He let his eyes wander over the women, then pointed at one of them. "This one."

Vera waved the woman to come to them. She was voluptuous, her curves full and enticing. Her gaze swept over him, lingering briefly on his crotch. He allowed a half-smile to cross his slips before he took the beauty's hand and brought it to his mouth.

She appeared surprised at the old-fashioned gesture and giggled.

"This is Ophelia. She will lead you upstairs to a private room. Ophelia, please wait at the bottom of the staircase for Mr. Corbin."

The woman nodded and left the room. Vera followed her, motioning him to do the same, then stopped in the corridor where she turned to him once Ophelia was out of earshot. "Will this be cash or credit card?"

He looked at her and pulled out his wallet, opening it. He'd had the presence of mind to stuff his wallet with large bills before leaving his house and pulled them out now. "Cash."

Vera stretched out her open palm, and one after the other he placed hundred dollar bills on it until she was satisfied and closed her hand around the money.

"Enjoy your evening. And should you require anything, there's a house phone in the room. Dial zero, and let us know how we can make your stay more enjoyable."

"I'm already certain that this will turn into a very satisfying evening." He would make sure of that.

When he reached the stairs, Ophelia was waiting for him. He snaked his arm around her luscious curves and allowed her to lead him upstairs. On the third floor, she made a turn and led him down a corridor with several rooms. She stopped in front of one of them and opened the door.

Giving him a seductive look, she entered and motioned him to follow her. "This is it."

Corbin gave the room a cursory look. It was tastefully furnished with a large bed, bedside tables and a dresser. There was a chair, presumably so clients could put their clothes there while they indulged in the offerings the women provided.

"Perfect," he answered.

She brushed against him, her hand reaching for his tie. "What would you like?" She licked her lips.

"What do you do?"

"Everything," she replied and pressed her hips against his groin.

"Good," he murmured. "Then how about this?"

He brought his hands up to her head, cupping it. Expectantly she gazed at him. Then, with one swift, but powerful move, he turned her head, snapping her neck.

She collapsed instantly, and he caught her, depositing her on the bed. It was a shame that he was in a hurry, otherwise he would have f.u.c.ked her first, but business was more important.

Readjusting his tie, he turned back to the door. "Now the evening can start."

Ursula flicked through the channels on the TV but found nothing interesting to watch. She was too hyped up to concentrate on anything. Tonight, Scanguards would free her sisters, the women who'd been locked up like her. Their ordeal would be over soon, and everybody would be back with their families. She prayed that Oliver and his colleagues would be able to defeat the other vampires and not get hurt.

Sighing, she closed her eyes and recalled the memories of the previous night, but a sound at the door interrupted her. Was her dinner ready so soon? Ursula heard a noise as if somebody forced the key into the lock, but had trouble turning it. Then the door was jerked open.

What she saw then was a blurry movement, then a man appearing inside her room, shutting the door behind him.

Stunned, she scrambled to jump up from the bed, trying to put some distance between her and the intruder, but he was faster and s.n.a.t.c.hed her arm, squeezing it painfully.

"Not so fast, my little blood wh.o.r.e," he said with an evil smile on his face.

Oh G.o.d, she knew who he was! She recognized him. He was the leech whose wallet she'd stolen: Paul Corbin.

Air rushed from her lungs. "What do you want?"

He issued a non-committal smile. "Well, isn't that obvious? I didn't buy you wh.o.r.es to have you escape me. I've come to bring you back to the flock."

"Bring me back?" She didn't understand what he was talking about. Why would he want to bring her back? He was a client of the brothel, not a guard.

Corbin chuckled. "I own you and all the others. You work for me! You make money for me, and I won't have some young vampire upstart steal you from me so he can get the goods for free. Whoever wants your blood, will have to pay me for it!"

Her eyes widened with understanding. "You're their leader! You own the brothel."

"Smart girl. Maybe even smarter than some of my guards. They never caught on to the fact that I was checking up on them by pretending to be a client. They never suspected a thing."

Ursula felt shivers race through her. So it was true then that the owner had a spy who would report whether the guards were doing their jobs, only that the spy was the owner himself. Clever. And now he was here to take her back. Frantically, she searched her brain for what to do. She had to stall him. If she was lucky, her dinner would arrive soon, and with any luck, Vera would be the one to bring it and be able to help her.

"How did you find me?"

Corbin laughed softly. "Your boyfriend brought me the wallet you stole from me. I knew that somebody in the brothel had stolen it and had the place searched, but n.o.body could find it. When Oliver brought it to me, I knew it had to have come from you. You were the only one who got out. I knew then that I would find you."

She swallowed.

"And then your little friend claimed he's a client. How stupid do you people think I am? I know every client by name. There was no Oliver Parker among them, if that's even his real name." He glared at her. "So I followed him, and guess where he leads me to?" He looked around the room. "This beautiful establishment. So, what did you give him to help you? Just your p.u.s.s.y? Or did he drink your blood too? Did you promise him a lifelong supply if he helped you?"

Corbin jerked at her arm, pulling her closer to him. His eyes were red now, and she saw how his facial muscles hardened, and his fingers started turning into claws.

"No!"

"No matter. Because he's not getting anything at all from you. Because you're coming back with me."

"You have nowhere to run! He's freeing the other women tonight!" she cried out.

Corbin let out an evil laugh. "Oh, you mean at the warehouse in Oakland that I gave him the address to?"

Oh s.h.i.t! Oliver had told her over the phone that Corbin had been the one to provide him with the address. He would be running into a trap. They would kill him and his colleagues. "Oh G.o.d no!" She had to help him, get a message to him. But her cell phone was tucked underneath her pillow and out of her reach, not that Corbin would give her any opportunity to even press the call b.u.t.ton.

"Yes, when your friend and his colleagues arrive at the warehouse in Oakland, they will be annihilated. There'll be a dozen heavily armed vampires waiting for them. They'll be walking into a bloodbath. And in the meantime, the girls are being packed up and loaded up. We're leaving town tonight, and you're coming with us."

She shook her head, but he grinned.

"Let's go!"

He tried to pull her up, but she kicked her leg against him. He cursed, but his grip loosened by a minute fraction and she twisted, stretching her arm out to reach under the pillow. Her fingers gripped the cell phone. But he jerked her back, and the phone slipped from her fingers, sliding to the edge of the bed, before she could press the call b.u.t.ton.

Corbin's eyes fell on it. "Disobeying again? I've heard that about you! You were a trouble maker from the start! Never knew what was good for her! Now take this and see how you like it!"

He slapped the back of his hand across her cheek, whipping her head to the side. Pain radiated through her, making her feel so dizzy she thought she'd lose consciousness.

She groaned.

"I'll teach you to disobey me!"

He raised his hand once more.

"Do it and I'll make you suffer!" a male voice warned from the window.

Was she hallucinating already, or had he really come to save her?

36.

Oliver watched in horror as Corbin pulled Ursula in front of his body like a shield. Oliver had reached for his gun the moment he'd entered the room from the balcony, but he hesitated now. He wasn't a crack shot, and if Corbin moved in vampire speed, dragging Ursula with him, the bullet could hit her instead. He couldn't take that risk.

"Look who's joined us!" Corbin said to Ursula. "Your boyfriend. Shame he's too late."

Corbin reached into his pocket producing a handgun which he now held to Ursula's temple.

Shock coursed through Oliver, but he forced himself to remain calm and sound unconcerned, when he answered, "That's not how I see it. I came just in time. Granted, I found your house empty when I got there. Are you moving?" Oliver asked casually. "What a shame. That was a nice house."

Corbin forced a smile. "In my profession moving comes with the territory."

"Where to this time?"

"That's my business, if you don't mind. Now drop your gun."

"You won't shoot her. She's too valuable to you."

An evil grin spread over Corbin's face. "The bullet won't kill her, but it'll hurt nevertheless." He lowered his gun to her shoulder.

Realizing that Corbin wasn't bluffing, Oliver dropped his weapon to the floor.

Then he watched in panic as Corbin took a couple of steps backwards toward the door, keeping Ursula pressed closely to his front.

"One last question before I leave: how did you know it was me?" Corbin asked.

"You shouldn't have said you only went to the blood brothel once. When I realized you were lying about that, I figured you could be lying about other things too. Like the new address of the blood brothel. Particularly since n.o.body else got an email with the address. Funny that you would be the only client who did."

Corbin lifted an eyebrow then shrugged. "Ah, well, next time I'll know."

"There won't be a next time," Oliver prophesized.

But Corbin reached behind him and opened the door. Ursula stared at Oliver, her eyes wide with fear, her hands trying to pry off Corbin's arm, to no avail.

Oliver perceived a movement behind Corbin in the hallway when the door swung open wider. "Corbin, you made one other fatal mistake."

For a second, Corbin stopped in his movements. "Nice try."

"You a.s.sumed I came alone."

A shot rang out. Corbin's right arm, holding the gun, dropped as he cried out in pain, blood seeping from his shoulder. Ursula wrenched free of him, falling forward in the struggle. Corbin's face distorted into a grimace, but it appeared that the bullet had exited his shoulder and was therefore doing no further damage.

Aided by his left hand, Corbin raised his gun arm again, aiming at Ursula as she tried to crawl to safety.

"You'll never get her or the other girls."

Oliver lunged and barreled into Corbin, knocking him to the ground. As Corbin hit the floor with his injured shoulder, he lost the gun. It skidded underneath the bed, out of reach of either one of them. Oliver was on him in an instant. They struggled, exchanging blows and punches too fast for the human eye to follow.

Oliver repeatedly pounded into Corbin's wound, but the b.a.s.t.a.r.d was strong, and his left hook whipped Oliver's head to the side. Using the momentum he had, Corbin rolled, and Oliver suddenly found himself underneath him, being pounded by the evil vampire's fists.

Oliver kicked his leg up and managed to drive his knee into Corbin's thigh, making him pull back for a moment. It was enough to get out from underneath him and roll to the side.

Corbin's next blow missed, and Oliver knew his enemy's strength was waning. Corbin knew it too. Oliver pinned him down with one arm against Corbin's throat. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a stake. Corbin's hand moved, jerking something from his pocket. From the corner of his eye, Oliver saw what it was: not a weapon, but a cell phone. Corbin's arm pulled back like a pitcher, even though his range was limited.

"You'll never find them!" he vowed and tried to smash the phone against the wall.

But Oliver slammed the stake into his heart and whipped around in vampire speed, catching the phone in mid-flight before it could hit the wall and smash to pieces. Beneath him Corbin disintegrated into dust.

Breathing heavily, Oliver clutched the iPhone tightly and stared back to where Corbin's dust settled. "Maybe I should have mentioned that I was the catcher for my baseball team, a.s.shole."

Cain burst into the room, still holding his gun. "Guess I'm a worse shot than I thought."

"Should have waited for me," Thomas admonished on rushing into the room behind him.

"What took you guys so long?" Oliver growled at his colleagues, but didn't wait for an answer and instead rushed to Ursula. "Ursula, baby. Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

She reached for him, and he pulled her into an embrace. "I'm okay," she whispered. Then her hands fisted in his shirt. "There'll be a dozen vampires waiting for you at the warehouse in Oakland."

"We've got it under control."

She took a few deep breaths. "The girls. He said he's taking them away. They were being loaded up somewhere. But he didn't say where."

Oliver raised his hand that held Corbin's cell phone, then turned to face his colleagues.

"Thomas, can you crack the pa.s.sword on Corbin's phone and see if you can find a trail? He wanted to destroy it, which makes me think there's information on it as to the girls' whereabouts." Oliver ran his hand over Ursula's hair.

Thomas took the phone. "No problem. Give me a few minutes." He sat down on the bed and pulled out a small electronic device from his leather jacket, then plugged the attached cable into Corbin's iPhone.

Ursula wrapped her arms around Oliver's neck. "You saved me."

Oliver smiled and motioned to Cain. "Technically, Cain helped me, but if you want to kiss me instead, I'm game."