Burn: A shifter and vampire rock star romance (Underground Encounters Book 4)

by Lisa Carlisle

  “I’m picturing you pink and standing on one leg!” She laughed, and peals of music filled the car.

  Her laugh did something to me—seeing her happy made me smile. “I like to hear you laugh.”

  She leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. “Thank you for helping me, Devon. I don’t understand why, but thank you.”

  Heated tingles fluttered through my chest. I started to sense why. I liked her. Strange as it was. “You’re welcome.”

  After clearing my throat, I changed the subject. “Tell me something, Layla. Have you been drinking human blood all this time?”

  She drummed her fingers on her thigh. “I know you think you know everything about me, but you don’t. I didn’t choose this life, but it is my existence now, and I have to deal with it. I’m no longer human. I may have made some mistakes as a new vampire and got caught up with the wrong crowd.”

  Thinking of the freaks we just left, I had to agree with that assessment.

  “How did you become a vampire?”

  “Why don’t you tell me how you became a shifter first?”

  “I can’t do that.”

  “Why not?”

  “We’re born, not made. You don’t know much about us, do you?”

  “Probably as little as you know about vampires.”

  “I know how to catch vampires. Or kill them if necessary. That’s all I ever wanted to know. Until—”

  “Until what?”

  I clutched the steering wheel more tightly. My body warmed from the inside.

  Don’t say it. Don’t say it. Don’t tell her.

  “Until I met you.”

  Fuck, I said it.

  After I swallowed, I admitted. “A vampire killed my best friend when we were twelve.”

  “Oh.” After a few seconds, she asked. “What happened?”

  I could feel her eyes on me, but I couldn’t look at her. It would make it more difficult to explain. The concern in her voice already tugged at me.

  Steeling myself with a deep breath, I focused on the winding road ahead. “We were out in the forest, where we’re heading to now. That’s where we spent most of our time—playing and hunting. I found her, but it was too late. Her throat—”

  I gulped, unable to finish it. The image of Muriel with the bloody puncture wounds in her throat, exsanguinated, had tormented me for too long.

  “What was her name?” Layla asked.

  “Muriel.” It had been so long since I’d said her name aloud that it sounded strange on my tongue.

  “I’m sorry.” Her voice came out as gentle as a whisper.

  “But you? I can’t hate you.” My voice came out strangled. “Every molecule in me is drawn to you.”

  She didn’t say anything, but her gaze lingered on me. Searching. Questioning.

  “The only thing I wanted to know about vampires before now is how to capture and kill them.” I glanced over at her. When I caught her gaze, so much passed between us. I tore my gaze away and back to the road. “Now I have this compulsion to protect one. Strange, isn’t it?”

  “It is,” she agreed.

  Neither of us spoke for a minute or so. I wrestled with what I’d revealed.

  “I know so little about you, Devon,” she said. “Will you tell me more?”

  Although I kept my personal life private, I was relieved to get out of my head and focus on something else. “You know I spend most of my time in London. But I often return to the forest where my family still lives. We’re free to roam as we wish.”

  “Are you all shifters?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Do any other families live there with you?”

  “Each pack is different. My family and the other shifters in our community live in houses.”

  I stopped at a red light and glanced at her. She listened with a rapt expression.

  “Some shifters live strictly outdoors. Others have a simple shelter,” I said. “Packs in or near the cities might have a large communal home in the forest. It allows shifters to come into nature as they feel the need, so they can change at will and roam freely. Shifters live around the world, in every sort of climate you can imagine. Rainforests, deserts, colder climates. Just like the people who live there, we adapt as necessary. Naturally, single-species shifters seek out a place that’s hospitable to the animal form they take. Mountain lions like the mountains, for instance. But shifters like me, we can become any animal we choose. And so, we have a wide range.”

  “Do you usually change into a lion?”

  The light turned green and I drove. “Wouldn’t you? King of the jungle. Symbol of the English monarchy. There’s nothing like feeling the magnificent strength of a lion. Seeing the world through the eyes of a predator. But it’s not often I get a chance to do so in England. The forests provide cover, but you never know when a human is near.”

  “How do you do it?”

  “I visualize what form I want to take, and then I do it.”

  “You can shift to any animal you wish? You can fly as a falcon. Swim as a dolphin?” Her voice was tinged with wonder.

  “Fuck like a rabbit,” I added with a laugh.

  She gasped. “You have sex with other animals?”

  “I prefer sex in human form.” I inhaled her scent, that female aroma that shot sensual pulses through me. With someone like you.

  She leaned back. “I’ve been told shifters are dirty animals, beneath us. Beneath humans. But, you’re actually quite amazing.”

  “And I always thought vampires were nothing more than dead flesh walking. No life in them without the blood of others.”

  “We’re not zombies!” she protested.

  “Funny how our prejudices about each other have shaped us.”

  “And maybe they were wrong from the start.”

  I grinned at her. “What do you think? Can two different species like us become—friends?”

  “You saved my life. You killed the vampire who wanted me dead. Guess that means I should forgive you for kidnapping me.” With a lilt, she added, “Although I still want to punch you when I think of it.”

  I laughed. It was a strange way to develop a relationship, but impossible? “Friends?” I extended my hand.

  She gave me an odd smile. “Friends.” She shook it.

  My fingers lingered, turning more intimate. I pulled my hand away with reluctance and placed it back on the steering wheel with the other one.

  I’d revealed more than I’d intended. It was her turn to talk.

  “Now it’s your turn to tell me your story.”

  Chapter 11

  Devon

  “What do you want to know?” Layla asked me.

  “Who you really are. You know I researched you and found out some facts, but I want to hear your story.”

  She pointed ahead. “Oh look, there’s a store. Let me run in.”

  How convenient—she could evade my questions. I stayed in the car and she returned around ten minutes later.

  “Got everything you need?” I asked once she climbed back in.

  “Yes. For a few days at least.”

  After I drove, I waited for her to resume the conversation we’d been having. When she fiddled with the radio instead, I asked, “Are you trying to ignore my question?”

  She exhaled. “No. I don’t know where to begin. I’ve been in hiding and have had to reinvent myself twice.

  “Fair enough.” I scratched my chin. “Let’s start with the present. You’re in a band with humans. Do they know you’re a vampire?”

  “No.”

  “How do you manage if they want to meet during the day?”

  “I say I’m busy. I told them right from the beginning I’m only free nights. It’s only been a couple of months, and it hasn’t been much of an issue. Our rehearsals and gigs are after dark.”

  She revealed something. That was progress. “Let’s go backwards. How long had you been with Stefano?”

  She gave me a pointed look. “I haven’t been wi
th Stefano if you’re implying a sexual relationship.”

  “I wasn’t. But I’m glad to hear it.” The idea of him touching her with his long fingers repulsed me. I forced the image away.

  She looked off while considering the question. “A couple of years.”

  “How did you end up with him?”

  “I met him in London. I was a young vampire, alone. During tough times, I slept in the tunnels of the London Underground.” She let out a quick laugh. “I don’t know why I’m laughing. It definitely wasn’t funny at the time.”

  “Situations like that never are. It’s healthy that you can look back and laugh about it. Much better than letting it get to you.”

  She smiled at me in a way that warmed my heart. “You know, for a big, tough bounty hunter with a heart of stone, you can be quite—decent.”

  I chuckled and pressed my finger to my lips. “Don’t tell anybody. Only certain people get to see my softer side.”

  “I’m one of the lucky few?”

  “It looks like it.” She looked so human when she smiled like that. Not that she couldn’t pass for human otherwise. But when her face held a neutral expression, it was as immobile as marble. “I know what you’re doing. You’re changing the subject back to me. Working your charms to try to avoid telling me too much. But I’m not that naïve. Let’s get back to your story. You were in London, young, alone, and I assume, afraid. And then…”

  “I met Stefano,” she said. “He was old and powerful. I never met any others besides the one who made me. I had questions. Stefano had answers. He invited me to live in his,” she paused as if searching for the right word, “community—with other vampires.”

  “How long have you been a vampire?” I had an idea from my investigation, but wanted to hear her story in her words.

  “It was about a month before I met Stefano, so over two years ago. He called me his Millennial baby.”

  “How old was Stefano?”

  “He never said. I’m guessing hundreds of years.”

  More questions formed in my mind. The bounty hunter in me wanted more information on vampires. A tidbit of information might come in handy down the road. The man in me wanted to discover more about her.

  My interest in Layla won out. Was I thinking with my dick or my head?

  “How were you changed?”

  Her face darkened and her mouth formed a grim line. “As you already discovered in your snooping, I had been living in DC. I hadn’t been out of college long and was looking for a job. My dad wanted me to use his connections, but I put that off. Although I didn’t major in environmental science, I’d joined a club in which we did projects to benefit the world—without letting my parents know. I’d heard too many disparaging comments about tree huggers and things like that. In the club, we’d help restore forests and coastal habitats, hike, clean up trails, and so on. I loved being outdoors and working on these projects. So, I was hoping to find a job in which I could benefit the environment, without my parents disowning me. Well, that all changed one night. I’d left my friends at a club. I was about to hail a taxi when someone grabbed me and dragged me into the shadows of a park. He pierced my neck under the cover of trees and fed on me. I wanted to scream, but couldn’t. After the initial terror disappeared, a sensual feeling took over my body.

  “While he drank from me, I didn’t even try to stop him. I didn’t want to. The seductive hold was so consuming. The more he drank from me, the weaker I became. I must have lost consciousness, because some time later, I woke up and the park looked different, sharper. Sort of like going from regular TV to high-definition, but on a much greater scale. The details in the leaves around me were incredible. Sounds were magnified so I could hear bats fluttering through the trees across the park.”

  Bloody hell, she’d had her entire life ahead of her, and it had vanished in an instant. It hadn’t been by choice. I’d been so quick to judge her simply for being a vampire, before knowing her story.

  She paused before continuing. “The vampire was with me. He told me his name was Ramon and he was immortal, a vampire, and now I was, too. I freaked out. But, I was also dependent on him. When a thirst for blood consumed me, he showed me how to sate it. I don’t know why he chose me, but we were together from that point.

  “Ramon liked to hunt politicians, especially dirty ones. He drank from them and then erased their memories of the event. I’m guessing that’s why he chose me—because I was a senator’s daughter. But he was careless. A man saw us feeding in the park one night and attacked Ramon. He must have seen enough vampire movies to know to use a wooden stake. He had a sharpened piece of wood, which he must have salvaged from a nearby construction site. He plunged it into Ramon’s heart, killing him. I fled, far too fast for the man to catch me.”

  “Shit,” I said, enraptured by her tale. “What did you do?”

  “DC was no longer an option. I had to get away. I stalked women in restaurants that evening to find someone who looked like me. When I found one, I waited for her to use the ladies’ room. Then I took her ID, which to my luck included a passport as she was a tourist. Ramon had a book of contacts in his place, and I contacted one who was listed with a note for international travel out of Boston. I paid him to arrange a flight where I’d avoid sunlight. He’d done this for numerous vampires, so he took care of all the arrangements. I fled to London and started my new life as an immortal.” She gave me a forced smile. “One thing I’ve learned how to do is to create a new identity or borrow another’s.”

  I tried to focus on the winding road ahead, which had been difficult to do when I’d been so engrossed in Layla’s story. She hadn’t chosen to become a vampire. She was the victim of one, no different than Muriel. The outcome had just turned out differently. Layla had been forced into this state of existence and had been trying to adjust.

  “You’re resilient and resourceful,” I said. “I admire that.”

  She shrugged. “It took a lot of trial and error. I still had little idea of how to be a vampire with Ramon gone. Stefano and his crew taught me how to hunt. How to get blood from humans. I’d like to say they were all bad people in some way, but I know that’s not true.”

  “Did you kill?”

  “Not intentionally. But yes, I accidentally took too much blood from a few. I’m not proud of it. I’ve tried to atone since by only drinking from willing donors.”

  “How does that work?”

  “They get a thrill from it. I don’t know where vampires came from or how they evolved, but for whatever reason, this side effect helps both vampires and humans. If it’s done right, we can drink blood, the human enjoys it, and nobody gets hurt.”

  “Since you’ve been away from Stefano for several months now, what have you been doing to survive?”

  “Whatever I can, Devon. I’ve had to be careful using the underground blood banks because if Stefano put some tracers out, it might be a red flag to have a new vampire in town looking for blood.”

  “What have you been doing to feed?”

  “I’ve avoided humans. I’ve developed some of the mind control necessary, so they wouldn’t remember what happened, but I admit I’m not that good at it. You saw my attempt on you. I tried it on you when we first had sex. It didn’t work.”

  The memory returned, and I growled. “I knew you had an ulterior motive.”

  She laughed. “What did you think—I was so hot for you that I couldn’t control myself?”

  I stroked my chin and teased, “You wouldn’t be the first.”

  “Cocky much?” She gave me a playful punch on my bicep.

  “I’m a shifter. Vampy mind tricks wouldn’t have worked on me anyway.”

  “Good to know.” She raised her brows and grinned. “Anyway, as much as I hate to hurt any animals, they were a safer bet since they wouldn’t talk. I’ve fed from deer, raccoon, and coyote, drinking enough to curb my hunger, yet not kill them.” She tapped her thighs. “And that’s pretty much it.”

  After a pau
se, she nodded at me. “What about you? What do you eat?”

  “Me? I eat like a man. And an animal.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means I have an appetite. In every way.” I flashed a decadent grin. “When I’m in human form, I eat what humans eat. When I’m in animal form, I eat whatever prey that animal prefers.”

  “You eat raw flesh?”

  My sensuous grin apparently hadn’t worked. “It’s better than sucking blood.”

  “Here we go again,” she said.

  “Ah, right.” When I spotted a convenience store on the outskirts of the forest, I said, “I’m going to pick up some food before it closes. Do you eat or drink anything from there?”

  “I can if I have to. When I’m trying to pass myself off as human. But I don’t really like to. Except—”

  “Except what.”

  “Except I do like sipping coffee. Or a glass of red wine. They don’t have any effect on me and just get absorbed by my body. But it’s one of those old habits from when I was a human that I didn’t want to give up.”

  Layla

  While I told Devon my story, we drove through numerous roundabouts, and the concrete of the city gave to the green fields of the English countryside. No wonder he hated vampires; one had killed his friend. And yet, he was helping me.

  Eventually, we left the fields and entered a forest area with dirt roads. After several minutes, a tiny cottage appeared nestled into a cozy spot, overshadowed by the surrounding trees.

  “We’re here.”

  “It’s beautiful,” I remarked.

  “It’s home,” Devon replied. “I travel all over the world for my clients, so I like to come back to a place that’s familiar, where I grew up.”

  I had to admit I liked learning more about Devon. He’d been a mystery from the start, but the more he revealed about himself, the more fascinated I became. “Where do you like to travel?”

  After we climbed out of the car, he said, “I’ve been to so many interesting, beautiful places in the world, which allows me the freedom to explore them in various forms. I’ve explored the African savannah as a lion, the Black Forest as a bear. But for me nothing—no place—compares to the English countryside. I shift to a fox or a Peregrine falcon to fit with animals found here.”