Bittersweet Blood (6 page)

Surprise flashed across his face, and he laughed.

“No, I’m not nice, but there aren’t many people who would have the nerve to tell me that.” He stood and said to Christian, “I’m going to check that everything’s quiet outside. Then I’ll be back to stitch your shoulder.” He nodded in Tara’s direction. “Get rid of her.”

She glowered. “Get rid of me?”

A flicker of humor flashed in Christian’s eyes. “Not permanently, but Piers isn’t comfortable with humans around the Order’s business.”

“The Order?”

“Never mind.”

“You’d have to kill me if you told me, right?” She peered into his face. “Actually, don’t answer that.”

He smiled and turned to Graham, who still sat at the end of the bed. “Graham, why don’t you get us all a drink?”

Graham seemed to shake himself awake. He nodded, got up, and went over to a fridge against the far wall. “Beer okay?”

“Do you have any coke?” Tara asked.

“Sure.” He took the tops off three bottles and brought them over. “Here Boss.” He handed one to Christian, another to Tara. He sat in the seat next to the bed and drank. Tara watched as Christian took a gulp from the bottle.

“You can drink?”

“Yes. It’s actually quite easy. You just lift the bottle to your mouth—”

Graham sniggered. Tara scowled but drank her own coke.

“Is there anyone who can come and pick you up?” Christian asked. “I can send one of the security guys with you, but you might feel happier with someone you know.”

“Maybe. I’ll phone Jamie.”

His eyes sharpened on her. “Jamie?”

“He’s a friend.”

“A boyfriend?”

Suddenly, she remembered that he’d kissed her.

“No, just a friend. My bag—?”

Graham picked it up off the floor and handed it to her. She rummaged around for her cell phone, then glanced at Christian. He raised an eyebrow but turned away to give her at least the illusion of privacy.

Jamie answered straight away. “Where the hell are you?”

“I’m at CR international.” She paused, wondering how to ask this without too much detail and without mentioning she had been wandering down dark alleys. She couldn’t face a lecture just now.

“Tara?”

“Jamie, could you come and pick me up?”

He was silent for a moment. “Why do you need picking up? What have you done now?”

Tara scowled. No way was she mentioning the dark alley. “Er, I fainted again. I’m just feeling a little shaky. I don’t want to go on the train on my own.”

“You fainted. Have you been drinking again?”

She took a deep breath. “No, I haven’t been drinking. I missed lunch, that’s all it is.”

He probably didn’t believe her, but after a moment he sighed. “I’ll pick you up in reception in half an hour.”

She put the phone away and glanced up to find Christian watching her, amusement glinting in his eyes.

“What?” she asked scowling.

“He sounds more like your father than your boyfriend.”

“I told you he’s not my boyfriend, but I met him soon after I came to London. He sort of sees it as his duty to make sure the country bumpkin doesn’t do anything stupid in the big city.”

“No doubt a difficult job.”

He turned to Graham. Something passed between the two men and Graham got up without a word and left the room. Tara stared after him then back at Christian. He was still half-naked, and he was still a vampire and he was sitting on the edge of the bed as if he had every right to be there. She inched away. He inched right after her.

“Is your head okay?” he asked.

“It’s fine, just a little sore.”

She fidgeted. She wasn’t used to scenarios involving half-naked vampires and beds. Hell, she wasn’t used to half-naked men and beds. Or even half-naked men and Christian was hard to ignore. There was so much of him.

“Right, I’d better get up and go meet Jamie.”

His lips twitched. “You have half an hour.”

“You could hear that? Don’t tell me—some sort of vampire powers.” She was quite proud of herself for saying the word without succumbing to hysterics. “Even so, I should get up.”

He stroked down the line of her jaw. His fingers were cool now, but her skin burned where he touched. “Don’t I get a reward for rescuing you? A kiss perhaps?”

Another kiss? She stared at his mouth. His lips were beautiful, but it wasn’t his lips she was worried about, it was what was behind them.

“I’ll write you a check,” she mumbled.

He smiled as if he could see what was going on in her head. “You have no need to fear me,” he said. “I’ve fed tonight.”

“I know, I saw.”

She shuddered at the memory, but it wasn’t from horror. She remembered the expression on Graham’s face as Christian fed. Heat flared again, low in her belly. She wasn’t used to desire, but she could recognize the signs, and they terrified her. What she should be doing was running as fast as she could in the opposite direction. Instead, she stared, mesmerized as those lips lowered slowly toward her own.

Chapter Five

Tara didn’t protest as Christian’s hands slid into her hair, angling her face toward him. He kissed her, his tongue sweeping along the line of her closed lips.

“Open your mouth, Tara. Let me taste you,” he whispered.

For a moment, she resisted, but she wanted his kiss so much. Maybe this was another vampiric power and he’d cast a spell on her. Then his lips were on hers again, and it didn’t matter.

She opened her mouth, and the kiss hardened. His tongue thrust inside and without thought, her hands went up to tangle in his hair. His huge body came over her and pressed her onto the bed until she could feel his hardness through the layers that separated them.

Breaking from the kiss, he raised his head and held her gaze as he ground his hips into the softness of her belly. Heat flooded her, pooled at her core, and her eyes widened. Christian shifted lower, until he pushed against the junction of her thighs, and her whole body went up in flames.

“Oh.”

He smiled, lowered his head, and kissed her again. She lost herself in that kiss, only coming back when he went still against her. Opening her eyes, she followed his gaze.

She closed her eyes again and pretended she was home and there was no six-foot-plus of half-naked vampire on top of her. And no six-foot-plus of fully dressed vampire lounging in the open doorway.

Piers watched them, an expression of amused curiosity on his face.

She shoved at Christian and tried to wriggle from under him.

“Don’t move for a moment,” he murmured into her ear.

She stilled.

Sighing, he rolled off her. He lay for a moment staring at the ceiling then sat up and pushed off the bed in one fluid move.

“Just wondered whether you were ready to have that shoulder stitched yet,” Piers said.

Christian turned toward him. For the first time since she’d woken, Tara felt real fear. She shivered as she watched him stalk toward the other man. He moved slowly but every step radiated menace. He stared at Piers through narrow silver eyes. If the look had been directed at her, she would have shriveled up in fear.

Piers just grinned. “Well, at least you don’t seem bored anymore.”

Christian stared at him for a moment longer, and the tension drained out of his body.

Tara scrambled to her feet. She wanted out of there now—way too much testosterone pounded through the room.

Someone had removed her boots and coat, but she spotted them on a chair. Christian watched her, a slight frown on his face, but he didn’t protest as she pulled them on.

“Right. I’m off,” she said.

Christian crossed the room and stood before her. “I’m letting you go because you need time to think. When you have, come back to me.”

Probably in about a thousand years
, but she refrained from saying the words aloud. Instead, she forced her face into some semblance of a smile, and nodded.

He tilted his head toward her. This time, she swayed away from him, but his hand slid beneath the hair at the back of her neck and held her in place. The kiss was hard and fast, and afterward he whispered into her ear, “You will come back, Tara. We have unfinished business.”

She glanced at the bed, not sure whether he was referring to that or to the search for her aunt, but she didn’t feel up to asking. Perhaps it was better not to know. He stepped away, and she breathed again.

Tara headed for the door, but at the last moment, she turned and studied him. He was beautiful, but now she recognized it as the beauty of a predator, and underneath she could sense something cold, menacing.

“Are you evil?” she asked.

A startled expression crossed his face, then he shrugged. “That’s something you must decide for yourself.”

She nodded and left the room, ignoring Piers who stood aside to let her pass.

Graham waited for her outside. He didn’t say anything, just led her to the elevator, but as they stood in the closed space, Tara couldn’t stop herself from glancing at him surreptitiously. She recalled the expression on his face as Christian fed. He caught her looking and raised an eyebrow.

“What does it feel like?” she asked. “When a vampire feeds?”

He shrugged. “Vampires in general, I couldn’t tell you. I’ve only ever fed Christian.”

“What’s it like?”

“Like the best sex you’ve ever had,” he said, his expression dreamy. Then he grinned. “And I’ve had some great sex.”

“I’ve never had sex.”

His eyes widened. “Bloody hell. A virgin. Better not let Ella get a whiff of you.”

“Ella?”

“Never mind.”

She looked at him shyly. “Are you and Christian… Do you—”

“Have sex? Sleep together?”

She nodded.

“No. Christian is strictly into girls for sex. More’s the pity.”

The elevator doors opened and she followed him out into the reception area.

“Say, is that your friend?” Graham asked.

Jamie loitered on the other side of the glass doors, looking out of place and uncomfortable. His eyes latched onto her like a lifeline, and she smiled.

“Yes, that’s Jamie.”

“He’s cute.”

She ignored the comment. “Right, I’m off.”

“Just a moment.” Graham led her across to the reception desk and reached over the counter. He pulled out the red file she’d left earlier. In that long ago time, when she hadn’t believed in reanimated corpses, vampires, or any of the other things that go bump in the night—or lurk in darkened alleys.

He handed it to her. “You might want to read that now.”

She slanted him a rueful smile. “I doubt it.” But she took the file and stuffed it in her bag.

“And here’s my card. Just in case you feel the need to talk.” He nodded toward Jamie. “It’s best you don’t mention any of this to your friends.”

“Who would believe me? Trust me—you don’t need worry about that.” But she took the card as well and slipped it inside the file in her bag. “At the moment, I don’t want to think about it, never mind talk about it.”

He smiled. “Come on, you can introduce me to your friend.” He led the way out through the doors and came to a halt in front of Jamie.

“Hi, I’m Graham.” He held out his hand. Jamie took it with obvious reluctance.

“Jamie,” he muttered.

Graham appeared amused, but he dropped the hand and turned to Tara. “Remember, call me if you need to talk.”

She nodded.

“What are you going to need to talk to that guy about?” Jamie asked as Graham went back inside the building and the doors shut behind him. He stayed on the other side of the doors and watched them.

“Sorry?” she said to Jamie.

“I asked, what are you going to talk to him about that you can’t say to me?”

He sounded jealous, but Jamie had never come on to her like that.

“Nothing. I don’t plan to go back. I’ve sacked Christian Roth from the case. I decided it was a waste of time. I’m going to do some research into the kidnappings and missing persons myself.”

“So how come you were still at the offices?”

“God! What is this, twenty questions? If you must know, I wasn’t. I’d left already. Luckily, Christian found me.”

“Christian? Found you where? Where did you faint?”

“In an alley,” she mumbled. “On the way back to the station.”

“What the hell were you doing in an alley?”

She heaved a huge, audible sigh. “Leave it will you, Jamie. I fainted but I’m okay, honest, just a little shocked. I’ll go to the doctors tomorrow,” she lied. “I’m probably anemic or something.”

Jamie’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. Then he shrugged. “Let’s go get you something to eat.”

“A steak,” she said. “I want a nice, big juicy steak.”

“But you’re a vegetarian.”

“Not any longer.”

…

Just how long was he supposed to give her, Christian wondered on waking the following evening.

A month, a week, one night?

One night sounded good. He was tempted to go and see her later that evening, but he’d promised to give her time. In most cases, he would have cleared her memory of the whole vampire thing before he sent her home last night. Piers had been pissed off that he hadn’t, but Tara was different. She had her own issues, all tied up with why a dead woman had been caring for her for the past twenty-two years.

But those issues could wait. They weren’t likely to be pressing, whereas Gabriel dead and gangs of super-strong demons roaming the city were. His first priority was to kill the demons or send them back to the Abyss where they belonged. Then he’d be free to pursue his little human.

How difficult could it be? He could sort out the demon problem tonight, and see Tara tomorrow.

…

The Order was housed in an office block, in the center of the business district of the city, a fifteen minute drive from his building. They rented out the upper floors to human businesses, but the building went below ground almost as far as it went up toward the sky, and it was here that the Order staff worked.

Security cleared him, and he rode the elevator down to the lowest level where Piers had his office. It had once been Christian’s office, but now reflected Piers’s more flamboyant personality.

“We lost another agent last night,” Piers told him. “Stefan.”