Kiss Hide Bite: A Vampire Romantic Thriller

by Anna Rainn

  “You’ve been staring at the sky for five minutes now,” a voice came from behind me. I turned in surprise to meet the stranger extending his hand with a glass of martini.

  “I have seen you order a vodka martini a bit earlier.” A chiseled face greeted me. Points for attentiveness and more points for the well-cut black suit and the genuine smile. He looked to be in his early forties, though one of the very well preserved, a few silver-haired and perfect shape forties.

  “Thank you. Actually, I’m waiting for my boyfriend,” I said apologetically.

  “Oh,” the tall stranger seemed disappointed, but his smile stayed. “Please have the drink anyway. I’m a friend of Nick’s, the host. Do I know your boyfriend?”

  I laughed. “I think so, yes. I’m Nick’s girlfriend.”

  The smile seemed to falter on the stranger’s lips. It probably wasn’t his best moment hitting on a girl that turned out to be his friend’s girlfriend. I waved the awkwardness off.

  “It’s okay; you couldn’t have known.”

  The thick eyebrows met briefly, then he just nodded.

  “I’m Marissa, by the way.”

  “Marcus,” he said.

  My glass froze halfway to my mouth. Around us, the gathering was growing; a mixture of formal attire, girls in glittery cocktail dresses, guys in trendy shirts, and some older guests in awkward slacks and ill-fitting suits.

  Marcus… I heard that name before, and I remember the context vividly. I took an unintentional step back. What was Nick doing inviting a vampire to Owen’s party? Were we safe? I took another step back, my eyes glossing over the roof garden, looking for an exit.

  “Is it fair to assume you have heard of me?” The vampire in front of me hadn’t moved. Not only was he a vampire, but he was also a faction leader; Justin and Tyler had been his wayward vampires.

  “Don’t worry. I come in peace.” Marcus didn’t seem at all fazed by my reaction. He was still in his spot, unmoving you could think him a statue until his eyes moved and caught yours.

  I opened my mouth to say something, then closed it again. I couldn’t utter those crazy words here, at a normal party, with normal people around. Come to think of it, how many of those people were normal? I didn’t know any of them. Who else had Nick invited?

  “Why did Nick invite you?” I finally asked.

  “To express my good wishes to detective Chase in person, of course. What happened was… unfortunate.”

  Unfortunate… Bianca was dead, Owen spent almost two weeks in the hospital, Nick and I almost lost our lives, and he was calling it unfortunate. I glared at the suited vampire in all his radiant glory, a predator designed to pull prey, and my outrage was drowned by my fear.

  Marcus took one graceful step toward me. Something about the way he moved seemed too effortless as if he was floating. Maybe I was imagining it. I sure didn’t seem to notice anything weird about him before he introduced himself other his heightened charm. The other two vampires I have seen exhibited speed and strength, but nothing like the eery otherworldliness radiating off Marcus.

  I was mesmerized, unable to move. My eyes were pinned to his, unable to look away. And I was feeling cold.

  “Will you allow me to apologize to you too, Marissa?” he asked, unblinking.

  I nodded, unable to speak. I will never forget the night Justin chased me outside my coffee shop, or the night I stood helpless watching Nick fight two rebel vampires. But at this point, I was willing to say anything to make Marcus go away, look away, set me free.

  “I know you have been through a lot,” he said, maintaining the same seemingly genuine smile he walked up to me wearing. “That’s why I came. To make sure all is forgotten.”

  Was I capable of forgetting Bianca? The answer was no, but I nodded anyway.

  “Is there anything you want to tell me?” The vampire leaned in his graceful figure closer to me. Repulsion filled me, but I didn’t move away, couldn’t move away. I shook my head. I didn’t want to say anything to him, and I didn’t want him to say anything to me. All I wanted was to have my body back under my command, so I can walk away.

  “No angry words?” Marcus asked, “It’s okay; I want you to talk things out with me. You can trust me,” he said.

  “They killed Bianca,” I found the words in the fog. Two tears were streaming down my face.

  “I’m sorry, Marissa. The responsible parties are gone now. And you’re safe.”

  But I didn’t feel safe. I felt cold.

  “Actually, would it be okay if I came and tried some of your famous coffee at your coffee shop?”

  “Yes,” I whispered, shivering. Anything, just let me go.

  Something cold took hold of my arm and pulled me back, a hand. I staggered, not just from the force of the pull; I was a marionette with its strings cut. Nick’s thick arms wrapped around me, catching me.

  “What the fuck are you doing to her, Marcus?” he hissed.

  “I just wanted to apologize. How are you, Nicholas?” Nick tucked me behind him and closed the distance between him and Marcus in a long step, leaning his muscled body into the vampire’s. Marcus didn’t move an inch; he just smiled and tilted his head.

  “What’s going on here?” Nick warned, his eyes scanning the roof, assessing our surroundings. From a distance, I heard Owen’s voice and Sara’s laugh. I realized that Nick and Owen had their grand entry while I was here, too dissociated from my surroundings that I didn’t notice them come in or see the crowd rush to meet them.

  Marcus didn’t say anything. His eyes moved briefly to me, then back to Nick.

  Nick nodded, then turned to me. “Stay here,” he ordered, before taking Marcus arm in arm and walking away.

  I managed to take three steps to a nearby round table and collapse on a chair. I was the only one on the table, and I was grateful for that. Small favors, I thought, trying to overcome the storm of emotions threatening to overtake me. Everybody else had gone to welcome the detective back.

  Near the flowery arch, Owen stood with Sara by his side, surrounded by the small gathering we had assembled. The elegant selection of Sara’s friends mixed with Owen’s coworkers to form a semi-circle of animated talks and gentle pats on the shoulder. Owen’s eyes shot to me for a quick second, serious, before lightning up and moving back to his friends and family again. Nick and Marcus were making their way to the detective.

  With two discreet flicks, I wiped the tears off my cheeks. I didn’t have my clutch to get my phone out and check if my mascara was running, so I was just going to hope for the best. There were no black tracks on my fingers, so this was a good sign. I know, runny mascara should be the least of my problems, but if I allowed my mind to consider bigger issues, I was going to have a panic attack now and here, in a party with at least fifty people present. So instead, I zoomed in on a small problem, a problem that I can solve.

  Well, apparently even mascara problems were not solvable since my clutch and my phone were on the coffee table in front of the sofas across the roof. To get there, I’d have to pass by a flurry of the guests who were starting to regroup into small clusters. Worse, on the sofa now sat Owen. Marcus was standing in front of him, with Nick standing close behind. My body was still cold from my brief encounter with the gently terrifying vampire. There was no way I was going to go there.

  The group of two men and one vampire was apparently done with the pleasantries. After a minute of talks and nods in front of what remained from Owen’s friends from the station, Nick took the detective’s arm and helped him walk to a somewhat empty corner by the jasmine vines. There, they stood with Marcus talking. A deep frown was etched on Owen’s face. I didn’t know what kind of training he received at the police academy, but for someone who had been attacked and almost bitten to death by two vampires a mere two weeks ago, he seemed weirdly okay with having Marcus at his party and in his home.

  Nick raked his hair, his leather jacket and white T-shirt pulling up and revealing a strip of his toned torso, then he tur
ned his head and glanced at me. Before I could summon a smile to assure him I was fine, he was already back in deep conversation with Marcus and Owen.

  The music had changed into a series of slow covers by an unknown artist. A soft voice was now complaining about a lost love in a song I didn’t quite remember. It was probably something popular at a certain point because I could almost recognize it, but the name of the song stayed infuriatingly just out of my grasp.

  The martini Marcus had offered me was sitting on the table in front of me, barely touched. I took a sip and tried to steady my nerves. Nick knew Marcus, and the vampire was here by invitation. I was never in any danger. It’s just my nerves. Look at Owen. Owen wasn’t alarmed by any of this, only I was. I took another sip, bigger this time.

  The night was slightly windy now, playing with long dresses and sobering up dreamy eyes. Everybody save for me seemed to be enjoying their time. The crowd from the station were happily exchanging chatter at the sofa arrangement on the other side of the roof, some of them seated, probably those with the higher rank, while others stood with drinks in hand. Sara was moving from one small group to the next, her tiny feet now in a strappy golden sandal, and her gold jewelry looking even more beautiful under the warm glow of the light strings above. Near me, the bar was even busier than before, the deep gold and tan contents of the alcohol bottles making their way into iced glasses, and the silver cocktail shaker working full-time.

  A girl in a shimmery short dress giggled, resting briefly on one of the chairs on my table, a trendy young guy with his hand around the girl’s waist slipped beside her, nuzzling her neck, then their drinks were finished, and they were gone.

  When two hands gently glided on my bare shoulders, I didn’t look back; I only reclined in my seat and allowed Nick’s fingers to massage my neck. I hadn’t realized how tense I had been until I felt the sweet ache under his hands, unknotting the fear and anxiety, melting them away. Breath left my mouth in a long sigh.

  “He’s gone,” Nick whispered from behind.

  I grabbed his arm on my shoulder and pulled him away. As much as I enjoyed his spinning fingers, I needed to see his face.

  “Why did you invite him?” I asked, failing to keep the blame out of my voice. Fuck it, why was I trying to tread lightly? “What made you think it was a good idea to hand an invitation to a vampire where you know I’ll be present?”

  “Marcus isn’t just any vampire,” Nick reasoned, lowering his long body into the chair next to mine.

  “Yes, yes, I know. He is a faction leader. Even worse, this… thing isn’t human. Marcus is less human than even Justin!”

  “He is an elder, Marissa. Of course he looks less human than a two-year-old vampire.” He rolled his eyes. Apparently, it was expected of me to know this information, and it was also somehow expected of me to not be ten times more scared by it.

  “Don’t you see how this makes it even worse that you let him come here?!”

  “You were scared,” Nick’s hand moved toward mine on the wooden table. I withdrew my hands and knotted them in my lap. Nick’s eyes flashed with anger, but he kept talking anyway. “but there is no way he would hurt you. Marcus didn’t live to be the leader of the strongest vampire faction by being rash.”

  “So you left it to a vampire’s good judgment. Awesome.”

  “He was here for Owen and for me, not for you, Marissa,” I could see I was starting to get on Nick’s nerves. I didn’t care.

  “Well, it sure didn’t seem this way when he came up to me.”

  “Will you stop making this about you, please?”

  It was my turn to glare. Nick crossed his arms and stared right back at me.

  “He did something to me, Nick! Hypnosis, maybe. I don’t know!”

  Nick nodded. “Some vampires are about strength and aggression. This is especially true for younger ones like Tyler and Justin. The older ones’ powers exceed that. It is a soft power, though much more… potent. Whatever traits a vampire gets can have a mind of their own, sometimes they seep out, uncontrolled. That’s why the younger a vampire is, the more dangerous. They can’t rein themselves in. Maybe a bit of Marcus’s power seeped through while you two were talking,” Nick rationalized.

  “Well, Marcus is old, so according to you, he should be in control of himself. Right?”

  “And if you think that what you have seen here was all he is capable of, you should think again.” Nick took a second to lower his voice before continuing. “Even the older vampires show their true nature unintended at times. If Marcus meant to hurt you, you would be hurt.”

  Well, that is reassuring!

  “Maybe he didn’t want to hurt me. Maybe he wanted me under his spell for other reasons.”

  Nick’s blue eyes were of a darker shade today, baby blue. Somehow, this gave them an even more potent effect. He looked at me questioningly.

  “He asked me if he could have some coffee at Black and Foam some time.”

  Nick blinked, uncrossed his arms, then pulled my hand out of my lap and took it in his.

  “Listen, this is the last you will see of vampires in your life, okay? This was closure for Owen, a declaration of continued peace, and the leader of the faction that had started all this had to be there. It was a show of good faith from all sides, Marcus coming alone, and us inviting him. This is the last chapter. It was uncomfortable, but now it is over.”

  I looked down, feeling Nick’s cold hand wrap around mine, stroke my palm soothingly. I had been thinking about him coming through the flowered hedge arch I had decorated, catching my eye, seeing me in my dress, and coming to me. Things didn’t happen the way I had planned, but this didn’t mean the night couldn’t be saved.

  “Do you promise?” I looked up at him, the baby blue eyes shining at me from his olive face, exotic, alluring.

  He nodded, his perfect teeth making a brief appearance as he smiled.

  “Now, will you dance with me?” He asked.

  “I haven’t welcomed Owen yet,” I admitted in shame.

  “Well, then let’s get this out of the way.” Nick stood up and offered me his arm. I pushed my hand through the small gap and held on to his strong bicep as he led me forward.

  “Are you feeling okay?” Sara stood up when she saw me, then without waiting for an answer, she leaned in and hugged me. The gesture seemed odd, considering we had spent all morning together, but I let her pull me in reassuringly anyway. It is weird how we sometimes don’t know that we need something until we get it. Whatever remained of my unease after my conversation with Marcus seeped out of me and into the cool night air. Sara smiled at me, her eyes two pots of dark honey, then she pulled me to the sofa next to her.

  “Hey,” I smiled at Owen apologetically. “I’m sorry I didn’t welcome you in,” I hesitated.

  “We had only just walked in when Nick spotted you over there. It seemed you needed to be rescued from the particular conversation taking place,” Owen smiled, gesturing Nick over.

  “I don’t want you to break a third rib,” Nick teased, resting his body next to Owen’s.

  “We’ll see about that in a month,” Owen said.

  “Two months, Owen,” Sara warned. “You won’t be fully healed until two months have passed.”

  Owen ignored his sister’s parenting, answering me instead, “I’m sorry you have to see this. It’s embarrassing.”

  “You should listen to her,” I answered.

  “Yea, Owen, listen to Sara,” Nick agreed, his tone suspiciously energetic.

  “Oh, you two aren’t pulling this on me again,” Sara shook her head. “It’s bed rest until the doctors say otherwise, then you will take it easy until I say so.”

  “Okay, mom.”

  Sara made to elbow Owen, then stopped at the last second. The two guys grinned. Nick’s smile shifting from his friend to me for a precious second.

  Soon, Sara announced it was champaign time. Her toast was followed by Nick’s. With a glass full of bubbles, I searched for Nick in
the crowd. He was finally done embarrassing Owen on the bar, but I couldn’t locate him. When my eyes finally fell on him, he was standing near the hedge arch with Caleb, and they were smiling. With a heart too light, I floated to them. My night was complete.

  When I finally felt comfortable leaving Caleb alone, I stole Nick into the secluded corner by the wooden partition.

  “Hey,” I smiled at him shyly.

  “Hey,” his thumb brushed my chin, then he pulled me in and started swinging me gently to the music.

  The playful breeze teased my hair, ruffled it, blew it in gentle gusts of jasmine and stars. Breathless, I licked my lips, looked at the gorgeous olive face in front of me. Nick’s hand tightened around my waist. I closed the two inches between us and took his lips. He was happy to be taken. Another gust of wind blew, and the fresh scent of jasmine engulfed us in a fragrant sphere of pure magic.

  Chapter 31

  My head was buzzing with the champaign. I knew I had had too much, but the night was too good I didn’t care. Nick’s hand fell on the small of my back steadying me, but tipsy as I was, I didn’t fail to notice his thumb feeling its way on the edge of the low back opening, hovering where the skin met the stretched fabric. Unlike me, Nick was unaffected by all the alcohol, and he was pretty focused. The objects he was zeroing on were jiggling as we ascended the stairs to my apartment one after the other; the elevator wasn’t working again.

  “It’s too dark,” I complained. Nick hadn’t switched the staircase lights on.

  “I can see just fine,” he mumbled, falling behind me, but keeping his hand on me all the same. His typically warm touch was cold, breaking my alcohol warmed skin in goosebumps. I shivered, the cold seeping through my dress as Nick cupped one butt cheek through the skin-tight dress. I didn’t object, just took the next step up. His hand took advantage of my legs parting, slipping through the leg slit and lightly touching my sex through my thin lace thong. I staggered, almost falling.