Birth of a Vixen (Shadow Faith Book 1) Read online

  “You look, you look amazing.” I stammered. “Where to now that you have me all dressed up?”

  “Thank you. And to answer your question,” Lucian slid a hand around my waist. He supported the lower portion of my bareback and repositioned his hold on my hand. “I figured we would start the night off with some dancing.”

  “But we don’t have any music.” I searched the room for a hidden stereo. There were only books staked in the shelves. No hidden stereo equipment. No speakers mounted anywhere.

  “Close your eyes.” I did as I was told. He led me in small waltz steps. “Now I want you to imagine we have a full orchestra playing behind us. Softly, they start an enchanting melody. As the song progresses the tempo intensifies.”

  Our waltz hastened. The sound of our feet tapping across the floor created a steady percussion. “It grows into a vibrant number full of life that you can feel down in your bones. Until…”

  We twirled faster and faster. In the midst of our dance warm air from the fireplace flowed through my hair one second and a chill swept across me the next. I squeezed my eyes tight. The clicks of my heels against the hardwood floor became clacks on concrete.

  Without missing a beat Lucian picked up his sentence where he left it off. “…Each symphonic note methodically slows till it comes to a close.”

  We stopped. I opened my eyes. We were no longer in the lounge, but in a dark alleyway far from wondering eyes. “Where are we?”

  He beamed at me with delight. “New York.”

  “What are we doing here?”

  “We’re party crashers.”

  “A party?”

  “A Holiday Masquerade.”

  “So more dancing. How’s that supposed to help me?”

  Lucian came up beside me. “Then we’ll have a late dinner.”

  I stepped back. “Let me get this straight. We’re hunting here? Drinking from unwilling donors? Did I neglect to mention I didn’t like being a bloodsucking fiend?”

  “You did, but I understood everything you said. You are still looking at the negative. I know you remember what Thais tasted like and how wonderful blood tastes after it’s chilled. Now imagine tapping it from the source, feeling life in that magical elixir.”

  “You’re sick.” I felt like I was going to be, too. I turned away from him.

  “Hear me out Angela.”

  “No. I’m sorry. I’ll spy on other vamps, kill them if necessary, but I cannot take a human’s life unless they threaten me. I just can’t”

  “You threaten yourself by not feeding properly. Its why you feel the way you do all over. I see the way you shake every time you chug back stale cold blood. It’s not healthy. To make it through these next few weeks you need to hunt. There is hunger inside that you mustn’t fight any longer. Please, give it a try. That’s all I ask.”

  That stopped me dead. Lucian never said please. I doubted he asked for much in his life. He simply took it.

  “Fine.”

  He hugged me. “Besides what better places to grab a quick drink than with people already celebrating things that go bump in the night. We’ll fit in perfectly.” He snatched up my hand and led me across the busy intersection.

  Chapter 11

  Minutes later we walked into a vampire’s paradise. The club’s high voltage nuance created the perfect hunting ground. The techno music, hormones and alcohol charged a primal urge in all of us. Some couples moved together in a vertical dance that would escalate once they left the club to a more horizontal mambo. Those without a significant other clustered together, joking and drinking in a charade of happiness. There was a spastic neon green, blue, yellow and red light show. An intoxicating aroma lingered over everything. It was like the liquor had a life of its own. I took in a smooth whiff of a scotch and the harsh lighter fluid smell of tequila. I almost tasted it. Unless the liquor was coupled with a blood chaser it did me no good.

  Lucian and I sat at the bar. The bartender paid us no attention. It was as if we didn’t exist to him.

  I tap-danced my fingers across the bar. “What’s the plan? You find a suitably drunk individual, we take him or her out to the alley and have a few shots.”

  Lucian undid his bow tie, letting the ends fall down his chest. He ran his hands through his hair. “Actually I thought we would get our own dinners, separately.”

  “From the way you were talking before I thought this was a date. Usually dates eat out together.”

  “Normally you would be correct. However, this ‘date’ is not without a little life lesson. You, my dear, need to find a way to accept and enjoy what you are.”

  His eyes skimmed the crowd. He froze. I saw his chest rise as he took in his victim’s scent. One corner of his mouth curled in delicious anticipation. He spoke without looking at me. “Now if you’ll excuse me my meal’s been served.”

  “Wait a second.” I reached out to him. Lucian puzzled at my hand upon his arm. I removed my grip and dropped my hand by my side. “What am I suppose to do? I’ve never done this before. I’m not even sure I would know the first step. Didn’t you say we would work our way to this?”

  “I know what I said. I changed my mind. Look, it’s instinct. Give into it. No pun intended, but trust your gut. You don’t have to leave the club but you will need to take him or her to a secluded area. And pay attention to your surroundings. I’ll meet you back in the alley when I’m done.” He kissed my forehead.

  Lucian recaptured the scent of his prey. Then he left me to my own devices.

  How the hell was I going to do this? I didn’t trust my senses the way Lucian trusted his own. There were too many heavy aromas for me to pick out one I liked. I decided to pick up some random stranger like any single woman in a bar. It was time to wing it and hope for the best.

  A herd of men stood by the dance floor ogling over a few of the women. That was where I started. I slid off the bar stool, slipped in and out of the crowd till I made it to the dance floor. If the boys liked those women they were sure to get a kick out of me.

  I joined the other women swaying to a magnetic beat. I gave myself up to the music. The beat’s pace quickened. It swayed my hips. It called to my arms as if it were the flute and my arms the snake in the basket. It guided my feet toward one lucky man.

  He wore an archaeologist costume. I reached out to him. As if in a trance he took my offered hand. We sashayed onto the dance floor.

  I caught his friends watching us. The attention was expected, but the way I felt wasn’t. I was the center of attention. Surrounded by scantily clad women, I was every man’s desire. The air changed. It became electrifying. As the hormone levels from the men, and some women, raised so did the level of jealousy emanating from the other dancers. The floodgate of emotions filled me.

  I laughed because I felt free and alive, more so than when I was actually alive. I was connected to everyone. It was as if humanity was a dream some vampire dreamt up. It was a rush that made me invincible.

  The boy I danced with stood rigid. Fear and lust clouded his brown eyes. He should be terrified, but his fear stemmed from something other than the fact that he was my meal ticket. From the way he watched me slide my hips against his khaki clad legs and stroked his tan button down shirt I sensed he was scared I would break the trance I had on him and move on to another. I danced around him and trailed my hand across his shoulders. Then I removed his brown felt fedora and ruffled his short, sweaty brown hair. I got in close enough to kiss then spun and leaned against him.

  The song began repeating itself, signaling it was coming to the end. I stopped delaying the moment. I spun back around, grabbed his shirt below the collar and pulled him in close. “Do you want to take this some where private?”

  “Uh huh.” He nodded his head. After I pulled back he took a giant swig of his beer, then followed me like a good puppy. This was way too easy.

  I didn’t let myself get cocky or over-think. I was going to get this done and over with as fast as possible. Were I to stop for even a
second and think about what I was doing, or how I was doing it, I would have chickened out.

  Holding his hand I led him outside, away from the lights, away from the crowds, and into the alley. I knew what Lucian said but it was the first private place that came to mind. Once we were out of eyesight from any random passer-by I pressed my back against the brick building, then laughed like I was drunk. I kissed his thin lips. They were soft but really thin. I almost missed his mouth the first time.

  His fear slipped away as he got into the spirit of what we were doing. His hands wandered along my body, caressing each curve. His mouth began its own exploration. Small, quick, drunken kisses marched their way up my cheek to my ear and then back down my neck. His beer breath was steamy across my cool skin. “Oh god, you are so beautiful.”

  I groaned inside. I needed him to remain quiet. Determined not to let him distract me I unzipped his fly. It stuck a little around his bulge.

  He froze. I wasn’t sure if he stopped because of what I did or because of the sudden gust of wind that whipped around the corner. It was a bit chilly. The boy stared at my eyes with a lustful glaze. “I don’t even know your name?”

  Not wanting to give him my real name I said the first thing that popped in my head. “It’s Veronica.”

  “Veronica,” He swooned over my name like it was the sexiest thing about me. “That’s pretty. I’m David.”

  I blinked, lost by the distraction. He was suddenly very human to me. He wasn’t a meal ticket. He was a real live boy who just wanted to have a good time. Out there somewhere he had a mother and a father worried about his safety. They wondered if he drank too much, if he had a designated driver, or if he remembered to have safe sex should he meet someone special. I was fairly certain I was not what they were worried about.

  From the corner of my eye I saw Lucian behind my would-be-victim. I shook my head a little. Stiff tremors vibrated down each muscle group to my toes. My jaw clenched shut. Unblinking, my eyes started to swell with unshed tears.

  “Hey, it’s okay. We don’t have to if you don’t want to.” David reassured me. He was such a sweet boy. A fool, perhaps for going into a dark alley with a complete stranger, but he was still sweet. Boys could be arrogant like that sometimes, believing they were indestructible.

  I tore my eyes away from Lucian and really saw the boy before me. I couldn’t stand what I saw. He was so young. So much more naïve than I ever was. I bet he never had a bad day in his life.

  A quick movement behind him ripped my attention back to Lucian. Without a sound he trapped the boy between us. He spoke in my head, “You have to do this.”

  My brow wrinkled. I blinked back the tears. “I can’t”

  “That’s okay,” David said.

  Lucian mouthed, “You can.”

  I gritted my teeth. I tried to find another way out of this situation. Instead, I fixated on the pulsating rhythm of his blood pumping under the shallow protection of his tender skin. It called to me like a beacon. It was stronger than the pull the music had over me, stronger than the connection I felt towards Lucian. It knew me. It wanted to be in me. I closed my eyes and all objections floated away. I bit. I fed.

  He didn’t scream as my fangs buried into his soft flesh and sliced open his carotid artery. He whimpered and lost himself in the pleasure of my kiss. The boy I was determined not to hurt had the greatest time of his life. It was a shame it was his last.

  The bitter sweet liquid that kept his heart pumping, his brain firing off nerve impulses, his legs upright, and his arms around my waist drained into my mouth. This was like having my own personal fountain of ambrosia. This was my bit of everlasting life perfectly packaged at the right temperature to maintain the finest taste in quality with me in mine. Damn the gods.

  “You’re done.” Lucian called out to me from a thousand miles away. “You can stop. He’s dead. Stop.” He drew the empty shell of a boy away from me.

  With the body freed of my grip the reality of what I did sank in. I wanted to vomit. My hands shook. The violent shakes consumed my body in a terrifying revelation. I did something vile, evil. What had I done?

  I took a life.

  I screamed out, one agonizing screech of pure hatred at myself. This wasn’t me. I wasn’t a killer. But I had killed. I had done the unthinkable. This time it wasn’t a vampire I chewed up and swallowed. It was a living, breathing human being.

  Lucian got a firm grip on my shoulders. “Get a grip on yourself. Do you want to draw attention to us? You’ll get us both killed.”

  “We don’t deserve to live. We are evil and should be killed for what we are.” I snarled back at him.

  “No we are not. Evil is nothing more than a worthless idea. A concept brought on by years of mindless programming. Yes, we are killers but we don’t have to kill in order to feed. You got carried away. That’s all. You aren’t the first to let that happen and you sure as hell won’t be the last. But you have to pull yourself together right now before someone comes looking for the loud crazy woman crying in the alley. Now relax.”

  “How can I relax? I just killed that poor boy. He was sweet. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  Lucian dropped his hands. “We all were once.”

  “Don’t give me that cliché bullshit. I can’t believe what I’ve done. This is exactly what I was afraid of.” My voice trembled more than my body. A dizzying chill came over me. “I feel dead inside.”

  He squared his shoulders. “That’s because, Angela, you are dead.”

  I looked up him flabbergasted.

  “No really, Angela Vista died three years ago. You might look like her again, you may even think like her still, but she is in fact dead. You are a whole new person. You discovered that person tonight. I heard you speak her name. Somewhere deep down inside you you’ve always known this day would come. Admit it, Veronica.”

  Lucian yanked me down to the end of the alley. Next to a dumpster was a broken mirror laid out in hundreds of pieces. In the largest shards of reflective glass I saw me, but it wasn’t me, and it wasn’t a recreation of Thais. It was a reflection of someone new. Someone who had lurked deep within the recesses of my soul behind layers of self doubts and shame. It was the vampire version of Angela Vista. Her name was Veronica.

  A switch flipped in my head. I understood now how I had to cope with being what I was. I had to accept that the young, innocent me, Angela, was for all tense and purposes dead. She died in Thais’ basement. Caelyn didn’t rescue her. He rescued me. That was why he apologized.

  That meant I was a different person now, a more evolved person. I wasn’t evil. I was just different. I was Veronica.

  I kept thinking my new name over and over again like this epiphany might slip away if I didn’t. It wouldn’t of course. Finally, with this new input of information, this new insight into who I was, I felt at peace. I felt right just being me.

  Chapter 12

  Young college hopefuls partied the night away. I crossed state route fifty-nine where it merged with Main Street. Where the road split maple trees hid the undergraduates from the rest of the town on this auspicious night. I followed the playful undergraduates up Main Street.

  At the apex of the hill horny early twenty-some-things rubbed themselves against one another with nothing but a beer and a smile to keep them warm out in the street. Many walked down the opposite side of the hill to the bars in pairs and groups. While others sat on their porch, enjoying the brisk night air in the company of their fellow well-bodied students. Music blared from the houses on both sides of the street converging into a vibrant sound full of life. The house closest to me was a large, white Victorian. It sat deep in the shadows of the continuous line of pine trees that acted as a fence. A thin blanket of snow stretched before it. The Greek house logo was nailed over the door, Alpha-something or whatever I couldn’t tell.

  A dark haired frat boy, wearing a navy blue t-shirt, stuck his head from a second story window of the Victorian manor. “Hey baby!�
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  I bunched the dark brown fur collar tighter. My mother always said that if you ignore someone they would just go away. This statement was only true half the time. When dealing with horny men it only heightened their desire. The thrill of the hunt was inherited.

  Out the corner of my eye I saw him lean back inside the house hidden behind a dark curtains. No doubt he told his buddies about the hot chick he saw. I counted down from ten in my head.

  “Hey sweetie wanna drink?” This came from a new gentleman caller from the same room. The words were slurred. Since my first run in with a drunken man I learned the advantages of feeding from tipsy boys. I got a little tipsy, too.

  I stopped and put my hands in my pockets. His brown hair was styled short with a flip in the front like a baby Mohawk. His brown puppy dog eyes would have been more dazzling if not for the bewildered drunken glaze. A hunter green turtle neck covered the rest of what I could see of him. “What are you serving?”

  “Tequila!”

  “That’s my favorite.”

  “Cool, just walk right in.” I sashayed up three cement stairs, up the main walk and onto the dark porch.

  The music hit me like a brick. A cloud of pot and cigarette smoke hovered throughout the entire house. Stairs ascended in front of me. Through the thick haze at my left was the typical fraternity house party. A free standing light was turned down on to its lowest setting between two brown couches. Couples left no room for any one else to sit as they feverishly made out. A small coffee table was in the middle of the room. The little walk area around the table was taken over by a pot circle. Their attention was on the action at the coffee table.

  An attractive redhead laid prone with her naked back on the glass tabletop. A black bra was the only clothing that shielded her chest from the audience. Her red mini-skirt was bunched around her waist and revealed that she was indeed a natural redhead.

  Her boyfriend was nowhere near as bare. He simply unbuttoned his dark jeans and was ready for action. He tucked shoulder-length strands of black hair behind his ear. After a few deep kisses, he thrust his rather impressive male appendage deeper with each moan in the middle of the living room.