Vampires' Curse

By Lauralynn Elliott

The Libby Fox novellas are now available in one book! Dark Relic: Vampires’ Curse, Secrets of the Wolf, and Search for the Vampires’ Curse are all included in this compilation, Vampires’ Curse.

Dark Relic: Vampires’ Curse

Libby Fox is just a regular private investigator, snooping on cheating business partners and wayward husbands. That is, until Adam Ryder walks into her office and asks her to find a missing person. Before she even gets a chance to do much investigating, it turns out that the missing person has been kidnapped to force a trade for a beautiful and dangerous artifact, and Libby’s job description changes to hostage exchange. But there is more to her client than she could possibly have realized, and Libby is drawn into a world darker than she dreamed had existed. Now she’s torn between the feelings she’s beginning to have for Adam, and the fact that he lives in a world she’s not sure she can be a part of.

Secrets of the Wolf

While private investigator, Libby Fox, is still trying to wrap her mind around the fact that vampires exist and that she actually has feelings for one of them, she's drawn into yet another case where there's more to her client that meets the eye. When Blake Harding walks into her office, hiring her to find a secret book very important to his family, Libby has no idea of the danger involved. She learns that there are things out there more dangerous than vampires as she searches for the Secrets of the Wolf.

Search for the Vampires’ Curse

The third and final novella of the Libby Fox Series, Search for the Vampires’ Curse, takes Libby, Adam, and friends from the bayous of Louisiana to the rain forest in Brazil. In this story, the search for the deadly cross introduced in book one continues. Meanwhile, Libby and Adam continue to question whether or not a relationship between them is possible. Will Libby take a chance and ignore her fears, or will she let Adam go for good? Find out the answers in the conclusion of the Libby Fox series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lauralynn Elliott
• Release date: Mar 27, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476251271

Lauralynn Elliott

Lauralynn Elliott is an independently published author of paranormal and fantasy romance books, as well as some horror. She started the indie journey several years ago and has never regretted it, loving the freedom to publish what she wants when she wants. You will find everything from vampires and ghosts to elves and wizards in her novels and novellas. She enjoys putting a little bit of a different twist on some of the old ideas about our favorite fictional characters. Lauralynn lives in the southeastern United States with her husband of many years. She has two grown sons whom she adores. Reading, playing computer games, and spending time with friends are some of her favorite activities.

Book preview

Chapter One

I wasn’t in a very good mood the day I met him. I had just been stiffed by a client when the check he gave me bounced like a rubber ball. It was seven o’clock on a brisk October day in

Georgia when I heard the knock at my door.

I’m closed! I shouted at the person who dared darken my door after hours.

Although I thought I had used my firm voice, the visitor persisted, the knocking becoming a little more insistent. I sighed and wearily rose to my feet, wondering what sort of reprobate I had attracted this time. My clients weren’t the most upstanding people in town. But I was hoping to change my image.

I unlocked the door to my small office and prepared to usher my visitor in. But he stood there looking at me expectantly, as if my come in gesture was beneath him.

Would you please come in? I said, somewhat sarcastically. It was lost on him, it seemed.

I wish to contract your services, he said rather formally as he walked into my office.

Right to the point, huh? Okay, sit down and we’ll talk about it. I’m Libby Fox. Well, I guess you know that since my name is on the door.

He eyed the dilapidated chair that sat across from my desk, and to tell the truth, I didn’t really blame him. He gingerly sat down, not doing a very good job of hiding his distaste. Again, I didn’t blame him.

So, Mr., um…. I started.

Ryder. Adam Ryder.

Bond. James Bond. Okay, Mr. Ryder, what can I do for you?

I have a serious problem that I think you might be able to help me with. Do you find missing persons? he asked.

Find them? Well, I do my best. Is someone missing?

He hesitated. Will all this be kept in confidence?

I assured him it would and encouraged him to go on.

The problem is that I’ve lost someone who was in my charge. I need you to help me find her.

I studied him closely. Mr. Ryder was definitely easy on the eyes. Of course, I didn’t have much to compare him to these days. But he was a handsome man, if a little on the pale side. He was tall and thin, and his face was as close to perfect as I had seen in awhile. He had dark hair that was thick and a little curly. It was his eyes, though, that was his most striking feature. They were the strangest shade of dark violet I had ever seen. His eyes reminded me of a purple storm cloud. And those eyes seemed far too old and wise for someone who looked about thirty.

From where did this person disappear?

She was at my home and I was responsible for her. She disappeared while I was…out.

The hesitation wasn’t lost on me, and I wondered what was really going on here. But, hey, it was a paycheck.

I said, So the last time you saw her, she was at your house? What’s the missing person’s name?

Julie.

I raised my eyebrows at him and he said, Julie Bowman.

I’m going to have to have some information on her. How old is she? Why was she in your charge?

She’s sixteen years old and her father needed me to watch after her for awhile. I don’t think the reasons for that are relevant to the investigation, said Mr. Ryder.

Let me be the judge of that, I said. "For right now, I’ll let that go. But be prepared to give me more information when I start the investigation. If I start the investigation. First, we need to discuss my fee."

That’s irrelevant, he said with a wave of his hand.

Irrelevant? Excuse me, but it’s very relevant to me, I said.

Forgive me, he said. I didn’t mean to imply your fee was unimportant. What I meant was that it doesn’t matter how much it costs. I have to find Julie regardless of the fee.

Now he was talking. I’ll need a retainer of, um, five thousand dollars. I pulled a figure out of the air. He didn’t flinch.

Then, I continued, I’ll submit an expense report every couple of days, and I assume you’ll be prepared to pay those expenses. We’ll talk about the rest of the fee when I find out more about the situation and what all it will entail. But I expect it will be somewhere in the vicinity of five hundred dollars a day. That’s not counting the expenses, of course.

That’s fine, he said. I’ll come back tomorrow evening at this same time with a file containing all the information you need. At that time, we’ll start on the investigation.

Whoa, wait a minute, I said. "We won’t be starting an investigation. I’m the private investigator. You’re the client. We don’t work together like that. And what’s this about coming at the same time tomorrow? I close at six. You just happened to catch me here because I worked a little late tonight."

Ms. Fox, forgive me, but you work late nearly every night. Do you really think I wouldn’t have done a little investigation on my own before hiring you?

You’ve been watching me? I asked.

Of course I have. You come in at eight o’clock every morning after stopping for a biscuit at the local breakfast shop a few doors down. You bring the biscuit here to eat while sipping on gourmet coffee that you make here. Good coffee seems to be your only indulgence. Your clients are, shall we say, questionable, but you seem to do a good job at whatever they hire you to do. You often stay here until eight o’clock at night. And your fees are usually much less than what you’re charging me, but I’m willing to pay whatever you ask.

My mouth was opening and closing like that of a fish as he turned and walked out my door, looking as good from the back as he did from the front. For the first time in years, I was speechless.

After the shock of being practically stalked wore off, I starting going over in my head the conversation that I had just had. I wondered why he had chosen me to find his missing person. There had to be many more private investigators with much better resources than I had. It was probably best not to look a gift horse in the mouth, though. After all, this was the best paying job I had ever had. My clients were usually men or women wanting to find out if their spouses were cheating on them. I’ve also had cases where the client wanted me to find items that had been stolen from them and didn’t want the police involved. So this was a step up.

I locked up my office and drove the ten minutes to my apartment building. I climbed the stairs to the fourth floor, since the elevator had been out of order since the Ice Age. Or maybe the Stone Age. I never could get my history straight. I unlocked the door and stepped inside, and was greeted by my cat, Sherlock, who wound around my legs as I went into my tiny kitchen to put cat food in his bowl. After feeding him, I took off my work clothes, jeans and a nice top, and put on my relaxing clothes, pajama bottoms and a t-shirt.

I turned on the television, and there on the screen was my brand new client! He looked handsome in a black suit that fit him perfectly. Definitely not off the rack. On his arm was a raven haired beauty with long legs and a dress that showed them off perfectly. I felt a little twinge of jealousy, not because I wanted him in particular, but I wanted someone like him instead of the losers I usually ended up with. The newsperson was going on about some charity art auction, and how much money was likely to be thrown about tonight. No wonder he didn’t worry about my fee. If he could afford to bid on art in this auction, he had money to burn. Maybe I should have asked for more. Or maybe not. I didn’t want to be too greedy after all.

Sighing, I turned off the television before I got depressed about the things I didn’t have…lots of money, a nice place to live, a newer car, a hot guy. I went back into my little kitchen and heated up a microwave meal, some kind of chicken that looked much better in the picture on the box than it looked in reality. I’m not even going into how it tasted. I’ve always been one to really enjoy good food, and this was really hard to stomach.

I went to bed early and had a weird dream about Adam Ryder standing up on a mountain and pouring buckets of money down on my head. I truly hoped that it was a good sign.

Chapter Two

The next day, I went to the office at my usual time, stopped to get my biscuit, and made myself a pot of gourmet coffee. Adam Ryder had gotten it right. This was my morning routine. I did what little billing I had left to do, and prayed over every envelope I mailed that the clients would actually pay me. Why hadn’t I asked for a retainer in every case? I’m just too darned nice.

Promptly at seven o’clock that evening, I heard the expected knock on my door, so I let Mr. Ryder in and gestured for him to sit down. He had a file folder in his hand, and he gave it to me as I settled down in the chair behind my desk. I wanted as much space between the two of us as possible because I found him much too attractive for my comfort. I opened up the file and read the contents, which were sketchy at best.

This really doesn’t give me a lot of information, Mr. Ryder, I said with a frown.

Everything you need to know is in there. Her physical description, when she was last seen, and her family’s details.

I looked at him with raised eyebrows. I was good at the eyebrow thing. Details? I don’t really see many details about the family. It just says here that her father is the CEO and President of a large company. It doesn’t say what company. There’s nothing in here about her mother or the actual missing person.

Those things don’t really matter.

Look, the more we know about the missing person, the easier it is to figure out what might have happened to her. Is it possible that she went off on her own?

He shook his head firmly. No, she would never do that. She knows the danger….

Danger? What danger are you referring to?

Mr. Ryder looked at me for a few seconds before answering. All right, I’ve decided to trust you with a little more information.

Gee, thanks, I said.

He ignored that and said, When you’re in a powerful position in a large company, you’re going to make enemies. And that may be what has happened here. Someone could have kidnapped her to get back at her father.

That’s information that I definitely need to know. I can’t believe you were thinking about withholding that from me, I said.

Forgive me, but it’s hard for me to trust people. But I realize you need to know these things. I just wanted to get to know you a little better before I said more. I’m a good judge of character and my gut feeling is that you’re trustworthy. There are a lot of secrets involved here, and your discretion is vital.

Thanks for the vote of confidence. Will I be able to come to your home and see where she may have been taken from? Maybe I can find some sort of clue as to what happened.

He smiled for the first time since I had met him, and my knees went a little weak. I was glad I was sitting down. Of course you should be able to go to the last place she was seen. In fact, I was going to invite you to dinner at my home tomorrow night. There will be just a few guests besides you, but they are all very close to me and are also concerned with Julie’s safety. We dine a little formally, so I wanted to warn you ahead of time so you’ll know what to wear.

I was a little taken aback at someone telling me how I should dress for dinner, but it was his house. He was a high paying client, so I felt like concessions were in order. Thank you for the invitation.

We dine at eight. Directions to my house are in the file. By the way, since we’ll be working closely together, I feel like we should be on a first name basis. Please call me Adam.

We both stood, and I came out from behind the desk to see him out. Before he left, he reached out and took my hand and brought it to his lips. The touch sent a spark through my body like nothing I had ever felt before. It seemed like all my neurons were firing at once, leaving me feeling weak and confused. He smiled at me knowingly and turned to walk out the door. I realized my mouth was doing that fish thing again.

I left my office and decided to go to the mall and find something to wear to Adam Ryder’s dinner party. I was used to wearing jeans, so this was kind of a new thing for me. I was tempted to go to the local Wal-Mart, but I used some restraint. I had a feeling this wasn’t going to be a Wal-Mart kind of soiree.

After going into several shops in the mall, I realized that this was going to be harder than I had first thought. For one thing, most of the shops in the mall catered to teenagers and I didn’t have a teenager’s body. I certainly couldn’t complain…I was lean enough, I just had more curves. Also, there was nothing in those shops that would be appropriate for a dinner party.

Just as I was seriously considering Wal-Mart again, I noticed a very small, very elegant looking shop that I had somehow missed the first time I had passed this way. The dresses on the mannequins in the window looked promising, so I decided to take a chance. I was immediately met by a salesperson, and I tried to hide my annoyance at being pounced on as soon as I walked in the door.

Welcome to La Place, she said pleasantly. Is there something in particular you’re looking for?

I tried to be irritated, I really did. But there was something about this woman that immediately put me at ease. Her smile was pleasant, and she came off as helpful rather than pushy. I smiled back at her.

I’m looking for a dress for a formal dinner party. I’ve actually never been to one of those, I added sheepishly.

Well, I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful time. I think I can help make it even better. Let me show you some things you might like.

She started pulling dresses off of racks, not even bothering to ask me what size I wore. I noticed that she was choosing jewel tones which would match my dark hair and slightly olive complexion perfectly.

I think we have a nice selection now. You may take these into the dressing room and see which one looks best on you. If you need an opinion, I’ll be right here.

I tried on garnet red, emerald green, sapphire blue…every dress looked perfect. I just couldn’t decide. I stepped out of the dressing room and looked helplessly at the salesperson. I just don’t know. They’re all perfect!

She looked at each of the dresses and picked out the blue one. I think this one is simple and elegant. This is the one I would choose, I think.

She was right; it was elegant without being too showy. I had preferred the garnet one over all of them, but I felt like it was a little too flashy for the first time I would be dining with the Ryder household.

How much is it? I asked in a small voice.

I wouldn’t worry too much about that, now. After all, what’s important is making a good impression, she said. When she smiled, her teeth looked dazzling white against her ruby red lips, which were a perfect complement to her pale skin. She was really beautiful, I realized.

I can’t really afford….

Let’s do this. Wear it to your dinner party. If the dress is a huge success for you, you can come back in and we’ll discuss price. If you’re not happy with it, you can return it with no obligation.

I looked at her as if she had grown an extra head. What was this?

I beg your pardon? Isn’t that a little…unusual? I asked suspiciously.

I own the shop, so I can do what I want. What I’m hoping for is a brand new customer. If you’re happy, maybe we’ll see you around here from time to time.

She gathered up the dress and hung it back on a hanger, covering it with a garment bag rather than the typical plastic cover I was used to in most shops. I was still reeling from the fact that she was, in essence, letting me borrow the dress. I watched mutely as she handed it to me with another one of her pleasant smiles.

Tell Adam I said hello, she said as I was walking out the door. I gasped and turned sharply, but she must have already gone to the back of the store, because I didn’t see her. Could this day get any stranger?

I walked slowly to my car, almost in a daze. I couldn’t really understand what was going on. I just knew I had a beautiful new dress in my possession and I hadn’t spent a dime. I drove home slowly, trying to comprehend what had happened.

When I got home, I took the dress out of the garment bag to make sure I hadn’t dreamed this. No, here it was, the nicest thing I had ever owned. Well, I guess I didn’t really own it, but it was the nicest thing I had ever had in my possession, anyway. Sherlock sniffed the dress and meowed his approval. I shrugged and put the dress away. I wasn’t going to worry about it anymore. I had a dress to wear to a dinner party that I was dreading, so at least I would look nice while making a fool of myself. I found myself wondering what Adam would be wearing and found myself looking forward to seeing him. Whoa, what was that about? He was a client, albeit a very handsome and sexy one. There would be no thinking about him in that way. But I found myself thinking about him anyway as I drifted off to sleep. I sighed as I went off to dreamland and my last thought was, This can’t be good.

Chapter Three

I didn’t hear from Adam Ryder the next day. I assumed he was expecting me to just look at the file and miraculously know what happened to Julie. I guessed this was all the information I was going to get, at least until I talked to him again, so I did finally take out the file and study it thoroughly. There wasn’t much to go on. I needed to find out exactly what her father did for a living and why there would be enemies that might want to kidnap or otherwise harm her. After reading the sketchy background and the details concerning the day of the abduction, I decided that either Adam was going to have to tell me much more about the situation or I was going to have to turn down the case. And I really didn’t want to do that. This case would put a lot of money into my dwindling bank account. I was tired of living hand to mouth.

I actually left the office on time, and when I got home, I immediately got into the shower to prepare for the dinner party. I dressed and applied my makeup carefully, adding a little extra eye liner for good measure. I stood in front of my full length mirror and took a good look at myself, hoping I was presentable. The soft, silky material of the sapphire blue dress felt light as a feather against my body. It had short sleeves and hung straight except for a slight dipping in at the waist. There was a subtle brocade pattern in the material which gave the dress a slight Asian look. It was perfect with my coloring. I searched my closet for the black high heels that I had only worn once, and found them hiding in the back. I put those on and added a few inches to my five foot six inch frame. I transferred a few essentials to a small black clutch purse and I was ready to go. I took a deep, nervous breath and went out to my car. I got a few odd looks from some of my neighbors who were coming in as I was leaving, but I smiled at them and went about my business. You would think they had never seen me dressed up before. Well…I guess they hadn’t.

I gulped as I drove up the long, winding driveway of the Ryder house. Although, I’m not sure house was the right word. Mansion? Manor? I had no idea what to call it. I pulled my ten year old Honda Civic up to the area where valets were standing around waiting for the next car. Valets? Really?

I walked on shaky legs up the walkway to the large, wooden door at the front of the house. I took a deep breath and had my hand raised to knock when a tall, pale man of about sixty opened the door. He looked at me briefly and ushered me into the house. Without a word, he indicated a doorway where a set of French doors were pulled back to reveal a large room with several people milling around inside. They all had drinks in their hands and seemed to be having a good time. I really felt like a fish out of water. Then a man turned in my direction and I saw that it was Adam Ryder. He spotted me immediately and flashed a smile in my direction before starting toward me. My heart leaped at the sight of him, and that really disturbed me. That should NOT be happening. But he looked so fine in his black suit that fit him so well!

Libby, it’s so good to see you. Did you have any trouble finding the house? he said.

No, not at all. I didn’t realize there would be so many people at dinner tonight, I said with a touch of apprehension in my voice.

Oh, those are just a few friends and some family. Come, let me get you a drink. What would you like?

A glass of white wine would be nice, I said gratefully.

Ah, but you have to try the red. This is specially made for my family by a vintner in France, said Adam.

I followed him to the enormous bar along the side of one wall, and he poured me a glass of blood red wine. I took a tentative sip. I really preferred a sweet wine, and I was afraid this would be too dry for my taste. To my surprise, the wine was sweet and delicious, better than anything I had ever tasted before. I smiled at him.

Adam, this is very good. I don’t think I’ve ever had anything better.

I’m glad you like it. It will also be served at dinner, so you’ll get another taste. Come, let me introduce you to a few people, he said, flashing me another smile. Could anyone’s teeth be any whiter?

"Libby, this