Vampires Seduction #1 (The Paranormal Town Romance Series) (3 page)

"I present
Anca
, the
future mother of
Zucar
Kendlesmith's
children." At the announcement,
Zucar
Kendlesmith
walked deliberately, gingerly, onto the
platform, his white long hair flowing over his hunched shoulders. The room
became the silence known only to the dead. Each witch heard the heavy wheezing
of
Zucar
as he shuffled to the microphone. His lower
jaw quivered before he spoke. His voice was thin, like a worn tapestry, and
seemed to be consumed by his emaciated body.

"I am here and ready to do my duty as grand
warlock and sole surviving male member of this coven." His eyes squinted
into the audience, seeing only a blur of faces. "I will take my bride
tonight and we will have the patter of little witches' feet anew." He
grinned and
Anca
gasped when she saw his toothless
gums.

The heavy wooden entrance doors boomed open and two
men stood in the wide gap.
Emil and Gunnar.
There was
a flash of light as Gunnar's body shot across the room and unraveled the rope
around
Anca's
body. Emil followed suit as he became a
blur going from witch to witch, disabling them and tying them to their chairs
before they could focus on him. Gunnar scooped
Anca
into his arms and flew from the room through one of the open skylights. He
soared into the dark sky filled with glittering stars. When he was far enough
away from the coven, he dropped to the ground, setting
Anca
upright on her feet, but he didn't let her go. He leaned toward her and quickly
kissed her. At first her eyes were wide with shock, but then, when he leaned in
to kiss her again, she swayed into his kiss as he folded his arms protectively
around her back. "You're safe now,
Anca
,"
he whispered. Her eyes looked into his, searching to see into his soul…yet
knowing he was a vampire. He had no soul…

There was a loud whistling and Emil appeared in
front of them, his sandy hair that normally was brushed away from his forehead,
now hung loose into his blue eyes. "Are you okay,
Anca
?"
He looked from Gunnar to
Anca
and back again to
Gunnar. "There's a big problem, Gunnar."

Gunnar released his hold on
Anca
.
"What?"

"The witches are threatening to lift the
shield."

"What!" Gunnar began to stomp back and
forth on the ground, "They can't do
it,
the
hunters will jubilantly be taking trophies by morning –vampires, shifters, and
even those stupid witches!" When he swallowed his large Adam's apple moved
up and down quickly.
"Trophies.
Heads mounted on
wooden plaques!"

Emil grabbed his friend's arm, feeling the tense
muscles beneath his hand. "You have to speak with Calypso, that's the only
way, Gunnar. Try to reason with her." Emil watched as
Anca
drifted to the ground in a graceful, gentle collapse. "She's exhausted,
she had a horrible day!" He knelt beside her and cradled her head.
"I'll stay with her while you go speak to Calypso."

Gunnar tenderly touched the top of
Anca's
head. It was a strange move for one so filled with
wild rage and for a whisper of a moment his crimson eyes turned back to steel
gray. "Okay, stay with her. Go down to the marsh area where the tents are
and stay hidden. No one will find you there."

Emil nodded as he watched Gunnar soar into the night
sky and disappear. The stars were so low he
felt if he flew
up to them he could touch one
. He inhaled deeply through his long Roman
nose and rapidly exhaled through his mouth, but he didn't feel the calm that he
usually felt. There would no calm now for a long, long time.

Once
Anca
was sleeping on
the soft sleeping bag, he was able to stare at her for as long as he liked. Her
long copper-penny colored hair was spread out on the
pillow
which
made him remember all the pictures in books of fairy princesses.
She did look like a princess, sleeping and waiting for her prince charming to
reach down and kiss her soft cerise lips. The silk black gown extended to her
feet and followed the natural contours of her body, as if it was her second
skin. Emil's eyes caressed her dainty breasts pouting out from behind the
clinging fabric, raising and falling with her gentle breathing. He ran his
finger gently up her smooth leg, sliding her gown to the side to expose more of
her silken porcelain skin. He inhaled her scent as if in doing so he could make
her a part of him. He heard her moan softly and he took her hand in his, "
Shh
, don't worry,
Anca
, you are
safe here." He saw her brown eyes open, registering his face. He leaned
down further so she could see his face more clearly. "Remember me?
The guy with the red car."
Her face didn't exhibit
recognition, so he added, "The pig pit stop?"

 
She smiled at
him, a cautious slow smile, "Not just the red car, a Stingray." He
laughed. She started to shiver, so he lightly placed a blanket over her. She
pulled it up to her chin.

She choked, "Am I in some kind of
nightmare?"

"No. This is unfortunately reality." He
laughed again.

She became aware of a sound, a thundering far away,
like a rushing of water tumbling and pounding. "Where are we?"

His eyes smiled as brightly as his mouth. She was
very much aware of his cool hand touching hers. She could feel the ice melting
against her skin. He smiled again, "We are very close to the ocean
here."

She sat up and pulled the tent flap to one side. She
could see a glimpse of effervescent waves tumbling into each other and now, the
roar and thundering made sense to her. "There's ocean, but are we on a
lake?"

"Estuary."
He studied her face and gently began to move his thumb along the top of her
hand. "You can go look if you like." His voice was soft, soothing.
Nothing made sense to her today, but he seemed sympathetic and protective. She
let him help her
up
. They went outside. The fresh
ocean air immediately tousled her hair into a wild tangle, whipping it left and
right. He thought she looked more beautiful than ever standing there in the
moonlight in her sheer black silk gown. Then, he became conscious of the fact—
he could see through the fabric. It had been made for just that purpose, to let
the moon's glow shine through it. It was as if she was standing naked before
him. He stood back, partly not to frighten her and partly to admire her, as she
walked toward the estuary. The gown clung to parts of her body as she
walked—her hip, her thigh, and her buttocks. When she turned to smile at him,
he spun to her; she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him, her tongue
entwining eagerly with his, feeling his cool hands against her back, rubbing
gently up and down, never warming with the friction but chilling her back. They
fell into the sand and his mouth nibbled gently at her neck, his vampire fangs
immediately engaged and she shrieked in fear. "No, no, I won't do it,
honest I won't." He stared into her eyes. "I promise. I want to. Oh,
I want to. But I won't. Not until you want me to," he added. She closed
her eyes, half not wanting him to and half not caring if he did. She felt him
scrape his fangs along her neck down to her breast. She heard the "click"
as he withdrew the fangs and caressed her hard nipple, first one and then the
other. She moaned softly, "yes, yes." His palm rested on the silk of
her stomach, inching up the fabric slowly, until all of her was exposed. He saw
her bronze mound rising and falling with his gentle caress. "
Anca
," he whispered her name, wanting her, needing
her.

There was a flurry of birds overhead. Emil sat
upright. His eyes scanned the darkness. He saw a figure walking toward them.
"Emil! Emil! It's
Tapio
." Emil's fangs
returned to his mouth. He once again saw
Anca's
fear.
"It's only
Tapio
. He's a shape shifter." He
said it
like
she would have introduced her friend who
is a photographer. She stared at
Tapio
who appeared
at this moment like a normal human being.

"Emil, you have to go to the meeting with
Gunnar. He told me to come here to guard
Anca
. Things
are not good." The short shape shifter's green eyes scanned the situation.
He saw the tent where he had stayed many times. He saw the woman in the black
dress, lying almost totally exposed in the sand. "You have to go. I will
take good care of her, I promise."

Emil shook his head, "No, I won't leave
her." He took off his coat and immediately helped
Anca
put it on. "I won't leave her out of my sight with the old crones out to
find her."

Tapio
sat down next to her. "Are you afraid of me?" he asked her with a
boyish smirk on his face.

Emil touted, "She would be if she knew what you
are really like!" He offered his hand to
Anca
and she stood up. He put his arm protectively around her shoulders. "She
stays with me."

Tapio's
eyes became gigantic circles of black. "The witches are winning, Emil. If
they win, they will have
Anca
."

Anca
turned to face Emil. "I will be okay. You should help
Gunnar,
otherwise I'm a goner anyhow." She shook her head. "I just don't know
why.
Why me?"

Tapio
shrugged. "You picked the straw, I guess."

"Straw?"
Her face looked puzzled.

Emil squeezed her hands, "Okay, so I will leave
you with
Tapio
. Do what he says. If he tells you that
you must go into the mountains or the forest, do what he says. He really knows
his way around. He will keep you safe." He kissed the top of her head,
"I'll be back." And then, he disappeared in a white blur of light.

She looked at
Tapio
,
"Yeah, like Rambo, he'll be back.
Now what?"

"Well, what do you want?"
Tapio
grinned
a boyish grin that
lit up his eyes. It seemed like every time he smiled another freckle popped out
on his face.

"I want a bath," she stated with some
conviction.

"Unfortunately for you, the only water you
could bathe in is that lake thing there."

She pointed, "The estuary?"

"That's it." He looked at her waiting for
his next orders. He was used to orders. Shape shifters weren't exactly on the
top of the chain of command.

"Okay, I will go bathe there and make the best
of it."

He smiled again, pop, another freckle, and said that
he would go to a rock on the other side so that he could watch to make sure no
one approached.
Anca
gathered Emil's coat around her
and headed for the water. She would just splash around to feel a little cleaner
after her long day. She watched
Tapio
trudge to the
rock on the other side. It was quite a distance away. She was sure he did it so
she would feel safer from him rather than worrying about anyone else. In part,
that was true. She had no idea what the capabilities of a shape shifter were.
Certainly the witches wanted her as a baby making machine, and who knows what a
shape shifter might want!

The rock was familiar to
Tapio
.
He had sat here many times before, always watching and protecting. He saw her
there, glowing in the moonlight, her copper hair snapping with glints of gold.
He watched her shed her coat and her silken black dress and ease herself to the
water's edge. She pulled back when she felt the cold of the water on her skin,
shaking her head, throwing her bronze hair from side to side. He felt his
maleness harden against his jeans in aching desire. The pupils of his eyes
widened. He wanted her and why not? She was beautiful, she was desirable.
Technically she belonged to no one. Why not him? He felt a hot pulse in his
veins and was ready to let it engulf him into who he really was. Then, he
barely felt the ripping open of his back by a silenced bullet. His bones
crackled and moved aside for the spinning bullet as it smashed into his beating
heart. His knees buckled and he
fell
face forward into
the dust. He curled one paw as if to cradle his massive head. He was dead.

"We got 'em, Carl!" The hunter shouted to
his buddy. "He's a trophy alright! Just look at that massive head! I've
never seen such a beaut."

The other hunter joined his friend kneeling at the
side of
Tapio
. "What luck that the witches
finally lifted that damn spell. We are going to get more than our quota
tonight! Whoopee!"

She heard them before she saw them since it was so
dark, even with the full moon. She heard enough to know that the shape shifter,
Tapio
, was dead. She hastily began running and trying
to dress herself as she ran. Emil had mentioned the hills and the forests.
Behind her she saw a low-lying hill that ascended into higher mountains. She
began to climb, not pausing to look back to see if she was being followed. Her
breath became heavy as she dragged herself up the jagged sides and finally made
the arduous journey to the top. She looked out across the vista. The sun would
be coming up soon. She tried to see the men she had heard talking about the
death of
Tapio
. They were nowhere in sight. She could
barely see anything, other than shadows of plants and shadows of rocks. She
paused and whispered, "Poor young
Tapio
."