Embrace The Dawning (The Covenant Series Book 1) (10 page)

“Yes, the Covenant is a group of old strong vampires that uphold our vampire laws. All over the country there are vampire covens, but there is only one Covenant. When vampires get out of control or break laws, the Covenant resolves the problem.”

“Your own vampire government. That’s ingenious.”

“It keeps our existence a secret and keeps our population under control.”

“Do ya have strict rules, like China? Only one vampire per family?”

Adrian smiled at her attempt to make a joke.

Kayci blushed. “That bad, huh?”

Adrian swept his hand along her arm gently. “I’m impressed with how well you continue to take it all in.”

Kayci shrugged. “The wine helps. So…how does your hunt for this vampire affect me?”

“She saw me with you and saw me kill one of her coven vampires to protect you. Now she is using the fact that I care for you as leverage to get me out of her way.”

Kayci’s heart fluttered when he said
care for you
. She’d come back to that later though. She was now on this vampire’s radar…

“How does she plan to use me as leverage?”

“She found me tonight when I was…” Adrian hesitated. “When I was feeding.”

Kayci cringed. She didn’t want to think about Adrian feeding on someone like the vampire that attacked her had tried to do.

“She told me she had taken you. I believed her.” Adrian swallowed the lump in his throat, clearly disturbed by the thought. “It’s something she would do. When she told me, I became enraged. I came here to see if it was true. The whole thing was a setup. She had a couple of her coven vampires follow me to see where you live. Now she truly does know I care for you and where you live.”

Kayci’s eyes widened in fear. She thought of the verbena and talisman. The fact that she was protected in her home lessened her anxiety.

“The witch I met, she gave me verbena to put at my windows and the talisman to hang on my door, which clearly needs to go
on
the door,
not
above,” she acknowledged. “Those items will keep any vampire from entering my home.”

“You’re right. They will, but I don’t feel that’s enough protection. You’ll have to leave your house for something or another, and the vampire, Danika, is very clever and deceptive.” He paused a moment, considering his words carefully. “I want you to stay with me for a while until Danika has been captured.”

Kayci’s guard immediately went up. As much as she wanted to see where Adrian lived and to spend time with him, she refused to be confined to a vampire’s home, a vampire that she really didn’t know all that well. She had a job to do and a life to live. She wasn’t going to put everything on hold because another vampire may or may not come after her.

“No,” she responded. “I have a job and a life. I’m not going to hole up in a vampire haven until this crazy vampire is caught. I don’t need you to put yourself at risk to keep protecting me. I’m not without the ability to protect myself.”

Adrian seemed shocked. “Kayci, you’re human. You’re not strong enough to fight off one vampire, let alone more. You would only have to stay with me for a few days. If anything happened to you, I would feel responsible. It’s my fault that Danika knows who you are and where you live.”

Kayci read the concern in his eyes. She hadn’t felt like she mattered to a man in a long time. She admired his protectiveness, yet his idea that she was a helpless human aggravated her. She didn’t want to be his continuous damsel in distress, or perceived as one. She struggled not to reveal she wasn’t a fragile human and had the same capabilities he had, but the idea of the Covenant finding out about her terrified her.

Kayci took Adrian’s hand in hers. She instantly became aware of the same humming sensation as when they kissed before.

“Adrian, I appreciate your concern for my safety, I really do, but the answer is still no. I’ll do everything I can to avoid putting myself at risk. I promise. You have a job to do, and you don’t need to be babysitting me. Your focus should be on finding this woman before she creates anymore vampires or wreaks anymore havoc in town.”

Adrian’s head lowered. He looked at her hand as he caressed it gently. He returned his gaze to her with an expression of unease. “I can see there’s no changing your mind. I’ll leave you my number. Call it if you need me for
any
reason. I’ll come by and check on you.” His tone refused argument.

Kayci used his hand in hers to pull him closer. The intense energy began to vibrate. She bit her lip to hold back her strong desire to kiss him uninhibitedly.

“Yes, you can come by whenever you’d like.” The words came out as more of an invitation. He gave a zealous smile.

“Good,” he whispered before pulling her nearer and pressing his lips against hers once more.

Electricity shot through her body. Their kiss quickly grew in intensity, and she couldn’t help herself from wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling his body closer. She moaned with pleasure as his hand caressed her backside and lifted her onto the counter. Their hands aggressively roamed one another. It didn’t take long for the strange humming sensation to engulf her senses and make all else fade.

Adrian heard Kayci’s heartbeat pounding heavily against her chest. It echoed in his ears. Her scent filled his nostrils, overwhelming his senses and leaving him dizzy. His vampire needs heavily combated his physical desires. His fangs extracted. He meant to pull back, only to be enticed by Kayci’s moaning as his fangs repeatedly grazed her tongue.

Adrian brought his kisses from her lips to her cheek, nibbled her ear, and continued fervently alongside her neck. Her whimpers for more willed him further. He struggled to gain self-control as her heartbeat quickened and the humming around them became deafening. He growled at the overpowering desire to feed on her and his weakness in resisting that desire. Her blood surged just beneath his teeth. He pressed his fangs gently against her skin. It would only take a little prick to taste her. His fangs increased their pressure as one hand held the nape of her neck and the other continued to roam and knead her body.

“Uh-hum! I can hear you two!”

Adrian’s senses came rushing back as he heard Elise shout. He instantly pulled away from Kayci. He’d almost fed from her. Frustration coupled with his intense sexual longing left him light headed. He staggered away from her. She too appeared faint and burning with desire. Part of him was grateful for the intrusion, yet the majority of him craved to have her moaning beneath him again with his fangs deeply embedded in her flesh. He quickly tried to shake the thoughts from his mind. Guilt developed in the pit of his gut. Thankfully, Kayci had no idea how close he’d come.

“Sorry,” Kayci shouted back.

She bit her lip and gazed at Adrian, who appeared as dazed and lustful as she was. She stepped down from the counter and adjusted her shirt. She couldn’t believe how intense, how intimate, things had progressed between them. She was ridiculously responsive to his touch and his kisses. She took a deep breath and tried to not think about the sensual encounter.

“You were going to give me your cell number?” she asked, her words breathy. She was still reeling from their embrace.

“Yes, I was,” he said just as breathlessly.

Kayci snuck out to the entryway, took her cell phone out of her purse, and returned to the kitchen. Adrian was obviously still reeling, his vampire appearance visible.

“I’m ready,” she said with cell phone in hand.

As he said each number, she quickly tapped the screen. “Got it.” She set the phone on the counter and looked at him. His eyes were transitioning back to green right in front of her.

“Your eyes are beautiful whether they are green or gold.”

Adrian smiled. She could barely see the tips of his fangs now.

“Call me anytime, Kayci. I mean it, and please be careful.”

He wrapped his arms around her back and brushed his fingers through her hair before giving her a quick, gentle kiss.

“The sooner you catch her, the sooner we can see each other again.”

“Then I’ll hunt dusk to dawn.”

Kayci smiled. “Quite the romantic, aren’t you?”

Adrian let out a good-humored laugh.

“What do you expect? I was born in a time when you
courted
ladies.”

“I don’t even want to think about how many ladies you may have courted throughout the years.”

Adrian grinned. “It’s far less than you think. I can promise you that.”

Kayci smiled, relieved by his comment.

“I’m going to call your phone so you have my number.” She picked up her cell phone from the counter and dialed his number, then disconnected after she heard the buzzing in his pocket. “Call me when things have slowed down.”

Adrian came to her, giving her a longer, more intimate kiss this time. Her breath escaped when their lips parted.

“I’m looking forward to calling you when things slow down.”

Kayci smiled at Adrian as she took his hand in hers and guided him back to the front door. Elise opened her eyes and sat up on the couch as they entered the living room. Adrian stopped to speak with her.

“I’m thankful you were able to see me as a vampire. It’s a relief to be myself around the both of you. And I meant it when I said I would not harm either of you. I hope in the future we could even be friends at some point, and thank you, Elise, for keeping my secret.”

Elise rolled her eyes and half smiled with a sigh. “Well, I have to admit, vampy, you’re not so bad. If Kayci trusts you, then you must be a decent guy, vampire,
whatever
.” She waved her hand awkwardly.

“Take care, Elise.”

Elise waved good-bye. “Night, vampy.”

Kayci walked Adrian to the door. He leaned in and gave her another quick kiss.

“Don’t forget to move the talisman.”

She nodded that she would do just that. She waved good-bye and watched as he walked down her walkway to the road, down the road, to the edge of the woods, and then she stepped back inside when he disappeared into the darkness. This time the disappointment of seeing him leave was jumbled with her own giddiness.

Kayci closed the door and smiled widely at Elise still sitting on the couch, wrapped in her blanket.

“It’s about time! Jeez, oh man, did you guys forget I was here? I could hear you two getting all hot and heavy in there. It was gross!”

Kayci laughed at Elise’s melodramatic lecture. She sat next to Elise on the couch and snuggled under the blanket with her.

“So seriously, what’s it like kissing a vampire?”

Kayci bit her lip. She could feel herself blushing. “It’s intense.”

“I don’t think I’ve seen you that hot for a guy since John Keller in high school. No let me correct myself. That was hotter.”

Kayci laughed. She thought of her high school sweetheart. He had been her first love and her first heartbreak. “That was nothing compared to what I feel when I’m with Adrian. It’s like the whole world disappears and it’s only us for those few moments.” She remembered the humming sensation. “It’s an incredible feeling, Elise.”

Elise giggled. “Aren’t you glad we went out last night?”

“Oh, stop your gloating. Of course I’m glad we did. You met Greg, and I ran into Adrian.”

Kayci recalled what Adrian had been doing at Blue Moon and the vampire that might use her as leverage.

“Hang on, Elise. I have to do something real quick.”

Elise stared at Kayci as she left the living room and rushed to the garage. Elise looked at her even more puzzled when Kayci returned with gloves on and a hammer in her hand.

“What are you doing?!”

“I got a talisman from a…” Kayci stopped midsentence. There was so much Elise didn’t know, and Kayci genuinely wanted to tell her best friend everything. “Let me take care of this one thing real quick, and then we’ll talk.”

Elise’s puzzled expression remained. Kayci ignored it for now. She opened her door and took a quick sweep of the tree line and road outside. She didn’t see anything suspicious. Without looking at it, she pulled the talisman off the nail and then set it on the porch floor. She used the hammer to pull the nail out and began hammering the same nail into her door, where a peephole usually would be. She quickly glanced down to see where she set the talisman and then gathered it off the floor, using her peripheral vision to align it with the nail the best she could. Once it rested on the nail, she took off her gloves and came back inside. She set the gloves and hammer on the entryway stand.

Kayci sat next to Elise. “All right, there is more you need to know. The night I was attacked, I was actually attacked by a vampire, not a man. Adrian stopped the vampire from trying to feed off me. He ended up killing the vampire that attacked me because Adrian’s job is to hunt rogue vampires for a vampire organization called the Covenant. His job is to help keep the vampire existence a secret and to eliminate vampires that threaten that existence.”

“You mean, kill those vampires.”

“Yes,” Kayci admitted. “He kills dangerous vampires that want to hurt people, like the one that tried to kill me and was hurting people leaving Blue Moon.”