Blood Hunger (An Adult Paranormal Romance) (Deathless Night Series #1) Read online

  Actually, although Nik was slightly taller and bulkier, they were both built like MMA fighters. And they loved to fight like them too. Plus, you know, Vampires…hello? Physical appearance never changes.

  He returned Aiden’s once over, “I guess we could both probably use a little exercise. That is, if you think you can keep up with me.”

  “Pffft. With that potbelly you’re getting? I’ll run rings around you, Nik. Just let me check in with Dante and make sure everything is on schedule, then we can squeeze in a quick match before you go meet up with Emma, yes?” Aiden didn’t wait for an answer, strutting off in his boxers towards the area of the RV that served as his mobile recon center.

  Nik grabbed a T-shirt and pulled it over his head, then strolled over to the fridge to grab his breakfast. What shall it be tonight? O Positive? B Negative? Didn’t really matter. They all tasted like shit. But satisfied his nutritional requirements, for the most part. He did need to drink more than he would if he took straight from the vein, but he had a great delivery service set up from one of the local blood banks, so that wasn’t a problem.

  He got ragged a lot by the guys, and especially his brother, for his diet choice. But they could all kiss his ass. If he wanted to drink bags of plastic-flavored blood, that was his business. And at least he didn’t accidentally kill anyone.

  Not anymore. Fucking never again.

  Throwing his breakfast in the microwave, Nik propped himself against the counter to wait, drilling holes in Aiden’s back as he talked to their head Hunter. “So what’s up, Aid? Everything in place?”

  Aiden raised his hand and waved at him to hang on, or to shut up, or both, and finished listening to what was being said on the other end of the line. “Alright commander. Sounds good, mate. We’ll see you there.”

  He threw his cell back on the table and turned his chair around to face Nik, who reminded him, “You know Dante hates it when you call him that.”

  Aiden grinned. “So he says. I think he secretly loves it. Anyway, all is good! In three days, they’re going to be surrounding the bitch’s lair. That will give us a little time to get Emma filled in and on board. We’ll meet up with Dante, Shea and Christian so they can catch us up on what they’ve found there, and we can get a plan of invasion together.”

  Nik chewed on the inside of his cheek as he considered the time frame. “We’re going to need more time to work with her. If she is, in fact, clueless…and I’m pretty convinced that she is…then she’ll have quite a challenge ahead of her to be ready in three days.”

  “There is that.” Aiden leveled a cautious look at his friend. “You know Nik, I’m thinking, maybe we should keep her out of the actual fighting,” he suggested. “Although having some witchy power on our side would be beneficial to our cause, we really only need her to keep her sister out of our way while we get Luukas.”

  Mulling it over, Nik had to agree. “Yeah, you may be right. If she’s as ignorant of us as I think, I don’t know that she’d be any good to us anyway. She won’t be ready.”

  He blew out a frustrated breath. “Fucking Luukas! I knew when he walked out that day that something like this was going to happen. I tried to get him to stay, to take someone with him. I told him she was up to something. But he and his fucking ego think they’re invincible. And now Leeha’s got him, and we have to babysit an untrained witch.” Even if she is a total babe of a witch.

  Pushing his hair back off his face, he voiced his worst fears, “I can’t even imagine what she’s doing to him…or fuck, maybe I can.” He grabbed his bag from the beeping microwave, but he’d lost his appetite.

  “He’s still alive, Nik,” Aiden insisted softly. “She’d be daft to kill him. It would muck up all of her plans for world domination. And, she’d have no leverage.”

  “But if she can kill him she wouldn’t need any, Aid.” Nik’s face was uncharacteristically somber as he looked to his friend. He didn’t know what he’d do if Luukas was gone. Luuk was the Master Vampire, the most powerful of them all and leader of their council. If anything happened to him, that responsibility would fall upon Nik as next in line. No damn way he was ready for that.

  Although, if Leeha could manage to capture and contain Luukas, and it seemed she’d done exactly that, the rest of them were thoroughly fucked anyway.

  They really should’ve burned her when they’d had the chance.

  Aiden came over to stand in front of Nik. “Look at me, Nikulas. Look at me.” Nik lifted his head. “If anything happened to your brother, we’d feel it. All of us. You know that. Luukas is still alive.”

  Nik’s voice was strained with the effort to contain his emotions. “It’s been years, Aiden. She’s had him for almost seven fucking years.”

  Aiden squeezed his arm. “But he is still alive, Nik.”

  “Yeah. Yeah, I know.” But will he still be sane after all this time?

  Scratching his head, Aiden pondered aloud what they’d all been thinking the last seven years. “What do you think her point was? Taking him? She hasn’t contacted us. Hasn’t started a war. Hasn’t asked for any kind of ransom, or a deal, nothing.”

  Nik shrugged. “I don’t know.” He paused. “But she can’t have him anymore.”

  “Then stop with all the gloom and doom, and let’s go get him. I’ve been waiting for ages to see Leeha again.” He glanced around, looking for nonexistent eavesdroppers before confiding in a stage whisper, “I kind of fancy her, you know. “ Aiden grinned and waggled his eyebrows at Nik’s shocked expression.

  “You are one fucked up vampire, Aid.”

  “We established that when we met, Nik, I don’t know why you still act so surprised.” Aiden headed towards the back. “Finish your bag and let me throw some clothes on. I’ll meet you outside in five.”

  Nik really didn’t know if he could stomach anything after that particular confession, and so sipped at his breakfast cautiously as he thought back to the day he and Luukas had come across Aiden.

  ***

  They had met Aiden in 1712.

  The brothers were traveling from their home in Estonia, where the population was being culled severely by the Great Northern War, thereby culling their meal opportunities, to start a new life in a new land. Looking to make their way to the New World, they were planning to establish their own “colony”, and were searching for others to join them.

  He and Luukas were scanning for survivors after a particularly bloody battle in Wakenstädt, of what is now modern Germany. Having been vampires already for over 350 years, they found the war offered not only plenty of entertainment, but also provided an excellent recruiting opportunity for Luukas.

  They’d run across Aiden laying in the midst of the dead and dying, holding his own guts in place with filthy hands, and singing a dirty ditty to himself.

  He gave them a toothy, if bloody, smile as they approached him. “Evening, gentlemen. How are you this fine *cough* evening?”

  Luukas, amused with his cheerful disposition, answered him. “We’re doing well, sir. You, however, seem to be in a bit of situation.”

  Lifting his hand, the soldier glanced down at the tangle of raw meat bulging from his torso, steaming in the cold. “So it would seem. Think you could give me a hand here?”

  Luukas and Nik glanced at each other, and then down at the fallen soldier with increasing interest. He was covered in mud and gore, and in obvious pain, but his grey eyes were clear.

  Luukas said, “We saw you fighting, right before you were so rudely disemboweled. You fought quite valiantly. You must be very dedicated to your country and its cause.”

  “The cause?” The soldier furrowed his brow as if just considering it. “Uh…not really, to be completely bloody honest.” He closed his eyes together tightly and winced as a wave of pain hit him. When he opened them again, it was to gasp, “How did you two manage to come out of this unscathed?”

  Nik squatted down by him and poked lightly at his injury with his index finger, ignoring his hiss of pain. �
��Oh, we didn’t actually participate in the battle, we just like to watch.”

  “That would have been the brighter idea, I think,” he grimaced again, glancing down at the raw injury still being probed, “though not nearly as fun I say…so, about that favor?” He shot Nik a dirty look until he stopped poking at him. “Would you be so kind? Fix me or kill me. Either one will work, and I would be eternally grateful.” He gave them another bloody grin.

  The brothers studied him, calculating the odds of him surviving the change. After a moment, they nodded at each other in accord.

  The soldier looked back and forth between them, his forehead scrunched up in confusion, until Luukas smiled. “How would you like the first option?”

  The soldiers eyes widened in disbelief. “You’re saying you can fix me?” Luukas made a sound of affirmation. “Really?” Luukas nodded again. “That would be lovely…” He looked them both up and down…”but I don’t see how you’re going to go about it. Are you witches?” His gaze was drawn to the piles of bodies all around him, “Or is this some cruel illusion brought on by my impending death?” He gasped suddenly, his expression screwing up in a grimace, as another wave of excruciating pain rolled through him.

  Luukas squatted down alongside Nik, catching the soldier’s gaze and holding it. “I have something even better than witchcraft, and I can save your life, but in return, I will need that eternal gratefulness you spoke of.” He paused. “What is your given name?”

  “Aiden,” he whispered. Caught in the vampire’s spell, he felt himself falling into the fathomless depths of his luminescent green eyes, until the horror and everything around him faded into the background, unimportant.

  Luukas lowered his hand to his brow, peeling the sticky hair off of his forehead. “I can give you eternal life, Aiden, if you so choose. A life where you will have strength and not weakness. A life where all you’ll need to survive is blood, but not in the way you think, and I will require nothing in return, other than your complete and utter loyalty. Will you be able to do that?”

  Without hesitation, the dying soldier asked in all seriousness, “Will I still get to fight and fuck?”

  “Yes,” Luukas answered, chuckling lightly, “yes, you can do both. At the same time if you’d like. Just ask my brother.”

  Nikulas gave him a thumbs up and a lewd grin.

  A delighted smile broke out across his face, and he instantly agreed to the terms, “Alright then. Do your magic.” He winced again. “Just hurry along, if you will.”

  “Is that the only question you have then? Wouldn’t you like to know more?” Luukas had never come across such a willing participant.

  “I fear I don’t have much time for more questions. The important one is answered. The rest I’ll figure out as we go.” As his eyes started to glaze over, his lips barely moved as he whispered, “Go on then.”

  Luukas lowered himself down to his knees and sat back on his haunches on the bloody, mud-covered ground. He pulled Aiden’s body gently onto his lap, his fangs lengthening. “This will only hurt for a moment.”

  At the terrifying sight of those dagger-like fangs, a last spark of life flickered in Aiden’s eyes, widening them in fear. But too late.

  Luukas gripped his head, turning it to the side and exposing his throat. Striking fast as a cobra, he latched onto Aiden’s neck, sucking his old life from his body and replacing it with the new.

  They never did figure out exactly which side Aiden was fighting on that day, if any at all.

  ***

  Speaking of the devil, the bang of the bathroom door announced Aiden’s presence. “All set?”

  “Yup. One sec…” Nik tossed his bag’o blood in the recycle container and picked up his cell phone. He hit speed dial for the number he’d programed in there earlier and waited…one ring…two rings…three rings…Had he missed her?

  “Accounting, this is Emma, how may I help you?” Her soft-spoken voice finally came across the line.

  “Meet me at The Vineyard. 9 PM sharp. Don’t be late. I have information about Keira.” Nik disconnected the call, set his phone down on the counter, and followed Aiden out into the cool night, both of them barefoot and wearing nothing but sweats and T-shirts. Silently, without a word or look between them, they split up and walked the perimeter, checking for anything threatening or unusual.

  They had found a clearing in a secluded area of the woods, not far from Emma’s house, to park their mobile unit. Not your average recreational vehicle, this one was specially made. It had started out as a Fleetwood Pace Arrow, which was then worked over to include things like steel shutters over the windows, technology out the ass, weapon caches, and a souped up engine (think Meet The Fockers).

  Though the vampire Council for North America was based in the state of Washington, they had numerous modes of transportation such as this throughout the United States and Canada. They also had some pretty jazzy jets, hideaways, etc.

  Needless to say, they did not have money issues. After living so many lifetimes, you quickly learned which investments were good ones. Making money was a bothersome, though necessary, evil. However, in this modern day and age, it was needed more for their protection than for materialistic reasons.

  Luukas had been Master over the North American territory since arriving with his acquired colony of vampires shortly after finding Aiden. The colony was ruled by the Council, whom he’d hand picked his from his strongest, most useful and most loyal Vampires.

  Nikulas, as his brother, was his second in command. The two brothers, as the most important members of the Council, each had a Guardian, who was never to be far from their side. The rest of the group consisted of the Hunters. Although they hadn’t been used much in recent years, their job was to foresee any and all threats to the council, and to annihilate that threat as quickly as possible.

  Together they made the laws and enforced the rules for the smaller colonies that now were spread throughout the country, by force if necessary.

  Luukas was a hard, but fair, Master. Very few have challenged him for that position over the years, and the few that had dared didn’t survive the Hunters to challenge him again. With the exception of Leeha.

  When they had spared her life after burning her father (and maker), who knew what a pain in the ass she would become?

  Nik walked to the center of the clearing and waited calmly for Aiden, who was now busy doing his Muhammad Ali dance. Such a showboat, that guy. But Nik wouldn’t want anyone else with him when it came to a real fight. Aiden was a powerhouse. The fact that he was a complete lunatic only brought an extra element of surprise with them.

  “All right princess, let’s go. Time’s a wastin’.” Nik raised his fists in front of his face, sinking down into a solid fighting stance.

  “Princess? Princess?? That would be Queen to you, you Estonian bastard!” Aiden charged across the clearing, arms and legs pumping like pistons. Jumping high into the air at the last minute, he caught Nik in the head with a hook kick. With barely a stagger, Nik went with it and then ducked low and caught Aiden around the waist, tackling him to the ground with a whoop!

  In less than a second, they were both on their feet again, circling each other. And then, it was Game. On. Taunts and fists flying, they eagerly went after each other, only avoiding face shots. They saved those for their enemies. After all, why mess up their pretty mugs if it wasn’t necessary?

  Thirty minutes later, Nik called a halt to the fun. “Much as I enjoy kicking your ass,“ he grunted, “I need to shower and get ready to go see Emma.” Holding Aiden’s head between his legs in a scissor hold, Nik gave him a noogie, burning his knuckles across Aiden’s head and eliciting a string of curses from said head. Releasing him, Nik jumped to his feet and ran into the RV, laughing aloud as Aiden rolled onto his stomach in the damp grass, yelling after him, “You’ll not be getting away with that, Nikulas!”

  Chapter Six

  Seattle, Washington

  “Is Dante coming, or what? I’m really g
etting tired of constantly waiting on his ass. I have things to do.” Christian threw himself onto the oversized leather couch by the window looking over the city, propping his head on one end and his dirty boots on the other.

  “Hey! Easy on my furniture, manwhore.” Shea scowled at his buzzed head. The only female vampire on Luukas’ council, she was also the only one who cared about such things as clean furniture.

  His amber eyes flashed as he sat up. “Why? It’s not like you ever bring any dates home to see it.”

  She plopped down next to him, just far enough away that they didn’t accidentally touch. “Let’s not fight, C. Fun as it always is, we have other things to worry about right now.”

  He reached over and smacked her jean-clad knee in agreement. “Speaking of which…like, seriously, where the hell is Dante?”

  Hiding the pain caused by his touch, she only said, “He’s on his way up. Give him a minute.”

  Shea leaned forward, propping her elbows on her knees. She was tired of having this same conversation with Christian over and over again.

  Christian mimicked her position, turning his head to look at her. “What the hell is up with him, Shea? You’re closer to him than all of us. What’s his deal?”

  She sighed inwardly. It looked like they were going to have it anyway.

  “I really don’t know,” she told him honestly. “He’s been like this since Luukas was taken. Hell, we’ve all been affected.”

  “Well, sure, but you don’t see me living underground like a creature of lore. We don’t have to do that anymore.”

  “He feels safe down there…if a bit wet.” Shea smiled and changed the subject. “So, who’s the floozy of the moment for Christian the Lady Killer?” She threw a hand up. “Don’t tell me! Let me guess her name. Candy? Bambi? No? Wait, I know, Porsche!”

  “Lay off, Shea. You know you’re just jealous.” Playing it off, Christian got up and walked over to the kitchen.

  Shea regarded his broad, muscular back, now hunched over the counter; thumbing through the newspaper she’d left lying there. She wondered if he ever got tired of the endless parade of females sashaying in and out of his life. She wasn’t kidding when she called him a manwhore. She’d never seen one guy get so much action from so many different females.