by Terry Spear
Really not good. “You can’t be in here, Lila. Nobody is allowed in the headquarters after closing except for the division headquarters staff.” Crystal stretched out her hand. “Give me the key.”
Lila grinned and shook her head. “Nicolai has it.” She turned and walked back down the hallway. Crystal hesitated. Nicolai couldn’t unlock the door and walk in. But damn, Lila could invite him in.
Before Crystal could dash after her, a cold blast of air blew in through the back door and with it, Nicolai’s spicy scent. Her blood chilled.
He stepped into the hall, tall, dark, and dangerously handsome. A smile stretched across his face, softening his square jaw. His dark eyes sparkled with sexuality, their intensity drawing her in.
He had no mind control powers over her, and yet his desire for her intrigued her. Nobody had ever lusted for her like he did. A traitorous warmth spread through her body.
“You blush easily, my love. That’s a sign you’re pleased to see me.” He changed topics abruptly before she could contradict him. “I wondered where you were. As soon as Lila located you, I had to come.” He must have been monitoring Lila’s thoughts as she searched for Crystal. He glanced at the sleeping sergeant. “He gets to sleep and you do not?”
“That’s the way it works around here.”
“But you’ll get off from work tomorrow.”
She shook her head, frantically trying to think of a way to get the vampire out of the headquarters. She had no way to kill him, or protect herself, or the sergeant even, if Nicolai chose to turn on him.
Nicolai chuckled, deep-throated and seductively. “Then if you have to work tomorrow, by evening you’ll be exhausted.”
What was that supposed to mean? She’d be too worn out to fight him?
He glanced at Lila. She nodded and left the building. Turning back to Crystal, he smiled again. “And he’ll work tomorrow?”
“The sergeant gets the next day off. It’s not fair, but that’s the way they play the game here. Officers don’t need sleep, they figure.”
He moved closer. “You need sleep, my love. Your lids are half closed. You can barely stay awake.”
Admittedly, she was tired, but his appearance had awakened her some. “You can’t use your mind control on me, Nicolai.”
“I don’t need to. You can barely stand.”
She hated when he was right. Folding her arms, she wrinkled her brow. “What do you want?”
“You know what I want.” He touched her cheek, his fingers warm and smooth. “And you’re going to give it to me.”
The notion he was so sure of himself…that she’d give in to him that easily…
She slapped his hand away as her cheeks heated with anger.
He glanced down at her naked neck exposed, her hair tucked neatly into a bun above her collar. Tonight she wore her fatigue uniform, no turtleneck, just a T-shirt.
“You take a bite and you’ll die.”
He grinned at her. “It would almost be worth it.”
A couple of buttons were left undone on his black silk shirt. Her gaze shifted to his skin, white as a swan’s wing, and as smooth as the material in his shirt. A trickle of black hair trailed down his chest and disappeared beneath his shirt.
“It’s been a while since you saw me last. What, three weeks? Do you not remember how I look?” He leaned down to kiss her cheek. She pushed him back. He chuckled. “Did you get my invitation?”
“I’ll have to decline. Sorry.”
Nicolai walked over to the sergeant. “He would be so easy to take.”
“Don’t, Nicolai!” She ran in between the vampire and the sergeant. Despite having no weapons on her, she’d fight Nicolai tooth and nail if need be to protect the unwitting sergeant.
Nicolai reached for her shoulders. With lightning reaction, she shoved him away from her. This time he grabbed her arms and slammed her against the wall, his body pinned hard against hers. She gasped. So much stronger than the vampires she normally encountered, he took her breath away.
His aromatic scent overwhelmed her. She stopped her struggles, enjoying the feel of his hard body pressed against hers, the spicy smell of his skin, and the sound of his rapid breathing next to her ear as he worked up an appetite. If he hadn’t been a bloodsucker and a real man instead…
“Your strength is what makes you so much fun to have. Puny humans no longer interest me. Too easy to control. But you now…” He grinned at her. “I will have you, Crystal. All of you.” He kissed her neck. His warm breath washed over her. The sickening realization he’d fed recently, came to mind. If he could, he’d bite her neck, like so many countless others he’d bitten before her, and enslave her to his desires.
His breath came heavy as he whispered his dark words. “You’re strong, but not as strong as me. Although I enjoy your wriggling against my body, stirring me like never before, I prefer having the advantage, don’t you know?”
She squirmed against his oppression, which made his lips turn up measurably. Her actions only encouraged him further, but she couldn’t remain passive under his control.
He licked her neck, his breath rate increasing. His body pressed harder against hers. A deep throaty moan escaped his lips while his eyes darkened with desire. The bloodlust rose in his system at an alarming rate.
If she couldn’t distract him, they’d both be dead. Suddenly, his lethal fangs extended, and her heart fluttered with panic. No matter how she squirmed, she couldn’t get free. His eyes closed and his teeth touched her skin, sending a new surge of panic through her.
“Nicolai!” she said, raising her voice shrilly, attempting to get his attention. He only gripped her tighter, the bloodlust controlling every bit of his mind and his body, hurtling them toward a precipice of darkness forever.
8
Robert studied the one-story, brick building, housing the 1st Cavalry Division’s headquarters offices as he sat in his car. He had watched Captain Crystal Anderson arrive earlier in the evening and wondered if she’d consort with Dimitri while she served as staff duty officer. When Dimitri’s brother, Nicolai, turned up instead, Robert couldn’t understand it. When a vampire targeted a female host, he’d want her exclusively, particularly if he was an ancient vampire. Stronger, and more set in their ways, they got what they wanted.
So why Crystal was at Dimitri’s house one night, and seeing Nicolai the next, confused the issue. She hadn’t dyed her hair like the hosts normally did either. She was a bundle of contradictions.
He squirmed in his seat not wanting to feel anything for the woman who held his thoughts hostage night and day. She’d bewitched him at the onset with that one brief encounter. Since then, he’d been drawn to her like the tide’s strong pull, desiring something he had no business wanting. Existing as a human host, she was a creature to despise, not crave. He gripped his steering wheel tightly, trying to quash the treacherous feelings rising in his blood. She was some kind of a temptress, like he’d never before encountered.
His thoughts turned to when she’d been at the Mexican restaurant earlier. An obvious host passed a note to Crystal. A note that stated Nicolai would meet her while she was on duty perhaps? Why would he give her a message like that? He only had to telepathically transfer the information, the order, rather, to her once she was a host of his.
Robert rubbed the sleep from his eyes and yawned. These late night excursions in search of Yorovitch, and then duty all day, were taking its toll on him. After he’d located Crystal’s car at the headquarters, he’d slipped off to a world of dreams, twice. Then chastised himself for it. He had to watch her, get close to her, find out from this woman, who was undoubtedly not yet turned, not yet a vampire, where Yorovitch was.
Once he’d seen the woman from the restaurant enter the building, and then Nicolai shortly thereafter, he’d had to fight the urge to sneak inside, and see what they were up to.
The female host had quickly left the 1st Cav headquarters building the way she had entered, but as far as he knew, Nicol
ai was still inside with Crystal. And what of the sergeant who served as Staff Duty NCO? Asleep, probably.
Robert’s thoughts drifted to his dark-haired sister, only twenty-six, the same age as Crystal. His sister had been in the prime of life, soon to be married. How could his family’s world turn upside down so swiftly? He’d vowed revenge despite his family’s concerns. The guilt was eating him up inside, not that he could have stopped her, or saved her, but he wished he could have done something. Even now, her dark brown eyes penetrated the gloom, beseeching him to give up his quest. But he wouldn’t.
He didn’t have long before his brothers would fetch him and return him home to Oklahoma. He had to get Yorovitch before that happened. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel. No matter what the cost.
Nicolai wrenched his face away from Crystal’s neck as he still held her imprisoned against the concrete block wall inside. Momentary relief washed over her. What was the matter with her? He couldn’t control her mind, and yet she had no willpower to resist him. No, he was stronger than her, and she was powerless in his grasp.
The notion both tantalized and concerned her as her body reacted to his touch. He couldn’t feel her nipples tighten through her fatigue shirt and T-shirt beneath this, but she could. The heat pooled between her legs, her body desiring him, while her mind screamed no! He was more dangerous than any vampiric being she’d ever encountered.
He nuzzled his cheek against hers. For a fleeting second, she wanted him to take her. Her body, primed and ready, was winning the battle over her mind. His heartbeat still thumped at a rapid rate as he leaned against her. His breathing was hard. She assumed he was trying to control his raging bloodlust. She couldn’t even reign in her own emotions.
He still held her wrists locked against the wall, their bodies touching in a lover’s embrace. The feelings she had for him were unconscionable for a huntress, the desire that he make love to her in a cloaked bed like Dimitri wished to do with her. Her own kind would kill her if they knew.
He asked her a question, undoubtedly to get his mind on something else, or chance endangering them both further. His voice had a rusty, hoarse quality both from the bloodlust and desire he had for her, but laced with a tinge of anger. “Who was the man driving the white convertible who has been following you, Crystal?”
Taken aback by the question, she shook her head. “I thought he was one of yours, spying on me.”
Nicolai stared at her for a moment, his black eyes piercingly intense. “No. He’s not one of ours. Lila says he appeared at Dimitri’s party, though.”
Crystal was thoroughly confused. “That’s why I thought he was yours or your brother’s.”
“No.” He sounded concerned, maybe angry.
If the man in the convertible wasn’t a human host, what had he been doing there? He wouldn’t have been a vampire hunter. He hadn’t stayed long enough to slay anyone. Besides, he walked straight out through the front doorway before the killing even began. Plus, she knew all of the hunters in the surrounding area. A new threat seemed to exist for her. She was bound and determined to find out who he was and what he wanted with her.
Nicolai took a whiff of her fragrance and smiled. He licked her neck, his tongue warm and soft against her skin. If he’d been human, or a hunter, she’d have loved his attentions, sensual and arousing. But he wasn’t. He was a bloodsucker. His touching her would only push him over the edge…the bloodlust accelerating until he bit her.
She frowned, trying to stop the nausea rising in her throat. “You’re working yourself into a feeding frenzy again. If you don’t stop, you’ll lose control. If you bite me—”
“I know. I’ll die.” The notion didn’t seem to bother him as he nuzzled her neck again, his cheek naturally smooth against her skin. Had he no willpower against the attraction he had for her? His teeth extended and touched her neck, then scraped along the skin, not cutting, just touching, the craving to bite her only seconds away from fulfilling the pleasure he sought.
If he’d only die, it could work out well, but his biting her could poison her system, too…a long, lingering, painful death. She shuddered.
He eased up slightly. As soon as he did, she broke free of his iron grasp and shoved him away. His minions proved easy to kill. Nicolai and his brother had a strength she’d never encountered before. She was as weak as a kindergartner wrestling with an adult. Or maybe it was her lack of sleep that made her so vulnerable. Or being so different from her own kind.
He touched her shoulders lightly, a smile curving his lips as if he were amused with her futile attempts. Then he grabbed her arms again, slammed her against the wall, and pressed his body hard against hers. “I never have to work this strenuously to conquer a woman. You’ve made me more alive than I’ve been in over a hundred years.”
She squirmed against his hold. His touch sent electricity sparking through her body, charging every molecule with energy. “You know I’ll kill you the first chance I get.” Again, she twisted, trying to break his hold.
“You won’t want to once I convince you how much you need me.” He smiled, rubbing his obvious arousal against her waist.
She closed her eyes, enjoying the sensation, and hating it at the same time. “Never.”
“Your family abandoned you. Even after I managed to gain access into your apartment, they wouldn’t offer you a safe house. Instead, you have to live in a hotel.” With one hand, he held both wrists. With the other, he touched her cheek with tenderness.
“I wouldn’t have wished it otherwise.”
His lips turned up slightly. “You’re not like the others of your kind. You’ll live with me. Work during the day at this job if that’s what you want. But at night, you’ll be mine.”
His arrogance quashed any desire her body had for his instantly. “Why can’t you live me in peace, Nicolai? You know I don’t want to kill you—”
He grinned in a self-satisfied way. “I know.”
“Frankly, I don’t want to kill any of you. But you give me no choice.” She scowled. “You’re cutting off the circulation in my hands.” He loosened his hold on her. She twisted her arms free from his grasp, but he caught them again.
Boots tromped on the floor behind him, making her tense. Still confining her, Nicolai turned as the sergeant walked toward them.
Crystal’s eyes widened. She gritted her teeth, trying to think of a way to alleviate the sergeant’s concern for her and keep him safe. Nicolai smiled, like a child with a new toy.
9
The sergeant considered Nicolai’s holding Crystal firmly pinned against the wall. She barely took a breath, anticipating the sergeant’s question.
“Is there some problem here, ma’am?”
Before she could speak, Nicolai focused on the sergeant, his dark eyes narrowed. The sergeant nodded, returned to the couch, and after planting his head on the arm of the sofa, snored in his sleep.
Crystal sighed deeply. Nicolai had used his abilities to make the sergeant lose his train of thought. To her relief, the confrontation had ended peacefully. Nicolai must have realized she’d have protected the sergeant to the death.
Rarely did a vampire lose his head over a woman so profoundly that he’d avoid angering or hurting her. He’d have controlled the woman completely. Was Crystal so different from other huntresses that made him desire her so? Sure. Any other huntress would have killed him or been killed by him.
Facing her, Nicolai touched his lips to hers, not pressuring, but luring. She fought the urge to follow his mouth as he pulled away. Smiling, he raised his brows at her. “I’d take you tonight, but I have other pressing business to deal with. Tomorrow night, I will come for you. Be ready.” He released her arms and vanished.
She rubbed her numb arms. He had gripped them so tightly, she had lost the circulation in them. Now she knew she would never be safe on duty again. Her blood stirred with anger that she had been so weak as to show the least bit of interest in him.
From now on, she would we
ar her weapons, post policy be damned.
Robert had dozed off twice more while watching the headquarters building until that bastard, Nicolai left the place. Had Crystal Anderson been screwing the vampire’s brains out the whole time he’d been in there?
Robert shouldn’t have cared, but damn it all, he did. Some of his pent-up frustration was the irritation that she would allow the bastard into a secure building on the post. But most of his anger was that she was seeing the vampire, whether she was on duty or not.
He really needed to quit giving a damn. She was a means to an end, nothing more. Although he couldn’t help wishing he had been seeing her instead of the blood sucker, and making the moves on her instead.
When the headquarters staff arrived to relieve her, Crystal wanted desperately to return to the hotel and sleep. Instead, she slogged into her office. Hoping nothing would require much of her attention, she plopped onto her gray metal desk chair and shuffled through actions in her inbox.
Her boss stalked into her office. His stern angular face, set jaw, and menacing steel gray eyes said it all. He had a task for her…and it wouldn’t be pleasant. “You have water survival tactics this morning. They’re expecting you now.”
Lieutenant Colonel Cramerton remained a thorn in her side. Otherwise, she loved her job. “I’ve had duty two nights the last three, sir.”
“Now.”
She served as the only company grade officer on the G-1 staff. As such, he always required her to attend the training exercises to represent her staff section. Although six field grade officers served there, too, anyone of them who could have gone to training instead.
Grabbing her hat, she said, “Yes, sir.”
She sighed with exasperation. If she drowned, it’d be on his head. On the other hand, the way he hated her for being a female on staff, it wouldn’t have mattered to him anyway.
