Мишель Роуэн - Tall, Dark & Fangsome

Which meant I had to find the answer on my own. If I ever lost my chain—the only thing keeping me from truly becoming a creature of darkness—then I was seriously screwed.

And so was anyone who crossed my path and looked remotely appetizing.

I shuddered at the thought and willed myself to concentrate on something, anything, else.

I stirred the cocktail in front of me with a swizzle stick and stared down into its orangey depths. I pushed the cherry down, holding it under the surface as if trying to drown it.

After a moment, I let it bob back up to the surface.

Dark and miserable.

Just my type.

I pushed the drink away. With my luck, Mr. Dark-and-Miserable had poisoned it.

“Hey, can I get a shot of B-Positive?” I asked the bartender.

A couple of seconds later he slid a shot glass filled with familiar red liquid in front of me.

Don’t get grossed out. It’s really not that bad.

Blood is sent to places like Darkside by professional blood delivery services. They get their blood from willing donors who are paid well for their contributions. It was all very civilized. The rarer the blood type, the more expensive the shot.

I stuck with B-Positive. It was my fave. Because of the name, I could fool myself into believing it would cheer me up.

I tossed the shot back and waited for the euphoria to hit me.

A couple of minutes later I was still waiting.

The complimentary drink rested on a Darkside coaster. Other than the logo for the club, I noticed something else on the thick, round piece of cardboard. Handwriting. In blue ink.

Sarah—

I took in a shaky breath and glanced around the club again, paying particular attention to the corner the man who sent me the drink had allegedly been in. Still empty.

My palm was sweating as I picked up the coaster and turned it over to see there was more writing on the other side.

Meet me out back. I must see you.

I casually slipped the coaster into my handbag. Without saying anything to Amy and

George, still dancing their little hearts out, I slid into the shadows of the club on the other side of the dance floor, moved past the bouncer at the door, and emerged into the cold night air outside. With a quick check over my shoulder to make sure no one was following me, I swiftly walked around the building to the back where it was dark and silent. The nearly full moon cast a pale glow on the deserted alley.

“Hello?” I whispered, barely loud enough for even myself to hear. “Where are you?”

Other than the expected Dumpsters and snowdrifts, there seemed to be no one there. With my sensitive vampire ears, I could hear the bass thump of the dance music from inside very weakly. I hugged my arms tightly around myself. The temperature didn’t bother me much anymore, but it did seem particularly cold that night.

I took a few more steps into the darkness. “Don’t worry, we’re alone.”

I was answered only by more silence so I moved over to the other side of the building and peered around the corner. I didn’t have very long before my friends wondered where I’d gone. Although, considering how many drinks I’d downed, they’d probably assume I was in the washroom.

I froze when I heard footsteps behind me. The very next moment, strong arms came around me and my back was pressed up against the cold brick wall. A hand came over my mouth, since my first instinct was to scream my lungs out.

Luckily, it was the person I’d been expecting.

Thierry removed his hand, leaned over, and crushed his mouth against mine in a kiss that took my breath away. I gasped against his lips, but then kissed him back deeply, wrapping my arms around his neck before sliding my hands up into his dark hair. His body warmed me in the cold night.

It wasn’t the first time we’d secretly met after everyone thought we’d broken up, but I hadn’t expected it tonight. Everyone else thought he’d only just returned from a trip to

France, but he’d never left the city. Since it was vital that nobody saw us together, it had been difficult finding a time and place to meet. I’d missed him a lot.

When the kiss broke off and my heartbeat came back to a normal pace, I looked up at him, raising an eyebrow. “A message on a coaster? Is that seriously the best you could do?”

“I wasn’t sure you’d be able to get away. Calling or messaging you on your phone could be traced.”

“And being spotted in a nightclub buying me drinks is much less risky?”

“I’m very discreet.”

I managed to smile. “By the way, your handwriting is nearly illegible.”

His mouth quirked. “Yet you figured out what it said.”

“Barely.” I grabbed hold of his black shirt and kissed him again quickly. We were shielded by the very romantic trash holders on either side of us but I still felt nervous that somebody might see us together. “What are you doing here?”

“I had to see you.” His silver-eyed gaze moved down the length of me and back up to my face.

Just as the bartender had described my drink sender, Thierry de Bennicoeur was tall and knee-weakeningly delicious—my words, not his. Dark hair, broad shoulders, full lips, straight nose, stern black eyebrows over gray eyes that sometimes appeared to be silver.

You’d never expect that he was pushing seven hundred years old, a vampire sired during the Black Death plague in Europe in the 1400s.

Not even my closest friends could find out we were still together. Amy and George were total blabbermouths. Since I wasn’t the best secret-keeper in the universe it had been sheer torture to keep my mouth shut.

I had to keep my mouth shut about a lot of things.

I even kept a few things from Thierry.

For example, if he knew that over the last week and a half I’d become Gideon Chase’s personal assistant and general errand girl, he wouldn’t be very happy about that.

And that was an understatement.

He considered Gideon the most dangerous man in the world—and somebody he wanted me to stay far away from for my own safety. But when the burned-by-hellfire leader of the vampire hunters wanted something, he could be extremely… well, insistent was a good word.

Gideon couldn’t find out that Thierry and I were still together, and Thierry couldn’t find out I was currently at Gideon’s beck and call.

Gideon usually checked in with me daily. In fact, he’d sent me to pick up a package for him earlier that day on the other side of the city. I got the impression he knew where I was and who I was with at all times. Just being in the alley with Thierry for a few stolen moments made me extremely nervous and more paranoid than usual. Which was saying something.

“Any luck finding Gideon’s hired guns?” I asked.

His expression was tight. “No. That’s one of the reasons I needed to see you this evening.”

“To tell me to be careful?”

“Of course.” He hissed out a long sigh. “I hate standing back and seeing you in harm’s way like this. It has to stop.”

“It will.”

“Not if we can’t discover his secrets. He has too much power at the moment, even if it’s only lent itself to verbal threats. If he harms you—”

“He hasn’t.” I stroked Thierry’s tense face. “Gideon isn’t going to hurt me.”

“Not until he gets what he wants.”

“Exactly.” I frowned. Wait. That didn’t make me feel much better.

“I will kill him,” he said darkly. “If he harms you in any way, the pain from the hellfire will be a pleasant memory for him.”

“I appreciate the offer of mayhem and torture, really. But it’s best if we stay calm and collected about this.”

“You seem calm and collected enough for the both of us.”

“I’m trying to stay Zen. I do yoga now, you know.”