Free Eternal Pleasure by Nina Bangs Page A

The man turned around and returned to Ty. “The police will be here in a few minutes. We all should be gone by then.”
    “You’re in our territory.” Q’s voice was tight.
    “I’m Jude, and you’re in my territory. It’s been my territory for a long time.”
    His smile was beautiful and the scariest thing Kelly had seen in, oh, say, five minutes.
    “Your guys just took a kill away from me. I want himback.” Ty’s voice was a softly rumbled warning that might was right in his world, and if Jude wanted another demonstration of T. rex might, he could oblige.
    Jude narrowed his eyes. “I don’t know what you are, but don’t threaten me.”
    Q held up his hand to stop Ty’s response. “Fin says he wants a meeting with Jude tomorrow night.”
    Jude scanned the parking lot. “Where’s this Fin?”
    “In my head. He said he’ll be in touch.” Q moved to stand beside Kelly and Al.
    As if this kind of communication were normal, Jude nodded and glided back into the shadows. No matter how hard Kelly stared, she couldn’t see where he’d gone.
    Ty’s glance took in everyone. “Get into the car. All of you.” He brushed the broken glass off the seat before stepping aside. “Nothing I can do about the window tonight. It’s going to be a cold drive home.”
    Kelly slid into the driver’s seat just as sirens sounded in the distance. Ty took his place beside her, and the other two men climbed into the backseat.
    “Are you okay to drive?” Ty’s eyes were still flat, dangerous, but the deadly anger was gone.
    She nodded. No way would she say anything right now. If she started, she wouldn’t stop. And she needed the steering wheel to hang on to. Without it, she couldn’t control her shaking. For whatever reason, she didn’t want Ty to know how upset she was. Something her mother had told her over and over as a kid popped into her mind. Don’t let an animal sense your fear . Would that work with dinosaurs?
    “I can smell your fear, Kelly.” Ty’s voice had lost its harshness. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”
    Yeah, right. Something else occurred to her for the first time. What were the two in the backseat?
    “You’re in our territory, Al. Why?” Q didn’t sound friendly.
    Their territory? What was all this territory stuff about? She concentrated on driving and kept quiet.
    “The vampire was in my territory first. When he crossed over into yours, I followed him. He’s my prey.” Al’s voice had a warning edge to it.
    Carnivore. Definitely. Kelly gripped the wheel tighter.
    The silence in the car thrummed with unspoken challenges.
    Ty exhaled deeply. “Okay, everyone relax. I’ve done enough damage for one night.” He glanced over his shoulder at Al. “Where’d you leave your driver?”
    “An accident tied up traffic, so when Fin told me what was going down, I got out of the car and ran the rest of the way to the club. I told my driver to go back to the apartment.”
    Ty nodded. “Tell Kelly the address, and we’ll drop you off there.”
    Once Al gave her the street number, everyone got quiet for a while.
    Finally Q asked Ty the question she figured everyone wanted to know. “What was that all about, man? If the vampire hadn’t been there to erase minds, we’d be in a world of shit right now.”
    Vampire? Jude was a vampire too? Of course he was a vampire. Stupid of her to be surprised.
    Kelly noticed that Q made sure his voice didn’t sound confrontational.
    The silence dragged on for so long, she thought Ty wouldn’t answer.
    “He was going to hurt Kelly.”
    Silence again.
    Through the horror and disbelief making mush of her brain, Ty’s explanation touched something fiercely primitive in her. He’d been protecting her . That shouldn’t matter, but it did.
    She could see Al staring at her when she glanced in the rear view mirror. He looked worried. Why not? She was the eight-hundred-pound gorilla in the car. Jude hadn’t wiped her memory. And so far they didn’t have a clue