Bitten (A Club Blood Erotic Short #1) Read online

  Bitten

  (A Club Blood Erotic Short Book One)

  by

  Nicole Garcia

  © 2014 Nicole Garcia

  Cover Design: Dawn Sullivan

  Editor: Patty Hanson

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  License Notes

  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 recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.

  Dedication

  This book is dedicated to those who always find the good in others. To those who are willing to go out on a limb and extend a branch of kindness when no one else has and be a friend without conditions or judgement.

  Acknowledgements

  To my best friend and critique partner Dawn Sullivan. Your support and encouragement mean the world to me. I love you.

  To Patty Hanson, my proof-reader, I greatly appreciate all the hard work you put into making my work my own vision. I can’t thank you enough for all the countless hours spent on helping me revise this book.

  To my author friends and who are always there when I have a question or need any advice. Claudy Conn, Melanie James, Tina Folsom, Krystal Shannan, CL Pardington, Lily Ann Johnson, and Ellie Keys, your friendship and reading your books keep me motivated.

  A huge thank you to my beta group for taking time out of your busy schedules to help me. Rosemary Hendry, Betty Olsen, Jeannie Platt, Jean Cantor, Jacklynn Sizemore, Lance Smith, Jody Rhoton, Michael Vannoy, Tina Harrison, Ellie Keys, Cherime McFarlane, Shane North, Brandy Davis-Moss, Sydney Hopke, Alice Smith, Anna Salamatin, Roseanna Elleman, Jamie Rushly, and Felicia Wright.

  I would like to take this time to thank my wonderful street team Nicole’s Naughty Nymphs & Satyrs for their continued support and all the hard work they put into helping me share my work. I love you all to pieces.

  Prequel

  Summer 1889

  The screams could be heard for miles. The blood curdling screams of my kind being eradicated from existence. Marcus had instructed Gia and I to take the others into hiding since we were the only ones strong enough to protect them. I insisted I stay to help him fight against the Hunters, but he wasn't one who could be persuaded easily. In fact, there was no changing his mind once it was set on something. We were running out of options and this was not the time or place to argue.

  Gia and I hurried the others into the abandoned house and guided them quickly down the rickety wooden stairs into the basement. In the dark space was a room that was designed for this very situation. A hidden door that would lead us to the next town, giving us plenty of time to get away.

  I shoved the four women in and gave them instructions where to go and wait for me."Gia, you go with them."

  "I most certainly will not go with them."

  I turned on my heels and grabbed her by the arm. "Yes you will. They need someone to protect them should one of those Hunters find out about this hidden passageway."

  "But Caressa, who is going to help you?"

  "I have Marcus here. Don't worry, I'll be right behind you."

  We gave each other a hard squeeze before Gia went through the door and I closed it behind her. It didn't matter what Marcus said, I was going back out there to help him and the others. I ran up the stairs into the hallway and swung the front door open.

  I froze in the doorway. I couldn't believe what I what I saw. Hunters were everywhere. Fiercely swinging their swords making contact with the weapons of our own kind. The noise was a disharmony of harsh sounds and vicious battle cries. Horses reared and galloped with the wooden carriages still attached to their harnesses. My heart went out to them as they tried to get away from all the chaos. But, this has been a common scene for me over the last two centuries, so that was not what had my feet cemented to the floor. What had me immobile was the sight of one of the Hunters setting Marcus on fire. Even through the darkness of night I could tell it was him. His heart wrenching screams rang in my ears and made me deaf for a brief moment.

  When his lifeless body hit the ground in a heap of smoldering ashes I turned and ran. Back into the basement, back to the hidden door so I could catch up to the others. There was no way I would stand a chance fighting against the Hunters alone. Marcus was gone; it was now up to me to protect the coven.

  Chapter One

  The doors to the club would be opened in less than twenty minutes, so to kill some time, I wiped down the tables with a damp rag. Keira yelled from across the room, beckoning me over to the bar. "Caressa!"

  "What? Is it really necessary to scream? I could hear you perfectly fine even if you were whispering. You're making my ears bleed!"

  Keira glanced around the bar frantically. "We don't have enough tomato juice for the drinks. How can we sell the one drink we have been advertising, if we don't have enough supplies?" At least she lowered her voice that time. I really didn’t want to hear her bitching piled up on top of everything else that had to be done.

  "Will you relax! We have plenty of tomato juice in the back. I didn't want to crowd the shelves under the bar with too many bottles of tomato juice. We do have other drinks to sell besides a Bloody Mary."

  "You're right. I'm sorry. I'm just so hungry. The muscles in my stomach are beginning to spasm involuntarily. I take can't it anymore."

  "I know, but we have to do our best to stay calm. We cannot afford to lose our cool. This club is crucial for our survival; we can't let the humans find out what we really are."

  I walked away from Keira. I sympathized with her, really I did, but I'm the leader here. It's up to me to keep our kind alive and striving. Now was not the time to become soft.

  My stomach was being wrenched all directions. I was thirsty. So very thirsty. Every time I swallowed it felt like sandpaper being forcefully rubbed against the sensitive tissues of my throat. I hadn't had a drink of human blood in days. None of us had. We were becoming more desperate by the minute, forced to feast on the rats and other vermin that crawled along the filthy sewer floors in the back of the club.

  The war between the Hunters and our kind, which had sent us into hiding, had ended over a hundred years ago. We have struggled ever since. There were no more males of our kind left. At least not any that we knew existed. We'd looked for years before we finally gave up. My coven was forced to find a new place to live. We'd had no choice but to cower away in the underground belly of the city and wait for our next meal.

  Money wasn't an issue. Over the hundreds of years we'd lived, there was plenty of it to go around. But, cash was insignificant to us. It was blood we needed to survive. Human blood.

  We had enough money to open an underground night club right here in New York City. Dead smack in the middle of Times Square. The entrance was hidden from view and away from all the glitz, glamour, and lights that shimmered and pushed against the darkness of the night. Only those who were told about the club knew it existed. Our club w
as considered taboo, anyone who wished to indulge in their guilty pleasures would make appearances.

  My sisters and I decided to name the place Club Blood. A less than conspicuous name you might say since we were hiding from the Hunters, but we wanted to be obvious. We wanted our enemies to think that we weren't so dumb as to blatantly advertise ourselves to the public. Promoting our business was a challenge. There were only so many people we could reach out to with the internet since the club was pretty much out of view. Leaving the club was definitely out of question. The sun of the day and the threat of the Hunters, who always lurked around at night, held us captive within the confines of the club. Our only option was to hire a beautiful human employee to hand out our fliers proclaiming our club made the best Bloody Mary on the East Coast.

  We held interviews the day before the club opened, but as soon as we laid eyes on Patience we knew she would be a perfect fit for the position. She was a sweet soft-spoken young woman with long blonde hair and piercing green eyes. Her blood red lipstick applied perfectly to her full pouty lips. She showed up to the interview wearing a simple short black dress. At least we thought it was simple until she turned around. Her entire back was bare which showed off her colorful butterfly tattoos that seemed to flutter gracefully along her perfect creamy white skin when she moved.

  We needed someone appealing like her to entice people into coming to the club. The more humans who attended, the more food we would have to sustain us.

  It was almost time to open the doors to the late night customers. Tonight would be the night I'd finally get to quench my thirst and ease the fiery pit that raged in my empty stomach.

  Chapter Two

  I glanced around the interior of the club, pleased that we had picked the right color for all the furniture and table linens. I had suggested we use maroon. You know, just in case we made a little mess while we fed. Blood wasn't an easy stain to get out of fabric. At least if there was a tiny drop or two that was spilled, it wouldn't be obvious against the color of the new plush couches and lounge chairs. We'd wanted it to be more of an upscale club at first, but it quickly became a place for the young locals to hang out. It was all the buzz, making word of mouth our primary source of advertisement.

  The success of the club was of the utmost importance since there were only six of us left. Six vampire women who struggled together to stay alive. We use the humans only for their blood, we don't kill them. We only take what we must to survive and seduce them to keep them coming back for more. Club Blood is only a facade to hide our kind and our need to feed.

  You may ask why we don't go out at night and feast on the humans. In a big city such as New York, there are more than enough people to feed from. Well, the Hunters prevent us from doing so. Although we are much stronger than they are, they outnumber us, which is why our kind was almost extinct.

  We had no choice but to try to build our numbers before we could come out of hiding. I hoped my nightclub idea would be worth all the pain and suffering my coven has had to endure.

  Patience had distributed all the fliers I had given her this afternoon. It was definitely a perk to have a human employee since we couldn't go out in the sunlight. Hopefully, all our hard work would pay off and we'd never be hungry again.

  As Keira frantically organized the bar for the hundredth time, Gia turned up the music, dimmed the lights, then flicked the switch for the laser lights. Red, blue, and green strobes flashed throughout the dark room. If vampires could get a headache, I would surely get one at this pace. I wasn't the outgoing partying type. All this stimulation was too much for me. I would be quite content to sit in my apartment downstairs to watch television or read a book.

  Gia stomped over to Luna where she sat in the back of the club. Her face was sullen as she sulked in the corner of the maroon colored leather booth. Luna was very different from the rest of us. Yes, she was a vampire, but she was also human. Her father was a magnificent warrior and had protected us all from the Hunters. That was also his downfall. When he fell in love with a human, Luna's mother, all he did was protect them from harm. Eventually the Hunters captured Luna's mother and her father fell right into their trap. Both Luna's parents were killed that night. I have been watching over her ever since.

  Luna was also the only one in our coven who had green eyes. A trait she inherited from her beautiful mother. Our kind only have three eye colors. The older vampires such as myself have clear topaz or crystal blue eyes, and the newer vampires , such as Keira, have jet black eyes.

  Gia grabbed Luna by the arm, yanked her out of the booth and forced her through swinging doors into the kitchen. I understood that she didn't want her to bring the customers down, but it didn't make the way she treated her right. I would have to have a stern word with Gia later after all the customers had gone. I made my way to the front door and saw a long line had already formed on the stairs. Patience pushed her way through the crowd. I opened the door to let her in. She spoke loud enough to be heard over the music. "Jeez, I wasn't expecting this many people to show up."

  "That means you have done your job well. Now, why don't you go on home. Be here tomorrow morning and we can go over some other ideas for promoting the club."

  "Oh, okay. Are you sure you don't need me to stay and help? You guys are going to be swamped."

  I insisted she leave. I didn't want her to stick around in case things got a little messy. I couldn't afford for her to find out what we really were. "Yes, I'm sure. We'll be fine."

  Patience grabbed her sweater that she had hung over the bar and placed it in the crook of her elbow. "Okay, see you tomorrow."

  I waved a goodbye then unlocked the doors to let the customers in. They were all anxious to see the inside of the club, most scrambled right towards the bar to order our famous Blood Mary.

  Gia stepped behind the bar with Keira to give her a hand. Gia flirted with the men that were seated at the bar, her determined piercing blue eyes already set on her first victim of the night. I could see the need in her eyes. I shook my head no as she looked over at me. Her sparkling smile never wavered while she continued to pour drinks for the rowdy crowd.

  Men and women alike were dancing to the music. They took their drinks to the dance floor, which fucking irritated me. Sticky liquid was being spilled all over the dark cherry wood floors. I'm sure it would take me forever to clean all that shit up. But, I couldn't complain. Half the people who came looked as if they were already pretty drunk before they had stepped foot through the doors. They stumbled all over each other on the dance floor. I had to smile, they made it so easy to take advantage of them.

  I asked Keira to pour me a shot of tequila to settle my nerves. I knew it would make me thirstier, but I really didn't care right now. Besides, I would have my fill of blood before the night was over.

  I turned around and bumped into a drunken man, he looked no older than the age I appeared to be. My shot glass crashed to the floor and spilled its contents all over my twenty-five hundred dollar, crystal-encrusted, Christian Louboutin satin sling backs. The discontinued style with red flames flickering against a cream colored mesh background. The shoes I had spent weeks searching on the web for and finally found. Oh, this fucker was going to pay dearly for that. I balanced myself on my dry shoe as I shook the sticky liquid from the other. "Are you fucking crazy?"

  His lustful gaze raked over my body, while his hand reached out and grabbed my ass. "Yeah baby, crazy for you." He leaned in closer as he tried to whisper in my ear. "Let's say we go to the back and I show you how crazy I really am."

  I smiled coyly, took his hand, then lead him to the VIP area where I slid the curtain open. I pulled him in the small room and yanked the curtain closed. As I shoved him against the wall, I ripped his dark blue shirt open. Buttons flew everywhere; the shocked look on his face was priceless.

  He definitely wasn't expecting my aggressive behavior. "Damn baby."

  I gave him a mischievous smile and ran my long red manicured nails over his chest. "You like th
at don't you?"

  "Hell yeah I do."

  His heart beat raced with anticipation. It pumped the blood through his veins like a sweet symphony promising bliss into my ears. I inhaled deeply. I could smell the sweet metallic scent. My fangs descended as I leaned in close to him. I nuzzled his neck, ran my fingers through his short dark hair, then forcefully pulled his head backward to expose the vessel I would feast on. I bit down on him hard without numbing his skin, he deserved to feel every ounce of pain I dealt out for being such a pig to women, and for ruining my favorite pair of shoes.

  I stifled his screams when I pressed my hand over his mouth easily overpowering him. I closed my eyes and reveled in the euphoric feeling as the warm red liquid slid down my dry, parched throat. When I had my fill, I closed the puncture marks with my tongue; he went limp in my arms. I dropped him to the floor without one bit of compassion. He fell in a mangled heap where I quickly wiped his memory. Before I left the room I looked over my shoulder and took one last look at him. "Asshole."

  Chapter Three

  In the last few weeks so many men have come into the club, but none possessed the bravery, courage, or strength we needed in order to change them over to our kind. My sisters and I were in desperate need of soldiers to aid us in our fight against the Hunters. Until then we were too weak in body and in numbers to even fathom making a move on our enemies.

  Both men and women frequented the club. They came to drink, dance, and sometimes have sex. Of course, sex cost extra. These services are nothing but a mere distraction and disguise for what the club really was.

  A few of the other girls like Keira and Gia didn't mind having sex with our customers. Me, on the other hand, refused to give my body to just anyone. As long as my appetite was satiated I was fairly happy. It was looked down upon in our society to have sex with humans. But, since there weren't any more of us left, the girls felt they had no choice.