Darkness Calls (18 page)

R
yder stood high above the crowd in the maze of catwalks close to the ceiling. She was down there, somewhere below. He had yet to find her, but he could feel her presence. Even catch a slight trace of the scent of her. She was his mate now. Well, for the moment, until he could…

He tightened his grip on the metal railing until his hands hurt. It was difficult to think of what he had to do. The pain was intense. Bone deep. It would be a part of him for a long time.

His senses came awake suddenly, yanking him from his thoughts. She was closer. He sniffed the air, and her unique aroma teased him. Leaning over the railing, he examined the crowd below, anxious for a glimpse.

He couldn't see her. His heart sped up a beat and he closed his eyes, listening carefully. The animal in him filtered out every noise but the matching rhythm of her heart, beating below.

He moved, following the sound, to the farthest edge of the walk, just feet away from the bar. He opened his eyes, glanced down and there she was, seated with David. They were speaking with Greg, the bartender.

Ryder's heart pounded even harder and his body leapt to life. Blood screamed through his veins, bringing with it the heat that signaled his change. The animal had tasted her and now sprang to life in the hope of having more. He breathed deeply, trying to marshall the beast so he could go below and hold her one last time.

 

Something inside of her came to life.

She looked around, searching for him. Knowing he was there, watching her. Her skin nearly crackled from the energy of him and she shivered.

“Diana?” David laid a hand on her arm.

“I'm okay,” she said, responding to his unasked question. She rose and checked out the crowd, wondering where Ryder was.

Her partner looked around. “Is he here?” David asked.

“Yes.” Something pulled her attention to the ceiling. Because of the lighting, there was only the dark silhouette of a man on the walkway, but she knew it was Ryder. She would have known him anywhere.

Just as she sensed that he wanted her to go out into the crowd and meet him. To share a dance before the two o'clock meeting in the alley. “I have to go, David. It's time we tried to attract the killer.”

David tracked her gaze, but by the time he glanced upward, there was only the faint movement in the catwalk. Diana moved into the center of the crowd and met one of the agents acting as a decoy. She started to dance, in a world of her own. Ryder appeared at the edge of the dance floor, but moved no farther. Even as Diana turned to face him, Ryder remained along the edge. Watching. Waiting.

He stood with the crowd along the periphery and yet apart from it. Alone. His gaze was riveted on her and she danced for him, even as she kept a part of her focused on the crowd.

It was difficult, for, even from this distance, the pull of attraction was strong. She was on the edge and ready to let herself fall. As her gaze locked with his, a frisson of desire snaked along her nerves. Her nipples tightened and a pulsing throb resonated through her body.

But Diana couldn't let it go further. A colleague who had been on the floor before came back to her, inviting her to dance with him once again. At the edge of the crowd, Ryder nodded, but stayed where he was, his attention solely on her.

She moved to the beat of the music and refocused her thoughts on the job at hand—catching the killer. A killer who might be at the club right now, selecting another woman as his prey.

A young man approached. He was fair, with dark brown hair and the beginnings of a goatee. Piercing blue eyes snared her gaze as he smiled at her.

She knew the killer was sandy-haired and clean-shaven, and she was inclined to ignore this young man. But there was something about him that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. A normal woman would have run, but in her line of work, that feeling meant something was worth checking out. Diana stepped away from her colleague and accepted the outstretched hand of the young man. His grin widened. He placed her hand on his shoulder and put his hand at her waist.

Diana gave herself over to her role while taking mental notes about her dance partner. He was average height, just an inch or two below six feet. Twentyish and with a body that was fit, from health clubs and not physical work. His hand had moved beyond the low waist of her leather pants and was now on her bare skin. His palm wasn't soft, but it lacked the harder calluses of someone used to physical labor.

She examined his face as he moved his hand up her bare back, tracing the line of her spine with his fingers in a way that sent a shiver through her. He took her response as one of desire, and his eyes darkened to a shade of blue-gray.

“Do you like?” he asked.

“Very much.”

He exerted pressure, bringing her snug against him. As he did, she noticed that he had recently shaved. There was a slight nick at the edge of his jaw and a spot he had missed. A spot of rough beard that was blondish.

He might be the one. As his arousal pressed into her, she attempted to fake it, closing her eyes and shifting her hips. Softly she said, “Do you like, baby?”

The young man sucked in a harsh breath and his hand at her waist tightened. “I'm no baby, sweetheart. Can't you tell?” He moved his hips against her a little more roughly, a hint of anger shimmering beneath his actions.

Diana smiled and ran her hand through his hair then down to the nape of his neck. “Oh, I know,” she whispered suggestively, and pressed herself even closer.

He bent his head and she shifted to allow him access to her ear, the one without the wire. At this distance, there would be no way he could miss it.

“What else do you know?”

“I know you're a real live one,” she replied, giving the line that would tip off those listening in that this was someone to watch. “What's your name?”

“Does it matter? Isn't it more fun when you don't know their names?” He gently bit the side of her neck. When she shivered, he added, “Like that, do you?”

“S
, mi amor.
I like that a lot.”

He stroked her skin with his fingers as he spoke. “And I like that, too,
amor.
I had another little Latin girl like you before. She had fight.”

Something went cold inside her. The first victim had been a Latina. She had struggled mightily and this creep…He'd liked it. He'd liked her grit as she'd battled for life. Diana forced herself to smile and give him what she hoped was a teasing little jostle. “So you like it rough?”

He moved his forearms to bracket her neck. “Not real rough. Just edgy kind of stuff, if you know what I mean.”

“Oh, I know, sweetheart,” she said with a harsh chuckle.

He stiffened and stopped moving to the beat. Had she given herself away? Then she realized he was looking away, toward the far wall of the club.

“Is something wrong?” she asked, trying to appear unsuspecting by following his gaze.

“Your friend is watching,” the young man said just as her gaze connected with Ryder's.

It was disconcerting to have Ryder watch her as another man had his hands on her. But she was on the job now. She smiled sexily at her dance partner and said, “Let's give him something to watch then, baby.”

He gripped the back of her head tightly and nearly snarled at her. “Don't call me baby.”

She wanted to push him. Wanted him to do something right then and there that would give her the probable cause necessary for her to arrest him on the spot. She nuzzled his face, gave a quick little bite to the edge of his jaw and said, “Come on, baby. I want a little more.”

The man moved his hands against the middle of her back and hauled her close, his embrace punishing. “You'll have to wait for more, sweetheart. But for right now, I can give you this.” He opened his mouth on hers, his kiss brutal and without any tenderness.

Diana wanted to gag as he forced her lips open and thrust his tongue inside. Still, she had to go with this. Draw him further and further in until he made a mistake. One they could use to bring him into custody.

He kept up the assault on her body, his hands shifting roughly across her, finally coming to grasp her hips and hold them in place as he pumped his hips against hers until he suddenly stopped and pulled away from her.

“Baby, are you okay?” she crooned.

There was a look of surprise on his face, as if he couldn't believe what he had been doing. He shook his head and cradled her cheek with his left hand. It was shaking, and as his cuff dropped down, she noticed the expensive gold watch on his wrist. No fake ten-dollar Rolex, but a high-end solid gold TAG Heuer. The bartender had said that the man in the photos, a regular named Rudy, had such a watch. And then again, beyond the edge of the watch, there was a hint of lighter hair.

“I need some air. Will you wait for me?” He brushed a gentler kiss across her lips.

Diana didn't want to lose him, but if she pressed too hard right now…“I'll be by the bar waiting for you, baby. Don't disappoint me.” She ran her tongue along the edge of his lips, eliciting a groan from him.

He nodded and almost ran off the floor. David followed, as did another agent who had been lingering near the far wall, feet away from where Ryder stood….

Where Ryder had once stood, she suddenly realized. He was gone.

She glanced down at her watch. It was nearly two. In the wire, she heard a sudden burst of talk. “He's heading out. We're following, Diana. Sit tight.”

“I'm going into the alley,” she said, alerting David to her location for the next few minutes. She needed to let Ryder know she had to postpone their little meeting.

D
iana threaded her way through the crowd and out into the alley. Ryder was beyond the edge of the light, in the shadows.

“Ryder?” she called out, wondering why he was hiding. “I have to go.”

“Running from me again?” he asked, his voice low and rumbly. It had an edge to it that she had not heard before. An edge that was scary and enticing with its veiled hint of menace. “Afraid of finding out what I really am?”

“I know who you are, Ryder.” She took a step toward him, but he growled a warning. “Stay away.”

“Ryder, I don't know what's going on here. I—”

“Wanted to know what happens in the alley. You do remember that much from last night, don't you?” he taunted.

She didn't understand why he was being this way. Why everything had suddenly changed. “I remember everything, Ryder.” Although there were large gaps in her memory that bothered her. “Why are you doing this?”

He stepped from the shadows and placed his hand on her waist. Just his hand. But it sent desire skittering through her body as he applied gentle pressure and urged her closer.

Diana went willingly, removing her wire as she did so. His eyes were dark, nearly black with longing. It called to her. Closing the final distance between them, she said, “I want you so badly, but I can't stay.”

“You shouldn't stay. In fact, once you go, you shouldn't come back.”

She stiffened in his arms and searched his dark gaze, frightened by his words and their intensity. “How can you say that after last night?”

“Last night?” he said, his voice rough with emotion. “Do you even remember what happened?”

“I remember—”

“You can't possibly remember this.” And his face transformed before her eyes. Long fangs erupted from his mouth and were visible from beneath the edge of his upper lip. His eyes, those wonderful dark eyes that she had lost herself in, glowed with a bright, almost unnatural light. In the recesses of her mind, it came to her that she'd seen something like that before. Last night. And in her dreams.

“Ryder, this isn't funny.” Her stomach did a funny kind of flip-flop.

Ryder laughed harshly and shook his head. “Oh, this isn't about fun, darlin'. This is about prey. And what I need to survive.”

Ryder didn't wait for her reaction. He couldn't hesitate if he was going to accomplish what he wanted—to drive her away from him so that she would be safe. So that she could have a normal life with someone else.

He bent his head and ran the edges of his fangs along her neck. “Remember now, Diana? Remember the sting of it? The pleasure?”

Her pulse raced beneath the edges of his fangs. He exerted more pressure, until the sharp points of his teeth had almost breached the fragile skin of her neck.

Diana trembled and battled a multitude of emotions. Fear. Disbelief. Want. As he lingered at her neck, poised on the edge, images flashed through her mind. A reminder of what they had shared. Making love and the pleasure of it. A pleasure born in darkness.

Ryder sensed the change in her and increased the pressure on her skin, but then some last lingering trace of honor pulled him back. Once again he raised his head and let her see the animal he was. “Are you ready to be my warm and willing snack?”

At his comment, something shattered within her. Diana jumped away, smacking into the wall behind her. Her knuckles scraped the rough brick, but she ignored the pain and removed the gun from her ankle holster. “What are you?” Diana held the gun before her, wavering a little as shock and disbelief finally settled in.

“I thought you knew. It's what you said before, darlin'.” He took another step closer.

“Stop or—”

“You'll fire? Come on, now. You know the myths. Most people do. A bullet won't stop me, love.” He walked up to the barrel of the gun, pressed his chest against it and met her stunned gaze.

“Please don't make me do this, Ryder.” Conflicting emotions ran rampant through her. She loved this man…. Only, he wasn't a man, was he? He was a demon. A vampire like that in her dreams. “This can't be.” She kept the gun against his chest, her finger on the trigger, ready to fire.

“But it is, Diana.” He reached up and eased the gun out of her hand. “I'm glad you're being reasonable about this.”

She stared at his face—his demon face and not that of the man she cared about. “If I'd pulled the trigger—”

“It would have been messy, but I would have healed. Just like you healed when I bit you—within minutes, actually. The evidence of the bite disappears quickly. And when you wake, it just feels weird, like a hell of a hangover.” He ran a finger along the side of her neck, the tender movement a total contrast to the violence of his face. “You should know, Diana.”

Her stomach roiled as she recognized the truth of his statement. She turned from him, ready to lose it, and took several long, steadying breaths to keep her lunch down. Ryder placed a hand at her back to comfort her, but it was more than she could take. She shoved him away.

Ryder stared at the tight lines of her back and knew she was battling her emotions. He had to push her over the edge if he hoped to destroy whatever feelings she had left for him. He had to force her to release the rage within her. The rage she had tamped down since the death of her father. If he set it free, it would kill what little love she had for him.

“Come on, darlin'. You know that you like how I make you feel. We both love the darkness.”

She whirled to face him, her fists clenched at her side.

“You know we're not that much different, under our skins.” Taking a step toward her, he reached for her again, but she batted his hand away. He tossed her gun, the one he had been holding all along, at her feet. “You might need that,” he continued. “For the other bad guys. The ones you can hurt.”

“Oh, I can hurt you, Ryder. More than you can hurt me.” She could physically make him pay for his betrayal. Make him suffer the way she was aching inside. But something kept her from doing so. Something she couldn't quite face yet.

“You betrayed me. You used me and…” She stopped and took a deep breath. Raising her chin, she clenched her fists to keep from hitting him. “If you ever come near me again—”

“You'll kill me? Do you think you have it in you?”

Diana stood before him, aching inside. She wanted to hate him and she sensed he wanted the same thing. But as her gaze met his, she
knew
he still cared for her. That he had done all of this to drive her away, and he had accomplished that…for the moment.

A confused part of her was uncertain she could stay away. She couldn't stop caring for him. She couldn't understand how she could feel anything other than loathing for the creature standing before her. And yet she did.

Gathering what little she had left of her dignity, she softly said, “I don't think you want to test me like that, Ryder. Just stay away.”

She walked to the front of the alley, trusting that he wouldn't follow. Leaving a part of herself behind. A part she wasn't sure she'd ever be able to get back.

 

David was rounding the corner of the building at a full run as Diana stepped out of the alley. He grabbed her to keep her from hitting the ground.

“Sorry,” he said, then noticed the blood on her hand and the paleness of her face. “What happened?”

She shook her head. “Nada. Just…” She closed her eyes, rubbed a shaky hand across her face.

David laid a hand on her arm. “Di, let's get you cleaned up, okay? Let's just go to the car and—”

“Okay.”

At the car, he helped her sit down and then went around to the trunk to get some first aid supplies. She slipped the earpiece back in and heard the chatter of the other agents asking what was going on, and as David rummaged in the trunk for the first aid kit, he filled them in.

“We lost the suspect outside the club. White male. Approximately five foot ten. Dark brown hair with a lighter goatee. Wearing black shirt and pants. I've got Reyes with me. She's all right, although a little shaken. Keep on the lookout for the suspect. I'll advise as to what we're doing shortly.”

There were answering confirmations from all of the agents, and when he returned to the front seat, he knelt beside her and said, “Let me see.”

“I'm okay,” she said, and held out one hand. Blood had dried across her knuckles and there was one rougher abrasion where fresh blood still oozed.

“You don't look okay.” He shot her a quick glance as he laid the kit in her lap, opened it and took out a prepackaged alcohol swab.

She sucked in a breath as he cleaned the cut and muttered a curse beneath her breath.

“What happened?”

She tried to pull her hand away. “It's not…I can't…”

He didn't press, just reached back into the kit to remove a bandage to place over the abrasions. “When you're ready.” He tenderly brushed his hand across hers once he had finished. “Do you want to go or—”

“We need to go back in. Try to find that suspect,” she said, feeling herself return to normality. She could deal with anything even when inside she was…

“Diana, if you need anything,” David offered.

She surprised him—and herself—by reaching out and hugging him tightly.

He returned the embrace and held her until the trembling in her body ceased. She took a deep breath before releasing him, and, when she pulled away, she gave a brave smile.

They both knew it was a fake one, but he accepted it and ran a hand through her hair playfully. “Come on, tiger. We need to hit the streets.”

Diana nodded and took his hand. Together they walked back into the club.