Melted By The Vampires: A Paranormal Menage Romance (7 page)

“And as for you personally, Harper, after you have all the children you want,
you
can have that long length of time to live, too, if you want. See, after a frozen woman is done with childbearing, we give her the option to become a vampire herself, so that she can live for hundreds of years with her mate if she desires. Then, when the children born to vampire fathers become adults, they'll be given that choice, too."

I finished a sip of wine and gave Daniel a small smile. "I see. Well, as for myself, and whether or not I'll ever become a vampire after having children, I think I'll cross that bridge when I get there."

Which would be never. Unless Dedrick decided to offer me immortality once I'd completed my assassination mission. But even then, I wasn't sure I'd take it. I'd always been squeamish, grossed out by the very sight of blood, and I wasn't sure I could ever actually drink it. From an animal, maybe. If I really forced myself. But not from a human being, which was how The Saints fed.

Not only had it always struck me as disgusting, but morally wrong, too. Sometimes Saint members asked permission before drinking from a human, finding a surprisingly large number of humans who said yes just for the thrill, but more often than not, they just attacked and drank from whoever they liked, sometimes killing their victims in the process, whether by accident or intentionally.

I assumed the Darkness Coven members fed the same way, since surely any group of people who killed women in cold blood couldn't have too many moral compunctions about drinking from anyone and everyone they wanted.

Soon, after Daniel had told me a few other things about the lore book from his and Abbott's "first father," nothing really of great importance, I realized I'd somehow finished my third glass of wine without even realizing it. Wanting to stay "on guard," I certainly hadn't meant to.

My head was really beginning to swim, but in a very pleasant sort of way, a way that was drawing my focus to Daniel and Abbott's handsome, strong-jawed faces, their broad shoulders, and their hard, muscular chests. I suddenly couldn't stop thinking about how I wanted to touch their hard, muscular chests, maybe while one of them kissed me.

I knew I
shouldn't
want to do these things, though. I should have just been suffering through my time with Daniel and Abbott, and then suffering through the physical intimacy that was to come.

Yet, when Daniel made me laugh about something, then swiftly pulled me out of my chair and onto his lap while I was still laughing, I didn't resist. I again didn't resist when he lowered his mouth to mine and began kissing me. In fact, I sighed, running a hand across the hardened planes of his chest, just like I'd wanted to do. I didn't even care that Abbott was just sitting right next to us, watching the whole scene. This was actually kind of unexpectedly thrilling to me.

It wasn't long before I felt my nipples stiffening in response to a few caresses from Daniel over my dress while he continued kissing me, playfully nipping at my lower lip every so often. Beneath me, I could feel that I wasn't the only one becoming aroused. I could feel that Daniel
was
large like Abbott, and it felt like he was already rock-hard.

My sighs quickly turned to moans, and when Daniel slid a hand beneath my dress and bra and began toying with one of my stiffened nipples, I broke our kiss involuntarily, moaning the loudest I had yet.

"Please. Don't stop doing that."

He didn't, and he spoke in a low voice near my ear while he continued his caresses. "Why don't I carry you into your bedroom now and start on those other kisses I promised you yesterday. Kisses from the arches of your delicate, pretty little feet, all the way up to your gorgeous, pouty lips. Then I'll trail the kisses downward and revisit a certain spot...and I promise that I'll give that spot all the slow and careful attention it deserves."

CHAPTER FIVE

     The moment Daniel said what he had, about his kisses and "a certain spot," a certain spot between my now-slick feminine lips tingled in anticipation, and I realized that I was just going to give in. I was going to sleep with my enemies, and I was going to like it. I was probably even going to love it. Particularly if Daniel was skilled enough at "kissing" to bring me to one of those powerful orgasms he'd been talking about the day before.

Part of me felt like I was betraying my coven by just deciding to give in to pleasure, but another part of me was insistent on pushing that thought from my mind. The part doing the pushing was also telling me that as long as I accomplished my end goal of getting revenge once my powers returned, nothing else mattered. So, in the meantime, I may as well not struggle to resist fully indulging myself in some physical pleasure, even if that pleasure came at the hands of two men I'd vowed to assassinate.

I smiled at Daniel, wrapping my arms around his neck. "Okay. Take me to my bedroom." I giggled, realizing I'd actually said bed-loom. "Bed
room
, I mean."

Grinning, he rose from his chair with me in his arms. "Your wish is my command. Come on, Abbott."

Abbott, who'd been watching us silently, rose from his chair as well. "No. Let's just slow things down a minute, Dan. I think Harper's had too much wine, too fast, and on too empty of a stomach to be agreeing about going into her bedroom. Let's heat up her dinner first and just relax a little while she eats and has something to drink other than wine. Then, we can revisit the bedroom issue."

Suddenly angry, and more than a bit, I turned my gaze from Abbott to Daniel. "Please put me down. I'm going to tell him off."

Daniel instantly obliged, setting me on my feet. Just as instantly, the room seemed to spin around me, but just for a second or two, and I managed to remain upright. I also managed to fold my arms across my chest while glaring at Abbott, the act of doing these two things at once seeming to require more coordination that it should have.

"You, Abbott. Don't you tell me how much stomach I've had." Immediately realizing that I'd messed up my words, I tried again. "What I mean is, don't tell me how much empty wine I've had on my stomach." Realizing that I'd done it again, I took a deep breath, miles beyond irritated with myself. "Now look what you're making me do, Abbott. Just listen to me. Just shut up and listen. Don't you
dare
tell me how fast that wine emptied my stomach. Do you understand me?"

"No."

Dizzy with anger from his response, on top of how dizzy I'd already been, I suddenly began swaying on my feet. I might have fallen over, but Abbott immediately caught me in his strong arms and set me down in my chair.

"You're officially cut off from all alcohol for the night, Miss North. We're going to go fix your dinner, and in the meantime, you're going to sit here and relax. Do
you
understand
me
?"

Looking up at him standing beside my chair, I suddenly felt like a chastised child who'd been naughty. Which seemed like it should have made me angry. It seemed like it should have made me livid. But, for some strange reason, I just found myself nodding.

"Yes. I understand you, Abbott."

"Good. We'll be back in a few minutes."

After he'd grabbed the wine and whiskey bottles from the table, he and Daniel left the dining room, leaving me alone.

But not even half a minute later, Abbott returned, bearing a short stack of crackers on a little plate, which he set in front of me. "Here. Have some crackers while you're waiting."

"
You
have some crackers while you're waiting."

"No. No more sass, Harper. Or else I
will
take you in your bedroom, but only to sit you in the corner for a time-out, because you're acting like somewhat of a brat. Am I clear?"

For the second time, I found myself just nodding for some strange reason. "Yes."

"Good."

After giving me something that resembled a look of warning, Abbott turned to leave the dining room again. With my rate of breathing accelerating, I watched him as he went, taking in his long legs, his tight rear, and his powerful, broad shoulders. I only turned back to the table once he'd completely disappeared from view.

In the glow from the lamps, the chandelier, and the twin red taper candles, I began eating my crackers, realizing that I
had
drunk my three glasses of wine pretty fast. Not to mention that I hadn't had anything to eat since lunch, a good eight hours earlier. I knew I really should have been a little more aware of exactly how much I was drinking, and how fast, especially since I'd always been kind of a lightweight when it came to alcohol. However, my mind had of course been on other things.

Just on the off-chance that my inebriation had somehow caused my supernatural powers to return, I tried shooting a beam of light at the wide window, and then at the paintings flanking it, but no luck. Which was just as well, I realized. If my powers had worked, the noise of the shattering glass would have surely alerted Abbott and Daniel, and I would have had some serious covering up to do to conceal the fact that I was a witch.

When I was on my last cracker, I realized that I'd begun to sober up a bit already, just in the five minutes or so since I'd started eating. I also realized something else. Although he was certainly commanding and stern, Abbott wasn't exactly behaving like a cold-blooded murderer, or even like anyone who'd allow any murders to happen on his watch.

Daniel really wasn't, either, for that matter. Despite the fact that he seemed to have no issues with taking very intoxicated women to bed, there was some kind of warmth about him that struck me as at least fairly sincere.

I set the uneaten half of my last cracker on my plate, suddenly troubled, and profoundly so.

For the first time, I wondered if Clark and I had been correct in our guessing that the Darkness Coven had committed the murders of my coven members. There wasn't anyone else it could have possibly been, though. The murders had clearly been done by vampires, and other than the Darkness Coven and The Saints, there had been no other vampire groups in the area.

And as for The Saints, they had absolutely no motive to commit the murders, and in fact, exactly the opposite. With Clark being their leader at the time, no one would have wanted to anger him by harming his girlfriend's family.

The possibility that Clark himself had done it really
wasn't
even a possibility. Again, no motive, not to mention that even though he definitely hadn't been the perfect boyfriend, Clark had never lied to me before, about anything. At least, not as far as I knew.

But still, even with all these thoughts swimming around in my still-buzzy mind, even with all the certainty that I felt that Clark and I had guessed the murderers correctly all those years earlier, I still couldn't help but feel that something about Abbott, Daniel, and their coven being responsible just wasn't making as much sense to me as it once had. However, this feeling of unease wasn't going to last long.

Abbott and Daniel soon returned from the kitchen, each of them bearing a plate and other items for my dinner.

Abbott set his plate in front of me, along with a linen napkin and silverware. "Enjoy."

On the plate were slices of what appeared to be, and smelled like, roast turkey, along with mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, green beans, and a roll alongside a little scoop of cranberry sauce.

Smiling, Daniel set his plate to the right of my dinner plate. This plate was smaller, and on it sat a large slice of pumpkin pie topped with a dollop of whipped cream. Still tipsy, I just stared at the food in front of me for a moment with my head slightly spinning.

Then, I looked up at Daniel, suddenly feeling some bizarre mix of confusion, anger, and sadness. "What's...what's all this for?"

He smiled a little bigger. "It's Thanksgiving food...from 'your' time. Because today is Thanksgiving, or it would have been."

I hadn't realized. I'd known it was November, because they'd told me when I'd woke up in the hospital, but I didn't have a calendar in my apartment.

Seeming not to notice my emotional upheaval, Daniel continued. "Being that Thanksgiving was an American holiday, and being that most things American had died out with...well,
America
, we don't celebrate Thanksgiving here, particularly since regular food, which was a big part of the holiday, is something we vampires don't consume, of course.

“We wanted
you
to be able to enjoy the holiday with a traditional meal, though. Our staff chef who cooks for us when we have human and shifter guests in town had no idea how to make pumpkin pie, but he asked one of the former frozen women in the city, and I think he figured it out. Take a bite and try it."

With a little wave of nausea, I looked at the slice of pumpkin pie. Instantly, an image appeared in my mind. It was an image of my coven mother Amelia, the only real mother I'd ever known. In my mind, I saw her in her yellow-striped apron, gray hair in a bun, as she surveyed a cooling pumpkin pie on our kitchen counter, smiling. This is how she'd looked the day she'd taught me to make pumpkin pie.

It had been the first time anyone had taught me how to cook anything, ever. My biological mother had been too high on meth to do any cooking. Each of my foster mothers had never wanted kids in the kitchen.

Beyond being the first day anyone had ever taught me how to cook anything, Thanksgiving had been a special holiday for Amelia and me, maybe even more special than Christmas, because the day before Thanksgiving was when she'd found me and had "adopted" me, taking me into the coven. I'd kind of always considered Thanksgiving to be the day that we'd become a family.

In my still-intoxicated state, with my memories seeming to take over my brain, I was becoming miles beyond confused. Miles beyond sad and angry, too.

Without thinking, I suddenly flew up from my chair and turned to face Abbott and Daniel. "How could the two of you do this to me?"

Daniel frowned. "Whatever 'this' is, the whole Thanksgiving thing was Abbott's idea, by the way. I just went along."

I snorted, folding my arms across my chest. "Sure. You can drop the act, Daniel. I'm not buying it even a little bit. The two of you did this together, and completely on purpose; I know it. The two of you did this because you k
now
, and you wanted to crush my soul. You wanted to just...you wanted to hurt me and make me remember what you did."

Daniel frowned even harder, furrowing his dark brows. "I'm really sorry, Harper. I don't quite understand what you're saying, but I didn't mean to upset you by telling you that we don't celebrate Thanksgiving here, if that's what I did. We still kind of have Christmas here, you know. It's even had a resurgence in recent years, with all the kids now in the city."

If I'd had any doubts, I was suddenly completely convinced that he and Abbott
knew
who I was and who my family had been, and they'd decided to play some kind of a sick joke on me. I had no idea
how
they'd found me out, because my mind was still too clouded by alcohol to reason that out, but I just felt in my gut that they had.

Ignoring what Daniel had said, I practically spat my next words at him and Abbott. "The two of you are absolutely sick. It's not bad enough that you did what you did, now you just wanted to turn the knife. You wanted me to remember Amelia, and my sisters, and Thanksgiving, and...."

I hadn't even realized my eyes were misting up, but a hot tear slid down my face, and I impatiently wiped it away.

"You're both monsters."

Daniel opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off.

“No...just, no. I'm done talking, and I'm done thinking. I just want to go to sleep. So, the both of you...please just leave. Unless the two of you want to kill me right now or something. Because I know killing must give you joy."