Microsoft Word - Blood and Sex from CE.rtf (3 page)

“Yeah.”

He sighed. “Did she admit it?”

“Not exactly.”

“Call in Jonas.”

Blane went to the door, cracked it open, and yelled, “J, Michael needs you.”

He closed the door and waited for the other vampire to join them. When Jonas entered the room, he glanced between the two, then glared at Michael. “What do you mean ‘we have a problem’?”

“It’s always so fucking creepy when you do that. Especially when you look like that.”

Reading minds was Jonas’s specialty. It was unnerving, particularly because he looked like a dead, tattooed elf from
Lord of the Rings
. Yeah, it was cool to see him embracing the side they’d all known as Luciano, but he still gave Blane the heebie-jeebies.

Michael rubbed his temples. “Jonas, Elena and I ha—”

“What!” He stalked toward the desk.

Blane took a step toward Michael. He wasn’t sure if they could take Jonas together, but he wasn’t going to stand by and watch Luciano rip their
padrone
apart.

Jonas glanced at him, then stopped moving. “She knows?”

It was always such a pain to follow J’s conversations when he was reading someone’s mind. Especially when he was pissed. He was all reaction and no explanation.

Michael nodded.

Jonas pressed his palms on the desk and leaned toward Michael. “And how did you both

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keep me from knowing?”

It was Blane’s turn to sigh. “You always underestimate us. It’s not that hard to keep you from knowing everything we think.”

“Apparently,” Jonas said.

“Why didn’t you just read
her
mind?” Blane asked, pointing to the ceiling.

“I’m trying to let everyone have their privacy.”

Blane laughed. Jonas hadn’t bothered with giving them privacy in decades. “I’m glad you’re trying to be polite, but you don’t have to include total strangers sent by those nosey o—”

“Enough.” Michael groaned. “We don’t have time for this nonsense.” He leaned back in his chair. “Jonas, do you think Elena can keep the secret? If they find out what we are, I may be able to keep my position because they’ve known me for so long, but I don’t know that I can protect her.”

Jonas grunted. “I think so. She’s been fine for…what…four nights now?” He glanced toward Blane. “The woman can’t read minds, can she?”

“She said she senses our emotions, but she can’t read thoughts.” Blane slid his hip onto the edge of the desk.

“Khalil told me she could manipulate emotions, which was why I agreed to let her come.

I thought it might be easier for Elena.”

“Well, she’s here now.” Jonas walked to the window. “I’ll talk to Elena. When I’m not around, Blane, you keep an eye on her.”

He nodded.

“And it would help if you could use some of that charm to put her at ease instead of confronting her at every turn,” Michael added, throwing a loaded look in his direction.

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Blane shrugged. “I don’t have the same skills you do. Casanova wasn’t in my gene pool.”

Jonas laughed. “I’ve seen you working the humans. You do just fine.”

“It only works on them.”

Michael sat forward, propping his arms on the desk. “The powers are different for each of us. Your mental capabilities are no small thing.”

Blane nodded, but it was only for Michael’s benefit. His abilities weren’t a huge help.

Telekinesis and instincts that bordered on being psychic weren’t exactly going to help him seduce a spy.

“Jonas, go talk to Elena. Blane, go see if our guest would like to visit the club. The less time she spends here, the easier it will be to keep our secret.”

* * * *

Christiana tucked the last suitcase into the closet, then slid onto the bed. It was soft and much more comfortable than the one on the jet, but it still wasn’t home. She needed a place of her own, somewhere that was a real home. Somewhere she would want to go. Even Khalil’s estate didn’t feel like home anymore. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but something was off.

A knock came from the door.

She sat up, pulling her shirt back down into place. “Please, come in.”

Blane poked his head in the door; a brilliant white smile was plastered on his face that was offset by a toothpick that he pulled out to speak. “Are you still mad?”

“Frustrated, perhaps. I don’t appreciate being treated that way.”

“Let me take you out. As an apology.”

She eyed him. There was nothing in his emotions to indicate an ulterior motive. Still,

14

something felt wrong. “Why? Not even an hour ago, you were ready to burn me at the stake as a spy.”

“You can be an informant and have fun, too. Besides, I can’t pass up taking out a hot woman when I have the chance.”

Oh
.
So, that was the reason. “Look. I appreciate the offer, but I’m not into casual sex.”

Blane let out a sharp laugh. “A little vain?”

“What?”

“That’s a huge assumption. Either you get hit on so much that you assume everyone wants you, or it’s been so long since a man really hit on you that you don’t know the difference from an attempt at an apology.”

Eeesh. Was it that obvious she hadn’t had a real date in years? She was really beginning to suck at keeping her personal life a secret, especially with Blane around. Christiana sighed.

“I’m sorry.”

“Well, do you want to go out?”

“No, I need to introduce myself to Iuliana. I am here on business.”

He opened the door a little more, stepping inside. “That’s not her real name. It’s just the one they use for her in public. Because of all the problems with her human life.”

“Oh. Yes, of course.” She remembered that from Khalil’s briefing. Her name had been Elena, a well-known doctor before the change. An immunohematologist, to be exact. There was a huge cover-up that went along with her change, forcing the necessity of the new identity. “I should have remembered.”

“They are at Jonas’s club now. Would you like to go? I could introduce you.”

If he wasn’t going to stay away, she might as well keep him around where she could see

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what he was doing. “Sure.”

16

Chapter Two

Christiana glanced down at her silver watch. It was two in the morning, and The Dungeon was alive with vampires pretending to be humans and humans pretending to be vampires. It was all a strange façade that allowed the
vampiro
club owner and his
cosca
to casually mingle with the humans without risking
The Alleanza
. Somehow, it worked. Khalil would be proud of their ingenuity.

“You’re not leaving, are you?”

She glanced sideways at the human man on the barstool beside her. He smiled, his face moving enough to force the ring in his eyebrow to move. That taunting little piece of silver gave her the strangest urge to reach up and jerk it out of his face. Maybe that was because he’d spent the last two hours annoying her by trying to pull her onto the dance floor, flirting incessantly, and forcing drinks on her. Luckily, the bartendress knew what she was and gave her the appropriate drink.

He draped an arm around her back and whispered, blowing the scent of vodka toward her. “Come back to my room. We’ll party the rest of the night.”

She shrugged his arm off. “I told you, I’m here with someone.”

Well, she was…kind of.

“Who?”

Christiana pointed toward the door, where Blane stood talking with a slender bleached-blonde. “That guy with the green hair.”

The human leaned in closer and planted a kiss on her neck. “Looks like he’s busy.”

Lips touching her skin was too much. She shoved him back onto his stool and grabbed

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her drink from the bar. “Thanks for the drinks.”

When she turned to walk toward the door, Blane was standing in front of her. He was glaring down at the human. “Problems?”

She smirked. “Yeah, he doesn’t seem to believe that I’m here with you.”

Blane grabbed her around the waist and jerked her body against his. His mouth was suddenly on hers, giving her a long, deep kiss that made her head swim and her legs flex.

He pulled away, keeping one arm around her waist.

Christiana blinked up at him.

Wow.

“Sorry, dude. I didn’t want any trouble,” the human said. He grabbed a drink off the bar and headed off into the crowd.