The Tiny Vampire From Outer Space That’s Bitey X: In the Jungle of the Vampire (Shadow Conn Tiny Vampire Book 10)
Feeling the crunch of not capturing Earth yet and overwhelmed wiht their more than 30 childer, Marcus, Shadow, Oliver and Alera decide to take a vacation to the Southern Jungles. Unbeknownst to Shadow, however, it's not a real vacation. Marcus and Oliver want to explore the potential vampire pyramids for clues on the previous vampire races and why they didn't conquer Earth. Where they failed, Marcus plans to succeed, with thier left-behind technology, of course.
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Chapter 1 - No Marcus
Shadow watched as the black car carrying Marcus drove down the street. She sighed and turned to walk into the apartment complex. Alera was in the office alone.
Alera looked up when she heard footsteps. It sounded like Shadow, and it was Shadow. “What are you doing here? I thought you had plans tonight.” She looked beyond her and didn’t see Marcus. “Where’s Marcus?”
“Space Agency,” Shadow said.
Alera cursed. “I knew putting those cabins in our name was a bad idea.”
“He didn’t have a choice. Eventually, someone was going to find us. And we’re still bigger than what we bought,” Shadow said.
“Why didn’t he take you with him?” Alera asked. She knew Marcus didn’t like letting Shadow out of his sight as much as Shadow didn’t like being left by herself, even if ‘left by herself’ meant her and Oliver were still nearby.
“He’s worried they’ll try and keep him this time,” Shadow said.
“Shadow. I can read minds,” Alera said as she straightened a stack of paperwork and looked around for her hole punch.
“He’ll kill them all if they don’t return him home tomorrow night,” Shadow said. “First thing. He’s really really angry.”
“I bet. He’s looking forward to tomorrow night,” Alera said as she continued looking for the hole punch.
“He keeps thinking about our anniversary too,” Shadow said.
“Your one year Bonded,” Alera said.
“I don’t think it’s been that long. Maybe a year since we met,” Shadow said.
Alera frowned and bit the stack twice then stuck the pages in a binder. She contemplated. “If it’s not this weekend, it’s getting close.”
“Close enough that he wants to do something for it,” Shadow said then paused. “Did you just bite that paper?”
“I can’t find my hole punch, and I needed to put that paperwork in a binder,” Alera said as she put the binder in a file drawer. “Well, Oliver’s really ready for this black moon. We’ve had sex every night this week.”
“Same,” Shadow said. “Multiple times, actually. He was ready for round three tonight when we got interrupted.”
“Three? I can’t imagine,” Alera said.
“Three of what?” Oliver asked as he walked into the office. “What’s Shadow doing here?”
“Marcus was taken to the Space Agency. He had her dropped off here,” Alera said.
“Well, shit,” Oliver said. “What’s the three?”
“He was ready to stick his mutto in Shadow. For the third time tonight,” Alera said.
“This black moon seems to be really powerful.”
“And it’s not even here yet,” Shadow said.
“He’s going to be about as agreeable as a needle hog,” Oliver said.
“What’s a needle hog?” Shadow asked.
“It’s a critter that crawls on the ground. Its fur is needles, and it really loves to stab things with them,” Oliver said. “Hurts like a bitch too.”
“I don’t think we had any of those on Umbra. Just the stabbing beetle,” Shadow said.
“Well, what I’m saying is, if he was ready to blow a load, he’s going to be beyond disagreeable,” Oliver said.
Shadow laughed.
“Oliver! That is crude,” Alera said.
Oliver laughed.
“Accurate though,” Shadow said. “We had to wash the whole bed when we got up.”
“So did I,” Alera said. “Did you use extra soap when you put the bedding in the washer?”
“I have no idea,” Shadow said.
“I’ll have to check your blankets when we get to the house,” Alera said. “That stuff doesn’t like to come off cloth.”
“I wish Earth had more information on this black moon,” Oliver said.
“It just says what it is and how often it occurs,” Alera said. “They don’t have any of the myths or legends.”
“We don’t think of it as myths or legends,” Shadow said.
“It’s fact to us,” Alera said.
“They don’t live long enough to pass a lot of that down,” Oliver said. “And they dismiss it if it is written down.”
“I read something the other night that was interesting,” Alera said. “Some people believe Earth was visited by off-worlders several millennia ago.”
“I’ve seen a little bit of that. I haven’t dug into it,” Oliver said.
“The pyramids are supposed to be spaceships or energy conduits,” Alera said.
“Or homing beacons,” Oliver said. “It’s probably true. I mean all of it. Some could be spaceships. Some could be for the generation of power, and some could be communication devices.”
“If they’re energy and communication, they should be using them,” Shadow said.
“You’d think they would be,” Oliver said.
“It’s already built. Lasted thousands of years, so the maintenance is probably nothing,” Alera said.
“I want to take a closer look at that,” Oliver said.
“Marcus wanted to take a vacation,” Alera said.
“And we shot him down. Maybe, we shouldn’t have,” Oliver said. “We could visit one of those pyramids.”
Alera tapped a few keys on the keyboard. “I was looking the other night. I couldn’t sleep. There’s only a couple we could visit. They are on the southern continent in a jungle. The others appear to be in a desert.”
“We cannot go to the desert,” Shadow said.
“Too much sun,” Oliver said. “Although, you’d like the temperatures.”
“We could all go south on vacation,” Alera said.
“With a black moon looming, possible new sacs and thirty childer,” Shadow said.
Alera sighed. “The same reasons we gave Marcus last night.”
“I pay attention,” Shadow said.
“We could skip tomorrow night,” Oliver said. “But I can tell you right now that my willpower is not that high.”
“Neither is mine,” Alera said.
“The childer aren’t a problem though. Marc and Shari could look after them,” Oliver said. “I was less happy with that idea last night, but I think those two have great potential.”
“How are they doing?” Shadow asked.
“Excellent,” Alera said. “They’re cleaning the halls now, but they’re learning quickly. Eager to help. I think they’d jump at the chance to take care of their siblings for a few nights. Marc is especially eager to prove his worth.”
“Did we get anyone hired for the office for the day?” Shadow asked.
“Yes, and she starts tomorrow morning. I had to catch Sadie from the shelter before we got here,” Alera said. “She said she can be here at eight to do the new hire paperwork and show the new girl how to do the job.”
“Doesn't she have another job?” Shadow asked.
“She said she did, but she finds the work at the shelter more rewarding,” Alera said. “She said she put in her notice about a week ago.”
“Interesting,” Shadow said. “They have no regard for their own species.”
“They do,” Oliver said. “But it’s the lesser of two evils, as Dr. Jones said to me one night. We’re creating our own food supply and not hunting the general population. Plus, he said we keep our food more comfortable than they do their own.”
“I can’t believe that.” Alera looked up lamb farms. “The lamb farms look fine.” She looked up chicken and beef farms. “Oh, unholy hell.”
“What?” Shadow walked around to view the screen. “That’s disgusting.”
Oliver grimaced. “He wasn’t lying. That’s horrific. All those birds in those tiny cages.”
“And they’re bleeding,” Shadow said.
Alera closed the window. “That’s cruel. They leave their food to rot while it’s alive.”
“I see how we’re more considerate,” Shadow said. “You should see what Marcus built our food.”
“We have live food?” Alera asked.
“We do,” Shadow said. “Dr. Jones brought twelve. We already drained two, but Marcus built them a little house with bathrooms and food.” She paused. “Oh, and we finished the driveway.”
“That’ll be nice. The childer can try their first live food,” Alera said.
“What’s live food?” Shari asked.
“It’s still warm,” Alera said. “You drink it straight from the vein.”
Shari looked at Shadow. “Where’s sire? I mean, where’s the other sire? I thought they were spending time alone.”
“Marcus got called to work,” Alera said. “He dropped Shadow off here.”
“Oh,” Shari said. “Is that good?”
“Not really,” Oliver said. “But it’s nothing to worry about.”
“Everything’s done,” Marc said as he walked into the office. “All the trash is out of the halls. I took it to the dumpster, and all the floors are mopped.”
“Good,” Alera said. She stood from the desk. “We can go home, and we have a treat tonight.”
“What?” Marc asked.
“Live food,” Alera said. “You’ll see when we get home.”
“Sounds interesting,” Marc said.
“You’ll like it. It’s better than the Umbra One.” Shadow walked out of the office, ushering Marc and Shari out with her. She waited for Alera to lock the door.