“How’s our girl doing?”
I looked out on the deck, where Aura was pushing herself back and forth on the newly installed porch swing with one bare foot as she worked on her laptop.
“She’s good. The nightmares have stopped, and she’s been writing twelve hours a day. I have to make her stop to eat and take a shower.”
James laughed, “I know she’s not showering alone.”
An unwilling smile tugged at the corner of my mouth. “None of your business, loser.” Moving away from the open door, I ask, “What about ‘the thing’ you had going on?”
I could hear the rustling of paper and a desk drawer slam shut.
“It’s going well,” James said, but his voice turned darker, I could hear a hint of his accent creeping into his words. “In fact, I’m heading home now to give her a choice.”
I looked out again at my Aura. She was humming tunelessly, so pretty in a white dress I bought for her and the moonlight moved over her bare shoulders like a caress.
“Oh, yeah? What kind of choice?”
James laughed. “Feed, or fuck?”
Blood Brothers - Book Two
James & Meghan
Prologue
Steve…
They say the bonds made by blood spilled in war are as strong, or even stronger than bonds of family. They were for James and me.
I met him during the Battle of Amiens in the First World War. Neither of us wore a uniform from any battalion there, we were … freelance. We could tear through the German trenches and slaughter dozens of men in moments. While the poison gas they launched at the Allied troops held them back, it didn’t bother us.
James was laughing, singing some filthy French song as he ripped a German soldier’s head from his body and disabled the gas canisters. I was tearing into the neck of a captain as he was trying to call for reinforcements. When the only things left of the German front line in that skirmish were blood and bones, we shook hands over a pile of dead soldiers.
“If this introduction happened anywhere else,” he said, grinning wildly, “I would invite you out for a drink. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I can take another sip.”
“Agreed,” I said, “but the Allies are advancing and it seems like a good time to be elsewhere. Care to join me?”
It was the first time we’d fought together, but it definitely wasn’t the last. We were known as the Blood Brothers by the humans; a title we enjoyed as vampires for the added inside joke.
James had a hole in his memory. A blank space where his Turning and what came just before and after was gone. He searched everywhere for answers; when no one could give him back what he’d lost, he turned darker. Angry.
There were decades when we didn’t see each other, but the promise between us was unbreakable:
I will always be there if you need me.
Chapter 9: The Game
In which Vampire James Barnes presents his captive, his precious doll, with the same choice, over and over.
James…
I had not selected the location of my office lightly.
It was in a glittering high-rise in Seattle, overlooking the Puget Sound with a sleek decor of grey, black, and silver tones to accentuate my power as a literary agent. The walls were lined with framed posters of some of the best-selling books I’d shepherded into success. Several of the images were book covers from my star client, Aura Ellory.
I was staring at her new release as she logged on to our Zoom call.All Dark, No Stars. I was pleased with the artwork on the cover, dark and menacing. Her image on the back needed some work. “How are you feeling, Aura? I still think I should have stayed.”
My pretty client rolled her eyes. “Please. And get one of your $2,000 suits dirty? You took great care of me and I truly appreciate you getting everything straightened out.” She absently pushed her chestnut-colored curls out of her face. “So, where did the police find his body again?”
