by Lynsay Sands
“Sí, señorita. I will be quiet.”
Nodding, Jess eased the door open again and then held it for the man to wheel the fridge in. Much to her relief, the dolly moved soundlessly. Easing the door silently closed, Jess turned to follow the man, and then moved around him to lead the way to the little kitchenette when he wheeled the dolly to the mouth of the entry, and then paused to glance toward her in question.
The man followed her to the kitchenette, eyed the other refrigerator dubiously, but then shrugged and quickly lifted the new one off the dolly, set it on the floor, and plugged it in. Jess expected him to collect the apparently broken one then, but it seemed that was someone else’s job, because he simply gestured for her to follow and led the way back to the door, dragging his dolly behind him. Jess followed him out of the room, eased the door silently closed, and then turned to find the man holding out the paperwork he’d been looking at when he’d nearly run into her.
“You need to sign for it,” he explained in very good English.
“Oh, yes,” Jess muttered, and took the papers and pen, wishing Zanipolo had been awake to handle this. She really wanted to get to the embassy.
“Is my fault,” the man said apologetically as she signed her name to the delivery form. “I was supposed to be here four hours ago, but I was in an accident. Some drunken mortal plowed into me as I started across town.”
Jess glanced to him with concern as she handed back the papers and pen. “Was anyone hurt?”
“No,” he said on a sigh as he ripped off the top sheet and handed it to her. “But my truck was demolished and several of the refrigerators were crushed. There was blood everywhere. Unfortunately, the refrigerator with blood meant for you Nottes was one of them and I had to call in for someone to collect me and then get another truck, load it up, and start out again. It delayed me greatly.”
“Blood?” Jess breathed with confusion, but the man had already turned and was rushing away. His words ran through her mind as she watched him go. Some drunken mortal had hit him? She considered that briefly, and then it occurred to her that he’d apologized and explained his being late as if she’d spoken aloud the thought that she wished Zanipolo was still awake so he could have handled the delivery. Or as if he’d read her mind. And he’d been delivering—
She peered down at the sheet he’d made her sign and then had given her and saw that the delivery wasn’t listed as a refrigerator, but as twenty-four pints of pure O positive mortal blood. For a moment, Jess just stood there, but then she shook her head and turned to the door. It was a mistake obviously. Why would Zanipolo order blood?
Opening the door again, she slid back inside, intending to go open the refrigerator and look inside, but the sound of voices reached her ear as she eased the door closed.
“So, the delivery came,” she heard Santo say as she started across the entry. “What time did he finally show?”
“I don’t know,” Zanipolo answered. “I fell asleep on the couch around 6 A.M. and just woke up. Raff must have taken the delivery.”
Jess heard Santo grunt in response just before she stepped out of the entry and glanced toward the kitchenette. She was just in time to see Zanipolo hand the larger man a bag of blood and then open his mouth and slap a second bag to his own mouth as his canines extended.
Jess didn’t really recall stepping back into the entry and pressing her back up against the wall. But she did and stood there for a moment, her heart thundering in her chest and panic claiming her mind until she heard Zanipolo ask, “Another?”
“Sì,” Santo answered. “Two more, please.”
“Yeah, I’m probably going to have three myself. We’ve been going pretty light on the blood since Jess popped up,” Zanipolo commented. “It’s hard to find a chance to feed when she’s around all the time.”
“It’s worse for Raffaele,” Santo responded. “I don’t think he’s managed to get more than one bag down since her appearance.”
“Yeah,” Zanipolo agreed. “And she must have interrupted him again before he could have any after the delivery because there were no bags missing.”
“Speaking of Jess . . .” Santo said, and didn’t bother to finish.
It was Zani who said, “Yeah. I suppose we’d better move the blood to your room or mine so she doesn’t find it when she wakes up. The last thing we need is her finding out what we are and freaking out.”
Santo grunted what might have been an agreement and then said, “Here. Hold these bags for me and I’ll move it now. We should probably be feeding in there anyway.”
That was when Jess finally managed to shake off the horror that had held her still and turned to stumble to the door. She needed to get out of there before the men passed in front of the entry and saw her.
Men? Vampires, she corrected herself grimly as she eased the door open, slipped out, and eased it silently closed.
Jess didn’t head for the elevator. Unwilling to risk being found in the hall before the elevator could arrive to take her away, she took the stairs instead. But it was something of a wonder that she managed to walk down them without falling and breaking her neck. She wasn’t exactly in top form at that moment. Her mind was spinning with horror at what she’d learned. Raffaele and his cousins were vampires too. She couldn’t get the image of Zanipolo slapping that bag of blood to his fangs out of her head. And she couldn’t even hope it was just Raffaele’s two cousins. Zanipolo had said Raffaele hadn’t had more than a bag of blood since she’d “popped up.” They were all just like Vasco. All vampires. Dear God, was that why the sex was so crazy good? Was it some kind of vampire thing? Would sex with Zanipolo or Santo have knocked her socks off just as much?
And she’d thought Raffaele the polar opposite of Vasco, Jess thought with dismay. She’d been thinking of the man as her savior, painting him almost a saint in her mind, and all the time—
Jess stopped abruptly on the steps as another thought struck her. These vampires could read minds and control humans. Ildaria had done that on the ship—taken control of her and sent her to kiss Vasco. Had Raffaele controlled her and made her want to have sex with him? Had he made her just think she’d enjoyed the sex so much? Maybe it was just okay, but he’d put it in her thoughts that she’d enjoyed it, like the pirates had made everyone think they’d had a blast on the shark feeding tour. Dear God, she thought with dismay, and then an even more awful thought struck her. Had he been biting her too? Had she been fainting after the sex because it was so amazing as she’d believed? Or was she fainting because he was somehow biting her without her knowledge and “feeding” off of her until she lost consciousness?
That possibility screaming in her head, Jess glanced down at herself and quickly examined what she could see, which was just her arms and legs. She then pulled the neckline of her dress away and peered down at her chest, but the lighting in the stairwell wasn’t that great and with the dress material blocking what light there was, she couldn’t see much. Letting the neckline fall back into place, she started moving again, taking the steps down much more quickly than she had been. There were bathrooms off the lobby and she wanted to get to them and look herself over properly. Although she supposed she wasn’t likely to find anything. He’d probably bit her places she couldn’t easily see.
He had spent a good deal of time between her legs, Jess thought grimly and suspected she now knew why. The thought brought an image of Tyler to mind, his mouth open on a silent scream of pain and horror, and Ildaria on her knees in front of him, blood dripping obscenely down her chin. Feeling sick, Jess pressed a hand to her stomach, and finished the rest of her descent at a run.
Raffaele thought Jess must be in the bathroom when he woke up to find the bed empty beside him and the bathroom door closed. It wasn’t until several moments passed without her reappearing and with no sound from the room that he got up with the intention of checking on her. That was when he saw the note on the bedside table; pausing, he picked it up and then frowned when he read it. She’d headed
to the embassy without him.
It was nearly ten now. What time had she left? How long had she been gone? He wondered over that as he quickly began to drag on clothes. She shouldn’t be out and about without him. What if Vasco or one of his men had followed them?
Concern eating at him now, Raffaele finished doing up his jeans and grabbed a shirt, pulling it on as he hurried for the door.
“Morning, sleeping beauty. We were beginning to think you two would sleep the day away,” Zanipolo greeted him from the couch as he stepped out of the bedroom.
Raffaele grunted in response and did up his buttons as he crossed the room, heading for the entry.
“Yo, cugino. Where are you going?” Zanipolo asked with amusement as he turned into the entry. “If you planned on running out to grab everyone coffees, you might want to put shoes on first.”
Raffaele paused halfway across the entry and glanced down at his bare feet. He then turned back with a curse. His shoes were in the bedroom. By the time he found and donned them and returned to the living room, Zanipolo was standing near the entry. When he saw that he was alone, Zani pulled his hands from behind his back and held them up. Each hand held two bags of blood.
“Get these down while you have the chance,” he suggested as Raffaele crossed the room toward him. “You’re looking pale, and once Jess wakes up—”
“Jess is already awake and gone,” Raffaele growled, pausing to take one of the bags from him. Just seeing them in the man’s hand had made him almost faint with hunger. Now he slapped the bag to his fangs and waited impatiently for it to empty.
“What do you mean she’s gone?” Zanipolo asked with a frown.
Raffaele scowled at him over the bag at his mouth, and thought the answer at him. Fortunately, despite his being older than Zanipolo, his cousin had no problem reading the answer.
“She left by herself rather than wake you?” he asked with dismay.
“Not good,” Santo announced, appearing from his room.
“Yeah,” Zanipolo agreed grimly. “What if Vasco or one of his men followed us and are out there looking for her?”
Much to Raffaele’s relief, the bag at his mouth was empty by then and he was able to tear it away and say, “That was my first worry.”
Deciding one bag would have to do until he knew Jess was all right, Raffaele waved away the other bags when Zanipolo held them up in offering, and turned to hurry to the door.
“Hang on,” Zani snapped, and dashed for his room. Probably to put the unused bags of blood away, Raffaele thought, but didn’t wait. He rushed out of the suite and straight for the door to the stairwell. It would be faster than waiting for the elevator, he thought. As he pushed through it, he heard the door to the suite open again behind him and knew the other two men were following him.
“Your appointment confirmation and documents?”
Jess blinked at the armed guard in confusion. After quickly examining herself in the public washroom off the hotel lobby, she’d rushed here to the embassy. She hadn’t found any signs of bite marks, but it wasn’t like she had a mirror to check between her legs, so that hadn’t made her feel much better. Jess was still feeling off-kilter and slightly stunned by the knowledge that she’d run from one vampire into the arms of another. Perhaps that was why she felt like the man was speaking Dutch to her.
“Lady? You need to show your confirmation before I can let you into the building,” the guard said impatiently when she continued to stare at him blankly.
Giving her head a shake, Jess forced an uncertain smile. “I’m sorry. My what?”
“I need your proof you have an appointment. You should have printed up your appointment confirmation when you booked it online,” the man said impatiently, and then his eyes narrowed. “You did make an appointment online before coming here, didn’t you?”
“I—No. I didn’t know . . .” Jess began weakly.
“Then go make one. You can’t get in without an appointment,” he said with exasperation. “If you’re lucky, you might still get in today, but it’s more likely you won’t get an appointment until Monday.”
“What?” she gasped with dismay. “No, I can’t—This is an emergency. I drove all the way here from Punta Cana. I need—”
“Punta Cana?” the man interrupted, his eyebrows rising. “You should have just gone to our consular agency there. You probably would have got in right away. The lines are always shorter there.”
Of course. There was a consular agency in Punta Cana she could have gone to. Jess closed her eyes briefly and then shook her head and opened them again. “I can’t book an appointment. I don’t have a computer. But I really need to see someone. My passport was—”
“Everyone who comes here really needs to see someone,” the man said unmoved. “If you don’t have a computer, you can make the appointment by phone. But you can’t get in without an appointment. Go call and make one.”
Jess stared at him, not believing this. Or believing it too well. This was how her morning was going, after all.
“Lady, there are others waiting and you’re holding up the line. Go find a phone and book an appointment. Or don’t, but get out of the way so the next person can approach.”
Jess opened her mouth, closed it again, and then simply turned and moved away past the others waiting in line to get through security. What else could she do? She wasn’t getting past the guard. It seemed she would have to call and book an appointment. Why hadn’t she known that?
Because she hadn’t looked into any of this, she reminded herself. She’d let Raffaele and his cousins take care of it. They’d taken care of everything since pulling her from the ocean. From dressing her, feeding her, even housing her in their room, and then looking up the information about the embassy. Had they known she wouldn’t get in without an appointment? Had they known there was a consular agency in Punta Cana she could have gone to? And if they had, why hadn’t they told her?
Because they were vampires like Vasco, a little voice in her head answered. They’re probably in cahoots with Vasco and deliberately keeping me from getting a replacement passport so I can’t leave the Dominican, she thought. They’re ensuring Vasco can claim me for his vampire bride.
Jess frowned at the thought almost as soon as she had it. That didn’t quite make sense. Vasco wanted her for himself, and if they were working with him, surely Raffaele wouldn’t have slept with her? Vasco probably wouldn’t be pleased to learn he had. What was happening here? And just how many vampires were out there?
A lot apparently. At least, she seemed to be running into them at every turn here. A ship full of them, and now Raffaele and his cousins. Lord knew how many more there were. How had she not known they even existed? Did they all live in the tropics? Was that why? Jess wasn’t exactly rolling in money. Visiting tropical destinations like Punta Cana wasn’t something she’d ever even done before. Were they all here, or were there vampires in America too? Living in her town? Perhaps even next door. The thought made her shudder with horror.
Dear God, she just wanted to go home. She wanted never to have come here and to be safe and blessedly ignorant of all of this back in the home she’d shared with parents who had been loving and kind. What was she going to do?
That last thought was full of so much panic it sort of scared Jess into calming herself. Losing it was not going to get her out of this mess. What she was going to do was find a phone and call the embassy to make an appointment. Surely if she explained that her passport had been stolen and she needed an immediate replacement to catch her flight home on Sunday, she would be given an appointment quickly? This was an emergency situation, after all.
Feeling a little better at this reasoning, Jess glanced around and considered where she could find a phone. She didn’t have any money for a pay phone. If there even were pay phones anymore. There seemed precious few of them back home, and she hadn’t really noticed pay phones anywhere since arriving here. She could go back to the hotel and ask to use the phone at the recept
ion desk. She’d be risking Raffaele or one of the men spotting her, but that couldn’t be helped. Besides, they couldn’t do anything in the busy lobby with all those witnesses, right? Except maybe take control of her and make her return to the room with them, she realized, and was frowning at the thought when she noticed she was getting into a vehicle.
Confused, she glanced around sharply, her eyes widening as she found herself staring at the woman seated on her left in the back of what appeared to be a taxi.
Ildaria.
The female pirate smiled at her with amusement. “You seemed so wrapped up in your thoughts I didn’t want to interrupt you.”
So, she’d just taken control of her and made her get into the vehicle, Jess realized. She’d probably even made her walk to it. Jess had no idea. She’d thought she was walking aimlessly away from the embassy and hadn’t been thinking about where she was going. She’d been too busy panicking about her situation at first, and then trying to figure a way to resolve it. Now she felt the blood rush from her face, and turned sharply back toward the door she’d got into the vehicle through, only to freeze again as she saw that Cristo was getting in next to her. She was trapped.
Thirteen
“I see— Shit,” Zanipolo finished with dismay.
Raffaele turned on him sharply. They were just approaching the embassy and he had been scanning the people they were passing when Zani spoke. Eyeing his dismay with concern, he asked, “What?”
“She just got into that taxi,” Zani said, his voice grim, and Raffaele followed his pointing finger to see the taxi in question. His eyes widened with alarm when he saw Cristo lean out to pull the door closed.
“They’ve got her,” Santo growled with displeasure.