Downbeat (Biting Love) (36 page)

Dragan dashed from the Alliance limo straight into the shadows of the alley behind the dilapidated strip mall. He pressed an ear to the concrete block, listening with his whole being. Six hearts beat, two human and four vampire. The vampires were in the middle of the store. One human was in the front of the store, and one in the rear, less than a meter from where he crouched.

He shut his eyes and accessed his blood memory, the smell/taste of every human he’d ever drunk from. The bright burning essence that was Raquel was in front. The human in back…the familial flavor was clear. Raquel’s mother. It confirmed his theory that Raquel had come here to rescue her. Which meant he had to rescue her first, or Raquel would never leave.

He located a window in the deepest shadows and misted through, snapping back in a dusty storeroom.

Mrs. Hrbek looked up and smiled. She opened her mouth.

He put a finger to his lips. She nodded.

As he led her toward the back door, he kept his ears open. In the store proper, Camille was begging Nosferatu to make her first lieutenant. Raquel’s heartbeat was rapid, frightened. Need rushed his veins to go to her, to pull her out of there, to run away with her and never let her go again.

But she’d come to rescue her mother—and he wanted, quite desperately, to please her. So rescuing her mother came first.

Things were heating up between Camille and the others. The hurled accusations covered the back door’s click as Dragan opened it and hustled Trudi out. The Alliance limo had moved to the end of the alley, according to plan.

Chafing, Dragan chivvied Trudi to the limo and shoveled her in. The instant she was safe he sped back to the abandoned store, barely tamping down the need to mist directly to Raquel’s side. As it was, he misted the instant he was within range of the window. He didn’t get deep enough in the shadows first and burned his edges.

He snapped solid inside the storeroom, his skin charred, but he’d heal. He breathed through the pain and glided to the doorway of the store proper, to map his next move.

Raquel was mid-store, her back to him, talking to Camille. “Some people are worth it. And some are not.” She pointed at Nosferatu and Giuseppe.

How brave she looked, how noble. His heart swelled with pride, and he wished fiercely to be one of the worthy ones.

“
Mine
.”

Dragan’s eyes cut right. The monster Gravloth was grabbing for
Dragan’s mate
.

Dragan blew apart and shot to her. He snapped back barely in time to snatch her from the monster’s claws.

Gravloth raked empty air. Dragan lifted Raquel by the waist and whisked her back the way he’d come. Through the storeroom, out the back door.

The monster’s roar erupted after them. Dragan dashed for the end of the alley as the fire door crashed open.

The limo’s spot was empty.

He hoisted Raquel in both arms—her eyes were wide and he could tell she’d barely processed the monster grabbing for her much less the fact that she was rescued—and glided as fast as he could go and still remain in what shadows there were. He knew where the limo was but he had two miles to cover and didn’t want to lose his strength to the sun this early.

Bam bam
. Gravloth pounded the pavement in pursuit. The monster had extraordinarily large feet. Dragan’s heart beat faster.

“My mother?” Raquel twined arms around his neck. She must have finally caught up with what had happened. Though he couldn’t afford to take his attention from his feet he glanced at her, he couldn’t help it…she was gazing at him with sorrow and relief but above all love and he wanted to kiss her and bed her and never stop. Gravloth roared. Hot, fetid air blasted Dragan’s neck.

Sex later. Run now. “Trudi is safe.” Dragan put on a burst of speed.

Gravloth had the power of an ancient, but not the experience. Dragan’s abrupt acceleration caught him by surprise.

He left the monster’s stink behind.

The cymbal crash of feet became a cymbal roll. Dragan’s maneuver had bought him, not so much a window of opportunity, as an eye blink. He clutched Raquel harder to him. He needed to make the most of it, for both their sakes.

As he churned legs into the second mile, the sun burned his skin and eyes, his stamina burning away too. Worse, heat mixed unevenly through his body. At any moment he could burst into flames. Heart pounding, breath rattling, he forced all his strength into his legs and thrashed them like a blender.

A few seconds later a weedy lot came into blurry view. He didn’t have time to wipe the acid tears from his eyes. He could see another abandoned strip mall.

One door was open.

He dashed through it into cool dark. The stench of garlic struck him full in the face. But he was prepared for it and kept running, straight for the janitor’s closet in the back.

Seconds later Gravloth thundered into the store. Dragan was already locked inside the closet, Raquel tight in his arms.

An offended roar went up. Gravloth hadn’t been prepared for the garlic. It not only stank, but emitted fumes that were physically painful to vampires.

This wasn’t just a rescue mission; it was an ambush. While he’d saved Raquel and her mother, Strongwell and his lieutenant had prepared this place, installing a white noise generator, webcam and monitor, and rubbing the entrance with fresh garlic, no doubt using heavy-duty gloves. The stench was to hide Dragan and Raquel’s scent, hopefully long enough for their ambush to work.

Dragan keyed on the monitor that was attached to a tiny eye aimed at the entrance and waiting for his opportunity.

There was Gravloth. The monster pinched his nose, casting around him for Raquel, hammer fist clenched in obvious frustration.

Right on schedule, a goddess of a female sauntered through the doorway.

Glossy black hair rippled from her widow’s peak to her tiny waist. In defiance of the cool October air, the hem of her flirty pink sundress rippled against her thighs. The dress showed off slim hips and exposed an unnaturally large, absurdly high bosom.

Dragan had never met Drusilla, Meiers Corners’s only full-time hooker. But if even half the stories about this young vampire were true, if anyone could seduce Gravloth into revealing a secret weakness, she could.

Gravloth spun and growled.

Drusilla only smiled and licked glossy red lips.

The monster paused. His battle mask softened while his fangs grew.

Her miles-long lashes batted coyly. “Hello, big guy.” Her purr rippled like a lover’s stroking hands. She sauntered nearer the monster and walked fingers up his massive chest. “Like what you see?”

He nodded.

While the Soul Stealer was distracted, Dragan caught Raquel’s wide blue gaze and held a finger to his lips. When she nodded, he clasped her tightly to him, dashed silently out of the closet and escaped out the back of the store.

“What are you doing?” she whispered as soon as they were outside.

“Trying to give you an alternative to self-sacrifice.”

The limo waited for them. Dragan slid in with Raquel. Raquel’s mother was in the front seat with Miyagi. Raquel’s whole body relaxed at the sight of her. “Thank you,” she said. “You’ve bought me time to say goodbye.”

Logan and Luke Steel were also in the limo. “Hopefully,” Logan said, “we’ll buy you a little more than that.” He showed them a tablet computer.

Its screen displayed the scene inside. Gravloth had grabbed Drusilla and was feeling her up like meat.

Luke growled. “We’ve got to stop this.”

“Not yet.” Logan turned his fierce concentration toward the screen.

Drusilla twisted out of the megavamp’s grip and danced away. She gave the monster a brilliant smile and untied the strings on one shoulder. The neckline fell to the tip of her breast.

He grabbed for her. She barely evaded him.

“He’ll hurt her,” Luke said.

“We won’t let that happen,” Logan said. “But we haven’t found his weakness yet. Do you want to go through this again?”

“I’m his weakness,” Raquel said. “I have to give myself to him.”

Dragan tightened his hold on her. He’d never let go. He glanced at Luke. Well, not until he delivered her into angelic arms.

“You’re one weakness,” Logan agreed. “But not his only one.” Under his breath he added, “I hope.” He glanced up. “Give Dru a chance to make him reveal another.”

On the display, Drusilla untied the strings at her right shoulder. The bodice fell, exposing both breasts. Dragan found his reaction somewhat clinical. They were nice breasts—but not as beautiful as Raquel’s.

“He’d better reveal it soon,” Luke said. “She’s about to offer everything.”

The megavamp licked his chops. His eyes were nailed to Drusilla’s hands, grasping the material of the dress at her hips to peel down to ground zero.

She took a deep breath. Dragan could see she was steeling herself.

“She’s trembling,” Luke snarled. “She’s scared.”

“Fuck,” Logan said. “You’re right. It’s suicidal, but get ready to go in.”

“I love suicidal.” Luke drew a handgun and sprang past them out the limo door.

Logan tossed Dragan the tablet on his way out.

Drusilla was wiggling out of her skirt.

“I can’t let them do this.” Raquel started to slide out the door after Logan.

Dragan snared an arm around her waist while keeping his eyes on the tablet. “Don’t—”

A scream split the air. Gravloth had grabbed Dru’s naked buttock and cinched her in close. She slapped him.

He only grinned. Waggling lecherous eyebrows, he grabbed both her nipples—and wrenched them like twirling jacks.

She shrieked, twice as high and five times as loud as the scream. The sound was so shrill and powerful that the glass in the back window of the store shattered.

Gravloth clapped both hands over his ears. Luke and Logan, just coming into view, stopped.

Dru wound up and smacked the Soul Stealer’s face good. Even outside, the
crack
rang in Dragan’s hearing.

Crack? Dragan’s gaze riveted to the tablet’s screen.

The monster’s jaw hung at an odd angle.

Dru snatched up her sundress and stalked out the back. She shoved into the limo. Luke and Logan hustled in after her. “Drive,” she growled.

Miyagi turned front and squealed out of the alley.

On the display, the Soul Stealer stood where he was, rubbing his broken jaw.

As the limo raced toward Strongwell’s electrified household, Dragan held Raquel’s soft body next to him and breathed her beloved scent.

Gathering the strength to do right by her. After which he’d rip out the Soul Stealer’s heart so the monster could never hurt her again, or die trying.

Strangely, giving her up was the harder of the two.

Footsteps crashed, far away.

“Good fuck.” Luke stared out the back window. “The monster’s following us.”

Logan leaned to see past him. “Once we get to Strongwell’s, we’ll be safe.”

“Elias could get through Strongwell’s fortifications.”

“It’s a good thing Gravloth doesn’t have an ancient’s smarts to go with the power then, isn’t it?”

“You hope.” Luke’s eyes were bleak.

Logan nodded. “Better to play it safe. Miyagi, when you get to Meiers Corners, don’t go straight to Strongwell’s. Cruise up and down Main Street for a while.”

Miyagi threw a grin over his shoulder. “Over the river, got it.”

Logan sat back. “With the sun this high, either he’ll get smart and find shelter before he ignites, or he won’t. I’m hoping he won’t.”

After twenty minutes, Gravloth loped into the shade of a building. Miyagi gunned it for Strongwell’s.

The moment they squealed into underground parking, the hum of electricity surrounded them.

Dragan sat like stone as the Alliance vampires slid out one by one. Raquel slid out behind them, ran to where her mother was getting out of the front seat, and gave her a big tearful hug.

Then she turned and waited for him. Slowly, reluctantly, he got out.

This was it.

He delayed one moment longer, taking her hand and following the others into the household proper. They gathered in the blue-striped parlor where Bo Strongwell, hands behind his back, chin pressed to his ship’s prow of a chest, paced. With him were his blond Viking of a lieutenant, Thorvald, Julian, Julian’s lieutenant, Rebecca, and Logan’s lieutenant, Sissy.

Bo stopped pacing as they trooped in. “You made it, good. Does that mean Gravloth has a weakness we can exploit?”

“Didn’t see it.” Logan strode directly to the bar and poured himself a finger of amber liquid. “We’ll have to try again, damn it.”

“How’d you escape then?”

“We got lucky.” Dru poured herself three fingers and drank it in one gulp.

“No.” Raquel’s tone was giddy. “Logan was right. Gravloth has another weakness.” She used the back of one wrist to wipe her eyes.

Logan frowned at her. “What do you mean? I didn’t see any weakness.”