“It’s a lovely night,” she remarked as they walked back to the theater parking lot.
“Yes.” He took her hand in his as they crossed the street. “Do you like the night?”
“I used to love to go walking after dark, or sitting on my balcony to look at the stars. Or at least I did until the vampires showed up. Thank you for tonight. It was fun.”
They were at her car now. She unlocked the door, wondering if he would kiss her good night.
“Perhaps we can do it again?”
“Yes, I’d like that.” She pulled her business card from her purse and handed it to him. “I wrote my cell number on the back. Call me.”
“I will.”
“Well, good night.”
He caught her arm when she turned away. Pulling her close, he kissed her until her toes curled.
“Good night, Tessa. And don’t worry, I’ll be right behind you.”
“Thanks.”
Andrei followed her home, noting, when he glanced in the rearview mirror, that two other cars had fallen in behind his. Keeping a discreet distance, they followed him to Tessa’s apartment complex.
Andrei drove past, nodding when the other two cars pulled up across the street.
He chuckled softly as he parked on the next block, thinking, as he dissolved into mist, that there would soon be two fewer vampires for Tessa to worry about.
Chapter Four
After parking her car, Tessa got out, house key in hand, and hurried up the stairs. She had expected Andrei to walk her to her door to make sure she got safely inside.
She wasn’t sure what it was that warned her. A faint creak on the stairs or the way the hairs along her arms suddenly stood at attention, but she had no sooner slid her key into the lock than someone pushed her to the ground.
A large hand covered her mouth, stifling her scream.
It took her a minute to realize that there were two men on the landing, each tugging on one of her arms as if she were a wishbone.
And then a third man appeared, his hands slashing through the air like knives, and she was free.
“Get inside!” Andrei barked. “Lock the door.”
She obeyed without question. After practically hurtling into her apartment, she slammed the door shut behind her and shot the dead bolt home.
Gasping for breath, Tessa went to the window and peered out.
Three men, all dressed in black, struggled on the landing. She had no trouble identifying Andrei. He was taller than the other two and moved with the kind of speed and grace she had only seen in martial arts movies.
It was a silent battle, vicious, and quickly over.
Tessa covered her mouth with her hand when Andrei broke the neck of one vampire and drove a stake into the heart of the other.
She gagged when he pulled the stake—dripping with dark red blood—from the second body and drove it into the heart of the first vampire.
She had seen things a lot more gruesome and violent on TV shows. But this wasn’t TV. It was real life.
Sick to her stomach, she bolted for the bathroom.
* * *
Andrei frowned at the sounds of retching coming from inside Tessa’s apartment. He supposed he couldn’t blame her for being sick. Still, she had seen him kill before. Then again, it wasn’t something most mortals ever got used to.
He had intended to walk her from her car to her door, only there had been a third vampire lurking in the shadows by the sidewalk. By the time he questioned that one, then dispatched him, the other fledglings had already reached the landing.
Hoisting the dead vampires—one over each shoulder—he whisked them out of the city to the local dump. After tossing their bodies on top of a heap of trash where the early morning sun would quickly turn them to ash, he returned for the third vampire and added him to the pile.
A thought took him back to Tessa’s apartment. He stood at the door a moment, pondering what he’d learned as he questioned the first vampire. In fear for his life, the fledgling had gasped, “Madame Murga . . . she tells of a woman named Tessa whose blood can enhance a newly made vampire’s strength tenfold.”
Andrei hadn’t waited to hear any more. At the sound of Tessa’s name, he had ripped the heart from the vampire’s chest and tossed the body aside.
He was still considering the fledgling’s words when Tessa’s pale face appeared at the window. Her eyes widened a moment and then, recognizing him, she breathed a sigh of relief.
A moment later, the door swung open.
With a tentative smile, she invited him in.
Not a smart move on her part, Andrei mused as he stepped across the threshold. But then, she had no idea what manner of man she had just welcomed into her home.
He glanced around her apartment. Several inexpensive paintings of flowers adorned the pale yellow walls. A narrow cabinet held a collection of Disney princess figurines. A striped sofa and matching love seat faced each other in front of a small fireplace. A half wall divided the living room from the combination kitchen–dining room. There were two closed doors to the left of the dining room.