The Vampire's Escape: A Paranormal Romance E-Book

AJ Tipton

• Herausgeber: AJ Tipton
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

A gorgeous widow thrust into a dangerous world. A vampire inventor trying to help humanity. Together, they will risk everything to defeat their darkest foe. 

Lauren Vaughan has finally got it all: good looks, a rich boyfriend, and the secret to staying young, becoming a vampire. But when her boyfriend, Trevor, becomes her vampiric sire, she realizes she’s made a potentially fatal mistake. Lauren doesn’t know where to turn until she meets the hunky, mad scientist living in Trevor’s pool house.

After hundreds of years as a vampire, Ben has settled into his oblivious, absent-minded routine of inventing gadgets to improve the world. Ben is content to tinker in solitude, grateful his nephew, Trevor, generously provides shelter and supplies. But when his nephew’s new girlfriend appears at Ben’s door, Ben senses there may be a dark side to Trevor’s obsessions. Will Lauren be able to shake Ben from his seclusion before it’s too late for both of them?

The Vampire’s Escape is an adult paranormal romance. If you like magical encounters, sexy scientists, and steamy romance, then you’ll love the third installment of the sizzling Royal Blood series. 

The Royal Blood books may each be read as standalones. However, you may find they are best enjoyed in the following order: 

1 - The Vampire’s Throne, 
2 - The Vampire’s Lair, 
3 - The Vampire’s Escape,

And, Coming Soon: 

4 - The Vampire’s Choice

Buy The Vampire’s Escape to join the resistance today!

Leseprobe

The Vampire’s Escape

A Paranormal Romance

AJ Tipton

CirceCorp

Copyright © 2017 by AJ Tipton

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This book is for sale to adult audiences only. It contains substantial sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which may be considered offensive by some readers. All sexually active characters in this work are 18 years of age or older.

This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places and incidents appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is purely coincidental.

Created with Vellum

Please, let tonight be the night, Lauren prayed into the gold-lined bathroom mirror as she dabbed a smudge of lipstick off of her teeth. The dress she was wearing was the same one she wore on her previous date with Trevor, but she'd convinced a seamstress friend to take it apart and make it look new. She winced as a hastily-sewn seam dug into her back. All the expenses and favors to keep up appearances were piling up, and if Trevor didn’t come through, she was screwed. Trevor has to be the one.

Lauren forced herself not to focus on the lines that had recently appeared around her eyes and mouth. Thirty-eight had not been as kind as thirty-five, and the last three years since Nikolai had died had taken a toll she couldn't afford to show on her face. She padded on some more concealer. It wouldn’t do if hot, billionaire Trevor Simm realized she wasn't the twenty-seven-year-old she’d claimed to be.

She adjusted her breasts a little higher into the swooping neckline of her dress, then pushed them down an inch. The trick was to pull off that delicate balance between "lady" and "fuckable", riding both identities convincingly. It made a man recognize he had to earn his place in her bed, but also feel confident he would get there eventually. After six months of Trevor's studious and attentive courtship, tonight had to be night he’d trade a ring for the honor of having Lauren as his companion for the rest of his life.

You can do this, she told her reflection. This is what you've trained for your whole life. Lauren smiled at herself, a well-practiced smile both winning and polite that didn't show teeth--A lady does not grimace like a chimpanzee, her mother's words chided in her head—as she soldiered back out into the restaurant.

Chez Fenêtre was still as beautiful as it had been years ago when she was a regular every Tuesday night with Nikolai. Lauren had gently led Trevor into coming up with the idea of inviting her here for their six-month anniversary, calling ahead so the host and staff would know to pretend not to recognize her, but also have her favorite red wine in stock.

Trevor stood as she approached, polite as always, with a tiny, no-teeth smile that Lauren's mother would approve of completely. Detached and charming, like Clark Gable in a black-and-white noir, but with blond hair slicked to the side like a Ken doll, and a slight build. Although he claimed he was thirty, he looked twenty-two at the most.

And Trevor had money.

So much money. The kind of money that wore bespoke suits and hand-crafted watches, drove a different Aston Martin every time he picked her up, and flew her on a private jet to Paris for dinner dates.

Her late husband, Nikolai, had been extremely well off, the retired Alpha of a bear shifter clan worth several billion dollars. They'd married as an explicit business arrangement: she provided him companionship and care in return for Nikolai sharing the extravagance of his extremely comfortable lifestyle. Although neither had ever claimed to love the other, over the fifteen years they were together, they developed a real fondness. Every day, Lauren missed the small kindnesses they'd exchanged even to Nikolai’s last moments, and the comfort of knowing that she never had to take care of anything except Nikolai's immediate needs.

But when the cancer finally took him, she'd discovered Nikolai's wealth had been his son's all along. The young Alpha granted Lauren a modest stipend to carry her through until she figured out how to support herself, but the money always disappeared faster than she planned.

Trevor pulled out Lauren’s chair and motioned for her to sit down. The waiter was gone, their meal already cleared, but two glasses of champagne stood on the table, with another bottle waiting for them in a silver ice bucket. Her heartbeat quickened.

This is it!

"You look lovely tonight, my dear." Trevor’s speech was always a little stilted. But it was all part of his odd charm. He had an old-fashioned nature layered with awkwardness that was cute and endearing, very different from Nikolai's rough confidence.

She smiled, thanking him with an upward glance through her eyebrows to check if his eyes were--yes, they are--fixed on her face rather than her breasts. No amount of money would be worth the pawing she got from a few of the men she'd dated soon after Nikolai’s passing. Trevor had stood out immediately from the crowd when he never pushed to get physical, agreeing with her insistence that they wait until they were fully committed. The furthest they’d gone was the passionate kissing they'd exchanged on the flight back from their last diving date in the Red Sea.

Trevor had been a great kisser, employing just the right amount of tongue, his hands skimming her breasts with enough delicacy to make her nipples tighten, but avoided being grabby. Even if she'd never mistake it for love, remembering his lips' confident path down her neck and along her chest widened the smile she beamed across the table.

"I'm so happy, Trevor," she said. "Thank you so much for another beautiful night." She indicated the empty, luxurious restaurant around them. He'd bought out the entire place so they could have privacy; only their waiter and the kitchen staff were present, however professionally invisible, during their four-course meal. "I've never been as happy as when I'm with you."

A lie. But it wasn't Trevor's fault she didn't love him yet. He was respectful and sweet. She'd love him eventually.

Trevor smiled. "I am so pleased to hear you say that." He stood up from his chair, took one of the glasses of champagne off of the table, and got down on one knee in front of her.

Yes, yes, yes, yes. Lauren pressed her hands together to keep from clapping in wild glee. I did it! I did it! At thirty-eight, I still got it!

"Lauren Vaughan." He slid out a long box from his pocket, far too large for a ring, and flipped it open.

What? She stared at the knife inside the box. It was heavily bejeweled, including a diamond as big as a walnut, the blade only about an inch long, and wickedly sharp.

"Um," she started to say, then stopped. It’s a tiny knife. Let’s see how this goes. But, with her feet hidden under the table's draping tablecloth, she slipped out of her heels, ready to run if the situation called for it.

Trevor smiled at her and pricked the top of his ring finger with the knife, dripping the blood into his champagne. The bubbling liquid turned slowly crimson as the blood mixed with the golden fizz.

"Will you, my love, be my eternal bride of the night?" He raised the glass toward her.

Vampire. It explained so much. His old-fashioned language, how he had so much money without having any sign of an inheritance or job, and his face looked far too young for how he acted. She bit her lip, keeping her face curious as she rapidly thought it through.

Nikolai told her about vampires as part of her introduction to the supernatural world when they were first getting to know each other. She'd never really considered finding someone to turn her--if she had, she'd have done it before the most recent set of wrinkles set in--but why not? She wasn't getting any younger, and Trevor was everything she'd ever looked for in a life companion: rich, kind, and malleable.

"I don't understand. What are you saying?" Rule one of being a lady: never let a man know what you know. As far as Trevor was concerned, Lauren was completely oblivious to the supernatural world. She took the glass of red-tinted champagne from his hand and placed it on the table in front of her. He smiled at the gesture and settled back in the chair opposite her.

"I am a vampire, my sweet, just like that masterful character of legend, Dracula. It may be difficult to believe, but witches, werewolves and many other magical beings are all real. I am real." He opened his lips and flashed his teeth at her. Even expecting them, Lauren was startled to see his canines elongate down from his mouth until they pressed deep into his lower lip.

"You're a vampire?" She made her voice rise in a high note of incredulousness. "You drink blood?"

He smiled, that same aloof smirk. "Indeed, I need blood to survive, but I also enjoy the fine foods and lovely meals we've shared. Never fear, I procure my blood from donors. You are safe from my hunger."

She nodded, his answer lining up with what she already knew.

"But, we’ve been out in the sun together. I thought vampires couldn’t go outside during the day." She questioned him, only half listening to his responses, tallying up the answers she knew to be true, playing the part of the ignorant human to give Trevor the opportunity to lie.

"Indeed, we are weakened during the day," he said. "Our strength and senses are more limited, and direct sunlight can be painful, but I am able to walk in the light."

All true, she nodded to herself. It would have been easy for Trevor to lie about the negative side of vampiric life, but--even though it was clear he wanted Lauren to join him--he didn't.

"That's a relief."

If Trevor was surprised that she was believing him so fast, he certainly didn't show it. Lauren catalogued all the pros and cons Nikolai had told her about vampires: super strength and enhanced senses would be nice (although she wasn't sure when she’d have occasion to use them), and she'd be able to smell the emotions in non-vampires (also, not that useful). Never enjoying the feel of the sun against her skin would be disappointing, but she rarely braved skin-damaging UV rays these days anyway.

She touched her cheek. I’ll never be worried about wrinkles again! It would be definitely worth it to stop aging, to heal quickly, and to be ultimately invincible to anything but fire or beheading...but then there was the hortari. She eyed Trevor. She'd spent the last six months evaluating him as a husband, but as a sire?

Vampire sires had total command over their sirelings' actions; if he chose to employ the hortari, Trevor's will would supersede her own. That shouldn't be too bad, she thought, biting the inside of her cheek. In their six months of courtship, he had never raised his voice to her, and been consistently courteous and generous.

"If you turn me into a vampire, what will that mean for us?" She worded her question as vaguely as possible, studying his face for any hint that he knew she was dissembling.

He smiled, reaching out across the table to settle his hand on top of hers. "Since our first glance, I knew you were the one who should spend eternity my side. If I turn you into a vampire, I will be your sire, which means I will have the power of hortari over you." Lauren relaxed as soon as he said the word. Trevor brought up the hortari when he could easily have lied about it.

"With the hortari, I will have the ability to control you with my words, if I choose." Trevor paused, his fingers caressing the top of her hand. "But the hortari is only meant to be used in moments of desperate need, to keep new vampires from hurting others as they adjust to their hunger and new abilities. I love you so much, Lauren, I would never command you to do anything you didn't want to."

Lauren's heart soared. He was a good man. A good vampire. She'd chosen well. And I'm going to live forever! Forever secure. Forever protected. Never having to worry about hiding another wrinkle, or being dumped for someone younger. No more depending on the generosity of her stepson who had never really gotten over the fifty year age difference between her and Nikolai.

She reached across the table to brush her hand along the side of Trevor's face. He was so handsome, he was like an airbrushed movie poster come to life. And he wanted her. Thirty-eight year-old, widowed Lauren Vaughan.

"Yes," she said. "I will be your--" What was that ridiculous way he'd phrased it? --"bride of the night."

"You breathtaking creature." He threw his head back, his voice deepening. "There are darknesses in life and there are lights, and you are one of the lights, the light of all lights."

Faster even than Nikolai, with all his bear-shifter speed, had ever moved, Trevor tossed the table so it tumbled away from them, champagne and glassware smashing against the opposite wall.

Trevor moved so quickly, Lauren didn't even see him get up, but his hands were on either side of her face and his mouth was on hers, pressing hard with devouring strokes of his tongue. Months of pent-up passion and lust for his hard-cut body flared to life a [...]