Raven's Desires (Night Hunters) (6 page)

“Mommy, can I stay if I promise to go to the doctor tomorrow? Would that shut you up?”

Veronica snarled at her.

“You have jokes today, Raven?”

“Yep.”

Veronica took one more look at her before she trotted off in the direction of the kitchen.

“No sugar and a little cream,” Raven said as loudly as she could without causing another series of painful throbs in her head.

“I know how you like your damn coffee!” Veronica yelled from the kitchen area making Raven smile.

Veronica was right about the coffee. It would not help her get rid of the pain. Night after night she came here, sat and drowned her sorrow in coffee while trying to figure out what the hell was going on with her head. Tonight happened to be a good night at the café. There was no one here but her, Veronica and the cook Billy.

Raven was grateful for this quiet over the usual fill of her fellow classmates who usually kept this place alive on a Friday night. Tonight was different. Almost every student in Meadville High School had traveled to Las Vegas to see this new up and coming band named Broken Promises. This band had just come out the month before and it seemed to be a big hit with everyone, young and old.

They topped the charts with their hit single, Secret Cravings, already. The song sounded good, but Raven didn’t see why everyone made a big deal about it. All in all, she loved the peace and quiet tonight. She mentally thanked Broken Promises for entertaining her classmates.

“Here’s your coffee.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

Veronica set the coffee down in front of her but did not walk away. Raven took the little crystal light sugar she had left over from her previous cup of coffee and poured it into her new cup. She took a spoon and mixed the coffee. As she did this she tried to forget about the feel of eyes on her. Raven set the spoon down then sat back on the booth.

“What now, Veronica?” she asked the waitress who stood at the end of the table since she placed the coffee down.

“You need to go get checked.”

Raven groaned. “Only thing I need is some peace and quiet and my friends not standing over me while I’m trying to have my morning coffee.”

“Whatever. You have been here since eleven and that’s not healthy at all.”

The door of the café opened. The simple sound of rain drops hitting the pavement outside almost drove Raven over the edge.

“Oh my,” Veronica said.

After the door closed and quietness once again filled the café, Raven asked, “What is it?”

“Look at the two men coming inside.”

Raven turned in the booth to look at the two men walking into the café. Both were soaked from the rain and they looked so pale. One had either light brown or black hair. The water had it lying on his head. He had on a long, black leather coat and black boots. The other guy, Raven couldn’t describe him with just words. Just like the teenager she was, her body jumped into overdrive just from looking at him. The one she couldn’t stop staring at had shoulder length, light blond hair. His hair was so long and thick that she wanted to run her fingers threw it. The length didn’t take away from his manliness. His skin was as pale as the other but it looked good on him. She couldn’t tell from the distance what color his eyes were but they were very light.
Maybe a baby blue
. He also had on a black jacket and black boots.

God he’s handsome.

Raven could not turn away from this man. Her body began to burn at the thought of the stranger’s hands touching her, which should freak her out, but it didn’t.

The stranger’s buddy sat in the booth next to the door facing away from them. The stranger was about to sit when his head shot up and his gaze locked with hers. Raven’s entire body tensed at the man’s stare.

Raven couldn’t blink or turn away. The stranger smiled and Raven knew that she had lost any fight she had. She did have a secret craving for white guys but she kept it a secret. But she knew, if he came over to her right now and asked her to go home with him she probably would go.

The stranger’s friend turned in the booth and looked at her then back to her admirer. He grabbed her admirer’s arm and pulled him into the booth.

“Raven,” Veronica called her name making her turn around.

Raven looked up at Veronica.

“What?”

“What was that all about?”

Raven glanced back towards the stranger then back to Veronica.

“I don’t know what just happened. I don’t usually act like that when I see a man.”

“Well I’m going to go take their orders. You stay here and try not to stare at them like a hungry, horny lion.”

“No promises,” Raven said with a smile.

Raven took the spoon and began to stir her coffee again. Her legs shook nervously as she tried to keep herself from looking back at the man. What was it about him that made her edgy? The friend of the admirer did nothing for her, only him.

Raven closed her eyes and concentrated on her headache instead of the man.

* * * *

Kristian took off his jacket and laid it on the chair in the booth.

“What’s up with you, man? I’ve never seen you react like that before. Is it because she has that smooth ebony colored skin?” Shane whispered to him.

Kristian frowned at his friend. “No. I don’t have a thing for her. You know I have a very unique taste in women, but I am not looking to be with anyone.”

His friend lifted an eyebrow at him. “I don’t know about you.”

“What about me?”

“I have had you away from your parents for two-hundred years and yet I haven’t seen you be the vampire you are meant to be.”

Kristian sighed then lifted the menu. “What am I to be, some whorish man like you are? Having sex with every female I come into contact with?”

Shane reached over and pulled the menu from his hand.

“Pretty much. You are—”

“May I take your order?”

Kristian looked at the red head as she stood over him. She was pretty to him. Nice skin tone. Long sexy legs in that waitress outfit. But, she just didn’t do it for him. Lately, no one really made him want to have sex with them. Not like his sex on a stick friend Shane.

“Oh yes, you can take more than just my order. I have an itch that is out of my reach that needs to be scratch. Care to help?”

The girl giggled and that was Kristian’s cue to let Shane work his charm on the young lady. That also meant that he would probably be walking home tonight.

“Really now? Just where would this itch be?”

“Why don’t you sit down and I’ll tell ya.”

Kristian grabbed his coat and slid out of the booth. As he walked over towards the young lady who caught his attention earlier, he felt this strange pull to her. When he smiled at her before, it was just a teasing smile and nothing more. But now that he stood closer to her, he felt a magnetic pull towards her.

Not only did he feel a pull, he felt something else. A level of pain he’d never experienced before in a human. Her body screamed of agony. There was so much around this young lady. Where had he witnessed that type of pain before? He had to find out. “You mind if I have a seat here?”

The young lady lifted her hand from her head. She looked up at him with her bloodshot eyes. He could see the agony in those eyes. He heard her heart pounding against her chest. With each beat he could feel her insides screaming for relief of the constant pressure in her head.

The young lady looked back at the waitress and Shane then back to him.

“If you think that I’m going to go home with you like my friend Veronica, you are wrong,” she growled at him.

Kristian had to stop himself from smiling. If he wanted to take her home with him, there was nothing she could do to stop him. He could easily will her to do as he wanted.

“That’s not why I asked to sit here but if you think that I’m that way, I could sit in one of the other booths. I only asked because you seemed a bit troubled.”

As Kristian turned to walk away, her hand grasped his wrist. Kristian didn’t have time to close his mind before he was quickly pulled into hers. This woman was in pain, so much pain that he did not know if he could stop it. Image after image of her crying, begging and pleading for the pain to go away assaulted him until he thought the pain would knock him onto his knees.

“I’m…I’m sorry. I’m not usually this way. I’ve had this headache for so long. You can have a seat, but I doubt I will be very good company.”

Kristian knew he had to try to ease the young lady’s pain.

“I studied the Chinese art of pain and stress massage. I could try to help ease the pain in your head. That’s if you don’t mind a complete stranger touching you.”

She looked at him and smiled. “Does it involve any touching below the waist?”

Kristian laughed, taking in her appearance. She was beautiful to him. Her light brown eyes were sparkling with mischief as she asked the question. Her smile could brighten anyone’s day. Anyone could easily fall in love with her. Even him…wait, he wasn’t in love, just caught up in the moment.

He gazed into her eyes. “It will not involve any touching below the neck. I promise.”

She shrugged. “I have tried everything. Why not try this?”

Kristian laid his coat on the booth.

“What is your name by the way? I would at least like to know the name of the stranger I’m letting touch me.”

“I’m Kristian Blackburn, and you are?”

“Raven Nowles.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Raven Nowles. Now that we have that out the way, just relax and let me take over. Close your eyes and count backwards from twenty.”

Once Raven closed her eyes, he placed his hands on each side of her head.

“Now, count for me.”

“Twenty, nineteen, eighteen…”

Kristian released a great force of energy from him to her. It started from her head then moved through her body. He focused on her pain, searching through her body. Kristian opened his eyes when he found the problem. Raven was a new slayer being transformed. It has been over a hundred years since he had even seen a slayer. Now to be here, touching one was like a miracle. Some slayers did not have any pain while transforming. In Raven’s case, she was having a hard time because her body was rejecting the change. She was becoming stronger, more powerful with each moment.

Kristian focused on that pain, taking it away from her to make her transformation more tolerable. Any vampire who was not a part of the Night Hunters would kill Raven on sight.

Kristian released her.

Raven’s eyes fluttered a couple of times before opening.

“God, I feel so much better now. What did you do?”

Kristian smiled. “I only eased your headache.”

“I haven’t felt this good in months. I would hug you, but that would be too strange for me.”

Kristian sat in the booth in front of her. “Hugging me would be strange? I just had my fingers on your forehead. I think we moved past strange and onto uncomfortable.”

Raven laughed.

It brought joy to his heart to hear her laughter. Sadly, this young woman would not be so happy if her destiny caught up with her.

There were not many Trainers anymore. Most had quit or just given up. If Raven was put out in the world without any training or not even knowing what she was, then she could die. For some reason, some strange reason, he didn’t want Raven to become a slayer
—
he wanted her, just her.

* * * *

Raven watched Kristian from across the booth. Whatever this man had done to her to ease her pain, she would be forever grateful for it. The pain had gone and she felt like her old self again. Maybe she could get a decent night’s sleep, for a change.

“Thank you so much, Kristian,” she told him.

“You are very welcome, Raven.”

Raven turned to see what Veronica and Kristian’s associate were up to when she didn’t hear Veronica giggling anymore. Veronica moved quickly
—
she was sitting in the booth with the guy and they were kissing. Not just a simple first kiss but a
tongue down the throat, I wanna take you to bed
type of kiss.

“I see that I will be walking home tonight.”

Raven turned back to Kristian. “Is your friend usually so outgoing?”

“Yea, why?”

“I know Veronica, and I just don’t want your friend to get hurt. Veronica breaks people’s hearts. I think she should have been a man.”

Why did she say that?
This man makes me want to tell him everything
. If she was like this from a simple touch from him, what would she be like if he kissed her?

“Why do you think that?”

“Because she doesn’t care who she sleeps with and she doesn’t want any commitment.”

“Really? Is that what you think a man is all about? Sex and no commitment?”