The Nightlife: London (Urban Fantasy Romance) (The Nightlife Series)

by Luedke, Travis

  He tried to pierce Ivan’s mind with his telepathic probe, and hit a solid wall. The woman was no different. They’d been trained to defend their thoughts against mental intrusion.

  Aaron whispered low to Michelle, “You take her. I got him. And be careful, they are more than they seem.” Yet again, he wished for his psychic bond with Michelle, so he could communicate all these little nuances by instant thought. They had once been so deeply connected that he couldn’t tell where he ended and Michelle began.

  “Nice blades. Too bad you brought blades to a gunfight. Not smart.” Ivan pulled out an Uzi from behind his back and shoved a foot-long clip from his cargo pocket into the handgrip of the gun.

  “Stop this now!” Urvashi moved in between Aaron and Ivan – hands splayed out towards each of them. “Lock down the testosterone for a minute. We are here to pursue a common enemy. We both need something from each other. Let us negotiate as men and women, not animals.”

  Aaron noticed Ivan and Katya carried the same strange coloration in their auras as Urvashi’s manservant, Renault. These two were definitely something more than human, and the wet dog stink was emanating from them.

  “We know what we are, but what the fuck are you?” Aaron slid the tip of his blade past Urvashi’s shoulder towards Ivan. The seconds stretched past in tension-filled silence. Blood pumped in his ears with the thud of his heart. It was strangling.

  Michelle sniffed the air. A look of pure hatred crossed her face. Her snarl set the hairs on the back of Aaron’s neck jumping. She lunged forward with her jaw unhinged and claws at the ready. Aaron caught her with his left arm, sword in hand. He strained to stop her advance as she screeched. “They are animals!” Michelle hissed right in his ear, fighting against his strength.

  The pale, dark-haired woman snapped back. “We are hunters. We hunt creatures like you. And though your flesh tastes gamey, nasty, we’ll gladly eat you for lunch.” Her nose curled up. “We eat vampires on principle.”

  Michelle spat venom at her. “Mange merde et mourir.” Eat shit and die.

  Aaron pushed harder to move her back away, conscious of her snapping teeth, all too close to him.

  Ivan growled, leaning forward with barely contained aggression. “We are wolves – the Volki of Siberia, and you should be afraid.” His words sparked a memory.

  Aaron and Michelle looked at each other, both grasping the same recollection. They had once shared minds, relived the tale of Michelle’s life in Paris during WWII. She had encountered an unusual pack of wolves in the middle of the battlefield. Four of them stalked her out into the countryside, standing all the way to her chest, with glossy black pelts and unusual amber-golden eyes. Weak and disoriented from gunshot wounds, they circled and attacked simultaneously. Aaron knew Michelle’s agony as their teeth tore through her flesh and bone. Those animals were big, strong, unnaturally so.

  Michelle had fought with every ounce of strength and fury, an insane frenzy of slashing claws and gnashing teeth. She survived to stagger away from the encounter, barely able to keep her feet.

  Watching the pair of them closely, their eyes had shifted from pale blue-grey to a jaundiced yellow. A twinge of intuition clicked into place. These two might be related to the pack that attacked Michelle all those years ago. Probably not a coincidence.

  Aaron glared at the two wet dogs. “Sure, it’s easy to target one lone woman wandering through the countryside in the middle of a war when you’ve got your whole dog pack behind you. But the odds are even now. And I’ll cut you both to pieces if you ever threaten Michelle again.”

  The woman’s eyes bulged, and the truth dawned across her face. “You!” She lunged around Urvashi, straight for Michelle. “Murdering bitch! I’ll tear you to pieces and chew the marrow from your bones!”

  “Not happening.” Aaron’s blade sang through the air to score a line across her throat, stopping her in mid-stride.

  Ivan’s machine pistol popped over the top of the woman’s shoulder, aimed straight for Aaron’s chest. Aaron froze.

  Ivan whispered soft and calm. “Stand down, Katya. I know you want revenge, but we didn’t come for this.” When she didn’t move he yelled in her ear, “I said stand down!”

  Her throat visibly constricted. Aaron could see the battle waging insider her, and finally, her stance softened. Ivan’s pistol never wavered as she backed up two steps. He was prepared to kill.

  Fucking swords in a gun fight. Damn Urvashi.

  Katya still wanted her pound of flesh. “She killed Andrei! How can you stand to look at her? You were there! You remember the sight of her, covered in blood, a filthy murderer!”

  Ivan slid his arm around Katya, and pulled her back as he stepped her beyond the reach of Aaron’s sword. “And we almost killed her. She is lucky. Andrei has been gone seventy years. Nothing will change that.”

  In her emotional turmoil, Katya’s mental block slipped. Aaron dived in and caught a whole new perspective. In Katya’s mind, he saw a wretched creature with matted blonde hair in a shredded white dress, covered in blood from head to toe, completely feral, a wild animal with fangs and claws bared, hissing like a viper, spitting venom. This monster, Michelle, could not be beaten. Over and over again they came at her, from different angles, hoping to catch her off guard and take her down. She was too strong, too fast, her insanity had given her such wicked strength and speed. Katya’s brother Andrei was one of the best, most fierce of hunters, but he didn’t last more than a few seconds against Michelle. This screaming banshee sliced Andrei to bloody ribbons and snapped his neck.

  A bare-handed butcher.

  Katya’s vivid memory sent a chill down Aaron’s spine and churned his gut. It was all so fuzzy in Michelle’s mind. She barely remembered those days when she had lost her mind, lost her way, and somehow found a way back to sanity. But to Katya, it was one of the most traumatic things she had ever witnessed. The emotional scar from Michelle’s dance of death with Katya’s wolf pack ran deep through Katya’s psyche. It pained her to this day. And there was something ugly lurking beneath the surface of her renewed grief.

  Hatred – plain, simple loathing.

  Katya’s mental shields slammed closed, barring him from her mind. He didn’t catch the full reasons, but Katya vehemently hated vampires. She would slaughter them all if given half the chance.

  And didn’t Ivan say Siberia? Ivan and Katya? Russian mercenaries.

  Fuck.

  What were Russian werewolves doing in London? Was Urvashi’s servant, Renault, part of their pack? He and Renault had never gotten along. Since arriving in London, Urvashi had dispatched her servant to some business elsewhere and Aaron was glad for it. They were all better off without dogs sniffing around.

  “This isn’t going to work, Vash. They hate us.”

  “You do not know me, don’t pretend.” Ivan warned in his heavy Slavic accent.

  Aaron looked pointedly at Katya, still restrained by Ivan’s hefty embrace. And now that he really looked at her, he saw something he wished he hadn’t – a resemblance to his deceased wife. With her higher cheek bones, and that Eastern European chin, she reminded him of Anastasia, his Snow White. The only difference was Katya’s dark hair cropped short above the shoulders. Ana’s hair had been luxuriously long, he’d loved running his fingers through it. The likeness stung deep.

  This woman, who hated his guts and wanted his severed head, would be a constant reminder of the wife he had loved and lost in Las Vegas.

  “Stop staring at me or I’ll gouge your eyes out, iobanie strigoi!” Katya growled low in her throat, an animal sound that buried into Aaron’s skin.

  “You must guard yourself, Katya.” Urvashi slipped her hand over Katya’s cheek in an affectionate warning. “Or he will be in your head, stealing all your dirty little secrets.” She winked at Aaron.

  Aaron had dug into Urvashi’s head only once, by mistake. That brief glimpse had revealed millenniums of Urvashi’s life. She was the most inhuman creature he had ever met, exist
ing apart from the great rat race of the world – an immortal observer of mankind’s penchant for repeating the same mistakes over and over again.

  “Are we going to play nice now?” Urvashi’s face turned solemn, and the weight of her expectations settled on Aaron’s shoulders.

  He sheathed his twenty-four inch blades.

  Michelle inhaled as if to say something incendiary. Aaron stilled her with a hand on her shoulder and a look.

  Finally, he nodded to Urvashi, and sensed her satisfaction that they were getting somewhere.

  Ivan pulled Katya tighter into a hug and whispered, “Leave the dead in their graves. We have a murdering vampire to hunt.” Jaw clenched, she glared at Michelle and Aaron, then nodded.

  Ivan patted her on the shoulder and grinned at Aaron. “So what’s this I hear about Albanians?”

  * * * *

  Chapter 5

  “All I need is a few minutes to talk to him. A few questions.” Aaron sat in the chair across the table from Ivan, Michelle in a chair at his side. Katya’s apartment above the abandoned store front had a shoebox for a dining room, complete with missing splotches of wall paper and a delightful moldy smell beneath the wet dog aroma.

  Might have been a quaint little apartment once, like fifty years ago.

  Ivan leaned forward to hold Aaron’s gaze. “These people don’t chitchat. How you say in America? Deep shit? They have been in deep shit since World War II. The Allies did nothing for them. Russia to one side and China on the other, is like a sandwich. They are fucked both ways. The hard life makes hard people. Heroine flows through Albania like a river, straight to the West.” He gestured with his palm flat, sliding along like flowing water.

  Aaron rolled his eyes. “Yeah, we get it. They’re all bad-ass drug dealers, and it’s a hard-knock life. Yada, yada, yada. Let’s just get in there and forego the sob-story history of poor, forgotten Albania. I only need a few minutes to get in his head, and then I’m done. I don’t need to chitchat. I don’t need him to say much of anything. Get me in the room, I’ll ask the questions, and I’ll have my answers.”

  “No matter to me if you get shot full of holes. But when I’m in the room, is different. Your smart mouth will get my ass blown off.” He snapped his fingers.

  Aaron frowned, and then grinned. “So you run the show. You ask the questions. All I need is the mental triggers to get him thinking.”

  Ivan stroked his chin. His gaze turned inward, pondering the idea. His bulk shifted as his head bobbed up and down. “Okay, tomorrow I go with you, under one condition – the ladies stay out of it.”

  Michelle growled low in her throat. “I go where Aaron goes.”

  Aaron nodded to her. He had to go with Michelle on this one. Their time in Paris had wrought fundamental changes in their relationship. She possessed a certain insecurity now, a fear of losing him. He feared losing her the same. Michelle had died in his arms. He couldn’t bear that loss again. Reunited, they had made a pact to never be separated again.

  Katya stood up from the other side of the table, her hand on Ivan’s shoulder. “I’m not letting you go alone. Definitely not alone with either of them.” She pointed at Aaron and then Michelle.

  “Albanians don’t respect women. You have no place in this business.” Ivan held Katya’s gaze with a you-know-I’m-right look.

  Katya pegged Ivan with a patronizing look. “You forget, I was in Kosovo, and Iraq. I know these men, how dangerous they are.”

  “Zvezda moya, you know I am right. In their world, women are for making babies.”

  “Fine! But you’re not taking her either.” Katya pointed at Michelle.

  Michelle stared, unblinking at Aaron. “I don’t have to be in the room with you.” Her eyes swung to Katya and Ivan, then back to him. “I’ll give you fifteen minutes. And then I am coming for you.” And heaven help the fool that gets in her way. Aaron knew too well the havoc and bloodshed his vampire lover could unleash. Michelle was the last enemy you’d ever make.

  * * * *

  Michelle didn’t want to waste another minute of the night. The moment they were alone, back in their hotel suite, she attacked the buttons on Aaron’s dress shirt and slid her hands over his smooth, hard chest. Not a large man, but amazingly strong, and highly toned. She loved the feel of his flawless skin and tight muscles, especially when he pressed her down into the bed. She planned to spend the rest of her life smothered by Aaron’s body. Her own personal sex god.

  His fingertips traced the line of her brow and cheek, and deep love shone in his eyes. She had never thought a man would look at her that way. Lust she could find aplenty – men lusted after her endlessly.

  Love was another matter.

  Her fingers followed the ridges of his collarbone and then circled his nipple to watch it harden. His head leaned back with a moan, and she was tempted to bite him in the jugular vein, right where he liked it.

  Shirt undone, she continued downwards with his pants zipper. Her hand enclosed his hard cock with a rewarding groan escaping from his lips. This wonderful man was hard for her anytime.

  She slid her hand up and down, from the curve of his balls to the glistening tip of his cock. “Bon sang ne peut mentir.” Good blood cannot lie. The fact that Aaron Pilan came from good stock was never more evident than when she held his fullness in her hand.

  “Oh woman, you don’t know what you’re in for.” He smiled and his eyes darkened with that look – the look that promised he would fuck her stupid. She loved watching the depth of love in his eyes as he thrust into her hard and fast.

  “Mon amour, I do know, and I am planning on it.” She grinned and went down on her knees to pay homage to this man whom she loved with all her heart. She swallowed him all the way down.

  He growled as his hands fisted in her hair, almost choking her with his length. “Oh Michelle, I love when you take it all.”

  His encouragement spurred her on.

  She’d gladly service him every night, just like this, for as long as he wanted her. Slurping on the head of his cock, feeling him twitch in her mouth, her own arousal wet her panties. Pleasing Aaron turned her on so bad, she could hardly wait to feel his punishing length buried inside her. She cupped and massaged his balls, feeling them tighten in her hands, while sucking hard and fast.

  His cock grew even larger, more rigid, that special moment right before he flooded her mouth in hot release. She milked her lover for every drop, biding her time for her turn. She ached for him, her feminine folds swollen and slick with need.

  His fingers uncurled from her hair, and he rocked back on his heels, almost losing balance with the power of his orgasm. “There are no words to describe how wonderful you are, woman.”

  Pulling his cock from her mouth, she smiled and licked the last of his juices off her lips. “My turn.”

  He looked down at her and a shadow crossed his face. Something was not right. “Michelle, my love, this could get complicated. She wants me to go to her, now.”

  Instant rage issued a growl from between her gritted teeth. “Not until we are finished!”

  His eyes shone with sympathy. “She wants you there too …” Sympathy and a hint of mischief. Michelle narrowed her eyes. The bastard was looking forward to this.

  “The bitch wants me in her bed?”

  “Yes. Every night I come to her, I smell of you. She wants a taste of the real thing.”

  “How does she know I enjoy women, too?” Michelle shuddered. Urvashi’s fingers crept into every aspect of her intimacy with Aaron, sneaking through his mind, violating their private moments. Now she wanted to flaunt it in her face?

  The women in Aaron’s life had never mattered to Michelle before. They were only food and occasional fun. She experienced no jealousy when Aaron played with the food. No woman could claim a majestic creature like Aaron, but Urvashi was different.

  The bitch would be there forever, tugging his strings, telling him what to do, manipulating him. He might even learn to love her, eventually
, and that scared Michelle more than anything.

  Aaron didn’t shy away from Michelle’s accusing eyes. “You know she’s in here.” He tapped on his temple. “There is little I can hide from her.”

  During her long life, Michelle had learned that honesty is a commodity in short supply, but for Aaron it seemed so natural. Her deep rage at her loss of control over Aaron sparked an insatiable need for vengeance. Jamison would die for what he done, for her loss, for this insane situation with Urvashi.

  She blamed Jamison for everything.

  Lately she had been thinking of new ways to win this contest. If Urvashi could squeeze Aaron with her fingers of influence, why not Michelle? Two can play that game. She pecked his cheek in acceptance of the new deal. “I will do this for you, because you want it – not for her. Are you sure you can handle us both?” Michelle cupped his balls and gripped his wet cock, wondering if his gear was up to the task.

  As his erection stiffened once again, he growled at her. “Don’t challenge me woman, I’ll leave you limping for the rest of the week.”

  “I wish you would stop holding back.”

  He assessed her with a wicked grin. “Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.”

  Her only answer was to slowly, sensually remove her clothes. His eyes tracked her as the last scrap of her panties slid down her legs. Stripping for him was such a turn-on. Her sex throbbed with need in anticipation of the unknown encounter with this strange creature, Urvashi. Michelle had often wondered what she might be missing out on when Aaron left for Urvashi’s room.

  Aaron shed the rest of his clothes, and they donned matching, black silk bathrobes. He led her down the hallway to Urvashi, but at the last second Michelle stepped in front to knock on the door.

  Urvashi answered with an emotionless face, conveying not a hint of her mood. “It’s about time you joined the party.” She gestured for them to enter.