Born in Chains (Men in Chains) (8 page)

So far sex was just as messy with a vampire as with a human male, a thought that did nothing to ease her temper.

“You finished glaring at me?” he snapped.

“Sure, for now.” She lifted her chin. “What’s the plan? Does Rumy know where the weapon is?”

“No, but he suggested we check out a local Paris dive first.” He moved past the foot of the bed, snatched her clothes off the floor, and flung these at her as well.

“What are you so pissed about?” She put on her bra and shirt, then scooted to the end of the bed, her jeans now in her lap.

“Can’t I be angry, like you’re angry right now? Or do you suppose I can’t tell that you’re mad?”

“I think you just had sex and took some of my blood, so I don’t know what you have to complain about.”

“You enjoyed this.” He gestured with a slice of his hand toward the bed. “Your voice is still raspy from all the moaning and screaming.”

As she slid off the opposite side of the bed from where he stood, she turned to face him. “And I suppose you think I should be grateful to you for giving me a halfway decent ride.”

“Halfway decent?”

She lifted one brow then shrugged. She didn’t know why she was poking the bear, but he didn’t have to look so damn smug.

She moved in the direction of the bathroom only to have the chain give a tug because he stood too far away. She didn’t turn toward him as she said, “Will you please cut me some slack? Literally.”

“No.”

She stood bare-assed and humiliated, her jeans in her hands. The proximity that the chains required wouldn’t even allow her a decent exit. Lifting her chin, she pivoted in his direction and waited for him to move so that she could.

His eyes glittered in the dark, although her vision once more warmed up the space, an effect of the chains, and he stood in full, naked relief watching her keenly. “First, I don’t like this any more than you do and I suppose I don’t owe you this, but I was raised to have some manners, so here goes: Thank you for giving up your lifeblood to me. You may have just saved my life, and I have no doubt you kept me from a bout of painful blood-madness. Thank you.” His nostrils still flared and his jaw ground his molars a couple of times.

Lily fought back the words because she really didn’t want to say them, but they slipped past her lips anyway. “You’re welcome.”

“Fine. Now here’s the slack you wanted.” The moment he stepped in her direction, she turned and moved swiftly into the hall, then into the bathroom.

CHAPTER 4

Half an hour later Adrien’s temper had eased a little as he flew Lily slowly in the direction of the Paris club called La Nuit, or The Night. He was still angry that he’d been forced to use his captor for his blood-and-sex needs, and even more so because she was human. But the chains had made the whole aftermath worse because he’d felt her humiliation, which then triggered a sense of guilt about the whole damn thing.

As for La Nuit, the club had a bad reputation.

Hundreds of vampires around the world owned profitable businesses, open at night to serve the clubbing clientele and to give those vampires disposed to either having fun at a night scene, or tasting humans, the opportunity to do so.

Paris had a few clubs, running the gamut from chic to seedy. And there was at least one sex club he and his brothers had raided, freeing a number of human slaves each time.

A variety of enthrallment skills kept the vampire clubs below the radar. Adrien often marveled that more incidences of vampire world exposure didn’t occur given how much interaction there actually was between the species.

Adrien had never cared much for the human-oriented clubs, since he preferred his kind, but there were many vampires who’d acquired a taste for human blood and sought it regularly.

And he had to admit that after Lily’s blood, he understood why. He still didn’t get it totally, though. He’d tasted humans before, once as an experiment but more often than not when he was stuck out in the world, policing some extremist group, and couldn’t get back to his kind for days on end. So yeah, he’d tasted human blood, but between his prejudice against the greedy human race and the usually weak nature of the blood, he’d never once been tempted to go back.

Now all he could think about was sinking his fangs into Lily’s neck again, or into other more exotic regions, and taking her once more. Desire rippled through him, but he clamped it down. The damn chains would expose him if he kept it up.

He’d been furious with Lily after the blooding, but only because the whole experience had left him craving more.

And the bonding chains weren’t helping, because each hour he stayed bound to her, he grew more sensitive to what she was feeling at any given moment. Sure, she felt a mountain of rage against the vampire world, but laced through her fury ran ribbons of pure desire, something that happened just about every time she looked at him.

He wasn’t exactly surprised. He knew what he looked like and he pumped iron to keep himself fit, so he understood her interest in the same way that her toned body, narrow waist, and full breasts kept his cock in a state of inappropriate movement.

As he flew her slowly in the direction of La Nuit, therefore, he focused on what he might find at the club. He packed a Glock beneath his leather coat, along with a couple of fighting chains and a dagger. He was sufficiently armed, but his greater concern was for Lily, keeping her alive if things went south, remaining free enough to move given the short functioning length of the blood-chains.

He set up a disguising cloak as he dropped to earth in a darkened side street and set Lily to walking as soon as he touched down. He said in a low voice, “Movement helps give the impression we’ve been here as the disguise dissipates.”

“I figured.”

Well, she didn’t lack for intelligence. He’d give her that.

“You feel queasy or anything?” he asked, because he didn’t sense anything from her.

“My head hurts a little, but otherwise I’m fine.”

“Good. And remember, if this gets ugly—”

“I’ve got it, Adrien. I’m to find a place to hide, preferably beneath a table or something. But do you really think we’ll face fanatics at this place?”

The club he took Lily to catered to the darker elements of the city. Rumors of drugs and rival gangs made it the last place he’d usually take a woman, even a human.

His size helped. As he led Lily into the club, the crowd parted for him. He went straight to the bar and spoke to the bartender in French, asking to speak with Rumy’s friend Hardesty.

The bartender jerked his head to Adrien’s left. Across the room, Adrien saw a bouncer, similar in size to Adrien. Taking Lily’s hand, he wended his way through the smoky room and among about a dozen tall round tables until he stood chest-to-chest with a vampire he’d never met before.

“I need to see Hardesty. Rumy sent me.”

The bouncer glared, but extended his fist to the door he protected. He rapped three times with his knuckles, never once taking his eye off Adrien.

“Entrez.”

The bouncer opened the door and let them into another smoky room. Lily coughed and waved her hand through the air.

When the door closed, a tall thin man sat down in a chair near the fireplace but said nothing.

“Rumy said I should see you, that you might have information. Are you Hardesty?”

A slight inclination of the head. The vampire took a drag on a cigarette then released a thin stream of smoke. “What is the famous Adrien doing in my club? This is the kind of establishment you’re usually famous for shutting down.” His accent was British.

“I have no complaint with you, or any club that keeps our world safe. You’ve never crossed that line.”

“You and your brothers continue to perform this tireless service, but aren’t you weary of battling forces bigger than yourselves? Daniel owns the Council now, and I’ve always had the feeling he’s been intent on opening up our world to human interaction for a long time.”

“Daniel will only do what he believes will benefit him. Right now, I don’t think he’s prepared to go that far.”

Hardesty glanced past Adrien. “You have a woman with you. A human. That’s singular. Let me see her.”

“She is of no concern to you.”

But Hardesty’s gaze fell to the chain at Adrien’s neck. Though he had it tucked inside his shirt so that only a small portion showed, Hardesty laughed. “What has happened to you that you got bound to a human? Never mind. I see the whole thing unfolding in front of me because last I heard you and your brothers were hanging from Himalayan chains. Lucian and Marius still there?”

Adrien ground his back teeth together. He didn’t like or trust Hardesty, and he sure as hell didn’t want to get into a chat about his recent imprisonment. “I need information.”

Hardesty rose, pulling in a long drag as he did so. He moved to the side of the chair as well, farther into the room, his gaze fixed on Lily.

Adrien felt a growl form at the back of his throat. His breathing grew ragged. For a skinny bastard, Hardesty was being damn aggressive.

Hardesty lifted both hands. “Ease down, vampire. I only want to have a look. I guess the chains really do work, because I know how much you despise humans.”

Adrien stepped back beside Lily and slid his arm around her waist. The emotions that pummeled him right now, both his own and Lily’s, made it tough to concentrate. Maybe because her blood was inside him or maybe because he’d taken her to bed—but whatever the case, he hated the way Hardesty looked her over.

He felt her hand on his arm, gliding up and down. She turned into him; that much he registered. “Adrien, what’s going on with you?” He heard her voice, but he couldn’t make sense of what she’d said. He felt his fangs on his lower lips. What the hell was happening to him?

She got in front of him and placed her hands on his chest. “Hey! Can you hear me?”

He met her gaze, staring into her large hazel eyes. He might have blinked a few times; he wasn’t sure. “Lily?”

“You kinda got lost there for a minute. What’s with the fangs? Pull ’em in, would you? You’re kinda freaking me out here.”

Adrien kept looking at her, partly because she calmed him, partly because he didn’t want to look anywhere else. He focused on breathing. He had to do better than this or these primal, uncontrollable feelings would put them both in danger.

“I can get rid of those chains, if you want.”

Lily turned in Hardesty’s direction, but Adrien slipped his arms around her, drawing her closer still. She seemed to understand because she didn’t protest. “What’s involved?” she asked.

“About half a million dollars. You got that kind of money?”

Lily nodded.

She did? Adrien’s hold on her relaxed.

Hardesty smiled. “Anytime you bring me the money, I can break the bond on the chains.”

Adrien felt relief swell through Lily so profound that it left him dizzy. “I want nothing more than that,” she said. “But for now, Adrien and I have to stick together.”

At that, Hardesty paced in front of his chair, still smoking. He looked like the kind of vampire who never put a cigarette down.

“So you’re after something else, then. Rumy only sends me vampires in trouble, but it will cost you, whatever it is that you need from me.”

“We need information about the extinction weapon.”

At that, Hardesty grew very still, including the ever-moving cigarette. Only his gaze shifted, from one to the next then back to finally land on Adrien. “You want to know the whereabouts of the rumored weapon? You? Doesn’t make sense.” He started pacing, smoking, and continuing to talk, “Unless of course you’re under duress. That can be the only reason. Daniel?”

Adrien said nothing. As did Lily.

“I wouldn’t give up my reasons, either. So what’s in it for me?”

“How much do you want?” Lily asked.

“More than you can give.”

“I’ve got a lot.”

“Have you got half a billion?”

“What?”

Adrien tensed up. Something wasn’t right here. Once more he pulled Lily up against him, but this time kept his right hand free to retrieve his Glock. “What are you talking about, Hardesty? How the hell is anyone giving you half a billion?”

Hardesty laughed. “Wishful thinking. I’d love half a billion. I’d retire to an island somewhere. The weather here has been dreadful this fall. So much rain in Paris.”

“So do you know anything about the extinction weapon or not? Rumy seemed to think you might know something.”

“What I know is pitifully small, about experiments done here, in at least one of the French cavern systems, in the north I think, a few decades ago. An accident left about half a dozen scientists dead so the Council shut down the whole operation, the papers burned, the equipment destroyed.”

“What kind of accident?” Lily asked.

Hardesty shrugged. “I’ve never gotten any details. But there is one thing I’ve wanted to say to you, Adrien, for a long time. My animosity toward you isn’t personal, but I have resented the policing work you and your brothers do.”

Adrien glanced around the room and made several swift calculations: no windows, one door at the back, possible shielding to prevent altered flight through the walls.

“What’s going on?”

“That half a billion I mentioned? Ownership in an Arizona casino, something new we’re doing in the States, but it will involve some specialists, human, if you catch my drift. My partners will be glad for this night’s work, and I’m going to have to send Rumy a thank-you card for accidentally sending you to me.”

He couldn’t quite read Lily’s emotional state, but she turned into him and half sobbed, half cried out as she slid her hand beneath his coat.

The door behind Adrien opened. He turned and saw the original bouncer enter with another big vampire. He watched as they reached for their weapons. Simultaneously, he slid his hand down his thigh and withdrew a dagger. If Lily hadn’t decided to get hysterical, he could have reached for his Glock.

He took her with him as he backed up against the wall. When he saw a knife and two guns, he spun Lily around so that his body would have a chance to protect her once the gunfire started.