Seduced by the Night (6 page)

The moment she spotted him, her eyes lit up and a small smile touched her lips. Or maybe that was his imagination. He raised his hand in acknowledgment and couldn't stop the warm feeling that filled him when he saw her hand lift in a small wave. Then the curtain closed and she was gone, but the warm feeling stayed with him the rest of the night.

Bethany
woke late the next morning feeling more rested than she had in several days. It took her a moment to realize why. It was because, for the first time since this ordeal started, she felt truly safe. She knew nothing about Dirk Adams and on the surface his dark looks and mysterious habits of lurking in the shadows should have scared her. Instead, he made her feel safe.

She decided not to try to figure out why that was and climbed out of bed. She was having lunch with Miles to go over the announcement of their engagement for the paper. She was also secretly hoping to worm more information from him on who had commissioned the project she was working on.

There were several aspects of the plant extract that bothered her. For instance, the way human cells absorbed it so readily suggested it could be addictive. It also created an unnatural increase in molecular activity, which might give anyone taking it a sense of being stronger or faster than normal. She'd even discovered a by-product resulting from a reaction with some of the body's natural enzymes that was similar to dopamine. In moderation, it might leave the user with a pleasant buzz, but if taken in excess, it might result in psychotic episodes.

To
Bethany
, the extract had all the earmarks of a designer drug. The question in her mind, which never would have been a question in the first place if Miles would just be honest with her, was whether this drug was really slated for medical, FDA-approved distribution as Miles led her to believe—or for illegal street distribution.

She would not be a party to something illegal. Even if she succeeded in creating the perfect synthetic duplicate, she'd destroy it before she let it be used for illicit purposes.

Lunch proved to be as uneventful as it was frustrating. All Miles would talk about was their upcoming wedding and how to word the announcement for the paper. Regardless of how many times she tried to steer the conversation  to work, he brought them right back again. They finally parted company with
Bethany
no more knowledgeable about their client than she had been before.

Going directly to the lab,
Bethany
tried to push lunch from her mind and for the next two hours focused on her work. She was heavily immersed in thought when one of the techs from the second floor popped in to visit, carrying a shoebox-sized package wrapped in brown paper.

"This is for you, Bethany. Delivery guy dropped it off downstairs and since I was coming up anyway, I said I'd bring it to you."

"T
hank
s, Laura, I appreciate it." Baffled, she put down her instruments and then carefully peeled off the rubber gloves she wore. "Here, I'll take it." She waited until the young woman left and then glanced at the bodyguard. He seemed uninterested in it and Dirk's assessment of him flashed through her mind, quickly forgotten when she saw the name on the return address. It said, simply,
Adams
.

A thrill of excitement raced through her and she took the package into her office where she would have some privacy.

Ripping off the brown paper, she saw that it really was an old shoe box. Curious, she lifted the lid. Inside was a small hairspray-sized canister with an easy spray nozzle. She lifted it out and turned it over, but there was no writing or label on the can. Beneath it, though, she found a folded note.

Bethany
laid the canister aside and read.

Bethany
—
This canister contains a mixture of Mace and pepper spray. Do me a favor and keep it with you at all times
—
especially at night. Dirk
.

Bethany
wasn't sure how she felt about Dirk's gift, but she placed the canister in her purse. It never hurt to be cautious, she thought, returning to her work.

Several hours later, she and Mr.
Yarbro
left the lab. They arrived at her apartment building and though she looked for him,
Bethany
couldn't see Dirk anywhere. Feeling irrationally let down, she silently scoffed at herself. A man like Dirk had more important things to do than watch over her all the time.

And yet, she couldn't dismiss the feeling that she was being watched.

After taking the elevator to the third floor,
Bethany
stood patiently in the hallway while Mr.
Yarbro
checked out her apartment. Still thinking about Dirk, a grunt from inside drew her attention and she was instantly alert.

"Mr.
Yarbro
? Are you all right?" She imagined the big muscular man running into the small corner table or plant stand next to the window. When no quick response came, a chill ran down her spine. Digging in her purse, she pulled out the canister of Mace, grateful that she had kept it, and held it in front of her as she moved slowly through her front door.

The sight that met her was straight out of a nightmare. Mr.
Yarbro
lay on the floor, a man bent over him with his mouth pressed to the bodyguard's neck.

Blood seeped from the seam of the man's lips against the bodyguard's neck and dripped onto the carpet. When the man tilted his head up, she found herself staring into a pair of red glowing eyes.

Transfixed with terror, she nearly missed the movement off to the side.

This time, she didn't hesitate to act. Pulling the trigger  on the canister, she turned to her right and sprayed the Mace blindly in the direction of the second man before racing from her apartment.

Heart pounding, she stabbed the elevator button several times, praying for the doors to open. She looked back down the hall and saw the man stumbling after her, his hand over his eyes. About to bolt for the stairs, the elevator doors opened and she jumped in, slamming her hand against the button to shut them again.

Seemingly in slow motion, the man charged forward, his image framed by the closing doors. They were almost shut when his arm shot through the opening. Screaming,
Bethany
stumbled against the back wall of the elevator, barely escaping his reaching fingers. She raised the can of Mace and fired a steady stream. The man fell back and the doors slid closed.

Unable to remain still, heart racing,
Bethany
shifted from one foot to the other while the elevator descended, the lights over the door flashing on and off as they counted down the floors. As soon as she reached the bottom, the doors opened and she raced out, not stopping until she reached the street. Then, she hesitated. Feeling at a loss for what to do, she glanced at the darkened entryway on the opposite side, praying Dirk would be there as he'd been the night before.

He wasn't.

The tenuous grip she'd had on the reins of her fear slipped and pure, unadulterated panic filled her. She spun around, searching the night, afraid that whatever manner of monster it was that had just killed her bodyguard and chased after her might also be lurking out here, waiting to spring on her and rip out her throat.

Just then, the front door of her apartment building burst open and a man ran out.
Bethany
immediately backed away, never taking her eyes off him. She was about to bolt when she heard him call her name.

"Dirk… Mr. Adams? Is that you?" Her heart pounded in her chest as the figure slowly moved toward her. Uncertainty gripped her and she stood, frozen in place, straining to make out his features, but he kept his face tilted down and the light shining behind him cast his features into shadow.

"Dirk?" she asked again. "Is that you?"

Now, only a few feet away, he finally looked up. Her heart plunged to her toes at the sight of the unfamiliar face with eyes that glowed with an unnatural red light. Just like the eyes of the man upstairs had glowed. Suddenly every horror movie she'd ever seen flashed through her mind. Clutching the Mace, she raised her arm to spray him, but before her finger could pull the trigger, he closed the last few feet of distance and grabbed her wrists, tearing the canister from her hand and tossing it to the ground.

"No… no… please." She barely had the breath to force the words past her trembling lips. Never in her life had she been so terrified.

"I hear your heart racing. Are you frightened, little rabbit?" He spoke in an almost conversational tone, despite the manic gleam in his red eyes. When his lips curled back farther, she saw the sharp fangs in his mouth. "The blood, pulsing through your veins, calls to me. I can't help but wonder what it will taste like."

Instinctively, she tried to pull away, but he held her easily. When he stepped closer, her paralysis broke and  she tried to break free. He only laughed at her as he drove her backward until she was pinned against the opposite building, with no means of escape. She was going to die— and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She stared in horror as he bared his fangs and lowered his head toward her neck. She screamed.

Held in his
viselike
grip,
Bethany
fought for her life, expecting at any moment to feel the sharp stab of pain when he bit her. Suddenly her attacker jerked ramrod-stiff and a strange expression came over his face. He looked down, and following the direction of his gaze,
Bethany
saw the glistening tip of a sword sticking out of his chest. As her mind struggled to make sense of it, his grip on her relaxed and he crumpled to the ground at her feet.

She stared at him in stunned surprise for several seconds, and when she dared to look up, Dirk stood there, sword in hand and a cold, feral expression on his face.

With a sob of relief, she threw herself into his arms. He embraced her, pulling her close. "Please tell me that you're all right," he said softly, his chest rumbling against her cheek.

"I couldn't find you…" A shudder ran through her.

"It's okay, Beth."

"You weren't in the doorway."

"I'm here now. I won't let anything happen to you."

She almost sobbed with relief, because she knew that he would protect her, unlike… "Oh, God! Mr.
Yarbro
— there's another one upstairs."