by Devon, Cat
“Be patient,” she told him before whispering, “You’ve got forever.”
* * *
Daniella was able to hold out until noon. Then she couldn’t take it anymore. Nick was eyeing her and the cupcakes with increasing hunger. She was afraid that he might devour both her and the food if she didn’t do something to satisfy his newfound appetite.
“Xandra, do you think that you and Lois can manage the shop today? She’ll be in shortly.”
“Sure,” Xandra said. “No problemo.”
Nick pulled Daniella outside.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“Someplace where we can eat,” he said. “Which rules out my bar.”
“I think it might be safer to order in and stay in my apartment until we have this food thing figured out.”
He was on his smartphone an instant later. By the time they were upstairs he’d phoned in four delivery orders. One from the nearest sandwich shop, one from a Chinese place, one from a Mexican place, and one for a Chicago-style deep-dish pizza.
He headed straight for her kitchen as soon as they entered her apartment. “Peanut butter.” He opened the lid and swiped his finger in it before sticking it in his mouth.
“It’s better if you drizzle chocolate syrup over it.” She held up the container.
He grabbed it and her and headed for the bedroom.
“What are you doing?” she said.
“It’ll be another twenty minutes until the food arrives, so I’m going to test your claim that it’s better with chocolate syrup over it.” He whipped off her Heavenly Cupcakes T-shirt and her bra and drizzled chocolate syrup on her bare breasts. Bending his head, he licked the chocolate from her skin. “Mmm, you’re right. What a clever cupcake maker you are, Ms. Smarty Knickers.”
He had that English-accent thing going on again, which she found to be incredibly sexy. A darkly erotic Mr. Darcy. Oh yeah.
She was so distracted that she didn’t even notice he’d peeled off her shoes and jeans and was now removing her knickers. But then he was doing all that with vamp hyper speed. He slowed down greatly when he administered the chocolate syrup to the rest of her body, layering the most on her breasts with creative swirls. He lowered her onto the bed.
“These are the most perfect cupcakes in the world,” he murmured huskily, before taking her into his mouth and sucking the sweetness from her. She was burning with pleasure when he moved on to her navel and below. A lick, a nibble, and she was a goner. She came with rolling waves of ecstasy.
He came into her, sliding his way home before almost withdrawing, only to thrust back in. The ensuing friction was deliciously arousing. Daniella didn’t think it was humanly possible to have as many orgasms as she’d had in the past twelve hours—but then she wasn’t all human. She was part druid. Maybe they had super sex lives. She knew she sure was right now.
By the time the banquet started arriving, they were dressed and back in the living room. Daniella had to smile at the way Nick admired every little thing set out for him to sample—from the pot stickers to the cheese on the deep-dish pizza. He paced himself, trying some of everything rather than gorging on any one item. He sampled the burritos and tacos last.
“Today and tomorrow are the Days of the Dead in Mexico,” he noted. “Días de los Muertos. A time when family and friends remember their loved ones who have died. I was down there one year for the event.”
“Did you fly?” she asked.
“Yes. I prefer first class to coach.”
“I meant without a plane. Can you fly without a plane?”
He lifted an eyebrow in one of his classic moves. “You must have mistaken me for Superman.”
“After your performance last night and today, I’d say that super is an accurate description.”
They spent the rest of the day and most of the night exploring new foods and new moves with equal amounts of supreme gastronomical and sexual satisfaction.
* * *
Nick walked into the Vamp Cave early the next morning to find Pat and Bruce grinning at him. He’d left Daniella at her cupcake shop, guarded by Lois.
“We were starting to think that we’d never see you again,” Pat said. “Oh, wait, we did see you. Devouring cupcakes yesterday morning. So I guess Neville was right about the food thing, huh?”
“There’s only one thing I want to know,” Bruce said. “Was it good?” He deliberately waited a beat before adding, “I mean the food, not the sex.”
“I can tell by the look on Nick’s face that both were good,” Pat said, slapping him on the back.
Nick turned his attention the Neville, who wiped the grin off his face the instant he realized Nick was glaring at him. “I need to know how Miles hacked into Daniella’s laptop the other night,” Nick said. “She saw and heard him.”
Neville nodded. “He got into her Skype account. It’s been corrected.”
“It never should have happened in the first place.” Nick’s voice reflected his anger as he gripped the back of a steel chair, bending it without even realizing what he was doing.
“Agreed,” Pat said, taking the chair away. “It appears your powers have been increased as predicted. At least your strength has increased. What about other abilities?”
Nick didn’t know if his sexual abilities had been improved or if it was just Daniella that did it to him. And she did it to him big-time over and over again. He couldn’t wait to get back to her. “We’ll just have to wait and see what develops.”
* * *
Daniella was preparing to decorate a special order of cupcakes for a baby shower when Lois ran into the back room. “You’re in danger. We must leave right now.” She yanked Daniella to the back door, using vampire strength for the first time.
“What about Xandra?”
“They’re not after her. They’re after you, and there’s no time to explain.”
They ran past the back entrances to Nick’s bar and grill as well as Pat’s Tats and the Happy Times Dental Clinic along the alley to Tanya’s Tanning Salon.
“This way,” Lois said. She tugged on the corner of a storage rack, opening a secret doorway that led down a small spiral staircase.
“What’s going on?” Tanya demanded as she joined them.
“Miles is after Daniella.”
“So you didn’t have sex with Nick?” Tanya asked Daniella.
“No time,” Lois gasped. “Miles is coming!”
“Then I’m coming with you two,” Tanya said, following quickly behind them before slamming shut the door to her salon. “I’m not staying behind with a pissed-off Miles the Mustache.”
The lighting on the stairway was dim, barely enough to keep Daniella’s fear of the dark at bay. “Where are we going?”
“To the tunnels,” Lois said.
Daniella didn’t like the sound of that.
“Don’t be afraid.” Lois used her maternal voice. “The tunnels were built during the Prohibition by bootleggers wanting to move their product.”
“Illegal booze,” Tanya inserted.
“Congress was foolish to pass a bill prohibiting the consumption of alcohol,” Lois said.
“And Congress continues to be foolish at times,” Daniella said. Were vampires political? She didn’t want to get them riled up or anything. She already had enough vamps mad at her.
They reached the bottom of the staircase and quickly started moving. The place was like a maze. The tunnel had a lightbulb every ten feet or so, but there were too many shadows for Daniella to feel comfortable.
She took a deep breath, which ended in a gasp as even that pitiful amount of illumination abruptly disappeared, plunging them into utter darkness and Daniella into total panic.
Chapter Twenty-two
“Where’s Daniella?” Nick growled, staring at the screen displaying the back of the cupcake shop. Pat had asked him to review some damn security report for a second and the next thing he knew Daniella was gone and Miles had invaded Vamptown.
“Daniella is safe,” Neville said. “She’s with Lois.”
“And Tanya,” Bruce added.
“Lois will look after Daniella,” Neville said.
“Where are they now?” Nick said.
“In the tunnels.” Neville switched screens.
“Why is it pitch dark down there?” Nick demanded.
An instant later the lights in the Vamp Cave blinked out along with all the high-tech equipment.
“The backup generator will kick on,” Neville said.
“When?”
“It should already be on,” Neville admitted. “I don’t know what’s wrong.”
“Where’s Miles right now? He’s nearby.” Nick’s voice was grim.
“I don’t know.” Neville was frantically pounding on various keyboards and touch screens to no avail.
Nick closed his eyes and sniffed, concentrating all his increased abilities on locating Miles. He was close but not in the building. Not yet.
Vampires had excellent night vision, so it wasn’t the darkness of the Vamp Cave that disturbed Nick. It was the fact that with their security system and its multiple backups disabled, they had to fall back on their inherent skills.
“Time to go old school,” he said curtly.
Nick couldn’t afford to think about the fact that Daniella, who was terrified of the dark, was down in the tunnels. At least she wasn’t alone. She had Lois with her. Tanya might not be any comfort, but Lois would.
* * *
“Bootleggers were simply supplying a need,” Lois said. “The Eighteenth Amendment to the US Constitution banned the production and sale of alcohol. Prohibition. And with that law came the birth of the speakeasy. Now anyone could get a drink, including women. We weren’t allowed in the saloons but we were welcome in the speakeasies. They were magical places, full of life and music. The Jazz Age. I heard Duke Ellington play when I had my first drink.”
“Who cares?” Tanya said.
“Daniella cares. She likes history. I’m distracting her because she’s afraid of the dark,” Lois said.
“Terrified comes closer to the truth,” Daniella said.
“Boo!” Tanya said from behind her, making Daniella jump.
“Don’t be mean,” Lois said.
“Keep talking, Lois,” Daniella said, reaching out to hold her friend’s cold hand. “Were you a flapper?”
Lois laughed. “I was. It was such an exhilarating time. So much newfound freedom. We wore our dresses and our hair shorter. We smoked. Those were the best of times. They ended with the big crash on Wall Street in ’29.” Lois’s voice turned somber.
Daniella’s eyes had adjusted enough to the dark that she could see the outlines of Lois and Tanya. But she hadn’t adjusted as far as her fear was concerned. “When will the lights go back on?” Daniella asked.
“When they need to.”
“I need them to go on right now. Does Nick know they’re out? Does he know I’m down here in the dark?”
“Of course he knows,” Lois said.
“Then he’ll fix this,” Daniella said.
“You sound like you have a lot of faith in him,” Lois noted.
“I do,” Daniella agreed.
“That’s a shame.”
Lois’s words shocked her. “What do you mean?”
“Nick used you to ramp up his vamp skills. It was all very premeditated. Nick told you he was adopted, right?”
“Yes.”
“It’s not true,” Lois said. “He just said that to make you confide in him.”
Daniella would expect Tanya to say something like that, but not Lois. “Why are you saying this?”
“The truth hurts,” Lois said.
Tanya laughed. “I’ve got to say I’m enjoying this conversation more than the boring talk about Prohibition.”
“Am I really in danger from Miles right now or was that a lie?” Daniella demanded.
“No, Miles is really here,” Lois said with certainty.
As if on cue, a dim light went on above their heads. The rest of the tunnel in both directions remained pitch dark. Lois’s eyes had a strange glow as she reached into the pocket of her pants and pulled out a vial filled with something red. Daniella didn’t think it was red food coloring in there.
“You must drink this now.” Lois’s voice was grim.
Daniella eyed her and the vial suspiciously. “What is it?”
“Blood,” Lois said bluntly.
“No way! I am not drinking that.” Daniella vehemently shook her head. The rest of her body was already shaking, and her fear had just notched up several thousand degrees.
Lois hissed and shoved the now open vial at Daniella’s mouth. “Drink!”
“Look, I dislike the cupcake maker as much as the next vamp,” Tanya said. “But if she doesn’t want to chugalug blood, that’s her loss. Don’t go all full vamp on her.”
“Stay out of this,” Lois growled.
“Whoa, chill out,” Tanya said. “What’s with the fangs?”
“I told you to stay out of this.” Lois leapt toward Tanya, knocking her down.
Tanya shoved her aside. Her eyes had that strange glow now, too, and both of them showed their fangs. Lois rolled off the tunnel wall and attacked Tanya again.
Girl-on-girl fighting, or in this case female-vamp-on-female-vamp, might intrigue some people but Daniella sure as hell wasn’t one of them. How had she gotten into this mess?
She had no idea what she should be doing. Running away? In the pitch dark? When either vampire had supreme speed and could outrace her in the blink of an eye? And what about Miles? What if he was there in the darkness?
Daniella stood there frozen. Why had Lois turned on her? What had gotten into her?
“Lois, why are you doing this?” Daniella said.
“Miles wants you to drink his blood so he’s inside you.”
“Yuck!” Daniella almost hurled.
While Lois was momentarily distracted by Daniella, Tanya grabbed the opportunity to take off. Lois looked like she was about to chase her when the single dim bulb above Daniella went out.
“Leave her,” a male voice said from the darkness. It wasn’t just any male voice; it was the Satan voice of Miles Payne. She’d recognize it anywhere. “I have what I want.”
Okay, her panic now increased a billionfold. “I don’t suppose you could turn the light back on? No? Anyone have a flashlight handy?”
Miraculously one was turned on and aimed at Miles’s face. “Get that out of my eyes,” he hissed.
“Sorry, sire,” a male vampire said, redirecting the light so it was beneath Miles’s chin. Now he really looked like something out of a horror film.
Daniella dropped the vial onto the floor where it shattered and left a pool of blood.
* * *
Tanya burst into the Vamp Cave. Nick had her by the throat an instant later. “It was you. You led Daniella down into the tunnels and to Miles.”
Tanya gurgled, unable to speak.
Pat intervened. “Release her, Nick.”
He did but he wasn’t happy about it.
“I was the one who tried to save her,” Tanya said. “And I’m the one who’s come to get help for her. Lois is the bad one here. Miles did something to her. I don’t know if he compelled her or if she’s been a secret cell all by herself for him all these years—but she turned on us. She turned on Daniella. She even tried to get her to drink Miles’s blood so he’d be ‘within her.’ I’m telling you the truth. See for yourself.” She pointed to one big screen, which had just come back to life.
“If I can’t have you, then I’ll have the blood supply from your family’s funeral home,” Miles was telling Daniella as he held her in his grip.
“I already told you that I don’t have anything to do with the family business,” she said.
“I realize that. But Nick does have something to do with it. Isn’t that right, St. George?” Miles called out. “I’ve cleared the security system so you may see us now.
Briefly.”
A vacant-looking Lois stood to one side of Miles while a subservient Andy stood on the other. Seeing Miles with his hands on Daniella made Nick wild with rage. But he couldn’t afford to lose it right now. He couldn’t let human emotions get in the way of his vamp powers.
“Let Daniella go.” Nick prayed the sound of his voice would stop Daniella from going into full-blown hysteria. Her face was pale, and he sensed she was in danger of losing it.
Miles’s smile was filled with icy contempt. “I will. As soon as you give me the rights to the blood. In writing.”
“This is between you and me,” Nick told Miles. “Let the cupcake maker go now.”
“Let her go now?” Miles laughed. “Ain’t gonna happen. You’re in no position to be making demands. Don’t bother trying to find us down here in the tunnels. Through the miracle of modern technology this is a delayed feed to your surveillance cameras. Your pretty little friend and I have already moved on.”
Nick could sense that they were still nearby, perhaps closer than ever. Concentrating, he pinpointed their location. “You’re in my bar,” he said.
Power was restored, lighting all the screens and showing Miles still holding Daniella in his grip, only now he had a large knife at her throat as they stood inside the All Nighter Bar and Grill. Nick could see the Blackhawks hockey jersey in the background along with the singing fish on the wall.
Nick’s growl was feral as he went full vamp, fangs fully emerged and ready to rip into Miles.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” Pat warned him
“That’s right, St. George,” Miles mocked him. “Don’t do anything stupid because as everyone knows, I never lose.”
* * *
One second Daniella was alone with Miles in the deserted bar and grill—and the next Nick was there.
“You’ve heard that joke, right?” Miles mocked Nick. “A vampire and a druid walk into a bar.” His laugh was as Satanic as his voice.
Nick barred his fangs and hissed.
“Take a good look at him,” Miles told her. “Lois told me you’d never seen St. George go full vamp. What do you think of your lover now? Not so sexy, is he?”
Like she was going to think about sex when a crazed deadly vampire held a knife to her throat. Her eyes remained on Nick. She refused to look away or be freaked by his vampire side. He’d saved her life before. She sure hoped he could do it again.