A Vampire for Christmas - By Michele Hauf Page 0,3

could without running, her heels clicking efficiently. It was nothing, she told herself. These buildings were filled with apartments and condos above the ground floor. Probably just a tenant. At night, spooky things were easy to imagine. Besides, if she screamed right now, a zillion people would run to her aid.

Thank God her car was near—she could see the bumper now.

When she glanced back over her shoulder to reassure herself that it was just her crazy imagination, she almost choked. Two dark figures, less than twenty feet away, were coming straight toward her. Something dangled from one guy’s hand. A rope?

Dread settled over her like a wet blanket.

Ignoring the pain in her wrist, she turned and ran. She pressed the remote on her key ring. The taillights on her car blinked, the chirp chirp a friendly hello. She’d jump in and quickly lock her doors. Should she use the button on the door handle to lock it behind her or use the remote? Remote, she decided, as she sprinted into the parking lot.

Wait. The panic button on her car alarm. She could hit that and—

A large man stepped from the shadows between two cars and jerked at the tie around his neck.

Arms flailing, she slid to a halt on the loose gravel.

As he stormed straight at her, a roaring, rushing sound rang loudly in her ears. Oh, God, he was going to use it to tie her up. This had to be a setup.

Before she could scramble and change direction, he strode up and steadied her with a large hand. She wanted to shrink away from him, but he held her upright. Thanks to the overhead streetlight, much of his face was in shadow. All she could make out was the hard set of his jaw and a steely glint in his eyes as he surveyed the darkness behind her.

Just as she smelled the faint evergreen scent of his cologne, the white of his dress shirt drew her attention. A hoodlum in a suit? The image didn’t make sense. Was it possible that this man didn’t belong with the two chasing her? That he was here to help her?

He leaned in close. “Get into your car, lock the doors and wait for me.”

The concern in his voice was unmistakable. Maybe he was in law enforcement and knew a bad situation when he saw it.

Without waiting for her response, he dropped his hands and was gone.

CHAPTER TWO

TRACE WAS GOOD at getting people to follow orders, but for once, he wished he wasn’t.

As he rounded the corner of the building and found the tan Volvo parked in the exact same spot it had been twenty minutes ago, he felt a strange mix of satisfaction and anger.

He flexed the fist that had just made contact with someone’s jaw. He’d easily caught up to those two parasites who’d been after Charlotte and taken care of them. They weren’t Darkbloods, but they weren’t model citizens of the city’s secret vampire population, either. As soon as they realized that Trace was one of them but wasn’t carousing around on the hunt for the same thing they were—a vulnerable human host—they’d taken off. He’d hauled their asses to the ground in a nearby alley and called one of the Agency’s capture teams for a pickup.

Good God, what kind of a woman would listen to a complete stranger? A sane, reasonable one would’ve gotten the hell out of Dodge the minute she climbed into the car.

And the Charlotte Grant he knew had always been sane and reasonable.

How the hell had all this happened tonight? Why had he been drawn here when she’d needed him the most? It wasn’t like this was an area he’d frequented much. In fact, the last time he was here, he’d been with Charlotte. He kicked a small stone, watched it bounce off the edge of the sidewalk. He recalled the claustrophobic sensations that had forced him to abruptly leave the field office, as if his subconscious knew something he didn’t.

His stomach clenched at the thought of what those two would’ve done to her. Being a former Guardian, he knew only too well the horrors his kind could inflict upon humans.

And Charlotte was—

Jesus, why hadn’t he insisted she take a self-defense class? Taught her how to use a gun? Given her a blade of silver and shown her how to wield it? He thought about her canister of pepper spray. Sure, it was effective against human lowlifes, and for that, he was glad she