“You haven’t told me how you intend to hide Anna among her enemies,” Cezar demanded of his friend.
Viper waved a hand toward the glass rooms. “I discovered after opening this little business that while fairies are wealthy customers, they are far too volatile to have dozens of them under one roof without causing some sort of chaos.” He gave a shake of his head. “I was spending more money repairing the damage from their drunken brawls than I was making. I was finally forced to have the walls lined with lead.”
“Lead?” Anna demanded in confusion.
“It dampens the power of fairies.”
Strange. She cautiously concentrated on her own elusive powers. They swirled through her like bubbles of champagne that were just waiting for the cork to be popped. They certainly didn’t seem lessened by the lead.
Easily reading her mind, Cezar gave her shoulder a squeeze. “The lead won’t affect you,” he murmured, his gaze switching to Viper. “And it won’t stop Morgana.”
They arrived at two double doors that blocked the hallway. Viper once again used his keycard to open the lock.
“Not if she arrives on my doorstep, but I thought the purpose was to try to keep Anna hidden,” the silver-haired vampire said, opening one of the doors and allowing them to pass into a vast apartment. “What better place than an establishment that is already filled with fairies?”
Cezar frowned before giving a reluctant shrug. “I suppose it’s the last place she’d look.”
Anna struggled not to gape at the splendor that surrounded her. Styx’s house was grand, but this place was Trump territory. The floors were white marble, the walls built with alcoves to hold the numerous Greek statues, and the ceilings molded and highlighted with gilt. The furniture was covered in a dark red satin that perfectly matched the drapes at the far end of the room.
Wow. Obviously blood and sex were worth a pretty penny.
She forced her attention back to Cezar. Not a particularly difficult task. There was a part of her that would be happy to sit and gawk at that lean bronzed face for an eternity.
“What about that…Adar thing?” she demanded. “Can he find me here?”
Cezar’s beautiful features hardened. “We must trust that Styx managed to rid us of the demon before he caught your scent.”
Anna grimaced. It wasn’t that she doubted Styx’s skill. Even as a non-vampire she had sensed the thunderous power he possessed. Still, it would have been a bit more comforting if she knew that the hunter was out of action.
Easily sensing her unease, Cezar reached out to run a cool finger down her cheek, his dark eyes mesmerizing. A portion of her tension eased, swept away by the sheer force of his presence.
Nothing would harm me so long as he was near, a small voice whispered in the back of her mind.
Chapter 9
Anna lost track of how long they stood there simply staring into one another’s eyes, but at last Viper cleared his throat, his dark eyes shimmering at their unwitting display of intimacy.
“These are my private rooms. You won’t be disturbed here,” he promised. “If you have need of me, you only need to press five on the phone. It’s a direct line to my office.”
Cezar’s gaze never wavered from her face. “Thank you, amigo.”
It was the sound of the door closing with a soft click that finally brought Anna out of her odd trance.
Of course it still took several moments before she could convince her brain to obey the command to turn away from that hypnotizing gaze.
Her body knew what it wanted. It wanted to stay close to Cezar.
Really, really close to Cezar.
Naked, sweaty close.
Her mind, however, was not nearly so clear on what it wanted.
It was enough to make any woman of unknown origin and species a bit crabby. Rubbing her suddenly chilled arms, she glanced around the palatial living room.
“Do all vampires live in such lavish style?” she demanded.
She heard his soft hiss of frustration stir the air, but when he answered his voice was as smooth and dark as chocolate.
“Most, although for centuries Styx preferred the damp caves south of the city. He would probably still be there if…”
She turned back as his words abruptly broke off. “If what?”
“If Viper hadn’t demanded the Anasso needed something a bit more grand,” he continued easily.
Her hands landed on her hips. Damn. Did he think she was stupid?
“Another lie, Cezar?” she rasped. “You’re just chock-full of them, aren’t you?”
With an impatient motion, Cezar reached up to tug the strap of leather from his hair. The dark curtain fell about his lean, beautiful face like a river of ebony. Oh…damn. She’d never seen a more beautiful sight.
Thankfully unaware that her heart had lodged somewhere in her throat and her stomach was a quivering mass of awareness, Cezar shoved his fingers through the silky strands.
“Anna, there are simply things that I can’t tell you,” he at last admitted, an edge in his voice.
“Why? Because then you’d have to kill me?”
“Because someone else would.”
She blinked at his blunt words. Was this a sort of bad joke?
“Right.”
Without warning he was standing directly before her, his hands cradling her face.
“You’re new to the demon world, or you wouldn’t for a moment question my word.”
She had to force herself to remember to breathe as his thumbs stroked her cheeks in a soft caress. Ah yes, this was what her body wanted. Needed. His touch. His scent filling her with sandalwood heat.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she struggled to demand.
“It means that while many of us appear human, we’re not. We don’t live by the same set of morals and rules as humans and we don’t hesitate to kill when we feel it necessary.”
She searched his expression, finding no hint of apology in his dark, finely chiseled features.
“That’s a big comfort.”
“I’m sorry, querida. I don’t mean to frighten you, but you have to understand that there are dangers beyond Morgana le Fay.” His hands tightened on her face. “I will do everything in my power to protect you, even if that includes hiding the truth when necessary.”
She struggled to think of an argument. Some reason to insist that he put all his cards on the table so she didn’t feel as if she were walking blindfolded through a minefield.
But if he was right…
If the truth really could kill her, well then, maybe she should rethink the whole tell me what I want to know right now or I’ll break your nose thing.
Just maybe stumbling around in the dark wasn’t quite so bad.
Before she could come to any conclusion there was a sharp knock on the door and with that low growl that she was beginning to recognize as annoyance (oh, and sometimes God-that-feels-good), Cezar turned and crossed the tiled floor.
He opened the door just far enough to slip through, conducting a low-voiced conversation with a person on the other side before stepping back into the room and closing the door.
“Your bag,” he murmured, holding out the leather suitcase until she moved forward to take it. Almost as if he didn’t trust himself to come closer. “If you want there’s a hot tub in the bathroom. I’ll order you dinner while you soak. What do you prefer?”
Although food was the last thing Anna desired, she knew that she should try to eat something. Being weak from lack of sustenance seemed like a bad idea.
“Do they have food here?”
“Viper has a full kitchen staff to serve the fairies.”
Setting down the suitcase Anna was struck by a sudden thought. “And what about you? Are you going to…eat?”
The dark eyes flared with a raw, pulsing hunger that struck Anna with the force of a blow.
“Are you offering?” His voice deepened, his fangs glistening in the light of the chandelier.
Anna took an instinctive step backward. Not because she was horrified by his words, but because she wasn’t. She wasn’t even frightened. Instead, her entire body tingled with a sensation that could only be…excitement.
And desire.
Desire that raged like a sudden inferno.
Dear God, she remembered the feel of those fangs sliding through her flesh. The feel of him sucking her blood as her body convulsed with such bliss she had thought she had surely died and gone to paradise.
“Anna?” With that fluid speed he was standing so close she could feel the brush of his cool power. His dark eyes held a compelling heat as he stroked light fingers up the bare skin of her arm. “Will you allow me to drink from you?”
“No,” she said, more to end her erotic thoughts than in response to his question.
His jaw tightened before he shuttered his expression and stepped backward.
“Then I’ll have to find my blood elsewhere.”
Anna reacted without thought. One moment she was listening to the words leaving his mouth and the next her powers were stirring and Cezar was thrust back against the door.
Hard.
“You ass,” she hissed.
