“Is this where he lives?”
Baojia smiled. “Sort of.” He stopped the car and before she could open her door, he was there, opening it for her and helping her out. Then he nudged her against the car and stepped closer, leaning down as if he were going to tell her a secret. But he didn’t say anything; instead, she felt his breath blow cool on her neck and the skin of his jaw brushed against hers.
“Hey.” She tried shoving him back, but he didn’t move. “What are you—”
“Shhh,” he whispered. “Quietly. Tulio thinks you are mine. This is good and will protect you. But you don’t smell like me, which he will notice unless I mark you.”
She couldn’t speak; the unmistakably erotic images the feel of his skin on hers brought to mind choked out rational thought. “But—”
“I’m not going to bite you.” Baojia’s voice was a low growl. He had never sounded less human. She shivered when his lips brushed her neck. His fingers teased the tiny hairs at the nape of her neck. “I am only going to mark you.”
She let out the breath she’d been holding and managed to speak. “If you lift your leg on me, I’m gonna kick you in the balls.”
He laughed again; she could feel his lips smile against her skin. He pulled back for a second and his face was illuminated by the dim moonlight. Eyes dark and focused on her neck. Fangs long and gleaming. She could see the edge of his tongue when he flicked it against the tip of one tooth, but he only bent down to her neck on the other side, stroking his cheek along hers like…
A cat, she thought with a sudden smile. He was brushing his skin along hers like a cat looking for a friendly pat. Without thinking, she lifted her hand and stroked along the back of his neck, feeling the thick black hair under her fingers as his body shuddered, then stilled.
Before she could blink, he pulled back; his jaw clamped shut and his nostrils flared.
Okay. Not a cat.
He let out a slow, even breath and said, “Careful.”
“Right.” Her voice was high and she could feel herself blushing again.
“Stop that.”
“What? Blushing?”
“Yes. The scent on your skin becomes more enticing.”
“The mo
re you talk about it, the worse it’s going to get. I don’t exactly have control over it. Trust me, I wish I did.”
He muttered something else she couldn’t hear, then tugged her away from the car and toward the barn. “Let’s go see Tulio. You’ll be fine. Last time I checked, he had his own woman.”
She rolled her eyes. cledeg on me “How very caveman of him.”
He only laughed. “You have no idea.”
CHAPTER NINE
Baojia tried to ignore Natalie’s scent as they approached Tulio’s strange house. The blush made her cheeks heat and her blood-scent stronger. He couldn’t help wondering just how much of her body that blush would cover if properly encouraged. He was betting a lot. Perhaps that was something else the clever little human would like to help him investigate.
He took a deep breath and focused on the reason they had come to the hermit’s home.
“Tulio likes to be left alone, but in his own way, he considers this whole area his territory.” He grasped Natalie’s hand a little tighter and walked toward the low rise of hills behind the barn. “Not that he would ever challenge Ernesto—he has no interest in business or politics—but he doesn’t like strange people or vampires wandering around.”
“So he’d notice someone dumping bodies on his front lawn?”
The woman had the most amusing way of stating things at times. “Exactly.”
“So when he said ‘There’s more.’ You think that’s what he was referring to? More bodies? If Tulio doesn’t like vampires wandering around and there are more bodies—maybe some that the police haven’t found but he has—why hasn’t he stopped them? It sounds like it would be characteristic of him, from what you’ve said.”
He grimaced. The human was becoming more attractive with every intelligent observation. “Yes, he would stop them. If he knew where they were. But I also noticed there was no strong vampire scent around the girl’s body.”
“I thought you said she was killed by a vampire.”
“She was.” He saw the entrance and stood back, letting their host become aware of them in his own time. Baojia glanced at the dark, empty horizon; he was beginning to worry about the sun.
“But you said—”
“There was vampire scent all over the body.” Tulio’s voice broke through the night. Good, he wasn’t wasting time on power displays. He hardly needed to; they were on his turf. The vampire’s head popped up from the crease of hills where his home was buried. “But there’s no scent of our kind leading to or away from the bodies.”
“They were dumped during the day,” Baojia said, nodding at Tulio and still holding on to Natalie’s hand.
Natalie’s eyes widened in understanding. “Left by humans, not vampires.”
“Yes.” The big vampire waved them over. “Come on in. Bring your woman. Cirilda has some food made for her.”
He climbed up the hill and then over to see a small door, barely visible if you weren’t looking, tucked into the sandstone rocks and partially obscured by a convenient stand of mesquite bushes. Tulio was disappearing inside.
“Wow. It’s like a dugout,” Natalie said.
“It is a dugout. Earth vampires like to live underground.”
“Well, that makes sense… inasmuch as any of this makes sense.”
He smiled. “You’ll get used to it.”
Baojia ushered her over the hill, ducking inside before her out of caution. It was a spacious room hollowed out of the sandstone hills, far cooler than the air outside. Smooth walls had been decorated with beauti fledege suful woven clothes and pictures he suspected Tulio’s human had painted. Two dark passageways led farther back in the hill, but the room was lit by gas lamps and a few candles, creating a cozy, welcoming home. Their host was sitting at a large wooden table with his woman, a Tarahumara Indian from Copper Canyon in Northern Mexico, who was pouring a mug of something from a clay jug. He motioned to the two chairs across from him as Cirilda moved back to the small kitchen area in the corner.
“My woman will get you some water.”
It was more than just a friendly gesture from the vampire. Since Baojia was a water vampire and could use any water as a weapon, an offer of it was a gesture of trust, so he nodded in thanks. “I thank you, Tulio.”
“No need to be formal. What’s your human called?”
She spoke up for herself. “I’m Natalie.”
“Natalie, you may help Cirilda if you like.”
“Excuse me?”
Baojia grabbed Natalie’s hand, squeezing before she exploded at the man. Cirilda, who looked to be in her early fifties, barked something over her shoulder that made the other vampire smile, and Baojia knew Tulio was teasing in his own odd way. “My woman’s skills don’t lie in the kitchen, Tulio. But thank you for the offer.”
Natalie made an odd whining sound that told him she was biting her tongue.
He cleared his throat and dove into the issue at hand. “There are more bodies.”
Tulio nodded. “Thirty-four. All dropped off during the day. Usually in groups of three or four. Sometimes more. I buried them; Cirilda said words so their spirits could rest.”
“Thirty-four?” Natalie whispered, as horrified as he was.
“Are all of them marked as she was?” Baojia asked.
“Marked?” Natalie said. “I didn’t see anything. Marked how?”
Tulio looked to him, letting Baojia explain. “There were multiple bite marks on the girl, Natalie. They had been healed by vampire blood, which can mend surface wounds. That’s why you couldn’t see them, but they are visible to our sight for some time.”
He saw Tulio lift an eyebrow in his direction and knew the other vampire had spotted the faint bite marks that were still visible on Natalie’s neck. L
uckily, the man didn’t say anything.
“So more than one vampire drank her blood,” she said. “Is that normal? It seems like you all don’t share very well from what I’ve seen.”
“Smart girl,” Tulio said. “No, it’s not normal. But then something in her blood isn’t all that normal, either.”
Baojia looked at him. “So it wasn’t just me?”
“No. And the other girls were the same. There’s something… sour about their blood. What’s left of it. Smells fermented almost.”
“That’s what I thought, too.” He didn’t know how old Tulio was, but it was far older than him. “Have you ever—?”
“No. Never smelled anything like it.”
Natalie said, “Could there be something different about these girls? Something about their blood that makes the vampire feeding from them lose control?” She looked between Baojia and Tulio. “Like a drug or something? Alcohol? Speed? And are you sure it’s more than one vampire, or could it be multiple bites from the same one?”
Her constant questioning may have been irritating at times, but Natalie Ellis asked good questions. He supposed that’s what made her so successful at her job.
“Human drugs don’t do anything to us,” Tulio said. “It’s something else.”
“And it’s definitely more than one,” Baojia said. “The bite marks were different sizes and widths. This isn’t a single vampire. It’s more like a pack.”
“Is that normal?” Natalie asked. “To… hunt that way?”
“Depends on the vampire,” Tulio said. “Most earth vampires like me are more social. So sometimes those who hunt animals hunt in packs for fun. But humans? I would say no. Not for ages. It takes a depraved sort to hunt humans like that. I’m not saying it never happens, but I wouldn’t call it normal. Not these days, anyway.”
Baojia could see Natalie shudder and knew she was imagining it. Perhaps bringing her to Tulio’s wasn’t the best idea after all. The man could be overly blunt. Still, she gathered her resolve and continued to question him.
“But you said they were brought in by humans, so there had to be someone organized enough to arrange it. And how would they even—”
“Trucks.” Tulio was looking at him again. “I’ve noticed there are tracks near a lot of the dump sites. Big rigs. Could be a container truck or something like that.”
Baojia hummed. “There’s certainly no lack of those out here. A container truck would blend in more than an out-of-place pickup.”
Their host nodded and Baojia sipped the water Cirilda had placed in front of him. It refreshed him but also reminded him they were running short on time. “I don’t want to cut our visit short, Tulio—”
“You’re not going to make it back to the casino by dawn,” he said, as if reading Baojia’s thoughts. “You’ll have to stay here. I have secure rooms that lock from the inside. You’ll be safe.”
“Thank you.” It was probably the best they could do. He wondered where Natalie was going to sleep.
“You share a day chamber with your woman?”
Natalie’s face colored with that damn blush again. “You know, I’m not his—”
“No, I don’t. Is there someplace for her to rest, as well?” He’d have to make sure to keep the keys with him so she didn’t escape during the day. As for safety while he was sleeping, there was a shotgun hanging over the door and he knew for a fact Cirilda knew how to use it. It was all the guarantee he’d get. Luckily, they were out in the middle of nowhere, and all the truly dangerous things would be sleeping while the sun was up. Baojia doubted anyone could find this place, even if they were looking.
“Wait.” Natalie was already protesting. “I’m just gonna be stuck out here all day while you guys… hibernate, or whatever you do?”
He heard Cirilda laugh.
Baojia said, “I’m sure Tulio has a library.”
“Forget it! I’m not staying out in the middle of nowhere all day!”
“Fine.” Baojia nodded toward the door, knowing she wasn’t stupid enough to actually leave. “Good luck finding your way back. Hopefully, I’ll be able to find you at nightfall. Try to watch out for the roaming packs of vampires.”
“Jerk,” she muttered, grabbing her purse and standing. “Do I at least get a room with a lock? Is there a bathroom?”
Cirilda walked over and patted Natalie’s cheek, muttering something in her native tongue that made Tulio laugh. Baojia didn’t speak Tarahumara, but he smiled anyway. “Sleep as much as you can. You might be surprised how late you rest with no sun to wake you.”
Angry eyes met his. He was sure she’d try to get him back in some way before this was all over. Oddly enough, he was amused by the thought. He wondered just what tortures Natalie Ellis could dream up in her busy little brain. Then his thoughts wandered off into other, more dangerous, territory as he watched her follow Tulio’s woman down a passageway. Her rounded hips swayed as she walked, and she tossed him one last furious glance over her shoulder.
Yes, that kind of revenge was certainly worth imagining.
“You’ll have your hands full with that one,” Tulio said quietly. “You’ve bitten her, but she’s not yours.”
“Yet.”
“Looking for a challenge?”
Baojia shrugged. “I hate being bored.”
The earth vampire just laughed.
When he woke the following night, the first thing he heard was her voice.
“Nobody knoooooows… the trouble I’ve seen…”
He frowned for a moment until he placed the song. Then Baojia had to bite his lip to keep from laughing.
“Nobody knows my sorrowwww…”
He rose from the small pallet in the narrow room with multiple locks and stood, arms crossed, listening to her sing the jailhouse ballad. Despite everything going on and the mess they’d both landed in, she made him smile.
“Nobooody knows the trouble I’ve seen. Glooory, hallelujah.”
He slipped down the hall to see her lying on a sofa, swinging one leg over the edge as she stared at the earthen ceiling. Her eyes lifted to his.
“Good evening, Natalie.”
“Evening, jailer. If’n I had a metal cup and bars, I’d be rattling my cage, but sadly, I do not.”
Baojia couldn’t help it, he burst out laughing. She rolled her eyes, then stared back at the ceiling. He approached, eyeing her stretched out on the couch, the pale sliver of her stomach peeking out from the edge of her T-shirt and her red curls spread around her face. Her fury from the night before had fled. She looked relaxed and decidedly more well-rested. Even more, there was no hint of fear in her expression.
Which was good, because he wanted her.
Baojia sat on the end of the couch where she had laid her head and picked up a curl of her hair, twisting it around one finger. “It couldn’t have been that bad.”
“Cirilda doesn’t speak English. I’m fairly sure she understands it, but she doesn’t speak it, so when I finally woke up—I have no idea what time it is, by the way—I tried having a conversation with her, but she just smiled and nodded and fed me soup. It was really good soup, I’ll give you that. Did you take my phone?”
He hummed, still twisting that curl around his finger. Her phone was history. He’d buy her another.
“Oh, and Tulio does have a library. A huge one, in fact. But the only books in English are some mining manuals and a travel guide to Barstow. Who the hell wrote a travel guide to Barstow?”
She was amusing. And she smelled wonderful. He was hungry. He hadn’t fed for days and he knew he was dancing on the fine edge of control, but he didn’t want to stay away from her. He dropped the curl he’d been playing with and picked up another, just as unruly. She was still rambling, but her pulse sped every time his fingers came close to her skin, so he knew his presence was affecting her. He smiled to himself when her nervous k hetimrambling continued. He could smell the flush on her skin.
“Are we leaving soon? If you’re awake, then it
must be nighttime, right? I’m so completely turned around. You took my phone, didn’t you? Dammit, George, I had stuff on that phone. Are the pictures even retrievable at this point or did your vampire magic fry it?”
“Natalie,” he whispered.
“What?” she asked in an irritated voice. “You took my phone, didn’t you? That was my phone, Baojia. Not yours. Have some respect for—”
He put his hand over her mouth and took a deep breath. “Better.”
She shoved it away and sat up, her color high and her mouth open in shock. “Do not cover my mouth like I’m a child! That’s just—”
Baojia slid a hand to the nape of her neck, tugged her forward, and covered her mouth with his own. Her lips molded to his on instinct. She was delicious. Far better than his memory of the first night they’d met. She tasted of chiles and cumin and wine. Her body was stiff with shock and he took full advantage, sliding his other arm from the back of the couch up the curve of her spine to send her tumbling off-balance and into his chest.
“Much better,” he said, pulling away for a second. Natalie’s mouth opened in protest and he tugged her full lips back to his, biting lightly on the lower one until she opened her mouth, then he slid his tongue inside, teasing along hers until she was panting. She straddled his legs on the couch, her hands trailing up his biceps to grip his shoulders as her nails dug into his skin. The tiny bites of pain triggered a primitive thrill. He could feel the heat where he held her at the small of her back and his fingers slid into her riotous hair, twisting and tangling those red waves until her heart was pounding. He could feel it against his chest.
Alive. She was so alive and Baojia felt as if he’d been cold for so long. He could hear his own silent heart thump once against hers. He wanted her. Needed her.
Needed her?
The low growl built in his throat, and his fangs fell down, nicking the edge of her lip.
“Ow!” She gasped and pulled away, her mouth red and swollen. His eyes narrowed on the tiny trickle at the corner of her mouth.
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