Page 72 of Be Still My Unbeating Heart

“Please,” Filip whispered, putting a hand to the back of Bastian’s head and guiding his mouth toward his throat. “Just take me.”

Hunger and need cramped Bastian’s stomach. He heard Filip’s pulse, as if it were summoning him. Drawing him in. His lips met Filip’s neck, and the man sighed, pressing his hard limbs into Bastian’s body.

De Luca’s face flashed in his mind.

De Luca smiling at him. Telling him that Bastian had opened his eyes to what a vampire could be.

“You’ve been nothing but open and honest with me, and I’m grateful for that.”

Bastian drew back. Swallowed. Pressed down the hunger, even though it was like an eel fighting up his throat, slippery and solid and demanding blood. Filip opened his eyes, appearing confused. Bastian met his bright green gaze.

Through the haze of bloodlust, he realized that Filip was trusting him to feed without killing, and that trust could be useful in learning more about the mayor. He had the feeling Filip was holding back. The man seemed wary of Bastian’s questions, but perhaps his defenses were weakened enough by his desire that Bastian could draw the truth from him.

“Does the mayor want to be a vampire, too?” he asked the secretary, pushing with his vision, feeling his pupils dilate as he encouraged him to open up.

Filip’s hand dropped from Bastian’s head. His brow furrowed.

“She loves vampires,” he said without emotion. “It’s why she brought L.O.V.E. to Vernazza.”

Bastian almost blinked in surprise, but he managed not to. The tenuous connection remained.

“The mayor set up the League in Vernazza?” he asked. “It was her idea?”

She hadn’t mentioned it when they first met. Bastian supposed it was privileged information that she didn’t share with strangers, but Bastian was a vampire. You’d think she would want him to know how dedicated she was to a movement that supported his kind.

“Why?” Bastian pressed, holding Filip’s gaze and pushing, willing him to speak. “What does Mayor Moretti have to gain from welcoming vampires to Vernazza, other than taking advantage of the Red Euro?”

For a moment, he thought Filip might surrender. His lips were parted, his gaze unblinking. Bastian’s neck twinged with tension. He was so close to the truth, he could feel it.

“Does she want to be a vampire?” he pressed. “Is that what’s going on here?”

Filip’s mouth opened and closed. A shadow entered his gaze, and he blinked free from Bastian’s stare. His face hardened as he took a step away from him.

“If we’re done here,” he said, “I’m needed at the gala.” He stopped at the door and added in a cold tone, “If you want to survive in this town, leave the mayor alone.”

He exited the cloakroom.

“Wonderful to meet you, too, darling,” Bastian murmured, though he couldn’t help shuddering at the man’s words. Unease mingled with frustration at his inability to get Filip to talk. If he had bitten him, the man might have surrendered to the mind-casting, but Bastian couldn’t risk it. He didn’t trust himself to drink human blood for the first time in years and not lose himself in the bliss. Accidentally kill. No information was worth that.

He found Whitby in the large room beyond the foyer. She sat on a side table, whiskers quivering as she watched the revelers, an intense look of concentration on her face. Guests drank from crystal flutes, and handsome waiters served canapés that looked like works of art on silver trays. There were marble sculptures, and white fabric draped like sails across the ceiling.

A man wearing a powdered wig played a grand piano, and the music vibrated through Bastian’s bones as he surveyed the guests. He assumed this would be a different crowd from the one that nearly killed him in the piazzetta, but still he was grateful for the meager disguise.

“You took your time,” Whitby said.

“I got waylaid by the secretary.”

The cat’s pupils contracted. “Did he tell you anything useful?”

“Just that the mayor is responsible for bringing L.O.V.E. to Vernazza.”

“He said that?”

Bastian nodded. “But he wouldn’t say why. He told me to stay away from her. And I’m pretty sure he wants to be a vampire.”

“What?What happened?”

“Nothing I couldn’t handle. The suit’s decent, at least. Italian tailoring. I’m sure we could have found one for you, too.”