Vampires and Vixens (Psy-Vamp) Read online

  Vampires

  and

  Vixens

  ~~~

  Cassandra Lawson

  Copyright ©2013 Cassandra Lawson

  All Rights Reserved

  Cover design by Beth Roberts

  www.b-creativedesign.com

  This book is a work of fiction. All characters and events are creations of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual people or events is purely coincidental.

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you Kara, Rolanda, Ria, Levenia, and Melissa for taking the time to read this book while it was still a work in progress. I would also like to thank my wonderful husband, Douglas, for all of his encouragement and editing.

  I recently had the privilege of watching some very talented California bands perform at Slim’s. That was the night that I realized how much this book needed a mosh pit. Thank you, Limnus, The Memphis Murder Men, The Rocketz, and Stellar Corpses.

  Table of Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Safe Hex With a Vampire

  About The Author

  Chapter One

  Hannah Montgomery, heiress to the Montgomery fortune, and former fiancée to the future CFO of Montgomery Enterprises, tried in vain to appease Henry Wade. Unfortunately for her, he was in no mood to be appeased. The fact that this was her first day on the job made no difference to him.

  “I fully understand why you are so upset, Mr. Wade,” she said in her most soothing voice. “This has been a very trying day, and I did not meet your expectations.”

  His scowl told her just how little he cared to hear her excuses.

  “I can assure you that tomorrow will be better,” she continued. “Now, you certainly can’t blame me for everything that went wrong today.”

  He waved a dismissive hand.

  “Quite frankly, I’m a little bit disappointed in your behavior as well.”

  He shook his chubby fist in her face, and scowled more.

  “Be that as it may, you must see reason, Mr. Wade.”

  Clearly, he did not see reason.

  “Your mommy will be here soon, and I’m sure that she doesn’t want to find that her sweet little boy has a load in his diaper.” She smiled and tickled his chubby belly. That earned her a laugh, and she hoped it meant he would give in to the diaper change. Poor little guy was not handling his first day of daycare very well at all.

  He was an adorable little boy, with black hair that stuck up like a troll doll, chunky arms and legs, and the most enchanting scowl. He had also taken an instant liking to her. His displeasure grew when she was out of the room. As a result, she had toted him around most of the day. One could not really describe him as happy when he was with her, merely less irritable.

  Once Henry had a clean diaper, and seemed moderately content, Hannah brought him back to the play area. It was a bright room used for children under three. The floor had an area rug with the alphabet on it. They had a variety of toys on brightly colored shelves. Along one wall there was a giant picture window that faced out into the hall so that parents could take a quick peek at their children when they had a free moment. Luckily, Henry hadn’t noticed his mommy when she’d dropped by to check on him. Hannah was certain it would have upset him even more to watch her leave again.

  She sat down on the floor to play his favorite game, or at least it had been his favorite that day. He would watch her stack the blocks, and then giggle as he knocked them down.

  Henry climbed onto her right leg and snuggled in. He pulled her long auburn hair around him like a blanket. Most of the day she had regretted forgetting to bring a hair clip to work, but in that moment she was glad she hadn’t. “There there, little one. Mommy will be here soon,” she crooned.

  As if on cue, Professor Wade came into the room looking like a Norse goddess in a prim business suit. Based on looks, one would expect her to be cold and distant, but that just proved that looks could be deceiving. As soon as she spotted Henry her face lit up with delight. She slipped her shoes off so that she could race across the room. “There is my little man!” She reached down and he reached up to her with the first smile Hannah had seen on his face all day. The only sound Henry made was a contented sigh as he nestled in close to his mother.

  Henry was so thrilled to see his mommy that he didn’t even give Hannah a farewell scowl.

  The daycare was closing and it was time to clean up. Not bad for the first day of her first job, and her first day of classes.

  Chapter Two

  Hannah made her way to the courtyard at the center of the university to look for her cousin, Lydia. No one could get into the hall that led to the daycare without passing this area so she was certain to run into Lydia out here. It was nearly six in the evening and things had quieted down. Earlier in the day the courtyard had been crowded, but now there were just a few small groups of people who either had evening classes or were not done catching up with the friends they hadn’t seen all summer.

  Hannah had always loved autumn. She loved the brightly colored leaves that littered the ground. At this point there were only a few, but soon the leaves would rain down from the trees above her head. The sound of leaves crunching beneath her feet had always been one of her favorite things. Most of all, she’d always loved the end of the lonely summer. Her parents had never spent much time with her so it had always been a relief to return to school and her friends. Having spent most of the last five years in her parents’ home, this felt like the end of the longest summer in history. It was strange to think that now, after twenty-three years, she would never go back there.

  Now, if she could just find her cousin, she could go home. Lydia was sweet, but not very reliable. Still, Lydia was the only person she truly considered family. They had played together as children, before Lydia’s father had died. After that they’d rarely seen each other. Lydia had moved to California with her mom. Her mom had remarried, and remarried, and remarried yet again. Despite the distance, Hannah and Lydia remained close. They only saw each other once a year, but they wrote letters, talked on the phone, Skyped, and emailed. Basically, they used any method they could find to communicate with each other.

  Their lives took different turns after high school. Lydia went to community college until she gained access to her trust fund. Then she traveled. Finally, she bought a condo in the San Francisco Bay Area, enrolled at one of the local universities, and started trying to convince Hannah to move in with her.

  After high school, Hannah took some classes in Early Childhood Education, much to her mother’s dismay. She did volunteer work, mingled with the right people, and agreed to marry the right man. Then on the night of her engag
ement party something snapped. It all felt wrong. She packed a bag, apologized to her fiancé, climbed into her car, and drove to Northern California to take Lydia up on her offer.

  In some ways she felt a little guilty for leaving the way that she had, but mostly she felt free. Even Scott, her fiancé, seemed almost relieved when she’d left. She supposed that their engagement was more of an obligation to him than anything else. It had been a smart career move, and as a result of their engagement he was the future CFO of her father’s company. Hannah’s reasons for accepting his proposal had been just as selfish. She wanted the love and approval of her parents. She hadn’t loved Scott any more than he had loved her.

  Her parents chose to politely ignore her, “little scene.” Deposits continued to appear in her account, and her mother called weekly to see if she was ready to act like a sensible adult. Sometimes her mother even called to ask questions about the wedding. If there was one thing that Victoria Montgomery excelled at, it was ignoring any unpleasantness.

  Finally, she spotted Lydia sashaying across the courtyard in teal skinny jeans and a lacy white tank. Lydia and Hannah looked nothing alike. Lydia’s hair was a sassy shoulder length bob in a shade of gold that sparkled in the sunlight. Her face was exotic with high cheekbones, a slender nose that turned up ever so slightly at the tip, and sparkling blue eyes surrounded by thick lashes. She also managed to stay model thin no matter how much she ate.

  Hannah’s hair was a mass of auburn curls that went nearly to her waist. Her features had always been softer, and overdone. Her green eyes seemed too big for her face. She had a heart shape face and puffy lips. The puffy lips she liked. Hannah was curvy with a butt that never quite fit right in the denim that Lydia preferred. For that reason, Hannah didn’t even own a pair of jeans. Today she wore loose-fitting grey capris with a matching short-sleeved striped sweater.

  There was no need to ask what had kept Lydia; the two attractive men walking beside her were explanation enough.

  “There she is!” Lydia nearly shouted.

  “You wouldn’t have had any trouble finding me if you’d been on time to meet me after work.” Hannah added as much heat to her voice as she could manage. Lydia was chronically late, but Hannah loved her.

  “I was early!” Lydia insisted. “Then I saw this poor guy looking so lost standing by the daycare so I offered to help him find his cousin.” She touched the arm of the man that she had not been clinging to. “These are our new friends, Dominic,” she said in a breathy whisper, “and Aiden. They’re having a party next Saturday, and I told them we’d come.”

  To anyone who didn’t know Lydia this conversation would make their head spin. Okay, so Hannah felt like her head was spinning a little, but she was getting used to it. Lydia was a bundle of energy. She moved at top speed, felt comfortable meeting strangers, and enjoyed every second of her life.

  Hannah took a moment to study Lydia’s new friends, and almost swallowed her tongue. Both men stood just over six feet tall with dark brown hair, bronzed skin, and muscular builds. It was easy to see the family resemblance between them. There were differences. Aiden, the man who had been lost by the daycare, had straight hair that nearly touched his shoulders. Dominic’s hair was short and curled slightly at the ends. Both were muscular, but Aiden carried more bulk, and Dominic had the lean muscular build of a swimmer. The dark sunglasses they wore made it impossible to tell their eye color.

  Aiden flashed a charming smile and reached out his hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Hannah. Lydia has told me a lot about you.” His voice held the slightest hint of an accent. Irish would be Hannah’s guess, but she’d never been good at placing accents.

  She took his hand. It was warm, and slightly rough. He held it too long to be considered a polite handshake. She had to pull her hand away. “You’ve heard a lot about me in thirty minutes?”

  Aiden shifted closer to her. “Actually it was twenty minutes, and she just kept insisting that we had to meet her beautiful cousin Hannah.”

  Hannah blushed and tried to casually back away from Aiden. The guy had a serious issue with personal space. “Geez, Lyd, you sure know how to make me feel awkward.”

  “I said hot cousin Hannah,” Lydia corrected Aiden, with no shame. Getting Hannah out on a date was on Lydia's daily to-do list. So far she’d failed, but she refused to give up.

  “Both are accurate descriptions,” Aiden said so quietly that Hannah wondered if she’d imagined it.

  Dominic interrupted the strange interlude. “It is nice to meet you, Hannah.” He didn’t offer his hand. His accent was much thicker and not at all similar to Aiden’s. He spoke like someone who wasn’t completely comfortable speaking English.

  Lydia’s attraction to Dominic was no surprise. She’d always had a taste for the exotic, and Dominic’s accent would appeal to her.

  Aiden stepped closer to Hannah again and smiled. He took her hand once more. His eyes connected with hers, and his voice took on a soft yet powerful tone. “Tell me that you’ll come to the party. It would be nice to spend time getting to know each other.”

  The strangest feeling washed over her. She could swear she felt him trying to push the idea into her mind. The sensation made her a little weak, but she quickly recovered and pulled her hand away. She shook her head to clear it.

  Hannah forced a smile. “I’ll have to see how things are going with my classes. It’s the first week, and I’m really not sure I’ll have time.”

  Aiden blinked. He stepped back, and studied her more intently. Whatever he saw must have pleased him, because his face lit up with excitement. “We should go now.” He patted Dominic’s arm to draw his attention away from Lydia. He leaned in closer to Hannah. “I really hope I see you again soon,” he said quietly.

  Dominic gave Lydia a chaste kiss on the cheek, and whispered something into Lydia’s ear that made her giggle. He didn’t even acknowledge Hannah. Then both men walked away

  Lydia didn’t speak until Aiden and Dominic had disappeared from sight. “You’re going to that party.”

  “I don’t think so,” was Hannah’s only reply. She didn’t like parties to begin with, and she couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling that she had around Aiden.

  A high-pitched voice interrupted the discussion.

  “Lydia, we’re starving, let’s go!”

  Lydia grabbed Hannah’s arm, and pulled her along. “C'mon, let me introduce you to my friends.” She pushed Hannah in front, hands firmly on Hannah’s shoulders. “Ladies, I want you to meet my favorite cousin, Hannah. Hannah these are my very good friends, Trish and Caitlin. You would have met them earlier, but they went on a road trip without me.”

  Caitlin had long straight black hair and olive colored skin. She was tall and slender with a long face, catlike amber eyes, and a pouty expression. She wore blue jeans and a tank-top which revealed a tattoo of a tiger on her right shoulder. Hands on hips and bored expression on her face, she nodded curtly.

  Trish, the owner of the high-pitched voice, was slightly shorter than Hannah with light brown eyes, chestnut hair, and a warm smile that put Hannah at ease. Her boot cut jeans and low-cut blouse did nothing to hide her generous curves. Trish looked like she might tip over from the weight of her breasts.

  “It's nice to meet you,” Hannah said a little nervously. Lydia hadn’t mentioned anything about meeting up with her friends.

  Caitlin stroked Hannah's hair, and circled her like a tigress circling her prey. Her expression remained aloof, and Hannah was sure that expression could make a weaker woman cry. “I love your hair. It’s so soft,” she almost purred, “and that color is exquisite. What shade is it?”

  “It’s my natural color.” Hannah replied as she yanked her hair from Caitlin’s grasp.

  Caitlin sighed dramatically with one hand on her hip. “You can tell me the truth. After all, it’s just between us girls.”

  Hannah rolled her eyes, and then gave Caitlin a saccharine smile. “I love your eye color. Where did you buy those con
tact lenses?”

  Caitlin’s lips curled into the faintest of smiles.

  Trish's hand rested on Hannah’s shoulder. “Don't worry about Caitlin. Once you get over the fact that she's a bitch, you'll really like her.”

  Lydia held up a slip of paper and shook her hips. “Ladies we have an event to attend this Saturday.”

  “Nice area! Guess someone’s mommy and daddy are going out of town,” Trish said with just a touch of scorn. “They weren’t too young were they? I don’t want to end up at another party where some eighteen-year-olds stole a keg to share with a hundred people. We’re getting too old for that.”

  Lydia waved a dismissive hand. “They looked like grad students, and they were totally hot.”

  Caitlin let out a long-suffering sigh. “I suppose I should go to make sure the two of you don’t completely embarrass yourselves.”

  Trish reached over and tugged on Caitlin’s hair.

  Then all eyes turned to Hannah.

  “We’ll see,” was her noncommittal reply.

  “Come on,” Lydia nearly whined. “That Aiden guy totally wants you.”

  The conversation was making Hannah feel more than a little uncomfortable, especially around two people she had just met. “I think he was just trying to be nice.”

  “How nice was he?” Caitlin asked with a smirk.

  “If he’d been any nicer she would’ve needed a post-coital cigarette,” Lydia said cheerfully. Then she started to chant. “Hannah and Aiden sittin’ in a tree F-U-C-K-I-N-G.”

  Hannah’s mouth dropped open. “I cannot believe you just said that!”

  Lydia thought about it for a moment and nodded. “I can’t either. Can you imagine trying to do it in a tree? Maybe a tree house, but how lame would that be? It would be even lamer than a guy trying to bring you back to a bachelor pad in his parents’ basement.”

  “Where on Earth do you come up with these thoughts?” Caitlin asked as she shook her head. “And why do you voice them?”

  Lydia shrugged.

  “There’s something off about Aiden,” Hannah said, not sure how to explain it.