Claimed, a vampire romance (Lost)

Claimed

A Vampire Romance Short Story

Story 3 in the Lost Series

Copyright 2012, Lori Devoti

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or any portion thereof, in any form. This ebook may not be resold or uploaded for distribution to others.

This is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental
.

If you notice any typos or formatting issues with this book, the author would appreciate being notified.

Email her at
[email protected]

Chapter 1

It would be dark again soon. The day had passed in a blur, one long, painful blur.

Rachel Daniels leaned back against her bed's padded headboard and hugged a daisy-shaped pillow against her chest.

Her friend and sorority sister, Shelby Marks, lowered her phone to the mattress beside her. “They found the car and...” She looked sideways at Rachel as if unsure whether she should continue.

Rachel lifted her gaze. “Nancy?”

Shelby brushed a length of ginger-colored hair from her face. “No, just Erica and Karen. They were dead.”

Rachel lowered her forehead until it pressed against the pillow’s plush fabric. She'd known Erica and Karen were dead, known the rescue workers would find their bodies, but it still hurt to hear the words spoken.

Shelby picked up her phone and ran her finger over its surface, checking messages or something. After a moment, she looked at Rachel again. “What do you think happened to Nancy?”

Rachel squeezed her eyes shut. Cameron had thought his brother took her friend. She knew that. And Cameron and his brother were... She shoved the pillow away and stood.

Shelby's eyebrows rose. “What? What's wrong? I mean besides... you know.”

“Nothing.” Rachel wrapped her arms around herself in a hug. She wished she hadn't stood. She felt naked now, unprotected, but returning to the bed and the comfort of her pillow shield didn't feel like an option.

Shelby lowered her phone to the mattress again and waited.

Rachel's room in the sorority house looked over the street. She walked to the window and stared out. Streetlights had switched on at some point. A few students walked down the sidewalks of Greek Town, but not many. Things were quiet, even for a Sunday night.

People knew what had happened. Knew two girls, maybe three, were dead.

Rachel pulled the white lace drapes closed over the window and turned her back on the view. “Have you ever... Do you think...” She didn't know how to continue, didn't know how to ask if Shelby thought she was crazy for seeing what she thought she'd seen the night before.

Finally, she swallowed. “There was a guy there. I didn't mention him to the police.”

“Really?” Concern and curiosity showed on Shelby’s face as she sat straighter on the bed.

“He helped me. After the crash, I went to look for help, but I got lost. I told the police that... But I didn't tell them about Cameron.”

“Cameron? Do we know him? Is he a Kappa Sig?”

“Uh, no. I hadn't met him before, and I don't think he went to college.”

“Didn't go to college?” Shelby's nose curled. “Oh, but he saved you. That's good. Why didn't you tell the police? Do you think he has Nancy?” Her eyes widened.

“No.” Rachel shook her head. “I believe... he thought...” God, this was hard. Balling her fists, she forced the words out of her throat. “Do you think vampires could be real?”

Shelby paled. “Vampires? Real? Are you serious?”

Rachel licked her lips and didn't reply. Not replying was her reply.

“You do.” Shelby glanced at her phone as if considering calling someone, probably someone bearing straightjackets and sedatives.

“The stories about the canyon—”

Shelby cut her off. “Are just stories.”

“But I saw.” Rachel cut herself off then. She'd said enough. It was obvious Shelby didn't believe her. Talking more would just make matters worse.

“What? What did you see?” Shelby looked interested now. Cautious, but interested.

“Fangs. He had fangs.” The words slipped from Rachel like a confession. It felt good to release them, a relief.

“Did he?” Shelby's gaze moved to the side, and her finger tapped against her shut-down phone. “So this vampire led you out of the canyon?”

Rachel nodded. “Without him, I would probably still be there.” Lost and missing, like Nancy.

Standing, Shelby slipped her phone into her front pocket. She took Rachel's hand into hers. “Vampires aren't real, and the stories about the canyon aren't real. What happened to you was just bad luck. You know that, right?” Her gaze probed. “You’re stressed and probably in shock.”

For a moment, Rachel had thought her sorority sister believed her. Now she realized that had been a silly hope.

“I have to go, but I'll be back. Promise me you won't tell anyone else about this vampire, at least not as a vampire. Campus elections are coming up, and with everything that has happened, you're a shoo-in for Council Board Chair. We Alphas have been unrepresented for too long.”

College politics? That's what Shelby was thinking of? Rachel dropped her gaze, afraid her anger at this would show.

After a last squeeze of Rachel's hand, Shelby was gone. Rachel heard the lock click as the door closed behind her. It was thoughtful, locking the door behind her, but disturbing in some way too.

Staring at the painted white wood, Rachel shivered. She was being silly. Shelby was only being thoughtful, protecting her from the other girls, who had to be wondering when Rachel would appear, when she would share what had happened.

And when would she? She didn't know. Right now, she couldn't bear the thought of leaving this room, of talking to anyone about anything, except for maybe Nancy... or, crazy as it made her feel, Cameron.

o0o

It hadn't taken Cameron Renault long to locate Rachel's sorority house. While he'd slept, human rescue workers had gone into the canyon and retrieved the two girls who had died in last night's crash.

Local blogs and radio stations were filled with news of the co-eds’ deaths and the fact that four sorority sisters had made the trip through the canyon, but only three had been found and only one of those alive.

Cameron was here now to fulfill his promise to Rachel, to let her know that her fourth friend, Nancy, was safe— in a manner, at least.

He pressed his lips against each other. Her friend was in fact a vampire now. Telling the human co-ed this would be breaking every code Cameron's father had drilled,
beaten
, into him and his brother.

But Cameron had made a promise, and he took his promises seriously. He'd said he would find Rachel's friend, and he had. He'd also said he would find Rachel, for Rachel, and he was doing that too.

Whether after a day of sunlight and being faced with her friends' deaths she would still want to be found was an entirely different issue.

Running his tongue over his canines to check that the fang-concealing caps were still in place, he lifted the heavy brass door knocker and waited for someone to answer.

o0o

There was a knock on her bedroom door, startling Rachel out of her stupor. She dropped the pillow back on the bed and went to answer.

A freshman, one of the girls she and the others had planned to scare by leaving them in the canyon overnight, stood in the hallway looking nervous and unsure.

“There's a guy here to see you.”

Rachel started to shut the door. “Shelby will deal with them.” Reporters had been trying to get to Rachel all day. Rachel, however, had no intention of talking to any of them. Her sorority sisters knew that. Shelby, as house president, had made sure they knew that.

“Shelby isn't here. She left. He says he knows you.” The girl looked over her shoulder as if the man in question might have sneaked up behind her. “He's different.”

Rachel's hand, in the process of closing the door, stilled. “Different?”

The girl nervously nodded her head, and her tongue touched her lips. “Yeah.”

Rachel waited, but it seemed to be all the girl had to say.

“Did he give a name?”

The girl nodded again. “Oh, yeah. Cameron. He said you knew he was coming.”

Five minutes later, Rachel was walking into her sorority's small formal living room. White sheers covered the closed glass doors, but she could still make out the broad-shouldered form behind them.

Cameron.

He was real.

But was he a vampire? Her fingers wrapped around the gold cross she'd placed around her neck before heading downstairs.

Assured the necklace was in place, she opened the doors.

o0o

As the doors opened, Cameron turned. Rachel stood between them, her hair mussed and her clothing wrinkled.

She'd been crying and looked as if she hadn't slept since he'd led her to the deserted road and sent her on her way.

Her blue eyes widened. Then she turned and, with shaking hands, latched the doors behind her.

Facing him again, she swallowed.

In the bright light of the living room, her hair looked pinker than he'd remembered. Or maybe it was just that the color was so cheerful when she appeared so down. The two didn't mesh.

He stepped toward her, moving without thinking, but she stepped to the side, her gaze wary.

He stopped, unsure now. Hell, he'd been unsure before, but he'd hoped...

“I found your friend,” he murmured.

“Nancy?” Her face lit. “Where is she? Is she okay?”

Okay?
It was a judgment call. “She's with my brother.”

“Your brother? He's the one that—” She stopped and pulled back.

“He didn't hurt her. He…” Cameron paused, searching for the right word. “Saved her.”

“From the wreck? But he was...”

“From the wreck and other things.”

“Other things?” Rachel moved her hand to her forehead and ran her fingers through her hair. Gold glinted from her neck.
A cross
.

She saw him looking and placed her palm flat over the space between her breasts.

He spoke again, as if he hadn't noticed her gesture or the artifact her hand concealed. “My brother is better than I expected. Your friend seems to have helped him.”

“Helped him? Nancy? But she was...” She shook her head, obviously confused. “Is she okay?”

“She's...” Again he paused. He didn't know how to say what Nancy was now. He wasn't sure if Rachel had actually processed what she had seen, his fight with Dorian, and the truth that had been revealed.

“She's recovering but content.”

“Recovering? Where?” Rachel's brows lowered. Confusion was giving way to anger.

“With my brother.”

“Your brother.” She licked her lips. He could see there was something else she wanted to say, something she wanted to ask.

He had things to ask too. He closed his eyes briefly and opened and closed his fists. The temptation to mesmerize her was strong, but he resisted. “You told me to find you after everything was over, to find you for you.”

“I did.” She looked away, nervous.

“You changed your mind.” Fact. He could see it on her face.

He forced the pain not to show on his face. He'd never believed his destiny included happiness or love before. He shouldn't have let her words in the canyon, when she was stressed and desperate, change that.

But he had, idiot that he was.

He tightened his jaw and walked toward the door. “Nancy will call you when she's ready.”

Her hand grabbed his sleeve. She looked up into his face.

For a moment, neither said anything. Then slowly, nervously, she pulled her hand back and folded her fingers against her palm.

“Are you... When I was in the canyon, when you were fighting with your brother, I thought I saw...”

“What? What did you think you saw?” he asked, his voice even, bored. What they had shared in the canyon had obviously been his imagination. She was just a human who he'd met briefly. She couldn't be told the truth. He knew that.

He should mesmerize her. Not to hold her in thrall and get her to think she loved him. No... To get her to forget him and the truth of what he was.

But despite knowing that was what his father would order him to do, what the vampire Senate would insist that he do, he couldn't bring himself to do it.

Because to get her to forget what he was, she would have to forget him too.

“Fangs,” she whispered. “Fangs on you and your brother.”

“Fangs?” He shook his head. “You were tired and the canyon was dark.”

“Not that dark. Not then.”

That's right. He'd turned on the wrecked car's headlights. He and Dorian had been well lit.