Sara Humphreys - Vampire Trouble

All of the men in his pack had a distinctive scent, a combination of fresh earth and wood smoke. Their scents made her almost dizzy, and for some inexplicable reason, she simply had to go with them. She didn’t particularly want to be with Horace, but something deep inside her gut pulled her toward him.

“After you,” Horace said with a sweeping gesture.

Maya looked up and saw a massive, white stretch limo waiting at the curb. All of the other couples had piled in, and the human limo driver stood patiently waiting by the open door. Maya looked from the closed door of the club to the limo and back to Horace. She nibbled her lower lip, knowing full well she should get her butt back to her apartment, but one of the other girls, a vamp named Ginger, leaned out the open door and waved.

“Come on, Maya. You’ve never partied until you partied with these boys. They’re wild,” she shrieked just before Marcus, one of Horace’s pack members, pulled her back into the limo.

“See,” Horace said. “You’re perfectly safe with us.” He trailed one finger along her jaw, down her throat, and around the necklace. “We’re just here to have some fun.”

The door to the club swung open and Shane stood in the doorway like the angel of death. If Maya didn’t know better, she’d say he’d grown about a foot and a half. In the blink of an eye, Maya slid into the waiting limo, but Horace stopped in the doorway and faced Shane. He waved off the limo driver, who promptly went to get in the driver’s seat.

“The lady made her decision, Quesada.”

The girls in the car giggled and clung to their dates, but the men kept their eyes on Maya. She gripped her bag tighter and peered out the door past Horace. Her stomach dropped when Shane’s eyes met hers.

“Yeah,” Horace said on a laugh, “I know who you are. You’re a sentry, one of the soldiers that do all the dirty work for the Presidium. So unless you want to break the nice little truce we have going between our races, I’d suggest you back the fuck up. I’d hate to have to tell the czars that you were picking a fight with the heir to the throne.”

“Heir? That’s funny, I thought you were the spare,” Shane murmured, shifting his furious glare from Horace to Maya.

“I’m royalty, and you are the fucking help.”

Shane said nothing but took a step back. Maya didn’t know whether to be relieved or annoyed.

“That’s what I thought.” Horace flicked his cigarette butt into the gutter and slid into the seat next to Maya.

The limo door slammed shut just before the driver pulled away. Maya turned around to look out the window, but Shane was nowhere to be seen. Her gut clenched and tears stung at the back of her eyes because she knew that she’d hurt him. But when Horace implied that Shane had control of her, that he had her on a leash, she lost it. One thought nagged at her: Had she lost Shane in the process?

Maya leaned on the smooth granite counter of a lavish bathroom that was bigger than some entire NYC apartments. Staring at her reflection in the mirror, she didn’t like what she saw one bit. One of the human misconceptions about vamps was that they had no reflection, but that wasn’t true. Nope. Maya could see her dumb blond self as clear as day.

How could she have been so stupid?

Once they arrived in the suite, which was one of the most gorgeous spaces Maya had ever seen, she quickly excused herself to go to the bathroom and change. At first she worried that Horace might try to stop her and keep her in the horribly tacky dress from the club, but he didn’t. He continued to be a gentleman.

There had been no sign of Shane, and so far, he hadn’t tried to telepath with her. Right after the limo pulled away, Maya opened her mind to him and found nothing but silence. Achingly sad silence filled Maya’s head and made her long for one of Trixie’s jabs about her bad taste in music or one of Suzie’s silly newbie vampire questions. At this point, she’d even take a scolding I-told-you-so from Sadie.

She heard none of that. There was only silence because Shane, the one person whom Maya could now telepath with, wasn’t speaking to her—and she couldn’t blame him. Maya nibbled her lower lip and ran her fingers through her hair, attempting to smooth it as she thought about how upset Olivia was going to be when she heard Maya went with the wolves. However, no matter how angry Olivia got, it would be nothing compared to the hurt look on Shane’s face when she went with Horace.

“What are you doing?” Maya whispered to her own reflection. She rolled her eyes and shook her head on a growl before answering her own question. “You’re going home, you dumb ass.”

Grabbing the bag, she opened the bathroom door and was struck by the surprising lack of noise. There was no more chatter or giggling from the girls, and the only sound was the music coming from the sound system hooked up throughout the massive, three-bedroom suite. She reached out with her senses and could tell all three bedrooms were occupied—two of them with more than one couple. Closing her eyes, she sharpened her focus and captured the distinct scent of the wolves mixed with the pungent odor of sex—and blood.

The girls were feeding on the wolves, breaking one of the cardinal rules: no feeding on werewolves. Maya’s eyes whipped open and she ran into the main living room of the suite. Panicked and dizzy from the strong, almost overpowering combination of scents, Maya felt her vision blur, and lights flickered behind her eyes. Her skin felt too small for her body and her necklace hung heavy and cumbersome around her neck, like a noose.

If she didn’t know better, Maya would think she’d been drugged.

“Wh-what’s happening to me?” she whispered. Stumbling, Maya grabbed the back of one of the living-room chairs for support. “I don’t feel well… I need to go home.”

“You okay?” Horace’s voice whisked around her in the air, and he encircled her bicep with his hot, sweaty hand. As Horace helped her to her feet, his face went in and out of focus, and she vaguely noticed him take the bag from her. “Come on, let’s go out on the terrace and get you some fresh air.”

“But I don’t breathe,” Maya said absently.

The terrace doors opened and the cold, New York City air hit her, instantly making her feel better. Squeezing her eyes shut, with Horace’s hand still firmly around her arm, Maya focused on the sounds and scents in the air that were so distinctly part of the Big Apple.

Car exhaust. Human heartbeats fluttering like a swarm of butterflies. Hot dogs and pretzels. Blood.

Even when her head started to clear a bit, Maya couldn’t rid herself of Horace’s pungent, intriguing scent of burning wood. That same pulling sensation tugged at her gut and willed her closer to him. It wasn’t desire, the way her body yearned for Shane’s, but something else…something she couldn’t quite decipher. Even though she didn’t want him, her body was inexplicably drawn to his like a magnet.

Maya leaned on the railing of the terrace and gave Horace a weak smile. The tugging sensation throbbed in her belly, making her nauseous.

“Feeling better?” Horace asked. He linked his arm around her waist and tugged her against him. She could feel his growing erection pressing against her hip, and that feeling of panic began to bubble up again.

“Not really.” Maya laughed nervously. She placed her hands on his shoulders and leaned back, pushing him away while he tried to nuzzle her neck. “It looks like your party isn’t happening and everyone went to sleep. Speaking of which, I have to get going.” Maya glanced at the glimmer of light on the horizon. The sun was beginning to rise, and her time was running out. “The sun will be up soon, and I’d really rather not use the tunnels to get back, so I should leave now.”