Passion For Hire (Passion #5) (6 page)

When her vein popped and blood flooded his mouth, she shrieked in pain, but he felt a little calmer, although his body still jerked as he continued to pump out the last of his release over her stomach.

Once he’d finished not only feeding but coming all over her, he pulled back and quickly put her under mild mind control. He bit his wrist to get his blood flowing and rubbed some into her neck, watching the puncture wounds heal almost instantly. Then all he had to do was wipe those last couple of minutes from her mind before lifting the control so she was lucid again.

When he raised himself to look at her, he couldn’t help smiling at the blissful expression on her face. She looked every bit the well fucked and extremely satisfied woman. Her eyelids were drooping so Adrian pulled himself to his feet, and picked up the plain white business sized envelope from the bedside table which he knew contained his payment for tonight’s services. Donna always paid him like that, as it was quite common for her to be completely exhausted after an evening with him. She’d be in such a euphoric state from multiple orgasms that she was damned near impossible to deal with, so she’d taken to leaving his payment out in advance. Of course she never knew how many orgasms he’d end giving her but it didn’t really matter. She was more than generous with her money and tended to overpay him anyway.

Quietly he moved around the room pulling on his clothes again, before cleaning his cum from he skin, and with a gentle kiss to her cheek, he left her.

When he got outside her took a deep breath of the salty air. Donna’s home was right near the harbour and it had that typical smell of the sea. Without spending too much time standing around since he didn’t want to be seen, he walked towards the silver Mercedes he’d arrived in and had just made it to the driver’s side of the car when something caught his eye.

It was the dark shape of a car, black, low, familiar and he stared at it in shocked disbelief. What the fuck was going on? It looked like his Trans Am but how could that be? As he started to walk towards it the driver’s door suddenly swung open and he stopped mid stride when he caught the flash of long bare legs and a head of blonde hair as the driver climbed out. She tossed it back off her face, raising a hand to sweep it out of the way as she walked around to the front of the car, leaning back until she was nearly sitting on its bonnet.

He snapped his teeth hard together in reaction to what he was seeing. Not only was his fucking car here when it should have been parked in his father’s garage, Faith had driven it and to really piss him off, she was sitting on the damned thing like it was her right to do so.

With an angry growl he stormed up to the car and it was then that he finally got to see her properly. Not only was she half sprawled over his Firebird like a fucking call girl, she damn near looked like one too. She’d been shopping obviously and at the sight of her body clad the way it was, he was instantly hard in his leather pants despite having only just come a few minutes ago in Donna’s mouth.

She was wearing a dress, black as his car and so tight she looked like she’d been poured into it. It was made from some shiny material like vinyl. It followed every line of her body, the hem indecently short, only just covering that delectable ass of hers. It hugged her body lovingly over her tiny waist and incredibly flat stomach. The bodice was plunging, the curve of her breasts threatening to spill over the low neckline. Two narrow straps rose over her shoulders and disappeared under her hair, obviously the only things keeping her covered and she was only just covered. Fuck she was so beautiful but dangerous. She was a threat to him because of what she knew. Her knowledge gave her power and if she ever chose to use that power against him, he wasn’t sure if his own father would allow him to live for what he’d done.

His focus returned to the annoying woman sprawled out over his car. “What the fuck do you want Faith? What were you thinking taking my car and get the fuck off the bonnet? Do you have any idea how old that car is and what the hell are you wearing?”

She scrambled off the bonnet and he winced at the sound of her skin sliding over the black duco. He brushed past her to run his hand over the paint which gleamed in the moonlight and was relieved that it appeared to have survived her climbing all over it.

Angrily he turned on her again, keeping his eyes on her face, determined not to give into temptation and lower his gaze to take in every sexy inch of her.

“I wanted to see you Adrian. I needed to talk to you but you don’t listen to me. You just yell a lot. I want you to take me to meet your son and don’t screw up your face at me.” She snapped when he did exactly that. “Why can’t you see that I’m not the enemy? I want to help you; I want to be a part of your life. If you won’t be my teacher or my happily ever after, at least let me be your friend. Please.”

“You are impossible woman. Why can’t you take no for a fucking answer? I don’t need your help; I don’t need anyone’s help. I’ve survived just fine all this time. The only help I need from you is to keep your damn mouth shut. If you care anything for me you will never reveal what you know. My father is very strict with his few rules about how we behave as vampire. The one rule he has that is punishable by death for disobeying him, is killing someone. I fucked up and I took too much blood. I killed him, or I might as well have. I tried, god knows I tried.” His voice broke before he reined in his emotions facing her again. “I tried to save him; I tried to save him from a life of this living hell. I tried to change it with witchcraft but it didn’t work. I’m not a powerful warlock. I’m nothing like my mother. She’s powerful and she’s done some amazing things, but I can’t do that. I fucked up. I fucked up and nearly took his human life, and then I fucked up when witchcraft failed to bring him back to life as a human again. I had to change him but he’s different. I don’t know why, I don’t know how it happened but he’s not like my family or me.” He met Faith’s eyes again. Their beautiful blue depths were fixed on him, her expression mirroring his pain. God, she was so sensitive, so sweet. She felt sorry for him? He wasn’t worthy of her concern and he didn’t want her pity.

He was nothing. He was a failure as a vampire, a failure as a warlock. He only had one thing he knew how to do and that was giving women the kind of sexual experiences they needed or wanted. It made him a lot of money but it meant he would never be able to be like his father or his brothers. He could never have that one woman who loved him and that he could hold in his arms as he slept. He could never love a woman because he could never stop doing what he did. He had to care for Lucas and his mother. He’d ended Lucas’s life and committed him to an eternal sentence as a vampire, but not even a proper vampire, he was only half one, a kind of hybrid.

Lucas had never seen the outside of the home Adrian bought to keep them in. He’d been kept a prisoner since he’d been turned so both he and his mother relied on Adrian to take care of them. Lucas predominantly needed blood to survive but he could also eat some human food occasionally too. Although he seemed surprisingly accepting of his fate, Adrian couldn’t let him loose and he didn’t have time to educate him on the ways of being a vampire. Not to mention he didn’t have the tattoo to allow him to walk in the daylight. Lucas had found out the hard way that although he was only half vampire and wasn’t sensitive enough to sunlight to potentially burst into flames, he still couldn’t handle exposure to the sun for longer than a few minutes.

Adrian couldn’t even trust his son around Katherine so the two were locked away separately until he was there to make sure Lucas didn’t give into his basic instincts and attack her.

With all that it took to care for them daily and the pressure on him to do so, not to mention the burden of his secret and the crushing weight of his guilt, he had learned to keep himself switched off from everyone, even his own family. He had fucked up, so now he was determined to pay for his mistakes by living a double life. That was until Faith turned up and suddenly all that he knew, all that had become a way of life for him in his sorry existence was now under threat.

When he turned to her again, those incredible vibrant eyes of hers were watching him. She walked towards him and he tensed up, not wanting her close, not wanting to see the pity in her expression. “Don’t.” He held his hand up to ward her off. “Don’t feel sorry for me and for fuck sakes, don’t damn well pity me.” He met her gaze briefly again before turning away. “I’ve already been to them tonight. I was about to head home. You can take the Mercedes and I’ll take my car. You shouldn’t have taken my car; no one drives it but me.” He glared at her. “You shouldn’t really be walking around at night dressed like that you know. Someone might take advantage of you.” He warned her passing her the Mercedes’ keys. With one final reluctant sweep of her body and feeling the leap of his senses in response to her, he climbed into his Trans Am. “I’ll see you at home.”

She began to walk towards the Mercedes calling over her shoulder. “Yeah you go home and shower. You smell of that woman.”

“What the fuck’s it got to do with you?” He called to her but she didn’t answer him. She simply shimmied her way into the car which wasn’t easy dressed as she was and he heard the engine start up. When she revved it noisily and managed to get its tyres squealing as she shot past him, he found himself reluctantly grinning at her performance. “Damn you Faith, what the hell am I going to do with you?”

Of course when I’d tried to act all mysterious and alluring as I’d walked to the car, something that wasn’t easy in such a tight fitting dress, I hadn’t actually considered going anywhere but home. Obviously Adrian wasn’t taking me to see Lucas or Katherine tonight and although he hadn’t agreed to me ever meeting them, he hadn’t totally dismissed it happening either.

He was such an incredibly frustrating man. He spent most of his time yelling at me or pushing me away, but every now and then a chink would appear in that armour of his, and he’d give me some insight to the turmoil going on in him. My heart ached for him. That such a beautiful man could think so little of himself. He was not the monster he saw in himself. He cared about what he’d done; he cared about his son and the old woman. I didn’t believe it was all as an attempt to avoid detection by his father. He wasn’t just trying to save his own skin, he cared.

I just wished he would see that he could trust me. I wouldn’t reveal his secret; I merely wanted to help him. I wanted to shoulder some of the responsibility that seemed to weigh so heavily on him, to ease the burden of his guilt, but for every step forward, he pushed me two steps back.

It hurt too that he’d not become overcome with passion as I’d hoped when he saw me dressed like I was. I’d never worn such revealing clothing in my life but I wanted Adrian to see me, to really see me and not just my virginity. I was so tired of it; I wanted him to take it and be the one to make me a woman, but instead he treated me like I was untouchable. He didn’t see me as a desirable woman, he saw me as a virgin and dammit, I wanted to be free of it.

Well, if he didn’t want me, there had to be someone out there who did, surely. Maybe I could lose it to someone else and then Adrian might not be so against the idea of making love to me. It might be the solution to my problem, but for now, I decided I would go to that club I’d seen a couple of times, have a drink, maybe flirt with someone and hopefully have some fragment of my shattered self-esteem restored before heading home.

When I finally pulled up in the car park of the club, I took a couple of minutes to check my appearance, as I walked towards the doors to the entrance of it. Nervously I plucked at the hem of my dress in a futile attempt to make it longer since I’d never worn anything so short in my life. Of course pulling at the hem only dragged the bodice lower which put my breasts in danger of falling out the front. I decided the hem line barely covering my buttocks was the lesser of two evils, and gave up tugging around on it.

I pushed through the doors and hesitated, chewing on my bottom lip, wondering if this was a good idea. It had seemed like one when I wanted to make a show of leaving Adrian outside that woman’s house, but now, standing alone, listening to the heavy beat of the music that not only surrounded me, but seemed to vibrate through my entire body, I suddenly wasn’t so sure.

I was just debating whether I should leave again, when I spotted a familiar figure and I tensed at the sight of the raven haired woman approaching me. Francesca had a sardonic smile on her face and I braced myself for whatever dose of sarcasm or insult the outspoken vampire would throw at me.

“Well, well, well little girl. So you’ve come out to play with all the big kids tonight have you?” Her eyes moved down the length of me. “Look at you. So is that what all good virgins are wearing these days is it; the preferred attire for every pure young thing?” She laughed. “To think in my day it was fathers with shotguns, panties from thigh to waist and every respectable virgin had a chastity belt.” She leaned in to me, her lips near my ear. “Funny though, I was never a respectable virgin. Actually, not sure I’ve ever been respectable.” I watched as she turned from me. “Well you be sure to play nicely won’t you?” Before she walked out the door leaving me to the noise and uncertainty of what would happen next in the club.

Sucking in a much needed lungful of air, I began to walk further into the large bar area, my eyes shifting around nervously at the crowds either standing around talking or drinking and dancing.

I didn’t make eye contact with anyone and continued to work my way through the crowds before coming to a set of doors leading into an area where I could hear a woman singing. I hovered, shifting from foot to foot in the high heels I was not accustomed to wearing, and was just about to push through the doors to the next room when hands grabbed me, and I felt the hot breathe near my ear as a man’s voice spoke to me.

“Hey there sweet thing, where are you going? You’re a sexy young thing aren’t you? I’m on vacation in this pretty little state of yours, all the way from the United States of America. Now how about you come have a drink with me and show me some of that Australian hospitality I hear so much about?”

With the man’s hands on me and his body pressed up against my back, flashes of images passed through my head and I could see myself being dragged across the car park towards some dark coloured car. His face was contorted and his eyes alight with something that suddenly terrified me.

“Let…me…go.” I said, struggling to break free of his hold on me.

“Oh come on sweet thing, don’t be mean. You’re not being very hospitable now are you?” His grip tightened on me.

“I said…let…me…go.” I lifted my foot and stomped down as hard as I could on one of his feet with the heel of my shoe.

“Fuck, fuck you, you stupid bitch.” He released me and I spun around to face him seeing the pain and rage on his face. “You dress like you can show a man a good time, but you’re a frigid bitch aren’t you?”

“Faith, are you alright, what are you doing here?” I heard the deep but familiar voice behind me, and before I could turn to my saviour, I saw the eyes widen on the man who had grabbed me. He turned and disappeared into the crowd and I swung around to face Fabian, grateful for his sudden appearance.

He brushed his knuckles down my cheek and his eyes lowered, moving over my clothing, a frown forming across his brow. Seeing his surprise and what I suspected was disapproval made me realise my defiant act aimed at Adrian had been a stupid idea. He wasn’t even here, so if my plan had worked, and all the men had been fighting for my attention, he wouldn’t see it. Blushing and suddenly self-conscious, I opened my mouth to answer Fabian whose fingers still rested against my skin, but before I could, flashes of images began to fill my head and I grinned, raising my eyes to his.

“I’m ok thank you Fabian. You’re here with Sirene?” I saw his eyes widen in surprise. “I can see you and her. She sings here.” Then it was my turn to gape wide eyed at him. “That’s her I can hear now, isn’t it?” Fabian nodded at my question.

“What are you doing here little one and why are you dressed like that? You shouldn’t be here alone dressed so…provocatively. You will only attract more like the one that was just bothering you. “

My expression was rueful when I raised my eyes to his. “It seemed like a good idea at the time. I just…I just…” I fell silent.

Fabian’s pale gaze was serious and his hands settled on my bare shoulders. I started to get flashes of images from our skin on skin contact but I ignored them, and forced myself to focus on him. “Be patient with my son Faith. I don’t know what is going on with him although I suspect he has a lot troubling him. I have tried as has his mother to get him to talk to us but he is a very private person, and a loner. I know you believe that he is your destiny and I am not disputing your beliefs but I would tread carefully with him. Do not push him too hard. You need to gradually chip away at his defences.” He released me and his eyes lifted staring over my shoulder, but I could tell he was not looking at anything. In fact he wasn’t even still in the club, mentally at least. Suddenly his eyes swung back to mine. “You would tell me if you learned something about him that I should know wouldn’t you?”

I swallowed, struggling to keep my expression neutral. I hated that I was keeping a secret from the man who had offered me a place to live but I couldn’t betray the man who I was destined to be with either. “If I think it’s something beyond his control then yes Fabian, but please don’t pressure me. Adrian is starting to trust me or at least I think he is. If he won’t accept that my visions show us together, then I want to be his friend. I think he could use a friend.” I shot him a quick smile and as I stared into his pale eyes so like his son’s except they were more grey than Adrian’s, I felt a wave of horror roll over me. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry.” I threw myself into his arms and I felt him tense up for a moment. “I forgot to thank you.” I pulled back enough to meet his curious expression. “The money, I forgot to thank you for the money. It’s too much and it will take me forever to pay you back. Flame gave me some too and I feel so bad because you’ve given me a place to live and I can’t do anything for you in return.” I rambled on until Fabian began to chuckle.

“It’s not necessary for you to do anything in return little one. You are Flame’s sister so you are part of our family, and I have only one request from you. Look after my son. I suspect you will be the one who can get past the façade he puts on for all of us. Can I ask that of you? Can you persevere with him? I know he’s pushing you away, but you have insight with your visions. Unlike Adrian, I have more respect for your ability. Can you do that for me and for Sirene?”

I stared up at his gorgeous face seeing so much of his son in Fabian’s features. “You know I will.” I said quietly.

Adrian

Adrian’s car skidded to a halt in the car park of the club and he leapt out, heading for the entrance, his hands balled into fists by his side and his rage barely contained. Damn that woman, he was going to strangle her. No, he was going to kill her, or maybe he should just throw her in one of the cells in his father’s dungeon where she couldn’t do anything bloody stupid. Why hadn’t she gone straight home when she’d turned up outside Donna’s home? She was dressed for sex. Fuck every man would be panting and desperate to dip their cocks into that untouched cunt of hers but of course they wouldn’t know it was untouched. What had she been thinking? If she’d made it through the evening so far without being raped or at least propositioned in ways she wasn’t experienced enough to deal with, he’d be surprised.

“Damn her.” He muttered as he pushed the doors open and stepped into the noise of the club. The loud music immediately felt like it was beating out the notes on his chest and the smells hit him, the smell of alcohol, blood, sweat and hundreds of different perfumes mixing together.

God he was glad he didn’t need to come here to hunt like his family often did. He had a regular blood source with his clients and as long as they still wanted him, he’d always have them to tap into for his daily meal of their vital life force.

He stood inside the club for a moment trying to get himself under control before he began the search for Faith. He’d start by seeing if his parents had seen her since Sirene was performing tonight. “Damn her.” He muttered again and began to move through the club on the way to where his mother would be on stage.

Hopefully Faith would be ok and that no man had done anything to her, or had raped her given she looked like a pay by the hour girl the way she was dressed. He wasn’t putting down the oldest profession given he made his living from selling his body but she wasn’t a prostitute, she was a virgin, and she had gone out of her way to put herself at risk.

He couldn’t believe it when Francesca had come home and said she’d seen Faith at the club. He’d barely heard a word she said after that, and he’d basically left her speaking to herself when he’d rushed from the house.

Adrian pushed his way through the crowd until he got to the doors that led into where his mother performed. As he swung them open and stepped inside, the beautiful sound of Sirene’s voice filled his ears. He could give credit where credit was due and his mother sure could sing. It was kind of sweet the way his father, the vampire that had reportedly been a real asshole prior to falling in love, often chose to accompany her to the club. Fabian hated the place as much as he did, but he was protective of Sirene so he came to keep the drunken men off her.

He started walking towards the stage and when he finally got close to where his mother was, he spotted his father. Then it registered that there was a blonde haired woman by his side and that it was Faith. Instantly the sight of her caused a wave of rage to sweep through him. He knew he should be glad she was safe and he was, but at the same time he wanted to strangle her. He’d rushed to the club thinking he’d need to pluck her from the arms of some asshole trying to get between her legs and instead she was chatting away to his father?

“Hello father.” He spoke in Fabian’s ear to make himself heard over the music. “I see you found her.” He turned to Faith before his father could respond. “What the fucking hell were you thinking? You came here? You came to a fucking club dressed like that? Are you trying to get yourself raped?”

“Stop yelling at me. You’re not my keeper, my boyfriend or even my damn friend it would seem. You keep telling me to leave you alone so I did, and I came here. I thought I’d find myself someone to take care of that problem you won’t fix for me.”

“Thank you for keeping her out of trouble father but I need to speak with Faith where it’s a bit quieter. I’ll take care of her now.” He told Fabian before turning to the woman who seemed determined to drive him crazy.

“Hey, hang on a minute. I want to stay here. I haven’t had a chance to look for any suitable candidates yet. You run along, I’m fine.” She waved her hand to dismiss him and he immediately saw red. He literally saw it rise up clouding his vision and his teeth snapped together.