Authors: Toni Kelly
Of course. He should have known better than to trust it was over with Rafe. “As you can see, she is not here.”
Lorenzo’s mouth curled as he uncapped the vial. “Would be a pity to let this perfectly good blood go to waste, don’t you think?”
“Rafe will kill you.”
“Let me handle him.”
“No.” What the hell was Lorenzo playing at? “How do I know he did not switch the blood with another type?”
“Good question.” Pulling a dagger from the belt at his waist, Lorenzo left the room and returned with the brunette from earlier. He dragged her forward by her arm, held it up and sliced with the dagger across her wrist.
“What are you doing?” Anticipating Lorenzo’s next move, Luke stepped forward, tensed.
“No.” Features constricted in pain, the woman tried to yank her arm back. “Stop.” Blood pooled at the cut’s surface as her skin stretched, exposing muscle.
“Let’s see, shall we?” Before Luke could stop him, Lorenzo poured several drops of blood from the vial into her cut. She screamed and fell to her knees, cradling her injured arm. Lorenzo bent and hauled her up from the floor by the back of her neck. “Show us your arm.”
She shook her head, lips trembling.
“Now.” He seized her wrist, pulled her arm straight.
The pale skin on her forearm glowed, pulling closed as blood clotted then formed a long scab. “What is happening to me?” The scab transformed into a pink scar which slowly faded to an ivory skin tone. She turned her arm over. “Amazing. It looks as if you never cut me.”
Lorenzo nodded at the door. “You may leave. I’ll call you when you’re needed.”
The woman hurried away without a glance back.
“You may have scared away your pleasure for tonight,” Luke said.
“There’s more where she came from.” He held out the vial. “Ready to give it a try?”
Luke took off his jacket, rolled up his sleeve then removed his bloody bandage. The cut beneath had spread and festered as if his skin and body belonged to a human. The infection would only worsen with each passing day. “Does not seem I have a choice.” He lifted his forearm and let the remaining blood from the vial drip into his wounds.
Heat seared up his arm, engulfing him in a bright glow. The sting of the cuts seemed minimal at first, like pouring alcohol onto open flesh. But the burn grew intense as if the blood were some kind of elixir eating through him. Luke bit down, puncturing his tongue with a fang to keep from yelling. “Bloody hell,” he rasped, gripping his injured arm by the elbow. Sweat beaded along his hairline.
Creases knit Lorenzo’s forehead as he glanced between the vial and the arm. “Why is it taking so long?”
“How the fuck would I know?” Luke panted rapid breaths in an attempt to drive away the consuming heat. His festered skin stretched and mended, closing completely in some places. To him it seemed an eternity before the pain calmed and the glow dissipated. “Shit.” Soaked with sweat, his shirt clinging to his chest, he collapsed in a nearby chair.
Lorenzo approached slowly, his eyes comically wide. “It didn’t heal.”
To tell him he’d stated the obvious appeared a waste of time and energy, both of which he lacked. Instead, Luke grunted. The wounds had closed slightly and the infection disappeared, but blood still seeped from the claw-like marks. “I did not have much hope.”
Trembling on unsteady legs, he stood and pulled down his sleeve, straightened his shoulders, which cost him strength. He turned away, hiding a grimace as he adjusted to the throbbing of his forearm.
“There is no cure against her.” Lorenzo lowered himself into a chair. His gaze clouded as if his thoughts were elsewhere. “What now?”
“I keep searching.” What else could he do to protect Savannah? He could not even imagine the consequences of her blood in the wrong hands. He moved to leave then stopped. “One more thing. If you find any other so-called cures, do me a favor.”
Lorenzo glanced upward, meeting his gaze.
“Make sure you test it on some other vampire before you try it on me,” Luke said.
* * * *
Lorenzo sensed Luke leave his office even as he shook off a dazed feeling. Few things stunned him, but even with seven hundred years to get used to immortality, the reality of possibly dying was a shocker. A few drops of Savannah’s blood could destroy him. The knowledge frightened as much as it turned him on.
“You let him go, sir.” Giovanni entered the office, his face a mask of confusion. “Where is the woman? I thought you wanted to use him to get her. I should go after him.”
Woman? She was a goddess fit to be his queen. A vampire killer with no known cure for her blood. “Calm down. I didn’t let anyone go. I made him trust me more. You’re only a halfling. You may have the advantage of walking during daylight but Luke is a pureblood. He will not be an easy kill. Although with her, I might be able to finish such a job quite quickly.”
“Sir?”
“Never mind.” Feeble minds.
“Have you changed your mind?”
“No.” If anything he wanted her more, but he had loose ends to tie up. Once Rafe realized Lorenzo’s men stole the vial of blood, he would be none too happy. “I will never change my mind about her, do you hear me?” She was his ticket to freedom. Power.
“Do you want me to kidnap her?”
“Don’t be foolish.”
“What should we do?” Impatience laced Giovanni’s tone.
“Stay calm and shut up. For now, keep an eye on them. I need to know where they head off to in the next few days and what their plans are.”
“And afterward?”
“Leave it to me.” He lost patience with Giovanni’s questions. Though eager to show his worth, the halfling was young and behaved recklessly. “I’ll give you instructions when the time comes.” He pulled his shirt tail from his pants and began to unbutton his shirt. “For now, bring me a woman.”
Giovanni nodded. “Do you have a preference?”
An ebony-haired waif caught his eye. She didn’t have Savannah’s curves but her face was decent. Not green eyes, more of a dark blue, but he could almost pretend. Easing himself lower in his seat, he caressed his sac. “Her. The lone one beside the bar.”
“Nice choice. Do you want her drugged?”
Running his tongue along one fang, he smiled. “No, buy her a drink and bring her to my office. I’ll take it from there.”
21
Lying is done with words and also with silence.
—Adrienne Rich
Savannah paced the wooden plank floor, rubbing her arms. They’d spent an entire day driving only to end up in an icy cabin in the middle of the Italian countryside. If anything, she would have guessed the thick cream and navy curtains hanging over the windows were trapping cold air within the cabin instead of keeping it out. “This place appears cozy. It’s deceiving.” She grabbed a throw off a living room couch and wrapped it around herself. “I’m freezing.”
Luke tossed another log into the fireplace, fueling the growing fire. “Come closer, you will feel warmth here.”
She approached and took a seat on a thick rug a few feet from the hearth. “Will Broderick be here soon?”
“He had a few things to take care of but should make it tonight.”
Several hours alone with him. Either way, it wouldn’t make a difference. He’d barely touched her since after the blood auction. He’d gone from passionate to distant and pensive overnight. She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and chewed gently.
“Are you getting warmer?” Luke asked.
She nodded, resting her chin on her knees.
“You hungry?”
Actually, she was starving but she didn’t trust herself to accept his kindness. What if she was the one blowing every action out of proportion and getting giddy? Maybe she had never interested him. “I’m fine. Can you tell me why we are here again? I get this is Broderick’s cabin, but I’m not sure why we left so suddenly.” She winced as her stomach rumbled.
“I told you why. It is for your protection. We need to discover who is chasing you. And considering your growling stomach, it would seem your body disagrees with you being
fine
.” He entered the kitchen. “We do not have much in regards to provisions, only what we picked up from the town market. Broderick should bring more tonight. Do bread, cheese and apples work?”
Delicious. “Fine.” She didn’t know what more to say as he removed a loaf of bread from a brown paper bag and cut several slices. He appeared at home preparing food. Ironic, since he no longer ate and probably hadn’t for years. Ugh, did she even want to think about his age? She cleared her throat and turned back to the hearth. Flames crackled, comforting in the awkward silence.
“Where are you?” he asked. “Your mind seems elsewhere.”
Hers? He was the one on a single-minded mission to evade whoever or whatever chased them. Being on the run suffocated her. It was like a moving cage and unfortunately, a recurring theme in her life. Trapped within bad relationships, inside hospitals, in a body that bore the scars of her hardships. Immured by debt. “Nowhere.”
“Savannah?”
“It’s nothing. I was thinking about the past few days.”
“I am sorry. This trip came faster than anticipated. We will make sure we get you warmer clothes.”
He couldn’t avoid her. “And why did it come faster? Why are we here? I don’t see a need for this secrecy, having Broderick buy our train tickets and rent our car. I thought Rafe let us go.”
Lips lifted in a half smile, he sat beside her, placed a bowl of apples and a cutting board with bread and cheese between them. “Sounds like you have quite a bit on your mind.”
“Don’t play, I’m serious.” And scared. She met his gaze.
“As am I. I will not let anything happen to you.” He pulled off his sweater then unbuttoned and rolled up his red-stained sleeve.
“Your arm.” She brushed her fingers along the three slices on his forearm. Blood seeped slowly. “It looks better, somewhat. The wounds appear fresh. Did you go back to Rafe?”
“No. According to Lorenzo, Rafe gave him the healing blood in expectation I would return to Blood Bar. He wanted to exchange it for yours.”
Luke appeared bothered but she couldn’t determine what caused it. “You don’t seem convinced.”
“I do not see why Rafe would use Lorenzo. Why not come to me? It does not make sense.”
“Why didn’t it heal you?” she asked. And what did that mean?
“Seems Rafe’s sample was not quite what I hoped for.”
“Are you sure it was the actual sample?” she replied, frowning. She’d never trusted Lorenzo and that he’d use a false sample wouldn’t shock her a bit.
Luke shrugged. “I could not say. Although, he did demonstrate its properties on a human woman. Still, I am not sure what to believe these days.”
“You should have told me.” She sat up straight, suddenly finding it hard to breathe. “Oh God. Please don’t tell me this is why we left so abruptly. Are they are chasing us?” She touched his good arm. “We have to go back. Rafe will kill you if you took the sample without exchanging my blood.”
“No. I do not believe Rafe had anything to do with this. If he desperately wanted your blood, he would never have let us go the night of the auction.”
Which was a logical conclusion, but if Rafe or the other Ancients weren’t chasing them, then who? “Either way, this won’t stop until we go back.” In a quieter voice she said, “I should know, I’ve been running my whole life.”
“This time, running is your only option. We are not humans, we are vampires, powerful, immortal. Damn it, Savannah. You are not going to reason with them. You are going to find yourself chained in some basement being used as an experiment. Am I painting a vivid enough picture for you?” His eyes burned a deep burgundy as he leaned over her.
Savannah swallowed, frightened but unwilling to show weakness. She must not have done a good enough job, as Luke bowed his head and turned away.
“Forgive my anger,” he said. “It is not my intention to frighten you. I…worry for your safety.”
He wouldn’t look at her, and his face remained hidden amongst shadows. Obviously, it bothered him to admit any concern. She wanted to comfort him but wasn’t sure what to say. “I’m not afraid of death.”