made yesterday! Come on, Charlene. You can do better than this. This is not what I expected of you,” Kron warned through his frozen smile.

  She inhaled shakily and came up with the only answer there was. “There are beasts and bloodshed on that land.”

  “Yes! Yes! That is right, Charlene! Do you know how so much blood came to be spilled on that piece of land?” His eyes glittered excitedly.

  Before she could shake her head, Kron went on with relish, “During the last Great War between vamps and weres, this land, this sweet piece of land was an execution site for the weres that were captured by the vampires. The vampires rounded up and executed millions, millions of weres on that land. The executions were bloody, violent, spectacular, the way executions should be. The vampire executioners tore out the throats and hearts of the weres, sometimes with silver blades, sometimes with their bare fangs. The blood of the slaughtered beasts seeped deep into the land, permeating the whole land. The soil is rich, so, so rich, with their blood. The executed beasts were buried or burnt at the execution site, so their remains are mixed with the soil. Beasts and blood, Charlene, on that prime land.”

  Charlene sat in silence for a long time. “What will happen after you get that land?” she asked softly.

  “I'm getting on in years, Charlene,” Kron said with a sigh. “I need more, much more than what you and my other demons can bring me, to sustain my power. Aging demon lords of chaos may try to engineer a large-scale catastrophe or war to feed their waning power. Me? I need a large injection of bloody, barbaric, beastly essence. If I build my base on that land, I will have the essence and energy I need for the next few decades. And you, my dear, can take a break from hunting. How'd you like that? You can go have a holiday, enjoy yourself...with your sister.”

  At his last three words, Charlene's entire body froze.

  “Yes, your sister, Charlotte Cole. Lovely thing with green eyes, like you, strawberry blond hair and a very dangerous job.”

  Charlene listened to Kron's accurate description of Charlotte's appearance. The demon clearly had the right girl. He knew of Charlotte, and he knew where she worked.

  “Dangerous job?” she choked out at last.

  “Why, yes. Your sister is an Enforcer. She hunts rogues, patrols unsavory, shadowy corners of the city, chasing violent, beastly rogues into dark alleyways...” Kron shook his head. “It's just not safe. No one is safe these days. Accidents happen. Enforcers are killed. Just like that.” He snapped his fingers to emphasize his point. “You can ask Glenn Constantine if you don't believe me. He is a Council member. Ask him if Charlotte Cole is a PAC Enforcer.”

  Charlene fisted the fabric of her gown and fought the urge to lunge at the demon and rip out his throat. The threat against her sister was thinly veiled, in fact, hardly veiled at all.

  “Or perhaps you would like to see for yourself.” Kron appeared in front of Charlene and before she could block him, he had scratched her neck with a long, curved claw. Blood flowed from her wound, and Kron dipped his claws into her blood and scattered it in the air in front of her. The blood mist formed a sort of canvas, and moving images began to form on the blood canvas.

  Charlene let out a cry. It was Charlotte. With unblinking, disbelieving eyes, she watched her sister's image appear on the blood screen. It was like watching an old, scratchy, flickering movie. The images were blurry and shaky, but she could make out her sister's face clearly. Charlotte was in a smart black leather jacket, the standard outfit for the PAC Enforcers. She was walking down a quiet street with another Enforcer by her side. The two of them were patrolling a rather deserted part of the city, and Charlene felt her heart lurch every time she saw a shadow move.

  She saw the two young Enforcers pause and draw their weapons from their jackets before rounding a street corner. A demon was holding a thrashing lioness down, his jagged fangs in the lion shifter's neck. The werelion must have shifted from her human into her animal form, thinking that she would be stronger and in better form to fight her assailant as a lion. But human or lion seemed to make no difference to the snarling demon. The demon just wanted blood, and it didn't matter if he took it from a human or lion's neck. Charlene watched in horror as Charlotte and her partner, who she could now see was a vampire, charged at the rogue demon. The demon was fast, and dodged their silver blades and bullets with ease. While Charlotte tried to help the injured shifter, who was now lying bleeding on the ground as a half-conscious human woman, her vampire partner faced the demon. Both vampire and demon had their fangs out, but the demon was double, or even triple the size of the slim, petite vampire Enforcer. The vamp fired a shot, which only grazed the demon's scaly cheek. But the pain enraged him, and he rushed forward and grabbed the vampire's arm, twisting and breaking it. Flinging her into a wall, the demon turned his attention to Charlotte.

  “No!” Charlene screamed, and the blood mist fell and splattered to the ground. The images were gone. Charlene reached out blindly, but the blood screen was nothing but blood spatters on the floor. She couldn't see Charlotte anymore.

  Kron watched Charlene drop to her knees, kneeling in her own blood, clawing desperately at the floor, trying to erect another blood screen. He waited patiently for her to wear herself out, and realize that her efforts were futile. She could only see what Kron wanted her to see.

  “Where is she?” Charlene asked in a broken voice. Her face was streaked with tears of blood. “What has happened to her?”

  Kron regarded her with a look of mock sympathy. Bending down, he helped her to the sofa and patted her knee. “Don't worry, your sister's fine. She's alive—for now. That blood demon didn't have orders to kill her.”

  The full import of his words sank in.

  He would order his demons to kill Charlotte.

  And she knew from the demon's smug tone that he was more than ready to make good his threat.

  Charlene slumped back, numb with fear for her sister. Charlotte was now an Enforcer. She should have known.

  Charlotte would do that.

  A part of her had known that Charlotte would do something to try to avenge her 'death'. Charlotte had signed up to become an Enforcer because of what had happened to her, to them. Charl
otte had watched a rogue werewolf attack her elder sister. She'd believed that Charlene was dead, and she had wanted to avenge her. She had made it her mission, her job, to hunt and destroy rogues.

  But...what if Charlotte saw her now? Would Charlotte see her as a rogue? By taking the blood of all those rogues, she had broken PAC law. Would her sister be compelled to hunt her and destroy her? Charlene suddenly didn't know if she could face Charlotte now, even as her heart bled and feared for her sister's life and she ached to see and hold her little sister again.

  “Would you like to see your sister again, Charlene? See her alive, I mean,” Kron asked, his form utterly and truly demonic now. He had shed all traces of his human facade and rose to his full height, looming over her in his terrible, terrifying demon form. It was a form she had never seen. His body seemed to be made up of slithering, hissing shadows, and his eyes and mouth were windows into a burning, blood red pit.

  Charlene shrank back. “I'll do it,” she whispered. “I'll go to Glenn Constantine and get what you want.”

  In the blink of an eye, Kron reverted to his smiling, human shape.

  He smoothed his hands over his white suit and nodded at her. “Yes. Now that's what I like to hear. I love it when my demons get me what I want.”

  A wineglass filled to the brim with blood materialized in Kron's hand and he raised it in a toast. “To your success!” Draining the glass, he smacked his lips and stood up. “Now, go home, change into something sexy and comfortable, and get started on the vampire. Work through the night if you have to.” He chortled, then waved his hand. “I won't be supervising your work. Just get on with it and finish it. Go!”

  Charlene got shakily to her feet, suddenly feeling woozy.

  Squeezing her eyes shut, she teleported away before Kron could throw more commands and threats at her.

  She needed to get away from Kron right away. If she didn't, she was afraid she might lose her mind and her restraint and just attack that piece of shit! He had just threatened to hurt Charlotte, and no one hurt her baby sister!