Urban Vampire: The bookset 1-3

  “It’s furnished,” Monica said.

  “Where’s Karen?” I asked.

  Monica winced. “She … didn’t know if you’d be mad because we’re still outside of Barcelona.”

  “She’s hiding?”

  “Incognito is more like it,” Monica said.

  “Karen!” I thought into her mind. “You did good! I’m anything but mad at you. You got me where I needed to be and you did it in one day.”

  “You’re not mad because you’re not in Barcelona?” Karen thought.

  “We’re close enough, and the villa is bamming!”

  I could feel relief emanating from her. The villa was indeed bamming.

  When Karen came out of hiding, she took us on a tour. Girlfriend looked seriously stressed. It was the first time I’d ever seen her look anything less than perfect. I was instantly ashamed that I’d played her like the Old School Vampires and used threats to get my way. I promised myself that as soon as we were alone I’d apologize.

  The villa boasted gardens, sunrooms, a swimming pool, five bedrooms, seven baths, and a huge fully-stocked kitchen. The master bedroom had a verandah I could have pitched a tent on!

  I saw clothes laid out on the bed. At first I thought they were mine from home. Prada? Dolce? These were brand new and cute as hell.

  “Karen, you are a goddess!”

  “I’m happy you like everything,” she said. “This is the first time that I’ve had a chance to show you what I do well. Tyler is your muscle and Monica your secretary. Kat’s been decorating the hell out of your house, and Mara is your attorney. But me? I’ve not had an opportunity to do anything for you.”

  “Girl, what are you talking about? You are invaluable in the territory meetings. I rely on your advice. And you keep your head straight when it comes to watching out for the other ladies.”

  She blushed through her ebony skin. “I’ll leave you alone so that you can get cleaned up.”

  “Karen. Thank you. I’m sorry I strong-armed you. It will never happen again. I don’t want to be your Master. I want to be your friend. Will you do me a favor and never call me Master again?”

  She nodded and smiled. “That’s not a hard promise to make. I’ll gladly never refer to you as Master again.”

  “Get some rest. I know you haven’t slept since last night.”

  When Karen left, I ran a hot bath in a tub as large as a swimming pool. Karen had thought to bring my favorite scents, and though I would have spent hours luxuriating under normal circumstances, I was preoccupied and anxious. While I bathed, I did something I hadn’t done in over a year.

  I unblocked my link to Alexis.

  I didn’t know what I expected to happen. If I thought Alexis would be flooding my senses, it didn’t happen.

  Nothing happened.

  I didn’t want to think about it too hard. Somehow, I thought the element of surprise would be best bet.

  I got out of the tub and put on the Black Dolce pantsuit. It was corporate sexy, tight where it needed to be and cut to fit my body as if it were designed around me. I pulled my hair up into a severe bun and put on lip gloss and large gold loop earrings and then regular sunglasses instead of the blackouts that I usually wore.

  Alexis, I’m here.

  I didn’t project that to him.

  The thought was only to soothe me.

  ~***~

  I went downstairs a short time later. Karen had turned in but Monica, Tyler, and Julie were waiting for me in the comfortable living room.

  “Kim,” Monica said. “You should feed.” She stood and walked to me.

  I nodded and then sank my teeth into her neck. I fed fast, picking up Monica’s stray thoughts: If this goes badly, she might not feed for a long time … I could feel that she was afraid for me. My mind was too preoccupied to feel my usual lust. If it was there I was much too distracted to acknowledge it.

  I heard the doorbell ring. I pulled away from Monica and sealed her wounds and then she went to the door to see who was there. Who would be calling on us this late at night; and unannounced?

  I dabbed at my lips and waited with the others.

  Monica returned with two sharp-dressed men.

  The smaller of the two eyed me with interest. He wore a milk white wool overcoat and an expensive white suit. He was sharp with his slicked black hair and goatee. He also happened to be a powerful Vampire.

  The taller one was obviously the muscle. He watched us all coolly.

  “Kim, Señor Marcelle De La Torre, and his Assistant Paolo,” Monica said.

  I stepped forward and offered my hand.

  Marcelle took it with a smile and kissed it. It was such a European thing to do that I found myself smiling. “Señor De La Torre, it’s a pleasure. My name is Kim Russell.”

  “Yes,” he said in heavily accented Spanish. “I know who you are. And please, call me Marcelle, and I shall call you Kim.”

  I shrugged lightly. “Please, come in. May I take your coat?”

  He shrugged it off, and Monica took it. Tyler and Julie stood. Tyler retreated into the shadows and as usual I did not introduce her to any of my Vampire guests. In the States everyone knew why, but here in Spain Marcelle and Paolo looked at me curiously. I didn’t explain.

  “Let me introduce you to my First Lieutenant,” I said. “This is Julie.”

  Marcelle nodded in her direction with a raised brow.

  “Hi,” Julie said, playing the little girl role.

  I gestured to the stunning Monica. “And you’ve met my secretary, Monica.”

  Marcelle smiled.

  “To what do I owe this honor Señor --I mean Marcelle?” I asked.

  “Well,” he said with a sexy smile, “It has come to my attention that we have a powerful Master in the area.”

  “Oh, I beg your pardon. You must be the Master of Barcelona. We just arrived and didn’t realize that we would need to make introductions since we’re outside of the city limits.”

  “No, no, not at all. I am the Master of Barcelona, but you are under no obligation to make a formal introduction because, as you say, you are outside of the city limits.” He bowed slightly. “And I would not require such a rule of such a beautiful woman.”

  Without taking my eyes from him I gestured toward the living room. “Please, have a seat.”

  Marcelle sat, and I sat opposite him.

  “How do you find our little town?” Marcelle asked.

  “I find it to be beautiful. This is my first visit to Spain.”

  “Perhaps I can show you some sights.”

  “That would be wonderful,” I said. “However, I’m not sure how much free time I will have.”

  “Oh?” he said. “Are you here for business, or dare I hope, pleasure?”

  I smiled again. He was a flirt and a cutie, but I didn’t want him to know why I was here. “A little bit of both. You see, I’ve had a busy year and needed to get away for a few days. And while I’m here I thought I’d follow up on my overseas business endeavors.”

  “You are American. Where are you from? I’m good with accents, but it is often difficult to tell with Americans.”

  “I’m from Cincinnati, Ohio.” I decided to flip the script on him a bit. “I’ve been interested in other Councils, especially the Old World Councils. I hear that you are steeped in tradition and ritual, whereas in America our meetings are casual.”

  Marcelle loosened the button on his suit jacket and got comfortable. I thought about the time and hoped he wouldn’t get too comfy. “You are correct,” he said. “In America the Council meetings are much more relaxed, especially compared to the way we do things.” His eyes twinkled. “Perhaps you would like to join us for a Council meeting to get a firsthand account?”

  “That’s very kind of you.” I wasn’t shitting him. I would never invite anyone to join in on one of our meetings with its thinly veiled sense of superiority. “But as I said, I’m not quite sure how much free time I’ll have.”

  “Perhaps on a f
uture trip to Spain. Now, to the reason for my visit.” He seemed to be studying me. “Many visitors that are Neratomay come to this little town for one purpose and one purpose only. Epic Cu.”

  Julie, who had been standing quietly a few feet from me tensed a bit. I knew it on a telepathic level but doubted if Marcelle or Paolo would have been able to tell.

  I tilted my head at him. “Oh. Do tell? Why would Neratomay want to visit Epic Cu? I thought it was a torture chamber?”

  Marcelle wasn’t fooled, but he was polite enough to play along. “Epic Cu is a lot of different things including a place to take a sabbatical. You are correct. Epic Cu is a place to be tortured as well. But the latter seldom happens. Generally it’s used for initiations.”

  “Initiations?”

  “Si’. The thousand-year-old Masters go there to begin their initiation as Elders.”

  “Hmm,” I purred. “You must know a lot about the place.”

  He smiled slightly. “Enough to warn you not to go there.”

  “Now why would I go there?”

  “Because you are bound to one who is there.”

  It is so hard to travel incognito. “So you know more about me than you let on.”

  “I beg your pardon,” Marcelle said. “But you are an enticing woman. Women of color are rare at the Master level, and especially here where most are European males. When I came here it was not just to warn you against going there, but to make sure you understood that it is not a request.”

  I took off my glasses.

  Marcelle blinked. He was lucky that he could because my eyelids were little more than clear membranes that prevented my eyeballs from drying out. They neither protected me from the sun or anything else for that matter. The tender skin around my eyes was also burned away.

  When Marcelle mumbled something in Spanish, the shock in his voice was unmistakable. “Who did this to you, Kim?”

  I smiled. “I did.”

  Monica walked to the door and held it open.

  Tyler began to snicker. Julie giggled sweetly. Tyler stepped out of the shadows no longer wearing her jacket.

  Paolo sucked in a slow breath.

  Tyler’s short-sleeved shirt plainly showed her wired arms and their lethal tattoos and brands.

  Julie lowered her head and glared at Marcelle and Paolo. Her little girl look was completely gone. She looked more like that scary kid from The Ring.

  Marcelle nodded and stood. “I guess I misjudged. Five women including the one asleep in the bedroom. No males around. However, I see that you are very capable.” He and Paolo walked to the open door.

  Julie, Tyler, and I didn’t budge.

  I replaced my sunglasses and Julie relaxed. Tyler slipped back to stand in the shadows.

  I stood and strolled to them. I could feel my First Lieutenant and My Angel of Death tense and prepare for battle.

  “Thank you for stopping by,” I said. “And for the warning.”

  Marcelle inclined his head slightly and looked at Julie. Again he seemed startled by her fierce appearance and seemed to be thinking how he might fair in a battle. He didn’t seem to want to find out.

  He and Paolo left.

  As soon as they had vanished, I turned to the ladies. “How in the hell did he know?”

  Julie raised her head and seemed to be sniffing the air—without using her nose. “You lowered your shields …”

  Damnit! “Yes. When I was showering. I wanted to see if I could feel Alexis …”

  “I’m sure that Marcelle will be making some calls to find out all about us,” Tyler said. She sat back on the couch.

  If Marcelle could pick up on us because I had lowered my shields, then Alexis would know that I’m here.

  Julie seemed to read my thoughts. “This should convince you more than ever not to go alone.”

  “Definitely, you shouldn’t try flashing yourself in there,” Monica added.

  “We should drive as close as we can and then sneak up on the place,” Tyler said. “That way we might be able to spot any traps.”

  I cursed under my breath and agreed. “We’re not driving up in that trailer.”

  “No,” Tyler said. “Karen rented a car.”

  “Who’s driving?” I asked.

  CHAPTER 5

  I was really anxious. Epic Cu was about a three-hour drive from where we were. Tyler kept assuring me that we had plenty of night left. I sounded like a broken record as I coached them on what to do if it went bad. I wanted Julie to flash herself back to the villa, and Monica and Tyler to use the car to get back there. Under no circumstance were they to go back to Epic Cu during the day. If we got separated, they would need to wait until nightfall so that Julie could go with them.

  We had left Monica at home, but I promised to communicate with her telepathically if I needed to.

  As beautiful as the countryside was, I was so upset that I couldn’t enjoy it. We spent the hours on the road in relative quiet, and it gave me an opportunity to rethink my actions.

  Was this a wild goose chase? Maybe Alexis didn’t even want me. Everyone had warned me that an Elder’s attention was temperamental. But now it wasn’t just me. I had the backbone of my organization in this thing with me. If something bad happened to even one of them, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. I couldn’t sacrifice any of them for Alexis. If it came to that, I had to make the decision to leave him and to save them. What had I gotten myself into? I might have been risking everything for something that wasn’t even real.

  But I’m not. I’m not here because I need a kiss or two from Alexis. I’m bound to him. I’m here because he lost something in order to help me. Maybe what he lost could be returned, and that is the reason I’m here. I owe Alexis my life. And let’s face it, I was also damned curious why my husband who proclaimed his love for love me couldn’t even acknowledge me.

  Tony. I shuddered. I couldn’t believe that I had attacked him. I didn’t regret it, though. What was the old saying? “When you mess with the bull, sometimes you get the horns.” Tony had never seen my horns. I was still pissed at him. Yeah. I was pissed--but I also felt the tiniest, most miniscule bit of regret. Tony had been my boyfriend despite my hideous scars. He did me wrong, but he did it to protect me. That was some chauvinistic bullshit, but Tony was born in the late 1800’s, a time for chauvinism. But this is the twenty-first century, Goddamnit! I neither wanted nor appreciated being pushed into some damsel in distress role.

  I blew out a long breath. Just as I had lowered my shields to Alexis, I closed off my link to Tony. Now was not the time to think about him. And I didn’t want him knowing what I was doing. Let him wonder. As cold as that sounded, I didn’t want to take a chance of him interfering.

  Julie, who had been to Spain many times, was driving. She had a nose for our location and used her Vampire senses to find it. We didn’t worry about the police pulling us over thinking that a kid was driving. Any cop stupid enough to pull us over would get a hypnotic suggestion to make him think he was something ridiculous like a mime or an orangutan.

  The paved road turned to rocks then dirt. Before long there were only grass and weeds under our wheels. When we started coming up on trees, Julie pulled over. She stowed the keys in the glove compartment.

  When I got out of the car, I stretched and looked around. I didn’t get a sense of anything. I don’t know what Julie was picking up on, but my senses were dead. In all honestly, I don’t think I would have been able to flash myself here.

  “How far do you think it is from here?” I asked.

  Julie tilted her head, her eyes half closed. “Ten, maybe twelve miles.”

  I nodded. “You lead. We’ll follow.”

  Julie started us off on a steady jog. Tyler had little trouble keeping up because her superhuman abilities allowed her to run for miles before tiring.

  I had never been big on running, but being anxious to get to the location made it easy. Once I found my pace, we moved fast.

  Five or six miles late
r, Tyler began slowing. Julie and I weren’t out of breath. Of course, we didn’t need to breathe. I think I could have kept up the pace for two hours or so.

  We went for the next few miles at a slower jog.

  Tyler came to a dead stop.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  She swallowed. “Yeah. I … let’s go.”

  We started jogging again but hadn’t gone more than a couple of feet before Julie and I both noticed that Tyler wasn’t with us.

  “Something’s wrong,” Julie said.

  “Shit.” We hurried back to find Tyler walking slowly back the way we came.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  Tyler shook her head, her eyes wide. “I don’t know. I just know that I don’t want to go any closer.”

  Julie did that weird sniffing thing that didn’t involve her nose. “I think there’s some type of spell surrounding this place.”

  “I don’t feel anything,” I said.

  “I don’t either,” Julie said. “It must be a warding spell to keep humans away.”

  “Magic,” I said. That really worked? “Spells are real?”

  “Oh yes,” Julie said. “It’s quite a serious thing. Magic isn’t widely used because dark magic requires a repayment. It’s hard to find a witch who’s willing to pay the price threefold for someone else’s greed.”

  I didn’t understand what she was talking about, but I was more concerned with how this spell was making Tyler feel.

  “What if I carry you?” I asked Tyler. “You can piggyback.”

  She grimaced but nodded.

  Tyler was so thin I barely noticed her additional weight. Julie and I began the slow jog again. Periodically Julie would glance over her shoulder at us.

  We hadn’t gotten far before I felt Tyler shivering. That scared me. I stopped abruptly and placed a trembling Tyler onto her feet. “Tyler?”

  Tyler shook her head. “No. I’m not going any further. I want to go back.” She turned on her heels without a second look. She began a fast sprint the way we’d just come.

  “Should I go after her?” Julie asked.

  “No. Let her go. Maybe it’s better if she doesn’t come.”