He made it to his building with no trouble. As he neared, he was relieved to see there was no sign of visitors. No cars. No lingering glitter of magic. No sounds. Moving slowly and carefully, not to make a sound, he rounded the side of the building. Still nothing.
Could he have been wrong about Dvorak? Had he failed to get a clear view of the license plate?
He could only be so lucky!
He slipped inside, and made his way up the stairs, his every sense alert to anything that was out of the ordinary. Nothing, except the pathetic whimper of a poodle.
Oh the gods, he’d forgotten about the dog.
He hated dogs, especially girly dogs like poodles. And this one had made it clear it didn’t exactly have the greatest regard for him either. But dammit, he couldn’t leave the thing there to starve. There were some things that even he knew were plain wrong.
He considered leaving her be until he was ready to leave but changed his mind. It seemed, from its reaction, that it was sensitive to the scent of the Insurgi, the Immortal. Therefore, if there were any Excoluni members nearby, the little thing might go yipping and nipping after them. At least that would get them out in the open and give him a fighting chance at getting out of the apartment with his money.
Sounds like a plan.
Walking soundlessly, each step taking far longer than he wished, he made it back to the bedroom, flattened himself against the wall and opened the door.
The poodle, yipping at an eardrum-shattering volume and pitch, went straight to the door.
At least it was trained well. And nothing had distracted the animal. It wasn’t exactly a clear signal that the apartment was empty, but it eased his worries a bit.
Unable to let the poodle outside to conduct its business yet, he went back to his room to handle his.
Working quickly, he pulled the suitcase out from under his bed, went to the closet and removed the hidden panel. Didn’t take more than a few minutes to gather the cash from its hiding place, pack it in the bag, gather a growling, snapping dog and head for the door. It took a whole lot longer to convince the fur ball to shut up and stop trying to take off his digits so that he felt safe enough to head outside.
He was smack dab in the middle of the building’s front yard when the headlights hit him.
“I’ve got you!” Miko shouted. “Stop!”
Blinded by the glare, Burke ran as fast as he could, in the opposite direction of Isabella, Sylvie and the car. As he tripped and stumbled over lawn ornaments and low-lying shrubberies, he put up a silent prayer to the gods that the women hadn’t been found.
The dog stiffened but showed the rare wisdom not to start yapping. At a full run, Burke headed around a corner at the end of the block and into the small patch of woods that cut the apartment complex into two. He stayed in the woods, dodging trees as he ran, until he had gone to the end. He stopped just before stepping out onto the paved street.
He saw no sign of a car coming. Heard nothing behind him. No snapping twigs or rustling leaves. Had Miko given up so easily? Although it would have been nice, Burke didn’t believe that for a minute.
Being extra careful to stay in the shadows, he walked down the residential street, heading back toward the parking lot where he’d left the car. It was a long friggin’ walk, especially while carrying a squirmy, dribbling poodle. The little beast was the most nervous animal he’d ever seen. Lost its bladder control at the slightest noise. Sure helped him, though. It was a particularly substantial leak that alerted him to the fact that there was a car coming up behind them with its headlights off.
Burke was able to duck behind a hedge and hide until Miko had driven by.
“Yeah, you spoke too soon, asshole,” he murmured to the taillights of the car.
It was too dark to tell if there were any other people in the car with him, but Burke was guessing there weren’t.
Twenty or so minutes later, he crept into the parking lot. He was hugely relieved to see the car was parked where he’d left it. And he guessed, by the subtle shift of shadows inside the vehicle, that Isabella and Sylvie were still waiting, probably getting anxious and impatient, not that he could blame them. By his estimate, it had been at least forty-five minutes since he’d left them.
It was a wonder they hadn’t wandered off to go looking for him. He knew Isabella had probably been tempted.
One thing that bothered him as he approached the car was how careless they were being. Even though he couldn’t see them per se, he could see their forms shifting. He’d told them to stay quiet and still, to avoid calling any undue attention to themselves. Looked like they were practically holding a party in there.
And then he realized what was going on. It was the legs and trunk of a non-female body emerging from the vehicle that shed some light on the situation. The car parked next to his, engine running, headlights off, gave him a fairly reliable clue whose legs and torso they were.
“Fuck!” he whispered, cutting a sharp right to hide behind a crop of trees in an empty lot. “Should’ve known you wouldn’t quit so easy.”
“Why would you think something as stupid as that?” Isabella said behind him.
He jerked. The dog tinkled -- again -- dousing the front of his clothes. It then decided to yap its fool head off at Isabella.
Burke dropped the suitcase and tried to muzzle its mouth with his hand, but it bit him. He swallowed an angry growl and was about to go for a second attempt when Sylvie jumped up from behind a shrub and snatched it out of his arms, whispering, “Shhhhhush, Lulu! Before you get us caught.”
“You’re… Who’s in the car?” Confused and relieved, Burke turned back to the car to see if Miko had heard them.
Okay, the guy was standing next to the car, his gaze leveled right at them.
He’d say that was a yes.
“Fuck. Gotta run. Fast!” He pointed east. “That way!” Snatching up the suitcase, he bent down, hit Sylvie mid-stomach with his shoulder and scooped her off her feet. Still hugging her dog to her side, she dangled over his back as he ran, kicking her legs, insisting he put her down.
Not that he could take the time to explain it now, but there was no other way. Humans moved slow as snails compared to immortals. If he let her run, they stood absolutely no chance of escaping.
Ignoring Sylvie’s continuing rant, and her dog’s continued assault on his shoulder, he turned north, cutting through some lawns to go back toward the woods. That narrow patch of forest wound down several miles, to the county line. It was their only hope of staying out of sight.
They stopped running about three miles in. He set Sylvie down on her feet and prepared himself for the verbal assault he was sure to get. She gave him a pretty nasty glare but didn’t say a word. She hugged her quivering animal to her chest and stumbled beside him as they walked. When she tripped over a tree root, he caught her hand to keep her from falling.
She answered his gesture with a faint smile. “Thank you. For getting Lulu.”
“You’re welcome.”
Neither of them released the other’s hand.
It seemed he’d been forgiven.
One disaster averted, several actually.
Now he just had to figure out where they’d go next. With no car, they could only go so far. And with daylight coming in the next few hours, they needed to find someplace safe to hide, or he’d be dust.
Literally.
Chapter Eight
Sylvie knew she was holding his hand. There wasn’t a cell in her body that wasn’t vibrating like a bee trapped in a glass jar. What was left of her gray matter was telling her she should cut ties now, while the cutting was good. Those two, Burke and Isabella, were in some serious trouble with a law enforcement organization she knew nothing about.
At this point she figured she could talk herself out of any legal trouble her affiliation with them might have brought on her, but if she stuck with them much longer… there was no telling what might be assumed.
Oy, the tangled webs, blah, blah, blah.
/> Ironically, her troubles had started because she’d tried to do something new and exciting to get Carpe Nocturne in the black.
That was another thing. She needed to get in touch with the police and find out when she could open Carpe Nocturne back up. Because she’d had to close early Friday, she’d now lost almost two days’ revenues, and although Sundays weren’t her biggest day of the week, money was money. Things were beyond desperate at this point.
But damn if she could get herself to let go of Burke’s hand, let alone wish him luck and hightail it away from there. Whether it was the vampire-bonding thing or her Catholic upbringing, even the thought of leaving him made her feel guilty as hell. It was like she was abandoning him.
She was getting really tired now. Beyond tired. Her feet were killing her. Her legs were sore. Her back was achy. Her eyes felt like they’d been alternately rolled in crushed glass and petroleum jelly. She did a lot of blinking as she walked. And a lot of wondering.
Where the hell were they headed? They weren’t far from Lisa’s house.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“We need to find shelter before sunrise.” Burke stopped walking when they reached the end of the woods. He looked right and left, down the street. She admired his profile. Until she’d met him, she’d never even held a conversation with a man who looked like that, let alone had sex with one.
How things had changed in the last twelve hours or so. In some ways for the better. In some ways for the worse.
“My friend doesn’t live far from here,” she suggested. “I’m sure she wouldn’t mind some company. She works days, so it’ll be quiet once she leaves. That is, if you don’t have somewhere else in mind.”
Burke smoothed a hand down her arm then nodded. “That sounds good. Real good.”
“It’s this way.” She pointed to the north. “She’s bound to be freaking out by now anyway, after what happened last night.”
Burke continued to hold her hand as they started north, keeping to the shadows. Little buzzes and zaps of erotic awareness zinged up her arm and straight to her groin. Her cheeks heated.
“Is there any chance she might’ve gone back to your house after we left the bar last night?” Isabella asked, falling into step on her right side.
“Maybe. Why?”
“We’d better keep a lookout as we get closer,” Isabella suggested. “Someone posted at your house might’ve followed her home, thinking she might lead them to you.”
“Oh.” Sylvie looked at Burke. “If that’s the case, maybe we should go somewhere else.”
He shook his head and gave her a reassuring smile. It wasn’t the most gleeful expression she’d ever seen but it eased her worries a smidge. Also amplified the tingles and zaps. “It’ll be okay. You can go in alone and then sneak us inside.”
“You want me to sneak you in?”
Burke stopped walking and took her arms in his hands, giving them a firm squeeze before changing his touch to a slow, erotic caress. He looked into her eyes and she saw the heat of suppressed longing in his eyes. A spark of wanting flashed through her. Her mouth dried. “It’ll be better for everyone, especially your friend, if she doesn’t know we’re there.”
She nodded. “Okay.” She didn’t like the idea of lying to Lisa, but she could kind of see his point. Already there was a good chance she was neck-deep in trouble. Why drag her best friend into the quicksand with her?
It was choosing the lesser of two very nasty evils.
It took them about a half hour to walk to Lisa’s house. Sylvie told Isabella and Burke she’d tell Lisa she was letting Lulu out and then sneak them in the back door. Despite the fact that she knew she’d see Burke in a little while, she had a really hard time leaving him. It felt like a part of her anatomy had been sliced from her body when she took a few steps away from him.
This Master-slash-mate stuff was hard on a girl.
Feeling both dull from exhaustion and sadness, and also jittery from fear, she walked up Lisa’s front walk and knocked on the door.
It took a long time for Lisa to answer. She looked like death as she opened the door. Her short hair stuck out at odd angles and dark circles made her eyes look sunken in.
“Where the fuck have you been?” Lisa snapped, scowling.
“Long story. Can I come in?”
“Yeah, sure.” Lisa stepped aside to let Sylvie in then slammed the door shut. “So, spill. What’s going on? Something’s going on. Something weird. Tell me now or I’m going to… to do something drastic.” She scratched Lulu’s head and cooed, “How’s my girl? How’s my girl?” as she took the shaking animal out of Sylvie’s arms and inspected her. “My goodness! You’re a wreck.” She gave Sylvie another look. One of her trademark I’m-not-going-to-quit-hounding-you-until-you-spill-it looks. “What happened? First, you made me go to that yuppie bar last night. And then you were fought over by not one but two absolutely gorgeous men. And then some chick who looked like Anna in Van Helsing stuck a knife to your throat and dragged you off.” Her voice rose with every word she spoke until she was shouting and practically shaking as bad as Lulu. “I’ve been worried to death!”
Sylvie had never seen Lisa so hysterical. Hysterical friends were absolutely no help. “Listen, I realize things are kind of crazy right now but I need you to keep it together. For both of us. Okay?” When Lisa responded with a nod, she asked, “Did you go to my house last night?”
“No. I was going to but then the police told me they’d handle it --”
“The police? You went to the police?”
“I talked to the undercover cops who were at the bar when you got kidnapped. That good looking one who’d bought --”
“Shit!” Sylvie shouted. The noise made Lulu twitch in Lisa’s arms. She peered out the front door’s peephole. So far there wasn’t a fleet of unmarked Ex-co-whatever police cars crowding the driveway, but she knew chances were good Miko would head to Lisa’s after losing them outside of Burke’s apartment complex. “Shit, shit, shit! Please tell me they didn’t take your address.”
“Um… Yeah. They did. Why? Don’t police officers usually take someone’s personal information when they report a kidnapping?”
“Gotta go. Will you do me a favor and keep an eye on Lulu for a few days?”
“Uh, sure, but --”
“And the bar. Will you call the detective on this card and ask him if it’s okay to open the bar?” She unzipped her purse, pulled the detective’s card from her wallet and handed it to her friend. “And whatever you do, don’t talk to those other policemen again. They’re not real police.”
Lisa glanced down at the card Sylvie had handed her. “But what about --”
“I’ll get in touch with you as soon as I can. Thanks.” She gave Lisa a quick hug and pulled open the door.
She stopped dead in her tracks. Miko was standing on the front porch.
Her libido went wild when their eyes met, sending frenetic bursts of heat through her bloodstream. She staggered backward and bumped into someone or something behind her. The air leaked from her lungs until they threatened to collapse.
“I’m glad to see you’re okay,” Miko said, stepping into the room and reaching for her.
Every minute part of her body -- especially the girly ones -- wanted him to touch her. Yet she threw her hands up, blocking him. “Don’t.” Her voice sounded a whole lot firmer than she’d expected it to. She glanced behind her to see who she’d backed into.
“I’m sorry,” Lisa said, still holding Lulu. “I called before I let you in. I was scared. I thought I was doing the right thing --”
“Your friend was worried about you,” Miko said.
Sylvie spun around and nodded, trying not to notice the spark in his eyes. The swell of his shoulders. The flat plane of his stomach. “I… uh, kind of got that.”
“I was worried about you too,” he said. “It nearly killed me to watch you get dragged away by that bastard, Langton.” His words eased her nerves and wea
kened what little remained of her resolve to keep some distance between them. “If he’d hurt you… I would’ve killed him,” he whispered.
Oh God, she was in the middle of a huge mess. A huge mess that involved two men she couldn’t resist no matter how hard she tried. Her body, her mind, her will, none of them belonged to her anymore. She was being tugged this way and that. It was both frustrating and thrilling at the same time.
What to do? “He didn’t hurt me. I swear.” She looked into Miko’s eyes, searching them for the answers she desperately needed. He was her second Master. What a shocker that had been when Burke had flipped his arm over to reveal the mark. Though she shouldn’t have been so surprised, considering her reaction to him.
She instinctively knew she could trust him not to harm her, but how much could she trust him otherwise? Should she tell him the truth -- that Burke didn’t kill those people? Would he believe her? Was he unable to harm Burke, since they were in some weird, magical way bound to each other? Did Miko know about Burke? That he was the other Master? Should she tell him?
So may questions. It was all so confusing.
At least at this point one question had been answered. It seemed she wasn’t being tied to Burke and Isabella by the authorities. If anything, it seemed they viewed her as a victim.
That part was good. Right?
Too bad all she could think about was dashing out there into the dark to help Burke and Isabella. Well, that or throw herself on Miko and beg him to haul her off to the nearest bedroom.
She should be relieved he didn’t see her as a criminal. She should be staying with Lisa until the killer was found. She should be contacting the real police department and getting the clearance she needed to open Carpe Nocturne.
“I must protect you. He could come back.”
If only he knew.
As if he’d read her mind, Miko snatched her wrist and gripped it so tightly her bones ground against each other.
She knew she should be angry, furious, absolutely livid at his barbaric treatment, but she wasn’t. She was totally turned on. Her pussy was warming up in preparation for some fun. Her nipples were hardening into tight peaks. Desire was rolling through her body in relentless, swelling waves. Regardless, she tried putting on a good act. She gave him her best mean-eyed glare and twisted her wrist. “Let go of me.”
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