Bit the Jackpot (Vegas Vampires #2)(59)
Author: Erin McCarthy

"Maybe another night."Cara shot a frantic look at Alexis, who was frowning and studying Donatelli’s back. Alexis wasn’t paying attention to her.

"No, you’ll dance for me tonight." He pulled something out of the drawer, and Cara realized it was a thin, sharp wooden stake. "Ever seen one of these?" He pushed it into his palm, drawing blood.

Cara grabbed Kelsey by the arm and tried to run for the door. There was a rush of movement, air, a loud slamming sound. Cara blinked, fear freezing her to the carpet. Donatelli had Kelsey up against the wall, one hand on her neck, the other holding the stake right over her chest.

Kelsey looked terrified, her breath hard and urgent. Her eyes darted around wildly and landed on Cara, pleading with her.

"Let her go," Alexis demanded. "Kelsey doesn’t have anything to do with this."

"But she does. She’s here, isn’t she?" Donatelli wasn’t a big man. He was actually shorter than Kelsey, but he leaned forward and whispered to her, twisting the stake slowly. "Do you remember the last time we were together, Kelsey? This time it will be more than blood I’ll take. It will be your life."

Kelsey whimpered as he pressed a little harder, breaking the flesh beneath her silk cami . The silver stained with fresh blood, a tiny quarter-size spot, but growing.

"Stop!"Cara cried out.

Alexis suddenly attacked Donatelli’s back, but he knocked her to the floor with one sharp crack of his fist.

"Alexis!" Cara scrambled to her, finding her friend unconscious. Fear made her stomach flip. He’d barely touched Alexis. He could kill Kelsey before they could even blink.

"What do you want?" she asked him.

"I want you to dance for me. That’s not so hard, is it? You do it every night."

"Will you let Kelsey go if I do?"

"Absolutely.Once you are stripped down to nothing and you’ve given me a full five-minute routine, I swear to you, on my honor as a vampire, that I will let Kelsey go. I’ll let all of you go. And I’ll even tell you where your boyfriend is." He caressed Kelsey’s cheek, making her shudder. "What do you think? It’s a pretty good deal on your part, don’t you think?A bargain, given your experience."

It was meant to humiliate her, mock her. Cara felt nauseous at the thought of taking her clothes off for Donatelli , but one look at Kelsey and she knew she had to do it. Kelsey was crying now, blood tears streaking her pale cheeks, and her whole body quivered. Even her teeth were rattling. Alexis was still out cold on the floor. And Donatelli wouldn’t think twice about killing all of them. She could sense that. He let her feel that. He allowed his thoughts of malice and cruel intent, amusement and lack of conscience, drift over to her, so she would understand he was serious.

"Do you have some music?"

He might be lying about letting them go, but it felt like he was telling the truth, and she wasn’t sure they had any other options. In fact, she knew they didn’t. Giving a desperate call in her head to Seamus, who very possibly needed help of his own, she watched Donatelli let go of Kelsey’s neck and point.

"There is a satellite radio system over there on the desk. I’ll let you choose the music."

How generous.

Cara found an RandB station with some thumping bass driving a soulful song. She started moving, her back to Donatelli , not ready to face him and his leering, triumphant face. It was harder than she’d thought. She felt cold and stiff, terrified and disgusted.

"Is that the best you can do?" he asked, scoffing. "It’s a wonder you keep your job. Dancers are a dime a dozen in this town."

Coming to a complete stop, Cara clenched her fists. She couldn’t do this.

A sharp cry of pain and a gurgling jerked from Kelsey. Cara spun around. Donatelli must have pushed the tip in,then pulled it back out, because Kelsey’s shirt was crimson on every inch of the left side. Before she could even ask if she was alright, Donatelli reached out with his expensive leather shoe and stepped on Alexis’s wrist.

Cara realized Alexis had been discreetly reaching for him, probably to pull his leg out from under him. But he came down on her wrist with enough pressure to rip a scream from her, the sick crunching of her bones reverberating in the room, jarring over the bass music.

"You’re starting to irritate me," Donatelli told Alexis.

Alexis held her wrist limping against her chest and rocked back and forth in pain, her lips clamped shut.

"Leave her alone."

"This is getting redundant and tiresome," Donatelli said, voice hardening. "Strip for me, bitch, or I’ll kill all three of you in the next thirty seconds."

Menace rolled from him in waves.

Cara pulled off her T-shirt and went into her Tuesday night routine.

Seamus grabbed his head in the elevator and cursed. "Damn, what was that?"

"What?" Ethan was using the wall to prop himself up.

"I felt fear, or something.Pain." He glanced at the numbers lit up above the doors, suddenly anxious. "I could have sworn I heard Cara calling for me. She was scared."

They were flying downward past the fourteenth floor. "What floor was Donatelli on when we went to his room before?"

"Before he tied us up?" Ethan shrugged. "Twentieth. Why?"

Seamus hit the button for the twelfth floor to get the elevator to stop. "Shit. I think Cara is in Donatelli’s room." He didn’t know why, but something was just telling him that he needed to get to her. That something was very wrong.

"Why would Cara be here at the Venetian?" Ethan asked, rubbing his jaw.

The elevator doors opened and Seamus hit the button for the twentieth floor. The doors slide shut again and they started back up. "You tell me. Can you call Alexis or are you still too drunk?"

"No, I’m sober now." Ethan shook his head. "But when I call Alexis there is a wall there. I thought it was because she was mad at me but what if what if something is wrong? "

Seamus watched his friend’s face leech of all color. Ethan ran his hand through his blond hair. "Shit, Seamus. What if Donatelli went after Alexis and Cara while we were tied up on the roof?"

That’s exactly what Seamus was afraid of. "I have the worst feeling about all of this. Ethan, you go in the front door. I’m going back up on the roof and fly down to Donatelli’s balcony. That way we can watch each other’s back."

"There are no balconies at the Venetian," Ethan said, his voice rising in frustration.

"Fine.We’ll just have to rush him and hope we catch him off guard."

"If he’s hurt my wife, I’m going to be very, very angry," Ethan said.