My Vampire Idol (6 page)

She bent over him, her breasts heavy. “Bite me,” she whimpered. “Bite me, vampire.
I want it. Need it.”

Wanted to be inside him, coursing through his veins as she rode him to paradise.

He groaned roughly. “Oh, Rose. Wild Rose.” Mac sank his fangs into the curve of her
breast and she cried out.

“Yes!”

Her hips were pumping faster than any human could withstand, but Mac’s sounds of pleasure
told her he could take everything she was giving and more. He was her match. Passion
for passion. Need for need. Impossible to believe, but she could sense it. Feel them
melding—their bodies in perfect harmony as the carnal melody beat through their blood.

Blood. He was taking so much of her in. She was feeding off the frenzy that was his
desire. She needed more. “More!”

Mac rolled over without lifting his mouth from her breast, his hands lowering to her
thighs until her knees were pressed against her chest and her legs were bent on either
side of his head.

Deep. So deep. “Yes! Mac,
yes
.”

He growled again, the sound making her shudder as he powered inside her, jarring her
with each strong thrust. Taken. Consumed. That was what she needed. What her soul
craved. What her body desired.

“Fuck me. Yes, oh, yes harder. More. Take more. Take it all… Fuck, I’m coming. I need
to come.
Mac
.”

They shouted each other’s names as they climaxed together, Mac’s lips red with her
blood. She lifted her head to lick them clean and they kissed as the shockwaves washed
over them.

He rolled to his side and pulled her close, the scene disappearing to reveal her hotel
room, the plush rug cushioning them.

After long moments of focusing on trying to slow her racing heart, she heard Mac chuckle.
“That is one neat trick you have, Rose. I could smell the burning peat, the hay on
the floor.”

She shrugged. “It’s pretty common, really. Most demons can do it.”

It was true. She wasn’t like Saint or her sisters—she’d never discovered a special
gift that was hers to harness.

“So what are we singing tomorrow?” She wanted to change the subject.

“I don’t know if I could. If we should,” he mumbled. “Tomorrow is almost here, and
I’ll need at minimum another week in this suite before I can keep my hands off you
in public. The way you affect people who knows what kind of riot we’d start with such
a large audience.”

“Maybe you’re right.” Rose bit her lip. If she’d thought about it instead of acting
impulsively and volunteering him for this performance, she would have realized how
much danger she was putting him in. Las Vegas belonged to the demons, though vampires
liked to pretend they ruled here.

Either way, this was the last place Mac should be.

She still wanted him. She wasn’t ready for this to be over.

“We could leave,” she offered, lifting up on her elbows to study him. “Have a check
waiting for Jolene and Hobie and disappear someplace where no one could find us. I’m
sure Saint would help.”

He opened one piercing blue eye and stared at her. “Says the hunter who came to turn
me in.” Now both eyes were open, but his expression was inscrutable. “I never asked…what
price lured out your Garden? What did they offer you for me?”

She ducked her head, but he was right there, sitting up and tugging her onto his lap,
his fingers under her chin forcing her to meet his gaze. “What price?”

“My freedom,” she whispered. Then she shook her head, dislodging his touch and burying
her face in his neck. “No, I mean, the vampires offered a large bounty. According
to Magnolia—the biggest we’ve ever had. She said you really got under their skin because
of the show. The ego thing. They can take humans playing them on the big screen…they
even laugh about it. But the idea that one of their own could get away with it, without
asking, really dinged their pride.”

Rose bit her lip and smiled apologetically. “That’s what she said anyway.”

Mac was smirking. “I can see how vehemently you disagree with her.” He sighed. “I
have to believe there is more to it than that.”

“You have friends, Mac.” Rose placed her hand on his chest. “The vampires I know have
underlings and bootlickers but they don’t have the kind of friendship that they saw
you share with Thomas and Saint. They don’t have ghosts willing to volunteer to reveal
themselves and put on a show out of loyalty instead of fear. You’re unique, Mac. I
think they’re jealous.”

“It is better to die an envied man than an idiot, I suppose.” Mac kissed her forehead,
lifting her off his lap and carrying her to the bed.

Rose frowned as he set her down. “Sometimes it’s better not to die at all. Run away
with me, vampire. Hide.”

He put his hands on his hips and sent her a stern look. “Vampires do
not
hide.” When she lifted one eyebrow, his eyes started to twinkle. “Occasionally we
go out of our way to be unavailable, I’ll admit, but we don’t hide. And I’m done with
it in any case.”

“Why?”

He pounced, gripping her wrists and holding them above her head as he straddled her
thighs. “Why did you say ‘freedom’? Explain it to me and then I’ll answer you.”

Damn it. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Now, Rose.”

“I made a deal with my sisters ages ago. To stay until I could afford to buy my way
out of the family business. They agreed because…” she shrugged, looking away from
him, “…because I’m ordinary. I was a member of the Devil’s Garden for aesthetics—
six
demon beauties—not because I had any particular aptitude or skill for the job.”

“You found
me
,” he murmured.

“Luck,” she responded, unimpressed. “I’ve wanted out forever. I hate the hours, and
I’m not a big fan of the company. I wanted a chance to find my own path and to stop
working for the damn vam—”

Mac smiled when she bit her lip. “It’s okay. I don’t like them either.”

She glared at him. “Then why are we still here?”

“Because I’m Jolene’s hero, Angus the brave,” he grinned. “And I do like the title.”

She knew. “Great. So we’re singing in Vegas?”

“We are.”

“We should practice.”

He started kissing her neck…her breasts…her stomach. Oh, that felt
good
.

“Later.”

“I swear it was just like that Idol show!” Jolene enthused for the third time over
dinner at one of the hotel’s four-star restaurants. “The judges were brutal. I don’t
believe I’ve ever seen so many people crying in one place.”

Hobie patted his wife’s hand. “Which we would surely feel bad about if their tears
didn’t mean you and Rose would be in the finals tonight. I think we have a real chance
of winning this thing.”

“That’s what I meant, Hobie, baby. And of course they’ll win.”

“I know, my love.”

Mac forced a smile, but he couldn’t keep his eyes from scanning the crowded dining
room, searching for Rose. She’d disappeared as soon as they ordered and he was restless,
close to leaving the table to look for her. Protect her.

What was that irresistible demon up to now?

Last night had been unforgettable. He felt alive and for the first time in centuries,
he remembered happiness. She made him laugh, drove him into bouts of lust-induced
insanity and had more energy and sexual stamina than any woman of any species he’d
ever met.

He’d known her for one day—but Mac had experienced more emotion in the last twenty-four
hours than he had in the last twenty-four years. And her blood… It was more than intoxicating.
More than madness. It made everything stronger—his body, his feelings. Even now he
could sense it inside him—part of her inside him—connecting them to each other. Calling
to him.

Was this what Saint felt for his
kitsune,
Ume? What Thomas felt for his mate? Both had fallen instantly, hard as stones to
the ground, for their women. Despite their powers, they couldn’t resist the call.
Though to be honest they didn’t really try.

But vampires didn’t mate like cats or foxes. They didn’t have children and families.
His roommates and Esther were the closest thing he’d had to that kind of connection
since he was created.

His kind didn’t plan for the future, they stood still in time. Statues memorializing
an era—cursed to watch life move forward and leave them behind. Immortality was the
worst kind of universal joke. Though the word rang with possibility and potential,
the day-to-day truth of it was difficult to endure.

Thomas and Saint had helped. And now Rose had woven a spell around him that he couldn’t
begin to understand, but it was one that made him feel almost human again. Made him
remember the kind of man he’d wanted to be.

When he was young and imagined falling in love and taking a bride, he’d fantasized
about a woman with voluptuous hips and breasts. A woman with fire in her eyes and
wild, windblown hair. A bride who enjoyed more than endured her marriage bed.

She is a demon.

And he was a dead man, in more ways than one. That didn’t matter at the moment. What
mattered was now. Rose. He was determined to spend this last night with her and then
insure she got what she most desired. Her freedom.

After the gift she’d given him, it seemed a small price to pay.

Where the hell was she?

She’d been strangely quiet for most of the afternoon until they got up to sing. It
had been like magic, the way they’d come together. The song was a dance now, a seduction
more than a surprise. When it was done, more than one couple in the crowd had to be
separated before they could be arrested for public indecency.

Rose really had no control over her pushing. When she was aroused, everyone knew it.
Mac didn’t mind at all.

Afterwards, even though he could still sense the sun outside, all he’d wanted to do
was take her back to their suite of rooms and have his way with her. Unfortunately,
their human companions had other ideas.

Now evening had fallen and they had a few hours until show time.

“Angus?”

Mac grimaced. “Jolene, I have to be honest with you.”

The peach-scented woman paled. “Oh no. No you don’t. Really, it’s unnecessary.”

“I think I do. I lied.”

“It’s okay, I prom—”

“My name isn’t really Angus. That was my brother’s name.”
Back when I was human. When my brother and I were alive.
“Call me Mac.”

Hobie laughed in relief and pulled his wife closer. “You had Jolene going, son. It
isn’t nice to tease. She was ready for you to back out of the contest when we were
close enough to see the brass ring.”

Rose appeared behind Mac and tugged on his shirt nervously.

“Where have you been?” he asked, twisting up to look at her.

“We
are
backing out. Come on, Angus. Time to go.”

“I told them my real name, Rose. And sit down, dinner is—”

“Packed,” she interrupted. “This whole place is packed with people we know, Mac. Old
friends…and possibly a few relatives, though I can’t be sure.”

He tried to send her a reassuring smile. “I know, Rose. I’ll admit, I didn’t realize
the family was here, but I know about our friends. They are easy enough to spot if
you know what to look for.”

Stillness. Arrogance. Pale, stiff assholes in dinner jackets. God, is that we he looked
like to other people? He needed to take Margo up on her offer to shop for him.

Word had somehow gotten out that tonight’s act at the Venetian Theater was a not-to-be-missed
event—Mac’s first and final public performance.

Rose sat down and turned toward him in her chair, lowering her voice. “Why don’t you
care? Why aren’t you mad at me? If I hadn’t made you come here, they would never have
found you. You would have been safe.”

“I knew it.” Hobie’s sober voice made them both turn in his direction. “As soon as
you came into the Belly Up, boy, I knew you were on the run.”

Jolene nodded and covered Hobie’s hand with hers. “He also knew you were good people,
An—
Mac
. Whatever bad things you’re running from?” She lifted her chin. “We want to help.
First things first—we have to find a way to leave without drawing any unwanted attention.
We need a distraction.”

Mac felt something like amazement tightening his chest. “Jolene, what about the competition?
The library for the kids?”

Her eyes misted over with tears. “They’re just books, you silly man. We’ll get them
back eventually. You’ve already made it to the finals, which will get us enough of
what we need. People…
friends
are more important any day of the week.”

Rose made a noise that sounded distinctly like a sniffle. Mac leaned toward her to
whisper in her ear. “Demons don’t cry, wild Rose.”

“I know that,” she whispered back. “But I feel the need to remind you I’m only half-demon.”

Mac turned back to Jolene and placed a hand over his heart. “I am honored to know
the both of you, and I’ll never forget the kindnesses you’ve shown me. Never. And
usually, for someone like myself, that is a very long time. I’m proud to call you
friends. Which is why we’re still performing tonight and we’re going to win.  I’m
sure of it.”

And he was. Between Rose’s gifts and his own, by fair means or foul, one small town
in Nevada would have the most well-funded school district in the state.

“This is really sweet, Mac,” a sardonic voice said from behind them. “I wish I’d gotten
it on camera. Didn’t I tell you that if you got out more you’d make friends? ‘What
Saint said’ should really be on a T-shirt by now. I’d make a fortune.”

Gasping, Rose stood abruptly and wrapped her arms around her cousin. “Saint. You came.”

Mac frowned. “Did you tell him to?”

Her expression was all the answer he needed. “He was already on his way when I called,
Mac, I swear. He knew you’d need backup, even if you refuse to admit it.”