by Мишель Роуэн
"Excuse me—" she said. "Are you here for the convention?"
He looked around at her. "That's right. How'd you know?"
"I can spot a gorgeous vampire hunter from a mile away."
He elbowed his friend. "A groupie."
She fluttered her eyelashes at them. "Maybe I am."
The hunter eyed her from top to bottom, pausing for way too long on the middle part. "You should come to the awards tonight. There's a party afterward, and we can all get to know each other better. I might even let you touch my stake."
Her smiled widened. "Really? That sounds like fun."
The elevator stopped at the fourteenth floor, and the men got off and waved at Janie before the elevator doors closed behind them.
Quinn eyed her. "Let you touch his stake?"
"Vampire hunters love the double entendre."
"So whatwas that?"
"Just me being friendly. And a reminder that if you mess with me to get the Eye, number one, I'd kick your ass. Number two, I can always holler for one of those hairy mammoths to come save me."
"You wouldn't really do that, would you? After all we've been through together?"
She looked away. "Just try me."
The doors opened on the seventeenth floor and they got out and walked down the hall.
Quinn stopped in front of his door, swiped the key card, and turned the knob. "Fine, be that way."
She raised an eyebrow, probably surprised he was giving up so quickly, and brushed past him.
He grabbed the back of her jacket and, before she was able to say a word, pulled her into his room and slammed the door shut.
Quinn stood with his back against the door, aka: her only means of escape.
"We need to talk, Janie."
Her heart pounded hard. No, they didnot need to talk. What they needed to do was have some time apart so she could figure out what she was going to do next. Her Boss's threat never left her mind: kill the vampire or else.
She didn't want to kill Quinn. The thought of him dead made her heart ache.
And yet she wasn't too thrilled with the "or else" part of that threat, either.
"Isn't talking what we've been doing for the past day and a half?" she finally said. "I think we've run out of topics."
He shook his head. "There's a way we can both get what we want."
She clenched the Eye in her right hand. "Get out of my way or I'm going to beat you to a pulp."
His lips twitched.
Great, she thought. He found her amusing. She'd been way too soft on him. He had no concept of how mean and nasty she could get when she had to. She might not look it at first glance, but she was like a dangerous animal cornered—
She glanced around at the room. —cornered in a VIP suite that absolutelyrocked .
It seemed obvious that the El Diablo had a devil theme throughout the hotel. This room was no different.
It was huge and decorated in rich fabrics, shades of red and gold and orange. A blazing fireplace took up the majority of one wall, and paintings of naked or scantily clad women filled the other walls. Instead of looking cheap or cheesy, they added a sensual flavor to the space. Another wall was entirely taken up by a window that looked out and down to the Bellagio Hotel's fountains next door.
Sure as hell beat theSleepytime Inn.
"If you don't let me out of here I'm going to…" She trailed off as another gorgeous element of the room stood out to her. The bed! It was huge. And round! It was also draped in a gauzy red canopy. She was willing to bet it was a million times more comfortable than any of the hard and lumpy motel beds she'd stayed on for way too many weeks to count.
Niiice.
Quinn followed her line of sight.
"You're going to… curl up and have a nap?" He raised an eyebrow and grinned, showing the edge of his fangs. "You know, you're more than welcome to share my mattress anytime you like. However, I really should have a shower first. It's been a long day."
She glared at him.
"Ouch," he said. "If looks could kill."
"If only that's all it took. But we can do it the hard way if you'd prefer."
"That sounds interesting, too."
"I don't have time for this, Quinn. Please get out of my way."
His grin vanished and was replaced by the strained expression lying just underneath the surface. He wasn't enjoying himself. He was just as stressed out as she was. They had reached an impasse, and somebody was going to lose.
She was out of options and getting very close to being out of time. Maybe if she got the Eye to the Boss,
that would be enough. He'd forget about his orders for her to kill Quinn. It wasn't much, but it was all she had as a plan to keep him alive.
She swallowed past the lump in her throat. "I'm sorry, Quinn."
He frowned and met her eyes. "You are?"
"If there was another way… then maybe we could work something out. But I have to get this to my
Boss as soon as he contacts me."
"So he can use it."
She nodded. "I suppose so."
"What if it doesn't work for him?"
Her stomach turned over at the suggestion. "It will. Of course it will. Why wouldn't it?"
He rubbed his chin and suddenly wouldn't meet her eyes.
She frowned deeply and closed the distance between them to grab his arm. "Why wouldn't it work?"
He didn't say anything for a moment. "Have you looked at the drawing recently?"
She fumbled in her handbag and pulled out the drawing of the Eye the Boss had given her when first giving her the assignment. It looked exactly like the one she had in her possession.
Almostexactly.
The Eye she had was missing something. A red stone, like a ruby, that sat just beneath the enclosed crystal globe top. Why the hell hadn't she noticed that before?
If the Eye didn't work when she brought it to the Boss, he wouldn't take it well. He'd most likely take his disappointment out by killing everybody within a three-mile radius.
She swore and pushed Quinn up against the door. "You knew? All this time and you didn't say anything?"
"Hey, take it easy. It's the stone that Malcolm had buried in his back yard. The one he said was useless after it revealed the true map."
"He was lying to us?"
"You think?"
"That son of a bitch. Why didn't you let me stake him?" She punched the wall for lack of a better thing to punch. Her hand immediately screamed in pain. "Dammit! That bastard still has it, and I have no idea where he is now."
"Why do you assume he still has it?" Quinn asked.
"Well, of course he has it. Who else would—" She stopped talking and looked at him. He didn't look cocky, but he sure looked relaxed. "Youhave it."
"Maybe."
"Where is it?" Her gaze raked down the front of him.
"Feel free to search me again. That was kind of enjoyable this morning when you were looking for the map."
"Damn you, Quinn!" She punched him in the stomach.
He hissed out a breath and grimaced. "Okay.Not enjoyable." After a moment, he straightened up and walked over to sit on the edge of the bed. "I have a proposition for you, Janie. Are you going to listen to me or not?"
Her arms were crossed so tightly that her hands started to feel numb. "I'm listening."
"I have the stone. You have the Eye. One won't work without the other."
Her face had become extremely hot, and it wasn't just because of the huge fireplace. "Understood."
"You want the Eye so your Boss won't hurt your sister, right?"
"Correct."Among other reasons , she thought.
"If she's safe, it wouldn't matter if he got the Eye or not."
She thought about that for a moment. "Maybe."
"I'm going to help you find her. Tonight."
"There's not enough time."
He shook his head. "If she's in Vegas, then we'll find her. When we find her, we'll take her somewhere where your
Boss can't touch her."
"And then?"
"And then you'll let me have the Eye."
She shook her head. "No, that won't work. He'll be furious if I don't bring it to him."
"After I'm finished with it, you can have it back. He doesn't have to know it's been used."
"He'll know when he tries to make a wish."
"Or maybe he'll think it simply doesn't work for him. He won't blame you."
"You don't know him. He'll kill me."
"I'll protect you."
She laughed at that dryly, then looked out of the floor-to-ceiling windows down to the Vegas Strip. The vague reflection of a dirty, windblown, frustrated blonde looked back at her. She glanced over her shoulder.
"You want it that bad."
"Haven't I proven that to you by now?"
"All this just to be human again."
He shrugged.
"Human isn't all that great," she said.
"I know. Wasn't that long since I was one."
"So what the hell is the big deal? Why this single-minded obsession to not be a vampire anymore?"
She waited, but he didn't answer right away. She turned around again to fully look at him. His throat worked like he was trying to swallow and was having a hard time with it.
"I've been a monster all of my life, Janie. I just never realized it. Now Iliterally am one. It's my punishment for being a hunter all those years. But if I can be human again… I can change things. I can try to redeem myself. I can help people. I know I can."
"You really think it's that simple?"
He crossed his arms and walked over to the window to stare outside. "No, of course not. Nothing's simple. But if I was an evil human, I have no idea how horrible a vampire I'll become if given enough time. And if I have much more blood—" His voice broke. "I can see myself becoming like Malcolm. An immortal, indiscriminant murderer who doesn't even realize what he's thinking and doing is insane. I don't want to hurt anyone, Janie."
She put her hand on her hip and studied him for a moment. "And you think getting the chance to make this wish is going to change all of that."
He moistened his lips with the tip of his tongue. "If it doesn't, then I'm out of options. I won't live this way. I won't. One way or the other—I either live as a human or I'll… I'll die as a vampire."
Her heart clenched. "What are you talking about? You wouldn't kill yourself over this, would you?"
His silence answered her question.
She moved closer to him, wanting to wrap her arms around him and hold him tight. To tell him it was going to be okay.
But then she changed her mind.
The immediate sympathy she felt that he'd had to come to this horrible decision was pushed away by a big wave of anger. "I think you might be the dumbest guy I've ever known."
He blinked at her. "Is that so."
"Yeah. Dumb. Moronic. Idiotic." She shook her head. "Honestly, you're such a fool, Quinn."
"This is making me feel so much better."
"Sorry, but I'm not on the high school cheerleading squad. Never was. Honestly. If you're willing to kill yourself over something like this, you deserve to die."
"You're probably right."
She hissed out a long breath. "You know what? You seemed so cool and cute and together back when I was a kid with a crush. Little did I know what a difference a dozen years would make. Pathetic."
He frowned at her. "Maybe I won't wait to end it later. Got a spare wooden stake lying around?"
She shook her head as she tried to figure out what to do. If she didn't let Quinn use the Eye, he was going to be looking for ways to kill himself. If she did let him use it, her Boss would probably kill him.
They were screwed either way.
"Fine," she finally said through clenched teeth.
"Fine, what?"
"Fine, we'll look for my sister. If, and that's a big fatif we find her, then you can make your loser,
cop-out wish and I won't try to stop you."
And then she'd figure out what to do about the Boss. There had to be another way out of this situation.
Christ. Maybe she should have just killed Quinn earlier when she had the chance.
The thought was almost funny. Almost.
He looked at her warily, perhaps waiting for the catch. "Okay."
"Okay." She shook her head again. "I'm going to find something to wear that doesn't smell like sweaty desert. Had I known this assignment was going to take more than a day, I would have packed a bigger bag. I need a vacation so bad."
He cleared his throat. "So, meet you in the lobby in half an hour?"
"Fine." She left the room and headed down the hall to her own room.
She felt something wet on her face and reached up to touch her cheeks. Wet. Clear, warm liquid.
Oh, Christ. She was crying.
When the hell had that happened? Yeah, she was crying over the stupid vampire's lack of intelligence and common sense. Not to mention her own lack of judgment when it came to him.
She wanted to beat it into him that he was great, vampire or not. That he was nowhere near evil. She'd met evil guys, and Michael Quinn wasn't one of them. Had he made some mistakes in his life? Sure. Who hadn't? Was it something worth dying over?
Was he someone worth killing just because her Boss said so?
No.
She'd figure it out. Nobody had to die today. Not if she had anything to say about it.
She ran the back of her hand over her eyes to dry things.
Haven't cried in years, she thought.This. This is what triggers it ?
I must be premenstrual.
She needed to buy something expensive to wear. Immediately. That would help take her mind off things.
She took the elevator down to the shops, shoving the Eye into her handbag. Then, checking to make sure she was still Visa-endowed, she disappeared into one of the stores to spend as much money as necessary on as little designer fabric as possible.
Quinn went into the washroom to splash some water on his face and tried to compose himself.
Good thing he wasn't trying to impress Janie with his manly ways, because he'd just messed up royally.
Revealed a little too much of that soft white underbelly. Women like her didnot go for signs of weakness.
He wished he could say he was just playing her to get what he wanted, but he was too bone-weary tired to play any more games. This was him. Warts and all.
Take it or leave it.
Janie, quite obviously, preferred to leave it, as she'd hot-tailed it out of the room as soon as she could.
Disgusted by him.
Good thing he didn't care what she thought.
He didn't, right?
He looked up at the bathroom mirror. Yet another one that refused to reflect his pasty face. Seemed to be a trend with mirrors. He brought his hand up to his face and touched his cheek, his nose, his eyebrows just to make sure he hadn't just faded away completely into nothingness.
When and if he got to be human again, he'd be able to see himself. Stare right into his own reflection and the person he hated most in the whole wide world.
He thought he resented his father for making him into the man he was?
Misplaced blame. Big-time.
Maybe being human again wouldn't solve all of his problems. Not even put a dent in them, but it was something. If he didn't have that goal… then what did he have? His life was completely and utterly devoid of meaning.
Except for finding Janie's sister.
After that, finding this Boss and kicking his ass. There was no way he'd let the guy lay a finger on Janie.
If he could accomplish that, then that was something. Something real that wasn't entirely self-serving.
He splashed some more cold water on his face and then left the room.
The fact that he was in a hotel that he knew currently held at least three hundred vampire hunters did not leave his mind for a moment. In addition to the fear—which he of
course was feeling in spades—he also felt amused by the irony. He'd been a hunter, and now he was one of the hunted.
He tried to think back to what he would have done at a convention if he'd found a vamp at the hotel.
Called my friends and had a little fun, he thought with a sick feeling.
Best to keep as low a profile as possible. Later he'd do a little digging around and make sure everything was running smoothly without any Malcolm-induced surprises hiding in the woodwork.
According to the hunters they'd briefly met in the elevator, the awards were that night. They were called the awards, but really it was a chance to pat each other on the back and plan for the next year. Quinn already knew that the overall leader of the hunter community, Gideon Chase, was to give a brief motivational talk about his plans for the coming year. Quinn's father, Roger, had been a leader, but even he'd had somebody to answer to. And that man was Gideon.
Gideon was to the hunter community as Donald Trump was toManhattan real estate. Big bucks, from a long line of hunters. He enjoyed it. Found the glamour his father and grandfather before him had shunned.
This was his night to shine. In fact, Quinn knew that he was going to be receiving a special award for his work not only behind the scenes financially, but as a field operative who'd taken out a record number of vamps in the East Coast area over the past year. He and Quinn had even briefly been friends back in the day.
Briefly.
Yeah. Quinn would definitely be staying away from him.
He kept his eyes on the ground and made his way toward the lobby.
"I thought you said you'd only be a half an hour," he heard Janie say.
His downcast eyes landed on a pair of shiny black stiletto heels leading to long, bare legs, then a red dress that began several inches above the knee and fit her body like… like a really sexy tight red dress should. His gaze skimmed over the cleavage displayed by her plunging neckline. The halter-top straps framed her pale neck and throat, which were otherwise unadorned. Her lips were the color of her dress… red. Blood red. Her ice blue eyes were rimmed in smoky black liner. Her long blond hair fell across one shoulder, softly draping over her right breast.