Melted By The Vampires: A Paranormal Menage Romance (6 page)

BOOK: Melted By The Vampires: A Paranormal Menage Romance
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In contrast to the other areas of the apartment, which were decorated, painted, and furnished in shades of creamy beige and white, the dining room was all color, with walls painted a vivid burgundy, though a burgundy that was very much on the red side. In fact, as I surveyed the walls, I thought that if I'd had to pick a name for the paint color, I probably would have gone with red-burgundy. The shade seemed perfect for a dining room in a building apparently owned by two vampire leaders. It was almost the exact same color as blood.

 

They both soon returned from the kitchen, Abbott with the bottles of whiskey and wine and a few glasses, and Daniel with my stunning, unusual rose in a clear glass vase. Seemingly determined that this evening would have all the trappings of romance, he also held two brass candle holders with tall red taper candles, already lit.

 

Along with the vase, he set them in the middle of one of the far ends of the table, near where I sat at the left of the head of the table. I wondered who'd sit across from me and who'd sit at the head, in the position of most authority and power.

 

Daniel quickly answered this question, sliding into the chair at the head of the table quickly, just as Abbott was finishing setting out the glasses and the bottles, making me think that they hadn't previously worked out who would sit where. Daniel almost seemed to cut Abbott off, as Abbott had seemed to be moving in the direction of the head of the table himself.

 

If he was angry, though, he didn't show it; he simply took a seat across from me and began pouring drinks with his typically stern expression unreadable, which was also typical for him. Unlike Daniel, he was clearly the type to keep all emotions and thoughts close to the vest, which troubled me. I knew it was often the quiet ones a person had to worry about most.

 

After handing me a glass of wine, he handed one to Daniel as well, then poured a glass of whiskey for himself.

 

With his pale blue eyes twinkling, Daniel looked from him to me. "I always like to enjoy a glass of wine when I'm in the company of a beautiful woman who's drinking the same. But it looks like Abbott's decided to stick with his usual whiskey, which he always drinks neat, no ice, and no water. See, you have to do
something
to assert your masculinity when you're not fast enough to get to the head of the table first."

 

For the second time that evening, I laughed before I could really think about it or stop myself. But, like the previous time, I only chuckled for a second or two before I caught myself. Clearly, Daniel had a good enough sense of humor to tickle my funny bone, but I was determined not to disrespect my deceased family members by engaging in a full-out chuckle fest with one of the men responsible for their deaths.

 

In response to what Daniel had said, Abbott just snorted and knocked back his whiskey in a gulp before setting the glass on the table with a thunk that bordered on a bang. "Let's finish our talk from yesterday, Harper. I'd like to answer your questions, and any others you may have thought of, before we move on to dinner."

 

So to the point. Just like I'd expected a cold-hearted murderer to be.

 

Lifting my wine glass, I gave him a polite nod. "All right. If you want to answer questions, I guess you could start by explaining to me how this all works with you and Daniel being co-leaders of the Darkness Coven. I just never expected any coven of supernatural creatures to have two leaders, so I have to admit, I'm just a bit curious."

 

Especially since throughout their history, Saint leaders had always been inclined to murder their rivals rather than share power.

 

With his thick, dark hair glinting in the light from the chandelier, Abbott lifted his broad shoulders in a shrug, refilling his glass at the same time. "Not too much to explain. When our group was much smaller, and struggling, in the years before the nuclear disaster, Dan and I both emerged as leaders. And, because we were good friends during our natural lives, before being turned into vampires, it was kind of an easy decision for us to both share power. We figured that two leaders, with different strengths, working together, might be better than just one.

 

“Especially since the numbers of our enemies, The Saints, were so great. In the hundreds of years since then, though, we've never been able to eradicate The Saints, despite our best efforts. Dan and I have worked well as a leadership team. And...don't let Dan's little jabs at me here and there fool you. It's been an agreeable arrangement for us both, for the most part. Really, when it comes down to it, I think that having two leaders in the community has benefited everyone in so many different ways, that I don't think I'd ever like to lead any other way.”

 

I finished a sip of wine and set my glass down. "All right. Fair enough. Then, I guess my next question, while I'm thinking of it, is why did you, or both of you, name your coven what you did?"

 

I wasn't exactly sure why I was asking this question or what I wanted to hear. Maybe some confession or admission of guilt that they were all dark-hearted vampires like their coven name implied. I didn't know why, but I felt like it might give me a little satisfaction to know that they at least freely admitted that they were evil. I wasn't going to get that satisfaction, though.

 

Before Abbott could answer me, Daniel spoke with a little twinkle in his eye."Get ready to laugh again, Harper."

CHAPTER FOUR

 

Uncomprehendingly, I looked at Daniel. "What do you mean? Why am I going to laugh?"

 

He took a long drink of his wine and set the glass down, smiling. "Because the explanation behind our coven name is just funny. At least, it's always been funny to me, anyway. See, Abbott chose the name of the Darkness Coven because, as he said at the time, he wanted to send The Saints a message that every time they fight us, it's going to be 'lights out' for them."

 

Having finished my glass of wine and feeling the effects of it at least a little, I did laugh. But unlike the previous two times, I laughed longer than just a second or two. It just felt good for some reason. It almost felt soothing in a strange way. And, I had to admit, Abbott's rationale for naming the coven what he had
was
pretty funny.

 

If
it were true, though. Part of me thought Daniel might be kidding, not wanting to tell me that they were named the Darkness Coven because of their dark hearts and murderous ways.

 

Once my laughter had subsided, I looked at Abbott while Daniel refilled my wine glass. "Well, is that really true? Did you really name the coven what you did based off of a little joke?"

 

Stern expression not changing in the least, Abbott dipped his head in a nod. "I did, and it's not a 'little joke.' Every time we go to battle with The Saints, it
is
'lights out,' for at least a few of them each time, and I want them to remember that. Someday, it will be 'lights out' for them all, and then all the people in this city can finally live in peace."

 

Immediately sober, at least as far as my laughter was concerned, I wasn't sure how Abbott had been able to say what he had about
peace
with a straight face.

 

Afraid I was going to blurt out something about how murdering a coven of innocent witches fit in with his idea of
peace
, I immediately asked him another question in an attempt to control myself. "Please answer me this from yesterday. How is it possible that you have so many children here in New Detroit already? And also, how did the community here go from a tiny group to thirty thousand people, anyway?"

 

I
was
genuinely curious to know the answers to both these questions.

 

Abbott knocked back a gulp of his whiskey before responding. "To answer your first question, we have so many children simply because of dumb luck. The first stroke of that luck was that hundreds of years ago; Darkness Coven vampires discovered that we had the ability to produce regular human children with regular human women. Not all vampire groups
can
reproduce."

 

Dedrick had already explained all of this to me, but of course, I had to pretend I had no clue about any of it.

 

So, I widened my eyes just a degree, as if surprised. "Oh."

 

Apparently seeing nothing disingenuous in my response or expression, Abbott continued. "Then, the second stroke of luck came about ten years ago, when some of our Darkness Coven soldiers chasing a few rogue Saints stumbled upon a hidden cache of frozen women in an underground storage facility along what used to be the Canadian border, back in 'your' day.

 

“As this facility appeared to have been abandoned, and as the land it was found on now doesn't belong to any group in particular, Dan and I claimed the frozen women for our coven. Then, we began slowly thawing them with the help of a doctor, one called a 'thawing specialist,' from a place called DC, which is within a nation led by a wolf shifter.

 

“This doctor trained one of
our
doctors in the thawing procedure, and away we went, slowly and carefully thawing a few dozen frozen women each year. Though, because Dan and I were very busy dealing with The Saints, I decided to wait a bit to claim a frozen woman of my own to reproduce with, and Dan ultimately decided the same, even though reproducing might have helped us deal with The Saints in a way, which I'll explain in a minute.

 

“For various reasons, we each decided what we did. It seemed sensible at the time. But in the end, it turned out that we'd made a terrible mistake."

 

Beginning to really feel the effects of the wine and really liking them, I took another sip, almost unconsciously. "Why did it turn out to be a terrible mistake?"

 

Abbott frowned, looking into his whiskey glass for a moment before returning his gaze to my face. "Before we could thaw the remaining frozen women, The Saints attacked our city and destroyed the storage facility where our remaining frozen women were housed. We tried to save them, but very sadly, none survived. Which was a tragedy in and of itself because of the loss of life, obviously, but then Dan and I realized that we'd also lost the chance to reproduce.

 

“At this point, all women that had been thawed here were already married to members of our coven; all other frozen women on earth had already been thawed by various groups, and all other fertile women that had been born to the first frozen mothers were already very happily coupled up within all the various human and shifter groups on the continent.

 

“So, Dan and I resigned ourselves that we'd lost our chance, for the time being anyway, until maybe some of the daughters born to frozen mothers grew to adulthood. But, circling back to your question, the frozen women who had been thawed in our community had started a baby boom by this time, so Dan and I tried to be content. A few years went by. But then, just a few weeks ago, something almost like a miracle happened. A fully intact cryogenic tank was found abandoned on the outskirts of the city. You were in it, still perfectly frozen. That's when Dan and I decided to share this unexpected and mysterious gift. That's when we decided that we'd both sleep with you, if you'd agree to it, and whoever is the first to impregnate you gets the benefit."

 

So, it was as I'd suspected. After claiming me from the freezing center hundreds of years earlier, Dedrick had stored me with him and The Saints, until time of great need, when they needed to employ their "backup plan" to take out Abbott and Dan. Which apparently, had been very recently.

 

Trying to act nonchalant, I took a sip of wine, then tucked a lock of my long honey-brown hair behind one ear. "And do either of you have any idea who stored me in my tank all these years?"

 

Daniel was the first to shake his head, before taking a long drink of his wine.

 

Abbott shook his head with a faint sigh. "No. We don't know for sure, anyway. We have our strong suspicions, though. We think you were likely a gift from Cormack Blackthorn, the bear shifter commander of Michiana. After our remaining cryo tanks were destroyed, we asked him if he could possibly spare two of
his
remaining frozen women, but he claimed to have none.

 

“Dan and I weren't completely convinced this was true, but being that Cormack Blackthorn had gifted us with the land to establish New Detroit, we decided to just accept things. Now I think that he
did
have one more frozen woman,
you
, and after these couple of years, a little guilt started nagging at him, but he didn't want to admit that he hadn't told Dan and me the truth. So, he left you practically on our doorstep as an anonymous gift. Dan and I have decided not to talk to him about it, being that if he wanted us to know that the gift was from him, he surely would have said so."

 

I suddenly wanted to change the subject, so I did. "I see. But back to a minute ago, what did you mean when you said that whoever impregnates me first gets the 'benefit.' I really didn't understand that part at all."

 

Little did either of them know that whatever the 'benefit' was, neither of them were going to get it, since I was only a
faux
-fertile woman. The only 'benefit' they were going to get from me was death.

 

With his thick, dark eyelashes casting shadows on his face in the candlelight, Abbott looked into his whiskey glass for a moment before setting it on the table and looking up at me. "In short, creating new life the 'natural' way gives us Darkness Coven vampires increased strength and power. We don't know why this is, or how it works; we just know that it does. And the child doesn't even have to be born yet in order for the vampire father to experience the benefit.

 

“It happens within weeks of a vampire father impregnating a human female. Because of this, when
you
become pregnant, this is all the paternity test we'll likely need. We'll know if the father of your child is Dan or me simply by recognizing which of us suddenly has vastly increased strength. And, see...this is why our community needed to have children.

 

“Aside from the natural wanting for children that most people have, even 'supernatural people,' like vampires, our coven needed to have children to give us male vampires of the coven a strength increase so that we can hopefully take out The Saints once and for all. And hopefully soon.

 

“The Saints are a particular strain of vampires that possess incredible strength, so even with our increased numbers, we've never been able to fully deal with them; but since the impregnation of our frozen women began happening, we've made good headway, and once either Dan or I gain the vastly increased strength that will come with impregnating you, I think it will be a done deal. At that point, we'll be able to finally do away with Dedrick and all his vampires."

 

I could have laughed out loud. I could have actually howled with laughter, because the irony was just too much. Daniel and Abbott thought I was going to be their savior, when in reality, I was going to be their downfall. They thought I was going to help them take down Dedrick, when the truth was that it was Dedrick who'd sent me.

 

It really was too much. And, having finished my second glass of wine, I felt as if I might be overcome by mirth at any moment, giving myself away, so once again, I quickly changed the subject after clearing my throat.

 

"So, Abbott, you've explained about the children in this city, but I still don't know how all the adult vampires came to number thirty thousand or so over the years. That just strikes me as such an astounding number."

 

Daniel, who was refilling my wine glass again, jumped into the conversation and answered. "
That
has been mostly
my
doing. Knowing that there's strength in numbers, and wanting to help us establish not just a coven, but an empire, I traveled all over the continent for years, as a Darkness Coven 'recruiter' of sorts, and I found a lot of humans who wanted to jump on board and be turned into vampires.

 

“After all, how many humans are actually content living a normal human lifespan? Much more desirable to live ten to fifteen centuries, like we Darkness Coven vampires do, than just one century, like a regular human, and that's if they're very lucky."

 

After a long sip of wine, I set my glass down, thoroughly intrigued. "You Darkness Coven vampires aren't completely immortal, like The Saints are? And by
immortal
, I mean immortal except for being stabbed and decapitated."

 

For a long moment, there was complete silence at the table. Then I realized what I'd said. If I were just any other frozen woman, I shouldn't have had any knowledge about The Saints' immortality. But before I could cover for myself, before I could even
think
of any kind of a cover, Daniel spoke, cocking one dark brow at me.

 

"Did Brenda already tell you about that difference between us and The Saints?"

 

Immeasurably relived, I nodded. "Yes. Either her or the guard that came up with her one day; I don't even remember which. But, yes, one of them did, and I just found it interesting."

 

Daniel smiled, revealing perfectly white, straight teeth. "It
is
interesting. None of us have actually died yet from this 'old age,' but the lore book given to us by our first vampire father, who was a vampire that came here from England and then returned there, tells us that this is what will eventually happen, even though even the oldest of us still have hundreds and hundreds of years to go.

 

“I don't think anyone's really brokenhearted over this 'immortality light'; most feel that our lifespan is preferable over The Saints' true immortality. After all, eternity without end could be wearying, and knowing that our days, though many, are still numbered, helps us Darkness Coven members appreciate things more, I think. So, dying of 'old age' after a millennium or so honestly seems preferable to me. That's still an awfully long time to live.

BOOK: Melted By The Vampires: A Paranormal Menage Romance
13.98Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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