I stopped myself before I did any plunging.
It was Thierry.
The surprise and relief at seeing him was so big it stole my breath completely. His attention wasn’t on me, though; it was on the dark store beyond. I just stared at him with shock, unable to concentrate enough over the blaring noise to figure out how this was even possible.
Then, the very next moment, the music cut out and the store was plunged into eerie silence. For a few seconds my head rang from the organ music and I heard an echoing static before it faded. It was the equivalent of my ears screaming in pain.
Thierry looked at me. “I guess he didn’t like a little background noise.”
I worked hard to find my voice, which I kept as quiet as his. “You’re the one who turned on the speakers?”
He nodded. “I thought it might make things more difficult.”
“How are you here?” Maybe I’d been knocked unconscious again and this was just another dream. “How did you know I was in trouble?”
“Your phone call. You sounded deeply distressed.”
“I was. I—I am. But how did you know where to find me?”
“You told me enough. I was able to figure it out.”
“You figured it out from ‘Blo’?” I blinked. He would seriously kick butt at Wheel of Fortune.
“You mentioned Josh’s name. I know he owns this place—he was your connection to Kristopher. It wasn’t difficult to piece it together. I got here as quickly as I could and came in through the side door. Or—well, it’s more of a side hole at the moment. That’s where we need to get back to right now. It’s our closest exit.”
I reached out to touch his chest as if to prove to myself he was really here. Black suit, warm skin, slow but steady heartbeat. Check, check, and check. It still felt utterly surreal to see him in front of me right now and I could barely believe this was really happening. “Josh…he—he’s the serial killer. He’s been leaving dead bodies all over town to get publicity for himself…for this store. He’s trying to make vampires scary again.”
His expression was tense. “Did you know that when you came here?”
“No, of course not.”
He sighed as he gently touched my face, his eyes searching mine. “So when you said you would go somewhere safe for an hour…”
I grimaced. “Trust me—my intentions were good.”
“I’m sure they were. We need to leave here. Now.” He reached down to take my hand in his. “Just be careful where you point that thing.”
I looked at my stake. “I know. It’s freaking me out, too.”
Swiftly, we began moving across the second level toward the stairs. I’d have guessed this would be the trickiest part of making our escape, but Thierry moved very fast and I had to scramble to keep up with him. Taking two stairs at a time, we were back on the main level in a matter of seconds.
Josh had still been in the store in order to turn off the music. Maybe he was gone now that he knew I wasn’t alone. We moved past the coffin display room, beyond which was the Starbucks blood bank. Past more shelves and wax statues. I could see the heavy metal side door. Although it wasn’t really a door anymore. It had been ripped clear off its hinges and thrown to the ground.
Sometimes Thierry surprised me by the things he could do. Door ripping definitely went in the column of “good” surprises.
A moment later, Thierry stumbled forward and let go of my hand.
That was another surprise—a bad one. Thierry never stumbled.
“Get to the exit, Sarah,” he said. “Go now.”
“What’s wrong?”
He didn’t have to answer me before I saw the problem and it made a scream catch in my throat. There was a wooden stake—a small thin one—sticking out of his back just right of his shoulder blade. No, make that three—two others were deeply embedded in each of his hamstrings. That’s what tripped him up. Another stake rocketed through the air and hit him in the shoulder; it was followed in quick succession by two more that hit him in the stomach as he turned around.
Damn it. Josh was close. Close enough to see us. Close enough to prevent us from getting anywhere near the door. And, currently, I wasn’t his main target.
“Do you hear me?” Thierry growled. “Get out of here.”
Instead, I grabbed hold of his arm and dragged him into the closest aisle. Then I quickly worked to yank out the stakes that were causing him pain and zapping his strength. I threw them to the side so he could start healing his injuries. I didn’t have enough time to feel squeamish or second-guess what I was doing. I did, however, have plenty of time to feel terrified down to the marrow in my bones.
“Sarah, why the hell are you still here?” He sounded angry with me.
“Shut up, Thierry,” I snapped, angry right back at him. It helped shove the fear to the side a little. “Just shut up. I’m not leaving you. What part of that do you continually fail to understand?”
He glared at me. “All of it. The exit is right there. I was blocking you so you could make a run for it.”
“Yeah, blocking me with your own damn body. Nice try. But, sorry, you’re not going to die for me today.”
“Honestly, woman, you drive me completely crazy.”
“The feeling is mutual. Now just stay right here.” I could already see he was trying to get to his feet, but failing. He hadn’t had enough time to heal, and those stakes were more dangerous than they looked. Wood, just like silver, would zap his strength and stamina down several notches while his body diverted its energy to heal itself. I silently thanked God that Josh seemed to be a lousy shot and had missed his heart. I didn’t want to give him any more opportunities to practice his aim.
I peered around the corner to see that Josh was standing a dozen feet away in the center of the hallway blocking the exit. He hadn’t come after us since he was currently having trouble with his crossbow.
“Faulty merchandise?” I asked.
His gaze tracked to me and a cold smile snaked across his face. “It’s sticking a bit.”
“Sorry to hear that. Maybe you can get a refund.”
“I doubt it. It’s out of the box. The boss here is a real jerk when it comes to returns.”
“I know he’s an jerk. A murderer. A real sociopath, actually. And I’d be willing to bet he’s a lousy magician.”
His eyes narrowed. “Maybe he’s just someone who does what he has to do.”
“That makes two of us.”
“Your boyfriend came here to save you. Isn’t that romantic?” The sarcasm dripped from every word.
“It is. And he’s not my boyfriend. Despite my missing-in-action ring, he’s my fiancé.”
“Semantics.” His grin held. He wasn’t worried one little bit about any threat someone like me might pose to him. He continued fiddling with the weapon. “So did you come to any conclusions about what kind of a person you are, Sarah? A victim or a survivor?”
“I have.”
“Want to share before I kill both you and your fiancé? I promise to aim for the heart this time.”
“Do I want to share?” I repeated. “I’d rather have you guess.”
I moved so quickly that I surprised even myself. He blinked with shock to see me suddenly standing right in front of him. He probably expected that I’d try to keep my distance from someone I considered a sociopath, for me to be on the defense rather than the offense in this particular war. It was just his bad luck that I’d been watching more than my share of the History Channel recently.
Before he had a chance to raise the crossbow again, I put every ounce of strength I had into sinking the wooden stake into his chest. Only after it had hit its target did I feel the least bit guilty that it had to come to this. But I was a survivor and to survive sometimes you needed to stop acting like a victim. It was that simple.
He grimaced in pain and looked down at the stake now sticking out of his chest. Thierry had managed to drag himself out of the aisle to come to my side. He put his arm around my waist and pulled me back a bit, putting himself between me and Josh.
My hero. Even when healing up a half dozen deep puncture wounds.
Josh staggered, and then dropped to his knees. “Well played, Sarah.”
My eyes burned. “You were going to kill us. You gave me no choice. I’m sorry it had to come to this.”
“Yeah, me too.” With his left hand, he yanked the stake out. It made a sickening smacking noise. “But I’m not sorry I don’t carry stakes made of real wood. This simulated plastic is really convincing, though, isn’t it? Damn, it still stings like a bitch.”
He threw the bloody stake to the side and shakily got back up to his feet. Thierry pushed me backward, only we were now headed in the exact opposite direction of the open door.
“So I’m guessing that you’re Thierry,” Josh said, now with a pained smile.
“Conversation?” Thierry asked, his voice just as pained as the other man’s. “Can’t say I’m in the mood.”
“Be a sport.”
“No, I don’t think I will.” Thierry’s shoulders were tense and he stood tall, but I knew it was hurting him. “You threaten Sarah, I can’t be a sport with you.”
“It’s so sweet, isn’t it? Fledgling and master. Would that still be considered a May-December romance? I guess not. You’re both Decembers at this very moment, since you’re both about to die. I have six more stakes in here and my aim is improving, especially at this distance. I’m a fast learner.” He raised his crossbow.
I held up my hand to try to stop him. “Wait…no! Josh, please. Talk to me. We can find another solution here, I know we can.”
“You weren’t willing to talk a minute ago when you stabbed that stake into my heart, were you?”
He made a good point.
I clutched Thierry’s arm, which felt like steel. He was trying his best to keep me behind him, but I knew the stakelike arrows had taken it out of him—he’d been shot not once but six times, and I knew some of the wounds were bad and would take time to heal. Longer than a few minutes, at least. I managed to stand next to him before finally and successfully nudging him backward.
There had to be a way to stop Josh—to distract him. Some way to buy us some time…
My gaze snapped to just beyond him, farther down the hallway by the gaping open door. “You should probably know that there’s an enforcer from the Ring standing directly behind you.”
Josh laughed hollowly at that. “Nice try, Sarah. Don’t take another step closer to me. I have this lined up perfectly with your heart. I promise I won’t miss.”
Thierry’s grip on my arm was firm enough to bruise. He didn’t like that I was standing between him and the dude with the crossbow. Frankly, I didn’t like it much, either.
I grappled to find my voice and keep it strong and loud. “You know, instead of killing those humans, you could have just taken out an ad to advertise this place. Or word of mouth is also great. Run an awesome business, word gets around. But you just weren’t patient enough. You wanted easy answers.”
Josh shrugged. “I did what I had to do.”
“How many more murders are there going to be before you’re satisfied that your campaign to scare up some business isn’t working? One a day? How long before someone catches you in the act?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” He sounded so casual it made me shiver. “It’s a nice amount of blood I’ve been getting. I only ever took a quick taste to sample the goods. When I could, I tried collecting the rest into containers. Importing product for a blood bank is expensive, you know. And my line of credit is currently at its max.”
My stomach lurched. He’d been using the victims’ blood to help stock his café all week? “You’re sick.”
“I was looking for the cure to this sickness.” His crossbow didn’t waver. “The cure was the fear I would have seen in a human customer’s eyes as they wandered into the store not sure what to expect. The fear and excitement that would have opened their wallets to someone who just might be a real vampire. I like how you put it—scare up some business. That’s exactly what I’m trying to do.”
“The sickest thing is you didn’t even do it because you’re crazy. You’re not out for revenge. You don’t particularly hate humans. You killed all of them as a business decision.”
He gave me a thin smile. “You make it sound like a bad thing.”
“It is. And you’re going to have to pay for it now.” I shook my head. “I would have helped you, even knowing what you’d done. If you’d been the least bit sorry for it, I would have tried to find another way to end this.”
His lip moved back off his teeth, baring his fangs. It wasn’t a friendly expression. “You’re one of the most pathetic vampires I’ve ever met. You have no bite at all, do you? You give other vamps a bad name. You’re not a survivor, Sarah. You’re a victim.”
“Wrong. You’re the victim here. And that bad luck of yours? It doesn’t seem to be improving any time soon.”
Any amusement that had been in Josh’s gaze faded away. His finger tightened on the crossbow’s trigger. “Good-bye, Sarah.”
“Good-bye, Josh.”
The crossbow went flying out of his hands before he’d gotten a shot off. It clattered to the floor. Josh turned with surprise to look behind him.
Markus Reed gave the other vampire a brief sweeping glance, from head to foot.
“Good,” he said. “I’ll be able to wrap this case up quickly. I really hate Vegas. You have no idea.”
“Wait, what are you—?” Josh began.
He wasn’t able to finish his sentence. Markus plunged his stake into the other man’s chest, right to the hilt. His stake wasn’t imitation wood like mine had been. It was polished silver and looked more like a cross between a stake and a scythe. Fitting, really. An enforcer seemed to be synonymous with death. He really was like a blond grim reaper.
Josh fell to his knees and touched the stake. This time he wasn’t able to pull it out and grimace at the sharp but meaningless pain it caused him, like an annoying bee sting.
No more chances for redemption. No more possibilities for future business ventures that wouldn’t end up in failure. He said he hated being an immortal vampire—that it was hard work with very little benefit….
Well, he wouldn’t have to worry about the “immortal” part anymore.
With a last hiss of breath, he collapsed to his side and didn’t move again. Thanks to my morbid new talent, I knew he was dead and not faking.
I half expected him to disintegrate into the black goo I was accustomed to seeing when a vampire was staked—like Bernard. But Bernard was several hundred years old. Josh was a newbie in the grand scheme of things. His body wasn’t going anywhere.
At this point, with the bad guy defeated, normally I’d be hugely relieved and throw myself into Thierry’s arms, thrilled that we’d survived and all was well with the world. But when the person who saved you was someone like Markus Reed, I would save my celebrations for the moment in favor of feeling completely petrified.
Unconsciously, I’d moved to stand completely in front of Thierry. Markus noted this as he shifted his gaze from Josh to us. He didn’t comment on it, but his curious expression told me he found it interesting. Ultimately futile against someone like him, but interesting.
I pointed at the body. “He was the serial killer.”
“So I gathered.”
“He even admitted it. It’s not even up for debate.”
“I’m not debating it.”
“What about his body?”
“I’ll have it removed and cremated. Standard procedure.” He regarded us. “You’ve been a wily one, Sarah. Guess I should have taken you to the airport personally. I wouldn’t have left until I saw your plane leave the ground with you on it.”
I cringed. “Hindsight is twenty-twenty.”
“Then again, I have a funny feeling you just would have gotten on another plane and headed right back here.” He cocked his head. I noticed that he wore black leather gloves. They looked like something a murderer might wear to make strangulation both comfortable and fashionable.
Thierry remained rigidly silent behind me. I pressed back against him to assure myself that he hadn’t vanished into thin air. But he was still there, getting stronger by the minute. I wondered if he’d recharged enough to do that ninja move he’d done in the suite again.
“How did you know to come here?” I asked shakily.
“Thierry called me.”
I gasped. “He called you?”
“After he spoke to you, he made a quick call to me.” Markus crossed his arms. “Your fiancé cares for you very much. He was willing to give himself up in order to ensure your safety.”
My mouth was dry as this new piece of info registered for me. I turned to look at Thierry. His expression was unreadable, which only made this worse. I wanted to see worry or stress or something in his gaze to help me figure out how to feel right now. Should I be relieved that Markus had stepped in and saved us? Or should I be desperately afraid that he now had Thierry in his sights after we’d almost managed to escape?
Thierry had been so close to getting away. But he’d given all of that up for me.
“What is it?” Thierry asked, meeting my eyes. “You look…I’m not even sure how to describe it.”
“Angry, furious, frustrated…grateful.” My voice caught before I continued. “Mad as hell. Freaked-out. Scared to death. That about covers it. You shouldn’t have done this for me.”
He touched my face. “Yes. I should have. And I’d do it again in an instant.”
“But this means…” I trailed off. No, it didn’t mean anything. Thierry was innocent. I spun around to face Markus. “Listen to me and listen very carefully, mister. I know you’re the Ring’s enforcer and that means you’re some sort of scary-ass death squadron, staking whatever looks a little funny. But I don’t think you’re stupid.”
He cocked his head. “Scary-ass death squadron?”
“Thierry is innocent. He was set up. We know that for a fact. I mean, we don’t exactly have proof, since the proof is dead and gone after being mopped up last night. But it was Bernard. He hired that hunter to make an attempt on his life and frame Thierry.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes!” The strain in my voice made it go pitchy and near hysterical. “But he paid up front. And the hunter—well, he’s dead now, too. But he liked money. He got the money and figured he had nothing to lose. He thought it would be funny or whatever to actually kill a vampire dumb enough to pay him to stake him. Bernard hated Thierry. He wanted this treasure the two of them had locked away for ages, but Thierry refused. That’s what it was all about. That’s why Thierry looked guilty to you—Bernard was threatening him about this treasure and Thierry pushed back.” I was desperate for this all to get through to Markus even though I knew how insanely far-fetched it all sounded. “Damn it. You have to believe me. You have to!”
Markus stood there, his arms crossed, his head tilted, and he studied me for a very long, very silent moment.
Finally he nodded. “I do believe you.”
“No, you don’t understand. You have to—” I blinked. “Wait…. What?”
“I figured it was something like that. Makes perfect sense, actually. Bernard was always a greedy bastard.” The enforcer’s gaze dropped to my hand. “You’re not wearing your ring. I hope that doesn’t mean that you’ve called off your engagement.”
I stared at him with shock at the brisk change of subject. Had he really said he believed me? “A tattooed, tunnel-dwelling, street kid vampire named Charlotte took it as payment earlier today for saving my life.”
“You really need to be careful with the vampires who choose to live underground. They’re unpredictable.”
My mouth hung open so wide I might start attracting small birds looking to build a nest. “What is going on here?”
“Which part?”
I turned to look at Thierry. “Did you know he’d believe me? About what I said about Bernard?”
“It’s the truth.”
“Yeah, but…” I grappled for the proper words. “But he’s an enforcer.”
“And he enforces vampire law when needed. He doesn’t indiscriminately kill those who are only suspects.”
“But did you think he’d believe us?”
“No. I was certain he’d find me guilty.” Thierry glanced at Markus before returning his attention to me. “This is…unexpected.”
“You deal with surprises way differently than I do. I think you get even calmer.”
He smiled. “Or so I’d have you believe.”
Before he said anything else, I threw my arms around him and hugged him very hard. He cringed a little as if it hurt him.
“Sorry.” I loosened my hold and stared up into his face. “I know you’re still healing.”
“It’s fine.” He shook his head and stroked the tangled hair back from my face. His brows were drawn together and the calmness from earlier had shifted a bit to show the worry beneath. “Sarah, when you called me, the sound of your voice…”
I watched him carefully. “What about it?”
“All of this has just made everything very clear to me. The Ring…my job with them…it’s too much. Too dangerous. I think the best answer is for you to go back home where I can be assured of your safety. I won’t have much time to visit, but every day I can get away and get on a plane, I will be there with you. We can still make this work. I know we can.”
He kissed me softly and I returned it, so relieved that he was okay. That I was okay. But it was me who pulled away first, now troubled. I couldn’t think of a proper response to what he’d just said to me, so for once I said nothing.
“I need to work with Markus to clean up this mess and file my report with the Ring. Go back to the hotel and I’ll be there as soon as I can. It’s over, Sarah. You’re safe. Markus believes in my innocence. Everything’s better now.”
Well, we were still alive. Josh was dead. Bernard had been revealed as the instigator of his own murder. And Thierry still wanted me to go back home without him, where I wouldn’t get into any more trouble.
Whether it was all better was still up for debate as far as I was concerned.