Not Another Vampire Book (Not Another Vampire #1)

by Cassandra Gannon

The guy was like watching paint admire itself in the mirror as it dried.

“What in Gods’ name are you doing, woman?” He blurted out. “I’m joining Team Evil. Deal with it.”

It looked like a hotel room. Jeffery Dahmer’s hotel room. Gothic furniture and gargoyles and creepy paintings with moving eyes. Dark, velvet drapes shrouded the windows and the canopy bed looked like a crypt. The kind of place you’d pose the body of your victim for a few candid shots before you ate his skin. “This is my lair.”

How could this possibly be happening to her? How could she possibly be stuck in a book where Vampires vacationed on Fiji? What was she going to do?!

“Finished with your hysterics?” “No.”

Real people wear real clothes, not Halloween costumes, Vlad.”

Plans gave you something to hold onto. When your world fell apart, and your mom died and you just wanted to curl up into a ball, having a plan was the only thing that got you through the darkness.

It never hurt to have a handsome sorcerer on your team.

Back in the garden, Kara said that she didn’t know why she was there. But, Damien knew. It was simple fate. Nothing happened without a reason. For good or ill, his fate was tied to this woman.

Karalynn interested Damien and nothing interested Damien. She was somehow immune to his mindreading powers. She was able to see things that others couldn’t. Why? What was she? How had she just appeared at the party? Why would she not want Slade? Why would she instead choose to come with him? Why were her clothes so… different?

She would be his doom. The legends of his people said that a Wizard Warlock could recognize the one who would destroy him. He believed that. Believed in destiny and believed that some force out there was directing the universe. Damien looked at this small, weak human and he saw his own end. He wanted her, anyway.

“Oh gag.” Karalynn glanced up at Damien. “I hate how the guy’s always a sexual tyrannosaurus and the girl’s always a blushing virgin. Doesn’t that bug you? It perpetuates a double standard.”

Sometimes, Damien greatly feared he was the only being with a brain left in the entire world.

It felt like something had washed through his mind, clearing out the debris. What had he been thinking? Kara was right. Absolutely right. His actions made no sense, in retrospect. His entire plan was flawed.

Well, he’d at least help her manipulate Slade. Damien wasn’t thrilled about restoring the book’s plot, though. So far, he wasn’t all that impressed with it. Clearly, the whole thing needed to be rewritten and he was just the Wizard Warlock for the job.

Damn, but he loved hearing the truth when it told him just what he wanted to know.

Now he had two goals: He wanted Kara’s soft body and he wanted to destroy Slade. She would give him both. Damien studied the innocent curve of her face. Maybe he really was the villain.

“Do you have no sense, at all?” He demanded. “Do you really want to fight with someone who outweighs you by a hundred pounds and has magical powers?”

Tanya had added modern bathrooms to the nineteenth century experience, which Kara appreciated. She’d just appreciate it more if a greater number of people took advantage of the running water that Tanya so thoughtfully provided for them.

“I’m going to mate with you.” His voice was more rusty than ever. “What else is there to discuss?”

“Do you ever sit around and devise plans to take over the world?” Damien shrugged. “Doesn’t everyone?”

He gazed at her like she was holy water and he was a parched Vampire. Like he wanted to canoodle her right out of her ridiculous dress. Like she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

If she thought she was leaving him, she was wrong. Karalynn Donnelly was his cari. Now that he’d admitted who she was, Damien would literally die before he let her go. Vampires had an Eternal-One. The equivalent for Wizard Warlocks was a cari. A beloved. The person the sorcerers could bond with and join with for eternity. Kara was his other half.

Kara was a crazy, frustrating, possibly-insane woman who insisted he wasn’t even real… and he’d never give her up. He didn’t even want to want her, but Damien was stuck with the girl. And she was stuck with him, whether she knew it or not.

God, it was simple to win when you had magical powers and no conscience.

“From the second Nestor first touched you, he was dead. Anyone who touches you, I will kill. Brutally.”

“So, you wish to kidnap this woman.” Damien clarified. “Yeah, I do. You gotta problem with that, Vlad?” “No.” He said, honestly. “I don’t have a moral objection against kidnapping, at all.”

“Cari, I do not want you angry at me. Please just give me some time and I will take you anywhere you wish to go.” How the hell did he shift it all around so she was the one being unreasonable? “A prison that has fieldtrips is still a prison.”

In that second, all Kara’s efforts to restore the plot of the book meant nothing. If Damien was supposed to die in the original book, they’d just have to do a rewrite.

“I’ll be back in an hour. Entertain yourself by plotting ways to escape my vile clutches, if you like.”

There was kind of a decadent thrill in at least pretending to be the helpless prisoner of a really hot guy.

“You’re threatening me with my own prisoner? You’re holding my hostage hostage in order to keep me as your hostage?”

Humans were such a noisy, destructive species. He’d never seen the point in keeping them around. Until he met Kara. His human.

It’s no wonder I feel safe with you around.” Damien slowly shook his head, but his fingers curled around hers, holding tight. “I wish I shared the sentiment. With you around, I just brace for the next disaster.”

“Vlad.” “Why do you call me that?” He nuzzled the side of her neck. “Vlad the Impaler.” It came out as a moan. “He was a big, scary guy who… impaled people.” “I like that.” His tongue touched her ear. “Will you let me impale you, Kara Lynn?” One finger almost entered her and she sobbed. “Yes.”

Why did any girl ever try to avoid the bad guy?

A Wizard Warlock always placed his cari first. Her needs were always paramount. What kind of sorcerer cared more for his own revenge than for his mate’s happiness? Was this the type of creature he’d become?

“Reconsidering your plan to pimp me out to Edward Cullen?”

You are mine and I will always get you back.”

“When we get home, you will mate with me.” It was an order. “You will take off your clothes, you will lie on my bed, and you will willingly mate with me. Understand?” “Yeah, okay.” Kara agreed, readily. “Good idea.” Wow, did she love it when he let his dark side loose.

“You’ll let me do whatever I want to your body.” He was testing her and the jolt her body gave was probably a passing grade. “You’ll get on your hands and knees, and you’ll do just as I say, won’t you?” “Uh-huh.” Kara licked her bottom lip, feeling Damien’s eyes burning through the layers of fabric shielding the junction of her thighs.

“I’ll hold you down and I’ll take you just as hard as I like, Kara Lynn. Then, I’ll start over. Endlessly, so you’ll never tell me I’m not your mate, again. Until you admit you’re my cari and you believe it.” He leaned closer, so his lips brushed her ear. “Then, I’ll tie you to the bed and take you again, just because I fucking can.”

We’re leaving before you find more trouble to embroil yourself in. I want my mate. In my bed. Now.”

He loomed there, immovable and commanding, standing over her like a conqueror. She felt her heart rate pickup in response, her desire growing bigger at his primitive tactics.

“You think you can hypnotize me with sex?” “I’m certainly willing to try.”

But, I’m warning you, if you try anything too kinky, I’ll have to flashlight you.”

“You can’t keep me tied like this. You’re killing me.” “I know, cari. I’m the villain, remember?”

“I’m going to make you forget about all the useless heroes of this world and beg for me to corrupt you.”

She was on all fours, naked and exposed before the man everyone called a villain. And she loved it.

His cari. His beautiful, odd, softhearted, innocent, sneaky, reckless mate. Who gave him such peace. Who he would lay down and die for without a second thought. Who he loved more than all the other beings who’d ever existed in the history of the universe combined... …And who he now planned to horribly murder.