Catch

by Annie Nicholas

  I shook my head. Rurik took very good care of me, unlike anyone I’d ever had in my life. He kept an eye on my diet, made certain I took extra iron and he exercised with me.

  I’d never been in such great shape. “I only missed one dose. I’ll take it when we get to our room. It’s got to be in there somewhere.”

  He rolled his eyes. “We’ll find the bottle and maybe you should relax this evening.

  Maybe do something fun?”

  Fun in a vampire nest equaled trouble for this human. I’d had enough fun the last few days to last me a life time. I glanced over my shoulder at the hall that led to Tane’s apartment. Was Rurik right? Did I find security in my personal demon’s arms?

  Chapter Twenty

  Outside our bedroom door sat Belatia, Archios’s wife, her knees drawn to her chest.

  A towel lay in a heap next to her on the floor. I thought she wore an odd-looking sundress but when she stood as we approached, it turned out to be an old-fashion bathing suit.

  Something my great-great grandmother would have worn.

  “Bel?” What the hell was she doing here? With Archios busy with Tane, maybe she had nothing else to do.

  “I wanted to know if you would like to take a swim?” She glanced at Rurik and hid her body behind the bulk of her towel. “You can come too if you’d like, Rurik.” I smiled. For some reason she made me happy. “Sure, we’d love to.”

  “Really?” They spoke in unison, one with excitement, the other with trepidation.

  “Let me find my swimsuit and we’ll meet you by the pool.”

  “Okay.” Bel spun around and flounced away as I entered our room.

  “Thanks for volunteering me.” Rurik shut the door as he spoke.

  “You love to swim.” I yanked a drawer open, trying to find my blue sport swimsuit.

  Vampires didn’t need to breathe so could remain underwater indefinitely, I envied them that. Rurik could dive the reefs without any equipment. “I can’t find my bathing suit.” Rurik opened the closet and stepped out holding two pieces of black cloth. “Here’s the bikini I bought you.”

  “Which covers less than my underwear, I don’t think so.”

  “If I have to swim with Belatia than the least you can do is offer me eye-candy.” He handed me his idea of swimwear.

  “You don’t like Bel?”

  “It’s not a matter of liking. She—how would you put it—creeps me out.” He shrugged. “She’s a little girl trapped in a woman’s body. I’ve never felt comfortable with Archios’s tastes.”

  His comment made my stomach turn. I didn’t think of Archios and Belatia as lovers.

  “When you put it that way it makes me sick, but it’s not Bel’s fault.” I went through the last drawer and then the closet, still no sport one-piece suit. Crap. I held the string bikini I’d refused to wear until tonight.

  “Can’t blame me for wanting you to wear that.” He whispered in my ear from behind, causing me to startle. A moment before he’d been by the dresser.

  “I hate it when you move that fast.”

  He chuckled. “I’ll meet you at the pool. Archios wants to copy my passport.” He plucked the item from a shelf in the closet. With the same speed he’d used to scare me, Rurik left the room.

  “Show off.” It took me what felt like forever to untangle all the strings of the bikini.

  Then I needed to knot my arms to tie the damn thing on. I’d worn suits like this in the past when I was too young and stupid to care if things fell out. Merciful goodness, it wasn’t a thong. I wrapped my favorite Mexican sarong around my hips and went to find Bel.

  Swimming at night didn’t bother me. Sometimes I went out and got a little sun while Rurik ‘slept’, but to my surprise, I didn’t miss it. The night air still held some of the day’s warmth. Bel sat on the edge of the pool dangling her feet in the water, facing away from me.

  Removing the skirt, I dropped it on a chair and jumped into the cool, clear water next to her. Head first, I broke the surface and saw a shocked, half-soaked Bel gaping at me.

  A huge grin spread her rosebud mouth then she jumped in with me. She brought out my inner child and made me want to have fun. Something I never really had the opportunity to have growing up.

  Like a couple of fools, we splashed and swam. Soft sand lined the bottom of the natural pool and dark gray, smooth stones lined the walls. Jungle plants surrounded the area giving me the impression of being in the wild. A marvel.

  I swam free of Bel’s antics toward the small falls. The water fell cool and clear.

  What was its source? It smelled like it came from a spring. My skin tingled as I let it pour over my head. A thick vine grew close to the ledge. I grabbed it and pulled myself onto the top.

  Bel doggy paddled in my direction, her limbs pumping and getting entangled in the floating skirts of her swim suit.

  With a laugh, I cannon balled close to her. Tiny bubbles traveled past my face while I sank. Sand swirled through the water clouding my view as Bel stood. I kicked to break the surface, but hit resistance.

  Something leaned on my head. I reached and found a small hand grasping my hair.

  Bracing my feet in the slippery sand, I pushed away and sharp pain filled my head as my hair got yanked.

  Pulled out of the water, I gasped a lungful of air. Bel’s laughter rang in my ears before the water swallowed me whole again. I struggled and kicked and scratched.

  Even though Bel was slight and petite, she was still a vampire with the strength of the undead. Fortune on my side for once, I was blood bound to the strongest Nosferatu in the vampire nation. It didn’t make me Bel’s equal, but it made me stronger than the average human woman.

  I dove toward her body, grabbed around her waist, and lifted her over my shoulder.

  When I stood, she let go with a squeal and I allowed the fresh air to fill my starved lungs.

  Now that I held onto Bel, I feared to let her go. She might attack again. Maybe she forgot I needed to breathe? And where the hell was Rurik?

  She slapped my back and kicked, splashing enough water to drown me above the damn water line. All the while she laughed.

  Coughing half the pool out between words, I managed to call out her name. “Bel!

  Bel, stop.”

  She finally heard and rested quiet in my arms until I set her down. In a spasm that shook me to the core, I coughed the last of the water I’d inhaled. When the stars cleared from my vision, a wide-eyed vampire girl stared at me.

  “Are you well, Connie?” She whispered.

  “Sure, peachy-keen.”

  Bel grinned and flashed fang. My sarcasm slid past her.

  “You could have killed me.” I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and retreated to the edge of the pool.

  Her smile faded. “I thought we were playing.”

  Without taking my eyes off her, I lifted myself out of the water. “You got too rough.

  I’m still mortal.”

  She placed her small, delicate hand over her mouth. Tears welled in her eyes. “I’m sorry.” Moving slowly, she came toward me. “Please don’t tell on me. Archios will be so angry. I’m not supposed to play with humans anymore. Tane isn’t as understanding as Dragos. I don’t want to be placed on the mountaintop to watch the dawn.” She hiccupped her last word before sobbing. “I just wanted to be your friend. The others are so mean to me when Archios isn’t around and you’re so nice.”

  Lost in a torrent of fear, pity, and guilt, I watched Bel crawl out of the pool. A friend? How odd it felt to be wanted. Most of my life I’d been alone so I understood her need. It gave us a connection.

  I closed the distance between us and hugged her like I wished someone had done for me so long ago. “I won’t tell.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  After my near death experience with poor Bel, I sent her back to her apartment and returned to my room. Rurik waited there for me. If his looks could kill, I would have spontaneously combusted the moment I stepped in
the room.

  “Sometimes I wish you’d keep your mouth shut.” He pulled a pink business suit from the closet and tossed it on the bed.

  His comment froze me to spot, he’d never complained before.

  My off-white silk blouse joined the suit then he yanked out a suitcase. “Tane is sending you to the hotel tonight. Why did you have to volunteer?” He dropped the luggage and confronted me.

  Water dripped from my hair and pooled on the carpet at my feet. “I—I, he…” I pointed out the door.

  “Now you lose the ability to speak.”

  I pursed my lips as my blood boiled. “It sounded like they wanted to kill Colby.”

  “They do!” He waved his hands in the air. “Now you’re in the middle of it and I’ve been ordered to remain here.”

  “Why are you angry now? You didn’t say anything when we left and—Wait a second, you went back to Tane, didn’t you? You went back to his room to talk him out of the plan, not to give Archios your passport.”

  He crossed his arms over his chest. “Absolutely.”

  “I have a hard time believing Colby would be so stupid to run around with a crossbow in his hands after shooting it. He has a whole arsenal of better weapons to use.

  You don’t know him like I do.” I slammed the door. “Are those clothes for me?” I pointed to bed.

  He nodded.

  “Then I best get ready.” As I walked to the bathroom to finish drying, I paused next to him. “I can take care of myself. Don’t worry so much.” Then I kissed him on the cheek.

  * * * *

  The night doorman who helped me out of the taxi held an umbrella to shield me from the pouring rain. A bellhop took care of the luggage as I walked into the Fasano Hotel—

  the same place Rurik and I stayed New Years Eve.

  Tane thought my return here would be a reasonable conclusion for Colby to make.

  Rumors of my leaving the vampires flooded the city before I left the mansion.

  I obtained my keycard from the desk, crossed the foyer and hit the elevator button.

  Colby would have to be deaf not hear the news. He needed information on vampire movements since the minor clans hunted the streets tonight and the werewolves would take over before morning. Worse, Tane sent his two Nosferatu brothers still visiting Rio to monitor human thoughts for signs of Colby. They wouldn’t fight for Tane, it would make him look weak, but this assistance apparently was acceptable. So they coordinated everything. Airports, train and bus stations were watched.

  A shiver ran down my spine. The power Tane held scared me and this was only the tip of the iceberg. I hoped to never be the focus of such a hunt.

  Like a pawn caught between two chess masters, I waited for Colby to respond and make his move. I could only hope he didn’t checkmate me.

  The decadent empty lobby’s reflection in the mirrored wall paled in comparison to Tane’s home. My heel clicked on the cold marble floor as I tapped my foot. I crossed my arms while examining my image. The pink business suit Rurik chose enhanced the color in my cheeks. Lace peeked from under the trim jacket so I tucked it back under. I remembered the night he took me shopping and talked me into buying the suit. He wanted me to have something professional, yet feminine, in my wardrobe.

  I glared at the lit floor numbers as it slowly crept to the lobby. Crap, I hated waiting.

  After being vampire bait for two years, I should be used to it by now.

  A ping announced the elevator’s arrival and the door slid open. I entered and hit the button to my floor.

  Waiting made me nuts, but fear tamed my crazy urges, such as using my cell phone to call Red, or circumventing the lobby and taking the back door. The elevator stopped on my floor and I shook the temptations from my mind. Too much rode on this for me to flake out.

  The deserted hall echoed with my footsteps. I had to admit Tane was smart to send me out in the middle of the night. Who the hell checked into a hotel at this time?

  Someone pissed off who just allegedly stormed out of her lover’s life.

  Slipping the keycard into the slot, it signaled the door unlocked, and I entered the room to exhale the breath I’d been holding. Had Colby been watching? Did I look upset enough or just terrified?

  I leaned against the door and scanned the room. “Hello?” Did the guards arrive before like planned?

  “Keep up the act, Connie.” Gwen’s disembodied voice startled a small squeak out of me. I didn’t expect a response.

  The room wasn’t a suite like we’d booked before. It contained a sitting area with a couch and a chair by the entrance, then a bed by the far wall next to the bathroom.

  A knock announced the arrival of my luggage and the tension in the air rocketed. I could almost hear the guards' muscles straining to pounce.

  I straightened my skirt and pulled at the hem then wiped my sweaty palms on the material before opening the door.

  The bellhop carried my empty suitcases and placed them by the closet then left after I gave him a tip.

  Maybe I should have filled them? Would the vampire nation notice if I boarded a plane and left the country? Once I arrived at my destination and escaped the clutches of the vampire nation, I could send a note to Rurik and we could agree to meet somewhere.

  Then in a few months my hunger would rear its ugly head and I’d be forced to find Tane.

  No doubt he’d make me pay for running away. I shuddered, all fantasies dissipating into thin air replaced with dread.

  A chill ran down my arms and goose flesh developed on them. Rurik didn’t appear ready to leave Rio anyway. He probably missed his own kind. Intrigue and politics seemed to be his bread and butter. Power his aphrodisiac. All these things orbited around Tane. How long before my lover gravitated to him? What if Rurik never wanted to leave?

  My soul shriveled at the thought. I’d be alone again. Plopping onto the couch, I wanted to sob, a drowning-in-your-own-boogers kind of cry, but not in front of an audience. Instead, I stared at a blank television for a few minutes then turned it on.

  Nothing caught my interest, my Portuguese sucked so I couldn’t understand most of the channels, except the ones running porn. Heat rose to my cheeks knowing others watched the room.

  I kicked off my heels then stomped across the room and threw open the curtains.

  Through the rain, a dark outline of Sugarloaf Mountain stood across the bay. Rising above the harbor, the name refers to its resemblance to the traditional shape of concentrated refined loaf sugar. It took two cable car rides to reach its peak. I pressed my forehead against the window. Rurik promised to take me there. Only three nights ago, he chased me through the Jardim Botanic for fun, it felt like an eon.

  Nothing guaranteed Colby hearing the rumors tonight, he might not show. A small part of me hoped he didn’t come. He may have almost killed me and we needed to have words about that, yet I understood his desire to murder Tane. Without the bond, I would have staked him myself by now.

  God only knew what Colby endured on Tane's yacht in Budapest. When I rescued him, he’d been chained to a wall wearing only his briefs. Tane confessed to studying Colby’s slayer activities for years. If anyone could catch Colby it was him.

  Stupid of my ex-boss to attempt killing Tane on his own property. Maybe the urge overcame him when he came with his team to investigate a body Gwen and I found. The crossbow was ingenious though, but why didn’t he use a UV light grenade like he usually did with the powerful vampires?

  A well-placed shot would have toasted Tane and any other vampire in the vicinity.

  The burst of artificial sunlight wouldn’t have hurt any humans. I might have gotten a tan.

  Outside the hotel window, traffic trickled on the streets. People had normal lives in the city. This was the first contact I’d experienced with my own kind in days. The night’s activities and adrenaline rush faded, leaving me exhausted. I undid the buttons of my jacket without looking.

  For the first time since meeting Rurik, I missed living lik
e a human. I touched the window, the cold barrier between our worlds. It wouldn’t take much to shatter it.

  A traitorous tear slid along my nose until it dripped off my chin onto the window ledge.

  Caught.

  Hook, line and sinker, the anglers had their catch. Rurik had me by the heart and Tane with his blood.

  If there was a heaven, my dead husband, Laurent, probably fumed at my predicament and stupidity.

  I didn’t do helpless well, though. A release from these bonds would come one day, but I didn’t know if I had the balls to take it.

  Stepping away from the window, I slipped my pink jacket off and laid it over the back of the chair. I sat on the sofa to watch the colors of the television and took comfort from the white noise of people talking.

  Exhausted, my eyelids sank closed. Hell, the guards watched the room, no point in my staying awake. Too tired to move, I curled onto the sofa. My last thoughts were of soft, black hair and a set of amused pale, blue eyes.

  * * * *

  Yellow warmth greeted me in the morning. When was the last time I awoke to sunlight pouring into the room? It streamed like golden honey through the window and a clear blue sky accompanied it.

  I stretched then cringed at the knot in my neck. Sitting, I rubbed and kneaded the area.

  Colby hadn’t shown. He beat the mighty Nosferatu and escaped the city. I smiled while straightening my wrinkled off-white blouse.

  My back itched from sleeping in a bra, I tried to reach it and scratch. The clock read a little past noon so I scooted over the sofa and did something I loved to do.

  Order room service.

  Fortified with a good meal and some coffee, I’d be ready to face my life.

  “Do you want something to eat, Gwen?”

  “No.” Her tired voice came from under the bed.

  My smile widened. She hid under there all night for nothing. “Anybody else?” I waited for a minute.

  Then a muted ‘ no’ came from the closet.

  It didn’t take long for the service to arrive. They knocked on the door twenty minutes after I ordered.