"And his gray-eyed, red-haired friend? You haven't mentioned her."
Something was in his hand, and I made a bleat of terror as a normal person would when it pointed at me. A gun, well, getting shot hurt less than getting burned, that was for damn sure. As long as he didn't blow a hole in my head or heart, any other area could get fixed.
Anthony giggled like a joke had been told. "Kratas, why Patra assigned you to me, I'll never know. She's a fake, of course. Tate's into role-playing. He's got a thing for the real Reaper, it's common knowledge. Maybe I'll keep the redhead for a while. She's not important, so Patra won't need her."
Kratas sent Anthony such a jaded look that the other vampires were suddenly at attention.
"None of you can think past your cocks,that's why Patra assigned me. Can I imagine the luck? No, I can't."
Anthony seemed a little sobered by that. He considered me more objectively. Then he shook his head.
"Her hair smells dyed, her eyes have some blue in them, and her skin...it doesn't have a hint of glow, and she's got no tat. Plus, you didn't see the two of them when I came into the carnival. They were all over each other. Bones wouldn't let his wife fool around with the youngest member of his line."
Kratas gave me another hard stare. "Waste of time to mesmerize her and ask," he muttered, almost more to himself. "If she's not the Reaper, she'll claim innocence, and if sheis, she'll still claim innocence, since they say vampire powers don't work on her."
A brunette vampire shrugged. "Then kill her, it's not worth the risk."
I let out a frightened squeak for effect while I mentally readied myself for a fight. But Kratas was already shaking his head.
"And risk losing our most valuable hostage ever? I think not."
"I have an idea," one of the other vamps piped up. "Have them f**k. He wouldn't risk the death sentence if that's the Reaper, and neither would the real Reaper do it."
Tate let out a disbelieving chuckle even as my hand tightened over his.
"Come on, guys, you expect me to get it on now, when the poor girl's shaking in fear? No thanks, I'm not into rape."
Kratas, to my dismay, seemed to like the idea. He cocked his gun. "You into death? Because this gun's filled with silver bullets, and that's what you and your girlfriend are gonna get unless you do it. Here, we'll even give you some space."
With questionable helpfulness, the other vampires cleared off our seat and scrunched next to each other on the opposite one. Tate and I had their undivided attention. Great. Now what? They were all too alert for us to make a move. No, they had to be off their guard first.
Tate looked as rattled as I felt. I had to do something, fast, before he ruined it. The bottom line was, we needed them to lead us to Hykso. If we just started the mayhem now, there were too many of them for us to try and take a few alive. Sure, Bones would jump in on the fight, but what if before then, Tate or I happened to kill the only person who knew where Hykso was? We couldn't risk it.
"I don't want to die," I quavered, rustling up some crocodile tears. "We shouldn't have gone out tonight, I told you I wanted to stay home!"
Tate only took a second to fling off his unease. My act was saying to play the game-for now. Just long enough to get us a little closer to Hykso.
Tate took me in his arms. "It's all right, baby. Everything will be fine." Then he glared at them.
"You can forget about using a stopwatch, because I'm taking as long as it needs to get her in more of a mood."
"Just glare her into the mood," one of them snapped impatiently.
Tate gave a disgusted grunt. "That may be how you get chicks to want to f**k you, but I find a little something called foreplay works, too."
"Fine, do it your way," Anthony said. "As long as it's in the next twenty minutes, because we'll be at Hykso's plane by then."
Mentally I smiled.Good, tell us how far away we are, that'll make it easier to coordinate an attack.
Kratas waved the gun. "Get on with it."
I eyed Tate, wishing he had Bones's mind-reading skills.Less than twenty minutes, okay, if we drag out the kissing and such, we can be almost there. Then Bones and the others will be close enough to find Hykso, if we end up killing whoever knows, we'll finish up here, and drinks will be on me. But first...
Tate kissed me, brushing away my fake tears.
"It's okay, baby," he murmured. "Just pretend we're alone. Don't look at them. Think about how much you love to be touched like this."
The translation was clear-I had to act like he and I had done this before. Some of my reticence could be rationalized as fear. Not all of it.
I took a deep breath. If someone would have told me this morning that I'd spend tonight getting to second base with Tate, I would have laughed and called them a liar. But that was exactly what I was about to do, though second base was as far as I was willing to commit to this charade.
Tate gave me a deep, openmouthed kiss. I put my arms around him, letting my fingers play in his short hair as I tried to simultaneously keep an eye on the vampires through slitted lids and act like I was getting turned on by Tate's attention.
But I wasn't. Inside me, guilt was competing with the ruthlessness that said we had to get closer to our target. Right now, guilt was winning. Desire was pretty far from anything I felt.
Tate knew it, too. He broke the kiss, staring at me with mixed green and blue eyes. I knew he could tell that this wasn't doing anything for me, and so could the other vampires.
Kratas cocked the gun. Dammit all to hell. I'd have to fake this better.
I twined my arms around Tate and pulled myself onto his lap, drawing his head to my throat. The feel of his tongue and fangs grazing the sensitive skin of my neck reminded me of Bones, and there were shivers to show for that. I arched my back and sucked on his throat in return. Tate shuddered, his hands wandering up my back to my br**sts.
Warning shot through me. Did Tate remember about the two knives strapped to my upper back? Or had he forgotten that in his distraction over the extremely compromising position we'd been forced into?
I reached for his hands, sliding them to the front of my jeans.
"I don't have to get all the way naked in front of them, do I?" I asked, making my voice high and vulnerable.
Tate's gaze met mine. His eyes were all green now. "No, baby. This'll do."
He helped me slide my jeans off even as, absurdly, the night I met Bones flashed in my mind. How Bones had called my seduction bluff after I'd lured him to a deserted patch of woods.You weren't going to shag me with all your clothes on, were you, Kitten? Guess all you'll need off is your knickers, then. Come on. Don't take all bloody night.