Bound: A Lamian Wars Novel (The Lamian Wars Book 1)

by C. M. Steele

  I pressed my hands down on the cold granite and looked at my face again. Shaking my head, I turned around and turned on the hot water. Something had to give because my temper wasn’t steady lately. Jumping in the shower hoping to destress, I let the hot water hit me. It felt so good to feel the warmth soak my skin. With a sigh, I pressed my head against the tile. I stayed lost in thought for about fifteen minutes before washing and getting out. I dried off and examined myself in the mirror again. Nothing changed, but somehow I felt the water was going to cleanse the pain and loneliness away.

  Dressing in a pair of jeans, a long sleeve shirt, and a leather jacket, I gave myself one last look over. My features were normal in my opinion, but my dark hair and light eyes made me attractive to mortals. I ran my hands through my hair one more time before I walked out of my house. It was the end of May and there was still a bit of a chill in the air. I wasn’t really cold, but I wanted to make sure I looked the part. I lived in a mansion of sorts to fit my rich persona. We had acquired a great amount of monies over the centuries through our ability to read the human mind. We managed to keep ourselves hidden most of our lives, but with the humans advancing in all areas of technology, it had become harder to hide. We decided to make our presence known in the world and hopefully find the best scientists to help our cause, of course without their knowledge of their true purpose. We had several scientists that were vampires, but they were having the same lack of success I was. We needed fresh blood. Even though our names were made public, there still weren’t photos of us linked to the company. But I was certain we made the internet for our looks alone. Thankfully, no one had tied our names and faces together.

  Heading to the carport, I hopped on my Harley and drove off into Seattle. It was like flying for me. It cleared my head and allowed me to embrace the wind. It had been so long since I flew. There were radars everywhere. Damn humans and their inventions. I had to find a remote island to fly around in or a third world country without surveillance capabilities. Traffic was still light because I left earlier than most.

  We had our facility just on the outside of downtown because it was a laboratory and the possible chemicals could be considered hazardous. It was a short drive, but I could have made it shorter if I just appeared in my office. Some of the advancement in technology was such a shame; with cameras all around, someone might notice my sudden arrival with no vehicle.

  The morning sun started to come up as I pulled into the underground parking garage of our building. I wasn’t worried that it would hit my flesh and I would turn to ash, but somedays I felt like it should. I couldn’t change the past or fix the errors, but I’ve lived with the guilt for a very long time. It had been a long time since my parents died. I wondered if my brother and his family would ever see the light of day again.

  “Good morning, Dr. Lombardi,” Harry the night shift guard said as I got off my ride. He eyed it like he wanted to try it, but he was scared. His thoughts were full of the ways people died on these things.

  “Morning, Harry. Almost done for the day?” I asked. He enjoyed working nights here. His wife was a nurse on the nightshift, so to spend time together he offered to take evenings for the next few months. I was fine with that because he was a great guy. His thoughts weren’t negative around me. Most people didn’t know I knew what they were thinking. If they did I think they would die of embarrassment or fear.

  “Yes, sir. I’m about to leave for home. The missus will be getting out soon.” I loved the way he talked about his wife, like he was so damn happy to be married to her.

  “Have a great day, Harry.” I nodded to him.

  “You, too, sir.” He called out as I walked into the elevator and made my way into my office.

  Sniffing the air, I knew I was the first one in. Thank heavens for that. I couldn’t deal with my assistant today. Usually I ignored her, but within the last two months, I wanted to bite her jugular and let her bleed out. It wasn’t like me to be like the others, but I felt a change in me, a sense of hopelessness that changed my temperament.

  I stepped into my office and closed the door. Hanging up my jacket, I started my Keurig for some coffee. It didn’t give me energy, but it tasted great. Opening the blinds, the morning sun beamed in. I let it warm the room while I sat at my desk sipping my coffee in my Dracula mug. I smiled to myself when I drank from it because of its irony. I pulled out my planner and checked my schedule for this week. We had more trials to do, but nothing else. After organizing my calendar, which was almost bare, I headed down to one of the four labs in the building.

  The one I was interested in was the biological lab. We worked with stem cells and several special projects. This was the one laboratory that was off limits to most of the staff. There were tests being done here that were extremely important and top secret.

  One of my scientists, Vigo Johannsen, stepped through the security clearance as I looked through the latest slide on the microscope. It had been a blood sample that had been cultured with chemicals and other biological material. There were hopes that we could find what we were looking for, but as I stood up to address him, I’d come to the realization it was another failure. The look he gave me was geared toward my attire. I was in suits most days, but for some reason I just couldn’t manage to put one on.

  “Good morning, Falcon. Anything favorable?” he asked. The slides had just been created before they left for the evening, leaving them to be examined in the morning.

  “Nothing, Vigo. It may never happen.” My frustrated sentiments were felt by the portion of the staff who belonged to my own kind. Most of us had family living in the dark. It was hard for all of us. Even some of the dark ones aimed at working for cure. There had to be an antidote for them.

  “Give it more time. I really feel that we are going to find it soon,” he optimistically responded, patting my shoulder. “We all want this. I have family suffering, too.”

  “I know. That’s why I trust you as my main scientist. This is such a priority for us.” I tapped him on his shoulder before walking out of the lab. I had a meeting to prepare for. It was time to get to work. I smelled her scent as I got in the elevator, my assistant was in the office. Even without my extraordinary sense of smell, I could taste her perfume. Veronica Mendez was your typical stereotype of a slutty assistant. She had hopes of getting a taste of me and my wealth.

  “Good morning, Dr. Lombardi,” she said in her bright nasally voice. Oh my God. What is with the leather? My pussy just begged for him to touch me. Why did he have to tease me? I am going to have to seduce him one day.

  “Morning, Veronica. I know this isn’t my usual attire, but I’ve got some things to do this afternoon.” She gasped, looking shocked. Did I say that out loud? We could hear what the humans were thinking. Well, almost all humans. Any thoughts by a female who was to be mated with a vampire were shielded because she would become one of us one day.

  I wonder if he noticed my haircut? I rolled my eyes, picking up the mail on her desk before she handed it to me. Reading minds wasn’t my favorite power to possess. People’s thoughts were always dull or selfish. The worst part of the ability is that it didn’t work on vampires, but it worked on all other species but them.

  “Sir, you’ve got a meeting today at ten,” she called out, trying to get my attention.

  “Yes, I know. Please hold my calls today,” I replied curtly.

  “Yes, Doctor,” she said with a purr, leaning her hands on her desk trying to show me her cleavage. He’s looking at my breasts like he wants to taste them. The only thing I was tempted to do was taste her blood. I couldn’t get into my office fast enough. Closing my door, I leaned against it. Something about her thoughts got on my nerves more than most. I took off my jacket, hanging it over the back of my chair before returning to my laptop. Checking my emails, I didn’t find the information for the meeting today, so I emailed Miller’s secretary.

  There was a lot for me to do as a head of a company, but most of my dedication was to my family left in
Europe. My thoughts were back with my nephew. He didn’t seem to be on our side and it worried me. I would do what I had to do, and Alessio knew it.

  I heard the elevator ping and Draco walk toward my office. “Veronica, he’s never going to want you,” he said, stopping at her desk. I didn’t know whether to kick his ass or to thank him. Hopefully she didn’t quit because I hated the stupid paperwork. If it wasn’t lab reports, I wasn’t up for doing it.

  He popped into my office and closed the door behind him. Draco tilted his head to the side and raised his brows, the entire time looking at my less than professional outfit. “Laundry day?”

  “Screw you, Draco.”

  “Hey, speaking of screw,” he said plopping himself into the chair in front of my large oak desk, “that receptionist of yours might be out of your hair now.”

  “One can only hope. I’m tired of it already.”

  “Then find a replacement.” He acted like it was an easy thing to do, but my patience for the formalities of the US Labor laws had long fled. I was thinking about moving my laboratory to the castle, but there were too many enemies that could strike there.

  “You know I let you do the hiring for a reason.”

  “Speaking of hiring, I heard that William Dulles’ daughter happens to be a recent college graduate in molecular biology.”

  “He probably bought her that degree,” I replied pessimistically. I hated that fool, he was in bed with everyone. His business dealings were shady and his political aspirations were a bit fanciful. As the current mayor of this town, Dulles had the worse sense of morals. I’d bleed him dry for fun, but that would go against everything I stood and fought for—what the Council died for.

  “Someone’s a bit pessimistic today.”

  “Well, we have that meeting with Miller today.”

  “Damn, I forgot to tell you. I think it was the bad boy look that made it slip my mind. He canceled.”

  “Canceled? What the fuck for? He’s the one who wanted the deal and now he cancels on us?”

  “Yep, that’s what the email from his assistant said.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Nothing, just he had an important meeting he couldn’t miss.” We both scoffed at that. The only thing that man had on his mind was pussy. He was chasing anything he could, and it pissed me off because he was probably wasting time with some broad instead of doing our deal like he was supposed to. I could have taken the day off since it was the only thing I had on my plate.

  “Since he’s not coming, do you want to go see a movie or something?”

  “Sure. The one we wanted to see should have died down by now. It opened two weeks ago and the sales have started to drop.” We always went to see the newest vampire movies. It was like a hidden joy we shared. Although we knew it was all make believe, some of their theories or ideas had been real. We drank blood, some of us couldn’t walk in the sun, and they did turn to ash when they got hit with sunlight. Garlic is a huge myth and we happen to like it. Reflections were another fake notion. And, of course, we weren’t the undead.

  “Yes, let’s get out of here.” We stepped out of my office and into the lobby where Veronica was sitting with her head down.

  “I’m going to be out of the office the rest of the day.”

  I wonder if they’re gay. Maybe that was why he got so defensive over Falcon.

  “Okay, sir,” she said with a smile. Good, a long lunch for me.

  We walked into the elevator before we could hear any more of her thoughts.

  “Hey, at least she’s not panting for you like a bitch in heat. Sometimes I miss the days when women were told not to have impure thoughts,” Draco whispered with a chuckle, hitting the button to the parking lot walkway.

  I laughed, too. “Same here. I don’t want to smell when a woman’s horny.”

  “Especially because we can’t do anything about it,” Draco grumbled. It seemed that we were the oldest unmated vampires in the land. Even Stavros had a wife, and he was the sickest bastard alive.

  “Purgatory, I tell ya.”

  “Falcon, I feel a change coming. Something is different. I can’t tell whether it’s good or bad yet, but it’s going to be big.” I did, too, but I think it had to do with seeing Nero’s anger. Draco continued. “I have a feeling Stavros isn’t done trying to control all the vampires.”

  “There are many that blame the Supreme Council for the darkness.”

  “Yes, I believe a new fight is ahead of us. Perhaps if it does, your mother’s prophecy will come forth.”

  We stepped out of the elevator, grateful that we never installed security cameras in there. It would be terrible if we outed our true selves by accident. The world wasn’t ready for us. They were fighting over petty things. Times were much simpler for us a century ago. There wasn’t so much noise and chaos. I miss the time when the only thing fast was us.

  “Either way, this stalemate is about to come to an end.” His parking spot was next to mine in the corner across from the farthest security camera.

  He laughed looking at my motorcycle sitting there. It was a beauty, but wasn’t built for two. “So I guess taking my car is the plan?”

  “Yes, sir,” I said with a nod, opening the passenger door and hopping in.

  “Why don’t you just head to our private island and fly around there to relieve some stress? I go at least once a month.”

  “I know, but I feel like I have to work on the cure. Taking time off for a weekend isn’t the solution.” I was stuck in a world of guilt and constantly searching for redemption.

  “No. I think the only way you’re going to be happy is if you find a mate.” That was something I was more than ready for. An immortal life was fruitless if you didn’t have your other half to spend it with. I thought about it so often that it was never far from my thoughts, even as I stared down a microscope lens, I wished she would just appear.

  “Well, yes. I believe we both could use our mates. I’m tired of the loneliness,” I confessed. He knew the truth anyway. We were both miserable without our mates. It was as though we were being punished for not stopping the darkness and letting the answer burn up in our hands.

  “I’m with you. As much as I love you, you’re not for me.” We both laughed as we made our way through the city streets. There were people out everywhere walking around. Sometimes I was fascinated by them, but then their thoughts popped into my head and I easily lost all curiosity.

  Because it was already eleven in the morning, the traffic wasn’t as bad as it could be and we made it there within twenty minutes. The movie theatre was inside a mall, so we parked in the lot and started toward the entrance. I had this strange feeling wash over me. My heart was racing and my blood heated. “Be on alert. I feel a change, a strong one.”

  “We should leave then.”

  “No, we must see what it is. I’ve never felt this before. It’s like my blood heated and is running through my veins.”

  “Oh shit,” Draco said, looking at me with a smile.

  “What?” I didn’t know what he was smiling about, the crazy fuck. Perhaps he missed a good battle. We haven’t had to fight in a hundred plus years.

  “Don’t you remember the signs of your mate being near?” My eyes widened and my fangs elongated. I sniffed the air, but there was just a faint hint left lingering in the air. She could have left the mall already. “Don’t worry, my old friend. I believe she is here.” Draco could easily read my visage after all these centuries, and my emotions at the moment were quite hard to hide. A million feelings engulfed me and I didn’t know how to cope with it. There was something happening to me in a very public place. I used my centuries of self-control to calm myself down. There was a storm brewing inside me.

  When I opened the doors of the theatre entrance of the mall, I sensed she was getting closer. I scanned the lobby, but she wasn’t there. “Come on, let’s go get our tickets.”

  “What if we miss her?” I asked. My hopes were fading with every passing seco
nd. This couldn’t be happening. I needed to find her so that we could mate and I wouldn’t be alone anymore. The thought of holding this mysterious woman in my arms ran through my head. What would she look like? It didn’t matter what she looked like, but I was curious if her hair was dark or light. Were her eyes bright like mine or dark?

  “What if she’s waiting in there already? She’s a woman after all. What movie are most of the women here to see?”

  I nodded because he was right. The only movie worth ditching work or school for was the new Avengers movie, so she had to be in there. “Okay. We’ll need two to Belonging to the Night.”

  The man looked at us like we shouldn’t be seeing that movie. Wow, a power gay couple going to see a vampire chick flick. Now, I’ve seen it all. I didn’t have time for a pompous teenager who looked like he should be in high school and was about to snap on him when Draco took over.

  “Hey, we don’t want to miss the movie. So, two tickets, please.” The man handed the tickets over without another thought in his head or out of his mouth. I lost track of her smell once we handed the man our stubs.

  “She’s gone.” Fear of losing her made me want to smash someone’s skull in. The need to mate was taking over and there was going to be no relenting until I found her again.

  Draco nodded his head at me. “It would seem so. Let’s just go in and watch the movie and I’ll make a call to get the security footage and we’ll find her that way.”

  “Okay.”

  We stepped into the hallway area looking for our theatre number. The ticket said four, so we went that way and stepped into the theatre showing our movie. No sign of her in there. My heart was still thumping like it was going to burst from my chest. I could hear the pounding in my ears and I was certain so could Draco.

  “Calm yourself. Your eyes are changing,” he whispered even though the theatre was nearly empty.

  I took a deep breath. “Go and make the call.”

  “Only if you’re going to be okay.”

  “I’d never reveal the truth.”