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

by Lisa Carlisle

  She raised her index finger. “You’re going to change into an animal, though, aren’t you? One with fur I hope.”

  “I’m thinking mountain lion. Let’s stay close to my land to avoid being seen.”

  “If a human sees us, I’d have to try to erase their memory,” she said with confidence.

  “Who would have thought there are perks to hunting with a vampire?” I grinned.

  “You bet there are,” she said before her eyes widened with anticipation. “Now let me watch you shift.”

  In the next moment, I visualized myself as a mountain lion. My body went through the transformation almost instantly. I’d long since learned not to be tense. It would make the transformation painful as bones and muscles reformed. But without anxiety, it was painless, almost magical.

  Through my feline eyes, I read her reaction. Her excited expression indicated she was impressed.

  “It’s really marvelous how you can do that,” she said. “Go on. I’ll follow you. This is your forest.”

  I bounded onto the forest floor on four legs. When she followed, I quickened the pace to see if she could keep up. She stayed right on my heels. Damn, she was fast. I took off again to outrun her. She laughed as she passed me. How did she do that on two legs?

  I countered, sprinting ahead to pass her. Something ahead made me stop—tan bodies near a stream.

  Deer.

  Fuck. If she didn’t see them, she might make too much noise and scare them off.

  She stopped beside me. Somehow, she knew they were there. Her expression turned fierce, one of a huntress. She pointed to herself and to the right, indicating how she was going to flank them. She pointed to me and to the left. I padded through the fern, using the trees as camouflage.

  She disappeared into the woods. I approached the deer. When I was close enough to leap, I analyzed which would be easiest to capture. Was she doing the same thing on the other side of the trees?

  I’d never hunted with anyone other than my species before—let alone a vamp. Strange how exhilarating it was—not at all what I’d expect.

  Not that I ever thought I’d hunt with a vampire through these woods—considering what had happened here in the past.

  But, I couldn’t dwell on that, not with the adrenaline of the hunt burning through me. My paws itched, desperate to pounce.

  One deer raised its head, as if somehow sensing a threat. Before it ran off and set the others off as well, I pounced. I leapt into the air and attacked a smaller deer that had not yet caught on to the danger. Layla appeared behind the deer in a flash, too quick for me to see. She sank her teeth into its neck.

  The rest of the deer had dispersed into the forest on pounding hooves. The prey we captured was more than enough for us both. She took her fill of its blood while I devoured some meatier flesh. The experience was odd, yet natural—one I could never share with any other woman.

  After we ate, Layla said, “That was—interesting.”

  Blood dripped down her chin, and she wiped it with the back of her hand. I walked over to her and rubbed my head against her leg. She patted the fur on the top of my head and then scratched under my chin.

  Once I shifted back and we cleaned up, we returned to my cottage. It was strange how content and relaxed I felt. I liked having her there. It almost seemed like a lovers’ getaway—if we weren’t on the run from some pissed-off vampires.

  Layla

  After night had fallen, I woke in Devon’s cottage. We’d spent three nights here without any signs of Gayle and Jon. Maybe I was finally free.

  I loved it out here. Seeing the night forest through vampire eyes was even more breathtaking than when I’d first seen London. It pulsed with life; so many species made the wilderness their home. Owls hooted, insects chirred, leaves ruffled, and water flowed through rivulets and brooks. The ecosystem was fascinating. A fallen tree could host a variety of new life after its death. I could spend hours exploring all the wonders of this forest—if I didn’t have to worry about looking over my shoulders for those bastards tracking me.

  Fuck. I was sick of running. How long could I hide out here with Devon? I couldn’t ask him to put his life on hold for me forever.

  Devon kept himself busy during the day when I slept. What exactly he did, I wasn’t sure. But, he didn’t leave me, and for that I was grateful. He often waited for me to wake and we’d go out hunting together.

  Devon had a shield around himself that was fortified with a cool facade and detachment. So, when we walked through the night forest an hour later and he told me about growing up there, I listened closely.

  “My parents worked nearby in Gloucester, but on the weekends, the five of us—with my two sisters and me—we’d spend time together here.”

  Although I was super curious as to what a shapeshifting family did for their quality time together in the woods, I tried to keep an overeager tone from my voice. “Doing what?”

  “Oh, typical outdoor activities,” he said. “Run, play, hunt—it depended on which animal form we chose. Sometimes we met with our extended family, at different locations. I have aunts, uncles, and cousins throughout the area. We rarely brought food. Why bother when we could hunt for it?”

  “Ah, more gratification in the pursuit, I suppose?”

  “Naturally.”

  “Do you still see them often?”

  He shook his head. “Extended family, not so much. But, with my parents and my sisters, Jayne and Margaret, we still try to meet up every month. Last month, I couldn’t make it since I’d been in Germany hunting down an art thief. My mother is sure to remind me of my absence the next time I see her.” He turned and flashed a grin. “She’s a typical mom. Wants me to settle down and all.”

  He furrowed his brows. My expression must have alerted him that something was off.

  “What’s your family like?” he asked.

  I shifted my gaze to the trail ahead. The pine needles crunched underfoot. Moss and fern grew with abundance. The air was thick with the scents of nature. It had been soothing, but suddenly turned into a dark reminder of them. My parents.

  After taking a steely breath, I said, “As I mentioned, my parents didn’t give a shit about me. They treated me as a prop as part of their political scheming. We lived in DC, far from any extended family, so they were all I had.”

  The old wound opened like he’d picked at a scab. I curled my hands into fists.

  “It’s better that they think I’m dead—for them and for me. After all, it wasn’t really a lie. My mortal life had ended.”

  “And that’s when you reinvented yourself as Layla, right?”

  His voice had softened. Probably because he sensed he treaded on ground that could detonate like a minefield.

  “Yes.” My ribs tightened around me. I gulped air even though it wasn’t necessary for my physiology. Eventually, I breathed through it.

  “I wanted to study environmental science. Go outside and work with nature, create a positive impact on the world. Try to offset all the exploitation from greedy corporations and corrupt politicians.” I gritted my teeth when I thought of growing up in DC, a life I was glad to leave behind. I spread my hands wide. “I wanted to spend my days in a place unspoiled, like this. Studying the wildlife, taking samples, things like that. I’m fascinated by the outdoors.” I stroked the bark of an oak tree. “Look up. See how the trees respect each other and give each other space at their crowns. It’s like they speak this secret language. And they also take care of each other. They’ll share nourishment with a weaker tree. It’s incredible. Think of all the life they support through their serene majesty.”

  After Devon glanced up, I continued my tirade. “But, no. That didn’t work with my parents’ calculated agenda.” I snorted. “Funny, I earned a degree in political science as they wanted, but then became a creature of darkness. Typical politician.”

  Devon quirked a brow as he watched me. “You’ve started over. You’re free, Layla.”

  “Not quite,”
a woman’s voice rang out from the surrounding darkness.

  I turned to see Gayle and Jon approach. Gayle glared at us with venom.

  Fuck. They’d found us.

  Chapter 13

  Layla

  Goosebumps prickled my skin. “How did you find us here?”

  Gayle took a couple of steps closer. Devon shifted to human form and stepped in front of me.

  “Don’t get any closer,” he warned.

  A man with shoulder-length blond hair ran to us and said, “Devon, I tried to call and warn you they were in the forest. The signal is so bad out here. But I told the others. They’re coming.”

  “Thanks, Martin.”

  I didn’t know who Martin was, but he appeared to be looking out for Devon.

  Devon kept focused on Gayle and Jon. “You were foolish to follow us. We outnumber you. If you stayed away, we all could have lived in peace.”

  “Oh please. What good are animals against immortals?” Jon spat.

  “Let’s do this quickly and get out of here,” Gayle snapped.

  Her vanity kept both her human and immortal age a secret, but she was older and more powerful than me. However, I wouldn’t let her take me out without a struggle.

  Jon lunged at Devon while Gayle reached for me. She knocked me to the ground and hissed as her fangs uncurled.

  I pushed her shoulders back, but it was as futile as pushing the tree behind her. She inched nearer, her fangs dangerously close to my neck. The silver knife was attached to a sheath on my thigh, but I couldn’t reach it. I cried out my frustration.

  I grabbed at the ground blindly. A rock would be useful. No such luck. My fingers touched the rough bark of a branch. It was too thin to scratch Gayle, let alone slow her down, but it was all I could find.

  Use it on her eyes.

  Ah, yes. I grabbed the branch and thrust it at one eye and then scraped it across her face to damage the other one as well. She screamed with a monstrous sound I’d never heard from a human or any animal before, and then she covered her bloodied eyes.

  I didn’t have much time. She would recover soon enough.

  Pulling my knees up, I rolled us to the side, which knocked her off balance. The sharp scent of fresh blood diverted my attention, and that’s when I heard the sounds. Feral howls and shrieks that pierced the quiet lull of the forest. Devon and a wolf fought Jon. All were covered with stark red wounds.

  Where were the other shifters? And why hadn’t Devon shifted into an animal form? With them both focused on Jon, I was on my own with Gayle.

  Gayle clutched at her eyes, but she’d stopped screaming. The pain might be already ebbing away as she healed. She might even be able to see me again soon.

  I reached for the knife on my thigh. Gayle lowered her hands and her blood-tinged glare zoomed in on me. She flew at me with fangs bared and arms stretched forward.

  I jabbed the knife up just as she landed on me. My knife plunged between her ribs. She roared, but pierced my neck.

  Shit, the wound wasn’t fatal. And she was drinking my blood—with my bloody knife stuck in her torso!

  I pushed her as she grabbed for the weapon. My arm blocked her from getting a solid grip. If she got hold of it, I was done. She’d drain me dry or impale me. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see what was going on with her fastened to my neck.

  She pulled away from my throat and glanced at her chest with the knife sticking out like a flag. She grabbed the handle. I slammed her hand down. The blade slid deeper into her chest, sliding in at an upward angle.

  She screamed in agony and then punched me so hard in the face that my lip split and blood spurted from it.

  Ignoring the pain, I dove at her and clutched the knife.

  Why wouldn’t this bitch die? Where the fuck was her heart? Did she not have one and was that why I had trouble finding it?

  I pulled out the knife and plunged it back into her chest. A desperate wail came out of me. Removing the knife, I stabbed her twice more, turning her opened chest into chopped meat.

  Gayle stopped moving. Finally.

  The demon bitch stared with dead eyes at the forest sky. Smoke curled up from her chest wounds.

  I watched her to make sure she didn’t spring back to life and attack me like I’d seen in one too many horror movies. As her body smoldered and the smoke rose, leaving the stench of burning flesh, I grew more confident she had been destroyed.

  When I turned my attention to the battle beside me, I gasped. Jon had his teeth sunk deep into the wolf’s neck.

  Where was Devon?

  Fuck. My heart ached as I scanned over the fallen debris of the forest, searching for his body. Nothing.

  The wolf struggled against Jon. What had happened to Devon? Was he taken off guard? If Jon had already killed Devon, the wolf shifter was next.

  And then it was me.

  What could I do to help the wolf? He had come to warn us; I couldn’t just let him die.

  I leapt onto Jon and tore into his neck. His blood flowed over my tongue.

  He released his hold on the wolf and tossed me off him. “Bitch!”

  After he grabbed me by my upper arms, he slammed me into the trunk of a tree. My insides felt like they’d burst against my ribs, which surrounded them like a steel cage. I gasped at the splintering pain that echoed through me like ripples in a pond.

  A tremendous blow knocked us both to the ground, and a roar rang in my ears.

  An enormous lion pounced on Jon and he screamed, “No!”

  The sound died as the lion ripped Jon’s throat out.

  I stared at the carnage before me, trying to make sense of the last few seconds.

  My gaze shifted to the lion. “Devon?”

  He nodded his massive lion head.

  When I glanced at Gayle, her body was half gone. It had disintegrated, starting from the chest wound and working outward into a pile of ashes. A burning scent lingered. The knife lay flat on an ashy cavern that was once her chest.

  What about Jon? Was he really dead?

  Blood oozed from the mincemeat of Jon’s neck, but nothing smoldered. Running over to Gayle’s decaying corpse, I retrieved the knife and sprinted back to Jon’s body. I plunged the knife into his chest three times and waited with impatience for some sign to indicate he was gone.

  Time wasn’t even a concept at this point, so I don’t know if seconds had passed or minutes. How long had that entire encounter just taken? It felt like hours, but it may have been only a couple of minutes.

  Fuck. I had no patience for this bullshit.

  I slashed into Jon’s throat and slid back and forth, ignoring the sickening liquid sounds, until I’d separated his head. No way was this asshole going to piece himself back together to inflict more evil on the world.

  After the horrid deed was complete, I was rewarded with the telltale sign of smoke billowing from Jon’s wounds. With morbid satisfaction, I stared as his body disintegrated into ashes onto the forest floor.

  I exhaled with a giant whoosh.

  This was it. I didn’t have to hide from anyone anymore. They were all dead.

  I was free.

  A disturbance in the air beside me made me turn. Devon shifted back to his human form, turning into a tower of golden masculinity before me. Tension seeped from my taut muscles. He was all right. Breathtakingly alive.

  My gaze pored over his captivating physique. A wide grin spread across my face.

  “You have a spot of blood on your face.” I pointed to my cheek.

  Devon threw his head back and laughed. “You should look at yourself. You look like a goddamn predator.”

  A man’s voice interrupted. “Devon, some help?”

  The wolf had also shifted to human form. Blood spurted from the wounds in his neck where Jon had bitten him. He was in bad shape.

  Devon rushed over and covered the wound with his hand. Blood seeped through his fingers.

  “Let me help your friend,” I said.

  “How?”


  “Move out of the way.” I crouched down and bent over the blond man’s neck.

  The man recoiled. “Back away, vampire!”

  “I’m not going to bite you,” I said. “I’m going to close the wounds.”

  “How?”

  Goddamn it. Would they just let me do what needed to be done without the questions?

  “My saliva,” I said. “We don’t have time to discuss this. You’re losing too much blood. Let me in.”

  “Let her, Martin,” Devon said. “I trust her.”

  “After Muriel?” Martin exclaimed. “She’s a fucking vampire. You didn’t tell us that’s who you were protecting. Look at her face—there’s blood all over her mouth!”

  “Martin, she’s all right. She’s a friend of mine. And, you’re going to die if you don’t let her help you,” Devon said.

  Martin’s eyes turned even wider. “What if she turns me? I’d rather die than be turned into a vampire!”

  I didn’t even know if that was possible—to turn a shifter into a vampire—but I kept my mouth shut.

  “Martin, enough,” Devon shouted. “Don’t you think if there’s anyone here who wouldn’t trust a vampire, it’s me? Now shut up and let her do her thing.”

  They locked eyes for a few seconds taut with tension.

  Martin nodded. “All right.”

  I bent down. The scent of his blood stirred me. Being so close to a flowing fountain offering such a delicious meal was too tantalizing. The monster within still raged from the fight, craving sustenance to fuel me with its sweet vigor.

  He’s Devon’s friend. He helped you.

  Shit, my fangs itched, desperate to sink into this fragrant bouquet.

  Don’t succumb to this. Keep your word to help him! You were human once. You don’t have to be a monster.

  “She’s going to kill me!” Martin shielded his face with his hand. “Look at her eyes. She wants to suck me dry.”

  “Control it, Layla,” Devon commanded.

  His words snapped me from the drunken spell.

  Don’t have to let the thirst control you. Do the right thing.

  “No, Martin,” Devon said. “Stop fighting her. For fuck’s sake, listen to me!”