Min's Vampire (15 page)

He was a few inches taller than her,
with thick, defined muscles a pro wrestler could only wish to
obtain. His head was shaved clean and smooth. She could see some of
his multiple tattoos running down his forearms. Intricate black
blades, the sign of his pack, and their mission. Min knew he had no
other tattoos, as she knew he had nearly insatiable appetites in
the bedroom. He was able to use all his god given strength and body
to the most erotic intent. As he moved toward her, Min could easily
remember how his flesh and muscles felt as he moved against her,
making her writhe against him like a feral animal.

Günter.

But those wonderfully distracting
thoughts ended when she realized that he wasn’t there by accident.
He belonged to a pack of werewolves that tracked and killed
vampires. It was their quest and calling in life. It had been why
he’d left her all those years ago, and it was the only reason he
was back in the city now. He was there to hunt vampires. Which made
perfect sense since the town was lousy with them. But then she had
one probably waiting for her at home as she stood there.

I have to act like nothing
is wrong
, she thought as he sauntered over
to her. And she had to think of a way to get Luca to leave
town,
at least until the pack moves to
other hunting grounds.
She focused, and
smiled solicitously at Günter. She tried to eye him with some heat,
instead of the cold suspicion she was really feeling. And he
responded as she had hoped, with a sexy smile of his own. His skin
was so tan, and he was so utterly alive. After being with the
vampire she had somehow already become used to his coldness, the
coolness of his touch, of his body, even of his cock. How he felt
while he was inside her. And now she was remembering how
warm—practically feverish—Günter had felt inside her. Werewolves
always ran hotter than human.

And then he stopped, not quite close
enough to kiss her, but close enough she could feel the heat and
lycanthrope power flowing off of him. That energy suddenly spiked
as he scented the air, looked remorseful for a moment, and almost
apologetic. She thought for a moment he was going to say, “Sorry
dear...have to run. I smell a big bad vampire that’s in need of
being torn limb for limb.”

Looking very hard right at her, he
moved in close enough for a kiss. But instead he breathed in her
scent, long and deep, and the look on his face was just this side
of hate.

“
You stink of vampire, Min,”
he said as his dark eyes sparked with golden light and then faded.
“Why is that?”

Min hadn’t thought she
smelled like Luca. She’d stood in the shower for almost an hour
this morning, letting the water wash over her injuries. But she
wasn’t a lycanthrope, and freaking Günter was. He could smell him
on her still. She reached a shaky hand out and took another swallow
of her drink.
Think fast, sweet-cheeks. Why
would you have vampire scent on you?
And
then she thought to use her shaking hands and the fact she was
drinking hard liquor to her advantage. “I just got done slaying
one, that’s all. Close call too. He was on me and nearly had me to
rights when I slipped a silver blade into his ribs, then finished
him off with—”

Günter smiled. “Let me guess. You
charbroiled the fiend with your trademark fireballs.”

“
That’s not my only line of
defense,” Min said defensively, giving him a dirty look.

“
Yeah, but if it’s not
broke, don’t fix it.” He moved in closer, and very gently kissed
her cheek, his lips hot against her skin, his body hard and full of
promise as he pressed just so slightly against hers. Then he moved
back and leaned against the bar. “You really should come out and
hunt with us while we’re in town. It could be fun.”

“
I thought the pack didn’t
take civilians out with them; something about it being too
dangerous to have humans getting in the way.”

“
Yeah, but you were pretty
capable back when I last saw you, and I can just tell you probably
have all kinds of new tricks under your belt.”

Min smiled.
Günter, master of the double entendre.

Min felt the heat of his attentions,
how he still yearned for her. And deep down, Min still remembered
how good he felt inside her, on top of her…under her and—she shook
herself out of her sexual reverie. She couldn’t get sidestepped.
She needed to keep her head on straight.

Her new lover might be a murdering
vampire fiend, but he was her murdering vampire fiend.

Okay…that just wasn’t right.
What a terrible thought to have. What’s wrong with me?

She needed to get out of there and back
home. She needed to warn Luca. As much as she simply despised the
thought of being parted from the vampire, a knot of anxiety formed
in her stomach and her chest at just the thought of it, she needed
to get him out of town. If Günter and his pack were in town, they
would be out on the streets all the time, hunting for Luca’s
kind.

Something just occurred to Min. “So how
long will the pack be in town?”

He gave her a knowing, rather sensual
look, and then smiled. “A couple of weeks. However long it takes to
catch the vampire we followed to town.”

“
Some vampire has been
evading you?” Min hoped to hell it hadn’t been Luca, though he’d
obviously been in town for a while. “That doesn’t sound like
you.”

“
Yeah, usually I’d agree.
But this one, she’s tricky. She was murdering a half dozen
innocents a night; real conspicuous. Not even draining her victims,
just biting them, and snapping their necks, or tearing them in
half, or other otherworldly mutilations. I’m surprised her own kind
hasn’t tried to quiet her, but we picked up her trail in New
Orleans, followed her through Atlanta, and now here. We really want
her dead. But it’s not like she’s twisting around and
all.”

“
She’s keeping out of your
grasp, though. She must be pretty slippery.”

“
Yeah, but it’s like she’s
heading somewhere special. A straight shot up the country, like
she’s leading us somewhere.”

“
A serial-murdering vampire.
Sounds…like your usual vampire.”

Günter’s face hardened then fell. “She
killed Marina.”

Min’s heart thudded in her
chest.
Marina…Günter’s little
sister.
She’d been tough and talented, and
trained to be as deadly as a cobra. And Günter loved her more than
the waking world. They’d both survived the same attack. Günter had
killed the beast that made them werewolves with an axe, managing to
sever its head, and then having the presence of mind to burn the
body before he carried his sister three miles from their farm home
to safety and a hospital. Their parents hadn’t survived.

“
I’m so sorry.”

“
The vampire gutted Marina’s
mate, Christopher, and when she went after her she led her to a
dead end and somehow…”

The moments of silence ticked by
painfully slow. Min put her hand over his and he closed his eyes.
He shook his head and pulled his hand from hers. “So be careful,”
he said, his voice shifting back to its usual tone. “This one’s
treacherous.”

He got this look on his face, and then
looked her in the eye again. “The vamp you offed tonight, it wasn’t
a female, black hair, bone white skin, black eyes…” Min was about
to say no, her imaginary vampire kill had been a male, but then he
said, “Goes by the name of Elaina?” And the bottom fell out of her
stomach.

Elaina.
The image of Luca’s maker flickered in her mind’s eye: jet
black hair, bone white skin, and those scary black eyes.
Shit!

And then she felt a stab of fear. She
knew from Luca’s memories that Elaina could control him. She’d let
him escape and then called him back to her. She pretty much owned
him body and soul, when she wanted to. It wasn’t a freaking
coincidence she was in town. She’d come here for him. It had to be
why. But why had she drawn the werewolves into it?

Is she here to recruit
Luca’s help in fighting off the werewolves?
No, she could’ve zigzagged and left them still hunting for
her. She’d led them in a straight line straight to him. She’d
wanted them to follow her. And she wanted them out for vengeance.
Why else take the effort to kill the pack leader’s sister? The
murdering vampire had a plan.

But what was it?

She’d ask Luca, tell him what she knew
before sending him away. He had to go, he just had to. But then
again, why hadn’t Elaina just called for him if she wanted him? A
flash of Luca’s memories entered her mind. She had chained him with
silver, had burned crosses into his chest, and then slit him open
with a silver dagger. She’d pushed her hand into his stomach and
was reaching up through his ribcage, toward his heart.

“
I’m going to crush it,” she
said in the horrific memory. “Like you crushed my heart when you
left me.”

Oh god...
She was more than just a monster. She was crazy.
Like serial killer, Jeffrey Dahmer, crazy.

“
Min?” Günter was looking at
her with worried eyes. “What’s wrong? You haven’t run into this
vampire, have you?”

Min couldn’t seem to take in a breath
to answer him.

He grabbed her hand. “We can protect
you. We’ll put you and your…” he stopped, a strange look floating,
almost glowing in his eyes, then he said, “family…somewhere safe
until we hunt down this bitch.”

No, no, she couldn’t have Günter and
his wolves nosing around her until she’d sent Luca away to safety.
He had the wolves and his maker to hide from. And if Elaina had
brought them to the city where she knew Luca was, then she had
plans for them all.

God, things are going to
hell.

Finally Min took a deep breath, and
somehow made her body relax and her expression turn light. But that
wasn’t the right expression either. It wasn’t what she would have
felt during that moment, and she knew it. She had to figure out a
reason she would have become so upset.

“
No. The vampire I killed
was male, blonde, young looking. And though it was a close one,”
she took a deliberate gulp of her drink, “I left nothing of him.
And he didn’t have anyone else with him.”

His face wore a worried look as Min
continued. “And I think I’m just…I can’t believe Marina is dead.”
That was the truth, it felt like a bad dream to her.

“
Good,” he said, laying his
hand on her shoulder. “I’d hate to think…even though we’re not
anymore…I couldn’t bear the thought of losing you, too.”

Min stood up and kissed him gently on
the lips. “Thank you for caring. But I’m careful, and I’ll just
stay inside for the next couple of weeks. You’ll tell me when you
get her, right?”

He looked a little taken aback. “I’ll
leave word at your shop.”

Good.
She left, feeling her heart thudding unpleasantly in her
chest. She had to get home to Luca. He’d be there, waiting for her.
She just knew it.

Chapter 16

When he woke, Luca had gone to Min’s
house and waited inside for her. He wanted to see her, yearned to
touch her. He felt so happy as he paced the hardwood floor of her
living room, trying to envision the route she would take from the
store to the house. But soon he began to worry. No matter what
route he could propose, it was taking far too long. What if her
injuries hadn’t healed, and what if they left her weak and ill,
and…

What if they left her open
to attack?
Luca well knew he wasn’t the
only dark, hungry creature in the city. Weakened, Min wouldn’t be
able to put up much of a fight.

Instantly Luca rushed out and scented
the air of the city. He paced, moving through the city with inhuman
speed, only stopping to scent the air again and again. He had gone
straight to Min’s darkened, empty shop, and had worked his way out.
Her scent had been strong, but for some reason when she deviated
from what was obviously her usual path, she smelled not only
fainter, but different. Not quite afraid, and not quite
angry.

But just at that moment he felt real
fear, her fear, spiking in a hellish wave. But no visions came to
him, no muddled thoughts. Just fear.

Finally he tracked her dimming scent to
a small bar and grille that was filled to capacity. He looked in
through one of its comically large windows and found Min holding
the hand of another man. A muscular, good-looking man, and she rose
off her bar stool and kissed him on the lips, soft and chaste, but
there was an intimacy to it that struck him hard. He felt a flicker
of a memory, of the two of them together, naked and making love in
Min’s bed. He pulled away from that thought, staggering from the
window of the bar.

Was what he felt like a weight pulling
down on his chest his heart breaking? Could a thing that hadn’t
beat in three hundred years really have the ability to break? He
turned, the memory of Min kissing the strange man burning in his
head like acid. He took off into the night.

~*~

Min rushed home, dropping her keys in
haste as she tried to get her front door open. She felt such panic.
What if Günter had followed her home? It was an unlikely thing, but
still, he was above all things a ruthless hunter. He might have
believed her story about why she smelled of vampire. But he would
still think to check up on the story, especially since he was
hunting the murdering vampire that took his sister’s life. In
honesty, if she had told herself the tale she’d told Günter, she
would have followed her too…no question.