Eternal Kiss (New Orleans Vampire King)

Chapter One

Lukas

The highball glass shattered in my hand.

I stared at the shards mixed with blood and bourbon.

Blood was my life’s essence, and mine was dripping onto the Persian rug under my desk chair.

I, Lukas Benoit, was one of the deadliest beings in the southeast, but somehow, I had failed my progeny.

Douglas Caan was not only my made child but also my best friend.

Hell, other than my brothers, he was my only friend, but that was by my own design.

Trust didn’t come easy to my kind, and he was the only one I offered mine.

The fact that he and I had been more than boss and employee was a secret no one should have known unless he had slipped.

There was no reason for his death other than to hurt me. I was still reeling from his murder and would be for a long time.

Where Lucifer had his demons, who mostly remained in the underworld, Lillith created a different type of being.

Ones who could roam the earth without being summoned.

As an Ancient, I could create my own kind, though I chose not to do so often.

There were plenty of vampires who had been made, and corralling the bastards was a full-time job.

Jealousy as well as greed for power, money, and territory was rampant.

I had it all in spades, everything except jealousy.

To the made vamps in my territory, I was the boss and had been since I took the southeast from a weak bastard named Constantine more than three hundred years ago.

I did not take kindly to failure, and when it was my own? Unacceptable. I failed Doug, and that was the wakeup call I needed. I had become lax, but no more.

Two brisk knocks rapped on my door before my assistant entered my office. “Hey, Boss. A Daniel Field— What happened?”

Arabella rushed to my side, but I waved her off.

I dropped the glass fragments not embedded in my palm onto the rug, then stood and moved to the bathroom, shoving my hand under cold water. “Finish what you were going to tell me.”

“Daniel Fielding, an attorney, left a message for you regarding The Limelight.”

I glanced over my shoulder, narrowing my eyes. Anyone else would shrink at my anger, but Arabella had been with me for almost forty years. She was used to my snarls and sharp tongue. “What about it?”

On paper, Doug had purchased the club from me, but in truth, I had gifted The Limelight, New Orleans’ premier jazz club, to him. Even though he had owned the joint, he spent most nights playing saxophone until the early morning hours, garnering a huge following.

“Mr. Fielding contacted Mr. Caan’s next of kin, requesting her presence for the reading of the will.”

I turned off the water and began extracting glass from my palm before the skin had a chance to heal around it. Doug’s next of kin was a daughter he’d left behind when I turned him. He disappeared from her life, so it would be interesting to see how she handled the news that she now owned The Limelight as well as his house in the Garden District and a shit-ton of money. Not the billions I had acquired but enough that she was set for life.

“Did he say when he expects her?”

I rinsed my hand again. While drying it, I turned to Arabella, waiting for an answer.

“She’s already in town. Their appointment is tomorrow morning. He was calling to see if you could meet her at the club this afternoon. He left her contact information in the message.”

“Very well. Call Dinah and ask her to meet me there at two.”

It was Arabella’s turn to frown. “You know her name?”

Fuck. I needed to get my shit together. It wasn’t like me to slip up, even in front of my assistant. Especially in front of her. I had made the mistake of fucking her many years ago, and even though I made it clear it was a one-time deal, she often hinted at us being something more. I’d never considered taking a queen. Even if I had, it wouldn’t be her. Maybe it was time to get a new assistant.

“Of course I know her name,”

I hissed. “I learn everything about a person before I turn them, or have you forgotten?”

Arabella inclined her head. “My apologies, Boss. I’ll call Miss Caan now.”

Stopping at the door, she pointed to the rug. “Would you like me to take care of that?”

“No. I’ll handle it. I have calls to make, so do not disturb me again.”

I wouldn’t allow anyone to have access to my blood, even if it was a few drops, especially in a city where magic was practiced on the regular.

Once Arabella closed the door behind her, I moved my chair and pulled the rug away from my desk, rolling it up.

One benefit of being wealthy was owning numerous businesses around the city, one of which was a funeral parlor equipped with a crematory in the basement.

It came in handy for burning rugs containing my blood or humans who needed to disappear.

My office was housed on the top floor of a specially-designed building where vamps lived in apartments on the floors beneath.

Although I used a secret exit only I knew about, I glamoured myself.

None of my coven knew I was an Ancient, nor that I could compel them as well as I could a human.

It was why Arabella didn’t question how I was able to meet Dinah during the day.

Since I had a couple of hours before meeting with Dinah, I made the funeral parlor my first stop.

I used my key and entered the basement where I burned the rug myself.

Once that task was completed, I drove to the Quarter and parked at one of the many houses I owned.

Then I strolled the busy sidewalks, stopping for a cup of chicory coffee.

Unlike a made vamp, I could eat and drink human food.

I could walk in the daylight.

I couldn’t be killed by a stake, wooden or otherwise.

A bullet to the heart did nothing more than piss me off because it ruined the bespoke suit I wore like armor.

There was only one way to permanently end an Ancient, and that was to take my head.

The only ones alive, or undead, who knew this were other Ancients unless said Ancients had shared, which would be beyond foolish.

We didn’t live forever if we couldn’t keep our mouths shut, and I knew my brothers well. They were as tight-lipped as I was.

I could create vampires, but I couldn’t bestow them with my gifts.

It’s why Doug was dead.

Permanently.

Per his wishes, I had gathered his ashes that now resided in a gilded urn engraved with a saxophone.

He had been killed with a wooden stake made from a baobab tree, which was ironic considering it was referred to as the tree of life.

That was another reason I was pissed.

Where the fuck would a local vamp get the sacred wood? My mind had been in turmoil ever since I found Doug’s ashes amid the clothes he'd worn that night.

It was one reason I walked the streets of my city glamoured.

I visited every haunt of my coven.

I eavesdropped on whispered conversations.

I followed at night as they hunted their next meal. Eight days later, and I was no closer to finding the killer.

As I neared the club, I moved out of the way of pedestrians.

Humans could be rude if you stopped for no apparently good reason.

Little did they know I could end them with a word.

Some days, I was tempted.

I wanted to get a look at Doug’s daughter before introducing myself.

Another of his wishes was that if anything happened to him, all his assets went to her.

Lillith knew I didn’t need the club or his house or his money, but handing it all over to the child he hadn’t seen in over twenty years was going to be a pain in my ass.

Back when I gifted The Limelight to Doug, I needed something to fill my time, so I acted as manager, changing my name and appearance every decade or so.

Another of Doug’s wishes was for me to remain in that capacity if Dinah decided to keep the club instead of selling it.

I would do anything for him, so I agreed.

I approached wearing the glamour of Luke Bennett, manager. Yes, it was close to my true name, but reinventing myself was also a pain in the ass. My tailor-made suit appeared as one off-the-rack. My perfectly styled hair was now messy, and my sharp facial features were somewhat rounded and mundane. A woman stood at the door, reading the sign that stated we were closed until further notice, and I devoured her from head to toe.

There was no way this was Doug’s daughter. Lillith wouldn’t be so cruel.

“Dinah?”

She turned at her name. The creature in front of me was a fucking goddess. Long dark hair. Curves for days. Full lips. Bedroom eyes. In other words, my kryptonite. If I could dress her in a Victorian gown, I would bury my face between her full breasts and… Damn you, Lillith . I’d known about Dinah Caan, the young daughter Doug left behind in Tennessee, but I hadn’t been aware of how alluring she would be all grown up. Let’s just say this was not going to end well for one of us.

“I’m Luke Bennett,”

I introduced myself and held out my hand. Dinah placed her palm against mine. Instead of a quick shake, she held on as her eyes roamed down my body. I was used to the attention, even glamoured, but coming from her it was akin to being kissed by the sun on a cold day. I had never wanted a queen. Until now.

Her skin flushed when she noticed my smirk, and Dinah removed her hand from mine. Pity. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Luke.”

“My deepest condolences. Doug was a good man.”

I shoved my hands in my pants pockets to keep from grabbing her and sinking my fangs into her neck.

Her countenance changed from flirty to serious. “Doug was a stranger to me. He left when I was six, and I haven’t seen him since. You obviously knew a different Doug Caan than I did.”

I wanted to explain the man Doug had been. The one she didn’t know, but now wasn’t the time. When I failed to say anything, she continued, “I apologize for being insensitive to your feelings. I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you. Let’s step inside and get out of the heat.”

I pulled the keys from my pocket, unlocked the door, and ushered Dinah inside. Her steps were hesitant as she looked around.

“I called in a cleaning crew as soon as the club was released by the detective. I didn’t want you to see the place in disarray,”

I explained. I had called in a crew after I gathered Doug’s ashes, and then I’d had to get creative, finding a body to show the detective while compelling him that the homeless person was Doug Caan. If it hadn’t been for Dinah inheriting the club, I wouldn’t have bothered. “In all honestly, I could have opened the club a couple nights ago, but I didn’t want to step on any toes.”

I moved behind the bar and poured myself a drink. “Can I get you anything?”

“I’ll have water, please.”

Dinah sat across from me on one of the stools and wrapped her hands around the glass when I placed it on the bar. “I have no knowledge of running an establishment such as this. I earned a degree in business, but I currently work in marketing for a major music producer.”

“Please don’t worry about the day-to-day operations. I’ve been overseeing The Limelight for almost a decade, and unless you have someone in mind to take my place, I would love to continue in that capacity.”

I dropped my voice and said, “You should sell the bar to me.”

Dinah shivered at the compulsion, but she quickly shook it off. “I would like to take some time and think about that.”

Interesting. “I have put together several documents, which outline my role and compensation within the organization as well as all the other employees. I’ve also included a document listing weekly costs versus revenue.”

I produced a ledger from behind the bar and placed it in front of her. Call me old school, but I still used pen and paper before transferring the numbers to a computer program.

“Please feel free to reopen as soon as possible. I’ll want to take a more thorough look at what you’ve prepared, but I don’t see the need to change anything with regards to how the club is managed. I appreciate the ledger, but I’d like an electronic version as well.”

“I will open the club as soon as I contact all our employees, and if you give me your email address, I’ll send you all the information you need to make a decision.”

She gave me her email, which I typed into my phone. Then I did the most asinine thing I’d managed in several centuries. “Now that business is out of the way, what do you say to dinner? I would love to show you around our city. Well, at least the French Quarter. We won’t have time to see everything New Orleans has to offer, but…”

I clamped my mouth shut. What the fuck was I doing? I needed to get away from the vixen, not spend more time with her, but as I mentioned earlier, her type was my kryptonite. I had bedded hundreds of females and even a few males over the millennia I’d been on Earth, but none had struck me the way Dinah Caan did. I wanted her like I’d never wanted anything.

“I would love to go to dinner with you. I can meet you back here around six, if that’s okay.”

I didn’t want Dinah wandering the Quarter alone. “Six is perfect, but I’d like to pick you up at your hotel if you don’t mind?”

She flashed a brilliant smile my way. “I don’t mind. I’m staying at Caesar’s. Text me when you get there, and I’ll meet you in the lobby.”

“It’s a date.”

Seriously? Who the fuck had taken over my body? I was acting like a schoolboy instead of the badass I was. Maybe Dinah was a witch and had cast a spell on me. There was no other reason for me to behave so far outside the norm. Dinah stuffed the ledger into her messenger bag and slid from the stool. She walked away without looking back.

I pulled on a different glamour, locked the club, and followed her.

For all she knew, I was her employee, nothing more.

She had no prior knowledge of her father’s club or other assets.

She had no idea how a talented saxophone player became the owner of the biggest hotspot on Bourbon Street.

How he amassed such wealth in his fifty-five years.

If I had my way, she would never know.

Some truths were better left buried with the dead.

Dinah strolled along the busy sidewalks, glancing at displays in windows.

I followed at a distance, stopping when she did.

To the people around me, I was another tourist.

Even the residents and business owners of New Orleans saw me as some mundane human with ill-fitting clothes, shaggy hair, and thick glasses.

As an Ancient, I could become anyone at any time.

I had been tempted to show my true visage to Dinah, but better sense kept me from doing so.

No one other than my brothers knew the real me, not even those of my kind, including Arabella, so why did I want Dinah to see me in all my vampire glory?

Was I replacing one Caan with another? Did I think Dinah could fill the void left by her father? Maybe somewhere deep in my subconscious I did.

It had to be the reason I asked her to dinner.

I needed to stay away from the raven-haired beauty.

I needed to convince her I could run the club without her interference, sending her back to Nashville.

Then again, just the thought of her leaving my city had my fangs itching to drop.

To remake her.

To claim her as my own.

Never in my thousands of years had I wanted a queen.

Unlike most of my brothers, I ruled alone.

Always had.

Dinah froze, her heart beating erratically.

Every pulse resonated within me, causing my fangs to ache and my sharp nails threatening to lengthen.

I pulled back my power, and she took off.

Instead of following her to the hotel, I called the front desk and asked for her room number.

Under normal circumstances, they shouldn’t have divulged a guest’s information, but when I asked for something, I got it.

Once I had the information, I detoured to a local floral shop, ordering two dozen red roses, where I personally wrote a brief message on the card, then once again used compulsion to convince the clerk to have them delivered immediately.

I stood outside the hotel, sipping a café au lait, staring at the higher floors.

I had no idea what side of the building Dinah was on until I caught sight of her in one of the windows.

Her presence called to me like a siren, and that was the push I needed to walk away.

I used my free time to stroll along the Quarter.

Being late October, the residents had decorated for Halloween, each representation more elaborate than the next.

Not as prevalent as Mardi Gras, the holiday still brought in plenty of tourists to boost the economy.

Two young boys busked at a corner, and I slowed long enough to drop some bills in their tip basket.

The youngest one thanked me with a gap-toothed grin, never slowing his drumming hands.

I winked at him and continued on my way.

Instead of going home, I retrieved my car and drove to Doug’s house.

It wouldn’t be long before Dinah took possession of the property, and it would break my cold, dead heart if she sold it.

It too had been my gift to my progeny.

I stepped inside, and what I found nearly broke me.