The Vampire’s Priceless Treasure

by Painter, Kristen

  THE VAMPIRE’S

  PRICELESS TREASURE

  Nocturne Falls, Book Eleven

  Kristen Painter

  Welcome to Nocturne Falls, the town that celebrates Halloween 365 days a year. The tourists think it’s all a show: the vampires, the werewolves, the witches, the occasional gargoyle flying through the sky. But the supernaturals populating the town know better.

  Living in Nocturne Falls means being yourself. Fangs, fur, and all.

  Half reaper, half vampire Kora Dupree has made big changes in her life. She’s on good terms with her previously estranged father and taken on all kinds of adult responsibilities. But when an opportunity to find out the truth about her late mother comes along, she can’t resist pursuing it. Even when it means returning to her somewhat dubious ways.

  Vampire Greyson Garrett knows the bad but beautiful Kora is up to something. He’s wise to her games. After all, her father has hired Greyson numerous times to save Kora from all the sticky situations she’s gotten herself into. If she were just…better behaved he could see himself falling for her. Hard.

  Even though Kora promises she’s changed, Greyson has his doubts. So much so that he follows her one fateful night and gets pulled into her latest scheme. It’s not like he hasn’t been here before, but this time he swears it’s her last chance to prove she’s different.

  Kora’s new adventure sends them on a treasure hunt that takes them all over the globe, and in the course of their travels, they realize how good things are when they work together. But will that all change when the adventure is over? Are they really in love? Or just addicted to the rush?

  THE VAMPIRE’S PRICELESS TREASURE

  Nocturne Falls, Book Eleven

  Copyright © 2019 Kristen Painter

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from the author.

  This book is a work of fiction. The characters, events, and places portrayed in this book are products of the author’s imagination and are either fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real person, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  ISBN: 978-1-941695-48-7

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  Table of Contents

  THE VAMPIRE’S PRICELESS TREASURE

  About the Book

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  About the Author

  Other books by Kristen Painter

  Many Thanks

  For all my readers who kept asking for Greyson to get his own book.

  Enjoy!

  Greyson Garrett loved the Nocturne Falls library, but he wasn’t here to pick out his weekend reading. And not just because he’d already done that.

  Instead, he was parked in the community wing, a three-room addition specifically meant for lectures, craft fairs, workshops, small conferences, and exhibits.

  The space was bright and modern and beautifully designed. All paid for by the family who’d made the town the bustling tourist mecca and safe haven for supernaturals that it was, the Ellinghams.

  But even being in such a well-appointed space wouldn’t keep him from sighing with the kind of boredom that came from eight hours of doing essentially nothing.

  Sure, he was getting paid for that nothing, which was actually something. He was working as a security guard. But the money was inconsequential.

  The title amused him. Having a vampire as your security guard was pretty extreme. But the title also made him frown a little. Not because there was anything wrong with the job. There was nothing wrong with honest work of any kind. It was just that…he’d been a lot of things in his life. Security guard didn’t really rank up there with the most riveting employment he’d undertaken.

  But Elenora Ellingham had specifically requested him, and so here he was. One did not say no to Elenora, especially when complying could mean banking her goodwill for the future. Greyson wasn’t a fool. Not when he lived in her town. For Elenora, he would be bored all day and all night.

  Besides, he was technically an employee of Nocturne Falls, and the job would only last for five days. He looked at his watch. And the last day was almost over.

  It had been numbingly uneventful, but given the circumstances of what he was guarding, that was a good thing.

  He folded his hands in front of him and watched the tourists and locals alike who were wandering through the exhibit. Touched by Magic: Gems and Jewelry with Mythical Connections, to be exact.

  Naturally, this was the kind of thing that Elenora swooned over. Her love of jewelry and priceless gems was no secret to anyone who’d lived in Nocturne Falls for any length of time. She’d opened the exhibit with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, but had held a private tour for a small group of VIPs the night before the official opening.

  He’d been here for that, too, but his presence had been mostly for show. At least that’s what he’d assumed. The group had been Nocturne Falls’s upper crust. Not the sort who were going to attempt to run off with Nefertiti’s bejeweled and supposedly cursed mirror, or any of the other trinkets they’d all been oohing and aahing over.

  Whatever. People got excited about weirder stuff.

  But it was nice that a portion of the ticket sales was going to the pediatric wing of the hospital, so Greyson had no issues with any of it. Even if none of the proceeds had been going to a good cause, he still wouldn’t care. Jewelry wasn’t something that really interested him. Despite the pieces he wore. Sure, he liked some jewelry for its aesthetics, but there was only one piece that mattered to him.

  And he wasn’t sure that could even be considered jewelry.

  That piece was the small cloth bag that hung on a leather cord around his neck, the contents of which kept him safe from the sun, thanks to the old Roma magic of his people. Well, mostly his great-aunt’s ability to work that magic.

  But the things in this exhibition? In his opinion, they were better left alone. Even if they weren’t cursed. Which he doubted. When you were a vampire of Roma decent who lived in a town like Nocturne Falls, you had a tendency to believe in pretty much anything.

  Life was a valuable teacher that way.

  He shifted slightly, keeping his eyes on a man who was lingering a little too long near Medusa’s headband. The headband, when worn, supposedly kept one’s curse at bay. Apparently, Medusa hadn’t been wearing it when she’d turned all those poor Greeks into stone.

  The m
an moved on, and Greyson scanned the crowd again. A few locals, but most of the visitors to the exhibit were tourists now. The locals had come early.

  Most of the people in the wing were clustered around Elenora’s own contribution to the exhibit, the Heart of Dawn, an extremely rare and valuable seventy-five-carat heart-shaped pink diamond that Elenora now claimed was cursed since it had been stolen during the ball thrown for the sole purpose of showing off the gem.

  He didn’t see how cursed the diamond could be given that it had also been recovered and returned. But if Elenora wanted to add it to the show, what did it matter to him? It was certainly bringing people in.

  Although, if she really wanted to add something touched by magic, she should have added one of the amulets that each of the Ellinghams wore. The ones that kept them safe from the sun. They weren’t Roma magic like what protected him. No, the Ellingham amulets were ancient witch magic. Not his area of expertise, for sure.

  All he knew was that they were created by Alice Bishop, a very old and powerful witch whose life Elenora had saved in Salem when the trials had been going on. Alice had been Elenora’s closest ally and companion since then.

  Greyson didn’t blame the woman. Having your life saved changed your perspective on a lot of things. He guessed. He’d never had his life saved in such dramatic fashion. He’d done some saving. But nothing that had resulted in a lifelong pledge of fealty and fidelity.

  He snorted at the thought.

  “What’s funny?”

  Greyson straightened at the familiar voice. “Hello, Hugh.” Hugh Ellingham was one of Elenora’s three grandsons. “Nothing, really. Just thinking about how your grandmother’s diamond is the least-cursed thing in this exhibit, but the one that’s drawing the biggest crowd.”

  Hugh nodded. “It’s an impressive rock.”

  “It is. I’m sure a lot of women are leaving here with big ideas.”

  Hugh smirked. “I don’t doubt you’re right. Too bad Delaney’s already seen it.”

  Greyson laughed. “Your wife has her own hoard of jewels. I don’t think much in here could turn her head.”

  Hugh stuck his hands in his pockets and turned his attention to the crowd. “Not to mention, the shop and George keep her too busy to be bothered with such trinkets anyway.”

  “How is your son?”

  “Brilliant,” Hugh answered with a proud smile.

  “Good to hear.” There were days when Greyson wondered if he’d ever have the kind of domestic bliss each of the Ellingham brothers had. It wasn’t something that gave him sleepless nights, but it was there, lingering at the back of his mind. Okay, maybe since breaking up with Jayne, his last girlfriend, he’d had one or two sleepless nights, but that was it. “So what can I do for you?”

  “Nothing, really. Just wanted to see how this thing was going. You wouldn’t believe the insurance nut we had to put up to host this exhibit.”

  “I can imagine.” He couldn’t really. He had money. Most vampires with any kind of age on them did. But the Ellinghams had been British nobility. They’d started out with money. And they had enough now to live the kind of lifestyles that allowed for things like seventy-five-carat diamonds, sprawling estates, a private plane, and, not to be forgotten, their own town.

  Greyson didn’t splash out quite so much. His big extravagance was his ’69 Camaro. And maybe his wardrobe. But that was about it.

  Hugh clapped him on the shoulder. “Have a good night. I better get back. I have to pick up dinner from Howler’s on the way home. Delaney wants a bacon cheeseburger.”

  Greyson nodded. “Happy wife—”

  “Happy life.” Hugh shook his head. “You have no idea how true that is.”

  With a little wave, he was gone, leaving Greyson to contemplate that thought. And to remember the woman he’d thought had been the one. Winter elf Jayne Frost.

  They’d had a parting of the ways, something that had taken him a bit to get over, but in retrospect, he knew it had been for the good.

  She was a princess, and he didn’t mean that in the derogatory sense. She was the heir to the Winter Throne of the North Pole, which was an entirely separate magical realm.

  He crossed his arms. Marrying her would have resulted in a very different life for him. A life that he knew now would fit him as poorly as another man’s coat.

  A soft chime rang, followed by an announcement in a woman’s British-accented voice. “The exhibition will be closing in fifteen minutes. Thank you for visiting.”

  He uncrossed his arms. The exhibit’s curator, Randolph Dillinger, would be along shortly to lock the doors. Then Greyson would do a sweep of the building to make sure that everyone was gone and—a familiar face in the crowd caught his attention.

  And not because she was beautiful. Because she was trouble. And this was the third time she’d been here in as many days.

  Kora Dupree. The half-vampire, half-reaper daughter of Lucien Dupree, owner of Insomnia, Greyson’s favorite night spot.

  He liked the club because it wasn’t for humans. Which meant it was a tourist-free zone. Not that Nocturne Falls didn’t have some supernatural tourists—it did. But they generally weren’t a bother because they knew what was what.

  The human tourists who came to Nocturne Falls did so because they thought all the supernaturals were character actors, something encouraged by the town as a way of protecting those who lived here.

  But there were times when Greyson felt he couldn’t take being stopped on the street one more time and asked for a selfie. On those nights, and many others, he went to Insomnia.

  Kora was now helping her father run the place as acting manager, but unlike her father, Kora spent a lot of time in the club. Who could blame the man? He was newly married, had moved into a new house, and had his daughter to take over things. The time off was well earned.

  But because of Kora’s presence at the club, Greyson had been a little scarcer there. It wasn’t that he disliked Kora. It was just that she was the kind of woman who was constantly getting mixed up in something. Something Greyson would inevitably have to get her out of. And had, on numerous occasions. All paid for by her father, of course.

  Someday, she was going to have to grow up and fight her own battles.

  Or stop getting into battles altogether.

  Since reconciling with her father, she did seem to be turning over a new leaf, but Greyson only trusted that for as long as the wind didn’t blow. Something would happen to set her off again. He just knew it. People didn’t really change all that much.

  He slunk back into the shadows. That wouldn’t keep her from seeing him, but it might buy him a few more minutes of calm.

  Her gaze flicked from case to case with great curiosity. What had she expected to see? The Hope Diamond? Sure, it was cursed, but it was also the property of the Smithsonian. They weren’t about to send that rock out on a road trip.

  She moved through the exhibit with the same kind of detached attitude she’d had previously, making him question why she’d come back a third time. It certainly wasn’t mandatory.

  Would she return to the same item as she had before?

  She stopped in front of a display at the end of one row. The same one as before. She stared through the glass, lips slightly parted, brow furrowed as if the world’s balance hinged on her study of the object.

  He didn’t know what was in that case, but whatever it was, it continued to hold Kora’s attention. He was going to have to see for himself now what it contained.

  She leaned down to inspect the object more closely. He stayed where he was, watching and wondering what was so interesting about this particular piece. She pulled her phone out and snapped a few pictures.

  She tucked the phone away, then straightened and looked around. He ducked behind the corner of the wall. Why, he wasn’t sure. She had to know he was working there. He hadn’t made a secret of it.

  He didn’t want to be caught watching her, though. Or do anything else that might incite a conv
ersation.

  But, really, he was being foolish. When he looked again, she was gone.

  Well, that would save him from having to escort her out if she’d lingered any longer.

  Then curiosity got the best of him. He wandered over to the display she’d been looking at to see what it was.

  Half of a gold locket shaped like the sun. Date was approximately 1900. There was an inscription on the inside, but the ribbon looped through the top of the locket lay across the interior, making the words impossible to read. It was in Russian, too, and his understanding of Russian was nonexistent.

  A mirror behind the piece showed off the front of the sun. Diamond rays spiraled out from a heart set with tiny rubies. The design meant nothing to him, but the gems were undoubtedly real. Probably real gold, too. All that considered, along with the piece’s age and provenance, had to mean it was worth a tidy sum.

  He read the little placard next to the piece. Apparently, the other half of the locket had been missing since the displayed half had been discovered. Anyone who owned the necklace was destined to come to a bad end, and it was rumored to have belonged to the Grand Duchess Olga Romanov, the eldest daughter of the last tsar of Russia. Tsar Nicholas II. That explained the Russian inscription.