Temptation Calls

by Caridad Piñeiro

  A second later, Diana and Ryder returned and the vampire turned his attention to them. “Is this sorry human your keeper?” After a quizzical look he positioned a hand above Diana’s center and said, “You’re not one of us.”

  Without missing a beat, he turned to Ryder. “You violate our rules by being with her.”

  Rules? There were frickin’ rules to being a vampire? Peter anxiously awaited Ryder’s response, fearing things might get out of control.

  With considerable restraint, Ryder bowed his head and kept it bowed. “I’m new to this. I didn’t know there were rules.”

  The other vampire placed his hand above Ryder’s heart, much as he had done with Diana. After a moment, he said, “Your energy is too strong for you to be newly turned.”

  “He’s new to acknowledging what he is,” Samantha said.

  The vampire laughed harshly. “Another of the human wannabes. Do you belong to Diego’s band?”

  “I belong to only one person,” Ryder responded. To stress that point, he slipped his hand into Diana’s and she in turn, leaned into his side.

  Shock crossed the vampire’s face, followed by amusement. He examined Diana carefully, eyeing her from head to toe before nodding. “I can understand your fascination, my friend. For a human, the darkness is strong within her.”

  “If you’re done with your little inspection, we’re here because we may need your help.” Diana motioned for the vampire to take a seat at the booth.

  Chapter 19

  H e seated himself between the two women, forcing Peter and Ryder to sit beside each other. Then he introduced himself. “They call me Foley. I own this bar and most of the vampires within it follow me.”

  “Foley? First name or last?” Peter questioned.

  “Just Foley.”

  Peter was growing a little tired of the arrogance of these creatures. “Just Foley. Kind of like Cher or Madonna. Very eighties of you.”

  Foley laughed, surprising them all. “Yes, it is very eighties of me. 1780s to be more precise.”

  “Your age being what makes you the leader of the vampires here?” Ryder asked and once again the other vampire cackled with amusement.

  “You are rather new to this, aren’t you?” Foley raised his hand and signaled for the waitress, who immediately hurried over. “Another round here. On the house.”

  She scurried away at the negligent wave of his hand. If not for the slightly longer nails, which made him seem somewhat effeminate, it was a pale but perfectly normal-looking hand. But Peter knew the strength those longish fingers were capable of. He rubbed his sore throat and suspected he bore marks from the vampire’s grip.

  After the vampire waitress had brought fresh shots of blood and tequila, Foley continued. “I hear you’re looking for Diego’s missing friends. What can I do to help?”

  Peter rocked backward at the statement. Surprise was stamped on the faces of Diana, Ryder and even Samantha. “It can’t possibly be that easy,” he said.

  “Oh, but it is. Rumor has it someone’s vampire hunting and some of my clientele is taking that threat very seriously. Vamp business is off and when that happens, the rest of the business suffers as well.”

  Ryder observed the crowd, which was still fairly large. “Because your human clientele—”

  “Wants to imagine that they’re surrounded by the real thing. If they didn’t, they’d go somewhere like The Lair. That’s your place, isn’t it?” A slight sneer came to Foley’s lips, but it didn’t get a rise from Ryder.

  He gave a careless shrug, followed by, “Because being around our kind—”

  “Is a rush. These humans sense our power and imagine that we will be foolish enough to share it with them.” Foley took a sip from his shot glass of blood, which once again forced Peter to toss down his tequila to avoid gagging.

  Diana jumped into the discussion. “You don’t allow that here?”

  “Not normally. It raises too many questions and that risks our existence. The freedom we have here.”

  “But Blake sired Meghan?” Ryder asked, prompting a harsh laugh from Foley and a quick interjection from Samantha.

  “Sometimes it happens. Blake was always—”

  “A sorry bloke. We warned him that if he did it again, we’d finish him ourselves and he listened. But Meghan became a problem.” Foley finished his drink and smacked his lips with pleasure. A slight bit of fang was visible as he did so, but he quickly retracted them to appear fully human once more.

  “Is it possible one of the other vampires decided to deal with the Blake-Meghan problem?” Peter asked, thinking that in the human world, that was the most plausible of explanations.

  Foley shrugged and the jacket of his suit stretched across wide, but thin shoulders. “Easy enough to do. A quick twist of the neck. Rip the throat out for a bit more fun.” He mimicked both actions with his hands.

  Diana was seemingly unperturbed by Foley’s bloodthirsty response. “But the bodies—”

  “Would just shrivel up and blow away. Once seriously injured or dead, vampire bodies are quite fragile things,” Samantha said and then launched into a more detailed explanation. “First the sweats drain the body of its life fluids until what remains is bone, muscle and sinew.”

  At that, Diana looked over at Ryder. Peter surmised that Ryder must have been in such a state at one time. He didn’t want to think about what Diana had done to help him recover.

  Samantha shot an uncomfortable glance at Ryder and Diana, then at Peter. “A vampire in that final state is often like a mummy. After, what remains of the body slowly loses the last of its moisture and becomes nothing more than ash.”

  “Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust,” Foley replied cynically.

  Peter’s mind was racing as he tried to take it all in. “From start to finish this would take?”

  Samantha paused for a moment, considering. “Less than a day. Especially if the body was left out in the sun.”

  “So it’s possible Blake and Meghan are now—”

  “Dust in the wind,” Diana finished for him. “Why do you think it wasn’t someone here?”

  “They might think of ridding the group of the two problem vampires, but not Esperanza. There are few who would risk Diego’s wrath,” Foley answered without hesitation and signaled the waitress again for another round.

  Peter had yet to meet Diego, but found himself suddenly more anxious to do so. The elusive vampire was the one who’d been calling Samantha and with whom she clearly had some kind of relationship. He told himself it wasn’t jealousy driving him, but curiosity about someone the others feared. “So if only a few would dare—”

  “Only a few, but who knows what one might dare for the right temptation,” Foley said and stared at Diana.

  Unfortunately, Peter understood only too well about temptation and found himself looking at Samantha. Trying to get the conversation back on the right track, he asked, “What else can you tell us?”

  “Has anyone new been around?” Diana added.

  “An older gentleman. A professorial type.”

  “How old? Sixties? Seventies?” Peter asked.

  “Younger, I believe. I haven’t seen him myself. Some of the others have and I’m told he shared a room with Meghan.” Foley inclined his head toward the back of the club, where a curtain and bouncer marked off an area with private rooms.

  “Why would she go with him?” Samantha asked.

  Foley shrugged and rose abruptly, as
if he’d had enough of their company. “Ask your questions and then leave. And if at all possible, don’t come back.” The last statement was clearly directed at Ryder. Did Foley see Ryder as a threat to his authority or was it about something else—like maybe Diana?

  “We’ll be back until we’ve got the answers we need, Foley. If you want this little piece of Hell to stay in business, you won’t stop us,” Ryder stood almost nose to nose with Foley.

  They were of a like height, but Ryder was more heavily muscled and fit. Foley seemed insubstantial next to him and he must have realized it, for he backed away, Ryder’s show of power having accomplished just what he wanted. “Do what you must and then stay away.”

  With a gracious nod, Ryder said, “Thank you for your hospitality.”

  Diana slipped between the two vampires and with a subtle push, moved Ryder back just a bit. “Thank you, Foley. If you don’t mind, we’re going to ask around.”

  Peter admired her chutzpah while at the same time worrying about what his friend had involved herself in. For that matter, he thought about what he had signed up for. Whatever was going on, it was clearly for keeps. He suspected that the three missing vamps were probably big piles of dust by now. But if they weren’t…

  He rose and motioned to the private rooms. “Mind if I check them out?” He took a step toward them, but Foley placed a hand in the middle of his chest to hold him back.

  “Couples only,” Foley said. Samantha uneasily averted her gaze, leaving only one possibility.

  Diana glanced at Ryder. “Amor, do you mind?”

  Amusement flared in his eyes as he said, “It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it.”

  A schoolgirl flush passed over Diana’s cheeks. It surprised Peter, so much so that he forgot to ask what they wanted him to do while they were in the back. But Diana paused at his side and said, “Maybe Foley or Samantha can introduce you to the others.”

  “Right,” he agreed. Interview the little bloodsuckers and hope they don’t take a liking to my neck.

  “Don’t worry. They won’t bite,” Foley said, as Peter and Samantha headed into the crowd.

  Peter had thought himself a good judge of people and surprisingly, that trait was applicable to the undead. He almost didn’t need Foley and Samantha to point out the vamps. Whether it was the power and darkness Foley had claimed to feel in Diana, or whether it was a good ol’ fashioned read of body language and attitude, Peter could pick them out.

  By the time he and Samantha had spoken to the sixth vamp that night, he wondered why he wasn’t picking up similar vibes from either Samantha or Ryder. Even after they’d finished their interviews and were once again sitting at the booth, she seemed more human than her undead counterparts. Maybe because, unlike those other vamps, who relished what immortal life provided them, Samantha and Ryder preferred a more human existence—wannabes. At least that’s the way the other vamps thought of them.

  The interviews confirmed what Foley had told them. Meghan had been spotted with a man in his mid-fifties. Tweedy-type with gray hair. The description reminded Peter of Edward Sloan the villain involved in the Danvers’ case last year. The man, another professor-type with an unhealthy interest in vampires had died in a warehouse fire. The similarities between Sloan and this fifty-something could only be coincidence.

  As for why Meghan would go into the private rooms with a man old enough to be her father, the vampires couldn’t begin to speculate, other than to say that Meghan hadn’t really been of sound mind after being sired. Some even said that if Peter was searching for someone, it should be for the human. When on a binge, Meghan was likely to drain her victims dry.

  With Samantha sitting beside him, awkward and silent, Peter flipped through his notes while they waited for Diana and Ryder to return. It had been close to an hour since the two had disappeared into the private rooms. Peter could only guess at what they were up to in addition to investigating. Samantha, too, seemed to have the same idea about what was keeping his friends.

  Their guess was confirmed a few minutes later when Ryder and Diana swept from behind the curtain, arm in arm with broad smiles. Diana even giggled as Ryder whispered something into her ear.

  When the two arrived at the table, the purpling mark—a human love bite—on Diana’s neck was obvious thanks to her halter blouse. He shot a quick glance at Ryder. There was nothing vamp about him. “Did you have a…productive time back there?”

  That telltale flush erupted on Diana’s face again and, surprisingly, on Ryder’s as well. Undead immortals could blush. What would it take to make Samantha blush?

  He wouldn’t take that thought any further. There was not going to be anything between himself and Samantha. Not ever again. Unfortunately the vehemence of that thought brought the truth to mind: Methinks you doth protest too much.

  Diana was the first to answer his query. “There’re several vamps who take turns watching the back rooms. The guard on duty tonight was there when Blake turned Meghan.”

  “And he was also there when Meghan left with the professor,” Ryder added.

  “Why would Meghan go with a stranger?” Peter asked.

  Samantha shrugged. “After one of her ‘living in the light’ phases, she’d be out of control with the need to feed.”

  “Meaning?” Peter asked calmly.

  “To keep control, you need to keep regular—”

  “Blood being Metamucil for the undead?” he retorted, clearly unnerved by the whole concept.

  “Blood being about life,” Ryder clarified from across the length of the table. “Like you, we need it to keep going. To make us warm. To drive the undeadness from us.”

  Samantha continued with her explanation. “If we go too long without it, the need becomes unbearable. We were always able to restore Meghan by letting her feed on either Diego or Esperanza, but maybe—”

  “She decided an old man wouldn’t put up much of a fight,” Peter finished for her.

  “So where’s the body? Unlike vamp bodies, human ones linger,” Diana interjected. “Plus, as far as we know, when she left the building the old man was alive.”

  “And someone thinks they saw the old man on the night Blake disappeared,” Ryder added.

  Samantha considered all they had said, but it wasn’t helping at all. “The two men who grabbed me were younger.”

  “Any luck with that, Peter?” Diana asked.

  Peter nodded. “From the plate number the women at the shelter provided, I was able to track down the van this morning. It was towed to an impound lot after being abandoned. The owners in Westchester had reported the van stolen a few nights before. I found a few sets of prints on the van and a friend is running them right now.”

  After Peter’s report it seemed to Samantha that there was no more information to get that night. “I need to get back to the shelter. Maybe we’ll have more information from the prints tomorrow.”

  Ryder laughed harshly. She saw now that the vampire’s mood had turned ugly. “What makes you think I’ll help you anymore?”

  She and Peter shared a quick glance before Diana placed her hand over Ryder’s chest. “You promised.”

  Ryder twined his fingers with hers. “Darlin’, I will be on my best behavior. But don’t think that I’d regret it if Ms. Turner here got a little payback for what she did to me.”

  “Don’t you think Samantha’s suffered enough in her life?” Peter grabbed Samantha’s hand and led her toward the exit
. As she walked away, Ryder’s gaze bored holes in the middle of her back, but she ignored it. Instead she concentrated on the feel of Peter’s hand in hers, took hope in the fact that he had come to her defense.

  In the alley outside the club, they walked side by side in silence, and they still didn’t say anything as Peter drove her back to the shelter. Once he’d parked, he shut off the engine and they sat there quietly, as if taking in all that had happened tonight and all that hadn’t.

  He wasn’t looking her way. He was staring straight ahead, his hands wrapped tightly around the steering wheel. His body stiff and unyielding. Around his throat, bruises were blossoming from Foley’s attack.

  “I’m sorry you were hurt,” she whispered, hoping to somehow reach him.

  He chuckled, but it was a harsh sound. “Considering that in the past few days I’ve been hit by a Taser, nearly strangled, and have had my heart broken, ‘sorry’ doesn’t quite seem to cut it.”

  She wanted to say more, but he didn’t give her a chance. With a sharp slash of his hand, he motioned for her to go.

  Samantha stepped out of the car and shut the door. The wheels squealed as he peeled away.

  Samantha took a weary step toward the shelter, but knew it would give her no comfort. Whirling, she raced into the night, trying to distance herself from the maelstrom of feelings roiling within her heart.

  Chapter 20

  I t was hard to get to sleep. First, there was his sore throat, which reminded him of vampires every time he swallowed. Second, the concern that such soreness was minor compared to what Foley or the others he’d met that night could do. Third, and finally, annoyingly, Samantha.

  He had every right to be angry. First the Taser. Second his throat. Third, and most importantly, her lying to him about something so important. On the rank of things that one prospective lover told another—like being married, safe or on the kinky side—“Hi, I’m a vampire” might actually be numero uno.