I stretched then cringed at the knot in my neck. Sitting, I rubbed and kneaded the area.
Colby hadn’t shown. He beat the mighty Nosferatu and escaped the city. I smiled while straightening my wrinkled off-white blouse.
My back itched from sleeping in a bra, I tried to reach it and scratch. The clock read a little past noon so I scooted over the sofa and did something I loved to do.
Order room service.
Fortified with a good meal and some coffee, I’d be ready to face my life.
“Do you want something to eat, Gwen?”
“No.” Her tired voice came from under the bed.
My smile widened. She hid under there all night for nothing. “Anybody else?” I waited for a minute.
Then a muted ‘ no’ came from the closet.
It didn’t take long for the service to arrive. They knocked on the door twenty minutes after I ordered.
I opened the door.
A dark haired man with a moustache pushed the trolley into the room then closed the door behind him with his foot.
“I’ll eat by the window. It’s such a beautiful day.” I led him to a chair I’d placed there. The smell of bacon and coffee filled the room and my stomach rumbled. “Excuse me.” I grinned as I twisted around to assist with the cart. Sunlight glinted off the steel green eyes of the service attendant.
My heart hit my gut like a skydiver without a parachute. Hunger turned to nausea.
“Colby.” His name a bare whisper from my lips.
He smiled under the dark fake moustache and lifted the cover off my plate. “Ta—
da.”
I stared at his chiseled features under the black dyed hair and was speechless.
He quirked an eyebrow. “Have any idea why every damn vampire in the city is after my ass, Connie?”
“Yes. Don’t you—” Before I could finish my sentence a blur crawled out from under the bed and another flew from the closet.
They knocked me against the wall, where the back of my head hit the windowsill, and they converged on Colby.
Stars flashed in my vision, but when it cleared, I witnessed my ex-employer kick-ass.
He dodged their grasps and leaped over the couch. A male, who must have been in the closet, followed only to get karate chopped in the throat.
A high-pitched wheeze came from Gwen’s partner as he clasped his neck and tried to breathe. He stumbled to the bed and collapsed to the floor out of view.
Gwen stood between Colby and the door. I didn’t want her to get hurt. “Stop.” The shout made Colby glance over. Fury burned in his eyes.
Not wasting an opportunity Gwen pounced.
Mid-air Colby grabbed her around the waist and slammed her to the ground. They rolled across the floor toward me.
Gwen’s legs squeezed his torso as they stopped with him on top.
Pinning her hands to the floor, Colby stared at her as if he’d been slapped with a stun stick. Both panted as if out of breath. Something unspoken passed amid them, because she released her grip and he stood.
His glare stabbed me. “Traitor.”
“You tried to kill me!” I stepped closer to him while rubbing the bump on my head, but Gwen snatched my arm.
He blinked. “How?”
“You need to go.” Gwen pointed at him.
Without another word, Colby sprinted across the hotel room and opened it.
Tane stood in the doorway. The crack of his fist meeting Colby’s chin made me flinch. He crumpled to the ground.
It should have been a triumphant moment, however sunlight poured over Tane, and fire flashed on his exposed skin. He let out a blood-curdling screech before disappearing.
Smoke and a sweet stench corrupted the air.
Gwen and I stood in stunned silence.
“You never told us Colby was a werewolf.” She stayed very still next to me.
I blinked as what she said sunk through the chaos of my mind. “He is?” What I saw hadn’t sunk in yet. The smoke filtered into the room and made me sneeze. “I guess Tane’s not dead since I’m still breathing.” I glanced at her.
“It takes more sunlight than that to kill a Nosferatu. He got singed.” Gwen crossed the room, checked Colby’s pulse and sighed as if relieved. “He’s still alive.”
“What makes you think he’s not human?”
“You think a human can take on two werewolves in hand to hand combat and win?
And he smells…different.” She stared up at me.
I shrugged. “Never really gave it a thought.”
Gwen brushed the dark hair from his face with a tender touch then sighed. Pulling out plastic ties from her pocket, she secured his wrists and ankles.
“You were going to let him escape a moment ago.”
She shook her head. “A hormonal mistake. I’m sure you’ve made bad choices too.”
Boy, did I, and I was about to make another one. “I’d better check on Tane.” I stepped over Colby’s prone body and hesitated. “Did you get the impression Colby was surprised by my accusation?”
She rolled him onto his side and lifted his eyelids while ignoring my question. “He should recover from this blow.”
“What will you do with him?”
“Question him. Get the truth.”
That’s not what I meant. “How?”
She glared at me with a drawn brow. “How do you think?”
I’d been on the receiving end of such questioning recently. It made me sick that I helped capture him, but he’d tried to kill me. Right?
“Go check on our master, Connie.”
I nodded and turned my back on her. The smell of burnt flesh seemed stronger to my left so I followed the odor down the windowless hall.
Bet it surprised the hell out of Colby to find Tane awake during the day. Where would he go? Probably in one of the other rooms. Did I start knocking on every door and draw attention?
I glanced over my shoulder as Gwen closed my room door and left me alone in the corridor. No help from her.
Standing in my bare feet and wrinkled suit, I scratched my fuzzed out curly head. If I called out would he answer? I groaned inside, maybe if I used something other than my voice.
It took me months to learn how to build a shield around my mind to keep out vampires. Learning to let it go proved difficult. With focused concentration, the walls melting away like Rurik had instructed, they faded enough for me to shout his name mentally.
Not a second later, I discerned his presence. “Rabbit?”
“Where are you?”
“Room five-seventeen. You might not want to enter. The burns are gruesome.”
Through his light mental touch, I could sense he shielded me from the amount of pain he experienced. I cringed as our minds brushed against each other, I didn’t need to take any trips down the Nosferatu memory lane. He could keep those nightmares; I had my own.
His presence disappeared like a popped bubble.
I walked two doors farther and turned the unlocked handle. Inside, Tane sat on the bed with his back against the wall. His right forearm and the right side of his face were red with blisters. A strip of untouched skin ran across his eyes where he’d block the sunlight with his arm.
He grinned. “Don’t look so shocked. You make me feel worse.”
Screwing my expression into something more pleasant, I went into the bathroom and soaked a face cloth with cold water.
“It’s been a long time since the sun has caught me. I forgot how much it fucking hurts.”
“Shouldn’t you be healing?” I approached him and pressed the cool moisture with a gentle hand to his face.
With a quiet hiss, he grimaced and closed his eyes. “I am. Most vampires would have expired with such an exposure.” He peeked at me with one eye. “It would go faster if I fed. Fresh blood heals best.”
The blisters oozed clear fluid and looked painful. Did I admit to him I was the one who left curtains open? Guilt chased away any appetite I’d had for breakfast. I lifted my wrist to his mouth without complaint.