Page 4 of Blood Lovers (American Vampires #1)

I live for him.

The Saint Laurent compound is almost a small town. My seven hundred and ninety-three acres of paradise hold twenty-four buildings that comprise seventy-three bedrooms, fifty-one bathrooms, seventeen kitchens, three heated pools, four hot tubs, five fully-stocked bars—with attached game rooms—and a standalone library of sorts.

In addition, there are two small lakes, three streams, and a much larger lake that is suitable for boating.

In the summer I can make the drive from Twin Bridges in under three hours.

On New Year’s Eve, it takes me four.

But as soon as I arrive onto my land and pass through the first of two giant head-gates every road is cleared of snow because every road is heated by an elaborate geothermal grid below the ground. So the last few miles are rather pleasant.

It’s nearly midnight, and this seems both poetic and appropriate for the death of my feeder.

My last feeder.

I will not run out of blood. That’s not the problem with what’s happening tonight. The problem is Lucia’s response—or lack of one, as it may be.

The party on my compound shouldn’t be happening. Most of Montana is impassable in the winter. The only reason there is a road to Saint Laurent is because I built it. But a place of this size requires staff. Quite a lot of staff, actually. But not a staff of hundreds , and there are definitely hundreds of people here tonight.

I’m agitated when I get out of the Jeep. There isn’t even a valet to receive me. Not that I informed anyone that I was coming, but I have made my expectations clear. They are to carry on with their duties when I’m not here the same they would if I were.

And this party is not something I would allow.

I am not overly heavy handed with the halfbreeds, and there is no class or instruction manual to explain my expectations to them—but isn’t this one common sense? I mean, it’s my home and they are throwing a party.

Feels… disrespectful.

Halfbreeds are an interesting addition to the vampire lore. In the human world halfbreeds would be something half-human, half-vampire. But of course, they got this wrong too. A halfbreed has been poisoned with the vampire blood through a bite from me, or Lucia, or Josep.

Well, not Josep. And not really me, either.

But it doesn’t make them vampires. It just makes them slaves. They need more blood after that. From us mostly, but a feeder works in a less potent way as well. But we don’t hand this blood out liberally.

The halfbreeds don’t get a long life—in fact their lifespan is considerably shorter than one of a human who has not been poisoned. But they do heal quickly when they are first made and, after a period of years and feedings off of us—well, Lucia, mostly—they do gain a little bit of magic. A little bit of strength, a little bit of second sight, and excellent hearing. Not to mention secrets. They get to walk this world with more knowledge of the obscure and strange than most.

It’s a horrible deal if you ask me, but humans. Who can explain them?

I’m just about to swing open the front doors of the lodge when they come bursting out towards me. There is a moment when I think, Finally. My welcome.

But it’s a half-naked couple of humans—humans I have never seen before, so are not my staff—who nearly knock me down as they push past, laughing and carrying on like drunkards.

I push on.

The music is thumping, the beat rocking the floors. A girl bumps into me, spilling her drink on my pant leg. I open my mouth and growl at her, baring teeth.

She giggles uncontrollably, stumbling away from me in a fit of laughter.

The rage inside me builds, raising my already too-high body temperature, and I look around, searching for a familiar face.

I have to travel through five rooms and pass several dozen people before I finally find one. A lowly female halfbreed who was so fresh when I last saw her, she tried to chew her way into the neck of the feeder.

Now her mouth is covered in blood. Like she has been feasting.

Once I see her, I see others. There is a group of them spilling out of the industrial kitchen.

One boy—maybe in his early twenties—pushes past me, laughing and high on something. Blood, from the looks of it.

My blood.

The blood of my feeder.

But then he does does a double-take and he’s just about to open his mouth and scream my arrival when I beat him to it.

“Where is Lucia!” I bellow these words out.

People stop. Not all the people. Just the ones in the nearby rooms. Because my voice has shaken the house and the elaborate, dangerously heavy, chandeliers are swinging from the ceiling.

Slowly the partiers realize that something is amiss and they all stop their dancing and revelry and go quiet as the music continues to thump arounds us. I simply look around flashing rage with my eyes.

“My lord!” Lucia scurries out the crowd. She is wearing a long, elaborate black silk gown with layers upon layers of lace that drags on the floor behind her like a tail. Her look has always been overly sexual—her red hair, long and flowing almost to her knees, her full, crimson lips, those green eyes dotted with black, and her breasts. She is forever showing off those breasts. Right now, they are literally spilling out of the black corset top.

Her mouth is not ringed with blood, not the way that little halfbreed’s was, but there are traces of it on her lips. And now that I know what to look for, I see that they have all been drinking. Even a few humans.

“We weren’t expecting you, my lord.”

My lip curls up as Lucia comes up to me. “Apparently not.” I reach up and she cowers back, then looks embarrassed when all I do is wipe away a bit of blood from the corner of her mouth with the pad of my thumb. She glances over her shoulder and I know what she is thinking. I can practically read her mind.

She’s thinking… Did they see me cower?

Oh, they did, Lucia. They did.

She will never admit that I frighten her, but I can smell her fear. She has always been afraid of me. Ever since I first found her in the disgusting summer heat of the Roman catacombs five hundred years ago.

I have never struck her. Ever.

But I have never liked her, either. And she knows this. She feels my hate just as easily as I smell her fear.

I did, however, save her. I took her with me when I was cast out of Europe. Josep was there as well. He and I are… complicated. But… he has been worth the effort. And, I must reluctantly admit, so has Lucia.

They were both necessary companions in the beginning. Hundreds of years later, they bore me. They tire me. And if they were to die in front of me tonight, I would not weep.

I have my children now. They are not vampires, and they are not really mine, but I feel closer to them than these horrible creatures who live in my house and on my land.

Children are the only true vessels of joy left in this world. They are the closest thing to God. And watching them, in their innocence, brings me closer to my maker. Because I come from Him too. Just like all the other creatures on this earth. And one day I will find a path that leads to my maker and I will finally get my say.

But other than the children, and the chance of seeing God, the only reason to exist right now is Ryet. And he’s not even here.

If he were, this party would not be happening and my feeder would not be dying in that little house across the compound. I look over towards the other end of the kitchen, then realize there are still a few humans in here with us. I turn to the nearest halfbreed, who happens to be the infant I passed by earlier. Her name comes back to me in this moment. “Echo.”

“Yes, my lord?”

She’s brave, I’ll give her that. She could’ve run when she saw me. I was not looking for her and she knew it. She would not be blamed for this party.

But she stayed. So I give her a job to do. “Clear this house of humans.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“You can still have your party, but take it outside or to your own houses !” My voice gets louder as this sentence progresses and by the time I’m done, I’m bellowing like a raging fool.

“Yes, my lord!” Then Echo screams, “Everybody out! You heard him! Out, out, out !” Her voice is quite shrill, but she has a commanding presence for a halfbreed so young.

She leaves the kitchen, ushering humans in front of her. But not a single other halfbreed dares to move.

They are not all here, but the ones who are look at me with guilty eyes.

They know what they’ve done.

Actually, they probably don’t.

None of these mongrels is old enough to remember the last dying feeder. For all they know, feeders are eternal, like me.

But feeders are not eternal. And drinking from one without my express permission has always been forbidden.

She has a finite amount of blood. Idiots.

I feed them all with this single old woman. And they do this in return?

Getting angry is not my style. I am almost always in control. But I want to be angry about this. The hidden witch was dreamwalking over my awakening body. Ryet is God knows where, the old feeder is dying, and my house is filled with idiots.

I let out a breath and force myself to take the high road. “We will discuss what happened here tonight another time.”

I’m speaking to all of them, but I’m looking Lucia in the eyes when I say this. Her evil eyes. Her witch eyes. They betray her bloodline. For she is not like me. Nor will she ever be like me.

Neither is Josep, but at least he didn’t start his life as a witch.

“What I really want to know, and one of you had better have a very good reason, is why no one thought to wake me up as the feeder across the compound was dying .”

“Dying?” Several mongrels gasp this word out. And then the kitchen is filled with murmurs.

“Feeders can die?”

“I didn’t know that. Did you know that?”

“What happens when they die? Do we get a new one?”

They are so foolish.

But who can I blame but myself?

I am their lord and master. This idiocy is a reflection of me and it is in this moment that I decide things around here need to change. Drastically.

“Echo!” I’m bellowing again. She peeks her head from around a corner, waiting, apparently. “Come with me. We need to check on the feeder.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Paul—” Lucia puts a hand on my arm. “I’m sorry, I didn’t—”

“You did . You absolutely did.” I seethe at her. She is a formidable bitch. But when I am in the room, she is nothing but a cowering fool.

She hates me. She has always hated me. But I have always hated her too. Lucia and I have a very sick relationship that has been going on for hundreds of years and I have hundreds of opinions about her and a million more things that I would like to spit in her face.

But it’s not wise to be impetuous with Lucia. She is vengeful, greedy, thoughtless, and everything she does comes from her ego, which is easily bruised. Not that I’m worried about her feelings—I’m not. But I don’t have the time to deal with her now.

So I leave the rest unsaid. “Let’s go, Echo.”

We turn and leave Lucia in the kitchen with the halfbreeds, and then Echo leads me through the house towards the front door, but I divert towards the back staircase that leads directly to my apartments.

“I thought you wanted to see the feeder?”

“I do. But I want to check my rooms first. Will I find people fucking in my bed right now?”

Echo gasps. “Oh, no, sir, my lord. No, sir. I cannot imagine someone doing that.”

“Even a human?”

She sputters a little bit. “Well, I… I guess I never thought—”

“From now on, if you want to be here with me, you will ignore Lucia. Do you understand me?”

Echo wilts a little. “Yes, my lord. I understand. But she’s so…”

“I know. She’s old, and powerful, and can make your life a living hell. So this is a challenge for you, Echo. A challenge you must decide to overcome. Choose. Her or me.”

“You, of course, my lord!”

“Of course.”

“I will.” She promises this as we climb the stairs. “If she ever wants to do something like this again, I will come find you and tattle immediately.”

I laugh out loud at her honesty and admission of cowardice. “That’s the smartest thing I’ve heard all night. She’s dangerous, Echo. Far more dangerous than you can even imagine. Do not cross her to her face. Do you understand?”

Echo nods enthusiastically, making her pink bob hair actually bob. “Yes.”

Then we’re at my double doors. I punch a code into my digital lock and pan my hand to the door handle.

I can tell Echo is nervous about opening the doors for me. Which means… there might actually be a couple of humans fucking on my bed right now. But she puts on a confident face and swings them open.

We both stare at the empty bed, and she actually giggles out a sigh of relief. “Told ya so.”

I tap a finger on her cute nose and smile. “You did, didn’t you. Stay right here. I will be right out and then we will check on the feeder.”

She melts a little at my attention and I immediately decide I love her.

Then I close the door on her face, just like Hutch did to that sexy thing who I will find and fuck one day soon.

I walk over to the bedside table, take out a satellite phone, and call up from memory the numbers that will lead me to Ryet.

He answers on the ninth ring. “What?”

“Are you so busy partying that you can’t pick up the phone?”

“I’m hunting, you asshole. I’ve caught a scent.”

This is a good development. “I had hoped, but—”

“It’s happening, isn’t it?”

He’s talking about the dying witch. “Yes, Ryet. It’s happening.”

“I can feel it. It’s… weird.”

Ryet is not one who typically talks about his feelings to me. So I encourage this. “Feels weird how?”

“I don’t know how to explain it.”

“Try.”

“It’s a sick feeling. I know I don’t even drink that old skag, but I can feel her dying.”

What he means is, he only drinks blood from me . He has never tasted anyone else. But this feeling of sickness might be a problem. “Do you require assistance?”

“For what ?”

I roll my eyes at his contemptuous tone. “You’re feeling ill. Do you require a drink, Ryet?”

“ No .” He does. But he’s not lying because he just doesn’t realize he does. So I drop it.

“Fine. Keep following the scent. And… good job.”

“She could be anywhere, so… you know. Be fucking careful and shit.”

“You’re worried about me.”

“I’m literally not. I’m just informing you of the development. I’ll call you in the morning. Make sure you pick up.”

“Me pick up?” I nearly guffaw. “You’re the one—”

But he has already hung up on me.

I’m grinning as I leave my apartments.

Echo is just where I left her. “You look pleased.” She’s got her lips pressed together and she’s smiling up at me.

I don’t answer her, but I am pleased. So pleased with that single conversation with Ryet, there is a spring in my step as we leave the lodge, crisscross the compound, and make our way to the little cabin where the feeder is kept.

The house has been emptied of humans, but out here the party is raging louder than ever. It’s past midnight now and I’ve missed the countdown. The music is thumping and people are yelling their revelry about a brand-new beginning.

I stop outside the feeder’s door and look at Echo. “Did you go in here tonight?”

“No. Only Lucia went in. She bled her this afternoon and brought bags for us. I’m sorry—”

“It’s fine. She’s been dying for decades now. And anyway, it’s not your fault. If I were you, and at that age”—I pause to smile and tap her nose again, because she is a very cute girl—“I would’ve drunk it too.”

“It was only my second time.”

“Good. Well, we’ll have to make sure you get a third. Wouldn’t want to stunt your growth.”

She smiles big as she backs up. “I’ll give you your privacy.”

“Thank you. And… happy New Year, Echo.”

“Happy New Year to you too, lord.”

I watch Echo until she disappears around a corner, and then I turn my attention back to the door.