Never Have A Vampire's Baby (16 page)

He smiled at the little lady and went tearing off back down the hall. He let his fangs come out and his face morph into the monster he could truly be. Growling, he rounded the corner and ran after the old man first. He picked him up by the night shirt he wore and got right in his face.

“You’re going to leave or I’ll be here every night to bite you until you do. Then I’ll bite her.”

“What is the meaning of this?” The little man’s voice shook but he kept a glare on his face. “I paid you good money to make that bitch leave, and you are doing this.”

He set him down and handed him the money. “Your money is no good to me, leave. This is her house anyway, I’m sure you can find somewhere else to go. Maybe one of the larger houses, you and your sister here can be miserable old fucks together.”

With that, he put the man outside and the woman hurried after him. It was one of the easier nights of work he’d had and for that he was totally grateful. Ten thousand down, only forty thousand to go. He wouldn’t have to steal as much the more he could get on his own.

“Here you go, as promised, ten thousand dollars now crawl on the floor like a little worm.”

“Excuse me?” Asher realized too late why it had been so easy. He walked over to the closet to find a little old lady tied to a chair. The woman in the bedroom wasn’t Henry’s wife, and Tater was standing in the doorway.

“The man you just put out into the cold is none other than Grant’s Pop Pop so when we tell him about this, your deadline is going to be shortened. I wouldn’t be surprised if he moved it up to tomorrow instead of Saturday, so you better get into that hunter whore’s vault if you know what I’m saying.”

The blonde woman was now standing beside Tater laughing and the old woman was moaning behind her gag, probably completely confused. Asher was really off his game. He should have seen through the whole thing. The older man hadn’t even been aware that they’d replaced the old broad with a much younger woman.

“Larry is telling Grant right now, so you can expect me to get a phone call at any moment.” Tater held his phone up to his face and then, when it did ring, he put it on speakerphone.

“Tell that asshole he has until tomorrow night to get the money and now it’s eighty thousand. If he doesn’t Tater, you kill that little hunter, you kill her, you hear me?” Grant hung up but it was now clear to Asher that he was completely screwed. He’d have to go try and manipulate Rita, and she was not going to be happy about it.

Chapter Five

Rita had spent a very sleepless night tossing and turning. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw him; his lips, his body. He would come into her window floating above her bed completely naked, she wouldn’t be able to take her eyes off his gorgeous body and feel the desire move through her own. He would float down to her, kiss her sweetly pressing his perfect body into hers. She wore tight leather, or rubber, or one time she had on a ballerina costume and just waited for him to take her, but she would wake up before he did.

It really made her angry that he was in her head. She wanted to think about something else but all she could think of was how much she wanted him to touch her again. It was too much, so finally she just gave up. For a while she just sat by the window and sipped tea, then she went downstairs to train and try to wear herself out, but even after an hour of that and a nice hot shower, she still couldn’t get him off her mind, and sleep escaped her.

Now, as she sat through a fairly important meeting at work, she was struggling to stay awake. There were a lot of meetings that were pointless. Today’s was about etiquette when it came to the break room. Who was supposed to clean up? Who could eat the food in the refrigerator marked Allan? Rita had a sneaky suspicion Allan had called the meeting simply because someone had eaten his lunch. She dozed off around the time a lady named Darla started talking about a pudding cup she’d had that went missing three months before.

The day crept on for Rita and she was determined to make it through, but by the time three o’clock rolled around, she’d locked her office and passed out on her couch. That’s why when she opened her eyes and saw Asher kneeling in front of her, she was shocked and angry.

“How the hell did you get in here?” she asked sitting up and moving away from him. She caught a glimpse of her hair in the window beside her door. It was a mess. She’d closed her blinds so no one would bother her. She tried to casually smooth it down.

“I’m a vampire,” he wiggled his fingers and she tilted her head at him. “Okay fine, I willed your assistant to let me in, but I have to talk to you.”

Her mouth hung open. Her assistant Marcus was already really scared of everything. He’d probably wet his pants when he saw Asher walking towards him.

“What could you possibly have to talk to me about?” she asked casually wiping her face, hoping she hadn’t been drooling. She’d been dreaming of him, again. Even in her daytime exhausted dreamy state, he was there. “Can you walk around in dreams?” she said suddenly.

“Um, no that’d be ridiculous. Why, are you dreaming about me?”

“No,” she said quickly ignoring the smug smile he gave her. She wanted to slap him, why the hell had she asked him that?

“Can I borrow eighty thousand dollars?” he asked and then she just stared at him for a long time, because it was such a ludicrous question. Several times she opened her mouth to say something and closed it again.

“Why would I ever lend you any money? I don’t have ten dollars in my pocket. Why would you think I would do that?”

“I don’t, but I have to tell you, you’re in danger. I'm going to have to will you to give me the money from the vault we know the order keeps.”

“I’m in danger? Why would I be in danger?”

“They think you and I are romantically involved because they saw me at your house. Now they’re going to kill you if I don’t steal eighty thousand dollars from the hunters, and I’m not willing to let that happen.”

Rita sat down. That wasn’t what she expected him to say. “Who's going to kill me?”

“Grant and his men.”

Rita knew the name Grant. Her family had been involved with a group of his goons that were running a trafficking ring for vampires. They’d procure the humans to be fed on against their will and then the vampires would have an unlimited supply.

“What the hell did you do to the shifters, Asher?” Rita stood and started to pace.

“I’m working in their territory and they don’t like it. You really don’t have to do anything to them to make them angry, they just are. I wouldn’t have showed up at your house if I knew they were following me. I’m not in the business of getting pretty girls in trouble.”

Rita stopped walking and glared at him. “You can’t have the money. I’d prefer it if you didn’t will me to do anything. I don’t like that shit.”

Rita felt a sense of dread. It made her think of Victor and what he did to her. The things he made her do and say. She wouldn’t share that feeling with Asher but she wouldn’t be controlled by anyone ever again if she had to kill him to keep it from happening. A strange feeling passed through her as she thought about killing him. It was a sadness she shook away immediately, she needed to continue thinking of him as the enemy, because that’s what he was.

“Fine, then we’ve reached an impasse. I can’t protect you from them, they are mean and big.” Asher was moving things on her desk while he talked. She moved over and picked up a snow globe one of her co-workers had gifted her from his hands and caught his eyes. She looked away quickly.

“My family will protect me. I don’t think Grant can infiltrate our fortress and he certainly can’t get past my dad’s sharp shooting.”

“Don’t underestimate them Rita,” he grabbed her arm and looked into her eyes. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.” He pulled her to him, kissing her and she didn’t push him away.

She let him; she let his hands tangle in her hair as his tongue eagerly searched her mouth. She felt his hardness pressing against her and felt her insides turn hot and liquid. Pushing her tongue back against his she pulled him down on her couch and writhed beneath him pressing her hips into his and moaning as he pushed against her sex. Then she came to her senses.

“No, this isn’t happening. No. You have to go, you’re not the man I need in my loins.”

“I’m in your loins?” He was grinning and breathing as heavily as she was.

“No, I don’t know what I’m saying. You have to go. I’ve clearly lost my mind.”

“Okay fine, but I mean it, be careful.”

“I will.”

She waited until he left and then sat down hard trying to erase the feel of his body from her head. She’d never wanted someone as much as she wanted him and he wasn’t doing the mind trick thing, it was her pure lust. She could own it.

Twice she thought about sneaking down to Luke Samuel's office. There was a time when they’d sleep together, and he’d be game to do it again, but she knew the only thing that would satisfy her would be Asher, and that wasn’t happening so she just tried to make it through the rest of the day.

***

Asher couldn’t shake how Rita made him feel. He was way too turned on from the brief moment of passion. He wanted nothing more than to press her up against the windows of her office and bury himself deep inside of her.

He’d walked through town and then paced back through before settling on just going to a bar and having a drink to cool down his raging emotions. It was dark before he left and he found himself drawn towards her house before he even realized where he was going. As he got closer to the woods nearby her house he started to smell blood. A lot of blood and he wasn’t sure where it was coming from. For him to smell it as strongly as he was, someone had to lose a lot. He followed his nose into the woods close to Rita’s house with a deep feeling of dread. Had he come too late?

The shifters had said he had the next day, but they weren’t the best at keeping their promises. He started to run towards the smell. It grew stronger and finally he was in the woods, branches smacking him as he ran.

She was lying in a pile of leaves and they were coated with blood. He couldn’t see her face, the blood covered every inch of her. At first he thought she was dead but as he slid to a stop beside her, she moved her hand. He fought through the smell of the blood and knelt beside her. Wiping the blood from her face so he could see if she could open her eyes, he looked for the wound.

“Greta, you have to tell me where you’re hurt.” She didn’t respond just moaned loudly and he didn’t know if he could move her. “Listen I’m going to pick you up and it’s going to hurt, I’m sorry okay.” He lifted her and she cried out, unable to lift her arms and wrap them around his neck. He let her hang limp in his arms and carried her quickly back to her house. He couldn’t tell where the blood was coming from.

“Is this all your blood Greta?” he asked, knowing she probably wouldn’t be able to tell him.

“No, it’s Carl’s blood,” she croaked out before she lost consciousness and he picked up his pace. He entered the yard as her parents came out of the house and carried her towards them. Her mother screamed and her dad moved forward quickly.

“I found her in the woods. I think she needs an ambulance, she said it’s not all her blood. Should I call the ambulance?” Asher felt kind of helpless as he lay Greta down.

“No, no ambulance, bring her inside please.” Greta’s mom rushed inside and he lifted her again following her in.

Rita chose that moment to pull into the driveway and Asher met her eyes as he carried her sister into the house and followed her parents down the stairs. Asher realized they were probably distracted by their daughter being hurt or they’d never invite a vampire into their home willingly. He walked into what looked like a mortuary set up in the very back of the basement. There was a table with a shower and a drain. There were lots of scary tools and things lying around that looked like they would be used to cut up someone. Greta’s mother set about showering her body and washing the blood down the drain.

“She said it’s not all her blood before she passed out.” Asher didn’t know Rita was coming until she attacked him; he had been too focused on her sister’s bloody body.

Rita scratched at his face and punched into him. He kept trying to hold her back, but he didn’t want to hurt her. She twisted out of his grasp and started to hit him all over again.

“Rita, stop,” her father said. “He didn’t do this, he found her and saved her life by bringing her here. I don’t care what your problems are right now, we need to focus on your sister.” Asher tried to hold her, but she pulled away glaring at him.

All Rita could think was this was her fault. Greta was lying on the table bleeding and vulnerable and it was her fault. She’d not listened to Asher, and obviously the shifters thought Greta was who he’d come to see that night. She’d made Luke take her out after work and toyed with the idea of going home with him. In the end, she’d left without even kissing him. It was a lost cause.

“Rita, Asher said she told him it’s not all her blood. Do you know who Carl is?”

“I do know who that is. I’m not supposed to tell you though.” Rita knew Carl, and she was surprised Greta was sneaking around with him again. He was a vampire she liked to play cat and mouse with. They’d been off and on since the family had come into town and they had a very volatile relationship.

“There’s no time for secrets, Rita, we need to know if he did this.”

“He’s someone she was seeing, and I think that whoever did this to her really killed him. I think that’s why his blood is all over her. Mom can you see where she’s hurt?”

“It’s a deep cut to her abdomen. I’m working on it now, but most of the blood washed off. She’s still lost a lot. You all need to leave and let me work.”

They went upstairs and sat in the kitchen. Her father went up to his room to sulk for a while because his wife kicked him out when she was trying to save their daughter. Rita couldn’t blame her, it was probably really nerve wracking trying to be a doctor for your own child.

“We’re going to have to tell them Asher,” Rita said. She left out the part that she was responsible. She left out how guilty the whole thing made her feel.

“About the money?”

“Yes, they will know what to do if we just tell them. Greta almost died, and I can’t have that be on me.”

Just then a shrill cry came from the basement and everyone raced back down to her mother to see what was wrong.

“Christ, honey come look. She’s been bitten by a shifter. She’s going to freaking turn.” She’d turned Greta on her side and showed them a nasty looking bite mark on her back.

Rita looked at the mark. It was larger so it couldn’t have been a small animal. It was yellow and bloody with a slight glow around it. Rita had never seen someone bitten before the change. It was really hard to imagine her proud sister being taken down by a shifter. There must have been several of them. Greta would have been so pissed and they killed her lover. That was going to make her even angrier.

Her parents were going to have a difficult time with the whole thing. They’d never dreamed they’d have a shifter for a daughter. She didn’t know what the rules for hunting were, but she had a pretty good feeling the order would frown upon the whole thing.

Asher and Rita looked at each other, a feeling of dread passing between them. They hadn’t meant to kill Greta, and they hadn’t gone after the wrong girl. This was a warning to the two of them, a warning of what was going to happen to her family. If they had intended for her to die, they wouldn’t have bothered biting her. It was a weird play on their part, but an effective one. Something had to be done to protect her family.