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“I’m sorry that your family died.”
She glanced up at him, chewing slowly. “It doesn’t change that vampires killed them.”
“No. It doesn’t.”
“Why are you staring at me?”
“I’m trying to understand you, that’s all.”
She shrugged and cut a chunk of cheese, sliding it onto her tongue from the back of her knife. “What’s the plan from here? I’m not sure I’d trust Rumy again, if I were you.”
“He wouldn’t have known what Hardesty was up to, but a casino in Arizona?”
“Your world seems hell-bent on exposing itself to my world. And it sure doesn’t seem to like you very much.”
“No, not much, at least not the parts intent on illegal and reprehensible transactions.”
She snorted.
“Oh, that’s right. We’re vampires, so there can’t be anything decent about my world.”
“Pretty much.”
“What do you base that on?”
“Oh, let’s see. Your pal Daniel, who’s been selling off property that belongs to your kind, Hardesty is a real peach, and you’ve already said that Rumy knows every slimy element to be found between Italy and Shanghai and all the way to New York. I have yet to meet a vampire I could admire. Then there’s you, happily demanding my blood like it belongs to you, but that’s a quality I’ve come to expect from your kind: Take, then maybe ask questions later.”
He cut another slab of cheese, planted it on more sourdough, and shoved it in his mouth. After chewing and swallowing he said, “You screamed a few times, if I remember, and you weren’t exactly in pain.”
She offered a half smile as she said, “Just like a man to make a big deal about his c**k when he hasn’t got much else to offer.”
He rounded the bar and before she knew what he meant to do, he’d hauled her off her seat and pulled her against him. She tried to push out of his arms, but he was too damn strong. He started sucking on her neck and grinding his hips into her.
Damn the vampire!
The chain vibrated heavily against her throat. She could feel his desire like flames against her skin, and his lust ignited her own. But she struggled against all the sensations—of her incomprehensible desire for him, her lust, her need, which seemed to be multiplying as each hour met the next.
When he kissed her, she bit his lower lip, drawing blood.
He drew back, but his eyes had darkened and instead of releasing her, he settled in on her neck again, suckling and plucking, licking along her vein.
At some point her hands stopped pushing at him and instead her fingers kneaded the flesh of his arms, tugging at his biceps that flexed at her touch. He plastered himself against her, his hips undulating slowly. Her breathing grew shallow and her eyes closed; maybe they rolled back in her head.
When he kissed her this time, she let him, despite the blood on his lips.
His tongue dove deep as he rocked his pelvis against hers, the hard length of his c**k rolling over her flesh, working her into a frenzy. Her moans filled the air.
She hated him, but she wanted him desperately.
She was about to suggest they return to the bedroom when he let her go. She fell back, almost making it onto the stool, but because her limbs had loosened she slid off and fell to the floor, landing on her butt.
She sat there, looking up at him.
He lifted a harsh eyebrow. “And sometimes, human, a c**k is the only thing a woman wants.”
He rounded the bar. As she rose to her feet, she watched him slap another slab of cheese on yet another slice of bread and stuff the whole thing in his big fat mouth.
Damn vampire.
* * *
Adrien washed up the plates, packed up the fruit, cheese, and bread, all while Lily sat on her stool and glared at him.
He ignored her. He hoped he’d made his point that for all her complaints about his kind, she wanted him.
The trouble was, he ran hot for her as well, hotter than made any logical sense despite the blood-chains they shared. If she glared, he responded in kind, because the last thing he wanted was to desire his captor.
The chains, essentially, had become a nightmare of sensation. He felt worn out, and the hour was just a few minutes past midnight. And they still had work to do.
His brothers came to mind, his driving need to bust them out of that Himalayan hellhole. But how? If he failed to produce the extinction weapon, Daniel would have them killed, he was sure of it.
Even if he could find the damn thing, though, how could he ever turn a machine like that over to Daniel, the vampire without a conscience, the one who would sell his soul for just one more brick of gold?
His phone rang.
He reached into his pocket, pulled it out, and checked the screen. Rumy.
He thought for a moment, then answered, saying nothing.
“Adrien, you there?”
“Rumy.” He didn’t say anything more than that. He needed to hear the man’s voice, hear his inflection to determine the level of the man’s guilt. Had Rumy helped out at La Nuit?
He met Lily’s gaze. The glare had turned into a suspicious scowl, a perfect reflection of how he felt.
Rumy cleared his throat. “Hardesty just called. He’s still alive. I’ve sent a few visitors to his bar for what he just pulled on you, I want you to know that. He’ll be shut down for weeks.”
“Okay.”
“His bouncer’s dead. That might be payment enough for the incident.”
“I’m weeping in my beer, Rumy, big salty tears.”
Rumy laughed. “Just wanted you to know I had no hand in this.”
“I didn’t think so. You value your skin too much to make an enemy of me.”
“Don’t I know it. So, did Hardesty give up anything usable?”
“He mentioned a connection to one of the northern cavern systems, here in France. Know anything about it?”
“No, not really. You thinking about going up there?”
“Maybe. Not sure.” One of his favorite tribes lived in the northernmost system, called Trevayne, but he didn’t like the idea of introducing a human into their world. The more private cave tribes, usually located at a distance from human cities, lived quiet tribal existences with deep, layered shields to keep humans at bay, and essentially never allowed humans inside. They held more traditional values and often had a number of children in their midst, babes they protected with a vengeance.
If it weren’t for the chains, he’d head north right now, without taking Lily along, to see what he could dig up about the extinction weapon. The vampires who lived at Trevayne had inhabited that system a long time and probably knew every inch of the tunnels. If experiments had been done, any attempts made, secretly or otherwise, to concoct a killing machine, someone would know about it. There might even be evidence, or a lead to another location.
