He moved so quickly the only thing she could see was a black blur. He appeared at her side with the suddenness of a summer storm. Peering down, he smiled showing two sharp canine fangs. “You, my dear.”
She inched away from him as far as she could on the bed. “What do you mean? We’re friends, not lovers.”
“I wanted to be more, but you’d never let me. Never let me into your world and never let me know who you are really. You always kept me at a distance.”
Tears pricked at her eyelids. This dream felt entirely too realistic. “I never knew.”
“You know now, Chrissy, and here’s your chance to rectify things.”
She touched his face and found his skin just as cold as his fingers. “Why are you so cold?”
“Death will do that to you.”
He moved closer, stinking of rotten earth and mold. Her belly lurched.
“What do you say? Come with me and be my mate.”
He smiled again but not the same warm grin she’d grown to love over the years. This smile bespoke of evil and malice, not of caring and affection. “No, I won’t. Not in life and sure as hell not in death.”
A strange fountain of power sprang up inside of her, its source unknown. Perhaps her dream self kicked in.
“Oh, you will, even if I must force you,” he growled and lay on top of her, pinning her down. “You will be mine.”
Just as she opened her mouth to scream, another figure emerged from the shadow, much taller than David with very long, light-colored hair.
“Let her go.”
She detected a faint European accent in the deeply masculine voice, the tones completely all too familiar.
David turned, but not before droplets of saliva dripped from his fangs onto her face, stinging where the moisture fell. “You.”
The figure stepped forward into the steady shower of moonlight in her window. Her savior was none other than Drake Haaken from Berserker! Why in the hell did she have to bring him into this dream?
Chapter Two
“I said leave the woman alone. She belongs to me.”
Christine, worried, flicked her gaze to David. His face contorted into an evil mask of rage.
“She is mine. You never marked her nor claimed her as yours.”
Drake stared at David with eyes swirling with different colors of blue, gold, and brown mingled with black, and informed him in a hard edged voice, “I am staking my claim now.”
David’s expression turned feral. “Then I will fight you for her then.”
“It won’t be an easy fight because you’re so new and your powers haven’t developed yet. I see Zakara hasn’t taught you a thing.”
“Oh, she’ll teach me more, I swear it. Now get out of here.”
“No.”
Drake remained calm and cool throughout this exchange, the only indication of any other emotion was the twitch of the muscle in his left cheek. He wore the same black leather suit as David except his long blond hair gave him the appearance of an avenging angel.
Christine’s heart hammered. David’s grip on her tightened as the two men in her dream battled each other’s strengths.
“Then I’ll be forced to kill you,” David said through clenched teeth, the smell of death surrounding him getting stronger.
“Try, but you’ll fail. Run back to Zakara, you little shithead, and get away from my woman.”
David rose with the reluctance of a cat giving up its mouse and closed the distance to Drake. He stood almost a foot shorter than Drake and weighed about fifty pounds less than her savior did. Drake appeared to be made of all muscle.
“I will leave for the moment, but I will be back to claim what belongs to me.”
“Try and you’ll die.”
“That’s a chance I’m willing to take.”
Christine watched David dissolve into a black mass and melted back into the shadows, becoming one with the night.
Once he’d gone, she exhaled a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Mr. Haaken. I’m grateful—”
Drake held up his hand. “I thought we’d already had this discussion before. Call me Drake.”
“Drake then. How did you know to come here?” She was positive this dream man would give her some cockamamie story about hearing her call for him.
“Let’s just say I had a hunch,” he remarked as he walked over to the bed and knelt next to her.
He touched her face. He stared intently as if to examine her for any type of injuries. His fingers felt as cold as David’s.
“He doesn’t seem to have hurt you at all.”
“He didn’t.” She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “This is some dream. I’m going to have to remember this.”
“Of course,” Drake stated in a deep, sexy tone. “But before I leave, may I have a kiss in payment for your safety?”
She shrugged. It was only a dream. What harm could it do? “Sure,” she replied.
Drake’s chilly lips brushed hers. He remained gentle and swept the outer corners with his tongue. Moving toward the center, he caressed the line with a gentle sweep. Eagerly, she opened her mouth and let him in. He explored her mouth with infinite expertise, his tongue enticing hers to come out and play.
She followed his lead, and their tongues dueled for favor. Her nipples turned to hard points in response, her pussy convulsing with welcome cream. Without thinking, she slipped her arms around his neck and drew him closer.
He deepened his kiss for a moment, and then slid from her mouth to the valley of her neck. With his magical mouth, he teased and nibbled her skin. Instantly, her sex gushed with juice, her hips rising. God, he’s barely touched her and she’s ready to bed down with him. This was some dream.
A sharp sting at her neck drew her attention but only for moment. The whirling maelstrom started at the pit of her belly with each pulse of his lips, and worked its way along her veins. She came in a roar and cried out. She could barely breathe for the hammering of her heart. Blood sang in her temples. She’d never had a mind-blowing orgasm like this one before, even with Jason. “Wh-what did you just do?”
“Nothing you didn’t want me to,” Drake said as he pulled back.
With a stranger horror, she noticed his lips changed color from a lush pink to a dark crimson.
“You’re safe now. No one will harm you while I’m around.” He brushed his fingertips in a delicate sweep across her brow. “Sleep now and remember this as a dream. I will see you again soon.”
Before she could ask any more questions, Drake disappeared in the same black mass as David and became one with the night.
She touched her neck where Drake had bitten her, but there was nothing there. She yawned. Of course, stupid, it was just a dream.
Christine rolled over. Dream or not, that had to have been the best orgasm she’d ever had. Damn, the mind was definitely the most erotic place on a woman’s body.
Sleepiness closed in, and she gave up to the blissful night.
* * * *
Drake looked at the window he’d just left, his cock rock hard. Damn, the woman turned him on in more than a few ways.
“She’s gotten to you, hasn’t she?”
He spun around to see Alexandra, Nicholas, Tatiana, Siobhan, and Gabrielle standing behind him. “I wouldn’t exactly say that. I was just protecting her.” He switched his gaze to Nicholas and Tatiana’s clasped hands. They loved each other quite well, and there were times the nip of jealousy at their devotion bit him, but not enough to go out and seek his own mate.
Alexandra’s laughter pierced the night. “Sure, and I’ve got some land in Florida I’ll sell ya, too,” she said and tossed a lock of her jet black hair over her shoulder. “You’re smitten. Admit it.”
“I’ll admit to nothing.” He looked around. “Where are Raphael and Liz?”
“They’ve decided to hunt alone tonight, which means they’re holed up in their cave making love for days on end.”
His dark blond eyebrows quirked. “Not such a bad idea. An
y takers?” he asked playfully. He’d been to bed with the women of the coven with the exception of Tatiana. In the end, they’d all concluded that they were better as friends than as lovers.
“None,” Siobhan grunted and scratched the base of her blonde head. “We’ve all been down that road before, remember?”
Gabrielle nodded her fiery red head. “Yep, we have.” She placed her hands on her hips. “Now let’s be serious. What about you and the lady cop?”
He looked to the window ruefully. He didn’t want to admit that the girl had gotten under his skin like a virus he couldn’t shake. “There’s nothing to tell. I just saved her from her partner who was bent on having her for lunch.”
Nicholas spoke up. “How did you figure out he’d been turned?”
“When he lay there bleeding in the alley, I noticed the puncture wounds on his neck that had been cut to look as though the wound had been inflicted by a knife. I think one of Zakara’s vampires have gone rogue and she turned him to clean up the mess,” Drake said. “You know how she loves opportunities to create new minions.”
“True,” Nicholas commiserated. “That means her legion has grown by one more at least.”
“If not more,” Drake interjected. “I did stake my claim on her, so she shouldn’t be bothered anymore by her rogue partner.”
Tatiana touched Drake’s shoulder in a warm, comforting gesture, her gentleness and compassion shining through like a beacon. He saw why Nicholas loved her. “Don’t be too careful where this is concerned, my brother,” she said softly with her Russian-lilted voice. “Zakara has been known to ignore another’s marking.”
“She won’t mine because she’ll regret it if she does.” He touched the silver-blonde tresses streaming down Tatiana’s shoulders. Her hair reminded him of the palest winter snow in Norway during his time there. “Thank you, dear sister, for your concern, but all will be well.”
Her generous smile widened. “Of course it will. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m starving. Shall we hunt?”
One by one, they merged with the darkness and set out to hunt the night’s meal. Despite their ability to walk in sunlight, thanks to the sun spell Raphael discovered in Zakara’s grimoire, they still preferred hunt at night. A lot less chance of their prey would see them coming.
Drake hunted mindlessly, doing so more out of necessity than hunger. His thoughts lingered on the beautiful woman he’d saved from her blood-hungry partner. Why did she intrigue him so?
She is like Dagmar. The memories of his late wife floated through his head now and again, perhaps every hundred years or so. Yet twice in two days, he’d thought of his former love.
He shook his head. No matter what happened, he’d never become emotionally attached to anyone. He’d never lose another love again.
* * * *
The ringing phone beside Christine’s bed dragged her from the depths of necessary sleep. Swearing under her breath, she groped for the receiver. “Hello?” she mumbled. The dream from the previous night still lingered in her thoughts presumably because she hadn’t quite recovered from the awesome mind bending orgasm.
“Sorry to wake you, Christine,” Lou said, sounding distant on the other end. “I want you to know we’re bringing in the owner of the Berserker club for questioning.”
She jerked into a sitting position. “When?”
“He’s agreed to come in around noon and answer any questions we have.”
“Good. What time is it now?”
“Around ten.”
Christine ran a hand through her straggly locks and blurted out reflexively, “That’ll be enough time to for me to shower and be down there.”
“You’re on vacation, remember? I didn’t call to tell you this so you can fly down here and play bad cop.”
She let a titter of laughter fly. “You know me better than that, Lou. I have a few questions of my own for him, that’s all.”
Silence abounded at the other end for a minute. “I’m sure you have your own agenda, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to come down to the station.”
“Try to stop me.”
Christine replaced the phone before Lou could issue another objection to her coming down and talking with the club owner. She flew out of bed and straight into the shower. The owner was probably some old man from back East who didn’t take kindly to women cops questioning him. Well, tough shit. He was going to get grilled like chicken at a summer picnic.
After her shower, she picked her most conservative suit and twisted the unruly wavy mess on her head into a tight chignon. She applied understated makeup along with a bit of bronzer to give her the sun-kissed glow. The last thing she wanted was for anyone to know she was grieving for David in the slightest.
Christine spun on her heel and left the room. Time to get the investigation underway.
* * * *
Drake lounged in the proffered chair across from the fat bald police captain. Silently, he searched the man’s mind and discovered disgusting secrets the old man hoped no one would know. He smiled. “Tell me how I may be of help to you.”
Captain Carpenter leaned back in his chair and threaded his hands behind the thick rolls of his neck. Large pools of sweat soaked the yellowed underarms of his white shirt and permeated the air with acrid odor. Drake grimaced inwardly. “We just have a few questions for you, Mr.—”
“Haaken,” Drake finished. “I don’t really have anything to tell you. I didn’t see anything.”
“But it was your club the officer was found outside, was it not?”
“Yes it was, but it doesn’t mean I did it.” He shifted and pushed the errant strands of his hair back over his shoulder. “As a matter of fact, I resent the implication.”
Captain Carpenter leaned forward, thankfully, and closed the sweat factory underneath his arms. “I meant no disrespect, Mr. Haaken. It’s just that the officer was one of our own, and we’ll not rest until we find his killer.”
“I’m afraid that’s going to be a lot harder than you think.”
“How so?”
Drake crossed his legs one over the other in causal stance. He needed to appear relaxed and confident despite the anxiety rising in his lifeless veins. “A lot of people come in and out of my club, so to question them all would be impossible. Also, there’s no tracing who comes in and out.”
“Don’t you have any regular patrons?”
“Quite a few. Far more than you’ll be able to account for.”
Captain Carpenter opened his mouth to speak when a soft knock on the glass window of the door interrupted their conversation. “Come in,” he said in a surly tone.
The door opened to reveal the beautiful woman he’d marked the night before. Gone was the pale skin, replaced by flesh bronzed by the sun. Her wild chestnut hair swept up into a tight bun at the back of her head allowed him to behold the beauty of her swanlike neck he’d tasted the night before. He swallowed the lump in his throat, his dick stiffening in response to the sight of her.
His gaze swept over her form in a gentle caress, drinking in the high heels accentuating her slim, well-formed legs to the short skirt and jacket outlining her womanly curves. He narrowed his eyes on her breasts and noticed the faint outline of hardened nipples beneath the lacy cups of her bra. If his nose wasn’t mistaken, desire oozed from between her legs, a scent too light for any mere human to detect.
* * * *
“I’m here, Lou,” Christine said. Spinning on her heel, she turned to him and gasped. A blush of pink rose from her neck and splashed over her face. Ah, the memory of last night flooded her mind. “What are you doing here?”
Drake rose in a gentlemanly manner and grasped her hand, kissing the back of it. “I’m the owner of Berserker.”
Christine remained stock-still as shock surged through her. She expected the old man from her earlier assumption, not the Viking warrior standing before her dressed in tight jeans, a white shirt, and boots. His blond hair, pulled away from his temples an
d clipped in back, shone gold in the morning light.
Her breasts tingled at the sight of him, and her clit throbbed in response. What was wrong with her? “Do sit down,” she asked in a shaky voice.
“As you wish,” Drake answered with a warm, sexy voice.
Christine’s knees weakened, and she quickly sat down in the chair next to Lou’s desk. “I have just a few questions for you, Mr. Haaken.”
The corner of his full, generous mouth curled into a sensual half smile. “Please call me Drake.”
She acquiesced and put on her most effective emotionally detached face. “Drake then. Now, Drake, did you see anything that might help up in this investigation?”
“Nothing except the beautiful woman I danced with that night.”
The heat in her cheeks intensified. “Let’s just keep on the subject, all right?”
She noticed Drake’s even, white teeth, and for one wild moment, she imagined them nibbling on her flesh and awakening every pore and cell of her being. “All right.”
He stretched out to his full length in a casual pose, crossing his booted ankles. “I didn’t see a thing. The only thing I heard was the person screaming about someone being murdered in the alley. That’s all I know.”
Christine narrowed her eyes. “What sort of clientele do you attract?”
“Anyone who wants to come to my club is welcome with the understanding they may or may not get in.”
Lou squinted. “I don’t get it.”
“I don’t let just anyone into my club. They need to have the right look and attitude before they’re admitted.”
Lou still appeared confused, so she’d best clear it up. “Remember Studio 54 years ago? They did the same thing, and sometimes, famous stars couldn’t get in. That’s what made the club all that more popular.”
Lou smiled and leaned back. “Boy, do I remember it. I tried getting in a few times but never could. They were lined up around the block every weekend.”
Drake’s smile stretched across his face, wrinkling the skin at the corners. “Exactly. I employ the same method to keep my business thriving.”
Ranson, Tracy L. - Prince of Darkness [Bloodborn 3] (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 3