SIX
BLAZE DIDN’T EXPECT it to be so difficult to be out in the light. Even behind her dark glasses, her eyes watered and burned. She parked her motorcycle in an alley behind the building opposite the club. It wasn’t difficult to leap up and catch the fire escape ladder, pull it down and begin the climb to the roof. Once there, staying low so in case anyone was watching they wouldn’t see her, she made her way across the roof to the four-foot-high wall surrounding the rooftop across from The In Place.
She made a face as her binoculars took in the flashing neon sign over the door of the building. The club was popular. The dancers were good. Rumor was, you had to be gorgeous and a great dancer to get a job there. The pay was good and the tips were even better. She could understand why they would hire Emeline on the spot. Emmy was both.
Blaze moved the glasses along the rooftop first, just to make certain the Hallahan brothers hadn’t posted guards up there. She quartered the area meticulously, just as Sean had taught her, and there was no one. Clearly the Hallahans didn’t suspect that she would come after them. She knew they had dismissed her because she was a woman. They hadn’t entered her bar because they clearly didn’t want to tangle with Tariq Asenguard, Maksim or any of their men—if they had brought some with them. She had the feeling they had. It had taken more than the two men to clean out the bar in that time frame, even if they could move at warp speed. The thought that there had been others she hadn’t seen didn’t sit well with her, but now that she thought about it, of course they had probably brought others. Men like them? Different? How many men like them were there?
She continued to sweep the building. It was two stories and took up a third of the block. The top story was mostly offices, but like her building, there was a large apartment above the bar. She was fairly certain the Hallahans didn’t live in the apartment, but they used it. She knew that because after they were threatened, both she and her father had done some surveillance. The Hallahan brothers didn’t bother to cover the windows; in fact, she was pretty certain they were exhibitionists, or they just liked people to see and maybe fear them.
More than one woman had been brought up to that apartment and shared if the rumors were true, and she was fairly certain they were. They had also brought men here to beat. And they had beat them right out in the open—in front of that window.
Sean told her that Reginald Coonan owned a company that made porn films, so maybe the women auditioned with the Hallahans first before making the films. According to what Sean had found out, Coonan’s company was extremely successful. No one knew where his studios were, and it was reputed that he made fetish films as well. She didn’t want to know what those were and Sean hadn’t told her. Still, she worried that Emeline would catch the Hallahans’ eyes. She was truly that gorgeous.
No one appeared to be in the apartment, and she swept the street and parking lot. The parking lot was filling up. The sun had begun to set, turning the sky all different shades of red and orange, bringing relief to her burning eyes. She was surprised that her skin felt burned as well. She was Irish, so she didn’t exactly tan, but when she went outside in the early evening she never had a problem.
She didn’t see any of the Hallahans’ vehicles. They normally parked their very fancy cars in the four spots clearly marked for their use. No one ever dared to park in their places, at least not in the last few months. Rumors of baseball bats taken to the owners and total destruction of vehicles that had crossed them before their reputations had spread kept anyone from taking chances now.
Where are you?
The velvet voice slid into her mind easily. Clearly. That edge to it only made her stomach plunge and then somersault. There was no denying the voice was real and it was Maksim.
You are not where I left you.
She took a breath and decided it was better to answer him. Not the smartest thing maybe, not if she didn’t want to continue fantasizing about a relationship with him, but still, a slow burn was starting, the tension coiling deep inside her—a burn only he could sate. No, it wasn’t smart, but she didn’t want to cut ties—yet.
I have a few things to do. She tried to act nonchalant, as if she were talking telepathically every day of her life to a man she had wild, rough, uninhibited sex with. To a man she wanted to have more wild, rough, uninhibited sex with. He might be the sexiest man in the world and drop-dead gorgeous, but he wasn’t going to dictate to her. And she sure wasn’t staying in her apartment waiting for him to come calling after he left her bed.
I looked for my woman in her bed where I wanted to put my mouth between her legs until she was screaming my name and then have her ride me wild like she does until she screamed it again. Then I wanted to ride her rough, hard and deep until both of us were exhausted. The bed was empty.
A shiver went through her body. It wasn’t just his voice. He talked sexy. No one talked like that, did they? She wanted his mouth between her legs. She wanted to ride him wild. And she really wanted him to ride her rough, wild and deep. Screaming would be optional, but good. She moistened her suddenly dry lips and tried not to fog up her binoculars with heavy breathing.
You didn’t leave me a note. I had no idea you were planning to come back.
There was a silence. In that silence, she felt a glacier pouring into her mind. She shivered, trying not to let his disapproval matter to her.
You had no idea I was planning to come back? What does that mean? You thought I used you and walked away?
Okay. That was exactly what she thought and clearly she was wrong. She caught a flicker of fire-engine red in the parking lot and turned the binoculars on the convertible that drove fast into one of the sacred Hallahans’ spaces. Jimmy Hallahan. The oldest of the brothers. He jumped over the door of his convertible and walked with long strides to the side door of the club that no one but management used, disappearing inside.
Well. Yes, she admitted, because there wasn’t much else she could do. I went to sleep with you and woke up without you. I don’t have tons of experience with men, so I thought maybe that was your MO.
The chill factor went to subzero. My MO?
Clearly she was not getting the better of the conversation. It was time to retreat. I can’t talk about this right now. I’m really into something here and it’s demanding my entire attention.
“‘Here’ would not be The In Place, would it?”
His voice sounded soft and silky. In her ear, not her mind. She was so certain she was alone she didn’t react at first, and then she felt his warm breath in her ear. Instantly a thrill went down her spine. She drew in her breath sharply and turned her head to look over her shoulder.
Maksim was close. Too close. He was beautiful. Gorgeous. Dressed casually in vintage blue jeans that clung to his body, and a tight black tee that stretched across his thick chest, showing the multitude of muscle, he was even hotter than she remembered—and her memory was really good. Her mouth went dry and she had to swallow a lump that had formed in her throat.
Her heart began to pound—hard. He looked more remote and ice-cold than he had when she’d first met him. His black hair spilled down around his face. It was thick. Luxurious. Her fingers itched to run through all that wild hair and tame it just as a part of her wanted to ignite the fire in him and melt all that ice away.
“I left you sleeping in your bed. What are you doing here?” he persisted.
The velvet rasp of his voice slid over her, both a demand and a caress. She had no idea how he managed it, but the tone was very effective. She shivered and sat back on her heels. Every breath she drew took him deeper into her lungs until she felt surrounded by him. She had no idea why, but she was relieved to see him alive and breathing. A part of her, from the moment she had awakened and found him gone, had been tense and worried. She put it down to secretly wanting a relationship she’d told Emeline she wasn’t looking for.
“Blaze.” He said her name softly. A warning.
“Was there a question in there?” She fell back on her attitude because, really, who could think when he was looming over her, looking so . . . yummy.
He reached down and took her wrist, forcing her to her feet with casual strength. Not stopping there, pulling her up against his body. He might look ice-cold, but the heat emanating from his body was anything but. He pulled her wrist around his neck, took the binoculars out of her hand, floated them—yes, floated them—down to the floor and wrapped her other arm around his neck.
“What are you doing here?”
He murmured the question against the side of her mouth, his lips skimming hers, sending a series of little quakes ricocheting through her pussy. Instant liquid heat dampened her panties. In reflex she threaded her fingers together at the nape of his neck, her body melting into his.
“Working,” she answered, turning her head just enough so that her lips brushed his. Seeking his kiss. Needing the feel of his mouth on hers. Right there out in the waning light on the roof of the building across from the nightclub she was reconning. She wasn’t a woman who went for public displays of affection, but she needed his mouth more than she needed air—and she had no idea why. Only that he was necessary to her.
His hand slid up her back, her neck, to cup the back of her hair. “I see. You were supposed to wait for me. We were going to work together. Right?”
She tried hard to search her brain, which because she was in such close proximity to him, was fast turning to mush. Had they had a conversation about working together? It was possible. “I woke up first, you weren’t there to talk things over with and, at the moment, I’m taking someone’s back. I couldn’t wait.”
His thumb stroked her bottom lip. “You have someone inside?”
She nodded. “I need information. She’ll get it.”
“You trust her?”
“With my life.”
His black, black eyes moved over her face. Brooding. Moody. “That is exactly what you are doing, Blaze. You had better be able to trust her, because I can read your mind. I know who she is to you and if she betrays you, I will kill her.”
He delivered the statement matter-of-factly, and she knew it wasn’t an empty threat. He meant every word. He didn’t raise his voice. He spoke very softly, just as he usually did, but she felt his words in her belly. Deep. Branded into her bones. She tipped her head back, searching his remote, icy eyes, looking for an expression.
“Why are you helping me?”
“You belong to me. I take care of what is mine. I searched centuries for you. No one is going to take you away from me.”
Again it was a calm statement of fact. She found herself shivering. She believed him. She believed he’d been alive for centuries and that he hunted vampires. She believed him because she’d been having detailed nightmares since she was ten years old and Emeline saw a vampire. Emeline didn’t lie and she didn’t exaggerate. And Maksim had shown her what and who he was. There was something very old world and courtly about him. At the same time when he moved into a space, the air around him electrified with danger, as if he was an extremely dangerous predator.
“Maksim, we barely know each other,” she pointed out, still pressed into him, too weak to move even when she knew she should. That predatory air was very much in evidence.
“You know me. You are in my mind. You know I speak the truth. You do not want to know, but you do. We are hunting something monstrous. You need to understand if I allow you to do this thing . . .”
That stiffened her spine and she jerked back, or tried to. His arms immediately locked around her like iron bars. “Allow?” She felt tiny sparks snapping over her skin and in her mind. “No one allows me to do anything, Maksim. If that’s the kind of woman you believe me to be, you have the wrong woman. You need to keep searching.”
His arms remained tight even though she bent backward to try to put space between them. His smile was anything but humorous. “I am not a human, Blaze, and I have immense power. The undead hides from me, and there are few things on this earth more powerful than he is, yet he hides and trembles when I am close. Do you really believe that I would search centuries, hundreds of years for the other half of my soul, find her and then risk losing her because she is strong willed and stubborn? You need to look deeper into my mind and really see me.”
She didn’t want to do that. She already had far too much to process. She realized there was logic to what he said. She knew little about vampires, other than what she saw in the movies and in her nightmares, and who knew how close to the truth that was. If she believed he hunted vampires through the centuries, and he lived that long, he had far more experience than she did. If there was one thing Sean had drilled into her over and over again, it was that her brain was her greatest weapon. Her greatest asset. He had taught her that she always needed to know her own capabilities and limitations. So maybe she could fight the Hallahans and have absolute faith she would be on equal footing, but vampires . . . no way.
“You may have a point, Maksim, but please don’t use words like ‘allow.’ I’m not going to kick you in the shins when you try to dictate to me; I’ll walk away.”
“We are past walking away. We talk things out. But first, kiss me. You have not kissed me and I think I woke up starving for your kiss.”
His mouth was close again. Tempting. He had nice lips. An invitation, and she knew exactly how he kissed.
“When I kiss you, I forget everything. I told you, I have a friend inside and I want to get in there and watch out for her.”
“Only Jimmy Hallahan is inside. His other brothers are working, doing what they do, being Reginald Coonan’s muscle. At the moment I also have a friend in there. Picture this woman and I will send him a message to keep an eye on her until we get inside.”
She took a breath. “It’s one thing to trust you with my life. It’s something else to trust you with hers.” She wasn’t being defiant, but really, things were moving altogether too fast.
“Draga mea, you know I will defend you with my last breath, and that means your friends are under my protection as well. I see you love this woman. That she is a sister to you. Look into my mind. There is no need to be afraid.”
But she was. Not because she feared he would hurt her. Or betray her. She was already far enough into his mind to know that much. She knew he was being honest, but still, he was taking her down a path there was no returning from. She knew that instinctively. Already she craved him. Craved his taste. Craved his body moving in hers. She was becoming lost in him very fast and there was no real explanation for him. She didn’t trust anything she couldn’t explain.
She felt him move in her mind and she should have protested, but she’d already given him that, sharing herself with him. She was open to him. Vulnerable. He took the information on Emeline out of her head. He didn’t pull away from her, allowing her to see him instructing his friend, sending him Emeline’s information, including the pictures of her Blaze stored close.
Guard her well, but do not approach unless she is in trouble.
That isn’t Asenguard, she protested.
She could tell he was Carpathian like Maksim and Tariq. She sensed his power, just as she felt Maksim’s when he was near.
“His name is Tomas. Tomas and his brothers arrived a few days ago and have offered to help hunt Reginald Coonan. We have known each other a very long time, and a few times, when we were on the same continent, in the same vicinity, we have hunted together. He is very good at what he does, as are his brothers. They are triplets. Where one is, the others are close by. Your friend is in good hands.”
“Emeline.” She cleared her throat. “She saw him. Or someone like him. Two someones.”
“She saw Tomas?” Maksim asked.
Blaze shook her head. “Coonan. I suspect it was Coonan. Emeline witnessed a murder. Two men, pale faces, gums receding, sharp teeth biting into a man and his wife. They killed the couple, nearly draining all the blood from both of them. It was messy and horrible to witness. She must have made a sound because one turned his head and saw her, but suddenly others came, men who approached the murderers, and they fled.”
“How long ago was this?” Maksim asked gently.
“You believe what she saw?”
He nodded.
“It was about eight months ago, right around the time the cops claimed there was a serial killer loose going after the homeless. They called him ‘Strike Twice,’ because he always struck twice in one night. He always took two victims. Because there are two of them,” Blaze said. “Emeline saw them, but the police wouldn’t believe her.”
“I was there. Tariq and I were there that night. We just missed them. We have been trying to find their lair ever since. It is a big city. When we realized that the Hallahans were doing Coonan’s bidding, we began to concentrate our efforts on protecting the remaining businesses.”
She took a deep breath, still leaning into him. Still circling his neck with her arms. She fit there against him. One of his hands slid up to her neck, fingers gently massaging as if he could ease the tension out of her.
“Do you know why they target certain properties?” Her eyes searched his. He knew. “You don’t want to tell me, but you know,” she whispered. Disappointed. She slid her arms to his shoulders to push away from him.
Before she could, he tightened his grip on her nape, fingers curling deep. “I do not want to frighten you with too much information at once about what it is we are. We acquire fortunes and properties and leave them to ourselves every so often so as not to raise suspicion. All Carpathians do this. I am Carpathian, a species that is older than you can imagine. We have certain gifts and one is longevity. Some say we are immortal, but truthfully, we can be killed. The male loses his ability to feel emotion or to see in color until he finds his lifemate, that one woman who holds the other half of his soul.”
He’d said as much before and she figured perhaps it was an ancient belief that still persisted. She nodded her head for him to continue.
“Vampires are Carpathian males who have chosen to give up their souls so they can feel the rush a kill provides them when they feed. Having been Carpathian, they have also acquired property and wealth. Most are too vain and too addicted to the adrenaline in their victim’s blood to think or plan, and that makes them easier to track. But some are extremely intelligent and they have learned through experiences, just like the hunter, how to recruit newly turned vampires and use them as pawns. Still others have gone further and created an army of humans by infiltrating their ranks. They are the most difficult because they have patience and the cunning to plot for centuries to get what they want.”
She frowned. “So you’re saying that these vampires could already own some of the properties in the neighborhood and are looking for the ones they don’t own?”
“It stands to reason. They would leave the businesses intact because it doesn’t matter to them one way or the other about the business itself, just the building.”
“Why?”
“I do not yet have an answer to that. But we are getting closer. Reginald Coonan is the name the Carpathian used to leave his property to, perhaps before he turned vampire. Tariq is right now researching to see who owns the other buildings, the ones they have not yet touched. If any of the families still own the buildings such as you do, we will also know who they will target next. Still, with all that, your friend should not be anywhere near a property owned by the vampires she witnessed killing that night. If they were able to catch her scent, they can hunt her. They cannot do so during the day, but they can send their human puppets after her, the way they sent them after your father.”
“Emeline isn’t going to give up any more than I am, not until they’re stopped,” Blaze said. “She loved my father. She won’t let this go. Even if I did, which I won’t”—she narrowed her eyes at him to make certain he knew she was giving him the truth—“she wouldn’t stop. She’s already got a job dancing.”
“Blaze. You do not know me very well,” Maksim said. “But know this. When a man finds a woman after hunting for so long, he has a jealous streak. A possessive streak. Dancing is out for you, unless you wish to dance for me.”
In spite of everything, she found herself laughing softly. Relaxing into him. “You don’t have to worry. I couldn’t dance even if I wanted to.”
He leaned closer, his teeth nipping at her chin, and then he kissed his way up to the corner of her mouth. She felt the soft brush of his lips like a brand, a trail of flames dancing over her skin. His mouth settled on hers. Gentle. Unlike any of the kisses the night before. Gentle scared her. Gentle terrified her. Gentle was about emotion, not chemistry. She couldn’t give this man more of herself than she already had, because he could destroy her.
He deepened the kiss as if he knew exactly what she was thinking and wanted to short-circuit her brain. He did so easily. She tasted hunger. Wild. Possession. She tasted need. His kiss went from gentle to hard. Wet. Demanding. She gave herself up without a fight, moving into him, tightening her hands at the nape of his neck, curling her fingers into his hair, her mouth as aggressive as his. Her need as wild and possessive, every bit as hungry as his.
He kissed her over and over until she was on fire. The world dropped away, the danger, the fear, the sorrow, everything, until there was nothing left but pleasure, passion and heat rushing through her veins. She forgot she was on a rooftop. She forgot what she was doing and what her name was, there was only Maksim and his fantastic mouth, his strong arms and hard body pressed so tightly against hers.