Whisper to Me (Borne Vampires Book 1)

by Petzler, W. M.

  “No worries about Mariah Jordan. The boss wants her treated like a queen. However, we’re looking for the people she is with.”

  “The big guy and his family?” The man nodded. “You know they’re vampires, right?”

  He thumbed at his men, and they went inside the club. “Yeah, we know what they are. That’s why we want them.”

  “Are you vampire hunters?”

  Shrugging, he spread his hands out, and the way he smiled made Jeremy nervous. “We’re all hunters, in one shape or another.”

  “I guess Candy and I won’t get the reward, huh?”

  “Oh, I think you’ll get something for your trouble. Be back here in an hour. Boss will be here to meet you and that pretty wife of yours.” He went inside the club, the door closed behind him.

  “God, how the hell did I get involved in this?” Jeremy asked himself as he got into his car.

  The money, of course. Two hundred thousand dollars, to be exact.

  Parking in his spot outside the modest apartment he and Candy rented, he went inside, relieved to find his wife gone. Tired, he laid on the couch. Closing his eyes, he kept seeing again and again the love shining in Mariah's eyes for that Rathe.

  For a vampire!

  Berating himself for the millionth time, he lay there wondering how he could have left her for Candy. Now, he’ll never have the chance to get her back. She was one of them, a vampire. How the hell did Mariah wind up involved with vampires anyways?

  Closing his eyes again, he tried to sleep and escape the guilt of betraying her again. An awful stench, close to rotting meat, had him jerking his eyes open and he stared right into lifeless, bloodshot eyes.

  “Hey, Handsome.” Candy leaned closer to him. “No sleeping. We’re supposed to be at the club, remember?”

  Scrambling to sit up, he saw she had a white bandage taped to the right side of her neck. “Baby, who hurt you?” He reached to examine the wound, but Candy drew back and rose to her feet.

  Smoothing her hand down the red, slinky gown she wore, she shrugged. “Just a nick. It’ll heal in no time. You need to change. Don't you want to meet my new boss?” Her skin was usually pale, but it was damn near translucent tonight.

  “Oh, sure, I can't wait to meet the owner of The Inferno.” Rubbing his face to hide the fear he felt at being alone with his own wife, he said, “Give me a minute to get ready.”

  “Why didn’t you bring Mariah to the club?” He laid his hands on her bare shoulders, alarmed at how cold and clammy her skin felt to touch.

  Crept out at the disturbing way she kept staring at his neck, he explained, “Bitch wouldn’t come with me. Don’t worry. I was told we will still get something for finding her.”

  “You’re in love with her,” she stated in an unemotional tone. A rare calm moment for Candy, and he went instantly on the defense, prepared for the merciless tirade he knew would surely follow. Only this time she didn’t explode.

  Taking the rare opportunity, he kissed her and said with a soft murmur, “Babe, you know I love you. Why else am I here?” He went to the bedroom closet and pulled off his shirt and put on a clean one, followed by a brown blazer. Heading into the bathroom, he noticed the necklaces Candy kept beside the sink as he brushed his hair.

  “Well, I’m ready. Are you?”

  “We need to hurry or we’ll miss all the fun.”

  When he looked at his wife, a sinking feeling hit him. A nasty smirk curved Candy's red lips as they went out to the car. Opening the car door for her, he closed it when she was in. They didn’t speak until he parked in front of The Inferno.

  “I thought there was a party here?”

  “Oh, there is.” An ugly grin spread across her red lips, making her look like a corpse. “Trust me, baby. Our life is about to change, and I promise, you won’t be disappointed.”

  Getting out, Jeremy went around the car and opened her door for her. Helping her out, Candy took him by the hand, leading him inside the club. Interior dim, except the dance floor was illuminated in a red hue. Fog curled and coiled around his feet and ankles. At the far end of the dance floor, sitting in a chair, was a tall man, elegantly dressed in a pristine-white suit with a black shirt underneath, white tie. Beautiful in a masculine way, his blue eyes glittered, reminding Jeremy of the icebergs he’d seen on television. The man’s long hair flowed down his chest and shoulders, the white-blond strands illuminated in the black lights. At first, he thought the man was smiling pleasantly at him, but the closer he came, he saw how wrong he was.

  “Jeremy Waters, the foolish human who rejected my beloved Mariah and broke her heart.” Sneering at him, the action exposed the man’s discolored fangs. “Immortality would be wasted upon a fool such as you.”

  God, another vampire!

  “My lord,” Candy knelt before the vampire, “please, Jeremy has been faithful to me. He will be for you. I promise.”

  The vampire caressed her face with a claw-like nail. “Does he mean so much to you, my dear?”

  “Yes, my lord. I love him.”

  Slowly, the vampire lifted his eyes to him. Jeremy swallowed hard as he felt himself pulled into those icy depths. “Jeremy, I extend to you the gift of my kind. Drink my blood and become one of my children.” Slicing his wrist, the vampire offered it out to him. Blackish-green blood dripped to the floor.

  “Please, Jeremy,” Candy urged, rising to her feet. “Drink and become one of us. Death will never touch us. We’ll never grow old. Join us and become an Immortal!”

  “Us?”

  Ripping off the bandage, she exposed an oozing wound, the rotten odor made him want to gag. “Ah, hell no!” Jeremy fumbled inside his shirt front, withdrawing the silver cross he’d found in her jewelry. Candy snarled at him, her mouth suddenly filled with razor sharp teeth.

  Jarrod smiled. “Clever human. Any other surprises?”

  Fog swirling around him rose into the shapes of three men, solidifying into Rathe and the two dark-haired vampires he’d seen at Mariah’s house! They were three feet behind him, flanking him with their swords drawn.

  Vampires with swords? What next?

  Rathe tossed Jeremy a bottle with a black cross on it. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what it was for. Vampire lore flooded his mind as he hurriedly unscrewed the top.

  “Surprised, Jarrod?” Rathe grinned dangerously.

  Gripping the arms of his chair, Jarrod sat back in his chair. “My old friend, I must admit when I heard of your death, a small part of me wept.” He shrugged as he laughed and held his hands out. “Of course, the feeling went away.”

  Rathe shrugged. “I’ll shed no tears after I kill you. Not after what you’ve done to me and my family.”

  “What I’ve done to your family? Whose family is alive and whose isn’t, Rathe Romulas, the legendary Demon Slayer? If I may, the only family I have left is Mariah and her daughter. The rest died at your hands!”

  “Jarrod, you’re family brought their deaths about when they murdered and turned innocent humans.” Rathe cautiously approached Jarrod. “You are hereby judged for the crimes you’ve committed against humans and the Borne. Death is your sentence.”

  “Oh, Rathe, we are past such threats, are we not? Nothing you do to me can compare to your betrayal. Nothing!” Visibly struggling to rein in his anger, Jarrod smoothed his hair with his hand. “Well, with the exception of my brother’s murder.”

  Rathe made to rush Jarrod, but the vampire held his hand out and wiggled a long finger at him. “No, no! Not if you want your precious family tainted with Damned blood.” Jarrod clapped his hands together. Ten vampires, dressed in black and armed with machine guns, leapt onto the dance floor, surrounding them. More appeared, not as sophisticated or organized as the ones in black, but were holding handguns aimed at Rathe and the two men.

  “What do you mean ‘family’?” Rathe demanded warily.

  Jarrod snapped his fingers. Three vampires came out, holding Kai and two other girls.

  “Which
one shall I taste first?” Jarrod smugly inquired. “Or perhaps, I should turn my bride and make her my queen?” A big brute dragged Mariah out. Flames rippled in her amethyst-colored eyes as she fought him.

  “I will cut you slowly, if you harm my family!”

  “You are not in a position to make threats, my friend.” Jarrod said to Candy, “Search for the two women who escaped you earlier. I want them brought here.”

  His wife signaled to the ones holding machine guns and walked past him, not looking at him. Clutching the bottle of Holy water to his chest, he stood there, unsure the best course to stay alive. Fight or run like hell?

  A loud shriek made him jump. His wife slide across the dance floor and hit the wall, buckling the drywall. Green blood trickled from the cut above her left eye. Partially rising out of his chair, Jarrod slowly sat down when a woman with white hair, glowing in the black light, appeared beside Rathe. Her ageless, beautiful features hard, her slender shoulders were thrown back proudly.

  “Did you kill my men?” Jarrod asked casually, but the narrowing of his eyes gave way his anger.

  “Your men have abandoned you, Jarrod.”

  “Candy, is this true?”

  Using the wall to support her, Candy nodded. “Yes, my lord. They left me after that bitch struck me!”

  “What?” Jarrod’s beautiful features blurred to a face that was hideous and shrunken like a corpse’s. Struggling, the vampire twisted his head and his face returned to what Jeremy realized was only a mask concealing the monster underneath. “Tereza, to what do I owe the honor of your presence?”

  “I demand justice for the death of my husband, whom you are guilty of murdering.” Her lilting voice was pure music, compelling in deadly tones.

  Jarrod forced out between clenched teeth, “Demetri did not die by my hand, I swear it.”

  “You lie!” she shouted at him, drawing her sword.

  He shot out of his chair. “I loved him as a son to a father. As I loved you. You were more a mother to me than the bitch who gave birth to me and Aidan. I’d not raise hand against you or Demetri.”

  Tereza and Rathe exchanged a quick look. “Who then? Who brought my husband low and forced him to meet the sun?”

  “Look to your own,” Jarrod said with hatred and disgust. “Long have you and those who still hold honor been deceived. Those whom you hold in high regard have played you for fools.”

  Rathe lowered his sword. “Are you saying the Elders had a hand in my father’s death?”

  “Their hands are soaked in Borne blood. I took in those your precious Elders would have slain. I welcomed the lost and condemned. You,” Jarrod thrust his finger at Rathe, “are as guilty as your father! You judged an innocent and forced me to choose life as the Damned. Do you not like what you created, dear friend?”

  Behind Jarrod, he saw a tall woman appear, gorgeous beyond words. Wielding a sword, she chopped off the heads of the vampires holding the girls. Simon, Faeroes, and Rathe moved so fast, Jeremy only saw the heads of Jarrod’s men fly around him as they killed them. Jarrod withdrew a gun out of his suit and shot wildly as he made to retreat back to the huge man holding Mariah.

  Searching for Candy, he saw her rush into the fight, a long knife in her hand. When he saw who her goal was, he tossed Holy water in her face. Candy screamed as her skin bubbled and smoke rose as if she’d been doused in acid. Shocked at what he’d done, he made to help her, but she backhanded him, sending him crashing into the wall. Ears ringing and dazed, he watched Candy jump on Tereza, biting her neck as she thrust her knife in the woman’s chest repeatedly.

  “No!” Mariah screamed.

  Jeremy looked to Rathe and realized the man hadn’t seen what had happened because he was rushing Jarrod, who now had a sword, too. Suddenly Jarrod shot upward, breaking through the ceiling. Rathe gave chase. Struggling to get his feet under him, Jeremy tried to make his way to Mariah and free her. The guy holding her screamed as his head was ripped clear off by the tall blonde he’d seen at her house. Freed, Mariah ran and bodily slammed Candy off Tereza.

  They wrestled, rolling across the dance floor. Mariah fought back, dodging Candy's snapping teeth as she tried to bite her. Gathering her feet under Candy's stomach, she kicked her off her. The knife flew out of her grip, flying harmlessly out of the way. Snarling, Candy and Mariah circled each other. Suddenly, Candy gasped, her eyes bulged, surprise and horror shown in those terrible depths. She clutched her chest as the sharp point of a sword exited her. Greenish-black blood erupted out of her gaping mouth. Collapsing to her knees, Candy stared in disbelief as the awful-colored blood coated her hands and chest. Behind her stood the dark-haired girl, who’d been held captive with Kai. Candy screamed when the blade was yanked out of her. Tears streamed down the girl's pale face.

  Drawing back the sword, the girl said in an oddly calm voice, “You are hereby judged. May God never forgive you!” She drew back the sword, lights from above glinted along the blade's length before she swung, cutting off Candy’s head, sending it tumbling toward him.

  Handing the sword to a stunned Mariah, the girl said to her, “You have to go to after Rathe and help him stop Jarrod, once and for all.”

  “I will, Mina, I promise.”

  Jeremy watched Mariah jump up through the gaping hole in the ceiling. He cautiously went to Kai, who pressed bar towels on Tereza’s wounds, trying to stop the bleeding.

  She glared at him and shouted, “Get away from us! Because of you and that bitch you married, Tereza is dying.”

  Faeroes grabbed him by the throat and threw him away from them. “Stay back, human, or you’ll die like your wife.”

  Biting his lip from crying out in pain, Jeremy climbed to his feet, knowing tonight was his entire fault. If only he had stood up to Candy, if only…. He ran out of the club, ashamed of his actions, his weakness.

  Pausing outside the club's doors, he felt a cold, unnatural chill sweep over him. Whipping around, he came face to face with a woman whose height matched his. A golden cloud of curling golden hair framed the face of an angel. Her blue eyes held him a willing captive in their hypnotic depths. Trailing her slender hand down his cheek, around his neck, she snapped his head to the side, exposing his throat. Red lips parted in a sadistic grin, exposing rows of yellowed teeth.

  “Dinner is served!” Tearing into his flesh, she ripped his throat out.

  He never had a chance to scream.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Lightening arced, radiating in the pulsating darkness. The wind howled with a vampire's fury. Should she call back the storm or let it rage, giving Rathe another weapon he could use?

  Peering out of the jagged hole in the roof, Mariah saw Rathe and Jarrod fight, swords clashed, blue sparks flew as steel met steel. Heavier and taller, Rathe should have had the advantage, but Jarrod proved quicker, lighter on his feet.

  Jarrod yelled, “Rathe, you have no hope to defeat me. Help me destroy the Elders! We can rule over the Borne and the humans alike. We can be gods!”

  “Gods? I need no one to worship me, Jarrod. I’ve no vanity need nursing.”

  “What do you want? Mariah?” He speared her with a loathing glare as she leapt onto the roof. “Since you’re the one who tainted her, I’ll give her back to you — once I’ve converted her, of course.” Jarrod bared his sharp teeth in a gruesome smile.

  “Mariah will never be one of the Damned!” Rathe roared, “We end this now!” He struck harder, faster. Unfortunately, each blow deflected, Jarrod unharmed.

  “Why, when I've had so much fun playing with you and your delicious family? What's wrong, Rathe? Are you not proud of what you created? Am I not exactly what you condemned me to become? Yes, Rathe, this is your fault! If you had just looked at me, really looked at me that night you would have seen I hadn't turned. The villagers had to pay for what they did to my brother! Revenge for Aidan!”

  In the flash of lightening, she saw the old Jarrod and just as the flash faded, so did his sanity. “Well, you wante
d me Damned, here I am, baby!” Jarrod leapt, striking down at Rathe, who barely raised his blade in time to deflect it.

  Behind Jarrod, she thought she saw fog rising. Acrid-smelling, she flinched, realizing it wasn’t fog, but smoke, and it was rising on all sides of The Inferno!

  “Rathe, someone set fire to the club!” She pointed at the flames dancing along the edges of the rooftop.

  He checked out the fire and that’s when she saw Jarrod rip his wrist open with his jagged teeth. He drew back his hand to attack Rathe.

  “No!” She grabbed Rathe and yanked him to safety just as Jarrod threw his blood at him, fortunately flying harmlessly past his shoulder.

  Snarling at her, Jarrod yelled, “You, bitch, I’ll cut your heart and feed it to my ghouls!”

  Braced for an attack, she shouted back, “Jarrod, what would Aidan think of your plans? Your war set upon a man who held you as close as a brother? To me and Kai, your only blood family left?”

  Jarrod quieted, tears of green blood coursed down his gaunt face. “I miss him so much. I want my soul back. I want this thing out of me … the demon gone.”

  “I know you do, but I can’t bring your soul back. I don’t have the power.”

  “Then you are worthless to me!” Rushing her, his sword rose to strike her, thankfully Rathe was faster and blocked him.

  An explosion beneath her feet sent her rocking for balance. “Rathe, the fire’s below us! We’ve got to end this.”

  “I want him to face the Elders!” Rathe’s chest heaved as he held his sword ready, protecting her.

  “What?”

  Rathe grabbed her sword. Running at Jarrod, he drove the tips through his feet, pinning him to the roof. Howling in pain, Jarrod tried to free himself, the silver in the blades burning into his flesh. He grabbed the hilts and screamed. Letting go, his palms blistered from the silver inlaid in the hilts. Jarrod's glamor slipped and the demon he had become emerged as he howled his fury.

  “Now what,” she shouted to Rathe

  “I—” His response was lost when the roof caved in.