Excerpt of Hunting Karoly by Marie Treanor

Letting go of his arms, I balled my hands into fists and pushed violently against his chest. Nothing happened. He might have been a tank or a stone wall for all the impression I made. So I tried instead to push back the table behind me with my bum using his chest as leverage. The table rocked and I heard the clank of glasses knocking together before he did the blur thing again and grabbed whatever I was knocking down. He did it however without letting me go, so when I could see him once more, I was icily sarcastic.

"For a vampire who drinks the guests’ blood, you’re very careful of the hotel’s property!"

"I don’t want to attract attention."

"That’ll be the reason for the Bonnie Prince Charlie outfit and the ‘children of the night’ accent!"

"I’ve no idea what you’re talking about," he said tranquilly. The hand not holding me was busy doing something behind me. I heard the sound of liquid splashing on to glass. "Besides," he added, straightening and presenting me with a glass of red wine, "if we’re offering criticism, you are singularly inept for a vampire hunter."

"Tell me about it," I said, snatching the glass from his fingers with the vague idea of dashing the contents in his face. "They’ll love this down at the Centre!"

His hand released me. Casually, he reached behind me again, his nearness causing a fresh stab of desire to slice through my stomach. He came back into view with another glass half full of the same ruby liquid. Unless it was blood.

He said, "There is a Centre for vampire hunters now?"

I took a hefty swig from my glass. The remaining contents would still make a fine mess of his pristine white shirt. "For psychics of all kinds, people with ESP who can fight evil spirits."

His eyes mocked me over the rim of the glass. "That’s what you do?"

"No. It’s what they do while I’m setting fire to my hair."

His lips twitched. "So that’s what happened to it?" Unexpectedly, his free hand ruffled through my short spikes as if I were a Labrador. "I thought it was a little—martial—for bridesmaids’ fashions."

"Yes, yes!" I snapped, "and it doesn’t go with this stupid dress either!"

"Oh I don’t know. I like it. It makes you look like a street urchin dressing up in someone else’s posh clothes."

"And that’s good how?"

"I don’t know if it’s good at all," he said, elegantly sipping his wine, "but it’s certainly sexy."

I blinked in astonishment. "Sexy? What do vampires know about sex?"

His smile took my breath away. For an instant, his amazing eyes went dark again, drinking me in, swallowing me.

"Everything."