“Right. I followed her to a bar tonight. She met a friend there. Perhaps we could use her as bait to bring them to us.”
“Then what? You didn’t think you could kill them before, or you would have stayed and fought. What makes you think you can kill them now?” Rolling onto her stomach, she put her head on his chest and ran her finger around his dark nipple.
“If I catch them separated, I might kill one of them. Together, I don’t stand a chance.” He rubbed his eyes. “What does Draco have at his lair that we could use?”
“There’s lots of stuff. Credit cards and some cash. I’d like his laptop. All he ever did with it was download porn and check his e-mail, and I had to show him how to do that. Lots of furniture, but it’s definitely not your style. Oh, he had this old-fashioned Rolodex with names and phone numbers. He boasted he had important contacts with some big vampire group. I can’t remember its name.” She flicked her tongue over his nipple. He sucked in his breath as it pebbled in reaction.
“Did he say if it was the Board of Elders?” His eyes narrowed.
“Yeah, that’s it. Is it important?”
“Could be. They’re the ruling group of elder vampires. Older than me, if you can believe it.” He snorted. “They control North America. Set territories and settle disputes. They stop us from killing each other in turf wars and from overrunning our areas with so many vampires that the mortals get suspicious. If that happens, it’s flaming torches and angry mob time, and trust me, no one wants that.”
“Will they help us? Are they powerful?” She licked from one nipple to the other. Glancing down his body, her eyes lingered on his cock, hard and ready.
“Very powerful. We could use them to help us with these two killers. However, they don’t work for free.” Ivan sat up and pulled her with him. “We may be able to bring in reinforcements through them. We’ll need them, I think.
"What will they ask for?” Moving to straddle his lap, she nipped and kissed his shoulder as she worked her way up the muscles of his neck. His cock pressed against her belly. Annie wrapped her legs around his back and pulled closer, trapping his engorged member between their bodies. She wiggled her hips playfully. Ivan moaned.
“I’m not sure. Whatever it is, it will cost us. However, if I want to stay in this city, those two have to be killed.” Ivan found her ear and nibbled it.
“You mean, if
we
want to stay in this city,” she corrected him as she frowned.
“I need you now,” Ivan whispered. Lifting her hips, he impaled her on his cock. She gave a shudder of pleasure as he slid inside her. Releasing her legs from around his body, she rose up on her knees. Annie closed her eyes as she rode him slow and steady.
“Damn, you feel so good.”
She bit his bottom lip and pulled it into her mouth. Letting it go, she cooed, “Who’s your bitch, baby?”
“You are, Annie.” He kissed her neck and lowered his mouth to her breast as she leaned back in his arms. “You are mine.”
“No one else, Ivan, promise me.”
Capturing her nipple in his mouth, he suckled it and she moaned. Bringing her upright, he took her mouth as he wrapped his hands in her long hair. Pulling away from him, she looked into his eyes. “Say it.”
His amber eyes burned, but he didn’t speak.
She growled and pushed Ivan down against the pillows. He held back, resisting her. She could wait. After all, she had forever.
•
Ivan watched her slide up and down on his shaft, fascinated by its disappearance inside her. At that moment, he couldn’t imagine being inside anyone else. The thought of Annie being with another man— mortal or vampire—was too painful for him to admit to himself, much less to her.
Watching her face, he could tell she was close to coming but not there yet. He dropped his hand from her hip and found her mound. With his fingers, he parted her folds and located her clit. She gasped, moaned, and closed her eyes. Thumbing her clit, he worked the swollen nub. Her breath hitched and she leaned forward, her hands on his chest to brace her body.
Ivan felt the first contraction of her orgasm squeeze his shaft. She moaned as it shook her. Each of her contractions brought him closer, and he opened himself to all his feelings and emotions. They flooded in, building his orgasm until it exploded as he spilled into her, filling her hot core in powerful spurts with his seed.
His roar drowned out her moans as they rode a blended wave of ecstasy. At the last, she shuddered, released him from her inner grasp, slipped off, and lay down across his chest. He wrapped his arms around her to hold her close, treasuring her touch. Her body’s perfume and the scent of her woman’s juices mixed with his semen intoxicated him, and he drifted on a haze of sated desire.
Annie rested her cheek against his chest as Ivan stroked her face with his fingertips. Asking the Elders for help might be tricky. They were dangerous. Possibly lethal. He’d made a point of staying out of their sight for a very long time. He’d learned long ago to not make any waves. Right now, all his instincts warned him away from them.
Better to let the assassins go.
Shit. That was no good. Eventually, they’d find him. And when they found him, they’d find Annie. When that happened, someone was going to die.
— • —
Following the man in black into the house, Fiona warned herself not to let her guard down. Not around this man.
Especially
not around him. He’d proven himself a skilled fighter, and she no longer had a sword. For a moment, she cursed herself for leaving it behind.
He held out his arm, and the lizard moved onto the branch of a large potted tree. Then he walked over to the wall, and with a sort of reverence, placed his sword and scabbard on its rack. From its size and look, she could tell the rack was expensive and custom-made.
She followed him into the kitchen. After pulling off his jacket, he slung it over the back of a chair. He opened the glass-fronted Sub-Zero refrigerator, pulled out a beer, and twisted off the cap.
“Want one?” He held it out.
“No, just something to eat.” She stood, arms folded, on the other side of the black granite counter and watched him. Now that they weren’t hacking and slashing their way around a dark crypt, she took a good look at him. Damn, he was handsome and tall. If he kissed her, would he bend down or lift her up? She shook those dangerous thoughts from her head.
“How about a couple of steaks? I’m always in the mood for meat after a good session.”
“Sure, steak is fine.”
He pulled out two steaks wrapped in butcher paper, opened them, and seasoned them with a little salt and cracked pepper. At the stove, he turned the dial, and the center grill caught fire. He slapped the steaks on. The aroma of the meat sizzling filled her nostrils, and her mouth watered. She must have been hungrier than she realized.
“The dishes are in that cabinet if you want to help,” he said over his shoulder.
Fiona rummaged through the cabinets. She found a set of pewter plates and took down two, selected two nice, white cloth napkins from one drawer, and knives and forks from another drawer of matching silverware. Carrying her finds, she went to the table just off the kitchen and laid everything out.
She looked around. The house was old from what she’d seen of it on the outside. However, on the inside it had all the modern conveniences. His furniture was good too. The dining table was an antique, if she wasn’t mistaken. The chairs surrounding the table were mismatched and upholstered in various shades of brown.
“So, you do this all the time?” Leaning against the counter, she checked out his ass.
“Fix dinner?” He turned to face her. He looked incredibly cute, trying to look innocent. She wasn’t fooled.
“No, kill vampires, smart-ass.”
“Yeah, it’s what I do.” Nic turned the steaks. “Rare, medium, or well?”
“Medium. All the time? Are there that many vampires around here?” She wasn’t sure if she believed him.
“No, not around here, but all over. I travel a lot.”
“This special interest group you work for…who are they?” She pulled out a bar stool and sat at the counter, a little more relaxed but still wary. Even if he was good-looking, she still needed to be on her guard. She’d learned early in her life that good-looking did not equal trustworthy.
“Can’t tell you. Big secret.” He smiled at her, tossed two potatoes into the microwave, and set the timer. “Besides, if I told you, I’d have to kill you.” He looked at her; the grin was gone.
“You’re serious, aren’t you?” Fiona sat up straight.
He gave a shrug of his large shoulders and took another sip of the beer. “Sure you don’t want one?” He motioned with the bottle.
“I don’t drink. Slows down my reflexes.”
“And numbs the senses,” he muttered.
She looked at his face; it had grown serious, his brows lowered and his full lips stretched thin. She wanted to ask why he needed to be numb, but the smell of the steaks was getting to her.
“They’re ready, I think.” She pointed.
“Right.” Nic turned back, stabbed the rib eyes with a grilling fork, and put them on a platter. The microwave dinged. He slipped his hand into an oven mitt, pulled the potatoes out, and carried them to the table.
She sat across from him, and they filled their plates.
“Don’t forget to leave me some, buddy.”
Fiona looked up from cutting her steak. “Did you hear that?” Her brows furrowed.
•
The fork stopped halfway to Nic’s mouth. His gaze darted to Cho sitting on a branch of the tree watching them.
“Hear what?” He put the steak in his mouth and chewed. No, couldn’t be. He was the only one that could hear that little pain in the ass.
“A voice, I think.” She sounded unsure.
Cho chuckled.
“Now it’s laughing,” She put her fork down on her plate and looked around the room. “What’s going on?”
“I’m not sure I know what you mean. Hey, I don’t even know your name.” He tried to divert her. “My name is Nic.”
“I’m Fiona. Fiona Meadows. Nic, is that short for Nicholas?” She picked up her fork and dipped into the baked potato.
“Tell her, I dare you.”
“No, it’s short for Nicodemus.” He watched for her reaction.
She looked interested and tilted her head. “That’s a Biblical name, isn’t it?”
“See, she didn’t even laugh.”
“Yeah, my folks were into old religions.” He looked down at his food. He really didn’t want to talk about his parents.
“What’s it mean?”
He stopped and looked at her. Wondered if she was the one who would understand and accept him, the one he’d told himself he’d never find, so don’t bother looking, boy.
“Warrior of the people.”
“And you are. Do you ever wonder if your parents knew?” She looked serious, not as if she was teasing him at all.
He swallowed the food in his mouth and took his time washing it down with the beer before he answered her.
“Sometimes, yeah.”
“Nic what?”
“Just Nic.” He cut her off. This was getting too close to home for him. He felt too relaxed, too at ease with this beautiful stranger.
“Cho, what if she can hear me?”
“Don’t worry, she only hears me.”
“How is that happening? You said I was the only one that could hear you.”
“You were. Till now. Till her.”
“Can she hear you now?”
“No, only when I want her to, just like you.”
“Well, just Nic, my steak was great! I’m really tired. Do you have a guest room, or do I sleep on the couch?” Fiona put her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her hands. Her dark brown eyes waited for his answer. He felt himself sink into their depths.
“There’s a guest room with its own bath.” He pulled himself away, stood, and gathered the plates.
She rose. “You wash and I’ll dry?”
“How about you wash since I cooked?”
“You threw two raw pieces of meat on a grill and turned them over. I dry.” Fiona shifted her weight, jutted out one round, saucy hip, and put her hand on it.
“God, she makes me crazy! Does she have to control everything?”
“Reminds me of someone. But who could it be?”
“Shut up, Cho.”
He refused to concede defeat. “I’ll wash. You’re the guest.”
“Works for me.” She smirked at him.
— • —
“Ivan, I’m hungry.” Annie looked hesitant. Ivan wondered how Draco had been feeding her.
“Have you fed on fresh blood yet?” Meaning, of course, a live mortal.
She bit her lip. “No, just from Draco. He wouldn’t let me eat very often.” Her gaze avoided his.
“Yeah, it’s a control method for new converts. Keeps them weak and dependent on you.” He nodded.
“Did you use that with your slave?” She worried the hair on his chest and snuggled closer.
“Yes, but last night was going to be his first kill. Was Draco training you for it?”
“No.” She swallowed. “I wasn’t really anxious, you know.” She twisted a strand of her hair around her finger. “It’s only been a few months since he…” She seemed to search for a word.
“Converted you?”
“I was thinking more along the lines of ruined my life.” Her voice hardened as she set her jaw.
Ivan looked into her blue eyes. Anger and hurt were layered in them, and underneath it all, incredible sadness.
He wasn’t sure what to say. “Hard time adjusting?”
“Adjusting?” Her eyes burned. “I had plans for my life, Ivan. I would have graduated college next year. I had planned to go to med school, for God’s sake! You think I wanted this? That I’m happy about being this way? I
hated
Draco for doing this to me.” She stood and paced as Ivan watched her. “Just so that bastard could parade me around in front of you and the others, pass my body around like a toy, and look like he was the big, bad vamp.”
She turned and stared at him, eyes hard and hurt, her arms wrapped around her body as if she still needed to protect herself. “Don’t you remember how you felt?”
Ivan closed his eyes. Tried to remember but couldn’t.