Giovanni wanted to refuse but something in the monster’s voice compelled him to obey. The blood had been thick and hot, unlike anything he had ever tasted. He gagged with the first swallow and then, to his horror, he grabbed hold of the vampire’s arm and suckled as if the blood was as sweet as mother’s milk.
He had cried out in protest when the vampire jerked his wrist away.
“We have to find you a place to rest,” the vampire muttered, yanking Giovanni to his feet. “And there are things you must know before you rise tomorrow night.”
The vampire had dragged him to a cave in the Apennine Mountains and tossed him into it with a warning to stay inside until he returned.
Giovanni had had no intention of doing as he was told, but minutes after entering the cave he had collapsed on the floor. As his vision narrowed and the world went black, he knew he was dying. Sinking into oblivion, he had uttered a prayer begging for mercy and forgiveness with his last breath.
When awareness returned, it was dark again. Lurching to his feet, he had stumbled toward the cave’s entrance, his gaze searching for the creature who had warned him to wait for his return.
Hours passed and there was no sign of the vampire.
As the hours dragged by, what started as discomfort gradually turned to agony.
Afraid he was really dying this time, he staggered out of the cave and made his way to the city in search of a doctor.
Ignorant as he was, he had no idea what was happening to him. He stopped abruptly, nostrils flaring. He didn’t recognize the scent, knew only that whatever it was, he needed it. Veering down a narrow alley, he came upon two men engaged in a knife fight.
Giovanni took a deep breath. Blood, he thought. The enticing smell was blood.
Hardly aware of what he was doing, he stepped between the two men. It took no effort at all to control them. One was bleeding from a cut on his neck. As though mesmerized, Giovanni leaned forward to lick it up and then, to his horror, he bit the man. Overcome with euphoria at the taste of fresh hot blood, he hadn’t stopped to wonder at how effortlessly his teeth had bitten through flesh. It was only later that he discovered he had fangs, and that blood was the only thing that could ease the awful hunger that clawed at his insides.
And later still that he found the courage to admit he was no longer human, but Nosferatu.
The transformation had not been easy. To his shame, he had taken human lives before he learned it wasn’t necessary to kill his prey to survive. Stricken with guilt, he had gone to confession time and again in hopes of finding forgiveness for the lives he had taken, but he had found none.
Thrusting his past behind him, Giovanni willed himself to his lair in the bowels of an abandoned church. He had another, more comfortable place where he occasionally passed the daylight hours, but resting here, among the dead, seemed more appropriate for one of his kind.
Stretching out on the cold stone floor between a pair of ancient coffins, he closed his eyes, and surrendered to the death-like sleep that swallowed him whole.
Cassie ran headlong through the darkness. Heart pounding with terror, lungs burning, she plunged through the thick hedge that bordered the east side of the park. She whimpered as sharp thorns raked her arms and tore at her clothing.
She never should have let Darla talk her into attending that party. Something had warned her not to go, but she hadn’t listened. It was Friday night, after all. Time to forget about her boring life. Time to stop wondering if she was going to get fired. Time to have a little fun for a change.
She darted a glance over her shoulder. Had she lost her pursuers?
But no, she could hear them clamoring through the hedges, their drunken laughter as they called back and forth, their threats of what they would do to her when they caught her.
Her legs were trembling when she reached the concrete walkway that meandered through the gardens.
Gasping for breath, sides heaving, she glanced over her shoulder again. They were gaining on her.
She was doomed.
A startled cry erupted from her throat when she slammed into something solid. Only it wasn’t something, but someone.
The man took a step back, his arms darting out to grab hold of her to keep her from falling.
Cassie stared up at him, but it was too dark to see his face clearly. Had she run away from one predator only to fall into the arms of another?
And then Lynx and four of his buddies were there, circling her and the stranger. Moonlight glinted on the wicked-looking knife Lynx held in front of him.
The stranger’s arms tightened around her waist. “Easy, girl,” he murmured. “There’s no need to be afraid.”
No need to be afraid, she thought. Was he blind? Didn’t he see Lynx and the others surrounding them like hungry wolves around a wounded animal? The knife blades glinting in their hands?
“Give us the chick, old man,” Lynx demanded. “And we might let you go.”
Cassie closed her eyes and buried her face against the stranger’s side. She felt an odd tremor in the air. It made the fine hairs at her nape stand at attention. Gathering her courage, she dared open her eyes to see what was happening, only to find that Lynx and his buddies were nowhere in sight. “What? Where …?”
“They’ve gone.” Her rescuer’s voice rumbled in her ear, deep and kind. “What are you doing out here, child, wandering in the park alone at this time of the night?”
Child? She was over twenty-one. “It wasn’t my idea,” she said, taking a step away. “My girlfriend took me to a party. I didn’t know what I was getting into. When I said I was leaving, Lynx said I couldn’t go until I … until I’d paid the toll.”
It took him a moment to comprehend her meaning. “He’s a friend of yours?”
“No! I just met him tonight.” He had seemed so nice when she was first introduced to him.
“If he’s smart, he won’t bother you again.” Feeling suddenly protective of her, he asked, “Where do you live? I’ll walk you home.”
“That’s not necessary.”
“Maybe not, but I’m still taking you home.”
Shoulders slumped, Cassie muttered, “Whatever,” and started walking.
“What’s your name?” he asked, falling in step beside her.
“Why?”
“Suspicious, much?” he asked.
She glanced up at him. In the glow of a nearby street light, she saw his face clearly for the first time. His eyes were light—hazel, perhaps—his shoulder-length hair black and wavy and edged with silver. He seemed awfully young to have gray hair. “Sorry, but you are a stranger.”
He nodded, a faint smile lifting the corners of his mouth. It was, she thought, a very nice mouth.
“Perhaps I should introduce myself first. My name is Giovanni Lanzoni, but please, call me Johnny.” It was what his mother had called him, though he’d given the girl the English translation.
“Hi, Johnny.”
“I’m very pleased to meet you, Miss …?”
“Douglas. Cassandra, but everyone calls me Cassie.” She frowned, thinking she had never known a man with such nice manners. Not that she’d known that many men.
They walked in silence for a time. Cassie was acutely aware of the man beside her. Though he was not big and bulky and stood only a few inches taller than she, there was an air of power and authority about him that was both comforting and unsettling. With a shake of her head, she dismissed it as nothing more than the after effects of the night’s events.
She felt drawn to him in a way she didn’t understand. But what was even stranger, she felt safe with him, and that was really odd, because she hadn’t trusted anyone since her parents abandoned her when she was fifteen.
“What happened back there?” she asked as they left the park. “Why did they leave without a fight?”
“I merely advised them that it would be in their best interest to leave you alone.”
Cassie frowned. “I didn’t hear you say anything.”
He shrugged. “Perhaps you were too frightened to pay attention.”
Cassie shook her head. She had been scared, sure, but too scared to hear whatever threat had sent Lynx and the others hurrying away without an argument? She didn’t think so. She shook her head again. Why was she always drawn to the wrong guys? First her ex, and then Lynx? Not that she ever wanted to see him again.
She felt a sudden spark of attraction when Johnny’s hand accidentally brushed hers.
His gaze jumped to hers, leaving Cassie to wonder if he had felt it, too. She stopped at the end of the concrete path that led to the door of her apartment complex. “We’re here.”
Giovani glanced at the rundown building. It was in desperate need of a coat of paint. Some of the roof tiles were missing. A few of the windows were patched with tape. “You live here?”
She bit down on her lower lip, suddenly embarrassed as she looked at the place through his eyes. “It’s a dump, I know, but it’s all I can afford.”
“What is it you do?”
“I serve drinks at the Winchester Lounge five nights a week.” The place was a dive. Tips were lousy. But it paid the rent. Barely. “Do you know it?”
“Yeah.” He had gone hunting there a time or two. “I live alone,” he said, weighing each word carefully. “In a rather large house with five bedrooms. It’s nothing fancy, but certainly better than this. And in a safer neighborhood.”
She blinked up at him. “Are you asking me to move in with you?” she exclaimed. “Are you crazy? I’ve only known you, what? Ten minutes?”
“I’m not suggesting anything immoral,” he said, obviously insulted that she would think otherwise. “I’m gone all day, and a good deal of the night, so you would have the place to yourself most of the time. The house is paid for, so there’s no need to pay rent. I’ve been alone a very long time and I’ve grown weary of my own company. I merely thought … Forgive my impertinence. It was a bad idea.”
Cassie shrugged it off. Had she known him better, she might have jumped at the chance to live rent-free in a decent house. “Thanks for walking me home.”
“Please accept my apology,” he said stiffly. “I didn’t mean to offend you. I was merely trying to help. Good evening.”
She stared at him a moment. Perhaps she had misjudged his intentions, she thought as she walked swiftly up the stairs to the front door. She paused, her hand on the latch. Maybe she owed him an apology. She turned to tell him she was sorry, but he had already gone.
What a strange man. He had seemed harmless, enough. A gentleman. And yet … she shivered as her mind replayed what had happened in the park. There was something about him, although she couldn’t put her finger on it. Something she’d felt on some primal level but couldn’t explain.
With a shake of her head, she went inside and closed the door behind her, thinking that perhaps she had escaped two predators that night, even though one had rescued her from the other.
She laughed softly as she went into the bedroom, bemused by her fanciful thoughts.
Giovanni’s first thought when the sun went down was for the young, golden-haired, brown-eyed woman he had met the night before. Cassie Douglas. No woman had ever affected him quite like she had. Even now, hours later, he clearly remembered the flowery fragrance of her hair. The warmth of her skin.
The tantalizing aroma of her life’s blood.
When she’d looked at him, his whole body had responded. That, too, was unusual. He was, after all, a priest. Years of abstinence and rigid self-discipline had left him immune to the temptations of the fairer sex.
Or so he’d thought.
Her scent, the sound of her voice, had awakened feelings and desires he’d not felt since Maria Elena.
Leaving his lair, he went to his lonely house where he showered, dressed and ran a comb through his hair. And all the while, the memory of his meeting with the young woman played in the forefront of his mind. He told himself he was centuries too old for him. She was barely more than a child. But try as he might, he couldn’t stop thinking about her.
Cassie. She worked five nights a week at the Winchester Lounge, he thought. Was tonight one of those nights? Before he could talk himself out of it, he was on his way out the door.
Cassie glanced at the clock, willing the hands to move more quickly. It never worked, of course. Tonight, more than usual, she hated her job. Hated the lustful stares of the men, their furtive snickers, their lewd attempts at humor. She was tired of fighting off their unwanted advances, tired of forcing herself to laugh at their vulgar jokes. Heck, she was just plain tired.
Waiting at the bar for an order to be filled, she found herself thinking of the man who had come to her rescue the night before. What was his name? Johnny something. A real gentleman, he was. Then again, maybe he wasn’t. After knowing her for only a few minutes, he had hinted that she should move in with him. Though he seemed nice enough, she could only imagine what might have happened if she had agreed. No doubt she would have become one of those women you read about in the paper who vanished without a trace, never to be seen or heard from again. Suspicious, much? She grinned inwardly as his words from the night before replayed in her mind. Always, she thought.
And with good reason.
She slapped the hand of one of the regular patrons when he tried to pat her behind as she passed by, more annoyed than usual. She needed a vacation from this place, but that wasn’t going to happen any time soon. Not if she wanted to continue eating.
Maybe she should have taken Johnny what’s-his-name up on his offer, she thought, then shook her head. Definitely not a good idea. She was just tired and edgy. She tensed every time a new customer arrived, always afraid Lynx and his buddies might come swaggering through the door. Where had Darla found a loser like that anyway? Cassie wondered. And why was she always attracted to the wrong kind of guy? Maybe it was in her blood. Her mother had certainly picked a loser.
She felt a startling sizzle of awareness when the door opened and Johnny stepped inside. Had he come looking for her? Filled with a nervous sense of excitement and apprehension, she licked her lips and ran her fingers through her hair.
He smiled when he saw her.
She lifted her hand in acknowledgement, then delivered her drink order to a booth in the back. When she turned around, Johnny was sitting at one of the small tables near the front window. One of her tables.
“I didn’t expect to see you here tonight,” she said, her order pad at the ready. He looked quite handsome in a pair of dark slacks, a white shirt and a thigh-length black coat.
“I was out for a walk and …” He shrugged. “I thought I’d stop by for a drink. I hope you don’t mind.”
“It’s a free country. What can I get you?”
“A glass of red wine, please.”
Nodding, she made her way to the bar, conscious of his gaze on her back.
Giovanni glanced around the room. He rarely frequented nightclubs, preferring to hunt in less crowded venues. He had spent far too much of his existence alone, he thought ruefully. Perhaps it was time to change that.
He murmured his thanks when she returned with his drink.
“I didn’t think I’d ever see you again,” Cassie remarked.
“I was hoping I might walk you home.”
She hesitated a moment, then said, “I get off at two a.m.”
“I’ll meet you at the door.”
With a nod, she moved to another table.
Giovanni sipped his wine, content to sit and watch her as she took orders and served drinks. Twice, he was tempted to interfere – once when a man tried to place his hands on her and a second time when another man made a lewd suggestion – but she seemed capable of fending both of them off without causing a scene.
When he finished his drink, he left her a hefty tip, lifted his hand in farewell and took his leave. He had plenty of time to hunt before he was meet her.
Cassie applied fresh lipstick, tucked a lock of hair behind her hear, took a dee
p breath and stepped outside, wondering if Johnny would really show up. Most people, working or otherwise, were in bed by now, she thought, but maybe he didn’t work. Maybe he was a bored, retired millionaire who’d grown weary of dating wealthy socialites and had decided to go slumming. She shook her head. He didn’t seem like the millionaire type, but then, how was she to know? She had certainly never met one, nor was she likely to.
She smiled shyly when she saw him waiting for her. “Hope I didn’t keep you waiting.”
“Not at all.” Drawing his hand from behind his back, he offered her a bouquet of red roses.
Cassie stared at the bouquet, momentarily speechless. “Why?”
“Why not?”
“No one’s ever given me flowers before.”
“Then I’m glad to be the first.”
“They’re beautiful.”
As are you, he thought, but he lacked the courage to say the words out loud.
“How was your day?” she asked.
“Long,” he murmured. “And quiet.”
“Oh? Are you retired?”
“In a manner of speaking,” he said, stifling a grin.
“What did you do before you quit?”
“I was a priest.”
She stared at him, eyes wide. “A priest!”
“Guilty as charged.”
“I didn’t know priests left the church. I thought it was a lifetime calling. You know, like being a Supreme Court Justice.”
He shrugged. “It happens.”
“You seem awfully young to be retired. How old are you, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“I was thirty-nine on my last birthday. Might I ask how old are you?”
“Twenty-six. You’re not married or anything, are you?”
“Of course not!” he exclaimed, obviously offended by the question. “Would I be here with you now if I were?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Lots of men cheat on their wives.”
“Well, I would never!”
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