Sucker Bet (31 page)

It was decent acting, but Nate wasn't buying it. "Tell me who did it, and sure, I'll protect you. I won't press charges against you for being an accessory to murder either."

Nate expected her to prevaricate. To stall for time. But she just looked him straight in the eye and said, "It was David Foster who killed the boys on the loop. I do not know who killed Gregor, but perhaps it was David as well."

The name was the one Gwenna had mentioned earlier. Something about David Foster warning her not to meet Slash. "Really? And how do you know that?"

"Because he told me. He has been pursuing me, uh, romantically?" She looked like she needed confirmation on her English so Nate nodded.

"Okay, so why did he kill them? And why the hell would he tell you about that?" It didn't exactly sound like flirt material. Hey, I whacked these guys, let's go out for pizza and a movie. Nate wasn't buying it.

But she just shrugged. "How should I know? He is strange. And the more I consider it, the more I am convinced he killed Gregor. To free me, you understand, because he wishes me for himself."

"Sure, I understand." That it was all a load of bullshit. "So where can I find David Foster?"

She blinked, her head tilted down, eyes looking up at him from under those mink-colored eyelashes, her glossy red lips parting slightly. It might move another man, but Nate was way too far into feelings for Gwenna, and too much of a jaded cop to be even the slightest bit impressed. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his handcuffs. "Or we can talk about this at the police station."

The pout drooped. "He is at the club downstairs. The band is having a private party for a hundred vampire friends and fans and several hundred mortals. Five of which are slayers who are planning to use this party to kill as many vampires as they can."

Was she serious? Nate frowned. "How the hell could they manage that at a casino club? And what kind of party starts at one in the morning?"

"A vampire party. And it's all been planned. Each of the slayers is willing to die to purge the earth of the evil of the vampire."

"Like suicide bombers?"

"Exactly."

And she looked pleased at the thought. Nate could see that. She wanted death. Whether it was for all vampires or one in particular, he wasn't sure, and didn't care. "So why would you reveal this little plot to me?" She wasn't stupid, so she had to have a reason.

"So you will go and try to stop the plan, and you will be killed, too."

Wow. She was one bitter little thing. Quick on her feet. And vicious. Too bad Nate had no intention of dying. Not when he'd just escaped that very fate earlier in the day. Not when Gwenna had risked herself and recrimination from her brother and Donatelli.

"Well, let's get to it then, shall we?" He gestured to the door.

She brushed past him. "And you might wish to know that the slayers are determined to see Gwenna Carrick die tonight. They know who she is, how important she is in vampire politics. They know how much her death will anger vampires."

That stopped Nate cold. "No one is going to touch Gwenna."

The smile she gave him was smug. "She is probably meeting Slash right now, yes?"

Damn it. That had never even occurred to Nate. But it was exactly something Gwenna would do, to prove her independence.

He went into the hall, dragging Sasha with him. She squawked in protest at the pressure on her arm, but he wasn't really hurting her and he wasn't in the mood to care about her sensibilities.

The elevators were closed. And there was no Gwenna in front of them.

Gwenna found it really irritating that David Foster, the quintessential nice guy, with a wide smile and chewing gum in his mouth, could be a cold-blooded murderer. It just boggled the mind.

It was wrong and she intended to get to the bottom of it. As David ushered her off the elevator on the second floor, she glanced at him. "Why did you do it?"

"Do what?" He looked around—nervously, she suspected.

"Infiltrate the loop and kill those boys. They were just playing around, it was a hobby to them. And you killed them." That distressed her beyond belief. It was never fair to involve some innocent bystander in vampire business and politics. And surely that's what this was.

She didn't really expect him to answer but he stopped walking, the knife hidden in his waistband. Gwenna thought she could probably break away from him and run, but lie would catch her. They were in a quiet mirrored hallway with only one other couple twenty feet away, though God knew she didn't want to involve any more mortals in the mess. Besides, she was curious as to where he was taking her.

"I didn't enjoy doing that. But I had to."

"Why? Were they threatening you? They're just mortals, David. They can act out their slayer fantasies all they want, but it's very difficult for even the most skilled slayer to kill a vampire. You know that." None of this was making any sense to her. "How does Sasha play into all of this?" And what was Sasha currently saying to Nate upstairs?

Saying Sasha's name made David even more agitated. Sweat was on his forehead and he shifted anxiously. "Chechikov was going to kill her. But first, he was going to torture her, unless she took out the slayers. He's already been knocking her around… right since the first day they were married. So I was helping her, taking care of Chechikov's nasty requests so he would leave her alone. I followed Chechikov to the Ava out of curiosity, and watched him sneaking around the pool. And I realized he was mortal. It seemed like an amazing opportunity, you know? So I killed him, too. Problem solved. Sasha free, slayers left alone…" He leaned forward, so close to her she could see the shadow of his beard and smell the cinnamon of his gum. "I'm going to take you into this club and you're going to dance and drink and have a great time. Just like you did at The Impalers concert."

Gwenna ignored that. She was still floored from the obvious realization that David was Slash, and he was absolutely and utterly in love with Sasha. Poor sot. That would be a cold bed to lie in, she imagined. And he had killed for the witch. Maybe she wasn't being fair to Sasha, but somehow she doubted there was a hidden heart of gold.

"You're in love with Sasha, aren't you?"

David's eyes narrowed, then he just scoffed. "I'm not discussing anything else with you."

"Love makes you do insane things, doesn't it? But trust me, David, some people are not worth our devotion. They just drag us down to their level. I should know. I was married to Roberto Donatelli for three hundred years."

"I'm not interested in this conversation," he said, and took her elbow, pulling her back down the hall.

"Why are you taking me into a club?" What the hell did any of this have to do with her? A thought occurred to her. "Is Kelsey here?"

But he looked genuinely confused by that. "No, why would she be?"

Gwenna dug her feet into the carpet. Her mind was racing, struggling to keep up. "The slayers are here, aren't they?"

He just wiped his free hand on the bottom of his black T-shirt and yanked her harder. "I wouldn't drink so much this time if I were you."

Since she couldn't decide if that was meant to protect her or send her up the proverbial river, she said nothing. But he had to have a decent reason for hauling her with him, and she wanted to know what it was.

There was a doorman scanning IDs through a computer and verifying they were on the guest list. "I'm on the list," Gwenna said stupidly when he scanned her license and her name popped up. Now why was that exactly? Who would gain from having her attend what obviously wasn't just open night at the club, but a private party. One she knew nothing about.

Then it occurred to her. The slayers knew that killing her would invoke a lot of anger from vampires. Ethan. Alexis. Roberto. All of them with enormous amounts of power and people at their disposal. They wouldn't take her murder lightly. They would retaliate. So in essence, killing her would start a war.

What a special feeling to know her stupidity might be responsible for exposing all of her species to mortal condemnation, ensuring the death of hundreds if not thousands of vampires and mortals alike.

The doorman handed her identification back. "Thank you, Ms. Carrick."

When he moved, Gwenna saw that he had a gun tucked under his button-up shirt, which was open to his T-shirt. And he was mortal. "Thank you," she told him with a polite smile, stripping him of his weapon before he was even aware she had moved. A quick thrust of her hand and she had him down on the ground in a glamour, breathing heavily, eyes closed.

She rounded on David, gun aimed at his chest. "Explain what the hell is going on here."

He cursed colorfully. "You can't kill me with that."

"And you can't kill me with that knife. But we can both cause each other some pain and slow each other down. Which puts us at a stalemate."

"I'm stronger than you."

"I'm smarter than you."

"Someone's coming down the hall," he said.

Gwenna could hear them, too. "Get behind the desk. And drag the doorman with you."

"No!"

"Yes, you idiot. If someone sees us, they'll call the cops and that will ruin whatever nefarious deeds you have planned for inside that club."

That spurred him into action. He grabbed the doorman by the feet and hauled him behind the desk, tugging on Gwenna's shirt as he went by. She went with him, just because she wanted to keep an eye on him. The whole situation was ridiculous. Squatting down behind the desk, the gun still loosely in her hand, she glanced at David next to her. He looked tired. Resigned. The doorman was drooling, crumpled up on the floor. And she felt the urge to giggle, but restrained herself.

Then she realized who was coming down the hall. It was Nate. She could hear his voice, low, angry. Smell him. It was instinctive to stand, but halfway up she dropped back down. If he was speaking to someone, odds were it was Sasha, so it would be wise to see what they were doing first. She shot David a stern look to ensure his silence, but he looked too miserable to say anything.

"If you're lying to me, I'll be very, very angry," Nate said, and Gwenna was glad she wasn't the one who had ticked him off. That was not a pleasant tone he was using.

"I am not lying," a woman replied, her voice almost as cold as Nate's, her accent Russian. Definitely Sasha.

David's eyes widened when he realized who it was.

"David will be here at the club and you can arrest him. He deserves to rot in jail for murdering my husband and for harassing me."

There was a sharp intake of air from David and he whispered, "That…"

Bitch. Exactly what Gwenna had thought. She was sorry to be right in this case. David looked like he was going to revisit his dinner, and he looked absolutely heartbroken. Utterly crushed.

"He killed the others to incite the slayers to violence, and he has been stalking me with his unwanted attentions."

They opened the door and went into the club. Gwenna heard laughter and music float out. She and David sat still for another second, until she reached out and patted his knee. He had killed three men, but he had thought he was doing so to protect the woman he loved from her monster of a husband. She actually felt a certain amount of pity for him.

"I'm sorry. She isn't worth it, you know."

"Yeah." David squared his shoulders. "Guess I should have known a woman like that wouldn't be into me."

"You don't want her into you. She has issues. Serious issues."

"Whatever. It's fine. My online name isn't Dumb Fuck for no reason." He turned to her. "Don't go in there. They're going to kill you."

So David was both Slash and Dumb Fuck. That was clever. "Who are the slayers?"

"There's five of them, all wearing T-shirts that say, 'Get Impaled, You Know You Want It.' "

Gwenna blinked, and again had the completely inappropriate urge to laugh. "That's creative."

He gave a brief smile. "I think they call that a double entendre."

She had to ask, had to confirm what she thought, because she was convinced David wasn't really a bad sort after all. "The boys on the loop… did they suffer?"

His eyes shifted away from her. "No. I put a glamour on them, killed them, then drained them. Worst thing I've ever done… it was a horrible feeling. But I thought I was protecting whatsername from her husband."

"You need to make restitution in some way to those families, because what you did was wrong, even if your reason was noble."

He didn't answer. He just stood up and was gone.

Gwenna wrinkled her nose. She really needed to work on the lack of badass-ness in her personality. Gigantic softie that she was, she'd just let a murderer zip away to God knows where.

What was she going to tell Nate?
He seemed like a nice guy, honest
.

Somehow she didn't think that was going to go over well.

She stood up and went into the club to find the man she loved and explain herself.

And take out five vampire slayers wearing ironic T-shirts.

Nate wondered why people weren't dropping from seizures nightly from the irritating strobe lights flashing in the dance club. It was one of those Vegas hot spots that he normally wouldn't get within ten feet of, and wouldn't be allowed entrance to anyway. His shoes weren't cool enough. But there had been no one at the door tonight and it was a private party, though it was still filled with skinny half-dressed women and pretty men. The purple velvet sofas were all stuffed with people, tables in front of them littered with exotic drinks, the DJ pumping out loud music with words he couldn't understand.

Sasha kept trying to get away from him, so he was holding her hand like they were lovers, but with an iron grip on her.

"You will never figure out who the slayers are," she said, trying yet again to yank herself to freedom.

It was sheer stubbornness. He was amazingly strong now that he was immortal. "Which is why you're going to tell me who the slayers are, because if you don't, you're going to die right along with everyone else when they carry out whatever their plan is."