Urban Legend Read online

  “What are you frowning about?”

  She didn’t realize she had, or that he’d noticed. The truth blurted out before she had a chance to stifle it. “Is this Taina your girlfriend?”

  He shot her a quick look. “Friend. Vampyre Hunter -- you’ll like her.”

  Did he have feelings for his “friend?”

  “What, no comment?”

  “Just wanted to know if someone else would want to kill me.”

  He threw a look at her, genuinely surprised. “She’d dust you if you were after blood. Otherwise she’ll probably ignore you. She either trains or fights or… well, let’s just say keeps her husband busy.” Ah, so this woman has a husband. Relief was an unwelcome sigh. “What, you’re jealous?” His mocking tone grated on her nerves.

  “I wondered if you were that much of a bastard to… to…” She felt herself blush, a ridiculously heated blush, and couldn’t bring herself to finish what she’d started.

  Instead he finished for her. “To fuck you while I had a woman?” He shrugged, those strong, lean hands relaxed over the wheel. “No one’s perfect.”

  Val had killed a man within the hour. She’d let a human… oh just say it… fuck her. Before that she’d nearly been killed. Now she was sitting with a human, the someone who’d touched her, whose scent nearly made her weep for him. She hadn’t fought him to escape. Even while knowing he would attempt to access the raw data through her, even after some concocted story about a human blood carrier, she trusted him to keep her safe. She was an idiot. Val settled deeper in her seat, and curled her legs under her.

  His breathing was rhythmic and loud. “I need a fucking Starbucks.”

  “If you’re tired I can drive.” Why that came out she had no idea. She was actively helping him kidnap her. Brilliant.

  “So you can crash us into something?” The look he shot her was actually amused.

  She simply shrugged, and tried to get comfortable. Closed her eyes. Nearly jumped out of her skin when he put his hand over the gearshift, much too close for her comfort level.

  “Jumpy. I thought the sex would’ve calmed you down.” Bastard. She gave him silence. Too late to remain ladylike, but at least she could regain her dignity. He snorted, his face hard in the passing headlights. “Gotta tell you though, I never thought I’d fuck a vamp.” She tensed now, wishing his body heat wasn’t so close even as his words sliced into her. “No comments?”

  “No interest.” Cool calm and proper.

  “Pity.”

  * * *

  Cain let the wind beat at his face through open windows as he flew on 101. His Vampyre -- Christ, when did she become his? -- was sleeping. Somehow she’d managed to scoot across the bench seat closer to him, her head resting on his shoulder, her hair tickling his neck. He should’ve shoved the partition down and kept her away from him, but fuck, it felt good.

  Disgusted with himself, he couldn’t help but replay the events of hours ago. He’d fucked her so he could be the stronger one, to prove he could control her, that no one would overpower him. The only thing he’d proved was that the sex was insanely good and now his cock twitched for her again. He had been a total bastard to her -- after she saved both their asses -- because he had to be the one with strength.

  She was nothing like the bitch who had drained him. Had the doc wanted to, she could have drunk from the first human she got her fangs into and kicked his sorry ass from here to LA.

  Instead she’d clocked him with a hair dryer while he was still blissed out. The thought had a small smile tugging at his mouth even though his mood was still as dark as night. Mathias had been too close. A second later would have had a different ending for them both. Cain didn’t want to dwell on it. Instead he trusted Jakob would check the bank accounts of his recruits more often. Bribery was a bitch because it worked.

  He stole a glance at her -- her face curtained by her hair, her breathing soft and warm over his shoulder. He’d dump her onto Jakob and then get rid of feeling all this shit.

  He’d felt ridiculous an hour earlier as he’d forced handcuffs on her and made her climb out with him to pump gas, holding her hand in his so the cuffs wouldn’t be too visible. She’d rolled her eyes but didn’t fight much, not even when he’d cuffed her to the inside doorknob of the bathroom while he did his thing. At least for her it had been easy -- he’d stuck her inside and simply waited until she knocked. Finally the shock was gone from those dark eyes, the icy chill over her skin replaced by embarrassment and anger. If he hadn’t known better he would’ve thought she was a human.

  Vibration from his cell against his hip broke his train of thought. He jerked, nearly plowing the van into a guardrail. Keeping one hand on the wheel, he reached across himself to grab the phone -- and brushed a peaked, hard nipple. Christ.

  Keeping his mind off his hardening dick, he flipped the cell open. “Cain.”

  “Slade.” Deadshot’s voice had always been a low growl. “Got you a place in SB.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you’ll get to LA after dawn.”

  “And you’re what, the time police?”

  Slade didn’t even take the bait. “You’ve got a Vampyre in your car.”

  Shit, bastard was right. She’d dust in morning light. Cain kept an eye on what looked like a bus that had merged on after Paso. It had gained speed steadily -- would catch up with them in a few. He was already going ninety -- government plates and an armored vehicle were enough to keep a zealous speed cop in his seat. “Fine. Thanks.”

  He’d have to spend the day with her. She’d probably sleep, but hell, he didn’t want to be near her. As if he’d taken a few blue happy pills, his cock wouldn’t stand down. Cain willed the thought away and concentrated on the road. The bus was getting closer -- school bus from the looks of it.

  “Hey, you had a zone alarm pop up.” Deadshot was clicking something; Cain heard it over the phone. “Gone now, but I know your paranoid ass.”

  “Yeah, probably nothing. I’ll check on it.” He closed the phone and eased off the gas pedal, letting the bus get ahead on the right lane so he could get around it and pull over to check into the network.

  The move saved both their lives.

  Chapter Five

  A thud followed by a screech of tires jostled Val out of sleep and into hell. Still cuffed to Cain, she was tossed on her seat as the van shuddered and swerved, while rocks pelleted the passenger side window. Looking at the spidering cracks, it dawned on her that they were bullets.

  Cain threw his arm across her chest, pinning her to the seat as the van bucked and swerved. “Hold on,” he muttered through clenched teeth and between obscenities. “We’re fine, everything is fucking fine. Just hold on.”

  Another thud, this time on the front somewhere. She pushed her feet against the floor and grabbed a door handle. “Just pull over to the side!”

  “Can’t. Cliff.” Again through gritted teeth. “Van’s bulletproof. We’ll outrun ‘em.” She looked beyond him, but couldn’t see much in the darkness. With her free hand she reached into his belt for a gun. “Now’s not a good time to get rid of me.” His breathing harsh, his hands clenched and flexed on the wheel, he stared dead ahead, ignoring the bus where the bullets came from. She couldn’t see into its windows, couldn’t tell who was shooting or from where. She reached for Cain again. “I told you, Doc --”

  “And what, sit here and be shot at?”

  “So you’re gonna shoot back?” More thuds at the passenger door. A whistle as a bullet ricocheted.

  “I’ll shoot out their tires.” She felt dead calm even if her hands shook just a bit. His arm across her shoulders was a heavy comfort.

  “Through the closed bulletproof windows?”

  She felt the van increase in speed, heard a screech of metal, and was pushed hard into his side as the van hit the bus. “What are you doing?”

  “Hold on!” He shouted now over the crashing sounds as he twisted the wheel and again drove them into the bus. His arm
was still across her chest, pushing her back against the seat.

  Another screech, this time the bus moved closer, trying to push them over the railing and into hell. She felt Cain’s leg flex as he punched the gas, shooting the van into a forward motion, breaking out of a potential spin.

  Another crash, the screech of metal nearly causing her ears to start bleeding. The bus slowed a bit, moving closer for a strike designed to hit the passenger. A squeal of brakes and the bus shredded against their front, the back wheels spinning out. Then it rolled in front of them in heaving metal groans and rear mirrors showed its bulk scrape and spark the cement.

  Cain punched a button on the wheel and, despite her tensed muscles, pulled her closer until she was all but sitting on his lap. “Keep driving,” he muttered and lifted her up to slide himself from under her. Val clawed her hands into the wheel and realized the overdrive took care of the speed.

  She heard him rummage and pull out something. She was too scared of the speed to take the time to look. Forcing her breathing to stop burning, Val kept her shaking hands over the wheel. “They’re not moving.” A long and ugly shape was in Cain’s hand when she spared a nanosecond to glance at it. An urban assault rifle -- she’d seen one on TV. But then again, she’d killed a man and it was the third time someone had tried to dust her. The shaking in her fingers traveled higher. “We need to stop.”

  “Keep going.” With clean and practiced movement he did something to the rifle. Flipped the safety maybe?

  The shaking in her arms became worse. It spread into her chest, her lips, her toes. “We need to stop.” She muttered it through freezing lips, and without asking him she swerved onto an exit lane hitting the brakes, praying it would take off the overdrive. Applying steady pressure with cold and trembling toes, Val guided the van into Atascadero.

  “Damn it, I told you --”

  “We need to stop.” It was the only thing she could push through her freezing lips. Locking her knee so it wouldn’t slip off the gas she kept up the speed until they reached some sort of plaza. She swung in there and managed to ease off the pedal. With a shaking foot, she used the brake to come to a full stop. A breath. Another.

  She clawed over the door release with numb desperate fingers, until she stumbled outside onto her knees over the asphalt, breathing, crying and shaking. His hands rubbed the warmth back into her shoulders, easing the beast that rattled her bones with each icy breath.

  Heat seeped back slowly, relieving her clenching muscles, allowing the shaking to grow softer until it finally stopped. Still this human held her in those thickly muscled arms, rubbing her skin with warmth. His scent was too strong, so powerfully male, and the need hit her again, so hard she nearly staggered with it, as arousal spiked her blood.

  With a small whimper she found his mouth, pressed her lips against his in a move both desperate and greedy. Shocked, he stood still as she moved over him, needing his scent, his flavor, his body on her. She put her hands over his neck, her fingers sliding up to comb through his short, wiry hair. His arms tightened around her, she was crushed into him with enough force to have her breath punched out and he kissed her, devouring her mouth as if he couldn’t get enough.

  She ran her hands over his back, his arms, his shoulders, digging into his skin as tongues fused, mated. She needed him, now, over her, under her, inside her. He pulled his mouth away even as his arms were steel around her waist. “Baby.” His voice was sandpaper. “Baby, we need to go.”

  Val dragged in oxygen and felt shame flush her cheeks. Pathetic really. Simple excitement and she was ready to fuck him right here on the asphalt while whoever tried to kill them probably planned their next entrance. “You’re right, of course.” She tried for dignity, managed a whisper. “Let’s go.”

  * * *

  The next two hours were made of hell and blue balls.

  He’d wanted to drag her into the back of the car and bury himself in her, then turn her over and do it all again. He’d wanted to worship those breasts and taste her as she came. He’d wanted… Shit. Cain wanted not to have permanent zipper marks over his cock when he finally peeled these damned jeans off.

  In the passenger seat, pressed against the door, his Vampyre slept. How she could go from pumping with adrenaline and lust right into sleep, he didn’t know. His own blood still sang from unfulfilled arousal, the tension of the chase, the bullets pelleting the car like hail.

  Adjusting his cock again so the zipper wouldn’t leave permanent damage, Cain concentrated on known facts. He’d already briefed his team, had them monitoring the police network for info on the vehicle. He doubted he’d be so lucky as to get a plate number but one never knew.

  Back to his Vampyre. They hadn’t wanted her dead in the beginning -- it would be easier to simply blow the lab to pieces than to capture her. Mathias hadn’t shot her outright. This little car chase though had been swift and deadly. Obviously the stakes had changed. They could’ve shot the tires -- which would mean nothing since they were the newest tech, one piece and airless, virtually indestructible. Instead they’d aimed for the windows, and had nearly gotten lucky since the damned things were open.

  Good solid shots, swift ability to adapt. Most likely Nonnenberg, Randall, ex Green Beret, seduced by the idea of eternal life. Or someone equally well trained. Turning into the State Street exit, Cain flipped his cell open and dialed Jakob. “Chances of Nonnenberg being in that bus?”

  The Vampyre on the other end was silent for a moment. “Potentially. But again, timing. Even if they knew your heading, they would need to get to the location, outfit a vehicle and strike. I want to say they waited for you.”

  “The zone alarm would’ve gone batshit if someone had managed to break through to trace me.” The idea of someone hacking into his network had his gut roaring in fury. A glance at the GPS screen he’d left on silent so as not to wake his Vampyre, showed him getting closer to the address. “What’s this crib you got me?”

  Jake chuckled. “My crash pad for the day. Not quite the Hilton.”

  “It’ll do.” Now that adrenaline was fizzing he felt every one of his bones aching. He needed a bed, a shower, sleep. Maybe an ice pack on his crotch.

  He reached the address twenty minutes before sunrise. Before he could touch his Vampyre to wake her she was already upright, pulling on the handle of the door as if impatient to get away from him. Cain shrugged. She’d had one hellish night and was probably spooked by the close proximity of sunlight.

  The apartment had no external lock and appeared unopenable -- by conventional means at least. He used his cell to dial into the computerized alarm and used the codes Jakob had texted. He could have hacked them but that would have taken too long.

  His Vampyre was silent as she walked behind him, somehow drawn inside herself. He almost made a move to touch her but in her haste to back away she stumbled over something, nearly crashing onto the floor. That “I’m fine” was cool and calm and brittle.

  He was simply too wired to deal with it.

  Val’s jaw ached from the effort to keep the tears at bay. The need raged on inside her, her belly and her pussy clenching, her muscles tensed, her body heated. She’d thrown herself at him while they faced danger and he’d rejected her. Rightfully so, she thought, even as shame curled in her belly lacing with the arousal to the point of pain.

  Through gritted teeth she looked over the apartment. In this one darkened room, with shades drawn down against the pending sun, she thought she’d just go mad locked up this close to him.

  “You’ll be fine here.”

  A bed dominated the room -- king-size -- complete with a thin blanket and a pillow. The shades that blocked the dawn were thick and black. “Thank you.” It was an effort to even push that through her lips. She needed meds, relief, just something. The thought of touching her own flesh to ease the ache was fleeting and useless. It wouldn’t last, but there was a way.

  “I’m gonna grab a shower.” Cain’s tone was rough and tired.

&nbs
p; “Sure.” The visual of that hard muscled body under streaming water, the steam licking his skin was yet another hard twist in her belly. Her mouth ached from clenching her teeth so tightly.

  He frowned at her, those dark gold eyebrows flattening into a line over his brow. “You okay?”

  He needed to leave -- now. “Yes. Fine.” She could’ve sworn the look he gave her was tired confusion but at this point she didn’t give a damn. As soon as the door closed behind him Val found the tiny kitchen, tore off a couple of paper towels, and found ice in what could generously have been called a fridge. Rubbing the ice over her wrist to numb it, she stuck her arm over the sink.

  She let the tears flow, as she would let her blood flow -- as soon as she had guts for it. The drain would ease the ache inside and her body would focus on regenerating rather than flooding her with the need to mate.

  With a deep exhale, she pressed her fangs into her wrist and bit. Blood welled over the two small punctures, and she flexed her arm so the dark splash of it would fall into the sink. A tiny movement had her looking up. She met Cain’s gaze, dark, hot and furious.

  Chapter Six

  Blood stung his eyes as Nonnenberg clawed through shards and steaming metal. His bones were screaming, his skin cold. Each breath was like a rake of splintered ice. He couldn’t die when immortality was near. He couldn’t die because dying was weak and he’d been promised strength. He couldn’t die simply because he wouldn’t.

  They were long gone, the Vampyre bitch and the human who stood for her, leaving him here to death and cold and night. He clawed and crawled and made his way over the asphalt, blood dripping after him like breadcrumbs.

  He had to get away from here. The cops would come; humans with their blissful lives of ignorance and weakness. They didn’t know the ease with which their throats could crush, their necks could snap, or some of them could be lucky enough to have their souls dragged out and replaced with strength. So blissful in their ignorance. So… human.