He jerked to a halt, his mouth falling open again. “You did that on purpose?”
“Yes.”
“That whole”—he drew a circle in the air with a downward pointing index finger—“360-degree spin thing?”
“Actually, it was more like a 450-degree spin, but yes. I can’t see clearly in the dark like you, and I had to use the headlights to check out the area and see what you were up against. And I wanted to see the whole area. Every direction. The spin allowed me to do that.”
“Wait. Is that my car?”
“Yes. I had to borrow it because my Tesla is still at David’s.”
He frowned and started forward again. “How did you know I was in trouble?”
That one required a more careful answer.
She motioned to the scattered remains of his motorcycle. “Solid black isn’t standard for Hayabusas.”
“You recognized my bike? As fast as you were going?”
“Yes.” Only because she had been looking for it. “What happened?”
Clearly he hadn’t been beset by hordes of vampires as she had feared. No vamp remains littered the road or field. His weapons were all sheathed. And he appeared unharmed.
He hesitated.
Interesting. He was hiding something, too. She could almost see his mind working to formulate an answer.
He leapt the small ditch that separated them and landed only a couple of feet away. “How much do you know of my gift?”
The special talents and abilities immortals possessed were not a result of the virus (which was why vampires lacked them). The abilities stemmed from the advanced DNA with which gifted ones were born. The older the immortal, the stronger and more varied the gifts. Younger immortals, because their bloodline had been diluted more thoroughly as a result of gifted ones’ reproducing with ordinary humans over the millennia, usually only boasted one or two gifts that were not nearly as powerful as those of the elders’.
“I know nothing of your gift,” Ami told him. “Nothing of you beyond what I’ve learned during the past week.”
He looked away. “Please don’t laugh when I say this, but …” Marcus returned his gaze to her. “I see dead people.”
“Dead people? As in ghosts and spirits?”
“Yes.”
“Why would I laugh at that?” she asked, puzzled. “It sounds rather … unpleasant.”
“It is. But there’s this movie and … it’s become a bit of a joke… . Never mind.”
Ami slid her weapons into thigh holsters that could accommodate the silencers. “So, that’s what happened? You saw a ghost?”
“Yes. And it distracted me. Sometimes it startles me more than others. And, when I’m riding along faster than you were just driving, it’s a bit disconcerting to look over and see a man, walking beside me, keeping pace.”
Ami shivered. “Yeesh.”
“Exactly. What were you doing out here anyway? You seemed to be in something of a hurry.”
Ooh. That was a tough one.
“Did Seth call you?” he continued.
Ami thought it an odd change of subject, but leapt at the chance to evade his other question. “Yes. That was him calling as you were leaving earlier.”
“He didn’t call you just now?”
“No, why?” She narrowed her eyes. “Did you ask him to assign you another Second?”
“No!”
She blinked at the near shout.
“I mean, no,” he said in more even tones. “I am … perfectly content with you acting as my Second.” He even added a smile. A rather nervous one.
“You are?”
“Yes.”
Yeah, right. “Then why did you think Seth—?”
“You never told me what you’re doing here,” he interrupted.
She had hoped he’d forgotten that. “I …” sensed you were in danger and followed the feeling straight to you. Not that she could say as much. He knew she was neither a gifted one nor an immortal, and she doubted he would settle for attributing it to female intuition. She glanced down at her hunting togs. “I was on my way to spar with Darnell.”
She peeked up at him through her lashes to see if he bought it.
He shook his head, smiling. “You really can’t lie worth a damn.”
“Who told you that?” she demanded. She tried, damn it! It wasn’t her fault deception didn’t come naturally to her!
Marcus laughed, brown eyes brightening, then grunted. Pain rippled across his features as he placed a careful hand against his chest off to one side. “It wasn’t an insult, Ami. Trust me.”
She frowned. “What’s wrong? Are you injured?”
“Yeah. I’m pretty sure some of my ribs are broken. Or were. They’re mending, but it still hurts like hell.”
Closing the distance between them, Ami brushed his hand aside and replaced it with one of her own. Beneath his dark knit shirt, his flesh was warm and rippled with hard muscle. Her breath caught as a tingle zipped through her.
Knowing how acute immortals’ hearing was, she glanced up to see if he had noticed and swallowed hard when she found him watching her intently.
Just pretend he’s Seth, she ordered herself.
But he wasn’t Seth. And Ami wasn’t accustomed to touching men. At all. Her people forbade such contact even when it was casual in nature. Once she had overcome her fear of Seth, David, and Darnell after they had rescued her, the most startling aspect of her new life had been the way the men had touched her so freely … and expected her to touch them back. Nothing amorous, of course. None of them thought of her in that way. All three men were simply very affectionate, freely distributing hugs, putting their arms around her, kissing her forehead. (Seth and David were so tall that kissing her cheek would require too much bending.)
Though it had taken her a while, Ami had eventually learned not to shy away from such familiarity and actually enjoyed returning the gestures now.
But Marcus was different. Touching him in any way felt … very intimate and left her heart racing. As it did now.
Ami smoothed her hand over the left side of his thickly muscled chest and down toward his taut abdomen. He grunted, his head and chest jerking forward slightly whenever she hit a tender spot.
“Here?”
“Yes.”
“And here?”
“Mmph. Yes.”
“These two feel broken, but I don’t think these are. Is it just this side?”
“No.”
Ami rested her other hand on the opposite side of his chest and continued her examination. Her exploration.
He grunted, his head almost lowering enough to touch hers.
Ami frowned. How had this happened? Had he hit the tree with the Busa?
Raising her head to ask, she nearly choked on her breath. His eyes, glowing a warm, gentle amber, flickered from her face to her hands on his torso.
Quiet enveloped them, tempered by the sounds of insects and other night creatures.
“Are you all right?” she asked when he said nothing.
“Yes.”
“Your eyes are glowing,” she told him, voice hushed.
His reaction surprised her. Lowering his lids to hide the luminescence, he turned his head away slightly as though embarrassed. “It’s … it’s nothing. Just the pain.” Grasping her wrists lightly, he removed her hands from his body.
Ami felt heat climb into her cheeks. “You need blood. To heal your ribs.”
His lids lifted as his gaze darted to the pulse that beat wildly at the base of her neck. His lips tilted up in a wry smile. “The bag you gave me was destroyed in the crash. And I believe Seth told me you aren’t on the menu.”
The notion of him closing those soft, warm lips on her throat spawned what was rapidly becoming a familiar fluttery feeling in her lower belly. “Actually, I didn’t mean me. I have a well-stocked cooler in the backseat.”
He released her right wrist, but retained his hold on her left, stopping her when she would have turned away to retrieve the cooler.
She raised her eyebrows in question.
“Are you afraid of me, Ami?”
“No,” she answered honestly. She had been at first. She always feared strangers now, thanks to the monsters who had deceived and captured her when she had approached them in friendship. But, even though Marcus had not wanted her in his house, tonight was the first time he had ever spoken to her in anger. Usually, he crept around trying to avoid her and simply appeared chagrined when she caught him.
Ami thought chagrined an adorable look for him.
Eyes narrowing slightly, he studied her with enough interest to stir her nerves.
He started to speak, then straightened and closed his mouth. His brow furrowed. Turning aside, he examined the trees to the west near the Hayabusa, then those to the south. Tilting his head back, he closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath, much like a predator seeking the scent of its prey.
Ami watched him, wondering what had caught his attention.
Abruptly, his eyes flew open and flashed a brilliant amber. “Oh shit.”
“What is it?”
“Vampires.” Dropping her hand, he clutched her upper arm in a bruising grip and propelled her toward the open driver’s side door with what appeared to be a great deal of alarm. “Get in.”
“What? Why? How many are there?” she asked, heart thudding.
“Too many. Tell Reordon he has a security breach.” Though she dug in her heels, he managed to deposit her behind the steering wheel. “Chris calls a guy and tells him where to pick me up. Less than five minutes later, dozens of vampires descend upon me. No fucking way that’s a coincidence.”
“Dozens!” Vampires hadn’t congregated in those numbers since Bastien’s army had been toppled a year and a half ago. “You can’t defeat dozens by yourself!”
When she tried to exit the car, he held her in place with a hand on her shoulder. “Tell Chris to send backup.”