Duncan

by D. B. Reynolds

  * * * *

  Duncan was controlled fury as he strode down the front steps of Emma’s house and over to the SUV where Miguel waited with the dead man. Of course, the human wasn’t dead yet, but he would be. As soon as he told them everything he knew.

  “Sire,” Miguel said formally as Duncan approached.

  “Did Ari check in?”

  “Yes, my lord. He just arrived at the house. Baldwin woke up when they carried him inside. He’s not happy, but he’s well.”

  “Good.” Duncan glanced through the back window at the unconscious human. “If he’d wanted to kill her, he had the chance.”

  Miguel nodded. “Maybe he was only supposed to scare her. Or maybe he had a message that he never got to deliver because Baldwin was there.”

  “If there’s a message, we’ll know it,” Duncan said darkly.

  “If they know she’s working with us, my lord., they’ll come after her.”

  Duncan’s rage soared and he fought to keep it from showing, but Miguel was aware of it anyway. He could tell from the watchful look on his lieutenant’s face, the careful formality. The idea of anyone laying hands on Emma made him want to rip out the throats of every human in Victor’s files, whether or not they’d had a hand in Lacey’s death. None of them were innocent, as far as he was concerned.

  He forced himself to think calmly, something he found increasingly difficult when it came to Emma Duquet. But he couldn’t afford to run around killing humans, whatever the reason. That was the very opposite of why he was in this corrupt city in the first place. Not that the men responsible for Lacey’s death would be permitted to live. Oh, no. They were all going to die. Maybe not tonight, maybe not even soon. But eventually. And he would make sure they knew it, too. Every one of them would live the last few months of his life looking over his shoulder, waiting for death to find him.

  The thought pleased him and he smiled slightly. “Have someone set up a secure room at the house for the prisoner for when we get there,” he said gesturing at the truck. “Somewhere far from where Emma will be sleeping. The basement. Comfort isn’t important. And brief the daylight guards, as well. I don’t want a bungled rescue drawing in the human police, and I don’t want him killed under our noses, either.”

  “Yes, my lord.”

  They both turned when Emma appeared in her doorway, lugging a suitcase and carrying a garment bag over one shoulder.

  “Emma,” Duncan said impatiently. “Let us help with that.”

  She pushed the suitcase in his direction. “You take that and I’ll—”

  He lifted the suitcase and whipped the garment bag from her shoulder, handing them both to Miguel.

  “Okaaay,” she drawled. “What do I do about this door?”

  Duncan frowned, then studied the doorframe. “The lock is broken, but the frame is sound. I don’t suppose you have a hammer and nails . . .” His voice trailed off as Emma disappeared back inside her house. “Of course, you do,” he amended.

  She reappeared with the requested items and a smug grin.

  “Nobody likes a know-it-all,” he teased as she strolled past him.

  “Oh, I don’t know it all,” she replied breezily. “I’m just prepared for it all.”

  Duncan laughed and picked up a hammer for the first time in more years than he could count.

  * * * *

  Emma sat inside the warm SUV and watched as Duncan nailed her front door shut. It wasn’t every day she saw a man in a tuxedo wielding a hammer. Of course, it wasn’t every day some wacko tried to assault her in her home. Except that maybe the guy hadn’t been a wacko. In a weird way, it would be reassuring if Lacey’s killers had sent someone after her. It would mean she was on the right track.

  She frowned. But, if that was the case, why didn’t he kill her outright? He could have. Maybe he’d planned something else entirely for her. Duncan and his vamps hadn’t let her see all the details of what had gone on at Victor’s so-called parties—they were protecting her, which was infuriating in its own way—but she had a good sense from what they had let her see, and the things she’d overheard. It broke her heart to think of Lacey involved in all of that, and she shuddered for herself, thankful that Baldwin had been there tonight.

  Duncan dropped the tools on the floor of the front seat, then joined Emma in the back. Miguel was driving since Ari had taken the smaller SUV with Baldwin in it. “We’ll get a locksmith out here as soon as possible,” Duncan said, as he closed the door. “I’ll have one of my people meet him here.”

  “What if it’s not until morning?” she asked. “I can—”

  “I have human guards for daytime, Emma. They can handle it.”

  “My car’s around the block,” she said, raising her voice to include Miguel, so he’d know they had to stop. “Left here, then the next right,” she added, then said to Duncan, “I have to go to work tomorrow, er, I mean this morning. I have meetings, besides—” She stopped herself, thinking it would probably be better if Duncan didn’t know about her plans to continue tracking down the women from Victor’s parties during the day tomorrow.

  “Besides what?”Duncan asked, eyeing her curiously.

  “I can’t afford to lose my job,” she said lamely. She blushed with the lie, but hoped he would assume she was embarrassed because of her implied money shortage. Besides, it really wasn’t a lie. She couldn’t afford to lose her job.

  Duncan looked at her, his expression carefully blank, and she knew he sensed something was off. He couldn’t know precisely what she was lying about, but she was pretty sure he knew she wasn’t telling him the whole truth either.

  When they reached her car, Emma started to jump out, but Duncan put a hand on her arm to delay her. “I’ll ride with Emma, Miguel.”

  Up front, Miguel’s head snapped up and he twisted around to give Duncan a sharp look.

  “You can drive behind us,” Duncan said. “It’s not that far.”

  Miguel stared at Duncan for a heavy moment and then he nodded. “Yes, Sire,” he said, the respectful words tight with anger.

  Emma glanced at Duncan, hoping she wasn’t going to get stuck between two angry vampires, but Duncan’s expression was as calm and controlled as ever. He held Miguel’s stare until the other vampire looked away, then he turned that cool gaze on her and gestured to the door. “If you would, Emma,” he said.

  Emma scrabbled for the door handle, shoved the door open and stepped out into the cold air. It should have been bracing after the warmth of the SUV, but she shivered, and exhaustion rolled over her like a thick blanket. God, she was tired. How long had it been since she’d slept? And she had to go to work in a few short hours, had to make it look as if she was moving on from Lacey’s death, doing her job, maybe finding a smaller place to live. But certainly not spending her nights wide awake and searching for the killer, who might very well have an office in the next building, or even just down the hall.

  Duncan’s hand came over hers, slipping the keys from her numb fingers. “Get in the car. I’ll drive.”

  “I can—”

  “Of course, you can. But I’ll drive anyway.”

  “Bossy,” she muttered, stomping around to the passenger seat. “Phoebe said you’d be bossy.”

  “Yes, well—” He slid behind the wheel and started the car. “Phoebe isn’t exactly a pushover herself.”

  Emma turned the heat on its highest setting, and Duncan immediately adjusted the vents in her direction.

  “Is her husband a vampire, too?”

  “No. Most vampire matings are with humans. Sharing blood is intensely sexual. I’ve seen one or two ménage à trois that worked, two vampires and one human, but that’s rare.”

  Emma felt her own blood heat as she pictured Duncan’s mouth on her neck, his upper body naked, gleaming with sweat the way he’d been in the gym earlier. She reached out and turned the heat down, unzipping her jacket.

  Duncan glanced at her. “Too warm?”

  “Yeah, I think—” She
coughed slightly. “This heater starts slow, but once it gets going, it’s a bit much.”

  Duncan’s sinful mouth curved slightly, but he never took his eyes off the road.

  What she wouldn’t give to see him rattled, to break that ever-present cool of his. Just once. She didn’t want anything awful to happen. She just wanted to shake him up a little and see what tumbled out. She had a passing thought, wondering if he was in control in bed the way he was everywhere else. And then her eyes went wide, shocked at her own thoughts. Obviously, she’d been working too hard for too long. All work and no play apparently made Emma a very horny girl. She swallowed a laugh, biting the inside of her cheek so the all-seeing Duncan wouldn’t notice.

  When they pulled through the gate of the vampires’ big house, it was nearly four in the morning. Emma considered not even going to sleep, but there wasn’t enough coffee in the city to keep her awake all night and all day, too.

  They didn’t park out front, but drove around to the back of the house. Several motion detector lights flooded the area as soon as they pulled into it, making it almost as bright as daylight. Vampire guards appeared out of the shadows, some of them whipping sunglasses on to shield their eyes. Miguel did the same, his eyes covered by nearly black wraparound lenses when he emerged from the SUV. He spoke to one of the other vampires, then strode over and opened the driver’s door of her sedan, which looked small and tattered next to the line of gleaming SUVs.

  “The prisoner will be secure in the basement, my lord,” he said as Duncan slid out from behind the wheel. “Alaric has constructed a stockade.”

  “And enjoyed doing it, no doubt.”

  “Yes, my lord. He did comment that it had been years, and he hoped he remembered the proper ratio of bar tension.”

  “I want the prisoner alive, Miguel, not strangled to a slow death. Not until after I question him anyway.”

  Emma gave him a startled look. What would they do with their prisoner after they’d questioned him? The vampires seemed to avoid any contact with human police, but they couldn’t just let the man go, either. She frowned. For that matter, what would they do with Lacey’s killer when they found him—or them?

  “What are you thinking, Emma?” Duncan asked, his voice right next to her ear.

  She jumped, scowling at him. “We need to put a bell on you.”

  Duncan simply smiled and placed his hand at the small of her back, urging her toward the door. “You could try. I’d probably enjoy it . . . the trying part, that is.” He opened the door and held it for her.

  “So,” he continued, as they walked through a large kitchen. “What had you frowning so?”

  “You mean besides you?”

  He nodded easily. “Besides me.”

  Emma considered making something up, but she really needed an answer on this one. “What will you do when we find them? The men who killed Lacey?”

  They had reached the foyer below the stairs by then, and Duncan stopped, turning to face her. “It is the policy of the vampire community to work with the human police and authorities at all times,” he said blandly. It sounded rehearsed and Emma knew she was hearing the party line.

  She met his perfectly human-looking eyes. “I didn’t ask what the policy was, Duncan. These are powerful men. If you turn them in to the authorities, they’ll be back on the streets in hours not days. I want to know what you’ll actually do when you catch them.”

  He studied her for a long moment, then said, “The interests of the vampire community always come first.” She opened her mouth to demand he answer her question, but he forestalled her, saying, “There are some secrets we vampires never share. I have reason to believe Victor was . . . indiscreet, shall we say, with regard to certain of these secrets. Such knowledge, particularly in the hands of men such as these, represents a threat to my people, and I do not tolerate threats to my people.”

  Emma listened, hearing not just the words, but what he was trying to tell her. She nodded. “So you’ll eliminate the threat,” she said, wanting to be perfectly clear.

  “Yes.”

  “I have no problem with that,” she said firmly.

  His brown eyes sparkled. “I am relieved.”

  Emma rolled her eyes, then gazed up in dismay at the many stairs between her and a comfortable bed.

  “I could carry you,” Duncan said seriously.

  She smiled regretfully. “Thanks. But I have a feeling I’d never live it down.”

  “I wouldn’t tell anyone,” he said, placing a hand under her elbow and lending his considerable strength as they started up the stairs.

  “I was talking about you.”

  Duncan laughed out loud, then swept her into his arms and raced up the stairs. Before she’d even caught her breath, they were in the bedroom she’d used earlier and he was setting her on the floor, sliding her down his body so she felt every inch of hard muscle in his chest, his thighs. She caught her breath. His muscles weren’t the only thing that was hard about him.

  Emma glanced up and found her gaze caught by the bronze glow of his eyes.

  “Your eyes,” she whispered, raising her hand to trace the curve of his brow. “They’re glowing.”

  “They do that,” Duncan murmured, his strong fingers flexing over her hips.

  “But not all the time,” Emma said softly.

  “When I use my power,” Duncan explained, one hand swooping almost to the curve of her ass as he tugged her closer. “Or when strong emotion comes into play.”

  “Emotion,” Emma repeated softly, her fingers now playing along the softness of his mouth. “Like . . . desire?” She raised up and planted a quick kiss on his mouth. “Lust?” Another kiss. “Want?”

  She again raised up, intending to give him another quick kiss, but he growled, holding her in place as he deepened the kiss into something hot and demanding. One hand rode up her back, his fingers twisting in her hair as he shifted the angle of their kiss, going deeper as his tongue delved into her mouth.

  Emma moaned softly. He tasted of hot nights and dark secrets, though she couldn’t have explained what that meant. She just knew it was true. She wanted more. She wanted to bite his lips, to taste more of him. She reached behind his head and tugged the tie off his blond hair, shoving her fingers into the warm thickness of it, scraping her nails along his scalp.

  Duncan snarled against her mouth, and Emma felt something hard and sharp. Her heart raced as she realized what it had to be. Fangs. She ran her tongue along their slick smoothness, and Duncan’s answering groan shivered through every cell of her body. Emma pushed harder, crushing her mouth against his. It was as if she couldn’t get close enough, couldn’t—” She felt a sharp prick on her tongue, tasted her own blood, warm and coppery.

  Duncan’s fingers clenched in her hair, holding her so tightly it brought tears to her eyes, but she didn’t cry out, didn’t move as his tongue swept over hers, licking up every last drop. His erection, already a long, hard presence against her belly, grew impossibly harder, straining against the clothing that separated them. Emma fisted a hand in Duncan’s shirt when he broke their kiss, pulling him back to her with a small, hungry moan as she took his mouth once more.

  “Emma,” he murmured, then swore softly when she nipped his lower lip angrily. She didn’t break the skin, but it had to hurt anyway.

  “What?” she snapped, her body screaming at her to get him naked now!

  “It’s late,” he said, his strong hands on her arms holding her away from his body when all she wanted to do was rub up against him like a cat.

  “Late?” she repeated. “Late for what?” she demanded.

  Duncan laughed, twisting away when she punched his gut in retaliation.

  “Stop laughing and tell me what’s going on, you stupid vamp—” Realization struck. “Oh.”

  Duncan rubbed his abdomen, as if her fist had actually done any damage to those rock hard muscles of his. He played it for all it was worth, though, until she rolled her eyes in mock disgust.


  “So, how long is it until sunrise?” she asked, staring up at him and letting her desire show in her eyes.

  Duncan groaned softly. “Don’t look at me like that,” he said. “This is hard enough.”

  Emma grinned wickedly at the probably unintended double entendre, but, of course, he knew what she was grinning at.

  “You’re bad,” he said. He let his hands run down her back to cup her ass, pulling her close enough to feel precisely how hard it was. “Just over an hour,” he murmured against her ear. “And Emmaline, my sweet, when I finally get to make love to you, I’m going to need much longer than that.”

  Emma was suddenly glad he was holding onto her, because the wave of lust she felt at those murmured words would have knocked her off her feet. This was so unfair.

  “What are you—” Her voice broke and she coughed slightly. “What are you doing tomorrow? I mean at night?”

  “I’ll be here all night,” he whispered, his breath warm against her skin as he kissed the tender spot just in front of her ear, then deposited a line of soft kisses over to her mouth.

  Emma stretched upward, but he placed one final, hard kiss on her lips and stepped back. “You be careful today, Emma,” he said seriously, brushing her hair behind her ear.

  “Promise me.”

  “I will,” she said breathlessly.

  “Don’t trust anyone,” he continued, then pressed a chaste kiss against her forehead. “And you should get whatever sleep you can. You’re going to need it later.” He winked, then spun around and strolled out to the hall and away.

  Emma stared at the empty doorway, her body thrumming with unmet need. “Dammit,” she whispered, then reached out and closed the door firmly. The only lock was the one on the knob, which wouldn’t keep out a vampire. But she didn’t really expect anyone to disturb her. She glanced around the room restlessly, then checked her watch. If she went to sleep immediately, she could manage two hours at the most before she had to get up and go to work. But the odds of falling asleep right away were zero point zero thanks to a certain vampire. What was the male version of a cock tease anyway? She’d have to look that up later. For now she resigned herself to a caffeine fueled day and opened her suitcase.