Deny Me If You Can (3 page)

She was tiny, easily mistaken for weak with her fragile and innocent looking appearance, but on the inside she was as fierce as a tiger.
A tiger he longed to tame.

When the ten minutes finally came to an end
, he opened the door to his office and took a look around. No one was in sight. He heard the music from the party upstairs, and he doubted anyone knew what was going on. He trusted Shane to keep an eye on the sweet Megan, and to keep the vampires away from her if necessary.

He took a sniff. Her s
cent still lingered in the hallway. She smelled like a fresh ocean breeze with a tiny hint of peach. The peach part came from a shampoo or a body lotion. The rest was entirely her. It was a scent that he gladly inhaled all day long.

He smiled to himself. H
e didn't mind that he was becoming a little bit nuts for the human woman. It was an emotion he gladly allowed to take over him. It would make the hunt even more exquisite. She was his now, and only his. No one else had the right to her, and if anyone dared to take her away from him, he would rip their heads off.

Ja
romir inhaled again, filling his lungs with her scent and went into hunting mode.

This was nuts! Megan felt
like an idiot when she passed a few vampires who watched her with big eyes and opened mouths. So far every single vampire that she had passed by had done that. No one had approached her, but they had stared without shame. It was as if they saw a human for the first time. She wished they would stop staring. It was getting ridiculous. She wanted to turn around and yell at them. Yes, she was human! And yes, she was very much real and among them! Get over it!

She rolled her eyes and headed for the
stairs in front of her. She was on the floor that the party was held on, but she didn't want to hide among the vampires. If Jaromir found her here it would be embarrassing. She preferred not to have an audience.

Megan gasped when
someone grabbed her hand and turned her around. No, this couldn't be over already! They had only begun and she hadn't had her chance to hide yet.

She opened her mouth to yell at Jaromir but closed it when she
saw that the man who held her by the arm wasn't the King. The man was huge with a muscular body, and she didn't like the obvious fury in his red eyes.

“How did you get in here?” he asked with a dark voice
and hovered over her with his intimidating appearance.

She knew that he could
easily kill her, but no fear came over her. Instead, she felt anger grow within her for being questioned. After all the looks she had received during this past twenty minutes, she had reached a limit. She wasn't a contagious disease, damn it! She was only human. She pulled her arm away from his grip and glared at him.

“I walked in here!” she
yelled. “Now if you excuse me, I have a Vampire King to avoid.”

She turned toward the staircase again, but the man grabbed her
once more.

“What are you talking about?”

Megan sighed. “You know, you vampires should really get over yourselves. So what if there is a human among you?” She gave him a provoking glare. “Do I frighten you? Do I make you want to hide behind the couch? Is that why you feel so threatened by me?” She tilted her head to the side when he stared at her with surprise in his eyes. “That's what I thought. Now be a good vampire and get out of my way so that I can get on with my business.”

Anger crossed his face when more vampires approached them from different directions. It was obvious that they had overheard their conversation, and it was also
obvious that the big, bad vampire in front of her had been insulted by her words. It mattered little to her. Provoking him wasn't maybe one of her best ideas, but she was fed up with being questioned all the time with their stares. For a vampire she was nothing but dinner. Well, that was at least what she had heard. When she looked around at the vampires what approached, she expected to see hunger or anger in their eyes. But to her surprise most of them seemed only interested in what was going on. They stared, yes, but when she came to think about it, none of them seemed to be in killing mode.

“You don't scare me,” the man who held her arm growled. “And that attitude won't make things easier for you. You really should leave.”

“Why? Because some of you might be hungry?”

“Exactly
, but don't worry. No one is going to hurt you. We don't take blood by force.”

She blinked. They didn't?

“Sorry, can't do that. If I leave the building I will lose, and I hate losing.”

“Lose what?”

“My bet with the King.”

The man winced and the vampires who stood nearby whisper
ed among themselves. Great. Just what she needed. Now everyone would wonder what kind of bet she and the Vampire King had. She really needed to learn to keep her mouth shut.

Megan noticed a movement
at the corner of her eye and turned her head. Her gaze fell upon a woman with dark, curly hair and a slender figure. Too much makeup covered her beautiful face and she was dressed in a light yellow dress. The woman was a head-turner, but Megan didn't like the cold gaze in hers eyes. It felt like the woman shot daggers at her. She was the only one who actually looked angry.

“Get your damn hands off her,” a threatening voice next to her suddenly said.

An arm lunged from behind her, making Megan jump. The hand grabbed the vampire and threw him away from her. Megan gasped and turned. She stared into beautiful but angry eyes what belonged to the Vampire King.

He grinned wickedly, and Megan thought this was it. It was over before it had begun. She expected the King to throw her over his shoulder and carr
y her straight to his bedroom, but the anger that awakened from that thought died fast. Instead of carrying her away, the Vampire King turned his gaze to the vampire who had threatened her, and before she knew what was going on, Jaromir lunged for the man.

“Shit,” she gasped and back
ed away from the drama in front of her.

The two men attacked each other like mad men, gro
wling, hissing and clawing at each other. Her eyes grew big when she noticed that their nails turned into short, but very sharp claws.

What the hell was going on? Sh
e couldn't believe her own eyes! Why did Jaromir attack one of his own men? She had never seen anything as dangerous as him. He looked like the perfect killer with his sharp fangs. The claws only improved the impression. His gaze was wild, deadly and scary as hell when he attacked the other man who fought back as viciously as the King did.

Megan had
not expected this. What was wrong with him? Did all vampires behave like this when a little confrontation came their way? Well, she wasn't about to stay around and find out. She had a sister to save. After witnessing this strange behavior, she became even more determined to win.

Megan
turned around and ran up the stairs.

Jaromir watched the man retreat after he had thrown him
to the floor. The vampire gave him a confused look followed by one last hiss before he walked away. Jaromir relaxed and straightened his back. Good. Megan was safe now. This would spread fast, and no vampire would dare to touch her. If the Vampire King himself defended her, then it told all vampires to stay away.

He noticed that
Jillian stood nearby. She was dressed nicely, but as usual too much make up decorated her beautiful face. She looked pissed, but he didn't waste his precious time on her. He had other things to do. Like hunting a sweet, little human. Jillian could yell at him all she wanted later, but it would only be a waste of her energy.

He grinned to himself and turned toward the staircase where he had seen Megan run
up. His body was filled with excitement and the adrenalin pumped hard in his veins. He clenched his hands and licked his lips. He didn't care that every vampire who stood nearby watched him. Some walked away while others seemed to enjoy the fever in the air. Their excitement rose as well, but they knew better than to ask him if they could join in on the hunt.

Shane approached him
. “Well, this was an interesting start.”

“Yes, a perfect one, b
ut don't forget what you are supposed to do. Keep them away from her. She's not to be harmed.”

Shane shrugged. “Sure. I will do a better job next time, but admit it was fun to watch her. She has some spirit.”

Jaromir's gaze was fixed on the staircase, and he didn't even look once at Shane while the vampire talked. He barely heard him. His mind was set on that sweet Megan. Her display with the vampire had turned him on, badly. Something told him that this night would turn out differently than he had first thought, and he liked it.

Jaromir
ran toward the staircase.

Doors everywhere.

The hallway was ridiculously long and wide with doors on both sides. If all of them were locked, she was doomed. She wouldn't have anywhere to hide. Jaromir wasn't far behind. She had left him in the middle of his fight with the other vampire in search for a hiding place. He had been distracted and hopefully missed seeing where she had headed. But she couldn't get the sight of Jaromir fighting the other vampire out of her head. He really was a hot and powerful vampire. He had danced around the other vampire, never hesitating before striking. Everything had happened so fast that she would have missed it if she had blinked.

Her heart had beat
en fast and a longing for him had awakened deep within her. Damn. That wasn't good. The last thing she needed now was to find the Vampire King attractive. She had to run from him and not run to him. She was sure that being in his arms would be the best experience she would ever have, but that experience also meant the death of her sister.

Megan took a deep breath. She had
to remain cold. He was effecting her, and he wasn't even using his powers on her now. Her attraction for him was all her doing.

“Get a grip,” she told herself. “Stop thinking about him and start running.”

She went for the door nearest to her. It was locked. So was the other, and the third. Damn it!

She ran furt
her down the hallway and felt every door handle that she came across, hoping that no one was inside the rooms. She doubted people would understand her actions. It wasn't every day you had a hungry Vampire King after you, and since everyone in this building was a vampire, she doubted they would care much about her problem. None of them would go against the Vampire King. Instead, they would be angry with her and maybe even do things she didn't want to think about, but strangely enough, all the doors that she had touched remained closed. No angry vampires came running at her.

On her tenth
try, she finally came across a door that was open. Megan exhaled. She gave the huge room a look. It was empty. She went inside and locked the door.

She turned away from the door and noticed a
big, comfortable king-size bed. White linens covered the bed and blood red pillows lay on top of them. Megan felt like throwing herself right on top of those cozy looking covers. She longed for a good night's sleep. She had slept poorly these last few nights. Thoughts of coming to this place had held her awake, and now she was here, in a situation she never could have foreseen.

The rest of the room was plea
sant with light green wallpaper and paintings displaying historical events. There were doors that led to a balcony and another closed door that, she assumed, led to the bathroom. 

The good thing was that the room was empty. The bad thing was that she was stuck.

He would find her easily in here. She didn't doubt that Jaromir was capable of breaking down the door, and she didn't doubt that he would do just that to get to her. After the display downstairs everything pointed to that. He really made her feel like the prey she was.

But at the same time the thought of being hunted by him made her body tingle all over.
She found it exciting, and what was even more insane was that she looked forward to seeing what would happen.

She knew she had to do everything to avoid him, and that she would.
She didn't want to risk Stacey's life, but why not have a little bit of fun while she was at it? Jaromir would do everything to make her feel whatever he wanted her to feel, and she would have to resist it. Honestly, she didn't want to. His strong and muscular arms looked comfortable and cozy.

Was there a way for her to trick him into his own trap?
She had no idea. For now all she could do was go with it and see how things turned out. Maybe something would come her way. Maybe she would be able to play him out, or maybe not.

She remembered the strong feelings he had thrown at her inside his office
during the kiss. That sure had been something! She had never experienced anything like it. The emotions had almost turned her into a thoughtless beast whose only wish was to satisfy the need he had awakened within her. And when he had left her standing, it had felt like being torn apart. It had been an uncomfortable and unpleasant feeling mixed with frustration, until he had taken it all away somehow.