Secret of the Vampire

by L. E. Wilson

  Through sheer force of will, I kept my heartbeat steady, kept any fear I felt hidden deep down. So deep there was no way he’d ever find it.

  “Hello, Alex.”

  How do you know my name? “Who the fuck are you?"

  His brows lowered and the corners of his mouth turned down in an over-exaggerated frown. “Is that any way to greet your uncle?"

  At that moment, the wisps of magic that had been feeling me out since he’d first revealed himself to me reached deeper, stretching down my nose and throat, seeping into my pores until it touched the very heart of me. The darkness that bled from the very marrow of my bones.

  The demon smiled and my blood froze in my veins. Mostly because I felt no fear, no disgust as his magic mingled with mine. It wasn’t foreign to me. It didn’t feel like a parasite leeching onto me.

  It felt like it belonged there.

  “Do you see?” he asked. “You do recognize me even if you don’t want to admit it.”

  This time, I could not control the wave of terror that filled me as I comprehended what he was suggesting. With some effort, I evicted him from my body. At least, that’s what it felt like, that he, and not just his sorcery, had somehow twisted up inside of me until I was a part of him and he was a part of me. And when I pushed him away, a sense of loss hit me hard, bowing my shoulders for a moment before I was able to straighten to my full height again.

  What the fuck was happening?

  “What do you want?" I asked him when I could form a cohesive sentence.

  "Aren't you the least bit curious?" he wanted to know.

  I refused to play his game. "About what, exactly?" I needed time. Time to figure out exactly what this meant. I had entered this driveway ready to fight, to rid Kenya of this threat against her. But unlike the last time, I felt no interest for the vampire coming from him.

  Only for me.

  Again, he smiled. My changing the rules of his game seemed only to amuse him.

  I pushed Kenya from my thoughts, not wanting to draw his attention back to her. It wouldn't surprise me at all if he was able to pull her right from my head and make her appear before my eyes. I didn't know what he was, but he was no ordinary warlock.

  I got the distinct impression he wasn't even human.

  Lifting one eyebrow, I waited for his answer. But instead of answering my question, he gave me a proposition.

  “Let’s stop with the games. For now,” he added. “Because I do enjoy them immensely. However, we’re short on time, and I have an offer for you that I think you’ll find hard to refuse.”

  I played it off, feeling him out. “I seriously doubt that anything you have to say will be of any interest to me.”

  Strolling up to me until I could see the black specks in his brown eyes, he studied me for an uncomfortable minute before he finally spoke again. “My name is Marcus. And as I told you a few moments ago, I am your uncle. Your great uncle to be exact.” Then he frowned. “Or is it great-great uncle?” After a moment, he waved a hand through the air. “Eh, it doesn’t really matter. The fact of the matter is I’m your family.”

  How was that even possible? This guy hardly looked any older than me. Only vampires lived that long. And he was no vampire. But I somehow knew that what he was telling me was the truth. Still, I denied it, despite the fact that the lie tasted like metal on my tongue. “You’re no blood of mine.”

  “Oh, but I am, Alex. You see, you and your sister are direct descendants of my brother, Victor.”

  I didn’t know much about my family past my mother, aunt, and cousins who lived here in New Orleans. My father was a mystery to me. Mom would never talk about him.

  “Victor’s wife, and your great-grandmother, was also named Alice. I imagine that’s where your sister gets her name. And she was one of the greatest witches I’ve ever known.” He paused, his eyes clouding over. “They had a daughter, Kim, who then gave birth to your mother.”

  Alice.

  Like my sister.

  His expression cleared. “Yes, I’m looking forward to meeting her, too.”

  I backed up a step, like that would be enough to keep him out of my head. “So, you ARE some kind of vampire.” Vamps were the only supernatural creatures I knew of that could read the thoughts right out of your head, sometimes before you even realized you were thinking them.

  But he shook his head. “No. I’m not a vampire. No fangs. See?” He bared his teeth at me, and I took another step back.

  “What are you then?” I asked him, putting off the whole family talk thing. I suddenly didn’t want to know. I seriously didn’t. Because as much as I wanted to believe he was lying to me, I knew in my bones that every word coming out of his mouth was the truth. “I know you’re not a warlock. And, actually, I have my doubts that you’re even human.”

  “And you would be right.”

  “So? What are you?”

  He paused only for a brief second before he told me. “I’m a djinn.”

  A djinn.

  A fucking djinn.

  I’d learned about them, of course. My mother made sure Alice and I were educated not only about math and science and history, but about vampires, shifters, faeries, and yes, djinn. Out of all the creatures we learned about, the djinn scared me the most.

  They moved as fast as vampires and could read minds like one, apparently. They were also as strong as vampires, only they practiced magic like witches. No, not magic. Sorcery. Dark sorcery. They played between worlds and could kill a human with a snap of their fingers.

  And he was implying that I was one of them. “What do you want from me?” I asked him.

  He looked me in the eye. “We’re family, Alex. I came to get you and bring you home with me.”

  Like that was supposed to mean something to me. “I’m not your family.”

  “You’re my blood. You and your sister.”

  “That doesn’t mean shit. I’ve never met you before tonight. You’re a stranger to me.” The memory of my magic caressing his made a liar of me, but I pushed those thoughts away. “Besides, I already have a family.”

  He barked out a laugh. There was no humor in it. “What? Your little coven?”

  “Yes,” I told him.

  “Your High Priestess is an old woman. And she has you all living down here in the swamps and hanging out with vampires because she can’t protect you on her own.”

  “Maybe she just likes the gators.”

  His mouth turned up at the corners, like he was fighting a smile. Then he shrugged as if to say, perhaps.

  We stared at each other, neither making a move toward the other.

  I didn’t know what to think about what he was telling me. I wanted to call him out. Tell him he was lying. And I could.

  But then I would be the one lying. I’d felt the connection between us.

  This…man…male…thing…he was related to me by blood. Of that, I had no doubt. Looking at him now, I could see a bit of my deceased mother in him.

  “When did she die?” he asked. “Your mother?”

  None of your fucking business was the first thing that came to my mind as an answer to that question. But seeing the expression on his face, I relented. “Last year,” I told him. “It happened in her sleep. They think it was an aneurysm.” I snapped my mouth shut. What the fuck was I doing?

  His eyes fell to the cracked pavement between us and I felt a swell of sorrow hit me like a blast of hot air. Quickly, I raised my shields, cutting his emotions off from me. I was still grieving her. I couldn’t handle his emotions, too.

  When he raised his head again, there were tears in his eyes. “I’m sorry. I knew her before all of this.” He looked at the houses surrounding us. “I wish I could’ve seen her before…” His words faded away.

  “If you’ve known where we are all this time, why didn’t you ever come see us?”

  “I didn’t know. Not until just recently.” He breathed in a long-suffering sigh. “Also, your mother and I had a difference of opinion. B
efore she had you and your sister,” he explained. The smile was back. “She thought humans without powers were our friends. I disagreed.”

  “What do you think they are?”

  Crossing his arms over his chest, his forehead wrinkled up in thought. “Well, if they have certain skills, they can be useful.”

  “And if they don’t?”

  He shrugged. “Then they just tend to get in the way.”

  Uncle or not, I wanted nothing to do with this. With him. I no longer wanted to know about the darkness inside of me. I just wanted it to go away. If would make me like him, I wanted nothing to do with it.

  The magic inside of me stirred, reaching for the djinn and denying what I’d just told myself. It took everything I had to pull it back before I gave in.

  His head cocked to the side and he studied me. “I’d really like to get to know you and your sister. And I’d love it if you would come stay with me up north.”

  Somehow, I had the feeling his request wasn’t so much a request, but an order. “Why?”

  That seemed to catch him off guard. “Why?” he repeated.

  “Yeah. Why? Why now? Because I know damn well you didn’t just catch a warm, fuzzy feeling of family and suddenly decide to come looking for us. If you really wanted to find us, I think someone such as yourself would’ve found a way.” Something occurred to me, something that might even make all of this make sense. “Unless, you didn’t know about us. About me and Alice.”

  His eyes flashed up to mine. It was only for a second. But that second was all I needed to see the truth of it.

  “You had no idea about me or my sister until you got here and found us.” Or, found me. And I’d played right into his hands by being the one to cure Kenya. By protecting her afterward.

  And now I’d given him a much more interesting goal.

  Goddammit.

  Chapter 8

  Kenya

  It was the closing time, and I was just finishing up wiping down the bar at The Purple Fang when my phone buzzed in my pocket. Glancing around, I saw no sign of Jamal. I assumed he went into the back for something, and took a relieved breath.

  My phone buzzed again and I pulled it out of the back pocket of my slacks. As I wasn’t one of the dancers here, I tried to dress for the part of a bartender at an upscale club. Our place wasn’t all that fancy, but it wasn’t a dive, either. So, Law of Attraction and all that.

  Looking down at the unknown number on the screen, I knew right away who was calling. I silenced the call and put my phone back in my pocket. I couldn’t talk to Alex right now. Not while Jamal was here. Even though he was in the back of the club, he would hear everything. Then he would have questions, and I didn’t have any answers.

  My phone went off again. This time after I silenced the call, I sent him a quick text.

  Can’t talk right now.

  I hadn’t seen or spoken to Alex since the night he’d escorted me home and put a ward around the house. Was he still watching out for me? Was it back? There was no other reason he should be taking the risk of calling me. However, I didn’t sense anything out of the ordinary.

  Jamal came out from the back as I was checking what we had stocked behind the bar.

  “Who keeps trying to call you?”

  So, he did see me. I shrugged without turning around. “I think it’s a wrong number.” I felt his eyes on me, boring a hole into my back. He probably sensed my lie. Jamal knew me better than just about anyone. Even Killian.

  “Are you sure about that?”

  I put a new bottle of Villa One Tequila on the shelf to replace the near empty one and turned around with a smile, wiping my hands on a towel. “Nope. Because I didn’t answer the phone.”

  He narrowed his eyes at me and crossed his arms over his muscular chest, quite obvious through the netted shirt he’d worn tonight as part of his stage attire. Jamal was a favorite with the ladies when he hit the stage. And who could blame them? With his smooth, brown skin and piercing hazel eyes, he was one hell of a good-looking black man. Add in the air of danger he carried about him and the women came a-runnin’ from all over New Orleans to see him take it all off. The fact that he could actually dance didn’t hurt either.

  And on the rare occasions when he smiled…hearts and ovaries had no chance at all. Even my own insides got all fluttery on occasion when he smiled at me.

  But right now, he wasn’t anywhere close to cracking a grin. “What’s going on, Kenya?”

  I stopped with the subterfuge. It wasn’t any use. If Jamal was determined to get to the bottom of my secrets, he would. So, I needed to give him something. A part of the truth. Just enough to satisfy him. “Remember when I was cursed with some kind of vampire-killing illness and almost died a few weeks ago?”

  Anguish twisted his handsome features. “How could I forget?”

  I nodded. Stupid question. “Well, whatever it was that did that to me. It came back.”

  Jamal appeared behind the bar with me, covering a good twenty feet between one second and the next, his hands on my shoulders. “Here? It came here? To the club? Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

  I nodded again. “When I was closing up a few nights ago. I felt it as soon as I stepped outside to lock up and head home.”

  “Why the fuck didn’t you call me?”

  “I didn’t know where you were,” I answered honestly. “You seemed to hit it off with that blonde who was here with the birthday party and I thought maybe you’d gone off with her. I didn’t want to ruin your fun.” Because you have so little of it, I added silently.

  But even as I gave him that excuse, I knew he would call me out on it. Jamal never hooked up with anyone outside of the club. Like, ever.

  “That’s bullshit, Kenya, and you damn well know it,” he said. Releasing my shoulders, he searched my face. “Were you hurt? What happened?”

  “I wasn’t hurt,” I told him as I shook my head. Then I had to push my glasses back up onto my nose, wishing not for the first time that I could wear contacts. But my eyes just wouldn’t play nice with anything in them. They were too sensitive now. Just like my skin and my hearing and my sense of smell since becoming a vampire. “I came back inside the club, and after a while, it just…left.” I shrugged one shoulder.

  “It just left.” From his tone, I could tell he was less than convinced.

  I nodded.

  “It didn’t come after you? Didn’t try to break in? Nothing?”

  “No, although I did sense it right outside at one point.”

  His brow furrowed. “Why would it just hang around outside like that? It had to know you were in here.”

  “I don’t know.” I did know. “But it didn’t.” Because there’s a magical ward around the building to keep it out.

  I’d never been more grateful that Jamal couldn’t read minds. Well, not that he couldn’t. He could. He just wouldn’t do it. He didn’t like it when any of us were in his head, either. He believed it was an invasion of privacy, and he was right. Being in each other’s heads was something we’d all had to learn to control. And the longer you were a vampire, the stronger that power grew. Luckily, our self-control and ability to shield also grew more advanced.

  Except against Killian. Maybe because he was the one who’d created us? Or maybe because of how powerful he was. After all, he hadn’t become the Master vampire of the region from a vote. If he really set his mind to it, so to speak, there was no keeping him out.

  “How did you get home?”

  “I just waited it out, and then I walked home.” There. All of that was the truth. I’d only neglected to tell him there was someone else here with me. He just wasn’t a vampire.

  “By yourself?”

  “It was gone, Jamal,” I told him, avoiding the question.

  “Or it was just cloaking itself from you.”

  Oh gods, that hadn’t even crossed my mind. I began to shudder uncontrollably, my emotions, as always, quick to change. “I didn’t even think about that.” I really ha
ted vampire emotions sometimes.

  But, surely, Alex would’ve still been able to feel it. Right? He was a warlock. Wouldn’t he have been able to feel it? He said he could feel it…

  Between one breath and the next, I was wrapped up in Jamal’s arms. He smelled like cheap, flowery perfume from the lap dances he’d performed tonight, and it was enough to make me wrinkle my nose and ground me into the here and now. Closing my eyes, I returned the hug and allowed myself to feel safe in his arms with his strength wrapped around me. A big brother who would always be there to chase away the bullies. Something I’d never had in my human life.

  Instead, I’d had the joy of being bounced around foster homes until I’d gotten too old. Then I was thrown out into the streets to survive on my own. Or not. Nobody had really cared about a nerdy girl who loved to read but didn’t have the money for college. A girl who’d barely made the rent on her dingy, one room apartment. A girl who, for the next twelve years of her life, could only get jobs waiting tables or parking cars. Until one night when I’d gotten caught by some nervous muggers walking back to the restaurant where I’d worked after I’d parked a customer’s BMW. The gun going off had been an accident. Or, at least, that’s what the one guy had screamed to the other after he’d shot me.

  And that’s when Killian had found me and given me a family.

  I heard the distant click of the lock on the front door. Before I even had time to open my eyes and see who it was, Jamal was ripped from my arms so fast his netted shirt was left hanging in my fingers where it had been torn from his body. He slammed into the wall at the back of the club and slid down to the stage, his bare back squeaking on the mirror that covered it.

  With a hiss, I tossed Jamal’s shirt to the floor and leapt over the bar to face whoever—or whatever—had just come into the club. Landing in a crouch, I immediately rose to my full height again and sheathed my fangs, pushing my glasses up on my nose to make sure I was seeing what I thought I was seeing. “Alex?”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a blur of movement and jumped in front of the warlock before Jamal ripped his throat out. “Stop!” I held up my hands, pushing him away from us.