Not Another Vampire Book (8 page)

Kara
smiled at him.  On impulse, she reached up to touch his cheek, her thumb
tracing over the scar, which had moved to his chin.  He was stuck in this
thankless role as a Black Hat, but he was also the only person who’d tried to
help her since she’d been here.  Damien could do so much better than this stupid
story.  Such a shame he was destined to lose to that dumbass Slade.  “You
should stop this war with the Vampires.  You can’t win.”  The good guys always
triumphed at the end of the fairytale.

“Who
are you?”  Damien’s black eyes met hers, something hot and unreadable in their
depths.  “How do you know of the future?”

“I
live there.”  Kara dropped her hand.  “I’ll see ya around, Vlad.”  She tried to
pulling free of his grasp, but he held tight.

“You
can’t go.”  Damien sounded bleak.  “I can’t allow it.”

“
Allow?
” 
She snorted.  “Please.  What are you going to do?  Keep me here against my
will?”

Damien
cleared his throat.  “Actually…”  He trailed off as she turned to meet his
gaze.

“Actually,
what?
”  For the first time, Kara felt a flash of fear around Damien.  He
might have been helpful, but he was also a magical super-villain… And she was
all alone in his creepy house of horrors.  She instinctively jerked hard
against his hold and he released her.  Not that it made a difference.  Kinda
hard to outrun someone who could teleport.  She took a step back from him, a
ridiculous swell of betrayal rising within her.  “
Actually
, you think
you’re going to hold me prisoner or something?  You can’t do that!  I trusted
you!”

Damien’s
jaw tightened.  “I know.  But…”  He glanced away in frustration.  “Just let me
think.”

“Think
about what?  Manacles versus leg irons?”

“You’re
being ridiculous.”  He frowned as if something new occurred to him.  “Kara
Lynn, wait.  I have a carriage.  Sometimes.  Or, at least, I can hire one.  We
could go in a carriage.  Alright?”

Kara
took a break for her newest freak-out, considering that.  “A carriage?”  That
might actually be doable.  “Are you offering me a
lift?
”  Some of the stilted
formality of his words had lessened, but the guy still wasn’t super easy to
chat with.  Was
that
all he was going on about?

Damien
slowly nodded.  “Things would be less… complicated if you allowed me to escort
you there.”

She
exhaled heavily, her anxiety fading.  “You dumbbell!  I know you have a dungeon
from one of those pointless flashbacks.  I was imagining all kinds of weird
Saw
setups and you just want to drive me to the Donnelly Building?!”  She
started laughing in relief, reaching out to smack his arm in amused annoyance.  “You
scared me.”

“I
would not have you frightened of me, if I could prevent it.”  Damien murmured.

“Good. 
Because I would not want to kill you, if I can prevent it.”  Aside from this
man, Kara had absolutely nothing.  No friends, no family, no clue as to how to
survive in this Bizarre-o World.  It wasn’t like Melessa or Slade were going to
lend a hand.  Morons.  “Without you, I’m all alone here.  You have no idea how
terrifying that is.”

Damien’s
head titled, again, something softening in his angular face.  “I know what it
is to be alone.”  He said, quietly.

Kara
cleared her throat.  “Anyway… Yeah.  Yeah, come along.  Thanks.”  Why burn
bridges?  If Damien was dumb enough to want to keep hanging out with her, even after
she’d rewritten his reality, what was the point in arguing?  It never hurt to
have a handsome sorcerer on your team.  Kara headed down the hall.  “You’re
going to have to drive, though.  Everything I know about horses, I learned from
watching
Seabiscuit
.”

The woman would be his savior.

Angelic and yielding, with a lilting voice and sweet
disposition, she had been crafted just for Slade.  At the end of all his heroic
fighting in the Vampire Wars, Melessa’s angelic love was his reward.  It made
his valiant, selfless struggle finally worth it.  His mission now was to
protect his mate from Damien’s evil clutches.  Slade was a hero.  Only someone
of his magnificence could help save Melessa from the dark creature’s masterful
plots, just as only Melessa’s purity could save Slade’s lost soul.

Eternal
Passion at Sunset- Chapter four

The
woman would be his downfall.

From
the second he’d laid eyes on her, he’d known.  The curves of her body.  The
curls of her hair.  The wide, chocolate eyes staring up at him in defiance and surprise. 
Even the honeysuckle smell of her.  It was all… different.

Dangerous.

Damien
knew dangerous people.  He
was
one.  He’d been raised in a world where
only the most dangerous bastards survived and Damien came through it as the
last one standing.  He needed nothing but his vengeance, now.  He was strong and
isolated.  Used to his life.

Yet,
this woman disrupted things.

Disrupted
the very clear path he’d always followed.

It
seemed like he existed in a haze, mechanically moving forward towards his ultimate
goal.  All day, every day, he made plans to kill Slade.  Plans to rip away
everything that the Vampire cared about.  Tonight should have been the first
step in Damien’s greater agenda.  Countless hours went into scheming and
plotting and arranging it.  Slade’s Eternal-One was the key to everything.

Karalynn
could bring the reigning champ to his knees and give Damien what he wanted. 
Slade dead.  The Vampires broken.  An end to the war.  A chance to rest.  Just
five minutes where Damien didn’t have to fight or obsess.  Five minutes where
he could sit beside someone and talk about nothing.  Five minutes where he
could have…

…
Peace.

The
woman could give him all that.

But,
she was also more dangerous to him than anyone else had ever been.  He couldn’t
explain who Karalynn Donnelly was or where she came from.  He couldn’t explain her
powers or how she seemed to know things.

He
couldn’t explain why she affected him so much.

“We
have to turn here.”  Her attention was focused on the street, the dim light
reflecting off the curves of her face.  Why had he never noticed humans looked
so soft and appealing?  He’d always dismissed them as a frail, unimportant
species.  Now, he was reconsidering that stance.  Close-up, they were
compelling.  Bright.

Or
was it just
this
human who stirred him?

It
was as if someone had designed Karalynn to appeal just to him, either as a
bribe, or a prize, or a test.  Or maybe just a cosmic joke.  Back in the
garden, Kara said that she didn’t know why she was there.  But, Damien knew.

It
was simple fate.

Nothing
happened without a reason.  For good or ill, his fate was tied to this woman. 
Slade’s woman.  The destined bride of his enemy.

Damien’s
strangely outspoken, utterly oblivious hostage.

“Damien,
are you listening?”  She demanded.

“How
could I prevent it?  You’re shouting at me.”  No one else had the spine to even
attempt such a thing.  If they had, Damien would have exploded their eyes right
in the sockets and then ripped their lungs out with his magicks.  With this baffling
human, though, he just found the impertinence… interesting.

Kara
made a face, not at all afraid of his powers or the horrible, conscious-less
things he could do to a mere mortal.  Even one as unique as her.  “Just make
him turn left, Vlad.”

If
Damien could have still felt amusement, he might have smiled at her nerve.  Karalynn
interested Damien and
nothing
interested Damien.  She was somehow immune
to his mindreading powers.  She was able to see things that others couldn’t. 
Why?  What was she?  How had she just appeared at the party?  Why would she not
want Slade?  Why would she instead choose to come with
him
?  Why were
her clothes so… different?

Damien’s
eyes flicked down to the long expanse of her legs and then quickly away, again.
 He’d always been drawn to female legs.  Hers were so beautifully shaped and
shockingly bare.  He’d never been so aware of a woman before.

Not
that Kara was
trying
to entice him.  Damien might as well have been a
lamppost for all the attention she gave him.  That annoyed him, although it was
beneath him to care about a mortal’s opinion.

“Are
you sure, this time?”  He asked just to irritate her.  “We seem to be going in
circles. One would think you’d remember the location of your own building.”

Kara
flashed him a glare.  “It’s not my fault.  Everything’s all switched around. 
Tanya can’t even get the streets in her own city straight.”

“Indeed.” 
Whoever Tanya was, Karalynn obviously blamed the woman for all her problems. 
He’d ask for specifics, but he could wait an hour or so for the truth.  Twelve
hundred years of life had taught him patience.  Damien leaned closer to the window
and raised his voice so the cab driver could hear.  “Turn left.”  He called,
wearily.

The
tediously slow human transportation was yet another bothersome detail of this
excursion.  If Kara had let them just teleport, they could’ve been there by
now.  So, why hadn’t he just ignored her ludicrous feelings?  Why wasn’t he putting
a stop to
all
this madness?

So
many questions and they all revolved around one small girl.

Tonight
everything had gone strangely.  Not at all as he’d anticipated.  For the first
time in forever, Damien worried that somebody could actually defeat him.  Kara
was beyond his understanding.  He’d only been in her orbit for a short time and
already she had him acting out of character.  She did something mysterious and
unexpected to his normal, rational way of thinking and that made her a threat.

Far
more of one than that asshole Slade.

“Your
bird’s staring at me.”  She muttered.  “Does it have to do that?”

“I
don’t think she likes you.”

“It’s
mutual.”  Karalynn thumped her forehead against the window glass.  “Ya know, when
I went to work this morning, I never thought I’d misplace the whole office
today.  I was
sooo
not expecting any of this to happen.”

“Neither
was I.”

That
was an understatement.  His plan had been so simple.  Damien appreciated a good
plan.  It gave him something to think about besides the memories and hatred.  It
made sense to hold onto Slade’s woman and use her to lure the Vampire into a
trap.  Kidnapping the bastard’s Eternal-One had always been Damien’s
intention.  He was just stunned that it happened so easily.

Karalynn
Donnelly was his prisoner.

That
seemed… wrong.

Maybe,
on some level, Damien had never expected his plan to work.  He certainly hadn’t
expected Kara to come with him so willing.  Stranger still, now that he had
her, a huge part of him wanted to get rid of her, as quickly as possible.  Give
her back to Slade.  Dump her off a bridge.  Buy her a train ticket.  Anything
to put some distance between them.

She
would be his doom.

The
legends of his people said that a Wizard Warlock could recognize the one who
would destroy him.  He believed that.  Believed in destiny and believed that some
force out there was directing the universe.  Damien looked at this small, weak
human and he saw his own end.

He
wanted her, anyway.

Even
knowing that she was most likely leading him into a trap, he still wanted her.

His
gaze traveled back to her, against his will.  He had never seen anyone wear
clothes like Karalynn’s.  They were... small.  Beneath the thin, pink fabric of
her blouse he could see the steady rise of her breasts.  The sight transfixed
him.  She looked so soft.  It worried Damien how much he wanted to touch her.  What
he would give for it.  He wasn’t a man controlled by his sexual desires.  The
fact that Karalynn made him react this way was… wrong.  Wrong in ways that
threatened to open up an entirely new set of problems if he examined them too
closely.

Wrong
in ways that he’d just as soon ignore.

Only
he couldn’t ignore Karalynn.

He’d
tried.

He’d
wanted to lock her up, out of sight and mind.  Tossing her in the dungeon would
have been the most logical way keep her under his control and use her as bait
for Slade.  Unfortunately, the insane woman didn’t seem to
realize
that she
was his captive.  She was under his complete control and she still thought she
could leave anytime she liked.  Damien had been in the somewhat awkward position
of having to explain the truth to her and he
would
have.  Was about to.

 Except
Kara had turned those huge brown eyes on him, the first stirrings of betrayal
and fear in her expression… and he couldn’t do it.  If Damien threw her in the
dungeon, Kara would see him as the enemy, just as the rest of the world did.

He
found that he didn’t want that.

He
actually… cared that she might hate him.  In one split second, Damien chose to
keep the woman’s odd faith in him and risk a Vampire ambush.  What kind of
powers did Karalynn have to make him do something so idiotic?

He’d
come up with this ridiculous plan to drive her to the so-called “Donnelly
Building,” simply to appease her.  There was no other gain in it.  Damien
hadn’t been thinking of the trap that she might be leading him into.  He’d only
focused on ensuring that Kara didn’t guess that she was a pawn in this war.  That
he was her enemy.  Damien needed to hide what he really was, because he didn’t
want this
ease
between them to end.

With
this small human around, Damien felt less alone on a fundamental level.

“I’m
telling you, the building should be…”  Kara drew in a quick breath.  “Stop! 
Stop the car.  Carriage.  Whatever.  Just stop the horse!”  She was opening the
door and bounding out on to the sidewalk before Damien could give the command.

Damien
swore and hit the top of the coach with his walking stick, signaling the driver
to stop.  He looked out the open carriage door, his senses scanning.  This
could so easily be a plot laid by the Vampires.  A way to lure him out and
capture him for their horrific tortures.  Damien never underestimated the guile
of those bastards.  It was entirely possible that Karalynn was working with
them, bringing him here as part of a plan.

He’d
know soon enough.

Damien
stepped down from the carriage, his body braced for battle.  It actually
surprised him when several seconds ticked by without an attack.  He looked
around in confusion and saw nothing in every direction.  The entire street was
deserted at this time of night; just empty warehouses and moonlight.  Why on
earth had the human brought them here?

His
eyes easily found Kara in the darkness.  The woman stood in the center of a
vacant lot a dozen yards away.  Turning, searching, she gazed around as if she
expected a building to miraculously appear from the gravel.

“It
should be here.”  She wasn’t talking to him.  Damien could tell from her tone. 
“It should be here and it’s not.  Tanya didn’t write my building into the
story.  Or maybe it’s just legitimately not built yet.  Why don’t I know what
year it was built?!  Please, God.”   She plowed both hands through her hair and
looked up at the stars.  “I can’t stay here!  I have to go home!  Let me go
home!
”

Damien
moved forward, half expecting some mysterious being to answer her.  To come
down and try to spirit her away.  Karalynn’s origins were a mystery, but he
knew that something far bigger than even his own magicks was at work.  She
could vanish at any time, just as suddenly as she’d appeared.

No
.

An
unexpected swell of panic filled him.  He’d only just found her.  It was too
soon.  All the animal instincts in his body suddenly wanted to lunge at Kara
and keep her from leaving.  He could feel his own powers readying, preparing to
grab her back from whatever force sought to steal her away.

…
Only nothing happened.

Just
more silence and the scurrying sound of rats.

His
heart began to beat, again.  No one was coming to save her.

Obviously
.

When
had anyone ever helped the innocents of this world?

“It’s
just not fair.”  As Damien drew closer, Kara slowly sank to the ground and
buried her head in her palms.  “The building’s gone.  What am I going to do?” 
She looked utterly alone in a way that had Damien’s cold heart shifting in his
chest.