Running From the Vampire Into the Arms of the Wolf:
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Authors: E A Price
Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Genre Fiction, #Horror, #Occult, #Romance, #Fantasy
Running from the Vampire into the Arms of the Wolf
(Book 4
, Grey Wolf Pack Romance Novellas)
By E A Price
Copyright ©2014 by E
lizabeth Ann Price
All rights reserved.
Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author.
Disclaimer
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Table of Contents
Three years ago
It was
Melanie Ramirez’s 21
st
birthday. She was antsy. She was 21 and
still
a virgin.
She was sat in a club enjoying her first legal drink and watching as Stephanie, her best friend, gyrated on the dance floor with a rather weedy looking man.
Melanie was five foot five and a little plump... alright technically overweight. She had a pretty face with beautiful dark brown eyes, framed by long dark brown hair. Stephanie, as pale as anything, was always jealous that Melanie didn’t have to sunbathe to get a tan. Melanie’s caramel coloured skin was luminous.
However men tended to take a look at her, smile at her face, frown at her body and then choose not to look back.
Not when they had Stephanie to look at.
Stephanie was five foot ten and gorgeous.
Charlize Theron gorgeous
. She certainly had no problem finding any multitude of willing men.
Not that
Melanie really minded, the love of her life sure wasn’t going to be found in a sleazy club.
Stephanie
told her to just bite the bullet and find some random guy to pop her cherry. But she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. Her own silly romantic sensibilities wouldn’t let her. She wanted it to be special. She wanted it to be with someone who cared about her. Not someone who barely cared enough to order her a taxi home.
Stephanie waved at her and motioned for her to join her on the dance floor much to the consternation of her dance partner. Melanie chuck
led and shook her head no. Stephanie shrugged whilst flashing her a dazzling smile and concentrated on dancing.
Melanie sipped at her drink. It was a cocktail, the flashiest one Stephanie could find. It was adorned with straws, pieces of fruit and little umbrellas. It was a hazard just trying to get a drink without poking an eye out.
She trembled involuntarily, the hair on the back of her neck stood to attention.
“
Hello
.” A velvet voice floated her way.
She turned to see the most handsome man she had ever seen standing over her. He was tall dark and deadly looking. His eyes looked to be pure black.
His body was a study of taut muscles barely concealed by his form fitting t-shirt and jeans. He looked to be seriously dangerous for her health.
He gave her a wry smile. “
I’ve never seen you here before
.” He was almost hypnotic.
Her natural witchy senses were going in overdrive, warning bells were ringing about him. He wasn’t human that much she could tell.
Shifter? Warlock? Medium? She couldn’t quite pin him down.
She blushed as his eyes slowly raked her body. “
Ummm, I just turned 21. It’s my birthday.”
“
Happy birthday
.
What’s your name?
”
“Thanks.
Ummm, Melanie.”
“
Melanie
.” He rolled the name over his tongue.
Her body felt tense
. For some reason she couldn’t relax round him.
He creeped her out
.
“
May I buy you a drink Melanie?”
She
gulped, she wished he hadn’t come over to her. Why had he? There were so many other women in the bar so much prettier than her. Why was he bothering with her? “I... I already have one thanks.”
His lips twitched. “
May I join you then?”
He put a hand on her arm. It was icy cold. Goose bumps sprung up on her skin and she shivered.
She pulled her arm away. “I’m actually waiting for someone... maybe another time.”
He stared at her for a few moments, his jaw twitched. Why wouldn’t he just go away?
“
Until next time Melanie
.”
He glided away, the crowd automatically parting for him.
She breathed in and out trying to calm herself.
Not if she could help it
. She’d never disliked anyone so much, or so quickly. She hoped never to see him again.
She started as Stephanie plopped down on the seat next to her. Her cheeks were pink and a thin sheen of sweat covered her.
“Who was that? He was hot.”
“I don’t know.”
Said Melanie.
And she didn’t want to know
.
*
After a couple more drinks Melanie decided to call it a night. Stephanie had found a couple of stockbrokers to hang out with, ostensibly one for each of them. ‘Hers’ though hadn’t been especially thrilled to be relegated to the fat best friend and so instead had been competing for Stephanie.
It was actually kind of funny to see the silly young men trying to
‘one up’ each other.
But
... Melanie did have to get up for work. She was currently working as a receptionist at a small hotel. Stephanie had pleaded with her to stay and have some fun, Melanie had said she’d had plenty of fun already and had said her goodnights.
She’d called a cab and was waiting for it outside. It was a pleasant night and she’
d had a nice birthday. They didn’t really mean as much as they once did, they hadn’t since her mom died a couple of years ago but she and Stephanie had spent the day shopping and had caught a movie.
She yawned. Usually by now she was tucked into bed with a book
.
She really wasn’t a party animal
.
“
Hello again
.”
She jumped at the silken voice.
He sauntered towards her. The maddening smile on his face was even wider than before.
She looked round, hoping someone else was around. She really didn’t want to be alone with him. Unhappily the road was deserted.
She surreptitiously felt for her phone in her purse.
Ready to call for help
. “Oh ummm hi.”
He loomed over her only inches away. She was breathing heavily, breasts heaving as she tried not to panic. He delighted at the sight.
“
You don’t like me do you? Am I not good enough for the virgin princess?”
He rubbed a thumb over her cheek.
She pulled away from him, heart pounding. “Get off me! If you don’t leave me alone I’ll protect myself.”
He laughed hollowly. “
You can try little witch, but it won’t stop me for long
.”
Moving quickly he grabbed her and smashed her lips to his. His grip was like steel as he viciously assaulted her mouth.
She whimpered and tried to pull away but he held her tighter. Pulling on her magic she sent a zap through his body. He released her and stumbled back.
Quickly she turned tail and started to run as fast as she could.
She barely got two steps before she felt his strong arms clamp down on her. He bellowed with laughter as he dragged her kicking and screaming into an alleyway.
He pushed her against a wall and pressed himself against her.
She could feel his hard erection against her stomach and shuddered.
Oh Dios no...
He scented her hair and neck
. He trembled, aroused by her. She redoubled her struggles but he gripped her more tightly, fingers digging into her painfully.
He pulled his head
back and she stilled, shocked.
He was a vampire
. His fangs proudly protruded from his mouth and he grinned at her reaction.
“What do you want?” She whimpered.
He dragged her arms above her head pinning them with one hand whilst the other stroked down her body and started lifting the hem of her dress. She felt him moving towards her panties. She sobbed.
“
Just you Melanie. Just you
.”
He pressed his fangs into her nec
k. She screamed, crying and quivering.
He groaned as her sweet blood danced over his tongue and his hand found what he was looking for...
*
Two years ago
Melanie peeked out of her bedroom curtains carefully. She had to get to work and if she hesitated any longer she was going to be late.
She had only just started at the
supermarket, it was the only job she could find without a good reference. Which meant she was relegated to night shifts.
Which she hated
. She didn’t go out at night at all unless completely necessary. She couldn’t risk running into
Him
.
She was living in Chicago now. She’d moved around quite a lot over the past year.
No matter where she went he found her. She shivered thinking of his cold fingers creeping over her skin. His icy lips pushing against hers as he violated her mouth before he... he...
She shook her head trying to dispel the
flashes of memory of the things he did to her. He wiped her memory after every encounter, or at least he tried to. He always left her memories of him showing up intact, but from the moment after they meet again it’s a blur. Which meant that every encounter was felt anew by her, so what he did was always a gruesome surprise.
She’d tried to go to the cops but she couldn’t really tell them anything definite, without any evidence or memories what
could they do?
Besides there weren’t many cops who really wanted to go up against a vampire
. They’d indulged her and put out a few more patrol cars past her apartment, but really that was never going to stop
Him
.
Magic didn’t even stop him...
The only
souvenir
she had of him was the bite mark on her neck, which never lasted long. He gave her a few drops of his blood to ensure that after a couple of days it faded away.
Like it was never there...
Flashes of the things he did still come through though,
she had a certain amount of resistance probably because of her own magical abilities.
Horrifying flashes...
She sighed, she needed to move or she’d be late. She
grabbed her purse and her keys and peeped outside through the spy hole.
Nothing
. She gingerly stepped outside looking around carefully, everything was quiet. She locked her door and quickly started walking to work. Her strained resources meant that she couldn’t stretch to a car.
She buried her hands in her pockets and
kept her head down. It was only a couple of blocks. She passed a few rowdy drunken frat boys stumbling out of a bar. They called to her but she ignored them and carried on her way. To think, a year ago she would have been wary of them. They were like kittens in comparison to
Him
.
A couple of bums rooted around some trash cans. A couple of wolves howled in the distance.
Shifters most likely.
She rounded the corner and
yes, thank goodness, the market was in sight
. She hadn’t realised she had been holding her breath. She exhaled loudly.
Home free
.
She started to move forward but was suddenly stopped by an arm with a steel grip. She was roughly pulled backwards into an alley. She was thrown against a building, her head forcibly making contact with the bricks.
She
saw
stars
.
A hard body pushed against her. The silken voice oozed toward her. “
Did you miss me, princess
?”
Him again
.
*
One year ago
Melanie sighed and forced herself to listen to what her date was saying.
It was something to do with one of his customers. He was a teller in a bank, they’d met when she went in to open up a new account.
He was nice, not pulse
racingly sexy, but still nice. He had awkwardly asked her out and she had awkwardly accepted.
She was living in New Jersey now.
She had been for the past two weeks, and for the past two months she hadn’t seen
Him
at all.
She’d lost
Him
. She had finally lost
Him
. She could finally relax and start living her life. Hence her current date. Her first date in well over two years.
His name was Jerry. He was telling her about a customer
, an older woman, who came in every day to deposit one hundred cents in coins. Every day she did this come rain or shine. Jerry thought she was a mad old coot who wanted to waste his time. Melanie just thought she was lonely and wanted any company she could get.
Melanie could relate.
She forced herself to smile at him.
Dinner was a bit of a tasteless affair, chewy steak, hard potatoes, limp vegetables. But she ate it all down.