The vampire couple walked down the sidewalk along the empty night streets, and Brandt Grayson took another drag on his cigarette. He should kill them both. That’s what he did as a vampire bounty hunter, after all. Contracted out by the city, he made excellent money providing a service he’d been trained to do since early childhood.

Unfortunately, the newly turned female vampire was his best friend and former assistant, Camilla Ivanov. No matter his training, he couldn’t kill someone who’d grown up in his own home and whom he’d always treated as a sister.

“Do you regret your choice?” a soft-spoken female, hidden by the deep shadows of the surrounding buildings, asked from somewhere behind him.

He clenched his jaw against the effect her sultry voice had on his body. Damned vampires and their powerful sexual allure. He excelled at eradicating the creatures, but not until meeting Elisa had he ever gotten a hard-on from one.

His lack of self-discipline irked him. Something about her made it impossible for him to control his lust.

“Fuck off!” He threw down his cigarette. “If we ever meet again, I’ll see you pissed on as kitty litter.”

“We struck a bargain.” Her breath tickled the back of his neck. “My master has reawakened, and your female now has permanent protection.”

Rain. How the fuck did a vampire smell like the sweet scent of fresh rain?

He spun and pinned her to the nearest brick wall with a forearm across her throat and the sharpened end of a dowel pressed to her chest.

“You think I’m proud of what I did?” He raked his eyes over her body, his cock hardening when he got a good look at the peaked tips of her nipples visible against her red satin dress.

“You’re poking me.”

“I should kill you.” He slowly lowered the hand clutching the dowel. “To hell with my honor.”

Whether he meant the murmured threat or not, he didn’t know, but it felt good to say anyway.

She blinked slowly, then tilted her head in a curious gesture. “I would love to taste you. Since the moment we met, you’ve intrigued me. You have such passion and hatred. I can’t help but wonder if your blood tastes of that fire.”

Her red lips tantalized him. For just a moment, he considered pushing her down onto her knees and putting that fanged mouth to good use, but his smarter head prevailed.

“Go bite somebody else’s cock.” He dropped his other arm and backed away from her.

She raised one fine brow. “You want me on my knees. I hadn’t thought of taking you in my mouth that way.”

No doubt, she spoke the truth. Any thought she had of him in her mouth likely consisted of his blood flowing down her throat. Would the bite hurt? His eyes unconsciously flicked back down to her plump lips.

“I don’t care what you think about.”

“You’re just angry because I took away the only woman you ever loved and might have procreated with. The only woman you believed understood you.”

Her saying that was a stupid move. Her words weren’t correct, except when she said that Camilla understood him. He returned the dowel to his back pocket and turned away. “We’re done here.”

His neck prickled as he walked back toward his truck, but he didn’t turn around. His anger made him reckless. Let her come after him, so he could stake her and watch her burn with the sunrise.

Once sequestered inside his truck, he rolled his shoulders in a vain attempt to relieve the stress. He’d shower and go to bed when he got home. Too much tonight had gone as planned. His stomach churned when he thought about the deals that had come to fruition.

He’d done the right thing by Camilla, but knowing he’d never see her again hurt. He’d miss her company, her caring nature. He’d saved her from certain destruction, but condemned himself to a lonely existence.

No more movie nights on Wednesdays. That had been their fun night, when he’d take her out. They acted like two regular people, siblings out on the town for some relaxation. She loved being out at night, and even if they saw the same movie twenty times, she always wanted to go.

The drive out of the city’s decrepit downtown area took him about twenty minutes. He passed few cars on the drive home. The last of his anger drained away as he finally accepted that he’d done the best thing for Camilla. Eventually another vampire would have turned her and left him to destroy her.

At least the vampire master, Vladislas, appears to care for her, and her for him. So maybe she won’t be alone.

After parking his truck in the driveway in front of his modest two-bedroom house, he sighed. His mind unerringly turned to Elisa, to her petite body and expressive dark eyes. She was the type of female made for fucking—hard.

He hated her.

Entering his house, he flipped on the light in the kitchen and grabbed a beer from the refrigerator. He tossed his keys onto the dining room table and took off his shirt.

Fuck it all, I’m not thinking anymore. He had plenty of liquor in the house to help him with that goal.

Popping the top button of his jeans, he went down the hall toward his bedroom. He’d take a hot shower, then try to get some sleep. Maybe if he cleaned up physically, he’d be able to get that fucking vampiress out of his head.

He flicked on the bedroom light, and his heart caught in his throat. The beer bottle slipped from his fingers, forgotten.

“You gave me no chance to thank you properly,” Elisa said. She lounged bare-ass naked on his queen-sized bed.

He skimmed his gaze over the wealth of creamy, pale skin on display, pausing only briefly to examine her rose-tipped nipples and the tuft of strawberry-blonde hair at the apex of her thighs. Perfection from head to toe. Her lush red hair brushed the rounded curves of her breasts, framing the delicate globes, perfect for sucking.

Shit, he’d spilled his beer.

Not that it mattered. His mind refused to process a single damned thought beyond how fuckable she looked. What should he do?

Leave. Yes, that sounded reasonable and sane.

“I’m showering,” he stated in a gruff tone. He turned away, shocked he could still walk with his cock so rock hard.

Fuck, I want to taste her.

Locking the bathroom door, he leaned against the door and let out a huge pent-up breath. What in hell was he doing? He couldn’t screw Elisa, no matter how sexy she appeared. Opening the zipper over the bulge in his jeans, he moaned at the friction.

Showering tonight would be hell.