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

AJ Tipton

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

Beschreibung

He’s searching for truth. She’s protecting what she loves. Together, they’ll run hand-in-hand towards danger, no matter what the cost.

Robin Ballard has dedicated her life to protecting the endangered birds which are her last link to her family.  After another major defeat, she decides it's time to make a big change: find a sire and become a vampire. But her plan is derailed when she discovers that being a vampire means being controlled by the vampire who turns her, and her sire isn't interested in treading lightly.

Vampire prince Danny Dal is the best investigator in the business. When his king sends him to explore a secret, vampire pleasure palace, he expects just another day at the office. But when Danny discovers that the palace’s beautiful exterior hides a twisted secret, he must put his burgeoning feelings for the lovely Robin aside. Together, Danny and Robin must rescue the imprisoned vampires from their sire’s sinister commands before it’s too late.

But can one prince and one newly-turned vampire stand a chance against an entire army of brainwashed troops?

The Vampire’s Lair is an adult paranormal romance. If you like passionate environmentalists, mind-blowing lovemaking, and a villain you’ll love to hate, then you’ll adore the second 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,
4 - The Vampire’s Choice

Leseprobe

The Vampire's Lair

A Paranormal Romance

AJ Tipton

Illustrated byCirceCorp

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

"You chicken?" Danny called out across the bar. What am I getting myself into? The eight-foot tall troll lumbered up to Danny’s table and Danny sipped at his glass of O positive blood, focusing on looking casual even as his stomach churned.

The troll bristled, the rocks protruding from his skull standing at their peak.

“What did you say to me?” With each word came a punctuation of spit, sending chunks of saliva and what looked like tree bark splattering across the surface of Danny’s table.

Trolls were huge creatures, rarely under seven-feet tall, but this one was well over nine, his head dusting the roof of the bar. Blagfor had an impressive biome of lichen running along his left side, starting at his shoulders and traveling down to his waist, and looked like he'd been chiseled off the side of a mountain.

Danny flexed his hands, steeling his nerves. You've gone up against worse than this, he reminded himself. As an investigator for the vampire king, and a vampire prince himself, he had taken down vampire crime lords, wrestled the vampire kingdom away from an evil tyrant, and once even stole the last fry off of his sire's plate. But somehow, none of those felt quite as perilous as the walking mountain staring down at him.

“I said...” Danny downed the rest of his drink in a single gulp and banged the glass down for emphasis. “Wanna arm wrestle?”

All eyes turned toward them and, for a long moment, everything was silent. AUDREY’S bar wasn’t much to look at: a tall, wooden shack in the middle of nowhere with beaten up furniture and no ambiance to speak of, but it was the spot for supernaturals. Tonight it was stuffed to the brim with pixies, yetis, witches, werewolves, and some folks with spikes Danny couldn’t even identify. All of them drooled in their excitement to see a drunk, rich clown get taken down by a troll.

Which was precisely the idea.

“Do you really think you can take me down, little man?” The troll sneered with what few teeth he had left. “I am Blagfor the mighty!” His posse of trolls all roared in support, shaking the rafters.

“I know I can. In fact...” Danny pulled a stack of hundred-dollar bills from the interior pocket of his leather jacket and slapped them down on the table. “I’ll bet on it.” Danny let the muscles in his face sag, swaying in his seat for effect.

Dumb, drunk, and rich. Danny repeated the mantra in his head. I need them to believe I’m dumb, drunk, and rich. He never considered himself much of an actor, but the investigation hinged on him calling on his inner trust-fund brat to put on a good show.

Blagfor opened his arms and called out to his friends. “This’ll be the easiest money I ever made.” He cracked his knuckles and shook, his joints all snapping at once in a horrible chorus.

Danny placed his elbow down onto the table and slipped for good measure, nearly smacking his face on the table before catching himself at the last moment with his free hand and righting himself. The trolls laughed and slapped each other on their backs, their focus never leaving the pile of cash.

Blagfor planted his elbow across from Danny’s and took his hand. Danny stifled a laugh at how surprisingly soft the troll’s palm was.

“Three,” Blagfor said.

“Two.” Danny's hand closed tightly around Blagfor’s palm in a crushing grip.

“One!” They shouted in unison, both pushing against each other with all their might.

Blagfor's right side bulged, the muscles in his rock-hard arms straining for dominance.

But he didn't know Danny was a vampire.

To the trolls, Danny appeared as a tall, Asian human in his twenties, fit but not muscular. It made it easy to miss that it wasn't a fair fight.

Danny feigned a struggle, his vampire strength keeping Blagfor’s hand dangerously close to the surface of the table. Stick to the plan, Danny chastised himself. Slowly, Danny allowed his arm to be pushed backwards by the troll’s strength, pressing just enough to show he wasn't giving the game away. He bit back a sigh of relief as his fist smashed down under Blagfor’s. The slam echoed through the bar, overpowered by the cheer ringing out from the spectating patrons.

Small flashes of light came from the raised cell phones all around him. Perfect, Danny thought, hiding a triumphant smile. Social media was a blessing in so many ways for the intrepid private investigator.

Blagfor let out a roar, raising his arms to the ceiling and painting the bar with his impressive stench. More cameras flashed.

Danny, closest to the troll’s armpits, stifled a gag as he slid over the stack of cash. He made sure to smile gamely. “Not too bad, troll.”

Blagfor leaned in to whisper, “You almost had me there, vampire. Maybe next time you'll give me a real match.”

“Next time,” Danny said with a wink. Blagfor smiled, pocketed the cash, and lumbered back to his friends.

Time to take this up a notch.

Danny jumped on top of his barstool, balancing easily on the shaky wood. “Never let it be said that Prince Danny Dal is a poor loser. The next round is on me!” He pointed over to the bartender, whose long black braids were hypnotically floating above her head in a rhythmic dance. “Make sure to give ‘em the good stuff, Lola!”

Further bursts of photos flashed in Danny's direction and the suddenly infamous vampire prince hopped to the ground. Bear and dragon shifters slapped him on the back, a couple witches gave him thumbs up, as the crowd surged toward the bar for their round.

Drinks flowed, Blagfor bought a round, loudly proclaiming it was with Danny's money, and Danny checked his watch for the second time that hour. I couldn’t be making more of a scene if I wanted to. Where are they?

If they didn't show up soon, he feared he was going to have to start up the karaoke machine. Usually his private eye gigs resulted in him chasing around adulterers and embezzlers. But this time was different. His sire, the Vampire King Christopher Dal, had sent him to investigate rumors of abuse at a vampire pleasure palace, the Blood Oasis. The rumors were little more than gossip, and Danny wasn’t expecting to find anything, but it still felt good to be on an official mission for the palace.

But finding the place to investigate was tricky. The Blood Oasis's location was secret and invite-only. Danny tried not to fidget in his seat. Surely, the club had somebody on their payroll scoping out social media for easy marks?

"I've got a thousand bucks for whoever can beat me at darts!" He called out to the room, grabbing a pile of them off the board next to him.

Warm fingers closed around Danny’s hand, encapsulating the dart.

“Throwing sharp objects in your state is probably not the best idea.” The woman’s voice came from behind him. “Especially with so many people taking video.”

The human female's scent hit him like all the hidden notes of a complex wine coming together at once. It wasn't just her skin--the sweetness of vanilla with an underlying deep scent of earth and moss--but her emotions singing to him from her blood. Smelling the emotions of non-vampires was one of his favorite advantages of being a vampire, although sometimes the insights were less than flattering. She was excited and scared, but mostly annoyed. At me, probably, Danny thought. Knowing he was being a jackass on purpose didn’t make her frustration any more enjoyable.

She was stunning: a tall brunette with pale skin and brown eyes flecked with gold. Just looking at her, Danny felt like he’d missed a step in the dark and gotten the breath knocked out of him. He froze, grasping for his mask of indifferent rich boy that kept slipping under her penetrating gaze.

“Prince Dal?” The woman released his hand from her grip, placing the captive dart back onto the pub table. “My name is Robin Ballard. There’s something I’d like to discuss with you.” She guided him to a secluded table in the back of the bar, away from the ruckus of the crowd.

Danny resisted the urge to pull away from her, to go back to his plan of conspicuous money-losing. But there was something about her that intrigued him. The Blood Oasis needs time to marshal their contacts anyway, he told himself.

He glanced around and there was no one in earshot. “Ms. Ballard," he said, dropping his drunken act. "I only have a few moments to spare. How can I help you?” She sat straight in her chair, her poise and the cut of her black suit all business. Danny pressed down his disappointment. She likely had a case to report to the vampire king. Since Danny's sire was crowned king, Christopher's sirelings had been busy uncovering the scandals which the former king hadn't bothered to police.

A blood cocktail slid into place beside his elbow and Danny nodded thanks to the bartender, Lola, as she also placed a whiskey on the rocks next to Robin. The beautiful woman thanked Lola before turning her gold-flecked gaze back onto Danny's face. Anxiety churned in Robin's blood. He fought the instinct to lay a reassuring hand on her arm.

“I appreciate your time. Feel free to call me Robin.” She sipped at her drink and smiled. “I thought that drunk act you were pulling out there was a bit on the nose. I’m glad to see you can handle your blood.” She splayed her fingers out onto the table. “Since you're in a rush, I’ll be blunt. I need you to turn me into a vampire.”

What? Danny resisted the urge to laugh incredulously. “I appreciate your gumption. But, to be equally blunt, no.” He moved to stand. Danny had decided a long time ago he was done with siring.

Robin placed her hand over his, freezing him in place. “It does sound ridiculous, I agree. Please sit, there’s a lot of information you don’t have.”

Danny raised an eyebrow, but took his seat. As she spoke, Danny sniffed out a scent he hated to pick up from her: fear.

“I can’t say I’m not curious.” He took a generous swig of his drink. “You have until I’m done with this cocktail.”

Robin’s words tumbled out, chasing each other in her haste to explain. “I’m a conservationist, working to protect the endangered Scarred Vultrich. It’s a fascinating bird, but isn’t very attractive.” She chuckled. “It basically looks like an ostrich and a vulture got smashed together. It's also nocturnal, which makes it even harder for people to sympathize with. There’s not a lot of support to save animals that aren’t cute.”

“I imagine there isn’t.” Danny didn't know much about wildlife and tried not to smirk at his hideous mental approximation of what the vultrich might look like.

“These birds can breed and thrive in a very small habitat. Today, I lost a fight to a developer that would pave over half of what’s left. I need to be able to defend these incredible creatures. I need the time to make sure they’re safe.” She pounded a fist down onto the table, shaking the glassware.

“So you figured you’d just swing down to the local pub and grab yourself some immortality?” Danny leaned back in his chair. “How would a human like you even know how to find a vampire?”

“My college roommate, Samantha, is a witch. She comes from a big family of witches, and I spend my holidays with them." Sadness washed the air around her and Danny fought to keep his expression casual. Centuries living among short-lived humans had taught him a thing or two about mourning. The woman was hurting, and the pain of it had driven her here.

Robin smiled and Danny's heart cracked a little. To smile through her grief like that, it took an admirable amount of strength.

"S [...]