Younger, Bree - Burn [All American Vampires 1] (Siren Publishing Classic) (11 page)

“Not too bad. A little weak, maybe.”

“Well, you can sleep with me, or you can just hang out in here. It’s up to you.”

“I think I’ll stay up for a bit. I got some sleep while you were gone, so I’m not really that tired.”

He wondered if that were true or if she was just uncomfortable about sharing a bed with him. “That’s okay. Just don’t go outside, all right? And stay away from the windows.” He walked toward the bedroom, and she quickly moved out of his way. He caught her arms as he passed her and dropped a quick kiss on her surprised mouth. “If you hear anything or you get scared, come and get me, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Where’s the gun?”

She looked around, her brow puckered in thought. “Oh. It must still be in the bathroom.”

She darted down the hall and emerged a moment later with the weapon in her hand. “Found it.”

“Good. Keep it close by.”

“I will.” She crossed to sit on the couch, setting the gun carefully on the table beside her. The room was growing lighter, and Ty could feel the pull of the bed calling him.

“All right then. See you in a few hours.”

“Goodnight, I mean sleep well.”

“If you get tired, just come on and climb in. It won’t bother me.”

“Okay.”

He nodded one last time before he turned to enter the bedroom. The mattress was not the most comfortable he had ever slept on, but he was just glad to have somewhere he could stretch out and relax for a few hours. Even though he was completely worn out, it took him a long time to fall asleep. His mind kept going over and over what had happened to him, what the vampires had said, trying to make some kind of sense out of it all. But by the time sleep finally claimed him, he was no closer to figuring anything out than when he’d started.

* * * *

Quinn rolled over in the bed and looked at the clock. The illuminated numbers read 6:13. Almost dusk. He rubbed his hands across his face and then sat up and slung his legs over the edge of the mattress. Running his fingers through his hair, he wondered again where the hell his brother was. He knew Ty hadn’t been found, otherwise someone would have come to get him. And with each minute that passed, the chances of them finding him alive grew smaller and smaller. Although the vamps couldn’t go out during the day for any length of time, he and several of his most trusted friends and employees had been up running computer searches and contacting some local werewolves who were willing to help them out during daylight hours. While it was true that weres and vamps didn’t usually get along too well, Quinn and Ty had fortunately made friends with Ricardo Diaz, the alpha of the local werewolf pack. The friendships had benefitted both sides. Quinn had hired many of the weres to work at the casino during the day while his vampires covered the nights. It had proved to be an advantageous venture for both sides, and Quinn was never gladder of it than he was right now.

Some of those weres had been on the streets all day, searching for any clue that might lead them to Ty. Quinn had personally contacted most of them himself and had fielded a lot of their reports as they’d come in throughout the long day. He, along with the others, was tired. Dead tired. They’d finally set up a schedule for taking rest breaks. Too many mistakes were made when people weren’t functioning at peak efficiency. Quinn himself had refused to take a break until Nicolette had practically strong-armed him into lying down. Not that he’d gotten much sleep. Mostly he’d just lain in his bed and stared at the ceiling, going over and over in his mind everything he had learned about Ty’s disappearance. If this all turned out to be a false alarm, he was going to beat the shit out of his brother. But somehow he knew that wasn’t the case. No, something bad was going down, and Ty was in the center of it. Fuck, he hated to feel so damn helpless.

He stood up and rolled his shoulders, easing some of the kinks out. He felt like shit. His head was pounding. Maybe a shower would wake him up. Get his brain jump-started. There had to be something he hadn’t thought of. Something he’d missed that would help him find his brother.

He crossed the room and entered the bathroom, barely conscious of the luxurious appointments. He ignored the Jacuzzi tub in the corner and crossed to the separate shower unit. Quickly stripping off his boxers, he got in and turned the water on, letting the pounding heat clear his head and ease the tension that seemed to have taken up permanent residence in the back of his neck. As the water washed over him, he couldn’t keep from asking silently,
Where the fuck are you, Ty? Just where in the hell are you?
And what did I send you into?

At this moment he wished that some of those stupid vampire stories were true. At least the part about the telepathy. Wouldn’t that be convenient. If he could just ask his brother where he was and he would get a reply. Unfortunately, he had to rely on telephones just like everyone else.

Even though he was over two hundred years old, Ty was still his little brother. The only member left of a family that had died long ago. He’d lost his mother, father, and two sisters the night Simone had turned him, but he was damned if he was going to lose Ty. Not without a hell of a fight. He simply refused to believe that Ty was already dead. There was no way. Until he had proof, he would work under the assumption that he was still alive.

Fifteen minutes later, freshly showered and re-energized, Quinn strode into the conference room that they were all using as a command center. He grabbed a bottled blood from the refrigerator and drank down a few quick swallows. He really was going to have to take some time to feed from a live donor. The bottled stuff just wasn’t as nourishing. It was fine for the short-term, but after a while his body craved fresh blood. After he’d finished the bottle and tossed it into the trash, RJ, his head of security, gestured him over to where he stood beside Hawk.

“Quinn.”

“RJ, you got anything?”

“I think Hawk might have something.”

Hawk nodded. “One of the waitresses at The Well. I just got off the phone with her. Said there was a guy there asking about Ty a couple nights ago.”

“A guy?”

“Yeah. She’d never seen him before. Claimed to be an old friend of Ty’s. He told her he was staying in the area and thought he’d look him up. She said she told him Ty came in several times a week. Said the guy was there the next couple of nights just sitting in a corner nursing a drink and staring out at the crowd or talking on his cell.”

“So a vamp, then?”

“Yeah.”

“Any description?”

“She said he was a good-looking guy. Clean-cut. Heavyset. Close to six feet tall. Brown hair, dark eyes. Wearing a suit, which was a little out of place at The Well. That’s one reason she noticed him. Oh, yeah, said he sounded like he was from New Orleans.”

“New Orleans, huh?”

“Yeah, said he had a Cajun accent.”

“Was he alone?”

RJ shook his head. “He was joined a couple of times by another vamp, a local she knew named Bobby Lee Cumbest.”

“You know this Cumbest guy?”

“Yeah. He’s a real badass. At least, he thinks he is. Originally from Louisiana. Moved here, oh, about twenty years ago, I guess. Got in with some local tough guys. He’s been in trouble with the Council a few times…drugs mainly. Using and dealing. Some other small-time stuff. Lately he’s been working for a guy named McElroy. Robert McElroy. Owns a construction company in Baton Rouge. He’s one of the investors in that new casino going up in Bay St. Louis.” He shrugged. “It’s not much, but…”

“Hell, at least it’s something.” He turned to Mick O’Neill, where he sat in front of a computer screen listening to the conversation.

“Mick? You got pictures of McElroy and Cumbest?”

Mick grinned. “I will in a minute.”

Mick hit some keys for a few minutes before giving a grunt of satisfaction. “Here we go.”

The printer kicked on, and in a few seconds Quinn was handing one of the pictures to Hawk. “Show the waitress this picture. See if this is the guy in the suit.”

Hawk studied it and raised one eyebrow. “He certainly fits the description. Could be him.”

“Yeah. Make some more copies of the photos. Pass ‘em around the bar and anywhere else you can think of. See if anyone else might know anything about either of those two.”

Hawk nodded. “I’ve already got some guys trying to locate Cumbest. See what he can tell us.”

“Excellent. Mick, see if you can find out where this McElroy character lives. Look for rental properties that have recently been leased, probably a house rather than a condo. Something out of the way.”

He nodded and turned back to the computer screen. Quinn gestured for RJ and Hawk to follow him and stepped to a corner of the room where they couldn’t be overheard.

“Just what the fuck is going on, Quinn?” RJ shook his head.

He told RJ and Hawk what he’d discovered about the pictures. They were shocked.

“You think Ty’s disappearance is linked to bloodslaves?” RJ asked.

Quinn shrugged. “Right now, it’s just a gut feeling, but my gut is saying there’s a connection.”

Hawk nodded.

RJ smiled grimly and pointed. “It’s dusk. The guys are about ready to hit the streets. I’ll fill them in before they go. Might be some word out about bloodslaves. That kind of thing is hard to keep secret for long.”

Quinn looked over at the vamps gathered near the doorway. They were completely loyal to him and to Ty, as were all the vamps gathered in this room. Most of them Quinn and Ty had befriended after their makers left them to flounder as newly turned vamps. Men, and a few women, who owed their livelihoods, if not their very lives to the brothers. They’d volunteered to do anything they could to help find their missing friend. If anybody could find his brother, it would be these people. He had no doubt at all that they would find him. He just prayed like hell that they would find him alive.

Chapter Eight

Libby woke slowly, vaguely aware of a burning heat on the left side of her body. She stretched and her foot brushed up against a leg. A hairy leg. Suddenly it all rushed back. The vampires. Ty. Sex with Ty. The vampire. Shit. She took a deep breath, trying to quell the feeling of panic and disbelief that threatened to overwhelm her.

She opened her eyes a slit and turned her head just enough to see that he was still sound asleep. Breath puffed out of her in relief. She wasn’t ready to face him yet. Maybe never, but definitely not yet. She’d been telling the truth about not being very good at morning-afters. Or afternoon-afters. Or whatever the hell this was.

His arm was a solid weight across her abdomen. Gently, she rolled to the side, pushing the heavy limb until it dropped to the mattress. She held her breath for a long moment, worried that she might have woken him, but he didn’t move. Easing to the side of the bed, she slid her feet to the floor and stood up as quietly as she could. A quick look at her watch told her it was a little after six. Dusk wasn’t too far off and Ty would be waking up soon.

Chancing another glance around at Ty, she froze, stunned for a moment at the physical perfection stretched out on the mattress. His body rose and fell slightly with each breath. Thank God he hadn’t lied about that
not sleeping like the dead
thing or she’d probably have had a stroke earlier when she’d climbed into bed beside him. It hadn’t taken her long after he’d turned in to decide that she was still too exhausted to keep her eyes open. She was also starting to feel a little achy and had the beginnings of a headache. She had quietly crept in and slid beside him on the mattress. She’d fallen asleep quickly, lulled by the rhythmic breathing from beside her.

She hadn’t taken the time then to study his body, and now the temptation was simply impossible to resist.

Good lord, he was absolutely gorgeous. He lay on his stomach, his face turned toward her. One arm curved above his head and the other was flung out across the spot where she had lain just moments before. On his right shoulder and stretching down his back was a tattoo she hadn’t noticed before. It looked like some intricate tribal symbol. She wondered if it meant anything special or was just something to make him look even hotter. If it was the latter, it definitely succeeded. She was amazed that the sunburn hadn’t damaged it, but the skin and tattoo looked absolutely perfect.

His mouth was relaxed in sleep, but it still held the bold firmness she remembered, the stubble that shadowed his cheek adding to the dangerous attraction she still felt for him. Jerking her eyes from his face, she let her gaze travel the length of his body, lingering over the sleek line of his back and the athletic curve of his ass before skimming down his hair-roughened legs. He certainly didn’t look like a vampire. Just a really, really hot guy. That she had fucked.

She felt a burning begin low in her belly, and easily recognized it as arousal at the images of what she and that really, really hot guy had done together that morning. What was it about him? She didn’t normally respond so easily to a man she barely knew. It must just be the situation, the adrenalin or the fear that made her feelings so exaggerated. Yes, that must be it.

Needing to get back to her old self, she quickly turned and crossed to the door, exiting the room as silently as possible. As she stood on the other side of the closed door, she became conscious of her own nudity. Frantically she searched the darkening room for a cover of some sort. She was stopped short when she recognized her own duffle bag and purse sitting on the floor next to the sofa. Ty must have brought them in last night after he had gotten back. Damn, why did he have to be so damn thoughtful?