Francesca could feel Gabriel’s power flowing through her when she looked into the reporter’s eyes. It was not the same as hers, but far more aggressive. Gabriel would make sure this man would never harm her, would in fact die to save her. He did it easily as he did all things, the commands flowing through her mind into the reporter’s. She had no idea how Gabriel could do the things he did. He was helping her at the same time as he hunted the undead and watched for traps along the way. He seemed capable of operating on more than one level at a time. Even when the stakes were as high as his own life.
“Nothing is more important to me than your life.”
Hisvoice was fading away as if he was in motion somewhere.
Francesca did not seek to sustain the connection between them. She wanted to concentrate entirely on the reporter. She needed to know everything he knew about the society he was a part of, a society that had hunted and murdered humans and Carpathians alike, naming them vampires. She smiled at him. “It’s Woods, isn’t it? Barry Woods? You said you were a reporter. I’m so sorry about the other evening. I was in such a hurry, late for so many appointments, I can’t recall exactly what we talked about. I promise to give you my full attention now. Would you care to go somewhere and have a cup of tea or something?”
“Tone it down, Francesca. He is very susceptible to you and that in itself can be dangerous.”
This time there was a distinct growl in Gabriel’s voice.
She tilted her chin, although she knew he couldn’t see her.
“Go away, I can handle this problem all by myself. You have bigger fish to fry.”
She sounded faintly haughty, snippy, warning him to back off.
Barry Woods was gaping at her, astounded that she was actively seeking him out. She leaned close, enveloping him in her mysterious scent.
“You will never attempt to see Skyler Rose again.”
The command was one of the strongest she had ever issued.
She could read his acceptance of her authority, but all the same, Francesca guided the reporter to the seclusion of one of the empty rooms with every intention of ensuring obedience by taking his blood.
“You will not!”
The command was sharp and authoritative. Gabriel was not playing now. The threat was very real. “
I will see to it this buffoon does no harm to our girl, but you will not do this thing.”
Exasperated, Francesca decided against arguing with Gabriel’s tyrannical ways. At once she felt Gabriel relax, felt his amusement, and she shook her head over the silly idiosyncrasies of men. “Did you have some questions you wanted to ask me?” she queried softly, looking directly into Barry Woods’s eyes. “Or did you have information that you thought was very important to tell me?”
He could feel himself falling forward, deeper, deeper still until he was so mesmerized he wanted to stay there for eternity. He cleared his throat, unable, unwilling to break away from the beauty of her eyes. “I have friends who heard things about you. They’re dangerous men. We hunt vampires. Real vampires, not the make-believe things in the movies. No one believes the creatures exist but us. We’ve been collecting proof over the years. We just need to get one, a body, something tangible to make the world take us seriously. Right now they think we’re fanatics, nuts to be laughed at, but we’re scientists and we’re trying to save the world.”
Francesca wrapped him in waves of warmth, swamping him with approval, with the idea that she believed in him and what he was doing. He broke out in a sweat, but his gaze remained captured by hers. He wanted to do whatever she wanted of him, whatever it took to make her happy. He wanted her to believe in him. She tipped her head to one side so that her hair fell in a seductive sheet of silk across her shoulder and tumbled past her waist. “Why would anyone think such a thing of me? I have lived in this community for some time and have been involved in many things. I think my life is rather an open book. It is not so difficult to find those who know me.”
Woods leaned forward, needing to hear the purity of her voice, or maybe he wanted to touch her hair. He really wasn’t certain which was more important at that moment. “I think I can dig up indisputable proof that you’re no vampire.” There was a trace of humor in his voice. The idea of her being in the ranks of the undead was totally ludicrous. He could convince his fellows they were wrong about her and she would be crossed off their list.
“Are there many of you?” Francesca requested the information softly. “Are there any others named on this list of potential threats? Perhaps I can aid you in some way.”
“We have to protect ourselves now. We’ve lost many of our best people. It’s a war, a real war, between them and us. We only know a few of each other’s names; our meetings are small. We use phone numbers and a place on the Internet to leave messages back and forth. That way if our society is penetrated, we will only lose a few.”
Francesca could see that something was making him very resistant to giving out the names of those on the vampire list, although he was deeply ensnared by her compulsion. She pushed further into his mind and found a strange phenomenon. Immediately she reached for Gabriel and shared the information, puzzled by what she found in Barry Woods’s mind.
“He has undergone some kind of strong hypnosis.”
Gabrielrelied.
“You can get around it, but he might have flashbacks. I can remove all traces of you from his memory. It is not so difficult to extract the information from his mind. He will never know.” “Go ahead then, Gabriel. I don’t want him to take up any more of my time.”
Francesca wanted to get her business out of the way and return to Gabriel. She didn’t like him being out in the city hunting the undead. She wanted him back in the safety of their home. She wanted Skyler safe within the walls of their home. She wanted the reporter long gone.
“Are you attempting to distract me from my task with your wanton thoughts?”
There was a curling caress in Gabriel’s voice, brushing at the walls of her mind, flooding her body with heat and excitement.
“
Wanton thoughts? You need a checkup, my boy. Your fantasy world seems to be growing larger with each passing day. I wanted you home to take out the trash.”
She was staring directly at Barry Woods, so that Gabriel could use her as his instrument, could “see” the reporter and extract the information they needed from his mind. Gabriel’s teasing had lifted her spirits, given her the impression of a cool cleansing breeze moving through her mind, erasing her worries.
Francesca smiled at the reporter. Gabriel had what they needed and it was time for her to reinforce her most important command. She leaned closer to him so that her eyes held his. “You will never, under any circumstances, go near Skyler again.” At once she felt Gabriel’s power moving through her mind, swift and deadly, unbreakable, relentless. He issued his own command, stronger than any she could have made. The reporter would protect her, ensure that others left her strictly alone.
Francesca shook her head over the vehemence of that command, but she felt very precious to him.
Cherished. “You are cherished. Now do something women are supposed to do, something I will not worry about.” “Look who’s talking!”
She tried to sound indignant, but he was making her laugh with his nonsense.