“Well, I figured that I’d go as soon as the sun sets. I have an appointment with the cleaning crew at ten, so if I can find a room and perhaps get back to my home to grab some clothes before they get there, that would be good.” He studied her and made her self-conscious. His heated stare didn’t help her hide the reaction she could feel building inside her heart. He was going to be leaving. Would she see him again? She knew she shouldn’t want to see him, but the things her mind and heart were saying were in opposition to each other. She knew that if she wanted to stay mateless, she needed to let him walk away, but her heart and her damned cat wanted to keep him.
She staggered under the pressure she felt in her mind as her cat pushed hard against her control. The feline raced through Willie’s mind, trying to find a chink in the fence that kept it caged. It roared in defiance when she tried to sooth it.
Willie looked up to find Nick watching her with a question on his face. He’d continued to talk to her as she fought her cat and now she blushed because she hadn’t heard a single word he said.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?” she asked, her voice weak. Get it together.
“I asked if you’d like to ride along with me while I go about my evening. I still owe you money for the cab ride last night, and I really don’t want to just walk out on that debt.” He spoke softly. A controlled mask hid his emotions as he waited for her answer.
“I’d love to.” Willie couldn’t stop the words from speeding out of her mouth. She clamped her hand over her mouth and then scowled at him when he chuckled at her reaction.
“I take it your kitty is pressuring you into this?” His eyes sparkled with laughter.
“She’s not happy with me right now. But, no, I’d really like to hang out with you tonight,” she answered and was surprised that she told the truth. She was falling for him. Shit, she was in a world of trouble.
“Good. We have about forty-five minutes before sunset then we can head out.” Nick grinned, showing the dimple, and turned back to the computer. She knew a dismissal when she saw one and took the escape he offered. She rushed to the kitchen to put as much house between them as she could.
She huffed out a breath. What the crap was she thinking? Driving around with him in a closed vehicle all night? Going to his home again? She couldn’t ignore the giddiness coursing through her, though. It wasn’t just the mating need that had her jumping at a chance to be around him for another night. Fucking Fate was really making this difficult by picking a man she actually liked.
* * * *
“So, explain to me again why we’re driving your freaking huge truck instead of my little car?” Willie tried for humorous, but her complaint just came out whiny. She was gripping the door handle and bracing her feet, pushing on imaginary brakes. Nick’s Hummer was too big and too cumbersome to be flying down the side streets at the speeds he seemed to favor. She kept expecting to sideswipe cars as he maneuvered the narrow roadways.
He laughed at her remark but didn’t respond. She scowled at him and turned back to watching her eminent death race toward them. It didn’t matter if a guy was human, shifter, vampire, zombie, or whatever, they would always drive some behemoth of a vehicle.
She started to say something snarky about the fact that she could die in a car accident even if he couldn’t, but the sudden thump of something big hitting the roof stopped her remark. She whipped her head up expecting to see a dent above her head. Sounds of something scraping along the metal set her teeth on edge.
“What the hell was that?” She looked at Nick and saw anger pinching his face. He turned glowing green eyes to her. Well, shit, his vampire was out to play.
“It’s one of them,” he growled and turned back to the road. He increased the speed and started jerking the wheel side to side, swerving dangerously down the street.
“One of who? The vamps from last night?” She looked up at the roof again, waiting for a clawed hand to dig through the metal.
The sound of metal being dug into by vampire nails was like listening to someone scrape fingernails down a chalkboard. Her nerves vibrated with the sound. She reached over her back and pulled her blade from the sheath, hoping she could get a good angle inside the confines of the vehicle if the suckhead made it through the roof. Adrenaline flowed fast through her veins, heightening her senses and making her grin in anticipation. This is what she needed to get her mind off Nick. A good kick-ass, drag-down fight with some vamps would clear her head.
A deep growl rumbled from Nick as he glanced up at the roof. His eyes cast an eerie green glow throughout the car’s interior. He swung the Hummer into an empty parking lot and caught Willie’s attention before slamming on the brakes. She’d only a moment to tense for the force that tried to slam her forward. She braced herself as the vehicle skid to a chest-crushing stop. She almost laughed when the thing on top of the Hummer went sliding off the front of the vehicle and landed in a heap on the blacktop.
Willie and Nick threw open their doors and rushed around the front of the truck. The headlights illuminated the scene like a bad B movie. The vampire rose slowly, dusting off his jeans and leather coat. He swung long, blond hair out of his face, and the full force of his glare stopped Willie in her tracks. His eyes were deep pools of blackness. The bloodsucker was tall and built like an athlete, but the fury so evident on his face caused terror to freeze her movements.
She’d seen that face before, been on the receiving end of those black, empty eyes. This was her maker. Holy fuck. A deep, penetrating howl of rage bubbled from her throat. He’d hurt her, scared her, left her for dead, destroyed her trust in men for so long. He would die tonight at her hands. Her canines elongated, and she welcomed the power that rushed through her body. He’d made her a freak, created this split existence. She would mete out her justice on his bones.
She took one step and then another, advanced quickly on him. She caught the movement in her peripheral vision before she sensed the other vamps approaching. Three more casually strolled toward them. She glanced their way but couldn’t keep her eyes off the one standing with grace and calm in front of her. She would deal with the other three later, but first she would take him down. Cut his body into little pieces and rip his head off his shoulders. She grinned as the image played through her mind. She wanted revenge and had a hankering to feel his blood soak her skin with its sticky warmth.
“Nick, he’s mine. I don’t care about the other three, but he’s mine.” Her voice came out a growl around her canines. She caught the nod from Nick as he turned to take on the other three. She felt a rush of satisfaction at his acceptance of her abilities.
Willie settled into a fighting stance and stalked forward. She held her blade loosely in her hand and let the weight calm her. Fighting driven by rage would get her hurt or killed. She let icy calm soak into her joints, soothing her need for vengeance. She took a cleansing breath and then stared directly into the face that had haunted her for years, playing the main visage in so many nightmares.
“You are dead, my friend. I’m going to carve you up and leave little itty bits of you spread throughout the city.” She smiled at him, showing glistening canines. Nails usually short from being chewed on morphed into claws, clicking together as she balled her hand into a fist. She was going to enjoy this. With a jump far faster and further than a human could make she attacked.
The surprise she gained with her quick attack gave her an opening to strike him with a fist to the stomach. The impact jarred her arm and reverberated through her body. He huffed out a breath but didn’t go down. He turned quickly and struck back. She barely dodged the fist, but it grazed her shoulder, throwing her backward a few paces.
“What the fuck is it to you, chicky?” His smooth voice echoed through her mind, trying to dredge up memories from her attack. She shoved them down, locking them away.
“You’re the suckhead that made me what I am.” She growled, slashing at him and turning to kick out at his legs. She caught him in the arm with her blade an
d buckled a knee with her kick.
“I never made anyone, bitch,” he spat at her as he climbed to his feet.
“You don’t remember a little girl in the Adirondacks that you picked up? She was hitchhiking, dumped off by her parents? You attacked me in your car.”
He laughed and smiled at her. “I do remember that. You were so sweet and trusting. Figured you died, though. Good to see you survived.”
She screamed her anger at him and held her blade like a samurai sword, attacking him with pure hatred, slashing at him in a blur of movement. She sliced him a few times when he couldn’t move fast enough to get away from her slashes. After scoring a fourth hit and drawing blood from his thigh, he retaliated with renewed power.
He attacked her with a ferocity that she could barely block. He was driving her backward toward the other vampires with each set of strikes. She knew she couldn’t take two of them on at once. With doubled efforts, she drove him back a few steps. She used one of her favorite tactics against vampires, pretending to be hurt. A grunt escaped her lips when she allowed a vicious punch to catch her in the jaw, splitting her lip. She doubled over, spitting blood onto the cold pavement, inviting him to come at her again. A shadow moved over her body, and she grinned, waiting. When he moved in on her, she slid the blade up with a swift slash and caught him across the chest and face.
A howl of pain filled the night air. He covered his face and stumbled back a step. She took advantage of the momentary weakness and sliced through the air, her blade whistling, taking off his head in one fluid motion. She watched with a sense of relief and regret that it was over already. His head bounced twice before rolling to a stop. His body hit the pavement a second later.
“Fucker.” She spat on his body and turned to see what was going on with the three Nick had taken on. She was juiced on adrenaline and ready to take on another one. She was almost giddy with her win and the knowledge that she’d just killed the one that caused her so much pain in her past.
Nick was holding his own, but the three other vamps had landed a few punches and had cut him with either a knife or their nails. His shirt was covered in bloody stains on the chest and arms. She ran to the fight and attacked the male closest to her.
He was big, strong, and angry just the way she liked them. She slashed at his back, scoring a shallow cut across his muscular body. He howled and turned to face her. She grinned and finger-waved at him. He vibrated with fury and bellowed his rage as he attacked full force. Willie sidestepped the attack and almost made it out of arm’s reach. The giant vampire grabbed at her shirt and got enough of the material to yank her off her feet. She slammed into his chest as he wrapped her in a vise-like grip across her chest. He squeezed her tightly, forcing the air from her lungs. She struggled in his grasp, but the lack of oxygen made her weaken quickly.
She felt her blade slip from her fingers. This wasn’t how she was supposed to do this, she thought. She was supposed to save Nick by killing all of the vampires and being his savior again. Darkness pressed around her vision, and she almost laughed at the thought of Nick being the damsel in distress. The only regret she had was that she hadn’t gotten a chance to taste Nick’s kiss again. She didn’t know why she’d fought the pull so hard, and now she was going to die before knowing what he looked like naked, looked like when he came, sounded like in the throes of passion. Darkness closed in on her, drowning out her thoughts and laments.
Pain exploded in her neck, pulling her away from the dark abyss. Air still couldn’t enter her lungs, but the excruciating burn radiating from her neck brought reality back to full clarity. She could feel blood running in rivulets down her chest. Her blood. The vampire had bitten her and was forcing her to bleed out. She struggled anew, but she was weak and lethargic from the lack of oxygen and blood loss. She felt her cougar shake off the pain and yowl her agony at the attack. Without a conscious decision, Willie gave into the demands of her cat.
The heat and pain from the shift were muted by the pain already coursing through her body. The change came quickly because her mountain lion had been so close to her skin for days. She felt her bones shifting, changing. Her skin felt hot and tight. In a few heartbeats she changed from the slight human form to her larger, heavier tawny cat. The tatters that had been her clothes fell to the ground like confetti.
The surprised vampire loosened his hold on her long enough for Willie to get her back claws into his stomach and tear his gut open from navel to groin. He released her completely as the pain registered in his head. Panic flashed across his face as the large cat that he now faced growled low in her chest.
She stalked her prey, loving the feel of the ground under her paws. Her body moved with feline grace, silently flowing across the ground. The vampire was trying to hold his intestines inside his body so he could heal the gaping hole she’d ripped in his gut. He fell backward a few steps, yelling something incoherent at her. She grinned a toothy smile at him and pounced. She sunk her teeth into his shoulder and dragged him to the ground. Her front claws dug into his chest and back, sinking easily through his clothes and skin. She crushed the bones in his shoulder when she bit down. Blood ran down her face. The shrill screams echoing through the night made her want to laugh. This was so exhilarating. She had only hunted small game in her cat form, but to take down prey as large as herself was almost fun. The fear that rolled off the male in thick waves made her want to cause him more pain.
Reality crept into her brain as her humanity returned. She ended the vampire’s existence with a quick shake of her head and a few precision bites. Once his head was disconnected from his body, she turned to see how Nick had faired. She could see that one of the other vampires was decapitated and laying in a heap not far from where she stood.
Her cat’s sense of smell was far better than her advanced human equivalent. She took in Nick’s scent and purred deeply. With her cat and humanity merged, she couldn’t quite remember what the big deal was about taking him as a mate. She knew that she hadn’t wanted to mate him, but in this form the reasoning seemed flawed. His scent called to her like nothing else she had ever smelled. She turned her head to find him and see if he needed her help.
What she saw was magnificent to both the predator and female in her. Nick had his shirt off. Gleaming pale skin covered a muscular back that flexed with each breath. He had small wounds scattered across his chest and back, some still bleeding. The contrast of his ruby blood and ivory skin was breathtaking. He looked like a painting, barbaric and harsh, spread across a shadowy canvas. His opponent was bowed, kneeling in front of Nick with surrender etched across his body. She stood, rooted to the spot, watching the male that she would claim as her own tower over his prey.
She shook herself from her musing and chuffed at Nick. It would take her a few minutes to shift back, and she currently didn’t have any clothes to put on once in her human form again. She approached him on silent feet and nudged his thigh, purring loudly. She stood at his side, waiting for him to acknowledge her. She watched admiration and something she couldn’t define cross his face. His shining emerald gaze met her feline stare, and a sensual understanding flowed between them. He wasn’t disgusted by her other side. He accepted all of her pieces and parts just the way she was.
When he reached out a hand and ran it over her head and under her chin, she thought she had died and gone to heaven. She leaned her head into his hand and closed her eyes in bliss. She opened one eye when he chuckled and smiled a toothy, cat smile up at him.
“You realize that you are adorable as a kitty, right?” He stroked her from head to tail. She warmed under his hand and whipped her long, thick tail around his leg. She tickled the bulge in his pants with the tip of her tail, huffing with amusement when he shivered. She thumped him playfully with her head in reply. “I guess you don’t have clothes to put on if you change, right?”
Willie found it funny that he was addressing her like she was still human. She loved that he understood that it was still her inside. She yowled lo
w in her throat and nodded her massive head once. A movement in her periphery had her swinging her head around until her attention lit on the vampire still breathing in front of Nick. The male vamp had looked up and was staring at her with a mixture of resentment and fear. Vampires and shifters were not cuddle buddies on a normal day, but could coexist well if they needed to. In this instance, she had to fight the urge to rip him apart and chew on his bones. She snarled low in her throat, but she didn’t give into the urge.
“Seems my cat would like to use you as a chew toy. Now, let’s get this over with. I need to know why you were targeting me tonight.” Nick focused his attention on the male kneeling in front of him, but he kept a hand on Willie’s back. His touch kept her grounded to her human side.
“If I tell you what I know, will you set me free?” The male’s voice was higher than she expected and was nasally. He sounded like a whiner.
“I’m not promising anything. If you give me information, I may be lenient, but I’ll have you know that I’m a Council Investigator. Your attempt on my life warrants a death sentence.” Nick paced in front of the male, exuding power and calm. He bent slightly to stare into the male’s face. “I’m sure you knew who I was and what my station was with the Council. The fact that you attacked me anyway is pretty indicative to your dishonorable nature. Now, talk.”
The male cleared his throat and started talking in a fast, wispy whine. “Stephen Walker is my maker. He sent us after you because you’re after him. It’s as simple as that.”
“Stephen is behind this?” Nick seemed taken aback for a split second, and then the harsh mask descended again. “Mmm, I was under the impression that no one knew I was assigned to finding and interrogating him. Someone on the Council must have leaked the information.”
“He sent us after you a few days ago as well. Me and Troy shot you with a dart a few nights ago and were carting you back to Stephen, but you broke out of the van. So, he sent us looking for you tonight. We knew your vehicle and found you driving around. Stroke of luck actually.”
Half in Love [Willie Krenshaw] (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 8
