Desperate and Dateless

DESPERATE AND DATELESS

An Ellora’s Cave Publication, April 2005

Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.

1337 Commerce Drive, #13

Stow
, OH 44224

ISBN MS Reader (LIT) ISBN # 1-4199-0190-7

Other available formats (no ISBNs are assigned):

Adobe (PDF), Rocketbook (RB), Mobipocket (PRC) & HTML

DESPERATE AND DATELESS Copyright © 2005 ELIZABETH LAPTHORNE

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part without permission.

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. They are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.

Edited by
Martha Punches.

Cover art by
Syneca
.

Warning:

The following material contains graphic sexual content meant for mature readers.
Desperate and Dateless
has been rated E–roti
c by a minimum of three independent reviewers.

Ellora’s Cave Publishing offers three levels of Romantica™ reading entertainment: S (S-ensuous), E (E-rotic), and X (X-treme).

S-
ensuous
love scenes are explicit and leave nothing to the imagination.

E-
rotic
love scenes are explicit, leave nothing to the imagination, and are high in volume per the overall word count. In addition, some E-rated titles might contain fantasy material that some readers find objectionable, such as bondage, submission, same sex encounters, forced seductions, and so forth. E-rated
titles are the most graphic titles we carry; it is common, for instance, for an author to use words such as “fucking”, “cock”, “pussy”, and such within their work of literature.

X-
treme
titles differ from E-rated titles only in plot premise and storyline
execution. Unlike E-rated titles, stories designated with the letter X tend to contain controversial subject matter not for the faint of heart.

Chapter One

Valentine’s Day, February 14

Vicci tried to stifle her sigh. The large black-walled room reminded her uncannily of an enormous box. Multicolored flashing lights lit up the stage, where a band of bored-looking, barely pubescent young men made very loud noises supposedly singing yet another of their songs.

As Vicci couldn’t distinguish one “song” from the next, she had long ago filtered out the noise. She stood in the far corner to one side of the band, her hand resting close to her beamer.

Mentally she continued to count the hours until the Annual Vampiric Desperate and Dateless Ball would be over and she could crawl into her nice warm bed.

Alone.

“
Anything happening over at your end, Vicci?”

Vicci really did sigh. She pressed the tiny earpiece on to reply and answered back wearily.

“Unless you count a couple of hundred vampires dirty dancing and desperately trying to find the other half of their Soul’s Circle, nope. Not a thing.”

The masculine chortle ringing inside her ear made her smile, but she didn’t laugh back. Vicci had no argument with the general concept behind the ball itself. Vampires congregating to find the other half of their Soul’s Circle seemed all fine and dandy to her.

She hadn’t realized just how out of the merc mindset she had become until she found herself bored, standing in the one spot for hours on end while nothing more interesting than numerous people groping and dancing occurred. A couple of years ago, before she had left her merc days behind her, she could have stood for
days
in the one spot and not been bored.

It hit home more than anything how she now no longer fit into her merc world, yet hadn’t fit properly into the Security work she had tried to settle into either. She felt odd and out of place no matter what she did now.

“
This
is
a Desperate and Dateless Ball, Vicci. What else would you expect but a lot of dirty dancing and a heap of stupid kids wanting to live forever?”

Vicci sighed. Contrary to the horror tales of old, vampires fed from emotions, not blood from the necks of innocent virgins. Almost any strong emotion would do, lust, happiness, sadness—whatever.

Vampires were able to physically drink blood, but they didn’t
need
to unless they were severely hurt or hadn’t fed from emotions in a couple of days or more.

The room positively overflowed with lust, the bumping and grinding of the vamps, as well as the few scattered humans and other races hoping to find a vampiric partner.

While security wasn’t precisely needed, the vampires were political enough to know it looked good for them to be seen to be offering safety for the other patrons. The fact that everyone had known the existence of vampires for hundreds of years, and the last vampire murders had been well over thirty years ago, meant little. Mothers still warned their children of the dangers of being joined to a vampire.

Personally, when Vicci had been offered the job for Security tonight, she couldn’t think of a worse way to spend an evening. Watching enormous groups of people drink themselves stupid and try to get attached to a vampire was not one of her top twenty ways to spend a night.

Who the hell would want to live forever anyway? It would be incredibly boring—Vicci had more than enough time on her hands here and now, the thought of doing more Security work for decade after decade had her shuddering in revulsion.

“It’s really not that bad, once you get into the swing of it.”

Vicci jumped as a soft, sexy low voice uttered the seductive words from just beside her. Even though the music was well dulled from all the way over on the other side of the room, she couldn’t understand for a moment how she had been able to hear this man’s words.

What felt worse to her ego, was she hadn’t noticed anyone coming up beside her. It startled her to realize he had crept up so silently.

Verrrry old,
she told herself. Vicci held herself carefully, not really sure how to treat the handsome man standing beside her. He only stood a few inches taller than her so he must have been just slightly under six foot. He had darkly tanned skin and neatly brushed, rich dark brown hair. In the yellow, blue and pink lights, his chocolate brown eyes reflected myriad different colors. Stubble ran along his jaw, almost as if he knew it added to his sex appeal and wouldn’t hinder his chances of a pick-up tonight at all.

Vicci bit the inside of her cheek and tried to remember what it was he had just said.

“Hanging around, century after century I mean,” he continued, almost as if he could read her mind. Vicci slammed up her mental block. She hadn’t been so careless as to leave her mind and thoughts open to anyone, let alone a vampire, in many, many years.

“I never thought it wouldn’t work for some. At their age,” she nodded to a particularly young girl dancing around in a see-through slip, “I’m sure they’d love to dance and party and drink for a couple of centuries or so. At my age, however,” she added more piously, “I don’t need the comfort of centuries to soften the blow. I know I won’t get everything I want, and have come to terms with it.”

“And what don’t you think you’ll be able to get in this passing?” her shadowy man asked seductively. Vicci shivered as a mental picture seared its way across her mind.

His long, elegant hands cupping her breasts, the soft, perfectly straight strands of his hair teasing her sensitive skin as he ran his tongue down her neck. Her surreal self arched into his heated touch, and she mentally watched herself spread her legs, longing for his hot, thick length to thrust itself deeply inside her.

Vicci blinked as one of the flashing lights shone directly in her eyes for a second. She shook herself as if to get rid of the lascivious thoughts. She really needed to get a grip on herself.

Vicci blushed, grateful for the darkness of the corner when the seductive vampire next to her chuckled. Vicci cleared her throat and got a grip on her wayward imagination. With her mind block still firmly in place, she sincerely hoped he hadn’t seen
that
particular thought.

She turned to fully face the man, keeping the room in general in her peripheral vision.

“I just don’t think that having a fling with a vampire, which we all know will end sooner or later, is the answer to gaining more time in this passing. You might as well do what you can, and just let the rest of it go.”

Dark brown eyes bored searchingly into her. Vicci glanced away, looking back out over the dancing crowd. She felt very slightly uncomfortable under his intense gaze, as if he searched into her very soul. She jumped slightly and swung her eyes back to his as he commented softly, wondering if he truly could read her mind.

“You really don’t think you’ll find that special love of yours in this passing? I thought every woman alive secretly yearned for that perfect partner.”

Vicci pushed aside her doubts and cleared her mind. She tried to bite away her sarcastic smile as her sense of humor returned with a vengeance. She turned back to face the gyrating crowd.

“I’ve spent more time off-world than on. When I turned thirty-five I decided it was time to settle down and open myself up to the chance of meeting the right man. I quit my well-paying merc job and spent every credit I owned on a lodging. Two years of these sort of security gigs and I’m pretty much ready to head back into the fray.”

Vicci kept an eye on the female brunette she had mentally tagged earlier. She seemed to be more desperate than the rest of the crowd, and it was always the desperate ones that created trouble.

Vicci moved slowly along the wall of the enormous room to keep the brunette in her sights as she danced from partner to partner, gyrating madly and seeking any attention she could glean.

As Vicci moved a step at a time, the handsome man at her side easily closed the distance between them each time she moved. A small part of her felt glad the man had enough interest in her to follow as she progressed along the wall. If nothing else it soothed her ego.

After taking another couple of long looks around the crowded room, Vicci decided she had tagged the other woman correctly. If anyone was going to start trouble in this particular room Vicci had been given to preside over, she’d be it.

Just as Vicci finished that thought, the brunette cried out and grabbed the shoulder of another woman. The sexy blond male vampire she had been dancing with earlier had turned to a nearby tall, slim, blonde woman in a deep red sparkly dress, and had started grinding his pelvis with hers.

The brunette had seemingly taken exception, and looked as if she was gearing herself up to cause a scene.

Vicci forgot all about the sexy vamp at her side and started forward into the crowded area. She reached the trio in less than a minute and pulled the two women apart. She clamped a hand down on the younger woman’s shoulder to keep her still.

Leaning down, she tried to shout in her ear to be heard. “Knock it off or I’ll kick you out!”

The smaller woman whirled to face her, and Vicci barely had time to raise her arms in defense before the brunette tried to scratch at her face. Vicci felt a warm rush of air and the heated, protective press of a masculine body. She lowered her arms so see her seductive conversation partner fiercely gripping the clawed outstretched hands, keeping her from lashing out.

Not wanting to waste any time, and half fearful the girl would attack again anyway, Vicci called for extra guards through her ear-comm.

Even though she could see that the sexy man was speaking softly to the brunette, Vicci gently reached out to touch her companion’s hands to get him to release distraught woman. She couldn’t hear the words over the din of the band, but she could tell what the brunette was stammering over and over again.

“You’re Prince Vladmir. I’m so sorry.”

Filing the information away for later, Vicci kept one hand firmly but gently on the girl’s shoulder and began to walk her away from the dance floor. The people they passed barely even acknowledged them, most simply moved aside to let them get past. Vicci felt incredibly relieved that, other than a few pitying glances, no one moved to help or hinder their retreat.

Within moments, two burly guards, both of whom she suspected were vampires from their easy gait and weary-looking faces, were weaving their way through the crowd, homing in on Vicci, her vampiric companion, and the girl.

Vicci nodded politely as the two guards acknowledged her, and then both laid hands on the young woman to escort her away. As she watched them leave the room, she felt a tiny burst of pity for the poor girl. When her conversational partner gently held her arm and continued to lead them in the direction of the door, Vicci pulled back.

“I can’t leave,” she shouted over the music. Instead of replying, he nodded to the three extra guards who had arrived into this particular room.

The Ball was spread out around six connecting rooms, each one with a different purpose. The fact that a number of extra guards had posted themselves here after the slight altercation meant if she wanted to, she was perfectly free to leave with her vampire companion.

The issue, Vicci felt, was whether or not she
wanted
to step outside with him. She turned her head slightly to study him better. He stood perfectly still, confidant enough in himself to let her look as deeply into him as she liked.

His straight, dark hair played hide and seek with his eyes. Slowly, gently, letting her see him move well before he touched her, he raised his hand and let it sit on her shoulder.

Vicci felt a thrill run through her as the heat from just his hand penetrated her body. She felt far too much curiosity about this vampire to not want to follow him outside.

Vicci nodded once and slowly turned in the crowded room so she could head toward the door. She felt surprised that, instead of releasing her, he simply maneuvered his hand slightly with her turning so it remained resting gently on her shoulder, keeping them linked together.

Smiling to herself, Vicci tried not to think about it as she wove her way toward the side exit, heading out of the dark room. More than a few couples embraced in hidden pockets of darkness. Even in passing Vicci noticed a number of tongues flashing in the strobing lights, hands caressing over delicate, exposed skin.

Finally, she pressed her thumb onto the scan-pad and a side door slid whisper-softly into the wall. Vicci stepped out into the evening, breathing in the clear, pure air.

She felt a twinge of sadness as Vladmir removed his hand from her shoulder. She looked up into the deep purple darkness of the evening sky. Zillions of twinkling stars shone above her, other planets and galaxies beckoning her into their depth.