Touch of Evil Page 14

  “Well, he is a vampire,” she said, trying to sound nonchalant. She didn’t want to hear this from him. Not when he would twist and turn it to suit his needs.

  “Yes, that he is,” Sebastian agreed, a secretive smile curving his mouth. He reached out with a well-manicured hand and hit a button on his phone. “Now, let’s see what we can do about those accommodations.”

  * * * *

  Eve was seriously starting to get tired of being shoved into rooms. She managed not to stumble this time as she was shoved into her newest one, and reared on the door just as it slammed shut. She smacked a hand against it, the hollow sound of metal giving her little satisfaction. Glaring at the door, she rubbed her stinging palm with her thumb, then turned to inspect her new prison.

  “Not much of an improvement,” she said aloud, taking in the metal-framed bed. At least the mattress wasn’t on the floor this time and the bed was made. She was above ground this time, too. The proof being the two heavily curtained windows on either side of the bed. Another door led off to a bathroom, making her wonder how many bathrooms Sebastian needed in his house.

  “No way out.”

  Eve whirled on her heel, almost falling over when she heard the voice behind her. Her heart practically crawled up her throat, her breath sliding out on a whoosh. Her hand came up to clutch at the bodice of her dress and she had the notion that she was about to faint.

  “Who’s there?” she demanded, walking slowly around the bed.

  No answer came, but she recognized who her companion was the second she saw him sitting, head hunched over his drawn up knees.

  “Ash?” Relief flooded her. She took a step forward, reaching out to touch his shoulder. Before she could make contact, his head came up and relief gave way to fear once more as she found herself looking into the face of a monster.

  Instinctively, she darted for the door, the image of his transformed face chasing her. She slammed hard against the metal, pounding with her fist and rattling the knob. She heard a soft thump behind her. Panic lodged in her throat as she looked back.

  Ash was moving toward her, the predatory quality of his gait stealing her breath. His steps were like those of a cat stalking its prey. His brilliant red eyes trained solely on her.

  “No need to be afraid, pretty.”

  His voice was deep and husky, the sound close to a purr. It sent a shiver rippling over her skin and a whimper slipping from her lips. “Forgive me if I don’t take your word for it.”

  Accepting that there was no way, she turned around and looked for something to use as a weapon. Again, nothing. Eve’s gaze riveted to his face as he leaned on the railing of the bed. Terror and something else, something dark, rose up in her stomach. The red eyes were horrifying enough, especially when they replaced eyes the color of ice that made her burn with desire. Add them to the face, so handsome and boyish before, now the picture of a demon, albeit a beautiful one. Ash’s face was almost feline, his cheeks more prominent, his nose broader, his forehead higher. That wasn’t what had her wishing she could melt through the door behind her.

  It was his fangs. An inch long, they curved over his full bottom lip, a gleaming, deadly white. A scream bubbled up at the back of her throat and she pressed herself as close to the door as she could.

  “I can hear your blood,” he rasped.

  Her heart stopped as he started toward her, taking the short distance agonizingly slow. “I can smell it,” he continued, sniffing the air.

  He let out a sound so full of pleasure then, it sent her nerves into a spiral of confusion. Panic kept her frozen in place as he glided towards her and she realized that this was what Sebastian had been hinting at. Ash was a killer. And there was no escape.

  “Ash, please…” Her words ended on a shriek when she found herself pinned between the metal door and the rock hard body of a hungry vampire.

  Eve’s breath caught in her throat and her heart slammed painfully against her chest. Her body, however, thrilled at the familiar, delicious feel of him. It didn’t seem to be getting the message that she was afraid and in serious danger. It seemed to be remembering that she had wanted to get this man naked.

  Bad, bad timing, her mind screamed. Again, her body wasn’t listening. Fire shot along her nerve endings, warring with her terror and making her woozy.

  “Ash,” she managed, her voice a whisper.

  She scanned the face leering down at her. Tears stung her eyes when she didn’t see any of the Ash she knew. But maybe the Ash she knew wasn’t the real Ash. Maybe this creature was.

  With a sob of despair, she squeezed her eyes shut and waited, the images of his teeth ripping into her flesh flashing in vivid Technicolor behind her lids. She expected pain. She expected to die. What she didn’t expect was the hot flare of arousal when, instead of the sharp sting of fans, she felt the rough rasp of his tongue against her throat.

  Her eyes flew open and her breath puffed out in short gasps while her mind grasped how close they really were. She could feel the ripple of muscle in his chest behind the material of his dress shirt, from where his body was pressed tightly against hers. His long, powerful legs were spread so his thighs could trap hers, his knees braced against the door. Most of all, she felt the long, hard length of his shaft pressing into her pelvis. He was practically kneeling in front of her, lowering himself to her level so he could reach her throat more easily.

  “So good.” Ash inhaled deeply the scent of her skin, practically tasting the fear and arousal churning through her.

  His words were a soft purr in Eve’s ear, the intense pleasure in them making her moan. Unconsciously, she tilted her head, inviting his lips and tongue to explore further. Her pulse was racing—in anticipation or fear she didn’t know or care—and she shifted her hips against him to try to relieve the ache that was building in the pit of her stomach. His resulting growl of approval and reciprocating thrust had her knees turning to jelly.

  “That’s it,” he whispered.

  Her eyes rolled back in her head when one lethal fang slid along the skin of her throat. She felt the trickle of her blood as it slid from the shallow scratch and she moaned when his tongue followed its path, gathering the warm liquid and savoring it.

  “So fucking sweet,” he whispered.

  “Oh, God,” she gasped, throwing her head back against the barrier behind her.

  Eve didn’t notice the pain hitting the door caused. She was too lost in the feeling Ash was pulling from her. The hot rush of arousal, tempered with the icy fingers of fear. Her mind had blanked out, giving up on trying to make sense of it all, and her body just wanted to feel.

  She ground her hips against him in earnest, her trapped arms desperate to get free and touch him. But he wasn’t giving in to the silent demands her body was making, or the desperate moans that slid from her throat. He was taking his own time, to kill her or fuck her, she didn’t know which. But, either way, she was more than willing at this point, if it would relieve the burning throb in her blood.

  Ash was so fucking hungry. Every cell in his body screamed for blood while his mind splintered from the need. And like a gift from Satan, here it was. All wrapped up in the warmest, softest, sweetest smelling package he had ever received. He could smell blood, sex and fear. And he wanted them all.

  He ground his pelvis into hers, growling in response to her husky gasp. The taste of her blood danced on his tongue, teasing him, reminding him of what he had to have. He desperately needed to sink his fangs into her fluttering pulse, to pull the essence from her into him and swallow her whole. Fifty years of killing had taught him to hold himself back, to tease and scare until the human was caught on the high precipice of climax and terror. It was a delicate balance that took time to achieve. Even starvation couldn’t rush it.

  He shifted his chest away from hers, and raised a hand. The sound of ripping material exploded as he tore away her bodice. Her eyes widened, and she groaned lustily when he palmed her breast. She buried her hand in his hair to yank his hea
d up. Their lips met in a ferocious, punishing kiss.

  He felt her run her tongue over his fang, heard her tiny whimper of pain as she thrust her tongue into his mouth. The coppery taste of her blood flooded his mouth, hot and sweet and oh so full of want. The willing offer of her blood was something that he had never experienced before, not since that first time. He kissed her hungrily, sucking each drop of blood from her thrusting tongue.

  Ash pulled back to look at her and his body hardened even further at how wanton she looked. Her short, auburn hair was a tousled cap on her head, her emerald eyes glazed and muted with unsatisfied desire. Her bare breasts were heaving, the nipples stiff and red, the flesh flushed with her rushing blood. Her lips were bruised from their kiss and lightly stained with her own crimson essence.

  Realization of the woman he held in his arms flooded over him, pushing the hunger for blood away and replacing it with the hunger for Eve. “God, Eve,” he whispered, his punishing grip turning gentle on the soft weight of her breast. “I want you so bad.”

  Noting the change in his voice, Eve looked up at him. She blinked in surprise when she no longer saw his vampire visage. The hand buried in his hair slid down to cup his cheek, and with her other, she framed his face. Her thumbs slid over his skin and he shivered.

  “Then,” she said breathless, her eyes burning into his, “take me.”

  * * * *

  “That’s impossible,” Brie denied Mark’s claim of a vampire/werewolf mixed breed with a shake of her head. The man, who Brie could only assume was the “Seth” Mark had mentioned earlier, turned to look at her with dark eyes full of sadness. Her heart jumped with the lost intensity of his gaze.

  “I’m afraid, Ms. Murphy,” Seth said in a voice that was rich and deep and slightly accented. “That it’s not. Mark’s right, I am both.”

  “What? How?” She realized that she sounded idiotic, but couldn’t get all the questions in her head to gel into one firm thought.

  “That isn’t important, Brie,” Mark said, sounding edgy. “What are you doing here?” he growled at the other man, dismissing her.

  Brie glared at his profile, but then listened for the other man’s answer.

  Seth arched a russet eyebrow. “Well, Mark, it is my house.”

  “I know that, Seth, but Cy said you weren’t going to be here. Because of the moon cycle and all that shit.”

  “I’m not staying. I just wanted to make sure that you got here all right, and to let you know that the house is fully stocked. I’ll stop by again tomorrow if there’s anything you need in town.”

  “We won’t get any nighttime visits from you, will we?” Mark asked, a warning note in his voice.

  Brie did a quick tally of the date in her head. Her eyes widened when she realized full moon was tomorrow night, and that the werewolf transformation would start tonight. She took an unconscious step away from the two men, her movement catching Seth’s attention. She heard him sigh and felt a pang of guilt at the flash of agony in his eyes before he looked back at Mark.

  “No. I won’t be near here tonight. You’ll be safe.”

  “You’ll understand if I keep that gun of yours handy, right?” A tight smile played around Mark’s mouth.

  “Of course.” The two stared at each other for a long second, then Seth turned towards Brie, inclined his head in farewell, and left. The door closed behind him, leaving Mark and Brie alone once more.

  “This is insane,” she said, sinking into a chair.

  “Why’s that?”

  “Does my sister know you brought me here? I don’t think it would have been in her plans to put me in the path of a vampire/werewolf hybrid. What is that about anyway? How did that happen?” Brie buried her hands in her hair, her mind swirling with a thousand questions, the ones she’d already asked not even the tip of the iceberg.

  Mark grabbed the carton of cigarettes, ripped it open and pulled out a pack, slapping it against the heel of his hand before pulling off the wrapping. He watched her as she rocked gently in the chair, the urge to gather her up and soothe away her fears rising up in him. He squelched it down hard, irritated at himself for even considering it.

  “No, your sister doesn’t know I brought you here. But not for the reason you think. She doesn’t know so that if Sebastian gets ahold of her, she can be honest when she says she doesn’t know where you are. And since Ash is a vampire, I don’t think she should have too much to say about Seth. As for how Seth got the way he is? I’m pretty sure it had something to do with a woman.”

  “Ash? The man Eve is with?” Brie reeled from the news her sister was in the company of a vampire. She glanced up to see Mark nod through the plume of smoke he released from his lungs. “Did she know?”

  He shrugged. He hadn’t told Eve, but who knew what she and Ash had talked about when they were alone. Or if they talked at all, he thought with a snort.

  He quickly turned serious again, his face hardening into that stoic mask Brie was becoming accustomed to. “Now it’s time for you to answer some questions.”

  “What?” Her eyes narrowed suspiciously, distrust evident in the set of her shoulders.

  “Was your sister correct in thinking that you wanted to get away from Sebastian.”

  Brie had thought that she couldn’t get any more surprised. Damn, had she been wrong! “Of course! Why would I want to stay there?”

  “Well, I dunno. You looked like you had a pretty sweet deal to me; clothes, money, lots of pretty baubles. Regular visits to the tanning salon.” An image of her, standing in just her thong in front of the mirror in her dressing room rose up in his mind, and he cursed at the way his cock hardened in response.

  “How would you … oh, God.” She felt her face flame when she realized what he was talking about. He had to have already been in the dressing room when she’d come in. He’d seen her naked, or nearly so.

  “Don’t worry, princess, I enjoyed the view,” Mark teased. His eyes raked over her, making her feel as if he could see through her clothes.

  “Well, thank goodness for that. I would have been disappointed if you hadn’t,” she shot back, glaring at him. His bark of laughter had her face growing even hotter and she seriously contemplated throwing something at him; the heavier the better. “And, just for the record, the deal might have been ‘sweet’ from your point of view, but it certainly wasn’t from mine. I was forced to perform, turning poor old men’s minds to goo, so they would willingly sign their businesses over to Sebastian.”

  Brie pushed up from the chair and stormed past him to the kitchen. The sound of slamming cabinets quickly filled the air.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Mark crushed out his cigarette and watched her from the living room. She spared him a brief glance over her shoulder and continued to rifle through the kitchen.

  “I’m hungry, Mr. Lynch. I haven’t eaten since yesterday afternoon, and you didn’t seem to think it was important to stop for food.”

  He was mildly surprised that he could still feel guilt. Angrily, he pushed it away and went into the kitchen, skirting the table that separated the two rooms. “Well, excuse me for wanting to get your pretty little ass as far away from Sebastian in as short an amount of time as possible.”

  “Yes, I’m sure my sister has gotten her money’s worth,” Brie replied flippantly, staring down at a can of soup. She gasped when a vice like grip circled her arm and she found herself hauled against Mark’s hard body. His face was bare inches from hers, the fire in his eyes scalding her.

  “Your sister hasn’t paid us yet, princess. And it wouldn’t matter if she never did.”

  “Why?” Was that her voice? That breathless whisper? Surely it was because of the surprise of how quickly he moved and not the feel of his hard body. Since she was taller than most women, she was almost eye level with him. He fit against her perfectly; too perfectly.

  “Because I live to take down the filthy bastards that use the human race as their snack bar or entertainment. Or for slaves,” he add
ed pointedly, his other hand coming up to grip her free arm and hold her closer. “If I find out that you were a willing partner in Sebastian’s activities, I will deal with you.”

  “Fuck you,” Brie rasped, trying to pull free and quickly realizing the futileness of it. He seemed to be made of steel, his grip better than any handcuff she had encountered. Her nerves skittered madly in response to the menace on his face.

  “ ‘Sthat an offer, princess?” Mark made sure his face didn’t show the surprise he felt that she’d used such language, or the begrudging respect he felt that she hadn’t shriveled into a pool of fearful tears.

  She stared back at him, unblinking, her violet eyes unreadable pools. A flash of disgust crossed her features and she tried again to pull free. “I assure you, it isn’t. Let me go.” Her regal air was back in full force.

  For an instant, his grip tightened and she was seriously afraid he was going to hurt her. Then his hands were gone, the suddenness of it causing her to lose her balance. She raised a hand to his chest to steady herself. Their eyes locked at the contact, a hot spark surging from the point her fingers touched and spreading throughout her body like an electric current. She wondered if he felt it, too, since his heart was stampeding beneath her palm.

  “Careful,” he said, the husky tone of his voice wrapping around her. He took a step back, breaking contact. “Careful.”

  Mark turned on his booted heel and left the kitchen. The sound of the front door opening and then slamming closed made Brie jolt. Now that he was gone, she felt like she could breathe again, and she inhaled several times to calm herself. Then she took the soup she still clutched in her hand, put it on the counter, and went in search of a can opener. She took comfort in doing the mundane act of warming the soup, forcing her mind away from the infuriating bounty hunter and her more than confusing reaction to him.

  * * * *

  “I trust you know what to do?” Sebastian turned away from the window.

  Edward nodded, satisfaction that they were doing something to find Brie evident on his face. “I’ll leave immediately.”