by Milly Taiden
Emma had been struck wordless one other time in her life and that was when she met Mason. This woman holding her up like she weighed next to nothing made her forget her own name.
Dark mocha skin, much like Emma’s own glittered in the soft light of the ceiling lamp. She didn't appear to be undead. The usual paleness that came with vampires wasn’t present. There was life in her eyes. She was clearly young. Mid-twenties at the most. With flawless features and full red lips. And that hair! Long raven curls bounced around her breasts. She was not what Emma expected to see as a vampire. Where was the willowy figure and pasty skin?
This vampire had curves. A lot of them. Like Emma and her friends, she was plus sized.
“I,—” she cleared her throat. “Wow you're really pretty.”
Violet eyes blinked back at Emma, confusion and interest clear in them. “I asked who you are.”
Right. “I'm Emma Ferro. I'm here to see Aria Valderi.”
The other woman put her down slowly. She released Emma’s shirt and took slow steps back. That’s when Emma got a good look at her outfit. She wore skintight black pants and a superb low cut neckline red top. “What are you doing here?”
“Cool shoes,” Emma said, staring at the spike heeled peep toes. “Are those Louboutin?”
The other woman’s brows rose. A flash of curiosity brightened her violet eyes. “Yes, how did you know?”
Emma grinned, wiping her hands on the side of her pants, and finally moving her thoughts away from having to cut the pretty woman’s head off. “My mother had a shoe fetish. It was the only thing that calmed her down whenever she was angry with my dad. He realized early on that his way to making anything up to her was with expensive shoes.”
“Sounds like a smart man. You still haven’t answered my question. What are you doing here?” The woman asked again.
Emma was glad the other woman hadn’t made a move to kill her or show off her rather impressive fangs again. Not that Emma would have gone down without a fight. She didn’t carry a katana strapped to her back for nothing along with two knives she called her Rambo knives.
“I really need to speak to Aria Valderi.”
It sucked that she hadn’t been able to find a single photo of the woman. That would have made it easier for her to know who she was looking for.
“Why?”
Emma frowned. The soft Latin accent on the woman speaking to her made her wonder if this wasn’t Aria herself. “I’m looking for a missing girl. Someone said she might be able to help me.”
“I don’t know that Aria could help you with any missing person. She doesn’t interact with the humans in the area.”
“Please. I really just want to ask a few questions. It could mean life or death for a kid.”
The woman blinked, surprise evident in her amethyst depths before biting her full red lips. “I’m Aria.”
“Aren’t you a vampire?”
She smiled. “Don’t sound so surprised. We do exist.”
Emma shook her head. “But you don’t look like a vampire is portrayed. You’re not pale or pasty and your skin glows with health. You’re not stick thin.” She cocked her head, taking in Aria from head to toe and back. “You don’t look undead or dead to me.”
Aria laughed, a soft and husky sound that made Emma grin. “That is because I am not dead.”
“Now it’s my turn to be confused. Aren’t all vampires dead or undead or whatever it’s called?”
Aria motioned her to a different room next to the bedroom. It was a private parlor decorated in deep burgundy and gold. Emma had to squint a little at the soft lighting. She shouldn’t be getting comfortable in a vampire’s lair, but if Aria was going to kill her, she’d have done it already. Or at the very least tried.
“Not really. Not all. I’m not dead,” Aria said, turning to face Emma and sitting down on a plush antique chair. She frowned, glancing around and sighed. “I don’t have anything to offer you other than blood and I highly doubt you want to drink that.”
Emma gulped. “No thanks, I’ll pass. What do you mean you’re not dead? Aren’t all vampires dead?”
Aria pushed a curl behind her ear and leaned on the chair’s arm rest. “No. Some of us, a rare few, can be born.”
Emma gasped, her shock holding her immobile. “Born? You can be born a vampire?”
What the hell? How had she not known that before? She bet none of her friends knew that. It was amazing what one learned when you took the chance to go find out information.
“Yes. There is a line, descendant from the original queen of the night. Miralla Abarca. My mother was a pure blood born, direct descendant of Miralla’s blood-line. She married a human and had me before she turned.”
Emma forgot all about the fact she was in a house filled with people that could suck her dry. Instead, she was captivated by the history Aria was giving her. “So you were born a vampire or a human?”
Aria smiled, her fangs no longer long and threatening. “I was born a human child but once I reached my twenty fifth birthday I changed. I stopped aging. I stopped eating human food. I needed blood to stay alive.”
“Does your heart beat?” Emma asked in a whisper.
She nodded. “As I said. I’m not dead. I’m just different.”
“Wait. You said your mother had you before she turned. Does that mean you can’t have children?”
Aria lifted a brow. “My, you are a curious little thing, aren’t you?”
Little? “Well you can’t stop now. I have to know. I don’t ever have conversations with vampires. Much less one that’s alive.”
“I am still of human child-bearing years, so yes. Once I pass my fortieth birthday I will be unable to have children.”
“Wow.” Emma glanced around the room. “Why didn’t you kill me when I first walked in? You could have tried.”
Aria ran her long red nails over the arm rest. “I could have killed you, but we don’t kill humans here.” She scrunched her nose. “Even those that have been sleeping with dogs.”
“What?” She screeched.
Aria flicked a long curl behind her ear. “You. Why would you sleep with a dog?”
Because she liked growly sex? She wasn’t even going to ask how she knew that. Instead, she moved the topic back to what she wanted to know. “This is the first time I heard of vampires not killing humans. If you don’t drink from humans, what blood do you use?”
Aria sighed, rubbing her temple as if she had a headache. “It’s a common misconception that vampires kill humans. Though some do, a lot of us don’t. My clan doesn’t drink human blood. We drink from animals and lab created synthetic blood. They made a vow to follow my family’s rules against human blood.”
Shit got more and more interesting. She’d never heard of vampires not drinking human blood. For years, she thought her knowledge of paranormals had been high. Always researching and learning new things, she hadn’t been surprised when she’d met Ellie and the Wolfes. Paranormals were common in Blue Creek. But vampires were another story. Every story she heard about them was gruesome. There didn’t seem to be a redeeming quality to them. Sitting there with Aria and seeing how composed and friendly she was made Emma question everything she thought as fact.
“It doesn’t make sense. Why do people think you’re all blood-thirsty killers then?”
Aria shrugged and stood, walking to the open window facing the garden. “There are many that are blood-thirsty killers. We are not them. Tell me about the girl that went missing.”
Jesus. The conversation had derailed and she’d almost forgotten all about the real reason she was there. “A teenage girl. She’s seventeen and sister to one of my students. Her friends don’t know where she is, but someone said I should speak to you about the club Embraced.”
Aria’s gaze snapped to Emma. “Embraced?”
She nodded. “I was told you would know about it and could possibly help me.”
“Embraced was created a long time ago. My mother and father
united with a second clan further south. Apparently there was nowhere for our kind to go since they were unwanted at regular human and other paranormal places. It’s a vampire club.”
“Do you allow humans in there?”
“No. It is a place to exchange blood among my kind. Blood and sex. No humans are ever allowed.”
Blood and sex. Now that sounded more like the vampires she’d heard of. Maybe Maria had somehow gotten involved with one of the vampires in the club? What if not everyone was following the no human drinking rule? Anything was possible when dealing with basic needs. Vampires wanted blood. When the thirst hit, she was sure they wouldn’t think too much about rules regarding humans.
Aria jumped to her feet and turned to face a door. “You need to go. Come on,” she rushed over to Emma’s side and curled a hand around Emma’s wrist. “The others are coming and I don’t want them to find you here.”
Emma didn’t get a chance to say much. Aria dragged her through the other room and out the same door she’d come in. She didn’t stop or let her go. Instead, she continued down to the same old gate Emma had used to come into the house.
“How did you know?” Emma asked, almost out of breath from how fast they’d moved.
“I grew up in this house. I knew this was the only way you could have gotten in,” she said, opening the gate and continuing down the hill until they were well away from the house.
“You know,” Emma gasped, trying to catch her breath, “for a woman wearing sky high heels, you can run your ass off.”
Aria laughed and stopped when they got close to Emma’s car. “Thanks, but that’s one thing I can say is all thanks to being a vampire. We move faster than most other paranormals.”
Clearly. Emma had almost fallen a few times and felt Aria lift her to her feet to help her keep on going.
“I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me,” Emma said. Though she had little to go on, she knew that Embraced was going to be her next stop.
“Stay away from the club, Emma.” Aria said softly. She finally let go of Emma’s arm and stepped back. “Humans don’t go to Embraced. You won’t find anything good there. The trade of blood and sex between my kind is dirty and dangerous. Someone like you can be hurt in there. Easily.”
That’s why she had to go. It was very possible Maria found her way into Embraced and gotten into trouble. Unless Emma went to find out, nobody would know for sure.
“I will see if any of my people have heard of your missing girl,” she promised.
Emma gave Aria her number. “Thank you.”
A loud growl sounded in the distance. Aria narrowed her gaze and hissed into the trees. She jumped back. In the blink of an eye she was a good ten feet away from Emma, fangs bared. “Your pet has come to get you.”
SIX
Emma glanced around to the trees where Aria was pointing. Sure enough, within the shadows the light from two gold eyes shone through. Then, the wolf jumped by Emma’s side, growling and snarling. He moved in front of her and rumbled a bark.
The wolf took a quick jump toward the vampire, snarling loudly. Aria veered off to the left, shoving at the wolf with amazing speed.
“Tell your pet to stop,” Aria hissed. “I don’t want to hurt him.”
Mason flew at her while she glanced at Emma. He caught her at the side, biting on her leg.
“Dammit!” She growled and jumped away. “Stop it, Wolfe. I haven’t touched your female.”
“Mason!” Emma called out.
The wolf stopped, turning his golden gaze toward Emma. He rushed by her side, growling at the vampire.
“Stupid mutt made a hole in my pants,” Aria grumbled.
Emma watched the blood seeping from the wound stop and the bites heal themselves. It was unreal.
“Are you okay?” She asked, worried for the other woman. Dead or not, Mason had bitten her hard.
“Yes, just a pesky bite. I’ll go now. I’m not in the mood to get the rest of my outfit dirty,” Aria muttered, glaring at the wolf. “Remember what I said, Emma.”
She was gone so quickly it took Emma a second to realize she was no longer there. The giant wolf in front of her turned to face Emma and shifted into a very angry Mason Wolfe.
He prowled to her, eating the space between them with his steps. His eyes flashed gold and the vein on the side of his jaw held her in a trance. She wondered if it would pop the angrier he got.
“Mason, what are you doing here?”
“Keys,” he growled.
She didn’t want to argue with Mason. Not when she’d had such an informative visit with the local vampire. She yanked her car keys out of her pocket and handed them to him. “Happy?”
He pressed his lips into a thin angry line, opened the passenger side for her and motioned her with his head. “Get in the car, Emma.”
Uh-oh. He never called her Emma. It was always brat, sexy, gorgeous or some endearment, but never her name. She wondered what the hell pissed him off.
She slipped into the car quietly. Her mind wrapped around the information she got from Aria. Mason might stop being so angry if she shared what she’d learned with him. She turned to face him but the words died in her throat. His face was an angry mask. His skin pulled tight against his face and showed the animal still sitting below the surface.
The car’s engine roared as he took off and for a few minutes he sped as if they were running from something. Then, he took a turn she wasn’t familiar with and onto a dirt road.
“Mason?”
He said nothing. He stopped the car and jumped out, walking to the edge of a small stream that turned into a natural pool. She’d been there once before with her class on a picnic, but never at night.
She wondered if maybe she should leave him alone, but her gut instinct was to go to him. To figure out what was wrong. No matter what differences they had of opinion, she loved him and never wanted to see him upset. It worried her to see him so angry and quiet.
She marched up beside him just as he moved next to a giant tree. She wanted to tap him on the shoulder but didn’t. Instead, she walked in front of him, meeting his gaze. “What’s wrong? Why are you so...angry?”
He curled his hands into fists and held himself stiff. She wanted to shake him and make him talk to her. It was starting to freak her out to see him so quiet.
“Mason?”
He finally faced her and she was left speechless once again. He stood tense, his eyes glowing a bright gold.
“You are not to go back to that place. I don’t want to hear of you near vampires again. Are we clear?”
“Excuse me?” She choked the words out from the anger at him telling her what to do. This was the precise reason she refused to go into a deeper relationship with him. Giving her orders wasn’t going to cut it.
He grasped her arms in a steely hold. “I will not allow you to put yourself in danger any longer.”
She had a clear view of the vein throbbing on the side of his cheek along with the flat, thin line he’d pursed his lips into. Oh, damn. He was really pissed. Too bad. He wasn’t going to start ordering her around now. No fucking way.
“You can’t tell me what to do!” She argued, yanking her arms out of his hold and turning back to her car. “I’m a grown woman.”
“You’re a spoiled brat!”
She sucked a breath in and clenched her teeth. “I’m going to ignore that and head home.”
With another hard grip, he whirled her back to face him. “Don’t run. Why do you keep doing it? Why search out trouble when you don’t have the type of physiology needed to heal like we do?”
She frowned. “What does that have to do with anything? I don’t think about my being human to do what needs to be done.”
His eyes glowed bright under his harsh scowl. “You should. Maybe then you’d realize you can’t be fighting every battle. You can get hurt.”
“So, what? You want me to live my life in fear? That’s not me, Mason. I know that and you know that. Sto
p treating me with kid gloves. I don’t need special powers to do what I think is right. I wasn’t raised to be a coward.”
One thing her father had taught her and her brother was to stand up for themselves. To never allow anything they consider a wrong to continue. To do something if they can to help others. And more than anything, to not let anyone or anything scare them from doing what is right.
“It’s not about living in fear,” he growled, his skin tight over his angry features. “It’s about not stepping over the line. You can be killed. A lot easier than a shifter or even a vampire,” he argued.
She looked away from him, hating that he made sense in his own way. She wasn’t deliberately trying to get herself killed, but if nobody wanted to look for Maria, then she would.
“There are to be no more of these escapades, Emma.”
The anger that had slowly ebbed made a furious comeback. She fisted her hands and glared at him. “Or what?”
He lifted a hand, cupping her neck and twining his fingers into her hair to hold her captive. “Or I will have to teach you what happens when you don’t listen to me.”
Fucking hell, why did her body heat when he said those words? Her nipples swelled, tightening and aching to be touched. Her panties dampened and she squeezed her legs to try and stop him from knowing how much she’d been turned on by his words. No luck.
He inhaled deep. A soft growl left his lips as his head descended toward hers. “You might have been raised by a military father,” he said, his lips hovering over hers. His bright gaze held her in a trance. “But I am the one who knows every single inch of your body. I know ways to torture you that will drive you crazy.”
She licked her lips. “You plan on hurting me?”
His frown turned deadly. “I don’t need to hurt you to punish you.” He brushed his lips over hers in a feather-light caress. “In fact, the best types of torture involve pleasure.”
A hot shudder raced down her spine, shooting embers of lust straight to her pussy. She needed to control her body. This wasn’t the time to get all sexual because he talked of torturing her with pleasure. Goddamn that sounded like something she wanted to try.