Deceptive Changes: Kat LaMond Book 1
Read Deceptive Changes: Kat LaMond Book 1 Online
Authors: R A Baker
Deceptive Changes
Kat Book 1
Copyright © 2015 Rickianne Baker
Cover Art by Rickianne Baker
All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, and incidents, either are the product of the author’s imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written permission of the author.
Dedication
To my family and friends that supported me, even when I was too wimpy to put my “babies” out there. A special thank you to my Aunt M for giving me valuable feedback on all of my Kat novels. To those who have waited patiently for Kat to be published, thank you for sticking it out with me.
Author Note
This is the beginning, before Annika Pierce, and tells the tale of Kat LaMond’s life after killing Antreas, king of all US vampires. You do not need to read his story to understand what Kat goes through, even though the beginning appears to indicate so.
Please understand that this is a series and not all questions will be answered in this novel, but over many novels. I hope you enjoy reading Kat as much as I enjoyed writing her, and her lovers.
If you’d like to stay up to date on Kat and Annika, on me, or just want to know when the next book will be published, please follow the link to my Facebook page:
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After everything that had happened before this night was more bad dream than anything else, and it made me cranky, even when we were summoned to the induction ceremony to introduce Todd to all vampire kind here in the US as their new king.
We
consisted of: Todd, Trace, Erick, Sandra, Mark, Nadja, Ardeness, Beatrice, Charles, and yours truly.
The place was beautifully done up with string lighting and silk-and-satin tablecloths, platinum silverware, bone-china plates, and tiered seating for all guests, all courtesy of Charles, an invaluable man that had been gifted to me by Antreas-the previous king-before I killed him. Antreas had chosen Todd as his successor, though I wasn’t exactly sure why considering they weren’t all that close before Antreas’s death.
For the ceremony and power giving, we (all of those closest to me) stood on a stage, in front of thousands of vampires, and were announced in order, with Todd and me announced first. Those that were raised: Sandra, Mark, Ardeness, Beatrice, and Nadja with Charles, stood on the left of Todd, and me, Erick, and Trace stood on his right.
An older gentleman announced Todd, making his voice loud enough, which surprised me, to fill the whole of the auditorium. Todd stepped forward, and then I was announced, which meant that I had to step forward as well. To say I didn’t want to kiss my ex-husband would be silly, because I did, but it was what would happen once I kissed him that was the problem. See, Antreas gave me his power before I killed him, and in order to transfer that power, I had to kiss Todd. Go figure, weirdo vampire power exchange meant that I had to be up close and personal with my ex.
When I took too long, Todd gave me a honey-eyed stare that set my heart pounding. I did love him, even if we had divorced. The reason for that is long and right now, I had to do my duty.
I walked up to Todd, taking in his six foot-two inch slender frame, his dark brown hair, and honey colored eyes. He was the first man I loved, ever. I was almost sad, and cranky, to kiss him out of duty, but whatever, maybe later I’d be able to give him a proper kiss.
“Babe,” he purred, giving me a too-happy-for-words smile. “Ready to kiss me?”
“Do I have to?” I asked, squinching my nose.
He chuckled. “Yeah, Kat, you do. Okay, come on, I want to taste your mouth.”
“But…this won’t be a tasting, Todd, this will be a duty-bound kiss.”
“Yes, well, we could make it more.”
Huh. I hadn’t thought of that. I had been so wrapped up in the duty and honor of giving a kiss instead of, duh, this was my ex-husband and I wanted to give him that kiss. “Okay. Kiss.”
I lifted on tiptoes, wrapping my hands around his biceps, and planted a kiss that made the very air shimmer with power. Todd groaned softly and wrapped his arms around my waist, holding me for a long moment while the power transferred, and then, once the power had gone from me to him, slid his hand up my spine to cup the back of my head. He tilted me a little, just enough that it made the kiss go from hello to
hel-lo
.
Wow, that was more than I had bargained for. I ended the kiss, mostly because I could hear others murmuring and it embarrassed me that I had forgotten everything for that time.
“Sorry,” I muttered. I was loath to even look at him, mostly because I was afraid that I had embarrassed him or done something I wasn’t supposed to.
“Don’t be sorry, Kat.”
“Yeah, well, thousands of vampires,” I said and waved my hand. “Anyway, I’m going to need to take off soon.”
Todd frowned. “Why? This is our party.”
“Correction, your party. And I have to leave because I have to go to work in the morning.”
“All right. One dance though.”
“Two, actually,” Erick chimed in. Erick was gorgeous, and at six-one, he had a slim body. He was one of my raised ones, the very first one I raised actually, and captured my attention like so few have ever done.
I turned from Todd and looked into Erick’s emerald green eyes, noting that he had his shoulder-length chestnut brown hair tied back. I was sad to see that it was tied back, and only because when it wasn’t, he had waves that made me want to touch, all the damn time.
“Make that three,” Trace said.
Sadly, Trace didn’t draw me like Erick, but it wasn’t really his fault, mostly it was mine. Yes, Trace was gorgeous, just in a different way. He was six-one, sandy-brown hair, with bluey-grey eyes. He came to me later, I guess, but I can’t be sure. However, I live with the man now, so of course he draws me in, and we have been intimate, on more than one occasion, so yeah, okay, I did like Trace a lot, just differently from Erick.
“Oh, all right, three dances, and then I must leave,” I said.
>< ><
I danced, more than three, actually, but it wasn’t as bad as I make it sound. Trace, Erick, and Todd each got two dances out of me before I begged off and left them to do their thing. It was a party after all.
I left the wooded fields of the auditorium for Main Street. Yes, how very clever of them, but this was New Hampshire, and every town has to have a ‘Main Street’.
I made it to my apartment building, a building I owned, and walked inside after leaving my car with the valet. Valets were one of many reasons the people in my apartment building paid the high rent, and then there were other things like being full-service, as far as any item needed, my staff will endeavor to provide.
I waved to Karen, a slim woman that had a no-nonsense attitude and was highly efficient at her job. I hired her after the previous manager told one of my tenants that he couldn’t help him out, whereas Karen had stepped up and made sure the tenant had something or other. After that, I fired the manager and replaced him with her, and it’s been the best decision I ever made.
I shuffled over to the elevators and pressed the button. Now that I was home, I was beat. I had a long day before getting the call from Charles and the summons for power transfer. Along with being tired came that crankiness that I had been feeling for the last six months. I wasn’t sure exactly why I was cranky, but I had an inkling it had to do with killing Antreas.
The lift dinged and I rode it up to the penthouse floor where my apartment was. It wasn’t all that lavish, mostly because I didn’t have an interior decorator bone in my body, and because I didn’t much care about my surroundings, so long as I had a bed to sleep in, I was good.
The apartment consisted of: living room, kitchen, hallway, bedroom, and bathroom. I had a little table by the door where I set keys, wallet, and junk mail to be thrown away later. The bedroom consisted of bed, dresser, walk-in closet, and nightstand with lamp. Very utilitarian but hell, like I said, it was a place to crash.
Even though I wanted to drop onto the bed in relief, I didn’t. I changed, did the bathroom bit, and then, finally, I was able to climb under the covers and fall asleep, which happened almost instantly.
I woke up, barely, to slurred voices that were way too loud for the wee hours of morning. I flopped over and squinted at the door. Trace and Erick were laughing at something, apparently trying to keep quiet, which wasn’t working, and then, to top it off, Todd joined them.
“Hey, keep down,” I groused. I was not a morning person, and I hated being woken up in the middle of my sleep schedule. It was just so wrong that they were mostly drunk and not being quiet.
“Aw, Kat, we’re tryin’,” Todd slurred.
“Just keep it down. If not, leave. I’m tired and I have a very early morning.”
“Sorry, Kat,” they said in unison.
“Uh huh. I can hear it.” I rolled my eyes and waved my hand. “Go away. I want to sleep and apparently you three don’t. So leave.”
“Come on, Kat, we live here too,” Trace said.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever, just be quiet.”
I didn’t even hear what was said after since I passed the hell out, especially after turning over and burrowing into pillows and comforter.