Kerrelyn Sparks: How to Seduce a Vampire (Without Really Trying)

“So do I. If I’m such a bloody hero, why am I alone?”

Howard scoffed. “How would I know? I’m worried about your lack of security, not your lack of nookie.”

“Eloquently put.” Zoltan motioned toward the staircase. “And on that note, you shouldn’t leave your wife waiting.”

“I’m serious about this, Zoltan. It doesn’t matter how many loyal friends you have. It takes only one enemy to kill you.”

“Indeed.” Zoltan gestured again toward the stairs. “We can discuss my imminent demise tomorrow. Have a good evening.”

“Why do I get the feeling you don’t want me down here?” Howard asked.

“He doesn’t want you to see me,” a voice said from a dark corner.

With a groan, Zoltan turned toward the Vamp who had just teleported in. “You’re early.”

“I’m starving.” He stepped into the light, dropped an empty ice chest on the table, and retrieved a bottle of synthetic blood from the full ice chest.

Howard stiffened. “Russell.”

The ex-Marine gave him a wry look as he wrenched the top off the bottle. “Howard.” He took a long drink.

Howard’s gaze narrowed on the items on the table, then switched to Zoltan. “How long have you been supplying him?”

Zoltan shrugged. “About two years.”

Frowning, Howard crossed his arms. “You mean since the time he went AWOL?”

“Thereabouts. Would you rather he starve to death? Or be forced to bite people?”

“We’d rather he report in every now and then,” Howard growled.

Russell paused with the nearly empty bottle an inch from his mouth. “Don’t mind me. Just keep talking about me like I’m not here.”

Howard shot him an annoyed look. “You think we don’t worry about you? Angus keeps sending J.L. and Rajiv to China to search for you.”

“I know.” Russell finished the bottle and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I’ve had to bail them out of trouble a few times.”

Howard snorted. “They wouldn’t have been in trouble if they hadn’t been looking for you.”

“I didn’t ask anyone to look for me.” Russell snapped a new clip into his handgun, then wedged it under his belt. “I suppose you’re going to tell Angus I was here.”

Howard glanced at Zoltan. “You never told Angus about this?”

Zoltan shook his head. “I don’t work for Angus.”

“He’s your friend. And he’s Russell’s sire.” Howard turned to the ex-Marine. “Aren’t you supposed to have some loyalty toward him?”

“He didn’t change me.” Russell stuffed the pockets of his old coat with more cartridges for his handgun. “Master Han did. Angus just finished the job. It was Zoltan who took me in and helped me adjust.”

“We would all help you,” Howard insisted. “Do you think we wouldn’t feed you? Or give you supplies?”

Russell dropped the shotgun shells into a worn canvas bag. “You would, but there would be a price. You would expect me to answer your questions.”

“It’s called cooperation. We’re on the same side, you know. We all want to see Master Han dead.”

Russell’s eyes flashed with anger. “He’s mine. Your kind of help just gets in the way. You’re too damned busy trying to save his soldiers—”

“They’re mortal,” Howard argued.

“They agreed to join him in exchange for their superpowers.” Russell slid a new knife into each of his boots. “They made their choice. It’s not my problem if they have to pay for it.”

“Their superpowers came from a demon, so when you kill them, they go to hell.”

“Like I said. Not my problem.” Russell hooked the hand grenades onto his belt.

Howard sighed. “Will you at least go to Japan to see what’s happening? I’ve spent the last six months there with our team of doctors and scientists. They’ve turned more than a hundred of Master Han’s soldiers back to normal.”

Russell scoffed. “Brilliant. Now they have only nine hundred to go.”

“Howard?” Elsa’s voice called down the stairs. “Are you there?”

“Just a minute!” Howard paused at the entrance to the stairwell. “Come back tomorrow night, Russell, so we can talk.”

“No thanks.” Russell opened the box of arrows.

Howard frowned at Zoltan. “I’ll talk to you when I get back from dinner.”

“No hurry. Enjoy your evening.” Zoltan watched as the huge were-bear wound his way up the narrow stone staircase. “The minute he’s out the door, he’ll call Angus.”

“If he waits that long.” Russell swung the quiver off his back and set it on the table next to the box of arrows. “I’ll just fill this up and be on my way.” He glanced at Zoltan. “Are you going to be in trouble now?”

Zoltan snorted. “What can Angus do to me? If he’s in Japan, it might already be daylight there. He’ll call me when he wakes up so he can grouse at me, but in the end, he’ll thank me for taking care of you. He’s not a bad guy, you know.”

Russell gathered a handful of arrows from the box. “We have different priorities.”

Zoltan nodded. Angus and his employees, like Howard, wanted to protect mortals from bad vampires, but Russell simply wanted Master Han dead. The evil warlord had attacked Russell during the Vietnam War, leaving him in a vampire coma for forty years. When Russell had been discovered in a cave in Thailand, Angus had completed the transformation process so Russell could wake up and join the ranks of the Undead. For the last two years, Russell had been searching Master Han’s massive territory, waiting for his chance to kill the evil vampire.

Russell shoved an old arrow aside to make room in the quiver for the new arrows. Zoltan blinked, hardly believing his eyes.

“Wait!” He lunged toward the quiver. The feathers of the old arrow looked familiar.

He pulled it out, his heart racing at the sight of carvings on the staff. Had he found a duplicate after eight hundred years? He zoomed over to the arrow mounted on the wall so he could compare the two. The arrowhead on the new arrow was modern, but otherwise, the two were exactly the same.

He turned to Russell. “Where did you find this?”

A wary look crossed Russell’s face before he turned away to finish stuffing the quiver with new arrows. “I wouldn’t know. I teleport all over southern China, northern Myanmar, and Tibet. And I scavenge along the way. I could have picked it up anywhere.”

“You have to remember.” Zoltan approached him. “It’s important.”

Russell swung the quiver onto his back. “I have no idea.”

“You’re not trying.” Zoltan gritted his teeth. “I have to know—”

“I can’t tell you.”

Zoltan’s heart stilled. Russell was purposely keeping his face blank. “You mean you won’t tell me.”

“I have to go.” Russell grabbed the ice chest. “Thanks for the supplies.”

“Wait!” Zoltan leaped forward and latched onto Russell’s arm just as he began to teleport.

As soon as they materialized, Russell shoved him away. “What the hell are you doing?”

Zoltan quickly regained his balance and looked around. Countryside. Treeless, rolling hills. Yellowish grass nearly to his knees. A half moon and countless stars gleaming in a clear sky. “Where are we?”

“You shouldn’t have come. Go back home.”

Zoltan showed him the arrow, still grasped in his right hand. “This is the only clue I’ve found in almost eight hundred years. Tell me where it came from.”

“I can’t.”

A streak of anger sizzled through Zoltan. “I’ve been helping you for two years, so you will tell me—”

“I can’t!”

“Dammit, Russell!” Zoltan clutched the arrow tightly. “It’s because of an arrow like this that I became a vampire. I couldn’t stand the thought of dying without knowing what happened. I had to stay young and healthy to keep searching for the truth. I gave up my mortality for this, so tell me where you found the damned arrow!”