Melted By The Vampires: A Paranormal Menage Romance (3 page)

I shrugged, hating the feeling of him towering over me. "Fine, then. The two of you can follow me to the living room, and we'll talk."

I turned from him and began striding across the marble floor of the foyer to the hardwood-floored living room, which was tastefully decorated with framed oil paintings, brass lamps, and crystal vases that Brenda had filled with fresh flowers every couple of days. I hadn't been able to deny that my accommodations could have been a lot worse. Though I hadn't been able to leave, I hadn't exactly been locked in a dungeon, either.

I didn't even glance back to see if my two targets were following me, but the sound of their boots on the wood flooring told me that they were, and close behind me.  And when I finally turned to face them in the living room, I found them both a mere foot away from me. I hated it, hated our close proximity.

Hated to be stunned by the sight of them all over again. I just really hadn't counted on them both being so damned attractive. I thought, and hoped, that they'd be average-looking or even ugly, so that I'd just be able to zone out while they each tried to impregnate me, but something told me that considering their looks and long, well-muscled physiques, zoning out might be impossible for me. I'd not only be sleeping with the enemy, but I might very well be unable to resist liking it, at least a little, a thought that disgusted me.

I didn't want to like a single second of physical contact with the two men responsible for killing my coven family. For all I knew, they might have even done it themselves, instead of just having their vampires do it.

Standing so close to me, so I could see the tiniest flecks of light gray within his coal-gray eyes, my target who'd stuck his boot in the door spoke in a voice that held more than a hint of steel. "My name is Abbott MacIver, and I'm co-leader of New Detroit."

The other of my targets, the man with pale blue eyes, took the tiniest of steps closer to me, even though he was plenty close enough. "And I'm Daniel Christian, this city's other leader. You can call me Dan."

Reminding myself that I was supposed to be gaining their trust in order to kill them, I tried to speak in a flat, emotionless voice that I hoped didn't betray the malice I felt. "I'm Harper North. And it's fine if the three of us sit and talk, if that's what you both would like."

The man who'd introduced himself as Daniel suddenly fixed me with a look I couldn't quite read. "I
would
like to talk, Harper, but there's something else I'd like to do first even more.”

CHAPTER TWO

Daniel, who I was determined not to call by the more casual name of
Dan
, like we were friends or something, was looking at me with his icy blue eyes glittering, and the corners of his mouth seeming like they wanted to lift into a sly grin.

I had just a little hint what he wanted to do even more than talking. I had just a little hint that he wanted to make a trip to the bedroom before either of us said another word. I fully expected him to grab me by the hand and drag me off. Maybe he'd even throw me over his shoulder. Being that I'd been told that this coven of vampires was unspeakably cruel, neither of these things seemed outside the realm of possibility at all.

However, shocking me, instead of tossing me over his shoulder, Daniel simply reached for a lock of my long, honey-brown hair that had fallen into my face. Then, with his somewhat sly expression morphing into one that almost resembled tenderness, he brushed the lock away and tucked it behind my ear, his fingers just barely grazing my skin.

"There. I'm sorry, but it was in your face, looking so soft and beautiful that it was almost begging me to touch it."

I had no idea what to say. No earthly clue. Being that he could take me into the bedroom to have me fulfill my supposed duties as a frozen woman, being that he could even outright rape me if he wanted to, I hadn't expected any kind of a seduction or any romantic-type words. Having been rendered speechless, I just stared at him, wondering if this was some sort of a test, though I couldn't imagine what kind of a test it might be.

Abbott, however, wasn't tongue-tied in the least by what Daniel had said. After just a moment or two, he cleared his throat, casting a sidelong look of clear irritation at Daniel. "Before anything else, the three of us need to talk. So, let's all have a seat. Right now."

After looking at me for just a second longer, Daniel shifted his gaze to Abbott, lifting his broad shoulders in a shrug. "You're right. Business before pleasure."

Pleasure
. The very word spoken from his mouth nearly made me sick. Although it made me sick not
just
because he'd murdered my coven family and now he intended to experience
pleasure
with my body. It made me sick because for just a split-second, for just a fraction of a moment while I'd been looking at his handsome face as he'd been lifting the lock of my hair, I'd felt a strong urge to experience
pleasure
with him, too.

Not wanting to be stuck on the couch sitting with him and Abbott, I quickly seated myself on an overstuffed chair opposite. Looking a bit disappointed that I'd made this seating choice, Daniel had a seat on the couch, and Abbott did as well.

Pale sunlight streaming in through the living room windows illuminated their lightly tanned faces, making their skin almost seem to glow. They didn't look like any vampires I'd ever seen before; all The Saints were very pale, some of them even chalk-white. Many of them, although strong, had always looked sickly to me, with prominent dark circles under their eyes.

In contrast, Abbott and Daniel appeared as perfect pictures of health, as if they weren't really vampires at all, but instead, regular human men. Although, now that I was looking at them sitting across from me, it occurred to me that Brenda had a healthy-toned complexion as well, and she was also a vampire. Same for the guard who'd been called in to deal with my shoe-throwing meltdown. I wondered if these non-Saint vampires were some special strain of vampires, ones that just happened to look healthier.

Seeming to read my mind, Daniel offered me a small smile once he'd settled back on the couch. "You're looking at us like you're surprised by how we look. I know Brenda has already told you that we're vampires, but maybe you were expecting vampires with pale faces or sparkly skin or something, like the kind that were popular in fiction before the nuclear disaster and before you were frozen."

I shrugged, trying my best to act nonchalant. "I really don't know what I was expecting. I never knew any vampires before I was frozen, and I never even read any books about them."

Daniel gave me another small smile, lifting one dark brow just a degree. "Well, surely you were familiar with the whole Dracula phenomenon...books, and old movies, and Halloween costumes...and you
do
look surprised that Abbott and I don't look like that 'classic' kind of vampire with pale skin and fangs. So, I have to wonder...are
you
wondering if we're some 'special' type of vampires?”

I shrugged again, still trying to act nonchalant. "I guess the thought crossed my mind. You
do
both have light tans, which...well...I guess I
was
expecting you to be pale."

I'd been expecting them to look like The Saints.

Daniel gave me a small smile for the third time. "I
thought
you probably were. And we are somewhat of a 'special' kind of vampire. Our ancient creator was different from the one who created The Saints, a group of vampires who live just outside our city. They look more like the traditional type of vampires. But Abbott and I, and all our people...we're a 'new breed,' you might say.  Abbott and I are hundreds of years old, and some of our people even older than us. A few of The Saints are older still, though."

I knew I had to act like I'd never heard of The Saints, so I figured a question or two was in order.

"If The Saints are vampires, too, why don't they live inside the city with the rest of you? And when was this city created, by the way? I know the original Detroit was mostly destroyed in the nuclear blast, and from what I've been able to see outside my windows, all the buildings and roads around here look brand new."

The latter question I'd asked had simply been because I was curious. At the time that Dedrick and I made our plan for me to be frozen, all vampires in the state lived just like the remaining humans did, which was to say in ramshackle houses and crumbling buildings.

Though I'd asked my questions of Daniel, Abbott beat him to it by answering, eying me intently as he did. "The Saints don't live within this city because they're not welcome here. They're our enemies and always will be. Their group of a few hundred vampires lives a few miles outside the city in a town that used to be called Saint Alexander in the time before you were frozen, but now it's called Saint Dedrick, named after The Saints' leader, who is a man of unspeakable cruelty."

I snorted, then opened my mouth to immediately say something snarky about how I'd heard that
he
, Abbott, was a man of "unspeakable cruelty," along with the rest of the vampires in his group; but just in time, I remembered that I was supposed to have no knowledge of The Saints.

I was supposed to be just like any other frozen woman, just a regular woman frozen for her fertility. Just a regular woman who definitely wasn't a witch, and who definitely hadn't been frozen in order to get revenge by killing the two men sitting across from her.

Ignoring my snort, Abbott continued. "As to your other question, this city was only built a couple of years ago, and all the buildings, roads, and everything else in it are indeed brand-new. Dan and I wanted to build a permanent, modern city for our people for centuries, but we were only able to do it after Cormack Blackthorn, the non-vampire leader of Michiana, gave us this land within Michiana to build our own sovereign city-state."

"And why did he do that?"

I couldn't imagine why any head of state would give land to a group of murderous vampires, unless maybe he was cruel and dark himself. But obviously, I had to keep these thoughts to myself.

Before responding to my question, Abbott just looked at me for a long moment, his stormy gray eyes seeming to stare right through to my soul. "To answer you, I'm going to have to tell you a little about the history of The Darkness Coven, which is what Daniel's and my people call themselves."

The Darkness Coven. That sounded about right for vampires who had killed a coven of witches in cold blood.

"You see, back in 'your' day...back before you were frozen...Daniel's and my group was small. Only a hundred members, maybe. We'd always lived in this area, but after the nuclear blast, The Saints wanted us out.
They
wanted this whole territory for themselves. Being that they were the much larger group, they killed many of our members, but they couldn't kill us all. Over the centuries, we continued to fight them, and continued to protect the human citizens in this area from their attacks."

I stifled another snort of derision, but just barely.

"Daniel and I also always made sure that our people coexisted in peace with all the bear shifters in the state, helping them, even, at times, and several years after Cormack Blackthorn was gifted the area of Michiana by another commander, he decided to give a gift to us Darkness Coven leaders as well, as thanks for our peace and occasional help over the years. He particularly appreciated our help in taking out a few nomadic former Saints who tried to crash his wedding just for sport.

“He also appreciates the fact that we still continue to try to take out the rest of The Saints in order to protect all human citizens in this area."

"Oh, I bet you do."

I just hadn't been able to resist making the sarcastic comment. It had just tumbled right out of my mouth before I'd been able to think better of it. But now that I had, I tried to cover what I'd said by clearing my throat, followed by a few words that were hopefully more genuine-sounding.

"Yes, I bet you protect all the human citizens in this area well. It sounds like you do. Please continue, Abbott."

With his gaze directly on my face, my face was becoming a bit hot for some reason, and I cleared my throat again, tightening my folded arms across my chest.

"Please continue."

After studying me for a moment that felt like a year, expression unreadable, he did. "So, once Daniel and I were given our land by Cormack Blackthorn, we decided to establish a permanent city for our people here, on top of the centuries-old ruins of Detroit.

“We and our people built the dozens of short skyscrapers you can see out the windows; we built this building that we're in; we built the roads; we built the hospital; and we built schools for our children."

"Children?"

I'd almost gasped the word. I'd never in a million years expected these vampires to have children already. The Saints didn't have any, and they
couldn't
have any. They'd never been able to reproduce by sleeping with human women or vampire women, and for some reason, draining a human nearly dry and then refilling them with blood, which was the process by which they created new vampires, just simply didn't work on children or young teens. Never had. It had only ever worked on humans very near or at adulthood.    

As far as this new group of vampires I was with, Dedrick had told me that they
could
have children, and
had
been known to impregnate women even before the nuclear blast. This knowledge, and the assumption that these vampires would want a frozen woman to impregnate, was what had set our plan in motion.

But I supposed I'd thought for some reason, I'd be this group's first and only frozen woman, the first possible provider of children. At the time of my freezing, Dedrick had said that they didn't have any other frozen women yet. Not that I could actually give anyone children anyway, being that I was actually a frozen woman fraud who'd showed up at the freezing clinic with falsified fertility papers obtained by Dedrick.

Abbott didn't seem at all surprised by
my
surprise regarding what he'd said about children. Sitting back on the couch in a relaxed sort of way, with his long, muscular torso at an angle against the cushions, he just nodded. "Yes. We have children here in New Detroit. A couple hundred of them, actually, though they're still only a tiny percentage of the city's residents.

“Counting all adult Blood Coven members that live here, we have a population of about thirty thousand, a number that will hopefully continue to grow in the coming years as our city-state becomes stronger and more established. You see, our coven started small, but in the hundreds of years since the nuclear disaster, we've become the largest coven of vampires the world has ever seen.”