Beauty Bites (35 page)

“This.”

She might have felt my hit on her leg and, being faster than me, might have avoided what happened next. But her attention was on my hit to her arm and my attempt to get the box.

So she didn’t stop me when, using her tibia as a guide, I stomped the hell out of her instep.

She yowled. Ric was right—vampires felt pain more than humans. Her hand sprang open, releasing me.

I ran toward Ric, both hands raised. If my wrists were unusually flat and my fingers clenched, that might have been my terror. I’d telegraphed my intent again. I hadn’t even gone a step when she snared me by the wrist.

“No, you don’t!” She hauled me back with an extra-vicious yank, rewinding me like a yo-yo.

Yep. I spun into her—like Aiden.

Fist first.

My entire hundred forty-five pounds slammed into her jaw. My shoulder was behind it.

She staggered back, swaying on her feet.

Damn. I needed her unconscious and unable to mist away. I pulled my arm back for another punch.

The electric shock of delayed pain cracked up my fist and arm. I howled. Vampire bone was like hitting a cliff. I wasn’t using those fingers any time soon.

But without follow up all this would be for nothing. I bent over and head-butted her in the solar plexus.

With a soft
woof
, Camille collapsed.
Yay!
I thought.

Until the dead man’s switch popped into the air.

Chapter Twenty-three

Time clarified.
Moment
. Ric, caught mid-step, coming at us.
Moment
. The switch, button still flat, arching gracefully into the air.
Moment
. The button starting to rise, the red edge peeking up.
Moment
. Ric completing his step.

He’d never make it in time.

Acid was about to splash everywhere. I didn’t care about my looks, but my eyes and hands were another story if I ever wanted to sew another kid’s boo-boo. I tucked both hands in my belly, curled over and braced for an acid bath.

In a repeat of the Ogre shooting, Ric hit me with all his weight. I went down. He extended himself, covering my body. “I’ve got you, Synnove,” he panted into my ear. “I’m here. I’ll protect you, Sunshine. Forever, if you’ll let me.”

Amazement bubbled through me. He thought the painting was here. Yet he’d chosen me. My eyes and nose prickled with emotion.

“Very nice tackle,” a dry voice drawled. “But not really necessary.”

Ric’s weight shifted. “
Aiden
?”

I lifted my head. The black-haired vampire leaned against the wall, dead man’s switch in hand, thumb firmly on the button. He still wore that bulky black leather jacket, zipped shut despite the day’s heat.

“Aiden, you fuck.” Ric glared red daggers. “How dare you risk Synnove by trying to get the switch? We had a plan. I was supposed to distract Camille so you could rescue Synnove.”

“Hey,” I said. “I didn’t need rescuing.”

To my astonishment Ric turned his glare on me. “You. If you
ever
risk your life like that again—”

“I didn’t
try
to get the switch, I got it,” Aiden said. “Now I’m going to get the painting.” He tossed me a grin over his shoulder. “Nice right cross, by the way.”

“Wait,” I said. “We need to restrain Camille somehow.”

Ric began, “The painting—”

“Isn’t here,” I said. “If she’d been telling the truth and the painting were here, you could have saved it.”

“I’d never have—”

“Yes, yes, but if you
had
, while I’d be scarred for life, she’d be out the painting. If you chose me, I’d keep my face but the painting would be given an acid bath.
And she’d still be out the painting
.”

Ric gaped down at me.

“Hell.” Aiden turned back. “Camille had no intention of letting that portrait out of her grabby little mitts. She tricked us both.”

“My household is screwed.” Ric rolled off me, landing heavily on the floor.

“No, don’t you see?” I said. “She keeps winning because we’ve let her set the goals. The fight for Meiers Corners, possession of the picture. They’re all
her
images. To win, we change what we’re after. Change it to
our
picture.”

“I know what I’m picturing.” Aiden’s eyes were diamond hard. “Cutting off her head.”

“Nosferatu would get another lieutenant,” Ric said. “We need the picture.”

“No,” I repeated. “Think bigger. The picture is a tactic, not a goal.”

A plan had solidified in that lightning strike of understanding, one so outrageous and audacious I couldn’t even admit to myself I was thinking it. Elias had given me the clue. If I could pull it off, Ric wouldn’t have to fear Nosferatu.

Camille groaned, reminding me there was a time limit on this offer.

“Can you restrain her? So we can travel with her but she can’t mist?” I pushed to sit and winced when my sore arm complained loudly.

Ric leaped to his feet and offered me his hand.

I could have stood myself, but it was a sweet gesture. I raised my left arm and found myself flying onto my feet and into a hug that squeezed the breath out of me. Okay. One moment to rest secure in Ric’s arms.

Camille groaned again and started to move.

“Restraints, now.” Or this would all be for nothing.

“Got it.” Aiden reached into his coat and brought out a dangling set of metal handcuffs. “Electrified. Key’s in the lock.” He tossed them to Ric. “Told you they’d come in handy.”

Ric caught the cuffs one handed, his other arm still wrapped around me. “Sometimes you’re damned annoying.” He released me, bent over Camille and cuffed her wrists together. Then he removed the key and slipped it in his pocket. “No, wait. Scratch the sometimes.”

Aiden gave a theatrical sigh. “This is the thanks I get for suffering being stuffed in a car trunk with you.”

“
You
suffered?” Ric pressed something on the cuff and it lit up briefly. “You kept punching me.”

“Not my fault.” Aiden crossed arms. “You kept kicking.”

“Because
you
were making snide remarks about how I smelled.”

“Boys.” I clapped my hands. “You guys bicker like Statler and Waldorf. Sorry to interrupt this male bonding ritual, but we have work to do.”

“
Boys
?” Ric
hmphed
. “We’re rough and ready vampire assassins. ‘Boys’, indeed. Who are Statler and Waldorf?”

“The grumpy old hecklers in the Muppets.”

“Muppets.” A choked laugh came from Aiden.

“Oh, that’s just not fair.” Ric’s expression was adorably pained. “I work my ass off for decades to make him smile and you get a laugh for Muppets? Lame.”

“Life isn’t fair. Sorry.” And I was, and I’d continue to fight for the less fortunate, but I was done hobbling myself for assholes like Camille. “I have a proposal for Nosferatu. I’d tell you, but I don’t want her to hear.”

“We’re going to Chicago?” Ric asked. “How do you expect to get past all Nosferatu’s guards to see the little Gollum himself?”

“Camille’s our security. How long will those cuffs hold her?”

Her eyes slit open, a line of emerald green. We all looked at Aiden.

His smile sharpened. “Days. They’re low level, annoying, unless she tries to mist. Then they’ll zap her, and she’ll collapse back into her natural form.”

“What if she tries to mist repeatedly? Won’t the battery wear out?”

Aiden unzipped a couple inches of jacket. “Then I have this.” He reached into the breast pocket and pulled out a blunt-muzzled gun.

“Whoa.” I held up palms. “I thought bullets were only effective on regular humans. Around here, that’s me. And Chicken Little, if he counts.”

“This is a stun gun.” Aiden indicated the end, where a probe cartridge was already loaded. “If she gets feisty, I’ll zap her.” His grin was kinda pointy.

Camille checked out the cuffs, then looked from Aiden to Ric to me, and back to Aiden. Her lips curled and her eyes opened fully. “Nice try, darlings. But I have quick reflexes.”

She leaped to her feet and ran.

But before she’d moved Aiden hit the trigger. Two probes shot out, trailing long wires. They were slower than her but they’d had a head start. With a crack, they hit her square in the back. She stiffened abruptly and fell to the floor.

“You have quick reflexes, I have a nasty disposition. Guess which is faster.” Aiden’s thin lips quirked as he ejected the cartridge. “If she even looks at me funny, I’ll zap her again.” He loaded another cartridge, then put the stun gun in a jacket pocket. “And I’ll enjoy it too. Let’s go.”

We called 911 for Charles and headed out. As we came down the stairs Rosie threw open the Annex door. Harry ran ahead. We dashed along the sidewalk.

It was only the next building over, but by the time we hustled inside the three vampires were starting to smoke. The guard on duty looked the other way; another member of Ric’s condo group, apparently.

In the parking elevator I pulled out my cell phone to call Twyla.

“You’re alive,” were the first words out of her mouth.

“Surprise. And I’d like to stay that way. I’m with Ric and Aiden. We’re going to Chicago to offer a proposal to Nosferatu—”

“That’s suicide!”

“Not entirely. We’ve got Camille as insurance against his good behavior. But if something happens, I want you to call the Ancient One. If we haven’t reported in by dawn, I’m trusting you to make him protect Ric’s household.” We exited into the garage.

I could practically hear Twyla’s slim eyebrows sweeping into her hairline. “Do I have a choice?”

“Nope. One more thing.” I’d remembered what Elias said about Nikos needing vampire blood and related it to her.

“Thanks.” Her voice hitched. “I can almost believe he’ll be okay now. All right, if I don’t hear from you by dawn, I’ll make the call. Good luck.”

“You too.”

Ric led us to the corner where the firm’s fleet was parked, including a smoky sedan and a luxury curtained limo. Rosie and Harry waved goodbye, Harry climbing into the sedan while Rosie took off in my little hybrid to return it to the cabin.

Aiden shoveled Camille into the back of the limo, climbed in after her and shut the curtains. The days were getting shorter, but sunset was still well past eight, so I’d be driving. But to my surprise, Ric took shotgun. When we hit the street he turned a little red, but the passenger side windows must have been treated because he didn’t smoke. There was a medical experiment I’d love to try. The effects of various wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation on vampire physiology—how much sun before they went
whoosh
?

Once I hit the freeway, I had nothing to do but think. Or actually, rethink. My plan had flaws—we were headed into the opposition’s maw without immediate backup. Problem was, bringing in Bo or his gang would have screwed the one advantage we had.

“So this proposal you have for Nosferatu.” Ric echoed my thoughts. “You’re not entirely sure he’ll agree to it, are you?”

“What makes you say that?”

“Your last-will instructions to Twyla, bequeathing my household to Elias.”

“No! That’s not…I’m not… That’s only for if we’re injured.”

His silence spoke louder than words. I chilled. I was naive thinking in terms of “dangerous”. Nosferatu was deadly.

No, we held Camille hostage, and Ric and Aiden were the best. That wasn’t wishful thinking or conjuring images—I’d seen them in action, and Nosferatu’s team too. I’d take Ric and Aiden any day. But still…

Warm fingers nuzzling under my top’s hemline derailed my worrying. “What…?”

“Shh.” Ric slid his hand onto the small of my back and rubbed in tiny circles.

Tension released. I throttled a tiny moan of pleasure.

Ric’s
eyes crinkled, and he slipped his fingers lower to tickle the downy hairs at the base of my spine.

I yipped. Ric’s smile grew.

“What’s going on up there?” Aiden said.

“Nothing,” we said together, then exchanged a warm, intimate smile. Ric’s fingers delved lower and began to pet my tailbone. Little shocks of delight wowed me.

“Right,” Aiden said. “Well, while nothing’s going on, make sure one of you keeps her eyes on the road.”

I did, though Ric’s caresses made my lids heavy with pleasure. As a distraction from worry, it was wonderful; as a reminder of what I had to live for it was awesome. My entire spine tingled and I’d developed a permanent grin when he removed his hand.

And drove it down the front of my pants, directly onto my clit.

I shrieked, goosed the accelerator and nearly merged with the car in front.

“Hey,” Aiden yowled. “Do I need to come up there and separate you kids?”

With a smile, Ric removed his hand. But the aftershocks kept my mind off all things Nosy until we hit the Illinois border.

We made one stop for gas. Camille got unruly, but Aiden made good on his promise to zap her. He also had a few techniques for making vampires squeal. Not just Camille, either. Ric pulled me into the gas station bathroom for a quickie and…well, not going into details, but I’m sure as hell nailing tap cleats on Aiden’s shoes and buying Ric unwedgiable underwear.