Femme Fatale

by Cynthia Eden

  Well, hell, yes, he had. He’d save her any day of the week.

  “I thought there would be more,” Savannah said. “After all of this, he’s just…gone…”

  Bam!

  That gunfire—it hadn’t come from Mick’s gun. But Savannah was staring at him with wide, desperate eyes and red was blooming on her chest. “Mick?”

  Bam! Bam!

  Her body jerked like a marionette.

  “No!” Mick yelled but Savannah was already falling, slamming toward the ground and hitting just inches from Kale’s sprawled form. Only Mick hadn’t fired at her. He hadn’t shot those bullets.

  The shooter had been behind Savannah. The bullets had gone straight through her body.

  I didn’t shoot, baby. I swear, it wasn’t me. But he’d been holding his gun up and in that last instant before she fell, he’d seen the pain and betrayal in her eyes. Savannah had thought he’d been the one trying to kill her.

  Laughter reached Mick as he grabbed her and pulled her into his arms. “No, baby, no! Stay with me. Stay!” This couldn’t be happening. He’d—fuck it, he’d just found her. Savannah couldn’t die on him now.

  “N-not wood,” she whispered. “Can…tell…”

  His breath heaved out. If it wasn’t a wooden bullet, that meant she’d live. Right? But she told me before how bad blood loss could be for a vamp. Savannah was bleeding, far too much.

  “Mick, g-go—”

  He couldn’t go. They couldn’t go. Because the bastard who’d fired had closed in on him. Mick had been so fucking blindsided by her injuries that he hadn’t been paying attention to anything else. He felt a sharp jab in his neck. Mick kept one arm around Savannah even as he fumbled to pull up his gun.

  Will stood there. Smiling at him. Will lifted his hands and a syringe fell to the ground. “You wouldn’t shoot an unarmed man, would you?” Will asked him. “That’s not something a good cop does.”

  “N-not…cop…” He tried to aim that gun at Will.

  But his whole body had turned sluggish. That bastard Will had drugged him—a sharp injection in the back of the neck. Just like the other victims. And suddenly, in that last instant, it all made sense.

  Will…He’d been at Intoxication. He’d had access to both Ben and Steve. While the guy had been behind the bar, he’d been watching and taking note of everything and everyone. He’d realized that Savannah was a vampire.

  And did you want to be one, too?

  “Thanks for killing Kale for me. That prick had it coming. That’s what you get for attacking me,” Will muttered.

  Mick’s body slumped forward. He couldn’t make his fingers work. Couldn’t keep his eyes open.

  “We need to get out of here, though. Before someone reports all that damn smoke. Kale was such an idiot—you got to do things way more low key.”

  “Mick…” Savannah’s voice was a bare breath of sound. “Are you…still with me?”

  “Don’t fight it, man,” Will said at the same time. “No sense in it. You’re out from the drugs, my own special mix of sedatives. She’s weak from blood loss. You’re both mine. When you wake up, the real fun will begin.”

  Fun…what fun? Would he be drained of blood, just like Ben and Steve? And what about Savannah? What would happen to her?

  Have to stop him.

  But he was losing consciousness. Too fast. With his last bit of strength, Mick gasped out, “Bite…me…”

  Will laughed. “A fighter to the end, huh, asshole? Let’s see just how much you fight when I get my tubes hooked into your throat and I drain every single bit of blood from your body.”

  Mick slumped forward, falling onto Savannah. And Savannah…

  He felt the press of her teeth against him.

  Hell, yes, baby. Hell, yes.

  ***

  Will had transported them in the back of a van. Some big, black van that the guy had hidden close to Savannah’s house. Will had tied Savannah up, securing her hands behind her back and even tying her ankles together. Normally, ropes wouldn’t hold her for long, but her wounds had been pretty bad.

  And she’d only had time for the barest of drinks from Mick.

  Mick.

  He was beside her in the van. Not tied up, but completely out. Will probably thought that Mick wasn’t a threat. He was wrong. So very wrong.

  And I hope I didn’t misunderstand Mick. Because there is no going back from what I did.

  But while they’d been in the back of that van, she’d tried to make things up to him. She’d crawled her way—rather worm-like—toward him. She’d put her bound wrists to his mouth. She’d cut her wrists on the rope, heaving and sawing desperately as she tried to get free.

  Her wrists had been bleeding, and she’d given Mick that blood.

  And I gave you freedom, too. You’ll never be under anyone’s control.

  Provided, of course, that they managed to live through the night.

  The van came to a jarring stop. She rolled hard and slammed into the side of the vehicle. A few moments later, the back door was heaved open. Will grabbed Savannah by her bound ankles and yanked her right out of the van. She slammed into the ground with an impact that took her breath away.

  “You’re going to change me, tonight,” Will said as he stood over her, his hands on his hips. “You’re going to make me into a vampire. I’m not going to be some lame-ass whiskey dick working a bar for the rest of my life—I’m going to be a freaking immortal beast!”

  She rolled on the ground, moving her body so that she could gaze up at him. “That’s not how it works. Not every human can change—”

  “I know how it works!” Will snapped. He grabbed her shoulders and heaved her up. “I’m ready! I’ve been drinking blood—just like you!”

  He’d been—what?

  Will heaved her over his shoulder and carried her into a little house, a house at the end of what appeared to be a dead-end road. There were a few other houses nearby but Savannah didn’t call out for help. The last thing she wanted to do was risk more humans. I can stop him.

  But those houses were all dark, so she wasn’t even sure humans were there. She suspected Will had picked this location so he could have total privacy. So no one will see his madness.

  The porch steps creaked beneath Will’s feet. He unlocked the door, and took her inside.

  Oh, shit. I hope I can stop him.

  Because the interior of the place looked like some kind of sick torture zone. There were surgical instruments everywhere. And some weird apparatus attached to tubes—blood-stained tubes. The tubes led to a metal chair that had been bolted into the floor.

  He dropped her into the chair. Will picked up the tubes, and she saw the sharp points on their ends. “I use these,” he told her, “to drain my prey.”

  “You’re insane.”

  His face jerked close to hers. “I’m just like you! We both need blood to survive!”

  Savannah shook her head. “You aren’t a vampire.”

  “I will be.” He gave a grim nod. “I should be. Always, always knew I was different. The first time I took a life, I knew.”

  The first time… “How old were you?” Savannah whispered. She needed to keep him busy, focused just on her. She needed to buy Mick as long as possible to complete the transformation.

  “Sixteen,” Will told her proudly. “And I liked the blood so much, even then. I should have realized what I was meant to be. But I didn’t know…not until Kale came to me. Not until he told me all about vampires and started paying me to watch you.”

  Great. Of course, Kale was involved deeply in this mess.

  “He promised to turn me, but I got tired of waiting. So I started taking blood from the men you’d been with.” He laughed. “Thought there might be something special in their blood, but it wasn’t their blood that was special, was it? It was the PI’s.”

  He still had those tubes in his hand.

  “Kale lied to you,” Savannah told him. “That was his thing. Lies. He was never
going to change—”

  “I know!” Will bellowed at her. “I realized it when he grabbed me from Intoxication last night. He made me call the PI. Acted like Swayne was some big deal, then I realized that Kale had just been playing me.” He laughed roughly. “If Swayne hadn’t killed him, I would’ve. No one ties up Will Mato. No one turns on me!”

  Okay…

  “He was going to kill you,” Will suddenly said. “Kale was obsessed with you, but he didn’t just want to fuck you. He wanted to make you bleed and beg and die. That was his plan for you.” Will leaned in even closer to her. His lips brushed over her ear as he said, “That’s my plan, too.”

  She lifted her bound feet and slammed them into his stomach. Will fell back.

  “Get a new plan,” Savannah advised him. “Fast.” She shot to her feet, bounced, and managed to stay upright even as Will lunged at her.

  Bring it, you bastard—

  “No one makes Savannah beg,” Mick’s voice rang out. A very alert, very strong, very close voice. “And I sure don’t like it when someone makes her bleed.”

  Will’s head whipped toward him. “What? No, you should still be out!”

  Mick smiled and flashed fangs. “As far as fucking her, that shit sure isn’t going to happen. And the only one dying…that will be you.”

  While Will was distracted by Mick, Savannah slammed into him, hard. He staggered and toppled forward. Those tubes finally fell out of his hands.

  Will landed on all fours. He glared up at Mick. “No! You can’t be a vampire!”

  Mick’s teeth snapped together. “I sure as hell feel like one.”

  And right then, Savannah’s ropes finally gave way. She heaved hard and the ropes around her wrists jerked apart. Savannah grabbed for the tubes—

  Will yanked a gun from his waistband. “I get to be the vampire! I’m meant to live forever!”

  Before he could fire on Mick, Savannah slammed the sharp edges of the tubes into his neck. Will screamed and he tried to whirl and aim that gun at her.

  But Mick caught Will’s hand and held tight as he pushed the weapon against Will’s own body.

  When Will fired, that bullet blasted straight into his own chest.

  “Please, p-please…” Will whispered. “I was meant…I don’t want…”

  But it was too late.

  Mick let him go. Will fell to the floor once more. Only this time, he was dying.

  Savannah saw the exact moment when the light went out of his eyes. The only begging that night had been from him—he’d begged and he’d died.

  Her body began to sway as she stared down at him. Her breath whispered out. Her lashes closed.

  “Savannah?” Mick’s warm hand curled around her shoulder. “Baby, there’s so much blood….”

  “I’ll be okay. Vamps heal, remember?” She didn’t want to look at him in that terrible moment. This nightmare was bad enough without having to look at him as she told him good-bye. “I said it before, but I don’t think you could hear me.” Because you were out cold. “I need you to know this—to understand…You’re free, Mick. Completely free. You can walk away from me now, and nothing will ever pull you back. I don’t control you. No one does. You can just…go.”

  His hand left her shoulder. There was a faint rustle of sound. He was leaving. He was—

  The ropes at her ankles fell away. Savannah’s eyes flew open, and she found Mick kneeling in front of her. A knife gleamed in his hand.

  He rose, slowly, with his gaze on hers. “I know I’m free. I heard you in the van.”

  “You—”

  “I was just biding my time, waiting for a moment to attack that freak.”

  A sign would have been helpful.

  Mick brushed back her hair. His hand lingered on her cheek. “I don’t want to walk away, Savannah. I want to see where this can go—where we can go. Hell, maybe we’ll implode. Maybe we’ll be terrible for each other…” His lips curled into a half-smile. “Or maybe you’ll just be the best thing that ever happened to me.”

  Her heart was racing—too fast. “You’re a vampire now.”

  “I asked for that third bite. I knew exactly what I was doing.” Then he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her lips. “I wasn’t going to let you die. It wasn’t a hard choice to make.”

  Then he lifted her into his arms. Carried her out of that house. She wrapped her arms around him and didn’t look back at the man who’d torn apart so many lives.

  The night waited for them outside and Mick—he felt so good. Strong. Solid. Right.

  He hadn’t said he loved her. She hadn’t said she loved him. Twenty-four hours…such a short time.

  Such a long time.

  A time long enough to die.

  A time long enough to live.

  A time long enough to love?

  Maybe. We’ll see…

  But in her heart, Savannah already knew how she felt for the PI. Now, they’d just have to see what the future held for them. One step at a time.

  “I think you’re going to enjoy being a vamp,” Savannah murmured to him. “I promise, there are perks to the deal. There’s immortality, there’s strength, there’s—”

  His head turned. His eyes locked on her. “There’s you,” he said simply.

  She swallowed the lump in her throat. He’d risked so much for her. Just as she had been ready to risk everything for him. “There’s me,” Savannah said as she curled her arms around him. His head lowered toward hers. She kissed him.

  And nothing, nothing had ever been as sweet to her as Mick’s kiss.

  Epilogue

  Six months later…

  When the drop-dead gorgeous blonde stepped into his office, Mick Swayne knew that she was trouble.

  Savannah flashed Mick her slow, sexy smile, and he was a goner. But then, he’d been lost in her for a very long time.

  “I think I found us a new case,” Savannah said as her high heels clicked on the floor, and she closed in on him. “There’s a vamp in Atlanta who needs our help…that special help that only we can provide.”

  Because he’d kept his PI business going after his transformation into a vamp. Only now, he sometimes also handled special cases, cases that Savannah found for them.

  She walked around the desk and sat in his lap. Her arms linked around his neck, and she gave him a lingering, tender kiss.

  When she pulled away, Mick had to say, “I love you.” Because it was long past time she knew. Nothing in his life had ever mattered to him the way she did. His life—his afterlife—whatever the hell it was.

  For an instant, tears gleamed in Savannah’s eyes, and Mick tensed. He hated for her to be unhappy, and if he’d done something to—

  “I love you, too,” Savannah whispered.

  Hell, yes.

  He kissed her again. Harder. Deeper. Yes, the blonde was trouble, the very best kind. His kind of trouble.

  The End

  ###

  If you enjoyed FEMME FATALE, keep reading for an excerpt from BITE THE DUST, Blood and Moonlight, Book 1.

  Bite the Dust (Blood and Moonlight, Book 1)

  Purchase Bite The Dust

  Vampires. Werewolves. Beasts that hunt in the night. When New Orleans Detective Jane Hart investigates her first official homicide case, she never expects to have her world ripped apart. But the murder she’s investigating is part of a deadly war between vampires and werewolves—and now Jane is caught in that eternal battle. A battle that can’t end well.

  Werewolf Aidan Locke has been running New Orleans for years. It’s his job to keep the vamps out of the city. But when a Master Vampire comes to town, determined to unleash hell, Aidan knows it’s time to fight with all the fury of his pack. Beast versus vamp, until the last breath. Then he meets Jane—

  One look, one taste, and Aidan knows that Jane is far more than she seems. Far more than she even knows herself to be. She’s important in the paranormal war, not a pawn to be used, but a queen to be won. And if he can’t keep her at his sid
e, if he can’t stop the darkness from descending on the town—then Jane Hart will become not just a fierce cop, not some guardian, but something deadlier. Darker. Aidan will fight heaven and hell to change her fate. To change their fate because he is more than just a predator.

  And Jane is more than prey. Far more.

  The world is changing—for the humans and the monsters. Hot, sexy, and intense, BITE THE DUST is the first novel in New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Cynthia Eden’s dark new “Blood and Moonlight” series.

  Bite the Dust - Chapter One

  No one should die that way.

  Detective Jane Hart stared at the broken body in the middle of Bourbon Street, a doll that had been cast aside. The victim’s skin was too pale. Her eyes were wide open—dark—seeming to still show the girl’s poor terror.

  A crowd had gathered. Hardly a surprise. There was always a crowd on Bourbon Street. Jane could hear the whispers and rumbles behind her as everyone strained to get a look at the body.

  The naked body. The victim had been dumped, just tossed aside, near the side of Hell’s Gate. Music blasted from the interior of the bar, and plenty of folks were still packed inside the place.

  How long had the victim been out there, those desperate eyes still open in death as she waited to be found? How many people had just walked past her before someone had actually stopped and realized…

  She’s dead. Not passed out. Not in some drunken stupor. She’s dead.

  The fact that her throat was ripped open—that should have given someone a freaking clue.

  “Detective Hart?”

  It was one of the uniforms, looking green. He’d been the first on scene, and when he’d called in the homicide, she’d been close by. Her captain had sent her over. My first official case as a homicide detective. More cops were coming—a crime scene team was on the way.

  “There’s so much blood,” the uniform murmured. Mason. Mason Mitchell. A guy in his early twenties with light blond hair and the horrified gaze that told her he hadn’t seen very many bodies before.