Scarlet Heat Read online

  “Because I don’t work in the dark arts—I don’t go to the Shadow Lands,” she snapped back.

  “You made the stake Corbin used to finish off that fucker, Roderick,” Victor pointed out. “That was some pretty black magic from what I hear. And you just offered to go to the Shadow Lands to dispose of the trap.”

  “I go to the borders—I don’t cross the Great Barrier,” she protested.

  “Fine, I don’t really care. But we’ll be paying in cash—not anything else.” He got out his wallet. “So how much?”

  Her eyes flashed. “Five hundred dollars. And that’s cheap for removing a cursed object from your life.”

  Victor looked pissed but he nodded anyway.

  “Better than blood. But I don’t carry that much on me—is there an ATM around here?”

  “Right around the corner at the convenience store,” Gwendolyn said. “I’ll wait.”

  “I will too,” I said. “I mean, if you don’t mind, I’d like to use your restroom to um, freshen up.”

  She shrugged. “Sure. Down the hall and to the left.”

  Victor looked like he was going to say something but then he shook his head.

  “I’ll be right back.” He pointed a finger at me. “No blood, all right?”

  “Fine,” I said acidly, beginning to get really upset. “Since it’s your blood anyway and I’m just borrowing it, I guess it’s not mine to give.”

  “Goddamnit…” He shook his head. “Forget it. I’ll be back in a minute.”

  The minute he was out of the house and I heard the door of his truck slam, I turned back to Gwendolyn.

  “Tell me what you were talking about earlier. What were you saying about a vampire and a were being bonded?” I demanded.

  She shrugged. “I was just saying it’s unusual—that’s all.”

  “That is not what you said and you know it,” I snapped. “You said I may be fine being bonded to Victor now but I would have some kind of problems later.”

  “I never said anything about problems.” She raised an eyebrow at me. “Why? Are you having a problem?”

  I just glared at her. Damn it, there was no way I was going to tell her about the weird fantasies and the way my sex drive was suddenly in overdrive, especially when I was around Victor.

  “Well?” She drummed her silver fingernails on the arm of the worn armchair she sat in. “I can’t help you if you won’t talk to me.”

  “I can’t,” I said. “I’m sorry, I just can’t.”

  Gwendolyn got up in a businesslike manner.

  “I don’t have time to play guessing games, sweetie. It’s going to take a hell of a ritual to send this trap back to the Shadow Lands. Not to mention that I have to store the damn thing in my house without my grandmother finding out until I can get the identity of whoever sent it.” She picked up the plastic bag carefully, keeping an eye on the trap. “Should have charged him more,” she muttered as she left the room, holding the bag and Tupperware container at an arm’s length.

  I was starting to feel desperate. Time was ticking away and Gwendolyn had said the ATM was just around the corner. How long could it possibly take for Victor to go get the cash and get back? Not long, I thought. Not long enough to get any answers.

  Feeling like I had to do something, I jumped up and followed her, going down the main hallway of the house, which appeared to lead to the bedrooms. I wasn’t sure which one Gwendolyn had gone into but one of the doors was ajar. I was just about to knock on it when, to my surprise, I heard a deep, male voice coming from inside.

  “Well, well, mon chaton, are you finally ready to admit you need me?”

  “What are you doing here again?” Gwendolyn snapped. “I told you, I’m fine. Why don’t you go back where you belong and leave me alone?”

  “Maybe because it’s so much fun to annoy you.” The deep voice grew serious. “Truly though, ma chere, I could feel the curse on that trap from the other side—it drew me. You really mustn’t try to take care of it alone or you’ll be injured. Here—let me.”

  “No, leave it. I’ll be fine. I’ll be fine if you ever just leave me alone!” She sounded really irritated but also a little breathless.

  My curiosity got the better of me and I peeked through the crack in the door to see Gwendolyn standing in what appeared to be a kind of workroom with the cursed trap in her hands. Standing right in front of her was a tall, muscular man with black hair and eyes that were somewhere between maroon and ruby. His tan skin was lighter than her creamy café au lait complexion—the contrast was obvious because he had his hands over hers as he attempted to take the Tupperware container away from her.

  “I said let it go,” Gwendolyn demanded, struggling to keep the trap away from him. “Just because I made a deal with you once—one time—to get that damn stake made, doesn’t give you the right to bother me the rest of my whole entire life.”

  “But I think you like it when I bother you,” the man murmured. He stopped trying to take the trap from her and stroked her cheek instead. “Much more than you would like to admit, ma chere.” Then, though I would have sworn I was being quiet, he turned to look directly at me, through the crack in the door. “Regrettably I cannot “bother” you nearly as much as I want to as we appear to have company.”

  Crap! I took a step back, putting my hand to my suddenly beating heart. There was something in those strange ruby eyes. Something not human…but not were or vampire either. What was he?

  “Oh!” Gwendolyn turned to me, an irritated look on her flushed face. “What are you doing sneaking around out there?” she asked.

  I raised my chin. “I need to ask you some questions about what you know. I…I need answers before Victor comes back.”

  The man’s strange eyes flicked over me and an amused look crossed his devilishly handsome face.

  “I do believe your little vampire friend wants to know about all the funny feelings she’s been having ever since she started drinking were blood, mon ange,” he murmured to Gwendolyn.

  I looked at him sharply. “Who are you? And how did you know that?”

  “I know all kinds of things, mon petite loup. One might say it is my job to know.”

  My high school French was really rusty but I did recognize a little.

  “My little wolf? Why did you call me that—I’m a vampire.”

  “But is a rose that smells like a tiger lily still just a rose?” he asked with a little smile. “What about an orange that tastes like an apple? A cat that barks like a dog?”

  “Don’t pay any attention to him.” Gwendolyn gave the man a disgusted look and set the trap, still encased in Tupperware, down with a thump. She came out of the room, closing the door behind her. “Sorry about that—he’s really annoying sometimes.”

  “But who is he and what did he mean by all that?” I demanded.

  She shook her head. “He’s nobody, okay? Look, I’ll tell you everything I know but we need to go back to the front room.”

  I let her lead me back to the living room, but if anything, I was more upset than before.

  “Talk,” I said, the minute we were seated on the couch together. “And hurry up—Victor will be back any minute. I need to know what’s going on.”

  “What is going on?” Gwendolyn gave me a direct look.

  I took a deep breath. “Okay, fine. Every time I drink from him I start feeling…strange. And I start having feelings…urges…thinking things I shouldn’t think about. I need help.”

  “You can say that again.” She shook her head. “Okay, all I know is that it’s extremely rare for a were and a vamp to pair up—mostly because of the subconscious smell thing we were talking about earlier.”

  “Right, go on.” I made a ‘hurry up’ gesture with one hand. “But if they do, what happens?”

  She shrugged. “Depends on a lot of factors. The age of the vamp, for one. You haven’t been a vampire for long—you have a lot of human left in you. I bet your heart even still beats, doesn’t it?”