Amaury's Hellion (7 page)

Well, at least one mystery was solved: not all vampires were handsome. In fact, the taller of the two was butt ugly. His nose was tilted too far upwards, showing his nostrils the way a pig’s snout would look. She certainly wouldn’t have any scruples turning him into dust—that was, if she got a chance. At the moment, that chance looked pretty remote.

Instead of meeting with some low-level criminal who had information on the vampires, her contact, that shitty little weasel, had purposefully let her run into a hastily set trap. If she got out of this alive, she would beat the shit out of that rotten lowlife, even if it was the last thing she did.

Nina didn’t need to glance behind her to know she was at a dead end, literally and figuratively. She stood in one of the many little alleys in the Tenderloin. There was a constant stench of urine, vomit, and alcohol in the neighborhood. The sidewalks were always littered with trash.

Gripping a stake in each hand, she gritted her teeth. Nina was no stranger to fighting. She was extremely agile and was proficient in kickboxing—down-and-dirty style, the way it was fought on the streets, not in the
dojos
of the fancy gyms. She’d kicked more ass than Jean-Claude Van Damme in any of his B-movies. But this fight wouldn’t be equal. One of the bloodsuckers she could probably defeat, but two at the same time was a challenge she wasn’t keen on facing.

Her palms were sweaty, her heartbeat erratic, but she had no choice. She had to fight. A glance toward the only exit of the alley told her that while there were plenty of cars passing by on the main road, nobody was stopping. The cavalry wasn’t coming.

She knew she had to be smart about it, use brain instead of brawn.

“Aren’t you two pretty ones?” Nina mocked. She wouldn’t show them how scared she was.

The shorter vampire let a snarl rip from his throat. “Hm, looks like delicious dinner.”

Dinner?

Not if she could help it.  “More like an
amuse-bouche
. There’s hardly enough for one of you, let alone two.” Maybe she could get them to fight among each other. “Look, there really isn’t much of me at all.”

She stretched her arms out to the sides to show off her slender body, while covertly adjusting her stance to fighting mode.

“It’ll be plenty,” Butt Ugly assured her and flashed his fangs.

“Now, I hope you brushed your teeth this evening. There’s nothing worse than a vampire with bad breath,” she chided. Was it smart to provoke him? Frankly, anything to gain time so she could work out a strategy was fine with her. Even if it meant making them mad.

“Sassy, I give you that. I’m sure your blood will taste quite spicy. What do you think, Johan?” One side of his mouth tilted upwards and turned into a smug snarl.

His companion grinned. “I think we should do her first.” He moved his pelvis in a way which left little to her imagination.

Great! Now they wanted to
do
her.

Why did men always have to think about sex when they couldn’t control a woman any other way?

“Typical man! Can’t defeat a woman with his intellect, so he’s got to whip out his dick. That’s really manly, wow.” She flicked her middle finger at them.

Johan took a step closer, but Butt Ugly stopped him. “The boss said to get rid of her and stop her from snooping around any longer, so that’s all we’re gonna do.” He paused and angled his head as if assessing her for the first time. “Well, no use wasting a good snack.” He smacked his lips together in an unmistakable gesture.

Nina didn’t like the sound of it. No wonder her informant had sold her out. Somebody was after her. And she had an idea of who had sent those goons. Amaury had obviously realized after their encounter last night that she knew he was a vampire and was now taking action.

If she hadn’t completely lost it during his kiss, maybe her hand wouldn’t have twitched and accidentally dropped the stake. He’d most likely heard it fall to the ground and found it. It didn’t take much to put two and two together. She couldn’t dwell on it. Her half-baked plan of distracting him with a kiss had backfired, and now she was going to pay for it. Dearly.

If she was going down, at least she would try to take one of them with her. Apart from her life, she had nothing else to lose.

“I failed you, Eddie,” she whispered to herself. A second later she lifted her head and locked her jaw. One deep breath to fill her lungs with oxygen, and she was ready for her last fight.

Nina launched into a sprint, gained momentum and jumped, kicking her foot into Johan’s chest Bruce Lee style. The vampire was taken by surprise and stumbled backwards. Without taking a breather, she landed firmly on both feet and instantly turned back, facing the second vampire.

Butt Ugly sneered. His right hook connected with her shoulder, before she had even seen it coming. Her body whipped back as the pain radiated downwards. For a moment, black dots clouded her vision. Her lungs fought for breath, fighting against the burn charging through her cells.

Damn, the bastard was fast!

A sound behind her warned her that Johan was on his feet again.  Guessing what was coming, she took a roll to the side before his claws could grab her. It didn’t save her for long. Butt Ugly reared his head and jumped toward her.

Nina lunged onto the garbage skip and escaped his reach by jumping off on the other side.

“Go around it,” Butt Ugly ordered his companion.

Now they both came toward her, one from the right, one from the left. Remembering her gymnastics training, she did a cartwheel and sauntered over the bins a second time. Her shoe caught on the bin and she slipped, landing hard on her side.

Searing pain ripped through her. Her ribs felt badly bruised. She would be lucky if they weren’t broken. But she had no time to check. Her attackers were already upon her. A claw dug into her shoulder and pulled her up, lifting her off the ground.

“Now we’ve got you,” Johan said, triumph coloring his voice.

“You bastards!” she screamed at the top of her lungs and kicked her legs at him, still suspended in the air. With her right arm she tried to grasp for any part of his body where she could do damage, but only now did she realize that she’d lost one of her stakes with her evasive maneuvers. Her left hand still held the second stake, but Johan had immobilized her with his painful grip to her shoulder.

She kicked again, earning herself a swipe of his claws across her chest. A burning sensation hit her. The bastard had sliced through her shirt and skin. She could feel the blood seep from the gash on her breast. It stung like hell.

For an instant, she feared nausea would overwhelm her and knock her out cold. She pushed back the feeling.

“That smells nice,” Johan said and moved his head to her open wound.

Nina thrashed harder, but his grip tightened. He would suck her dry, and there was nothing she could do. She had no chance getting out of his hold. Panic coiled through her body, her heart beating as fast as a high-speed train.

A split second before his fangs dug into her breast, he was pulled away from her. A moment later she landed hard on her butt. She stared up at the melee, expecting to see Butt Ugly fighting with his vampire friend. Instead, she looked at the broad back of a huge man. Even without seeing his face, she recognized who was fighting her two assailants now.

Nina scrambled back onto her feet. In disbelief, she watched Amaury land kicks and blows against the two vampires, keeping them at bay. Why was he fighting off the two vampires he’d sent to kill her? This didn’t make any sense at all.

“You gonna help me or what?” Amaury called out. Was he talking to her? “You, the blonde who kissed me last night.”

So, he
was
talking to her. After all, she was the only blonde in the alley, and she doubted either Butt Ugly or Johan had kissed him.

She rushed to his side.

“About time,” he acknowledged her with a sideways glance.

With a quick high kick she fought off Johan to give Amaury a chance to beat the crap out of Butt Ugly. But Johan came back instantly, charging at her more fiercely now. When she tried for another kick, he was faster and grabbed her foot. She twisted, but lost her balance, falling backwards against Amaury.

“Duck,” he called out. In the same instant he turned behind her. Instinctively she crouched down, and looking up, she saw Amaury land a heavy right hook into her attacker’s face, slamming him into the wall five feet away.

“Thanks,” she gasped.

“Don’t mention it.” He turned back to his own attacker. Nina caught the moment when Butt -Ugly’s claws beat into Amaury, forcing him to the ground. Having helped her had distracted him and cost him the upper hand. The attacker pinned him and raised his arm.

“No!” She heard Amaury’s scream and saw the stake in Butt Ugly’s hand glint in the faint light coming from one of the windows facing the alley. Without thinking, Nina jumped behind the nasty vampire and landed on his back. Just as the tip of his stake reached Amaury’s chest, she slammed her own stake into the vampire’s back and hoped she’d found the spot where his damned heart was located.

As the bastard dissolved into dust, she landed right on Amaury, her legs straddling him. He wore no coat or jacket, only cargo pants and a shirt, which brought her into much closer contact with his body than the night before when he’d worn a long coat. For a moment, the warmth of his body startled her. How could he be so warm? He was a vampire—vampires were supposed to be cold.

“You’re w—”

His hand snapped around her wrist which still held the stake. He nudged the offending item away from him while he pinned her with a surprised stare.

“Careful, you could hurt somebody with that,” he smirked.

Smartass!

Nina didn’t get a chance to reply. From the corner of her eye she saw Johan approach, a knife in his hands. He lifted his arm and aimed it straight at her, ready to release it with a quick flick of his wrist.

Before she could move, Amaury twisted underneath her, wrapped his arms around her and shifted. Instead of the knife hitting her chest, it grazed her shoulder, slicing into the top layer of her skin. The pain was overridden by the adrenaline shooting through her body.

She noticed Amaury’s furious look before he unceremoniously dumped her on the ground and jumped onto his feet. Obviously Johan had picked up on the same look and instantly turned tail.

With the immediate danger over, the pain from her wounds suddenly crashed over her, and she let out a frustrated moan. Amaury immediately turned back to her instead of pursuing the other vampire.

“You okay?” Was that worry in his voice?

He crouched down next to her, a concerned look on his face. Was it such a good idea to be so close to a vampire when she was a walking advertisement for his favorite food?

“What’s it look like?” She figured it was better not to show him that she was worried about the fact that she leaked blood like a self-serve soda fountain. Would he try to bite her now that he could surely smell her blood? Even her own nose picked up the metallic scent of it.

“You look pretty beat up to me. Let’s go and fix you up.”

He took her arm to pull her up, but she wrenched free from him as soon as she stood.

“Don’t touch me.” An instant later her stance faltered, and dizziness overwhelmed her.

“You can’t stand on your own,” he commented, a smug tone in his voice, and picked her up as if she was as light as a bag of groceries. “You’re coming with me.”

“No!” Nina protested and tried to wiggle out of Amaury’s arms, but her strength was quickly draining. “I’m not going with a vampire.”

“Tough luck—I’m the only one here. And I’m not leaving an injured woman in the street where she can get attacked again.” His voice sounded firm and unyielding. Great, not only was he a vampire, he was also a Neanderthal on steroids.

You Tarzan, me Jane.

“So, do you have a name?” he asked, carrying her undeterred through the night.

“Hmh,” she growled. He wouldn’t get a peep out of her.

“Fine, I can just keep on calling you The Blonde Who Kissed Me. By the way, nice kiss. Were you going to repeat that any time soon? ‘Cause if I call you
The Blonde Who Kissed Me, I might get ideas.” The exaggerated waggle of his eyebrows was almost comical, had she been in the mood to laugh.

The man was a pill. But she didn’t want to be reminded of that kiss every few minutes. It was going to be hard enough, with being pressed against his strong chest. With every step he made, his muscles shifted and rubbed against her, sending the most delicious sensations through her aching body. It was truly irritating.

“Nina. My name is Nina,” she finally admitted. “And you’re welcome.” She lifted her chin and set her jaw.

He cocked an eyebrow.

“Hey, I saved your sorry ass back there,” she elaborated. His short-term memory was clearly in need of jogging.

“Only after I saved yours, so in my book we’re even.”

He was right, but she’d rather bite off her tongue than admit it.

“I can say thank you if you can.” His look was a challenge.

“You first.” She wouldn’t get tricked into thanking him, if he didn’t thank her first.

“No, you first,” he retorted and kept walking, carrying her as if she weighed nothing.

A young couple passed them on the sidewalk and gave them perplexed looks. Nina restrained herself from telling them to mind their own damn business.

“Forget it.”

“Brat!”

“Who are you calling a brat? Look at yourself, you oversized jerk!”

Big, hunky, sexy oversized jerk.

“Well, this oversized jerk came in handy a few minutes ago, don’t you think? And besides, you didn’t find me to be such a jerk when you kissed me last night. I remember distinctly how you were all over me.”

Embarrassment swept through her, making her cheeks flare with heat. She needed no reminder of her wanton behavior from the night before. It wasn’t how she normally reacted to men. They were to be used just the way they’d used her—nothing more, nothing less. And it had always worked for her: no emotional involvement, no abandonment of her good senses, well, not the way it had happened the night before anyway. It was merely a slip, she assured herself. Even the most determined alcoholic fell off the wagon occasionally. Now all she had to do was get back on it and forget what had happened.