Shadow’s Caress

Patti O’Shea

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Former vampire hunter Cass Lanier didn’t think vampires could become ghosts … until the shade of Malachi James comes to her, arousing her with his erotic touch. Malachi was the last vampire she killed—an act she always regretted. Now Cass is his only hope of being brought back to life.

Then Cass discovers Malachi isn’t the only one following her. Other hunters have learned she can resurrect the vampires she put to death, and they want to kill her first. Will Cass survive long enough to save Malachi and finally experience her phantom lover’s caresses as pleasures of the flesh?

CHAPTER ONE

Cass glanced at her watch—another half an hour until she escaped. Tonight, the store was nearly empty. She didn’t get how an 80s boutique stayed in business, but hey, it was Los Angeles. The appeal of the clothing was lost on her, but she didn’t have to like it, just sell it.

The Twisted Sister video on the flat screens gave way to “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” and Cass winced. It was the third time since her shift started that she’d heard that song. She might need to look for a new job. Again.

Immediately, she rejected the idea. She’d have to live with the music. She could already claim a dozen former positions and she needed to remain somewhere longer than a few months or weeks.

The only job she’d managed to stay with for more than a year was the one she’d held right out of high school—vampire hunter. Her lips curved as she imagined the reaction if she added it to her résumé, but the amusement faded quickly. Right, like she could ever admit to that.

Cass looked around, but Genevieve, her coworker, was helping their lone customer. It was going to be a long half hour.

She bent over, tugged her black capri pants below her knees and pulled up the slouch socks…which promptly fell back down. Cass huffed out an impatient breath. Did she really have to dress like it was 1985?

Before she could work up a good mad, the hair on the nape of her neck stood on end. She jerked upright, but it took another moment for her to feel it. The presence.

He was back. This was the first time, though, that he’d shown up while she was working. She’d never believed in ghosts. Really. But the last four days had changed her mind.

Before she could decide how to handle his unexpected arrival, he trailed a finger over her bare shoulder where her oversized red sweatshirt fell to expose the strap of the tank top she had on under it. A shiver went through her that had nothing to do with fear.

Why did she have to like his caresses?

And how lame was it that she got heated up by a ghost anyway? When he’d first made his existence known, she’d been disconcerted. That had changed to rattled—he shouldn’t be able to arouse her, damn it. Now, she could mostly take him in stride. At least until he touched her and made her cells short circuit.

Stepping away, she turned her back on him and fussed with the T-shirts on the rack she faced. Cass felt his heat as he moved behind her and then he kissed her nape. Her nipples tightened and she almost melted as his lips moved along her skin.

She clasped the metal bar, the hangers biting into her palms, and closed her eyes to savor every tingle. The man knew how to use his mouth.

Blood roared in her ears, and while she didn’t exactly forget she was at the store, the knowledge didn’t stop her from enjoying this. His warmth surrounded her and she wished she could lean back into his body. Okay, she wished he had a body.

He kissed his way over to where her neck met her shoulder, licked farther forward and then nipped at her pulse point. Cass gasped and her knees buckled.

“Are you okay?” Genevieve called.

“Fine.” Cass’s voice came out thick and she could feel her face burning. She sidled away from him, and trying to appear nonchalant, headed for the registers.

She was an idiot. Not only was she at work, but he was also a phantom, a wraith. How pathetic was she?

Her sort-of-imaginary boyfriend followed on her heels and she was aware of him with every step she took. Awesome, now he didn’t even need to touch her to get her warm. “Back off,” she warned, keeping her voice soft.

The gap between them widened a few steps, and perversely, Cass felt immediate disappointment. She had to start dating again. This was her body’s way of telling her that it wasn’t normal for a twenty-one-year-old woman to live like a nun. But the idea of her ghost tagging along while she was out with some other guy … Well, talk about weird.

When she was behind the counter, the presence safely on the other side, she looked around. Genevieve was over by the dressing rooms talking with the customer and Cass turned her back to them. “Listen,” she whispered, “you have to go away.” Inspiration struck. “Go to the light. That’s what you should do, okay?”

He didn’t leave and she sighed. How long would he stick around? It wasn’t like a ghost had any reason to haunt her, so eventually he’d drift out of her life.

A memory of vivid blue eyes staring up at her made Cass flinch. Vampires didn’t become ghosts. Did they?

Of course they didn’t, she assured herself. With all the training she’d had to hunt and kill them, someone would have mentioned it. But—she swallowed hard—she’d asked questions constantly that no one had been able to answer.

Maybe this one had come back to haunt her because their gazes had been locked as she’d driven the stake into his heart. He was the only vampire who’d ever awakened like that and he’d shaken her to the core. Maybe it had made the difference.

“Look, I’m sorry,” she murmured. “Killing you is why I quit being a hunter.”

Cass aligned the items lying on the counter between the registers. “If it makes you feel better, I still have nightmares about that day, so really, you don’t need to haunt me. My memory is doing it for you. Go to the light, have a nice afterlife and I’ll see you in another seventy years, okay?”

For a heartbeat, she thought he was speaking and she could nearly make out what he said, but then her coworker laughed and Cass lost the almost-words. It had probably been her imagination anyway, just like it was imagination that she was talking to the ghost of a vampire she’d killed. The odds against it were astronomical. It was her guilty conscience, nothing more.

“Maybe I should become a nun for real,” Cass muttered. “Then I could spend the rest of my life atoning for that year I was a hunter.”

“Nuns probably have better health care coverage than we do,” Genevieve said as she breezed behind the counter. “I didn’t realize you hunted. Aren’t you a vegetarian?”

“Yes.” She didn’t know what else to say, so she left it there. At least Genevieve thought she’d hunted animals, but then the majority of the world didn’t believe vampires or demons existed. It was Cass’s misfortune to know better.

The customer came up with an armful of clothes, saving Cass from more explanations, and when Genevieve finished ringing her up, it was time to close for the night.

It went quickly. They’d worked together long enough to cruise through the process of shutting things down, and with the ghost finally gone, Cass wasn’t distracted.

Genevieve’s boyfriend picked her up, but they waited until Cass was in her car before they drove off. She gave them a quick wave as they left and reached for the ignition. Nothing happened. Her heart sped up. It was dark, the parking lot was deserted and the idea of being stuck here didn’t give her the warm fuzzies.

Cass turned the key again. Still nothing.

Reluctantly, she popped the hood and opened her door. She didn’t know much about engines, but maybe something was loose and she could slide it back into place. She gingerly jiggled a few cables, but everything seemed connected.

“Piece of crap,” she said and slammed the hood shut. For an instant she considered giving the tire a kick, but her sneakers wouldn’t keep her from breaking a toe.

A shimmery warmth filled her and she realized the ghost had returned. “You know,” she told him, “you could be useful and wield some poltergeist powers to get my engine started.” Nothing. “Yeah, that’s what I figured.”

Leaning her hips against the grille, Cass tried to remember whether any of her friends had brothers or boyfriends who knew how to fix engines. The squeal of tires made her straighten and look up. She turned in time to see a pickup truck come skidding around the corner of the big department store.

Cass hurried around the hood. Get in the car. She needed to be inside with her cell phone, ready to call 9-1-1.

The other vehicle’s headlights were off. That wasn’t good. Her stomach knotted.

The truck passed beneath a light and a glint caught her eye. What made her freeze, though, was the man on the passenger side. He looked familiar. That couldn’t be—

Hands pushed her to the ground and Cass felt a warm weight settle over her.

Gunfire erupted.

She flinched and the man on top of her curved his body around hers.

Something—a bullet maybe—hit asphalt near her face, sending a spray of debris her way. She closed her eyes and brought her hands up to shield herself.

Tires squealed again and the engine roared as the driver gunned it. Cass lifted her head and saw the shooters leaving at high speed. She started to shake. So she’d been a vampire hunter, big deal. No one had ever shot at her before. If this guy hadn’t shown up and pushed her to the ground, she might be dead.

His weight eased off her and Cass got to her hands and knees. “Hey, thanks. I guess I locked up there for a second.” She climbed to her feet slowly, giving her legs a chance to stop trembling. “But when I saw that gun and the man holding it—”

Cass stopped short, blinked hard and looked again. Her savior wasn’t some passing good Samaritan, it was her ghost. She recognized his energy—only he wasn’t looking quite so spectral at the moment. He remained mostly translucent, but she could see him. She took in the tousled light brown hair, the handsome face, the vivid blue eyes, and gasped.

The last vampire she’d slain had just saved her life.

CHAPTER TWO

Cass drove through the darkened streets of L.A., her hands clenched around the steering wheel. One of the police officers who’d responded to the shooting had gotten her car started, but that was the only good thing that had happened since she left the store tonight.

What did she do now?

The vampire hunters wanted her dead and she knew how they worked. They’d be watching her apartment. If she were stupid enough to go there, they’d pick her off. Cass had no clue what she’d done to anger them, but she’d recognized Quentin as the shooter.

The name made her shudder. She’d had one run-in with him when she’d been part of that group, but that encounter was enough for Cass to realize the guy was psycho. And he was after her. On orders. It had to be on orders because he was a follower, not a leader. It wasn’t comforting news. The organization wouldn’t stop until the mission was completed.

Turning to her friends was out. None of them were aware she’d been a hunter and she couldn’t tell them. Besides, it would put them in danger. Her former coworkers didn’t care about collateral damage and the biggest risk any of her friends had faced was driving on the freeways.

The police weren’t an option, either. What could she say? Hey, you’re wrong about it being a random drive-by shooting. That guy with the gun? Yeah, he and I were both vampire hunters. Sure. They’d think she was a whack job.

Maybe if she were a better liar, she could tell the cops some story and they’d believe it. Problem was she sucked at lying. She always had.

Cass eased the car to stop at a traffic light and tried to beat back the panic. She had nowhere to go, no one she could ask for help, and to make things extra difficult, she didn’t have much money. Her emergency credit card wasn’t an option. It could be traced and the hunters had the resources to do that.

Another car pulled beside her and her anxiety level skyrocketed. When the light went green, Cass hit the accelerator so fast, her sedan lurched into motion. She had to get a hold on herself. If she let her fear get the upper hand, she’d make it easier for the hunters. They’d have—

“Where are we going?” a voice asked from beside her.

Cass cut herself off midscreech and jerked her gaze to the passenger seat. Her ghost was back. Relief flooded her.

“Watch the road!” he ordered.

His urgency registered. She yanked the steering wheel, bringing the car back into its lane and narrowly missing the oncoming vehicle. Cass got a long honk for her efforts. “You scared the hell out of me!”

“Sorry.”

He didn’t sound sorry, but she took a deep breath and let it go. She had bigger problems to worry about. “Go away. I don’t have time for you.”

“You don’t really want me to leave.”

“Yes, I do. Really.”

“If I do as you ask, who helps keep you alive, Cassandra?”

“Cass. I don’t like being called Cassandra. And right, like I’m supposed to believe you want to help me. I killed you, remember?” A sudden realization dawned on her. “You’re here for revenge, aren’t you?”

“No. In your case, retribution would be wasted energy. You were young and I’ve seen no hatred in you. My assumption was that you obeyed orders, nothing more.” He didn’t wait for her to respond before continuing, “Besides, I’m not dead.”

Relief flooded her. Maybe she was being stupid, but Cass believed him about not wanting to hurt her. And he had saved her life earlier. Then the last thing he said registered. She shook her head, but kept her gaze on the road. “You are dead. I read about ghosts and you guys hang around because you believe you’re still alive, but you’re not. Trust me. I drove that stake into your heart.”

He was quiet for a long moment and Cass was torn between hope that he’d believe her and go away and fear that he’d do exactly that. At least when he was around, she wasn’t on her own, and right now, the last thing she wanted was to be alone.

“What were you taught about killing vampires?”

Cass didn’t get why he was asking, but she didn’t see any reason not to answer. “That there are four things I had to do—stake you, put garlic in your mouth, behead you and bury your body separately from your head.”

“And did you follow all those steps?”

She swallowed hard. The only time she’d chopped off a vampire’s head had been while her trainer had been watching. It had taken her forever and she’d had to stop to puke. More than once. Even now, the memory made bile rise in her throat.

“No,” Cass admitted quietly. She sounded normal and that was good. “But what difference does it make? Beheading vampires is an old wives’ tale and it’s not easy to cut off heads, you know.”

“As slight as you are, I imagine not.”

He shifted in the seat and Cass glanced over briefly. The translucence of his body threw her when he sounded so … normal, but he was more solid than he’d been in the parking lot after the shooting.

The ghost licked his lips and the memory of his mouth on her throat made Cass heat up. Damn, she was glad the car was dark and even happier that she had to watch the road otherwise he might figure out how easily he aroused her.

“The thing is,” he said, and she heard reluctance in his voice, “beheading isn’t a myth. A stake alone doesn’t kill a vampire.”

Right. “I don’t know how to break this to you, but you’re a ghost and you have to die to be one those.”

“Wrong. I’m a shade—a shadow, if you prefer—not a ghost.”

Cass frowned. “What does that mean?”

“It means I’m in limbo. I’ve been in limbo for two years, and in that time, you’re the only person who’s been able to see me or hear me.”

A hint of an accent crept into his voice. English, she thought, and Cass realized she knew nothing about him. All her boss had told her that day was where to find the vampire. “What’s your name?” she blurted out.

The weight of his gaze felt heavy, but his tone was neutral when he answered. “Malachi James.”

She bit her lip and tightened her hands on the wheel. “You’re thinking I should have known who I was killing.”

“No, I’m not.” Their gazes locked briefly when she glanced over and he must have read her confusion. “It’s easier to commit murder when the target is impersonal. A name makes me real. And you did not kill me, no matter how much you insist otherwise.”

Murder. The word made her cringe. “I’m sorry. Really, truly, totally sorry, okay? I wish I could have a do-over, but we don’t get those.”

“In this case you do—in a fashion.”

The only way to change things was to go back to that day, but that was impossible. Wasn’t it? “Vampires can time travel?”

His chuckle sent a shiver of awareness down her spine. Why did he have to be so sexy? She wanted to write off her desire as vampire charisma, but she couldn’t. It was him. “Didn’t you ever learn it’s not nice to laugh at someone?”

“Sorry.”

“Yeah, I heard that before and you weren’t sincere then, either.”

Malachi put his hand on her leg and squeezed gently. That sent more tingles through her, but it also felt like an apology. A real one, not that offhand sorry he’d tossed out. His hand stayed above her knee and she reached down, covering it with her own. Cass half expected her fingers to pass through his, but they didn’t and his heat made her palm burn.

She couldn’t let the way she responded to him sway her into doing something stupid. “Look, I’d like to help you, but I can’t. I have my own problem to deal with.” Problem—that was an understatement.

“I know.” He gave her another squeeze. “But if we work together, we can solve both our difficulties.”

Cass put her hand back on the steering wheel and steeled herself against Malachi’s touch. “That sounds good in theory, but aside from pushing me to the ground, how can you help me?”

“For a start, I know why they want you dead.”

That stunned her enough that Cass nearly missed the light going yellow. She slammed on the brakes and gaped at him. His expression was serious, his blue eyes urged her to trust him, and she wanted to. Wearing faded jeans and a black T-shirt, he looked like some guy her own age, but appearances were deceiving. Malachi wasn’t twentysomething, he was a vampire, and for all she knew, he might be thousands of years old.

“How can you have that information?”

“I walked into their headquarters and searched for everything I could find about you.” When she didn’t reply he added, “You’re the only one who can see me, remember?”

His fingers moved higher on her thigh, and if Cass didn’t need to keep her foot on the brake, she would have let her legs fall open to give him more room. She was such a sap. Malachi was trying to divert her…and was succeeding. Reaching down, she grabbed his hand and put it back at her knee.

“If you want me to believe you, don’t use my attraction to you against me.”

It wasn’t as if she could deny what he did to her. Every time he’d touched her over the last four days, she responded. He’d have to be a complete moron not to register that.

“That wasn’t my intent. And the need goes both ways, don’t doubt that.”

“Because you haven’t had sex in two years.”

The light turned green and Cass was grateful for the distraction. His gaze had made her feel vulnerable.

Malachi took his hand off her leg and crossed his arms over his chest. “I could have stopped you that day, you know. Vampires are much faster than any human. Much stronger, too. If I’d reacted as soon as I awoke, you wouldn’t have stood a chance. But when my eyes opened, they met yours and the surge of desire was powerful enough to blind me to your intent. By the time I saw the stake, it was too late to grab it.”

Unsure what to say to that, Cass kept quiet. She wanted to believe him—maybe a little too much—and that made her wary. “Why did you want information about me?” she asked softly.

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