Be Still My Vampire Heart(28)

 

She glanced at the third floor of her apartment building. All the windows were covered with closed blinds. Her apartment was the third window from the left. Was that a gap between two slats? She narrowed her eyes. The blinds flipped open. She gasped.

 

Angus was there!

 

"Hey, lady!" the cabbie yelled. "You gonna stand there all night? Shut the door."

 

Emma tossed the crate back into the cab, grabbed the sack off the roof, and climbed back into the cab. "Drive."

 

"What?" The cabbie gave her an annoyed look. "Where to?"

 

"Just drive. Now!"

 

He stomped on the accelerator.

 

Emma twisted to look out the back window. The blinds had been pulled up in her apartment, and the dark silhouette of a man filled her window. She could feel his eyes on her, watching. She could feel his presence, hovering around her.

 

She faced front. Shit, she hated running away. But there was no way she was going to fight a vampire un-prepared. And it wasn't like she could ask him to please step out for ten minutes while she set a trap to kill his ass.

 

His gorgeous ass. The memory of him hanging upside down sneaked into her head.

 

The taxi reached the end of the street. "Where to, lady?"

 

"Ah, turn right." Emma pounded a fist on her knee in frustration. She hated to retreat, even when it was the best choice. Think, think. She needed a place where she could prepare for battle in secret. Then, when she was ready, she'd invite him over.

 

Of course! Austin's apartment. It was close by in Greenwich Village. And it was bigger than her place. A much better place for battling a vampire.

 

She gave the cabbie the address. She had become good friends with Austin Erickson while he was on the Stake-Out team. After Sean had blacklisted him from any decent work, Austin had taken a construction job in Malaysia. It had to be paying really well, since he'd kept his apartment in Manhattan.

 

Emma had volunteered to keep an eye on it. Thank goodness. It afforded her the perfect place to set her trap. Maybe she would lure Angus into the bedroom. The bed was decorated with cast-iron spindles. It was perfect for the silver handcuffs.

 

And Angus—surely he would follow her into the bedroom. His attraction to her was no secret. She recalled the feel of his erection pressed against her thigh. The touch of his hand as he caressed her hip. His boast about leaving women verra satisfied.

 

She was tempted to see if that was true. He did claim to be a man of his word.

 

No! He wasn't a man. With a groan, Emma leaned back against the seat. A part of the battle was within herself.

 

The devil take it, she was getting away. Angus had been disappointed when Emma didn't answer the phone. He'd been forced to use her answering machine as a directional beacon.

 

Since his arrival a few minutes earlier, he'd taken the liberty of examining her tiny apartment. Nothing interesting but a handful of stakes on her coffee table with a permanent marker nearby. He could imagine her watching the telly while she labeled each stake with Mum or Dad.

 

He wondered if she was simply going somewhere to wait for sunrise. He'd be forced to leave before dawn. Still, he wanted to talk to her tonight. He needed to convince her once and for all to give up slaying.

 

He gazed out the window. Her cab had reached the end of the block. He could teleport to the corner in a second, but an elderly woman was standing there with her dog, waiting to cross the street. If he suddenly appeared beside her, she might keel over and die of fright.

 

Or break a hip. Mortals, especially old ones, seemed so fragile. Angus spotted a dark area next to a flight of stairs leading into the corner building. He focused and teleported into the shadowed area. He felt under his sporran to make sure he was intact, then stepped from the shadow.

 

The cab turned right. The lady hobbled across the street, unaware of his presence. Her dog spotted him, though, and pranced about, yapping. He glared at the little terrier. Silence. With a whimper, the dog sidled up to the old woman.

 

Angus groaned inwardly. He'd always loved animals as a mortal, so it irked him when they acted terrified of him. Not quite human. Roman's discovery still nettled him. No wonder animals reacted poorly around him. They could sense what he hadn't realized all these years.

 

He watched Emma's cab driving away in the distance. It slowed to make a left turn. He zoomed after it at vampire speed and continued to follow. Whenever the cab stopped, he remained hidden. If Emma saw him, she'd lead him on a wild-goose chase all over Manhattan.

 

Luckily she didn't go far. The cab halted in front of an apartment building in Greenwich Village. He waited behind a delivery van while she unloaded a bag and a crate from the backseat onto the sidewalk. More stakes? He'd seen an empty crate like that at her apartment.