Into Death's Arms (6 page)

   
Finally,
she was gone
I actually sighed with relief.
The office was secluded but
it
had a huge one-sided window overlooking the dance floor. I looked out over the dance floor
;
it was just as crowded as it had been before
Tameron’s announcement,
di
d
people have no sense at all? I wondered if they had
n
o
sense of
self-
preservation.
I made a disgusted noise in my throat and turned back to watch the giant
Vamp
ire
who held
me prisoner.

  
Bouncer
-
Vamp
seemed to have shaken off his attraction to Laurna long enough to be confused by the anomaly I presented, he
looked puzzled. “I thought the Ao were raised by the church?”
He frowned down at me from his lofty height.
I smiled; I didn’t have anything
to say so I kept my mouth
shut.
He shrugged. “Tameron will be here soon. You will answer his questions.”
His tone was
self-assured
,
like no one could resist Tameron.
Yeah, you sure about that buddy, I may not be an Ao yet but I do have the resistance to mind control. I
was happy about that at least.
Question was could I resist Tameron?
The most powerful
Vamp
ire
I’d ever seen.
The
Vamp
ire
who’d e
ffected me
and about a hundred other people that I’d seen,
through a television
set.
Somehow, I just didn’t think so.
“Tea,
” he asked
politely
as he poured himself a cup of the steaming brew from a coffee pot in the office.
Great
an enormous Emily Post held
me captive
.

   “No I’m cutting back,
” I said. Like I was going to drink anything, a
Vamp
made. I could just imagine what was in it. I shuddered again.  I looked at my watch.
He drank the tea.

   
He raised an eyebrow at me.
“You have somewhere you’re supposed to be Ms?” He let that Ms
.
dangle like a question. Yeah, wasn’t giving him my name either. 

   I shrugged again.
He sat on a leather couch and sipped his tea. The othe
r
Vamp
s started to file out,
I
obviously
wasn’t gonna be a problem. Good
Vamp
s, I thoug
ht go find something else to do,
with one of them I might have a cha
nce
,
with all four of them, I’d be
toast. I wanted them all gone.

 
Bouncer
-
Vamp
glared at me again
he
was getting
anno
yed with me
.
“
What are you doing
? Ms
…
” he did the dangle thing again.
“You don’t actually think you’re going somewhere do you?”

 
This time when I shrugged my
green
eyes lit up.
I wish they
had
glowed with holy light like a real Ao but
,
not yet.
“
I was thinking I would go h
ome
,
” I said still smiling. I walked toward the door.
I was a little delirious by that point
. My only coherent thought was
I so didn’t want to be trapped in this office when Tameron got here.
Bouncer
-
Vamp
of course got up and stepped in front of the door.
Once
again,
I’d like to mention just how big this guy was. Mount
ainous, yeah, that was a word that
describe
d
him.
I chuckled a little.
I was either going to escape or he was going to kill me but I wasn’t going to wait around for Dayton Tameron.
All I had to do was get in one good shot
,
just hurt him bad enough I could get away. That was all it was going to take.

  
I didn’t have to kill him
,
just hurt him.
I’d have to kill him later because if I didn’t he was going to hurt Laurna. I would kill
him
to protect her. Hell I would die to protect her
;
I was just hoping I wasn’t going to have to.
When I got
close
enough
I kicked one of his knees hard enough it bent the wrong way
,
and he howled like an unholy thing,
which was
funny b
ecause he was an unholy thing.

   
His brain kicked on the high beams in his e
yes and they glowed like a flashlight
, an
involuntary
showing of power. One of the ways you can tell a
Vamp
even when he is wearing his human suit. Hurt him
and
his eyes g
low. “Not possible,” h
e hissed
,
s
napping toward me with
his
fangs.
Yikes,
I moved to the side so he wouldn’t get lucky and take a bite out of me.
I still bled like a human and didn’t heal so good on my own.

   “Yeah, I know,
” I said as I brought the flat of my palm down hard on his nose.
He crumpled
,
I
didn’t have time to finish him
. K
illing a
Vamp
is
a
messy business involving decapitation and
/
or the removal of the heart. Messy
,
like I said and time was running out
.
Tameron was on his way.
I took my gun from where he’d stashed
it,
on is person
and
I
started to count. One Mississippi, I opened the door and checked the hall.
It was painted black and smelled like new carpet.
Empty
,
tha
nk God, two Mississippi. I slid
into the darkness, three Mississippi.
I held the
Sig
out in front of me ready to shoot somebody if I had to. It wouldn’t kill any
Vamp
s
,
but like I told my
dad,
it would slow them down.
Have
to
move faster
,
I told myself, four Mississippi.
I moved quietly
,
amazed I could do it with these silly
high-heeled
boots on.
I made it
to
the employee stairwell and my foot hit the first step, five Mississippi.

      “Ao,
where are
you go
ing?”
came that silky voice I’d heard
earlier
coming from the
TV. Only now it was coming from behind me.
He stressed the
‘
where
’
and the
‘
are
’
to make his point.
I turned slowly trying to prepare myself for what I was going to face.
I could do this
.
I didn’t have any other choice.

 
Sure enough, Dayton Tameron
stood
directly behind me. I had to blink twice and remind myself his good looks helped him hunt his prey, me!  His ha
ir fell
over his shoulders like a midnight waterfall. Stands clung to his suit like spider webs.
I was tempted to touch it
. Again,
I wondered if it felt like silk too.
My fingers twitched a little.

   
When playing at being human
,
his eyes were like liq
uid amber but they still glowed, l
ike the monster inside was
trying
hard
to get out. He was the only
Vamp
I’d ever seen who glowed ever so slightly even when he was in his human suit
,
and it scared me.
He smelled good
I wasn’t sure what it was
,
but I had to fight not to lean in and g
et a better whiff. Lavender and
…shit what was I doing sniffing
Vamp
ires
? R
un, stupid, run!
I didn’t think
anymore
.
I planted my Sig
in his chest and pulled the trigger until the clip was empty
,
ruining that beautiful
blue
silk shirt
. I spun back toward the stairs
and
took them three at a time.

    
I fled.

  
I didn’t stop to see if he was down. I didn’t worry about breaking my
neck on the stairs
,
just plain flight
.
One Mississippi, two Mississippi, I changed out the clip.
Good thing it was automatic
.
I’m not sure I co
uld have thought to do it otherwise
.
I heard a soft moan behind me. He was up there healing
;
I had to move faster.
Three Mis
sissippi, I hit the exit door
at full
speed;
I shot out and slammed against the opposite wall
,
making a loud bang,
four Mississ
ippi.  I stepped into the
night;
it was cool
and
felt like heaven
,
for about half a second. 

   
Then s
omething hard closed around my throat. Tameron lea
ned in close
. H
is breath
hot
like fire
against my face.
His amber eyes glowing
with that ever so slight light
and
filled with contempt.
“Five one thousand,” he whispered
huskily
.

  No, I thought. Not possible.
W
as I repeating
Bouncer
-
Vamp
s words
now? B
ut this wasn’t the way it was supposed to work
;
if
you shot a
Vamp
,
you go
t ten seconds to run.

That was the rule.

 
 
I guess
ed
he didn’t know the rules.
He lifted and I had no choice but to go
up
to my toes.
He was quite a bit taller than
I was
and li
fting me wasn’t a problem for him
.

  
“Surprise,” he breathed. I nodded like an idiot
;
bec
ause I was surprised
. T
his was not
how it
was supposed to work.
I mean
, he was
breaking all the rules.

      “You’re, you’re, not supposed…” I gasped
helplessly
. He smiled a very seductive smile and le
aned his hard body in against mine
.
He still smelled good even with that slight overlay of blood from the nine holes I’d pumped into him.
He had made himself look human again and his human form was gorgeous.
His lips a perfect bow even without the contrast of the fangs they were lovely.

   
I gulp
ed, lack of air mixed with Mr. G
orgeous pressed firmly against me kind of made my brain shut down.
I was sorry to say I didn’t have
a lot of experience with men d
espite being raised by one.

       “I’m no
t supposed to what Ao?” H
e whispered again
as
his
cold
lips brushed my cheek. I fought down a shiver.
I told myself I was shivering because I was scared
or cold
but deep in my heart I knew the truth. I was shivering because the
Vamp
ire
wanted me to. He wanted me to think he was sexy
,
so I did. It was that simple.
I hate
d
mind control.
I also was starting to hate sexy
Vamp
ires
. I hated the way his big body made me feel so small and helpless. I hated the way his strong arms wrapped around me made me feel utterly trapped. I hated the way his silken hair slid across my face as the bree
ze caressed him.
I just hoped
would survive long enough for that feeling to grow.