chapter Two
So that hadn't gone according to plan. Seamus patted Kelsey on the back and murmured stupid nothing words to get her to calm down. The dancer, Cara, had bolted after making it quite clear that she wasn't interested in him. His vampire mind-control trick had completely failed.
He had gotten her to offer up her name, but that was it, and even that had been a struggle. She had resisted. Part of him wanted to follow after her, and try again. The smarter part of him figured if he did, he'd just wind up with a knee in the groin.
"Alright, let's go home to the casino, Kelsey." He might as well work the rest of the night. Or go to bed early.Alone. No sex for him, no blood unless he wanted a cold plastic bag from his fridge. It was completely depressing.
"Okay, thanks, Seamus, I'm sorry for being such a pain." Kelsey sniffled and peeled herself off his chest. She wiped under her eyes, dashing away her blood-red tears.
She was one of the few vampires Seamus had actually seen capable of producing tears, but it suited her. Drama and hysterics were Kelsey's personality.
"You're not a pain." He nudged her with his arm and gave her a smile. "You're just paranoid.And too skinny. We need to get more blood on your bones."
She returned a watery smile and followed him out the emergency exit door. Seamus didn't feel like walking back through the club, and this door would probably dump them out into the back parking lot.
The warm Vegas air hit Seamus in the face like a fleece blanket. He had never imagined he would like the heat, the desert, or the glitzy nightlife ofSinCity , but he enjoyed the pulse of the city, the ability to hide among mortals completely out in the open.
They weren't in the back parking lot, but a side alley. And immediately Seamus smelled vampire. He scanned the dark, easing Kelsey behind him. He wasn't sure why, but he felt antagonism, danger.Vampire. The air was tinged with a sour scent.
"What's the matter?" she asked, her high-pitched voice bouncing up and down the quiet alley like she'd spoken with a bullhorn.
He was about to tell her to go back in the building, even though he couldn't see anything, when he took a blow to the top of his head that sent him staggering forward, a starburst of colors exploding in front of his eyes. Instinct had him ducking, avoiding a second blow. Seamus arched his arm out and made contact with a thick, full-barreled chest.
His attacker grunted, and as Seamus darted back out of the way, he finally got a good view of him. The guy was heavyset, balding, wearing a silk shirt and dress pants, his gold necklace glinting in the moonlight. With his vampire vision, Seamus could make out doughy jowls, a squat and thick crooked nose, and lids so swollen that his eyes were about as wide as a nickel. Overall, this guy coming at him was one seriously ugly vampire.
Seamus felt a twinge of pity for him that he had to go through eternity looking like the backside of a bulldog. But then the guy landed a fist in Seamus's gut, crunching all his muscles in agony, and his sympathy disappeared.
Especially when he threw a punch, collided with ugly guy's temple with an audible crack, and the guy didn't even lose his footing. Ugly vampire was a strong vampire.
"Go back in the club, Kelsey," he called over his shoulder, as he and the brawny man circled each other. This could take a while.
Seamus was no pretty boy. Back in his youth, he'd been a potato farmer and he had seen his share of fistfights and strength battles. But he'd gone soft lately, spending more time with technology than the treadmill and weight bench. He had the feeling he was going to be very sore in unpleasant places before he and Ugly parted ways.
When he moved to the right, he caught a clear view of Kelsey just standing in the doorway, horror on her pale face. " Dammit, get in the club, Kelsey!"
Faking left, then right, he landed a punch on the guy's kidneys. A howl of rage and pain went up from Ugly, but he didn't even so much as bend over. Not good.Time for Seamus to use his brain, not his brawn, before he got pummeled. Seamus bent over and rammed his head into the guy's gut, throwing off his center of gravity. AsUgly stumbled backward, Seamus kicked his foot out from under him, and the big guy went down with a satisfying thud.
Standing up, feeling a bit pleased with himself, Seamus suddenly realized there was a second guy. And he was holding Kelsey in his meaty, tattooed arms. Shit. This night was officially a complete and total frickin ' disaster.
"Let her go," he said with a sigh, wondering why he was wasting his breath.
"No. She's coming with me." And to prove his point, the guy dragged Kelsey backward with him, her legs dangling off the ground, her dress rolling up her thighs and giving Seamus a flash of her red panties.
It was that indignity, that callous treatment of awoman, that made Seamus very angry. Kelsey may be annoying, and she might giggle too much, but she was a human being?okay, an immortal vampire?and she deserved respect. Seamus rushed the guy, and at the last second flew up over his head, and slammed him from behind at the base of the skull with his fist.
The guy stumbled forward, groaning, losing his grip on Kelsey, who hit the dirt.
It was then that Seamus realized Ugly was back on his feet.
And there was a third one. One who was thin and moved with stealth, peeling himself out of the shadows of the building and stepping forward. When he locked eyes with him, Seamus also sawan intelligence in his face that was lacking in the other two.
Well, this was fun.
He couldn't call for assistance because Ethan would hear him. There was no way Seamus would risk the vampire president getting involved in a back-alley fight with rogue vampires. It would be bad press.Seriously bad press.
"Cut his head off," the thin one said, handing a really big nine-inch knife to Ugly.
Let's not and say we did. Seamus gauged how much room he had to maneuver. He was going to guess his flying skills were superior to these two. And despite his leadership role, Seamus sensed the thin one was a young vamp.
Which didn't explain why the guy was able to say, "Come here, Kelsey," walk down the alley toward the street, and actually have Kelsey follow him.
She just stumbled to her feet, fixed her dress, and trotted off after him without one glance in Seamus's direction.So much for loyalty.
This is what he got for his chivalry. His head cut off. That was ironic. It was the guillotine that had almost killed him the first time and changed the course of his vampire life. Now he was about to die the same way.
And he realized that probably no one would mourn him except Ethan.
If these guys didn't kill him, he might just killhimself the thought was so damn depressing.
Ringoknew Kelsey was following him, so he walked quickly until he got to the doorway of a closed souvenir shop. Then he turned, took her hand, and pulled her into the darkness with him.
"You're alive." It was a statement, not a question, and he took in her dark eyes, thick black hair, and vibrant red lips, the only splash of color against her alabaster skin. The cleavage-popping dress didn't surprise him. The expression on her face did. Gone was the flirtatious smile, the ditzy wide eyes.
She looked afraid. "Who are you?" she whispered. "Why won't you just leave me alone?"
Letting go of her hand, he rubbed his chin. This was a twist. She didn't remember him. Just as well. He hadn't realized his target was Kelsey.Get Fox and his girlfriend , he'd been told. And he always obeyed orders. If he didn't, his blood supply would be cut off.
It was a job Ringo had understood as a mortal human, and one he did well as a vampire.Hired killer.
But the last time he had seen Kelsey, he had tried to protect her, had watched her get mowed down by a spray of bullets,had seen her die. But that was before he'd been turned to vampire, before he had understood who he was dealing with. Kelsey was clearly a vampire now, too. Maybe she always had been one, though it was a surprise she didn't recognize him.
"You know who I am, Kelsey." He opened his mind to her. She'd been able to read him before, with a clarity that had bugged the hell out of him when he was mortal. He wasn't sure why he let her in now. Why he wanted her to acknowledge that she remembered him.
Maybe because Kelsey was the last shaky link to his mortality.The only person who had known him when he was a man, before the blood lust, and before he'd become Donatelli's fucking minion.
"You're here to kill me," she said, stepping back onto the sidewalk, the streetlight casting a bright glow over her bare shoulders.
"No." He had been. But he couldn't kill Kelsey now that he knew it was her. He'd kill Seamus Fox without a second thought, but he wouldn't kill Kelsey. She represented the last time he'd done something compassionate. He may have been a human until the month before, but he'd lost his humanity years before that. Except for one brief moment when he had actually risked himself to save Kelsey.
She was shaking, her teeth rattling, and her arms wrapped tightly around her middle. He had no sense of recognition from her, just fear.
"Jesus, what the hell did they do to you?" Ringo wasn't any good at mind reading, didn't like picking through people's thoughts, but he tried to probe Kelsey and got nothing but waves of panic. The Kelsey he'd known hadn't ever been afraid. She had been ditzy, annoying,confident . It made his very vivid and cruel imagination wonder what Donatelli had done to her after his men had shot her.
Instead of answering, she crumpled to the sidewalk in a faint, startling the crap out of him so completely that he never even moved to catch her.
"What the fuck!" Did women still faint? The only time he'd seen someone drop like that was when his ex-girlfriend had tripled her diet pill dosage.
Ringoapproached Kelsey. She hadn't passed out gracefully. A breast had popped out of her tiny dress and her face was hanging over into the gutter. Her shoe was half off and he had a clear view of some pale inner thighs and red underwear.
He couldn't leave her there like that.
Why did this shit always happen to him? Kicking a garbage can in annoyance, he sent it shooting thirty feet across the street and through a store window. The crash of the shattering glass made him feel better. Lifting her into his arms, Ringo wished he could fly as he started walking.
She stirred long enough to ask, "Where are you taking me?"
He was probably taking them both to hell. But he just said, "Home. I'm taking you home, Kelsey."
Cara couldn't even imagine why she had thought it was a good idea to go out into the alley wearing jeans, flip-flops, and a short satin robe. No bra. No cell phone. No purse.
She had lost her everlovin ' mind, and if she hadn't been drinking bottled water only all night, she would swear she'd been drugged. It was the only explanation for why she was crouched in a corner watching Seamus Fox?if that was really his name? brawling with two fat guys in bad outfits.
And they weren't just fighting. They were doing some freaky shit. At first it had looked like normal punches but then Seamus had gone allCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , doing moves that looked humanly impossible. He was like a blur in a black T-shirt, and at one point, she could absolutely swear he had actually risen vertically in the air.
She was too scared tomove, afraid they might see her if she tried to sneak back in the door. Clearly even though Seamus was outnumbered, she wasn't going to be of any assistance to him. Her major talents in life were dancing naked and animal care. Somehow she didn't think doing a hip rock or clipping his nails would help Seamus at the moment. It would be best to leave them to their beating the crap out of each other thing, but Cara had retreated too far from the door to go back in without being seen.
Cara? Seamus called to her, shattering her illusion that she hadn't been spotted.
Not to mention she was almost certain he hadn't spoken out loud, just in her head. She licked her lips nervously.What ?she whispered tentatively, her lips moving automatically even if no sound came out.
Go back in the club, beautiful.
She fell back on her butt, startled that she could hear him so clearly in her head. Yet he wasn't even looking at her. He was slamming one of the big guys into the brick wall.
I'm serious. They want to kill me. Get back inside.
It seemed like a good plan. Get back inside away from big, hairy men throwing punches. But for some reason her legs weren't moving. Leaving Seamus all alone just didn't seem right. She bit her fingernail nervously. If she ran toward the door, she could call 911 and get Seamus help. That would be the smartest thing to do.
She stood up, hugging the wall, staying in the shadows as she inched toward the door.
Right then Seamus leaped six feet in the air in the most unbelievable move Cara had ever seen and kicked one of the guys in the back of the head. It should have dropped the big dude to the ground, but instead, he just growled and bared his teeth. The streetlight was right on his face and Cara had a perfect view of his face and mouth.Of his fangs.
" Arrghh," she said involuntarily, covering her mouth with her hand. Those were not just exceptionally large canines. Those were fangs. And Seamus was leaping through the air like he had superpowers.
Something was very, very wrong here. Now the big guy had seen her.
"Who are you?" he asked, getting back to his feet after kissing concrete. He took a step toward her, a leer on his face. He wasn't as ugly as the other guy, who was currently in a headlock under Seamus's armpit, but he looked stupid.
"Leave her be. I'll wipe her memory," Seamus said. Excuse me? That didn't sound pleasant. Cara started fast-walking toward the door.
Stupid cut her off, stepping right in front of her escape path. His nostrils flared. "You smell good."
Cara grimaced. That just didn't sound like a compliment. But to prevent pissing him off, she murmured, "Thank you."
If she ran the other way, toward the street, she could get help. She chanced a glance at Seamus. He still had the ugly guy in his grip, but was getting his head pounded against the wall in retaliation. Cara winced. That must hurt. That was brain damage in the making.
It was up to her to make a break for it. Especially since Stupid was leaning toward her, his mouth wide open.
"I bet you taste really good, too," he said.
Eeew.Time to move it."What's that?" Cara asked, pointing behind the guy's right shoulder.
"What?" He turned.
She ran like hell to the end of the alley and out into the street.
It was a good plan.
What she hadn't factored in was the possibility of a car driving right in that particular spot.
She popped out with too much momentum to slow down, even as she realized an SUV was only a few feet from her. She felt the impact of the huge car like a massive shove, her brain rattling, her breath sucking right out of her lungs. Then she was hurtling through the air with nothing to hold on to, a scream stuck in her throat.
This could be a problem.
Cara landed, pain ripping through her entire body, crunching and jarring and tearing.
Then with great relief, she passed out.