“My dad would kill for this car.” She said it without thinking. Why had she brought up her dad?
His voice was a low growl. “How do you know I didn’t?”
Her stomach dropped.
“Kidding, Natalie. I bought it new.”
She breathed again. “You can’t joke about that kind of stuff.”
“Why?” His face was invisible in the darkness. “Too soon?”
“Because you can’t. And we need to talk about this whole judge, jury, executioner thing you think needs to happen. Whoever is killing these women, they’re still a—”
“Human being? No, they’re not. If it’s a vampire who is doing this, he is a monster and deserves to die.”
She bit her lip to stop the angry retort. If she was going to have any chance, she had to reason with him. “You’re a vampire. Are you a monster?”
“I am a vampire who controls ^h alison himself. Who feeds in small, non-harmful amounts from donors—most of whom are willing—”
“Most?”
He ignored her and continued. “I work very hard to keep my baser instincts in check, not only for my own self-interest, but for the safety of the humans and vampires around me. You would not want to see me unfed. That said, even if I was ravenously hungry, I would not be so far gone that I killed indiscriminately in large numbers like this vampire is doing. This is not hunger. This is something else. He is not a person, Natalie. Killing this vampire would be like putting down a rabid animal.”
Silence fell as both of them stopped talking and the song switched. A ballad came on then, something beautiful and achingly sad.
“Natalie.”
“What?”
She heard him shift and wondered why. Did vampires get cramped? Did they ache after sitting in the car for two hours? And where the hell were they going anyway?
“When the vampire bared his teeth at you in the bar—do you remember?”
Her pulse picked up and she flashed to the grotesque grin of the monster they called Tio. “Of course I remember,” she whispered.
“What were you thinking in that moment?”
She blinked. Why was he asking this? “I… I wanted to run, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to escape. I wanted… I just wanted someone…”
“Wanted what, Natalie?”
She shrank in her seat. “I wanted someone to get it away from me.”
“And you didn’t care how. If I had killed it, you wouldn’t have felt remorse or guilt. Not in that moment. You would have been relieved. Those were your instincts talking. The same instincts you’re going to have to learn to listen to if you want to survive in this world.”
“I’m not sure I want to.”
Natalie could feel his eyes glaring at her. She wasn’t sure how, but she did.
“That’s a stupid thing to say.”
“Wha—?”
“Don’t say you don’t want to survive. Don’t ever say that.”
“That’s not what I meant.” She sighed. “I meant I’m not sure I want to be in this world. Your world.”
“Too bad.” His voice was harsh. “It’s your world now. You don’t have a choice.”
You should always have a choice. She blinked back tears that threatened to spill from the corners of her eyes and stared straight ahead at the cracked road. Finally, she said, “Where are we going?”
“A casino.”
“Oh yeah, ’cause there’s only one of those in the state.”
“It’s the one out by the Salton Sea. My father owns it.”
“I thought that was an Indian casino.”
“It is.” He added, “They might have needed a very private backer to get started.”
“Ah. And your father is… you said something about Don Ernesto.”
“Don Ernesto Alvarez is the immortal leader of Los Angeles and much of the Southwest. He used to control most of Northern Mexico, too, but he ceded control of that territory to the new cartel some time ago.”
“Why?”
“He says economic interests had waned for him.” Baojia shrugged. “I did not question him.”
“And he’s your father?”
“In the immortal sense, y crta
“How?” She wondered when he would get tired of her questions. He had way more patience than most people she met.
“He found me, drained my blood to the point of death, then fed me his own.”
He said it so matter-of-factly. “So, he killed you.”
“No. He sired me. I was not unwilling.”
“Why?” She turned toward him. “Why would you do that? You’ll never see the sun again. You’ll never have a family. You’ll have to drink human blood for the rest of your life.” Luis had filled her in on the particulars. Immortality definitely had its downsides.
He glanced at her. “He offered me something, and it was worth the trade.”
What had been the trade? Power, surely. And she could tell Baojia liked the power. He would never age or grow weak like a human man. But she didn’t get the sense he was vain, despite his handsome face. Fastidious, maybe. He did seem to like things in their proper place. His house had been immaculate. And he’d changed from the rather delicious practice pants he’d been wearing earlier into an immaculate black suit with a white button-down shirt. He’d left off the tie so it hung open at the throat. His shoes were expensive. His neatly cut black hair didn’t have a strand out of place.
But vain? No, she didn’t think so. He was a creature of habit who took his human facade very seriously. If she hadn’t seen him practicing his martial arts with water whipping around him like it was an extension of his own limbs, she’d never have believed he was anything but a very handsome, very successful executive.
“Do you ever regret it?” she asked.
A lone street lamp lit up the car as they turned at an abandoned intersection, and she saw him blink. Then she felt the whisper of his fingers as they tucked a curl of hair behind her ear.
“Occasionally.”
The neon lights of the casino still glowed. Cars still populated the parking lot. And Natalie could hear the telltale sounds of the electronic slot machines drift from the casino doors as they parked the Camaro out on the far side of the lot. She could see a few men gathered near a group of dumpsters, and most of them were smoking. She got out of the car and looked at her phone. It was three in the morning already.
“Are we going to have enough time before sunrise?”
Without warning, he was at her side. “I’ll manage.”
She’d never thought about it before. The sun rose when it rose. But Baojia had to know exactly how much time he had. His life depended on it. They started walking toward the men and she got out a camera that was stuffed in her purse. It was a compact digital with high resolution that could shoot in raw format. The best camera she could get for the size. It had come in handy more than once.
“You really don’t need that,” he said.
“Why not? And they haven’t called the police yet?”
“I have really good eyes.” He nodded toward the men. “And they know to call me first.”
As they approached, the men glanced at them, then looked away. Without a word, the men stubbed out their cigarettes and walked away from the dumpsters; none of them looked at Baojia twice.
“Why are they going?”
“They’re not needed.”
Natalie put a hand on his arm and he halted immediately. “Baojia, if this isn’t related c’spato the other girls—”
“Then I will tell the casino manager to call the human police, who will investigate thoroughly and receive full cooperation from all employees of the casino and everyone else in our organization.” His face was still severe, but she noticed a slight softening around his dark eyes. “Further, if this is an employee—Luis said no one recognized her, but I will check—her family will be well taken care of.”
It was the best she could hope for; she knew it. “Okay.”
“But if this
is what I think it is, we’re not calling the police.” He glanced at her phone. “Don’t even think about it. I’ll lock you up someplace very secure. You know I will.”
Her eyes narrowed and she shoved her phone back in her pocket. “Fine.”
“Now, stay here while I take a look first.”
“Don’t take too long.”
He smiled. “Bossy. And trust me, I’ll be fast.”
Natalie could have sworn he just disappeared. One moment he was standing in front of her, the next he wasn’t.
“That’s so weird.”
“I heard that!” He was standing near the dumpsters, looking at something on the ground behind him. “Stay back for now. I need to… get a sense of things.”
He darted around, a blur that slowed occasionally so she could make out his form. Trailing around the parking lot. Disappearing into the desert only to appear as a flash under a streetlight again. Natalie glanced around nervously. Wasn’t he afraid of others seeing him?
As if he could read her mind, he appeared at her side, straightening the cuff of one black sleeve. “I don’t worry about people around here. They see what they want to see.”
“Is it a vampire? Did a vampire kill her?”
“Yes.” He looked at her with a hint of trepidation. “You’ve seen dead bodies before?”
She walked toward the dumpsters. “I’m not squeamish.”
“Natalie.” He was still standing near the car as she turned to face him. “This was not your fault.”
Her eyes widened and her heart raced as she turned back to the dumpsters. She started running. By the time she’d reached them, he was already there, bending over the girl. Natalie recognized her immediately. It was the waitress from Bar El Ruso, the one who had been so nervous, the one Natalie had pressured to talk.
“Oh, dammit.” The waitress could have been sleeping. There wasn’t a mark on her that Natalie could see. But her lips were blue and her skin was ghostly pale. “Her name was Socorro,” Natalie said hoarsely. “She said her name was Socorro.”
“This was not your fault.”
“Well, we definitely know Ivan has something to do with all this.”
His eyes were grim. “I guess we do. And he left the body on Ernesto’s property for me to find. Which means he knows I’m aware of it, too. I suspect he’s done his own digging into your background, so he’ll have found out what you were working on.”
She shook her head, walking away to stare down into the girl’s lifeless face. “I need to get back to the city. My notes are at the office. I need to—”
“You’re not going back to the city.” His voice was clipped. “Not until this is over.”
Natalie spun around, glaring at him. “Listen, mister. I know you think you’re protecting me, and I know Dez and Matt said you were trustworthy, but you’re not my boss. You’re not my father. And cy ftanding you have no right to tell me what I can and can’t—”
“Look at her,” he said, his iron control slipping. He spun her around again, pointing at the dead girl on the ground. The grip on her arms wasn’t bruising, but it was firm. “You were talking to this girl a little over twenty-four hours ago. Now she is dead. Do you think they would think twice about doing this to you? Do you see what can happen?”
“I knew this story was going to be dangerous when I took it on,” she said. “Don’t lecture me, I’m not a child.” She pulled away and turned to face him.
“No, you’re not.” His voice was low and fierce. “You’re an infuriatingly stubborn woman who has no survival instincts. You need to drop this and let me—”
“You need to not tell me what to do.” She stepped closer, her chin jutting out as she got in his face. “Because trust me, that never goes well.”
“Why won’t you listen to me?” The anger dropped from his voice; it was pure confusion. “I don’t want to have to force you or coerce you. I don’t want to have to use my amnis to keep you safe.”
“Then don’t.”
“I will if I have to.”
His eyes raced over her upturned face and Natalie realized her heart was pounding. Fear. Anger. And an unmistakable hint of arousal. A faint memory of his lips teased her. Had they kissed that first night? Was she imagining it? Her body responded to his proximity; Natalie could feel the hair on the back of her arms rise and reach toward him.
Baojia’s voice was hoarse when he said, “Natalie…”
She swallowed hard, looking away from him and to the dead waitress as she said, “Baojia, there are some things more important than my safety. Finding the truth about who is killing these girls is one of them.”
He started to say something, only to stop and cock his head to the side. His eyes narrowed, then looked off into the distance toward something she couldn’t see.
“What?” she asked. “What is it?”
“Remember when you said about mindfucks?”
“Yeah?”
“Get ready for another one.” He grasped her hand in his and angled himself slightly in front of her as he squared his shoulders toward the edge of the desert.
“What are we—Oh, whoa.” She felt the earth tremble beneath her. She should have known; apparently vampires were like dogs who could sense when earthquakes—
“His name is Tulio and he’s mostly friendly.”
Natalie blinked. “What?”
Instead of dying off, the earthquake was only growing stronger. And the sound…
“What is it?”
“Elements, remember?” His hand squeezed hers. “Not everyone controls water.”
Elements. Water, wind, fire… earth. “Oh, shit!”
The air was knocked from her lungs when the ground opened up and a giant of a man emerged. He was six feet tall, at least, with straight black hair and a smudged face that bore distinctly Spanish features. A broad forehead and heavy brows hung over eyes that looked black in the night. He wore a pair of what looked like canvas work pants and the rest of his body bulged with muscle. No shirt. No shoes. The man took an arm and swiped at the sand that covered his face as he continued walking toward them. The earth that had opened up closed behind him when his feet touched the pavement.
“Baojia.”
“Tulio.”
The vampire bent down and scooped up the dead girl, cradling her in his arms like a child before Natalie could protest.
“Hey!”
Tulio paused for a moment, glancing at her before he looked back to Baojia. “Come to my place. You can bring your human if you want.”
“We’ll be there in a few.”
“There’s more.”
Then Tulio walked back into the desert and disappeared beneath the sand.
“Holy cow.” That’s it. Natalie couldn’t think of anything weirder than that.
“Holy gopher might be more fitting.”
“How’d he do that?”
Baojia shrugged and tugged her hand, leading her back to the car. “He’s an earth vampire. That’s what they do.”
They were back in the Camaro and bouncing over dirt roads when she finally asked, “What did he mean, ‘your human’?”
“Caught that, did you?”
She rolled her eyes. “Well, I knew you were playing at something like that at Ivan’s, but I assumed that was just to get us out of there.”
“That’s partially true.”
“What do you mean partial—?”
“Humans in the vampire world have very important roles.” He interrupted her, turning the subject, if not changing it completely. “We employ you more and more to deal with computers and technology that we cannot. You are necessary for those of us who have professional obligations during the day, like Luis works for me. And you are also…”
“Food.”
He frowned at her. “Human beings are often our companions, as well as being employees. They provide company and yes, sustenance, too.”
“Like a pet?”
“Trust me.” His voice was suddenly hoarse and s
he glanced over to see the tips of his fangs peeking out as he watched her. “Not like a pet.”
Natalie could feel the blush hit when she saw them. Apparently, fangs were stimulated by more than just hunger or violence, and suddenly, they seemed a little more interesting and a lot less scary. “Oh.”
“Were you just looking at my fangs?”
“No!”
He laughed, a low, knowing chuckle that made her heart take off at a gallop. “Liar.”
The rest of the trip to Tulio’s was filled with silence as Natalie began cataloguing the questions she had for the odd man who had taken the girl’s body without a murmur of protest from her vampire.
There’s more.
More bodies? More to tell? There had to be more to tell, because he hadn’t told them anything. She was assuming Tulio was not the murderer for several reasons. One, Baojia had seemed at ease with him, and he would probably know if Tulio was in league with Ivan. Two, the giant man—vampire—had picked up the dead girl with exquisite gentleness, not like someone who could kill and leave the body out by the trash. Three, Natalie had a gut reaction to the man, and it didn’t say dangerous.
Of course, she’d trusted Baojia when she met him at the bar, and he’d turned out to be a liar, so maybe her gut wasn’t as accurate as she thought. Or… maybe George was closer to Baojia than she was ready to admit.
She glanced at him in the moonlight. He was so determined to keep her safe. Maybe she was just an assignment to him. cmenan>
Or… maybe her first impression of him in the bar wasn’t all that far off.
I never lied.
She didn’t know what to believe anymore.
“Where does this guy live?” She hadn’t seen a light for miles.
“Away.”
“From what?”
“Everything.” He smiled. “He’s a bit of a hermit.”
“A bit?”
Just when she thought she’d never see a sign of civilization again, Natalie spotted the shadow of an old truck and a barn leaning near some old sheep pens. The boards were broken-down and the barn was breaking apart, but the truck, though old, appeared in good condition. And when the car’s headlights landed on it, she realized the barn was in better condition than she’d thought.