“I know you,” he said, his voice low, his breathing harsh.
She shook her head. “We’ve never met.”
Her voice was sultry, only adding to her appeal. Not that she required any help.
Thor watched her. “No. I know you. I’ve thought of you before when I’m—” He stopped, realizing he was about to confess to masturbating while fantasizing about her. He didn’t date, but he had enough sense to know that telling her he whacked off while thinking about someone identical to her would probably be unwise.
“Thought of me when you were what?” she asked, staying close to him.
He didn’t need to see his face to know it had reddened. Swallowing hard, he glanced away. “I’ve seen you in my head before. Like dreaming while awake.”
A slight smile tugged at her full lips. She slid her hand down his arm and lifted his own, turning his palm up. She ran her fingers over the lines on his palm, her smile becoming full-blown. She managed to be even more beautiful. Suddenly, her brow creased. “Your lifeline ends, but starts again. You’ve crossed over.”
“Crossed over?” he asked, barely able to get words out as his mind was a jumbled mess of hormones. He wanted to lift the woman and ravish her. Couldn’t she see he was barely holding on to his control?
“You’ve died and been brought back,” she said, continuing to stare at his hand as if it held all the answers in the world. “But you weren’t the same when you returned. You were more in some ways, less in others. You wage a war internally, each day you exist, and you’re afraid soon you’ll lose yourself to it all.”
His breathing increased as she spoke of things she should have no knowledge. Yes, he’d been reborn part vampire, but he didn’t know anything more about his past than the fact he’d always been able to shift into a panther. It felt too natural shifting forms for it to be anything but what he’d been before.
She closed her eyes and tipped her head back, swaying slightly, his hand still in hers. “There is a darkness that eats away at you. You fear it. And a hunger you think will never be satisfied.”
Thor jerked his hand out of hers, wondering how it was she knew so much about him when he knew next to nothing about himself.
She looked up at him. “Lance.”
“W-what?” he questioned, as the name that haunted his dreams came from her lips.
“Lance,” she repeated, easing closer to him, her body pressed to his.
Thor stepped back quickly as his demon side tried to rear its ugly head. It wanted to lash out and protect him. He would not permit it to harm her.
She stepped closer to him, as if she didn’t have a care in the world and he wasn’t deadly.
Was the woman insane?
“I’m scaring you,” she said before easing back, a forlorn look spreading over her face. “I’m sorry, Lance. I didn’t mean to read you. It doesn’t happen with everyone I touch.”
Thor shook his head, lifting a hand to keep her at bay, more for her own safety than anything else. “Why is it you call me Lance?”
“Because it’s your name,” she said, watching him closely. “Don’t tell me you’re one of those guys who comes to New Orleans and drinks to the point they forget their own name. Come on, I’ll help you get a car back to your hotel. You can sleep it off there. Thank you for your help with Austin and for, uh, offering to kill him and his buddy. That was sweet in a creepy, don’t-really-do-it kind of way.”
“I’ve had nothing to drink,” he said, his gaze snapping to her neck. He licked his upper row of teeth, his fangs wanting to distend and sample her. Deep down, he knew she’d taste heavenly. That one small bite would never be enough. And while he’d stayed away from the women willing to feed his vampire side at Pierre’s home, the idea disgusting him, the thought of drinking from Emi turned him on in ways it shouldn’t. It made him rock-hard.
She stared blankly up at him. “But you don’t know your name is Lance?”
He opened his mouth, his intent to lie to her and then make a quick exit. That wasn’t what happened. “My name is Thor.”
She snorted. “As in the god of thunder?”
He nodded.
She grinned. “Well, I can see why you’d get the nickname. You’re what I’d think of if I was picturing the Norse god of thunder.”
He boldly stepped closer to her. “What did those men want with you?”
“They’re ex-friends of a close friend of mine,” she said, being as clear as mud in her explanation. “They think I talked him into going home. I didn’t, but I’m happy he went. They’re no good. He’s got a shot at a good life, but they don’t.”
“Are you the reason there was a wall of power up that stopped them from getting to you?” he asked, remembering how the power had burned him for the briefest of moments.
“Yes.” She glanced around nervously.
Thor didn’t like seeing her unease. He reached out and took her hands in his, drawing her closer to him. “Good.”
“Good?” she echoed. “You’re not totally freaked out?”
He snickered. “No. Not at all.”
“But you were when I told you your name—which, by the way, is not Thor,” she said, shaking her head. “Lance, you’re a really strange guy. I like that a lot. Want to come home with me?”
He blinked in surprise. “I’m sorry, what?”
She grinned. “I just tried to convince you to come home with me for the night. The look on your face says that did freak you out.”
“You want to take me home with you? Why?” he asked, stunned.
She lifted a brow. “Well, aside from the obvious, which is, you’re drop-dead gorgeous, every dead person around you right now is telling me to keep you close to me.”
His gaze darted around. She could see the dead? And there were dead people near him?
She laughed. “Relax, they’re harmless and very interested in you. Kind of like a moth to flame. I’d judge them, but really, I kind of get it.”
Thor wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He did know that she wasn’t the mission, and a detour could prove fatal. If Pierre found out he’d dismissed his objective to go home with a woman for the night, he’d have Emi hunted and killed. The idea of causing her harm made his body tense.
He knew he should leave her and put distance between them, but he couldn’t seem to pull himself away. He didn’t want to leave her. He wanted to do the opposite. He wanted to lift her and ram his cock deep inside her and pound into her until they both orgasmed. He wanted to claim the woman with both sex and by sinking his teeth into her tender flesh.
Whoa? Claim?
The idea should have been like ice water getting dumped over his head. It wasn’t.
Without thought, he touched her cheek, and then did something that stunned him—he dipped his head and pressed his lips to hers.
When she melted against him and parted her lips, he growled, jerking her to him more. He ate at her mouth, the taste of her driving him wild. Their tongues danced around each other erotically, spurring his need onward.
Emi put her arms around his neck, and Thor found himself lifting her, their mouths still connected. Her breasts smashed against his chest, only serving to increase his hunger for her.
When he realized he was about to try to fuck her against the wall, out in public, in the center of Bourbon Street, he stopped their kiss cold. Their tongues remained laced around one another for a moment longer before she stiffened in his arms.
He set her down gently and broke the kiss. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.”
“You didn’t?” she asked, her fingers going to her passion-filled lips, her eyes wide. “It sure felt like you meant it. I was just going for hot dogs. I really didn’t expect all this. Not that I’m complaining or anything. This beats hot dogs by a long shot.”
She was odd, and he found he liked that about her.
He grinned sheepishly. “Well, I meant it, but I didn’t mean to take it so far out here in the open. My apologies.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way or think I’m easy like those women who were showing off their breasts to anyone willing to throw a set of beads at them, but you could have totally taken that kiss further.” She touched her lips more, drawing attention to them.
Thor wanted to kiss her again and test her offer. He resisted if for no other reason than he really would screw her in public, and she deserved better than that. “You’re beautiful,” he stammered.
She raked her gaze over him. “Ditto.”
“I should go now,” he said, remaining in place.
She tipped her head. “The spirits around you have made it very clear to me that your place is by my side tonight.” She paused, looking at something to his right.
There was nothing there that he could see, yet oddly, he believed that someone or something was there.
“What do you mean, what he’s chasing is what has been looking for me?” she asked of the nothingness.
Thor’s gut clenched. She couldn’t mean Chilton and his secret weapon were hunting her, could she? As he focused on the question, a sinking feeling started deep within him. If she was right, she really did need him by her side. While her magik trick worked to keep away the smelly street men, it wouldn’t do anything to stop a powerful vampire.
Emi looked to his left. Her eyes widened. “I’m not telling him that.”
“What?” he asked.
“Nothing,” she said fast, her upper chest staining with pink.
“Tell me what the spirit said.”
She huffed. “How do you know I’m telling the truth about seeing dead people? I could just be crazy, you know.”
He smirked. “Call it a hunch, but I don’t think you’re bat-shit crazy.”
“Why aren’t you scared of what I can do?” she demanded, looking almost offended that he didn’t think she was crazy. Odd woman.
“Sweetheart, I’m the thing that scary things are afraid of,” he supplied.
She stared at him, and her gaze eased down him slowly, making his body heat on the way. When her eyes reached his groin, she wet her lips and then jerked back. “Oh, um, yeah. I can see how people would be afraid of you.”
Thor chuckled and realized he felt almost normal around her. Like the stress of the world wasn’t on his shoulders, as was generally the case. For a moment, he felt less broken.
He was about to draw her into his arms again when the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Something dangerous was close, and moving in on their location rapidly.
He knew that scent—Chilton.
Without thought, Thor grabbed Emi’s hand and moved quickly with her through the busy street. She tugged lightly, and he stopped to avoid harming her.
“What’s going on?” she asked, her eyes wide as she struggled to keep up with him as he dragged her through the Quarter.
He bent to be eye level with her. “Something bad is coming.”
She touched her chest with her free hand and shivered. “The darkness? You sense it too?”
He slid his hand to the back of her head and dragged her against his chest, wanting to not only ease her fear but warm her as well. She should have been hot. It was nearly a hundred degrees, and that wasn’t even counting the humidity. Instead, she was ice cold. Worry for her assailed him. “Emi?”
“I’m fine, Lance. But I have to get hot dogs.” She trembled in his arms.
He nearly laughed at her train of thought. “Sweetheart, hot dogs can wait. Okay?”
“Okay,” she said, her voice barely there as she continued to shake in his arms.
He felt Chilton growing closer, and there was something else with him. A lot of somethings, if Thor’s senses were on point. He took Emi’s hand in his once more and locked gazes with her, his other hand finding her chin. “Sweetheart, we have to move, now. Are you okay to run? I’ll carry you if need be.”
“W-what?” she asked, her eyes wide. “Carry me? Why? Wait…run?” She shook, and he held her tighter to him, drawing upon his shifter side to heat his body above normal. She responded to the new warmth and shoved herself against him tighter. As she did, he felt the threat growing near. As much as he wanted to hunt and kill them, his only concern at the moment was the woman in his arms.
The need to protect her was automatic, as if it was encoded into his very DNA. His master’s orders meant nothing to him compared to his drive to keep Emi safe from harm. He’d face a hundred master vampires if he had to.
Emi pushed on his chest and stepped back. “It’s coming.”
“I know,” he said, taking her hand in his once again. “We need to run. Can you do that?”
Nodding, she clutched his hand for dear life.
“Follow me, sweetie,” he said, turning and moving through the crowds on the street once more. He kept hold of Emi’s hand and weaved in and around the seemingly endless bodies. He held back his smile and winked, keeping hold of her as he moved through the Quarter as if he’d been there hundreds of times before. Maybe he had. He couldn’t exactly remember much of his life. He spotted a number of rainbow flags dotting the outer edges of a brick bar on the corner above. He headed in that direction, only to have Emi yank on him.
“This way,” she said, seeming more alert than before.
Good. He needed her thinking, not in shock. He gave in and let her lead, letting go of her hand, but staying close. He wanted both his hands free so he could either go for his weapon, in a holster in the back of his pants, or let his claws extend. Either would do in a pinch, but he suspected the claws would actually do more damage to another supernatural. Whatever was hot on their trail felt somewhat like a vampire, but more. Though he still smelled Chilton’s scent in the mix and it confused him.
And while he couldn’t be certain, deep down, he simply knew that what was coming at them wasn’t after him, it was after Emi.
There was something else there too, a smell he more than knew.
Beowulf!
No. It couldn’t be. Could it?
Chapter Twelve
A moment of sheer panic assailed Thor as visions of Pierre sending one of his pets, possibly Beowulf, to kill Emi came over him. It would be a very Pierre thing to do. Had he orchestrated the moment of male bonding between the men prior to Thor’s leaving? Was it all a way to lure Thor into a false sense of security and then gut him when he wasn’t expecting it? Sending Thor out to meet someone from his past that he had a connection to, and then having her killed in order to see Thor’s reaction, was exactly the type of games Pierre liked to play.
Sick fuck.
One of Pierre’s pets could be watching them this very second. They could be reporting back to the master, filling him in on how Thor had rushed to Emi’s defense. About how drawn to the woman Thor was. Worse yet, Pierre could very well be there, watching from a safe distance. It wasn’t as if Thor would have sensed him. He’d not even sensed him rise.
I won’t let him hurt her.
He had to get her far from the area. Far from the reach of harm. His pulse raced and his thoughts were scattered. Gone was the man who could enter any situation and come out the victor. He’d been replaced by a man Thor didn’t know. A man who panicked.
The very idea of Emi being hurt made it hard for Thor to think clearly. All he wanted to do was shift and run through the Quarter in panther form until he hunted and killed every threat there was to her. His beast could track the enemy better than he could. But he had to get her to safety first and then he could do battle. Not before.
He let her lead until the smell of the enemy began to grow to epic proportions. He knew then that the enemy was closing in on them.
Thor twisted, picked up Emi, and began running with inhuman speed. He’d figure out a way to explain it away to her later. For now, they needed to move faster, and he had to get her away from the threat closing in on them at a rapid rate.
He moved swiftly through the streets, going where his gut led him, hoping it was correct. The music from the Quarter grew faint and
the horrid smells faded away. Soon, he found himself far from the Quarter and in an area of the city that seemed all but abandoned. There wasn’t a soul out on the street. There was a notable absence of light as well. The entire area seemed to be blanketed in darkness. Unnaturally so. It was the kind of darkness and stillness that meant a predator was in the area. Something that scared away everything else—including light.
Fear for Emi struck him hard, nearly making him fall to his knees. He couldn’t lose her. He’d only just found her. He steadied himself and then set her on her feet, tucking her quickly behind him, putting his arms out, ready to shift and do battle as he stared around at the darkness engulfing them.
Emi touched his back gently. “Lance?”
“Everything will be all right, sweetie,” he said before realizing he’d answered to the name Lance. The more she called him by the name, the more it felt right. Like it was supposed to be so. He didn’t have time to think harder about it all. Not with what was happening around them. An attack was imminent. He just didn’t know where it would come from or in what form it would arrive in. But he did know it was coming. “Stay behind me, okay? No matter what.”
“Uh, anyone else ever tell you that you run freakishly fast?” she asked, her voice shaky. “And you carried me like I don’t weigh a thing. How?”
“I’m sure it’s been mentioned once or twice, and I’m stronger than I look.” He could feel fear pouring off her. He didn’t want her to fear him. Reaching back, he touched her gently. “I’d never hurt you. Please know that.”
“Oh, I know that, but what’s coming will try to hurt you. I can feel it.”
“To get to you, it will have to kill me first, and sweetheart, I’m not exactly easy to kill,” he said, staying in front of her.
“How about you not volunteer to die for me? Okay?”
His body tightened in anticipation of what was to come. The air held a threatening note, and Thor caught the faintest hint of a smell he recognized at once as belonging to Chilton. The thick heavy stench of rotting meat took over, and Thor knew instantly what was closing in on them—hybrids.
Area of Influence Page 10