Not Another Vampire Book

by Cassandra Gannon

Anger and frustration were a lot healthier than panic. Kara seized onto them, gratefully.

  All of this just wasn’t happening. Not to her. Not today. No way was she bunking down at Club Dead with a socially maladjusted sorcerer and his pet raven. How was she going to get out of here? There had to be some rabbit hole she could jump through to get back home, again.

  Had to be.

  If she just had a plan, she could get through anything. Kara was a one step at a time problem solver. NASA went to the moon one circuit at a time. People built the Great Wall of China one brick at a time. Taking it one page at a time, she could get out of this book.

  Her eyes narrowed, thoughtfully. Maybe if she just sort of rewound the problem. Went back to where things went wrong and fixed the damage. Maybe she needed to get on the Donnelly Building’s elevator, again, and go… Up.

  That made sense.

  Sort of.

  Problem: Where the hell was the Donnelly Building?

  Kara spent her life at the office. Back in reality, she could have found it blindfolded. God-only-knew what a map of the Chicago streets looked like in this stupid novel, though. Tanya St. Clair obviously wasn’t going to let a little thing like geography slow her down.

  Damien came sweeping back into the room, carrying a wine goblet full of water and no Dramamine. “Finished with your hysterics?”

  “No.” Kara turned to glower at him. “Have you ever heard of the Donnelly Building?”

  His brows arched, skeptically. “You’re claiming to have your own building, now?” He held out the water glass. “Is that where you keep the rest of your clothes?”

  “My father and the bank own the building. I just work there. And there’s nothing wrong with my clothes. Real people wear real clothes, not Halloween costumes, Vlad.” Damien looked surprised by the nickname. Kara didn’t care. “How far is Delaware Ave. from here?”

  “Several miles.”

  “Right.” Her jaw firmed in determination. “I need to go there.” She took the water glass from him and belted it back like it was straight scotch. Setting the empty glass down on a table that looked like it was made from crisscrossing human bones, she held out her hand in farewell. “Well, I’ll see you in the second draft, Damien.”

  He regarded her outstretched palm like he had no idea what it was. Black eyes flicked from her fingers back up to her face. “You think to go?” He sounded shocked. “You think you can?”

  “Well, I’m not thrilled with hiking miles in these shoes. But, yeah. I think I can do it. Don’t worry.” Kara gave up on the idea of shaking hands and started around him. Wizard Warlocks apparently didn’t do manners. “Listen, I appreciate your help with Slade. I swear, I will give you the nicest edit possible, when I get out of here.”

  “You can’t just go, Kara Lynn.” The words were flat and final.

  She nearly rolled her eyes. Men. “Uh-huh. I appreciate you trying to look out for me, but I’m not sure you can do anything else to help. I’d rather not do the zappy thing, again, and you don’t have a comfy SUV in the garage, I’ll bet.”

  “A what?”

  “Exactly.” Kara strode out into the hall, her new plan giving her purpose. Plans meant stability. Plans gave you something to hold onto. When your world fell apart, and your mom died and you just wanted to curl up into a ball, having a plan was the only thing that got you through the darkness. If you had a plan for your future, you had hope. Back then, it had been her plan to run Donnelly Publishing and help it thrive. Now, it was to escape this book and burn every page of the manuscript.

  She glowered down at its blue plastic cover.

  Eternal Passion at Sunset was not going to beat her.

  Damien made an incredulous sound, following her with long sweeping strides. “You’re not understanding this, woman.” He caught hold of her arm, pulling her to a halt. “I can’t allow you to leave like this.”

  “That’s sweet, but I’m not your responsibility. You’ve been…” She hesitated. “You’ve actually been great. Tanya must have screwed something up with you, because you’ve been a real godsend. I have no idea what I would have done without your help this evening. Slade was a nightmare within a nightmare. Thank you for being there to save me from him.”

  Damien blinked, his ominous scowl fading. “I…” His grip on her arm loosened, like she’d caught him off guard. “Well… You’re welcome.” The bewildered expression on his sinister face was almost endearing.

  Kara smiled at him. On impulse, she reached up to touch his cheek, her thumb tracing over the scar, which had moved to his chin. He was stuck in this thankless role as a Black Hat, but he was also the only person who’d tried to help her since she’d been here. Damien could do so much better than this stupid story. Such a shame he was destined to lose to that dumbass Slade. “You should stop this war with the Vampires. You can’t win.” The good guys always triumphed at the end of the fairytale.

  “Who are you?” Damien’s black eyes met hers, something hot and unreadable in their depths. “How do you know of the future?”

  “I live there.” Kara dropped her hand. “I’ll see ya around, Vlad.” She tried to pulling free of his grasp, but he held tight.

  “You can’t go.” Damien sounded bleak. “I can’t allow it.”

  “Allow?” She snorted. “Please. What are you going to do? Keep me here against my will?”

  Damien cleared his throat. “Actually…” He trailed off as she turned to meet his gaze.

  “Actually, what?” For the first time, Kara felt a flash of fear around Damien. He might have been helpful, but he was also a magical super-villain… And she was all alone in his creepy house of horrors. She instinctively jerked hard against his hold and he released her. Not that it made a difference. Kinda hard to outrun someone who could teleport. She took a step back from him, a ridiculous swell of betrayal rising within her. “Actually, you think you’re going to hold me prisoner or something? You can’t do that! I trusted you!”

  Damien’s jaw tightened. “I know. But…” He glanced away in frustration. “Just let me think.”

  “Think about what? Manacles versus leg irons?”

  “You’re being ridiculous.” He frowned as if something new occurred to him. “Kara Lynn, wait. I have a carriage. Sometimes. Or, at least, I can hire one. We could go in a carriage. Alright?”

  Kara took a break for her newest freak-out, considering that. “A carriage?” That might actually be doable. “Are you offering me a lift?” Some of the stilted formality of his words had lessened, but the guy still wasn’t super easy to chat with. Was that all he was going on about?

  Damien slowly nodded. “Things would be less… complicated if you allowed me to escort you there.”

  She exhaled heavily, her anxiety fading. “You dumbbell! I know you have a dungeon from one of those pointless flashbacks. I was imagining all kinds of weird Saw setups and you just want to drive me to the Donnelly Building?!” She started laughing in relief, reaching out to smack his arm in amused annoyance. “You scared me.”

  “I would not have you frightened of me, if I could prevent it.” Damien murmured.

  “Good. Because I would not want to kill you, if I can prevent it.” Aside from this man, Kara had absolutely nothing. No friends, no family, no clue as to how to survive in this Bizarre-o World. It wasn’t like Melessa or Slade were going to lend a hand. Morons. “Without you, I’m all alone here. You have no idea how terrifying that is.”

  Damien’s head titled, again, something softening in his angular face. “I know what it is to be alone.” He said, quietly.

  Kara cleared her throat. “Anyway… Yeah. Yeah, come along. Thanks.” Why burn bridges? If Damien was dumb enough to want to keep hanging out with her, even after she’d rewritten his reality, what was the point in arguing? It never hurt to have a handsome sorcerer on your team. Kara headed down the hall. “You’re going to have to drive, though. Everything I know about horses, I learned from watching Seabiscuit.”

  Chap
ter Four

  The woman would be his savior.

  Angelic and yielding, with a lilting voice and sweet disposition, she had been crafted just for Slade. At the end of all his heroic fighting in the Vampire Wars, Melessa’s angelic love was his reward. It made his valiant, selfless struggle finally worth it. His mission now was to protect his mate from Damien’s evil clutches. Slade was a hero. Only someone of his magnificence could help save Melessa from the dark creature’s masterful plots, just as only Melessa’s purity could save Slade’s lost soul.

  Eternal Passion at Sunset- Chapter four

  The woman would be his downfall.

  From the second he’d laid eyes on her, he’d known. The curves of her body. The curls of her hair. The wide, chocolate eyes staring up at him in defiance and surprise. Even the honeysuckle smell of her. It was all… different.

  Dangerous.

  Damien knew dangerous people. He was one. He’d been raised in a world where only the most dangerous bastards survived and Damien came through it as the last one standing. He needed nothing but his vengeance, now. He was strong and isolated. Used to his life.

  Yet, this woman disrupted things.

  Disrupted the very clear path he’d always followed.

  It seemed like he existed in a haze, mechanically moving forward towards his ultimate goal. All day, every day, he made plans to kill Slade. Plans to rip away everything that the Vampire cared about. Tonight should have been the first step in Damien’s greater agenda. Countless hours went into scheming and plotting and arranging it. Slade’s Eternal-One was the key to everything.

  Karalynn could bring the reigning champ to his knees and give Damien what he wanted. Slade dead. The Vampires broken. An end to the war. A chance to rest. Just five minutes where Damien didn’t have to fight or obsess. Five minutes where he could sit beside someone and talk about nothing. Five minutes where he could have…

  … Peace.

  The woman could give him all that.

  But, she was also more dangerous to him than anyone else had ever been. He couldn’t explain who Karalynn Donnelly was or where she came from. He couldn’t explain her powers or how she seemed to know things.

  He couldn’t explain why she affected him so much.

  “We have to turn here.” Her attention was focused on the street, the dim light reflecting off the curves of her face. Why had he never noticed humans looked so soft and appealing? He’d always dismissed them as a frail, unimportant species. Now, he was reconsidering that stance. Close-up, they were compelling. Bright.

  Or was it just this human who stirred him?

  It was as if someone had designed Karalynn to appeal just to him, either as a bribe, or a prize, or a test. Or maybe just a cosmic joke. Back in the garden, Kara said that she didn’t know why she was there. But, Damien knew.

  It was simple fate.

  Nothing happened without a reason. For good or ill, his fate was tied to this woman. Slade’s woman. The destined bride of his enemy.

  Damien’s strangely outspoken, utterly oblivious hostage.

  “Damien, are you listening?” She demanded.

  “How could I prevent it? You’re shouting at me.” No one else had the spine to even attempt such a thing. If they had, Damien would have exploded their eyes right in the sockets and then ripped their lungs out with his magicks. With this baffling human, though, he just found the impertinence… interesting.

  Kara made a face, not at all afraid of his powers or the horrible, conscious-less things he could do to a mere mortal. Even one as unique as her. “Just make him turn left, Vlad.”

  If Damien could have still felt amusement, he might have smiled at her nerve. Karalynn interested Damien and nothing interested Damien. She was somehow immune to his mindreading powers. She was able to see things that others couldn’t. Why? What was she? How had she just appeared at the party? Why would she not want Slade? Why would she instead choose to come with him? Why were her clothes so… different?

  Damien’s eyes flicked down to the long expanse of her legs and then quickly away, again. He’d always been drawn to female legs. Hers were so beautifully shaped and shockingly bare. He’d never been so aware of a woman before.

  Not that Kara was trying to entice him. Damien might as well have been a lamppost for all the attention she gave him. That annoyed him, although it was beneath him to care about a mortal’s opinion.

  “Are you sure, this time?” He asked just to irritate her. “We seem to be going in circles. One would think you’d remember the location of your own building.”

  Kara flashed him a glare. “It’s not my fault. Everything’s all switched around. Tanya can’t even get the streets in her own city straight.”

  “Indeed.” Whoever Tanya was, Karalynn obviously blamed the woman for all her problems. He’d ask for specifics, but he could wait an hour or so for the truth. Twelve hundred years of life had taught him patience. Damien leaned closer to the window and raised his voice so the cab driver could hear. “Turn left.” He called, wearily.

  The tediously slow human transportation was yet another bothersome detail of this excursion. If Kara had let them just teleport, they could’ve been there by now. So, why hadn’t he just ignored her ludicrous feelings? Why wasn’t he putting a stop to all this madness?

  So many questions and they all revolved around one small girl.

  Tonight everything had gone strangely. Not at all as he’d anticipated. For the first time in forever, Damien worried that somebody could actually defeat him. Kara was beyond his understanding. He’d only been in her orbit for a short time and already she had him acting out of character. She did something mysterious and unexpected to his normal, rational way of thinking and that made her a threat.

  Far more of one than that asshole Slade.

  “Your bird’s staring at me.” She muttered. “Does it have to do that?”

  “I don’t think she likes you.”

  “It’s mutual.” Karalynn thumped her forehead against the window glass. “Ya know, when I went to work this morning, I never thought I’d misplace the whole office today. I was sooo not expecting any of this to happen.”

  “Neither was I.”

  That was an understatement. His plan had been so simple. Damien appreciated a good plan. It gave him something to think about besides the memories and hatred. It made sense to hold onto Slade’s woman and use her to lure the Vampire into a trap. Kidnapping the bastard’s Eternal-One had always been Damien’s intention. He was just stunned that it happened so easily.

  Karalynn Donnelly was his prisoner.

  That seemed… wrong.

  Maybe, on some level, Damien had never expected his plan to work. He certainly hadn’t expected Kara to come with him so willing. Stranger still, now that he had her, a huge part of him wanted to get rid of her, as quickly as possible. Give her back to Slade. Dump her off a bridge. Buy her a train ticket. Anything to put some distance between them.

  She would be his doom.

  The legends of his people said that a Wizard Warlock could recognize the one who would destroy him. He believed that. Believed in destiny and believed that some force out there was directing the universe. Damien looked at this small, weak human and he saw his own end.

  He wanted her, anyway.

  Even knowing that she was most likely leading him into a trap, he still wanted her.

  His gaze traveled back to her, against his will. He had never seen anyone wear clothes like Karalynn’s. They were... small. Beneath the thin, pink fabric of her blouse he could see the steady rise of her breasts. The sight transfixed him. She looked so soft. It worried Damien how much he wanted to touch her. What he would give for it. He wasn’t a man controlled by his sexual desires. The fact that Karalynn made him react this way was… wrong. Wrong in ways that threatened to open up an entirely new set of problems if he examined them too closely.

  Wrong in ways that he’d just as soon ignore.

  Only he couldn’t ignore Karalynn.
r />   He’d tried.

  He’d wanted to lock her up, out of sight and mind. Tossing her in the dungeon would have been the most logical way keep her under his control and use her as bait for Slade. Unfortunately, the insane woman didn’t seem to realize that she was his captive. She was under his complete control and she still thought she could leave anytime she liked. Damien had been in the somewhat awkward position of having to explain the truth to her and he would have. Was about to.

  Except Kara had turned those huge brown eyes on him, the first stirrings of betrayal and fear in her expression… and he couldn’t do it. If Damien threw her in the dungeon, Kara would see him as the enemy, just as the rest of the world did.

  He found that he didn’t want that.

  He actually… cared that she might hate him. In one split second, Damien chose to keep the woman’s odd faith in him and risk a Vampire ambush. What kind of powers did Karalynn have to make him do something so idiotic?

  He’d come up with this ridiculous plan to drive her to the so-called “Donnelly Building,” simply to appease her. There was no other gain in it. Damien hadn’t been thinking of the trap that she might be leading him into. He’d only focused on ensuring that Kara didn’t guess that she was a pawn in this war. That he was her enemy. Damien needed to hide what he really was, because he didn’t want this ease between them to end.

  With this small human around, Damien felt less alone on a fundamental level.

  “I’m telling you, the building should be…” Kara drew in a quick breath. “Stop! Stop the car. Carriage. Whatever. Just stop the horse!” She was opening the door and bounding out on to the sidewalk before Damien could give the command.

  Damien swore and hit the top of the coach with his walking stick, signaling the driver to stop. He looked out the open carriage door, his senses scanning. This could so easily be a plot laid by the Vampires. A way to lure him out and capture him for their horrific tortures. Damien never underestimated the guile of those bastards. It was entirely possible that Karalynn was working with them, bringing him here as part of a plan.