Blood Bath & Beyond

  “Laura cheated on Bernard, starting shortly after they were married. Trailing after him with his job as consultant bored her, so she found other ways to…amuse herself. This was not a secret, even though she thought it was.”

  “I hear he did the same thing. What’s your point?”

  “Bernard tolerated her infidelity because it kept her happy.”

  “Are you asking if I’m thinking of cheating on you in order to stay happy?” My mouth dropped open and my cheeks flared with heat. “This is ridiculous.”

  “You can’t blame me for being curious.”

  My anger from before cranked back up again as I glared at him, speechless.

  Thierry’s gaze moved to my hand. “We’ve only been apart for a day and yet I noticed you’ve already stopped wearing your ring. What am I supposed to think?”

  It reminded me again about the light-fingered underground vamp. “My ring was—”

  He raised his hand to stop me before I could say anything else. “Hold that thought, please.”

  I just stared at him, stunned that he would ask me these things in front of an audience.

  Jake watched us like a tennis match, his lips twitching with amusement. “Trouble in paradise, huh? Fledglings and masters are not a good combo. You’re right to wonder about a sexy little thing like her, Thierry. Personally, I like to keep my women on short leashes.”

  David studied Thierry for a moment. “What did you want to talk to us about? Let’s get to the point.”

  “Yes, you’re right,” Thierry said. “It’s time we did.”

  I wasn’t exactly sure what happened next. All I knew was that one moment they were standing there smug and amused and the next moment they were both flat on the ground. David was unconscious, but Thierry had his knee against Jake’s chest to hold him down and the thug’s own silver stake in his hand. Thierry pressed it to Jake’s jugular hard enough that a trail of blood trickled down his throat.

  What the hell? Had Thierry moved that fast or had I just blacked out for thirty seconds? I knew he could move quickly when necessary, but I’d never seen anything like this before.

  Jake gurgled and attempted to fight Thierry off, but it looked like a losing battle. Thierry dug the stake in closer to the other man’s throat.

  “I’m not a pussycat,” Thierry said evenly. “Master vampires are not always what you might think we are. Time has taught us the patience to wait for others to let their guards down so we can be lions when absolutely necessary. Do you really want to hear me roar?”

  For such a large and dangerous man, Jake was now staring up at my fiancé with actual fear as if he saw something on Thierry’s face that scared him to the very center of his being.

  “Thierry,” I said. Then when he didn’t seem to hear me, I shouted it. “Thierry!”

  He glanced over his shoulder and my breath caught in my chest. His eyes had turned black and soulless. Maybe it was the bit of blood on Jake’s neck that set him off, but he was close to the edge of his control right now.

  “Don’t kill him.” I forced myself to say it very calmly and put as much strength behind it as I could. “He’s only doing his job.”

  Thierry narrowed his black eyes and returned his attention to the vampire he had pinned. “You’re right.”

  He tossed the stake away and it clanged to the ground over by the flat-screen television. Then he grabbed Jake’s head and slammed it down against the marble tiles. That would have been hard enough to crush a human’s skull, no doubt, but despite the vampire going very still, his chest moved to show he was still breathing.

  It reminded me to breathe, too. I’d forgotten to do that for a minute.

  I watched Thierry carefully, waiting for a sign that he was okay. Black eyes worried me at the best of times. Especially when it was Thierry who was sporting them. He patted Jake down and retrieved his cell phone from the man’s pocket before slipping it into his own inner jacket pocket.

  Finally he pushed up to his feet and looked at me. His eyes were back to their normal shade of gray. The sight made me dizzy with relief.

  “Ready to go?” he asked.

  “Definitely.” As we left the suite I turned to look at him. “You said you needed something from them before Markus got here. What was it?”

  He met my questioning gaze. “Their lack of consciousness.”

  Chapter 15

  My fantastic plan to rescue Thierry had come off without a hitch.

  Well, maybe one or two. But the results spoke for themselves.

  Again avoiding the unpredictability of taking an elevator, we made it to the stairwell and began heading downward.

  I glanced back at him. “Do we have a plan?”

  “I had one. It dissolved about half an hour ago.”

  “What was your plan?”

  “Doesn’t matter anymore. I’ll revise.”

  My stomach sank. “You did have a plan. A good one, too, right? You weren’t just sitting in there like a passive victim—you were biding your time. I screwed everything up when you were busy biding.”

  “You didn’t screw it up. But you did scare the hell out of me.” He pulled me to a stop as we reached the fifteenth floor. “When they brought you into the suite unconscious, I thought the worst. For a moment, I thought they’d killed you.” His expression darkened. “Do you have any idea what that did to me?”

  “You were happy you wouldn’t have to deal with a troublemaker like me anymore,” I guessed.

  His gaze firmly held mine. “Try again.”

  “Your heart shattered at the thought of losing me and you wanted to kill everyone within a one-mile radius to help ease your grief and rage over my death.”

  A glimmer of a smile touched his lips. “More than a mile.”

  My heart beat faster and I almost returned the expression, but I still felt deeply uneasy about what had happened. “What was that in there? With Markus’s men? I’ve never seen you move like that before. In fact, I didn’t see you move at all, it was just…done. And the look on your face afterward when you had Jake on the ground and his stake at his throat…”

  His expression was unreadable. “We needed out of there and they were both very strong. I had to use whatever I had at my disposal in order to get past them.”

  “And that’s something you had at your disposal? What, is that a tool you’ve been keeping in a box that I never knew about?”

  “I can do certain things, Sarah. Those who’ve been around for as long as I have—have access to these…tools, as you say. It doesn’t mean I want to use them all the time—or even that I can. But sometimes it’s possible.”

  I shivered despite myself. I was learning more about my fiancé every day. “Sounds dangerous.”

  “It certainly can be.” He had my hand in his and he brushed his thumb over my ring finger. His eyes met mine again. “Your ring?”

  “Stolen. When I was tied up in the tunnels under the city, a greedy vampire chick took it from me as payment to help me escape a couple hunters.”

  He just stared at me. That was a lot of information to pack into one sentence.

  “Tied up by hunters?” he asked after a moment, his voice tight.

  “It’s been kind of a crazy day,” I admitted.

  “Tell me more.”

  I did. Quickly. I told him about my plan to talk to Duncan and how badly that went, starting with the hunters in the tunnels, the subterranean-living, black-eyed vampire, the hunter bar, and finally Duncan getting a pool cue through his chest before I could get him to confess who hired him to kill Bernard.

  The taste of my failure was bitter. Kind of like the tea an aunt of mine always insisted I drink whenever I went to her house for a visit back when I was a kid. How hard was it to make tea that doesn’t taste nasty? I mean, seriously. Ever since, I’d been a coffee person. But I digress.

  “Duncan is dead,” Thierry finally said after he’d processed everything.

  I just nodded. “I’m sorry. I know that would hav
e been the perfect way to find out who hired him. He was willing to talk to me for a price. And now…he’s gone. This is all my fault.”

  “He would have been killed today with or without your presence. It wasn’t you who killed him, it was someone else who wanted him dead.”

  I raked a hand through my still-tangled hair. “I thought Laura could be the one to blame. I talked to her, but it wasn’t her. I’m positive about that. She actually gave me back Bernard’s key to your mysterious safety-deposit box—or, at least, I’m pretty sure that’s what it is.” I touched my jeans pocket to make sure it was still in there. “She probably didn’t know it led to a bunch of diamonds. She can’t think straight—she’s completely destroyed by his death.”

  “I never suspected Laura. She needed Bernard and his checkbook too much. Dead, he’s no good to her.”

  I blanched. “It just makes me feel sick.”

  “Which part?”

  “All of it. I believed they were madly in love, a fledgling and a master vamp. They reminded me so much of…” I bit my lip. “Well, you know. I wanted them to be a good example of that, to give me hope.”

  “We do share many significant similarities.”

  My chest tightened. “But she was cheating on him. And now you question whether I’m looking at cheating on you. I mean, what was that?”

  He exhaled. “Sarah—”

  I knew we had to get out of this hotel as soon as possible before Markus arrived, but I needed to get this out before it started to fester. “You didn’t have to ask me to marry you, you know, but you did. And I said yes. That means something to me, Thierry. It means that, despite everything, you want to be with me now and in the future and vice versa. So am I thinking of acquiring some new man candy the moment that my eye starts to wander? Absolutely not. And, FYI, I’m mad as hell that you’d even think something like that.”

  He’d drawn back from me a little during my rant as my voice echoed in the stairwell.

  I waited patiently for his rebuttal.

  “Actually,” he began, “I said those things merely as a way to distract Markus’s men so I might get the upper hand when the time came. But I do appreciate you clarifying these points for me and am quite pleased with this confirmation of your fidelity.”

  I glared at him as his lips started to curve. “Don’t laugh. This is not funny.”

  “I’m not laughing. I’m smiling.”

  “I’m so glad I amuse you.”

  “So am I. You truly have no idea.” Smiling changed Thierry’s entire face—from stern and coldly handsome, to open and totally heart-stoppingly gorgeous.

  But I still wanted to punch him in the stomach.

  I blew out a breath and tried to fight against my own grin appearing. “So what’s your new plan now that the original one imploded thanks to me?”

  “First, I need to get you to safety.”

  “And then?”

  “By escaping that hotel suite, I’ve signed my own death warrant. Markus will assume my guilt now instead of having any doubt about it and attempt to hunt me down.” He must have seen me blanch at this. “It’s not your fault. I’d planned to leave the suite tomorrow morning if nothing had changed. I am patient when I need to be, but I have no interest in being executed for a crime I didn’t commit. Knowing you were safe helped ease my mind. If I’d had any idea you were still in Vegas…” He sighed. “I need to get you to a safe place where no one knows you and Markus can’t track you.”

  “And you?”

  “I’ll put distance between us. Perhaps, eventually, Markus will stop his search.”

  I blinked. “We won’t be together?”

  “You would be in danger. So no.” His previous smile was only a memory now and his dark brows drew together. “It was a mistake bringing you here in the first place. You’re too—”

  “—much trouble?”

  His gaze flicked to mine and again that smile tugged at his lips. He brought his hand up to cup my cheek. “Too important to me.”

  My heart twisted. I didn’t like this plan at all. “I don’t want to leave you.”

  “Trust me, Sarah, if there were any other choices, this would not be my first.”

  There had to be another way. Thierry’s plan was to separate us, to put me somewhere nice and safe and hidden—which, quite honestly, sounded like hell. And for him to go on the run, trying to stay one step in front of Markus, who’d now kill him on sight.

  My life had been complicated ever since I’d first been bitten, but this felt as bad as it got. There had to be another choice here. Because, even though Thierry had a plan that would do in a pinch, it was far from perfect.

  I mentally retraced my steps today—all my leads that led to dead ends. I kept feeling hope that I was getting somewhere, only to have that hope land facedown in a muddy puddle.

  “There was something,” I said. “Josh—he’s the vamp who runs the blood bank, Blood Bath and Beyond…Well, he’s a magician, too, with a show here in town at a place called Club Noir. He’s got an opening act, a guy who can contact the dead. Josh seemed to think he’s legit.”

  “Are you really interested in taking in a show before we flee the city?” Thierry asked wryly.

  I chewed my bottom lip as I considered everything. “What if we tried to contact Duncan’s spirit? I wanted him to admit who hired him when he was alive, but if there’s a chance to do it now that he’s dead…”

  “A real psychic who can contact the dead is a very rare find. Most are fake or they’re fooling themselves that they have any supernatural ability at all.”

  “But there are real ones? You’ve come across them before, right?”

  He was silent for a moment, as if mulling it over. “I have. Not often, but I have.”

  “Do you know any in the area we could go to instead?”

  He shook his head. “What is this psychic’s name?”

  I wracked my brain to remember what Josh told me. “Kristopher…the Magnificent. Do you think it’s worth checking out?”

  “Do you?”

  I nodded. “If there’s any chance of finding out the truth, then we need to do it. If we can prove your innocence to Markus, then he won’t keep hunting you.”

  Before he replied, I began to realize after what I’d seen upstairs in the suite with Jake and David, what might happen when and if Markus ever caught up to Thierry. Did the enforcer know what a master vampire could be capable of? Did he take special precautions when hunting one?

  I’d bet money that he would. Which meant whatever special vampire-ninja skills Thierry had that I was previously unaware of, they’d be of little use against someone like Markus. Maybe he was a vampire ninja, too.

  He nodded. “Then we’ll go and see this Kristopher the Magnificent. However, try not to get your hopes up that it will make any difference.”

  “How about we try this—I’ll be the optimist and you be the pessimist?”

  That earned me another smile. “If you insist.”

  We headed down the rest of the stairs. “Saw one of the serial killer’s victims up close and personal today on the street,” I told him. “Just seconds before he died. Maybe if the psychic is legit, we can summon his spirit and find out who killed him. Although I’ve got this weird feeling I already know.”

  Thierry looked disturbed that I’d brushed up against more danger today like a friendly cat, but he chose not to press me about it. “Who?”

  “Charles. Victoria’s guardian…or whatever he is to her. He’s so shady he’s practically an umbrella. He’s got a blood addiction—sort of like…” I cleared my throat. “Well, let’s just say he’s got a blood addiction. Can’t seem to stop slurping the stuff up. Saw him with some blood on his lips earlier and that was about a minute and a half before the victim came staggering toward me. And, if that wasn’t bad enough, his full name is Charles Manson. Talk about a big neon arrow pointing at him, if you ask me.”

  “Charles Manson didn’t commit his own crimes. He had peop
le kill on his behalf.”

  “Still. It’s creepy. And what was even creepier was that when the man died right in front of me, I swear I could feel the moment his life left his body. I sensed it, Thierry. It freaked me out.”

  He pulled me to a stop again just as we’d reached the ground floor. “You felt it? How?”

  “I don’t know. Like, inside of me I could feel the difference between dead and alive. I figured that’s just another vampire trait that everybody else has.”

  “Not everybody.” He swept his gaze over me with interest. “Have you ever felt that before?”

  “Well, I haven’t been around that many humans who’ve been killed, but…” I thought hard about it. “No. This is a recent development.”

  “Hmm.”

  I eyed him warily. “Hmm, what?”

  “I guess we might find out soon.”

  “Can you be more cryptic?”

  “It’s possible. If I tried really hard.” He pushed open the door leading us out of the stairwell and we made our way across the lobby. Had it been only two days ago that we’d arrived? Seemed like two weeks. I didn’t even glance up at the crystal flower ceiling this time; my gaze was too focused on our path ahead.

  Suddenly Thierry’s grip on my hand tightened and he pulled me back. It took me only a moment to see what caused this reaction. It was Markus.

  I stopped breathing.

  He’d arrived earlier than expected and was speaking to someone by the reception desks. I watched as he shook a man’s hand, then began moving in the direction of the elevators. I was certain he was on his way to the thirty-second floor, where he’d been called in to deal with the most recent development to do with Thierry’s imprisonment—namely yours truly.

  Markus began to walk with purpose away from us. But then he stopped, cocked his head, and glanced over his shoulder. There were many other people in the area and we were blocked by a gathering tour group. But it was as if he sensed something wasn’t quite right.

  Then, after a solid ten seconds of Markus sniffing the air like some sort of blond hellhound, he turned back, his black coat swishing around his calves, and walked away. It wasn’t until he disappeared completely from sight that I started to breathe normally again.