Honeymoon Bite (Golden Vampires of Tuscany)

by Sharon Hamilton

  “You hear they are looking for a female who did this?”

  “I’m not surprised. They have been questioning me non-stop. My contempt for some of these men was pretty well documented,” Anne replied. “And people knew I thought Gary was a scumbag.”

  “Oh, no.” Robert tried to sit up but let out a sharp groan as something hurt and he stopped. “Anne, I told them it wasn’t you. I told them I met her, in a bar before.”

  Anne looked at him with what she hoped wasn’t too much pity in her eyes. He was in enough pain.

  “She’s a weird one. We met her that next day after you kicked me out.”

  Anne remembered the jet plane ride, the lavender bubble bath. Robert could have told her he had screwed fifty women that night and she could have cared less.

  “What did she say? Did she give a reason?”

  “She told me she killed Gary. But she told me that she’d come after me over and over again until I jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge.”

  Anne looked out the window. Surely that was before Marcus gave Maya the news he was going to give in to her demands.

  “Robert, I don’t think you have to worry about her anymore. I think she has moved on to someone else. She’s in Italy, getting ready for her . . . wedding . . . tomorrow.”

  “Hell she is. She came here not more than an hour ago. She untied this bandage and sucked more blood from me. I couldn’t do a thing. Hurt like hell.”

  Anne looked at Robert’s white bow tie.

  So that was how it was going to be. Anne understood now that Maya would never give up. She was going to needle her for the rest of her life, and everyone around her. She would make Marcus miserable. She would ruin his life, ruin the life of the boy. She would turn everything upside down for all eternity.

  But maybe Anne could stop it. Maybe it was up to her, after all. Everyone would get what they wanted, or close to what they wanted. Marcus would be free. The boy would have a father. Laurel would live to find her fated love and comfort her brother. Robert would survive to go on his eternal search or find in himself the good part Anne had seen in the beginning, and, at last make a good husband to Monika, perhaps have that family he wanted.

  And everything would revert to where it had been when she lay in the cobblestone street in Genoa, drained of blood. That was the night she should have died.

  But she had been given the miracle of finding love, or she would have died without it. She was never born to be vampire. But, God help her, she loved one with all her heart. And she had to feel grateful for having received this gift, precious and so limited as it was.

  And if she couldn’t have him, she could remove the devil in his life.

  She was going to pick a fight with Maya, and she hoped the element of surprise would give her the edge.

  Protecting Marcus might become her dying wish.

  Chapter 24

  Anne sat in the apartment reading a book, A Hunger Like No Other. She sensed movement downstairs. One quick glance to the street revealed the strikingly beautiful female in her best red, eyeing the car. She wondered if Maya coveted the beast because it belonged to her or because it would be a trophy she could bring back to Italy and make Marcus ride in it, proving once and for all her dominance over Anne. What a wedding present that would make Marcus, if Maya could figure out how to transport it before tomorrow. Anne smiled because she knew she was thinking about it. Could almost hear her thinking about getting her trophy, for her trophy husband.

  Robert made sure the trap was set. He played the part perfectly. God bless his little cheating heart, Anne thought. For once, he got something right.

  Anne couldn’t really read Maya’s mind, but people like her were not hard to figure out. She wouldn’t be able to resist gloating over her victory. It was simply not in her nature. Win or lose, she’d be nasty to the end. Anne was counting on that nasty side to keep her distracted.

  It was nice that Maya knocked on Anne’s door, even though she had the ability to trace right through it. This indicated the element of surprise was still with Anne. If Maya sensed danger, she would spring into action and go for Anne’s throat. But apparently, she thought she’d already won. Maya had decided to behave, for once.

  Good.

  Anne knew Maya didn’t want to do anything to anger Marcus. After all, he had given in to her desire to mate for life. She’d gotten what she wanted, even though everyone knew he would have made a different choice. At least this is what Anne told herself.

  But who cares, now?

  When she opened her front door, Maya gave her a smile that had probably aroused Marcus the first and probably hundredth time he saw it. Anne thought about Marcus’s large cock riding this woman who stood before her. About how he would kiss her. How Maya would ride him and writhe, squeezing her own breasts. How he would kiss her nipples until they hurt. Did he bite her next to her sex like he had Anne? Did he enjoy Maya’s blood?

  These images helped Anne feel the conviction in her soul. No one could resist Maya. And no one ever would. It would have to be a woman to bring her down, a woman who came at Maya from her blind side. A woman so desperate she had nothing to lose.

  A woman like me.

  Maya had made the miscalculation of her life.

  “I see you got my message. Thanks for coming.”

  “The least I could do,” Maya responded. Her grin was defiant. She was searching Anne’s face for evidence she had caused her pain.

  “Thank you for sparing the life of my ex—my almost husband,” Anne said, allowing her lower lip to quiver sufficiently.

  “On our tastes in men we agree. He is quite worthless. Untrustworthy. So unlike Marcus.” Her eyes flared with the tiny red flames Anne had seen before.

  “I trust he will be left alone now.”

  “Of course. You are free to have him. I give him back to you. I, on the other hand, take Marcus. Or rather, he takes me.” Maya looked Anne up and down, and then added, “I will make sure his days are filled with every fantasy he desires.”

  Another evil challenge. Anne was sure she was doing the right thing.

  “Come in.” Anne said, turning her back on the vamp. She hoped Maya didn’t see it as a test of her dominion. “I thought we could bury the hatchet between us.” Anne led Maya into the hallway.

  “Very civilized of you. I didn’t expect this.”

  “And so good of you to come, so close to your wedding day. I’m sure you have a million things to attend to.”

  “I’ve been planning this fating ceremony for a hundred years.” Maya frowned. “Under the circumstances, I felt it prudent not to invite you.”

  “No thanks. Weddings are a painful reminder of what we cannot truly have.” Anne inhaled and began her prepared speech. “You won, Maya. I hope you and Marcus are filled with centuries of love and many brilliant children.”

  “Thanks.” Maya slid beyond Anne into the living room, looking unmoved. She glanced around the room as if looking for someone.

  “Still trying to rub salt into the wound? Didn’t you hear me? I said you won. Marcus isn’t here. Neither is Praetor. Come, look at your trophy. Can you see it in my face?”

  Maya turned and gave Anne a sultry smile again after looking her up and down. “So, Robert said you had a wedding present for us. A car. That one?” She pointed outside to the bomber, which stood silent, innocent as a green frog. Deadly bait. Anne loved that car on so many levels. Now more than ever before.

  “Yes, my car.”

  “Really? I am surprised.”

  “I can’t drive it anymore, truth be told. Marcus and I made love in it several times. I realized yesterday, it brings back too many memories, unhappy memories. Marcus’s smell is all over the seats.” Anne hesitated and leaned into Maya to whisper, “And a little on the ceiling, if you know what I mean.”

  Maya’s smile was long and deep, and wicked. Anne knew she was thinking about taking him for a ride in it, and the things they could do made Anne blush.

  “See, t
hat’s why he has made the right decision. None of my memories of being with Marcus are unhappy.” Maya walked over to Anne. “My body aches for him. And when I next bed him, he will belong to me forever.”

  “Yes. But I thought you would appreciate my telling you I have found the fating with Praetor even more wonderful. See, you will be taking Marcus away from me just as I am opening another thrilling chapter in my life. Have you ever had Praetor, Maya? He is centuries older. He hasn’t been so prudish or exclusive as Marcus. His conquests number in the thousands. He has forgotten more than Marcus ever knew about sexual pleasure.” Anne smiled for the effect she hoped it would have on the woman.

  There was a split second where Maya’s eyes got wide, then she looked into Anne’s eyes with pure hatred.

  That’s when Anne struck. She reached out and grabbed Maya by the hair, and, with her other hand, grabbed her shoulders. She wrenched Maya’s head from the top of her body like breaking a twig. She was surprised at her own strength.

  Had Anne wanted to get even, she would have made it a fight so she could enjoy the conquest. But this was no conquest she would enjoy. It was an execution. Maya’s headless torso almost danced, pirouetted in the room from the force of the twisting motion, spewing blood on the ceiling and walls as her arms flailed helplessly at her sides.’

  Anne held the head up to her face and let the blood drip down her front. It stared back at her, lifeless. Anne liked the change in Maya’s expression, and for the first time felt truly rid of the evil vampire.

  Her front door burst open. Praetor and Marcus entered. Marcus shrieked, “No, No, No!”

  Even Praetor was white with shock. His lips had turned purple, his forehead creased as he stared between the lifeless head of Maya and Anne, very much alive.

  Anne wouldn’t look at either of them. She dropped Maya’s head with a dull thud and went into the bathroom to take a shower.

  She took her clothes off behind the curtain, listening to the men shout and argue in the other room as they dealt with the reality of what she had done. Anne’s insides were dead. She was washed of Maya’s blood, but she had no desire to touch Marcus, to get any of the taint on him. Her only thought was that she hoped it would be all over soon. She hoped the council would act faster than their human counterparts were known to.

  She stepped out and wrapped herself in the towel, her bloody clothes remaining in the shower. The man she once loved was bent over Maya’s headless body, sobbing, no doubt grieving for his lost bride.

  “You are free. You gave me life. Now I give you the same. We are even,” Anne felt the chill in her soul as she spoke these words.

  “No, Anne. We are not even.” He rose up and stood, his hands and shirt covered in blood. He did not smile. Anne felt like she had put her own stake through his heart.

  Praetor ushered her into the bedroom, instructing her to dress. “We are going to Genoa to secure your fate immediately. You must pack some clothes.”

  Anne dressed quickly. She got out the Italian leather suitcase, remembering she had never unpacked the bag Marcus had sent her home with two weeks ago. The one with the letter in it she had never read. She added her makeup kit to it, brushed her hair, and told him she was ready.

  “I’m going to trace us there. We have little time left.”

  “I don’t want to travel with Marcus.”

  “He’ll come later, after he makes the arrangements for Maya. Her family will be all over this.”

  “Yes.” Anne could only imagine the retaliation they’d want to foist upon her. Their darling child, dead.

  Praetor added, “He needs to stay away from you, for obvious reasons. Come.” He held out his hand. Anne reached out and he pulled her to him. She wrapped her arms around his body as they transported through the afternoon sky.

  Anne felt dead inside. Praetor paced back and forth in the foyer of the great hall, jotting down notes. He was muttering to himself. She wasn’t even counting the small nail holes in the wooden paneling on the walls.

  At last they were summoned.

  They stood in the exact spot where Anne had faced the inspection interrogation. The council sat, stoic, both infirmed members wide awake, and only one was on a blood IV. They looked disheveled, like they had been summoned in haste. They wore nightshirts under their crimson robes.

  Praetor began his prepared speech. He brought out the piece of paper he’d written his notes on earlier.

  “Most respected Council, I come to you today with distressing news you have no doubt heard. Our sister, Maya, has been murdered. She was savagely beheaded. The transgressor has done this deed, it is said, because of love. We in the coven know this cannot be the case. Only in cases of self-preservation can this be a justified crime. I find no such justification in this case. The person responsible for this unspeakable crime is one Marcus Monteleone.”

  “What?” Anne whipped her head around to face Praetor.

  “Council, you need to know he has warned me that Anne would try to take the blame for him, but I saw it with my own eyes, saw the blood wash over his body and can attest to the fact that he is the murderer.”

  Anne was livid. “That is not what happened. They have conspired to lie to you. Your Praetor lies!”

  “Silence!” The middle vampire held up his hand. “You are a conversion. You have caused us nothing but problems since you came here. I will not take your filthy word over that of Praetor Artemis, who has served the Council faithfully for centuries.”

  One of the other Council members spoke up. “It is well known Marcus was only fating Maya as a means to protect you. I would expect more gratitude towards him. Calling Praetor and Marcus both liars makes a mockery of their station.”

  And so it was decided. Marcus had been arrested, left in a cell underneath the great hall. Anne wanted to meet with him, but Praetor said Marcus did not wish her company.

  The trial lasted only one day. Marcus was found guilty, by his own admission. Anne was not allowed to attend. She was desperate for the opportunity to speak with him.

  But she was promised a night with him before his sentencing. The hearing being set for tomorrow, Anne would spend her last night with Marcus tonight.

  Marcus sat in the room given him for his last night. It was not large, but boasted a large bed with fresh linen sheets and opulent satin pillows. He had been given warm blood after being given the choice for a human whore, which was something he flatly turned down. He was reading, strangely calm, and looking forward to his one night with Anne. Should his sentencing determine he would be given the death penalty, it was always carried out within an hour of pronouncement. He was encouraged to set his affairs in order, which he had.

  He met with Lucius, who was beside himself with grief. Laurel promised she would be both father and mother to the boy, at least until she found her fating. Lucius was already sleeping in Laurel’s bed, crying himself to sleep every night. Laurel said it actually helped her to have him there. It truly broke everyone’s heart. Lucius’s pain had been an ancillary casualty of the war between Marcus and his two women.

  Marcus knew everyone wished he had taken Lucius into account before acting. But, Laurel would make a righteous mother to him and had let Marcus know she would tell him stories of his father and what a wonderful man he was, and how his honor in the end had been his undoing. And Marcus told her he was going to ask that Paolo help out as well. Laurel agreed. Paolo had been conspicuously absent during the trial and pre-trial ordeal, called to the side of his dying wife.

  Marcus was visited by his other brothers and sisters on this eve as well. The women cried. The men were angry. He made them promise to accept Anne as part of the family that he would never share in. Reluctantly, they agreed, but none of them came away with anything but contempt for her.

  Paolo finally came on his own after the rest of them had left.

  “You look well, Paolo. How is your wife?”

  “She has passed on. She is no longer in pain. I am sorry, I was attending to the
affairs of her household and could not leave before now.”

  “No worries. I’m sorry for your loss.”

  Paolo shrugged. “Nothing compared to yours. I knew this would be the outcome for me. You, on the other hand, had a life of eternal love snatched away from you. It’s not fair.”

  “It’s entirely fair. We are only as good as the rules we have crafted for the benefit of us all. I will not have my family mock the Council’s decision.”

  “You know they have no choice but to sentence you to death.”

  “I am hoping they do. I can’t live with myself. I’ve murdered someone who was to be my fated female.”

  “You can’t be serious.”

  “I am. Paolo.” Marcus stood up, walking to the one tiny window, with bars on it, overlooking the front entrance of the compound. “I have thought about this many times. You have now lost your wife. I was going to ask you something, one last request before I slip away and am no more.”

  “Ask me then. It will be granted before you even finish.”

  “I want you to take Anne. Love her, as I would have. She doesn’t understand our ways. She feels for Praetor Artemis, but they know they are not fated. I ask you to pretend you feel something for her, that you feel a fating. I don’t think she would question you.”

  “Marcus, this is insanity. Are you of right mind?”

  “I am entirely.”

  “I can’t do this.”

  “Too late. You already said my wish was granted before you heard of it. It is done. I need to hear it from your lips.”

  “Marcus.”

  “Say it, damn you!” Marcus stood and boomed so loud it shook the building.

  Tears streamed down Paolo’s face. “Brother, you cannot ask me to watch you die, then take that miracle that brought you such joy after years of loneliness. Take Anne for myself?”

  “With one exception.”

  “Anything, Marcus. Tell me you were joking, playing some kind of morbid hangman’s game.”

  “I will bed her one last time. Tonight.”