Cynthia Eden - Marked by the Vampire

She gulped, and remembered the instant earlier in the interview when his nostrils had flared and his stare had hardened on her. Is Eric Pate human? Her gaze slid over him. He looked human, but most paranormals did…until they were ready to let their beasts out to play. He was tall and muscled, and a predatory air clung to him.

Monster…or man?

“Once you enter Purgatory, I won’t be able to help you.”

His words made goosebumps rise on her arms. “There will be guards there.” She swallowed and hoped her voice would sound less raspy. “Surely they can protect me.”

“If hell breaks loose, look for a dragon. He might be able get your ass to safety.”

She had no clue what the guy was talking about. “Right. I’ll just look for a dragon.” As far as she knew, there weren’t any dragon shifters. Oh, please, don’t let there be any! Fire terrified her, and a giant reptile-like beast that was basically a fire-breathing snake? No. No, thank you.

Olivia opened the door.

“Good luck, doc…” Pate’s drawling voice followed her from the room. “You’re sure going to need it.”

Olivia ran to the edge of the dock. She was late. Embarrassingly, ridiculously late for the ferry. It had taken her too long to gather all her files from the university.

Olivia’s heels rapped over the wooden dock as she raced for the boat. She was clutching her briefcase—containing all of her precious files—in one hand, and her other hand was frantically waving toward the ferry. “Wait! I’m here!” Big, fat raindrops plopped down on her as she ran.

Olivia rushed forward. The ferry was still tied up to the dock. They weren’t leaving her. They weren’t—

“ID.” A towering, bald man with tree trunk arms appeared in her path.

Olivia almost slammed into him, but she managed to stagger to a stop just in time. Then she fumbled with her coat pocket and pulled out her ID even as the rain dropped down harder and harder.

The guy scanned her ID. She noted the gun at his side. Correction— guns. He had a gun strapped to each hip. She had no doubt those guns were loaded with silver bullets.

“You’re clear.” His voice was cold, as cold as his gray eyes.

She hurried past him and hopped onto the ferry. The waves were starting to get rough, and the boat rolled beneath her. “I’m so sorry that I’m late,” Olivia began, voice breathless, “I had to rush back to the university to—”

Her words ended in a dead stop because she’d just gotten a look at the other passengers on that ferry.

Three armed guards, all wearing black, all with their weapons out and pointed at the man who stood just a few feet away from Olivia. At the man who was currently watching her with a predatory stare. His green eyes seemed to glow with an unholy hunger…a dark need…as they swept over her.

“Well, well,” the man said, his words low and rumbling. “This trip just got one hell of a lot more interesting.”

He was shackled. The chains circled his hands and his feet, but the shackles just seemed…ridiculous on him. Useless. Power emanated from him, and the guy’s strong body made a mockery of the restraints. He was big, easily six foot three or four, and his shoulders were wide, his arms rippling with power and—

“Like what you see?” he asked, lifting one blond brow. “Because I sure do.”

Olivia sucked in a sharp breath then she jerked her gaze off that prisoner. Instead, she focused on the nearest guard. “I-I didn’t realize a prisoner transport was occurring today.” Her heart thudded too hard in her chest.

“I’m a special delivery,” the bound man said, his voice—if possible—even deeper.

A shiver slid over her, and it wasn’t caused by the cold rain.

The guard she was staring at—a man with dark brown hair and dark eyes—stepped toward her. “You don’t have to worry, ma’am,” he told her, his Texas drawl reassuring. “This vamp won’t hurt you. He won’t hurt anyone again.”

Helplessly, her gaze slid back to the prisoner. Vamp? He smiled at her, and flashed fang. Deliberately, she was sure.

Her thudding heartbeat sped up even more.

“We’re losing our light!” A sharp voice barked.

She turned to see a man in cargo pants and a dark blue shirt heading toward her. A captain’s hat was slipping down his forehead. “Storm is coming,” he added, giving a hard nod. “The ride across is going to be damn rough.”

Olivia exhaled slowly. She’d taken a motion sickness pill a few minutes ago, but she didn’t know how long it would be before the thing kicked in. The boat was already rocking beneath her feet, and judging by the way those dark clouds were swirling overhead—yes, “damn rough” would probably be an apt description of their journey.

The captain stopped and frowned at the vampire. The captain’s grizzled jaw locked. “Another one of your kind?”

The vampire’s faint grin never slipped.

“What’d he do?” the captain asked the guards.

It was the dark-haired guard who responded. “Left a path of blood behind him.”

Fear twisted inside of Olivia. Her head turned and she found the vampire staring at her. His smile widened.

They’ll smell your fear.

She’d always been able to hide her fear from the human killers that she interviewed. They never saw her fear or her revulsion. Never realized that when she left them, her knees were trembling. But this man…he would know everything.

The captain grunted. “I’m gonna need help on deck.” He jerked his thumb toward the vampire. “So take that guy down below and make sure he won’t be trouble.”

Olivia was quite sure the vamp would be trouble.

“Then someone needs to come up and help me through the storm.”

The guards vanished with the vamp, heading down a flight of steps. Olivia held tight to the railing and tried to make her body move with the pitching waves. The ferry chugged away from the dock, and the clouds overhead erupted with a full fury. The rain wasn’t just plopping down any longer—it was pelting their vessel.

She braced her feet and kept her death-grip on that railing. The farther they went, the wilder the waves seemed to become, and the wind was soon ripping at her, tossing her hair around her face and yanking at her coat.

“ Go below deck!” The captain bellowed. He was sliding behind the wheel. One of the guards was at his side.

A big wave hit the side of the ferry and Olivia almost hit the deck face-first. Going below deck is a grand plan. She slipped and slid her way to the stairs. Then she hurried down into the darkness that waited below. The wind was howling now, the storm a vicious monster, and she wondered why they just hadn’t waited. Hadn’t tried to come out on that ferry the next day. Wouldn’t that have been better?

Another hard wave must have hit the ferry at that moment because the boat shuddered and Olivia fell down the last two steps. She tumbled down and—

He caught her.

She felt the cold metal of the vampire’s restraints against her arms as he caught Olivia in his strong grip. He lifted her up, holding her easily against him.

“Let her go!” A guard snarled.

The vamp didn’t.

The light over them was flickering. The flickering light let her glimpse the vamp’s expression. His gaze seemed to see right into her. “Better be careful,” he told her, his voice the deep rumble that Olivia knew she’d never forget. “You don’t know what waits in the darkness.”

Oh, she had a pretty good idea.

“Let me go,” she told him softly. This vampire didn’t seem drugged. Not at all. Had he started that diluted blood intake yet? He appeared far too powerful. “If you don’t let me go, that guard is going to stake you.” Her words were a real threat because the guard had already pulled out a wooden stake.