Hunger Read online

  Then again she wasn’t out to rescue him or change him. She had learned the hard way that men could not be changed, that their natures were inherent and immutable. That was just fine to her mind. She rather liked him just the way he was—jerkiness and all.

  She impulsively covered the hand on her knee with one of her own, stroking him in return. To her never-ending surprise, he didn’t withdraw. He accepted her answering comfort, something she hadn’t thought he would be open to. But he didn’t seem to mind the mutual understanding that she was appreciating his softer side.

  After a few moments, he abruptly removed his hand from her knee and she immediately felt the loss. He began to search the pockets of the cargo pants he was wearing. He came up with a wallet moments later and held it up triumphantly.

  “Ha!”

  “What do you need that for?” she asked, not understanding why he was so pleased with the find.

  “A couple of reasons. One, we need gas. There’s cash and a credit card inside, see?” He showed her the contents of the wallet. “Two, I’ll be able to research this guy by name later on and maybe it’ll lead me to Roth. He’s not going to stick around that warehouse knowing I’ve escaped.”

  “You can’t pump gas! You’re covered in blood!”

  “That’s why you’re going to do it. That shirt’s black. No one can see the blood on it.”

  “It’s winter and I’m barefoot and bare-legged!”

  “Do you have a better idea?”

  “I need clothes. Shoes. We have to stop at a store.”

  He frowned. “We don’t have time for that. And it’ll be just as obvious and suspicious if you walk into a clothing store half naked in winter.”

  “We’ll stop at a thrift shop. Somewhere without cameras or security. That way if the clerk is suspicious we’ll be long gone before any help can be summoned. If only we had a smartphone we could search for a location nearby.”

  Halo went back to searching his pants and in a pocket down by his knee he came up with a cellphone. He waved it triumphantly in her face. “Ask and you shall receive.”

  She snatched it out of his hand and tried to open the phone, but there was a passcode on the opening screen.

  “It’s passcode protected,” she said with a dejected sigh.

  “Try 0000. Then 1111. Then 2222. You’d be surprised how many people do it.” He flipped open the wallet and removed the license. “Try his birthday too.”

  To her surprise he was right. The passcode ended up being his birthday. Month and day.

  “That,” she said with a light laugh, “is incredibly awesome.”

  “Nah. People are predictable. It’s the first tenet of a hunter’s job. To be able to predict a target by learning his habits. Once you understand your target then it’s easy to hunt them down. It’s rare I get a challenge these days.”

  “Roth is a challenge,” she noted.

  “Not really. He’s just made himself predictable. Since I’m so important to his plans, he’ll try again.”

  “But you know what his plans are now. You’ll be on your guard. And if you report his actions to others, they’ll come to protect you.”

  “I can protect myself. It’s better they focus on protecting the queen. From Draz.”

  “Who is Draz?”

  “A sycophant kingpin.”

  “So you’re going after this Draz?”

  “No. Not yet. I’m more interested in the immediate threat. I can’t cut off the head while the tail is trying to sting me. Wouldn’t be smart. Besides, Draz is in a whole different league of trouble. I would need specific instructions to go after him. No one’s given me those instructions yet. No one’s given me permission.”

  “That’s funny, you never struck me as the type to wait for permission.”

  He shot her a wolfish grin. “You’d be right about that. But this is a special circumstance. Draz is the brother of one of the highest-ranking officials in the queen’s entourage. I think his brother believes it’s his responsibility to do the hunting himself.”

  “Sounds to me like this brother is letting a vendetta get in the way of a serious hunt to eradicate the problem. If this Draz is such a problem, everyone should be hunting him.”

  “My feelings exactly,” he said looking at her with admiration. “Impressive. You didn’t strike me as the type to condone violence as a solution to a problem.”

  “That was before one of this Draz’s lieutenants tried to make a junkie out of me and feed me to you like a turkey dinner.”

  Halo chuckled. Then she watched him sober. “Are you all right? I mean…I got a little carried away. Normally I would never take so much. But the high…it was incredible and I completely lost control.” His frown deepened and darkened with the confession.

  “I’m fine,” she assured him. “I’m exhausted and need to rest, but adrenaline is a beautiful thing. It’s keeping me going.” She blew off the seriousness and the aftermath of how she was feeling with a simple shrug and a lively toss of her head. “Let’s get me dressed so I can get us some gas.” She glanced at the gauge. “We’re running pretty low.”

  She Googled a local thrift shop and they left the highway. They pulled into the parking lot and he drew up beside the store entrance, idling in the fire lane. He wanted to get out of there as fast as possible—and he didn’t want her walking barefoot over snowy, frozen ground for as much as he could help her avoid it. She hopped out of the truck and hurried into the store. She hugged her arm close to her side as she wound through tightly packed racks of clothes. She found a round rack of women’s clothes and searched quickly for a pair of pants. She found a pair of jeans close to her size and rapidly put them on, pulling them up over her bare backside beneath the shirt right there where she stood. The clothing racks obscured her, so she was relatively alone. Besides, there was only one other person in the store, the clerk at the counter. She then found a pair of sneakers in her size and put them on as well. She hurried up to the counter, the cash from the wallet in hand. The clerk looked at her curiously, bewildered that she was wearing her purchases already.

  She shot her a sunny grin.

  “My boyfriend thought it’d be funny to kidnap me in my pajamas this morning. He thought it’d be a romantic gesture. I told him next time do it in spring! And kidnap some of my clothes while he was at it!”

  “Men,” the clerk said with an eye roll. “They mean well, poor devils.”

  “Indeed they do. Thanks! Have a nice day!”

  She gathered her change up with her good arm, trying to use her less dexterous hand in a natural way while keeping the fingers of her injured arm in the front pocket of her jeans. She somewhat pulled it off and hurried out of the store as she stuffed the change into her pocket. Next thing she was leaping up into the truck and patting the dashboard.

  “Let’s go!”

  “Yes, ma’am. That clerk give you any trouble? Did she look at you weird? I can go use hypno on her.”

  “That would expose you and defeat the purpose of what we’re trying to do here. Let’s just get out of here as quickly as possible in case she does decide to report me. Although who you’d call to report a girl without clothes on is beyond me.”

  “Right. Off we go.”

  Halo had the phone in his hand and tossed it on the dashboard…as if he had just been using it. She couldn’t help herself. “Did you call someone?”

  “Just a fellow hunter,” he said, not offering further explanation.

  “Why don’t you call in the cavalry?”

  “I’ll handle it when we get to vampire central. There’s no need to rush. By the time they mobilize, Roth is going to be long gone. I’d rather explain the situation in person.”

  “So they can see for themselves that you aren’t a bad guy? A sycophant?”

  “I’ll do better convincing them face-to-face.”

  She nodded and fell silent.

  They hurried down the road, traveling for a good while before pulling over for gas. Felice had
n’t realized how cold she was until she had some clothes to keep her warm, not to mention the fact that the window was broken on her side of the car. She had moved as close to Halo as possible in order to absorb his heat and he had cranked up the heat, but it was much better with clothes on. However, pumping gas in the frigid cold with no jacket eradicated any progress she’d made in her attempts to warm up. Shivering also exacerbated the incredible pain of the bullet lodged in her shoulder. She had never known such pain before. It was shocking and exhausting.

  In a surprising show of thoughtfulness, the heat was blasting even higher by the time she got back in the truck. She shivered and shuddered her way through the next fifteen minutes, her arm killing her with every moment her body was tensed. But they entered the city about twenty minutes later, and she was relieved to see the bridge leading from upstate to the city. They used the last of their cash to pay the toll.

  It was another fifteen minutes of congested Midtown traffic before they were pulling into the underground garage of a huge building. They parked in a spot close to the elevators and she got the feeling the space was specifically meant for him. They went toward the elevator, the cold of the garage seeping into her bones. Halo must be freezing, she thought. All he was wearing was a pair of pants. He called the elevator and she worried about people seeing them. He was covered in drying blood. In fact, his neck was still oozing a little, although it had healed up pretty swiftly from what it had been.

  They got into the elevator and she immediately saw a problem. It was keycard activated except for the lobby. That meant you needed a keycard or to be accompanied by someone with a card in order to access any of the upper levels of the building.

  Clearly Halo did not have a keycard. Which meant they would be spit out into what was no doubt a very busy lobby, especially given that it was nearly three P.M. People were bound to be leaving from work soon.

  Halo didn’t seem concerned. They took the elevator to the lobby and when the doors opened he boldly crossed the lobby to the admittance desk full of security guards. Felice’s heart was pounding with anxiety. What would their reaction be? Were they safe here? Where were they exactly?

  One of the security guards looked up and saw Halo approaching. Recognition and shock registered in rapid succession.

  “Halo!” the guard exclaimed. “What the hell happened to you?”

  “No time to explain. I need a keycard so I can get to the infirmary.”

  “Of course. Where’s yours?”

  “What part of ‘no time to explain’ don’t you understand?” Halo asked dangerously.

  “Sure. S-sorry,” the guard said, fumbling at the desk and handing Halo a card. “Take care,” he offered as he handed it over. Halo rolled his eyes and turned away from the desk. He marched back over to the elevators, Felice trying to keep up with his ground-eating strides. But she was so weak, so tired. It was like walking through water. Or Jell-O. Something very resistant to her movement. Halo saw her lagging behind and immediately checked his gait. He turned back to her, put his arm around her, and guided her gently to the elevator.

  “Just a little farther,” he encouraged her. “Then you can rest knowing you’re safe and cared for.”

  “Will I be? Will I be safe?”

  “As long as you are in this building nothing can touch you. See this card?” He waved it in front of a reader inside the elevator. “Without it you can’t get out of the lobby.”

  “What about the stairs?” she asked as the doors closed and he selected a button that read sky lobby.

  “You need a keycard to access them from the garage or the lobby. You also need a keycard to enter any floor except the lobby from the stairs. So if there’s an emergency you have to go straight down to the lobby.”

  “What about this ‘sky lobby’?” she asked, tapping the button he had chosen.

  “It’s just another floor in the building. Mainly it’s used for switching elevators in order to reach the upper levels of the building.”

  “So what is this place?”

  “Call it…vampire central. This is where most vampires live and work in the state of New York. The only other place they might congregate is the city of Buffalo. But Manhattan is far more interesting and diverse. More exciting,” he drawled, not sounding all that excited.

  He did, however, reach out to stroke the hair near her neck. He moved closer to her, his warm breath cascading over her face and lips. He reached under the hem of her shirt, his fingers trailing up over the curve of her hip in a way she shouldn’t be able to feel, yet felt with burning clarity all the same.

  Arousal washed through her body and she tried to tamp it down with frustration and mortification. This was the last thing she should be feeling! She was bleeding in the middle of a building full of vampires! Full of creatures who would take great offense to her knowing anything about them. Full of creatures who could gobble her up with ease.

  And yet all she could think about was being gobbled up by Halo. She wanted so badly to have him feed on her with the luxury of time and security so she could truly enjoy the experience as it was meant to be enjoyed. She wanted to remember it too. She wanted to sink it deep into her soul where on some level she would never forget it.

  Her body tensed as he pulled her closer by that single belt loop. It made her shoulder ache painfully and it allowed her to brace herself against the magnetism of his pull on her.

  “Stop,” she pleaded with him. “Not here. Not now.”

  “Yes here. Yes now,” he countered with a growl of intensity. His finger slid out of the belt loop so he could smooth his hand over her hip and then the curve of her derriere. He then used the grip he had on her buttock to pull her fully flush with his body with a commanding jerk. She squeaked when the action jarred her sore shoulder, but also because of the way he made her feel. Heat bled down through her entire body as his virile vitality cascaded over her like a waterfall of intensity. He burrowed his face against her neck, nuzzling beneath her ear. She could only cling to his shoulder as her knees went weak. He then drew back until his lips were coasting over hers. She felt muscle flexing beneath her fingertips and his strength overwhelmed her. By the time his mouth finally began to ravage hers, she was already swimming in erotic pleasure. What was it about him that made her feel this way? And would she ever be able to leave it behind?

  She let him kiss her as wildly as he wanted. Now that she had given in to him she went all in. She kissed him back with equal fervor, her tongue raiding his mouth as often as his raided hers. It all seemed so surreal, and yet she allowed herself to be swept up by it.

  Just when she thought she was lost, the doors to the elevator opened. She went to jerk back away from him, but he refused to let her go for several heartbeats. Then finally he released her and allowed her to step out of the elevator.

  He was quickly behind her, herding her toward a second bank of elevators. As they waited for the car to come, he stood behind her whistling almost innocently. Only there was nothing about him that could be deemed innocent. People entered the lobby from the other elevators and began to stand around with them as they waited. They were stealing surreptitious glances at Halo and his blood-covered form, but no one said anything, as if this sort of thing was as normal as sunshine.

  “Are all of these people vampires?” she asked in a hushed tone. “Do they…can they tell I’m human?”

  “They can and they have excellent hearing,” Halo said dryly.

  “Oh,” she said, flushing.

  “Don’t worry about it. They know if you’re here it’s for a very good reason. To be otherwise would mean…”

  “Would mean what?”

  “Not to worry,” he soothed her, reaching to stroke the hair by her ear. “There are exceptions to every rule. I am determined that you will be one of them. At least for now.”

  “You mean until you wipe my memory.”

  “Let’s not think about it now. Let’s focus on pleasanter things.” He bent forward and nuzzled her
ear.

  “Stop it! This is serious!”

  “So am I,” he said with a chuckle.

  Just then the elevator came and they boarded it, along with several of the vampires. Being surrounded by them after having spent the better part of the past few days under threat from them made her extremely nervous and jittery. It didn’t help that Halo kept touching her, kept stirring her. Felice felt raw and exposed. As if everyone knew what she was thinking and everyone knew her future except for her. But she did know it. And her future probably wouldn’t include information about vampires or Halo.

  They weren’t on the elevator car for very long. They only went up a few floors. They disembarked and Halo guided her through a pair of double doors that led into what could only be deemed a hospital. Or a very advanced clinic. It was clean and pristine, as if no one had used it before then. She imagined there wasn’t very much in the way of sick vampires.

  “What do vampires need a clinic for?” she asked. “You’re practically invulnerable.”

  “ ‘Practically’ being the key word in that sentence. As you’ve seen we can be injured very severely. We need care to help us heal faster, just like humans do.”

  Halo led her directly to one of the curtained-off beds. There was no waiting in a waiting room. Apparently being injured didn’t happen often enough to require one.

  A woman in hospital scrubs entered the patient bay almost immediately. She took one look at them and shook her head with a sigh.

  “When are you going to learn you can’t risk your life every time you turn around?” she said to Halo. “One of these days someone’s going to hit you just right and you’ll be gone like that.” She snapped her fingers.

  Clearly Halo had racked up some frequent flyer miles in the clinic. Then the nurse or doctor or whatever she was turned to look at Felice.

  “We don’t get too many of her kind in here.” She inspected the hole in Felice’s shirt. “You’ll have to take this off,” she said, indicating the shirt.