Nightfall

by Michelle Marquis

  Joan racked her brain trying to think of something, anything, she could say to convince these monsters to let her go, but nothing came. She was on the verge of tears, but wouldn’t give them the satisfaction. Escaping these things was going to take a cool head. So Joan stopped fighting and let the blond vampire pull her into his arms just as he jumped out her window.

  * * * * Joan woke up in a dark room with her hands tied above her head. She looked around, trying to get her bearings, but nothing looked familiar. There was a dresser, an open window with lace curtains blowing in the breeze, the bed she was lying on, and a bedside table. She pulled on her hands, but soon realized that she wasn’t as much tied as she was handcuffed and fat chance of getting loose from those.

  The bedroom door opened and she was momentarily blinded by the hall light. Then, she recognized the female vamp, Myra, and her stomach dropped. “Listen,” Joan said, trying to reason with the woman. “I know why you’re mad about the vampire hunting group, and I certainly don’t blame you, but let me explain.”

  Myra grinned. “Go right ahead.” “Well, um…the truth is, we never actually caught any vampires. We barely even saw any. We were never a threat to you or your people.”

  “That may be true,” Myra said, “but the fact remains you were a bother and need to be made an example of. I mean, how else are we doing to dissuade others from following in your footsteps? If Severus had done his job, I wouldn’t have had to take over your education myself. But since he mixed business with pleasure…well, here you are.”

  The blond vampire came in dressed only in white sweatpants. Joan’s panic rose. “There’s no need for any of this. I’ve learned my lesson, believe me! I promise never to hunt vampires again.”

  Myra caressed her cheek. “Too little, too late.”

  The blond vampire unfastened her handcuffs and manhandled her over his lap. She struggled, but it had the same effect as a small child fighting an adult. The vampire was much too strong for her. As she fought him, he pulled her jeans and underwear down, running his hand appreciatively over her buttocks. Shame heated Joan’s cheeks as she realized how helpless she was against these creatures. What made her think her and the others had a chance at actually killing one?

  The first spank was hard and was followed by several more. He spanked her until her bottom was numb and her body burned with a vague sexual desire. Then, he bound her hands again and left the room.

  Myra smiled. “At least that should give you something to think about, hmmm?” Then, she walked out.

  Joan squirmed as she fretted over what else they might have planned for her. She was sure there must be more than a little humiliation. Oh, Severus, where on Earth are you? Please find me and get me out of here!

  Chapter Twelve When Severus arrived at the apartment, it was empty. Most of Joan’s personal belongings were gone and an inspection of the closet showed both suitcases were missing as well. A crudely written note left on the dining room table indicated she’d fallen in love with someone else and didn’t want to see him anymore.

  Severus knew it was all a lie. What he couldn’t figure out was why anyone would want to abduct Joan. Then, Myra came to mind. She’d been very angry about Joan forming a band of vampire hunters. It wouldn’t be beyond her to overstep the boundaries like this.

  Hot fury fired the stolen blood in his veins and he vowed not only to get Joan back unharmed, but to make Myra pay for touching her in the first place. But now was the time for calm. Where would Myra have taken her? It could be anywhere. Myra had a hundred hideouts in the city. She could have stashed Joan in any one of them. There was only one thing he could do. Hit every nightclub his people frequented until he got a lead on Joan, and he didn’t have a whole lot of time to do it before sunrise.

  * * * * Severus hadn’t been out to the nightclub scene in weeks, ever since he’d started dating Joan. It amused him to think he didn’t even miss the people, or the music, or the noise. Was his desire to settle down with Joan having that much of an effect on him? He was sure it was. It had been centuries since he’d known the comfort of home and family and he really longed for the tranquil bliss.

  A current of toxic worry moved through his heart. Because of their long lives, vampires tended to take human life for granted. Humans weren’t as strong, or as aggressive, and so many among his people saw them as little more than food. It pained him to think that his own humanity had suffered too. But when he’d met Joan, something had happened. He’d remembered what it was like to really like someone, to connect with them and enjoy their company on a fundamental level.

  Unfortunately, he had forgotten how jealous and petty some vampires could be. Myra being a prime example. He should have guarded Joan better. He should have moved in with her to make sure this couldn’t happen. The fury rose in his chest again. When he found Myra, Joan had better be okay or there would be hell to pay.

  Glancing up and down the street, Severus stepped into one of the many nightclubs lining the road. The music and flashing lights brought his senses to life. He scanned the dance floor and spotted Keith, a tall, blond vampire who hung around with Myra sometimes.

  Severus came over, touched Keith’s arm and leaned in close. “May I speak to you for a moment?”

  The blond vampire gave him a strange look, but followed him out into the alley. “I don’t know you, do I?” the blond asked.

  “I’m a friend of Myra’s.”

  Keith nodded. “Oh, yeah. What can I do―?”

  Severus grabbed the front of his T-shirt and slammed him against the brick wall. “Something of mine is missing. Perhaps you’ve seen it? It’s a lovely, young African American woman about this tall.” He held his hand up to just below his chin. “I know Myra took her and I think you might know where she is.”

  “Easy, easy, okay? Myra made me promise I wouldn’t tell anyone where she was, especially you.”

  “Well, if you value all the teeth in your head, you’d better reconsider.”

  Keith considered this for a moment. He didn’t look scared as much as he didn’t seem to want a big hassle. “Okay, but I can’t tell you where she is. I have to show you.”

  Severus let go of his shirt with a shove. “Show me then.”

  * * * * Joan woke to the sound of angry shouting downstairs. She’d been captive here for hours and was beginning to lose her sense of time and place. Myra made sure someone came in to feed her earlier and let her loose for a few hours, but when the vampire lady came back up, it was right back to being tied up. She was starting to think Myra didn’t know what to do with her. The vampire woman couldn’t let her go for fear of Severus and didn’t really want to keep her. Perhaps she was looking for another vamp to take Joan off her hands. Ugh.

  Joan closed her eyes and tried to focus on the fight, but she couldn’t understand a word. It was probably just Myra arguing with another one of her many vampire lovers. But as the yelling grew louder, Joan thought she made out Severus’ voice. Could it be? Could he have really been searching for her? The thought filled her with a desperate hope.

  The shouting stopped and heavy steps started coming up the stairs. Joan could her Myra say, “You’ve lost your edge and become obsessed. What is this woman to you? Nothing! She doesn’t even love you. She never asked for you once and, if one of my boys had seduced her, she would have easily succumbed to his will.”

  They emerged in the hallway outside her bedroom door and Joan could see them clearly from where she lay. Although Myra was a scary vampire, Severus had her beat, hands down. He towered over the female vamp, glaring at her with such venom, Joan was afraid he was going to do something really nasty right in front of her. He shoved Myra back into one of her boy toy vampires and marched into the room. When he saw Joan, he froze. She sure hoped she didn’t look all messed up.

  Severus snatched the handcuff keys off the dresser and rushed to her side. He unlocked her wrists and freed her. Joan’s arms sprang free, aching from having been bound for so long. She threw her arms aro
und him and hugged him close. Severus cradled her in his arms. “How are you, Joan? Did they hurt you?”

  “Not really,” she said, her voice muffled against his chest. “I’m mostly just sore.” “I’m so sorry, my darling. I should have never left you alone. Can you forgive me?”

  Joan couldn’t help herself. She giggled. “Of course I can. This wasn’t your fault. But thank you for rescuing me.”

  He pulled back and stared into her eyes. “I would have gone anywhere and done anything to find you, Joan. I meant it when I said I cared about you. I only hope that, in time, you can feel the same.”

  Joan smiled. “Funny, but I think I already do.”

  Chapter Thirteen Severus took her back to his house and insisted on carrying Joan over the threshold. He carried her into the kitchen, sat her at the table, and began making her bacon and eggs. She wanted to tell him not to bother, but the truth was, she was starving. Her vampire captors hadn’t fed her anything that didn’t come out of a can and she hated processed food. As Severus scrambled the eggs in a bowl, her mouth started to water.

  “I’m surprised you know how to cook,” she joked. “I mean, it’s not exactly a skill you would need every day.”

  He smiled, flashing his long, menacing canines. “I can cook all kinds of things, but I’m best at bacon, eggs and toast.”

  “You’re already way ahead of my kidnappers.”

  His expression grew dark and serious. “I’m so sorry about that, Joan. I shouldn’t have underestimated Myra. She’s very vindictive.”

  Joan shrugged. “It’s okay. I’m just glad you came to rescue me. That was very sweet.”

  “I’m just sorry I didn’t realize what they’d done sooner.” Severus placed the raw bacon in the pan and it sizzled. He stared down at the food, seemingly deep in thought. “I suppose you won’t consider marrying me and having a child with me after all that.”

  Joan considered that for a moment. She had very strong feelings for Severus, but she was afraid Myra wasn’t done with her revenge scheme yet. The last thing she’d tolerate was some vengeful vamp trying to get at her baby. No way that was going to happen. “Frankly, I’m concerned about Myra and her boy toys. Won’t they try and get me again when you’re not around?”

  Severus plucked the hot bacon out of the frying pan with tongs and placed it on the plate with the toast and eggs. He placed the plate in front of her, along with a cup of hot coffee. Joan hoped the coffee wouldn’t keep her up for the rest of the night. The whole two hours left of the night.

  “I took care of them. They won’t be bothering either of us anymore,” he said.

  “How can you be sure?”

  “Let’s just say I made myself very clear.”

  Joan dug into her eggs and wolfed them down. Boy, she was hungrier than she thought. “That sounds scary. What did you say to them?” she asked when she’d swallowed her last morsel.

  “Myra may be a powerful vampire, but she’s not as old as me. I know how to upset her without doing a thing. All of us vampires have humans in our lives to help and serve us. Many of them offer us their blood because they like the taking. Myra has humans in her life that are important to her, as well. She would hate to lose any of them.”

  “Like that woman I saw you with when you first took me prisoner.”

  Severus placed his cool hand over hers. “That’s right.”

  Joan realized that there would always be other women in the master vampire’s life. He had to feed most nights and Severus didn’t choose ugly women. But even though he could have had any woman he wanted, he was still interested in her. She wondered if knowing about the other women was going to bother her. Joan was pretty sure it wouldn’t, and besides, she wasn’t the jealous type.

  Joan finished her meal and pushed her plate back. “That was delicious.”

  His green eyes glowed with affection. Taking her hand, he gently pulled her into his lap. She wrapped her arms around him and nuzzled his neck. It felt so good to be safe and with him again.

  “Did they violate you, my darling?”

  Joan grinned. “No. All they did was piss me off, keep me tied up, and feed me crappy food.”

  He touched his lips to hers in a tender caress. The kiss was light, teasing, but the passion increased the longer it lasted. Joan was aware of his power moving over and through her. It was a warm charge that filled her body with a building eroticism. His lips moved from her mouth to caress her cheek and jaw. Joan closed her eyes and reveled in the sweetness of his touch. Never before had she felt so desired and cherished. She wondered if it was hard for him to make love to her without biting. For some strange reason, the thought made her smile.

  Severus unbuttoned her shirt and dragged warm kisses down her dark cocoa skin. Her nipples grew erect immediately, eager to be licked and sucked by his delicate mouth. Joan removed her shirt and bra and let Severus explore her whole torso with his eager kisses. A yearning was born within, a desperate hunger that longed to find fulfillment in his bed. She was just about to beg him to take her when he picked her up and carried her into the living room. Once there, he pulled several plush couch cushions off the sofa and tossed them onto the floor.

  He positioned Joan on the cushions and peeled the rest of her clothes off. Then, he mauled savage kisses along her belly, taking care to go lightly over her scars as if they still hurt her. She was moved by his kindness. “Oh, Severus,” she whispered.

  The master vampire moved up over her and stared into her eyes. “Tell me you love me, even if you don’t really mean it. I’d love to hear those words from your lips.”

  She cradled his face in her hands. Her heart was so full she thought it might explode. She’d never been this happy in her whole life. “It’s not a lie. I do love you. I probably have from the first moment I laid eyes on you.”

  Severus moved his fingers into her tender folds and found the center of her pleasure. Joan gasped. “You’re fertile tonight, my darling. I can smell it in your scent,” he said. “We can make a baby together.”

  Joan chewed her lip. She had a million questions, but the main one was, did she trust him enough to let him try? “Okay,” she said so softly even she barely heard it.

  His fingers were probing deeper, testing her readiness. The sensation gave her so much pleasure it bordered on torture. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes,” she said. “I’m sure.”

  Severus moved up over her and guided his thick cock in. Slick friction brought a wave of lustful delight. His strokes were long and hard, awaking her body to new and unexpected pleasures. The orgasms came one right after the other and left her gasping. After her first three, he, too, climaxed, roaring out his hunger in a sexy passion that awakened her all over again.

  As he rested next to her with his arm around her, she asked, “Will the child be a vampire too?”

  “No, the child will be human. But just like I promised you, if one day he wants to become an immortal, I can change him or her.”

  She saw the familiar glow of the sun around the border of the heavy drapes. Dawn was coming. “You’d better go downstairs,” she said, giving him one last kiss.

  He gently stroked her cheek. “Move in with me. Get rid of that ratty apartment and stay here.”

  She grinned. “Well, I guess it’s only fitting since we are getting married.”

  Severus stole a kiss from her lips. “You’re already making a good wife.”

  Joan just rolled her eyes.

  Epilogue Five Years, Nine Months Later

  “I’m a master vampire!” Damon shouted as he ran around the dinner table baring a pair of plastic fangs. The little boy paused to menace her with his fake teeth. “Rrrrr! You must do as I say or I’ll enslave you!”

  Joan smiled and placed her son’s steak and potatoes on his plate, then centered it on the Bob the Builder place mat. She’d made sure to use the Star Wars plastic plate and matching cup or the meal wouldn’t be touched.

  “But, Mom,” Damon said, pointing out
the window as nightfall darkened the sky, “it’s time to wake up Dad.”

  “Why don’t we go downstairs and wake him up together?”

  “Whoo hoo!” Damon grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the stairs.

  She laughed. “Okay, okay, there’s no need to drag me.”

  Severus kept his coffin at the rear of the furnished basement where it wouldn’t be disturbed by visiting guests. As Damon ran toward it, eager to wake his father, Joan admired how handsome the boy was. At five, he was already showing signs of being a very handsome man with light brown skin and hazel eyes. He was such an attractive boy people stopped her on the street to fuss over him. It was strange, kind of like being the mother of a celebrity, and that was without anyone knowing his father was a master vamp.

  Damon crept up to the coffin and was startled by Severus hiding behind an old dresser. The boy shouted in surprise once and then there was lots of tickling and giggling. Severus picked Damon up and tossed him over his shoulder. He stalked toward her with predatory leer that made her insides turn to jelly.

  Severus stopped in front of her with Damon still over his shoulder. The boy had given up struggling and was pretending to be dead with his tongue hanging out.

  “Hello,” he said with a wicked smile.

  Joan grinned. “Hello yourself.” She glanced at the child. “What do you have there?”

  “Oh, this?” Severus said, gesturing to the boy’s butt. “Something I found hanging around. I was wondering if it belonged to you?”

  “No, I’ve never seen him before in my life,” she joked.

  “Hey!” Damon said, starting to struggle again.

  Severus put the boy down and stroked his cheek. He was such a wonderful father. Who would have guessed? “Have you been a good boy all day?” the vampire asked his son.

  “Oh yes, Dad. I’ve been the best kid ever! I kept Mom safe with my fangs, see?” He gave Severus an exaggerated smile.

  “Yes, I see that.”

  “Are you going out to hunt?” Joan asked.