Irresistible Nemesis (13 page)

How the hell had the minx gotten him wrapped so tightly
around her little finger?
Oh yeah
, he remembered.
It must have been
the other day when her sweet pussy sent you reeling over the edge
.

****

Sixty-two degrees outside. It was a warm February day, uncharacteristic for this time of year. No wonder Oliver had agreed to hold their weekly status meeting out on the porch. The soothing sun shone bright through the trees. The plantation shutters of the old Victorian house swayed in the gentle afternoon breeze. Her boss sat sprawled out on the patio swing sipping tea and snacking on petite blueberry scones. It was an absolute beautiful day. So why did Eva feel like her world was about to crash down upon her?

“Good morning, my dear.” Oliver removed his spectacles and smiled up at Eva, his cheery expression made what she needed to ask somewhat easier for him to swallow. “Would you like some tea?” She nodded and plopped down on the chaise lounge across from him. She took a sip of the warm concoction, letting the liquid courage slide down her throat before she handed him a short stack of paperwork to review.

“Everything in your status report seems to be in order.” Oliver scanned through the pile of paper. Then he wavered and focused his attention on one particular page. “But do you care to explain this secondary attachment?” There was no mistaking the look of confusion in his eyes.

“It’s my transfer request. I would have thought you’d be expecting this.” Eva peered up at her boss through lowered lids. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms as she tried to shake off the sudden chill in the air. “It’s no secret that I’ve botched up this assignment pretty bad. I let myself get too involved with the perpetrator, and I know I’ve let you and the rest of the team down.

I’m asking to be reassigned to the New Orleans division,” Eva admitted. In truth, she was more disappointed in herself than Oliver could ever be. She’d let her emotions get the better of her.

After the death of her parents, Eva closed herself off from the rest of the world. She promised to never let another person into her heart. Losing someone you love was the most excruciating pain imaginable. But somehow, Andreas had finagled his way in. She couldn’t be trusted around him and would never forgive herself for screwing up BPA’s only chance to take down the Kristopolous family.

“Eva, this is so ridiculous! You only did as I instructed you to do.” Oliver fumbled with the stack of papers before setting them on the small coffee table. He took her hands in his own and squeezed tight. An attempt to comfort her the only way he could. “If anyone is responsible for the emotional backlash, it’s me. The op may not have gone exactly as planned, but I should never have put you into that predicament. It was cruel and unusual punishment.”

“We both made mistakes.” Eva held back the tears, eager to keep her emotions in check. “But regardless, I can’t stay here. My feelings for Andreas are too raw, and I don’t want to jeopardize future operations that may involve him. Please. Don’t fight me on this. Sign the damn transfer request.”

With a beleaguered sigh, Oliver finally agreed. “All right, but I need you to stay until the end of the month. You need to close out a few projects you’ve been actively working on and hand your caseload over to another agent.” His voice remained stern and abrupt. Eva knew his decision was final, so she didn’t bother arguing. “But I want you to stay inside these walls pushing paperwork for the next three weeks. It’s for your own safety. No patrolling. No interviewing suspects. Nothing. Am I making myself clear?”

“Perfectly clear.” Eva gulped down the last drop of her tea, then stood up. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to start working on that mound of paperwork that’s waiting for me on my desk.”
Chapter Fifteen

Repentance

Day six. Still, Andreas hadn’t heard a single word from Eva.

Not for lack of trying. He left her at least three voice mails. But it was obvious she wanted nothing to do with him. Maybe it’s for the best. If he saw her, he wouldn’t know how to react. His father expected her head on his doorstep by midnight tomorrow night. Yet Andreas’s protective nature gnawed at him to sweep her up like Prince Charming and whisk her somewhere far, far away. The duality of his emotions had him in knots. It was moments like this when he yearned for his mother. What would she think of Eva? What advice would she give him about love and how to best handle their current situation? It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the answer to that question.

She’d tell him to listen to his heart. And if that didn’t work, go talk it over with Father Mancini.

After he made a quick stop at
The Crypt
to ensure things were still running smoothly, Andreas began the eighteen-block stroll from his office to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The weather over the past few days had been heavenly. Warm and cozy. But tonight, he felt the chill of the winter wind down to his bones. Snow would soon blanket the city streets, washing away the grim and dirt.

Andreas welcomed the change. The cold weather awakened his senses, and it felt good to be out in the open after being cooped up in his Connecticut mansion. On the way to the church, he paused long enough to take sustenance from a middle-aged stock broker headed to catch a train back to the suburbs. He arrived in time to hear the bells toll, signaling the start of the seven o’clock Mass. He entered the ornate concrete and marble structure, but hesitated at the massive archway. It had been more than a year since he’d last visited this sacred place. He dunked his right index finger into the holy water once inside the entrance to the cathedral and made the sign of the cross on his forehead.

Inwardly, he laughed at the old wives’ tales so often reported about his kind. It was preposterous to assume vampires couldn’t to set foot on holy ground or come into contact with holy water. On the contrary, both of those misconceptions served as regenerative functions for Andreas. They kept him in touch with his own fragile humanity.

But every once in a while, he needed a kick in the pants.

Something to remind him he wasn’t a monster. Sure, his people had killed. But they suffered too. Victims of a constant stream of misconstrued half-truths whispered in the shadows and embellished by fictional characters. There were too many to count. Andreas grew tired of the silly, unsubstantiated rumors.

Vampires don’t have a reflection. It’s impossible for them
breathe air, or eat and drink like humans? They’re nothing but cold-blooded murders who get off on killing their victims?

Other than the need to drink blood, vampires had a lot in common with humans. Since the beginning of time, humans had free will. They chose their own path, whether righteous or evil. So did vampires. But the best way for them to gain people’s trust was to blend in. Appear human. Breathe air. Eat, drink, and be merry.

Vampires didn’t need to perform any of those inconsequential bodily functions in order to live. Adapting was a matter of survival. And vampires were all about joie de vivre.

Andreas had taken advantage of all life had to offer. Power.

Money. Wealth. Even women. Yet, those petty possessions seemed meaningless to him. Instead, he longed for the comfort and familiarity St. Patrick’s brought him.

Andreas took a seat in the last pew on the left as the lector orated the first reading. He listened with sincere interest to Father Mancini’s sermon and followed the up-down pattern of the parishioners as they participated in the age-old ritual. The customary practice had a healing effect on his soul. If only it could heal his battered heart. He’d never felt this way about a woman and needed to figure things out rather fast, if he wanted life to return back to normal.

He was so deep in thought, he didn’t hear the frail elderly woman next to him as she reached out her hand.

“Peace be with you,” she said with a warm, genuine smile.

Back to reality, Andreas shook hands with the other people around him as was expected. Then, he felt a pair of eyes trained on him. He scanned the room with cautious efficiency, eager to identify the culprit. At last he saw her, in the front row on the right side of the church. His Eva.

When their eyes met, Andreas felt the surreptitious jolt a second too late. Like lightning striking dried brush on the forest floor, the fire between them ignited. Fierce and all-consuming. It took great effort for him to rein himself in. But if the two of them planned to habitat the same city, Andreas had to learn to control his reaction to her. New York was a pretty damn big city, but with the heat that radiated from Eva’s hot little body, he had a feeling he’d have to work extra hard to avoid her.

Get a grip, Andreas
.
You’re in the house of God, for goodness
sake!

The remaining twenty minutes of the Mass seemed to drag on.

Luckily, he was able to stay somewhat focused on the task at hand.

Even when the scent of gardenias inundated his senses as he walked up to the altar during communion, he valiantly resisted the urge to go to her.

As the organist played the last hymn and the people shuffled out of the cathedral, Andreas couldn’t stand it any longer. He picked up the pace and caught up to her as she stepped out of the church.

“Eva. Wait.” Andreas’s gentle tug of the elbow garnered her attention. She turned and shot him a haunting look. One that told him she experienced just as much agony as he did.

“Andreas. We can’t do this. Please don’t make it any harder than it already is.” Eva’s body trembled as it did whenever they touched. Her reaction to him turned his red, luscious lips up into a full-fledged grin.

“Give me five minutes. Then you’ll never have to lay eyes on me again, if you don’t want to.” Andreas stared down at her. He pleaded with his eyes. Anything to get her to listen to reason. Eva didn’t utter a word in reply, but she didn’t run either. Andreas took it as a positive sign, and continued to speak his piece. “Baby. You need to stay indoors and be
extra
careful. My father’s put a price tag on your head. He’s given me until tomorrow to…to take care of you myself. After that, he’ll take matters into his own hands, and there’ll be nothing I can do to stop him.”

Eva looked up at Andreas, her eyes glazed over with unspoken promises. She frowned, then reached up to caress his cheek with the back of her hand. “I know about the hit. Don’t worry about me, Andreas. I can take care of myself, remember?” Her touch was warm and tender, and it made he want to pull her into her arms and never let her go.

“Once things die down a bit, I’ll send for you,” he tried to explain. But she shook her head in vigorous denial.

“No, Andreas. I’m sorry. It’s over.” Eva averted her gaze. She refused to look him in the eye as she made the declaration. “Oliver is making plans for me to leave town. I’m being administratively transferred to another division of BPA.” Andreas watched a single tear glisten against the pale skin of her cheek. It severed the last tendrils of his control.

“When? Where?” Andreas searched her expression for the answers he sought. He brushed his hand through his hair, frantic as he racked his brain to come up with a plan to save them both from a life of misery apart.

“In a few weeks, once all the details have been ironed out. But I can’t tell you where I’m going.” Eva stepped back, ready to bolt.

“You mean you
won’t
tell me.” Andreas clenched his jaw in an effort to tamp down his anger.

“No, you’re right. I won’t tell you.” Eva steeled her shoulders.

Defiant as usual. “We aren’t meant to be, Andreas. The sooner you and I admit that to ourselves, the better off we’ll be. Please. Don’t contact me again because I won’t return your calls.” With fierce determination, she pulled away from him and disappeared into the crowd.

For the first time in his life, Andreas felt like a failure. A natural competitor, he’d always been good at everything. But Eva Sambucco had seriously fucked with his mojo, and he didn’t have a clue how to fix it. He started to walk away. His proverbial tail tucked between his legs when he heard a voice calling his name. He glanced over his shoulder to find Father Mancini. The old man waved at him from the front steps of the cathedral.

The priest had a way of getting people to share their deep, dark secrets with him. After a brief hesitation, Andreas complied. He sat down on the steps next to him and poured his heart out. He needed to explain his feelings of inadequacy and the strange emotions Eva ignited in him. The confession felt incredibly freeing. While it by no means solved all of his problems, it helped relieve some of the heavy burden that had stomped on his self-esteem and damaged his previously-unscathed ego.

“Son. I don’t have any real proof. But any fool can see that Ms. Sambucco cares for you deeply.” Father Mancini’s encouraging words somehow soothed his wounded pride. “She’s dealt with more loss in her short life than anyone should ever have to. Give her some time to deal with her feelings for you. Have no doubt. She’ll come around.” The man was wise way beyond his years, and the tranquility of his words calmed Andreas’s restless soul like no one, except for his mother, had in quite a long time.

“Thank you, Father. You always know exactly what to say to ease my mind.” Andreas tipped his head at the man, grateful for his infinite wisdom.

“Are you ever going to forgive your own father?” Father Mancini asked as Andreas started to walk away. The intuitiveness of the priest’s comment stopped him dead in his tracks. “He did his best to be a good father. But showing emotion was never his strong suit.

Even though she loved him dearly, your mother carried this same resentment for him up until the final days of her life. In the end, she forgave him and was able to die in peace. Nonetheless, before you can resolve your feelings for Eva, you must heal the wound with your father.”

Andreas patted the old man on the shoulder and nodded in silent acknowledgment. He stood to leave, yet the air remained thick with unspoken emotion.

“God bless you, Father Mancini.”

Chapter Sixteen