He marched into the bathroom. She had to follow—at least to the door.
“Wait!” Amber cried out, her voice sharp. “You’re going to use the bathroom? In the middle of our fight? You are so weird! This isn’t normal. Not at all!”
Nothing about him was normal. He yanked on the cold water faucet, sending water plummeting down into the narrow shower stall.
Then he started stripping.
“What are you doing?”
He thought it was pretty obvious. “Cooling down.” Because the lust he felt for her was too strong. He had to get his control back, ASAP.
He left his clothes in a pile and stepped under the water.
Chapter Four
“Man, I am telling you…it was the craziest shit I ever saw!” The vampire paused as his buddy propped his shoulder against the nearby alley wall. “The bartender—you know, that pretty number with the blonde hair—she pulled out her taser and knocked that guy on his ass! She didn’t just hit the bruiser once. She did it twice. Then the guy—he just got up. Like it was nothing. He walked out of the bar without even a second glance. It was like…freaking Halloween shit. He was all Michael Myers up in that place!”
“No way.” His friend was disbelieving. “You are drunk off your ass and making up crap again. You always do this.” He waved toward the vamp. “Go sober up. I’ll see you Monday in Chemistry.” Then he turned and walked away.
“It is not bullshit!” the vampire yelled after him. “That shit is real! It happened. The guy must have been freaking superhuman the way he just jumped back up. Like a horror movie villain or something—and did I mention he was wearing a hood the whole time? A hood and gloves and—”
“I don’t think your story is bullshit,” Leo announced, tired of hiding in the shadows and just listening to the drunk vampire’s story.
The vampire gave a high-pitched yell and then he spun to face Leo. The vamp actually clutched his chest.
Not a real vamp, of course. The blood on the side of his mouth was fake. The fangs were fake. Leo was just looking at a scared frat boy. A human, so Leo would go easy on him. This human wasn’t bad. Just drunk.
“Don’t sneak up on people!” the drunk vamp said—only his words came out in a too fast tumble.
Leo lifted a brow. “I want to hear more about your story.” He waved his hand toward the human. “Tell me everything you remember about the man in the hood.”
The human blinked, once, twice, then he started speaking because he had to follow Leo’s command. “He was about six foot two, maybe three. He wore a gray hoodie over his head, but I saw his eyes. They were bright blue. He had on gloves—black gloves. Looked like leather, but I don’t know if they were.”
“They weren’t.” They were made of something far more valuable. “Keep going.”
“He went to see the bartender. Only had eyes for Amber.”
“Because she’s his prey.” But he won’t keep her. He’ll just deliver her to Luke.
“She tased him and ran. I don’t think she liked him.”
She might not like him, but she’d sought the Reaper’s protection when she could have gone with Leo. She still hates me that much. His chest ached, and Leo rubbed the area over his heart. Few would believe he had a heart.
He did. And Amber owned a very large piece of it.
“Do you know anything else useful?” Leo’s head cocked. “Do you happen to know where Amber lived?”
“Near Jackson Square. In the apartment over the bookstore. I…saw her there one day, when I was out for a jog. A woman like her is hard to miss.”
“Yes. She is.” He stared at the human. “But you’re going to forget her. You’ll forget Amber. You’ll forget the man in the hood. You will walk your ass home and sleep off the booze.”
The vampire nodded. Then he turned away and began walking down the street. Leo waited until the human was out of sight, and then he took to the sky, shooting high up and rushing away. Leo didn’t look back. He didn’t look down…
His thoughts were focused completely on Amber. He had to find her. Had to get to her…before the Reaper delivered Amber back to his brother.
Amber had almost died because of Luke once before. He would not let Luke hurt her again.
***
A weakness.
Gregory Cethin watched from the rooftop as the Lord of the Light flew away. It had been pure chance that he’d been in New Orleans when Leo had come calling. When he’d seen the SUV barreling down the road, when he’d seen the mighty Leo go flying after impact…
Priceless. So he’d just had to hang around. Just had to see what wonders waited for him.
And now, Gregory had a most precious prize. Leo was gone now, vanishing into the sky, but the human was still close by. He jumped from the building and his knees barely buckled when he touched down on the street below. Whistling, he closed in on his prey.
“I like the cape,” he called out to the human.
The guy spun toward him.
“Ah…the fangs are a nice touch, too,” Gregory said. “Gives that realistic edge that vamps need.” He tapped his own fangs. “I mean, how can you bite, without the fangs?”