Bait

Chapter Nine

The next morning I woke disappointed in myself. The sexiest man I’d ever met wanted me and I flaked out.

I left the bathhouse last night in a flurry of quickly applied clothes, assisted by a distraught Pembe.

Rurik made me cry twice in twenty-four hours. I needed to get away from him. The temptation to succumb combined with my unresolved grief made me crazy. To add to my confusion, Rurik kept giving me the wrong impressions. For a murderer, he treated me well and with compassion. It produced too many doubts.

I trusted Colby and his judgments. This time my instincts fought against it. I didn’t know what to do. Colby would send me out to lure Rurik in for the kill, I won’t be the one holding the stake but the responsibility felt the same.

After breakfast, I called Colby’s cell but only got his answering service. My instructions were to sit and wait. So I did. I feared missing his call.

The late afternoon sun soaked into my skin while I lay on the hotel bed. I flipped through another brochure for a tour of Budapest, this one featured a haunted cemetery. With a wistful sigh, I threw the pamphlet on the floor, which had become littered with them. My cell, which sat by my hand chirped, I snatched it up and knew it would be Colby finally returning my call.

“How are you holding up?” His voice sounded like crushed gravel.

“I’m bored beyond belief.”

His low chuckle carried well over the phone. “I have something to alleviate your boredom. We have a place for you to go.”

“Okay.” I’d spent the afternoon rehearsing what I’d say to him but it all evaporated. “Is Rurik still my target?”

“Yeah. Who else would it be?”

My heart fluttered with the realization I wasn’t going to tell him about the bathhouse. He already threatened to send me home after the club screw up. If he found out about our impromptu date he’d start to doubt everything I did. I walked a tight rope between these two men, and my balance sucked. “You spoke about Dragos yesterday,” I snapped. “Where do I go?”

“The A38 club. My sources tell me Rurik is supposed to be there tonight.”

“Colby, what if Rurik’s not guilty for killing those victims? I mean, you’re planning to kill him tonight, right?” This dilemma tore me up. What if we killed the wrong vampire? What if something worse took over Budapest because of it? We could be doing more harm than good. The silence from the other end of the line continued. “Colby?”

“Tell me what’s bothering you.”

“I’ve met with and spoken to Rurik. He’s not the same as the others we’ve disposed of. My gut tells me we’ve got the wrong vampire.”

“Your gut?”

“He’s the one who followed me to my hotel room. He’s the one who shoved me out the window, at the party, to help me escape. I’m sure he’s the one who saved me from the vampire that chased me through the damn alleys. Doesn’t that say something?”

“Yeah, he’s trying to seduce you and doing a good job at it.”

“What?” Colby’s perception annoyed me. “All that to get into my pants?” Rurik almost accomplished it last night. Even though I sat alone in my hotel room my cheeks still got warm but from anger not embarrassment.

“He’s entered your mind deeper than I suspected. I’ll be honest, I’m starting to agree with Red on this one. Maybe you should sit this one out. Once they breech your shield, Connie, it gets easier for them to manipulate you. He drugged you then took you as a meal for his master. Does that spell ‘nice guy ’ to you? Has there been any other ... contact with him?”

“No,” I lied. “At the party he offered me protection—he wouldn’t allow Dragos to kill me.” I omitted my part of the bargain. It wouldn’t help my case to investigate this crime some more before executing the wrong vampire.

“If he’s such a hero, he shouldn’t have brought you to the party in the first place.”

“I didn’t say he was ‘nice. ’ Just he may not be the killer.” I rubbed my forehead. A migraine brewed. “Colby, I’ve never questioned your judgment before. You must have some kind of hard proof.”

“No, you’ve never doubted me. That’s what worries me the most. You know I always get proof. But I’m not giving you details. Especially now I think you’ve been compromised.”

I could hear him breathing over the line.

“Red is right about this. They’re too powerful to use live bait. You’ll get hurt.”

This wasn’t going according to my plan. It never occurred to me he’d start doubting me. “You need me, Colby. If you really want Rurik, I’ve got him for you. He’ll come to me, but I need some piece of hard proof, for my conscience.”

He was going to send me home. I could picture Red breaking down my door and stuffing me in a box with an express stamp to the U.S.A.

This job suited me. It gave me purpose. Ever since watching Colby stake the vamp who had attacked me in a Las Vegas club bathroom, I knew it was for me. I didn’t want to go home. Alone with no distraction but my own pathetic thoughts, I’d be romancing Captain Morgan within a few days.

He sighed. “Connie, I’m sending you a package. It will contain your assignment and your proof.”

I silently did a little happy dance.

“Stop dancing and listen. Don’t make me regret this.”

How did he do that?

The package contained a sheet of paper with directions to a jazz club on the Danube River.

It also contained pictures.

They showed a kiss of vampires feeding on a pile of victims. I counted over fifteen dead, pretty young things in their twenties. The bodies were posed in gruesome, horrendous displays for the camera, like they wanted mementos of the event.

One of the close-ups was Rurik. His eyes gazed into mine from the picture.

I sank to the floor. My heart wrenched at what I’d almost let him do to me last night. Nausea rolled the dinner in my stomach.

Nightmares haunted me at night sometimes but these images would make sure I never slept again. I picked up my instruction sheet and looked over their directions.

Time to get this bastard.