by Brit Blaise
Zing. Female hard-on. Even anticipating carnage, I wanted to have my way with him.
Jorgé sat a table to our right inside the door. He looked me over as if he didn't know me, and I ignored him. Anyone seeing us would think us strangers.
Yam, Raul, Estaban, Hawk and Chevy were somewhere outside, ready to pounce at a moment's notice. Joe sat behind the wheel of the car that delivered us. He had a gun in his lap and two on the seat beside him. In his disguise as an eighty-year-old man, nobody would ever recognize him or consider him a threat. He may not be a hundred percent yet, but he could still help get Sandoval.
Coop walked us to a vacant table with three chairs and pulled out my chair. Before I sat, I took a moment to play my part. "Don't forget," I whispered and ran my tongue along my upper lip. "We're lovers."
My heels almost made me equal in height to him, so I used it as an advantage. I leaned into him, touching my body to the length of his. I ran one hand down his back and stopped short of the gun at the back of his waist. The other hand I dipped into his pocket, not far inside, but he understood the method to my madness. I snuggled into him and kissed the hollow of his throat, where I knew he liked to be kissed. I allowed my lips to linger until he responded with a slight shudder and a long, low groan.
Just as I'd planned, he grew hard, and I feathered my fingers along the evidence. "I'm hungry for something and don't know what," I whispered before I pulled back and smiled.
I sat down and watched him fold stiffly into the seat at my side.
"Meat--a big piece of juicy, red steak. Something I can get my mouth around," I said.
"Come on, Jenna. Knock it off."
The waiter sat a glass of ice water in front of me and I didn't hesitate. I dipped my hand into the glass for a cube. I rubbed it along the side of my neck. It began to melt right away, then drizzled down my chest and over one of the very visible mounds of skin revealed by the low-cut neckline of my dress. Those puppies were pushed up and squeezed together tight.
"Hot and hungry," I said.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Coop asked.
"Sandoval and his entourage are here." Joe's voice in my earring stopped me cold. We were connected to one another by receivers and transmitters again.
"How many?" Coop asked.
"Eight I can count," Joe said. "And a couple of them are not shy about showing their teeth. Want to call it a night?"
"Yam?" Coop said.
"I can't talk," Yam whispered.
"What's happening?" Joe demanded, and my heart stopped.
"I'm choked up imagining how hungry Jenna is," Yam croaked.
"Are you satisfied?" Coop said to me with a raised brow. "Let's keep our mind on the business at hand."
"A couple more over here," Chevy said. "They're trying to look inconspicuous, but they're vampires."
"What part of 'keep this discreet' didn't Sandoval understand?" I said before I moved my purse to the adjacent chair and clicked it open, not wide, but just enough that I could dip my hand in fast. Not only was my mind back on business, I couldn't wait.
Carlos Sandoval walked in the door flanked by two vampires. They split off and stood at either side of the door. He headed directly for us. His eyes sought my chest. I didn't flatter myself. This was about an emerald necklace--a very pricey bauble he wanted to own.
"Ms. Bradshaw," Sandoval said and looked at my purse on the only other chair at our table. "You're beautiful this evening. Thank you for meeting me. I can't tell you how excited I am at the prospect of owning those emeralds."
::Give them to me or die.::
I hated having him in my head. I pulled the purse from the chair, turned to where I could ease my hand inside unnoticed and hugged it close.
"Don't make a fuss, Carly," Coop said and started our show. "Just hear the man out."
When a waiter appeared at his elbow, Sandoval waved him away.
"I'll have champagne," I said.
Sandoval stared at me as if I'd lost my mind. "They do not have champagne here."
"That's the last straw." I sniffed. "It was a mistake to come. Perhaps we should reschedule this meeting. I am too upset to do business."
::Give them to me or die, bitch!::
I acted like I didn't hear. "My assistant is missing. How can I be expected to carry on as if nothing has happened?"
Sandoval opened his mouth to speak, and I talked over him. "And don't get me started about our trip to the beach house. For crissakes."
::You pretend for this man, but we have no secrets between us. You are not, Carly Bradshaw. You are my servant to command. Give me the necklace.::
We'd come there under pretense, but I needed to be honest before my omission got someone killed. "He's in my head again. He wants me to rip the necklace from my throat and give it to him," I said to Coop.
Sandoval's vampires started toward us. Sandoval held up his hand to stop them. "You will soon have a blood bath to enjoy. Have your told this man you're a vampire, too?" Sandoval stared at Coop.
I'll give him this...Coop didn't flinch.
"Why don't you try to take the necklace from me?"
"You must give it to me."
I slipped my hand in my purse for the SIG. "Is it always like this in Colombia?" I demanded of Sandoval. He appeared ready to interrupt. "Don't bother. I read the brochure."
"We need to get out of here," Joe said in my ear. "They don't intend to allow any of us to leave alive. This place is crawling with vampires."
Coop looked at me, a sad and almost poignant stare. "Joe isn't a werewolf."
Okay, what did that mean? In the next instant, all hell broke loose. Coop began to change right there in front of me. Sandoval dove for him, but I had my SIG. The vampires moved at normal speed, while everyone else moved in slow motion. But that was just in my mind. A trick. Weren't tricks for humans? Why waste it on me?
I aimed at Sandoval's chest as he flew through the air. I missed his chest, but kept firing until I'd emptied my gun. Every bullet hit him. While not exactly where I wanted the loads to land, I'd slowed him considerably. Before I could reload, Coop had Sandoval by the throat. My hand closed over the stakes strapped together.
Someone jerked me off my four-inch heels from behind. I went down hard, but managed to keep two of the stakes when they flew apart. The vampire on top of me grabbed for the emeralds. They grew hotter than fire when his hand closed around them and, in the next instant, he exploded on top of me, sans stake.
What the fuck?
This gave me second to look for Coop. The room was a battlefield. Everywhere werewolves and vampires fought to the death. I counted more wolves than my teammates. Coop had brought in local werewolf recruits?
How did he know?
"Sandoval just came out the door with his bodyguards." Joe's voice startled me. Coop hadn't gotten him.
Shit!
Joe. I prayed he didn't go after him.
"Stay away from him," I said. "Just let him go."
Another vampire rushed me. I didn't have time to worry about Sandoval or Joe. We wrestled and he pinned both of my arms, then came at my throat with his teeth. Based on what had happened to the previous vamp when he'd grabbed the necklace, I took a leap of faith that the emeralds would get him before I could. I didn't fight nearly as hard as I could. As his teeth sank into my neck, he couldn't avoid the necklace. I fought through the pain.
The cat's eye emerald heated.
The vampire's teeth racked over the necklace and he exploded.
Joe. I needed to make certain Joe hadn't gone after Sandoval alone.
Coop. Where was he?
I saw Coop. His black silk shirt hung in shreds, but helped me identify him. He had a vampire by the throat. Raul, still in human form, drove a stake in the vamp's chest while Coop held him.
Next to me, Yam fought with two vampires. I dove for them and touched the necklace to one of the vampires and then the other. They evaporated in a blast of black particles and yucky slime. Yam gave
me the thumbs-up, I think. It didn't translate well with claws. Not even a second later, two more vampires jumped him from behind. Yam outweighed the two of them together and he threw one into the wall with a resounding thump. The other he knocked to the ground for Raul to stake.
I needed to help Raul. There were too many of them. Those remaining were eerily similar with long, gory incisors and yellowish-pale skin. Old vamps. Smart and used to fighting their prey. Their eyes glowed, not with intelligence, but with evil intent--blood lust. More than half were naked, their elongated bodies elegant in their macabre beauty as their preternatural flesh glistened with sweat.
The smell of blood was all around me...both werewolf blood and vampire. But I didn't want to smell the blood of the men I'd come to admire...even love.
I didn't want to because I craved it.
I had an urge to lick Yam's wounds.
This had never happened before.
The horror of the memory of Sandoval sinking his fangs into my throat came to me. My first memory of how I came to be made. The soul-shattering grief I didn't save my friend followed. Everything came rushing to me at once.
The smell of Sandoval as he took my life. The urges he had that became my own, except for the most basic urge of all--to drink blood. He laughed at me and...then my squad came to the rescue. And I'd managed to hide my disgrace.
I'd died and teetered on the brink of endless black sleep. There was also the total sleep that took me so often ever since. I'd slept three days once and awakened with this necklace on my throat and John Wilson by my side.
John.
The necklace.
It began to glow hot. One of the werewolves collided with two vampires almost over my head. Suddenly, I understood.
The necklace burned like fire. I was on fire. I reached for the nearest vampire and funneled the power of the emeralds through my body. He dissipated in black dust particles at the slightest touch. No explosion like with the stake, and no gore. This came in an almost peaceful manner. I reached for another and then another.
The room went silent.
Werewolves and vampires both stared at me in awe and fear. All of these vampires were evil incarnate. They'd all taken the lives of the innocent. And it was time for them to go to their eternal rest or damnation. Their soulless eyes met mine as I seemed to float around the room to touch each one of them. When I finished, I stopped next to Coop.
He'd just seen me destroy vampires. Would he forgive me for being one? The black sleep clawed at me and I grew weary. "I need everyone to go, right now." I stared at Coop, still in wolf form, heaving to catch his breath. My hunger for him gnawed at me, too. "Except you."
For the first time, my hunger for blood almost surpassed my sexual need. Almost.
He nodded his shaggy, black head.
Sandoval had escaped. I understood that. Right then, it didn't matter. When Coop changed back to human form, this time I watched. I'd just been responsible for the deaths of more than two dozen vampires. If I could do that, I could watch a little fur fly.
Coop's human-wolf, hybrid form had his same steel gray eyes, his same dark coloring. And he stood almost as tall as the human Coop. He bent and rolled in a ball. As he unfurled, his limbs became human. Like liquid, his skin washed over the fur, hiding it from sight. His face changed last. His eyes mesmerized me and took away any trepidation. Why had I feared watching this?
Especially now that he wore no shirt and tattered silk slacks. I wanted him. Heel-deep in ash and gore and still I wanted him.
"We're alive," were the first words from his now human and perfectly formed mouth. I wanted his lips on mine. His mane of black hair fanned about his muscular chest. Oh, how I wanted him. We came together so fast I couldn't say which of us wanted this more. He kissed me long and hard, even as I unzipped his fly. His glorious cock greeted me.
I lifted my skirt and ripped my panties off, just in case he didn't think I was serious. He lifted me and pushed me back against the wall behind me. I wrapped my legs around him. He drove his cock inside me hard. Harder than I'd ever known, but I liked it and urged him on.
Five or six hard thrusts and I came. I screamed, while he covered my mouth with his and grunted his own satisfaction.
My orgasm cooled my hunger for blood, but not for him. If not for the men waiting outside, I would have fucked him again.
Chapter 11
* * *
It was over.
We drove back to the hotel in complete silence. I wanted to take comfort in the fact we'd killed Micos, even if we didn't get his murdering brother. But if Carlos Sandoval escaped, I didn't think I'd ever get my life back in control. Then again, Rosa had always told me my idea of control was a radical inaccuracy on my part. She said I needed to lighten up and learn to take things less seriously.
Ironically, her death had made me more serious than I'd ever been before.
The neon green lights took away the comforting darkness when Coop flipped open his phone. I huddled in my corner and listened as he contacted the men, one by one, to tell them we were pulling out in the morning at the latest.
I interrupted his next call. "What about the airport? I told Sandoval I was leaving. Surely he won't let me go with this thing. Especially now that we know it's possessed."
"Possessed?"
"Well, what would you call it?"
"Why didn't you tell us? Why didn't you tell me you're a vampire?" Coop clicked the phone shut, turned toward me and leaned closer. An urge to reach out to him for comfort nearly choked me. Since when did I need a man for comfort?
At the same time, Joe sighed. "I'm one, too."
"Since wh--fuck." Coop gave me a hard stare with his steel gray eyes as if I was to blame. "Why?"
"I couldn't just let him die."
"Would you rather she had?" Joe snapped.
I'd come between them. But I done the right thing, hadn't I? Would he rather see Joe dead than a vampire? "Do you hate vampires that much?" I asked.
Coop turned away. "Let's not talk about this now. Emotions are too high."
Just like a man. Talk--don't talk. Fuck--don't fuck. Everything their way.
Joe drove us in silence. Coop sat up front next to Joe. He evidently didn't trust himself in the back seat with me. I could still smell the scent of him I'd come to crave. The sound of his breathing made my insides flutter. I wanted him at that moment more than ever. How could that be possible? I sat in the rear and fantasized about his cock. I had a mental picture and I counted the thick ridges. I imagined tracing a single finger over each one. I went slowly, very slowly. At the top, I licked my finger and followed the next one down. Once I'd made it all the way around, I wanted him in my mouth. I wanted to taste his cum.
"Please stop, Jenna. This isn't helping."
I'd communicated my thoughts to him?
"Since we first made love, when you sleep, you come to me like this. And I can't resist. I thought I'd lost my mind. Now I know it's vampire mind games."
Holy shit! "I didn't know."
"Tell me," Coop said, barely above a whisper. "Is killing the Sandovals worth this? Worth what's happened to Joe."
My heart told me Coop was right. We pulled into the hotel parking lot and slowed to a crawl. The pebbles and shells crackled under our tires. The sound of the surf pounded against the wharf in the distance. The muted growl of a boat motor out on the water accompanied an occasional voice carried in the still night air from a quaint cantina across the road.
I sighed. "I need to get out of Colombia with this damned necklace."
"Good girl," Coop whispered. "Joe, I want you and Jenna to take the first plane out. The sooner, the better."
"What about Chevy?" Coop could talk me into leaving, but no way would Chevy go with Sandoval still alive.
Coop flipped open his phone again, but hesitated. "Yam, Raul, Estaban and I will stay to help. Chevy will not stop."
"That about covers it," Joe said, sounding none to happy with Coop's announcement.
We drove still slower once we reached the parking lot off to the side of the harbor. The lot only had one light on a nearby pole, doing little to illuminate the area. I could see the twinkle of the boats on the water about a hundred yards away. This would be a good night to sneak up on someone. A chill ran down my back and made me shudder. Could Sandoval have come here to lie in wait for us? Maybe we were about to walk into an ambush.
The car crawled between two short rows of parked cars. None looked particularly suspicious to me, but I eased the SIG out of my bag to hold across my lap with my thumb on the safety, just in case.
"Damn," Joe growled, and swerved to the left.
"What?" I asked.
Joe pulled off to the side and threw the car into park. "I hope that's not what I think it is." He motioned toward the hotel.
Coop reached around, pulled his gun-bag from the floor by my feet and shoved it between him and Joe. They had to be for Joe, since Coop started to go furry. His skin split wide and the fur rushed out.
I concentrated on the hotel, while Joe gathered his hardware. The hotel had four floors with four rooms per floor. We'd taken all the rooms on the second floor.
Coop said, "I can't see what, but something's wrong."
My preternatural body responded to the call-to-action with a flood of energy. While Coop dove out the door and sprinted across the lot in a crouched run, several other werewolves joined him.
""Bout time you got here." I heard Yam's voice as I headed after Coop. "Jenna, we need your lovely ass here now!"
I hadn't expected even two additional seconds to prepare myself for battle. Then again, I didn't have anything to prepare with. I'd worn a dress without any place to carry a weapon. Coordinating for a gunfight in a too-short, too-tight, bright yellow polka-dot dress on the spur of the moment and in the throes of a fucking vampire adrenaline rush is a bitch! I didn't have a holster or anything to make one. I didn't have my knife since an ankle rig might clash with my four-inch, frosted-cherries heels. The only thing I could think to do was slip my bag over my arm and hold both of my guns in my hands.