Hearing me, Ryiel waved a hand in the direction of the kitchen, beckoning his sentinel to join us. “Stavros has a more intimate knowledge of her mind-set.” He instructed the man to speak freely.
With a hand clapped to the back of his thick neck, the muscular guardian began. “Katja believed her punishment was too harsh, that she had been judged unfairly.” He gave a half smile. “She protested her innocence every chance she got. It was one of the reasons I was forced to gag her during sex—and to stop her from biting me, of course.” The last he added as if I had no idea she was a vampire or the damage that could be inflicted by her fangs.
“You were sleeping with her?” I muttered, aghast.
Stavros looked perplexed by my dismay. “Sleeping? No, I did not trust her enough to sleep with her, especially not after she brought a knife to bed that one time.”
“As I recall, it was a sizable blade.” Ryiel chuckled.
I stared from vampire to sentinel, watching as they shared the private joke. I don’t know why I should be disheartened at the idea of Stavros having sex with Katja. She had learned from a very young human age that her physical appearance could get her the things she wanted. Why would I expect her attitude to be any different as a vampire?
“Okay, so we’re saying Katja was depressed enough to agree to let Kartel give her his drug and switch her loyalty from you”—I pointed at Ryiel—“to him. Is that it?” Ryiel nodded. “But what does Katja have that Kartel wants?”
“What if this isn’t Katja so much, but all made vampires? And what if Kartel doesn’t give a damn about retribution?”
The voice coming from behind us had Gabriel and I swiveling our heads. Tomas had been quiet for so long, I’d forgotten he was standing there.
“Tomas?” Gabriel’s query was an invite for clarification.
The other sentinel pushed up the sleeves of his Mr. Rogers cardigan and folded his arms across his chest as he spoke. “As you say, Katja was the obvious choice for Kartel to try his experimental formula on. He needed a willing vampire, but only, as has been already pointed out, to protect himself against any possible retribution if his drug failed.” Tomas stroked his chin thoughtfully. “In my experience, cooperation has never been a requirement for any drug to work, but now that Kartel is aware of the drug’s success, what’s to stop him from giving it to other vampires?”
“Fuck,” Ryiel spluttered. “If Kartel can do that, then he can turn all made vampires to his will—”
“—and add in the assassination squad he seems to have created—”
“—and didn’t you say he had a talent for turning a mild disagreement into something much more deadly?”
The last comment was mine, and with it Gabriel turned ashen. He gazed into my eyes, though what he saw I couldn’t say, before glancing over my head at Ryiel. There were a few moments of tense silence as the two Original Vampires participated in some sort of silent, and very intense, form of communication.
I saw Ryiel nod. “He wants to start a war,” the dark-haired vampire said grimly.
“Well, it will have to be a damn quick one,” I said, pulling us all back from the edge of a pit labeled Doom and Gloom.
“Why do you say that?”
I looked at Ryiel. “Didn’t you say those other vampires, the newly made ones, just poofed out of existence?”
He nodded, and I saw his brow furrow as he tried to see where I was going with my train of thought. I think behind me Gabriel shook his head, warning the other vampire not to try. Cheek!
“Do you think Kartel knows how they died, or do you suppose he’ll assume you killed them all?” I saw the light switch on inside Ryiel’s brain. “You said these vampires were created differently. Is it so far-fetched to think it possible Petrov has found a way to manipulate human DNA so more vampires can be made?”
“With human cloning anything is possible,” Gabriel murmured in my ear.
I whipped my head around. “We’re cloning people?”
“Oh yeah, it’s being done.”
Shit!
“But Kartel doesn’t know there’s a time limit to his vampire killers,” Ryiel said, picking up my train of thought and running with it.
“Well, neither do we,” I pointed out. “If—and this is a big if—those vampires were created unnaturally with the help of a drug, you need to find the expiration date.” I began to count on my fingers. “How long after being given the drug could they be turned? How long after being turned could they be let loose? How long does it take them to go poof?”
“How can we find this out?” Stavros asked, sounding excited by the prospect.
“Finding Petrov would be a good place to start,” Gabriel said.
“Yeah, but we don’t know where he is,” I told him dejectedly.
“Says who?” We all turned this time, and I was delighted to see a grinning Aleksei leaning in the open archway to the hall. “I know exactly where the bastard is.”
Chapter 17
I scrambled out of Gabriel’s arms and met the big Russian vampire halfway across the room. Apparently there were some lingering effects from our encounter that hadn’t quite been eradicated. My need for a bear hug more than anything else in the world, it seemed. And Aleksei’s enthusiastic willingness to indulge me.
“I thought you told me she was Gabriel’s Promise?” Stavros gave Tomas a pointed look.
“She is,” he protested. “The situation recently became . . . complicated.”
“Ah, so that’s what they’re calling it these days, complicated.” An unexpected grunt told me the sentinel had just met the business end of Tomas’s sharp elbow.
I couldn’t say if I would be happy, sad, or relieved when this pull toward the big guy finally came to an end, and I had no idea what still drew me to him. I would have thought any of my blood left in his veins would have been replaced by now, but maybe not. Perhaps it only took a single drop still swooshing around his body, or maybe it was the fact we had become as intimate as two individuals can be without crossing the line. I looked around him, hoping our affectionate behavior wasn’t embarrassing his lovely blond companion, but he appeared to be alone.
“Where’s Anasztaizia?”
“I left her sleeping. She needs her rest, but don’t worry, I taped note to bathroom mirror.”
Depending on how it was worded, it could be a comfort, or not. I let it go. At least he’d been thoughtful enough to tell her he was gone.
“Are you two okay now?”
The Christmas-tree effect on his face kind of destroyed the whole nonchalant routine. “We have been”—he grinned—“getting reacquainted with each other.”
If I was any judge of vampire behavior, this would involve the kind of physical activity where clothing was strictly optional. No wonder the lovely Magyar needed some rest.
The sound of throat clearing behind us made me turn around. Gabriel stood only a few paces away, wearing a not-all-that-amused look as his gaze focused on the large hand I could feel splayed against the small of my back. Guilt consumed me as I disentangled myself from Aleksei’s embrace. And I wasn’t the only one. The big guy, realizing who was staring at him, flushed fire-engine red.
“Sorry,” I apologized, wrapping an arm around Gabriel’s waist. “Guess there are still some residual effects.”
He looked at me, and I saw his eyes highlighted with a ring of brilliant gold. A sure sign another appetite was rising. Taking hold of the arm I had around him, Gabriel moved me so I stood in front of him with my back pressed against his muscular chest. He did this for two reasons. One was a purposeful, showy display of possessiveness. His hands on either side of my neck, long fingers circling my throat and shoulders like a collar, told everyone present I belonged to him. The other reason was even less subtle. Gabriel wanted to make sure I could feel his erection pressed against my backside.
Tomas and Stavros were watching Aleksei’s embarrassment with some curiosity, while I noticed the sparkle of amusement in Ryiel’s silvery
eyes as he looked from Aleksei to me to Gabriel, and back to Aleksei. Everyone seemed to be waiting for someone else to speak, so I decided to go first.
“Was it safe for Aleksei to come here?” I turned my head and looked up at my lover. My concern had nothing to do with safety inside the penthouse. We were probably safer than the doomsday seed vault, but considering Aleksei had been abducted from his own home, I worried about him traveling across town.
“I don’t think anyone is going to make him waltz with a bear again,” Gabriel said grimly, answering me. His hand dropped, and I felt his fingers slip inside the opening of my shirt. “I sent a reminder of the consequences of hurting what belongs to me.”
I didn’t want to think of the details involved in such a reminder, but I had to wonder how many vampires had been encouraged to visit the place where Aleksei had been thrown into a bear pit. And how long before permission was given for the bodies to be removed.
“So,” Gabriel’s fingers began to stroke the swell of my breast, “let’s talk about Petrov and his whereabouts.”
A sudden rush of air across my face and I was suddenly in the kitchen. I gasped and stared, nonplussed, across the breakfast bar as my lover herded everyone else back into the living room, where a plan of action could be formed. I wasn’t pissed—well, I was, kind of—but I knew removing me wasn’t anywhere near as sexist as the hands-around-the-neck display had been. It might look as if Gabriel was relegating me to the position of little woman in the kitchen, whose job was to rustle up some vittles so the menfolk could have a hearty meal before going off to battle, but I knew better. Gabriel needed all of Aleksei’s attention to be focused on the task at hand. Removing me from the setting said more about Aleksei’s control than mine. I sighed and wondered how long it would be before I would no longer want to cuddle the big guy whenever I saw him.
As both Tomas and Stavros were being included in the testosterone talk, I figured I could make myself useful instead of merely decorative. I couldn’t do much in the kitchen, mainly because Tomas had palpitations whenever he saw me at the stove, but I had finally worked out how the coffeemaker operated. With Aleksei here, it was an excuse to break out the good Russian coffee. Too bad vampires don’t need much time to formulate a plan. They were done before the pot finished brewing.
Gabriel took me back to our bedroom for some privacy. I thought he was going to share whatever they had planned, but unless Petrov was holed up in a Turkish bath and they all had to get naked, I was in the wrong discussion. Making short work of the buttons on my shirt, he had my jeans unzipped and pulled off, ripping the side seam of my panties just as I managed to get his fly open. Using his hands as support, he lifted me up. I wrapped my legs around his hips, hearing a throaty growl as he buried himself inside me. I’ve never climaxed so fast or so hard, but feeling his body quiver as he peaked made me realize how much he needed this. And it was more than still feeling unsettled because of Aleksei.
“When you get back,” I whispered huskily, tangling my fingers in his hair and pulling on his ear lobe with my teeth, “I promise I’ll wear the black lace.”
He stared at me with glazed eyes, before licking me in a single swipe from between my breasts to the sweet spot behind my ear. “I’ll hold you to that,” he promised. I assumed the tug on my own ear lobe was simply him returning the favor, until a sharp prick told me he’d pierced it with his fang. I laughed as he carried me across the room and deposited me on the bed.
Gabriel didn’t mention Ryiel was staying behind until they all got into the elevator and it became obvious one of the merry group was missing. The omission was highly suspicious, almost as if Gabriel suspected I might raise some objection to having a babysitter.
“You can ask him about the necklace,” he murmured as his lips drifted across my mouth.
“Necklace?”
“Hmmm . . . see if he knows why you can handle it.”
Ah . . . that. In truth I’d foolishly hoped Gabriel might have forgotten all about the damn thing, which was ridiculous. He didn’t forget anything. He might no longer be angry with me, but it didn’t mean the incident wasn’t tucked away somewhere inside his brain, ready to be paraded out at the appropriate moment. But that moment was not now.
“Be careful,” I told him. It was a ridiculous thing to say to an Original Vampire, but we both knew it was for my benefit more than his. “No unnecessary risks.”
“I promise.”
“Come back to me.”
“Always.”
And then he was gone. I stood in the open doorway listening to the mechanical whirr of the elevator descending, and I closed the penthouse door when it faded completely.
Ryiel was in the kitchen, and he poured me a cup of coffee from the pot I’d made. That was one of the other things I loved about Aleksei’s Russian blend—no bitter aftertaste, even when it had been sitting for a while. “Rowan, we need to talk.”
I had been dreading this, ever since he’d first mentioned he had news I wasn’t going to like. Part of me had been hoping Katja’s escape was the news, but now it seemed that had nothing to do with whatever the silver-eyed vampire needed to say. I took the mug from his outstretched hand and bought myself a thirty-second delay as I added sugar and creamer.
“I don’t suppose this could wait until Gabriel got back?” I asked. “Honestly, I’d feel better if he could hear it as well.”
Ryiel actually seemed to be considering my request, but then he shook his head. “No,” he told me, “if you decide to tell Gabriel, it will be your choice, but I would advise you to do it with no one else present.”
“That bad, huh?”
“I am not sure you will want to share any of this with him.”
Oh shit, it was going to be so much more than bad. “We don’t keep secrets from each other,” I stated with a hint of defiance.
Ryiel sighed and gave me an understanding, if forlorn, look. “This one, I suspect you will. If you love him enough.”
“I don’t—”
The rest of my sentence was cut off as the strains of classical music filled the air. I was getting quite fond of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy,” and hearing Ludwig’s entire Ninth Symphony was on my to-do list. I picked up the phone, relieved and not too terribly surprised to see Laycee’s name on the caller ID. Baby Jenna had a while to go yet before she slept through the night, so her momma being awake at four in the morning wasn’t unusual. Recently, we’d had some of our best conversations as Laycee rocked her baby back to sleep after a post-midnight feeding.
I automatically apologized to Ryiel for the interruption as I picked up the phone, except Laycee didn’t speak. She was sobbing too hard to verbalize anything coherently. From the little I could make out, she needed me to come right away and bring Gabriel with me. A strange request from someone who had declared, more than once, that she wanted nothing to do with vampires.
Ryiel took the phone from my hand. “We are coming,” he told Laycee, before disconnecting the call and handing the phone back to me. I stared at him, dumbfounded. Why would he include himself? “Shoes,” he said, putting a hand on my shoulder and turning me around.
“I, uh, what?”
“You’re barefoot, Rowan. Find some shoes.”
I stuffed my feet into an old pair of Crocs and hurried to join Ryiel, who was already waiting for me in the elevator. As we descended to the garage, I chewed my lip and worried. Whatever was going on with Laycee, it was more than new-baby hormones still running amok. I followed Ryiel out into the garage before realizing my car keys were in my purse, which was still upstairs.
“We’ll take your boyfriend’s car,” Ryiel said when I alerted him to my dilemma. “No keys needed.”
“Do you even know how to drive?”
He took only mild offense at my question. “Of course.”
“Tell me the last thing you drove.”
“Chariot at the Circus Maximus in Rome.”
I came to a skidding halt. “You’re kidding me, right
?”
He grinned and opened the passenger door of a big black vehicle, motioning for me to get in. “Let’s find out, shall we?”
“Yeah well, this has a lot more horsepower,” I cautioned.
“But easier to handle.” Seeing the questioning look on my face, he added, “It’s not going to catch the scent of sweet grass on the air and want to take off to go grazing.”
There was no response to such a statement. I stopped and put my hand on the car door. “This belongs to Aleksei.”
“I know.”
“You said we were taking one of Gabriel’s cars.”
“I believe I said your boyfriend.”
“He’s not my boyfriend,” I snapped irritably.
He smiled and pushed me down into the luxurious leather seat. “You can enlighten me on the way.”
As it turned out, Ryiel handled the V-12 Mercedes-Maybach like a pro. Managing to squeeze every available gallop from the 523-horsepower engine, he cut the normal forty-five minutes to a little under half the time. Still, it was long enough for me to tell him about Aleksei showing up at death’s door as well as mine.
“But Gabriel did send him to you?” he asked, seeking confirmation.
“Yes, but I don’t think that makes what happened any easier for him to deal with. You saw how he was when Aleksei showed up.”
“Well, it didn’t help having you throw yourself into his arms,” Ryiel chided.
“No I s’pose not,” I agreed with a miserable mumble.
“And yet it could also have been a lot worse, which is why it’s a good thing the Russian came to you at Gabriel’s instruction.”
“I don’t see how.”
“Well, you’re both still breathing, aren’t you?”
Yeah . . . there was that.
Pulling into the driveway of the house that used to be mine, Ryiel brought the two-and-a-half-ton vehicle to a smooth stop and was opening my door before I’d even unbuckled the seat belt. “You’ve made some changes,” he said, looking around him.
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