Embraced By Darkness (Riley Jenson Guardian 5)

"So where does that leave the investigation?"

"Right now? At goddamn nowhere."

The waiter arrived with our coffees and my food. I took all the lettuce off the burger, then grabbed it two-handed and bit into it. Meat juices flooded my mouth and I couldn't help the rumble of pleasure that rolled up my throat.

Kellen shook his head, a smile touching his lips. "I can see the chance of any sort of sensible talk has gone out the window."

"Too right," I said, around the mouthful of burger. "This is good."

"They usually are." He picked up his coffee and sipped it while I continued to chow down, alternating between die burger and fries, and splashing them both down with coffee.

"Feeling better?" he asked when I finally finished, his voice dry and his eyes twinkling merrily.

"Totally." I wiped my mouth with the napkin then tossed it back onto the table. "However, now there are deeper hungers that need to be fed. You feel like heading to the Blue Moon?"

"It's closer than home or my car."

It wasn't closer than my car, but getting lusty in a government vehicle would probably attract more attention than either of us would want.

I stood up and dug out my credit card. "My turn," I said. "You paid for the last coffee."

"I do have a little more money than you."

"Like I care. And fair is fair."

He leant forward and kissed my forehead. "I do love the fact that my money isn't a factor to you."

"Hey, don't get me wrong, it's nice that you have money." I hesitated, then gave him a cheeky grin. "It means you can get me bigger and better presents come Christmas and birthdays."

"Ah, so there is a mercenary soul deep down inside."

"There's lots of things deep down inside." I paid the waiter, adding a generous tip, then slipped my arm through Kellen's again. "And maybe one day I'll allow you to plum those depths and uncover all my little secrets."

"Oh, a moment to anticipate, to be sure."

We stepped out onto the street. It was nearly two-thirty, and the crowds had thinned out a little. But music still pulsed from the Blue Moon and the scent of lust and arousal ran on the air, as delicious as the aroma of food.

I breathed deep, then gave a contented smile. "I love this place."

He raised an eyebrow, amusement still playing on his lips. "Lygon Street?"

I nodded as we walked toward the club. "I love the scents and the sounds. It always feels so alive, so vibrant, no matter what time of day or night."

"I guess." He looked around, as if taking it all in for the first time. "The only place we have in Sydney that compares to this is the Oxford Street area."

"That's mainly for gays, isn't it?"

"Used to be, before the wolf clubs moved in. Now it's a mix - and a huge tourist attraction, believe it or not."

"Oh, I'd - " I stopped mid-sentence as the ghostly tingle of awareness ran across my skin.

A vampire was near.

A vampire whose stench I'd smelled before, just before he'd taken a potshot at me.

The sensation of danger hit so hard that it left me gasping for air. Something fast and deadly was tearing through the night toward us.

Another goddamn bullet.