A Vampire's Thirst_Gunner

by Elaine Barris

  Chapter 12

  “That’s a lot to think about,” Piper said, after Lee described the Legendary Hunger and told her why they were meant to be. “But it explains everything I was feelin’.”

  Gripping the steering wheel, knowing his entire existence hinged on her reply, Lee asked, “Does it make you happy?”

  “I’m ecstatic!” She threw her arms around his neck. “I’m pretty sure my B.O.B. will appreciate the rest.”

  “Huh? What are you talking about?”

  “My vibrator, silly,” she said with a giggle. “My battery-operated boyfriend.”

  “What?” he shouted, his mind going to her pleasuring herself while thinking about him.

  The car swerved to the side, and he righted it, as she pressed kisses over his cheek.

  “Mmm-hmm.”

  “You’re going to show me what you did to yourself.” Lee turned down the road to his house and said, “Oh, Imogen’s at my place. You need to meet her.”

  “Imagine? What kinda name is that?” Piper asked, her eyebrows scrunched together. “Who is she?”

  “No, it’s Emma-gin, and she’s my best friend, not a girlfriend. Never has been. And she’s nothing like you, sweetheart. She’s like my sister. I have six of them, plus her.”

  “Holy shit! That many? What if they don’t like me?” Piper asked, adjusting her leggings that he’d ripped in his fervor to take her. “I’m a mess, Lee!”

  “Stop. You look beautiful. I’m the one covered in chocolate.”

  “How is it that you can say that, and I believe you?”

  “Because I’m your mate.”

  She giggled and said, “Mom’s gonna be so pissed that it didn’t happen with somebody in our clan.”

  “What do you shift to?”

  “Leopard.” She clawed in the air towards him like a cat and winked at him. “Rarrrr!”

  “I can’t wait to see you.”

  “My kitty is strong. My former alpha wanted to make me his beta, but I would’ve had to marry him, so... no.”

  “The universe is a strange thing,” Lee mused, as he listened to her go on about her life prior to her move.

  She sighed and said, “It really is, huh?”

  “Yeah. After this, we have to go to a business meeting. Some other people need to meet you to understand what’s going on with my wolf.”

  “Okay.” Lee turned into the driveway beside Imogen’s van and turned off the engine. “Oh, she’s a dog groomer! That’s really cool. I’ll have to tell everybody at work to bring their fur babies to her.”

  Lee got out of the car, went around to Piper’s side, and opened her door. She took his hand and stood, and they went up the walkway to the entrance.

  “I hope you like our place.”

  “I’m sure I will.”

  Lee opened the door and then swooped her up into his arms.

  As Lee crossed the threshold, carrying a woman, Imogen looked up from the magazine she was thumbing through at the kitchen counter. Sensing the intensely intimate mood they brought with them, she grabbed her purse, shoving the strap onto her shoulder, and crept to the back door to make a quiet escape and not interrupt their time together.

  “Immie!” Lee yelled. “Don’t go! Not yet.”

  “Oh!” She turned back and then lifted her hand, waving at them. “Hey! I was in the area, and my next appointment isn’t for a while, so I thought I’d hang here instead of going back home and wasting gas. Was that okay?”

  Instead of answering her, he said, “Immie, this is Piper.”

  As he set Piper on her feet, he gave Imogen a look that was heavy, a gravity she could not dismiss. Whoever the woman was, it was serious.

  She nodded, and after the intake of a steadying breath, she walked over to them. After making note of his dishevelment and the brown stains on his pants and shirt, Imogen wasn’t sure what was going on or what Lee was going to tell her.

  He said, “Piper’s my fated mate.”

  “What?” Her eyes widened, as she looked Piper over from head to toe. She flicked them to Lee, who nodded, and she took a step back, as she inhaled deeply and then let it out. Jumping up and down, she shrieked, “Oh, my God!” Then she rushed to Piper, latching her arms around her. “Welcome to the family!”

  Piper hugged her back, and after a moment of their bouncing on their feet, they let each other go.

  “You two, visit, while I go change into something not covered in candy.”

  “Come have a seat,” Imogen said, gesturing to the lush living room.

  “Oh! I love it!” Piper spun in a slow circle, taking everything in. “This place is gorgeous! I feel like I’ve stepped inside my favorite decoratin’ magazines!”

  They sat on the velour couch, and Imogen said, “So, tell me what happened! I’m so happy for you both, but I gotta admit, that was the last thing in the world I thought Lee was gonna say.”

  “Yeah, me, too.”

  Piper blushed and then went on to tell Imogen about what had been going on between her and Lee and how she’d found him in the broom closet, stuffing his face with candy bars. As she was speaking, Lee came over and sat in the chair by Piper. Imogen watched, as their hands reached for each other’s simultaneously, and she smiled with joy for her best friend, knowing in her heart that she’d been replaced as his closest ally and confidant.

  “Don’t you look handsome?” Piper whispered.

  Imogen felt the tension building between them like an electrical current.

  Glancing at her watch, she stood and said, “Well, I should probably get going. It was nice meeting you, Piper! Can’t wait to get to know you better.”

  “Yeah, I’m lookin’ forward to it!”

  “Let me know when you wanna hang out.” She removed her keyring from her purse. “I’ll leave mine here for you.”

  “Keep it, Immie,” Lee said. “I’ll have another one made for Piper.”

  “Okay. But I’ll only use it in case of emergencies.”

  As Imogen began making her way to the foyer, she heard Piper say, “What time do we have to leave?”

  “Blaine and Gunner can wait. I want you naked in my bed, with your ass in the air and nothing on but those heels.”

  Imogen shut the door behind her and went to her van. After starting it up, she sat there a moment, thinking about how quickly all their lives had changed, in a split second, and she wondered when she would find her true love. Though she was thrilled for Lee, she wasn’t looking forward to all the time she was going to have alone.

  “I can focus on growing my business, I guess.”

  Chapter 13

  “I thought he was coming over tonight with news!” Gunner shouted. “What does he think this is, a game? My life hangs in the balance!”

  “He said he would be here, and I believe him.”

  The doorbell rang, and Blaine said, “See? I’ll bet that’s him now.”

  “About time!”

  As Blaine opened the door, the scent of the most delicious ambrosia hit Gunner like a sledgehammer. Before he knew what he was doing, he flashed to the entrance and grabbed the woman behind the man he could only assume was Lee. Taking her in his arms, he nuzzled her neck, as his fangs lengthened.

  “Hey!” Lee yelled in his deepest alpha voice. “Let go of her!”

  “She’s mine, shifter!” came the deep and fierce growl from Gunner.

  “What?” Piper shrieked, as she struggled to get free.

  “Gunner!” Blaine shouted, taking him by his arms and pulling him away from her.

  “Go back to the car,” Lee told her. She obeyed him immediately, running down the steps towards Lee’s BMW M6 in the driveway. Gunner tracked her motions, his eyes lighting, until he couldn’t see her anymore. “Back off, vampire! She is my fated mate!”

  “That can’t be!” Gunner said, reaching for her retreating back.

  With Piper having left, taking most of the scent with her, Gunner’s sensibilities began to return to him. However, he could
still smell her on Lee, and he leaned towards him. Shaking his head, he fought against the need for blood, to have the richness of it flowing down his throat. He could taste it on his tongue, and the desire to do something he hadn’t done since shortly after his birth as a vampire ran through him, demanding the satisfaction of feeding straight from the vein.

  “Dude! Quit it! I’m not your type, whatever that is! What’s wrong with him?”

  “I don’t know. Gunner! Get a hold of yourself!” Blaine shouted.

  Gunner turned his head to look at him.

  “Blood,” he croaked with a clawing parchedness in his throat that could only be sated by one thing.

  His vision swam in red, as he heeded the warning inside not to set himself free to do what he craved so desperately, knowing that if he did, he would kill his closest friend and a man whose help he needed.

  Blaine threw him across the room, and he landed in a heap in front of the fireplace.

  “If he keeps acting like this, I’m out!” Gunner heard Lee say from where he lay on the rug. “Piper is more important to me than the clan is!”

  “I don’t know what’s come over him, Lee. Let me get him a blood pack and see if that helps. Please don’t leave before we’ve been able to discuss your findings.”

  “I’m going out to check on Piper.”

  “Please apologize to her for him. After he’s fed, I’m sure it’ll be safe for her to come inside.”

  “Are you kidding? Not a chance in hell, I’m letting her get within eyesight of him. You’re lucky I’m still here, after such a show of disrespect to her and to me.”

  Gunner watched, as Blaine nodded, turned away, and disappeared down the hallway, towards the kitchen.

  A few seconds later, he saw the tips of Blaine’s boots.

  “Here,” he said, dropping a bag in front of Gunner’s face.

  He grabbed it, sinking his fangs through the plastic, drinking as quickly as he could. In a few seconds, it was drained.

  “More!” he growled, “I need more! I need her!”

  “She’s not yours! How many?”

  “I don’t know! Bring them all! She has to be mine!”

  Gunner crawled to his feet on shaky legs, his eyes pinned on the front door.

  “If you don’t calm down, I’m going to cuff you and secure you for your own wellbeing.”

  “How dare you say that to me?”

  Stepping face to face with Gunner, Blaine growled, “Try me.”

  The vision of where he’d been found by The Directive rose in his mind. But that time, instead of horror, Gunner relished the thought of sinking his fangs into so many breakable bodies and drinking every last drop they could give him. He licked his lips and pierced his tongue with his fang, letting a bit of his own blood coat the inside of his mouth.

  “That’s it,” Blaine said.

  He grabbed Gunner’s left wrist, as he brought out a pair of silver handcuffs from his pocket.

  “You think those can stop me?” Gunner asked with a chuckle.

  He cocked his head to the side at the sound of a car starting, as his eyes erupted into flames.

  “No! He can’t take her!”

  His flash to chase after Piper was interrupted by Blaine’s grasp around his waist. He wrestled him back into the living room and slammed him against the wooden wall.

  “You will stop this immediately! Do not make me bring out my beast!”

  As the distance between Gunner and Piper grew, his desire for her began to decrease, and he dropped his chin to his chest.

  “I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened to me.”

  Blaine hesitantly released his hold on Gunner.

  “Are you still hungry?”

  “Famished!”

  “Stay there.”

  As Blaine walked away, Gunner ran his hands over his face. The thought of what he had been capable of doing mere moments before shot terror through him. Whatever had come over him had to be quelled. He could not lose control of himself again. He knew that if he didn’t regain his composure—the iron will that had sustained him for so many years—the case against him would no longer be in question. It would be proven, and he was going to be thrown back into prison... or worse.

  When Blaine returned, he had stacks of packs in his arms. Gunner rushed over to him, grabbing two in his hands, and popped one directly onto his fangs. After downing eight of them, he was starting to feel more like himself.

  “Have a seat and tell me exactly what happened.”

  “The woman’s scent… it sent me into a frenzy.”

  “Why were you saying she was yours, Gunner? She’s Lee’s fated mate. There’s no changing that.”

  “There has to be a way. How can she belong to him, when I’m so certain she’s mine?”

  “I don’t know, but you’re wrong. We have to get to the bottom of this in a hurry, or everything we’re trying to accomplish is for naught.” Blaine’s phone rang, and he drew it out of his pocket. Looking at Gunner, he said, “It’s Lee. He has information, and we need to focus on that.”

  Gunner nodded and brought another pack to his teeth.

  “Hello?” Blaine said.

  “Look, the only reason I’m calling is because of the deal I made with you and The Directive.”

  “We understand. Thank you.”

  “I don’t know what the fuck your friend thought he was doing, but Piper is mine. Am I clear?”

  “As glass, Lee. We’re working through it. There’s no ready explanation. I’ve never seen Gunner like that. He was not himself.”

  “I hope to hell not.”

  “Is she okay?”

  “Yeah, but it’s been a crazy 24 hours for both of us.”

  “Can we get to what you discovered today?” Blaine asked, as he set the phone on the coffee table. “You’re on speaker.”

  “So, I was searching the database this morning, while I was shoveling down Milky Ways, and I stumbled onto this directory named The Order Initiative.”

  “What was in it?” Gunner asked, attempting to keep his mind on the task at hand and to not ask about the woman he assumed was most likely occupying Lee’s bed at that moment.

  “You’re on extremely thin ice, vampire. Try to take her from me again, and you don’t have to worry about The Directive. I’ll kill you myself.”

  Gunner rolled his wrist, gesturing for Blaine to direct the conversation, as he reached for another blood bag.

  “What did you find?”

  “They have an almost cult-like following, and they’re organizing an uprising. The leader, unnamed, seems powerful. What I read is some freaky shit, including blood sacrifices.”

  “Did you copy the files?”

  “Holding the thumb drive in my hand.”

  “Okay. Don’t lose it. I need to take a look at its contents and then get it to Jana.”

  “Ahead of you on that. I’m going to email it to you through my clan’s secure server. Once you get it, you’ll need to create your own logon. I’ll send the instructions. Expect it in a few minutes. Call me after you’ve reviewed it and let me know the next steps.”

  “You’re going back in?”

  “In for a penny, in for a pound.”

  “You’re a good man, Lee,” Gunner uttered with a fair degree of difficulty.

  “Remember what I said,” he replied, and then he ended the call.

  Jumping up from the couch, Gunner paced the room in agitation, as the blood he’d drunk hadn’t diminished the fervor rushing through his veins. Restlessness morphed into an overwhelming desire to search for that scent.

  Lee had said Piper was his, and Blaine had insisted the same. Piper had practically run away from him, screaming.

  If she belongs to Lee, then, what’s calling to me?

  “It says here that the true lord of the paranormals will rise and take his rightful place and rule over us and humanity, too,” he heard Blaine say as if off in the distance. “That blood spilled in his name will speed his ascend
ancy and seal his reign. Hmm. Somebody’s got a god complex and created a cult within The Directive.”

  What did it matter if Gunner went to jail? He would lose his mind, just as the shifter had, if he didn’t locate the owner of the sweetest ambrosia he’d ever experienced. He had to find her. Until he claimed her, he could no more focus on his case than he could count the sands in the desert.

  With a certainty in his heart of what he had to do, Gunner said, “I have to go.”

  “What? You can’t be serious. Now?”

  “Continue what you’re doing, the research. I just need to get out for a while and clear my head.”

  “Okay, but you’d better stay away from Lee and his mate, or he’ll make you wish you had!”

  Chapter 14

  Gunner took to the streets on foot, shunning the confinement of a car and its filtered air. He needed to be able to react quickly to the changing winds.

  There it was.

  The slightest of hints, a whisper of a scent carried through the breeze straight to him. With no other choice, he followed where it led, through the busy twisting streets of the city. And then the traces increased, and his veins seemed to dry up in an instant.

  Faster and faster he went, until he turned onto an avenue, and the odor mixed with something else, and the one he’d been trailing disappeared completely.

  Shifters.

  Dammit! It must’ve led me to Lee’s house.

  As if on cue, Lee’s door opened, and he stepped out, shirtless, in a pair of tight neon orange boxers. After closing it behind him, he crossed his arms over his broad chest.

  “What’re you doing here, Gunner?”

  Rubbing the back of his neck, he said, “Honestly, I don’t know. Whatever it is... led me here.”

  “Don’t you have more important things to be worried about, like keeping your head on your shoulders?”

  “Says the man who’s found his mate.”

  The door creaked open, and Piper said, “Lee, is everything okay?”

  Gunner’s eyes landed on her, but rather than the rushing to take her, he had no compulsion for her at all.

  “Stay back, sweetheart. The vampire’s leaving... aren’t you?”