A Vampire's Claim (16 page)

“But at one time, you had them. You wouldn’t keep any man around you that you haven’t had beneath you. I’d bet my last quid on that.” When he rose, he turned her so that her feet found the tops of his boots, a safe resting place, at least from the dangers of the ground. When she closed her fingers on his shoulders to hold on, he settled his hands down on her hips, anchoring her there.

She really needed to establish some space between them, some sense of his place with respect to a vampire mistress. Though he hadn’t agreed to accept her as a mistress. This whole situation, the way it had happened so suddenly, hadn’t left any room to lay the normal groundwork for what liberties he could and couldn’t take. Of course, those quelling thoughts didn’t make her pulse beat any less fast, or the vibrating response in her pussy ease, with a matching throb between her buttocks.

“I’d love to be the first.” His eyes were intent, hard to resist. “The only. It would hurt, a lot. But I’d make you come through the pain, so hard you wouldn’t know if you were screaming in pleasure or agony.”

“I need my shoes,” she said. “My clothes.”

“I didn’t finish washing you.”

“Then you need to do so.” She had to take control back, couldn’t give him the impression of more power over her than he truly had. That would be dangerous for both of them. “After that, we should return to the cave. It’s too close to dawn.” She gave him an even glance. “Remember. Don’t push me, Dev.”

Grim amusement laced with male frustration flickered through his gaze. Though he might not have access to her mind, Danny reflected with wry despair that he seemed damned adept at reading it. The croc may not have been a hazard to her, but this rough bushman apparently was.

7

“
S
o, do you have any thoughts on how I can get to Thieves’ Station from here? Sixty miles is a far distance to walk, at least between sundown and sunrise.”

“Maybe you should forget about that, let me get you inland again, love.” When they’d returned to the cave, he’d prepared a meal for himself out of the tucker in his pack and was currently shoveling food in his mouth. He didn’t look up as he spoke. “It makes no sense for a vampire to risk conditions out here. The city offers you a lot more options. And everything about you says you’ve lived most your life there anyhow.”

It offended her, tweaked her pride. Until she saw into his mind. The daft man felt she needed to be
protected
. Of course, considering he had come to her rescue, she couldn’t claim invincibility, but it was an unusual reaction for a human.

She set aside the comb he’d lent her, frustrated with the snarls in her hair anyway, and leveled a glance on him. “I’m going home to
my
station. And one setback doesn’t mean I can’t handle it.”

He lifted his head, leveled a green stare on her. “Setback? That’s what you call getting blown up and fried like an egg?”

“Vampires lead interesting lives, Dev,” she said mildly. “We’re nocturnal predators, like dozens of other creatures out there. While the sun presents a challenge, very little else about our environment does. We aren’t affected by extremes in temperatures, bugs . . .

We have no predators of significance. Truthfully, our greatest enemies are others of our kind.”

A shadow crossed her mind at the thought, at the reminder of why it was imperative that she return to the station. “But you’re right.

Many of our kind do prefer urban life. It does provide more . . . social opportunities. The percentage of us who choose the Outback are probably similar to the percentage of humans who do the same.”

“Probably less, I’m guessing,” he grunted. “Seems a bit wobbly for someone like you, though, love.”

“Noted,” she said coolly. “You didn’t answer my question. Is there anything useful you can offer about getting me to my station?”

“Depends on whether you need more men and weapons to deal with what you find when you get there.” At her sharp glance, he shrugged. “Doesn’t take much of a leap to guess the threat was dispatched from there. Want to fill me in?”

“Why?” She held his gaze. “I thought you were turning down my job offer.”

“Whether I am or not, I plan on getting you there, safe and sound. The more I know, the more help I can be on that.”

“We’ll see. You’ve done plenty enough.” At his steady look, she sighed, picked up the comb again and ran her fingers over it. “All right, then. To put it simply, we have a Vampire Council that runs everything, worldwide. Then we have Region Masters who cover groups of territories. Below them are territory overlords, who rule over the rest of the vampires in that area. I left my station about forty years ago, because my mother had taken up with a bit of a bastard called Ian. We didn’t see eye to eye on him, and so in the end I left. My mother was the territory overlord, and Ian liked sharing that responsibility with her, though there are only about twenty vampires in our territory. There are not a lot of us in Australia, and as you guessed, even less in the Outback.”

“So what makes your mother more important than the average vampire, that this gold digger would want to latch on to her?”

“Vampires are very hierarchical. Very conscious of lineage, particularly between made and born vampires.”

“I thought they were all created through a vampire biting them. At least in the storybooks. Can’t say I’ve had much personal experience with them, except in the past couple days, and just the one at that.”

She watched him set aside his plate, pick up his tea. He’d made a small fire, since it was dark, and now he nodded to the water.

She shook her head. “None for me. Not right now. Some vampires are born,” she continued. “Usually from a vampire and human parenting. Born vampires have a higher rank than made ones. On extremely rare occasions, a child is born of two vampires. It’s happened a handful of times at most. I’m one of them.”

She thought about trying to pull the comb through her hair again. God, she missed having a maid. Plus, there was a strand of russet hair in it that she’d managed to twist around one finger and she wasn’t done worrying it. “On top of that, my mother was the child of two vampires. It makes me the top of the heap, with respect to bloodline, but that doesn’t mean I have a tremendous amount of power or influence, unless I’ve proven I can wield it. My mother didn’t care about that, and neither did I.”

As if he could read her thoughts himself, Dev spoke them aloud. “But there are always those who do care about it. The wrong sort.”

“Yes. I’m a gentle sort of vampire.” An ironic smile touched her mouth, reflected in his arched brow. “Believe me, there are those who are far more brutal, who care little for human life or rights, even the lives or rights of other vampires. They believe power makes the rules. The Vampire Council, through the influence of some vampires who fortunately do not feel that way, puts a cap on the number of humans a vampire can kill.” As Dev’s brow furrowed, she inclined her head. “For survival purposes, a vampire needs to kill one human a year, mortally drain them. We call it the annual kill, and it’s necessary to keep our blood rejuvenated, our minds sharp.”

“And what’s the limit?”

“A dozen.” She shook her head at his expression. “Believe me, Dev, it was a miracle the number was that low. Because the purpose of that and other Council laws is not the humane treatment of humans. It’s to keep vampire bloodlust in check. Your friend Elle picked up what I was, but to the majority of the human world, we’re the work of fiction and nightmares. We’re sensible enough to know that’s best. We may be more powerful, but there are a great many more of you.

“Unfortunately,” she said, her tone becoming more leaden, “infractions occur. And the Vampire Council is little different from other national governments, when it comes to Australia.”

“Nobody cares what happens here,” Dev murmured.

“Not exactly on our mostly European Council’s travel roster,” she agreed. “So, about ten years before I left, a vampire named Lord Charles Ruskin became Region Master of the Northwest Region, which, like it sounds, straddles much of the northern and western territories of Australia.” Her lip curled. “He’s a brutish, nasty piece of work who was part of the English aristocracy during the seventeen hundreds. He still carries the same notions of imperialism and loyalty to the mother country.”

Dev snorted. “Not much different from most here. Though there are those of us who’ve felt differently, ever since the Poms gave us up to the Japs as part of their war strategy.”

She nodded. “Lord Charles resents the fact he’s been stalled as Region Master here, but the Council is smart enough to recognize a vampire that doesn’t need a more powerful position. They feel like he’s contained here. He and Ian became fast friends, because Ian is also ambitious and of course, Lord Charles is the most powerful vampire in this Region. I suspect Ian feels, when Lord Charles finally gets his coveted post back in Europe, that he might recommend him to take over in his stead. Unlike Charles, Ian has no problem being the large fish in a small pond.”

“So you think it’s Ian who sent the attack against you? I don’t understand. Isn’t he the overlord? Why would you be a threat to him?”

“My mother was the overlord,” she reiterated. “Ian was her consort. A few months ago, my mother died. She chose to meet the sun. And no, I don’t want to talk about that,” she added, shifting her glance back out into the night. “Vampire Council rules dictate that when a vampire dies, his or her property and position pass first to the oldest child, if there is one, reinforcing the importance of being a born vampire. In my absence, or the event of my death, it can then go to whoever is willing to fight for it, and that of course would be Ian, who likely has his backside comfortably entrenched there.”

“And there are no repercussions for him trying to kill you?”

“Not exactly.” She gave up on the comb and instead ran her fingers through the mop on her head, trying to dispel the unbidden image of the times her mother had helped her dress it. Playing with different styles, woven in ribbons she knew Dev would like . . .

Let me do that.

Surprised, she looked toward him. Heavens, he was a fast learner. Rather than saying it, he’d spoken in her mind, taking her mind from her disquieting thoughts.

While she could have made him come to her, he was sitting on a rock, so it made more sense for her to rise and settle between his knees with easy grace, though he gave her a hand to lower herself. As she leaned against his leg, curling her fingers around his knee, she gave a snort.

“You just couldn’t help that image, could you?”

“Well, love, when a woman kneels down in front of a man, his mind’s going to go to certain things, no help for it.”

“Hmmm.” She returned his comb to him. “Prove your usefulness, then, and I’ll overlook it.”

“Here I was thinking I’d already done that,” he said.

“That was then, this is now.” She shrugged, but smiled as he gave her hair a sharp tug before starting to work it with the comb.

“Where was I?”

“No one’s going to drag this Ian off for trying to cop you on the back roads.”

“No, because it wasn’t entirely motivated by a desire to see me dead. If it had ended up that way, he would have been fine with it.

I don’t mean that, but it’s also about impressing me. Vampires form alliances based on strength and sexual attraction.”

“Hold up.” Tilting her head back, he gazed down at her, those green eyes remarkably close. “You’re saying he’s as happy to bugger you as to kill you?”

“When it comes to women, most men feel that way.” Her lips curved. “You’ve already had both thoughts. And that’s in the short time since I’ve been able to read your mind.” Because she couldn’t help herself, she put her fingers against those firm lips before forcing herself to remove her touch and resolutely gaze toward the fire again, waiting for him to start.

Instead, he slid his hand along her jaw, compelling her head to twist up toward him again, only to meet his mouth as he leaned forward, pressing against her back, a different heat from the fire before her. He took his time, keeping his fingers along her cheek, making light tracings on her skin along her nose, her jaw, close to where their lips were joined. She got lost in it, a swirl of taste and scent.

She’d thought it frustrating at first, having someone who could switch off his thoughts, but in a sense, it was restful, too. As if that stillness wrapped itself around her so she could let go, float in his mind, such that when he raised his head, she found herself in a similar place, where nothing seemed to matter but this very moment.

“I think it’s a little bit different, him and me,” he murmured.

She was fully pressed against his inner thigh now, her other hand gripping the opposite one, the posture of a woman immersed in the sensual attentions of a man. As her fog cleared, she gave him a bemused look. “Felt you had to prove something?”

Shrugging, he sat back and studiously repositioned her to start combing her hair. Tina’s hair had caressed the top of her buttocks, like Danny’s when she was naked. To him, it made a woman’s arse appear even more soft and vulnerable, a fragile, tempting part of her, like the nape of the neck, the small of the back.

She suppressed a shiver. “God, Dev. You could at least try to guard your thoughts.”

“You wanted in. No sense in me concealing anything now, is there?”

She gritted her teeth, bracing when he hit a snarl, but relaxed when he carefully parted it, worked it out with his fingers, not causing her a moment of discomfort. Even so, she added uncharitably, “You’re determined to make me sorry for doing it. I
did
apologize for it.”

“So you did. Your chagrin was overwhelming,” he said dryly. “But we’re back to my original question. How many more men and weapons will you need to storm your castle, take it back?”

“None.” She stared forward. “He’s made his attempt. He’s shown his hand, and he’s done now. He’ll wait to see how I respond. I have a plan in mind. It would be useful to have you stick around a bit, watch my back against whatever human vermin he’s got hanging about.”

He kept combing. She wouldn’t beg or ask twice. Since he seemed to have a tendency to think things through before he spoke, she’d give him time to sort. And she wouldn’t pry into that part of his head while he did so. She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear his thoughts on the matter, anyway. Instead, her mind went back to the firefight, the way he’d handled himself, and wondered if he’d handle himself as well at the station, against greater numbers.