Caridad Pineiro - Kissed by a Vampire

She nipped at it with her teeth—human teeth—and at the edges of his lips, so full, so heated, so human.

Human , she reminded herself as a curl of heat ignited deep within her and slowly spread throughout her body, awakening the demon.

She battled back the vampire, wanting to bask in the delight of his attention. Savoring his honest but conflicted passion.

His gaze focused on her lips until he slowly lifted it upward and a puzzled look swept across his features. “Your eyes. They’re blue now,” he said.

The demon’s eyes, she thought, surprised she had not been able to contain that aspect of the vampire. The even more confused look on his face confirmed that the normal brown of her eyes had returned.

“How—” he began.

“Do you really want to know?”

Dear Reader,

When Stacia first appeared on the vampire scene in Death Calls , I instantly fell in love with her as a character. On the outside Stacia was a brash and unrepentant vampiress who had no qualms about going after both Diana and Ryder to satisfy her sexual needs. But I knew that inside she was lonely and hungry for love.

It’s taken me a while to find just the right person to give Stacia a happily-ever-after. Eventually it occurred to me that Stacia had already met just the man! Never mind that he was near death at the time and she was about to feed from him when pity made her help him live instead.

In Kissed by a Vampire , DEA agent Alex Garcia will come face-to-face with the sexy demon who has plagued his nights since his near-death experience. But Alex is unprepared for just how much Stacia will touch his heart and how badly he wants her to find the happiness she’s been missing.

Caridad Piñeiro

New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author and RITA ®finalist CARIDAD PIÑEIROwrote her first novel in the fifth grade when her teacher assigned a project—to write a book for a class lending library. Caridad continued with her passion for the written word, and in 1999 Caridad’s first novel was released. Over a decade later, Caridad is the author of more than thirty published novels and novellas. When not writing, Caridad is a wife, an attorney, and a mother to an aspiring writer and fashionista. For more information, please visit www.caridad.com.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To my daughter Samantha—you are the light of my life and I am so proud of you. Congratulations on all that you’ve achieved. May you fulfill all your wonderful dreams and always have love in your heart.

Mamacita

The nightmares had sucked life from him for months.

Then they had stopped abruptly.

Tonight’s bad dream was far worse. It sank its teeth deep and refused to let go.

Maybe it was wrong to call it a dream, Alex Garcia thought as he walked into a scene that was so vivid he could smell, taste and feel all that was around him.

The apartment he entered was dank and reeked of urine from the many squatters that had used the place for shelter. Only the chill of the winter night kept his discomfort to a tolerable level in the abandoned apartment. His cold sweat on the grip of his Glock turned the stock slippery. His gut tightened as he held his breath.

He was nervous.

Not a condition he was used to. He had grown accustomed to danger in his many years as a DEA agent. This mission was different.

Failure on this mission meant the possibility of death for hundreds of innocent civilians.

Never again .

He repeated the vow he had made after September 11, the one that had been the reason he had accepted this assignment.

He gripped the Glock tighter and moved farther into the apartment. He and his fellow Cuban Democratic Army member were supposed to pick up a stolen handheld smartbomb delivery system that the CDA planned to use in the terrorist attack that he intended to prevent.

The weapon was not in the empty apartment as it should have been. As he turned to look at his partner, wondering if they had gone to the wrong location, another CDA member stepped from a back room and opened fire.

The force of the blow to his chest had him reeling backward. The pain was so intense he nearly blacked out from it. When a second blast immediately followed, ripping into his midsection, his knees buckled.

He fell back against the wall, slowly sinking to the ground in a sitting position, the body of the other CDA member sprawled beside him. The man’s lifeless stare confirmed that he was dead, much as Alex expected to be shortly as his assailant trained his weapon on Alex’s head for the coup de grâce.

The loud sounds of gunfire and an explosion outside the room distracted the shooter long enough for Alex to raise his weapon and fire.

With a surprised look, the armed man lowered his gun and stared at the blossoming trail of blood down the middle of his chest. It was the last thing he saw as he dropped to the ground, dead from a direct shot to the heart.

Alex had little time to ponder what to do next.

He was too badly wounded to move. Already he could feel the growing warmth of the blood soaking into his clothing and leaving a chill behind in his body. He was going to die there, alone and unable to do anything else to help stop the terrorist attack.

He had failed in his mission.

Outside the apartment all hell had broken loose judging from the noises reverberating in the winter night. The FBI must have moved in and the CDA was likely fighting back, determined to complete their plot.

A second later, the door to the apartment burst open, slamming against the wall.

His eyesight was fading, but he saw that a man had entered the room. He was holding something.

Someone.

He forced himself to focus and realized the man held Alex’s ex-lover, but Diana wasn’t moving. Blood covered the man’s arms and hands as he embraced her.

Diana’s blood. Too much of it.

Alex forced himself to take a painful breath, attempting to speak. It managed to get the man’s attention, and as his gaze wavered, Alex finally glimpsed the man’s face.

Only it wasn’t a man.

Shock gathered his senses, bringing Alex to painful alertness.

He had to protect Diana from whatever that was. He tried to raise his gun, only his body refused to cooperate. He couldn’t move his arm. Couldn’t even feel the Glock in his hand anymore as awareness fled his dying body.

A voice suddenly penetrated his fading consciousness.

They weren’t alone in the room any longer.

He trained his attention on that voice—a woman’s husky tones.

“This one’s still alive.”

Alex realized she was referring to him, not that he would be alive for much longer. That realization didn’t bring fear for himself, but for those he had failed.

“Unlike your friend will be shortly,” the woman added and motioned to the monster holding Diana in his arms.

“Leave,” the demon commanded, pain evident in that one word, but the woman just laughed and sauntered over. She crouched before the demon and Diana.

Alex’s hearing and vision were dimming quickly. Only a confused murmur of voices came to him, but then the woman shot upright and strode angrily across the room toward him.

Her bright, almost phosphorescent blue-green gaze locked with his, her fangs clearly visible. A vampire, he thought for the barest of moments.

Only, vampires weren’t real.

What he was seeing had to be a product of his blood loss, he thought.