Terese opened the back door of Hades and led her mortal out into the alley.
“Terese!”
The dancers around him stilled at the lethal yell. But the back door had already swung shut.
* * *
A heady rush of power swept through her. Terese stared up at the red-head—Jeez, what was his name again? Martin? Marvin?—and felt her bloodlust grow.
The man was completely under her thrall. His gaze was helplessly fixated on her, his pupils dilated to tiny pinpricks.
“Get on your knees,” she whispered softly…and he did. He actually lowered to his knees before her! He stared up at her, waiting.
She’d been practicing her thrall over the last week. Little tests at first. Not on Apollo, never on him because she didn’t want to take his will away. She’d experimented only on strangers. Just little pushes before, but…
Now this.
A car horn sounded in the distance and laughter drifted in the air around her.
Terese was alone with the guy in the alley. Alone with a guy who outweighed her by at least two hundred pounds, but she wasn’t scared. She had all the control. All the power. Finally. “Tilt your head back,” she whispered and licked her dry lips.
Instantly, his head cocked, and his throat, that thick, muscled throat, was offered up to her.
Oh, my. Terese swallowed as her gaze drifted to the racing pulse point that tempted her—
“Don’t even think about it.”
She yelped and spun around at the rough rumble of Apollo’s voice.
He stalked out of the building’s shadows, his blue eyes glittering with rage. “Get away from him, Terese.”
“It’s…ah…not what you think.” He would have appeared at just that exact moment.
“Oh?” He took another slow step toward her, and the street light fell across his face. His seriously pissed face. “You didn’t just bring that guy out here so that you could stick those lovely fangs of yours in his throat?”
Well, the idea really was tempting…especially now that the fellow had his head tilted back so far and his throat was just waiting for her, but— “No. That’s not why I’m here.” Her fangs burned, but she ignored them.
The guy on the ground shook his head, then blinked groggily. “Wh—what’s goin’ on?”
Terese could have screamed. She glanced back down at the guy, striving to keep her thrall. “Nothing.” Her fingers stroked his hair. “You’re just resting for a moment, just resting and—”
Apollo grabbed her hand. “Do. Not. Touch. Him.” A tic jerked along his jaw.
But she needed to. She’d found that her compulsions worked a lot better if she touched her prey.
The redhead rose slowly. His brown eyes blinked, then narrowed. “What’s goin’ on?”
Apollo barely spared him a glance. “Go inside.”
The fellow’s bushy brows lowered. “Dick, don’t you tell me what to do—”
“Fuck off.” Apollo turned his head and locked his unblinking gaze on the fellow.
“Man, I will kick your ass!” The man’s fingers curled into ham-sized fists.
Terese reached out to touch him. She knew she could bring him back under her compulsion, knew she could calm him down and—
Apollo pulled her to his side. “I told you not to touch him,” he gritted.
She swallowed, and a lick of fear shot through her at the lethal expression on his face.
“Mortal, go inside.” Apollo’s voice shook with power.
The fellow ran inside.
And Terese really, really wanted to run after him.
Because she didn’t think being stranded in a deserted alley with an angry god was going to be much fun.
A strange, golden glow seemed to surround Apollo. Her eyes began to water as she gazed at him.
“I thought we went over this…” he muttered, his hand tightening even more around her wrist. “If you want to drink, then you will damn well drink from me.”
Her fangs burned. She realized that she wanted, quite badly, to bury her teeth into his flesh.
“Come on, Terese.” He yanked her against him. “You want to bite someone? Bite me.”
And she did. Her fangs sank into his throat and his sweet blood flowed onto her tongue. His hands curled around her ass and pulled her against the thick length of his arousal.
He groaned when she licked his neck.
By now, she knew all of his weak spots. Just as he knew hers. Each day just made her want him more.
Not just want him, need him.
She lifted her head. “I wasn’t going to bite him.”
He smiled down at her. “Finally mastered it, huh?”
And she knew that Apollo had been aware of her games.
She nodded.
“He wanted to f**k you.” Now her god sounded disgruntled.
Terese arched a brow. “Wasn’t going to happen.” His blood filled her with power and a humming energy. “I don’t want to—”
“Damn, Apollo, are you taking your dates to alleys these days? Cheap a**hole.” A man’s thundering voice cut across her words.
Apollo swore and turned slowly to face the guy who stood near the entrance of the alley.
Terese followed his gaze. Her eyes widened when she caught sight of a dark haired man with a wicked grin.
“Ares.” There wasn’t a whole lot of warmth in Apollo’s voice. All right, there wasn’t any warmth in his voice. “I thought you’d be out of town for another week.”
“Don’t worry, bro, I’ll be leaving soon.” His dark stare drifted over Terese and he whistled in appreciation. “I just thought I smelled a surge of power and figured I’d better pop in, you know, in case you were about to kick some ass.” His lips twisted. “But apparently, you aren’t kicking ass, you’re just getting some a—”
“Ares…” A definite warning edge was in Apollo’s voice.
The dark man just laughed.
Terese stared at the stranger as curiosity burned within her. Ares. She knew that name. “You’re the god of war, aren’t you?”
He gave a little bow.
“Oh, great! Him you know!” Apollo wrapped his arm around her shoulder as they faced his brother.
“And who might you be, my lovely?” Ares asked.
“Terese Lafitte.”
“It’s a pleasure to—”
“Cut the shit and stop hitting on her,” Apollo warned.
Ares frowned. “I wasn’t hitting on your…” He inhaled, and his eyes narrowed “…little vampire.”
She felt Apollo stiffen beside her. “How the hell did you—” he began.
“Her scent.” A small shrug. “I’ve met her kind before.” His eyes narrowed. “Even killed a few in my time.”
Apollo stepped forward and placed his body squarely in front of Terese’s. “Don’t even think about it.”
Another low rumble of laughter. “Relax, Pol. I’m not going to hurt your…friend.”
“Damn right you’re not.”
Hmmm…she wasn’t feeling a whole lot of love for the war god. Peeking over Apollo’s shoulder, Terese glared at Ares.
“But there’s someone else nearby…” His head cocked to the side. “Someone who wants to hurt her, very badly. I can feel his rage lapping at me.”
Eric.
“Where is he?” Apollo demanded.
“Close. Very close.” A gleam of what appeared to be anticipation lit the war god’s eyes. “Want me to track him?”
“No.” Cold. Deadly. “The bastard’s mine.”
“Huh. So you’re not all sunshine and smiles, eh, Pol?”
He didn’t answer.
“Good. I always knew there was a reason I let you keep living.”
Apollo snorted.
The air around Ares began to shimmer. “If you change your mind, well, you know how to find me.”
“I can handle this guy on my own.”
“Yeah, killing vamps should be child’s play for you, sunny boy.” With a wink, Ares disappeared.
Terese blinked, then glanced around the dark alley. She didn’t feel quite so powerful anymore. Actually, she felt scared. There’s someone else nearby… “I-is he out here?” Was Eric watching her? Watching them?
“No, if he were here, Ares would have told me.” Apollo’s gaze scanned the darkness.
Dammit, why couldn’t it be over? Why couldn’t Eric just leave her alone?
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of him.” The back of Apollo’s hand caressed her cheek.
“What—what do you mean?” She didn’t like the idea of Apollo going up against Eric. The guy was an elder, who knew what he could do? “I think we should just stay away from him.” Far away.
He snorted. “Yeah, that’s a plan.” He linked his hand with hers and pulled her close to him. “I need to get you some place safe, then I’ll hunt him and—”
“No!” She stared at him in disbelief. Surely he didn’t think she was just going to sit all comfy and cozy somewhere while he went out and faced Eric. “I’m not going to let you hunt him alone.”
But he just laughed. “Trust me, I can take him out.” Such total confidence.
Her eyes narrowed as she studied him. What had Ares said? Killing vamps should be child’s play for you, sunny boy. She swallowed, a really, really bad feeling rising in her stomach. “What did Ares mean, about you killing vampires?”
His eyelids lowered in a barely perceptible flinch. If she hadn’t been watching him so closely, she wouldn’t have seen the telling movement. “Apollo?”
His lips thinned. “I’ll tell you, but, first, I want to get you out of this alley.” His arms looped behind her, and he pulled her flush against him. “I want to jump back home.”
Jump. “You mean…space jump?” That was what he’d called it before.
A quick nod. “It’s the safest way. We’ll disappear and if that bastard’s watching, he won’t know where the hell we went.”
Her fingers dug into his waist. “How does this work exactly?” Jumping through space, that seemed dangerous. “I mean, is it like on Star Trek when the crew members look like they’re disintegrating?”
His lips quivered and she knew he fought a smile. “No, sweetheart. We’re not going to disintegrate. We’re just gonna move really, really fast.”
“Oh, okay.” Moving fast didn’t sound so bad.
“Now, hold on tight, and don’t let go, no matter what happens.”
No matter what happens. Um…back to sounding bad. “Apollo, I don’t understand, why—”
Too late.
A strange howling filled her ears, and the alley darkened as the cement walls faded away.
A blur of light whipped past her body. Hands yanked at her flesh.
Terese screamed and clung to Apollo, holding on to her god with all her strength.
Chapter Six
“Are you all right?”
Terese cracked open one eye and managed to glare at him. “Are we done jumping?”
With an effort, Apollo managed not to laugh. “Uh, yeah, we’re done.” They were back at his place, and Terese was currently curled in the fetal position on his bed.
Her other eye opened. “I don’t ever, ever want to do that again.”
“Sorry, I should have told you that jumping could be a little unsettling at first.”
“Yeah, a little.” She sat up, rubbing her arms. Then she bit her lip. “Do you think we’re safe now?”
He hoped so, but he really didn’t know how powerful Eric was.
There was someone who could tell him, someone who always seemed to know everything about mortal and immortal life—
Zeus. His all-knowing, arrogant sire.
He’d have to jump to Olympus and pay his old man a visit to see what the bastard knew.
Terese stretched out on the bed. “Dawn’s coming.”
Apollo blinked. The windows were completely covered. Not even a trace of light from the outside shone in. With each day that passed, Terese seemed to sense the dawn’s power more and more.
The mattress dipped when he crawled into the bed with her. “There’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you.”
Her arms wrapped around him, and she cuddled close, resting her cheek on his shoulder. “What’s that?” she asked, her voice soft.
“What were you like…before?” Before Eric had found her, before he’d transformed her into a vampire. Before there’d been fear in her eyes.
Her head lifted and she gazed at him, a small line pulling down her brows. “What do you mean?”
“Well, what did you do for a living?” Such a simple, normal question. And it was so important to him.
He wanted to know Terese. To know the woman she’d been, to know the woman she’d become.
“I-I was an artist.” She lifted her right hand and gazed down at her nails. “I always had paint on me. On my clothes, in my hair.” She turned her hand toward him. “Under my nails.”
He caught her hand in his, brought it to his mouth, and kissed her fingers. “What did you paint?”
Her smile faded as sadness slipped across her face. “I liked to paint the outdoors. Landscapes. Sunsets. The morning light trickling over a pond…” She swallowed and for a moment, tears shimmered in her eyes. “I wasn’t an artistic genius or anything, but I-I enjoyed the painting. It made me happy.”