He watched her, his eyes sparkling with… something. She wasn’t really sure what they were trying to say to her. “Are you sure?” He nodded to her glass. “It’s empty.”
“Oh. Yeah. So it is.” Her face was flaming red, she just knew it. “But, no. No thanks. I’m the designated driver.”
Someone kicked her leg and she jumped.
She looked at Lisa, who was giving her that look -- the one that told her she was making a really stupid mistake.
“Okay,” he said, sounding a little put out. He gave her a half-smile and stepped back.
The room’s oxygen supply finally seemed to normalize.
“I’ll be back in a minute,” he said.
“Okay. We’ll be right here waiting,” Lisa sing-songed, giving him a little wave. The second he was out of sight, Lisa leaned forward and said, “Are you friggin’ crazy? What’s wrong with you? That guy was gorgeous, and he was so into you. What would it hurt to have one more drink? You can out-drink half the Navy.”
“Yeah, well,” Sylvie said, shifting in her seat. God, it was hot in here. Why wasn’t the manager turning on the air conditioning? Was he an idiot? Or was he trying to get people to drink more by making them sweat? “I need to keep on my toes tonight.”
“You insulted him.”
“He’ll get over it, I can tell. Heck, he’s probably at the bar hitting on some other babe in a backless dress.”
“No, he’s not.” Lisa pointed behind her. “He’s on his way back. With my drink.”
“Oh, great.” When he was out of her line of sight, she could think clearly again. And she was worried about Burke. Where the heck had he gone? Didn’t he see this guy practically drooling over her? Didn’t that bother him? She was, after all, his… what had he called it? Original?
“So quick!” Lisa said, batting her eyelashes as the guy handed her the fresh drink.
“Got lucky. There wasn’t a line at the bar.” He looked at the chair next to Sylvie. “Mind if I sit?”
Sylvie really wanted to say “no,” she really did. She wanted to get up and go hunt down Burke, find out where he’d gone. Make sure nothing was wrong. But for some reason, she just plain couldn’t move. She couldn’t deny this man. She couldn’t do anything but mutter, “Sure.”
Her body warmed. Sensual awareness pricked her spine, like little needles. It was both an uncomfortable and extremely pleasant sensation.
“The name’s Miko,” he said, offering a hand to her. “Miko Dvorak.”
“Sylvie.” She tried to give his hand a quick, non-committal shake. It didn’t turn out that way. Her eyes met his and then there was this crazy connection, just like there’d been with Burke. He twisted his hand around, so their fingers were twined and his thumb was stroking the side of her hand. And oh… her girly parts were jumping up and down with glee and planning a party.
Burke! She jerked her hand away, broke the connection between their eyes and stood up. “I… need to go to the ladies room. Be right back.”
Her celebrating parts put up a scream of dissention, but she carried them away on wobbly legs to the bathroom, scanning every corner of the bar’s interior for Burke as she walked.
She found him, half hidden by the disc jockey’s booth, which was empty.
He cringed when she walked up to him.
“Are you hiding?” she asked as quietly as the bar’s noisy interior would allow, spinning around to see if she’d led anyone to him. No one seemed to have followed.
“Yes. Kind of. They’re here.”
“Who?”
“The Excoluni. They’re here, looking for me, which means I can’t keep a close eye on you if you’re more than a couple feet away. The place is packed. This is too dangerous. We should leave.”
“But what about catching the killer?”
“How can I do anything hiding back here?” The frustration in his voice made her want to forget about the danger and help him any way she could. “I don’t want to go,” he continued, “just in case there is another murder. This is the only bar in the area that the murderer hasn’t hit yet.”
“Then we’d be foolish to leave.”
“No, we’d be foolish to stay if you’re the next chosen victim.”
“We still don’t know that. For all we know, that slip of paper has nothing to do with the killer. Besides, if I was the intended victim, why would the killer come here? I’ve never stepped foot in this place. And why wouldn’t she have tried killing me last night?” When Burke had no answers to her questions, she felt her smile turn smug. “You see? I’d say the odds are in my favor. The paper with my name and phone number had nothing to do with the murder.”
He stared thoughtfully at the booth’s control panel for a moment. “You have a point. But I don’t like taking these kinds of risks with other people’s lives. I’ve done enough of that already.” He sighed. “Has anyone been watching you tonight? Anyone but me? Do you feel like you’re being followed?”
“No…” Even she could hear the wavering in her voice. Darn! He had almost lightened up.
His expression turned fiery. Before she realized what had happened, he was out of the booth and standing next to her. He lunged forward and caught her shoulders in his hands. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“Uh. Okay. There’s this guy…” This mysterious, sexy guy who was making me hot with a mere whisper.
Man, if Burke could read her mind, the shock he’d get!
“What guy? What’d he do?”
Her cheeks burned. “Nothing. Really.”
His eyebrows dropped. He wasn’t buying it.
“He offered to buy me a drink. That’s all. I swear. Nothing creepy or out of the ordinary. We are in a bar, you know. And by all appearances, I’m unattached…” Feeling uber-guilty, like she was cheating on Burke or something, she let her words trail off. There was nothing to feel guilty about. They hadn’t made any commitments to each other. An offer to buy a drink was nothing to be shocked or alarmed over. Although her reaction to the guy was. Perhaps. Okay, most definitely. “I didn’t accept the drink,” she added weakly.
He stared into her eyes. “You’re still keeping something from me.”
Maybe he could read her mind. Or maybe she was just a really bad liar. She pulled her gaze from his and took it to safer territory -- the wall behind him. “No. Not really. Like I said, he just came up and offered to buy me a drink.” For some reason, she left out the part about him staring at her neck, and her suspicion that he might be the other vampire in her supposed triad. She had a feeling her instincts were wrong about all that stuff and she didn’t want to rile Burke up even more at the moment, make any of this out to be more than it was. Now was not the time. Besides, he was looking like he’d pop a few blood vessels at any moment, thanks to the stress he was already shouldering.
He had a killer to catch. That had to be his focus. There was no reason to distract him with secondary non-important stuff at the moment, like her raging libido.
He pulled on her upper arm and started toward the back of the building. “That’s it. We’re leaving.”
“No. Wait!” She yanked as hard as she could, determined to get free of him. If there was one thing that annoyed the crap out of her it was being manhandled. “First, I’ll decide when I’m ready to leave. And second, you’re overreacting.” When he refused to release her, she lowered her voice until it was a deep, threatening growl. “Get your hands off me and I’ll explain.”
Mid-stomp, he whirled around and gave her a glare that made her heart stop for a full second. “Are you trying to get yourself killed?” he hissed.
“Puhleez. You’re being melodramatic. No one is trying to kill me.”
“What’s going on?” Lisa asked from somewhere behind her.
“Go away,” Burke barked.
“Don’t talk to my friend like that.” This guy was way out of line. Sylvie stomped on his foot with all her might. “Back off!”
Caught by surprise, he loosened his
boa constrictor-like grip on her arm long enough for her to get free. She caught Lisa’s hand and made a beeline for the empty dance floor, knowing he didn’t dare follow her with the Ex-co-whatever searching for him.
She stopped in the dead center to catch her breath.
A song by Coldplay started thrumming from the bar’s speakers and hordes of people crowded around them.
Great, so much for her plan to stand where she’d be in plain sight.
“Who was that?” Lisa asked, sounding both mystified and impressed, like she’d just met Vin Diesel or something. She handed Sylvie her purse.
Hugging her purse to her chest, Sylvie wriggled and shuffled her way between gyrating bodies, figuring she’d head back to their table. “It’s no one. This guy I met last night. He’s turning out to be a real pain in the butt.”
“Wait a minute.”
Sylvie stopped at the edge of the dance floor and turned. “What?”
Lisa studied her for a moment. A knowing smile spread over her face. “That’s the private detective you were talking about. You slept with him?”
Her cheeks started burning all over again. This place was hotter than blazes. “Yeah. Well, that was a mistake. Granted a fun mistake… but a mistake.”
“My God, he was hot! What a body.” She gave Sylvie a pat on the shoulder. “I officially forgive you for not being home last night to take my call.”
“Gee thanks.” Sylvie sighed and looked at the DJ booth, which now appeared to be inhabited by someone else.
“So, why’re you running from him?”
“Because he’s a controlling ass. He got all grabby and bossy. I hate that!” At least, outside of the dungeon.
“I hear that. No biggie. You win some. You lose some.” Lisa poked her in the rib. When Sylvie turned to look at her, she pointed toward the opposite side of the room. “You’ve always got hottie number two. Look, here he comes. Damn, girl. I want to know what you’re doing to get all these gorgeous guys to chase you around. Share the wealth, would ya? Toss me a scrap. Anything.”
“I’ll let you know what I’m doing as soon as I figure it out myself.”
“And look at that. He took off his jacket. Wow, does that man know how to fill a shirt properly. Mmmm mmm!”
“I’m beginning to think you ladies are running from me,” Miko said by way of a greeting. “Dance with me.” It wasn’t a question. It was a demand. Not waiting for her to respond one way or the other, he looped an arm around her back and pulled until her entire front was smooshed up against his. He took her right hand in his and started a slow, seductive sway.
“I’ll just be standing over here,” Lisa said, backing off the dance floor.
Chapter Six
Sylvie tipped her head to get a close-up look at Miko’s face. Bad move. Bad, bad move. The air left her lungs somehow when she wasn’t paying attention. Either that or someone had turned on a gigantic vacuum and sucked it all out of the room. After dragging in a few desperate gulps, she managed to mutter, “Don’t you think this music is a little fast to be dancing like this?”
“No.” He pressed on the small of her back, making her front even more smooshed. Her nipples had taken notice of the contact and were poking at him through the thin fabric of her dress. His hand wandered north, over the gathering of fabric to her exposed back. Goosebumps immediately coated her upper body, despite the fact that the room was beginning to be as hot and muggy as a sauna.
He bent his head and whispered, “I know what you are.”
What she was? That statement was a mite confusing. “Oh?” she asked, following his lead as he swayed to a much slower beat than was pounding through the air and shaking the walls.
He nipped her earlobe. “You’re an Origo.” Releasing her back, he bent his elbow and lifted, showing a mark on the inside of his forearm. It was identical to Burke’s. “My Origo.” Clearly not in any hurry to have her leave, he returned his arm to its previous position, snuggled her against him and in a snazzy move a la Gene Kelly twirled her around.
Dizzy from the motion, dizzy from the heat blazing through her body, dizzy from whatever, Sylvie clung to him and tried to keep her feet under her and her brain from melting into grey goo. She felt like she was losing both battles.
Her feet felt like they were hovering above the ground more often than planted firmly on it. And her brain? Well, that was short circuiting like crazy, or so she assumed. Because it was telling her to do some downright shocking things with this man.
Like throw him to the ground and have her way with him. Or rather, throw herself to the ground and beg him to have his way with her.
What had gotten into her? Was this Origo thing some kind of magical connection? Because while she would admit she’d never been a prude, she’d also never reacted to a man the way she had to Burke and Miko. Her body temperature spiked with just a look from either of them. Burke with his long, dark hair, lopsided grin and smoldering gaze. And Miko with his slightly lighter hair and stunning good looks. He looked like he’d just walked off the red carpet -- or the pages of a men’s fitness magazine.
“Do you know what you do to me?” he murmured, his mouth grazing the side of her neck. He released her hand and lifted his to the back of her head, pulled the clip from her hair and tangled his fingers in it as it fell heavy over her shoulders. “I can hear your pulse. Right here.” He swirled his tongue over a sensitive spot on her neck and she jerked against him, instantly rigid. “I can smell your desire.” He audibly inhaled. “Sweet. Intoxicating. You’re wet, ready for me. Makes me want to take you right here.”
She meant to give him some kind of sarcastic comeback, but the best she came up with was, “Eerk!”
Taking her right then and there didn’t sound like such a bad plan, come to think of it.
Yep. Brain was gone. She put out a silent SOS vibe to Lisa, hoping her friend might by some miracle answer it. Granted, she couldn’t get Lisa to answer a simple phone call the last time she’d needed her.
But if someone didn’t come and shake things up within the next thirty seconds, she knew with absolute certainty she was going to do something stupid. Like beg him to take her home with him.
Unfortunately, no one came, and she was left to stand there, stumbling over her own feet and whimpering while Miko nibbled and licked her neck like she was a lollipop. With each flicker of his tongue, little pulses of heat rippled through her body. They spread out from her center, these happy little ripples, yet for some reason, more heat seemed to keep building deep inside.
She realized quite suddenly there was a reason for that. She was grinding against his leg.
So not cool!
“Hey, Dvorak! There you are. Quit with the chicks…” some unidentified male voice said to the left of her.
She turned to look, found she was standing beside yet another huge, muscular, extremely good looking guy.
“Sorry, Miss. But my friend’s gotta cut this dance short.”
“Not now,” Miko said in a low voice that reminded Sylvie of Burke’s growl. It was very predatory, almost inhuman, which made sense, since vampires weren’t exactly humans.
His friend blinked. “Yes, now. Right now. What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing’s wrong with me. Just go away.” He gave his friend a shove.
The man squared his shoulders and lifted his chin, giving Miko a piercing stare. “As your superior, I command you to come with me this instant.”
Sylvie swore she heard Miko say, “Fuck off,” but if he did, he said it low enough for only her to hear.
He loosened his hold on her, but didn’t release her completely until after he said, “I need to find you again. Tell me how to find you.”
Despite the fact that her tongue felt swollen to at least twice its normal size, she managed to utter two words, “Carpe Nocturne.”
He leaned down, barely brushed his mouth over hers and turned to leave.
He was no more than a couple feet away when she heard someone s
ay, “Look who we have here. It’s Langton. What’re you doing? Hunting your next victim?” She spun around so fast, she nearly fell over.
Miko’s supposed boss was glaring at Burke. And Burke was giving him an equally evil look right back.
Despite the festive atmosphere all around them, the eardrum-splitting music and gyrating bodies, Sylvie could literally see the tension in the air between the two men. It was like a dark shadow, rippling like heated air above the asphalt in July.
“Are you going to come quietly or are we going to have to take you by force?” Miko asked, stepping forward.
They wanted to take Burke? Did they really say that? Why? What was this all about?
She wanted to do something but didn’t know what. And then someone, or something, caught her by the neck and yanked hard, forcing her to stumble backward. An arm circled her neck, and something sharp pierced her skin, just below her ear. A little tilt to her eyes, and she verified it was a knife blade. A really sharp looking knife blade.
“Let Langton go or this woman dies,” a female voice said behind her. It was a woman holding her? Had to be the strongest woman this side of hell.
Who the heck was she? What was she trying to do? And what the hell made her think those two vampires gave two fangs whether she ran that knife blade through Sylvie’s throat or not?
The one guy gave her a cool look and shrugged his shoulders. “She’s nothing to me.”
“But she is to me,” Miko said solemnly.
A few sets of eyes fell on him at that bit of news, one of them belonging to Burke.
“I couldn’t tell you before because…” He sighed before continuing to explain to his boss. “She’s my Origo. My mate.”
The gasp she heard didn’t come from the boss. It came from Burke. As she watched, he grabbed Miko’s wrist with his left hand and twisted, forcing the man to reveal the underside of his forearm.
“Well, that explains a lot,” Burke said, studying the black symbol that matched his own, which she knew was on the arm he held behind his back. “A whole hell of a lot.” For the first time in eons, his gaze met Sylvie’s. Something flashed in his eyes.
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