Gone with the Monster: Monsters in Hollywood, Book 3 Read online

  Henry shrugged and Michael fished around for a copy of Maxim. “She asked you on a date, that usually means sex.”

  Luke’s stomach knotted with anxiety. “I’ve never had sex with a human woman before. What do I do?”

  “Don’t look at me, I’ve never had sex with a human either, though she shouldn’t be that different from a succubus, they’re all cut from the same cloth,” Henry added.

  “Yeah, but there’s thousands of years of evolution in between.” Luke looked anxiously to Michael, who was ripping sex-tip articles out of magazines.

  “Here,” Michael shoved a handful of articles at Luke, “read these on the way.”

  The top article was titled: “Make Friends with the Little Man in the Boat”.

  “Thanks, Michael.” Folding the papers, Luke stuffed them into his pocket, nodded to Henry, and headed out the door. He had a half-hour walk before he reached a road with a payphone where a cab could pick him up. One of the problems with squatting in an abandoned warehouse in the Port of L.A. was the lack of easy transportation. He kept the pace light, having discovered that human bodies sweat, and it was not considered attractive. After all of his careful work obtaining this outfit, the last thing he wanted to do was ruin it.

  The crunch of papers in his pocket as he walked brought Luke’s mind around to the possibility of what could happen tonight. Lena. He tested the name out, liking the way it rolled over his tongue.

  Thinking back on the meeting, Luke admitted he liked everything about Lena. Her hair was a pretty, soft brown. It had been pushed back behind her shoulders, so the sides framed her face. Soft lips, tinted pink, a straight nose and sky blue eyes completed her face. There was something about the set of her mouth, as if she were constantly flirting with a smile.

  He’d had only a brief glimpse of her body when she rose at the end of the meeting. She was slender, a long cool line from shoulder to hip. The dark-colored skirt and fitted off-the-shoulder sweater set off her creamy, pale skin and exposed delicate collarbones. He mentally stripped away the clothes, imagining her soft white flesh exposed and vulnerable, waiting for him. Luke closed his eyes for a moment as desire danced through his bloodstream. It had been too long since he touched a female, and touching Lena would be more than touching just any female. She would be his first human.

  Ducking through a hole in the fence, Luke started down the access road to the payphone.

  An hour later Luke slipped into a booth across from Lena. It was eight fifteen, and he was late.

  “Lena, I’m sorry, there was traffic.”

  “That’s no problem, I’m glad you were able to make it.” Lena raised a glass of pale gold liquid to her lips. She’d smiled when he sat down, but the smile did not reach her eyes. If he had to guess, Luke would say she was mad.

  The waiter popped up next to his elbow, and Luke ordered tequila on the rocks. The waiter moved away, and Luke turned to see Lena’s raised eyebrows.

  “Tequila?” she asked.

  Luke had no idea what was wrong with ordering tequila. The other places he’d eaten had been fine with that.

  “Is tequila a…poor choice?” Flustered and anxious, Luke nervously smoothed the front of his shirt. His bangs had fallen into his eye, so Luke scooped them to the side, hoping his hair still looked like the picture he’d modeled it after.

  His anxious fussing seemed to amuse Lena, and she smiled, though it was a soft thing, without malice. “Tequila is a fine choice. So where were you coming from that you got stuck in traffic?”

  “Uh, near the port.”

  “The Port of L.A.? That is quite a drive, I’m sorry, if you’d told me I could have picked someplace closer to you.”

  “Oh no, this is fine. I’ve never been here, and I like trying new restaurants.”

  “Me too. I’m such a foodie. Where have you tried lately?”

  Luke looked around the maroon and brown interior of Lawry’s, each table set with linen and silver. No place he’d tried was anything like this. Most restaurant ventures started and ended with recommendations from cabbies.

  “Well, uh, nothing quite this fancy, but there was this taco place, in the valley…”

  “Hugo’s?”

  “Oh, uh, yeah.”

  “I love Hugo’s. What combination did you try?”

  Luke stared at Lena, wondering if she were laughing at him, but her interest and excitement seemed genuine. It was hard to imagine the brunette beauty, who looked edible in dark blue, hair loose in soft waves over her shoulders, standing outside the small taco hut, munching on a burrito as juice dripped down her chin.

  Luke tentatively relayed his menu choices, and Lena offered him a few suggestions. The conversation continued, and quickly focused on hole-in-the-wall cheap food. Luke’s puzzlement was soon replaced by delight as Lena revealed that she was just as willing to eat at the cheap places as the expensive ones. The few other people he’d met who worked in movies, or “the industry” as they all called it, had only talked about whom they’d seen at the latest posh restaurants.

  They covered Mexican and pizza, Chinese and Korean BBQ. Without thinking, Luke admitted that he’d never had three a.m. delivery of Thai food, as no Thai place would deliver to them. Lena blinked and sat back in her chair, apparently baffled by the idea of a locale outside Thai delivery. Luke held his breath, wondering if she would press him for details about where he lived, but Lena finally muttered, “Well, I guess you are in South Bay,” and the moment passed.

  Their salads arrived, and Luke carefully stabbed a forkful and brought it to his mouth. There was some shredded red thing amid the candied nuts and tangy cheese that tasted foul, but he kept chewing. Lena was carefully pushing the red stuff off to the side. When she noticed he was watching, she smiled ruefully.

  “I know, I know, I’m a complete philistine, but I hate beets.”

  Luke looked down at his own bowl and started pushing his off to the side. Beets. He made a mental note to avoid those in the future. “I don’t like them either, but I didn’t know if it would be appropriate to remove them.”

  “I promise not to tell on you, if you don’t tell on me. It’ll be our secret.” Lena smiled again, and this time there was something else in the smile, something a bit naughty, as if the word “secret” implied things he couldn’t even guess at.

  They made it through salads and the start of entrees before the conversation turned to business matters.

  “So, Luke, can you tell me a little bit about what you’re looking for?”

  This time, the creature under the basement is real. And dead sexy.

  Phantom Desires

  © 2009 Bianca D’Arc

  Brotherhood of Blood, Book 3

  Computer expert Carly is tired, burned out and ready to downgrade her hectic lifestyle to something simpler. Her solution—pull up stakes and move to an old farm house in the middle of Wyoming. Her new house is full of old-time charm, and it comes with an unexpected surprise. Dmitri Belakov.

  Dmitri, a Master Vampire, had an agreement with the former owners of the house to let him live peacefully beneath it in his hidden lair. Now there’s a new owner, and he may have to risk revealing his presence to negotiate a new contract. He moves cautiously because if she won’t deal, he’ll have to kill her once she knows his secret. Carly’s mind is unusually hard to influence, but he makes inroads when she is asleep.

  Their shared dreams are more erotic than he ever expected, firing a hunger within him to know her feel and taste in the flesh. But doing so risks far too much. Even if Carly can’t deny the attraction arcing between them, loving him will force her to make a choice. An eternity in darkness with him—or life in the sun without him.

  This book has been previously published and has been substantially revised and expanded from its original release.

  Enjoy the following excerpt for Phantom Desires:

  On Friday night, after sleeping undisturbed for a week, a vivid dream once again assailed her. She was in a bedroom filled
with lit candles, the spicy aroma of scented wax wafting sensually throughout the room. A strange man leaned over her naked body, caressing her with his eyes, followed by his strong, masculine hands.

  “Bella, your skin is like warm satin.” His words whispered over her, thick with an accent she couldn’t place.

  The stranger was handsome. Perhaps the most handsome man she had ever seen, but she knew this more from impressions than any real vision of his face. It was nighttime in the dream and shadows from the tiny flickering flames played about his angular features like a lover’s touch.

  He had a foreign air about him, from the cut of his shadowy hair to the thickness of his accented whisper. He watched her with a fiery hunger, and he was one with the darkness. Strangely, he seemed to know her, though she’d never seen him before in her life. She would have remembered him. Of that she was sure.

  “Carmelita Valandro, you are a siren sent to tempt me.” His whispers worked their way down her spine as his breath licked over her skin. He knew her full name. Nobody called her that anymore. How did he know?

  “Your body is ripe and womanly, made to take mine.” He praised her as his fingers delved between her legs, touching, torturing with pleasure. His lips moved down her body with leisurely deliberation, his teeth dragging at her skin, making her shiver with excitement. Slowly he repositioned her limbs, settling like a master between her legs, gazing his fill at her swollen folds as his hands drew nearer to her core, spreading her open for his touch.

  His fingers were blunt tipped, long and thick. One speared into her, drawing a cry from her lips in the dream. She was ready for him and the feeling of his possession was like nothing she’d ever felt before. He knew her body and just how to play it. Like a master violinist with a Stradivarius.

  He added another finger, twisting his hand like a corkscrew, using the blunt tips to arouse places within her she hadn’t known existed. She whimpered in the dream, wanting more. He chuckled—a dark sound in the haze of the dreamplane.

  “So responsive.” His voice dripped with approval and made her even hotter. “I’m going to enjoy fucking you, Carmelita.”

  His harsh words made her jump. Dirty talk had never been this exciting, but this stranger made her want…so much.

  “I will fuck you until you scream, little one. Then I will drink of you and fill you with my seed.”

  She could picture it as his fingers danced within her, stoking an intense fire in her body. She wanted it. She wanted to be possessed—fucked, as he so crudely put it—by this man, this shadow in the night.

  “But first I want to taste you. I bet you’re as sweet as cream and twice as addictive.” His face loomed closer out of the darkness. A devilish smile graced his masculine lips and a sparkle twinkled in his dark eyes as he removed his fingers. She wanted to protest, but he moved closer, stilling her with his strong hands.

  Leaning forward into the V of her legs, he gave her the most intimate kiss of all. His hot tongue slid inside her, a warm, wet invasion. Nothing had ever felt so good before. She convulsed in the dream and in reality with a gasping cry.

  Shocked to wakefulness by a burst of pleasure so intense she’d never experienced anything like it in real life, Carly remembered the moment his tongue had touched her. The shock of it still coursed through her. It was familiar, yet as foreign as he was.

  The feel of that unprecedented dream haunted her all day as she went about her chores, shopping, cleaning and putting the old farmhouse to rights. It puzzled her, excited her and heated her blood. But it made no sense.

  Carly had been fondled by men before. She’d dated more than a few men in her life, but she had never once felt the instant flame of response her dream man had elicited. The echoes of the dream made her feel empty and that bothered her. Those few moments of dreamtime made her ache with longing for something she doubted she would ever find in the real world.

  And it was just pitiful that the most exciting her love life had been lately were some vivid dreams. She was fast approaching spinsterhood, with no social life to speak of, but a very healthy bank balance due to her own hard work. She’d needed a change and moving out here to the middle of nowhere was the first step.

  She could write the custom code for her computer software anywhere, so why not the wilds of Wyoming? She had a contract with one of the colleges near Laramie and a sturdy SUV to get her there when it snowed. She’d bought the old farmhouse on a whim, but it suited her.

  She had her work and lots of quiet and open spaces in which to do it. She had her friends too. Earlier this year, she’d gone to Lissa’s wedding in California. Her old college friend had found a hunk of a man who owned a vineyard and together they seemed happier than anyone had a right to be. The old study group had stayed close all these years and she spoke on the phone with Kelly and Lissa often, now that Kelly had gone to work for Lissa and her new husband at their vineyard.

  Work kept Carly busy, even on this isolated job. Once a week or so, she would meet with staff at the college. She also had to go down to the campus more frequently to test, observe and fix any glitches that came up. It was a challenging job and one she enjoyed.

  Up until a few months ago, she would have been overseeing several of these installations at once. Now she was delegating the other installations and overseeing just this one, which was the most complex her little company had on the table.

  Professor Dmitri Belakov watched the small woman race from her car. The sky had darkened sufficiently but still held that just-after-sunset glow he loved. Dmitri had checked the installation schedule and knew tonight the young computer programmer would be performing a key part of the installation process that would take her most of the night. It was his perfect opportunity.

  First, he would teach his evening course in history, then casually drop by the administration building where his office was located. It was also where the sexy woman would be working, probably until dawn. He would meet her then.

  She would never know he had been watching her in her new home for weeks, biding his time for the opportunity to meet her legitimately and put her under his spell. If such a thing was possible. This woman seemed to be immune from his more subtle abilities to an almost alarming degree. She had even caught him as he watched her sleep that first night. It was all he could do to overpower her strong mind and lull her back into a dreamless sleep.

  She also had the disturbing ability to see him in her dreams. Several times, he had found his consciousness seduced into her dream. Each time, he was able to extricate himself only after some difficulty, leaving her none the wiser.

  Except that one time.

  In that particularly hot dream they had shared, he’d pushed her too far. He had wanted so badly to taste her—even if it was only in a dream. He’d brought her to a screaming orgasm with surprisingly little effort. The wave of pleasure had jolted her out of the dream before he could pull back and mask his presence. She had seen him that night, without a doubt.

  But she was so sweet. He wanted to taste her in truth and perhaps he would, but first he had to work on seducing her mind.

  Not even the Goddess can save him…but maybe love can.

  Twilight Guardian

  © 2009 R. G. Alexander

  A Children of the Goddess Story

  A Sariel guard, Kit has spent centuries fulfilling his people’s oath to protect the Trueblood Clan. Not Vampire, not Were, and certainly not human, Kit is something altogether…different. And when he is called back home to honor his obligations one last time, he can do none other than obey.

  Jesse experiences life behind the lens of a camera. The only time she truly lives is in her dreams. For years she’s imagined a world filled with werewolves, vampires, magic. And him. When she realizes that not only is her dream world real, but the giant of her fantasies is in danger, she’ll have to jump in with both feet, and trust her heart. In Kit’s arms, she learns love is as infinite as time.

  But so is a bitter god’s thirst for vengeance.
r />   After a thousand years of duty, Jesse’s love is a gift from the Goddess. But for Kit, it might have come too late…

  Enjoy the following excerpt for Twilight Guardian:

  “Do you trust me, angel?”

  There was no hesitation. “Yes.”

  “That’s good. That’s good because I’m not sure I trust me, not when it comes to you. I have to remind myself that you’re human, fragile. Have to resist my instincts to take you as hard and deep as I’m dying to. To do all that I want to do to you. With you.”

  Her clit was throbbing at his words. “Don’t. Don’t hold back, please. I trust you. I can take anything you can dish out. I want it.”

  Kit’s lips tilted in that sexy almost-smile that drove her crazy. “I was hoping you’d say that. Max? I think my Jesse just invited you inside.”

  Max? Jesse felt her jaw drop, covering her breasts with her hands as she squinted across the room. He was there, standing so still she couldn’t tell if he was breathing. “Kit?”

  Kit knelt in the pool at her feet, but she still had to tilt her head to meet his gaze. “I trust Max with my life. More importantly, I trust him with yours.” His features tightened with lust and something else. Concern.

  “I’ve asked him to watch over you when I can’t. It is not a simple request, given our code, his position with the guard.”

  Jesse bit her lip. “I’m confused. Is he going to…are we all…?”

  “No, sarasvatti. You are mine. I’m not sure I could share you with anyone. Max knows that. It is an old tradition of my people. When a warrior goes into a battle he may not survive, he chooses a proxy, a guardian whom he trusts to protect what he cherishes the most. I want Max to watch you take your pleasure. I want him to see how beautiful you are, how special. He needs to understand how important you are to me, so that he will protect you when I no longer can.”

  She could hear the sincerity in his voice. The intensity. She flicked a nervous glance toward Kit’s cousin. He was staring at his feet, unmoving. Waiting for her to decide.

  It struck her how many times she’d been in Max’s position. Watching from a distance as other people reveled in their passions. She was embarrassed to admit how often she’d been aroused as she snapped her illicit photographs, how exciting it was to be the observer.