by I. T. Lucas
Pushing the back door open, she stepped out and inhaled the fresh air. That was another benefit of patrolling the parking lot. Several times a night, she got to get out of the club’s stifling interior with its amalgamation of smells, and just breathe.
As always, she headed first toward the alley between the club and the building to its right, where she had caught most of the offenders, human and immortal. And as always, she had to force herself to keep going despite a strong feeling of apprehension. It wasn’t that she was afraid for herself and her safety, but because she didn’t look forward to the confrontations.
Except, it was her job.
Sort of.
Wonder hadn’t been hired to police what happened outside the club, especially when it was done discreetly and didn’t cause a disturbance, but Wonder knew that she was the only defense the women had against overeager human males and immortals with murderous intentions.
That was what made it her job.
Thankfully, other than a couple of cats and several rats of the four-legged kind, the alley was deserted tonight.
Wonder sighed in relief, leaned against the club’s back wall, and got ready to get bored.
She observed a couple exit the club and head straight for their car. She chatted with a guy who went out to smoke. Then she watched with a bit of envy as a bunch of noisy girls spill out the back door and stand around, chatting excitedly for a few minutes before parting with hugs and kisses and promises of meeting again soon.
The girls seemed so carefree and cheerful. She was about the same age as them, but for some reason, she felt ancient in comparison. Her driver license said that she was twenty-two, but that was just a guess. She could be a little younger or much older that that.
Wonder was about to step inside when another couple came out, the woman laughing at something her exceptionally tall redheaded boyfriend had said.
Smiling, he lifted her hand and kissed the back of it, which caused the woman to giggle again.
The guy had a nice smile. Open. Friendly.
As the breeze picked up, Wonder caught his smell. It wasn’t one of those complicated perfume scents many of the men wore, but a simple one, clean and masculine.
As if sensing she was watching him, he turned to look at her over the top of his girlfriend’s head, then frowned.
What was his problem? Was he upset that she was looking at him?
Then his eyes traveled down and stopped at her chest.
So he was one of those rude guys who shamelessly ogled women.
Narrowing her eyes, Wonder crossed her arms over her chest.
But when he lifted his head, smiled, and gave her a two-fingered salute, she realized he hadn’t been looking at her chest but at what was written on her T-shirt—the club’s name and the word bouncer.
Was he a bouncer too? Or maybe a policeman?
As it turned out, he was neither.
When the couple walked by her, Wonder felt the small hairs on the back of her neck tingle.
She was sensing his otherness.
The guy was an immortal.
Another killer like the three she had already caught.
A profound sense of disappointment washed over her. The guy had seemed so nice.
It was like Baron the bartender used to say, most often the worst of scum didn’t look like the villains in movies, but like guys a girl would consider going on a date with. That was how they lured their victims in.
Well, not tonight, and not on her watch.
The redhead was going down.
16
Anandur
The bouncer was a knockout.
If she weren’t so damn young, and if Anandur hadn’t left the club with another woman, he would have hit on that Amazon beauty like a freighter and charmed the pants off of her.
The first thing he’d noticed was her height. She was tall and solidly built, which a guy his size appreciated in a woman, and she was also generously endowed, which he liked too. A lot. But her most striking feature were her jade eyes. The unique color and the intensity of her gaze were so entrancing that Anandur had a hard time looking away.
And she was a bouncer—a fellow law enforcer of sorts.
Offering her a two-fingered salute, Anandur forced a smile and returned his attention to the woman he had invited for a quickie.
Damn it.
After seeing the bouncer, his appetite for what-was-her name had vanished. Was it Rosie? Shame on him, he should at least know the first name of a woman he was about to fuck into an orgasm or two.
But he couldn’t back down now. He’d promised her a good time, and Anandur always kept his promises.
If only the bouncer were a bit older, he could’ve closed his eyes and pretended that it was her instead of Rosie or whatever her name was, but he had a rule about girls twenty-one and younger, and that included fantasizing about them.
He would feel like a damn pedophile if he imagined shagging the pretty bouncer against the wall.
According to the law of the land, she was most likely legal, after all, no one would have hired a girl under eighteen for a bouncer job. In fact, she probably had to be twenty-one to work in a club that served alcohol. But she wasn’t according to his.
It might have not seemed like it to his buddies, but Anandur had standards. They were just different than those of his fellow Guardians. Even for a casual shag, he preferred a pleasant personality to good looks, and life experience to a youthful face. Size mattered too.
No dainty little things for him.
Even though he was always mindful of his size and his strength and tried to be as gentle as he could, he didn’t want to risk hurting a girl unintentionally.
“Oh, Darren,” the woman whispered as he cupped her breast through her shirt.
“It’s Anandur, sweetheart.” He pushed her shirt up and her bra down.
“Sorry about that.” She giggled. “I’m a little tipsy.”
“It’s okay, darling. I don’t mind.” Especially since he couldn’t remember her name no matter how much he strained his noggin.
Whatever, it wasn’t important. He could get away with using endearments.
“Oh, yes!” The woman moaned as he latched onto her nipple.
Thumbing the other one, Anandur closed his eyes, but as soon as he did, he saw the bouncer’s intense gaze boring down into his soul. It was like the image of those jade eyes had been burned into his retinas, and no amount of willpower was going to eradicate it.
Fuck.
Just this once, he would allow himself to fantasize being with the young bouncer. Otherwise, he would have to go back on his promise to Rosie because this was the only way he could do right by the woman he’d propositioned.
After all, going back on his word was a much worse offense than a little harmless fantasy, right?
Damn it. This had nothing to do with right or wrong. He was just looking for an excuse to bend his own rules. Even if the bouncer were older, thinking about her while with another was a rotten thing to do.
Opening his eyes, Anandur pushed the woman’s pants down and cupped her sex.
She moaned, gyrating her hips to get the friction she needed.
Already turned on by his sexy talk and roaming hands on the dance floor, Rosie climaxed as soon as he drove two fingers inside her.
Good girl. He loved it when nearly no foreplay was needed. Shagging random strangers was a necessity, as was reaching climax and biting, but it didn’t mean he wanted to prolong the act.
The last time Anandur had taken his time was with Lana, at first because it had been his job to get her talking about Alex, and later because he’d grown fond of her. That had been the closest he’d ever come to having a romantic relationship with a woman.
Funny how everyone thought he was such a big romantic. He was just a guy who liked a good love story with a happy ending. Regrettably, though, reality precluded him from being part of one.
All he had were countless encounters like this one.
It was time to wrap things up. He needed to put the woman under a thrall before penetrating her without the protection she believed necessary but wasn’t. As an immortal male, he didn’t carry or transmit diseases, and the chances of him getting her pregnant were practically nonexistent.
Having done so thousands of times before, it required very little concentration on his part. He could do it on autopilot, which was lucky because his ability to navigate his own mind, let alone his partner’s, was compromised. Blocking thoughts of the bouncer was putting a strain on his mental powers, which weren’t the strongest to begin with. Even with all his faculties intact, his mind-manipulating ability was mediocre at best.
As he freed his shaft and drove it home, the woman groaned in pleasure, which meant that his thrall had worked, or maybe that she was too out of it to notice he had entered her bareback.
When she climaxed again, Anandur wasn’t anywhere near orgasming, but he knew he would be the moment he bit her. That was the way his body was programmed, and for once he was thankful for it. With his promise fulfilled, he would escort the woman back to the club, and then get the hell out of there.
17
Wonder
Her sneakers soundless on the pavement, Wonder crept toward the back alley, well aware that the male might hear her despite her best efforts at a stealthy approach. Immortals had superior senses.
Luckily, the woman was making enough noise to drown out a stomping elephant.
Hiding behind the corner of the building, Wonder listened, peeking only occasionally to check for the appearance of fangs. The guy wasn’t making any sounds, but the woman more than compensated with her throaty moans and groans.
At least it sounded like she was having a good time, which hadn’t been the case with the victims of the other three Wonder had caught.
The girls they had been with started out like the woman in the alley, but their enjoyment had been short-lived, and the sounds of pleasure had quickly turned to sounds of distress. Those hadn’t lasted long either. With a thrall, the immortals had silenced their protests and then bitten them right away.
This guy was taking his time with the woman. Perhaps he wasn’t like the others, and this was consensual sex between adults, one of whom happened to be an immortal male, and the other a human female who seemed to be in her mid-thirties or older.
Nevertheless, Wonder needed to make sure no harm was done to the woman.
Except, listening to the sounds of passion wrested a most inappropriate response out of her.
Just as it had happened when she’d caught Grud, witnessing the encounter aroused her. But this time it was much worse. That first time her arousal had been mild, more of a curiosity really. This time it gripped her full force.
It was so wrong.
She should not feel that way at a potential murder scene. In fact, she shouldn’t get excited at all while spying on other people’s intimate moments.
It was creepy.
What did Natasha call someone who acted like that? A Peeping Tom?
Yeah, Wonder was exactly like that Tom person, whoever he was.
Except, what choice did she have?
She couldn’t leave without making sure that nothing nefarious was going on, and she couldn’t Taser the redhead’s ass without proper cause either.
Wonder was stuck listening to another woman orgasming and trying to imagine how it felt. She didn’t know whether she’d ever had sex before her memory loss, let alone if she’d enjoyed it. For all intents and purposes, she was a virgin.
It was torture.
Upon hearing the woman climax again, Wonder peeked from behind the corner, not because there was cause for alarm, but because she wanted to see the expressions on the couple’s faces. Would they look euphoric? Ecstatic? Replete?
The woman’s expression was exactly what she had imagined it would be, but the male’s was not.
With his fangs fully extended, he looked terrifying.
Gods, she’d been so stupid thinking this was just about pleasure. Apparently, sex between an immortal male and a human female was always deadly to the human.
It was so incredibly evil.
If the males couldn’t refrain from biting, they should stick to their own species. Immortal females could handle it. Maybe they even enjoyed it.
If there were communities of immortals out there, then for sure they had laws against killing innocents. The three she’d caught before, and now this one, were probably renegades, outcasts, marauders who preyed on human females.
She was doing the world a favor by eliminating these predators.
Wonder pulled out her gun, aimed, and fired.
As the male collapsed in a twitching heap on the ground, the woman screamed. Unlike the other three, she wasn’t as out of it because she hadn’t been bitten yet. The poor thing thought someone was attacking her lover.
Wonder was on her in a blink of an eye, pushing a hard thrall into her brain to silence her up. It was a hatchet job that would leave a big hole in the woman’s memory, but Wonder didn’t have the luxury of taking her time with a delicate erase.
When she was done, she helped the dazed woman to hurriedly straighten her clothes and sent her back to the club.
The big redhead was still twitching like crazy, but he was fighting it with all his might. “Sorry about that, but you left me no choice,” she said before lifting her arm and slamming the butt of her Taser gun on the back of his head.
Lights out, buddy.
Except, it wouldn’t last long. Immortals recovered rapidly. Taking her pocket knife out, she quickly cut off his clothes, took off his shoes and socks and then stuffed everything under the dumpster for later retrieval. With a grunt, she hefted the big guy over her shoulder and carried him to her car.
He must’ve weighed over two hundred and fifty pounds, all of it solid muscle. If this one woke up before she locked him in a cage, she would be in big trouble. Wonder suspected that her strength was no match for his.
As she had done with the others, Wonder opened the trunk, dumped him inside, and delivered another blow to the back of his head. That should do it until she reached the facility and locked him in a cage. The place was only five minutes’ drive away. She could dump him and be back at the club before anyone noticed she was gone.
18
Ruth
“You don’t have to do this,” Ruth said as Nick grabbed a rag and started wiping a table.
Done with the first one, he tackled the next. “The faster this is done, the sooner I can get you out of here. And where is Jackson? Isn’t he supposed to be here at closing time and help you guys clean up?”
“Jackson opened up this morning, so it’s my turn to close up. He and Tessa went to the movies.” Ruth took down an empty basket off the shelf and shook it upside down over the plastic tub she’d put on the counter.
“Which one?”
“Incredibles 2.” Ruth chuckled. “I think that they are a little too old for animated movies, but what do I know?”
Rag in hand, Nick straightened. “Are you kidding me? The first Incredibles was one of the best animated movies ever. Don’t tell me you didn’t see it.”
Of course she had. Sylvia was a teenager when it had come out, and the two of them went to see it as soon as it did.
“I saw it. It was fun. I especially liked the baby, Jack-Jack.”
“Don’t you want to see the sequel?”
She took another basket off the shelf. “Usually the sequel is not as good as the original.”
“Not this time, baby. Critics and audiences love it.” He tucked the rag under his belt and sauntered closer. “Come on.” He pulled her into his arms. “What say you? We can go see it tonight.”
“Yeah, sure. If you really want to.” She pushed on his chest and turned around to take another basket off the shelf.
Nick remained in the same spot. “Why do you always do that? Does my breath stink?”
Shit. “No, it’s not that. I ju
st want to be done with the cleanup so we can go.”
Nick blew into his palm. “Are you sure it’s not my breath? I ate all the leftover potato salad, and it tasted kind of funny.”
He was adorable, really. Was he doing it for her? To get her off the hook? Or had he regretted putting her on the spot and was trying to cover it up?
In either case, it was sweet of him, and Ruth felt like an ass for pushing him away. It was an instinctive response. She had no control over it.
“Can you check show times while I finish cleaning the baskets?” she asked to change the subject.
“Sure.” Nick pulled out his phone. “How about IMAX at ten-fifteen?” he asked after a couple of moments. “Or is that too late for you? I know you have to get up early.”
“It’s fine.” Ruth didn’t need more than four hours’ sleep. It was pretty standard for an immortal, but for a human it was on the extreme end of the spectrum.
Nick leaned against the counter and crossed his feet at the ankles. “That leaves us almost two hours to snog.” He winked at her as if he meant it as a joke.
Except, Ruth had a feeling it was his way of letting her decide if she wanted to take him seriously or not.
They kissed a lot, and it was more than pleasant, but she could never really relax into it because she was stressing about him wanting more. It was a nasty cycle that she was getting sick of but didn’t know how to stop.
Maybe the best thing was to just let it happen.
Forcing a smile, she pointed at the back of the café. “That’s a good spot for snogging. Why don’t you take a seat, and I’ll see if the girls are done in the kitchen and send them home.”
A big grin split his handsome boyish face. “I’ll be waiting right over there.” He pointed at the last booth.
They were only going to kiss, that’s all. Her stomach had no reason to do flips and her mouth had no business getting dry.
