CHAPTER 1
Shayna Prentiss left the bar near the University of Washington, wondering if someone had slipped her a roofie. She felt light-headed and from the corner of an eye, she was sure she saw a man, dressed in black, floating in the air. When she turned to look, though, nothing was there.
Had to be drugs.
But she'd been so careful, never letting guys buy her drinks and, once she had a drink in hand, keeping it there. In her undergrad days she'd been through the gauntlet of insanity that accompanied the college journey and had made it a point to learn vicariously from stories that traveled like wildfire around the dorms. More than one student had ended up in the hospital.
But tonight, something must have gotten past her. Had she been distracted? Had she turned her back to talk to someone? Yet she couldn't think of a single moment when she'd let her guard down.
Or maybe it was just stress. Her replacement passport hadn't come through yet and she was leaving for Malaysia in two weeks to start her fieldwork. She'd booked the flight months ago to get a solid cheap rate. But she'd gotten so caught up in putting together as many chapters of her dissertation as she could before she left that she'd somehow managed to lose her passport.
She wasn't the most organized person, but she loved anthropology with a passion and intended to earn her PhD before she was thirty.
The dizziness returned, forcing her to stop to plant a hand against a light standard. And now she had a headache as though someone was tapping on her mind, wanting in.
She took deep breaths.
On a Friday night students headed everywhere, even at ten at night. She'd met up with friends for a drink, happy to unwind for a couple of hours, but now she was ready to get back to work. She tended to pore over her books until the early-morning hours and loved it. From the time she'd started college, she'd scheduled afternoon and evening classes whenever possible. She did her best thinking after the sun went down, preferably with books and papers scattered all around her. Antique statuary helped, as well as the oh-so-stereotypical midnight pizza. She had a fine collection of geodes she looked at or turned over and over in her hands when she was puzzling out some aspect of theory.
The air smelled of rain and the clouds overhead had gathered to form a thick, familiar mass. A distant rumbling of thunder explained things loud and clear.
Great, now it was going to pour—and as usual, no umbrella.
A couple of guys stopped in front of her. "Shayna, how's it going?" They were in one of the classes she was required to teach as part of her doctoral program. They were young and had that hungry, Friday-night, hoping-to-get-laid look. And unfortunately, she never looked older than eighteen no matter how much makeup she wore.
With thoughts of her latest paper on her mind, she wasn't interested in encouraging any kind of male attention. "I'm fine. You boys move along and flirt with girls your own age."
They both grinned. She didn't always get the same respect as other teachers because of her youngish features. She'd be carded forever, but there was nothing she could do about that.
Waving them off, she hurried up the street, half walking, half running as thunder once more sounded from the north. She was cold now, grateful she'd worn her jeans and not the short skirt she'd actually considered.
As she rounded the corner, however, she swore that flying man appeared again, floating in the air, tracking her. So long as she didn't look directly at him, she could see him, and this time she took a hard look. He was handsome in a scary way, with short, roughed-up hair and dressed in black leather. He was big, too, like he kept a gym in his garage and spent most of the day there working out.
As hallucinations went, he was amazing.
She forced her gaze away from him and kept moving. Maybe she'd ingested some kind of psychedelic.
But the pressure on her mind increased then broke through. Words followed that set her heart racing. Are you Shayna Prentiss?
She stopped in her tracks and shifted slightly and now she could see the flying man clearly. But it also seemed like wavy lines floated in front of him. "I don't know what the hell you are, but would just leave me alone?"
His voice penetrated her head once more. So you can see me?
She shook her head in disbelief. The man she'd somehow fabricated from her apparently way-too-vivid imagination now communicated with her telepathically. Before answering his question, she analyzed the situation as best she could. Drugs seemed like the most sensible explanation, but other than some dizziness, she didn't feel drugged out.
She responded mind-to-mind. Are you talking inside my head?
I am. Shit, you've got power and you're human, right?
Yes, I'm human. Okay, an alien might make a statement like, You're human, right? although the words seemed earth-colloquial in nature. She'd never been much of an extraterrestrial believer. Intellectually, she knew that unexplained phenomena existed, but she also thought that science could eventually offer a rational explanation.
And you can see me. The flying man wasn't asking this time.
Should she even respond? The more prudent course would be to get back to her apartment, take two Advil, and go to bed. Hide under her comforter.
Yet the whole situation set her curiosity on high flame, and his question had a simple, scientific basis. I can sort of see you. I mean sometimes I can, better from the side. You have wavy lines in front of you right now.
This really couldn't be happening. She added, I have to go home now. Maybe you should find someone else to talk to. I'm real busy these days. Understatement.
Once again, she put her feet in motion and kept her head down. Had to be stress. She'd probably just been pushing too hard, as usual.
The flying man ignored her suggestion. The truth is, Shayna, that I've come to talk to you, so it's great that you've got so much latent power for a human. That you can communicate easily mind-to-mind is a big plus.
There it was again, for a human. What the hell did her hallucination mean by that? She wasn't into science fiction. When she needed to chill, she watched documentaries.
She shook her head and forced her gaze to the sidewalk. "Keep one foot in front of the other, Shayna," she whispered. "You'll be okay. This too shall pass. You're just stressed out. Losing your passport clearly was too much for you. At least you booked your flight. Just hang in there and you'll be fine."
The man's deep, resonant voice once more penetrated her mind. You're not hallucinating. I'm real and I need your help.
She must be going crazy because now the hallucination was asking for her help.
The first raindrops struck her shoulders and she started to run. Her apartment wasn't far, just a couple more blocks.
Maybe if she focused on the reality around her, on her life, on the fieldwork she'd planned for her yearlong stay in Malaysia, her mind would clear.
She had a meeting with her adviser in the morning, something she was not looking forward to. She often argued with Greg Michelson, and it didn't help that she'd broken her sacred rule and had not only slept with him but actually engaged in a very intense six-month affair with the bastard. Turned out, the man with such lofty ideals was a complete narcissist, especially in bed. He'd given her self-esteem a serious blow with all his attempts to remake her in his image as well as how often he called her selfish when she insisted that her needs be treated with as much respect as his demands.
I need you to come with me.
Even her hallucination appeared to be just another man wanting something from her, needing her to set aside her own goals in favor of his.
"Like hell I'm going to do that," she shouted. She took off on a sprint.
She tried to draw her keys from her purse, but her hands shook. If she could just get inside, she'd be okay. Bed, Advil, a shot of Ketel One if necessary.
I'm not going to hurt you. Dammit, would you please just stop and listen to me. I need your help.
She wished he didn't seem so real, and another part of her wished the drug would kick in and she'd pass out because right now she was scared out of her mind.
She turned the corner and groaned. The street was poorly lit and there wasn't a single person around. Even though she was only a few yards away from the front door of the complex, the man swept ahead of her, flying, his long black leather coat flapping as he moved.
He reached the door to the apartment building first, dipping beneath the overhang. He floated to land on the sidewalk, but this time he spoke aloud. "Are you Shayna Prentiss? I really need to know. It's important."
She squeezed her eyes shut and gave her head a shake, willing him away. "This is all in my head. It will pass." She repeated the words several times.
But when she opened her eyes, he was still there, and closer now. The rain had started to come down, lightning flashed, thunder boomed closer still.
"Please confirm your identity." He scanned her hair, her eyes, her face as though looking for something specific. "White-blond hair, unusual light-blue eyes, tall, pretty. Has to be you."
"Fine, I'm Shayna Prentiss, but who are you?"
"Marius Briggs." The hallucination had a specific name? "You're not seeing things, Shayna. I'm real."
She trembled now. "I don't understand any of this. What do you want with me and how were you doing all those tricks in the air?" When she started to back away, he moved in and took hold of her arms, his grip like steel.
"I need you to know that I don't usually do this kind of thing, but I'm desperate. My world is in trouble and we need you."
"Your world needs me? Are you an alien?"
"Not exactly. We live here, right alongside you. We just have the ability to disguise ourselves, to keep hidden from your kind."
"My kind." Oh, God.
Every horror movie she'd ever seen flipped through her head, except that this man didn't look like a monster.
But that's when things went haywire all over again because suddenly she saw just him, the faint cleft in his chin, the sharp angle of his cheekbones, and his unusual hazel eyes, flecked with gold. He was incredibly handsome.
But there was something more, almost as though she could sense what he was feeling, the level of his determination and, as his gaze skated over her features, his sudden male interest in her.
You're beautiful slid through her mind.
She didn't react; instead she held herself open to him, wanting to understand him. She no longer thought she was in the grip of a mind-bending drug, and she never drank more than would give her a nice buzz.
No, the man was real.
Oddly, her fears began to dissipate as her curiosity rose. She felt like she did when she was deep into some aspect of her studies, like she'd come home, as though she belonged here talking with this otherworldly man.
She resonated with him.
The term wasn't exactly scientific in nature, but that's what came to her as she stood in front of—what was his name? Marius Briggs. The questions came, the ones that rolled through her mind as familiar to her as breathing. "What hidden world? And you're not human? Yet you look human. Are our species related?"
He seemed exasperated as he shoved a hand through his loose, slightly messy dark hair. He grimaced. "I don't have time for this." He glanced around, worried.
Michelson, her former lover, had often been exasperated with her. If Mr. Briggs hoped to get her help, he'd better lose the attitude and start talking.
Despite his hold on her, she wiggled just enough to fold her arms over her chest and lift her chin. "I'm going to need some answers if you expect me to cooperate."
"I'd better just show you."
He pulled back his lips slightly and the next moment, she watched a set of what appeared to be extremely sharp fangs descend.
More horror movies popped through her mind. Really? Fangs? Flight? The black leather coat and all this supreme sexiness?
She wrinkled her nose. "You're a vampire?"
"We've lived in a secret cavern-based culture, right alongside yours, all this time, with our own customs and beliefs, our own problems. But we have disguising abilities, something that apparently you're good at seeing through but have kept us as separate species from the beginning of life on earth."
A number of thoughts and questions rattled through her brain, some of a scientific nature stemming from her curiosity about other cultures. But he'd already told her enough that she sensed she was in some kind of danger. "Does your kind prey on ours?"
"The worst of my kind does, yes, and they need to be stopped, which is why I've come to you for help."
"And I'll need to go with you, right?"
He breathed a sigh of relief. "Exactly."
"Well, I'm sorry, Mr. Otherworld Vampire, but I'm going to Malaysia to do critical fieldwork. I'm leaving in two weeks and I have a boatload of work to get done before I go. I have my own life, my own goals, and sorry but you're out of luck."
She'd spoken with confidence, but he still had hold of her arms and his face was taking on a tight, stubborn look. "You're still not understanding either the depth of my world's need or why it has to be you."
"Oh, come on, I can't be that special."
"That's where you're wrong. You have specific, latent abilities that dovetail with my world. The fact that you can communicate telepathically with me no problem at all is a profound indication that what I'm telling you is true. And we need you, desperately."
"Well, I don't know what to tell you. I'm still kind of in shock."
"As you should be."
He looked so damn sincere. If she'd met him anywhere else, like at a party, she would have trusted him.
The flying man got a strange look on his face, his gaze still pinned to hers. "I saw pictures of you, but I didn't think you'd be this beautiful. My God." His voice had dropped into the lower registers.
She knew that man-sound. For all his fine words about looking for someone to help him save his world, maybe he was just cruising the university bars looking to get laid. Maybe this was just his line. No doubt male vampires, sharing DNA with humans as he suggested, had a lot in common with males of her species.
Except that his kind could fly.
Yeah. Except for that. And they had fangs for a purpose well documented in human fiction.
Her dizziness returned, only different this time. As she stared at him, he seemed to fade as well as the grip on her arm. She thought maybe she was fainting, but instead the space around her began to spin, increasing the sense that she could topple over.
She remained upright, but new images arrived. She saw Marius standing in the doorway of what had to be a bathroom. He wore a robe of some kind, silk maybe, and dark blue with a pattern on it.
She moved, only it wasn't her, but some future version of herself in the vision. She couldn't see it clearly, because strange dark waves covered parts of it. But from what she could make out, she was in a bathroom unknown to her and she was completely naked. What was he saying? Something like he thought she could use the robe. She watched as he hung it up on the back of the door.
Shayna did not understand what she was looking at, except that she was now drying off with her towel and didn't seem in the least distressed. Which meant that she was incredibly comfortable with Marius although he seemed to be uneasy.
She felt herself speak within this weird vision, a very strange sensation: Thank you. I love the paisley in your robe. Is that silk you're wearing?
For reasons she couldn't explain, she felt that this was some kind of vision of the future. She knew then that she'd slept with Marius and that she'd loved it.
Oh, dear God, what the hell was happening to her?
When she closed her eyes, the present returned, and she found that Marius still had hold of her arms but was essentially holding her upright.
"Shayna," he called sharply. "What's going on?"
"I don't know, but you and I … we were together. In a bathroom somewhere. You were dressed, but I'd been showering."
"Shit, have you just had a vision of the future?"
"I think so. Or maybe one possible future. My head aches from trying to make sense of everything. This really can't be happening."
* * *
Marius Briggs saw her confusion. He hated doing this to her, confronting her about issues in his world and trying to persuade her to come with him.
And now she'd just had a vision of the future. He could hardly wrap his head around that, or around the fact that she'd seen them together, as a couple.
More than anything else, she'd just confirmed his belief that she could help his world. She had more power than he'd seen in a long time, and she was human, another confirmation that she was the right choice.
But how could he make her understand how much she was needed? The fact that she could see him also reflected the nature of her latent power and that Rumy had been right to send him here to Seattle.
He just had a couple of problems. First, he shouldn't have left Italy when he did, because he was still recovering from the effects of blood-starvation and the long flight had weakened him.
Second, what he was about to do went against every single one of his principles. He believed in the rights of the individual over everything else. But in this situation, if Shayna didn't actually agree to come with him, he might have to abduct her.
Even thinking about it made him sick in his gut, but he was out of options. He had an entire world to save, maybe even human earth as well, and Shayna Prentiss was the only woman on the planet who could help him right now.
She just looked so damn young to be the last, best hope for his world.
But Daniel was driving relentlessly through the vampire world, going after the final extinction weapon full-bore. The weapon, through the use of a pre-set decibel, had the ability to kill any vampire within its proximity with just a flip of the switch. If Daniel got hold of the weapon before Marius did, his entire culture was doomed to either slavery or annihilation. Daniel, the psychopath that he was, would take great pleasure in either venture.
Torture was Daniel's specialty, but mass murder would no doubt have tremendous appeal to his sick mind.
Shayna, according to Rumy's best information, had a unique, human ability to form a tracking pair with Marius. If she would agree to work with him, together they could secure the location of the weapon before Daniel. The trouble was, Daniel was offering a fortune to anyone who could find the weapon.
And the hunt was on.
Essentially, Marius was running out of time. He'd taken precautions to make his way secretly to Seattle, to find Shayna, and to bring her back to Italy with him. But Daniel was a powerful Ancestral and might have sent his men to watch his movements. He could be under attack at any moment.
Then there was Shayna herself. He didn't want to intrude in her life in this way, but he had no other recourse. She was the one. The telepathy, that she could see through his disguise, as well as her unexpected vision had confirmed it.
Knowing he had to do everything he could to persuade her, he released his disguise fully, something he hadn't wanted to do in case he'd been followed. But he wouldn't just snatch Shayna without trying to talk to her, to persuade her so that he didn't have to resort to abduction.
He glanced around, but so far so good. He'd know if any of his kind had shown up.
"The wavy lines are gone." Her light-blue eyes went wide. "Why is that?"
"I just dropped my disguise, which makes me vulnerable, but I want you to be able to trust me. Your vision has confirmed that you're the right woman, the one I've been looking for. Please come with me. Let me show you my world and talk to you in depth about what's going on."
"And you really are a vampire?"
He nodded.
She put two fingers to her temple and rubbed in a circle, squeezing her eyes shut. "I feel so dizzy."
"It's probably the telepathy. I had to punch pretty hard against your mind to break through, another indication of your level of natural power. I can explain everything later. I don't want you to be scared, but I need to take you away right now."
"You don't want me to be scared? You're gripping my arms, you're the size of a tank, and now you're talking about needing to cart me off somewhere."
"Shayna, we've got a bad guy running lose and he's trying to take over our world. The thing is, if he succeeds, he'll be after yours next and there will be nothing you can do to stop him."
She searched his eyes for a long moment, frowning. "Even if all this is true, what can that possibly have to do with me? I'm an anthropology grad student here at U-Dub. I'm not exactly superhero material. More like an egghead-type who happens to be curious about other cultures."
"Then maybe look at it this way: You'll be able to see an entirely different civilization firsthand. Doesn't that intrigue you a little?"
He saw her eyes flare and knew with just a little more back-and-forth he could persuade her. This could almost work. If only she'd stop looking so pale and shocked out.
She pressed her hands to her face. "I'll wake up soon. I just know it. This isn't a hallucination, this is just a really vivid dream. Those crab cakes I had at dinner tasted funny."
Marius didn't know what else he could say and his instincts told him it was only a matter of minutes before he was discovered here.
And she'd had a vision in which they'd been together. She'd seen the future.
As he looked at Shayna, as he factored in her vision, suddenly time slowed to a crawl. Though he had seen pictures of her on her blog, a few candid photos from a recent trip to Honduras, he hadn't seen her close up, not like this, just inches away.
Her complexion was like milk, her hair white-blond, and her eyes a light, unearthly blue. She was so beautiful that he swore his heart stopped beating for a few seconds. When it began again, it was a dull thud against his rib cage.
He hadn't expected this, to be so drawn to the woman who could save his world.
Her hair was straight, and she wore it past her shoulders. She had a lovely nose with a beautiful curve near the bridge. Her brows were arched slightly.
His gaze drifted to her neck, then down to the notch at the base of her throat. He watched her heart beating and his fangs began to thrum in his mouth. His hunger rose as well, followed sharply by a desire so profound that without thinking he drew her against him. If somewhere in the back of his mind he knew his conduct was completely inappropriate and not at all useful, he couldn't seem to help himself.
"What … what are you doing?" Her voice was a whisper.
She stilled in his arms as he sniffed her hair and nuzzled along her cheekbone, then toward her ear, smelling what was the softest, most intoxicating scent, a delicate floral. He flicked his tongue over her skin.
You taste like heaven, Shayna. My God, I hadn't expected this.
What would her blood be like filling his mouth, easing his deepest vampire need?
He slid his lips down the side of her cheek, kissing and tasting as he went.
Then he found her lips and began kissing her, willing her to respond, loving the feel of her mouth beneath his. He had to get inside her, so he traced his tongue along the seam of her lips.
Part of his rational mind knew he was spinning out of control to be kissing the woman he'd have to kidnap if she didn't agree to come with him. But nothing else seemed more important than making a physical connection with her.
He heard a warbling sound coming from her throat as he began to thrust his tongue in and out. Her scent now filled his nostrils, no longer the light floral but heavier now and sultry as though the flower had just bloomed. She liked what he was doing; she wanted him.
A thrill ran through him, stronger and more powerful than anything he'd ever known. But why?
* * *
Shayna was utterly and completely shocked that she was allowing this bizarre kiss. And not just allowing, but enjoying.
First the vampire had said he needed her help; then he got this funny look on his face, pulled her against his muscular chest, then started sniffing her hair.
After that, she'd moved into some kind of strange enthralled state in which all she could do was let the kiss happen. But what stunned her was how she felt, like she could float, or sing, or fly. She didn't want the kiss to end.
Finally, she drew back, the dizziness having returned but for a different reason this time. She placed a hand on his chest and in a soft voice asked, "What was that?"
He shook his head slowly, which told her he was as confused as she felt. "I don't know. I didn't mean to do that. I don't think I'm helping my cause very much right now."
He closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths, maybe trying to regain control of himself.
Shayna took a step back. She needed to do the same thing, to find her rational mind. Besides, she still wasn't sure the man even existed, although he was becoming more real by the second.
But there was one thing she knew for sure, she had her own life, her own plans, and she wasn't willing to toss them aside for the sake of problems in a world not even her own. "I'm sorry, Marius, but I can't go with you. I wish you well, even if I'm still questioning your existence."
He released her right arm, but only enough to rub the side of his head and squint. He looked like he was in pain.
"Are you okay?"
"No. I'm sensing something or someone nearby."
Movement beyond his shoulder brought her gaze shifting to a new apparition, a much more complex one. This time several men, a dozen by her count, dressed similarly in black leather and big like Marius, arrived about thirty feet away, landing on the sidewalk and in the street, as though they'd been in flight as well.
To a man, they had the look of military, just as Marius did. Had he brought reinforcements in order to persuade her to get on board with his plans?
"So let's say I wasn't slipped some kind of hallucinogenic, or a roofie, or anything else—do you know who those men are? I'm guessing by the way they arrived that they're from your world. So did you bring them to intimidate me, because it's kind of working."
Marius turned and, at that moment, everything changed. For one thing, Marius started cursing up a shitstorm, then, "Daniel sent his troops. We are so fucked."
He said other words, but when he turned to her he looked really upset, even guilty as hell. "I'm sorry, Shayna, but we just ran out of time."
She didn't know what he meant by that until he grabbed her, pinned her to his chest, then launched straight up into the air.
For at least two seconds, she didn't know what had happened. But as Seattle disappeared below her, she realized he'd abducted her and that she now flew toward a heavy bank of dark clouds that streaked lightning like crazy.
She'd get killed by the storm.
Fear shot through her skull, her heart pounding hard.
She started to struggle, but he held her clamped in his arms. He shifted his flight, angling so that she now had a different, more distant view of Seattle. She screamed long and loud.
No one can hear you. I've created a disguise. Let's just hope like hell it holds. His voice again, once more inside her head.
He started flying faster and faster.
But what she didn't understand was that despite the thunder clouds, the lightning, the rain, she passed through all that mass as though surrounded by a gentle breeze. How was this even possible?
But the next moment, pain pierced her head like nothing she'd ever known before. She writhed and screamed all over again.
Sorry. Altered flight hurts humans, but it can't be helped. I had to make this happen fast.
Though she had no idea how she was communicating telepathically, the words formed in her head and she responded. Oh, God, I hurt. You bastard, you're killing me.
Somewhere in the middle of things, the world turned black.
Copyright © 2014 by Caris Roane
