My gun in hand, Trent gave me a quizzical look. “Seriously?”
Shrugging, I shot him an annoyed look. “I’m kind of winging it here.”
The largest vampire let go of the woman, and the female vampire in pink-and-blue tights pulled her to herself, whispering in the terrified woman’s ear, her grip so tight it made the flesh between her fingers white.
The leader turned, running his eyes up and down my body, hopefully deciding I was too difficult to add to his evening’s entertainment, but the other, a cowering nervous man now that they had witnesses, tugged at his sleeve like a little boy.
“Vinnie. Vinnie!” he said, hunched as he looked at Trent and me. “It’s them free vampires. We got to go. Let’s go!”
Free vampires? I wondered, watching the leader, Vinnie, apparently, breathe deep, taking in the scents of the room and smiling as he realized we were nothing of the kind.
“Shut up,” he said, shoving the smaller man off him. “They aren’t vampires. That’s a witch and an elf. You ever tasted elf blood before? They say it tastes like wine.”
“And you’ll never know,” I said, finding my balance and pulling heavier on the line. “In fidem recipere, leno cinis,” I shouted dramatically, making a glowing ball hang right before me. My pulse raced, but it was perfect, the size I wanted and its construction without fault. It wouldn’t hurt them, but if I could cow them into leaving, I wouldn’t have to spend the rest of my night filling out forms. “You need to let her go,” I said boldly. Beside me, Trent took aim.
The show of force made the smaller vampire jiggle on his feet. “Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. Vinnie, that’s Morgan!” he hissed, and the woman vampire finally quit her soft crooning. “Cormel’s demon. Come on. Let’s go!”
But Vinnie shoved the frightened vampire back, arrogant as he came forward three steps. “Cormel don’t scare me. Don’t let that woman go. This will only take a second.”
I pulled harder on the line, and the light glowed brighter, making the woman vampire hiss and drag the silent, tear-streaked bartender back. “Let’s try this again,” I said, and the largest vampire laughed. “You are going to let her go, and sit at a table. Pick one. It’s seat-yourself night. Otherwise, I’m within my rights to kick your collective ass until you’re unconscious. You know who I am, and that’s all the warning you’re going to get.”
The head vampire flicked his eyes to Trent, vamp pheromones rising like musky desire to make my neck tingle. He dropped back a step, and when I relaxed, he leaped at me, the other vampire screaming as he did the same a heartbeat behind.
“Celero dilatare!” I screamed, and the charm acted on the light curse already going, expanding it in a flash of light to blow them back.
The first vampire hit the floor, his head meeting it with a sodden thud. The smaller one handled it better, and he scrambled up as the woman vampire holding the bartender howled her anger. Even before regaining his feet, he fell, taken out by Trent’s first shot. His second hit the larger vampire, still dazed. His head fell back and hit the floor again. Two down, one to go.
“Help me!” the woman screamed as the last vampire dragged her away, and then all hell broke loose when the bartender began to wiggle wildly, thrashing out and clawing until the vampire threw her across the room and spun to run out the back.
“I’ve got her!” I shouted, hoping Trent didn’t down me with my own spell as I launched myself at her.
My breath exploded from me as I hit her and we went down, the vampire shrieking in anger and affront. Grabbing her luscious hair, I slammed her head into the floor. “This is why . . . you never leave . . . your hair loose!” I shouted in time with my motions.
“Rachel! You got her!” Trent cried out, jerking back when he touched me and I almost hit him. “You got her,” he said softer. “It’s over.”
Panting, I stopped. I was shaking, and I scrubbed a hand over my face before I slipped my hand in his and he helped me rise. My elbow felt like it was on fire, and I stood over the downed woman and twisted it to see. I had a floor burn, but if that was all I walked away from here with, then I’d done good.
No, we’d done good, I amended, seeing the gun still in Trent’s hand. He didn’t seem to know what to do with it, and I understood.
“Where’s the bartender?” I said, and we spun when she came out from behind the bar, a big-ass rifle in her hand. Her face was wet from crying, but her expression was of hate and fear. The sound of it cocking shocked through me, and I put my hands in the air.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! It’s okay! We got ’em!” I said, and Trent shoved the gun behind him into his waistband and out of sight.
Hunched, she came closer, the gun pointed at the largest vampire. “They tried to take me!” she screamed, and the adrenaline was a slap, clearing my thoughts. “They were going to turn me into a doll! I’m going to kill them! This is my place, and I’m going to kill them!”
Her eyes were darting between all three, and I let my arms come down. I nudged Trent, and he did the same. “Look, they’re all unconscious,” I said softly. “It’s over. You’re safe.”
“The hell I am! We have laws against this! Where are the master vampires! They’re supposed to protect us! I called the I.S. and no one came! If I ever see another vampire in my place, I’m going to shoot them on sight!”
I totally understood, but I edged closer, trying get between her and the vampires. “It’s over. You’re okay,” I said, hands out in placation. “You’re not marked or bitten, you’re okay. Tomorrow will be the same as today. Put the gun down. They aren’t getting up.”
“Rachel!” Trent shouted, and I turned, seeing the last female vampire I’d knocked unconscious coming at me.
“No!” I shouted, then dropped as the rifle went off.
“Leave me alone!” the bartender screamed, shaking as she stood with the smoking rifle in her hand. “I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!”
Yep, she killed her, I thought. The female vampire had a hole in her chest big enough to put your fist in. The hole in her back would be bigger, and I thought the woman would look better with less makeup as she sighed her last breath and her pale hand fell against the scratched floor.
“Give me that,” Trent said, jerking the gun from the bartender’s slack grip as she stood, a shocked expression on her as she watched the vampire die her first death. Collapsing to the floor, the bartender began to sob, rocking back and forth with her knees drawn to her chin.
Gunpowder pricked in my nose. I got up as Trent took the last shell from the rifle, tucking it in his pocket before gently setting the weapon on the nearest table. There was no blood on me. No blood on Trent. There was a growing puddle of it on the floor under the woman vampire, and I looked at the clock over the jukebox. They’d want to know what time she died to better estimate her rising, though by the look of it, it might be weeks.
Silent, Trent eased to stand beside me. “I’m going to go out on a limb and say that a date with you is nothing like having you work security. Let’s not tell Quen about this, okay?”
I slowly looked him up and down. He seemed to be taking this rather well, but then again, I’d seen him kill a man in his office. Flashing me a mirthless smile, he started scanning the place. “You see a tablecloth anywhere?”
To cover the dead vampire, I thought, shaking my head. The woman was still crying. I knew I should comfort her, but I was kind of pissed at her right now. Leaving her to cry, I found my shoulder bag and dug out my phone.
“How come you got a signal?” Trent said, grunting when he checked his phone and found the towers were back up. Unfortunately the 911 circuits were busy, with a recorded message saying to hold for a thirty-minute wait time.
“Nuts to that,” I said, thinking I wasn’t going to spend my night here with a dead vampire. Hanging up, I called Edden’s direct line. “Edden,” I said as soon as his deep, low voice came clear over the sound of ringing phones and tense voices.
“Rachel? I don’t have time right now.”
Impatient, I pressed the phone to my ear. “I’m in a bar on Hostant Drive. I’ve got two vampires under sleep charms and another dead, possibly twice from a hole in her chest.”
Edden went silent, and the woman stopped crying at the sound of Trent locking the front door. “Oh,” Edden finally said. “Did you call 911?”
“Duh! There’s like a thirty-minute wait time. Edden, is there a vamp war going on? They mentioned something about free vampires.” Suddenly itchy, I turned to the door, wanting to leave.
“If there is, it involves all of them.” Edden’s voice went distant for a moment, then came back stronger. “My God, it’s a mess. The I.S. is completely down. Looks like one of your misfire waves came through again. Hold on.”
“It’s not my wave,” I grumbled, one arm across my middle as Trent finally got the woman to get up off the floor and into a chair facing away from the blood and violence. “Edden,” I started when I heard the phone picked back up.
“Do you have the situation contained?” he asked, and my eyes met Trent’s. He probably didn’t want to be seen here with a corpse on the floor.
“Unless their friends show up. Yes.”
“Okay. Good. I’m sending someone right now. There’s a fire a few blocks from you, so it won’t be but five minutes. Just sit tight. Can you do that?”
I looked at the woman sobbing quietly to herself. It was more gentle, broken almost, but I remembered her fear and her outright decisive lethal action. Forty years of carefully built coexistence gone in five terrifying minutes. We were that close to losing it all.
“I’ll be here,” I said softly. “We could really use an ambulance while you’re at it. Someone was burned very badly at the fire. And thanks.”
Muttering something, he hung up. Not closing the phone, I called David’s number, but there was no answer and I didn’t leave a message. Trent was standing behind the bar, pouring vodka into a single glass when I texted Ivy that I ran into some difficulty but was okay and would be home a little later than planned. No need to tell her that vampires were behaving badly. She probably already knew that. I hoped Nina was okay. The safe houses would be busy tonight.
“You ever hear of free vampires?” I said as I went to the bar to sit and wait. Head shaking no, Trent set the vodka beside the woman and returned to stand beside me and lean against the bar, his entire body stiff with tension. “That was fun,” I said sarcastically, then noticed a darker anger in him, one deeper than the mess before us would warrant. “You okay?”
“I called to tell Quen that I was all right, and he informed me Ellasbeth is refusing to bring the girls home.”
Lips parting, I reached out. “What? She can’t do that! Ray isn’t even hers!”
My eyes darted to the dead vampire, unsure if that sigh had been caused by a muscle release or voluntary.
“Ellasbeth says that with the misfires impacting Cincinnati she has every right not to bring them into a dangerous situation,” he said. “That the estate is outside of the area doesn’t seem to matter.”
Worried, I gave his arm a squeeze. “I’m sorry. You know you’ll get them back. She can’t do this.”
His expression eased as his attention came back to me, and I suddenly realized we were inches apart. “Yes, I will,” he said softly. “How are you? Still shaky?”
Feeling the warmth between us, I looked at my skinned elbow. “Fine. Edden’s sending someone. You can go if you want. We’ll be okay.” Unless the bartender had another gun stashed somewhere.
He glanced over at the bar, gaze settling on the rifle with his prints on it. “I’ll wait. Besides, this is the most excitement I’ve had in three months.” His smile went right through me, warming me from the inside. “I’m glad we did this,” he said, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.
“The date, right?” I said, trying to lighten the mood. “Not the . . . this?”
Eyebrows high, he brushed me as he leaned over the bar for a bottled water. Tingles raced up my arm, and I didn’t move. “I can honestly say that a date is nothing like working with you,” he said as he cracked the top of it and handed it to me.
I took a swig before handing it back. I was curious to see if he’d drink from it as well. My skin was still tingling, and my heart pounded when he looked at his watch, smiled, and then leaned in to kiss me.
My first flash of annoyance evaporated in a puff. His hands pulled me closer, and the sensation of fire dove through me, plinking every single trigger I had. The scent of cinnamon and vampire pheromones rose, and a soft sigh escaped me. This wasn’t enough, and uncaring of tomorrow, I slid from the stool. Our lips parted as he stumbled, and then I pulled him to me, arms going around him and up into his hair.
I had spent the last three months looking at his hair, wondering what it would feel like in my fingers again. Three long months I’d watched him move, seen him in every possible piece of clothing and wondered what he’d look like out of them and how he might move against me when the darkness was velvet and the sheets were cool. Three months of saying no, be good, Rachel, be smart, Rachel.
I wanted one damn kiss, and I was going to have it, by God.
“You are fucking animals!” the woman at the table exclaimed, and when Trent’s lips threatened to slip from mine, I sent the barest dart of tongue past his lips to recapture his attention. It worked. His breath caught, and I swear the man growled. His arm crushed me to him, and it was all I could do to not wrap my legs around him. Bar stools could hold that much weight, right?
