by John Corwin
"I want to sweep the food of this table and take you right here," he said, eyes glittering.
"Don't tease me." I felt breathless, and not from the dancing.
His hand ran up my inner thigh, stopping short of my panties. I trembled. Took his hand, and moved it so he could feel just how aroused I was. His finger slipped under the hem of my panties.
I spotted the waitress bearing more margaritas. Tyler must have seen the embarrassment in my eyes, because he turned and saw her as well. His hand slid back out, and a grin lit his face.
"Can I get you anything else, sir?" The girl's eyes lingered on Tyler.
"We're good for now." He dismissed her with a nod.
My normal stomach gave rumbling notice it was ravenous, and that I ought to pay more attention to it than the greedy organs further south of it. I gave Tyler an embarrassed smile and tested the tapas. They were delicious.
After eating, we danced until we were both exhausted and laughing like schoolchildren. As Tyler led me outside toward the valet, I couldn't think of another time I'd had more fun. In fact, the last time I'd had anywhere near as much unabashed fun had been when I went on dates with Tyler as Thomas.
This is insane.
Insane, but I never wanted it to end. If only he could love me.
The valets bustled about, the outside area choked with people waiting on their cars. Tyler found a valet and asked him for the key. He told him he'd get the car himself instead of waiting. The huge tip he gave the guy seemed to settle the question, and the valet handed it over.
"What a blast," Tyler said, echoing my thoughts as we walked into the parking lot looking for the car, his arm around my shoulder.
"I had a lovely time." My arms looped about his waist. "I hope your toes aren't too sore."
"They'll heal." He pecked a kiss on my forehead. "Ah, there it is." Tyler pointed out several expensive-looking cars parked away from the others with the Lamborghini sitting gloriously in the middle. He held up the key and pressed the button.
Spiders made of ice seemed to skitter up my back. I heard a whoosh of air.
Tyler stiffened.
Someone shoved us hard. We sprawled toward the pavement. Tyler, one arm still around me, somehow spun so I landed atop him instead of skinning my hands and knees on the pavement. We both grunted at the impact.
A shadowy figure stepped from the gloom, a wicked smile on his face. "We really must stop running into each other like this," Stephen said. "In fact, I plan to make it the last time we do."
Chapter 34
"You!" I shouted, unable to form another coherent word as shock coursed through me. It had been so long since the maniac last accosted me, I thought he'd given up.
Tyler grunted. I felt his muscles tense beneath me. With a sudden jolt, he propelled us to our feet, and swept me behind his back in one continuous motion. "What the hell's your problem?" His mouth parted slightly, and recognition seemed to widen his eyes. He was likely remembering his first confrontation with Stephen in the alley.
"Your little bitch is my problem." Stephen took a step forward. "I plan to have my way with her."
"Try anything and I'll kill you," Tyler growled.
Stephen burst into a laugh. "Oh, that's rich." He folded his arms and smirked. "You see, there's something you don't know. Those monsters your mommy warned you about?" He bared his teeth and his canines grew into slender sharp fangs. "I'm one of them."
I gasped. This couldn't be real, but it was. All those thoughts I'd had about supernatural beings had been spot on. "You're a bloody vampire!"
Stephen touched his eyes and removed a pair of contacts. His irises glinted red in the light from the nearby streetlamp. "I guess you're not such an idiot after all."
"Leave before I kill you," Tyler said, settling into a fighting stance. "Last warning."
"You? Kill me?" The vampire guffawed. His fist blurred toward Tyler's face.
Two things happened. Tyler shoved me back away from him, and ducked. Stephen made a retching sound as Tyler's fist slammed into his midsection. The vampire recovered almost instantly, grabbing wildly at my boyfriend, but Tyler had obviously trained in hand-to-hand combat. He dodged the lightning-fast but clumsy attempts from the other man. He spun. His foot lashed out, slammed Stephen's chest. The vampire flew back and smashed into the window of another car, cracking it, and sending safety glass scattering across the hood.
Stephen leapt to his feet atop the hood and roared. He blurred toward Tyler almost too quickly for me to see. Tyler tried to dodge. He was an instant too late. The vampire clipped his shoulder and sent him sprawling to the ground.
My mind raced. Vampires! Vampires? How do you kill the bloody things? I thought back to the movies, though I hadn't seen many with the blood-sucking vermin. The only effective weapons I knew that might work against the unholy creatures were holy water and wooden stakes. Seeing as how we were in the middle of a parking lot, I couldn't see myself happening upon either in a reasonable timeframe. I saw the key to the Lamborghini on the ground and snatched it. Tyler might have something in the car I could use.
Stephen let out another yell of frustration as Tyler intercepted the man's fist, turned it in mid-punch, and twisted the man to the ground. My boyfriend slammed the vampire against the pavement, and pressed his knee into the other man's back.
I kicked off my high heels. Turned and dashed for the car. Flipped up the door and rummaged in the glove box. Inside, I found a revolver. Grabbing it, I ran back to see Tyler still pinning the vampire to the ground. Every time Stephen tried to dislodge him, he howled in pain.
"It doesn't matter how strong you are," Tyler said. "You'll only break your arm trying to get loose."
"Then I'll fucking heal," Stephen snarled. He twisted. A sickening crack sounded, and he screamed, at the same time, bucking Tyler off him. His arm hung loose, as though dislocated, and his pale face looked almost green.
I spread my legs. Pointed the gun. "You bastard. You tried to rape my best friend."
Despite his obvious pain, the vampire sneered. "Rape her? I was going to drain her and leave a corpse. It would have been you, but for some reason you didn't respond to my compulsion."
I stared in horror as his grotesquely twisted arm seemed to wrench itself back into place with a fleshy popping sound as it reconnected to his shoulder. Stephen wiggled his fingers and bared his fangs. He looked at Tyler and back to me. "By the way, I don't know if you realize it, but your boyfriend is possessed. Warmer than usual skin. Stronger than a human." He shook his head. "But still no match for me. You might have some skills, boy, but I'll keep healing and coming. You can't stop me."
Anger burned through me. This man was a true monster. Something evil that fed on humans. He'd almost killed Isabel. It was obvious that he was out to get me. And now he was threatening my boyfriend.
Stephen smirked. "Might as well put down that gun, bitch, because I know you're not going to use it."
I cocked back the hammer. Smiled. "I think this qualifies as self-defense." And then I pulled the trigger.
Stephen's eyes went wide as the gun clicked. Empty.
"Fuck," Tyler said. "I don't keep it loaded."
"You what?" I hardly had time to say the words when Stephen threw something. It blurred through the air and cracked into Tyler's head. Tyler collapsed in a heap.
The vampire was on me in a heartbeat, hand clenched on my throat. He pinned me to the hood of a car. The cold metal bit into my bare legs.
"Why?" I asked. "I never did anything to you."
"Because you pissed me off." Stephen's voice dripped with sarcasm. "I've never met a woman who didn't melt before my compulsion." He grinned. "Guess you won the lottery." He spread my legs with his knees. "You're about to get another prize before I end you."
I felt the cold squirming sensation inside the vampire, almost as if it were a parasitic worm, driving him to feed on warm blood. The sensation grew stronger and stronger and I almost felt as though I could grab the par
asite as I had with the high school student in the gymnasium. Something sharp pierced my neck and I realized in a detached sort of way that Stephen was sucking my blood.
He pulled back and smiled with blood-smeared lips. "Feels good, doesn't it?"
I struggled ineffectually in his grasp. "It feels like someone biting my neck, you idiot! What's supposed to feel good about that?"
Stephen looked puzzled. "You're one messed up chick. My bite feels amazing."
The cold wriggling sensation grew even more palpable the longer I stayed in contact with him. My hands felt as though they held something vile and slimy even though they were pinned between me and the vampire's body. I tightened my hands around this invisible thing and squeezed.
Stephen's eyes widened. "What was that?" He looked genuinely confused. His pale complexion turned absolutely green as I squeezed hard once again. He gagged. "What the fuck is happening to me?"
I felt the presence sliding out of him like a baby coming through the birth canal. With a gentle tug, it came free. Stephen contorted, a sickly croaking sound tearing from his throat. He fell to the ground, twitching and moaning. A liquid stain spread across his pants.
Something appeared in my hands. It glowed a sickly white but seemed to have no life of its own. Now freed from its vessel it slowly dissipated, the light from it rising like vapors. I dropped it on the ground to rid my flesh of the awful feel of the stuff. Within seconds, nothing remained but a gelatinous clear blob.
Stephen staggered to his feet. His eyes were no longer red, and his skin looked pinker, healthier. He glared at me with pure hatred. "What have you done to me, you bitch!" He ran at me. This time, he was quite slow. So slow, in fact, that I had time to reach into my purse and pull out my stun gun. I slammed it into his balls and pulled the trigger. He squealed like a dying pig and fell to the ground, grabbing his privates and crying.
"What the—" Tyler looked from Stephen to me and back again. "Did you find the bullets?"
I started to shake as the adrenalin rush faded. "Oh, god. How did I do that?" I stared at my hands as though I'd murdered someone. "What did I do?" I bent down and picked up the gun.
"What the hell's going on over here?" A police officer braced a gun atop a car behind Stephen's position and aimed it at us. "Put the gun down, Miss. I have a weapon trained on you right now."
I sent the gun clattering to the pavement.
Stephen groaned and glared at Tyler. "Fucking demon lover." He shook with sobs. "What did you do to me?"
Tyler bared his teeth. "Go to hell, you piece of worthless shit."
"Hands up where I can see them!" the officer said.
"I'm hurt," Stephen said. "These people mugged me."
"Bollocks!" I shouted back. "He's the one who tried to mug us!"
The police officer cursed, and emerged from the cover of the car. He kept the gun trained on me and Tyler. "Kick the gun over here."
Tyler obliged. "Are your feet okay, babe?" He looked down with concern.
I looked at my bare feet. Blood stained my left foot. I'd most likely stepped on glass or something, but the intensity of the situation seemed to have numbed it. Now that I'd seen the wound, the bottom of my foot inflamed with pain.
Tyler booted the gun to the officer.
The policeman bent down and retrieved the gun, his aim never wavering. "I need all of you to turn, drop to your knees, and place your hands on your head."
"I can't," Stephen said. "They hurt me bad."
The officer shouted over this shoulder. "Ricky, come cuff this man."
A young man emerged from behind another car. He flipped Stephen on his stomach, pinned him to the ground with a knee, and then zipped plastic cuffs around his wrists.
"Ow!" Stephen cried. "Take it easy."
"Enjoy the pain you bastard!" I shouted. "I hope they probe your backside with a splintered broom handle!"
"That's enough, Miss," the older police officer said.
"She's bleeding." Tyler pointed at my feet. "That man tried to mug us. She used the gun in self-defense,"
"I'm not taking any chances," the officer said.
"Do you know who I am?" Tyler said. "Do you recognize me?"
"Son, you could be the President and I'd still use procedure. On your knees!"
We turned away. I lowered myself to my bare knees slowly, so the kiss of the asphalt wouldn't hurt. Tyler made a low growling noise.
"Behave," I said. "He's just doing his job."
Once again, the young cop sprang into action and cuffed me. Tyler's growl turned into a chuckle. When the cop came over and cuffed him, my boyfriend was laughing as though I'd just told him the funniest joke ever.
"What's so bloody hilarious?" I asked.
He turned his amused gaze on me. "Isn't this the most memorable date ever?"
My lips cracked a smile. As the officer helped me to my feet, it was all I could do not to double over laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation. Attacked by a vampire? Arrested? This was the craziest date I'd ever been on.
"Are you two on drugs?" the officer asked as he and his partner led us toward a patrol car.
"I wish I knew," I said, gasping for air. Everything felt so surreal, I had to wonder if maybe I'd fallen down the rabbit hole.
After twenty minutes of telling a heavily modified account, the older cop, Officer Robbins, seemed satisfied with our story, especially after he checked out Tyler's identity and administered a sobriety test to be sure we weren't drunk or high.
"Son, you should update this driver's license." He looked quizzically at the old chubby version of Tyler before possession. "You've lost a lot of weight since then."
"Yes sir." Tyler's amused smirk returned as he rubbed wrists where the handcuffs had been.
"They're lying!" Stephen screamed. He tried to squirm free from the police. Officer Ricky whacked him behind the knees while Officer Robbins lit him up with an industrial-sized stun gun. Stephen gobbled like a mortally injured turkey and went into convulsions before passing out and thudding on the ground.
Officer Robbins looked at him for a moment. "I reckon he'll be okay. Put him in the squad car, Ricky."
The young cop dragged the groaning man to the squad car.
I had to wonder if Stephen was still a vampire. Had I removed that part of him somehow?
We completed some paperwork, retrieved Tyler's revolver, and headed back to the Lamborghini.
Tyler helped me into the car and dropped into the driver seat. A long slow breath blew through his lips. "I didn't know vampires really existed."
I felt my eyes go wide. "What? You're a demon! A creature of the supernatural and you didn't know about vampires? My God, if they exist, what else does?" What sort of people were George Walker and Mr. Sticks?
"I heard about them, sure," Tyler said. "But I always figured they were just superstitious tales."
A laugh burst from my throat. "Oh, that's rich. A superstitious demon? What about if a black cat crosses your path?"
He chuckled. "I guess, from your perspective, it does sound funny."
"Funny? It's hilarious." I sighed, too tired to laugh anymore. As the smile faded from my lips, I realized something else. George had been lying to me from the start. Oh, I understood why he hadn't told me about vampires, but I felt it justified me telling Tyler all about my side job.
"What's bothering you?" Tyler started the car and put a hand on my knee.
"I haven't been entirely honest with you," I said.
He ran a hand down his face. "More secrets?"
I gave him a sheepish look. "Afraid so." A long sigh escaped me. I launched into my story, starting with my odd ability and how only recently I'd begun to realize it wasn't just simple intuition, but something much more. I told him about George Walker and the Custodians. I explained how my sixth sense made me feel around vampires, around him, and around George and his ilk.
Tyler listened patiently the entire way through, though his facial expressions were more than enough
to indicate how confused and hurt he felt.
"Vampires feel cold and squirmy, but I feel hot and steamy?" he said after the conclusion of my story.
I nodded. "I usually feel that way around you even without my senses going crazy."
He smiled. "Well, we can be thankful for that."
"I hope you're not too angry with me." I looked down. "I thought I was doing something good."
Tyler put a finger to my chin and drew my gaze back to him. "You're doing good work. If assholes like Stephen are any indication about what vampires are like, then you have my complete support." His smile faded. "But the Custodians can't find out about me. It would seem they're some kind of force that hunts down supernatural beings. They'd probably lock me up if given the chance."
I gripped his hands. "They need me. If they find out, I'll tell them I won't work for them anymore."
He kissed my knuckles. "Just be sure they really do need you that badly."
"You saw what I did to Stephen."
Tyler raised an eyebrow. "No, I didn't actually see it. You said you pulled the vampirism right out of him?"
I nodded. "If I can do that, I'm even more valuable to the Custodians than they realize."
"I think you're right." He chuckled. "Looks like I'm not the only supernatural being around here."
I hadn't thought of it that way, but the more I thought about it, the more I knew he was right.
I wasn't a normal human.
Chapter 35
Tyler took a call on the way home. "Sounds good. I'll meet you in the lobby." He hung up and looked at me. "Joe's got my new security detail together."
I looked at the clock. "At this time of night?"
"I told him to contact me the instant the team was ready." He squeezed my hand. "I want to be ready for the Exorcists."
A sense of relief settled into me as I realized yet another threat to our happiness might be if not neutralized, at least kept at bay.
Tyler parked in the garage. We took the lift up to find Joe and ten other men of varying burliness and attire waiting in the lobby. The more muscular men had shaved heads. A couple of the leaner men looked like quite the metrosexuals, with long, styled hair and trendy suits. All the men had one thing in common—they looked capable of instant violence.
