Kiss of Temptation: The Kavanaugh Foundation, Book 3

by Crista McHugh

  As she ran back to her hotel, she couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was following her, but every time she turned around, there’s wasn’t even a stray shadow. She silently cursed leaving her stake behind at Luc’s. But there was more than one way to kill a vampire, and thankfully, fire was her strongest element.

  Luc hid in the shadows and watched Daniela disappear into her well-lit hotel. He was tempted to follow her upstairs, but he suspected she’d have her vampire alarm up in seconds based on the way she kept looking over her shoulder as she moved through the crowded streets.

  He should have known she’d find the hiding place quickly, despite the fact he’d concealed the clues in his poetry. As soon as he’d landed in Copenhagen, he’d grabbed a taxi to the city’s center. By the time he reached the fountain, she was already splashing through the water. Thankfully, the policeman had stopped her before she found it in front of the crowd gathered there.

  A shadow appeared across the street and his skin crawled. Another vampire. It never took him long to detect one of his own kind, but very few of them paid any attention to him. Perhaps he lacked the stench of death that seemed to cling to them, a mark of all the lives they’d taken. A badge of their sins.

  The other vampire entered the hotel and spoke to the desk clerk before jogging up the stairs. A knot formed in Luc’s stomach. The vampire was looking for Daniela.

  A possessive urge flared deep inside him and fanned across his skin. Daniela was his and his alone. No one else would taste her sweet blood as long as he roamed the earth.

  Luc had just entered the lobby when a shriek rang out from upstairs, followed by the shrill whine of the fire alarm. The guests ran for the doors, shoving him into the street. He searched their faces for her, panic coiling in his muscles so he could spring to her rescue if needed. A distraction like this would provide more than enough time for a vampire to drain her dry. His muscles unlocked when she came out of the building with a smug grin on her face.

  Half an hour later, the fire department declared that the cause for the alarm was a small fire that had started on the third floor. The damage was limited to a small burn on the carpet, prompting them to blame a lit cigarette. He laughed to himself when he heard their hypothesis. More like a witch’s vampire alarm.

  Once the crowd filtered back inside, he finally caught a glimpse of her victim. A streak of black slanted across the vampire’s face, and his fingers still smoldered. But Luc easily recognized him. One of Colette’s henchmen.

  Luc took a step to follow him, but then withdrew back into the shadows. They already knew Daniela was here in Copenhagen, and she needed his protection more than ever now.

  The streets had grown cold and still when Daniela re-emerged from the hotel. She snapped her fingers and smiled at the sparks that flew from the tips. If Colette or any other bloodsucker wanted to wrestle with her, they’d best be prepared for the bonfire she would start.

  She ran back to the fountain of Charity. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up a few blocks away from it, and she stopped to survey the area. Someone was watching her. She sent out her magical feelers, but the sensation passed before she could discover the source of her unease.

  When she reached the square, she was alone. No love-struck couples. No throngs of bicyclists. No gaudy tourists. Just the sound of her footsteps on the cobblestone and the gurgling of the water. She sent out another set of feelers but detected nothing. Relief eased into her limbs. It was one thing to set up an alarm around a small hotel room, but she doubted she could cast one around the entire square.

  She circled the fountain, no longer admiring its beauty. There had to be an entrance inside, but when her eyes found none, she knew she needed to use her magic. She grabbed a wad of paper from a nearby rubbish bin and lit it in her hands. Then she blew the smoke toward the statue. The tendrils snaked and twirled around the fountain, collapsing under the weight of the water. Just before the fire consumed the paper completely, a small crack appeared in the stone, sucking in the smoke. The opening.

  Daniela jumped into the icy water and dug her nails into the crack. Sweat trickled along her forehead, and her internal warning bells went off, but the moment the stone scraped loose, she ignored them. She’d have the headpiece in a matter of seconds.

  At last, she’d produced a gap large enough to squeeze her hand through. She felt around the dark recesses, her heart pounding wildly. Her fingers brushed against something cold and smooth, and a rush of magic raced up her arm. The headpiece. She grabbed it.

  “Leave it alone,” a voice hissed in her ear just before a pair of strong arms hauled her out of the water.

  The familiarity of his voice, his touch, his clean male scent all overwhelmed her, and her body went limp. The headpiece fell into the water with a dull splash before she had a chance to look at it. How could Luc have this effect on her? How could he render her helpless from just a touch?

  A well of rage simmered inside her, giving her the strength to break free of him. “Don’t tell me what to do.”

  “Then use your head,” he snapped back. “They’re following you, and you’re practically handing them the staff on a platter.”

  He lunged for her, but she dodged his grasp. Fire erupted from her palms. She held them out in front of her, daring him to come closer. “And how do I know you aren’t here to keep me from finding it first? After all, you are one of them.”

  He winced as if she’d lashed a cat-o’–nine-tails across his back. Yes, she’d found his weak spot. The truth caused him more pain than any spell she could cast, and pity began to claw away at her resolve. He may be one of them, but he wasn’t like them at all, was he? He’d had so many opportunities to kill her, and yet he kept his distance now.

  He held out his hand. “Please, Daniela, come with me before they hurt you.”

  “And how do I know I’m safe with you?” She angled her neck and pointed to the two bite marks. “One taste wasn’t enough?”

  The blue of his eyes intensified, practically glowing in the dark. The streetlights flashed on the sharp white fangs that dug into his bottom lip, and his nostrils flared. It was beautiful and terrifying at the same time to witness these changes, to see him in all his vampiric power. He wasn’t hiding what he was anymore, and a shiver of fear gripped her when she realized what was happening. The feeding frenzy had seized control of him.

  But instead of pouncing on her and finishing what he had started, he clasped the wooden cross around his neck and closed his eyes. The tight lines of his face eased. When he opened his eyes again, all traces of the feeding frenzy had vanished. “I lost control of myself. I promise it won’t happen again.”

  “You’re right about that.” She spun around to retrieve the headpiece. The sooner she gave that to Morwen, the sooner she could forget about the ache that formed deep inside her every time she saw Luc. The mission needs to come first, after all, she thought bitterly.

  “Daniela, we need to go now.” He grabbed her free hand as she reached into the water and pulled her back. “They’re coming.”

  The words had barely left his lips when a blurred shape rammed into them. The air left her lungs with a sharp whoosh, and black spots bloomed in the corners of her vision. Someone wrestled Luc away from her. The cold damp of the cobblestones crept under her skin, heightening the impeding sense of dread clawing at her soul. They had lingered here too long, and she was the fool that had kept them here.

  She lifted her head and called on her magic. The first fireball hit one of the dark figures obscuring Luc from her view. A squeal of pain pierced the silence of the night, followed by the scent of burning flesh.

  The two figures that remained turned their heads toward her. The bright glow of their eyes confirmed her suspicion—vampires. A second fireball gathered in her palm. If they wanted trouble, she’d gladly give it to them.

  As she drew her hand back to fry the next vampire, a dart of magic pricked the back of her neck, stinging her skin. The spell rushed through
her limbs faster than water pouring out from a broken dam. Her muscles locked so that even drawing in a breath became a challenge. She stood stone-still like the statue in the fountain, unable to move. The fireball in her hand cast eerie shadows on the buildings around them, and she finally sensed the presence of the other witch.

  “Didn’t Morwen ever teach you to watch your back?” Colette taunted. She circled Daniela, her white fangs pressing into her ruby-colored lips. No scars marred her face. No evidence remained from the explosion earlier that day. “This was almost too easy.”

  Daniela strained against her magical bonds, but Colette reinforced them by merely touching her finger to her prey’s cheek. “Naughty little witch. You should know better than to play with the big kids.” She doused the fireball in Daniela’s hand.

  “Let her go, Colette.” Luc struggled against his captors, earning him an uppercut across his jaw.

  “Shut up, you disgrace to our name.” The male vampire punctuated his words by ramming his fist into Luc’s gut. “As soon as the sun rises, you’re ashes.”

  Tears welled up in Daniela’s eyes while the two vampires continued to beat him. As much as she knew she should despise him for what he was, she saw with each agonizing second how different he was from the monsters the Foundation hunted.

  “He’s not as pious as he wants us to believe.” Colette ran her finger across the bite marks on the side of Daniela’s neck. She laughed and turned to him. “Couldn’t resist a taste, eh, Père Luc?”

  Luc hung his head and looked away from his accuser. Blood dripped down his face onto the cobblestones below, but he said nothing. No apologies. No excuses. Just a silent admission of guilt, tinged with shame.

  Colette moved out of Daniela’s line of sight. The vampire witch’s breath bathed the back of her neck, sending rivers of gooseflesh down her arms. “Was she as delicious as you imagined, Père Luc? Was she worth destroying your vows never to feed on another human again? To know you’re no better than the rest of us?”

  He lifted his head and locked his gaze with Daniela. For a brief second, she knew the same reassuring warmth she’d known in his arms, the connection that had been forged between them. And then she felt his anguish, so intense that she wanted to pull her heart from her chest. He regretted hurting her, and she longed to whisper to him that she forgave him.

  “Perhaps I should have a taste too,” Colette murmured, ripping her away from her shared moment with Luc.

  Icy fear replaced the warmth, and pain blinded Daniela’s vision.

  “No!” Luc shouted as Colette sank her fangs into Daniela’s neck. He managed to shove off one of his captors and take a step forward before they pinned him to the ground once again. He silently cursed his years of abstaining from human blood, for drinking only enough to survive and not glutting himself like they did. “I’m the one you want, not her.”

  Colette jerked her head back. Blood tainted her feral snarl, but Luc remained focused on the limp form in her arms. He strained to catch the faint sound of Daniela’s heartbeat, to know she still lived.

  The vampire witch dropped her prey on the cobblestones and approached him. “What are you talking about, you pitiful excuse for a vampire?”

  A protective growl rose from his chest. He would save Daniela, even if it meant his own destruction. “I’m the one who tore apart the Staff of Octavius. I’m the one who hid the pieces. But if you harm her, that information dies with me.”

  Colette wiped the blood off her face and smeared some of it across his lips. Her cruel laughter mocked him while his baser instincts took over. His heart pounded. His fangs grew longer, and he dared to flick his tongue out to taste the precious nectar she’d given him. What he wouldn’t give to consume every last drop of Daniela’s blood, to share his own with her and know she’d always be with him. He closed his eyes and let out a cry of frustration.

  “Yes, Père Luc, I know your weakness. I’m the one who holds all the cards, not you. I’m the one who makes the demands. I haven’t taken her to the point where you must turn her or watch her die, but she’s close. So very close.”

  Luc sucked a breath in through his teeth, drawing in Daniela’s warm vanilla scent. It swirled inside his nostrils, making his mouth water and his cock stiffen. Mon Dieu, I’ve never craved a person this much. “Leave her here and I will take you to the other half.”

  She shoved him back into her henchmen and stood over him with her hands on her hips. “Why should I trust you? You’ve clung to your humanity instead of embracing your power, your true nature. We are the lions, and they are the lambs.” She pointed to where Daniela lay in the middle of the square, and a look of pure disgust twisted her features. “Why would you put her before yourself?”

  “She’s just Morwen’s pawn. She knows nothing. But if you touch her again, I’ll go into the sun and take my secrets with me.” He gritted his teeth and waited to see how she would react to his ultimatum.

  Colette grabbed Daniela by the hair and dangled her like a rag doll. “You actually care for this little witch, don’t you? How pathetic.”

  She snapped her fingers and another vampire appeared from the shadows to retrieve the headpiece from the fountain. She examined the golden bird, once a representation of Osiris that Octavius Caesar had transformed into a Roman eagle when he seized it. Her eyes widened and she licked her lips. He knew what she wanted, and he only hoped it would be enough to make her forget about the woman in her other hand.

  Colette turned her attention to him. “So, what’s it going to be, Père Luc? The other half of the staff, or her?”

  His heart, which had remained frozen in his chest for centuries, now wanted to lodge itself in his throat. His gaze travelled between the headpiece and Daniela. As much as he wanted to protect his lover, he also understood the consequences if Colette got her hands on the other half of the Staff of Octavius. But at least he could control how quickly she gained access to it. Maybe that would give Daniela enough time to find it first. “It’s in Romania.”

  Colette started laughing so hard he wondered if she’d lost her mind. “How ironic. The next thing you’ll tell me is that you hid it in Transylvania.”

  “I’ll lead you directly to it if you let her go.”

  She dragged Daniela behind her, still holding a fistful of her hair, and leveled her eyes to his. “That’s too easy. There’s no leverage anymore. Why don’t we invite Daniela to join us? That way, if you’re lying, I can at least enjoy a little snack. Or better yet, I could make her my pet.”

  Luc roared with fury and broke free of his captors. He closed his hands around Colette’s neck, determined to rip her head from her body.

  A bolt of lightning arced off her skin and sent him flying halfway across the square. “You arrogant fool! Do you think you can defeat me? You don’t even have the strength to fight off my troops. Try that again and I’ll drain her dry.”

  “Colette,” one of her men said, the light of his phone casting an eerie illumination over his face, “I can’t book any flights for us.”

  She snapped her attention to him. “Why not?”

  “Because we’re apparently on Interpol’s most wanted list for a terrorist attack on Gare de Lyon this morning.”

  Now it was Luc’s turn to laugh. “Morwen’s craftier than you think. She has powerful connections.”

  “She’s a fraud, and we both know it. Besides, Marcellus is just as well connected. This will be resolved by tomorrow night.” She tossed Daniela to one of her henchmen. “Let’s find a way out of here before the sun rises. That pathetic martyr may want to fry, but I have too much to live for.” She hugged the headpiece to her chest like a child’s teddy bear and grinned.

  His captors pulled him to his feet and shoved him after her. He remained focused on Daniela. If he had a moment’s chance to help her escape, he’d take advantage of it.

  Luc sat huddled in the corner of an open rail car, watching the mid-morning shadows flicker across the floor. The rest of the night had pass
ed in a blur. He vaguely remembered stumbling through a train yard and being shoved into this car. Colette’s face loomed in front of him, her words humming together and lulling him into a trance. He remembered her asking him over and over again for the staff’s location, but as far as he knew, he’d revealed nothing. His continued existence testified to that.

  He awoke just before the first rays of the sun rose above the horizon and ran toward the nearest shelter he could find—a broken crate with a torn tarp draped over it. It wasn’t until he peeked out of his makeshift tent that he realized he wasn’t alone.

  Daniela lay in the center of the car, fully bathed in the bright sunlight. Even though she still slept, her presence taunted him. He longed to touch her, to reassure himself that she’d recover from her blood loss.

  To beg for her forgiveness.

  But to reach her meant battling the sun, so he sat there for hours, watching the subtle rise and fall of her chest.

  He replayed the events of the last few days in his mind, wondering what he could have done to change things. Perhaps he should have left her alone in the catacombs. Perhaps he should never have offered to show her where the pieces of the staff were located. Perhaps he should never have tasted her lips.

  His chest tightened. No, he wouldn’t trade any of those moments with her, save one. The day he gave in to his bloodlust. The day he drove her from his arms and opened the rift inside his soul that made him ache for her all the more.

  And yet, he doubted he would change the course of that afternoon. He’d tasted perfection. The sweet moments of pure pleasure he’d found when joined with her on every intimate level possible was worth what he suffered now. He knew her better than he knew himself, and he’d caught a glimpse of what true happiness could be.

  The steady hum of the diesel engine several cars ahead mimicked the whispered doubts in his mind, and he sought a way to push them out. He honed in on a different rhythm—the rapid pulse that beat in time to the dull thud inside him.