Annie Nicholas - Bait

“Your gut?”

“He’s the one who followed me to my hotel room. He’s the one who shoved me out the window, at the party, to help me escape. I’m sure he’s the one who saved me from the vampire that chased me through the damn alleys. Doesn’t that say something?”

“Yeah, he’s trying to seduce you and doing a good job at it.”

“What?” Colby’s perception annoyed me. “All that to get into my pants?” Rurik almost accomplished it last night. Even though I sat alone in my hotel room my cheeks still got warm but from anger not embarrassment.

“He’s entered your mind deeper than I suspected. I’ll be honest, I’m starting to agree with Red on this one. Maybe you should sit this one out. Once they breech your shield, Connie, it gets easier for them to manipulate you. He drugged you then took you as a meal for his master. Does that spell ‘nice guy ’ to you? Has there been any other ... contact with him?”

“No,” I lied. “At the party he offered me protection—he wouldn’t allow Dragos to kill me.” I omitted my part of the bargain. It wouldn’t help my case to investigate this crime some more before executing the wrong vampire.

“If he’s such a hero, he shouldn’t have brought you to the party in the first place.”

“I didn’t say he was ‘nice. ’ Just he may not be the killer.” I rubbed my forehead. A migraine brewed. “Colby, I’ve never questioned your judgment before. You must have some kind of hard proof.”

“No, you’ve never doubted me. That’s what worries me the most. You know I always get proof. But I’m not giving you details. Especially now I think you’ve been compromised.”

I could hear him breathing over the line.

“Red is right about this. They’re too powerful to use live bait. You’ll get hurt.”

This wasn’t going according to my plan. It never occurred to me he’d start doubting me. “You need me, Colby. If you really want Rurik, I’ve got him for you. He’ll come to me, but I need some piece of hard proof, for my conscience.”

He was going to send me home. I could picture Red breaking down my door and stuffing me in a box with an express stamp to the U.S.A.

This job suited me. It gave me purpose. Ever since watching Colby stake the vamp who had attacked me in a Las Vegas club bathroom, I knew it was for me. I didn’t want to go home. Alone with no distraction but my own pathetic thoughts, I’d be romancing Captain Morgan within a few days.

He sighed. “Connie, I’m sending you a package. It will contain your assignment and your proof.”

I silently did a little happy dance.

“Stop dancing and listen. Don’t make me regret this.”

How did he do that?

The package contained a sheet of paper with directions to a jazz club on the Danube River.

It also contained pictures.

They showed a kiss of vampires feeding on a pile of victims. I counted over fifteen dead, pretty young things in their twenties. The bodies were posed in gruesome, horrendous displays for the camera, like they wanted mementos of the event.

One of the close-ups was Rurik. His eyes gazed into mine from the picture.

I sank to the floor. My heart wrenched at what I’d almost let him do to me last night. Nausea rolled the dinner in my stomach.

Nightmares haunted me at night sometimes but these images would make sure I never slept again. I picked up my instruction sheet and looked over their directions.

Time to get this bastard.

“Hold still, Connie. You’re going to make me drop this down the front of your dress.” Brad’s hands trembled as he tried to attach the chip inside the cup of my bra. If he pulled the material any further from my skin it might snap off into his hand.

I stopped tapping my foot and watched his face as he concentrated on his job. A five o’clock shadow that never seemed to thicken or lessen accentuated his strong jaw.

Brad functioned as the team’s gadget man and didn’t like the way the chip’s signal worked the other night. They got intermittent readings and almost didn’t find me. He thought it got damaged when I fell on the dance floor steps at the club where I met Rurik. So he decided to place it somewhere less likely to be crushed.

I would have accused him of coming up with this idea just to cop-a-feel, but the blush and flutter of nerves he radiated changed my mind.

He glanced up and met my stare, his fingers accidentally brushed against my cleavage. His blush deepened to a lovely shade of scarlet. “Sor ... sorry.”

Red came up behind him. He winked at me. “Keep your hands to yourself and attach the damn chip already.”

The chip tumbled down the front of my neckline to rest between my breasts inside my bra. Brad’s shoulders slumped and he hung his head in defeat. Rurik would never see this as a loss but an opportunity. I chuckled to myself before the memory of those terrible pictures returned. It wasn’t fair. He shouldn’t be in my head, I hated that I still caught myself thinking about him.

I sent a glare of hot, smoking daggers at Red. “I’ll fish that out myself. Thank you for your help, Red.” I wore a spaghetti strap, mid-thigh length, black dress. There wasn’t much material to work with, which led to the tracking chip being clipped to the cup of my strapless bra. The chip proved to be elusive at first. Brad needed to assist me with his penlight to find it.

The jerk, Red, leaned against the wall, arms across his chest. His shoulders shook with contained laughter.

This only stoked my anger. I couldn’t stop thinking about Rurik. The raging, hot steam those pictures generated produced a pressure in my chest and I couldn’t wait to release it. My revenge would taste sweet.

Brad finished setting the chip into the lacy material. “All done.” He grinned at me, a thin sheet of sweat beaded on his forehead, under the disheveled mouse brown hair. Why couldn’t I be attracted to a sweet, shy man like Brad? Instead I fantasize about a bloodless cold monster. I needed therapy.

The laptop on the bed blipped and Brad turned his attention to it. He tapped a few keys. “The readings look fine. Why don’t you move around. Maybe jump up and down.”

My mouth dropped open.

Red stepped forward and smacked Brad upside the head. “Behave.”

“I didn’t mean ... I wanted to make sure it’ll stay in place.” He shook his head while the scarlet color returned to his cheeks.

I laughed. “It’s okay, Brad.” For a hardened soldier he sure could blush. I shimmied and jiggled for him. Shy men may not stoke my libido but they did bring the devil out of me.

“How are the readings?” Red maintained his stoic expression but his unheard laughter produced a shimmer of tears.

Brad pulled his eyes from me. “Yeah, great signals.”

Red loomed over me and stopped my antics by steering me from Brad’s view. “Stick to the plan.” He handed me a small black purse. “The ticket for the concert is inside. Colby’s tried to get someone in there with you but the show’s been sold out and the club’s administration is being difficult.”

“How did he get my ticket?”

“From a source. This plan stinks. You should both wait for another opportunity and more back up.”

“There may not be other chances. Don’t worry, Rurik will follow me home. Be ready for us.” I squeezed his beefy bicep. After the bath house, I’d be shocked if Rurik didn’t.

“Watch your back.”

I nodded. The devilish side of me finished teasing Brad by pecking him on the cheek and watched another bloom of scarlet grow on his face. Time to bring in my target, to meet the real Rurik, and get some answers.

The A38 club was the reincarnation of a Ukrainian stone-carrier ship. It started a new life on the Danube River as one of Europe’s coolest clubs.