by Luna James
When he came walking back to the hot tub, I didn’t hide my eyes. He knew I was looking at him anyways since he was reading my mind. Damien put on his pants and went over to the fire pit beside the hot tub. I got out and joined him.
“Here you go,” he offered, handing me the bong.
I took a hit from the bong and then gave it back to him. “So, there are hunters, too. Why haven’t y’all told me about all this?” I inquired.
“I’m sorry we haven’t told you everything. We just haven’t had time to.” Damien took a hit from the bong. “I’ve not seen a hunter in a long time,” he said, smoke rolling out of his mouth.
“Do you think there will be more hunters coming here?”
“Yes,” he replied, passing the bong to me. “We got to be on our guards now. I am sure Travis has been reporting back to someone.”
“Great!” I took another hit from the bong. I was starting to feel the effects of the alcohol and the weed. Thank goodness!
“I think it would be best if you stayed here with us, Tori,” he cautioned, looking over at me. “Look, I know you said you needed some distance from Sebastian and me, but right now being here is the safest place for you.”
I thought about what he was saying for a few minutes. I knew he was right, but I didn’t know if I could handle being around them both all the time. I was attracted to them and could not control myself when I was in their presence. Maybe moving in with them was the best choice though.
“Okay. I will move in with y’all,” I sighed. “I know you were probably listening in to my thoughts right then, so you know what my dilemma with it is.”
“I didn’t listen in that time. I sang a song in my head loudly so it would drown out your thoughts,” he laughed.
“A new roommate. Great!” I heard Sebastian say from the yard.
Sebastian walked over to us. He was covered in dirt and blood. “What happened to you?” I asked, looking him up and down.
“I found Travis hiding in an old coal mine. The bastard staked me with a tree branch,” he said, pulling his shirt off. “He missed my heart by only an inch or two.”
I looked at Sebastian’s chest. There was blood all over it. “Fuck! How the hell did he get close enough to you to stake you?” Damien asked, getting up to hand Sebastian the bong.
Sebastian took a hit and then sat down with us. “Hunters are stronger and faster than a normal human. Travis had something, maybe his phone, making noise. I followed the noise, and suddenly got jumped by him. It happened so fast I didn’t have a chance to get a hold of him.” Sebastian hung his head down. “How the fuck did a hunter fool me and then stake me? Ugh!”
Hearing Sebastian tell us what happened really made me mad. I did like Travis and thought he was a good guy. Now that I know that he is a hunter and tried to kill my sire, I was infuriated. Rage began to build in me. I made my mind up within seconds about what needed to be done next. “I am going to kill him! There is no way he stands a chance against me. I am more powerful than both of you combined.”
“That’s my girl,” Sebastian grinned. “Now calm down before you hurt one of us.”
I looked around us and noticed the logs of wood in the fireplace were floating in the air. I concentrated and made them fall back into the pit. “Sorry.”
“So, how are we going to do this?” Damien asked, pouring a shot of tequila.
“I will find him and kill him. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.” I laughed.
Damien and Sebastian were both laughing at me. “I’ll never get enough of your funny sayings,” Damien cackled.
“Let’s just forget about all this damn hunter shit for the rest of the night and party. I need to get my mind off everything, or my mind is gonna explode.” I got up and walked over to the pool and jumped in. Sebastian joined me in the pool, but Damien stayed at the firepit.
“Someone has a birthday in a few days,” he said, swimming near me.
“Ugh! Don’t remind me.”
“Why do you say that my love?” he probed.
“Because I am a vampyre now. What’s the use of even acknowledging my birthday?” I asked. “I ain’t getting any older.”
Sebastian got really close to me. “You may not be getting older Victoria, but it is still a day to be celebrated. It is the day you were born.”
“I guess. I don’t really care either way.”
There was a big splash behind us. I turned to find Damien swimming towards us. “I have to agree with Sebastian. Your birthday is a day to be celebrated,” he smiled.
“Fine. We can celebrate it if y’all want to.” I thought for a moment that I didn’t even know their birthdays or how old they were.
“My birthday is October nineteenth,” Damien answered. “On my next birthday, I will be two hundred and eleven years old.”
“I will be two hundred and fourteen years old on September first,” Sebastian added.
I couldn’t believe they were that old. It made me wonder if I would live to be their age. I didn’t know if I wanted to live that long. “That’s a long time to be alive.” I looked at them.
“Indeed, it is,” Sebastian expressed. “So, when are you going to get your things and move in with us?” he asked with a grin.
“After dawn,” I answered. “I just want to hang out, get buzzed, and forget what’s going on.”
“Then that’s exactly what we’ll do!” Sebastian agreed.
Chapter 14
Tori
I spent most of the night reading in bed after Damien and Sebastian went to their bedrooms. We might not sleep but laying in a bed is very relaxing. When I heard them moving about in the house, I got up and got dressed. I found them in the kitchen cooking breakfast.
“A girl could get used to this,” I said, as I walked into the kitchen.
Sebastian was standing at the stove frying bacon in only a pair of gray sweatpants. They hung on his hips in just the right way. It made my heartbeat faster just looking at him. He turned to me and flashed a big smile. “Good morning Love.”
“Good morning Sebastian.”
Damien was getting plates down from the cabinet. He was dressed in a pair of black sweatpants and a white tank top. His arm tattoos stood out more with the tank top on. He looked so damn hot! “Good morning Gorgeous,” he said, blushing. I knew he just heard my thoughts. Damnit!!
“Are you hungry?” Sebastian asked, as he flipped a piece of bacon over.
“Famished.” Human food wasn’t what I wanted though. “Do y’all have any blood bags? I am craving something more than food.”
“We sure do,” Damien answered, walking over to the refrigerator. He got out a bag and then got a mug out of the cabinet. He warmed the blood in the microwave and then brought it over to me. “Here you go.”
“Thank you, Damien,” I said, taking the glass from him.
I chugged the blood down. It felt so good filling my body. I wanted some fresh blood from the vein, but I didn’t want to go out alone. Travis was out there somewhere, and I didn’t want to run across him while I was alone.
“We can go out for a drink in a little while if you would like,” Damien replied to my thoughts.
“That would be awesome. I know the bags are great to have but drinking straight from the vein is so much better,” I said, getting up from the table. I went over to the blood bag Damien left sitting on the counter and poured the rest into my mug. After I heated it up, I went back over to the table and sat down.
“Do you want eggs and bacon?” Sebastian asked.
“I’ll take anything you got,” I replied laughing.
“So, when do you want to go get your stuff?” Damien inquired.
“We can go after we eat if you want. I have to go to work later this afternoon.”
Damien brought a plate of eggs and bacon over to the table for me. “Here you go. Enjoy!”
“Thanks.” I took the plate and dived in devouring the food. They joined me at the table. This was my chance to talk to them about a thoug
ht I had during the night about finding Travis. “Last night while I was lying in bed, I thought about how we could find Travis. Do you think that Lucien could sniff him out?” They both started laughing. “What? He’s a wolf, so he has good smelling.”
“Ha! You are too cute Tori.” Damien grinned.
“Yes,” Sebastian answered snickering. “Lucien could be helpful in finding Travis.”
“I don’t like you being around him though Tori,” Damien demanded sternly. “He is dangerous!”
I took a bite of bacon and thought about it. I didn’t really believe Lucien would do anything to hurt me. He seemed protective of me when he was in wolf form the other night. If he wanted to harm me, he would have done it then. “I don’t think he is!”
“Look, I know he likes you, but that doesn’t mean he will not bite you. He is a werewolf. It’s in his DNA to attack a vampyre when he sees one.” Sebastian pointed out, getting up from the table. He walked over to the sink and started washing dishes.
I got up and took my empty plate to the sink. I started rinsing the dishes he had just washed. “I know that Sebastian. I am done arguing with the two of you about this. Can you just trust my instincts and believe that he won’t hurt me?”
Sebastian looked over at me. “It will be hard, but I can try.”
“Good,” I said smiling. “I will message him after we are done.”
Damien gathered the pans from the stove and brought them over to us at the sink. Then he went outside. The atmosphere changed in the room after he walked out. I felt a strong sense of attraction to Sebastian while we washed the dishes. Being alone with him made me nervous. Even though I was still upset with him for changing me, I couldn’t fight the attraction I had to him. He intrigued me.
“All done,” Sebastian announced, drying his hands. Then he handed me the hand towel. When I took the towel, our hands brushed against each other. I felt it all over my body. I wanted to feel his hands on more than just my hands. I knew he felt something, too, because the look in his eyes told me. I could see the hunger in his eyes. “Wow!” he shuddered, licking his lips.
Seeing his tongue caress his lips made me want to touch them with my tongue. We inched closer to each other as we stared into each other’s eyes. Sebastian leaned his head down and placed his forehead on my forehead. He let out a sigh and then kissed my forehead. It felt so good, but I knew I had to back away from him.
“I’m going to go get my phone,” I whispered, backing away from him.
Sebastian closed his eyes and let out a big sigh. “Yes, you should do that.”
I hurried to the bedroom I was staying in and shut the door. I leaned against the door breathing heavily. My head was spinning, and my heart was pounding in my chest. After I got my wits back, I grabbed my phone off the nightstand. I sent Lucien a message asking him to call me when he got the chance. Then I went back to the kitchen. No one was in there, so I looked out the back door. Sebastian and Damien were both in the pool. I decided to go out and join them. When I started to take my shirt off, my phone rang. It was Lucien.
“Hello.”
“Hey, Tori. What’s up?”
“I need to talk to you about something very important. Are you free right now?”
“Yeah, I am.”
“Cool. Meet me at the park on top of Popular Gap in twenty.”
“See ya then Gorgeous.”
I hit the end button and then turned to Sebastian and Damien in the pool. “Can I borrow your Challenger Sebastian?”
Sebastian had a shocked look on his face. “What? Your car is out in the driveway. Why you want to take mine?”
“Because it is awesome. Duh!”
Sebastian looked like he was having an internal conversation with himself. Finally, he answered me. “Okay…fine. The keys are hanging up by the front door.”
“Yay!” I cheered. “Thanks.”
I ran inside and grabbed the keys. I wanted to get the hell out of there in his car before he could change his mind. I got in the car and started the engine. The car vibrated to life. I could feel the vibration, and it was arousing. I turned the radio onto a country station I loved and left. Driving the curvy roads of my hometown was amazing in this car. I was going to have to get me one as soon as possible.
When I got to the park, Lucien was already there. He was leaning against his truck waiting for me. I parked beside his truck and got out. He strolled over to me. I enjoyed the view as he did. He had on a pair of worn out blue jeans that had several grease smudges on them and a white t-shirt with just as many stains. His shirt was super tight and showed every muscle he had in his arms and torso. He was a beast of a man. I felt the drool forming in the corners of my mouth.
“Hey, Beautiful.” Lucien greeted me with a hug. My face was between his pec muscles so I inhaled deeply. Oh my God! He smells so damn good!
“Hi, Lucien.” I ran my hands down his muscular back as we parted from the hug.
“You wanna go over to one of the picnic tables and sit?” he asked.
“Sure.”
We walked over to a table and sat down across from each other. I was nervous to talk to him. We hadn’t spoken since our encounter in the woods. I was also worried about talking to him about Travis. I didn’t know how he would feel about being used as a tracker for three vampyres.
“It’s good to see you,” Lucien said smiling.
“Yeah…you, too.” I hoped he couldn’t hear the nervousness in my voice.
“I hate things ended the way they did the other night,” he said, with a crooked grin.
I looked down at my hands. “I do, too.” Then I looked up at him. “I’m sorry. I just got caught up in the moment.”
“Ain’t nothing wrong with that Sweetie. I was caught up in it as well,” he said, blushing. He is so gorgeous!
I had to change the subject because this was too embarrassing for me. I felt guilty about leaving him lying in the woods naked…with a hard-on. “Anyways…something has happened since I left you the other night.” I told him everything I knew about Travis. He sat there with a surprised look on his face as I told him.
After I was done telling him everything I knew, he sat there in silence for what felt like forever. This made me even more nervous because I had a feeling he might tell me we are on our own. Finally, he told me how he felt about it. “All this is so new to me and to be honest, it is very overwhelming. But with that being said…whatever I must do to protect you, I will!”
I was surprised by his response. It was so sweet of him to feel like he had to protect me. “Thank you, Lucien.”
“What do you need me to do?” he asked.
“I need you to help us track him.”
“What are you going to do once we find him?”
I looked at Lucien and smiled. “I am going to kill him.”
Lucien sat there in silence for a few minutes. I could tell he was letting it sink in that he was going to help me track and kill someone. I didn’t like it, but it had to be done.
“Ok,” was all he said back.
“Thank you. I know this isn’t an easy decision to make,” I said, as I reached over to touch his hand. “It’s either kill or be killed. I’m not letting this hunter get to me or any of y’all!”
Lucien got up and came over to sit next to me. He reached out and stroked my jawline with his finger. “Like I said…whatever I must do to protect you, I will Tori.”
My heart began beating fast. His touch set my body on fire. “Thank you,” I whispered.
Lucien leaned in and gently kissed me on the cheek. “You are more than welcome.”
I shook my head to clear my thoughts. Then I scooted away from Lucien. “Will you go to Sebastian and Damien’s house and talk to them with me? We need to get a plan together.”
Lucien scrunched his forehead. “I guess,” he said. “I don’t want to be anywhere near those guys, but if it is for the sake of helping you, I will go.”
I stood. “Well, there’s no better time th
an the present. Let’s go.”
Lucien followed me to Sebastian and Damien’s house. When we got there, we went to the back patio. Sebastian was lounging on a float in the pool, and Damien was sitting in the firepit smoking a blunt. Damien didn’t look shocked to see Lucien, but Sebastian did. I had screamed in my thoughts that I was coming with Lucien, so Damien already knew. Sebastian jumped off the float and rushed over to us.
“What the fuck is he doing at my house?” Sebastian growled at me.
Lucien growled at Sebastian from behind me. “I’m here to help Tori!”
“Alright, guys! Let’s try to get along for the sake of getting rid of this hunter!”
Sebastian hissed at me and then walked over to the bar. Lucien and me walked over to join Damien in the firepit.
“Before you sit down, I want you to know that I don’t like your kind and I am only considering joining forces with you because I care deeply for Tori,” Damien said, as he handed me the blunt.
“I’m glad we are on the same page then,” Lucien replied.
“Good boys!” I laughed.
“Go ahead and sit then,” Damien said, pointing towards the seat furthest from him.
Lucien and I sat down. I sat closer to Lucien than Damien. I hit the blunt and then passed it to Lucien. “Here ya go. We all need to relax.”
“You can forget about me joining you guys!” Sebastian said from the bar. “I don’t associate with werewolves!”
I turned and looked over at Sebastian. “Fine! I’m sure we can handle this without you anyways, ass!”
Sebastian rolled his eyes at me then went inside the house. I could care less if he wanted to help us or not. He was acting like a damn child. His jealous side was getting the best of him, and I wanted nothing to do with it. I liked Lucien and wanted him around. If Sebastian couldn’t handle that, then he could just stay clear of me.
“So, where do you think this hunter is?” Lucien asked, passing me the blunt.
“I think he told me he was staying in an apartment not far from town. He won’t go back there though now that he knows we are after him.” I handed the blunt to Damien. “We need you to get his scent, and then you can find him.”