Femme Fatale (4 page)

He reached for the helmet and started to lower it over his head.

But the helmet was snatched away.

“Hey, what the hell—” Will began.

“I saw you talking to the blonde tonight.” A man stood there. Tall, dark-haired. Big. Just like the joker from before. Only…

This isn’t the PI.

“What did you tell her?”

A cold chill sank beneath Will’s skin.

The man pressed, “Did you tell her about me?”

Screw answering him. Will revved that engine and shot forward. Only…the motorcycle kept going. He didn’t. Because that big sonofabitch had clothes-lined him. The guy’s arm had flung up, right in front of Will’s neck. That attack sent Will’s body flying backwards, off the bike, even as the motorcycle shot forward and crashed into a parked car up ahead.

Will lurched to his feet, gasping. He couldn’t seem to draw in a deep enough breath. He
hurt…

His attacker sighed. “Now look what you’ve done. That crash will be attracting attention soon. And I just wanted a private chat.”

Will turned to run.

But the guy grabbed him by the nape of his neck and
squeezed.
Darkness swam before Will’s eyes. His hands flew up and he tried to shove the guy back, but his attacker was just too strong.

A supernatural strength.

“Don’t fight it, man, there’s no point,” the guy told him as Will felt himself start to lose consciousness.
His grip is too tight. Too hard.

Will slumped forward, but he didn’t hit the ground. Will felt his body being hoisted up. “Anybody asks,” his attacker said, “and I’ll just tell them you had too much to drink.”

Will tried to speak, tried to call out for help, but he couldn’t talk.

And he was pretty sure that he was about to die.

“Dawn will be here soon,” Savannah said.

At her words, Mick turned toward her. They were in her home—an old, converted warehouse on the outskirts of Chicago. After they’d gotten to the safety of her home, Savannah had washed the last of the blood off her body and changed into more comfortable clothes. Now she was ready for Mick.

Only he wasn’t speaking. He was just staring at her. Hard.

She fought her smile. “Is something wrong?” She’d just finished her shower and gotten the fresh clothes. His reaction was actually rather sweet.

“You sleep…in that?”

He was precious. “No, Mick. I sleep in a full-on dress and fancy shoes.” She gave a little eye roll as she headed toward him. “Of
course,
I sleep in this. It’s called a negligee, by the way. And guess when you’re supposed to wear it?” She leaned close and put her hand on his chest. “When you’re in bed.”

He swallowed.

She hoped he’d kiss her again. Hoped he’d grab her and hold tight.

He didn’t, but his body did tense beneath her touch. A man with control. She should be impressed. She wasn’t. He was really slowing down her timeline. And to think, she’d picked out her sexiest negligee, just for him. A few bits of silk, nothing more.

And he wasn’t even trying to touch her. Insulting. She looked at him and wanted. Ached. She’d thought he felt the same way, especially after that fun little side trip to the supply closet. But she was standing before him, in her full-on seduction mode, and the guy wasn’t budging.

If she couldn’t hear the rapid pounding of his heart, if she didn’t see the way his nostrils flared as if he were desperate to inhale her scent, she’d actually be hurt. Instead, she was challenged.

“I want to know the truth about you,” Mick said.

“The truth? Sounds boring.”

“I doubt anything about you is boring.”

“Now you’re just trying to flirt with me.”

He growled. She loved it when he did that. The man had a dark side, she’d bet her undead existence on it. Now, if she could just get him to let that dark side out so they could play.

“Tell me about vampires…how does it work? How does someone become…like you?”

She shrugged and slid her hand down his chest. “Certain people are born different. Not wrong, despite what you may be told by others. Just…different. And that difference is enough to convert them, if they’re bitten by a vampire.”

His brow furrowed. She wanted to smooth that furrow away. Strange. She shook her head, trying to banish that thought.

“What do you mean, different?”

“Slightly different DNA. Sort of a throwback, if you will. To another time. When more monsters walked the earth.” If he wanted an explanation, she’d give him a quick and dirty version. “But some people are actually born as vampires. They never die. They grow up normally and then, when they reach a certain age, things stop for them. No more physical changes. Forever young. Just with a little blood appetite.”

“Are you one of those people? Were you born this way?”

“Yes.” Her shoulders rolled back. “See, I told you, boring. I am the way I was always meant to be.”

The furrow was still there. His eyes were narrowed, too, as if he were trying to puzzle through things. “The ones with the different DNA. They get bitten, and they just—what? Bam, are vampires?”

“No.” Things were never that easy. “Surely you’ve heard some vampire legends? Three bites. Three is the charm. Because it takes that long for vampirism to activate in the body.”

“What the hell? Are you saying there is some kind of venom or something in the vamp bite? And the more a person gets bit, the more likely he is to sprout fangs?”

“I never said anything about venom.” Was he being deliberately difficult? “We’re not cobras. The bite activates dormant DNA. It takes three bites for that activation to be permanent, and like I said, it only works on certain individuals. For everyone else, nothing at all happens.”

He nodded.

Her gaze slid to the window. The sun would be rising soon. She could already feel it pulling at her. Weakening her. Being weak sucked.

Especially when she was so used to being strong.

“How do you know if someone can change? I mean, are you just blindly biting folks and hoping no one sprouts fangs?”

His words made her heart ache. “I’m lonely, Mick.”

“What?”

“I think it would be very nice to have a companion. Someone who didn’t mind spending eternity with me.” She laughed. “Or someone who was just up for a weekend of fun. Someone who knows all of my…
truths…
and can handle them. I think that would be very nice.” She turned away from him, suddenly very, very tired.

“Savannah…”

“You feel it,” she said, without looking back, “when someone has the potential to change. It’s instinctive. Primal. A vampire knows—knows with the very first bite. So the vampire and the human then have the choice—keep going or…” She hit the button on the wall. Her heavy interior shutters automatically closed, locking out the light. “Or walk away.” She glanced over her shoulder at him. “Want to know how many people I’ve changed in the last hundred years?”

He shook his head, but said, “Yes.”

“None. Because immortality isn’t easy, and it is something that must always be a choice.” Her shoulders slumped a bit. “Why don’t you bunk down on the couch? My room is the second one on the right. I’ll be in there until sunset.”

She’d taken about three steps when he said, “But it wasn’t a choice for you.”

Those words pierced right to her heart.

“Was it?” Mick pressed.

Savannah looked back at him once more. “No, it wasn’t.” The change had been slow—coming over a few months as she gradually craved regular food less and less. As her body had grown weaker during the daylight hours, then stronger at night.

Her parents had been dead. Mortals had killed them when she’d been barely more than a child. Someone had noticed that they didn’t age—someone had seen the truth—and her parents had been burned at the stake. The townspeople had thought her parents were witches.

Wrong supernatural creature.

“Your heart still beats.”

His words yanked her from the past.

“Your skin is warm to the touch. You breathe. You feel.”

“Yes.” Her hands curled along the door frame that led to the hallway. “I feel plenty.” Sometimes, she hurt so much that she wanted to scream into the night.

Stop it. Don’t.

Savannah cleared her throat. “There are a few things you should know. If you come into the room, it will look as if I’m sleeping, because I am. I’m not going into some weird half-dead state. I’m weaker during the day, so it just makes sense to sleep then.”

“Does the sun kill you?”

“No, it just makes me feel…” How to explain this? “Like I’ve been sedated. Everything takes more effort and strength.”

He advanced on her, slowly. “Should you be telling me this?”

“My vulnerabilities?” She smiled at him. “You need to know them so that you can keep me safe.”

“Would the other vampire really come after you during the day? Are you sure you need me?”

“I need you,” Savannah told him with absolute certainty. “And just because the vamp can’t hunt me now, it doesn’t mean he won’t send a human to do his dirty work. It’s an old trick, and with us searching for the killer now, we have to be prepared for anything.”

Mick nodded.

“So don’t trust anyone,” she warned him. “If someone tries to get in the house today, I’m counting on you to protect me.”
Show me that I can trust you.

“No one will get in.”

Good. She turned away from him.

“Savannah…”

His voice was a rough, deep rumble. She stilled, just for an instant.

“Do you have any idea…how much I want you?”

Yes.
“The sun hasn’t risen yet,” she murmured without glancing back at him again. “Why don’t we make the most of the night that’s left for us?” Her bare feet slid along the hardwood floor. “If you really want me, I’ll be waiting.” Then she headed into her room. Savannah left the bedroom door open.

She climbed into the bed.

And hoped he’d follow her.

***

Savannah had a new lover.

Not surprising. The woman had always enjoyed using humans.

He watched as the shutters closed at her warehouse. The new male was in there, the one who’d been accompanying her all around the city that night.

Just a harmless amusement? Or something more?

“You won’t win this game, love,” he murmured. “I won’t let you.” Two men were dead, and, before the next twenty-four hours were done, more bodies would be on the ground.

He turned away from the house. Headed to his SUV. A quick glance in the back seat assured him that his most recent prey was still unconscious. He’d let Will live, until his usefulness was done.

He slammed the car door. The tinted windows shielded him completely as he cranked the engine. He’d be safe and secure before the sun rose.

And when his strength returned fully, he’d get Will to talk. He’d have the human screaming all he knew.

Then it would be time to face Savannah once more.

Oh, my love, but I have missed you.

He hoped she appreciated all that he’d done for her. Everything, always, was for her.

***

Mick stood just outside of Savannah’s bedroom. His hands went to the hem of his shirt and he jerked it over his head.

Then he stilled.

His chest was covered in scars. The marks from that last attack that had taken him from the police force. His leg was even worse. The skin on his upper thigh had been shredded, and his knee was a crisscross of surgical scars.

Savannah on the other hand…she was absolute perfection. Silk and temptation.

Why the hell would she want him? This whole thing, it was
wrong.

He started to turn away.

But…

I haven’t wanted anyone this way before.
He’d never looked at someone and felt that punch straight to his gut. Maybe because there wasn’t anyone else like her.

She’d left the door open for him.

And when he walked into her bedroom, only a soft light glowed from the bedside lamp. Savannah was sitting in the bed, her back near the headboard.

The scrap of silk she’d been wearing was in a pool on the floor.

Holy fucking…

She smiled at him. “For a minute there, I was afraid you’d change your mind.”

He shook his head. Stepped toward her. His body felt too big and clumsy and his cock was so hard he ached. He wanted inside her more than he wanted to breathe. “I don’t think…I’m the kind of lover you’re used to having.”

Her head tilted back. Her blonde hair slid over her shoulders. She’d pulled the bedsheets up to cover her breasts. He wanted to see her breasts—her nipples. He wanted to touch and kiss every inch of her.

“You think I have a type?” Savannah asked.

“Polished and perfect, just like you.”

She laughed. He liked that sound. And he took another step forward.

“I am as far from perfect as you can get. Trust me, on the inside, I’ve shattered into a million pieces time and again.” Savannah lifted her hand, holding her palm out toward him. “You’re handsome, strong, and smart. You remind me of a warrior.”

“I’m scarred and rough. And I can be a real dick at times.” Or so his ex-supervisor at the PD had told him a time or twenty.

“I like you,” Savannah said. “Exactly as you are.”

Good. Because she was about to get all of him. “My control won’t last long with you.” He was amazed he hadn’t already pounced on her. That warning was the only one she’d get.

“Control is over-rated,” she said, her husky voice stroking his need even more. “I’d rather have hot, hard sex and just enjoy the pleasure, with you.”

Hell, yes.

He climbed onto the bed. Yanked those covers away from her, and let his gaze feast on her body. There were no marks from the bullets. No scars on her skin. She was gold and gorgeous and when he put his mouth on her breast, she arched toward him.

Her nipple was hard against his tongue. He licked and kissed and went wild with her taste.

Her hands were holding tight to him. Savannah’s nails sank into his shoulders, and he loved that sting. His hand slid between her legs, found her wet and ready, and Mick pushed two fingers inside of her. She gasped his name, and he
loved
the desire in her voice. Loved that she wanted him that desperately, the same way he wanted her.

Mick withdrew his fingers and positioned his cock at the entrance to her body. When he thrust into her, he was pretty sure he’d go insane. She was hot and tight and freaking paradise. His whole body shuddered and he eased back, only to drive balls-deep within her again. Her legs locked around him. She surged to meet him, moving in a perfect, frantic rhythm to match his strokes.

He braced his hands on either side of her body and pushed down on a long thrust that sent his shaft sliding over her sensitive core. She cried out and her nails sank deeper into him.

She was kissing his chest. Licking his skin. Driving him wild. But he wanted— “Bite,” Mick gasped out. “Do it, baby, bite me again.”

Twenty-four hours ago, he never would’ve wanted to be bitten. Twelve hours ago—hell, no. But right then, he wanted nothing more than her. All of her.

Her teeth sank into him, right above his heart, and pleasure slammed into him. He erupted within her, climaxing harder than he ever had in his entire life, and Savannah was with him. Mick could feel the contractions of her sex as she came around him.

The pleasure went on and on, wringing him out, pretty much destroying him for anyone else.

Then he felt the soft kiss of her lips over the small wounds on his chest. The drumming of his heartbeat still thundered in his ears as Mick lifted his head and gazed down at her.

She smiled up at him. “You really were worth waiting for.”

He frowned.

“Stay with me? For just a little while?” Savannah asked.

He’d never been the type to sleepover at a lover’s house—mostly because his relationships, hell, they
hadn’t
been relationships. Fast hook-ups, for him and his partners. The women had known the score and sure hadn’t been looking for anything but a few hours of pleasure. With the type of work he’d done on the Force, danger had been the only constant in his life.