Vampires 101 (Twilight Hunters Book 1) A Vampire Romance (7 page)

The memories came flooding into my head like he’d opened up a dam. I’d had another bad dream - another shadow dream. My room was filled with those dark - menacing shadows. I couldn’t move. I tried so hard to scream for Dad to come and help me, but not even my voice was working. It was like they could turn it on and off at will.

As quickly as it began, it was over. I scrambled out of my bed and ran down the stairs to Dad’s study. He was standing at the window, staring out into the darkness. Though his back was to me, I could tell he was holding a glass. He was drinking that stinky whiskey again.

On nights that Dad drank whiskey, he was always so edgy - snapping at me for even the littlest things. I had just decided to tiptoe away before he noticed me, but it was too late. He’d already sensed that I was there.

“What is it Cassie?” he asked, slurring his words just enough that it was noticeable.

“The shadows came again,” I told him in a tiny - frightened voice.

He let out a deep sigh and turned around to face me before slamming his glass down on his desk. The amber liquid splashed all over some of his papers. That only made the matter worse; now he was really angry.

“Damn it girl!” he thundered. “How many times do I have to explain to you that they are not real? You are just having a bad dream.”

“But they are real,” I cried. “They’re going to come and take me … just like they did Mom.”

Dad turned as white as a sheet and started shaking. The only thing I could think of was that he was going to kill me. I ran out of the house as fast as I could, heading for the only place I knew to go, the tree house.

Later, when Dad found me in the tree house, he’d been heartbroken and begged for forgiveness. He’d promised to never yell at me again, and he never did.

My tree house was my haven. Whenever I was hurt or angry, I would hide within its walls. On this night, I huddled in the corner and let the tears flow. For a child of five, one of the worst things imaginable is to be terrified of the one person in life that should always be there for you. I was too young to understand that my dad was hurting inside, so I just thought he was angry a lot.

“Hey Cassie.”

I looked up to see someone that had a disturbing resemblance to King Arthur, at least he looked very much like the actor that played King Author in the movie I’d watched the night before.

Dumbstruck, at first all I could do was stare. I wasn’t old enough to have the common sense to be scared. Instead, I found myself in awe of the handsome king kneeling beside me. With his golden blond hair and blue eyes, he looked exactly like the King Arthur on the movie. He was even wearing shiny gold armor.

“Are you King Arthur,” I asked, my voice still shaking with unspent emotion.

The king smiled and wiped the tears from my eyes. “I am whoever you want me to be.”

“King Arthur … that’s who I met that night.” Though I could hear myself speaking, my voice seemed far away. As I’d grown older, I’d come to the conclusion that the whole incident had been brought on by my distress and an over active imagination.

“Look closer,” he whispered in my ear.

The vision rippled like a mirage, but beyond that distortion, I could see that it was he – the one I was with now. Wave after wave of shock coursed through my body as realization sank in. I felt myself fall out of the trancelike state that had taken hold of me.

“It really was you,” I gasped.

“Yes,” he whispered. “It’s been my duty to watch over you all these years. King Arthur was just a screen memory. It was someone you would trust and feel comfortable with.”

Well, we had established that he’d been a part of my life for much longer than what I’d believed, but I still didn’t know anything about him.

“Are you an illusion too?” I was suddenly afraid that he was.

“No. This is the real me.”

“What’s your name?” I asked, trying to tilt my head back far enough to look up at him.

“My name is Damian.”

“Why did you have to look out for me?”

He was silent for a long time before answering. “I’ve told you too much already.”

“Yeah right! You’ve barely told me anything,” I snorted.

“More than you should know,” he whispered.

I really wished he wouldn’t do that. Whenever his lips got close to me, all I could think of was kissing him.

“Are you a vampire?” I asked, mostly to take my mind off of touching him.

“In a way,” he said, with apparently no intention of elaborating.

In a way!

What kind of answer was that? I totally needed more detail, but I had a feeling that he wasn’t going to tell me more than that.

I asked anyway. “What does that mean? How can someone be a vampire, in a way?

He wrapped his arms around me and hugged me tight to his chest, but said nothing.

Ok, on to the next question.

“Why did you kill that guy? You didn’t have to do that. They would have sent him to prison you know.”

“He was a parasite.”

“Well aren’t all killers parasites?”

“No … you’re not understanding. He wasn’t even human,” he said, as he was lightly kissing my hair.

If he didn’t stop what he was doing, I was going to melt into a puddle of hot lava. “Was he a vampire?” I asked, trying to catch my breath.

“No … he wasn’t a vampire.”

“Do you think you could be more evasive?” I choked on my words, trying to control the fire that was searing through my veins.

“Yes,” he said, pulling me even closer.

“Do you often come to my room and kiss me while I’m sleeping,” I asked, finding the idea just a little erotic.

He pulled back so he could look into my eyes. “That was the only time. I shouldn’t have even been there. It was an unauthorized visit.”

My confusion must have been evident because he offered slightly more of an explanation. “I wasn’t supposed to be there, just like I’m not supposed to be here now. That’s why you can remember me. They weren’t there to wipe your memory.”

Ok then.

That explanation only added a thousand questions to my list, but I started with, “Who are
they
?”

I knew I’d just asked one too many questions when I felt him stiffen. Getting to his feet, he held out his hand to help me up. Sliding his fingers beneath my chin, he lifted my head so that I was looking in his eyes. “I’m not going to take your memory of tonight, so I should not say anymore.”

“Do you want to take this memory from me?” I asked.

He stared at me for a long time and then shook his head. “I’ve always wanted you to remember me, but it isn’t really my decision to make,” he frowned.

“So could you get into trouble for helping me?” I was suddenly worried that he may be punished in some way because of me.

“Not for helping you … but there could be problems if they knew I’d spent so much time with you, and that you can remember.”

There it was again - the word
they
. I was really starting to get irritating when I heard the words
they
or
them
. “Who the hell are
they
?”

Damian backed away and shook his head. “Like I said … you know too much already. I have to go now.”

I thought for sure that was it. He was going to disappear, like he’d done last time. But instead, he looked back at me. “Don’t play games and purposely put yourself in danger again. The next time I might not be there to save you.”

“That was Shadow’s idea.” Mostly I blamed Shadow because I didn’t want to seem childish, or admit how anxious I’d been to see him again.

He pasted a strained smile on his face. “I know. You should also think about finding new friends. That girl is going to get you into a lot of trouble.”

What could I say to that? No doubt he was right, but she had helped me find a way to see him again, though I was aware that she did have her own motives.

I sensed that he’d said all that he had to say, and anytime now he would disappear. My mind raced to find some way of prolonging that moment. I reached out and placed my hand over his arm. “Don’t go yet.”

Though fleeting, I could have sworn I saw sadness in his eyes. “I have to.”

All of the sudden my throat constricted, making it difficult to breathe. I was hit with pure - raw emotion so intense it was unlike anything I’d ever felt before. What if I never saw him again? What if we never got another chance to say goodbye?

“Then kiss me before you go,” I half pleaded - half demanded.

Without hesitation, he pulled me into his arms and lowered his mouth to mine. His tongue slid between my lips to caress the inside of my mouth. That was it. I was consumed with white-hot fire that sent my soul sailing into the heavens. My knees grew weak, and I was force to clutch his arm to keep from hitting the floor.

Even after the kiss ended, he held me close, his lips pressed softly against my jaw. “Is that what you wanted Princess?”

“Yes,” I gasped, still trying to force air into my lungs. “Again … please,” I begged.

A groan made its way up from deep within his throat. “I’m not that strong,” he whispered. “If I kiss you again … they’ll have to pull me off of you.”

The implication gave me a warm fuzzy feeling right between my legs. I was so totally ok with a second kiss.

As if reading my mind, he gave me a seductively tantalizing smile before pressing his lips against my forehead. “There’s a time and place for what you want, but that’s not here and now.”

Closing my eyes, I savored the sound of his voice, but then I felt the cold void of his absence. He was gone.

Ok then.

Not only did he leave me with a raging inferno to put out, but now I had more questions than what Mr. Kingston asked throughout the whole year I had him for American History, and that was one hell of a lot of questions.

Putting my hands on my hips, I yelled out, “The least you could have done was drop me at my apartment!”

I was being a smart ass, but it was the only way I knew of to mask the pain that was clenching at my heart. Why I should feel pain over someone I’d known such a brief time, I had no idea, but it was there nonetheless. That alone should have been a clue that there was so much more to Damian than what I could have possibly imagined.

The annoying pounding almost brought me awake, and probably would have if I hadn’t been so intent on totally ignoring it. No way was I ready to wake up, especially when I was having such an amazing dream - and especially when Damian was in that dream.

There it was again, this time louder.

Damn! Someone just wasn’t taking the hint.

Pain shot through my back and legs as I stretched from the fetal position I’d been sleeping in. My feet hit something solid - something made of hard plastic - something that wasn’t supposed to be there.

I willed my eyes open, but they weren’t cooperating at all. My next thought was to find some toothpicks to prop them open, along with a gallon of coffee to revive my brain. If only I had the luxury of room service, and maybe a paramedic to bring me back from the dead.

Ok, the pounding was starting to give me a headache, so it was either open my eyes, or try to find some aspirin with them closed.

I managed to open them to slits and that’s when sunlight found its way through my eyes to burn right into my brain. Since I had light blocking curtains in my bedroom, I quickly came to the conclusion that my bedroom is not where I was. That was enough to spur me into making an attempt to sit up.

Ok, so either this was some kind of nightmare, or I was losing it. I’d just spent the night in the backseat of my car, without remembering how or why I did. The last thing I remembered was falling asleep in my old tree house. To put icing on the cake, Detective John Riley was staring in at me through the window.

Leaning forward, I unlocked the car door and opened it. Not so much because I wanted to talk to Riley, but because the July sun had turned the car into an oven. It was hotter than hell.

Riley was staring at me in wide-eyed shock. The corny look of astonishment on his face, marring his otherwise handsome cop features.

His lips spread into a crooked smile. “Well you’re a sight.”

With a bad case of bed head, smeared makeup, and Goth clothing that looked like they came straight out of a sex shop mail order magazine, I had no doubt he was right.

But why the heck was he still gaping at me?

It was then I realized that my short skirt provided him with a nice view of my black lace panties. I really did have an excuse for having my legs spread like Loose Lucy on prom night. In my usual attire of pajama bottoms and oversized T-shirts, the position of my limbs didn’t matter much, especially when I was in my own bed, which is where I should have been.

I slammed my legs closed and glared at him. “Can’t a girl have some privacy?”