Vampires 101 (Twilight Hunters Book 1) A Vampire Romance (21 page)

And they saw the daughters of men that they were fair and they took them as wives.

When the sons of the gods mated with the daughters of men and they bore children for them: these were the heroes of old, the men of renown.

The watchers were cast out of heaven and their children destroyed by the gods.

“But this is forbidden,” I gasped.

His reply was a low - throaty laugh. “I’ve never been one for following rules.”

Trembling with pent up desire, I wanted nothing more than to ignore the warning bells ringing in my head, but I couldn’t.

He was playing with me.

When it came right down to it, I would be cast aside and he would go back to wherever he came from. I was no more than an animal to the Anunnaki, and no matter what he was saying now, there was no changing the fact that he was one of them.

Bringing my hands up to his shoulders, I pushed him away forcefully. “Stop!”

The fire of passion faded from his dark eyes. “Why?”

“Remember. I am a test subject. I am really nothing to you.”  Just saying the words ripped at my heart. Having incredible sex with him wasn’t the problem. The problem would come when he left me wounded and bleeding. I had little doubt it would happen when he was done playing with me.

He drew back, his face a mask of confusion. “Why would you think that?”

“When Riley confronted you … you didn’t deny the things he said. Then you just left me there on the floor. He was the one that helped me after you left,” I said, trying hard not to betray too much of the hurt I’d felt that night.

“And do you really think I just left you there with that … that cop or whatever he wants to call himself?” Fury spilled from his eyes.

“All I know is that you were not there when I came to. You made love to me and then just disappeared. I think it will always be that way,” I told him, looking away so that he could not see the pain in my eyes. “Thank you for getting me out of there, but could you please take me to my home now.”

He stood up abruptly, turning his back on me. “It’s that Pleiadian isn’t it? He is in love with you and has now convinced you that I am some kind of enemy. That I’ll hurt you.”

My mouth fell open. “Riley … in love with me! You’ve got to be kidding. He can barely stand to be around me.”

He swung around to face me and I felt gooseflesh erupt on my skin as I stared into his stormy black eyes - the eyes of a vampire.

“I’ll kill him,” he said through clenched teeth.

Ok then.

It was obvious that he hadn’t listened to the part about Riley not liking me.

I shook my head. “Damian … this has nothing to do with him.”

He hadn’t heard a word I’d just said. Pure black rage was emanating from every pore in his body. I knew I’d better find a way to diffuse the situation fast; otherwise Riley might be in some big trouble.

“Riley’s a pain in the ass. I barely even like him.”

Ok, so I was only telling half the truth. Riley was a pain in the ass, but lately I hadn’t found it too distasteful to be around him. He was actually kind of fun, but that didn’t mean I was ready to have some big fling with him. I guess it was a good thing that these vamps couldn’t read my mind like they could other people.

The tension seemed to drain out of him, but he wasn’t ready to let it go entirely. “If you don’t trust me, we don’t have anything.”

I was almost swayed by the sadness in his voice. “Damian, we really don’t know each other. You’ve already pointed that out.”

“Your heart knows me,” he insisted.

It was true. In my heart, I felt like he had always been a part of me.

But how could that be?

“I don’t get what you’re trying to say,” I muttered.

He leaned toward me, his eyes pleading for understanding. “I am every man you’ve ever been with.”

I still had no clue what he was trying to tell me.

“Think about it Cassie,” he urged. “Remember your first love in high school, the guy you fell for that summer you were working at Yellowstone. Remember Blake?”

Suddenly a tsunami of memories came at me. My world came crashing down around me as the full realization of what he was saying settled in my heart. It was true. The one thing that I remembered about all of them was that they had Damian’s eyes.

“How?” I asked, nearly choking on the single word as I uttered it.

“Screen memories. You saw me as I wanted you to see me,” he explained.

He reached out to take my hand in his, but I pulled away.

Swallowing hard, I asked the next question that was scrambling my brain. “So when you made love to me … it wasn’t our first time?”

Damian shook his head. “No. It was only the first time that I let you remember as being me.”

“How could you? How could you do that to me?” I asked, my words sounding more like sobs.

“It’s what you said you wanted. It was the only way we could be together, so you asked that we do it that way. I wanted to tell you … I tried.”

Not even the desperation in his voice could penetrate my pain and anger. “I want you to stay away from me. Stay out of my life!”

For a brief instant, his eyes filled with an unfathomable anguish, but it was gone quickly, replaced with cold fury.

“As you wish,” he replied sharply. He then turned on his heels and stalked out of the room. The heavy wooden door thumped loudly when he slammed it behind him.

I could no longer hold back my tears. Bringing my hands up to cover my face, I gave in to the pain that gripped my heart. The sorrow I felt at that moment was like a huge - tight knot in my chest.

I could feel it. This time he was truly gone.

But wasn’t that what I wanted?

He’d betrayed me - betrayed my trust. He’d pretended to be someone else so that he could make love to me, and when he’d came to me as he really was - he’d neglected to tell me this. I felt deceived - used.

Finally exhaustion overcame my tears and I fell into a fitful slumber.

The annoying sound of Jingle Bells kept gnawing at the edge of blissful darkness. I did my best to ignore it, wanting nothing more than to slip into the warm comfort of nothingness.

The sound faded, only to return a moment later. Reaching blindly for the phone, I knocked several objects from the nightstand in the process. At last my hand closed around the hard plastic that was my cell phone. I managed to flip it open and bring it up to my ear.

“Hello.” The word was so inaudible, that even I could barely understand what I’d said.

“Cassie is that you?” Riley’s worried voice drummed through my head.

Still half asleep, I couldn’t do much more than moan.

“Where are you? I’ve been trying to reach you for two days?” It was funny how worry could so easily turn into anger, as soon as a guy found out you were ok.

“Hmm … Transylvania … I think.”

“What are you doing there?” He raised his voice a few notches.

“I’m sleeping. Damian brought me here.” I gave him both answers one right after the other. I doubted I was making a lot of sense.

Forcing my eyes open, I took in my surroundings. It was the pirate flag on the wall that gave it away. I wasn’t in Transylvania. I was home in my own bed.

“Wait … I’m home,” I told him, as some measure of wakefulness returned.

“I’ll be there in ten minutes,” he said before the phone went dead.

Closing the phone, I rolled over to look at the clock. It was after 9:00 AM. Bit by bit my memory of the night before returned, and with it a wave of pain.

So he’d waited until I was asleep and dumped me off at home.

Oh well, it could have been worse. He could have sent me back to that tube. At the very least, I could be thankful he hadn’t done that.

As soon as I threw the blankets off me, the sudden chill reminded me that I was still naked. I’d have to hurry and dress, given that Riley was already on his way over. If only my body would cooperate and get moving.

I’d just managed to slide on a pair of cut-off shorts and a T-shirt when I heard Riley pounding on the door. He was knocking so loudly, I was sure the door would fall right off its hinges.

“Ok already! I’m coming!” I yelled as loudly as I could, which wasn’t too loudly given that I hadn’t even had my morning coffee yet.

Stepping into the living room, I noticed that the door had been repaired. At least that was one less thing I’d have to worry about.

As soon as the lock clicked open, Riley came bursting through the door, nearly hitting me in the face with it as he did. “Jeez Riley! You could at least give me a chance to get out of the way.”

“Are you ok?” he asked, his face a mask of anxiety. “What did he do to you?”

“Nothing,” I told him backing away. “Do you mind if I get some coffee?”

Riley followed me into the kitchen. “What happened?”

While putting some coffee on, I proceeded to tell him what happened after I left the hospital. Of course he saw fit to interrupt me when I got to the part about Chaz, and the reaper getting Damian to rescue me.

“Wait a minute! You have a ghost friend … along with a vampire friend?”

I didn’t want to tell him that at that very moment, Chaz was leaning against my kitchen counter - listening to every word we were saying.

Now Chaz started snickering. “You know … for being such an advanced being, he’s sure dense.”

“Chaz please, don’t be nasty.”

“Wait … are you talking to him now?” Riley asked, suddenly alert.

“Yeah,” I replied, as I was pulling two cups from my cupboard. “He’s making fun of you.”

“Really?” Riley arched one brow.

“He doesn’t like cops. I think he was a stoner when he was alive,” I added before taking a drink of my coffee.

“Don’t go giving me up Dude.” Chaz scowled at me.

I glanced over at Chaz. “Haven’t you figured out what your unfinished business is yet?”

“No,” he shook his head. “I’m too busy pulling your ass out of trouble.”

Ok, I had to agree with him there. He had helped me out a lot.

Rolling his eyes, Riley spoke up. “Can’t you tell your ghost that we are having a private conversation?”

“Yeah right! He just wants me gone so he can get down your pants,” Chaz laughed.

“Chaz!” I gasped. I didn’t need a mirror to know that my face was turning red.

“Well it’s true,” he shrugged. “You’re boyfriend is right. You’d have to be blind not to see that this cop is head over heels in love with you,” he said before adding. “By the way … I’m taking your boyfriend’s side on this one. He didn’t just leave you … old Riley threatened to give him up to the other Anunnaki if he didn’t skedaddle out of here.”

“Were you spying on me again?” I asked him.

“I wasn’t spying … I was just keeping an eye on you,” Chaz defended himself.

Now I turned all my anger on Chaz. “You get off on voyeurism … don’t you?”

“Yeah,” he said, a sheepish smile spreading across his face. “It’s hot watching you get into the sexy mode.”

I was seized with the sudden urge to stomp my feet and throw a fit. “You can’t be doing perverse stuff like that,” I stormed at him. “Are you watching me while I’m in the shower too?”

“Watching you do what kind of things?” Riley asked, trying to break through the confusion.

Chaz’s laughter echoed through the kitchen. “Hey, what good is it to be a ghost if you don’t get some advantages?”

Great! On top of everything else, I was being haunted by a perverted ghost.

Before I could yell at him some more, Chaz disappeared, though I couldn’t be entirely sure he was actually gone.

Seeing that I had relaxed some and was no longer yelling at thin air, Riley cleared his throat and asked, “So what was that all about?”

“Nothing,” I said too quickly.

One look at Riley’s face and I knew he was aware that my encounter with Damian had consisted of more than just being rescued. I also knew that there just might be some truth to what Damian and Chaz said. What I saw in Riley’s eyes was pain, but he was very quick to cover it up.

“Do you want to finish telling me what happened?” His voice was softer now; the urgency seemed to be gone.

Swallowing hard, I asked, “Riley … tell me the truth. Why did Damian leave the other night?”  I had to know if I could trust him.

Riley looked away, but not before I saw the anger and jealousy in his expression. “I told him that I would make sure his people knew what he’d done with you if he didn’t go. I knew he would go rather than risk them hurting you. He’s no good for you Cassie,” he finished.

Never in a million years would I have guessed that Riley even liked me, let alone that his feelings might be more intense. Although I never meant to hurt him, I still felt like a total bitch because that’s exactly what I’d done.