Temptation Calls

by Caridad Piñeiro

  “I don’t like the idea of you being alone here, but I need to get to work,” he said, shooting a quick glance at his watch.

  “If it’ll make you feel better, I can head to Ricardo’s,” she offered.

  “Ricardo, huh?” Peter shoved his hands into his pockets and jingled the change there.

  It took her a second to realize he was jealous. “Ricardo is just a friend. Nothing else.”

  “He’s a good-looking guy,” Peter said.

  She reached up, ran her hand across the blush of color in his cheeks. “He is handsome, don’t you think?” she teased, but quickly added, “My interests, however, lie elsewhere. As do Ricardo’s, I think.”

  His uncertainty fled. He twined his fingers with hers. “Really?”

  Samantha nodded. “A young nurse whose mother Ricardo was trying to heal.”

  “Heal? Do you really—”

  “Ricardo is truly gifted, Peter. It’s how he sensed what I was. His interest in the nurse is the second reason why there can never be anything between us.”

  “Second reason?” he asked. “And what’s the first?”

  “Silly boy.” She raised on her tiptoes and brushed a kiss on his lips. “You’re reason number one.”

  Against her lips, she felt him smile. After a long and intense kiss, he said, “I’ll walk you down.”

  “I’d appreciate that.”

  Chapter 27

  B lake held Meghan close, trying to offer comfort as Diego’s screams pierced the quiet of the early morning. Her body shuddered with each scream. Eventually, Diego grew silent, which only seemed to upset her more.

  “It’ll be okay,” Blake said and rubbed her naked back in an effort to reassure her.

  “I didn’t think they’d be able to capture him,” she said softly.

  He pulled away to look down at her. “You told them where to find him?”

  Meghan’s large green eyes swam with tears. “I was sure Diego could help us. That he’d be able to get away from them and find out where we were.”

  “Shit.” Blake shook his head, imagining Diego’s wrath. First, Blake had betrayed him by naming Esperanza and Samantha in the hopes that Diego would act to find them. And now Meghan’s betrayal.

  If the old professor didn’t kill them all, there was no question in Blake’s mind that Diego would seek vengeance. But he wouldn’t let Diego hurt Meghan, no matter what it took.

  “Good morning,” said the old professor, his tone unctuous and triumphant. “Your friend is magnificent.”

  The professor’s normally tidy person was marred by flecks of blood on his white shirt and tweed vest. Behind him, looking a little pale and bearing a Taser, was one of his goons. The bigger man’s jeans and khaki T-shirt were also splattered with blood, but there was a lot more of it.

  They’d obviously inflicted a lot of damage on Diego. If he was that badly injured, the likelihood of them getting free…

  “What do you want?” Blake shouted from his corner of the cell.

  “Why you two, of course. Your friend needs a little sustenance,” the sick old man said.

  Meghan grew more agitated. He tried his best to calm her. “Sshh, Megs. Don’t worry.”

  “Oh, but she should. Diego said he’d drain her dry for betraying him.” The professor turned to his assistant. “Bind them and bring them into the other cell.”

  “No,” Meghan wailed, pulling out of his arms and racing to the opposite side of the cell.

  The assistant fired the Taser at her first.

  As her body jerked and shook, Blake ripped the electrodes from her body. She was slack when she fell into his arms.

  “There’s no need for that,” he called out, rocking her like a baby.

  The old man seemed to recognize the truth of Blake’s words. Holding his hand out to his assistant, he snapped his fingers. “The manacles.”

  The assistant handed them to the professor, who then tossed them to Blake. “Chain her. Then come here to be bound.”

  Blake picked up the hardened steel chain and cuffs, and gently eased them over Meghan’s wrists. There were still bruises from the last time she’d been cuffed, a testament to the fact that she was still not up to full strength, even with the blood bags the professor had provided.

  After she was chained, he gently laid her on the ground, walked over to the bars of the cell and held his hands out to be cuffed. A few bruises marked his wrists as well, which worried him. In any state other than the height of his strength, he doubted he could defend himself and Meghan against Diego.

  Diego was just too strong. But if the blood on the two humans was a sign, Diego might be badly injured.

  Which brought relief, and despair.

  They had both hoped Diego would save them.

  But Samantha was still free. She might be able to find a way to help.

  He flinched as the cuffs were locked around his wrists and the assistant, apparently just because he could, gave him a small zap with the cattle prod. The charge was enough to weaken Blake’s knees. He had to grab the bars of the cell to keep from falling down.

  The assistant smiled and was about to do it again when the professor restrained him. “Enough. We need him to carry the female into the other room.”

  “This one’s cocky. I don’t trust him not to try anything,” he replied, but did as the old man asked.

  Blake took in a deep breath or two, summoning all his strength to walk back to where Meghan lay huddled on the ground. But as he reached for her, she feebly pushed herself into the corner, shaking and crying.

  “He’ll kill me, Blake. He’ll kill me,” she repeated over and over.

  He laid a hand on her shoulder. “He won’t. Trust me. I’ll protect you.”

  “How touching,” the old man said cynically and clapped, as distant to their emotions as if he was watching a movie or a television show.

  Blake wanted to lash out at him, but he’d learned quickly that it would accomplish nothing. So he picked up Meghan. She didn’t fight him. Instead, she grabbed hold of his shoulders and laid her head on his naked chest.

  Her grip was weak. If Diego did attack her…

  He forced such thoughts from his mind and carried her to the door of the cell. It opened as he neared and the two men stepped to the side to allow him to walk into the large adjacent room where they had first tortured him and Meghan.

  Blake could not have imagined what awaited them.

  Diego was not chained to the hooks in the cement wall mainly because there weren’t any hooks in the wall anymore. He was lashed with several chains to a large support beam in the center of the room. His head hung down loosely. There were an assortment of marks on his body, but no blood.

  A few feet away, where the hooks used to be, lay the body of the professor’s other assistant, his throat ripped out. There was a puddle of blood on the floor and Blake’s stomach rumbled in hunger.

  The old man must have heard since he said, “Go ahead, my boy. Feed yourself. Feed your little friend and of course, Diego. He’ll need a little something for what I have planned.”

  With those words and a shove, the two men locked the door of the room.

  At the sound, Diego finally roused. Slowly he picked up his head. His eyes began to glow brightly as he said, “Blake. You’re a dead man.”

  Peter shook hands with David Harris, Diana’s partner, who then introduced Maggie Gonzalez, a physician and sometime assistant foren
sic specialist for the FBI.

  He had not met Maggie during the course of either the Williams investigation or the more recent problems with Melissa Danvers. He would remember if he had. She was a stunning woman. Tall and auburn-haired with a slim athletic build. Her face was classically beautiful and yet, she didn’t move him in the way that Samantha did.

  “It’s nice to finally meet you,” Maggie said. “Diana speaks quite well of you.”

  “The same for you. I want to thank you for helping us.”

  David and Maggie sat down across from him at the conference room table and it was then Peter noticed the connection between them that they were obviously trying to ignore. He didn’t have time to think on it further before Diana joined them.

  “David. Were you able to get any information from your friend?” she asked.

  “Actually, no, but by not getting information, I got information.”

  “Meaning?” Peter asked.

  “My contact at the National Security Agency said that the heat has been on ever since Sloan was presumed dead. Apparently, the higher-ups don’t look too kindly on ex-operatives dying under unusual circumstances, especially at one of their old safehouses.”

  “Which means?” Diana asked.

  David clasped his hands together. “He wanted to know why I needed information on two ex-agents who used to work with Sloan.”

  Peter was taken aback by what he was hearing. “The fingerprints belonged to ex-NSA agents?”

  David nodded. “Not only ex-NSA, but on Sloan’s team in 2003. They were working together to gather information on the possibility of a super-soldier unit. Like Sloan, they were terminated because the NSA believed they had become an unnecessary risk.”

  “And now they’ve become our unnecessary risk?” Peter jumped in with some exasperation. “This is one too many coincidences. The description of our culprit. Sloan’s ex-colleagues involvement. The profile of the missing—”

  “People,” Diana said and shot him a warning look.

  He’d been about to say vampires. The two agents sitting across from him had no clue as to the real reasons for their investigations.

  “The evidence from the victim points to similarities between where she was taken and the area near the safehouse where Sloan was killed—” Maggie added.

  “Presumably killed. The NSA isn’t listing him as dead without a body,” David corrected.

  “Why does everything point back to Sloan?” Peter asked.

  “David provided me with the information we had on Sloan. As sick as he was, it’s unlikely he’s still alive only…” Maggie paused and glanced at them uneasily. “The evidence you brought me included Sloan’s fingerprint.”

  Diana laid her hands on the table and stared at her two friends. “If I’m hearing you both correctly, you think Sloan is still alive.”

  Maggie and David shot a look at one another before Maggie nodded. “Yes. I don’t know how, but it seems possible. And, as I was saying, based on the evidence from the last victim, the culprit is taking them to a rural location. Near some woods. Probably with a lake or other body of water nearby.”

  “How do you know that?” Peter questioned.

  “Minute traces of goose droppings as well as other detritus that would indicate she had been kept outside at some point. Everything combined is very similar to David’s descriptions of where Sloan held Melissa Danvers hostage.”

  The chirping of Diana’s phone broke the awkward silence that followed Maggie’s pronouncement.

  As Diana answered the phone, Peter addressed David and Maggie. “You two seem certain Sloan’s involved in this.”

  “Add the evidence and the fingerprints to Sloan’s missing body…It’s too similar to Sloan’s MO,” Maggie said.

  “Maybe Sloan’s associates knew what he was doing and decided to copycat his activities,” Peter offered up as an alternate explanation.

  David shrugged. “That’s possible, but I got the sense from my contact that Sloan’s two associates were brawny, not brainy. Grabbing four or five people and barely leaving a clue is more in the brainy category.”

  Diana hung up, a worried look on her face. “Do you think you can get Samantha?” she asked Peter. “Melissa would like her opinion on something. Thank you, David, Maggie, for everything you’ve done.”

  Maggie gave Diana a hug. “Seems to me we just complicated things.”

  “No, I really appreciate your opinions,” Diana answered before embracing her partner.

  “Di, is there something else we should know about?” David asked in an uneasy voice.

  Diana shot him a tight smile. “Not right now, David. But I appreciate all that you’ve done.”

  “Which means we should shut down any further inquiries?” Maggie asked.

  Diana nodded. “For right now, we know all we need to know. If there’s anything else, I’ll be sure to warn you.”

  Although her friends accepted Diana’s words, they were clearly uneasy. Peter considered it a testament to their trust in Diana that they didn’t press any further.

  After they left, she said, “We need to get Samantha over to Ryder’s right away. Simon has grown very agitated. Melissa says his vital signs are fluctuating wildly. She’s worried about him.”

  “Understood,” he said.

  Chapter 28

  M eghan finished licking the last of the blood from her lips and watched as Blake fed Diego with the corpse of the old man’s associate. The muscles of his shoulders and back bunched with the effort of lifting the dead man up so Diego could suck down what was left of his blood.

  She’d taken a small bit for herself, both from the corpse and the blood that had spilled on the floor. Blake had taken none of it, declaring that the important thing was for her and Diego to strengthen themselves.

  It had surprised her that he would make any effort to help Diego. After Diego’s threat she would have fortified herself so she could defend herself against his attack.

  Which was why she had greedily accepted the offer Blake made of first taste of the corpse and the blood on the floor. When Diego found out who had betrayed him to the old professor, he’d come after her. She needed to be ready to fight.

  Funny thing really, this sudden urge to hang onto her undead life. Up until the kidnapping, she would have said that she’d be more than happy to find a way out of her unnatural existence. But since then…

  Since Blake.

  She observed him again. His arms were trembling from his efforts since he wasn’t at full strength. Rising, she went to his assistance, easily lifting the corpse with the energy coursing through her veins.

  As she stood by Blake, she met Diego’s gaze as he sucked on the dead man’s neck. Guilt made her turn away.

  Diego fed for a few more minutes before he roughly growled, “Enough.”

  She released her hold on the corpse. The suddenness of bearing the weight forced Blake onto the ground beside it.

  She kneeled down next to him. “I’m sorry, Blake.”

  He rose from his sprawl and cupped her cheek. “It’s okay, love.”

  “You’re too weak. You need to feed so our fight will not be over too quickly,” Diego taunted from where he was lashed to the beam.

  Blake shook his head. “I won’t fight you, Diego. I know I shouldn’t have given them Esperanza’s or Samantha’s names, but I thought you would come for them…for us.”

  Meghan observed Diego’
s face as Blake’s words registered. When Diego looked at her, she couldn’t bear the condemnation in his eyes.

  “It was you, little one? After all that we did for you?” he said tightly, with the low ominous rumble of an oncoming transformation.

  Blake awkwardly got to his feet. “Do not waste your strength, Diego. You will need all of it to escape.”

  Diego twisted against the chains holding him and plaster dust drifted down as the beam shifted slightly on its moorings. All three of them looked up.

  “If the ceiling collapses, it may kill us all,” Diego said.

  “Better that than what the old psycho has planned,” Meghan offered.

  “Or what I have planned for you, little one.”

  “You’ll have to go through me first.” Blake laid a hand on her naked thigh to urge her to stand at his back.

  “Ever the lovestruck fool, Blake. It’ll get you killed, you know.”

  Blake shook his head and although he was facing Diego, he spoke to her. “There’s a camera in the corner, Meghan. Take the shirt off the corpse and cover the lens.”

  Meghan did as he asked, wondering what he was up to. “Here’s the deal, Diego. I help you get free and—”

  “I promise not to kill you?” Diego laughed harshly. “Are you that much of a simpleton?”

  “You’re an honorable man, Diego. If you promise—”

  “Did you see what Esperanza looked like? What they did to her?” His voice was haunted and filled with hurt.

  “We tried to save her. To feed her, but she was already gone,” Meghan tried to explain.

  “She was always weak. She had a weak heart as a human and…” Diego gave a shrug of his broad shoulders and the chains binding him rattled with the movement.

  “I’m sorry,” Blake said. “We’re sorry,” he added on her behalf. He kneeled and worked at the belt on the dead man’s waist. When he popped back up, he held a piece of the belt buckle.