Of Blood and Passion (5 page)

Instead, she just stared at him, her green eyes cool as frost. Finally, she jerked her arm free, turned, and walked away. Arturo followed her out of the kitchen and down the hall to the empty sitting room where she turned to him, arms crossed, expression hard and closed.

“I do not betray you,
cara
.” If only she could feel his emotions as he felt hers, she would know the truth. A truth that would probably scare her more than his deception. “I will never betray you again.” Unfortunately, he’d made a career out of lying and manipulating and she knew it well. Cristoff’s snake. “If you cannot find it within yourself to trust me, then at least trust Micah. As much as it frustrates me at times, he is a great admirer of yours. He would never allow you to come to harm.”

“I don’t know what to believe anymore.” Her words were terse, but she uncrossed her arms, lifting and dropping them at her sides, helplessly. He watched the weariness flood her eyes and weigh down the lines of her sleek body. “I want to believe you’ve changed, Vampire. I did believe it. But you’ve lied to me so many times in the past. And I’ve paid a terrible price for it every time.”

He hated that she’d gone back to calling him ‘Vampire’. And hated that he could feel her closing up, pulling the walls back up around her. For so long, she’d been utterly alone, isolated by her inability to trust anyone with the truth of who…and what…she really was. Even Zack hadn’t known she was a sorceress until she’d been forced to reveal her abilities in order to save his life.

But slowly, Arturo had worked his way past her barriers. Slowly, she’d come to trust him. Or, at least, he’d thought she had. The swiftness in which she’d lost faith in him told him he’d made far less progress with her than he’d hoped. And the knowledge was a fist in his stomach.

“I cannot banish the memories of my betrayals,” he said. “They are nightmares that replay over and over in my head. I have given you much reason to doubt me since we met,
amore mio
, but none since my soul reawakened. I do not wish to keep any more secrets from you, but this one…” He shook his head, his brow furrowing. “Cristoff cannot know.”

“Is it a bigger secret than you being his traitor?”

His lips compressed and he nodded. “You know that I asked you not to accompany me to Gonzaga. I asked you to let me find a way to steal Escalla alone, but you have insisted on going.”

“Because you can’t do it without my magic!” she said heatedly. “We all know that.”

“I do know that.” He’d finally accepted that yesterday. Now he used her doubts against her.

He felt the burst of frustration within her. And, unfortunately, no lessening of her wariness. She watched him with eyes at once fierce and haunted. She wanted to believe in him. He could feel that longing within her, but it was being devoured by the gnawing fear that she was being deceived yet again. And her fear slew him.

“
Tesoro.
”

Quinn shook her head and turned for the doorway. “I need to think.”

Arturo watched her leave, frustrated and unhappy. The last thing he wanted was for her to once more retreat behind the walls that had, for so long, isolated her. He wished for her to feel connected to those who would be her friends. He wanted her to be happy. And safe.

He simply wanted her. In so many ways—her smile, her sunshine, her trust.

Her heart.

Perhaps it was better this way, better for her to doubt him, better for her to refuse to accompany him to Gonzaga Castle, for he deeply doubted his ability to keep her safe there.

But without her magic, they would almost certainly fail to retrieve Escalla.

And unless they destroyed Escalla, Quinn would never be able to save his world.

Mio Dio
, it was an impossible choice—his world and his friends, or the woman who had slowly, utterly, stolen his heart.

Q
uinn strode through the hallway beneath Neo’s, uncertain where she was going. She needed to think, to find the trust within herself that it would take to accompany Arturo once more into Cristoff Gonzaga’s house of horrors. The thought of going back there had her stomach twisting, her skin flushing damp with perspiration.

Less than an hour ago, she’d been certain Arturo would never betray her again. But, from the beginning, his betrayals had taken her by surprise. They shouldn’t have—he was a vampire, after all—but despite that, she’d seen honor in him. Unfortunately, back then, his honor had manifested mostly as unwavering loyalty to his vampire master. And while Arturo had never actually hurt her himself, not physically, he’d told her he would never protect her against his master. And he hadn’t.

Since his soul had fully returned, he’d assured her, over and over, that he
would
protect her, that he’d never allow Cristoff to hurt her again. But this was the first opportunity she’d had to test it. And she was no longer certain he wouldn’t fail.

As she turned the corner to the hallway where her own tiny room was located, she nearly ran into Dr. Morris, a petite brunette with long, wavy hair that glowed with the phosphorescence that marked her as an immortal human, or Slava.

“Amanda.”

“Quinn.” The doctor frowned, concern in her eyes. “What’s happened?”

Quinn tried to remember if she’d seen her upstairs. “Carlos…”

“I know.” Sadness pulled at the doctor’s pretty features even as she continued to study Quinn. Dr. Amanda Morris was far too perceptive. “Are you okay? Is it Zack?”

Quinn hesitated. Amanda was another women who’d made friendly overtures toward her. Friendship had never come easily to Quinn, but damn if she didn’t need someone to talk to now.

“Do you have a minute?”

“Of course.” Amanda nodded toward the opposite hallway with her head. “My examining room is larger than the bedrooms. And private.”

Quinn followed, her stomach a mass of knots. An hour. The vampires wanted to leave in an hour. Fifteen minutes ago, it had been her pushing to go and Arturo holding back. Now they’d switched places and she felt utterly conflicted.

Amanda led the way into a sterile, modern-looking doctor’s examination room, and lit one of the lamps. She motioned to the chair in the corner, then took a seat on her stool as Quinn sat down.

“What’s going on, Quinn?” Amanda had been a family practitioner in the real world until five years ago when she was captured, enslaved, then rescued and brought to Neo’s. Before Neo and Mukdalla could ferry her back to the real world, Amanda met Sam, one of the Slavas helping Neo, a human who could never leave Vamp City. Now the two were married, both trapped here, both working to help the escaped humans, each in his or her own way. Both would die when the magic failed.

If it failed. If Quinn couldn’t free her magic. If she couldn’t trust…

“How much faith do you have in Arturo Mazza?” Quinn hadn’t intended to be so blunt, but the question burst from her, unwilling to be contained.

Amanda’s expression turned wry. “What’s he done this time?”

Quinn’s mouth compressed. “I overheard him talking to Micah, assuring Micah that he would be able to do whatever he had to, something Micah had doubts about. When I confronted them, neither would meet my eye.”

Amanda frowned. “You believe this is something significant?”

Raking tense fingers through her hair, Quinn relayed the missing, damning piece. “We’re supposed to leave for Gonzaga Castle in an hour.”

The doctor’s eyes widened, then melted with understanding and sympathy. “Oh, Quinn.”

“Yeah. Do you have any idea what kind of trust it requires for me to go back there with him? I had that trust. Until I caught the two of them whispering, I
had
it.” Quinn stood and paced the room, wishing there was a window to look out. “I just keep wondering if I’m being a colossal fool. If he’s been playing me all along.”

Amanda took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I can’t give you a definitive answer, Quinn. He’s a vampire whose soul was compromised, though never completely. Even at his worst, he brought escaped slaves to us and helped Neo hide our operation. He never entirely lost himself. But there’s no denying that for a long time he couldn’t see what Cristoff had become. While he might not have lost his own soul, he couldn’t see how completely his master had lost his. He sees the truth, now, I think. Neo and Kassius were talking about this just last night, how different Arturo is. How much you’ve changed him.”

Quinn watched her. “But what if it’s all a lie? What if I haven’t changed him enough? His loyalty to Cristoff was absolute.”

“Was. It’s not anymore, Quinn, you know that. Arturo made his choice between you and his master the day he found you in Cristoff’s dungeon. He chose you. He risked everything to get you out of there.” Amanda shrugged. “I can’t promise you anything, of course. But I see a look in his eyes when he watches you, a look that tells me he’d sooner rip out his own heart than let Cristoff touch you again.”

With a heavy sigh, Quinn nodded. “Somewhere inside, I believe that. But on some level, I’ve always believed that, even when it wasn’t justified. I can’t be that foolish again.” She shook her head. “I can’t.”

“I know.” Amanda smiled, a quiet smile that almost reached her eyes. “Sometimes all we can do is go with our gut. In the meantime…”

A fist pounded on the door, making both women jump.

“Amanda!”

Amanda jumped up and opened the door.

Rinaldo stood in the doorway. “You’re needed upstairs. Quickly! It’s Zack.”

Chapter 6

Z
ack.

As Quinn ran for the door of Amanda’s examining room, both Rinaldo and Amanda disappeared in a vampire flash. Since Amanda was no vampire, Rinaldo must have picked her up and carried her, which meant she was badly needed.
For Zack.

Quinn’s heart seized, her vision blurring with moisture, as she tore out of the room. She was halfway down the hall when Micah appeared suddenly, swept her into his arms, and then she, too, was flying up the stairs, vampire-fast.

Moments later, Micah deposited her in the middle of the kitchen where she turned to find Arturo on his knees, leaning over Zack’s prone body, his fangs buried deep in her brother’s neck.

“What happened?” Quinn and Amanda demanded simultaneously as the doctor knelt on Zack’s other side, Quinn at his feet.

“We don’t know,” Mukdalla told them. “He was standing there asking if there was any leftover ham when his eyes suddenly rolled up in his head and he started to go down. Arturo caught him before he hit the floor and ordered us to fetch you two.”

Arturo pulled back, his fangs retracting as he met her gaze with sorrowful eyes, then turned to Amanda. “I’ve initiated healing with my bite, but…” He shook his head.
 
Quinn’s heart began to race, fear a live wire in her chest. “What’s the matter?”

“His blood tastes off,
cara mia
,” he said, meeting her gaze with compassion. “Almost rancid.”

She stared at him, wanting to deny his words, wanting to rail at the universe. “He’s out of time.” The words felt ripped from her throat and she grasped Zack’s blazing hot bare feet as if she could somehow keep him tethered to life.

Suddenly his right foot twitched, then jerked out of her hold as her brother pushed himself up to a sitting position.

“Shit,” he muttered as if he’d been caught asleep on the kitchen floor. He stood, scattering those gathered around him.

Quinn pushed to her feet. “Zack?”

Her brother shook his head, but refused to meet her gaze as he turned and strode out of the kitchen. “I’m fine,” he tossed over his shoulder.

But he wasn’t fine. Not even close.

Dammit, dammit, dammit.

Shaking, she turned to Arturo. “We leave in an hour.” She didn’t know how she was going to steal Escalla, and wasn’t entirely certain Arturo wouldn’t betray her, but none of that signified when Zack was dying. There was only one possible way to save him and she knew what she had to do.

The look in Arturo’s eyes—frustration, resignation—told her he knew exactly what she was thinking. And that he was remembering their argument of yesterday shortly after she’d tried and tried to renew Vamp City’s magic, even when it was clear the attempts were killing her.

“You put him first,” Arturo said. “Always you put him first. Look me in the eye and tell me you would have stopped trying to renew the magic when the pain became too much. That you would have given up at some point even if I hadn’t been there to try to stop you.”

She wouldn’t have. Of course not. She’d believed that renewing the magic was the only way to save Zack.

“You’d have committed suicide before you quit.”

“He’s my brother!”

“He is more than that,
tesoro
,” Arturo said quietly. “He is your only reason for living.”

The words were a slap. The pain fueled her anger. “I don’t have to listen to this.”

But when she reached for the door of her small bedroom, he spun her around, furious eyes staring into her own. “Zack is all you care about. Your focus is so damn narrow, Quinn, that if it does not involve Zack, it does not matter. Kassius, Amanda, Neo, Rinaldo—all have befriended you, and when the magic fails, they will die, as will dozens of others, hundreds, many of whom do not deserve to. Yet you give them no thought.”