Companions (4 page)

What kind of trouble? Fyrstartr asked.

Somebody got...

Selena began to type a question of her own, but before she could finish and press the Enter key, her ISP

decided she'd had enough excitement for one evening and the connection was broken, knocking her off-line before all of DesertDog's post appeared. Selena swore. After ten minutes of trying to get back on-line, she shut off the computer.

Her curiosity was aroused, but a glance at the clock and the knowledge that she had to work the next day kept her from trying to make technology cooperate any longer. She'd already surprised herself and said too much with only Fyrstartr around. No need to risk opening up even more with the others present.

She'd wait for another chat session, maybe next week. By then she'd be over feeling sorry for herself because there was never going to be a white wedding — or possibly even a proper funeral — in her future.

"Ididn't expect to die like this."

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Not in the center of a nightmare.

The woman with the blue-diamond eyes cupped Selena's cheek. "No one ever expects this."

The gentleness of the woman's caressing touch was more revolting than a slap. Selena would
have pulled away, but she was held fast by those eyes.

"She didn't say she doesn't want to die, I noticed," one of the others said. A ripple of laughter
spread around the circle of monsters.

"No one wants to die," the diamond woman replied. She took her hard gaze away from Selena
long enough to stab a look at the one who'd spoken. "Don't be in such haste to take life,
Lawrence. Savor it. Always savor the moment." She turned back to Selena.

"I didn't say I wanted her to die," Lawrence said.

"I do," several of the others spoke as one.

"This is all a mistake," Selena told the woman. This one was obviously the leader.

Selena tried to ignore the others, especially the feral glitter of their eyes; eyes that glowed like
animals out of the darkness. The eyes of animals intent on devouring her. It was a large
storeroom, poorly lit, full of human-shaped creatures. Shelves and boxes disappeared in the
blackness beyond the fluorescent bulb over her head. There were plenty of hiding places for more
monsters out there.

Selena knelt at the leader's feet, on cold concrete in the center of a pool of pitiless white light. She
was trapped in the center of the crowd. She was sure she wouldn't survive the flight even if she
could break away from this group. She also knew she'd run the moment she got the chance.

The woman touched her cheek with only the needle tips of her long, painted nails. "But we want
you to run." Her eyes gleamed with anticipation. Her smile gleamed with long, sharp teeth. "The
more desperate the quarry, the more determined the victim to escape, the happier it makes us. If
you want to live, don't run."

Selena gulped down a scream, one that was as much of anger as it was alarm. The woman's
words sent images of fresh terror through her, but they didn't change her resolve.

Selena's mind was her own. The diamond woman wanted it. Selena could feel the leader of the
monsters as she tried to force her way into her thoughts. There were claws trying to pry her head
open from the inside. A horrible power pushed at her will.

And Selena pushed back. She felt like she was going to be engulfed by a firestorm at any moment,
but she resisted. She couldn't see anything but the woman's glittering eyes. Even those narrowed
down to white-hot pinpoints of flame. She heard a whispered voice in herhead. The voice
commanded. Selena ignored it. She stared at the flames and made herself think of birthday
candles. Maybe, if she could find air somewhere in this stifling dark place, she could blow those
candles out.

The diamond-eyed monster bent close to whisper in Selena's ear. "Open to me willingly, child,
and live." She ran a finger down Selena's throat and rested it against the pounding pulse. "I'll
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take your memory and let you go free."

"No one's taking my memory." The diamond woman was worried. It was as though Selena could
read her with a sense she'd only just discovered. Or maybe it was just the sixth sense any cop
acquired on the streets that kicked in over the fear she fought so hard not to show. Selena decided
to play for time. "I'm Detective Selena Crawford. I'm a police officer."

There was a collective gasp from the gathered monsters. The air went colder, more dense with
danger, as a murmuring that reminded her of the swift scuttling of rats' feet raced around the
room. The diamond woman's grasp tightened.

"Tell me more," the woman suggested as some of the others moved into a tight circle around
them.

Selena wondered how much time she had before she died. Maybe the truth was the last thing
these creatures wanted. She sensed they were disturbed by her words, but that it only made her
situation worse. Maybe they weren't afraid of the consequences that came with cop killing. She
didn't suppose they had anything to be afraid of. She only wished she hadn't opened the wrong
door at the wrong time and overheard too much of their unholy meeting.

Selena took a deep breath before she went on. She was glad that her voice didn't shake when she
said, "I waschecking out a lead in a murder investigation. I found
— "

Vampires.

The voice that uttered the word in her mind was not her own or the woman's. It had been spoken
in a deep, masculine growl. The word had been an explanation, but the texture of it had been pure
command.

Selena looked up, freed from the diamond woman's stare, and found herself instantly snared by a
gaze as deep as blue velvet night, as wild as an alpha wolf's. A moment before, sh 'd been freezing,
cold with fear and fury and stubborn determination. Fire ran through her veins as she looked
deep into the newcomer's eyes. Fire ran between them that had nothing to do with fear and that
made
desire
a tame word.

She didn't know whether the need was her own or his, but for the first time in her life, she
suddenly knew what it felt like to be truly hungry. It took more will to break eye contact with him
than it had with her captor, but Selena managed it. Not that she looked away; instead, she studied
the sharply drawn features that were clear to her despite the shadows around him. Shadows that
were somehow of his making and not just an absence of light.

He was tall and lean. All the creatures were slender, but this one had the presence of a wolf
among rangy alley cats. His face was long, sharp, narrow but for the width of high cheekbones
and the sensual slash of mouth. It was an ascetic face, cold, hard, but for the mouth. His mouth
promised all the pleasure in the world.

His eyes, however, promised nothing. They were ice blue, sharp as volcanic glass, colder than
space. And yet, a moment before…

"Vampire."

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Unfortunately.

"You aren't paying attention to me, darling," the diamond woman said. Nails dug into Selena's
shoulders, bringing her attention abruptly back to the immediate danger. "Why is that?"

"Because you're not the most interesting thing in the room."

Selena didn't know why she said it; this was not a woman to cross; but the words were snapped
out as an almost triumphant snarl. Then it struck her that she had said
vampire
about the
newcomer without a flicker of disbelief. Of course all these monsters were vampires. What else
could they be? She'd been told that magic was real often enough, but
—

When they hunt you down and sink their teeth in you, it will be real enough.

Do you mind?
she demanded of the intruding voice.
Did I invite you to walk into my head and try to scare the living shit out of me?

Try?

Why did he have to sound so amused?
I'm scared,
she acknowledged.
So?

Her captor shifted her hold and sank her claws deep into the soft flesh of Selena's bare arms.

Selena's cry of pain blended with the gasp of desire that came from the vampires as blood scented
the air.

"Pay attention, child. 1 am Maria, the mistress here. It is up to me to decide your fate." A few
drops of blood from the deep punctures trickled over the diamond woman's fingertips. She
stretched a hand out. "Lawrence."

"You spoil me, Maria."

"It's because you're so pretty."

He bent over Maria's hand and swiftly licked theblood from her fingers. Then he planted a soft
kiss on her palm in gratitude. "She's delicious."

From her kneeling position, Selena had a close view of the male vampire and the erection that
bulged beneath his tight jeans. The bastard had a hard-on from tasting her blood! Vampires were
dead! This guy obviously wasn't.

"You people have some kind of kinky blood fetish, right?"

"Exactly," Maria answered. She waved Lawrence off. He took one reluctant step. "Do you want
her?"

He drew his lips back over extended fangs.

"I see you do."

A ripple of laughter spread around the room. Selena suppressed a whimper as a hand twisted in
her hair and she was pulled to her feet. Maria ripped open Selena's sleeveless white shirt. The
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popped buttons scattered like seeds on the concrete floor. Lawrence's gaze settled on her breasts.

"Will you take her as a companion?" Maria asked him.

Lawrence's head came up sharply. "What?"

"That's your choice, boy. What else can we do? Her will cannot be subverted in the usual way.

We all know that some mortals resist chaste mind control."

"Those are the best kind," a woman said from the back of the crowd.

"Entertaining," one of the others declared. "Chastity is so boring."

Selena tried to pry her hands away while Maria shook her like she was an annoying rat. "Take
her, Lawrence. You could use a companion."

Lawrence shook his head. "No way."

She was pushed toward the male vampire. "But you want her."

"But not permanently! "

"Why not?"

Lawrence looked around wildly. "Take an unwilling companion? I'd rather slaughter her."

"They're never unwilling for long," someone said to the accompaniment of shrill laughter.

"She's beautiful, Lawrence." Maria ran her hands over Selena.

Lawrence looked her up and down. He bared his teeth. "I'm tempted."

"Indulge," Maria urged.

Selena didn't know if they were planning to rape her or kill her or both. The diamond woman's
touch had been obscene; her voice, as she urged the man on, was worse. Selena knew she had to
get out before she could be used to entertain the troops.

"Help me!" she called to the man in the shadows.

There was no answer but the laughter of the others. Maybe he was laughing, too. Maybe he
wasn't even there. He certainly didn't care. There was no one to depend on but herself.

Alone she might be, but years of training and years on the street counted for a lot. She was on her
feet; that helped. The bitch only had one hand on her, and her attention was elsewhere. Selena
saw her opportunity and used it to pull away. She left a lot of hair behind, but a stinging scalp was
worth the price of getting out of the diamond woman's clutches. She was still surrounded by the
crowd.

There was nowhere to run, but there was room to spin and kick as hard as she could. Her foot
landed squarely in Lawrence's abdomen and again in his face as he bentforward. The vampire
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went down. Selena leapt over his prone body, through the gap he'd left. She ran into the darkness.

They followed, howling like a gleeful pack of hyenas at her heels.

She remembered the staircase, and the door to the outside on the landing above. Heart pounding,
the monsters' screams freezing her blood, Selena ran for the stairs.

He didn't step out of the shadows, they parted to let him through. One moment the stairway was
clear before her. The next he was there, solid and dangerous and waiting for her.

He opened his arms.

Hell was behind her. What waited before her radiated fury and contempt and a strange promise
of shelter. She couldn't have turned back to face the others if she'd tried. So she kept going in the
hope that she could somehow get around the lone wolf on the staircase.

"Let me go." She said the words quite calmly, under the circumstances.

"Or you will do what? Arrest me?" He took her in his arms. "You shouldn't have run."

"I didn't have any other choice. Let go of me." She spoke through gritted teeth.