Blood Pact (New Breed Book 4) Read online

  by

  Melody Raven

  Copyright

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Fonts used with permission from Microsoft.

  Copyright © 2019 by Melody Raven

  Melody Raven (8/123/2019). Blood Pact (New Breed Series)

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Want more free from Melody?

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Look inside Blood Magic (Dangerous Magic: Book One)

  “I von to suck your blood,” said Ian with a smile on his face as he slammed the door to his Crown Vic shut.

  Aidan didn’t smile back. This wasn’t a fun job for him. This wasn’t a night out on the town. This was a pain in his ass. “I thought we were supposed to be undercover.” He straightened his suit jacket. There was no official uniform for fighting Vopura, so he stuck with what he was used to. He didn’t want to come off as a cop, which should be easy because he wasn’t. So he went with an all-black ensemble of slacks, sports coat, and button-up shirt.

  “You’re supposed to be undercover.” Ian abruptly got serious. “If I go in there, I’ll be recognized in seconds. We need... what’s a nice way to put this? New blood.”

  “Happy to help,” said Aidan dryly. He was happy to suck up to the family by being here and lending his expertise to Special Unit 4. Anything to get off family probation. If he did enough to help the humans, maybe he’d get his—

  “Here’s the deal. There’s been reports of six different victims at this club over the past three months. Probably more that haven’t been reported.”

  “Reported? You mean the victims have survived?”

  “So far. None of the guys have any idea what happened. It sounds like whoever fed off them came from behind, got a hit of blood, and then left them dazed and confused as hell in the parking lot.”

  “So we’ve got a nice Vopura? And I thought they only fed off women.”

  “Hey, I’m sure there are plenty of Vopura who like to tangle pogo sticks. But I don’t discriminate. Straight, gay, bi, trans—if there’s a loose Vopura attacking humans running around, I’ll kill ’em. I’m forward-thinking like that.”

  Aidan snorted as he felt in his jacket for his weapons. He didn’t bother to bring a gun, because those wouldn’t do more than piss off a Vopura. Instead, he had an assortment of silver weapons that would give him a fighting chance. “Are you sure it’s a Vopura and not just a vampire who’s bucking normal safeguards?”

  “Why wouldn’t a vampire use mind control to wipe memories after an attack? Why sneak around? Why sneak attack? No. This has Vopura all over it.”

  “They’re not killing the humans. So it’s a Vopura with a conscience.”

  “Maybe they’re not killing, but they’re not exactly asking permission to do the blood sucking. And where I come from, consent matters.”

  “All right. Since you’re in charge here, what’s the game plan?”

  “I want you to go in and order some drinks. Make it look like you’re drinking more than you are. Make yourself look vulnerable and... tasty. Maybe eat something salty?”

  Aidan groaned. “You’re fucking with me.”

  “I don’t know what makes blood taste good! The point is, make yourself look like a surf and turf among a room full of value-menu burgers.”

  “I thought I was supposed to help you. Now I’m just bait?”

  “If you weren’t so pretty, I wouldn’t ask you to be bait.” Ian batted his eyelashes sarcastically.

  For fuck’s sake. His grandmother was really testing him with this one. But he knew the family had just as much anger toward the Vopura as the humans. She wasn’t only sending him here to humiliate him. But he was sure the humiliation didn’t hurt.

  “Let’s get this over with.” Unfortunately, he knew the situation wasn’t going to get any better once he went into the club. Because he’d done his research, he already knew this wasn’t just a place for twenty-somethings to get sloshed and find someone with low enough standards to sleep with. This was a club for wannabe vampires.

  The second he walked in, he had to hold back a groan. Everything was so overdone. The red lights. The gothic black leather furniture. The odd Victorian outfits of so many of the patrons. The only saving grace was the women. Not that they were all lookers, but they sure as hell knew how to make themselves look appealing. Mostly by wearing as little clothing as possible.

  Aidan made sure not to stare too long at any of the breasts pushed up by corsets and contraptions designed to show as much cleavage as possible that passed by him. He didn’t know whether he’d ever be able to stoop to the point of pretending to be a bloodsucker to get laid, but it had been a long time. Maybe if any of these impressionable women decided to make false assumptions about him, he wouldn’t bother to correct them.

  He made it to the bar and ordered a straight whiskey. He knew Ian wanted him to take it easy on the drinking, but a quick one to take the edge off wouldn’t hurt.

  Pounding rock music with dramatic organs and violins in the background made his head ache, and he had to work hard to not burst out laughing at all the pomp and circumstance of all these adults playing make-believe.

  Though now that he looked around, some of these people looked barely legal. He was starting to think that whoever was in charge of checking IDs didn’t take their job all too seriously.

  He took a quick swig of his drink and glanced around the room, trying to assess each of the patrons for a threat level. Would a hungry Vopura be trying to blend in, or would they stand out? He knew he was looking for a man. There were no female Vopura, as far as he knew. The sources Special Unit 4 had on the inside said there was only one female who had come through the barrier, and she was a juvenile who was being closely monitored by the unit.

  So as much as he’d rather spend his time looking at the women, he looked at the guys instead. Some pathetic, some looking like hunters of a much more dangerous sort. But none stood out to him as a bloodsucker. But he supposed if it was easy, Ian wouldn’t need any help.

  He had just ordered a second drink when he saw motion out of his peripheral vision. He turned to look as a woman slid up to the bar next to him and ordered a water.

  But she wasn’t like the other women around them. There was something... off about her. She was too pretty to be here. And though she wore black, she wasn’t full Goth like so many of the women in the bar.

  Not that she needed to be. She was ta
ll and slim. Her long black hair fell in waves down her back, and her short skirt and tight black V-neck sweater managed to keep all the important bits covered while showing off every curve.

  “Who comes to a bar to drink water?” He took a sip of his whiskey. He knew he should look away, but he couldn’t manage it. It was as though he were under some sort of spell, but he couldn’t sense any magic around him.

  She didn’t even look at him as the bartender set down the glass. “I can drink whatever I want,” she said before turning and walking away.

  Well hell. He’d been well and thoroughly rebuffed. It was her right, but he wished she’d at least looked at him. He might not be a cover model, but he wasn’t chopped liver either.

  Not that he had time for flirting. He was supposed to be working. He kept on scanning the room for any sign of trouble, and with the exception of some positively pornographic acts happening in some dark corners, nothing caught his attention.

  Then he thought about what Ian said. The guys weren’t attacked in the open. They were in the parking lot or the alley next door.

  So what good would it do hanging around here? He finished his drink, the second one, and stood, tossing down some cash on the bar as he made his way out. He looked around for the sexy mystery woman, but she was gone. Well, there went the most interesting part of this night so far. He noticed Ian hanging around in the back of the room, trying and failing to be inconspicuous, and made eye contact for one quick second before heading out.

  Ian looked annoyed that Aidan was changing the plan so quick, but he couldn’t exactly yell across the club. He’d just have to follow him out.

  Once outside, Aidan took a deep breath of the cool night air. Downtown LA had remained pretty much unchanged after the Vopura invasion. So many people were still blissfully unaware of the true reasons for the Siege of Seattle, just the way the Vopura and Uncle Sam wanted it.

  He supposed he should be trying to make himself look appealing but didn’t know where to start. Should he show off his neck? Walk with a limp to make himself more vulnerable? He wasn’t used to being bait. He was used to being the hunter, not the hunted.

  He started to walk aimlessly around the parking lot as though he were waiting for someone to meet him when he heard it. Subtle but still there. Sounds of a fight from around the corner.

  Immediately, Aidan took off for the sounds. He should call out for Ian, but if there was a Vopura, they could be long gone before Ian ever got out. If he could at least get a description, that would help the search.

  Besides, he could take care of himself.

  But when he rounded the corner, he saw he’d severely underestimated the situation. Because there wasn’t a lone Vopura hunting. There were three of them. Two holding the mystery woman by the arms and a third closing in.

  Shit. “Hey!” he called, catching their attention and diverting them from the woman. “You got a problem?”

  The Vopura turned to him and he braced himself. Each of these things was super-strong and super-fast, and he was outnumbered.

  But he had a few tricks up his sleeve. Literally. He slid out one of his hidden blades and gripped it tightly.

  “You should leave,” warned one of the Vopura, his eyes completely black and fangs protruding.

  The woman was backed against the wall, her eyes wide with fear.

  “You should learn that when a lady says no, she means no.”

  One of the Vopura rolled his eyes as another one charged. He moved too fast for Aidan to track, so he fell back and held out the silver blade. It wasn’t a long knife, but it was enough to draw blood and shock the creature into falling back and gasping in pain. And Aidan took advantage of that, immediately charging on the Vopura and plunging the knife into his chest, twisting it around to make sure it was firmly embedded in the heart.

  His eyes widened before all life faded away and he fell limply to the ground.

  Aidan then turned to the other two. He was still outnumbered, but the odds were a hell of a lot better now. He smiled viciously, and the other two exchanged a look before bolting. One second they were there and the next, they were gone.

  Aidan looked over his shoulder, making sure they weren’t about to sneak attack and a few moments later finally figured they were safe. He let out a sigh of relief as he turned to the woman. “Are you okay?”

  Her breaths came fast and hard as she looked at him, as though he were about to turn the knife on her. “No. I’m not even a little bit okay.”

  She was about to die. If it wasn’t the Vopura from before, this vampire hunter was going to stab her in the heart, and she was never going to make it out of this alley alive. She’d made it through so much, and it was all going to be over in just a few stupid seconds.

  He turned to her and she leaned back more fully into the wall. She should run. She wanted to run, but none of her limbs seemed to work. All she could do was stare in shock at the dead Vopura on the ground. She didn’t know him personally, but it didn’t make it any easier to see him dead.

  Not that she mourned him. He would’ve done the same to her or even worse. But what terrified her was the ease with which the human had dispatched him.

  And now she was alone with the slayer.

  “Are you okay?” he repeated.

  Why did he keep asking her that? He was just going to— The panic finally subsided enough for her to realize that he wasn’t going to attack her. He thought she was human. A human he’d just saved from Vopura.

  “I’m fine,” Lina said quickly, not caring how obvious her lie was. “I have to go home.” She pushed away from the wall and stayed as far away from the dead Vopura and the slayer as possible as she snuck out of the alley and made it to the dark parking lot.

  “Wait,” said the slayer as he caught up to her.

  She could feel the trembling shaking through her as she tried to keep it together. “I need to be alone.” She quickened her step, putting distance between her and Puncture, the vampire club she’d been spending too much of her time at lately. And now she could never go back. She was going to have to find a new hunting ground. Someplace more low-key. Where she’d draw less attention.

  “I don’t want to scare you any more than you already are, but there are still two more of those things out there. I don’t think it’s safe for you to walk home alone.”

  “I just saw you kill a man in front of me. It’s hardly safer for me to be with you.”

  “But that wasn’t a man. It was— I don’t know how to explain it to you.”

  “I know what it was,” she snapped. Shoot. She was supposed to be pretending to be an innocent human. An innocent human wouldn’t know about Vopura. But considering the theme of the club, she didn’t need to pretend to be completely ignorant. “It was a vampire,” she added quickly. A vampire he’d killed with hardly any effort. He hadn’t even broken a sweat. “How did you do that?”

  “Do what?”

  “You killed him. Like it wasn’t anything. You weren’t scared at all.”

  “To be fair, there wasn’t time to be scared.”

  “There’s always time to be scared. You weren’t.”

  “What can I say? I’m just your knight in shining armor.” He winked.

  Lina abruptly stopped. “Don’t flirt with me. I’m not going to sleep with you out of gratitude for saving me.”

  “Whoa. You’re jumping from zero to a hundred really fast here.”

  She scoffed. She’d been around so many lecherous males in her life, and she wasn’t about to believe this violent stranger was any different. “I don’t need your help. I don’t need anything from you. I appreciate your help, and you can leave here with my sincere gratitude.” She turned to walk away and breathed out a sigh of relief when she didn’t hear footsteps following her.

  But that didn’t mean he was gone for good.

  “If you don’t want me to walk you home, I’m fine with that. But you know there are two more of those things out there. I didn’t see where they went
. Did you?”

  She froze as his words sunk in. She hadn’t known who the Vopura were, but they’d recognized her immediately. And they’d taken great glee in cornering her and letting her know what they were going to do to her once they brought her back “where she belonged.”

  Was she going to be able to take on two at a time? She hadn’t been able to take on three. Not even close. She was strong, but she was no fighter. She’d killed Jackson easy enough, but it hadn’t been a fair fight. He’d been distracted. Already tired. She’d taken his head off when he wasn’t paying attention. She didn’t regret her actions at all. It might not be an honorable kill, but it had been well deserved.

  But if those two Vopura followed her home, what chance would she have? She pivoted around to look at the stranger. “What’s your name?”

  He puffed out his chest a bit, obviously knowing he’d gotten through to her. “I’m Aidan.”

  He didn’t give her a last name. She was no expert in human communication by any means, but she knew the fact that he’d left out his last name was telling. “I’m Lina,” she offered, not giving him any extra information. She didn’t know whether she was safe with him, but she could guarantee he was better for her wellbeing than the Vopura who had gotten away.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Lina. I recognize that the circumstances aren’t ideal.”

  “I said no flirting,” she snapped.

  He blinked and smiled at her. “I wasn’t flirting. I think you’re just overly attracted to me and you mistake my normal speaking for flirting.”

  She narrowed her eyes and considered his words. He was arrogant, but he wasn’t completely wrong. But considering how easily she’d seen him kill a Vopura, he seemed to have enough to back up his bluster.

  And he wasn’t hard on the eyes, either. She’d met so few blond men who she’d been attracted to in any way since she’d gotten her freedom, but this Aidan seemed to be the exception to so many things.

  His light hair was shorn short, showing off his cheekbones and jawline. His black-on-black suit was fitted to his body, showing a slim frame with a considerable amount of muscle bulking him up. Not that he’d be able to be as strong as her, no matter how much muscle he put on at the gym. There were just certain limitations to his humanity he wouldn’t be able to overcome. Nonetheless, he’d managed to take out a Vopura on his own. Something she wasn’t even sure she’d be able to do.