Finding Fire: Paranormal Romance (Bad Boys Of The Underworld Book 1)

by Crowe, Mallory

  Anna scanned the room and took in the damage. The man Nicolas had pinned to the table was also in a heap on the floor. One of his wrists was bent at a strange angle, and he was trying to crawl away with his one good arm. Why didn’t he get up to walk?

  A commotion behind her drew her attention. Nicolas punched the man who had just pinned Anna down. Even though he appeared half unconscious, Nicolas kept on hitting.

  Anna tried to yell and stop him from killing the man, but it only came out as a whisper. Even so, Nicolas stopped and looked at her. Anna tried to drag herself up with as much dignity as possible under the circumstances. Nicolas was suddenly there beside her and pulled her up.

  He let her lean against a table as he walked past the wreckage of their booth to grab her bag. When he came back, he braced one arm around her back to help her walk.

  Anna allowed him to assist her out of the bar. She noticed that all of the other patrons now stood behind the cash register.

  When they reached the cool night air, she pushed herself away from Nicolas’s warm body. “I’m fine,” she said.

  He shot her a disbelieving look. “I could take you to a hospital if you’d like.”

  “It’s really nothing. I fell, that’s it.” He raised an eyebrow at her downplaying of the incident and she continued, “A forceful fall, but a fall nonetheless.”

  He didn’t comment, and they walked for a couple of moments in silence. Once she got tired of the silence, Anna asked, “Were the two meatheads friends of yours?”

  He shook his head. “I’ve never seen them before tonight.”

  “Really? You didn’t do anything to piss them off? I find that hard to believe.”

  “They seemed young. They weren’t skilled fighters.”

  “They seemed skilled from my point of view. Did you see how big their arms were?”

  “Our strength is so great, muscle mass will not affect it much. It’s skill that decides the victor in a fight. I’m good, but it was two against one. They never landed a blow on me.”

  He studied her, and she tried not to show the aches that were becoming more and more apparent.

  “I wasn’t skilled enough to help you. I’m sorry for that,” he said softly.

  Anna tried to read his expression. He seemed genuinely sorry. “Don’t feel that bad. I’m the one who jumped in front of him.”

  He stopped in his tracks. “You what?”

  “He was coming at your back. Kind of cowardly, if you ask me.”

  “Annabelle, you can’t get in between vampires fighting. It’s dangerous. Just one wrong blow could kill you.”

  All she’d done was try to protect him. Stupid man. If she’d stood back, and he died, she had a feeling she’d have had more than a few bruises.

  Shaking her head, Anna started to walk again. He eventually followed. When he was at her side once more, she said, “They might have started it, but you sure had no problem finishing it.”

  “They were disrespecting the both of us in the middle of a public establishment. I had to let them know it wasn’t acceptable.”

  “Not acceptable? I’m nobody. In their eyes, I’m just a weak little human. Them disrespecting me is perfectly reasonable if I have to choose between that and a fight.”

  “They treated me as if I had no right to be in there, even though Aleksander’s ban on me was lifted decades ago.”

  “Some fights you walk away from. He hurt your pride, and you wanted to hurt him back. You don’t work for a king anymore. You can’t go off fighting for your honor whenever it’s offended,” she said.

  He said nothing to defend himself. Was it because he was unused to being accused of acting rashly?

  “How long will it take to find Aleksander?” she asked once they’d turned a corner.

  “I’m not sure. I’m thinking it will be three nights of driving. I have to double-check on his current lair, to make sure he hasn’t moved recently.”

  “If we’re going to be together for more than three nights, you can’t get into pointless fights.” He looked as if he was about to reply, but she continued before he could. “You can handle yourself in a fight. Honestly, I know a bit about self-defense and can handle myself as well. But your kind are so strong. I need you to think about my safety when you’re considering rushing into something.”

  “Says the foolish woman who rushed right in front of a charging vampire.”

  “Just agree, Nicolas,” she said irritably.

  He gave a slight nod. “I agree to consider what would lead to the safest result for you before rushing into something.”

  She had doubts he would actually follow through if push came to shove, but at least he was willing to consider it. “Thank you.”

  “Why would you put yourself in so much danger if you know your father is probably dead anyway?” he asked.

  Because she needed to know for sure. A life looking over her shoulder, and learning how to pick locks so she could have the best one, wasn’t much of a life. “It’s something I have to know. Why go through all of this trouble for a king who’s already dead?” she countered.

  He was silent for a moment. It reiterated that he wasn’t telling her everything. She supposed it was only fair, but it still bothered her.

  “When my king and I were at our peak, young vampires like the ones we saw tonight would be too afraid to even look at me, let alone openly challenge me. It might seem petty to you, but it is very important to me.

  “I fell so far in only one night thanks to Aleksander. I’ve been slowly working my way back up. Twenty years ago, I would never have even been served a drink in that establishment.”

  “You asked me why I was willing to put myself in danger. Is it worth dying just to assuage your hurt pride?” she asked.

  “I lived for centuries for one purpose: to lead. We were monsters when Kirill took leadership. Together, we brought order and civilized behavior to my people. There was no more sleeping in coffins. We could interact with humans. We could feed without killing. Instead of living like scavengers in the woods, we could buy homes and become members of a community,” he said.

  “Why would anyone want to overthrow Kirill if what he was doing was so good for your people?”

  “Before Kirill came, we were scavengers who were slowly being hunted to extinction. When he united us, we could finally organize and integrate into society. That’s all I ever wanted. I think Kirill was killed because someone wanted to go further than integration.”

  “What do you mean by ‘further than integration’?”

  “I mean that they would want to subjugate. They want to take their place as a master race,” he said.

  The idea of having vampires in charge was terrifying, but humans were not exactly defenseless in this day and age. Sure, in a one-on-one fight, vampires would have the advantage. However, humans had strong militaries and numbers on their side. “There would be a massive war.”

  “Exactly,” he replied. “There’s even the possibility we could be hunted to near extinction once again. Then everything we worked for all those centuries ago would be for nothing. Besides, there is nothing wrong with what we have now. We are comfortable, have money, and there’s plenty of blood to go around. What these radicals want is pure greed.”

  “So you think Aleksander took over so they could begin this ‘takeover’ of humanity?” asked Anna.

  “He’s had sixty years and so far has done nothing. I don’t know what he plans. Whatever he wants to do, I refuse to sit back in my exile and watch. I spent four hundred years helping Kirill. I will not let Aleksander undo all we did.”

  They approached her apartment building and slowed. Anna didn’t want to go inside. She was learning so much from him. A vampire over four centuries old! She got dizzy just thinking of all the things he could teach her. But there was only one question on the forefront of her mind. “Are you sure that it’s not pure greed telling you to kill Aleksander?”

  He looked into her eyes. “You think I’m greedy?
”

  She felt guilty for the implication. “I was asking what you thought.”

  “I’m sure that a large amount of greed is motivating my decision.” He began to advance on her. She instinctively backed up. He continued until her back pressed against the wall.

  Not in the mood to play his games, she put her hands on his warm chest and pushed. He wouldn’t move. Instead, he grabbed her wrists and pinned them to the wall next to her head. Before she could tell him what she thought about the treatment, he said, “It must be so frustrating to know there’s nothing you can do.”

  She was stunned speechless at the callous words. He had no way of knowing exactly what being helpless meant to her. The powerlessness that used to wash over her as she would just wait for the next blow to hit.

  He continued, “This is the second time I’ve had you up against a wall.” He moved one of her arms so that one of his hands trapped both wrists. He lowered his free hand and rested it on her face. He moved his fingers over her cheek and neck until the palm of his hand rested on the base of her neck. She knew he must feel her pulse beating frantically.

  He said, “I can feel your fear. You’ve always been this way. I cannot imagine an existence where you know that at any time someone bigger and more powerful than you could do whatever they wanted.”

  She shook her wrists and tried kicking him, but he moved in closer so that his whole body rested along hers. “I spent hundreds of years knowing no one could touch me. I knew even Kirill would have to put up one hell of a fight to best me. In one night, Aleksander took that from me. In one night, even the weakest of my kind knew they could have all of my soldiers hunt me down and kill me if they even laid eyes on me. In just one night, I was as weak as a young human pinned to a wall by a vampire.” He released her wrists but didn’t back away or move his hand from her neck.

  She sighed in relief at the small measure of freedom he’d granted her. “If you can understand how horrible the feeling is, then why do you seem to enjoy pushing it on me so much?”

  “It’s your scent.” To punctuate the statement, he bent his head forward and took a long inhale next to her neck. She immediately put her hands on his shoulders, ready to try to push him back. Not the smartest move, considering that if he did bite her, she wouldn’t be able to push him off anyway.

  “My scent?” Both of her hands remained on his shoulders. She found herself reluctant to let go of the warm muscles she could feel under his sweater. She told herself it was because he could still decide to bite her.

  “You smell so good. It draws me to you. I can’t seem to keep my distance,” he said.

  “Wh-what?” she asked. “That makes no sense.”

  Before she saw him move, both of his hands were at her waist, and he lifted her up until their hips were at the same level. With a gasp, her arms and legs instinctively wrapped around him. He pressed what was now a formidable bulge at his hips into the vee of her legs.

  “Earlier tonight, you said we couldn’t have sex,” he said.

  Anna thought his voice seemed much too calm considering the intimate position they were in. She was having trouble breathing and fought the disturbing urge to rub herself against that bulge.

  He stared at her, and she remembered that he’d said something. “Yes. Yes. I did say that. De-definitely no sex,” she managed to stutter out.

  “At present, I cannot see any reason for that being a good idea.” He bent his head to her neck and took a small nibble. No skin was broken, but the sensation shot right through her. Her hands gripped his hair, and she pushed her hips into his.

  “I want you,” he said into her neck before he took another bite. A small moan escaped her at the sensations rushing in her body that she’d never felt before. She tried to keep as still as possible and refused to give in to the temptation he pushed on her.

  He must have heard her moan, because he said, “I know you want me too.”

  She opened her mouth to reply. She wanted to say something coherent, but nothing came out. Just a little breath of a sound that wasn’t a word at all. He must’ve taken that as an invitation because his mouth covered hers in a devastating kiss.

  It was softer than she’d expected his kiss to be. Gentle, testing. But before long, his velvety tongue teased the seam of her lips, and without thinking, she opened to him. She gave up the fight and pulled him in tighter. She kissed him back with a passion she didn’t even know was inside her.

  His mouth moved from hers and kissed along her jawline. Her head fell back, eyes closed in pleasure. He followed it upwards to her ear and gave the sensitive lobe a small nip; she bit back another moan. Then his tongue was there to lick away the sting.

  The pressure built inside her and she moved her hips even faster. One of his hands moved under her jacket and covered a breast. She arched into the contact, feeling the new sensation that shot right to the core of her.

  Then his cool fingers from his other hand dipped under her shirt and touched the bare skin of her waist before it moved toward the small of her back. In a rush, reality came crashing back.

  He would feel her scars. Terror raced through her. Her hands pulled his head back as hard as she could, and she unwrapped her legs from his waist.

  “What the hell,” he muttered as he was pushed away.

  “I said no.” They were the only words she could manage to form. What the hell was that? She was supposed to be terrified of this man, not panting all over him like a drunken sorority girl.

  And she sure as hell should never have acted that way around a vampire.

  Nicolas seemed just as confused, but for a very different reason. “No? I didn’t hear a no. And I have very good hearing.”

  She couldn’t bring herself to look him in the eye. “Earlier tonight. In the bar. Said no.” Full sentences were apparently too hard at the moment. Some English teacher she was.

  “I think we can go ahead and agree that the no-sex rule should be overturned.”

  At this point, she didn’t want to argue. She wanted to retreat into the safety of her apartment. She fumbled her keys out of her bag, but her trembling hand couldn’t manage to get it into the lock.

  Nicolas grabbed the keys from her hand and had the door open in seconds. “Tell me what’s wrong at least.”

  As she approached her door, she snapped, “None of your damn business.” She immediately regretted her harsh response. To soften the blow, she added, “I think we can agree it’s not because I don’t want you.”

  This time she was able to get the apartment door unlocked on her own, but she turned to face him before she went inside. She wanted to apologize for the mixed signals, but she couldn’t get herself to say the words. She should’ve slapped him the second he kissed her. Should’ve fought him. But the sad fact was that she did want him. She just didn’t want to want him. The only saving grace was that she’d found a vampire bastard who actually respected consent. Instead of forming words, she stood silently, staring straight at his chest because she was too embarrassed to meet his eyes.

  He broke the silence. “I should go.”

  “Yeah. I’ve had a long day,” she said. It sounded like the end of a bad date, she thought.

  “We need some way of reaching each other. Can I give you my phone number?”

  That startled her out of her awkwardness. What a casual question for him to ask… “Sure.” She fumbled the phone out, and they quickly exchanged information.

  “I need to get some things taken care of before we can leave, but I will be in touch,” he said. “Good night, Annabelle.” He turned to leave.

  As she watched his retreating back, she called out, “Everyone calls me Anna.”

  He stopped and turned back to look at her, smiling his wicked smile she was getting used to. “I’m not everyone.” With that, he turned and walked out of her sight.

  CHAPTER TEN

  The next day, Anna slept until well past noon. She let out a moan as she glanced at her bedside clock. If she kept these hour
s up much longer, she might as well be a vampire.

  As she sat up, her back protested, reminding her of the tumble she’d taken the night before. She stumbled into the bathroom and stripped off her shirt, twisting to get a look at the damage. Her back now had some pronounced blue areas. Not the best way to start a day.

  She didn’t spend too much time dwelling on the previous night. She had a lot of piled up work waiting for her at her office, so she left as soon as possible to start work on it.

  Luckily, she only had one night class that day, so she didn’t have to get in early, though her schedule was still thrown completely off. Between her backlogged office work and class, she couldn’t head home until ten at night. She was bone-tired and her back had been steadily aching all day.

  As she loaded her bag up, which was now much heavier with more papers she had to grade, her cell phone went off. She got to it as quickly as possible. It wasn’t until she read the words “unknown number” that she realized she’d hoped it was Nicolas calling her.

  The only unknown number she’d talked to lately had been Mr. X, and she was in no mood to deal with his bullshit tonight. She wouldn’t have answered at all, but for remembering that Nicolas was worried why someone was giving his address to a human.

  For that reason only, she flipped her phone open. “This is Anna Roberts speaking.”

  “Ms. Roberts. It is a pleasure to get a hold of you,” a very cheery and familiar voice said over the line. Anna inwardly groaned. She desperately wanted to hang up on Mr. X.

  Even though she couldn’t hang up, that didn’t mean she had to be polite. “What do you want?”

  He had the nerve to chuckle. “I’m merely calling to check up on you. Did Nicolas have the answers you seek?”

  Instinctively, Anna wanted to lie and say she never talked with Nicolas. But then she remembered that whoever the hell she was talking to had been watching her when she was jogging outside of Nicolas’s apartment. No telling what other times he’d watched her. She got creeped out all over again just thinking about it. To avoid getting caught in a lie, she chose not to answer the question. “Do you have the ‘answers I seek’?”