Authors: Mary Milligan
“Why haven’t you
made your presence known before,
” the reporter was
now looking at Tameron like she was wondering what he looked like
naked
.
Lots of women
were. I even paused a moment to give the matter some thought
,
before I caught myself and nearly ralphed.
Naked
Vamp
ire
not going there
,
it was his power
, it had to be
. He was horribly strong!
Terrifyingly strong, I whimpered to myself.
It was one thing to effect all the humans but to effect all the humans and me, that was amazing
;
and too chilling
to contemplate.
He smiled that sickening
ly
benevolent smile again. “We were concerned about human rea
ction.” You think,
“In the past w
e have been hunted nearly to extinction by the human race.” He looked downcast as if he were
a
survivor of
the holocaust
or something
, not a blood-sucking fiend
, who was just getting what he
richly deserved
. Yeah right, I thought as if people are going to buy that. Only I looked around
,
and th
ey were.
Oh, CRAP,
I thought again. Laurna was trembling
,
thank God some people have the good sense t
o be a
fraid of the monsters,
but
as
I looked up at her
I realized her eyes
were
t
earing up. Hell no, s
he was not getting all teary eyed for the bastard
Vamp
ire
.
I pulled again
,
trying to get
us moving
through the crowd.
They weren’t parting
so g
ood. Their e
yes
were
all locked on the screen
,
the masses
were
practically panting. I fought
not to look at the screen
. I didn’t want to fall under Tameron’s power
,
again.
We were getting close to the door when
Bouncer
boy who’d been so eager to get Laurna
’s digits stepped in front of us
and he wasn’t wearing his human suit anymore
,
either.
I jumped nearly a foot. He smiled at me like he was my best friend.
I felt his power crawl over my skin making me hot
,
he wanted me to like him
, bad
. I hated to tell him
,
I wasn’t that kind of girl.
Then
he
turned those glo
wys on Laurna,
“Stay with me,” h
e said real soft
, sexual.
He licked his lips like he was anticipating tasting her.
She smiled back at him like he was the sun itself and nodded.
She stepped toward him, he reached out
toward her
as if
he couldn’t wait the couple of seconds it would take her to get to him to touch her.
“Um
nope,”
I said
rather loudly,
when I got scared
,
I tended to get loud,
and let go of her hand just long enough to remove the leather glove I’d been wearing.
Immediately her eyes cleared and refocused on the
Vamp
ires
fangs.
She looked unsure h
ow could she be unsure? He was a
Vamp
ire
, end of story.
I dropped the glove into my pocke
t and continued toward the door
Laurna in tow.
She fought me, “Come on,
” I whispered, knowing my voice would help her fight whatever power he was using on her. At least
,
that was the way it was supposed to work.
Only she kept fighting me.
The
Vamp
looked at her his
dark
eyebrows scrunched together like he wa
s thinking hard
and then those lime green eyes landed on
my hand and his eyes wide
ned. Oh, shit, oh shit, oh shit,
I thought.
“Ao
,
”
He hissed
roughly
.
To my credit, I grinned
, it was a smile filled with malevolence. “It’s pronounced
A-
awe, b
lood sucker.” W
e
we
re
almost
to the door.
He looked to
the other guy at the door and another
giant
Vamp
/
Bouncer
stepped out making it impossible to pass.
What do they feed these guys? Oh yeah, blood. For men on a liquid diet they certainly were fit.
I was thinking about the merits of shooting up the place with so many witness’ when I heard
Governor
Dean
on
TV
announce. “
We want to be sure that everyone understands the
Vamp
ires
are a different spec
ies and not undead monster
s
.
Crimes committed against the
Vamp
ire
race will be dealt with just as they are when they are perpetrated against humans
.
Likewise,
the police will deal with any crime committed by a
Vamp
ire
. Vigilantism i.e.
Vamp
ire
hunting is a crime,” he stated flatly. “
Most of the
Vamp
ires
in this city already have human identification and have been l
iving amongst us for
years,” My
jaw dropped.
I think it actually hit the dirty floor.
He didn’t j
ust say that, did he?
The
Vamp
standing in front of me
must have seen my confusion because he nodded and smiled like it was his birthday. Did I say Crap yet?
The
Vamp
s hustled us upstairs
,
which was okay with me
.
I didn’t dare shoot them in front of all their new buddies.
The whole while I thought
why
, oh why,
didn’t I listen to my dad and bring more
clips?
Oh, while I was wish
ing
,
could
I
turn 21
right away
! I’d inherit my
powers and kick some demon butt
. Yeah, fuck. I was pretty
screwed;
my major hope was that Laurna would s
urvive
Bouncer
-
Vamp
s attentions, “
Not an Ao yet then,
”
Bouncer
-
Vamp
asked me
his tone was snide
.
He was smiling like he knew exactly what I was thinking and I wasn’t sure he wasn’t
,
after all
,
mind reading was a
Vamp
iric power.
I shook my head
,
there was no point in denying it and lying to them might get
Laurna hurt. “Let the human go,
” I said looking to Laurna.
Bouncer
-
Vamp
held her arm more like they were taking a stroll
,
than being escorted to the securi
ty office. She looked terrified,
confused
, and boy did she glare at me when I called her the human.
Well at least she wasn’t looking at him like he was her personal sex god
anymore, which
made me feel better, a lot better.
Terrified
, confused,
and just a little angry, “What the hell is going on Ma
ce
?” I shook my head wildly at her. I didn’t want her telling
Bouncer
-
Vamp
my name.
To my
surprise,
Bouncer
-
Vamp
looked very carefully at her and
nodded.
He
laid
his other
hand gently on Laurna’s shoulder.
“You can go, sweet one,
but I am still going to call
you.” His voice had dropped all the menace he used on me and he looked at her with pure longin
g. The kind of longing that made my stomach do several quick nervous flips. He was going to go after her later. If I didn’t kill
him,
he was going to hunt my best friend.
My hands shook I wanted to go for my gun but I couldn’t shoot them all before they took me down.
Laurna gave him that you are the sun on a clear day look again that made my stomach lurch. “Okay,” she said
as she leaned
her body against him
.
His eyes rolled up into his head like his was experiencing exquisite erotic torment.
For a minute,
she shook him off.
“What about
my friend,” she asked so softly I almost didn’t hear her. Damn it
,
go now
,
I thought at her
,
while you can!
He reached behind me and plucked
my gun from behind my back.
Damn
,
I thought I’d hid that
better.
I pressed my teeth together and parted my lips in an oh damn I’m in trouble now smile.
“She must be detained for questioning. You understand don’t
you,” he gave her a
level gaze.
I swear he didn’t draw in a breath while he waited for her to answer.
She nodded like a
Mike
ble head, “Yes, of course.” She gave me a dirty look. “
What the hell were you thinking,
”
she hissed at me.
S
he wasn’t scared just pissed. Good
,
at least she go
t out of
t
here without getting all touchy feely with
Bouncer
-
Vamp
.
I
shrugged
,
I couldn’t explain and I wasn’t sure she’d believe me anyway
not with Obi Wan making free with the mind control
. “Should I call your dad,
” she asked
biting her bottom lip
.
Bouncer
-
Vamp
growled low in his throat
;
his eyes riveted to her mouth.
Damn it just s
hut up and go;
I thought
,
but shook my head
no
. He’d be here soon enough. GPS baby, most of the time it pissed me of
f
,
today I
loved
it. A real live Ao
D
was on his way,
I couldn’t wait to see how these
boys cope
d
with that.
I wasn’t an Ange
l of Death yet
,
but dad was. Yay
,
dad
I wasn’t sure I’d survive until he got
t
here but
hey
vengeance would be sweet.
She made a mad face at me and smiled again at
Bouncer
-
Vamp
like he’d done her a favor.
I guess he had
,
he let her go.
He watched her go his eyes blazing like he was lit with some internal fire.