Chapter 1
The clouds look ominous. Floating high above the desert, moving quickly as if they are running from an unknown force. Even the birds are acting strange darting in and out from tree to tree. Standing under a large pine tree with my dark blue hoodie pulled over my head, I slowly tilt my head up to look at the leaves. Closing my eyes I begin to feel the slow drops of cool water gently tickle my face. This is a rare day in Las Vegas. We hardly ever have weather like this.
Glancing back to the house, I take a deep breath. I should be getting back soon. He will be rising soon and by the look of the clouds I am going to have one unhappy vampire on my hands.
My name is Natasha Compass and I am a 24 year old personal assistant to one of the most powerful vampires on the west coast. Rowland Le Bone is one of the oldest “Vamps” that I have ever worked for. Actually, he is the only vampire I have ever worked for. He is an old vampire with classical looks for our modern times. He's absolutely stunning standing a few inches over six feet with broad shoulders, dark chocolate hair and the clearest blue eyes I have ever seen. I don't dare speak of his looks though, he's beautiful and he knows it.
Pulling my cell phone out of my pocket I glance at the time and contemplate enjoying another five minutes of this rainy weather. Lost in my thoughts, a large black bird shrieks over my head, reacting too fast I stumble backwards and trip over a large rock landing hard on my right hip. My phone landed a foot away and begins vibrating uncontrollably. Slowly sitting up I let out a large groan and reach for the phone, praying it isn't who I think it is.
“Hello.” Trying to sound casual. Oh no. My fears are confirmed.
“What are you doing on the ground?” he shouted, irritation dripping off his voice.
“I fell.” Hoping he could sense the irritation in my voice.
“I can see that, what happened. And don't make me repeat myself”
Sigh. “A bird scared me, I fell, tripped over a rock, it's no big deal”. Gosh he was so annoying!
“Get in the house – NOW!” Click. Silence.
After taking a moment to gather myself and get my emotions in check, I stood up and dusted the dirt off my side. Well – today wasn't starting out well – and it had so much potential. Yanking my hoodie over my head I dart back to the house. The house is very large coming in at just over several thousand square feet. It has two main levels with the main level containing five large suites, living and dining rooms, a parlor, large gourmet kitchen and a large patio that would comfortably fit over 100 people. Not that we entertain much but Rowland does like his space.
Pressing my hand on the side of the house the sliding glass door opens slowly. Besides the house being extremely large everything is state of the art. I unzip my hoodie and start to take it off, turning to the right I walk directly into a solid wall. Staggering back a little and still feeling a little dazed from my tumble, I feel two large hands grip my shoulders. With me standing only a few inches over five feet I look up to see who I hit. My hoodie is covering my left eye, but my right eye gets a clear view of my personal barrier. All I can see is two golden red eyes starring back at me.
“What were you doing out there?” he said slightly shaking my shoulders. The firm grip on my shoulders sends immediate images of myself on the ground outside along with a pull of fire in the pit of my stomach. Boy he was really upset. “Let. Go.” I muttered.
He slowly released me wincing as he realized the images he was filtering through our contact. He glances into my eyes and I could see the red fading quickly back to the the honeyed amber color of his natural eye. He looked like he was about to say something but I spoke first.
“It's nothing, honestly.” I say in my sweetest voice.
“Do Not give me that, you could have been seriously hurt” as he proceeded to turn me around and inspect me further for injuries.
Shaking off his worries I walked through the kitchen to the door leading to the basement. The house had several secret passage ways leading to the basement, but this was the only one known to the house staff.
“Hurry up.” I said holding the door for him. This was our daily routine and we were already behind schedule.
He slowly walked away from the back door all the while starring at me with concern in his eyes. He stopped in front of me and glanced down at me.
“I apologize for raising my voice.” I blew out my breath that I had been holding, yep, today was going to be an interesting day. He started slowly down the steps and then picked up his steps as he heard me following him. Vampires have excellent hearing and Rowland's is even more perfected then the average vamps. With most newly made vampires they are so flooded with power over their senses, it's like running around on speed for the first decade. It's important for new vampires to have an elder with them during this time, to help them get control of these senses. This is why Rowland is the West coast leader. His perfection of his senses has earned him some amazing power within the vampire community.
Reaching the bottom step we came to a stop. Even though the house is heavily guarded Rowland must scan everything. The room is black and I can see Rowland's red eyes glowing back at me. “It is clear”.
“Lights.” I spoke in an even tone. The computer eagerly replied – Lights On.
The basement was what I considered to be a large underground fortress. The main house was sitting on twenty acres of land just outside of Las Vegas in the Red Rock Mountain area. The basement itself contains several “vamp” style bedrooms, a large medical room, tanning beds, swimming pool and several landing areas for the hidden escape passages located through the main house and surrounding acreage.
“So you never mentioned why you were outside today. You know I worry about you when I sleep.” His gaze was penetrating heat to the back of my neck.
