Damien was uncomfortable with Kara looking at him like he’d done something amazing. Possibly even more uncomfortable than if she’d been blaming him for unethical, immoral conduct. At least, that would have been accurate. It was bizarre, but he liked that she saw him as a protector. Liked that she felt safe with him.
And that just created the perverse desire to rip away the veil she saw him through and make her face the truth.
Sooner or later, she’d want to forsake him for the Vampire. When Damien stopped her from leaving –And he would-- she’d hate him. He knew it as surely as the dawn. Karalynn would grow to hate him, just as everyone else had.
He abruptly wanted it over with. It would be far easier in the long run. Except he couldn’t bear to let go of her small form. “It was nothing.” He reiterated and breathed in the scent of her hair. “I’m sorry.”
“Are you kidding me? It was like a scene from some stupid action movie. The whole thing. Except bloodier. And I am sorry. Really. So sorry.”
“Sorry for what?”
“I’m sorry I got you into this. It was my fault they attacked. None of this was in the original book. I swear. Me being here changed it.” Her words were coming too fast. “I’ve been thinking. ‘Oh, it’s just a romance novel.’ ‘I’ll get through it.’ ‘It’s all fake.’ But, it’s not.” Her voice broke.
“I told you it wasn’t a book.” Many times. Maybe she was coming to her senses.
“No, it is a book. But, it’s a real book. That guy really would have killed me. For real.”
Damien’s jaw tightened at the horror in her tone. “No. He wouldn’t have. I was right there and I wouldn’t have allowed it.” Wherever Kara came from, she’d led a sheltered life. Damien hadn’t. What the hell could he say to reassure her, that wouldn’t be a lie or completely useless? “From the second Nestor first touched you, he was dead. Anyone who touches you, I will kill. Brutally.”
Her hand slipped down to grip the fabric of his shirt, holding tight. “Everything happening here is really happening. As stupid as it is, it can really hurt us.”
“No one will hurt you, Kara Lynn.”
“You could have been hurt, too.” She lifted her head to meet his gaze. “Now’s where I should say something like, ‘I don’t want you fighting because of me.’ Or ‘Save yourself, Damien.’ I mean, it’s dangerous for you to even me be near me, when I’m rewriting this whole damn book just by being in it, but...” She gave his shirtfront a quick, forceful shake. “Don’t leave me. I mean it. Don’t leave me in here alone or I will track you down.”
He lowered his forehead to hers, his empty heart turning in his chest. “I will not leave you.” And I won’t allow you to leave me, either.
Satisfied, his frustratingly oblivious captive burrowed her head under his chin, again. Damien had no idea how long she planned to cling to him, but he was perfectly willing to wait it out.
Sooner or later, the humans would regroup and return. They had to have Winchesters at a cowboy show. Damien wasn’t particularly worried about their efforts, though. He should also probably destroy the dragons’ bodies before the police arrived and saw them, but he didn’t care enough to bother. Slade had sent them, so let that bloodsucking jackass worry about exposure. Truthfully, Damien had absolutely nothing to do with the rest of his endless life except hold this woman.
And kill Vampires.
His revenge was still the most important thing.
The only thing he cared about. Still, he could complete his plan to destroy the Vampires without using Slade’s Eternal-One as bait. Especially, if that damnable book of Karalynn’s told him anything useful. Damien was beginning to realize that his previous plotting had all been far too complicated. The clarity he felt since Kara had arrived grew stronger all the time. His earlier schemes had been so flawed. He could see that now. But, he could fix everything.
He could still have his vengeance.
But, he could have Kara, too. The woman took away his loneliness. If she left, he’d go back to being a solitary shadow. He just needed to integrate her into his life with as little disruption as possible. Which seemed… feasible. If she’d just huddle next to him for the next few centuries, everything would be fine.
Of course she didn’t, though.
Kara let out a shaky breath and lifted her face from his chest. “Wait. I forgot. I found her.” She scrambled off his lap and Damien instantly felt the loss. “I saw her running passed and I tried to catch her, but then one of the green guys knocked this barrel over and she fell and…” Kara gestured towards the human woman lying on the ground. “It’s Melessa.” She hurried back to her side. “She’s unconscious. And back to being a blonde.”
Damien grunted. His attention flicked over to the dragon whose legs he’d shattered. The guy was struggling to sit up and fly away. Since Damien wasn’t about to push his luck in front of his mate anymore today, he figured he’d better let the bastard live. Still, the dragon could make himself useful. Rising to his feet, Damien prowled towards the man.
Crimson eyes widened in trepidation as Damien seized him. “Don’t. Please, just…”
“Go back to Slade.” Damien gave him a shake, pitching his voice so Kara couldn’t hear. “Tell him any man he sends after my woman won’t come back.” That warning had enough single syllable words that even Slade should understand it.
“Damien!” Kara called, impatiently.
“Coming, cari.” He deliberately answered her with his gaze still locked on the dragon. He saw the guy’s face sag in shock as he realized who Kara was.
“The human is your mate.” The dragon whispered.
“Yes. You tell him that, too.” Slinging the guy back to the ground, he headed over Kara. She was crouched down next to the unconscious human. The strange female was sprawled out, blonde hair framing her sleeping face. She wore some kind of brown buckskin outfit, with fringed boots and a western style hat. “This is Meredith?” The girl must have achieved her dream of joining Buffalo’s Bill’s rodeo. Either that or she just dressed like a lunatic for fun.
“Melessa. Yep, this is her.” Kara felt the woman’s pulse. “She’ll be okay, I think. She’s just high-strung and… faint-y. I mean you’re the doctor, but…”
Damien grudgingly checked the human. “She’s fine.”
Kara glanced at him, something like uncertainty in her brown eyes. “I told you she was beautiful.”
“Yes, you were quite clear on that.” Even in the idiotic clothing, what’s-her-name was stunning. Rationally, Damien saw that. The woman had a classical kind of debutant beauty that would have been hard to miss. In fact, on some bizarre level, Damien felt like he should be attracted to her. Like he was supposed to be.
Only he wasn’t.
Not at all.
That off-kilter feeling struck him, again. It felt wrong to be so completely unfazed by the woman. Wrong in the same way he’d been baffled when Karalynn refused to leave with Slade in that barn and had come with him, instead. He didn’t believe Kara’s crazy ‘book’ theory, but he did suddenly understand why she might believe it. It did feel like a script had been changed and everyone had new lines to learn. He didn’t know another way to describe it.
He just knew that he didn’t want Melessa.
He wanted Kara.
Damien looked at his mate and felt the absolute rightness of her. The disorientation faded, Damien’s instincts pushing past the confused fog and locking onto what he absolutely knew was true. Karalynn Donnelly was his. She was real. He was real. And the connection he felt for her was absolutely genuine.
Everything else was just static.
Kara bit her lower lip. “You don’t seem very ‘dazzled.’ You’re supposed to be dazzled by her royal blonde-ness, even in the early chapters.”
“Sorry to disappoint you.”
Kara blinked. “You mean, you’re not feeling drawn to her? At all?”
“No.”
She still didn’t look convinced.
Damien sighed. “The woman’s pretty.” He allowed. “Very candy-coated. Slade will like her.” Hopefully, the Vampire would change his mind and want this human instead of Kara. Damien was already scheming to decorate Melessa with a bow as part of his trap for Slade.
“You’re really not irresistibly drawn to her angelic goodness?” Kara must’ve seen something in his face that convinced her he was telling the truth, because she frowned in confusion. “But, the book’s so clear on that part. I haven’t done anything that should have changed your mind.” She ran her hand over the manuscript, like it might start speaking to her. “That plot point has nothing to do with Slade and Melessa not meeting in the stable. Why are you different than the Damien in chapter eight?”
“Because, I’m not a character in a book. Or are you searching for a reason besides that?”
“Be serious.” She held up her hands. “Or you know what? It doesn’t even matter, right now. Let’s just take Melessa back to your hotel.”
“So, you wish to kidnap this woman.” Damien clarified.
“Yeah, I do. You gotta problem with that, Vlad?”
“No.” He said, honestly. “I don’t have a moral objection against kidnapping, at all.”
Chapter Nine
Melessa dressed for the party, but felt none of her usual joy at the knowledge that she was sure to be the prettiest girl at the ball.
How could she enjoy an evening of fun and frivolity, knowing that Slade was out there somewhere alone? If only he would return to her, they could overcome the differences in their pasts and species. If only he trusted that their pure and perfect love, could defeat everyone who opposed them. All the reasons that he was wrong for her meant nothing compared to the overwhelming passion in her soul and the deep knowledge that he was her one true love. The one rich and handsome man she’d been waiting for all her life. Some things couldn’t be logically explained, just felt in the deepest recesses of your heart.
Eternal Passion at Sunset- Chapter nine
“Damien, I don’t know. Everything I understand about medicine comes from Grey’s Anatomy.”
“Well, that’s a reputable text. Or as close as the humans can come to one.”
“No, not the book. The TV show.” His black eyebrows tugged down in confusion and she waved that aside. “Doesn’t matter. The thing is, I have no clue how CAT scans work. They just sort of… take pictures of the brain. That’s what Melessa needs. A CAT scan.” Karalynn had been hoping that Tanya would toss some modern medical technology into the novel. Given Damien’s blank expression, it didn’t seem likely, though.
Kara went back to fussing over the unlucky heroine. Poor Melessa had been out cold for an hour now. Her lovely self was draped all over the sofa in Damien’s sitting room, one delicate hand grazing the wooden floor. The curvy, red velvet piece acted as a graceful showcase for Mel’s fragile beauty.
God, Kara couldn’t wait to pass her over to Slade.
For some reason, Damien didn’t seem fascinated by the girl and Kara wanted to keep it that way. It wasn’t that she was jealous. That would have been… ridiculous. Damien wasn’t hers. It wasn’t like they could even date or anything. He was a super powerful, supernatural, super sorcerer and she… wasn’t. She was devastatingly ordinary. Kara considered it an eventful day if she managed to find a pair of matching socks in the morning.
Usually, anyway.
When she wasn’t trapped in Wonderland.
Which was actually the biggest reason not to think about Damien in a proprietary way. She wasn’t going to stay in this God forsaken book. She needed to leave and he was trapped in here. Damien would never be free of Eternal Passion at Sunset.
The thought depressed her, so she focused on all the less definitive reasons why Damien was Mr. Wrong. The guy was high-maintenance, what with his casual badness and cold sarcasm. He could rip people limb-from-limb with nothing more than an arch of his brow. His main hobbies seemed to be plotting grisly murders and smirking. She’d bet a million dollars that he had a speech all prepared for when he enslaved the universe.
And still…
Kara would not like him crushing on Melessa.
Really not like it.
She needed some perspective here, before being around him clouded everything.
“This machine takes pictures of the brain through the skull?” Damien didn’t seem ready to let the CAT scan subject die. For the first time, he seemed genuinely interested in her talk of the future. He might not totally believe Kara, when she told him where she came from, but the idea of medical gizmos was apparently close to his heart. “That’s a remarkable idea.”
“Well, I wish Tanya had thought so and had written it into the book for me.” Sitting crossed legged on the floor, the hideous pink hoopskirt poofed up around her, Kara propped her elbow on her knee and sighed. “Why won’t Mel just wake up? Are you sure you can’t do anything?”
“If she was injured, I could cure it. She’d not. She’s just unconscious. Give her some time and she’ll come around.”
Kara didn’t have a lot of time.
According to chapter nine, there was a ball tonight the fairgrounds. Melessa was supposed to be there and so was Slade. He’d tried to distance himself from her for several heartfelt pages, but he’d changed his mind, again, and couldn’t stay away.
This was the perfect opportunity to introduce Romeo and Juliet.
Since it should’ve only been about noon and the party started at eight, there should have been plenty of time for Melessa wake up. Except, Tanya St. Clair’s brilliant timeline meant that it would be sunset before lunch. This being The Twilight Zone, night was quickly falling outside, even though it had only been about an hour since the dragon attack.
Kara glanced impatiently at the clock on the mantle. “Have you noticed that the day sure has flown by?”
The facetious drawl of her voice wasn’t lost on Damien. He frowned at the clock and then glanced out the window. His brow furrowed slightly and he glanced away, again. “As I said, time means little to me.” Giving his head a shake, he pointedly picked up a book from the table beside him. “Perhaps you should just follow Melody’s example and rest a bit before dinner.”
“Perhaps, you’re just living in denial.” Damien noticed the time shift. He was just ignoring it, the way he usually did whenever she pointed out the rough spots in the façade of his world. “Where do you think I come from, Damien? You said yourself I’m not crazy. You say you saw me appear out of nothing in the garden. If you don’t believe me about this being a book, how do you explain me and the things I know?”
His fingers tightened on the pages. “I doubt that anyone can explain you, Karalynn. I find it tiring to try. You being here is simply fate. I accept that. We both must.”
Aside from killing perverted Lou Ferrigno-looking mutants trying to fly her off against her will, the man was a pretty useless partner. He didn’t have any interest in hearing the truth or waking up Melessa. In fact, since the Wild West Show, he’d been keeping a careful distance from Kara.
Possibly she’d annoyed him by clinging to him after the dragons attacked. It had been instinctive, though. All the panic and adrenalin and relief had just propelled her into his arms.
Into safety.
When Damien held her, she was safe.
“You said you’d help me.” Kara snapped, mainly annoyed with herself for being such an idiot about this beautiful, crazy villain. “You could at least try, instead of ignoring half of what I say. You don’t ask the questions anyone else in your position would have. You don’t listen to me, when I tell you the truth. You’re willfully blind, because you don’t want to see.”
Damien didn’t raise his head, but his ebony gaze moved up to pin her. “I see you, cari.”
Something about his tone had her stomach tightening.
“Gods, how I see you.” Black eyes traced over her face. “I wish I didn’t. It would be so much easier if you’d never come.”
Kara looked away. “We
ll, help me leave, then. I’m doing all I can to get out of here, and out of your sight, and out of this book. It’s your fault, if this is taking too long for your liking.”
He went back to his reading. “There’s no such thing as ‘too long’ for an immortal.”
Asshole.
He might be content to sit by the fire all night, waiting for fate to disappear her into the atmosphere and make his life all neat and tidy again, but Kara was on a schedule here. Obviously, he wasn’t going to help, so fine. If Melessa wouldn’t wake up in time, then Kara just needed to go to that party herself. Maybe she could reason with Slade, get him to come meet Melessa or at least make him cut it out with the dragon attacks. “Okay, well you’re going to have to babysit her for a while, then.”
“Meaning what?”
“Meaning, I have to go and you have to monitor Melessa.”
“Go?” Damien’s head snapped up. She had his full attention. “What? Where?”
“There’s a ball at the World’s Fair. And, yeah, I said ball. Like Cinderella. Very…” Kara trailed off, not liking the intensity of his black gaze. “Okay, it’s important, alright? And you don’t even have to go. I told you that. But, it’s in the book, so just deal with it.”
He stared at her, like he was trying to read her mind, again.
Kara decided to brazen through his growing unhappiness. “I won’t be long.” She left Melessa’s side and headed for the exit. “Do you think I can crash the party in this dress or do I need an even fancier get-up?”
Damien still didn’t move. “Will Slade be there?” He asked in a neutral voice.
His tone twisted around her insides warningly, but Kara kept going. “Possibly. Slade’s the other half of this love connection, so if I can….”
Damien cut her off, closing the book very gently. “You think to go to a ball with the Vampire?”
“Not go with him. Just go to meet him.”
“No.” The word was flat.
Not Another Vampire Book Page 14