Terry Spear - Vampire

by Killing The Bloodlust (Triskelion) (lit)

  He pulled her fatigue hat off, then released the pins from her hair. While running his fingers through her curls, he nuzzled his smooth as silk cheek against hers. “You’re the only one for me, my love.”

  Her mind clouded over with his attentions, but her hands pushed against his chest. Distance. She had to keep her distance.

  He tilted her chin up, and kissed her lips. He licked them with a strong gentle stroke, pressuring her to part them for him.

  She took a deep breath, trying to regain her composure. If her family hadn’t left her out in the cold...if a real man had paid her this kind of attention, she wouldn’t find Nicolai so appealing, would she?

  He waited for her to give in. His eyes retained their possessive quality. He touched her hair again.

  She had to distract him, or end up regretting what she was barely able to resist...his bed, and him in it, making raw, animalistic love to her. She cleared her throat. “Don’t you offer your guests something to drink?”

  He grinned at her. “Wine?”

  “Sodas? Extra strong coffee?”

  “Caffeine will only make you nervous. Not wide awake.”

  After brushing her hair aside, he leaned over and kissed her neck. The sensation excited her system more than she knew was wise, yet she couldn’t break free of his allure.

  “I thought you liked it that I fought you. I can’t fight you like this, without my weapons and without any sleep.”

  “Yes, well, for tonight, I prefer you this way.”

  She shoved him back. If she had to clash with him, she had to do it now, while she still had some strength. In a few hours, she wouldn’t have any left.

  He smiled at her. “Or not.” He grabbed her wrists, and yanked her toward the bed.

  Wrong move.

  She twisted around and kneed him in the jewels. He groaned and bent over in pain. Before he could react, she dashed for the door.

  Jerking it open, she fled into the hallway, knocking a female host aside. The woman screamed out a warning, “Stop her!”

  Crystal bolted for the stairs. A blond-haired male vampire swooped in front of her. She smashed her fists into his chest, shoving him away. He snarled, baring sharp, blood-stained fangs at her and slammed her against a wall.

  Pain radiated through her back. She gritted her teeth. Without her weapons, she didn’t stand a chance against any of them. Even now the energy drained from her body as she tried to get loose from the vampire. He’d undoubtedly make a meal of her if Nicolai would permit him to. But wouldn’t he get a surprise, when her blood poisoned him?

  The thought didn’t appeal. She wasn’t ready to die tonight or any other. Not at the fangs of a vampire.

  Nicolai suddenly appeared before her. He scowled at her, his eyes narrowed. “We have unfinished business, you and I.”

  She hadn’t realized she would hurt him so badly when she kneed him. As sour as his face was, she figured he was pretty pissed off at her now. Retribution would be swift and painful.

  The last couple of nights hadn’t gone well at all.

  The blond-haired, thin-faced vampire still held her captive, pinned firmly against the wall. For some reason, Nicolai wasn’t giving the order to have her released. The blood drained from her arms as the vampire held them high above her head. Her hands numbed. Give the order.

  Nicolai twisted his head in the direction of another part of the house.

  Several others turned their attention that way.

  Nicolai and the rest of his vampire family dashed for the room that concerned them.

  As soon as the vampire released her, Crystal ran for the door. Several human hosts jumped in her path to stop her. She knocked them aside easily. Humans were no match for her and most had recently given blood, weakening them further. None carried weapons, as hunters killed any who threatened them in that manner.

  After yanking the door open, she ran outside into the dark. She’d never make it to her hotel. She had no idea where she was. Her heart sank. She’d managed to get free, only she wasn’t out of harm’s way yet.

  And then she spied the white convertible. She’d seen no sign of Robert Parker in the house, but he could have been in one of the rooms upstairs. If his car was unlocked, perhaps she could hide in the backseat. When he returned home, she could slip away unnoticed.

  She darted across the lawn. Her heart pounded at an accelerated rate. She grabbed his door handle. Unlocked.

  After climbing in, she quickly shut the door, then lay on the red carpeted floorboard in front of the backseat. Not very big. But if he were tired when he returned to the car, maybe he wouldn’t notice.

  If he didn’t return until morning, the danger from the vampires would be past anyway. She closed her eyes trying to settle the worry that crept into her bones. Every rustle of a branch stirring in the breeze caught her ear. She strained to hear footsteps. Dread bunched in her stomach, while her heart pounded in her ears.

  She attempted to lie lower on the floor. Her eyes grew more tired. Keeping them open, and herself vigilant could mean the difference between remaining free or becoming Nicolai’s consort.

  Crystal lay still in the interior of the white convertible for sometime before sleep overwhelmed her.

  Sometime later, she started awake. Rapid footsteps approached.

  Chapter 4

  Robert Parker had made a mistake in trying to find out what he could about Captain Crystal Anderson. Though his job of finding his sister’s killer was still tantamount, the buxom blonde was stealing into his thoughts day and night. She lured him like a female vampire set her sights on a human male, and yet, Robert wasn’t human, so how could she attract him like she did? Was it because the two powerful brothers, heads of the local vampire family, also appeared to want her? Is that what made Robert desire her too?

  He rubbed his chin. What did make her so attractive to them? Beyond her looks of course. He hadn’t ever seen two vampires willing to cross each other over the same woman.

  And here he was just as drawn to her and fighting the attraction, like a swordfish fought being reeled in by a fisherwoman and it seemed to be a losing proposition for him. The muscles in his gut clenched when he entered Nicolai’s kitchen through an open window and knocked a bottle opener to the floor. At once his heart stopped. He hurried out the same way he came, cursing himself for his clumsiness.

  And then he hid in the shadows of the house next door, hoping that the vampires wouldn’t locate him. Easily, they could have overwhelmed him with their sheer numbers. But all at once, they left the house, not searching for him, it seemed, but for something or someone else. They took off in various directions, first surveying the area, their heads turning back and forth, attempting to use their sensitive hearing to locate any sound of whatever they sought.

  And then they disappeared in a flurry of fluttering capes.

  He waited until the hosts returned to the house. Then he dashed for his car, intent on going home, to a well-deserved night of sleep.

  His thoughts shifted to Crystal. He glanced back at the house. Was she inside with the other hosts? For an instant, he wanted to rescue her, shake her and make her see the error of her ways. But she was a brainwashed host...she couldn’t be saved...not when the heads of the family wanted her.

  * * *

  The slamming of a car door jarred Crystal from her slumber, though her mind remained hazy.

  Where was she? Crouched on the carpeted floor of a car...Robert Parker’s car...that’s where.

  Once he started his vehicle and drove down the road at breakneck speed, every bump in the pavement bruised her side. The floor was definitely made of cardboard. Either that or she was a descendent of the fairytale princess from Hans Christian Anderson’s, The Princess and the Pea.

  The car’s interior smelled like new leather, except for a slight aroma of a man’s woodsy aftershave. She took in a deep breath. If she detected the delectable scent again, she’d know Robert Parker lurked nearby. She was becoming a connoisseur of men
’s scents. Being without a man in her life for two years had more of an effect on her than she’d thought.

  He drove for several miles, the dark giving her some sense of comfort.

  She peeked between the seats when he pulled a CD out of the player, then shoved a new disk in. The orchestral music from the movie, The Thirteenth Warrior, began to play.

  Suddenly the car pulled to a stop. Had he come to a red light? He turned off the music. Was he home? Hopefully he hadn’t driven to another vampire bash.

  He turned on his interior lights. Jeez he’d see her now. Her heartbeat sped up. The car wasn’t big enough to hide in.

  “Sit up,” he ordered.

  She didn’t want to believe he knew she hid in his car, so she flattened herself against the carpet as low as she could.

  He reached back, grabbed her arm and jerked her up. His sudden action and surprising strength as he gripped her wrist made her cry out. What was he? A vampire who could live in sunlight? If Kostya was born of the womb, maybe this one was too, and perhaps they could survive in daylight. Her people would really be in trouble then.

  She wrenched her arm free.

  “What are you doing here?”

  She smiled her most heart-warming smile. He continued to scowl at her. Well, that didn’t work.

  She folded her arms. “I need a ride back to my hotel.”

  “Have Nicolai take you there.” He motioned to the door.

  “He and I are at an impasse.” No way would she confide anything of her story to a human host or a daylight vampire. Everything would go straight back to Nicolai.

  “Get out!”

  She didn’t want to be beholden to anyone. Especially not to someone like Robert Parker, Army officer and whatever else he was. But she was desperate.

  “I’ll pay you to take me to my hotel.” Jeez, her purse and suitcase must have still been in front of her hotel door. If someone hadn’t stolen them by now.

  Great. Just what she needed. More trouble.

  “You can’t ride with me. Get out.”

  “I don’t even know where I am. And-and I don’t have my purse with me. It’s back at the hotel.”

  He shook his head and pulled his door open.

  After climbing out of the car, he jerked the seat forward. “I said for you to get out.” His voice was full of foreboding.

  Did he fear her? Sure, he figured she’d kill him, being she was a huntress. “I won’t hurt you, if you’re afraid of that.”

  “I don’t mess with your kind.”

  “And I don’t with yours, normally.” She tried to curb the indignant tone in her voice. She hated most hosts, weak-willed and mindless. But she needed this one’s help. She’d do almost anything to obtain it to stay out of Nicolai’s reach. “But I need a way to get back to my hotel. Please.” Despite hating to beg, she really didn’t feel she had any other choice.

  He grabbed her arm and yanked her out of his car. She fought giving him a fist in the jaw. Instead she involuntarily shivered in the cool night, hoping he didn’t think she was scared. She was just cold. And as far as she was concerned, she’d beseeched him as much as she was going to. Damn him. She had some pride left still.

  A hooting of an owl nearby and the sound of cicadas singing their raucous tune, made her reconsider. He couldn’t leave her out here in the middle of nowhere. Not with Nicolai and his minions determined to make her one of their own. She reconsidered pleading some more.

  Robert fisted his hands on his hips. “You should have made better choices.”

  She opened her mouth to speak, but he climbed into his car and slammed the door. He looked at her for a moment, as her eyes pleaded with him to think again. He didn’t. He drove off.

  Her blood boiled as she stormed off down the road in the same direction he’d gone. He didn’t drive fast. In fact she considered the way his taillights drew father down the road. As long as it took him to fade from her sight, she imagined he drove way under the speed limit. Was he reconsidering? He disappeared around the bend in the road. Nope. Bastard.

  Normally she didn’t kill vampire hosts, but she’d make an exception in his case, if that’s what he was. Trying to calm her raw nerves, she walked toward the halo of lights she could see in the distance. It had to be the city lights. However, she’d never make it back in time for work the next day. In fact, if Nicolai caught up with her, she’d never make it back, ever.

  For over an hour, she walked. Then as she neared some small town, poorly lighted and all shut up for the night, a pickup truck pulled against the curb.

  A man rolled down the window. “Need a ride, miss?”

  He might have been a mass murderer, but his offer looked pretty good about now. In any event, she could handle the likes of him if he got out of hand. He shoved the door open for her. Half eaten bags of potato chips and chocolate chip cookies littered the seat and floor.

  She climbed in and buckled her seatbelt, relieved to be somewhat safe. He looked at her rank. “Captain, eh?”

  She nodded.

  His chocolate stained lips parted in a smile. His teeth looked like a badly mended picket fence: yellowed and full of gaps. “I was a private during Nam.”

  “Ah. Can you take me to my...” She hesitated. He wouldn’t think she was offering to take him to her hotel for fun and games, would he? “I was mugged at my hotel. I’m trying to get back there. Could you take me there?”

  “Nicolai wanted you returned to his house. I’d best do what he asks.”

  Crystal’s stomach knotted and her skin prickled. She’d never make it to a safe place at this rate. Still, she wasn’t giving up. She grabbed the steering wheel and twisted full force toward her. Before the man could stop her or take his foot off the gas pedal, he drove straight through an auto dealership’s plate glass window.

  His brakes screeched. The glass broke with a shattering bang. The odor of burning rubber filled the air.

  His truck crashed into a brand new SUV and came to a dead stop. Crystal’s seatbelt caught her, slamming her back against the seat on impact. She jerked the belt off and jumped out of the pickup.

  The man groaned in obvious pain. “He’ll get you. You can’t get away.”

  Ignoring him, she ran down the well-lit street and into a dark alley. Neither was safe. An open window in an older one-story, brick home caught her eye. She dashed across the alley and reached for the sill. Peeking in, she saw no signs of a living soul in the study, lighted by the soft glow of a nightlight. She climbed in, then closed the window.

  Momentary relief filled her. Walking in on someone was the least of her concerns. Finding a refuge for the night from the bloodsuckers remained her immediate desire. Gingerly, she crept through the study. The house remained pitch dark except for a faint light coming from a room dead ahead.

  The occupants were undoubtedly asleep or not at home. Hopefully whoever resided here were normal humans and not vampires or hosts. She sneaked into the lighted room...a kitchen. The fridge’s door light cast a pale wash of illumination. She breathed in the heady scent of cinnamon and rosemary.

  Opening the fridge, she found it stocked full of real food. Vampires definitely didn’t live here. A mixture of relief and worry filled her. Hosts still could live here.

  A floorboard creaked behind her. Panic touched her heart. She whipped around.

  A light flipped on overhead. A gray-haired man glared at her, a sword held in his hands ready to do business.

  “I...I’m sorry to break in to your house, sir, but someone’s trying to kill me and-and I’m trying to get to my hotel.”

  He glanced at her nametag. “Anderson.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  His gray eyes penetrated hers. “You’re the traitor.”

  So astonished to hear the words that only another vampire hunter would call her, she didn’t have time to get angry over the insult. But he wasn’t part of her family. Where’d he come from?

  “Can I have refuge here for awhile? Until it gets light?”
>
  “You can’t stay here.” His voice was graveled with sleep.

  “Do you have a knife I can use to protect myself with?”

  He paused.

  “Please, I have to have something to defend myself. Despite what my family says, I do kill vampires.”

  He motioned to the hall. She walked down it, her mind working out how she could convince him to allow her to stay the night. His slipper-covered feet padded slowly behind her.

  When they came to a bedroom, he pointed to a dresser. “Top drawer.”

  She opened it. A wrist knife rested inside on a black velvet cloth. She turned to the man, her heart quickening. He nodded.

  She pulled the knife from the drawer. “I’ll return it as soon as I can, sir.”

  “It was my wife’s. They killed her last night. You won’t find me or any of our kind here tomorrow. It’s yours to keep.”

  Crystal’s jaw tightened. “Who killed her?”

  “A scrawny blond male. Only one I know of in the area. One of Nicolai’s converts. Ripped her throat clean through. No reason to either. She’d retired from the business twenty years earlier. Her hands had become so crippled with arthritis she couldn’t work any more.”

  Crystal’s mind attempted to absorb the news and at the same time think of a way to talk herself into a safe haven for the night. “I’m so sorry about your wife.” She paused, before she attempted to solicit his further help. “If you’re leaving--”

  “Not until tomorrow when it’s daylight.”

  “Could I stay here for the night? Sleep on the couch?”

  “You’re an outcast. You’re in league with them.”

  She attempted to squash the irritation filling her veins. “If I were in with them, I wouldn’t be trying to find a way to keep out of their grasp. And I wouldn’t need a weapon.” A normal life...that’s what she longed for.

  “At my age, I can’t afford to take chances. You’ve made your choice. You’ll have to live with it.” He pointed to the door with his sword.

  She fastened the knife at her wrist. “Thank you so much for your kindness.” She was truly grateful, but she figured it didn’t mean anything to him. She was a traitor to her people...that was all. And his wife, who’d served their people well, was dead. “I might not live through the night, but you’ve enabled me to at least have a chance. If you see my brothers...” She sighed. “Thanks.”