Mia stood in a room that reeked of embalming fluid. She walked over to the cabinets lining the back wall and retrieved the cleaning supplies, pausing as the sound of the back door filtered into the room. Her lips parted in disbelief. He’s leaving? She shrugged. She’d have to clean everything herself. It’d be easier that way anyhow, since she wouldn’t have to look at Cole anymore. As soon as she finished her thought, sadness filled her. It was then she realized how attached she was to him so quickly. Why?
She jerked her head toward the door, vacantly staring at Cole as he walked through it, filling the room with his presence.
He walked past her, dropped a duffle bag on the table, and studied her with a guarded expression. “I need to wash, and change, then I’ll help you clean. I have to burn these clothes as well.” He tugged at his torn shirt and undressed as if she wasn’t in the room.
Her eyes traced the contour of his bare chest, his muscles rippling with each of his movements. Next, he removed his blood-soaked boots and started unbuckling his jeans. Mia realized she was staring. Her eyes met his, and she felt the heat crawl past her cheeks and settle into her ears. “I’m sorry. I’ll give you some privacy.” Grabbing the mop, Mia walked toward the door.
“You can stay if you want, my love.”
Without acknowledging his words, she let the door close behind her. Tears rolled down her cheeks, burning her skin as they silently fell to the floor. Her thoughts paralyzed her. He’d hurt her. Did he even care? Was she being irrational? She stared down at the bloodstained floor realizing the mess wouldn’t be there if the men hadn’t come to kill her. Cole scared the hell out of her, and he’d tried to kill her, but he’d also saved her life. Regardless, there was no way it could ever work with him—no way. Cut the ties now.
Cole entered the room, opened the door to the oven, and threw his clothes in with no regard for Mia’s two attackers who were still cremating inside. While his back was turned, Mia glanced at the fresh pair of jeans hugging his body. His black boots shined with a perfected polish, and his dark blue shirt fit snug against his broad chest. A gun fit onto his belt, and two pairs of handcuffs completed the equipment he carried.
Mia’s pulse raced at the sight of him. She couldn’t control it, and it irritated her, especially since she knew he could feel it when it happened. “Cole, I’m sorry for snapping at you. It seems you bring out the worst in me. I still don’t want to see you on a personal level, but I shouldn’t be rude to you. You saved my life, and I’m thankful.” She brought her eyes up to meet his.
“I know what you mean. I find it a struggle to control myself around you, too, Mia. It not only bothers me, but embarrasses me as well. I have worked hard for one hundred and twenty-nine years to master my control. I’m proud of that. I’m a powerful vampire—more powerful than most in this area. Then you came along and have tested me. Do you know how hard it was for me not to feed from you? Once I tasted the tiny drop of blood from your lips, it took everything I had to pull myself back. If it wasn’t for your strength… I don’t know what would have happened.”
After dipping the mop into the water, Mia began mopping. If she kept busy and averted her eyes away from his, it was easier to talk. “Why is that? Sex? You were aroused and pressing against me —do you drink from everyone you have sex with?”
“No. But they usually go hand–in-hand. It’s much better when it happens that way. Drinking blood from a human is exciting and very arousing. If you happen to be having sex first and get to feed during…” His tone turned to longing as it trailed off into a memory. “That’s the best feeling a vampire can experience.”
“You drink blood from a human every night? You just chase someone down and kill them?” She stopped mopping to meet his eyes, watching for a lie.
“No, Mia.” Cole smiled, his eyes held her with adoration. “Yes, I drink blood every night, but I don’t hunt and kill people. I do miss the hunt, though—it can be very arousing.”
“Where do you get the blood from then?” She rested her hands on the top of the mop handle.
“I can’t tell you. I’m sorry. I have to protect my kind.”
She nodded in acceptance. “Okay. How much blood do you need until you’re… full?” Mia put the mop back in the bucket, swirling it as the water tinted red.
“I’m older. I don’t need much, but, like you, I can overeat. If you taste good, I’ll want more than needed.” His smile turned into a dangerous grin.
Searching for a new topic, Mia turned her back to him, mopping over the same spot she had just cleaned. “You’re one hundred and twenty-nine?”
“No, I’m one hundred and sixty-three. I have been a vampire for one hundred and twenty-nine years.” Cole stepped closer. “I love answering your questions, Mia.”
“Why?”
“It gives me hope.” He shrugged. When their eyes met, there was that look, and Mia felt the urge to hear everything about him.
A loud bang shattered the silence of the room. They turned and looked behind them, then Mia glanced up at Cole. “What was that? I hope nothing is blowing up from inside the oven. You did check all their pockets and take their watches off, right?”
Before he had a chance to answer, the noise came again, louder. Mia dropped the mop and walked quickly toward the embalming room where the sound came from.
Cole bowed his chest. “That’s my girl. She walks toward danger instead of running from it—unless it’s toward me, of course,” he muttered.
“That’s because you bite. Oh, and I don’t need super vampire hearing to hear you muttering behind me.”
Before she reached the door, Cole blocked the entrance. “Let me go first.”
The banging continued. When they realized where the noise was coming from, they turned toward it in unison. Standing together, they gaped at the freezer.
“Mia, who is in there?” Cole’s voice hardened and his eyes began to glow.
“Uhm… we have, Mrs. Claxton, a friend of the owners, a Jane Doe and…” As her wide eyes snapped toward Cole, Mia’s voice caught in her throat. “Art!”
Cole placed his arm across Mia’s chest, pushing her back behind him. “This is not good.”
“What do you mean ‘this is not good’? What happened to ‘I’m a powerful vampire’?”
The banging increased, and the metal door bowed out with each blow. Mia heard the chilling sounds from inside the cooler. A body bag rubbing against the concrete floor. Carts holding corpses clanging together as someone—Art?—thrashed around. A vinyl bag ripping, then gushing sounds, like someone was eating watermelon. It all made her stomach queasy.
“Cole, what was that?” The fear climbed up into her throat, choking it off into a whisper.
“Art is awakening as a vampire. I can only assume that he’s very, very hungry. Most new vampires are after they’ve awakened. They need to feed right away, but the cold blood from the dead bodies in there will not satisfy him.”
Art’s feet scuffed along the concrete floor as he started to move around the cooler.
“Cole, what do we do?”
Cole walked to the cooler and leaned against the door, putting his hand on the handle.
“Mia, you stay over there. Back all the way up against that casket.”
She looked behind her at the casket, then slowly followed his line of sight directly back to the cooler door. Her eyes widened in disbelief as she glared. “You’re going to use me as bait!”
“Why is it so hard for you to trust me?”
“Mia? Is that you?” Art’s voice grated through the cooler door in an eerie growl.
Her eyes darted to Cole’s, searching for what to do next.
Slowly, he shook his head.
“I know that’s you out there. I can smell your blood. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. You have to help me. I was supposed to go on to my wife and baby.” He slammed his fist against the door. “This can’t happen. I have lived long enough in pain. Let me die so I can love again.”
Art’s words pulled at her heart. She couldn’t ignore the pain in his tone. “Art, I’m so sorry…” Her voice cracked as her tears fell.
Cole looked at her as he leaned against the door. “You really need to pull yourself together, Mia. You’re no good to anyone like this. You need to calm down.”
Calm Down? Did he just tell me to calm down? Everyone has certain words that make them snap, and “calm down” was Mia’s. He’d just pushed her red button. “You are a heartless ass, Cole. Everything that’s happened tonight is completely out of the norm for me, and you have the audacity to tell me to calm—”
With a loud bang, the cooler door flew off its hinges, slamming against the wall with Cole behind it.
Art went straight for Mia. His body still appeared burnt with pieces of new skin exposed as it healed itself. Wrapping his hands around Mia’s neck, he lifted her off the ground and slammed her into the coffin behind her. Her feet dangled above the cement floor as her hand came up and grabbed the arm holding her throat. Mia scrambled against Mr. Roberts’ chest, desperately trying to gain her balance while Art pushed her further inside the casket. Every time she picked up her hand to fight, she fell further back. Dying in a coffin was not on her top-five-ways-I-want-to-die list. Everything was happening so fast, and she tried to stop her mind from spinning. Think, Mia… Her hand slipped off Mr. Roberts’ chest, and landed against cold metal.
Art’s body suddenly lifted off the ground, and he released her throat. Cole backed him away from her, tossing him to his knees as Art fought back. He was no match for Cole.
Mia watched Cole skillfully unsnap the leather handcuff case next to the pair of blue handcuffs hanging from his belt. In one smooth motion, Cole put the cuff around Art’s wrist. Art screamed as smoke billowed up from his skin, and he slouched as the silver cuffs wilted his strength.
“Mia, please. My wife is waiting.” Fighting with everything he had left, Art’s desperate voice called to her. Mia stared at the burning flesh around his wrist, and her mind clicked into action. She grabbed Mr. Roberts’ sword from the coffin.
Cole’s eyes snapped to hers. “Mia. No!”
She slammed the sword into Art’s chest, piercing his heart. Blood spewed from the wound like a water line bursting, covering her. Mia watched in horror as various body parts melted, exploded, or quickly decayed as if part of a week-old corpse. Staring at the mass of blood on the floor, Mia gasped for air, then looked away to focus on her breathing.
From his kneeling position in front of what was left of Art, Cole’s eyes came up to hers. For a moment, Mia thought she saw a small hint of admiration, but it quickly faded. He was not happy.
Well, screw him. “Was that calm enough for you?” Mia said with all the sarcasm she could muster.
“You shouldn’t have done that.” He stood, glaring at her.
“Why? You think I should have let him live in pain—for eternity. No one should have to live like that.”
Cole was in her face before she could blink. “Some people do live in pain, Mia, every day, but we pull ourselves together and try to move on. Art was weak! You didn’t have the right to do that. We needed him.” The hardness began to fade from his face as he searched her eyes. “There’s blood on your lips.” He dipped his head toward them.
“What?”
His gaze darted from her mouth to her eyes, then his jaw set in a tight line, and he looked away. “He could have answered some questions for us about the man with the glowing eyes.”
Behind his deep brown gaze, Mia saw a reflection of pain, and thought about his words. Like a burning ember placed in the snow, her temper subsided. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think of that.”
“Of course you didn’t. You let your emotions take over and lead you.” The muscle in his jaw twitched.
With an exasperating sigh, she shook her head. “Well, at least I have emotions, so excuse me.” She walked past him. “Me and my emotions need to start cleaning.” After she surveyed the damages, she turned to face him. “I’m definitely fired. Thanks again for a lovely evening.”
Cole stared at her through narrowed eyes, but didn’t respond.
Frustrating woman.
Cole pulled his phone from his pocket and pushed a button. “Sheriff. We need a cleanup crew. We also have an unauthorized re-birth.” He picked up his bloodied handcuffs from the floor and placed them on the metal table. “And I also need a door to a cooler. Hold on and I’ll get you the number.” Cole walked directly to the cooler’s model information.
“How am I going to get all this blood out?” Cole heard Mia murmuring to herself as she pulled her saturated shirt away from her skin. “I can’t wait to get home and lock myself away from everyone. Especially—”
In an instant, he stood in front of Mia, looking down at her while he finished telling the sheriff the specifics of the evening. Her eyes told him a different story than her words. Something held her back from him, and his arms ached to hold her, comfort her, until she felt safe in his presence. He slid the phone back in his pocket, and lifted her chin with his finger.
“I don’t know what circumstances occurred in your life for you to build such a strong brick wall around your heart, but I do intend to tear it down. I know you feel me, as I can feel you. I do have emotions, Mia, and you’ve provoked every one of them since I’ve met you. I’m sorry I lack basic human sentiments. I don’t care about the weak or the evil, but I’m intrigued with your passion for life and baffled with your willingness to find the good in everyone. But evil will prevail if you keep thinking like this. There are some that are evil, with no good inside them.” He stroked her cheek with his thumb. “I want you to look back at the day we met until now, and you’ll see I haven’t laid one brick on that wall around your heart. Please, stop treating me as if I did.”
Mia swayed forward as she stared at him with a captivated gaze. Her brows dipped, and the depths of her blue eyes swirled with turmoil. The knock from outside of the room broke their stare. “Cole. I. You could really hurt me. Please.” She took his hand away from her face and moved toward the door.
If only she knew. He took in a breath he didn’t need, then whooshed past her out of the room to answer the door. Mia followed, keeping her distance as he talked to the sheriff.
“You need to go home now,” Cole said as he eyed her appearance. “We’ll handle everything here.”
* * *
Mia wasn’t in the mood to argue. Blood covered her from head to toe, and she desperately wanted a shower.
As she moved toward the exit, Cole grabbed her hand. “Come in the back with me. Let me wash you first. You don’t want to leave here looking like that, and I’m sure you want to get the blood and entrails off.”
It was crazy how he could read her mind. She pulled her hand away from his as if it shocked her. His jaw tightened at her actions. Mia walked to the back as he followed close behind. Another officer came in, dropped a change of clothes on the table, then left.
“Take your clothes off, and I can wash you down.” Cole’s face held no expression.
“Absolutely not! I can do it myself. You can go outside and guard the door.” She waved her hands in the air to shoo him away.
“You’re never going to get all of this off by yourself. Stop being stubborn, and let me help, or I can get one of the female detectives outside. Either way, someone is going to help you, so make a decision.” He gave her a stern look, folding his arms and challenging her with his stance.
Damn him. “Okay, but I’m not taking off my panties.” Cole shifted his position. A grunt sounded in his chest, and he stared at her. “Stop looking at me like that.” With her back to him, she stripped down.
“This may be harder than I thought.” Cole grabbed the embalming room hose and held it over her shoulders. The water ran over Mia’s body, hugging every curve and she shivered from its cool touch.
As she ran her fingers over her flesh, ridding it of blood, she laughed to herself. The sheriff was right—it was convenient they were at a funeral home since it had the necessities for a cover up.
She stared at the concrete floor as the water and blood mixed and swirled around the drain. Cole raked his fingers through her hair, loosening the strands to free the blood and flesh that were stuck. Goosebumps blanketed her skin as his fingers tugged at the strands, and the water ran free over her shoulders to stream across her breasts.
This was the furthest she’d been with a man in a long time.
She looked at her toes and saw bubbles running over them as Cole massaged her head. “You brought shampoo?”
“How else do you expect to get a new vampire’s goo out of your hair? Some can be very messy. The older ones just shrivel, aging rapidly.” Mia sensed his smile.
“Are you always prepared?”
He spun her around to face him. Mia’s hands snapped to her breasts, shielding them from his eyes as he looked down at her with his fangs out.
“No. I wasn’t prepared for you.” He bent down to kiss her.
“Don’t.” She turned her head. “This is why I said I didn’t want to do this. You’re taking advantage of the situation.”
She was damaged and didn’t want unneeded emotions or memories stirred up. Grabbing the towel from the embalming table, she wrapped it around her. A quick shiver ran through her as distant memories filtered through her mind. She hardened herself and emotionally shut down.
“Mia, I’m sorry. You’re right.” He ran his hand through his hair.
Leaving her clothes behind, Mia bolted out the door.
“Where are you going?”
She didn’t answer. When she came into the other room, five people stopped what they were doing and stared.
“If you all will excuse me.” She walked toward the exit, stopping at the shelf next to the door to retrieve her purse—mindfully holding up the towel.
“Mia. Stop!” Cole demanded as she opened the door.
“You stay away from me, Detective Barnett.”
Snickers and crash-and-burn whistles filled the room as she walked outside. She came to a halt halfway to her car and locked eyes with Cole, resting against the driver’s door, relaxed and poised.
“Get off my car, Cole, and please stay away from me.” She was agitated, but she knew if he tried to kiss her again, she would fall victim to it.
“Are you going to drive home in a towel? You know that’s police property?”
Cole’s toying grin and casual tone raked her nerves. Mia didn’t know if she wanted to hit him or throw him to the ground and ravish him. What she did know was he made her blood boil.
She ripped the towel from her body and faced him. Her bare breasts rewarded his heated gaze as her nipples grew taut in the cool night air.
Mia threw the towel toward him, and he stumbled back when he caught it.
“Here, Detective. I believe this is your property. The towel, that is—not me.” For the first time since they met, Cole was speechless, his lips parted in disbelief.
Mia took advantage of his stunned silence and jumped into the car, leaving a trail of dust and gravel behind her as she fled.