Neck Deep In Vampires (A BBW Urban Fantasy)
Read Neck Deep In Vampires (A BBW Urban Fantasy) Online
Authors: Georgette St. Clair
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Although this book can be read as a standalone, we first learn about Frankie Alexander’s adventures as a vampire in Neck Deep
In Trouble:
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Neck Deep In Vampires
Copyright 2014 by Georgette St. Clair
This book is intended for readers 18 and older only
, due to adult content. It is a work of fiction. All characters and locations in this book are products of the feverish imagination of the author, a tarnished Southern belle with a very dirty mind.
License Statement
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Curvy reporter Frankie Alexander is still struggling to get used to life as a vampire. Now she’s hiding out in Florida, a vampire’s vacation from hell (waaay too much sun) and plotting to take down the most evil and powerful vampire of all time. The local witches are trying to recruit her to find their missing familiars, and something dark and dangerous is following her. To top it all off, she’s haunted by the end of her relationship with the smolderingly sexy Master Vampire Nicholas Hamilton, who once claimed her as his Eternal Consort. But will Nicholas really let her go that easily? And how will he punish her for her deception?
For the
dozenth time, I glanced at the calendar on the wall, as if it might finally tell me something different. No such luck. It was the first of June, and I was running out of time. In only three weeks, I’d have to kill a man. Actually, I’d be killing something that used to be a man. He’d lost his humanity seven hundred years ago, but from what I’d been told, he was barely human even then.
“Penny for your thoughts.”
My Thrall
Peyton had walked up behind me. Her voice jerked me back to the present, a place I didn’t particularly want to be.
I looked out the window of my second floor rented condo.
The street below was washed in golden sunlight, even at 8 p.m., and the smells of delicious souvlaki from a nearby restaurant swirled in my nostrils. Couples strolled towards the beach, hand in hand, in a haze of romantic bliss.
“
My thoughts?” I sighed. “I’m thinking that this is the vacation from Hell.”
Peyton Louise, or, as I like to call her, “lunch”, held out her arm.
“You look gloomy. Fancy a snack?” Round faced, with a big mop of springy brown hair, she was always smiling. Even her clothes were cheerful; she wore a sunny yellow dress of seersucker fabric, and straw espadrilles with daisies on them.
“No, thanks.
Not really hungry right now.” I stared out the window, standing to the side, careful not to let the sun’s waning rays touch me. I was depressed, not suicidal.
Peering around the curtains,
I scowled at all the happy couples, warmed by a sun that I could never feel again. “I had a boyfriend once,” I grumbled. “A hot one.” Just last month, in fact. An incredibly handsome 300-something-year-old vampire with a delicious English accent. For a while, I’d thought that we would face eternity together.
“Yeah, yeah, and the bastard dumped you, and you picked Florida of all places to
hide out and mend your broken heart. Florida. Where there are no other eligible vampires to flirt with, so you’ve got no way to distract yourself. Just drink, for heaven’s sake. It’ll make you feel better.”
The sad thing was
, Nicholas Hamilton wasn’t a bastard. Everyone thought he was, for telling me that I was his Eternal Consort and then breaking up with me, but he’d actually had no choice in the matter. I’d Compelled him to break up with me, and to think it was his idea, and to tell me that I should move out of his house for both of our sakes. And I’d Compelled him to forget that I was the one who suggested it.
That made me feel even worse – if it’s possible to feel worse about losing the love of your life.
I sighed heavily. I’d been here for several weeks now, and the ache I felt at his loss was still as sharp as the day I’d packed my bags and left his upper West Side brownstone.
“Oh, now she’s sighing,” Peyton said to no-one in particular.
She and I were alone in the condo. My other Thrall, Camille, was still out, probably hanging out at the beachside bar and soaking in the last waning rays of the sun. It turned out she was absolutely loving the beach life. I didn’t know how I’d pry her away from here when it came time to go back to New York.
“All right, we need to break up this self pity party. Want me to go to the bar and slam some margaritas, so you can get tipsy?” Peyton suggested cheerfully. I did love Peyton; she was an eternal ray of sunshine, refusing to let me lie around and wallow in self-pity. Under any other circumstances, she’d have been a perfect travel companion.
I managed a smile at the suggestion
. Unfortunately, for a vampire to get drunk, they have to drink from a highly intoxicated Thrall. Even then, the buzz is short lived. Our supernaturally efficient metabolisms fix everything. Disease, injury, aging…alcohol. I hadn’t been able to get a good drunk on ever since I’d been Turned eight months earlier, which sucks. If ever there was a reason to drink heavily, waking up on a morgue table to find out that you’re now the risen dead would surely qualify.
As for regular alcohol, like all liquids, it now tasted like water and passed right through me. And food, don’t get me started on food. I was a size sixteen when I Turned. I still am. I will be forever
, because vampires always keep the form they had when they turned. And you want to know how, as a human, I ended up wearing a size sixteen? Because I loved food, freaking loved it.
As a vampire, I could never eat food again. I had
tried eating solid food exactly once since I Turned, even though I was warned not to. It came right back up, in a violent eruption worthy of Mt. St. Helens, while Nicholas stood over me in the bathroom, holding my hair and saying “I told you so.”
Oh, how I missed him. Just thinking about him made me hurt all over. I was also now in a constant state of lust and craving, but I couldn’t imagine having sex with anyone but him.
“You know what?” I said. “The heck with it. Go get drunk.”
“Well, come with me! There might be someone hot at the bar.”
I made a face. Vampires are only allowed to have relationships with their Thralls or with other vampires, but a quick roll in the hay would be permitted.
Howe
ver, I’d never been a one-night-stand kind of girl, and I really wasn’t feeling inspired to start right now.
“Some other time,” I said. “Maybe in a few days I’ll feel up to it.”
“Right. I certainly hope so. You can’t keep sitting here and moping around after that a-hole forever.” Peyton grabbed her purse, and gave me a jaunty wave. “I’ll be back in an hour, and I will be smashed.” She paused and let out a deep, melodramatic sigh. “Oh, the sacrifices I make for you.”
I laughed.
“I’m sure you’ll be suffering. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
“Well, since all that you’d do is lie around the apartment and feel sorry for yourself…”
I half-heartedly gave her the finger as she walked out
, then let my arm flop down again. I didn’t even have the energy for a decent obscene gesture.
I glanced out the window as the streetlights came on outside.
The sun was down. Safe at last.
My condo overlooked
the main street that ran through Azure Shores, the Florida beach town where I was staying. The décor was typical Florida style, with fake potted palms, big canvas pictures of tropical scenes, and wicker furniture with tropical-print cushions.
When
Nicholas ended things between us, I told everyone that I needed to get as far away from New York, and vampires, as possible. That was why I was going to Florida, I’d told them. Florida was the perfect place for me to hide out, because vampires tend to avoid it. It’s too sunny most of the time. Florida in the summer was just ridiculous. There were about 14 hours of flesh-melting daylight at this time of year.
Of course I’d had to take a couple of Thralls with me, so I could feed regularly.
We’re only allowed to fed on Thralls, those devoted human servants who have grown up with vampires their whole lives. Simon, one of the three original brothers who’d Sired all vampires, had picked a couple of his Thralls and sent them with me; there always had to be at least two, so I could alternate days when I fed on them. He felt badly for me because Nicholas had dumped me, and I’d played up my humiliation and broken heart extremely well.
It had originally been Camille and Sandra, but
last week Sandra had been called back to New York, supposedly for some family emergency. I suspect she just hadn’t enjoyed Florida. Thralls always travel with their vampire coven, which meant they never went to sunny places. Camille loved it, but Sandra had spent all her time hiding inside the house during the daytime, and grumbling about the heat.
It was all good; Peyton was there to take her place, and she’d made it her 24 hour a day mission to cheer me up, and sometimes she even succeeded in getting me to crack a smile.
I leaned towards the window and breathed in the warm night air. The deadly sun was gone and the sky was a luminous blue-black, with wisps of clouds strung across the heavens, veiling the stars.
Something landed on the windowsill with a thud
, making me start. A cat. A big, burly, black cat with glowing green eyes.
“Hey, lady, move. You’re in my way
,” he said, brushing past me.
“Oh,
sure. Excuse me,” I said. Then I did a double take that almost gave me whiplash, as he leaped through the air and landed on an overstuffed armchair.
“What the effing hell?” I choked out.
He looked at me quizzically. “I’m sorry, I’m a little distracted at the moment,” I said. “I actually thought you just spoke to me.”
“
You’re a bright one,” he said snidely, and began sharpening his claws on the chair.
“Stop that!” I cried out.
“I paid a deposit on this place.” Well, Simon had. He’d covered the entire trip, including my leave of absence from the newspaper where I worked as a reporter. He was a billionaire, true, but I didn’t like wasting anyone’s money.
The cat
looked a little guilty, and stopped immediately. “Oops, sorry. Bad habit. So, vampire lady, let’s get down to business.”
“How are you talking, and how am I hearing you? I’d like to think that I’ve completely lost my mind, but I doubt I’m that lucky.”
Somehow, even though he was a cat, he managed to give me a really patronizing look.
“I’m talking because I’m a familiar, and that’s what we do. We talk. Mostly to witches, but I heard you were some super-powerful vampire hybrid freak, so I thought I’d give it a shot. And there we are. Now, about my problem.”
I stared at him as he spoke. His lips weren’t moving, but he was staring back at me.
“Can anyone else hear you speak?” I asked.
“
Of course not. Only witches. And you.”
“How did you even know I was here?” I asked.
“I heard everybody gossiping about it when you came by the Bay Breeze the other day.”
The Bay Breeze was a subdivision on the outskirts of town. All of the inhabitants were witches, and I’d swung by to introduce myself to them when I’d first arrived. A lot of vampires are standoffish when it comes to other magical creatures, but I personally find them fascinating. Besides, we’re all in the same boat, struggling to keep our existence hidden from an increasingly tech savvy human population. I figure, why not work together?
“So, you decided to come here because…”
“I need your help.” He jumped off the chair and walked over to the table. He leaped up and landed with a thud.
I could hear him talking even though he wasn’t standing next to me any more.
“Do you have a name? I’m Frankie, by the way.”
“Barney. Delighted to make your acquaintaince, hot stuff.” The fact that the only person who’d flirted with me in the past few weeks was a very snarky cat wasn’t the least bit depressing, I told myself.