Finding Fire: Paranormal Romance (Bad Boys Of The Underworld Book 1) (10 page)

“I’ve never done it to you,” he said.

“But you could if you wanted to. How can I even trust that you’ve never gone inside my head? Did you make me kiss you?” she asked.

His deep voice chuckled into the phone. “No, Annabelle. That was all you.”

“Don’t you dare laugh at me! And my name is Anna,” she added.

Thankfully, he dropped the subject. “Will you stay inside today?”

Anna looked out again at the city that was just waking up. She hadn’t slept all night, so it wouldn’t be much of a chore to stay in all day. She would sleep through most of it anyway.

Part of her wanted to disagree, just because in such a short phone call, he’d managed to piss her off so many times. However, this was important. Someone was playing games with them, and it was dangerous.

“I’ll stay inside today. When will I be able to leave, though? I can’t hole up in here forever.”

“I’ll get you tonight. We’ll leave the city and head for Aleksander,” he said.

“Will you tell me about vampires tonight?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

She had a feeling he knew exactly what she meant and was avoiding the topic. “I’m running off with a vampire tonight. I might be killing another vampire soon. Other vampires are chasing us. I have the right to know more.” He was silent. “Will you tell me? All I know are bits and fragments from our conversations, and we don’t talk all that much. I’ve been looking for you my whole life.” She realized how that last sentence came out, and quickly backtracked. “I’ve been looking for people like you my whole life. I deserve to know.”

“I’ve had a very tiring night, Annabelle. I will see you tonight.”

Anna wasn’t happy with his evasion, but she would have all night to pester him. “Okay. I’ll see you tonight then.”

“One more thing,” he said. “I would like to strongly suggest you change your rule about not having sex, because all I can think about is you.”

Nicolas hung up before she could respond, and Anna cursed at her empty bedroom.

Anna slept through most of the day, despite the troubles on her mind. She woke around five in the evening after a dreamless sleep. The hectic events of the night before had completely knocked her out.

She needed to get ready to leave. First she had to get through a long series of phone calls to sort out what to do with her classes during her absence. She called in a lot of favors and gave lots of promises in return for people to help cover for her while she was gone.

She gave a half lie as the reason for her absence. She said the police from her hometown found a possible lead on her father’s disappearance and she needed to go home and be with family.

With that taken care of, she needed to pack. She didn’t know how to pack for a trip with an indeterminate length. She had a nice large suitcase that was a hand-me-down from Abigail, but it didn’t seem practical for running from men who wanted Nicolas, and possibly her, dead.

The only other two bags she had were a backpack and a medium-sized duffel. The backpack was much too small, so the duffel it was.

She threw in one extra pair of jeans and sweatpants, along with two tank tops and two t-shirts. She packed practical underwear and some toothpaste and a toothbrush from the bathroom. She could survive without hair products and didn’t bother to pack any makeup.

It would probably be best if Nicolas saw her looking as plain as possible. If she had low confidence, his continual pursuit would be flattering, but her confidence level wasn’t the issue.

It wasn’t that she thought she was gorgeous or anything. It just had never occurred to her to worry about her looks. To her, the people with striking beauty always seemed to come by it naturally.

No matter what Evie did, she always managed to look like this beautiful, ethereal angel. She had this really thick, curly blonde hair, so when the light would hit it perfectly, a halo would appear around her head. But her beauty had seemed so effortless.

Anna didn’t see the point in putting so much time and thought into an end result that could never compare to Evie’s beauty. She supposed that sounded like a low self-image, but she didn’t think she was ugly by any means.

Anna had a large appetite, but running kept her in good shape. She had pleasant features that with enough work would seem exceptional, but she had never had a reason to work on being more attractive. In school, she’d never been as focused on boys as her classmates. In college, her life had become more about furthering her academic career than the social scene. She brushed the misplaced thoughts aside, deciding she had more important things to focus on.

She didn’t want to pack anything that was valuable, seeing as how she might have to abandon her things at some point, but she had to bring her laptop with her. It might come in handy at some point. After that, the only thing she added to her bag was her canister of mace.

She zipped the bag shut and heard someone knock on the door. She looked over at her clock. The sun wasn’t supposed to set for another half an hour. She wished she still had her gun.

She crossed over to her door and looked through the peephole. Brad stood in her hallway.
What was he doing here? How did he even get her address?

She supposed Dennis could’ve told everyone about her short email, but how could he know where she lived? She remembered Nicolas’s warning about not letting anyone inside. It was unlikely that the vampires who were after him had used any mind control on Brad, seeing as how no one she knew was aware that Brad and she knew each other.

Only one person outside of the Stakes would know about their association. That was Mr. X.

Brad had never buzzed her to get into the building. He knocked on the door. That meant that somehow he slipped in.

Anna decided the safest course would be to ignore him until he went away. Brad, however, didn’t approve of that. Soon, he pounded on the door. His fists hit the wood over and over and he shouted on the other side of the door, “Anna! Open the door! I know you’re in there!”

Anna kept quiet. She had no idea what the neighbors would think, but they could go to hell. She wasn’t letting this guy in just so her neighbors would think better of her.

Unfortunately, Brad didn’t give up easily. He continued to pound on the door with renewed vigor. “Open the fucking door! What the fuck is wrong with you? I know you’re there!”

That gave her pause. How exactly did he know she was home? He continued to shout, and other various curse words spewed from his mouth. This was ridiculous. She should call the police, but with Nicolas arriving soon, she didn’t have time to deal with that. Besides, that would be more strange people in her apartment, which was exactly what Nicolas had told her not to do.

She couldn’t stay in here. Brad still pounded on her door, and by this point his hands must be sore. She had a feeling he wouldn’t be leaving any time soon. She made sure the chain lock was still in place and opened it the two inches the chain allowed.

She didn’t want to upset Brad any further, so she tried to sound pleasant when she asked, “How can I help you?”

“What took you so long?” No apology or explanation.

“I’m sorry.” She still tried to sound amiable. “I was a bit confused as to how you knew where I lived. I’m sure you can understand my hesitation.”

He looked at her for a second, confused. His usually perfect hair was in shambles around his face. His skin was ashen and covered in a sheen of sweat, probably from the exertion of beating the crap out of her door.

“We need to get out of here,” he said. “You’re in trouble.”

“I’m in trouble? What is going on? And how did you get my address?”

“I can’t talk about this now. You need to come with me.”

Anna stared at him. There wasn’t anything he could say that would make her go with him. “How did you get my address?” She would have to tread lightly, but she needed to keep him distracted until Nicolas got there.

“It doesn’t matter. Open the door.” He pushed at the door. Luckily, the chain kept it from slamming open.

She had the sinking realization that stalling wouldn’t work. “I’m not going anywhere with you. You need to explain yourself right now,” she said with all the authority her voice could muster.

Apparently he didn’t feel like explaining himself, because he just hit her door again, with even more force this time. When he reared back to hit it again, she slammed the door in his face. She quickly turned all the locks. He continued to bang on the door, but Anna was rather confident he couldn’t break it down with his bare hands.

She supposed he could always run out to get an ax, but he seemed too enraged to go anywhere, and Anna didn’t think there was any place near her in the city that sold tools capable of breaking in doors.

The sun wasn’t supposed to set for another fifteen minutes, but the sun was already low enough that the city was covered in shadow. Nicolas might be awake already. She called him.

He picked up on the first ring. She breathed out a sigh of relief that she didn’t realize she’d been holding in.

“Annabelle?” he said.

Before she could reply, Brad banged on the door again and yelled out a few more choice words. Nicolas asked, “What is going on?”

Anna honestly answered, “I have no idea. He showed up a few minutes ago and has made it his mission in life to destroy my door.” Brad shouted a few more cuss words directed at her. “And my reputation,” added Anna. “I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the neighbors has called the police by now.”

“Stay there. Don’t open the door for the police if they try to get in,” he said.

“Me not opening the door won’t stop the police from getting in if they really want to,” Anna said. “It’s only one guy. I’m sure I can get around him. I can meet you somewhere else.”

“You can get around him? How do you expect to do that?”

Anna wasn’t defenseless. She wanted to make sure no man could ever make her feel the way Charles had. She knew how to fight, and she was smart. It might not be enough to allow her to beat Nicolas, but she was sure that faced with a human, she had a good chance of winning a fight. Brad was probably tired by now anyway, and he was obviously not thinking clearly at this point.

She answered as quietly as possible, worried that between shouts and bangs Brad could hear her side of the conversation. “I could open the door when he isn’t expecting it, and bang him over the head. Then I’m out of here.”

“Stay inside until I get there, Annabelle,” Nicolas grumbled into the phone.

“When will that be?” Her question was punctuated by more banging. Brad must have seriously injured his hands by now. She realized Nicolas hadn’t answered her. “How long will you be? Nicolas?” She looked down and realized he’d hung up.

She cursed and shoved her phone in her pocket. She believed Nicolas would be there soon but didn’t want to take chances. She didn’t have much she could use as a weapon. She had a baseball bat in her bedroom closet for defense, but the hallway was too small to allow her to get a good swing in. She had knives, but she didn’t want to accidently kill Brad. If he was under the control of a vampire, she didn’t want him to die for it.

She settled on a large skillet from under her stove. It was small enough that she could get a good swing, and heavy enough to do a good amount of damage without killing Brad.

She sat along her wall with the skillet in her hand and her duffel bag next to her. She was ready to spring up at a moment’s notice. The pounding and shouting on the door wouldn’t stop. She hated waiting. Charles had locked her in a closet once. She could do nothing but wait for him to decide it was time for her to come out.

But Anna was different now. She had a weapon in her hand and help on the way. She wasn’t a little girl any more.

After another five minutes of waiting, the hallway suddenly went silent. Anna looked at the door, expecting to hear more banging. Instead, Nicolas’s voice came through. “We’re leaving.” He didn’t shout, but she could hear him clearly.

Anna picked up her stuff and walked to the door. She looked through the peephole and was relieved to see Nicolas this time. She moved the skillet under one arm as she fought to undo her locks.

She opened up the door and stared up at Nicolas. He didn’t look too good. His face was pale, and his cheeks seemed a bit more sunken than normal. “Are you all right?”

He ignored her question. “Are you planning to do a lot of cooking?” She saw he was looking at the skillet under her arm.

She frowned and set the skillet back in her apartment. “I had no idea when you were planning on showing up. The strike and run was my backup plan.”

“Your weapon of choice was a frying pan?” he asked skeptically.

She didn’t feel like explaining herself to him right now. “Shouldn’t we be rushing?” She looked around and saw they were alone. “Where’s Brad?”

“You knew him?”

“Yes. Where is he?” she asked again, not wanting to be sidetracked.

Nicolas angled his head toward the entryway and walked out. Anna quickly shut and locked her door so she could follow.

Brad leaned up against the door that led to the street. There was only a small amount of glass on the upper half of the door, so anyone passing by would never see him. He wasn’t unconscious, but he seemed dazed.

“What did you do to him?” She couldn’t see any evidence of a fight.

“I asked him to cooperate.” He then looked at Brad and said, “Take us to the vehicle that you drove here.” Brad immediately stood up and walked out to the street.

Anna’s jaw dropped open as she followed them. “You did that-that vampire mind control thingy, didn’t you?”

“I’ve never heard of it referred to as a thingy before.” He had a hand on Brad’s upper arm as he walked to his car.

“You didn’t answer me,” she said, but didn’t press the question. She already knew the answer. “Why would Brad even have a car, anyway?” she asked of no one in particular.

They remained silent as they continued the long walk to Brad’s car. She followed behind Nicolas and Brad, who behaved as if he didn’t just spend the last twenty minutes trying with all of his strength to murder her door.

They reached the car, which turned out to be one of those overpriced sedans that only overpaid businessmen would ever waste money on when they lived in the city. It appeared they would be taking his car, but at this point she couldn’t work up that much guilt over it. Brad had said some rather horrible things to her.

She held her bag up. “Trunk?”

Nicolas shook his head. “If we need to bail, we will need it close.” He turned to Brad. “Give her your keys.”

Obediently and blank-eyed, Brad dug into his pocket and handed her a set of keys.

“That is so wrong,” said Anna.

Nicolas only rolled his eyes at her disapproval. “Unlock the doors,” he said in a tone that suspiciously sounded like an order. She narrowed her eyes but still did as he asked.

He pushed Brad into the backseat and climbed in after him. “I’m driving?” she asked.

He poked his head out of the door. “Do you know how to drive?”

“Yes,” she said. “I didn’t grow up in the city. I know how to drive.” In her experience, men hated women to drive them anywhere. She supposed Nicolas might not know how to drive, but she doubted it.