Sucker Bet (Vegas Vampires #4)(60)
Author: Erin McCarthy

"I didn’t enjoy doing that. But I had to."

"Why? Were they threatening you? They’re just mortals, David. They can act out their slayer fantasies all they want, but it’s very difficult for even the most skilled slayer to kill a vampire. You know that." None of this was making any sense to her. "How does Sasha play into all of this?" And what was Sasha currently saying to Nate upstairs?

Saying Sasha’s name made David even more agitated. Sweat was on his forehead and he shifted anxiously. "Chechikov was going to kill her. But first, he was going to torture her, unless she took out the slayers. He’s already been knocking her around… right since the first day they were married. So I was helping her, taking care of Chechikov’s nasty requests so he would leave her alone. I followed Chechikov to the Ava out of curiosity, and watched him sneaking around the pool. And I realized he was mortal. It seemed like an amazing opportunity, you know? So I killed him, too. Problem solved. Sasha free, slayers left alone…" He leaned forward, so close to her she could see the shadow of his beard and smell the cinnamon of his gum. "I’m going to take you into this club and you’re going to dance and drink and have a great time. Just like you did at The Impalers concert."

Gwenna ignored that. She was still floored from the obvious realization that David was Slash, and he was absolutely and utterly in love with Sasha. Poor sot. That would be a cold bed to lie in, she imagined. And he had killed for the witch. Maybe she wasn’t being fair to Sasha, but somehow she doubted there was a hidden heart of gold.

"You’re in love with Sasha, aren’t you?"

David’s eyes narrowed, then he just scoffed. "I’m not discussing anything else with you."

"Love makes you do insane things, doesn’t it? But trust me, David, some people are not worth our devotion. They just drag us down to their level. I should know. I was married to Roberto Donatelli for three hundred years."

"I’m not interested in this conversation," he said, and took her elbow, pulling her back down the hall.

"Why are you taking me into a club?" What the hell did any of this have to do with her? A thought occurred to her. "Is Kelsey here?"

But he looked genuinely confused by that. "No, why would she be?"

Gwenna dug her feet into the carpet. Her mind was racing, struggling to keep up. "The slayers are here, aren’t they?"

He just wiped his free hand on the bottom of his black T-shirt and yanked her harder. "I wouldn’t drink so much this time if I were you."

Since she couldn’t decide if that was meant to protect her or send her up the proverbial river, she said nothing. But he had to have a decent reason for hauling her with him, and she wanted to know what it was.

There was a doorman scanning IDs through a computer and verifying they were on the guest list. "I’m on the list," Gwenna said stupidly when he scanned her license and her name popped up. Now why was that exactly? Who would gain from having her attend what obviously wasn’t just open night at the club, but a private party. One she knew nothing about.

Then it occurred to her. The slayers knew that killing her would invoke a lot of anger from vampires. Ethan. Alexis. Roberto. All of them with enormous amounts of power and people at their disposal. They wouldn’t take her murder lightly. They would retaliate. So in essence, killing her would start a war.

What a special feeling to know her stupidity might be responsible for exposing all of her species to mortal condemnation, ensuring the death of hundreds if not thousands of vampires and mortals alike.

The doorman handed her identification back. "Thank you, Ms. Carrick."

When he moved, Gwenna saw that he had a gun tucked under his button-up shirt, which was open to his T-shirt. And he was mortal. "Thank you," she told him with a polite smile, stripping him of his weapon before he was even aware she had moved. A quick thrust of her hand and she had him down on the ground in a glamour, breathing heavily, eyes closed.

She rounded on David, gun aimed at his chest. "Explain what the hell is going on here."

He cursed colorfully. "You can’t kill me with that."

"And you can’t kill me with that knife. But we can both cause each other some pain and slow each other down. Which puts us at a stalemate."

"I’m stronger than you."

"I’m smarter than you."

"Someone’s coming down the hall," he said.

Gwenna could hear them, too. "Get behind the desk. And drag the doorman with you."

"No!"

"Yes, you idiot. If someone sees us, they’ll call the cops and that will ruin whatever nefarious deeds you have planned for inside that club."

That spurred him into action. He grabbed the doorman by the feet and hauled him behind the desk, tugging on Gwenna’s shirt as he went by. She went with him, just because she wanted to keep an eye on him. The whole situation was ridiculous. Squatting down behind the desk, the gun still loosely in her hand, she glanced at David next to her. He looked tired. Resigned. The doorman was drooling, crumpled up on the floor. And she felt the urge to giggle, but restrained herself.

Then she realized who was coming down the hall. It was Nate. She could hear his voice, low, angry. Smell him. It was instinctive to stand, but halfway up she dropped back down. If he was speaking to someone, odds were it was Sasha, so it would be wise to see what they were doing first. She shot David a stern look to ensure his silence, but he looked too miserable to say anything.

"If you’re lying to me, I’ll be very, very angry," Nate said, and Gwenna was glad she wasn’t the one who had ticked him off. That was not a pleasant tone he was using.

"I am not lying," a woman replied, her voice almost as cold as Nate’s, her accent Russian. Definitely Sasha.

David’s eyes widened when he realized who it was.

"David will be here at the club and you can arrest him. He deserves to rot in jail for murdering my husband and for harassing me."

There was a sharp intake of air from David and he whispered, "That…"

Bitch. Exactly what Gwenna had thought. She was sorry to be right in this case. David looked like he was going to revisit his dinner, and he looked absolutely heartbroken. Utterly crushed.

"He killed the others to incite the slayers to violence, and he has been stalking me with his unwanted attentions."

They opened the door and went into the club. Gwenna heard laughter and music float out. She and David sat still for another second, until she reached out and patted his knee. He had killed three men, but he had thought he was doing so to protect the woman he loved from her monster of a husband. She actually felt a certain amount of pity for him.