got back to them. Which was up to me.
“Are you insane?” she whispered to me.
I chuckled to myself at her choice of words. If she only knew…
“Probably,” I said. “But you can go.”
I glanced at the vampires. They paid her no attention, their eyes never leaving me. They walked slowly toward me, seemingly hesitant. They had to know something was coming. They surely weren’t expecting Amadis royalty to simply hand herself over. No, there are probably only two of us stupid enough to do that. And I was the more ignorant one because I didn’t even know what I was getting myself into.
I looked back at the girl and she crouched on the street, still shaking uncontrollably. If they really were anything like my vampires, they could feed off her fear. I had to make a move.
“Now!” I yelled. “Run!”
The girl moved awkwardly to her feet and stumbled away. I needed to keep the vamps interested in me so I took off the opposite way, toward the car. My scheme worked. They took no notice of her escape, all three chasing me. I could barely feel the ground under my feet. I ran pretty damn fast now, nearly flying. I just didn’t know if I would be fast enough. I sprang into the driver’s seat. They hit the car just as I slammed the door. Their fingers clawed at the convertible top. I flattened the gas pedal to the floor and pealed out. Game on!
The Daemoni kept pace with the car as I raced through the streets, pulling them into a darker area of town. I tried to get away from the residential area, but couldn’t find a way out. Every street I turned down was lined with more houses. I rounded a corner. A brick wall rushed toward me. Oh, shit! I slammed on the brake and cranked the wheel, spinning the car around in a one-eighty, tires squealing. The smell of burning rubber filled the air. The three vampires rushed at me. I could see and hear people—innocent bystanders—not too far away. This isn’t good enough!
I jumped out of the car, bounded on the back and hurdled the six-foot brick wall. I landed in the backyard of someone who wasn’t home. No lights shone through the house windows, dark rectangles staring vacantly at nothing.
But I wasn’t alone.
I straightened up from my crouch. I first noticed white legs that seemed to never end in a black leather mini-skirt that would have been a belt on anyone else. Her perfect breasts practically burst out of the black leather halter barely covering any of her pale white skin. Her long hair was white-blond, like the other vampire’s, framing a striking face with red-tinted, ice-blue eyes that narrowed at me. This familiar blond beauty stood there as if she’d been waiting for me. I remembered her from the pub in Cape Heron the night I met Ian…and from the attack in the Arlington street the night before we moved to Florida, when I was only eighteen.
She glanced up, behind me, at the other three standing on the wall, then made a face of disgust, revealing her fangs, as she looked me over.
“This?” she spat, looking at me but obviously talking to the others. “This is what he left me for?”
I stood frozen as she sauntered around me, studying me from every angle. I tried to make my heart slow down, knowing its frenzied pace didn’t help matters. I couldn’t comprehend at first what she said.
“You’re the little cunt Seth has been dying for?”
I flinched at her vulgarity. But then I realized the meaning behind her words. She used his old name, his Daemoni name, and she knew where he was. And she used present tense—not died, but dying. My heart sped even faster, but now with hope. And the hope gave me courage. I narrowed my eyes.
“You know where he is? Are you the cold-hearted leech who’s been keeping him away from me?”
She laughed, the silvery chime both appealing and frightening at the same time. Her face was serious, her voice mocking. “If I had my way, I would be home with him right now, doing everything I’ve always fantasized about. Instead, I have to deal with you.”
Her hand suddenly gripped my throat.
“Vanessa!” The transvestite admonished. “Lucas wants her alive.”
“To hell with Lucas,” she hissed. “I’ve been waiting to tear her throat out since before she was born, when that whore of a mother of hers took my Seth.”
Oh, ho, ho. Now you pissed me off.
Something horrible washed over me, penetrating into my very core. A sick, cold, hard feeling. One I’d never felt before in my life. My blood boiled with it. My head throbbed with it. My eyes saw red through it.
Hatred. Murderous hatred.
It wasn’t jealousy. I knew who he loved. The feeling came from knowing she was the epitome of the Daemoni—the whole concept of everything I hated about my life, everything that had destroyed the normal life I so much desired, everything that had taken my love, my heart, my soul away—everything wrapped up in this white- blond beauty. I hated her and all I wanted to do was kick her ass into non-existence.
One of the others—the blond—chortled, the maniacal sound echoing my own madness. “He was never yours. You’ve never been right in the head, sis. But, hey, if you want to take her, I won’t stop you.”
Vanessa laughed again as her hand tightened around my neck. “You’re damn right I do!”
“I don’t think so, bitch!” I grasped her arm with both hands and yanked her hand away from my neck as I kicked her in the stomach, launching her back several feet. She landed with an ass-plant on the grass, astonishment quickly turning to outrage. I turned to the others.
“I’ll go with you, but you keep her off of me.”
She sprang from the ground and lunged at me, shoving me into the brick wall. My head and back smacked hard against it. She pinned me with her hand on my neck again. I pulled my legs to my chest and pushed out, driving her back. I ran for the middle of the yard to avoid being cornered against the wall. She lunged at me again.
I ducked and she flew over me, her nails grazing my back, cutting one of the dress straps loose. Then I did something I didn’t know I had in me. Something I would never be able to duplicate if I tried. Bent over at the waist, I twisted my hips and threw my legs upward as if attempting a new kind of cartwheel. My feet thudded against her hard body in quick succession as she soared overhead. My torso followed the spin of my lower body, bringing me around upright, and I landed on my feet. So did she. Her eyes blazed, her stunning face screwed into hideousness with fury. She looked like the monster she was. I wondered what the hell I thought I was doing, fighting a vampire. But only for a moment. That’s all she gave me before she charged at me again. I wasn’t quick enough. I wasn’t a vampire.
We soared across the yard and crashed through a glass patio table. Oh, shit! Not glass! She landed on top of me and yanked me over onto my back. Her left hand tightly gripped my throat, pinning me down. The glass shards under me stabbed through my skin. I gasped for air. Pain shot through my torso and pierced my lungs. Something’s broken. But that wasn’t the worst problem.
The worst was the blood. I smelled the acrid iron of it first. Then I felt the wet warmth spreading on my face. The taste of salty rust filled my mouth. Blood is so not good.
The other three suddenly hovered over us, their tongues swiping across their lips, pulled into maniacal grins. Their four faces looked down at me hungrily, their eyes glowing red. Hissing-snarling sounds rumbled in their throats. Vanessa peeled her lips back into a detestable grin, exposing razor-sharp teeth and pointed fangs.
“She’s mine!” she growled at the others. And I knew then, for sure, she was the woman in the street in Virginia. She’d said then I was always hers. And now she finally had me.
The others pulled slightly back but started crowding over us again, drawn to the blood. Low growls rolled in their chests.
With her right hand, Vanessa shoved my left shoulder down against the glass and cement. She moved her left hand to my right shoulder. Her knee pressed sharply into my thigh. I couldn’t move. But I could breathe again. I took a choking gasp. Pain seared through my chest. My vision blurred and dimmed as her face came down to mine. She smelled like lavender, vanilla and cigarettes.
I knew this was it. She was too strong for me. Fear and pain replaced my anger, eradicating any inhuman power I’d possessed just a few minutes ago. She hovered over my cheek. Her cool breath slid against my hot, wet skin. She inhaled deeply and a satisfactory smile overcame her face.
“Ah, at least you’ll be delicious.” She ran her tongue over my cheek, lapping the fresh blood. “Mmm. Tasty. Ready to join your man in hell?”
