Vengeance (Night Roamers) Book Three (2 page)

Doug.

Satisfied, Montana moved her gaze to Jim and John, who were staring up at her in adoration. She smirked. “Oh, and bring your friends. The more the merrier.”

Although
slightly irritated, Doug agreed. Whatever this girl wanted, he’d give it to her.

Anything and everything.

And he did...

***

Carmela felt slightly dizzy as she pushed the cleaning cart out of the motel room and into the dry afternoon heat. She closed the door and rubbed her pregnant belly, trying to somehow calm the baby inside who wasn’t due to arrive for another month.

“
Settle, mi bebé,” she whispered.

If only she could afford to stop working and relax the last few weeks before her maternity leave. Unfortunately, her husband, Luis,
had lost another job, and now she was the only one paying the bills.

She clucked her tongue and sighed.

Luis.

His drinking was getting out of hand
, and sometimes she wished she had the courage to stand up to him, to tell him to stop being so selfish. But love was a funny thing and very unpredictable. Even though his drinking bothered her, she would do anything to keep Luis, so the thought of him leaving her kept her quiet.  Besides, she knew that she couldn’t complain too much because even at his worst, Luis was still a better man than her own father, who’d physically abused her mother stone-cold sober. Sure, Luis drank until he passed out most nights, but he never threatened or raised a hand to her.

Never.

For that reason, she still held a small ray of hope that possibly, someday, he would quit drinking, and be the man she needed him to be. For now, however, she had the bills as well as the baby to worry about, and was determined to work until her water broke.

Ignoring another kick from the feisty baby, s
he pushed the cart to the next motel room and knocked on the door.

“
Housekeeping!” she called.

No answer.

Sighing, she repeated it again, and when nobody answered, Carmela shoved the key into the lock and opened the door. When she stepped inside of the dark room, her stomach rolled in protest as a pungent, coppery smell filled her nostrils. Grimacing, she flipped on the light switch and gasped in horror at the gruesome carnage someone had left behind. “Oh, dios mío!” 

Nikki

“This is ridiculous, Nikki. You have to learn to hunt now that you’re one of us. What happens if I’m not around to keep feeding you?”

Ethan and I were alone
on the roof of a rundown casino on the outskirts of Vegas. I glared at him in the darkness. “You make it sound like we’re hunting rabbits. These are actual people. Isn’t there another way to do get blood?”

His raven
hair fell forward into his eyes, and he pushed it aside angrily. He needed a trim and had been complaining about it for the last couple of days. “Not at the moment.”

I looked off into the distance and sighed.
“I don’t know if I can do this. The idea still freaks me out.”

“
Even after you’ve experienced the energy and power it brings?”

I turned back to him. “
It’s not like we’re cracking open a couple cans of Red Bull to get charged up. We’re talking about drinking someone’s blood, which, as you’re well aware of, I’ve always been against. Always. You should have thought all of this through a little better before you went ahead and turned me into one of you.”

He folded his arms across his chest and met my scowl with
a much darker one. “Oh, and what should I have done? Left you to die after getting shot?”

I rolled my eyes.
“No, but you could have taken me to the E.R. instead of forcing this kind of thing on me. You definitely have the strength and speed to have gotten us there in time.”

He sighed and looked away.
“What can I say? What’s done is done. I’m sorry if you don’t care for the way I
saved
your life,” he replied coolly. “But at the time, I didn’t really think I had any other choice.”

“But
, you did have one, and now I… don’t,” I mumbled.

Ever since we’
d left Shore Lake three nights ago, we’d been bickering. First, over Duncan, and then over everything else. It had gotten so bad that Duncan had finally taken off on his own in search of Celeste and Caleb. I could tell he was also frustrated with the turn of events, but wasn’t sure exactly what to do himself. I’m sure he was still trying to cope with the fact that he was now a vampire, his father had been murdered in cold blood, and Ethan had staked his claim on me. It hadn’t helped that Ethan and I had bonded, and I was still trying to sort my own things out. My emotions for Ethan were strong, but so were my feelings for Duncan. I wasn’t sure how it happened, but I’d went from being a girl who’d never even had a boyfriend to one who’d found herself agonizing over two very complicated beings.

Was it love?
Or lust?

I wasn’t certain
.

The only thing that I was completely sure of was my attraction to both of them, and it was
an intense and frightening position to be in. Especially since they despised each other and I needed both of them to help me find my family.

“Why don’t
you just try it again?” he asked, lowering his voice as another couple stepped out of the casino and into the parking lot. “And this time, remember what the purpose is.”

The last time I’d tried hunting, I’d chickened out and ended up helping th
e young woman read her roadmap while Ethan watched from a distance, pissed as all hell.

I stared at the couple nervously and shook my head. “No. I just…
can’t.”

He sighed
. “What’s the big deal? You’re not killing them. In fact, you can make it enjoyable, even orgasmic.”

I grimaced.
“Okay, that’s creepy and not helping.”

“Nikki,” he said, kneeling down next to me as the
middle-aged couple staggered towards their vehicle, laughing hysterically, both obviously tipsy. “You’ve got to try and get a handle on this. You’re getting weak, and honestly, so am I. I can’t keep this up.”

He was right. I was getting so weak that
even protesting was getting difficult. And what if something did happen to Ethan? I guess if he could show me how to control the amount of blood I took from my victims, then it was probably time to figure this out.

“Fine. I
’ll try it, but you have to monitor me. I don’t want to do something wrong and put one of them in cardiac arrest or something.”

Ethan smiled. “That’s my girl. Now, you take the guy while I subdue the woman. Just remember what I told you about charming him.
”

“Uh,
yeah, try that hypnotizing thingy with my eyes. Okay.” I touched my teeth and began to panic. “What about the fangs? Where are my fangs?” I asked, suddenly on the verge of hysteria. It reminded me of the times I’d P.M.S. and I wondered if female vampires had that particular curse as well. Too bad I’d never gotten the chance to ask Celeste.

“Calm down.”
He bared his long, pointy ones. “They’ll appear once the scent of blood draws them.”

“Why
are yours drawn when there isn’t any then?”

“
Anticipation alone draws mine out. You have to remember, I’m older than you, my senses are far more advanced.”

“A
h.”

His raised my chin and
his blue eyes burned into mine. Although they were the color of ice, their heat sent shivers all the way down to my toes. I held my breath, hoping he’d forget about the couple in the parking lot and kiss me. Instead, he grinned, as if amused. “Nikki, for us, blood is nourishment, strength, and life.  The more you consume, the clearer things will become. I know you’re new at this, but I promise, everything will get easier over time.”

“I hope so
.”

His eyes lowered to my lips and I waited, still hoping he’d do
something romantic before we approached the other couple. He hadn’t touched me intimately since we’d left Shore Lake. Now that his lips were near mine, and his butterscotch scent filled my nostrils, I found myself trembling with need, and it wasn’t just for blood.

He
cocked his head to the side, as if listening for something. After a few seconds, he snorted and stood up. “It’s time. I think they’re messing around in the car. Who knows, maybe there celebrating a big win?”

“Oh, perfect,” I said dryly.
“Now we get to turn their night into something even more special.”

He smiled.
“It is perfect, actually. They won’t be expecting us.”

I stood up. “
Fine.” I nodded towards the parking lot. “You lead the way.”

His face became serious.
“Remember, get his attention quickly. Once he’s focused on you, he’ll forget about everything else and be putty in your hands. I’ll handle the woman.”

He could definitely do that.

“And you’re certain that I won’t hurt him?”

His eyes glittered in the darkness.
“He might feel a little unpleasantness at first, but you know what they say about pain and pleasure?”

“
No. What?”

He smirked.
“Sometimes one leads to the other.”

“Right,” I replied dryly.
“Don’t think I’ve ever heard
that
particular saying before.”

He
chuckled, and then in a flurry of movement, flew off of the roof.

I stepped hesitantly over to the edge
and looked down. He’d been teaching me to fly, but taking off from high places was very nerve-wracking. I swallowed back my apprehension, took a deep breath, and launched myself forward. Unfortunately, my landing wasn’t quite as smooth.

“Crap
,” I grunted, brushing gravel out of my cheek after landing on my face behind the couple’s Ford Taurus.

“You’ll need to work on that,” whispered Ethan, kneeling next to me.

“You think?” I snapped, irritated that I wasn’t getting any of this vampire stuff.

He pulled me
up until we were both crouched. “Don’t worry about it. You’ll get the hang of it sooner or later.”

“
You know, sooner would be really nice.”

He broke out into a grin.
“See, just like I said,” he whispered as the car began to rock. “Someone’s taking care of business.”

Unlike us.

I raised my head. The windows were indeed fogged up, and from the motion inside of the vehicle, they’d started more than just the engine.

“
Okay, this is disturbing,” I replied, ducking back down. “We need someone else to feed on. I feel like a pervert or something. I’m out of here.”

“
Hold up. Nikki, you
need
the strength to locate your family. The guy in the car is large and full of nutrients. Hell, he could probably feed both of us, and still not feel anything.”

“
Yeah, but...”

He ignored my protests.
“This lot is as deserted as they come, and nobody else appears to be leaving the casino. We don’t have any other choices at the moment. Now, let’s just get this over with.”

“At least let them finish and clean up,” I whispered angrily.
I could hear the woman moaning and it was making my skin crawl. I’d never felt so dirty in my life.

“Fine,” he replied
, closing his eyes. “Since he’s a human, this shouldn’t take long.”

“What
do you mean?” I asked, not fully understanding. Ethan was the only person I’d ever had sex with, and I wondered what was different about vampire sex.

The car stopped rocking.

He opened his eyes and smiled. “You ever see that movie
Fast and the Furious
?”

“
Yes, it’s one of Nathan’s favorite movies.”

He motioned towards the car with his thumb.
“Well, that’s my interpretation of a mortal’s sex life.”

I smirked
. “You were mortal once, weren’t you?”

“
Yeah and guilty as charged,” he grinned. “Now, I’m just furious.”

From what I’d remembered, our lovemaki
ng hadn’t seemed to last very long either. I didn’t tease him, however, as I was learning that a male’s ego was fragile, mortal or not.

Just then, the driver’s side door opened and the woman fell out
on her rear, sobbing.

“Go back to your husband, you bitch!” hollered the man inside. He threw a beer can onto the pavement
, making me flinch.

The woman, too drunk to notice us behind the vehicle, stood up, butt
oning her shirt. Her red lipstick and eyeliner were smeared garishly on her face. “Screw you, Jerry!” she hollered in a voice that rivaled Rosie’s raspy one. “At least Ron can last longer than thirty seconds!”