The Mate Challenge

10

“Wow,” she gaped at the woman openly. “You have beautiful eyes.”

It was then she noticed she was being held up by the front of her shirt, feet dangling midair.

“Who are you?” Her captor asked, baring her teeth and showing off an impressive set of fangs. Now things made sense. Aria Valderi was a recluse because she was a vampire. The entire mansion had to be filled with them. s**t. She had not expected that. This might be her guard, but she had to try to speak to Aria. If the guard didn’t kill her first.

She hoped this woman would allow her to see Aria without sucking her dry. f*****g hell. She really should have given more thought to seeing Mason and letting him rock her world before the possibility of being killed by vamps.

Emma had been struck wordless one other time in her life and that was when she met Mason. This woman holding her up like she weighed next to nothing made her forget her own name.

Dark mocha skin, much like Emma’s own glittered in the soft light of the ceiling lamp. She didn't appear to be undead. The usual paleness that came with vampires wasn’t present. There was life in her eyes. She was clearly young. Mid-twenties at the most. With flawless features and full red lips. And that hair! Long raven curls bounced around her breasts. She was not what Emma expected to see as a vampire. Where was the willowy figure and pasty skin?

This vampire had curves. A lot of them. Like Emma and her friends, she was plus sized.

“I,—” she cleared her throat. “Wow you're really pretty.”

Violet eyes blinked back at Emma, confusion and interest clear in them. “I asked who you are.”

Right. “I'm Emma Ferro. I'm here to see Aria Valderi.”

The other woman put her down slowly. She released Emma’s shirt and took slow steps back. That’s when Emma got a good look at her outfit. She wore skintight black pants and a superb low cut neckline red top. “What are you doing here?”

“Cool shoes,” Emma said, staring at the spike heeled peep toes. “Are those Louboutin?”

The other woman’s brows rose. A flash of curiosity brightened her violet eyes. “Yes, how did you know?”

Emma grinned, wiping her hands on the side of her pants, and finally moving her thoughts away from having to cut the pretty woman’s head off. “My mother had a shoe fetish. It was the only thing that calmed her down whenever she was angry with my dad. He realized early on that his way to making anything up to her was with expensive shoes.”

“Sounds like a smart man. You still haven’t answered my question. What are you doing here?” The woman asked again.

Emma was glad the other woman hadn’t made a move to kill her or show off her rather impressive fangs again. Not that Emma would have gone down without a fight. She didn’t carry a katana strapped to her back for nothing along with two knives she called her Rambo knives.

“I really need to speak to Aria Valderi.”

It sucked that she hadn’t been able to find a single photo of the woman. That would have made it easier for her to know who she was looking for.

“Why?”

Emma frowned. The soft Latin accent on the woman speaking to her made her wonder if this wasn’t Aria herself. “I’m looking for a missing girl. Someone said she might be able to help me.”

“I don’t know that Aria could help you with any missing person. She doesn’t interact with the humans in the area.”

“Please. I really just want to ask a few questions. It could mean life or death for a kid.”

The woman blinked, surprise evident in her amethyst depths before biting her full red lips. “I’m Aria.”

“Aren’t you a vampire?”

She smiled. “Don’t sound so surprised. We do exist.”

Emma shook her head. “But you don’t look like a vampire is portrayed. You’re not pale or pasty and your skin glows with health. You’re not stick thin.” She c****d her head, taking in Aria from head to toe and back. “You don’t look undead or dead to me.”

Aria laughed, a soft and husky sound that made Emma grin. “That is because I am not dead.”

“Now it’s my turn to be confused. Aren’t all vampires dead or undead or whatever it’s called?”

Aria motioned her to a different room next to the bedroom. It was a private parlor decorated in deep burgundy and gold. Emma had to squint a little at the soft lighting. She shouldn’t be getting comfortable in a vampire’s lair, but if Aria was going to kill her, she’d have done it already. Or at the very least tried.

“Not really. Not all. I’m not dead,” Aria said, turning to face Emma and sitting down on a plush antique chair. She frowned, glancing around and sighed. “I don’t have anything to offer you other than blood and I highly doubt you want to drink that.”

Emma gulped. “No thanks, I’ll pass. What do you mean you’re not dead? Aren’t all vampires dead?”

Aria pushed a curl behind her ear and leaned on the chair’s arm rest. “No. Some of us, a rare few, can be born.”

Emma gasped, her shock holding her immobile. “Born? You can be born a vampire?”

What the hell? How had she not known that before? She bet none of her friends knew that. It was amazing what one learned when you took the chance to go find out information.

“Yes. There is a line, descendant from the original queen of the night. Miralla Abarca. My mother was a pure blood born, direct descendant of Miralla’s blood-line. She married a human and had me before she turned.”