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"Then I would ask who else is."
"And if I said that it was a person more powerful than you and me put together? That if you valued your life you would leave the hotel and not come back?"
It wasn't a warning, and it wasn't threat. It was merely a statement of fact. Yet fear echoed in the recesses of her eyes. Whoever this man was, she hated him, even if she worked with him. “Then I would ask why do you not take your own advice."
She touched his knee, the warmth of her fingers pressing heat clear through to his bones. He frowned slightly. Nikki's touch had contained the same sort of fire when the flame imps had taken possession of her. “I have never run from anything in my life, Michael, but you have. I think you should continue to do so."
Her words reminded him of Nikki. She, too, refused to run in the face of most dangers. In some ways, she and Elizabeth had the same sort of strength, the same sort of courage. “I have work to do here, Elizabeth. I'm not leaving."
She took her hand away and sighed. “Then I may be forced to stop you."
"You can try."
She met his gaze. After several seconds, she nodded. The lines had been drawn. If he stepped over her mark, she would kill him. Or try to.
She smiled slightly and motioned to the dance floor behind them. “One more waltz, for old times sake?" It was her way of saying good-bye, of closing the door on everything they had once shared. Her way of saying the next time they met, there would be no history between them, only the present. He held out his hand. “In memory of the laughter and the good times we once shared,” he said and led her to the dance floor.
Chapter Fourteen
Nikki leaned against the patio railing and stared moodily at the distant mountains. Half an hour had passed since she'd left Michael, half an hour that had stretched like eternity. She so desperately wanted to go down there, to meet the woman he'd loved enough to give up life for. Yet she couldn't. If she was to have any hope of holding his affections, holding him, she had to trust him. Even if it meant she risked losing him.
He loved her . He might not want her in his life, but he loved her. Of that much she was certain. And she was certain, too, that under normal circumstances, he was not the type of man who gave his heart then roamed once he had.
But did normal rules apply when the woman in question was the vampire who had turned him? How much of a hold did this Elizabeth still have on his mind, his affections?
She bit her lip, then pushed away from the railing and went back inside the room. She couldn't stay here any longer. The same questions had been going around and around in her brain and were driving her crazy. She needed to do something, anything, to get her mind off what might be happening in the bar below.
Looking for Matthew was out. There was no way on this Earth she was going down into those tunnels alone—not at night, anyway. And if Rodeman was a captive down there as well, then he too would just have to wait.
She headed to her bag and dug out the bra belonging to MacEwan's niece. She'd had no real sense of direction from the few readings she'd taken, but maybe, if she concentrated enough, she might be able to get some hint of Rachel's location. And if it was down in those tunnels with the other two, then she might just raid the minibar and get plastered. Better that than sitting here letting her imagination go crazy. She sat down on the plush leather sofa and opened the plastic bag. Holding the silken wisp of material in her hand, she closed her eyes and reached deep.
Images came, muted flashes of color and sound. She frowned, trying to focus on the where rather than the what . The images had a slight sense of distance—Rachel wasn't in the hotel, or the tunnels, but she was still somewhere nearby. Music swam around her, country music, alive with the sound of thumping feet. Boot scooting , she thought. Laughter mingled with the twang of guitars, accompanied by the melody of many voices. She reached deeper ... and suddenly she was with Rachel, becoming one with her thoughts and her actions...
The room was crowded, and the air a putrid mix of sweat and beer and lust. The scents rolled over her, churning her already agitated stomach. The heat was intense, washing in waves across her skin, as intoxicating as the echoing sound of a hundred hearts, all beating a rhythm only she could hear. Her canines lengthened in anticipation. She kept to the shadows lining the edges of the room, looking for someone solitary, someone who wouldn't be missed.
He had taught her that much, at least.
Fear trembled across her skin. He wouldn't be happy that she was here. She rubbed her arms. She needed to eat so badly it was an ache burning through her stomach. She couldn't survive on his meagre rations any longer. She needed more.
In the deeper shadows near the band she saw a man watching the crowd and drinking a beer. There was loneliness in his thoughts and his eyes. His heartbeat was rich and strong, a siren's song that made her mouth water. Perfect.
She walked up to him. His pulse rate increased, and excitement lit his thoughts. She led him onto the dance floor, ignoring the ache, the need. Waiting heightened the thrill, the anticipation of the kill. They danced. She tasted the sweat glistening on his neck, felt the rapid beat of his pulse under her tongue. Could feel his excitement pressing against her stomach as he pulled them together. Time, she thought, time.
She let him lead her outside. He took her to a truck and touched her, kissed her, loved her. Excitement thrummed. She waited, holding back, until he was deep inside, the waves of release shuddering through him. Then she took him, tasting his blood, draining his life, and relishing his shock and the realization of death, letting it wash over her until her own body shuddered in glorious release, and he was nothing more than a lifeless corpse beneath her.
But the hunger still stirred, as yet unsated. It had been too long. She adjusted her dress and walked back to the bar. Where there was one, there would be more...
...Nikki dropped the bra and scrambled to her feet, running for the bathroom. The next few minutes she spent hanging over the toilet, throwing up what little dinner she'd managed to eat. When there was no more to lose, she slid down the wall, leaning her head back and closing her eyes. God, what was that? How was it possible that she could suddenly immerse herself so completely in another's mind that she felt every damn sick craving and desire as if it were hers? Her stomach churned, threatening to rise again. She wished she had something to wash the bitter taste from her mouth, yet still felt too weak to get up and get some water.
"Nikki?"
Michael's voice rose out of the silence, soft yet filled with concern. Wishful thinking , she thought. Surely he was still in the bar, with her.
"Nikki?” he repeated, voice and concern sharper.
Suddenly he was beside her, his fingers pressing warmth into her cheeks as he held her face. “What's wrong?"
She opened her eyes. He knelt next to her, eyes rich with worry. She touched his lips with her fingertips, trailing them down his chin and neck and pressing them against his chest. His heart beat a rhythm that could only be described as erratic for a vampire. He was definitely real, not some ghost her fevered imagination had brought into being.
