sanguineangels (17 page)

“And they are very real.”

Her hand slapped her neck, right where it throbbed. “You didn’t.” The tremble in her voice appalled her. She had never thought of herself as a coward. “Just tell me you didn’t.” When he didn’t answer, she edged out of his embrace. She knew it without a doubt. He had. “You’re a…a vampire?” Her voice cracked. She put another step between them. “And Houston knew?” She fisted her hands, fighting to keep from shrieking her head off.

Tani’s legs wobbled when he nodded, yet she didn’t hit the floor. Somehow he had moved so quickly, so effortlessly, that he caught her in his arms. She discovered herself on his lap once more. “I should have thrown you out the first chance I had.” She was shaking, and she couldn’t stop.

“It would have saved us both. Now, it is too late. I will not let you go,” he murmured into her hair. “I need you, Titania. Desperately, completely.”

“Why? For food? Do you even hear me? I’m talking like I believe this nonsense.” She jumped from his lap this time. “Something happened,” she muttered. She gripped at the robe, tugging it tighter, needing to feel something normal. The thick terry cloth holding her together felt normal. “I was attacked. Knocked on the head. Had to be.” Her hands lifted, fisted into her hair, pulling at it absently. “I’m sick. The beginnings of insanity.”

He reached his feet, encircling her wrists to draw them away from her hair. “You are not crazy. And no, I do not consider you food. I never have.” He replaced her fingers with his to feather through her hair with light sweeps, repairing the damage she had done. “But something happens to me when I am with you. The part of me that wants to be bad, that craves to feel the power of life and death, is controllable. Until now, it is a fight I have managed alone, and it has not always been an easy one. Now, all I need is your name, your voice, and I can take what I need and not feel the torment of my bleak existence like I have for centuries.”

Pale eyes watched her closely. The exposed honesty of his fight was right there for her to witness, the glowing red of a coiling, insatiable hunger right out front. All the long nights, the temptation to take what he knew he could, so easily. The ache of bitter loneliness, the torture of knowing what he was. Her bottom lip became trapped between her teeth. It was the only way to hide its quivering as his emotions hid nothing from her.

“Centuries? There’s that word again. Just how old are you?” Her hands flattened on his hard chest, trying to keep perspective. To keep space. It was impossible to think when he was holding her as though she were a most treasured gift.

“I did the math once. I believe this year I would be four hundred and eighty-six. Give or take a few months.”

“Oh boy,” she said in a rush of breath. “You are so robbing the cradle with me.”

“That is one of Houston’s concerns.” Evident relief was growing in his voice. “But you have to believe me. I would never hurt you, and I am not going to kill you. You are probably the safest person on the planet right now.”

“Why would he think that?” Confusion pulled her eyebrows together.

“The Brethren are known for it. Killing their prey is commonplace. He is afraid I am toying with you.”

“But you say you’re different, not like them.” Her hands lifted to his face, holding him delicately. “How?”

“I will not kill to live. Self-defense, or to protect those I call my own, but not to live. Never to live. I believe I am the only one who adheres by that code of honor. The only one like me,” he said, tinged with the sorrow of his long life.

“Never?” She was trying hard to adjust her thinking. Vampires didn’t exist. At least, they weren’t supposed to.

“Not once. When I changed, I could not cope. My mind could not keep up with the changes. It was abhorrent to me, the needs that had been thrust upon me. That inability is what I believe has saved me from becoming what Houston fears I am. Even when I accepted the necessity, in order to survive, I could not kill for it. Vampires can be very deceiving, but not me with you. Except for the two times I told you of, I have not tried to warp your memories. I have not misled you.”

She inched out of his embrace. Instead of acknowledging the absence of his warmth, she pulled on the robe’s knot. She needed space, needed a clear head to think and make sense of this. What he was telling her was incredible and totally bizarre.

“So, you’re a vampire.” She looped an end of the robe’s belt around her hand, back and forth. “And you live on blood.”

“Yes.”

She tried to not look at him. She knew she’d scream like a wild woman if she did. Acceptance wasn’t happening quite yet. Why hadn’t she put it together? Able to work only at night? His incredible strength? The cold, deadly part of his soul? She knew he had it, had touched it the night she had stopped Brakka. They were the same, but not. Somehow.

Her brain continued to defy even as she fought to understand.

“You can really fly, too, can’t you?”

“Honey, you are purposely trying to scare yourself again.”

“Just…” She licked her lips. “Can you?”

He sighed, hope morphing into defeat. “Yes.”

“Oh, God.” She buried her face in her palms, trembling in disbelief. “This is insane. You know that, don’t you? I am not having this conversation. Vampires
do not
exist.”

The flash of pain that burst from Diego was staggering. She avoided his hand when he tried to reach for her. “Don’t. Just…not now.” She rubbed a trembling hand over her eyes. “Oh. My. God. My eyes!” Accusation was rife in her voice. “What did you do to me? Why the hell can I see!”

Diego paused in attempting to reach for her, every facet of his attention intent on her. “See?”

She launched a fist at him, hitting him square in the chest. He didn’t move. Not even a grunt of acknowledgment. “Yes. See! As in high noon. Except I can’t stand the damn sun anymore. My eyes have been killing me for two damn days, and you did it. You did this to me.” His tight jaw was all the answer she needed. “Get out. Leave. You are fired. I never want to see you again.”

“You are not safe,
cara
,” he reminded her.

“So you keep telling me. Where is Brakka? Why hasn’t he found me again? I can handle this, him. The whole damn army if I have to. Just go.”

“Cara,”
he whispered through her mind.

Her hands clamped over her ears, her eyes squeezed shut. “Do not do that anymore either! Do not talk to me. Just leave. I am not asking again.”

“As you wish, cara.”
She shrieked loudly, and he was gone. Sobs started, hot tears burning as they spilled down her cheeks. She frantically searched the room, looking for any hint that he was still there. Even his coat was gone.

The robe went flying, and she jumped into clothes. She had to get out of there. She had to get far away from him.

A vampire! Never even saw it coming. Cruel laughter tried to build. Houston was so going to love this, rubbing her face in it. She should have listened from the beginning instead of following her obviously misguided instincts.

She couldn’t even tell anyone she was leaving. Houston would try to stop her and then kill Diego. She couldn’t let either of them be hurt. Not because of her.

Tani pocketed all of her loose cash, grabbed a juice to sip on and called the desk for a cab. She would fly out of there. Go home. She could hide for a few days. Celebrities did it all the time. Tani was about to join the ranks.

She needed to see a doctor and soon, but now that would have to wait. Escape. She had to get away.

How had she let things get so crazy? Why had she needed to stop that stupid fight? She stumbled once going out the side doors of the hotel where she had asked for the cab to wait for her. All she needed was for Houston to see her in the state she was in. Weak, groggy. Pissed.
Nothing
was right anymore.

Her hand found a wall as she waited for her vision to clear. She was sicker than she thought if she couldn’t walk a straight line. The tears were making everything swim. She crawled into the cab and ordered it to the airport. Her head fell with a weak thump to the seat, her eyes closing almost immediately.

A black cloud was blanketing her mind. She was dying. Had she waited too long to do anything about her health? Why hadn’t she paid closer attention to it? She hadn’t really felt bad, but now it was racing up on her and sapping her strength. She felt weak all over.

The cab had only moved for a few minutes when a curse bellowed from the front. The driver slammed on his brakes, followed by the wrenching sound of the door she sat near. It was ripped clean off its hinges.

“Have you lost your mind?”

She recognized the snarled voice. She tried to open her eyes, but her vision was hazy no matter how hard she fought to focus on his enraged features. Hadn’t she just fired him?

“Are you still a vampire?” She spoke through lips that felt too thick, a tongue that was too dry.

His body was shaking violently with unrelenting arms keeping her captive to his chest. “Yes.”

“Then no.” Nothing was computing properly. She was going to the airport. She was trying to get away from him. Wasn’t she? Why was he holding her, marching up the street?

Without warning, his arms tightened like vices, his stride jerking. Diego buried his nose in her hair, hissing a long sound of pain, then he collapsed to his knees. With a faint recognition, she heard the report of a gun silencer. “I will find you,” were the last words he uttered when he toppled completely over, pillowing her body with his own.

Shapes were swimming, lights were melding, glaring back at her. It almost hurt just to breathe.

Titania heard footsteps running toward her. But she couldn’t talk, couldn’t ask for help. Every muscle had turned to stone.

“Is he dead?”

Someone pulled her up, threw her like a sack over a shoulder. “Yeah, the bullet nearly went through. No pulse.”

“Roll him in the gutter. The cops won’t find him ‘til morning.”

Her head was shrieking at her. Dead? Diego?
No!
she silently screamed. She passed out, trying to find any hint of Diego.

And failing.

Diego groaned. A comforting hand rested on his shoulder. “Don’t move. I’m almost done.” His eyelids flickered. Laney. Which meant…

“Some bodyguard you are.”
Houston.
Diego’s shot in the dark had worked.

“I would like to see how good you look with a bullet in you.” He clenched his teeth as Laney finished her ministrations.

“It’s almost out, but you can’t heal this by yourself. It took a chunk of something I don’t want to name.”

“No gymnastics, then?” His teeth clacked together when a finger dug deeper, but he forced himself to remain perfectly still.

“I wouldn’t,” she offered, sympathy in her words. He clenched a fist while her fingers probed, then they both sighed in relief when he heard the distinct metal clink of the bullet hitting pavement. She pressed a cloth to the open wound in his back.

“I have stopped the bleeding.”

“Nice trick,” she mused. “Did you stop everything? I swear you were dead when we got here.”

“I can shut down my heart at other times than to rest. It would have been inexcusable to bleed to death from a bullet.”

“Come on, pal.” Houston hooked a hand under an arm and helped Diego move, to prop him against a building.

Diego searched beyond Houston, seeing they had brought him into the shadows of the alley hidden from the street where he had been shot.

“Want to tell me what happened so I can validate killing you?”

“I told her the truth.” Diego’s head sagged to rest against brick while dragging in the cooler night air, concentrating on the wound to make it bearable.

“And she lost it.” Houston looked away, his expression saying it all. Diego still had ground to cover to be called a friend.

“I was shadowing her thoughts, though. Then something changed. I could not find the path. It was like all her thoughts began to scramble. I could not reach her directly either.”

Houston spun to face him, his mouth a thin slashed line of anger. “You have been sharing a mental connection with her?” Houston demanded.

“Yes, since the beginning.” Diego did not avoid Houston’s accusing glares. Diego found a pebble and pitched it. It bounced for almost a block. “It was one of the reasons I could not stay away. I was too intrigued by it, by her.” He tried to find her, even then, and only found open space.

“I told her over and over,” Houston bitched.

“So did I.” Diego sighed.

“You know, for two men…” Laney coughed into her hand to hide her sarcasm. “Neither of you have a clue. The more you order her, the more she’s going to fight it. She knows she’s different. She would appreciate it if all of us quit shoving it down her throat, using it as an excuse to control her.”

“I can’t let her run rampant,” Houston said, throwing out an arm. “Look who she brought home the last time.” He gave Diego a scathing stare.

Laney rested a hand on Houston’s arm. “Did you ever think maybe she was supposed to?”

“Wha—?” Houston almost collapsed to his butt from his crouch. “Laney, how could you say that? You know what he is.”

Her smile became angelic, and Diego could have kissed her himself. He forced his expression to remain unmoved instead. He never would have believed to have one of them on his side. The picture of Houston tearing out his throat was not exactly the way to friendship either.

“Remember what happened when I met you?” Her green eyes sparkled in memory. “I never planned on making that audition. I was going to audition for that commercial. I thought it would get me into Hollywood.”

Houston wore a silly grin for a split second. He rubbed a hand over his cheek. “Yeah, how could I forget? You walked onstage with that kitten and all hell broke loose.”

Laney shrugged, innocent of any wrongdoing. “How was I supposed to know it didn’t belong to the studio and that you hate cats?”

Houston grew silent for a minute, everything he felt for his wife playing across his eyes. He sighed once, making a decision. He shifted, focusing on Diego. “I’m not letting you forget this, Diego.”

Diego took a deep breath, testing his lung capacity. His left lower lung was sore where the bullet had nicked him, but he could live through the pain less the need to breathe. He pushed it to the shadows of his mind.

“I will get her back. I promise you that.” Diego used his hands to brace and then steady himself against the wall. Standing, he stretched and winced. “No gymnastics,” he repeated in self-warning.

He took a deep breath, registered the time of night, the arc of the wind, even how close his best chance of prey was. Diego asked, “I am just curious in this, but why does she not know your secret? Does not seem fair if you ask me.”

“I didn’t ask you.” Houston offered Laney a hand, curving her protectively under his broad shoulder. “It just never came up, honestly, and she would never ask. When I met her, she was skinny, all eyes, and scared to talk to anyone, fearing she’d overload. The only outlet she had was her singing. And man, when you hear her sing…”

Diego smiled, clapping a hand on Houston’s shoulder. “You feel blessed.”

“Yeah. That’s it.” He turned, walking with Diego toward the street. “Eventually she opened up, and I met her folks. I think her dad was hoping I’d ask, but I don’t love her like that. She feels the same way.” Houston shot Laney a look. “Meeting the parents. Now that, I want to see.”

Laney punched Houston’s arm lightly, biting her lip to keep from laughing, hiding an all too apparent guilty look from Diego. He was beginning to feel a touch of acceptance in Titania’s life from their teasing, at least from Laney.

Diego stopped them in the shadows just off the street. “For all the years you offered her your friendship, and more, I thank you.” He gave Houston a gallant little bow.

Houston accepted the thank you with an offered hand of friendship that Diego gratefully clasped. “You were someone important before this happened, weren’t you?”

Diego glanced away. “Once. Yes. A commander, second to DeSoto.” He faced the couple. “I need to replenish.” He purposely avoided using the word
feed
out of consideration. “I gleaned an address from the two who have been scouting the hotel.” Houston cursed under his breath. “I guess she has not found it necessary to share this information with you?”

“She’s been giving me the silent treatment unless I look for her first,” Houston told him with disgust.

Diego did not mention that was because he had been with her almost nonstop. Some things were better left unsaid. He sought into the night again and felt the emptiness over his heart. Titania was missing, and every atom of his being shrieked at him to find her. The demons of retribution were clawing at him.

He closed his eyes, gathering his energy. “I need to go.” He gave Houston the address. It was pointless to tell him not to come. “When you arrive, stay silent. I will find you.”

He heard Laney’s gasp as he dissolved, then shot into the sky to find what he sought. He needed to be at full strength to bring Titania home. Diego knew Tenorio meant business. He continued to search for her, but found nothing but empty space where usually her light laughter resided.

* * * *

Titania tried to roll over but was stopped short in quick order. She moved her arms again and came up short. Her shoulders ached, her entire body felt leaden and uncooperative. She let out a long breath. She was breathing. That was good. Her head was killing her. That was bad. The headache had to be the absolute worst in history. When she tried to pry open her eyes, light sliced her brain in half. Her lids snapped shut on a yelp of pain.

She lay still for several minutes, trying to figure out where she was. She moved her hands again, and this time the weight of the manacles circling her wrists registered. She found the cold iron of one, rolling it against her hip. She was shackled? She tugged and got nowhere.

She lay frozen and listened. She could hear her own heartbeat, her breathing. And nothing else. She dared to open her eyes again and managed to make them into slits. Tears streamed from them, but she forced herself to concentrate beyond the discomfort.

She was in a room, a stark, metal, gray room. It slowly registered that she was stretched out on an examiner’s table, cold steel with one bright light directly overhead. She shifted her weight as far as she could to her hip. Her feet didn’t move.

Titania tried to find her feet, inching them this way and that. Weight impaired any motion. They were tied down too? She focused down the length of her body. And screamed. Her clothes had been sliced down the middle, splayed like a filleted fish. She was as naked as naked could be.

Panic swelled, obliterating the pain of the piercing light as she fought the metal weights. She yanked frantically on the wrist cuffs. Iron links held her. She couldn’t possibly break them.

She closed her eyes and shivered. She needed to concentrate. She needed to find a way out of this, whatever
this
was.

“Cara?”
He sounded so far away.

“Diego! Help me.”

“I am on my way. Tell me what you see.”

With determination, she managed to make out the surrounding flat metal walls but with no windows and a single, windowless, metal door.
“
Oh, God! What do they want?”
There was a rack of surgical implements waiting on a table nearby and several white sheets neatly stacked nearby. Beakers, tongs. It was all so sterile looking. She felt a scream welling up again. She was in a lab!

“Stay with me, honey.”
His voice was calm, soothing, and she reached out for him with a grasping mind.

Titania rolled her head to the side when she heard the security lock on the door click. Her eyes burned with the increased light from the outside hallway when it swung inward. Blinded by the excessive light, she could barely make out two men. One looked to be in a tux.

“Good evening, Titania. I see you are awake.”

She tried to place the voice. She couldn’t see enough. Fear chilled her through. “Let me go,” she pleaded. A hand drifted between her breasts in answer, and she tried to jerk away. Tears burned her eyes in humiliation.

Fingers pinched her jaw, yanking her aggressively. “Look at me, Titania.” When she resisted, the fingers clenched. “Look at me and obey.” She swallowed, hating herself when she couldn’t refuse.

“Listen to my voice,” he said close to her ear, a hypnotic rhythm in his tone. “You will stop screaming. You will take your injection like a good girl.”

She barely had time to fight the spellbinding commands before she felt the snap of a strap around her arm. Someone plunged a needle into a vein. She tried to jerk herself free, and the fingers forced her compliance. “Do that again, and I will twist your breast to hear your scream.” The needle and fingers were gone, and she wanted to ball herself up and cry. She whimpered in her mind.

“Diego?”
Shards of pain exploded with the attempt, and she hastily withdrew from searching.

“Sleep, Titania. I’m sorry I cannot attend to you this evening.”

“Let me go,” she begged, sobs building as tears streamed uncontrollably.

“Soon you will be asking for what I have planned for you,” the voice told her. “Sleep. I will see you in the morning.”

Her limbs were already growing numb. She cried out for Diego one more time, the pain so excruciating, she knew she was dying. She had no strength to fight when the blank darkness took over.