Stanley: Dalton’s Kiss Book 2 (Dalton's Kiss) Read online

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  World Castle Publishing, LLC

  Pensacola, Florida

  Copyright © Kathi S. Barton 2020

  Paperback ISBN: 9781953271228

  eBook ISBN: 9781953271235

  First Edition World Castle Publishing, LLC, October 5, 2020

  http://www.worldcastlepublishing.com

  Licensing Notes

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews.

  Cover: Karen Fuller

  Editor: Maxine Bringenberg

  Chapter 1

  Lizzy opened her eyes. She knew the time of day as well as she did her own name. It was evening. The sun was now behind the hills where she was, and soon the moon would be high in the sky. Giving herself a few minutes to feel sorry for herself, she wallowed in self-pity for the things that had been done to her. Things that she wished daily she could end. But the only way to end her misery was to end her life. That, she thought, was becoming a better idea daily. Being turned into a vampire against her will had been a nightmare for her.

  Getting up, she changed her clothing into something warmer. The cave she’d been staying in was chillier than the outside. She was able to change her clothing at will, to be comfortable with whatever was going on beyond the doorway to her own private hell.

  Being able to do different things now that she had whatever it was that came with being a vampire had saved her on more than one occasion. Not just the ability to change her clothing, but she’d also discovered, quite by accident, that she could pull a kind of cloak around her and be hidden from people.

  When she’d woken up in this very cave eleven months ago, she’d been naked and bleeding from wounds all over her body—bite marks, deep puncture wounds that looked like she’d been stabbed. When she was able to gather her wits about her, she saw the carnage that was in the cave with her.

  Six bodies were around the big cave with her, all of them female, and every one of them with the same wounds she had on herself. None of them were alive either. Lizzy had no idea what had happened. It hadn’t been something she’d been able to remember even after all this time. However, it was her responsibility to make sure someone found the bodies and that their families knew they had died. She only wished every day that she had been one of the victims.

  Taking each of the bodies out hadn’t been nearly as difficult as she thought it should have been. Back then, she’d not realized she was a vampire yet. It had taken her most of two entire nights to take them out. She didn’t want to get caught dragging them out, so she’d thought nighttime would be a better time to do it.

  Having the sun burn her badly the first time she stepped out into the sunlight had clued her in to the fact that something was wrong with her. While her heart worked on what might be wrong with her, her stupid head had told her she was a living dead person. A night creature. Vampire. A fucking bloodsucker.

  Going out into the night, the veil of the night calmed something in her so deeply that she staggered under the weight of it. It had never happened like this before. The night was welcoming her like a strong man would welcome her into his arms. Moving out into the deeply wooded area to see what had caused such a feeling to wash over her, she felt the rain, gentle drops falling on her face. Lifting up her face, she enjoyed the first normal thing that had happened to her in almost a year.

  The darkness of the forest didn’t bother her as it might have before all this. She had been, rightfully so, terrified of the dark. Even at twenty-four, she had a nightlight on in her room and one in the bathroom. When she was little, the overhead light had to be on, or she’d wake up in a panic.

  As she moved through the forest, taking note of the trees that were changing, Lizzy thought of the night she’d been out with her friends. The last night, as it turned out, of her seeing the sunrise and the moon setting. The day before she was to be married to Josh Hinkley.

  She and her few friends had been at her bachelorette party. It was nothing more than dinner with her three closest friends and very little drinking. Lizzy never had been a person that drank much. That night was no different. However, as the night had worn on, she got sick, so sick that she was in the bathroom when someone called an ambulance. After that, everything had become a blur.

  “Miss.” Stopping and turning slowly, she looked around. There wasn’t anyone around that she could see. Pulling the shield around her, she stood very still. “You’ve been out and about for the last few months now, and I was wondering if we could, I don’t know, become friends. I know that our kind and yours aren’t friendly, but you seem so sad.”

  “What do you mean, my kind? What are you?” He told her. “I don’t—I started to say I don’t believe in faeries, but then I never thought there were vampires either. Just what I read in romance books. Where are you?”

  He said his name was Hal, the little person appeared just as she let go of the shield around her. When she put out her hand, he landed in her palm and sat down. The two of them stared at each other for several seconds until he smiled at her. Lizzy asked him why he thought he’d want to be friends with her.

  “As I said, you seem so lonely. I am as well since my mate passed away.” He moved to stand on her shoulder, and she moved deeper into the forest to the pool of water she’d found earlier in the summer. “The pond that you use, miss. You’re very careful of not disturbing the plants and such. That’s what made me think you’d be a nice vampire. Not like some of those others.”

  “I take it you know a lot of vampires.” He said he had to know them, to avoid them. “Yes, well, I wish I had been better at avoiding them. The one that did this to me, he did it while I was out with some friends.”

  “You didn’t give him permission?” Lizzy told him she’d not even known he was around. “Yes, they’re tricky like that, they are. But to make you one of his babies? Well, that’s against the law of their kind. You should tell someone.”

  “Who would that be? Is there some sort of lawyer that represents vampires that have been changed like I have?” He said there was one they all answered to. She laughed a little. “Not that it matters now anyway. I killed him a few months ago. He came back, I guess, to see how many of us lived.”

  “You killed a vampire? My goodness. I’ve never heard of such a thing. You must be strong.” She didn’t comment. While Lizzy was stronger, she didn’t think that was what he meant. “There is a vampire you are required to report to. Just to let him know you’re around and that you’re not going to do any harm to anyone. You’ve not done that, have you?”

  “I don’t know a lot of things I should be doing. Is there a rule book or something I can check out at the library?” After explaining to him what a library would be, he told her he didn’t think they’d have a true book on vampires. “Of course they wouldn’t. Why would they? Most people don’t believe in them anyway.”

  She was at the pond when he moved to sit on one of the stones nearby. Lizzy had been careful of what she did here. Not having any soap was all right, she supposed. But what she wouldn’t give for a bar of it, and some shampoo. She’d have to take care of that the next time she went into town.

  As she stripped down, she spoke to Hal. “Th
e morning I woke up, I found myself with a lot of dead women. I found all their purses so I could write down their names. No one has found them yet—I checked just yesterday. But it’s sad for me to know their families might be missing them.” She stepped into the water, not caring at all what Hal thought of her being so free with her nudity. He asked her about her family. “Mine has been gone for a long time now. I never knew my mother—she died long before I was able to remember her. I’ve no idea who my father was. My memories are only of me being in an orphanage until I was old enough to get out on my own.”

  “I’m sorry for that. I have plenty of family, but they’re all busy and working. I was retired, you see.” She nodded as she washed her face with the cold water. “Would you like for me to do anything for you? I can do most anything so long as it’s not to get me into trouble.”

  “I’m all right. I don’t socialize anymore. Not that I did that much anyway, but now that I’m forced to be alone, I don’t mind it much.” She thought about her house but knew that it would be dangerous for her. “The cave has all that I need for now. I don’t know what I’ll do in the winter months again. It was terribly cold last winter.”

  Lizzy thought of the fire she’d been able to make, the things she’d been able to get sent to her. Having money had saved her a great deal of heartache, and a lot of trouble she might well have had if she’d been broke. Every day she was happy for the fact that she’d gone to see her attorney a few days after she figured out she’d been turned into a vampire.

  “You thinking of going to see the vampire I was telling you about?” Lizzy dressed herself in a pair of jeans and a heavy sweatshirt, her usual mode of dress. She asked him if it was necessary. “It is. He is a good man, ruler of so many, but he doesn’t like rule-breakers. Shall I make you an appointment time to see him?”

  “Why do I need an appointment to see him? I mean, is he really that busy?” Hal told her he wasn’t sure. “I’ll go and see him tonight if he can work me in. Otherwise, he’ll have to wait for a few days. I’m going to see about looking up the man I was supposed to marry. He’s not been at his house for some time now.”

  “You do know you can’t be taking vengeance against humans.” She asked him why not, not that she was planning on it. “I just wanted you to know that. You did say you’re not sure of the rules of being what you are.”

  “Thank you. Where is this man? The vampire? If he tries to hurt me, I will be pissed off. I’ve had enough shit going on in my new life that I don’t need someone else doing things to me that I have no control over.” He said he didn’t know the man, but he had heard good things about him. “Then would you please go and see if I can talk to him tonight? I’ve got to get going to see Josh. He’ll need to know what is going on.”

  It never occurred to her that he might still wish to marry her. She didn’t think he had it in him to marry someone different than him. Not that they had had a great deal in common in the first place. Marrying him was just an act of convenience on her part. He professed his love to her, many times, but she’d never been able to tell him she loved him because she didn’t want to start out their life together with lies. Now that it was over. Lizzy thought she was happy with that turn of events.

  When Hal left her, she made her way to the graves of the other women. Two of them were younger than her. All of them had been redheads and thin. She wondered, often enough, to put the question to paper if the vampire had been looking for them to be the same or if it was just a coincidence. Not, as she had told Hal, that it mattered now. The vampire was dead.

  They were all still there, all of them with their purses hanging on the makeshift markers she’d made them. It occurred to her when she was putting them in the earth that she might have left enough DNA that someone would be looking for her. Lizzy thought she’d welcome going to prison and to be put to death. Living like this wasn’t anything that she wanted in life.

  Sitting near the graves, she spoke to the women as she did every time she came to see about them. She told them about Hal and that he was taking her to see a vampire in charge. Picking a piece of the beautiful fall foliage up from the ground, Lizzy’s heart broke for them.

  “I’ll make sure you’re found. It’s all I can think about. Your families must be heartbroken to not know anything. I hope you have no children that miss you. I think that would be hardest of all to know.” She knew nothing of the women other than what was on their driver’s license. “I surely wish it had been any of you that had lived. I welcome the thought of ending my life daily. Hourly, actually. I’m so sorry this happened to you.”

  Hal joined her a little while later. Sitting upon her knee, he told her that the vampire wasn’t far from here and was awaiting her to come to see him. Standing up, she followed the little person out of the dark woods and into a large open area that looked to be under construction. Not caring what was being built, she didn’t bother reading any of the signage but looked for the vehicle that was to pick her up.

  “He’s a better man than I’d been told about.” She nodded. For such a little person, he could certainly fill in the spaces of quiet time. “His missus, she’s a hoot, I tell you. There were times when I thought she was the leader instead of the mister. She has a nice way about her, but I think she’s bossy about things. Told me I was going to have to eat something before I was to leave. I’ve never been treated so by a vampire.”

  “What is it you eat?” He named off, she would swear, every flower in the world. Not just that, but he told her the season in which each was in its best bloom. There was no need for her to acknowledge that she’d heard him either, for he never paused in his speaking.

  When they were at a crossroads in a smallish town, she sat down on the sidewalk and let the soft rain fall upon her again. “Is it true I can never get ill again?”

  “It is.” She stood up and backed away from the large man that had spoken. “My name is Bancroft Dalton. My wife, Kelly, is here with me so you won’t be afraid.”

  “I’m not afraid.” She wasn’t either. For whatever reason, she didn’t feel anything at all toward this man. “Why don’t we just talk here? I don’t need to go with you to wherever you wanted.”

  “It’s my home. And I believe it is necessary. Hal said you were changed against your will. I’d like to get some answers from you about that.” Lizzy told him the vampire was dead now. “Yes, he told me that as well. That should be something we discuss. How a baby vamp could kill an older vampire.”

  Not having much of choice, she got into the long limo with him. His wife, Kelly, told her that she was there so she’d not be too frightened. She told her what she’d told the man, she wasn’t afraid at all.

  “He thinks everyone is going to be terrified of him when they find out he’s a vampire. I was, too, I guess you could say. But I didn’t let him bully me around.” Kelly smiled at her. “I don’t think you’d be bullied around much now that I’ve met you. How did you kill the other man? Did you have to stake him through the heart?”

  “No, I ripped his throat out when he tried to strangle me. Apparently, him making me do what he wanted wasn’t working, and he called me a broken victim. I didn’t know that meant he was going to kill me. So I killed him before he killed me.” Kelly asked her if he’d used compulsion on her. “That and his fists. I didn’t actually know he was trying to use the first on me until he held me above his head with his fucking fingers around my neck. He called me broken. I showed him what broken was like to fuck with me.”

  Bancroft laughed, and she looked out the window. It might have been funny to people now, but it hadn’t been for her. Lizzy had been afraid of dying. She had no idea why, when she would welcome it so readily now. But she supposed they’d get to that before she was released to go back to the cave.

  ~*~

  Remy put the phone back in the cradle. He didn’t so much want to toss it across the room, but to tear the wall out and then find th
e man he’d been talking to. No one, it seemed, could find the man who had been telling the vampire league he’d been making baby vampires.

  “We’re back.”

  He smiled. Remy had only been here for a week now, and he was already in love with Kelly Dalton. Banny had hit the jackpot where mates were considered. She was fun, loving, and had a heart of gold. She could also keep Banny from going over the deep end when things didn’t turn out the way he wanted them to.

  “Remy, come and meet our new houseguest.”

  “I think I made it perfectly clear that I wasn’t going to be staying here, Mrs. Dalton. I have a place to say.” If Kelly answered her, Remy didn’t hear it. “I know you’re my boss of sorts, but I’m also my own boss. Who do you think I’m going to listen to more? I’m going to tell you you’re wrong if you think, once again, that it’s you.”

  Banny came into the room he was in, smiling and shaking his head. Remy asked him what was going on. Still smiling, he sat down in the chair across from the desk he’d been using and laughed a little before speaking.

  “This woman was changed against her will and hasn’t the first clue about rules regarding being a vamp. Yet she is stubborn as all get out. Kelly is frustrated with her if you can believe that. My little wife is being told no by a vampire less than a year old.” His look was serious then. “Whoever changed her managed to kill six other women at the same time. She’s the only one that survived. In addition to that, she’s been living alone, in a cave, without anyone to help her out. She told us she’s not bitten anyone and plans on never doing that. Elizabeth Strickland—she goes by Lizzy—has been feeding off rats since she woke up. Oh, and she killed her maker because she could ignore his compulsion. Remy, either she is a natural-born leader, or she’s been changed by a powerful vampire. She’s stronger than any newborn I’ve ever encountered.”

  “Do you know who it was that did it?” Banny said she wouldn’t allow him to figure it out. “Won’t allow you? What sort of messed up shit is that, Banny? I told you I could stay someplace else, and you ordered me to keep my ass here.” They were both laughing.