Her Vampire’s Promise Read online

  She stiffened. “I’m not going to want to bite a bunch of humans when the vampire I drank from is thirsty, am I?”

  Reade’s mouth opened, but before he could say a word, Garrison answered. “Do you feel like biting yourself right now? I’m pretty sure the vampire whose blood you drank would love to bite you.” He turned the phone. “Look at this one. There you are all teary because your hand hurts while your victim lay at your knees. That’s a good one.”

  Lawrie looked at Reade.

  “Shut up, Garrison.”

  “Just trying to help. What about this one?”

  Reade snarled at his friend, who laughed and continued scrolling through the pictures.

  Lawrie’s patience for both men was wearing thin. Her hand still hurt worse than anything she’d ever felt. She was getting hungry. It was later than she should have stayed out, and she was beginning to realize she was going to have a hell of a time getting her bike home with only one good hand.

  Reade scooted closer.

  “You were angry and ready for a fight because that’s how I’ve felt since your father was killed. I haven’t been able to let go of my desire for vengeance since your uncle told us you’d died in the fire.” He took her throbbing hand in his. “I promised your father I would keep you safe, and I have failed you both. Until now.”

  “You promised him you’d keep me safe?” Lawrie’s heart sped. All this time someone had been interested in her, in keeping her safe, and she hadn’t known.

  He nodded. “I swore my life to do it.” Reade bowed his head. “For years I thought I was crazy. The depression and anger were overwhelming. I knew you weren’t dead.” With two hands he held Lawrie’s. The barest of caresses tingled along her skin.

  “We came to Panthera. We asked. We searched the place, top to bottom, but Raymond stayed true to his story. ‘She’s dead, just like her father.’ He didn’t even have the decency to hide the laughter in his voice.”

  Reade’s jaw clenched, his lip curled up and he stared at the floor. “Even sealed with a blood pact I couldn’t get past Raymond. I couldn’t get him to relent.”

  Comprehension sank in, and Lawrie’s mind raced through the memories of her father’s notes, his labels of the samples, all from the same donor. RH+ or RH- had been marked on every bag of cryogenically frozen blood.

  “What’s your last name?” she asked.

  “Hayes.”

  “Oh God.” She swallowed. “You’re RH.”

  “Right.” Reade frowned.

  Lawrie’s cheeks flushed. “I didn’t know. How could I? I didn’t know you. I don’t know you. I have hardly met you.” She was suddenly much warmer than she’d felt all night. “I thought the blood was marked by the Rh factor.” She slipped her hand from his, careful not to bang it against the bar.

  Why did she feel like she’d been caught stealing something? Actually, she felt like she’d been caught gawking at the cutest boy in school, if she had gone to school with boys or with anyone for that matter.

  “There were positives and negatives.” She opened her mouth, then closed it, then started again. “Are you the positive or the negative? Who’s the other one?”

  If she really thought about it, she knew why her father hadn’t named the vampire donors. Her father always protected those he thought might end up in danger. But if Reade was one of the donors, who was the other?

  Lawrence Tyrone had been a very careful scientist. He’d brilliantly created systems and formulas to encrypt his notes. Lawrie spent many, many hours tirelessly working to understand what he’d done.

  “I drank blood from two vampires? What was I thinking?”

  “I’m both the positive and the negative.” Reade poured himself another whiskey. “Lawrie, there’s more.”

  “Oh, lots more.” Garrison took her picture. “Love those rosy cheeks and wide blue eyes. Almost as blue as Reade’s. Such an interesting side effect.”

  The camera phone clicked several more times.

  “Tell her the rest.” Garrison tapped the phone. “Just let me set this to video. I’m certain she’ll want to study her own reaction as part of her experiment.” He turned the phone to the wider angle and stepped back. “Okay. I’m ready.”

  Reade glared. “The blood pact I made wasn’t with your father.”

  Lawrie’s mouth dropped open. My God, he’s made a pact with Uncle Raymond. He’s going to turn on me. “I knew it. You untrustworthy, sneaky, rotten bastard!” Forgetting about the pain in her hand, she shoved Reade’s chest as hard as she could, sending him sprawling backward. “Positive/negative…that’s the before and after factor. Before you’d made your pact with the devil and afterward. Isn’t it?”

  She lunged past him to yank the stake off the bar with every intention of planting it deep into his heart.

  Reade’s hands shot out and caught Lawrie’s shoulder, jerking her forward against his chest. She fell on top of him, crashing to the floor with him.

  “It’s not like that. I made the pact with you.” His head hit the floor like a bowling ball. “Ow. Damn it, woman. You’re going to be the death of me.”

  Lawrie scrambled to her knees, reaching over the bar to grab the stake. “Exactly!”

  “Looking for this?” Garrison stood atop the bar, straddling the snoring bartender, phone in one hand, stake in the other, a bar towel protecting his skin.

  “What did you say?” Lawrie turned back to Reade. “With me? How?”

  Reade’s right eyebrow arched. “After you’d gotten into your father’s blood supply he begged me to make the pact.”

  Lawrie reeled backward, falling off Reade and slumping to the floor beside him. Her father had given her to a vampire? “How could he?”

  Chapter Nine

  Reade stared up at Lawrie. Once again her unexpected vampire speed had taken him by surprise. He was beginning to wonder if he was losing his own skill, or if she was simply getting faster with each passing moment.

  Slowly the long fingers of her left hand moved to her neck as if she was checking for a bite mark. She glared at him. “How could you do that to me? I was a baby.” Her elbow came down on his sternum.

  “Ow! Fuck! That hurts!” He curled onto his side. “It wasn’t like that.” He would be lucky if he hadn’t cracked his head wide open and punctured a lung. The woman was bound to kill him one way or another this evening.

  “Your father drew the blood. I drank it from a—”

  Her mouth dropped open, eyes wide as golf balls.

  Garrison let out a low whistle. “Probably not a good idea to provide any details.”

  “Never mind. The point is your father begged me to protect you, and I promised to keep you safe forever.”

  Lawrie’s eyes closed. She took a deep breath. “What does this blood pact mean?”

  Reade grunted when he sat up. “Move back at least a foot. I can’t take another assault.” He probed the ribs on his right side, counting two that were definitely broken and two others that hurt like hell.

  Lawrie didn’t move.

  He met her glare.

  “Let’s get everyone to their corners.” Garrison moved the camera from Reade to Lawrie. “We want a clean fight.” His deep voice bellowed like a boxing announcer’s.

  “The pact ties us together. The more often I feed from—”

  She snarled.

  “You asked. I’m trying to explain. It’s not like I’ve been secretly feeding from you. I haven’t tasted you in twenty years.” Reade had forced himself to forget her taste seconds after he’d finished drinking.

  In all his years he’d never fed from a child. Such a heinous act was unconscionable. But this had been different. There was a higher purpose, one that had been condoned or blessed even by her father, his good friend.

  Lawrie huffed, and he couldn’t tell if it was anger or disgust, but either one meant she might hit him again. He backed against the bar.

  She was right. She had been a baby when he made the pact. He hadn’t planne
d to ever touch her. Of course, he had planned to be more like an uncle or older brother to her, watch her grow up, scare off boyfriends, that sort of relationship.

  Lawrie’s eyes darted to the right, Reade looked past her to the street. A few men walked by, mumbling. With vampire senses he easily heard their conversation, complaining about work. Seconds later they turned the corner and headed up the side street. Lawrie’s attention returned to Reade.

  The plan was to be there for her. Not to abandon her and leave her to fend for herself with someone who didn’t care about her.

  “I think the pact has strengthened because of your recent drinking of my blood,” Reade said.

  She heaved a deep breath, and her breasts lifted, bringing his attention from her face to her chest. His gut twisted.

  She blinked a very slow blink, and her lips parted.

  His cock twitched. He hadn’t intended not to see her grow up and then find out she’d turned into his favorite fantasy.

  Her gaze traveled down his body from his face, lingering at his chest for a moment and then traveling lower. In spite of all the pain she’d inflicted on him he wanted her.

  She squeaked when she looked at his groin, and then sighed.

  He cleared his throat.

  “Did you have a supply of my blood hidden?” She ground out the words, though didn’t pull her attention from his lap.

  “No.”

  Her eyes were darker than when he first saw her tonight. She’d begun displaying more vampire traits with each passing minute.

  Something wasn’t right. He’d made one other blood pact more than a century ago, and it hadn’t turned out like this. He’d never had desires like this.

  Everything about this situation was entirely different.

  “How much of my blood have you consumed?” Reade asked.

  “Not enough for it to be lethal, apparently.” She tilted her head at him. Her wild blonde hair tumbled over her shoulder and hung into her lap.

  “Or to be turned vampire.” Garrison watched her with feigned disinterest. “Though, she does seem to be moving in that direction.”

  She shot him a glare that had him backing up several feet. “Is that even a possibility?”

  Her tone was angry, but her scent gave her away. Lawrie was afraid.

  “No.” Reade managed to get to his feet. “But clearly there are side effects. How much did you drink?” He held out his hand to help her to her feet.

  “All of it.”

  “What?” Reade’s question was in stereo with Garrison’s.

  “Haven’t you heard of limits?” Garrison stopped filming. “Unbelievable. We need to get her back to base. Serge will know what to do with her.”

  “I’m not going anywhere with either of you.” She ignored Reade’s hand and got to her feet on her own. “I’m going back to Panthera.”

  “What the hell is wrong with you, firecracker?” Garrison scrolled through his phone list. “Raymond plans to kill you at some point, and he’ll trap you in the bowels of the compound when he realizes you’ve left.” He put the phone to his ear. “And you’ve had, let’s see…ten pint-sized bags of vampire blood in the last, how long, three weeks? Of course, I’m just guessing based on memory and his mood swings over the past few weeks.” He nodded toward Reade.

  “I’m not leaving my father’s stuff in there. It’s all I have.” She met Reade’s gaze, staring at him with hate-filled eyes.

  “You see what happens when you let this happen?” Garrison pointed between Reade and Lawrie. “This is what you get. She’s moody and mean like a new vampire, and she’s strong and fast like a master, and she’s a little bit horny, like you. She’s a complete mess.”

  “I’m not any of those things!” She picked up a barstool, holding it up over her head.

  Reade grabbed a leg of the stool. “You’re proving his point.”

  “I was just…” She replaced the stool on the floor and sat.

  Garrison walked to the end of the bar for his conversation. “Serge, we’ve found Lawrie Tyrone.” He glanced back over his shoulder at her. “Yeah, well, that might be a problem.”

  “You didn’t find me,” she barked.

  “Why are you getting angrier?” Reade asked.

  Her heart rate sped. Her breathing grew shallow.

  “I don’t know.” She looked down. “My hand hurts.” She slid off the stool and stepped away from him. “I’m confused. I…I don’t know what to believe or think and I’m not sure why I feel the way I do.”

  “Garrison’s right. It’s the blood and my emotions. Could be due to the blood having been frozen or could be due to the proximity of the blood to me.” A hundred other theories for why she was behaving this way ran through Reade’s mind.

  “Could be that she likes you, too,” Garrison called out. “What?” he asked into the phone. “Oh, sorry.” He turned back to Reade and Lawrie. “Never mind that last part. I wasn’t supposed to say—” His mouth hung open. “Got it.” He ended the call. “Serge will meet us at the back entrance of the compound where Lawrie snuck out. We’re going in.”

  “You’ll never get past the guards.” She shook her head. “We’re too late. We needed to get in by midnight. The third shift is much more dangerous than the evening shift.” She frowned.

  Reade smiled. “Good. I’m just itching to kill someone tonight.”

  “Me too,” she mumbled, then covered her mouth. “Why did I say that?”

  “Ah, well, take good notes, firecracker. This is a perfect evening for you to make your daddy proud. These are the things that happen when you drink vampire blood.” He raised his shot glass. “To vampires. We wander. We fight. We fuck.” He tipped the whiskey into his mouth and swallowed. “Can’t wait to see that last part happen.

  Lawrie’s mouth dropped open.

  Chapter Ten

  “It’s that first building on the right.” Lawrie pointed to a building marked L3, the one she’d lived in her whole life.

  “What’s in that one?” Garrison pointed to the massive structure on the opposite side of the compound.

  “The new lab. It’s where Raymond’s newest experiments take place. He spends most of his time there. Most everyone does.”

  The new lab, building L10, was a state-of-the art, multi-floored operation with a glass dome for a roof that housed several individual labs, an amphitheater, and, Lawrie was pretty sure, an apartment for Raymond, though since her access was limited, she couldn’t say for certain.

  “What the hell is he up to?” Reade asked.

  Lawrie shook her head. “I don’t know. He’s very cryptic around me. But for sure he wants a vampire. I’ve heard the others talking about the…”

  “The what?” Reade asked.

  She looked up at Reade, then Garrison and frowned.

  “Just say it. We can take it.” Garrison said.

  “Well, they don’t really like vampires.”

  “Yeah, we get that.” Garrison’s voice sounded irritated. “As if we’ve done anything to them.”

  “The cells in the basement are supposedly lined with silver and designed to withstand any vampire’s attempted escape. Shackles with silver spikes on the inside were created to hold the vampire.” She frowned. “I’m fairly certain everything inside the cells is made of silver except the floor.”

  Garrison rubbed his chest. “Well, that does sound like a torture chamber.”

  The lights of an approaching truck flashed beside them and all three ducked down. The truck pulled up beside the shack, and the driver exchanged a couple words with the guard, before being allowed to enter the compound.

  Lawrie was finally able to see the guard. He’d been working for Panthera for about three years and was as ruthless as they came.

  The area was darker than she remembered it from a couple weeks back. Not a star lit the night sky, and the moon was hidden behind a bank of clouds.

  “We’ll never be able to get past him. He’s very fast and deadly and mean,” Lawrie w
hispered.

  “You’re all those things, too.” Garrison grinned down at her. “I think you could take him.”

  She frowned. “I’m not mean.” She’d never been mean to anyone, even her cousins.

  “Shut up, Garrison,” a voice came from behind them, and Lawrie spun around. “This had better not be a trap,” a man wearing head-to-toe leather said in a deep, gravelly rumble.

  Four vampires stepped from the wooded area, gliding up to the bushes. If Lawrie thought Reade or Garrison had been scary, they had nothing on these guys.

  Not one of them was shorter than six feet. Two of them had tattoos on their necks, one was bald and the last one, dressed in leather, had a spike through his ear.

  “Who let Brandt out of his cage?” Garrison asked.

  The leather-clad vampire snarled.

  Lawrie edged closer to Reade. “Maybe you should just let me figure out my own way in. I’ll be fine. I’m sure.” Her voice trembled.

  “They’re here to help. They won’t hurt you.” His arm circled her waist, and he pulled her against him. “Serge. Thanks for coming. This is Lawrie Tyrone.”

  The bald man held out his hand. “Ms. Tyrone, it’s a pleasure to see you again.”

  It was like meeting a bunch of fairy-tale creatures. The men around her were like nothing she’d ever seen. They certainly weren’t the geeky scientist types she was accustomed to seeing.

  Serge had charisma that Lawrie had never experienced before. He was bald with defined features and dark eyes that glowed. His pearly white teeth were perfect and big. He had a smile you couldn’t help but admire.

  She reached out her left hand and nodded, unable to peel her eyes off his chest.

  Dressed in head-to-toe black like the other men with him, he practically melted into the night. Broad shoulders. Muscular arms. Trim waist.

  “What happened to your other hand?” Serge brought her left hand to his lips, placing a soft kiss on her skin.

  Lawrie slowly shook her head, trying to remember what had happened. “His face.” She tipped her head back against Reade’s chest.

  Serge smiled and nodded. “I see.”