Release surged through him, grinding his muscles, shaking his core. As he let himself go, Gaby stroked his hair, making soft sounds of pleasure.
The lethargy in his bones accompanied his still-heavy breaths and knocking heartbeat. He opened his eyes and groaned with the repletion of it. Through the fogged windshield, Luther saw ominous clouds scuttle across the sky, filling the area with creeping moon shadows. Somewhere a dog barked, the sound hollow with distance.
Loving Gaby insulated him from all of it. He felt at peace, whole, and triumphant and renewed.
It was a moment he’d remember forever as a demonstrable change in his future. Gaby had admitted to needing him, wanting him. The concession would forever be etched into his brain.
A deluge of emotion engulfed Luther, and he hugged Gaby to his heart. She stirred herself, but only to get more comfortable. Neither of them felt pressed to move, to leave the dubious privacy of an idling car parked at the curb of a quiet middle-class neighborhood.
He remained inside her, but not so much now. He needed to remove the condom, to restore order to their clothes. But . . . he didn’t. Not yet.
After a time, as their body heat faded, Luther reached out and adjusted the thermostat again.
Lazily, Gaby sat back on his thighs and studied him. Luther relinquished a slight smile at her scrutiny. “Better?”
“Mmm.” With her fingertips, she touched his bottom lip. In veneration to the mood, she spoke in the quietest whisper. “You did good, cop. That at least took the edge off.”
Her insistence on calling him “cop” usually struck him as an insult. This time, he took it as an endearment. Smiling wider, he brought her down for a soft kiss. “I’m glad.”
Her nose touching his, she frowned and said, “I’m still angry with you, though.”
“We’ll work through it.” Luther had faith in that.
A soft sigh brushed his mouth. “It’ll require more sex.”
“What a hardship.” He smoothed a hand over her bottom, along her thigh. She had the softest skin, and a very toned physique without being overly muscular. “But I think I can handle it.”
“I wasn’t really giving you a choice.”
He landed one more grinning kiss onto her mouth, and then lifted her over into her own seat. “Put your pants on.”
“Why?” She rearranged her shirt to cover her breasts, and then chafed her arms to ward off the growing chill. “They’re just going to come off again as soon as I get you alone.”
Luther handed her jeans and panties to her. “Let’s just say I’ll drive better without the distraction of your nudity.”
Gaby grumbled, but obliged. Her comfort with nudity turned him on. Her possessiveness toward him did, too.
After rearranging himself, Luther put the car into gear and turned on the headlights. He turned around in a driveway and headed back to the main road, anxious to get home.
If it weren’t for a blood drinker turned cannibal, and Gaby’s devout compulsion to eradicate the lunatic, he’d feel like the luckiest man alive.
God only knew when catastrophe would strike again, so he wanted to take advantage of his private time with Gaby while he could.
Chapter 12
Fabian went down the steps to the basement of the old house. Already he’d pocketed his porcelain caps, leaving his jagged fangs revealed. Anticipating the treat that awaited him, saliva filled his mouth.
The woman would be physically weak now, crazed with fear, desperate for any salvation.
He’d promise her none. He wanted only to drink from her, to relish her warm blood for as long as she lasted. If he took too much, if he drained her, well then, she’d make a rewarding meal for the others. He had a new recipe he wanted to try out anyway.
After that hideous excuse for a rave where he’d suffered not only the disturbing encounter with the girl and her man, but also a quick trip to the police station thanks to an absurd bust, he had a desperate need for savage release.
Breathing hard, his body throbbing, he rounded a corner, turned on a light, and found . . .
Empty shackles on the wall.
Disbelieving, he stared at the empty wall where his captive should have been, but wasn’t.
With consternation, he took in the scene. Blood trailed along the floor, and at a small puddle he saw the IV tubing that had been inserted into her, and was now uselessly thrown aside.
Precious blood dripped from the tubing, stained the concrete floor. Hollow shock became an inferno of rage.
She’d fucking escaped. But how?
“Fabian?” Panting from exertion, a young man trotted down the steps, talking a mile a minute. “They got away from me! Like you said, I followed them but at a distance. But they took a lot of turns and it was so damn dark . . . I’m sorry.”
In his rage, Fabian didn’t quite comprehend. He turned with burning eyes to stare at the man.
“I . . . I didn’t come straight here. I drove around for more than an hour first, just in case anyone was on to me. But no one was. This time of night, the streets are almost empty.”
Thundering past the man, Fabian charged up the steps. At the moment, he didn’t care about whether or not his lackey had been able to follow Link and Gaby. Whether he wanted to or not, he knew he’d see those two again soon enough. At her convenience, not his.
But damn her, his curiosity had forced him to agree to her timetable.
Somehow he knew that peculiar bitch beyond recognizing her physically. In some bizarre way, he felt an affinity to her. He’d have to be in her presence to absorb her energy, and then he could figure it out. There’d be an added benefit involved: in stealing her light, he would also vitiate her ability.
And so he’d agreed to her demands.
He wasn’t worried about either of them connecting him to the current overblown headlines. No, given how Gaby had demolished innocent people, she had no connection to the law at all.
Gaby was a freak—and one way or another, Fabian would uncover his bond to her, even if he had to consume her to divine the connection.
But right now, he had something more important that required his attention.
For one of the few times in his adult life, Fabian suffered a loss of aplomb. In a mostly empty main room, he found the others assembled, awaiting his direction.
Only two of them had been at the rave, but as per his rules, they’d both been sober and free of drugs.
A man had to keep a clear head in order to recruit others for a meal.
Behind Fabian, the man who’d followed him back upstairs said again, “I . . . I’m sorry, Fabian.”
So furious that he couldn’t see straight, Fabian raised a hand for silence. As they all waited, breaths held with anxiety, he took his time replacing the caps over his teeth.
His hands shook, and that infuriated him. He needed to be precise to expedite the problem.
And to mete out punishment.
Marginally composed, he faced the small crowd of four. “Our meal has escaped.”
At his announcement, panicked inhalations sounded.
The man behind him sidled away to join the others, feeling a false sense of safety in numbers. Fools. Idiots.
Eyes burning and fury thrumming, Fabian studied the five of them, trying to divine the guiltiest. “One of you is to blame.”
Nervous murmurs whispered in the air. The group tightened.
“Who saw her last?” Fabian asked.
Three men and one woman looked to the young nurse. She blanched and shook her head in frantic denial.
Fabian saw it in her eyes. Ah, yes. She was the one who’d fucked up his plans and put them all at risk.
She’d been appointed with obtaining the anticoagulants for their captive. Obviously, she couldn’t go free. Not now.