Night's Kiss (Children of The Night 1)

"If you're smart, you'll be gone before he gets here." Roshan glanced at Brenna. "Let's go."

She slid out of the booth, and he followed her.

"Wait!" Dugan called, a note of panic in his voice. "I need help."

"Indeed?"

"There's so much I don't know. Mara, she didn't tell me hardly anything."

"Then ask her for help."

"Dammit, man, you can't just turn your back on me. We're… we're brothers."

"No," Roshan replied coldly. "We are enemies. And you are in my territory."

"I don't want this life!"

"Then end it."

"Roshan." Brenna placed her hand on his arm. "He needs your help. Remember how it was for you?"

He glared at her a moment, and then relented. "Come with me, Dugan."

Roshan didn't wait for a reply, didn't wait to see if the young vampire followed him. Taking Brenna by the hand, Roshan left the club.

CHAPTER 15

Jimmy Dugan grabbed his jacket and hurried after the vampire and his woman. He had known Roshan was one of the undead the moment the man stepped into the Nocturne. He had felt it in the deepest part of him. But the woman… she puzzled him. She wasn't a vampire and yet he had sensed there was something different about her, a subtle hint of supernatural power that was similar to, but not quite as strong as, the power he had sensed in the warlock who had approached him last night. Was she also a witch?

His pace slowed as he stepped out onto the sidewalk. Was he making another mistake? How did he know he could trust Roshan? Trusting people was what had gotten him into this mess in the first place. His mother had always warned him that he was too gullible, that he saw good in everyone. Lord, if she could see him now! She had cried when he called her last night. She had begged him to come home, promised to help him out of whatever trouble he was in. But how could he go back? He didn't trust himself to be around those he loved, not now, when the lust for blood was so strong, when he didn't know his own strength. He had spent one night with a beautiful woman and it had cost him his family, his job, and his girl. Damn! He didn't want to be a vampire. He had gone to the Nocturne in hopes of finding a way to regain his humanity. What good was living forever if you couldn't live with the people you loved the most?

He glanced up and down the street, his preternatural senses pointing him in Roshan's direction.

He found the vampire standing in the parking lot beside a sleek black Ferrari. The woman was already in the car. She looked at him through the window with a reassuring smile.

"Where's your car?" the vampire asked.

"Over there," Jimmy said, pointing at a silver Intrepid.

"Follow me."

"Where are we going?" Jimmy asked, but the other vampire didn't answer.

Moving to the driver's side of the Ferrari, the vampire opened the door and slid behind the wheel. A moment later, the engine purred to life.

With an exasperated sigh, Jimmy hurried to his car, certain the vampire wouldn't wait for him to catch up.

He followed the Ferrari for about forty minutes before the vampire pulled off the road.

Jimmy pulled up behind the other car, his gaze darting right and left. They were in a rest area located at the south end of the city limits. He grunted with wry amusement, drinking he felt like some young gunslinger being escorted out of Dodge.

"There's nothing to be afraid of," Jimmy muttered as he got out of the car. "You're a vampire, for crying out loud!"

The other vampire helped the woman out of the Ferrari. Standing side by side, they waited for him.

"Now what?" Jimmy asked. He glanced around. There was no one else in sight. Again, he wondered if he had made a mistake in coming here.

"We talk," the other vampire said. "What do you want to know?"

"I know sunlight will kill me. And fire. Are they the only things I have to worry about? I mean, I've seen all the movies, but all that other stuff is just a lot of crap, right?"

"Wrong. A wooden stake through the heart will destroy you. A good hunter will stake you, cut off your head, and bury the pieces in separate graves sprinkled with salt or holy water."

"You mean vampire hunters really exist?" Jimmy lifted a hand to his neck. He liked his head right where it was, thank you very much.

"You'd better believe it. One of the best of them is Tom Duncan. If he turns up where you are, leave the place as soon as you can."

Jimmy listened intently as the vampire explained more of what he needed to know. Much of what he said were things Jimmy had heard before or seen in movies. Funny, he had never considered that any of the vampire lore he had heard was based on fact. Hell, he had never believed that vampires or vampire hunters even existed. And now, impossible as it seemed, he was one of the undead, and all because he had let a beautiful woman seduce him. Served him right for cheating on Cathy, he thought bitterly.

Jimmy glanced at Brenna. She didn't look much older than he was, or any more worldly wise. He shook his head, thinking they were both mixed up in something they would be better off without.

"Is there anything else you want to know before you leave town?" the vampire asked.

Jimmy shook his head, already reeling under the weight of everything he had just learned.

"Why were you meeting Loken tonight?" the vampire asked.

"I never wanted to be a vampire. He was going to help me reverse the effects of the Dark Trick."

The vampire looked at the woman. "I thought you said he was looking for the secret of eternal life?"

"That is what he told me. Mayhap he has also found a cure." She looked at Jimmy. "He told you he could do that, that he could make you mortal again?"

Jimmy nodded. "He said it involved some blood tests, and then a blood exchange, a transfusion, you know? Out with the bad blood, in with the good."

The woman and the other vampire exchanged glances.

"There's no cure for vampirism," the vampire said flatly.

Jimmy stared at him. "I don't believe you."

"Whether you believe it or not doesn't matter. There is no cure except the destruction of your body."

Jimmy's shoulders sagged in defeat. "Loken was my only hope," he murmured, his voice thick with despair. "I'll never see Cathy again."

"Is Cathy your wife?" Brenna asked.

"My girlfriend. We were gonna to be married at the end of the year, but I told her we'd have to postpone it for a while. She thinks I'm in Chicago looking for a new job."