Thunderstorm, p.1
Thunderstorm, page 1
Thank you for downloading this Strebor Books eBook.
* * *
Join our mailing list and get updates on new releases, deals, bonus content and other great books from Strebor Books and Simon & Schuster.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP
or visit us online to sign up at
eBookNews.SimonandSchuster.com
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First, I want to thank God because without Him, I wouldn’t be blessed the way that He has blessed me. To my husband, Malcolm, thank you for loving me. You are an amazing man that has shown me that a fairytale of having a Knight in shining armor isn’t too good to be true. This is our life and I love you. To my kids, Ciera, Cameron, and my angel in heaven, Londyn, I love you guys more than words can ever express. My parents, Chris, and Sharon, my sisters, Koko and Crystal, and my brother, Chris—I love you guys. To my enormous family of aunts, uncles, and cousins—I love you guys, too. It’s way too many to name off the top of my head. I don’t want to single anyone out.
To my best friend, Tanera, thanks for being there no matter what. Through good and bad times, we made it. To all my friends, thank you for being there when I needed you. You know who you are and there are too many to name individually, but you know who you are.
I want to send a special shout-out to my literary family: Zane, Charmaine, N’Tyse, Karen E. Quinones Miller, Shakir Rashaan, Carla Pennington, and Ambiance Books as a whole. I’m so glad that I have connected with you all. I love everyone that crosses my path, but you all have a special place in my heart.
I want to thank all the reviewers and all of the readers (#Read Moore Crew). You all have taken the time to let me know that you are out there reading my work. Without your feedback, I wouldn’t be able to grow as an artist. Thank you ALL from the bottom of my heart.
COVENANT LAWS OF PIGALLE PALACE
Thou shall not release venom when biting a mortal, unless thou are ready to make her thy wife.
Thou shall not kill humans under any circumstance.
Thou shall enjoy the pleasures of Club Vaisseau, as thou please.
Thou shall not go outside the Red Light District.
Thou shall have blood slaves, but no more than one at a time.
Thou shall not go against the King.
PIGALLE PALACE TERMS
Daywalker: A Daywalker is a vampire that can walk around in the daytime without being burned by the sun.
Divination: A King shall return to rule Pigalle, crowned by King Allemand. The Divine One shall be the heir of King Allemand and Queen Christione’s bloodline. The birthright was taken and shall be returned immediately. He shall be a Daywalker with extraordinary powers. Once he is proven the Divine One, the Préfet shall immediately disband and allow the King to rule the kingdom. Let no one stand in the way of what is to be.
Enchantress: An Enchantress is a witch that makes potions, spells for love, and talismans for protection.
Prototype: A Prototype is the first known vampires bitten by bats.
Pureblood: A Pureblood is a vampire born of two vampires.
Spellbinder: A Spellbinder is a witch that casts binding spells that can lead to death.
PROLOGUE
Once Rain took his throne as the King of Pigalle Palace, he and Queen Essence were adored and showered with lavish gifts by the dozens as their union was highly celebrated. Rain had fully embraced his role and Queen Essence no longer embodied the dark side. The Château had over a few hundred staff members from cooks, maids, and individual servants. The Préfet disbanded their government and allowed Rain to make all of the decisions over the city as promised. The city needed and wanted to have a King again, but not every vampire was happy about it.
The Ravens, who had proclaimed themselves as outcasts, hated the idea of having a King. They were pleased that the Préfet was gone, but they wanted the freedom to do whatever. Rain enforced that the kingdom have order and the rules of the Covenant remained. The Ravens wanted to overthrow the King by terrorizing the city.
The Ravens didn’t believe in any humans being spared from their consumption so they created quite the commotion in Paris. No vampires were allowed to step foot outside the Red Light District anymore. Humans were naturally the Ravens’ prey. Not only were the Ravens feasting on them, but they were also growing rapidly in number, creating a larger brood.
Rain, Onyx, Azura, and Legend’s godparents were cast out of the kingdom by Rain. That was their punishment for orchestrating the betrayal. They moved to an undisclosed location and didn’t make any contact. No one questioned why King Rain ordered them to leave.
Baby Ulysses had grown into a man almost instantly, it seemed. He was as handsome as his father and uncles, but his strength was incredibly and noticeably stronger and he was more muscular. He, himself, had a hard time controlling his own strength because of how fast he’d grown. Ulysses was now a force to be reckoned with, especially when he was angry. When he threw tantrums, with his fist, he could break columns in half.
Ulysses was a Pureblood—a rare breed born to two vampires. Before Ulysses, his great-grandparents, King Allemand and Queen Christione, were the only other Purebloods. Purebloods were more powerful than any other vampire. Although Ulysses was feared mostly because of his size, women found him to be irresistibly sexy. He was cruel, arrogant, insensitive, and at times, rough.
Rain trained him to be gentle, especially with women and the humans. Ulysses’ vampire instincts were strong. At times, he struggled to control his hunger. He drank from thermoses of donated blood as he learned to control his urge to want to feed on and kill humans. The only thing he couldn’t control was his sexual appetite. When it came to pleasing women, Ulysses was a beast. He loved manipulating their minds, making them pawns in his hands.
His parents, Onyx and Soleil, were proud of him, regardless of how many women were in and out of his bed. If anything ever happened to King Rain, Ulysses would be the next King. Ulysses was smart, fast and possessed many powers that no one had ever seen in a vampire.
Ulysses’ gifts were fantastic and some had yet to be discovered. Rain kept Ulysses at close range: to monitor his behaviors and to make sure that he used his powers correctly. If he didn’t utilize them in the proper way, Ulysses’ powers could possibly destroy the entire kingdom. Rain stressed night and day over his nephew’s powers.
CHAPTER 1
ULYSSES
The humid midsummer’s evening welcomed female mortals by the dozens and I hand-selected a few of the ones I wanted to entertain for the night. My personal servant, Andreas, brought them to my bedroom and I couldn’t have felt more anxious. On this night, my craving seemed more intense and I couldn’t wait to satisfy it. I had what Uncle Rain liked to call an unusually large appetite for the sexiest and most beautiful women in Paris.
I didn’t deny that. I could admit it. I wasn’t ashamed of it at all because a part of me didn’t mind wanting to be every woman’s lover. Women were my addiction and I did not intend to stop anytime soon. There was no cure for what I yearned for and I didn’t want one.
Women were succulent and delectable. They had a way of walking and talking that made me bite on my lower lip. The way they each carried their own heavenly scent drove me absolutely wild. There was something amazing about their ample round bottoms, soft breasts, legs, and hips. I needed to sex them the same way I needed to drink blood. Having great sex was a necessity much like getting the proper nutrition to live a long life.
Whenever a woman was in my presence, her scent would wash over me and my nostrils would flare. A young lady’s blood was satisfying and so sweet-smelling and the taste of her was more delicious. I didn’t like the taste of a male’s blood. It was too bitter. I compared drinking a woman’s blood to drinking an alcoholic beverage. When someone felt fucked up about life and wanted to get drunk, he always reached for his favorite scotch or vodka before going for a merlot. His intentions were to get drunk quickly and that scotch or vodka would get him fucked up the quickest. Women’s blood got me screwed up so fast. It was like my scotch. When I drank it, I felt so drunk. I loved the feeling.
I could smell a woman’s blood from miles away. The scent was mouthwatering. I wanted it . . . I needed the delicious thick, dark-red liquid that slowly oozed out of a woman’s veins down my parched throat. However, let me be clear; no matter what Uncle Rain thought, I didn’t have the urge to kill anyone. That was a forbidden law of the Covenant and I had been taught well. Uncle Rain acted as if one day my urge would become greater than my desire and I would do the unimaginable. Killing wasn’t my thing. I didn’t like it. I didn’t like how dark it made me feel on the inside. I had accidentally killed a woman once when I was drunk. The darkness loomed over me for weeks. I was capable of killing, but I wouldn’t dare. He could give me some credit there.
As I grew into a man, I became fully aware of the kind of pleasure I could give to a woman. It wasn’t sucking the blood that had my adrenaline rushing. A woman’s beauty was like art and I was the painter—a true artist who was in love with his craft. I could detect a woman’s beauty, not only from the outside, but I could see what was inside of her as well. I could determine what type of woman she was before she could utter one single word. Attraction started within and it enhanced her outer appearance.
While listening to the four women that I had in my company for the night, I paid close attention to the way they were laughing. The highs and lows of their giggles let me know that they were truly having a great time, drinking pink Moscato wine, and eating the hors d’oeuvres I had picked
One woman called me Chocolate Heaven once. I laughed at that title when I first heard it, but it was as if she had passed that name along because she wasn’t the last to say it. Each one uttered it as if it was the code word they needed for me to let them into my world. It was quite adorable to me. I didn’t consider myself chocolate in color. Rain was more like chocolate. I was brown like cocoa. Chocolate was chocolate, I guessed.
My mysterious silence always intrigued women and it seemed as if my demeanor fascinated them. They were waiting for me to say something, but I was going to make them wait. It was like a game of cat and mouse. I would let them run around freely, but then pounce on them when I was ready. I leaned back and continued to listen to the sounds of their delightful laughter. Their laughter was much needed and their smiling faces helped to make my heavy thoughts dissipate.
After the long, drawn-out meeting I’d had with my family earlier that day, I was left feeling as if I needed an escape from what was going on in the Red Light District. Yet, another dead human body had been found in the alley near Club Vaisseau and I didn’t like to think about it. That was all Uncle Rain could talk about and I was growing sick of it. Rain was the King. How come he wasn’t making any arrests? The Ravens were the ones killing and we knew it, so why weren’t we going after them and making them pay for making the Red Light District dangerous? How was he going to stop bodies from turning up in the Red Light District if he never left the Palace? It was stupid to me. He was letting them be and we were to go on with our own lives as if it wasn’t happening. It was Uncle Rain’s duty to keep the district safe for all and he was failing miserably at it. He hadn’t come up with a single solution to how he was going to stop the killings. All he was doing was talking about it.
Uncle Legend and my father did what they were told without many rebuttals. Aunt Azura was opposite. She was usually the most vocal in our family meetings. She didn’t hide how she was feeling. I was with her when she said that the only way to fix the problem was to kill the Ravens and take control of the club again. The club was out of control and the killings never happened when the family was running it. Ever since our family had abandoned Vaisseau, the Ravens had taken it over, used it as a recruiting headquarters, and they were starting to terrorize any human that came down to the Red Light District.
The Ravens were joined by the old brood that Essence had created when she was confused about her being. They were lost newborns and couldn’t control their thirst for mortal blood so they joined the Ravens. They had a brand-new leader, some guy named Claude Parrish, and he was definitely letting every vampire know that if the Ravens wanted to, they could hunt and kill. The Ravens were doing more than breaking the laws of the Covenant. They were trying to start a war. Rain had warned us all to stay far away from the club because it was too dangerous. He was going to take care of it when the time was right. In the meantime, we were going to have to keep listening to him rant every time a body turned up.
I couldn’t listen to it anymore. I was going to continue to do only the things I loved doing—pleasuring women. That was all I needed. Women were a great distraction to help take my mind off being the Prince of a destiny I didn’t want.
I had gotten up from the chair and leaned up against the wall to continue to watch the women drink more wine and converse freely. I was going to speak soon enough. I intended to drink a little from each of them. I was going to nibble a little, much like a snack, and they were going to love me for it. I was a damn good lover, and in return, women allowed me to drink from them at free will. My enormous appetite and high sexual desire allowed me to please each one of them all night long; the way I liked it.
I was stubborn and a little rebellious. Uncle Rain ruled Pigalle Palace with his heart on his sleeve and it took him a long time to walk in his birthright prior to taking the throne. Truthfully, I still thought he was too soft to be a King. Those were my thoughts and though it felt wrong to feel that way about my own Uncle, I wasn’t going to be in denial about it. This kingdom needed an iron fist.
When and if I ever got the chance to rule over Pigalle Palace, I would do things the way they should be. In the meantime, I didn’t need to fulfill any royal duties. Rain was still the King and as long as he was the King, which would be forever, I was going to continue doing whatever I wanted.
My cell phone buzzed against my hip. I checked it. It was my mother texting, telling me to send the women home because Rain was on his way to shut my party down. I didn’t reply to the text. I hated it when she tried to tell me what to do as if I were a child. I wasn’t harming anyone, so I didn’t see why my entertaining was such a big deal.
I glanced across the room and noticed one of them was extremely attractive. She stood out like a vivid red rose sitting in a dead rose garden. She was now sitting alone at the end of the couch, away from the others. She appeared to be very confident as she stared back at me. The chandelier above her was glimmering off her dark-brown eyes, making them sparkle. I was fixated on her. Her roasted almond-colored skin almost looked as if she was dipped in candy coating.
Taking a good look at her, the thought of having sex instantly electrified me. Aroused by the possibility of what I could do to her, I approached her slowly. This lovely, curvy, wide-eyed beauty was such a distraction that the others faded from the room. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. I made up in my mind to send the others home to have her all to myself.
As I barely raised my right hand, I signaled to my servant, Andreas, and he came to me.
“Yes, your highness?” he asked.
“I want her. Send the others home in a few minutes.”
Andreas bowed his head and replied, “Yes, your highness.”
I wasn’t in the mood to entertain them all. I only wanted that particular one. That was a rare thing. One woman never actually could curb my large desire, but I was willing to try something new.
While Andreas was delivering my message to the others, so many thoughts ran through my mind. I thought of taking a sip of her sweet young blood first before fucking her. Her delicious scent had me ready and my fangs began to elongate as my thoughts began to run wild with me.
The woman standing before me nearly shuddered as I lightly grazed her chin with the tips of my fingers. What was it about this heavenly mortal that I found so intriguing? I was going to find out.
“Hello,” I finally said.
“Hello. It’s sweet of you to finally speak, Chocolate Heaven,” she said with a shy grin and a giggle.
“Aren’t you something,” I stated with a smile forming.
The temptation I felt to devour this woman on the spot was astounding to me. I was standing in front of her while she was still sitting, admiring her long, curly, black hair, and I suddenly felt the need to run my fingers through it.
Before I could get my hands into her hair, she immediately rose to her feet and she stood about five feet five inches in height. I stood around six feet tall, so while I stared down at her, I got a good look at her firm breasts trying to pop out of her V-neck blouse. Her black miniskirt accentuated her thick legs.
Yes! I wanted her badly.
“I was waiting for the right time to come and say hello,” I flirted.
Bursting into the room with a loud bang of the door, Uncle Rain didn’t attempt to cloak his presence or give me the respect a man should get while having company. The other women hadn’t made it out of the door yet.
Everyone faced him and all talking and laughing ceased immediately as their bodies tensed up, becoming like a herd of deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car. They looked unsure whether or not to make a dash for it.
“Get the fuck out!” he shouted with his fangs elongated and exposed.
As the women quickly scurried out of the door, I groaned, “You gotta be kiddin’ me . . .”
