I Hunger for You

by Susan Sizemore

  “Not your kind? You racist pig.”

  “You can be as pissed off as you want, but I made my choice the first time I attended a Convocation of the Clans. I don’t remember what serious stuff the Matri and elders met about, but I do remember the partying, and what it was like to be surrounded by all those beautiful, mysterious, sensual Clan women. Bonding with a mortal woman is fine for other Primes, but it is not for me,” Colin told his cousin.

  “You’re saying that you think bonding with a mortal woman is second best?” Alec sounded dangerously annoyed.

  Colin ignored Alec’s politically correct attitude. “I’m saying that I want our life, to live within our culture, to bond with a Clan female, to be the father of her house.”

  Alec was thoughtful for a moment, then shrugged off his annoyance. “Okay. I agree that’s not a bad life to aspire to.”

  “It’s what all of us really want and need, no matter how much time we spend among mortal kind. It’s nature’s joke on us that there are more Primes than there are females, so not all Primes can have a vampire mate. In the old days, we Primes could at least fight each other to the death over mating rights to our women. It cut the male population, and it was good for the gene pool.”

  Alec laughed. “I’m glad the Matri Council outlawed that practice centuries ago. Though I certainly don’t mind a nice first-blood fight over a woman—or I didn’t, until I found my bondmate.”

  “That kind of combat’s one hell of an aphrodisiac.” Colin finished his beer. “I thought Flare was quite impressed when I blooded Kiril at the Convocation last year.”

  “Did she sleep with you?”

  “No.”

  “Then my sister wasn’t impressed. Don’t tell me you want to bond with Flare. She’s restless and bad-tempered and mean.”

  “You only think that because she’s your sister. She’s hot. Very, very hot. Our women are pure fire, compared to fragile mortal women.”

  Except for Mia.

  Colin pushed the thought of her out of his head, though his body grew taut with memories. He made himself think about vampire women.

  “I don’t know which one I want yet. Maybe Flare, maybe Maja, or Chaviva—there’s a dozen or so to choose from. I’ve got years before I need to make up my mind, before the bonding urge strikes between me and a Clan woman. In the meantime—” Colin smiled lecherously and held his arms wide, taking in the whole city. “So many mortal women, so very much time.”

  Oddly enough, the only mortal image that came to mind was Mia, and he didn’t feel as enthusiastic about many future decades of casual mating as he should.

  He changed the subject. “I checked out the lead at the Van Trier airport yesterday, before all hell broke loose with the Mia incident.”

  Alec leaned eagerly forward across the table. “Did you find out anything? Are we any closer to this Patron? I’d like to know a name instead of having to use this pretentious Patron crap.”

  Colin grinned. “Yeah. We Primes are the only ones allowed pretentious titles.”

  “We’ve earned that right over thousands of years of tradition. This Patron is just some creep trying to live off of us. And he’s willing to kill to do it, both our kind and mortals. I hate that it’s taking so long to track him down.”

  “You don’t have to remind me,” Colin said. “I was there, at his Arizona lab facility. I’m the one who let him get away,” he added, angry at himself.

  “Did you find anything useful at the airport?”

  “I got an address for a law firm that leased hangar space for a Gulfstream for a client. The lease was for two years, but the plane hasn’t flown in or out of Van Trier for a while. Since we have the Patron’s Gulfstream hidden away in Arizona, it also hasn’t been flown out of Van Trier.”

  “Sounds like it could be the same one.”

  “I need to check out this law firm. Or maybe it would be better for someone else to follow this lead. I’m not a detective; my job’s to hunt the Patron when we discover who he is. And Mia—”

  Colin’s head came up sharply, words lost as all his sense focused on Mia. She was—somewhere.

  Somewhere she wasn’t supposed to be. Doing something she shouldn’t be doing. With someone else. With a male.

  Colin growled deep in his throat and left the bar, totally intent on finding Mia.

  As she sat on a bench on a shaded sidewalk in Santa Monica and gazed at the one-story, hacienda-style apartment complex across the street, Mia wasn’t sure what to do next.

  Oh, she knew what she had to do; it was finding the right approach that was giving her trouble. Marching up to the door and ringing the bell, rather than calling first, had seemed like a good idea until she got here. But now she wondered if the direct approach was the correct one.

  She now knew that Tony’s full name was Anthony Crowe. He was a retired homicide detective with LAPD, with a brilliant service record and lots of commendations. He owned the renovated 1930s building, where he had resided for twenty years.

  Though the man she remembered didn’t look old enough to be retired. She hadn’t noticed any gray in his black hair or beard. Of course it had been dark, and her memories still wove in and out of two very different scenarios, unless she concentrated hard enough to get a headache.

  Maybe he’d been seriously injured in the line of duty and forced to retire early. There was always a nagging worry in the back of her mind that something awful would happen to Colin, though he naturally thought he was indestructible. She guessed that Colin knew Tony from the police connection.

  Mia reminded herself sternly that she hadn’t tracked down Tony Crowe to discuss Colin Foxe—

  Foxe. Foxe and—Crowe.

  What an interesting coincidence that both men had animal names. And hadn’t her great-grand-father said that vampires ran in packs and used animal names? Though the only group he’d mentioned specifically called themselves the Snakes.

  How charming.

  Crowe and Foxe were relatively common names, though, and crows and foxes were fairly harmless creatures. Her revved-up nerves were creating connections out of simple coincidences.

  She’d been sitting on this bench for a good half hour, stalling like this. She didn’t know why approaching Crowe was harder for her than finding her grandfather.

  Except, maybe, for the insidious voice in her head that kept telling her there were things she shouldn’t know, shadows she could not explore, secrets meant to be kept.

  That voice sounded a lot like Colin’s, and it was beginning to piss her off.

  The voice only grew stronger as she forced herself to rise and cross the street. A low stucco wall with a decorative iron gate separated a gardened courtyard from the sidewalk. The gate wasn’t locked, so Mia went inside. A small tiled fountain bubbled in the center of the courtyard. Mia paused as a pair of startled doves took flight off the rim of the fountain, then marched up to a dark, carved wooden door and rang the doorbell.

  A male voice said, “Yes?” through an intercom a few moments later.

  “Mr. Crowe?”

  “Yes,” he answered cautiously after a pause.

  “My name is Caramia Luchese. You don’t know me, but we met last night. You know where, and why,” she added.

  The door opened, and a man who was distinctly not a senior citizen, but was Tony from last night, stood in the doorway. “Miss Luchese,” he said. “I get the distinct feeling that you have no concept of leaving well enough alone.” There was an amused twinkle in his eyes, but that didn’t stop him from looking extremely dangerous.

  “How can I leave well enough alone when it concerns me?” she answered.

  “Does Colin know you’re here?”

  “Colin, has nothing to do with this,” she answered, confused and annoyed.

  “Really?” he questioned, coolly amused. He smiled, and looked her up and down in a way that made her flushed and flustered. “How did you find me? And is it me you want? And would you like to come inside to explain it all?”r />
  His voice was a rich purr, and Mia felt like Little Red Riding Hood invited into the Big Bad Wolf’s den.

  She gestured toward a table and chairs set on a brick patio beneath a pair of palm trees, suddenly feeling that discussing vampires out in the open might be best.

  “Why don’t we talk over there?”

  “Sweetheart, we shouldn’t be talking at all.”

  She didn’t like the endearment from a stranger, but let it go. She also didn’t like it when he took her arm and led her over to the shaded patio, then waited until she was seated before he said, “Would you like some lemonade? Cookies?”

  “There’s a certain smug amusement to your gallantry, Mr. Crowe,” she answered, keeping her tone calm. “I don’t understand that.”

  “Oh, it’s a Prime thing.” He glanced toward the street, then at his watch. Then he sat in the other chair after moving it closer to hers, though this put him directly in the bright sunlight. “We have a few minutes to get to know each other. Tell me everything you know.”

  She looked at him suspiciously. She wasn’t sure how she expected this confrontation to go, but the man’s confident amusement was unsettling. “Everything I know about what?”

  “Vampires, of course. And not just the monsters that have been pursuing you. Do you know why they’re after you?”

  “No, I don’t know—wait a minute.”

  She’d come to get information from him, and he was attempting to control the information, to learn from her rather than tell her anything.

  “What do you know about vampire hunters?” she asked, keeping stubbornly to her own agenda. “How do I get in touch with them? Are you one?”

  “Vampire or hunter?”

  She smiled. “Sorry, I phrased that poorly.”

  “Not necessarily.”

  “Is Colin a hunter?”

  “He’s definitely a predator.” He gave her an assessing look. “More than he knows, I think.”

  Mia hated her unconscious rush to bring Colin into every conversation, especially after months of trying to do a memory dump of the man. But he’d come back into her life at the same time the vampires showed up, and she couldn’t believe it was a coincidence.

  “When we were attacked last night, Colin wanted me to believe that the monsters are a human cult. But he was just trying to protect me, wasn’t he?”

  She wasn’t sure if she was going to be pleased or furious if she found out that Colin Foxe was the very thing she was looking for.

  “I think he very much wants to protect your life,” Crowe answered. “And that he’s trying to protect himself, as well.”

  “How is he involved in this? How are you?”

  “I’m always fine, darlin’.”

  First sweetheart, now darlin’. She could tell he was trying to rile her, and tried hard not to show her annoyance.

  “You know what I meant.”

  “How am I involved with vampires, you mean, rather than the state of my health?” He leaned closer and chuckled. The sound was low and sexy. “I’m involved in every way possible.”

  “Get away from her, Corvus.”

  Mia sprang to her feet at the threatening sound of Colin’s voice. Tony rose as well, laughing, and turned to face Colin. Mia had to move a few steps sideways to see past Tony Crowe’s broad shoulders. Colin’s face was a mask of fury. Every whipcord lean muscle was taut, as though he was just barely holding himself back from attacking the other man.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked Colin.

  “What are you doing here?” he demanded, but he directed most of his anger at Tony. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “I was waiting to see how quickly you’d show up, Reynard.”

  “Did you think I’d let you do whatever you please with my—”

  “Your what?”

  “My—” Colin pointed. “Her.”

  “Is she is, or is she ain’t?”

  Crowe smiled, and he seemed to have very sharp teeth all of a sudden. Colin took a step closer.

  Though she saw two men facing off in the hot afternoon sunlight, Mia had a strong impression of watching a pair of leashed fighting beasts getting ready to go at each other with fangs and claws and hard male muscle. A shiver of fear went through her, like an ice cube being run down her spine. She wanted to run, and she didn’t like the sensation. Before being chased by the vampires last night, she’d never backed down from any challenge. She couldn’t be a coward again. Besides, it seemed this confrontation was somehow over her.

  She cleared her throat. “Excuse me, but—”

  “Stay out of this,” both men said at once.

  “Screw you,” was her automatic defiance at this high-handedness. “I’m not being fought over like a piece of meat.”

  She always got reckless when her temper flared, but she didn’t turn her back on the men as she edged away from the patio. They seemed momentarily stunned by her words, and while they stared, she moved toward the courtyard gate. She was almost ready to break into a sprint when a hand landed on her shoulder, bringing her to an abrupt stop.

  “Don’t run,” a voice warned her.

  When she turned around, she saw Alec from the garage rescue party. The woman called Domini came up to join him a moment later. Then Colin and Crowe were there, as well. Mia had the impression of being surrounded by a pride of hungry lions.

  “Back off, boys,” Domini said.

  Surprisingly, the men all took a step back. Yet that didn’t make Mia feel any less trapped.

  “What’s up?” Domini asked.

  Tony answered, “I think our young Prime has gotten the girl in trouble.” He looked at Alec. “Can’t you smell what’s going on between them?”

  “What are you talking about?” Mia and Colin demanded at the same time.

  Tony chuckled and shook his head. “They haven’t got a clue.”

  “To what?” Domini asked.

  “Just look at them, hon,” Alec told her. “With all your senses.”

  “Oh,” she said after a moment.

  “Do you know what I think?” Tony asked. “I think we take them to the Matri. Right now.”

  Chapter Ten

  The room was decorated in a luxurious, Arabian Nights harem way, with a big bed, a thick Persian carpet, a sitting area with a pair of comfortable chairs and a full bookcase, and a marble fantasy bathroom. But there were no windows, and she’d been locked in.

  She’d been kidnapped, firmly but politely taken away by the people who’d come to the rescue the night before. Her only consolation was that Colin had been abducted as well. They’d been put in different cars and brought to a secluded mansion hours before. She hadn’t seen him since they’d stepped inside the house.

  A group of men had taken him away; several older women had joined Domini and escorted Mia to her nicely appointed prison. Domini looked concerned, but everyone else’s expressions had been neutral or downright hostile. Mia got the impression that they found her presence thoroughly inconvenient.

  She’d been left alone for a while, then Domini came in and introduced her to a Dr. Casmerek. He’d wanted blood and urine samples. Of course she’d refused, in a very physical way. She’d tried to get past Domini to get to the door, and almost made it. But Domini was unnaturally fast and strong, and the combination of aikido and Krav Maga fighting techniques she used took Mia by surprise. The woman’s unconventional style didn’t make her give up, though.

  The doctor stayed out of the way until the fight was over. A few things got broken; Mia hoped they were priceless antiques.

  Mia ended up grudgingly giving him the fluid samples, but she was pleased that at least she’d put up a fight, at least tried to control the situation.

  Domini smiled at her and said, “You did good,” before she followed the doctor out, leaving Mia alone in the locked room once more.

  What sort of medical tests was this Dr. Casmerek running on her?

  Mia paced while she fretted. Every now a
nd then she paused to listen at the door, or to pick up a piece of broken porcelain or glass. After a while she had a nice little collection piled on a table. None of them were large enough or sharp enough to make a decent weapon, but at least thinking about it helped.

  She didn’t know exactly where Colin was, but she had the feeling he was close by—she almost believed she could find him if she could get out of the room. The weirdest thing was, she thought she could feel him wanting to be with her. She’d had sensations like this about him before, but never as strongly as now.

  And what good would finding him do her? Though it would be kind of fun to be the one who came to the rescue this time.

  And then he could explain to her what was going on. He knew these people, thought he hadn’t seemed very lucid when he showed up at Tony Crowe’s. And he’d been just as confused and outraged as she was by the others’ actions.

  Was Dr. Casmerek running tests on him, too?

  And what did Colin’s mood swings and their being kidnapped have to do with vampires?

  After a while she picked a book at random from the case and settled on one of the deep, comfortable chairs. It was a big, heavy book, with fine leather binding. She was contemplating how she might be able to use it to smash someone if she waited by the door when the door opened silently across the room.

  Mia swore under her breath at the lost opportunity and rose to her feet as Domini came in, followed by Alec.

  “Sorry to have kept you waiting so long,” Alec said.

  As kidnappers went, these people were certainly polite.

  “The matris will see you now,” Alec said.

  “The what?” Mia asked. “Where’s Colin? Is he all right?”

  The man and woman exchanged an infuriatingly knowing glance.

  “He might not be when the matris get through with him,” Alec answered. “They wish to see you, as well,” he went on.

  His tone implied that there was no questioning the wishes of this Matris person or persons. All Mia cared about was getting out of this room and finally finding out what was going on. And, all right, she wanted Colin. His presence wasn’t always necessarily reassuring, but it was—important—to her.