Ripper (Hunter #1)(58)

The bartender poured a cup and I let the smell wash over me as I tugged off my heels. I let my poor toes breathe for the first time in hours.

“Hello.” A deep voice caught my attention. I looked up as a man slid onto the stool beside me.

I took a quick sip of coffee. The new guy sent a smile my way. The bartender didn’t even try to offer him anything. I wondered if we were getting close to last call. “Hi.”

“I’m Michael.”

“Good for you.” I pulled out my phone. It was almost 3:00 a.m. No wonder I was tired.

“I haven’t seen you around here before.” His voice was all kinds of dark chocolate deep, and I sensed his infinite patience. “A pretty girl like you, I would have noticed. Are you from out of town?”

“I’m from suburbia.” I was a little shocked by the growing revelation that I was getting hit on. When it rained it poured. I turned to the newcomer and took him in. He appeared to be roughly twenty-five, with naturally wholesome good looks. His hair was a medium brown and his eyes green. He was pretty and if I hadn’t been surrounded by manly men like Gray and Marcus, I likely would have been totally taken in. “Vampire?”

“Only if you like vampires, honey,” came his sure reply. “Why don’t you let me buy you a drink and we can discuss the situation.”

Yep, he was a vampire all right. I was all about the vamp tonight. “I’m pretty sure my escort would have a problem with that.”

“Escort, huh? You’re definitely new here,” Michael said with a satisfied smile. “As I happen to know no one’s managed to get through the approval process lately, you’re fair game.” I felt a warm rush across my skin. “Let’s go back to my place. I’ll take good care of you. You’ll like me, honey.”

I could hear his voice inside my head. It whispered to me and told me all the ways he would care for me. Surprisingly, sex was only a part of it. He wanted to take care of me, to see to my needs and ensure my happiness. I wouldn’t have to do anything but allow him to make me happy. His magic was warm and soothing and I wasn’t having it. Remembering how I’d shoved the guy out of my head before, I mentally threw a wall up and the whispering stopped.

Michael jerked back. “How did you do that?”

Before I could answer, Michael was out of his barstool and being tossed across two sets of tables. Luckily the place was close to empty and Michael hit the ground yards from where he’d started. Marcus bore down on him like a hawk after a bunny.

“You think to take what I’ve claimed? Figlio di puttana!”

Michael had the good sense to try to placate the enraged vampire. His hands were out defensively as he got to his feet. “I’m so sorry, Marcus. I didn’t know you had taken a lover.”

“And my Kelsey did not mention this fact to you?” His tightly controlled body turned to me and I was really glad I could answer him with complete honesty.

“I told him my escort would be mad.” I didn’t bother getting out of my chair. Marcus had this one handled.

The vampire shook his head like I’d explained something. “You’ll have to excuse my mistress. She’s new and has not had time to fully understand our ways. I will, of course, tutor her.”

“What did I do wrong?” I asked, curious because Marcus’s rage was deflating.

“An escort is merely a date.” Marcus smoothed out the lines of suit. He walked over to me and helped me down. Without my heels, I was significantly shorter than the vampire. With the shoes we’d been almost evenly matched, but now he looked down on me and I got the feeling he liked being taller. “The proper word to explain my relationship to you is master.”

I couldn’t help it. I snorted. It was not an attractive sound. “As if.”

Marcus’s lips curled up in what I took for a sign of his amusement. “It’s a euphemism, of course. Everyone knows who the true master in the relationship is.”

Michael had picked himself up and looked like a kicked puppy. “Sorry. I thought…”

“You thought she was alone,” Marcus allowed. “You thought she was soft and beautiful and if she was here and alone then she was looking.”

“I thought I’d hit the jackpot,” Michael said with a sad shrug. “Guess I’ll go to the club for dinner. I hate that damn club. What do I have to do, Marcus? I’ve tried three times to get women approved and I get turned down. I’m sick of being alone.”

Marcus looked at the younger vampire, compassion in his dark eyes. “I understand. I’ll talk to the king tomorrow. I have several females in my employ back home in Venice. They would love to have a vampire for a lover. Their families served me for centuries. Would you like to meet one of them?”

Michael perked up fast. “Seriously, you would do that for me?”

“I would, if only to keep your eyes off my lovely Kelsey,” Marcus said with a slight bow.

Michael grinned and nodded my way. “Well, I can look at her all I like, but I promise I won’t try persuasion on her anymore. She kicked me out of her head faster than I could start my proposal. What is she? Is she a witch? She’s damn powerful.”

“Yes, she is,” Marcus murmured and he quickly assured Michael he would get back to him about the woman and led me off.