In the background, he heard Kimberly scream. If he didn’t make this quick, the girl would attract attention and summon help.

Haven reached into his inside pocket and pulled out the stake.

Yvette’s eyes narrowed as they circled each other. “I would have let you impale me with your dick, but not with that thing.”

Her words threw him off guard. Count on her to fight dirty. Bitch. “There’s no way in hell I’ll dirty my cock by sticking it into you.” His cock called him a liar.

He saw the anger in her eyes, but there was something else in there too. Had his remark hurt her feelings? Haven shook off the stupid thought. As if vampires had feelings. Cold-hearted bastards—and bitches.

Yvette attacked, more forcefully this time. They dealt each other blow after blow. Her kicks to his lower half were taking their toll. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get close enough with his stake to do any damage.

Another painful kick in the gut, and he faltered. She slammed him against the car. Haven squeezed his hand against his gut to ward off the feeling of nausea. His hand felt the little vial the witch had given him. He snatched it from his pocket and turned just as Yvette grabbed his neck.

“Take that, bloodsucker!” he pressed out, threw the vial to the ground and smashed it with his shoe.

Instantly, pink vapor billowed from it. Yvette’s head snapped toward it, but already her movements slowed.

“Shit!” she yelped, her eyes darting to the side. “Kimberly!”

The girl was only a couple of feet away from them, still standing frozen at the same place where the attack had begun. With visible effort, Yvette released him and reached for Kimberly, clamping her hand over the girl’s wrist before she collapsed on the pavement, pulling Kimberly with her.

“Yvette!” the girl screamed.

Great, now the starlet went into hysterics. How he hated that.

“Shut up!”

The girl’s screams simmered down to a whimper as she shook Yvette, trying to wake her.

Haven looked down at Yvette, who lay motionless on the ground. He knew she wasn’t dead, merely unconscious. Now was the time to kill her. He gripped his stake tightly and rolled the smooth wood between his fingers. Then he knelt down beside her and turned her onto her back. He shouldn’t have done it. He should have just slammed the stake into her back.

Kimberly’s kick into his side hit him by surprise. “Leave her alone!”

Haven tossed her a pissed off look and grabbed her ankle in the same instance, making her lose her balance and tumble against the car behind her, jolting Yvette, whose hand was still around Kimberly’s wrist.

“What part of ‘shut up’ did you not get?”

In response to his unspoken threat, her eyes turned into that of a frightened doe. “Ouch!”

Well, at least the girl could act. But damn, if he didn’t hate frightening innocents. If his mother were alive, she’d beat the crap out of him for that.

Haven focused his attention back on the unconscious Yvette. What he saw in her face were the flawless features of the woman who’d seduced him so thoroughly in the ballroom hours earlier; the red lips of the woman, who’d challenged him; the glorious curves and luscious breasts of the woman, who had so blatantly offered a night of sex.

His hand shook for the first time when holding a stake. He’d never had any qualms about killing a vampire, so why could he not bring his hand to descend and drive the stake into her heart?

Instead, he rose and looked at Kimberly, who’d braced herself against the car’s trunk, frightened and crying. Haven looked around. They were still alone in the alley, and the driver’s door of the limousine was open as if the driver had abandoned the car in the middle of the fight. Just as well.

“Let’s go. You’re coming with me!” he ordered.

He grabbed the girl’s arm and tried to pull her toward the front of the car, but there was resistance. “I said, we’re going.”

“I can’t,” Kimberly wailed.

Haven looked back and noticed how Kimberly tried to loosen Yvette’s hand from her wrist but couldn’t pry her fingers apart. He stopped and took Yvette’s hand, but his attempt was as fruitless as Kimberly’s. Like a vice, Yvette’s fingers had locked around Kimberly’s wrists and had frozen in place.

“Shit!”

“What’s happening?” Kimberly cried. “Help! Somebody help me!” Frantically, she looked around the alley, but there were no other passersby. It wouldn’t stay that way, Haven was sure. He had to get the hell out of there quickly.