Argeneau Family - The Immortal Hunter Part 12

"I'll drive and you can sleep. I'll wake you if I find-" Dani stopped suddenly and said, "Nicholas."

"What about him?" he asked with a frown.

"Has he called? Did he lose them too? Has he called?" she repeated impatiently.

"No. We haven't heard from him," Decker answered.

Dani bit her lip and then asked abruptly, "Where's my cell phone?"

"Still in my jeans. Wh-" The word ended on a surprised "oomph" as she suddenly shifted to her hands and knees to climb across him to get to his jeans beside the bed. Decker would have stopped her, but got distracted by her derriere, which was suddenly in front of his face as she bent over him, her knees on one side of his thighs, one hand on the other, bearing her weight, as she reached for the pile of his clothes.

It was a very nice derriere, Decker decided as it waved around in front of his face, swaying a bit as she patted his jeans for the lump that would be her phone.

"Aha!" Dani's derriere suddenly dropped out of his line of vision as she straightened, cell phone in hand. Decker sighed with disappointment. It had been a rather pleasant view and he'd been tempted to grab it again as he had in the SUV and- He was distracted from his less than sterling thoughts by a muttered curse from Dani.

"What is it?" Decker asked, forcing his eyes to her face as she settled back on her haunches.

"My battery," Dani said, feeling her pockets. "It must have fallen out when-" Pausing abruptly, she turned sharp eyes on him.

"Who undressed me?"

"Sam and Leigh," he said at once, not bothering to mention that he'd intended to do it himself, but they'd shooed him away and taken over the task.

"Hmm," Dani muttered, not looking as if she believed him. Then she was suddenly off, launching to her feet and rushing off the bed to scamper to the door.

Decker watched her race out of the room and then glanced down at himself with a small sigh. The sheet had tented below his waist again as he'd watched her bottom dance before his face. On the one hand, it was nice to know he could get erections repeatedly like this after eighty years without even a spark of interest in that area. On the other hand, it seemed a terrible shame that they were going to waste. Sighing again, Decker tossed the sheets aside and stood up to don his jeans and go after her.

Chapter Eight.

Dani scanned the floor around the mattress, but didn't see the battery anywhere. She had resorted to crawling around on the bed, checking under the pillows and sheets and blanket when Decker spoke from the door.

"Can't you find it?" he asked. He didn't sound terribly surprised.

Sitting back on her haunches, she shook her head unhappily. "No. I don't know where it could be. I put it in my pocket."

"Maybe it fell out," Decker suggested, avoiding her gaze. "Your phone did."

"Yes, it did," she said slowly, and then stood to move past him into the hall.

"Where are you going?" he asked, following her.

"To check the SUV. Maybe it fell on the floor in there while we were-" Dani cut herself off, aware that she was blushing over what they'd been doing on the floor of the SUV.

"The SUV isn't here."

"What?" She whirled around at that softly spoken announcement. "Why not? Where is it?"

"Mortimer and Sam brought my personal vehicle back, so it was taken back to Argeneau Enterprises. They plan to build a parking garage for them out here, but until they do, they're still kept at the compan-"

"Well, then we'll have to go to Argeneau Enterprises," Dani said, cutting him off. But when she turned to continue toward the stairs, Decker caught her arm to stop her.

"There's no use doing that, Dani. It probably won't be there. One of the other men will be using it to search for Stephanie and the rogue."

She frowned over that possibility and then said, "Well, we'll just have to call Bastien and find out who he gave it to so that we can-"

"Bastien will be sleeping," Decker said at once. "Why don't we just wait until-"

"I'm not waiting. We're waking him up," Dani snapped, and then shook her head with bewilderment at the resistance she was meeting. "Jesus, Decker, my sister is-"

"I know," he said soothingly, trying to calm her... and probably quiet her down, she realized, noting the way his eyes slid to the doors in the hallway.

Dani didn't want to wake everyone up, just Bastien, if it meant she might get a lead on her sister, so turned and led the way up the hall to the stairs. She jogged swiftly down them, and then continued on into the kitchen before turning to face him. But as Dani opened her mouth to speak, it occurred to her that they didn't have to wake anyone up.

"We don't have to wake Bastien," she announced, and Decker immediately relaxed, his relief obvious. Until she added, "We'll just take your vehicle and go to town and buy a replacement battery."

Decker closed his eyes and shook his head. "Dani, Nicholas isn't going to call you. He-"

"You don't know that," she protested, her voice rising with frustration, and then she asked, "Why are you trying to stop me?

And why didn't you wake me up last night? Or was I even really in a natural sleep? Did you have Justin control me and keep me asleep on purpose?"

The guilt on his face was answer enough, and Dani felt rage and frustration explode within her.

"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d," she yelled, grabbing the cordless telephone-the absolutely only thing there was in the kitchen to grab-and swinging it back to throw it at him. That was when Dani learned how quickly immortals could move. Suddenly Decker was there in front of her, grabbing her by both wrists. He squeezed the one that held the phone until she dropped it and then gave her a little shake.

"Listen to me," he snapped. "Nicholas isn't the hero you think he is. Fifty years ago he killed a woman."

"What the h.e.l.l's going on down here?"

Both of them froze and jerked their heads to the door as Lucian barked that question.

Decker released Dani and stepped away. "I'm sorry. Did we wake you?"

"h.e.l.l no... you woke up the whole house," Lucian growled, and stepped into the room to allow two other men to join them.

Dani bit her lip as she watched them enter. She recognized Justin, but had no idea who the second man was, though she thought it might be Mortimer. It didn't matter, though; she was sorry they'd woken them with their argument.

"Now," Lucian growled, "Tell me what is happening."

"Dani wants to get a battery for her phone," Decker explained wearily. "She thinks if her phone was working, Nicholas would call her. She thinks if he's still following her sister, he might be able to tell us where they are."

Dani said firmly, "He would call me. He knows I will be worried."

"Dani," Justin said pityingly. "Nicholas is a rogue. He can't afford to call again. He only got away with it the first time because we didn't know you had the phone."

She ignored him and stared at Lucian as she said, "He promised he'd get her back for me."

Lucian considered her silently and then asked, "And you believe him?"

The question was not sarcastic or dubious, simply curious, and Dani didn't hesitate to nod.

"Why?" he asked at once."I don't know," she said, and then sighed and admitted, "Maybe I just want to believe him because he's Stephanie's best hope."

When Lucian continued to stare at her without speaking, Dani added, "I know he's what you guys call a rogue and that he's killed someone. He told me that, but-"

"Afraid," Lucian murmured.

Dani paused and tilted her head uncertainly. "I don't understand. Afraid what?"

"Nothing," he said at once, and then added, "Well, if he was trying to call, I'm sure he's given up by now. There's no use-"

"My phone has call display and he didn't block his number."

"What?" Decker almost gasped the word, he was so shocked.

Everyone in the room appeared to be, they'd all frozen on the spot, their eyes locked on her, but Dani ignored everyone else but Lucian. "His number will be in my phone memory."

"Why didn't you tell me that?" Decker asked, stalking toward her, anger clear on his face. "You knew we were hunting him.

Why the h.e.l.l wouldn't you tell me that you could give me his number? Bastien could have used that to track him down."

"That's exactly why I didn't tell you," Dani said at once. "The man is trying to save Stephanie. There's no way I'm going to repay that by turning him over to you."

"He's not a man, he's a vampire and a rogue one at that," Decker said harshly, and then added, "And you have no idea if he's trying to find Stephanie or not. He's rogue, Dani. Why would he risk his life for some girl he doesn't even know?"

"I don't know," she admitted, and then asked, "Why did you take a bullet for me before we'd even met? And why did he put himself in jeopardy to save us the first time?"

"We don't know that he did try to save you the first time," Decker said, ignoring the comment about himself. "Maybe he was running with that group, and lied to save his own hide when we got the drop on him. Maybe he just put us on to those guys hoping we'd be distracted and he could escape... as he did," he added bitterly.

"Or maybe he's not the man you think he is," Dani countered.

"Give me the phone," Lucian said.

"Why?" she asked suspiciously.

"Give me the phone, woman!" he snapped.

Dani hesitated, but then reluctantly handed it over. She didn't really have much choice. The man could have controlled her and taken it anyway.

Lucian grunted what might have been approval when she held it out. He then took it and immediately handed it off to Justin.

"Take it to Bastien and have him see if one of his people can fix it. Tell him to send it back to Dani at once if they do."

Dani's eyes widened. She'd expected that would be the last she'd see of her phone, that they'd take it and use it to catch Nicholas and that would be that.

Lucian saw her expression and merely shrugged. "It's you he'll be calling. He might hang up and toss his phone if anyone but you answers."

Dani scowled at the words."Now, I am returning to my bed. I suggest the rest of you do the same. Decker, keep an eye on her," he ordered, and then turned to Dani and added, "And you will remain right here waiting for your phone to be returned."

"Of course," she said calmly, and then just so he didn't think it was because he'd said so, added, "I wouldn't want to be stuck in traffic an hour away from here when the phone starts ringing."

Much to her surprise, Lucian Argeneau looked amused. He turned to Decker and said, "I like her. You have my blessing. But I suggest you stop thinking with your d.i.c.k and use your brain before you lose her. Explain the situation. I know you don't like talking about Nicholas, but it's the only way she'll understand and see that she can trust you and perhaps not Nicholas."

Dani frowned at the words. She didn't care if she had his blessing and-despite her body's rather alarming response to Decker in the SUV last night-had no interest in being his vamp ho. She did, however, want-no, need-to trust in Nicholas. Right now Dani was pretty sure that he was her only hope of seeing Stephanie alive again.

"Dani," Decker said quietly as the other men left the room.

She cast a resentful glare in his direction, not really wanting to talk to him at all, but said, "You shouldn't have had Justin put me to sleep."

"He didn't. You fainted. I just-When you started to stir, I had him help you to keep sleeping. I shouldn't have done that, and I'm sorry I did," he added quickly when she opened her mouth to speak. Decker then shrugged helplessly and tried to explain, "I wanted to save you some worry. I was hoping we'd find her before you woke and-"

"I'm not some brainless twit who needs coddling, Decker. She's my sister. You should have woken me up," Dani snapped, and then added with frustration, "It's not your place to save me worry. The phone could have been fixed by now, Nicholas could have called, and we could have Stephanie back safe and sound. Instead she's out there G.o.d knows where having G.o.d knows what done to her... if she's still alive," she added bitterly.

"Dani, I'm sorry, but he won't call," he repeated solemnly.

"You don't know that. And I'm sorry doesn't get my sister back, does it?" she asked, shaking his hand off and moving out of the kitchen. She headed up the hall and then took the stairs to the second floor, aware that he was following, but trying to ignore that fact. It was hard to ignore it when she walked into her room and tried to close the door behind her, only to have him stop her.

Dani glared at him briefly and then shook her head wearily and said, "Go away, Decker. I need time to think."

He ran a weary hand through his hair as he followed her into the room. "I can't."

She hadn't forgotten Lucian's order that he keep an eye on her, and Dani was too weary to argue with him, so she glanced around in search of an escape. Her eyes settled on the door to the bathroom. "Then stay. But I'm going to take a bath. I trust you don't have to be in there with me?"

"No, that's fine," Decker said in subdued tones.

Nodding, she crossed to the door and slid into the bathroom. Dani closed the door, but rather than start running a bath, leaned back against the panel of wood and lowered her head briefly. She'd only just woken up a short while ago, but felt as if she hadn't slept at all. The morning's events had been terribly draining, and all she wanted to do was curl up on the floor, go to sleep, and not wake up until Stephanie was back safe and sound.

Her lips twisted at the thought. That was exactly what Decker had hoped to do for her by keeping her asleep last night and she was mad at him for it. She supposed it wasn't really what she wanted at all. What she really wanted was to get Stephanie back right then, whether she was alive or dead. Obviously, she would prefer to have her back alive, but if the rogue had already killed Stephanie, then it was better to know now than to suffer the agony and anxiety of bouncing between hope and fear as she was. That, she found, was unbearable.

But you don't always get what you want, Dani told herself grimly, and forced herself away from the door to start running a bath.

She had pushed the b.u.t.ton to drop the stopper and turned on the taps to start the water running when a knock sounded at the door. It made her scowl.

Knowing it was Decker, she was about to tell him to go away when he said, "Dani? I fetched you some soap and towels."

She blinked in surprise at the words, glancing around to see that while the small hand towel and bar of soap she'd used that morning were there, they were the only things that were, besides toilet paper. There were no towels hung over the rack, no washcloths either, and no soap by the tub. A quick search of the cupboards proved that those were completely empty.

"Dani?" There was concern in his voice now at her silence.

Grimacing at the realization that she'd have to answer the door after all, Dani called, "It isn't locked."