Charlie took a deep breath, her green eyes moving over him slowly. “Then I guess you’ll have to ride with us.”
She knew he was lying. His heart jerked in his chest. Pride in her abilities shook him. Who would have thought a human woman would be able to read him so easily? He sent her a quick grin.
“I guess I will. Let me just give my car keys to the valet and tell him to make certain my car that I didn’t bring with me is safe here in the parking garage.”
Charlotte smiled at him, a genuine smile for the first time. She pulled her cell phone out. “I have to call Grace really quick and tell her to expect your friends. I want her to pack a couple of things for us as well.”
Genevieve pushed closer to Charlie, adding her list of items for Grace to pack for her. “And the men coming for you are really hot,” the two women assured their friend.
Tariq frowned. “You find my friends hot?” His eyes were on Charlie. Assessing. Something moved inside of him, something not good. His belly tightened into several hard knots.
Charlie shrugged. “They’re good-looking, Mr. Asenguard, of course we noticed. That will make Grace happier – to have her rescuers be hot guys.”
“Call me Tariq. And it would please me immensely if you would not find my friends ‘hot.’ I would be okay with you having that assessment of me, but not of them.”
Genevieve laughed.
Charlie’s eyebrow shot up. “So I have your permission to find you attractive?”
He nodded solemnly, staying in step with her while they covered the short distance to her car. “More than attractive. More than hot. Is there such a thing as more?” He scanned continually to make certain no vampire was close to them. The four humans were hanging out inside his club. He thought it was a good thing that Dragomir and Siv had gone with Maksim to keep Fridrick from Charlotte’s niece. He couldn’t imagine either of them in a nightclub, nor did he altogether trust them with all the pounding heartbeats. They were both far, far too close to the end. Those in the monastery could no longer even hear the whisper of temptation to feel. Not even that. Putting Dragomir in the nightclub would be like putting a fox in a chicken coop.
Charlie laughed, the sound sliding inside of him, restoring his good mood. She sounded a little flirty. He liked that. “If there is something that’s hotter than hot, you’re it, Tariq,” she assured. “But then you already know that. You have a bit of a reputation as a playboy.”
Uh-oh. Not so good. “I do? Really? Because of a few publicity photos and charity events I attended? I assure you, Charlotte, I live quietly.”
She slid into the driver’s seat and Genevieve slipped into the backseat, leaving the passenger front for Tariq.
“You live quietly?” Charlie echoed. Her tone was quite frankly disbelieving.
She waited to start the car until he’d put on his seat belt, something he was reluctant to do because he needed to move fast if there was trouble. Still, it was expected of him and he’d lived in the world of humans a long time and had learned to fit in.
“Yes, quietly,” he assured, snapping the belt around him.
She gave a little sniff that sounded very suspiciously as if she didn’t believe him. “You own a nightclub.”
He frowned, genuinely puzzled. “I own several of them.”
“Women dress up in sexy, very skimpy club clothes looking for someone to hook up with for the night. You’re hot. You’re wealthy. You can carry on a conversation. The women are going to be throwing themselves at you every night. No way are you living quietly.”
He caught the underlying tone she had. She was striving for conversational and matter-of-fact, but he heard the little bite to her voice. She was far more interested than she was letting on. “Go left, out to the lake district.”
Maksim. Dragomir. Siv. Tell me you have the child safe. They were taking too long to secure the little girl. Charlotte’s little girl. If Fridrick managed to get his hands on the child, Charlie would be frantic. She would do anything to get her back, including handing herself over to the vampire without hesitation.
Not yet. Engaged at the moment. Maksim’s reply was clipped.
Tariq turned his head away from Charlie to look out the window. He’d hoped the three hunters would get there before Fridrick. Had Maksim gone alone, he would have run up against two master vampires, but Dragomir and Siv were with him. To engage all three ancient hunters, Fridrick had to be desperate. What had he said? Genevieve was for someone else. Charlotte was for Fridrick.
He went very still. Vadim Malinov had lured two women down into the tunnels beneath the city. One of those women, Blaze, was Maksim’s lifemate. The other was her best friend, Emeline. It had been Emeline Vadim was after, but they’d also tried to acquire Blaze. When the hunters had gone through the tunnels, they’d discovered that all kinds of experiments had been conducted. They’d also discovered the gruesome remains of several women in various stages of pregnancy. Was it possible this all centered around the vampires taking women for their own? Trying to produce families? The idea seemed so far-fetched, so completely impossible Tariq could barely fathom it.
Vampire blood was acidic. It burned in one’s body, through one’s body. No baby would be able to stand that kind of pain. The Malinov brothers weren’t like any other vampires. They were brilliant men who had conceived a plan to overthrow the prince of the Carpathian people and then very deliberately turned undead. All five of them. Quickly they became master vampires, and their reputations for cruelty and cunning were legendary.
From the evidence in the tunnels below, trying to have children was exactly what Vadim was doing. So if Emeline was for Vadim and Blaze had been for Vadim’s brother Sergey, but they had rescued the women, that meant the undead would need two more women to take their places.
“Fridrick said Genevieve was taken, but that you were for him, didn’t he?” he murmured, turning back to Charlotte.
She nodded. “Yes. He implied that Genevieve was spoken for.” A little shudder went through her. “He was going to kidnap us, wasn’t he? And take Vi to someone equally as horrible as he is.”
“But Fridrick said you were for him,” he reiterated, trying to wrap his head around the fact that if Fridrick was involved, the vampires should need three women, not two. So who was the third woman? They’d rescued both Blaze and Emeline.