Free Eternal Pleasure by Nina Bangs

the creature was the shape of a man.
    After that, images spun in her head. People pouring out of the club to see what was happening, Q jumping in front of the T. rex in a doomed attempt to stop it, and three figures gliding out of the darkness that hadn’t been there a moment before. They moved toward the vampire.
    They wouldn’t reach him in time.
    This was bad, really bad. Kelly didn’t want to see what would happen next, didn’t want to be here when it happened. But she didn’t have a choice. Al still had a firm grip on her.
    And then the T. rex was there. It towered over the vampire cringing on the other side of the car. All teeth, it was a killing machine, and the vampire had run out of options.
    At the last moment, Kelly jerked her head away from the imminent carnage. But she couldn’t block out the sounds of death. The screams abruptly cut off. The sounds of bones snapping and flesh tearing.
    She clapped her hands over her ears and chanted a litany of, “No, no, no, no,” while the scent of blood gagged her.
    At last, Kelly sensed the silence. The vampire was dead. She knew it. She forced her hands from her ears and turned her head to look.
    Kelly couldn’t see what lay on the other side of the car. Thank God. But she forgot the vampire as she looked up and up and up. The twenty-foot-tall T. rex roared its triumph, mouth open to expose huge, bloody teeth and eyes still filled with a killing frenzy.
    Once again, Q put himself in front of the monster. Kelly caught pieces of what he was yelling.
    “Control it. Everything’s over, Ty. You’ll hate yourself in the morning if you don’t. Fin’s in your head. Listen to what he’s telling you.”
    The dinosaur paused, almost as though someone was talking in its mind. Then it swung its massive head to stare at Kelly and the man holding her.
    “Crap.” Al’s comment expressed her feelings exactly.
    Eternity passed while the predator made its decision.
    Then the T. rex simply faded away, leaving only Ty. That was what Kelly had seen in the woods, the last of the huge shape disappearing.
    She didn’t have even a moment to digest the fact before a wave of dread, followed closely by panic, hit her. Familiar. Uncontrollable . This time, though, she was sure of its source. Because Ty’s fury—jagged and sharp—was so solid she could just about reach out and cut her finger on it. Terror was a logical reaction to that kind of aggression. And all that anger was aimed at the man still holding her.
    Al must have recognized it too. Quickly he released her and stepped away. Ty ratcheted down his anger.
    The three who’d failed to reach the vampire before death found him moved, redirecting Ty’s attention. Al exhaled deeply. She understood his relief.
    Kelly was emotionally maxed out. She didn’t try to think. She just watched the bizarre drama unfurl.
    Two of the figures—Men? She wasn’t sure—leaned over the vampire’s remains. One took off a coat he was wearing and laid it over the body. Then they rose, the dead vampire between them, and just seemed to fade into the darkness.
    The third man walked slowly toward Ty. Dressed in a tux, with long dark hair flowing down his back, he should have looked out of place. He didn’t. This was a dangerous meeting, and he was a dangerous man. Her instinct was right on this one.
    Carefully, as though any sudden movement might release the beast again, he approached and then stopped. “Very impressive. But because of you, I have a bunch of memories to erase. Besides that, you dragged me away from a party with lots of entertainment potential.” With no further explanation, he walked past Ty to the people milling around the back door of the club.
    Once there, he simply looked at them while they stared back. “You heard a noise back here. When you came out, you saw two men scuffling over a woman. No one was hurt. You’ll go back inside now and continue what you were doing.”
    Obediently, everyone trailed back into the club.