Vamps and the City

by Kerrelyn Sparks

  Connor’s eyes narrowed. “He has read yer mind, hasn’t he?”

  That manipulating bastard. Her eye twitched. “I—I don’t think he learned anything valuable from me.”

  “Probably not.” Connor crossed his arms. “They never knew where the wedding was to take place.”

  Darcy nodded. All Austin could have learned from her was her most private fears and desires. And that was bad enough. He might even know she’d fallen in love with him. Empathic, ha! She’d thought he was exaggerating, but no, it was a gross understatement. Another lie.

  She snatched his profile from the folder. “Can I keep this?”

  “Aye. We have it all on computer.” Connor turned off the television. “What are ye planning to do?”

  “Get even.” Darcy noted Austin’s address on the profile.

  “I doona think it’s a good idea for ye to see him right now. Ye’re too upset. Let me talk to him.”

  “He’s my problem. I’ll deal with it.”

  Connor hesitated, frowning.

  “You made decisions for me in the past,” Darcy added quietly. “Don’t do it again.”

  A hint of pain crossed his face. “Verra well. I will leave this to you. But be careful. We doona know how he will react.”

  “I only spent a short time with him,” Shanna said as she stood. “But he seemed like a nice guy.”

  “He seemed like a lot of things,” Darcy muttered as she folded his profile and slipped it into her trouser pocket.

  “I thought he had a more open mind than the others,” Shanna continued. “This could be a good thing, you know. If you can convince him that some vampires are good, he could tell the others on the team.”

  Darcy balled her hands into fists. She didn’t feel like being a diplomat tonight. “I want to go now.”

  “All right.” Connor gathered together the DVD and folder. “I’ll take ye to Roman’s townhouse. Then, Ian can drive ye to the apartment.”

  This time, Darcy didn’t object when Connor draped an arm around her shoulders and teleported away. Thirty minutes later, Ian double-parked on a narrow side street in Greenwich Village. It was only a few blocks from the alley where her life had changed forever.

  “I’ll find a place to park,” Ian said. “How much time do ye need?”

  Darcy glanced at the clock on the dashboard. “I think thirty minutes should be enough.” She’d known Ian for four years now, yet it still rattled her that he looked like a teenager but was over four hundred years old.

  “I’ll be waiting for you outside his apartment at two-forty-five.” Ian left the lights flashing on Roman’s BMW and dashed around to open Darcy’s door. “Come.” He led her to the front door of the apartment building.

  “The mortal is verra strong, both physically and psychically, so be careful.” Ian removed some tools from his sporran. In less than a minute, he had the door unlocked.

  “Thank you.” Darcy walked into the building and went up the elevator to the fourth floor. The hallway was long and dimly lit. Austin’s apartment was halfway down, facing the street.

  A sudden reluctance swept through her. What was she doing? Sure she was pissed, but this confrontation was going to hurt her as much as it would him. Because, dammit, she still cared. For the past few weeks, she’d felt attraction, desire, worry, even love for this man. The emotions had poured into a deep, hungry well, and it couldn’t drain empty in just a few minutes.

  She tried the doorknob. Locked, of course. Would he hear her if she knocked? Would he even let her in? She considered finding Ian to let him fiddle with the locks. Or there was another possibility. She’d never tried it before. She’d never wanted to admit she was capable of it. It was a vampire thing.

  But she was a vampire. Time to stop pretending she was merely a human with an eating disorder who kept odd hours. She was a creature of the night, and that was the reason Austin Olaf Erickson had come into her life.

  She rested a palm against the door and concentrated. She only had to teleport to the other side—only move a few inches through space. She closed her eyes and focused her thoughts. Slowly, the floor beneath her feet disappeared. The door beneath her hand vanished. She quelled a sudden burst of panic and willed herself forward a few feet. Now, she concentrated on regaining her form. The room came into view, the same room she’d seen on Connor’s surveillance disk. A quick look around assured her the room was empty.

  She’d done it! She glanced back, noting the three deadbolt locks and alarm system control panel by the door. With a surge of pride, she realized even a macho, international spy couldn’t keep her out. Now, where was that lying scumbag?

  She moved quietly across the room. Austin obviously spent a lot of time on the leather couch that sat opposite the television. The coffee table was littered with videotapes, a laptop, and old computer disks. Not very modern for an international spy. And not very sober, either. A dozen empty beer bottles decorated the end table.

  In one corner of the room, a workout bench was surrounded by an assortment of weights. To the left, the living area opened into a small kitchen. To the right, she spotted a closed door.

  She opened it and wandered inside. Moonlight from the window illuminated several pieces of furniture—a dresser, a bedside table, and a queen-sized bed. Her eyesight and hearing had grown keener since becoming a vampire. She could hear his soft and regular breathing, see each fold and twist of the bed sheet around his legs and hips. Apparently, he moved a lot in his sleep. He’d pushed the sheet down to his hips. She could see the waistband on his boxer shorts.

  He was a beautiful man. Moonlight caressed the breadth of his back across the shoulders, the golden tint of his skin, the indentation of his spine as it came down his lower back. Darcy circled the bed, looking at him. The curve of his biceps, the soft, curly hair on his chest, the thick, tousled hair on his head, the little crease on his cheek where his dimple was. His skin looked bronzed and warm. How she had loved that warmth. But she had confused his body warmth with a warm, loving character.

  Her eyes brimmed with tears. She’d fallen for him so fast. His jaw was shaded with whiskers, darker than the sun-bleached hair on his head. It gave him an aura of danger, as if a pirate lurked beneath the golden surfer-boy. But the skin along his cheekbones was soft and smooth. His thick eyelashes rested against the soft skin, lending him a look of sweet innocence.

  She had believed in that innocence when all along there’d been a pirate underneath. How could you? Her thoughts screamed in her head. How could you lie to me?

  He moaned and turned onto his back.

  She stepped back. Had he heard her thoughts?

  He shook his head slowly, his face contorting with a grimace. “No,” he mumbled. He kicked at the sheet. “No.” His hands fisted. His eyes moved rapidly beneath his closed eyelids.

  A bad dream, that was all. Well, he deserved bad dreams.

  “No.” He curled into a fetal position. “Darcy.”

  She inhaled sharply. He was dreaming about her. And his voice had sounded wrenched with pain. A guilty conscience? Or had he fallen for her, too? She backed out of the room. She recalled the way he had looked that night in the greenhouse when he’d thought no one was watching. He’d looked miserable.

  She approached the couch. Were all these empty beer bottles his way of drowning the pain? The labels on the videotapes caught her eye. Local Four/Darcy Newhart. What on earth? She grabbed one and inserted it into the VCR. She located the remote control on the couch, then turned on the television. The volume was fairly low, but she punched the mute button just in case.

  The tape started. Her knees gave out, and she plopped onto the couch. Oh, God, she remembered this. It was the opening of the dog park in the Bronx. She was there, alive, walking in the sunlight. She pressed a hand against her mouth. Her eyes stung with tears. Dammit. She wasn’t going to cry. That life was over.

  She turned off the television and examined the videos. A dozen in all, they covered her entire career and
beyond. The last one’s label read Darcy’s Disappearance/Death? With a gasp, she dropped it on the table. Good God. She squeezed her eyes shut and concentrated on taking deep breaths.

  A calmness settled over her when she realized Austin Erickson had been watching those tapes. He’d studied her like a test subject in order to manipulate her. The lying scumbag.

  She picked up a computer disk and read the label. DVN/employee records. That bastard. She picked up two more. DVN/subscribers. DVN/advertisers. Good God, he must have downloaded everything from DVN. Is this what he’d done in her office? He’d come pretending that he wanted to see her, but all along he’d been seeking a way to destroy her workplace, her acquaintances, her entire world.

  She glimpsed something yellow beneath the disks and pushed them to the side. She lifted the yellow legal pad to make out the writing in the dim light. Her name was scrawled on the bottom of a list. And in the top margin, he’d written Vampires Must Die.

  With a strangled cry, she dropped the pad on the table. A shudder coursed through her body. Die? He meant to kill her? She clenched her hands together and looked at the list once more. Gregori, Vanda, Maggie, the list went on naming all the people she cared about. Panic flooded her, threatening to drown her with the full extent of Adam’s betrayal.

  She leapt to her feet. She would not be victimized like this. Her life had been stolen from her before, but never again. That bastard, she should march in there and knock his head off. But first, she needed to protect her vampire friends. No more pretending she wasn’t one of them. She was, and this was war.

  She ripped the first few pages off the legal pad and tore them up into tiny pieces. She eyed his laptop. It was probably full of information. She’d take it with her when she left. As for the disks, they needed to go. She gathered them up and strode into the kitchen. She opened the microwave and tossed them inside. Three minutes should be enough. She pushed the start button and stood back, smiling grimly as the sparks began to sizzle inside. Maybe the whole damned thing would blow up.

  “Hold it right there,” a deep voice spoke quietly. “Put your hands up where I can see them.”

  Darcy turned slowly and saw Austin move from the doorway of his bedroom. Moonlight glinted off the metal revolver in his hand.

  As he advanced, he pivoted from side to side, aiming his gun at the shadows. “Did you come alone?”

  He couldn’t see well, Darcy realized. “I’m alone.”

  He froze at the sound of her voice. “Darcy?”

  She flipped on the kitchen light and enjoyed the shocked look on his face. “Surprised to see me, Austin?” She motioned to his revolver. “If you’re planning to kill me now, you’ll have to do better than that.”

  Chapter 18

  She knew who he was.

  In a moment of crisis, Austin’s training usually kicked in, allowing him to shove all emotion into storage and react with cool logic and precision. That was how it was supposed to work. But one look at Darcy’s face, and his emotions were screaming to be let out. She knew who he was. Crap.

  He scanned the room to make sure she was alone. The locks on his door were secure. The control panel was still blinking, so the alarm was still on. She must have teleported in.

  A videotape was partially ejected from the VCR. She must have watched some of the tape. The computer disks were missing from the coffee table. Bits of yellow paper littered the table and floor. The list he’d made with the title Vampires Must Die. She’d seen it. With her name on it. The emotional door cracked open. “Shit.”

  “If you’re referring to yourself, I agree.” Darcy stood in the kitchen, her arms crossed, her expression harsh with anger.

  A blade of emotion stabbed at his heart. Not now. He pushed the pain aside and strode toward her. “I can explain.”

  “Don’t bother. I already know everything, Austin.” She wielded his name like a weapon, and each time she said it, it slashed at him, marking him as a liar.

  A series of loud pops erupted from the microwave.

  “What are you doing?” He ran to the kitchen and punched the button to open the microwave door. All the computer disks lay in a melted heap of plastic. Thank God he’d already downloaded everything onto his laptop and a memory stick. Still, it looked like the carousel plate in his microwave was ruined.

  He gave her an irritated look. “Cute.”

  She glanced at his boxers. “I could say the same thing.”

  Sheesh. Of all the nights to be wearing these stupid SpongeBob briefs. Splashed across his groin was SpongeBob proudly claiming to be boss of his pineapple. “My little sister gave these to me for Christmas.”

  Darcy arched her eyebrows. “You have a family? I thought something like you slithered out from under a rock. Or maybe, you were hatched in a green, slimy pond.”

  “I know you’re angry.”

  “Oh, wow. You really do have psychic powers.”

  “Not psychic enough.” He wasn’t thrilled with how things had turned out, either. He’d found the perfect woman only to lose her. “I actually thought you were human until a few days ago.”

  She stiffened. “I am human.”

  “I meant alive.” He set his gun down on the counter within his reach. “I thought you were an innocent mortal trapped in the vampire world. I wanted to save you.”

  She tilted her head, studying him. “You thought I was a mortal? You couldn’t tell the difference?”

  “No! You had a pulse, dammit. How can a vampire have a pulse? And you were drinking cold chocolate. And whenever I read your mind, you were thinking about beaches and the sun and your family. What kind of vampire longs for the sun?”

  She gritted her teeth. “I do.”

  “You had me completely fooled. I thought you were in terrible danger. I thought you needed rescuing.”

  “And you were going to be the hero and save me?” She stepped closer, her eyes glimmering with pain. “You’re too late.”

  He flinched. He was too late. She could never be his.

  “I saw the title on your handy little list. ‘Vampires Must Die.’ So now, instead of saving me, you want to kill me?”

  The pang dug deeper at his heart. “I could never hurt you.”

  “You’re lying again! You have hurt me.”

  “I didn’t mean to. I thought you were alive when I—but when I discovered you were dead—”

  “Do I look dead to you?” She jabbed a finger at his chest. “Did I feel dead when you were touching me? Did I taste dead to you in the hot tub?”

  “I thought you were alive, dammit!” He shoved her poking finger aside. “But when we got out of the hot tub, I could see my shadow. And you didn’t have one. That’s when I realized the truth.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “And that’s when you dumped me.”

  “What did you expect me to do? Make love to a dead woman?”

  She gasped, then drew back her hand and slapped him hard. “Can a dead woman do that?”

  He tasted blood on his lip. Sheesh, he should have known not to insult a female vampire. Darcy was incredibly fast and strong. He wiped his mouth and saw the red streak on his hand.

  She stiffened, staring at his hand.

  “What’s wrong, Darcy? Did you forget to eat before coming?”

  Her eyes blazed with anger. “I’ve never bitten anyone. If you knew me at all, you would know I could never do that.”

  “But you have the urge, don’t you?” He stepped toward her. “You can’t help it. It’s what you are.”

  “Stop it!” She shoved him back and strode from the kitchen. “I’m not like that. I’m not evil. And neither are my friends.”

  He followed her into the living room. “I’ve seen your kind in action. They attack people, rape and murder innocent women.”

  “Those are the Malcontents.” She paced across the room. “The rest of us aren’t like that.”

  “You have the same urges, the same thirst for human blood.”

  “Aagh!” She lifted both h
ands in frustration. “How can you be so blind? You’ve seen my friends on the show. You have to know there’s nothing evil about them.”

  He was so damned frustrated, he had to lash out. “Your dear friends predate the invention of synthetic blood. So, they must have preyed on the innocent. That makes them evil.”

  “What gives you the right to judge what is evil?”

  “I represent the innocent. The victims.”

  “You don’t believe I was a victim?”

  His heart stuttered. Of course she was a victim. And an innocent. Dammit, he wanted this to be simple. Either right or wrong. Not this murky mess that didn’t make any sense.

  She paced toward him. “I never lied to you about my name or my profession.” She pointed at the videotapes. “I never investigated you behind your back. I never invaded your workplace, pretending I wanted to kiss you when all I wanted was information. I never invaded your head. I never put your best friends on a hit list. I never betrayed you or planned to stab you in the back. So tell me, Austin, which one of us is evil?”

  He fell back onto the couch. Holy shit. He’d tried so hard to convince himself he was on the right side—the human side. But was he the one being inhuman?

  He looked at the stack of videotapes. He’d fallen in love with the human Darcy. When he’d found out the truth about her, he’d thought he could simply turn off those feelings. Announce her dead, bury the feelings, and go on with the assignment. But he couldn’t. Holy crap.

  He was compromised.

  And he was still in love. Even though he knew who she was.

  “I have to go.” She trudged toward the door. The last few steps, she closed her eyes and frowned with concentration.

  She bumped into the door. “Damn,” she muttered, then leaned her forehead against the door.

  His sweet Darcy. “Not much of a vampire, are you?”

  She shot an angry look at him over her shoulder. “I’m having trouble focusing.” She flipped the first deadbolt lock.