Dangerous Days

by C. L. Quinn

  “Don’t be charming. After that display, neither of you are welcome here. Quattro, go, but be aware that we need to speak soon, and not for the reason you think. I believe we can resolve this situation. We can talk about what it is you want from my friends and me. After tonight, surely you understand that we are not enemies.”

  Now trying to move without deferring to his injuries, Quattro sidled up next to Dani, glanced back at Saul, then put his hands on her cheeks. Saul surged forward until he saw Dani’s expression and her outreached hand warning him to stop.

  He stopped. He was pissed, but he stopped, eyes sharp on every movement, listening to every word.

  “You and I, we are not enemies, although obviously, battle lines are yet to be drawn. The other hunters, we will meet at a destined time at an appointed place. That, I will let all of you know. Until then, remember.”

  Saul nearly burst a blood vessel in his temple as he forced himself to watch Quattro lean in, his lips to Dani’s ear, whisper something he couldn’t hear, and then disappear on the air. Fuming, Saul looked from the front of Jack’s property back to the waiting Dani.

  She was shaking her head. “What were you thinking? I was in consort with our enemy, and making progress. But no, my hero has to rush in and prove to him that we do indeed need to kill each other. Saul. I’m disappointed.”

  “He was touching you. He can’t touch you.”

  “He can if I allow it.”

  “I noticed that.” Saul moved closer, his fury renewed when Quattro’s scent still lingered on Dani. “Why?”

  “A means to an end.”

  “It looked like more than that.”

  Sighing, Dani dropped onto the sand, her legs crossed, and held her hand out, this time in welcome.

  “Come here.”

  Hesitating, when all he wanted was to rush to her, Saul finally took a place beside her, a knee touching hers, and slid a hand into the beckoning one she held out.

  “Saul, things are complicated, but I’ll tell you what I know. I won’t apologize for my actions, they’re honest and true to myself. I didn’t ask him here, he just showed up, but I wouldn’t send him away.”

  “He’s a threat, Dani. You should understand that after your abduction.”

  “Thanks, I got it. This is different. I know this is going to piss you off, but I’m telling you the truth because if we ever have a chance to have a relationship, friendship or perhaps more, that’s how we must start. I’m attracted to you. Unbelievably so. You know that, since we connected deeply when you rescued me, and we just fucked ourselves into amazing orgasms. And we’ll likely do it again.”

  Through the physical contact with Saul, Dani felt his heart race and his cock jump. “Not tonight, mister. Anyway, and this isn’t something I actively sought or even want, but, Saul, I feel a sexual pull toward Quattro too.”

  Saul didn’t move. He’d felt that too, through his connection to her, and couldn’t accept it. “Why? He’s promised to kill us.”

  “Tells you how desperate I am, doesn’t it? Saul, if we ever have a chance to work, you have to trust me, right? I need to be able to trust you. At this point, I do, with my life. All I ask is the same.”

  “This isn’t about trust. Little earth warrior, I know you’re very familiar with vampires, so you know that a male vampire is incredibly possessive over a mate.”

  Pretty sure her jaw had dropped open, Dani made a conscious effort to keep her teeth together.

  “What? Um, what does that have to do with us?”

  Saul pushed off the sand and walked toward the meandering surf. He didn’t face her again, didn’t speak, until he felt her behind him, her hand sliding along his hip.

  “I don’t have the perfect answer other than to tell you that, almost from that first night, I keep thinking of you as mine. Somewhere in my scrambled mind, you belong to me. I know it isn’t true, you don’t have to force that down my throat, but you want honesty? That’s how I feel. When I look at you, all I want is to be inside you. To claim you.”

  “Oh, Saul.”

  There wasn’t anything else she wanted right now either. With earth magics still coursing through her body, Dani threw the robe onto the ground. A sharp breath from Saul let her know that he hadn’t expected that.

  She ran into the shallow water, then turned to face a stunned vampire. “Come into the water and get me. I don’t know what to tell you other than at this very second, all I want is to feel your cock deep inside me, your teeth in me.”

  Clothes gone at once, Saul followed Dani, sucking in air at the frigid temperature of a late autumn ocean, but he’d walk through sunlight to be with her. Especially after watching her walk naked through deepening water, fascinated when it lingered and lapped at her slit. Where my tongue will be soon, he thought.

  Swimming now, the buoyancy of the saltwater helpful, Saul reached Dani now treading water wearing only a grin as bright as the slice of moonlight above.

  “Fuck me, vampire,” she whispered.

  He pulled her legs up around his waist and pushed into her, deep, searing her skin on the way in and on the way back out. Moving close, he started to kiss her, then intended to feed from her, but he barked in pain.

  Dani giggled. “He tore your face up. That’s going to smart for a little while.”

  With a groan, he nodded, continuing their easy cadence of lovemaking, his fingers tracing her breasts and nipples. So focused on his task, he hadn’t noticed at first that he must have adapted to the water.

  “The water feels warm,” he whispered.

  “Earth magic. I accessed it so we can stay as long as we like.”

  Lying back into the water, all but her face immersed, Dani closed her eyes and gave in as Saul, his hands moving along her skin, upper thighs, buttocks, belly, created sensual fire when his cock combined with vampire speed drove her to ecstasy, and she screamed as her orgasm arrived. Dani pushed away and spun into the water, her legs around Saul’s neck as he nipped her along the inside of her upper thigh.

  They rose back out to gulp air while Dani coughed and laughed. “My Gods, you’re good with that.”

  “You think? Let’s compare.”

  Saul pulled her up to him. “Let’s see whether it’s my tongue or cock that takes the prize tonight.”

  “Your mouth is hurt.”

  “It’s already healing.

  Holding tight to her vampire, Dani quivering, not from cold, the water was tropical warm, she let go and fell backward to float as Saul’s hands lifted her from the water and she felt his tongue slide inside, over and over, vampire movement assisted power and speed, well placed so that a second orgasm brought another cry.

  “Um, Dani, it’s getting hot.”

  Collapsed against Saul’s neck, hands in his hair, she laughed. “Sorry. My emotions affect my talent, and with what we did, I’m surprised the water around us isn’t boiling.”

  Saul lifted Dani away, turned her around, and pulled her back to him, his hands between her legs. “Then I didn’t try hard enough.”

  A Five-Star Hotel in Seattle

  He’d wandered outside for hours, his mind reeling, his heart pounding, confusion, anger, compassion, loss, hope, all assaulting him at once.

  That damned woman. Human, for all that mattered to the Universe! And the fucking vampire he’d waited for months to return so they could begin their mission to destroy all the hunters in that group.

  Saul. Asshole. Motherfucking cocksucker!

  He might be first blood, but he was newly converted, so if Saul thought he could beat Quattro, he had a shocking beatdown coming.

  Nothing, no one, would stand between Quattro and the earth warrior destined to bring a child to him. He’d been one of the most dangerous men on earth for two centuries, unbeaten, and would remain so.

  His side still ached where Saul’s hard-soled boot had carved into him. A crooked grin admitted that Saul had held his own for the few minutes they’d fought. But the true defining moment of the night
had been that incredible evidence of Dani’s power. He’d felt in her the ability, but didn’t know how far it went or how much access she had to it, and tonight, he’d discovered it was vast indeed.

  Earth magic flamed in that beautiful woman. Together, they would be legend, but they were worlds apart from that possibility unless he forced her. It might come to that. For now, he had to get back to business. It was time to rest and see if the future revealed itself to him.

  He needed to finish this and move forward. It had to be nearly time to finish it, didn’t it?

  Returned to the suite of rooms he shared with the other horsemen, Quattro peeled off his shirt and reached for a bottle of beer.

  “You’re back.” Felix came from one of the other rooms, wearing only jeans, the top button undone. Behind him, Quattro could see a human male, young, sitting on his bed, naked, scared, before Felix pulled the door closed.

  Glancing at him casually, Quattro killed a long sip, and lowered the bottle to rest on his knee as he dropped onto the sofa. “Good night?”

  Felix grinned and grabbed two of the beers. “Yeah, good night. I found a little gem.”

  As he finished off the beer, Quattro glanced once again toward Felix’s room. “Looks young.”

  “Like them young, you know that.”

  Nodding, Quattro lifted his legs and laid back. They used humans, always had. Inferior to vampires, humans provided service and food, that’s what they existed for.

  It was how they’d always lived. Why it seemed to bother him now that Felix had a very young male in his room, he didn’t know. Fuck, things could get screwed up.

  “I’m going to sleep. Get him out of here and purged before you do.”

  Felix snorted a laugh.

  “Naw. Think I’ll keep him for a while. Doesn’t look like you’re planning to escalate our battle with the hunters anytime soon.”

  Sitting up slowly, Quattro searched Felix’s face.

  He lowered his feet to the floor. “You want to clarify that statement?”

  “Yeah.”

  Wearing only his jeans, still unzipped, Felix walked up to Quattro and stopped two feet away. Quattro noticed movement behind him and saw Peele and Monsta following.

  Quattro stood. “You have something to say. Say it.”

  Feet set, arms crossed, Felix faced his long-time friend. “They’re fucking vampire killers, and we came here to take them out. Now I don’t understand this poetry-filled song and dance you’re putting on, but I’m pretty sick of this place and don’t get what you’re doing. Q, we finish this, like we fucking came here to do. We do our thing; the Four Horsemen ride and burn until nothing is left.”

  “Not this time, Fee.”

  “What’s with this epic battle shit? We take them out, one by one, and leave skid marks as we ride into the fucking sunset. I mean, where the fuck are you going with this destiny garbage?”

  Surging forward, Peele moved beside Felix, zoned in on Quattro. “Yeah, man, let’s fucking kill them and get out of here.”

  Quattro wasn’t concerned about Monsta and Peele. Yes, they were loose cannons, but he knew how to handle them.

  The problem was Felix. Quiet, cautious, gentleman Felix, who would walk past a man, smile, slit his throat, tuck a finger in the blood as it spilt, and lick it as he passed on by.

  Felix and Quattro had been together most of their three hundred years, orphan first bloods together. Neither knew their vampire origins, both discovered their true vampire nature on their own. They’d connected on that incredible common ground.

  Eventually they discovered that most first bloods lived in communities with their families and friends. Finding each other one dark night in London, they’d bonded and been together since. They’d run through the city, no rules, no brakes, ripping through life and leaving destruction behind. Two young men with god-like power who decided that, special, powerful, they practically owned the world.

  Quattro confronted Felix, face to face. He was the one to watch out for. For now, he needed to defuse this situation.

  “Stand down, brothers. We ride soon. Go seek food and entertainment, come back, rest, and we’ll discuss this further tonight when we rise.”

  Eyes on Felix, Quattro placed a hand on his bare shoulder. “Relax, Fee. You know me, I’m there with you, but give me a little breadth in this. You should trust me.”

  “I trust, brother, I trust, but just because we’ve trusted before, doesn’t mean it’s infinite.”

  “You cut me deep. Go, enjoy your night. We’ll cover this better when we wake.”

  Better to walk away from Felix when he was like this. Of recent, it seemed Felix’s temper flared too easily, and he had become critical of Quattro’s leadership. Any leader knew what that change in behavior meant. Felix was preparing to step over Quattro to rule.

  Things just turned a great deal more dangerous for Quattro and the hunters.

  Lying on the couch, he rolled over, making it clear he was done with them now. He heard Peele and Monsta leave the room, but waited another twenty minutes before a silent Felix left.

  Quattro could hear the boy in his room whine but he knew better than to intercede.

  Today, he would rest uneasily. Felix had become a much greater threat than the hunters.

  His cluttered mind remained active anyway, so sleep was slow to come.

  Felix did have a point, but Quattro could not agree openly in front of the other horsemen. He couldn’t share his strange feelings. Never before had they lingered on a mission. Learn your enemy, kill your enemy, go home. Simple. Easy. Routine.

  The magic built up around these hunters had intrigued him from that first second and he had an inexorable need to discover what it meant. He’d been certain it was a need for worthy opponents, for someone not easily dispensed with. For challenge, for purpose.

  Purpose. Quattro thought that might be it. Three centuries fighting, feeding and fucking. There had to be more to immortality than that. When he found earth magic buried in a human female, Quattro was certain she could bear a first blood child to him.

  In Dani, he had found that. Ultimately, that is what he wanted. It had become an unrealized imperative.

  So, after rising, to protect her, he would need a new force, a new army. And he knew where he would get it.

  Thank the Gods that Felix did not have even one of the talents of intuition, precog, or empathy. After rest, just as the sun rose, he’d be off to prepare for a very different kind of battle than expected.

  He couldn’t believe it himself.

  Downtown Seattle

  Fury burned. Felix would claim his place as leader of the horsemen. In some way, it would suck not to have him with them anymore. He would miss Quattro, but he’d noticed a change in him of recent that didn’t suit Felix at all.

  Quattro was a wuss now, like the other vampires in the world of first bloods. Weak, malleable, emotional, like the humans they’d used without regard for centuries. To control the world the way they always had, three hundred years of history…and Quattro had destroyed it. Although it was true that his friend had never had quite the bloodlust he had, Felix would still miss their lives as they had built them.

  But the Quattro he saw now had to go. Felix already knew that Peele and Monsta would follow him.

  First, they would remove Quattro. The plan was simple. Although Quattro might suspect that Felix was no longer loyal, he would never expect him to remove the head of the Four Horsemen. The vampire did not possess the ferocity of nature to understand Felix’s anger and unforgiveness for Quattro’s betrayal.

  “Ah, you won’t get your battle, my friend.”

  Then, once Quattro was out of the way, Felix and his crew would, one by one, kill the hunters, finish the job, and get the hell out of this state. God, the loss of his old partner and friend pissed him off, fueling the rage that already consumed him.

  Hurrying down the busy city street, Felix had his eye out. The young boy did not suit him tonight. What he want
ed was someone with masculine size and strength to swallow him. He wanted brutality. There, that was the one, near one of the tower apartment buildings, leaning against a bricklike wall, smoking an old-fashioned cigarette, stocky, wide-shouldered, an easy six plus in height.

  “You’ll do nicely.”

  Felix caught his defiant gaze. “Come with me.”

  Seven

  Finishing first meal, Jack glanced at Saul.

  “You’re quiet tonight.”

  His fork suspended, Saul looked at Jack, watching him closely, then Kwano, doing the same thing, and lowered the fork back to his plate.

  “That short sentence had a lot of questions attached to it.”

  Laughing, Jack nodded. “Yeah, it did. So. You and Dani. When did that happen?”

  “From that first moment I saw her. It wasn’t conscious, I wasn’t looking for it, but her spirit sought mine and I’m lost. I admit it freely. I am still somewhat shocked, but in spite of how terrifying she can be, I believe she is my mate.”

  Kwano looked surprised. “Wow. That’s amazing, Saul. Mates are difficult to find, and you two found each other easily.”

  “Easily? I could have lost her that night before I even met her. And I’ve been unattached for a couple of hundred years, so, not that easily.”

  “I misspoke. I did not mean finding your mate was easy, just that this relationship, this transition, wasn’t difficult.”

  “It’s not a done deal yet. That’s one stubborn human woman.”

  “Oh, yeah, she is. Good luck. Earth warriors can be tough.”

  “I look forward to the challenge.”

  “First, we have to face the one coming from our four vampires sporting a biblical name.”

  “On that point, something happened before I came home this morning. With the threat obvious from Quattro, I decided to go past your house and check on Dani last night. He was there.”