by Lauren Dane
She sensed, rather than heard or saw, Clive’s sigh. She merely rolled her eyes at his annoyed glare.
“I’m here, Sir.”
Rowan did take a second to admire the way he presented himself.
“The Hunter has made a powerful case. What is your perspective?”
“Politically, this has the potential to be explosive. Our people here do not like her. She recently staked one of their own. They feel persecuted.”
“They are as dumb as sheep. She should have staked the whole city, cleared the streets before you came in.”
Rowan knew better than to celebrate just yet, but she did raise a brow, not looking at Clive, but knowing he saw.
“And still, you are right to keep such things in mind. Give her the information on my order. I will bring it up to the Council once this call is concluded. You will have their official response by the time you awaken tomorrow. If they believe I am playing favorites, they are correct. And yet, please do suggest your people contact me if they have concerns.”
Ha! Not so much.
Clive’s spine snapped rigid at the threat. “As you command. I will transfer the information to her immediately. We are sorry to have intruded.”
“You might be, but Rowan isn’t.” His laughter made her smile. “And I’m not either. It makes me very happy to hear your voice, Rowan.”
Rowan bowed her head, revealing her wrist and her family mark.
Clive would have had to be made of stone to remain unmoved at the elegance in her submission.
The First couldn’t have seen it. She did it automatically, like muscle memory. And yet, the weight of it was a tangible thing.
“Thank you.”
The connection was severed and she took a deep breath. He watched as she put herself back together.
“Before you start a fight and the warm glow of this feeling evaporates under the bright glare of your bitchiness, I will tell you I found the way you presented yourself to him rather impressive.”
She softened, just a tiny bit, before sliding her armor into place once again. “You give the best compliments. Now, let’s get this done because I do not want to be here any longer than I have to be.”
He’d made an error, not giving her the information. He knew that, but he had no choice. He wasn’t overstating the trouble there would be if she appeared to be getting special treatment.
And yet, he’d done damage to their relationship. Or whatever it was they’d had. “Fine. You stood me up.”
“You got out of my car because you didn’t want to be seen arriving here with me. Now, I understand that, and had you simply spoken to me about it instead of your silly charade, I might have met you here.”
“Had you not stood me up and then went over my head to my boss, your foster father I hasten to add, I might have told you that I was making the strongest recommendation to the Council that we share this information with you.”
“Fine. Don’t expect me to not be hot about this. Moving along. Spill.”
“I received a report about the recent surge of Vampires who’d cracked the recipe for meth and had finally turned on the switch allowing them to get high from the blood of a human user. I put some people on it but all they found were several Vampires who’d binged and then fried. They were shells. Nearly dead. None of them appear to live very long.” And his people had taken care of any who weren’t already dead. His vengeance had to be swift or he’d be the one being punished.
“Or so you thought. Who’s the supplier and why isn’t he dead yet?”
“Why don’t we sit instead of having this tedious discussion standing?”
“I’m not here for a tea party, Scion. In case it hadn’t occurred to you, I have a murderer to find and stake before the cops find him and suddenly I have to deal with the body count and the television cameras.”
“My men are on this. He can’t go very far. And the next time he makes a mistake, I will be there.”
“The next time he makes a mistake means he’s killed another human. That’s a pretty unacceptable loss.”
“What is it you want?” He shoved a file at her. “I’ve given you all the information I have. My best people are on it. I’m doing all I can. And yet you want more.”
She sighed, running her hands through her hair. “I do. Do you know where his nest is? Or who the Vampire who cracked the code is? Have you questioned anyone?”
“It’s all in the file. My lieutenant has made detailed notes on everything. We don’t know who it is or where his nest is.”
“He’s old and working with at least one human.”
“Yes. You knew this?”
“I’d planned to share it with you when we were alone.” One brow slid upward.
Like a madman, he stepped the last inch between them and pressed his mouth to her forehead, impeding the movement of that ridiculous eyebrow.
The sound he made echoed against hers. That deep, full-body compulsion to do something even though you knew it was absurd.
He kissed her temple, over her ear. Her skin warmed as her scent ripened. Her power, whatever it was that came off her in waves, danger, violence, control—she was ruthlessly driven and it perfumed her skin. Nothing had ever caught his attention the way she had.
The heat of her blood pulsed with so much energy, Clive felt it as his lips brushed against the hollow just behind her jaw.
Her fingers left a butterfly of a touch against his side. He shivered as she caressed the curve of his ribs. Hissed when she dug her nails into his biceps as he licked over her jugular, teasing himself senseless with what he knew he’d never have.
In this, with his hands sliding up and over her breasts, with the indrawn breath and the exhaled sigh, with their mouths on each other, they were in sync. No tussling for control, no arguments. He was completely sure he wanted her. Equally sure she wanted him just as much.
One-armed, he picked her up around her waist, hauling her to him to take her mouth as he moved to his bedroom. He kicked the door closed, throwing the locks he used during the day as he rested.
His bedroom. Intimate. Vampires didn’t allow many people into the place they slept. A French winged bed dominated the space. Sumptuously upholstered in a deep-as-the-ocean blue, it complemented the slate-gray walls and black-and-chrome accents. Luxuriously appointed, it was also classic and elegant.
This was the bedroom of a man who liked his sleep. All Vampires were hedonists. Every one she’d ever met had at least one thing they indulged in for the pure pleasure of it.
Clive Stewart may have been a control freak, tight-assed, all-business Scion outside this room, but here was where Clive the man lived.
He put her on the bed and stepped away while she got rid of the boots and he kicked off his shoes.
Rowan obliged, helping as he pulled her sweater up and over her head. Her bra followed. She liked the way he undressed her. As if he was warring between a need to see her naked and being a gentleman. But when he pulled his shirt off without bothering to unbutton it, as the sound of buttons hitting the bed and floor fell around them, all she could do was shiver at his loss of control.
He raised gooseflesh in the wake of his lips as they cruised from one nipple to the other.
“You smell of magick,” he murmured against her belly.
None of that belonged here. She pulled at his hair to move him again and he went back to work, kissing her hip while he made quick work of her pants and panties.
And his mouth was on her, his tongue doing all sorts of delightful things. His hair cool and soft against the skin of her inner thighs. He drove her toward orgasm at a relentless pace.
When it came so hard her back bowed from the bed, his mouth still on her, she may have pulled his hair a little hard, but he didn’t seem to mind as he wasted little time scrambling up her body, fitting the head of his cock at her entrance and pressing in slowly.
All there was was the slide of flesh against flesh, flex and bunch of muscle, slick, sweat-sheened thighs ag
ainst hips and ass. His eyes went emerald, glittering with the desire to take her blood.
But he kept that control, even as that roguish lock of his hair dared to fall against his forehead.
His body was a thing of beauty. Lean, hard muscle hidden by the tailored clothing seemed a delicious secret. He certainly knew what he was about. He’d put those hundreds of years to good use, honing his sexual skills to a sharp point.
His sexuality was instinctually connected to hers in a way that unsettled her even as she couldn’t seem to resist it. He knew what she liked, pushed her boundaries all while playing her every instinct like a magician.
He wasn’t afraid he’d break her; he touched her exactly how he wanted. It was so bold and sure in that supremely masculine way of his it made the back of her knees tingle when he looked at her just so.
Arching, she canted her hips to get more, his near snarl when she changed angle and he got deeper sent a shiver through her.
She left her grip on his biceps to tangle her fingers in his hair, urging him deeper, harder, faster. He teased her, driving into her over and over only to back off with gentler, slower strokes.
Needing more, she angled her other leg and rolled him to his back.
“You’re greedy.”
She added a swivel of her hips as she came down on him fully. “Yes and I often eat my dessert first. I have many moral flaws.”
“Impatient,” he grunted as he grabbed her hips and drove up into her.
“Yes!” Her nails dug into his sides where the heels of her hands pressed hard for balance.
“Brilliant in bed.”
Her next sharp comeback wisped away. Flattered, she fluttered her lashes before closing her eyes. “Thank you. A girl could get used to a man who’s been taking lovers for over four centuries. You’re quite adept yourself.”
God above, she was magnificent. Her hair had come loose and lay wild against her bare skin as she rose and fell above him. Her blood raced just beneath the skin. So pretty, flushed with pleasure and her exertion, her lips swollen from their earlier kisses.
And when he began to tip over, she sat against him hard, arching her back, her head dropping as she came around him, crumbling the last bit of control he had.
Chapter Fifteen
Her muscles were relaxed as a great deal of her anger at the Scion was burned off after the second orgasm. By the time he’d had a glass of champagne with her, some number of orgasms later, Rowan figured there might be a way to resist staking him. He made her laugh, she admired him and she forced herself not to think past that.
Later, Rowan wondered if all that post-naughty-business glow was the reason she didn’t hear the female Vampire stalking her in the parking garage of Die Mitte until she was nearly on top of her.
Rowan barely kept her feet when the female rammed into her full on. She stumbled rather than being able to shift and toss the bitch to her ass.
“Stay away from him!” Vampira was all types of upset harridan just then.
“Whoa, crazy bitch, what is your deal?”
“You’re going to die!”
“We all will, baby, we all will. Now why are you making me consider punching your ticket? Or is this a guessing game?”
“He’s too good for you. You’re using him and I won’t allow it.” She rushed Rowan again, landing a slice of her nails, snagging her sweater. The sting told her Vampira got the skin too.
“See, now you’re making me mad. I’m warning you to stand down and get the hell away from me.”
The Vamp hissed, so typical Rowan rolled her eyes in response. And then she punched the bitch square in the face.
“You can’t have him,” Vampira slurred as she spat out blood.
“You’ve said that.” Briefly, Rowan considered saying, And guess what? I have had him. More than once. But that would create a whole new bucket of shit to deal with. “I take it you’re speaking about the Scion? If you have issues with who he speaks with, you need to address him.”
“Before you came back things were just fine. You have to go.”
Rowan sighed, relaxing her muscles, keeping her stance easy. “I’m Rowan Summerwaite, the Hunter here in Las Vegas. Have been for years. Staked your last boss, remember? In my job description I sometimes have to speak with Vampires. You should get hold of yourself and realize a man like Stewart speaks to lots of women. If you get all upset over that, you’re going to walk around perpetually annoyed.”
She must be getting soft in her old age because Rowan didn’t want to kill this bimbo, she just wanted to go home to report the new information on the blood barrier being broken to the Motherhouse and go to sleep. She had an early flight the next day and the last thing she wanted or needed was yet more drama with the Nation.
“I don’t care who you are.” The Vampire moved in again and Rowan narrowly avoided another claw to the face.
“You’d better care. You’re what? Three years turned max? Bitch, I will clean your fucking clock and not blink an eye. I’m really getting agitated and after a certain point I am going to give you what you’re begging for. So, if you’re not going to run away like a smart girl, why don’t you tell me your name?”
Good Goddess did this place have no security or what? There should be at least a security guard or two out here by now.
The female feinted left and clipped Rowan slightly on the right. A decent enough kidney shot.
“You don’t need to know my name. Just that I plan to kill you. You’re not meant for him. You’re going to ruin him. And you can’t hurt me. I’m not human.”
The Vamp danced closer, gloating until Rowan popped her a solid right hook to the face. Then all her rainbows and kittens disintegrated with the fangs and the bloodlust eyes.
“Guess what? Neither am I.” Rowan straightened and let her power shimmer around her. “You cannot best me. Not ever. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I’m very good at killing Vampires who prey on humans.”
Rowan delivered three more solid punches to Vampira’s face. In return for this, she earned an answering pop to the gut and dodged the other lunge.
“It’s embarrassing to keep referring to you as Vampira in my head as I beat your ass. So let’s revisit the name thing. Given your fashion sense and astounding stupidity, I’d say you probably came to Vegas with one perfectly lovely name your parents gave you and changed it to something with all sorts of unnecessary letters to make it unique. By the way, in case I was unclear, I’d be making finger quotes right now if my hands were free.”
“It’s Kimberly.”
“Like K-i-m-b-e-r-l-y? Even ‘ey’ would do.”
Kimberly, who was most likely Khymberleahey with an umlaut or something, flattened her mouth into a sour line and Rowan couldn’t help but snort.
“Don’t worry about how I spell it. I can smell him on you. Don’t deny it. And I don’t care who you say you are. You broke my nose!”
Rowan sighed. “It’ll heal. But I have this awesome sword, made with blessed steel. You won’t heal from that so why don’t you give it up, for fuck’s sake. I don’t want to do this with you. But I will. How about we skip the rest of this little jealous tantrum? I’m walking away and you’re going to head in another direction. You got in a few punches to assuage your ego. Let it go or end up dead.”
Rowan turned to go walk to her car, hoping to avoid the inevitable. By the time the female reached her again, Rowan was ready, her sword unsheathed. The female’s incisors were fully extended, her mouth open and head cocked to rip Rowan’s throat out. Her other hand was around Rowan’s throat, nails digging in to hold her in place. Kimberly with extra letters and an umlaut meant to kill Rowan and that was not going to happen.
They met eye to eye, nose to nose when the steel sliced up and through her heart.
“Die well, Vampire. I hope death brings the peace you could not find in life.”
She sighed and turned, heading home.
As David cleaned and dressed the wounds on Rowan’s
neck, face and arm, Rowan contacted the Motherhouse.
Susan got on the phone immediately. “Darling, I think you need a vacation,” she said, reading the report Rowan had David transcribe and send to HC.
“I’m leaving tomorrow morning. I’ll be in Kildare and I can leave all this insanity behind for a little while anyway.”
“I must tell you I wholeheartedly approve of your going to Ireland. I wondered if you’d try to skip it and I had a very lovely but stern speech about how your duty is also to Brigid prepared. I’ll save it for some future date.”
Rowan laughed. “I already got a lecture about it today. I’m supposed to go and I will. Even if I hate the idea of being gone for several days right now.”
“Things seem to be very tense given this little stunt. You have Carey there. Thena helps often enough. If there’s an emergency you’ll know and return posthaste. Your head will be clearer in Ireland. You’ll still be working on the case. I know you.
“As for this kill tonight? It appears to be a case of self-defense. We’ve just received an official complaint from the Nation about an unsanctioned kill, you should know.”
Maddening. Why would he do that to her? “Tell them you want the surveillance footage. It’s a casino parking garage, everyone has cameras in Vegas.” She rubbed her eyes. “I had no choice. I know this stirs up trouble, I’m sorry.”
“Well I’m sorry they forced you into this yet again. They’re like children, I swear. Is the report truthful?”
“Yes.”
“You gave her a warning to stand down and she attacked you with your back turned. She attacked a Hunter and you defended yourself as you’re allowed to. Trouble or not, this was a legitimate kill, Rowan. Do not let anyone make you think otherwise.”
She smiled. “All right.”
“Darling…you know you can always talk to me, right? Not as your trainer, or a coworker, but as your friend.”
Rowan kept her sigh to herself. This thing with Clive was already far more complicated than she wanted. Careless, fucking him and trailing through the area when there might be Vampires about. The last thing she wanted to do was talk to Susan. Susan might say she should end it. Rowan knew she should. Especially in light of the attack and the Nation’s response of complaining about her. But.