A Visit to the Royal Compound with Night Tempest: Part 1

Going into a vampire compound is exactly what you would think it would be like.  Tall stone walls that were at least three times my height surrounded us and cut into the night as the guards ushered me out of the Escalade and over the surprisingly even stone courtyard.  Thank God for wedges because I was so nervous that had I been wearing pumps, I would have surely fell on my ass.  Seeming to sense my unease, the butler to my side grabbed my elbow gently and gave me a small wink. 

With a full yet grey brush cut and piercing green eyes, it was a wonder that George was a butler.  The guy was hot for an over fifty club member and had I not known of his occupation prior to this meeting, I would have thought he was a Royal. His fingers on my arm stiffened but he kept walking as a blush crept over his cheeks.  Shit.  I forgot they could sense emotions. 

“I, uh…” I murmured but he took a breath and patted my arm.

“I am nothing if not flattered, Miss.  Please do not worry about it.” He nodded giving me the tiniest glance of his eyes before resuming his straight forward gaze.

“Thank you.” I blushed and darted my eyes around the awning of the palace-like structure as we walked up the wide stone steps.    “This place is huge,” I said out loud instead of in my head and George chuckled.

“Yes. It is.  But we need the space for all the Royals and human turns we house year round.  Ever since the war we’ve been acquiring more and more of our kind from the surrounding territories  and I think by Christmas we will surely have even more.” George sighed and I threaded my arm fully through his.

“Well, you must be a very important man then huh, because that is one hell of a job.  I heard there were upwards of three hundred vampires living within the compound.  That’s a lot of cleaning and feeding, props to you my friend,” I praised and he looked down at me with beaming smile.

“Again you make me blush Miss.  You are quite the charmer and I thank you for your kind words.  And I am positive you will make friends amongst the Royals with such honeyed praises.  They like the compliments,” he relayed and rolled his eyes slightly to emphasize their little flaw.

“Don’t we all,” I giggled along with him and shivered as we passed through the heavy main doors and stepped into the bone chilling great room.  A swirl of gold and burgundy made up the ground of the vast circular room, creating a pinwheel of luxury on the floor. Upon drawing my eyes away from the hypnotizing marble, I looked to the grand staircase.  High polished banisters in some type of rich syrupy wood curled and rounded up the next floor and then the next and the next.  It seemed to go on forever and broke off into different alcoves and darkened hallways. But the showstopper was the stain glass ceiling depicting wars from long ago. Even at night it was beautiful; illuminated by a ring of light hidden behind another panel of glass.

“Miss Night?”  George tapped me on the arm and I jumped.

“Oh heavens, I’m sorry.  I’ve just never seen anything like this.  Like where do all these doorways lead?”  I asked, ever the curious kitten.  Before he could answer, I carefully strode across the gleaming floor in my black wedges to the nearest empty doorway.

“Oh wait Miss, that’s the…”

“Can I help you sweetheart?” A massive man ducked out of the previously dark doorway and scared the shit out of me.

“I…Oh…I mean huh uh.  Uh no,” I babbled almost drooling on my blazer.  I knew he was King before he even said anything.  His long dark ponytail fell forwards over his shoulder and sweat dripped over his bare upper body.  Most likely fresh from a work out, he sported black mesh shorts and some fancy blue trainers.  The cross around his neck hit the light from the chandelier and he smiled like the devil himself.

“This her?” He scratched his dark stubbly jaw and his brown eyes sparkled.  Um yeah drool was on its way for sure. 

“This,” he paused with distaste for King’s manners. “Is Miss Night, yes.”

“Your name is Night?  Cool parents.”  He snorted and wiped his face with the white tank in his hands.

“That’s the name you’re gonna get,” I replied and crossed my arms.  Being a submissive human around them wasn’t going to get me far, so I tamped down my anxiety and channeled my inner diva.

He stopped wiping his face and gave me that fuck me grin.  “You and Knox are gonna get along swell.  I can’t wait to hear that toss around going on upstairs in a bit.  Good luck…Night.” He winked and went through one of the other entry ways, tossing me a quick head shake before disappearing.

“Oh hold on there darling!”  A sparkling voice came from above us and then the padded whisper of feet gracefully descending the stairs. 

“You must be Night.  It is a pleasure to welcome you to the compound,” the cool blonde purred and took the last few steps down the staircase.  Where had she even come from?  A leather pencil skirt wrapped snuggly around her hips and narrowed to her knees; showcasing her pale stems down to her four or so inches of black peep toe Louboutins.  A form fitting grey button up was tucked into her skirt and her sexy mess of curls spun in all different directions. 

Her light blue eyes filled with satisfaction and she clicked across the marble with an extended hand.  “I’m Nina Gerard,” she offered as if we were old friends.  But I wasn’t stupid.  I could feel the raw power that she held back so effortlessly flowing into my hand.  It was like she was looking for something but I held fast and gave her a genuine smile.

“The Blood Queen.  It’s an honor,” I replied and bowed a little.  Was that what you were supposed to do?  I didn’t know but I didn’t want to offend her either.

“Oh mercy me, you don’t have to do that.  You aren’t vampire darling.  Besides, I can’t even get my own people to bow before me,” she mocked, obviously not really caring whether they bowed or not.  “You are quite fetching.  If you didn’t smell so delicate, I’d think you one of us.”  She was back to purring with those narrowed eyes and I got the feeling that the Queen had swung both ways before she found her new boyfriend.  As if he heard us, Hill sauntered down the stairs looking completely hit by a train or just sleepy.

He rubbed his eyes and pulled up his falling jersey bottoms.  They settled around his hips but left a bit of flesh exposed between the pants and his straining t-shirt.  I was getting the feeling that I was going to have to start staring at the floor so as not to get all hot as shit.  These men were like sex with limbs.  I felt his eyes boring into me and nervously I glanced up meeting his golden gaze.  His eyes reminded me of a hawk, glowing and predatory. 

“You must be Night.  Actually you are. That much is clear.  You smell like….” He sniffed a little and Nina laughed and put an arm around his waist.

“She smells like a cake.  A little vanilla with buttermilk and honey.  It’s almost too good,” Nina huskily retorted and I blushed from my blue roots to my Rio Red pedicure.

“Yeah, that’s it.” Hill pulled his Queen to him and ran his hands over her a little until you could hear both of them breathing.

“Uh, your Highness?” George cleared his throat and spared me a pitying look.

“Oh right. So sorry darling.  We just…well you never mind.” She waved off everything that followed that statement and twined her hand with her lover’s.  “If you need anything, you’ll let us know?”

“Of course.  Thank you so much.”

“No darling. Thank you.  Sleep well…” she lowered her voice and pulled her boyfriend up the stairs behind her.

“Good night…Night,” Hill offered with a sly grin and curled his fingers around Nina’s hips as they wandered up and out of sight.

“Are you ready Miss?” George asked and then threw his hands up as another curious pair came out of the secure elevator behind the grand staircase. Oh God.  I couldn’t do this.  It was really them, right here in front of me.

Cade and Micah stepped forward and I fought not to stare at the pair of them.  Rule number one around hot vampires…Don’t get all hot and bothered.  They can totally sense it not to mention smell it.  Micah smiled bigger and pulled me into a hug.  This was really happening.  The source of half of my naughty dreams was now pulling me flush to his hard as fuck body and hugging me?  Oh yes.  He was.  I melted a little into him and sneaked a sniff of his spicy aftershave with a shiver.

“Hey.  I want a turn,” Cade whined and pried me out of the warm nest of Micah’s arms. Oh hell yes.  Look at those dark blue eyes.  What would he look like above me…

“Huh uh.  He’s mine,” the auburn haired vamp whispered in my ear and kissed my cheek softly.   “But I can’t fault you for staring.  He’s pretty fucking gorgeous yeah?”

“I’m not answering that,” I croaked and gave Cade a quick pat on the back before I got too much of his man scent up my nose.  My senses were cranked way too high and I needed to dial back all the blood rushing this way and that under my skin.

“Maybe I should see Knox now,” I commented smoothing out my blazer and running a hand through my blue hair.

“Yeah you guys should get along just fine,” Micah quipped as if I didn’t know Knox was going to be a handful already. 

“Good luck with that.” Cade smiled and gave me another kiss on the cheek because he knew it got me going.  Fucking tease…

“Don’t let that ass throw you around.  Stand up for yourself.  Gets him all hot and shit,” Micah teased and I almost threw something at him but realized I wasn’t about to break a few hundred dollars worth of Apple.  I tucked my laptop bag tighter to my side and huffed.

“Goodnight gentlemen,” I replied and straightened up, looking to George.

“Night, sexy,” Cade called out as they walked away and I flipped him off.  Unless you were gonna come through, don’t mess with my head.  I could only hope as I watched their denim clad asses waltz out of the great room.  Om nom nom my body replied and the butler sighed hopelessly.

“I think it would just be best to go on up before you are ensnared once more.” George offered me his arm but I refused, favoring the feel of the slick banister under my hand.

After what seemed like forever, we finally came to a stop on the fourth floor.  My legs were dead and my feet ached in my wedges, but my thighs looked killer in my skinny pants after that little work out.  Passing four more elaborate doors, we came to a side hallway in the gothic hotel of never ending  and stopped. 

“I don’t go in there unless he’s out.  It’s the only door at the end of the hallway.  I hope you don’t think ill of me, it’s just that his…his room makes me a little uncomfortable is all.  And he is quite…temperamental.  If you are in need of service feel free to hit the zero button on the phone in his room and I will be happy to assist you.”

“George…what’s in there?”  I swallowed and glanced down the dim hallway lit with only a few sconces.

“You tell me.  You are…” he trailed off.

“Yeah.  I know.  That’s what I was afraid of,” I replied dryly and sighed, letting my shoulders slump.

“It’ll be alright Miss.  He tends to be a little more lenient around women but I’d still be on your guard.” George patted my shoulder and smiled.  “When you are finished, I will take you to your quarters.  Good luck.”  With that George rounded the turn from which we had come and walked out of my sights.

Well, hells bells.  Here we were. I could turn around and go running with my tail between my legs or I could just suck it up and interview the great big son of a bitch.  Hey, we had matching hair so I guess we had that in common.  Maybe he would lighten up around a fellow blue.  Nah, prolly not.  Fuck it.  Night, you’re a big girl you can do this.  I marched down the hall putting a little extra swagger in my step and stopped in front of the black metal door. Cool to the touch, my hand connected with the knob and I turned it before I could chicken out.

Darkness greeted me and a burst of even colder air rustled through my hair.  “You ever heard of knocking darlin?” A deep voice asked right in my ear.  Turning I tried to see where he was but was pulled into the room without another word with only the click of the door shutting to tell me where my exit had gone.

TO BE CONTINUED…….