At first he simply nodded his head at her in acknowledgment but then he noticed her suitcase trailing behind her. His eyes quickly scanned the lobby looking for his employer.
Undeterred, Chloe continued her trip across the hotel lobby. She swung through the hotel’s revolving doors and resurfaced into the sunshine outside. Stumbling slightly, she was temporarily blinded by the dawning sun.
“What in the hell,” she muttered to herself. She was blind as a bat. All she could see were fuzzy images and strange blobs. She quickly dug in her purse and pulled out a pair of dark shades. After a few moments, her eyes eventually acclimated themselves to the change in light.
Not willing to waste any more time, she stepped onto the curb and hailed one of the taxis lined up in front of the hotel. While the driver put her bag in the trunk, her phone rang.
“Where do you think you’re going?” a masculine voice asked on the other end. “If you come back upstairs, I will forget all of this foolishness,” Tristan drawled.
“Foolishness? Well, isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black? I’m not the one who thinks he’s Count Dracula. Halloween was over months ago, buddy.”
Chloe could hear him sigh on the other end. Although she wanted to hang the phone up on him, she didn’t.
“I know all of this sounds strange to you, love. But there is a whole other world out there that exists alongside the so-called normal world you have safely resided in your entire life. Your very reaction is why many of us stay hidden and deal only with our own kind.”
“Well, why didn’t you remain hidden and marry one of your own?” Chloe couldn’t believe she’d asked such a silly question. As if she was beginning to believe he really was a vampire.
Certain that Tristan was still upstairs, Chloe decided to reenter the hotel. Shirley would probably be waiting for her in the lobby and the sooner she collected her best friend, the sooner she could put this whole mess behind her.
“I guess I was being a bit selfish,
love
. Female vampires are such a jaded lot. It comes from walking this earth for hundreds of years. You on the other hand are a breath of fresh air. Like a moth to a flame, your innocence beckoned me to come closer. Once I tasted life again, I couldn’t let it go. I couldn’t let
you
go.”
“Are you ready to go?”
Chloe looked at her best friend and took pity on her. Poor Shirley. She was so winded she looked like she ran downstairs, instead of taking the elevator. Chloe mouthed to Shirley that she was on the phone with Tristan. She then pointed to the taxi waiting at the curb outside.
“Tristan,” Chloe sighed. No matter how romantic his words sounded, he was still talking like a madman. “I think you need real help. You’re a very successful man but you have some real issues with reality. And if you keep living in this fantasy world of vampires, werewolves and fairies, you’re going to get yourself committed.”
“I am not crazy!” Tristan insisted. “Vampires exist just like you exist, Chloe. Listen to me. You
cannot
leave. You’re in too delicate a state to walk out those doors. Plus, you need me just like I need you.”
How did he know she wasn’t already halfway to the airport? Chloe looked around the lobby and her eyes widened like saucers as she watched Tristan crossing the hotel’s lobby.
Spinning around, she attempted to make a beeline for the revolving doors. However, her escape was impeded by a hard chest encased in a tailored dress shirt. Chloe struggled for air as she looked up into her angry husband’s face.
How in the hell did he do that?
Taking advantage of her surprise, Tristan grabbed her wrist and held it firmly in his grasp.
“Hello, love. Why don’t we go back upstairs?”
Chloe shook her head and tried to pry her wrist from his firm grasp. But he wouldn’t budge.
“Let’s not fight, love,” Tristan purred, looking into her eyes.
Chloe suddenly ceased her struggling and nodded her head in agreement. She then allowed Tristan to pull her along behind him back through the lobby.
“I won! I won!” an elderly woman with a purple halo of hair and an orange polyester suit drew their attention. She was jumping up and down, clapping her hands at one of the nickel slot machines nearby. The sign above her machine flashed widely.
“Oh my stars! I just won fifty thousand doll—” The woman stopped in mid-sentence, grabbed her chest and collapsed to the floor, banging her head on the stool.
“Bloody hell!” Tristan cursed. Several hotel staff ran past him to help the woman who looked like a sack of potatoes slumped over on the floor.
Feeling as if she’d just awakened, Chloe shook her head to clear the fog. She looked down at Tristan’s hand on her wrist and suddenly remembered her situation. Since he was distracted, she easily snatched her hand out of his grasp then stumbled toward the exit door.
She looked behind her to see if he was following her and to her dismay he was close on her heels. When she reached the revolving doors, she felt him pull at the sleeve of her sweater before her elbow felt like it was on fire.
Chloe fell back against the inner wall of the door, clutching her elbow. She looked down and gasped at the hole singed into the material. Lifting her gaze, she noticed that sunlight reached a couple of feet into the entrance of the lobby. She also noted that Tristan stood well out of reach of the sun’s warm rays, clutching his hand.
Ice-cold fear gripped her as she swept through to the outside. Exiting on the other end, she stumbled toward the waiting cab.
“Are you okay?” Shirley asked, jumping out of the car. She took a hold of Chloe’s arm and helped her into the backseat. Chloe leaned her head back against the hot leather seat. Her head was spinning out of control.
“Oh God, oh God, let it not be true,” Chloe moaned, shaking her head. But she knew in her heart he was telling the truth. Now everything came flooding back as she remembered how he’d told her his secret before their marriage and how she’d accepted everything so readily. All she’d cared about at the time was how she wanted to be with him for eternity.
“Let what not be true?” Shirley tucked a wayward curl behind her ear in a motherly fashion and waited for her to answer. She was always doing things like that although she was the younger of the two.
“That I think I’m just as crazy as my husband,” Chloe whispered.
* * * * *
“Why are you so glum?”
Tristan stopped in mid-stride. He hadn’t seen his brother sitting on the couch when he entered his suite. Fair in complexion while Tristan was dark, his younger brother Simon was always underfoot, putting his nose in his affairs and calling him on the carpet for any and every indiscretion. So much so that Tristan felt like the younger sibling at times.
However, today he didn’t mind his company. In fact, at this moment, he really needed to spill his guts to someone, anyone who’d listen.
Tristan stepped down into the sunken living room and took a seat next to Simon on the sofa. Sighing, he slumped down dejectedly in the leather material, a look of utter frustration clouding his handsome features.
“My wife.”
“Your
wife
? My God, man, when did you get married?” Tristan was so absorbed in his own troubles that he missed the fact that his brother’s words seemed tight and forced. “I would’ve sworn vampires would mate with trolls before you stumbled down that path.”
“I was of the same opinion but I was happily married two days ago while you were away in Tahoe with that leggy redhead. And now upon your return, I’m unhappily separated as well.” Tristan sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “And you would never guess why. All because she doesn’t want me.”
“What do you mean she doesn’t want you? Now I’ll go and sleep with a troll myself if that were really true. I’ve never met a woman, human or vampire, able to resist you,” Simon jeered.
Ignoring his brother’s barb, Tristan rebuffed, “Well, you better get ready for it because she doesn’t want me. However, I will admit she loves making love to me, but outside of the bedroom she doesn’t want anything to do with me.”
Tristan’s voice was so pathetic Simon almost felt sorry for him—almost.
Simon wasn’t sure he’d ever see this day, but it had finally come! The day he would finally see his successful older brother not have everything handed to him on a silver platter. It was about time the tables had turned!
Although he wanted to grin from ear to ear, Simon successfully schooled his features into a bland mask before finally addressing him. “My word, man, you sound like a little boy who’s just lost his favorite blankie!” he scoffed. “Why, this is definitely a first! For I have never seen my overconfident older brother not get what he wanted. I love my sister-in-law already!”
“This is serious, Simon.” Tristan sighed in exasperation. “I’m in love with a woman who doesn’t love me.”
This is serious, especially if he’s talking love
, Simon thought. “So enlighten me. How did you get yourself into this mess?”
“I charmed her into falling in love with me. And I didn’t release the spell until our honeymoon night when she was going through the transition. I didn’t have a chance to complete the cycle because she went ballistic on me and left.” Tristan looked at his brother warily for he was sure of his reaction.
“You what!” Simon roared, coming off the couch. “You know as well as any vampire worth his salt that we only use our powers to feed. Bloody hell, Tristan! You’re over six hundred years old, not some fledgling that can’t control his urges. Not to mention the fact that you’re the head of the Warwick coven, one of the strongest in the world. You’re supposed to set an example. Not act like some rogue vampire going around breaking our moral codes. If this gets out, the council might question your authority.” And if he had anything to do with it, Simon thought, he would make sure they knew.
“No one is going to question my authority,” Tristan snarled. “I have ruled for over four hundred years and I have no plans of surrendering my authority any time soon.”
Simon began to pace the floor in front of him. His movements appeared angry and agitated. “I can’t believe
you
of all people would stoop so low as to trick a woman into being with you. I mean, you have women falling over themselves seeking your favor. And you chose someone who doesn’t want you?”
Slumping into his seat, Tristan reflected on his brother’s words. For several hundred years, he’d been the self-confirmed bachelor. He’d romanced hundreds of women and broken their hearts without any regrets. But then Chloe had come along and he’d had eyes for no other woman. Not even Yasmine had had that effect on him.
“I can’t explain it, Simon, but she’s the one.” Tristan laid his head back wearily on the back of the sofa as Simon continued to pace back and forth. “I, of all people, never believed in love at first sight but it happened to me because I fell madly in love with her the moment I saw her. Can you believe it? After all these years, my jaded soul has finally found someone who makes me feel alive.”
“For goodness’ sake, man,” Simon sneered. “You didn’t just get hit by Cupid’s arrow, he clobbered you over the head.”
Tristan turned his head and looked out the window at the Las Vegas skyline. But he didn’t see any of it. Instead he saw Chloe’s beautiful face.
“Aye, clobbered me he did. Have you ever met anyone who you couldn’t wait to see at the end of a hard day? Someone who makes you laugh no matter how angry you are? Someone who finally makes you feel complete?”
Simon’s mind ran over the countless number of women he’d been with and even shared with Tristan but he had to admit that not one of them stood out in his mind.
“I hadn’t either until I met her. And by all that is holy, I wasn’t going to let her get away. Even if that meant I had to use my powers to do it.”
“So what are you going to do?” Simon asked. “You know you can’t charm her again. It’s not right.”
“No, no, I promised myself that I would never do that again. I want her to want me as much as I want her. I’m going to have to simply work really hard to win her back.” Tristan sighed.
Simon’s face was unreadable as he stood looking down at him.
“Well, I wish you luck, brother, because winning her back may be harder than you think, especially when she was never really yours in the first place.”
Chapter Three
Two months later
“Ew. Now that’s just wrong. I don’t know how you can eat your steak like that. I have half a mind to call People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.”
Chloe looked up into Shirley’s disgusted face and gave her a lame smile. She didn’t know how she could eat her steak so raw it could almost jump up from her plate and run from the room either. But that was the only way she liked her food nowadays.
But that wasn’t the only thing that had changed about her life ever since she’d returned from Las Vegas. She’d essentially become a freak of nature. Her eyes had become so sensitive to daylight that not even the darkest sunglasses could prevent her from being blinded by the sun’s rays. And her poor skin, dark as it was, practically burned from the slightest exposure to daylight. She was also strong as an ox. Her personal trainer Derek used to tease her about being a cream puff because she whined through all of her sets and was unable to do one complete set of chin-ups at the gym.
Now she was his star client. She breezed through her entire workout. And she could complete fifty one-arm chin-ups without breaking into a sweat. Despite these drastic changes in her life, she’d tried to carry on as normal as possible these past two months. She still ran both of her real estate offices with efficiency, although she practically ran them from home now. She’d delegated the daytime showings to her assistant Dina. And if she needed to see a client or participate in a closing, she simply scheduled them at sunset or in the early evenings.
“Are you sure I’m safe being here?” Shirley asked. She looked toward the windows, which were now covered with blackout curtains, and shivered.
“You’re safe around me, silly. I don’t have any fangs yet.”
Chloe chuckled when Shirley looked at her sharply.