Not Another Vampire Book (Not Another Vampire #1)

by Cassandra Gannon

Kara paused for a minute, once again taking in the staggering stupidity of those melodramatic, run-on sentences. Harold cleared his throat. “Can we say ‘dark knight’ without the Batman people suing us?” “I doubt it. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer folks probably won’t be thrilled with the lost soul plagiarism, either.” Kara arched a brow.

“Begin making sense or you’ll regret it, woman.” Kara jabbed a finger at him. “Just shut-up, alright? I don’t have time for you.” A long, shocked pause. “You can’t speak to me that way.” The stranger finally sputtered. “No one speaks to me that way. No one speaks to me, at all.” “Gee, I wonder why?”

“I was just… dropped over there.” She pointed at the walkway. “I have no idea why I’m here, but I’m ready to leave, if you’ll just let me go.” The stranger digested that silently for a long moment. “You must be here for a reason. Nothing happens without a purpose.” Vocabulary words were one thing, but pithy zen talk was just taking it too far. “Oh yeah? Explain the reason for Jersey Shore, then, Confucius.”

The 1893 Columbian Exposition was in full swing. Only it was a year ahead of schedule, because that idiot Tanya St. Clair screwed up the dates in her book. Kara was stuck in 1892. Stuck in the stupidest story ever written. Stuck in a place where men carried around birds, and vampires were real, and people were just now seeing moving pictures for the first time, down at the Fair.

She had to get out of this nightmare and back home to her life. She just had to. Somehow. Kara swallowed hard. Alright. Okay. Deep yoga-y breaths. Shit. Why hadn’t she ever learned yoga?

Yet one remains. The darkest and most powerful of all the Wizard Warlocks. My greatest enemy. Damien.” He spat out the name. “Yeah, we met.” That actually broke through Slade’s rock-hard head. “You… What? You’ve met?” He echoed, dumbly. “You and Damien? Where?” “Outside. He’s not so bad. Except, for the theatrical speechifying. But, you really can’t be throwing stones about that, now can you?”

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. Even knowing that she was most likely leading him into a trap, he still wanted her.

“For as long as this takes, you’ll be my guest.” Guest sounded so much better than hostage.

Instead of being transfixed by the Vampire’s half-buttoned shirt, she was gaping up at the sky, again. “Holy crap, he has theme music.” She whispered in astonishment. “Tanya’s given Slade his own theme music for when he rides to the rescue!” Damien’s head tilted, listening. She was right. A trumpet and drum laden, heroic ode was playing from somewhere. That was… odd. Damien had an uncomfortable sensation of wrongness as he looked around. Did that always happen when Slade appeared? He suddenly couldn’t be sure, nor could he explain it. Not even the Vampire could travel with a full orchestra.

“You don’t want to kiss me.” She blurted out, more for her benefit than his. “I don’t?” The words whispered across her skin. She swallowed. “It’s not in the book.” One black eyebrow arched in challenge. “Then, isn’t it lucky that I write my own scripts?”

Slade was so kind and gentle and understanding, without of course, ever being the least bit unmanly or unsure. Always aware of her feelings, strong without losing his compassion for the little people, and innately good to all. He was perfect. Her mate was a true hero. He’d told her so himself. Eternal Passion at Sunset- Chapter Seven

“I’m not a villain.” He retorted, not meeting her eyes. “Sure you’re not.” Too bad there wasn’t a test he could take to see for himself. Like a Cosmo quiz, “Is He an Evil Overlord?” She arched a brow at him. “Do you ever sit around and devise plans to take over the world?” Damien shrugged. “Doesn’t everyone?”

But, if Damien was the villain in this story, than he was going to make the most of it. He’d abducted Kara from Slade and she’d damn well stay abducted. The woman was his destiny. His doom. His.

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

Anyone who touches you, I will kill. Brutally.”

she focused on all the less definitive reasons why Damien was Mr. Wrong. The guy was high-maintenance, what with his casual badness and cold sarcasm. He could rip people limb-from-limb with nothing more than an arch of his brow. His main hobbies seemed to be plotting grisly murders and smirking. She’d bet a million dollars that he had a speech all prepared for when he enslaved the universe.

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

“I tried to do what was right.” Damien shook his head. “To give you a choice, like a mate should. I did the best I could to be honorable. But... I can’t release you. Not really. I just can’t.” He sounded like he’d just had the evil equivalent of an epiphany. “You’re right. I’m not the hero.” Kara’s breasts tightened at the intent look in his eye. “I never wanted the hero.” She whispered.

For the first time, Damien started feeling a fresh emotion. Not vengeance, but even more obsessive. He had no idea what it was, but it shattered the coldness lodged in his chest and filled him with something scalding hot. It burned its way through every fiber of his being. She was saying goodbye to him. He would fucking die first.

So how could she keep the Vampire from murdering her new, if-he-wasn’t-lying-about-Wiz-War-customs-(which-he-probably-was)-and-anyway-it-didn’t-really-count-without-a-ring, possible, inadvertent husband?

Kara gave his chest a poke with her index finger. “If you ever plan on sleeping with me again, Vlad, I suggest you restrict yourself to quoting Shakespeare or something.” His mouth twitched. “‘But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east and Kara Lynn is the sun.’” She arched a brow. “‘Romeo, thou art totally a villain.’” Gods, but he loved this woman.