Exist (Vampire Assassin League Book 30) (2 page)

“What does it look like?”

“We’re only a fifth of the way up!”

“Go without me. Save yourself.”

“You should have been a drama major. Not a psychologist.”

“I’m serious, Steven. I’m not moving another step. Take a video for me if they’ll allow it.”

“I can’t just leave you here!”

“Why not?”

“You’re a woman. This is a big city. Formerly Eastern Bloc. All kinds of things might happen.”

“Nobody will even see me. And you’ll be back this way in minutes. Besides...isn’t that Wenceslas Square just over there?” She pointed at a lighted area behind another row of buildings.

“I’ll stay with you.”

“And miss the tour?”

Steve looked longingly toward the archway. The rest of the tour group had disappeared inside.

“Oh, go on,” Leah prompted. She put her shoe back on and took off the other one. Did the same ministration to her instep. “I’ll be fine.”

“At least take my coat.” He shrugged it off and handed it to her.

“You sure?”

“Take it before I change my mind.”

Leah took it. Snuggled into warm fabric that was long enough she tucked some of it beneath her backside. “I didn’t know you had a chivalrous side.”

“Me, either. You sure you’ll be okay? You’ll stay right here?”

“Yes, Dad. I promise I’ll keep totally to myself. Unless my wishes come true and a tall, dark, and extremely gorgeous man happens by to sweep me off my feet. Then, I’ve got to tell you. All bets are off.”

“There’s a can of pepper spray in the left pocket.”

Leah patted the bulge. “You have pepper spray? That’s a surprise.”

“Maybe I should give you my knife.”

“Steven Bates. I’m a grown woman. Educated. Feisty. Armed with pepper spray. If I’m not here it’s because I got a better offer than an eighty block hike back to our hotel. Now, go. You’re missing the tour.”

“Just make sure your gorgeous man likes curves first.”

He saluted. Turned. And sprinted up the stairs, reaching the top in moments. She hadn’t known he was that physically fit. Nor had she realized how much his companionship had altered the elements. The stone steps were truly eerie. Silent. A slight breeze lifted strands of hair and sent dirt and old leaves across the steps.

And then a scream split the night.

Anso couldn’t believe it. He’d taken Krenko with his lone shot. He hadn’t created a conflict. Been involved in battle. Taken on uneven odds. Gloried in a fight. He hadn’t received one bit of blood spatter when he was usually covered in gore.

His action was completely unfathomable.

He took a deep breath before jumping from the building. Exhaled heavily as he landed, barely missing a puddle. This hit was completely out of character. He wasn’t covert and silent. He liked the pandemonium of combat. The excitement of taking on armed foes. The thrill of victory.

He didn’t know what was wrong with him.

There had been a lot of power behind his shot, however. The arrow had nearly split Krenko’s skull before slamming the man’s body against a brick wall. He was probably still pinned there. The woman between him and the wall had been smashed in place. The other one started screaming. More than one bodyguard had pulled a gun and fired it. Their weapons were equipped with silencers. Laser sights. They fired at nothing. No one had even seen him.

Anso pulled in another breath, expanding his chest with it. Slung the bow back over his shoulder. Resettled the sword he carried in a scabbard at his hip. Pulled on his leather neck-guard. Grimaced as his heart stirred with a grinding motion deep in his chest. The motion sent a throb of ache through him.

And that’s when his eyes went wide.

He didn’t exhale as much as lose his breath. His knees shook before he dropped to one, stopping a complete fall with an outstretched arm. His sword smacked against cobblestones. His knife followed as it clattered to the street. The bow slid forward, stopped by his elbow. And none of that meant a damn thing.

Because it was happening!

To him!

Here. On a dark vacant street. In Prague, Czech Republic.

Anso took another deep breath, smiling widely as his chest expanded with it. His heart sent another heavy beat through his chest, this one less painful. He waited. Counted. It seemed to take forever, but within the count of forty, he experienced another heartbeat. The next one came at twenty. The next was even closer. They were growing stronger, as well. This was as incredible as it was unbelievable. He’d thought the stories mere fairytales. The gift of reanimation a myth. And yet...

It was true!

He was being renewed. Because he had a mate. And she was here. Somewhere!

Anso almost gave vent to the shout of joy. Several things stopped him. There was a lot of activity happening in the square he’d just left. Sounds hadn’t ceased with the woman’s scream. Shouts and yells permeated the night. A car horn honked somewhere. Wailing of sirens came next. All of it loud. Garnering attention. Nothing he wanted. Not now. He needed to focus.

And hunt.

Anso pulled in another breath, retrieved his dagger, regained his footing, and jostled weaponry as he resettled it. He frowned as he looked down vacant, shadow-pitted streets. Every direction looked the same. And just as empty. Prague was a large city. Historically important to before the time of the Holy Roman Emperor. It had been a labyrinth of dark streets when he’d first seen it. It was worse now.

He didn’t have an inkling of how to find her.

Forgetting everything, he flung his head back and howled his frustration into the night.

~ ~ ~

Okay.

Ghost tours with over-acting guides were one thing. The cry that had just split the night was something else. Ghosts didn’t exist. And creatures that sounded like werewolves were complete and utter fantasy.

Thinking through the facts didn’t help. The sound from that cry reverberated off the stone about her before it dissipated. A shiver raced up her spine, lifting hairs at the nape of her neck. That was unpleasant.

Leah shoved her foot back into the shoe and stood, and when that wasn’t sufficient, she climbed atop the bench and craned her neck. Even from that vantage, there wasn’t much to see. The lighting was pathetic, but the street appeared empty of occupants. Hazy fingers of fog were creeping along the cobblestones below her, just starting to obscure the view. The night seemed colder, all of a sudden, too. She was eternally grateful to Steve for his coat. It wasn’t enough, but her linen skirt-suit was useless for warmth. The silk top beneath it was worse. It wasn’t her fault. She’d dressed for an indoor event, not this nonsense. This suit made her feel elegant. Look sophisticated, yet business-like. It exactly matched the personae she wished to project at a business conference. She hadn’t known she’d be outside in the dead of night. Blocks away from her hotel bed, as well as all the blankets she could pile atop it.

Damn Steve.

No. Damn vodka.

She hadn’t even worn hosiery. Bare legs were getting the brunt of the chill. Maybe she should sit again, pull her legs up to her chest, and wrap Steve’s coat about her. That might work at keeping out the elements. It was better than standing indecisively—

“The gods be praised. I have found you.”

The voice was deep. Emotion-charged. And pretty damned close. Leah’s head came up. Her eyes strained to see. Her breath caught. There was a man standing before her. His feet and lower legs were in shadow. The rest of him was framed by a thin veiling of mist. His head was just beneath hers, showing his height.

Holy crap.

She hadn’t been this specific with Steve on her wish requirements, but she hadn’t known a man like this was on the menu.

Or even existed.

He was tall. Dark-haired. And beyond gorgeous. Leah had experience with handsome men, but never one this handsome. The guy was actually beautiful. So, beautiful, it was difficult to look at his face without blushing. But nowhere was safe! Every bit of him was spectacularly male. It was impossible not to notice the extent of it. He wasn’t wearing much, and he wore it extremely well.

And Prague just became her favorite city.

Oh. Sweetness.

She’d never even seen pecs and abs like those on display right in front of her. His arms matched. All kinds of muscle flexed as he lifted an arm to push the top of an archer’s bow into position behind his head. He regarded her solemnly when he’d finished. Several seconds ticked by. And then he nodded as if she’d asked something.

Her heart stuttered. Her knees wobbled. The heels clacked against the stone bench with the motion. Leah coughed. Tried to speak.

“Um...” Her voice stopped.

“What is your name?”

He leaned his head back slightly after asking, placed one hand atop what looked like a sword hilt, and flexed all kinds of things throughout his chest and belly. And worse. He had a slight accent coloring his words. She couldn’t place it, but it made everything he said have a sinfully smooth timbre. Old-World decadence in sound.

“Uh,” Leah answered.

He waited expectantly. Leah’s heart ticked up another notch.

“My name is Anso,” he offered.

She opened her mouth. Nothing came out. She shut it again.

“It means ‘god’.”

Leah’s eyebrows lifted and she blinked several times in disbelief. Her mind finally decided to assist with this. She could almost feel it clicking into gear. She still couldn’t look at his face for any length of time. Her eyes flitted to his nose area before dropping to the leather armor-thing he wore about his neck. But staring there was dangerous, too. That particular piece of apparel made a directional arrow pointing downward to a chiseled six-pack-plus of belly. From there she got a full view of really long legs. Encased in what looked like black leather slacks that didn’t have much give to them. And if what she glimpsed was real...

Leah yanked her gaze back up. Suffered an all-over, full-body blush. Focused on his leather neck thing. She felt like a pre-teen at her first co-ed dance. Tongue-tied. Gauche. Beyond awkward. There was one benefit, however. She wasn’t cold anymore. Leah cleared her throat and spoke. She didn’t resemble a clinical psychologist with a waiting list of patients. She sounded breathless. Young.

Smitten.

Damn it.

“Um. What kind of parent...names their child such a name? Aside from a music superstar, I mean?”

“It wasn’t my birth name.” He tightened his hand on his sword hilt, making the muscles in his arm flex, while something in his attire creaked. “I earned it.”

“Oh,” she said aloud.
Wow,
her mind added.

“And now, you will tell me yours?”

“My what?”

“Name.”

“Oh. Yeah. It’s Leah.”

“Lee. Ah.”

He said it with a distinct gap between the syllables and a lot of bass tones. She’d been named after a great-aunt. Leah remembered her great-aunt having purplish-tinted white hair. A long, thin nose. Spectacles. Lots of cats. Leah hadn’t been fond of her given name. The way Anso said it changed everything. Her name suddenly sounded illicit. Exciting. Almost breath-taking. His voice sent a plethora of shivers racing along her spine; this time they were completely pleasant. It also sparked a series of reactions through her belly, despite the girdle’s grip on the vicinity. The sensation sent tingles. Closed off her throat. Puckered her nipples against their lace-bedecked bra cups.

He lifted the hand that wasn’t holding his sword hilt and stepped closer, sending shadow all the way to mid-chest, but that didn’t mute much of anything. His eyes sought hers and despite the misgivings, Leah locked gazes with him. Her ears rang. Her breath hitched. She could easily swoon. She couldn’t tell his eye color, but they were dark. Fathomless. Mesmeric. His proximity had a sensation to it, too. As if she stood near a massive power source. It raised goose bumps all along her skin.

“Come. Take my hand.”

Leah stepped back a fraction. She didn’t know how much space she had, and couldn’t seem to move her eyes to check. But falling off the back of the bench was not a viable option. The embarrassment potential was too high.

“How about a...no?” she managed to reply.

“No?”

She was amazed the word had made it out of her mouth, but Anso looked as surprised as it sounded. Maybe he wasn’t used to women who told him no.

Or anyone who did.

“Please?” he asked next.

“I’m not sure that’s...a good idea.”

“You exist. I have found you. It is—. Ah! I cannot describe it. I cannot think clearly! Please? You must come with me.”

“I’ve got a better idea. Why don’t we make it a date? Tomorrow evening. No. Wait. It’s after midnight. Tonight! You could pick me up at my hotel. We could have a nice supper...”

He shook his head.

“What does that mean?”

“Didn’t you hear me? I just found you!”

His tone lifted more than goose bumps. It sent a prickle of tears to her eyes, and that was just nonsensical. She wasn’t an emotional type. And they’d just met. This encounter was truly weird, and getting weirder by the moment. The mist had gotten a lot thicker, having risen while they conversed. Tendrils of it wrapped about them, isolating them in a layer of white-cast fog. It should have chilled. It didn’t. There was a strange throb in the air, too. Her entire body sensed the beat.

And swayed to it.

Leah shook her head. This was ridiculous. She needed to get control of the situation before worse things happened. And if anything on her body obeyed, she already would have.

“Take my hand, Leah. I beg you.”

“Um...”

“You do not understand!”

“That is an understatement.”

“I am trying to act...civilized.”

Leah nearly laughed at how crazed that sounded. Something stopped her. It had a lot to do with the strange aura that encased them. His seriousness. And the way his upper lip had lifted on the last word.

“You hesitate without reason. I will not harm you. You have my word. Now. Take my hand. Please?”

“I...shouldn’t.”

Shouldn’t?

What was wrong with her? She’d just used a passive word, one that could easily be construed as tacit approval. There was no excuse. She was a self-assured woman with a can of pepper-spray at her disposal.

“Why not?” He didn’t ask it as much as demand.

“I don’t know you. You don’t know me.”

“I am Anso. You are Leah.”

This was beginning to resemble a Tarzan script. He moved even closer. Sparks flashed along her skin with the proximity. Every cell on her body got a strong dose of something vast. Necessary.

Addictive.

“Anso...um. It’s...really late.”

“I am unwilling to lose even a moment from you.”

Oh. Wow.
How many times had she wished her ex had said something like that? Leah didn’t bother thinking it through. The number was astronomical. And – why was she thinking of Ron at a time like this? The man might have his own company and his life in order, but he didn’t remotely resemble the masculine god standing in front of her.

Now that she thought of it. Anso was probably a perfect name.

“Um...” The word vibrated through her throat. It wasn’t followed up by anything else.