Dark Redemption (16 page)

Chapter
17

         
Impossible.
A word Kate had already begun to redefine.
So many things she’d believed impossible had already come to pass. She was a
living, breathing impossibility. What was to stop this from being any
different?    Kate had watched Dominic take a bullet to the brain,
had held him in her arms as he drew his last breath. And yet… she’d ignored
this gnawing feeling deep in her gut for far too long.
Dominic was alive.

She’d
chalked it up to denial, her heart’s refusal to accept the death of her lover.
But the vision she saw in Alexander’s mind begged the question,
had Dominic
survived somehow?

         
But such a thing fell so far beyond the realm of impossible, Kate didn’t dare
believe it. Even if Dominic lived through the removal of silver bullets from
his chest, no wolf could heal from a silver bullet to the head.

         
Unless, of course, Alexander hadn’t fired silver ammo.
The chest shots were fired by the other vampires. The head shot was fired by
Alex. Maybe, just maybe, Alex wanted to take Dominic alive.
But
why?

         
Sure, the two
men hated each other. Kate knew that as surely as she knew she hated Alexander
with every fiber of her being. But why wouldn’t Alex just kill Dominic and be
done with their feud?

A
sickening realization sank like a boulder in Kate’s chest.
Unless,
he intended to exact revenge, slowly and painfully.
Torture.
Prolonging his revenge would be the only reason Alex would want Dominic alive.
To torture him.

Before
her capture by the wolves, Kate wouldn’t have believed Alex capable of it. But
the dark side of Alexander, the one she’d come to know since her return, was
capable of anything. He would stop at nothing to get what he wanted.
Nothing.
 

If
Dominic was alive, he was being subjected to unknown atrocities. He needed her.
Her husband had been her savior and protector time and again. Now her time had
come to return the favor. She would save him, come hell or vengeful vampire.
Then, Alex would pay for what he’d done.

Alex.
Kate needed to find a way around him. Better yet, through him. She needed to
know where he kept Dominic, what kind of security measures he used.

Yeah,
right. Alexander would sooner rip out his fangs and offer them as a trophy than
give her that information. Which left Kate only one option.

Kate
needed to see inside his head again, needed to siphon his thoughts and memories.
If only she could drink his blood, Kate would have all the answers she needed
to save Dominic.
Which left one tiny problem.

After
all the death threats she’d thrown at her ex-fiancé, it’d be a cold day in Hell
before he’d let her close enough to sink her fangs in his throat. He would find
a change in heart suspect, would be wary of a false seduction. Unless…

Alexander
was an incredibly jealous and possessive creature. His reaction to her
self-branding was evidence enough of that. Perhaps she could use his jealousy
to get close to him. All she needed was to make him feel threatened enough to
assert his claim over her. He couldn’t possibly suspect her of subterfuge when
he himself was the aggressor.

He
would think he was in control, all the while dancing on the strings she
controlled like a puppet. His guard would be down and he wouldn’t even know
it.  He would let her close, believing it be the last thing she wanted.
Which in a sense, it was. She’d sooner bed down with a poisonous snake.
However, what she wanted and what she needed were two very different things.

Dread
and disgust roiled in her belly, threatening to make her sick. She could get
close to him, but she’d have to let him get close to her. Blood sharing between
vampires was the deepest form of intimacy, for it was the sharing of
souls. 

If
she wanted his thoughts and memories, a piece of his soul, she’d have to give
the bastard a piece of her soul in return. As repellant as the thought might
be, she’d do it for Dominic. She’d sacrifice her whole soul for the smallest
chance to save him.

Yet
she couldn’t bear the thought of Alexander touching her, of another man
trespassing on places promised only to Dominic. She belonged to Dominic -- body
and soul. Kate couldn’t imagine letting his worst enemy put his mouth and hands
on her body. The same hands that tortured the man she loved. She couldn’t do
it. But she knew someone who could.

“Alright
you selfish, bloodthirsty bitch, you and I need to talk,” Kate muttered under
her breath.

Katerina
stirred in response. Kate could feel the demon’s excitement grow over the
prospect of the plan formulating in her mind. Raw power, dark and potent,
roiled like storm clouds within her blood, filling Kate with fear. She had no
choice. Unleashing her powerful inner demon was the only way to save Dominic.
She knew this.

If
only she knew for sure she could regain control of her darker self after the
fact. The blood had made her stronger, given her more control, but it
strengthened Katerina. She wasn’t sure if she could rein the demon back in
after accessing the information she needed. But she had no other choice.

Resigning
to the unfavorable odds that there might be no return from the path she was
about to take, Kate made her own deal with the devil. Only this devil wanted
more than her soul. She wanted everything.

Kate
heard male voices, raised in argument outside her door. Massimo and Alexander
had arrived. Perfect. Step one of her plan initiated.

“No,
absolutely not,” Alexander’s voice reverberated through the door with his
typical calm.

“No
one tells a Cacciatori what they can or can’t do, not even you, Ambrogio,”
Massimo argued with his own typical hot-headed bravado.

“In
this case, I can and I will.”

“Who
the hell do you think you are?”

“Her
tutore
and fiancé,” Alexander growled.

Massimo’s
bark of laughter rattled the door. “She’d sooner gut you than marry you,
Ambrogio.”

Kate
could hear Alex’s teeth grind from where she stood. She wanted to hug Massimo
right then and there. At least someone realized how she felt and gave a damn about
it.

“Regardless,
I am responsible for her and I am not letting her off the compound.”

“Oh
come on, Ambrogio,” Massimo wheedled. Kate would have to remember to thank her
jackass cousin and give him a big hug. Clearly, he wasn’t giving up on her
request without a fight. And Massimo was definitely a fighter. “My club is just
as safe as the compound. Let the kid live a little.”

“No.”

“You
want to win her back? Give her what she wants.”

Alexander
let his breath out in a low hiss of air. “The last time I gave Katerina what
she wanted, she ended up traipsing across the continent with a werewolf while I
ended up beaten within an inch of my life for it.  Forgive me if I don’t
feel the need to indulge her selfish whims any longer.”

“You’re
still angry with her, bro. I get that. Hell, I don’t blame you,” Massimo said.
Maybe not such a big hug.
“But if you want to have a future
with Katerina, you’re going to have to show her a little good faith.”

Silence.
Kate held her breath and
waited. Alexander sighed. “Fine, but she doesn’t leave either of our sights.”

Kate’s
heart skipped a beat. It worked. After a sharp knock, the door to Kate’s
quarters whipped open and the two male vampires marched into her room.

“Please,
come in,” Kate said dryly as they plowed into her sitting room. Massimo’s grin
said he knew she’d been listening the whole time. It was one of those mental
high five moments. Kate had to give it to him this time. She owed him one.

“Your
cousin has the ridiculous idea that you require time away from the compound. He
has graciously offered his club as the venue for your little escapade. I have
agreed, under the condition you are not to leave my sight. Understood?”
Alexander’s flat tone left little room for argument.

Kate
didn’t care. She grinned at the hostile golden vampire.
“Perfectly.”

“Very well.
Be ready in thirty minutes.
The guard and I will be prepared to escort you into Milan.”

Nodding
her agreement, Kate turned her back on the two men and headed into her room to
change clothes. Step one -- check. Step two -- tramp it up in an outfit sure to
drive Alexander insane. Rummaging through the dressing table drawers, Kate
found a black silk chemise, matching black panty, and a blush colored bustier
with a black lace overlay. Perfect.
Nothing quite like going
out in her underwear to make a statement.

Stripping
out of her clothes, Kate slipped the silky fabric over her head and let it fall
over her naked curves. Binding the bustier over the top of the skimpy night
dress, she grinned at her reflection. The bustier pressed her breasts up and
together into full mounds of feminine flesh, cinched her waist into an
exaggerated hour glass, and shortened the front of her skirt to a length
bordering on scandalous. Shrugging to let the dress straps fall down her
shoulders, she admired her handiwork. Oh yes, mission accomplished. She looked
like a hooker.
Or a vampire slut on the prowl.
Either
way, she was a woman on a mission.

With
her feet still bare, she padded into the bathroom. While her curling iron
heated, she lined her eyelids with thick, black liner and curled her lashes.
She colored, dabbed, and blended until satisfied she’d covered every last hint
of wholesome in her face. She didn’t need wholesome tonight. She needed
man-eating bitch.

After
curling and teasing her hair for fullness, Kate shook out her mane to fall
about her shoulders in a lush ebony cloud of loose curls. The door to her
sitting room opened then banged closed again.
“Time’s up,
cuz
.
I guess you’ll just have to give up on trying
to be
as flawless as me.”

Kate
chuckled and called over her shoulder, “You’re such an ass, Massimo.”
Unplugging her curling iron and double checking her reflection, she made her
way toward her sitting room.

“And
you’re an idiot. We’ve established this.
Wha
—”
Massimo stopped mid-sentence as she stepped out into his line of sight. Kate
grinned at him.

Alexander
stood next to Massimo in silence. The disproval emanating from him was strong
enough to send a satellite signal to her parents’ television in the United
States. Kate was half tempted to ask him if he offered the NFL Season
ticket.  His lips formed a tight line as he watched her through narrowed,
hungry eyes.
“Absolutely not, Katerina.
Go change this
instant.”

Massimo
smirked and arched a brow at his friend. “Hey, at least she looks like a
vampire for once.”

“She
looks like a succubus,” Alexander growled.

“So,”
Massimo shrugged. “
Succubi
are hot. You know, in that
psycho, sex-crazed kind of way.”

Kate’s
gaze danced from one stunned male face to the other and back again. Wry amusement
filled her to the point of brimming over. By the looks on their faces she’d
definitely succeeded in throwing both of the vampires off kilter.  

Though
unable to completely hide his surprise, Massimo smirked in smug approval. Kate
expected him to run over and fist bump her right then and there.

And Alexander…
Kate had never seen her cool
and collected tutore quite so ruffled before.  Not when she’d refused to
drink blood. Not when her inner demon had thrown herself naked at him. Not when
he’d shot Dominic. Not when she’d thrown death threats at him.

The
look in those narrowed golden eyes was analytical, the cylinders in Alexander’s
head firing in quick succession as he considered this turn of events. She could
see his mind racing. What she would give to be a fly on the wall in his head
right then and there.