Tall, Dark and Paranormal: 10 Thrilling Tales of Sexy Alpha Bad Boys

by Opal Carew

She brushed out her hair. Moving back into her uncle’s home would be the best thing to do. But then Adonis couldn’t get to her, and what if he truly was the only way for her to reach Piaras? He’d have an in. And she’d have lost the opportunity.

  Still, she had to make Adonis understand he could no longer sneak into her dreams and make them real as much as she desired him to.

  Half hoping he’d return and stroke her needs further and worrying at the same time that he would come back, she’d lain awake most of the rest of the night. She applied concealer under her eyes and took a deep breath. Time to see her cousin Michael and find out what she could about the vampire hunting business from his perspective as a rogue hunter.

  On the way out of her apartment, she glanced at Zachary, still sleeping soundly in the couch bed. Then she slipped out the door, locking it as quietly as she could, although her uncle had said she only had to be watched at night—for now. But she didn’t trust that Zachary might learn where she intended to go this morning and put a stop to it.

  Before she reached her car, she noticed a man studying her, leaning against a tree across the parking lot next to another building in the apartment complex. She might not have paid him any attention if it hadn’t been that he suddenly looked away as if she’d caught him in some clandestine operation. Then again, guys often checked her out, so no surprise there. Maybe he was just surprised to have gotten caught in the act. As was her usual huntress wariness, she took in his appearance from his black jeans, matching duster that reached his ankles, and western boots—the only thing missing, a Ten Gallon hat. Spiked hair and a black leather spiked collar spoiled the cowboy look. A Goth? She narrowed her eyes. Or a human host. A blood bond couldn’t be out in the sunlight, so not a vampire.

  She reached instinctively for the dagger at her waist. What if he was one of Piaras’s minions? Watching her? One good thing about hunting vampire dogs, she never had to worry about them coming after her except in the midst of a hunt.

  The man glanced back at her, saw her observing him still, and hurried off.

  But he didn’t go to a vehicle. Instead, he headed out of her vision between two of the apartment rows. Hell. If he was reporting back to a vampire concerning her activities, she would know what his business was and which vampire he spied for. Adonis? Piaras? Some other?

  She raced across the parking lot and slowed when she came to the walkway between the apartments. Peering around the first of the buildings, she looked to see what the man was doing, if he was even there still. He was, standing, waiting, listening maybe for her to start her car and leave. The sheer look of terror on his face proved he was up to no good where she was concerned. Not a secret admirer. He bolted for the wooden fence that bordered the complex and the housing development beyond.

  She raced to catch up to him, but he scampered over the top of the fence and landed on the other side. When she reached it, she grabbed at the top and intended to pull herself over, but she wasn’t tall enough or strong enough, and after four failed attempts, she glared at the barrier between her and the man. His running footsteps faded as he raced farther away from her.

  Briefly she wished she could have told Zachary, but he’d repeat every word to her uncle, and he’d confine her to his home for certain. For years, she’d been watched and protected, everyone in the League of Hunters concerned the vampire would return for her. For the first time in ever, she finally had some freedom, and she wasn’t about to risk losing it over what-ifs. But now that she knew she was being watched by more than one sexy vampire named Adonis, she would keep up her guard even more.

  Not to be intimidated by a blasted human host, she returned to her vehicle and left her apartment complex.

  A short drive and twenty minutes later, Rachael knocked on her cousin Michael’s condo door. The condo development was a singles’ delight, complete with Olympic size swimming pool, weight room, and a recreation room for single get-togethers where parties were a nightly occurrence. If she could have afforded such a place, she might have bought one, too. Although, she was certain her uncle wouldn’t have approved.

  After what seemed an eternity, the lock clicked open, and Michael pulled the door aside.

  His blond hair hung over his shoulders in a tangled mess. His red-tinged blue eyes squinted back at her. “Damn it, Rachael.”

  She smiled.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” He walked into the living room.

  She followed him inside, shutting the door behind her. “I wanted to see you.”

  “You’re not allowed.” He collapsed on a blue and white striped sofa and stared up at her.

  “Your brothers and other cousins have come to see you. I’ve heard them talking about it and of your remarkable exploits.”

  “They should keep their mouths shut when you’re around.” He motioned to an overstuffed white leather chair. When she sat down, he glared at her. “My father will have a fit if he learns you visited me.”

  Another reason her uncle would not have wanted her to live there, too. “I promise I won’t speak a word of it.”

  “Why are you here?”

  “Uncle Tobias won’t let me hunt. I wondered—”

  “Listen, what he does is for your own safety. You’re to marry and have hunter children. That’s why you’re important.”

  She jumped up from the chair, the anger erupting instantly. “I’m a hunter like you—”

  “A huntress. Half of the men can’t have huntress mates because there are so few of you. You have an important role in our society. Listen to Father. If I were the head of the family, I’d say the same thing. Marry a hunter and have babies. Quit being so self-centered.”

  Stiffening her back, she tilted her chin up. “You didn’t do what your father wanted you to. Why should I? You became a loose cannon, free to target any vampire you wanted.”

  “Only for good cause. And I’m a hunter. There’s a difference. Now I’m alone, without any family backing. It’s not the best of lives, Rachael. It’s dangerous and lonely.”

  “Who’s there, Michael?” a woman said from his bedroom, her voice sleepy and sexy.

  Rachael glanced at the hall leading to Michael’s bedroom. She raised a brow. Lonely? At this swinging singles condo? “A huntress?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. No huntress would ever come near me, considering the life I’ve chosen.”

  “A human?” Her voice and eyebrows arched with the question.

  “Rachael, you have no business being here.”

  The tone of his voice made her change the subject before he kicked her out of his place. Although learning more about his roommate intrigued her. “I wanted to ask you a question. Have you ever heard of a vampire wanting another dead?”

  “For power, yes. Sometimes for revenge.”

  “A vampire can’t truly have strong feelings of affection for anyone, can they?”

  Michael eyed her suspiciously. “What’s this all about?”

  “I was just curious, is all. Can a vampire remain invisible and watch someone at the same time?”

  His eyes narrowed with suspicion, Michael rose from the sofa. Towering over her, he reminded her of his father. In fact, he would be just like him if he took over the League when his father retired, she imagined. Although she couldn’t envision Uncle Tobias living in a singles condo.

  “Zachary said a vampire approached you at the hunters’ ball, that Piaras had a contract out on you.” Michael’s voice was full of concern.

  What could she say? No, it wasn’t true? The vampire only attempted to seduce her and did a damned good job of it?

  She switched topics. “How do you decide which vampire you’re going to go after next?”

  “Zachary related to me that you wouldn’t tell him what the vampire said to you. What was his name?”

  “He didn’t tell me on the balcony.” She hadn’t lied. He told her in the intimacy of her bedroom. And she knew if she gave Michael the vampire’s name, he’d be his next target.

/>   “You’re not telling me everything. Zachary said you were nervous when he came into your apartment last night.”

  “I hadn’t expected him.” While she was in the middle of kissing a vampire.

  “Yeah, well, he said you came to rescue him when he injured himself on that damned couch bed of yours, dripping wet and wearing only a towel. It was a good thing Gregory hadn’t seen you like that.” He ran his fingers through his uncombed hair. “Go home, Rachael. Do what’s expected of you and what only a huntress is capable of doing for our cause. And lock the door on your way out.” He padded back down the hall and shut the bedroom door.

  Her blood sizzled. But she wasn’t through learning from her cousin. She headed for his office. In there, she rummaged through a stack of newspaper clippings sitting on top of his oak desk. Yellow marker highlighted several articles.

  Unsolved murders seemed to be the focus of his attentions. And then she noticed a small classified. Hunter for Hire. She smiled. The idea she could be one, too, appealed. Maybe now she could have some control over her life. Huntress for Hire. That’s just what she’d be. She needed to get used to fighting human vampires before she could go after the top one after all. Destroying vampire dogs wasn’t the same thing.

  Without a moment’s hesitation, she hurried for the front door. She pulled it open, but her heart stopped when Zachary stood on the porch with his fist raised to strike the door.

  His face turned dour. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  Fighting a smile, she folded her arms. “You know, it’s always nice to get such a warm welcome from my family.”

  “What are you up to?”

  “What do you mean what am I up to? You should ask your brother. He’s in there fooling around with some human woman.” She motioned to the bedroom.

  Zachary glanced back at the hallway, then to her. “He told you that?”

  “No. I sort of inferred it from the way she spoke so sweetly to him from the bedroom.”

  Zachary’s back grew rigid. “Father asked me to speak to you about who the vampire was who approached you last night. He said you were too shaken for us to ask then. So I avoided questioning you last night. I didn’t expect you to leave your apartment this morning without waking me though.”

  Shaken wasn’t the word for what she’d felt when seeing Adonis on the balcony. Recklessly intrigued by the creature, yes. Lustfully indulgent. Totally insane.

  “Father figured that’s why you hadn’t reacted more when the vampire came toward you, extending his hand. But the thing is, the bloodsucker had to have a reason to seek you out like that. Father says a contract must have been issued for your death.” Zachary’s forehead creased. “You really shouldn’t have left without waking me this morning. You’re to let one of the family know where you’ll be during the day from now on. And at night, someone’s to stay with you.”

  She quashed the irritation that elevated her blood pressure. She had no intention of being some kind of a caged animal. And Uncle Tobias hadn’t said she had to be under constant supervision, at least she didn’t think so. She figured it was just one of Zachary’s ploys to control her further. But if she was going to do what she had to, she might as well play along. “For now, I’m going to... the beauty parlor.”

  He smiled. “Changed your mind about Gregory?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Which beauty parlor?”

  She shrugged. “Never been to one.”

  “You call me when you reach it. You have to let me know, as I’m accountable to Father for your whereabouts. He says you should be safe during the day, but if anything else happens to put you at risk, he’ll change the plan.”

  Like Goth-appearing guys watching her at her complex? She should tell Zachary about him, but she knew if she did, she’d be stuck at Uncle Tobias’s place, no more hunting, and he’d insist she marry right away so she’d have further protection from her hunter mate all night long. She let out her breath. Maybe this was Uncle Tobias’s new ruling after all. “All right. Sleep well?”

  He touched the concealer under one of her eyes. “Better it seems than you. Have nightmares?”

  “Something like that.” At least that wasn’t far from the truth and Zachary and the rest of her family well knew it. Nightmares about the vampire killing her parents, the darkness, the screams, the blood, the pain. She walked outside into the sunlight. “See you later, Zachary.”

  “Call me.”

  “Got it.”

  Rachael had no intention of going near a beauty parlor. Her hair was just fine and didn’t need any fancy treatment.

  She considered the newspaper clippings back at her cousin’s house. Then deciding her best bet was to recruit hunting jobs on the Internet first, she slipped into her Mustang and headed toward home.

  While driving down Main Street, a man’s profile caught her eye as he placed a sign in front of an antique shop. Sale, One Day Only. Old things had never interested her. But it was the man’s dark brown hair tied back in a ponytail with a slip of rust-colored leather and his familiar build that attracted her attention. If she didn’t know better…

  He looked incredibly like Adonis. The man wore a long-sleeved, white satin shirt and black dressy trousers, similar to what Adonis had worn, except he’d exchanged white for black. She swallowed hard. It couldn’t be him. Not standing in a wash of sunlight on the sidewalk. He walked under the blue awning stretched overhead, and when she slowed her car to get a better look, he glanced in her direction.

  His dark brown eyes widened to see her, and her blood pulsed at hyper-speed. He recognized her, too. Her gaze shifted to the gold medallion encircling the diamond at his neck. She continued on past, her heart thumping so hard she thought she was experiencing an early heart attack.

  After turning right at the next corner, she parked her car. Every molecule in her body swirled with confusion and upset. What in the hell was he, if not a vampire? He couldn’t appear and vanish like that, if he wasn’t a bloodsucker. And he was stronger than her, like a male hunter or vampire would be. So there was no way he was human. She could beat them any day. Plus he could see her in the dark when she couldn’t see a blasted thing.

  But he couldn’t live in full sunlight if he was a vampire.

  She patted the dagger sheathed at her waist, then lifted her purse off the seat. Satisfied the weapon would keep her safe, she climbed out of her car.

  With a quick stride, she soon reached the open doorway of Kismet’s Antiques. She peeked into the shop, semi-dark and smelling musty and dusty of old stuff. Not her kind of place. Wrinkling her nose, she sneezed. No element of surprise if she needed one to keep her safe.

  She stalked through the store until she spied a woman with long dark brown hair and eyes, standing behind a counter, her expression wary. Why? If the woman was just a clerk in the shop and had nothing to fear? Rachael glanced around, making sure Adonis wasn’t lurking in the shadows somewhere, watching her.

  “May I help you?” the woman asked. Her mouth turned up so slightly that anyone would have to guess she tried to smile, but her eyes didn’t mirror the least bit of friendliness.

  “I’m looking for Adonis.”

  The woman’s jaw dropped, but she quickly recovered. “There’s no one here by that name.”

  “Really. Well, I don’t know what other name he goes by then. Skulker? Stalker? Deceiver? I could think of a few other names, but they’re not as nice.” Rachael smiled without humor. Her gaze dropped to the necklace dangling at the woman’s neck. She wore the same gold medallion that Adonis had except this one surrounded an emerald. Rachael’s heart hitched and she pointed at the necklace, trying to keep her hand steady. “He wore one like that, only with a diamond. Are you related to him?”

  The woman’s expression remained masked, but her eyes couldn’t hide her worry. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  Done with games, Rachael headed for the door at the back of the store. If Adonis wasn’t hiding somewhere behind all the fur
niture and shelves stacked with old stuff, he must have taken a hike through the back door.

  Suddenly the woman appeared in front of her, arms crossed over her black dress that reached to her ankles covered in black boots. “The back of the store is off limits.”

  A chill ran through Rachael’s system. The woman moved just like a vampire.

  “I think he’ll see me.” When the woman didn’t budge, Rachael folded her arms at her waist and gave her a look of annoyance. “If he wants me to take care of Piaras, he will.”

  The woman’s mouth dropped open again. Her eyes grew big as her brow wrinkled. “You’re... you’re—”

  “I guess he’s told you. Rachael Bremerton.” She held out her hand to shake the woman’s.

  The woman kept her arms secure around her waist, ignoring her hand, and looked back at the door instead. Then she faced Rachael. She was thin and pale and about the same age as Rachael, but her dark eyes had the intensity of a sleek wild predator ready to tangle. Her high cheekbones gave her an elegant, aristocratic appeal, but otherwise she appeared harsh and cold, and way too thin.

  Annoyed that the woman attempted to keep her from learning the truth, Rachael ground her teeth. “Is he scared to see me during the day? Did I blow his cover?”

  The woman’s jaw tightened as she pulled out a cell phone and punched in a number, but still blocked the door with her slight figure. “She’s here,” she whispered into the phone as she stared at Rachael. “Yes, yes. Rachael Bremerton. All right.”

  She snapped the phone shut. “He says he’ll be right out to see you.”

  “Fine.” Rachael turned around and walked back to the storefront windows and stared out.

  The dusty old building filled with musty antiques suffocated her. If Adonis didn’t come soon, she’d have to wait for him outside. Then she spied Zachary’s car driving past the antique shop. Oh hell. If he saw her car parked at the curb around the corner... there was no beauty parlor anywhere in the vicinity. And damn it all, he was always so observant. His brake lights grew bright as he reached the corner. His car paused even though there wasn’t anything to stop for, then he turned down the street where her car was parked.