“Mrs. Barnett, is there something I can do for you?”
I nodded. “Yes, Mr. Barnett. I’m afraid you’re the only one who can help me with this little problem I have.”
“By all means, tell me what I can do to you.” His hands began roaming, and his eyes no longer focused on my face but fell to my breasts. Right where his hands were headed.
“You meant to say ‘for me,’ correct?”
“Of course. What can I do for you, or to you, or with you? Same difference.”
His hands slid under my blouse to cup my breasts, while mine slid down his chest, past his rippled stomach, to take hold of his cock and tell him what I wanted him to do to me. He loves when I give him explicit details. Of course, I secretly love telling him—mostly because of how much it affects him and all the benefits I get out of it in return. “I want you to let me fuck you right here in this chair. I can sit right here in your lap and take all of you inside me.”
He pushed my panties to the side, freed his cock from his pants, and buried himself inside me to the hilt in one swift motion. The way he filled and stretched me left an immediate sensation of pain and pleasure combined in the most delicious way. His fingers gripped my hips as he lifted his, driving into me as I pushed downward onto him. Keeping my screams muffled was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Part of the time, it was because my fangs were dug into his neck. The rest of the time, it was because he swallowed my screams with his orgasm-inducing kisses.
He stood, taking me with him, and sat me on his desk with my skirt pushed up around my waist. “These are in my way.” He slid my panties off, slipped his hands behind my knees, and yanked me to the edge of the desk. “A couple of my clients warned me you’d be a distraction in the office. I didn’t agree with them at first, but maybe I’ve changed my mind.”
“Am I distracting you?” My tone was overly sweet and innocent, but my red eyes were a dead giveaway of my deception. I nonchalantly opened my legs wider, clearly playing with fire and asking to be burned.
His predatory smile was nothing short of a work of art, turning his already gorgeous face more godlike. When his gaze lowered to my opened legs, his chocolate bedroom eyes became smoldering embers of red-hot desire, boring a hole through me and heating me from the inside out. “I don’t know. I forgot what I was saying. But you should hold on, because this desk is about to move.”
With only a moment’s warning, he thrust into me again, shoving the desk back with his force. My eyes closed of their own accord from the abruptness of his welcomed intrusion. My body knows its master is Slade and is more than willing to submit to whatever he wants. The room filled with the sensual sounds of our feverish lovemaking. The wood desk sliding back and forth across the wood floor. Slick skin slapping against skin. Guttural moans, grunts, sighs, and whimpers emanated from everywhere, echoing off the walls and returning to us as a rapturous symphony.
Slade looped his arms around my legs, shifted his angle, and drove into me with a renewed fierceness. With every strike, he hit the exact spot deep inside me that left me powerless to prevent my loud cry, followed by violent shudders that racked my body. It was by far the most exquisite experience he’s given me to date. And that’s saying quite a bit.
Once we’d regained our professional composure, he kissed me softly and palmed my cheek, rubbing his thumb lovingly over my face. “Was there something else you wanted to talk to me about? Or were your intentions solely to distract me, seduce me with your charms, and have your wicked way with me?”
“Do I need another reason to schedule a meeting with my husband?” I feigned insult.
One eyebrow crept slowly toward his hairline in a sexy, dominant challenge.
“Maybe there was one other thing I wanted to bring up.”
“I’m waiting.” He folded his thick, muscular arms over his chest. His intimidating stance didn’t scare me. If anything, it only added to his overall appeal.
“I was hoping since we’ve caught up on everything around here, we could take Castel up on his offer to visit him in Italy. You and I could use a long holiday, just the two of us, to get away to paradise on earth.”
“You know, you may be more than just a distraction. You may actually be a complete interruption to my business. How can I ever deny you anything you ask?”
“Is it wrong I hope never to find out the answer to that question?”
“Fly home and pack our bags. I’ll finish up here in a few hours, without your interference, and we’ll leave tonight. Tomorrow, we’ll be strolling the beach in utopia.”
* * *
Slade Barnett, 1791
Alea’s suggestion to go to Castel’s for a private getaway for just the two of us couldn’t have come at a better time. Ramses, Rolland, and the unnamed vampire hunter—they’ve consumed enough of my time and energy, on top of running my business. Too much focus has been taken away from my wife, and that’s not acceptable.
Since the night I realized the hunter was in my city, I’ve roamed the streets and searched for him. Was he alone? Did he know I was here? Will he come after my Alea? These questions have haunted me and pushed me closer to obsession.
Closer to understanding Ramses.
The idea, the nightmare, of someone getting to my wife and taking her from me is enough to make me as crazy as Ramses. To make me do things I’d otherwise never even consider. Like hunting for a vampire hunter on my own. One who has already escaped from me once before. One I am close to locating and will have another talk with very soon.
My wife’s plan to whisk me away to an Italian paradise was just what the doctor ordered. Sensing our need to be alone, Castel opened his home to us then made himself scarce. I never appreciated how magnificent his home was in my vampire youth. At first, my thoughts were consumed with the death of my parents. As time normally does, it dulled the ache left by their absence, and I focused on becoming the most powerful vampire possible.
But my return to this oasis was markedly different. Alea and I returned to a simpler time in our lives. We’ve taken strolls on the beach at sunset, drank fine wines on the lanai overlooking the water, interacted with the local villagers at the town market, and made love every night like newlyweds.
“This has been such a magical week, Slade. Thank you for closing the office and bringing me here.”
“It has been all my pleasure, I assure you.”
Alea lay naked on the bed, the breeze from the ocean blowing through the window. It carried her scent, filled the room with it, and completely covered me. I’ve pinpointed why her scent neither incites me to feed nor calms me to indifference. Why she both incites me to love and calms me to indifference toward anything and anyone else in the world.
She is my fate. My soul. My very soul.
I ran my hand over her naked body, lost in the perfection that is my wife. We’d drunk our fill earlier in the evening far away from our island paradise, so her skin was warm to the touch and soft to feel. I leaned over and drew her breast into my mouth.
Looking up into her eyes, I had a thought I wish I could make a reality. “For you, Alea, I’d close my business and stay here, feasting on your love.”
“Don’t tempt me, Slade. That’s a very dangerous offer because I’d love nothing better than to do just that.”
“If we could survive on our love alone, it would be perfect. Since the world revolves around currency rather than bartering, I’m afraid income is required.”
“So we return to our home and our lives tomorrow and save this time in our memory. We’ll return again soon—we’ll make it a point to visit Castel and keep him an active member of our family.”
“That’s just one reason why I love you, Alea. You know exactly what I need before I even know myself.”
What I did know was I didn’t want to return to New York or our current lives or my current job. Because no matter how long I stayed away, I knew some sort of trouble would await my return. Something that would steal the joy I’d rediscovered with Alea
in Sardinia.
For some reason, the trouble in my life has always started with Ramses.
* * *
Alea Barnett, May 1791
That feeling of being watched won’t leave me. I know all too well how to blend in with humans. And I know when I’m being followed. It’s difficult to disappear into thin air on the streets of New York City with how crowded they are during the workday. But that’s exactly what I’ve considered doing many times lately when the feeling of imminent threat hovers over me.
After several days in a row of the growing threat around me, I mentioned my concerns to Slade.
“Where are you when you feel it the strongest?”
“On the street just outside your office. From the time I turn the corner on the block until I reach your office. On my way home, I find different routes and fly as soon as I’m out of sight,” I explained.
Slade stared at me for several heartbeats with an intensely concerned expression. “Maybe you should stay home for a while instead of coming here to my office during the day.”
“So you want me to hide away because of this feeling?”
“It may be wise.”
“What are you not telling me, Slade? What is it you know about this?”
He hesitated for only a moment before replying. “It’s not anything I know outright yet. It’s more of a familiar feeling.”
Then he told me about what he’d encountered in Madrid several years ago. The family he’d befriended were slaughtered by a vampire hunter who thought they’d been changed. Then that man tried to kill Slade. Now Slade thinks that same man may be here and could be watching me.
“I refuse to be confined to my home under lock and key because someone may be here to kill us. We are lethal adversaries, my love. I say we take the fight to him. Draw him out into a trap to put an end to this before he has a chance to strike at us.”
“I admit I have considered the same plan. My only hesitancy is if he should hurt you, my dear. It will not end well for him, me, or anyone else in this city if I lose you.”
“And I feel no less passionately about you. That just means we work together and make sure we both walk away intact—but he doesn’t.”
I could tell he didn’t like it from his furrowed brow to the heavy sighs that are wholly unnecessary for vampires. He didn’t hesitate to use them when the context called for it. I suppose it’s also a carryover response from working with human clients day in and day out. Either way, he’s so cute when he does it.
He summoned Thomas, and we began planning the trap for our vampire hunter. Thomas has taken Ramses’s place at the business and has been a great help to Slade.
“I haven’t had any visions about a hunter, but I’ve had strong feelings of being watched on my way to the office. If it’s the same guy, we need to take him out of the picture immediately. I’m all for making the first move.”
“So what’s the plan?” Slade asked.
“My thought is he must have a place on the same street as your office because that’s where we feel his presence the strongest. We should go on a hunt there ourselves. One feeds, the other two watch for him, then grab him when he shows his face,” I explained.
“It would have to be late at night. This area is still fairly crowded in the evening hours. We’d be taking a chance he’d be asleep as late as we’d be out there,” Slade countered.
“Or maybe he sleeps during the day and goes out to hunt at night. Maybe that’s why we always feel him in the same area but he never does anything to us,” I replied.
“It’s worth a try,” Thomas said. “That theory makes sense.”
“It does make sense, because I’ve searched for him at night in different areas around the city but haven’t felt him. I haven’t gone back to that area because of the crowds.” Slade dropped his head in his hands and grunted loudly. “Fine. Let’s do it late tonight and get it over with before I change my mind.”
“Slade, you do realize it may take more than one night? We’re guessing about his sleeping habits. And just because he sleeps there doesn’t mean that’s where he hunts. We’ll possibly have to move around the city until we sense him,” Thomas replied.
“I hate this idea more with every word you two say,” Slade complained.
Every night for the following two weeks, we fed and waited for the hunter to emerge from the shadows. We moved our trap to different areas of the city, extended our hunting areas to the outer limits of the city. When I suggested we isolate the hunter during the day, when he’s likely sleeping, Slade was adamant that would never happen.
But then, he’s very busy with clients during the day.
Now that Thomas works with him, they’ve taken on additional clients, and business has been booming again. While they’ve been preoccupied with work, I’ve quietly followed my senses until I located the elusive vampire hunter. I watched him for a moment while he slept in the middle of the day. He looked so young and peaceful in sleep. Then suddenly he spoke and I prepared to vaporize away, but I realized he was talking in his sleep.
He was having a bad dream, fighting something or someone for his life. A vampire, I guessed.
Since I know where he is, I know where to wait and watch for him to leave. I’ll soon find out where he’s been hunting and where we could set our trap. And catch him. I thought about killing him myself in that tiny one-room apartment that was more the size of a broom closet. But he may not be alone in his quest.
But the main reason I left him alive was because of what he’d done to my husband. Slade deserved the opportunity to exact his revenge for what this man had done to Slade’s friends. I want to give my husband that chance.
Chapter 17
Ramses Barnett, 1791
I’ve been away from New York City and my brother for several months now. Since the night Castel showed up and ordered me to stand down. He single-handedly gave Slade the win that night. The win slipped through my fingers when I ran away like a schoolboy coward because the disappointment in Castel’s voice cut through me faster than Slade’s silver knife. How can my clan ever respect me again when I don’t even respect myself anymore?
“The new collection of feeders is in place. We can begin the move back whenever you’re ready. Our more experienced clan members are discreetly adding to our numbers, but from other cities to avoid arousing suspicion again. The other businesses you have are thriving and growing more every day.” Patrick’s daily report is usually positive but rarely cheers me.
“Thank you, Patrick.”
The one thing I want more than anything is too far out of my reach. Time and distance have given me a little more perspective. My brother’s strength and focus have always been greater than mine, so it’s only natural that he’d develop the extended power of the infamous red eyes first. Especially with who his wife is. Even when I flirted with her before they met, that power didn’t develop in me, so I shouldn’t put all my hope in her being the one to unlock it.
I must keep searching for my immortal love. With having part of the power inside me, courtesy of Castel, I have to believe it’ll happen one day. I haven’t told Patrick, but that’s the main reason why I keep the humans in the cages. The hope that I’ll find the one who was made only for me. The one I can’t live without, the one who can’t live without me, the one who will be my partner for all eternity.
To fill the hole that I haven’t been able to fill.
“Ramses, you have a visitor.” Patrick interrupted my thoughts.
“Who?”
“Rolland Cleary,” he replied. “Do you know him?”
“No. I’ve never heard of him. Show him to my study. I’ll see what Mr. Cleary has to say, then I’ll decide if he can leave.”
I intentionally let him wait longer than what’s considered acceptable in certain social circles. When I entered the room, he showed no sign of irritation or aggravation from being kept waiting. His professional and polite demeanor was intact when he rose to greet me.
“Thank
you for seeing me, Mr. Barnett. It’s quite rude of me to show up here unannounced and uninvited, but I’m afraid I had no other option. There’s a very important business proposition we need to discuss.”
“It appears you have me at a disadvantage, Mr. Cleary. It seems you know me well enough to draft a business proposition with my firm, but I don’t know you at all. Exactly how is it you know me?”
“My proposition requires a very specific kind of person, with particular skills and abilities most don’t have. A person that I have to personally vet before I approach.”
His thoughts were hidden from me. Rolland Cleary wasn’t a vampire, but he wasn’t a human either.
“What kind of person would that be?” My tone challenged him, though I knew exactly what he meant. I only wanted to hear him say it out loud.
Tell me what I am.
“A vampire.”
“And what are you, exactly? You’re not a vampire, but you’re not a human either.”
“I am just a friend who wants to help you with the one thing you’ve been searching for but has been just out of your reach.”
Those words hit me with the force of sledgehammer against my head. How would he know what I’ve been searching for? He spoke as though he knew exactly what I had been thinking about before his presence was announced. That particular fact made me even more suspicious of him.
“Reveal your true self to me now, or you won’t leave me alive.”
“No need to get upset. I mean you no harm. I truly want to help you.”
“How do you propose to help me? And what do you want in return?”
“Your brother has been watching you very closely. Checking on your movements. Following up on your activities. If he finds out what you’re doing, he and Castel will shut your businesses down. Again. I can offer you the protection of my clan. We can form an alliance where you help me and I help you.”
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