Inferno

A forbidden union forged in love—and tempered in hellfire.

Tales of the Were, Book 2

One last task and Megan will be free of the debt of honor owed by her family. Spying on Dante, a powerful vampire with questionable friends, sounds simple enough. But her mission is complicated by the fact she’s got something every vampire wants—tangy, powerful, werewolf blood.

It’s easy to capture his attention. The hard part will be getting out with her heart—and soul—intact. Not to mention her life, thanks to a crazed bomber.

Dante isn’t the kind to forgive or forget easily, especially the grudge he holds against werewolves. Still, he is instantly drawn to the injured lone wolf in his care. When he and his friend Duncan treat her wounds, they discover something that marks her as much more than she seems.

That mark is a neon sign warning to be careful, but Dante can’t help himself. He wants her and nothing will stand in his way. Not her species. Not his. Not the strange woman who keeps trying to kill him.

Not even the magical poison in Megan’s blood…

Warning: This book contains sexual healing,
ménage a trois
and
quatre
, hot sexy vampires, an irresistible fey warrior and a lone wolf bitch on the prowl.

eBooks are
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transferable.

They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work.

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

577 Mulberry Street, Suite 1520

Macon GA 31201

Inferno

Copyright © 2009 by Bianca D’Arc

ISBN: 978-1-60504-593-1

Edited by Bethany Morgan

Cover by Anne Cain

All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

FirstSamhain Publishing, Ltd. electronic publication: June 2009

www.samhainpublishing.com

Inferno

Bianca D’Arc

Thanks to my family, first and foremost, as always.

And to my Aussie friend, Megan, who unknowingly lent her first name to the heroine in this
book.

Thanks also to my friends and “helpers” Valerie and Jambrea, who were kind enough to offer
their time to act as beta readers on another project. Also to Peggy, who assisted in fact
gathering—an invaluable help to my forgetful self. You guys are the greatest!

Many thanks as well to my editor, Bethany, for her patient guidance and the laughs.

“I have one final task for you. Do this, and your family’s blood debt will be repaid.” Megan knew, whatever the task, it wouldn’t be easy. Nothing about the
Altor Custodis
had turned out to be easy since they’d come into her life.

She knew better than to ask questions. This man would not be rushed. Igor Poferov was not one to take interruption well. An immigrant to New York from some Baltic country, he took old world charm to the extreme.

“It will not be easy,” he continued in his deliberate way.

Big surprise there
. She kept her expression carefully blank and stifled an ironic chuckle.

“But it is a task that needs doing. Strange things have happened among the
were
and all is not as transparent to us as it should be.”

Megan didn’t like the sound of this, though working among her own folk was no real hardship.

True, she didn’t associate with many
were
, preferring to be a lone wolf. Still it wasn’t so hard to fit in among them for short periods of time.

“Reports have come from the Northern Territories of an unholy alliance between the current Lords of the
Were
and a certain vampire we’ve been watching for centuries.” Her ears perked up. Vampires were tricky creatures. Most
were
had an instinctive distrust of the bloodletters and would have nothing to do with them. If the current leaders of all
were
in North America were suddenly allying themselves with a vampire, it was big news indeed.

“His name is Dante d’Angleterre. The last report I have on him regarded an agreement to work with a human mage named Patrick Vabian. The mage disappeared. I need to know what happened to Vabian and the exact nature of the alliance between
were
and vampire—and any others that might be involved.”

When the old man finally wound down, she waited just a few heartbeats to see if he had anything further to add. Then she sprang.

“So you want me to spy on the
were
?” It wasn’t her favorite thing to do, but she would do it if it meant clearing her family’s debt of honor. Spying on other
were
folk wasn’t so bad. They were her kind, after all. She understood them, even if she’d never lived among them. She owed them no loyalty. Not after the way they’d treated her family in the past.

“No.”

She waited, dreading what the old man might say next.

“I want you to spy on the vampire. I want you to infiltrate his inner circle. Get close to him. Bed him if you have to. I want to know what happened to the mage. D’Angleterre’s powers might be greater than we believe, and he may have other allies. I want to know everything there is to know about Dante d’Angleterre. Everything.”

Megan felt the blood drain from her face and knew she was probably white as a sheet. She did
not
like vampires. Not one bit.

“I won’t whore for you.” Her voice was a cold as a Montana winter.

The old man laughed. It was a brittle, almost evil sound. “It probably won’t come to that.

You’ve got something the vampire will want more than sex.” She waited for him to elaborate, knowing the coy expression on his weathered face meant he had more to disclose.

“
Were
blood is like a drug to his kind. Offer him your blood and he’ll keep you around.

Guaranteed.”

Debauchery wasn’t something Dante indulged in very often anymore, but when Duncan suggested a night of revelry with a select few mortal playmates, Dante didn’t object. He knew it had been a long time since the fey knight had had his choice of women. Being kept prisoner in the fey realm for centuries hadn’t been easy on the half-mortal knight. Dante felt it only fitting they celebrate Duncan’s newfound freedom with a little indulgence of the flesh.

In his case, Dante drank of his partners as well as fucked them, and they didn’t seem to mind one bit. The vampire Glamour had that effect on most beings—mortal and supernatural alike. It was a rare creature that could resist his brand of mojo when he chose to use it full force.

And Dante knew Duncan had some interesting fey powers of his own. Still, the knight hardly needed magic to conjure a bevy of bed partners. The man was charming enough to acquire them without much effort, without tapping into his considerable magic.

It had been a few weeks since the adventure in Montana had uncovered a
Venifucus
plot to destroy the current Lords of the
Were,
the
were
wolf twins, Rafe and Tim, and their new mate, the priestess Allesandra. Dante had been sucked into that intrigue on the wrong side, before he had realized exactly what was going on. That he’d been so easily led still grated on his nerves. Never would he knowingly help the
Venifucus
. Not even to finally achieve vengeance on the
weres
who had so wronged him in the past.

Dante remembered the
Venifucus
as an ancient, evil sect devoted to the restoration of the
Mater
Priori
¾ the sorceress Elspeth¾also known as the Destroyer of Worlds. Though he wouldn’t have believed any of it just a few weeks ago, he’d heard the human mage, Patrick Vabian, speak of their plans to restore the banished sorceress and rule this realm with an iron fist. Dante had recently discovered the
Venifucus
had worked in secret for many centuries to bring this about, and no one really knew how close they might be to achieving their goal.

It was a frightening thought to contemplate. Even for an immortal.

Thankfully, tragedy had been averted for the time being. The current Lords of the
Were
were enjoying an extended honeymoon with their new mate as she learned how to use her magical powers. Dante had more than made up the debt he owed from helping Patrick Vabian get close enough to attack them in the first place but was still annoyed by how easily he’d been duped by the mortal mage.

Sure, he’d held a grudge against all
were
for over a hundred years. An old set of
were
lords had sanctioned the death of his friend, Erik the Firewitch. The battle that had ensued as Erik tried to defend himself had burned half of Chicago. In the end, Erik had died at the hands of the
were
.

And they owed Dante for that.

Erik had been like family to him. In fact, Dante often thought Erik had been the reincarnation of his younger brother, Elian, who had been murdered by the
Venifucus
centuries before. Both young men had been torn from him. Only now had the plot come to light that the
Venifucus
might have orchestrated both tragedies in an effort to turn Dante to their side.

But it would never work. Dante was many things, but he was not evil. He wouldn’t bestir himself to help restore an evil bitch to some kind of imagined throne from which she could rule mortals and immortals alike. No, he wanted no part of that.

He only wanted justice for Erik and Elian.

To that end, he’d become embroiled in the dust-up with the current
were
lords, Tim and Rafe, and their new mate, Allie. Somehow Allie had managed to summon Duncan from Underhill, rescuing the knight from his imprisonment in the fey realm. Dante and Duncan had been friends centuries before and it was the half-fey knight who tested Dante’s mettle by tempting him with the amazing power of his blood.

Fey blood would kill most vampires outright. Half-fey blood, however, was diluted enough to pose a temptation most bloodletters could not refuse. With the ingestion of half-fey blood came power. There were few half-fey in any of the inhabitable realms, and they had quite enough power to stave off almost any vampire’s attempts to subdue them. No, the only way a vampire could get a taste of half-fey blood was if the half-fey allowed it, and since most supernaturals didn’t get along as a general rule, it rarely happened.

Yet Duncan had given Dante his blood—although it was bespelled at the time to poison him if his intentions were truly evil. Duncan had tested him. It had been a hell of a risk. A poisoned vampire is a crazed vampire, and Dante could have killed Duncan long before the bespelled blood would have disposed of Dante.

Luckily—or perhaps, it was fate rather than luck—Dante’s heart had proven true. He had passed Duncan’s little test and gained immense power, for a time, from the half-fey knight’s blood.

Enough power to help the
were
lords trap Patrick Vabian and bring him to the justice of the Lady.

Allie had done that. Smashingly well, Dante thought, by dispersing Vabian’s magic to the farthest realms and leaving it up to the Lady she served to exile Vabian—now powerless—to some forgotten realm. It was likely they’d seen the last of Patrick Vabian, though his allies in the
Venifucus
were still enemies to be reckoned with.

But that battle was for another time. For tonight, there were women to bed and blood to be savored. Dante followed Duncan into the nightclub, well aware they would find more than a few willing mortal women inside. Dante paused to sniff the air, satisfied for the moment with the ripe scent of humanity that assailed his sharp senses. He also noticed some other, more subtle scent lacing the air.

It was off to his right.

Dante opened his eyes and looked around, only to meet the gaze of the most alluring woman he’d ever seen in all his long centuries. Lustrous, mink brown hair framed her face and swayed gently with her movements. Snapping hazel eyes fringed with thick, dark lashes batted at him with come-hither motions.

She was sitting on a bar stool, surrounded by mortals, but she shone as if she were the only being in the room. She was not human.

Dante sniffed again.

Were.

And she was looking directly at him, meeting his eyes boldly while she raised a glass of red wine to her lips. He followed the curving line of her luscious throat as it flexed in a swallow, and his cock went hard. Just like that.

This woman was potent.

And she held knowledge in her eyes.

Silently, she stood and stalked toward him. She moved like a predator, sinuous and sensuous as she held his attention and his gaze, mesmerizing him. He got the feeling he was definitely
her
prey this evening and not the other way around. It was a novel experience for him. Never had a woman enthralled him so quickly or so completely.