by Tina Folsom
No, not a man. A vampire. And an ex-con.
“Luther.” She breathed more than spoke the name.
“I see I don’t have to introduce myself. Saves me time.”
Instinctively, she stepped back. Her back hit the car, effectively trapping her between it and the big vampire.
God, close up he seemed even bigger than before. Broad-shouldered and tall. Her gaze drifted away from his penetrating eyes and full lips to his neck and farther down still. Down to his marred skin. Then she realized it: though he was wearing a shirt and jacket, both were unbuttoned, giving her an unobstructed view of his scarred torso. Oddly enough, the sight didn’t disgust her. Didn’t repel her. Instead, it fascinated her, made her want to touch him.
“Freak show’s over,” he grunted.
Embarrassment coursed through her, and she felt her cheeks heat despite the cool night air. The urge to defend herself was automatic. “I wasn’t…” His narrowing eyes made her change her tactic. “I thought they’d locked you up.”
“Couldn’t pin it on me. ‘Cause I’ve got nothing to do with it.”
The deep timbre of his voice echoed in the alley and sent tiny vibrations through her body. Like little shockwaves pulsing through her.
“Then maybe you shouldn’t sneak up on people associated with Scanguards, or they might change their mind.”
“So what’s your association with them?”
She lifted her chin. “None of your business.”
“You’re not a hybrid. Frankly, I’m not quite sure what you are, ‘cause as sure as shit you’re not human.” He sniffed, trying to make his point.
“What do you want?”
Luther motioned to her handbag.
“You’re a common thief? Here to rob me? Oh my God! How despicable!”
“I want the letters! Give ‘em to me! I want to see them.”
“The letters?” How did he know about the letters?
“I know you have them.” He made a grab for her handbag.
She tried to hold onto it, but he was too strong. Within seconds, he’d pulled out the letters and was leafing through them.
“What do you want with them?”
He ignored her question and pulled one of the letters from its envelope. His eyes flew over the scribbled handwriting.
“Ah shit!” he cursed under his breath, then looked at the envelope again. He thumbed through the stack. “All postmarked in Grass Valley.”
“So what?”
Luther glared at her. “You can’t show these to Scanguards.”
“You have no say in what I show to Scanguards or not! The kidnapper wanted me, not Isabelle.”
“I know.”
“You know?”
“The surveillance recording. I read her lips. She told him she wasn’t Kimberly.”
“Then you’ll understand how important it is that I get these letters to Samson.” She reached for them to take them back, but he held onto them. “These letters will lead us to the kidnapper. It has to be him. The things he says in his letters. He says he’s coming after me. I didn’t take it seriously. I thought he was just some crazy fan.”
“Yeah, hazard of the trade, I guess.” The sneer on his face negated the notion that he had empathy.
“Give them back to me.”
“Can’t do that.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Because these letters will lead right back to me.”
Katie gasped in shock. “You wrote them?”
“I didn’t say that,” Luther growled, leaning even closer. “But the postmark on these envelopes will suggest that I did. Samson isn’t acting rational right now. Once he sees the letters he’ll accuse me and draw resources off the search for the real kidnapper. Is that what you want?”
“You’re lying.”
His face came closer. “Do you know what’s near Grass Valley?”
Pressing herself firmly against the car, she shook her head.
“The prison I was released from last night.”
Realization hit her. “If it wasn’t you who wrote these letters, then you know who it was.”
“No, I don’t.”
She shook her head, not believing him. The intense exchange of looks they’d had earlier in the night came back to her. “When you saw me at the university, you recognized me. You knew who I was, didn’t you? You knew because the vampire who took Isabelle showed you my picture, didn’t he?”
“No.”
“Who are you protecting?”
“Nobody!”
She felt his warm breath on her face and shivered again. “Give me back my letters, or I’m gonna make a hell of a lot of trouble for you.”
“You don’t know when to quit, do you?”
He lifted his hand and reached for a strand of her hair that had escaped the old-fashioned hairdo she was still sporting. “No, you’re not the quitting type, are you?” He looked at her with an unreadable expression on his face. “I should warn you. I’m dangerous. And if you think you can fight me, you’re wrong. You’re not strong enough compared to me. So give up. Go home.”
Katie narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m a witch. I’m stronger than you. So you’d better be careful.”
She noticed the surprise on his face. He didn’t believe her. And rightly so: even though she’d been born a witch, she had no powers to speak of. While Wes had regained his powers through hard work and practice, and now smelled like a witch again, she knew from other vampires around her that the smell of witch on her was so faint that most vampires dismissed it. She could only hope that Luther believed her. It would protect her, because no vampire took on a witch. And Katie knew she needed that protection.
“A witch. Interesting. Just like that other witch. The one who kissed you.”
His comment seemed strange to her. Why emphasize the fact that Wesley had kissed her?
“Well, at least you don’t smell as intensely of witch as he does. Who is he? Your lover?”
“None of your fucking business.”
“Well, let’s find out, shall we?”
Before she could comprehend the meaning of his words, his lips were on hers, robbing her of her next breath and the ability to speak.
Instinctively, she raised her hands, slamming her fists against his chest. But an ant barreling into an elephant would have been more successful at making the massive beast budge. The vampire who was currently keeping her captive with his mouth didn’t move an inch—at least not away from her. He pressed her against the car, leaving no space between them.
The heat from his chest scorched her, making her even more aware of the fact that his shirt was open. Her fingers were drawn to that heat, to the comfort it provided to ward off the chill of the night. Her fists unfurled, not wanting to beat against the hard flesh any longer. Instead, her palms searched for the contact of skin-on-skin.
Maybe it was his drugging scent that made her touch him. Or maybe the imploring press of his lips against hers and the unrelenting strokes of his tongue. When had she parted her lips to allow him to explore her? When had she slanted her head to give him better access to her mouth?
He tasted of real man, of power and domination. And of danger. She could taste that, too. Yet it didn’t stop her from responding to him. Arousal spread through her body. Lust and need collided. Desire flared. Passion surged. Not even in the make-believe world of the movies had any of the characters she’d ever played been allowed to feel like this.
Luther’s kiss was a demand as well as a challenge. If she backed down from it, she would lose. He would think her weak. How she knew that, she had no idea. But kneeing him in the nuts, like she would any other man in this situation, wasn’t an option. Besides, he was no ordinary man. He was a vampire. The most dangerous one she’d ever encountered. And if she knew one thing about vampires, it was never to run, or they would hunt you as their prey.
She tried to remind herself of the many things her brother had taught her about vampires, but only one
thing came to mind at present: a vampire’s lust for sex and blood were intimately connected. If he couldn’t satisfy one, he needed to satisfy the other. And once engaged in one activity, the other would follow suit. Simple as that. Whatever she did, she was doomed.
Though at present, that doom seemed rather exciting. Luther’s hands were roaming her body, touching, exploring where nobody had in years. She hadn’t yearned for the touch of a man in a long time. But Luther’s kiss ignited that long-buried need to feel a man’s hands on her, to taste his lips and tongue, to feel his sex grind against her.
Just like Luther did now. The hard outline of his erection pressed firmly against her center, making her knees weak and her mind foggy. His hungry mouth prevented her from forming any protest, even if her brain had been capable of doing so—which it was not. All it seemed to do was send messages to her hands to continue exploring his chest. To caress the marred skin, stroke the angry scars and find the beauty beneath them. To feel his heart beating into her hand.
A vibration charged through her. Was it his heartbeat that sent these waves through her body? A groan came over his lips and bounced against hers, making her tremble in his arms. Involuntarily, Katie rocked her pelvis against his groin and felt another vibration.
She realized then that she was powerless in the arms of a vampire. Powerless, because she wanted what he was offering. A chance to forget.
10
Blake disconnected the call to his voicemail and cursed as he rushed along the corridor of the executive floor at Scanguards’ headquarters in the Mission district. At the door at the end of the long hallway, he stopped briefly.
Thomas Brown-Martens, Chief of IT and Eddie Brown-Martens, Deputy Chief of IT, it said in bold black lettering. The two had combined their last names after their wedding and blood-bond. Not only did they now share an office and in effect the management of Scanguards’ IT department, they spent practically twenty-four hours a day in each other’s company. How they could stand that much togetherness was beyond him.
Blake shook his head and knocked quickly, not waiting for an answer before he opened the door and entered.
Two heads spun in his direction. Eddie, pointing at something on the monitor, stood behind Thomas, who was sitting at his desk.
“Hey,” Thomas greeted him.
“We were about to call you. I think we found something,” Eddie said, staring back at the screen. “Run it again,” he told Thomas.
Whatever Eddie and Thomas had found could wait a moment. “I had a call from Katie. I need to look at the video of Isabelle and the kidnapper again,” Blake requested.
Thomas motioned him to step closer. “We’re looking at it right now.”
Blake walked around the desk so he could look at the monitor, and watched the kidnapping unfold once more. This was his worst nightmare come true: one of his charges had been abducted under his watch. Something like this was never supposed to happen. He and his team had been protecting all of Scanguards’ children for almost two decades now, and nothing had ever happened. They’d been safe. Heck, nobody had as much as fallen off a bike under his watch. And now this. A kidnapping.
“See, there.” Eddie pointed to Isabelle’s mouth. “I’m not an expert in lip reading, but I think she’s saying I’m not Kimberly.”
“Fuck! Katie was right.” Blake raked a hand through his short hair. Why hadn’t he seen this immediately when he’d watched the video for the first time? Maybe because he’d been too focused on trying to get a better visual on the kidnapper’s face.
Thomas looked over his shoulder. “That’s Katie’s stage name. This guy wasn’t after Samson’s daughter. He wanted Katie. What did she say?”
“She mentioned letters from an obsessed fan. But it doesn’t make sense! If it was an obsessed fan, he would recognize that he wasn’t abducting Katie.”
Eddie nodded. “True. Particularly since the kidnapper had to be a vampire or a hybrid. He would have recognized that Isabelle is a hybrid.”
Thomas swiveled his chair around. “Yeah, but did he know that Katie isn’t a hybrid? If he’s an obsessed fan and never met her face-to-face, how would he know that she isn’t a hybrid? If he’s seen her on TV or in the movies, he wouldn’t be able to tell. The cameras can’t catch a vampire’s aura, nor a vampire’s scent.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter now, why or how. He got the wrong woman. We’ve gotta find him and get Isabelle back, before he realizes she isn’t Katie and hurts her.” Blake pulled out his cell. “We’ll start with the letters.” He dialed Katie’s number. “Let’s pull prints off them, run them through the databases, and see whether we can narrow our search area with the help of the postmarks. I doubt he’ll have written his address on the envelopes.” The phone continued to ring in his ear. “Come on, Katie, pick up!”
Thomas nodded in encouragement. “We’ll analyze the letters. Maybe he left some clues in his writing. Stalkers like to show their superiority. They think they’ll never be caught, so they play with their prey. If there’s something in there, we’ll find it.”
“You’ve reached Katie, please leave a message.” Beep.
“Crap!” Blake cursed. “Katie, I got your message. Call me immediately. We need those letters.” He disconnected the call and looked back at his two colleagues. “Do you know where Wesley is? Wasn’t he supposed to take Katie home?”
“He’s probably still at the university with John, interrogating the audience and the student actors. The forensics team sent the first batch of fingerprints back and we’re running them through the system. We’re still waiting for the students and stagehands and anybody else who’s been backstage to be fingerprinted so we can eliminate their prints and isolate the perpetrator’s. Isabelle’s we have on file.”
Blake nodded, drawing in a few breaths. Just like they had DNA samples of every member of Scanguards and their families in a vault in the basement. “Good. I know you guys are on top of it, but I need everybody to give more than their best in this case. Isabelle is in danger. And I know she’s scared. We have to bring her home. That’s our first priority. I don’t care what we have to do, on whose toes we need to step, or what laws we need to break to make that happen.”
“We all feel the same,” Eddie said, exchanging a look with Thomas. “Isabelle is just as much our family as the rest of Scanguards.”
“Katie needs protection,” Thomas added, rising from his chair. “You want me to assign a security detail to her? Once the kidnapper realizes he’s got the wrong girl, he’ll be making another attempt.”
Blake could only agree with Thomas’s thought process. “Yes, find out from Wesley where she is. Let’s get those letters from her. And then Jake will guard Katie at her house.”
“Consider it done,” Thomas said.
A knock at the door made them all turn.
“Come in,” Thomas answered.
The door opened and Haven entered. His gaze immediately fell on Blake. “Thought I’d find you here.”
“You’re back already? What about the lead?”
Haven shook his head, regret in his eyes. “Sorry, false alarm. It was a case of domestic violence. It wasn’t Isabelle. We sorted the jerk out for kicking his girlfriend around, but the two had nothing to do with Isabelle’s abduction.” He motioned to Thomas and Eddie. “Anything new here?”
Thomas and Eddie remained silent, their gazes shifting to Blake.
Blake sighed. “I’m afraid so. We just figured out that Isabelle wasn’t the target.”
Haven’s forehead furrowed. “But if she wasn’t, then who was?”
“Katie.”
“Fuck!” Haven cursed and turned back to the door.
“What are you doing?”
Haven ripped the door open and looked over his shoulder. “She was in the observation room earlier. I’ve gotta get her and protect her.”
Haven raced into the corridor and to the elevator bank, jamming his thumb on the button to call the elevator.
Blake r
an after him. “What the fuck was she doing at HQ?”
“She wanted to help.”
“You smuggled her in? That’s against—”
“I don’t know who she sweet-talked to get in, but you know my sister. She’s resourceful.”
“Yeah, and one day that trait will get her into trouble.”
Haven nodded. “I just hope today is not that day.”
11
Luther was losing all sense of time and place. All that mattered right now was the woman in his arms: the softness of her lips, the intoxicating taste of her mouth, the spellbinding touch of her fingers as she gently traced his scars. As if their ugliness didn’t bother her.
Just like the faint smell of witch on her didn’t bother Luther. He’d always abhorred witches of all kinds—most vampires did—but Katie’s scent appealed to him, in fact lured him to her like a beacon guiding a ship to shore. A ship adrift in a vast ocean. A ship that had lost its compass.
Katie responded with passion, despite his demanding kiss and his insistent touch.
Despite the fact that he was a dangerous vampire, a stranger in fact, she pressed herself to his body, and encouraged him to grind his hard cock against her with an ever increasing tempo. The soft cries of passion and lust coming from her throat urged him to roam her body, explore her lush curves, while the scent of her arousal drove the vampire inside him insane with need.
His body heated with every lap of his tongue against hers. Deeper and deeper he foraged into the cavern of her delicious mouth, running his tongue along her teeth, nibbling on her lips, tasting her. He was starving for this kiss, couldn’t get enough of it. For over twenty years, he hadn’t kissed a soul, hadn’t felt this kind of intense connection with another living being. For over two decades he’d only known the touch of his own hand, as he satisfied his base needs during the lonely daylight hours in prison, when it was quiet and most vampires slept.
But none of the orgasms he’d experienced at his own hand compared to the pleasure he felt now kissing this woman, this witch—the actress with eyes like a cat. Green eyes. The eyes that had stared at him from those posters in the prison cell.
