Claws and Fangs Read online

  “Don’t try giving me the glow-eyes routine. Mind control hasn’t work on me yet, and you’re not going to be able to snap the chains. Others have tried and failed. You’re not my first vamp.” She doubted that he’d listen to her advice but she gave it anyway. “You all try that shit.”

  “What do you want?”

  His deep voice startled her. He had a slight accent, maybe Scottish or Irish. She glanced at his eyes, his features, and the long black strands of hair that grazed the concrete floor. He obviously had a naturally bronzed complexion unless he’d very recently been turned. He sure wasn’t sunbathing anymore.

  “How much money will it take to get you to release me?” His voice deepened with anger. “Just name your price, lass.”

  She leaned forward, met his intense stare and licked her lips. She noticed that he glanced down when her tongue darted out but his gaze returned to her eyes. “You want to know what it’s going to cost you for your freedom?”

  “Yes.”

  “I want my sister back, you son of a bitch.”

  His black eyebrows shot up and surprise widened his eyes. “I didn’t take her.”

  Lacey rose to her feet. “How do you know?”

  “I’m not a kidnapper, and I’m not holding any women against their will.”

  Anger surged as she raked her gaze up and down his big body. He’d probably have killed her already if he wasn’t restrained. She was tired, heartsick of the life she led, and hated how drastically her world had changed in the past three years. She hesitated before she climbed onto the bench, lifting her leg and straddling his hips.

  He sucked in air, obviously surprised again, and watched her with those beautiful sapphire eyes. She put her hands on his chest, careful not to get near enough for him to lunge and bite her. She couldn’t ignore the firm feel of his body under her fingers and palms.

  “Do you ever think about your victims’ families? The people who love them? The way we grieve when their bodies are discovered?” She paused, studying his features for any sign of remorse. “Do we even count to assholes like you? Are we just sheep to slaughter? Disposable meals to toss into the garbage when you’re done feeding?”

  His handsome face tensed, his lips pressed together, and wariness narrowed his eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “You do.” She lifted a hand off him and pointed above them. “See that? It’s a skylight that is currently closed.” She twisted her wrist, made sure he could see the time displayed on her watch, and planted her hand back on his chest. “Dawn came about an hour ago. The weather report promised a nice sunny day.”

  A cold look settled into his eyes as he glared at her. Then he masked his features, hid any emotion, and she knew he understood the implied threat. The silence stretched between them as they regarded each other.

  “I don’t kill,” he rasped. “I feed but leave them alive.”

  “Sure you do.”

  “Do you want to talk to them? My cell phone is inside my inner jacket pocket, unless you got rid of it.” He jerked his head toward the floor where his jacket had been tossed earlier. “You’ll also find the number in there of the manager of a medical research company we own. Put it on speakerphone and I will get him to tell you about the blood he has delivered to me. I rarely feed from live people, and the ones I do are fine. They are willing. I just take what I need, with their consent, and always leave them alive.”

  Lacey inwardly cringed. She hadn’t checked his pockets. Most bloodsuckers weren’t into technology. Maybe they thought it would get them caught or somehow reveal their nests. None of the others had ever had cell phones. She really hoped no one was tracing the phone. It was her first instinct to get up and smash the thing but she resisted. It would be bad to show fear, so she climbed down nonchalantly, located it, and turned it off. She would destroy the phone right after she took care of him. She resumed her position astride his body.

  “I’m not stupid enough to use your phone. They’d track the signal. I know some of you hire thugs to protect you during the day while you sleep. Criminals don’t care what kind of monsters they’re protecting as long as the price is right.”

  It suddenly hit her that he was very much awake, even though the sun had risen. Their knowledge of bloodsuckers wasn’t as extensive as she’d like, but one thing was clear—he wasn’t some newbie vampire. Only the older, stronger ones had fought back against the teams who’d hit unguarded nests during the day.

  He’s a master. Shit! We really scored.

  Her next thought wasn’t as pleasing. The rest of his nest will really be pissed that we got him...and will want payback.

  “I’m not a killer.”

  “You’re a vampire.”

  He didn’t respond. He didn’t need to, though, since they both knew the truth. His gaze flicked to the ceiling before returning to her. “I don’t kill, and I don’t have your sister. I don’t kidnap women and make them blood slaves.”

  “She’s dead. One of your kind tore out her throat and tossed her broken body away.” Pain squeezed her heart. “She was just a baby—nineteen—and so sweet she wouldn’t hurt a fly. The son of a bitch grabbed her by her car outside the library. She was going to be a pediatrician. She loved kids and wanted to have half a dozen of them.”

  “Shit. I’m sorry.”

  He was good, she’d give him that. Regret filled his steady gaze. Some of her anger eased, but not much. She knew he wasn’t the one who’d killed Beth. The vamp who’d grabbed her had been caught on camera, and he was smaller than the one she sat on. The image had been blurry—the killer had run through the parking lot, snatched her sister, and they’d both disappeared in seconds.

  “I don’t kill people. I know you don’t believe that but it’s true. We’re people too—different, yes, and some of us are bad, but some are good.”

  “And you’re a good guy? A nice, sweet, friendly bloodsucker?” She arched her brows and smiled coldly. “Sure.” She perused his body from the waist up. “You’re just a big, strapping teddy bear with fangs, right?”

  “I don’t harm humans.”

  She sat up straighter and eased her hands off his chest. She peeled her black turtleneck sweater over her head and dropped it to the floor. Her hand drifted to her hair, pulled it away to reveal her neck, and she tilted her head enough to show him the column of her throat. His gaze riveted there then drifted to her bra, her breasts, before meeting her gaze again. The blue of his eyes seemed to grow even more intense and beautiful.

  “Hungry? Show me the real face of a monster, because I know you’re dangerous.”

  His breathing changed, quickened—and to her shock, something stirred between their bodies where she sat. She glanced down, and then jerked her gaze up to gape at him.

  “You get hard-ons?”

  “You’re very attractive, half undressed, straddling me, and I’m a man.”

  “You’re dead.”

  “I’m a vampire. There’s a difference. See my chest rising? I breathe air...and I’m not immune to a beautiful lass.”

  He didn’t hiss at her, his fangs didn’t extend as she’d seen with other vampires—not that she’d taken the time to talk to many of them. Instead he calmly watched her without struggling. He didn’t stare longingly at her throat as if wanting to feed from her, the way others had, though she knew he did too. His gaze kept drifting to her breasts.

  She adjusted her position on him, feeling the hard length of his cock trapped between their bodies but trying to ignore it. It shocked her that he could even get an erection. Maybe feeding or wanting to feed was the thing that aroused them. It piqued her interest just a tiny bit. If he wasn’t so attractive, she wouldn’t have found that fact fascinating in the least. Am I really that shallow? “So you’re just a guy, huh?”

  “Yes.”

  Three years of pain, loneliness, and heartbreak weighed heavily on her. Beth’s death had changed her life in every way. Her fiancé had abandoned her. She hadn’t dated afte