by Abby Blake
After a moment she became less frantic and instead caressed his wrist with her tongue as she drank his blood. Relieved to realize that the woman was going to survive, Samuel finally took a good look at the newly made vampire in his best friend’s arms. She wasn’t beautiful in a classic sense, but she was very attractive in a wholesome sort of way. It was obvious by her conservative clothes and lack of makeup that she wasn’t really part of the nightclub scene they’d just exited.
He touched a finger to her face, smiling when her eyes fluttered open and a look of pure contentment settled on her face. Considering what she’d most likely been through tonight, he hoped that this moment of joy as she began the change from human to vampire would help her through the difficulties to come. Even with the benefit of a couple hundred years’ experience, he still found dealing with violent, senseless murders disturbing.
Alex pressed a warm cup filled with human blood into Samuel’s hand and handed the other to Benjamin. Samuel smiled gratefully at the club owner hovering by the door. Apparently he catered to more than just the cocktail-swilling humans dancing in his club. Samuel just hoped he was sourcing his human blood legally.
“We’ll take care of this,” Alex said, glancing around the disturbing scene. It wouldn’t do any good to let humans find evidence of the woman’s murder. Even if they did figure out what had happened and who had done it, they were unprepared for what they would face if they caught up with the killer. “Take your fledgling back to the motel. We’ll meet you there in a couple hours.”
Samuel nodded, drained the cup, and handed it back to Alex.
Your fledgling—now there were two words he’d never expected to hear in the same sentence.
* * * *
Skye woke cradled in a man’s arms, sucking lazily on the flesh pressed against her lips. Disorientated, she tried to move away, but the man who held her squeezed tighter.
“No,” he said in a voice that she wanted to instantly obey, “you need more. Drink, baby girl.”
Too tired to argue, Skye swallowed the thick liquid, surprised that she liked the taste. It was salty and had a metallic sort of tang. It was nothing like her usual choice of drink but for some reason seemed like ambrosia sliding down her throat.
She sucked a little longer, caressing the flesh with her tongue as she finally realized the incredible intimacy of her position. She lay cradled against the man’s chest, another man’s wrist pressed against her mouth, her clothes torn, someone’s blood flowing into her, making her stronger, healing her pain.
Blood?
Panicked, she pulled away, wiping her lips with the back of her hand. What the hell was wrong with her? Flashes of what had happened earlier sped through her brain, and she cried out when she remembered the red-haired woman. She tried to lift her head to look around, but the man held her tighter, using his other hand to press her face against his chest.
“You’re safe now. Just breathe, baby girl.”
“We need to move,” another voice said, scaring the hell out of her.
Nearly catatonic with her fear, it was only the fact that both voices were different to those of the men who’d attacked her that allowed her to ask in a raspy voice, “Wh–Who are y–you?”
“It’s okay, sweetheart. We’re the good guys.”
As appealing as it was to lie back and believe the man’s reassurance, too many creepy things had happened tonight for her to trust blindly. Swallowing her fear with difficultly, Skye tried once again to look around the area, but the man wouldn’t let her lift her head.
“Not now, baby girl,” the man said as he started moving.
“The other woman?” she asked without really wanting to know the answer. It was clear by their attackers’ behavior that the redhead hadn’t been expected to survive.
“I’m sorry,” the second man said, his thumb caressing her cheek softly. “We weren’t fast enough to save her.” Tears flowed freely down Skye’s face, as the grief for the terrified young woman overwhelmed all other thoughts. The man simply held her closer and let her cry.
* * * *
Torn between caring for the woman, who was now a fledgling vampire, and needing to salvage their mission, Benjamin looked to Thomas for help. Thomas, the asshole, smiled, shrugged, and then headed back into the club. The rest of their team would have entered the building by now, but unless the other eight vampires inside were involved in this attack as well, it was a good chance that they were simply innocent bystanders. One of them may even be the source of their anonymous tip-off. Without that untraceable e-mail they wouldn’t have even been in the area.
The woman was still crying, the sobs softer now, but the grief still very obvious.
Finally conceding to the only course of action possible, Benjamin turned toward the hotel where they were staying and started walking before deciding it was dark enough to use his preternatural speed. Samuel was right beside him.
The young woman was very obviously the victim of a violent attack. With her clothes torn, her neck, shoulders, and hair all covered in blood, and her face streaked with dirt and tears, she was very likely to attract attention. The streets were fairly empty, but he didn’t want to chance being stopped by curious pedestrians or maybe even human police, so he used his natural talents to get there as fast as possible.
Once he had the door closed, he glanced around the room and wondered what his next course of action should be. Rescuing damsels in distress wasn’t usually part of his mission, and changing said damsel into a vampire had never been part of his plan. He tried to convince himself that his decision had been purely practical—she’d most likely be able to identify her attackers—but a small voice inside called him a liar. His reaction had been based on emotion rather than logic. The other woman’s murder had been sickening. His frustration and guilt that they’d been too late meant that he’d eagerly grabbed the chance to save this woman. But he was damned if he’d admit any of that out loud.
“Where?” the woman asked in a tiny voice. She was obviously very tired. Benjamin barely remembered details of his own change so many decades ago, but his sire had told him afterward that he’d pretty much slept for three days and nights straight.
“We’re in a hotel room not far from the nightclub where we found you.”
“We?” she asked, sounding too tired to be nervous.
“Samuel and me. Thomas and Alex will be here soon. Unless they manage to track down the ones who hurt you, and then I hope they take their sweet time. Did you know the red-haired woman?”
She shook her head, but tears leaked out of her eyes once more. “I–I…I couldn’t stop them.”
“It’s okay, baby girl. There’s nothing you could have done.”
“Wanted to,” she said on a half sob. His heart ached for her. It was likely that her attackers had made it seem she left with them on her own free will. He knew from witness accounts that being compelled by a vampire was a terrifying experience. It was why he used that particular skill very sparingly and then only to nudge a person’s natural reaction rather than control it.
Benjamin followed Samuel into the bathroom. They needed to get the woman cleaned up so that they could tuck her into one of the beds and let her sleep, but she seemed in no condition to shower without help. Her eyes were closed and for a moment he was distracted by her pale features. She’d barely had enough blood left for him and Samuel to mix with their own, but it seemed between the two of them they’d managed to complete the process. The ragged wounds on her neck were already beginning to heal.
“Baby girl, your clothes are ripped and covered in blood. We’re going to help you get cleaned up.” He lowered her feet to the tiled floor and let her lean against him for balance. He glanced at her left hand, glad to notice the absence of a wedding ring. “Can you lift your arms?”
She lifted her arms elbows first, but it was obvious by her soft groan that the action pulled at the wounds at her neck. Making a decision he hoped he wouldn’t regret, Benjamin grabbed the collar of her shirt an
d very carefully tore the material from neck to waist. Samuel pushed the bloodied material down her arms, and Benjamin turned his attention to her pants. They’d been torn in several places and even as he tried to preserve the material he realized that she’d never be able to wear them again. Eventually, he did the same as he’d done to her shirt, tearing the material until it fell away from her.
He’d hoped to be able to at least save her underwear, and thereby her dignity, but the stains had gone right through to her bra and panties.
“What’s your name, baby girl?” He probably should have asked much earlier, but there was still a part of him trying to deny the attraction he felt for the pretty blonde. At least by not knowing her name he’d been able to mentally keep an emotional distance between them. Of course the fact that he was one of her sires meant that they were already connected. Still, it seemed appropriate to ask the woman’s name before suggesting she allow him to remove her underwear.
She was very tired, and maybe hiding her embarrassment behind it, but she managed to mumble “Skye Hastings” without actually opening her eyes.
“Well, Skye Hastings, I wish we’d met under better circumstances, but I was hoping it would be okay to remove your underwear before we step into the shower.”
* * * *
Before we step into the shower? We?
The meaning of that sentence finally penetrated the fog in Skye’s brain and she forced herself to open her eyes and look around. The fact that she was already down to her underwear was a little disconcerting, but it was the dirty, smelly, blood-stained state of the clothing that hit her hardest.
She glanced at what was once a soft, purple lace trim on her bra and shuddered in revulsion. She’d always hated blood, but finding herself covered in it was pretty much her worst nightmare. Maybe it was the years she’d spent working as a receptionist for a doctor, but she had an almost obsessive aversion to the stuff. Without giving any thought to the stranger holding her up or the one standing beside her, she reached behind her back, undid the clasp and dropped the material to the ground. A quick glance at her panties, and they hit the floor as well. She turned to the shower without consciously noticing that she was in an unfamiliar bathroom, but felt her knees give out as she tried to step into the stall.
“Whoa, baby girl, hold on for just one more minute.”
She growled her annoyance at the delay but sagged gratefully in the other man’s hold as he set the water running and then helped her stand under the spray. The first man stepped in behind her, pulling her close as he washed away the putrid feeling. She sighed as he angled her head under the spray and tipped a sweet-smelling shampoo into her hair.
Skye held on to the waistband of his soaked pants as he massaged the fragrant bubbles through her hair. When he’d rinsed and then combed conditioner through her hair, he grabbed the shower gel and cleaned her all over. She felt his body react when he cleaned her more private areas, but he washed her quickly and efficiently without acknowledging his body’s needs.
Clean and smelling far more pleasant, Skye let him wrap her in a towel and lift her into the other man’s arms. The first guy quickly shredded his own wet clothing, wrapped a towel around his waist, and followed her and the other guy into the main room.
She smiled sleepily as the one holding her pulled back the blankets on one of the beds and tucked her in. None of it seemed real—not the shower, the dark alley, the men who’d attacked her, the woman who’d died so quietly… Panic streaked through her and she reached for his hand as he went to move away.
“Please, stay with me,” she begged, terrified that everything she remembered was true.
“It’s okay, Skye. I’m not going anywhere. I’ll just be right over there.”
“Please,” she asked again. She winced at the needy sound in her voice but figured if there was ever a situation that warranted a certain amount of pleading, this was it.
“I need to get cleaned up,” he said, looking down at the blood on his hands. He glanced at his friend and raised an eyebrow in silent question. The guy wrapped in a towel seemed to hesitate, and it didn’t even occur to her that she didn’t know his name until he nodded his head and climbed onto the mattress beside her. Staying above the blankets, the man curled his body protectively around hers and held her close.
Before she could think of a polite way to ask an almost-naked stranger lying in bed with her what his name was, the need for sleep took her voice. Barely conscious she felt the other man lean over her for a moment before he pressed a soft kiss to her forehead and moved away.
Feeling safe and protected for the first time that night, Skye went gratefully into the warm, dark abyss of deep sleep.
Chapter Two
Benjamin held the woman close, trying to deny the unexpected attraction. It was true that he’d been a long time without a female to warm his bed, but still his body’s unconscious response seemed inappropriate. She was a witness to murder. And a fledgling vampire. Her life was about to kaleidoscope in ways she’d probably never imagined possible.
Modern humans didn’t even believe in vampires or werewolves. How was Skye Hastings going to cope when she found out that they not only existed but that she was now one of them?
He heard Thomas’s distinctive footsteps long before the man used his keycard to enter the room.
“How is she?” Thomas whispered even though the sound was quite loud to vampire ears.
“Tired, frightened, and finally asleep.”
“Was she able to give you a description of the vamps who attacked her?”
Benjamin smiled at his friend’s impatience. “No, the change takes time. She’s likely to do nothing but sleep and eat for several days.” Obviously Thomas knew even less about making someone a vampire than Benjamin did. The fact that Skye was now, according to sacred vampire tradition, his and Samuel’s responsibility until she was capable of existing by herself added a complication Benjamin wasn’t certain he was prepared to deal with. He’d spent the last ten minutes mentally selecting and then discarding every vampire he knew who could possibly take over Skye’s lessons in Vampire 101. Unfortunately, it seemed when it came to fledgling vampires the urge to protect them overrode all other considerations. It seemed the accepted “law” that the maker was responsible for the new vampire was more of a physical compulsion than an actual rule in their society.
Thomas sat down tiredly, his need to catch the vampires responsible for these horrific attacks obviously weighing on him heavily. They’d worked together for more than five decades, and if Benjamin knew anything about his werewolf partner, it was that he didn’t like losing—ever.
“Their trail stopped about four blocks from the nightclub. It dead-ended at a parking lot, so we’re pretty sure they’re using modern forms of transportation.” Benjamin almost smiled at his partner’s dislike of cars. Born during a time when life moved much more slowly, Thomas had never made a secret of his dislike for vehicles that could travel faster than a horse. Apparently his distaste extended all the way to the word “car.”
Fortunately, Thomas was also a soldier who knew that modern transportation was a necessary evil that, over long distances, enabled them to do their jobs properly. Benjamin had overheard Thomas’s whispered self-pep talk more than once—“I don’t have to like it. I just have to do it.”
“So where do we go from here?” Benjamin asked. Technically, he was the commanding officer of their PUP squad but they’d all been working together so long that every man knew the strengths and weaknesses of each of his teammates as well as he knew his own. These days they worked together like a well-oiled machine. It was very rare that Benjamin had to do more than agree with his team’s suggestions.
“Wilson has been trying to trace the e-mail back to its origin but whoever sent it knows an awful lot about tech. Maybe even more than Wilson.” Benjamin raised an eyebrow, laughing softly as Thomas added, “And if you tell him I said that you are going to be one very unhappy vampire.”
I
t was no secret that Wilson considered himself one of the world’s leading hackers. Fortunately for their PUP squad he was probably right. It sure wouldn’t sit well with him to come across a puzzle he couldn’t break, and knowing Wilson, he’d probably remain hunched over his keyboard doing whatever it was he did until he had an answer.
“What about the club? Did anyone see Skye or the other woman leave?”
“None that we could find. Alex tried the concerned-big-brother routine but all he got was adoring fans wanting to give him their numbers.” Even after fifty years of working together, Benjamin still couldn’t believe how easily Alex attracted women. They practically fell at his feet wherever he went. “The club owner identified us straight away. He seemed friendly enough, but I reckon he’s probably given every paranormal living in town the heads-up as to our presence.”
“It shouldn’t be too much of a problem. The vamps we’re looking for are unlikely to be locals. They’re probably just passing through.” He glanced down at the woman sleeping in his arms. “With a bit of luck the locals will close ranks and protect their town from any unknowns. Did you manage to control the murder scene?”
Thomas looked a little offended by the question. Normally Benjamin was working right beside him on cases like this, and if the woman in his arms hadn’t been in such dire need, this mission would have been like any other.
“Again,” Thomas said on an exhaled breath, “I’m pretty sure every local member of the paranormal community will know all about it by morning, but the humans and their law enforcement should remain unaware. Alex put in a call for a pixie cleaning crew.” Thomas shuddered as he said the last three words. Pixies were well known in the paranormal world as assassins for hire but were often engaged by the Ruling Body to help hide evidence of violent death from humans. The cleaning crews were very good at their job. It was the fact that they looked like seven-year-old human girls that gave Benjamin and the rest of his team the creeps.
