Wulf's Redemption (Borne Vampires Book 3) (26 page)

“Do
you know where
Club Vampyre
is?” she asked as she walked past him into the
hallway.

“No,”
he answered ruefully. “Can you locate the club?”

Rolling
her eyes at him, she said, “Give me a second.” Her eyes had a faraway gaze and
when she blinked, he knew she’d found it. “It’s not far from here. It’s in the
same building where you went with Aldric and later fed on the prostitute.”

Alex
stopped, forcing her to look at him. “You saw that, too?”

“Uh,
yes, in the dreams you were having. It was like watching a movie and I didn’t
have the stop button. Sorry.”

Uncomfortable
about her seeing him at the brothel, Alex opened the stairwell door for her.
Walking down the stairs, he forced out. “I am … uncertain how to feel about you
knowing so much about me.”

“I-I
will try to block you from here on out. It was not my intentions to pry or
bring up bad memories.”

Alex
grimaced at the hurt in her eyes. “Forgive me. I … I am not used to being
exposed and have a habit of resorting to a defensive position.”

✝✝✝

Unsure if he was trying to placate her or was being
honest, Kai let it go, and they left the hotel.

Around the block, they encountered
Club Vampyre
. On the front of the brick
building that was once White’s Gaming Hall, the name of the club was emblazoned
in a huge, neon pink sign. The bottoms on the ‘p’ and ‘y’ were shaped into
fangs.

“Rooftop.” Alex led the way across the street,
into the alley. They leapt onto the roof, crouching low as they moved to
observe the club.

Music boomed inside
Club Vampyre
, the bass rattled the windows.
Laser lights flashed in rhythm to the music. Humans waited in line to enter the
club, dressed exactly like those in London, right down to the fake fangs. They
weren’t alone. Demon vamps mingled amongst them.

“You see ‘
em
, Alex?”

“Twenty demons. Two ghouls are checking ID’s at
the door.”

Not surprised to see Waters’ SUV pulled to stop in
front of the club. Two muscular vampires, dressed in dark, expensive suits, exited
the club and parted the crowd and went to the rear passenger door. One opened
the car door, and Jeremy Waters slid out. Boy, did he look pissed! The two
vampires followed him inside the club. The flashing lights and music stopped.
People started pouring out of the club, angrily protesting the early closure.

Alex nudged her and whispered, “Apparently, he
found his missing men. Kai, can you read him?”

“Yep. He’s too mad to block his thoughts. Jeremy
is sending those two vamps to the hotel he told us to stay at, to get us. He
wants Lisle dead before dawn.” Below them, cars arrived and parked in front of
the club. Men and women in them hurried inside.

“Kai, can you lock onto Lisle?”

“She’s hungry. Wants more blood. Not human blood.
Lisle wants to feed on the Damned. She won’t feed on humans. Only her own
kind.” She shuddered in revulsion. “Eeew! That’s really gross. Since we aren’t
on the menu, how do we bring her out into the open?”

“Maybe, if we provoke she will come out into the
open and we can attack her as a team?”

“The only way to really goad her is for me to be
all over you and that could majorly backfire on us. She’s demonstrated she is
willing to kill others when she can’t get to you.”

Alex helped her stand up. “Let’s return to the
hotel.”

“Why?”

He gave her a poignant look and leaned closer to
her. “Nothing will upset Lisle more than you and I enjoying some private time
in our hotel room.”

Swallowing hard, unsure if he meant they would
actually make love or just return to their room, hoping Lisle was watching and would
follow them. “The plan is: kill Lisle and make a run for it?”

He actually looked disappointed. “Yes.”

They jumped off the roof and landed in the alley.
A nasty stench was their first warning they weren’t alone. The click of a whole
lot of guns was the second. Not the smell of dead bodies, body odor of humans
who bathed infrequently. Crap.

“Hands in the air!” was ordered to her and Alex as
fifteen vampire hunters aimed their machine guns at them.

A tall, brawny man, dressed in camouflage, stepped
into the street light. Strikingly handsome, the human had a Desert Eagle
holstered at his right hip. In those intense eyes the color of pewter; she saw
strength and power that was barely restrained. “Follow us, Mr. Wulf, Miss
Jordan. Mr. Harklee wishes to have a word with you.”

Kai glared at the armed men. To Alex, she grumbled,
“First the Damned, now them. What the hell?”

“Ma’am, sir, if you will accompany us without
resistance, I promise you will be safe. I give you my word.”

Alex asked, eyeing the nervous humans warily, “Why
does Harklee want to speak with us?”

“That is between you and him, sir.” The man
signaled his men to move out. “Our vehicles are parked a block from here.”

“Kai, let’s find out what Harklee wants.” Alex
said to her mentally,
“Play along. We have an
opportunity to learn why the vampire hunters blew our plane up and why Harklee
has had a sudden change of heart not wanting us dead.”

“Why not. Not as
if we have anything better to do.”

“Keep your weapons
blurred. We will mostly like have to fight our way out.”
Alex calmly
took her hand in his, and they followed the vigilant hunters, who ran check
points, military-style.

“Alex, are they scared of us or the
Damned?”

“Right now, I believe it’s the Damned. Too
many are gathered in one area, and the Damned love to get their hands and fangs
on human hunters.”

“Shall I call the
Damned in, like the Calvary?”
Kai asked sarcastically.

“
Not yet. I
want to find out what Harklee wants to talk
to us about.
”

“Ever hear of the saying, ‘curiosity killed
the cat’?”

“We’re caught between the Damned, who could
easily take Lisle down by using vast numbers, but they aren’t, and vampire
hunters who suddenly want to chat with us. If my guess is correct, we’re about
to be asked to help them out as well.”

Kai hated the idea of being outnumbered and they
were way outnumbered between humans and demon vamps.
 
She pulled her hand free of Alex’s, ignoring
his questioning look. As much as she liked holding his hand, instinct told her
to keep it free and ready, in case of an ambush. Her right hand itchy, she
wanted to draw her gun.

Keep calm, it
will be just fine.

God, she wished Mina and Sin were here!

Three dark SUVs waited for them.

“Why does
everyone drive SUVS and travel in threes?”

“Tactical.”

She let out a derisive snort, winning curious glances
from the humans.
“I’m betting on them watching a few too many spy movies.”

Dropping her fangs, she grinned at the men. They
recoiled and placed a safer distance between her and them. Alex gave her a
warning glare. She batted her eyes at him, trying to look innocent, unable to
hide her amusement at their reaction.

The leader waved them toward the
second vehicle. Alex opened
the car door and stood back for her as she carefully climbed in, made difficult
with a backpack and her sword strapped to her back. Alex had a rougher time
since his broadsword was longer than her sword by at least a foot. Luckily, the
human chose to ride in front with the driver.
Doors closed. The hunters
piled into the other vehicles.
Speeding
down the street, the driver turned onto the freeway, heading east.

Alex
leaned forward in his seat and asked the one in charge, “Where are we going?”

“We
have a safe house not far from here, sir.”

Strange how he
speaks to us respectfully.
Usually vampire hunters shot first, burned the remains last. Odd, too, was how
the human was not afraid of them, not like the driver who constantly checked
his rearview mirror tilted to keep her and Alex in view.

Kai
had to ask, “So, what brought you into the vampire business?”

The
human turned in his seat and faced her. Instead of angry or defensive, he
seemed to be genuinely amused. “I am what my superiors call an adrenaline
junkie. Special Forces weren’t dangerous enough so I signed up with these
guys.”

“Met
other vamps yet?” Alex glared at her to stop asking questions, of course which
she ignored.

“A
few. None like you and your companion,” he admitted with a half-smile.

Grinning
at him, her fangs long, Kai said, “No, there aren’t many like us.”

Instead
of being scared, he asked curiously, “What makes you different from those at
Club Vampyre
?”

“We have souls, they don’t.”

“Really? Is that why you do not smell like rotted
corpses baking in a garbage dump?”

Surprised, too, by the human’s remark, Alex asked,
“You can smell the Damned?”

“Why, is that unusual for a human?” Suddenly, he
looked unsure and uncomfortable.

Alex answered, “Some have been known to possess a
more developed sense of smell than others. Usually the Damned mask the smell of
their dying bodies.” He explained when the man gave him a questioning look,
“Cannot entice prey to you if you smell like a rotting corpse.”

“Is that what makes the Damned deteriorate? No
souls?”

Alex leaned forward, his green eyes glowing in the
dark interior of the car. “Why are you curious about us?”

“Because I have seen some hideous creatures and
you, two, strike me as different than those I’ve put down.”

She watched Alex and the man size each other up. “I
am Alexander Wulf.” Alex extended his hand out to the human, who shook it in a
firm handshake, shocking the hell out of her and the driver. Releasing his
hand, Alex thumbed at her, smiling as he introduced her, “And she is my
formidable and quite curious companion, Kai Jordan.”

“I’m Sam Winter.”

“Nice to meet you, Sam. I’m curious, did Harklee tell
you why you needed this many men to bring us in?”

“He said you and Miss Jordan were dangerous and were
not to be trusted.”

“Harklee has everything to fear about us. You do
not need to fear us, Sam. We, Slayers, only kill those who threaten us or those
we love,” he directed the last to the driver, who went from being nervous to
scared.

Winter didn’t seem to be threatened. In fact, he
looked curious. “Slayers? I’ve never heard of them before. Are you a different
breed of vampire?”

He and she exchanged a quick, confused look that
he never heard of Slayers. “Ah, no, we hunt down the Damned and destroy them.”

To the driver, Winter asked, “Did you know there
were different kinds of vampires?”

“Don’t care if there’re differences. It’s best to
kill
all
vampires and walk away alive.”

“Sam,” she asked, “do you know how long we will be
visiting Harklee?”

“Why? Have somewhere pressing to be?”

“Actually, yes, we do. We need to go to ground
before the sunrise. Otherwise, I’ll get pissy, and you really don’t want to be
on my bad side if I’m denied my sleep,” she warned, coldly glaring at the
driver.

“I thought you, vamp, slept in coffins?” Clearly,
Sam hadn’t been educated about vamps when he was accepted into the vampire
hunters’ club.

“You need to study what you hunt, otherwise, you
won’t be in this business for long,” she advised. “The Damned sleep in coffins;
the Borne sleep in the earth.”

“Good to know. I’ll ask the boss when we arrive
what he has planned and make arrangements if the meeting takes longer.”

“Much appreciated,” she said sarcastically. “Hate
to meet the sun and burn to a crisp.”

Alex gave her a warning glare. She scowled back at
him.
“What? If he’s gonna be a vampire hunter
and wants to stay alive, he’d better start learning about what he’s hunting!”

“We want to keep him as an ally, so don’t
antagonize him, please?”

“He will follow orders. Ex-marine.
Hopefully, we won’t have to kill him. I like him.”

“You like him,
huh?”
Alex sounded jealous.

Biting her lip from smiling, she replied,
“He’s handsome for a human.”

The surprise on Alex’s face was priceless. It
probably wasn’t the best time to be messing with him, but she couldn’t resist
the opportunity.
Checking the dashboard
clock, three hours to dawn. Were they prisoners or guests? The differences
meant sleeping in the ground or in a cell. Either way, being in Harklee’s
company was a dangerous situation, one she wanted to make a short visit.

They left the freeway and proceeded down another
road. Twenty minutes later, they turned down a dirt road. At the end was a
stone house, illuminated by lights. “Shit! UV lights!” she yelled, flinging her
arm over her eyes, feeling it burning her exposed skin. She felt Alex’s weight
on her and realized he was using his body to shield her.

“Dim the lights,” Alex shouted, “or we’ll die!” She
opened her eyes, watched in horror as his skin on his hand blistered. Heat was
sizzling off him. He gritted his teeth as he burned again.

She heard Winter’s yelling, “Turn the lights off! They’re
frying the vamps I was ordered to bring back, you stupid bastard. Turn ‘em
off!” he yelled.

The
lights shut off.

Alex
drew back, checking her over. “Kai, are you hurt?”