Ultimate Line

Baron eyed the blazing sign of the local red neck bar. This was a perfect night to experiment or die. The sky was clear with brisk temperatures and intermittent wind.

Swallowing his rising fear, he braced his shoulders while his fingers clenched around the small device in the palm of his hand. The faint vibration from the gadget warmed his palm and eased his mind. Pushing his glasses back up his nose, he waited a second longer before moving. One step, then another, brought him closer to his goal.

A strong wind whipped around the corner, sending his cap flying toward the street. Long strands of mousy brown hair whipped wildly around his head. Patrons eager to escape the change in weather flowed around him as if he were a stone in the midst of a stream.

Interesting.

Grabbing the flapping panels of his jean jacket closer, he searched the parking lot. Senses on alert, he wondered if Adrian, a vampire hunter, and Lukian's accounts of the device were accurate.

They claimed the device blocked the presence of vampires. Was such a thing possible? Could he walk into the lion's den undetected? What if they'd built a counter device similar to the one he worked on? Could they ferret out his presence?

A tremor shot through his slight frame that had nothing to do with the elements and everything to do with his capture at the hands of his enemies.

Pulling the hood over his mop of long straight hair, indecision warred with his need to know if the device worked. He kicked a stone and watched it skip a few feet ahead. It stopped at the bottom step to the club, next to a pair of scuffed dark brown cowboy boots. An unfamiliar tingling raced through his system. Like a deer caught in headlights, he froze.

Hunter.

His stomach clenched. Suddenly absent of fluid, his mouth dried as the Hunter's gaze swept the parking lot. He'd swear an eerie light flashed from the giant's eyes, searing through everything in its path.

A metallic taste hit the back of Baron's throat as wintry cold gray eyes passed over him. The warm plastic in his palm pulsed. He released a swoosh of air as his natural enemy turned and walked through the heavy door.

To say he fully understood the risks of this experiment and its possible outcome was just proved untrue. What was he thinking coming to a hangout for vampire hunters?

It'd been years since he'd been in the presence of one of those killers. He had no idea they grew as tall and large as tree trunks.

No wonder Lukian, Leader of the Sentinels, was on edge. Hunters mirrored the speed, strength, and agility of Lukian's league of warriors. A simple vampire scientist like him, with no fighting skills, wouldn't rate as an appetizer to the mammoth who had just entered the bar.

On shaky legs, he inched backward a few steps. Mindful of the loud thumps from his chest, his gaze remained on the door until he reached the shadows of the parking area.

Exhaling a breath he'd been unaware he held, he turned and headed for his car. It was a quirk of his, to blend in the human world as thoroughly as possible to further his scientific research. Driving helped him achieve that goal. Besides, he enjoyed the feel of the supple leather seats and the ability to shape the atmosphere within the confines of the vehicle.

For a small man like himself, small comforts rated high on his list.

Romance novels and Hollywood had done his people a tremendous favor. Everyone thought vampires were these tall and handsomely compelling creatures. If that were the case, they'd stick out as cannon fodder for the Hunters. It was times like these Baron appreciated his nondescript appearance.

Average height, average weight, brown eyes and hair, and glasses that he didn't need, helped him blend in. People rarely gave him a second glance, which suited him fine.

Night sounds, music, and human conversation flew across his ears and mind as he neared his car. The dark husky scent of one voice stopped his forward momentum. Like a sieve, his ears filtered and rejected ever other sound until it zeroed in on the melodic cadence that held him enthralled.

Without thinking, he listened, eager to hear another syllable of the sound that touched off a spark inside him while moving closer to its location.

"Brina, I thought you were going to meet me here tonight," the voice said. He tried to identify the emotion behind the words, but having so little interaction with humans he remained clueless as he continued to listen.

"Yeah, like going out on a weeknight is something I do on a regular basis. I had to get a sitter and everything." Anger, but not true anger. There was no bite, no fire to the words from the woman as she spoke to someone on her phone.

Baron squeezed the device in his hand as an extra measure and walked closer to the car where the voice emanated from. The driver's door stood open. One bronzed, long, bare leg tapped impatiently on the ground. A splash of fabric covered a small portion of her well-toned thigh. The rest of her body lounged in the shadow of the car. Red polish gleamed from five tapered toes flashing from some sort of strapped heel.

If anyone had asked him before tonight if he had a thing for shoes or feet, he would have said, "Not even." However, the sight of her finely sculpted leg in high heels with red toenails just became a thing for him.

Grateful she couldn't detect him, he breathed deeply. The smell of peaches greeted his flaring nostrils, the scent teased his tongue, and for the first time in years, he hungered for something other than science.

"Heaven," he whispered, not ashamed to enjoy the fruits of his trespass. He stood beside her trunk, getting high off the sound of her voice and drinking in the sight of her leg. Who said the finer things in life weren't free?

****

Brushing past a woman and her small son, Simone rushed through the door before the closed sign appeared. She had been violently ill for the last week and was behind in her work. Her doctor claimed she had a 48-hour stomach virus.

Obviously, that was code for "we don't know what it is, so take these pills, they'll kill anything." There was nothing to do but rest and take the antibiotics. Even though she still felt a little off, she had to take a pill and keep going. The mortgage company wasn't interested in her health crisis. Bills had to be paid and her business required her attention. Looking back to make sure she hadn't dropped any of her files, she slammed into someone standing on the other side of the door.

" Oooph," she yelped as her arm and folders flew up. In an awkward attempt to catch herself, she grabbed hold of the nearest thing. Unfortunately, that happened to be someone's arm. Before she could yell out, a hand broke her fall, saving her from a hard fall onto the concrete floor that was now decorated with her research paperwork.

"Damn," she muttered, looking at the mess before she realized her rescuer still held her arm.

"Thank you," she added. Without looking at him, she bent to pick up her documents. It was useless to put them back in any type of order right now, so she shoved them into the files. Moments later, he surprised her by assisting her collect the papers from off the floor.

"I shoulda planned this better," she muttered, throwing papers into folders. "Allowed more time. But one thing happened after the other, and now I'm late." To make matters worse I'm talking aloud. Heat climbed up her neck and jaw as she offered a smile to her rescuer.

Standing, she realized they were close in height and he was cute in a down home kind of way. His brown hair was much longer than she usually liked, but it looked soft. Gold flecks dotted his brown eyes, and in the bright lighting they appeared to sparkle. She glanced at his firm lips. They were moving.

Simone groaned her embarrassment. She'd been checking him out while he'd been talking. Thank God, Brina and Tressie weren't here, they would never let her live it down. They'd swear they were right in saying she needed a man in the worse way.

"Is everything all right?" he asked, his tone curious. But what captured her attention was his accent. She tried to place it. She'd always had a thing for sounds, and cataloged faces by their sounds and scents. His voice reminded her of smoke and woods, sending a tingle to the midst of her belly. Caught up in her musings, she failed to see him move closer.

"Miss, I asked if everything was all right." His voice turned impatient, cold.

She shivered as he watched her through lowered lids.

Startled out of her reverie, she rushed to assure him. "What? Oh yeah, thanks. I, uh, was thinking about all the work of putting these files back together. That's all." Unable to believe her reaction to him, she offered a smile and watched him from the corner of her eye. Maybe it was the accent, but her opinion of him changed. Now he looked downright handsome. He wore brown corduroy pants and a brown tee. Nothing fancy, yet she was drawn closer. Inching forward, she breathed deeply.

He stepped back, mouth agape. A frown marred his face as he glared at her. "What the hell are you doing?" he asked in clipped tones.

The sound of his accent, deepened by his emotions, sent a giddy thrill through her. As his words penetrated, her face warmed as mortification set in. What was wrong with her? "Sorry about that. You sound familiar and I was trying to place your voice."

His right eyebrow arched. "By smelling me?"

Simone's cheeks burned. The condescension in his voice jerked her out of her trance and fueled her anger. There was no need for him to talk to her like that, she hadn't done anything wrong. Remembering she'd ran into him just a few minutes earlier, she amended her thought. She hadn't done anything wrong intentionally. Looking around to see if anyone had overheard his remark, she stood straight, placing the papers in the forgotten folder.

"Yeah, by smelling you," she said in an unrepentant tone. "Sorry if I offended you." Tossing her head back, she turned on her heel and strutted off.

"What the hell..." Baron caught himself as a young teen-aged boy walked by, smiling. Simone must've heard him since she laughed from where she stood waiting for the elevator.

Baron was intrigued. He'd just bumped into the rest of the body of the leg he'd admired last week at the bar. The moment she'd touched him, her intoxicating scent had slammed into his mind and ricocheted to his libido.

For a moment, so enmeshed in memory, he'd lost his train of thought until her lush body toppled toward the floor. At the last minute, he regained control of his body and saved her from hitting the concrete. Guilt over taking liberties in the parking lot the previous week, and now in the bookstore, sent him to his knees to assist the lovely woman in retrieving her papers. Shock, and another emotion he refused to acknowledge, reverberated through him when he caught her staring at him.

No one stared at him. He prided himself on being invisible.

Unable to resist, he'd peeked into her mind to discover her true motives. She liked his voice, thought it was familiar. He frowned at that. Then he ran into a blank wall, she'd shut him out. Like a television in the midst of a lightning storm, her thoughts dropped. Before he could reel in his shock at her ability to shut him out, she'd smelled him. Inhaling his essence just as he'd inhaled her scent the other night. Except, he felt as though she'd taken a part of him into herself. He had no idea why that thought lightened a tiny corner of his heart.

To stop her intrusion, he gave one of his famous cutting remarks. She appeared unperturbed and had the audacity to laugh at him, dismiss him. Had he been too busy in his lab? Had things changed that much that his kind could no longer read the minds of humans? A chilling thought flashed across his mind. What if there was a new device that prevented his kind from accessing the minds of humans? If so, how were they to know who would be best for blood donations in emergency situations? How would his kind in remote areas feed?

She appeared human. He hadn't sensed an unearthly aura, yet she'd effectively blocked him. Not a good sign, since his psychic abilities were among the strongest of the vampires. The scientist in him demanded to know more. To study the woman who appeared to be an anomaly. The vampire male in him demanded caution. A warning blared in the back of his mind even as he acknowledged she aroused him in ways he hadn't experienced in years. The scientist won. A barrage of questions surfaced as he moved quickly to catch her at the elevators.

Chapter 2

Simone sensed the snooty guy the moment he passed the elevator. If she didn't have such a backlog of appraisal work on her desk, she might have flirted a bit. He was kinda cute and she had no one in her life at the moment. She'd barely made it in the door of the bookstore before closing, she needed to pick up the reference materials that arrived earlier that day. Now she regretted the decision to bring the files with her to make some quick comparisons of the older architectural structures she'd inspected.

Armed with her research, she left the bookstore, and a few minutes later entered the coffee shop on the corner. Intent on completing her work, the ringing of her phone startled her to the point she almost dropped her files and books again.

Glancing at the number, she rolled her eyes. For a moment she debated whether or not to answer. But if she didn't, he'd just call again and again. "Simone Locklear." Deliberately, she infused boredom and disdain in her voice. Not that he hadn't received worst from her, he had. When it came to Javier Chavez, she never bit her tongue when it came to her feelings about him. She couldn't stand the man. He was worse than dung. Lower than scum.

There was no greeting, she didn't expect one. He got to the point. "Don't forget I'll be picking up Marissa tomorrow at six o'clock."

Marissa. The only reason she still dealt with this douche bag. Her niece was all she had left from her twin sister, Sharita. After the death of her sister, he had harassed her through the courts for visitation privileges with his daughter. Much to everyone's surprise, he'd won. Money could buy the best lawyers, and he'd paid big time. She still didn't understand why. He'd barely paid Marissa any attention while his girlfriend, Sharita, was alive. Now he tried to be daddy of the year. Tomorrow would make the tenth time they would spend unsupervised time alone.

Damned if she hadn't kept count. Sharita had shared horrible stories of his drinking, drug use, and abusive behavior. In her opinion, Javier was nothing more than a thug in a suit. Unfortunately, he had no criminal record and the courts weren't interested in her opinions.

"Got it on my calendar lil' man," she needled, just to remind him of her opinion of him.

"I got your lil man, bitch! Make sure she's ready. I know she's itching to escape that shit-hole you call a house and get some air." He immediately disconnected before hearing her comeback to his dig on her modest home.

"Gotcha." She smiled, delighted. She'd caused him to lose his cool. "Ah, the smaller pleasures in life are meant to be savored." Despite his unasked-for opinion of her humble three-bedroom home, it was her personal haven. It belonged solely to her, purchased with money she'd earned. In a way it was her badge of honor. No one thought she'd escape the cloud of her youth and make something of herself, but she'd proven them wrong. Shaking off thoughts of him and her youth, she collapsed on a chair and began her research.

****

Baron and Rauff, his business partner, stood outside a coffee shop on Tryon Street in the heart of Charlotte. The night was clear and the weather comfortable.

"You've got to be shitting me, mate." Rauff snickered. "You want me to attempt to read that gorgeous brown creature sitting in the back of the shop. Why would I do that?"

Baron ignored Rauff's impatient gaze. "Black."

"Hmmm? What do you mean black?" Rauff asked, while brushing something off his jacket.

"I've been told the correct term is black creature, not brown." Lukian had been tutoring him on the proper protocols, racial variances of humans, and their history.

"She's not black, Baron. You can plainly see she's more of a café au lait or caramel color, delicious looking actually. You really need to get your eyes checked, old boy. You've been in hiding too long." There was a smug undertone in his voice that Baron ignored.

His attention stayed on the female sitting at the back of the café. "I was referring to her ethnicity. She is Black or African American. That's all I meant. I was not referring to the actual color of her skin."

"Whatever. I don't involve myself with the latest fads. Regardless, she's still human." Rauff's tone was dismissive as he moved slightly to the side, looking up the street to watch people weave in and out on the sidewalk.

Baron recognized the signs. Rauff wasn't interested in much that did not directly benefit him. If Baron wanted to discover the truth about the woman, he would have to do something to entice Rauff to go inside.

They stood in front of the coffee shop a few minutes longer. Never one to allow a problem to simmer long, Baron's curiosity drove him to discover if her ability to block thoughts was unique to him. Could Rauff penetrate her shields? Although the male in him hated the idea of Rauff trying, the scientist needed to know. Sighing deeply, he looked at Rauff and explained what happened earlier in the bookstore, omitting his body's reaction to her.

"So you think she can block all of us?" Disbelief was obvious in his tone, his wry grin plainly said he didn't believe him.

"I don't know."

"You don't?" His eyes widened. "You do not know?"

Baron glared at Rauff. He knew that look, one of interest, and not just in the problem at hand.

"No, I do not." Why in the name of the Ultimate, are we partners? Rauff was a self-centered master con artist who had no problems interacting with humans, or any other beings.

Which Baron detested.

Rauff could charm or repel, depending on his mood. He was the face to their businesses. Both of them knew Baron was the brains. As long as Rauff didn't cheat him, he let things be.

After a quick mental shake, Baron continued. "With all the problems that Lukian and the Council have been having, this situation has me concerned." Moving to the side to allow a few patrons pass, Baron glanced at Rauff, who was focused on the couple who'd just walked by.

"You are one of the strongest telepaths we have." Rauff raised his hand, cutting Baron off. "But I know you are not going to let 'this' rest. So, for the sake of science, I'll give it a whirl."

Rauff opened the door and proceeded to the line. Baron watched to see if the human female noticed his partner. Most women of all breeds noticed him immediately when he entered a room. He fit the Hollywood stereotype of the romantic vampire: tall, dark, and studly.

She didn't glance in Rauff's direction the entire time. Receiving his drink, Rauff walked toward the door. Still no reaction.

Baron flushed with excitement. After all, she had noticed him and ignored Rauff. What did that mean? Was she smart or blind? He didn't know and it didn't matter. He opened the door before Rauff touched the handle.

"Well, were you able to read her?" he asked Rauff after they'd moved a short distance away.

Rauff, appearing deep in thought, spared a glance at his friend. "No, not really. Although I did not get the impression of intentional blocking like with shifters." The deadpan quality of his voice, just like his staring across the street at the foot traffic, irritated Baron. Trust Rauff not to see the importance of this discovery.

"She didn't pay you any attention." Rauff's vanity would never let that statement go unchallenged. Baron didn't have time to bargain, he needed information quickly. He sensed this information was significant, for him anyway.