High Stakes (Vegas Vampires #1)(44)
Author: Erin McCarthy

He was very close to the cure, he was certain.

Brittany could be the key.

Go inside, he commanded himself.

His body stayed exactly where it was.

He reminded himself he was possibly running out of time. If Donatelli won the election, Corbin would not be allowed to remain inLas Vegas . More likely, he would be sent to Alaska or someplace equally horrible, where he would have to draw blood from moose or bears or something else with fur.

The very idea offended his sensibilities. He did not even enjoy Vegas all that much, with all its glitz and bright lights, but it was civilization, with conveniences and decent tailors. Not nineteenth-centuryParis , that was true, but it was accommodating and full of seductive women.

Taking blood from a showgirl or a moose.There was really no comparison.

Corbin sighed.Climbed down off the garage roof.

And went to break into Brittany ‘s bedroom window.

Chapter Fifteen

Alexis should have been tired. She’d only slept about three hours in the last twenty-four. But she couldn’t sleep, and after a fruitless effort to force it, she’d given up and had flicked on the TV and raided the minibar for MandM’s. The problem with dating a vampire was he was never hungry.

She, on the other hand, never went more than five minutes without thinking about food. Popping a blue into her mouth, she crunched and reached for her Sidekick. Ethan had wanted her to sleep in his room while he had some kind of meeting with Seamus. But she preferred her own space. This side-by-side suite thing was perfect for her—convenient to Ethan, but still a locked door away if she needed time to herself.

There were a slew of new messages on the vampire slayers loop when she went to check the private message board. She was lurking, and hadn’t announced her presence to the group at large, but the moderator knew she was there, and probably anyone else who wanted topick through the member roster. She’d used her free social e-mail address, not her work one, and had registered under the nameshortyl994 . Still, anyone with any savvy could trace it back to her.

Probably not a good thing.But she’d had to see what this group was all about, and if they were loons or actually had info about Ethan and the other Vegas vampires.

Her attorney brain urged her not to draw any conclusions, while her natural skepticism had her leaning toward loons. Then again, they had known about her, which meant they had some level of organization, and someone knew where she was.

Message 16532 What kind of stake do you recommend using to kill the undead? Thanx , Vampvixen .

Alexis put three MandM’s in her mouth. "Do stakes really even kill vampires? Note to self: Ask Ethan for details on this whole dead thing."

The man she was dating was a vampire. It wasn’t a fantasy, or a movie, or the result of an aneurysm to the brain. Ethan was older than dirt and she was sleeping with him. Alexis poured half the bag of candy onto her tongue. This was why she was never getting married.

All the great men were either taken, g*y, a foot and a half taller than her, or were vampires. It sucked.

Not that she’d ever really picturedherself married. That was more Brittany ‘s style. But a nice, long-term boyfriend, companion-ship, and some stellar sex, sure, she wanted that. All she was going to get was this one week with Ethan. Then he’d go off to do presidential things, and she would go back to her job. He would live another thousand years while she got weak and saggy and forgetful.Fun.

Reply toVamp on stakes I use stakes hand carved from Transylvanian oak, twenty-four inches in length and two in diameter. They’re expensive, but highly effective and can be purchased online with free shipping.

-at-

Ooo-kay.Thanks, Rock, duly noted.

"Next we have Kitty Kitty?" Alexis rolled her eyes. "Kitty and vampire slaying just don’t go together."

I just buy dowels from Home Depot, Vix . They’re like fifty cents apiece and work just as good. Take care, hugs and love, Kitty.

The idea that someone might attempt this whole staking thing with Ethan or any of the other vampires she had met really bugged her. Whether these slayers knew what the hell they were doing or not, Alexis didn’t want to see the manshe l liked a whole lot get a piece of wood shoved in his chest.

Her role in the game, which was no longer a game, was no vampire slayer at all, but vampire protector. Well, maybe not protector. But watchdog. No, she didn’t want to be compared in any way to a dog.Special vampire friend.Which sounded like a para normal episode ofBarney , the purple dinosaur.

So there was no title for what she was.Fine. But she wanted

Ethan alive andwell, and the reason behind that didn’t require close scrutiny.

A noise had her turning to her right. That wasn’t the TV. It was her door. Someone was swiping a key card through it. Jumping up, she tossed the Sidekick on the couch and moved into the shadows, wondering where she’d left her purse and her cell phone. Damn, she really hoped this wasn’t a vampire slayer coming in person to recruit her. That could be awkward.

Figuring it was better to catch the person off guard, when the door opened and someone stepped into her room, she threw a kick. When she met air instead of body mass, the doorway suddenly empty, she realized it was Ethan.

"You know, most women greet their lovers with a kiss, not a kick."

He was behind her, the smart-ass. Whirling, she tried to retrieve her heart from her throat. "Yeah, well, most women aren’t dating vampires either. Why the hell are you coming into my room, with a key, in the middle of the night?"

That was seriously going to cramp her feelings of independence. And hadn’t that been a contingency of her stay in the contract he had signed? Of course, was a contract signed by a vampire valid in civil court?

"I thought you were a serial killer, ra**st, stalker, burglar type, Ethan. I was defending myself."

‘Of course you were. And I can’t tell you how pleased I am that you can defend yourself if need be. But next time, I truly would prefer the kiss."

He sat down on her couch like he owned it. Wait a minute. He did own it. How annoying.

"And I thought you were asleep, so I didn’t wish to disturb you by knocking."

Alexis crossed her arms and just stared at him. There were so many things wrong with what he had just said. "If you thought I was asleep, then why the hell were you coming into my room? Were you going to bite me in my sleep or something?Because that is a serious no-no. There will be only consensual biting in this relationship." And she wasn’t even sure how often she was going to let him do that. It was the same way with sex toys. Once you let a guy have them, he couldn’t do without.

Ethan crossed his feet on the coffee table and looked unperturbed. "I wasn’t going to bite you. Or wake you up with kinky sex acts, though that does have a certain appeal. I just wanted to check on you, assure myself you’re all right, sleeping peacefully. I planned to gaze a bit on your angelic beauty, and sigh with contentment, fortified to go back to a long, boring round of questions and answers with Seamus."