by Vivi Anna, Sylvia Day, Delilah Devlin, Cathryn Fox, Myla Jackson, Lisa Renee Jones
Nor could she wait to see just how far Dominic was willing to go. Today and in the future. But whatever the outcome, she was going to enjoy the ride.
Prior to realizing her dream of becoming a writer, LISA RENEE JONES owned and operated a multi-state staffing agency, with sales as high as sixteen million dollars a year. She was recognized by many publications, including the prestigious Entrepreneur Magazine. In 2003, she sold her business to focus full time on her writing.
Since then, she has sold books to four major publishing houses in multiple genres. You can find out more about her busy release schedule at www.lisareneejones.com.
Out of the Shadows
Myla Jackson
Dedicated to my sister,
Delilah Devlin,
whose fanatical love of writing matches my own.
One
“They’re cockier than usual tonight,” TJ Evans whispered to his partner as a gang of five young men ambled down the deserted streets of inner-city Houston, kicking soda cans and talking loud enough to wake even the undead. “As expected. They’re looking for anyone who might have ignored the mandatory evacuation order.”
Ryan nodded in the dark. “Probably getting hungry.”
“Good, when they’re hungry they don’t always think straight.”
It was the witching hour, the time of night you didn’t want to be out on the streets with all the creepy and dangerous people littering the hours between midnight and four.
TJ and Ryan crouched behind the abandoned automobile they’d chosen as cover for their mission. As cops assigned to the Houston Special Task Force, they were responsible for keeping the streets clean of the worst kind of riffraff, and the guys headed their way qualified—young, aggressive and vampires. He recognized them from the sketches at the station.
“Ready, Ryan?” TJ asked.
Ryan nodded and fitted a wooden dart into his crossbow.
About the time he was set, a woman emerged from an evacuated apartment building, carrying a laundry basket piled with belongs.
The vamps whooped and made a beeline for their first unwilling victim of the evening. Halfway to her car, the woman spotted the men, her eyes growing round. She darted a look from her car standing against the curb and back to the doorway as if debating which she could make faster.
“She’s mine.” The short, stocky vamp wearing a black T-shirt and sporting dragon tattoos on each arm led the way.
The woman dropped the basket and dove for the car, fumbling to fit her key in the lock.
“It’s show time.” TJ pressed the stock of his recurve crossbow against his shoulder. “Let’s go.”
The two cops stepped from behind the rusted-out vehicle.
Ryan called out, “Halt or I’ll shoot!”
TJ snorted and sighted his weapon on the man in the lead. “You’re such a rookie.”
But the shout brought the gang of men to a standstill, and they turned toward the two cops. Their leader laughed out loud. “You’re kidding, right? You want us to stop?”
“Houston Police, step away from the woman,” TJ said, his weapon at the ready.
“And who’s going to stop us? You?” The guy with the tattoo dragons threw back his head and laughed, his long white incisor teeth reflecting the light from the nearby streetlamps.
“Can’t say we didn’t warn you.” With his hand firmly wrapped around the grip, his sights targeting the first man’s chest, TJ squeezed the trigger, sending the solid wooden dart straight into the man’s heart.
The laughter died on the tattooed man’s lips and his eyes widened. As he glanced down at the wooden dart embedded into his heart, his body jerked and then jerked again. Within seconds he shook so hard he fell to the earth, screaming, his flesh dissolving into dust until the wind lifted his remains and blew them away.
The other four men stared down at where their leader had been. By the time they looked back at the two cops, Ryan squeezed his trigger, another dart flying into the chest of the nearest man.
TJ had already reloaded and fired off his next round when the gang of three remaining vampires turned and attacked. He was able to fire his last round into the heart of one, dropping him in mid-lunge. Neither TJ nor Ryan had time to reload. They moved back, pulling wooden stakes from the knife sheaths on their belts.
The two vampires left standing leaped onto the hood of the abandoned vehicle and roared, flashing their teeth. The bigger vamp growled and dropped to the ground, stalking toward TJ. “You’re in luck. I believe the only good cop is a dead cop.”
“Is that so?” TJ said. He braced his legs for the attack, adrenaline pulsing through his veins giving him an almost orgasmic rush. God, he loved his job! “We may have a bit of a problem. I believe the only good vampire is a dead vampire.”
The vampire leaped at TJ, knocking him to the ground. For a moment, TJ’s hand loosened around the stake. If he didn’t get it into the vamp’s heart quickly, he didn’t stand a chance. Vampires had superhuman strength and resilience. TJ’s only advantage was his ability to think under pressure. His opponent clamped clawlike hands into his shoulders and leaned forward, his lips peeled back from long, wicked teeth.
“No!” TJ yelled, acting as though the vampire had him now. But when the teeth neared his neck, TJ raised his hand in a sudden upward thrust, driving the stake through the man’s ribs into his heart. He collapsed on top of TJ, his body shuddering and twitching as he withered into a cloud of dust scattered by the wind.
TJ rolled to his feet, brushing the dust from his shirt.
The other vampire had Ryan pinned to the pavement.
“Need help, partner?” TJ asked, retrieving the stake from the ground.
“Nope,” Ryan grunted, straining to keep the vampire’s teeth from sinking into his neck. “Got this one under control.”
TJ chuckled. “Looks to me like he has you.” He raised the stake and plunged it through the vampire’s back into his heart. “Come on, quit playing around. It’s nearing daylight and the end of our shift.”
Ryan remained pinned for several more seconds by the dying vampire. Then he stood and brushed the dust from his shirt. “You take all the fun out of the job.”
“You’ll get over it.” TJ glanced around for the woman in time to see the taillights of her compact car disappearing around a corner. He stared down at the dirt on his uniform and sniffed. “God, I hate the smell of dusted vamps. What say you and me head for the station?”
Ryan stooped to gather his recurve crossbow. “You’re on.”
The sun popped up over the horizon as TJ and Ryan left the station an hour later in TJ’s pickup.
“Hard to believe a hurricane’s headed our way,” TJ commented. The wind was picking up, but the sunshine didn’t give a clue as to what was headed straight for the coast.
“Know what you mean.” Ryan stared out the passenger seat of TJ’s F250 pickup. “Think it’ll hit at category five?”
“That’s what the forecast predicts.” TJ turned left at the traffic light and drove down the deserted streets of his neighborhood. “I’m just glad most folks decided not to wait until tomorrow to leave Houston. The traffic on the evacuation routes was bad enough, yesterday. It’s bound to be worse today. Glad I’m not on duty.”
“I have a feeling we’re in for another tough night.” Ryan tapped his fingers on the armrest. “I’ll bet the looters will come out in force.”
TJ’s lips tightened. “Yeah, and we’ll be responsible for protecting the looters from the monsters. Doesn’t seem right.”
Ryan shook his head. “Should just let ’em have at it.”
TJ nodded. “They deserve each other. But there’ll be those who, for some reason or another, ignored the mayor’s mandatory evacuation order. They’re the ones we’ll be out there for.”
Ryan snorted. “Again, they deserve each other.”
“I don’t know. The elderly don’t always listen to the news. They might not even know they’re in the path of a hurricane.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Ryan tapped his fingers on the arm rest. “Damned hurricanes. Seems like nothing’s been right since hurricanes Katrina and Rita back in 2005.”
Evacuation of New Orleans had not only inundated the housing market in Houston, it had also impacted the crime rates. Rape and murder were on the rise, as well as the addition of more frightening crimes.
At first, TJ had laughed off the rumors, but more and more people disappeared or were left dead, drained of blood. The problem couldn’t be ignored—thus the need for the Special Task Force with the best of the Houston Police Department pulled from all over the city.
Because of their successful careers taking out the bad guys, TJ and Ryan had been reassigned to the Special Task Force, on permanent night shift. TJ was glad he’d finished night school before he took on the new assignment.
“Think your neighbor made it out?” Ryan asked. “You still seeing her?”
As the thought of Cassidy Jones’s liquid brown eyes and smooth-as-cream skin crossed TJ’s mind, his foot lifted from the accelerator. For a moment, he was back between the sheets, sliding inside her. His groin tightened and pushed against the hard metal zipper of his uniform pants. “I hope she made it out and no, I’m not seeing her anymore.” TJ jammed his foot on the gas and the truck shot forward. Not because he didn’t want to.
“Sorry I asked,” Ryan said, clutching the “oh-shit” handle above his head.
Cassidy was the past, a one-night stand TJ still couldn’t explain. After weeks of study-group sessions last semester and working together over her dinner table, she’d finally agreed to go out.
Their date had culminated in his bed—tangled in the sheets, skin-to-skin and satiated from the best sex he’d had in…Well, the best sex ever.
He shook his head, still unable to figure out Cassidy. She didn’t return his calls, didn’t drop in like she used to and didn’t even come out of her house. He should have known better than to date the girl next door. When the connection didn’t work out, you still had to live next to her until one or the other moved. And TJ didn’t plan on moving because of a ruined love affair.
As much as he liked to think he was over her, he missed her smile across a table loaded with books. Her laughter still echoed through his days, and the memory of her body beneath him haunted his sleep.
“Hey, don’t forget to drop me off,” Ryan said.
TJ hit the brakes and pulled into Ryan’s drive. He slammed the truck into park, pushed the dark-haired beauty from his mind and stared at his friend’s house. “You ready for the storm?”
“As ready as anyone. Got storm shutters installed after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. I’ll be locking them tight before I report to work tonight.”
“Need help?” TJ asked, not really interested in hanging around, but Ryan was his friend.
“Naw.” Ryan climbed down from the truck, closed the door and slapped the open window frame. “Get going, we’ve only got a few hours before the wind gets really strong.” He shook his head as he opened the door. “Tonight’s going to be one long one and tomorrow even longer.”
How many times had they had the hurricane warnings this year? Often enough to make TJ want to skip attaching storm shutters and go straight for the beer in his refrigerator.
The drive to his house five blocks away was completed in a surreal silence. The deserted streets were mostly still, only a few families, with cars loaded to the gills, hurried to flee the city.
In the short time involved in dropping off his friend, a line of clouds appeared in the southern sky, rolling in from the Gulf of Mexico. Trees shuddered as the first gusts of wind buffeted branches and shrubs, a little teaser for what was to come.
As he rolled to a stop in his driveway, a slight movement caught TJ’s attention and he glanced up at the bedroom window in the house next door.
The sun crept through the windows from the eastern sky, not a cloud in sight from this direction. Cassidy Jones stood in the shadows, away from the deadly rays. She stared at the truck below, her heart clenching in her chest when TJ climbed out.
His muscles rippled beneath his dark blue uniform. The fabric hugged his taut buttocks and framed his thick thighs to perfection.
Desire swelled in each molecule of her being, rising like a pulsing wave, engulfing her in a torrent of sensation. Her fingers clutched the cotton fabric of the curtain and her nails dug into her palm as she fought the overpowering surge of need—a need as debilitating as starvation to a refugee.
Not long ago, she’d have rushed out to greet him, inventing an excuse to ask him over so she could test her flirtation skills on the sandy-haired cop. Her college courses hadn’t been hard, but she’d insisted she needed his help, wanting his company more than the assistance while she studied. Not that she could study with TJ close by. His presence distracted her in the most delicious ways.
When they’d started the criminology class together last semester, they’d hit it off immediately. He was finishing his last few courses for his degree in criminology, and she was working toward one in forensics. Both were non-traditional students having decided to complete degrees after being in the workforce for several years.
A smile tugged at Cassidy’s lips as she recalled her own shy attempts at flirting and how TJ’s tender caresses worked into gentle kisses. When they’d finally consummated their relationship, Cassidy had worried her limited knowledge of sex, gleaned from clumsy groping in high school, would turn TJ off.
He’d been tender, trailing his lips and hands across her body, touching her in ways she’d only dreamed about, until he brought her to her first orgasm. That moment was a moving, almost spiritual, experience for Cassidy, and she dared to hope they’d be together forever.
But the night after their “date,” everything changed. She’d been giddy with happiness. So giddy, she didn’t pay attention. She snorted. Isn’t that how it happened to women who don’t consider all the factors—dark night, shadowy walkway, walking alone? Hell, as stupid as she’d been, she deserved her fate. She shuddered.
No. No one deserved her fate.
After the attack, her injuries healed, but her life had changed completely. Cassidy wasn’t the woman TJ had made love to only a few short days before. Hell, she wasn’t even human. She couldn’t undo her carelessness and because of it, they could never be together again.
Yearning coiled deep in Cassidy’s belly, pressing her to go to him. She hungered for the strength of his arms around her, the touch of his tongue against her breasts and the thrust of his cock filling her. Her panties moistened as the image of him leaning over her, naked and glistening with sweat, wavered in her fevered mind. An image forever engraved in her memories.
When TJ’s green eyes glanced toward her window, Cassidy backed away, dropping the curtain over the glass, shutting out the harsh sunlight and her hopeless dreams.
She couldn’t trust herself to be with a man again. Her urges were too powerful and she hadn’t found the strength to control them. The best course of action was to avoid temptation altogether. With her eyes pressed closed to the darkened room, she could feel the sting of tears pushing against her eyelids, demanding release. Anger knotted her chest and she slammed her fist against the wall, leaving a small indentation in the painted sheetrock. As with her sexual appetite, her physical strength was also a factor she hadn’t quite mastered, yet even that was fading with each passing day.
Since the incident on campus, she’d mourned the loss of her freedom, cursing her stupidity for walking alone in the shadowy path between buildings. Her lack of forethought and self-preservation techniques now doomed her to a life secluded from others—a life without TJ and without the ability to bear children.
The heavy weight of depression settled about her shoulders and she trudged down the staircase to the living room. Once a sun-filled space, the curtains were pulled tightly over the windows blocking out every last ray of sunshine—the most deadly poison to Cassidy’s body. Only a few w
eeks ago she’d lazed in the back yard, enjoying the scent of freshly cut grass, allowing the late-afternoon rays to soak into her skin. Now she could only relive those moments in her mind—memories that would have to suffice for the rest of her existence.
Her eyes filling with tears, she stumbled on the antique Persian carpet and knocked a lamp off the end table next to the couch. The lamp couldn’t have fallen onto the carpet. No, it had to fall backward onto the hardwood flooring, the bulb shattering into a million tiny shards of razor-sharp glass.
Instinctively, Cassidy bent to retrieve the pieces.
The moment her fingers closed around the largest shard, the doorbell rang. She jumped back, her hand compressed around the glass and the sharp edges pierced her palm.
The pain was sharp, but dissipated by the time she reached the door. Who would be calling on her? She’d cut herself off from all her friends and acquaintances.
Perhaps it was a salesman. She hesitated on the other side of the solid wood paneling, wanting contact with others, but fearing the stream of sunshine that would fill the entranceway.
The doorbell chimed again and Cassidy jumped, her nerves stretched to their limits.
“Cassidy, it’s TJ. I know you’re home. Please let me in.” The low baritone of TJ’s voice was barely muffled by the solid wood standing between them, and it poured over Cassidy like hot chocolate.
Cassidy leaned against the wall and sank down to her haunches. A surge of emotions threatened to make her forget herself. She wanted to fling the door aside to let the only man she’d cared for into her home.
No. She bit into her lip, the sharp pain a slim reminder of the control she needed to get through this encounter. If she ignored him, he would go away. Like he had before. Guilt had eaten at her when she’d refused to return his calls. Longing had built like a demolition ball repeatedly slamming against her chest. But she couldn’t act on it, couldn’t let TJ back in her life. She didn’t deserve him.
