Oliver's Hunger (Scanguards Vampires #7) (13 page)

“You’re not coming, Blake.”

“What?”

“You heard me. Nobody is in the mood to save your ass tonight.”

It wasn’t exactly how Zane had put it, but since they didn’t know what they would be facing, they had agreed to leave the human behind. It was bad enough that they had to take one human—Ursula. Two could distract them when they ran into trouble.

“That’s totally unfair!” Blake complained.

“Life isn’t fair. Get used to it.” Then Oliver motioned to Cain and Ursula. “Let’s go. We’re taking the minivan. Zane and Amaury will follow in the Hummer.”

As Ursula walked past him, their gazes collided. A silent thank you shimmered in her eyes. He hoped that he wasn’t wrong about her, and that she wasn’t leading them into a trap.

Moments later, they were in the van, Cain sitting on the back bench, Ursula in the passenger seat. Oliver gunned the engine and shot out into the street. As he passed the parked Hummer, he speed dialed Zane’s cell phone. It was answered before it could ring even once.

“Lead.”

In the back mirror Oliver saw Zane’s Hummer follow him. “I’m heading down to the Bayview to where I ran into Ursula.” He glanced at her from the side. “After that, she’ll have to guide us.”

Ursula nodded nervously. “I’ll do my best.”

“You’d better,”
Zane’s voice came over the loudspeakers.

“She will,” Oliver said with determination before concentrating on the heavy evening traffic downtown.

They rode in silence until he crossed the 3rd Street bridge behind the Baseball park, passed a few swanky new housing developments, and then entered the less savory neighborhood of Bayview.

The area didn’t have much going for itself. It was crime-ridden, and even the recent extension of the rail line—the MUNI as it was called—down 3rd Street did little to improve the area. If anything, it made it easier for the thugs to get around.

Oliver would know: he’d grown up here. And he didn’t relish being back. It reminded him of the sins of his youth, the gang of thugs he’d consorted with, the crimes he’d committed. With every block that brought them farther into the heart of the neighborhood, he felt his shoulders and chest tighten.

Only a night earlier he’d been down here, feeding on a down-and-out youngster. He felt disgusted at the thought now. Why had he even come down here? He’d avoided the neighborhood ever since he’d started working for Scanguards, but ever since his turning two months earlier something had drawn him to it again. Had he sensed that somebody here needed his help?

He shook off the stupid thought. He wasn’t psychic, nor had he any special gifts like Samson or Gabriel, or even Yvette. Perhaps he had simply considered the Bayview an easy hunting ground where he could still his lust for blood. Nothing more. Only tonight, he wasn’t here for blood, even though he’d left the house on an empty stomach. He felt it growl now, but he pushed back the hunger. For a few hours, he would be all right. Then later, when this raid was over, he would feed. The memory of drinking the bottled blood the night before still haunted him: it had left him empty and unsatisfied. And he had no intention of repeating the experience.

Oliver slowed the car. “This is where I was when Ursula asked me for help.”

“Okay. Which direction did she come from?”
Zane asked over the open line of the cell phone.

“East,” he answered and pointed toward the intersection.

“Yes, I think so.” There was a hesitation in Ursula’s voice.

When he looked at her, she nodded quickly. “I’m pretty sure.”

Oliver turned into the next street and kept the car at low speed, giving Ursula a chance to find her bearings.

“Do you recognize anything?” he asked softly.

Her gaze darted around, first to the left then to the right, then straight out front. Her hands fisted at her thighs. “Yes, it looks familiar. But I was running. And afraid.”

“Try harder!”

At Zane’s harsh command, Oliver noticed her flinch.

She instantly pointed her finger to a target in the distance. “That way. I noticed that boarded up shop.”

Yard by yard, they progressed through the area, slowly reaching the edge of the neighborhood where it bled into the worst of what San Francisco had to offer: Hunter’s Point, a place no tourist ever saw, a place even most San Franciscans never ventured into. Few people lived here, and many of those who did lived in desolate public housing projects. Closer to the Bay, many of the plots of land lay bare; others were occupied by old warehouses and industrial complexes.

Not far from India Basin Park, Ursula’s breathing suddenly changed. “Stop,” she whispered.

Oliver brought the car to a stop and confirmed with a look in the mirror that Zane had done the same. “What is it?”

Her hand trembled when she pointed it toward something past the windshield. “There. The sign for the import/export company. I ran past it.” She swallowed. “The building where they held me is just around the corner. Right on the next block.”

Oliver put the car back in gear and inched forward.

“No. Don’t go too close,” she begged.

He glanced at her. “You’ll have to point out the building to us, and since I doubt you want to get out of the car, I have to drive closer to it.”

Oliver noticed her jaw tightening in concert with the rest of her body as if she was trying to steel herself against an invisible attacker.

“Don’t worry, if anybody approaches us, we’ll speed away.” And then he and his colleagues would come back later without her. But he didn’t tell her this.

“Which building is it?”
Zane asked.

Oliver turned the corner, slowing to a crawl, then his eyes followed Ursula’s outstretched hand.

“That one.”

16

The four-story building was built of bricks, and it looked just as foreboding as it had the night she’d escaped its walls. A chill ran down Ursula’s spine just looking at it. Fear tightened her throat, making her unable to say anything else.

“The brick building?”
Zane asked over the loudspeaker.

“Yes,” Oliver confirmed.

“Looks dark. There are no cars in the vicinity, no movement I can detect. Nothing. I say it’s deserted. I wouldn’t normally do this tonight, but let’s not waste any time and check it out now.”

“No! No, they’ll catch you. You’ll need more people,” Ursula warned, overtaken by panic. If they went in there just the four of them, they could easily be overpowered. And then she wouldn’t be any further than before: her kidnappers would recapture her.

“Cain, stay with the girl. The rest of us, let’s go.”

Before she could stop Oliver, he opened the car door and got out. She saw how the two other vampires, Zane and Amaury, left the Hummer.

Oliver had described Zane to her earlier while they’d been waiting for him and Amaury. But even his comment that Zane only looked tough because of his bald head, couldn’t have prepared her for what she saw. He was tall and lean. When he briefly turned his head to look in her direction, his ice-cold gaze chilled her to the bone. His mouth was pressed into a thin line. His gait was determined, purposeful, and she knew instinctively that those long legs could chase down their prey in seconds. She never wanted to be caught on Zane’s wrong side.

Amaury seemed different. Compared to Zane, he looked like a cuddly bear, but she wasn’t fooled. He was just as deadly, and with more mass than his colleague, he could crush any human or vampire without effort. Those two were dangerous, deadly vampires.

She watched as they joined Oliver and marched toward the building. When they passed a streetlight, she noticed that all three of them carried guns. She pulled in a quick breath: she hadn’t noticed that Oliver had been armed when he’d left the car.

“Don’t worry, they know what they’re doing,” Cain said from the driver’s seat.

She shrieked. She hadn’t seen that he’d also exited the van and taken Oliver’s spot while she’d watched the three vampires walk toward her former prison.

Cain shrugged. “Just in case we need to make a quick getaway.”

Ursula wrapped her arms around her torso, feeling cold and scared. The vampire next to her wasn’t like Oliver. Yes, he seemed friendly on the surface. He didn’t carry his hostility on his sleeve like Zane—even seeing Zane only from the distance she’d felt that—but there was something unreadable about him. It made her feel uneasy around him. Oliver, on the other hand, unleashed an entirely different feeling in her. She felt drawn to him in the most primal way she had ever felt. Was it the fact that he was the first man who’d kissed her in over three years? Was it because she was so starved for physical intimacy that she had temporarily pushed aside her disgust for vampires when he’d pressed his lips onto hers?

Whatever it was, the intensity of it scared her. Because she knew that if it happened again, it would be as impossible for her to push him away as it had been to refuse his demand to touch him.

Wanting to silence her thoughts, she searched for a topic of conversation. “How long have you been working for Scanguards?”

Cain’s eyes narrowed, suspicion rolling off him. “Why are you asking?”

“No reason.”

She looked out the window. Oliver and his colleagues had disappeared. Had they entered the building or walked around it? “Where are they?”

“Inside.”

At his nonchalant voice, she glared at him. “Aren’t you worried?”

“They know what they’re doing. Amaury and Zane are the best.”

Her legs trembled. She pressed her palms onto her thighs to hide the fact that she was full of fear. “And Oliver?” Why hadn’t Cain said that Oliver was one of the best too?

Cain hesitated. “He’s still . . . young.”

“But he can defend himself, right?”

“Of course he can. You worry about him?”

Ursula pressed herself back into the seat. “No.”

Liar, liar, pants on fire.

“Then stop fidgeting. If what you say is true, and those vampires run some sort of blood brothel, my colleagues will pose as clients to get the lay of the land. They won’t start a fight tonight.”

Why hadn’t Oliver told her that? Was he afraid she’d find a way of warning her kidnappers? Did he still not believe her?

“And the guns?”

“You’ve got good eyesight.”

“That doesn’t answer my question,” she shot back.

“Maybe I’m not in the mood to answer questions.” He looked at her, his eyes hard and unyielding. “I’ve read your file cover to cover. The police reports, the newspaper articles. Add to that what you told us yourself. The fact that you escaped from that place.” He motioned his head toward the building. “Looks like a pretty hard thing to do, particularly if there are as many vampires on the premises as you claim. Something about your story stinks. And just because you managed to wrap Oliver around your little finger, doesn’t mean you’ll have as easy a time with the rest of us. I, for one, don’t think with my dick!”

Ursula huffed angrily. She opened her mouth, but he cut her off.

“Save your breath!”

She folded her arms over her chest and looked out the window, watching the building intently. It was dark, but that didn’t have to mean anything. All windows were either painted black from the inside or boarded up, or in some cases hung with heavy drapes, so that no light could penetrate. Likewise, no light could escape to the outside. She was certain her captors had done this on purpose so that nobody would be drawn to the building and start asking questions.

How they attracted clients, she could only guess. Word-of-Mouth most likely. They couldn’t very well advertise that they had blood whores with special blood for hire.

Time seemed to stand still. Nervously, Ursula chewed on her fingernails, when she finally saw a movement at the door to the building. The entrance door opened, and one-by-one the three vampires stepped out, then walked straight toward the van.

Anxiously she waited. All three walked to her side of the van, but Zane was the first to reach it. He opened her door, lashing an angry glare at her.

“What that fuck was that about?” he asked.

Jolted by his harsh tone, she shrunk back from him. “What happened?”

“Nothing happened! Absolutely nothing!” Zane ground out. “Waste of my fucking time!”

Ursula’s gaze darted past him, searching Oliver. When he met her eyes, she saw something akin to disappointment in them.

“Oliver,” she begged.

Oliver hesitated a second before he spoke. “The place was empty.”

Automatically she shook her head. “No, no, that’s not possible.” She pointed her hand toward the building. “That’s the house. I’m absolutely sure. That’s where they imprisoned me.”

Oliver cast his eyes down as if trying to avoid her. Behind him, Amaury’s face was set in stone.

“There’s nothing in there,” Amaury added. “No vampire, no human, no furniture.”

In disbelief, she shook her head. “No, you’re lying! They’re in there. They have to be!”

“We have no reason so lie!” Zane snarled. “You, on the other hand, have been leading us on a wild goose chase. I don’t know what your game is, but honestly, at this point I don’t care. Because it ends here.”

Equally shocked and frightened by Zane’s words, she felt her hands tremble. What was he planning to do to her?

“Please, I can prove it! I’ll show you where I carved my name into the wall of my cell. I can—”

Zane leaned in, his face half a foot from hers, interrupting her. “I don’t care for your lies. Whatever your game is, I’m not playing it.”

Then he turned toward Oliver.

“Wipe her memory, and then you and Cain will put her on a plane to Washington DC. Send an anonymous message to her parents to pick her up from the airport. If anything goes wrong, I’ll make you responsible. Are we clear on that, Oliver?”

No!
she wanted to scream, but fear of what Zane would do if she did clamped down her vocal cords.

Oliver stared at Zane. “Listen, there must be another way.”

His bald-headed friend glared at him. “Do as I say!” He pointed back toward the building. “You’ve been in there. It was empty.”