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Sam met him head on, hands out to defend himself from the onslaught of deadly fangs that could maim him in seconds. He jerked his head aside and locked his hands as hard as he could around the neck of the vampire.
Meanwhile, he kept an eye on the second vampire, who circled him warily like a beast ready to pounce, just looking for a chink in Sam’s armour.
The vampire attacking him grabbed Sam’s throat in turn. He lunged at him over and over again, seeking to tear his way through flesh. Sam stumbled back. He fell against a table that overturned, smashing glasses and making a woman scream.
The vampire bore him down into the wreckage. A knee on Sam’s chest, he tightened his hands mercilessly, saliva dripping from his huge canines. Sam squirmed from side to side, attempting to roll from beneath him. Although he didn’t breathe, the choking nonetheless affected him. It made him see stars and his power began to drain shockingly fast. Then he became aware of the second vampire sitting on his legs, holding him flat to the floor with iron strength and sudden terror lit him from the inside out.
He was going to die here.
Suddenly the atmosphere in the dark room was electric as vampires and humans alike realised what was happening. Shouts and cries went up and people crowded around the three fighters, some cheering, others shouting abuse. Some of the terms weren’t popular and men began shouting at others and pushing. All-out war broke out, one-on-one skirmishes turning into mass brawls. A few women gathered their clothes and slunk out while men did what they did best: fought. Vampire against human and even vampire against vampire and human against human.
The noise was overwhelming and the stench of blood cloying as throats were torn open and humans dropped to the floor. Sam could only lie there with weakening struggles and contemplate the fever that had swept the room and revealed the true nature of both factions inside. Under the veneer of mutual desire and lust, the humans and vampires really were as different as could be, and both hated each other. That was a fact Sam couldn’t escape.
He heard a yell then and he saw a blur of dark clothes as someone darted from behind him holding a piece of the broken table—one of its legs. Sam recognised Janos and he could only wonder at what the human was doing—whether he was coming to finish them all off—vampire hunter extraordinaire—before he lunged at the vampire squeezing Sam’s throat, thrusting the makeshift weapon into his chest.
The vampire let out an unearthly wail. He fell back and Janos went with him, burying the stake to the hilt, ramming it home with a fervour bordering on manic. The vampire shook and writhed and before Sam’s disbelieving eyes, he disintegrated into dust. The stake fell to the floor and the dust hovered in the air for a moment before it fell into a neat pile, showering Sam’s legs.
The second vampire scrambled back, eyes red and jaws snapping. He hissed at Janos as the human snatched up the stake and went at him.
Sam crawled to a sitting position. He leaned against a chair massaging his throat and coughing. Around him the fighting had paused briefly when the combatants had seen a vampire staked to death. Then there was whoops and growls and screams and every human was breaking up furniture to use as weapons. A human fell by him as a vampire twisted his neck. Another fell as a vampire tore his throat out and howled in triumph, like a wolf at the moon.
Sam turned away, afraid and sickened, and saw Janos stake the second vampire. The human stood there breathing heavily, looking at the dust, then he took up the stake for the third time and turned to stand over Sam.
Sam’s blood ran cold. Never had he been afraid of a human before, but now he saw the power they wielded over vampires, when previously he had thought them a subservient species, their one role being to satisfy vampires’ appetites. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Humans were the ones in charge and always would be. It was just that some of them got their thrills flirting with danger by mixing with vampires. Like owning a savage beast and taunting it to see if it would bite.
He met Janos’ dark eyes and waited for the human to mete out justice. Because it was only fair. It was how every vampire came to an end—always had, always would—at the mercy of humans, the true rulers of the world.
But Janos’s eyes were soft to Sam’s surprise. He still held the stake in his left hand but with the right, he reached out to Sam. Sam crawled to his knees and let Janos hoist him up with surprising strength. He felt weak and unsteady and he looked around anxiously, lest some of the enthusiastic humans come his way with a stake.
Janos threw a cloak around his shoulders, pulling up the hood. Then he dragged Sam away by the hand. “Come on.”
They battled their way through the throng of bodies, slipping and sliding on blood and piles of dust. Janos pushed the door open and saw that the mayhem had infected the outer, red-lit room too like a wave of destruction. It was hard going to negotiate the brawling but Janos brandished his stake at those who got in his way and soon they were on the stairs, fleeing to the street along with countless other humans and vampires.
Sam stumbled outside and let the freezing night air overwhelm him. He gasped and panted, doubled over, his strength exhausted. He saw double as his vision wavered before he felt Janos’s strong hands claiming him. The human scooped Sam up into his arms and carried him to a waiting car. Sam’s head fell back as darkness enveloped him.
Chapter Eight
Sam came slowly back to awareness to find himself lying in a soft bed. He turned his head, glancing around the empty room and finding it familiar. He sat up quickly and his head started spinning. Dizzy and nauseous, he lay down again, bemused at the wholly human feeling. He was bare-chested and covered with a thick, feathered eiderdown. He peeped beneath the covers to see he still wore his underwear.
The door opened just then and Janos entered. Now Sam knew where he was. He lay still, watching the human approach. Janos stood looking down at him with concern in his dark eyes.
“How are you feeling?” Janos’s voice was soft as though he knew Sam had a headache. He spoke in Hungarian.
“I’m all right.”
“That’s good. I’ve rarely seen a vampire look as vulnerable as you. I don’t know what happened.”
“That makes two of us. I drank tonight and I was at full strength. Getting choked shouldn’t have made me so helpless.”
Janos sat down on the edge of the bed. He reached out a hand and touched Sam’s wrist. “I owe you my life.” His voice was husky and there were bruises around his neck and the purple marks of the recent vampire bite.
His touch set Sam on fire. He felt a rekindling of his energy just from the surge of lust in his veins. It was a brief spurt though and he soon felt exhausted again. He licked his lips, composing himself, choosing his words. “I’m aware that I left you for dead the first time we met. That was unforgiveable. I owed you a debt, so we’ll consider it paid.”
Janos inclined his head. He averted his gaze. “You must wonder what I was doing in a place like that.”
Sam shrugged. “More or less the same thing as me I would have thought. You like to get fucked by vampires, don’t you? Even better if they bite you at the same time.”
Janos flushed, his pale skin reddening up to his ears. “It’s not something I can explain to you,” he said in a murmur with his eyes downcast.
