Out of the Night (20 page)

"Okay," Lanie said. "That makes sense. But what about those other men—the ones Uncle Charles mentioned?"

"You think Burton's responsible for their disappearance?" Dirk asked.

"I'm wondering what these three men had in common—other than that they were all former unit members."

Mac thought about it, thinking that he might know, finally, where she was headed. "When we were on that last assignment, they served on Burton's team."

"So they were loyal to Burton?" she asked.

Mac glanced at Dirk. "I guess you could say that."

"Do you think they would have testified against Burton?"

"No," Dirk said. "They wouldn't have said anything, but I wouldn't put it past Burton to kill a friend."

"Exactly," Lanie said, sounding much more awake and excited. "He's not above killing his friends, but if he wanted them dead, he would have stabbed them—or shot them. With his training and background, I would imagine he could kill a man any number of ways—and leave the body to be found. But he didn't do that."

"What are you suggesting?" Mac asked.

"Okay, I know this sounds far-fetched, but I think Burton killed his friends or, rather, had the chupacabra kill them, because he wanted to convert them into vampires, just as he had converted Munoz."

Mac met her gaze, but his mind raced ahead. There was no point in asking why Burton would do something like that because he already knew. Burton was creating his own vampire special-ops team—a group of highly trained, lethally dangerous former soldiers who would be exceptionally hard to kill, because they were already dead.

Lanie could tell by the expressions on the men's faces that they'd come to me same conclusion she had. Burton was creating his own special-ops vampire team, and there was no telling what terror and destruction such a group could inflict. Someone had to stop them, and Lanie had a sinking feeling she knew who would volunteer for the job.

"We'll have to get to Burton before he has a chance to make his next move," Mac said to Dirk, proving Lanie right. With their SEAL background, she knew they thought they could take on any threat. Maybe they could.

"You think he's finished building his team?" Dirk asked.

"I don't know," Mac admitted. "He's got four now, but there's no guarantee his three latest recruits will join him. If it was me, I'd want to up my odds, give myself more of a selection. How many from the original team are still in town—or live close by?"

Dirk thought for a minute. "Four—Perkins, Smith, Couch, and Harris."

Mac rubbed his face as if he was tired, and Lanie supposed with sunrise not far off, he probably was. He wasn't the only one, she realized as a yawn stole over her.

"I don't think Couch and Perkins are the type of men Burton wants," Mac said. "Their loyalty was to the team, not to Burton specifically. Smith and Harris are probably better candidates."

Lanie saw Dirk nod in agreement while Mac glanced at his watch.

"I doubt Burton will try anything more tonight—it's almost dawn. So far, I've never seen them out during the day. They got more of the chupacabra venom than I did. If the sun doesn't destroy them, it probably makes them so lethargic that they can't function. We'll start tomorrow."

"What about Uncle Charles?" Lanie asked. "Shouldn't we tell him what's going on?"

Mac shook his head. "I think it would be better, for now, if we tried to handle this ourselves."

"I agree," Dirk said. "I'll get the addresses of where Smith and Harris are staying. After that, it's just a matter of waiting for Burton to appear."

Mac nodded, but Lanie was confused. "How do you know which man he'll go after?"

"We don't," Dirk replied. "So we're going to split up and watch both places."

"Watch? Aren't you going to call and warn these guys?"

Mac and Dirk exchanged looks, and she knew she wasn't going to like the answer.

"If we warn them, then they might say or do something to cause Burton to change his plans. If we don't stop him soon, he could do a lot more damage than killing one or two people," Mac explained.

"Besides, our plan is to get to them before Burton attacks," Dirk added.

"With each of you going to a different man's house?" Lanie couldn't believe they were going to try to take on Burton
and
the chupacabra alone. She looked to Mac for confirmation and he nodded.

"What are you going to do?" she went on sarcastically. "Sit outside their hotel rooms on the chance that Burton and the creature will show up and then run in with guns blazing?"

"Exactly—guns, plural," Mac replied. "And if you mean by blazing—a focused assault designed to terminate with extreme prejudice—then yes."

Dirk laughed. "Sounds good to me."

They exasperated her because they sounded like boys eager for their first hunting trip. "Well, I'm going with you."

The laughter stopped as both men turned to stare at her, twin patronizing expressions on their faces.

"I'm serious," she added defiantly.

"You're going home," Mac said in a flat tone.

"No, I'm not—and you can't make me." Now who sounded like a child?

"Lanie, I really think Mac's right. You should go home. Things are going to get a lot worse," Dirk said.

"I don't care. My father is here in this city, and I'm not going back to Houston until I find him."

"We don't need to worry about you while we're hunting for Burton," Dirk insisted.

Lanie turned to Mac and let him see the determination in her eyes. After a moment he heaved a labored sigh, although a wry smile touched his lips. "Okay."

"Okay?" Dirk pinned Mac with a hard stare.

"Yeah. She's right, we can't make her go back, and I'd rather know where she is than have her running around town behind our backs."

"She's going to be a distraction—one that could be costly," Dirk argued.

"Hello?
She
is still in the room. Would you mind not talking about me as if I'm not sitting right here?" She received silent, reproachful looks from the men, which only frustrated her further. "So what's our next move?"

Dirk rolled his eyes and stood up. "I'm outta here." He set his empty glass on the bedside table beside Mac, leaning close so he could mutter in Mac's ear. "She needs to stay behind."

"We'll talk about it tomorrow," Mac replied.

Dirk nodded and walked out of the room.

After the door closed, Lanie became acutely aware that she and Mac were alone. When she looked at him, she found him watching her with a heated look in his eyes that was so intense, she was reminded of the near-vampire creature he'd become when he'd faced Burton and Munoz earlier that night. That man had fought to protect her, a small voice in her head whispered. Did she really have anything to be afraid of now?

She didn't know—and what was worse, while a part of her wanted to run to the safety of her room and hide, another part wanted to play with fire.

"Go to bed, Lanie." His voice sounded huskier than normal.

She nodded, unfolding her legs to stand. She set her empty glass on the desk and headed for her room. "Good night, Mac," she said when she paused at the connecting doorway. "Thank you for tonight." She wasn't sure what she was thanking him for exactly—taking her to the reception, saving her from the vampires—or maybe something else altogether.

He merely nodded, though his eyes watched her closely.

She went into her room and closed the door, mentally kicking herself for playing it safe. Then she realized that she still wore his jacket
and
needed his help with the dress. Fate, it seemed, had made the decision for her.

She reopened the connecting door and stepped through, finding Mac with a freshly poured glass of tequila, standing by the desk. When he saw her, he paused with the glass held suspended halfway to his mouth and his eyes widened briefly in surprise.

"I forgot to give you back your jacket," she quickly explained.

He schooled his expression and gestured to the bed. "Leave it there."

She took it off and laid it on the bed, enjoying the way his gaze played over her. "I also need your help." She walked toward him in slow, easy steps, stopping just in front of him. She turned so her back was to him, and gestured vaguely with her hand. "I can't reach the fastening—would you mind?"

He didn't say anything, and it seemed she stood there a long time before she finally felt the back of his hand brush against her skin. It wasn't an accidental touch. It was a purposeful caress down the length of her back, and it sent tiny shivers through her entire body. She couldn't stop the sigh that escaped her.

She heard his quick intake of breath and then his fingers worked the fastener and disposed of it quickly, but when he might have dropped his hands, he didn't. Instead, his palms grazed her skin as he ran his hands across her back and up beneath the straps of her dress, easing them off her shoulders. Without the beaded strand to hold it in place, the entire dress slid down to puddle at her feet. She felt the warmth of Mac's mouth as he pressed it to the curve of her neck. With one hand holding her shoulder as if she might try to escape, his other slipped around to cup her breast, testing the weight of it in his palm.

His thumb flicked across her nipple, provoking another sigh, and she let her head fall back against his chest, closing her eyes so she could focus on the feel of his touch.

"I tried so hard to let you walk away," he whispered against her ear, his warm breath teasing the hypersensitive skin of her neck. "You shouldn't have come back in."

Before she could respond, he turned her around and pulled her to him, one arm supporting her back as he buried the fingers of his other hand deep in her hair. Slowly, he brought her head closer to his until their lips touched. The kiss started out slow and easy, but quickly grew to a fevered intensity. Mac kissed her with quiet desperation—and that was how she responded. Everything faded from her perception except for this single moment in time, and she clung to him as if her very life depended on it.

The sharp stab of pain on her lip startled her, and she tasted a familiar coppery liquid on her tongue that brought reality crashing down with a harshness that left her shaken.

She'd cut herself on his fangs and knew that he'd also tasted the blood. For a minute they froze with mouths tightly pressed together. Then Mac pulled back and when Lanie opened her eyes, she saw the look of regret and horror on his face.

"Go to your room, Lanie." He stepped away from her and turned around. The anguish in his voice almost broke her heart and she reached out a hand, wanting to soothe him, assure him that she wasn't hurt. The moment she touched him, he whipped back to face her, his eyes glowing red and his lips thinned to reveal his fangs, a drop of her blood still clinging to the tip of one.

Frightened, she stumbled back, almost tripping over her gown pooled around her ankles, unaware of her nudity as her entire attention focused on the creature before her. How much humanity
had
he lost?

Seeing her reaction, Mac cursed under his breath, the words sounding more like a hiss. Then, moving with inhuman speed, he rushed past her and Lanie was left alone, watching the door to the room slowly close.