Читать книгу Temptation Calls - Caridad Pineiro - Страница 8

Samantha was in bed when the call came from her longtime vampire friend, Diego. His youngest charge was missing.

Samantha was weak. Weaker than she should be after multiple feedings, but she couldn’t refuse her friend’s plea for help. Even if it meant going to the downtown vampire club she detested.

The Blood Bank was an odd kind of place, hidden in a dark alleyway and unknown to humans—except those who had a desire to experiment with dark elements. Those people managed, by word of mouth, to spread the news about the club’s existence. As for the demons, they, too, let others know—this was where the normal rules of the human world didn’t apply.

The Blood Bank provided demons with a place to let loose and to feed from the fine stock of blood acquired from a select group of blood banks and butchers. Even, occasionally, from a willing human participant, although the club had strict rules about siring humans on the premises.

The humans, on the other hand, went to the club for many reasons. The naive ones believed the fake vampires put on a good show. Others wanted to believe the vampires were more than actors and got a kick out of possibly mingling with the undead. And finally, there were those true believers who were always ready to search out a chance to embrace the darkness.

A darkness in which she had lived for too long, when what she desired most, like Diego’s poor lost little vampire, was the light. Only all that was light and good was far beyond her reach, Samantha thought, and then for some reason, the good-looking blond detective came to mind. He was as forbidden to her as the light: first for being a human; second for being a man.

As Samantha, Diego and his lover, Esperanza, strolled into the club, the crowd parted before them, as if sensing their inhuman power. All of the booths and tables near the back of the club were filled, but that didn’t deter Diego.

He examined all the spaces and then walked to a booth populated by a group of Goth-looking kids barely out of their teens. He met the gaze of each of them and in a soft voice, which did nothing to diminish the menace behind his words, said, “You were just leaving, weren’t you?”

Two of the three abruptly rose, but one young man lingered, despite the exhortations of his companions that it was time to go. He stared at Diego insolently, the sneer on his face accented by piercings on his upper and lower lips. As he smiled, the sharp points of fangs became visible.

A wannabe, she thought, failing to sense that otherworldly energy that set apart her kind from the many humans within the club.

“Actually, I’d planned to stay a little longer,” the young man said.

Samantha laid a hand on Diego’s arm when he moved toward the Goth. “Please. He’s just young and foolish—”

Diego cut her off abruptly, his normally light blue eyes beginning to glow with the unnatural light of his transformation. “Then he will learn a painful lesson.”

In a blur of movement, Diego sat beside the young man, holding his hand in a viselike grip. Fear appeared in the young man’s eyes as he stared at Diego’s face. Although Diego had yet to morph to his full vamp state, he showed a tiny bit of fang in a display of power.

It worked.

“Please, man. I’m going. I’m gone.”

When Diego released him, the young man scurried away to meet his friends, who had melted into the packed club.

Diego smiled and assumed his human face then motioned for her and Esperanza to join him in the booth.

With a huff, Esperanza said, “I hate this place, Diego.”

Diego stroked her long auburn hair tenderly. “I know, querida. But this is where Meghan is most likely to show up.”

His missing charge, Meghan, being the reason all of them were sitting in a place they generally despised. For vamps like Samantha, Diego and Esperanza, the Blood Bank was a last resort when they needed a real feeding, one not from bags or beef blood. Here, they could occasionally find a human willing to provide them with a quick sip.

Nearly a century earlier, in a club much like this in San Francisco, Samantha had first met Diego and Esperanza. She’d been looking for a vampire she’d suspected of abusing one of the girls in the shelter where she was working as a cook. She’d wanted to make sure he wouldn’t trouble the young woman again, but the vampire had been killed earlier that night in a fight with Diego.

She’d been fearful of Diego’s strength until she’d realized that, like her, he believed in using his power to make things right.

Which was the reason they were all here tonight, Samantha reminded herself as she tried to find the young vampire in the crowd.

Meghan was only twenty-one years old. Forever twenty-one. When they’d first met her two years ago, Meghan had only been a vampire for a few months, which meant she couldn’t tolerate the effects of daylight and missed feedings.

In the vampire world, only the strong survived and strength came with age. If weak vampires survived the usual challenges like sunlight and garlic, they had to keep out of the way of stronger vamps who could, if they wanted, put a quick end to their lives for the slightest of infractions. Crosses and stakes were low on the list of dangers because people just weren’t scared anymore thanks to the proliferation of the undead in the media.

But Meghan, the missing vampire, was pathetically weak. So much so that Diego had taken pity on her when she’d attempted to kill her sire, thinking that would free her vampiric curse. Diego had given her a place to live and offered his human servant as company when Meghan wanted to stay awake during the day like a human. Like Samantha, staying indoors to avoid the strong noon light and slipping outside for a chance at normalcy when the sun was weak.

Meghan had run out on Diego’s servant a few days earlier, and she’d been missing since. This club was the one place Meghan was likely to return to, either to feed or go after her sire once more.

Samantha carefully scoped out the crowd, but there were a number of coeds who matched Meghan’s description—long blond hair, slender, petite and young.

A waitress came by, dressed in a getup that Marilyn Manson would envy—a tight black merry widow and black lace stockings. “May I get you something?”

“A round of blood. Nothing but human,” Diego said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

The waitress rushed to comply, returning to the bar that was kept stocked by payments to health inspectors who turned a blind eye to the unusual libations the club offered.

Samantha glanced back at her two friends as they waited for the server to return.

Diego was as stunning as always, in a charcoal-gray silk Helmut Lang suit and black silk shirt that exposed the pale white skin of his chest. His nutmeg-brown hair was down to his shoulders and straight. His eyes were a marvelous blue—clear and bright like an ice-fed mountain stream. He turned heads, but not just because of his looks. There was something almost regal in his carriage. Probably because before he’d been turned, Diego had been a Spanish lord. A betrayal during the Spanish Inquisition had resulted in his imprisonment and torture. It was deep in the belly of a Spanish prison that he’d been “converted”—although not in the way the priests would have imagined.

As beautiful as Diego was, Esperanza was as plain, but with a good, if sometimes selfish, heart. The one thing Esperanza hated was sharing Diego’s attention with the women he’d saved over the years.

Women like the missing Meghan. Women like Samantha.

Strays and lost souls who often frequented places such as the one they were now visiting.

But unlike other clubs with an obvious theme, the Blood Bank had none. Only walls, ceilings and a bar painted black. The booths, chairs and tables—where they weren’t scarred and exposing whatever material was beneath—were, of course, black.

It matched the hair and clothes of most of the people in the place. Or at least, most of the wannabes. Meghan’s blond looks would have stood out, except that occasionally, like tonight, the bar got its share of first-timers who were there to check out the wild stories they’d heard. Unfortunately, most of those club virgins had a tendency to look like Meghan.

“So, do you think she’ll show up tonight?”

“Who knows?” Esperanza replied with an impatient shrug.

The waitress delivered their drinks and hot on her heels was none other than Blake, Meghan’s sire, looking as surly and punk as ever. As the waitress departed, Blake planted his fists on their table. “Wannabes.”

Wannabe humans he should have said, since all of them knew what the young vampire thought of them. Samantha didn’t know anything about Blake’s background, but if he’d suffered even a small bit of the violence that she and her friends had endured during their human lives, he would better understand why they chose not to harm others now that they were virtually immortal.

“That outfit looks like something out of the seventies,” Esperanza taunted, motioning with her head to Blake’s chain-studded black jeans and jacket.

“Well, I think I look right fine.” His words had a hint of a cockney twang to them, an affectation he’d adopted when someone told him he looked a bit like Billy Idol. Samantha almost laughed out loud as he followed his words with an obviously practiced sneer.

Instead, she said, “Meghan is missing again, Blake. Have you seen her?”

“Been there, done that.” He studied her face. “Are you okay, because you look a bit wan.” Then he quickly added, with a wiggle of a pierced brow, “Could help you out, love, if you know what I mean.”

Impatiently Diego said, “Just tell us about Meghan.”

“Little chit was here last night on one of her rampages.” There was a bit of swagger in his stance as he continued, “Think we finally settled things between us. She didn’t seem to mind putting the bite on me in the alley.”

Vampire-to-vampire feeding being the ultimate of pleasures, Samantha thought. Esperanza had the palest touch of embarrassed color on her face while Diego’s showed nothing but annoyance at Blake’s locker room talk. Much like humans, polite vampires didn’t discuss intimate details. Feeding on another vampire was as intimate as having sex—dangerous, mind-blowing, near-death sex.

“That was a risky thing, amigo. With Meghan in one of her states, she could have easily ripped your throat out,” Diego said.

Blake leaned forward until he was almost in Diego’s face. “Jealous, old man?”

In a flash, Diego wrapped his hand tight around Blake’s throat and squeezed hard. Blake fought to free himself, but Diego’s grip was too strong. When he finally released the punk vamp, he said, “Respect your elders, Blake. As for Meghan, she is under my protection. And so I ask, do you know where she went?”

Blake took a step back from the table, rubbing his throat. “I think she wanted a snack after our little get-together. She left with some old dude late last night and didn’t come back.”

“Thank you,” Diego said and dismissed the young vamp with a nod.

Blake hurried off, melding into the crowd on the dance floor as best he could with his shock of pale hair.

“You don’t think she drained the human?” Samantha asked.

“I saw nothing in the news about it.” Diego gave her a long look. “Blake was right when he said you look a little…fragile.”

She shrugged off his concern. “Three children died last night.”

“I heard.” There was understanding in his voice as he added, “And you feel responsible?”

“Wouldn’t you?” After being turned, Diego had seen the change as a way to atone for his earlier selfishness. As his strength had grown, he’d taken in those who were weaker, protecting them when necessary.

“You were hurt, mi amiga.” He covered her hand as it rested on the tabletop, but he didn’t give her a chance to answer. “Sí, you’re very weak. Your skin is chilled. You should have said something.”

Samantha pulled her hand away and hid it beneath the table.

Diego shot her a hard look then tossed down the shot of blood, grimacing afterward.

When Esperanza went to pick up her drink, he stayed her hand. “It’s stale. Let’s find ourselves a snack and after…” He paused and glanced at Samantha, “You can restore yourself from one of us.”

“Diego—”

“Querida, do not argue. You are more frail than I have ever seen you. I imagine you slept the whole day. I know how much you must hate that.”

She couldn’t argue. Lassitude had chased her for the better part of the day, preventing her from assisting the women at the shelter. Instead of a vamp schedule of daytime slumber and nighttime activities, she’d always tried to mimic a more human life. It was necessary if she wanted to run the shelter and help others avoid the violence that had doomed her to her vampire state.

Without answering, she watched Diego and Esperanza go in search of sustenance.

Samantha perused the inhabitants of the club, hoping to spot Meghan, but if the confused young vampire was here, she wasn’t making herself known.

But the others in the building…That was a different story. Samantha could smell them. Their sweat, filled with lust and longing. She felt the warmth of the human bodies pressing close. Their life forces spilled through the place, and mixed within them was the more powerful energy coming from those who coveted that life force.

As weak as she was, Samantha could still feel the auras of the other vampires. Blake. Diego and Esperanza. At least two others working their way through the crowd. She transformed slowly so she could better perceive the other vampires, and as she did so, the crowd parted and Diego approached.

The blood-fueled energy coming off him rolled over her like a tsunami. He’d had his snack and his veins rippled with life. When he stood and held out his hand, his force was almost a physical presence, urging her to rise no matter how much she detested needing what he would give her.

She placed her hand in his. His skin was warm. Pink tinged his normally pale cheeks.

“Are you ready, mi amiga?”

She wasn’t sure she was. It had been quite a long time since she’d fed off a human, but she remembered the power in that kiss. The energy and passion fused to create a state that approached Nirvana. The thrill in subduing someone weaker and taking what they might not want to give. It was that last violent aspect that made her shun feeding on humans, even those who appeared to be willing. Once the first pain occurred, they were never willing.

As for feeding on another vampire…It would be a first for her. She’d never been weak enough to require that kind of sustenance. She hoped it would be the last time. Unlike other vampires who took great pleasure in such activities, Samantha had no interest in continuing with the practice.

Sensing her hesitation, Diego applied gentle pressure to her hand. “Let’s go somewhere more private.”

At his urging, they walked to the back of the club to a series of small rooms. Billed as private dining rooms, Samantha could only imagine what was happening within. Vampires feeding on vampires and humans alike. Humans sharing a tryst as they gave in to their darker side.

An unfamiliar vampire appeared before them, blocking their way. He held out his hand and Diego slipped him some money.

The vampire pulled aside a curtain and led them down a dark hallway. He unlocked one room and disappeared.

Diego held open the door for her. “Are you ready?”