Brewster (Ohio Vampires #1)

Chapter 1

Brewster, Brew to his few friends, watched the party goers as they reveled down the streets. He didn’t care all that much about their noise, but he didn’t mind that they were out and about. Needing to feed, he decided that one or more of them—taking only a few sips of them—would fill his needs and would be perfect for him. Moving alongside the group, bringing the shadows around him, he tripped one of the partiers to have them slow just enough that he could get what he needed from them.

After getting his fill, putting money into their pockets, and leaving them none the wiser, Brew kept an eye on them so that nothing would befall them. With the slight loss of blood and their inebriated state, he would feel guilty if one of them were to fall and harm themselves. Once they were home, he left them to their night and made his way to his home. It wasn’t that far, not with the ancient way that he could travel, but it was just as the sun was coming up, and he’d not meant to stay out that late.

Not that the sun would bother him. Being as old as he was and so full of magic, he could stand several days out in the sun without a single problem. However, it would drain him somewhat, and he didn’t want to be caught unawares ever again. It was, he knew, dangerous for his kind to show too much in the way of magic without someone wanting a piece of it.

“Your lordship?” He told Landon that it was him. Then he asked him why he’d waited up. “It is my duty to make sure that you are well when you arrive home, and I take my duties seriously. What is it that you’ve been doing this night? Or do I want to know?”

“Would it matter that I don’t want you to know?” Landon tsked at him. “I was out chasing rainbows and watching the stars dance on people’s heads until it crushed them beneath its weight. Did you know that a comet will be coming by this way soon? Not too often does Ohio get anything special coming it’s way.” Again he tsked at him.

“I would think that you’d be better off in your office figuring out the next few businesses that you have under your rule.” Brew told his man that he seldom ruled anyone. “If you say so. But we have been getting calls from that man again. The one that wishes for you to invest in his ideas so that he can expand.”

“He’ll just have to keep calling. I’ve told him a dozen times that I have no wish to invest in his schemes. They’re farfetched and without any merit.” Landon asked him what they were. “He believes that everyone should have free internet and phone service. While that is a good thing to wish, he wants me to foot the bill for it so that it’s not a burden on others. I ask you, my man, what of my burden of paying for it? I have great riches but I do have an end to my money. I cannot afford to have everything that he wishes to put me out of—he also wishes for me to abolish all porn of adults and children. That has merit, but it is something that I don’t think even the richest of all people could stop. It’s there, and there is little to nothing a single person can do to make it disappear. It would take killing off anyone that has an ill thought. I fear that would kill about half the population, and then where would we be?”

“I see.” He doubted that Landon understood anything that he’d said to him. The man had led a sheltered life the last thousand years as his man servant/butler. He didn’t watch the television, never read a newspaper, nor had he been into town with him—ever—so that he’d get a firsthand look and feelings from the people out and about. If he were to take him to town, to the grocery store, the man would be terrified out of his mind with the things that people were doing. Poor man, he wouldn’t survive a moment without someone there to bring him home, even after a few seconds.

Mayhap he wasn’t correct in his assessment of his friend, but he liked the old man and would hate for anything to happen to him. And he also feared that there would be people out there who would take advantage of him, and that wouldn’t bode well for him or his household. He liked the way things were and hated change in any way.

After sitting at his desk for an hour, he decided to go to his lair. Brew didn’t know why he continued to call it that. It was a lovely bedroom with nice furniture in it. He even had his own bathroom so that he could shower and change while at home. Lying on his bed, he thought about the letter that he had received recently. It had to do with an old friend of his, Sirous.

They’d never had a use for a last name until recently. When pressed for one, Brew would simply say his name was Smith. He thought that anyone named Smith wasn’t human. It was why the name was so popular. So many non-humans used it when they needed a last name. He knew, too, that Sirous was no different.

But Sirous was tired of this world and wanted to move beyond to the next. He hated to see that. He’d been there just recently, wanting to brush off the coils of this world himself. The two of them were bored and had no one around them to keep them busy. Also, he thought himself too old to change if someone did come along to shake up his world.

Just as the sun was at its peak, he closed his eyes. It didn’t bother him, not at all, but he did need to rest and that seemed to be the best time to do so. Brew also knew that when he woke, the sun would still be in the sky, and he’d be in a better mood all the rest of the day.

Having the same dream…nightmare he supposed that would haunt him for days afterwards. The child that had snuck into his home was there. The woman with the most beautiful golden hair too. It had taken him a decade or more to realize that they were one and the same person. The child that had come into his home had grown up to be a beautiful creature that all mankind would seek. But he never saw their faces. Waking up, only his eyes widening, giving any indication that he had been stirred, Brew lay there, allowing his heart to slow and his fear to dissipate as well.

As he showered, he thought of the nightmare. Once the child was in his home, she would flourish into a woman over the years. However, his dreams made it seem so quick. Like the time that she had entered and her adulthood was a single step into his house. Shivering, he thought of the rest of the dream while he stood under the warm spray.

“You shant come to me again, Beverly. I do not wish you in my bed.” The child-woman laughed at him. The sound of it grating on his ears as he backed away from her. “Do you not hear me? I said I will not have you in my chambers nor my bed. You are not anything to me.”

“What should it matter, Brewster? Who cares if we are not mated? No one. That’s who. You shall take me to your bed and make love to me, then fill yourself. It is what I command of you as your—” and that was when he woke up.

He didn’t know why it would make him wake in a cold sweat. Why her voice, above all others, made his skin crawl. The faceless woman would make him scream himself awake at times, bringing the household to his aid with guns and swords. There was so much about her that would, in a heartbeat, make him feel like he should run and hide rather than face her wrath.

Making his way to his office, he sat there at his desk with his computer, downloading the emails from today. It was like him to get a good start on things, but of late, all he wanted to do was roam the streets looking out for the faceless woman. Whatever she did or went, he needed to have an advanced look for her so as not to be caught unawares.

After paying the household bills, there weren’t all that many of them, and even those weren’t all that much, he looked at his investments. The electric bill was barely worth having it sent to him. They used no electric but for the kitchen and his room. None of his staff ate anymore because, long ago, it had gotten boring for them. The house had long since been paid off. The taxes were paid through the bank, so as he didn’t have to bother with it. Then there were the cars that sat idle in the garage with no one to drive them, but they were kept up so that in an emergency, they would be there for anyone who needed them. His house ran itself, for which he was grateful. Not bothering him was the way that he liked it. As he sat there, reading emails, his mind wandered a little bit, and he was sorry that he was thinking of the dream again. What the hell did it mean? Who was she? And what hold did she have over him that made him so terrified?

Brew decided that he wasn’t going to waste any more time on the dream. Whoever she was, if she even existed, he wasn’t going to dream about her, nor was he going to speculate what she meant to him. He was finished. Done with her and her—the phone ringing startled him. He couldn’t remember the last time it rang. Picking up the handset, he held it to his ear and waited.

“There are people out to get me, Uncle Daniel. Can you please just stop having me chased? It’s my money left to me.” He nearly told her that she had the wrong number when she started talking again. “I don’t understand why you can take what was left to me. You’ve more money than sense anyway. Just fucking leave me alone.”

The line went dead, and he wondered if the girl/woman he supposed was going to be all right. Looking at the phone, he put his hand back on the large handset and closed his eyes. It had been a very long time since he’d used this magic.

Reaching out beyond where he was, he found the apartment. It was a modest house with one bedroom and a living room that went into the kitchen. Four rooms, not counting the bathroom. As he began to search the house, he found the woman curled up on the floor between the living room and dining room table. She was crying. He could almost taste her tears, she was so upset. Willing himself to the room, careful that she didn’t see him, he was first hit with the smell of the room, then the look on the woman’s face when she looked directly at him.

“Who are you?” He didn’t move, sure that there had to be a reason why she could see him. “You’re not human, are you? Something…vampire. You’re a vampire.”

It was then that he noticed her face. It was marred by bruises. Blood was on her lips and her neck. Reaching out to touch her, she backed up further into the corner and stared at him. He told her that he meant her no harm.

“Yeah? Well, I’ve heard that before. As you can tell, I’m not all that trusting of that bullshit. How did you get in here?” He told her. “I guess I should have guessed that you’d have magic. Are you into shit with my uncle? He’s out to get my money, though it’s not nearly as much as he has.”

Touching his finger to the large bruise on her face, he closed his eyes. As he reached out beyond them for the man, he was surprised that he’d gotten a good connection. Opening his eyes, keeping the connection to her uncle, he smiled. Not even bothering to hide his fangs.

“He is broke. More than that, he’s had his home repossessed as well as his car. His bank account is overdrawn by several thousand dollars, and he hasn’t anything to fall back on.” She asked him what had happened. “He’s been sued by his family. Your family as well, I suppose. Not only has he lost everything, but once the police find him, he’ll be going to jail. For a good long time.”

“What does this have to do with me?” He told her that he needed her money to buy his way out of jail by bribery. “I’ve been in this town for a while now, and I don’t think the police would take all that kindly to him trying to bribe them. What makes you so sure about this? You have some kind of connection to my uncle?”

“Only through you.” He reached out and put his hand on her shoulder. The connection was tight and strong. “You have a broken wrist and several broken ribs. The ones that aren’t broken are bruised badly by what he has done to you.”

“He found me just this morning. While I was trying to get me a bit of food to eat. He even took that from me, and until my next check comes, I don’t have the money to…I do have money, but I won’t touch it. It’s my nest egg for a rainy day.”

“You look as if a rainy day would blow you over. Here, come to me. I will take you to the local hospital. While there, I’ll make sure that no one knows that you’re there. Just long enough for them to treat you.” She told him that she had better things to do than to wait for hours in the emergency department, only to be told that she had no insurance and had to pay upfront. “They will not say such things to you whilst I’m there. I shall protect you.”

Brew didn’t know how he got her to the hospital. She was strong, but thankfully, he was stronger than her. She was battered, too. Her body was bruised from head to toe, like she was some kind of blue and gray person. Once she was in the little bed in one of the rooms, he turned off all the cameras that would show the two of them there, and as he had said, no one would be the wiser.

~*~

Calla watched the nurses as they fussed over her. It was nice, she thought, to have someone care so much about her. She knew too that it was only his magic, but for now, she was going to think it was because they were compassionate and good at their job.

“I didn’t do anything to the nurses only to have them come to your aid. They’re nice because you are.” She told him to stop reading her mind. “Then you must speak to me when you have thoughts such as that. There are nice people in the world, but not many, I think, at times, but they are out there.” He huffed at her. “You will stay here until you are better. I command it.”

“Well, I don’t take orders from a dick or a dictator. I’ll leave when I wish.” He growled low in his throat. “You don’t scare me much. I don’t know why, but you simply make me laugh when you get all huffy at me. What do you call your other self? I’ve known wolves that call their other self their better half. Or their beast, depending on what sort of shifter they are.”

“You should be terrified of me. Also, you should listen to what I say to you. You’ve not done a very good job of keeping yourself well. You need a keeper to keep you out of harm’s way.” She asked him if he thought he was the person for the job. “I do believe that I am. You’ve no idea what sort of monsters are out there to prey on young women such as yourself.”

“You think so? I have news for you…what is your name anyway? You come to my home, bully me into coming here, and I don’t even know your name. Nor do you know mine either. It’s Calla Lily Marshall. My grandmother declared me ugly at birth and thought a pretty name of a flower might make people not want to run from me when they saw me.” He told her that was a lie. “I don’t lie. I might want to tell a falsehood to someone, but I try very hard to be truthful. It’s easier than trying to remember what you might have said to someone that wasn’t true.”

“No, I meant that your grandmother told you a lie. You are very beautiful. And you will look even more so when you have a bit of food in your belly more often.” She laid back on the bed, wondering again why he was hanging around with her. She asked him. “I don’t know why either. You’re an irritant most of the little bit of time that I’ve been around you. You’re too outspoken for your own good. And you’re much too thin, as I pointed out to you before. Why does your uncle think that beating you will make you endeared to him?”

“I don’t know that that’s his plan. He told me once that he wished I was dead, but he can’t seem to get me to die. I don’t know why I haven’t a few times. I’ve spent a lot of time in the hospitals because of him.” Calla thought of the things that he’d told her when he was bashing her body into the pavement. “He thinks that I should be dead so that he can have all the money that I have without having to go through messing with me. I don’t know why he thinks that I’ll leave it to him. I’ve made out my will, and he’s not mentioned other than to say that I’m not going to leave him anything. I’ll donate the entire amount to the Red Cross instead.”

“Notable charity.” He asked her then how much she had. Without thinking that he could steal it all from her by his mo-jo, Calla told him. “That’s a nice sum of money. As you might well know about my kind, I have a great deal of money, much more than I think that I even know about.”

“That’s just stupid. You should know all the time how much money you have.” The nurse came in to give her something for the pain. They were going to stitch her up. “Don’t leave me here alone. Please? I don’t know why I trust you, but please don’t leave me alone with my uncle still out there someplace.”

“I shant leave you.” He sat down in the chair just as the meds were kicking in. “Let it help you, Calla Lily. You’ll feel better when you arise.”

“What about your rising? Don’t you need to rest?” She knew that her words were slurred, but she didn’t want him to be a pile of dust when she woke up. “Go home. I forgot about you being what you are.”

“I’m old. I’ll be fine.” If he said anything else, she didn’t hear it. Just as she was starting to shut down her body, so relaxed, he spoke again. “My name is Brewster. Most call me Brew if they have known me for very long.”

When she woke, he was just coming out of the bathroom. She knew next to nothing about his kind, but she didn’t think that they went to the bathroom. Why that thought was there, she didn’t have a clue. Of course, he’d have to use the bathroom. He was a—

“You’re thinking too hard for someone who has slept for nearly four hours.” She asked him if he used the bathroom. “Of course. Why would that even be a question? I’m still a person with a functioning body, am I not?”

“How the hell would I know?” She sat up better in the bed with his help. “I have to admit I do feel a good deal better. Tried still, but I’m sure that’s just the meds they gave me.”

“I helped you along in your sleep. I only put you into a deeper sleep so that you could rest. You stayed asleep for this long because I believe your body was just tired and needed it. Next time, please rest so that I don’t have to intervene.” She glared at him.

“I didn’t ask you to intervene this time. You did that all on your own.” She started to get out of bed, and he was suddenly there for her. The feeling of falling forward hit her hard, and it was all she could do not to be sick on him, too. “It would serve you right if I were to puke all over your nice suit.”

She didn’t think she’d been funny, but apparently, he thought so. His mirth was contagious, and she found herself smiling at him. That was when she noticed that his eyes were so beautiful. Almost a clear blue. Like the sky in the summer. Blue as the moon that was full through the fall. Christ, she thought, a person could fall for him with just that. He asked her what she was thinking.

“The color of your eyes.” He moved back from her when she was settled. “I want to see your beast or whatever it is you call him. Don’t ask me why. I have no idea why I want to see him, but I want…no, I don’t know why either, but I need to see him.”

He stepped back from her, and she thought that he was going to tell her no. Instead, he took off his jacket and shook his body. Before she could beg him this time, his body stretched out, elongated to the point where he was taller than he had been. She’d bet he was at least eight or nine feet tall. His face was usually full and clean-shaven, but for the mustache that he wore elongated as well, stretching until he was almost gaunt-looking. His ears became pointed, sharp-looking against his head. But it was his eyes that mesmerized her. They were dark now, blood filled with only a hint of the ones that she felt so good about before.

Lifting his hands, she could see that his fingers were longer. The nails at the end were about four or five inches long and deep red. There was nothing beautiful about him. Oddly enough, she thought him to be handsome yet deadly. When he took a step toward her, then another, she didn’t flinch away but put out her hand to touch him.

The monster, the only thing that she could think of, rubbed his face along her hand and then up her arm to her shoulder. When he nuzzled at her neck, Calla let him do so, even tilting her head so that he could do with her as he wanted. Licking along her throat, she knew on some level he was going to bite her, and it was going to hurt. Calla came hard when he sank his teeth, his long, sharp teeth, into her tender neck.

She must have passed out at some point because when she opened her eyes, he was sitting in the chair he’d been in before, staring at her. Feeling self-conscious, she asked him if he was all right. Nodding once, he told her that he’d never been better and asked after herself.

“Fine. A little lightheaded but just fine. What happened?” He just stared at her like he was seeing her for the first time. “Are you all right?”

“I’m several thousand years old.” She nodded. “In all that time, I never once had anything to do with humans, as I thought them to be greedy and selfish. Then, just as I was thinking of joining the others of my kind who have become bored with life, someone comes along and rattles my bones.”

“You’re not making any sense.” He stood up, and she nearly backed away from him when he came toward her. But holding herself still, he licked along her cheekbone to get a drop of her blood, he told her. “What’s going on? Why are you being particularly odd right now?”

“You did this to me. You’ve settled in my heart so that I cannot now nor ever turn to ash. I’m not mad, but I am feeling a little off.” She nodded, still not sure as to what he was talking about. “You’re my mate, Calla Lily. One that I never thought I would find in all my days as I grew older. You have given me something that I’ve never had before. A look on life—”

“Hold on there a second. Just give me a minute.” He nodded, his smile not very comforting to her at the moment. “I can’t be your mate. I’m just a human. And you’ve made it clear to me that you don’t care for us. Humans, I mean.”

“I’ve changed.” She said she wasn’t sure that had anything to do with her. “It has everything to do with you. And you are no longer just a human. You’ve become so much more in the moments that I drank from you.”

“Take it back.” Brew said that he could not. “You did something to me. Whatever it is, I…You did this, and you can take it back.”

“I cannot. I don’t even know now that I want to. You are my mate for all times. And by the way, you weren’t wholly human before I claimed you. You have a bit of vampire in you from somewhere back in your lineage. A little wolf as well.” Shaking her head, he only nodded. “You’ve healed as well. And you’ll stay healthy for the rest of our days together. Did you know that you had spots of cancer throughout your body? You would not have lasted more than a year had I not claimed you.”

“You said that twice now. What do you mean you’ve claimed me?” He explained it to her. “No, I didn’t…well, I did, but I think that I was just horny and needed some relief. Why are you laughing? This isn’t funny.”

“No, ‘tis not. But I find myself wondering if you will be like this our entire life.” She told him that there wasn’t going to be an entire life with him. “So you say. But I have a feeling that once you are in my home—our home you will feel differently. I know that I’m looking at it as a home now and not a place to rest. A house with no warmth but for you.”

“You’re getting ahead of yourself there, bucko. I didn’t say I was going anywhere with you.” He laughed again, a short, sharp laughter that made her think that he was just as surprised by it as she was. When he stood up, putting his hands out, she didn’t know whether to take it or not. “You’re not going to let me be alone, are you?” He shook his head, his face still covered in humor. “I don’t want to be your mate, Brew. It’s not going to be good for either of us. It’s going to be bad.”

“Not so long as I have breath in my body. And before you ask, yes, I have breath in me. But you and I, we’ll do well together. Have a good life. I’ll take care that your uncle no longer bothers you again.” She asked him if he was going to kill him. “If it comes to that, I will, but for now, I’m going to try and talk to him about his hurting you. May I hurt him? As he has you? That would satisfy both myself and my monster. For now.”

She didn’t want to ask him what that meant. Being all right with him hurting him seemed to make her think that since he wasn’t anything but human, he might not survive a beating. Instead, she nodded and took his hand.

When she opened her eyes, not sure when she’d closed them, she was no longer in the hospital but now in a home. Even from the front entrance, she knew it to be a large mansion. One that she’d never be able to walk around in a single day.

“This is our home. Our staff is just beyond in the kitchen. I believe they will enjoy having you around.” She asked him if they would bite her as well. “No. They’re ancients, as I am, but they no longer have the need to eat. I think that will change with you among them. I believe, at least, I hope you will keep them on their toes much like you will me.”

“I’m still not sure about this. You’ll keep your teeth behind your lips, or I’ll stake you in the middle…when you go to bed. I’m assuming you have to sleep?” She thought of something then, something that she’d read. “Can you only drink from me? I’ve read that someplace.”

“Nay, I can feed from anyone should I wish. I don’t want to because you come so prettily when I feed from you. I’d like to do that again, though I have no need to. To hear you screaming out your climax, calling my name when you do. It makes me hard just to think about it.”

“No more of that.” He looked like a small child that had missed his nap. Brew’s lower lip hung out there, and she felt the need to bite him, take that wet lip, and nibble on it until she needed to come again. Turning her back to him, she headed to what she had hoped was the kitchen. The man was in for a rude awakening if he tried that shit on her again. But her body tingled when she thought of how delicious she had felt coming the way that she had.