VEILED Complete Boxed Set: A Paranormal Vampire Romance Thriller

by Victoria Knight

  “Disappointing,” Saul said. “You’d think they’d come up with something much more unique in this day and age.”

  “Oh, they aren’t as bad now. No new rumors, really. Although, I’m sure this event at Randy’s Roost will change all of that. Which…I have to say…I wouldn’t be surprised if Randy presses some sort of charges for his window. I haven’t heard from him on that yet.”

  “I’ll gladly pay for the window. I’ll head down there later this week.”

  “That might help matters. But if you decide to do that, let me know. I’ll take the money to him. No sense in you risking another encounter with Lester.”

  “I suppose not.”

  “Also, if he pays you another visit, please call the station as soon as you can. I have a feeling that if it did come down to an actual fight, you could put him in the hospital. So let’s avoid that, shall we?”

  “Agreed.” Secretly, he thought: I don’t think Lester Dobbs will be paying me any more visits any time soon.

  “Well,” Kara said, “that’s all out of me. Just had to come by and get your side of the story.”

  “I understand.”

  There was a very brief pause that lingered in the air. Saul gave Kara a smile and when she looked at him, he saw interest naked in her gaze. He’d seen that look before, had felt that sensation before. As a vampire, it was something he was used to but had never fully understood. It was a burning knowledge that if he chose to do so, he could have Kara Humphrey in his bed within the next five minutes.

  But there was so much going on, so many changes. And he was certain The Guard was watching him. He could feel their presence just as clearly as he could feel Kara’s eyes crawling over him.

  He walked to the door and opened it for her. When he did, her scent smacked him the face and his primal urges swarmed like bees inside him.

  “Let me know if I can be of further assistance,” he said.

  She nodded at him and walked out onto the porch. When she passed, Saul saw the curvature of her neck where it met her shoulder, exposed by the ponytail she wore her hair in. He nearly had to grind his teeth to steady himself.

  “Thanks for your cooperation,” Kara said when she reached the bottom of the stairs.

  “Absolutely.”

  He watched her get into her Escape and didn’t take his eyes off of her figure until she had turned it back up the driveway and towards the road. He stood in the doorway and squinted at the mid-afternoon sun. He could still smell that scent of excitement that she had left behind—sharp and somewhat salty.

  He was both delighted and anxious to find that it was lingering in the cabin when he headed back inside, closing the door behind him.

  6

  Nikki wasted no time after her shift at the Red Creek B&B was over. She had been thinking about what she was going to do all day. She had originally done this in the hopes of talking herself out of it but it had the opposite effect. By the time she left work at 5:15, she was more convinced than ever that she was not only going to pay Saul Benton a visit; she was going to confront him and let him know that she was on to him.

  What exactly she was on to, she wasn’t sure.

  She stopped by her small apartment off of Main Street and changed clothes. She wore a loose-fitting hooded sweatshirt and a pair of jeans. It wasn’t the sort of attire she usually wore, but the baggy clothes allowed her to easily hide the small kitchen knife and the can of mace that she shoved into the front pouch of the sweatshirt.

  It was shortly before dusk when she started driving towards the back roads that she knew would take her to the Benton Cabin. It seemed fitting, as most of the rumors around town claimed that Saul Benton only came out around dusk or after dark.

  Nikki followed the same route that Kara Humphrey had traveled down less than five hours ago. She tried to think about what she was going to say to him. Would she tell him about the footage Jason had and demand to know if it was him and, if not, perhaps he knew what was on the film?

  She didn’t think so. If Saul Benton was some sort of monster, she didn’t want to put Jason in any trouble.

  If she caused Jason any sort of harm, then what would she do?

  Nikki didn’t know. She had never been much for planning ahead. Besides, any plans she might have formed would have been obliterated by the rising need in her to understand just what in hell Saul Benton might be. It was a question that was tickling those old interests—the interests that had her involved in Wiccan practices and a very brief fling with things of the dark side in her younger years. She had no interest in ghosts, UFOs, and other such nonsense that sent Jason in geeky excitement; hers was a need to understand – to find proof of the other-worldly forces that she had always suspected shared the Earth with humans.

  The footage Jason had caught together with the brute strength she had seen Saul display outside of Randy’s Roost was enough proof that Saul Benton might be linked to those other forces Nikki found so intriguing. Then there was the fact that Saul apparently hadn’t aged a day in twenty years… Yeah, there was definitely something weird going on.

  That was the thought that was prominent in Nikki’s head as she slowly rolled her car down Saul’s driveway. She parked beside Saul’s own and got out nonchalantly, as if she her visit was expected and wanted by the person inside the cabin. Nikki spent a moment considering said building; she found herself a bit disappointed that there was nothing sinister about it. The Cabin was actually charming – warm and inviting, as only a place someone held dear ever was.

  Come into my parlor said the spider to the fly, Nikki thought. The thought had her laughing at herself as she climbed Saul’s porch steps. And if the laughter was tinged with hysteria…well, the whole damn thing was pretty nerve-wracking.

  Nikki felt a wave of panic trying to sneak up on her as she approached Saul’s front door. She took a moment to get herself under control, a moment to shake off the rising fear. She thought of the face in Jason’s video, the snarling mouth that had torn into Deke Goode’s cattle. There was a fear that came with that image but it seemed to slip right off of her as she stood on Saul’s porch. Besides, logic told her that there was no connection to be made. The thing in the video was a monster of some sort and Saul was—

  Was what? Nikki had no idea.

  She took a deep breath and raised her hand to knock. The door swung open before her knuckles even had a chance to brush against the wood..

  Saul Benton stood on the other side. There was a very confused look on his face. What caught Nikki off guard was the fact that he seemed alarmed…almost scared to see her standing there.

  “Can I help you?” Saul asked. He eyed her with suspicion.

  Nikki found it disarming to see a man of his size and stature so taken aback at a girl that weighed maybe a buck twenty and had the guile and strength of a housefly.

  “Saul, right?” she asked.

  “Yes. And you are?”

  Nikki took a step forward, as if he had invited her inside. She was amazed at how confident she felt. It was almost supernatural in a way.

  “My name is Nikki. Saul, I think we need to talk.”

  Saul visibly hesitated. He looked away from Nikki, staring further up his driveway. Nikki watched him look beyond her and when she studied his face, she was absolutely certain that it was not the same face she had seen in the video: How could the calm, relaxed, and – let’s be honest - ruggedly handsome man in front of her be the same monster she had seen on that screen?

  But the memory of the anger that had darkened Saul’s face yesterday was equally real—the look of savage rage on the face of the thing in the video had been exactly, utterly the same. It wasn’t hard to connect the two.

  When Saul finally looked back to her, the alarm and bewilderment that had made his face soft were no longer there. In their stead was a quiet confidence – power that he wore well. He gestured her into the cabin.

  “Sure. Step inside.”

  Nikki walked inside Benton Cabin; she could
not help but capitalize both words in her head, feeling as if this moment was of some special significance. Then the door slammed shut behind her, Saul Benton seeming to loom at her back, and she felt the first pang of fear wind its way through her blood — like ice.

  CHAPTER THREE

  1

  Saul fought every instinct in his body when Nikki stepped into the cabin. He could tell that she did not fear him as most other people did. Even when Kara had paid her visit, her lust-like excitement had been tinged with fear. But this girl was showing no signs of it. There was a sort of nervousness to her, but Saul thought she might be that mousy type of girl that was always nervous or anxious about something.

  “Forgive me for saying so,” Saul said, “but I have no idea who you are. So how could we possibly have anything to talk about?”

  “First,” the girl said, “you should know that two people know that I have come here. If anything happens to me and I don’t show up around town tomorrow, they’ll go to the police.”

  Saul nodded, although it was fairly obvious that she was lying. He could tell from her posture alone. The nervous-sort of smell also grew stronger as she spoke.

  “Rest assured, I won’t harm you in any way,” Saul said. “I fear you’ve been brainwashed by the Red Creek gossip circles. The Benton family is not a Satanist group. We’re also not—”

  “I know you’re not a Satanist,” she said.

  Then, to Saul’s astonishment and amusement, she sat down on his couch without being asked to do so.

  “You do?” he asked.

  “Yes. But I also don’t think you’re a human.”

  “Okay,” Saul said, not liking where this was going. Still, he tried to play the part of the innocent hermit that had simply been misunderstood by the town he called home. “Which story would you like for me to debunk for you?”

  “Stop,” Nikki said. “Seriously. I know. I saw you yesterday. You pushed Lester Dobbs through a window like he was nothing. And Lester is a big dude. His feet came off of the ground, and I don’t think you put much force into the shove.”

  “I caught him off guard.”

  “He came off the ground a good three feet,” Nikki said. “I saw the whole thing. But even besides that, there’s more.”

  Saul was worried now. He couldn’t remember the last time he had felt that way with someone from Red Creek. The last times nerves had gotten the best of him had been around the time his sister had split.

  “Go on,” he said dryly.

  “I saw an old newspaper clipping. It was from the time your…your um, father died. You were in it, off to the back like you were hiding from the camera. But I saw enough of you to know that you look exactly like you do now. You look like you haven’t aged a day since the picture was taken and that was more than twenty years ago.”

  “Well, I guess I age w—,”

  “Cut the shit,” Nikki said.

  Now there was a bit of fear in her voice. He stood in front of her, no more than five feet between them, and knew that she still wasn’t done. To hear the fear in her voice like that, Saul assumed whatever it was that she had left was a doozy. Still, he couldn’t imagine what else she might know about him.

  “Fine,” Saul said. “What else do you have on me?” Secretly, he was thinking: I really don’t want to have to kill this girl. The Guard would not be pleased. I could place Jill and myself in a lot of danger.

  “A video. From two nights ago. It’s trap cam footage.”

  “Trap cam?”

  “Those cameras hunters put out in the woods. There was one at the edge of Deke Goode’s pasture, out along the forest side of it. I saw you. Or I saw what you really are, I guess.”

  Saul’s panic began to fade away when he realized that she really did have nothing. She had perhaps used the local legends about his family and used it as fuel in addition to footage of some animal from the forests.

  “Yeah…sorry,” he said. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  She actually seemed to grow angry at his denial. She leaped to her feet and pointed an accusing finger at him.

  “I saw it. It was you. There was that same hateful expression you had when you left Lester Dobbs pushed through a window.”

  “I have no idea what you’re—” he said, but then a new sort of panic seized him.

  “I watched you slaughter at least three cows,” Nikki said. “I can’t be sure it was you, of course, but it damn sure made me think of you. The expression…the anger and rage on your face…it was the same I saw on the street.”

  Saul didn’t think she realized it, but she had just ruined her story for any good policeman by stating simply I can’t be sure it was you. But he was barely aware of that. He was hung up on something else she had said. She had seen something with a rage similar to his own on its face. Most people might claim that making such a heap was huge, but Saul knew better.

  Among his kind, many looked the same when they transformed. There were ever certain traits and facial features that remained the same in some cases; one of them was rage.

  Was there another vampire in Red Creek? And if so, how was the Guard allowing it? There were rules to follow, after all.

  “This footage,” Saul said. Was it taken on your camera?”

  “No. It was a friend’s. And no, I won’t tell you who.”

  Anger and concern battled inside of Saul. He took a single step towards her and saw her hands sneak towards the pouch of the hoodie she was wearing. He could make out a long shape in the pouch, probably a gun or a knife.

  Now he had a new problem…did he pretend that he was indeed the creature she was referencing or milk her for information and hope to get to the bottom of what was really happening? If there was indeed another vampire in Red Creek, he needed to know as soon as possible.

  He figured he’d play it by ear and be as non-committal as possible.

  “So why are you coming to me with this?” Saul asked.

  “Because I want you to know that I know.”

  “Why?”

  Nikki shrugged. “That part I don’t know.”

  “So let me get this right. Let’s say you’re right and that I’m some sort of creature of the night. You think you saw me do something atrocious and violent on a film. But you still came here just to gloat about your discovery? What makes you think I won’t do to you what I did to those cows?”

  “I’m not a cow.”

  “No you aren’t.”

  “And besides, like I said, I have two people that know—”

  “Cut the bullshit,” Saul said, borrowing her earlier phrase.

  She nodded and looked towards the door very quickly. “So, what are you then?”

  “Pissed.”

  “For real,” she said. Again, he could hear the fear in her voice.

  “Let’s say you are right. And not just you, but every idiot in Red Creek. Let’s say all the stories are true and that my family is something dark. What do you think I am?”

  She thought about it for a moment and as she did, Saul started to feel the same urges that Kara Humphrey had brought out in him earlier in the day. He could tell that Nikki was skinny under that sweatshirt, but he still badly wanted to see her naked. He hadn’t felt such cravings in a very long time and he was growing angry with these two stupid women for putting him such a predicament.

  “It’s dumb,” she said finally. “But I’m guessing either a demon of some kind or a vampire. But if you’re a vampire, you’re a genuine evil as hell creature of the night and not one of those sparkly fruity ones.”

  Saul smiled, not giving her an answer one way or the other. His mind was in other places, trying to figure out a way to prevent any trouble.

  “So what do you want? What do you want me to do to ensure you don’t show anyone that video?”

  He knew he was on sketchy ground here. He had still not come out and admitted to what he was. But he had to come close or at least play along so he could get as much information about this
other creature as he could. Part of him worried that he might be placing her in danger. But that wasn’t his concern. She had come here to him so that opened her up to danger as far as he was concerned.

  “Not much, really,” Nikki said. “I just want you to tell me your story. I want to know what you are, why you are, and why you’re in Red Creek.”

  “I don’t have a story,” he said. “Because I’m not a vampire.”

  Nikki sighed. He saw something flicker in her yes, maybe a steeled sort of stubbornness. It came and went so fast that he couldn’t tell. She removed the object from the pouch of her sweatshirt and Saul saw that it was a knife, as he had suspected.

  He took a step towards her, prepared to ward her off gently if she attacked him. But instead, she took the knife to her arm and slashed across. She drew blood instantly. It welled up and streamed down her arm. She hissed at the quick bite of pain but extended her arm.

  The action took him off guard and he wasn’t able to catch the instincts of that other self that rose to the surface at the sight of that crimson gold. He felt his other self take control for a few moments—maybe a bit longer than he had allowed it to surface while confronting Lester Dobbs in this same room the night before.

  Nikki gasped and took a step back. “Oh my God, you are…,”

  “No,” he said, but he knew it was useless. He had felt the other part of him rise up. He knew his eyes had gone that peculiar shade of red and that his facial features had contorted for only the briefest of a moment.

  He’d been found out. He’d been fooled by this stupid girl.

  Saul pushed the urges back when he realized that his calf muscles were primed and ready to launch his body at her, to suck her blood until she was nothing more than a shell. He pushed it down hard, so hard that he felt it die in his guts like a worm on a hot sidewalk.

  “Damn you,” Saul said.

  “So you are,” she said, the fear evident in her voice now. Still, she held out her cut arm. The wound was shallow but the blood ran all the same. He watched as a single drop fell from her pale skin and hit the floor.