At the thought, his cock began to swell.

Fired on by the way she pressed herself against him and kissed him with abandon, he intensified his kiss, telling her that he was accepting her offer, that he would give her a ride out of this area, and then, he’d give her the ride of her life. Once they’d left the Bayview area behind, he would park the van and take her on the back bench.

Getting hotter by the second, he slid his hand down her back, palming her jeans-encased backside. A moan released from her lips, and he drew her closer, but his thick coat prevented him from rubbing his hardening cock against her.

Before he had a chance to open his coat, so he could feel her body more closely, the girl went slack in his arms. Her movements ceased.

Shocked, Oliver let go of her lips and stared at her. She was unconscious.

Fuck, what had he done now?

Her head fell back, causing her long black hair to expose her neck. That’s when he saw them: the two small puncture wounds that could only have been caused by one kind of weapon. A vampire’s fangs.

Blood still trickled from them. Instinctively he pressed his fingers over them and put pressure on them to stop the flow of blood. No wonder he’d smelled blood. Two things became instantly clear: there was a vampire in the area, and he hadn’t erased the girl’s memory after feeding from her, nor had he finished, because he hadn’t licked her wounds. No wonder she had told him somebody was hunting her.

Shit!

Oliver’s eyes quickly roamed the area. In the distance, he heard hasty footsteps, somebody running, but he couldn’t yet see anybody. No matter who it was, he couldn’t just stand here with the girl in his arms. Be it human or vampire approaching, neither was allowed to find him here. A human in this neighborhood was most likely a criminal and Oliver wasn’t in the mood for a fight right now, and if the vampire who’d been feeding off her was approaching, he’d be utterly pissed off that she had escaped him. And he fancied a fight with a pissed off vampire even less.

Without further ado, he lifted the girl into his arms and unlocked the car, placing her on the back bench before he slid into the driver’s seat. A moment later, he gunned the engine and raced out of the neighborhood as if a pack of wolves were chasing him.

The girl’s blood smelled more intense now, and he was glad that he’d just only fed, otherwise he would not be able to resist the temptation she represented and continue where the other vampire had left off.

At the thought of his earlier feeding, he shivered in disgust. He’d been so greedy and already so far gone that he’d attacked the juvenile delinquent without finesse, without care whether the kid saw what he was. Only afterwards had he had the presence of mind to wipe the kid’s memory of the horrific event. He’d felt so bad about what he’d done, about how much blood he’d taken, that he’d shoved a hand full of twenty-dollar-bills into his victim’s jacket pocket. But still it hadn’t erased his guilt.

He still felt disgusted with himself that he’d succumbed to his hunger again, that he hadn’t been strong enough to resist and fight the demon inside him. Would he one day end up like one of those junkies living in the streets when Quinn and Scanguards had given up on him? When they’d decided that he was too much of a liability for them? He couldn’t allow it. He had to prove to them and to himself that he was stronger, that he could be trusted, that he could be responsible.

Gripping the steering wheel tighter, he veered around another corner, finally leaving the Bayview behind him and entering the South of Market area. Normally, this was where he fed, but for some inexplicable reason, he’d been drawn to the seediest of neighborhoods tonight. Was somebody trying to tell him something? Was his subconscious mind trying to show him how he would end up if he didn’t get a grip on himself?

Oliver pushed the thought aside to make way for a more pressing issue: the girl on his back seat. First, he had to make sure that she was all right, then he needed to find out what had happened, and eventually he would have to erase her memory, particularly if she was aware who’d been hunting her: a vampire. It didn’t matter who the guy was, whether Oliver knew him or not, because it was an unwritten rule to guard a vampire’s identity at all times. Humans weren’t allowed to find out about the immortal creatures living in their midst.

Oliver threw a look over his shoulder, but the girl didn’t stir. He recalled the way she’d looked at him with her beautiful almond shaped eyes that were as dark as the night itself, how she had pleaded with him to help her. He had already decided not to get involved in whatever her problem was, but then she’d surprised him with her offer.