A Night with a Vampire

Cynthia Cooke

In all the years Xana Scorpio has hunted vampires with her brother, only vampire king Marius has eluded her. Then Marius captures her. He’s convinced she has the antidote to a toxin killing his people. Desperate for information to save them, Marius will use every sensual power in his arsenal to get what he wants. Though Xana tries to resist him, Marius is as seductive as he is deadly. She is held helpless by his gaze—and by the surge of desire aroused with his bite….

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter One

The sky erupted in an explosion of red and orange hues hastening the day’s end. Soon the vampires would be rising. Damn, she’d better hurry.

Xana pulled to a stop along the shoulder of the two-lane highway that wound through northern California’s coastal mountain range and killed the engine. She popped open the glove box and slipped out her Glock. She hurriedly placed it inside her waistband against the small of her back and then grabbed two thin wooden stakes sharpened to needle-fine points and placed one in each of her back pockets.

She snatched her brother’s—Cayman’s—pack off the floor then climbed out of her truck, tucking her hands into her leather jacket pockets, cupping the five-point silver stars in each palm as she started down the mountain path.

Below her the valley twinkled in a sea of lights, but up here, she was alone. Isolated. She took a deep eucalyptus-scented breath as the wind picked up and listened for Cayman beyond the rustling of the leaves. Nothing. She kept to the path heading toward a warehouse. Why would Cayman have come here without her? He knew better, and it pissed her off. But lately he’d been hiding something, keeping secrets and pulling dumb stunts.

Like this one.

A pulse of electricity zapped the hair on the back of her neck and sent a shiver across her shoulders. She glanced behind her, but saw no one then stepped behind a large pine and stood still, listening, straining to hear even the slightest movement. Someone was out there watching her. She knew it. She felt it.

She grasped the star in her pocket tighter and quickened her pace back down the path. The sooner she got to Cayman and the warehouse below, the better. About halfway down the mountain, she saw a movement in the shadows. Slowing, she peered through the dense foliage, inching forward, thankful for the soft carpet of pine needles beneath her feet. Cayman stepped out from behind a tree, then paused, as still as the night.

“Jesus, Cay,” Xana whispered. “What’s up with the theatrics?”

“No theatrics. But a little less noise would be nice.”

She narrowed her eyes into fine feline slits. “Why did you drag me all the way out here?”

“It’s your birthday. I wanted to give you a present.”

“And you couldn’t have given it to me, say at the Chart House over a filet?” she asked.

He shoved his hand in his pocket then pulled out a pewter tube with an amethyst crystal set into its top dangling from a long silver chain.

Her annoyance evaporated. “Wow, Cayman.” She cupped the necklace in her hand. “It’s beautiful.”

“I thought you’d like it.” He placed it around her neck. “But this isn’t all I got you.”

“No?” She looked at him warily. Surprise gifts weren’t like Cayman.

“You got the pack I asked you to bring?”

“Of course.” She patted the strap slung over her shoulder.

“Good. Then let’s go.”

“Cay.” She stopped him with a hand on his arm. “What aren’t you telling me?” A niggling in her gut hinted that there was more going on here than he was letting on.

The small muscles in his jaw twitched. “This is a big one.”

Xana paused at the slight quiver in his voice. Was it possible that her steadfast older brother, who was always in control, was suddenly afraid? A twinge nipped Xana’s insides. She had an intimate relationship with fear, had lived with it for so long, she wasn’t sure she could live without it. Cayman, on the other hand, was never afraid and Xana had come to depend on him to keep her fear at bay.

Now she didn’t know what to think. “What big one?”

“You’ll see.”

He was being cryptic again. As they walked farther down the hill, the warehouse came into view. They watched for a moment as the building’s front door opened and a young woman stepped out. She locked the door behind her then crossed the empty lot to her red car. “She should be the last one,” Cayman said. “They worked late tonight.”

Xana felt that odd tingling on the back of her neck again. She swung around, certain there must be someone behind her, but again saw no one.

She was just jumpy. Jumpy and tired.

“Great, now would you mind telling me what’s going on?” she asked.

“Vampires. Lots of them.”

“Since when do vampires play corporate business? You’ve got to be wrong about this.” God, she hoped he was wrong about this.

“If I’m wrong, then why is your vampire sense doing the tango up and down your spine?”

He was right. She didn’t like the uneasiness twisting through her. Usually they waited until nightfall, hunting vamps in the shadier districts of San Francisco, where the fog crawls across the ocean and winds through the streets. The city was a haven for alternative lifestyles and underground clubs where patrons often offered up the sweet drink willingly. In these haunts, vampires blended in, melded, thrived.

Warehouses in the middle of the mountains were not their normal stomping grounds, but one thing Xana knew about her brother was that Cayman was seldom wrong. His facts were always straight. He took time to make sure they were on the right trail, that their raids were organized and plotted down to the slightest detail.

Xana, on the other hand, was not a thinker, but a doer. A woman of action. And that’s what she wanted to do right now—act. Not sit around here watching the shadows deepen into sharp points on the side of an ugly grey box. But still, something didn’t feel right about this.

As the red compact disappeared up the road, Cayman turned to her. “Okay, let’s go.”

“Finally,” she said on a deep breath. They hurried down the hillside and into the parking lot then ran toward the building’s entrance.

Cayman pulled a key out of his pocket and unlocked the glass front door. “Getting a copy of the key off the woman who just left last night was easy. Getting the codes to the alarm system wasn’t. But I got ’em.”

An anxious twinge pinched Xana’s side. “You’ve done a lot of planning for this one,” she said, wondering why he hadn’t clued her into the job earlier.

“Always do.” He opened the door and stepped inside then stopped and punched the alarm code into a small box on the wall by the door.

Xana pulled out her gun specifically equipped with wooden-core silver bullets then followed her brother into the heart of the building, down one gloomy corridor after another where the only sound was the low hum of the air conditioner reverberating around them. “Sure is quiet,” she whispered.

“Just wait until dark. That’s when the party starts.” They passed through the main warehouse, weaving through wooden crates stacked ten and twenty feet high. “This place fronts as an import/export business—junk art, vases, statues, but the real work goes on in a lab dug into the side of the mountain.”

Xana paused outside a locked door and waited for Cayman to open it. This was way beyond the vamp-staking they usually did. Cayman continued through the doorway, down a long corridor, to a door set into the far wall. Once opened, he stepped out onto a metal landing. Xana followed, then stopped. Her breath catching in her throat choked her. “My God.”

The entire floor below them was lined up with row upon row of stainless steel cylinders.

“High-tech coffins,” Cayman explained.

Xana turned to him. “Are you kidding me?”

Cayman’s gaze hardened. “Does it look like it? According to my sources, someone is building an empire of vampires. We’re here to stop them.” Cayman descended the stairs, taking them two at a time.

What sources? Xana stared after him. The niggling fingers of concern she’d felt earlier grew into fists of fear. She looked out at the sea of coffins. This was a lot bigger than annihilating a few vamps.

Cayman stopped at the bottom of the stairs and turned back, his eyes darkening as he grasped the rail with whitened knuckles. “Start unloading the explosives. I’ll be right back. I just need three minutes, five tops. Then we’ll blow this place to kingdom come.”

Xana nodded, but realized with certain dread that it hadn’t been fear earlier on the hillside that had caused the quiver in Cayman’s voice, but rage. Mr. Cool was about to lose it and that scared Xana a lot more than the roomful of vampires below her.

The sooner they got out of this place, the better.

She grabbed Cayman’s pack and moved quickly through the room, strategically placing sticks of dynamite in each corner before inserting the blasting caps and running the fuse the length of the room to connect with a detonator. She attached the timer and placed it at the bottom of the stairwell. The explosion had to be powerful enough to incinerate the basement’s occupants without bringing down the building or the mountain.

After she positioned her last explosive, she pulled a nearby box next to a coffin and stepped up to look through the small glass window in the top of the steel dome. A man lay tucked inside, his skin an odd shade of purplish gray, the dark circles beneath his closed eyes a deep red. Strangely, he didn’t look like a soulless evil vampire, but she knew too well that looks could be deceiving.

She headed back toward the stairwell, winding her way through the coffins until she reached the archway her brother had disappeared through. She looked at her watch. Almost dark. She’d hate to be stuck in this building once those coffins started to open. Even her specialized vamp-blaster wouldn’t stop the number of undead housed in this crypt.

“Cayman, come on!” she called down the hallway her brother had disappeared into. She heard a soft footstep behind her and pivoted, her gaze searching the room. Nothing. Her stomach churned. Something moved just outside her field of vision. A blurred shape darted from one coffin to the next, where it slipped out of sight again. Xana stilled, her breath coming in short, quick gasps.

She clutched her gun in both hands and stepped forward, peering behind a row of coffins. A long black leather coat billowed from behind a canister. She’d seen that coat before, knew that mass of jet-black hair. Her blood thinned and rushed to her head.

Marius. King of the vampires. And the one she’d never been able to get near.

The sound of a lock clicking open echoed through the room. Her muscles tensed. Fear, her closest friend and staunchest enemy, grasped hold of her heart and squeezed, wrenching free a flood of adrenaline to buzz through her veins. She ran, rounding the last row of coffins, following that jacket.

No one was there.

Where’d he go?

A breath lifted the hair about her ear.

Xana spun round.

In a quick movement, Marius wrenched her gun out of her hand. His jet-black eyes locked onto hers and, for a second, she couldn’t turn away. She was lost and drowning in those inky black pools. Heat flamed, rising through her body to balloon in her chest. Her breath came in short little gasps. She moistened her lips, not missing the quick movement of his eyes as they watched her. She shoved a hand in her pocket and grasped one of the stars, wanting to pull it out, wanting to flick her wrist and embed the razor-sharp points in his chest.

But she didn’t.

She couldn’t.

Marius wasn’t any ordinary bloodsucker. Marius was the king of the bloodsuckers and he hadn’t survived as long as he had without learning a few tricks.

Tricks she was pretty sure she didn’t want to see.

“Where’s Cayman?” His smooth voice moved through her sweet and thick, like hot creamy chocolate, coating her senses, making her want to hear more, making her want to lean in close to see if his breath smelled as sweet.

Jesus, what was wrong with her?

“Where’s the cylinder?” he demanded.

“What are you talking about?” Her voice wasn’t her own. It was higher, pitchy, weak. She didn’t like it.

She didn’t like anything about this.

His hardened gaze narrowed as it followed the path of explosives set around the room. “You and your brother won’t like the consequences of this game you’re playing.”

She should have laughed at his threat. Should have come back with something witty, something perfect that would let him know that she wasn’t afraid of him. That she could take him down any moment she chose to. But for some reason her tongue was tied.

A cacophony of locks springing open rumbled through the air. Xana gasped then glanced down the hallway, looking for Cayman once more. When she turned back, Marius was gone. That was her cue to leave. She turned and headed for the stairs. She’d wait for Cayman upstairs, away from these coffins. Away from Marius.

“You ready?” Cayman asked, seemingly coming from nowhere.

Xana grabbed him by the arm. “Damn you, Cayman. Where have you been?”

“Getting this.” He held up a small plastic case. “Are the charges placed?”

“Yes, but we’ve got company—Marius. He took my gun, and for some reason he was asking for you and for some kind of cylinder.”

Cayman’s blue eyes swept the room. Only they weren’t quite the blue they’d always been. Somehow they were different, almost mirrorlike and incandescent. “What’s up with your eyes?” she demanded.

“What?” Cayman asked, taking a step back.

“I don’t know. They look—” she groped for the right word “—pale.”

Cayman blinked and he was her brother again, the same guy who had always been there for her—on the day she was born and on the afternoon their parents died. “We’d better move.” He glanced furtively around him.

“You got that right.”

“Set the charges then meet me back at the top of the road.” He placed a plastic case into the pocket of her blouse inside her jacket. “Make sure nothing happens to that case. Trust no one.” Cayman turned and started up the stairwell.

“What? Cayman? Damn.”

A loud sound popped, then the whoosh of vacuum-released hydraulics. One by one, the coffin doors opened.

“Shit!” Xana ran to the timer hooked to the fuses that was spread across the room and activated the clock preset to count down from three minutes. “Time to roll.”

She saw Cayman flying up the stairs, taking them three at a time. Xana followed, but couldn’t catch up as they hurried up one flight after another. She ran through the warehouse past the boxes of junk art and vases. At the other end of the room, Cayman burst through the door into the front offices. Xana glanced at her watch as she followed. “Twenty-five seconds ’til the blast.”

She bolted forward, running down one hallway and then another before finally pushing through the offices as shock waves ripped through the building. She tore out the glass front door, covered her head and kept running. The blast shook the ground beneath her. She faltered, trying to find her footing.

A violent roar cracked the sky. Windows shattered. An intense wave of heat slammed into her, lifting her off her feet and throwing her to the ground. Birds took flight with raucous screeches and squawks. Glass and debris pelted her neck and shoulders. After a moment, the ground settled and the clamor dimmed to a chorus of creaks and groans of tortured metal.

Xana lay beneath a bush and took mental inventory of her extremities. She hurt everywhere, her ears rang, her eyes stung. When the smoke thinned, she stood on wobbly legs and looked around her. Her heart dropped, dread filling the empty space. Cayman wasn’t in the parking lot or lying on the hillside or anywhere.

“Cayman!” she yelled, and limped stiffly toward the building. She looked through the shattered, gaping opening. He was nowhere to be seen.

Intense panic gripped her. She headed around the back of the building. A side door flew open in front of her. Smoke billowed out the doorway. Marius, his black eyes glowing red, stormed out the door. Stunned, Xana stopped. Before she could catch her breath, he was gone.

She kept walking. Where was Cayman? He’d been ahead of her. He had to have gotten out, unless there was something else he’d wanted to do. She entered through the side door into the building once more and immediately doubled over. The room was a shambles, burning walls and equipment released noxious gasses. High-pitched screams filled the air—vampires succumbing to the flames.

Xana hurried back out the door and up the road toward her truck. Cayman said he’d be there. But he wasn’t. There was no sign of him anywhere. Had he left on his own? Without her? That would have been shitty, but she wanted to believe it because the alternative was not something she could grasp. Her brother was nose-deep into something and from the look of things, it wasn’t something good.

Trust no one.

She recalled his last words and shivered.

Chapter Two

After a moment of waiting by her truck, Xana turned and hurried back down the hill toward the warehouse. Cayman could not have just disappeared. He had to be here. Somewhere. The building’s automatic fire sprinklers had extinguished most of the flames. She poked around inside the building, looking over cubicle walls, under desks and fallen partitions, looking for Cayman. He must be there.

But he wasn’t.

Her heart constricted with fear. He had been in front of her. He had to have gotten out. Unless he couldn’t. She turned a corner and ran straight into Marius. Without thinking and with an anxiety-laden roar, she launched herself on him, stake in hand. “Where is he?” she demanded.

Marius grabbed her by the neck and pushed her against the wall. She leveraged the stake between them and pushed it against his chest. “Let me go,” she threatened.

“You first.”

“Where is my brother?”

“Where is the formula?”

This couldn’t end well. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Now let me—”

The next thing she knew she was flying through the air as if she weighed no more than a child’s toy. She hit the wall with a teeth-chattering thud then slid to the floor. She waited for the stars to stop circling then with a derisive shake, pushed to her feet. Damn, she wished she had her gun.

“You should have played possum,” Marius scolded, his lips curving into a smile, revealing sharp white teeth elongated into fine chiseled points.

“What fun would that be?” Xana picked up a broken wooden leg from a chair and thudded it against the palm of her hand. God, she looked stupid. Like this little piece of splintered wood would stop someone as old and strong as Marius, but she wasn’t about to stand there and let him think of her as a weak little girl he could easily whip. Even if he could.

She drew back and bent low, her weight evenly distributed on the balls of her feet as she contemplated what she should do next and how the hell she was going to get out of there. In an instant, Marius had her once more shoved against the wall, her feet dangling mere inches above the ground. Long fingers gripped her neck, and squeezed. The broken leg dropped to the floor with a loud clatter.

“Are you going to make me ask again?”

“I don’t know,” Xana spluttered. She knew he had the strength to snap her neck with no more effort than snapping a decayed twig. But he wouldn’t as long as he thought she could help him.

She squirmed in his grasp. Marius’s grip tightened. “If you don’t want me to dismember you, finger by finger, limb by limb, while you lay on the ground screaming for your daddy, then give me the cylinder.”

Xana didn’t doubt for a second that Marius would live up to his threat. “What’s so important about this cylinder?”

Marius leaned in close, his lips mere inches from hers, his black gaze warming her skin, even as she refused to look into it. Lesson 101 in dealing with vampires—never look them in the eyes unless you want your free will pulverized to mush. But she had to breathe, and Marius’s breath smelled sweet as it filled her mouth and nose and slowly moved down her throat to expand in her lungs.

Xana gagged, trying to stop the sensation crawling through her. Marius was an old vampire and the most powerful she had ever run across. He had tricks up his sleeve that would make her head spin. Languid warmth coursed through her, relaxing her muscles, easing her mind. For a second, she actually believed everything was going to be okay.

“What are you doing to me?” She tried to pull away, to escape the sickly sweet odor, but only succeeded in butting the back of her head against the wall.

A sharp sting pierced her skin as he sank his fangs into her neck. The sensation burned hot, lighting a fire in her veins as Marius’s mouth worked against her throat, sucking, pulling as he drank. A sudden eroticism swept over her, and against her will, against every fiber in her being, she felt desire surge, riding her heated blood as it pulsed through her veins.

She fought it with every ounce of willpower she had, but to no avail. Marius laughed, the sound rumbling deep in his throat and vibrating against her chest.

“I love this. Xana Scorpio, fearless vampire hunter, is now pinned against the wall, helpless against my ministrations. Are you afraid of what I might do to you? Afraid of the sensations flooding though your very human body?”

“Go to hell!”

He laughed again, obviously enjoying himself. “Humans really are victims of the blood coursing through them, flowing and ebbing like the tide. You don’t have nearly as much control or power over yourselves as you think you have. But you try, you fight, you play, making the game oh, so sweet.”

Xana watched the blood lining the inside of his lips drip down the side of his mouth and knew it was her own. He wiped the crimson liquid off his chin then sucked it off his finger. “I love the taste of you.”

Xana’s chest tightened with revulsion…and fear.

“I love how you taste so similar to your brother.”

Rage laced her mind, spinning it out of control. Had Marius snatched Cayman from the warehouse? Had he killed him while she’d been lying in the bushes outside? How long had she been there? Seconds? Minutes?

Marius bit her again, and this time, as he drank, a peaceful, languid sensation came over her. Even as she pushed against his rock-solid chest, a part of her wanted to throw in the towel, to let her eyes drift closed and sleep—to join her parents in whatever hell existed beyond this place, even if it was nothing but a deep yawning abyss of darkness.

Marius released her and Xana slumped to the floor. Sensations flooded back—fear, anxiety, rage—while dizziness swam through her head.

The sound of approaching sirens painfully pierced her temples.

He shoved his hand inside her breast pocket, his hard grasp scraping against her tightened nipple. “Cayman put a case in this pocket. Where is it?”

Xana turned surprised eyes on her empty pocket. Good question.

“It was the case for the blasting caps I needed to detonate the explosives,” she muttered, hoping he’d believe her. Hoping he’d let her go. He didn’t. Disoriented and confused she looked up at him, as his tight grasp on her neck cut off her circulation. Her vision wavered as darkness encroached. She couldn’t think. Couldn’t breathe.

And then there was nothing.

As the sirens grew louder with the approach of the fire trucks, Marius picked up the woman and quickly disappeared into the woods, heading down the mountain to where his car was parked. He didn’t know what Cayman and his sister were up to or why they were here, but he’d make them sorry they blew up his warehouse. That formula had been inside and the two annoying humans had obviously beat him to it. But if Cayman ever wanted to see his dear sister again, he would return it. And quick.

Marius had to get that formula for the virus to his people tonight before this situation got any worse. He’d had to kill three of his brethren last night. Who knew how many more were infected. He didn’t have the time or the patience to play the human’s game.

He resisted the urge to push the accelerator to the floor as he navigated the winding road, passing one emergency vehicle after another. He almost wished he could stick around and see what lies the humans would tell each other about what they were about to discover in the basement of the warehouse. Fire was a great cleanser, but it wouldn’t erase everything.

When Marius first learned about the Alliance and their virus, he hadn’t believed it could be true. Why should he? The arrogance. The audacity of humans thinking they could conquer the vampire. That they could mimic the genetic structure and create “super” humans. It was ridiculous.

But he’d seen the coffins and the abominations within them. But so far, he’d yet to see a human survive the experiments. Still, he was more concerned about what was happening to the vampires that had been lured into their plan. Somehow the experiments had infected them with a virus that replicated and destroyed, turning friends into vicious, rabid killers with no soul, no conscience, no semblance of who they really were.

He had to stop it.

But to do that he needed the formula from the experiments the Alliance had been conducting. He needed that cylinder. And he would get it, because he knew Cayman well enough to know there was only one thing in this entire world that man valued and Marius had just dumped it in his backseat.

The pretty little Xana would look nice perched on his hook, now all he needed to do was reel Cayman in.

Xana opened her eyes. The first thing she was aware of was the pain shooting through her skull. The second was the chill seeping into her skin. Her eyes widened. Where were her clothes? She tried to move, but couldn’t. Both her hands were tied above her, and each foot was strapped to a bed post by…silk scarves?

Son of a bitch!

The bastard had tied her spread-eagle to the bed.

Panic fired through her mind, zipping across her nerve endings. She writhed, pulling at her restraints. Suddenly, fluorescent light lit the room, burning her eyes and sending a fresh arrow of pain shooting through her temples.

“Oh, good, you’re finally awake,” Marius said as he walked into the room.

With all the strength in her legs, she pulled at her entrapments and cringed as they tightened around her ankles. Tears of anger and frustration filled her eyes. Furiously, she blinked them back. “Where are my clothes?”

“Does it matter? You look much more beautiful as you are.”

She stared down at herself. The only clothing she still wore was her white satin thong. The bastard was trying to make her feel vulnerable. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. She steeled her eyes and glared at him. “What do you want with me?”

“I want the formula and now that I have you, your brother is going to bring it to me.” He walked closer, trailing the tip of his finger up her leg. “How have you been, Xana?”

“Just fine, thanks,” she said through gritted teeth.

He sat on the edge of the bed and grinned. It was eerie—seductive, charming and deadly. Monsters should not look so damned hot. Leaning in close, he ran his finger along the groove in her stomach.

“Don’t touch me.” She said the words softly, but stared at him with such fury her eyes felt like hard-burning orbs in her skull.

She was going to kill him.

“You really are a lovely woman.”

She ignored him. He was trying to get to her with his mind games. He hovered closer. She looked at his mouth, his deep red lips, made all the more crimson by the pale tint of his skin. Long dark hair framed his face. His dark eyes were…mesmerizing. Seductive. She glanced away.

“Cayman will bring me the formula, and then he will help me and we will all work together.”

“You’re lying.” She bit down hard on her lip to keep from screaming at him and tasted the tinny metallic flavor of her blood.

He stared at her lip and seemed momentarily distracted.

Damn.

He leaned closer. “Am I? Did you know he told me to meet him at that warehouse? It looks as if he’s left us both…hanging.”

“Why should I believe you?”

“You’re right, why should you? Except now it appears you might have lost him, too. You might be…alone in the world.” There was a tiny glint of pleasure on his face as he said the words.

Had he been responsible for what had happened to Cayman? Had Cayman played some stupid game with Marius and lost? For the first time since she opened her eyes, she felt real grab-you-by-the-guts-and-twist fear. Her outrage and anger evaporated.

“What do you know about my brother?”

“What makes you think I know anything?” Marius laughed, then the smile disappeared and his face turned cold, freezing the blood in her veins. “What do you know about the Alliance?” he asked. “About the warehouse we were in?”

“Nothing.” This time she whined. She hated it. Hated that she couldn’t hold on to her fury. Hated that the fear was seeping in. She felt a slight tickle on the inside of her thigh and tried desperately to clamp her legs together, but all she succeeded in doing was tightening the restraints around her ankles until they cut off her circulation and burned.

“Don’t you and your brother talk?”

“Please, let me go,” she pleaded, her bravado vanishing and quickly being replaced by Miss Timid-and-Scared.

He bent his face toward the juncture between her thighs.

“What are you doing?” she cried as panic rose in her throat.

“I love this spot, where the flesh is so soft and creamy.”

A flash of burning pain exploded in her thigh. “Stop,” she screamed. He was biting her! Tearing into her skin. She ripped at her restraints, thrashing on the bed, trying desperately to pull away from him. The silk ripped, nearly freeing her left leg.

The burning in her thigh dulled, spreading languid warmth through her body. Her muscles relaxed. He continued sucking her thigh, until her breathing became shallow and her breasts swelled, reaching, aching…

A hot tingling ignited beneath the satin thong, and she squirmed, growing light-headed. To her horror, a moan escaped her wet lips. Marius lifted his face from her thigh and stared at her, blood dripping down his chin and landing on the white satin where it pooled and spread into the fragile threads.

She knew she shouldn’t look into his eyes, but she was past caring. “Please,” she whimpered. Do it again, take more, take her.

Fury lit a fire in his eyes. “The Alliance? The experiments?”

The desire-ridden brain-fog swirling in her mind left her incapable of understanding or caring what it was he wanted. In a movement of extreme speed and dexterity, he was lying on top of her, the weight of his body pressing down on hers. She pushed her hips against him, grinding slightly, trying to find some release to the pressure that was just beginning to subside.

She lost herself in the black pools of his eyes, and knew she was his. Right now, she would do whatever he wanted.

He licked the skin behind her ear, tasting, smelling. “Why didn’t Cayman tell you? Did he not trust you?” He pulled the sensitive lobe into his mouth, loving it tenderly with his tongue.

The burning within her grew again, building until she felt she’d explode if he didn’t kiss her.

She made soft mewling noises as his tongue slipped from behind his teeth and circled her lips. She arched her back, trying to get closer, trying to draw him into her.

“More,” she demanded. She pushed her tongue into his mouth, kissing him hard, tasting, devouring, conquering…

He pulled back. “No.”

She looked up at him, trying to catch her breath as mortification set it. She wanted him. She’d begged him. And he’d said no.

“Oh, God,” she squeaked.

“Don’t worry, darling. You couldn’t help yourself. You’re only…human, after all.”

He left her and started toward the door.

“Wait. You can’t leave me here like this.”

“Like what? Wanting? Lusting? Craving?”

Yes, craving. “Tied up,” she said, her voice barely audible.

“Oh, but I can. And I will, until your brother brings me what I want.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

“Then you need to think about exactly what you’re going to do to help me find him.”

“Why would I help you?”

“Because it’s the only chance you will ever have to see him or anyone again.”

“Great,” she muttered as he walked out the door. She pulled her leg against the silk bind that had come loose, and pulled her foot free. She glanced quickly at the door, then tried with the other leg. It didn’t budge.

“Great,” she muttered again and closed her legs. “Happy birthday to me.”

Chapter Three

Leaving the delectable Miss Xana, Marius walked into the kitchen for a bag of blood. She’d responded to him much more strongly than he’d expected, but what truly surprised him was the way he’d responded to her. It had been a long time since he’d felt such an intense pull toward a woman. Any woman, and a human woman at that. But there was something about the bright spot of crimson on her silky white panties and the smell of her desire that stuck with him, and fueled the rock-hard erection that was pushing uncomfortably against his leather pants.

He should go back in there and give her what she wanted. What they both needed. But that wouldn’t accomplish anything. He needed her to trust him, to help him figure out what Cayman was doing in that warehouse. His cell phone buzzed. He pulled it out of his pocket and answered it.

“There’s a problem at Crank it Up.” Jaz, his first sergeant in control of District 3, almost never called. He liked to handle things on his own, and Marius liked to let him. Sometimes. But after what had happened with his three brethren last night, and then not finding the formula at the warehouse tonight, he didn’t want to hear any more bad news.

“What kind of problem?”

“A few of our own are out of control.”

A few? “Can’t you handle it?” Marius barked, clearly annoyed.

“Maybe. There are a lot.”

Marius stilled. “How many?”

“Last count…at least six. But more are coming in.”

Damn it. What was going on in his city? “All right. I’m coming.”

But he wouldn’t be going alone. Miss Xana needed to see for herself what they were up against and what the stakes would be if she didn’t help him find her brother and that formula.

He gathered up her clothes, walked into the room and threw them on the bed, then quickly untied her silk binds. “Get dressed. We’re going into the city.”

Instantly, she pulled her clothes in front of her using them as a shield. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“Do you really think you have a choice? You can either come of your own free will, or I can make you. Now which would you prefer?”

“Why are you doing this?”

“Because I don’t have time for games. The Alliance has waged war against us.”

“I don’t even know what this Alliance is.”

“Your brother does. If he kept it from you, that’s your problem. You are going to help me find out exactly what he and this Alliance are up to.”

“I’m not helping you do anything,” she hissed and sputtered, as if she were a wet little kitten. He could almost smile, if he weren’t so damned annoyed.

“Fine, then stay here tied up in the dark and maybe I’ll come back for you. Or maybe I’ll just leave you here to rot.” He picked up a silk scarf then grabbed her ankle and yanked it toward him.

“No. Wait. Don’t.”

He continued tying her other ankle and her wrists.

“You’re not serious,” she asked, her eyes growing wide.

“I don’t have time or patience for your silly antics.” He walked out the door, flicking off the light as he did.

“Wait!” she screamed.

He hesitated, opening the door a crack.

“All right, I’ll help you. Just don’t leave me here.”

Within seconds, he had the ties off her ankles and wrists, and then he tossed her naked body over his shoulder on the way to his car in the garage.

“Put me down,” she yelled, as she beat on him, her small pert breasts bouncing against his back, her lovely round backside up on his shoulder next to his chin. For a second he was tempted to take a small nip, but he didn’t. Not now. But he would have his pleasure with this woman and her mass of blond hair before the night was over, of that he was certain.

Anger and humiliation burned through Xana as Marius’s hand slipped over her bare butt. As soon as she got away from this monster and back to her house, she was going to burn every one of her thongs, and then she’d come back for him. She’d make him pay for this if it was the last thing she did.

If she got out of here.

“Damn you, Cayman,” she gritted under her breath. Why the hell would he arrange to meet Marius at the warehouse, then run off and leave her there?

Marius dumped her into the backseat of the Jaguar and tossed her clothes on top of her. “Get dressed.”

“Why? I thought you liked me naked?” she snapped.

His eyebrows quirked and she thought she saw the corners of his mouth lift before his face became impassive again and he looked once more like what he was—a stone-cold killer. A monster.

Xana sat in the back of the sleek Jaguar as it roared down the winding mountain road toward Highway 101 and into the city. She pulled her cami over her head, then quickly buttoned her blouse over it and wiggled into her skinny jeans. She cringed as the denim scraped against the bite marks on her upper thigh.

Hate and revulsion flooded through her, filling every molecule of her being. She’d kissed him. His bite put some kind of twisted disgusting vampire spell on her and she’d wanted him to kiss her back. To touch her. Hell, to screw her.

Damn, she wanted a shower. A long, hot shower with a stiff brush. But no. She was stuck in this plush car going with him to God knew where for God knew what. Chances were she’d never see a shower again. Or Cayman. The desperate thought crept unbidden into her mind. She pushed it away. Cayman wouldn’t have left her there with Marius. He couldn’t have set this all up. Vampires lie. They cheat and they manipulate. And they hypnotize women into kissing them and Lord knew what else. She thought of Marius’s hand touching her body and shivered.

“Where are we going?” she blurted, trying to get the thought out of her head.

“Into the city,” he answered as they raced through four full lanes of traffic toward the Golden Gate Bridge.

“Why?”

“Because I want you to see firsthand what the Alliance is doing.”

“I’ve already told you I don’t know anything about this Alliance.”

“Then your brother has done you a great disservice.”

Has he? They drove in silence as they entered the city, following the freeway onto Lombard Street then dropping down Van Ness toward the Tenderloin District. Oh, this wasn’t good. He pulled to a stop near Seventh Street, outside of several dark and dilapidated warehouses. She looked around, desperately searching for a way to escape, a way to disappear. But here, a woman on her own was easy prey. And not just to vampires.

Especially a woman without her gun.

“What are you hoping to show me?” she asked as he cut the engine.

He didn’t answer, but got out of the car. Before she could blink, her door was opening. “Let’s go,” he said.

“Lead the way.”

She walked next to him through the darkness, where the red tips of burning cigarettes were the only signs of life lurking in the shadows. Drug addicts and gang members waiting to accost anyone with a quarter in their pocket filled the dark corners where graffiti covered chipped and peeling paint. The smell of vomit and urine tainted the air, and bundled lumps of humanity forgotten and ignored lay in inebriated clumps against the walls and along the sidewalks of the abused and neglected buildings.

They sidestepped the large grates in the cement where fog billowed up, its tendrils wrapping around and swallowing their legs. She walked quicker, following Marius into an abandoned building that practically hummed with the vibrations of the grating music playing within. As she passed through the darkened door where only flashes of multicolored strobe lights lit the room, Xana knew instinctively that she didn’t want to be in there.

The air was thick with the smell of cigarettes and marijuana. She slapped a hand against her nose and mouth to keep from coughing. People stood shoulder-to-shoulder, their faces full of gleaming metal exposed in jagged harsh pieces as the light bounced off their kohl-darkened eyes, white powdered skin and hair cut at choppy angles. Yep, exactly what she would expect to see in a place like this. Even gang members might not mess with some of these freaks.

Marius grabbed her arm and dragged her quickly through the room to a long bar in the back. She had to get away from him. But how?

On a stage a band clad in black leather screamed about the glories of suicide and she had to wonder if it was so great, why didn’t they do mankind a favor and get it over with already? Marius exchanged a few whispered words with a vampire behind the bar then pulled her toward a staircase in the far corner and ascended into the darkness. She hesitated, not wanting to go up there, but he yanked on her arm, dragging her after him up the stairs and down a long corridor to another room in the back.

Her stomach rolled in protest as a sickly sweet odor reached her. She tried to pull away, but Marius’s grip tightened.

“Let me go,” she insisted. But it did no good. He continued forward, practically pulling her after him. When they reached the room in the back, she was horrified by what she saw through the gloom of several thick candles in iron stands and sconces around the room. People were laying on chaise lounges, on couches and on the floor in various states of undress. Making out, making love, slobbering all over each other—a sick, virtual orgy of twisting bodies.

But not everyone was moving. Or moaning.

Apprehension twisted in her gut.

“I want out of here,” she said and pulled away, trying to wrench free from his grasp. It was no use. Trying to move him was like trying to move a tree. And not just any tree, a giant sequoia.

Marius ignored her protestations and approached the couple closest to them. The man pulled up from the woman’s neck and looked up at him, blood covering the bottom half of his face. The woman was dead, her neck half-gone. Xana froze. The vampire wasn’t just drinking her blood, he was eating her flesh.

Revulsion ripped through Xana, turning her stomach. She took an immediate step back. The vampire followed her movement, his eyes glowing an odd shade of reddish-amber. Marius thrust something into the man’s heart. Surprise filled the vampire’s face seconds before he exploded into an obscure puff of ash.

Xana sagged with relief, but it was short-lived. Her eyes adjusted to the gloom and as she looked around her, she realized the room was full of vampires and, by the sickly sweet odor, blood. They didn’t seem to just be taking drinks. They were actually feasting. She faltered, falling back against the wall. She couldn’t stay here. Terrified, she looked at Marius and started backing toward the door.

In two strides he was on her.

Marius took Xana’s stakes out of his inside pocket and thrust them into her hand. Her eyes widened with surprise. “Don’t let them near you,” he said then moved into the heart of the room.

He saw Lewis, his old friend from back when he’d first come to San Francisco. Lewis was old-world French and an aristocrat. But more than that, he was a gentleman. A man of sophistication. The animal Marius saw before him tearing into a human like a wild dog was not his friend. His friend had been stolen by the virus.

Fury tightened Marius’s grip on the stake as he plunged it into Lewis—doing what he had to do, doing what Lewis would want him to do and what he’d want Lewis to do to him if their roles were reversed. He put Lewis down like the rabid animal he was.

This virus the Alliance had infected the vampires with was spreading. He had to put an end to it and eradicate those responsible now, or soon there might not be any sane vampires left. Which wouldn’t be good for any of them. As quickly as he could, he moved through the room, staking one rabid vamp after another.

Until they became aware of what he was doing.

The vampires stood, rising off the corpses and moving toward him. The darkened room glowed with candlelight bouncing off the reddish-amber sheen of their eyes.

Behind him, Xana gasped. As if frozen, she’d been standing against the wall watching with shocked eyes, but not moving. She moved now, as if someone flipped a switch inside her, and started doing what she did best—killing vampires. Though he doubted she’d ever been faced with so many at one time.

He fought with the speed and strength far superior to many of the vamps in the room, who were at least a century younger than him, and by the time he and Xana were done, there was nothing left but the mangled bodies of the victims.

Sickened by the scene before him and by what he’d had to do to his followers, his vampires from his city, he walked slowly around the room, making sure they were all gone. Xana stood by the far wall, breathing heavily, her hand shaking.

“What are we going to do now?” she asked.

“The human bodies will have to be destroyed. No one can ever know who they were or what had happened to them here.”

“It’s just so…”

He placed a hand on her arm. “We have to make sure this never happens again. We have to stop them.”

Looking somewhat shell-shocked, she looked up at him with wet luminous eyes, her mouth opening as if to form a question, but in the end, she just nodded.

Without saying a word, Xana followed Marius out of the chamber and down the stairs to the room below, where people danced and drank and laughed and had no idea of the horror going on above them, or how close they’d come to becoming meat for the monsters around them.

But they were all gone now. Dead because of Marius. She watched him as he whispered in the ear of a bartender, telling him how to dispose of the bodies, she supposed. The vampire nodded, his face looking grim. Then they were out of the warehouse. She took a deep breath of the night air, which now seemed suddenly refreshing. She stopped herself from running down the street toward the docks, where the icy wind and briny, oily smell of the bay could wash her feverish cheeks and clean the scent of death from her nose.

But she knew she would never forget the stench of it.

“What happened back there?” she asked, her voice sounding weak and broken.

“The vampires were infected. They had to be put down.”

“Infected?” Uneasiness squirmed through her.

“By a virus created by the Alliance.”

She didn’t understand. How could a virus cause this kind of horror? What would Cayman know about any of this? Why would he ask Marius to meet him at the warehouse only to blow it up and disappear? And leave her behind?

Suddenly, Marius stopped and turned to her, his dark angry gaze locking onto hers. “Why don’t you know anything about this? I thought you and your brother were a team. A vampire-killing, monster-stomping team.” His words were loud and mocking. They made her cringe. But he was right. She and Cayman were a team. So, why the hell was he working on this without her?

“I think it’s time you tell me everything,” she said. Obviously, he was upset. He’d been telling her the truth. She knew that now. And more than that, she knew she had to help him. What she’d just seen could never happen again. If there was a virus, then it had to be found and it had to be stopped. Obviously, Cayman believed that, too. So where the hell was he?

“In the last couple days, there have been reports of vampires out of control. Killing without regard to detection and eating pieces of their victims.” His mouth hardened as he said the words. “This is not normal vampire behavior.”

Her uneasiness grew to full-blown anxiety. “There is normal vampire behavior?” she asked before she could stop herself. Then could have slapped a hand over her snarky mouth.

Marius turned away, moving quickly up the street toward his car. She ran forward and grabbed his arm. “Wait. I’m sorry. Please, continue.”

His anger, thick and deadly, rolled off him. She dropped her hand and took a quick step back.

“I’d discovered the Alliance has been working on a virus made of vampire DNA that they’ve been giving to humans.”

“Why?”

“Because they want our strength, our speed, our agility.”

“Without the blood.”

“Without the blood,” he repeated. “I don’t want to have to kill any more of my people.”

For a moment his eyes softened, and she thought she saw pain there. But that couldn’t be right. Marius didn’t feel. Didn’t care. Did he?

She thought of the bodies she’d seen in the warehouse earlier that evening. She thought they were vampires, but if what he was saying were true… “The coffins? Earlier this evening. In the warehouse?”

“They weren’t all vampires. Some were human.”

“I blew up humans?”

“Does it make any difference? They would have died anyway. No one has survived the process.”

“The vampires have.”

“If you call what they’re turned into surviving. There’s nothing left of who they were.”

Xana shuddered. It was too horrible to contemplate. “What are you going to do?” she whispered.

“Cayman must have taken the serum the Alliance is using. Without that formula, I’m not sure what I can do.”

“Did he tell you who the Alliance is?”

“No.”

“I don’t understand. Why didn’t he tell me any of this?”

“Maybe he didn’t want you involved.” He started walking forward again, walking away from her.

“If he didn’t want me involved then why did he call me and tell me to meet him at that warehouse?”

He spun on her, red fury burning in his eyes. “No, the question you should be asking, is where the hell is he, and why did he leave you with me?”

She shuddered again but this time from fear. She clenched the stake still glued to the palm of her hand, but knew after what she’d just seen it would be of little use to her. “What are you going to do?” she asked again. “With me?”

“I haven’t decided,” he said, and she realized he was being completely honest. In fact, he’d been honest with her from the start.

“I’ll help you,” she blurted, without thinking.

He didn’t say anything, just stared at her, his face expressionless.

“Not only do I need to find Cayman, but I need to know what he was in to,” she said.

“Okay, where do you want to start?” he said, finally speaking.

“Let’s go back to Cayman’s house and see what we can find.”

“All right.” He stepped back and gestured for her to precede him.

She shivered as she watched him. The monster was suddenly a gentleman.

Chapter Four

Xana couldn’t help the hope expanding within her as they turned down Cayman’s street. She hoped he would be home, that his lights would be on and that he’d have a damned good explanation for where he’d been and what all this Alliance business was about. Marius parked the Jaguar along the curb beneath a large oak across from the well-kept bungalow, which had been built in the forties. But Cayman’s house sat in darkness.

“Maybe he’s asleep. Or hurt,” she said, though she didn’t expect Marius to answer. He hadn’t said a word on the drive back across the bay. They slipped from the car and hurried toward the house. Sodium vapor lamps spaced few and far between cast long shadows on the large bushes of blooming hydrangeas flanking the front walk on either side of Cayman’s small porch. They bypassed the walk, soundlessly skirting around the side of the house toward the back.

The gate in the tall fence opened easily. They followed a serpentine brick walkway, entered a small backyard and glanced in the windows as they passed but saw nothing. Xana approached the back door, took out her keys and opened it.

They entered a small dark kitchen. Anxiety had her nerves jumping as they quickly checked the house. There was no sign of Cayman anywhere, nor any sign that he’d been there recently. Xana sighed and flipped on a few of the lights. “He’s not hiding or hurt. He’s just not here.”

Without uttering a sound, Marius opened cupboards and drawers and flipped through papers and envelopes on the counter.

“What are you looking for?” she asked, not bothering to hide her annoyance.

“Anything that can tell me about the Alliance.”

Could this Alliance be so bad that Cayman wanted to protect her from it? Was that why he’d kept her in the dark? He should have known better. She could take care of herself, she would have thought the last two years they’d spent hunting vampires together would have proved that. And besides, working in the dark put her at risk. Obviously.

She searched the living room but found nothing. She started to move into the bedroom when she heard a movement by the back door. She stilled, then turned to Marius, lifting her finger to her lips, giving him the quiet signal. She gestured toward the bedroom.

Marius raised his eyebrows, an amused grin tilting his lips. She stopped for a second. She’d never seen him smile, really smile. It changed his whole face, turning him from someone who gave her the willies to someone she might be interested in knowing. The effect was disconcerting to say the least.

Go, she mouthed silently and shooed him away. Surprisingly, he did as she asked and stepped into the darkness behind the opened bedroom door.

She crept toward the kitchen and was surprised to see Uncle Ben opening the back door. She hadn’t seen her uncle since Christmas. What could he be doing here now? And creeping in the back door?

“Hi, Uncle Ben. What’s up?” she said loudly, though she didn’t need to. Vampires had exceptional hearing. Smiling widly, she stepped into the kitchen.

Uncle Ben looked stunned to see her. “I…uh… I’m looking for Cayman.”

And you couldn’t knock on the front door? “I’m afraid he’s not here. Is there anything I can help you with?”

“No.” He hesitated. “He was supposed to meet me earlier and didn’t show up, so I thought I’d come back. Do you know when he’ll be home?”

“No. What was he supposed to meet you about?” she asked.

“It’s…” He paused. “It’s nothing. I’ll see you later, Xana.” He kissed her on the cheek then walked back out the kitchen door, closing it behind him.

She stared after him, feeling decidedly shut out. That was definitely odd. What was going on with her family?

“Is something wrong?” Marius asked, suddenly standing behind her.

She turned around and found she was standing too close to him. If she leaned forward, even an inch, her nose would be brushing against the silky fabric of his shirt.

“That was just very strange,” she said, slightly distracted by the width of his broad shoulders and the definition of his pecs. “I’ve never seen Uncle Ben act like that before.”

“Like what?”

She took a step back to regain her equilibrium. “I don’t know. All distant and unfriendly-like. And since when has he ever had anything to do with Cayman?”

“Are they not close?”

The light bounced off his long deep ebony hair, reminding her of the sheen of a raven’s wing. Before this moment, she hadn’t noticed how beautiful it was.

“Um. No. Yes. I mean, we lived with him after my folks died, but it’s not like we’re a warm and fuzzy family. He was always very busy, and now we only see each other on major holidays, like birthdays and Christmas.”

“Apparently Cayman wanted to talk to him about something.”

“Yep. Apparently.” Disconcerted, she turned away. She didn’t like noticing his shiny hair or his strong shoulders or how tall and incredibly hot he was. He was a vampire who would bite her and take what he wanted from her in an instant. She couldn’t forget that. And if she started to, all she had to do was think of the tender spots at her throat and the top of her thigh.

Which she did and, as she did, heat filled her cheeks as the memory came rushing back. His face nestled in her crotch, the erotic fire his mouth and teeth had drawn out of her. Warmth suffused her chest. Her hand fluttered against it and she let out a deep breath as she hurried toward her brother’s bedroom. She had to put some distance between them.

“What does Uncle Ben do?” Marius asked, following her.

Now he wants to talk? She reached the doorway and saw the king-size bed that dominated most of the room, and spun on heel turning back. “He’s a doctor at the VA hospital.”

Marius walked past her into the bedroom and started rifling through the dresser drawers. She sighed, followed him into the room and checked the nightstand. She needed to focus. They were looking for anything that would tell her about this Alliance group and shine a light into the secrets her brother was keeping.

Marius picked up a picture off the dresser of Uncle Ben and the two of them at Cayman’s graduation. “He was hiding something,” he said.

“Uncle Ben? Nah. He’s a doctor, that’s all he’s ever wanted to be, all he’s ever been, and all he’s ever thought about. He doesn’t even know your—” she flapped her arm and gestured toward him “—kind even exists.”

“You mean bloodsuckers?” he asked, another amused grin curving his lips. The warm cadence of his voice reached inside her, tickling the back of her throat. Apparently he had a sense of humor, too. Along with being undeniably handsome, in a dark, dangerous and totally inappropriate way.

It was just wrong.

“Look, I might not be very close to Uncle Ben but he and Cayman are all the family I have. He’s a good man. And more than that, he’s my blood. I won’t let you hurt him or Cayman.”

“Who says I want to hurt them. But I like your spunk, kitten.”

“Great,” she muttered. Now she was a cute furry thing. Could she be any more insulted?

“And you’re right. He is blood. And it’s always about the blood, never forget that.”

What was that supposed to mean? Her eyes met his and before she knew it, she was stepping into the black heat of his gaze and sinking.

“Blood holds everyone’s secrets, their boldest triumphs, their greatest sins.” His voice moved through her, caressing her senses with a lover’s touch.

“Stop it,” she insisted.

“Stop what?”

“Trying to put some kind of hanky-panky spell on me. I’m not going to betray my Uncle Ben. He’s a good man. A man who has put his whole world into his work at the hospital.”

Once more, a smile lifted his incredibly enticing lips.

“What?” she asked, feeling slightly annoyed. Now he was all Mr. Charming. Well, it wasn’t going to work on her. She knew what he was. And she wasn’t attracted to him. Not one little bit.

“I don’t put hanky-panky spells on people.” He stepped closer.

Her breath caught in her throat. “You don’t?” Then what was he doing to her?

He leaned forward, hovering so close their lips were almost touching. Her gaze locked onto his as he traced his tongue around the curve of her lips, tasting, tempting her. This couldn’t be happening.

She took a quick step back, but her calves hit the side of the bed and she almost fell backwards onto the mattress. That would be bad. Really bad. She grabbed hold of his arm to steady herself. Then his arms were around her, pulling her against his chest. His mouth fell over hers and instinctively her lips parted. He entered, thrusting deep.

She gripped him tighter. A soft moan rose from her chest as she melted into his arms. His kiss was strong and passionate, making her knees weak. She should pull away, but as his lips moved against hers, sparking the smoldering fire deep within her core, she could no more stop him than she could stop the blood rushing through her veins. She succumbed to his touch and melted as his lips blazed a burning trail down her neck.

“We shouldn’t be doing this,” she said, but then her breath swelled and a slow tingle moved through her breasts until they ached for his touch.

His fingers moved gently down her body, feeling, caressing. All she could do was feel. And want. And need. She moved against him, a dangerous dance, as desire pulsed through her. This was crazy, beyond crazy, and yet, when his fingers stroked her already hardened nipple, all her reservations were forgotten.

She unbuttoned his shirt, pulled it off his shoulders and clamped her mouth over his rosy bud. After a moment of satisfying her need to taste him, she pulled off her blouse and cami, desperate to feel his cool skin next to hers. She’d always heard that vampires were cold, but Marius wasn’t. He wasn’t hot, nor was he cold. More like cool and satiny smooth. She drew her fingers down his chest, feeling each ridge, each strong muscle beneath the skin. Her hand hovered at the waist of his leather pants then brushed across his thick bulge. Smiling, she pressed her hand against it, knowing it was growing and pulsing just for her.

Marius groaned, lifted her and together they fell onto the bed, his mouth plundering hers once more. A moan erupted from her lips, as his hands cupped her breasts, his fingertips teasing the sensitive skin, his nails gently scraping across her nipples until she thought she’d scream with the delicious torment.

“Oh, yes,” she whispered, as heat, anxious and devouring, circled through her, flooding her mind, constricting her lungs until she gasped for air, and her belly was taut with need. She thrust her hips against him. A deep guttural groan rising from the back of her throat.

His erection, hot and thick, met her hips. She unfastened his pants, then reached inside and grasped hold of it, longing to take him full in her mouth, to taste him, to rub the velvety smoothness of his skin across her tongue.

Suddenly, she pulled back, gasping a deep reality-filled breath. What was she thinking? Better yet, what was she doing?

“Is it not good?” he asked, lust hooding his dark eyes.

She almost laughed. Almost. Until he took her hand and kissed her wrist, his tongue sweeping across her pulse point. “Oh, it is very good.” She sighed. “Too good.”

“And what is wrong with that?”

“Um. Well…”

His lips followed a torturous path up her arm to the base of her neck, drawing a deep breath from her as she fought to maintain control when all she really wanted to do was wrap herself around him and lose herself in his touch.

“You are a vampire.” She said the words out loud, hoping they’d sink into her desire-laden brain.

“Yes.” He pulled the sensitive skin of her throat into his mouth and sucked until she thought she’d climb right up the wall.

“You could bite me.” Especially the way he was positioned right now. She really should make him stop, but honestly, what he was doing felt so damned good she just couldn’t bring herself to care.

“Yes. I could. Do you want me, too?”

“No.” She planted her hands on his chest and started to push.

“No? A lot of women like it. They find it very…satisfying.” He leaned over her, looking down into her eyes. “It could be very good. For both of us.”

He bent down and licked her breast, circling her nipple. Oh, shit. Her back arched as pleasure shot through her. She was hopeless. Lost. A fool.

And at this moment, she didn’t care.

Within seconds he had her pants off and he was stroking her tender swollen flesh that was so desperately aching for his touch. He left a trail of hot kisses down her torso, toward her heat. She closed her eyes, all protestations over as the warmth of his mouth, the soft wetness of his tongue circled around her most sensitive spot, taking her in his mouth and lightly flicking his tongue back and forth.

White-hot heat shot through her and she lost it, slipping into an orgasm so strong, she screamed aloud, her body lifting off the bed, her heart pounding as adrenaline surged through her. Before she could recover, she felt the long, thick length of him sliding into her.

She wrapped her legs around him and lifted herself off the bed, taking all of him deep into her. “Sweet mercy,” she groaned, and closed her eyes as he started to move, his hips bucking and rocking until she was teetering on the edge once more, until with one final thrust, she exploded again and again, until she was nothing but putty in the palm of his hand.

When her eyes finally opened, she didn’t know how much time had elapsed but her heart rate had slowed and her breathing had returned to normal. She turned to look at Marius, not sure what she’d find—the man with eyes filled with ice or liquid pools of languid heat. His dark gaze bore into hers and she closed her eyes as he leaned close and brushed his lips against the corner of her mouth.

“I did not bite.”

She smiled. “It’s a good thing. I don’t think my heart could have taken any more.”

He kissed her again softly, sweetly. “It can. You’ll see.”

Warmth shot through her once more. “Is that a promise or a threat?”

“Stick around and find out.”

She sighed as his tongue caressed her lips. “I do so like a challenge.”

“But not now.” He pulled back and climbed off the bed, leaving her reaching for him.

“Why not?” she asked.

“Because right now we’re going to visit the VA hospital.”

“The VA hospital?” she repeated, then sat up and swung her legs off the bed. “Why?”

“Because those men in the coffins you blew up this evening looked a lot like soldiers.”

Chapter Five

“You think my uncle…?”

“Whoever is doing this is trying to create super humans.” Marius pulled on his shirt and reached for his pants.

“As in super soldiers? But my uncle is a good man.” Xana thought of the way Uncle Ben had taken in her and Cayman after their parents’ accident. It couldn’t have been easy for a single workaholic doctor but he’d done it without blinking an eye. She had a hard time believing it could be possible that he was infecting his own patients. She really wanted to believe in him. He was her family.

“If it’s crossed my mind then maybe it crossed Cayman’s,” Marius said. “Maybe he’s there.”

“But it’s a VA hospital. All you’re going to find is sick people.”

“Exactly. Sick and desperate people.”

Desperate enough to be infected with vampire DNA? She shuddered at the thought, then stood and hiked her blue jeans up over what was left of her thong. “All right, let’s do it.”

A half hour later they were pulling into the dark almost empty parking lot of the Northern California VA Hospital.

“I think visiting hours are over,” Xana said, as they parked the car.

“I’ll take care of that,” Marius said as he got out of the vehicle.

He must be planning on doing one of his persuading spells on the guard, she thought. Sometimes it was good to have a vampire around. Xana choked. She did not just think that! And yet, somehow, she knew that after this night, nothing would ever be the same. For any of them.

“Are you all right?” Marius asked, as he opened her door.

“Yes, thank you.” She took his hand and got out of the car. Look at her being all polite. She sighed. She supposed knock-your-socks-off sex could do that to a girl.

They walked through the front doors and straight toward the guard’s desk. Marius was amazing. He just looked at the man and told him what they wanted and the next thing she knew the guard was telling them exactly where to go. Freaky.

And totally disconcerting. If he wanted to, he could make her do anything he wanted. Anything.

Moving at a brisk pace, they made their way down the stairs and into the bowels of the building. The lower they went, the quieter and spookier it was. “I didn’t know they had an R and D department here,” she whispered, though she didn’t know why. There wasn’t a soul in sight.

“What better place to perform their experiments?” His mouth twisted in disgust.

Hers did, too, as they passed room after room filled with animals in cages. Xana’s heart broke. “I hate this. And I hate that my uncle could be involved.”

“Sometimes family is the last to believe and the last to know.”

“I must admit, part of me hopes we will find nothing else down here but dusty old filing cabinets and vintage medical equipment.”

“And the other part?”

“Hopes we’ll find Cayman.”

“This way,” Marius said, gesturing down another dark hall.

“How do you know where you’re going?”

“Call it a hunch.”

And then she heard it, the soft moans Marius had probably been hearing all along. Cayman. She rushed forward to the end of the hall to the last windowless room on the left. Cayman lay in a bed, hooked up to various machines and an IV. Forgotten and alone.

“Oh, my God!” She hurried to her brother’s side. “What happened to you?”

Cayman turned to her, his skin a purplish gray, his eyes a very pale blue.

She froze as her heart dropped with a heavy thud into her stomach.

Behind her, Marius placed a gentle hand on her back. “He’s been infected.”

She shook her head in denial. “No.”

“It was an accident,” Cayman said, his voice gravelly. “Was poking around and touching things I shouldn’t have been touching.” His eyes drifted closed as if the effort of speaking took more strength than he had.

This couldn’t be happening. They had to do something. Marius dragged a chair to the side of Cayman’s bed for her. Grateful, she sat down, grasping Cayman’s hand with her own. His skin felt dry and cold to her touch. She kept staring at his hand, rubbing her thumb over it, back and forth as a strange numbness came over her. She was shutting down. She could feel her mind closing off like a dark cloud falling over the city, blocking out the sun’s light with its thick heavy despair.

He was going to die, a voice inside her whispered, and tears filled her eyes. She rested her head on his hand, feeling his papery skin against her cheek. She took a deep breath, trying to reign in her emotions. She had to be strong for him. She had to make him strong, to help him fight. He could make it through this. He had to.

“What is he doing here?” Cayman asked, looking up over her shoulder.

“Marius helped me find you.”

“Can’t trust—” A fit of coughs wracked his body, making him visibly weaker.

Xana’s stomach twisted into knots. “Cayman, save your strength. We’re going to help you.”

“Where is the antidote?” he whispered.

She looked at him with confusion then turned to Marius, the question in her eyes. Marius just shook his head. “What antidote?” she asked.

“The case I gave you. It has the antidote in it.”

Tears filled her eyes as the horror of his words sunk in. “I don’t know. I lost it.”

He cringed then started coughing again.

“When did you last have it,” Marius asked, his hand a comfort on her shoulder.

“I don’t—”

“Don’t tell him,” Cayman said, his voice barely a rasp. “Don’t trust him. He’s involved.”

She looked up at Marius, Cayman’s words making her hesitate. Did she trust him or had he put some kind of mind-spell on her, too? She thought about all they’d been through that night, at the bar, at Cayman’s house. He cared about his people, that had been clear. He cared about saving them as much as she cared about finding Cayman. If they worked together, maybe they could save them all.

“I trust him,” she said to Cayman.

“Then you’re a fool,” he replied, his words cutting her to the quick.

“Where is the formula?” Marius asked him. “What did you do with it? We need it to create a vaccine so we can stop the spread of the virus. If we had it, we could make an antidote. We could help you.”

Cayman’s eyes flashed bright blue. “I had an antidote. It was in the case I gave Xana. I don’t have time to wait for you to make another one.”

“Why didn’t you get it back from me at the warehouse? Why did you disappear?” Xana asked, grasping for understanding.

“I had to go. I was sick and getting sicker. I couldn’t let Marius see me. Couldn’t take that chance. I waited at the top of the road but then…the explosion. Too…big.” He struggled to breathe. “Uncle Ben came out of nowhere.…”

“You two are the ones who set the explosives,” Marius said.

“Had to. Couldn’t let those things loose. Most…were…vampires. You don’t know—” he gasped for breath, his strength waning “—what they’re capable of.”

“Don’t I?” Marius turned to Xana. “When did you last see the case?”

“Xana. Don’t. Give him…cylinder. It’s all he…wants.” A slew of coughs wracked Cayman’s chest. Speckles of blood splattered his hospital gown.

“Stop. Cayman. Please. I don’t have this cylinder,” she protested, her heart breaking into a million jagged painful pieces. “I need to trust Marius. I can’t do nothing and just let you die.”

“It doesn’t matter.” He coughed again. “There is no time. Not for me.”

“Where is the formula,” Marius insisted. “We have to stop the virus from spreading.”

“Trust him, Cayman,” Xana pleaded.

Cayman lifted himself up and pointed a shaky hand at Xana’s neck. Her hand flew to the necklace he gave her. “The formula is inside.”

Nausea rolled through her as she took off the necklace and handed it to Marius. She’d had it all this time!

“There, you got what you were after. Now go,” Cayman said then fell back against the pillow, his eyes closing once more.

Marius’s hand brushed Xana’s shoulder. She looked up at him as he gestured for her to follow him into the hall. “You can trust me,” he said. “You know that, right?”

She did know it. She nodded.

“Then I want you to remember where you were when Cayman gave you the case. Think about what happened after.” She listened to his voice and leaned closer to him, staring into his dark gaze until she felt as if she were drowning. Her tongue slipped out to moisten her lips as she anticipated his kiss, his touch, his taste, knowing he could search her mind for any memories she might have hidden there.

“Please tell me I’m doing the right thing?” she whispered.

“I don’t need to. You already know.”

He kissed her gently and she felt herself melting as his kiss deepened, as his lips moved behind her ear and down her neck. She didn’t feel it coming and barely flinched as he bit her, his fangs sinking into her neck with a sting that quickly melted to pleasure.

Her eyes fluttered closed as heat began to rise within her. Just as quickly, he broke away, releasing her. She grabbed onto his shoulders for support as she wavered in his arms. “Did you see anything?”

“You were running through the building, the case in your hands. The impact from the explosion sent you flying into the bushes. Then you saw me. You got up and ran into the building, looking for your brother, the case forgotten.”

“You think it fell into the bushes where I landed?”

“Yes, I’ll find it.”

“Why didn’t you see all that the first time you bit me?”

“I only saw him put the case in your pocket before I broke away.”

“Will you go to the warehouse?” She glanced at her watch. “It’s only two hours ’til sunrise.”

“Xana,” Cayman called, his voice barely reaching them. She rushed back into the room.

His eyes widened as his gaze moved to her neck. She touched the wound. Her skin felt wet and sticky.

“It’s okay,” she assured him. “Marius is going to help us.”

“You can’t trust him,” Cayman muttered. “It was his warehouse we blew up. He’s been in on it, working with Uncle Ben from the start.”

Shocked, she turned to Marius. “Is that true? Was the warehouse yours?”

“Yes. Just like the warehouse in the Tenderloin is mine, but I don’t manage it. And I didn’t manage the one you destroyed. One of my sergeants did. That’s how I knew there was a problem. He was one of the first infected. He was the one working with the Alliance. It was his blood the Alliance used to create the virus.”

Xana turned back to her brother and grabbed hold of his hand. “I never would have found you without him, Cayman. Besides, you are the one who called him and told him to meet you at the warehouse. Why would you have done that if you didn’t think he could help us?”

“I didn’t call him,” Cayman said. “I never would have never done that.”

Xana’s blood froze. That couldn’t be true. Marius told her Cayman had… She turned back to Marius, expecting an answer. An explanation. But he was gone.

And so was the cylinder.

Chapter Six

Marius maneuvered the Jaguar down the lonely predawn streets racing toward his mountain warehouse, wondering if he was going to have enough time to retrieve the antidote, deliver it back to the hospital and get back before sunrise. He’d be cutting it close. Too close.

He had to wonder why he was doing it. Cayman and his sister had been a thorn in his side for years. Why not let the boy die? Without him, his sister would move on, get married and settle down with two kids and a white picket fence. No more chasing vampires in the middle of the night. No more chasing him.

But he realized he’d miss her. He’d grown fond of the little hellcat, always hissing and snarling, but when she cuddled up next to him all warm and soft, it gave him a feeling he’d like to explore further. And he couldn’t if he let her brother die. He called Jaz and ordered him to rouse their scientist friend and meet him at the warehouse. He only hoped they would get there in time.

He drove down the hill and parked as close to the bushes as he could, shining a light where he believed Xana had fallen. As quickly as he could, he searched the area, checking under bushes as the sky lightened on the horizon. Damn. He was running out of time.

Within minutes he found the case. Inside was a syringe with its barrel full of a gold liquid. He closed the case, jumped back in his car and sped back toward the hospital, calling Jaz once more. “Change of plans, meet me at the VA hospital in the city.”

“Have you seen the sky, Marius?” Jaz said.

“If I can make it, you can. Call me when you get there.”

Twenty minutes later, Marius pulled into the hospital parking lot. He’d hoped Jaz would have beat him there, but his car was nowhere in sight. He rushed into the building, past the guard, and hurried down into the basement.

“Where’s Xana?” Marius asked as he burst into the room. Without waiting for an answer, he took the tip off the syringe and pumped the medicine directly into the catheter already inserted into Cayman’s vein.

“My uncle took her.”

Marius looked up from the syringe as the last of the medicine entered into Cayman’s bloodstream. “What? Why?”

“He wants the formula back. I told him we don’t have it. That we gave it to you, so he took her. Said she was leverage. Though why he thought you’d care enough to exchange the formula for Xana, I don’t know.”

“You don’t think I would?”

“Why would you?”

Why indeed. “How long will it take before you are able to get up out of this bed?”

“I’m not sure. Why?”

“Because the sun’s coming up. I’m running out of time. I have maybe ten minutes to find your sister before I need to head back to my resting place. And you, my friend, are going to help me.”

“Great. That’s your idea of a rescue?”

“Got any better ideas?”

“Give him what he wants.”

“And have him turn every vampire in this city into a crazed zombie? Think again.”

Cayman blew out a sigh and flexed his hands. “I think it’s working.”

“Good. Now where do you think he would have taken her?”

“Not far. Uncle Ben knew I was dying, but he didn’t know that I’ve changed in certain ways. Like my sight and my hearing.”

“Like a vampire’s, eh?”

“It’s amazing.” Cayman sat up and swung his legs off the bed. “Let’s go get my sister.”

“Uncle Ben, what in the world are you hoping to accomplish?” Xana asked, straining against the rope he used to tie her hands behind her back. She stared at her uncle, unable to believe the man in front of her was the same one who had bought her her first car and who had been there for her when she needed him.

“I’ve spent my whole life mending these soldiers, doing everything I could to repair their lives. They come back from duty with a lot more than broken bones, torn ligaments and missing limbs. These men lose so much out there on the battlefields. And for what? Do you think anyone here even understands or appreciates their sacrifice? They deserve more and I can give that to them.”

“How? By turning them into monsters?”

“By giving them an advantage, by giving them more than armored cars and vests. With vampire DNA, they can see better, hear better, smell more. They will be faster, stronger, and—”

“Able to leap tall buildings with a single bound. Do you not know how ridiculous you sound? People are dying. And it’s all because of you and your insanity.”

“People have been dying for years but no one sees and no one cares.”

“I understand. And it’s terrible. But these men chose their paths. The ones you’ve killed had no choice. The vampires you’ve infected with your virus are murdering people, and that’s on your doorstep. You have to stop this. You have to find a different way.”

“You should listen to her,” Cayman said, stepping into the room and leaning against the doorframe. He looked like Cayman, sounded like Cayman, but his eyes were a startling preternatural blue.

Uncle Ben’s gray eyes widened. “How?”

“How did I survive when you, my dear uncle, left me for dead? A vampire saved me.”

Uncle Ben was suddenly standing behind her, a scalpel held against her throat. “Give me that formula.”

In a flash Uncle Ben was on the ground and Marius was standing behind her, undoing her ropes.

“If anyone is going to tie you up, it’s going to be me.”

“Promise?” she asked with a wicked smile.

“Can you two do that later? Frankly, it’s revolting,” Cayman said, and pulled his uncle up from the ground.

“What are you going to do with him?” Xana asked Cayman.

“I’m going to make sure his days of experimentation are over. I’ll stay here with him and help him destroy every bit of his data, everything he has on this project, and then he’s going to resign from the hospital.”

“And if I don’t?” Uncle Ben asked with barely restrained fury.

“Then you will have to answer to the hospital board and eventually the police for what you’ve done to me, and the other men in the next hall.”

Other men? “Will they survive?” Xana asked.

“Yes. I’ll make sure of it,” Marius said. “But right now, I need to get back to my home. I’d like you to come with me.”

“Cayman?”

He nodded. “I’m fine. Go on. We’ll be busy here for a long while.”

Before she could agree, Marius picked her up in his arms and the next thing she knew they were standing in the parking lot and her head was spinning. A dark sedan approached and the passenger window rolled down.

“Here’s the formula,” Marius said. “I want an antidote and a vaccine by nightfall.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” a gray-haired man with Coke-bottle spectacles said and reached his hand out the window for Xana’s necklace.

“I’ll call you tonight, Jaz,” Marius said, then they left the hospital with Marius driving like a speed demon as the sky grew lighter and lighter and the horizon exploded in a beautiful display of pinks and oranges.

Xana cringed. “Damn, we’d better hurry.”

Xana woke naked on the bed, her hands and feet tied once again to the bedposts and Marius’s head nuzzled between her breasts gently kissing and licking. She didn’t know whether to be annoyed or excited. Several candles burned around the room, filling the air with the subtle scent of vanilla.

“You’re awake,” Marius said, and reached for a feather lying on the bedside table.

“You are incorrigible,” she murmured as the sensation of wispy softness moved across her skin and sent tingles cascading through her.

“That’s what I’ve been told.” He circled her nipple with light feathery strokes.

“Where are my clothes?” she asked on a quick inhale of breath.

“I tossed them. They were filthy.”

“Yeah. Well, they’ve been through a lot.” She moaned as he moved the feather between her legs.

“Of course, you have, too. Perhaps you’ve been tied up enough for one day?” He started to rise.

“Get back here,” she said, pulling on her binds as she tried to reach for him.

He bent down and kissed her deep, his tongue doing an erotic dance with hers. “Are you sure? Maybe you’ve had enough of me?”

“There are parts of you I haven’t even begun to explore,” she said, her voice low and breathy.

“I might be a little hard to take. I’m known to be demanding. Some might even say, controlling.”

“True. But I’m certain there’s a lot more to you and I’m willing to spend some time figuring you out.”

“Even a monster like me?”

She smiled. “I think I’ve learned a little more about monsters than I knew before.”

He kissed her deeply, stealing her breath, then moved the feather down her body, doing things with it she didn’t even know could be done. She gasped a deep breath as fire shot straight to her core, melting her into a puddle of wanton desire.

“I’ve learned some things, too,” he said.

“Oh, yeah,” she said on a breathy moan.

“Yeah. Kittens can be fun. I think I’ll keep you.”

“Well, watch out, baby. I bite.”

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ISBN: 978-1-4268-8231-9

A Night with a Vampire

Copyright © 2011 by Cynthia D. Cooke

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