Heroes by Susan Sizemore Read Free Book Online

learning how to do it even as she thought about it. This was all very odd and disconcerting, but an amazing learning experience at the same time.
    “I didn’t know we could do this,” the other vampire said.
    “Neither did I,” Char agreed. “I bet there’s a great many things we don’t know we can do.” She didn’t mean to say this, certainly not to a stranger. A stranger, yes, but—
    She took a sharp breath, recognizing what was familiar about him.
    Nighthawk!
    The word screamed into his head with such force that it pushed Geoff away from the woman. He grabbed his ears while the world spun. It took him a moment to realize he was falling.
    When he righted himself, she was gone. The sky was empty. And he was still falling, slowly, gently, out of the light, into the dark, back to his body. He didn’t fight it. This was too weird to go on for long. Exhausting.
    He’d get a good day’s sleep. Then he’d go looking for her.

Chapter 4
    IN THE PARKING lot, Haven paused by his red Jeep Cherokee to take off the leather jacket he’d worn in the overly air-conditioned bar. The sleeveless black T-shirt he wore beneath the jacket hugged his body and bared muscular arms, the left decorated down most of its length with heavily inked black geometrical tattoos. He tilted his head up to hide his smirk when he saw Moll’s eyes widen in horror at the sight of his choice of body décor. Maybe Clare Murphy had been expecting a gentleman.
    “You’re not a companion,” Clare said, suddenly very wary. She took a step back from the Jeep.
    Haven squinted into the bright blue sky. “You people always act like that’s a bad thing. You asked me here,” he reminded her. “Talk to me or not.” He shrugged, then shaded his eyes with his hand, his attention drawn to a bright spot hovering in the air. He pointed at the light. “You see that?”
    She turned to look. “What?”
    “Like a—smudge—of fire.” Whatever it was he saw, he didn’t think he was seeing it with his eyes. He shook his head, trying to clear it. A cold finger ran up Haven’s backbone, and something molten clutched in his gut. Something like a moment of hot jealousy. The emotion lasted a second, then, like the fire, it was gone.
    “UFO?” Murphy suggested.
    There was already enough crazy stuff in their lives; they didn’t need aliens too. “Come on,” he said, and opened the passenger side door for the companion. Like a gentleman. Despite throwing him a suspicious look, she didn’t hesitate to get in. He went around to the driver’s side, tossed his jacket in the back, then climbed behind the wheel and asked, “Where to?”
    “Just drive,” she said. “And we’ll talk.”
    He drove. Past clubs, smaller casinos, and car dealerships. Eventually he found his way onto Interstate 15. Dust and heat haze swirled up in the distance, obscuring the view of the nearest mountain range. The woman beside him kept her silence until he finally asked, “This safe for you? Your—” He hated to say “Master,” even if that was the right term for a vampire-companion relationship. He settled for, “—boss, occupied?”
    “He’s asleep. Dreaming of love.” She let out a low, dark chuckle. “He’s stalking a future companion. Ben’s attention is not on me right now.”
    It didn’t sound like it bothered her too much. “You still better make this quick and get back to what you’re supposed to be doing. What are you supposed to be doing?”
    “Running security at the Silk Road hotel and casino. Our whole nest is involved in this one job. Only this job.”
    This did sound like it bothered her. “Think you ought to diversify?”
    “We were diversified. He had a good business with a great reputation and more clients than we could handle. Then Ben gets a call from this Ibis the Ancient—”
    “Ibis the Ancient? He really called that?”
    She laughed. “Yes. Supposedly he’s from ancient Egypt. There’s a rumor that he’s the father of all