“Wait!” Rick raised a hand. “My razor-sharp vampire instincts tell me this mysterious co-ed is somehow involved in your decision.”
“No…well, maybe.” He shook his head. “Fuck, I don’t know.”
Rick folded his arms over his well-muscled chest and stared blandly.
“All right, all right. You got me. I confess. Somehow she got into my building last night.”
“She got into your home?”
“Not exactly, no.” Rick’s silence prompted him. “She got to the door.”
“Oh, horrors! I immediately see your need to flee—”
“Don’t piss me off, Rick!” Matt’s eyes flashed quickly opaline and then back to blue. “I don’t know why she bothers me so much. I just have to get away from her. She…she makes me feel things…I don’t want to feel.”
Rick considered him seriously for a moment, realizing this was not all impulse on Matt’s part. He narrowed his eyes at his friend. “Dear boy, I could take care of it, you know. One call, she disappears forever.”
Matt was outraged. “No! God, no! That’s the last thing I want! I swear to God, Rick, you harm one cell of her body and I’ll—”
“Whoa, whoa!” Rick held up his hands in surrender. “Okay. She’s safe as a fledgling, okay? Shit, you’ve got it bad, you poor bastard! Why don’t you just turn her and be done with it?”
“Take her life as Veronique took mine?” Matt demanded with renewed horror.
“Actually, I was thinking more that you might ask her nicely, but your call.”
“No. Don’t ask me that again.”
Rick shrugged. “So, what are you gonna do when you get back and she’s still here?”
“Yeah…” Matt rubbed his neck again, a surefire signal to Rick that he was about to ask for something outrageous. “I think it’s time for Consort Publishing to sponsor a writing contest. Something with big prize money and a relocation to the office in New York where the winner gets a free semester or great internship or something…” He gestured vaguely. “She’s a writer. I looked up some of her stuff on the university website. She’s pretty good. This is a contest she’s gonna win.”
“And we’re footing the bill for all this? What’s in it for the company?”
“I think she’ll make Consort Publishing money over time, but whatever; I’ll put up the hundred thousand prize money, if you want. You just make sure she enters and wins that contest. Take her stuff from online if you have to. I don’t give a shit what. Just get her out of here and on a career track.”
Rick considered him for a long beat. “Yeah. Okay. And meanwhile you’re going to hibernate in the wilds of Alaska? Live off expired Red Cross blood?”
“What does it matter?” Matt shrugged. “I haven’t had a vacation in ten years. A little down time will do me good.”
“Right.” Rick gave him a jaded glance. “I give you two weeks, tops, before we’re scraping you off the ceiling, but whatever, dear boy. You’ll need to take the ski plane this time of year to get up there.”
“Yeah. I already scheduled the flight for this afternoon. I figured you wouldn’t mind.”
Rick gave him an indifferent nod. “Don’t get eaten by a polar bear. I’ll see you in a couple weeks.”
“A few months, Rick, I’ll see you in June. Thanks, man.”
Chapter 6
Cat noticed Matt immediately in the most unexpected place possible. He was standing in line at the bank across from the medical center. This wasn’t her usual branch. In fact, she and Maria only stopped in because Maria needed help covering the outrageous cost of her medication. Cat felt energized by finding Matt here. What a coincidence! After all the searching she’d done to find him yesterday, what were the odds she’d bump into him at a bank she never used, in a part of town she never frequented? This must be a sign!
He’s so easy to pick out of a crowd. He was the tallest man in the room for one thing, and by far the handsomest. Those wide shoulders and that powerful chest of his stretched full and strong under his leather jacket. She had reason to know his chest tapered from bulging sinew to a trim waist without an ounce of fat. It was a chest and arms she longed to step into and wrap hers around. She imagined his embrace would feel like home.
Shortly after they walked in, Matt scented the air, turned and look directly at her. His smile was wan and little sheepish. She whispered to Maria, who looked at Matt, smiled and whispered back. He nodded politely in their direction, and Cat thought he looked woefully as if he wanted to cut and run. What is he doing here? His gaze caressed her, lingering disconcertedly at her neck. Wow, cut and run or caress, those are mixed signals for sure.
After a beat that perfectly illustrated his conflict, he abandoned his place in line and joined Cat in hers, ignoring the irritated glares of the customers behind them.
“Miss Temple. I understand you’ve been trying to contact me.”
“Mr. Brenner! You are a hard man to find.”
He dug his hands deep into his jeans pockets. “I’m a busy guy. In fact, I’m headed out of town on business now, won’t be back for quite a while.”
She cleared her throat and skittered her gaze away from midnight-blue eyes that read her mind. “Oh? Ah… You remember Maria,” she continued inanely.
“How could I forget?” He winked at Maria whose sudden blush gave color to her sickly pale face. “You don’t look as if you feel well, Mrs. Gonzalez. I know you weren’t wearing oxygen when we met.”
“Yes, you’re right. I became ill that night. The doctor thinks I have a little pneumonia.”
Matt watched her with true concern. “I’m sorry to hear that. Maybe, you should sit while we wait in line?” he suggested kindly, starting to guide her to the chairs lining the perimeter of the space.
“That might be best.” She took his arm. “I’m trying to get my strength back, and Catarina was so kind to bring me to the clinic today.” She leaned into him, looking paler by the moment. “Mija must be glad to see you. She’s talked about finding you since the night you met.”
He glanced at Cat, who tried in vain to suppress the sudden blush she felt climb up her neck and emblazon her face. His grin as he guided her friend toward the chairs told her he hadn’t missed it.
“Really? Well, she’s a persistent young woman.”
Unable to resist the conversation she could no longer hear, Cat joined them as he stooped to settle Maria’s oxygen next to her on the chair. “What are you two so cozy about?” she inquired over-brightly as she leaned down to her friend with a warning look.
* * * *
Matt always found it necessary to filter out information supplied by his vampire senses. If not, the deluge would overwhelm him, but some sounds were too hard-wired to his nervous system to ignore. The sound of a shotgun bolt being drawn back was one of them. He heard it before anyone else in the bank even realized there was a problem.
His voice dropped to a low growl as he spoke intensely to Cat, pulling Maria out of her chair and pushing them both toward the door. “I want you to get out of this bank right now.” Too late. Before he could propel them two more feet, the shouting began.
Matt zeroed in on the bank robbers at the teller’s window, noting the pallor on the teller’s face, the scent of adrenaline telegraphing her fear, her pounding heartbeat and the erratic ones of the two men in front of her. He heard the silent alarm, alerting the police, as the teller tried to pacify the men by putting money into the bag they shoved at her. The thieves were high as kites. The scents of meth and sweat diffused above them.
Matt realized with heartsick dread that the drug would escalate their desperation and recklessness. The tallest one, the one dancing from foot to foot, stroked the barrel of his shotgun, eyes wild as he glanced around. The teller pushed the bag toward his partner, hiccupping back tears, and without compunction, the animal leveled the barrel at her and shot. She crumpled.
“No more hiccups.” He turned to the crowd. “Anybody else got the hiccups?”
“Stay where you are!” the tall gunman shouted. “I’m gonna come around with a bag. I want all your money and jewelry right the fuck now!”
“No, man! C’mon, we gotta get outta here,” the second man protested, but was ignored.
The asshole was spoiling for a fight. If they weren’t all incredibly careful, someone else was going to wind up dead.
“Stay down,” Matt whispered to the women. “Keep your eyes down and give them whatever they ask for.”
One by one the gunmen came around, demanding money and jewelry from the terrified patrons. A wail of sirens in the background drew closer. The tall gunman sneered and turned on the crowd. He grabbed a young and pregnant mother, who protected a stunned little boy, to use as human shields.
“You’re coming with us!”
“Wait!” Matt’s voice was calm and commanding. “Take me instead.” He gestured at the mother and child. “They’ll only slow you down. They can’t run. Take me.”
“He’s right, she can’t run! Look at her!”
The gunman shoved the pregnant woman hard, sending her careening into a counter, and then down to the floor. Matt wanted to rip the guy’s head off, and without a crowd watching, it was exactly what he would have done.
“Get over here, then!” the gunman ordered Matt in a panic as the sirens drew nearer.
Matt walked toward the men, his arms raised in surrender. A loud burst of static from a bullhorn outside startled the robber and he fired. Matt’s body spun with the shot through his shoulder. He heard the ricochet, and the sound of a bullet hitting flesh, but he didn’t dare take his gaze off the gunmen to see who’d been hit. He simply prayed it wasn’t Cat.
“W…We gotta get outta here, man!” the second gunman stuttered. “The back door! You!” He grabbed the hapless bank manager by the collar. “Open it for us!”
Wild-eyed and out of control, he pushed the frightened man and Matt toward the back. They were past Cat and Maria, almost to the door. Matt willed them away from the terrified crowd of people, away from Cat. In the doorway, shielded from view, the panicky bank manager tried to delay them. The door was open. They had only a few feet to go when Cat let out a piercing scream. Matt closed his eyes with dread. Had she been hit? The hopped-up gunman beside Matt turned on her, millimeters from firing. Matt went feral with rage. Unable to stop it, he welcomed the vampire within with all its frightening physical manifestations. With his head down, he pushed the bank manager and lesser thug out the door and then slammed it hard, effectively locking them outside. He turned on the shooter with a snarl. In a frozen moment, he took the shotgun blast to his chest.
The currish gunman stood immobilized, a horrified stare in his eyes as Matt stalked toward him and grabbed the shotgun out of his now slack hands. Their gazes met over the weapon. Matt issued a low growl from the depths of his chest, and the thug silently pissed his pants.
Cat’s face reflected her stunned horror when Matt transformed. She sat frozen with fear, watching him coldcock the shooter, who now lay unconscious with a broken jaw. Blood pooled from Matt’s chest wound. He was still vamped out, head tilted to the sound of the approaching SWAT team.
He roared his contempt at the thug on the floor, and then turned to Cat. “Are you hurt?” He bent down beside her. She wonderingly touched his face as his features became human again.
“I’m okay, but you’re not. You’ve been shot. You’re bleeding.”
“It’s nothing, a flesh wound.”
“That can’t be…”
Her eyes were huge as she stared at him. He could sense hysteria rising in her. He had no choice but to thrall her. You’re calm, he thought urgently, mastering all his concentration in her direction. You saw the gunman shoot at me but miss. You’re concerned for Maria.
Cat turned immediately to Maria and began to cry. “We have to help her! She’s the one who was shot! We have to help her!”
Matt examined Maria, knowing before he reached her it was futile. He heard no pulse, no respirations. Half her brain lay on the floor. She was dead.
Cat knelt beside her friend, frantic. “We have to start CPR!”
“No, Cat.” Matt drew her into his arms and stood, removing her from Maria’s corpse. “She’s gone, baby. I’m sorry. There’s nothing you can do for her now.”
The wounded look she gave him was pathetic. “But…but she was getting better…she was getting well…”
“I know. Shush.” He rocked her in his arms. “I know.”
The SWAT team entered the bank ready for anything, only to find they had nothing left to do, except call the coroner and an ambulance for the gunman.
Uniforms, detectives and the CSI team followed next. “Get that moron out of here,” the lead detective ordered as SWAT cuffed the remaining robber. He’d given up without much of a fight. An ambulance took his unconscious cohort away for treatment. “Have the EMTs check the manager out, and then get his story.”
Statements were given by the witnesses and evidence was bagged. Matt flanked Cat, helpless to soothe her pain, but protective nonetheless. They sat on an EMT gurney, where Matt pulled a blanket around himself to conceal the quickly knitting hole in his chest.
The detective pressed Cat to repeat her statement, looking for inconsistencies. Matt set his jaw. “Release us and get that typed up.” He nodded at the detective’s notes. “She can come down to the station tomorrow and sign it.” The detective blanched at being directed. Head lifted, he started to reiterate his question. Matt’s patience snapped. “You have great tenacity, buddy, but a pathetic lack of compassion. Miss Temple witnessed two murders today. She’s had enough. We don’t need an inquisition.” He drew Cat closer, and she buried her face in the crook of his neck. He sensed her exhaustion and tears developing. “We’re done here.”
Grinding his teeth, the frustrated detective released them.
A squad car drove them to Matt’s condo, where the concierge studied them with concern as Matt carried a blood-splattered Cat inside.
“No visitors, except Mr. Hiatt, Barney.”
“Of course, sir.” The concierge bowed discretely.
Cat, coated with the blood of an innocent, lay in his arms shocked and unable to function. He released her into an overstuffed chair, and then shoved a glass with two fingers of whiskey into her hands.
“Drink this,” he ordered kindly.
She accepted the glass, and then stared down at the liquid as if she couldn’t imagine what to do with it. He tipped it up to her lips, and she obediently swallowed the fiery stuff. Matt hovered while she drank it all, and then carried her upstairs to the shower.
“Arms up,” Matt directed as he stripped off her clothes.
She mutely complied. Still fully dressed himself, Matt fought the urge to drag her to the floor and lick the clotted blood from her fingertips. He’d never be able to stop if he tried. Her luscious body caught the blood where it pooled in the shell of her ear, the crease of her eyelid. The sanguine invitation wasn’t lost on him, merely sublimated. He wouldn’t succumb to it today. The warm shower he drew her toward mercifully washed away the day’s violence. Once clean, he toweled her dry before he wrapped her in a robe.
“Will you be all right while I shower?” he asked, dripping rivers of bloody water over the cream-colored carpet. Cat nodded, shivering violently, though not from cold. “I’ll be right back.” He returned to the shower, wincing slightly as water hit his healing gunshot wounds.
Primal hunger prodded Matt. He urgently needed blood. Physical wounds increased his need one-hundred fold. Still, he pushed his craving aside until he was certain Cat was recovering. He was back to her in minutes, a robe fastened tightly in front of him, hiding the superficially knitted holes in his chest. She stared vacantly, but her heart beat steadily.
“Cat?” She looked up at him. “Let’s go downstairs. You need another drink,
and so do I.” She nodded and followed him.
The easy chair provided a haven for Cat while he prowled the kitchen. Pouring more whiskey for her, Matt glanced into the living room to make sure she couldn’t see him and then pulled a pint of blood from his refrigerator. Three grateful gulps of the life-giving liquid gave him a rush of fortitude and pain relief. He’d drink the rest slower when he could disguise his condition. Wiping traces of blood from his lips, he thought with relief that he’d gotten away with his taboo act. Matt poured the remainder into an opaque cup and then paused when he heard her gasp behind him. He turned to find her standing in the kitchen.
“You were drinking blood, weren’t you?”
His shoulders rose as he tucked his chin. He couldn’t look at her. “Yes.” His voice was deep and filled with the fear of rejection.
“You were shot back there at the bank.” It wasn’t a question. She knew.
“Yes.” He winced at the admission.
“You took the bullet meant for me.”
“Cat…” His voice was husky.
“You saved my life, and what I saw…it was real, wasn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“You are a vampire.” The words were simple and implacable.
He turned to face her, his fangs descended. He felt shaky and weak. God, he really needed more blood. “Yes.”
She walked into his arms and held him. “Thank you. Thank you for saving my life.”
Matt stood rigidly within Cat’s embrace, uneasily comprehending her gentle words. She caught him doing the second most intimate thing a vampire could do—feeding from a cup. Not nearly as visceral as tapping a vein, but damn, his bloodstained lips gave away what was on his menu. He admitted to her, hell, he showed her, he was a monster who lived off the blood and vital force of mortals, and she was…thanking him? He wasn’t thralling her. She wasn’t under the influence of his bite. She was just accepting him?
Cocooned in their moment of peace, it took him a few seconds to realize Cat was crying, dousing his chest with her tears. He consolingly wrapped his arms around her and held her in a secure embrace, rocking her. She is too young to be exposed to all this.
Blood Rising Page 6
