Crave the Night by Sharon Ashwood, Michele Hauf, Patti O'Shea, Lori Devoti Page A

vampire didn’t miss the
nervous tick.
    The man replied, "You're feet from the
docks. Lots know the sea here. Some place in particular you're
looking to find?"
    "The hag." Not a place, but a person...or
being. Nolan wasn't sure what the sea hag was, and he didn't care.
His only concern was that the stories were true and she had what he
needed.
    The bartender’s fingers closed tighter
around the gun's butt. "You have business with her?"
    "I wouldn't need a guide to find her if I
didn't." Nolan leaned closer, meeting the man's gaze.
    The wall behind the bar was covered with
objects Nolan recognized as attempts to ward off evil. But
considering they'd done nothing to stop him from entering the
place, the effort was wasted.
    "There's...someone who might help." The man
raised one bushy brow and slid his hand forward.
    Nolan dropped two bills onto the man's palm
and waited.
    The bartender slid his fingers over the
bills, apparently checking their validity, then slipped them into
his pocket.
    "Talk to the mermaid. She's been coming in
for months. Rumor has it she's planning a visit to the hag herself
and looking for a companion."
    "Mermaid? How did she come by that name?"
Nolan needed a guide, one tough enough to weather whatever journey
lay before him. He didn't need a female looking for help of her
own.
    "Not a name. It's her...breed."
    "Breed?" Surely the bartender didn't believe
whoever this female was that she was truly a mermaid. Mermaids were
myths like dragons and Pegasus and...Nolan flicked his tongue over
one canine...vampires.
    He growled. "Where can I find her?"
    "She was in the back earlier. Sitting alone.
Can't miss her." The bartender straightened his arms, ready to push
himself away from the bar, but then apparently thought better of
it. He reached out and grabbed Nolan by the arm. His fingers
digging into Nolan's bicep, he whispered, "You ain't the first one
what went with her. She takes 'em to the docks and they never come
back."
    Nolan stared down at the man's fingers. The
bartender loosened his hold and stepped back as if burned, but
Nolan wasn't done with him. He leaned over the bar. "She's taken
others to the hag?" He hadn't heard of anyone successfully making
it to wherever the sea hag called home, or if they had, they'd
never returned to share their stories.
    The bartender shook his head, his eyes wide
now and worried. "Don't think so. They weren't gone that long.
She's like the rest of her kind, but with legs. She lures men out
to the water and pulls them under...from there...?" His voice
dropped. "There's no coming back."

    Sarina Neri crossed her legs at the ankle
and stared toward the front of the bar. Someone new had entered,
someone different from the worn-out men who usually stumbled into
the place. Maybe, finally, her search was over. Maybe, finally, she
would find a man capable of passing the sea hag's tests.
    He was talking with the bartender and,
Sarina could tell, hearing tales of her dangers. The superstitious
man's gossip didn't worry her.
    No man could resist the lure of a nixie, if
she turned her attention his way.
    After taking a drink of her beer, she
uncrossed her ankles and placed her bare feet onto the filthy bar
floor. She was preparing to stand, to search out this new man, when
she saw him crossing the room toward her.
    She smiled. This one was coming to her.
    As he approached, she studied him, looking
for some sign that he was different from the others. She'd tried
eight so far, each younger and, from outward appearance, stronger
than the last, but none had survived her test. None had lasted the
quarter of an hour Sarina considered the minimum she would need to
trick the sea hag into thinking she had brought the old goddess
what she demanded—a man who could live out his life beside her
under the sea.
    This man was tall with broad shoulders that
tapered to an athletic waist. Trim and fit—neither signs he
possessed the talent Sarina needed. He was handsome too, with
rugged features