“To go back amongst the vampires and earn their trust, I would have to kill again in order to prove my loyalty to them,” Julian said. “I’d also have to leave Quinn here, unprotected.”
“You had me convinced it was a bad idea once you said killing again,” Chris said. “I feel like that wouldn’t be the wisest of choices.”
“No, it wouldn’t.” Especially when the need to kill was always just beneath the surface, lurking within him. Quinn helped to calm the hunger and the urge, but if he ever gave in again, he didn’t know if he’d be able to bring himself back. For her, he believed he could bring himself back from the darkness within him. However, she may be able to forgive him if he returned to being a murderer, but she’d never forgive herself if he killed innocents in order to keep her safe. He rubbed at his temples as he paced away from the window.
Melissa entered the room; her brows drew together as she watched him. “What’s going on?”
Chris filled her in when she sat on the bed beside him. “Definitely not a good idea,” she agreed.
Julian stopped pacing and pulled the curtain back to check on Quinn again. Not for the first time, he realized the vampires had to be organized and
ruled
. These confused and angry vamps were more dangerous than if they were united under a general guideline, as they had been when the Elders were alive. Granted, the Elders had pretty much let them have free rein to do whatever they pleased as long as they kept the vampire species a secret, but there had been rules, and there had been rulers they’d listened to and respected.
These stupid vampires didn’t realize that most prophecies were so arbitrary they could be taken one of a thousand ways. It was like the man who wished to be wealthy, and the next day his entire family died in a plane crash and he collected their life insurance. He’d gotten his wish but had suffered greatly in the end.
The prophecy stated that, if used correctly, Quinn could be their greatest ally and savior. Many of them probably believed she would be on their side, or they’d be able to bend her to their will. They didn’t stop to think that if they pissed her off enough, she might destroy them all. He was sure some had questioned how a vampire not born of vampire blood could even exist, but most probably hadn’t. He doubted any of them had considered the possibility she may be part Hunter and would fight them every step of the way.
How could he possibly go about trying to get the vampires to fall in line? How could he bring some stability back into the vampire world without crossing a line he’d vowed never to cross again? How did he do it without pushing Quinn away and ruining what was growing between them?
He had no answers for those questions, only a growing headache.
“We’ll figure something out,” Melissa said.
“Yeah.” He had a feeling the battle would be coming to them soon, and they were not ready for it. His gaze slid back to Quinn’s window. The driving urge to get back to her had him walking toward the door before he realized he was moving.
“I’ll see you later,” he said and slipped outside.
Higher in the sky, the sun burned his skin as he sprinted across the road to Quinn’s apartment building. He ran up the stairs and nodded hello to the kid who liked to wake and bake as they passed in the hall. Julian’s eyes rolled when the kid flashed him a peace sign.
“Don’t like Dusty?”
He hadn’t realized Quinn was standing in the hall with a cat in her arms until she’d spoken. Whenever that cat escaped its apartment, it would sit outside Quinn’s door, crying until someone finally opened it. He’d suggested tossing the cat outside last time it had gotten loose, but she’d insisted on returning it.
“Mittens escaped again,” he stated.
“She did.” Quinn walked down the hall and knocked on the door of apartment six. The door cracked open an inch. Quinn handed the marmalade cat through the door to the elderly woman who kept stranger hours then they did as vampires. The woman took the cat and closed the door without so much as a thanks.
“Three years ago, I’d have eaten her rude ass. Mothball scent and possible dusty veins be damned,” Julian muttered as they walked away.
Quinn shot him a censuring look, but the corner of her lips quirked in a smile as she stepped into her apartment. “So what’s your problem with Dusty? He’s harmless enough.”
Julian closed the door and threw the locks. “That kid never would have survived the sixties. I was immortal, and
I
barely escaped them alive. I spent a good chunk of the decade high or tripping my balls off, but I did love Woodstock. It was a hedonistic indulgence of music, sex, and blood.”
Quinn blinked at him, her mouth opened then closed again before she shook her head.
“What?” he inquired.
“Sometimes I forget how much older you are than me, and how much more of this world you’ve experienced.”
“And you forget how brutal I once was.”
Her forehead furrowed. “No, there’s no hiding what you’re capable of. I don’t want you to either. It’s just your talk of feeding on flower children, twenty-some-odd years before I was born. It can be a little disconcerting.”
He grinned at her as he approached. Resting his hands on her hips, he backed her toward her bedroom. “None of those flower children were as cute as you, and they definitely didn’t smell as good.”
“You’re an ass,” she told him.
“I am.”
“What did Luther have to say?”
“He’s discovered nothing new.”
She bit her bottom lip. “I didn’t think he would.” She focused on him again and leaned up to press a kiss against his cheek. “And I’m exhausted.” Before he could stop her, she spun out of his grasp and sauntered toward her bedroom.
“One of these days, you’re going to let me in there.”
“Today’s not that day,” she shot over her shoulder with a saucy smile that made his deadened heart lurch before she closed the door.
Julian yawned and stretched out on the couch he’d bought to replace Quinn’s old one. Rolling over, he propped his head on his hand as he listened to her moving around behind her closed bedroom door. Rising to his feet, he walked over to the blinds. He pulled them up and stepped into the rays of the sun hanging on the horizon.
His skin heated, his flesh reddened, but he tipped his head back and savored the warmth pouring over him. He could still only tolerate small amounts of time within the sun’s rays, but it was much more than he could have withstood two years ago. He ground his teeth together, refusing to move as his skin blistered and peeled.
Finally, unable to take it anymore, he stepped away from the window and lowered the blinds before Quinn emerged from her room. He turned to find her leaning in the doorway, her wet hair waving about her face, her golden eyes filled with yearning as she stared at the blind-covered window. Her gaze drifted to him, and she flinched at the sores marring his bare chest and face.
“You stayed in it too long,” she chastised as she stepped away from the door.
Stopping before him, her hands hovered over his flesh. His body tensed as his eyes remained locked on her raised palms. He didn’t care how much it would sting; all he wanted was for her to touch him. Taking hold of her hands, he pressed them against his chest. The heat of her palms warmed him more than the rays of the sun ever could.
She tried to pull her hands away, but he kept hold of them. “It must hurt,” she protested.
“No,” he grated through his teeth. “I want to feel you.”
Her head tilted back; her eyes became molten gold as she searched his face. Lowering his head, he rested his forehead against hers and inhaled the cucumber scent of the shampoo she used. He wrapped his hand around her neck, his thumb stroking her nape. He closed his eyes as the feel and scent of her engulfed him.
“Julian.”
Her fingers curled into his flesh before she tried to pull them back again. He kept her tight against him, unwilling to break the connection. Her eyes searched his chest. He glanced down to find the blisters had faded, though his skin still looked as if he’d fallen asleep on a Florida beach in August.
“It doesn’t hurt,” he assured her.
He could feel the sizzling arc of her power as she instinctively swayed toward him. The draw of his life force wasn’t an unpleasant sensation, as she gave and took from him in equal measure. The loss of control over her ability signaled her growing desire for him more than the darkening of her eyes or the increased scent of her arousal.
With a low growl, he bent his head to hers and took hold of her mouth. His arm latched around her waist, drawing her flush against him as his tongue brushed over her lips. Her mouth parted to his questing touch, allowing his tongue to slide in to taste her. Her tongue met his with eager thrusts that threatened to unravel all his restraint.
Walking her backward, he pressed her against the wall and braced his leg between her thighs when they began to shake. Her fangs lengthened against his lips, one of the sharp points puncturing his flesh.
Harder
, he almost groaned against her mouth, but he held the word back. He so badly craved her blood and to have his tasted in return, but he had to proceed carefully with her, or she might become frightened and bolt.
His hands ran over her ribcage, lifting her loose t-shirt up so his fingers could run over her silken skin. Her arms slipped around his neck as her tongue continued to entwine with his in hungry thrusts. Pushing her shirt up higher, he broke the kiss so he could drink in the sight of her exposed skin.
Her lips were swollen; her eyes dazed when they met his. He watched the subtle nuances of her face while he leisurely explored her body with his hands. The ebb and flow of her power increased as her head fell back. His gaze latched onto her neck and the enticing vein running just beneath the surface.
He’d never experienced such a driving need to mark someone, to taste them, like he did with her. Brushing back the strands of her hair, his eyes remained latched on her vein. Saliva rushed into his mouth as his fangs thrummed with the urge to be buried in her flesh. They’d both fed well only hours ago, but he was suddenly
ravenous
.
“Julian,” she whispered.
He tore his gaze away from the vein and back to her flushed face. His fingers traced over her cheeks, then across her swollen lips. He ran his thumb over her full bottom lip before bending his head to kiss her again. “I want all of you, Quinn,” he murmured against her mouth.
Her fingers dug deeper into his chest as her hips arched against his. “I’m not sure I’m ready for this.”
The ebb and flow of his life force between them caused his skin to prickle as it became electrified by her incredible ability to drain the life from someone but also give it back. A Soul Master, Luther had called her. In all of his many years, Julian had never encountered someone like her.
“Should we go on another date?” His lips brushed against her mouth as he spoke. “I’ll take you anywhere you want.”
Goose bumps broke out on her flesh as his other hand continued its caress of her ribcage. She smiled sensuously at him. “Even someplace cold?”
She knew he hated the cold, but he’d take her anywhere she asked him to, especially if it was somewhere remote where no one would think to look for them, much less find them. “Anywhere,” he told her.
Her head tilted to the side, her eyes dancing with merriment as she watched him. “Paris?”
“I’ll book the ship tomorrow and climb the Eiffel Tower for you.”
“You’re just trying to get me out of this town.” He shrugged as his fingers slid over the bottom edge of her lacy, black bra. She grabbed hold of his hand, pressing it flat against her. “There are vampires all over this world. We’ll be no safer in Paris or Moscow than we are here.”
“Maybe not.” He kissed her nose before moving his lips to her ear. “But a trip to Paris must equal at least ten dates and would have to get me bonus points.”
She laughed as she pushed at his shoulder. “You’re a horndog.”
“And you love it.”
“I do.” Her husky voice made his body quicken as his fingers continued to explore her bra. “But I also love getting paid. So if you don’t mind, I have to get ready for work.”
She ducked beneath his arm with a laugh and darted into her bedroom. Her door closed with a click. He couldn’t help but smile as he stared at the closed door. She had him more wound up than he’d ever been before, but little did she know how much he enjoyed the chase she led him on.
Quinn set her tray full of empty glasses on the bar and turned to place them in the dishwasher before filling her order. Clint’s was packed tonight. Even for a Friday, the crowd was larger than usual. Probably because Hawtie’s strip club was closed for the week to undergo some renovations and repairs.
It may be early February outside, but with so many people in the bar, it felt like July. Using her forearm, she wiped the sweat from her brow before shoving the glasses into the dishwasher. When she was done, she closed the door to the machine and stood to survey the bar again. The normal mix of bikers, cowboys, young college kids, Native Americans, and Mexicans filled the bar as well as more women than normal, which was making the men a lot happier and a lot louder than they normally were.
Her gaze found Julian amongst the crowd. It was easy to spot him in the mix as his natural vampire magnetism drew people toward him, even as their human instincts told them he was a predator. An extremely good-looking, unable-to-ignore predator, who was watching the crowd with a look of part disdain and part boredom.
Sensing her stare, he lifted his head to gaze at her. A sensuous smile curved his mouth, a mouth that could do delicious and wicked things, and that was only with his kiss. She shut off fantasies of what else his mouth could do before she shattered one of the clean glasses she’d pulled from the rack overhead.
“Can I get a PBR?” some guy asked as he leaned over the bar.
Quinn tore her attention away from Julian and focused on the man before her. “Sorry, we’re out.”
The man smiled as he tapped his fingers on the bar, his eyes raking leisurely over her. Like Julian, her inherent vampire abilities lured them to her. A lascivious look filled his eyes when he leaned closer. “So what can you get me, sweetheart?”
A punch in the face
, she thought, but forced herself to smile at him.
Bills to pay,
became the mantra on repeat in her head. “You can see the beers on tap,” she replied and gestured toward the half a dozen taps lined up along the bar. “Pick your poison.”
“What if my poison is you?” he inquired.
Quinn couldn’t help but snort at his response. Resting her elbows on the bar, she smiled at him. “Believe me,
sweetheart
, you’d prefer poison to me.”
“Oh, I doubt that.” He inched his fingers closer to hers as his smile grew.
“I don’t,” Julian grumbled from behind him.
The man’s eyebrows drew together. His hand fell to the gun at his side as he spun to face Julian. “Who do you think you are?” the man demanded.
Julian rested his hand on the bar as he leaned closer to the man. The man was two inches taller than he was and had a good thirty pounds on him, but the look on Julian’s face would have made a lion tuck tail and run. “I think I’m the man who will break every one of your fingers if they move another centimeter closer to her,” Julian replied.
The man glanced over at her. “I, ah… I gotta go,” the man stammered out, apparently deciding she wasn’t worth not being able to use his hands for a while.
Quinn shook her head as she turned her attention to Julian. “I told you, don’t scare off my tips.”
The thunderous expression on his face eased when he turned his attention to her. “You have to agree he was pathetic.”
“Maybe so, but he pays my bills, not you.”
“Ah, but I do so much more for you,” he replied with a wink.
Her entire body turned to Jell-O, but she still forced herself to lift her chin. She had no idea how to respond to that. She was, thankfully, saved from having to reply when Clint walked by with a case of beer.
“Back off, Draco Malfoy,” Clint tossed over his shoulder to Julian and dropped the case on the bar.
Julian had to snatch his hand back to avoid having the case dropped on it. Quinn couldn’t hold back her laughter as Clint pulled open the box and pulled out some beer bottles. Bushy gray hair poked out from under Clint’s baseball cap; his brown eyes twinkled merrily as he stored the beer in the coolers.
Clint had started calling Julian by the name of anyone extremely blond the minute they’d met. Quinn had begun to suspect Clint was actually googling people, as he had yet to call Julian by the same name twice. She’d never known there were so many popular blonds in existence, but she had a feeling she’d be learning more of them soon.
She gave Julian’s hand a pat before turning away from him to finish filling her order. She placed some mugs and a pitcher of beer on her tray and lifted it. Expertly weaving her way through the crowd, she arrived at a table with a couple of women who worked at Hawtie’s seated around it.
“Thanks.”
Quinn recognized the woman who spoke as the bartender from Hawtie’s. She’d dyed her hair purple since the last time Quinn had seen her, but her pumpkin-colored contacts were still in.
“You’re welcome.”
Turning away from the table, she twirled the tray in her hands as she made her way through the crowd toward one of her tables near the door. She almost felt like whistling as she spun the tray around. Sure, there were God only knew how many vampires searching for her and there was some crazy-ass prophecy about her, but for the first time in years, she actually felt happy again.
Then, she felt guilty for feeling happy in the same building where Angie had died. Her smile slid away and the tray stopped spinning in her hands as a pang of sadness stabbed her heart. Angie hadn’t known every detail of Quinn’s life. Julian was the only one who knew her most gruesome secret about having killed her dying uncle upon turning, but Angie had been her friend.
Stepping up to a table, she smiled at the group of college students gathered around it. “Same as last round?” she asked them as she stacked their empty mugs on her tray.
“Sounds good,” one of the men replied.
Quinn was about to lift her tray from the table when the front door opened and a male vampire stepped inside. She could only stand and stare as the world lurched out from under her. She thought she was going to fall over, but she remained unmoving.
Memories of death and brutality assailed her as the bar around her faded away. She found herself in the home she’d fled six years ago. Under the influence of this vampire’s ability to control minds, her cousin Barry had opened the door to him. Barry had invited his death and those of his loved ones into their home that night. Her mind replayed the echoing screams as their blood streaked the walls and pictures of her home.
Unable to hold her tray up, it fell onto the table with a clatter. The students jumped back on their stools to avoid the toppling glasses. Quinn’s legs shook as a scream rose inside her and strangled in her throat. The scream was so full of anguish and fury it would have made a banshee cower. Her nails dug into her palms as she tried to rein in the warring emotions tearing through her.
The man’s gaze slid past her to the crowd beyond. Then his shoulders straightened and his gaze came back to her. His eyes widened until they were about to pop out of his head. Quinn felt as if someone had kicked her in the gut as she stared into his blue-green eyes. Fangs sliding free, she took a step toward him.
The man’s gaze raked her. The smile spreading across his mouth caused her blood to boil. Lunging away from the table, heedless of those around her, she shoved herself through the crowd straight toward him. She didn’t care who witnessed it; she’d rip this vampire’s throat out with her bare hands when she got a hold of him. Before she could reach him, he fled out the door.
“No!” she gasped and burst free of the crowd.
She raced across the few remaining feet to the door and smashed into it. She didn’t feel the chill in the air. Her feet barely hit the stairs as she ran down them and into the parking lot. At the corner of the building, she saw a flash of coattails as the vampire she pursued vanished into an alley.
As she raced across the parking lot, her only thoughts were of digging her hands into his flesh and tearing it apart while she drained the life from his miserable body. Rage tasted bitter on her tongue, or maybe that was her desire to sink her fangs deep into this monster’s neck.
Just as he had once done to her.
***
Julian rested his elbow on the bar as he surveyed the crowd. He glanced at the clock on the wall, urging the time to go faster so he could get Quinn out of here and back to her apartment. He wouldn’t mind picking up where they’d left off earlier, and he didn’t think she’d put up much of an argument.
Chris and Melissa sat at a table near the poolroom. Lou, a young Guardian in training, was sitting with them. Luther and Zach hadn’t arrived yet. Quinn flipped the tray in her hands as she walked through his line of vision. He surveyed the crowd again, but the main barroom and the poolroom were full of people with heartbeats. No matter how many vampires there were, no vampire would be foolish enough to attack her in this crowd.
Julian tapped his fingers on the bar. Quinn stopped at a table, a smile on her face as she spoke with the young kids gathered around it. Chris rose from his seat and disappeared into the poolroom. He returned a minute later with a pool stick and lifted it toward Julian to let him know it was their turn to play.
Julian rose from his seat and stepped away from the bar. He froze when Quinn began to shove her way through the crowd, oblivious to those in her path. Julian’s eyes shot toward the door as it closed seconds before she crashed into it. He opened his mouth to shout at her to stop, but she’d already disappeared from view.
Julian leapt away from the bar and rushed through the crowd behind her. It took everything he had not to ruthlessly shove everyone out of his way, but he managed to keep himself restrained enough not to reveal to every person in this bar they were in the presence of something more than human.
A snarl tore from him when a couple danced into his way. It had been two years since he’d killed a human, but he nearly broke their necks in frustration. Only seconds had passed since she’d gone out the door, but it felt like hours as time seemed to crawl. She was out of his sight, and something or someone had drawn her out the door.
He’d strangle her when he got his hands on her, but first he had to find her.
Just as Julian reached the door, Zach was stepping through it into the bar. He took a step back when he spotted Julian and shoved the door open again. “She went around the back of the building,” he said.
Julian raced down the steps and hurried around the corner of the building. Ahead of him, he spotted Luther running through the desert in pursuit of Quinn. There was no way the middle-aged Guardian would be able to keep up with her.
“Where did she go?” he demanded when he easily overtook Luther.
Luther pointed ahead of him. “That way.”
Julian poured on the speed, racing across the sand as it shifted and slid beneath his feet. The small sliver of moon spilling across the sand lit the way as he ran up the side of one dune and down the other.
He almost bellowed her name across the open desert, but he had a feeling stealth was best right then. Racing over another dune, he finally spotted Quinn in the sand below him facing off against a man with a distinct lack of a heartbeat. The vampire’s ankle-length duster swirled around his calves as he moved. She was more careless than he’d ever seen her before as she charged heedlessly toward the vampire. The vamp raised his arm and backhanded her across the face, causing her to stagger to the side.
Unable to suppress a roar, Julian plunged down the dune toward them. Quinn spun around, a stake in her hand as she went at the man with a ferociousness that had the vamp dodging back to avoid her crazed swings. Leaping to the side, the vamp smashed his arm on top of hers when she lurched awkwardly at the spot where he’d been standing. The vamp swung a punch at her, but she dodged to the side in time to avoid the blow.
The vampire’s head shot toward him when Julian bellowed again. The man backpedaled in the sand. Quinn lunged at him, swinging the stake in an arch that sliced across the vamp’s chest. The blow tore his skin open and blood spilled free to stain his shirt. Quinn lunged at him again, but the vamp managed to dart to the side.
Pulling his arm back, he swung it at Quinn as her forward momentum caused her to run past him. The blow hit her so forcefully that it caused her head to snap around with a loud crack. Red burst across Julian’s vision when Quinn landed face down in the sand. The vampire looked from her to him before he turned and fled across the desert.
Bloodlust pulsed through Julian. He’d make the vamp pay in the most excruciating and innovative ways for striking Quinn. His fangs pulsed with his hunger for blood, but he pulled to an abrupt halt next to Quinn, as she lay unmoving in the sand. No matter how badly he wanted to catch and destroy the vampire fleeing across the desert, he couldn’t leave her.
Kneeling at her side, his hands shook as he turned her over. “Quinn?”
Her arms fell across the sand. The spill of her dark hair sprawled around her, her eyes remaining closed. His fingers trembled as he brushed aside the sand and hair sticking to her cheeks and forehead.
“Come on, Dewdrop, wake up,” he urged.
He ran his hands over her still body as he searched for an injury other than the dusky bruise high on her left temple. His fangs pressed against his inner lip as he stared at her. He took a minute to steady himself against the rage simmering within him before sliding his hands under her. Lifting her into his arms, he cradled her limp form protectively against his chest. He didn’t look at her as he ran. He was halfway back to town when he encountered Melissa, Chris, and Zach running after them.