EXCERPT: Crystal Kauffman's Guardian's Realm: The Combat
An Excerpt from Guardian's Realm: The Combat
Crystal Kauffman
Genre: Shape-shifter/Vampire Urban Fantasy Paranormal
Length: Novel
Price: $5.99
http://www.loose-id.com/prod-Guardian_s_Realm__The_Combat-916.aspx
Amidst a cataclysmic war between the Guardians, an ancient sect of gargoyles charged with policing vampirekind, and a maniacal vampire king who intends to enslave humanity for the sinful pleasures of vampires worldwide...
Desperate to locate her missing sister, Gabrielle Langston travels to San Francisco expecting to find Linna in a fanatical Goth community of wannabe blood suckers. Instead Gabrielle discovers real--real!--vampires, sexy gargoyles, and an undead prince intent on claiming her as his bride.
Though it's been over eight hundred years since a vampire killed his young wife, the scars on Davin McCain's soul still burn deep. He has risked his life for the Guardians for eight centuries, yet never again has he risked his heart. But when he rescues feisty Gabrielle, drugged by the vampires to make her insatiable, Davin is lost to the charms of the pretty, green-eyed human.
Gabrielle's dangerous idea to infiltrate the vampire coven is the only chance the Guardians have to finally locate the vampire's "Palace," but Davin realizes while he's just found the mate he wants by his side for eternity, he could lose her in mere days.
Publisher's Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: Exhibition/voyeurism (scene includes anal play/intercourse, moresome m/f/m/m), sex in shifted form, violence.
~ * ~
A black door she hadn't noticed before burst open. Gabrielle glimpsed a red symbol flare on the door so fast it was just a blink. Blue light from inside spilled over them, making Evan look demonic, and music flooded onto the street. A ferocious hulk of a man in biker leathers exploded past. He glanced down at Gabrielle and gave a grunt of approval, trailing a cloud of smoke, liquor vapors, and a heady mixture of unearthly scents behind him.
Evan grabbed the door and held it. As though bespelled, Gabrielle's feet took her inside.
"Linna, don't be rude," Evan said behind her. "Come along."
Shrill, abrasive music speared into her brain. Wildly gyrating dancers jostled her as Evan took her under his arm and led the way to the bar. He held up three fingers to the bartender, who nodded in return. Linna crowded close on the other side.
"So, you're from Seattle. What's that like?"
"A lot like this, only flat." She turned to her sister. "Mom's really worried."
"As you can see, she's fine," Evan said.
The sickliness of her sister's gaunt and pale face made Gabrielle's anger flare. Even while the pull of an unexplainable magnetism clawed at her resistance, the energy at finally finding Linna was stronger.
"No, she isn't."
Linna's dull gaze, now with a hint of wariness, flicked from Gabrielle to Evan and back again.
The bartender placed three identical drinks on the bar, each in a clear shot glass that bore the bloodred symbol Gabrielle had seen on the door.
The liquid inside was blue at the top, bleeding to milky white. Linna picked hers up and gulped it down in one mouthful.
"You have an apartment here."
Gabrielle turned to Evan.
"I heard you tell Linna so." He picked up his drink and held it aloft. Feeling compelled, Gabrielle picked up hers. The glass seemed to vibrate beneath her fingers.
"Stay here awhile. You'll see for yourself she's just fine. Better than fine. I think you'll come to love San Francisco more than Seattle as well."
He smiled and tipped his glass. Excitement gleamed in his eyes as she took a sip from hers. It tasted sweet, and that small mouthful was oddly invigorating.
"San Francisco is an exciting city," Evan went on. "It has many hidden secrets I'd love to show you."
He wasn't exactly handsome or physically impressive. She didn't even like long hair on men, and his was downright weird. But he possessed some strange, mesmerizing power that made her feel quivery and uncertain. She took another sip, transfixed by the graceful movement of Evan's mouth as he spoke.
"How do you like the drink?"
"It's all right." She looked down, surprised to see the glass was nearly empty.
"Would you like another?" Evan motioned to the bartender. Within seconds, another shot glass slid in front of her.
Linna bumped her thigh. Gabrielle glanced into the mirror over the bar.
"Don't drink it."
Linna's voice echoed in her head, yet her sister's lips were tightly set in a grim line.
Gabrielle's body suddenly tightened with a surge of erotic excitement. Her insides swooped as if someone had pulled the ground out from beneath her feet. Her vision twisted, creating a blurred kaleidoscope of her hand when she set the glass down.
"I have to use the restroom."
"I'll show you where it is." Linna took her by the wrist and dragged her through the mash of dancers. The music intensified, pounding inside her head. Grotesque flashes that couldn't be real blinked into her vision. Flaring, animal-like nostrils. Glowing red eyes. Leering grins with elongated fangs.
Oh shit.he dosed me.
Linna shoved through the outer door. Gabrielle drew a deep breath, thankful for San Francisco's clean ocean breeze.
Her sister stopped only long enough to turn on her, vicious. "You have to leave. Please, just go home."
"Linna, what's going on?"
The world tilted sideways. Gabrielle blinked, fighting to right her vision.
With a furious grumble, Linna spun around and dragged her up the street, her strong grip cutting painfully into Gabrielle's wrist.
She tripped but somehow managed to stay on her feet. Linna dragged her into an alley, grabbed her by the shoulders, and shook her hard enough to loosen teeth.
Gabrielle's vision wheeled away.
"You can't help me. I'm not some heroin addict. It's much worse than that. There's no curing me, but you can be saved. Go home, Gabrielle. If you don't leave, I won't be responsible for what happens to you."
Gabrielle swallowed. She was going to throw up.
"Listen to me!" Linna shook her again, forcing Gabrielle to look at her. "I'm trying to help you!"
When Gabrielle's vision cleared, she found herself staring into the snarling face of a monster with glowing golden eyes and deadly fangs.
She yelped and stumbled backward.
What the hell was in that drink?
Linna's mouth widened. Two lethally sharp canines glinted from an ambient light source. She hissed like an angry cat. The inhuman sound sliced into Gabrielle, turning her blood to ice.
Sweet Jesus. This was a waking nightmare.
"Linna." Evan's voice came from behind Gabrielle.
"No!" Linna growled in an inhuman voice.
As though detached from her body, Gabrielle felt Evan grab her wrist and yank her away from her sister.
"Spike wants her. You know better than to interfere."
The pavement spun. Gabrielle looked down at Linna's upturned face, her sister's mouth wide open, those vicious teeth still extended. She hissed again, but the sound was far away now.
Above her, Evan laughed wickedly. "She doesn't have her wings yet."
The ground surged away. They were flying!
She twisted to look above her. The horrific sight that greeted her sent reality spinning away. Against a black sky, Evan's leathery wings flapped like a great, evil bat's. Tiny glints of ivory marked sharp barbs at the tips of the skeletal structure supporting the webbing.
For a frozen-in-time moment, she could only stare in absolute horror. She sucked in a breath that seemed to go on forever and finally let it out in a piercing scream.
Notrealnotrealnotreal!
Gabrielle thrashed and flailed, sickened by the nightmarish vision her brain refused to accept.
In the shadows of her mind, she fought to convince herself this was all a hideous dream, but the cold air rushing through her clothes and the painful grip on her wrist were two irrefutable signs this was utterly, horribly real.
A swooping feeling rolled through her stomach with the recognition of sheer and absolute horror.
She fought wildly, terrified by Evan's wicked transformation, while at the same time appallingly entranced by his monstrous appearance. Through it all, Gabrielle realized a shameful eagerness to succumb to whatever he wanted from her.
His eyes blazed red, and when he looked down at her, she saw his fangs were elongated just like Linna's. "Your sweet screams make my cock hard, little one. Yours will be a delicious initiation!"
Higher and higher, each flap of his colossal wings carried them deeper into the starless sky. Gabrielle looked down, saw the lights of the city and the black void of its surrounding water, two ribbons of light where the bridges crossed the bay. The astronomical height made her scream again and again, twisting and clawing to grasp an unreachable foundation of reality.
Her throat burned, and her vision spun. This couldn't possibly be real! Whatever strange drug was in that drink must be causing these horrifying hallucinations!
"I want you to scream like this when I plunge my fangs into your tender throat. Save your breath, because I won't be the first or the last, little sacrifice. Spike likes it when you scream too. We're going to fuck you and feed from you until we're satisfied, and then we're going to do it all over again!"
It was real! Horribly, dreadfully real!
"No!" Even as black fingers of oblivion clawed at the edges of her consciousness, she knew she had one escape.
Death.
She twisted and kicked, flailing with her free hand until she managed to jam it inside her coat pocket. Her fingers closed around the mace, still safely locked. The small steel cylinder felt solid beneath her fingers, a last sliver of reality. She brought it to her lips and pulled the safety pin free with her teeth, then spit it out.
"Please!"
"Ooh, I love it when you beg!" He glanced down, his eyes flashing red with malicious glee.
She sprayed him.
The vampire cried out and released her, bringing both hands to his eyes. "You fucking bitch!"
She careened toward earth, her descent smooth compared to the battering, jerking flight into the sky. Her final scream was one of relief and acceptance. A soft blanket of darkness wrapped around her.
Flap.
Something impacted Gabrielle hard enough to rattle her bones.
"Easy there. I've got you." The deep voice spoke just at her ear, a rumbling resonance that tingled across every nerve ending.
Flap.
Strong arms cradled her, pulling her against a rock-solid chest. The musky scent of virile male filled her senses. At once, she recognized the stark, refreshing difference from Evan's sour odor.
Flap.
It was the sound she'd heard on the street. Massive wings rose and fell, surging them upward and plunging them downward. Flying, again. This time prone, like Superman, she was cradled beneath her mysterious savior as though they were making love.
"Can you hold on to me?"
Who are you? she wanted to ask, but all that came out was an "ah." Her limbs had gone numb; her body too weak to try and hold on.
Whatever Evan had given her, she couldn't fight it. She no longer wanted to, she realized calmly. Take me.
"Almost home."
Sexy voice. Nice, she thought as his words echoed in her head. Her fingers splayed across a muscular chest. Nice.
He squeezed her more tightly against him, holding her now with one arm, and their bodies rotated upright. Two crisp flaps, and they bobbed in midair. She heard the familiar squeak of the single window in her studio apartment, nine floors up.
"Hold on." Her rescuer surged upward, then angled down. She opened her eyes to see flesh-colored wings tuck. They rocketed forward in a swooping dive. The wings then spread out and angled downward, like a bird slowing to land. She felt the solidity of the floor through him an instant before he set her on her own two feet.
Gabrielle swallowed over her burning throat. Her knees gave out.
"Gotcha." Those powerful arms caught her, brought her firmly back against his chest. She breathed deeply of that wonderful scent, content to be held.and whatever else this beautiful creature wanted.
Creature. Man with wings. It didn't matter. He wasn't that demonic thing from the alley. He was something else, something.wonderful.
"You smell good." She sagged against him, eager to draw from his warmth.
"I smell like sweat." He chuckled, and the sound wrapped comfortably around her like the sweet memories of Christmas.
"You smell like man." She reached up, pressed her palm against his muscular chest, dragging her fingertips across the smooth skin. He skittered under her touch as though ticklish.
He eased her away and slowly loosened his grip, testing her ability to stand. Hands came away, caught her when she began to sway, then gently eased away again.
Gabrielle looked up into the face of her savior for the first time.
Sweet mercy.
Soft brown eyes framed by impossibly long lashes gazed back at her. His dark hair wasn't long, but it was windblown, tossed in a gorgeous mess around his face. Deep lines trailed down his cheeks. One melded into a dimple as he smiled. God, he was handsome. Her perusal continued unabashedly to his bare chest, blinking through drunk eyes to see all that there was to see. Not wanting to miss a single inch of him.
Impressive muscles bulged under glistening skin. An impressive muscle of another kind bulged under his leather pants. Gabrielle licked her lips, suddenly hungry.
"Are you an angel?"
He laughed, making the dimple more pronounced. "I am a Guardian."
"Was Evan a real vampire?"
His expression dimmed. "Did you have any doubt?"
"My sister-"
"Is one of them."
She shook her head, then blinked to steady her vision. "No."
"I'm sorry. She is beyond help. You must accept this and return home. It is not safe for you to remain in San Francisco."
Gabrielle brought a hand to her cheek. It felt blazing hot. "They drugged me."
"You were dosed with Tourin. A powerful drug made of vampire plasma, glucose, and opiates."
"Plasma.you mean blood?"
He nodded.
Disgusting. She swallowed back her rising gorge.
"What did you say you were?" She swayed on her feet. He reached out to steady her. The contact brought a rush of pure bliss. A low sound escaped her throat, halfway between a gasp and a sigh.
"I am Davin McCain. Humans refer to my kind as 'gargoyles.' We are called upon to protect the innocent."
Somehow, this came as no surprise. "Gargoyles, as in-"
"Made of stone." He held up a hand, closed it into a fist. Before her eyes, it transformed into a lion's paw and turned rock solid.
"My God."
"I am a sentinel in the Order of the Guardians. We are an ancient sect created to police vampire kind." The gray stone stopped its advance halfway up his forearm, then receded to flesh again. He flexed his fingers as though it had been unpleasant. "When a vampire attacks an innocent, my order is awakened."
"Awakened?" She stared at his glorious chest, finding it easier to concentrate on his delectable male perfection than try to make sense of the nightmare taking over her life.
"Transformed from stone to flesh."
She gaped, not sure how much more she could take. Her mind reeled with information overload. She stared at him so long she began to feel awkward.
"Does it hurt?" she finally asked.
He smiled, and she would swear his eyes twinkled. "No. My transformation is like a state of sleep. I need to rest, just as you do."
"Evan really is a vampire."
"Yes."
"And what he did to me was illegal? That's why you helped me?"
His brows drew together. "Drugging you without your consent is illegal, but Tourin itself is not. It is a popular drink in the vampire clubs for humans and vampires both."
"Wonderful."
"I was called to protect you when it was discovered the coven leader has an interest in you."
She frowned, trying to fight through the fog in her brain. Vampires. Coven leader. Blood cocktail. She shrugged out of her jacket and tossed it onto the floor, her body surging between too hot and too.aroused. He was so gorgeous, she wanted to lick every inch of him.
What the hell is wrong with me?