Anna’s heart was lodged somewhere near her tonsils as she felt the light scrape of Cezar’s fangs against the edge of her mouth.
This was insanity.
No. Waking to discover a gorgeous, heart-stopping, drool-worthy vampire in her bed was insanity.
Quivering with the need to feel the aching pleasure of his kiss was full out la-la land.
Unfortunately, her body didn’t give a damn about the sanity of responding to Cezar’s expert touch. It only knew that it had waited almost two hundred years to feel the cool pleasure of those fingers exploring her trembling curves and the erotic satisfaction of his fangs sliding into her flesh.
The dark, sweet craving intensified as his head bent lower, finding the tip of her straining nipple beneath the lace of her gown.
A groan caught in her throat as sharp-edged bliss shuddered through her body. His tongue was teasing the sensitive bit of flesh, flicking and stroking until her back arched in a silent plea.
Dammit, she had promised herself this wouldn’t happen. There was no way in hell she was going to let this man think she was an oversexed tart who would spread her legs every time he passed through her life.
A promise easily made when Cezar had been nothing more than a painful memory. She’d convinced herself that it had been her innocence that made her so susceptible to the delicious vampire. After all, she had spent two centuries resisting the various men (some of them downright edible) who had desired to lure her to their beds. She was older, wiser, and capable of controlling her desires.
Ha.
She was going up in flames as his fingers coasted down the back of her thighs, tugging up the gown with a determination that was unmistakable. Even worse, the soft words he muttered beneath his breath as his lips searched out her other nipple were drugging her mind, making her forget precisely why she was supposed to be saying no.
He had to be casting a spell over her, she fuzzily told herself. That was why her fingers were digging into his arms until she was drawing blood, and why her core was so hot and wet that she thought she might come at the slightest touch.
Otherwise it would mean…
A sudden pounding on the door interrupted the terrifying thought.
“Cezar.” A male voice floated through the air, making Cezar lift his head with a blast of dark curses.
“Si?” he bit out.
“Sorry to intrude, but we have a situation.” Styx’s commanding voice carried through the door with remarkable ease.
There was another string of curses as Cezar grudgingly released his hold on Anna and surged from the bed.
“I’ll return in a moment,” he muttered, heading for the door.
Following in his wake, Anna reached for the robe that Darcy had kindly loaned her and, shoving her hands into the sleeves, silently assured herself that the shivers that wracked her body were nothing more than relief.
Only they didn’t feel like relief.
They felt like gut-wrenching frustration that was settling in for a good long stay.
“Wait, Cezar.” She forced herself to reach out and lay her hand on his arm. “If this concerns me then I want to be involved.”
Coming to a halt he turned to stab her with an impatient gaze. No. Not impatient. Frustrated. The same expression that was tightening her own features.
She didn’t doubt if she glanced down she would discover he was still hard and aching to be inside her.
With an effort she squashed the urge to confirm her theory and instead concentrated on holding that burning gaze.
“Querida…” he began, only to give a startled blink when she pointed a finger directly in his face.
“I mean it,” she gritted. “The days when I was forced to beg on my knees for a bit of food and shelter are long over. These days I take care of myself. I won’t give that up.”
Something flashed through his dark eyes. Something that might have been disappointment? Pain? Wounded pride?
“You refuse my assistance?” he demanded softly.
She ignored the odd prick of regret. She couldn’t have hurt him. The man was arrogant, and aggravating, and utterly impervious to anything remotely resembling human emotions. Except for desire. Hell, hadn’t he seduced her and then abandoned her for nearly two centuries?
Still, she found her voice softening despite her best intentions. “Of course not, I’m not stupid. I don’t even know what I’m up against.” She gave an awkward shrug, tugging the belt of her robe tighter. “But, accepting your assistance is considerably different from being ordered around and kept in the dark. We’re either partners or I’m leaving.”
A tense silence filled the room. It was obvious that Cezar’s arrogant need to be in charge was grimly warring with the knowledge that she wasn’t jerking him around. She fully intended to walk if he didn’t agree.
Expecting an angry response, Anna was caught off guard when his lips at last twitched with a wicked amusement.
“Partners, eh?” he murmured, his hand reaching up to trail through the tangled strands of her hair.
Her eyes narrowed with a wary uncertainty. This all seemed waaaay too easy.
“I’m not kidding, Cezar. I’d rather be dead than back to feeling like a beggar.”
His gaze deliberately skimmed down to the deep vee of her robe. “You know, I wouldn’t mind doing a little begging if you would…”
Reaching up, Anna slapped a hand over his mouth. His low voice was a nearly tangible caress that flowed over her sensitive skin, bringing with it thoughts of pushing him back onto the bed and crawling on top of him.
They were both nearly naked. It would only take a few tugs and…
Focus, Anna. Focus.
“Do we have a deal?” she rasped, gritting her teeth at the knowing expression on his face.
He could sense the desire that still pounded through her, but strangely he didn’t try to take advantage. Instead he gave a small shrug. “I’ll try.” He abruptly lifted his hand as her lips parted. “Hear me out, Anna. I’ve been alive a long time.”
“How long?” Anna demanded, unable to halt the question. She’d had a lot of time to think and brood over this man. Her curiosity went way beyond casual.
“Over five hundred years.”
She studied the bronzed, breathtaking beauty of his face. “Were you a conquistador?”
His brows lifted at her words. “When I awoke after the transformation I wore the uniform of a conquistador.”
“You don’t remember?”
“We have no memories of a life before becoming a vampire.” His lips twisted in a wry smile. “A good thing, actually.”
His confession startled her. How odd to simply have your life erased. Surely they must be curious as to who and what they had been before?
“Why is that a good thing?”
He nodded his head toward the door. “Because my king is an Aztec.”
“Ah.” A grudging smile touched her lips. “Yeah, I suppose that could be trouble.”
His hand shifted to grasp her chin between his thumb and finger, his gaze shimmering with his restless energy. Despite Hollywood’s depiction of vampires, they weren’t walking corpses. Their skin might be cool to the touch, and their hearts might not beat, but they possessed a frenetic power that surrounded them like a force field. In truth, being close to Cezar was like being next to an electrical charge.
“My point is, that I have a tendency to act first and think later,” Cezar said with a grimace. “Trust me, I’ve learned to regret the habit, but it hasn’t changed who I am. I can’t promise you I won’t…”
“Be a pain in the ass?” she finished sweetly.
He gave her chin a pinch. “Something like that.”
There was another rap on the door. “Cezar?”
Ignoring the distinct edge of irritation in his king’s voice, Cezar stepped close enough to shock her with the force of his nearly bare body.
“A minute,” he rasped, his eyes glittering as he stared down at Anna’s pale face. Without warning he leaned down and captured her lips in a rough, demanding kiss. Anna gave a soft moan of pleasure, but before she could even begin to respond, his head lifted and he was regarding her with an intensity that made her breath catch in her throat. “You will never be a poor relation again, Anna Randal,” he whispered. “You were born to rule the world.”
She gave a small jerk at his outlandish words. Or maybe it was just a delayed reaction to his scorching kiss.
Holy crap, her lips would be tingling for a month.
“What did you say?”
He smiled mysteriously, but didn’t bother to answer her question.
Of course not. She could threaten and demand all she wanted, but the whole partner thing would be at his freaking convenience.
Turning, Cezar pulled open the door, revealing the towering vampire who waited in the hall with a grim impatience.
“My lord, you have news?” he demanded.
Anna resisted the urge to back away from the leather-clad giant who turned to stab her with a searching gaze. Yikes. He looked quite capable of sacrificing her on the spot.
“What of the female?”
Anna’s quaking knees stiffened. Female? Female?
The oversized vampire was lucky she didn’t have full use of her powers. He would look mighty funny plastered to the ceiling or tumbling down the hall like a soccer ball.
Perhaps sensing her flare of annoyance, Cezar reached out to grasp her hand, giving her fingers a little squeeze.
“She insists on knowing whatever information you have.”
A heavy, chiseled brow arched, but rather than the argument she was expecting the demon merely offered a smile. A smile that might have been more reassuring if it hadn’t included a pair of lethal fangs that could bite through a tank.
“Very well.” His unnerving attention switched back to Cezar. “The fairy is dead.”
“Sybil?” Anna breathed in shock.
Styx gave a short nod, his long braid threaded with turquoise beads swinging across his back. “Yes.”
“Good God.”
Cezar’s face revealed no shock. Instead it was a hard mask of granite that sent a chill down her spine.
“How did it happen?” he demanded in flat tones, his body coiled with anger. “You said her cell was protected.”
A matching anger briefly touched Styx’s eyes. He seemed like the sort of man who disliked it when things didn’t go as he planned.
“It was, and I don’t have a clue as to how she died. She has no visible wounds, and Gunter swears that no one entered or left the cell. She’s simply dead.” Styx reached up to touch a medallion that hung around his neck. “I’ve called for Levet to come and examine the body once night has fully fallen.”
“Levet?” Cezar scowled at the other man. “Dios, why?”
“He can sense magic that we cannot,” Styx said.
Anna struggled to keep track of the conversation. Inside she was a quivering mess. Sybil was dead. Granted there’d been more than a few times she would have willingly choked the life from the annoying bitch. And the knowledge she would never again have to look over her shoulder and discover the woman lurking in the shadows offered a sick sort of relief, but…dead? And while she was protected in this house where Anna had been sleeping like a baby?
The thought was enough to give her the heebie-jeebies.
With a shiver she crossed her arms over her stomach and tried to look brave. Dammit. She was the one who was demanding to be a partner in this nasty business.
I am woman hear me roar, she chided herself, not oh-my-God I’m going to toss my cookies.
“Who is Levet?” she forced herself to demand.
Despite her best efforts there must have been something in her voice that warned Cezar she was strolling near the edge.
His concerned gaze skimmed over her faintly green face before he tugged her to his side and slipped an arm around her shoulders.
“He’s a gargoyle,” he grudgingly confessed.
“Ah.” She couldn’t halt the short, wild laugh. “Of course.”
Cezar’s thumb rubbed the taut line of her throat, his touch magically easing back the panic that had threatened to boil to the surface.
“Don’t worry,” he soothed. “He’s the runt of the litter and the only frightening thing about him is his warped sense of humor.”
Styx regarded Cezar’s movements with a narrowed gaze. Almost as if he was startled by the vampire’s protective intimacy. Which was laughable. Anna knew firsthand that Conde Cezar made a habit of exchanging his women on a nightly basis. She had been one of the exchangees.
With an odd smile the giant vampire gave a dip of his head. “I will leave you to prepare.”
“Good idea,” Cezar murmured, shutting the door in the face of his king and crowding her against the wall before she knew what was happening. “Should we hit the shower first?”
A shower? Naked skin. Warm water. Silky soap. Hot, steamy…
The image of the two of them entwined as water poured over them was so vivid, Anna was forced to close her eyes and suck in a deep breath.
“Absolutely not,” she muttered, already feeling hot and steamy as he deliberately leaned into her body, his head lowering so he could bury his face in her hair.
“Why?” He nipped at her earlobe. “You can wash my back and I’ll wash yours. We’re partners, remember?”
Her eyes rolled to the back of her head as his hands stroked up her sides and then boldly cupped the heavy fullness of her breasts.
Right. Now, they were partners. When he wanted to get up close and personal.
Well, she was going to…she was going to nip this in the…his thumbs teased the tips of her nipples and Anna moaned.
What the hell was she going to do?
Something besides melt into a puddle at his feet, surely?
The thumbs did another gut-wrenching brushing motion and Anna knew she was about to drown in his potent passion.
Holy crap.
“The only shower you’re getting is going to be a cold one in your own room,” she managed to rasp.
He laughed, his fangs deliberately scraping against her neck. “Harsh.”
“Cezar, stop that.”
“Why?” His tongue replaced his fangs in his campaign to send her up in flames. “I can smell your desire.”
“You’re going to be smelling my fist if you don’t stop.”
He laughed. “So violent, querida. First handcuffs and now threats. You used to prefer your lovemaking far more gentle.”
Lovemaking?
No.
This was sex. Raw, animal sex.
Something she had sworn off two hundred years ago.
With a desperate wrench she was pushing him away and trying to collect her senses. A minute passed, and then five more, her rasping breaths the only sound in the room until she was at last able to meet Cezar’s glittering gaze.
“Go away, Cezar.”
The dark eyes flashed as he stepped toward her, his fingers cupping her cheek. “Someday, querida.” His head bent to steal a kiss that was edged with desperation. “Someday very, very soon.”
Anna felt better after a long, icy shower that helped to ease the sexual tension and washed away Cezar’s sandalwood scent.
She felt even better when she returned to the Olympicsized bedroom to find her suitcase on the bed. She didn’t know how the miracle had occurred, and she didn’t care. It was just a relief to pull on her own faded jeans and a pale yellow short-sleeved knit shirt.
Slipping on a pair of flip-flops, she paused long enough to pull her damp hair into a scrunchie and headed out the door.
As she moved down the wood-paneled hallway and hit the curved marble staircase, she briefly considered that her casual clothes didn’t fit the sprawling mansion. Although she had lived simply over the past two centuries, she had spent enough time among the London aristocracy when she was young to recognize that the marble statues came straight from a Grecian temple and that the oil paintings that hung on the oak paneling were genuine masterpieces.
She paused at the bottom step and then gave a shrug as she went in search of her hostess. She was done trying to fit into places she didn’t belong. Done trying to please others.
Besides, Darcy had been just as casual. The sort of casual that came from the soul, not from her clothes. Maybe werewolves were a little more go-with-the-flow than vampires, she wryly told herself.
Hearing sounds from the back of the house, Anna managed to negotiate the labyrinth of hallways to at last enter a beautiful kitchen that was filled with stainless steel appliances and pots of fresh herbs set on the window sills.
It was also filled with a peculiar creature that stood barely three feet tall with gray skin and strange bumps all over his knobby body. Even more odd, he possessed a long tail and a pair of wings that were startlingly beautiful.
“Oh.” Coming to a halt on the black and white ceramic tiles, Anna sucked in a shocked breath. Maybe roaming around a house filled with demons wasn’t such a good idea. Her gaze shifted to Darcy, who was seated at a cherrywood table. “I’m sorry. Am I interrupting?”
“God, no,” the woman breathed, rising from her chair to cross the room. This morning she was wearing another pair of jeans with a well-worn sweatshirt that nearly swamped her tiny body. Her blond hair was carelessly spiked and her face free of makeup and yet she glowed with beauty.
It was no wonder the big, scary Styx melted whenever he glanced in her direction.
Anna was about to relax when the…thing scuttled across the floor in Darcy’s wake, one clawed hand holding up a piece of cardboard that had a large E drawn on it.
“What are you doing?” the creature demanded, his voice thick with an astonishing French accent as he waved the cardboard in the air. “We have not finished the game. You must tell me how many of the vowels you wish to purchase.”
Darcy reached out to pat the thing on its head. Right between its stunted horns.
“We’ll finish later.”
“Later?” There was a spat of French curses. “My audition could be any day. There is no later.”
“Of course there is,” Darcy soothed with remarkable patience. Just as if she were humoring a petulant child. “I’ve told you, Levet, it’s Bob Barker who retired, and I might add, has already been replaced, not Vanna White.”
Anna blinked. This was Levet? This was the gargoyle that was supposed to sense magic?
Cezar had said he was the runt, but…jeez. She really did have to stop watching horror flicks. Vampires, werewolves, fairies, gargoyles. So far they hadn’t got anything right.
“Ah, this Vanna White is a human, is she not? She could drop dead at any moment,” Levet protested, then without warning he was moving to stand directly in front of Anna. He pointed a claw up toward her face. “You there. You’re a human. Aren’t you afraid that you might just drop dead one day?”
“Well, I…” Anna cleared her throat.
She had no idea what to say, especially after the gargoyle leaned forward and blatantly began sniffing her leg.
“No, not human,” he murmured, his gray eyes lifting to regard her with what Anna hoped was curiosity and not hunger.
“Good grief,” Darcy muttered, sending Anna a rueful smile. “Anna, this is Levet. Levet, Anna Randal.”
Anna remained speechless as the creature circled around her, sniffing at her jeans and occasionally poking her with a stubby claw.
“What are you?” he demanded as he came to a halt in front of her, his hands planted on his hips, his long tail twitching in frustration.
“Umm, Darcy?” Anna whispered, caught between disbelief and a startling urge to laugh.
“Levet, please stop sniffing my guest,” Darcy commanded. “It’s not polite.”
The gargoyle made a rude noise. “You said that scratching my privates in public wasn’t polite. Now I cannot even sniff the guests? You are such a buzz-kiss.”
Darcy rolled her eyes. “Buzz-kill, Levet. The word is buzz-kill.”
“Whatever.” Levet returned his attention to Anna. “You smell like a fairy, but…”
“A fairy?” Anna took a startled step backward. She would know if she was a fairy. Wouldn’t she? “I don’t think so.”
“Who were your parents?” Levet demanded.
“I don’t know. I was raised in an orphanage until my aunt took me in.”
“So one of them could have been a fairy?”
“I…suppose.”
Levet tapped his foot, clearly not satisfied with her grudging concession. “There is something else. Something I can’t put my toe upon.”
“Finger, Levet,” Darcy corrected wearily.
Levet ignored the werewolf as he moved forward, intent on discovering the mystery of Anna’s heritage.
“Take a step closer to her, gargoyle, and I’ll have you mounted on my wall,” a cold male voice warned from the doorway.
Anna had no need to turn. Her skin was already prickling with awareness and her heart jolting into overdrive.
It couldn’t be anyone but Cezar.
Foolishly undaunted, the gargoyle stuck out his tongue and astonishingly sent the looming vampire a raspberry.
“I hear that’s the only way you can mount these days…” His strange words had barely left his lips when Cezar was across the floor with the point of a dagger pressed to his throat. “Eek.”
“You have any other charming revelations to make, gargoyle?” Cezar growled.
“Ah, no.” The wings fluttered at a frantic pace. “Not a one.”
“Good choice.”
With fluid speed Cezar straightened, the dagger tucked away so swiftly that Anna couldn’t follow the motion.
Not that she was paying attention to the dagger.
She was far too busy reminding herself of the need to breathe as her gaze traveled over the loose white shirt that was half unbuttoned, revealing a generous amount of his smooth chest, and the black jeans that clung to his butt with a tasty perfection. His dark hair was damp, the top layer pulled back with a strip of leather and the rest falling about his broad shoulders.
The elegant, sophisticated gentleman had been transformed into a dark, lean predator. A hunter who was poised and ready to attack.
Strolling into the kitchen, Styx glanced around with a narrowed gaze, easily sensing the tension in the room.
“Damn, have I been missing the fun?” he demanded, instinctively moving to stand beside Darcy in a protective manner.
The tiny blonde flashed him a smile. “Cezar was just about to make a shish kebab out of Levet.”
The large vampire’s lips twitched. “Maybe you should wait until after he’s inspected the cell,” he told Cezar. “I’d hate to finally have the pleasure of toasting him over an open fire just when he might have a bit of use.”
“Ha, ha, ha. You are a million chuckles,” Levet muttered, waddling toward the door. “Where is this cell? I have better things to do than go around playing Christopher Columbus.”
Anna glanced toward Darcy. “Christopher Columbus?”
Darcy laughed. “I think he means Colombo.”
“Ah.”
Styx and Darcy fell into step behind the retreating gargoyle. Anna followed behind them, not surprised when Cezar appeared at her side and took her hand in a firm grip.
He wasn’t the bring-up-the-rear sort of vampire.
“Did he trouble you?” he demanded in a low voice.
She lifted her head to meet his searching gaze. “Who?”
“The gargoyle.”
“Not at all.” Anna hid a smile. She didn’t need special powers to know that Levet annoyed the hell out of Cezar. “I think he’s…”
“An obnoxious pain in the neck who should have been made into a pair of shoes and matching handbag eons ago?”
“I can hear you,” Levet called out.
“I know,” Cezar muttered.
“I think he’s cute,” Anna said.
“Cute?” Cezar glanced at her as if he feared she’d taken a blow to the head. Perhaps several. “That…sad embarrassment for a demon?”
“I’m French, Cezar,” Levet said smugly. “Females always find me cute. It is both a blessing and a curse.”
Cezar muttered beneath his breath, “I’ll give him a curse.”
Anna chuckled as they turned from the main hallway and Styx took the lead. He halted at what appeared to be a plain piece of paneling, his large hand stroking over the wood. A hidden door sprang open and with a backward glance toward Cezar, he led them down the dark, narrow staircase.
A dark chill wrapped around Anna as they climbed steadily downward, the eerie silence making her clutch at Cezar’s hand, even as a small voice in the back of her mind warned that he was probably the most dangerous thing lurking in the shadows.
Down and down they went, occasionally halting to unlock another set of doors before continuing. It was only when Anna was certain they must be in the deepest bowels of the earth that the stairs came to an end and they stepped into what appeared to be the intersection of several tunnels.
Torches set into the dirt walls offered a wavering light, giving a hint of the vastness of the underground cavern.
“Holy crap…” Anna breathed, her eyes wide as Styx tugged one of the torches from the wall and headed down a dark tunnel to the left. “I thought the upstairs was huge.”
Cezar’s thumb absently stroked over her knuckles as they moved through the flickering shadows, no doubt sensing her growing feeling of unreality.
“A vampire always makes sure he has a few escape tunnels in his lair,” he whispered close to her ear.
Anna sucked in a deep breath of his sandalwood scent, oddly comforted by his presence. As much as this vampire aggravated her, she knew she would be a nervous wreck without him at her side.
“A few?” She gave a shake of her head as they walked through the tunnel, an occasional steel door set in the walls. “The entire city of Chicago could evacuate to Mexico in these.”
Cezar flashed a wry smile, but before he could respond Styx halted before one of the steel doors that was guarded by a tall, blond-haired…well, Goth was the first thought that popped into Anna’s mind. Not the Goth of today, but the ancient Germans who’d battled the Roman Empire.
Tall and muscular with dark blond hair spilling down his nearly naked body, the vampire looked like he had been carved from sheer granite. And he was a vampire, she silently acknowledged. Even standing several feet away, she could feel that electric buzz filling the air.
Of course, the fact that he was heart-stopping, knee-melting gorgeous was clue enough.
Styx spoke with the vampire in a strange language. Then, with a faint nod, he pushed open the door to the cell.
“This is it.” He pointed toward the gargoyle. “Levet, come.”
The gargoyle tossed his stunted arms in the air, but he wasn’t stupid enough to ignore the stark command. Shuffling forward, he stomped past the looming vampires, his tail twitching in annoyance.
“You do know that I’m not a dog?” he muttered, his voice lowering to sound remarkably like Styx. “Come, Levet. Sit, Levet. Roll over, Levet.”
Without warning Cezar was moving forward, reaching out to grasp the tiny demon by one horn. He lifted the gargoyle until they were eye to eye and even Anna shivered at the expression on the dark, beautiful face.
“This is no time for your peculiar sense of humor, gargoyle. You will shut your mouth and do your thing or you will answer to me. Is that clear?”
Levet gave a tiny squeak. “Ah…very clear. Clear as crystal. Clear as…”
His words trailed away as Cezar lowered him back to the ground and he was able to scurry into the cell with his tail between his legs.
Styx and Darcy entered behind the demon, but as Anna moved to follow them, she felt a restraining hand on her shoulder.
“Anna, there is no need for you to go in there.”
Anna swallowed her snappish retort. As much as she longed to blame Cezar for this craziness that was now her life, she had to concede that it wasn’t entirely fair.
Whatever had happened between them in the past, there was no mistaking that he had done everything in his power to protect her over the past twenty-four hours.
Whether it was out of a desire to crawl back into her bed or out of genuine concern still remained a question.
“I’ve seen death before, Cezar,” she said in a quiet voice. “And I need…I need to see if I can help Levet. I need to do something, not just wait around for that woman to rip out my heart.”
His brows snapped together. “That was just a dream…”
She pressed a finger to his lips. “Cezar, partners don’t lie to one another. We both know that wasn’t just another dream.”