Kissed by a Vampire. Caridad Pineiro

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СКАЧАТЬ tonight, the man beside her would be the one to share her bed and be her meal. The attractive stranger would just have to wait until tomorrow.

      The delay would only help tenderize him. Make him even more susceptible to her charms in the future.

      After all, there would always be another tomorrow in her undead life.

       Chapter 2

      The call came in the late afternoon on his office line, well after the DEA psychologist had cleared him for duty. The relief from the outcome of his visit to the shrink that morning was disturbed by the sound of his ex-colleague’s troubled voice.

      “Garcia. Heard you were back from leave,” Dan McAnn said, striving for an upbeat tone but failing miserably.

      “Back and ready to head undercover again.”

      “Good to hear,” Dan said, but then an awkward pause filled the air.

      Alex leaned forward and tightly gripped the phone, his head hunched downward as he contemplated the reason for his old friend’s call. Dan had retired a few years earlier after the stress of the job and family problems had created one too many issues at the office, including troubles with Dan hitting the bottle way more often than could be tolerated.

      “Is everything okay, Dan? Do you need anything?” His inflection was conciliatory since Dan had been a good agent at one time and Alex had liked him on a personal level.

      Another pause came on the line followed by a heartfelt sigh. “I’m okay. Got a great job as a security guard over on Star Island.”

      “Must be rough hobnobbing with the rich and famous,” he teased, grateful to hear that his life seemed back on track.

      “It’s my kid, Alex. She’s been missing for almost a week.”

      He reclined in his chair, now understanding the reason Dan was calling. “I guess you went to the police, but they don’t want to do anything.”

      Dan let out an abrupt exhale. “You know that Andrea and I … She’s been a problem child. Some drugs. Ran away right before I … retired.”

      Alex was well aware of the problems. Talk around the office had been that Dan’s daughter had been the major reason he’d started drinking heavily and missing work. More than once Dan had run out of the office to deal with one of Andrea’s scrapes with the law.

      “Local law enforcement thinks she ran away again, and won’t investigate,” Alex surmised.

      “Last time, Andrea was only gone for a couple of nights and she left a note about leaving. Took some things with her.”

      “And this time is different?” Alex prompted while reaching for a pad of paper and pen.

      “She’s been going to AA with me and we’ve both been sober for over a year. Andrea is really trying to keep her act together. But a friend asked her to go to a club—the Widget.”

      Alex had visited the nightclub last night. It was also where he had seen—and then lost sight of—that very fascinating woman.

      “We’ve had our eye on the place for some time.”

      “Her friends say she met a man there. Went off with him into one of the private gaming rooms and never came back out.”

      “Can her friends provide a description of the man?”

      When Dan replied affirmatively, Alex continued. “Can you give me their names and numbers?”

      “You’re willing to help me find Andrea?” Dan asked, surprised happiness lightening the timbre of his voice.

      “I can’t make any promises, but I’ll ask around. See what I can find out. Check with the local LEOs, as well.”

      “Thank you, Alex. You can’t imagine what this means to me.”

      But Alex could imagine what losing someone so special did mean. He had lost someone dear twice in his lifetime now and he had survived.

      But barely.

      And somewhere along the way, he had lost pieces of his heart and soul. It would be a long time before he opened himself up to more of that kind of heartbreak, he thought.

      As he took down the information from Dan, it occurred to him that fate might just be finding ways for him to get his life moving forward once again.

      First there had been that sexy woman from last night, and now he had a worthwhile case to investigate. Maybe a combination of both would help drive away the demons and nightmares that plagued him.

      With renewed purpose, Alex dialed the number for the first name that Dan had given him.

      From her oceanfront suite in the Park Central Hotel, Stacia peered past the edges of the thick blackout curtains she had asked the hotel to install. Considering that some of their patrons spent the night partying and the day sleeping, it wasn’t such an unusual request.

      But unlike the party animals nestled in their beds after their nightlong binges, she was up and about after only a short daytime rest, her elder powers giving her stamina beyond that of other vampires. It was a double-edged sword since what did one do with all that energy and wakefulness if one couldn’t go out in the sun?

      Especially the strong Miami sun. Stacia stayed at the window as long as she could before the strength of the afternoon rays on her skin became more than she could bear.

      It had been another gorgeous late-spring day beyond the curtains. The cerulean of the ocean bright beneath a cloudless sky. A sweet ocean breeze rustling the deep green fronds of the palms through Lummus Park.

      There had been hundreds of bodies on the beach, soaking up the daylight. She imagined the heat of their skin from the punishing rays. Imagined how such a sun-toasted body pressed to hers would take away the chill from her skin. Fantasized about sinking her teeth into that heated flesh and savoring sun-warmed blood.

      A shiver of need danced through her at the thought, tightening her insides. Demanding that she find satisfaction. But the solar rays were still too strong for her to venture outside.

      Satisfaction would have to come in some other way.

      She strode to the small refrigerator tucked into the entertainment center in the room. Inside were the half a dozen or so blood bags she had obtained from the local hospital a few nights earlier. It hadn’t taken much effort. With her elder power, she had slipped past hospital security with an implanted suggestion, found the blood bank and helped herself to some fresh O neg.

      Removing the blood from the fridge, the chill of the plastic was a taunting reminder of how this snack was second best to those solar worshippers outside and of how cold she was.

      Blood bag in hand, Stacia walked to the bathroom and eyed the tub. Decided a nice long soak would go a long way to eliminating the nip in her body. She filled the tub with water as hot as her undead flesh could stand and added a packet of bath salts that the hotel had left for guests. When the bath was ready, she returned to the room, slit open the top of the blood bag and poured a hefty portion into one of the wineglasses from the mini-bar. СКАЧАТЬ