Microsoft Word - Blood and Sex from CE.rtf (15 page)

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hoped not. There had to be some hope she’d find her match. Maybe Vincenzo was strong enough.

She sat up, grabbing her laptop from the bedside table. She opened it and clicked to her e-mail. The last e-mail, from just before dawn, had the subject line
I’m waiting…
Christiana smiled and double clicked it.

“Friends will keep you sane, Love could fill your heart, A lover can warm your
bed, But lonely is the soul without a mate.”—David Pratt

I saw you this night, standing across the room. I didn’t have the heart to
speak to you and ruin our beautiful mystery. Tomorrow, I will, though I may not
make my identity known. Your male friend may not like it, so I will wait until you
are alone.

Yours,

V.

Yes
! They would meet tonight.

Christiana typed out a return e-mail to confirm she would be there, then hit
send
. There was an hour and a half until the opening ball. Just enough time to get ready.

* * * *

Blane banged on Christiana’s door once more.

There was no answer. Not even the sound of movement in her room.

If that woman left without me…

He glanced up and down the hallway, then gave the door a quick palm punch. It cracked and flew inward, shattering the wood at the locks. The door banged against the wall. He darted

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from room to room, looking and smelling. Inside, the suite was as empty as it sounded.

Christiana was gone.

Blane ran out of the room and headed down the hallway just as the phone in his pocket went off, filling the corridor with his new Aerosmith ring tone. He palmed the phone and flipped it open. “Yeah?”

“I hope that you have a good explanation.” It was Michael’s voice.

“She’s there, isn’t she?”

“Yes.”

“Damn it. I’m on my way.” He went to the stairs. It would be faster.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know. She just left without me.” Blane shoved open the stairwell door and bounded down quickly.

“Why weren’t you with her?”

What to say? He couldn’t exactly say it was because she was a bitch, and he hadn’t wanted to see her too early. Michael would skin him alive.

“Blane?”

He hit the landing to the ground floor and went through the door to the lobby. “I’m here.”

“What’s going on?”

“Just keep an eye on her. I’ll be there in a few minutes. Then I’ll straighten this out.”

“Make sure you do that.”

The line went dead. Blane moved through the double-entry doors and onto the canopied sidewalk. The limo was gone.

He growled. Christiana had left him in the hotel and taken the fucking limo. It was only a

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short distance to the ball, but he’d have to walk at normal human speed or risk someone noticing him.

Unless he bounded down the dark alleyways and rooftops.

Blane smirked and ran toward the alley.

* * * *

Blane moved through the crowded entrance toward the ballroom. Christiana was in there.

He could smell that perfume she wore all the way out here. She must have put on more tonight.

Probably for that Vincenzo fucker.

Jonas stood just to the left of the door inside the ballroom. “Where have you been?”

Blane flipped Jonas the bird, and kept moving.

“Don’t you—” Jonas said before Elena caught him by the arm and pulled him into a deep kiss.

Blane owed her one for that.

He went straight to the dance floor and watched the couples moving around in their old-fashioned dances. They might be centuries old, but it didn’t influence their dance styles one bit.

They all stuck to the old and familiar moves from their human years. In truth, it was probably because they seemed to learn less and less as they aged. Maybe it was a resistance to change.

When a couple spun past, he caught that scent again. It was her, and she looked as good as she smelled. She’d done something different to her hair, pulled it up into a loose cascade of blond curls. The dress pushed everything into the right places and hung off her shoulders in soft curves. Her curves were covered in a soft blue fabric with beading that resembled flowers. She looked like something out of a fairy tale.

He watched her twirl around the floor with a tall dark-haired man in a suit much like the

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others. With a second look, he could see it was a
vampiro
, one of the entourage that Maximilliano had brought with him. Knowing them, he was probably prospecting, trying to get a feel of Christiana so he could be the first bidder on her once Maximilliano had her in his stables.

Over his fucking dead body.

Blane pushed through the crowd and waited for them to twirl his way before he grabbed the man’s shoulder. They lurched to a stop, and the man glared at him. “What do you want?” he said in Italian.

Christiana sighed.

“I’m cutting in.” Blane grabbed her hand. “
We
need to talk.”

The asshole actually glanced at her as if she had a choice. She nodded, giving him permission to leave her. Pity, it would have been nice to work out a little aggression on him.

Blane led her from the dance floor and out into the hallway.

She jerked her arm, but he didn’t let go. “Blane.”

At the first empty alcove, he pulled her into the deep shadow. He let her jerk her arm from his grip, then pressed his hands on the wall to trap her in his arms. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Leave me alone.” Christiana tried to duck below his arm.

He caught her and pushed her into the corner, trapping her close with his body. “Don’t walk away from me.”

This close her scent was overwhelming. Her face was beautiful with the dark eyes and sparkling accents like tiny diamonds on her skin. She must have spent a long time getting ready before she left. Why the extra effort, though?

It was just the f— “You were meeting
him
, weren’t you?”

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She huffed and rolled her eyes.

“You’re not going back in there until I say so.”

Her eyes cut back to him in an icy glare, then she watched his face before she answered,

“Yes.”

“Why did you leave me at the hotel?”

“What do you care? I thought you were mad at me.”

“I was. I am. But that doesn’t mean you can take off without a bodyguard.”

“I’m fine. Everyone’s here. No one’s stupid enough to try to kill me with Khalil here.”

“Listen, Princess.” He pressed in closer. “As long as I am assigned to you, you’re not going anywhere without me. Got it?” He hovered close to her mouth. She tilted her head to him, but he didn’t go in for the kiss. No matter how tempting her mouth was. “Was that guy Vincenzo?”

Christiana pushed in, too. “Maybe.”

Their bodies were close. The feel of her hip pressed to his made his body react. Blane took a small step back to hide his reaction.

“Where are you going? I thought you were trying to intimidate me.”

He pushed back into the wall, grinding his erection against her. “Is that what you wanted?” he whispered.

Her lips parted, and she glanced down. When her eyes came back to his, the anger was gone and that same pity she’d had last night was there. “Blane. I—”

“Don’t take off like that again. I will do whatever it takes to do my job. Even if it means keeping you in your room for the rest of the
Luna
.”

She straightened, then her lips went into a hard line. “Is that all you wanted?”

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No. He wanted to shake her into understanding.

But he couldn’t. She was a stubborn woman who would only learn the hard way. So he’d have to be patient. “Yeah. You can go find your Romeo, but don’t leave that room without me or Khalil.”

“All right.”

He took a small step back and waited for her to go back to the ballroom.

Christiana kept glancing at him, but didn’t speak again. She also didn’t move. Instead, she just stared that infuriating stare she did when she was trying to figure him out. Within a moment, the leech came back, asking to finish their dance, and she was gone.

Maybe he was Vincenzo. If he was, their Internet romance just took a much creepier turn.