Purity War Read online

  Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Blank Page

  Intro

  Prologue

  Deja Vu

  Hidden Talents

  The Experiment

  Even More Surprises

  A Warm Welcome

  The Lost Warriors

  The Right Woman

  Reunion

  Sticky Sweet

  The Campaign

  Little Pink Babies

  Jakob Strikes Back

  A Secret Plot

  Emily's Revelation

  Deeper Secrets

  The Council

  And The Winner Is...

  The Queens Decision

  The Glow

  Truths Revealed

  Epilogue

  Thank you

  Mortal Flight cover

  Mortal Flight description

  Mortal Flight sneak peek

  Mortal Flight more

  Copyright © 2019 Laurel Night

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, businesses, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  This book is dedicated to the people who have taught me about love, faith, and friendship. I’m sure I’ll forget someone, so just know that if your name isn’t here, I probably meant it to be and I’ll catch you on the next one. :) I’ve got a lot more stories to tell.

  Alex - like Mick says, I’d be nothing without you.

  Kate and Paige - I’d like to think we have more of the Lucy and Emily style relationship than Lucy had with her real sister, and that’s about as high a compliment as I can give. Thanks for being the sisters you are.

  Maria - just like Emily, you’re my person. Dunedin life, Gus Gus, and Grandma’s forever. Oh, and tattoos.

  Just when things seem settled with their blood-drinking boyfriends, Lucy and Emily discover there’s still much they don’t know about the Vimpiri.

  Now that Emily and Todd are paired, Lucy is ready to lose herself in that first euphoric bite from Mick. She offered herself to him, and his surprising rejection stung. Could there be more going on than she knows?

  Emily develops impressive new powers, and suddenly her relationship with Todd has more consequences than she knew. Another trip to the alien enclave in Austria reveals there’s far more at stake than anyone could have imagined.

  PROLOGUE

  MICK

  A cell phone is such a frustrating means to receive unpleasant news. In the past, I could have crumpled a paper and thrown it in the fire, where it would have shriveled and turned into ash with a satisfying flare of light. I didn’t dare do that with the small device, although it was tempting. I could afford another one if I wanted. Unfortunately, the hassle of setting up a new phone was just not worth the satisfaction I would get from watching it burn.

  Instead, I tossed it lightly on the couch beside me and stared into the flames. The fireplace was gas, so it didn’t crackle and pop as a log fire would have. Safety glass protected me from the flames, but I could have opened the doors if I chose to. At least that is one choice I could make.

  The situation drew a sigh from my lips, and my fingers ran roughly through my shoulder-length hair. It seemed as if, no matter how many times I tried, I couldn’t get around what I was. Why did I have to be born into this cursed family? Todd was free to do as he pleased, chase the happiness he wanted, and I was always the one that had to follow the rules. Rules that didn’t exist until ten minutes ago, but now made my life infinitely more complicated. Was it so much to ask, to be happy? Before Todd met Emily we were doomed to live our lives, interminably long by Earth standards, completely alone. Now there was a chance for happiness and I wasn’t allowed to take it. Its as if I was being tested, by whom or what I haven’t figured out yet.

  But I will.

  DEJA VU

  LUCY

  “I’m almost done, Em! Sheesh,” I grumbled. “If you’re in that big of a hurry just go without me. I’ll get my own Uber.”

  Emily’s voice grew louder as her footsteps approached my door from the living room. “You know that’s not the point, Lulu. You’ve been in here for hours. I could have done my hair and makeup AND yours by now.” Her perfectly styled blonde curls and shining blue eyes popped into the mirror above my reflection.

  I was in the delicate process of applying mascara, my eyes opened wide and jaw gaping while I attempted to avoid stabbing myself in the eye with the spiky wand. Her sudden appearance made me blink, pressing the still-wet mascara to the skin below my eyes and leaving black marks when I opened them. “Dammit, Em! Now I’ll have to wipe it all off and start again.” I jammed the wand back into the tube of mascara and twisted it, then tossed it angrily on the bathroom counter.

  Emily just laughed. “Easy, it’s not as bad as all that. Here, let me help you. Then maybe we can get out of here before midnight.”

  I sat on the toilet lid gratefully and closed my eyes. Em hummed to herself as she dabbed at my face, and a few moments later she trilled, “All done!”

  Shaking my head in wonder, I examined my now-flawless face in the mirror. No traces of mascara remained on my skin, and she fixed the crooked eyeliner I had agonized over for half an hour. “I’ll never get the hang of this. How did you DO that so fast?”

  Em giggled again. “It’s all in the wrist! But seriously, you’re doing great! It just takes practice.”

  “Yeah, a lot of practice,” I grumbled again.

  “Okay, Grumpy Bear, it’s time to go. We don’t want to be late!”

  Ordinarily I would resist more, but I was just as eager to leave as she was. “Okay,” I grinned. “Let’s get out of here!”

  ***

  LUCY

  Walking up to Midnight Sun gave me the strangest sense of deja vu. It was here, just a few months ago, that we had met Mick and Todd, and all the band Mortal Heat, for the first time. That first meeting had been the catalyst for some crazy adventures, leading us all the way to Austria in a race to save Emily’s life. Now she was healthy and glowing, and it was as if we’d come full circle to end up having our tickets checked in front of the bar again.

  This time, however, we had VIP passes in hand, with “Mortal Heat—Special Guest” printed on them. There wasn’t much of a crowd yet; we were here pretty early for the concert. In fact, it was barely an hour after sundown when we walked through doors.

  We flashed our passes at the bouncer by the stage entrance and he rapped on the door behind him, his face impassive. And, just like the first time, the door opened and a blonde head popped out to answer the summons.

  Mick’s brilliant green eyes lit up with recognition. “Ladies, great timing. Follow me.” He held the door open and led us down the abused hallway to the green room where the band waited. Always the professional at work, Mick didn’t like to be affectionate with me in front of his coworkers. However, once we were safely in the room reserved for the band, he wrapped me in his warm embrace and kissed me. The press of his lips to mine sent tingles running down to my toes, and I leaned into him for balance.

  “Hi,” he smiled, but something wasn’t right. Despite the warmth of his gaze, there was a tightness to his expression I couldn’t place. I brushed off the nagging feeling; perhaps he was just stressed about work.

  His blonde hair was tied at the nape of his neck tonight, and he wore his typical outfit of a black button-down shirt and black jeans. A smile played on his lips; they were slightly uneven, the top more full than the bottom,
and I loved this little detail the most despite his overt perfection. I wondered if he felt the same way I did, as if my lungs could never quite fill unless he was around. Now I breathed in gratefully, my chest expanding in his presence, my lips curved into a matching smile.

  “Hi,” I answered. “How was your day?”

  This was our little joke. Because of his limitations with sun exposure, he slept all day. I had a job to hold down, but that was life. Human life, anyway.

  “It was very productive,” he grinned. “And yours?”

  “Pointless,” I grimaced. “I spent four hours researching an article that my editor Fred ended up telling me to scrap. Other than that…”

  “Well, you’re here now,” he pressed me to his chest again, and his warm breath ruffled my hair. “That’s what matters.”

  Yep, this was about as close to my happy place as I got. My eyes closed in contentment; I soaked in his comforting presence and all but ignored the rest of the surrounding people.

  Eventually, however, all good things must end. The band pulled out a bottle of vishut, the special vimpiri liquor they always drank during concerts, and began passing around shot glasses. The sweet vanilla aftertaste tempered the burn of the alcohol, and it was one of very few liquors I didn’t mind drinking straight. Mick didn’t take a shot while the drink was being passed around, but I supposed he just wanted to be professional at work.

  That he worked at all was ironic. His status as a vimpiri ‘Lost Bachelor’ afforded him plenty of money to live on, so he didn’t need to work. Mick explained to me vimpiri scientists developed a lot of our modern technology and introduced seamlessly into our culture… at great profit for them. Humans were still far behind their society in technology. Consequently, the Vimpiri could plan on an endless revenue stream for years to come, which was important; their lifespan was twenty times as long as ours.

  As the party went on around me, my thoughts drifted. It still surprised me how easily I’d adapted to the idea that we weren’t alone on our planet, let alone the universe. The Vimpiri had been here over four hundred years, but I just found out a few months ago. They could transform into other creatures and thus were perfectly disguised as humans around the world. I haven’t even seen Mick in his vimpiri form, although I did see Todd. The image of him—mottled, turtle-like face with large, glowing eyes and rough, dry skin, popped up in my dreams now and then. They weren’t nightmares, per se—it’s more like a startling image that my brain kept trying to make sense of while I slept. When I wake from those dreams, I feel confusion and excitement, but not fear.

  Todd didn’t look like an alien now, and couldn’t even if he wanted to. My eyes cut to the couch where the charming rockstar was now comfortably settled with my best friend. After first fearing that he would kill her, it turned out that Todd’s connection to Emily actually changed him. Their unprecedented connection led us on a whirlwind trip a few months ago when they ran off together. Because so few of the females survived the Vimpiri escape from their dying planet, the unpaired males became known as ‘Lost Bachelors’ and learned they could find temporary companionship with humans. The vimpiri males mate by biting the female’s neck, and accidental exsanguination was an issue with humans; It’s responsible for all the legends we have of vampires. However, Todd and Emily proved that in the right circumstances vimpiri could find their true mate in a human woman.

  So now the Vimpiri were facing an exciting new possibility: Those that were without mates might find one in a human. This was great for me since I was head-over-heels in love with Mick. Now that we knew his nature wouldn’t kill me and could end with us ‘mated’ for life, I was excited to get the ball rolling. We’d danced around our mutual attraction long enough.

  However, lately Mick didn’t seem as eager. He was affectionate and sweet, and when we made out it always left me breathless… and unsatisfied. Mick seemed to exercise some super restraint by not biting my neck, and the more he held back the more desperate I was for him to do it. I remembered how Emily had been after she and Todd ‘mated’ the vimpiri way… buoyant and euphoric; I was dying to find out how that felt. But when I finally offered myself to Mick, he turned me down. Nicely, but it was still a rejection.

  Now I wondered where we stood. It was cringe-worthy, this state of ‘are we or aren’t we?’ I wanted to ask him directly but was almost afraid of the answer. Instead, I kept hoping he’d cross that bridge and bite me, and then I’d know. Even if he just ripped off the proverbial bandaid and admitted he didn’t want to pair with me, it would be better than wondering. But I was still too much of a coward to ask, so our current status remained ‘it’s complicated’.

  Emily dragged me out of my melancholy thoughts by appearing before me with another shot of vishut. I returned her grin; she always knew what I needed. After taking our shots she hugged me and whispered, “Cheer up, Lulu. It’ll work out.” More loudly, she added, “Is this a party, or isn’t it? Let’s do another round!”

  When the concert began, Emily and I stood in the wings and watched like before. And, like before, Mick stood with us, hidden in the shadows except for his luminous green eyes. He explained to me one time it was part of being vimpiri; they lived underground on their planet and some traits didn’t change despite what form they took (like the glands somewhere in their mouths that facilitated the biting/mating/fluid exchange part). I’d seen Todd’s eyes glow like that, although his were a brilliant shade of blue. Now, as I watched the band, I realized none of the other band members' eyes seemed to glow the same way. Making a mental note to ask Mick about it later, I returned to my enjoyment of the concert.

  The evening followed a predictable pattern: The band took a break between sets; we partied in the green room after the concert, the other three band members hooked up with groupies they’d never see again, and Emily and Todd were so painfully cute together it pinched my stomach to watch them. Despite the work being over, I noted that Mick didn’t partake in the vishut; not even one shot. He had told me it was an aphrodisiac, and now I suspected there was a reason he avoided it. Rejection tainted my enjoyment of the party, despite Mick’s arm securely around my shoulder on the couch. If he didn’t want to drink the vishut around me now but had no problem before, something had changed. Was he being so careful to avoid losing control? Why would that be, except that he didn’t want me?

  I was abruptly tired. The alcohol made my thoughts fuzzy and my emotions were in turmoil. I knew I needed to ask Mick for an answer, but I was terrified of what that answer would be. I’d never been so sure of something, yet also worried about losing it. The term ‘emotional rollercoaster’ had never held so much meaning for me before.

  Emily ordered us an Uber, and naturally Todd came with us. He was at our house more than his own now. He lived a few hours away, but the band had scheduled a lot of gigs in Philly; I assumed just so he could be close to Emily.

  Mick walked me out to the car when it arrived, and despite his overt affection I still struggled with strong feelings of rejection. He hugged me tightly and kissed me goodbye, but now the actions felt forced and awkward as if he were playing a role instead of feeling it. Biting back the emotion that pressed painfully on my eyes, I climbed into the car with a muttered ‘goodbye’ and turned away so he couldn’t see the tears as they fell. Todd and Emily were completely wrapped in their personal bubble of love and contentment, and even though it was painful to witness at this specific moment, I was grateful that they were too distracted to notice my tears.

  What I needed to find out was: what made Mick suddenly so careful?

  HIDDEN TALENTS

  MICK

  It took a great effort of will to retain my self-control tonight. Lucy was so beautiful it nearly took my breath away. Her hazel eyes sparkling, cheeks flushed, and lush, denim-clad hips; she was impossibly tempting. Every time we touched I fought the urge to press my lips to her neck and sample the euphoria of tasting her. However, I knew that once would never, ever be enough. I would set my feet down a
path I couldn’t control and wouldn’t be able to deviate from once begun. We would race toward the inevitable pinnacle, wherein either she would die from the poisoning of her blood or, as I hoped, our connection would instead transform me into a human.

  The decree I received from my mother, leader of the Vimpiri, rang in my head. I had to remain dutiful to our queen, despite my personal desires. I couldn’t do whatever I wanted. I was not any Lost Bachelor. I was a prince of the Vimpiri, and I was obligated to set an example for our people.

  So I avoided the vishut, and the temptation that was Lucy’s beautiful neck. My desire for her was so strong, I couldn’t even bring myself to do more than give her a few careful kisses. Judging by her stiffened posture and increasing silence as the night wore on, she knew something was off. I didn’t know how to broach the subject with her, but I had to, and soon. I couldn’t let this decree chase off the only person who could bring me true happiness. No matter what it cost me.

  ***

  LUCY

  I had a plan.

  I poured my heart out to Emily Sunday morning, and she sympathetically flipped pancakes while I wallowed in my misery. Pancakes were our go-to meal, and we’d been sharing meals of pancakes since we were roommates our freshman year at college.

  The band didn’t have a concert this weekend, so Todd would be free. Together we planned a double date with Todd and Mick, away from the rest of the band. It would be romantic and intimate, a quiet affair in our condo with dinner and a game… and hopefully a more relaxed Mick. Either he would make a move, or I would summon the courage to confront him about it. Either way, I would get an answer.