Blood Shadows (14 page)

“The way I see it,” he drawled, “there aren’t that many single people in the house of Jadon. Especially women like you—who were turned under unusual circumstances.” He reached out and boldly caught a lock of her curly red hair, letting it fall through his fingers slowly as he inhaled the scent of her shampoo. “You’re not still thinking about spending time with human men, are you?”

She looked positively stunned. “I don’t know!” She put her hands on her hips. “That’s none of your business, really. And don’t you have a
destiny
somewhere to be concerned about?”

“Whoa,” he said, holding up both hands as if to surrender. “Back it up, sweetheart. No offense intended.” He used Ramsey’s striking hazel eyes and model good looks to their fullest advantage, holding Kristina’s surprised gaze while offering a sheepish—if not devilish—grin. “I will have a mate to think of someday; that’s true…” He reached out and brushed her chin briefly with the back of his finger. “As will you, I imagine. But not today.” He paused. “Maybe not for decades to come.”

She frowned and looked away. “And so you thought you could just materialize on my doorstep and what? Get the only unattached female vamp in the house of Jadon to give you some?”

Saber suppressed a chuckle. “Sweetie…” He spoke in a pacifying tone. “It’s not all about sex—why I’m here.” He tilted her chin upward with his hand. “Sometimes it’s just nice to have someone to talk to…to be with…to help pass the time.” He raised his eyebrows. “Are you going to stand there and pretend your heart isn’t racing, your palms aren’t sweating, and your breath isn’t catching in your throat?” He leaned over to whisper in her ear. “I know it is.”

She took two steps back, pressed flush against the front door, and wrapped her arms around her waist in a self-protective gesture. “Damn, Ramsey—are you always so direct?” She looked away. “So…I’m human. That doesn’t make me a fool. Or easy.”

He shook his head and laughed. “First of all, you’re not human, baby girl. And if I thought you were easy, I wouldn’t be here.” He took a step back then. “Believe it or not, I’m not all that easy myself.”

Now that got her attention.

Her eyes opened a little wider, and she appeared to be listening.

Thinking.

Perhaps even considering.

“Listen,” he said. He raised his arm to his mouth, scored his wrist with the tips of his fangs, and held it up to her as blood trickled down his arm. “Forget about all that other stuff for now. You’re hungry; I can sense it. Accept this offer of friendship…and feed.”

Kristina’s hand flew up to cover her mouth. She tried to back further away but had nowhere to go. “No!” she protested vehemently. “I can’t.”

“You can’t feed?” he asked.

“
No
…I mean, I can’t…with you. My brothers…” Her voice trailed off.

“Ah,” he nodded, feigning understanding. “The obedient little sister again.” He released his incisors, dripped healing venom over the gash to close it, and withdrew his arm. “I got it.”

Kristina frowned.

“That’s okay,” Saber quipped. “No worries. So I misjudged—no harm, no foul, right?”

Kristina seemed to be holding her breath, searching for a response. “Misjudged what?”

He didn’t hesitate in his blunt appraisal: “You. Where you’re at. What might be possible…between us.” He backed away, stepped down from the porch onto the first of five steps, and shrugged. “If feeding…and friendship…are not even possible, then there’s not a whole lot more to be said. My mistake.” He turned and took another step, knowing he was taking a calculated risk: She might just let him go—which would place him right back at square one as far as his mission was concerned—but he was betting she would stop him before it went that far. Theirs was likely the only meaningful contact she’d had with an adult—other than Braden or her family—in months; and it was more than likely the only offer she’d had from any male in the honorable house of Jadon, period. There wouldn’t be another one coming along any time soon.

He restrained a chuckle.

Kristina would be hard-pressed to let
Ramsey
go. Any needy female would.

He let the silence between them linger for a moment, and then he cleared two more steps. “I’m sorry if I offended—or frightened—you, Kristina. That was never my intention.” With that, he took the remaining step in a casual leap and began to stroll down the walk.

“Wait,” she whispered.

Her voice was barely audible, but Saber heard her loud and clear. He stopped dead in his tracks and stifled a smile. Slowly turning around, he met her tentative gaze. “What’s up?”

She sighed in exasperation. “I’m not trying to say…anything…one way or the other. It’s just that I don’t know what—
hell
, I didn’t even know your name ten minutes ago. I haven’t had time to think.”

He smiled regretfully. “A vampire shouldn’t have to think to feed, Kristina. It should just come natural.” He held up both hands. “Hey, it’s cool. Truly. Your conversion was how long ago? Just over four months? So you’re not ready yet—there’s no shame in that, baby girl.” He inclined his head toward the front door. “You take care, okay?” He turned around again, but not before he saw her eyes flash momentarily red.

“Fine,” she snapped. “Since you know so much about everything, just go then.”

He bit his lip to keep from smiling.
He had her.
Hesitating, he looked down at the ground and pretended to grapple with some internal frustration. When he finally turned around to face her, his expression was one of confused anticipation: “I’m having a hard time reading your signals here, Kristina. Do you want me to go, or do you want me to stay?”

She opened her mouth to speak and then faltered, unable to give him a clear yes or no answer, and he knew he had pushed her as far as she was able to go. In the space of a heartbeat, he scored his wrist a second time, materialized in front of her, and held the offering out a second time. “Feed, sweetheart.” A blood exchange would do more to foster intimacy than sex ever could; besides, she would be dead long before she acquired enough skill to track him. So there was really no risk in feeding her.

She reached up hesitantly and took his arm in her hands. While her approach was as awkward as it was inexperienced—he was accustomed to soldiers who struck the jugular with force—she managed to sink her fangs deep enough to take a healthy, drugging pull. And then she sighed with relief. As the full potency of his blood flowed into her, her eyes fell half shut, and she almost moaned from the pleasure of it.

“That’s it, baby girl,” he whispered. “Take what you need.”

He waited silently as she drank her fill, all the while considering the situation: If his mission had been only to seduce her—or simpler yet, to take her by force and dispatch her—he could have pulled that off easily; but as it stood, Oskar and Salvatore had instructed him to get close to her, gain enough of her trust to discover her secrets, get inside of her head—which was something he had never had to do before—so, in a way, both of them were selling their souls in the encounter.

Before he could contemplate any further, Kristina withdrew her fangs, clumsily sealed the wound, and released her hold on his arm. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she looked away, embarrassed. “Thanks,” she mumbled.

He was about to ask her to invite him in—at the least, get the invitation out of her so he could come and go as he pleased, if needed—but then he thought better of it. The girl was uncomfortable now, almost as if they’d just had meaningless sex. “You all right?” he asked.

She nodded, insincerely. “Yeah…I’m cool.”

He gently grasped her chin in his hand and tilted her head up to force her gaze. “Are you sure?”

She looked away but nodded. “Yeah…I’m sure.”

Turning her head back with his hand, he bent over leisurely and pressed his mouth to hers. Careful to keep the kiss both gentle and short, he pulled away ever so slowly and whispered, “Friendship is a good thing, Kristina.
Relax
.” And then he took her keys, placed the largest one in the lock, turned it, and pushed the door open. His skin began to burn as it crossed the threshold absent of an invitation, but he ignored the sensation and quickly tucked his hand behind his back before she could notice. “Go inside,” he suggested. “I’ll see you another time.”

She looked surprised.

Relieved.

More than a little confused…

But she stepped inside the brownstone.

“Sleep well, baby girl,” he called after her.

She cleared her throat. “Yeah, okay…you, too.” And with that, she shut the door behind her.

Saber smiled, letting out a slow, deep breath.
Damn, that had been like pulling teeth
. But worth it, he figured. As far he was concerned, it might be a little touch and go going forward, yet she was more or less putty in his hands. He waited a moment before dematerializing. In truth, he couldn’t wait to shed Ramsey’s unfamiliar skin and get back to the colony, to his own kind, but he didn’t want to seem too rushed in case she was peeking through the peephole.

All in all, he thought, Salvatore had done a pretty good job of maintaining Ramsey’s persona for him—cloaking his own physical appearance for such an extended period of time. Just the same, his soul was reeling from the experience.

Killing—he understood.

Preying on the weak—nothing more than an automatic reflex, as easy as passing time.

But talking, flirting, and sidling up to a female—all easy, nice, and respectful?

That bullshit was for the birds.

Kristina shut the door behind her and fell back against it, trying to catch her breath: Ramsey Olaru? One of Napolean’s sentinels?

Was she dreaming?

Never, in all her life, had a man that fine or that important wanted her…for anything. Even Marquis had only picked her because he had no choice. And before that, it had been Dirk—for years—a confusing mix of love, abuse, and way too much need.

Kristina could hardly believe what had just happened, and a wistful smile softened her mouth as she held her hand over her fluttering heart and laughed out loud. She could still taste the intoxicating flavor of his blood. It was like drinking pure energy, unfiltered power. Sure, Marquis’s blood had been amazing. And Nathaniel’s?
Damn
—just…damn! But this was unlike anything she had ever imagined before. There was something dark, dangerous, and sexy as hell about Ramsey Olaru.

And he wanted
her
.

Kristina told herself to get a grip—keep in mind that the male wasn’t really available, and he would walk away the moment his
destiny
showed up—but so what. He was here now. She twirled around in delight. Very few girls got the chance to spend time with a male like that, not even for a day, let alone what could turn into years.
And he had chosen her.
Sure—she would probably get mated someday. More than likely, her brothers would choose some boring justice or healer for her, some widower who wasn’t half as hot and edgy as Ramsey; but in the meantime, she would have her fun.

And her fine-as-hell man.

Baby girl.

Sweetheart.

He had called her both…

Oh…my…God.

Kristina shut her eyes and let the reality of it all sink in.

She concentrated on the feel of Ramsey’s blood in her veins and tried to imagine where he was now—what he was doing. When nothing came to her, she shrugged: It really didn’t matter.

Just so long as nothing and no one stopped him, he would be back.

She was sure of it.

The thought brought her up short.
Oh shit
, she really had to be careful with this one. Marquis, Nathaniel, and Kagen would have a cow. Even Braden would strut around trying to be all warrior-like and fatherly, or run off as fast as he could to tell Napolean.

And wouldn’t that just be the end of it all.

Kristina shuddered, thinking of how quickly this new affair might come to an end if the wrong people found out about it. No, that wasn’t going to happen.

She wouldn’t let it.

This was one secret Kristina Riley-Silivasi planned to take all the way to the grave.

eleven

Deanna stepped onto the stony River Walk, a meandering path that followed the banks of the Snake Creek River for at least a mile, following the beautiful woman with mysterious eyes who had married Nachari’s brother, Nathaniel.

Jocelyn turned around and waited for her to catch up. “You sure you’re all done shopping for the day?”

Deanna chuckled. “Yes. I don’t think I could walk into another souvenir or specialty shop if my life depended on it.”

Jocelyn nodded her agreement. The two had spent the day exploring the small, quaint towns surrounding the national forest at Kagen’s bequest: The healer had insisted that Deanna get out of the clinic for a few hours, take in some fresh air, and stretch her legs. Just so long as they were back before sundown, there didn’t seem to be any danger in the outing. And as far as running away or escaping was concerned, even Deanna understood how futile an attempt that would be: She was no match against a family of vampires.