Fury Calls

by Caridad Piñeiro

  That made him a sodomizer and a lecher, but not necessarily a murderer.

  Blake intended to find out if he was the latter.

  As he had on a multitude of other nights, he hung around the bar drinking blood, only this time he was listening for anything out of the ordinary. Unfortunately, it seemed like just another night at the Blood Bank. A few shoving matches out on the dance floor. A dozen or so couples heading into the back rooms for some naughty games.

  Wickedly naughty, he thought, watching one particularly amorous couple groping each other while waiting for the vampire guard to finish with another twosome in the back rooms. A spark of passion flared to life as he imagined what he and Meghan might do later that night.

  That is, he thought, if she wanted to go home with him again tonight. Maybe he was presuming too much to think that she would want to.

  It had been damn good last night and not just sexually. When he lay in her arms the harsh reality of their world fell away, and he could imagine in those moments that they were regular people living everyday lives and not demons.

  He understood better now how Diego and Ryder must feel. How the desire to be normal once again could overcome the demands of the vampire. How it could hold at bay that world of death and destruction that had been his existence for so long.

  “She must be pretty special,” Foley said, as he plopped down in the stool next to Blake and crooked his finger. The bartender immediately arrived with a glass of blood for Foley, but he pushed it in Blake’s direction and signaled the bartender to bring another.

  “Feeling generous, mate? Rather rare for you, isn’t it?” Blake picked up the glass and raised it in a toast once Foley had his own drink.

  “Feeling decidedly relieved.” Foley took a sip. His gaze skipped to the back rooms for a moment before he leaned close and said, “Lee’s found someone else to satisfy him tonight.”

  “Lucky you,” he said, and surprisingly he meant it. He and Foley had never been the best of friends, but the past week had altered their relationship. Maybe because they were two of a kind in some ways.

  “You’d do well to stay clear of him. You and your special little woman,” Foley said.

  Blake smiled and drained the blood from the tumbler. “Rattled him, did we?”

  “Major-league pissed him off.” Foley finished his drink and once again signaled the bartender for another.

  “Must be a sight to see when he’s angry,” Blake said offhandedly, hoping to find out more about the Kiang-shi’s behavior.

  “Scarier than your everyday vamp for sure,” Foley confirmed. “Teeth are needle-thin and long as can be. Hurts like a bitch when he gets you.”

  Intrigued despite his concern for Foley, he said, “Any other creepiness I should beware of?”

  “Red eyes like the flames of hell,” Foley replied, voice growing lower and more dismayed. He leaned conspiratorially close as he added, “And that damn black hair goes white. Pure white against those gleaming fired-up eyes.”

  Foley shuddered, clearly put off by the idea, but Blake was anything but. “White, you say? And I suppose he hops hops hops like the Easter Bunny when he’s in that form?”

  With a shrug, Foley said, “Who knows? When he’s got his fangs in me, all I can think about is the pain.”

  Blake nodded. “I’ll try to remember that, mate.”

  They landed on the patio of his apartment noiselessly, stirring not even the new green leaves of the plants he had potted. As she stood there with him, her hand in his, that potently appealing sense of comfort and welcome washed over her.

  It had been so long since she had experienced that feeling of homecoming. She took a moment to fully embrace it. At her hesitation, Blake playfully tugged on her hand.

  “Having second thoughts?” The cocky grin and gleam in his eyes had left his handsome face. The all-too-serious features that had replaced it were stamped with doubt.

  She suspected much of his life had been filled with doubt. From the uncertainty of his family’s survival to his becoming a vampire, instability had been the only thing he could call his own. She realized now that it was the reason for the persona he had opted to present to the world. The brash, don’t-give-a-shit personality that she had somehow seen past on that night so many years ago.

  In its place now was a new man. The honorable man he had struggled to display to her time and time again, but she had refused to see because of her anger.

  The weird thing was, he hadn’t stirred her anger in some time. Not since the night in the alley when he had announced he was going to take a job at Otro Mundo. She hadn’t believed him back then. Hadn’t thought he could do as he promised, but he had.

  He had shown her a man filled with determination. A man who could love with all his heart. A man who would respect her. By doing so, he had reined in the fury she had felt toward him.

  Cradling the hard line of his jaw with one hand, she leaned forward and brushed a kiss across his lips. “Having penny kinds of thoughts,” she explained, wanting to remove his anxiety.

  Beneath her lips she felt the shift of his smile as his lips curled beneath hers. He chuckled and drew her near. “Only a penny for your thoughts? They seemed to be much more valuable than that.”

  She kissed him again before murmuring, “They were. There were naughty thoughts as well.”

  Blake chuckled and sensed that she was holding back, but gave himself over to her kiss anyway. He sensed that whatever valuable thoughts she’d had might be too new and too special to share with him. Much as what he had been feeling about her was also possibly too untried to share. He wanted to hoard up all the feelings she brought to his heart until the time was right and he could give them to her without fear.

  So for now, he just gave as much as she did, kissing her until she was breathless and clinging to him beneath the crescent of moon that bathed the patio in shades of silver and blue. When she murmured a protest, demanding more, he tugged on her lower lip in mock punishment and said, “Let’s head in, love. I imagine the bed is a might more comfortable than staying out here.”

  She laughed lightly and followed him into his apartment. As they entered, it occurred to him that for nearly a dozen years he had been carefully piecing together this place. Everything in it, old as it was, he had chosen. Those things that had been battered or a bit bruised he had repaired as best he could.

  Much like he had tried to repair his life, he realized.

  Much like he was trying to mend the damage that he had done to Meghan.

  He faced her. She was gazing at him intently as she asked, “I know those thoughts were downright serious. I can feel it here.” She laid a hand over her heart and within him, he felt that touch as if she were laying her hand on his heart.

  It was that freaky vampire connection. The one that stretched between them, thanks to the shared blood pulsing through their veins. Forcing a bright smile to his face, he laid a hand on her waist and eased her close. “What I’m damn serious about, Meghan, is that I’m going to love you tonight as if there’s no tomorrow.”

  Because he wasn’t sure that she wouldn’t change her mind. That the past and all that had happened between them wouldn’t rise up and stoke her anger again, he thought sadly as he brought his lips to hers and cherished them.

  He slipped off her clothes, worshipping every inch of her that he exposed. Leaving the reminder of his hands and lips on her body so that she would never forget how he could make her feel.

  So that no other man who had come before or would come after would be free of that memory.

  As they fell to the bed and he eased within her, he shook from the force of the union, knowing that he, too, would never be free of her. That she had imprisoned his heart forever.

  She rose up then and encircled him in her arms, held him to her and whispered, “I want to believe in forever, Blake.”

  The release slammed through them then. Physical. Mental. Emotional.

  Still shaking from the force of it, h
e eased her to the center of the bed and wrapped his arms around her. He twined his legs with hers until they were so tightly bound together, it was as if they were one.

  It was the way they were supposed to be, Blake thought, as he began loving her once more.

  Blake heaved the trash bag up and over the landing and to the ground below. It was easier than navigating the narrow steps with the oversized bag. After he did so, however, he noticed motion at the end of the alley, close to the spot where he and Meghan had discovered the dead vampire weeks ago.

  They said lightning never struck twice in the same place, but he knew better. High on a hilltop by his old home was a gnarled old oak that had been repeatedly stricken until one last blast had toppled it.

  Walking down the steps, he held the bag in one hand, light as it was with his vamp strength. He slowly headed for the nearby Dumpsters and tossed in the bag, all the time peering down the alley for any sign of action once again.

  He was rewarded for his patience with the sight of two persons standing at the mouth of the alley. They were handing over money and a quick exchange followed, but all he saw of the one person was hands. Pale hands with long, effeminate nails.

  Before he could act on it, the two must have detected his presence. In a blur of speed, they left.

  Vamp speed, Blake decided. He put on his own burst of speed to reach the mouth of the alley, intending to give pursuit, but by the time he got there both vampires were long out of sight.

  Two vampires and money exchanging hands was the kind of thing to cause him worry. He looked upward at the rooftops and considered where they might have gone. For a second he thought he detected a glimmer of red from one rooftop, but he blinked and it was gone.

  But what wasn’t gone was a cloying scent. Spicy and aromatic. He sniffed deeply, realizing it was the same aroma he had noted when they had found the dead vampire here weeks ago. He took another deep inhale, sure that the scent was the odor of whoever was involved in what was going on.

  He was convinced that he had smelled that aroma around Foley recently.

  Returning down the alley, he bounded back up the steps of the landing and into the restaurant, determined to share this bit of information with Meghan and the others when they met later.

  Chapter 18

  Blake sensed anger the moment he stepped into the office of Otro Mundo for another meeting. So much anger that he was almost fearful of hearing what Diana Reyes had to say, and so he decided to hold his bit of news for later.

  The FBI agent had been pacing back and forth in the room when he and Meghan entered, her strides clipped, tension gripping every line of her body. At his entry, she faced him and jammed her hands onto her hips.

  “Do you have something to share?” Diana held his gaze for too long a moment, making him even more uncomfortable.

  He shook his head and shot an anxious glance at Meghan, who in turn presented him with a puzzled look. She was as baffled as he by Diana’s apparent animosity.

  “Nothing to report,” he said.

  “Really?” Diana challenged.

  Ryder came to stand at her side and Diego on the other, the three of them clearly united against him.

  “Did Melissa find out anything else about the drug?” Meghan asked, apparently trying to deflect their attention.

  “The drug’s a doozy,” Diana said, as Ryder placed his hand on Diana’s shoulder to restrain her. “Melissa is still trying to find a way to keep the sanguinarium drug from causing the one cell strain to multiply out of control.”

  “But she thinks she can find a way to stop it, right?” Meghan asked. In an almost surprising manifest show of unity, she slipped her hand onto Blake’s as they sat side by side on the couch.

  “Massive feeding from another vampire will supply enough of the delicate cell strain to absorb the drug in the vampire’s system. It’s why those vamps drained each other dry. The drug created the demand for the one thing that would neutralize its action.”

  Blake considered what Diana had said and shook his head. “So human blood—”

  “Won’t bond with the drug and offset it. Turn a vamp on the drug loose in a crowd of humans and he could drain them dry but never find release from the effects of the drug,” Diego explained.

  “Which brings us to you, Blake. What do you have to tell us?” Diana asked.

  He didn’t like the way the three of them were looking at him. He had faced those kinds of looks before and they generally didn’t bode well. “We didn’t learn a thing at the Blood Bank during the last few days.”

  “Nothing,” Meghan confirmed, and anxiously squeezed his hand.

  “Really?” Diana slipped from Ryder’s grasp and began to pace once again, before whirling to face them. “Okay, let’s start with this. Where were you on the night the first vampire couple fed to the death?”

  He shrugged carelessly. “I was at the Blood Bank for the better part of the night.”

  “And then in the alley. We met in the alley that night,” Meghan added.

  He nodded in agreement, glad that Meghan had supported his alibi and wondering why he suddenly felt as if he needed one. He pressed on with his defense, however. “That’s right. I came by—”

  He stopped, not about to give up his real reasons for dropping in. “I just came by to see how things were going.”

  Ryder laughed harshly. “And they were going much as you expected them to be.”

  His comment was totally not good, Blake thought. He grew even more worried when Diana said, “You were the one who noticed the dead vampire in the alleyway a few days later.”

  “I was putting out the trash and saw something move.” He glanced at Meghan, urging her to confirm his statement.

  She immediately responded with, “When we walked to the end of the alley, we found the body.”

  “But you didn’t see anything or hear anything before that?” Diego insisted, directing his attention to Meghan.

  “Nothing,” Meghan answered. Her hand twitched in his, filling him with unease. Their relationship was still fragile. The trust that had developed between them untested.

  Until now, he suspected and worried that it was too new to hold fast.

  Ryder narrowed his eyes as he observed them and asked, “The night the young vampiress attacked her dining companion, you brought them their food and drink, didn’t you?”

  So totally not good, he thought.

  Meghan pulled her hand from Blake’s as she, no doubt, realized where the others were going with their line of questioning. She met his gaze, and he could see her searching his features for any signs of deception.

  There were none, of course, but he still felt her unease.

  “I have nothing to do with what’s been happening,” Blake urged. He raised his hands and emphasized the point with a slash of his hands. “Nothing.”

  “You said you saw something funky in the vampiress. How did you see that?” Meghan asked, hoping he would have a reasonable explanation to dispel the apprehension growing within her.

  “Meghan, I didn’t do anything wrong,” he insisted, but she just repeated her question.

  “How did you know?”

  He shrugged and shook his head, so forcefully it sent strands of his hair shifting forward onto his forehead. “I just knew. She had a crazy look in her eye. One I didn’t like, kind of like I’m not liking the way all of you are looking at me right now.”

  Diana stepped in front of him. She counted down on her fingers as she said, “There have been three incidents, Blake. Surprisingly, you’ve been present at all three. While I don’t want to believe you had a role in them—”

  “I don’t.” He rose from the sofa and faced Meghan, wordlessly asking her to believe in the man he had shown her the past few weeks.

  But from the way her gaze had grown cold, Blake knew his plea might have gone unheard. He repeated yet again, his voice softer as the futility of his plea registered, “I have nothing to do with what’s happened. It’s just coinci
dence.”

  “Coincidence, huh?” Diana pulled a plastic bag from the pocket of her loose-fitting jeans and held it up for all to see.

  “Is this coincidence also?” she challenged as she jiggled the evidence bag in his face.

  He snagged it from her grasp and examined the contents. Three glass vials wrapped in intricate golden webwork, much like the vial they had found on the out-of-control vampiress, were sealed in the bag.

  “Where did you get these?” he asked, as he returned them to the FBI agent.

  “You were out in the alley tonight?” Diego asked, but Blake scoffed at the question.

  “Of course I was. You’ve had me hauling your sorry garbage for weeks now. Where did you think I would take it?”

  Diego was on him in a flash, grabbing him by the throat and lifting him as if he weighed nothing. The force of his grip was punishing and cut off his air. Blake yanked at Diego’s hand with his, fighting to be free, but Diego didn’t relent until Meghan laid her hand on him and gently said, “Let him go, Diego. Please.”

  At her request, Diego thrust Blake aside with so much force that he couldn’t stop his fall.

  Blake picked himself up from the floor, rubbing his throat as he looked at Diana and said with a rasp, “Where did you get those?”

  “Don’t play stupid,” Ryder replied, ready to go at him as well, only Diana stepped in front of him, blocking his path. Surprisingly strong for a human, Blake thought for only a second before concern for his own ass came to the forefront.

  “Why don’t you tell us where you got these?” Diana said, once again holding up the bag.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. You have to believe me, Meghan.” He took a step toward her, but she backed away from him and toward the other vampires. She might as well have staked him through the heart, the pain was so great.

  “One of the vampire busboys saw you at the end of the alley. They thought you were with someone else,” Diego offered up as explanation.