Cody. Kimberly Raye

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      Chapter Five

      CODY REACHED THE YOUNG MALE vamp just as he was about to sink his fangs into Miranda’s neck.

      “She’s mine,” he growled. He caught the vampire’s shoulder and the man’s head snapped up. Blood trickled from the prick points on Miranda’s neck, but it didn’t gush. The vampire hadn’t bit deep enough to hit the artery and claim her as his own.

      Yet.

      The notion bothered him a helluva lot more than it should have considering he wasn’t the least bit interested in keeping Miranda for himself. Even if she had been one of the best lays he’d had in a long, long time.

      Cody shifted his attention to the woman sprawled on the pavement nearby. Her chest rose and fell and tears streamed down her cheeks. The bite marks at her neck pumped blood out onto the pavement. She wasn’t dead. Yet. “Haven’t you had enough?” he asked the young vampire.

      A smile twisted his lips. “There’s no such thing.”

      Damn straight. Cody had just had incredible sex, yet his insides still tightened and clenched. His nostrils flared with the decadent scent of blood. His dick throbbed with the memory of Miranda surrounding him, making him come.

      He braced himself and eyed the younger vampire who held her in front of him like a shield. “How old are you?”

      “Twenty-four.”

      “Not your age. How long have you been a vampire?”

      The red glint in his eyes cooled just a little and impatience flashed. “Eight months. What does that have to do with anything?”

      “The fact that you don’t know shows just how disadvantaged you are right now. I’ve got years on you and a century more experience.” His gaze dropped to Miranda. Her eyes were wide open, pure fear swimming in their depths. The urge to protect her surged through him and shook him to the core. “You’ve had your fun tonight. Back off.”

      “Or else?”

      “Do you really have to ask?” Cody flashed his own fangs and the vampire hissed.

      Shit.

      The last thing he wanted was to get into a pissing contest with a wet-behind-the-ears fledgling. They could be unpredictable, which made the situation far more dangerous than usual.

      The vamp tightened his hold on Miranda and Cody stepped forward, his fangs bared, his fury this close to simmering over.

      “Fine.” The vampire thrust her forward. “She’s yours.”

      Cody caught Miranda and tucked her safely behind him.

      Meanwhile, the young vamp turned his attention back to his first victim. “I’ve got my own.”

      “No,” Miranda breathed, but her protest did little to stop the hungry vampire.

      It was Cody’s hand that caught him by the shoulder and brought him up short. “You won’t make it another eight months if you keep being this stupid. All a vampire killer has to do is follow your trail of dead bodies and that’ll be the end of you.” Cody focused on the girl who lay sprawled in a fast-growing pool of her own blood. He could hear the faint beat of her heart and the slow draw of breath. She wasn’t dead, but she was close. “You took too much blood. She’ll live, but only if she gets medical attention right away.” He spared the vampire a glance. “Take her to the hospital.”

      “Are you freakin’ kidding me?”

      Cody tightened his hold on the vampire. “Take her to the hospital,” he bit out. “Or you won’t have to wait for the vampire killers to find you. I’ll end your miserable existence myself.”

      “You wouldn’t do that.” The young vamp eyed him defiantly, but Cody didn’t miss the flash of fear in the younger man’s eyes. A few seconds ticked by and he seemed to deflate. “What the hell am I supposed to tell them?”

      “You take her to the E.R., tell the front desk that you found her like this on the side of the road and then disappear. Don’t give any names or locations. Just drop her off and leave.”

      The vamp nodded and scooped up the girl.

      Cody watched the blur of shadows disappear before he turned toward Miranda. Her entire body shook and her lips trembled as she stared at the far end of the paved lot where the vamp had disappeared with the dying woman. A strange wave of possessiveness went through him and he stiffened.

      “Miranda?”

      At the sound of her name, her head snapped up and her gaze met his. Relief flashed before she seemed to remember what had just transpired and exactly what she’d seen.

      The blood.

      The fangs.

      The truth.

      “You.” She stumbled backward, ramming her knee against a nearby car as she turned.

      And then she bolted for her life.

      

       GO, GO, GO, GO, GO, GO, GO!

      The command echoed in Miranda’s head as she dove behind the wheel, slammed and locked her car door and shoved the key in the ignition.

      Panic zipped up and down her spine and her heart pounded so hard she thought it was going to burst out of her chest.

      No, she told herself. No, no, no, no, no.

      Vampires didn’t exist.

      But cold-blooded, psychotic killers did and that’s who she’d stumbled upon. Maybe the guy had been drinking the woman’s blood. But he was probably just some sick crazy. Or a cult member. Or a poor schmuck obsessed with the undead. That didn’t make him an eight-month-old vampire.

      It was the shock. She’d freaked at the sight of all that blood and so she’d imagined things. Like the growling and the fangs and the bloodred eyes.