The Suck Stops Here Read online

  The Suck Stops Here

  Kristen Painter

  THE SUCK STOPS HERE:

  A Paranormal Women’s Fiction Novel

  First Fangs Club, Book Four

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  Copyright © 2021 Kristen Painter

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  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—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from the author.

  This book is a work of fiction. The characters, events, and places portrayed in this book are products of the author’s imagination and are either fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real person, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  * * *

  Published in the United States of America

  Vampire governor of New Jersey, Belladonna Barrone has just gotten an epic offer from an unexpected visitor, but it’s not something she’s ready to respond to without serious thought. Besides, she already has a lot on her plate. The recent death of a high-ranking vampire means she and her crew of staff and friends are headed off to the funeral in the middle of the country. But travel can be tricky when it comes to moving vampires. The solution? Rent some luxury motorcoaches and prepare for a road trip that will be unlike any other.

  * * *

  For one thing, the trip includes a stop off to meet the parents of her daughter’s boyfriend. Something Donna isn’t particularly looking forward to. After all, they’re upstanding citizens and she’s, well, the soon-to-be former wife of a mobster currently awaiting trial.

  * * *

  For another, the dark shadow of serious allegations hangs over Donna and her human assistant, Pierce. Allegations made by her arch nemesis, Governor Fitzhugh, that will require both Donna and Pierce to appear before the vampire council. She feels certain she’ll be able to deal with the outcome of her hearing, but Pierce is a different story. The vampire council isn’t known for their mercy with humans.

  * * *

  Protecting Pierce weighs heavy on her. There has to be a way to persuade Fitzhugh to drop the charges, but at what cost? And can she trust his word? While pondering these questions, the funeral activities get underway, and Donna makes a strong new ally.

  * * *

  Then events take an interesting turn and Donna is left with a brand-new issue to deal with. Should she bite the bullet and say yes to the epic deal she was offered before the trip? Even when she feels inadequate to handle what’s required of her?

  * * *

  The only thing she knows for sure is enough is enough. For once and for all, the suck stops here.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Untitled

  Other Books By Kristen Painter

  About the Author

  Huge thanks to Shalene Schmidt for coming up with this title!

  “I am here in the capacity of emissary to the Prime. Nothing else.”

  Belladonna Barrone stared at the man outside her penthouse door. The man she’d last seen thirty-seven years ago, right before he’d walked out and left her, her sister, and her mother all alone.

  The man she’d once called Dad.

  She shook her head, pushing away all of the emotions swarming through her insides so she could deal with what was happening in the calmest way possible. “You can say that all you want to, but there’s a big conversation that needs to happen before we get into whatever the Prime sent you here for.”

  He shifted uncomfortably, and for the first time, she realized he wasn’t alone in the elevator foyer. A pair of burly, black-suited vampires stood in the shadows behind him. “I am here in the capacity of emissary to the Prime. Nothing—”

  “I heard you the first time, but you obviously didn’t hear me. We need to talk about the elephant in the room. Alone.” She leaned in. “Unless you don’t care if the two lunks behind you become part of the conversation.”

  He frowned. “May I come in?”

  “Sure. If you’re ready to talk.”

  “That’s why I’m here.”

  She moved out of the way so he could enter, then shut the door behind him. “Great. Can we just acknowledge that you’re my father? You can’t stand there and pretend like you aren’t. You even told me your name. Richard D’Angelo. Are you really going to act like you don’t know me?”

  He had the nerve to look like she’d just violated some kind of rule. “The Prime doesn’t recognize human family connections as valid or binding. Only connections made by blood.”

  “How are human family connections not blood?” Donna had had enough. Of a lot of things. This was just one more added to the heap. Maybe the one that was going to make the heap come crashing down, because her father trying to act like he could just ignore their history—and that she should ignore it too—was a bridge too far. She opened the door. “Changed my mind. Leave.”

  “Wait. Please.” He closed the door.

  She crossed her arms. “Ready to talk?”

  A tiny spark of anger danced in his eyes. “Belladonna, this is vampire business. Nothing more.”

  “Nothing more? Maybe for you. But for me? I see the man who walked out on us. A man who is now a vampire and has a lot of explaining to do. So until that conversation happens, nothing else is going to. I mean it. If you don’t want to talk, you can go back to the Prime and tell him that your daughter wasn’t interested in what you had to say because you were a deadbeat dad thirty-seven years ago, and those chickens have come home to roost. You get me?”

  His frown seemed like a permanent part of his face. “You don’t understand the severity of this situation.”

  “Don’t understand? Or don’t care?” She shrugged. “It’s not my job to make your job easy.”

  Pierce came into the living room, concern in his eyes. “Everything okay?” Then he sucked in a little breath. “Emissary. I didn’t know…”

  Donna looked at Pierce. “You know him?”

  “No, but I recognize the ring. Only one of the Prime’s staff would wear his symbol.”

  Donna glanced at the gold ring on her father’s hand. A snake swallowing its own tail with a ruby set in the center. She committed it to memory. “Good to know.”

  Pierce kept his voice low, although there was no way her father couldn’t hear him. “Is there a reason you’re still standing out here?”

  “Yes. There is.” She pursed her lips. “He might be the emissary to the Prime, but as it turns out, he’s also the man that walked out on my mother thirty-seven years ago. The man who turned his back on Cammie and me. The emissary is my father.”

  Pierce’s mouth fell open. “Wh
at?”

  She nodded. “Yep. How do you like that?” She still hadn’t really processed it. “Anyway, he doesn’t want to give me any kind of answer about why he left, something I think I’m entitled to, frankly, so until he does, I’m not interested in anything else he has to say.”

  Pierce glanced at Richard before answering her. “Donna, you might want to reconsider…”

  Richard cleared his throat. “Yes, please explain it to your mistress.”

  “Hey,” Donna snapped. “Don’t talk to him like he’s a servant.”

  “Donna,” Pierce cautioned. He shook his head as if to say she shouldn’t speak to the emissary like that.

  She understood his concern. The Prime was top dog, and Richard was clearly one of his important people, but she didn’t care. “Pierce,” she said softly. “This man abandoned me and my sister when we were kids. He ruined my mother’s life. The bottom line is respect is earned. And right now, he has a long way to go before that happens.”

  Then she looked at her father again. “You can either come in and tell me what possessed you to leave us all those years ago, and then maybe, depending on how that excuse makes me feel, I’ll either listen to the other reason you’re here, or I won’t. If you don’t want to do that, you can leave and explain to the Prime why you were unable to do the job he sent you to do.”

  Pierce shot Richard a look. “I can tell you from experience that you won’t change her mind.”

  Richard stared at her for a long moment, then finally sighed. “Fine.”

  She still didn’t move out of the way. She had more to say. A lot more. And some of it needed to come out now. “You knew you were coming here. You had to know who you were coming to see. Did you think I wasn’t going to expect some kind of explanation?”

  “I didn’t think you’d remember me. Being turned changes a person.”

  He wasn’t wrong. Being turned had a way of fine-tuning the way you looked. And he did look amazing. But it also froze your age. That hadn’t worked in his favor. “You look exactly the same as the day you walked out. You look just like you do in my memories.”

  He sighed. “I hadn’t considered that.” He glanced at the room beyond her, no doubt hearing the voices from the dining room. “Is there somewhere private we can talk?”

  “Does that mean you’re going to tell me what happened?”

  Still frowning, he nodded. “Yes.”

  “Great. This should be good. But I should also tell you that Cammie is here. So is Christina, the granddaughter you’ve never met.” Donna held a finger up. “But don’t get any ideas. I currently see no reason she should meet you.”

  He nodded. “I understand. Is Cammie a vampire too?”

  Donna snorted. “Not exactly.” Cammie was a nun, or had been most of her life. And she’d joined an order that turned some of its sisters into supernatural hunters. Vampires, demons, fae, any sort of rogue supernatural—Cammie could take them down. All in the name of protecting humanity.

  She’d recently left the order and the Venari, the hunter organization, for family reasons. Namely because of Donna. Cammie lived with her now, at least for the time being.

  “Everyone’s in the dining room,” Pierce said. “It’s going to be hard to bring him through without them seeing.”

  And Cammie would definitely recognize Richard. She’d been older when he’d left, fourteen compared to Donna’s twelve. Her memories were undoubtedly sharper. Donna thought for a moment. “We could use the sitting room downstairs.”

  Pierce nodded. “I was just going to suggest that. Why don’t I get the emissary settled in while you tell everyone you have something you need to attend to?”

  “Perfect.” She glanced over at her father. “I’ll see you shortly.”

  “Fine.”

  Pierce went out to the elevator with the emissary. Donna went back to the living room, where her sister, daughter, and the friends she now considered family were still gathered.

  She put her hands on the back of her chair and smiled at them all. “I have something I need to take care of. Some…vampire business. Sort of.”

  Charlie, her admin, looked up at her. “You need anything from me, Governor?”

  “Not yet. But I might later.” Once they got to the business part of why the Prime had sent his emissary, it would probably be a good idea to bring Charlie in to take notes of the meeting.

  Temo, her head of security and driver, made a concerned face. “You need the car?”

  “No, thank you. I’m going to be using the sitting room downstairs so I can have some privacy. I’ll be back up as soon as I can.”

  Christina, her newly pregnant daughter, put her napkin down. “Is this about…you know?”

  Donna shook her head, laughing softly. “I don’t know, but I can assure you whatever you’re thinking, it’s not about that. I promise. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  Cammie glanced at her, brows raised.

  Donna cocked her head toward the door. “Can I see you a second?”

  Cammie got up and followed her back to the living room. “What’s up?”

  Donna exhaled. “You’re not going to believe this, but the Prime—you know who that is, right?”

  Cammie nodded. “Yes. The super-secret supreme leader of all vampires. The oldest one alive. And supposedly the grandsire of every vampire walking the earth.”

  “Yeah, him. He sent his emissary to chat with me.”

  “That can’t be good. You want me to take him out?”

  “No!” Donna chuckled. She didn’t think Cammie was serious, but then again, maybe she was. “Although you might want to anyway when you hear the rest of this.”

  Cammie’s expression changed from one of protection to concern. “Why? What’s going on?”

  Donna put her hands on her hips. “The Prime’s emissary is someone we both know very well. Or used to. He’s our father.”

  Cammie stared at her, blinking like nothing Donna had just said made any sense. “Our father?”

  “Yes. Richard D’Angelo. The man we share half our DNA with.”

  Cammie paled, her mouth coming open. “You can’t be serious.”

  “As a heart attack.”

  She shook her head, the surprise clear on her face. “I honestly thought he was dead.”

  “Really? You mean you genuinely didn’t know he’s the emissary? I figured you were going to tell me you already knew, being former Venari and all.”

  “Nope. The Prime is a mystery to most of us.” She sighed. “I mean, them. Since, like you said, I’m former Venari. I’m sure the higher-ups in the organization know more about the Prime and his staff, but I was just a hunter. I generally learned things on a need-to-know basis. Like what my next job was. Not so much beyond that.”

  “I see. Well, I told him he has to explain why he left us if he has any hope of delivering the Prime’s message.”

  “Good. He owes us that much.”

  “I told him you’re here. And Christina. Although I don’t have any intention of letting him meet her. I just think that’s a bad idea right now. And certainly not something he’s earned or deserves. He might not even care. He seems like a cold fish. Even told me human family bonds don’t matter to the Prime, only blood bonds do. Meaning turned vampires, obviously.”

  Cammie nodded. “That sounds like what I know of the Prime. Do you want me to come with you? I’m not sure it’s a great idea to let him know what I’ve become. I might not officially be Venari anymore, but I’m still working as a hunter.”

  Donna thought about that. “I would like you to be there. He’s your father, too, and your memories of him are going to be clearer than mine. But he does have other business with me, which is what brought him here. No clue what it is, but I’m thinking that part will need to be confidential. At least initially. I’m sure I’ll share with you whatever it is once he’s gone.”

  “No problem. I’ll leave when he’s done with the history lesson.”

  “Perfect. A
nd don’t worry about him knowing that you’re a hunter. He’s the last one who should be judging anyone’s life choices.”

  Cammie smiled. “I agree with that, but he’s still the Prime’s emissary. And you’re the vampire governor of this state. You don’t think the fact that you have a hunter for a sister is going to mean anything?”

  Donna shrugged. “Let’s go find out.”

  Pierce met her and Cammie in the living room of the downstairs apartment. It wasn’t set up much differently than the penthouse. “I’ve gotten him some water. Would you two like some as well? Or something else?”

  “Water,” Donna said. “Just in case I need something to throw at him.”

  “Same,” Cammie said.

  Pierce’s mouth hitched up in a half grin. “I’ll get that right away.”

  “Where are the lunks that were with him?” Donna asked.

  Pierce tipped his head toward the door. “They stayed in the elevator foyer.”

  “Fine with me.” Donna didn’t need or want to deal with them as well as the emissary. She looked at her sister as Pierce went to the kitchen. “Come on.”

  With Cammie at her side, Donna walked into the sitting room. Richard wasn’t at the windows, like she’d guessed he’d be. That’s where most people went when they were in these apartments. The view was hard to ignore.