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*****
All of a sudden, I was in a dark, dank room strung up by a leather strap with my body hanging from a rafter. I was in a haze, like I was coming out of anesthesia. My arms hurt terribly from holding my weight. I looked around trying to figure out where I was but couldn’t quite make sense of it. It came in flashes, but someone was with me. Squinting my eyes, I tried to make out the shape in front of me. Female. It was definitely a woman standing in front of me. Touching me. She leaned in to kiss me on the lips. As she pulled back, everything became clear. Maria. It was Maria with me in this horrible place. She gave me an evil smile with her fangs extended right before she slid down my body and pierced my skin.
I woke up screaming, drenched in sweat. Vance was sitting on the edge of my bed holding me in his arms, trying to calm me. “What happened?” he asked.
I took a deep breath, trying not to hyperventilate. “Maria...she attacked me.”
“Shh, baby, it was just a nightmare,” he cooed.
“No, Vance, this felt bigger than that,” I insisted. “I don’t know how to explain it, but I have this horrible sense of foreboding where Maria is concerned.”
He pulled me into him and started petting my hair. “Honey, don’t worry about her. I won’t let her hurt you. I promise.”
“You can’t protect me twenty-four seven, Vance.” I thought of Roxy almost killing me. “Look what happened last time you tried. One of your men got killed, and I came damn close.”
He tightened his grip. “Karli, listen to me. I will find out why she’s here and I will send her packing.”
“You can’t just make her leave town,” I argued.
“No, but I can make her meet the sun if I have to.”
I reached over him and turned on my lamp. He had an awfully determined look in his eyes. “Vance, listen to what you’re saying.” I sat back on folded knees. “You’re talking about murdering someone in cold blood.”
“No, I’m not, Karli. I’m simply saying that I will do whatever it takes to protect you.”
“She hasn’t even done anything to me! I know what I said earlier, about sensing the big bad from her, but that’s all it was. A hunch.” I narrowed my eyes. “You seem quite eager to pull the trigger. Are you sure this isn’t personal?”
He scoffed. “Of course it’s personal. If she tries to fuck with you, I will make her regret it. She’s already stolen the most important thing in my life. I’m certainly not going to let it happen again.”
“My God, what the hell happened between you two?” I asked in astonishment.
He lay down next to me and tucked me into the crook of his arm. “Don’t worry about it, Karli.” He turned off the light. “Get some sleep. I’ll be right here if you have any more bad dreams.”
Seven
Okay, I’ll admit it. Waking up in Vance’s arms was not an unpleasant way to start the day. Not just for the physically gratifying part of it. Which, just to be clear, was very nice. But more so because this felt right, so completely natural.
I stretched before looking over to find that he was already awake, smiling down on me. I sat up to join him.
“Good morning,” he said.
I yawned. “Morning.”
“Any more dreams?” he asked.
I thought about it for a moment before shaking my head. “No. Not that I can remember anyway.”
He kissed me on the forehead as he was getting out of bed. “I’m going to take a quick shower.”
While Vance was in the bathroom, I got dressed and went into the kitchen to brew some coffee. A little while later, he joined me at the small, round dining table adjoining my living room.
He took a sip from the mug I had waiting for him. “So I talked to Leo last night before I went to sleep for the first time.”
I gulped my java down. “Yeah? Why?”
“I told him about Maria being in town and that I needed his help finding her,” he replied.
“How is he going to do that?”
