“I told you that Papa was away—the Elders would never touch me when he was around—and my mother thought she was leaving me well protected by my father. Which was the case most of the time. Why are you so angry-sounding about this? It was my punishment, and if I’ve chosen to forgive the Elders for their stupidity and cruelty, then I don’t know why you should sound like you are gargling with lava.”
“I am angry because you mention this heinous act just as if it was nothing.” He fought to control the rage, afraid of frightening her with the intensity of it.
She placed her hand on his knee. “That’s really sweet of you to be so mad on my account, but, Merrick, there’s no need. I’ve fought my whole life against the people of my father’s cult, and I’ve finally made my peace with that past. What happened, happened. I refuse to live my life surrounded by anger and negative emotions when there is so much joy to be had in the world.”
He glanced at her, unsure of how to process the emotions she was pouring into him. She truly was at peace with a past filled with abuse and what was little more than neglect, and didn’t understand why he was so angry. The rage he still felt fueled a need within him, one that was heightened by her physical contact.
And suddenly, he couldn’t cope with it any longer. He pulled the car under the gnarled branches of an old olive tree that hung over the road, and tore the seat belt from his body.
“What—,” Tempest said, her eyes huge as he lunged for her, managing to get her out of her seat belt without hurting her or damaging the car. His mouth was on hers before he could think of what he was doing, the emotions inside him threatening to spill out. Her lips parted, allowing him entrance, the taste of her sending his mind reeling.
Yes. This was the taste of the goddess, the one who had danced through his dreams.
Grape juice, you are so hot! So ... oooh, you can do that with your tongue? It’s so sinful! I love it! Do it again.
He twined his tongue around hers again, the hunger inside growing until it pushed aside the rage. I do not want to take from you if you are not willing.
Glorioski, Merrick! She squirmed in his hold, sliding one leg around him and trying to pull him closer. If you don’t bite me right now, I’m going to bite you!
That is interesting, and I will address that at some future date, but right now—are you sure? You know what might follow.
Here? In the car? Where anyone can see us?
The tree hides us, the windows are tinted, and it’s dark outside.
Hot potato! Bite me!
Only if you are sure—
BITE ME, VAMPIRE!
He managed to pull his mouth from hers, his brain swamped with all sorts of erotic images, things he wanted to do to her, wanted her to do to him, and possibly even some they’d do at the same time to each other, but uppermost in his mind was the hunger, the need to take what she so clearly was offering. He kissed a path along her jaw, down her neck, the red need blinding him to everything but the woman held so awkwardly in his arms. Just as he was about to bite, his lips touched a thickening of skin at the point where her neck met her shoulders, obviously one of her scars. He switched directions, and bit into her upper arm, the taste of her flowing into his mouth satisfying on a level he’d never experienced.
“Oh my good garden gnome, that’s ... it stings for about a second, but then it’s just ... hooo ... it kind of winds me up, you know. I mean, my breasts feel really sensitive, and my lady garden is just buzzing like crazy. No wonder this ends in sexy times. Although I just don’t see how this is going to happen here in the car.”
He pulled his mouth from her arm, swirling his tongue over the mark to help it heal, then, without speaking, lifted her up and slid underneath her, reaching down alongside the seat to pull a lever.
“The seat goes back? Whatever will they think of next! Oh, hi, doggy.” She giggled at the dog, who obligingly scooted over to the other side of the backseat, allowing Merrick to fully recline.
“Last chance,” he told Tempest, his hands sliding up her bare legs, adjusting them so she straddled him.
“To say no? Are you insane? You’re a vampire! This is like the ultimate fantasy for tens of thousands of women the world over. Hundreds of thousands!” She rose up and, with fingers that he wanted to praise to the sky, got his belt unhooked and his fly lowered. “Golly. You’re a bit bigger than you were before.”
“I doubt that.” He pulled her down toward him, the hunger not yet sated.
“It must be because you were deflated.”
He paused in the act of nuzzling across the exposed upper slopes of her breasts. “I assure you that I’m anything but deflated.”
“You were then. It’s because you had no blood in you. You know, kind of like a deflated balloon. Am I supposed to do fellatio here? Because if I am, you’re going to have to give me some help. I’ve never done it, and don’t exactly know what to do. I mean, it’s not the sort of thing I can ask Ellis, is it?”
Another time I would very much like to introduce you to the joys of oral sex, but I am close to the edge now. Kiss me.
Oooh, so demanding. She leaned forward, her lips teasing his in a way that just made him harder, if that was possible. Her mouth was sweet, though, almost as if she’d been eating honey, and wholly intoxicating. He groaned into her mouth when she shifted and positioned him properly, the heat from her body tempting him inside.
Thousands of little muscles seemed to grip him as he entered her, the feeling almost too much to bear. It fired the hunger again. He licked a path to a spot above her right breast, the drawing in his loins causing him to bite the tender flesh, her gasp of pain turning immediately into a moan of ecstasy. This is ... are you sure we can do it like this? ... You’re so right in there, and merciful heavens, you are bigger!
If I am, it’s because you are so hot.
Make me burn, Merrick.
He thrust upward as he drank from her, his body desperate to finish. He had to think of her, though. Evidently she was a neophyte at lovemaking, and he wanted to make it good for her. He reined in his emotions, holding them with an iron grip while he attempted to bring her pleasure. Just when he had himself in check, her sensations flooded his mind in a way that caused his control to go flying.
She arched back when he shouted a wordless cry of exultation, the thousand muscles rippling around him in a manner guaranteed to drive him to the brink of sanity.
“That was ... doggy, no, my face doesn’t need washing. That was amazing.” Tempest pushed herself up from where she’d collapsed on him, blowing back a few curls that had sprung free from her hair band. “I had no idea it was like that in a car. Is it better in a bed?”
Merrick lifted a wan hand, and wondered if it was out of line to suggest that they take a little nap right there. He’d never felt so drained—or satisfied—in his lengthy life, but he decided it was due to both his recent near-death experience and the unusual situation.
He opened his eyes to find the dog’s face mere inches from his. While he glared at it, it licked his nose.
Tempest giggled. “You must be a good person. Even our furry friend there likes you.”
“Then he is a poor judge of people. I am not a good person. I am death personified.” He leveled his gaze on Tempest. “I am bound to my job, and have no room for anything else in my life. So despite what you think, we have no future together.”
The light of humor faded in her eyes, and with it, he felt some corresponding bit of hope inside of him die.
Chapter Eight
“You can come inside and meet Cousin Carlo, if you like. It’s only, what, eleven? I think he’s a night owl, because he didn’t get up this morning until noonish.” I waited until Merrick pulled into the drive for Carlo’s house before making that suggestion.
To be honest, I was a bit discombobulated about our recent carnal activities.
Why? You enjoyed yourself.
Stop eavesdropping.
But more than that, I was feeling som
ewhat deflated. Not by the experience itself—
Good. I made sure you enjoyed yourself.
Stop it!
But because of what he’d said afterward. That he could share something so wonderful, so ... primal ... and then tell me that we had no future together when clearly we did, well, that said a lot about the sort of man he was.
I’ve been telling you that all along. I’m sorry that you are disappointed, but I believe in honesty wherever possible.
“There’s honesty, and then there’s brutal frankness when there should, according to movies, be pillow talk.” I pointed at the gate. “You don’t have to buzz. It’s open.”
“There were no pillows involved, so I don’t see the lack of pillow talk as worth commenting on.”
“That’s not what I meant, and I know you know that, because I can feel you thinking at me. No, don’t bother objecting,” I said, holding up my hand to stop his protest as he pulled up at the front of the house. “It’s clear you don’t want anything from me but blood and nooky, so we won’t discuss it further. C’mon, doggy.”
“One moment.” He put a hand on me to stop me from leaving the car. “It’s not safe for you to go in. Not until I’ve ascertained the true identity of your cousin.”
“If he wanted to hurt me, he could have done so well before this,” I pointed out. “And don’t think I don’t know that you’re making this statement to distract me from the fact that you treated me pretty rotten after our car interlude, because I know you are. Doggy, heel!”
The dog obediently trotted after me when I stomped my way up the white stone steps to the front doors of the villa.
“I have no intention of distracting you from anything, although I will point out that I did ask you if you were sure you wished to continue before I fed and we had sex,” Merrick said, following. “You agreed to my terms, if you recall.”
“Here’s the thing,” I said, spinning around at the door to face him. Merciful marshmallows, he was gorgeous. The light from the sconces on either side of the double doors lit him with a warm amber glow, burnishing his dark hair, and emphasizing the line of his jaw.
I loved his jaw.
“I may not have had sexual relationships with an actual person before, but even I know that you don’t set terms for what we have together. Whether you like it or not, we have a connection, and you grinding your teeth and insisting we don’t isn’t going to change that fact.”
“Neither is embracing the impossible with open arms. Do not mistake me for one of the characters in Christian’s books,” he said, climbing the steps and standing so close to me, I could feel his breath on my lips. “I am not a romantic figure yearning for a woman to redeem my soul. What soul I might have had has been destroyed long ago because of the work I do. If I focus my attention on you instead of my job, people will die—mortals and immortals alike. Do you want to live with that?”
“No, but—”
“Then you will accept that we have no future together.” He strode past me, and for a moment, I felt like slamming the doors and collapsing into a puddle of tears, but I haven’t survived hell for most of my life just to give in when a pigheaded, annoying man doesn’t know a good thing when it walks up and kisses the dickens out of him.
I object to pigheaded.
If the pig head fits, wear it, I said stormily, and pushed by him to enter the house and call out, “Cousin Carlo? I’m back. I went off with a friend for a little bit, but we’re back now, and I want to introduce you.”
Silence, thick and heavy, was the only answer.
“Cousin Carlo? Giovanni? Hello?”
“We will search,” Merrick said, and went to the nearest door. We looked through every room on the ground floor, including the library where I’d first seen Carlo. The desk was still littered with papers, and both Merrick and I had a quick look at them. They appeared to be financial portfolio statements, as well as some prospectuses for a variety of investment opportunities.
“Bedrooms upstairs?” Merrick asked when we exhausted the possibilities downstairs. It certainly seemed like Carlo and Giovanni were gone, but the lights were all on, the front door was unlocked, and the gate had been left open.
“Yes. Mine is, at least,” I said, leading him up the curving stairs. “What do you think has happened to them?”
“I don’t know. If we find a laptop or a safe, perhaps we can determine what your cousin has been up to.”
“You’re assuming he’s been up to anything suspicious,” I pointed out. We started the search of the second floor, and after glancing into my room, Merrick opened the door to a small room at the back of the house. It was clearly a bedroom, but I didn’t see anything exciting in it. “Probably Giovanni’s room,” I said, leaving the room after a quick glance around it. I opened another door, finding a desk in front of a wall with three large monitors.
When I turned around to tell Merrick about my find, I saw him hauling Giovanni’s bed into the middle of the room.
“What on earth are you doing?” I asked, returning to the room.
“Finding this.” Merrick pointed to the floor.
A black panel sat flush in the floor, the door of it open.
“Is that a safe? Wow. I didn’t know people really had them put into floors. And Giovanni slept over it?”
“What better way to ensure it was guarded?” Merrick asked, kneeling and reaching down into the safe. “Looks like they took the contents. Which means your cousin isn’t the innocent you believe.”
I stared down at the empty black safe, and shifted my mental picture of Carlo. “I guess not. I found a sort of office, if you want to have a look there.”
Merrick followed me to the small room and glanced around it. “Ah. I wondered where the security cameras fed to. This is clearly where your cousin monitored the property.”
“Recognize someone?” I asked, pointing to the monitors.
He did a double take at one, then slid a look toward me. “You know what that means, I assume.”
“The fact that a close-up of you standing with me next to your car is frozen on the screen? Yes, I assume that, coupled with my cousin’s obvious hasty departure, is proof that he is the guy you’re looking for.” I sat down in a chair for a moment, trying to process the information that my cousin was clearly not what I thought he was.
“Or if not, he knows who Victor is,” Merrick said grimly, and quickly searched the room.
“This just leaves me feeling ... I don’t know. Disappointed. Kind of scared that I can be so misled. And really, really wondering if all of Papa’s side of the family are off their rockers. Do you think this proves my cousin is Victor? Because I might just scream and burst into tears if it turns out I’m related to a world-class villain.”
Merrick was silent for a few moments. “It’s not definitive proof, no, but it’s not an indicator of a selfless and altruistic nature.” He stood next to me and looked down at where I sniffled back the start of a couple of tears. “You are hurt by this knowledge. I can feel the pain within you. I dislike you feeling this way. It will do no good, and will not help catch Victor. You will stop feeling bad now.”
I hiccuped a little weak laugh. “I wish emotions were that easy to cope with. But I know what you mean, although you said it badly and super bossy. Crying isn’t going to help, and neither is feeling betrayed. Cousin Carlo is what he is, just as Papa was what he was. I’m going to focus my emotions on helping you find Carlo so we can know for certain if he is guilty or not.”
“I do not need your help finding him. It’s not safe for you to do so,” Merrick announced, and, without another word, left the room and headed downstairs.
“I’m seriously getting tired of you making obnoxious statements like that just like you’re the king of the world. Hey, Merrick, wait up. What are you going to do now?” I asked, following him, the dog on my heels.
“Try to pick up his trail before it gets cold.”
I grabbed his arm when he was obviously going to lea
ve. “Hang on. Let me get my things. It won’t take me but a minute, since I didn’t really unpack.”
He looked down at my hand on his arm, his eyes icy blue. “You aren’t coming with me.”
“Don’t be silly. Of course I am.”
He took a deep, outraged breath. “There are times when I wonder if I’m just talking to amuse myself. I’ve told you who I am and what I do. I’ve told you that mortals and immortals fear me, and that you are not my Beloved. Since your cousin is not here, I will arrange to have you picked up shortly and taken to a hotel where you will be safe.”
“I know, I know, you’re Mr. Denial,” I said, waving a hand and turning around to dash back up the stairs. “But you’re ignoring three important things.”
I knew he wouldn’t be able to resist that, and I was right. After a moment of inner struggle, he asked, “What three things?”
I paused at the top of the stairs long enough to throw him a smile and say, “One, you can’t leave me here alone. Two, I am your Beloved whether or not you want to face that fact. And three ...”
“Yes?” he asked when I hesitated.
I shrugged. “I don’t want to be left alone. I don’t know anyone in this country, I don’t speak the language, and I’m vulnerable. I need you.”
His sigh was filled with antagonism, but I didn’t let that worry me. I grabbed the few items of clothing that were laid on a chair, and stuffed them into my suitcase, saying, “If you have to go potty, doggy, do it now before we get in the car. I have a feeling Merrick isn’t going to be happy with the idea of potty breaks.”
The hall was empty when, five minutes later, the dog and I stumbled down the stairs, my two large suitcases bumping after me.
“Well, pumpkin rot!” I swore, going to the front door. Maybe Merrick was sitting in his car waiting impatiently for me.
The drive was just as empty as the hall. A little flutter of yellow caught my eye. A note was stuck onto one of the white stone columns. It is not safe for you to be with me was all it said. A taxi will be here soon.
Hurt pierced me, a hurt tinged with a deeper sense of betrayal than that caused by Cousin Carlo. I stood for a moment, the note in my hand, not believing that Merrick had really left. How could he just drive away from me? What about everything that Christian had written about in his books? None of those Dark Ones had been able to leave the one woman whom they loved above all else.