Vince laughed arrogantly. “Like what? We can’t exactly lock them all in there and refuse to let them leave; Eve will get suspicious, and Gideon will be pissed.” True, but he didn’t need to be so smug about it.
We were running out of time. Fuck, even the humans would be able to scent the blood that had coated the floor only minutes ago.
“The fire doors,” Trent suddenly shouted. “We can send them all out through the fire doors. That way everyone gets out, but they don’t need to come through here to do so.”
“Brilliant. Good thinking, Trent.” It would work for the customers, but I wasn’t sure how the fuck we were going to keep Eve from finding out what had happened.
“Reese, give the orders that everyone is to leave via the fire exits. Trent, you make sure that body is disposed of properly and does not get pinned back on us. Vince,” turning to face the bastard, “make sure no one gets through those doors.”
“What about Eve?” he asked, moving to enter the main club. I didn’t like that way he said her name, the way his eyes lit up and the faint hint of want and desire that hit me. Maybe I hadn’t been so wrong about him after all.
“I’ll deal with her.” There was no way I was going to let him anywhere near her. It was meant to be his turn to shadow her next, but after what I just felt, I wasn’t going to let that happen. No, he wasn’t getting anywhere near her.
Eve
Being back in my apartment was great, it really was. But it was also lonely. Being alone had never bothered me before. If anything, it had been a blessing. But now, after spending almost a week with Thayne as my constant companion, I hated the silence that surrounded me.
There had been no more incidents since the second body, a female I had found in the toilets the night we reopened the club, but I could tell everyone was on high alert. Every night one of the guys would shadow me, follow my every move. They were doing their best to keep their presence a secret from me, but I wasn’t stupid, I knew they were there.
At first, I’d been a little annoyed about it, but to be honest, I felt kind of safe knowing they were around. I felt the safest when Thayne was around, though. I don’t know what it was about him that made me feel that way; he was a vampire for crying out loud. I should have been terrified of being in a room alone with him, of being in such close proximity to him for so long, but I wasn’t.
Pulling the covers up to my neck, I tried to relax, to close my eyes and let my mind calm so I could sleep, but sleep just wouldn’t come. That feeling was back again, the one of the eyes watching me. I’d been feeling it for the past few nights, ever since I had moved back into my apartment.
Should I go downstairs and ask Thayne if I can sleep with him?
Well, not sleep with him. You know what I mean. Not that I would really mind that. I had plenty of times already… in my dreams that is. But in reality, that was one thing that could not happen. It would be too dangerous.
Vampires tended to mix sex with feeding, and that was something I could not allow to happen. It was bad enough having to feed Gideon. If I allowed Thayne to have even just a taste I was in no doubt that I would then be forced to become his personal feedbag also. It wasn’t that I thought Thayne was like that, the kind of vampire that would demand ownership over a human, but it was just the way it was for people like me. One taste and we were either forced into slavery – like I was with Gideon – or dead.
The worse thing was that if I could have, I wouldn’t have minded Thayne biting me. I had seen him feeding the other night from across the club. The way he had held Jess, pinning her back against his chest as he lowered his face to her neck. A shiver ran through me every time I thought about it. I longed for him to hold me like that, for his lips to be against my flesh.
Oh hell, I was never going to get any sleep with those thoughts in my head. Groaning, turning over and burying my face in my pillow, I was just starting to relax when I heard a noise, a creak.
What was that?
Frozen in fear, I strained to hear more, and for a moment, I thought it was my brain playing tricks on me… until I heard it again. Without thought I dived from the bed, grabbing my robe off the door as I flew out of the room, out of my apartment and down into the club. There was no way I was going to be staying up there alone. No way in hell.
“Thayne?” I shrieked as I raced through the club. “Thayne?”
One moment I had been alone, tears running down my face as I screamed for him. The next I was in his arms, pulled tight to his chest, being rocked gently as he hushed me, promising that everything would be okay. “I’ve got you. I’ve got you.”
“There’s someone up there,” I hiccupped, his body tensing in response to my words. “I heard something.”
“Where? Where did you hear something?”
“In my room. I was in bed when I heard some weird creaking noise. I’ve never heard anything like it before, Thayne. Never.”
“Okay,” he nodded. “Go down to my room and stay there, do not move. I’ll go and check this out,” he said, turning me towards the door to the cellar.
“No! Don’t leave me,” I cried. I couldn’t do it, couldn’t go down into the darkness of the cellar alone.
Spinning around, I pressed myself again him, my hands meeting naked flesh as I made to fist them in his shirt. A shirt he wasn’t wearing.
If I hadn’t been so desperate for him not to leave me, I probably would have stepped back, recoiled in shock and embarrassment the moment my hands met his skin, but I didn’t. Burying my face in his chest, I found comfort in his embrace, his touch.
“Thayne, I don’t want to be alone. Don’t leave me. Please.”
Thayne
“Please,” Eve whimpered, need and passion burning in her eyes. “I need you.”
Now those were the words I wanted to hear.
Giving into her demands – and the needs of my own body, to be honest – I thrust deep into her moist, welcoming heat. “Thayne,” she gasped, gripping my shoulders tightly. Wrapping her legs around my hips, she tried to get me to move, to thrust, but not yet.
“Thayne. Please,” she begged, tilting her hips.
“Thayne?” she yelled again when I continued to remain still. But something was wrong. While I heard the words, her lips didn’t move.
“Thayne?” Panic laced her voice, but again the Eve beneath me didn’t move an inch.
A dream. Another damn dream. Every night it seemed I found myself plundering into Eve’s welcoming body, only to wake the next night and discover that it was only a dream.
“Thayne.”
But if this was a dream and the voice I could hear, the one laced with fear wasn’t coming from it, then that meant… “Thayne!”
My eyes snapped open, and I dived out of the bed. The scream of terror was coming from above, the fear in it waking me instantly and dousing all hint of arousal. Flying up the stair at a much faster rate than any human could, I didn’t know what I would find when I reached the top. Ripping the door from its hinges in my haste, I flung it to the side, opening my arms just in time to catch the woman flying towards me with tears running down her face. “I’ve got you,” I whispered in her ear as I held her tight, breathing in her delicious scent. “I’ve got you.”
“There’s someone up there. I heard something.”
What? The guys and I had checked the place from top to bottom after the latest body had been found. How could anyone have gotten in during broad daylight? Unless it was just some human thief? If so, I would beat the fucker to death for scaring her. Then again, I would kill the fucking vampire stalking her if it was him also. So no matter what, someone was about to die.
“Where? Where did you hear something?”
“In my room. I was in bed when I suddenly heard some weird creaking noise. I’ve never heard anything like it before, Thayne. Never.”
“Okay. Go down to my room and stay there, do not move. I’ll go and check this out,” I said turning to walk her towards the stairs.
“No! Don’t leave me,” she cried, spinning back around and placing her hands on my chest, burying her face against me. The moment she put her hands upon my naked flesh, I was hit by fear so strong that it took me some time to push it away, to not feel it as my own. “Thayne, I don’t want to be alone. Don’t leave me. Please.”
“Okay,” I soothed, rubbing her back in soothing motions in an attempt to calm her, my hand gliding smoothly over the silk fabric of her robe. “I need to check this out, sweetheart. So you can either come back upstairs with me or wait for me down there.”
“I’ll stay with you.” I had a feeling she would say that. Stubborn woman.
Guiding her back through the club and up to her apartment, I looked around, taking in every detail. There was no sign of a break-in. No clue as to whom or what had made the noise she had heard. Looking around her room, I saw nothing out of place. Everything was as it should have been. “What exactly did the noise sound like?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” she said from the corner of the room where she had placed herself the moment we had entered, arms wrapped tightly around herself as she gazed around the room. “It was a creaking sound. Kind of like metal when a lot of weight is applied to it.” Shaking her head, she sighed, “That is the only way I can describe it.”
“Well, there doesn’t seem to have been anyone here.” There were also no scents of anyone, vampire or human, having been here. Either Eve’s imagination was running wild, or whoever it was had found a way to disguise their scent.
“I did hear something, Thayne. I didn't imagine it.” Her eyes were wide with panic. She thought that I didn’t believe her, that I thought she was making things up.
“I believe you. Let’s get you back downstairs and I’ll call in some of the guys.”
“What good would that do? They can’t do anything to help with the sun being up. And won’t they be asleep?”
“That they will. But they will get the message the moment they awake and be here the instant the sun sets to help me search the place.” And I would need their help, as it was looking highly likely that I wouldn’t be able to do that anytime soon, not with her so scared at the thought of being alone.
A rush of nervousness suddenly hit me, a nervousness that did not belong to me. Looking back over my shoulder to where Eve remained huddled in the corner, our eyes met briefly before she glanced back at her shuffling feet. “What’s wrong?”
“Do you think… that we… that…” she gasped breathlessly, looking everywhere but at me.
“Come on, sweetheart. You can ask me anything.”
Taking a deep breath, peeking up at me from beneath long, dark lashes, she forced out the words. “Do you think that maybe we could stay up here? I mean, there was a noise, I swear, and I really want you to hear it. So maybe if you stayed up here with me, you might hear it too.”
There was one problem with her thinking – not necessarily a problem for me, in fact, I loved the thought of it – to hear the noise I would have to be in here with her, and there wasn’t enough room on the floor for me to sleep. If I were to stay here with her, in her room, we would need to share. “But where will I sleep?” I asked with a smile.
“Well…I was hoping… in the bed with me?”
Eve
“Try and get some sleep, sweetheart. I'll keep an ear out.”
We had been laid in bed together for the past hour in silence in the hope of hearing the noise that had sent me fleeing from the room. So far we’d heard nothing. “No, it's okay; I'll stay up with you.”
“Now that's just silly. You need your rest.”
“And so do you. You’re a vampire; you should be sleeping now.” And here I was keeping him from that sleep with my silliness. It was just a noise. It didn't mean that the stalker was here. Did it?
“I can survive on less,” he smiled, rolling onto his side and gazing down at me, concern etched on his face. “You, on the other hand, haven't been getting enough lately. I'm here, Eve. You’re safe with me.” The plea for me to believe his words clear in his voice.
“I know,” I whispered. I knew that now, knew that he would never hurt me. I could trust him. Though, it still shocked me that within a matter of a few short weeks I had gone from keeping myself at a distance from all vampires – other than Gideon – to truly enjoying the company of them. And in the case of Thayne, trusting one.
“You do?” he breathed lowering his head, inching his lips closer to mine.
“Yes, I really do.”
Feeling his breath on my lips, I knew that this was it. This was my last and only chance to pull away, to put an end to what was happening between us before things went too far, before I got hurt – which was a very real possibility – but I didn't want to.
It was stupid. It was dangerous. But it was what I wanted more than anything in the world. I just had to make sure he understood that my blood was off limits.
Placing my finger against his lips, I postponed the complete descent of his kiss a moment longer. His desire filled eyes lifted to meet mine in an instant. “You can't bite me. You can't feed on me. Promise?”
For a moment, panic rose within me. What if he promised and then broke that promise? What if he refused and went straight for my neck the moment my guard was down?
No! This is Thayne. Haven’t we just decided that I can trust him?
Shaking the negative thoughts from my head, forcing the panic back, I focused on Thayne and the words coming out of his mouth. “Never without your permission, I swear.”
That was all I needed to hear.
The moment his lips touched mine, everything about the danger of getting involved with him, the creep stalking me and the high chance that they had been here just a few hours ago vanished from my mind. The soft press of his lips, the smooth swipe of his tongue as he coaxed me to open to him, left me feeling like I was floating on air. It was a slow kiss, a gentle meeting of mouths and tongues.
His hands pulled me closer, my body flush with his. As the kiss turned and became more demanding, my hands began to roam over his body. I wanted closer. Even though we were laid in bed together, nothing but my night clothes and the pair of sweats he wore between us, it wasn’t close enough.
Moving my hands to my nightshirt, I began to pull frantically at the buttons holding it closed. I wanted to feel him skin to skin, for my breasts to be pressed up against his hard, chiselled chest.
“Stop,” Thayne gasped breaking the kiss, gripping my wrists to steady my hands. “You need to stop.”
What? Why? “Don’t you want me?”
A breathy laugh escaping his lips. “Want you? Fuck, Eve, I’ve never wanted anyone as much as I want you.”
“Then why stop?”
“Because things have happened lately, things that might be affecting your decision to do this now, and I don't want you to regret something like this. Don’t want you to regret me.”
“I won't. I want this.” And I did, but looking at it from a slightly clearer mind I could see his point. Would I have pushed this, come on this strongly if I hadn't been scared into the safety of his arms earlier tonight?
No, I wouldn't have. I wanted him; there was no denying that. But normally this was something I would never have done, a situation I would never have put myself in. That being said, I didn’t regret that I was here now. But still, he had a point.
“You sure about that?” he asked sceptically, as if he knew what I was thinking.
“Okay, so maybe what has happened tonight has helped push this along a little. But still, that doesn't change the fact that I want you, Thayne.”
“I know,” he said with a smile that failed to reach his eyes. “But to suddenly go from our first kiss to sex in a matter of seconds… I know you would regret that.”
Rolling onto his back, he reached out to me, pulling me to his side and holding me close. “We will be together like that, Eve, that I promise you. But not now. Not because of someone else’s actions.”
Brushing his lips against my brow as I snuggled against him, I breathed in his rich, warm scent. “I hope your right.”
I allowed my eyes to close and sleep slowly began to claim me. I wanted us to be together, to experience the pleasure that we could find together, but deep down I had a really bad feeling that our chance to be together might never happen. If Gideon got wind of it? The thought didn’t bare thinking about.
“What happened the other night was completely unacceptable,” Gideon stormed, anger pouring off him in waves. The moment Thayne and I had descended from the apartment, Gideon had been there to drag me away. He wasn’t too pleased to have found us together, never mind coming from my apartment alone. I had been stuck in his office ever since, filing paperwork and listening to his constant verbal abuse. “My club got destroyed all because some familiar got herself killed. And I missed out on a feeding because you went to pot over it.”
There was a body in my bed, of course I fucking did.
I wanted to yell at him, scream at him, but I kept my mouth shut. I knew that if I said anything, it would just make things ten times worse.
“And that fucker, Thayne, wouldn't give me even a chance of getting you alone to get it. With him here it is highly important that I keep my strength up. I'm not stupid. I know the Council of Masters doubts my claim as Master. He's friends with those damn red-eyed twins, and I wouldn't put it passed them to send him here to spy on me. We'll have to up the feeds; that's the only option.”
“What? No! Once a week, that was the deal.”
“Deal? There is no fucking deal, you piece of shit. You do as I tell you. I gave you a job, put a roof over your head and kept your little secret. You should be grateful I don't tell everyone here what you are. You wouldn't last a minute if they knew, and you know it.”
I did. If the vampires in this place – or any place for that matter – knew what I was, they would drain me dry in minutes. No one could know. No matter how much I hated it, I would have to give my wrist to Gideon… whenever he demanded it.