Bite Me (2 page)

G and T chose that moment to make his move, and his fist slammed into the side of my face with enough force to have black spots dancing in front of my eyes. I screamed again, this time in pain. I heard a scuffle but couldn’t see past the darkness in my vision. The leader punched me again, this time in the stomach, and I had no more air for screaming. I started to crumple, but his hands grasped my upper arms so hard I knew they would leave bruises. He cursed when I started gagging and whipped me around so I was facing away from him. I guess he wasn’t so hyped up at the idea that I would vomit on him. I managed to catch my breath just before his forearm pressed into my throat to yank me back to a standing position.

I dug my nails into his forearm, clawing at his skin. A short scream caught my attention. I looked up and saw a dark figure wrap around his hands around the head of one of my attackers. In less than a second, I heard a crack as the man’s head twisted in an unnatural way. Then his body went limp and fell to the ground. I saw no sign of the third man in the group.

“Don’t fucking move.”

I realized the man behind me had spoken for the first time since this entire nightmare began. He was speaking to the dark figure standing in front of us. I also realized that I had just watched a man have his neck broken right in front of me. Suddenly my body started shivering so hard I could barely stay standing without the arm at my throat. The shadow in front of us shifted forward, into a small shaft of light.

G and T tightened his grip around my neck and I stopped breathing. It was the gorgeous stranger I had noticed earlier. He looked feral and dangerous and, if it was possible, sexier than before.

“Release her,” he hissed. Even though his voice was barely a whisper, somehow it surrounded us.

The arm holding me tightened even further. Apparently, G and T had more liquid courage in him than I thought. I dug my nails deeper into his arm.

“I mean it, asshole. Another step closer and I’ll break her neck.”

“I said, release her.” This time the stranger’s voice was heavier. I could practically feel it dripping off my skin. It was almost painful.

The arm around my neck stiffened before it slowly dropped away. What the fuck? Okay, apparently this guy had the magic touch because my attacker was listening to him.

Suddenly, the hot guy from the bar was no longer standing in front of us. I blinked twice, thinking I had momentarily passed out, but he was gone. G and T whined high in his throat. I stumbled away, falling onto the ground.

When I looked behind me, I thought I was hallucinating. The man who had been holding me was hanging limply from the arms of the beautiful stranger. The stranger was gripping the man by the neck. When he was released, my attacker hit the ground hard, his head tilted at a strange angle. Vaguely I realized that my beautiful stranger had broken this man’s neck also.

I scrambled back on my hands, dragging my ass across the pavement. My rescuer took a step toward me and extended his hand. I stared at him numbly, my gaze travelling up his arm to his face. He leaned forward, those intense blue eyes on mine, and cupped my elbow to pull me to my feet. The dim light in the parking lot glinted off his eyes, making them shine like jewels. Mesmerized, I blinked but didn’t speak.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

I felt my stomach tighten when he spoke. He had an accent, but it was so faint I couldn’t quite place it. The timbre of his voice was hypnotic and as gorgeous as the rest of him. I nodded. Leave it to one good looking man to reduce me to a speechless puddle. Fuck, I had just faced down a group of three men intent upon horrible things without hesitation, but I couldn’t string together a sentence for this guy.

He released my elbow and my knees buckled. He caught me again and smiled slightly. My eyes zeroed in on his mouth. My first thought was that it was completely unfair that a man as gorgeous as him had dimples and the whitest teeth I had ever seen. Then I realized that his canines were long and curved. As I watched they receded before my eyes. I blinked, and his teeth looked almost perfectly normal. His canines still seemed a little long but not frighteningly sharp. The crazy events of the last ten minutes must have addled my brain.

I made sure my feet were firmly beneath me before I pulled away from my rescuer. Satisfied I wouldn’t collapse into a heap at his feet, I smoothed my skirt down and ran a hand over my hair. I was sure I looked awful.

“Thank you for helping me,” I said, forcing myself to meet his eyes. Normally I had no problem talking to handsome men, but this guy was sex on a stick and he was making me nervous.

“I’m glad I made it in time. I’m Conner.”

When I heard his name I realized that his accent was faintly Scottish, as though he’d been in America for a long time.

“I’m Donna.” I looked at the crumpled bodies of my three attackers and shuddered. “We should probably call the police.”

Conner shook his head. “That’s not necessary.”

I gaped at him. “What? Of course we need to call the police. I know at least one of these men is dead.”

The man may have been gorgeous, but now I was beginning to worry that he was as crazy as the other three.

“They’re all dead, sweetheart.” He leaned closer and stared deeply into my eyes. “There is no need to call the police.”

I stepped back. Conner was beginning to scare me a little with his intensity. “Um, I don’t know if you realized this, but Jedi mind tricks are fictional.”

It was his turn to blink at me. Suddenly his eyes seemed to glow even brighter, and he smiled. I watched in amazement as his canines lengthened and sharpened. My stomach dropped. I had to be imagining things. It was the stress or the adrenaline. Vampires didn’t exist. It had to be something chemical, maybe drugs. That had to be it. Maybe the three men who attacked me had injected me with something and I hadn’t noticed the effects until now.

“You won’t call the authorities,” he repeated.

I swallowed hard. “Okay, okay. I won’t call the cops if you don’t want me to.” I was lying like hell, but I wanted out of there. I had been relieved when he came to my rescue, but now I was more afraid of him than I was of the three men he apparently killed.

He studied me. “You’re lying.”

“No, no I’m not,” I stammered. “I won’t call the police if you don’t want me to.”

Conner tipped my chin up with his hand. “You are lying. I can tell. Just like I can tell you’ll be dialing 911 as soon as your ass lands in your car seat.” His face grew closer to mine and I couldn’t help flinching.

“Please don’t hurt me,” I whispered. If I wasn’t scared out of my mind, I would be pissed at the whine in my voice.

He ignored me and I felt my eyes bug out of my head. This was it. He was going to kill me. If I was lucky it would be quick and painless. If not, he was going to drink my blood and there was nothing I could do to stop him.

His face lowered, those bright blue eyes glowing, but not from the dim light around us. The light seemed to be coming from within them. I felt my body relax right before his mouth touched mine. Conner’s lips were scorching hot and I gasped. I expected him to feel cool, his being undead and all. I forgot about body temperatures because, when I gasped, his tongue slid into my mouth. My brain immediately shut down, and the tingle that began between my legs became a sharp ache.

My own tongue brushed one of his fangs, and I felt a little sting. He groaned and flattened me against his front. I realized I’d just cut my tongue, and he was tasting my blood. I yanked my head back.

I glared at him. “How did you make me do that?” I asked.

He kept my body against his, refusing to let me go when I tried to pull away. “How did I make you do what?”

I scowled. “How did you make me kiss you? Did you zap me with some kind of vampire mind control or something?”

His mouth quirked in amusement. It wasn’t quite a smile, more of a smirk, and it showed his dimples. I wanted to smack him.

“I didn’t compel you to kiss me,” he replied.

My eyebrows lowered and I felt my eyes get all squinty.

“Then why did I just kiss you? I would never do something like that without being coerced.”

“Coerced?” he asked, as though he couldn’t believe I knew what the word meant.

I growled in the back of my throat. Condescending, bloodsucking bastard.

“I believe it’s called chemistry not coercion.”

“Chemistry?” I repeated.

He wrapped an arm around my lower back and my hips connected with his. I felt what had to be a vampire penis poking me in the belly. Oh hell, no way was I playing sink the salami with a creature that would want to sink fangs into me too.

“No, no, no. There’s no chemistry here,” I declared.

His fingers snaked along my jawline. “That’s too bad, Donna, because I have to disagree.”

I felt a lot of pressure near my ear and then everything went black.

I really didn’t want to wake up. I knew I was dreaming, but it was a fantastic dream. The beautiful stranger from work last night was holding me close. He smelled amazing and felt even better. Conner. His name was Conner. I snuggled closer, inhaling his scent. I just wanted to wallow in the warm, cozy feeling for a little longer. It had been way too long since a man slept with me.

Suddenly, my memory returned in a rush and I sat straight up in bed. My face throbbed with the movement.

“Son of a bitch!” I yelped.

I cupped the side of my face. Damn, that asshole last night must have hit me harder than I thought. Carefully, I turned to look around my bedroom. There was no sign of Conner, though I hadn’t imagined his scent. It was all over me and my bed. I also realized the fucker had done something to knock me out the night before and it pissed me off. I growled under my breath, glad he wasn’t there or I would have been tempted to do something stupid.

Moving slowly, I climbed out of bed. I realized I was dressed in my panties and a tank top that I liked to sleep in. My body flashed cold then hot when I realized that the most beautiful man I had ever met had seen me practically naked. Oh, fuck it. I couldn’t think about that right now. I was more worried about the state of my body.

I made my way to the bathroom, limping a bit. My entire body ached. I turned on the light and moaned when I saw my face in the mirror. A bruise had formed on my cheekbone and alongside my eye. Scrapes and scratches covered my arms and legs. Though I didn’t wear a lot of make-up, my mascara was smeared under my eyes. Gingerly, I went to the sink and turned on the water. When I was finished washing the remnants of my make-up away, I examined the bruises on my skin in the mirror. The bruise on my cheekbone and the finger marks on my arms seemed to be the worst. My scrapes looked as though they had been cleaned and treated with ointment.

I wondered how I managed to sleep through that and the last sliver of memory from the night before returned. The last thing I remember was arguing about calling the police, that incredible kiss, his fingers putting pressure on the area near my ear, and then nothing. Well, not nothing. I also remembered believing he was a vampire, but I refused to think about it. It had to be the adrenaline and the shock after my attack. Vampires didn’t exist. Or maybe I really was going crazy like several of my ex-boyfriends claimed I would.

Thank God I didn’t have to work today. I couldn’t afford to skip a day of work. My savings were substantial, but they wouldn’t last forever on the salary I was making. Since my psycho boss fired me, I had been blackballed in the field of advertisement. All my coworkers told me not to rat him out, that he covered his tracks too well, but I didn’t listen. When I realized he was stealing from the company I contacted his boss. What I didn’t realize was that his boss was in on the embezzlement. The evidence I turned in promptly disappeared, records were changed, and I was fired. Now, no one in advertising would hire me. Until my boss was caught with his hand in the cookie jar, I was stuck. I knew he would be caught eventually because he wasn’t as smart as he believed. It still sucked to be me until that moment came.

After I was fired and realized that I wouldn’t be able to get a job, I moved out of my spacious loft in Dallas and into a smaller one bedroom apartment. It wasn’t a dump, but it lacked the shine that permeated my loft. Still, I wanted to stretch my savings as long as possible so I would do what I had to do to make it work. Here I was, in a small apartment, working a job that was fun but not as fulfilling as the one I had before.

I sighed at my reflection in the mirror. I was supposed to meet my girlfriends for dinner tonight but with all the bruises there was no way I could go. I didn’t want to deal with the stares of strangers and the inevitable and unending questions from my girls. Then there would be the explanation. There was no way I could explain what had happened last night. Or why I hadn’t called the cops. There was also no way I could tell them I thought I met a vampire last night. Ricki would have me committed, and the rest of the girls would start discussing who would get my shoe collection.

Digging in my medicine cabinet, I managed to find some over-the-counter pain reliever. I shook three out of the bottle and washed them down with water from the tap. Hopefully the pills would kick in soon. My entire body ached. I made my way back into the bedroom and stretched out on the bed. There was no way I was contacting the girls. I would end up mothered, bullied, and medicated within an inch of my life. I decided to rest up all day, and then I would text them all at the last minute to let them know I wouldn’t make it. I hated lying in general, but I knew that was the only way I could keep them from showing up and driving me crazy with questions and advice.