Page 50 of Fire in My Blood
Warm hands smooth over my shoulder blades before coming to rest on my shoulders. “He seems obsessed with claiming you, and considering how similar you look, he may have thought she was you until he tasted her blood. Blood is like a fingerprint for vampires. They can recognize people by the taste of their blood alone. When he realized she wasn’t you, he killed her.”
Lucas grabs a chair and sits down next to me. He turns my chair until I face him and stares intently into my eyes. “Try to think back to what he said to you. Did he ever mention anything to suggest he’s part of a group or brotherhood or something like that?”
I frown. “No, I don’t think so. He never mentioned anyone else. His only focus was me and what he wanted to do to me. He wanted me to be scared of him, because it turned him on, and he was prepared to use my family to get what he wanted. I don’t think he wants to kill me. He wants me to be his, whatever that means.”
Lucas goes completely still as his eyes turn black with rage. He abruptly stands and starts pacing. “I want you to stay here tonight, at the mansion, while Lyn and I go hunting for him. If he somehow managed to get his hands on you, I’d…”
He rakes his hands through his hair, the muscles in his arms and shoulders almost vibrating with tension.
Blood is rushing in my ears, my eyes wide as I follow him with my gaze. “I want to go with you. I won’t leave your side. I promise. I’ll be careful. He won’t be able to hurt you, will he? Being a vampire, I mean. You said—”
“Erica.” He squats down in front of me and puts his hands on my knees. His expression is serious when he holds my gaze. “I can handle him. That’s not what I’m afraid of. I have a bad feeling he’s not going to be alone, and I won’t be able to protect you if I have to fight several of them at the same time. Even with Lyn’s help I won’t be able to keep you safe if there are a lot of them.”
“Oh.” What else can I say? I’ve only considered the scenario where the vampire is alone, but as Lucas just pointed out that’s based on my inexperienced thinking.
Lucas and Lyn will be able to handle themselves in a fight, but I’ll be nothing but a liability. Lucas might be immortal, but he can get injured. Five bullets to the chest left him pretty much incapacitated.
“Please stay here, Erica, where you’ll be safe. He can’t find you here. Lyn and I will do everything we can to locate him and kill him, I promise.”
I nod. “Okay, but you have to be careful. Promise me.”
Lucas’s smile shows his relief. “I promise.”
He stands. “Would you mind checking some of the local tabloids? Remember what I told you about the registered blood donors for vampires? I don’t think this guy is visiting the donors in the area. Most of them have surveillance systems, and he’s not going to want his movements recorded. He’s probably drinking from random people and making them forget about it. But sometimes people remember some of it anyway and talkto the tabloids. Even if they can’t recall what happened exactly, they might make up a story. With a little persuasion, they might remember what actually happened.” He points at himself with his thumb. “Can you look for stories like that?”
“Sure.” I give him a smile and turn back to the computer.
“Good. I’ll just go and make a phone call. I’ll be back in a little while.”
I watch his back as he hurries out of the room.
Chapter 31
Lucas
I stride through the expansive mansion toward my bedroom to pick up my phone. I keep a couple of untraceable cell phones here as backup, one of which I gave to Erica to call her brother.
The one I carried when I was captured by Erica’s brother is gone, but it doesn’t matter. It was set up to self-destruct within twelve hours if I didn’t open it.
Our whole team carries the same type of phone, and we use it mainly for calling each other. It’s safer that way. Not many know about us and what we do, and that’s how it’s supposed to be. We might be immortal, but unfortunately, that doesn’t mean we can’t be killed.
I punch in Markus’s number and wait for him to pick up. It rings twice before I hear his voice.
“Yes.”
“It’s Lucas.”
“Still at Trevor’s?”
I take a seat on my bed. “Yes, I assume Lyn gave you an update before she went to sleep?”
“Yes, anything else I should know?” His voice is neutral, and he’s straight to the point as usual. But I still get the feeling he knows there’s something going on between me and Erica.
I don’t have time to worry about that, though. There are more important issues to deal with. “The vampire who raped Erica four years ago, killed a woman a few nights ago. Her body was found in the exact place Erica was attacked, and she couldhave been Erica’s twin sister, they were that much alike. The vamp broke into Erica’s apartment the next evening, but she’s convinced he was there to pick her up and not kill her. So, why did he kill the woman, unless he was angry that she wasn’t Erica? I have a bad feeling about this, Markus.”
“What are you thinking?” His anger is subdued, but I’ve known him long enough to hear it in his voice.
I tighten my grip on the phone and hope I’m wrong. “The Mateo brotherhood. Lyn’s maker is still alive, and this sounds like something one of his followers would do. Or we might have a copycat group on our hands.”