Read Vampires and Vixens (Psy-Vamp) Online
Authors: Cassandra Lawson
Vampires and Vixens (Psy-Vamp)
Vampires
and
Vixens
~~~
Cassandra
Lawson
Copyright ©2013 Cassandra Lawson
All Rights Reserved
Cover design by Beth Roberts
www.b-creativedesign.com
This book is a work of fiction. All characters and
events are creations of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual
people or events is purely coincidental.
Thank you Kara, Rolanda, Ria, Levenia, and
Melissa for taking the time to read this book while it was still a work in
progress. I would also like to thank my wonderful husband, Douglas, for all of his
encouragement and editing.
I recently had the privilege of watching
some very talented California bands perform at Slim’s. That was the night that
I realized how much this book needed a mosh pit. Thank you, Limnus, The Memphis
Murder Men, The Rocketz, and Stellar Corpses.
Hannah Montgomery, heiress to the
Montgomery fortune, and former fiancée to the future CFO of Montgomery
Enterprises, tried in vain to appease Henry Wade. Unfortunately for her, he was
in no mood to be appeased. The fact that this was her first day on the job made
no difference to him.
“I fully understand why you are so
upset, Mr. Wade,” she said in her most soothing voice. “This has been a very
trying day, and I did not meet your expectations.”
His scowl told her just how little he
cared to hear her excuses.
“I can assure you that tomorrow will be
better,” she continued. “Now, you certainly can’t blame me for everything that
went wrong today.”
He waved a dismissive hand.
“Quite frankly, I’m a little bit
disappointed in your behavior as well.”
He shook his chubby fist in her face,
and scowled more.
“Be that as it may, you must see reason,
Mr. Wade.”
Clearly, he did not see reason.
“Your mommy will be here soon, and I’m
sure that she doesn’t want to find that her sweet little boy has a load in his
diaper.” She smiled and tickled his chubby belly. That earned her a laugh, and
she hoped it meant he would give in to the diaper change. Poor little guy was
not handling his first day of daycare very well at all.
He was an adorable little boy, with
black hair that stuck up like a troll doll, chunky arms and legs, and the most
enchanting scowl. He had also taken an instant liking to her. His displeasure
grew when she was out of the room. As a result, she had toted him around most
of the day. One could not really describe him as happy when he was with her,
merely less irritable.
Once Henry had a clean diaper, and
seemed moderately content, Hannah brought him back to the play area. It was a
bright room used for children under three. The floor had an area rug with the
alphabet on it. They had a variety of toys on brightly colored shelves. Along
one wall there was a giant picture window that faced out into the hall so that
parents could take a quick peek at their children when they had a free moment.
Luckily, Henry hadn’t noticed his mommy when she’d dropped by to check on him.
Hannah was certain it would have upset him even more to watch her leave again.
She sat down on the floor to play his
favorite game, or at least it had been his favorite that day. He would watch
her stack the blocks, and then giggle as he knocked them down.
Henry climbed onto her right leg and
snuggled in. He pulled her long auburn hair around him like a blanket. Most of
the day she had regretted forgetting to bring a hair clip to work, but in that
moment she was glad she hadn’t. “There there, little one. Mommy will be here
soon,” she crooned.
As if on cue, Professor Wade came into
the room looking like a Norse goddess in a prim business suit. Based on looks,
one would expect her to be cold and distant, but that just proved that looks
could be deceiving. As soon as she spotted Henry her face lit up with delight.
She slipped her shoes off so that she could race across the room. “There is my
little man!” She reached down and he reached up to her with the first smile
Hannah had seen on his face all day. The only sound Henry made was a contented
sigh as he nestled in close to his mother.
Henry was so thrilled to see his mommy
that he didn’t even give Hannah a farewell scowl.
The daycare was closing and it was time
to clean up. Not bad for the first day of her first job, and her first day of
classes.
Hannah made her way to the courtyard at
the center of the university to look for her cousin, Lydia. No one could get
into the hall that led to the daycare without passing this area so she was
certain to run into Lydia out here. It was nearly six in the evening and things
had quieted down. Earlier in the day the courtyard had been crowded, but now
there were just a few small groups of people who either had evening classes or
were not done catching up with the friends they hadn’t seen all summer.
Hannah had always loved autumn. She
loved the brightly colored leaves that littered the ground. At this point there
were only a few, but soon the leaves would rain down from the trees above her
head. The sound of leaves crunching beneath her feet had always been one of her
favorite things. Most of all, she’d always loved the end of the lonely summer.
Her parents had never spent much time with her so it had always been a relief
to return to school and her friends. Having spent most of the last five years
in her parents’ home, this felt like the end of the longest summer in history.
It was strange to think that now, after twenty-three years, she would
never go back there.
Now, if she could just find her cousin,
she could go home. Lydia was sweet, but not very reliable. Still, Lydia was the
only person she truly considered family. They had played together as children,
before Lydia’s father had died. After that they’d rarely seen each other. Lydia
had moved to California with her mom. Her mom had remarried, and remarried, and
remarried yet again. Despite the distance, Hannah and Lydia remained close.
They only saw each other once a year, but they wrote letters, talked on the
phone, Skyped, and emailed. Basically, they used any method they could find to communicate
with each other.
Their lives took different turns after
high school. Lydia went to community college until she gained access to her
trust fund. Then she traveled. Finally, she bought a condo in the San Francisco
Bay Area, enrolled at one of the local universities, and started trying to
convince Hannah to move in with her.
After high school, Hannah took some
classes in Early Childhood Education, much to her mother’s dismay. She did
volunteer work, mingled with the right people, and agreed to marry the right
man. Then on the night of her engagement party something snapped. It all felt
wrong. She packed a bag, apologized to her fiancé, climbed into her car, and
drove to Northern California to take Lydia up on her offer.
In some ways she felt a little guilty
for leaving the way that she had, but mostly she felt free. Even Scott, her
fiancé, seemed almost relieved when she’d left. She supposed that their
engagement was more of an obligation to him than anything else. It had been a
smart career move, and as a result of their engagement he was the future CFO of
her father’s company. Hannah’s reasons for accepting his proposal had been just
as selfish. She wanted the love and approval of her parents. She hadn’t loved
Scott any more than he had loved her.
Her parents chose to politely ignore
her, “little scene.” Deposits continued to appear in her account, and her
mother called weekly to see if she was ready to act like a sensible adult.
Sometimes her mother even called to ask questions about the wedding. If there
was one thing that Victoria Montgomery excelled at, it was ignoring any
unpleasantness.
Finally, she spotted Lydia sashaying
across the courtyard in teal skinny jeans and a lacy white tank. Lydia and
Hannah looked nothing alike. Lydia’s hair was a sassy shoulder length bob in a
shade of gold that sparkled in the sunlight. Her face was exotic with high
cheekbones, a slender nose that turned up ever so slightly at the tip, and
sparkling blue eyes surrounded by thick lashes. She also managed to stay model thin
no matter how much she ate.
Hannah’s hair was a mass of auburn curls
that went nearly to her waist. Her features had always been softer, and
overdone. Her green eyes seemed too big for her face. She had a heart shape
face and puffy lips. The puffy lips she liked. Hannah was curvy with a butt
that never quite fit right in the denim that Lydia preferred. For that reason,
Hannah didn’t even own a pair of jeans. Today she wore loose-fitting grey
capris with a matching short-sleeved striped sweater.
There was no need to ask what had kept
Lydia; the two attractive men walking beside her were explanation enough.
“There she is!” Lydia nearly shouted.
“You wouldn’t have had any trouble
finding me if you’d been on time to meet me after work.” Hannah added as much
heat to her voice as she could manage. Lydia was chronically late, but Hannah
loved her.
“I was early!” Lydia insisted. “Then I
saw this poor guy looking so lost standing by the daycare so I offered to help
him find his cousin.” She touched the arm of the man that she had not been
clinging to. “These are our new friends, Dominic,” she said in a breathy
whisper, “and Aiden. They’re having a party next Saturday, and I told them we’d
come.”
To anyone who didn’t know Lydia this
conversation would make their head spin. Okay, so Hannah felt like her head was
spinning a little, but she was getting used to it. Lydia was a bundle of
energy. She moved at top speed, felt comfortable meeting strangers, and enjoyed
every second of her life.
Hannah took a moment to study Lydia’s
new friends, and almost swallowed her tongue. Both men stood just over six feet
tall with dark brown hair, bronzed skin, and muscular builds. It was easy to
see the family resemblance between them. There were differences. Aiden, the man
who had been lost by the daycare, had straight hair that nearly touched his
shoulders. Dominic’s hair was short and curled slightly at the ends. Both were muscular,
but Aiden carried more bulk, and Dominic had the lean muscular build of a
swimmer. The dark sunglasses they wore made it impossible to tell their eye
color.
Aiden flashed a charming smile and
reached out his hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Hannah. Lydia has told me a lot
about you.” His voice held the slightest hint of an accent. Irish would be
Hannah’s guess, but she’d never been good at placing accents.
She took his hand. It was warm, and
slightly rough. He held it too long to be considered a polite handshake. She
had to pull her hand away. “You’ve heard a lot about me in thirty minutes?”
Aiden shifted closer to her. “Actually
it was twenty minutes, and she just kept insisting that we had to meet her
beautiful cousin Hannah.”
Hannah blushed and tried to casually
back away from Aiden. The guy had a serious issue with personal space. “Geez,
Lyd, you sure know how to make me feel awkward.”
“I said
hot
cousin Hannah,” Lydia
corrected Aiden, with no shame. Getting Hannah out on a date was on Lydia's
daily to-do list. So far she’d failed, but she refused to give up.
“Both are accurate descriptions,” Aiden
said so quietly that Hannah wondered if she’d imagined it.
Dominic interrupted the strange
interlude. “It is nice to meet you, Hannah.” He didn’t offer his hand. His
accent was much thicker and not at all similar to Aiden’s. He spoke like
someone who wasn’t completely comfortable speaking English.
Lydia’s attraction to Dominic was no
surprise. She’d always had a taste for the exotic, and Dominic’s accent would
appeal to her.
Aiden stepped closer to Hannah again and
smiled. He took her hand once more. His eyes connected with hers, and his voice
took on a soft yet powerful tone. “Tell me that you’ll come to the party. It
would be nice to spend time getting to know each other.”
The strangest feeling washed over her.
She could swear she felt him trying to push the idea into her mind. The
sensation made her a little weak, but she quickly recovered and pulled her hand
away. She shook her head to clear it.
Hannah forced a smile. “I’ll have to see
how things are going with my classes. It’s the first week, and I’m really not
sure I’ll have time.”
Aiden blinked. He stepped back, and
studied her more intently. Whatever he saw must have pleased him, because his
face lit up with excitement. “We should go now.” He patted Dominic’s arm to
draw his attention away from Lydia. He leaned in closer to Hannah. “I really
hope I see you again soon,” he said quietly.
Dominic gave Lydia a chaste kiss on the
cheek, and whispered something into Lydia’s ear that made her giggle. He didn’t
even acknowledge Hannah. Then both men walked away
Lydia didn’t speak until Aiden and
Dominic had disappeared from sight. “You’re going to that party.”
“I don’t think so,” was Hannah’s only
reply. She didn’t like parties to begin with, and she couldn’t shake the uneasy
feeling that she had around Aiden.
A high-pitched voice interrupted
the discussion.
“Lydia, we’re starving, let’s go!”
Lydia grabbed Hannah’s arm, and pulled
her along. “C'mon, let me introduce you to my friends.” She pushed Hannah in
front, hands firmly on Hannah’s shoulders. “Ladies, I want you to meet my
favorite cousin, Hannah. Hannah these are my very good friends, Trish and
Caitlin. You would have met them earlier, but they went on a road trip without
me.”
Caitlin had long straight black hair and
olive colored skin. She was tall and slender with a long face, catlike amber
eyes, and a pouty expression. She wore blue jeans and a tank-top which
revealed a tattoo of a tiger on her right shoulder. Hands on hips and bored
expression on her face, she nodded curtly.
Trish, the owner of the high-pitched
voice, was slightly shorter than Hannah with light brown eyes, chestnut hair,
and a warm smile that put Hannah at ease. Her boot cut jeans and low-cut
blouse did nothing to hide her generous curves. Trish looked like she might tip
over from the weight of her breasts.
“It's nice to meet you,” Hannah said a
little nervously. Lydia hadn’t mentioned anything about meeting up with her
friends.
Caitlin stroked Hannah's hair, and
circled her like a tigress circling her prey. Her expression remained aloof,
and Hannah was sure that expression could make a weaker woman cry. “I love your
hair. It’s so soft,” she almost purred, “and that color is exquisite. What
shade is it?”
“It’s my natural color.” Hannah replied
as she yanked her hair from Caitlin’s grasp.
Caitlin sighed dramatically with one
hand on her hip. “You can tell me the truth. After all, it’s just between us
girls.”
Hannah rolled her eyes, and then gave
Caitlin a saccharine smile. “I love your eye color. Where did you buy those
contact lenses?”
Caitlin’s lips curled into the faintest
of smiles.
Trish's hand rested on Hannah’s shoulder.
“Don't worry about Caitlin. Once you get over the fact that she's a bitch,
you'll really like her.”
Lydia held up a slip of paper and shook
her hips. “Ladies we have an event to attend this Saturday.”
“Nice area! Guess someone’s mommy and
daddy are going out of town,” Trish said with just a touch of scorn. “They
weren’t too young were they? I don’t want to end up at another party where some
eighteen-year-olds stole a keg to share with a hundred people.
We’re getting too old for that.”
Lydia waved a dismissive hand. “They
looked like grad students, and they were totally hot.”
Caitlin let out a long-suffering
sigh. “I suppose I should go to make sure the two of you don’t completely
embarrass yourselves.”
Trish reached over and tugged on
Caitlin’s hair.
Then all eyes turned to Hannah.
“We’ll see,” was her noncommittal reply.
“Come on,” Lydia nearly whined. “That
Aiden guy totally wants you.”
The conversation was making Hannah feel
more than a little uncomfortable, especially around two people she had just met.
“I think he was just trying to be nice.”
“How nice was he?” Caitlin asked with a
smirk.
“If he’d been any nicer she would’ve
needed a post-coital cigarette,” Lydia said cheerfully. Then she started
to chant. “Hannah and Aiden sittin’ in a tree F-U-C-K-I-N-G.”
Hannah’s mouth dropped open. “I cannot
believe you just said that!”
Lydia thought about it for a moment and
nodded. “I can’t either. Can you imagine trying to do it in a tree? Maybe a
tree house, but how lame would that be? It would be even lamer than a guy
trying to bring you back to a bachelor pad in his parents’ basement.”
“Where on Earth do you come up with
these thoughts?” Caitlin asked as she shook her head. “And why do you voice
them?”
Lydia shrugged.
“There’s something off about Aiden,”
Hannah said, not sure how to explain it.
“I admit he was a little aggressive with
his flirting,” Lydia said, “but I’m sure he’s harmless, and we’ll be surrounded
by people.”
Hannah wanted to argue, but she wasn’t
sure how to voice her concerns.
“You have to go to the party. I won't
take no for an answer,” Lydia insisted.
“You never do,” grumbled Hannah.
