“The Council of Six is not happy with you,” Kay pointed out, rechecking the file she had pulled up on her laptop computer. She was working on a glass table beside the pool, enjoying the warm spring evening. “You’ve turned IV into a force to be reckoned with and that worries them badly. They don’t trust you and they believe IV usurps their power.”
“It does indeed usurp the council’s power,” P. G. Loire commented. Sinking gracefully, she dipped her fingers into the heated pool, nodded at the warmth, then returned to the table and took a seat across from Kay.
“The council’s wisest option is to join us and establish a power base from within the organization,” Trevor called. “Otherwise, we’re going to bypass them. It’s already happening.”
Kay pushed aside her TV dinner and took a sip of coffee, admiring the underwater lights illuminating the surface of the pool. The evening air was exceptionally warm tonight, fragrant with the heavy scent of lilacs and newly cut grass.
“Listen to Kay,” P. G. Loire advised sagely. “This is a very bright young woman.” She turned a lovely face toward Kay. “Alas, I left my Antoine in Monaco. I miss him very much.”
“Antoine is your Renfield?” Kay asked. She had liked P.G. at once. It was almost impossible to recall that this charming woman was a vampire. Besides which, P. G. Loire was the only houseguest so far to address Kay by her name rather than call her Renfield.
“Antoine is my mortal assistant,” P.G. corrected gently. “I do despise this generic Renfield thing, don’t you? I can’t imagine why so many of us stole the Renfield tag from an idiotic book that we all despise.” Reaching for the silver coffee service that she had insisted Kay use, she poured more coffee into Kay’s cup, her movements a symphony of grace. “I don’t drink mortal liquids, of course, but I miss presiding at a table.”
“You’re referring to Bram Stoker’s Dracula?”
P.G. wrinkled her nose in an expression of distaste. “Of course. A really horrible book. We’ll be fighting Dracula’s tasteless image to the end of our days.”
“Ladies,” Trevor called to them, “we’re discussing business, remember? Renfield, what were you saying about the council?”
“Since you’re the president of IV, the council’s anger is directed at you,” Kay answered, peering at the laptop screen. “You can bet your satin-lined cape that the council isn’t going to relinquish their power without some kind of battle.” Kay leaned back from the glass table, tilted her head and peered up through the branches of an old apple tree covered with tiny white blossoms. “Trevor, do you have to sit in that tree? Can’t you join us here at the table?”
His voice descended through blossoms and leaves. “I wish you could see this, Renfield. The stars shine like chips of fire. They seem so close that I could scoop them up in my cap.”
P. G. Loire smoothed the skirt of a yellow satin sheath and stood. She patted Kay’s shoulder and gave her a beguiling smile. “Chérie, would you mind if I took your dinner tray inside? I don’t know why, but for the last eighty years the scent of mortal food has been... ah, rather unpleasant to me.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize. Let me. I’ll just—”
“No, no. You and my darling Trevor must discuss business. I’m afraid I’m interrupting. I believe I’ll leave you to enjoy this magnificent and romantic evening, my dears. Ophelia and I plan to tour a few singles bars.”
Trevor laughed as if he could see Kay’s stare through the leaves. “Remember the IV rules, sweet P.G. No snacking on the gentlemen.”
“Perhaps a tiny sip or two,” P.G. teased with a wink for Kay. “As a reminder of the good old days.”
Trevor slid to the ground, brushing twigs and leaves from his shoulders and jeans. “P. G. Loire! Don’t you even—” But P.G. had gone. He shrugged and turned a boyish grin toward Kay’s appalled expression. “Vampire humor. What can I say?”
“It’s not funny.”
“I guess that depends on your perspective.” His grin broadened. “I’ll admit that exchange wasn’t exactly knee-slapper quality.”
“What would qualify as a vampire knee slapper?”
Rocking back on his heels, he smiled and studied the branches overhead. “I don’t think you really want to know.”
Kay considered. “You’re right.” She scooted closer to the table and transferred her attention to the laptop. “Now that you’re out of the tree, maybe we can do a little work. I’ve been patient all day, but I’m dying to open the elders’ files and see what we discover. I need the names of the Council of Six. Then give me your best guess as to when they became vampires.”
“When is the last time you took a day off, Renfield?”
“What?”
He stood at the edge of the pool, the underwater lights illuminating his jawline and aristocratic nose. “You work day and night. I appreciate your dedication, but I’m starting to worry that I’ve taken over your life.” Pushing his hands in his pockets, he turned to look at her. “That’s great for me. I’m not sure it’s good for you.”
A guilty expression stole over Kay’s face as she thought about the friends she was neglecting, tried to recall when she had last touched base with her mother, or thought about, well, dating. It was true that she had all but given up a personal life. Trevor and his affairs consumed her time and thoughts. It was also true that she didn’t care. Trevor had become her life.
Trevor stared at her with those glowing, brilliant blue eyes. “I’ve been very selfish, keeping you to myself. Are you happy, Renfield?”
“Yes,” she answered truthfully. That was the crazy part. She loved conducting Trevor’s business, loved working with him, loved... She bit her lip and ducked her head. “I told you. I’m a workaholic. But if it makes you feel better, I promise I’ll take some time off after we find the Crystals of Change. Speaking of which...” She placed her fingertips on the laptop keyboard and gave him an expectant look.
Since there was no hope for anything between them except a business relationship, it made her uneasy to discuss personal matters. But they worked so closely and so intimately that personal revelations were difficult to avoid. Long ago Kay had ceased to be merely a secretary or an assistant. She was also his hostess, his companion and, she hoped, his friend. In her dreams, her restless hot dreams, she was... more.
“I have tonight off and you seem revved up to work until midnight, so there’s no rush.” Trevor rubbed his gold earring between his fingers and smiled. “So how about a swim before we get started?”
Kay shoved at the glossy hair bouncing forward on her cheek. “Trevor, it’s not that warm tonight.” She plucked at the sleeve of the light sweater she wore, making a point. “It’s only about fifty-five degrees out here.”
“Positively balmy,” he said, laughing and peeling off his shirt. “Besides, the pool is heated.”
Staring, Kay froze with her fingers on the keyboard and watched him throw off clothing until he was naked except for a pair of Speedo briefs. Because he was Trevor, the Speedo briefs were bright red.
And it revealed more than it concealed.
Blushing furiously, Kay wrenched wide eyes away from the intriguing bulge between his legs and ran her gaze over the most magnificent body she had ever glimpsed. A tanning-bed tan emphasized swelling shoulders and a well-muscled chest. Narrowing in a classic male wedge, his body angled toward a trim waist and curve of hips before descending to firm muscled thighs and well-developed calves. It was obvious that Trevor worked out regularly and took pleasure in maintaining his body.
Kay blinked and swallowed hard, her mouth suddenly dry. Clothing didn’t do him justice. She thought Trevor d’Laine was the handsomest man she had ever met, and she knew he had a trim, firm body. But she hadn’t expected total male perfection.
“I came prepared, Renfield.” He pulled his hair loose from a rubber band and shook his head. “I took the liberty of fetching your swimsuit. All you have to do is step behind that screen and change.” Walking out onto the diving board, the pool lights shimmering over his magnificent body, he lifted his arms and his right leg, then jackknifed into the water so cleanly that he barely created a ripple.
When he surfaced at the edge of the pool, he shook wet hair out of his eyes and grinned up at her. “It’s as warm as bathwater. Come on in, Renfield. Live a little. You know what they say about all work and no play.”
His impulsiveness always surprised Kay, largely because impulsiveness was so foreign to her own character. Or it used to be. Since meeting Trevor, her inhibitions seemed to be melting away. She had changed so much in the past couple of months that her friends wouldn’t recognize her. Her hair and style of dress were youthful and fun, she was open to new experiences and—something she had never expected—she was becoming more accepting of spontaneity.
“I warn you,” she said after a brief hesitation, rising to the challenge, “swimming is my sport. If you thought that dive was good—and it was—wait until you see what I can do.”
The night air was chilly on her skin when she emerged from behind the change screen and approached the pool. When she allowed herself to glance at Trevor, he was standing in the shallow end, muscled arms crossed over his chest, staring at her with narrowed sultry eyes. A simmering gaze traveled over her breasts, waist and along the curve of her legs.
Kay’s response was immediate. She felt her heartbeat accelerate, felt a slow flame kindle in the pit of her stomach. Part of her loved it that he was looking at her body; another part responded with a tension that drew her nerves as tight as wire.
“What you do for a swimming suit ought to be outlawed,” Trevor murmured in a husky voice.
Kay swallowed hard, drinking in the compliment but knowing nothing could come of it. She considered making a comment about his Speedo suit, but her mouth was too dry to speak. Besides which, she was desperately trying not to think about his marble-hard thighs and buttocks. Or the fullness that cupped the thin material of his Speedo briefs.
Clenching her fists, she approached the diving board, thinking how strange it felt to swim at night, without sunshine warming her skin. And with Trevor’s eyes roaming her body with gleaming interest. Deliberately, she tried to clear her mind as she had done when she was on the college swim team.
Stepping forward, she tested the springiness of the board, then paced off three steps. When she jackknifed into the water, she left only the tiniest splash on the surface.
She emerged closer to Trevor than she had guessed she would. Pushing back her sleek dark hair, she grinned in triumph. The dive had been good, very good.
“I won a couple of trophies for—” She broke off when she saw the hard sexuality glowing in his eyes, and when she noticed his teeth extending against his lower lip.
Instead of the fear she expected, her immediate response was a surprised smile. Standing in the water, bare-chested, his blue eyes smoky with sensual pleasure, Trevor reminded her of someone wearing plastic vampire fangs. Right now, his teeth seemed about as threatening as those worn by a Halloween trick-or-treater.
“Excellent! Very impressive!” When the words emerged with a lisp, Trevor instantly covered his mouth and grained. “Oh, God. Damn it, I hate this.”
“It’s all right,” Kay assured him, surprised to discover that it was. She knew this man, his principles and what he stood for. She trusted him not to harm her. And right now, while he was standing in the pool wearing nothing but a Speedo bathing suit and a gold earring, the fangs seemed unreal, more amusing than frightening.
“I can’t control this, Renfield.” He swore and smacked the water with his fist. “Most of us feel less and less emotion as the years pass. P.G. was just bemoaning that her canines hardly ever emerge anymore. But with me...”
“It’s okay. Honestly.” Kay spread her arms and tilted her head back in the water, looking up at the sky and almost wishing that she could see the stars with the same brilliance that he did. “This brings up something I’ve been wondering about. How do you manage to move around in public?” she asked curiously. “Hasn’t anyone at the radio station noticed your... ah, fangs? Or people at a benefit? Or Gloria at the Coffee Mug?”
He lay back in the water beside her and they floated, gazing up at a velvety dark sky. “One of the first things a vampire has to learn is how to control strong emotional reactions, or this happens.” He sighed and waved a hand over his mouth. “Usually control comes naturally. But lately...”
Kay glimpsed water lapping at the bulge of his swimsuit, then focused her gaze firmly on the spangled sky. “Am I the cause of your recent fang problems?” she asked in a voice no louder than a whisper. As perverse as it sounded, something deep inside hoped that she was.
“It’s always difficult to be around mortals,” Trevor admitted after a minute. “Mortals stir an ancient instinct in us. It’s a combination of hunger, lust, need, desire... several powerful emotions. With the blood banks and an alternate way of, shall we say, dining, there’s really no longer a genuine need for fangs. Perhaps in a few hundred years evolution will catch up and vampires won’t have this problem anymore.”
They were silent for a full minute before he spoke again. “And, yes, Renfield, my recent problems have a lot to do with you.” His feet found the bottom of the pool and he stood beside her floating body. A smoldering gaze fixed on the smooth flesh swelling above the top of her swimming suit. “You can’t guess the problems you’re causing me. I fight it all the time, but you’ve become the most desirable woman I’ve ever known,” he murmured hoarsely.
Kay’s heart stopped as she stared up at him. He no longer reminded her of an impish boy wearing plastic teeth. This was a man. An aroused man staring at her throat, listening to her blood accelerate in her veins. His shoulders swelled, and his expression was sexy and dangerous and wildly exciting.
A great thrill of weakness spread through her limbs and she couldn’t catch her breath. As if her body had become heavier, her hips sank in the water and her toes found the bottom of the pool. She stood on shaking legs, breathless and unable to move, and gazed helplessly into his glowing eyes.
The desire she saw there set a match to her trembling body and lit her on fire. The warm pool water suddenly felt cold against the longing burning on her skin. Holding his gaze, Kay instinctively wet her lips and felt her breast rise in a quick breath. Her nipples stiffened beneath his stare and rose hard against the front of her wet suit.
A low groan broke from his lips and his arms closed around her, pulling her roughly against his body. Instantly she felt the full rock-hardness of his erection against her stomach and gasped at the power of his arousal. And her own. Desire slashed through her like a lightning bolt, hot and sizzling and urgent. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she moaned and pressed her soft warmth against his marble coolness, fitting her trembling body to his.
“Renfield. If you only knew how long I’ve waited...”
The embrace they had tried so hard to avoid set them both aflame. They came together explosively, frantically, their hands flying over wet hair and skin.
Kay yearned for his kiss, for the hard possessive pressure of his lips. But he made no effort to claim her mouth. When she looked at his teeth, a spear of fear shot through her followed by a strange thrill and a shiver of dark excitement that raced through her body and made her writhe with desire, pressing against him until he groaned and murmured her name in a voice hoarse with passion and urgency.
His hands found her waist beneath the water and lifted her. Kay circled his hips with her legs, clinging to him and, driven by instinct and desire, she fit her center against the hard thrust of his. Her trembling arms circled his neck and she dropped her forehead to his shoulder with a helpless moan. At first she felt only the hard bulge pressing between her legs. Then gradually she became aware of his lips moving against the arch of her throat. And then... his teeth against her skin. A gasp of intense dark pleasure broke from her throat. Dizziness overwhelmed her and her head spun. It seemed that time stopped, leaving her in a strange dreamy, passionate state, somewhere between reality and a sweet beckoning darkness. The passion between them swept all rational thought from her mind and her trembling body took command, offering all—her woman’s center, her throat, her body, her mind.
Wanting him as she had never dreamed of wanting a man before, Kay pressed against the steely bulge between his legs, and a sound like a sob broke past her lips. In this moment of powerful arousal and hungry desire, it didn’t occur to her to pull away from the teeth moving slowly, back and forth across her throat. She wanted him so much she thought she would surely die if he didn’t take her, Now. Now!
The cool touch of his hands on her burning skin, the feel of his hard full thrust straining the thin material of her swimming suit, the mesmerizing smolder in his flaming eyes, the touch of his hand stroking her breast, all combined to render her frantic and helpless. Dizzy erotic hungers whirled in her mind, scalded her thoughts.
Gasping for breath, blood pounding, all she could think about was the desire that knifed through her like a hot blade. She wanted him to rip aside her swimsuit and plunge inside of her, wanted him to sink his teeth into her bared throat and take from her whatever he needed. She wanted... oh God, she wanted!
His wet head moved back and forth in small tantalizing movements, rubbing the surface of his teeth along her tender exposed skin, teasing them both to the edge of gasping insanity. She felt the powerful, fullness of his buttocks and thighs, and his swollen need for her growing in urgency and intensity. Her longing for him was so acute that it was painful.
Suddenly she felt something like a hot needle scrape her throat and she didn’t care. All she cared about was satisfying their mutual passion. Never in her life had she felt this depth of arousal, or experienced this painful a craving for a man. When Trevor suddenly pushed her away, the shock of it paralyzed her for a moment and she almost stumbled.
After she caught her balance, Kay saw him standing in chest-deep water, his forehead against the side of the pool, his fists clenched on the concrete.
“Trevor?” Confused, still shaking with her deep need for him, she whispered his name again.
“Forgive me,” he mumbled in a muffled voice. “I almost... I wanted—” Breaking off, he vaulted out of the pool and shook the water from his hair and body. His voice was raw and husky. “Get dressed, Renfield. Well meet in your office in twenty minutes.”
He entered the house so swiftly, it was as if he had disappeared. Releasing a long low breath of disappointment and confusion, Kay dropped her head. With a shaking hand, she touched her throat where the needle sting had occurred.
When she lowered her fingers, they were red with a smear of blood.
* * *
When they met again in the office, they both wore slacks and long-sleeved T-necks, covered from throat to wrist to ankle. Kay had already opened the Rouge Banque’s vampire list and highlighted Eleander Mondrake’s name and letter code.
Leaning toward the screen so her hair would swing forward to hide her face, she asked in as businesslike a tone as she could manage, “So when would you guess Eleander became a vampire?”
“Let’s start with the year 1600,” Trevor suggested. She heard no trace of a lisp. He stood beside her desk and watched her try and fail with 1600, then try again with 1601. When he noticed the edge of a Band-Aid near the neck of her T-shirt, he walked to the windows and stared out at the night.
“What happened in the pool can’t happen again,” he said abruptly. “It’s too dangerous.”
“It’s only a scratch,” Kay insisted quietly, her face flaming. She tried 1602. “I trust you.”
“The urge to—puncture—is as powerful as the urge to make love. The two go hand in hand.” He dragged his fingers through his hair and swore. “Renfield, you don’t want to be a vampire, I don’t want to be mortal.” Turning, he frowned at her. “In the pool I came very close to reverting to something I don’t ever want to be again. And I sure as hell don’t want to harm you or do anything you don’t want or that would frighten you.”
Something like despair bled the vitality out of his eyes. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. But I think about you all of the time. I dream of those violet eyes and the touch of your warm skin. I monopolize all your time and I’m glad. I’d spend every waking hour with you if I could.”
Kay stared up at him, tears glistening on her lashes. “Oh, Trevor. Don’t you know it’s the same for me?”
“Renfield, this can’t possibly work between us.”
“I know.”
“So where the hell does that leave us?”
“Between a rock and a hard place,” Kay whispered, blinking hard at the tears stinging her eyes. She tried 1603 and 1604 in quick succession.
“Mortals and vampires have no future together.” The utter loneliness straining his voice pierced Kay’s heart. “There’s nothing in that kind of relationship but resentment, hatred and pain. And danger for both of us.”
“I don’t know what to—” Kay’s hand dropped from the Band-Aid on her throat and she stared at the screen. “Trevor! I’m into Eleander’s file. Look!”
In an eye blink he was standing at her side, bending over her shoulder. “Open the council notes.”
With a shaking finger, she pressed a key and the first of a hundred pages of council correspondence came up on the screen. Kay would have dearly loved to read and digest the council’s notes, but Trevor reached past her and impatiently scrolled the screens so swiftly that she couldn’t focus.
“There it is,” he said finally, softly, releasing his finger and letting one of the pages steady on the screen. “See it? The reference to a safety-deposit box at the bank?”
Kay stared at the paragraph, feeling her excitement build. “Then you believe the crystals are in the safety-deposit box?”
“I can’t think of anything else the council might need to store in a safe place. Before IV, there were no records, nothing on paper.”
“Except the bank’s files,” Kay reminded him. A surge of elation sang through her nerves. “Trevor, we did it!”
“You did it,” Trevor corrected. He pressed her shoulder, his touch electric; then he frowned. “But we don’t have the crystals in our hands, yet.” He thought a minute. “Renfield, can you download the bank’s vampire files to our IV disks then erase the bank’s records?”
Instantly Kay’s joy evaporated. “If I do, the bank will know about it. So far we’ve been lucky. The bank hasn’t picked up that we’re hacking into their files because there hasn’t been any recent activity in the vampire files. And all we’ve done is look, not touch.” She drew a breath. “Rouge Banque has a sophisticated system. The only reason we haven’t been caught is that so far no one is watching. They’ve grown complacent. They don’t think anyone knows about the vampire files or can get into them. But the minute I download this material and erase their records, alarms are going to go off big-time.”
“Can they trace the download to us?”
She thought a minute. “Probably. I’ll be as clever and careful as it’s possible to be, but it’s simply impossible not to leave a few tracks. Eventually, a skilled operator will find them.”
Picking up his paddle and rubber ball, Trevor paced the office, smacking the rubber ball and thinking hard.
“Can you check for any backups at the bank, and fix it so the bank cannot retrieve the vampire files? As far as Rouge Banque is concerned, the vampire files simply disappear forever?”
Kay nodded. “I already know no backup exists. They’ve been ultradiscreet and careful with this material.”
“Then it’s worth it. As long as Rouge Banque has those files, they can blackmail the council, the IV, the whole vampire community with the threat of exposure.”
“Wait a minute.” Kay frowned. “How large a threat is it? After all, you seem willing to tell the whole world that you’re a vampire.”
“I can do that because I know damned well that no one believes me. Being a vampire is my working persona. But Rouge Banque can prove the existence of vampires through their paperwork. Think about it, Renfield. The bank can prove that I’m not a descendent of the first Trevor d’Laine—I am the first Trevor d’Laine. They have the records to show faked deaths and so on. Using those files, they can point an interested party to the original counterfeit documents.”
Kay nodded slowly, her face turning pale. “If someone could prove that vampires actually existed...”
“We’d be hunted down and killed like wild animals,” Trevor stated flatly. “I suspect the bank is threatening exposure right now. That would explain why Veneta saw Otto Von Lichten at the bank, and why the council is pressuring us to transfer our investments back to Paris.”
“All of the references to wills, death certificates, et cetera, note where the counterfeit documents can be found. You’re right about that. Anyone with access to these files can follow a paper trail that would reveal...”
Trevor’s eyes narrowed and flashed. “Do it, Renfield. Steal the files and erase them out of the bank’s system. How long will it take?”
He was as charged as an atomic particle, moving around the room with disconcerting speed, stirring the night with excitement and purpose. Kay watched and felt the heated stirrings of frustrated desire.
She felt trapped in a frustrating state of limbo, unable to go backward to a strictly business relationship, unable to move forward into the bliss of romantic involvement. They were caught in time like a fly in amber, imprisoned by a passion that had no future.
Trevor turned in the center of the room, the light shining on his umber hair, and for a moment their eyes locked. In the depths of his cobalt gaze, she saw his vast loneliness, his need for her and his sense of hopelessness. When he looked at her, the centuries stretched in front of him like dark empty vessels.
“Even if the crystals are in the safety-deposit box,” he said hoarsely, his gaze on her mouth, “I can’t become a mortal again, Renfield. I can’t.”
“I know,” she whispered. He would go blind. Despair swam in her eyes. “And I can’t become a vampire. I can’t give up the sun. I can’t give up the hope of having children someday.” Fate had brought them together only to mock them. “You haven’t heard of any vampire couples adopting children, have you?” she asked, trying to lighten the mood. But she only succeeded in making it worse by underscoring the hopelessness of their situation.
Trevor turned abruptly and covered the lower half of his face with the wooden paddle. “Tomorrow,” he said gruffly, “I’d like you to arrange a flight to Paris. Hire a private jet. With luck, we’ll get to the crystals before anyone knows we’ve discovered where they are.”
Kay stared at the computer screen and felt a hollow space open around her heart. For the first time in her life, she had fallen helplessly, hopelessly in love.
And the man of her dreams just happened to be a vampire, a man who craved the taste of her blood as powerfully as he longed to make love to her. He frightened her, excited her—and his flashes of vulnerability broke her heart.