Luscious Craving (17 page)

“Okay.” I could make that promise wholeheartedly. I closed my cell and stuck it in my purse, then went to the steps leading to street level and headed toward the Strip.

Almost at once, I sensed I was being followed.
Okay, Candace. Do NOT panic this time
, I thought. I was on the Strip. There were people everywhere. Last time I hit the panic button, I had all but decked Michael. That’s when I felt it.
The chill from inside me,
the
chill down my spine.
The one that reminded, and warned, that not everyone on the street was alive.

I picked up my pace, hurrying down the crowded sidewalk, past the hawkers passing out cards with photos of naked women and phone numbers.
Being careful not to let my narrow heels slide on the discarded cards scattered on the sidewalk.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of the card guys turn and point to something behind me. Risking a quick glance over my shoulder as I reached the corner, I saw them.

Frank. Peter. Sammy.
Dino.
The Bat Packers who had taunted me at Taste.
Right behind me, staring at me openly.
My first instinct was to run like hell. Instead, I kept a steady pace as I turned onto the Strip in front of the
Treasure Island
casino. Beneath my feet, the concrete gave way to the boards that were the Vegas version of a pier. A crowd was gathering in front of
Treasure Island
to watch the pirate ship show. On the clogged sidewalk, the Bat Pack wouldn’t have any trouble cornering me again, cutting me off, even in the midst of the crowd.

So much for safety in numbers
, I thought.

Going forward was dangerous. Going back was stupid. I couldn’t walk across the lagoon where the pirate ship would be sailing in just a couple of minutes. That left only one direction.
Back across the Strip.

But I couldn’t just step off the sidewalk here and cross the Strip. Instead of the steel railings or plantings that other hotels used,
Treasure Island
had protected pedestrians from the traffic by stringing thick “nautical” rope netting from waist-high wooden posts.
Which was fine if you were into the casino’s motif, but it left me without a way to get past the crowd and away from the Bat Packers.
Unless…

I pulled off my heels. Sticking my toes into the rope net, I clambered over it, then onto the street. Horns sounded as I raced across the lanes of traffic, weaving in and out of the cars stopped for a red light. I reached the median and kept running. Brakes squealed, and a cabbie shouted out his window as the light turned green. I glanced behind me quickly. The Bat Packers were pinned on the median as traffic whizzed by. They were definitely chasing me. No two ways about it.

Pushing my feet into my heels, I hurried toward the Venetian. An icy chill swept over me, and I knew the vampires were right behind. I ducked into the Venetian’s closest entrance. Beyond the arch, people were milling by an elevator that would take them either to the shops in the Venetian or the pedestrian bridge across to
Treasure Island
and the Mirage. I edged into the center of the crowd and watched the arched doorway.

The Bat Pack approached the arch and stopped there. That surprised me. I was sure they would follow me. What made them stop? I would have figured the Venetian for home turf, if only for nostalgia’s sake. It was built on the site of the old Sands, the late, great hotel where the real Frank and company had held court. But the vampire versions of the Rat Pack stayed in the entry until I got into the elevator. As the door closed, I caught sight of them turning away.

Wrapping my arms around myself, I tried to control my trembling. I forced a smile when a woman said something about Vegas nights being much colder than she expected.
You have no idea
, I thought.

Michael was waiting when I reached the loggia, gazing down into the canal built to resemble the ones in
Venice
. I had never been so happy to see another human in my life. I threw my arms around his neck, indulged myself in a serious deep kiss. Then, hooking my arm through his, I led him inside so fast he barely got to say two words. Ahead of us the Grand Canal
Shoppes
were shutting for the night, but we took the escalator down to the casino, which never closed.

“Wow!” he said as we started through the casino.

“Spectacular, isn’t it?” I agreed.

“I wasn’t talking about the casino. I was talking about you.” Michael stepped away and let his gaze roam up and down me. “You look fabulous.”

“I clean up nicely.” I eyed him the same way, wanting to get caught up again in the sexy fun of a flirtation that meant no more than the frothy bubbles in a drink. “You don’t look half bad yourself.”

He turned slowly, showing off the simple navy jacket that he wore over khakis. The preppy look wasn’t one I usually cared for, but on Michael it worked just fine.

A restaurant with walls of cascading water was directly in front of us as we passed a few shops. We turned left and walked into the bar across from the theater. I glanced over my shoulder, but there was no sign of the Bat Packers.
Safe
, I thought.

The bar had a curved wall of frosted glass divided by black strips of wood. It was ultra-modern and retro at the same time. The seats were like giant ottomans, the floor the glossy black of patent leather, and the wall behind the bar a deep orange. It was bright and brassy, a place to see and be seen.

“What do you want to drink?” Michael asked.

“Whatever’s on
tap.
”

“You got it.”

He set off for the bar, and I found a section of empty settee where I could have a view of the door. Just in case. Michael returned with the beers and the news that he had once again won his round.

“The level of competition has definitely
amped
up,” he explained. “The next round I’ll be playing Donny de Leon.” Even I knew Donny was a pro and a favorite in the televised tournaments. “Think my luck can hold?”

“Absolutely,” I said.

He smiled and kissed me. “It’s all up to you, you know. Remember the experiment?”

“You won before you met me,” I reminded him, but I moved closer and put my hand on his thigh.

“But I’ve been doing so much better since we—” He halted
midword
. He was staring at something—someone?—behind me.

“Is something wrong?” I asked, hoping he wasn’t about to tell me that Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. look-alikes had just walked into the bar. I risked a quick look past two heavyset guys blocking my view. No Bat Pack in sight.

“No, no.” He wavered between a frown and a smile, as if he wasn’t sure which expression to wear.

“What’s wrong, Michael?”

“Sorry,” he said, looking back at me. “It’s just so weird.”

“What?”

“That woman over there…” He gestured with his drink. “She could be your twin.”

I swung around to look at the bar. The cold struck me as if I had run into a wall of ice.

Sitting on a stool at the bar was the female vampire from Taste.
The woman who was a dead ringer for me.
First the Bat Pack and now my double.
Seeing them so close together twice was weird, no two ways about it. It could have been pure chance, but I had been in Vegas long enough to discount that option. Someone has always got the odds. Before this moment, I hadn’t even considered the possibility that this female look-alike might be connected to the con. Now my instinct was telling me she was.

Michael and I watched as she rose and walked out of the bar, her hips swaying easily beneath the silk of her dress. Sapphire blue silk, precisely in the shade I would have chosen.

“I’ll be right back,” I said sliding away from Michael.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “Do you want me to go with you?”

“I’m fine. And I think I can go to the ladies’ room by myself.” I fought down the shiver climbing up my spine. My last visit to a public restroom had been at Taste; I didn’t want to get into a confrontation like that again.

But I needed answers, and maybe following my vampire double would be the route to getting them.

I had never been in the Grand Canal
Shoppes
area after the stores were closed. But the security guy at the bottom of the escalator told me that “my sister in the blue dress” had gone this way, so I didn’t have much choice.

I stepped off the escalator and went toward the shopping center. The lights were still on in the roof high above the Venetian square, but the shops were dim. The street performers had vanished. The gondolas were stored away, their singing gondoliers gone. The food courts were empty, and the chairs tilted against the tables. I heard a vacuum somewhere but couldn’t pinpoint it. The canal snaking through the shops distorted all the sounds.

I stood in the middle of the square and listened, straining to hear something,
feel
something, that
would tell me where the female vampire was.

I climbed over a bridge that seemed to be dropping right into some fancy jewelry store, paused, and listened again. The water lapped against the sides of the narrow canal. A white-and-gold gondola was moored near the bridge. It swayed lightly on the surface of the water. The lights from the ceiling reflected in the canal like candles burning in its depths. It was so eerie and
beautiful,
the whole scene could have come from
The Phantom of the Opera
.

A motion past the next bridge caught my eye. There she was!
Locked in an embrace with a tall man who was holding her between his body and a wall on the far side of the canal.
Their passion so fierce it was almost brutal, I watched as his hand moved down the front of the sapphire-blue dress to seize her breast,
then
begin to stroke. She arched against him in response. Without warning, he lifted his head, took his mouth from hers, as if he had sensed my presence, somehow. I saw his profile, and felt a vicious kick, straight in my gut.

It was Ash. And in his arms, my vampire double.

Twelve

You bastard
, I thought as rage and jealousy seared through me. Heedless of the consequences, I let it carry me toward them.

The female saw me first. She was the one facing my direction, after all. She hissed a word, and Ash spun around. I let my momentum move me to just outside his arm’s reach, then stopped short.

“I may be a terrible liar, Ash,” I said, “but you’re a first-class one.”

He shifted his weight slightly, as if to protect the female vampire. I had wanted to do many things to Ash, and with him, but I had never wanted to truly end him until this moment.

“Does he tell you that he loves you, too?” I asked her, looking over Ash’s shoulder straight into her eyes. Up close the differences between us were immediately apparent to me. Her eyes had a different slant. Her skin was paler.
Not better not worse.
Just not me.
“What was it you said earlier tonight, Ash?” I switched my attention back to him.
“ ‘I
love you, Candace.
Sweet God, how I love you’?”

“What’s between us has no business here,” Ash spoke at last, and I laughed out loud.

“You believe that,” I said, “and I’d love to sell you some beachfront property in
Iowa
. You know better.” I pointed. “She knows better, and so do I.” I took a step forward, reckless in my fury. “Let me see your neck,” I demanded of the female vampire.

Her eyes went from furious to confused, uncertain.

“What? Why?”

“Just lift your hair up,” I said. “Go on. Do it.”