Out of the Night (Harlequin Nocturne)

by Trish Milburn

  Olivia did her best to play dumb. “You think these two were working for vampires?”

  “The fact that they were out here at night tells me yes.”

  “Were they killed by a vampire? I thought they were fighting with each other.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not. There are no bite marks, but their necks were broken. Hard for them to break each other’s necks, don’t you think?”

  The visible shiver that shook her wasn’t manufactured. Campbell had killed them so easily, so quickly. That he’d done it to protect her didn’t calm the nausea rising in her stomach. She didn’t dare make eye contact with Mindy.

  “So whoever they were working for turned on them?” Olivia asked.

  “We may never know. But I’d be very cautious if I were you.” He pointed toward the bodies now zipped up in body bags. “This is bad news, whatever really happened.” With a nod, he walked away and started talking to another of the officers drawing the attention of her neighbors. Just what she needed, curious stares turned in her direction right when she needed people to look the other way.

  She did her best not to fidget, irrationally afraid she’d somehow reveal that she had a vampire hiding in her walk-in freezer next to her frozen foods. Would he freeze in there? Did cold affect vampires at all?

  “He knows something,” Mindy said.

  “Shh.”

  When the police left and the coroner hauled away what was left of her attackers, Mindy strode to the sink and poured a large glass of water. She downed it before turning back toward Olivia. Her face was drained of color. She glanced toward the freezer. “I don’t know if I can stay here, not with him so close.”

  “He can’t hurt you.”

  “Like he didn’t hurt those guys?”

  “He’s in bad shape, Min. Give him the time to heal today and he’ll leave.”

  Mindy didn’t speak for what seemed like endless minutes. “I’ll stay, but we’re both leaving well before sunset.”

  Olivia nodded, though she didn’t think she could leave unless Campbell looked well on the way to mending. She’d deal with that later. Now she had to somehow get Mindy and herself through the day wearing a facade of normalcy.

  Mindy started preparing breakfast while Olivia headed to the freezer to check on Campbell.

  Mindy stopped her. “Don’t.”

  “It’s daylight. He can’t step foot out of there.”

  After a moment, Mindy released Olivia’s arm. She even followed as Olivia approached the freezer and gripped the handle.

  When Olivia opened the door, she saw that Campbell had managed to drag himself to a sitting position against some cartons of sausage. And he didn’t look as if he’d healed at all.

  “Hi, Mindy,” he said, his voice weak and raspy.

  Mindy gasped, though Olivia had no idea if it was because Campbell had spoken to her or because he looked as if he’d walked through hell. Without speaking, Mindy retreated. Olivia would be lucky if Mindy managed to stay in the building.

  When Olivia returned her attention to Campbell, beyond the pain she saw a sense of relief in his eyes. As if he was glad not to be alone anymore.

  She approached him and he tried to move away. He stilled only when she touched his hand, his badly burned hand.

  “Why aren’t you healing? Do the cuffs prevent that, too?”

  “No. I guess I just got smoked more than I thought.”

  She met his eyes. “You need to feed to get better, don’t you?”

  He hesitated before nodding.

  “What happens if you don’t? It’ll just take a long time to heal, right?”

  “Afraid not. I’ll stay like this. It’s too much damage.”

  She bit her bottom lip. After what he’d done for her, she couldn’t let him suffer, too weak to heal or even to leave the relative safety of her freezer.

  “If I take off the cuffs—”

  “No!”

  She flinched but didn’t move away from him.

  “No,” he said more calmly. “I won’t take the risk of hurting you.”

  “But I can’t let you suffer like this. I won’t.”

  A look of disbelief invaded his blue eyes. Then he turned his damaged hand over and held hers. “Call St. Patrick’s. Tell Chloe what happened. She can help you get what I need.”

  Olivia tamped down a twinge of jealousy that he was turning to another woman for help. It didn’t matter as long as it aided in his healing. And it was Chloe. Through their time together, she knew that Campbell and Chloe were nothing more than friends. Olivia and Chloe had bonded over the fact that they were perhaps the only two humans in Manhattan who could say they were true friends with vampires.

  Campbell squeezed Olivia’s hand despite how it must make his tender skin pull. “Why are you doing this?”

  She met his gaze then jumped off the proverbial cliff. “I think you know.” And before she could talk herself out of it, she leaned forward and kissed him gently on the lips. It was over before he had a chance to react, and the look of surprise on his face when she pulled away made her happy.

  Despite the seriousness of the situation, she couldn’t help smiling as she stood. But she let the evidence of how Campbell made her feel fall away before she left the freezer and closed the door behind her. At least that kiss might give him something to think about other than his condition. Judging by the rapid beating of her heart, she certainly wasn’t going to forget it anytime soon.

  Mindy looked up from where she was flipping sausage patties on the grill. “Is he dying in there?”

  “No, but he’s not getting better. He needs to feed.”

  Mindy fumbled and dropped a spatula. “You...you didn’t?”

  “No, but I have to help him.” Olivia headed to the phone and dialed St. Patrick’s. When Chloe answered, Olivia said, “Hey, Chloe. It’s Olivia. I need your help. I need to go to the blood bank.”

  “If you can wait another couple of hours, I’ll go and give my monthly quota, too.”

  “No, I need to go now. Campbell is here and he’s badly burned. He needs to feed.”

  Chloe gasped. Judging by the sounds coming through the phone line, Olivia guessed Chloe was standing and heading for the door. “I’ll be there in five minutes.”

  “Okay, thanks.”

  When Olivia hung up, Mindy was staring at her in disbelief.

  “You’re leaving me here with that thing?”

  “If not for him, I’d be suffering a fate worse than death now. Would you have me be so cruel as to let him die for it?”

  “He’s already dead.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  Mindy squeezed Olivia’s hands. “I’m glad you’re safe, but nothing’s ever going to make me like them or trust them. They’re savages.”

  Olivia wanted to cry as she faced the knowledge that she was going to lose her best friend or the guy she was falling for. She couldn’t have both. But first she had to help Campbell. Then she’d let him go.

  Chloe screeched to a halt right outside the diner.

  Olivia gestured to her that she’d be right out. “I’ve got to go. Help with this and I’ll never put you in this type of situation ever again.”

  Tears pooled in Mindy’s eyes but she finally nodded.

  “Okay. Be back soon.” Olivia hurried through the dining room out to Chloe’s car.

  “Buckle up,” Chloe said as she zipped away from the curb.

  Olivia got the impression that even if New York City traffic equaled what it had once been, Chloe would have found a way around it or possibly over the top of it. She very nearly took the right-hand turn at the corner on two wheels.

  “Um, we won’t do Campbell any good if we kill ourselves getting to the blood bank.”

  “You said he was bad off.”

  “He is, but he doesn’t seem to be getting worse.” At least she hoped not. Would she be able to tell? Suddenly, she wasn’t so sure and fear swelled in her. When she met Chloe’s eyes, the rush of concern in
her own must have been evident because Chloe floored the SUV, honking at anyone who dared get in her way.

  Chloe parked behind the blood bank, the same one the team had taken Campbell to after he’d attacked her. “Come on,” she said as she hopped out of the SUV.

  Olivia followed as Chloe swiped a card through a reader at the back door and stepped inside. Chloe walked into the first office at the back, one totally devoid of windows or any way sunlight could reach it.

  “Hey, big brother,” she said, and proceeded to hug a tall handsome guy with reddish-blond hair.

  “Hey, sis. What are you doing here?”

  “Ethan, this is Olivia.”

  Olivia shook his cool hand and noticed the silver bracelet around his wrist. A quick glance revealed an identical one on his other arm. So that was how he could stand to work in a blood bank. His sister was supplying holy water to more than V Force.

  “Seems Campbell got himself a bit scorched trying to protect her this morning, so she needs some AB-neg so he’ll heal,” Chloe said.

  Ethan made a pained expression. “We’re running really low. And I have half a dozen vamps coming in who got turned away last night. Two nights in a row of no blood and we could have a serious problem on our hands.”

  “Take mine.” Olivia startled herself with her words.

  Ethan looked at her. “How long since you last gave?”

  “Long enough.”

  Ethan hesitated only a moment before leading her to a chair and pulling out the necessary equipment. As he looked for the vein in the crook of her elbow, he met her gaze for a moment. “I’ve never seen anyone other than my sister give blood to a specific vampire.”

  “Campbell saved my life this morning. Time for me to return the favor.”

  “I think it’s a bit more than a favor,” Chloe said from where she’d seated herself on the countertop that lined the far wall. “I’ve never even heard of a vampire exposing himself like that for a human, for anyone.”

  Olivia had known what Campbell had done for her was huge, but it hit her anew. She winced as Ethan inserted the needle into her vein and started the blood flowing through the tubing. The momentary pain was nothing compared to how it must feel to have your flesh burned as if you’d walked through a fire. Regardless of the fact that Campbell was a vampire, it had to be beyond painful.

  “I admire your open-mindedness, but you need to be very careful,” Ethan said. “You’re now in more danger than you can even imagine.”

  “Ethan!” Chloe said.

  He glanced back at his sister. “It’s true, and you know it.” He returned his attention to Olivia. “You know it, too. The man Campbell is at his core might not want to hurt you, might even care for you a great deal, but he’s going to always be battling the vampire side of himself. We all do. Even if he’s not hungry, your blood will call to him. That’s never going away. Ever.”

  Olivia swallowed hard at the thought of seeing Campbell in full bloodlust again. She didn’t want to think of him that way, but Ethan’s words kept echoing off the walls of her mind. Was her kindness and acceptance enough to change him, to keep the vampire at bay, or was she the world’s biggest fool? She shifted her gaze to the blood draining from her arm, blood that would feed the vampire who might end up killing her.

  Chapter 15

  Campbell’s mouth watered before Olivia even opened the door to the freezer. His fangs ached to descend but couldn’t. He needed to feed soon so he could get out of these cuffs. He was nearing the max time confined before the blessed silver started poisoning him.

  When she opened the door, his nostrils flared at the scent of the blood. It was fresh, still faintly warm. And it was...hers. His gaze flew to hers.

  “I had to,” she said, evidently reading his expression correctly. “They were running too low.”

  He nodded and reached for the first bag. “Go outside. I don’t want you to see this.”

  “No, I’ll stay.” She sat on a box of bacon, but she did avert her eyes.

  He understood. After all his years of drinking blood, he could still remember his initial revulsion after being turned. It’d taken him a couple of years to get over it.

  Unable to wait any longer, he drained all the bags she’d brought him, thankful that no fangs were required for the consumption of bagged blood. He felt his body start to heal as soon as he swallowed the first time.

  “Is it helping?” she asked after he was finished drinking.

  “Yes. Thank you.”

  She looked at him then, and her mouth fell open. “I can see a difference already.”

  “Hopefully I don’t look like charcoal anymore.”

  She slipped off her box and moved closer. “Definitely not.”

  There was that weird phantom heartbeat again, memories of how his human body would react to a beautiful woman. Truth be told, his vampire body reacted much the same way.

  “I’ll leave as soon as it’s dark,” he said.

  Her eyebrows scrunched. “There’s no rush. You need to heal more.”

  He lifted his hands. “When the sun sets, I’ll need you to take these off. We can only wear them for a max of twelve hours before they begin to slowly kill us.”

  Her eyes widened and she reached for the cuffs. He pulled them away. “Not yet. I want to make sure that I can leave as soon as you release me.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t understand. Chloe’s brother had on blessed bracelets, and he was fine.”

  “He takes them off as soon as he leaves the blood bank. By the time he goes back to work, he’s healed of their effects and can put them on again.”

  “Why don’t all vampires wear them?”

  “Some of us need to be able to fang at a moment’s notice. The Soulless wouldn’t dream of it. The rest? They just don’t like how they make them feel, as though you’ve been sapped of all your energy. And as long as they feed regularly, it’s not a problem for the Souled. But they really can make you feel like crap.”

  She wrapped her hand around his, now more healed than burned flesh. “I’m sorry you were hurt so badly because of me.”

  He turned his hand over to clasp hers. “This was not your fault.”

  “But if you’d never met me—”

  “I would have missed out on knowing a remarkable woman.”

  She smiled, and he was unable to believe they were touching each other, that she was close enough that he could feel her breath wafting across his cheeks, warmth against the constant cold. She moved closer and lifted her hand to his cheek. “You’re almost completely healed.”

  “Thanks to you.”

  “And Chloe and Ethan.”

  “My trio of heroes,” he said. Then he sobered, remembering how close he’d come to losing her to the vampire underworld. “I’m sorry I was so harsh with you before. I thought I was doing the right thing, staying away.”

  “I know.”

  He saw a flash of the remembered hurt he’d caused her. It made him feel guilty and amazed at the same time, amazed that she could have even been hurt by his words and absence. What could she possibly see in him? The fact that she evidently did see something worthwhile made him want to give her everything. Of course, he couldn’t. Not anything near what she deserved.

  Damn, he wanted her. But even though he was fully fed, he didn’t trust himself. He broke eye contact. “You should get back to your customers. You don’t want to draw unwanted attention.”

  “Afraid it’s too late for that.” But she did stand and head for the freezer door. “I’ll be back when it clears out.”

  He sat in the freezer listening to the various conversations in the restaurant. He heard many of the customers ask about the cops and the dead guys in the alley, how Olivia and Mindy did their best to shift those conversations without drawing suspicion. When he detected the last person leaving the dining area and the sun approaching the western horizon, he sat up straighter.

  As soon as Olivia opened the freezer door, he said, “It’s tim
e I leave.”

  “Oh, okay.” She stopped for a moment as if she’d been surprised by his abrupt statement.

  He needed to get away from her for a while, to clear his senses of her smell, the sound of her voice, the rhythm of her breathing. But when she moved close, he clasped her hand and brought it to his lips, kissed her fingers.

  “Don’t think I don’t want to stay,” he said. “You have no idea how much.”

  She met his gaze. “Then stay.”

  His mouth stretched in a sad smile. “I can’t.”

  “You’re not a danger to me, not now.”

  “I’m always a danger to you. You have to accept that.”

  “You won’t let anything happen.”

  Her faith in him was almost his undoing, partly because he knew she didn’t come to it easily. Even now, some part of her probably struggled with doubt about him, about her safety around him. And still she voiced a confidence in him he didn’t deserve, that no vamp did. Maybe he’d allow himself just a little taste. He leaned forward and kissed her, fell into the sweet flavor of her lips, their warmth. It felt like coming home after a long trip away. What was meant to be a simple parting deepened the moment she opened to him. His tongue slid into her mouth and tangled with hers. She moaned and his entire body reacted with need. Not the need of a vampire but that of a man for a woman.

  Campbell started to run his fingers along her face, only to realize he was still cuffed. What the hell was he doing? As if he hadn’t put Olivia in enough danger already.

  He pulled back. “I need to go.”

  She hesitated but finally shifted away. Without meeting his eyes, she unhooked his cuffs then stood. He wanted to reach out to her as she headed for the door, but he refrained. He needed to leave before either one of them went too far.

  Damn it, he’d already gone too far. He’d kissed her, tasted her, had gotten himself invited into the sanctuary of her home. He followed her into the kitchen, wishing things could be different.

  He spotted Mindy at the far side of the kitchen and smelled her fear. She had a firm grip on one of those wooden mallets that were used to tenderize meat. Sometime during the day, she’d shaved the handle down to a sharp point, a very effective stake. Hoping to somehow put her at ease, he nodded. “Thank you.”