He and his beast wanted to play with
her first.
Maybe seduce
her—
maybe in her very own
bed—
her naked breasts heaving against his
chest as he took her again and again. And then he’d feast on her
love-swooned blood until every last decadent drop was
his.
Or maybe he would just take her, hard
and fast, fucking her forcibly until she surrendered in
climax.
It would be so depraved that maybe,
just maybe, that would wash away the lingering memories of that
elusive blood. He hoped so.
He zigzagged from shadow to shadow,
from doorways to behind lampposts, to even running alongside the
frightened blonde. He bid his time and enjoyed the chase. He stood
across the street when the blonde ran right into a raven-haired
beauty, dropped her purse and sputtered apologies.
“
I’m so sorry,” she said to
the woman as she tried desperately to pick up her things and return
them to her purse.
“
No problem.” The woman’s
voice was rich and dark, like coffee, and she had the faintest of
European accents. She knelt, reached out and took hold of the
blonde’s wrist. “Are
you
all right?”
The blonde jumped at her
touch, on the verge of tears. “Someone’s after me…a man.” She shook
her head and looked back over her shoulder again. “I think…I think
he wants to
kill me
.”
“
Kill you?” the woman said,
her voice even.
She doesn’t believe
her.
The vampire smiled to
himself.
The blonde shook her head again and her
expression dropped. “I feel…really stupid. I saw this guy looking
at me...looking like he wanted to…to eat me…and then I ran.” She
gathered up the last of her things and stuffed them in her purse.
She stood and looked the raven-haired woman in the eye. “I really
thought he was chasing me.”
They both looked back down the street.
The blonde laughed nervously and shrugged her shoulders. But the
raven-haired one, she turned her head slowly, scanning the street,
and then whipped her head around to focus her dark eyes on the
vampire.
Luca smiled and nodded his head,
impressed with the woman’s alertness, and suddenly seized with
wanting her. Those dark brown eyes flickered golden with curiosity
and intelligence. She would be a pleasure for the mind and the
palate.
But then she tilted her head and smiled
back at him, not as strangers do, especially in the pitch of night
on a lonely street. Anyone with half a brain would be on edge,
riddled with fear and paranoia—but not this woman. Her smile was as
peaceful and solicitous as it was beautiful.
“
Hungry tonight, are
we...vampire?”
Chapter 2
Luca stood there stunned. Someone had
recognized what he was. On sight! The beast in him wanted her.
Badly. He stepped forward onto the street. The blonde girl saw him
and screamed in terror. A moment later, the raven-haired woman
grabbed her wrist again and jerked her out of her
hysteria.
“
Please be quiet. I’ve got
enough to handle without you bleating your head off.”
“
But it’s
him
!” the blonde
screeched.
“
I know that. Now if you say
another word I’ll let him have you.” She sounded so calm, her dark
eyes never leaving the vampire. Luca was impressed. A human who
thought she could fight a vampire. And she was more than a little
mean, telling the frightened blonde she’d let him have
her.
Luca chuckled and strode a few paces
toward them.
The blonde whined.
The raven-haired woman raised her hand
up as if she was about to wave goodbye, and suddenly a fireball
appeared. The flames licked the cool night air and flickered
between orange, yellow and red.
A witch.
She threw the fireball at him and he
jumped back. When it landed it left the patch of pavement where
he’d been smoldering and cracked. He looked across the street and
smiled at her. She smiled back.
This could be
fun.
His beast howled its
agreement.
“
Leave now, vampire,” she
said, “and I won’t destroy you.”
Nice touch.
But witches, no matter how powerful, were
still
just human
.
And humans weren’t near quick enough for a seasoned
vampire.
Before the witch could take her next
breath he was across the street and had his hand around her throat,
his fangs bared, ready to kill. But he didn’t want to kill her, not
yet. There were so many games he could play with a witch. So much
more he could take from her than a regular human.
A low hum of power radiated from her
flesh into his hand, warm and comforting.
Maybe he would turn her, make her a
vampire? He had never done that certain trick, not in all the years
since his mistress had made him; her crazed eyes and silky high
voice still haunted him three hundred years later.
Had he been alone long enough? Could
this spitfire of a witch be diversion enough for another few
millennia?
For now he would just show
her his fangs, show her how defenseless she was against him, and
wipe the glower off her exquisite face.
Fear me, you foolish human. Give me what I want!
There was a searing pain in
his chest, and the scent of burnt flesh—
his
flesh!
He lurched back away from the witch,
beat out the flames that engulfed his shirt and left his chest and
face burned. He looked up and saw the witch’s hand was on fire,
like a torch, and her dark eyes blazed with golden
power.
“
That was...hot,” Luca said
right before he jumped back again. Another fireball scorched the
ground at his feet. “But are you just a one-trick pony?”
The witch’s eyebrows bunched and she
bared her teeth. “Did you just call me a horse?”
Luca grinned. He’d pissed her
off.
He heard the nearly
undetectable sound of something large falling through the air. He
bolted to the side just as a monolithic granite angel crashed to
the ground, shattering into rubble the size of human heads. He
looked across the street and saw a huge old church.
Resourceful, this one—to pluck such a thing from
its perch and brandish it with such accuracy.
Maybe he’d get more than just a good
fight and a mouthwatering meal out of this one.
“
You win, witch. I give up.”
Luca held up his hands, turned and walked slowly away, listening to
the witch’s even breaths, but failed to hear her heart. He touched
the tender flesh of his chest that she had burned. The pain was
comforting; a taste of what was to come.
A scent caught his
attention—and the undivided attention of his beast. There was
blood, still wet, no more than a drop, under his fingernail.
I must have scratched her neck.
But then that scent kicked in, and his
beast rose up, roaring with wanton hunger.
It was the blood that had drawn and
beckoned him to this city; the blood that had kept his beast here,
even when it wanted nothing more than to leave.
It was the witch…she was what he’d been
looking for all along.
He took his finger into his mouth and
licked and sucked the nectar from it. And though the beast inside
him went crazy at the taste, something deep inside him sparked,
just for a moment, an entity Luca didn’t know how to
describe.
Something that brought joy, and
terrible pain, with it. Something impossible.
But that flicker of flame vanished as
quickly as it had come.
Next time
, he told his beast, ducking down a dark alley.
Next time more than just a taste!
Chapter 3
Min stood still as stone,
the flesh of her palm still burning—the fireballs always gave pain
along with their protection. She watched as the vampire swaggered
down the street and disappeared into the night.
Bastard!
She’d needed the adrenaline rush. After
hours holed up in the shop, rummaging through those old texts, she
had one hell of a headache, tired eyes and a crick in her neck. The
close call with the gorgeous yet deadly vampire had washed away all
her aches and pains.
She cringed just at the
thought of what she’d done. As soon as she’d seen the vampire she
should have taken the blonde and herself back into the shop and
bolted the door. Not that that would’ve stopped him, but to go toe
to toe with the creature on the open street had been sheer
stupidity.
What the hell was I
thinking?
Truth-be-told she should have just let
the vampire have the girl. It hadn’t been any of her business—she’d
been walking around at night, defenseless…
No, no, no…no one asks to be
attacked and eaten by a creature of a nightmare.
She couldn’t have left her to fend for herself. It
wasn’t like she stalked around the city with a cape, rescuing
damsels in distress and little old ladies from the riff-raff scum
of the earth. But she would be damned if she would let it happen
right in front of her nose.
Not the smartest or safest
way to live.
A flash of how fast he’d moved upon her
slipped through her mind. He could have killed her, had her drained
and been off hunting down Blondie before Min’s corpse even hit the
concrete.
The feel of his touch, how something
inside him had somehow connected with something in her, made her
tremble. Every cell in her body wanted him, instantly, soulless
demon or not.
She shook her head and tried to
dislodge such stupidity.
Why had she gone for scorching the
pavement when she should have gone for the kill? Her mother and
grandmother had taught her better. Vampires were animals. Filthy,
soulless, and single minded. If it wasn’t sex, it was food, gorging
on blood when they weren’t committing carnal debauchery.
But this one was different. This one
hadn’t killed her. He’d wanted to scare her. So he was one of those
fiends that liked to play with their food before they ate
it?
A moment of heated insanity welled up
inside Min and made her pulse pound in her throat and her body
tighten in all the wrong areas. She felt herself quiver just
thinking how it might be to be with a vampire—all that
preternatural strength…all that bloodthirsty passion.
“
It would be wild,” she
whispered to herself.
“
Shit...” the blonde said
from behind her.
Min had forgotten all about
her. At least she’d obeyed and stayed quiet and out of the way
while Min took care of the
big bad
vampire...
Yes, that’s right. He is the
big bad vampire, and to play with such a thing is
madness…suicide…what’s wrong with me?
Min
closed her eyes and took in a big breath, trying to gather her wits
and center herself.
Don’t be stupid! Don’t
be stupid! Don’t be stupid!
But he’d been so mouthwateringly
handsome…no, he’d been freaking beautiful. And the look on his face
when she’d burned his chest and set him on fire? He hadn’t looked
angry. He’d looked turned on. And that moment when he’d touched
her? It was like electricity in her veins. There was something
vaguely familiar about it, as if his touch had been…had been
something she’d been waiting for. And now that he’d touched her,
she wanted him to touch her again.
Min sighed, rolled her eyes and turned
to face the bug-eyed blonde. “Why don’t I walk you
home?”
The girl was alternating her
terror-stricken eyes from where the vampire had vanished, to Min’s
hands. “What was that? And what was he?” her tone was frightened,
but a little pissy. That gained her points in Min’s book. Being
able to get bitchy in the face of monstrous creatures of the night
took guts.
Min turned back to the magic shop and
locked the door, then waved her hands. “That was a fireball.” Then
she shrugged in the vampire’s direction. “And he was a
vampire.”
Blondie gulped as her eyes bulged out
even further. “Oh!”
Min smiled. “Any more questions?” The
blonde shook her head an adamant no. Min patted her on the shoulder
and then headed her down the street, her eyes ever vigilant. “Well
then, let’s get you home.”
~*~
His flesh had almost healed by the time
Luca returned to his lair, changed his clothes, and then came back
to pick up the witch’s trail. It still hurt, and it would until he
woke completely rejuvenated the next night. He smiled at the little
pain. It made him think of her.
He found them both still walking south
on Vine Street. He could never get over how slow humans were. He
himself could not pull up those long forgotten human moments.
Everything after his transformation to vampire was crystal clear,
if not painfully vivid. But his human life was lost to him. All but
a few faded, dubious images remained.