"I know you, pet." Croix draped his spindly arm over Vanna's shoulder and glanced down at her chest. Russ growled, redirecting his anger from himself to the bare-chested rocker. He wanted to slam that bottle of whiskey Croix was carrying over his dyed head. "Had a hankering for a real vampire, huh?" Croix nuzzled her ear, smearing black lipstick over her pale skin.

Vanna's face contorted into a grimace. "Yes, about that." Her voice was curt and businesslike. "I need to speak to you in private, Mr. Croix. I have a proposition for you."

"Oh, I like propositions, pet." Croix licked her neck, and Russ clenched his fists, willing his claws not to extend. "We can talk in my bedroom." He swung her around, leaning heavily on her body, whiskey spilling on the carpet.

"Vanna." Russ caught her wrist.

"I have to do this, Russ." She stilled. "If you love me even half as much as I love you, you'll let me."

He loved Vanna more than he thought was physically possible. She was his heart, his soul. Russ reluctantly released her and watched frozen in place as she walked away. Croix couldn't turn her. He wasn't a vampire. And Vanna wouldn't let Croix touch her. Russ knew that. He knew her.

He'd thought he knew her. She believed herself insane. Russ winced, positioning himself by the closed bedroom door. She'd spent her human life questioning her sanity... because of him, because of their entwined destiny.

"I've been here before." Vanna glanced around her, the familiarity of the dimly lit room rea.s.suring her. This was where she was meant to be. She squelched the pain in her heart. Love and Russ weren't her destiny. "I thought we were to be alone."

Three of Croix's entourage fed on a motionless woman seated on a beige suede couch, their fangs buried in her skin, blood dripping over their chins. Vampires. Vanna shivered. What she would soon become. Could she do this? Kill someone? Was the woman dead?

"No, but she will be if they continue drinking from her," a deep voice commented with a thick Italian accent. "Enough!" the figure sitting in the shadows barked, and the vampires jumped away from the woman, hissing and snarling. "Animals." The word was said with disgust.

And this was what she wanted to become? Vanna stared at the woman, doubt about her destiny niggling at her. She'd given up Russ's love for a future of blood l.u.s.t.

The shadowy figure chuckled. "There are other options -- volunteers, blood banks. Not all of us are so undisciplined." He'd read her thoughts.

Russ always knew what she was thinking also. If she was so transparent, Croix must know what she wanted from him. She peered up at the rocker. He leaned more and more of his weight into her. His eyelids lowered, and he breathed heavily. He was sleeping. Who would turn her now?

"We will turn you, pet." The bald vampire licked his b.l.o.o.d.y fangs. "It'll be our pleasure."

The Italian vampire boomed with laughter. "This will be interesting." He rose from his chair, smoothing down his dress pants. He was the man, the vampire, Russ had been talking to in the store. He wore a gray three-piece suit and a pleasant smile. She had thought then that he was Croix's manager, not a fellow vampire.

"Let me have the human." Russ's friend picked the rocker up by the waistband of his leather pants, lifting him as though he weighed nothing. Croix jerked awake, punching the air with his hands and kicking his feet. "Be still." The vampire slapped his palm into the back of Croix's head, and he stilled once more. "Your beloved can have the rest."

He nonchalantly tossed Croix across the room. The rocker smacked against the wall, cracking the drywall, and crumbled into a heap on the carpet.

Croix didn't get up because he was human. Russ's friend was a vampire. A vampire. He returned to his seat, his fingers linked in front of his flat stomach as though he was readying to watch a show.

Russ knew a vampire. Vanna covered her mouth. He had read her thoughts. In the heat of pa.s.sion, he'd bitten her. He'd told her he was a vampire when they'd first met. She hadn't believed him.

She was a fool.

The vampires gathered around her, the coppery scent of blood on their heated breaths, their fangs gleaming white, and their eyes glowing red. Fear trickled down her spine.

"I'm sorry. I made a mistake." She backed away, feeling behind her for the doork.n.o.b. The biggest vampire leaned his weight against the door, trapping her. "I've changed my mind. I don't want to be turned."

"But we want to turn you." The bald vampire wrapped a lock of her hair around his claws. Vanna twisted away from him, ducking under his arm. "Where are you going, pet?" She edged toward the window. "I don't think so." He clucked his tongue. "We're on the thirty-second floor, and humans don't fly."

He lunged at her, and caught her ankle. Vanna screamed, driving her free foot down on his shoulder, the stiletto heel of her thigh-high boot piercing his skin.

"b.i.t.c.h!" the bald vampire snarled, raking his claws over her leg, cutting through leather and skin. She shrieked with the intense pain, kicking and struggling, trying to get free.

The vampire guarding the exit flew across the room as the door burst open. "She is mine!" Russ's big body blocked the doorway, silhouetted against the brighter living room. Long claws extended from his hands. Fangs dropped from his lips. His eyes shone red.

That was a glower. Vanna's heart skipped a beat. He was the vampire of her dreams, dangerous and fierce and hers.

"You think her yours, old man?" The bald vampire let her go, and Vanna crawled up from the couch, away from the near-dead woman. The vampire's menacing laughter rocked through the room. "You're one vampire." The other two vampires stood beside him. "Against three."

"You're wrong." Vanna straightened and picked up a lamp. "He has me." She heaved it at the biggest vampire. He grunted as the gla.s.s shattered against his back, the shards piercing his skin. "Oh, s.h.i.t." The vampire healed instantly.

"Vanna, love." Russ smiled at her, his dark expression lightening. "Do me a favor and find the fire extinguisher." He spoke as though he'd asked her to pa.s.s the sugar.

She frowned, confused by his request. "Why --"

Russ spun, his claws extended, his body a blur of motion. The bald vampire ducked. The smaller vampire to his right didn't. The razor-sharp tips of Russ's claws sliced through his neck. His head fell from his torso, blood gushing from the wound.

Vanna bit her bottom lip to keep from screaming. The body and head burst into flames, setting the carpet on fire. "s.h.i.t. The fire extinguisher." She rushed around the bed. "Where is it?"

"Here it is, cara." Russ's friend held up the fire extinguisher. "Use sparingly. It is a small canister, and there are two vampires left." His dark eyes twinkled with amus.e.m.e.nt.

If Russ was able to defeat them both. As she doused the flames, she kept one eye on her love. The vampires flew at him in a synchronized attack. Russ kicked out, his boot connecting with the big vampire's gut. The bald vampire swooped downward with his claws. Vanna gasped. Russ won't survive this. He -- Claws locked against claws. Muscles strained. Knees bent. The big vampire got to his feet, shaking his shoulders and flexing his claws.

"Russ, behind you!" Vanna yelled her warning.

With a grunt, Russ heaved his ma.s.sive arms upward, flipping the bald vampire backward, and he pivoted on his heels, swinging his arms. The big vampire's eyes widened with surprise. His throat gurgled with blood as his head fell.

"You're killing them too quickly, amico mio," Russ's friend commented from his seat against the far wall, his dark gaze on Vanna as she extinguished the flames. "Try to draw this battle out."

"I live only to entertain you, Marciano." Russ's gaze flicked from the bald vampire to Marciano before meeting Vanna's gaze. G.o.d. He was handsome, his hazel eyes glittering with gold. "Are you okay, pumpkin?"

Marciano made a choking noise.

"I feel like an idiot." Her face heated. "You told me what you were, and I didn't believe you."

"I was the idiot." Russ smiled, the freckles dancing on his broad cheeks. "I wanted you to love me for who I was, not what I was."

"Mother Mary! Make the kissy faces stop," Marciano pleaded to the ceiling. The bald vampire edged around Russ, moving toward the door.

"My love for you was never in question." Vanna held Russ's gaze. "If I had been certain of my sanity, I would have gladly traded eternal life for a human existence with you, but I couldn't saddle you with a crazy person."

"What is that I smell, Russell?" Marciano sniffed loudly. "Is that blood? Your beloved's blood?"

Russ breathed deeply, his nostrils flaring, his chest heaving, and his face grew frighteningly hard, scaring Vanna.

"Dekel dared to cause your beloved pain?"

"You hurt her?" Russ growled, turning on the cowering vampire.

Dekel swallowed hard, his throat convulsing, and his pale face losing even more color. "It was her fault. The b.i.t.c.h --"

"b.i.t.c.h?" Russ spread his claws wide, the lights reflecting off the sharp tips.

"Wrong answer." Marciano laughed. "Kill this one slowly, Russell, painfully. Make the fledgling suffer for daring to touch her."

Russ's face flushed more and more with each taunting word, his eyes blazing crimson with rage. He was the ant.i.thesis of the pa.s.sionless vampire, his body radiating red-hot emotion.

Vanna had been wrong. She'd been wrong about everything.

"That b.i.t.c.h is my beloved, child. Didn't your sire teach you not to touch another vampire's property?" Russ kicked the couch back, slamming it against the wall. The woman seated on the couch shifted, murmuring something unintelligible. She lived. A tightness in Vanna's chest loosened.

"My sire is dead." Dekel sneered. "I killed him as I will kill you." The two vampires circled each other. Vanna's stomach twisted painfully. Russ was bigger and stronger, but he had already fought and killed two vampires. Dekel was more rested, his feet lighter on the carpet.

"No normal vampire can kill the one who turned him." Russ bent his knees, lowering his body. "So you must be insane. I suspected as much."

Crazy Vanna. Crazy Vanna.

No. This was different. Dekel wasn't misunderstood. He was truly crazy. Vanna gnawed on her bottom lip. Crazy people were irrational and unpredictable. She had to help Russ. She glanced around her for a weapon. The fire extinguisher would do in a pinch. It was solid and heavy.

"Round and round they go." Russ's friend sounded almost gleeful.

Her love was in a fight to the death. Vanna glared at Marciano. It wasn't a laughing matter. The vampire widened his eyes and rounded his mouth, his expression mockingly innocent.

"Let's end this now, old man." Dekel flung his tattooed body into the air. Claws connected with claws. Grunts echoed. Russ tossed the smaller vampire over his shoulder against the wall. Drywall crumbled with the impact.

The door opened. A naked man staggered in, holding onto the frame to steady himself. "What the f.u.c.k is going on in --"

"Out!" Russ roared.

Without another word, the man shut the door, shrouding the room in semi-darkness once more. While the vampires were distracted, Vanna set down the fire extinguisher and unzipped her thigh-high boots, pulling them off her bare feet. She tapped the heels. They weren't quite stakes, but they would have to do.

Vanna studied the black dragon tattoo inked like a bull's eye on Dekel's pale back. She wound up.

"Do you have a soft spot for the food?" The vampire sneered. "Old... oomph." His body jerked, her heel sticking into his skin. "You b.i.t.c.h!" He reached behind him and yanked the boot out of his back. Blood gushed from his slowly sealing wound.

Marciano chuckled. "I like her, Russell."

"I love her, my friend." Russ grinned. "Thanks for the help, sweetheart. I've got this."

"Do you?" Vanna rolled her eyes. Males, human or vampire, were all alike, their egos as big as they were. "Then why is he still standing?"

"Sorry, Marciano." Russ shrugged his shoulders, the silly smile remaining on his handsome face. "No long, drawn-out fight today. My beloved's wishes come first."

His hands flew, his claws singing through the air. Dekel blocked, skin slapping on skin, bones crunching, claws rattling. Their movements were lightning-fast, Russ slowly, steadily advancing, Dekel retreating, perspiration dripping down the vampire's bald head.

Blood covered Dekel's arms, thin slices gouged out of his flesh. A low whine came from his throat like that of a wounded animal. Flecks of red covered Russ's blue cotton shirt.

"Finish him," Vanna whispered, unable to bear the delay.

Russ glanced up, meeting her gaze. A strip of red raced across his chest, and he inhaled sharply.

f.u.c.k, no. Vanna threw her other boot. The toe thudded against the back of Dekel's skull, and his bald head flew across the room. Oh, G.o.d. I killed someone.

"I killed him." Russ retracted his blood-covered claws. "You still don't trust me, Vanna?" His lips twisted. "I said I had him."

"What did you expect me to do, Russ? He hurt you." Vanna grabbed the fire extinguisher and put out the flames, Dekel's body reduced to a heap of ashes. "I won't stand here and do nothing while some vampire hurts the man I love."

"The vampire you love." Russ's face softened.

"Here we go again with the kissy faces," Marciano muttered. "I can't deal with this so early in the night." He stood, slung the still unconscious Croix over one shoulder and the pa.s.sed out woman over the other. "Russell, amico mio, the room is all yours." Marciano sauntered out like it was every day he carried two people around, and he kicked the door closed behind him.

Chapter Four.

"You're hurt." Vanna winced as she limped toward him, her beautiful face tight with pain. "Your chest --"

"It'll heal quickly, love." Russ frowned at the red streaming down her bare right leg. That b.a.s.t.a.r.d, Dekel, had hurt his beloved, her sweet blood scenting the air.

"I need to see for myself." She fumbled with his b.u.t.tons, her fingers shaking.

Russ ripped his shirt apart, fabric tearing and b.u.t.tons flying everywhere. "See." He placed her soft hands on his flesh. "Healed." He shuddered as she touched him. "I need to look at your wound." He swung her into his arms and walked with her over to the bed.

"I'm human. I don't heal as quickly." She gazed at him trustingly with her big brown eyes, her fingers linked around his neck.

"You're human for now." He pushed the cover aside and laid her on the clean white sheets. He'd turn her soon. It was too risky for her to remain a fragile human.

"For now." She gasped as he touched her thigh, and his need to kill Dekel a second time returned. "It looks worse than it is." Her voice was weak, and she dug her fingernails into his arms.

"I can read your thoughts, Vanna. Don't lie to me." He held her leg still and licked over the deep gashes, tasting alluring blood and savory woman. She whimpered and writhed, her pain cutting into him. "Easy, love. Let me heal you." He bathed her with his vampire tongue, the skin pulling closed under his ministering.

"Yes, heal me, Russ." As her wounds mended, the sharp flavor of her pain softened to the muted musk of desire, tantalizing his nostrils and hardening his body.

"I'll heal all of you." He licked up her leg, pushed her skirt higher, and swirled his tongue into the dip at her hip. "You're not crazy, love." He flicked the inside of her thigh, his nose a breath away from her hot center. "Your destiny is an eternity filled with blood and fangs and a vampire who adores you."

"You were that vampire." She reached down and cupped his face with her hands. "It was your face I could never see. I know that now. I think I always knew that, but I didn't trust myself to believe in you, in us, in love."

He turned his head and kissed her palm. "How could you? I don't look like a vampire." He grinned. "Or so a lovely lady once told me."

"She was wrong." Vanna's face turned a delightful pink. "You look exactly like a vampire."

"I look like your vampire, and I'm hungry, love, so very hungry." He kissed higher and she inhaled sharply. "I'm going to suck you dry tonight."

Russ extended his tongue farther and farther, reaching for her delicious nectar, and Vanna raised her hips, her body tensing under him in antic.i.p.ation of his touch. She was so responsive, so right for him.