“Why are you really there, Sonia? I know it is not simply for research. I sense something more. Something darker.”
That was the problem with having a mother who was part gypsy and part, well, something else altogether. She always knew when Sonia wasn’t telling her everything. “I’m fine.”
“Be careful, my darling. Promise me.”
Her stomach lurched and she slowed, finally coming to a halt outside a small, bustling Italian restaurant. “Do you know something I don’t?” Some people might laugh, but Sonia believed in her mother’s premonitions. They’d been right far too often for her to discount them.
“No. It is all dark. Hidden. Maybe you should come home. Or one of your brothers could fly out to be with you.”
That was exactly what she didn’t need. She loved both Stefano and Milo with all her heart, but they were overbearing know-it-alls, as only older brothers could be. “I’ll be careful, Mom. I promise. Look, I’ve got to go. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Please be careful, Sonia,” her mother pleaded.
“I will. Love you.” She ended the call but was left feeling anxious and unsettled. “Great. I should have waited until I was back at the hotel to call her.” She started walking fast again, aware of the rush of humanity on the streets as people headed to clubs and restaurants to meet friends and lovers. Roving packs of females and males all looking for some action and some up to more nefarious deeds that she’d rather not know about.
“Get a grip,” she muttered and picked up her pace. She was fine. She was faster and stronger than she looked, and her father had made sure she knew how to handle herself in less-than-desirable situations.
No one knew why she was truly here in Chicago, not even her family. There was nothing in her computer that would point to her real reason either. She was smart and had been trained from birth not to talk about the others.
Most people didn’t believe in the paranormal. Sonia knew better. Her family was a member of The Keepers, a part of a worldwide network of people who helped protect those who weren’t human. Werewolves, witches and other shapeshifters filled the world, but the most elusive supernatural creature of all was the vampire.
She’d come here in search of one.
Some people would call her crazy, but that was fine by her. She’d been ridiculed for her choice of study within the academic world anyway. She’d studied anthropology and folklore, making her field of study the myths and legends of the worlds, specifically those that pertained to otherworldly creatures.
She knew a lot about werewolves, but not nearly as much about vampires. It was only by sheer luck she’d stumbled across a newspaper clipping about the killings in a Chicago park last year. It had all the trademarks of a battle between a group of werewolves and bounty hunters. The bounty hunters were a nasty lot, wanting to kill every supernatural creature, no matter if they were good or bad. That made the hunters evil in her books.
Whether there were werewolves living in the city or not, she didn’t know. They weren’t in The Keepers database. But it had started her looking at Chicago, and in her research she’d come across a mention of a very exclusive club—Inhibitions. For some instinctive reason she’d been compelled to keep digging for information about the club and its mysterious owner.
She might not have the sight like her mother did, but Sonia always listened to her intuition. It had never been wrong. Her curiosity, and a gut feeling that she needed to pursue this further, had led her here.
“Probably all for nothing.” She was grateful for the advent of technology. Now when she talked to herself, people assumed she was talking on her cell phone and didn’t stare quite as much as they had when she was a kid.
A frisson of fear snaked down her spine and Sonia glanced over her shoulder, studying the sidewalk. It was filled with people and there didn’t seem to be anyone watching her. But everyone in her family was big on intuition and she knew there was someone out there following her.
The hotel was still a few blocks away. She was from New York and used to walking, but what had seemed like nothing more than a brisk evening stroll now seemed far too long a distance. Sonia yanked her phone back out of her purse and held her finger above speed dial. If something happened, she wanted her family to know. They were the only ones she could count on to help her if this was something out of the ordinary.
Beneath her tailored jacket, she was sweating and her heart was racing. She walked as fast as she could without running. A breeze hit her as she passed by an open alleyway. It was dark, but something moved down at the far end.
To hell with it. Sonia began to run, weaving in and out around the other people, calling out “excuse me” when she hit someone. She didn’t stop until she was at her hotel. Slightly winded, she paused in the safety of the lobby and peered back behind her, but saw nothing.
“Nerves. Nothing but nerves and lack of food.” She slid her cell phone back into her pocket and made quick time across the lobby to the bank of elevators. She checked to make certain the elevator was empty before she stepped inside and breathed a sigh of relief when the door whooshed shut.
Her fingers had a death grip on her purse strap and she forced herself to release it. She took a deep breath and slowly let it out, willing her heart rate back to normal. A bead of sweat rolled down her back and she couldn’t wait to get out of this godforsaken suit and into something more comfortable.
She dug into her oversized purse and found her keycard, having it ready before the elevator door opened on her floor. The hall was well lit, but Sonia still felt exposed and hurried to her room, her shoes making no sound on the carpet.
It took her two tries to get the card inserted into the slot, but the red light finally turned green and she shoved the handle down and pushed the door open. She shut it behind her and set the security lock. The lamp she’d left on earlier illuminated the room, her suitcase still sat on the bed and a low hum came from the heater.
Sighing with relief, she tossed her purse onto the bed and stepped out of her shoes. “See, nothing to worry about. Nothing at all.” She padded to the window, pulled back the sheer curtain and looked down six floors to the sidewalk below.
People walked in both directions and cars, trucks and buses flowed up and down the busy street. The “L”—the elevated, rapid transit system—rumbled in the distance, carrying people to work, home or wherever they were headed. There were lights as far as the eye could see. She let the white panel fall back into place.
She needed to eat but knew she couldn’t face going out again. The room service menu that sat alongside the phone looked very enticing. She picked it up and thumbed through her choices. When she’d made her selection, she picked up the phone and ordered her club sandwich and ice tea, along with a brownie for dessert. They told her it would be about forty-five minutes to an hour wait. Long enough to have a shower and change.
Sonia flipped open her suitcase, drew out a pair of comfy sleep pants and a T-shirt and headed to the bathroom.
Chapter Two
Damek followed Sonia from a safe distance, always keeping her in sight, but never getting close enough for her to detect him. It was harder to remain hidden outside in the bright lights of the city, but not impossible. Not for him.
He kept one eye on her and the other on his surroundings. Old habits died hard, and even though no one in the city knew about him, other than a pack of werewolves whom he trusted, he wasn’t taking any chances. Vampire hunters were everywhere. He cursed Bram Stoker for creating the character of Van Helsing, even as he gave thanks for the rise of the Goth culture, which helped his kind blend in much more easily.
She moved quickly and competently through the crowd, her long legs eating up the distance to her destination. He wondered what those legs would look like bare and, preferably, wrapped around his waist as he thrust into her.
He paused and shook his head. She really had unsettled him. His body responded to her nearness, his cock swelling and lengthening without his permiss
ion. His body was always under his command, until tonight.
She took out her phone and talked to someone, smiling at whatever the other person had to say. A flash of envy bolted through him. He wanted to be the one who brought a smile to her face.
He growled and swore under his breath. He should turn around and go back to his club. This woman was trouble. He felt it in his bones, in his very soul. She could undo everything he’d built here. Why he thought that, he didn’t know, but it didn’t matter. He believed it and that was enough.
He was about to head back to Inhibitions when an icy cold finger stroked his spine. Damek faded into the empty alcove of a closed bookstore and studied his surroundings. He narrowed his eyes, peered past the darkness and opened his mind to the thoughts of those around him. He was immediately bombarded by hundreds of images, words and feelings, many of them unsettling and dark. He picked through them at lightning speed, effortlessly discarding those not important to him.
There was a hitch in Sonia’s step and then she began to run. Damek quickened his step to keep pace with her, sliding through the shadows, searching for whatever had spooked her. A movement from an alleyway caught his attention. He turned his attention toward the area and found…nothing, even as his preternatural sense of hearing picked up a faint footstep. That in itself was disturbing. Few could naturally shield their thoughts from a vampire, although it was a skill that could be taught over time.
His blood began to simmer. Vampire hunter.
The tall, well-built man stepped out from the shadows and peered around the corner, his gaze settling on Sonia. Why was a vampire hunter watching Damek’s professor of folklore? Was he following her specifically? Were they working together?
Damek pondered his options. He should watch the man and see what he did and whom he talked to. All fine in theory, but then the man took a step toward the alley opening and Sonia.
Protective instincts he believed long dead rose to the fore, shutting out all reason. Damek uncloaked his presence and sauntered toward the man. “She’s pretty, isn’t she?”
“Who?” The man squared his shoulders in a visible challenge. The human stood several inches above Damek’s six-feet and was obviously used to using his size to intimidate others.
The man looked at Damek’s smaller, leaner stature, the designer suit and shoes and dismissed him as unimportant. Really, all these hunter types seemed to think all vampires wore leather, had multiple piercings and hung out in Goth bars. It would be insulting if it weren’t so helpful to him. Plus, even he had to admit there were many of his kind who did just that, adding to the cliché.
Damek simply smiled and inclined his head toward Sonia as the crowd swallowed her up. “Ms. Agostino.”
The man’s eyes widened and his pupils dilated. Ah, so he did know who she was. “Listen, buddy.” The hunter’s voice was low, his posture threatening. “I don’t know who you are, but you want to stay out of business that doesn’t concern you.”
Damek let his power flare, filling the space between them and clouding the entrance to the alley so all those passing it would see nothing amiss. The man paled, shut his mind up even tighter and reached for the weapon hidden beneath his jacket. Damek smiled, letting his opponent see his fangs as he pushed past the rather impressive barrier and into his mind, taking control.
He was normally more circumspect in public, but his control was tenuous at best. Plus, the hunter was following Sonia. That pissed him off.
“Take your hand away from your weapon.” The man strained to keep his hand moving toward the knife, but his body would not obey him. “There’s a good boy,” Damek praised as he closed the distance between them.
The hunter was strong and Damek amped up his psychic attack, drawing on his reserves.
“Fuck you,” the man grated out.
“Tsk, tsk. Such an offer, but I’ll have to say no. I’m not into men.” Damek bored ruthlessly into the man’s memories. “Your name is John Barnes and you’re from Tennessee.” The man was sweating now and struggling against the hold of Damek’s mind.
“Why were you watching Ms. Agostino?” He could search for the information but it would take time. This man was adept at compartmentalizing his memories and Damek didn’t want to take the time to dig through them all. Sonia was out there alone and he had no idea if there were other hunters following her.
John gritted his teeth, the muscles in his jaw straining as he struggled not to speak. “We watch her because she studies werewolves, vampires and other paranormal abominations.”
“Spare me your tired political rhetoric.” Damek was sick of hearing how he had to be destroyed because he was different, a monster. Yes, many of his kind deserved to die, but not all of them, only those that were truly killers. A smart vampire kept a low profile—which he wasn’t doing at the moment—took only the blood necessary to survive and never, ever killed a blood host.
In this day and age it was even easier to go undetected. Blood banks were everywhere with their endless supply of nourishment. The last thing a vampire wanted was unnecessary attention shone his way. “Tell me more.”
“That’s it. I was told to watch her and report back on what she did and who she talked to.”
That wasn’t good. “Do you know where she went tonight?”
“Some fancy club. Inhibitions.” The man continued to struggle to move but Damek kept ruthless control of him while maintaining the shadows at the mouth of the alley. Years of practice allowed him to do it easily while he mulled over the implications.
He couldn’t allow the vampire hunters to know about him or his club. They would ruin everything he’d built in the past decade and he was nowhere near ready to give up his club and the life he had in Chicago. Not yet.
“Who do you report to? Are you alone in Chicago?”
John gritted his teeth. “Fuck you, bloodsucker.” He tried to resist, but Damek applied more pressure, drilling into the man’s mind without hesitation. This man was his enemy, and Damek treated him as such.
“I won’t ask twice.” The urge to kill the hunter was overwhelming. He was a threat to Sonia. But that wouldn’t be smart. A missing hunter would bring more of their kind to his city.
“I’m alone and I report to Luther Kostas.” Beads of sweat rolled down John’s face.
“See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” Damek stepped so close he was nose to nose with the man. He pulled on more power, took total control of John’s mind and began to manipulate his memories. “You followed Ms. Agostino back to her hotel and saw nothing out of the ordinary. She stopped for dinner at an Italian restaurant.” Damek named one nowhere near his club. “She is no threat to you or your group. This is nothing more than a research trip. The good professor only studies myths and legends and knows nothing of reality.” He pushed hard, drilling this into John’s mind until his real memory was gone, replaced with this new reality.
“And, John,” Damek continued. “You are alone in this alley. You’re feeling as though you might be coming down with a stomach virus. You’re not well and need to return to your hotel.”
The urge to kill the man, to eliminate the threat was pushing Damek hard. He wanted to dig his fangs into the human’s jugular and drain him dry, but he overrode his primitive instincts and listened to his brain. The death of this man would only bring more trouble, and that was the last thing he wanted. “Now go.”
Damek released John’s mind and faded into the shadows, pulling his power around him. The sounds and sights from the street came back into view as the shadows faded from around them. The man swayed and stumbled, leaning against the wall.
“Fuck. I must have eaten something funny.” He swiped a hand over his damp forehead. “Or maybe I’m coming down with something. This is a shit assignment. Stupid bitch didn’t do anything but stop for dinner.”
John rolled his shoulders and made his way to the top of the alley. He turned and looked back, shook his head and headed down the sidewalk. Damek followed, watching until the t
hreat disappeared from sight.
“Now to find Sonia.” He flowed down the sidewalk, moving with the mass of humanity. Unlike many paranormal creatures, including some of his brethren, Damek liked humans. He enjoyed their ingenuity, their passion and zest for life, their resilience. Plus, he couldn’t survive without them. It made sense to him to protect his food source and keep it close.
He didn’t think Sonia had gone much farther after she’d bolted. He’d tracked her racing heartbeat as best he could under the circumstances, but the strength of the hunter had made that more difficult.
Here. He slowed and stopped in front of a midrange hotel and sniffed. He could scent the slightest bit of her natural essence, along with a heavy dose of fear. He didn’t like that. She should never have to be afraid of anything.
Damek strode across the lobby, using his power to disrupt the security cameras. When he reached the reception desk, he smiled at the woman behind the counter. “I am looking for one of your guests, Sonia Agostino.”
The woman was older, her dark hair slightly silvered and she wore a professional smile. “I’m sorry, sir, but we don’t give out information on our guests. I can call up to her room for you if you’d like and let her know you’re here.”
He appreciated the good security here, but it existed to keep others out, not him. “That is fine.” He gave a gentle push to her mind as she looked down at the computer screen to find Sonia’s room number—604. As soon as he had it, he withdrew from her mind and offered her another smile. “On second thought, it’s late. I’ll check in with her tomorrow.”
“If you’re sure.” She was watching him now, her gaze worried.
“Absolutely.” Damek turned and walked out the front door. He ducked into the shadows and watched until another customer distracted the woman behind the reception desk. Then he cloaked his presence and flowed toward the elevators, stepping in the one that opened as he approached. He pressed the number for the right floor and watched as the numbers lit one by one until he reached the sixth floor.
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