NOCB 064 - Patti O'Shea - Shadow's Caress

by Nocturne

  She couldn’t let the way she responded to him sway her into doing something stupid. “Look, I’d like to help you, but I can’t. I have my own problem to deal with.” Problem—that was an understatement.

  “I know.” He gave her another squeeze. “But if we work together, we can solve both our difficulties.”

  Cass put her hand back on the steering wheel and steeled herself against Malachi’s touch. “That sounds good in theory, but aside from pushing me to the ground, how can you help me?”

  “For a start, I know why they want you dead.”

  That stunned her enough that Cass nearly missed the light going yellow. She slammed on the brakes and gaped at him. His expression was serious, his blue eyes urged her to trust him, and she wanted to. Wearing faded jeans and a black T-shirt, he looked like some guy her own age, but appearances were deceiving. Malachi wasn’t twentysomething, he was a vampire, and for all she knew, he might be thousands of years old.

  “How can you have that information?”

  “I walked into their headquarters and searched for everything I could find about you.” When she didn’t reply he added, “You’re the only one who can see me, remember?”

  His fingers moved higher on her thigh, and if Cass didn’t need to keep her foot on the brake, she would have let her legs fall open to give him more room. She was such a sap. Malachi was trying to divert her…and was succeeding. Reaching down, she grabbed his hand and put it back at her knee.

  “If you want me to believe you, don’t use my attraction to you against me.”

  It wasn’t as if she could deny what he did to her. Every time he’d touched her over the last four days, she responded. He’d have to be a complete moron not to register that.

  “That wasn’t my intent. And the need goes both ways, don’t doubt that.”

  “Because you haven’t had sex in two years.”

  The light turned green and Cass was grateful for the distraction. His gaze had made her feel vulnerable.

  Malachi took his hand off her leg and crossed his arms over his chest. “I could have stopped you that day, you know. Vampires are much faster than any human. Much stronger, too. If I’d reacted as soon as I awoke, you wouldn’t have stood a chance. But when my eyes opened, they met yours and the surge of desire was powerful enough to blind me to your intent. By the time I saw the stake, it was too late to grab it.”

  Unsure what to say to that, Cass kept quiet. She wanted to believe him—maybe a little too much—and that made her wary. “Why did you want information about me?” she asked softly.

  “Because you’re the one who staked me, only you can pull it out and return me to my life.”

  Her brain struggled to process what he said and what, exactly, it meant. “What if someone else removes it?”

  “I remain in limbo.” Malachi started to reach toward her, but brought his arm back before making contact. “I loathe limbo. Imagine being surrounded—humans or vampires, it makes no difference—and yet no one hears you or sees you. Imagine having no one to talk to, no one to touch or who touches you in return. It’s a lonely, empty existence.”

  His voice sounded choked and Cass put her hand on his knee, giving him the same reassuring squeeze he’d given her. It would be a nightmare to be that alone. “So,” she said, clearing her throat, “why do my former bosses want me dead?”

  The silence would have unnerved her except that he put his hand over hers and laced their fingers. It was a few minutes before he said, “They’re aware that you didn’t behead the vampires you were assigned to take down. Don’t ask me how they found out, that I don’t know. They don’t want to chance you restoring any of us to our lives and the easiest solution is to kill you.”

  Cass mulled it over and another option came to mind. “The hunters could dig up the vampires and behead them. They know where the bodies are buried.”

  “No, they don’t.” He must have sensed her confusion because he explained, “I destroyed all the files about your jobs, including the location of the graves.”

  He didn’t say more and she glanced briefly at him. The tilt of his lips was totally smug male. Cass almost hated to burst his balloon. “They’ll know the general areas where I left the vampires even if they don’t have a precise map.”

  “How could they?”

  “Hunters don’t dig the holes themselves, there were men who did that for us. All the bosses need to do is identify the spots that were used while I worked for them.”

  “That still leaves a lot of ground for them to cover and would waste time and resources. It’s easier to kill you.”

  “Yeah,” she agreed glumly. “I’m blaming you for that.”

  “I am sorry.” Malachi brushed his thumb across the palm of her hand, sending warm shivers through her again and Cass gave up fighting the sensations. Didn’t it figure? The first guy to interest in her months and he was a sort-of ghost.

  And she was an idiot. Cass worked on tamping down her attraction. She had men after her who wanted her dead and it wasn’t only to keep her from pulling out a few stakes. No, killing her served as a lesson to other hunters—do your job right or suffer the consequences.

  Panic threatened to take hold again and Cass drew deep breaths. She needed control or she’d die sooner rather than later.

  But Malachi had said they could help each other. “Okay, I get what I can do for you. How can you help me?”

  “Dig me up, remove the stake and I’ll be a vampire once more. That will allow me guard you until they decide it isn’t worth the effort to murder you.”

  Nice and logical, but he’d missed an important fact. “You might become a vampire again, but these guys kill vampires and they’ll take you out if that’s what they have to do to get to me. I thought I’d killed you once, I don’t think I could deal with being responsible for your death a second time.”

  But it wasn’t only that. If she pulled the stake, it became personal. Killing her would become a crusade. Sure, she might return Malachi to his life as a vampire, but the hunters would take it as her declaration of war.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Malachi shrugged off his disappointment. He’d never expected Cass to agree immediately to pull out the stake. Hoped, yes, but it was enough right now that she could see and hear him. There was time to convince her.

  “Where are we going?” He’d asked the question earlier, but she’d never answered.

  “I don’t know. It’s harder to hit a moving target, right?”

  He grimaced. That’s what he’d feared, that she had no one to turn to for help. He’d do everything possible to protect her, but as a shade, his options were limited. Where could he suggest they go that would be safe for her?

  Shifting in his seat, Malachi studied Cass. Her dark hair was short, messed up by the wind and by the way she occasionally ran a hand through it. She wore thick black-and-white bracelets to go with her 80s-style clothing and it underlined how delicate she was. Cass wasn’t fragile, though, and he had the stake in his physical body to prove it.

  Her toughness didn’t matter. He wanted to take care of her, defend her, shield her from all that was bad. Not because she was his only hope of regaining his life, but because she was Cass.

  One side of his mouth curved. Cass Lanier was fun, full of life, and she made him feel real, engaged with the world, and she made him care. All things he hadn’t experienced since becoming a shade. He liked her. Too much.

  And he desired her too much as well. She’d be called cute rather than beautiful, but to him, no woman was sexier. His need went beyond her appearance.

  His grandmother had claimed he’d been born with a touch of the sight, that he would simply know things. She’d been right and he hadn’t lost it when he’d become a vampire. It was the knowing that had prevented him from taking action the day Cass had staked him. As his gaze had met hers, Malachi had recognized her as his destiny and the shock had paralyzed him. He hated the term soul mate, but the sense of connection he felt to her�
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  An unfamiliar sound stopped him midthought. Malachi tried to decipher what it was and where it came from, but it ended before he identified it. Whisper-soft, too quiet for Cass or any other human to hear, but it left him uneasy.

  “You’re frowning,” Cass said.

  “Just thinking.” If that sound was something to worry about, he’d tell her when he knew more.

  She glanced at him. “About what?”

  “Safe places for us to hide.” It wasn’t a lie; he had thought about it for a moment before he’d lost himself in his fascination with her.

  “You mean where I can hide.”

  “And me. I won’t leave you alone.” That surprised a quick peek from her. Malachi read awareness of him in Cass’s gaze—and her uneasiness with what was growing between them. Keeping his voice conversational, he added, “If anything happens to you, I’m trapped in a world without human or vampire contact of any kind. Being isolated—it’s worse than death could possibly be.”

  “I’m sor—”

  Malachi held up a hand to stop her. “There’s no reason to apologize. It’s done.”

  The sound came a second time, jerking Malachi’s attention from the conversation. Something electronic? Again, it didn’t last long enough for him to figure out what it was.

  “Your frown’s become a scowl.”

  He nearly cursed because he knew Cass believed he hadn’t forgiven her for staking him. “Because our options are limited on where to go. You’re a known vampire hunter.”

  “Former hunter.”

  “That won’t matter.” His clan lord had ordered that no one hunt the hunters, but if Cass showed up on anyone’s doorstep, killing her would be deemed self-defense. He needed someone who would give her a chance to talk.

  “You can’t come up with anywhere?” Her voice held more resignation than question and it was only then that Malachi realized how much she’d been counting on him being able to provide her with a safe haven.

  Shifting in his seat to see her more clearly, he said, “There are two possibilities. I’m merely trying to decide which one is the best choice.”

  Jet or Laurent—both men would allow her to explain. But Jet had a way with human women and Malachi wasn’t letting his friend near Cass. Laurent, then. Once convinced of the truth, he’d fight to defend her almost as fiercely as Malachi would himself.

  The mystery tone sounded again, but his attention was captured by the motion he discerned in his peripheral vision. Through the back window, he watched a pickup truck come up behind them on the street, fast. Too fast. Same color as the one—

  The traffic light turned yellow and Cass began to slow. “No. Floor it.” She hesitated. “Now!”

  “Wha—?”

  He moved, putting his foot on top of the accelerator and pressing hard. The car shot into the intersection on the red. Cass didn’t stomp on the brake. Instead, she steered, avoiding the car coming on the cross street by inches. More than one horn blared, but Malachi didn’t ease up on the pedal.

  “Are you trying to kill me?” Cass didn’t quite yell, but it was a near thing.

  “Look in the rearview mirror and tell me what you see.”

  She muttered one pithy word. “It can’t be the same pickup. We haven’t been tailed, and in a city the size of L.A., the odds of them accidentally finding us are minuscule.”

  But even as she was speaking, Cass put her foot on the gas pedal next to his. Satisfied that she wouldn’t slow, he pulled back to his side of the car and turned to check on their pursuers. The red light and traffic at the intersection had impeded the truck, but it was free now and attempting to make up ground.

  As a shade, Malachi had lost some of his vampire abilities, but he still had his enhanced senses. He could see the men in the truck despite the distance between the two vehicles. “It’s them,” he assured her. “Try to lose them.”

  “How am I supposed to do that?”

  “Make random turns or something.” The car’s speed decreased and the pickup closed the gap. “Keep moving!”

  “I can’t turn going this fast.”

  True, but they’d shot at her with a semiautomatic weapon earlier tonight and Malachi didn’t want Cass within range of that again. “Go through another light. That should give you time to slow and make a few turns.”

  She nodded, but she didn’t look away from the road. Her body was rigid, her knuckles white where they gripped the steering wheel, and Malachi wished he could do more than sit. This was his Cass under threat and he was useless. Another reason to hate being a shadow.

  The hushed sound from earlier filled the sedan, but Malachi ignored it. Ahead, the traffic light had gone yellow. Cass swerved around the car in front of them and blasted into the intersection.

  More horns, but no near misses.

  By the time the pickup truck reached the light, cars were moving on the cross street, holding it back. “They’re stuck. This should buy us a minute or two.”

  Cass hung a right at the next corner. She continued maneuvering through the streets until they reached the road they’d been on previously, but a good half a mile from where they’d turned off. Making a left when the light became green, she headed in the opposite direction from their original course.

  Malachi faced forward and smiled. Smart choice. Their pursuers might not consider that they’d doubled back, and even if it did occur to them, he and Cass should be long gone by then.

  “We’ll head to Laurent’s home. He’s a friend of mine and I trust him.” His smile faded. A man should be able to protect those he cared for and Malachi couldn’t, not as a shade.

  “Okay,” she said.

  That easy acceptance improved his mood. Maybe Cass was simply desperate, but he preferred to believe she trusted him, that she shared the same sense of belonging that he felt.

  He started to give her directions, but that electronic tone stopped him midsentence. This time it was enough to make the hair on his nape stand on end.

  “What? Come on, give. Something is going on and I need to know everything you do.”

  Maybe she did. “There’s a noise in the car. I’ve been unable to identify it, but it comes at regular intervals and that bothers me.”

  “Crap, my engine has more wrong than the police officer said, doesn’t it? This is all I need on top of being chased by—”

  “No. It’s something else, not the car itself.” An itch began between his shoulder blades. He didn’t know why his instincts were emitting warning signals, but he wouldn’t discount them. “Turn off this street and avoid the major roads.”

  She didn’t argue. She didn’t ask questions. She simply moved into the right lane and did as he’d said. “Something’s off.” Cass held out her arm. “I have goose bumps.”

  “I feel it, too.” Malachi put his hand on her leg and gently rubbed her thigh. “Don’t stop or slow.”

  “I don’t plan on it.” Cass gave his forearm a light caress. Her touch was fleeting, a mere brush of her fingertips, but it sent shock waves coursing through him.

  At least until that electronic hum interrupted. The sound was dissonant enough to drive the pleasure from him. This time he narrowed it down to the front seat. Malachi eyed Cass’s purse where it rested atop the transmission tunnel, but it was zipped shut. “What do you have in your bag?”

  “I don’t know. Stuff.” Cass shrugged. “You’re not thinking the noise is in my purse, are you?”

  “Possibly. Would—” Cass’s heated curse interrupted him. “What?”

  “I think our friends are back.”

  Malachi turned to look out the rear window. “It’s them,” he confirmed.

  “They shouldn’t have been able to find us this easily.”

  She was right about that. Cass had done a brilliant job after running that light. This was the second time the hunters had overcome the odds and located them. It shouldn’t have happened.

  As if on cue, that hum came and Malachi jerked. Realization dawned. “They
’ve got a tracking device on the car. That has to be the sound I’m hearing—the GPS being pinged.”

  Cass skidded through a turn, the tires squealing. “Why would they put a bug on my car? They know where I work and where I live. It’s not exactly like I’ve been hiding in the L.A. underground or something.”

  The point was valid, but it was the only thing that made sense. A decrepit-looking van pulled in front of them. Malachi braced himself, but Cass avoided a collision.

  “Is that idiot talking on his cell phone?” She sounded angry.

  Malachi shifted his focus from the pickup to the van before his brain made the connection. “Your phone.”

  “What about it?”

  “Cell phones can be located by pinging them and tracking via GPS. The vampire hunters didn’t have to put a bug on your car, they’re following your phone.”

  “Providers don’t ping just because someone asks them to.”

  “No,” he agreed, “but what if the request came from someone on their payroll who works for the police? Or what if the hunters have someone in their pocket who’s part of the phone company?”

  Another turn took them into an area filled with warehouses and with very little traffic. It made it easier for Cass to drive.

  And easier for the hunters to kill her without witnesses.

  Malachi reached for her purse, opened it and dug around until he found her phone. Cass swore again, this time at him, but he ignored it. There wasn’t time to worry about things like privacy and asking politely. He needed confirmation and the next ping was due shortly.

  He didn’t have time to take it out of the case, but it didn’t matter. His sense of touch was as highly developed as his hearing and vision. He felt the sound in his fingertips.

  “I was right. It’s your phone. We’ll have to toss it.”

  “What?” Cass didn’t exactly shriek the word, but it was close. “You can’t throw my phone away. Turn it off.”