Immortal Danger

by Cynthia Eden

  It was an unusual scent, one she remembered back from her days in high school when a chemistry experiment had gone dismally wrong.

  Sulfur. She touched Adam’s arm. What would cause…?

  He drew in a deep breath, seemed to relax a bit.

  The scent faded as abruptly as it had appeared.

  “The lady,” Adam spoke in a hard, tight tone, “doesn’t go anywhere without me.”

  Tim grunted but turned and climbed back up the stairs. “We can go to my office.” He tossed a knowing glance back at Maya. “You remember where my place is, don’t you, love?”

  “Vaguely,” she muttered. She’d fed from him there once. On the black leather couch.

  She’d been a vampire only six months then, and she’d still been fighting against hunting humans.

  Since Tim wasn’t exactly human and he knew the score from the start, she’d felt safe with him.

  Stupid mistake.

  One she wouldn’t make again.

  Adam stopped in front of the gold-lettered door marked VIP. He leaned in toward her as she passed him, caught her hand. “What are we doing here?”

  Tim had good hearing, very good, and she didn’t want to give away her plan. “Trust me,” she barely breathed the words to him as she passed, but her fingers clung tightly to his.

  His jaw tightened, but he didn’t question her again. He followed her inside, slamming the door shut behind them.

  Tim walked over to the leather couch. Lowered his body onto the plush cushions. “That’s better.” He smiled again, this time flashing a perfect set of dimples. “Now tell me, what brings you to my side of Hell tonight?” The whites of his eyes began to darken.

  The darkness of the demon, usually hidden by glamour.

  Or in Tim’s case, half-demon.

  “I need a favor,” she said baldly, meeting that cloudy stare head-on.

  “Hmmm. I don’t usually offer favors.”

  No, he didn’t. But in this case—“Help me, and you’ll get the chance to screw over a pack of wolf shifters.”

  His smile stretched another inch. “Tell me more.”

  “Six are on our trail.” Could be more, but not really the point. “I need to ditch my bike. Get a new ride and go as far and as fast out of this city as I can.”

  His fingers began to stroke the leather arm of the couch. “Running, Maya? I didn’t think that was your style.”

  Adam didn’t speak—a very good thing right then—but she could feel his tension. “I’m not running from them.”

  “Running to something, are you?” His fingers began to tap, tap, tap, on the couch. “Must be something important if a wolf pack’s involved.”

  “Um.” He didn’t need to know any more about that.

  His stare flickered to Adam. “Why do I think this ‘something’ has to do with your new friend?”

  “’Cause you’re a fucking genius?” Adam drawled.

  Tap. Tap. Tap. His nails began to grow. His attention drifted back to Maya. “Where are you heading?”

  “Texas. The border.” The lie came easily. They always did.

  Adam’s head jerked toward her. “Is that where she—”

  Luckily, she still had ahold of his hand. Her claws dug into him.

  He got the message and shut up, fast.

  But she knew the damage had been done.

  “The border.” Tim nodded. Tap. Tap. “All right. For old times’ sake, I’ll help you.” Another smile—this time, one that showed a lot of sharp teeth. “And I’ll enjoy the hell out of screwing over a pack.”

  He stood, walked over to a desk, and jerked open the top drawer. He tossed Maya a set of keys. “The black Jag down the street. Garage 812, slot 13.”

  Her fingers closed around the keys. “And my bike?” She hated to lose her baby, but there wasn’t a choice.

  “I’ll take care of her.”

  She freed Adam’s hand and walked across the room. “I knew I could count on you.”

  His fingers brushed down her cheek. He always did that. Always stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. A tender caress.

  So it seemed.

  “We need to go, Maya,” Adam said, his voice cracking like a whip.

  Tim’s eyes began to lighten. “When you get tired of the new toy, come back for a visit. I’ll be here.”

  Adam lunged across the room, got toe-to-toe with Tim. “She’s not coming back, demon.”

  But Tim just flashed those dimples again. “We’ll see.”

  Adam growled and spun on his heel. He didn’t speak again until they were out of the bar and once again on the crowded street.

  He stopped at the edge of the building, casting her a hard stare. “You’ve had sex with him.”

  Ah, hell, so not the time.

  He blocked her path, used his body to trap her against the cold brick wall, but he didn’t actually touch her. Not yet. “You screwed him, didn’t you?”

  “How is this your business?” she snapped. They had more important things to deal with at the moment. Her ex-lover was really low on the totem pole of priorities and—

  Adam kissed her. A hard, deep, demanding kiss. His tongue thrust into her mouth, claimed hers, even as his hands clamped around her waist and jerked her against the thick heat of his arousal.

  And the man was most definitely aroused. She felt every hot inch of his cock pressing against her.

  Her sex began to cream.

  He tore his mouth from hers. “This is why,” he growled, his forehead resting against hers for a moment, “because I can’t even breathe anymore without wanting you.”

  Oh. Pretty good reason.

  “I don’t care what you are,” he said, his voice rasping and his breath blowing lightly over her sensitive lips. “I just want you, naked, beneath me.”

  “Adam…” Maya began, not really sure if she was going to protest or offer to strip.

  His tongue licked her bottom lip.

  Her knees trembled. Strip.

  It had been too long. She’d tried to push aside the needs of her body, but, damn—she wanted.

  She wanted him.

  Her lips opened for him and she drew his tongue into her mouth, sucking lightly. Then she let her hunger have free rein. A moan rumbled in the back of her throat as she lifted her arms and pulled him closer.

  Not the time or the place. The warning drifted through her head, but she didn’t stop. Didn’t want to stop.

  The fingers of his right hand curled over her ass, squeezing lightly, and she parted her thighs just enough to feel the brush of his cock against her sex.

  Too long.

  Adam’s mouth began to kiss a path down her neck. Her nipples tightened to sharp points—her neck had always been her weak spot, and if he kissed just under her left ear—

  His tongue slipped over her, licking in—ah, just the perfect spot.

  Her hips jerked against his.

  Her panties were wet now. She could feel the damp fabric brushing against the folds of her sex.

  And she knew she was moments away from having sex with Adam.

  Wolves were on their trail.

  Not the damn time.

  Her fingers curled around his shoulders and she pushed against him. “Adam, no.” So hard to say. Her voice emerged as a whisper.

  His hold on her tightened. His dark head lifted and he gazed down at her, his eyes burning with lust. “You want me.”

  It’d be stupid to lie. Every fiber of her being was screaming with hungry desire. “This isn’t the place—”

  His nostrils flared and he licked his lips. “I can smell your arousal. Damn, you’re sweet—I need a taste.”

  An image of Adam having that taste jumped into her mind. Oh, yes.

  Two men walked past, eyeing Maya with knowing stares and twisted lips.

  But not here. Not now.

  She pushed against him again, this time using her enhanced strength.

  He took a step back. A muscle flexed along his jaw as he dro
pped his hands. “I’m gonna be having my taste, vampire. Very soon.”

  How had the need between them gotten so wild, so desperate, so fast?

  “We can’t do this now,” she said, wishing that her voice was stronger and didn’t sound so husky. But she could still taste him in her mouth and she wanted more. “The adrenaline is pumping through us, making us crazy and—”

  He shook his head. “Not the adrenaline. I want you.” He didn’t look particularly pleased about that fact.

  Well, she wasn’t exactly over the moon to find her body breaking free of her control. The man made her feel hot, hungry, and desperate for his touch.

  She had to get her control back. A vampire who let go in the heat of the moment, one who went wild—that wasn’t a good vampire to be around.

  Lust could make her kind very dangerous.

  “We’re going to finish this,” Adam said clearly, those eyes of his seeming to look right into her soul. “When we’re alone, when it’s safe, I will have you.”

  Maya knew the words were a promise.

  She sure as hell hoped the man was good at keeping promises. Because she was desperate to have him.

  Tim watched them through the tinted glass of his second-story office. Watched the kiss. The touches. Felt the need and arousal burning from the couple.

  His fingers tightened into fists.

  So Maya was fucking her new toy. He’d figured as much when he’d seen the predatory look in the guy’s eyes.

  There had been lust there.

  Possession.

  Once upon a time, he’d possessed Maya. Had all that hot, rich power in his hands.

  Sex with a vampire—it was one of the best pleasures on earth.

  And the most dangerous.

  They were walking away now. Hurrying down the street toward the promised Jag.

  His fingers uncurled and his left hand rose toward the phone that waited on his desk. Tap. Tap. Tap. His nails clicked against the back of the plastic receiver.

  Maya.

  He’d cared about her, once. As much as he could care.

  Of course, he’d still tried to kill her, but she didn’t know that. Didn’t know that he’d been paid a hundred grand to set her up.

  When the choice fell between love and money…to him there really wasn’t a choice then.

  He didn’t know how she’d survived that demon attack in the alley that night.

  The woman was too good at cheating death.

  But no one’s luck lasted forever.

  Tap. Tap.

  They’d disappeared. Gone into the garage.

  His gaze remained locked on the street. He’d give Maya a few more minutes. At least allow her to get the car on the road.

  She deserved a bit more time. The woman had been the best fuck of his life.

  Tap.

  Ah, there it was. The black Jag streaked down the street, barely braking as it rounded the corner and disappeared into the night.

  That should be enough of a head start.

  Tim picked up the phone. Punched in the numbers for his call and waited patiently.

  The phone was answered on the third ring. He heard the faint sound of breathing, but no one spoke.

  “Maya Black was just here to see me,” he murmured. “Apparently, some wolves are on her tail.”

  Silence.

  “For a hundred grand,” that was the price he’d accepted last time, so he figured it was still fair, “I can tell you where she’s going, and I’ll even activate the GPS tracking unit so you can hunt her car.” Now surely that was a deal too good to pass up.

  A sharp inhalation of air. “You’ll have the money in an hour, demon.”

  “Good, and you’ll have your vampire.” He ended the call and glanced back out the window. The street was swarming with humans. Foolish, weak humans.

  There wasn’t any sign of Maya now. But it would be easy, too easy really, for her to be tracked.

  “Sorry, love,” he murmured, “guess there won’t be a next time for us, after all.”

  Pity.

  But business was business.

  Chapter 5

  “Uh, wanna tell me why you just paid that kid a hundred bucks to take our car?” Adam asked, wondering if he had just missed something very important. “You do have a backup plan for getting us the hell out of the city, right?”

  “Sure I do,” Maya said and stalked over to a nearby SUV. Her lips pursed as she eyed the car. Then she shrugged, walked past the driver’s side door and paused next to the back door. She lifted her fist—and drove her hand right through the window.

  A shrill, screaming alarm immediately echoed through the garage and the headlights and taillights of the SUV flashed in a sickening blur.

  Adam swore.

  Maya pushed her hand through the jagged hole, unlocked the door, and jumped into the backseat. Then she shimmied up to the front and Adam saw her crawl under the dashboard.

  In seconds, blessed silence filled the garage.

  Maya’s head popped up and he could see the smile that stretched across her face.

  Damn, but the woman was cute. And apparently, something of a thief.

  But still cute.

  For a vampire.

  Adam drew in a deep breath.

  “You gonna stand there all night, Slick?” The engine started with a rumble of sound. “Or are you ready to find Cammie?”

  Cammie.

  He ran to the passenger side. Maya had the door open and waiting for him. He jumped inside. As they shot through the garage, circling down the spiral ramp, he had to ask, “If you were planning to steal a car all along, then why’d we have to waste our time with the demon?” And he knew the guy, Tim, had been a demon. No mistaking those eyes.

  Shit, if the rumors were true, way, way back in their family tree, the vamps and the demons were related. That’s why they both had those dark eyes.

  If the rumors were true.

  Those same rumors said that once, long ago, the very first Born had done something to piss off a very, very powerful force. A force some called God—a betrayal had been made, and as punishment, the Born had been cursed—an eternity of darkness. The fact that holy water burned the vamps, yeah, that just made the rumors ring true.

  But demons didn’t have a holy water weakness. The strong ones had pretty much no weaknesses.

  He’d never trusted demons. They weren’t the fire-and-brimstone, Devil’s-helpers, like most folks thoughts. They were actually a whole separate race of humans, maybe even offspring from the original Fallen.

  They were good at magic, mind control, and deceit.

  Most of ’em were outright bastards.

  Like Tim.

  “We weren’t wasting time,” Maya snapped, sounding annoyed. Instead of heading for the exit, she spun the car around and drove for the entrance on the opposite side of the building. “We were throwing the wolves off our scent.”

  Thus the whole stealing the SUV bit, but why go in that loud, overpriced bar?

  A horn beeped as another car had to swerve to avoid a head-on collision with Maya.

  She didn’t even flinch, but she did flip off the other driver.

  Then they were outside, pushing hard toward eighty and speeding away from the snarls of traffic.

  “Interesting thing about Tim,” she finally said, “the guy set me up to die a few years back.”

  His head jerked toward her as rage pumped through his veins. “And why,” he asked softly, voice deadly, “in the hell did we just prance into the asshole’s den?”

  Her small nostrils flared. “Do you smell that? I swear it’s like someone just opened a damn pack of matches in here and started a fire.”

  “Why’d we see him?” he demanded, ignoring her words. If he’d known the truth about Tim back when they’d been in that bar, he would have made certain to give the guy exactly what he deserved.

  A slow, painful death.

  Maya didn’t speak for a moment, but he saw her fingers tighten ju
st the briefest bit around the steering wheel. The streets and buildings passed them in a blur.

  “Do you know,” she shot him a quick glance, “just what Tim is doing right now?”

  Probably screwing one of his scantily clad waitresses when he should have been bleeding all over the floor and begging for mercy.

  “He got on the phone the minute we left, most likely with someone in the local wolf pack, and he offered to sell us out.”

  Bastard. “Nice ex you got there.”

  Her lips firmed. “There was probably some kind of tracking system on his car, and I imagine good old Tim is making arrangements to activate the GPS or at the very least, he’s telling the pack to head for Mexico.”

  “Uh, we’re not planning on traveling down to the border, are we?” He asked, feeling slow for not having recognized that fact sooner.

  “No, we’re not.”

  His anger kicked up another notch and he had to fight the urge to grab the woman. “Since we’re talking about my niece’s life here, do you mind telling me just where we’re headed?” Or did the woman intend to keep leading him around in the dark?

  “The Mojave Desert, near Vegas. We’re gonna stop by the safe house first, load up on weapons and gear, then start tracking.”

  Finally. “Are you sure she’s there?”

  “No.”

  His lips parted in surprise at her quick answer. “What?” Then why were they going to waste time driving out—

  “Marie’s sure, and that’s good enough for me.”

  Marie. “The voodoo priestess? Is she always right?” He knew women like her had gifts, but he didn’t want to take a chance with Cammie’s life.

  “Always?” Maya sighed then muttered, “I sure hope not.”

  He frowned.

  “Relax. She’s right about this.” She braked for a traffic light. “We’re going to find the girl.”

  And she’d better be alive.

  But Maya didn’t promise that, because he knew she couldn’t promise that.

  “Just get me to her,” he said. If he could just find Cammie, shield her—“I’ll take care of the rest.”

  “You and your army, huh?”

  He didn’t know what the woman was talking about. “What?”

  “Forget it, Slick. Just sit back and enjoy the ride—because this party of ours is going to be heading straight to hell soon.”