Authors: Cynthia Eden

Tags: #General, #Fiction, #Romance, #Paranormal

Angel of Darkness (4 page)

BOOK: Angel of Darkness

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Then the growl reached her. A deep rumble of sound—a truck’s engine. The truck’s headlights flashed on, coming right out of that waiting darkness, and she realized just how good the trap truly was for her.

They’d known she’d come to the bar. They’d known she’d be hungry. They’d known she’d take a man outside for her drink.

Then all they’d had to do was make certain her escape path was cut off.

The truck roared toward her, tossing up dust and dirt in its wake as it aimed right for her.

Nicole lunged to the left. A gunshot fired behind her and she felt the close rush of the bullet as it whipped by her arm. Dammit, why couldn’t they let her go?

The truck swerved and followed right behind her. She was fast, but not faster than a truck.

The bumper hit her and she went down. Nicole slammed into the dirt, but she rolled quickly so those wheels didn’t plow right over her.

Dirt filled her lungs. Blood poured from the gashes in her arms. And the thirst grew.
I went too long between feedings. Shouldn’t have waited.

But she hated to drink blood. It reminded her too much of what she was.
Monster.

And when she drank, the dark temptation to take and
take
welled within her.

A truck door squeaked open. “We hit her!” Not a Mexican accent this time. She recognized Texas when she heard it.

The other door groaned open. “Keep yer gun on her. It’ll take more than a smack from my Chevy to put one like her down.”

Yes, it would, but Nicole kept her eyes closed and kept her breathing light. The men eased closer. She could smell their sweat and their fear.

And excitement.

Other footsteps pounded in the distance—her would-be victim and his buddies must be coming in.

Then she heard the thunder of a gunshot. One. Two. But she didn’t flinch at the blasts. If they wanted to shoot at each other, fine with her. Infighting meant fewer guys for her to fight off later.

The ground vibrated with the footsteps of her hunters. She waited,
held steady,
waited and—

The first man nudged her with his boot. No, not a nudge. The jerk kicked her with his boot. She turned, moving fast in an instant, and caught his legs. Twisting hard, she broke his right leg, then his left. He was screaming before he hit the ground.

And she was up. Nicole slammed her fist into the other attacker’s face. Bones crunched. Blood spurted, and oh, she would have taken a drink. Fitting punishment for them running her down like a wild dog, but ...

But she needed to get the hell out of there.

More bullets were flying, but they weren’t even coming near her. Someone must have real crappy aim. She darted around the truck and ran for the shrouding darkness once more.
There’d better not be another truck waiting there.

Nicole risked one quick glance over shoulder, and when she did, shock had her tripping.

Only one man followed her now.
What had happened to the others?
She’d counted at least six before she’d run like the devil was chasing her.

Been there, done that.

The man striding so calmly across that barren field had a gun in his hand. But as she looked at him, he tossed the gun onto the ground. Wait, wait, that wasn’t the guy she’d intended to steal a few sips from in that dark lot. That was ...
him.
The stranger with the voice like thunder’s rumble. Deep and dark and, oh, damn, she was in trouble.

Nicole made it into the darkness in the tattered remains of the woods. She pushed inside the trees, still hurrying. She’d scouted this area earlier. There was a turn up ahead that would lead her back to old sedan she’d parked and—

The thirst.

Nicole swallowed and kept moving. Her mantra these days was
just keep moving.
That was the way she’d been living her life. One wild step at a time.

As she broke from the woods, she saw her sedan waiting. Lucky for her, that beaten-up gray shell still managed to drive. Her breath expelled in a hard whoosh as she sprinted forward. She’d head to the next town. There was just enough time to get there before dawn. She’d drive over and find more prey.

Going without blood wasn’t a possibility that night. She couldn’t afford to be pushed to the edge. Not with the hunters after her.

“Nicole.”

A shiver worked over her at his voice.
Don’t look back.
She wrenched open the car door and jumped inside. Her hands were shaking when she shoved the key into the ignition.
Hurry.

She slammed the car into reverse, spun it around and—

Her headlights burned right on the man standing in the middle of the road.

Tall. Muscled. Dressed all in black, he should have looked like a devil. He didn’t. He looked like the best sin she’d ever seen.

And that fact terrified her. Because, until six months ago, Nicole had never sinned. Now she couldn’t seem to stop, no matter how hard she tried.

He tilted his head and his blond hair, too long, too thick, brushed against his sharp cheekbones. The man’s face was perfect. Better than any photo she’d ever seen in a magazine. Not handsome,
perfect.
He had strong, high cheekbones, a positively lickable square jaw, and wide, bright blue eyes. Oh, just a come-here glance from those eyes would probably be enough to seduce most women.

Good thing she wasn’t most women.

“Get out of the way!” She warned. Her foot lifted off the brake.

His lips curved slowly in a crooked half-smile that sent a chill over her.

“Move!” She yelled at him.

He stepped closer.

Her hand shoved out the driver’s-side window. She’d broken the window weeks before. “Don’t push me!” He’d already admitted to being a hunter, and she wasn’t going to sit back and let him haul her away.

This life might not be the one she would have chosen, but she wasn’t letting death take her.

Tall and sexy kept walking toward her.

Not human.
She was ninety percent sure of that fact. She revved the engine and shoved down on the gas pedal.

He was headed right for her with that smile still on his face—

Okay, she was eighty percent sure. And she wasn’t going that fast. If she hit him—

Seventy percent?

Her hands tightened on the wheel.

Then he leapt into the air. Her foot pushed that gas pedal all the way to the ground and she blazed straight ahead, going as fast as she could.

One hundred percent certain.

She risked a glance in the rearview mirror. The hunter stood behind her car, staring after her with his head tilted to the side.

Thanks to her new vampire senses, she could easily see him—and the grim smile that still curved his lips as he watched her drive away.

The light streaks of dawn shot across the sky. Nicole glanced up at them, eyes narrowing. Time had nearly run out for her.

“Baby, I’m gonna rock your world.”

But luckily, she’d found a drunk frat boy just in time. Thank God for spring break and boys who wanted to walk on the wild side.

Music from the club blared into the air. So dawn was coming. Apparently, the party had barely started for the folks in that place.

And for the folks
outside
... Nicole ran her fingers up the frat boy’s throat. His pulse raced beneath her touch and she could almost smell his blood.

Next time, she wouldn’t go so long between feedings. The fear wouldn’t hold her back again.

The guy pressed a kiss to her cheek. A wet, rough kiss that had her hissing out a breath and shoving him back against the side of the building. Her enhanced strength could sure be handy.

“We don’t have time to waste,” she told him. She didn’t trust that hunter not to show up. He hadn’t looked like the type who would give up easily.

I should have hit him with the car.

But she’d been trying for the whole don’t-kill lifestyle. And if she’d taken out a hunter, well, hunters were like weeds. A dozen more probably would have sprung up after her.

“Baby, I’m all for fast,” her frat boy promised as his hands made a grab for her. She caught them, pushed his hands back, and pinned his wrists to the wall.

He groaned. “Oh, God, yes, I like it rough.”

He would. Nicole’s eyes squeezed shut and she pushed onto her tiptoes even as she opened her mouth over his throat. She’d try hard not to hurt him, and she
would
keep her control. The sharp edges of her teeth pricked his skin.

The faintest whisper of sound reached her ears. A footstep. The soft rustle of clothing.

No.

Nicole spun around and saw her nightmare walking out of the darkness.

“
Get away from her,
” the hunter ordered, that voice still a dark rumble that she could almost feel.

She realized her right hand still held the frat boy. Nicole let her hand fall away from him. No way would she put a human—well, a semi-innocent one anyway—in the middle of this fight. “Go back inside.”

Her college snack blinked at her. “But we were—” A few drops of blood trailed down his throat. “I thought you were gonna ...”

“You thought wrong.” She stepped away from him, and her gaze turned back to the hunter. “And unless you want to die, I’d recommend that you get your butt back in that bar.”

“D-die?” The word sounded like a frog’s croak.

The hunter was closing in. She took a deep breath. Yes, vampires still breathed. Their hearts still beat. Blood still flowed in their bodies. They died when they were transformed, but that death lasted only for an instant. All those tales about stone-cold vamps were false.

“Look,” frat boy blustered, “I’m not going—”

She glanced over her shoulder. This time, she let the guy see the monster in her eyes and the sharp teeth that had been ready to rip open his throat.

“Holy shit!”
Frat boy ran, nearly falling twice as he hurried back to the bar.

She shook her head. Flexed her wrists. And waited.

The hunter kept coming toward her with his slow, stalking steps. She wasn’t going to run this time. Not when the odds were better. One against one now. And she might even be able to take him. Well, she might, depending on exactly
what
he was.

Because, as Nicole had unfortunately discovered over the last six months, monsters were real. Demons walked the earth, vamps hunted at night, and werewolves really did howl under the light of the full moon.

Her rose-colored glasses had smashed the night a vamp attacked her in New Orleans. She’d woken to a new world, new terrors, and the understanding that everything she’d known was really a lie.

Humans weren’t at the top of the food chain in the real world. They were just prey for the
Other
, for all of the supernaturals who lived in the shadows and who hunted whenever they damn well wanted to hunt.

Hunt.

Her hunter stopped less than a foot away. His gaze raked her.

“This is the second time tonight that you’ve taken my food away.” She licked her lips. Really, was a good meal so much to ask for? “Guess what that means.”

He stared back at her. A faint line appeared between his brows. “Your eyes ... they should be green.”

A vamp’s eyes changed color—to fuck or to fight, that’s what she’d been told. The irises faded to pitch-black. “My eyes change, the better to see you,” she whispered and smiled. Actually, they changed the better to hone in on prey, so she was telling the asshole the truth.

His gaze dipped to her mouth. He stiffened. “Your teeth ...”

Her smile widened, and she knew he’d have a better view of her fangs. “They change ... the better to bite you.” She wasn’t Little Red Riding Hood. She was the wolf. A hunter should know that. But while he stared at her, she took that moment and attacked.

Nicole leapt forward and wrapped her hands around his arms. Her mouth rose to his throat. “You took away my food, so that means you’re dinner.”

And Nicole did the only thing she could. She bit.

After all, vampires had to survive, too.

C
HAPTER
T
WO

W
hen Nicole flew toward him, Keenan lifted his hands and tried to step back. But she reached him anyway.
Too fast for a human.
She reached him, she
touched
him—and she didn’t die.

That fact floored him.

For so many centuries, no one had been able to touch him and live.

Even though he’d fallen, Keenan had thought he still possessed the Death Touch. According to the tales he’d heard, he
should
have still—

Her teeth sank into his throat. A razor-sharp slash of pain burned his skin and then—and then, sweet fire ...

Pleasure.

Her mouth was on him, her lips whispering over his flesh, and he could feel the delicate lick of her tongue on his neck.

Touching.

His cock began to swell, the need, the lust, rising within him. Her breasts brushed against his chest. Her nipples were tight as they pebbled against him.

Her mouth was on him, her breasts against him, and she was still
alive.

Well, sort of, anyway.

When her tongue licked over his skin again, fire shot from his neck right to his aroused cock.
Aroused
.

Angels didn’t—

The hunger grew deeper. He wanted to touch. He wanted to run his hands down her arms and feel her soft skin. He wanted to tangle his fingers in her hair. He wanted—

She wrenched back. Those eyes of hers—not green anymore, a deep, turbulent black—stared up at him. “Who are you?”

“Keenan.” The name would mean nothing to her.

“Okay, Keenan.” She sucked in a sharp breath. “Better question.
What
are you?” She asked and licked her lips, probably catching more of his blood on her pink tongue.

Nicole might not understand the truth about him, but he knew
exactly
what she was.

When he didn’t answer immediately, her brows furrowed and she tried to pull back.
No.
He caught her wrists and held tight.

Touching.

His thumbs tracked over the delicate inner flesh of her wrists. “When did you change?” The question slipped from him, but the kick in his gut told him the answer. No wonder he’d been expelled. His crime hadn’t just been refusing to take orders.

He’d made another monster for the world.

No, she wasn’t a monster.

I am.

Her slightly-pointed chin lifted a bit. “I asked my question first.” She swiped her tongue over her lips once more. “You don’t taste like a human.”

Of course not.

“You’re not bitter enough to be a demon.”

So she’d been sampling the supernatural delicacies?

“Are you a shifter?” She tried to pull her hands free. She probably expected to break away easily. The strength she had must trump most supernaturals.

He wasn’t most.

“I’m not shifter.” He’d give her honesty there.

“Then what in the hell are you?”

“Not in hell,” he murmured and pulled her closer. “Not anymore.” Then, because he could, because if he wanted he could do anything now and not have to worry about the consequences, he kissed her.

Her lips were open just the way they should be for a kiss. He pressed his mouth to hers. Probably too hard, but he couldn’t seem to hold back. His mouth crashed onto hers, his tongue thrust past her plump lips, and he tasted her.

Yes.

His cock ached now, so thick and hard he hurt. Humans took their pleasure whenever they wanted. He could be like them. He’d already paid the price, so
he
should be able to take what he wanted.

And in all his time, Keenan had never wanted anyone the way he wanted her.

So this is a kiss
. The thought floated through his mind. Hot. Wet. Wild. He liked it. A lot.

She wrenched her head away from him. Nicole was breathing hard, her breath rasping. “What the hell was that?”

He blinked, then let his eyes narrow. His cheeks seemed to burn as he stared down at her. “I bled for you. I thought a kiss was the least I deserved as payment.”

She pulled free from his hold but only because he let her go. “You thought wrong.”

“Didn’t you kiss your other prey?” And that had the rage stirring again. So many emotions churned inside him now. Sometimes it seemed as if they’d rip him apart. “Weren’t you rubbing against them, promising sex, when you—”

“I wasn’t going to sleep with them!” Her hands flew up into the air, and he saw the small, deadly claws on the ends of her fingers. “I didn’t want to scare them, so I was ...” She broke off, shaking her head. “Never mind. I don’t have to explain myself to
you.
”

“You were seducing them.” The words fell between them. He lifted a brow. “You think seducing the blood away is any better than holding down your prey and just taking what you want?”

She flinched. “Maybe I don’t have a choice.” Nicole spun around and gave him one truly glorious view of her butt as she stormed away.

But she wasn’t really going anywhere. They weren’t done.

“Why didn’t you try seducing me?” Probably not what he should have asked then, but ... did she not find him appealing at all? Did she truly prefer the boy she’d had against the wall?

Perhaps the kiss had been wrong. He, too, could try seduction instead of force. If it worked for her ...

“There’s no point in seducing hunters.” She threw this over her shoulder. “You’d screw me, then still kill me.”

Maybe. But ... “If you walk away from me now, you
will
die.”

Those words stopped her. She glanced back. “That’s a threat, huh? What are you gonna do? Jump me? I’m not so easy to take down.”

She would be.

“I’m not the threat right now.” He went closer because her scent drew him in. Lush woman. But ... something else. Soft. Light. A wisp of ... vanilla?

“You look like a threat to me,” she said, turning slowly to face him.

“In about five minutes, more of Romeo’s friends will be here. I told them to stay away.” Keenan tilted his head and his nostrils flared. “But I don’t guess they listened.”

She licked her lips, a fast flash of pink tongue. “Romeo? Who’s that?”

His jaw tightened. “The first idiot you had ready to donate blood tonight.” And Keenan guessed he counted as idiot number three. “I took down him and his men, but I didn’t kill them.” He hadn’t touched any of them with his hands because he’d been afraid that one touch would shove them all straight to hell.

But that particular power was gone. A very, very good thing.

“You walk away from me,” he continued, “and they’ll have you long before you can make it to that broken-down Chevy.”

“It’s not broken—”

“It is now.” What? Had it not been gentlemanly to tear up her motor? He’d needed to cut off her escape.

Her chin tipped up again. “I can always get another ride.” She whirled and started marching away.

“They want to slice you into pieces.”

She was still walking. He wouldn’t chase her. This time, she’d come to him.

“They know you’re a vampire, Nicole.”

“You don’t have to say it like that!” She snapped but didn’t stop. “It’s not like I can help what I am!”

That gave him pause. Had he said the word with distaste? Hatred? Sure, he’d never been a fan of the undead, but she wasn’t like the others.

When had she changed? Must have been that night. Az had said ...

Headlights cut into the lot and Keenan saw her tense. “That’s not them,” he said. “Not yet.”

Her gaze darted toward him as she fired a fast glare over her shoulder. “You just want to take me down, too. You want to kill me just like they do.”

“No.” There were many things he wanted from her, but her death wasn’t his priority right then. “If I’d wanted you dead, trust me, sweet, you would have been in the ground by now.”

And he wouldn’t have needed to crawl out of it.

“Then what do you want?”

Ah, she wasn’t moving away now. He closed in on her and she faced him.

The faintest rays of red light trickled over the sky above her. Dawn. The vampire’s weakest hours were at hand. “If you don’t come with me, they’ll kill you today.”

“
What do you want?
”

He stared back at her.
You.
“Does it really matter? I’m offering you protection for the day. I’m offering you life. You just have to step forward ...” He raised his hand toward her. “And take it.”

She inched closer. “Nothing is free in this world.”

“Nothing’s free in
any
world.” Every action led to consequences. Punishment.

“I’m supposed to just take you at your word?” She laughed, a bitter, mocking sound. So unlike the laughter he remembered from her. “Right. The minute my guard lowers, I’ll find a stake in my heart.”

“Then don’t lower your guard.” Seemed simple enough. “But come with me. We don’t have any more time to waste.” His gaze rose to the sky once more. “They know your weakness.” Just as he did.

“I don’t trust you,” she whispered.

“Good.” His hand was still up. “You have five more seconds, and then you can fight them all on your own.” She hadn’t taken more than a few sips of blood from him. She wouldn’t be strong enough to battle her enemies during the daytime. Surely she’d realize that.

But she was backing away. “I know better than to trust a man with such a beautiful face.”

That had him blinking in surprise.

“Especially when I know what lies faces like that hold. The last man who looked like you—handsome and perfect—he taught me about hell.”

His heart slammed into his ribs. “What man?”

But she kept talking and he wasn’t sure she even heard his question. “He got into my head. Took away my choice. Made me ...” She swallowed. “I don’t trust anyone now. And surely not someone who looks like
you
.”

Then she ran from him. Again. Right into the night.

He stood there with his hand still up. He waited a few moments. Just a few, and then—

Keenan heard her scream. He heard the telltale thuds of fists in battle. He heard a man cry out in agony.

If only she had trusted him ...

Then the squeal of tires echoed in the dying night and burnt rubber filled his nose. The men had gotten their prize. They’d captured their vamp.

Pity. They should have listened to him. He never lied. Never made idle threats.

Now it was time for them to die.

The jerks had tossed her into the trunk. Like that was going to hold her inside. Maybe if they’d waited until the sun was higher in the sky she’d have been trapped, but not now.

She lifted her knees up and slammed them into the metal above her. The lock popped with a shriek and the trunk flew open.

The car immediately swerved, jerking to the right, then to the left. Nicole sat up and grabbed the back of the car. She knew she’d have to jump for it, and hitting that pavement would
hurt.
But it wasn’t like it would be the first time she’d had some flesh ripped away.

A bullet zinged by her head. She ducked, seeing too late the pickup truck that was zooming behind her. The pickup—and the man hanging out the passenger’s side with the gun pointed at her.

Where the hell were cops when she needed them?

And, of course, no one else was on the road. Those awake at this hour were still straggling out of the bars, and they sure as hell weren’t on this lonely stretch of road.

On my own.
Maybe she should have listened to the hunter.

And maybe he would have just staked her the moment she let down her guard.

Oh, well. She heaved up and jumped out of the car.

The guy fired again.
Missed.

She hit the pavement, and, yes, that flesh tore right off her arm. She rolled, then hit again.
Rolled
.

The truck came charging right for her.

BOOK: Angel of Darkness

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