Stakes & Stilettos

  Stakes & Stilettos

  By

  Michelle Rowen

  "How does this feel?" he asked.

  "Really, really good."

  Thierry's lips twitched into a half smile. "No, I meant your wound, Sarah. Does it still cause you pain?"

  I looked down at the mark. My red dress had pulled away enough that I was barely covered. The pink mark from the wooden stake was now pale and shiny.

  "I barely notice it anymore." I was such a liar.

  He moved the cloth away and stroked his thumb against the mark. "Your healing abilities have greatly increased."

  "Another plus to being a vampire."

  My dress slipped another inch. His fingers then grazed against my left breast. The heat of his touch felt as if it were branding me. His gaze locked with mine again. "I almost lost you that night."

  "I'm hard to lose."

  The dress slid down to my waist as he leaned forward to kiss my chest over the wound. Over my heart. I leaned my weight against the counter, feeling a little lightheaded and wanner by the second.

  "Your heart," he said, "is beating very fast for a vampire."

  Please turn this page for

  praise for Michelle Rowen …

  Don't forget to check out these books by

  Michelle Rowen!

  LADY & THE VAMP

  "4 Stars! Fans will appreciate the light tone, the smooth and swift narration… and the comedy throughout the third book of Rowen's Immortality Bites series."

  —Romantic Times BOOKreviews Magazine

  "Michelle Rowen has again successfully written a funny and highly entertaining vampire story… I was delighted."

  —ArmchairInterviews.com

  "The best of Rowen's series thus far… promises a few hours of light, entertaining paranormal fun."

  —BookLoons.com

  "If you like your romances filled with humor, unique and entertaining characters, and above all else, a little bite, you're gonna love Lady & The Vamp."

  —RomRevToday.com

  "A cute little romp through the world of the fanged! Rowen's cheeky humor is sure to please those readers looking for a light paranormal read."

  —TheRomanceReadersConnection.com

  "Enjoy Lady & the Vamp when you want to escape into a fantasy world for a while."

  —JandysBooks.com

  FANGED & FABULOUS

  "You can't put this book down!"

  —Charlaine Harris

  "4 Stars! Rowen once again presents an exciting, action-packed and… humorous tale."

  —Romantic Times BOOKreviews Magazine

  "A hoot… Rowen's character list is awesome, the humor is hilarious… [a] delightful book."

  —MyShelf.com

  "Fanged & Fabulous is a hugely fun, light-hearted vampire chick-lit romance and yet it is a surprisingly satisfying read, too. Sharp wit and classic romance… perfect reading for the summer."

  —LoveVampires.com

  "A funny and witty tale… I laughed out loud all through the book. The dialogue by this bestselling author is sarcastic and hilarious and the characters will leave you waiting impatiently for the next installment."

  —ArmchairInterviews.com

  ANGEL WITH ATTITUDE

  "4 Stars! Rowen does a delightful job mixing things up with her sassy and sexy characters. She has her own unique spin on life and the afterlife and good and evil, which makes for downright fun reading."

  —Romantic Times BOOKreviews Magazine

  "Divinely funny… A subtly provocative paranormal romance that shines a new light on angels and demons and witches, oh my!"

  —Heartstrings Reviews

  "Fun and fast-moving… Valerie is a wonderful character. Kick off your shoes on a cold winter's night and relax with this. You'll be glad you did."

  —Mythprint

  "You have to read this book! It is quirky, funny, and sweet. If you love original and hilarious, you have to pick up Angel with Attitude."

  —FallenAngelReviews.com

  BITTEN & SMITTEN

  "A terrific vampiric chick-lit tale filled with biting humor."

  —Midwest Book Review

  "4 Stars! Fun and clever… this novel is bound to appeal to those who like their romance a little offbeat and definitely humorous."

  —Romantic Times BOOK Reviews Magazine

  "A study of contrasts: frothy chick-lit wrapped around a grittier reality and a flip side featuring a modern heroine paired with a Brontean hero. Let us welcome this fresh voice to the genre."

  —Booklist

  Also by Michelle Rowen

  Angel with Attitude

  Bitten & Smitten

  Fanged & Fabulous

  Lady & the Vamp

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons.

  Copyright © 2009 by Michelle Rouillard

  All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  ISBN-10: 0446505846

  ISBN-13: 978-0446505840

  First Printing: April 2009

  Cover photography by Herman Estevez

  Book design by L&G McRee

  Forever

  Hachette Book Group USA

  237 Park Avenue

  New York, NY 10017

  Visit our Web site at www.HachetteBookGroupUSA.com

  Forever is an imprint of Grand Central Publishing. The Forever name and logo is a trademark of Hachette Book Group USA, Inc.

  Printed in the United States of America

  Acknowledgments

  Huge thanks to…

  … my wonderful editor, Karen Kosztolnyik, without whom this book would have very unwisely ended a chapter early. Definitely a good call!

  … my fab agent, Jim McCarthy, who keeps doing what he does so very, very well, and I thank my lucky stars every day to have him in my corner.

  … Bonnie Staring and Laurie Rauch for beta-reading my vamps and making sure they had enough fang to go the distance.

  … Michèle Ann Young, who gave the "Interludes" in this book a once-over to make sure I wasn't just making things up when it comes to historical detail. I have a tendency to do that. Research is cool but it hurts my little brain.

  … my fantastic parents, who have taken on the mantle as Official Unpaid Rowen Publicists. I find my bookmarks in bookstores near and wide, much like Zorro's mark, and I know they've been there spreading the word.

  Prologue

  Ten weeks ago

  She wasn't wearing any shoes. That was his first impression.

  His second impression was that the attractive brunette was completely insane. She had to be if she was approaching him.

  He watched warily as she struggled through the narrow opening in the barrier and stared out at the sight before her. She was now perched alongside him on a support beam of a tall bridge high above a very dark, cold river.

  Her eyes, wide with fear, finally landed fully on him.

  "Hey!" she called out. The swift wind blew the bottom part of her thin, silky dress up above her knees to show off her long legs. Her leather coat, more fashionable than adequate as protection against the cool early winter chill, gaped open in the front.

  Don't come any closer, he thought. She was going to get herself killed climbing out past the safety barrier of the bridge. Dying was his goal that night, but he'd rather not see anyone else suffer the same fate.

  "Go away," he said simply.
<
br />   She didn't go away. Instead her gaze moved around erratically. "Holy crap. This is high up, isn't it?"

  A marvelous observation. He eyed her as she shuffled closer to him. Insane. Most definitely insane.

  "Help me!"

  He frowned. "Help yourself. Can't you see that I'm trying to kill myself here?"

  Quelling any thoughts of empathy, he gazed down at the dark waters of the Don River hundreds of feet below them. Quite honestly, there could not be a worse time for him to have been interrupted. She was putting herself into extreme danger.

  "Help me first and then kill yourself," the woman suggested.

  Who was she? What was she doing there? Did she know who he was? Had she been sent to stop him from ending his already overlong life?

  No. The young woman who'd chosen to climb out onto the bridge in bare feet at the very end of a particularly cold month of November hadn't sought him out in particular. He could see it in her eyes. He could taste her fear. This was merely a coincidence.

  A very inconvenient coincidence indeed.

  The woman bore unmistakable fang marks on her neck. She'd recently been bitten by a vampire.

  There was fresh blood on her throat.

  He ignored the dark hunger that swelled within him and the ache of his lengthening fangs. He hadn't drunk blood in a hundred years. No need at his age, but the want was still there. Every day. Every hour.

  Long shadows appeared behind her as three men approached. His breathing hitched. Were they after him? Had he been followed to the bridge?

  Tonight was to be the end of his long life. The end of a so-called master vampire. Thierry de Bennicoeur, dead after nearly seven hundred years. Had they followed him to witness his fate?

  No, the men's gazes locked onto the woman instead. A tall blond man—a human—smiled as his eyes flicked to Thierry and then back to her.

  "A friend of yours?" he asked.

  "Yes," the woman said quickly, her troubled gaze moving to Thierry again. "A good friend. And he's going to kick your ass if you don't leave me alone."

  Thierry raised an eyebrow. Kick his ass?

  The blond man snorted. "That I'd like to see."

  "Vampire hunter," Thierry said out loud. He had confronted so many hunters in his time that it was obvious to him what the fair-haired man was, and the wooden stake the hunter held tightly in his grasp was only one clue.

  "Who wants to know?" The man's gaze slid from the woman's bare feet to her long lean legs. It was the gaze of a predator, and not one who wished only death for his victim.

  Hunters enjoyed playing with their prey—especially helpless and attractive female fledglings—before killing them.

  "Who I am is none of your concern." Thierry forced his voice to remain impartial. "You are invading my personal space. Kindly take your business elsewhere."

  And leave the woman in peace or I will kill you.

  "We've just come to claim this little piece of vampire ass," the hunter said, "and we'll be on our way, so you can get back to whatever it was you were doing."

  The young woman drew closer with shaky steps and grabbed the hem of his coat.

  "Don't let them hurt me," she implored. "Please."

  He could feel the warmth from her body.

  Walk away, Thierry told himself sternly. Leave them. Leave her. You don't know this woman. Where is her sire? This should be his responsibility.

  Now on his hands and knees in an attempt to crawl through the crudely cut opening of the bridge's fenced barrier, the hunter grabbed her ankle. To Thierry's surprise, the woman kicked the hunter directly in his eye.

  Good aim. One of the best self-defense targets on the human body—groin or eyes. The hunter screamed and clutched at his face.

  The woman scrambled away and almost lost her footing. Thierry reached out and steadied her, pulling her against him.

  She looked up at him with surprise. "Thank you. I thought you weren't going to help me."

  "Reflex," Thierry said. And it had been. For the most part.

  There were two other hunters who began to climb through the barrier. They both had sharp weapons. While Thierry didn't really care about his own fate that night, he had now made a stand when it came to the woman's. Her safety, at least for the next few minutes, was his only priority.

  Unfortunately, there was only one choice of escape.

  He looked down. "I suppose we'll have to jump."

  The woman's grip tightened at his waist. "Wasn't that your original plan? And wasn't your original plan to kill yourself?"

  He thought of the stake tucked into the back of his pants with which he had truly planned to kill himself before allowing his remains to be swept away by the river below.

  It would have to wait for another time.

  "With my luck the fall tonight won't kill me," he said with a sigh. "But you just might."

  He tightened his arms protectively around her and without waiting for another protest, he jumped off the bridge. Her scream rang loud in his ears.

  He couldn't remember the last time he had had a beautiful woman cling to him so fiercely. For the briefest of moments it made him feel alive and wanted—very dangerous feelings for someone like him to have.

  However, when they landed, the freezing cold water managed to douse those feelings and reality quickly set in.

  He'd have to get rid of her as soon as possible. There was no other choice. Having a woman like this in his life—so young and fresh and filled with vitality—could only prove to be a deeply dangerous mistake.

  For both of them.

  Chapter l

  My name is Sarah Dearly. Fledgling vampire and part-time bartender, at your service. Welcome to my highly dysfunctional life.

  Two and a half months ago I was bitten and turned into a vampire by my blind date from hell, chased across the city by vampire hunters, and managed to meet the handsome master vampire of my dreams right before we had to jump off a bridge together to escape getting killed. And that was all the very first night.

  Since then things have been steadily… oh, insane would be a good word. But I've managed. Ten weeks as a vampire had changed a whole lot of things in my life, but I was still me. Still Sarah. Still not anyone to be afraid of in a dark alley. Ten weeks without my biting any necks or magically turning into a bat. "Evil" is definitely not my middle name.

  I'd been damn lucky, all things considered. Although I do think changing into a bat would be a nice gift-with-purchase for this whole, unfortunate vampire deal.

  "Sarah, are you ready to meet the man who'll change your life forever?"

  I glanced up from the dirty martini I was shaking and looked across the top of the bar at the grinning redhead. Her name was Heather, a former waitress at Haven, and her enthusiasm was almost contagious. Almost.

  "Change my life forever, huh?" I said. "Is that a promise or a threat?"

  "Definitely a promise. New directions, new opportunities. A chance at a fantastic future."

  "If I even get the job."

  "You know me. Of course you'll get it!"

  Okay, I had to admit it. I was a little excited. Especially since Heather had asked me personally to interview with her new boyfriend that very night. We were meeting at a café just down the street from the club. We weren't meeting at Haven because it was vamps-only. It was a rule. Heather's boyfriend was human, but obviously pro-vampire since he was with her, so it was all good.

  I liked Heather a lot. She was fun and funny and never gave me a hard time when I worked the bar and she waited tables. She'd quit two weeks ago after she met the man of her dreams, who had started a brand-new merchandising website called Vamp International that was set to launch next month. The job I would be interviewing for dealt with the fashion end of things and it sounded, from Heather's description, too good to be true.

  Plus, it paid big bucks.

  I pulled my tip money out of a small juice glass next to the till. A small juice glass was all I needed. Nobody tipped the bartender
here. Or very rarely. I'd noticed that on the average, vampires were extremely lousy tippers.

  Haven was my boyfriend's nightclub, which catered to the fanged citizens of Toronto, open from 9:00 p.m. until nearly dawn.

  Less than a week from now Haven would be transferring over to the new owners. Thierry had recently made the decision to sell the club, and apparently the new boss wanted to bring in his own servers. A bummer, but not an unexpected one. Luckily, it would still be a vampire club—one of only two in Toronto at the moment—so it was nice to know there would still be somewhere to hang out, but I couldn't count on getting a semiregular paycheck anymore.

  Therefore, this job opportunity had seriously come at exactly the right time for me. I was broke.

  I felt a warm hand at the small of my back, and I turned away from Heather to see Thierry now standing next to me. I hadn't even seen him approach. Master vampires—they were a sneaky lot.

  Thierry was, in a word, gorgeous. At first glance, or even second, you'd never guess he was pushing seven hundred years old. He looked more like he was in his midthirties, and super hot with the whole tall, dark, and fangsome thing going on.

  A lot of people were either scared or turned off by his sometimes cold and aloof manner, but I preferred to think of that as part of his charm. I knew underneath that icy exterior was a man as wonderful on the inside as he was on the outside. But I was fine with it being my little secret.

  "Is everything all right over here?" he asked.

  I nodded. "I'm about to take off for my interview."

  "Hi, Thierry," Heather said, smiling widely at him even though I knew she was one of those who didn't like him very much. "Why don't I wait over here for you, Sarah?" She moved far enough away to give us some privacy.

  Thierry moved his gaze to mine. His eyes were a medium gray color, but somehow managed to look metallic, like silver. It was a bit spooky until you got used to it.

  "You don't need to get another job," he said.