Campbell slammed him against the wall again just for good measure, causing mortar between the bricks to break loose and hit the pavement at their feet.
“What did Rico know?”
“I knew that guy was a rat.”
Campbell reached for the guy’s throat again, and Charlie held up his hands, palms out. “Wait. Give me a minute.”
“You’ve got five seconds.”
“And that’s generous,” Colin added.
Charlie looked up and down the alley, nervousness making him twitchy. “I might have heard that he had stumbled upon some information that the Nefari didn’t want shared.”
“What kind of information?”
“About some new project.”
Questioning Charlie was like pulling fangs. He decided to get more specific.
“Is it true the Nefari is employing humans to do their dirty work during the day?”
Charlie winced that he was stuck with telling the truth if he wanted to get out of this alley in one piece. “Yes.”
“Who are these humans?”
“I don’t know.”
“Charlie, I’m at the end of my very limited patience.”
“I swear! All I know is they are all O-positives, so it won’t matter as much if they get killed.”
Damn it, the guy appeared to be telling the truth. “What are they doing? Looking for?”
“I think you know that already.” The guy swallowed and rubbed his neck. “Blood slaves, sex slaves.”
Anger surged through Campbell. “Sex slaves? They’re pimping the humans out?”
“Yes. Certain vampires have a thing about wanting to keep a warm body around, always at the ready.”
Campbell’s stomach knotted. He understood wanting a warm body, Olivia’s, to be exact, but he couldn’t imagine keeping a human slave for his amusement and satisfaction. He’d never force Olivia or keep her against her will.
Unless he let the bloodlust take over again.
“Do you know how many people they’re targeting?” He needed to know if there were other lists of names, if he needed to call in more V Force teams for protection detail.
“I don’t know,” Charlie said.
Campbell’s eyes narrowed. “You’re holding out, weasel. Be very careful that the next words that come out of your mouth are the truth and useful to me.” Campbell’s fangs descended to emphasize his threat. In that moment, he was more vampire than man.
Charlie swallowed hard. “I might have heard they wanted to get back at that chick who messed up things for them earlier today.”
Olivia. Dread settled in Campbell’s stomach.
“When? What’s their plan?”
“That I don’t know. But they were talking about it inside the club only an hour ago.”
Cold washed over Campbell, and it had nothing to do with the brutal November wind whipping through New York’s concrete canyons. He backed away, and if he had a heartbeat, it would’ve been going crazy. He started to turn down the alley, but Colin clamped down on his arm.
“We don’t have time.” He nodded to the east, at the approaching sunrise.
“I have to make sure she’s safe.” He jerked away from Colin and left him behind, engaging his top speed. He didn’t know if God answered or even heard the prayers of vampires, but he prayed nonetheless that Olivia was safe.
If anyone tried to hurt Olivia, he’d kill him. And he wouldn’t feel even an ounce of remorse. He’d take them out for good then face the punishment. He might cease to exist, but Olivia would be safe. That was all that was important.
* * *
Mindy had been right. Olivia had lost her mind. Desiring a vampire was the height of insanity. Especially when he refused to admit he wanted her just as much. She’d suspected it after the kiss. But his anger and concern over her appearance on the news confirmed it. Despite that knowledge, she wasn’t about to beg him to come back. The next move was his. And if he didn’t make one, well, she’d find a way to get over him.
Unable to get anything resembling restful sleep, she got up before sunrise. Maybe today she’d figure out how to get on with her life without thinking of him nearly every moment. As she descended the stairs from her apartment to the restaurant, her mind went back over the dreams she’d had when she had managed to sleep last night. They alternated between Campbell ripping her neck open with a frightening savagery and his making love to her with a strength and skill that had her panting and crying out his name.
When she flipped on the kitchen’s overhead lights, she gasped. Two men stood across the room. They weren’t vampires, but the term unsavory fit perfectly. All of Campbell’s warnings came back to her, and she cursed herself for leaving her gun upstairs, loaded beside her bed. Which was where she’d thought she might need it during the night.
As sleep receded more, she realized who they were—the two customers who had made her so uncomfortable that day she’d called Campbell.
“We hear we can get a free meal here,” the taller one said.
She wasn’t fooled. These weren’t the kinds of lost and forgotten faces she fed each day. And did they honestly think she didn’t remember that they’d already been here once as paying customers? “How did you get in here?” She wondered if she could make it up the stairs before they caught her.
She didn’t get the chance. The man nearest her was across the room before she could make the first step. Bastard moved fast for a big guy. He pulled her arms behind her, and she winced. She struggled, determined to free herself, to get upstairs to that gun. She’d never seriously considered killing anyone before. But if it came down to it, she would shoot them before she let them drag her away to some fate worse than death.
Olivia kicked and bucked, but she couldn’t connect with her captor’s legs. The other guy moved close and ran his awful fingers down her cheek, over her neck, coming to rest just above her breasts. Her skin crawled in an attempt to get away from his touch.
“You are a pretty thing. I’d love to have you myself, but I wouldn’t live long after that. Still,” he said as he licked his lips, “it’d almost be worth it.”
She didn’t know where she got the strength, but she spit in his face.
His expression transformed to a portrait of anger just before he slapped her.
“Olivia!”
She blinked away the stars, would swear she’d heard Campbell’s voice.
“Olivia, let me in!”
She looked toward the front of the restaurant, and there he was standing on the sidewalk, his hands pressed against the glass of the front door. He looked desperate to get to her, to help, but he couldn’t pass that barrier without her inviting him in. Could she do it? Give a vampire free access to the only place she was truly safe from his kind? These creeps holding her were human, like her, so she had a chance of getting free. But if she invited Campbell in, she’d either have to move or live knowing that when he got hungry, he might come for her.
Campbell’s gaze caught hers, and his eyes blazed a brighter blue than she’d ever seen. Some instinct told her it had nothing to do with bloodlust.
Before she could utter a word, the man behind her clamped a hand over her mouth. She struggled again, but she couldn’t move her mouth enough to bite his hand.
The tall man cupped one of her breasts and looked straight at Campbell. “It must really eat you that you can’t help her, that you have to watch. Maybe I’ll just have my way with her and take my chances.”
Campbell’s face hardened and his eyes narrowed. He was the epitome of dangerous, and knowing that it was out of some protective instinct toward her made Olivia’s heart warm.
“I will kill you,” Campbell said very slowly, deliberately.
“Not if the sun kills you first.”
Oh, God! The sun. Olivia looked beyond Campbell and saw a hint of daylight working its way toward him. She widened her eyes, trying to tell him to go, to save himself. But even though he met her gaze, he didn’t move. As she watched in horror, smoke began to
drift up from his back. Still, he didn’t move, not even when the increasing daylight became painful. She saw it on his face even though he tried to hide it. She closed her eyes, unable to watch him burst into flames.
Struggling did no good, but what if...? She went limp, and her captor lost his grip on her mouth just long enough.
“Campbell, come in!”
He moved so fast, she hadn’t even taken a breath before he had both of the men by the throats and was shoving them out the back door. She didn’t want to know what he did to them. All her worry was for the vampire who was risking his own existence to protect her. Campbell Raines knocked a hole in everything she’d ever believed about vampires. Good and evil, they weren’t so black-and-white as she’d always thought.
The first ray of sun hit her shoulder right as Campbell stumbled back inside, his body burned and smoking, unsteady on his feet.
“Oh, my God!” She grabbed his arm and shoved him away from the windows and into the large walk-in freezer and closed the door behind them. She fumbled in the dark for the light switch as he collapsed at her feet.
When she finally turned on the light, she gasped. Campbell looked as though he’d walked through a fire.
Chapter 14
Campbell didn’t dare think about how many layers of skin he’d lost or the pain he’d go through as it regenerated. What he had to concentrate all his strength on was not attacking Olivia, not after she’d decided to trust him. He craved fresh blood so his body would heal faster, but he couldn’t give in.
“Pull the cuffs off my belt,” he said as he met Olivia’s wide eyes. He could tell how bad he looked from the horror on her face.
“Why?”
“I need you to cuff me so my fangs won’t descend.”
“You...you need to feed?” She took a step backward, the memory of that first day they’d met plainly written on her face. He didn’t think she even realized it.
“The craving is there, to help with the healing.” He winced when he tried to sit up.
Olivia stood frozen, and he hated the idea that maybe she was doubting her decision to invite him inside.
“Please.”
She inched forward.
“The quicker, the better. I don’t want to hurt you.”
Olivia took a deep breath and met his eyes. “You won’t.”
“While your confidence in me is flattering, it’s not wise. I may be a Souled vampire, but I’m still a vampire. You know what I’m capable of.”
She knelt beside him and unhooked the handcuffs that had been dipped in holy water, her hands shaking. “I see a lot of people every day who nobody believes in, so I’ve become a good judge of character.” She snapped the handcuffs gently around his wrists in front of him then met his eyes. She lifted her hand to his burned face and gently caressed the outer edge of the damaged area. “Anyone who is willing to face a horrible death to protect someone else is the very best kind of person.”
He tried to smile but stopped when it pulled his tender skin too much. “But I’m not a person.”
She touched his shoulder, hoping it wasn’t burned beneath his shirt. “Yes, you are.”
Something moved in his chest. His heart hadn’t beat in years, but he’d swear he felt it do exactly that.
“Olivia!”
She jerked at the sound of another woman’s frantic voice. “Stay here,” she said as she jumped to her feet and headed for the freezer door.
As if he had any choice.
* * *
The moment Olivia emerged from the freezer and quickly shut it behind her, Mindy screamed and pointed a gun at her.
Olivia threw up her hands. “It’s me!”
Mindy lowered the gun and pulled her into a one-armed embrace. “Oh, thank God you’re okay!” Mindy was shaking as she stepped back, dropped the gun into her purse and grasped Olivia’s upper arms. “There are two dead bodies outside the back door.”
Nausea and dizziness hit Olivia simultaneously, and Mindy guided her toward a chair. Once she was seated and out of danger of falling on her face, she took a long, deep breath. “They broke in this morning. They...” Her voice faltered and she had to stop to collect herself and try to bring her shaking under control. “They were trying to take me.”
“God, humans working with vampires. Just when you thought life couldn’t go down the crapper any more.”
Mindy marched to the refrigerator, pulled out a beer and downed half of it before she faced Olivia again. Olivia didn’t point out that it was a little early in the day for a beer, because, honestly, she wanted one herself. But she had to keep a clear head and figure out what she was going to do about Campbell. What would happen when night fell? Would he leave? Or was she now facing having to walk away from the diner and her home? She’d told him she believed he was a good person, but his nature might trump those good intentions if he got hungry enough.
“Olivia.”
She looked up and realized she had more immediate problems—helping Campbell and convincing Mindy to not kill him while he was vulnerable.
Mindy nodded toward the back door. “Did you kill them?”
Olivia shook her head. “No.” She hesitated. “It was Campbell.”
Mindy took another swig of her beer.
“He saved my life. Again.”
Mindy started to take yet another drink but stopped with the bottle halfway to her lips. She scanned the scattered dishes, the busted sack of flour. Olivia knew the moment she figured out what had happened.
“You invited him inside?”
Olivia swallowed. “I had to. I couldn’t break free of those guys. I couldn’t let them drag me away to... I wouldn’t survive a blood den. And Campbell was...burning.” Tears stung her eyes at the thought that she could have been forced to watch him go up in flames.
Mindy’s eyebrows shot up. “He was here after daylight?”
“He wouldn’t leave, not while those men had me.”
Mindy sank onto another chair, looking as if she’d been given a good jolt to her core belief system. “Nothing makes sense anymore. Humans working for vampires. Vampires saving humans.” She looked one surprise short of a nervous breakdown, and Olivia was afraid she was about to send her over the edge.
“Min, I need your help, and I need you to stay calm.” She paused. “He’s still here.”
Mindy’s eyes went impossibly wide. “What! Where?”
“The freezer.”
Mindy’s gaze shot to the freezer door. “Oh, my God.”
“It’s okay. He’s cuffed.”
“As if a pair of handcuffs will hold him.”
“He said they’ve been blessed with holy water. As long as he wears them, his fangs can’t descend and he can’t feed.”
“But he’s still strong. He could kill us both in the blink of an eye, break our necks.”
“He won’t.”
“How do you know that?”
Olivia let the question sit there in the air for several seconds. “Because he just risked himself to save me.” She was either crazy or naïve—or something beyond her understanding was happening here. It made no sense how her attitude toward vampires had changed so quickly, but it had. And she needed to make Mindy understand.
Mindy stood. “Let’s get out of here while we can. You can move into my place.”
“I can’t leave. This is my home, my business.”
“And he can waltz in anytime he wants now and kill you.”
“You can leave if you want to. I’ll understand. But Campbell has saved my life more than once. It’s time I return the favor. The least I can do is let him hide here while he heals and the day passes.”
She could see the argument in Mindy’s eyes, but she kept quiet. Though her entire body was so tense she might pop soon.
“I’ve got to call the police,” Olivia said. “I’m begging you not to say anything about Campbell.”
For a horrible moment, she thought Mindy wouldn’t agree. But then she gave what was obviousl
y a reluctant nod.
After Olivia called the police about the bodies and told them a story about hearing a fight in the alley the night before, she and Mindy righted the kitchen.
As the police examined her attackers and questioned her about what she’d heard, she noticed one of the officers looking at her with an odd expression on his face. He approached her as the officer in charge of the scene finished his questioning.
“Olivia DaCosta?”
“Yes.”
“You were one of the women who helped stop that kidnapping.”
“I was.” She did her best to look confused, as if she didn’t know there might be any connection between her ticking off the Nefari and the two dead guys outside.
The officer nodded behind him. “You think the two events are connected?”
“Why would they be? To my knowledge, they didn’t even try to get in here.” Please don’t check the front door. Please don’t notice the lock is broken.
“Someone thought you were in danger even before your moment in the spotlight. He called the police requesting a protection detail for you.”
Shock jolted her, but she couldn’t bring Campbell into this. Not when he was inside her freezer and vulnerable.
“You seem surprised.”
“I am.”
She hoped the officer chalked it up to disbelief that had nothing to do with a vampire. But Campbell had been serious enough about protecting her that he’d reached out to the human police. She fought the urge to run to the freezer and pull him into her arms.
“I can’t imagine who it was, or why,” she said.
He didn’t look as if he believed her, but he didn’t press the issue. “Well, whoever it was, looks as if he was right to be concerned. These two have a rap sheet as long as Broadway. We might need to rebuild the human population, but I can’t say I’m sorry to see these two out of the gene pool.”
The cop, an Officer Cortez, judging by his nametag, looked down at the dead kidnappers, a pinched look on his face.
“Is something wrong?” Olivia asked.
Officer Cortez sighed. “The person who called about protection claimed some humans were working with the vampires. Sounded crazy to us at the time. But recent events have proven he was right about that, too.”
Out of the Night (Harlequin Nocturne) Page 16
