Page 3

Ruby

There is a knock on the door.

It is a soft rap rather than someone pounding on the wood.

I know who it is, of course.

I freeze on the spot, unable to move. My thoughts are racing and all I can think of is that he’s here. The vampire is here.

He will know that I am inside the house, that I’m deciding what to do but he doesn’t knock again, he’s waiting for me to answer the door. I don’t know what will happen if I open the door, or maybe I do, maybe I want it to happen. I felt it in his eyes, the way he looked at me. The way he wanted me.

I try to banish these ideas from my head.

This can’t happen, it would be a disaster.

I know this for a fact.

I was born in this shithole of a shifter town, a place that everyone leaves the moment they can but we couldn’t leave. With a sick mom and a father who got sent to prison before he could pay Tomás back for drugs he had lost, the debt got transferred to me, the only child of a man everyone called Cat, for obvious reasons, I guess. My father’s alter ego is a bobcat, fierce, but no match for the wolves in these packs. They are huge and ferocious.

Tomás gave me a job in his club, taking half my wages and telling me if I even think of sneaking away one night, he’d take his rage out on my mother. My poor mom, sick with complications of diabetes and struggling to stay alive after everything that’s happened to her. I can’t let that happen.

I’ve worked at the strip club for almost five years now, hating every minute, trying to find a way out. Allowing one of the bikers to come around sometimes, for protection. Danny has always had the hots for me. He has managed to work himself up at the club as part of the protection. He rides out with the pack as a captain of one of the groups. He is known as an enforcer, which means he is not scared of violence or handing out justice. His idea of justice, of course, which usually has nothing just about it at all. It doesn’t help that he has a short temper and is easily riled, especially when he has been drinking, which is most days.

I’ve tried to break up with him, many times.

But he keeps coming back and it does help to have him around as it keeps other characters away.

But maybe this vampire can help me get away.

The voice whispers to me, in the back of my mind, telling me that vampires are stronger than shifters. Richer. Perhaps this one can help me. It is a dangerous thought and I know that but the world we live in is ruled by the strong. Survival of the fittest. Or smartest. Probably, the richest.

Even though shifters are bad, everyone says vampires are worse. My mom warned me about them, these predators who look so charming and smell so good, right up until they bury their fangs in your neck. They’re not human, they don’t feel anything but not all vampires are like that, I think. They’re not allowed to attack people anymore. I know it happens, from time-to-time but it’s not common anymore and they’re so attractive, at least this one is. Not to mention they’re cleaner. Shifters are known for owning weapons, not toothbrushes.

I move closer to the door. I can see a shape outside. My hand is on the door handle. I close my eyes briefly, take a deep breath and steady my breathing.

I open the door.

Of course it is him. Those blue eyes of his shining like lasers, burning into my soul.

“Ruby.”

He says my name like it’s a spell or something.

I nod, not trusting myself to say anything.

“You need to invite me in,” he says with a gentle smile.

“Do I?” I ask stupidly, knowing that I have to do this, but buying a bit more time for myself.

“Unless you want me to stay out here, where anyone can see?”

Oh, shit, I think. Danny. He might come over, I can’t have him seeing the vampire at my front door.

“Yes, yes, come in,” I say quickly and shut the door behind him.

“You live here?” the vampire asks in a soft voice, looking around the living room. I see it through his eyes, the ratty couch with the stained upholstery, the fraying carpet and the torn curtains.

“This is my life,” I say, and shrug.

“But it’s not really, is it?” he moves closer and I try to avoid his eyes, which seem to stare into my soul. I break the train of my thoughts, which are full of him. This is the way to stop the power he has over me. I turn away and force myself to say, “I’d offer you something to drink but you don’t want that, right? I am having a beer, though,” I say with a nervous chuckle.

He comes with me into the kitchen, where a cooler box serves as a fridge.

“No power?” he asks, looking around the kitchen.

“No power lines around here anymore.” He must be from the city, where authorities have kept up infrastructure like roads and electricity plants. Out here, we fend for ourselves. We are even more isolated than most. Shifters rule, running illegal bars and strip joints, making money off selling drugs and sex and anything else people are willing to pay for.

I swallow some of the beer and it feels good.

“You got what you needed from Tomás?”

He nods. “Thanks for your help.”

He pauses, “I hope I didn’t cause trouble for you at work?”

I nod, sit down at the kitchen table.

“I called my friend Grace and offered her some of the money in exchange for telling him that she came to the club but left when she saw a vampire was there.”

He nods. “Then I owe you money for that, right?”

“If you want.”

He took out some notes, put them down on the table.

I wasn’t going to say no to that.

He turned away to look out the window and I took a moment to look at him properly. He is tall and strongly built, but it’s the blonde hair and the tanned skin that make him look so handsome. Coupled with those incredible eyes, he is irresistible.

Almost.

I am sure I could resist him if I wanted to.

The problem is, I don’t really want to.

“So, tell me, why are you here,” I challenge him.

“I wanted to see you, make sure you’re fine,” he says, turning to look at me.

I look down.

“As you can see, I’m fine.”

I swallow, “You can go now.”

A moment passes. “Do you want me to? I will if you tell me to.”

He knows I don’t want him to go.

“I don’t want to want you,” I say, still looking down at the cracked linoleum. “I don’t want to be another notch on your belt, or whatever.”

I can hear my voice catching.

“I know you can make me want you. Please stop doing…whatever it is you’re doing.”

I feel him taking a step away.

“Ruby. I’m not doing anything. I promise.”

“I’m not a fool!” I jump up, take another step back. “This is what you do… you vampires! You… turn on the stage lights and sprinkle your fairy dust or whatever and we become putty in your hands!”

I can feel tears of anger in my eyes.

“I don’t want to leave but I will if you want me to,” his voice is so soft I can barely hear him. I realize he is walking out of the kitchen.

I close my eyes.

“No,” I whisper. “Come back.”

I don’t hear him come back into the room, but suddenly he is there, next to my chair and I slide into his arms with a sigh, unable to resist any longer. His skin is rough, his beard is scratchy but his mouth, oh my God, it is an oasis of delight. Warm and velvety, he kisses me with such tenderness, I feel desire stirring inside of me like I’ve never felt it before.

I stagger back into the kitchen cabinets and he lifts me up onto the counter, kissing me deeper, with more passion, his tongue probing and twisting, exploring my mouth so artfully. My insides twist with longing as I put my arms around his neck, pulling him closer.

He draws away slightly, “Are you sure?”

I nod, quickly, “Yes, yes.”

“Ruby?”

My God, I have never met any man so polite and courteous about a screw.

“Fuck me, for God’s sakes, just fuck me!” I can’t help myself, my desire is turning into a physical need and an ache for him. I pull off my jeans and help him undo his pants, eager to get my hands on him right now. I don’t know how much longer we have and there is no time to waste. When I reach into his pants, he shudders with desire and I can feel the throbbing want of him. I jump back on the counter, pulling him into me, my thighs opening, welcoming him inside of me. I am so wet and the sensation of pleasure is overwhelming as waves of joy build immediately, drowning out all thought.

He caresses my breasts, kissing them, as I wrap my legs around him.

“More, harder,” I moan as he thrusts, kissing me hungrily, his mouth harder now, his tongue reaching deeper into my mouth as his cock drives harder and harder until we explode in rapturous bliss, coming together.

“Oh, my God,” I say and hold him close in a tight embrace, the waves of ecstasy gently recede but lock us together in a cocoon of bliss. He collapses against me and my arms instinctively close around him, holding him close.

It was so quick and fast, almost over before I knew what was happening.

I feel him straightening up and looking at me.

“You okay?”

I nod. “But you have to get going. Danny could come by any moment.”

“Danny?”

I try to think how to explain what Danny is. “He is… someone in my life, I guess.”

“You have a boyfriend?”

“I wouldn’t call him that but, yes, he would probably put it that way.”

“Can’t I be your boyfriend?” He is smiling when he says the words, but I can tell he is only half-joking.

I bite my lip. “You’re a vampire and this is a shifter town, hell, a shifter capital. I don’t have a death wish.”

He pulls me close and kisses me again, slowly, with such feeling that I feel all my resolve melting.

“There are worse things than being dead,” the vampire says, looking into my eyes with those magnificent eyes of his. I feel myself drowning in the vast blue expanse of them, like the ocean with its hidden depths and mysteries.

“Not for me,” I say, my voice breaking, as I push him out the back door.