Keeper of the Dawn

Brodie laughed suddenly. “You two go on. Anyone watching will definitely think you need help if you’re trying to get into bed with Alessande.”

“Let’s head out, shall we?” Alessande asked. She started down the sidewalk without waiting to see if Mark was following her.

A moment later she felt his hand on her shoulder and turned around. He dusted her off, as if there had been something there.

“What was that for?” she asked him.

“Just trying to knock off the chip,” he said.

“Shall I return the favor?”

He didn’t reply, only walked silently at her side.

There was so much tension between them, she wanted to apologize; she didn’t know why he made her so defensive all the time. This was probably her fault. He’d thought he’d saved her life, and he saw that as his job, because he was a cop. But she... She had been hostile, because he seemed to think that she was...

Incompetent.

She stopped and turned and looked at him. She managed a smile. “I guess I’d better at least walk with you. I have to make it look like there’s some hope, right?”

He grinned and slid an arm around her shoulders. The warmth, the weight of it, felt good.

“We’re turning the corner, and once we do...we’ll be in a far shadier part of the city.”

“Los Angeles is that way, isn’t it?” Alessande said. “Multimillion-dollar mansions just down the block from crack houses.”

He nodded. “The dream—and then the fulfillment of the dream. Or not.”

It was so true. The Snake Pit was splendor personified, but now, right around the corner, they saw those who spent their hours on doorsteps and leaning against buildings. Some had cigarettes they barely managed to smoke; some were drinking alcohol out of containers hidden by brown paper bags.

There were a few lit storefronts, and people who were making a legitimate living at something were buying groceries, their children holding tightly to their hands.

“Down one more street—and then we need to argue about where we are,” Mark said.

“Okay,” Alessande agreed.

They turned the corner; the road sloped downward, echoing the trend in the lives of those who lived there.

“Oh, this is ridiculous!” Alessande said, pulling away from his hold. “You don’t have the faintest idea where we are. We’re lost!”

“I am not lost,” Mark protested. “I’m just getting my bearings.”

“Well, get them quickly. You promised me dinner—a good dinner—and then a movie. Not a walk down a dark and...” She paused to look around and lowered her voice. “A dark and dangerous street.”

“Hey, you two need some help?”

She spun around. A man was approaching them from the rear. He was in jeans and a T-shirt that advertised a heavy-metal band. He looked fairly decent, except that his jeans hadn’t seen the inside of a washer for a long time. Alessande tried to catch his eyes as he approached them.

Perfect targets.

That was all she got, and then he looked at Mark.

Mark towered above the man. “We’re fine,” he said sharply.

“We’re lost,” Alessande said at the same time.

“Well, not to worry. I can get you back to Sunset, and you should be fine after that,” the man said. “But...”

“But what?” Mark asked him.

“But...how did you manage to get yourselves here anyway? This area isn’t safe—not for someone who looks like her.”

Alessande made a move toward Mark, who put his arm around her protectively.

“Sweet. You two are a couple, right?” the man asked.

“Who are you?” Mark asked sharply.

“They call me Digger around here. I’m always digging for a way to make a living, you know?”

“Um, nice to meet you, Digger,” Alessande said.

“The pleasure is mine. So what were you doing in this area anyway? Were you by any chance looking for someone?” Digger said. “Or something?”

“There’s a guy who was supposed to set me up,” Mark admitted.

“Yeah, I figured. Well, who?”

“I don’t know. He called himself Chameleon,” Mark said.

“I don’t know this Chameleon, but maybe I could set you up.”

“What have you got?” Mark asked.

“Honey...” Alessande said nervously.

“Don’t worry,” Digger said. “I promise you, I’ll give you good stuff. I make my living on return customers.”

“He could be a cop,” Alessande whispered to Mark, but loud enough for Digger to hear.

“Lady, do I look like a cop?” Digger demanded.

“No, and that’s why you could be one.”

“What do you have?” Mark asked.

“All the usual stuff...”

“We don’t want the usual,” Mark said. “We’re looking for something different.”

“Well, I got a little pill I guarantee you’ve never had before.” Digger inclined his head toward Alessande, giving Mark a conspiratorial wink. “It could melt the polar ice caps.”

“I’ll take two,” Mark said.

“You just need one, but it never hurts to be ready for next time. And when you find out that you’ve gotten the next best thing to heaven, you know where to find me.”

“Where do you get these from anyway?” Mark asked.

“Oh, no, buddy. You don’t get my source.”

“All right, that’s fair,” Mark said.

Digger quoted a price, Mark came up with the money, and Digger gave him the pills. “Excuse me, folks. I’ll be leaving now, just in case cops are hanging out around here. Have fun!”

He took off down the street, then turned to watch them from behind the corner of a building.

Mark pulled her close and pretended to slip a pill into her mouth.

But the feel of his fingers as he’d looked into her eyes had been hypnotizing....

Of course. He’s a vampire. Vampires use their eyes to...

The brush of his fingers was followed by that of his lips. She was startled; she hadn’t expected him to take things so far.

And then there was the feel of his lips. A pressure that was confident and seductive, tinged with the sweetness of liquid fire....

She returned the kiss, accepting the warmth of his mouth, the sweep of his tongue. A heat seemed to grow in her, and she moved her fingers deftly through his hair.

They were acting, of course. This was Hollywood. Everything was an act.

And yet...

And yet she knew that she was really and truly—and possibly dangerously—attracted to him. She hadn’t let herself become involved with anyone in forever, but now she didn’t want to end the kiss or lose the feel of him, the pressure of his body, the strength of his hands...ever.

His mouth lifted just an inch from hers. “All right, we’re good. We need to walk back toward the Snake Pit, convince him we’re gone.”

“And then?” she asked. She looked into his eyes, which were a beautiful shade of gold, and then at his lips, which still seemed to whisper against her mouth and render her limbs weak and...