Claim the Night

Theresa looked at Chloe, begging with her eyes for an explanation.

Chloe glanced at Jude. Jude shrugged, as if he didn’t care. Chloe turned back to her. “Because your friend Sam has been investigated for date rape before. He’s on the street only because the woman withdrew her complaint.”

“Oh, my God!” Terri’s hand clapped to her mouth, and for an instant she wondered if the remains of her lunch were going to come up. “Oh, my God.”

“God has nothing to do with it,” Jude said grimly. His eyes seemed to have grown even darker. He pushed himself out of the chair and looked down at Theresa. “You were lucky. Last time the woman claimed he used Rohypnol.”

The date rape drug. Theresa sat frozen, her stomach churning, remembering last night. He’d bought her a drink. A drink she hadn’t wanted. One he kept insisting she enjoy until finally, when he was distracted, she’d dumped most of it on the floor behind her chair. “Oh, God,” she whispered. “I didn’t drink it. I dumped it.”

Chloe jumped up from her chair and came around her desk to put a hand on Theresa’s shoulder. “Jude will take care of him. He’ll never dare come near you again.”

“But … the cops will find out the same thing you did. Won’t they take care of it?”

Chloe answered, “Not the way Jude will.”

The words hardly registered, because another feeling washed over her, one of sheer fury. “I wish I’d stabbed that pen into his heart!”

Surprisingly, a laugh issued from Jude. She looked at him, unable to understand what was so funny. “I mean it!”

“I know.” The brief laugh disappeared from his face. “Hell.” He sighed.

“Jude,” Chloe said warningly.

He glared at her, an expression that Terri was sure would have made her sink to the floor in a quivering puddle. The man looked capable of mur der.

“I’ll deal with him.”

“But how?” Terri demanded. “How can you?”

His dark gaze returned to her, nearly pinning her. “First,” he said slowly, very quietly, “I am going to ensure he never so much as thinks about coming near you again. Unlike the police, I can use threats. Okay?”

Terri managed a jerky nod.

Jude’s attention returned to Chloe. “She doesn’t leave here until I get back or call and say it’s okay. Got it?”

Chloe nodded. “You can count on me.”

“And if Master Garner ever drags his behind in here, nail his feet to the floor until I say otherwise. I mean it, Chloe. Don’t let him go running out. I swear that kid has a death wish.”

On that grumpy statement, Jude disappeared into his office only to return a moment later wearing his long leather coat.

He paused just long enough to pick up Sam’s photo, then look at Terri and say, “Stay. I mean it. This guy is bigger trouble than I originally suspected.”

She didn’t think she could have moved to save her life.

And only when he left the room did she feel she could breathe again.

Once he was in his battered car, Jude took a moment to clear his head, nose and lungs of Terri’s scent. God in heaven, that woman’s scent was like a drug. Being in the same room with her was enough to drive him nuts. In no time flat she pushed him to the edges of self-control in a way he hadn’t experienced in at least fifty or so years.

The Hunger raged in him, but that alone wouldn’t have put him so much on edge. No, it was the desire he felt for her, pounding and strong, stronger than any he had ever felt as a man, stronger than any he had ever felt as an immortal. The feeling was so powerful that it could have turned him into the kind of creep he was about to go see.

Breathing deeply, he battered the insanity back into the buried, darkest places of his being. The places he had vowed never to visit again.

Madness was no longer welcome in his world.

But certain forms of vengeance were.

Chapter 3

As Jude had suspected, Samuel Carlisle was in no mood to paint the town that night, not after having been stabbed just the night before. Whether or not he had been visited by the cops, and Jude strongly suspected he hadn’t, he undoubtedly thought by now that he was safe. Little did he know.

So there he was, opening his own door, looking sour and saying before Jude could speak, “I don’t want any.”

“You’re going to get it, anyway,” Jude replied, his smile glacial. With a shove, one that required very little effort for him, he pushed the door hard enough to make it slam all the way open. At once Sam started backing up. Fear entered his gaze. “I’ll call the cops, man. You better get out.”

Jude’s smile widened. “No, you won’t call any one.” The Voice.

It froze Sam in his tracks as Jude entered the apartment and closed the door. “We need to have a talk.”

“About what?” Sam’s defiance was rising again, and he started edging toward a phone on the coffee table.

“Stop.”

Sam froze again. Jude closed the distance between them, caught Sam under his chin with one hand and lifted him off the floor. Sam stared wildly at him, but didn’t try to fight.

“Look into my eyes,” Jude ordered.

Sam obeyed, not really having any choice at the moment. Jude shoved him up against a wall so he wouldn’t strangle the guy. Although he was tempted. So very tempted.

“Listen to me.”

Sam stared in hypnotic horror.

“You will not ever go anywhere near Theresa Black again. Do I make myself clear?”

A small nod.

“You will not ever attempt to rape another woman.”

“No.” A squeak.

“Because if you ever again attempt to use Rohypnol on anyone, if you ever again attempt to take a woman without her express and freely given permission, I will hunt you to the ends of the earth and rip out your throat. Are we clear?”

“Yeah.”

“In fact, let me take this one step further. If you ever, ever even so much as think of using Rohypnol or force again, you are going to walk yourself to the nearest police station and turn yourself in. Got it?”

“Yeah.”