chapter Twelve
Ringohad determined where Williams was in the casino. He could smell him when he got to the twenty-third floor, where Carrick's offices were. Wearing a dumb-ass-looking floral delivery disguise, Ringo had gone up in the elevator, disgusted that he had reached this low point in his life.
He wasn't anybody's delivery boy. He had done his hits fast and clean, walk in, plug them,walk out. Or better yet, a nice clean shot from a roof or an open window. This sneaking-around shit, worrying, wondering, begging, was getting old. Fast.
The minute he'd stepped into the office area, he knew Williams was on the same floor. The sick, sweet odor of a drug-addicted vampire drying out clung everywhere, like raw sewage. At least he knew Williams wasn't dead.
"Hey, where do you think you're going?" a security guard asked him as he stepped toward the glass doors that led to the reception desk.
"I have a delivery."
"At five in the morning?What the hell you delivering?"The guard was skeptical, and he was also mortal, which always worked in a vampire's favor. Ringo could blow past him if he needed to.
But Ringo just smiled and pulled the door handle. The offices were locked. "It's a specialdelivery, you know what I'm saying. For a " He glanced down. "Kelsey.The secretary." It was a risk, using Kelsey's name, but if she was around, he wanted to talk to her, and hers was the only name he knew besides Carrick's and his wife's, and he didn't want either of them seeing him.
"Kelsey doesn't come in until the afternoon. I'll take whatever it is for her."
"You want what I'm supposed to give her?" Ringo feigned amusement.
"Yeah, I can keep it for her. What's the big freaking deal?" The guard was starting to get pissed. He shifted restlessly.
"Do I have to spell it out for you? It's not justflowers, it's a Strip-o-Gram. I'm supposed to entertain her. Let her touch whatever she wants to touch, got it?"
"A what?"The guard looked shocked. "Man, thatjust ain't right.Guys stripping for girls shit."
"Hey, this is Vegas. Guess her friends got together and wanted to surprise her for her birthday."
"It's Kelsey's birthday? No kidding. Yeah, that sounds like some-thing Mrs. Carrick would do, give Kelsey a Strip-o-Gram. Jesus. You want to take it to Kelsey's room? She's on the next floor.Twenty-four-oh-two. It's probably better if you do that weird crap away from the offices anyway."
"Great idea.Thanks, man." Ringo clapped him on the arm.
"Hey, don't touch me," the guard said, lip curling.
"Sorry." Ringo backed up, reached the elevator, and turned. Step one accomplished.
When he got to Kelsey's room, he took a chance and knocked, hoping his luck would hold out. He leaned against the doorframe and smiled winningly at the peephole. Thirty seconds later the door opened.
"Kyle."
"Kelsey." He held out the bouquet of flowers he'd been hauling around. "These are for you."
She was wearing a very small bikini and nothing else. Her feet were bare, one foot crossed over the other. "Thank you." She took the flowers, sniffed them. " Lillies. Pretty, but you really shouldn't buya girl lilies , Kyle. They're funeral flowers. I might get the wrong idea."
There was something so wonderfully simplistic about Kelsey, yet amazingly complex. Ringo kind of liked the unexpected randomness of how she spoke, what she said. She annoyed the crap out of him, but she was growing on him. Like mold.
"How was I supposed to know they were funeral flowers? I'm just a dumb guy. I just saw them and thought they were beautiful, like you." He stepped in and put his hand on her cheek, caressed her cool flesh. "I'd never hurt you, you know that."
"I know." She closed the door behind him. "But you can't hurt Cara either.Or Seamus or Mr. Carrick."
"I'm just here for Williams, the Italian's security guard. I'm not here to hurt anyone." He could say that with total honesty. "I just need to get Williams out and you can help me."
"I don't want to go near him. He's the one that shot me, isn't he?"
"Yes. But you don't have to be near him. You just have to get me into his room. If I can get him out, then nobody has to get hurt, babe. We can keep this simple, just between you and me."
She worked her lip over with pearly white teeth. "You have to get away from him. He'll ruin you."
The thing was,he was already ruined. But he knew what Kelsey meant. Hell, he had been thinking, feeling, for days that he had to get away from Donatelli , get back to being his own man. But he wasn't sure how to do that. Wasn't sure it was even possible. Yet, the idea nagged anditched him.
"I know that, Kels . But he's one seriously powerful vampire. What am I supposed to do?" He didn't like her implication that he was just staying with Donatelli for the hell of it. Putting a hand on her bare waist, he pulled her to him. "I don't like it any more than you do."
"Kyle " she said in a plaintive voice, snuggling up against his chest, lacing her fingers through his.
"Why do you call me Kyle?" he asked, amusement soothing his annoyance. "You know that's not my name."
Her lips brushed his jaw. "But I call you Kyle because you like it."
She was right. For being such a ditz, she was so perceptive sometimes it was scary. When her mouth covered his, Ringo kissed her back with frustration, desire, and an odd sort of tenderness that came out of nowhere, nosing the other feelings aside and winning the race.
It startled the crap out of him. Any emotion surprised him, but this one he didn't know where it came from or where to put it. It sat there, on his chest, like a goddamn boulder.
Kelsey was wrapping her leg around his, digging into his back with her clawlike nails. Her bikini bottoms bumped against his dick and it would be easy to peel the nylon back and plunge into her. She wouldn't stop him.Would probably welcome it.
But Ringo settled for kissing her, for tasting her mouth, lips, tongue, for holding her in his arms like normal people did, with normal lives, and normal pleasures.
When they came up for air, Kelsey whispered in his ear, "I care about you, Ringo . So did Kyle."
Kyle.His kid brother. His mistake had been in caring for Ringo . It had only gotten him killed. Kelsey was making the same mistake.
"You're fucking crazy, you know that?" he told her, lowering his hold so he was touching her ass, gripping hard to emphasize his point. "You shouldn't care about me."
"But I do." Her voice was a soft, sensual whisper, confident and pretty, flowing over him like sweet, rich blood, reminding him of everything he wasn't and everything he couldn't have.
"Then be a good girl for once and do what I tell you." Ringo figured he had one chance, and he was going to take it. "Listen to me carefully, because I have a plan."
Cara didn't like where this was going. "Seamus, maybe this isn't a good idea."
But he barely even glanced at her as he laced up thick combat boots. "We have to take care of this, Cara. This guy is a serious threat to us as individuals but also to the Nation. He's out of control, and I want to know once and for all if Donatelli is giving him his orders."
Hair still damp from her shower, Cara twisted it into a rope, let it go, and shook it so it would unwind. She was nervous.Really on edge. It did not seem like a good idea to let the man she loved charge off into battle the morning after taking her virginity. It was all too medieval.
"But what are you going to do with him?" She'd seen that dagger Seamus had stuck in his belt. That was one ugly-looking knife. And how did Seamus even know how to use it? She didn't think he was a wimp or anything, but come on. He was a campaign manager, not a crocodile hunter. Could he really handle himself with a lunatic vampire?
"You don't think I can handle myself? "Seamus asked in shock, glancing over at her, bent over,one foot on the coffee table as he tied. "You think I'm some kind of pansy who can't protectmyself or my woman?"
Damn. She hated the whole mind-reading thing sometimes. She hadn't completely mastered closing him out.
"I don't think you're a pansy! Not after last night. Not before last night either. I'm sure you're perfectly capable of protecting yourself and me, it's just that I'm a woman, and I care about you, and I'm going to worry. I can't help it."
The eloquent response she received for all her efforts was just a grunt.
Geez, Alexis had been right when she'd said these male vampires were sensitive about their masculinity and territory.
"I heard that," he said, dropping his foot to the carpet and standing up.
Oops. Cara said, "Heard what?"Then took him in. He was wearing black pants, a black T-shirt that showed off some serious muscle, and the boots. It made her forget to worry for a second. "You look hot."
"Nice try," he said.
"What? It's true." Cara looked at Seamus, visions of the night before dancing through her head, and suddenly she felt deluged and overwhelmed by emotion. Tears materialized from nowhere and dribbled out of her eyes. She launched herself at Seamus right as his expression turned from annoyed toalarmed .
"Hey, hey, what's the matter?" He caught her up in his arms. " Shh. Come on now. Everything is fine. We'll get this cleared up and we can go back to things being normal."
"What if you get hurt?" she said into his chest, embarrassed by her reaction but unable to stop herself.
"I'm a vampire. I'll heal." He kissed the top of her head. "I have to go."
She clung tighter. "No."
He gave a soft laugh. "Cara. I'm going ten flights down, not toZimbabwe . I'll be back in an hour."
"Let me go with you." Not that she could really be of any assistance, but at least she could watch his back.
"Hell no.You're staying with Alexis." He gave her a squeeze,then tried to set her away from him.
Cara hung on. She was terrified and she wasn't sure why. It was just a feeling just the lingering horror of seeing what had been done to Dawn, remembering the fear in Kelsey's eyes, and the way they had ganged up three on one on Seamus that first night she'd met him.
"I love you," she said, in case she never got a chance to tell him. She wanted him to know, spoken out loud, of her own free will, instead of plucked from her thoughts.
Seamus stared down at her, his face relaxing. "I love you, too, Cara. When this is all settled and everything is safe I'm hoping I want I'm asking you to stay with me. Here, in our apartment."
"Yes." There was no other answer. It was what Cara wanted deep down inside of her. She couldn't imagine going back to her old apartment, alone. She and Seamus both managed to lure out the best qualities in each other, and they had an amazing friendship paired with explosive passion.
With the rough backside of his thumb, he wiped a tear off her cheek. Then he kissed her, a hard, possessive, claiming kiss.
"I'll take you down to Ethan's now."
"Okay." She held his hand and let him lead her down the hall, trying damn hard to trust him.
When they got to Ethan and Alexis's, the president was arguing with the First Lady. Or rather, he was arguing and she was agreeing.
"Alexis. I'm serious. You have to stay here."
"Okay," she said, sitting at their dining room table and flipping through a magazine.
"I'm serious," Ethan said from the doorway, while Cara still held on to Seamus's hand.
Cara saw Alexis pause in turning a page. "I heard you. I agreed."
Ethan marched back over to his wife, face grim. "Alexis. You understand how important this is."
"Yes."
"You have to stay here with Cara."
Alexis slapped her magazine shut and glared at Ethan. "I saidokay . What the hell do you want from me?A pint of blood?"
Ethan relaxed and gave her a grin. "Not in front of our friends."
"Ha, ha," she said, but she gave him a small smile. "Be careful."
"Always."
Seamus extracted his hand from Cara's as Ethan gave Alexis a kiss. Cara forced herself to keep her mouth shut and not give Seamus any warnings or advice he wouldn't appreciate. If she weren't careful, she'd be nagging him to wear a hat in winter and telling him not to run with a stake in his hands.
The minute the door closed behind them, Alexis stood up. "You need to change your shoes."
Cara glanced down at her flip-flops. "Why?"
"Because we're going to follow them."
"But you just told Ethan you'd stay here." Cara stared at
Alexis, heart starting to race.She would feel so much better if she could just keep an eye on Seamus.
"Screw that. This keeping the home fires burning shit just isn't for me, and Ethan knew that when he married me. He fully expects me to follow him. I think he'd be disappointed if I didn't."
"I don't think Seamus expects me to follow him."
"And you wouldn't have if I didn't, right?"
"True."
"But you want to, don't you?"
"Yes."
"Then let's go." Alexis opened up a drawer in the buffet and pulled out a rather serious-looking sword.
Cara must have made an involuntary sound of horror because Alexis glanced over at her. "Don't worry. I'm trained to use it."
"It's almost as big as you are," Cara said.
Alexis swung it up in one deft move and sliced through the six taper candles gracinga candelabra on the dining room table. The cut was swift and clean, and each candle toppled off in a silent death fall. The sword remained completely in Alexis's control and she gave it a few swirls before resting the tip on the floor in front of her.
"Not a problem, though, I see," Cara amended.
"Nope.And I feel like Ninja vampire when I use it. It's very cool. If you want, I can train you."
"Sure." Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to know how to defendherself . It seemed vampire politics created enemies and she was now the girlfriend of a powerful conservative party vampire.
"Could you teach me how to pole dance?" Alexis asked, tucking her blond hair behind one ear. "Ethan would love that."
"I could do that." And it gave her an idea for that night. She could surprise Seamus with a little routine.
"So are you in love with Seamus?"
"Yes," Cara admitted, feeling her cheeks go hot. She laughed. "Isn't that just crazy? I always said I wouldn't do this, fall head over heels, but I tell you I feel as sappy as a greeting card."
"I understand.Totally. I felt the same way." Alexis shook her head. "They have no idea how lucky they really are. Now let's go save their asses."
Cara swallowed hard and decided that if she didn't get killed by anassassin, Seamus would do it with his bare hands when he saw her.
But she just wanted a peek, just enough of a look to see that he was alright. Then she'd retreat and everything would be just fine.
She was almost sure of it.
"It used to be a lot easier to do this kind of stuff, didn't it?" Seamus asked as he and Ethan headed down the hall. He couldn't believe the way Cara had clung to him. It pleased him at the same time it made him feel guilty for worrying her. But hell, he could take care of himself.Had been doing it for almost four hundred years. "We used to just sign up for every war that came our way. Now it's harder."
"Very true.Now we have responsibilities.People relying on us. We have to exercise caution." Ethan touched the frame of a painting hanging in the hallway and straightened it. "We're civilized. We own property. And we have women waiting for us at home."
"It's not so bad, is it?" Seamus pictured Cara in his bed, the way her eyes had darkened when she said she loved him. "Not so bad at all."
"Nope.Different phases in life, that's all. And meeting Alexis was just what I needed."
Seamus thought the same could be said for him and Cara. He'd been so discontent, so frustrated,so uptight. Cara had changed all that, forced him to relax. But he didn't like that she had cried when he'd left.That made him feel lousy, guilty. "Hey, do you remember Hutchins? The captain who was atWaterloo with us? Remember how his wife used to follow the drum?"
Ethan laughed as they got on the elevator. "Shit, I'd forgotten about him. Every time we were ready to head out to the front lines, she would grab on to him and wail and scream for him not to leave her."
Seamus could still picture it, her skirts flying, bonnet askew, head lifted toward the sky like she was begging God for intercession. "He was always so embarrassed, but he couldn't bring himself to toss her off. He'd pat her and try to reassure her until the cook would finally pull her off. The one time she got him around the knees and they both went down in the mud."
They laughed. "We used to cut him up over that," Ethan said. "But now I have to sympathize with the poor chap. I find my wife is a little hard to control sometimes."
"At least you understand Alexis. I have no clue what Cara is going to do half the time."
"Will she follow us?" Ethan asked.
"No.Of course not." Seamus scoffed. At least he didn't think so. "Will Alexis?"
"Absolutely."
"You probably should have put some clothes on," Ringo said to Kelsey when they left her room and got on the elevator. It didn't seem to occur to her it was a little odd for her to be strolling along in a bikini while he was wearing a suit. But hell, maybe it wasn't. He had ditched the delivery jacket in Kelsey's room.
"There's no time. Mr. Carrick will be down here in like five minutes."
Ringoquestioned that Keisey would be able to pull this off, but he didn't see that he had a whole lot of options. He just had to make sure any fallout didn't land on her.
They stepped out on the twenty-third floor, the office level. The office doors were unlocked and a receptionist was typing on a computer.
"Hey Kelsey," the receptionist said, barely glancing up. "What are you doing?"
"I just forgot something in Mr. Carrick's office. I'll be in later like normal."
"Okay." The woman didn't even seem to notice Ringo or the fact that Kelsey was wearing a bikini. "Happy Birthday," she added.
"Thanks," Kelsey said, without missing a beat.
Ringocouldn't prevent a small smile as they went down the hall. Damn, she was cool under pressure. He never would have guessed it.
She didn't even balk when there was a mortal guard outside the room Williams was in. "Hi, James," she said with a smile.
"Kelsey." His eyebrow went up. "If you're going swimming, the pool is on the first floor."
"Ha, ha.Very funny."She smiled at him. "Can you go get me a cup of coffee?"
"Sure." The guy went down the hall.
Just like that. "Very smooth," Ringo told her.
"I'm working on the mind-control thing. Now go in there," she said, shoving him. "I'll keep watch."
Opening the door, he braced himself, not sure what in the hell he was going to find on the other side. It wasn't as gruesome as he imagined, though Williams looked like hell. He was lying on a couch watching TV, handcuffed to the furniture leg. Ringo wasn't sure if the restraints could actually secure a fifty-year-old vampire but Williams looked too sick to give a shit.
"Hey." He stepped in front of him.
Williams struggled to sit up."Blood. I need blood. They're giving me blood that is bad or something I'm dying, Ringo . You've got to help me."
Using his foot, Ringo stepped on the handcuffs and snapped them in two pieces. "Get up."
"How we going to get out?"Williams took a deep breath, his normally pale pallor nearly translucent. "Fuck, I'm going to be sick." He leaned over and puked while Ringo turned away in disgust.
He did not want to end up like Williams. Yet he knew he was already there. He was only one missed feeding away from the shakes and sweats Williams had.
The door opened and Kelsey ran in. "Guard is back, and Sea- musand Mr. Carrick are coming down the hall."
"Alright."There was no time to screw around. Ringo hauled Williams up by his shirt and dragged him over to the window.
"What are you doing?" Williams sputtered and whacked at Ringo with weak, unfocused punches. "Let me go."
"I'm saving your ass. The entry is blocked. We're going out the window." Ringo took a hard-back chair and swung. The glass shattered upon impact, shards flying everywhere.
"We're in a high-rise. We can't." Williams stopped to hurl again.
"You want to get back to Donatelli and his drug blood or what? I can leave you here to dry out." Ringo shoved him toward the open window, the sun just starting to appear in the east, their shoes crunching and sliding on the beads of burst glass. "Or you can go out my way."
"No the fall will kill us."
Nothing could kill them except decapitation, lack of blood, or a stake through the heart. "What'sa few broken bones when they'll heal?" Ringo got a hand on Williams's pants at the waist, another on his shirt at the shoulder. He jerked him up onto the window ledge. "Withdrawal didn't do anything for your weight, man. You're fucking heavy."
Williams shot him a panicked look, his hair matted to his head, dark circles ringing his watery eyes. The door opened and Ringo heard voices, shouts. He shoved, hard, while Williams scrambled with his feet, trying to find a hold on the wall, the ledge, anything. His arms flailed toward Ringo , desperate to grab on, his hand clasping Ringo's jacket. Ringo locked eyes with him, broke Williams's weak hold, and sent him winging out into open air. The guy dropped before Ringo could even blink.
Carrikand Fox were coming at him. He could sense their shock, their malice, but he was ready. Turning around, he reached out and grabbed Kelsey by her thin arm, jerking her in front of him and snaking his arm around her throat. "Back off!" he yelled.
"What the hell are you doing?" Fox demanded as he and Car- rickjerked to a halt five feet in front of him. "Let her go."
"No. She's coming with me." Ringo bent over without breaking his hold on Kelsey and pulled a knife out of his boot. He put it in front of her throat.
"I don't think so," Carrick said, his voice arrogant and disdainful. "Neither of you is leaving."
Ringowanted to kick him just to hear him whelp.Bastard. "You can let us leave by the door or we'll go out the window. Doesn't matter to me, but we're leaving."
Kelsey whimpered. Ringo wasn't sure if it was for effect or if she was really scared. He stroked her back with his free hand so she would remember this was what they had to do.
"Look." Fox held out his hand. "Let Kelsey go. Then we'll let you leave out the window like your friend did."
Ringowasn't about to wind up on the ground vulnerable, bones cracked, lying by himself. He was going to let Williams crawl back to Donatelli , and Ringo was going to easehimself off the drug blood, somehow or another. Kelsey was meant to serve as a way for him to get out of the building standing. They had worked it out, and he was not about to let these assholes get a hand on him.
He started to walk Kelsey around Fox and Carrick when Alexis and the other woman, Fox's girlfriend, burst into the room.