The Vampyre Legal Chronicles - Daniel: Book: 3 (4 page)

In a reality not far away, The Maker
realized human technology was not infallible.

It appeared his electronic listening devices and camera
links to the offices of Gillespie, Pattullo and Hindmarch had been found. He
pursed his lips as his hand hovered over the mouse and he brought up his
back-up system. It always helped to have a plan B. He linked to the outside
CCTV cameras of the GPH building in New York and watched the entrance and exits.
If the woman stuck to her usual routine, it wouldn't be long before she arrived
at the service entrance.

He knew she was Daniel Gillespie's PA, Gia Del Russo.

She was beautiful and if he'd had human emotions he was sure
that beauty might trigger a physical reaction between his thighs. He didn't do
sex. Too messy. The relief too brief. These days he had better results with
torture or driving a creature insane. A demon had to find his fun which ever
way he could get it.

And talking of having fun with the insane, Eleanor Pattullo
slid into his communication room, as he liked to call the central hall of his
residence. Two of the walls were jammed with flat screens. He'd recently been
mulling over the use of holographic displays, but human technology hadn't quite
matched his needs. He knew it was only a matter of time before it did. In the
meantime, he'd make do. The vampyre moved with care into his line of vision.

Eleanor wanted something and since he was in a good mood, he
might just let her have it.

"What can I do for you today?" he asked in a
cheery voice and noted relief in her dark eyes.

Her bruises were healing nicely, too.

"I was wondering what you wanted me to do with the
little boys?"

Ah, yes. He was now the proud owner of six human toddlers.

Watching twenty-four-hour breaking news as panic had spread
not only about the global spread of the Ebola virus, but in New York there was
panic about the missing boys, too. It was a whole form of entertainment in
itself. The children had cried until he'd shown them the error of their ways
and now they sat together in a large cot built for purpose, silent and
watchful. Six pairs of eyes never leaving his face. He turned to them now and
immediately all eyes fell to the cot comforter. He had to give it to them,
young humans learned fast.

In one of his lightning changes of mind, he decided right
then and there, to keep them.

After all, he'd never had a family of his own.

Of course, they didn't belong in this reality.

But maybe, further down the road, they'd come in useful when
he sent them back into their human world.

Hmm.

Perhaps he'd change them. Mess up their DNA a little. Maybe
even give them unique skills, or even powers, that would make them stand-out.

Now there was an idea.

He liked it.

Thrilled with his own genius, he turned to Eleanor.

The vampyre was starving and she looked it.

She'd rather die than feed from his hellhounds.

Her clavicle bones were jutting through the skin on her
shoulders.

She looked weak.

She looked sick.

However, although she'd badly let him down, she'd received
her punishment without a murmur, even though her mind was fractured, probably
beyond repair.

He'd been careless there and he needed to be careful with
her.

Good and willing help was very hard to find these days.

"You may feed from them," he said. "Make sure
you do not kill one because I have decided to adopt all six as mine. And you
will be their mother and teach them everything you know."

Her dark eyes had gone wide and he didn't miss the way her
bottom lip had trembled.

So, it appeared the vampyre cared for the children?

Excellent.

Now he had another way to control her and ensure her
loyalty.

He watched as she slowly made her way to the cot and picked
up a child.

The little boy didn't cry, he simply stared into her eyes as
she carried him from the room.

Today, The Maker decided as he returned to watching the
screens, was a good day.

***

As Gia was being driven to her
destination, she tried to count her meagre blessings.

At least she had her job to save her sanity. A job she
loved.

Gillespie, Pattullo & Hindmarch was the most prestigious
firm of corporate lawyers in the country. Working as personal assistant to the
infamous Daniel Gillespie was a daily challenge as well as a secret joy.

Gia knew having the hots for her boss was such a damn cliché,
but she’d defy any woman with a pulse to work with a man who looked like a God
and not feel the little thrill in her heart, the fluttering deep in her belly.
Daniel was tall with the coloring of his Celtic forbears, jet black hair and
sky blue eyes that looked right through to a woman's soul. His face was a thing
of beauty, high cheekbones, a strong jaw, with the mouth of a poet. But it was
his deep voice with the song of Scotland in it that speared Gia's heart every
single time. Add in the body of a top athlete and Daniel Gillespie was quite
the package.

Some might call Gillespie, Pattullo and Hindmarch corporate
raiders and Gia could understand the sentiment. In particular, the Gillespie
brothers took no prisoners when it came to business or in their personal lives
either.

Recently Marcus, the eldest brother, had closed a billion
dollar deal with the Chinese in Shanghai. He’d crushed the heart of every
female in the administration department, when he’d married junior business
partner Anais Walker.

Daniel was due back from San Francisco the day after
tomorrow and since she was
‘borrowing’
his penthouse apartment at the
top of the GPH building, the reality of her situation smacked Gia hard.

For the past week she’d been careful to ensure the staff and
security detail assumed she was working late. If anyone knew she was squatting
in the building, she’d be instantly dismissed.

The thought of what would happen to her grandparents if that
happened made Gia’s heart hammer in her throat. The cost of the care home was
rising so fast her salary couldn’t keep pace. And her salary was fabulous. No
way would she make even a fraction of it anywhere else.

The taxi slid to a stop outside the service entrance of a
vast building constructed of black glass, which speared up into the sky, a huge
phallic symbol of sheer male testosterone and corporate power.

Using a remote control to open the rolling gates, she
directed Jerry to the underground car park.

The car cruised to a halt and the taxi driver turned to her,
handing her a business card.

"My brother wants you to phone us anytime, day or
night, and we’ll come for you."

Again Gia's eyes prickled at the kindness of perfect
strangers.

Of course she'd never use it because to do that would put
the Rutherford brothers and their families in the crosshairs of Enricho
Donatti. And she'd never be able to live with herself if anything happened to them.

Not wishing to offend a good-hearted gesture, she took his
card, slipped it into her purse.

"Thank you." Gia waited until the taxi exited the
building before swiping her key card into the strictly private lift that sped
her directly into Daniel Gillespie’s penthouse apartment.

She was living on borrowed time.

It felt like she was in a rowing boat with no oars cut
adrift between the Titanic and the iceberg.

No matter how many times Gia entered
Daniel’s apartment, the sheer scale of the immense space along with the floor
to ceiling windows framing a sparkling New York skyline, it never ceased to
catch her breath.

Again the idea nudged her, she should throw herself on
Daniel Gillespie’s mercy and ask him for help.

But she couldn’t do it.

He might be every woman's wet dream and she'd had a few of
those herself but Daniel had never known the unique scorch of an unfilled belly
or the need to concern himself with the balance of his bank account. And these
days the way her whole system went on a state of high alert, if he so much as
looked at her, was beginning to worry her. In fact, it worried her a lot.

 But there was something dark about Daniel that both
attracted and yet in a weird way repelled her. And it was that push and pull
sensation that confused and alarmed her because she simply couldn't understand
it.

Compared to his brothers, working for Daniel was a walk in
the park. Although their working relationship was successful, it was an
association based purely on business. Not once had Daniel concerned himself
with his PA, except when he’d insisted she take two weeks off after Liam had
been killed.

And of course since then her whole life had imploded.                   

The quality of her work had suffered too. She was making
stupid mistakes and although Daniel had said nothing, those amazing blue eyes
had burned a hole straight through her as they’d held hers, when he'd softly
pointed out yet another simple error. Instinctively she knew he was losing
patience. He'd even hinted that perhaps she needed an assistant. But Gia
resisted the idea. However, if she carried on like this, he’d demote her back
to the administration pool or, worse, sack her.

Exhaustion, marrow deep, was a constant presence in her life
these days, and that exhaustion now tugged at Gia’s mind and battered her soul.

God, she was so very tired.

Kicking off her sneakers and shoving the grey hoodie from
her head, she padded through the opulent apartment, bare feet sinking into a
luxuriant carpet of ivory wool.

She made her way to the sumptuous marble of the guest
bathroom, which was bigger than the entire ground floor of her old home.

In the mirror the too pale face of a woman life continued to
kick while she was down stared back at her. She’d lost pounds she could ill
afford to lose and it made her look too fragile. Gia didn’t see large brown
eyes or the clear skin pulled too tight across high cheekbones or the full mouth
or the glossy hair the color of bronze and treacle. All Gia saw was failure as
a granddaughter, failure as a wife and failure as a personal assistant.

Refusing to give in to creeping self-pity, she slapped
cleanser on her face.

With jerky tugs she pulled tissues out of a box and swiped
off the layers of fire engine red lipstick and make-up. It took longer than
usual to dissolve three coats of coal black mascara.

By the time she was finished her naked skin glowed, but the
brown eyes were too bright, too big for her face. Dark circles pooled under those
eyes.

Christ, she was a mess.

But she lifted her chin at the woman in the mirror and
straightened her shoulders.

She desperately needed a couple of nights of decent sleep or
she’d be worse than useless when her boss returned from a family emergency in
San Francisco. The rumors going around the office, were that something had
happened to James Gillespie's wife. Gia liked Charlotte Gillespie a lot. The
girl was shy but unfailingly polite and pleasant to the staff. The office gossip
doing the rounds was that Charlotte had been unwell, which meant James
Gillespie had taken time off to be with his wife. An event that was unheard of
in the entire history of the company. The Gillespie brothers had never taken a
day off work in their lives. Gia hoped nothing bad had happened to the girl.

Switching off the light, she moved to the hall closet and pulled
out a pillow and single comforter she’d stashed there before padding into the
vast lounge area to organize a makeshift bed on the couch.

No way would she take advantage of the four bedrooms in
Daniel’s magnificent apartment.

Using the bathroom facilities and sleeping on a soft velvet
couch was one thing, sleeping in a bed in a bedroom was quite another.

Tugging the cash from her bra, Gia tossed it on a stone
coffee table the size of a family car. She started to pull down the zipper in
the side of her dress when she stopped. The most peculiar feeling of awareness
that she wasn’t alone prickled the hair on the back of her neck. Gooseflesh
erupted along her skin.

She stood absolutely still.

Her heart rate soared as, very slowly, she turned.

A couple of days ago Daniel had sent her a text message to
say he’d been delayed in San Francisco and when to expect his arrival.

The room was lit by a solitary lamp next to the couch and
her eyes searched the dark corners of the apartment but found no one.

Gia took a careful inhale, told herself to calm the hell down.

It was probably just nerves caused by stress. Although this
wasn’t the first time in the apartment she’d had the feeling that she wasn’t
alone, but it was the first time she felt... spooked.

She shrugged off the unpleasant itch under her skin, slid
out of her dress, unclipped her strapless bra and quickly slid onto the sofa to
burrow under the comforter. But since her heart was still going crazy in her
chest she kept the light on. These days darkness only encouraged relentless
dreams of everything she'd lost, her past and life before Liam’s death. She was
determined not to be a victim or to fall into the black pit of depression.
Telling herself things would look better in the morning, she closed her eyes. Like
a stone tossed into a deep pool, she sank into sleep.

Now there was a sight a vampyre didn’t see every day.

Long, long legs, naked legs, drew Daniel’s eyes to the
barely decent dress.

Jeez, he’d need a crowbar to ease her out of the soft gold
leather.

The thought did wondrous things to his groin.

What the hell was Gia doing in here, in his apartment in the
middle of the night?

And why the dress?

The money tossed onto the table made him wonder in something
like disbelief that she was moonlighting? Moonlighting, while working for
Gillespie, Pattullo and Hindmarch was a sackable offence.

Through the vast windows that surrounded Daniel's apartment
the skyline was inky as his mind raced through possibilities. All was quiet
except for a police siren in the streets far below and a jet in the sky
thousands of feet above.

His mind went back to the very first time he'd met Gia Del
Russo. She'd walked into his office for her interview for the position of his
personal assistant with slightly hesitant steps.

'Holy Christ'
had popped into his head. For a split
second her sad brown eyes had widened and he'd thought he'd blurted the words
right out. She wasn't quite a leggy red-head, more a leggy brunette. A man
didn't live for two hundred and twenty five years without seeing gorgeous women
of all shapes and sizes. Of course he had. But he'd never seen anything like
Gia Del Russo. His heart had actually done a little skip and jump. Gia was
gorgeous with a beautiful and full mouth, soft, womanly, kissable. And then he'd
spotted the rings on her wedding finger and that heart had dropped with a heavy
thud right to his shoes.

Delight to devastation in three seconds.

She was out of bounds and not for him.

Over time he'd learned to savor her shy smile and admire her
work ethic, but the brown eyes were still terribly sad. He'd wasted many hours
wondering why.

When her husband had been killed, murdered, he'd wanted to
hold her close. He'd wanted to offer comfort. Okay, eventually more than
comfort. Then he reminded himself to dump the guilt, it wasn't his fault the
man was dead.

Using the skill of his kind, he moved silently towards her.

To find her in his apartment, living out of her suitcase and
now sleeping naked on his couch was not normal behaviour for Gia.

For months he’d known something was very wrong with her.

Initially he’d put the weight loss, the distraction, down to
the fact she was grieving over the death of her husband.

But recently her behaviour had become skittish.

These days she was too highly strung and nervous.

Not of him, he was sure of it. He was an empath as well as vampyre.
And he knew the woman had no idea of his true feelings for her. No way could
Gia know he’d fallen madly in love with her the first moment he’d set eyes on
her. The fact she’d been married had meant hands off. When you were a vampyre,
those were the breaks. He’d accepted his situation along with waiting for his
chance with her.

Of course if the marriage had been unhappy he’d have made
his move. Although to be honest, it had been difficult to tell if she’d been
happy or not because for some reason Gia was one of the few humans he was
unable to read.

The way her husband had died, murdered, had come as a shock.
The firm had done some digging. Apparently he’d been involved in organized crime,
which meant plenty of suspicion from the partners in Gillespie, Pattullo and
Hindmarch had fallen on Gia.

Daniel refused to believe she was involved in the criminal
underworld in any way.

But after seeing the amount of money she'd thrown on the
table tonight, now he wondered if he'd made a mistake? After all, he couldn't
ignore the fact that she’d been sleeping in his apartment for a number of
nights. She’d need to be pretty desperate to do such a thing. Watching her now,
the way she slept, the way certain scents lingered on her clothes made his
nostrils twitch. Alcohol, nicotine and lust rose from the cash on the table and
Daniel was beginning to question if he’d got her all wrong.

Gia was absolutely stunning.

In many ways the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

Tonight, she looked as if she’d been well ravished with her
hair the color of flaming chestnuts and too pale skin. With care he took a deep
inhale, but he couldn’t detect the scent of a human male's seed on her. Even if
she’d used a condom, he’d still have smelled it.

No.

Gia had not had sex.

However, he could sense the odor of something else,
something familiar.

Something toxic.

Fear.

Anxiety and distress were pumping out of her pores.

The way she'd turned to look directly into the place he was
standing had caused his stomach, his thighs and all the muscles in-between, to
tighten.

Daniel was used to his physical reaction around Gia.

Her face with wide eyes and full mouth oozed brazen
forbidden sex.

Those eyes were treacle brown and sharp with intelligence.

She'd stared right at him, but even as he'd held his breath,
he knew she couldn’t see him.

One of the little tricks inherent in his kind was the
ability to remain totally still, to blend into shadows.

She'd stripped, releasing small ripe breasts from her bra,
and his erection had fired in a way that made him wince even now.

Her face was so unhappy and her narrow shoulders held too
stiff and tight.

Many times he’d wondered why she never smiled, why she
always looked as if she was waiting for an axe to fall.

But again, that was normal for Gia.

What was not normal for Gia was that she'd been standing
naked in his apartment.

He drew in a breath, naked she was absolutely stunning.

Daniel had just managed to stop his vampyre from growling
deep in his throat.

Again those big brown eyes had searched the room.

The way her ribs stood out stark in the weak light annoyed
him. Actually, it annoyed him a lot.

She turned her back to him and gave him a fabulous view of
her tight little ass.

Christ, she was wearing nothing but a scrap of silk, a
thong.

She'd climbed into her improvised bed on his couch, snuggled
under the comforter, and gave a little sigh that sounded suspiciously teary.

His protective instincts roared to the fore and his vampyre
rose, tilting his head and studying her carefully.

Down boy
, Daniel told him,
she’s in no fit state
tonight to tangle with you
.

Self-restraint and a relentless patience were at the centre
of Daniel’s success as a lawyer.

He could outwait an opponent.

He waited now.