The Reluctant Goddess (The Montgomery Chronicles Book 2) (17 page)

“How long has she been missing?”
 

“Ten months, give or take a week.”
 

“What did Maddock say when you asked him?”
 

“I never talked to him about Nancy. You don’t address a cobra face to face. But plenty of other people did. The police, for one. My mother, for another.”
 

Maybe I should give Janet Travis a little slack. Maybe she wasn’t a bitch. Maybe she was grieving for her daughter.
 

“And you thought by working for him, you’d be able to find out something?”
 

Dan had been assigned to watch me when I was first turned, a gesture of protectiveness from Maddock I hadn’t appreciated at the time. Now I was grateful for it. Otherwise, I’d probably be without a roof over my head while being actively pursued by the master vampire.
 

“It’s not just her, Marcie. There are at least three dozen other people who’ve gone missing from Bexar County in the last year. They just dropped off the face of the earth. Do you know how difficult that is to do nowadays? Their cell phones aren’t used; they don’t have any activity on their credit or debit cards. It’s like they simply vanished.”
 

He didn’t say anything else, but he didn’t have to. He thought they were being used as cattle.
 

But why? Capitalism had embraced vampiredom. We had drive through blood centers for that quick nip after a movie or a game. One of them was called Youngbloods and it had a grotesque logo of a smiling vampire. Really, I didn’t need to see all that fang.

The going rate for blood lately was over a hundred dollars a pint. There were even people who called themselves Vespa - professional donors - who made their living providing sustenance to the vampires. You could rent the services of a willing human for a day, but never more than a week. Vespa were very, very expensive.

 
Feeding a vampire didn’t give a human any advantages and it could prove dangerous. Vampires were immune to most diseases but they were often carriers of them. Many cases of bacteria born illnesses had been transmitted to humans, which is why the Vespa were now highly regulated and unionized.
 

Although there were artificial blood drinks, the vampires had blood clubs that were similar to nightclubs and very popular. The only price of admission was to bare your neck. Why buy the stuff with all the preservatives when you could get the
organic
version?
 

Some vampires had relationships with humans, like Maddock with his mistress. Nothing like double duty as a bed partner and a meal.
 

But to keep humans strictly for the purposes of, well, eating them, was illegal. The Green Book specifically stated that human beings were a separate species, neither dominant nor submissive to those of the
Frater Cruentus,
a fancy name for vampires. To do so would be to make him subject to the judgment of the Council. No vampire would be stupid enough to do that.
 

Even Maddock.
 

But whenever you regulate something or forbid it, it only becomes more exciting.
 

I didn’t doubt that Maddock and most of his peers were well fed and from humans. I just didn’t know how.
 

“Where did you look?”
 

“Everywhere,” he said. “They’re not at his houses.”

“Houses?”
 

“He’s got seven between here and Trenton.”
 

The man was probably as wealthy as Dan.
 

“How many houses do you have?”

He only gave me a look. Evidently, that was classified information. Either that, or he’d sunk all his pennies into the castle. I was betting on door number two.
 

“Where do you think they are?” I was hoping he wouldn’t say
dead
. Even being a vampire was better than being dead. Where there’s life there’s hope, right? Or maybe they’re seeing eternity as the priest described it at the VRC.
 

“I don’t know. Nobody knows. We’ve looked in all the places Maddock might have hidden them.”
 

“Who’s we?”
 

“Friends,” he said. “Interested parties.”
 

“Not the police?”
 

He shook his head. “All the missing are over twenty-one. They have the right to vanish and there’s no hint of foul play.”
 

“Except your sister wasn’t the type to just vanish,” I said.
 

His eyes got that predatory look again.
 

“My sister could be a flake sometimes, Marcie, but she wouldn’t have disappeared like that. Not without a word.”
 

I didn’t know Nancy, but I did know Maddock.
 

I only nodded again.
 

Although I’d asked Santa for a sibling, my mother always made a noise deep in her throat and said, “Ain’t no way, Marcie.” I didn’t know what it was like to have a brother or a sister, to either be responsible for them or to have someone have my back. Maybe it’s a good thing that I didn’t have someone to worry about now.
 

“All we can do is keep looking. Keep up the database. There aren’t that many disappearing that the cops notice, but we do.”
 

“Now you’re going to tell me you have a Facebook page.”
 

He smiled. “Nancy does.”
 

“Maybe you should think about it. Something like The San Antonio Vanished.”
 

“It’s an idea. You want to do the target practice?”
 

He was less subtle than I when it came to changing the subject, but probably more determined. I knew there wasn’t anything else to learn about Nancy and the others, at least not now.

I nodded again. I know only two things about guns: they can kill you and they’re expensive. But as for models, firing power, and kinds of bullets, you can put everything I know into a thimble and still have room for an elephant to swim.
 

Dan bent and opened another case. The door swung down, revealing an array of weapons.
 

"Are you a good shot?" I asked after he had given me the safety lecture and introduced me to a black gun that scared the bejesus out of me.
 

Remember, I’m not a badass. Okay, I may be getting closer with each day I’m a vampire, but I still have a great deal of respect for something that can kill you with such brutal efficiency. I made mental notes as he continued to speak. I only knew one thing he mentioned: don't ever point a gun at someone unless you intend to use it.

The second part of the lecture was how to stand and how to hold my gun. Oh, and don’t tilt your head and turn the gun sideways like some street punk. They can never hit anything and attitude doesn’t count for diddly squat in a gunfight.
 

"This is the police method," he said, standing behind me and guiding my arms with his.

In a matter of moments, my cheeks were flushed. He was standing entirely too close. At least there were a few layers of clothes between us this time. My bare butt wasn’t backing up to him like a playful puppy. Rub me, baby. Pet me, honey.
 

Seriously, he needed to move away or I would be overwhelmed by my baser impulses.

C
HAPTER
S
EVENTEEN

Normal with sex, please

A woman emerged out of the shadows, bringing Dan a locked gray metal box.
 

She smiled.
 

He smiled.
 

The gleam in his eye was the same any man got when he appreciated the view. She was tall, Swedish looking, buxom, and had legs that went to Australia.

I hated her on sight.

Okay, maybe I didn't hate her, but I was jealous. I wanted either the traffic stopping face or the build or the smile she shared equally with Dan and me. I shouldn't be entertaining any kind of ideas about Dan, proprietary or otherwise. He was my host. And I didn't even want that.

When I felt foolish two things happened. I wanted to kick myself for being stupid and I also felt vulnerable, like there was a neon arrow on my forehead. Look at the dumb bunny.

I wanted to climb outside my skin, run away and inhabit somebody else for a little while. Someone who knew what to say, wasn't stupidly emotional, and who didn't feel possessive about a man she hadn’t known weeks earlier.
 

What right did I have to feel jealous? None. Feeling that way was just plain stupid.
 

Wanting him to kiss me was even sillier.

I hadn’t been virginal for a very long time. I didn’t have that many lovers, but I had some. I didn’t regret Bill, because he was a learning experience. I knew more about myself after having lived with Bill. I’ll never live with another guy again. The piece of paper means something to me.
 

I wanted the white picket fence, dammit. I wanted the two point three children and a husband with a good job. I wanted to worry about play dates and getting into a good kindergarten and saving for my child’s college education. I wanted to sit on the porch and link my fingers with my husband’s and talk about when the kids were little and the camping trip to Lost Maples and the outings to Corpus.
 

It’s hard to be a regular housewife when you’re a vampire, verging on a Dirugu.
 

I wanted normal.
 

Normal with sex, please.
 

When I was with Bill I’d gone for months without having sex. We’d fallen into this weird habit of treating each other as if we were pals or buddies, but not romantically linked.
 

Maybe I should’ve figured out that something was wrong because both Bill and I were very careful to make sure people didn’t think we were married. We had both names taped inside our mailbox. We never represented ourselves to be a couple. In Texas, common-law marriage meant that you had to get a real divorce.

I wouldn't have been surprised if Bill cheated on me, but I don't think he did because he didn't seem all that interested in sex. On those rare occasions when I decided to listen to my libido and attempt to seduce him, my batting average wasn't all that good. Half the time he would say he was tired. The other times when I succeeded in getting him into the mood I wondered why I bothered.

Let's just say the earth didn’t move.
 

He did last a long time, I will say that. Sometimes, too long. After awhile, if you aren’t, well, engaged, sex becomes tedious. Here I was, thinking of the chores I had to do the next day or the presentation I was giving to the national board the following week and Bill was still going strong, in and out, huff and puff.
 

Once, God help me, I even asked him, “Are you finished yet?”

So maybe I had myself to blame for the lack of romance in our relationship.

Than what was wrong with me now? Was it becoming a Dirugu? Had I been infused with some sort of super sex hormone?

I was positively brimming with enthusiasm.

When Dan stood behind me and held my arms with his, I felt every inch of his body. Felt it and responded to it.
 

If the Swedish goddess came back into the room, I would've flicked my fingers at her. Or sent her a thought to go away and not bother us for an hour or two. She wasn’t anywhere in sight and I had to restrain myself from twitching my derrière a little, or moving backward into his embrace.

When Dan leaned forward and gave me instructions, his breath caressed my cheek.

My nipples went erect.

A soft moan escaped me.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

His voice had gotten deeper in the last few minutes. Or I was hearing things. Maybe I was feeling things, too, because I could swear there was a bulge behind me, one that enticed me to move closer. I stood my ground, but it was difficult.

I wanted him. I wanted him to touch me, everywhere. I wanted him to kiss me. Soft, hard, rough, gentle, slow, fast, it didn't matter. I wanted to turn, link my arms around his neck, stand on tiptoe and lean into him, become so close that nothing, not even a thought, could separate us.

Dan was immune to me compelling him. Otherwise, I might have beguiled him, or mesmerized him, or just plain commanded him.
 

His left arm came around my waist and pulled me back.

I moaned again.

He didn't speak this time, only bent his head and nuzzled behind my ear.

His breath was faster now. His hand was flat against my midriff, his thumb brushing the underside of my breast.

My body was singing hosannas. My mind was urging caution. Guess who was winning?

He placed a soft kiss on my neck. I tilted my head to make it easier for him. At the same time I pressed back into his embrace.
 

Fill me. Use me.
I desperately wanted him to touch me.
Stroke my skin. Kiss me everywhere.
Something hot and slow traveled through my blood like cayenne lust.