Giovanni glowered.
Merrick?
Several things happened at that moment. First of all, I was mentally forming a scathing sentence to let Merrick know that if he was conscious and able to answer me, but chose not to, he had a few things he was about to hear, and none of them were any too nice. Second, Giovanni, evidently deciding that capture was the better part of valor, grabbed my arm and jerked me forward into the room. And third, Kelso’s low growl became a savage snarl when he leaped forward and flung himself at Giovanni.
All hell broke loose then. There was a crashing of glass and several bloodcurdling whoops as the vampire dance squad flung themselves into the room, brandishing various garden implements. Behind me, from the opposite side of the house, I heard Ellis give his best Karate Kid yell, and the loud urging of Armande for Ellis to beat the tar out of the man at the door.
I had a brief glimpse of my cousin Carlo and another man at the back of a long narrow room filled with two rows of chairs, from which a half-dozen men in dark suits were in various stages of rising. Beyond them, a big black table lurked, and upon that table was the trussed-up form of a man. For a moment, my heart leaped, but the man’s hair was blond, not as black as a crow’s wing.
Carlo took one look at me and escaped out a door on the far end, his buddy looking startled for a moment, but following. The man on the table didn’t move.
It was a glint of metal in Giovanni’s hand that pushed me over the line. I had started past him to rescue whoever it was who was tied up, but from the corner of my eye I saw Giovanni twist away from Kelso and pull out a switchblade.
“No one hurts my dog!” I roared in a voice that surprised even me. Before I knew what I was doing, I’d kicked Giovanni’s knee, flinching at the horrible crunching sound that followed. He collapsed and started howling, but I stomped on his hand twice until he released the knife, at which point I snatched it up and ordered Kelso to follow me.
The vampire dancers moved in, shouting and waving garden tools at the men who were still gathered around the chairs. I paused long enough to leap to a chair and yell, “Let them go if they’ll leave peacefully. If not, take ’em down, boys, take ’em down!”
The vampires whooped and moved forward en masse. The men, who I gathered were there to purchase vampires for nefarious purposes, glanced at one another, and all lifted their hands in surrender.
I hopped down to check the man on the table. It was Ciaran, and I sagged a little in relief when I realized he was breathing, although he appeared to be unconscious. I used the knife to cut through the zip ties binding his hands and feet and, with a mumbled apology for leaving him, ran to the door through which Carlo had escaped, Kelso on my heels. We emerged in some sort of a back hall, with a staircase on my left, and a closed door on my right. I took a quick glance through the door, but it led to an empty kitchen.
“Up we go,” I told Kelso, and we leaped up the stairs, the switchblade in my hand, and my heart in my throat.
Please tell me you’re all right, Merrick. Please don’t be dead. Not now, when I realize that I’m falling in love with you, and that I need you, and more importantly, that you need me so you won’t be a sad, lonely old vampire who lives by himself with no company but fifteen cats and a stray otter named Aloysius.
I would never name my otter Aloysius.
Joy flooded me at the soft voice in my head. You’re alive!
Yes. Barely. I feel like I was hit on the head with a piano.
Where are you? I paused at the top of the stairs, looking wildly up and down a hallway filled with closed doors.
I don’t know. It’s dark, and my hands are tied. I don’t appear to be able to move.
I looked at the doors, and glanced upward where the stairs continued. “Attic,” I told Kelso. He looked as eager as I felt when we dashed up a second flight of stairs, and started down the hall throwing open doors as we went.
Merrick was, indeed, in an attic room tucked up way under the eaves, lying on the floor under a rickety iron bedstead. On top of the bed was Han, also tied up, and unresponsive.
“What happened?” I asked Merrick as soon as I cut away his bonds. I winced when he rolled over and I saw his face was splattered with blood. “Glorious grand geese, Merrick! You’re bleeding!”
Unable to stop myself, I covered first his face in kisses, then went for his lips. His mouth was warm, and wonderful, and tasted like he’d been eating cloves. He moaned as his mouth parted, allowing my tongue to make tentative little dabs inside. This is so ... I’ve never done this before! With my tongue in your mouth, I mean. It’s ... mrowr!
It would be better if my head didn’t hurt so badly, he said.
I released his hair. Oh. Sorry. I didn’t know I had grabbed your head.
“It’s all right. The kiss was worth it, although ...”
“Although what?”
“Nothing.”
“You know I’m not going to be happy with a ‘nothing,’” I pointed out.
“I know that very well, but it’ll have to wait.” He winced when he touched his forehead.
I tsked. “You poor thing. What happened?”
“Your cousin happened. Or one of his men. Ciaran and I were ambushed while Han and Nico were disabling their security.”
“Who’s Nico?” I asked, helping him sit up before moving over to remove Han’s bonds.
“Another Horseman.” Merrick wiped blood from his face, and glanced around the room, stiffening. “Where are the others?”
“Ciaran is downstairs. He’s out, but he’s breathing, so I assume he’s OK. I don’t know where this Nico person is.”
Merrick leaped to his feet, an act that he clearly regretted when he wobbled a little, clutching me for a few seconds before regaining his balance. “Where is your cousin?”
“I don’t know. He ran out when we attacked.”
Merrick, who had given Han a fast examination, had turned and started for the door while I was speaking, but paused to look back. “We? Who is with you? And speaking of that, what are you doing here?”
I pointed the switchblade at him. “Do not even think about telling me I should have stayed in Nice, because you know that’s only going to piss me off.”
He thought about it for a moment.
I can tell what you’re thinking, you know.
I know, he said with a mental sigh. God help me, I know. Just as I know that I’d move heaven and earth to keep you safe all the while you’re going to be running headlong into danger. You’re going to lead me a merry dance, aren’t you?
I smiled, and handed him the switchblade. “That depends if you like to dance.”
He started to leave, checked himself, then scooped me up for a kiss that fairly scorched the hair right off my head. You’re going to exasperate me, annoy me, and fill my days with danger, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I love you, too, I said, kissing him with enough passion to ignite a bonfire.
He froze. Tempest ...
I know. Loving you wasn’t on my bucket list, but it just kind of happened. One moment we were friends with beneficials, and then boom. I knew it was love. Not the movie star sort of love, either. This is bigger. More encompassing. I want to share everything with you, even when you’re making me angry. Stop making that face like you’re annoyed, because I can feel how warm and squidgy the fact that I love you makes you feel.
It’s not wise at all.
“Like that stopped anyone from falling in love?” I smiled at him, allowing him to feel the blossoming love that started in the tiniest atoms of my being, and grew out until it filled my body. “And don’t think I’m going to demand that you tell me you love me, too, because I’m not. I know you’re fighting centuries of conditioning to not feel anything for anyone. I’m content to wait until you come to your senses and realize that you can’t live without me.”
He sighed dramatically. “I have no doubt you’ll remind me of that daily until I tell you something suitably romantic, lik
e the fact that you brought light and warmth to a life of despair and hopelessness, that you fill my thoughts until nothing has much meaning unless it can please you, and how the merest thought of you can ease the pain that is my constant companion.”
I widened my eyes. “Was that a declaration of love, or were you saying that’s what you will say when you realize just how much you love me? Because if it was the former, it was the most romantic thing ever, even better than something that one of C. J. Dante’s vampires would say. I think I might cry. Or tear off your clothes and have my womanly way with you.”
One side of his mouth twitched. “Much as I’d like that, we can’t stay up here if Carlo is about.”
“You’re right,” I said, putting aside the need to kiss and touch him, and tell him again how much I loved him. “Let’s go catch my evil cousin so we can turn him over to the cops.”
There was a whisper in my mind, a faint shadow of a thought that said, He won’t end up with the mortal police, but I decided it was better if I ignored that and focused on being helpful.
There would be time later for me to molest Merrick as he so very much deserved.
Wrapped in a warm glow of happiness, I helped Merrick check all the rooms on both the top and second floors. Ellis and his friends had cleared the ground floor of the auction people, and had Ciaran propped up, giving him copious amounts of advice.
“Beefsteak. Beefsteak is the answer to any crisis, or so my daddy used to swear,” Ellis was saying when we entered the main room. “Mind you, he said the same thing about Jack Daniel’s, cocaine, and trips to the local strip club, but the man knew how to take the redness out of a black eye.”
“He doesn’t have a black eye,” Armande pointed out, tsking when Ciaran, still obviously a bit rummy, brushed a clumsy hand over his twisted-up shirt. “No, no, you are making it worse. Allow me.”
“How are you?” Merrick asked his friend. Ciaran looked up and grimaced, putting his hand to the back of his head.
“Something hit me.”
“Carlo?” Merrick asked him.
Carefully, Ciaran shook his head. “I don’t think so. I could see him in the doorway when we came in the back. There was someone behind me. Behind Nico and me. Another man.”
“I had the impression of two men, as well.” Merrick eyed the vampires collected. Who are these Dark Ones? I don’t know any of them.
The one in the yellow shirt is my friend Ellis.
He shot me a look of surprise.
That’s what I wanted to tell you. Carlo had Ellis turned into a vampire.
Dark One.
When I rescued Ellis, he was with Armande and his band of dancing vampires.
I beg your pardon?
That’s what they want to do—be exotic dancers. Vampire ones. They don’t like being prostitutes.
Merrick rubbed his face. I must have been hit harder than I thought. Prostitutes?
I patted his arm. I know it sounds unlikely, but to be fair, the whole day has been weirder than ...
An otter named Aloysius?
You got it. “Ellis, have you seen Carlo at all? Or that other man who was with him?”
“No. We put Michel on door duty at the back. Michel? Has anyone tried to leave?” Ellis called.
“Non,” came the answer.
I looked at Merrick. Do you think he’s still here?
We searched the two upper floors. He glanced around with speculation. “The one on the couch, who is he?”
“Giovanni the sociopath. I see Ellis and friends tied him up. He’s Carlo’s henchman, so it was probably he who attacked you guys. Although there was another man with Carlo when we burst in.”
“A third man.” Merrick eyed Ciaran, and said, “Perhaps one of the Dark Ones would help you upstairs to check on Han. He was not awake yet, but should be coming around soon.”
“Sure,” Ciaran said, groaning when he slid off the table to his feet. One hand was gingerly feeling the back of his head. “I’d like to know what they hit us with.”
“Monsieur needs help?” one of the dancers asked, giving Ciaran a long look. “I will be happy to be of service.”
“Thank you,” Ciaran said politely, then added as the two men started up the stairs, “Is there a reason you have hearts cut out over your arses?”
“Is there a basement to this house?” I asked Merrick, puzzling over where Carlo and the other man had gone.
He didn’t answer me, one hand absently rubbing dried blood off his face.
Penny for your thoughts.
Hmm?
I asked you if this villa had a basement.
Ah. I don’t know.
What were you thinking so hard about?
I was wondering what happened to Nico. He was here with Han. I wonder if they captured him, too, or if he escaped?
“Oh man,” I said, suddenly sick to my stomach. “What if they already auctioned him off?”
“Auctioned?”
Ellis and I quickly explained what Carlo was up to.
“Laboratories,” Merrick said slowly, then stiffened. “Genetic experiments. No, he wouldn’t...”
He spun around and ran off toward the back of the house.
“Merrick?” I blinked a couple of times, then looked at Ellis.
“Should we go after him?” he asked.
“I guess so.” Merrick, should we go with you?
No. It’s dangerous.
“Come on,” I said, gesturing to the vampires. “Sounds like we’re going to be needed.”
“To battle!” Ellis called as I ran out of the room, the sound of several vampires following when I rounded the corner into the kitchen, where Merrick was wrenching open a door. One of the vampires, Michel, squeaked something unintelligible from his vantage point at the French doors that led out onto a patio, but I didn’t stay to find out what it was.
Kelso ran ahead of me down a flight of stone stairs into a fully finished lower level, clearly set up as a theater room. Opened doors on either end had me pausing for a moment, straining to hear. The sound of dog toenails scrabbling on a tile floor sent me running off to the right. “Go the other way,” I yelled over my shoulder to Ellis. “Kelso and I will do this side.”
I ran through a series of rooms, one opening onto the other, until I came to a closed door. Kelso stood outside it, whining and snuffling at the bottom of the door.
“OK,” I whispered to him. “We’re going to take them by surprise. Whoever’s in there, that is. When I open the door, you leap in and bark and I’ll disable anyone who might be hurting Merrick.”
Kelso gave me a look that said he didn’t have a lot of faith in my disabling abilities. Since I shared that opinion, I amended the statement. “Fine. We’ll provide the distraction and Merrick can do the disabling and disarming. Better?”
Kelso wagged his tail, and whined, looking expectantly at the door.
We’re coming in.
What? No, don’t! Nico is here, and I’m trying to talk some sense—
I flung open the door and charged into the room, screaming at the top of my lungs while waving my hands around in the very best “distract the bad men who might be holding your vampire” method.
Before I could skid to a stop, there was a dark blur and a man with dishwater blond hair had Merrick against the wall, a wicked dagger at his throat.
Beyond them, Carlo was stuffing a laptop and a handful of thumb drives into a black leather satchel.
“Who is this?” the man with the dagger snarled.
Yeah, who is that? I asked Merrick.
Nico, the fourth Horseman.
Oh. Is he normally this testy?
Testy doesn’t quite cover it. “This is no one, Nico. Just ignore her, and tell me why you’ve betrayed us. Betrayed your own people.”
Look, I know you said that because you’re trying to protect me and divert his attention from me, but just so you know, that shit don’t fly.
Tempest, he said, amused. Such language.
&
nbsp; “Do you think I will be fooled by such obvious rot? This is your woman, isn’t it?” He sniffed the air a couple of times. “She’s a Beloved!”
Oh my stars and heavens! I clapped a hand over my mouth even though the words hadn’t emerged from there. Now I’ve got a potty mouth! Hey. Why aren’t you worried?
“She is, but I don’t want her. I’ve told her so frequently, haven’t I, Tempest?” About Nico? I can take him.
“Daily, if not hourly,” I said, nodding, my gaze flickering over to where Carlo was emptying out the contents of a few drawers into his bag. “He’s become a big pain in the ass, and I’ve decided I don’t want him, either.” What about my cousin?
If I was to ask you to leave—
No. You want me to sic Kelso on Carlo? I don’t want him getting hurt—Kelso, that is—but if it gives you a distraction, I’ll rush Carlo myself.
“I don’t give a damn what you think of each other. I’m done taking orders from you,” Nico snarled, and a line of red appeared under the knife. “You can be as self-sacrificing as you like, but I’d rather have a life, one filled with all the things I’ve wanted. And I’m going to have it, too. I’m going to have—”
Now! I shrieked in my head, and, without warning, leaped forward, yelling for Kelso to attack with me. I flung myself across the desk and tackled Carlo without much of an idea as to what I’d do once I got him, which of course meant that approximately ten seconds later I lay facedown on the floor, my arm twisted up behind me in a way that brought tears to my eyes, and Carlo snarling over me.
“Stay back, or I’ll blow her brains out.” A cold object touched my temple.
Did you disarm Nico?
Yes, although I wish you’d given me a little more warning that you were going to do that. I had the situation well in hand.
Where is he?
On the floor. Unconscious. With a broken nose and collarbone. There was a distinct sense of pleasure in Merrick’s voice that I couldn’t help but approve.
“Now here’s what’s going to happen,” Carlo said, his voice as cold as the gun pressed to my head. “You’re going to carry my bags out to the car parked in the back, and I’m going to take your little playmate with me to make sure you don’t get any ideas.”