Crave the Night (32 page)

Mary Beth's grin widened and she gave a toss
of her blond hair. "Waiting for you to gather courage grew tedious.
I have better things to do."

Nicole opened her mouth and shut it without
saying anything. This entire conversation was surreal. She was
being insulted by a vampire wearing salmon-colored jeans and a
white tank top, and Nicole couldn't seem to take action. Maybe it
was some kind of delayed shock to finally confronting this killer,
but it—

The vampire sighed and gazed heavenward.
Then she looked Nicole dead in the eye, extended her fangs and
talons, and turned toward the guy standing passively next to
her.

Damn it to hell.
Her choices were gone. Nicole pulled her second dagger and
charged. So much for strategy or finesse.

Mary Beth pushed the man aside. Her claws
slashed downward as soon as Nicole was in range and she had to duck
to avoid taking a hit.

She came up, wooden dagger in her left hand,
metal blade in her right and looked for an opening. There wasn't
one.

Nicole jumped back, avoiding another strike.
Before she could balance her weight, the vampire was in her face
and Nicole spun away to avoid taking a talon to her neck.

Mary Beth was fast. Faster than any vampire
Nicole had faced before and she—

Air touched her cheek as Nicole dove to the
ground. She rolled to her feet, but couldn't find the other woman.
Quickly, she whirled.

Just in time. The claw left a six-inch scar
on the sleeve of her leather jacket.

She hated being on the defensive. Nicole ran
again at Mary Beth, but the vampire seemed to disappear as Nicole
stabbed downward with the metal knife. With the strength she'd
used, hitting empty space left her unsteady.

Before she could regain her equilibrium, two
hands shoved at her back. Nicole flailed her arms, trying to keep
from falling.

She stumbled into the loading dock with
enough force to drive the air from her lungs, but Nicole didn't
wait until she could breathe. Spinning, she kicked out and
connected with a knee.

Not hard enough. But it bought Nicole time
to regroup and regain some air.

Mary Beth didn't have her fangs down.

Nicole barely registered that when she was
dodging again. Why would a vampire halve its arsenal? Nicole kicked
out, but this time the maneuver was expected and finding nothing
except air threw her off-balance.

Mary Beth grabbed her and tossed her.

Even as she went airborne, Nicole knew the
landing was not going to be pretty. She tried to keep her body from
tensing and tightened her hold on her daggers.

It didn't help. The impact was enough to jar
both knives loose. Her head connected with the cement and left her
dazed. Her brain ordered her to move and tried to prod her body
into motion, but her muscles couldn't obey the command.

Her vision was hazy when Mary Beth sat on
her chest, pinning Nicole's wrists to the ground above her head
with one hand. Nicole tried to shake the other woman off. Tried and
failed.

Adrenaline drove the world into sharp
focus.

Mary Beth's eyes glowed blue-white as she
smiled—no fangs—and drew back her arm. The talons lengthened
farther.

Oh, God.
Nicole fought harder, but all she could manage to do was
twist and buck. It wasn't enough to dislodge the vampire or for
Nicole to get her arms free.

Damn it, she had unfinished business. She
couldn't die yet. She couldn't die.

Nicole continued to struggle while her mind
raced to find a solution. In her peripheral vision, she saw a blur
of motion.

Mary Beth was yanked off her.

Nicole didn't hesitate, she scrambled
upright in time to see the vampire tumble to the ground nearly
twenty feet away. With an audible gulp, Nicole turned to confront
the latest threat.

Demon. A damn powerful one.

This had just gone from bad to worse and she
was unarmed. Nicole braced herself, but he didn't make any kind of
threatening gesture. Instead, he ran his gaze over her from head to
foot and back again. "Are you hurt?" he asked.

She stared, nonplussed by the question.

"I asked—"

"I'm fine." Maybe she was having some kind
of dream. First the surreal conversation with a vampire, now a
demon saving her life and checking to see if she was okay. Yeah,
she had to be sleeping or something.

He looked away from her and cursed. She
followed his gaze and saw Mary Beth was gone. Extending her senses
as far as possible, Nicole scanned for the other woman, but came up
empty.

"Where she'd go?" she demanded.

"I don't know."

Every cell in her body began to tingle. His
voice was deep, slightly raspy, and so freaking sexy her nipples
peaked. The reaction pissed her off. Demons were every bit as much
an enemy to humans as vampires were.

But her anger derailed when she looked at
him. This time she didn't only see demon, she saw male.

He was at least six feet tall with broad
shoulders, muscular legs, and shaggy, dark hair. His clothes were
casual—a pair of faded jeans, banged up running shoes, a gray
T-shirt, and a black leather jacket. It was his eyes, though, that
captured her attention. Not the dim red glow—Nicole had seen that
particular demon trait enough so that it wasn't novel—but something
else. Something that was...him.

Her heart pounded faster, her breathing
became shallow. She wanted to trace her fingers over his high
cheekbones, to run her tongue over his lips and taste him, she
wanted to see his body and discover if he was as muscular as he
looked. She gazed at his hands and imagined them stroking her skin.
Teasing her breasts. Sliding between her legs.

Arousal shuddered through her, more intense
than anything she'd ever experienced. Nicole took a step forward,
the urge to press her mouth to his shoulder and bite was so strong,
she couldn't stop herself.

He moved back, maintaining the distance
between them. It was the growl of complaint she made that halted
Nicole in her tracks and shook her out of the daze.

What was she thinking? Biting him?

"Why are you here?" she demanded, using
anger in an attempt to hide her reaction.

"You're welcome."

Nicole nearly snarled again, but cursed
instead. "I didn't need help. I can take down a vampire."

The demon scowled and the red flared
brighter in his eyes. "You shouldn't have needed help, but you did.
She would have killed you in a few more seconds."

True, but he was
a demon.
She didn't want to owe him and she
hated that he saw her as weak, as someone in need of rescue. Nicole
wanted him to think of her as his equal, but she wasn't sure why
she cared. "I'd have come up with something and gotten free," she
said, but there wasn't much conviction in her voice.

His frown deepened. "You should never have
been pinned at all. You're stronger than—" Some of the ferocity
left his face. "You do know what you are, right?"

It was Nicole's turn to glower. He didn't
have to bring it up. "Yes."

His brows rose. "Really?" Skepticism was
plain. "You know you're half demon?"

"Yes." Nicole noticed his hair had fallen
into his eyes, and unable to stop herself, she stepped forward with
the intention of brushing it aside. She didn't make it two feet
before he backed up, keeping her more than an arm's length away.
"What? I'm not going to bite."

"But you want to," he said sounding
grim.

Nicole opened her mouth to rip him for
his arrogance, but then she remembered. She
had
wanted to bite him.

Looking for a diversion, anything to get off
this topic, her gaze fell on the human standing frozen where Mary
Beth had left him. "He should be coming around. The vampire has to
be too far away by now to hold the mind control."

The demon shrugged, the movement of his
shoulders making heat rise again. An image flashed through her
mind, both of them on top of the loading dock. Naked. Her teeth
sinking into skin where his neck and shoulder met. She could
imagine how his eyes would flare brighter, the red glow becoming
dominant over the light-colored irises. And Nicole could picture
him biting her in return. The fantasy alone was enough to make her
shift, trying to find relief.

"If you know you're demon," he said, his
voice yanking her from her sexual daydream, "why didn't you use
your powers? Why did you make me rush in to save you?"

"Half demon," Nicole corrected
testily. She was human in every way that mattered, but while she'd
love to be able to deny her demon genes, she couldn't. "I didn't
know you were there, so how the hell could I make you
rush in to save me?
" It irked her to
say that, damn it. "And I don't have any powers except the ability
to track."

For a long moment, he stared at her
and she couldn't read anything on his face. She cleared her throat
and put her hands in the pockets of her jeans. Maybe this way she
could keep from reaching for him. "Why
are
you here?"

His lips tightened and Nicole didn't think
he would answer this time either, but he surprised her. "I'm
hunting the vampire."

That stunned her into silence. She knew
demons and vampires weren't on the best of terms, but from what
she'd seen, they worked to avoid each other rather than risk
conflict. "Is it personal or do you just want to kill some
vamp?"

This time he growled. The sound was soft,
but it made her nipples go taut. She closed her eyes and counted to
ten. When she opened them, she noticed he was staring at her
breasts and his eyes were a brighter red.

Her breathing quickened and her body reacted
to the intensity of his gaze. He raised his head until they looked
each other in the eye. It wasn't one-sided, this desire. He wanted
her just as much. This time he moved toward her and her lips
parted. Finally she was going to—

The demon stopped short, muttered something
in a language she didn't understand, and retreated. He had his jaw
clenched tightly enough to make a muscle tic, and heaven help her,
Nicole wanted to go to him. She wanted to soothe him.

She was in huge trouble here and she should
be grateful that he managed restraint. If he didn't, they'd
probably be having sex on the warehouse loading dock right now.
When that idea turned her on, Nicole forcibly brought her mind back
from fantasyland. "Well?" She cleared her throat, trying to get rid
of the huskiness. "Are you after the vampire for some personal
grudge or do you kill them for sport?"

"I'm not indiscriminately killing vampires."
He sounded peeved. "But no, it's not personal. It's my job."

"What do you—"

"That's all I'm saying."

"Fine. Since killing Mary Beth is a
job to you, you can back the hell off. She's mine and it
is
personal for me. Got it,
demon?"

"Mary Beth is what you're calling the
vampire?"

There was a note of laughter in his voice,
enough for Nicole to yank her hands out of her pockets and take a
step toward him. Not to touch him this time, but so she could let
him know she didn't appreciate his humor. But, of course, he
maintained the distance separating them. "Mary Beth," she bit out
the words, "is what she's calling herself."

He shrugged. "Mary Beth is better than
Mabilia, I suppose."

"Mab—" Nicole stopped short. The bastard had
diverted her. On purpose. "Nice try. It almost worked. I want your
promise to stay away from the vampire. I'm killing her."

His face went hard. "No."

That one word and the tone he used told
Nicole there was no compromising with him. She'd just have to find
Mary Beth first, but she had to make sure that she wouldn't be at a
disadvantage. "Why did you ask me why I didn't use my powers? Not
every half demon has them. Do they?"

He seemed suspicious, but lowered his arms
to his sides and went along with the change in topic. "Yes, they
do. Your powers might be weakened by your human blood, but you
belong to one of the strongest branches and that makes you more
than a match for any vampire."

Nicole was aware of the tiers of demons. "So
my father was from one of the more powerful castes, huh?"

He nodded, but didn't add anything and
disappointment stabbed through her. She'd never met her father; he
hadn't been part of her life. All she knew was what her mother had
told her—that she'd been fathered by a demon and that she'd share
more with Nicole when she was older. That day hadn't come.

Curiosity surged and she tamped it down.
Asking about her father would reveal a vulnerability, and she knew
better than to open herself up like that. Demons couldn't be
trusted. They lied and manipulated and used any leverage they were
given.

She'd already handed him too many weapons to
use against her. Nicole grimaced briefly. There was nothing she
could do about it and she was going to open herself up with her
next question anyway. "Can—"

The human moved and Nicole shut up to watch
him warily. What did he recall? Depending on what kind of mind
control the vampire had wielded, he might be aware of everything
that had gone on or he might know nothing. Or anywhere in between.
He appeared groggy as he looked around, but his gaze sharpened when
he spotted the two of them. "Dude, where's Mary Beth?"

The demon held up his right hand, palm
facing the human. "Mary Beth received a phone call and had to
leave, remember?"

For an instant, the guy appeared confused,
but that cleared quickly. "Oh, right. Her brother got arrested and
she had to bail him out."

Nicole shot a quick glance at the demon and
caught his smirk. A smart ass—she might end up liking him despite
what he was.