by C. L. Quinn
Everything about him, including his smoky gray aura, said bad boy. Not to be messed with. Not to be engaged.
Even from across the room Dani could feel his erotic need. Pheromones, yes, this man was built for sex and she had no doubt he was an aggressive lover, but there was something else; indefinable as yet, powerful.
Almost not human…
But that couldn’t be. He read human, not supernatural, and her talent wasn’t flawed. Yet she sensed…magic? No. Couldn’t be.
Without realizing she’d done so, Dani stood, still locked to his gaze as he was to hers.
“Eva, pick a guy. I’m going to ask that one to dance.”
Her track across the dance floor was slow as she weaved through other dancers. Closer now, Dani approached him, and he stood, his height, his size, presence, overwhelming at first.
For a split-second, she considered aborting what was probably a bad idea, but more than anything right now, she wanted to touch him. Needed to? None of this made sense to her.
The decision was taken from her when he stepped forward to pull Dani’s hand up to rest against his chest, smiling, welcoming. She couldn’t help but respond. Where he touched her hand felt like electricity sparking against her skin.
“Finally,” he said, his voice just as she had imagined, deep, quiet, melodic, a promise.
Promise? What promise? Dani leaned closer, pulling in his scent. Pheromones, definitely, powerful, more than human. How? She said what was on her mind.
“You don’t make sense.”
He laughed and urged her closer, then leaned down to place his lips near Dani’s right ear. The touch sent sensual sensations to her core.
“I will. We must dance.”
Taking her other hand, Dani’s bad boy led her to the dimly lit dance floor and slid his arms around her, too close, too intimately, but she couldn’t pull away. Warmth, power, sexual energy, enveloped her, the infusion so fierce, she lost her balance and stumbled.
His arms tightened, one hand sliding just below the waistband of her jeans, fingers lingering on her bare skin.
“I’ve got you. Never worry when I am near, I will always have you.”
This was too bizarre, but Dani needed to sort it out. She should push him away. She should listen to her talent that revealed this man was no ordinary man. Her recent experience had left her cautious and protective, yet she let him hold her and push the limits of accepted behavior.
His voice interrupted her scrambled thoughts.
“My name is Quattro. Please, tell me yours.”
She had his name. That could be helpful.
“Um, Dani.”
“Dani. Elegant, strong. Like you.”
She couldn’t play at this any longer.
“You know nothing about me. But I have a question for you. What are you?”
Amused further, his eyes glittered. “I am a man holding a woman he was destined to hold.”
More bizarre yet. Destined?
Dani pulled from his arms and moved off the floor.
“Bullshit.” She grabbed Quatto’s forearm and dragged him against the wall out of the path of the other patrons, grateful her strength still worked for her.
“What are you? Don’t act like you don’t understand me, I know better.”
Quattro folded his arms, forcing her eyes to the curved muscles as he leaned against the wall. “You’re incredibly bright, I know that. Don’t question how I know, I just do. I’ll tell you what. You return to that dance floor with me and I’ll tell you everything you want to know. Let me have one dance, and I’m yours.”
One dance. Dani didn’t move, she just kept her eyes on this enormous vampire-sized man and wondered what the hell he was. Could she trust that he’d keep his word? It didn’t matter. If he didn’t, she’d be no worse off. Besides, her fingers were begging to touch him again.
A full three minutes later, she granted his request with a nod. “Fine. One dance, then you spill.”
“I keep my promises, beautiful.”
“All right.” Although she agreed, she failed to keep the suspicion from her tone, and noticed that Quattro had no concern about it. Gleefully, he led her back to the dance floor and firmly pulled her tight against him again.
She would have shoved him back for his boldness, but Gods, she liked how he felt, loved how he smelled.
After holding her breath too long, she expelled it sharply.
“Aren’t you enjoying yourself?”
“No.” Knee-jerk answer. “Well. Maybe. Dancing with you isn’t…hateful.”
“Damned by faint praise. Now, if I could get you to my bedroom, some day, I don’t mean now, don’t bite my head off, but if I could…you and I would rock the earth.”
Rock the earth. Odd choice of words. Did he know…could he know…that she was an earth warrior? It was impossible to guess at this point. Besides, he’d just made the ultimate pass at her, suggesting that she sleep with him.
“Sorry big guy, that isn’t happening. Ever.”
“I don’t appeal to you?”
No safe answer. Certainly not the truth! Best to lie than deal with the fallout from telling him he did.
“You’re, uh, attractive, but no, sorry, you’re really not my type.”
Quattro laughed again. She already knew that he laughed a lot, that he enjoyed himself completely in everything he did. It seemed that life amused him.
“Dani, I’m completely your type. You don’t realize it, do you, that your hands have slid from my waist to my back, then to my buttocks while we’ve danced. I want you just as much. More. If you agreed, I would have you beneath me, writhing from the greatest orgasm you will ever feel.”
He waited, his eyes pinned to her face.
Dani, aware that what he said might be true, determined that she’d never find out, promised herself that he’d continue to wait. She had no answer for him.
Stepping back, pushing him from her, she lifted her eyes to his again.
“Tell me what you are. You promised.”
San watched Dani with a great deal of concern. Even from her human standpoint, she couldn’t miss the obvious sexual connection between Dani and this great big mystery man. Her eyes moved to Eva, dancing several inches apart from the cute cowboy she’d asked to dance. They seemed to be having a nice conversation and enjoying the dance, but that was all it was. All it should be.
Looking back to where Dani was practically enveloped into the body of the man she’d claimed couldn’t be vampire, although it looked for all the world to San like he ought to be, the situation was anything but normal.
He was hotter than shit, though. She’d been hornier than ever since Jack chose Ife over her.
“It’s time to look for my own sexy vampire to do the nasty with,” she murmured.
“Who is Dani dancing with?”
Saul’s voice directly behind Sanquinetta made her jump. She twisted around to see her three vampires lined up behind her.
“Fuck, guys, warn a girl. I could have ended up on the ceiling. Hi, Kwano, glad to see you’re back.” Her eyes returned to the dance floor. “I don’t know, but they’re getting pretty familiar.”
Saul took Dani’s chair and sat beside Sanquinetta, his eyes frozen on Dani and her dance partner. Jack grabbed Eva’s chair as Kwano took one from another table and pulled it over to sit beside Jack.
“I think he’s vampire,” Saul suddenly commented, his voice quieter now.
“She says he isn’t. That he doesn’t read as vampire.”
“No, he doesn’t, but he could be first blood.”
“What do you mean? You guys read as vampire too.”
“Yeah, but we don’t block our life signals.”
“You can do that?”
“We can do that. We rarely do. It isn’t necessary, unless you have a reason to hide your vampire nature.”
Sanquinetta’s heart pounded, suspicion surging. “And he might.”
“He might.”
Kwano
shook his head. “But why is a first blood here at all, and covering his life signal? That is of concern.”
Exactly my first reaction, Sanquinetta thought. She leaned in. “Guys, they got awfully close pretty fast. I wonder if he’s working her? Us? Fuck. You think he has her under compulsion? She can’t protect herself if he does.”
Saul started to rise. “I’m going to get her.”
Jack held a hand out to Saul. “Let me. You’re pretty agitated. It won’t go well.”
“He’s pawing her!”
“Maybe she likes it, we don’t really know. Relax, Saul, I’ll check it out.”
Jack stood and headed around the edge of the dance floor to intercept Dani and the massive man that he agreed was likely a vampire. His spidey sense was firing now too. As he approached, he wasn’t surprised to see that Saul had used air displacement and was already approaching the too-close couple.
Dani pulled away, ready to force this man to tell her what he was, when she felt a vampire presence near, and then a hand on her lower back.
“Are you all right?”
Saul? She turned to see him close behind her, his eyes targeting Quattro. Then her head swiveled back to Quattro as he laughed again.
“The hero. I should have known. I felt all of you when you entered. As a trio, you create quite a wave of power.”
“You’re first blood.” Saul’s hand remained on Dani’s back and his other came up to gently encircle her wrist. He had no doubt that this man meant trouble for them.
Jack arrived behind Quattro just as Saul proclaimed him vampire, and immediately felt the threat as well. His eyes went to Dani. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.” She locked onto Quattro. “So you’re vampire. First blood. Why didn’t I know that? You didn’t use compulsion.”
“We have abilities you apparently need to be acquainted with, my beautiful lady.” Suddenly he bowed, which seemed incongruous for the situation. “Thank you for the dance.”
Dani felt Sanquinetta and Eva come up beside her as Kwano took the space between the women and Jack.
Stepping back, Quattro joined Felix who had just moved forward. He scanned the six people now standing on the side of the dance floor, on guard, all ready to face this unexpected situation. United.
His smile was warm with no malice when he announced his presence to the Remington hunter’s team.
“We are all together at last. This is a legacy moment, although you don’t realize it yet. My name is Quattro. Felix here is my lieutenant. With two who are not here tonight, we are the Four Horsemen. You likely have never heard of us?”
Unmoving, expressionless, the hunter’s lack of reaction told Quattro he was right.
“Ah, well, that has changed. We were hired to eliminate a serious threat to vampires, and I see that it has never been more true. Vampires hunting vampires…with humans. Fascinating. Hideous. Inevitable. Tonight, go rest, finish your mission, but know. At some point, we will meet on a battlefield of honor. We’ll see who the universe will choose as victors. I, for one, cannot wait.”
His gaze went to Dani. “We will fight, but we will love as well. Be ready. The Four Horsemen will ride soon. I wish you all a good night.”
They were gone on the air leaving six stunned hunters in their wake.
Finally Sanquinetta spoke.
“What the fuck just happened?”
Five
Still, quiet, because he had no words for how he was feeling right now, Saul sat on warm sand and watched waves rolling in under reflective white clouds. A growing crescent moon was under there somewhere, but it had been hidden for most of the time he’d rested here. Beside him, a full bottle of Scotch tilted from where he’d buried it into the sand.
“You have the right idea.” Jack dropped down beside Saul and looked at the bottle of Scotch. “May I?”
Saul nodded.
After taking a long sip from the bottle, his arms perched on his knees, the bottle hanging suspended from one hand, Jack mirrored Saul by staring out at the undulating water.
“So, uh, you and Dani. What’s the situation?”
“There’s no situation. No me and Dani.”
“Buddy, it didn’t look that way two nights ago at that bar.”
“I let my guard down, Jack. I’m struggling to avoid a complication. Okay, you’re right. I can’t stop thinking about her. The night she was abducted, when I came for her, we connected, but we can’t really have a relationship. Not like that. She isn’t interested anyway.”
“You need to clear the air before you can move past this. Both of you. Go talk to her.”
“Yeah.”
Waves broke against the shore as if dramatically punctuating Saul’s answer. “Yeah.”
After a few more moments of silent reflection, Saul continued. “But not tonight. Kwano gone yet?”
“Yep. Sophi Martin is finally back so he flew in to deal with her. That ties up the L.A. hunter’s team. Tomorrow night, we’ll all meet to discuss the new threat.”
Downtown Los Angeles
Kwano watched her as she worked with one of many patients in this crowded downtown clinic. The young boy had torn a hole in his knee, and while he wasn’t crying, he was scared. He could see Sophi Martin’s gentleness and empathy as she laughed with the worried child to let him know he was all right.
He’d found her right away, a slender, almost skinny, woman with the palest blonde hair he’d ever seen. Paired with porcelain skin and aquamarine eyes, it struck Kwano that, physically, she was his exact opposite, as light as he was dark.
As she worked, Kwano studied her face. She wouldn’t be considered pretty by classic standards, her nose was crooked, having obviously been broken once, and her lips too thin. Because she was underweight, her cheeks bulged over skin stretched too tight.
Yet he found her beautiful. Joy radiated from Sophi as she moved effortlessly from patient to patient to ensure they were properly cared for and to reassure them that they had nothing to worry about. Her smile to each and every patient was brilliant and genuine.
Surprisingly, he couldn’t wait to speak with her.
Being away from his protected community, Kwano had enjoyed the diversity of cultures, uniqueness of those who rode this planet with him. This slight woman had caught his imagination, and the idea of sitting with her and learning about her life fascinated him.
Partially hidden behind a support column, she hadn’t seen him. Still unnoticed, he slipped away and returned to his car to wait for her. When she finished her shift, he’d follow her home and do his job.
Since he’d secured several entrees from one of L.A.’s finest bistros, he would enjoy the wait.
Busy almost every second tonight, Sophi was thrilled to say goodnight to her crew and the few patients still waiting for care. The facility was open 24 hours, but thank God, she was finished for now. Food, crash and burn, then sleep, in that order.
Finagling the three bags she carried to and from work each night, she tossed them into her small city-car. She’d be home in twenty minutes if traffic complied.
“Play Barbra Streisand,” she said to the automated dashboard and a song from a Streisand movie over a century old started to play. Sophi’s smile widened. Barbra always relaxed her.
Slightly less than half an hour later, Sophi parked her car in the spiral parking space on the twelfth floor of her tower apartment building, groaned as she stepped from her car, grabbed her bags, and waited for the power lift to take her the remainder of the floors to twenty-five, to her little piece of personal heaven. Yes, she loved her job, but constant interaction with the sick and injured meant she treasured the quiet moments alone in her four small rooms.
Once inside, she popped her bags on a stand she’d placed there for just that reason. “Lock up.”
She heard the locks snap down and wandered into a living space that held everything she loved. Soft fuzzy blankets covered the white sofa set in front of her one extravagance. In the corner of the room, an 8
0 inch hi-tech vidscreen waited to be turned on to entertain her.
After sinking onto the couch, something heavy jumped onto her lap. “Odysseus! Hi, baby.”
Sophi pulled the large, white, long-haired cat into her arms and buried her face in his fluffiness. Best part of getting home. This big old boy had been her heart for eight years.
“How about something delicious and a marathon of our favorite sci-fi before I go unconscious?”
Sliding the cat off her lap, Sophi walked toward the galley, dropping her clinic shirt onto a chair on the way. She kept the apartment warm for Odysseus, but admitted she preferred it too.
A plate filled with hot nachos, cheese, and jalapeños in one hand, and a small bowl of cat food in the other, she headed back to the living room. Approaching the couch, she stopped, frozen, shocked.
A man sat beside her cat, petting him carefully, smiling, as he looked up. Her first instinct was to throw the hot food at him and try to reach the door, but she wouldn’t leave Odysseus behind.
“What the hell are you doing in my apartment? How the fuck did you get in?”
She’d read somewhere long ago that you never act the victim. Stay strong, demanding, don’t let them get the upper hand. Terrified, she tried to think of something she could use as a weapon, but there wasn’t anything in the place other than cooking knives that would come close to hurting him. He was perhaps the largest man she’d ever seen. Exotic rows of twisted hair and dark, tattooed skin were nothing she was accustomed to.
He stood, keeping the cat in his arms.
“Look into my eyes.”
Without thinking, Sophi did so, immediately rewarded with lightheadedness.
“Good. Relax. You are in no danger. I am here to ask you a few questions and that is all. Your cat is beautiful. What is his name?”
“Odysseus.”
“Ah. A Greek legend. It is fitting. Sophi, please come sit beside me on the sofa. I promise, you are not in any danger. You must remain calm. Come here, sit beside me, get comfortable.”
