Obsessed with the Vampire: A Paranormal Romance (Vampire Enforcement Agency Book 2)

by Kellie McAllen

  She’d never called him before, so it was no surprise he assumed something was wrong. “I can’t reach Roric, and I have a… situation.”

  “What’s going on?”

  She sighed, hesitant to explain, especially over the phone. “Could you just come to my work?”

  Taven was quiet for a moment. “Sure, Care. I’ll be there in 5.”

  The line went dead, and Caroline glanced at the time on the screen. It felt like hours had gone by, but she’d been out there less than fifteen minutes. Still, Gray would be wondering where she was. She turned towards Houston who looked pained but not manic.

  “I have to go inside for a minute. I want you to come with me, but I need you to stay out of sight, okay?”

  He nodded and followed her through the back door. She checked the break room to make sure no one was in there before waving him in then opened her locker and pulled out a blood bag. “Stay here and drink this. I’ll be back in a second.”

  He snatched the blood bag from her and tore into it, snarling as the first taste hit his tongue. She knew it was nowhere near as good as blood fresh from the vein, but it would have to do for now. There was no way she could feed him again.

  She grabbed a clean shirt out of her locker, grateful that she kept a spare on hand in case she spilled something on herself. Houston was distracted by the blood bag, so she turned her back to him and quickly swapped her torn shirt for the other one.

  Her skirt was a little dirty, but at least it wasn’t torn. She brushed off the worst of it and hurried out to the front of the bar for a moment. The bar was busier now, and Gray looked at her in relief as she slipped in beside him.

  “Thank God you’re back! I was about to go searching for you. I thought the dumpster swallowed you.”

  His words pelted her with guilt, but she couldn’t leave Houston alone for more than a few minutes or who knew what he would do. She was planning to tell Gray she was sick and needed to go home, but as soon as she saw his face, she couldn’t. “I’m sorry, Gray, but there’s… something I need to take care of. I’ll be back as soon as I can, okay?”

  Gray’s face wrinkled with concern. “Of course, babe. What’s going on? Is everything okay?”

  “Yeah, I just… It’s personal.” Her cheeks were flushed pink with shame, but maybe Gray would mistake it for embarrassment, assuming she’d gotten her period, or something. Did vampires get periods? She didn’t know, but she doubted Gray did, either. She scurried out of there before he had a chance to ask any more questions.

  Houston had finished the blood bag and was looking around for something else to sink his teeth into when Caroline got back to the break room. “Come on, let’s go wait outside for my friend.”

  She led him out the back door and around the front of the building. Taven’s cruiser pulled up a few moments later. He jumped out and headed towards her, glancing curiously at Houston then back at her. “Hey, you okay?”

  Caroline nodded as emotion welled up in her throat, making it hard to speak. Tears spilled from her eyes, and she drew in a shuddering breath. Her knees wobbled. Taven reached for her, pulling her into his arms. Caroline sobbed into his chest for several moments. Taven rubbed her back and murmured into her hair. He was so much like his brother, she could almost convince herself he was Roric, but that only made her more upset. Roric should be here comforting her, not Taven!

  Caroline pushed herself away from him and wiped her eyes. “I’m sorry, I’m just kind of stressed right now.”

  Taven pinched her chin and pulled her head up so he could look into her eyes. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m here for you. Tell me what’s going on.”

  Caroline took a deep breath then launched into the story, telling him every detail from the moment she first saw the vampire attacking Houston. To his credit, Taven didn’t freak out or look at her like she’d done something wrong.

  When she was done, Taven pulled her in for another hug. “What you did was really brave, Care. Don’t worry, everything’s going to be okay.”

  He turned towards Houston, his soft expression hardening. “You understand that she saved your life, right? But what she did was illegal. If you tell anyone, she’ll be charged with a crime that’s punishable by death. If that happens, you’re a dead man, too. Understand?”

  Houston’s face froze, his whiskey eyes quivering, as Taven leaned in and snarled at him. At 6’2”, with bulging muscles and shoulders as wide as a door, Taven was intimidating even when he wasn’t trying to be, which was rarely.

  Houston flicked his eyes towards her then back to Taven. “I wanted her to turn me; I won’t narc on her.”

  “Good answer.” Taven turned towards Caroline. “We need to take him to the clinic and get him registered so he can get blood. Want me to take him?”

  She glanced at Houston who looked small and nonthreatening next to Taven. She felt responsible for him, and she didn’t want to leave him just yet. “No, that’s okay. I’ll take him.”

  Another VEA cruiser roared into the parking lot then, lights flashing.

  Chapter 6

  Roric snapped the cuffs on the rogue vamp and hauled him to his cruiser then tossed him in the back before climbing in the driver’s seat. The vamp howled and writhed against the leather seats, trying to work the bullets out of his back.

  “Shut the hell up or I’ll do it for you.” Roric brandished his stake. The vamp snarled and hissed at him but settled down.

  Raven climbed into the passenger seat, visibly shaking. He couldn’t help but feel sorry for her, even if this was exactly the reaction he was hoping for. “You okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” She gave a weak smile and sat up taller, straightening her suit jacket and smoothing her hair.

  He didn’t apologize for initially blowing off the call, and she didn’t admit he was right about her going out alone, silently agreeing to call it even. Besides, he didn’t want to talk about it in front of the vamp.

  “So, what happens to him now?” Raven gave a quick glance towards the backseat but turned her head back around when the vampire snarled at her through the metal grate.

  “We’ll take him in for questioning since he said he’s not registered. Then we’ll get him in the system. Hopefully find him a mentor.” He didn’t want to admit in front of the vamp that they didn’t have anything to hold him on, but the truth was, until he was caught in a crime, there were no charges against him.

  It was a nasty loophole in Roric’s opinion, because he knew the guy would never follow the law, and humans were at risk with him on the loose, but vampires had the same rights as humans in that they were innocent until proven guilty. Raven’s nervous gulp told him she understood what he wasn’t saying.

  “How does the mentorship program work?”

  Pretty well for humans who were vetted before being turned. With vampires who were turned against their will, it was a toss-up whether or not they’d follow the rules. The new vamps who found their way to the Agency or the clinic tended to be willing to submit to the law. The ones his agents found were less so. And Roric knew there were a lot more rogues out there than anyone wanted to admit. But again, none of that was something he wanted to say in front of one of them.

  “In the past, we’ve relied on volunteers to serve as mentors. They take the new vampire under their wing and teach them everything they need to know. After that, they do regular checkups on them, call them, make sure they’re visiting the clinic regularly. But we’ve had so many new vamps lately, it’s getting hard to find mentors. We’ve considered paying them, but that’s not in the budget right now.”

  Raven nodded and tapped a finger to her dark pink lips. “My father mentioned that he’d like me to work on creating a program to educate new vampires. Maybe we can do mentorship in groups instead of one-on-one.”

  “That would probably work okay for the vetted vamps. Not sure about guys like him. They need an attitude adjustment before they’re going to play nice.” Roric tilted his head towards the backseat.


  Roric’s phone beeped with a text from Taven, and he dug it out of his pocket. Call Caroline, was all it said. The notification on the screen reminded him he’d missed two calls while he was chasing down the vamp. Shit, they were from Caroline. She’d left a voicemail, too. He hit the play button.

  What he heard turned his blood into ice water, but his rage had it boiling in moments.

  He was only a few blocks from the Agency, otherwise he would’ve driven straight to Caroline’s work with Raven and the rogue in the car. Instead, he floored the gas and peeled into the parking lot, squealing to a stop in front of the entrance. He jumped out and yanked the rogue from the backseat.

  “What’s wrong?” Raven hurried after him as he hauled him inside and tossed him in a cell.

  “I have a situation I need to go deal with. I’m not sure when I’ll be back. Don’t interview the prisoner, and don’t talk to anyone about him till I get back.” She gawked at him, but he didn’t give her a chance to ask any questions, just stormed out the door and threw himself into the cruiser.

  He hit the gas, flipping on the lights and sirens so he could get there faster. They wailed and flashed in time with his racing heart. Two minutes later, he roared into the parking lot of the West End Taproom. He took his first real breath since the moment he heard her message when he saw Caroline with Taven and some other dude standing in the yellow cone of a parking lot light.

  Roric leapt from his Charger and bounded over to Caroline, relief flooding his body at the sight of her, whole and unharmed. He scooped her up, pressing her body into his till he could feel every inch of her touching him. He shuddered at the feel of her warm, live body. The smell of her was like the scent of home.

  “Caroline! You’re alive! Are you okay? What happened? I got this voicemail from you, and all I could hear was you yelling at someone then what sounded like howling and fighting.”

  He was holding her so tight, she probably couldn’t breathe let alone speak, so he carefully loosened his grip and lowered her feet to the ground. He didn’t let go of her, though. When she tilted her head up to look at him, the pain he saw in her peridot eyes burned into him like a laser beam. Suddenly, the light went out as she hid her emotions from him, and that scared him even more.

  She pushed away from him. “I’m fine now. Taven came and helped me.”

  Roric glared at his brother, huffing through flared nostrils, grateful and jealous at the same time. Taven threw his hands up and backed away. “I’m gonna take off if that’s okay, Care.”

  Caroline nodded at him then reached out and gave him a hug. “Thanks, Taven.”

  Roric clenched his fists and breathed in deeply, trying to control his emotions. “What happened, Caroline? And who’s this?” He flicked his eyes towards the punk standing too close to her.

  “I came out to dump some trash, and I saw a vampire attacking him. I jumped on her, but she got away.”

  Roric’s eyes bulged as he stared at her, trying to comprehend what she’d just said. Caroline had confronted a feeding vampire? There was nothing more dangerous! His mind swirled with conflicting emotions — surprise, anger, fear, relief. He could feel his face twisting as each one hit him.

  He grabbed her arms and shook her. “Caroline, that was crazy, reckless! What were you thinking? How could you do that?”

  She glanced at his fingers digging into her arms then scowled at him. “How could I not? He was in danger. What was I supposed to do, pretend I didn’t see it?”

  He opened his mouth to tell her she should’ve called him for help, but then he remembered that she had. And he hadn’t answered. He wasn’t there for her when she needed him. The look on her face told him the same thing. Guilt slammed into him.

  Caroline was brave and strong, two qualities he admired about her. It shouldn’t surprise him that she’d done what she thought was right. But doing the right thing could’ve got her killed.

  “There’s a difference between being brave and being stupid.” He regretted the word the moment it left his mouth, especially when he saw her face harden and her eyes turn to ice.

  “I’m fine. It’s over.” She tried to act nonchalant, but a hint of anxiety peeked through her tough facade.

  Roric’s anger melted, and relief welled up in its place. He wanted to reach for her, wrap her in his arms and soothe them both, but she had a scowl on her face and her arms crossed, holding him at bay. Instead, he ran a hand gently down her arm, the touch proving to his still-anxious mind that she was all right and hopefully giving her some comfort. Her skin shivered under his fingers.

  “So the vamp ran off? Was she just trying to feed?” Roric glanced at the guy beside them, but when he looked back at Caroline, her face was haunted with guilt.

  She quickly dropped her eyes to the ground. “No, she was trying to change him. She gave him her venom.”

  Roric gave another quick glance towards the guy. He wasn’t writhing in pain or bloodlust like he should’ve been if he’d been venomized, which meant…

  Shock and rage flowed through Roric like gasoline, ready to ignite. He roared, unable to control his emotions. “You fed him?!”

  Caroline’s face crumped in agony, and she reached out and grabbed his arm. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know what to do! He wanted to change, and I didn’t want to abandon him. I didn’t know what would happen if I didn’t help him. He didn’t deserve to die.”

  Jealousy streaked through his veins like a wildfire, igniting every inch of his body as he pictured another man’s lips on her skin, sucking the blood from her veins. She was his!

  He turned towards the guy, and his rage must’ve been obvious, because the guy’s eyes bulged, and his body shook as he stumbled backwards. Roric tightened his fists and stalked towards him, his breath coming out of his nose in long, hot streams like dragon’s fire.

  “Roric, no! Don’t hurt him! It’s not his fault!” Caroline jumped in between them and pushed against his chest, a terrified look on her face. Her hands seared his skin, repelling him.

  He whipped his body around, turning his back on both of them, then bent over and grabbed his knees, panting as he tried to rein in his emotions.

  “He’s promised not to tell anyone, Roric. He just wants a chance to live.” She put a hand on his back, the tiniest pressure, and her voice was soft, begging him to understand.

  She didn’t say it, but he knew she was trying to remind him of how he’d felt when he found her in the same situation. But the difference was, he was motivated by more than sympathy when he’d turned her. He loved her, even then. He couldn’t imagine any other emotion being strong enough to compel him to do that. But Caroline didn’t love this man, she loved him. Didn’t she?

  Roric took a ragged breath then pulled himself up and turned around. Caroline was standing over him, her face wrinkled with pain. His anger was swallowed up with torment. He couldn’t stand to see her hurting, especially if he was causing some of her pain. No matter how angry and jealous he was, he couldn’t take it out on her. That would only push her farther away.

  He touched a hand to her cheek, hoping it would express all he was feeling. “What’s done is done. I’ll take him to the clinic and get him registered.”

  Caroline stiffened. “No. He’s my responsibility. I want to take him.”

  Chapter 7

  For once in his life, Taven was glad he wasn’t in Roric’s shoes. Finding out that Caroline had fed some other dude, turning him into a vamp? Roric and Caroline weren’t mated, but Taven knew Roric wanted to be. Taven wasn’t at that point with Ivy, but still, he knew how he’d react if Ivy did that. His brother was going to go ballistic when he found out, and Taven wanted to get out of there before the shit storm hit.

  It made him want to go find his own woman and make sure she was okay and wasn’t doing anything crazy. He dug his phone out of his pocket and told it to call her. Four rings later, it went to voicemail. What was she up to?

  She waitressed a few hours a night at a diner, but he tho
ught she was off tonight. She usually showed up at his place on the nights he was off, but she hadn’t made an appearance yet when Taven left to help Caroline.

  He headed home, hoping she was there waiting for him, but the fact that she didn’t answer her phone wasn’t a good sign. He didn’t see her car in the driveway of his family’s mansion, either. He was trying to decide what to do when his phone rang.

  Roric’s name popped up on the screen, and Taven groaned. Since Roric was his brother and technically his boss, he couldn’t ignore the call, but pissed-off Roric was the last thing he wanted to deal with right now. He swallowed his irritation and jabbed at the green button. “Hey bro, what’s up?”

  There was a crackling sound that Taven assumed was from his brother squeezing the phone so tight it was about to disintegrate, then Roric’s voice screeched through the speaker, blasting Taven’s eardrum. “What the hell was she thinking!?”

  Taven pulled the phone away from his ear and winced. “She’s a good person, Roric. She thought it was the right thing to do.”

  “No, it was the absolute wrong thing to do! She had to know how upset I’d be!” Roric’s voice got higher and louder, if that was possible.

  “Maybe that was part of why she did it.”

  “What? You think she wanted to hurt me, to make me jealous?”

  Taven put the car in park, and the engine sighed with him. This might be a long conversation. “Maybe not intentionally, but she’s obviously trying to figure out where she’s at with you, and you’re not helping things.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Roric growled, and Taven was glad they were talking on the phone and not face to face.

  “Well, I told her last night you might be late because you were talking to the new agent, and then she saw you on the news with Raven tonight. She was upset that you hadn’t told her you were working with a female agent, especially a hot one like Raven, and then you bailed on her to stay late with Raven when Caroline had a fancy dinner planned.”