Microsoft Word - The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance.doc (23 page)

While I had my card and I’d already filled out the paperwork for health and dental and even the 401(k), I was still on probation. My future as an SOB depended solely on tonight.  Now.

Shit.

I inched my way through the mass of people until I reached the spot where I’d last seen Uncle Jimmy. He was gone and so were the two women he’d been chatting up.

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Two
 
human
 
women, to be more exact, with strong ties to the vampire community, or so we suspected. One of them was rumoured to be a blood slave to an entourage of made vampires based in Soho. Jimmy’s objective was to confirm the information and find out if any of the vampires she serviced were here tonight.

With a specific target  identified. I would step in, do my

thing and prove myself.

If
 
I could find Uncle Jimmy.

After 20 minutes of looking, I finally spotted him near the far edge of the dance floor. Uncle Jimmy was talking to a different trio of women. One of the women whispered something, he smiled and my stomach somersaulted.

Bingo.

“Right behind you,” he murmured as he came up to me.  “The couple near the exit door.” I started to whip around and he  warned, “Slowly. We don’t want to alert him that we’re on to  him.

I drew a  deep breath to slow my frantic heartbeat and did a casual turn and look-see. My gaze swept past several clusters of people until I reached a man and woman. I stalled for a few extra heartbeats, drinking in the scene as quickly and as thoroughly as possible.

His hair was dark and spiky. He wore black slacks, a fitted black silk button-up and a hungry look. I could see the predatory light in his gaze as he stared down at the lush blonde on his arm.

She stared up at him, transfixed.

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“Him,” Jimmy confirmed  my thoughts. “Get in, stake him

right in the heart and walk away. Easy.”

For a man with bulls-eye aim.

“You can do this,” he added, clapping a strong hand on my

shoulder and giving me a reassuring squeeze. “You’re a Blue.”

Lucky me.

I squelched the traitorous thought.

I
 
was
 
lucky. I had the prestigious job of saving the human race, for Pete’s sake. Unfortunately, I also had the prestigious job of family wuss. I was the kid who’d brought home every stray animal and cried when my first-grade teacher read
 
Old  Yeller
. I got freaked when I saw a spider, and I
 
always
 
closed my eyes during scary movies. And while I knew my intended target had probably bitten thousands of people the world over and left plenty of them to bleed out and die, I hadn’t seen him do any of it first-hand.

Other than staring lustfully at the woman next to him, he

wasn’t even doing anything now. No murder or mayhem.

Yet I was supposed to kill him anyway.

“Go,” Uncle Jimmy told me, shoving me forwards before I  could blurt out any of the  objections that rushed through my  head.

But none of them mattered. I
 
had
 
to do this. I’d sucked at

everything in my life  –  from school to relationships to painting.

But not this.

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This
 
was my calling, just like every other Blue before me.

The one thing  I was going to be good at.

If I ever managed to perfect my aim, that is.

I forced the doubts aside and tried to concentrate on the

positive aspects of the situation. Sure, it was crowded, but at  least my target was a vampire and nor a Were. I didn’t have  to  fire off a round of bullets. All I had to do was walk over to Hot

and Hungry and stab him directly in the heart and  –  this was the

biggie  –  not toss my cookies while I was doing it.

Done
.

I put one foot in front of the other and started to move. A

few steps shy, I eased my hand beneath my jacket. My fingers  closed around the stake. I inched the sharp wood from my  waistband slowly. Almost there. Almost there. Almost  –

His gaze shifted, pinning me in place when I was just two

steps away from reaching  him.

Crazy right? I had my Ray-Bans firmly in place. He couldn’t read my mind or seduce me or influence me in any way. I was totally immune to the lust in his dark-brown eyes with their whisky-gold flecks, as well as to the whole sex vibe that he was giving off.

Mostly.

It’s just that while I’d sworn off relationships, I hadn’t meant to say adios to sex as well. I missed it. I liked it. I wanted it.

“Do you want something?” His deep voice slid into my ears

and echoed my thoughts.

191

Uh-oh.

“I . . .” OK,  where was my voice when I really needed it?  Wait a second. I didn’t need my voice. I just needed my stake.  Yeah, the stake.

Don’t talk
.
 
Don’t lust
.
 
Just do it
.

My fingers closed around the wood again and my heart

stalled.

He let go of the blonde on his  arm and she faded into the shadows, dazed and confused thanks to his vampiric charm. It was just the two of us in that darkened corner now.

Just the two of us. The loud, pulsing music. The lust.

I ignored the crazy thought and slid the stake free. The hair on the back of my neck prickled and I felt Uncle Jimmy’s eyes on me. He was watching. Waiting. Ready to report back so that my future could be decided by the higher-ups. Would I succeed this time or fail like all the other times?

Everything shifted into fast-forwards then. One minute I was aiming at his heart and the next I was pinned up against the wall, his hard body pressed into mine.

“I’m too old for a first-timer,” he told me.

“This isn’t my first time,” I heard myself blurt. Wait a

second  –  SOB  rule number one  –  no talking to the target.

Aim and fire
.

Impossible with my arms pinned on either side of my head,

the stake dangling in one hand.

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I tried to glance around for help. Surely someone could see?  Uncle Jimmy? One of the monster bouncers I’d  passed on my way in? At the same time, the place was much too crowded. If I couldn’t see them, then they probably couldn’t see me. And with the vamp blocking my view, pressing against me and pinning me to the wall, we looked like any number of couples making out in the far corners of the club.

He tightened his grip on my wrist and my fingers went limp.  The stake fell to the floor and he leaned into me even more.  “You’re a virgin, all right.” He grinned, his teeth a dazzling white in the dim lighting. “The  SOBs must be getting pretty hard up to send a virgin after me. Do you know who I am?”

“Do I care?”

“Maximillian Marchette. My friends call me Max.”

“Is that supposed to mean something to me?”

“The Matchettes are one of the oldest-born vamp families in

existence. Do you know why that is?”

“Again, do I care?”

“Because we know how to handle an SOB.” His dark gaze  burned into mine and if I hadn’t known that he was talking  about death and destruction, I would have sworn he wanted to  take me to bed.

Not that I was falling for it. No matter how much I missed

sex, this vamp was going down.

“Do you know how many times someone’s tried to stake

me?” he went on.

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“What’s with the twenty questions? I don’t know and I

don’t care, so just get to the point.”

“It’s  not going to happen. Certainly not with a virgin behind

the stake. The SOBs must be getting sloppy.”

“Maybe they’re just getting smart.”

He eyed me for a long moment. “What’s that supposed to

mean?”

“This.” And then I did what I’d been wanting to do since the

first moment our eyes had locked.

I kissed him.

Not because I was desperate and horny or because he practically oozed sex appeal, of course. It was a purely calculated move to get his mind off the fact that I was trying to kill him and on to the  fact that maybe, just maybe, I might be an easy lay.

Or at least a quick bite.

Either one would distract him enough so that I could

retrieve the second stake from my back pocket.

If he loosened my arms.

Sure enough, once he recovered from the initial shock of me laying one on him, his mouth grew stronger and more purposeful. He slid his tongue past my lips, stroking and delving. His grip on my wrists loosened and his hands dropped to my waist.

I played along.

194

OK, so I sort of got pulled along for the  next few moments.  I kissed him back, tasting and feeling and enjoying the hardness of his body pressed to mine until I felt the sharpness of his teeth against my bottom lip. A bolt of excitement rushed through me, twisting my priorities for several heartbeats before zapping me back to reality. Back to the fact that he was a vampire and I was here to kill him and I could kiss my 401  –  and my future  –goodbye, if I failed here.

My hands trembled, but I managed to get my arm behind me. My fingers closed around the stake and a split second later,  I was pushing it deep into his ribcage.

“We have to get rid of the body,” Uncle Jimmy said a half-

hour later.

We stood in the back alley of the club near a large orange dumpster. The vampire lay in a heap against the  side of the building. Blood bubbling up around the stake lodged in his chest and drenched the front  of his shirt, and he was even paler than usual.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. Not that he heard me. He was so

still, his eyes closed. My chest tightened.

“Forget about it,” Uncle Jimmy said. “I don’t expect you to  do disposal duty, too. It’s your first night. Go home and savour  the moment and I’ll take care of the rest.”

But I wouldn’t be savouring anything. Already I felt sick to

my stomach. And scared.

Because any second Uncle Jimmy would lean down and take a closer look. He would realize that my aim had been off and that the vampire was still alive.

195

I could still feel the pulse of his heart against the palm of

my hand. And the blood.

I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat.

“I’ll do it,” I blurted when Jimmy started to lean down. “It’s

my kill. I should get rid of it.”

He looked uncertain. “You remember the rules, right?”

“Remove the stake, cut off the head and dump the rest at the  nearest SOB warehouse.” I nodded frantically. “I’ve got it.”  When he didn’t look convinced, I added: Please, I really want to  do this. All of it. It’s my responsibility. Just grab his feet and  help me get him into the van. I’ll take it from there.”

“He’s really heavy.”

“I  haven’t been working out every day for nothing,” I flexed  a muscle. “Besides, I need to learn how to do this myself. Once  I’m out in the field, I’ll be on my own. I’ll have to do it. I might  as well start learning now.”

He finally nodded and reached for the vampire’s feet.

I inched my way behind, slid my hands under the vampire’s arms and prayed that he’d lost enough blood to keep him unconscious a little while longer. Otherwise, Uncle Jimmy would realize the truth, re-stake him and the bloodsucker would be dead for sure.

And for some insane reason  –  my overly sensitive conscience or his vampiric charm, or maybe a little of both  –  I didn’t want that to happen.

No, what I really wanted was for Max Marchette to wake up

in my arms.

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And I
 
really
 
wanted another one of those kisses.

The SOBs had a disposal warehouse on the upper east side of Manhattan. It was the perfect place to slice and dice and rid the world of fanged vermin. Uncle Jimmy phoned them that I was coming and waved me off.

Once I got out of  sight of the club, I hung a left and headed for Brooklyn. I had a two-bedroom condo with a postage stamp for a yard. It wasn’t big, but it was home.

Even better, it was safe.

I pulled up out front and spent a good fifteen minutes pulling and tugging Max  out of the back of the van. I had him cocooned in canvas and, luckily, the blood had stopped so he wasn’t bleeding through the fabric.

“New rug,” I told the insomnia-suffering next-door  neighbour when he poked a head out and asked me if I could use  a hand. I nodded and the old man came down to help.