If only Jia Ying knew.
A short time later Daria walked up the charming cobblestone path to Sante's front door. It all looked different in the daylight, when she wasn't sneaking around breaking and entering. The house was white, a throwback to Earth in the early twenty-first century, considered by most to be the planet's heyday. That bit of history fueled an enduring retro craze.
Daria knew Sante had been born during that time. So beyond the popularity of all things early twenty-first century, he probably had a preference for architecture of that style. Flowers bloomed along the path on either side of her, and overflowed from the boxes under the windows. Their scent drifted to her nose and calmed her a bit.
What the hell did Christopher Sante want with her? Alone. At his house in the middle of the dome's workday.
Gah.
At least, if Sante didn't kill her, she might get a glimpse of this woman he was hiding away. The female succubare she'd felt the night she'd broken in.
The door opened and Sante stepped out. “Valerie! Welcome to my home.” He ushered her inside. “Would you like something to drink?”
“No, thank you.” She gawked a bit at the retro furnishings of the living room, as though it was the first time she'd seen them. Valerie would be awed, of course.
“Come, sit down,” Sante said, leading her further into the living room and motioning to a plush chair. “I just want to chat a bit.”
Chat a bit? Daria tried not to look wary and sank down onto the expensive piece of furniture. “I appreciate you inviting me over, Mr. Sante. Frankly, I wasn't sure how I stood with you after the events of the other night.”
“Please call me Christopher.”
“All right . . . Christopher.”
“That's why I wanted to talk. I know what I did was very intrusive, but you have to understand that I can take no chances here. I spent a lot of time and money building this community and must be very careful about who I allow to live here. There are those in the world who would like to see this place taken down, those who want to destroy all Chosen.”
“You're talking about Richard Templeton and The New Covenant Church.”
“They're one organization, perhaps the most activist, of several.” He paused and pursed his lips. “I have many enemies, Valerie. People who want to destroy what I care about, those Chosen I have come to love. I cannot allow that to happen. Hence, the surprise visit to you and Alejandro the other night.”
“I understand.”
“I'm not a voyeur. I just needed to find out if the allegations lodged against you were true. That was the only way I knew, short of taking your blood myself, to determine if they were or not.” He grinned. “Not that I didn't want to take your blood. You're a very attractive woman.”
Hmmm.
“Why didn't you have Alejandro meet us here, Christopher?”
He smiled. “I will meet with Alejandro separately. I thought you and I could get to know each other better if we were alone.”
“I have no interest in sex.”
Sante's body jerked a bit with surprise. His smile went icy for a moment. “I find you attractive, Valerie, but I don't want to have sex with you.”
She tilted her head to the side. “Is it possible for a man to find a woman attractive and not want to have sex with her?”
His smile tightened. “For me it is.”
She inclined her head a degree. “Then I apologize. I didn't mean to offend.” Damn it. She'd gone fishing for evidence of the female secreted away in his house and had come up with nothing.
“No offense taken. I can understand why you may have thought that, but, really, Valerie, I saw ample evidence that you're mated to Alejandro the other night. I would never intrude on such a strong bond.”
Daria blinked. If she hadn't known what a slimeball he was she might be inclined to like him. She saw how he could inspire loyalty at the Shining Way if he always behaved this way. Well . . . apart from barging into people's rooms at night and demanding he observe them in intimate acts.
“Now that we have that settled, tell me about yourself, Valerie. Tell me about your parents and your upbringing. As Alejandro's mate, I would like to get to know you better.”
She'd been fishing, and now it seemed like he was, but she had no idea for what. Good thing she'd memorized Valerie's story front and back. “I was born and raised right here in the Logos Territories. My mother was a secretary for the water company in New Chicago and my father was a miner on Songset. He left early on and my mother died in a gravmetro accident when I was seventeen. To avoid being raised by my aunt, I quit school and went to work as a waitress.”
“It's kind of a tragic story.”
“I don't think so. It's just my story.”
“But then you met Alejandro and fell in love.”
She nodded and smiled. Frighteningly, it wasn't hard to smile when she thought of Alejandro. “Yes. I was very scared when he decided to Choose me. I didn't think I'd make it through the succubare.”
He smiled. “And then you did. Quite amazing.”
“And then I did.”
“You know that only 1 percent of all humans lacking the Chosen gene make it through the succubare.”
Oh, maybe that was why he'd taken an interest in her. “Yes, I've heard that. My mother used to always tell me that I had a stubborn streak. I guess it served me well during the Choosing. When I started to feel tired, started to feel like giving up, I forced myself to push harder.”
“That kind of resolve is admirable. I may have need of you, if you don't mind playing a special role here at the Shining Way.”
“I'm nobody special.”
“Oh, I beg to differ.” A slow smile spread across his lips. “I've never met anyone who pushed through the succubare and didn't have the gene. You're not just special; you're exceptional. In fact, I would like to have someone like you close to me, someone who has the drive and will that you do.”
Her heart went pitter-pat. Getting into Sante's inner circle would be valuable. She'd thought maybe Alejandro had a shot, since he had a history with him. She'd never dreamed she'd have a chance, but she'd grab onto this one with both hands. “If you think I can be of value to you, Christopher, then I humbly offer my services.”
“Good. I will summon Alejandro after you've left. When I need you, I will call.”
That seemed like a dismissal, so Daria stood. “I'm glad we had this opportunity to talk.”
Sante rose and escorted her to the front door. “I am, too.” He clasped her hand warmly in his, and she suppressed a shudder of revulsion. “I'm very glad to have you at the Shining Way, Valerie.”
Walking down the path away from the house, Daria couldn't stop the huge smile that had spread across her face. She was one step closer to her goal.
17
WHAT did he tell you?” Daria asked Alejandro as she stared out the window of their room. Another full moon. She was really beginning to hate them.
“He apologized for the intrusion the other night, had me talk about old times with him. Then he asked me if I wanted to help him out with Shining Way business.”
She turned. “Then we're both in.”
“Seems that way.”
“So you reminisced about old times? Those bad old days when you were both with the ABI and he was using me in preparation to kill my best friend, the guards, and the witness?” Bitterness tinged her voice.
Alejandro hesitated before answering. “He asked about you. I mean, about Daria.”
She jolted in shock. “Please tell me my name did not pass his lips.”
“He wondered if I kept in touch with you.” Alejandro paused. “In a way, he has been keeping in touch with you.”
“What?”
“Hell, Daria, he's been tracking you since the day it all happened.”
Feeling oddly dirty, she sank onto the bed. “What did you tell him?”
“That I hadn't seen you since you left the ABI.” Alejandro walked to the window and looked up at the moon. “He expressed sincere regret over what happened. He talked about it at length, saying he'd really been in love with you but that his loyalty to his blood mother came first. He told me that after he killed Julia, the guards, and the witness he was suicidal for a long time and that creating the Shining Way saved his life.”
She simmered for a moment, shaking with absolute, pure rage. Then she rose and stalked to the window to stand near Alejandro. “Is that supposed to sway my opinion of him? Make me feel . . .
sorry
for him? That bastard doesn't get a moment of my thoughts beyond how I want to kill him.”
Alejandro laid a hand on her shoulder and she started. “I just thought you should know.”
She nearly shrugged his hand away, but the weight and heat of it was nice. “It doesn't change anything. Nothing he could say would change how I feel. I don't care if he felt guilty, or that it was an accident. I certainly don't care about his feelings for me.”
“That goes without saying. If he can be taken down, we'll take him down. I'm committed to it.”
Her voice was hard when she replied. “You better be. I don't want any good old boy Chosen connections to fuck this up.”
He whirled her to face him, his mouth tight and his eyes flaring dark. “
Mierda!
Don't even suggest it. My loyalty is to justice first, not some romantic idea of Chosen allegiance above all else. I know you're pissed at Sante, Daria, but I'm not him.”
At the moment every man was Sante. This time she did shrug him off. “I'll be in Brandon's room . . . if he's not screwing someone tonight.”
He grabbed her upper arm before she could push past him. “Daria. Don't do this. Just calm down. Damn your temper. You need to learn how to control it.”
She drew a shaky breath. “I just want this to be over. I want to get the hell out of this place, away from Christopher Sante.”
“I know how personal this is for you. It's personal for me, too. Hell, I liked Julia a lot. She was a friend of mine. We used to have lunch together sometimes and talk about which gravball team traded which player, and if it was a good move or not.”
“Yeah, but Sante never fucked you.”
He released her arm. “Not physically. He fucked all of us, though, every one of us who he betrayed.”
“Yeah.” She paused. “Julia loved gravball.” Daria couldn't help but smile at the memory. She was not a sports fan, but Julia had always tried to get her to go to the games anyway. “She was more than just a best friend to me, Alejandro. She was the sister I never had.”
He nodded. “I remember how tight you two were.”
“Anyway, I'm sorry. I know that anger is my Achilles' heel.”
He reached out and touched her cheek. “Emotion in general is your downfall, Daria. You feel it all, don't you?”
She had an urge to turn her face away from his probing gaze. It was like he could see right into her soul. “I haven't had many close relationships in my life. Growing up, it was just my mother and I. We moved around a lot because my mom needed to find work here and there, so I didn't make a lot of friends. It wasn't until I got to the ABI that I formed any close relationships. Sante betrayed my first romantic one and killed the first real friend I ever had.”
She'd never said those words aloud to anyone. Now that they had passed her lips, she wanted to call them back for how vulnerable they made her feel. She swore if she saw an ounce of sympathy in his eyes, she'd smack him.
But only warmth emanated from his dark gaze. “I know. I already figured all that out, Daria.”
“You spend that much time thinking about me?”
He stared down at her for a moment. “And more.”
Her lips parted. She was at a loss for words all of a sudden. A heavy moment passed between them. She smiled. “And here I've never ferreted out all the mysteries of Alejandro Martinez.” She'd felt a need for levity.
His sensual lips twisted in a smile and she wondered what he was thinking. “Are you hungry?”
“What?” The question was pretty unexpected.
“Not for blood, but for old-fashioned food. I'm hungry for it.”
“I miss it, honestly,” she admitted. “Blood sustains me, and it's much nicer than I ever dreamed it would be, but I miss tangible food . . . different flavors.”
He moved toward the door. “Stay here and I'll be back with food. Don't go to Brandon's. You know he's got some floozy Chosen in his room anyway.”
She watched him leave and fidgeted, fighting the urge to flee Alejandro. The man made her feel things she wasn't sure she wanted to feel. It was nice . . . in a way, but uncomfortable. It challenged every solid wall she'd built around herself over the past seven years and she wasn't so sure she wanted Alejandro to go pulling them down quite yet.
In the end, she remained. When he came back, arms laden with things smelling so good it made her mouth water, she'd perched on the end of the bed. She'd changed into her pajamasâa tank top and a pair of boxersâwhile he'd been gone. Daria sat up a little straighter when he came and watched him lay the food containers on the table.
“Where'd you find all that?” she asked, rising and going over to take a curious look.
“There's one kitchen in the whole dome. Sante told me about it this afternoon. I got this stuff from thereâfresh sliced peaches, a cold macaroni dish, Orbivian dates. I just grabbed some things that looked good.”
She picked up a container with slices of fruit. “Ripe peaches? My god, I haven't had these in years. Where'd they get them?” She thought for a moment. “They're growing them here, aren't they?”