He laughed softly. "Afraid to be seen with me, Miss…" His gaze moved to the badge pinned to the lapel of her jacket. "Miss Delaney." There was an unspoken challenge in the depths of his midnight blue eyes.
She was afraid; afraid of the effect he had on her senses, afraid of that air of male supremacy that rolled off him in waves, but she would have chewed her tongue off and swallowed it whole before she would have admitted it. She had encountered vampires before, but never one this old, or this powerful.
She was still trying to think of a suitable reply when, without a word, he was gone.
Regan glanced around, surprised to find that everyone else was gone, as well, and that she was alone in the park. Though every instinct she possessed urged her to run from the place just as fast as she could, she turned and walked sedately toward the street where she had left her car. One of the first things she had learned was that showing fear in front of a vampire, or any predator for that matter, was never a good idea.
Regan slipped her hand into her jacket pocket. She was a hunter. She was supposed to be brave. Her finger curled around the trigger. Why had she parked so far away?
She was still a good distance from the curb when she realized someone was watching her from the darkness. She glanced casually over her shoulder, expecting to see hell-red eyes staring back at her. There was no one there, but she knew she wasn't alone. Someone was following her. She heard faint, mocking laughter off to her left and she veered to the right. Fingers of cold sweat trickled down her spine.
The sense of being followed grew stronger, the eerie laughter grew louder, and suddenly she was running. If anyone saw her and thought she was afraid, well, she would just have to live with it, because they were right.
Dead right.
She had almost reached the edge of the park when, without warning, she slammed into someone. She would have screamed, only terror froze the sound in her throat. At any rate, there was no one left in the park to come to her aid.
The vampire stared down at her, close-set eyes blazing red, thin lips peeled back to reveal sharp white fangs. He looked young and strong and hungry—and she was going to be dinner. It was her own fault. Anyone who lingered in the park after sundown was fair game. But she wasn't going down without a fight. She reached for her crucifix and her gun at the same time, but before she could use either one, the master of the city materialized between her and the other vampire.
"Karl," Santiago said, "go home."
The two vampires stared at each other for a long moment. Regan could feel the animosity that hummed between them, feel their power rise in a silent battle of wills. For a moment, she was afraid there would be a fight. She glanced at her car, wondering how long it would take her to get to the curb and climb inside, because if there was one thing she didn't want to do, it was get between two angry vampires.
Several taut moments ticked into eternity and then, with a hiss, Karl vanished from sight. She knew he hadn't really vanished, only that he had moved faster than mortal eyes could follow.
"Come," Santiago said, extending his hand to her. "I will walk you to your car."
Regan stared up at him. Walk her to her car? "How can you do that? You can't leave the park."
"Can't I?"
A sudden chill tiptoed down her spine. "Can you?"
"No one tells me where to go or what to do," he said with bold arrogance. "Least of all a human girl."
"I'm not a girl," she said with asperity. "I'm a woman."
A faint smile tugged at his lips. "Go home, little girl, before the big bad wolf gobbles you up."
He didn't have to tell her twice. She was all too aware of his heated gaze on her back as he followed her to the edge of the park. He stopped where the sidewalk began.
After punching in the code to unlock the car, Regan slid behind the wheel and quickly closed the door. Resisting the urge to look back and see if the master of the city was still watching her, she punched in the ignition code and headed for home as if Satan himself was after her.
And perhaps he was.
Regan thought about the vampire Santiago all the way home and again later, while she soaked in a hot bubble bath. He had offered to walk her to her car. She had a terrible feeling that he would have been able to do it, too, if she had agreed. But how could that be? Vampires weren't supposed to be able to pass through the invisible force field. But what if he could? And if he could, did that mean others of the Undead were also able to leave the park? Had mankind been living under a false sense of security for the last five years?
The thought made her go cold all over.
Stepping out of the tub, she wrapped up in a large fluffy towel and went into the bedroom. After drying off, she slipped into her nightgown and a warm fleece robe, then went into the kitchen. She punched hot chocolate with a splash of extra chocolate into the computer, hoping it would help her to relax. Meeting Joaquin Santiago had unsettled her far more than she cared to admit.
Though Santiago didn't look a day over thirty, it was said that he was the oldest vampire in the city, perhaps the oldest vampire in the country. He was undoubtedly the most dangerous—and certainly the most handsome, with his long black hair, dark, penetrating eyes, and muscular physique.
With a shake of her head, Regan thrust him from her mind. Curling up on the sofa, she switched on the Satellite Screen, flipping through the online guide in search of a late movie she hadn't already seen a hundred times.
For the next two hours, she managed to avoid thinking about Joaquin Santiago. But later, while she was lying in bed, he invaded her thoughts yet again, walking through the corridors of her mind, an ache that wouldn't go away.
Chapter 2
Joaquin Santiago prowled the dark, deserted streets of the city. He was supposed to be concentrating on finding the creature that had killed yet another mortal in his territory, but his thoughts kept straying toward the woman. Miss Regan Delaney. Even now, her scent lingered in his nostrils, the warm sweet scent of woman, the flowery fragrance of her cologne, the deeper, more compelling scent of her life's blood. Rarely had he met a woman who stirred more than his hunger, but Miss Delaney, with her sea-green eyes and honey-gold hair, ah, she aroused both his hunger and his desire. It was a dangerous and potent combination. The fact that she had worked with the police department added a hint of danger to the mix.
But he had no time for a woman, not even the very delectable Miss Delaney, not when there was a killer on the prowl, a killer who had dared violate the city that Santiago called home. The humans suspected a vampire of the murder in the park, but Santiago knew better. There were perhaps a handful of the Undead who had the power to mask their scent and their presence from him, but only one, other than himself, could breech the barrier that surrounded the Park. It was that fact that troubled him most of all, that aberration that convinced him he wasn't looking for a vampire at all, but for a creature he had hunted for hundreds of years. Was it mere coincidence that had brought Vasile here, to this place, at this time?