“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Magnolia.” Rose’s tone was short, but surprisingly sedate in Mac’s opinion. Almost too careful. “And you don’t know me at all. You never did.”
Mac reached behind his back to touch her, wishing he could comfort her. “There is no need to quarrel with your sister, Magnolia. She found me and I’ve chosen to allow you to take me in as soon as we’re off stage. You can watch us the entire time…”
He heard feminine laughter coming from behind a row of costumes and he couldn’t deny the feeling of dread it inspired. Five demons who had never failed to collect a bounty. The darker tales he’d heard about them were unpleasant, to say the least.
Magnolia clapped with mock excitement. “Can we, Daddy? Can we watch?” She rolled her eyes and then smiled ominously. “I have a better idea. We’re going to do more than watch, sweetie. We’re going to participate. And then we’re taking you, and your kitty and our turncoat cousin in for good measure. The three of you started this, you may as well end it together too. If that doesn’t earn us a bonus, I don’t know what will.”
“No.”
Magnolia froze. “No? Did he just say no to me?”
Mac wouldn’t play her game. “I believe you heard me, demon. You don’t touch them, or there is no deal. No deal with the vampire, and you don’t get your payday.”
“Ivy?”
“Yes, Magnolia?” an obedient voice floated over the clothes rack.
“He’s negotiating. Show him why this isn’t a negotiation. Knock him out.”
“Yes, Magnolia.”
Rose called his name but her voice sounded far away. Mac was falling. The room was spinning. The world was going black.
He’d wanted to kiss her goodbye. Now he wouldn’t get the chance.
Chapter Six
Rose should have seen this coming. Should have convinced him to run—used her genetic wiles to get him to agree. But no, she’d impulsively wanted an adventure in Las Vegas. She wanted to sing with him and watch him play hero to two sweet humans. She’d wanted him all to herself.
She had been a fool.
“Daisy, don’t let her do this,” she pleaded softly. “All these people...”
Her sister looked up at her through bright blue curls with sad eyes. “You should have called her, Rose. There’s no reasoning with her now, you know that. We have to let her have her way and then it will be over.”
Magnolia had to have her way. How many times had she heard that through the years? Her mother had started it, a demon too busy to bother with the brood of children her demonic needs had produced. Magnolia was the oldest, so she was in charge of them all.
The only problem was, her oldest sister was the battiest of the bunch. Mean as a snake, vindictive and unhinged, she could ensnare a man with a skill that was astounding, but what she did to him when she caught him had never sat well with anyone but Ivy—the other crazy one with, unfortunately, the strongest power of them all.
And now Magnolia had Mac. Onstage. Chained up and wearing nothing but a sheet around his waist as the audience murmured in horror.
Magnolia bowed and waved at the crowd. “Don’t bother clapping or trying to stand up ladies and gentlemen—my sisters have guaranteed we have a captive audience for this part of the competition. Human and otherwise.” She snickered. “Get it? I suppose you do. Luckily stand-up comedy is not why we’re here. This is a piece of art I like to call The Duet. Rose? Daisy bring out our little Rose.”
Daisy walked forward obediently, and Rose had no choice but to follow the holder of the chain Ivy had wrapped her wrists in. “We don’t have to do this. He said he was giving himself up.”
Magnolia gripped Rose hard by the chin and shook it hard. “A bounty doesn’t give itself up, Rose. After all these years do you really not know that? We take it by force. Especially when so much is on the line.”
Her sister raised her voice. “We only have a few traditions in our family, since our mother wasn’t big on those sorts of things. One of them is something called sampling the merchandise. If we collect a bounty we find attractive, we get to claim him before we pass him on to our clients. It’s a perk of the job that no one ever talks about.”
She gestured to Daisy, who tugged Rose to the center of the stage to stand beside Mac. His eyes were closed. Was he conscious?
Magnolia chuckled. “Here’s our problem. We’re demons. Nothing like the computer geek from that show, though. We don’t deny who we are. And what we are is not really a trusting species, though you have to admit in this case we have good reason. Anyway, our little sister seems to have caught up with this handsome devil without telling us, and if what they were doing backstage is any indication, there was a lot of claiming going on before we found them.” She paused dramatically. “Or was there? Unless I see it in person, I don’t think I’m going to believe it. Rose has never bagged a bounty alone in her life, and this one? He’s a sneaky bastard. I had a hard time tracking him down, and I’m the best. I need to see this duet for myself.”
Rose shook her head. “What are you doing? There are too many people. Too many things that can go wrong. Why can’t we just take him and go?”
Magnolia glared over her shoulder. “Because you disrespected me. Took what was mine. Because I don’t appreciate the way you look at me and because I can. You wanted to be on stage with him. Now either you claim him in front of all these nice people who’ve forgotten what you are or I’ll make sure we all do. You won’t like what’s left of your vampire when we’re done.”
When Rose hesitated, Magnolia raised her hand. Mac shouted and Rose whipped her head around in time to see Ivy’s long, spiked whip split a line down his chest. That whip was designed to hurt his kind. He was in pain.
“Fine,” she shouted to her sisters. “I’ll do it. Ivy, stop!”
Ivy had whipped him twice more, deepening the gash already created as if disappointed Rose had agreed so easily. A gesture from Magnolia had her stepping back, a scowl on her perfect features as she pushed back her bright red hair.
Rose moved to stand in front of Mac, lifting her bound wrists over his head so her arms were around his neck. Ivy’s narcotic-like power was still affecting him. Confusing him and slowing his movements. “Mac?”
She was a demon—blood didn’t bother her, exhibitionism was fun and she wasn’t a fan of vampires.
So why did she feel like crying?
Because the last two days have been the best of your life.
Demons didn’t mate like shifters. Though, yes, their feelings were more intense than most, they usually didn’t stick around long enough after coming to cuddle or find out their lover’s last name. Granted, Rose was only half demon. The other half of her was human. But she’d lived out of balance for so long, she rarely noticed the softer side of her soul. Wasn’t that why she’d wanted to leave the family business? She wanted a chance to discover who she was without her sisters. Wanted to be Rose, and not just another flower in the garden.
All she was—demon and human—wanted Mac. She recognized him—his passions, his touch, his smile—in a way that almost frightened her, and from the moment she’d heard his voice her attraction to him had only grown. He wasn’t like other vampires. He wasn’t cold. He had a soul. She’d touched it.
She studied his face. The strong features, furrowed brow and auburn beard that had felt just as delicious against her skin as she’d known it would. “Mac?” she repeated. “Can you hear me? Can you open your eyes?”
He groaned and blinked, smiling tenderly when he saw her. “You’re here.”
Rose focused all her energy on projecting. This time was theirs alone. She wouldn’t let anyone take it from her. “I’m here. You told me it was beautiful, but I had no idea. Thank you for bringing me.”
His crystal blue eyes sparkled as he looked up at her illusion of his ancestral home in the moonlight, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. “We won then?”
Rose laughed and lea
ned into him. “Of course we won. We are an unbeatable duet. Plus, that one judge couldn’t stop looking up my skirt.”
“Who can blame him?” Mac murmured, dragging her down onto the grass. “I’d like another peek myself.”
She cupped his face between her hands, letting everything she was feeling show in her eyes. “Tell me your name. Your whole name.”
“No one has asked me that in a hundred years.” He licked his lips. “My name was Murchadh Niven MacKenzie. Pleasure to meet you. And yours?”
Rose shook her head. “Demons don’t have last names, vampire. Didn’t Saint tell you that?”
“I tune him out more than I should.” His smile was wicked. “Now that we know each other’s secrets, just Rose, my wild deviant demon lover, can I kiss you again?”
“I might hurt you if you don’t, my hot, Scottish vampire idol.”
His kiss started a fire inside her and broke her heart. This was what she wanted. The illusion had been meant to ease him, to protect him from her sisters. But the truth was that it was her new fantasy. Being with him here. As if she belonged with him.
When he lifted his head again they were both naked and flushed. He wrapped his fingers around her wrists and held her arms over her head. “Rose, I need you. No tricks, no toys, just you.”
Rose curled her legs around him and lifted her hips enticingly, wishing the illusion was real. “Then take me.”
They both groaned with his first deep thrust and Rose bit her lip. So good. Nothing had ever been this good. He fit her, filled her, almost—but not quite—more than she could take. Perfect.
Mac lowered his head until his lips were hovering over hers, his eyes darkening as he watched hers dilate with each stroke of his shaft inside her. “You’re killing me, love. “
She arched her back. “Parts of you are still very much alive, vampire. My favorite parts.”
He shifted, covering her breast with one thick, callused palm and rolling her nipple between his fingers. “You have favorites? So do I. Let me show you.”
He lowered his mouth to her breasts and trapped her nipple hard against the roof of his mouth, sucking in time with the rhythm of his powerful hips. Rose cried out as lightning shot through her limbs and up her spine. “Yes.”
He lifted his head. “I can’t neglect my other favorites.” Without another word he pulled out of her body, flipped her onto her stomach and lifted her hips high in the air. “I do love this ass.”
Rose could hardly gasp for air when he filled her sex again, his thumb pushing between the cheeks of her ass to fill her everywhere. “Mac.”
His moan sounded more like a growl. “I want everything, wild Rose. Stop holding back and give it to me. I want to hear you scream and beg me to fuck you. I want you to feed off me…and I need…”
She felt his fangs pierce her shoulder and she screamed his name. “Mac! Fuck, yes. I love it. Your fangs, your cock….you, Mac. I love… Yes!”
Her skin was alive, on fire, every cell screaming for him as he took her harder. Faster. Pushing her toward a climax she wanted to resist. Her blood was coursing through his veins and his passion was filling her, feeding her. They were intimately connected. Demon and vampire. Man and woman. Mac and Rose.
She didn’t want it to end.
“Mac, oh Mac I’m so close and I have to tell you…”
He lifted his head and whispered raggedly in her ear. “Tell me, Rose. Tell me, love, I need the words. Need you to say them.”
“Mist…. Escape, Ivy. Fuck, Mac I’m coming!”
She tried to warn him, but her orgasm crashed over her and he followed quickly behind. She was shaking with the force of it, tingling and sated with the desire he’d given her. She was sensation and sex. Pleasure and sin. She still wanted more. More…more… But she had to think. Control her arousal and help him get away…
Rose came back to herself in time to watch Mac dissolve before her eyes. The mist he’d become shot across the stage and wrapped around Ivy’s face, making it impossible for her psychotic sister to breathe.
“No!” Magnolia cried. “He shouldn’t be able to do that. He’s under our control. The chains—no.”
Ivy collapsed, unconscious on the ground, and Rose looked out at the audience. Apparently as soon as her sister had been knocked out and they could move, they’d all reached for the person closest to them and were tearing at each other’s clothes like lust-crazed animals. She also heard more than one person in the audience declaring their love for each other.
Oops. She really should learn how to control her pushing.
“How?” Magnolia’s clawed hand gripped her arm. “How did he know what to do?”
“I told him. And Magnolia? I quit.”
Shocked was not the best expression for her older sister. “You can’t quit, you ungrateful little thorn in my ass. We had a fucking deal. You aren’t allowed to—”
A crowd of vampires and demons suddenly clustered around them, silencing her rant. “Boys,” she cooed. “Did you enjoy the show? Or have you come to pay us for collecting your vampire?”
Rose bit her lip at her sister’s gall. An old, slender vampire in an elegant suit lifted one perfect brow in response. “We’ve come to inform you that you and your sisters will no longer be on retainer as bounty hunters. We require a certain amount of dignity and decorum among those in our employ, and we find we simply cannot allow this irresponsible behavior to go unpunished. Particularly when we were victims of your pointless display of insanity.”
Magnolia took a step back, sneering. “No vampire forbids me to do anything. You aren’t the only one hiring, bloodsucker.”
Rose recognized the short, dark-haired demon that stepped into the circle. Anyone who ran in demonic circles would. “But I can,” he murmured, his red eyes brilliant. “You and Ivy will be coming with me for…let’s call it rehabilitation. I’m going to have a personal hand in your treatment.”
Her sister panicked and tried to run, but she was surrounded. In moments she and Ivy were dragged forcibly off the stage by demons dark and intimidating enough to make Rose shiver.
She almost felt sorry for them. Almost. At least Daisy and the others weren’t included in the punishment.
The demon dipped his head in Rose’s direction. “I do believe you won this competition, young Rose. Though I’ll admit I am disappointed I didn’t get to hear you sing, I’m satisfied with the evening’s entertainment.” He turned as if to walk away, then hesitated. “Tell Saint my debt to him is now paid. In full.”
Saint. She was going to owe him forever. “I’ll tell him.”
She turned to look for Mac and there he was, staring at her intently from the center of the stage as two smaller vampires placed cuffs on his wrist.
“Wait.” She ran toward him, ignoring the shake of his head. “You can’t take him, damn it. Stop.”
Her cousin, looking tousled with a few buttons missing from his shirt, and their shifter friend Thomas both leapt onto the stage.
“I’m afraid she’s right,” Saint agreed genially. “You can’t take Mac anywhere.”
One of the vampires smirked. “And why is that, demon?”
“Because I’ll decapitate and eat the first corpse who tries,” Thomas growled beside her.
“And in case you survive that…” Saint shuddered. “…I’ll empty all your bank accounts and sell your coffins on eBay. That’ll sting, right?”
Rose reminded herself to hug both of them when this was over.
Mac shook his head again, but he was smiling. “Thank you, my friends, but this really isn’t necessary.”
A tall, Nordic-looking vampire suddenly appeared beside them. Rose didn’t want to stare, but she couldn’t help noticing his cape, which whipped dramatically around his shoulders as he spoke. “No, it isn’t. But I suppose here will do as well as any other place we could expend time and energy carting you off to. There are enough of us present tonight to render judgment…and I was the one who initiated the recall for
Mac’s punishment.”
Rose saw Mac squint at the vampire in confusion. “Do I know you, sir?”
“No.” The vampire sighed in frustration. “But I know you. Everyone does. Since the cat’s damn reality show, if you aren’t a gloomy jackass with a red beard and an air of gut-wrenching loneliness in your stride, you apparently aren’t a real vampire.”
Saint snorted. “He does describe you pretty well, Mac.”
“Thanks.”
“Anytime.”
The blond shook his head. “I’ve been the head of promotions, marketing and advertising for nearly eight hundred years, and in less than two, the three of you have destroyed all my work.”
Mac narrowed his icy eyes. “That is you’re reason for sending hunters after me? For taking me from my home?”
Saint whistled. “You vampires all have stickuptheassitis, don’t you? And you really take your promotional branding seriously. Eight hundred years, huh?” He shook his head. “Maybe your department needs a fresh set of eyes. You went from kicking ass and owning the night to diamond skin and a light cloud cover. Have you had a vacation…like ever?”
Rose was seeing red, her heart pounding too hard for her to appreciate Saint’s sense of humor. “I’m remembering why I hate vampires again.”
Mac coughed. “Most vampires, Rose. Isn’t that what you meant?”
The tall vampire turned to her and held up his hands. “It wasn’t the only reason. So much attention on an actual vampire instead of a fictionalized re-creation was bound to fray nerves. And while I do admit to a touch of professional jealousy, the consensus to render judgment was reached unanimously when it was learned that the fans had gathered enough signatures for the bidding studios to consider hiring the original actors for the film.”
Thomas whistled. “Didn’t see that coming.”
Still typing on his phone, Saint raised his hand. “I did.”
My Vampire Idol Page 6
