To all those who supported me while I was writing this. Thank you.
Chapter 1
The oldest vampire in the world stood looking out the floor to ceiling window of her apartment brooding. Her blue eyes scanned the world below and she sighed. The dark blue jeans she wore seemed black in the darkness of her apartment; the wine colored blouse glittered in the light from the city below. The blackness of her long hair made her pale skin stand out against darkness. Being over 3,000 years old made time drag on and on. Valkyrie Chronos, known as Vayna to her friends, was for the first time in her undead life completely and utterly bored. That caused her to brood unhappily. She hated being bored.
When one was a vampire, boring gained a new definition. There were tons of things she could be doing, she knew. There were clubs, restaurants, bars, and lots of other places she could go to for entertainment. Hell, she could’ve gotten into some of the most elite places in New York City! That was one of the perks of knowing people in high places that were like her. Her oldest friend happened to be over 1,500 years old and owned half of the city. She had an open invitation to go into almost anywhere without even having to speak a word. Every bouncer, bartender, and waitress at his establishments knew her face. It was a privilege that she growing tired of very quickly. Everything was tiring her lately. Living was tiring her.
Vayna was lonely. There were very few true friends that she could trust. Ones that didn’t seek to use her for her status or money. She could count on one hand the amount of people she trusted. As for romantic interests… it was a long time since she last had a lover that wasn’t in her bed purely for sex. The last time she had someone she actually cared for, the Revolutionary War of the American colonies was just beginning to start. Back then she was still naïve enough to believe in love, even though she was already rather old at that point. But she couldn’t help herself. She lived to love way back in those centuries.
Now she knew better. Love was impossible when one was a one of the undead. Oh sure, she knew plenty of vampire couples that claimed to be in love. The few times she watched them, she came to the conclusion that they weren’t really in love. More lust and in love with the power each other wielded. True love, the kind she once hoped for, didn’t exist. If it did, she would’ve found it in the last 3,000 years.
The loneliness of being alone for so long, and being disinterested in what was going on in the world around her made her feel empty. She didn’t want to admit it to herself very much, but she was starting to hate her undead life. It was an accident that turned her into a vampire, but she came to terms with it long ago. She couldn’t regret becoming a vampire too much, though. It helped more than she realized it would back then. No, what she regretted now was staying alive up until now. There were so many chances she could have ceased to exist over the years.
Countless vampire hunts, wars, mobs, and the occasional suicidal newly-turned vampire tried to kill her over the years. Of course, she didn’t get where she was today without knowing how to stay alive. She trained herself in various fighting arts over the years. Everything from street fighting in America to martial arts in Japan, she took upon herself to learn just to keep herself alive. The style of fighting she now used was a mix of everything she learned over the years and if she really wanted to, she could’ve started her own fighting style training for others.
Not that she was interested in doing that. Humans were rather difficult to train a lot of the time. They all wanted results as fast as possible without doing much work. A trait that was recently cultivated in humans, she found. Ever since the invention of technology, the world sped up quicker than she believed it could. And with it the patience the human race once had. Only the youngest vampires that lived as humans during the technological age had this same impatience. The older vampires knew better; she more than any of them. With age came a deep amount of patience that she never possessed when she was still human.
Not that she was complaining. A lot was accomplished over the years simply because she had a greater degree of patience. Along with it her fortune and position in the world. Gone were the days where she was scrabbling on streets trying to capture the attention of some unsuspecting victim. If there was anything she was grateful to technology for, it was the ability to gain wealth and standing without risking her life. She spent quite a long time in her younger years envious of the wealthy humans, but knowing she couldn’t join them because they would get suspicious. Fire seriously hurt when people were suspicious and tried to burn you at the stake.
Nowadays, that kind of thing didn’t happen in the United States. That style of execution went out with the dark ages, and with it her hesitation to join the elite. Within the past century alone, she cultivated and bartered for what she held in her hand now. 6 international companies that were all multi-billion dollar earners; with her as the sole owner of all of them. Not that she took all of the money she made from the companies and kept it for herself. She was able to live comfortably with less than ¼ of what she was supposed to get from them. The rest was split between the employees of the company and charity.
She may be a vampire, but she still knew it was important to make sure the humans had what they needed. Many of the younger vampires condemned her for such actions, saying that the humans were nothing more than food and shouldn’t be bothered with. Leave them to fend for themselves, they said. Vayna couldn’t agree with that. She knew how important it was for the humans to be cared for. They were, after all, their food supply. Without the humans, the vampires would die off. And then where would their race be?
The wind blew in through a nearby open window and stirred her raven hair softly. A lock fell into her eyes and she brushed it back as she sighed again. Life was truly boring. She didn’t have anything that truly made her undead life worth living. Sure, she had friends, and there were more than enough people who were willing to be a companion for her, but they weren’t enough. She wanted… she shook her head. It was impossible. Love was impossible for her. The death of her beloved simply because she was in love with another woman oh so many centuries ago proved that to her.
Turning on her heel, she walked over to a chair and grabbed a long black coat off the back of it. The black boots she wore were soundless as she made her way through her darkened apartment. She had enough of the dark thoughts swirling around in her head. She needed to get out of her apartment and do something to take her mind off of things. Shrugging her coat on, she headed out of her apartment and locked the door behind her. As she slipped the key into her pocket, she made her way towards the elevator and the city streets below. Her thoughts were starting to become too overbearing.
It was a busy Friday night when she stepped out onto the street. Normally she enjoyed the fast pace of the city life, but now it did little to appeal to her. Dropping her head so her face was covered mostly by her hair, she turned and walked down the street. Her feet weren’t leading her anywhere in particular. She just wanted to go somewhere, be somewhere so she wouldn’t have to be alone with her thoughts for much longer. She went through a quick mental checklist of places that were worth going to, and she decided on the new women only club that opened up close by.
It wasn’t that far away, and she definitely could use someone’s company right then and there. Even if she intended for nothing more than mindless sex to happen by the end of the night. It was better than being alone with her thoughts and despairing because of her life.
Cars honked and people shouted as she made her way down the street. Being a Friday night, the streets were fuller than they normally were during the week. She made a point to keep a hand on her wallet in case any pick pockets decided they wanted to steal her money. It was a necessary precaution when she felt a young man in his 20’s try to ste
al her wallet and a snarl echoed from her throat. The unearthly growl that erupted from her startled him so much that he fell backwards in his haste to get away from her. A small smirk twitched at the corner of her mouth as she watched him run away.
Mortals were so easily scared. She took a short cut through the seemingly empty Central Park. She enjoyed walking through the park at night. Most people were gone, and she could walk freely without being disturbed. Only a few drunken homeless people stopped to talk to her. Mainly those seeking money and offering any service they could simply to get a hot meal or drink that night.
She was walking through a deserted part of the park when she caught sight of a person a little ways in front of her. Her unnaturally sharp eye sight and hearing detected the sound of a woman crying. She frowned slightly, debating between ignoring the woman or stopping to see if she was alright. She continued to watch her as she got closer and her eyes widened in shock right before she took off in a dash that was faster than any human could hope to achieve. She made it there just in time, her arms closing in around the woman’s body just before she hit the ground.
The two collapsed onto the ground from the speed of the woman’s fall. Vayna groaned softly as she opened her eyes, trying to ignore the pain that shot up through her spine. She froze when she looked into grey eyes tinged in blue that were mere centimeters from hers. The two lay there, the strange woman completely on top of Vayna with the vampire’s arms around her, just staring into each other’s eyes. A deep blush came over the young woman on top of her moments before she scrambled off of the vampire. Vayna sat up slowly, her expression wary as she said, “What the hell do you think you were doing up there?”
The young woman flinched slightly, her brown hair falling into her face to hide her eyes. Vayna had the urge to reach out and brush the hair away from her eyes, but restrained herself. It definitely would not be appropriate to do that, no matter how attractive the young female may be. The young woman finally murmured something that, had she not had superhuman hearing, she never would’ve caught, “I just wanted to sit in the tree…”
“Couldn’t you have picked a smaller tree to sit in?” Vayna asked as she stood up. She did a mental checklist of her body, and it seemed that there was nothing more wrong than a few sore muscles. Vampire healing came in handy in those types of situations. She held her hand out and the young woman took it. A strange jolt went through her and her undead heart seemed to race as she pulled the stranger up, leaving the vampire to wonder just what it was that she was feeling.
She tugged a little too hard as she underestimated the young woman’s weight and the human fell forward into her arms. The two froze again, Vayna’s arms around the younger one’s waist once more. The woman placed her hands on the vampire’s shoulders to steady herself and the two once again found themselves staring into each other’s eyes. Neither one could explain it if they tried, but for some reason they couldn’t make themselves tear their eyes away. There was just something so captivating there… A few moments later, she murmured softly, “It has the best view…”
“Best view?” Vayna replied just as quietly. She knew she should’ve let the woman go, but she couldn’t. Her arms tightened minutely around the other’s waist and she felt her heart jump when the young woman willingly leaned into her more, pressing her body up against the ancient vampire’s in a way that to anyone else would’ve seemed innocent, but was highly arousing to the vampire’s already shocked senses. The young human was very beautiful, but in a simple way.
Her light brown hair flowed down past her shoulders, ending just above the middle of her back. Her clothes were practical. A pair of regular jeans encased her legs and made her seem taller than she was. The simple t-shirt peeked out from behind a long crocheted black sweater. A pair of black ballet flats covered her feet and made the entire outfit come together. While the young human looked beautiful in the outfit, Vayna knew the nights were too chilly for such clothing despite it being summer time.
The young woman nodded her head, unwilling to break the comforting hold she was in. She glanced over at the tree, trying desperately to focus her scattered thoughts on what she had been doing up until the gorgeous woman pressed up so close to her caught her in her arms. She practically melted when she felt Vayna tighten her arms around her and she moved in closer, her face mere inches from the Vayna’s as she said, “The tree. Has the best view in the park.”
The vampire turned her gaze towards the tree and looked up towards the top. It was a rather tall tree. It seemed to stretch up further than any of the ones surrounding it. She wondered briefly if it did have the best view in the park… Her gaze fell down onto the young human in her arms and she found herself once again caught in the stormy grey eyes of the girl. Her hand unconsciously came up and brushed the human’s hair back as she murmured, “What’s your name?”
“Sage Loveren,” she whispered back softly. A light blush graced her cheeks as she gazed up into Vayna’s blue eyes. Every rational part of her mind said she shouldn’t be this close to the other woman. She should be pulling away, standing at a respectable distance, but her body wouldn’t respond. It felt strangely nice to be in her arms, and she was reluctant to leave them. She licked her dry lips as she asked, “And yours?”
“Valkyrie Chronos,” she said as she slowly removed her arms from around Sage. She didn’t want to, because it felt so nice to hold the young human in her arms, but if she held her any longer… she might do something she wasn’t so sure Sage would appreciate. Sure, she leaned into her touch, but that didn’t mean she’d appreciate the older vampire kissing her, or worse, biting her neck.
Vayna was hungry and she could hear perfectly the fast beat of the human’s heart. She could feel her fangs itch to descend and pierce the soft skin of Sage’s neck. Her eyes trailed over the light colored skin and she took a step back. She didn’t know the human and she was way too tempting to the ancient vampire, something she thought was completely impossible up until that point.
“Valkyrie Chronos…” Sage murmured softly to herself. The woman in front of her was very beautiful. She had dark black hair that flowed down her back, and her skin was amazingly pale. The combination of both made her blue eyes stand out in a way she never noticed on a person before. She was disappointed when Vayna took a step back, but it quickly vanished when a strange emotion flashed through the raven haired beauty’s eyes.
Her breath caught in her throat and she felt herself become aroused. Valkyrie, the strange woman that just saved her life, had a hungry look in her eyes and was looking at her like she was her next meal. She blushed bright red when she felt her arousal spike and she held her hands to her chest. She wasn’t afraid of Valkyrie, strangely, but she wasn’t all entirely sure if she wanted to be on the receiving end of such a look.
Vayna sniffed the air subtly and her eyes widened at the rush of arousal the wind brought. The scent was coming from the human in front of her! She swallowed thickly as she took another step back. She could feel her own arousal stir at the smell and she licked her suddenly dry lips. Shaking her head to clear the scent from her nose, and her rising lust from her brain, she asked hoarsely, “What were you doing trying to climb that tree like that?”
Sage frowned in confusion for a moment when Vayna suddenly shook her head and took a step back. It was almost as if she could tell that Sage was aroused… but that was impossible, right? That sort of thing wasn’t able to be sensed without some kind of major giveaway, and she didn’t think she was giving off any strange body signal that would tell everyone in the area that she was aroused by the female in front of her… She tried to not focus on the feeling and instead on what Vayna was asking her. She stuttered after a moment as she said, “I-I-I don’t know. I don’t remember anything besides wanting to climb that tree.”
“What do you mean, you don’t remember anything?” Vayna asked as she frowned. How could she not remember why she was climbing the tree? They both did collapse onto the ground when she fell, but they
didn’t hit that hard. Surely it didn’t wipe her memory that much… did it?
“I woke up on a park bench over that way about an hour ago,” she said as she pointed off to the left of Vayna. The vampire turned around and looked out towards where she was pointing to. Her eyes caught sight of the bench and she nodded her head as Sage continued speaking, “I don’t remember anything before waking up there. Just my name and this tree. I don’t know where I live, or who I live with, if I live with anyone at all. I thought that maybe climbing this tree might help me remember.”
“And did it?” Vayna asked as she turned her head back around and looked at Sage. A sudden thought came to her mind and she frowned lightly as she subtly sniffed the air again, fighting to ignore the arousal that was coming off the girl as she tried to see if she could smell any blood. She could smell a faint scent, but it was old. Likely from an injury that the young human received days before. She didn’t smell any fresh blood, so that was a good sign. It meant that she wasn’t about to die on Vayna anytime soon.
“Not really,” she replied as she turned towards the tree and placed her hands on her hips. Her eyes traveled up the length of the tree. She climbed up there earlier in the day to see if it would jog her memory, but it did nothing. She thought that perhaps if she climbed it when it was getting darker, it might help. But instead, she slipped and fell into the arms of this beautiful woman standing next to her. She froze for a moment when she realized what she just thought. Mentally shaking it from her head, she said, “I didn’t remember a single thing.”
“Hmm…” Vayna replied thoughtfully as she too turned to look at the tree. It was a tall, very old maple tree. She figured it was probably there when this area of the state was still nothing more than a forest. She felt a kinship with places and things that were old like that. Glancing out of the corner of her eye at Sage, she said, “Well, you don’t seem to be hurt, aside from your memory, so that’s something to be thankful for, I suppose.”
Dangerous Love Page 1