“I’m already wearing panties,” she bit out, “and I repeat, I am not wearing any of that.” She pointed to the garments on the bed in a fit of rage, in case he was in any doubt.
The infuriating vampire went back to the bed, plucked up the bra between his finger and thumb, and headed back to the bathroom. Lainey’s foot tapping became even more agitated but before she could hammer her foot through the floorboards, he was in front of her once again, crowding her in and sucking all of the air out of her body. He had to know the effect he had upon her because she was sure the bastard was doing it on purpose.
A single finger lifted her chin up so she had no choice but to look at him. “Before you act without thinking yet again, let me give you a little advice. In case it has escaped your notice, I am much stronger than you are and can move considerably faster. I can also control you, making you do all sorts of amusing things for my benefit, should the fancy take me. Let me give you a demonstration.”
With an infinitesimal flick of his finger, Lainey suddenly found that she couldn’t drag oxygen into her lungs. Somehow, without touching her, he had managed to close off her air supply and as her hand rushed to her throat in panic, she gurgled desperately. With another flick of his fingers, she dropped to her knees heavily, stretching her arms out and placing her head on the floor in a gesture of supplication.
“That’s how I like my women—obedient, docile, and begging for my attention. You might want to remember that if you’re intent on living a long and fulfilling life, because I’m your only hope at getting that wish, sweetheart.”
Just as Lainey was wondering whether she’d ever be able to draw another breath, he suddenly released his hold on her and drew his hand across her body in a flourish, once more pointing to the bed. “Now. Get. Changed.”
The menace in those words was unmistakable and Lainey drew frightened eyes towards his face. How could she argue with someone who had the capability to extinguish her life without a single second of remorse? For the time being, she was going to have to play ball but it didn’t mean she had to go down without a fight.
“Can you give me some privacy?” There was a tremor in her voice, which she couldn’t stop, but she still managed to get the words out with an impressive amount of sass.
Mercer countered with a dark unfriendly laugh. “I don’t think so, my little lioness. You lost that right as soon as your panties disappeared. I will not tolerate disobedience, and if you choose to test my patience then you can face the consequences. I suggest you hurry up too, because if you’re not fully dressed in the next thirty seconds, I will take on the delightful task of stripping and clothing you myself, and I don’t think you’ll like that very much.”
Lainey practically threw herself at the clothes on the bed after that barbed remark. Knowing there was no way out of the mess she had somehow found herself in, she tried to block the image of him standing behind her. It should have been easy. He was as silent as the dead, and just as immobile.
As she tore the black shirt from her body, uncaring as the buttons scattered all around her, she swore she could feel his smile burning into her back, branding her. Never had the urge to run been so hard to contain. Every atom in her body screamed at her to flee but she knew exactly how futile that would be, and the thought of being manhandled by the vampire was not a pleasant one.
Smashing her teeth together with more force than necessary, the cotton shirt fell to the floor and her bra swiftly followed. Already bemoaning the loss of her lingerie, she slid her arms into the smooth silk of the cream coloured blouse and began doing up the buttons. She groaned aloud when she saw it was completely transparent. Thank God, she had a suit jacket that she could button up over it. There was no way those buttons were coming undone whilst she was wearing it. It could be hotter than hades and she’d happily sunbathe in the thing. Kicking the ruined pumps off her feet, she tried her best to shimmy elegantly out of her jeans, but that wasn’t going to be possible without a fight. There was no hope for it. She was going to have to do some ass wiggling and bending over in order to get the skin-tight leggings off. Spitting, swearing, and cursing under her breath, it took a couple of moments before inspiration hit. She could lie on the bed and squirm out of them, but then she shuddered. Doing so would mean she would have to face him, and she knew he’d be staring at her so ass wiggling it was.
A few desperate lunges and contortionist moves finally freed the jeans. A shudder ran through her when she heard him speak. “Your panties too.”
She closed her eyes as if it would help ease the humiliation, and dragged her panties off. Now she faced the unenviable task of dragging a pair of stockings up her legs. Shaking her head, trying desperately hard not to think of the face behind her, she drew the nylons to thigh-height and attached the navy blue suspender belt that would hold them in place. Hooking up the front first, she then closed her eyes as she finished them off at the back, refusing to look at him. She did not miss his chuckle of amusement, which made her cringe.
With a new level of determination, Lainey donned the skirt and shoes in record time. Clenching her thighs together, horrified at her lack of panties, she wondered if was possible to murder someone who was already dead. It was a difficult problem, but one she was prepared to research. When she finally turned around to face him, she was wildly furious.
“Enjoy that, vamp?” Her eyebrows drew together in a fierce expression and the loathing she felt was almost tangible.
There was a twist to the corner of his lips before he slowly nodded.
“I’m glad, because that’s as close to my body as you’re ever going to get. I’d rather crawl through fire than have your hands anywhere near me,” she spat out with distaste.
Infuriatingly, he snorted and it was clear he was trying hard not to laugh.
“I’ll remind you of that fact in a few days’ time when you’re pleading and begging to fuck me.”
“Go to…” A raised hand stopped her from continuing.
“I’m already there, sweetheart. I’m already there. Now let’s get moving. We don’t have much time.”
Lainey didn’t have any choice in the matter. His hand coiled around her waist and he forcefully propelled her back down the stairs, stopping only to pick up his holdall and a set of car keys. Before she had time to blink, Mercer had seated them in a low-slung sports car and the vampire was drawing a seatbelt across her breasts. The touch was electric and she jumped up as if he’d shot her.
“Everything’s a little more intense without underwear, isn’t it?”
Lainey was just about to tell him what she thought of that but the roar of the engine turning over nearly burst her eardrums, and they shot forward with startling speed. The car must have done nought to sixty in about three seconds and the G-force of the damned thing nearly forced her out the back window. God Almighty, she wondered if the car was propelled by rocket fuel?
“Are you trying to kill me?” She had to scream through the thunderous noise that didn’t seem to be abating in the slightest.
Her vampire smiled grimly and increased his grip on the steering wheel as the car continued to gather speed. “No, but it appears just about everyone else in the world is. Take a look behind you.”
Lainey frowned but quickly did as he told her. Through the small slit of the back window, all she could see were towering flames, bits of metal and floating debris. She gasped and her mouth widened to such an extent she could have fit a tin of soup in there.
“Your house,” she whispered, and then her hands flew to her eyes and mouth covering both.
“You are not my most favourite person, right now,” was all Mercer said in response.
Chapter 4
Close Confinement
Mercer drove as fast as the limits of his black SLK Mercedes allowed. He negotiated the narrow winding lanes of the English countryside with the ease and finesse of a Formula One driver. Although he had his headlights on, he did not require them and he knew the roads like the back of his hand.
It did not make his passenger any less nervous however, and he didn’t much care.
He had felt them closing in, their footsteps echoing in his ears. How they had managed to discover his whereabouts so quickly was a mystery, but the speed in which they had gathered and armed themselves was sobering. Someone somewhere really wanted her dead and he knew it was important for him to discover why. What had this human done that could be so monstrous she had a whole army of the undead, and plenty of other undesirables, screaming for her blood? Deciding not to think about the mess his home had now become, he turned to face her and scowled.
“I think we need to talk. Who are you and why do they want you dead?”
She didn’t look at him. Both of her hands were still gripping fistfuls of black leather as if frightened she might fall off the edge of her seat. Her lips took on a mutinous twist and she shook her head, spilling soft waves of blonde hair everywhere. Whilst her body looked smart and sexy in the new suit, her hair was an untameable beast and the moonlight streaming through the car window had turned it bright silver. It was almost blindingly beautiful.
“I can make you talk,” he purred softly.
“No. The only thing you can do is try,” she whispered.
Running a hand along his freshly shaven face, he smiled inwardly at her audacity but treated her to a frosty stare, which she subsequently ignored. Most humans would be cowering under the threat of his many talents by now, but not this one. She was playing ball with him but the parts to the sphere ran a little deeper than he had envisioned.
“You need to trust me,” he told her.
“I can’t trust anyone, especially you,” she ground out.
His hands slowly slid around the steering wheel as he negotiated a turn, whilst his brain fired rapidly trying to fathom meaning from her cryptic words.
“Elaborate,” he finally said, having given up all pretence of trying to understand.
There was another short shake of her head. “Trust me,” she said in response. “It’s better that you don’t know.”
“You do realise you’ve now so piqued my curiosity that I will make it my life’s mission to find out the answers to my questions.” This time he kept his gaze focused on the road, but he saw her shudder reflected on the glass of the windscreen.
There was several seconds of silence and just when he’d finally decided that she wasn’t going to speak to him, her soft voice piped up. “Then I wish you luck because if you find those answers, you’ll wish you were dead and that can be far more painful than the real thing.”
“Technically, I’m already dead.”
“No, you just think you’re dead. When someone yanks the light switch in your head, that’s when you’re really dead.”
“How would you know?”
Her head turned towards her window blocking her face from view and afterwards, there was no more conversation forthcoming although he tried to coax it out of her more than once. Eventually he resigned himself to driving in silence. He would allow her to keep her secrets for now. He could always fuck them out of her later.
When Mercer pulled up outside a drab London hotel about an hour later, Lainey was fast asleep in the seat beside him. Humans kept different hours to vampires, and the poor girl was exhausted. Grabbing his holdall from the boot, he opened Lainey’s door and swung her into his arms. Somehow, he managed to drag both of them into reception and thankfully, his room key was delivered to him with minimal fuss. Once in their room, she didn’t stir when he set about undressing her, something he was thankful for because he needed time to think. Something wasn’t quite right and he needed to put his finger on it before it was too late.
Settling her body between the clean white sheets of the double bed, he smoothed the covers over her and quickly drew the curtains. Propping himself on a red carver chair located at the foot of the bed, he stretched out his neck slowly and closed his eyes. How had the minions found them so quickly? When he’d carried her back to his house, it had been at warp speed and she wouldn’t have been able to see much, if anything at all. That meant they weren’t using traditional methods to track her. Had they placed a tracker inside her body perhaps? Some kind of GPS device would do it. Fishing his cell phone out of his pocket, he dialled up HQ.
“I think she’s being tracked.”
“Good Morning, Mercer. I’m fine, thank you. How are you?”
“Are you still on duty, Lucius? When is someone with slightly less sarcasm coming on duty?”
“I’m pulling a one hundred and sixty eight hour shift. Henton’s on holiday in Bergen, Norway.”
“Why on earth would he want to go there in December? It’ll be miserable and freezing.”
“Exactly, the place only has around a thousand hours of sunshine per year and in the wintertime that equals about two hours a day. He’ll be partying around the clock.”
“Did anyone tell him that the price of a pint of beer in Norway is nine pounds?” Mercer bit his bottom lip in amusement.
“No, we figured we’d let him find that out all by himself.”
“Fair, but cruel. He’ll be back in a couple of days. No way he’ll last the week.”
“Agreed,” replied Lucius.
“Now about this tracking device,” said Mercer. “I think the minions have implanted a GPS device somewhere because they located my home far too quickly and she didn’t see a thing on the way down—so something is off.”
“She’s not wearing a tracker. You have my word on it. Wherever you go, they are going to be able to find you pretty quick. There’s something unique about your girl, but I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise for you. Your best bet is to exterminate the threat…that means finding your assassins. Actually, I’d just wait until they come to you. It’ll save all sorts of complications.”
“You’re such a sweetheart, Lucius. When Satan comes for you, he’ll throw down his pitchfork and run howling with his tail between his legs.”
Lucius laughed. “My commiserations on the house, by the way…we’ll see what we can do about rebuilding it in a few weeks’ time, if you’re still alive, of course.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence. Out of curiosity, how much time can I expect to be safe in one place before the goons come crawling?”
“Between four and ten hours, depending on where you are in the world.”
Swearing, Mercer growled, “And just when were you thinking about enlightening me of that very pertinent detail?”
“Since when have I been in the business of making your life easy for you?”
“Fuck you, Lucius.” Looking down at his watch, he sighed. “You’re not going to tell me anything about my little lady, are you?”
“My lips are sealed, dear boy. You’re on your own and that’s exactly the way you like it, so stop complaining.”
Flattening his lips, Mercer ended the call and settled down for a three-hour nap. He didn’t relish the thought of any more fireworks today, so he guessed he’d better come up with a game plan quick. Why was it that no one could just leave him to be miserable in peace? If killing himself had been an option, he was fairly sure he would have taken his so-called life by now.
Three hours later, he was showered, dressed, and ready for the long night ahead. Unfortunately, Sleeping Beauty wasn’t, and she threw a fit when he woke her up. Upon discovering she was naked, her response was a variety of frantic arm movements, and a few obscenities thrown his direction. It was impressive multi-tasking in his opinion. It might come in handy at some point.
Clearing his throat, he got ready to do battle.
“I’ve seen it all before and it’s not particularly impressive,” he barked. “You have two choices right now, you can shower quickly and get dressed by yourself, or I can partially drown and then dress you. Which is it to be?” He received nothing but a rebellious stare in return.
“Oh goody,” he whispered on a long drawl, “drowning it is.”
As soon as he stood up, she shot across the floor like a streak
of white lightning and slammed the door to the bathroom. The lock snicked neatly into place seconds later.
“You needn’t think that will keep me out either,” he said, raising his voice to ensure she heard him. “So I suggest you hurry up or I’ll carry out my earlier threat and I’m fairly certain you won’t enjoy it.”
There was no reply, but the sound of water splattering against the shower door indicated that she’d taken his threat seriously. He’d already hung her clothes on the back of the bathroom door earlier, but he was regretting his generosity. Watching her lithe form sprinting about the room as she tried to recover her clothes would have been far more entertaining. Oh well, he suspected they’d have many more days of fun together, and his patience was legendary so he was more than happy to wait.
The girl lumped around for a bit in the clumsy manner of humans. He heard her yanking open vanity drawers, probably looking for weapons to use against him, and then swearing. He smiled. All she’d find in there was a toothbrush because he’d checked earlier. Sure enough, a few seconds later there was the sound of brushing. Then there was a brief tussle with her clothes and a deep breath. Bursting open the door with considerable force for a woman, she glowered at him.
“When can I expect my underwear back?”
To hide his smile, he slid the tip of his thumb into his mouth and bit down sharply. He appeared to consider the matter.
“When I decide you’ve been a good girl,” he finally allowed.
“And when will that be?”
“When you learn to do as you’re told.”
Standing, he strode forward and let his full six foot three inch frame tower over her, although to her credit she did not appeared cowed by him in the least. They’d work on that.
“Right, we need to go. I’m reliably informed that we will have goons chasing our tail every four hours or so, wherever we are in the world. Would you care to enlighten me as to how that is? Are you sending out special semaphore signals to the enemy on a regular basis?”
Paranormal Magic (Shades of Prey Book 1) Page 160