“Oh, Lane, I’m sorry. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah. I’ll live.”
“You scared me. I thought you were dead.”
He captured my cheeks in his hands. “Can’t kill me that easily, sweetheart.”
“You know I love you, right?”
“I know,” he said and kissed me. Deeply, madly, intensely. Not caring who was in the room with us.
Chapter Forty-One
Lane
Vanessa gave one of the crystals to Cian and the other to Elvis. “Hide these somewhere no one will ever find them, and don’t ever tell anyone where, especially each other. Promise me.”
“We promise,” Cian said.
“Yeah, promise. After what we just went through? Fuck me. The power of that thing is beyond crazy. Don’t worry, nobody will ever find this little baby here.” Elvis held up the small stone then shoved it in the pocket of his jeans. Two seconds later, he and Cian vanished from the conference room.
“Come on. Let’s get out of here,” I said, wrapping my arm around Vanessa. We dematerialized down to the limo where Gage and Jillian sat inside. Gage had his arm around Jillian’s shoulders. Jillian’s face was stained with mascara-laden tears, and they streaked down her cheeks as she rested against him.
“Cian and Elvis?” Gage asked.
“They’re fine. They went to get rid of the crystals,” I said, not mentioning that V had one in her pocket. I figured if Jillian could betray her cousin once, there was no guarantee she wouldn’t do it again, even though she’d been tricked—most likely compelled by that monster.
Ari pulled the limo into the driveway of the mansion and opened the gate. Gage took Jillian into the house. He thought it would be a good idea to explain things to her, or erase her memory, whichever one he needed to do. But really, I think he just wanted to get in her pants now that Seth was gone. Couldn’t blame him, though. It was clear that beautiful women ran in V’s family.
“I have something I need to do,” Vanessa said, and I wrapped my arms around her waist, tugging her against me. “It’s important.”
“More important than what I have in mind?”
“No.” She smiled. “Just very different.” She brushed her lips over mine. “I’d like you to come with me.”
“I love coming with you.”
She laughed. “Me, too.
****
It was dark in the bedroom. Vanessa held her finger to her lips for me to be quiet. I let her take the lead. After all, this was her revenge, not mine. I’d had mine earlier, even if it hadn’t been real, but it felt really satisfying.
She tiptoed to the side of the bed where Kyle slept on his back. I snuck around to the other side where Lizzy lay on her side, facing Kyle. Vanessa tapped Kyle on the shoulder, and his eyes snapped open. He screamed at V’s monstrous face, her fangs bared, ready to eat him alive. Lizzy woke up and screamed, and I covered her mouth with my hand.
“Afraid of what you see?”
“What do you want? Who…who are you?” Kyle stammered.
“I want you Kyle.” V smiled, showing off her new fangs.
“Don’t hurt me,” Kyle blubbered while the woman squirmed under my hold.
“Don’t scream and I’ll remove my hand.” She nodded, and I took my hand away from her mouth.
Vanessa looked at Lizzy. “What about her? Shall we hurt her?” She lifted the woman’s left hand where a large shiny diamond graced her finger.
“You can. I don’t care. Go ahead,” Kyle said.
“Kyle?” Lizzy screamed in horror. “How could you?”
“You’re such slime. You’d give up your own wife to save yourself?” Vanessa said.
“You’re a piece of shit. I ought to just tear your throat out right now,” I told him, and his wide eyes darted from me back to Vanessa.
“What…what are you two? Please don’t hurt me. I…I didn’t do anything.”
“You don’t recognize me do you?” Vanessa asked.
“No. No. I’ve never seen you before.”
“Come on, Kyle. What about you, Lizzy. Do you recognize me?”
Lizzy shook her head, her eyes wide.
“I’m the girl your fucking boyfriend and his three friends tried to gang-rape in high school.”
“What?” Lizzy’s eyes grew wider.
“The girl from the musical audition? This can’t be real. You fucking bitch, get out of our house!” Lizzy shouted, and I covered her mouth with my hand again and bared my fangs.
“Oh, believe me, we’re real,” I growled, and Lizzy shrank back so far I thought for sure she’d sink into the mattress.
“Vanessa?” Kyle asked.
“So you admit it?”
“No. We didn’t rape you.”
Vanessa laughed. “You’re right. You didn’t rape me because one of the guys’ older brother came home and stopped it.”
“You wanted it!” he shouted.
“Yeah. Right. You think I wanted to be tortured with the promise of rape while you and your friends held me down and covered my mouth so I couldn’t scream? You think I wanted to be stuck with a needle full of drugs so you and your pals could do whatever you damn well pleased to me? You listen to me, Kyle, you fuckwad. Tomorrow morning, first thing, even before you eat breakfast, you are going to go to the police and confess the whole assault and attempted rape to them. You’re going to tell them the whole story about how you took a young girl into that house, and how the four of you took turns touching and prodding her with your fingers, tormenting her, shooting her up with roofies, and that you had every intention of taking turns fucking her until your friend’s brother came home before you all had the chance, spoiling the whole evening. You’re going to name the other three slimebags who participated. You’re going to tell the police that you didn’t know the girl or her name. You are going to tell the whole story of how you attempted to rape an unknown young girl, and explain that you’re coming forward now because you suddenly couldn’t take the guilty feelings building up inside of you anymore. And Lizzy is going to go with you so she can hear the whole sordid tale. Do you understand?”
Keeping Vanessa’s name out of the confession had been my idea. She wouldn’t be able to attend the trial during daylight hours, so it made better sense to keep the victim unknown.
Kyle just looked at her with wide, frightened eyes.
“I said, do you understand?” She used that deep, scary, demonic voice that Seth had used, and I chuckled at its effectiveness.
“Ye…yes. I understand.”
“What about you, Lizzy?”
Lizzy glanced at me, I still had my hand over her mouth.
“Lane, let her speak.”
I smiled. “Oh, sorry, love. I’d forgotten. I was just so caught up in your awesomeness. You were even scaring me.”
She slugged me in the shoulder.
“Lizzy, do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Oh, and by the way, we were never here. You won’t remember us or this conversation, but you will confess as I commanded,” Vanessa added quickly as we disappeared from their sight.
Ari drove us back to the city. We sat in the back of the limo, recounting the night from the experience with Seth, to my father, and Kyle and Lizzy. I’d kept my promise, and hadn’t killed the bastard. It took a lot of self-control on my part and being satisfied with the knowledge that he’d probably rot in jail for a few years would have to suffice. Though any amount of jail sentence wasn’t enough in my opinion. I might be a monster in the eyes of some, but I’d never sexually assault someone. I liked my women willing and loving. Though a scream every now and then was just fine, as long as she was screaming my name from the pleasure I was giving her.
Chapter Forty-Two
Vanessa
Another Saturday night, and Lane wanted me to sing another song or two with them. I obliged, feeling so much more confident in everything I did. Becoming a vampire hadn’t been in my plans. In fact, it had be
en a last-minute decision, but one I didn’t think I’d regret—at least for a while anyway. My magic was three-times stronger, my brain sharper and quicker. My movements, all done with precision. I no longer worried about my awkwardness. I no longer feared what others thought of me. I might miss the sunshine, but with all the technology in this mansion, it was difficult to miss any of the life I’d had before. Before becoming a vampire, before Lane. I’d dreamed of being with him, though it had been a struggle getting there. I frowned at the sordid memory of how we’d degraded each other. Lane had been right. All those wasted months, but now we had eternity, and I was ready to let him keep showing me how a real man was supposed to treat his woman. And so far, he’d shown me every day how much he loved me.
I sat next to Lane on the piano bench on stage after we’d just finished a rendition of High On You, one of my favorite Journey songs. I started to stand, when Lane reached out and touched my arm.
“Stay,” he said. The silver in his eyes glowed so brightly, it overpowered the blue almost completely. I’d come to learn that the silver, which I now possessed, as well, always brightened and became more dominant in his irises whenever he was happy or sexually aroused.
“Okay.” I sat back down.
He began to play a tune I didn’t recognize. He glanced at me and smiled. The rest of the band stood by, not joining in. Just listening. Gage and Elvis looked to Cian for explanation. Cian shrugged his shoulders and watched his brother. It never ceased to amaze me the trust, the camaraderie, these four men shared. Lane’s fingers flew over the keys of the piano with finesse as he sang the most touching and heartfelt lyrics I’d ever heard. My hand flew to my mouth when I realized he’d written the song for me. The words were poignant and loving, and my core ached to have him again. To fill me and take me soaring to new heights, each time greater than the last. The thought of what we’d do later, what surprises he might have in store, made me wet as I sat next to him on the bench.
I loved this man. He was my light, my hope, my every desire. My daily dose of sunshine. He rocked my world with a thunderous roar of never-ending surprises, and I would be forever grateful to him for everything he’d taught me. It was he who’d shown me all that I could be. It was Lane DeMarco who loved me the way I’d always dreamed a man should love me.
Chapter Forty-Three
Lane
I poured out the song I’d been writing for the last several months. I realized I’d been writing it ever since I’d set eyes on Vanessa. Then, when I’d discovered that she was a witch, all the lyrics and thoughts became jumbled in my head. I couldn’t see past my own preconceptions of what she was to realize how wonderful she might be.
The lyrics flowed from my lips as if I’d been born to sing them. They were still words of lust and pure unadulterated love, but the regret and the pain were gone.
The chords of the song streamed from my fingers onto the ivory keys. I glanced at Vanessa’s emerald pools, so filled with the silver of my own. A loving, needful sign I knew well. I was enraptured by the thought of her never-tiring lust for me. I knew the effect I was causing between her thighs, and I loved it.
No one knew I had been writing this song. When I began playing, Cian, Gage, and Elvis stood by and waited, not knowing what I had in mind. They waited and listened, then chimed in when I began the second chorus. I smiled at the soft beat of the drums, the simple chords of the guitar, giving the song the exact final touches it needed. They were well adept at what they did; we all were.
The song had started out tormenting me, bringing up memories and the pains of a past I couldn’t bear. Then Vanessa came into my life, and everything changed. Not at first, of course. I’d been too stupid to recognize the attraction, and always mistook it for disrespect. But she’d helped me to see the truth of what I’d been denying myself. She was the good to combat the evil inside of me. With her help, I’d found myself. I’d grown up with the knowledge that I didn’t have what it took to be a man. My father had made it clear so many times that I was too feminine, too weak to be the man he thought I should be. He’d shown me in countless ways just how weak I was.
I wasn’t the man my father wanted me to be. I would never be that man. But I was a good man. The man I’d become was a much better man than the father I’d had. I may be a vampire now, but I was still a man, and stronger because I had a strong woman to love.
The song was no longer a sad or brooding tune. It was a melody of love and hope for a future with someone I’d never thought possible.
Vanessa rocked my world like no one had in all my two hundred and twenty years on this Earth. She was my remedy. My cure. Her daily caresses, my therapeutic massage.
Rock and roll was my life. I lived it, breathed it, but Vanessa Creamer was my salvation, my love for eternity.
Note to Readers
If you read this book before reading the first two books, Tempted by a Vampire and Captivated by a Vampire, that’s okay. There are no spoilers in this book, but if you want to go back and find out how Cian and Magdalena met as well as Josh and Chelle, please check out the first two books. They can both be read as stand-alones, but if you’re a stickler for continuity, you should start with the first one.
And, if you loved this book, I’m positive you will love the first two as well.
You can find the first and second books on Amazon, and both are free with the Kindle Unlimited program.
Tempted by a Vampire, Book 1-- Cian and Magdalena
Captivated by a Vampire, Book 2 – Chelle and Josh
Rocked by a Vampire, Book 3 – Lane and Vanessa
What’s next?
Throughout 2016, I have plans to publish two more books, maybe three if everything works out. I’ll be working on consecutive books in the Immortal Hearts of San Francisco and I have a contemporary series building, something completely different. It should be fun, and I’m looking forward to diving into that.
If you loved this book, please consider leaving a short review on Amazon, because reviews generate sales. So if you like my stories please help out by writing a review and I thank you in advance.
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The Emotional Stuff
Every time I write one of these acknowledgments, they just seem to get harder and harder. There are always so many people that contribute to the publication of a book. First, I always like to thank my husband, because if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be writing. Plus, he is the one who has to put up with all my time spent writing and traveling to book signing events, which I love to do. I never would have discovered that I had a passion for putting words down and forming stories without him. He gave me the opportunity to learn who I was and what I wanted. So, thank you, honey.
My kids give me inspiration in everything they do. I’ve always strived to be the best mom and gramma that I can be for them and to teach them to be the best that they can be. I'm proud of them and who they have become.
My mom’s a strong woman and has had many struggles in her life. Her struggles are not out of the ordinary, but she has always come out the victor. She always manages to build herself up, even after all the obstacles that have threatened to take her down. I admire her so much for all she has accomplished, and thank her for being a wonderful example of what a strong woman is.
My Facebook friends. Yep. That might be you. Thanks for putting up with all my posts about my books and for reading and sharing about them. It is amazingly wonderful to see someone share something about m
y books.
My street team members, Soul Sisters. You build me up buttercups, especially when I’m feeling down and keep me on my toes when I need a push. Thank you ladies for all that you do to help get the word out about my books. You will always hold a special place in my heart.
My beta readers for Rocked by a Vampire, Heidi Hudson, Amanda Catoe, Anna Dase, and Amber Garza. Thank you all so much for your early and quick reading of this book. All your suggestions were very helpful.
A huge, huge thank you to my fantastic editor, Michelle Olson from Literally Addicted to Detail. You rock! Almost as much maybe more than my vampires. You truly are fantatic. Without you, I’d still be thinking my first draft was great, and nobody wants that. You help me realize where I need to make improvements and what my characters need to make them shine. I love how you make yourself available to me even after your job has been completed. Thanks for assisting with everything from helping me choose the best stupid phrase, like beat off or jacked off, or important words like supercilious versus haughty, which one to use or not to use, to the perfect placement of that so important comma and quotation.
Thank you to Trallee Mendonca. You’ve always been there for me no matter what life throws at me. I’m glad you’re still with me. You have some serious kick-ass proof reading skills. Love you, babe.
Lastly, to you, the reader. Thank you for all of your reviews and the support you’ve shown throughout the years of my writing career. I love you to the moon!!!
Please keep the reviews coming because I love reading your thoughts about my books. Please feel free to shoot me an email at [email protected] or contact me on Facebook anytime if you want to talk about my books. Be strong!
Other Books by Susan Griscom
Immortal Hearts of San Francisco
Rocked by a Vampire: Billionaire, Rock Stars, Vampires (Immortal Hearts of San Francisco Book 3) Page 19