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  For the love of Blood

  Copyright © 2009 Annie Alvarez

  ISBN: 978-1-55487-265-7

  Cover art by Angela Waters

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

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  For the love of Blood: The Hightower Introduction

  By

  Annie Alvarez

  Dedication

  To JMF for understanding the need for me to explore my darker side.

  I loved the beach and the tropical weather. So when I found the quaint little town of Lake Worthington in Florida, I jumped in my trusted canary yellow VW Bug and said goodbye to the bitter cold of New England.

  With my parents killed in a car accident when I was nine years old, the State jumped in to take care of me. Growing up, I always knew I was different. I could manipulate energies, whereas no one else around me could. Looking back now, I find it kind of humorous that the foster homes couldn’t keep a hanging picture frame straight on the wall. At the age of eleven, I learned how to intentionally channel energy at small objects and knock pencils and cups off tables. Unfortunately, that got me bounced around from one foster home to another. No one wanted to have a possessed nine year old around their goody-two-shoes kids. Near the end of my eligible foster years, a nice older couple took me in, claiming that they could help me and the State listened. Shipping me off to Mr. and Mrs. Katz, part-time schoolteachers, full-time witches was the result. They taught me everything my young adult, naïve mind could handle.

  Looking back, I wish I had paid better attention. After High School, I lived with the Katz’s for several years until they passed away. I remember them telling me, Izzy, we’re older than you think and being half-witch, you’re going to have a long life, too.

  I had heard stories about werewolves and that their thick, heavy coats kept them warm so they preferred the really cold temperatures and stayed to the North, living in Canada or Alaska. Vampires on the other hand, were naturally cold and sought the warmer temperatures so they typically stayed to the South. However, I never believed in them. I thought they were just telling stories, like parents tell their children stories about bedtime monsters.

  I arrived in Lake Worthington and found myself intrigued by the nightlife. I spent what little money I had drinking and buying drinks for other people, seducing and being seduced, screwing and being screwed. This is how I ended up parked directly across the street from Kaley’s Center with gas tank on empty, no money and no place to live, unless you count my car.

  I parked there about two weeks before Kaley came out to visit with me. Of course, I wasn’t interested in making new friends who would just end up screwing me. I’d had enough of that so I blew her off. However, I loved to people watch and started paying attention to the dynamics of the center. Apparently, Kaley was a very popular person. Always surrounded by people just simply wanting to be in her presence, intrigued me. I also started to notice little things, like how she mostly came out at night. Once or twice, I saw her right before dusk and she was always in a hurry to get inside the center, I chalked that up to her having a heavy nightlife. I didn’t really give it a thought.

  One night, I decided to take a midnight stroll on the beach. I was feeling alone and worse than that, I was lonely. It seems that when you run out of money, you also run out of friends. I was the only one on the beach or so I thought, until some idiot attacked me. However, he didn’t want my money, he wanted blood, my blood. That’s when I realized the Katzs were right about vampires. I used everything the Katzs taught me and I put up a good fight, but he was too strong for me to fend off. Exhausted and beaten, I finally accepted that he would kill me or turn me into one of the walking dead so I prepared for his bite. Only it never came. I looked up to find Kaley standing a few feet away from us, her arms crossed with a disapproving look on her face.

  She crouched, balancing her weight on one knee. She ran her fingers through the dry sand, shaking her head. “I thought I made it perfectly clear.”

  I knew she couldn’t have been talking to me. We had barely exchanged two words to each other the entire time I’d been in Florida.

  The vampire stood, puffing out his chest. He stood about six feet tall, his muscles bulging as he lifted his arms and removed his cutoff tee shirt.

  “Really?” Kaley asked, staying crouched on one knee.

  Her energy was calm. I got the impression that she was almost hoping for a good challenge. She motioned her hand toward me, as if giving me away to this creep. I thought about protesting, but realized this was far beyond me. This was personal.

  The vampire bent down to pick me up. Before he reached me, Kaley pulled out a sword from under her overcoat, and in one clean swipe, cut through his neck, leaving his severed head in place, resting on his shoulders. He stood there for a moment with a shocked look on his face.

  Kaley extended her hand to help me off the ground just when he exploded into a dust ball. The dust flew into my hair, face and last set of clean clothes.

  “Oh gross! You could have warned me,” I yelled at her.

  Kaley just smiled and continued holding her hand out.

  I refused her help and stood by myself, trying to shake the vampire dust off me.

  Kaley giggled and started walking away. “You can take a shower at the center if you’d like.”

  “Wait a minute,” I called after her, “don’t leave me out here alone.” Kaley never slowed her pace, which forced me to run to catch up to her. “Wait.” I yelled and she stopped, never turning to look at me. “Look, I’m sorry about the other day. I shouldn’t have blown you off like that.” I shook my hair furiously as more vampire dust fell out.

  “I know you’re down on your luck,” Kaley’s voice soft and comforting, “and I know you’re not all human. I can offer you a job, take you off the streets and teach you what I know, but you’re going to have to trust me.”

  “How can I trust you if I don’t even know your name?” I was getting obsessed with getting the vampire dust off me. The dust even made it into my bra. I was creeped out and a shower sounded really good.

  Kaley started walking toward her car.

  This left me in the parking lot alone so I ran after her. “Okay. I’ll trust you as long as a shower is in my near future.” Then I climbed into the front seat of her Lexus.

  Working at Kaley’s Center really expanded my sheltered and naïve way of thinking. I had always believed that vampires would suck you dry and leave you for dead or turn you into one of them. Kaley Hightower taught me so much more. She showed me that the half-witch in me was immune to vampmones—that’s what I call the pheromones vampires naturally have—combined with the ability to cloud human minds with sexual impulses. This allowed me to seduce a vampire without having sex.

 
I also made her a lot of money while I made myself a very nice and comfortable living feeding hungry vamps.

  I learned that when Kaley opened the centers, less humans were bled dry, partly due to the Hightowers forbidding it among their fledglings. The Hightowers controlled much of the East Coast, and Kaley made sure that her centers were in every convenient location possible and staffed with an abundant supply of willing blood donors. The Red Cross Blood Drives had nothing compared to the amount of blood donors regularly gave their clients on a daily basis at a single Center.

  You see, the punishment for bleeding a human was death. The introduction of directive 7311 changed the way vampires interacted with humans. The directive states that, vampires are protected from discrimination and it is thereby illegal to pursue, with the intent to hunt and kill, a vampire. It was a difficult transition at first. The lower vampires thought they had a free get out of jail card until the Hightowers stepped in and restored order with their centers.

  Kaley’s sister, Tamara, was the Hightower peacekeeper. She did what she needed to do to keep the peace between humans and vampires, which usually meant that she was the only one walking away. Although never formally introduced, I saw her around the center on occasion. She struck me as the typical bad girl. The kind of girl that knew she was gorgeous and hot. She knew she ruled and acted like it.

  I caught myself staring at her a few times, wondering what she would be like behind closed doors. Tamara scared me, but I couldn’t help feeling giddy around her. I found myself waiting for her to visit the center and then I would try to catch a glimpse of her. For some reason her energy excited me, pulling me straight to her.

  One day Kaley told me that Tamara would be coming into town for a few weeks. She asked if I would do her the favor of taking care of her little sister. She didn’t think any of the other donors could handle her. I’m sure it had nothing to do with the fact that they all were too scared to be alone with her. Tamara, from what Kaley told me, was a stickler for formalities and got off in feeling as if she was in control.

  Kaley told me that a piece of her sister died when townspeople murdered her lover, Mila, three hundred years ago. Tamara had taken her vengeance out on the townspeople. The children saw a quick and painless death. However, their parents did not fare as well. Kept alive for weeks, they begged the dark angel to hear their prayers and end their suffering. Within months, the small town of Gentsville was reduced to ruins and not another soul dared to step foot on the cursed land. Kaley told me Tamara earned her evil reputation one townsperson at a time. Now, Kaley wanted me to tend to her sister’s needs after she scared the hell out of me!

  It took a lot of convincing on Kaley’s part. She had dry-walked me through the entire scenario many times, showing me where every help button was positioned in the room. Every room had help buttons in case a vamp got out of line with a donor. Hitting the button, if you could get to it, brought help in moments. Kaley was a stickler for taking care of her girls. She only had to use one vampire to make an example of and hadn’t had a single bit of trouble since then. Kaley even had a couple more help buttons installed in the Medieval Room for my own piece of mind. She took me upstairs, which was off limits to everyone except a few of her most trusted employees, and showed me that not only were the rooms all soundproof, but that the ceilings were a see through plastic, allowing her to keep a watchful eye on everything below. I was amazed, I had no idea they had been watching everything that happened and I started feeling a little embarrassed that I had had an audience. Oh the things I’d done!

  The day finally arrived when Kaley escorted me into the Medieval Room. The room was set up like an old castle, the air was stale and thick. It smelled moldy and I gasped for a breath, taking in my surroundings. The dry runs Kaley and I had, hadn’t been like this. The room hadn’t looked or smelled so dingy, all the lights had been on, illuminating every corner. I steadied myself, absorbing my new surroundings. The flames flickered in the gas-burning lamps affixed to the walls and the enormous wood-burning fireplace emitted a low glow of light. Certainly not the amount of light I had been used to seeing. New tapestries hung on the walls and all had some form of the Hightower crest, the big H in the middle gave that away. A large, comfortable throne with a big H on the backrest cushion sat in one corner and faced the fireplace. I was starting to get the idea that the Hightowers were very proud of themselves.

  The new addition of the leather wrist restraints fastened to the walls made my heart skip a beat. Oh God, what have I gotten myself into? I had never done business in the Medieval Room. I had heard too many stories about how the room changes a person permanently. Nevertheless, Kaley had convinced me I was too valuable to lose and she guaranteed my safety.

  “I will not let her harm you,” Kaley reassured me while securing the leather strap around my wrist. “Remember what I’ve taught you. You must give your consent or she cannot feed from you, not while you are under my protection.” She securely fastened my other wrist and gave the leather strap a quick pull, taking up the slack, pulling my arms straight out to either side of me.

  This was not what we had rehearsed. “Is this really necessary?” I swallowed hard, “…to be tied up like a piece of…meat?”

  Kaley smiled.“My sister has quirks.”

  Turning, she left me alone in this dungeon. I’m not sure how much time passed before Tamara entered the room, but she startled me from a light sleep. She was as beautiful as I remembered, her presence even more intense. Her long, black, straight hair rested over one shoulder, covering part of her face. Her black leather outfit fit tightly. It gently caressed her muscular build. Now, come to think about it, I’ve never seen her in anything but leather and damn she looked good. Her vampmones were in overdrive. My only saving grace was that the half-witch in me was partially immune to her skilled power. The excitement of finally being in her presence, knowing she would feed from me and hoping she would do more, excited me. I felt the wetness growing between my legs as I said, “Glad you finally joined me. I was getting bored in here by myself.”

  “You will address me as My Lady,” Tamara softly corrected while she took her black gloves off and laid them on the throne. “I am important and you will show me the respect I desire.”

  Oh, hell no. Kaley wasn’t really expecting me to play this game, was she? She had told me her sister had control issues, but this was overboard. It took everything I had to bite back my smartass comeback. Then again, I was getting excited. This time I wasn’t thinking about my paycheck. This time I wanted to be touched. I swallowed, “Very well, My Lady.” Defiantly, I looked straight into her beautiful green eyes.

  Smiling, she leaned into the crevice of my neck.

  I felt her readying to bite me. “No,” I moved, putting my head in her way. “I am not yours for the taking…not yet…My Lady.” I didn’t want my time with her to be over so quickly and Kaley didn’t say I couldn’t play hard to get. I know Tamara’s control issues wanted to get straight to the point, but I had other plans for her tonight.

  “If you do not consent, then why are you here?”

  Her breath bounced off my ear as she ran her hand over the crotch of my pants, teasing me. “I didn’t say I wouldn’t consent.” Tamara’s vampmones were enticing me. My skin craved her touch. I leaned my hips out to her and she grabbed my crotch, gently squeezing it. God, her stroke felt so good. I knew she was working my mind and my desires, “I am better seduced if I have use of my arms,” I whispered in her ear. She caressed my thighs and kissed my neck, ignoring me. “Please,” I finally begged leaning my body toward her and away from the wall, trying to rub my hips against her. Her tongue slowly worked its way down my soft neck and rested on my artery. I could feel it pulse under the slight weight of her tongue as she pressed me against the wall.

  “I am not ready to release your bonds yet.” She snuggled her face into the crevice of my neck.

  I felt her fangs lightly brush against my skin and exciting my clit. I wanted her more than ever.
My desires were burning steady. I would have agreed to anything if she would touch me.

  Tamara unbuttoned my cotton blouse, exposing my hard and swollen nipples. “Do you not wear a bra?” She stared into my eyes.

  I shook my head no.

  “Do you want me to touch you?”

  Remembering that I had an audience, I looked down at the floor and nodded, embarrassed that I wanted more from her.

  “I can’t hear you.” Her voice was soft but noble.

  Swallowing my pride, I whispered, “Yes…My…Lady.” And I felt my wetness grow.

  She ran her tongue over my hard nipple barely touching it. “I don’t think I heard you.”

  She was playing games with me now. She wanted me to submit to her, to obey her and stroke her enormous ego and I couldn’t stand it anymore. I leaned my chest into her face, silently begging that her lips and her tongue would suckle my waiting breast. I needed her touch. With one hand on my crest, she effortlessly pushed my back against the cold wall holding me in place. Her strength was remarkable as she pushed her thigh in between my legs, making contact with my hot groin.

  “Yes,” she smiled. “I know I didn’t hear you.”

  I gasped. It felt so good, I didn’t want her to stop. I pushed against her thigh, trying to rub against her. She gave me a curiously sinister look and took a half step back, just moving out of my reach. My body screamed for her. With the one hand firmly pressed upon my chest, she used her free hand to unzip my pants and slid them down around my thighs. She was clever. She had used my own pants to restrain me and then slid her fingers through my wet folds. She moaned approvingly.

  “Shall we see what you taste like?” Raising her fingers to her mouth, her nose caught my smell. “You are not completely human and not a were. That only leaves a witch.” She leisurely licked her fingers and then slid her hand through my wet, hot pussy again and placed her fingers to my lips, rubbing my wetness on them. “Have you ever tasted yourself?” She pressed her lips against mine forcing me to taste the sticky substance she found my excited bud swimming in.