Out for Blood (13 page)

He nodded, the smart remarks dying away. He knew what it was to lose a child. “That’s what we believe, yes.”

“I have to get her back.”

“
You
have to get her back?” His brows lifted a few centimeters. “You don’t understand what you’re going up against.”

“Yes, I do.” Her heartbeat calmed slightly. “They’re demons. Fallen angels. Deadly, powerful creatures.”

“That only begins to describe them.”

“I can’t let them have her without a fight.”

He pushed away from the railing, causing her to jerk backward. He shook his head. “If I scare you, how are you going to face them?”

“That’s why I’m here.” She held her ground as he took a step closer. “I’m almost defenseless as a human. I want you to turn me into a vampire. Put me on a more equal playing field. Being turned will help me better serve the city, too. Understand both sides.”

He barked out a laugh, stunned by her idea. “I thought you were insane to come here; now I know you are.” Why did a damned eternity hold such appeal for humans? He turned to leave. “Answer’s no. Go home.” He wasn’t about to offer his or Chrysabelle’s assistance until everything with Chrysabelle had been straightened out. The child was half vampire. It was in good company for now.

“I’m siding with you. Don’t you understand that? I’m siding with your kind. When the war between varcolai and vampires comes—”

“There won’t be a war.” He kept walking. “Go home.”

She ran after him and snagged his arm, letting it go as soon as he spun to face her. “Please. I’ll do anything you want. Give you blood.”
Blood blood blood
. Her gaze skimmed his body. “Sleep with you.”

He stared at her. “Are you for real? Are you truly this clueless about who I am? About what I am?”

“Why do you think I’m here?”

“Because you’re crazy.”

She planted her hands on her hips and lifted her chin, tossing her hair. “I take good care of myself, Mr. Bourreau. A lot of men would find me very desirable.”

“I’m not one of them.”
You’re also not a man
. Like he needed to be reminded of that.

With a touch of indignation, she sniffed, her hands dropping from her hips. “I’d do
anything
you want. Please, just make me like you.”

Faster than he knew she could follow, he grabbed her upper arms and pulled her close against his body. She gasped and began to tremble. He pressed his cheek to hers so that his mouth was next to her ear, then spoke as distinctly as he could with anger tightening his jaw. “I am not a man, Madam Mayor. I am a monster. The only part of me I want to stick into you is my fangs. Then I would drink your blood until there wasn’t enough left to keep your heart pumping. That’s what I’d do with you.” The voices went wild. She was warm against him, but still she shivered. “And you want to become like me? You are a fool.” He shoved her away. “I should wipe your mind of this, but I won’t because I’m afraid you’d just come back.”

“How dare you,” she whispered. “I offer myself to you and this is how you treat me.”

“Go home.” He walked toward the ship’s entrance. “Let’s both forget this happened.” Footsteps behind him alerted him to her movement. He dodged as she came after him.

Jerking to a stop, she turned, her chest rising and falling. “Don’t walk away from me. This isn’t over.”

His human face disappeared. He knew his eyes must be silver by now. “Get off my ship.”

“Turn me. Or face the consequences.”

The beast within lifted its head in anger. “Threatening me is a very bad idea.” He spun a little power into his voice. “Go home. Forget where I live.”

Some of the fire in her eyes died. “I… don’t…”

“Forget and go home,” he said again, this time with greater insistence.

She nodded and moved back toward the gangway. “Home,” she muttered.

As her car pulled away, another pulled up. Chrysabelle. The tension drained from him. If needing her weakened him, so be it, although in truth he felt stronger around her. More complete. And if she didn’t want to talk about the ring of sorrows’ power, he’d let it go for tonight. After the mayor, Chrysabelle’s company would be a welcome change.

She got out, her dark luminescence beckoning in the night’s gloom. She waved when she saw him standing on the deck. He lifted his hand to return the gesture. Odd the things he did around her. She jogged up the gangway. “Was that the mayor I saw driving away?”

“Yes. But I don’t want to talk about her.” Screw everything he should or shouldn’t do. All he wanted was her.

She stopped a few steps away from him and frowned. “I know. You want to talk about the ring and the power and all that. I should start by saying you might be right about Damian. At least Mortalis agrees he could be my brother, so if you want to say I told you so, go ahead and—”

“I’ll pass.” He took her hand and pulled her against him, then kissed her hard and fast before lifting his head. Her frown turned into an openmouthed gape. “In fact, I don’t want to talk at all. Other than to tell you I’m glad you’re still alive.” He closed his eyes as her perfume wrapped around him. Slowly, so did her arms.

“You’re in an interesting mood.”

He put a little space between them and held her face in his hands. He was done fighting with the voices in his head. Trying to deny what he felt. “I have bad news.” He watched her eyes for her reaction. “I love you.”

Beneath his palms, she tensed. Her breathing and pulse increased and she blinked rapidly.

Love. What a word to come out of his mouth. He shut out the voices’ chaos as he dropped his hands from her face. “Don’t expect flowers and candy. I’m telling you because it shades everything I do concerning you. The biggest danger is that you can be used against me now, and trust me, that’s the last thing I want. I’ll die before I let anything bad happen to you.”

She struggled to nod as he stepped away and gave her some space. “I know you would. You’ve proven that.” She gnawed at her lip. “Except for Maris, no one’s told me they love me before. I don’t know how to react.”

“There’s no reaction needed on your part.” He walked toward the door, letting her breathe air that wasn’t tainted with vampire. “Did you have another memory lapse this time?”

She followed him. “Mal, you can’t just change the subject like that.”

He stepped into the ship. “Something important must be on your mind if you came all the way out here.”

Her hands gripped the sides of the door, but she came no farther. “Your declaration is pretty important.”

“No, it’s not. It’s simply a statement of fact. A warning.”

“A warning? That’s romantic.”

“You want romance, look somewhere else.” He loosened one of her hands and closed his around it. Her pulse still raced. He dropped her hand. Maybe she’d had enough of his touch for one night. “Come inside and tell me what brought you here.”

She opened her mouth, then shut it again and, with a sigh, allowed him to lead her to the galley. Fi sat at the table, eating a slice of cold pizza.

Mal shook his head. “I don’t know how you can eat that.”

She spoke around a mouthful of food. “And I don’t know how you can drink blood.” She swallowed and closed the empty box. “I’m going to find a Dumpster for this. You two look like you need to be left alone anyway.” She got up from the table and tucked the box beneath her arm. “Nice to see you’re alive again, Chrysabelle.”

“Thanks, Fi.”

Mal gestured toward the kettle. “You want tea or something?”

“No.” She settled into one of the chairs around the old table and folded her hands on top of it, staring at the signum marking her fingers. “I feel like I have a million things to tell you and no idea where to start.”

“My apologies if I’ve discombobulated your thoughts.”

“You tell me you love me and now you’re apologizing without prompting? Who are you?” She gave him a crooked little smile. “Besides, you discombobulate me without trying. Not always in a bad way.”

“Nice to hear.” He took the seat next to her. “Just tell me what’s happening and we’ll figure it out together.”

“First of all, I’m sorry about the other night. You didn’t deserve that.”

“Also nice to hear.”

“I stopped to see Mortalis on my way over here. Like I said, he thinks the reason I said Damian’s name is the same reason you mentioned—because Damian is my brother.” She looked at him, clearly waiting to see his reaction.

“What do you think?”

“I don’t know. You pointed out that I haven’t seen Damian since he’s been here. I barely remember him from life in the Primoris Domus. Could he be my brother? I guess. How do I determine if that’s true?” She rubbed the back of her neck.

Fi stuck her head back through the doorway. “Why not good old-fashioned DNA testing?”

Mal growled softly. “I thought you were throwing the pizza box away?”

Fi shrugged. “Sorry.”

“I can’t,” Chrysabelle answered. “Not unless you know someone who could do it with complete confidentiality. I’m not looking to become a government science experiment. Now that othernaturals are out in the open, I’m sure they’d jump on the chance to test more of me than just my blood.”

Mal rested his hand on top of hers. “I agree, but
if
we can find someone we trust—”

“Big if.” Chrysabelle pulled her hands from under his. She glanced at Fi. “Could you give us some privacy?”

Fi swiveled back toward the hall. “Your wish, my command.”

When the sound of her footsteps faded, Chrysabelle spoke again. “Mortalis is putting feelers out to see if he can get a lead on where the vampiress might have holed up with Damian.” She rolled her bottom lip in, slowly releasing it. “I also talked to Mortalis, on Velimai’s recommendation, about finding someone who could tell me—us—what power the ring of sorrows might have contained.”

Mal kept the surprise off his face. This was a big step for her. “What did he say?”

She leaned back in the chair and met his gaze. “Mortalis told me about a very dangerous fae who, if willing, could tell me pretty much everything I want to know.”

“Besides this fae being dangerous, what’s the catch?” Because there was always a catch.

“He’ll exact a price, but we have to agree to pay it before he helps us, and we won’t know what it is until he’s done.”

Mal’s mood went sour. “That it?”

“Well, let’s see…” She started ticking things off on her fingers. “He could get here, then decide he doesn’t want to return to the fae plane. Then we have to either find a way to persuade him to go home or kill him. Mortalis says no way can he stay on the mortal realm. Of course, he could kill us first. And then again, he might not agree to help us at all.”

“You don’t have to do this. We can figure out another way.”

She shook her head. “No. There won’t be another way, or if there is, it’ll be harder. You always tell me I run instead of dealing. It’s time to deal. I’m doing this, with or without you.”

“There is no without me. Not anymore.”

Smiling, she reached across the table and took his hand. “That’s how I know I’ll get through it.” Her smile faded a little. “Or at least I won’t die alone.”

Chapter Thirteen

F
i ditched the pizza box first chance she had, then adjusted her sweatshirt hood so it hid her eyes. The air had the slight nip of what passed for fall in New Florida. Kinda reminded her of her childhood in Colorado, but by this time of year, there’d probably be snow on the ground. Or at least ice on the river. Here, the best you could hope for was a rare frost appearance.

The trek into town wasn’t so bad. Gave her time to think, time to figure out her words. She couldn’t go without seeing Doc any longer. The separation and the not talking were killing her. They hadn’t been apart this long since she’d known him. What kind of a hold did this woman have over him? She had to see his new
wife
for herself. See what the competition was all about.

Wife. What kind of a job came with a wife? That was crazy.

Pride headquarters loomed ahead. She slipped into the alley behind the building but didn’t bother with a door, just shifted into her ghost form and floated inside, zipping up through the floors until she reached the penthouse.

She hovered near the ceiling while she searched the place. She found Doc sitting on the sofa, elbows planted on his knees, eyes staring straight ahead. Classic thinking pose. What was on his mind? The incident with Mal and Chrysabelle from the night before? Or was he thinking about her? Missing her?

She drifted down until her feet touched carpeting, then went corporeal. She walked up behind him and slipped her hand over the back of his neck. “Hi, baby—”

With a snarl, he shifted into his half-form, latched hold of her arms, and dragged her over the back of the sofa until she was pinned beneath him.

She kissed him, just a quick peck, doing her best to avoid the fangs jutting over his lip. “Hi, kitty cat.”

“Fi.” Her name sighed out of him and he relaxed, going full human again. He sat up, pulling her with him. “What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be with Mal.”