Chapter Three

Max slid into the driver’s seat of his car and tapped the steering wheel in an attempt to keep focused while the woman slithered into the passenger seat in her skin-tight skirt.

The whole set-up was wrong. So wrong. He had to be out of his mind to agree to take her with him anywhere. She had no idea what she was getting into, and he had an unpleasant hollow in his gut that told him he didn’t either.

He’d handled missing person cases before. Young girls left home all the time hoping to mix it up with vampires. That’s why the clubs had rules. No one under age. No one on drugs or drunk when they arrived. Of course, what they got into afterward was up to them.

He liked his job, and he didn’t mind that part of it was to keep humans from doing things they didn’t really want to do. What bothered him most was the way they looked at him. Even this woman--Erica. She thought he was just a vampire. A monster. He saw it in her eyes. And there, with the keen intelligence and that sweet vulnerability you just didn’t see in a woman once she’d been turned, was the fear. What he hated most was that it still got to him, even after one hundred and seventeen years.

Her scent was already familiar to him. She hadn’t doused herself in the artificial pheromones humans used to disguise their natural scent. She looked like a feeder, underdressed and over made-up, but she smelled like ... a librarian. She had a faint aroma of books and ink and female musk enhanced by the sharp flavor of a natural soap. Just like all the others, she had no idea it wasn’t the sexy outfit that drew a buyer at the bar, it was the right scent.

Of course, the shimmering stockings on those mile-long legs, the push-up bra that gave her an artfully rounded cleavage and the wisps of golden hair that tickled the naked skin of her neck, would certainly have drawn any male vampire’s attention and probably a few females, too. But it was her scent that had brought Max across the surging tide of dancers to find her at the bar.

If she’d been a feeder, he’d have bought her.

Maybe the hollow in his gut was hunger rather than self-doubt. He’d figure out which later on.

“I’m not going to take you to Danger--Danger. You’re not ready for that. We’ll start out at Club Dead. It’s a little more upscale, not as loud. If your sister’s there, we should be able to locate her pretty quickly.”

“Fine. I want to hit as many places as we can tonight,” she said as she clicked her seatbelt in place. He watched her out of the corner of his eye as he guided the car out of the parking lot. A block later they were back in human territory and surrounded by late night traffic.

“You have to prepare for some of these places. I’ll take you to the lighter ones, where I usually make my rounds on the weekends. Some of the places, even I need a reason to go into. I can’t just show up and flash my badge.”

“Why not?” Her curiosity amused him and annoyed him at the same time. “If you’re investigating--”

“Even human cops need warrants. They can’t just barge in anywhere. Some of these clubs are private estates, and what goes on there usually isn’t subject to investigation. They have their own security staff, and sometimes they work with us. Sometimes they don’t.”

“So some vampires don’t have to follow the rules?”

“It’s the same with humans sometimes, isn’t it? We have our own way of dealing with the troublemakers. Don’t become a troublemaker.” He punctuated his subtle warning with a half-grin.

She nodded, but he saw the wheels turning. She wasn’t going to be deterred. That made her dangerous to herself and to him.

“You have to trust me on this. I know what I’m talking about. If you want to help your sister, and if she really is in some kind of trouble, you’ve got to be careful how you go about things. Even in a regular bar, you’re not going to just waltz in, grab her by the hand and waltz back out. If someone owns her ...”

Max winced as soon as he said it. He gripped the steering wheel tighter during the outburst that followed.

“No one owns my sister! She’s not some slave to a vampire. I know that!”

“No. You don’t.” He shot her a cautious look. With her chin up and her vibrant lower lip caught in her teeth, she looked tough and sexy.

“I don’t think you know anything about vampire society, and if your sister is in trouble and she got into something that she wants out of, she probably didn’t know anything either.”

She sighed angrily. “Then why don’t you explain it to me?”

She probably didn’t really want to know. “A lot of times, feeders relinquish control to their vampires. Some want to be turned so they do whatever they’re asked to in exchange for a chance at immortality.” The words left a sour taste. It wasn’t a subject he liked to talk about. He wasn’t proud of some of the promises he’d made when the gnawing hunger robbed him of his reasoning ability. He’d learned his lesson well--never go too long without feeding--never to act human for so long that he forgot what he was.

“You think she’s selling her soul?” Her pretty voice became a croak. The smell of fear momentarily overpowered her enticing scent.

“I hope we can get to her before that happens. But I want to warn you, you’re going to see things you won’t like, and if you want to get inside, you’ve got to pretend it doesn’t bother you. Are you willing to do that? If not, I will take you home right now, and I’ll conduct the investigation by myself ... which is how I’d prefer to do it anyway.”

“No.”

He tapped the break pedal. Was she really smart enough to back off now while she still could?

“No?”

“No. I’m going to find Elena. I’ll do what I have to. I can’t let her turn herself into a vampire.”

Max laughed, but there was no humor in it. “It takes two to make a vampire.”

“Whatever. Look, it’s not something I like to talk about, but Elena drinks too much. She does drugs sometimes. She likes men who mistreat her. In my opinion, all those things can be cured--with the right kind of help. But there’s no cure for ‘vampire’ .... right?”

He smirked. He’d looked for one, in the beginning, when he thought he’d go mad from the craving for blood. “None that I know of. Except for death. That cures the condition pretty quickly.”

“Then I’ve got to stop her. Even if it’s what she thinks she wants.”

“All right. Then you have to do exactly as I say when we’re inside. Do you understand?”

She nodded and he just knew she didn’t understand. Not completely. They were going to hit a rocky road. It was just a matter of time.

* * * *

Erica shivered as she got out of Max’s car. She already didn’t like the way things were going, but she didn’t see a choice but to go along with him. The things he’d told her to expect inside Club Dead made her skin crawl just a little. The last thing Erica had the stomach for was anything deviant. Elena had told her stories about aberrant human behavior that still kept her awake some nights. She couldn’t imagine what a glimpse of vampire life would do to her, but she couldn’t back out now.

She waited while Max came around the car. He took her hand and pulled her toward the side of the building, which, from the outside, looked very similar to After Dark. The place was nondescript with darkened windows and no glowing marquis like human clubs boasted. She didn’t hear any music coming from within this time, which surprised her. She expected the place to be loud and obnoxious just like After Dark.

“Don’t we get to go in the front this time?” she asked as he herded her around the corner of the building. Another car pulled into the parking lot just then and Hart shielded her from view, stopping in front of her.

She looked up into his face and stifled a scream. His fangs were showing.

“What the--”

“I promise it won’t hurt.”

He pulled her to him in a swift movement that caught her off balance. She stumbled forward, putting her hands up against his chest to brace herself. She struggled against his iron grip as his arms came around her and trapped her against him. Fear stole her breath, and the bloodcurdling scream she planned came out as an impotent squeak.

Her knees buckled when the needle sharp points of his incisors pierced her neck.

But it didn’t hurt.

When he set her back on her feet, she wobbled a little and he steadied her. “I’m sorry about that.”

“What did you--” She swiped her hand over the spot, still oddly warm from the pressure of his lips. Bright red blood covered her fingers.

“I marked you as mine.”

The words sent a wanton pulse to the suddenly wet spot between her legs. Those were the sexiest words she’d ever heard.

She slapped him.

“You can’t just go around biting people!” The sudden adrenaline rush cleared her head a little, and she realized how absurd she sounded.

Max rubbed the left side of his jaw and grinned. The humor in his eyes didn’t completely mask the dangerous hint of lust Erica saw there. How could what just happened have turned them both on?

“I don’t go around biting people. I marked you. I didn’t drink any. I just broke the skin so it looks like I’ve been feeding from you.”

Erica stared at her bloody fingertips for a second before Max handed her a folded handkerchief from his back pocket. She wiped her hands and dabbed at the still tingling spot on her neck. “You could have warned me.”

“You’d have said no, and we’d be out here arguing about it until daybreak.”

True. If he’d asked permission to bite her, she would have refused. Biting was ... unsanitary at best. The fact that she liked it--no. She didn’t like it. That was ridiculous. She’d been scared out of her mind, limp with terror, unable to scream. She didn’t like that feeling at all. Absolutely not. She mentally reserved the right to slap him again later just for good measure. For now, she had to find Elena.

“Anything else I should know before we go in?” She straightened her skirt and fluffed her hair in a vain attempt to recapture some of her dignity. She’d never gone limp in a man’s arms before--ever. Frankly, it was embarrassing.

“One thing ...” His wicked smile did something to the muscles just below her navel. “You taste great.”