Vampire King of New York (8 page)

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“You don’t have to sleep on the sofa, Max. We have two guest rooms.”

“Both are currently occupied by Arnhem Knights. Besides I’d prefer not to sleep in a guest room.”

Evelyn blinked, her heart racing like a rabbit hearing a shot.

“David said you needed to speak with me.” He said it with such nonchalance, as if he had never mentioned his preference.

Evelyn shook her head. “I wish he hadn’t told you.” She avoided his gaze, but it didn’t matter. Her embarrassment bloomed in a burning flame on her cheek.

In a blur, he was sitting on the coffee table directly in front of her. All she could think about were his strong, sculpted biceps, the chiseled muscles of his chest. He was pale, which was to be expected, but the muscular definition of a warrior’s body made her dizzy. The fact that he was wearing blue silk boxers that showed an appreciable bulge wasn’t helping matters.

“Are you feeling better?Have you recovered completely from the poisoning?”

He grinned and took her hands in his. “I am fine. It’s going to take more than a little poison to get me. Of course, I am grateful your sister has that voodoo book. How did she come by it?”

“A friend from New Orleans sent it.”

“That has to be quite a friend to give such a book to a vampire.”

Evelyn started to stand but too late. Max had her in his arms and they were on the sofa, snuggled beneath the afghan. His lips went to her neck, and she stilled.

“Are you still afraid of me?”

She shook her head. When she faced him, they were only inches apart. “I know you won’t bite me, that you’ll keep your word.”

“Then what is it?” He lovingly stroked her hair.

“Max, I was badly hurt by a man I trusted. I’m not eager to jump into another relationship so soon.”

He kissed her but didn’t linger. Max leaned back and gazed into her eyes not to intrude but to silently tell her he cared. “I will wait for you, Evelyn. Just tell me what you need.”

She smiled, trembling, her fingers touching his hair, caressing his cheek. “Okay, this is going to be weird, but I need to know. What other ways can you die?”

He howled with laughter. “I’m sure it’s in that book of Laura’s.”

“I want to hear it from you. Besides the poison, how can someone kill an ancient?”

His smile faded into a straight line. “Well, I can be destroyed by beheading.”

“And a stake through the heart,” she added.

“No. Not a vampire of my age. I would simply pull it out and heal.”

“Fire?”

“No. I would walk through it.”

“Is there anything else?”

“An ancient would only die from sunlight, if they lay out in it for two days. Even the night between would not save them.”

“Why would an ancient do that?”

He lifted the afghan over their heads, to make a little tent secluding them from the others. “A broken heart. Please, don’t break mine.” He kissed her, this time taking her without any restraint, his lips pressed firmly against hers with their white-hot heat. His tongue pushed her lips apart and invaded, stroking the inside of her mouth until she moaned.

Evelyn pushed him away. “You have the power to break my heart too.”

He gazed into her eyes then past that, into the essence of who she was.

Sighing, she moved her fingers through her hair as if the motion would help her think because this was a situation where she needed to think.

“I will never hurt you, the way Jack Beaumont did. I will never betray you. A true lifemate cannot betray their only love, my Evelyn.” He took her hand and placed it over his heart.

She moved her hand away. “I am not your Evelyn.”

“I am your Max.”

“I am my own Evelyn.”

Outside, metal crashed into metal. The sound shook the building and the ensuing screams sent Evelyn to the window. “It looks like a cab hit a bus.”

Chapter 8

Max was out the door in a flash, wearing nothing but boxers.

Shouting, “No,” David was out the door after him with Laura following. Evelyn was on her heels. She went out the front door and down the steps. Her thoughts stilled a moment, before screaming blasted her into the chaotic scene on the street.

A crowd gathered around a woman, blood dripping down her face. A man shouted into his cell phone. The bus was crushed in on one side. The cab took the worst of it, crumbled and jagged with sharp edges like knives.

“My son,” the woman shrieked.

Max went straight for her. He grabbed her by the shoulders and looked straight into her eyes. Evelyn pushed her way through the mass of agitated, fascinated humanity. She saw what he did even if others didn’t. He kissed her on the forehead. What he really did was apply his tongue to the wound. It happened fast.

Then in one swift jolt he was away from her. She collapsed in a man’s arms. Max grasped the mangled door. The sun beat down on the rippling muscles in his back. He strained against the metal. Snap! The door broke off.

Sirens blared in the distance. Max climbed into the cab. David rushed past her. The two came out, David leading Max. Hatcher threw a black coat over his king. An ambulance pulled up and pushed through the crowd. Max stepped away from his escorts, putting his hand on the shoulder of an EMT. The man stopped. Max held his gaze for a moment and then let it go. Even at midday, Max was that powerful. The EMTS went into the cab and got the boy out to a cheering crowd. Hatcher and David led Max through the congested corner to the front door.

Evelyn was turning when something dark caught her eye. Across the street from the accident, a vampire stood in a store doorway, just inside the shadow of its awning. She knew it was a vampire from the dark long coat and hood. The face was safely concealed in the shadow of the hood. Her vision went surreal awash in a world of black and white and blood.

A touch disturbed her.

“Evie, we should get inside.” Laura’s hand on her shoulder awakened her from a sort of film noir daze. The creature across the street was gone.

Laura put her arm around her sister. Together they entered the house, shutting the door on the people crowding to get a look into the wreck. Police and more ambulances arrived. Evelyn noticed the delicate pattern of bluebell flowers on the wallpaper of the hallway. No one said a word until they had entered the apartment.

Once the door was shut, David threw up his hands. “Max, please, tell me why you did that.”

“We will discuss it later.” Max walked back into Evelyn’s room and stretched out across her bed. She followed him inside and shut the door.

“Max, why did you go out there?”

“It was the right thing to do.”

“Max, I apologize.”

He leaned up on one side to look at her. “Why?”

“This all started with me making a big deal over the couple that was being mugged. I know the Arnhem Knights have enough on their plate with protecting humans from rogue vampires and aiding supernaturals in trouble. You ran out to help in the sunlight because of me.”

“Evelyn, I did it because it felt like the right thing to do.”

“Now you’re going to tell me you have hunches or intuition.” She sat on the bed and squeezed his hand.

Max chuckled and suddenly she was underneath him. He kissed her eyes and her cheeks before lightly tasting her mouth. “My dearest, I feel everything you feel. Don’t be afraid of me, please. All I want is to hold you and go to sleep.”

“Max, Laura and David lose their powers during the day, but you don’t. Why?”

He caressed her hair. “You’re looking at the oldest vampire in New York City, and one of the oldest vampires in the world. After a certain age, you have your powers always.”

He hugged her. “I’m going to tell you something you should know. Though all vampires, except the daywalkers, cover up in the day, the young ones would take several days to burn to death. It has been a common malady among the ancients that they reach a point when they no longer want to live. In two days and nights of complete exposure, they burn to dust.”

Max captured her lips with his, pushed her mouth open and caressed inside her cheeks with his tongue. She moaned into his mouth. Evelyn didn’t mean it but she couldn’t help herself. It was the way Max kissed. After several more kisses, most of them deep and lingering, Evelyn relaxed, the tension melting from her shoulders and arms.

She kissed him. “Good day, I guess, Max.”

“Good day, Evelyn, my dearest.” He moved his body so it wasn’t heavy on top of hers, but she was still mostly underneath him. She felt him relax. With her hand on his chest, his heart barely beat beneath her fingers. She peered up at him. Max was asleep, his eyes closed, his mouth partly open revealing a vicious set of fangs.

Night tingled her toes. It descended and touched her eyes with a whisper of breath. Evelyn never realized she could feel the onset of night. Max shifted in her arms. Her head was on his chest, her fingers entwined with his golden chest hair.

A warm pressure on her mouth woke her. He was kissing her again. Oh, God, how she loved everything about this man. He nibbled her lower lip and sat up.

“Are you awake, my Evelyn?”

Sometimes he could be aggravating. “I’m not your Evelyn, Max.”

“Are you sure about that?” He leaned over her, his fangs grazing her neck.

“Don’t you dare?”

“I said I wouldn’t.” He kissed her shoulder. His hand slipped onto her breast and she removed it. He chuckled. “If I didn’t have to patrol tonight, I would stay and show you how much I worship every inch of you.”

Evelyn shivered. It had been a long time since she was properly worshipped. “My supplicants usually buy me dinner and expensive gifts first.” She was joking, of course.

He leaned up on his elbows gazing down on her. “Supplicants, huh?” He narrowed his gorgeous blue-gray eyes and then smiled. Evelyn suspected a bit of mischief there. “From this moment onward, I will worship my goddess properly. I beg your forgiveness for having to leave you.” He bit through the strap of her nightgown and nudged it down, revealing her breast.

“What are you doing?”

“Worshipping you.” His tongue rolled her nipple in a caress.

Evelyn clawed the sheets. Then she pushed against him. He released her, and she sat up. “You have to patrol, so it’s no use worshipping me now. Besides you’re going to cost me a fortune in lingerie.”

“I’ll buy you a new nightgown, something in black lace and sheer panels.”

Yikes.
She was way past hot and bothered. “Max, go patrol. Just do me one favor.”

“What’s that, my Evelyn?”

“Don’t get killed.”

“I have someone to live for.” He practically flew off the bed, threw on his clothes then paused. He leaned down and kissed her. “I’ll call you. I don’t know when, but I’ll call.”

Max was gone. He was that quick. For all the months, she had lived with David, you’d think she’d be used to it. As for calling, well, that was such a guy thing to say, she almost laughed.

Evelyn was shelving a book on the
Superstitions of New Orleans,
when her cell phone went off in her pocket. She ducked into the stacks for some privacy.

“Hello.”

“Hi, my Evelyn.”

Correcting him wasn’t going to work and she knew it. “Hello, Max.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t call yesterday. I went from patrolling to several meetings today at my corporate office. I was thinking. Tonight there’s a special pre-opening of the Viking exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History. Would you be my date?”

“That sounds like lots of fun. Did you catch the killer last night?”

“No, not yet. But we will. Is there an Arnhem Knight at the library?”

“Yes. Hatcher has been reading about World War II for hours now. He keeps pretending he’s not watching me.”

Max chuckled. “May I pick you up at the library at five?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you, my Goddess.” He hung up. She couldn’t suppress the giggle.

“Is something wrong?” Mrs. Jepsen asked.

She almost jumped out of her skin. “No. It’s this book
Superstitions Are Us
. It’s funny.” Evelyn turned and shelved the book. When she turned back, her boss was gone. Two hours left before Max’s arrival. She didn’t want to admit she missed him, but she did—terribly. While shelving the rest of the books, her thoughts drifted to those last moments in bed with him. The part where he bit through the strap of her nightgown.

“Mrs. Beaumont!” Evelyn almost toppled over the book cart, when she emerged from the stack. Mrs. Jepsen was having a fit at the reference desk. A strange bush had grown in the center of it. When she came closer, Evelyn was better able to see what it was. Max had sent her a giant rose bouquet.

“Mrs. Beaumont, this is highly inappropriate. We cannot have such displays. What if a patron was allergic?”

Evelyn scanned the area. People appeared amused. She didn’t see anyone sneezing. “I’ll take it with me when I go home.” Grabbing another loaded cart, she headed for the suspense section.

When Max finally arrived, she was relieved and ready to go. Even dressed in a dark blue business suit, he was gorgeous enough to eat. The color brought out those eyes that warmed her from head to toe. Evelyn went to the reference desk and attempted to lift the vase containing the huge rose display.

“What are you doing?”

“I’ve been asked to take your tribute home.”

“Allow me.”

She stepped aside, and he easily lifted the vase without losing a single rose. He led the way out of the library and even managed to open the door for her. Outside, one of the horse-drawn carriages from Central Park awaited them. He put the rose bouquet in first and then helped her in, climbing in after.

Oh, she loved this. The roses on one side. Max on the other. She was snuggly in the middle, and the summer night breathed its cool breath over her.

Max put his arm around her. “Driver, away.”

In her time in New York, she’d never taken a carriage ride. It was wonderful riding through the streets, people bustling about in their efforts to get home from work, the fragrance of a hotdog booth stirring her hunger. She didn’t get a chance to eat lunch that day.