A Forbidden Taking (4 page)

Megan watched for several more
minutes and when the man looked directly toward her Megan knew he could see
her. Stepping back into the shadows Megan decided that morning would be here
soon enough and started to turn away.

“You can go for now, little
vampire, but you can’t hide from me. I’ve tasted your blood and you now belong
to me. Come to my home and I’ll set you up so that you will not have to live on
the streets. There are things we should discuss before you are found by someone
who won’t be as lenient as I.”

The man’s whispered comment had
her shiver and she nearly went to him. But she stopped. There was
something…something not quite right about her need to do as he’d said. Deciding
that she needed to find out more about this MacManus person and his comments
she made her way to the library.

Megan had gone there a lot when
she’d first found herself alone and not knowing a damned thing about what she
was. Her thirst for blood had nearly made her sick with need those first few days.
She had killed a man when she’d finally given in and did what had come natural
to her. She’d puked for nearly an hour afterwards and then had to find another
victim.

She was a vampire. Alfred had told
her that for sure, the only thing he’d told her. Then he’d left her hurting and
sore from his bite. When she’d found that he was dead, his ashes all she could
find of him, she went to the library to see what she could find.

There was nothing to it really.
Most of the stuff that she’d read before about the monster she’d become was in
smut books. She’d seen the television shows and hype surrounding it, but it was
nothing compared to the real thing. It was neither romantic nor was it cool.

She was scared most of the time
and hungry the rest. Her body ached more in those first few weeks than any
other time in her life. She had no clue what had happened to her body or what
she could expect from it. The few things she’d been able to figure out had been
by error. The hearing stuff nearly made her scream, and the smell, being able
to smell everything, had her sick to her stomach from the odors that she had
enjoyed so much before.

Then there were her fangs. The
first time they had dropped she had nearly passed out from the pain. It didn’t
hurt anymore when they did it, but she had yet to figure out how to control
them all the time. The only time she could make them come out to play was when
she thought about biting someone.

Nearly to the library she could
feel someone in her head again. He was searching, for what she didn’t know, nor
did she care, but he was there. Ignoring him for the moment, she went to the
back of the big building and opened the window she’d unlocked, herself, last
fall. She’d been desperate to find a place to sleep when her car had been towed
before.

Going to the section on myths and legends,
she found what she wanted quickly and took the book back to the big table. She
didn’t need a light, her sight was that good, but she did like comfort. Pulling
one of the big, overstuffed chairs over she sat down and opened the book up.

There were pictures throughout the
book. Most of them were drawings, but there were a few photographs. Even to
Megan’s untrained eye, she could tell that they were fakes. The teeth were too
long in most cases and then there were the capes. She thought that bit of
fashion would give it away quicker than anything. It was an hour later when she
realized that she wasn’t going to get any help there. At a little after
midnight she left the library the way she’d come in.

She needed to find a place to die.
That’s what she’d come to think of the deep sleep that she would fall into when
the sun rose. It wasn’t anything she had any control over and there wasn’t a
lot she could do once she was there. She’d only been woken from it once and that
was when she’d felt Alfred die. And then today, when the wolves had threatened
her in the trunk.

Megan came upon the bar just
before closing. It was called Blood Moon. She’d been there before, not inside,
but like she was now. Hanging around just on the outskirts of the building, but
close enough that she could smell everyone there. Depressed, she went to the
caves she’d found herself in that first week.

~~~

“You say that she’s a beauty? Why
did you let her go if you’re sure that she is going to hurt someone?” Beau wondered
the same thing that Kyle had asked his master.

He remembered his first weeks, the
constant hunger, and the terror of not knowing. He’d been lucky in that Kyle
had found him. He couldn’t imagine a young vampire in this world, this time in
the new world, trying to make her way.

“I’m not sure. But I had the
feeling that pushing her at that moment would have been the wrong course of
action. Her terror was so strong that I could barely get a touch on her mind.”

“Yeah, and she kicked his ass
twice. I doubt he had it in him to have a go at her a third time,” Sara told
them with a hardy laugh.

Aaron shrugged. “I let her beat
me. How else was I supposed to get a drop of her blood? I will say this for
her, she doesn’t fight like a new vamp. And her strength is off the charts.”

Beau laughed. He couldn’t wait to
meet this paragon of wonders and smack her silly. They had done nothing but
praise this…this female for many hours. She should be with a mate, not running
about kidnapping small wolves. Beau shifted in his seat and looked over at the
very pregnant female with Aaron.

He had the right of it, Aaron did.
Carrying on the next generation of vampires was what a female was for. He
looked at Sara’s face and shifted again. Somehow he thought she knew where his mind
had gone. He felt his skin heat from it. He knew that his way of thinking was
old fashioned, but no mate of his—if he ever decided to take one under him—would
be wandering about without protection. When Sara reached over and patted his
hand he knew that she had been listening to his thoughts.

Kyle had told him that the
MacManuses were a strong and powerful couple. Their children were as well. Beau
could feel it, their magic. He didn’t doubt that Aaron’s considerable age and
his vampirism had a great deal to do with it. But Sara had her own bit of magic
too, he supposed. He’d yet to witness anything that set them apart from others
and held most of his judgment until that time.

“Why do you not believe that I’m
what you’ve been told, Beau? You can’t be that ancient that you think women
should be in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant. What are you, about a century
and a half?”

He looked over at Sara as she
spoke. “I’m two centuries, but that has nothing to do with my thinking. I am a
man who…how do you say…
protégé ce qui est le sien.”

“Protects what is
his? So, you’ll own your mate? Not let her out of your sight?” He nodded. “Good
luck with that one, big boy. Women today are going to tear you apart for that. We
speak our minds and go about our own way.”

“I’m beginning to
see that. What does your master think about you ‘speaking your mind,’ Miss
Sara? Does he not put you over his knee? I would. A woman,
my
woman,
would know her place or feel the palm of my hand over her bottom.”

Sara’s laugher
both embarrassed him and intrigued him. He couldn’t say why the latter did, but
the first was because everyone at the table had turned to look at them. He
shifted again. He didn’t wear uncomfortable well.

“I hope I’m around
you when you try that,
Beau, I really do
. And I hope for
her sake that she doesn’t let you. At least as a form of punishment.”

Beau wasn’t going
to comment on that bit for any amount of curiosity. Sara was too outspoken for
his taste and he mentally added that to his list of attributes his mate would
have and not have. She would be as quiet as a mouse unless he gave her
permission to speak.

He mentally went
over his list. Knowing that his mate would be a beauty would be a given. All
women were to him and he doubted that the one he’d spend eternity with would be
any less so. He wanted someone quiet. He enjoyed his time in solitude and would
require his mate to allow him that time every day. She would be a good mother, raising
their children to be what he’d been raised to be. He frowned.

He’d had a strict
childhood. He’d seen the servants’ children run about outdoors while he and his
sister had been made to study and to sit quietly while his parents entertained.
His parents believed that children should be seen but never heard. His mate
would do no less for their own.

She would also be
brilliant. He would want someone he could hold an intelligent conversation
with. Beau didn’t figure to involve her in the day to day business of his life,
but he did want her to be able to add something to the conversation if asked.

Beau looked over
at Sara and Aaron. He didn’t understand them, or the master. How he could let
her be so…opinionated was beyond him. But he was only going to be here for a
few more weeks before he had to move on. His businesses kept him moving and he
didn’t enjoy sitting idle for long anyway.

~Chapter 5~

Megan needed to
get herself somewhere to stay. She had been staying in the caves for three days
now and she hated it. She either wanted to get her car back, which she didn’t
want to risk going for, or an apartment. She was a creature of habit no matter
what sort of monster she’d been made into, and she wanted a shower. But to do
that she needed more money.

She knew that an
apartment would be a major undertaking. It needed to be in the basement
somewhere and it needed to have minimal windows. A kitchen would be a waste,
but she knew that asking for an apartment without one would raise a few
eyebrows. She had tried to eat something that first month and had made herself
majorly sick for her effort. She wouldn’t be doing that anytime soon.

It was full dark
when she got to the bar again. Blood Moon had a reputation for being a vampire
and werewolf place to hang out. She’d overheard one of the people who worked in
the kitchen say they needed extra help. Megan had tended bar to work her way through
most of her college tuition and books. Taking a deep breath she entered the bar
from the front door.

The place was
huge. The bar itself was at least twenty feet long and a dark cherry that
gleamed under the lights overhead. There were stools about every two feet,
leaving enough room between them to accommodate standing by it and ordering. Megan
could see the long line of liquor behind the bar and looked to have five
different set ups. That would mean that on a busy night, there could be as many
as five bartenders working the crowd.

The floor was a
lighter cherry and reflected back the indirect lighting that was in the ceiling
above it. She had never seen a bar so lit up before. No dark corners or blank
space here. She supposed that it would help to keep the problems down that came
with most bars. Tables were spread all over the room, booths along the outer
walls were deep and had a light over each one. There was a stage; large
speakers and a microphone was all that was set up at the moment, but Megan
thought that it would hold a good-sized band without any problem. She could see
the kitchen area from where she stood, but nothing more than a swinging door
and a fountain pop machine.

Megan made her way
to the bar end closest to the front doors. Of the five people standing there,
she knew that one of them had to be in charge. She thought at first glance it
was the woman who was wearing a nice suit and looked to be a model, but
dismissed her for someone who, while in charge of something, it wasn’t the bar.
The other two women were dressed like waitresses, their clothes suggestive
without being too brazen and their eyes had the look of those who were bored
out of their minds. The man who stood against the bar was too…well, he was just
not the right type, she supposed, to run a bar of this size. He was too
flamboyant and much too unsure of himself to be a boss. The man in the brightly-colored
tourist shirt was the one she needed to talk to. He gave off the appearance of
being just laid back enough to let you get close enough then he’d rip your
throat out when you crossed him. That thought made her stop. He turned to look
at her when she did. She didn’t move when he stood up and started toward her.

He didn’t say
anything as they stared at each other. His name tag over his heart said he was
the manager, Kyle Dixon. She looked back up at his face and wasn’t surprised to
see the tip of his fangs as he smiled. Megan looked at the woman, the one in
the nice suit who came to stand next to him. She spoke first.

“Hello. Can we
help you?”

Megan didn’t
answer at first. Waves of nausea hit her hard and she staggered slightly. The
man started to reach for her, but Megan took a step back and into someone
behind her. Before she could turn he grabbed her around the waist and she felt
the first grip of terror.

“Let me go.” Megan
knew it was the man from the other night. She could smell him. She tried to
turn, but he simply held her tighter and told her to behave.

“We’re not going
to hurt you. Your hunger is beating against us and we’re trying to keep you
from attacking anyone in here. Why the fuck didn’t you feed before coming
here?”

“I don’t attack
people. Let me go, you overgrown ox.” She brought her foot down hard on his
instep and moved out of his arms when he jerked back. “I want to go. I made a
mistake coming here. Move.”

He stood in front
of the door and the man and woman flanked her right and left sides. Megan
didn’t have to turn to know that there were others behind her. She knew that
she couldn’t win against those odds.