by Jill Myles
“You guessed right.” I went to the bed and pulled at his leather jacket. “Please get out of here so I can get dressed.”
“Why leave? I’ve already seen everything you’ve got to offer, Princess.” He beamed a slow smile at me, teeth gleaming. “Modesty is misplaced in one of your kind, my dear.”
I clutched the towel tighter. “You have three seconds before I call security.”
He laughed. “Security won’t be coming over, my dear. They all think I’m your boyfriend, and I bribed the bellhop-who’s quite in love with you and your red hair-to stay away. I told him you were into kinky sex games and tended to get noisy.” He traced a circle on the bed with his finger. “Speaking of which, isn’t it about time for your Itch to kick in? Your eyes are blue.”
“Get out! I mean it.” I searched for something to throw at him. “If you don’t leave this room this instant …” My fingers closed around a stiletto sticking out of my suitcase, and I lobbed it at him with all my force.
It smacked him straight on the forehead. Before I could delight in my perfect aim, Zane fell back with a groan of pain.
The room was silent. I frowned and stared at his unmoving body sprawled across my bed. “Zane?”
No response.
Crap. I’d done it now. I’d gone and killed the vampire queen’s premier employee. I scrambled over to the bed. He was pale, but then again, he was always pale. There was a bright red blotch on his forehead, and he was completely, utterly motionless. Worry niggled at me, and I put a finger under his nose to see if he was still breathing.
Nothing.
“Shit,” I cursed, jumping onto the bed beside him and slapping his cheek. “Wake up, Zane. Wake up.”
No response.
I took his chin in my hand and jiggled his head back and forth. “Come on, wake up,” I pleaded. “Your queen is going to kill me if she finds out that I accidentally killed you with a shoe.” I leaned over him, prying open one of his eyelids to check his pupil.
“I think I’m gonna need mouth to mouth,” he said suddenly, his arms snaking around me to pull me down against his naked chest. “Wanna volunteer?”
I yelped in shock and tumbled onto him, losing my balance. My elbow slammed into his chin and he gave another groan of pain. “Let go of me,” I demanded, trying to pry his arms off my waist.
“Damn, baby. This is the best view I’ve had all day,” Zane said appreciatively when my now-bared breasts brushed against his face.
Hot desire pounded through me, immediate and horrifying. I put my hand against Zane’s chest and shoved hard, but my wimpy muscles were no match for a vampire’s strength.
In a blink, Zane had me flat on my back and was straddling my naked body, his heavy form pressed over mine, his knee sandwiched between my own. My struggles to get up lessened as the familiar lick of fire ignited in my body, and my pulse sped up as he leaned over me, his eyes hot on my damp flesh.
“Well, well, well,” Zane breathed. I caught the glimmer of red in his eyes that told me he was feeling it, too. “Looks like I win the wrestling match, Blue Eyes. Do I get a prize?”
He stretched my arms above my head and leaned over me, his breath light and hot on my cheek. His face brushed close to mine and I heard him inhale my scent.
A tingle shot straight down my legs and I wriggled under him, but it was more of a token protest at this point. “Zane,” I pleaded.
“No more begging for me to free you, Blue Eyes?” His lips nibbled across my jaw, and I sucked in my breath in sheer delight. “No more throwing things at me?” I felt the graze of his teeth against the soft flesh of my neck, just enough to excite me and make me writhe.
He ground his clothed groin against my naked flesh, and I lost track of everything in that moment.
His lips teased a trail down to my collarbone and straight to my breasts. “You like being here with me, don’t you, Princess? I can see in your eyes what you really want.” His tongue touched the valley between my breasts and I bit my lip, hating the moan that bubbled in my throat.
“My eyes tell you nothing,” I breathed, trying not to arch my breasts straight into his lips, “except that I don’t have any choice over what my body wants.” A token protest at best; at this point, I didn’t want to stop.
Zane paused, his form growing still atop mine. Then, a soft chuckle. “Touché, Princess.” He kissed the peak of one breast gently, inflaming me, and then took my hand in his to pull me up off the bed. “Get dressed.”
“Huh?” I blinked, ready to toss him down on the floor and have my way with him. Vampire or not, he was gorgeous, sensual, and I was Itching like mad. “Get dressed?”
He turned away, straightening his heavy coat. “You wanted to see Nitocris’s tomb, right? I’ll take you there tonight. Just give me a few minutes to … prepare myself.”
I frowned. “Excuse me? Were we, or were we not just about to make out on my bed? I don’t know about vampires, but I can’t just shut this stuff off like it’s a faucet.” The blood was throbbing so hard in my nether regions that I was going to need another shower to be able to walk, if he wasn’t going to help me out.
Zane turned to face me, his eyes a vivid red that turned my angry retort into a muted squeak of distress. “On the contrary, Princess.” A rueful smile curved his lips. “I can no more turn it off than you can. But I am not the monster you make me out to be, and if your heart isn’t in it, neither is mine.”
I gasped. “You’re going to torture me like that, then hang me out to dry? You ass! I should find that shoe again and whack you good.”
The hint of a smile returned to those disturbing red eyes. “I said I wouldn’t take you against your will. You only need to ask me, Jackie.”
I wouldn’t ask. I’d burn in Hell first.
No doubt sensing my answer, he turned and headed for the door. “Fifteen minutes and I’ll be back. I expect you to be ready to go.”
That didn’t give me much time. I dove for the phone. “Let me call Remy and tell her-”
“No. Just me and you tonight.”
Suspicion shot through me. “This is serious stuff, and we’re going to need Remy’s help.”
“Those are my terms. You and me alone, or not at all.”
I sighed. “Fine. Fifteen minutes.”
As soon as he left the room, I called Remy. “Here’s the situation,” I said. “Zane says he’ll take me to the tomb, but you guys aren’t invited.”
“Mmm,” Remy said, and then I heard her break into a giggle, followed by Stan’s moan.
“Oh, gross. Please don’t tell me what you’re doing-I don’t want to know.”
Remy laughed at me. “Do you trust Zane, or do you think this is a trap?”
“I suppose I trust him,” I said, thinking back to our conversation. “I don’t know what he’s up to, but he can’t murder someone who’s already dead, right?”
“Honey, you’re worth more to his kind alive than dead, trust me on that. Murder’s probably the furthest thing from his mind.”
“Okay. If you don’t hear back from me by morning, it’s safe to say the vampires have carried me off for their nefarious needs, and I’m somewhere in a tomb in the middle of Egypt. That should narrow it down, right?”
She paused. “Give me five minutes and I’ll be right over.”
“Sure.” I hung up the phone and sighed.
I dressed quickly in the only decent items in my closet. My underwear was a G-string and a ridiculous bra that was all sheer lace and push-up madness, but I covered them with a low-cut black T-shirt and khaki short shorts.
There was a knock at my door before I could find any shoes. “It’s open,” I called, as I dug farther into my bags. “Come on in.”
“Looking for something?” Remy asked, watching as I demolished my closet.
I turned and glared at her. “Yeah, how about a pair of shoes that don’t have a spike heel?” I held up a Prada sandal. “What am I supposed to wear to go hiking?”
She l
ooked at me in consternation. “What on earth do you want to go hiking for?”
“Uh, the tomb? Maybe the halo? That crazy little thing we flew here to find?”
Remy sat on the edge of the bed. “Just wear some sandals. There’s like a path, right? Those shorts will look amazing with the crocodile heels I packed, now that I think about it.”
I put my head in my hands and forced myself to count to ten slowly. “Did you pack anything that doesn’t have a heel?” I repeated.
“If you must wear something unfashionable-and judging by that outfit, I see that you must-I suppose you can borrow my shoes.” She slid them off her feet and handed them to me.
They were brown leather sandals, which might have been all right, except the wedge heel rocketed up four inches. I sighed and strapped them onto my feet. They’d have to do.
She laughed. “Before you chew me out entirely, let me give you what I came over here for, before your vampire boyfriend shows up.”
“He’s not my boyfriend,” I protested, testing out the new shoes. I just hoped I wouldn’t break an ankle crossing a sand dune. “Noah’s my boyfriend, if anyone is.”
“Is he? Sex doesn’t make a relationship, sweetie. You need to learn that to succeed as a Suck.” She studied me, then gestured at my eyes, which were no doubt neon blue. “I see you haven’t managed to shake your Itch yet. Want me to send Stan over?”
“Absolutely not.” I headed for the bathroom, jerking my hair into a messy ponytail. At least I didn’t need makeup. “If you send Stan over here, I’ll send him back to you in pieces. Got that?”
Remy chuckled and waved something in my peripheral vision. “Suit yourself, but he’s going to start looking pretty good in a few hours, if all you’ve got is that vampire and a million strangers.”
“I’ll worry about that later.” I was worrying about it now, but I’m sure she could tell just by looking at me. The front of my T-shirt had headlights, for crying out loud, and I suspected they wouldn’t go away until the blue eyes did.
From the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of something shiny as Remy moved to the side. “Well, at least allow me to give you this.”
I turned and found myself looking at a gun.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Remy grinned and waved it in the air. “Know how to shoot one of these babies?”
“No. And could you please not wave it around?”
She laughed and lowered it. “Oh, you big baby. This gun can’t hurt you.”
No? “Are succubi bulletproof?”
“No, silly.” Remy flashed me a white smile. “While you can’t die from a gunshot, you can look pretty hideous for a few days. Trust me on that.” She held the gun by the barrel, extending the grip toward me. “This is a special kind of gun.”
I took it from her with distaste. It was tiny, with a teeny barrel and a pearl pink grip. Count on Remy to have a fashionable gun. “That’s great,” I said, “but I don’t think this is going to hold off a vampire. It looks like it needs to grow up first.”
She rolled her eyes. “This is a Derringer, honey. It’s small to fit under your clothes.” Remy took the gun from me and opened it, revealing the bullets inside. “It holds two shots, and you’ll want to be up close to shoot, because they don’t aim worth a damn.”
“And why do I need a gun? Especially one that I won’t be able to aim? And how did you get that through airport security?”
“I put one of the baggage check guards to sleep when you weren’t looking.” She snapped the gun shut again and pulled a holster from her purse. “We don’t have a lot of time, so the pink gun is for the vamps. Remember, pink for vamps.” She lifted up my shirt and put the gun holster around me, adjusting the Velcro straps so they slid down under my cargo shorts to just above my underwear. Well, that explained how nobody would see it.
“So what’s the gun do if it’s for vampires?”
“The bullets have been blessed by an angel. One good shot to the head should kill him. If you want to play nasty, just shoot him in the groin. It’ll incapacitate him for an hour, which should give you plenty of time to get away if you need to. But if it’s not a fatal shot, you’ll also piss him off. So be careful. Don’t use it unless you have to.”
“Okay, I got it.” I shoved the tiny pink gun into the holster. “Thanks for the protection.”
I looked up and found myself eye to eye with a bluehandled gun.
“This one is for the Serim, in case you run into any,” she said.
I took the gun with skepticism. “I don’t see why I’d need to be protected from the Serim, Remy.” If anything, I needed to be protected from the angels.
She put the gun in the empty holster at the small of my back. “They’re not on your side any more than Zane is, kiddo. Remember that both sides want that halo-and if you stand in their way, they’ll just mow you down like they do everyone else. Now, remember,” she said as she tightened the straps and I felt the gun barrel slide against my thong. “The one against your ass is for the angels, and the one against your cooch is for the pricks. Got it?”
“Got it,” I said, tugging my shirt down. It looked like I had a little junk in the trunk, but other than that, you couldn’t see the firearms. “I still don’t see why I need these. You said that our kind are worth more alive than dead to them.” That frightened whine was back in my voice.
Remy put her hands on my shoulders and gave me a comforting squeeze. “That may be, but nothing is more important than that halo for both sides. Watch yourself-that’s all I’m saying.”
“Lucky me.” I reached for my purse. “My allies and my enemies both want to kill me. I’ll keep that in mind.”
“I’m your only real ally, I’m afraid,” she said softly. “Just remember that.”
A knock sounded at the door. Zane.
I shoved Remy into the bathroom. “Go back to your room when we leave, okay?”
She nodded at me, crossing her fingers in the “good luck” sign before closing the bathroom door.
I opened my door a crack. “Yes?”
Zane turned at the sound of my voice, extending a bouquet of white and orange lilies surrounded by baby’s breath. Surprise made my throat catch, and the smile that curved his mouth shot a pulse of desire straight to my groin.
Damn the Itch. Damn damn damn.
“Hi,” I said, trying not to sound too breathy and failing miserably. I stepped outside my room and took the flowers, surprised by the gesture. “Why flowers?”
“Thank you, Zane,” he mimicked, grinning at me. When I blushed, he took my hand and brushed his fingertips across my knuckles before settling a kiss there. “I figured you’d be mad at me, so I brought these to make amends.”
It worked; I’d forgotten completely that I was pissed at him for the seduction stunt. But it had nothing to do with flowers. One smile from him, and I’d forgotten everything but the fact that he was gorgeous. That floppy lock of hair was falling over his forehead again, touching his eyebrow.
“I’m ready when you are,” I blurted. A blush touched my cheeks when I realized the double entendre.
He chuckled, a low, sensual sound that did terrible, wondrous things to my insides. “Glad to see it.” He still held my hand in his, his thumb caressing my skin. The feeling was carrying straight to unmentionable places on my body, and I was losing my sanity, fast. No doubt my eyes were blazing the hottest blue this side of the Caribbean.
I frowned as I realized something, staring into his dark, laughing eyes. “The red is gone.”
“Hmm?” Zane gave a gentle tug on my hand, pulling me into his arms. I went willingly. Actually, I shouldn’t say “willingly.” I should say “plastered my body against his and wrapped my arms around his neck.” All I could smell was the dizzy scent of blood and man and leather that made up Zane.
Zane’s hand came to rest on the curve of my lower back, reminding me that I had two guns strapped against my flesh and he wasn’t supposed to find out. I pulled away, an embarra
ssed flush heating my cheeks. “Your eyes,” I repeated. “They’re not red anymore.”
“No, they’re not. Unlike you, I have no problem with using others to satisfy a need, whether I like and respect them or not. Sometimes when the urge is upon you, anyone will do.” He shot me an oblique look, daring me to say something.
Offended, I stiffened and crossed my arms over my chest. So he’d gone and slaked his needs and left me hanging? Typical man. Typical vampire.
I opened my door and tossed the flowers inside. When I remained silent, he sighed.
“Come on. Let’s go.”
“Why do I need this?” I complained as Zane slid the burqa over my head and over my shoulders. The souvenir shop was hot enough without a heavy cloth covering me from head to toe.
“It’s for your own safety.” He smoothed the fabric down my body. “Nobody will look twice at you dressed in one of these; the way you were dressed was getting too much attention if we want secrecy.”
The burqa was designed to cover a woman from the prying eyes of men. This one was baby blue-a fashion choice, I assumed, since most of the others in the shop were unrelenting black. A thin mesh opening over the eyes allowed me to see out into the world. It was heavy and stifling, but I saw his point.
I sighed. “You should see the other stuff Remy packed.”
He handed me a disposable camera. “Remy is an idiot when it comes to suitable clothing. That woman doesn’t have a practical bone in her body.”
As Zane paid for the clothing, I went to the shop’s door to check out the Cairo nightlife. The streets were lit up despite the early hour of the evening, and still crawling with people of all shapes and sizes. Directly across the street was an antiques emporium.
Several men waited outside the shop, young, rough sorts with dirty clothing, and ugly smiles. They sat casually in front of the store, talking among themselves. One began to clean under his nails with a long knife.
As I watched, one gestured at the door of the souvenir shop and said something to one of his companions. The bearded man shrugged, then made a chopping notion across his throat. The other men laughed.
