Out of the Night by Robin T. Popp Read Free Book Online Page B

exactly as the lieutenant so naively suggested.
    She'd mentioned vampires earlier to Mac and now thought of them again. The similarity between the chupacabra and the vampire wasn't coincidental, but the exact nature of the connection escaped her. There had been something she'd read once, long ago; forgotten—until now.
    She struggled to put it together. What if the chupacabra's attack on her father and the other man somehow turned
them
into vampires? And they, in turn, had killed those nine men? Her mind wrestled with the impossibility of it, but no logical explanation sprang forth to take its place. Then another, more horrifying thought hit her.
    The chupacabra had also attacked Mac.

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Chapter 4

     
    "Ma'am? Are you all right?" Lieutenant Davis's concerned tone barely pierced her awareness.
    "I need to go." Lanie started walking down the hallway with hurried steps, not really caring if the lieutenant followed or not. All of her thoughts were focused on what she might find. The doctor had reported that Mac was doing better, she told herself.
    She left the residence hallway and turned the corner. Sounds of activity elsewhere in the building were audible now, but she ignored them. By the time she reached the doorway to the medical lab, she was practically running. Not wanting to draw undue attention to herself, she stopped just shy of the door to catch her breath—and then lost it as soon as she walked into the room.
    Expecting to see Mac on a stretcher, IVs running electrolytes into his still-weakened body, she instead found the gurney empty and Dr. Sanchez in deep, jovial conversation with another man who stood with his back to Lanie.
    He was bared to the waist, and the pure masculine beauty of his back struck Lanie. Only a few angry red scratches marred the tanned skin. Around his neck was a white collar, which Lanie belatedly realized was a bandage.
    She moved into the room, amazed. "Mac?"
    The man turned, hissing under his breath as if the sudden movement hurt, and a look of confusion crossed his face. Lanie walked up to him, nodding to Dr. Sanchez, who smiled at her before crossing to the far side of the room where he sat at a small table and began writing.
    Left alone with Mac, Lanie felt small and feminine before him. Up close, it was hard not to stare. He was barefoot and while he had on camo-patterned pants, they were fastened only partway, leaving an inviting "V" open at the top into which a dark trail of hair disappeared.
    His abs, while not washboard, were nevertheless impressive, and rather than the rounded shoulders and sunken chest that one might find on a leaner man, Mac was all straight planes and muscle. His chest had a light covering of the same dark hair she'd spied beneath his navel, and there was nothing about his appearance to suggest he wasn't in the absolute peak of health, except for the scratches across his chest that mirrored the ones she'd seen on his back. Souvenirs from the chupacabra.
    Thinking of the creature reminded her why she was there, though with the light of the afternoon sun streaming in through the windows and Mac up and about, Lanie's fears that he might be a vampire seemed suddenly absurd.
    "How are you feeling?" she asked, studying his face carefully.
    "Fine, uh, Lanie?" Mac's eyes grew round, and he leaned closer to her, studying her face.
    His scrutiny made her feel self-conscious, so she scowled at him.
    "Holy shit." He laughed. "It IS you. Damn, woman"—he raked his eyes slowly over her from head to toe and back again—"you clean up nice."
    She wanted to return the compliment, but found herself too embarrassed to respond. "I can't believe you're up and around so soon. I mean, last night…"
    She swallowed as the events from the night before came rushing back. "Thank you," she said softly, looking into his face. "You saved my life." Guilt hit her and she found it hard to hold his gaze, so she let hers fall to the floor. "I should have listened to you and never gone into