“Help! Somebody help!” she screamed from the top of her lungs, but in the next instant all the air was pushed from her lungs as the intruder pressed her back into the cushions as easily as if she were a toddler and not a grown woman.
She knew instantly that despite the self-defense classes she’d taken in college, she had no chance against an assailant this strong.
Her next scream for help was smothered beneath his broad palm and only came out as a muffled cry. Nobody would hear her.
Shit! What would Morgan West do now? How would he get out of this predicament? Kick his attacker in the nuts? Yeah, if she could lift her knee, which she couldn’t, because he’d disabled her with his weight. Besides, Morgan wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place.
“Where is it?” he grunted.
She ignored his question, not understanding what he was talking about, and instead tried to burn his face into her memory. No matter what happened now, she would do everything she could to be able to identify him in a lineup later.
His eyes were still glaring red, though this was probably an illusion caused by her fear, since there was no way the light in the room could reflect off his irises at this angle. Deep lines ran across his forehead, and his mouth was set in a grim line. His dark hair was shaggy, his face clean-shaven. He had prominent high cheekbones, but no other marks that would make him easy to identify.
The sound of a door opening made her shift her gaze from her attacker’s face and peer past his shoulders.
Another man, one just as tall as her attacker, charged toward them.
Oh fuck! Could her luck get any worse? The burglar hadn’t come alone. He’d brought an accomplice. Now there were two of them.
4
Blake lunged at the attacker. He’d heard a woman’s scream coming from inside Hannah’s flat just as he was picking the lock on her door.
There was no doubt that the man was a vampire. Just as it was evident that the woman being attacked wasn’t Hannah, but a blonde in a skimpy outfit, her long bare legs sticking out from under her aggressor.
Blake gripped the attacker by the shoulders and jerked him off his victim. The hostile vampire wheeled around, growling viciously, but Blake didn’t waste time and delivered a blow to the guy’s face. It whipped to the side for an instant, before snapping back. Now even more pissed off at having his fun interrupted, the asshole fought back.
Fending off the guy’s punches, Blake didn’t get a chance to verify that the woman was unhurt. He only heard her frightened screams and saw a flash of something pink move in his peripheral vision. He had to keep all his wits about him to keep his attacker at bay. The stranger had an advantage over Blake, because he was heavier, though his fighting technique was less refined. That’s where Blake had the upper hand. Even so, the guy still managed to land a few minor kicks and blows.
When the jerk’s fist came at him again, Blake ducked away and rammed him against the bookcase. Books and trinkets crashed to the floor, but the vampire didn’t give up. He grabbed the standing lamp to his left and flung it at Blake, who dove away, letting it slam harmlessly against the wall.
But the attacker didn’t slow down. He pushed away from the bookshelf and reached for a chair that was covered with a stack of magazines. Blake knew exactly what the guy planned to do with the chair—the wooden chair. But he didn’t intend to give him the chance.
“Nice try, buddy!” Blake grunted and jumped, knocking the chair out of the assailant’s hand before he could slam it against the wall and make himself a stake. As Blake wheeled back to deliver a punch to the attacker’s head, a balled-up fist hit him in the gut, making him fold over for a split second.
But he’d had worse than this. Scanguards had trained him well in hand-to-hand combat. Nobody would defeat him that easily, not even a vampire who weighed a good thirty pounds more than him.
He continued to trade blows with the assailant, avoiding as many direct hits as he could, though the attacker did land a few well-placed fists, just as Blake managed to deliver some decent blows to the guy’s increasingly agitated face. It wouldn’t be long before both he and the attacker would bare their fangs, despite the human in the room. Not knowing whether the woman knew what they were, he wanted to avoid that complication.
It spurned him on to go even harder at the hostile vampire, and he now used his legs to deliver powerful kicks, moves he’d learned from various martial arts disciplines. But the assailant wouldn’t go down. He kept coming, kept punching and kicking more ferociously by the minute, as if the fight was replenishing his energy. There was no stopping him with ordinary means. Only a stake or a silver bullet would bring this determined jerk down. But that wasn’t an option right now, particularly since he wanted him alive.
Blake gritted his teeth and drew on all of his reserves, pummeling the assailant with vampire force and speed. In return, the vampire turned even wilder. His eyes glared red now.