The Romanov's Pursuit (2 page)

Chapter One

“You knew it would only be a matter of time before I found you.”

Nya didn’t bother to turn around to greet the intruder who’d come into her home uninvited. She continued to stare out the bay window that looked out to the ocean. The calming scene before her gave Nya a sense of peace. “Maybe I wasn’t hiding. What do you want?”

“That’s it? No ‘how have you been?’ Is that what’s it’s come to between
us
,
after all
,
we’ve been through together?”

She could hear the genuine hurt in her friend’s voice but there was no remorse within her. Nya was completely numb. All the feelings she’d once possessed were either dead or locked so far away that she didn’t know how to bring them back. Not that she wanted to. A lesson she’d learned a long time ago was the less a person cared decreased the odds of getting hurt. Besides, if people knew they could get to her by manipulating her emotions, then they had the upper hand. Nya refused to allow anyone to control her again and the best way to do that was to stop caring, even if it meant cutting people out of her life.

“I suppose so. You’ve made a wasted trip, Giovanni.”

He was so swift, Nya felt his hands on her shoulders before she actually heard him move. That was one of the advantages of Giovanni being several centuries old. “At least grant me the courtesy of looking me in the eyes before you tell me to fuck off.”

Nya
shrugged out of his
tight grip and turned around. She hadn’t seen him in
several
months and it appeared their time apart had been kind to him. The invisible weight he’d once carried for as long as she knew him was gone. He looked younger and more relaxed despite his current annoyance with her. Giovanni’s friendship had meant the world to her for a very long time and it always would, but she couldn’t do this with him right now. Intellectually, Nya realized he didn’t deserve to be casually tossed aside in this careless manner. But she was so empty that it didn’t matter. “There’s nothing here for you,” she finally stated as kindly as her lack of emotions would allow.

Darkened green eyes narrowed to angry slits. He flared his nostrils and briefly
squeezed
his lips into a tight line. “So you’ve decided to shut yourself off from the world? From your friends? Is that how you intend to spend the rest of your existence?”

She returned his unwavering stare and simply shrugged in reply before turning her back to him again. Nya stared out the window and followed the current of the crashing ocean waves.

“Forever is a long time to live like this. You can’t continue to shut people out.”

“Perhaps my forever won’t be as long as you think.”

Giovanni inhaled sharply. “Are you thinking of harming yourself?”

“To harm oneself implies that the person is actually capable of feeling pain. I’m not sure what that is anymore.”

“So you’ve decided to cut everyone out of your life? Ignore your friends? Family?”

“I have no family.”

“My
bloodmate
would beg to differ, she is after all the last living descendant
of
your bloodline. Sydney would very much like to form a relationship with you. She has so many questions that only you would have the answer to. But she’s not the only family to whom I refer. You and I have been more than friends throughout the year. You and Lilianna were just as much my family as anyone else.”

“Lilianna is dead. She sacrificed herself for you because she believed in a love you didn’t return.”

Giovanni winced and it was clear she’d hurt him.
“That’s a low blow. You know I loved her.”

“But not in the way that she wanted.”

“Would you have rather I led her on? I was quite honest with my feelings for her. Besides, we both know that she would have been far more hurt if I would have led her on only to cast her aside when I found my bloodmate. It wouldn’t have been fair to her or to me. Yes, there was a time I felt guilty that I couldn’t be with her in the way she wanted me to, but I had to learn to let go of that emotion and forgive myself.”

Nya snorted without
humor. “Is that all it takes now?
You can
just absolve yourself of
everything and that’s it
?
Everyone isn’t
so lucky.”

“Nya…” Giovanni growled. “I know what you’re trying to do but it won’t work. You can’t push me away. You have people who care about you. I care about you.”

“Congratulations.”

Giovanni release
d
a measured sigh as if he was trying to calm himself. Nya wasn’t intentionally trying to be cruel but she found this conversation, like most other things, pointless. “What about Christine? She’s very worried about you. She’d very much like it if you were to get in contact with her.”

Nya kept her focus on the waves. She felt a slight twinge somewhere within her, but she could have just imagined it. “Unfortunately, we don’t always get what we want. I’m sure Christine will be just fine. She has a family to worry about. She will forget me. Eventually.”

“Have you ever forgotten any of the people you care about?”

He had her there
. “Not a single one of them. But it isn’t exactly the same. In the grand scheme of things, Christine and I haven’t known each other long enough for her to miss me for the rest of eternity.”

“When spoken like that, perhaps it is best if she forgets you. If you can so easily turn your back on her then perhaps you’re not the friend she thought you were.”

She opened her mouth to protest but then stopped. This is what he wanted, to get some kind of emotional response from her. “I know what you’re trying to do and it won’t work. You won’t guilt trip me into feeling bad for distancing myself from people I no longer care to associate with.”

“I see.”

When Giovanni didn’t further elaborate, Nya was tempted to turn around to see what else he had to
say
but decided against it. He was up to something, and she refused to take the bait. “If you’re finished with your visit, I’d appreciate it very much if you leave.”

He
remained silent. Nya c
ould tell Giovanni was still in the room because of the soft flow of his breath.

“Okay, stay if you’d like. I’ll leave.” She walked toward the glass doors that led outside to the beach. Nya didn’t look back be
cause she knew if she did, she’d
see
the
pain
on her old friend’s face. It wasn’t her intention to hurt anyone. This was the very reason she needed to keep her distance.

She continued on to the beach and kicked off her shoes to allow the sand to seep through her toes. Nya stopped just as the waves reached her ankles.

“Nya. I know what you’re going through. You don’t have to suffer alone. You loved him. And that’s okay to admit.”

She figured Giovanni would stubbornly follow her but a part of her was hoping that he’d take a hint. “Go away.” Sparing his f
eelings obviously didn’t work
. “I want to be left alone.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Nya. There was nothing any of us could have done to save him.”

She clenched her fists at her sides and kept her gaze focused on the water. “I know your hearing is in working order. Leave me alone.”

“He wouldn’t have wanted you to isolate yourself from the rest of the world. He wanted you to be happy. The best way to honor his memory is to honor his last request. Do you think he wants you to suffer alone? You’re not, you know. Alone, I mean.”

A burning sensation welled within her chest and her breathing became ragged. This was exactly why she didn’t want anyone around her. These past few months she’d managed to find some semblance of peace, yet here Giovanni was, attempting to destroy the wall she’d erected around herself.

Finally
,
she turned to look at the centuries-old vampire. “So you think this is all about him?”

“Isn’t it? Trust me, I know how you feel. Do you think it was easy for me to end him when I spent most of my life trying to save him? I loved him too, and despite all the evil he
perpetuated
,
I never stopped caring. And I had to come to terms that it was okay because the person I loved wasn’t the monster he had become. You saw the good in him as well and there was nothing either of us could have done for him. Everything ended exactly as he wanted.”

“How many people have you lost, Giovanni?” She asked, ignoring his words as if he hadn’t spoken. “Besides, Ad…your brother?” For some
reason
,
she couldn’t allow herself to say
his
name. It seemed to burn her tongue.

“Do you mean loved ones? People I care about?”

“Yes.”

“Many. Over the years, there have been several allies I’ve lost in battle while I fought the war to counteract the harm caused by my brother.”

“Right, allies, were they friends? Were they close?”

“Some…what are you getting at, Nya?”

“You’re the one who came to me demanding answers so I think it’s fair that you answer some of my questions.”

“Two.”

“Right. You kept your distance with the others. But the two th
at you lost, it hurt, didn’t it
?”

“
Still
,
does,” he answered gently. A shadow briefly fell across his face but just as quickly as it appeared, it was gone.

“And you’ll remember them for as long as you exist. You might even care a little about the ones who didn’t mean that much to you.”

“What are you getting at, Nya?”

“3569. I lost track of the number after that. I knew every single one of their names, even watched some of them die. And I cared about every single one of them. I didn’t like them all but they were a part of me. My children. So you see Giovanni, you may have lost a lot, but I have nothing left except my sanity and the only thing that allows me to keep it is this solitude. I can’t afford to lose that, too.”

Giovanni placed his hand on her shoulder. “I didn’t realize…”

Nya bowed her head, unable to look her friend in the eyes. She was never much of a sharer. She’d learned a long time ago that her thoughts and feelings didn’t matter to most people so she kept them to herself. Although Giovanni was one of the
few
genuine people she’d encountered in her lifetime, her habits were so deeply ingrained in her, that there were still many secrets about herself that even he didn’t know about. “You didn’t know because I didn’t want you to. But now that you do, I’d like for you to leave.”

Giovanni shook his head. “You’re wrong, Nya. You have so much more than you realize. Whether you want it or not, you belong to my family. I think Sydney and Christine would agree. I believe my brother
s
will as well. You’ve done so much for the Grimaldis that we couldn’t possibly repay you.”

A faint smile threatened to curve her lips but the sensation was fleeting. “That’s a nice sentiment, Giovanni, but if we’re family as you so casually pointed out and you care about me, then you’ll respect my wishes to be alone. Please leave and stop trying to find me.”

Giovanni opened his mouth as if to protest, but Nya shook her head. She’d hurt him, but she figured that she’d hurt him a hell of a lot more if she stuck around.

“Just go.”

He nodded and slowly backed away. “Okay. If that’s what you want. But if you should ever need me….don’t hesitate to
seek me out
. Finally, he turned to leave, but Giovanni didn’t get far before he pivoted on his heel to face her. “I will, as you so kindly put it, respect your wishes to be by yourself, but I know for a fact that you can’t keep hiding from everyone.
They
will find you, and unlike me, I suspect when they do, they have no plans of letting you go.”

Before Nya could process Giovanni’s last words, he was gone.

Long after her friend’s departure, Nya remained on the beach in the exact same spot. It was possible that Giovanni believed she no longer wanted to engage with him or the rest of his family because she didn’t care. The problem was, she cared far too much.

His departing warning, however, had sent a shiver down her spine. If he was correct in his assessment, it meant she’d have to find a new hiding place sooner rather than later.

<><><><><>

“What could be the meaning of this?” Cutter knelt beside the woman who had been a long time servant to the Romanov family for decades. In the last few decades, Magda Lambert had been his mother’s personal maid and companion. Wherever Elizabeth Romanova was, Magda had never been far away, lurking in the shadows, ready to serve her mistress. Now she lay on the ground as still as a board, devoid of all natural color, giving her skin a grayish tent.

Having lived a little over half a millennium, Cutter had seen death in nearly all of its forms, but he’d never seen something quite like the scene before him. When a warlock died, like all other immortals, their bodies would dissipate within minutes. The length of time depended on the age of the immortal at their death. It was Cutter’s guess that Magda was at least three centuries old. At the very least she should have been dust, but her body still remained. The most unnerving part about the entire situation was the fact that the witch’s eyes remained opened and frozen in what appeared to be horror.

As usual, whenever there was a situation his mother found ‘distasteful’, she was nowhere to be found. She’d called on her sons to dispose of the corpse and to make sure that whatever had killed Magda wouldn’t somehow affect her.

His twin Blade crouched down on his haunches and touched Magda’s ashen face. “She’s ice cold. Like a human body.”

Cutter frowned. “This doesn’t make sense. Why is she in such a state and what could have possibly killed her? I see external wounds, and I doubt there are any internal ones because I would have felt them when I touched her.”

“Something must have gotten to
her
,
” Steele spoke from the other side of the room. He paced back and forth, stopping only to rake his fingers through his hair.

Cutter frowned. If his older brother Steele was stumped as to what had happened to Magda, he wasn’t sure of the answer either. He could see that Blade was equally confused. Since the three of them had arrived on the scene, when they’d received an urgent message from their mother to meet them at her manor in London. Everything was an emergency to their mother so neither he nor his brothers had thought this would be anything more than a routine visit but this was definitely an unexpected turn of events.

“Perhaps, Sasha may have an idea,” Blade suggested.

Steel nodded. “I will consult with her. I’m heading back to the States tonight anyway. I should probably go and ask Mothe
r if there’s anything she can
remember, like who Magda may have come in contact with, or if she’d had any strange reactions lately.”

Cutter twisted his lips into a smile. “Good luck getting our mother to discuss anything that doesn’t center around her.”

“Be nice, Cutter,” Blade lightly chided although there was no fire behind their words. No one was more aware than Elizabeth Romanova’s offspring that she was an incredibly vain and self-centered woman. She did seem to have some affection for her children, but her favorite person remained herself.

“You know it’s true,” he replied to his twin.

Steel sighed. “Perhaps the two of you can dispose of Magda’s body. That’s probably what Mother wanted in the first place. I doubt she actually cares how it happened.”

“Of course.
Afterward
, we’ll be leaving for the States.”

Steel raised a brow. “Still in pursuit? You’ve been tracking
her for months and she has
managed to elude you. Perhaps she doesn’t want to be found.”

“Or maybe she doesn’t know she wants to be,” Blade threw back at their older brother.

Since Cutter and Blade had laid eyes on Nya, the twins had
known they’d found their souls’
mate. With one look from her, they had been totally and utterly lost. The tall, sexy vampire femme, with skin like dark velvet, deep brown eyes the shade of a sweet milky confection, and lips so full and soft in appearance that they practically begged to be tasted. With a body made for sin, she was perfection, and in an instant Cutter and his brother was smitten. It didn’t matter that she was cold toward them, there was a spark there and though she’d tried to hide it, they knew she’d felt it too. It was simply a matter of penetrating that icy wall she’d built around her heart.

When Steel exited the room, Blade looked at him, with an expression of intense concentration.

Cutter nodded and joined hands with his brother as they knelt over the body.
Estusm
reluis
nerus
neem.
They chanted over and over
again
until Magda’s body was a pile of dust that was caught up in a whirl of
wind
that made the remains vanish.

Cutter took a deep breath when the deed was done and rose to his feet. “Once we say our goodbyes to Mother, we can leave.”

Blade nodded. “Are you certain the information we were given will lead us to her?”

Cutter nodded. They had searched the world for Nya, several times over since they’d aided her saving Giovanni’s bloodmate, who also happened to be Nya’s last living descendant. Before either twin had a chance to converse with Nya, she’d disappeared. Being centuries old warlocks, it shouldn’t have been this difficult to track down one vampire, who wasn’t quite as old as they were, particularly one who lived in solitude. It dawned on them that someone had cast a diversion spell to keep them from finding her. They remembered she had connections through Giovanni
who had a
list of warlocks
capable of aiding her
. Once they were able to track dow
n the source of the spell their search would be easier
. Now it wasn’t a m
atter of when they would find her
. It was when.

“Yes. It’s time to go get our woman.”