Enigma, Maine, Bundle 1 Read online

  Julie bit her bottom lip and thought about how much she should reveal. She decided to go with the facts dressed up as a joke. Really who would believe the truth anyway?

  “Well,” she caressed the lapel of his black cape. She figured a distraction was needed. “My friends Selena, Brittany, and I are actually witches.”

  Even though she was wearing black boots with three-inch heels, she still wasn’t eye-to-eye with Alessandro. She moved even closer and leaned in to whisper in his ear. “We cast a mated souls spell and the next thing I know the invitation appears in the hallway of my apartment.” She took a step back and gave a nonchalant shrug.

  “I guess someone slipped it under my door, but now that I’m here and I’ve had a chance to look around, I don’t recognize any of your other guests. Maybe it was magic after all.” She waited for his laughter, but instead, she got a grim look of resignation.

  ****

  Alessandro listened to what Julie had to say. He’d seen enough and knew enough about the unexpected in this world to know she was telling the truth about the spell and her friends. He looked around and found the other two witches immediately.

  The blonde was with a cat shifter he’d meet a few times before. The redhead was being spirited away by a pirate. He knew the pirate well. He’d crossed paths with the time traveler from the future many times over the centuries. Thanks to three lively and very sexy witches this might be one night no one forgot, no matter how many years they lived!

  Still, he needed to be careful. Vampire hunters were as real as vampires. However, they rarely were in cahoots with other mythical beings, especially witches. He tried once again to read her mind, but it remained closed to him.

  ****

  Julie tensed. She’d expected a laugh maybe even a joke at her expense, but instead, her host was looking like he believed every word and that only made her more nervous. “Well,” she flicked her tongue out and wet her suddenly dry lips. “It was very nice of you to take the time to introduce yourself, but I should probably find my friends and check in.”

  She turned to walk away but didn’t get far. She gasped when strong fingers closed around her elbow and kept her in place. She felt herself being swung around and captured by a steel embrace. She let out a startled yelp that was quickly swallowed by hard and demanding lips. She moved her arms to push him away, but a fire started deep in her belly.

  Instead of shoving him she wrapped her arms around his neck and curled closer to his body. A strange peace and comfort settled over her. It was as if she’d finally come home. The kiss deepened, and she answered the thrust of his demanding tongue with thrusts of her own.

  She’d been attracted to several men in her thirty years, but this was red hot and unlike anything she’d ever felt. It didn’t start as a slow burn that seeped through her body. No, this started as a sharp sting that quickly spread and now raged out of control. Inferno! That’s the word she would use to describe what was happening to her right now. Then she lost all train of thought as she gave herself over to the feelings and sensations of her body.

  ****

  Alessandro felt the woman in his arms relax at the same moment she opened her mouth fully to his onslaught of passion. He could feel the bloodlust raging in his veins. He’d never wanted anyone as much as he wanted the black-headed temptress in his arms. And he wanted it all: body, blood, and soul!

  He had a reputation as a lavish host, but he was feeling far from generous now. He’d seen the attention Julie was getting from a wolf shifter in the back of the room and another much younger vampire across the hall. He didn’t like it, and he had no intention of sharing. He scooped Julie into his arms and rushed up the stairs, down the corridor, and through the secret passage that led to the hidden master bedroom.

  That he even considered taking a stranger into his hidden chamber was unbelievable. The fact that she was someone whose mind he couldn’t wipe clean or plant false memories into was a testament as to how far gone his self-control was. Safety was the last thing he was concerned about with bloodlust consuming both his body and mind. The need to possess and to bind this woman to him was so overwhelming it took priority over everything else.

  ****

  Julie sensed movement, but her brain was clouded by a passion induced fog. She didn’t realize they’d left the party far behind until she felt the welcoming embrace of a cool, soft mattress beneath her overheated body. That should have shocked her back to her senses, but she was too far gone. Her body and mind craved this man more than they wanted oxygen to live.

  She felt him tugging at the buttons on the back of her dress. For the first time that night she regretted the elaborate costume. The harsh rendering of tearing cloth met her ears, and she looked down to see he’d ripped the dress from neck to waist. She should have been shocked. She should have been scared. She was neither of those things. She was turned on by the out of control need that was driving him, and it was riding her hard too. She lifted her hips to help him remove the rest of the dress, and then she removed her boots while he began to undress.

  ****

  Alessandro frantically removed his cape and then struggled out of the rest of his clothes. When he was completely naked, he joined Julie on the bed. Finally, the feel of skin on skin. It heightened his already superior senses.

  He’d never been so consumed with anyone before. The only thing that mattered was Julie and staking a claim on her. One that the rest of the world would recognize as his! He could smell her arousal and knew she was ready for him. There would be time for slow and easy later, much later. He wasn’t wasting any time in binding her to him.

  The bloodlust that raged through his body ensured that this would be a hard and fast loving. The burning intensity would leave them both breathless. His last conscious thought was that he hoped they were ready for what was to come because there would be no turning back for either of them!

  Julie drew in a sharp breath when his cool skin covered her flushed body. He nudged the entrance of her moist canal with his engorged sex. He stilled, and their gazes collided. He knew his eyes glowed when he was aroused. She should have been alarmed, but Julie didn’t seem to care. He lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her one more time. When he finally broke the kiss and pulled away, she tried to follow him.

  Alessandro used his hands to hold his weight off of Julie. “From this moment on, you’re mine.” He lowered his body and thrust forward, entering the tight-fitting sheath that welcomed him. At the same time, his fangs lengthened, and he lowered his mouth to her arched neck. What might seem like a casual love bite turned into so much more when those fangs punctured her skin, and he drank deeply of her sweet tasting blood.

  Her blood rushed forward into his body to mix with his own. The muscles of her inner channel tightened around him like a glove. His body cried out for fulfillment. He carefully pulled his fangs from her neck and used a sharp nail to nick the corner of his lip. When he tasted his own blood, he bent to Julie and claimed her lips.

  Julie returned the kiss with the same simmering passion found inside him. She moaned her pleasure and wrapped her legs around his back. He slid deeper inside her body and let out his own moan of ecstasy. He pumped his hips faster, moving in and out of her with an ever-increasing rhythm.

  She arched her back and hips, meeting him thrust for thrust. She tightened around him. He sensed she was close to fulfillment.

  He dragged his lips from the wet welcoming kiss. He knew how to send her over the edge into an abyss where she’d never been before. He found the same two puncture marks. He scraped his fangs over the sensitive pleasure points of her neck and bit once more. His mouth filled with the sweet nectar of her life while she shattered around him.

  Her body clenched and seized around his erection. He took a deep swallow of blood and grabbed her hips, pulling her hard into his final thrust. His body strained as the rush of pleasure built inside. He gritted his teeth and came with a shuddering cry of her name.

  He carefully withd
rew his body from hers and gathered her close in his arms. He placed a light kiss on the top of her head. “It’s done now. Vampire and witch, we are mated for life.”

  THREE

  Julie sat up and pulled the sheet across her breasts and held it in place with her arms. “I’m a witch, and you’re a vampire,” she didn’t have any doubts after he’d used his fangs to draw blood during a few love bites to her neck. “What else is out there and how come my friends and I had no idea about the existence of other paranormal beings?”

  Alessandro chuckled at her questions. “Inquisitive and bright. At least I’ll never be bored! Fate was kind when it sent you to me!”

  He ran a hand through his hair. “I’ve been alive for more than four hundred years, at thirty you’re was just a baby with a lot to learn about the paranormal world.”

  “Four hundred years!” She frowned. “Wait a minute! What about the paranormal world?”

  “I’ll gladly be your guide. It’s a long story. We should get comfortable.” He sat up and leaned back against the headboard. Then he motioned for Julie to sit in his lap.

  Julie nestled her body against Alessandro’s and leaned into his solid muscle. She let out a contented sigh when he wrapped his arms around her waist and settled a chaste kiss on the side of her neck.

  “Enigma is aptly named, and the town has always been a haven for the paranormal, supernatural, and mythical. Some pass through on their way to other places and some like me have decided to settle here and make it home.”

  Julie frowned. “This is all so strange to me. I’ve lived here my entire life, and I never knew about vampires. How is that possible?”

  “Just as you keep your witch ancestry and the natural born ability to use magic quiet, so do most other paranormal beings. It’s a survival strategy born over the centuries by the mass persecution of those who are perceived as different and feared for those differences.”

  “The Salem witch trials,” Julie whispered so low that a normal human would have never heard.

  Alessandro tightened his embrace. “Yes, just like the Salem witch trials,” he agreed. “A vampire’s preternatural senses are strong enough to detect the differences in everyone it meets. That’s how I knew you were a witch. The same can be said for shifters as well.”

  Julie whipped around, her long black hair hitting him in the face as she did so. “Shifters?” she managed to croak. “What kind of shifters?”

  “There are several animal shifters in Enigma including wolves, cats, and raptors.” He paused to give her mind a chance to catch up. “The cat shifters are very important. They are the guardians and protectors of the mystical universe and paranormal beings. You might even say they were the founding fathers of Enigma.”

  Julie gave him a thoughtful look. He knew she was trying hard to digest the shocking information. “I think I saw one of those tonight. A man with cat ears and tail dragged Selena onto the dance floor.”

  “I saw them together when I was surveying the room. I don’t know him well, but we’ve met a few times. She couldn’t be in safer hands. A cat shifter will protect a witch with his life if necessary. They’re how the tale of a witch’s familiar got its start in medieval times.”

  “What else! I know there’s more and I want to learn as much as I can.”

  “There are mermen who originally came from the ocean surrounding Enigma. Now they spend most of their time in human form and away from the ocean. They all have extravagant backyard pools, however.” He chuckled, “you wouldn’t want to sneak up on one of them. You might get a face full of water courtesy of a slapping tail. Greek Gods of myth have also been known to visit Enigma on occasion. Several were at the party last night.”

  “I think I saw one last night, a female with shield and sword.” Julie described a warrior woman dressed in a Grecian gown.

  “Ah, yes that would be Athena the Greek goddess of warfare and strategy. I understand Santa engaged her help with a child’s Christmas wish this year.”

  Julie’s mouth dropped open. “I really shouldn’t be surprised by anything now that I know vampires and other mythical creatures exist, but Santa Claus, wow! “I saw him too when they were talking,” her voice trailed off. “I had no idea,” she couldn’t hide her astonishment.

  She turned around and straddled Alessandro’s lap with her legs so that she was facing him. “Tell me about vampires. Where did you come from, and are you born or created?”

  Alessandro’s lips twitched into a smile. He loved that Julie was so curious especially about him and vampires in general. He knew the story well, though he’d never related it to anyone before. He knew only after a few hours that Julie was the one. The mated souls spell had done its job well because his heart was now irrevocably bound to Julie’s. She needed to know the legend so that she knew what she was facing hopefully for several centuries to come.

  He saw Julie watching him before his eyes glazed over completely. He was silent for several minutes as he gathered his thoughts and words. She snuggled closer and laid her head on his shoulder. He began to speak.

  ****

  Julie looked at him and focused. She felt a longing and indescribable need for Alessandro that could only be explained by the mated souls spell. She hadn’t believed in love at first sight until tonight. She hadn’t believed in a lot of things until tonight! The very foundation of her beliefs was being challenged.

  “Way back in time almost at the beginning of civilization in Mesopotamia, there was a wealthy old man who had gone through three wives and had still been denied a much-wanted son. The man knew he was nearing the end of his time and he desperately wanted an heir. So against his latest wife’s wishes, he bargained with one of the lesser gods. This god was generally thought of as evil, but the old man was desperate. The god who sometimes took the form of a combination of canine and bird of prey was hungry for power and wanted to rise among the gods.”

  Julie shivered. Alessandro stroked her hair. The gesture comforted her. “Go on,” she encouraged. “What kind of deal did they make and what happened?”

  “The god wanted at least ten blood sacrifices made in his honor. One for each month of pregnancy and then one after the child was born. The old man agreed. He made his first sacrifice the next day and another one exactly one month later. His wife began to show signs of pregnancy and the old man continued with the sacrifices.”

  “But something went wrong,” Julie guessed.

  “The old man died with two months of pregnancy and three promised sacrifices left. The wife who had never wanted her husband to bargain with the evil god refused to continue the sacrifices.”

  Julie sucked in a breath as a dark cloud of foreboding swept through her.

  “Two months later she gave birth to three small and sickly male children. The god who often took the shape of a winged canine visited her bedside and told her that she had given birth to three males that would always remind her of her folly in refusing to complete his blood sacrifices. Since he was denied his blood sacrifices, she gave birth to one child that would need to take the blood of others to survive, or he’d die a slow and painful death as disease ravaged his body. The other two males were made in the evil god’s likeness. One had the ability to shift into a wolf at will, while the other could take the shape of the fiercest bird in that region, a falcon.” He paused, giving Julie time to process the meaning of his words.

  Julie’s startled gasp filled the air of the bedchamber. She looked up at Alessandro in time to catch the twisted grimace that crossed his face. She caressed his cheek with a soft and loving hand, silently encouraging him to continue.

  “The midwife already noticed the strange looking fur and feathers of the second and third born children. Fearing that a dark evil was at work and that the children would be a curse to every human in the vicinity she left them outside to the elements.” He shrugged. “Obviously they survived because wolf and raptor shifters still walk among us today.”

  “Meanwhile the first baby grew two fan
gs before it was a week old and the mother now a widow and fearful for the life of her only child allowed the baby to nurse blood from her instead of milk. She prayed for his wellbeing and asked for mercy from the greater gods. The baby grew stronger every day as it continued to be feed blood.” Alessandro offered Julie a small smile. “The intake of fresh blood fought disease and sickness, and the baby grew into a healthy child, teen and then young adult. Somewhere around the age of thirty, however, he stopped aging.”

  “The legend goes that the intake of fresh blood thanks to a blessing by the greater gods continually healed his body from damage, including aging. As long as he continued to drink fresh blood without catastrophic injury and severe loss of blood he could live forever. He eventually found a wife. He shared his blood and its healing powers with her, and she was able to live as long as he did.”

  Julie nodded her head, encouraging him to continue.

  “They lived for many centuries and had over twenty children. All but a couple of those children were males. The gods were not able to lift the curse of the evil god. All male descendants from the original vampire are born with fangs and the need to feed on human blood to survive. Those children went forth all over the Earth, found mates, and the vampire population began to grow. We did most of our hunting at night so that we could hide and keep our true nature a secret. Eventually, over the centuries, we developed an allergy to sunlight. Severe burns including those from the sun do too much damage too quickly for our blood to heal the body.”

  He looked Julie straight in the eyes. “The only way a vampire can die is a catastrophic injury causing them to bleed out or a severe burn over a large area of their body.”

  “Wow,” Julie breathed in deep and then slowly let it out. “So, you are a descendant of the original vampire?” Her voice lowered to a whisper, “and vampires and animal shifters are related?”

  Alessandro nodded his agreement. “The oldest of the sons traveled the world and eventually settled in what is now Italy. I was born there during the early 17th century and the Renaissance period. Vampires can only be born, not made. Our chosen mates share our blood and its superior healing and anti-aging powers, but they don’t actually turn into vampires.”