She’d almost died tonight but felt strangely disconnected from that fact except for one thing, of course: her son.
The moment those two vampires had come into the room, guns in hand, she knew exactly what she meant to do and had positioned her hand on Adrien’s Glock, all the while feigning a full-blown freak-out.
She’d been right that her squeals and sobs would distract the men, including Adrien, long enough to fire a few shots. Adrien turning her into the wall had been the perfect maneuver since she could fire through his coat without alerting either of the assailants.
She glanced at him now. He cut a slab of cheese, laid it on a slice of French bread, and shoved the whole thing in his mouth. She was still surprised to see a vampire eating regular food. His gaze skated past her, into the living room. He appeared to be thinking hard, maybe about their next move.
“Wait a minute, why did you turn your back to the room?”
He glanced at her, brows lifted. “To shield you. It was an instinctive response, but useless. Given the nature of the blood-chains, if I’d died, you would have as well.”
“So you didn’t turn because I had your gun?”
He shook his head. “I didn’t know you’d taken it.”
“Huh.” She bit off another piece of apple and popped it in her mouth.
Josh liked apples and hated pears, couldn’t stand the grainy feel of them in his mouth. Two years had passed. What had he eaten in that time? What had he been doing? Had he been cared for well enough? Kiernan had said that Josh had a caregiver, a human woman, so apparently he’d wanted Josh in one piece, but why? Of all the children in their neighborhood who had been killed that night, why had her son been spared, and provided with a caregiver?
This was the big question she’d been unable to answer. She was almost positive that taking Josh hadn’t been random. She felt the purposefulness of it in every cell of her body.
Adrien reached forward and grabbed her wrist. “What are you thinking about? Right now? You feel sad to me.”
She released a heavy sigh and pulled her arm away from him. “That my son liked apples.”
“I’m sorry that your family died.”
She glanced up at him, chewing slowly. “It doesn’t change that vampires killed them.”
“No. It doesn’t.”
“Why are you staring at me?”
“I’m trying to understand you, that’s all.”
She shrugged and cut a chunk of cheese, sliding it onto her tongue from the back of her knife. “What’s the plan from here? I’m not sure I’d trust Rumy again, if I were you.”
“He wouldn’t have known what Hardesty was up to, but a casino in Arizona?”
“Your world seems hell-bent on exposing itself to my world. And it sure doesn’t seem to like you very much.”
“No, not much, at least not the parts intent on illegal and reprehensible transactions.”
She snorted.
“Oh, that’s right. We’re vampires, so there can’t be anything decent about my world.”
“Pretty much.”
“What do you base that on?”
“Oh, let’s see. Your pal Daniel, who’s been selling off property that belongs to your kind, Hardesty is a real peach, and you’ve already said that Rumy knows every slimy element to be found between Italy and Shanghai and all the way to New York. I have yet to meet a vampire I could admire. Then there’s you, happily demanding my blood like it belongs to you, but that’s a quality I’ve come to expect from your kind: Take, then maybe ask questions later.”
He cut another slab of cheese, planted it on more sourdough, and shoved it in his mouth. After chewing and swallowing he said, “You screamed a few times, if I remember, and you weren’t exactly in pain.”
She offered a half smile as she said, “Just like a man to make a big deal about his cock when he hasn’t got much else to offer.”
He rounded the bar and before she knew what he meant to do, he’d hauled her off her seat and pulled her against him. She tried to push out of his arms, but he was too damn strong. He started sucking on her neck and grinding his hips into her.
Damn the vampire!
The chain vibrated heavily against her throat. She could feel his desire like flames against her skin, and his lust ignited her own. But she struggled against all the sensations—of her incomprehensible desire for him, her lust, her need, which seemed to be multiplying as each hour met the next.
When he kissed her, she bit his lower lip, drawing blood.
He drew back, but his eyes had darkened and instead of releasing her, he settled in on her neck again, suckling and plucking, licking along her vein.
At some point her hands stopped pushing at him and instead her fingers kneaded the flesh of his arms, tugging at his biceps that flexed at her touch. He plastered himself against her, his hips undulating slowly. Her breathing grew shallow and her eyes closed; maybe they rolled back in her head.
When he kissed her this time, she let him, despite the blood on his lips.
His tongue dove deep as he rocked his pelvis against hers, the hard length of his cock rolling over her flesh, working her into a frenzy. Her moans filled the air.
She hated him, but she wanted him desperately.
She was about to suggest they return to the bedroom when he let her go. She fell back, almost making it onto the stool, but because her limbs had loosened she slid off and fell to the floor, landing on her butt.
She sat there, looking up at him.
He lifted a harsh eyebrow. “And sometimes, human, a cock is the only thing a woman wants.”
He rounded the bar. As she rose to her feet, she watched him slap another slab of cheese on yet another slice of bread and stuff the whole thing in his big fat mouth.
Damn vampire.
Adrien washed up the plates, packed up the fruit, cheese, and bread, all while Lily sat on her stool and glared at him.
He ignored her. He hoped he’d made his point that for all her complaints about his kind, she wanted him.
The trouble was, he ran hot for her as well, hotter than made any logical sense despite the blood-chains they shared. If she glared, he responded in kind, because the last thing he wanted was to desire his captor.
The chains, essentially, had become a nightmare of sensation. He felt worn out, and the hour was just a few minutes past midnight. And they still had work to do.
His brothers came to mind, his driving need to bust them out of that Himalayan hellhole. But how? If he failed to produce the extinction weapon, Daniel would have them killed, he was sure of it.
Even if he could find the damn thing, though, how could he ever turn a machine like that over to Daniel, the vampire without a conscience, the one who would sell his soul for just one more brick of gold?
His phone rang.
He reached into his pocket, pulled it out, and checked the screen. Rumy.
He thought for a moment, then answered, saying nothing.
“Adrien, you there?”
“Rumy.” He didn’t say anything more than that. He needed to hear the man’s voice, hear his inflection to determine the level of the man’s guilt. Had Rumy helped out at La Nuit?
He met Lily’s gaze. The glare had turned into a suspicious scowl, a perfect reflection of how he felt.
Rumy cleared his throat. “Hardesty just called. He’s still alive. I’ve sent a few visitors to his bar for what he just pulled on you, I want you to know that. He’ll be shut down for weeks.”
“Okay.”
“His bouncer’s dead. That might be payment enough for the incident.”
“I’m weeping in my beer, Rumy, big salty tears.”
Rumy laughed. “Just wanted you to know I had no hand in this.”