Blood Leverage (Bloodstone Chronicles Book 1) (30 page)

Both of them stood slowly as I waited by the bed. “Um, Rory?”

I glared and Keanu took a step back. “I’m not objecting,” he said immediately. “I wanted to say it already
is
morning. When would you like us to wake you?”

I looked at the sun and moon clock—somewhat difficult to read with my blurring vision. He was right. It was nearly six o’clock. “Fine. I’ll sleep until you get the email with the guy’s address and then I’ll go pick up the phone in Niagara Falls.” I crossed my arms over my chest and waited as t
he men slunk out of the room. 

*     *     *     *     *

I woke slowly to Ian stroking my hair and only had an instant to be grateful I’d left my slip on before remembering everything from the previous twenty-four hours and pulling the comforter over my face.

With what might have been either an amused chuckle or an exasperated sigh—the bedding did an excellent job of muffling sound—Ian pulled the comforter away. “It’s almost noon,” he said quietly. I struggled to prop myself on my elbow, rubbing my eyes as I looked at Ian.

Perfect as ever. He wore different clothes and the dampness of his hair indicated a recent shower but he looked nervous, enough for me to joke. “Don’t worry, I won’t attack you—I’m not ready to surrender my pillow.”

I yawned and reached for my water glass, but the bedside table was gone.  Confused, I sat up and saw the room had been emptied. The armchairs were gone, as was the rug they’d sat on. The walls were bare and the jade fireplace I’d once embarrassed myself over had been pried out, leaving a hole in the wall. Only the bed remained unchanged, its draperies having blocked my view of the rest of the room.

Alarmed, I leapt up and ran to the bathroom. The crimson tile and its copper fountains, the copper tub and the toiletries that had dotted the counter—all gone. The only items left behind were the toilet, the sink, a single towel, a washcloth and soap.

Also clean clothes, thank goodness. My dress from last night had vanished.

I jumped as Ian appeared in the mirror behind me.

He gestured toward the remaining items. “I knew you’d need these when you woke.” As a matter of fact I did, but I needed time alone even more. I lingered in the bathroom, washing in the sink the best I could. When I reentered the bedroom, the bed was gone.

Wandering from room to room, I realized Ian and Keanu had been very busy while I slept. Almost everything portable had been removed, along with many things I’d never considered portable—cabinets, light fixtures and the like. I wouldn’t say the place was unrecognizable, but it was damn near close.

I finally found Ian in his living room, empty except for the screens on the wall. All of them showed newly emptied rooms.

“The security system will be the last thing to go, huh?” I scanned the room sadly. It looked bigger without its furnishings, but mostly it looked lonely.

“It seemed wise to keep it in place as long as possible, given what happened yesterday. We found a nasty surprise during our clean up. Apparently we weren’t the only ones monitoring our surroundings. Keanu is furious over what he’s calling a betrayal by technology.” He dipped into his pocket and extended his hand.

Whatever it might have been, it was no longer identifiable. “What’s that?”

He slipped the bit of squashed plastic back into his trousers. “It’s not much of anything now, but it
was
a wireless camera. We found it in the rubbish of the front entryway. It explains how Eggplant knew the entry code. All she had to do was watch—”

“Was that the only camera?” I interrupted. Of everything Eggplant could have seen, door codes were the least of my concerns.

Ian shrugged. “She had a second camera in the guest living room. We think that’s why she came. She saw you were alone.”

“Oh thank God!”

He gave me an odd look and I blushed. “I was worried she’d recorded in the bathroom.”

“Oh.” It took Ian a moment. “
Oh
. No. That’s not a problem. Keanu picked up the new phone at sunrise and we’ve already tested everything. Eggplant would’ve been able to view the live feed, but Keanu assures me she wasn’t configured to transmit or record.”

Excitement flooded out the relief. “You got the phone already? I thought you wanted me to do that.”

Ian wouldn’t meet my eyes. “The gentleman with the phone emailed this morning and I sent Keanu instead. I told him to use entrancement if he had to. Last night changes things, Aurora.”

The barren rooms had already made that obvious, but I doubted my sarcasm would be appreciated. “Did you learn anything from the phone?”

It was Ian’s first smile of the day. “More than anything we could’ve hoped for. We’re going to attempt a rescue as soon as darkness falls.”

“But what about all the reasons you didn’t want to try that before? What about the other vampires there?” I clamped my hands to my churning stomach and decided to sit down, forgetting the sofa was gone.

Ian’s hand shot out to catch me. “We’re out of time, Aurora. Besides, we’ve already eliminated two dozen vampires who presumably lived in the area, and, even better, Joseph Rosado has a performance scheduled tonight in Niagara Falls. Even if we had more time, we’re not going to have a better chance than this one.”

“Wait, who?” The name meant nothing to me.

Ian rolled his eyes. “It doesn’t really matter, but Joseph Rosado is a vampire who’s won every Latin dance competition he’s ever competed in. His performances always sell out. Not only will many employees of the power plant be attending, but a large number of security personnel will be reassigned to the club for the show.”

“For a dance performance? What are they worried about, illegal mumbo moves?”

Ian laughed. “I think you mean
mambo
moves, and no. In addition to his dance prowess, Rosado fancies himself as a famous lover and sleeps around accordingly. He gets constant threats from outraged spouses of both genders, but that doesn’t matter. The point is, his performance is a perfect distraction.”

“That’ll help with the guards, but what about the automated system?” I asked.

“Seeing as we got up close and personal with some community residents, we no longer need to worry about the fingerprint scanners.”

“Of course, you can duplicate their fingerprints now!” The tension began to leave my shoulders until I noticed Ian’s face. “What, is something wrong?”

“We’re not planning to duplicate them. There’s still too much room for error. We decided it would be easier to save the actual—”

“Oh, that’s
gross
,” I complained. “Forget that part. What happens when you find Nicky? Will you bring him here so I can take him home?” The thought was disconcerting. God only knew how we’d explain everything. It brought to mind something that had been bothering me…

I turned as if to examine the empty room again, taking the opportunity to sneak a deep breath before asking a question I’d had since I came to know Ian. “After you return Nicky and leave for Manhattan, are you going to make us forget everything?”

If he and Keanu were in danger it would be safer for everyone if Nicky and I remembered nothing. Hell, it might even be better for Nicky, depending on how traumatic the past eleven weeks had been. The only person who wouldn’t benefit would be me. Everything I’d learned, everything I’d experienced… would all be gone.

Granted, I wouldn’t know it was gone, which was even stranger. If I forgot Ian and Keanu, would something else fill the void or would I be left blank? It hurt my head to think about it.  

As Ian pressed his fingertips to his eyeballs, I realized I wasn’t the only one stressed today.

“Of course not, Aurora, I hadn’t even thought of that. My only plan is to get everything moved today, then retrieve Dominic tonight and return him to you tomorrow morning.”

“Wait, you’re leaving
today
? As in, this afternoon?” A band of panic began to tighten around my chest.

“Well, we can’t stay here,” he said cautiously, using such a rational tone I wanted to smack him. “Would you rather we kept Dominic with us until we’re sure he’s okay?”

“Are you insane? The last thing he needs is more vampires. Besides, Luigi is due home in two weeks. You can’t just run off with Nicky to parts unknown. We’ll be lucky if he hasn’t had a complete breakdown.”

Ian ran a hand through his hair. “Aurora, we have to be gone by nightfall in case reinforcements show, and Keanu and I have many arrangements to make. Not only do we need to store everything and break into a vampire compound within the next twelve hours, but a woman of Ms. Parkes’ prominence can’t allow an attack like this to go unanswered.”

He looked around with a weary frown. “I haven’t figured that last part out yet, but there’s no reason for you to worry.” Then he smiled in a way that made my heart stutter in my chest. “Are you saying you’ll miss me?”

I snorted dismissively and gave him an ineffective shove that didn’t move him an inch. He caught my hand in his and grinned.

“If I hadn’t been allowed to remember, missing you wouldn’t have been an option.” I tried to tug away and failed.

“But seeing as it
is
an option,” he persisted, “will you miss me?”

“Not nearly as much as you’ll miss me, I’m sure,” I shot back. “At least I won’t have to run back and forth ac
ross the state for my lunch.”

As soon as I’d said it I wanted to take the words back, but it was too late. He looked as though I’d slapped him. Worse. Ian was impervious to slaps, but not to harsh words.

His hands fell and I took a step closer before he could back away, putting my hands on his face. “I shouldn’t have said that and I didn’t mean it. You’ve never treated me with anything but respect and you’ve certainly never treated me like a meal. You didn’t deserve that and I’m deeply sorry. I hope you’ll accept my apology.”

When that didn’t get a response, I slid my hands down to his neck and somewhat grudgingly admitted, “Yes, I will miss you. I’ll miss you terribly. I’ll miss the way you take everything I say too seriously and the way you laugh as though amusement is something precious and not to be taken for granted. 

“I will miss,” I said softly, my thumb tracing his jawline, “the way you look at me and find things to admire where others see either a nuisance or someone to be humored.” And then I kissed him.

Admittedly, I’d kissed Ian before—among other things—but this was different. We weren’t caught in a haze of bloodlust or preparing to fight for our lives. No distractions, no imaginary girlfriends and for the love of God—no offense, Keanu—no vassals. For the first time we were alone and focused solely on each other. Compared to our previous activities the kiss was chaste, but it blew its predecessors out of the water.

I felt an urgency his bloodlust induced kisses had lacked, combined with an intensity of focus that made me melt. I wondered if that level of concentration was a vampire thing or an Ian thing. It certainly wasn’t an
ability I possessed. In fact, my mind was racing with so many things it was a miracle I managed to keep up at all. I couldn’t shut my brain down.

I was simultaneously dissecting the meaning of the kiss while wondering where Ian would be relocating and when I’d see him again—all mixed with the constant awareness that I was kissing a vampire.

And then my tongue brushed against one of his fangs. In a burst of inspiration, I accidentally-on-purpose pressed the tip of my tongue against it just firmly enough to break the skin.

Ian’s response was instantaneous—his knees literally went weak. Or at least he stumbled off balance. This was only obvious because my legs had somehow found their way around his waist so he was supporting us both. One of his hands braced against the wall so we remained upright and locked together.

He made a low growl in his throat—sexy, not scary—and I knew he could taste me. A few seconds later I felt the pulse of warmth in my tongue, practically imperceptible, and knew he’d healed me.

My arms were locked around him in a death grip, but the flare of heat accompanying the healing somehow reminded
me how strong Ian was. Surely he could support my weight without my assistance, freeing my hands for more important things.

He was wearing a long sleeved shirt in a weird waffle knit with tiny buttons at the top, all of which I unfastened in a surprising burst of coordination. (Never underestimate the power of motivation.) Then I met with an obstacle as I ran out of buttons. Dissatisfied with the insufficient exposed flesh, I tightened my grip and prepared to rip.

Realizing my intention, Ian moved to intercede but stopped when I pierced my tongue against his fang again. With a muffled laugh, he conceded defeat and tore the front of his shirt himself. 

The next few minutes were a laughing blur of repeated piercing and healing while I struggled with the remnants of his shirt. And though we had few options in a room without a scrap of furniture, Ian finally nudged my buttons open. He wasn’t as slow as my dream, but I’d been close. Ian apparently wasn’t one to rush anything. Finally, I threw the last clinging bit of his shirt to the floor and knocked his hands aside—with his cooperation, of course—to run my hands over his chest.