He shook his head, but said, “Yes.”
“None. Because immortality isn’t easy, and it is something that must always be a choice.” Her shoulders slumped a bit. “Why don’t you bunk down on the couch? My room is the second one on the right. I’ll be in there until sunset.”
She’d taken about three steps when he said, “But it wasn’t a choice for you.”
Those words pierced right to her heart.
“Was it?” Mick pressed.
Savannah looked back at him once more. “No, it wasn’t.” The change had been slow—coming over a few months as she gradually craved regular food less and less. As her body had grown weaker during the daylight hours, then stronger at night.
Her parents had been dead. Mortals had killed them when she’d been barely more than a child. Someone had noticed that they didn’t age—someone had seen the truth—and her parents had been burned at the stake. The townspeople had thought her parents were witches.
Wrong supernatural creature.
“Your heart still beats.”
His words yanked her from the past.
“Your skin is warm to the touch. You breathe. You feel.”
“Yes.” Her hands curled along the door frame that led to the hallway. “I feel plenty.” Sometimes, she hurt so much that she wanted to scream into the night.
Stop it. Don’t.
Savannah cleared her throat. “There are a few things you should know. If you come into the room, it will look as if I’m sleeping, because I am. I’m not going into some weird half-dead state. I’m weaker during the day, so it just makes sense to sleep then.”
“Does the sun kill you?”
“No, it just makes me feel…” How to explain this? “Like I’ve been sedated. Everything takes more effort and strength.”
He advanced on her, slowly. “Should you be telling me this?”
“My vulnerabilities?” She smiled at him. “You need to know them so that you can keep me safe.”
“Would the other vampire really come after you during the day? Are you sure you need me?”
“I need you,” Savannah told him with absolute certainty. “And just because the vamp can’t hunt me now, it doesn’t mean he won’t send a human to do his dirty work. It’s an old trick, and with us searching for the killer now, we have to be prepared for anything.”
Mick nodded.
“So don’t trust anyone,” she warned him. “If someone tries to get in the house today, I’m counting on you to protect me.” Show me that I can trust you.
“No one will get in.”
Good. She turned away from him.
“Savannah…”
His voice was a rough, deep rumble. She stilled, just for an instant.
“Do you have any idea…how much I want you?”
Yes. “The sun hasn’t risen yet,” she murmured without glancing back at him again. “Why don’t we make the most of the night that’s left for us?” Her bare feet slid along the hardwood floor. “If you really want me, I’ll be waiting.” Then she headed into her room. Savannah left the bedroom door open.
She climbed into the bed.
And hoped he’d follow her.
***
Savannah had a new lover.
Not surprising. The woman had always enjoyed using humans.
He watched as the shutters closed at her warehouse. The new male was in there, the one who’d been accompanying her all around the city that night.
Just a harmless amusement? Or something more?
“You won’t win this game, love,” he murmured. “I won’t let you.” Two men were dead, and, before the next twenty-four hours were done, more bodies would be on the ground.
He turned away from the house. Headed to his SUV. A quick glance in the back seat assured him that his most recent prey was still unconscious. He’d let Will live, until his usefulness was done.
He slammed the car door. The tinted windows shielded him completely as he cranked the engine. He’d be safe and secure before the sun rose.
And when his strength returned fully, he’d get Will to talk. He’d have the human screaming all he knew.
Then it would be time to face Savannah once more.
Oh, my love, but I have missed you.
He hoped she appreciated all that he’d done for her. Everything, always, was for her.
***
Mick stood just outside of Savannah’s bedroom. His hands went to the hem of his shirt and he jerked it over his head.
Then he stilled.
His chest was covered in scars. The marks from that last attack that had taken him from the police force. His leg was even worse. The skin on his upper thigh had been shredded, and his knee was a crisscross of surgical scars.
Savannah on the other hand…she was absolute perfection. Silk and temptation.
Why the hell would she want him? This whole thing, it was wrong.
He started to turn away.
But…
I haven’t wanted anyone this way before. He’d never looked at someone and felt that punch straight to his gut. Maybe because there wasn’t anyone else like her.
She’d left the door open for him.
And when he walked into her bedroom, only a soft light glowed from the bedside lamp. Savannah was sitting in the bed, her back near the headboard.
The scrap of silk she’d been wearing was in a pool on the floor.
Holy fucking…
She smiled at him. “For a minute there, I was afraid you’d change your mind.”
He shook his head. Stepped toward her. His body felt too big and clumsy and his cock was so hard he ached. He wanted inside her more than he wanted to breathe. “I don’t think…I’m the kind of lover you’re used to having.”
Her head tilted back. Her blonde hair slid over her shoulders. She’d pulled the bedsheets up to cover her breasts. He wanted to see her breasts—her nipples. He wanted to touch and kiss every inch of her.
“You think I have a type?” Savannah asked.
“Polished and perfect, just like you.”
She laughed. He liked that sound. And he took another step forward.
“I am as far from perfect as you can get. Trust me, on the inside, I’ve shattered into a million pieces time and again.” Savannah lifted her hand, holding her palm out toward him. “You’re handsome, strong, and smart. You remind me of a warrior.”
“I’m scarred and rough. And I can be a real dick at times.” Or so his ex-supervisor at the PD had told him a time or twenty.
“I like you,” Savannah said. “Exactly as you are.”
Good. Because she was about to get all of him. “My control won’t last long with you.” He was amazed he hadn’t already pounced on her. That warning was the only one she’d get.
“Control is over-rated,” she said, her husky voice stroking his need even more. “I’d rather have hot, hard sex and just enjoy the pleasure, with you.”
Hell, yes.
He climbed onto the bed. Yanked those covers away from her, and let his gaze feast on her body. There were no marks from the bullets. No scars on her skin. She was gold and gorgeous and when he put his mouth on her breast, she arched toward him.
Her nipple was hard against his tongue. He licked and kissed and went wild with her taste.
Her hands were holding tight to him. Savannah’s nails sank into his shoulders, and he loved that sting. His hand slid between her legs, found her wet and ready, and Mick pushed two fingers inside of her. She gasped his name, and he loved the desire in her voice. Loved that she wanted him that desperately, the same way he wanted her.
Mick withdrew his fingers and positioned his cock at the entrance to her body. When he thrust into her, he was pretty sure he’d go insane. She was hot and tight and freaking paradise. His whole body shuddered and he eased back, only to drive balls-deep within her again. Her legs locked around him. She surged to meet him, moving in a perfect, frantic rhythm to match his strokes.
He braced his hands
on either side of her body and pushed down on a long thrust that sent his shaft sliding over her sensitive core. She cried out and her nails sank deeper into him.
She was kissing his chest. Licking his skin. Driving him wild. But he wanted— “Bite,” Mick gasped out. “Do it, baby, bite me again.”
Twenty-four hours ago, he never would’ve wanted to be bitten. Twelve hours ago—hell, no. But right then, he wanted nothing more than her. All of her.
Her teeth sank into him, right above his heart, and pleasure slammed into him. He erupted within her, climaxing harder than he ever had in his entire life, and Savannah was with him. Mick could feel the contractions of her sex as she came around him.
The pleasure went on and on, wringing him out, pretty much destroying him for anyone else.
Then he felt the soft kiss of her lips over the small wounds on his chest. The drumming of his heartbeat still thundered in his ears as Mick lifted his head and gazed down at her.
She smiled up at him. “You really were worth waiting for.”
He frowned.
“Stay with me? For just a little while?” Savannah asked.
He’d never been the type to sleepover at a lover’s house—mostly because his relationships, hell, they hadn’t been relationships. Fast hook-ups, for him and his partners. The women had known the score and sure hadn’t been looking for anything but a few hours of pleasure. With the type of work he’d done on the Force, danger had been the only constant in his life.
Then that danger had nearly taken his life.
But Savannah was different. Savannah was… “I’ll stay,” he said. He withdrew from her, absolutely hating to leave her body, but he pulled her close and sank into the bed covers with her. She seemed to fit him, an odd thought, as odd as the fact that—
No one else had ever fit before.
She snuggled toward him, and he felt the light stir of her breath against his skin. “I don’t want anything…to happen to you,” Savannah murmured.
“Nothing will. We’re going to find that guy out there. We’ll stop him.”
Her breathing was evening out. She was slipping away from him. His hold tightened on her. “I’ll keep you safe during the day,” he promised her.
“I know you will.”
His lips curled.
Mick was still smiling when she fell asleep in his arms.
Chapter Five
“Wake up.” A sharp slap to the face accompanied that order.
Will Mato’s eyes cracked open. He squinted, trying to see around him. The room was damn dark, so it was hard to make out anything. He tried to stand up—only to realize that he was tied to a hard, wooden chair. Awareness flooded back through him. “What in the hell—?”
A bright light flashed on right over his head. A bare bulb that dangled from some kind of slender cord.
“Not hell,” Will was told by that grim voice. “Though I’m sure you’ll be getting there, soon enough.”
His heart raced faster as Will locked his gaze on the man in front of him. Tall, big, dark-haired—the bastard who’d attacked him before. “What the hell did you do?” Will snarled.
“Knocked your ass out,” he was told. “And now, you and I have plenty of time to talk.”
Will’s heart raced faster. He’d just caught sight of the fangs behind the man’s lips. “Just so you know…you’re about to be dead.” The guy smiled down at him, definitely flashing those fangs. “But there are two ways you can die. Screaming in agony…or you can go off gently into the hell that waits. I can make your death quick. Even painless.”
Will swallowed. “I don’t want to die.” That hadn’t been his plan. Never. “I-I can help you.”
The vampire cocked his head to the side and just waited.
“You wanted to know about the blonde.” Will yanked on the ropes, but there was no give to them. His hands were secured behind his back, behind the chair, and that SOB had tied him too tightly. “I can lead you to her. If you let me go, I’ll deliver her right up to you, I swear.”
“Hmmm…can you now?”
“Yes!” He’d do anything to live. “Look in my shirt pocket. There’s a card in there. A PI’s card. He’s with the blonde. You call that guy, and you’ll have her.” His words tumbled out in a fast rush.
The vampire closed in on him. The guy’s hand grabbed for the front of his shirt, and a few seconds later, Will saw that the fellow was holding the white business card. “Mick Swayne.”
Will nodded desperately. “That’s him. He’s like her guard dog or something. She came after me last night and I-I had to defend myself,” he rushed to say.
“Did you? How?” Anger sharpened his voice.
Cautious now, Will said, “It’s not like the bullets did much to her. She walked away fine, I swear.” He’d expected her to go down. She hadn’t. Much stronger than I realized. “I got the guy’s card. His number is on it. We can call him, and…set a trap.”
The vampire was just staring at him. Will licked his lips and kept taking, fast. As if his life depended on the words he said. Because it does. “They’re looking for you, you see. She…she knows you’re in town, and she came to Intoxication because she wanted to know about you.”
The vampire hadn’t gone for his throat yet. Will thought that was a good sign. “I saw you with Steve. I’m sorry,” he looked down, hanging his head, “but I told her about you. I described you. She knows you’re here. She said—I heard her say they had to stop you.”
Silence.
He tilted his head, risking a fast glance at the vampire in front of him. The vamp still had the PI’s card in his hand. “Don’t kill me,” Will said, knowing that he was begging and just not caring. “I can still help you. I will do anything you want. I will bring that bitch right to you—”
A fist drove into his face, shattering his nose and sending blood spurting down his face. The blow was so hard that Will fell back in his chair, slamming into the floor. “Don’t call her that,” the vampire told him flatly as he loomed over Will, his hands clenched and ready to swing again. “You’re worth nothing when compared to her. Nothing.”
But he wanted to be more. He wanted to be…forever. That was why he’d fired in that back alley. He just hadn’t realized how strong she was, not until she’d grabbed him by the throat. Then he’d realized…bad plan.
“L-let’s make a deal,” Will said as he spat out blood. “I will help you, I will bring—”
“I want the PI. He’s the threat. Not her.”
Will’s nose was throbbing and burning and he tasted blood. “I’ll get him. I swear it.”
The vampire leaned over him. The vamp’s eyes—an icy blue—locked on his. “You will, or you will be begging me to kill you before this day is done.”
***
A faint ringing noise reached Mick’s ears, pulling him from sleep. He resisted that sound at first because he was sure enjoying his dream. He and Savannah were dancing in the moonlight. She had on a long, red dress that swirled around her ankles. His limp wasn’t slowing him down. She laughed up at him and told him, “You can have forever…”
But the ringing wouldn’t stop and the dream was already fading. His eyes opened. The shutters were drawn in that room and it was totally dark, but he knew he was in Savannah’s bed. She was half-sprawled on top of him. Delicious and warm and out deep. He lifted her hand, then, smiling, he let it drop.
Her hand slammed back onto the bed. She didn’t so much as stir. The lady had been right when she said that she slept hard. Kinda cute.
And the incessant ringing would not stop. Was his voice mail screwed up? Mick stumbled around the room and finally saw the glow of his phone’s screen. He bent and scooped it up, but he didn’t recognize the number displayed there. He started to ignore the call but…
The caller is damn determined. Someone might need my help. “Swayne.”
“PI guy? Is this you?”
He frowned because the voice was familiar. Ragged and rough and—
“It’s Will Mato, from Intoxication. You said to call…to call if I saw that other vamp.” The guy’s words were coming rapid-fire now. “I saw him. I even, hell, man, I followed him back to his place. I’m in front of his building right now.”
“You’re bullshitting me.”
“I couldn’t let him kill someone else! But, jeez, I’m scared. Maybe I should call the cops…”
No. “The cops aren’t going to be able to handle him. You need to tell me where you are. Savannah and I will come over—”
“He’s packing up. I saw him. Moving boxes. Loading up an SUV with some freakishly dark tinted windows. That guy is making a break for it.” Will’s breath heaved out. “We have to stop him, right? We can’t…let him kill anyone else.”
“No, he can’t kill again,” Mick agreed. Dammit. “Tell me where you are. Now. I’ll be right there.”
“Thank you.” The relief in Will’s voice was obvious. “Man, I owe you because these vamps scare me shitless.” Then he rattled off the address. “But come now, okay? Because if this guy gets out of here…”
“We won’t let him get away. You stay right there,” Mick ordered. “If he tries to leave, follow him. Call me, and tell me every move that he makes.”
“Okay, yeah, yeah, I can do that. Just…hurry the hell up.”
“Dude, just calm the fuck down. And don’t approach the guy without me, got it? I’ll be there. Keep your shit together.” He ended the call. Mick turned on the lamp and gazed down at Savannah’s sleeping face.
She was out cold, and she’d told him that vampires were weaker during the day. So if there was ever a time to strike their enemy, it would be now.
But I won’t put her at risk.
She’d hired him to do two things…help her track the killer and protect her.
He knew where the killer was.
And now, he’d do his second job—keep her safe. Mick leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to her temple. “I’ll be back before you wake,” he promised her. Besides, it wasn’t like he was breaking his word to her. He wouldn’t be letting anyone in her place. He’d be going out to catch that SOB.