Thirst [All-American Vampires 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (7 page)

So he’d keep her at arm’s length and keep everything between them professional. He wanted to find out what Kirby turned up in her report on Claire and her sister. She’d given him a lot of very specific details that should be easy enough to check out. He had a feeling, though, that everything was just as she had said.

Claire sat nursing her drink and wondering for the hundredth time why she had ever agreed to come tonight. She probably should have just gone home and crashed at her apartment. But the night before she’d practically climbed the walls waiting to hear from Hawk, who had never called, damn him. She’d needed some kind of distraction, or she was going to go stark raving mad. When Leanne had invited her to meet up with a few of the girls from work for a night of drinks and dancing, she’d impulsively said yes. Now she was regretting that impulse.

The Dark Well was a local bar that catered to the paranormal crowd. Claire had never been before, but she’d heard several coworkers talking about it and how popular it was. Not that she’d ever been much for bars, but she hadn’t wanted to spend another night alone with nothing but her own depressing thoughts. So here she was.

She snuck another look at her watch, hoping against hope that it wouldn’t be too much longer before she could leave without hurting anyone’s feelings. They’d all been trying really hard to make her feel like one of the group, but she knew she was just dragging them down.

The girls had been checking out the available men when Trisha leaned forward. “Oh, my God. I don’t believe it. Look who just walked in.” She jerked her head toward the entrance, and they all turned to look. Claire’s eyes met the familiar emotionless gaze of the man who had dominated her thoughts for the past two days.

“He is so gorgeous. What I wouldn’t give for just one night with Mr. Tall, Dark, and Dangerous.” Faith, one of the casino dealers, was practically salivating. “They say he’s very kinky in the sex department, too. I’d let him tie me up any time.”

“Me, too,” Trisha agreed, her eyes devouring the man as he stood near the entrance.

Claire watched as Hawk caught sight of her and made a beeline for their table, the crowd parting before him as if they could sense the hidden power which lay so thinly concealed beneath the surface. Vaguely she heard the girls continuing to whisper excitedly, but all she was really aware of was that dark, focused stare. The girls fell silent as Hawk stopped at their table and offered them a brief greeting.

“Ladies”—his deep voice sent an arrow of arousal up her spine, and she could feel her body pulse in response—“would you mind if I stole Claire from you for a dance?”

She could feel all their eyes turning to her in stunned bemusement, and a flush heated her cheeks. She knew that they would have all kinds of questions for her about this unexpected turn of events. What the hell was Hawk thinking? Surely he knew the kind of gossip he was fostering with his request. But she could do nothing but acquiesce with a soft murmur of agreement. Then he was holding his hand out and drawing her to her feet. She allowed him to lead her onto the dance floor just as a romantic ballad began to play. He pulled her toward him, and she automatically raised her arms to slide one around his shoulder and the other into his light grasp. They began swaying to the slow rhythm.

Her senses stirred as she absorbed the feel of him so close against her. She could sense the heat from his hand where it lay against her waist, and his legs brushed against hers with each step. A spicy masculine scent rose to her nostrils. The urge to lean closer to him was almost overpowering, but Claire forced herself to keep a small space between their bodies. She was surprised at her reaction to him, though not shocked. Vampires had high sex drives, another little revelation she’d discovered after she’d been turned. So far she had managed to resist the urge to find a warm body to soothe her loneliness and need because she had been so focused on finding her sister. Honestly, she hadn’t met anyone who’d really tempted her. Until now.

They danced for a few minutes in complete silence. The darkness of the bar and the slow, sultry music created an air of intimacy that she was reluctant to shatter, and she could feel herself weakening. Arousal stirred low in her belly. She moved closer to him, eager to feel her body pressed up against his, and felt the slow glide of his hand across her hip. She wanted him to kiss her. As the thought crossed her mind, she froze. What was she doing? She was supposed to be finding her sister, not appeasing her own sexual needs. She moved back, trying to put more space between them. For a moment, Hawk’s hands tightened, and she was afraid he wouldn’t release her. Then he sighed and eased back from her. She looked up into his eyes.

“Why are you here?” Her voice came out huskier than she wanted, so she cleared her throat. She needed to put everything back on a professional basis as quickly as possible. “Do you have news?”

He nodded. “I needed to talk to you. I tried your apartment, but your next-door neighbor said that you’d come here.”

She took a deep breath. He must know something. “Did you find—”

“Not here,” Hawk interrupted her. “I think it would be better if we went somewhere a little more private to talk. Can you leave now?”

She agreed eagerly. “Just let me get my purse.”

“All right. I’ll be waiting for you by the door.”

She quickly moved back to their table. The girls all sat staring at her with expressions of varying degrees of amazement and envy.

“You sly dog! Why didn’t you tell me you knew Hawk?” Leanne grinned. “He is so freaking hot. Hell, half the girls at the casino have tried to hook up with him, but he always shoots them down. And you just waltz in and snap him up.” She sighed. “You’re my hero.”

Claire was dumbfounded. For a moment she had absolutely no idea what to say. She supposed she should have expected this sort of reaction, but she didn’t have time to explain. The girls started bombarding her with questions, but she could barely distinguish one from another. Finally she held up her hands. “Look, I’ll talk to you all tomorrow night. Right now, Hawk wants to…ah…take me home. I just came back to get my purse.” Another excited burst of exclamations and questions hit her. Ignoring them all, she reached for her wallet and pulled out a few bills to cover her share of the tab. “I’ll see you guys later.”

Slipping the purse over her shoulder, she pivoted on her heel and beat a hasty retreat to the exit before they could stop her.

As promised, Hawk stood propped up against the wall beside the door, ignoring the interested glances of the women standing nearby. When he saw her, he straightened up and walked over. One hand resting warmly in the small of her back, he directed her to the exit. “Did you drive yourself here?”

“No. Leanne picked me up at my apartment.”

He nodded and pushed open the door. “Come on. My car’s right outside.”

He led her to a late-model SUV. It was black and looked expensive and powerful, not unlike the man himself. After they pulled out onto the road, she couldn’t hold back any longer. “Tell me.”

For a moment she thought he wasn’t going to answer her, but he finally shook his head. “I’m sorry, Claire, but her name was not on the list of rescued bloodslaves. They were all Eastern European. I was pretty sure when we spoke, but I wanted to double-check just in case.”

“No!” She felt like she’d taken a punch to the stomach. The back of her throat started burning, and she had difficulty swallowing. Tears blurred her vision, but she refused to let them fall. She’d told herself that she was going to be prepared for bad news. It had been a long shot, after all. Still, it was the only lead she’d had. A single tear slipped down her cheek, and she tried to wipe it off surreptitiously, hoping he wouldn’t notice. For just a second she felt an overpowering sense of defeat. Then she straightened her shoulders. She’d found one lead. She’d find another.

Hawk’s voice intruded on her thoughts. “Claire. I have some ideas I’d like to talk to you about.”

“Ideas?” She looked at him, wondering what he was talking about. She was having trouble focusing after the shock of bad news.

“Yeah, maybe we could figure out some ways we might find your sister. I’d rather have this discussion when we get to your apartment, if that’s okay with you?”

“Sure.” Refusing to let herself speculate on whatever it was he wanted to talk to her about, she studied his features. In profile, he was still a dominant presence, darkly male and overpoweringly attractive. He wasn’t handsome in the strictest sense of the word, but he drew the feminine eye with his blunt male strength. Claire studied his hands as they guided the car expertly through the busy streets. They were long fingered and surprisingly graceful. She could easily see them sliding over a woman’s body with equal dexterity as they maneuvered the powerful vehicle. She bit back a shiver at the thought of what sex with the dangerous vampire would be like and determinedly turned her eyes to stare out the window until they finally arrived back at her apartment.

When they pulled into her complex, she directed Hawk to the visitor’s parking and then led him up to her second-floor apartment. She unlocked the door and entered, throwing her keys carelessly on the table in the narrow entryway before leading him into the small living area. He took the seat she indicated, and she hovered uncertainly.

“Would you like something to drink?”

He shook his head. “No, thank you. Please sit down.”

Claire perched on the chair that faced him. “You said that you had some ideas on how I might find Cassidy?”

“Yes. I know you are disappointed that she wasn’t on the list of bloodslaves that we rescued from Simone, but truthfully, I didn’t really expect we would find her there. Those women were all of Eastern European descent, mostly from Russia and Latvia. They barely speak English. There was a slim chance your sister might have been there.”

“What’s going to happen to them?” Though she was disappointed that her sister wasn’t among the rescued women, she couldn’t help but feel empathy for their situation. It could so easily have been Claire herself.

“Right now they’re being taken care of by qualified personnel to help them recover from both the physical and mental trauma. Later, a lot will depend on what the women themselves want to do. We’re trying to keep their options open for them. Some have already indicated a desire to return to their homes. Others have said they’d prefer to remain here.”

“Good.” Her shoulders slumped. “I knew that Cassidy probably wasn’t one of those girls, but I still had to make sure. I appreciate your checking for me.”

He leaned forward and pinned her with his gaze. “There’s still a chance we could learn something from them. They were debriefed briefly, but since their English skills were poor, we couldn’t get much from them, though we haven’t given up. They now have translators and have been able to provide us with more information than they originally could. That’s one of the things I wanted to talk to you about.”

“I would appreciate all the help I can get. I guess I’m not exactly sure why you would go out of your way to help me.”

“I’d like to say that it was completely altruistic, but the truth is we want something from you and possibly your sister if we can find her.”

She felt her hopes stir. “Want something? Like what?”

“First let me tell you that I checked your story out.”

She shrugged. She had been certain he would. “And?”

“Everything you told me was the truth, as far as my men could discover.”

“And that means what?”

“It means I believe you, and I also believe that you have valuable information that might help us locate Simone and shut down her and her operation for good.”

“What kind of information?” Claire was curious.

“We need to learn more about the men who kidnapped you and where they held you. Things you might have overheard them say. Anything you can tell us will help us to get a better handle on Simone’s bloodslave operation. We’ve shut it down here on the coast, but who knows where she’s started up again. We need to find her and stop her once and for all. And if we locate your sister, she might be able to help us do that.”

Claire thought about that for a minute. She didn’t think that she had any information for him, but if he was willing to help her find Cassidy, she was willing to agree to just about anything. “Yes, okay. You want me to help you in exchange for your helping me. That’s fine. But I still don’t know what you think you can do to help me find Cass.”

He leaned back into a seemingly more relaxed position, but Claire could tell that he was still very alert. “We’ve interviewed the bloodslaves that we rescued, but, as I said, their English language skills have prevented us from learning much from them. They could describe the men who held them, but they didn’t understand much of the conversations that went on around them. And they had no idea where they’d been imprisoned. However”—he met her eyes—“they may have seen your sister. If the bloodslaves were held together at some point, it’s possible that they might have some information about Cassidy.”

Claire’s heart jumped with hope. “Do you really think they might help?”

He nodded. “Maybe. And if not, I have another idea.”

“What?”

“I know a witch who can track humans. She owes me a favor.”

* * * *

Hawk could see the shock on Claire’s face. “A witch?”

“Yes. I assume that you are aware that witches exist. The Council of Nine is composed of three members from each of the major paranormal races—vampires, werewolves, and witches.”

She nodded but looked unconvinced. “I read about it on the National Paranormal Association’s website. I’ve just never met one before.” The National Paranormal Association was an organization composed of the three known paranormal species. Its primary purpose was to disseminate information to the various groups and to promote understanding across the species. It had advice for the newly turned, a daily blog, and even a message board. Anyone accidentally stumbling across the site would simply assume it was one of many similar role-playing sites found all across the web. One had to register to use it, and approval was based on proof of paranormality. “And you think this witch could help find Cass?” she asked in disbelief.