Secret of the Vampire

by L. E. Wilson

  There was a growl behind me, answered by Jamal’s hiss.

  “Do not touch her,” Alex said softly.

  A shiver ran up my spine at the possessive timbre of his voice.

  Jamal caught it, too, his head tilting to the side as his eyes went from Alex to me and back again. “I’ll do whatever the fuck I want with her, witch.”

  Alex stalked around me, and I caught a glance of his expression from the corner of my eye. It was enough to give me pause. Just for a second, but it was enough to give him time to send Jamal across the room again with nothing but a wave of his hand.

  “Alex! Stop!”

  He spun toward me so fast I took a step back. “Why was he holding you?” he roared.

  Confused, I tried to see around him to check on Jamal, who was back on his feet and heading our way, a murderous expression on his face. If he managed to get ahold of Alex, there was no doubt in my mind he would rip him in half before I could stop him.

  Taking a step to the side to put myself between them, I held up my hand. “Jamal, stop. Please. Let me explain.”

  “He’s not the one you should be worrying about right now,” Alex told me. “Why was he holding you?”

  “Because I was scared,” I snapped at him. “Not that it’s any of your damned business!”

  He stilled, and I felt his magic retract just a bit. “Why?”

  This really wasn’t the time to get into all of that. “What are you doing here?” I asked him, keeping one eye on Jamal who was pacing silently behind Alex’s back, looking for an opening. “Jamal!”

  His dark eyes flicked to mine, but he didn’t stop moving.

  I threw both arms out to the side between the two males. “Jamal, stop. Please. Just…just give me a damn minute.”

  “Make him leave,” Alex ordered. “Or I will.”

  “You won’t lay a hand on him.” I stuck my finger in his face in full-on schoolteacher mode.

  He wasn’t in the least bit intimidated. “I won’t have to. He’ll never get close enough.”

  I dropped my arm. Alex was right. Witches were the only ones who had the upper hand on vampires. Taking a risk, I stopped watching Jamal and moved closer to Alex. Something like a purr, or maybe another growl, rumbled in his chest, and I laid my hand over the spot, feeling an answering response shoot through me. “Please, let me explain to him what’s going on, and then we can talk.”

  After a long, tense moment, he gave me a terse nod.

  “Thank you.” Leaving Alex where he was, I went to Jamal. “Let’s go into the back.” I knew there was no way he would listen to me with Alex standing right there, just begging for a fight. “Come on, Jamal.” I walked away, heading toward the back office and hoping he would follow me. By the time I entered the hall, I heard him behind me and breathed a sigh of relief.

  When Jamal was inside the office with me, I closed the door behind him. He was throwing questions at me before the latch clicked.

  “What the fuck is he doing here, Kenya? Does Killian know he’s coming here? Does Judy? And who the fuck does he think he is?” Running his hands over his shorn head, he tried to get a grip on himself.

  I gave him a minute to do that, and after he’d calmed down enough, I started to answer his questions. “Killian doesn’t know he’s here. Neither does the High Priestess, I would imagine.”

  “Then what’s he doing here, Kenya?”

  “Alex was here with me the other night. The night I felt that…thing…outside. He knew it was here, too, and he called me and told me to get back into the club.”

  “How did he know?” His tone was suspicious.

  “He said he felt it, same as me.”

  “And he was conveniently keeping an eye out. Just in case? What the hell does he care?”

  That was a question I kept asking myself. “I don’t know. But he does. Maybe because he was the one who healed me, I don’t know,” I repeated. “Maybe it’s bugging him to find out who or what it was as much as it’s bugging us.”

  “Which leads me back to my original question. What the fuck does he care?”

  “I don’t have an answer for you,” I told him honestly.

  He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at me.

  “Look,” I said. “Isn’t it enough to know he’s looking out for me? Do we have to know why?”

  My answer was a tilt of his head and a raise of one eyebrow.

  I sighed heavily. “Look, I really don’t know,” I told him softly. “I never instigated any contact between us after that night at the swamp house. I swear. It’s all on his side.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  No, no, I wasn’t. But if I couldn’t sort out my own feelings, how was I supposed to explain them to someone else?

  Taking a deep breath through his nose, he exhaled loudly and dropped his arms to his sides. “So, he saved you the other night…”

  I nodded. “Apparently, he warded the club. Weeks ago. That’s why nothing could get in. I’m safe in here. We’re all safe in here,” I emphasized. “And,” I continued, “he warded our house. That same night he walked me home.”

  Jamal chewed on one corner of his bottom lip while he thought about that. “Well, fuck. I guess I can’t kill him now.”

  “I’d really prefer you didn’t.”

  “Fine,” he agreed. “As long as he doesn’t come at me again.”

  “He won’t.” I reached for his hand and held it between both of mine. “Thank you,” I told him earnestly.

  “You’re welcome,” he said, albeit a bit reluctantly. Raising my hand, he dropped a quick kiss on the back of my knuckles, making me smile. It was something he’d been doing since Killian had first brought me into the coven.

  As the only female, Jamal had immediately deemed my place as something along the lines of the princess being guarded by her knights. It was silly. But it made me smile.

  With one last squeeze, he released my hand. “So, I take it Alex was the one calling you before.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Do you know why he’s here tonight?”

  “I don’t. But if you guys would stop trying to kill each other, maybe I could find out.”

  “Let’s do that,” he told me, then waved his arm to indicate I was to precede him out the door.

  When we got back out to the club, Alex was seated at a table with what appeared to be a glass of whiskey in his hand.

  He took one look at Jamal and demanded, “Why is he still here?”

  Chapter 9

  Alex

  The male vampire—Jamal—smirked, opening and closing his hands like he was just itching to put them around my throat. However, he was smart enough to do nothing else. I wasn’t talking out my ass before when I’d told Kenya he would never be able to get close enough to touch me, and they both knew it.

  “He was just leaving,” Kenya said.

  Her jaw clenched and she shoved her glasses up with a jerky movement when the male crossed his arms over his chest and widened his stance, rooting himself to the spot. “I changed my mind,” he told her, although his eyes never left my face. “I think whatever the witch has to tell you can be said in front of me.”

  “And if what I wanted to tell her was how badly I needed to fuck her right there on that bar?” I told him without missing a beat. “Do you still think that’s something that’s any of your fucking business, vampire?” The words came out without thought, but once they were said, I realized they weren’t far from the truth.

  Jamal flashed his fangs but stayed where he was. I had to give him credit for his self-control.

  Chancing a glance at Kenya, I found her staring at me with wide eyes. I expected her to be embarrassed, even angry, but she wasn’t. Instead, she looked…interested. Turned on, even, by the words I’d blurted out for the shock value, but which were not in the least bit false. “I’m sorry,” I told her anyway. “It just came out.”

  After a moment, she gave me a nod. Then she cleared her throat, trying to
be casual about the whole thing. She was wearing the same type of outfit she’d had on last time. Black slacks and heels, only this time she’d paired them with a light purple blouse. Her dark curls were pinned up on top of her head and her black-framed glasses were sliding down her nose.

  She was fucking adorable.

  And insanely sexy.

  As though she suddenly remembered we weren’t alone, I watched as she visibly withdrew back into herself. The loss was even more painful than what I’d experienced with the djinn. “Is it back?” she asked. “Is that why you’re here?”

  So calm. So distant. She was rejecting me before we’d even really gotten to know each other, and it made my chest ache. Was she was only acting this way because the other vampire was here? It was something I would have to find out. “In a way,” I told her. Then I laid my cards on the table. “I know who it was.”

  “You know who tried to kill her?” Jamal asked. “Who was it?”

  I got up from the table and went behind the bar, grabbing two more glasses. If he wasn’t going to leave, he might as well have a drink with us. “I just found out the other night.”

  “And you’re waiting until now to tell me?” Kenya said, an accusation in her tone.

  She was right, and I completely understood how she felt. I’d wanted to come and tell her everything right away, but I was afraid of how she would react. I was still afraid. I’d even contemplated not telling her at all. Except that wasn’t fair. She deserved to know the entire truth.

  Plus, it gave me an excuse to come and see her.

  Putting the whiskey back on the shelf, I slid the two glasses toward them. As though she could tell from my expression she was going to need it, Kenya walked over, took the glass, and downed it. A few seconds later, Jamal did the same, only at a more leisurely pace, taking a seat on a stool.

  I raised one eyebrow at Kenya, and she slid her glass back to me. I poured three more glasses and left the bottle on the bar. “His name is Marcus. He’s a djinn.” That part over, I sipped my whiskey, gearing up for the rest of it.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?”

  The eerie stillness that came over Jamal was not the reaction I was expecting, but a thousand times more terrifying, if vampires were something I was afraid of.

  “A djinn,” he repeated in disbelief.

  “Yup.”

  “Why is he after Kenya?”

  “I don’t know. We didn’t get around to the details of that.”

  “Then how did you know it was this dude that put the curse on her.”

  I looked him straight in the eye. “Because I know.”

  “You spoke to him?” Kenya asked.

  “I did.”

  “I don’t understand.” She slid her glass toward me for another refill. “Did you find him? Did he find you? How did you get him to talk?”

  “He found me the other night when I was walking to the High Priestess’s house. Confronted me right in the street.”

  “Was anyone hurt?” she asked. Then her eyes flew to mine as something dawned on her. “Oh, gods, Alex. Were you hurt? Is that why you’re only telling me this now?”

  A smile teased the corners of my mouth as she searched what she could see of my body for injuries. I should’ve known that would be the first thing she’d worry about. No questions about why the djinn had come after her. Nothing about whether she was still in danger, only concern for others.

  “If you weren’t talking about Kenya, what the hell were you talking to a djinn about?”

  Ah, the vampire caught on fast. And couldn’t give two shits about me or anyone else who wasn’t one of his. Maybe we were more alike than I first thought.

  I took a breath. Might as well get this part over with. “He claims…he’s related to me.”

  “Wait. What?” Jamal froze with his glass halfway to his lips. He slammed it down onto the counter. “A djinn claims he’s related to you?”

  I nodded, my eyes on Kenya. “He says he’s my uncle. Actually my great-great uncle or some shit.”

  The words were barely out of my mouth when I felt her fear. It hit me in sharp waves, tearing a hole right through my chest. And when I met her eyes, I could see the terror as her swift mind connected the dots. “Kenya…”

  She gave a quick shake of her head.

  “Would you give us a minute alone?” I asked Jamal, my eyes never leaving her.

  “I don’t know that that’s such a good idea after what you just told us.”

  His concern was not without justification, but it wasn’t necessary. “I just want to talk to Kenya alone. And I will do that one way or the other. So we can do this the easy way and you can walk out of here on your own, or we can do it the hard way and I’ll make you leave.”

  “I don’t think the High Priestess will enjoy hearing about that.”

  “I don’t think I give a fuck.”

  “You will.”

  Kenya reached over and touched Jamal’s arm, but her eyes never left me. “It’s okay. Why don’t you head home and I’ll see you there as soon as we’re done here.”

  He looked like he was going to argue with her, but after a quick glance between the two of us, he sighed heavily. “All right.” He covered her hand with his. “Okay. But I’m not going home. I’m just going down the block. I’ll wait for you there.”

  “Okay,” she said. “And Jamal,” she called as he started to walk away. “Please don’t say anything about this to Killian or anyone else. Not just yet.”

  I didn’t think he would agree, but then, with a nod, he walked out the door. Kenya followed him, turning the deadbolt behind him and locking us in.

  She didn’t turn around right away. I got that. She needed time to get her emotions under control, so I sipped my whiskey as I waited. After a few seconds, she lifted her head and turned to face me, but she still didn’t speak.

  I came out from behind the bar but didn’t go any closer. “You don’t have to be afraid of me, Kenya,” I told her, but she didn’t seem to hear me.

  “That’s why you were able to remove the curse,” she said in a faraway voice. I had the feeling she was talking more to herself than to me. “Because you’re just like him.”

  It was the same conclusion I’d come to myself, but hearing it from her lips…it really made shit real. “No. I’m nothing like him. I use my powers for good. He uses his for evil.” I tried a smile, but my joke fell flat. I took a step toward her, my hands out in supplication. “Look, why would I even be here telling you about this if I was going to try to hurt you?”

  “To throw me off,” she said without pause. “To make me believe you’re the good guy.”

  My arms fell to my sides. “Why the hell would I do that?”

  She gave a little shrug, her expression deadpan, but her voice, little more than a whisper, gave away her bewilderment. “I don’t know.”

  “But that’s not enough to convince you otherwise.”

  After a brief hesitation, she shook her head.

  However, that tiny sign of indecision gave me hope.

  I approached her slowly, giving her plenty of time to tell me to stay the hell away from her, and beyond grateful when she didn’t. Slowly, I lifted my hand to her upper arm and let my fingers trail down her silky sleeve. Twining our fingers together, I lifted our joined hands to my mouth and placed a soft kiss on the inside of her wrist.

  Her lips parted on an intake of breath and her pulse sped up beneath my lips. Placing her hand flat against my chest, I stood absolutely still and reached out with everything I was, wrapping my very soul around her. I knew she sensed it when her wide eyes flew to mine. “I know you can feel me,” I told her. “Do I feel like something you need to be afraid of?”

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  The answer surprised me and caused me more pain than I was expecting to feel. “I don’t want you to be afraid of me.”

  “What do you want from me, Alex?”

  I knew the answer to that, but I didn’t know if sh
e was ready to hear it. So, I said nothing.

  Gods, she was so beautiful, looking up at me, her brown eyes wary behind the lenses of her glasses, her chest rising and falling with unsteady breaths. Images filled my head of this woman naked in my bed, her mahogany skin silky and warm beneath my hands and mouth. Dark nipples tipping the breasts I desperately wanted to feel pressed against my chest. Her full thighs spread wide so I could see how wet she was. How much she wanted me, too.

  Something in my expression must’ve given away my thoughts, or maybe she’d forgotten her promise to stay out of my head, for I heard her breath catch in a quick inhale. And her eyes, so dark and mistrustful a moment before, began to burn bright with the same fire that was heating my blood.

  The tip of her tongue wet her bottom lip, and I was lost.

  Chapter 10

  Kenya

  Oh gods, what was happening?

  Alex stared down at me, his eyes tracking every tiny movement I made. I was used to this kind of thing from vampires, whose senses were in overdrive and tended to pick up on stuff humans wouldn’t notice.

  But I’d never before been hit with this level of intensity from someone who wasn’t one of us. The way he was looking at me made me wonder if this was how humans felt when they stared into our eyes and we bewitched them with our vampire mind games.

  Yet, it wasn’t just his gaze holding me captive. His magic surrounded me…No. It was more than that. It was like his life force had left his body and everything that was Alex was now wrapped around me, like the spirit in those Anne Rice novels I read years ago.

  Or like a lover.

  I took a shuddering breath, and his scent filled my nose, coating the back of my throat and making my mouth water. His blood was the most delicious thing I’d ever smelled, only slightly muted by the body wash he showered with. I’d noticed this before, and I’d had to do everything in my power not to show this weakness to him.

  But right now, the urge to lick the side of his throat so I could feel the pulse throbbing beneath my tongue was near overwhelming. My gums burned as my fangs elongated, aching to pierce through his skin to the warm blood beneath. My eyes fell from his perfect lips to the side of his throat, just beneath his hard jawline.