Thirst [All-American Vampires 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (21 page)

He just gave a shrug and pulled back out onto the road. As soon as they reached the highway, with their tail tagging along, Hawk got on his phone again.

“Three men. Dark-blue sedan. I couldn’t get the license plates, but they’re sticking right on my ass. I’ll get in touch as soon as we get close to Southaven.”

He closed the phone, and Claire grabbed his arm. “What are you going to do, Hawk?”

“We’re going to take care of these bozos, Claire. I’d bet money it’s the same three that were asking about you at the casino. I figured they’d show up. Better now than later, where they could do the most damage to our plan to get your sister out.”

“But it’s just you and Brady and three of them. Shouldn’t we wait for more backup?”

He just shook his head. “Don’t worry. Brady and I can handle them. Remember, Claire, it’s what we do.”

He took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, but it didn’t help. She still worried.

“Talk to me about something,” she begged him about twenty minutes later. She needed something to take her mind off of the car behind them.

“Like what?” His voice held a mix of curiosity and exasperation.

“I don’t know. Anything. Tell me how you met the Buchanans.” She threw out the first thing that came to her head.

He chuckled. “Now that is a story. All right. I’ll tell you. It was 1849 in what is now Arizona. The place was wild, lawless. It made it easy to hide. Although the sun was killer.”

She smiled.

“I spent most of my time alone, out in the wilderness in a cave system I’d discovered but close enough so that I could reach what they were calling civilization once a week or so. I had to feed, and occasionally I got tired of my own company. I’d hit the saloon, play cards, find a blood donor, sometimes a whore if I had enough money. I was sitting in a game, not really anything exciting, when these two guys come in. One of ’em starts bullshitting one of the working girls, talking her up. Problem was, another guy had been hitting on her and got pissed. Punches were swung. It was a helluva entertaining sight.”

“What happened next?”

“Well, the other guy, the one that wasn’t fighting, he came over and sat down next to our table, drinking his whiskey like he didn’t have a care in the world. Soon as he sat next to me, I knew what he was. Vampire, just like me. Hell, he was the first one I’d run into since the group that turned me. It was a shock. I didn’t know how to react, so I just sat there. He looked over at me and toasted me with his drink. Then he turned back to watch the fight. I realized then that the other one was probably a vamp, too. He could easily have beat the shit out of that guy he was fighting.”

“Why didn’t he?”

“He was enjoying himself. He was playing with the guy and having a good old time. That was Ty. He hasn’t changed much. Still loves a good fight.”

“Good grief!” Claire had started laughing.

“When the fight was over, we all sat down and started talking. They were just passing through on their way to California to look for gold. They invited me to go along, and I didn’t have any reason not to.”

“And did you find gold?”

Hawk grinned. “Now that’s a story for another day.”

Claire nodded in understanding. “And you’ve been friends ever since?”

“Pretty much.” He continued telling her about some of his exploits he’d had with the Buchanan brothers and kept her pretty distracted. About thirty minutes later he nodded to the sign they were approaching on the highway. “It looks like we’re almost to Southaven.”

He called Brady again, and they went over their plan. From what Claire could gather, they were going to lure the sedan into a narrow alley Hawk knew of in a deserted part of town. The car would be trapped.

When Hawk hung up, she reiterated her uncertainty about the plan. “Hawk, this sounds really dangerous. Are you sure we shouldn’t wait until you have more guys to help?”

“I’m sure. We’ve got it under control.” Hawk gave her a hard look. “And while we’re on the subject, when everything starts going down, you plant your sweet ass on the floorboard, and don’t you get up until I come and get you. Do you hear me?”

She didn’t appreciate being talked to as if she were a two-year-old, and she let him know it. “I hear you. I’m not an idiot. I know I’d just be in the way.”

“Exactly. I can’t concentrate on doing what I need to do if I’m worrying about you getting hurt. I want you as far away from any fighting as possible. I don’t know if those guys are armed. They’re probably not, but anything’s possible. A shot won’t kill you unless it hits you in the head or heart, but I’d rather avoid any gunshot wounds if possible. They do hurt like a son of a bitch.”

She shivered. After that, the conversation ceased. Hawk concentrated on his driving, taking the exit into Southaven and driving down a series of streets, heading closer to town. Chancing a glance back, she saw that the sedan was following behind them with another car a ways back. She assumed that must be Brady.

They passed through a heavily trafficked area and then moved out, leaving the more populated areas behind. Streetlights got fewer and fewer, and the buildings had an abandoned feel. She knew they must be getting close to the point that Hawk had planned for the ambush.

When he picked up the phone to call Brady, her suspicions were confirmed.

“About a half mile down there’s a narrow road on the right that squeezes in between two of these old warehouses. Follow me and stick close to their ass, okay? After we get about halfway down, I’ll brake. You climb on their ass. And then we’ll see what we’ve got.”

He hung up and looked at her. “Go ahead and get down on the floor.”

Stifling a protest, she did as he said, scooting the seat back as far as it would go and then lowering herself into a balled-up position on the floor of the SUV. Comfortable it was not. She was scrunched up as tightly as she could get. Hawk grinned down at her, and she stuck her tongue out at him. He just shook his head and reminded her, “Do not stick that head up no matter what you hear. And if anyone else tries to get to you, you move over into the driver’s seat and you floor this truck. Don’t worry about me or Brady. You just get to safety. We’ll find you.”

Claire didn’t like it, but she nodded her head in agreement.

* * * *

Hawk took the turn, checking his rearview mirror to make sure that the sedan followed. It did, right on his tail. He grinned to himself. Brady turned right behind them, and he wondered how long it would take before the guys realized they’d got themselves into one helluva predicament. Casting one final glance at Claire where she huddled down on the floorboard, he slammed on the brakes, jerking the wheel so that the car slid sideways, blocking the road and putting Claire on the side opposite where the other car had been forced to stop.

He told her, “Lock the door behind me,” before he jumped out and began running toward the other vehicle. A quick look told him that Brady had done the same. Now the car, and its passengers, had nowhere to go. Stopping a few feet from the other vehicle, he drew his gun and held it on them, motioning for them to get out. He could see them talking, their heads together, hands gesturing frantically. Finally, the driver’s door opened, and the vampire exited the vehicle. He walked toward the front end of the car, and Hawk got a good look at his face. He looked stupid and mean. He had dirty hair that Hawk thought was supposed to be red. His eyes were squinty and bloodshot.

“Hands up,” Hawk barked, not trusting the man one inch.

“Look, man, I don’t…” His whiny voice grated on Hawk’s ears, trying his patience.

Hawk cocked his weapon and repeated his order. Adding, for good measure, “Right now.”

The man glared at Hawk, but he raised his hands, showing Hawk that they were empty. Brady moved to cover the two in the vehicle as Hawk moved closer.

“Who are you, and why are you following us?” He studied the face of the man in front of him and knew the second he spoke that he was lying.

The man smiled. “We weren’t following you, dude. Hell, we were just going to visit a friend. I don’t know what’s got you so jumpy.”

Hawk allowed a mean smile to crease his face. “You’re lying. And not very well.
Dude
.” He tilted his head to one side. “Now, either start talking or I’m going to start beating the truth out of you.”

“Really man…” The man rushed forward, lowering his shoulders to plow into Hawk’s midsection.

The gun flew out of Hawk’s hand, and he cussed as it hit the ground and slid across the street out of reach. How the hell had he let this fool get the jump on him? The vamp fell on top of him. Using his legs as leverage, he arched up, flipping the man off him. Then they were both up. The man Hawk had started to think of as Red came at him again. He was slow. Hawk kicked out and caught his opponent on the side of his knee. The man yelled and went down again. He lay on the ground for a few seconds, and Hawk risked a glance over at Brady, who was busy with a second vampire. They were rolling around in the middle of the road, the other vamp’s hands were around Brady’s throat, but Brady was punching him in the head with quick, short jabs.

His attention was drawn back to the man he’d knocked down, who’d finally struggled to his feet. Hawk saw that the man now held a knife in his hand. He narrowed his eyes. “Are you sure you want to go there, boy?” he taunted his adversary.

The man just snarled and came in low, knife held ready to strike. Hawk stepped to the side and, in one elegant movement, knocked the man’s hand aside, twisting it so that he dropped the knife. Then a quick jab against the vampire’s temple rendered him unconscious. Hawk had just bent down to pick up the knife when a woman’s scream pierced the night, followed by the sound of breaking glass. Turning around, he saw the third vampire had smashed out the window of his SUV and opened the passenger door. He was pulling a struggling Claire from the safety of the vehicle.

She was fighting like a little tigress, but she was not strong enough to keep the vampire from getting a grip on her arm and pulling her around in front of him. Like his buddy, he also had a knife, and in a blink he was holding it against Claire’s throat. Hawk froze. A deep-enough cut through the jugular and not even the healing powers of a vampire’s blood could save her.

Hawk heard Brady move up to stand beside him and cast a quick look sideways. Brady nodded, indicating that he’d taken care of the other vampire. So the only one still in play was the one who currently had Claire. Her eyes met his, and he could see how frightened she was. She lifted her chin and straightened up as much as she could. Hawk felt a rush of pride at her courage. She wouldn’t buckle. That’s the message she was sending him with her body language. He returned his attention to her attacker, who had begun to speak.

“Back off. Right now. Or I cut her.” Hawk could see the vampire was nervous, his eyes darting around and his hands clenching so tightly on Claire’s arm the knuckles were white. That didn’t make Hawk feel any better. The most dangerous men were nervous ones with weapons, because you never knew what in the hell they might do if they got spooked.

“Calm down, friend. We don’t want anything bad to happen, do we?”

“I’m not a fool. And I ain’t your friend. You and your buddy back up right now, or I’m gonna start slicing.” The man’s eyes kept darting between him and Brady. Hawk cast a glance at his friend, who tilted his head slightly to one side. They’d worked together so often that he knew immediately that the other man had a plan. Hawk nodded in a barely discernible movement.

Hawk knew he had to do something to draw the man’s attention to give Brady a chance to get into position for whatever he was planning. Holding his hands out to the side, he dropped the knife he’d picked up and eased himself slightly to his left. “I know you’re not a fool. I just think that we should be able to handle this without anyone getting hurt.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Brady take a small step to the right. “After all, if you hurt her, you know that you won’t get out of here. She’s your only bargaining chip.”

The man’s eyes stared into his. “Yeah. Well, I have a feeling you don’t want anything to happen to Little Miss Blondie here.” Hawk could tell from the slight tremor in the vamp’s hand that he was mostly talk.

“You’re right.” He eased a bit more away from Brady, and the vamp’s eyes followed him. “I don’t want anything to happen to anyone. I’d like for everyone to just walk away from this with no harm done.” Hawk heard a slight noise from Brady and knew he was ready to move. He stared hard at Claire and then slid his eyes down to her feet. He looked up to see if she got the message. She blinked twice in rapid succession. He nodded.

“Sure you do, dude. Like you give a shit what happens to me.”

“On two,” Hawk said clearly.

“What?” The vamp stood uncomprehendingly.

“One. Two.” He counted it out quickly, not wanting to give the man time to figure out something was going to happen. As soon as he said two, several things happened. Brady dove to his right. Claire collapsed to the ground, going completely limp. The vampire who’d been holding her tried to grab her but failed. Hawk raced forward, and Brady picked up the gun Hawk had dropped earlier, raised it, and fired. The vamp’s head exploded like a ripe melon.

Hawk grabbed Claire and pulled her into his arms and away from the dead body. He nodded to Brady in thanks, leaving him to tend to the other two vampires, who had begun to stir. He knew his man could handle restraining the others. Right now, his priority was taking care of Claire. She had begun to shiver in reaction, and her face was so pale he was afraid she was going to pass out. He got her to the SUV and opened the back door. He lifted her to sit on the backseat and then went to grab his pack.

It took him just a minute to find the wet wipes that he’d been looking for. He returned to Claire to discover that she hadn’t moved. It was almost as if she were a block of ice. He pulled out a cloth and began to wipe off the blood that had splattered over her face and hands when Brady had shot the vampire. He brushed out pieces of glass from her hair that came from the shattered window. Her shirt was also covered with blood. He reached down and stripped his shirt off, leaving him with just a T-shirt.