Lucas (42 page)
“You don’t play fair,” she breathed as she gripped his shoulders, flexing the muscles of her butt as she thrust against him.
“Fuck fair,” he whispered against her ear, then dropped his lips to the delicate skin of her neck and sank his fangs into her honey-sweet vein.
Kathryn jolted when the euphoric in his bite hit her bloodstream, her muscles clenched in anticipation of the coming orgasm. A full-body shudder rippled from her head to her toes, her leg tightening around his hips, holding him inside her as the tiny muscles of her sheath trembled along his shaft. Kathryn cried out suddenly, nails digging into his shoulders as her body fisted around him like a warm, wet glove. Her cry became a keening wail as the orgasm swept over her, and she began pumping against him furiously trying to ease the ache. Lucas lifted his mouth from her neck and licked the twin puncture wounds. He would have liked to take her back to bed, to have wrung every last bit of climax from her trembling body before seeking his own. To remind her of the pleasure he could give her over and over again, and let her try to find a human lover who could match it. Or another vampire who would dare touch her. She was his, or she was no one’s. But there wasn’t enough time.
He growled at the thought, enraged that she could bring him to this, enraged that he had permitted it. He tightened his hold on her and fucked harder, slamming his hips against hers until he felt the overwhelming heat of his own climax building to a roar, tightening his balls and hardening his cock as he thrust into the tight fist of her body before he came with a shout of triumph, filling her once more with his release.
Lucas eased Kathryn’s legs back to the shower floor. She held onto him for a moment, her strong fingers gripping his arms almost painfully tight. Her heart was pounding rapidly, her breasts pulsing with the force of it. It was the exertion of their lovemaking, but also the heat of the shower which had been running the entire time, making the shower stall more like a steam room than a shower.
“You okay?” he asked, bracing her gently.
She nodded and licked her lips. “Point made, vampire,” she said, her husky voice breathless, her muscles trembling beneath his hands. “You’re definitely one of a kind.”
Lucas felt a rush of pleasure, but tamped it down, only permitting himself a slight smile before saying, “If you’ve finished accosting my manly self, I’ve got to get ready. Nick and the rest will be waiting for me downstairs.”
“Right,” she agreed, brushing her wet hair out of her face. She frowned. “I’ll probably need to borrow some clothes from you. I didn’t come prepared for skulking around in the dark.”
Lucas released her and stepped back. “That’s all right, because you won’t be doing any skulking.”
“Lucas, be reasonable. I can help you.”
“I doubt that. The only thing you’ll do is get in the way and end up getting hurt.”
She punched his arm hard enough to hurt. “Fuck you. I train every fucking day for this.”
“Yeah?” he responded. “If you’re so tough, take me down. Right here, right now.” He strode out of the shower and into the living room where he found the sidearm she always wore. He shook it loose from its holster. “Here’s your Glock,” he said, holding it out to her. “Shoot me.”
“I’m not going to shoot you,” she said, clearly appalled at the idea.
“Take the gun, Kathryn.” He pushed it into her hand, and she grabbed it from him, racking the slide to verify its readiness as she scooted back to put several feet between them.
“Stop that, Lucas. There’s no external safety on a Glock. This weapon’s hot.”
“Yeah,” Lucas replied dismissively. “I’m terrified. So shoot me.”
“I told you,” she spit angrily, “I’m not going to shoot you. This isn’t a fucking game.”
“Do it, Kathryn,” Lucas demanded, advancing on her menacingly. “Do
it,
or I’ll take it and do it for you.”
She stared at him in disbelief for no more than a few seconds before the gun came up between them. “Stop it,” she said. “This isn’t funny.”
Lucas shook his head. “It’s not meant to be funny. I’m making a point. Shoot me.” He kept advancing,
then
purposely let his fangs emerge to press against his lower lip. “Do it,
do
it, do it,” he thundered, punctuating each one with a pounding footstep.
“No further, Lucas,” she said, deadly serious now, the gun absolutely steady in her hand.
“Make me stop.”
“
Dammit
.” She raised the gun a fraction, and he saw the slightest tension in her right hand as she prepared to pull the trigger.
And then he moved. Two seconds later, her gun was his, and he had her wrapped up tight in his other arm, spitting mad.
“You fucking asshole,” she snarled. “Let go of me.”
Lucas released her without an argument, and she stumbled several feet away from him. But he held onto the gun. He wasn’t a total idiot.
“What the hell was that?” she demanded, her blue eyes filled with fire.
“That,
a
cuisle
, was a demonstration of why you’re not coming tonight. As you so rightly pointed out, this isn’t a game. This is war. And when vampires go to war, people die. A human wouldn’t stand a chance.” He zipped across the room faster than she could follow and hugged her gently. “And I’ve no desire to watch you die.”
She tensed in the circle of his arms. “Let go of me,” she said tightly. She was clearly still angry at his demonstration, but that was all right. He’d rather have her angry and alive, than dead the first time she tried to face off with a vampire on the field of battle.
Lucas released her with a shrug. “You wouldn’t have believed me any other way, Kathryn.”
She rubbed her wrist, although he knew he hadn’t hurt her. Even making his point, he’d been exquisitely careful of her human vulnerabilities.
Far more careful than his enemies would be.
“Fine.
So I can’t match you guys for muscle or speed,” she admitted sullenly. “But there’s more to a takedown like this—”
“This is not a takedown,” Lucas interrupted implacably. “This is war, Kathryn. Call it what it is. Vampires fight to the death.”
“
Fine
,” she repeated irritably. “But there’s more to
war
than hand-to-hand fighting. I can’t match you there, I admit it, but I sure as hell can shoot. Give me a decent long gun and the high ground, and I’ll be your
overwatch
.”
Lucas opened his mouth to reject her offer, but stopped and eyed her curiously instead. “You can do that?”
“Yes, Lucas,” she said patronizingly, “I can do that. You’re just like all those assholes at the Bureau who think women only know how to type or play hookers.”
“No,” Lucas said slowly. “I never thought that.” He considered his options for a long moment. “Have you ever killed anyone?” he asked bluntly.
Kathryn blinked. “No,” she admitted.
“Ever shot a live human being?”
“Once.
Not with a rifle. It was up close.
Small town.
My partner and I were passing through, actually aiming for one town over in an investigation of what looked like a home-bred terror cell, when four assholes robbed a bank across the street from the coffee shop where we’d stopped for lunch. Locals were outgunned and more than happy to accept our assistance.”
“You shot a bank robber?”
She nodded. “One of the four tried to make a break for it while his buddies went down, guns blazing. He was wearing a vest. Body armor,” she clarified. “I could have gone for a head shot and made it.” She shrugged. “But he’d already tossed his weapon, so I shot him in the leg instead.”
“That was good of you.”
“I’m an FBI agent, Lucas. I try to apprehend suspects, not kill them.”
“Another reason you shouldn’t come with us tonight. You can’t shoot a vampire in the leg, Kathryn. It’ll just piss him off.”
She regarded him steadily, her jaw tight with anger, but her gaze thoughtful. “What about you guys?” she asked.
“What about us?” Lucas replied, puzzled.
“Are you going to kill everyone you meet tonight?”
“Well, not everyone,” he joked, then sobered at her look of irritation. “The simple answer is
yes
. Any vampire who meets us in battle tonight will die. Some might surrender.
Klemens
is not an easy master, and not too many of his vampires will be sad to see him go. Unfortunately, the Sire/Child bond will drive even most of those who hate him to defend him. They’ll die along with the others.”
“That’s a pretty brutal way of life.”
Lucas nodded. “That’s what it means to be Vampire.”
“Will there be any humans at all?”
“Not on our side, but
Klemens
is expecting a visitor, a local mob boss who won’t want to be seen.
Klemens
will probably permit the human to bring a few of his own guards with him, and they’ll be human, too.”
“Will you wait until the humans are gone before attacking?”
“Definitely not.
That mob guy is my distraction. But you shouldn’t worry too much about him. He and every one of his guards have probably killed, or ordered killed, more people than either one of us. Well, you anyway. I’ve lived a long, bloody time.”
Kathryn stared up into his eyes, clearly trying to decide if he was joking about his own death count. He wasn’t.
“All right,” she said, in the tone of one who’s made a decision. “Find me some high ground. I can at least take down any guards this mob guy brings with him. I won’t kill them unless I have to, but there are other ways of making certain a man stays down. Humans don’t have your tolerance for pain. I’ll also do my best to cover you against your vampire enemies. What’s the best way to disable a vampire?”
“You don’t
disable
a vampire,” Lucas said bluntly. “You kill him. Hit the heart if you can. If not, aim for the head. Depending on the ammo, it might at least take him out of the game long enough for you to get away. Assuming you’re as good as you say.”
“I am.”
“Okay,” he agreed, smiling at her look of surprise. “I keep telling you, Kathryn. This is war. I won’t turn away a weapon just because it comes wrapped in a very sexy package.”
“A package
you
won’t be unwrapping again anytime soon,” she retorted.
Lucas laughed. “Tell Nick what kind of gear you need, and if we don’t have it here, he’ll have it waiting for you when we land. But you follow my orders, Kathryn. No questions asked.”
“Hey, that’s what we do at the FBI. We follow orders.” She strode past him, slapping away the hand he reached out to her. “I have to finish my shower. And I’ll need those clothes.”
* * * *
Kathryn leaned over the private jet’s conference table and studied the amazing array of photographs and schematics from
Klemens’s
Chicago
compound. They’d taken off from
Rapid City
in Lucas’s elegant private jet—apparently it really
was
good to be the king. She doubted too many invading forces travelled in such luxury. They were no sooner in the air than Nick produced his files on
Klemens
and started discussing their battle plan for the night. She wouldn’t have thought it possible for a private citizen to accumulate this kind of data, but she was probably being naïve. In the era of Google Earth and the million other Internet sites where one could farm data, a first rate hacker could work miracles. And like everything else, when it came to hackers, there was apparently nothing but the best for Lucas.
“Tell me again how you know
Klemens
will be there tonight?” Kathryn asked Nicholas.
He glanced at Lucas for permission,
then
said, “That’s a bit of good luck on our part.
Klemens
has some unsavory human
,
Klemens
is no fool. He doesn’t trust his mobbed up ally and limits the number of soldiers he can bring to their meetings. Of course,
McKinney
doesn’t trust
Klemens
either, so
Klemens
makes a big show of limiting his guards, too.
