Redeeming the Night (8 page)

“Eric Adams. What’s y—” The obvious question was interrupted by the waitress and their wine.

“Dana,” Ashley answered when the woman walked away.

“Dana … ?” He dragged the word out, motioning with his glass, waiting for her last name.

“Eric, what is your intention here?” Suddenly, she felt impatient. She’d become distracted, which had of course distracted Nichole. This man was entertaining and surprisingly attractive. An observation she never thought she could make. Waiting for him to get to the point could take all night, and she had things to do.

“Intention?” His brows furrowed, and he lifted his glass to his lips.

“I’m not interested in a business proposition,” she said.

He smiled over his glass.

“And I’m not interested in a personal relationship, either.”

He set his glass down.

His disappointment was palpable, and her stomach twisted in response. It didn’t matter. His feelings were inconsequential, she reminded herself. As were hers. She had a responsibility, and she’d wasted too much time indulging her curiosity.

“You want to go back to your friend.” He did nothing to hide the regret in his voice.

He’d said “friend.” They were disguised as twins. How could he know? She carefully schooled her features to hide her discomfort. As she rose, she said, “Sister. And I’ve abandoned her to sit with you.”

“I understand,” he said. Also standing, he stepped around to her side of the table and pleasantly extended his hand.

She took it, planning to shake it briefly, but he closed the distance between them with a step and slipped his free arm around her waist. Their joined hands pressed between them.

His movements were so unexpected she didn’t have a chance to react before he leaned in, lightly brushing her lips with his, and then let her go. But he didn’t step back.

“I’d have killed myself if I hadn’t done that,” he said, his lips inches from hers.

Her body reacted. Heat. Her face felt hot, and something seemed to ignite inside her. Things awakened; every nerve felt alive for the first time. Incredible. Intriguing. Infuriating. Damn him.

Still gripping his hand she twisted, swept her right leg behind his, and stepped closer, tripping him backwards onto the floor. She released his hand and pointed a finger in his face while placing one high-heeled shoe on his crotch.

“You didn’t have permission to do that.” The venom behind her words was lost when she realized he was still smiling.

“You have beautiful legs.”

Though this man confused her, she maintained her hard expression. “This is a warning.” He didn’t fear her, but he didn’t want to possess her, either. Every way she knew to control the situation was gone.

“Yes, of course.” He remained on the floor, propped on his elbows as if it were the most comfortable speaking position in the world. “I would like to see you again. Maybe when you’re not out with your
sister
… ” He curled his fingers in air quotes around the word “sister.”

“Perhaps you will. You said you’ve done so already.” She removed her foot and stalked off to find Nichole.

And found her deep in conversation with a waitress. “Are you ready to go?” Ashley asked.

“Yeah, sure.” Nichole looked from Ashley back to the waitress. “Thanks for the information.” She handed the woman a twenty.

Once outside in the night air they both spoke at once.

“So how’d it go?”

“Why’d you pay her?”

Giggling a little, Nichole answered first. “The waitress was talking to a bartender and bouncer about a guy that comes in every Tuesday and harasses her.” They climbed into their car. “Big tipper, but he’s getting annoying, and she feels uncomfortable now.”

“So you bought his description?” Amateur mistake. “You didn’t need to pay her. You just come back on Tuesday and look for him.”

“I didn’t know what he looked like.”

Ashley pulled out of the lot and silently called to the universe for patience. “You can see his aura. If he’s prey, you’d be able to pick him out of the crowd, even if he were dressed as a woman or hiding in a box.”

“Right.” Nichole sounded like she was pouting, but Ashley refused to look.

“I’m trying to help you,” Ashley said with an even tone.

“But there were no ripe ones there.”

“The night is still young.” They pulled into the parking lot of another club. Ashley undid her belt and was out of the car before she realized Nichole hadn’t moved.

“What are you waiting for?” She ducked her head to see into the car.

“How did it go?” Nichole asked.

“How’d what go?”

“The talk with your new disciple. He seemed to want to worship you.”

Ashley chuckled and closed the car door. If Nichole wanted an answer she’d have to get out too. It worked.

“Well?” Nichole asked, slamming the car door.

“Nothing special.”

“He kissed you.” They walked across the parking lot.

“Yes, and now he knows better.” She fought to stay irritated, but the remaining warmth of the kiss and the memory of Eric grinning up at her from the floor made it a losing battle.

“Did you like it?” Nichole rubbed her hands together. “Did he ask you on a date?”

“Who do you think we are?” Ashley snapped. “We don’t date; we no longer
need
men.” Best that she remember that, as well. “I was curious as to what he wanted. That’s all.” Ashley decided then that the best way to battle the memory was to ignore it altogether. “We have a purpose tonight.”

“I know.” Nichole rubbed her hands together again. “All right, let’s go find some scum.”

After a few moments in this club, they located several ripe men. But one, in a large cowboy hat and with a wrestler’s build, positioned against a wall near one of the side bars, stood out most.

They kept their Latina guises and chose seats at the center bar. Over several hours, they watched him and who he approached.

He was buying drinks for girls too young to be in the club in the first place. He was hunting too. Finally, one of the young women giggled to her friends and kept looking in his direction. The hunter grinned, not in excitement like his quarry, but in satisfaction.

Nichole and Ashley exchanged a glance. The hunter had found his prey. And they’d found theirs. With a nod to Ashley, Nichole moved off to the ladies’ room to change her appearance. He would be hers so she would be the lure.

Ashley stayed in place and in her current form and watched the girls move closer to the hunter. Gazelles, not realizing they were being stalked.

With her friends surrounding her, the hunter’s target remained safe. Separated from the herd she’d be easy pickins. The way she kept looking in his direction, she seemed to be waiting for his signal to approach, ready to break away at any moment.

The hunter pushed away from the wall. Crap, the bastard didn’t waste time. Even as she moved to intercept the girl Ashley scanned the crowd for Nichole. She finally spotted her, in the form of a petite blonde, wide-eyed and well-endowed, just leaving the ladies’ room.

Nichole only needed another minute or two, so Ashley retrieved a discarded, half-full glass and bumped into the innocent girl, dumping the dregs of a strawberry daiquiri down the front of her blouse.

“Oh, crap, I’m sorry.” Ashley slurred her speech and swayed, grabbing a napkin off a nearby table to dab at the blouse.

“Oh my God!” The girl fanned her hands in the air and backed away from Ashley’s napkin.

The girl’s friends surrounded her immediately and ushered her off to the bathroom. Ashley stumbled up to the nearby bar and ordered a daiquiri to keep in character. She didn’t want to tip the hunter off.

Then she heard Nichole make her move. Did he have the time? Ashley nearly flinched, the line was so transparent, but then any line delivered with vacant wide eyes was believable.

Ashley turned and leaned against the bar. With peripheral vision, she watched Nichole talk to the hunter, yelling in his ear and occasionally giggling when he yelled in hers.

All that was required of Ashley now was to watch and wait.

• • •

Once back in his hotel room Eric sat at the small table by the window. The evening had been a great way to blow off steam. He hadn’t had a night with the guys in ages. Mostly because once he’d left the force he didn’t feel right going to McDaniel’s, the local cop bar.

He glanced at the desk with the work folders on top. Then at the large empty bed. The bed reminded him he was alone, which in turn gave him an image of the woman he’d met at the bar. She was human, but also something more. She intrigued him, more than any case he’d ever worked.

At one time in his life he would have been attracted by her beauty. Her smile. Her eyes. Knowing that her looks weren’t the real her, he struggled to determine what caused his instant attraction. Her scent? The way she seemed to see into him? Whatever it was, he needed to forget her. A supernatural woman with far too many secrets, he would never be able to trust her. Nothing good could come from that woman.

Ashley sipped her daiquiri and studied the club. A large dance floor surrounded a central bar and was packed with couples gyrating to the pace of the music.

One of the blessings of the sisterhood was that alcohol and other deleterious substances had no effect. On some nights, Ashley would have given her right arm to be able to numb her mind and drift like the humans around her. Like she used to.

When she’d been mortal she’d drunk. In the beginning, she did it to feel warm and fuzzy. Just a way to relax and unwind. But then after she got married it became a way to escape. Her husband hadn’t been an ass when they met. He was strong and possessive, but in that decade, that behavior was romantic and not the warning sign it was now. Drinking had been a comfort then. A hug when she had no other way to get one.

Since the sisterhood, she only drank to blend in with humans, to play the part expected of the prey to the slime she hunted. Most of the time she didn’t miss the effect. Occasionally, about once or twice a year, she would sip a cocktail for herself, remembering the warm and fuzzy effect fondly.

Ashley sipped again, glancing at Nichole. She leaned against the wall while the hunter braced his elbow beside her head, leaning in to speak almost directly into her ear.

They should be leaving soon. Ashley reminded herself she’d taught Nichole well. Taking too long made it too easy for people to notice you and try to help.

After another ten minutes, Ashley was still anxious. Nichole needed to step up the pace. So, Ashley sat her glass down and strolled toward the exit, catching Nichole’s eye as she went. A clear sign
it’s time to go
.

The night air felt good on her bare arms. Brisk. Almost as if the air passed along energy with the modest chill. She got in the car and started it. She barely noticed the music on the radio even as she tapped her fingers to the beat. Nichole should bring the hunter out any minute. Meanwhile, her mind wandered.

Eric. What was up with him, anyway? He knew they weren’t sisters, but he couldn’t see through her disguises. No one could. He’d have to be able to see her true self. Her aura. And that was impossible for a man, or so her teachings in the sisterhood had taught her.

Nichole emerged from the club with the hunter’s hand possessively around her neck.
Well, finally.
He steered her to his black SUV and opened the door for her. When he walked to the other side of his car Nichole grinned at Ashley and twiddled her fingers.

Ashley smiled at her protégé’s excitement. Nichole should be eager; this guy looked tasty. A child predator. There was no greater sin than to taint the innocence of youth.

Ashley pulled out of her space and followed them. They drove toward the Strip, passing the club where she’d met Eric.

Without thinking, Ashley felt for him, to sense his presence. A pang of disappointment hit her. He’d left. Maybe he’d gone home with his friends. Or a woman. He was plenty attractive.

She shook her head. He could do anything he wanted. She had no claim to him. The hunter’s black SUV changed lanes, and she followed suit to keep them in sight.

There was always the possibility Eric had gone in search of her. The stray thought lifted her spirits immensely. But the grin on her lips only lasted a moment. What was wrong with her?

She pushed her self-examination to the side when they drove out of Vegas and onto the desert highway. Not wanting to give herself away Ashley cut her lights and navigated by the glow of Nichole’s aura bouncing along in the vehicle ahead of her.

By now, any normal girl would be getting nervous, with the lights of civilization only a glow on the horizon. No one around for miles. No one but cacti and coyotes to hear her scream. He’d done this before. He probably had a favorite dumping place as well.

If this were her show, instead of Nichole’s, she’d make him live the terror of his victims. Fair punishment for any crime. But this wasn’t her show; every sister had her own way of drawing out the fear. Nichole was calling the shots tonight, and Ashley’s job was simply moral support.

The car ahead of her veered sharply right beyond a stand of scrubby little bushes and stopped.

Not wanting to warn him with the sound of her vehicle Ashley stopped, too, and waited.

The hunter got out and walked around to the passenger side, opening the door and yanking Nichole out by the hair. He pulled her away from the road, far enough onto the packed earth for Ashley to see clearly.

“Okay, lay it on him,” Ashley whispered under her breath.

The hunter slapped Nichole across the face so hard she fell to her knees. She sat, head bowed at the hunter’s feet. When he took off his belt Ashley cringed, waiting for Nichole to do as she’d learned, to twist the fear from him.

“Come on.” Ashley gripped the steering wheel and leaned in. “Do it. You can do it.”

But Nichole didn’t move, even when the first blow came down from the belt. And another.
Damn.
Another. Nichole’s aura dimmed.

“Oh, damn.” Ashley got out of the car and strode toward the hunter. “Enough!” she roared.