run her hands over his skin, taste him. The hunger for revenge eased, replaced by stark sexual warmth.
Damnit, she didn’t want this. She shoved at his torso and met solid muscle. The man didn’t budge. Mara stared. The last time she’d tried that move, when Jones had pushed her into the furnace, she’d sent him flying across the room.
“What the hell are you?”
“A vampire.”
Mara glanced upward at the sun.
“I take pills to help me tolerate sunshine.”
“So you’re an addict.”
“An addicting habit, a creature of the dark desiring to walk in the sun.”
“I suppose next you’ll tell me you have a tan,” she taunted.
He unfastened the first two buttons of his shirt, revealing an intriguing triangle of dark hair. The sexual craving sharpened. Mara studied his skin, the same golden color as his face.
“I do tan easily in the sun. I am Italian.” Those dark eyes twinkled with good humor as he fastened his shirt.
“I thought vampires sparkled in the sunshine,” she shot back.
“We haven’t sparkled since the era of disco lights and mirrored balls.”
The joke nearly coaxed a smile to her face. His good looks made her body hum like an electrical wire. The chemistry between them felt magical. Mara thought of how Jones had hummed while preparing her funeral pyre. She didn’t need a sexy vampire. She needed her weapons and her wits.
“Nice meeting you, vampire, but I have to run.”
He caught her arm in an iron grip. “No more running, Mara.”
Panic squeezed her throat. “How do you know my name?”
“I know everything about you. What you are, where you were born, your parents. Your powers as a Darklighter.” His gaze darkened. “What Dennis Jones tried to do to you.”
Mara fisted her hands. “What did I ever do to you? Or are you like Jones, you enjoy torturing others?”
“I’m here to save your life,” he said softly. He sat down. “I’m Lucien Marcello, sent from the Society to keep you from killing Jones.”
Every paranormal being knew of the secret Society. They used the most powerful Ancients to restore order when someone went bonkers or threatened to expose their kind to humans. If the lesser Ancients were machine guns, Lucien Marcello was their nuclear bomb. He’d once dispatched an entire pack of werewolf bounty hunters with his bare hands. The hunters never even scratched him.
Yet as he took her hand, his touch was gentle. The white light inside her hummed, recognized compassion and reached out for it.
Her dark side bristled. It was only when she exposed her warm, sappy side that people took advantage. Kidnapped her. Her bad side was too smart to let her get hurt.
Always go with the stronger side, she thought. Mara wrenched away.
“Jones deserves to die. I don’t need saving. Go bite a surfer. Leave me alone.”
“I cannot, Mara. Our destinies have collided.” His gaze burned with intent. “You saw the vision. We will be lovers.”
Cold sweat trickled down her back. “It was just a dream!”
“You know it was not,” he said gently. “Come with me. I don’t wish to see you die, and you will die if you kill Jones.”
The threat hung between them. But she had yet to fully explore her own powers. And to leave Jones unpunished, free to hurt more innocents?
Jones left the restaurant. He glanced across the street, saw her and smiled. Fear threaded through her, then curdled into cold rage.
“Bring it on,” she whispered.
Snarling, she felt her teeth sharpen. Fingers unfurled as talons sprouted. Mara itched to shred and rip and hurt. Just as he’d hurt her.
People glanced at her. Their eyes widened and then they scurried past. Some made remarks about Halloween photo shoots.
Jones gazed at the traffic as if to cross the street. Mara shot to her feet, only to have Lucien seize her wrist.
“Hurt him and what pain you inflict will be visited on you double.”
“Worth it.” She reached for the switchblade.
Lucien muttered an oath in a language Mara recognized as Latin. Her mother had spoken Latin fluently. Her sweet, angelic mother.
Her father had the real power, Mara thought.
“Look to your right,” he told her. “Two Society bounty hunters are waiting for you to attack Jones. When you do, they’ll be free to draw your blood. Not destroy you. Just hurt—and they can hurt very badly. Sometimes they don’t wait if they’ve seen your powers manifest.”
He gave a pointed look at her long gray talons. Terror snaked in her heart as the hunters started forward. Hunters never gave up. They liked to play, torment prey before they brought them in dead or alive.
With her parents, they had settled on dead.
Lucien held out a hand. “Come with me.”
The darkness screamed and raged. The calming light pulsed with common sense. She couldn’t take Jones here, out in the open.
The vampire offered safety away from the bounty hunters. He might be more dangerous, but for now, she’d take her chances.
Sheathing her talons, Mara took Lucien’s hand.
As she stood, the two hunters walked closer, their expressions savage and intent.
“Damnit,” Lucien muttered.
Shock filled her as he pulled her into his arms and covered her mouth with his.
Chapter 4
Warmth sang through Mara’s veins as Lucien’s lips coaxed and teased. His arms were two solid bands around her, holding her fast. She stopped trying to push him away. The snarling darkness faded, replaced by intrigue and desire.
Her arms slid up to wind around his neck. Drew him even closer as he deepened the kiss.
She’d never known kissing could be so wonderful. Parting her lips, she took his tongue inside the wet cavern of her mouth. Teasing, licking, tasting. Her tongue flicked at the tip of a fang, feeling it descend in response.
He tasted of darkness and sin, temptation and delicious need. And yet, beneath the wicked wanting was the bitter tang of sorrow, as if Lucien had danced with a devil much more powerful than the one inside her. Passion wound both of them together.
His scent wound around her in tendrils of spice and pure
