Kate shuddered. She hated the sight of blood.
The phone rang and Kate answered.
“Any news?”
“No, Mom, I’m sorry. The cops haven’t found anything new, but they tell me they’re investigating anything that comes their way.” Kate hated lying, but with her mother’s heart problems she wanted to lessen whatever stress she could.
“Well, Danny and I are having a prayer circle at church tomorrow night. We really wish you’d come,” her mother said. Her mom and stepdad lived in St. Louis, Missouri, a few hours away.
“It’s best if I stay here in case something comes up.” Kate didn’t want to face a church full of pitying and judgmental faces. “I want to nose around on my own too.”
“Kathryn, now be careful. We don’t know what we’d do if something happened to you.” Her mom’s tight voice broke into a sob.
“It’s okay. I’m just going to question a couple of Melanie’s friends. I’m a newspaper reporter, remember? I know what to do.”
Her mother let out a sigh. “Okay, honey, be careful. We love you.”
“I love you too. Give Danny my love.”
Kate hung up the phone and paced her apartment. She felt trapped within its confines. She grabbed her running shoes from the bedroom floor and went out for a brisk run.
* * * *
Aiden sat on the sidelines and watched his brother, Remann, bask in the attention of several human women. Aiden’s drink, blood from a donor agency mixed with an expensive scotch, twirled untouched in his hands. His leg bounced up and down as Remann lifted a wrist from a tall, waifish girl to his lips. He bit into the pale, delicate flesh, and the young woman went limp.
Feeders, Aiden thought in disgust, shaking his head. Humans are so naïve.
His twin brother’s habits had always been questionable to Aiden. They’d both succumbed to the ravages of the Black Death in the Middle Ages. A vampiress, taking advantage of the abundant prey plague victims offered, found the identical twin brothers a novelty. After changing them, she’d taken them under her wing for several centuries. Unfortunately, she’d found herself tied to a burning stake in the sixteen hundreds.
Remann lifted his mouth from the waif’s arm, his eyes deepening to a darkened red. He smiled at Aiden, his white teeth smeared with blood.
“You should try her, my brother,” Remann said. “She is still a virgin. A nineteen-year-old virgin in this century.” He shook his head in amusement as the young woman sank deeper into the cushions of the overstuffed couch. Her face was deathly pale, and Aiden wondered if Remann had feasted too much on the girl.
“Humans aren’t cattle, Remann.” Aiden rose from the recliner of soft, black lambskin. He downed his drink in a single swallow and left his brother to his Feeders. Remann’s chuckle followed him out of the room of the old mansion outside of Chicago.
Standing in his private quarters, Aiden stared out across Lake Michigan and absorbed the tranquility the water offered. Moonlight danced over its rippling surface mirroring the full moon perfectly. He stroked his hand down the smooth planes of his freshly shaven jaw and listened as several rooms away a woman gasped then laughed at something his brother had said.
Aiden and his brother had taken to vampirism differently. While Remann enjoyed the power, and used it to his advantage when it came to women, Aiden viewed it as something to control and respect. He had joined the Order of Terminus, an organization that protected both vampires and humans. From time to time feral vampires, known as Dissenters, would take residence in Chicago and the surrounding areas. As a Hunter it was Aiden’s job to destroy Dissenters to prevent them from exposing the existence of vampires. Dissenters had a nasty reputation of leaving bloody carnage in their wake.
The darkness beckoned him as it did all vampires, an instinct inherent with the virus that coursed within his blood. It was easier for their kind to take prey that was tucked safely in their beds. A victim’s deep slumber saved them energy and kept their attacks concealed.
His cellphone rang and his irritation flared over the rude sound.
“Hey, gorgeous, you want to come out tonight?” a sultry female voice asked.
“Depends. What do you have in mind?” Aiden’s annoyance evaporated as his voice matched her provocative tone. Deidre was a tempting vampiress he’d met many decades before. She provided him with detached female companionship that suited him perfectly.
“Well, I just received several pints of AB-negative from my supplier. Why don’t you come over and indulge with me?”
Deidre’s voice ended in a near purr, and several illicit thoughts passed through Aiden’s mind. His cock hardened. He grinned wickedly as he checked his image in the huge, gilded, antique mirror that dominated his quarters.
“I’ll be right there. Don’t start without me.”
Deidre chuckled in a positively obscene manner.
Chapter 2
The jogging path along Lake Michigan was popular even at seven AM. Kate had catnapped through the night and had gotten up early and decided to take a favorite trail. Running had replaced her nicotine addiction years before, and she relied on the physical exertion to clear her head. The rhythmic pounding of her feet on the hard-packed dirt helped center her thoughts as she worked out her plan.
She’d decided to go undercover and find this Remann who Melanie had mentioned in her diary. As a journalist she’d done some minor covert stories in the past for the Associated Press, and she was confident she could pull it off.
Later that afternoon Kate found herself standing before the full-length mirror on her bedroom door with her confidence wavering. At five-foot-five, and blessed with an hourglass figure, she wasn’t the six-foot-tall waif her half-sister was, but she received her fair share of male attention. Would she be this vampire guy’s type? She was AB-negative, but how Remann would know was beyond her.
After she chose a silk, smoky gray dress that perfectly matched the shade of her eyes she laid it on her bed. She’d only worn it once, to an anniversary dinner with an old boyfriend. She’d shoved it to the back of the closet after he’d broken up with her the same night.
She dragged a comb through her heavy locks. The gnarled waves stubbornly resisted being tamed, but with a little extra effort she managed a sexy style.
Kate picked out a black, lace g-string and skipped the matching bra. The cowl-neck of the dress dipped too low to allow for a bra. “Maybe if I look available enough he’ll buy it,” she said to her reflection in the bathroom mirror.
Kate’s plan was to go to the nightclub her sister had mentioned in her diary, the club frequented by Remann. Hopefully she could pull out all her feminine wiles and get a meeting with the man who thought himself a vampire.
She slipped the dress over her head and strapped on a pair of matching stilettos. She styled her hair into thick waves, and after applying more makeup than she’d worn in years, she was out the door.
The club, Sang Rouge, had a line halfway down the block when she stepped from the taxi. It was just before nine and she had hoped to arrive before the crowd had collected.
“Crap,” Kate muttered under her breath as she took her place in line.
Two men barely old enough to legally drink turned, and immediately their gazes focused on the low cut of her dress. The chill of the early May evening had her crossing her arms over her breasts to prevent them from getting more of a peep show.
“Yes, I’m a fully developed, thirty-year-old woman, boys,” she said to the still gawking young men.
Their gazes darted to her face, and the blond boy flushed bright red. The dark-haired one leered.
“I’m Jason. It’s very nice to meet you,” the dark-haired one said with a smile Kate would have appreciated if she’d been eight years younger.
She offered him a tight grin and let her gaze travel down the length of the line as more people filed in behind her.
“Do you come here often?” Jason asked, apparently having decided persistence would pay off.
<
br /> “I usually have too many grown-up responsibilities,” Kate said as she focused her gaze on the doors of the club. Two large bouncers dressed in tuxedos had stepped out to size up the crowd.
“So, like, what’s up with the attitude? I just wanted to get to know you better.” Jason’s boyish features creased into a pout.
His blond friend turned away and snagged Jason’s arm, trying to get him to follow. The line began to move forward, to Kate’s relief. And Jason became distracted by a group of scantily clad, giggling girls that had just arrived in a taxi.
Once inside the club she scanned the trendy décor and wondered if Remann was anywhere to be found. Walking up to a bar, she ordered a long island iced tea from a bartender who wore a dark gray tailored shirt with a matching tie. He juggled several drink bottles expertly, flipping them high in the air, as he prepared her drink. He gave her a wink and a sly smile as he slid the tall glass across the bar. It stopped perfectly an inch from the edge of the polished wood. Kate couldn’t help but be impressed. After paying for the drink she conspicuously pulled a twenty dollar bill from her clutch and slipped it into the tip jar.
“Can you tell me if Remann is here tonight?” She flashed him her most come-hither smile.
The bartender lost some of the twinkle in his eyes and gave her a brief shrug. “If he’s here, he’s upstairs,” he said, glancing up.
She followed his quick look and saw an upper level lined with windows. The bartender turned his attention to another customer as Kate hopped off the barstool, sipping her drink as she searched for a staircase. Against the back wall she spotted an elevator with another tuxedo-dressed man standing guard next to it. She took a deep swig of her liquid courage and sauntered up to the bouncer.
The bouncer towered over her at a good six-foot-six. He was all solid-packed muscle that couldn’t be hidden beneath his finely tailored suit. As he peered down at her, a bored expression crossed his handsome features. Kate batted her eyelashes and cocked her head, doing her best to hide her intimidation.
“I’d like to meet Remann,” Kate said. She winced as her voice cracked.
The bouncer’s gaze traveled down her body in assessment, not appreciation, and his nostrils flared. He placed a finger to his ear and spoke smooth French in a deep baritone voice.
It was so contrary to his quarterback physique that Kate’s mouth fell open. Having never taken a French class, she had no clue what the bouncer said. She absently twirled a lock of hair between her fingers.
He turned his head slightly, listening to the reply through the earpiece he wore. He nodded and turned his attention back to Kate.
“Remann is willing to accept a visitor at this time,” the bouncer said in thickly accented English. He punched the button for the elevator. “When you exit the elevator turn left. He’s in the last room at the end of the hall.”
She followed his instructions and soon found the room in question. The heavy oak door was closed, and she could hear voices talking and laughing from within. For the first time that evening real nervousness washed through her. Her knees grew weak.
Would Melanie be inside? Would she come home if she were?
Kate squared her shoulders just as the door opened. Her gaze fixed on a broad chest clothed beneath a crisp, white shirt. She let her gaze travel up and noted several buttons had been left undone, revealing a trace of black hair hidden beneath. Kate’s breath caught in her throat as her eyes found a strong neck and a square jawline shadowed with slight dark beard growth. A broad smile with perfect white teeth welcomed her, and when her gaze finally met his, she gasped and stepped back. His left eye was a pale, almost unearthly blue, while the right was a deep, rich brown.
“I’m Remann,” the man said, sweeping his arm toward the room. “Please come in and introduce yourself.”
* * * *
Aiden spent the day sailing on Lake Michigan. The weather was beautiful with crisp blue skies and fifty degree weather on the open water. Vampires preferred colder weather than humans. It wasn’t the sun they feared as in legend; it was the heat. Hours of heat drained their energy and left them more helpless than their human prey.
Deidre had kept him busy the night before, pulling him into several games of Texas Hold ’Em. It was a new hobby for her, and though she couldn’t disguise her emotions beneath a poker face, Aiden had let her win hand after hand. She had been delighted with her perceived wins and had rewarded her losing partner with her feminine talents.
As dusk approached, a heavy fog bank rolled in from the north, and Aiden headed the boat toward shore. His brother would be at the club that evening, and he toyed with the idea of making an appearance. Remann always searched for new Feeders to whet his palette. Once he tired of the girls he’d turn them away with a healthy monetary compensation for their time and their silence. Sometimes the women pleaded to be changed, but luckily Remann always refused. Through the centuries Remann’s system had run smoothly, though worry always tugged at the corners of Aiden’s mind.
Later that evening, dressed in a white shirt and black slacks, he drove his Mercedes across town to the club. He greeted Arnaud, the bouncer positioned at the elevator. Arnaud gave a simple nod in return. In the century Aiden had known him he’d rarely shown emotion, though he was a good vampire to have on one’s side.
Aiden let himself into the lounge and nodded a hello to his brother before he took a seat at the far end of the room. He and his brother jointly owned the establishment along with several other commercial properties that brought in a healthy income. Over their lifetimes they’d collected enough money to suit their needs ten times over, so they used the extra funds from their investments to help fund research hospitals.
A woman Aiden didn’t recognize sat amongst the group of Feeders, and he studied her for a moment as her eyes roamed in his direction. A look of shock crossed her features as she looked from him, to his brother, and back again. Remann laughed heartily as Aiden hid his grin. They were used to the reaction, and Remann found particular amusement in it. The woman looked a few years older than his brother’s usual group. She was rather attractive with thick, auburn hair and striking gray eyes outlined darkly in kohl.
“Come, brother, and introduce yourself,” Remann called out, waving him over.
The woman still had a stunned expression on her lovely features. The other young women giggled and whispered as Aiden stood and walked to the group.
* * * *
Kate was speechless as the living mirror image of Remann walked toward her. She had just joined the throng of his adoring women and hadn’t quite settled in. She knew she was slack-jawed but didn’t care. She could see the attraction her sister had held for Remann. He was tall, broad-shouldered, and muscular, with a masculine virility that couldn’t be ignored. And here he was times two.
The twin stared down at her, giving her a small smile. His thick eyebrows knit together before he glanced in Remann’s direction. Remann met the look and an almost imperceptible exchange took place between the brothers before the twin turned his attention back to her.
“I’m Aiden,” he said as he extended a hand to Kate.
She accepted it and was taken aback when, instead of shaking her hand, he placed a very genteel kiss upon the top of it. His full lips lingered hotly for just a moment, and she watched his nostrils flare slightly. Still holding her hand, Aiden stared hard into her eyes with the same dark brown eye and pale blue eye of Remann. In the back of Kate’s mind she thought she should consider the eyes too theatrical for the two vampire want-to-bes. The idea died where it started.
Caught in an almost spell-like state, she couldn’t take her gaze off the sharp angles of Aiden’s face. Kate sucked in a breath and Aiden’s scent filled her head, a strong, male musk with something beneath it…something sharp and indefinable that made her thoughts swim and her body tingle. Though he shared this spicy, subtle odor with Remann, Aiden’s seemed to grow stronger with each of her shallow breaths. It was clouding her thoughts, and Kate str
uggled to find a reason why this twin affected her so strangely.
“This is Kate,” she heard Remann say somewhere in the distance.
Her flesh vibrated, a minute, distracting sensation that started from the hand enclosed in Aiden’s and spread throughout her body.
“Perhaps you would do me the honor of joining me for a drink.” Aiden seemed to say the words without moving his lips, but his deep voice was loud, drowning out the errant thoughts that tried to interrupt the spell she was caught under.
He stepped back, and Kate rose from the chair feeling feathery light, and she drifted with Aiden to his shadowed table in the corner of the room. He didn’t release her hand as he guided her down next to him on a leather loveseat. She sank heavily within the soft, black cushions.
A waitress walked over and took an order from Aiden. Kate couldn’t remember what it was for as she continued to gaze at his strong features. Her heart was fluttery, almost palpating. She breathed in his scent as a drowning man would gasp for air.
“What brings you here, Kate, my darling?” Aiden asked in that intoxicating voice.
Kate searched her mind, not quite sure she knew the answer.
Melanie. An image of her sister filled her head, partly breaking the odd spell.
“I’ve heard of Remann, and wanted to see for myself,” she said breathlessly.
Aiden considered the answer for a moment. “Yes, my brother has somewhat of a reputation. What exactly have you heard?” His deep voice was slightly accented in a European way.
“He has some mystery around him,” Kate answered truthfully. Her eyes searched his unusual mismatched eyes.
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