Elusive Hero Read online

  A vampire submissive. It didn't exist in nature or, if it did, it ranked just below the blinded, three-legged member of the wolf pack. A very brief anomaly, soon to be torn to pieces or turned out to starve to death. Starving would be preferable. Probably.

  Kaela crossed her legs and folded her hands on her knees, refusing to allow either one to shake. Because she wanted to reach into her purse and finger the vellum paper of the invitation once more for empty reassurance, she deliberately didn't. She'd done that enough it should look as worn as the corners of a favorite book. Instead, the cream paper and raised lettering gleamed the way it had when she'd received it. The weight of the paper, its silken smoothness, the faint vanilla scent, made one think the color had come about from the invitation being dipped in actual cream, which enhanced the words written upon it.

  You are cordially invited to spend a week at the Eden resort, where reality is whatever you want it to be.

  Oddly enough, she'd found out about Eden from eavesdropping on a conversation. She'd stopped for an evening coffee at a diner, and had picked up on a discussion three booths over. The woman meeting with a friend was apparently bestselling romance author, Leila Connors. She'd been invited to the Eden resort some time ago for a writer's retreat and not only had tapped into her muse, but even deeper fantasies.

  "I know how insane it sounds, but that's how Sebastian came into my life. It started with the dreams I was having while I was there. It was like, as the book came to life in my head, he came to life...in my life." The woman laughed shortly. "No, I wasn't drinking that much. I'm telling you, there's something about that island. I think if you're invited there, anything you desire--if it's meant to be--could happen."

  Usually Fran did all of Kaela's administrative tasks, but she'd looked up the resort on her own, dumping the cache afterward just to be safe. Even so, a week later an envelope marked for her eyes only arrived via a private delivery service. Fran had passed it to her unopened because it looked official enough to have come from the Council or another overlord.

  The envelope had included the invitation to Eden. While the arrival of the document was astonishing enough, the invitation had included an unsettling note in a bold male script.

  Lady Kaela, I understand your world comes with many demands. I believe Eden can provide you a respite from your current responsibilities and answer your deepest wish. The one you can't share with anyone else. This is my direct line. Please contact me for more information.

  Her title, "Lady Kaela" was associated with the vampire world. She was a made vampire who had achieved overlord status, no small feat, so she was proud of the title. But a human outside the vampire world shouldn't know about it. Plus her street address wasn't common knowledge in the human world, everything coming to her through a post office box.

  I can assure you that you will have complete confidentiality and discretion to pursue whatever desires you have while on Eden. I'm sure you will appreciate the irony that Eden, like your world, does not make public all the ways we can meet our guests' needs. But you'll find my island allows those such as yourself the chance to be at ease...to be who you truly are.

  -Theodosius Vardalos

  According to her Internet research, he was the owner of the island, the mysterious billionaire who granted no interviews and was the brains and money behind the exclusive, by-invitation-only Eden resort.

  The invitation had been accompanied by a small box. Opening it in the privacy of her bedroom, she found it contained a bubble-wrapped crystal sphere. The sphere caught the light of her lamp as she held it up, sparkling rainbow beams across her desk and skin. But the note with it indicated it wasn't for decoration.

  Open the crystal over a bowl. Immerse your hand and then expose it to the sunlight. Only for a moment. The effect doesn't last longer than that away from Eden.

  When she turned the sphere over and over, there was movement inside. Liquid. Opening the side latch to drain the contents into a bowl, she'd inhaled the scent of sandy beaches soaked by sun, something she hadn't experienced in many years. Some sand drifted to the bottom of the bowl.

  Just past dawn she'd tried it, crazy as it sounded. Hidden behind the heavy drapes, she'd slowly extended her drenched hand through the small opening, ready to jerk back at the first touch of burning agony. Her heart had tripped a beat as she felt sunlight touch her flesh and warm it only. He was right; it only lasted a moment. When she started to feel that warning pain she brought it back, stared at her hand, the bowl of water. Then she re-read the whole note.

  I know your desire is not to embrace the sunlight, but far darker desires. However, I am hoping this small demonstration will help you gain confidence that you might find what you seek here.

  Two weeks passed before she called Vardalos. She had plenty of enemies who resented her appointment to the overlord position and would love to trip her up with an elaborate plan like this. However, everything she researched meshed with what he'd sent her, as well as what she'd overheard in that diner.

  On top of that, there was his voice. When he started speaking on the phone line, she was pulled into the sensual timbre. There was command there, power, as well as sorrow and wisdom. This was not a person you fucked with, or who fucked with others. She read people well, and he sounded like a person who knew what it was to fight through adversity simply to exist.

  "Why?" she asked. "Other than the exorbitant price I can afford to pay to come to your island?"

  "While I do appreciate those with the income to help maintain the island, money is not my main purpose for running Eden. You have your secret desires, Lady Kaela. I have mine, and fulfilling the fantasies of others is part of what brings me peace, the closest thing I've found to it. Much as your service to Lady Lyssa does for you. Fair enough?"

  "You know that unmarked humans aren't permitted to know this much about my world. It carries a death sentence."

  "There are exceptions to many things in Eden. You will be safe here, Lady Kaela. That is my solemn vow, and my life surrendered to you if I'm wrong."

  With that voice, the commanding presence he had even over the phone, him surrendering anything to her wasn't the first thing that came to mind. She'd licked her lips, a nervous movement, and battled back the reactions surging inside her in an alarming manner.

  The pilot's raised voice drew her from her thoughts, returning her to the present. "My lady, we're approaching the island. It's quite something at night. Well, anytime, but I especially like the night approach."

  Kaela leaned forward to gaze out the window, her fingers tightening on her knees.

  The castle was an uneven pyramid of glittering lights that expanded in reflection against the dark waters surrounding the island. It was the crown on a vast and hilly terrain that sloped down to the sea on all sides. With her vampire eyes, she could see even more detail as the plane started its descent. Tall spires, stone pathways. It had a few modifications, but overall it was the type of castle she'd seen in Ireland on her travels. The information about the island had confirmed that. Theodosius Vardalos had had the castle transported here, piece by piece.

  It was the type of place a person with dark desires might never want to leave, because it might hold the answer to them. She suspected not everyone felt like that, trying to reconcile a place built for defense and long battles in tropical resort surroundings. But it underscored light against dark, the key difference between want and need. To get the most out of what you wanted, you had to have what you needed first.

  As the plane landed on the water and taxied toward the land, she saw a wooden dock sculpted in a zigzag path up to the mainland, as well as a gold plated sign mounted on an outcropping of rock. Welcome to Eden, where reality is what you want it to be.

  Want versus need. It was truly dangerous for her to be here. What she wanted was something she'd never even said aloud, but Theodosius Vardalos had.

  During that phone call, she'd asked a second question, though she'd not intended for it to leave her lips. "You
said you thought you might have what I seek there. What exactly do you think I'm seeking?"

  "This is a secure line, so there's no need to be alarmed by me speaking the truth. You are something incredibly unique in your world, Lady Kaela. A vampire submissive who craves a human Master's hand. While you are at Eden, you can have that fantasy."

  She'd hung up on him as if the phone had grown tentacles to reach out and strangle her. She'd even found herself all the way across the room, staring at it.

  The one rule in the vampire world that never changed was "might made right". She had been satisfied being just one vampire in a territory, paying feudal tithes to its overlord as part of her business costs, but the overlord had overstepped his authority in a variety of brutal, unacceptable ways. It had been second nature to her, trying to protect other vampires as best she could, and then fortunately the Vampire Council had removed him. Kaela had waited like the others with the hope of a better overlord being appointed, then Lady Lyssa had summoned her to fly to Georgia and stand in her presence.

  "Kaela, you took exceptional measures to protect others from Graham's misbehavior. Ten of the most influential vampires in your territory agree you would make a suitable temporary overlord. We agree. Should you be able to hold the position a year favorably, then it would become permanent." While Kaela was dealing with the shock of that, Lyssa had met her gaze. The last royal member of the Far East clan had jade eyes as piercing as the tip of a spear. "Settling things in your territory will not be easy. Should lethal measures be necessary, you have our permission to circumvent the usual approval process. You will contact my direct line, make your case, and I will endorse your decision during that call, if warranted. Should it have to be after the fact," those jade eyes glittered, "make sure your case is well supported."

  Soon after, Kaela had held a gathering of her territory vampires at her home, a meet-and-greet-the-new-overlord sort of gesture. While the vampires she'd protected were clearly supportive, her purpose had been to determine who was going to be a problem. Peter Ailsworth, a vampire a hundred and fifty years old, had been the first to challenge her. When she'd taken him to the ground, she was willing to grant mercy, but he'd kept fighting. So she'd staked him and instructed two of the watching vampires to burn the body. She'd gone to her bedroom, thrown up and cried. Then returned to the dining room to share dinner with the remaining vampires and view sexual entertainment performed by their servants.

  Just a normal day in the vampire world. Except for the throwing up and crying. She doubted Lady Lyssa had ever done either of those things. If a vampire showed weakness or surrender, she might as well just accept being the slave of other vampires for all her long, long life. Yes, there was a hierarchy among vampires, and there were plenty of vampires stronger than she was, but she'd learned how to play the game to demand the proper amount of respect and carve out her boundaries.

  She hadn't called Vardalos back that night. Or for weeks afterward. She'd hung that crystal sphere in her window, thought about the way the sunlight would sparkle through it during the daylight hours when she couldn't see it. But at night she'd hold it up in front of a lamp and let it spin, watching it until it hypnotized her with all the possibilities it represented. At the end of week five, she'd sent back the RSVP in the envelope, indicating the dates she would be coming. Within three days, she received another "for your eyes only" missive that gave her the travel arrangements and the plane ticket from Miami to the island that Fran didn't know about. So here she was.

  Worst case scenario, she'd have a vacation on an island paradise that offered every amenity. Spas, casino, five star restaurants, breathtaking views from many winding hiking paths... The booklet about the island's offerings was nearly fifty pages. On the last page it indicated what Vardalos had. These are only some of the pleasures Eden can offer you. We invite you to come explore the ones that are right for you.

  Around the middle of the brochure, the sexual amenities were discussed. Club Sin was a fully equipped and staffed BDSM club inside the castle. There was also a section of the island for 24/7 Dom/sub play in an open air environment that included pools, gardens, wait staff to bring around drinks, hors d'oeuvres, toys...

  She imagined herself there, the touch of the night air on her body, naked because that was the way her Master wanted to display her. His strong, capable hand would rest on the small of her back. The silver collar around her throat would pull against her jugular when he tugged at the attached leash. He'd bid her kneel at his feet as he ordered a drink and watched the others play around them. Sliding the toe of his shoe beneath her buttocks, he'd press the hard leather against her pussy, chide her for how wet she was, making the surface of the shoe shine with her shameless arousal.

  The hunger that rose inside her at the image was the same hunger that populated her world. Not in vampires but in their servants, offering up their submissive desires to their fanged Masters and Mistresses. She saw it so often, those feelings should seem banal, stereotypical to her. Instead, every drop of their desire she witnessed was a hazardous addiction.

  As if that wasn't insane enough, she was surrounded by male vampires who were all sexual Dominants. The trait was a given for all vampires, male or female, an unmistakable part of their genetic makeup. Because of that, male vampires had always provided a temptation she knew was a death trap with her name written on it. She'd shut herself down to it years ago, erecting a wall so thick and strong none of it reached her vulnerable core. That--in addition to the possible need to kill him--was part of what had made her immune to Greg's self-perceived charms.

  Yet even when she fantasized in the early dawn hours before sleep claimed her, it wasn't a vampire master she desired.

  It was a human one.

  A human male for whom sexual Dominance was about mutual pleasure, not political gain or a chance to declare open season on her vulnerabilities. If any vampire knew she harbored an abiding desire to be restrained, forced to submit, all choices taken away so she could serve the pleasure of a Master, she'd stake herself rather than face the horror her life would become. The kind of mastery she hungered to have had nothing in common with the brutal domination vampires imposed in their political machinations upon one another.

  Because of that, a vampire's closest relationship--though none would admit it--was with their third marked human servant, because in their world that was often the only person a vampire could fully trust. But Kaela expected vampires believed that was because they also fully controlled their servants.

  Yet not all servants were natural submissives. Lyssa's own servant, Jacob, might well emerge as a Dominant if he wasn't bound to the vampire queen, for she'd sensed that vibe from him more than once. But his desire to serve his queen overrode everything, a delicious dichotomy.

  Knowing her preferences, Kaela had deliberately requested a female InhServ, grateful Lyssa gave her that choice. How dangerous would it have been for her, if Lyssa had assigned her a male InhServ who had a personality like Jacob? He'd have certainly sensed her desire for a Master during those ten years, no matter how much she'd kept her desires locked away.

  Yet Fran came with her own hazards. Giving a submissive servant to a submissive vampire? It would be amusing if it wasn't so fraught with peril. How often had she had to check her actions because she found herself trying to make sure Fran was happy in ways that would clearly indicate she was trying to serve her InhServ, as much as Fran was trying to do the same for her?

  She was a freak of nature. This was madness. A mad desire she could no longer contain. For over a century and three-quarters, she'd been everything she needed to be, not only to survive but to thrive. She took nothing for herself, even though it appeared she'd acquired everything a vampire could want. Reputation, respect, even fear, God help her. But all she wanted was the bliss of...surrender.

  Perhaps it would be easier if she hadn't once had the pleasure of surrender. A long, long time ago, when she was human. With Jared.

  The plane bumped the d
ock, jolting that thought out of the forefront of her mind. Two men in khaki shorts and black polo shirts bearing the Eden logo were hooking lines to the plane. Joely twisted around. "Ma'am? You're free to disembark. The porters will get your luggage."

  Kaela remained seated. She could tell Joely to turn around, take her back. They'd make it before sunrise. She knew places she could go to ground in Miami until sunset, when she could take a plane back to California.

  Instead, she rose at last and made her way past the other sets of seats to that opening.

  The two men offered their hands to help her safely to the dock. While she didn't need any assistance balancing, and they wouldn't know she was a vampire overlord, she knew what kind of behavior was expected from someone with her demeanor, her obvious aura of authority and importance. She always knew what was expected. Giving them a cursory nod after she was firmly on the dock, she left them to deal with her two suitcases. She held onto the carry-on which had a couple of blood packs on ice, just in case.

  She was aware of their lingering gazes. She'd been a beautiful mortal, which had helped her be a successful spy. Becoming a vampire had only enhanced that beauty. Now when people saw her, they saw long red hair rippling like silk to her narrow waist, pale skin like cream and a body made for pleasure. If they looked into her oddly vibrant golden-brown eyes, which were rimmed with a dark ring around the iris and fringed with reddish-gold lashes, they lost their tongues entirely. But their lust, their mindless reaction that could drive them to their knees before her, wasn't what she wanted.

  Then she saw what she did.

  Chapter Two

  A half-moon scattered lightning bolt patterns along the water lapping against the dock. As her gaze followed the wooden boards with the same zigzagging path to the shore, she saw a man standing at the end. Even with her enhanced senses, she couldn't penetrate the darkness to see his face, as if the island intended to cloak him, intrigue her, make her want to draw closer. She moved silently by instinct, despite her usual caution about revealing her vampire nature among humans. But Vardalos knew what she was, didn't he? Everything about this place suggested it held so many secrets, one vampire was going to be a drop in the bucket.