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

by Opal Carew

  “Yes, Father,” Zachary said. The door opened and clicked shut.

  “What now?” Michael asked.

  Uncle Tobias said, “We’ve got to keep her indoors at night at all times. If Piaras wants her now, he’ll make every attempt to have her.”

  “He’s making war on the hunters in this region. Doesn’t he realize this?”

  He’d made war on one pissed off huntress already. Doesn’t he know that?

  “Maybe he thinks we won’t know what he’s up to until it’s too late. He might intend to do his disappearing act again, only this time with Rachael in tow.”

  Curt cleared his throat. “I don’t understand this other vampire. I’ve never seen one as bold as him. My first thought when I saw him on the balcony with her was he wasn’t a vampire at all.”

  No, a devilishly handsome hunter, full of life and sexier than any man she’d ever met.

  “If not a vampire, then what? None of us could get a good visual on him with Rachael blocking our vision. But the fact he was on the balcony, and it seems beneath it earlier, then vanished when we were able to open the doors and come to Rachael’s rescue, indicates he had to have been a vampire. Although why he could have whisked her away right out from under our noses both times but didn’t is another mystery we need solved.”

  The door opened again. Mary said, “You wished to speak to us?”

  “Check her over thoroughly for any vampiric bite marks.”

  Footsteps padded out of the room while others moved toward the bed. Then delicate hands grasped Rachael’s buttons and began to unfasten them. Rachael swatted at them.

  Mary chuckled. “You’re worse than Trish’s twins when they don’t want a bath.”

  Rachael wrinkled her forehead. “Quit it, Adonis. You shouldn’t... not when I’m sleeping.”

  ***

  After they had changed into hunter attire, Adonis and his sister hadn’t yet reached the Suburban at their home when a black stretch limousine pulled into the carport. At once, Adonis’s gut twisted and although Danai was holding her own, she seemed to pale even more. “Go inside, Danai,” Adonis warned.

  “He wouldn’t be paying us a visit unless he wishes to give us bad news,” Danai said, her voice hollow.

  “Inside,” Adonis said quietly, trying to reassure her he would take care of it, that he didn’t want her to have to face the devil of a vampire again, if he could help it.

  She bowed her head to Adonis, her face full of worry, then hurried into the house. The human host, dressed in a tux, came around to the side door and opened it for his master.

  The walkway between the carport and the house provided the shade the ancient vampire needed to move about, the windows of his vehicle blackened for driving through the city in sunny conditions. Unfortunately, the windows were shatterproof, or Adonis would have attempted to break them when the bastard was flaunting the sun’s power over him on one of his numerous trips to the city.

  So what the hell did Piaras want now?

  Piaras glided out of the limousine—his usual way of moving, like a dark wraith—his fathomless black eyes darting from Adonis to the house and back to him again. “Is Danai fixing me a cup of hot tea? Or should we dispense with the chit chat?” He motioned for his human host to go inside the house.

  Stiffening, Adonis immediately spoke telepathically in private with his sister, one of the advantages of being a vampire. “Danai, Piaras’s human host is on his way into the house. Watch him. If he does anything troublesome, you have my permission to kill him by any means necessary.”

  “Thank you, dear brother. Your consent, however, is not needed.”

  Adonis kept his smile to himself, pleased whenever his sister showed any mettle, when before she’d been turned, she’d been the most spirited of women he’d ever known, although since the change, she was a mere shadow of her former existence. His younger sister, Pasha, was equally as determined in getting things done. But her kind of spirit had always been the trying sort.

  Piaras seemed preoccupied as he turned his attention to the south, possibly speaking telepathically to some of his minions.

  “Your business?” Adonis asked, not to be kept waiting at the vampire’s whim when Adonis had grave business of his own to take care of. He didn’t care one iota that Piaras thought himself his master.

  Piaras motioned for him to be quiet. Adonis fought the urge to leave the bastard standing alone in the carport, but he didn’t want to enter the house and have the devil vampire himself join him there, upsetting Danai any further. She always made a brave show of it when Piaras was in her presence, but—

  “My business,” Piaras said, turning around and fully facing Adonis, his look more annoyed than usual, “is that I’ve learned from some of my human hosts—who have been following your progress, or lack thereof—that the huntress is back home with her uncle. It seems that you are the reason for this. Would you care to explain why?”

  Adonis bowed his head slightly. “You wished her to come willingly. The negotiations are still ongoing. I’m to see her shortly and will soon have her just where you want her.”

  The expression on Piaras’s face said he didn’t trust Adonis in the least, yet a small smile curved his lips. “Proceed then, hunter. Bring the huntress to me when the sun has faded from the sky on Friday, no later than that.”

  By Friday? Hell, the bastard had moved the date up another two days. Could Adonis teach Rachael enough to be able to overcome Piaras? “I must have time to handle this right.”

  “You have all the time you need, Adonis, until Friday night.” Piaras glanced at the kitchen window and said telepathically to his human host, but without channeling solely to him, Adonis also heard the order. “Come, we leave now.”

  As soon as the limousine monstrosity peeled out of their driveway, carrying with it Adonis’s greatest enemy, Danai hurried outside to join Adonis.

  “What did he want?”

  Adonis ran his hand over her arm. “He’s moved up the deadline again.”

  Tears filled Danai’s eyes. “We can’t free them in time, can we? Not with Rachael safely at her uncle’s house.”

  “We go, Danai. Just as I said we would.” He opened the Suburban’s passenger door for her. “We will win this fight.” Or die trying.

  “At one time I thought we might have a chance, but now…” Danai shook her head and stared out the window.

  Adonis didn’t even want to consider the odds of this venture. They definitely weren’t in their favor.

  Nearly an hour later, they reached a wooded area along a creek near to where Tobias’s main home was situated, and Adonis pulled the vehicle off the road. Her look anxious, his Danai wrung her hands and watched him.

  “You’ll be fine. If you run into trouble, vanish and we’ll meet back home and plan something else.” He took a deep breath. “We’ll get through this. We have to.”

  “Adonis, I really don’t think this will work. I know how much you still want to be one, but need I remind you that you’re no longer a hunter? The wanting will not make it happen.”

  “We have no other options available to us. And with Piaras breathing down our necks, shortening the deadline even further, we have to act now.” He couldn’t emphasize the urgency any more than that.

  She took a ragged breath. “As bad as the situation was before, I can’t see that it’s going to get any better.”

  He agreed, but they had to make the most of their circumstances. “We’re in this together.” He touched her hand, then grasped, and squeezed.

  She pulled away and tugged at her black turtleneck. “I haven’t worn hunter’s clothes since... since that day.” Her tone was forlorn, and she looked away from him.

  “We don’t have any choice. If there was some other way, if I could get in without your help, I’d do it in a heartbeat. You know I would.” He let out his breath. “You look fine. Switch places with me, Danai. You’ll be a success.” Adonis hadn’t meant to sound so harsh, but time was slipping aw
ay, and they couldn’t risk being seen parked here so close to the hunters’ development, sitting idly without purpose.

  She let out her breath. “If Pasha had only listened to Father, we all wouldn’t be in this predicament today. Are you sure there’s no other way to reach Rachael? A cell phone number we can call?”

  “No. I have to get inside their house. You’re the only possible solution to the problem. Danai, they’re not going to presume you’ve been turned. Not when you arrive in daylight, wearing huntress attire, acting very much like a huntress, as you once did. But if you go at night, they’ll suspect you or anyone else who turns up unannounced and unknown to them because they’re already concerned about Rachael.” Although he couldn’t help worry that Danai might give herself away out of nervousness.

  And truly, if his sister didn’t do what Adonis said soon, the way she was wringing her hands and looking in the direction that Rachael’s uncle’s house stood, she’d end up talking him right out of sending her. He didn’t want her to be in any danger either, but he could think of no other way of keeping in touch with Rachael. Yet despite his compulsion to show that hunter, Gregory, that he had staked his claim to Rachael, Adonis instinctively had staged his misconduct to force her family to take the headstrong woman in for her own protection. Surrounded by her family, they could keep her safest in the event Piaras chose another vampire to force Rachael to go with him, no longer caring about her willingness. Adonis couldn’t have allowed it.

  Danai stared out the windshield. “You’d better be right about this.”

  Hoping the hell he was, he ground his teeth, exited the vehicle, and then climbed into the back seat of the SUV while she slipped into the driver’s seat.

  After driving a mile through the expansive hunter’s domain, they arrived at the circular drive in front of the main house and parked behind several other vehicles.

  She took a deep breath. “Looks like the hunters have a gathering planned.”

  “And I intend to join them.”

  She twisted her head around to look at Adonis, her lower lip dropped, eyes widened. “You can’t be serious.”

  “Deadly serious. Go, Danai. Be safe.”

  She offered a curse under her breath, climbed out of the SUV, slammed the door, and headed up the front brick walk, her step less than sure.

  Come on, Danai, show your buried strength. He wanted to telepathically encourage her, but he feared if he did, it would have the opposite effect, distracting her unduly instead, so he spoke silently to himself, praying she would keep her nerve. Neither was used to using telepathic messaging. It had taken them a couple of weeks to learn how to direct their messages to each other and not share their thoughts with every blasted vampire in range.

  Hidden by the tinted windows, Adonis watched his sister’s progress, his heart thundering with concern for her safety. When she reached the door, she knocked.

  If anyone attempted to do her harm, Adonis would be at her side in a flash, baring his extended canines, protecting her.

  A blond-haired male with brilliant blue eyes answered the door. Michael, that’s the name Rachael had given. Her rogue cousin.

  Michael’s brows lifted. Evidently he was surprised to see a female stranger visiting a hunter’s estate unannounced.

  She spoke for a moment. He nodded, then shut the door in her face. She stood very still, hands at her side forming fists, her back unnaturally stiff, but she didn’t dare look in Adonis’s direction. Then a few minutes later, a woman Adonis didn’t know opened the door. Danai instantly relaxed her hands, although her back remained stiff. Again, Danai spoke. The woman looked over her shoulder into the house, then turned her attention back to Danai, said a couple of words, and shut the door again.

  His sister tapped her boot on the porch, curled her hands again into fists and stared at the solid door. Maybe she was right. The hunters were wary of her and had good reason to be. If she was a human spy for Piaras, she could let a vampire in once she was offered entrance. She just had to convince them she was a huntress. Then they wouldn’t feel threatened. A huntress would never let a vampire into a house, after all.

  The door opened again and this time Adonis recognized the gray-haired man standing there to be Rachael’s Uncle Tobias. Adonis’s neck muscles tightened. Tobias studied her with cold gray eyes, didn’t say a word for a moment, his silent demeanor meant to analyze and get the truth out of Danai without wasting his breath. She waited submissively as if she stood before their own father, anticipating his next question or move, respectful of his position.

  Tobias glanced at the vehicle. Adonis watched him through the tinted windows, studied the older man’s reaction, trying to determine if he intended to harm his sister, or if she had secured an opening. Then Tobias’s eyes flicked back to Danai, and his expression stern, he waved for her to come inside. When she entered the house, Tobias again looked at the vehicle, then he closed the front door. Adonis prayed Danai would keep her wits about her and if she felt endangered in anyway, that she would vanish and reappear in the relative safety of their home.

  Seconds after she disappeared, the door opened and several male hunters headed for the SUV. They’d search it. Time for a vanishing act. Adonis disappeared and reappeared in the woods surrounding the creek.

  As soon as it grew dark, he could move about relatively unseen. And as soon as Danai could open a window for him, he could sneak into the house, although the hunter side of him wanted to be welcomed inside like Danai was. But no matter how he gained entrance, once he did, he had free access to Rachael anytime he wanted. He would teach her how to kill human vampires somehow and try his damnedest to keep his mind off everything else he wanted to do with that sweet body of hers.

  ***

  When Gregory came for Rachael, he’d had to shake her several times before she was awake enough to realize she was wanted downstairs. More of an inquisition? She ran her hands through her hair and groaned, saw the look of lust in Gregory’s eyes and frowned.

  “Go away, Gregory,” she said, annoyed. Why couldn’t they have had one of her cousins come and fetch her instead? Better yet, one of their wives?

  “You have a visitor,” Gregory said cryptically, reading her every facial expression.

  She was sure as groggy as she felt, she didn’t react as she might have, but just the same, she feared at once that Adonis, as arrogant as he was, had come for her. She licked her dry lips and swallowed hard, certain if she saw him in her uncle’s house, she’d give both of them away.

  “Rachael, your uncle is waiting.” Gregory offered his hand to her, but if he’d been Adonis, he would have helped her up and not waited for her response.

  She sighed and closed her eyes.

  “Rachael,” Gregory said again, his voice annoyingly pleading.

  Her cousins wouldn’t have allowed her to dawdle either. “Who is it?” she asked, pulling aside the covers, glad she was still dressed, minus her boots.

  “A friend.” But Gregory didn’t act as though the person here to see her was truly a friend. He was fishing for answers.

  Which meant so would her uncle. If Adonis got himself killed on her account…she swallowed hard again, and damn if Gregory didn’t take notice, again. Maybe he’d just think it was the medicine. She definitely didn’t feel herself yet.

  After she pulled on her boots, waving Gregory away when he tried to assist because she was still not quite in control of her faculties, he helped Rachael into the hall. He seemed to be trying to decide whether to move her more quickly to appease her uncle, or walk at her pace as unsteady as she was. He finally relented and allowed her to walk slowly to the end of the hall and helped her down the stairs and into the living room.

  The whole place crawled with family, her uncles Brent and Curt, her cousins Michael and Zachary, Ferris and his twin, Ned, and their wives, Mary and Trish. But Uncle Tobias was the one she paid attention to the most, his steely gaze fixed on her. If he was annoyed that she moved so slowly, it was all his damned
fault.

  She’d forgotten all about the visitor who wished to see her until Uncle Tobias motioned to Danai sitting on the largest blue velvet couch. When Rachael saw the dark-haired woman, her face pale, her eyes round, her hand clutching the gold medallion framing the emerald at her breast, Rachael’s lips parted and the blood drained from her face all the way down to her toes. The last thing she thought of before she swooned into Gregory’s chest was how they’d let the vampire huntress into her family’s home. And now all were doomed.

  “Rachael!” Gregory lifted her off her feet. “I don’t think the... uhm, medication has quite worn off yet.”

  Rachael’s thoughts blurred. By inviting the vampire into their home, none of her family would be safe again. Danai could let any of the bloodsuckers in... Piaras... any of them. And damn, Danai would let Adonis in. He was bound to get himself killed.

  Gregory laid her on a couch opposite Danai. Mary quickly covered her with an afghan. Feeling hung over, Rachael stared at Danai, wondering what lies she’d told her family, and how Rachael was now just as implicated. Or would be once she vouched for her. And she had to, if she didn’t want the hunters to instantly murder the woman to protect the family.

  Then she remembered why Brent had administered the drug to her. Oh, my God. What had she told her family about Adonis? Her heart beat out of control.

  Uncle Tobias frowned at her. “Maybe you ought to rest some more. You don’t seem to be quite yourself yet.”

  “Danai,” Rachael whispered, as if anyone would not be privy to their conversation. “What are you doing here?”

  “I was worried about you. When you called, you were crying hysterically. I wanted to see if there was anything I could do for you.”

  She had called Danai? She hadn’t remembered calling anyone. Adonis must have made Danai come to the house, knowing there was no way he could gain entrance without her help. The woman must have been scared half to death knowing what the hunters would do to her if they found out she was a huntress who’d been turned. Although Danai put on a good show, her gaze darted from hunter to hunter while the men stood in the room watching them. Hunter protectiveness, every one of them ready to defend the family, and Danai sacrificing herself for her brother and her cause. And Rachael? A total traitor.