Destiny United (5 page)

While he dragged her towards the bedroom window, she silently
trembled behind him.

Observing the fateful scene in the bedroom, she dug in her
heels. “Are they dead?” she gasped. “Did you really kill them?”

“Not all of them.” When she tried to reach down to check
a pulse he gave her a yank. “We don’t have time for this!”

She ignored him pulling against his hold to reach for the
phone on the desk. Part of him wanted to oblige her human need for compassion.
And part of him wanted to yell at her for her ridiculous insistence on going to
the apartment in the first place. If anyone was to blame for the sorcerers’
deaths, it was her. The hell if he was going to say that out loud though.
Damn it!
Those big brown eyes and pouty lips were
making him soft.

“We have to call an ambulance,” she said, her voice
cracking with emotion.

He swung around and whispered harshly, “They just tried
to kill me,
querida.
And they were going to
kidnap you. And now you worry for their lives? You need to get your priorities
straight!”

Without another word he picked her up and forced her onto
the fire escape. He wrapped an arm around her waist and jumped down the three
flights landing with a soft thud. To her credit, Erin managed to hold in a
scream and settled on a soft yelp instead. She looked up at him in awe, feeding
his ego again. Instead of bowing like a gentleman, he bared his teeth and
growled, hopefully sending a clear message. She should fear him enough to do as
she was told, but know that he would never hurt her.

She opened her mouth to speak but cut off with a squeal
when he pulled her hard against his body just as a Bolt soared at them from
above. Pavement exploded into dozens of pieces, bouncing off the alley walls.
Several pieces thudded against Marcelo’s back when he spun Erin around to avoid
the spray.

“Sage can do
that
?” Erin
muttered peeking over his shoulder.

Marcelo looked up to see the sorcerer who’d been passed
out by the closet climbing onto the fire escape.
Should
have killed that one too
.
He scooped Erin up in his arms then
sprinted towards the hotel taking a longer route in case anyone followed his
trail. The injury on his back was ablaze, but he ignored it. Erin held still in
his arms, her face nuzzled into his chest, her eyes squeezed shut. His body
liked her there, which concerned him. Women, aside from Natalia, were only
useful to Marcelo for sex and food. That was it. Not companionship. Not affection.
And definitely not cuddling.

He set her down when they reached the hotel parking lot.
She wobbled a bit on weak knees but pushed Marcelo’s steadying hands away.

After taking several deep breaths she stared down at the
ground and whispered, “Is it so easy for you to kill?”

“Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answers to.”

Eyes glued to her feet, she nodded.

She was sad? He gave a frustrated sigh. Humans were
pitiful creatures, with their bleeding hearts and leaky tear ducts. Always
getting attached to things as insignificant as human life. “You would rather
I’d have left them alive? So they could hunt you down and imprison you? Maybe
even kill you? Gods, woman, you make no sense!”

“I live in the human world, you crazy vampire! This stuff
doesn’t happen to me. It happens in movies, but never to me!”

“I’m sorry,
querida
.” His
tone was mocking. “Had I known it would offend you so strongly I would have
positioned the bodies to look like they were merely taking a nap.”

She narrowed her eyes and glared at him. “You’re making
fun of me.”

“I am trying to find a way for us to work together. This
is my life and it’s yours now too.” He took a step towards her. “It isn’t
always going to be sunshine and puppy dogs. Death happens. Get over it.”

She inched closer to him, fists clenched. This had
officially become a screaming match. “My life has never been sunshine and puppy
dogs!”

“Good! Then we understand each other!” His bellow echoed
in the empty night. He stomped the several steps to the hotel door pulling it
open with more force than necessary. When he turned back around to hold it open
for her, she was walking away. In the opposite direction.

He was in her path in less than a second. She jumped back
at his sudden appearance then cast him a dirty look.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he demanded.

“I can’t do this anymore. Just…go away.” She shooed him
with a wave of a hand.

A human? Shooing him like a pesky fly? He couldn’t
remember a time that had ever happened.

“I’ll find Jimmy and we’ll go somewhere far away. I’ll
change my name if I have to. But I can’t do this.” She tried to step around him
but he moved with her, blocking her path.

“Erin,” he started, as patiently as he could, feeling
tired and irritable with the coming dawn. “I understand your reluctance to travel
with a vampire, but I’m afraid you have no choice in the matter. You are coming
with me to safety and I won’t hesitate to force your compliance if necessary.”
He said it softly but with a subtle menace under the lacy tones, just so she
knew he was capable of following through.

She inhaled a sharp breath, fiery determination written all
over her face. But before she could utter a single word, Marcelo dropped his
voice to a dangerous whisper. “You have seen but a hint of what I am capable
of,
querida
. Do not force me to show you the
full arsenal of my power.”

Anger flashed in her eyes before his words sunk in. He
could tell the moment she realized the truth – she was stuck with him, at his
mercy in every way. Her face crumpled in utter defeat as her shoulders sagged.
With her eyes on the ground she nodded slowly. He swallowed back a smile at her
surrender.

“Good girl,” he said. Though he decided he liked the
spitfire look of determination on her face, he was in no mood to carry her
through the hotel kicking and screaming. “Come then.” He gestured towards the
hotel door and followed closely behind as she entered the empty lobby.

Once they reached the hallway near their room, she took a
small pill bottle out of her back pocket and popped the cap.

He grabbed her wrist before she swallowed anything. “What
is this?” he asked.

“My medicine. I need it.” She pulled away from his grasp
with an icy glare. “It will help me relax. Help me deal with…” her hand
motioned up and down his body, “all of this.”

He scowled down at her but didn’t interfere while she
swallowed two pills without water. If she were his, he’d be flushing that
bottle of pills right down the toilet, along with any liquor he found.

“What happens when you no longer have access to those little
pills of yours?”

“I’ll always have access. It’s called a prescription. I
don’t suppose vampires have use for them.”

“We don’t,” he confirmed. “But even if we did, we are
strong enough to stand on our own two feet, without the help of artificial
courage.”

She exaggerated a scoff but he could sense the
embarrassment underneath it. She didn’t like being weak. Good. Unhappiness was
motivation for change. Before entering their hotel room he pressed Erin up
against the wall. “Stay here.”

He was silent entering the room. A deadly hunter. Once he
knew it was safe, he closed the curtains then waved Erin inside and locked the
door behind her.

“When do we leave?” he asked.

“The day after tomorrow. Are you going to do something
with the bodies?”

“Two days?” He ignored her question. “So late? Why not
tomorrow?”

“They didn’t have anything tomorrow. I got the earliest
flight I could.” She yawned, reminding him how human she was. The poor girl was
probably exhausted. “Believe me, I want this over with just as quickly as you
do.”

He gave her a weighted glare. “So flying to Colorado
isn’t going to be any shorter than driving?”

She grew defensive at his glower.
“No, but at least we’re not stuck in a six by four box for three days! I
think I’d drive off a cliff!”

“You would not be driving.”

She rolled her eyes. “Then I’d sing something really
annoying over and over until
you
drove off a cliff.”

“Nothing is that annoying.”

An eyebrow arched, her eyes full of challenge. “No?” Then
she started singing, loudly, “What’s New Pussycat?” and he began to wonder if
this was some cruel joke by the gods meant to test him.

“Enough.” His voice sounded like the crack of a whip even
to him.

Her mouth snapped shut. She’d live another night. He plopped
down onto the bed wishing he could finally catch a full day’s sleep.

Erin’s gasp snapped him to attention. Something on the
bed behind him caught her gaze.

Mierda!
He’d forgotten
about his injury. A bright red puddle of blood stained the blanket beneath him.

“You’re bleeding!”

“Shh!” he hissed, aware the walls were thin around them.
Too tired to care about ruining the blanket – he’d leave money for it when they
checked out – he didn’t bother moving from the bed.

“Should we do something?”

He gave her a sideways glance. “Would you like to stitch
it up?”

She shook her head.

“Then leave it be. It will heal on its own.”

“Does it hurt?” She winced as though she were the one hit
by the Bolt.

“Pure electrical energy blasted a hole through my skin,
of course it bloody hurts!”

She flinched and he regretted yelling at her. It wasn’t
her fault. None of this was her fault yet he couldn’t stop his conflicted
feelings about her. Part of him wanted to hate her for stopping his hunt for
Natalia. Another part admired her compassion, her concern for the welfare of
others. Yet another part, probably the biggest part, just wanted to throw her
onto the bed and take out his frustration on her sweet little body until she
thrashed beneath him, screaming his name. He needed to get away from her before
he did something he would regret.

“We’ll buy supplies while we’re here and I’ll get a
potion for daylight,” he told her. “Now go get cleaned up.” He nodded towards
the bathroom. “I’m not traveling with a sorry looking female like yourself. You
smell like alcohol and desperation.”

***

Sorry looking?

Erin’s eyebrows shot up at his audacity. “Well, you’re
certainly ballsy. Didn’t anyone ever tell you, you catch more flies with
honey?”

 He leaned forward, and, with a seductive half-smile, he
whispered, “I have no idea what you just said, but the thought of you and honey
is –”

She put a hand up to stop him. “That’s not what the
saying means.”

What was it about men that made them so horny after witnessing
anything violent? Her previous boyfriends had the same reaction. It was like
Pavlov’s dog. Hear a bell, want food. See a bloody movie, want to get laid.

Even more curious, why did the sudden visual of him
dripping honey onto her nude body just pop in her mind? Erin was
not
a sexual person by any means. For the past few
years she’d tolerated sexual acts as an unfortunate side-effect of having a boyfriend.
But she never had sex with them. No, she had to protect herself. She’d been
hurt too many times to trust men. Her past boyfriends had grown frustrated with
her lack of willingness to put out. But she made up for it in other ways. Too
bad they didn’t. But that’s just how men were, right? She wondered if Marcelo
was different. Would he care enough about her pleasure to be sure she climaxed
too?

He looked like he was undressing her with his eyes again.
Why did she feel her nipples harden at the thought? She resisted the urge to
cover herself under his heated gaze. Their eyes locked in some sort of
seductive stare down.

Then he just shrugged, leaning back against the pillows.
One hand rested behind his head, his legs stretched out and crossed at the
ankle. How very…male. She tilted her head as she studied him. His biceps bulged
under his shirt and she had the sudden urge to lick them.
What is
wrong
with me?
He was a murderer. A dangerous, predatory criminal and here she was looking at
him like he was a piece of meat.

Then he closed his eyes as if he didn’t have a care in
the world. As if he hadn’t just killed at least three men and left them dead in
her apartment. Without even bothering to open his eyes he said, “Well if you
aren’t going to keep my interest with honey, go take a shower. We’ll get you
new clothes tomorrow.”

It was times like this Erin wished she could be more like
Sage – who said and did whatever she wanted with no concern for the
consequences. Sage was a stick of dynamite, everyone else the match. “Flying
Fists” they’d called her when they shared a foster home as kids. It had been
Erin who talked her out of trouble over and over again. She was a peacemaker. A
diplomat. One foster mother had dubbed her “The Walking Mouth”. It was a result
of having moved from foster home to foster home. She’d had to figure out a way
to get along with parents of every kind, including one set of lesbians, two
single moms, and three couples who were over the age of sixty. So it came as a
surprise that this vampire had managed to wriggle his way under her skin in
such a short amount of time.

“What kind of supplies do we need?” she asked, ignoring
his demand to take a shower. Although she wanted one, she’d go on her terms.

“Backpacks, hiking gear.” Finally he opened his eyes to
give her outfit a once over. “Clothing that won’t fall apart at the slightest
assault of a twig.”

“Hiking gear?” She grimaced. “Nature? Camping?”

He nodded.

Erin had lived her whole life in the city, had no desire
to change that. She was uncomfortable even walking through the park when it
hadn’t been mowed in a couple weeks. How would she deal with hiking in the
Colorado Mountains?