Blood Dreams 03 Endless Night Read online

  ENDLESS NIGHT

  An Ellora’s Cave Publication, March 2005

  Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.

  1337 Commerce Drive, #13

  Stow, OH 44224

  ISBN MS Reader (LIT) ISBN # 1-4199-0053-6

  Other available formats (no ISBNs are assigned):

  Adobe (PDF), Rocketbook (RB), Mobipocket (PRC) & HTML

  ENDLESS NIGHT Copyright © 2005 MLYN HURN

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part without permission.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. They are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.

  Edited by Linda Carroll-Bradd.

  Cover art by Syneca.

  Warning:

  The following material contains graphic sexual content meant for mature readers. Endless Night has been rated S-ensuous by a minimum of three independent reviewers.

  Ellora’s Cave Publishing offers three levels of Romantica™ reading entertainment: S (S-ensuous), E (E-rotic), and X (X-treme).

  S-ensuous love scenes are explicit and leave nothing to the imagination.

  E-rotic love scenes are explicit, leave nothing to the imagination, and are high in volume per the overall word count. In addition, some E-rated titles might contain fantasy material that some readers find objectionable, such as bondage, submission, same sex encounters, forced seductions, and so forth. E-rated titles are the most graphic titles we carry; it is common, for instance, for an author to use words such as “fucking”, “cock”, “pussy”, and such within their work of literature.

  X-treme titles differ from E-rated titles only in plot premise and storyline execution. Unlike E-rated titles, stories designated with the letter X tend to contain controversial subject matter not for the faint of heart.

  Blood Dreams:

  Endless Night

  Mlyn Hurn

  Chapter One

  “Have you noticed the subtle changes?”

  Blue Dampier turned from the edge of the stone parapet of her apartment’s balcony where she’d been gazing over, nodding her head. “I’ve noticed them, Jordan.”

  The change had been gradual, but for this time of the year, it was unnatural for darkness to start at seven in the evening. Since this was the month of June, the evening should be light out until nearly nine. Some people blamed the inexplicable on the big-city smog, but for anyone familiar with the air quality and who bothered to monitor for differences, the true purity of the Earth’s atmosphere had actually been over improving the last several decades.

  This darkness was due to something else. She often wished she could ask her parents’ opinion of the cause, but they had moved to Europe shortly after Lamenta’s death three years ago. An event followed quite mysteriously by Fauster’s unforeseen and sudden disappearance. She would have gone with her parents, but her brother had wanted to stay and finish college. Now, she hesitated bringing up the subject too often because it usually made her mother cry and her father get surly.

  Looking at Jordan, she was once again struck by his blond beauty.

  Jordan was only twenty-five, but he was a genius and possessed more degrees than anyone she’d ever known, except their father, Iain Dampier, who had had the benefit of several centuries to study. Iain was unknown years old, at least a couple hundred past his initial turning when he was twenty-something, and a “recovered” sanguineous vampire. By successfully pioneering the psychic method to re-charge his life force, he was indirectly responsible for the eventual peace existing between humans and vampires today.

  No one needed to tell Blue her family was unusual. She’d grown up with their uniqueness, but that didn’t dull the oddness surrounding the whole, messed-up situation. If anything, as she joked frequently, her family was the original “dysfunctional” used for the definition. As she understood the family history, Fauster Blue, a vampire that only God and who-knows-who knew his age, had conceived an idea. Perhaps a super-vampire could be bred.

  Her father was the seventh son of a seventh-son vampire, conceived between a male vampire and female human, who would be converted to vampirism only after she had conceived. When the time was right, the son was converted by Fauster. The right time was when Fauster had chosen the female he wanted to mother the next link in his genetic chain. Her paternal grandmother, who was long dead, had been Fauster’s first big mistake. She taught her son to think for himself.

  Now that Blue knew her maternal grandparents better, she was able to make sense of the whole thing. Jarrett, her grandfather, had been educated to the top of his social class, in his day. Elizabeth, who the family called Beth, had been chosen by Fauster because she had also been educated better than nearly any woman of the time. They had produced two children—AnnaBelle, Blue and Jordan’s mother, and Hunter, their uncle. Or that was the story her mother grew up with.

  Once Iain rejected Fauster’s plan, he had restarted with a new line of vampires, culminating in Jarrett Blue. Fauster had decided to take matters into his own hands and fathered a son. He gave the son to Jarrett and Beth to raise as their child, along with their daughter. AnnaBelle and Hunter grew up as brother and sister. Fauster’s run of bad luck persisted when Hunter spit in his father’s eye.

  Then when her mother and Iain met, Fauster tried to claim he had it planned all along. No one believed him, not even Lamenta. Jordan had tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, being so like his… Fauster. Their exact relational connection to Fauster was too complex to think about most days.

  Gazing at Jordan, she saw his bright blond hair seemed less intense. When their parents left, he had not seemed old enough to stay by himself. Blue had opted to stay in New York City and make Fauster’s building her base of operations upon their parents’ departure. Jordan often tinkered away in Fauster’s old workshop.

  “Have you read about anyone else remarking on the changes online or in the hunter journals?” She heard the frustration and growing irritation that she was feeling in the tone of her voice. She started to apologize.

  Her brother’s reply cut her off. “Not a single thing, Sis. Have you thought any more about us moving to London to join Mom and Dad? In their letter, they said Hunter and Tatiana were leaving Australia, as well.”

  “I don’t think moving is the answer, Jordan.” Blue shook her head and her red curls bounced madly. “I can’t shake my feeling that the problem is here. Did they mention any word from Uncle Fauster? Or is there any idea about what is happening?” Irritated, she shoved her hand through her hair, pushing it back from her face. No matter how short she cut her hair, the curls were always right there, soft and shining. Now that she’d let it grow to her shoulders, her hair felt like a riot, on good days. “What about Taryn?” she murmured.

  Jordan shook his head. “Nothing they can figure out, or more likely it is nothing anyone can pin down.”

  Blue tuned out her brother as she thought about her life. At the age of thirty, she considered that she understood herself and who she was. Her parents had been completely forthright and honest with Jordan and her from their earliest days, unlike her maternal grandparents and Uncle Fauster. Her father, Iain Dampier, was a vampire. Her uncle Hunter was also a vampire. Both had married women, who were pretty much human. Sure, Fauster was really her great-great-great—

  Oh hell! She had no idea how many greats there should be, but he was the vampire who had started it all. He had sired Iain and Simon, in the traditional vampire way. Then he had begun his own little genetic planning clinic, a little sick and icky, but something about the irascible old goat had most people forgiving and still liking him.

>   No one knew how old Fauster had been when he disappeared following Lamenta’s death, around the seventeenth century his first “family” plan had culminated with his conversion of Iain from seventh-generation dhampir, which is a child of a vampire, to an actual vampire. She was surprised that her father and her Uncle Hunter, Taryn’s father, opted out of putting a stake through Fauster’s heart. Fauster’s second plan seemed to get a little foggy around how AnnaBelle, Iain and Hunter were involved. Not that it mattered any more because the plan had failed, supposedly, with three human offspring—Taryn, Jordan, and herself. None of their parents, or Fauster, would discuss the subject, and finally the three cousins realized they were getting the same answer. “With three perfect children, the plan is over.”

  Only Lamenta never gave them that answer. Fauster would mumble the words, but then he started telling them to ask their parents. So now, if Lamenta had known about Fauster’s “plan” and whether he had scrapped it, they would never know. Lamenta dying so suddenly, followed by Fauster’s disappearance such a short time later, bothered the whole family. Hunter and Tatiana investigated for six months, but they couldn’t find any leads, even with Pete Walters’ police contacts.

  Blue smiled as she remembered the day following the funeral. She was in the main studio, working out with Pete. Together, they were taking out their grief on one another. They matched blow for blow and kick to kick until the bell over the front door jingled, and Pete used the distraction to throw her to the mat.

  “Unfair!” she yelled out, laying flat on her back and breathing hard.

  Pete laughed and ran his hands through his overly long hair. Since quitting the force, he’d let it grow almost to his shoulders. “Superior skill, squirt!”

  “I agree with the young lady. You should only play with children your size.”

  Blue turned her head to the side and saw a giant. Or rather she saw a woman who appeared to be taller than she was and quite possibly stronger. She started to do the leg flip, when she noticed that Pete bristled like a mad porcupine. Odd because her “uncle” Pete was probably the nicest and friendliest man she’d ever met, in spite of twenty-odd years of being a cop. Her father described him as the easiest-going cop in the world.

  Pete crossed towards the woman.

  Blue sat up, twisting her legs into a basic lotus position to watch the show. She had a feeling a woman who always got her way was about to meet a man who most likely would not give in.

  “Polite children don’t enter an abode and insult the owner,” Pete replied, crossing his arms across his chest.

  The tall woman shifted her feet a little further apart and then placed her fisted hands on her hips.

  Blue saw one perfectly shaped black eyebrow arch in doubt.

  The woman’s red-painted lips smiled, revealing straight, white teeth. “I was under the impression that the name on the deed for this building is Lamenta White. Funny, but you don’t look like a woman called Lamenta.” Her voice was a little husky as she spoke once more.

  Blue tried to stop it, but the laugh bubbled out anyway. Not even Pete’s glaring glance over his shoulder could curtail it once it began. Gasping, she agreed. “She has you there, Pete. Although Lamenta often commented on how nice your legs were.” Unable to stop the impulse, she smiled at the raven-haired woman. “If only he’d wax them, she used to say, they’d be almost perfect.”

  The woman met Blue’s gaze and her lips curled up, only on one side. Combined with the twinkle in her eye, it was as if she was sharing a secret. “I’m looking for Lamenta. Do you know where she is?”

  Pete stepped between the two women, breaking their eye contact. “Who are you and why are you looking for Lamenta? What business do you have with her?”

  Blue scooted a few feet to the side. She still suspected fireworks and didn’t want to miss them.

  The tall, beautiful woman, quite possibly six foot without those boots she was wearing, pointed her finger towards Pete. “My business is private and none of yours. Stop playing like a cop and just tell me where I can find her.”

  Blue was sure the woman’s finger didn’t touch Pete. But Pete’s finger did indeed poke the woman in the middle of her breastbone and when she saw that it bowed under pressure, Blue grinned… fireworks were imminent. Obviously, the woman took exception because in less than five seconds she deflected his finger, grasped his wrist, and then twisted in some way Blue had never seen before. Blue was only sure that Pete was flat on his back and the woman still looked as neat as a pin.

  Blue jumped to her feet, clapping her hands and whistling as she ran towards them. “Wow! That was amazing! You have to show me how you did that! Did you see how she did that, Uncle Pete?”

  Remembering it all now, she recalled how truly unimpressed and totally unappreciative he had been. But that was how they came to meet Cheyenna Silverthorne. The reunion she’d hoped for had been tempered by the sorrow of hearing the aunt she’d come to see had so recently passed away. After Fauster disappeared, Chey joined in the search.

  Three years later and the signs of unrest all over the world kept increasing. It was as if a new power had been rising, and with Fauster missing, the full blossoming of its potency had been attained. But how was this menacing power working its spell to alter days into nights? She’d listened to Jordan’s explanations about how such an event went against the laws of science. Yet, it looked to her as if whoever or whatever was somehow making it happen. Even though she was working hard to remain impartial and not jump to conclusions, it freaked her out to think this vampire was defying the laws of nature.

  Jordan’s clearing of his throat got her attention once more, and she realized that he’d not finished speaking yet.

  “There have been rumors, Blue, of strange happenings in Eastern Europe, but they’ve been unable to contact Simon.”

  Blue nodded her head, hugging her arms around herself. She remembered Simon very well. The “old” vampire was another offspring of Fauster’s, like her father, who had always walked right along the edge of acceptable and unacceptable vampire behavior. Every few years he would appear in their lives, checking in on Fauster, or at least that is what their mother AnnaBelle had always told her. AnnaBelle had never believed Simon’s sundry reasons he could pull out as an explanation to visit. Many times, her mother had intimated that Simon had some untold, secretive reason for his visits to the States, and not for one minute had she ever believed it was just to see Fauster, or later on, the rest of growing family.

  She’d first met Simon when she was three years old. With each subsequent visit, she’d have a very special, usually expensive or unusual, gift to remember the visit. When she was sixteen, he’d still looked exactly the same as he had when she was six.

  The last time she had seen him was when she’d turned twenty-one and been in Europe on a vacation, compliments of her grandparents, with the reluctant approval of her parents. While visiting and traveling, there had been an old-fashioned gala with waltzing and fancy dress in Vienna. Blue had dressed in an empire-style gown, and her hair was curled to resemble that of the Empress Josephine, complete with blue ribbons to match her soft dress. Blue remembered that she had been dancing a waltz with a fashionable young man, whose blond good looks resembled her father’s.

  At the end of the dance, a hand tapped her partner’s shoulder. As the polite young man turned, her hand was taken and she was pulled instantly into the arms of the interloper. Looking up, unusual for her since she was five foot ten barefoot, she looked into his coal-black eyes. They should have been cold, but Blue saw fires burning deep inside. “Hello, Blue. It’s been a very long time since I last saw you. Is it possible that you have finally grown up?”

  Blue stumbled and felt her breath catch in her throat. This couldn’t be Simon Ruthven! He appeared even younger than when she had last seen him.

  As if he read her mind, he spoke softly, holding her firmly to his strong body. “Yes, my sweet Blue Belle. It is Simon. I heard you were coming to Europe.�
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  Blue told herself to snap out of this fog. She knew this man. There was nothing to fear. He wouldn’t harm her, she was sure of it. She spoke and then stopped as she realized how stupid she sounded. “Simon. Yes, uhm, Simon.”

  Simon smiled and his white teeth gleamed brilliantly, yet no sign of the long eyeteeth one expected with a vampire who had made no effort to curb his sanguineous lust. What had happened to change him? Was he different, or was she finally seeing him as an adult? She wasn’t sure that she wanted to see Simon as an adult, an equal… as a man to her woman. Stop being stupid, she told herself over and over in her head. Her conscience told her that the only true and safe way to view Simon was as a vampire to her hunter.

  Simon continued to dance.

  Blue found it difficult to breathe as Simon often held her close enough to intimately press his masculine body to hers.

  “How are your parents, Blue? Is Iain still the perfect professor?” he asked a few seconds later.

  “I guess so. My folks are fine.” She couldn’t deny his voice sounded sexy and made her feel sensual.

  “And Jordan? How is he coping since the injury?”

  “As well as anyone who suddenly had their life turned upside down,” Blue answered sharply, pain for her brother rushing through her, controlling her words.

  Simon pulled her closer for a few long, quiet moments. “I understand, Blue. If there is ever anything I can do to help—”

  Blue sniffled, blinking quickly to clear away her tears. Hearing the concern and tenderness in his voice seemed alien and strange. Even though members of her family were vampires, they were no longer practicing sanguineous ones. She should be on edge, since this was Simon. Yet, it warmed her and made her feel safe. Feeling secure and protected with a vampire? That indeed was an oxymoron.