Deathless Love (5 page)

She stiffened. She knew from vast experience what that post-coital tone meant. They were going to have a “Talk” with a capital “T.” She pulled on her skirt. Dom climbed out of bed and found his boxer briefs.

“Vampires are great for sex, but not for much of anything else.”

Her chest constricted. “Yeah, sure,” she said, trying for a casual tone. “I have no expectations here,” she reassured him. She sat down on a chair to pull on her cowgirl boots, inwardly cursing the emotions that seemed way too large for this occasion.

He said nothing for a beat. When he spoke, his voice was soft with regret. “It's not a rejection, by any means.”

Fuck.
He could read her. Her big show of nonchalance was a wasted effort on a vampire who'd just had her blood. And the last thing she needed right now was his sympathy. It made her eyes burn and her throat get tight.

“No, we're cool. Really. I gotta go downstairs and get ready to sing, okay?”

“Kate.” Dom was rubbing his chest as if it hurt. Was that her pain he was feeling? Served the fucker right.

“I'll see you later,” she said and escaped before he could say another word.

Downstairs Fox offered his cheek to her for a kiss and then narrowed his eyes. He looked at her and then he scanned the room behind her.

“What?”

“Were you just with Dom?”

A surge of anger went through her. Fucking know-it-all vampires. “What makes you say that?” she snapped.

He registered her anger and dropped some of his attitude. “I smell him on you,” he said mildly. “What's going on with you two?”

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing, okay?”

She didn't look at Fox then, because she knew he was regarding her with sympathy. “How about a shot?”

“Yeah, sure,” she mumbled.

Fox went to the bar and returned with salt, limes and two shots of Cazadores. “Cheers,” he said, clinking her glass and throwing back the tequila. She did the same, shuddering as she bit into the lime. “Let's blow it up tonight, 'kay?”

Fox grinned at her. “Atta girl.”

Thank God she had the Morphs. Performing with them was the best high she ever got. She headed toward the stage and grabbed the microphone. It was summertime, which meant everyone showed up late. They were just starting to arrive and mill about with that awkward, pre-buzzed energy. “Hi there,” she called out.

“Woo hoo!” She was greeted with several scattered cheers. Her band mates took her presence onstage as a call to action and found their way up on stage, as well. “Don't Speak? By No Doubt?”

Fox rolled his eyes. “Tell me you're not going to sing breakup songs all night.”

Kate shrugged. “Can you play it or not?” She knew they could—they'd performed it before. Gwen Stefani was a favorite of hers. They bent their heads to their instruments and played for her. A lot of songs she liked to make her own, but this one she sang just like Gwen did—or at least she hoped she did—infusing her performance with mourning and angst.

It was a great song no matter who was singing it, and despite it being early, it drew people out on the dance floor like mosquitoes to blood. Or vampires to blood.
Dammit.

Okay, so it wasn't like there was a relationship there to break up in the first place, but it seemed like her feelings at the moment went beyond the sting of a bruised ego. Dom had been more than a drunken hook-up to her. He'd fulfilled her deepest fantasy—and then some. And now she felt horribly exposed. She'd revealed to him a side of herself she'd never shown anyone. It made her feel vulnerable and he'd just given her the brush-off. And God, what if he told people about her weird kink? She'd be the laughingstock of Tucson. As a well-known player in the club scene, it was the kind of thing that people would gobble up.

“…with my head in my hands I sit and cry… Don't speak—I know what you're saying, so please stop explaining…”
Fuck.
There, standing in the back, was Dom. She didn't falter. In fact, she served it right up to him, singing the chorus, looking him in the eye. Which actually meant she had no pride at all.
Ah hell.
She finished the song and faced upstage for the applause, trying to get a grip.

He wore the same sad expression on his face that he'd had when she left him upstairs, and just looked back at her, rubbing his chest.

Fox took charge, calling out the next play—an upbeat song that was one of their originals—and when she turned around, she was back in the zone.

And Dom was gone.

Chapter Three

She was avoiding him like the plague. It was Friday night, which meant she was in his club to sing with the Morphs, but she hadn't come up to the bar for a drink or looked at him all night. It was what he'd wanted, and yet he couldn't stand it. She hadn't come around the club all week.

As an old vampire, his emotions were generally flat. He sensed others' emotions, but he rarely experienced any intensity in his own. But the night at Hotel Congress he'd felt such a pain in his heart at hurting her. It had nearly crippled him, he was so unused to experiencing any feelings of his own. He hadn't felt pain like that since he buried his family, back in the old country.

“I smell pain.” Stella wrapped her arms around him from behind. He interlaced the fingers of one of his hands with hers, watching Kate up on the stage.

“Mine or hers?”

“Yours. Hers is obvious, too, but I can't smell it from here.”

“I was trying to do the right thing.” He rubbed his sternum. “But she's
really
hurt. Do you think that's normal?”

“I think she really dug you. I told you that. I don't see why you had to break it off.”

“Yes you do,” he snapped, whirling around in her arms to look at her. The level of irritation he felt with Stella now was unusual for him, as well.

She merely raised her eyebrows and took a step back, releasing him from the embrace. “I understand that
you
think it was necessary. I'm just saying maybe it wasn't.”

“Well, it was. But I think I did it all wrong.”

Stella shrugged. “You could try to explain. Let her know it's not about her.”

I did that.
But she was right, he had to try again, he needed to fix this. When the Morphs took their set break, he made his way through the crowd to Kate.

Fox narrowed his eyes at him when he saw him coming, so he shrugged to communicate that he didn't know what he was doing, but it was with good intent. Fox closed his eyes and nodded, then disappeared into the crowd so that Kate was alone at the base of the stage.

“Kate,” he called her name as he squeezed through the guys who were trying to talk to her. She looked momentarily relieved at the rescue, then panicked when she realized it was him. But she took his outstretched hand and he pulled her through the crowd to the base of the stairs, where he leaned his shoulder against the rail.

He opened his mouth and suddenly realized he had no idea what to say. He closed it again. She looked at him expectantly. He could feel tension and pain radiating from her. Sometimes the only option is the dead honest truth.

“Listen, Kate. I want to tell you something. I have sex with a lot of women around here.”

Her face darkened considerably.

“It means nothing to me and I don't give it much thought.”

Her eyes were narrowed, but she was listening.

“The thing is, with you it already means something.”

Just then a drunk college kid slapped Kate's ass as he walked by and she jerked her head up and glared. Before Dom had time to think, he had already reached out and yanked the kid back, gripping him by the throat and squeezing until the kid understood that he was at Dom’s mercy. He let go. “Apologize to the lady,” he bit out.

“Sorry! Jeez,” the kid said, rubbing his neck. James had caught sight of the skirmish from his station by the front door, and he was there in moments.

“He's 86'ed,” he said, and James nodded, taking the kid's arm.

“No way! Come on, I apologized,” the kid wheedled.

Dom shook his head and turned his attention back to Kate, who was staring at him with wide eyes. The violence of the moment before coupled with being so close to her made his balls tight and he could feel the surge of hormones that made his fangs get long. He willed himself to relax. It was unlike him to handle customers that way, but something about Kate brought out the territorial animal in him. He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “What was I saying?”

Kate just stared at him.

Right.
“Listen, when I said that vampire/mortal relationships are a really bad idea, it wasn't a line to get rid of you. Okay? It's the sorry truth.”

She still said nothing. He thought the pain had eased from her, but not the tension. She put her hands on her hips. “Well, why not?” she demanded. “Because I've been friends with Fox for a long time and it's been just fine.”

“It's dangerous. For you. For me. For everyone.”

“How so?” she asked sharply.

“Kate,” he sighed. “Can't you just take my word for it?”

She shrugged. “I have to get back on stage,” she said coolly, and turned on her heel and left him.

Well, angry was better than hurt. He'd take that any day.

* * *

Why did he have to be so damn appealing? That macho chivalry with the guy who'd slapped her ass had been a huge turn-on. But basically he was your typical commitment-phobic male. He was a rock; he was an island.
Fine.

At least he'd said she meant something to him. If she could even believe that. She played a few notes on her keyboard, which brought the other four band members back to the stage. “I want to sing 'Don't Speak' again.”

Fox snorted. “So your talk with Dom went well?”

“Shut up. I just like that song, and so does everyone else and you know it.”

He grinned at her. “That's because you sing it perfectly, love. Just promise me you're not going to ask to sing Adele's 'Someone Like You' next.”

She laughed. “I promise.”

They had a great second set and she scooted straight out to her car afterward, her keyboard and stand tucked under either arm. Club goers were pouring out into the parking lot and there was talking and drunken shouts.

“There she is,” she heard a voice shout, but thinking it didn't apply to her, she didn't even look up. She popped the trunk on her old Toyota Corolla and put the keyboard and stand inside. When she shut the trunk, the guy who'd slapped her ass in the club and three of his buddies were standing all around her.

Her breath froze in her chest. “What the fuck?” she demanded.

“You need to tell your boss, or boyfriend, or whatever he is to let me back in the club,” the guy said.

She rolled her eyes. “You weren't permanently 86'ed. It was just for the night.”

“That's not what the bouncer said,” he said sullenly. “All I did was slap your ass. Is that such a crime?” He took a step closer and she could smell that he reeked of beer. He was definitely still drunk. He slapped her ass again, hard. “Huh?” he said, slapping it again. “Is that a crime?”

“Get the fuck away from me,” she yelled loudly, hoping to attract the attention of some of the other customers in the parking lot. She was scared now. She looked around desperately. She didn't see anyone she knew and there was no one looking their way or close enough to call out to.
Fuck.
“I
said,
Get. The Fuck. Away from me,” she hissed, mustering all the bad-ass bluff she had in her.

“Well if I'm gonna get banished for it, I at least want to enjoy it,” the guy said and shoved her against the hood of her car, yanking her skirt up with one hand while the other pushed into her lower back. She rolled to the side and he grabbed her upper arms with both hands and threw her back against the hood. “One of you guys hold her for me.”

“No man, that ain't cool,” one of his friends said doubtfully.

“Yeah, man. Chill out.”

“Let go of me!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, struggling hard to get free.

Suddenly his hands were wrenched off of her arms. She whirled around in time to see the guy flying through the air and smashing into another car, cracking the windshield. Dom was standing there, his fangs fully elongated, looking pissed. So vampires did have super strength, just like the books said.

He turned to the other three, who held up their hands and backed away. There was a blur and suddenly he was standing directly in front of one of them, clutching his throat. “Look at me,” he growled. The guy looked at him and froze for moment. Then Dom let him go and the guy turned around and walked away without another word. Dom repeated it with the other two, and they in turn each left silently. He was hypnotizing them. Or scrubbing them. Whatever.

He walked over to her assailant, who was starting to roll around and moan. What if the guy was too knocked out to hypnotize? It did seem to take a bit longer with him, but then Dom left him, apparently satisfied.

She suddenly felt extremely embarrassed. She didn't know whether the guy had planned on spanking her or raping her, but either way, she just felt like disappearing. Dom moved in a blur again and was standing right in front of her. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in to hug her, but she pushed him away. He had no right. Well, he'd just saved her, so maybe he did, but she knew she'd fall apart in his arms if he held her again. Too dangerous.

“Thanks, Dom,” she mumbled, picking up the contents of her bag that had spilled on the ground. Dom crouched down and helped her pick them up. “Did you just happen to be out here or…?”

Dom sat back on his heels and contemplated her. “I felt your fear.”

Oh right. Of course.

“Are you hurt, Kate?”

“Nope. Not at all,” she said, still not looking at him. She threw all the stuff in her bag as quickly as she could and stood up. He was looking at her with sympathy, which she couldn't stand.

“It was my fault that happened to you. I'm really sorry,” he said.

“How was that your fault?” She shook her head. “It was just a drunk asshole.”