Donald: Dalton’s Kiss: Vampire Paranormal Romance (Dalton's Kiss Book 3), Kathi Barton [8 ebook reader .txt] 📗

they might know about Parker. I think his name was associated with a kiss that was raided some years ago that was killing humans for the pleasure of it.”

“That would be him. And in the event you aren’t aware of it yet, I’m the one that reported them to the council. To be honest with you, I had no idea anything had been done to it until just this morning when I was speaking to Gwyneth. She told me that Bancroft hadn’t done anything then, as he wasn’t the lord of the vampires.” Don asked her how she’d found the kiss. “I used to work for the council finding nests—what I was told they were called—for them to clean them out. I did wonder what had happened to the men that would ask for help. I guess Lord Vampire is in charge of it now.”

“He is. But I’m betting that if asked, he had no idea that you were helping them out. It seemed to me and a great many others that they were only out for the profit of having their jobs. Robbing from other vamps.” She looked at him and told him what she’d found out. “Ah, so they would call you to find them then clean them out. Of not just vampires, but the things they had stashed away too. That sounds like them.”

“Should I offer him my services? I mean, it’s not that hard to figure out once you know what you’re looking for.” He asked her how she knew it was a nest. “I can see them going in and out of the building at certain times of the day. But there are no heat signatures around them unless they’d just fed. Which, it occurred to me just now, wasn’t all that often. What does that mean?”

“It could have been because they were old. But I’m doubting that. Older vampires, like me and Bancroft, have been around long enough to know that nests aren’t the way to go. They’ll get you killed faster than anything.” She looked out across the yard. “I’m sure that you asking to help Bancroft will be something he’d like. He’s new to this lord stuff, but you can bet he is really good at it.”

“I’m supposed to offer you a faerie.” Don asked her why she thought he’d need one. Not that he was turning her down, but why. “About ten years ago, just after my sister’s husband died, I was grieving in private. I didn’t much like Robert—I thought him incredibly lazy. But Pfeiffer loved him and his children. So I tolerated him. Anyway, while I was hiding out, I came across something I didn’t understand. It was a woman that was fading in and out of focus. I got closer to her, just to see if my eyesight was going when she turned to me. She was bleeding badly from a wound at her throat. I didn’t even take a second to consider the consequences of my actions and offered my wrist to her. Then I hid her out in the building I owned and kept an eye on her.”

“The faerie queen, I’m guessing.” She nodded at him without looking in his direction. “She was gone from her castle for about a week when it happened if I remember correctly. No one knew where she’d gone, and some were worried she’d been harmed. However, when she returned, she never told anyone what had transpired, but she was a good deal more cautious after that. I’m assuming she repaid you in some way that pissed you off.”

“Yes. I won’t even ask you how you knew that. But she did repay me with magic. A good deal of it, as a matter of fact. And she gifted me Cody, who has been with me since. We’re good for each other.” He asked her if that was why he needed a faerie too. “I was speaking to her a little while ago. She comes to see me when she feels the earth move. I guess it did when you were holding me down.”

“I felt it. Did you?” She told him she might have been too pissed off to have noticed. “Does she want to see me?”

“She’s here now. And she told me she knows you and the other vampires already.” He nodded, and when the wind picked up a little and small sparkles of light began to curl around like a small air eddy, he stood up and got down on one knee. “You do know what you’re doing is going to piss her off, don’t you?”

“Yes. He knows.” He glanced up at Melisandre when she spoke. “Get up, you old fool, before I put a hex on you that will make it so you never will be able to satisfy your new mate.”

“You don’t have to worry about that one. I’ll do it if he gets the least bit frisky with me.” Melisandre sat down on one of the chairs, and so did Don. “I was just telling him how you were hurt.”

“I’m sure she played down her part in saving me a great deal. What did she say that she found me and gave me some blood? That would be like her to do that. However, I was there, and I know she not only found me, but she found me with several men who thought it would be a good deal of sport to rape me. I didn’t have the strength to fight them off, as I had only just made the flowers for spring open. It took a great deal out of me. She not only killed all six of them but also made sure I was put in a safe place to rest. Six men, without so much as a weapon to her name but her wits.” Melisandre looked at CJ. “She has been gifted with magic, Don, but she’s never used any of it. A great deal of it was given to her by many