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IT HAD TURNED INTO a nice, cool day with few clouds and a warm sun brightening the surroundings. But the tension rolling off Silas ruined the lunch for all of us. Despite downing a few of his favorite local beers, no one could take the edge off. Even Broch, with his usual cheerful yet peacemaking ways, fell flat.
Nadya and Graham, along with myself, attempted to convince Silas that Ezra wouldn’t purposely put me in harm’s way. And it was our fateful duty that we oblige the Order’s request to help them deal with the escalating conflict. The doubts flitted through my brain as I tried to influence Silas—would I be able to handle working with such an old, and powerful, and seductive vampire? Where was he taking me tonight? What had he witnessed in all his years of life?
And while those questions swirled, I put on my best game face. With several hand squeezes and shoulder nudges, I tried to show Silas that all would be well. However, his shitty attitude and insinuations that I wouldn’t be able to handle myself finally grated on my last nerve. So an hour after we left our meeting, I headed home. Alone.
Several hours after that, I waited anxiously for the car Viktor had promised to send. The ten block walk to the pick-up spot had been filled with catcalls and whistles. Of course, I was also strutting down the street in a short red mini dress and a pair of silver heels I regretted ever buying. The practical Sophia in me cursed the mistake I’d made by not bringing a spare pair of walking shoes. The hunter Sophia in me thought I needed to look like bait tonight. I’d like to argue that I’d dressed like this to be better at my job. But the reality was that a little part of me wanted to impress Viktor.
No more Princess Gloomy tonight.
Right on time, the car service arrived. A black stretch limousine maneuvered the busy streets of New York City with grace, and aptly pulled up to the curb right beside me. I’d expected to ride alone, so when Viktor stepped out to greet me, I sucked in a quick breath.
“Ms. Glen, you look stunning,” he cooed as he kissed my hand in a very old fashioned, yet highly romantic gesture.
“You look nice, too.” I’d stumbled over my words and felt the heat race to my neck.
Viktor looked down at his business suit and smiled. For the first time, I noticed a small dimple graced the edge of his cheek, right where the not-so-manicured stubble on his face began. The exotic skin tone and dark hair made me wonder about his heritage, but the blue eyes the color of a winter sky reminded me that he was the enemy.
“Thank you,” he finally replied, no doubt watching my assessment of him. “Shall we?” He gestured to the open door and waved me forward.
In silence, I climbed into the car. The smell of new leather, new car, and wealth indulged my senses. A bottle of chilled champagne sat in one of the side compartments, two glasses ready to be filled. As Viktor settled into the long bench seat across from me and facing the back of the car, I found the air suddenly devoid of oxygen. When the door slammed shut, I flinched. My instincts were to hunt and kill vampires, not go on fake dates with them. I’d packed a retractable stake in my clutch, and I now found myself squeezing on to it quite tightly.
Viktor’s eyes followed my small movements before roving back up over my body. The dress certainly accentuated my long, lean legs and he seemed to be enjoying the view. I tugged at my hemline slightly.
With a grin that almost revealed his fangs, he tapped on the window and the driver pulled away. “Champagne?” Viktor raised a glass and grabbed the bottle. With just one pop of his hand, the cork came loose. In an instant, he shot his arm out and caught the flying object before I even had time to blink. As though this were normal, he filled the glass halfway and passed it to me.
I accepted his offer in an attempt to be professional and courteous. Meanwhile, inside my head, I was wondering if Viktor was actually trying to poison me—I mean, he could have added something to my drink faster than I would have been able to see.
A quiet chuckle escaped his lips. “Relax, Ms. Glen. Drugs are not my style.”
“How did you...?” I tried to ask, voice trailing off in confusion and then anger when he laughed again.
“Your heart is racing. That alone would tell me that you mistrust me. But the fact that you are a hunter and I am a vampire...well, I wouldn’t expect anything less from you.”
Not sure if that was a backhanded compliment or a subtle reminder about how powerful he could be, I cocked my head to the side. “Are you going to have a drink too?” I asked defiantly.
He shook his head and placed the bottle back in the ice bath. “No, my tastes differ than yours.” The words slid off his tongue like a seduction. How one man could manage to make blood drinking sound sexy baffled me. It also scared me and I know my heart sped once again.
Viktor smirked but didn’t comment. Smart man. I tried a sip of the champagne and then had to stop myself from gulping the rest down in one swig. I didn’t think I’d ever had something that tasted this delicious. No doubt expensive, I wondered what it must be like to have unlimited funds. Well, at least I assumed that must be the case for Viktor. I mean, he was really old after all and most of those at his age had made millions many times over.
“So where are we going?” I asked after a few moments of uncomfortable silence. It looked like we were going toward Lenox Hill.
“Sapphire,” he said as though I should know what that was.
Yet, I did know and I couldn’t help but shout my next question. “The strip club?”
Viktor crinkled his face and shook his head slightly. “You don’t have to scream,” he said calmly. “Yes, the gentleman’s club where I want to question a few of the owners.”
“The owners are vampires,” I stated. For some reason that didn’t surprise me.
“One of them is,” Viktor added without elaborating more.
“I thought you were all supposed to be trained to kill and all that. Not run businesses.”
Viktor smiled, the dimple showing as he licked his lips. I didn’t know if he’d done that on purpose or not, but the move had sensuality written all over it. I uncrossed and crossed my legs, the heat unwelcomed at this particular moment. Viktor’s nostrils flared ever so slightly in response.
“Some of us are chosen to lead different lives,” he said cryptically,
It would seem like I hadn’t been getting all of the information necessary to my job, and I planned on letting Ezra have it. “So who are we going to talk to tonight?”
Viktor laughed, a full timber that filled the car like soft music. I instantly fell under his spell...until he spoke again. “We are not talking to anyone. I will be speaking to those I need to while you just stay out of the way and look...distracting.”
“Distracting?” I spat.
Viktor paused and tilted his head to the roof of the car. “Yes,” he finally stated. “I need you to be the center of attention and not me.”
“And why would you be the center of attention? Is there something I don’t know about?”
“There are many things you don’t know about,” he said coolly.
I couldn’t believe this man in front of me. Sure, it was my job to assist in any way possible, but I’d never stepped aside to play the bait before. Not like this where I wasn’t valued for my skills. “I don’t think this arrangement is going to work,” I snapped, putting the champagne down and holding my clutch tight.
“You don’t have a choice,” Viktor stated.
“I always have a choice.” My blood boiled with the insinuation that I was not in control of my own life.
“It’s what you were born to do.”
“I was born to kill vampires,” I snapped, glaring at the vampire sitting across from me and itching to have my stake in my hand. “Do you even understand how it feels to be sitting this close to you? How tempting it is to harm you?”
Viktor studied me like a hawk. “Tell me,” he breathed.
I probably should have kept my mouth shut, but he’d angered me too much. “My skin crawls with repulsion as soon as you’re within twenty feet of me. My blood pulses with thoughts of your destruction and I can do nothing but envision your corpse crumbling into ashes beneath my hands.” I left out the part about how, with increasing frequency, I’ve also craved a vampire’s fangs slipping into my neck and his body taking me as his own.
Viktor cleared his throat and suddenly shifted in his seat. He lowered the closest window and stuck his nose up toward the fresh air. For several moments, he stayed in that position, not a muscle twitching beneath his custom-tailored suit. With his nose still held high, he finally said, “I know exactly how that feels.”
I wasn’t sure how to react to that statement. Was he telling me that he wanted to kill me just as much—feed on my blood and leave me to die? Or had he sensed my arousal from thinking about a vampire’s fangs? Before I could ask, the limo veered to the right and into a VIP parking lane.
“We’re here,” Viktor said, voice gruff with emotion and eyes avoiding me at all cost.
The parking attendant opened the back door and I crawled to the edge of the seat when Viktor didn’t move. With a small smile that hid the pain from my heels, I exited the car and decided to wait for Viktor. As much as I hated playing second string, I had to remind myself that this was his territory and his decision to bring me here. For the sake of the Order and our division, I needed to comply.
I really hated to comply sometimes.
“You ready?” Viktor asked, suddenly standing by my side and making me jump.
“Sure,” I whispered, looking up at the bright sign hanging over the door and wondering what I was really getting myself into.
Viktor gently placed his hand on my lower back to guide me forward, but all that touch did was confuse the instincts racing inside. Vampires weren’t supposed to touch me, yet, it felt so good. His large hand fit perfectly into to the wave of my back, almost like we were made for each other. My hormones raged, my heart rate increased. Damnit. Why couldn’t I control this better?
With a nod, Viktor pulled us passed the front door and a man in a dark blue suit who had been holding open for us. It only took a second before we’d traveled several feet, into the shadows of the side of the building and far enough away that a wave of unease clawed at my stomach.
“What are you doing?” I asked as his hands clenched my upper arms and he pushed me against the cold, concrete building.
Instead of answering, he inhaled a long, deep breath, nose grazing the sides of my neck. My lips parted automatically and I melted into his grasp. “You need to get a hold of yourself,” he growled into my ear.
It didn’t help squash the excitement I felt.
“Stop it now, Sophia.”
It was the first time he’d used my name and a part of me really liked the way it flowed off his tongue. There was a hint of an old accent buried deep beneath his tenor. An accent that only added to his sex appeal.
My back suddenly slammed into the building, causing my breath to catch in my lungs. I thought I might end up with a bruise or two. “What the fuck?” I began.
“You need to get your libido under control or every single vampire in this club will be on you the second we walk through the door.”
Embarrassed for several reasons, I shook my head. “What are you talking about?”
Viktor searched my eyes, and even in the darkness I could see the aquamarine burning a hole through my soul. When he didn’t find what he was looking for, he slipped his head to the side and brushed his lips against my ear before I could protest. I shivered in response when I should have kicked him between the legs.
“That is what I’m talking about,” Viktor said. He’d returned to glaring at me. “I can smell you which means they can smell you.”
“Smell me?” I asked appalled, the slight grin on his mouth angering me.
“A hunter who wants to be ravaged by the very creature she’s sworn to kill,” he whispered. “Got to appreciate the irony.”
“I don’t want to be ravaged by a vampire.” A lie. Even I couldn’t deny how pathetic those words had sounded.
“You keep thinking that.” He started to pull me away from the wall. “At least for tonight.” When I stopped dead in my tracks, he smiled down at me. “For your safety.”
My safety. Right.
“Come on,” he said. “They’ll get suspicious if we stay out here too long.”
“Won’t they just think that you’re feeding?”
He looked down at me like a child, brows raised and leer growing. “Not with that perfectly unmarked neck of yours shining like a beacon.”
Instinctively, I brushed my hand over the smooth skin on my neck and shivered. Only this time it wasn’t because I wanted to feel the fangs, it was because I worried that too many others would want to feed.
“Relax,” Viktor said calmly. “Just act like a regular human and no one should expect anything different.”
So I couldn’t be a hunter tonight. Got it. Didn’t like it, but got it.
As we reached the front doors for the second time, I took a deep breath and thought about anything that would keep my libido in check and my hunter instincts at bay.
No one ever said this task was going to be an easy one.
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