Finding Fire: Paranormal Romance (Bad Boys Of The Underworld Book 1) (12 page)

Three nights of being alone in a car with Nicolas. Anna took a moment to absorb that. He didn’t scare her that much anymore. She knew she couldn’t physically match him, but he obviously didn’t want her dead. If he did, he could’ve killed her at any time. He needed her, or at least thought he did, to get to Aleksander. Until they reached him, Anna figured she’d be safe.

As for her safety from his masculine charms, well, she would just have to try her best. She’d avoided men for twenty-eight years. Three more days shouldn’t be too much of a challenge. If she ever felt tempted, she would just have to remember how he looked with his mouth on Brad’s neck. He wasn’t human, and he fed off people. Not exactly boyfriend material.

He didn’t look like Aleksander did when he’d killed Evie’s father. When she’d seen that graphic display, his black eyes terrified her. She hadn’t realized why until she’d seen Nicolas feeding just a few moments before. When Aleksander had fed, he’d truly enjoyed it. He was killing someone, and he reveled in the fact that he was taking a life. Anna had seen that joy in his eyes, and that’s what had stuck with her.

Nicolas didn’t take joy from feeding off of Brad. It was more like something he had to do. She just didn’t know why he’d stared at her the whole time he was doing it. His gaze had been so intense, it had been hard for her to focus on the road. Was he imagining that it was her neck under his fangs? Was he trying to gauge her reaction to him biting a man right behind her?

She was tired of his long stares at her. After spending most of her life avoiding attention, it was unnerving to get so much from someone who could kill her so easily.

“Do you want to give me the directions, so I know I won’t miss an exit?” asked Anna. It would be nice to know how to find Aleksander without Nicolas.

“It’s rather difficult to find. You’ll need me to direct you. It would be best if I drive as we get closer,” he said.

That didn’t sit well with Anna. “You don’t want to tell me how to get there, do you?”

He grinned at her deduction. “You did just see me feed. If you want to turn back, now might be the time.”

“No, the time to run would be when I found bottles of blood in your refrigerator. I’m way past the running time. Now give me the directions,” she said.

“We need to find a motel to drop off our guest.”

Great. Now he was changing the subject. “Guest? How about ‘hostage’ or ‘dinner’?”

“I thought the word ‘guest’ would appeal to your delicate sensibilities,” he said.

Anna had never considered herself someone with delicate sensibilities. “Everyone has ‘delicate sensibilities’ compared to you. You’re practically barbaric.”

He laughed. “Barbaric?”

Apparently the thought of being similar to a caveman amused him. She scowled at his laughter but remained silent. They drove like that for a while. Soon enough, a large glowing sign above the freeway signaled a motel was close.

As they pulled up to the motel, Anna asked, “Are we going to drive Brad’s car the whole way?”

“No. We can use it for the rest of the night, but then we’ll have to find another vehicle,” he said.

“Why? Will your mind stuff eventually wear off?” she asked.

“Mind stuff? I’m not sure if you’re trying to insult me or not,” he said. “My control won’t wear off, but I can’t make everyone who comes into contact with him believe something. Anyone who knows Brad won’t believe he just gave his car to someone. They’ll be suspicious, and we can’t chance them calling the police.

“The best thing to do would be to have him wake up and think his car has been stolen overnight. He won’t be able to contact the police until daylight, and by then we will have already abandoned the car.”

A thought occurred to Anna. “Are we going to have to steal cars?”

“If it makes you feel any better, we’ll try not to damage them. The police will eventually find the vehicles and return them to the rightful owners.” He seemed to be smiling at her hesitation to commit auto theft.

“As a matter of fact, that doesn’t make me feel any better.”

Nicolas shrugged. “It’s too late for you to turn back now.”

“I’ll have to keep that in mind as you keep on pissing me off.”

He laughed as he got out of the car and walked inside of the motel office. She stayed in the car with the still catatonic Brad.

She watched Nicolas’s back as he talked to the clerk at the front desk. He was only wearing a lightweight black long-sleeved shirt and blue jeans. He was probably cold in the brisk night air, but Anna doubted he would want to stop for something warmer.

The light fabric stretched over the muscles in his back, and Anna fixated on how they would move when he shifted his weight. She hadn’t been around many men in her life, and she definitely hadn’t seen many shirtless.

She’d been to a couple of parties in college, but that was about it. The main place she could think of where men commonly went shirtless was the beach, and she
never
went there. The rare occasions she did have to swim, she wore a t-shirt over her suit to cover the scars that marked her back.

Her PE teacher in high school had gotten so worried about her body image that he’d sent her to the counselor during the first few days of the swimming portion of her gym class. When Anna had finally gotten tired of trying to convince her teacher that her body image was fine, she’d pulled him aside and shown him her back.

He’d taken it as well as he could, considering. People generally didn’t understand abuse. The whole concept confused them. They didn’t understand how parents or family could commit it, and they didn’t understand how kids could live through it. Ever since then, that teacher had been as nice as possible to Anna, and always took extra care with her. It was as though every time he looked at her, all he could see were her scars.

Since then, she’d avoided showing anyone else her scars. She didn’t want anyone’s pity. She would like to just pretend they weren’t actually there. So that’s how she existed. She tried to act as if her life had only begun after she’d moved in with Abigail. However, there were a few problems with that, and their names were Evie and Charles.

Until she knew what had become of them, she could never move on with her life. So here she was, admiring a vampire’s back as she sat in a car outside of a motel in the middle of the night.

And to make matters worse, she now had a very strong urge to see what Nicolas would look like without his shirt. She’d already felt him up close and personal once. What would it be like to run her hands all over him when he had no clothes on at all? She closed her eyes and thought about the feel of his hair in her fingers. The teasing scrape of his teeth at her neck. But it hadn’t scared her. It excited her.

Nicolas opened Brad’s door and Anna jerked back to reality. She tried to appear as normal as possible, but a blush crept up her cheeks. She didn’t think she’d ever blushed so much in her life.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Just a little jumpy,” she said. “It has been a crazy night.” And she hadn’t lied at all.

He looked at her curiously for another second but then told Brad to get out of the car. Anna considered following them but decided it would be safer to sit in the car and try to cool off from her earlier thoughts. It was going to be a long three nights.

Nicolas almost dragged the human to the room the clerk had directed him to. It was nothing much, but as long as it had a door that locked, Nicolas would’ve taken it.

He ordered the human to lock the doors once he was alone, and then sleep for the next twelve hours. That should keep this Brad out of his hair for the time being. But that wouldn’t make the man safe. He knew where Annabelle’s apartment was and could go back at any time. He didn’t want Annabelle to have to worry about the next time this crazy man would pay her a visit.

He’d been tempted to take care of the problem in the backseat of the car, but he knew Annabelle wouldn’t see the logic in it. She was so young. Even though she’d seen the full force of this human’s rage, including listening to him try to break down her door, she was still afraid Nicolas would hurt Brad.

He didn’t know whether to respect or pity her for it.

Nicolas walked out of the room and stood by the door. He didn’t move until he heard Brad obediently lock the door and then lie down on the bed.

After he was satisfied he’d taken the necessary steps to keep Brad safe, he took out his phone and checked the time. It was about midnight. If they drove most this night and the next, they would have plenty of time on the third night to reach Aleksander’s Canadian compound.

Annabelle was right when she accused him of not wanting her to know how to get there on her own. Right now it was the only thing she needed from him, and he didn’t want her to get rid of him so easily.

He had a rather simple plan to reach Aleksander. He would send her in first. In her eagerness to discover the secrets to her past, she would do as he said. He would send her on a route where she was sure to be caught. When the guards discovered a human had breached the compound, they would rush to her, and Nicolas would slip in when they were distracted.

It had always been his plan, but he’d never had a volunteer before. He could force a human to act, but it would be obvious to any other vampire that the human was under his influence. The only thing a controlled human would achieve would be to alert Aleksander that a vampire wanted to come in. Nicolas might as well ring the damn doorbell.

Then Annabelle had walked into his apartment and life. Offered herself up on a platter, saying she would do anything to find Aleksander. Saying that she would die to find him. And Nicolas was happy to provide her an opportunity to die to find Aleksander.

The only problem was that the more time he spent with her, the less he wanted her to die. Which was…curious. He knew he wanted to fuck her. He also wanted to feed from her. He would prefer to do the two at the same time. He hoped that if he got the opportunity to do that while they were on this little trip, these feelings would leave him alone, and he could focus on Aleksander.

Maybe there was a way he could work this so she could survive. She’d probably never be able to talk to Aleksander, but that was a price he was willing to pay. Nicolas would have to kill him as soon as possible. He couldn’t keep him alive to talk to Annabelle because his chance of escaping was too great. He couldn’t let Annabelle come with him when he went to kill Aleksander, because she would probably die before she ever had a chance to ask any questions.

Vampires were too much for any one human to handle, and the compound was crawling with them. Nicolas supposed he could ask Aleksander her questions for her, but he doubted Aleksander would remember anything about one child’s missing father. The night that had so greatly affected Annabelle was probably long forgotten by Aleksander.

She would get over it if he refused her the opportunity to interrogate Aleksander for herself. At least she would be alive. Maybe one day she would even thank Nicolas. Maybe once she saw what he’d done for her, she would even crawl into his bed.

He smiled at the thought. He was sure that eventually she would come to him. She’d responded well enough to him the other night. All he needed was enough time with her and she would change her tune about her no-sex rule. Either way, he’d never agreed to the stupid thing, so that meant he could try to convince her to change her mind at all opportunities.

With that thought fresh in his mind, he walked back to the car. Annabelle must have been watching out for him because she didn’t jump this time. He opened up her car door. “I’ll drive for a bit.”

She gave him a scowl. “I’m a perfectly capable driver.”

He tried to appear charming. “I’m sure you are, but I happen to enjoy driving.”

“I have a feeling that isn’t the reason you want to drive.”

“What makes you think that?” he asked, genuinely curious.

“I always get suspicious about you when you make yourself look so—” She broke off as she searched for a word. “Cheerful,” she decided on.

He laughed at the observation. “Charming,” he corrected. “I’m trying to appear charming to you. Is it working?”

She smiled back at him. “I don’t think charming is a word that could really be used to describe you.” She looked so different when she smiled. Her lit-up face made her look even more like a college freshman. It made him want to kiss her.

He inhaled and her scent filled his head. The temptation to lean down and take her mouth became so strong that he felt his fangs start to slide out. He needed to stop this before his eyes changed and she really saw how un-charming he could be.

She’d seen through his lie, so he told her the truth. “It will be a long drive tonight. I have nothing to do but breathe in your scent. I’m worried that if I do not have something to distract me, I will not be able to control myself around you.”

Her smile disappeared, and she sharply inhaled. He could hear her heartbeat speed up. He wished he knew whether it was in arousal or fear. The sound caused his fangs to fully extend in his mouth. He made sure his lips kept them covered from her sight.

“Am I going to be in danger?” she asked.

He was amused by the irony of that question. If she only knew how recently he’d planned to sacrifice her to further his own means. She was much safer now than she’d been ten minutes ago.

“You should be fine,” he said.

She seemed to take him at his word, because she started to stand up. He moved to get out of her way but stayed close enough to feel her body heat as she uncurled herself from the car.

He could tell she was uncomfortable with his nearness, but she didn’t say anything, and he didn’t move. He wanted her uncomfortable. He wanted her always paying attention to him. Wondering where he was and what he was going to do next.

Too soon she was walking away to the passenger’s seat. He sat down and adjusted everything for his comfort while she moved her duffel bag, which had occupied the front seat, to the back.

She took off her leather jacket, and her breasts pressed against the thin material of her t-shirt as she arched her back to get it off. He knew from his one previous touch that they were bigger than they looked under the loose tops she always wore.

Most women he knew wore clothes that emphasized their bodies. Annabelle tried her best to hide hers. He was just all the more determined to discover what she was hiding.

She slid in the front seat and set her jacket in the back. She looked over at him. “If we’re going to be riding all night, we should try to get as comfortable as possible.”

Oh, he definitely wanted to ride all night
, he thought. He looked away from her abruptly. It was going to be a long night if he was going to be imagining Annabelle naked the whole time. He would have to focus on what he was going to do when they reached Aleksander. If he really wanted to have quality time with Annabelle naked, he would have to keep her alive.

He kept his eyes off her and started the car. His plan to not look at her didn’t work so well when she started to talk.

“Do you think we can find some store that’s still open? I haven’t eaten in forever. I think it’s only fair, since you ate your dinner right in front of me.”

One corner of his mouth hooked up. “Fair is fair.”

They found a gas station, and he filled up the tank while she ran inside to grab some food. He didn’t expect her to come out with three bags full of stuff. “Did you buy the whole store?”

She smirked at his shock. “I eat a lot. There is a reason I run every day and am still not a size two.” She emphasized the point by holding up a bag full of some sort of cheese-covered chip. “Besides, I know you eat, because you had a full fridge, but only one shelf was”—she looked around to make sure no one listened in—“that bottled stuff.”

He was surprised she’d even thought of him. In truth, the blood in him would hold him over for the night. He’d eat much less food than the normal human, but he did get hungry.

She got in the car before he had a chance to thank her. He put the pump away and they were back to driving. Annabelle took something that smelled excessively sugary out of one of the bags and started snacking.

“So tell me about vampires,” she said.

He looked over at her. “What did you want to know?”

“You know I want to know everything. What happens to you in the daylight?”

“It burns.”

“You’re so evasive,” she complained. “Is it a slow burn, or do you burst into flames…?”

“I have reason to be evasive. I’ve spent centuries trying to keep secrets from humans, and now one nosy one wants me to tell her all of them.”

She looked almost offended. “I don’t think nosy is the right word. I’m an overworked and underpaid grad student. We are not nosy. We are inquisitive.”

“You can be called whatever you want. I still don’t want to answer your questions.”

“It’s not exactly fair. You probably know hundreds of ways to kill a human. I don’t even know one way to kill you,” she said.

“Have you been thinking about ways to kill me?”

“Well, isn’t the whole point of this trip to kill Aleksander? I’ll have to know how to kill a vampire at some point. I also have this Mr. X after me, and I think we both agree he’s probably a vampire. At this point, it is becoming rather pressing that I learn how to kill one of you.” She paused. “But not you in particular. I don’t think you want me dead.”

“You don’t
think
I want you dead? Shouldn’t you be sure of it by now?” he asked.

She just shrugged. “You’re hard to judge. Sometimes you’re nice, but mostly you like to remind me how much bigger and stronger you are than me and how easy it would be to kill me if you really wanted to. I know that if you really wanted me dead, you could’ve killed me already, but I’m still wary of you. I don’t think you can blame me.”

“I don’t want you dead,” he said honestly.

She looked over at him. She seemed to be judging the sincerity of his words. After a moment, she said, “I don’t want you dead either.”

He was thankful for that. There were already enough people who wanted him dead.

“So, what about my original question?” she asked.

“You still want to know how to kill me?”

Annabelle nodded. He was still wary of answering her. He believed that she didn’t want him dead, though he’d been wrong before. But she did have a point, and eventually she would need to know how to defend herself.

“We are very strong, but more fragile than many of the myths would have you believe. Any wound that destroys the heart or head would kill me,” he said.

“Anything that destroys the heart? What about if you were shot?”

“A bullet wouldn’t damage the heart enough to be fatal. Four or five bullets in quick succession would be, though.”

She thought about that before she said, “So wooden stakes aren’t all that spectacular except for the fact that they destroyed the heart. But couldn’t one bullet do as much damage as a stake could to the heart?”

“The difference is that a bullet doesn’t remain lodged in the heart. Because it’s the core of us, it heals faster than any other part of our body. The second that the bullet leaves the heart, the organ has already begun the healing process. A stake remains lodged in the heart and no healing can occur until it’s removed.

“It only takes about ten seconds of serious heart damage to kill a vampire,” he said.

He noticed her gaze drop to his chest. She stared so intently at where his heart was located he was tempted to lift his hand to the spot.

“What about crosses? Do they burn you?” Her blue eyes behind her glasses stayed focused on his heart.

“Not necessarily. Silver does burn us to the touch. Lots of religious icons are made with silver, so that’s where that myth got started.”

She nodded. “That makes sense. You didn’t seem evil to me.”

That surprised him. “You never thought I was evil?”

“You never seemed to torment me, you know? You intimidate me, and you try to scare me, but I never really sensed that you get a lot of joy out of it.”

He didn’t like that she sensed anything about him. “You’re wrong.”

Her brows furrowed. “Wrong about what?”

“I did enjoy it,” he said.

“Why would you?”

“I didn’t say I would answer all your questions.” In truth, he did enjoy intimidating her. It was when he was using intimidation that he really saw her reaction to him.