Vampire Mate: BBW Paranormal Romance (2 page)

Charlene squeezed her eyes
shut. Thankfully her eyelids hadn't been ripped away, so she could
still close her eyes. The makeup and special effects were very
convincing, but she didn't remember signing up to be an extra in a
horror movie. And as far as she knew, she hadn't accidentally
stumbled into a fun house of horrors at a fair or theme park either.
Charlotte had loved going into those as a kid, but they hadn't been
to one in a long time. There was no way she could be in a house of
horrors right now by herself. There was just no way in hell...

Charlene jolted, her eyes
flying wide open.

In hell.

This must be where she was.

She stared at the twin flames,
which were narrowing into glowing slits. As she watched in wordless
terror, the flames became two slitted eyes, and a smile appeared out
of the darkness.

“
Charlene Cole.”
It was a male voice that said her name. The voice was cool,
dispassionate, appraising.

She tried to turn towards the
voice, but the voice was everywhere. It was in front of her, behind
her, beside her, at her ear, at her back, in her head, in her bones.
Charlene clutched her head, and yanked out a tuft of her blond hair
in her agitation.

“
Get...out! Get out of
my head! Go away,” she rasped, trying to block out the voice.
“How do you know my name? Who are you?”

“
I am the only thing
standing between you, and your death, Charlene. I watched you fight
that rogue werewolf. You're very brave and very strong for a human.
You are a fighter, Charlene. Dying would be a waste,” the
voice whispered seductively in her ear.

“
What do you want? Who
are you?” Charlene swallowed and made her voice stronger.
“Since you know my name, it's only polite you tell me yours.”

The laughter was good-humored,
not mocking.

“
I am a demon lord and I
have many names. I am Mr Sideous Kron to my business associates in
New Moon City. Lord Kron, Lord of Beasts and Bloodshed to my demons
and those in the know. You, Charlene Cole—” He
chuckled. “—may call me your Maker.”

Charlene suppressed a shiver
and forced her voice to remain firm and calm. If she was talking to
a demon lord, she couldn't and shouldn't show any fear.

“
You're planning to kill
me, aren't you. Offer me up as some sort of demon sacrifice.”
She stuck out her tongue then hurriedly put it back in her mouth
before it fell out. “Too bad I'm already dead,” she
jeered.
Ha! You lose. I...don't win either.

This time, Kron made an
impatient noise. “You haven't been listening. I said, your
Maker, not your Destroyer.”

Charlene chewed what was left
of her lower lip and stopped abruptly when a corner of said lip
crumbled away. She scowled at her distant reflection in those
slitted eyes. She looked like shit, felt like shit and was literally
going to pieces.

“
My Maker,”
Charlene repeated skeptically. “You're going to Make me...”
She gestured uncertainly and paused. “Wait, is this like a
makeover? I could really do with one.”

“
A makeover. Mmm, you
could call it that I suppose.” Kron sounded pleased. There
was a step, and Charlene saw the flames in those eyes flare up and
burn brighter and redder. There was the clicking of claws as a face,
then a body surfaced from the inky shadows. Charlene made herself
stand rigid and look Kron directly in his flaming eyes as he loomed
over her. She would not show any weakness in front of a demon, even
if her flesh was peeling off her body and her shredded skin hung like
rags on her.

For an instant, she saw
Kron's demon form, replete with curling horns, smoking snout, long
claws and fangs, lashing, barbed tails and a very bad complexion.
Those humongous pimples looked like mini volcanoes about to erupt all
over his mottled face. When she blinked again, that smoking,
scowling demon was gone. In his place stood a well-dressed gentleman
in a top hat, monocle, and a three piece suit. The stench of
brimstone was masked by expensive cologne, and he accessorized
lavishly with a diamond-studded watch, gold bracelets, glittering
rings and a blinding, wide smile.

“
That's some makeover,”
Charlene muttered.

“
Yes. For me, it's
easy.” Kron snapped his fingers, and his smile vanished. “But
you will need to have some work done. Look at the state of you.
Humans are just so—limited. Can't heal quickly, can't change
form, can't teleport. And yet, you remain...fascinating.” He
clucked his tongue and looked her up and down. He held a strand of
her skin up between two fingers and dropped it, wrinkling his nose.
“Lots of loose skin here, sagging flesh, hair loss...” he
mumbled, shaking his head and screwing up his face. “You'll
need a full day's work, to patch you back more or less to your
original look.”

“
Original look?”

“
Unless you want a
change of face, and body.”

“
No, no, just the way I
was would be...great,” Charlotte stammered, a spark of hope
igniting in her breast. “Does that mean that I...can live?
That I can go back...”

“
Go back to being
human?” Kron sounded incredulous.

Charlene nodded earnestly,
waiting with bated breath. If there was a chance that she could go
back, go back to Charlotte, her little sister, her only family, she
would grab it.

“
I shall put this very
delicately,” Kron said. “The answer is—no.”

“
B-but you said...”

“
Do you know what I am?”
Kron threw out his arms. “I am a demon lord. I. Don't.
Make. Humans!” He huffed. “Really. I'm insulted.”

Charlene stared to worry her
bottom lip again before she stopped herself. She couldn't afford to
lose any more pieces of herself. “So when you say makeover,”
she began slowly. “You mean...”

Kron folded his arms and
looked at her expectantly. “I mean what I say, and I say what
I mean.”

She gulped and stuttered,
“Y-you will Make me...”

“
Go on, you're getting
it. What do you think I Make, Charlene?”

I am a demon lord. I.
Don't. Make. Humans!

Charlene took a deep breath.
“You make demons.”

He broke into a winsome smile
and unfolded his arms. “Yes! That I do. And I do that very
well. I have made quite a number of demons now, and the quality of
my demons is exceptional. I'll even throw in a few additional demon
powers, all free of charge. This is just a one time offer. So, what
do you say? This offer expires upon your death, which is like—”
He glanced at his diamond watch and gasped. “Now. It's your
choice, Charlene. Death or demon.” Kron rocked back on his
heels and waited.

Charlene stared up at those
flaming red eyes, and saw the werewolf attack being replayed starkly
and all too clearly through the flames. She saw every bloody,
gruesome detail of her death. She saw the rogue werewolf lunge at
her, its lethal claws and jaws aimed for her heart and throat. She
saw the spray of her own arterial blood painting the wall behind her
bright crimson as she fell. She heard her sister's anguished
screams, and saw the wolf spin round to attack Charlotte.
Charlotte's bloodstained fists and bleeding limbs were flailing and
weakening through the blur of black fur and glinting teeth. A mist
of blood rained down on the scene and the wolf and her sister sank
into the sea of red. The red flickered and glowed into leaping
flames, and Charlene stumbled back with a gasp. The pain in her
broken chest was sharp and piercing. She had fallen under the
werewolf's jaws and had failed to protect Charlotte. She had left
her younger sister all alone, frightened and hurt. The rogue was
attacking Charlotte! She had to go back, go back and protect
Charlotte!

And she couldn't do that if
she was dead.

Kron took a step closer to her
and she jerked her head up. Her face was reflected in his gleaming
eyes, and as his fingers lightly skimmed over her cheek, she saw her
skin grow back and her wounds knit seamlessly together until her face
was whole again. She was no longer a monstrosity, a mutilated dead
thing barely held together by stringy, shredded skin. Her blond hair
grew back, a shiny bob over her head. The color returned to her
round cheeks and her green eyes sparked to life.

At the same time that Charlene
raised a hand to her face, Kron removed his fingers from her face.
In a rush, the mended Charlene melted away, leaving her back where
she was. In tatters and in pieces. Broken and dead.

She caught a glimpse of her
half-eaten face, her bloodied scalp and her bulging, horrified eyes
just as Kron stepped back and the flames flared back up in his eyes
to obscure her grotesque reflection from her.

“
Make your choice,
Charlene. What do you want to be?” the demon lord asked.

Dead, or demon.

Charlene thought of Charlotte,
and a faint memory of the Enforcers from the Paranormal Affairs
Council (PAC) patrolling the streets and protecting the civilians of
New Moon City rose in her mind. She had the sudden conviction that
the Enforcer who had rushed into the alley and whose voice she had
heard last calling for help through the radio static was a demon
Enforcer. If demons could be good, then—

Charlene squared her shoulders
and flashed her biggest, brightest smile, even though her facial
muscles twitched and protested, and more of her skin tore and flaked
off. “Let's do this, Mr Kron. Make me over.” She
spread out her shaking arms. “Make me a demon!”

Kron's eyes glittered as the
fires died down in his eyes, leaving just glowing coals. With a
flourish, he snatched a large makeup palette out of the shadows and
twirled it atop one finger. Charlene saw all shades of dried blood
on the palette, and kept the smile plastered on her face through
sheer, stubborn willpower.

“
As you wish, Charlene,
I will Make you a demon. But let me warn you.” He leaned in
close to her ear, making her shudder. “It ain't pretty, and it
sure ain't painless.”

With that, he gave her a wink
and a shove. Charlene let out a scream as the shadows receded and
she found herself swaying and wobbling on the very edge of a
precipice, her arms windmilling madly. Kron stood a few feet away,
watching her as he smeared the gory colors from the makeup palette
onto his fingertips and licked them off slowly.

With his bloodstained lips, he
blew her a kiss and she lost her footing altogether. Charlene
spiraled down into the waiting flames, her scream echoing above her.
She plunged headlong into the roaring flames, which transformed into
thrashing black waves. Drowning in a sea of blood and fire was not
what she'd bargained for.

She should have known better.
What was she thinking, bargaining with a demon?

Perhaps she should have chosen
death.

Charlene spluttered, trying to
struggle to the surface. No! She would not choose death. That was
the easy way out, and since when did Charlene Cole do easy? Never.
Not since their mother split and their dad drank himself to death.
She had soldiered on, taking on all kinds of jobs, enduring all kinds
of humiliation and hardship, just to put food on the table and keep a
non-leaking roof over their heads. She had made sure that her sister
grew up happy and loved, that Charlotte's childhood and teenage years
were warm and comfortable.

Her life hadn't been easy.

So why should her death be
easy?

Bring it on!

She was sure that Kron was
going to kill her. He had just been playing with her, taunting her,
raising her hopes then crushing them, the sadistic bastard. He was
going to watch her drown in this sea of black demon blood that was
being boiled by the fires of hell.

What a way to die,
Charlene! Way to go.

A hysterical, demented laughed
gurgled from Charlene as she coughed up a mouthful of blood. Above
the flaming sea of blood, Charlene saw Kron silhouetted at the top of
the cliff against the swirling sulfur mists.

His form kept shifting and
changing with the mist. She saw a horned figure standing upright,
with flaring horns and muscular limbs. Then she saw a crouching
beast, with many tails and dripping fangs. His shape morphed again
into a humanoid figure, but there were long talons gripping the edge
of the cliff where his feet should be. Finally, she glimpsed that
immaculately dressed gentleman again, sitting cross-legged and
swinging a cane jauntily at the tip of the rocky ledge.

Kron was just entertaining
himself. And it seemed that she was his entertainment.

Charlene spat out another
mouthful of blood and gave the demon lord the finger before a dark,
burning wave crashed over her head and dragged her down. Her stiff,
defiant finger remained above the surface for the longest time,
before slowly sinking and disappearing into the burning depths.

Glenn Constantine glanced at
his watch. Eight o'clock.

He had to attend another
meeting in about half an hour. But first, he had to take care of
business,
his
business. Having a Master vampire as their
founding board member meant that his staff at his real estate
investment firm, GC Inc., usually scheduled all important board
meetings in the evenings, when the sun was down so he could attend.