The Librarian’s Vampire Assistant, Book 3

by Pamfiloff, Mimi Jean

  I settle between her thighs and move myself into position, trailing kisses down her neck. I know she wants this. I know I must be careful.

  I bite down and thrust inside her. Both are like heaven, and her sharp moans tell me she is right there with me. Like before, I only go deep where she needs it. Her neck, on the other hand, is just a nick for her pleasure and mine.

  “Kiss me,” she pants, our bodies moving together with urgency.

  The fact that she wants to taste herself on my tongue sets me off. I’m ready but must wait.

  Our mouths lock and our tongues lash in time to the movements of me inside her. Her every whimper only makes it harder for me to control myself. I want the release. I need the release, but it must be perfect.

  I listen to her breaths and heartbeat. I smell the sweet scent of her arousal in the air, infused into her fresh sweat. She is ready.

  I quicken the pace and go deeper, letting what nature gave me do its job. She responds by lifting her hips and digging her nails into my back.

  This is it. She wants it hard. She wants me to give her what she needs.

  I slam into her one last time, and she throws her head back. I let go and fill her with everything I can give. Her climax only increases the pleasure of my release, every twitch of her body around my shaft prolonging the moment.

  I am completely lost to her. This thing between us is powerful, and a part of me realizes just how dangerous that is because there is nothing I wouldn’t do for her.

  I return my mouth to hers and plant a lingering kiss on her lips. She tastes even sweeter now. Maybe because she is sated and, for the moment, not thinking about the last few days. Perhaps it is because she is in love.

  I roll off her so she can catch her breath.

  “Wow,” she pants. “There are no words.”

  “Did your ex ever…” My voice fades.

  She stares up at the ceiling. “Did he what?”

  “Perhaps the question is too indelicate,” I say.

  “Jeremy and I never had sex, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  “You didn’t?” I roll to my side and prop my head up with an elbow and an arm.

  “No. I mean, he tried to persuade me, but I used the excuse of my parents and still being in mourning—which I was—to keep him away. I told him he traveled a lot, and I wouldn’t sleep with him until he was ready to settle down and make a commitment.”

  “So you never loved him,” I conclude.

  “No. I knew what he was the entire time.”

  “You did?” I find this shocking. “Why did you pretend to be surprised when I told you he was a vampire?”

  “All part of my training. If I didn’t act surprised, you would wonder why and become suspicious. I’m supposed to be a normal, regular person, and normal people don’t believe vampires exist. They think you’re insane if you try to convince them otherwise.”

  Ah. Thus the reason she had a hissy when I attempted to tell her what I was.

  She goes on, “I just couldn’t figure out what Jeremy was up to. Then I started getting threatening calls about selling my property. Strange men began coming to my home. I kept thinking that this Clive person would show up and tell me what to do—I mean, he seemed to be running the whole Keeper deal. I certainly didn’t want to get involved, but at the same time, I felt obligated to learn what I could, so I played along and kept to my script.”

  “Wow. Just…wow.” I shake my head in awe of her. “And I think I am good at running with a cover story. You had me completely convinced.”

  “My parents trained me well.”

  “Did you know I was a vampire?” I ask.

  “When we first met, no. But then you showed up at the hospital, and I miraculously healed.” Those “land developers” wouldn’t give up trying to get her land and sent thugs after her several times. One man nearly broke her skull, and I had no choice but to sneak her some of my blood to heal her.

  She adds, “I barely knew you, but you saved me. It contradicted so much about what I was taught.”

  “Which is?”

  “You’re all cold-hearted killers. Just that some of you keep yourselves in line and some don’t. The whole point of the Keepers was ensuring humans could defeat you ‘vicious vampires’ if the Great War didn’t go our way. I think, though, after victory was declared, Clive knew there would always be bad vampires. He didn’t trust your laws and councils, and he felt obligated to make sure we weren’t lambs for the slaughter—as you put it.”

  I sigh with frustration. Clive worked tirelessly to win the Great War and ensure humans would be safe from us. So why is he now trying to undo it? It just doesn’t make any sense.

  Mystery! Mystery! Mystery!

  Stop it. There will be no more rejoicing over unanswered questions.

  “One thing is certain,” I say, “Clive is very old and very cunning. He does not think like we do.”

  “How so?” Miriam asks.

  “He is a meticulous planner and extremely patient—a result of being immortal and having lived so long. But he is a master at strategizing. I believe this is why he pulled strings to put me in place as king and then distracted me with misinformation. Someone had to lead, and he wanted a person who would be predictable and whom he could easily control.” For example, the entire time I was in transit between Phoenix and Blackpool, Clive’s generals and men were all coming to Phoenix to prepare for their attack. Clive had been able to get me completely out of the way, on a plane, running around looking for the council members in the UK. I suspect it is the same reason he made sure I was appointed leader of the Arizona Society of Sunshine Masochists. He would rather it be me leading Arizona and Cincinnati, which I inherited upon his “death,” because he knew exactly how to handle me. He didn’t want a stranger, a wildcard, messing up his plans. With Lula and Viviana in on everything, he had me under complete control.

  “So what are we going to do next?” Miriam asks. “Because if what you say is true, then he will have a contingency for everything.”

  “Everything except the irrational,” I mutter. “Which is why I must be unpredictable.”

  “How do you propose to do that?”

  I am suddenly on top of her, pinning her wrists. “By doing things like this.” I kiss her neck and blow little raspberries.

  “Stop it!” She laughs and squirms. “I hate being tickled. And I need to pee.”

  “You’re no fun. All these bio breaks make me think I should turn you into a vampire.”

  “No, thank you. I meant what I said about my mortality. Life only has meaning because its supply is limited. Just like gold.”

  I roll off her and she scurries out into the hallway and into the bathroom. Meanwhile, I think about what she just said. I was joking about her becoming a vampire, of course, but a part of me wants to give her all the “gold” in the world. I cannot stand the thought of her growing old and dying. Our relationship is doomed, yet I cannot let her go. I see that now.

  “Hey.” Miriam stands in the doorway wearing a robe. “I’m getting some water and a snack. Want anything?”

  “Yes, but it requires a partner, so hurry back.”

  “Sounds fun.” She marches downstairs, and my mind drifts. For over a month, Miriam was pretending, and so was I. It is a miracle we ended up falling in love despite not showing our true selves until now.

  But what an actress. Almost the entire time she knew I was a vampire. It explains why she suddenly did not seem too hung up on the news when we got on that plane. After I snatched her from my apartment at light speed, she realized she couldn’t carry on with her own charade—i.e., telling me vampires weren’t real, the reaction of a “normal” person. However, even then, she proceeded with caution and kept to her script.

  I am glad she finally decided to trust me, because now I see the real woman who’s been hiding behind those intelligent eyes, and she is amazing.

  “Michael! Come down here. You need to check this out!”

  I
rush downstairs in the buff, thinking my worst nightmare has just come true and we’re surrounded.

  “Look!” She holds up my phone.

  “God. You scared me.” I take the device and begin scrolling. Hundreds of texts are coming in, most of them saying the same thing: they will see me on the East Coast and fight anyone who threatens our peaceful way of life. A few say they’d rather die than give up a world with Quesaritos and Fortnite. “No way am I going back to The Flintstones.” Most simply say they are furious and on their way. Messages from all over the world indicate reinforcements are already in the air.

  With so many on our side and moving quickly into place, it will be difficult for our enemies to take us out.

  “You did it, Michael. I’m sure Clive and his army weren’t expecting everyone to pull together like this.”

  My phone rings and the caller ID is blocked. “Hello?”

  “Hello, Michael.”

  I feel the floor of my stomach fall out like a trapdoor that’s been sprung. It is a voice that, up until today, I never thought I would hear again. I am furious. “Clive.”

  “I hear you’ve been busy.”

  “Not as busy as you, Clive.” I feel strange having this conversation in the buff, so I pick up my jeans off the floor where I left them and slide them on, holding the phone with my shoulder.

  “Yes, well, I have my reasons, and you’re getting in the way.”

  “Good. Because someone has to stop you,” I reply.

  “Why would you want to do that?” His voice is calm and smug, not at all like the caring but firm man I used to know.

  “You are not going to undo all of our hard work. Too many sacrifices were made, too many lives lost just to get where we are. I won’t let anyone throw that away because you have lost your shit.”

  “You are upset with me, Michael. And rightly so. I allowed you to think I was dead. I used you as a pawn, but ask yourself why I would go through all this trouble if my reasons weren’t just.”

  “I have asked myself. Repeatedly. The blood farm, the murders, the treason against our societies. None of it is excusable.”

  “Really? Because look around you, Michael. Look at what is happening. We gave control to humans over three hundred years ago. Since then, they’ve polluted the air, killed off thousands of species, and filled the oceans with toxic waste and plastic. This planet is dying.”

  This is why he wants to overthrow our government? “So your plan is to kill off everyone who believed in your dream and followed you, doing things they are not proud of, all to enslave humans and save the planet?”

  “I plan to restore the natural order. There is no other way, Michael. If we do not, we all die.”

  He sounds like a poster child for Green Peace, but with an added sprinkle of mass murder and apocalyptic war. “I am sorry, Clive, but think about what you are saying; you want a world where people are kept in cages, made to serve us and be our food. It’s barbaric, and even if I agreed with you, there are far more of them than there are of us.”

  “We didn’t get to the place we are in overnight. The same goes for undoing it. We will make things right, but we must all stick together.”

  “Millions of people and thousands of vampires will die in the process.”

  “We are dead anyway if we do nothing,” he replies.

  “There is a better way. We can stay in the shadows. We can persuade and influence from positions of power.”

  “It will take too long. Humans had their chance. They failed. End of story. All you need to decide is if you and your librarian would like to join us, or make this your last day on earth.”

  I hear a crunch outside through the closed door, a twig snapping fifty yards away. Crap. “You’re here.”

  “Thought I taught you better, Michael,” says Clive. “Always check under your car for tracking devices.”

  Dammit. I screwed up. That’s why my car was left parked at the airport. Clive knew I would be too preoccupied protecting Miriam to remember to check.

  I look at Miriam, who has been standing there staring with bated breath the entire time.

  I cannot live in a world where she is treated like cattle or isn’t free to live her life, hoarding her books. So if I have to choose between a world that is going to hell in a handbasket with a side order of whattheshit, or a world where humans—the species we are born into—are treated like animals, I take the handbasket. I simply do not see the point in living if to do so means losing everything decent and good inside me. I have given up too much to become a monster.

  “See you outside.” I end the call.

  “Well? What happened?” Miriam asked.

  I hang my head. “We are surrounded. I am fairly sure Clive is outside as well.”

  Miriam covers her mouth and gasps. “Oh no.”

  “The good news is, I have my answers—Clive believes the Great War was a mistake and now plans to put humans in cages. He says it is the only way to save the planet and ourselves. The bad news I can either join him or die, and I’m fairly sure you’ll die regardless of what I do.”

  Miriam’s face turns pale. “There has to be something we can do.”

  I nod. “There is. I can fight.”

  “You mean alone? Out there?”

  I nod.

  “But Clive is a first-generation vampire. He’s stronger than you.”

  “I have little other choice. If I go along with him, they’ll take you and kill you, likely to test my loyalty. If I fight and lose, they will kill you. My only chance is to fight and win.”

  Miriam goes over to the couch and sinks down. “Oh my God.” She scrubs her face with her hands. “This doesn’t make any sense. Clive trained the Keepers. He put measures in place to prevent a takeover like this.”

  “Clearly he changed his mind, Miriam. And I wouldn’t doubt for a moment that your parents’ death was planned. He probably only let you live because you refused to be a part of the program.”

  She lifts her head, and her eyes fill with tears. “You really think that?”

  Clive used to always tell me that being a detective was more like solving math problems than anything else. Take a question, plug in an answer, and see if it fits. From day one, Clive had planned everything—faking his death, aligning himself with the Mexican drug cartel, decades of buying loyalty by doing free work, the blood farm, putting me in charge and using his knowledge of my weaknesses to manipulate me. How could I put it past him to murder Miriam’s parents? The answer is, I can’t. “It looked like an accident, but the timing was too perfect. He couldn’t risk your parents finding out what he was up to and getting in the way. I’m sure he killed all of the Keepers. It’s what I would do if I were an evil sonofabitch trying to take over.”

  “They trusted him. That disgusting bastard!” Miriam stands and marches for the door.

  “No!” I rush to stop her, but she knees me in a strategic spot. I grunt and fall forward, the pain too crippling to move. I can’t believe she nailed me in the coconuts…

  “Hey!” I hear Miriam yell. “Clive! You out here?”

  Oh God. I pry myself up off the floor and stagger outside onto the porch.

  I can smell them in the air. Twenty, maybe twenty-five vampires. And Clive…

  His tall frame emerges from the shadows. He is a man with plain looks—shaggy dark hair and a scruffy beard—but his dark eyes always struck me as kind. Now I know better.

  “Michael, seems you are already defeated,” Clive says, sounding amused.

  I press my hands to my groin, trying not to faint. I cannot believe she did that to me.

  “Did you kill my parents? On my fucking birthday?” Miriam roars.

  Whoa. I hadn’t realized. No wonder she did not want to celebrate. She was too busy remembering what was taken from her.

  Clive simply stares but doesn’t reply. Meanwhile, I am entertaining fantasies of giving him a slow death—something along the lines of dripping melted dark chocolate on his forehead for a few we
eks.

  “Answer me, goddammit!” Miriam stomps her foot.

  Clive nods cordially. “They were good people. But then again, so were all of my human allies.”

  “They were loyal to you,” she says in a low, angry voice. “Generations of Murphys and I’m sure other families risked their lives to help you. They killed for you! And you repaid them with murder?”

  “They were a mistake. My mistake. I had to correct it.”

  “You piece of pompous garbage,” she growls. “I’m going to kill you.” She rushes at him, and I manage to cut her off and shove myself between them.

  “Let Miriam leave,” I snarl at Clive, holding her back. “She is no danger to you. Just let her go, and you and I can settle this like men.”

  Clive laughs. “This is a new war with new rules, Michael. Honor codes and heroism are things of the past.”

  Before I can say another word, I am down on my back in the dirt. Clive has me pinned by the neck with his boot.

  If I am going to dust here and now, then he is coming with me. I reach for his ankle, and just as he is about to swipe a hand at Miriam and I am about to remove his leg, a blur of white and black whizzes past.

  I look up and Clive is gripping his throat. Red liquid is leaking out. “I…I…”

  Poof!

  I am suddenly covered in gray dust. What the…?

  “Vanderhorsthsssth! You are a piss-poor boobyguard. Choo know that, yes?”

  I hop to my feet. “Mr. Nice?”

  He shakes his head of scraggly long black hair. “Dat man is a lunatic if he thinks I am giving up my so sexy love stories. Only happy humans can write those.”

  I hear struggles all around us in the dark forest. One man rushes at me, but I am too fast. He’s relieved of his head before he has a chance to get anywhere near me.

  Lula suddenly appears, and I raise my hands. I cannot imagine a more painful fight, but I do not have a choice.

  “Back off, Lula. I do not want to hurt you.”

  She gives me a look like she doesn’t know whether to laugh or tear my head off. “Oh. My. God! Michael!” She stomps her foot. “Are you ever, and I mean ever going to learn?” She throws her head back. “Jesus! Someone please teach this man how to trust!”