by Bella Klaus
“Perhaps not.”
“Then what are you doing here?”
Valentine swept his arm toward the exit, where a limousine awaited on the curb. “We need to talk.”
I turned to the box of quartz clusters, pulled back the flap, and pulled one out onto the counter. With the adrenaline searing through my veins, the stone had zero effect.
For the next few minutes, I busied myself unpacking and dusting off the clusters. Perhaps if I ignored Valentine, he’d slink out of the shop and back to where he came from.
“Mera.” His chastising voice cut through my attempt at distraction. Even though he’d uttered just one word, he’d left the rest unsaid. Valentine would not be ignored.
“What do you want to talk about?” I snapped.
“Come with me, and I’ll explain everything.”
I brushed stray bits of cardboard off my protective white coat. “I’m not in the habit of going places with strange vampires.”
A growl reverberated across the shop, sending the fine hairs on the back of my neck standing to attention. My heart revved like a motorcycle and a thrill of terror mingled with fury and excitement. Who did this man think he was?
I bared my teeth and hissed. “Don’t think that snarling like an animal will get me to obey your every command. In the human world, we use our words.”
His features evened out into the annoying expression of calm he often used with servants who had made a mistake. “Then perhaps a considerate apprentice could consider the impact our conflict is having on your master.”
My gaze flicked to Istabelle, who leaned against a crystal display, clutching her chest.
All the color had leached from her face, and her features fell slack. Her fear was proof enough that she hadn’t been in contact with Valentine and didn’t know that he kept a tight rein over his temper.
I turned back to Valentine, my eyes narrowing. “Perhaps a considerate member of the Supernatural Council could consider the impact his animalistic urges are having on others?”
His eyes narrowed. “Mera—”
“Get out.” I pointed to the door.
Impatience flickered across his features. As he bared his teeth, the tips of his incisors lengthened.
“I will not ask you again,” he said in a do-as-His-Majesty-says-or-else snarl.
My pulse quickened. This was the voice he used before flicking his wrist and sending someone flying across the room. Valentine wouldn’t hurt two defenseless women—at least not physically—but I couldn’t let pride and stubbornness result in the old lady falling into a faint.
Pulling back my shoulders, I made a disdainful noise in the back of my throat, acting like vampire kings came to the crystal shop to harass me all the time.
“Very well. If stepping outside will make you leave, I suppose I’ll have to oblige.” I walked around the counter and across the shop floor toward Valentine, who offered me a tight smile.
He strode ahead of me and held the door open. The man guarding the shop lumbered aside to let us out, and I stepped out into the cool morning.
A driver in a black uniform stood by the limousine and gave Valentine a low bow.
I pressed my lips into a thin line and scowled. Scoundrels who treated people like shit didn’t deserve respect.
A black cab drove past, its diesel engine clicking and coughing out smoke. On the other side of the road, a Royal Mail van paused outside the little Tesco Metro supermarket.
I let my gaze skip to the store on its right. At this time of the day, the Pret a Manger opposite was only half full. Two suited men sat outside beneath the cafe’s burgundy awning, both smoking cigarettes. I longed to be inside the store, drinking a cup of coffee, with Valentine a distant memory.
“You’re still wearing your safety spectacles,” Valentine said.
“Goggles.” I turned back to him and met his eyes. In the direct sunlight, they were a deep blue that bordered on a dark turquoise with not a hint of the red that made them look violet.
Goosebumps prickled across my skin. I used to love those eyes. Now, I despised them.
“Pardon?” Valentine frowned.
I shifted my gaze to the beauty mark on his cheekbone. “They’re not spectacles.”
Valentine smiled, as though he found my attempt at petulance endearing. The sight of him looking at me with any expression other than an apology sent a flare of anger through my insides.
“Won’t you take them off?” he said.
Something inside me cracked. It was bad enough that he’d dared to show his face, bad enough that he’d demanded that I leave the shop, but I wasn’t going to tolerate his attempts at making idle chit-chat.
“What the hell do you want from me?” I yelled loud enough for the passersby to gape. “You breeze back after three years, disrupt my place of business, and intimidate my boss. Say what you want to say and bugger off.”
Valentine flinched. It was the tiniest of movements that lasted only a blink of an eye, but I’d grown up around vampires and every other sort of supernatural creature and so I knew that figments of the imagination were often what they appeared. Then he smoothed out his features into a mask of calm.
“It’s complicated.” He swept his arm toward the open limousine door.
“Mera?” asked a male voice from behind.
I turned to meet Jonathan’s hopeful blue eyes. He stood with his hands in the pockets of his duffle coat and his narrow shoulders hunched.
“Hi, Mera.” His thin lips curled into a tiny smile. “I came early for our session—”
“What session?” Valentine snapped.
Ignoring him, I glanced down at my watch. Eleven-ten. For once in my miserable existence, I wished Jonathan had arrived much earlier.
Right now, walking around a prone man who wouldn’t stop talking about himself and asking me for dates was far preferable to getting into the back of a limo with a treacherous vampire king.
Valentine placed a possessive hand on my shoulder and pulled me into his larger body so I stood with my back flush against his chest. He overwhelmed me with his size and his strength and his scent. Sandalwood and sensuality swirling around me like smoke.
Every muscle in my body relaxed at his touch, bringing back the old feelings of being loved and protected and treated like I would become his.
I had all been a lie. A twisted sick lie executed by a man so rich and powerful and bored of life that he needed to pluck innocent girls from obscurity and Tears stung to my eyes and bile stung to the back of my throat as I fought to control my traitorous body.
Valentine meant nothing to me apart from a time in my life I was trying to forget.
The warmth of his palm seeped through my white coat and into my flesh, reminding me of younger, brighter days when I could have interpreted the gesture as protective. Now, it was nothing short of an intrusion.
Shrugging him off, I turned back to Jonathan. “Could you go inside and wait, please? I’ll be with you in a few minutes.”
Jonathan’s gaze wandered over my shoulder to where Valentine was probably glaring at him to get lost. “Is this man bothering you?”
“Yes.” I shook my head. “He’s no-one. Just a messenger from home.”
Jonathan’s frown deepened. “Would you like me to escort you back into the shop or anywhere else?”
A warning growl vibrated against my back. If I didn’t get rid of Jonathan now, Valentine would resort to something forceful.
Pulling my lips into what I hoped was an I’m-not-being-kidnapped smile, I swept my arm toward the shop. “I’ll join you in ten minutes. Please wait for me inside.”
Jonathan glanced from me to Valentine and back to me again. “Are you sure?”
“How many times does the lady need to tell you to leave?” Valentine snarled.
“Alright.” His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down, and he stared at Valentine as though committing his face to memory. “Ten minutes.”
With his hand on the small of my back,
Valentine guided me into the waiting limousine. Without realizing why, I found myself stepping through the door.
Its interior was white, with an L-shaped leather seat, tinted windows, and a fully-stocked bar with crystal decanters already filled with liquid. I lowered myself into the seat and blinked. What the bloody hell just happened?
“Who was that man?” Valentine entered after me, not having the decency to sit a seat apart. His muscular thigh pressed against my leg, the way it used to do when we were supposedly courting.
Heat pulsed between my legs, reminding me of how he used to kiss me in limousines like this, making me beg for more. I scooted away from his encroachment and toward the door, but the central locking clicked, and the limo pulled out into the road.
My eyes bulged, and I spun around to meet the arrogant git’s triumphant features. “Did you just use your magic on me?”
“Who was he?”
“Answer my question,” I snapped.
The corner of his lip curled into a half-smile. “It was for your own good. Now, you answer my question.”
“What business is that of yours?” I narrowed my eyes.
“Tell me.” He scooted around, trying to meet my gaze.
“You had something to say, remember? Spit it out so I can leave.”
“Mera,” he barked.
I flinched. Even though I’d experienced the harsher side to Valentine’s personality just once, most of my memories of him were of a kind and patient man.
My throat dried from breathing so hard. I itched to demand why he’d kept up the deception of loving me for so long, only to cast me aside the moment I’d given him what he wanted. Surely no girl’s virginity was worth that much effort.
I ground my teeth. The last time I had been vulnerable to Valentine, that had resulted in the public shattering of my reputation and pride. I wasn’t about to expose myself to a second helping of his cruelty and let him stomp on my heart.
“Who was he?” Valentine asked again with an edge of power in his voice.
“He’s a client, alright?” I said through clenched teeth. “And I’m only answering you because I want to get this conversation over with, so I can return to the shop.”
Valentine’s eyes hardened. “Not today.”
The limousine continued down Upper Brook Street toward Park Lane, where we would soon approach Hyde Park. This was kidnapping, plain and simple, and my fury kicked up another notch. I twisted around in my seat and bared my teeth.
“I thought you just wanted to talk,” I said.
“We will.” He sat back, a look of satisfaction returning his features. Daylight filtered through the tinted windows, giving his skin a golden tinge and bringing out the blueish highlights in his black hair.
Some people might have described the effect as hypnotic. To me, he was the supernatural equivalent of a carnivorous plant.
I turned my gaze to the crystal tumblers sitting within holders at the bar. “Are you going to lie about this being a short conversation, too?”
“You’re the one who said it would be brief,” he replied. “What I need to explain to you will take time.”
I ground my teeth. The bloody bastard was correct. “There’s such a thing called lying by omission.”
Valentine chuckled. He probably thought he was several steps ahead of me. Maybe he was, considering he’d been born a century before William I had conquered England. The vampire had had centuries of practice honing the art of seduction and probably thought that toying with the hearts of magicless girls was an art form or a sport.
“Were you stalking me last week?” I asked.
He grabbed my hand. “Are they following you already?”
I twisted around in my seat and met his solemn gaze. “You know what’s happening?”
Valentine inhaled a deep breath, his eyes seeming to drink me in. “I didn’t think it would be possible, but you’ve grown even more beautiful in the years we’ve spent apart.”
Somewhere deep behind the mental barriers, the black tourmaline I wore around my neck, and the Dharma salt I always carried in my pockets, my heart wanted to melt. But that was just the effects of his words. Words like that could make a girl throw her senses out of the window, desperate to hear more from those beautiful, lying lips.
Not me. I was no longer that girl.
“Are you responsible for the firestone bracelet?” I murmured.
He lowered his lashes, his gaze drifting to my right hand. Valentine’s large fingers caressed my skin, sending pleasure skittering up my arm and straight into my heart.
A breath caught in the back of my throat, and my traitorous eyes fluttered shut. It felt like an eternity since I’d allowed any man to touch me except for a perfunctory shake of the hand. The mere touch of Valentine’s skin against mine made my pulse flutter.
I hated this man, yet his touch brought back the memories of our last day together and how he had kissed every inch of my skin, teased me to submission, and lavished me with words of adoration as we had made love. Right now, I felt like his bloody instrument. My body was playing along with Valentine, even though my mind screamed at it to stop reacting.
He pulled back the sleeve of my white coat, and the pad of his thumb brushed over my pulse point. “The enchantment worked perfectly.”
My eyes snapped open, and all traces of pleasure vanished in an instant. “You sent the firestone bracelet.”
“No,” he replied with a furrowed brow.
“But you know who did?” I screamed.
Valentine didn’t answer.
“Did you hire a witch to enchant the stones to sink into my skin?” I held my tattooed wrist in front of his face.
“Inamorata,” he said.
“Don’t Inamorata me,” I snapped. “Answer my damned questions.”
Valentine exhaled a long breath. “Mera, your life is in danger.”
Chapter Five
I twisted around in the limousine’s leather seat and glowered into Valentine’s dark eyes. What kind of game was he playing? Last week, I felt the presence of a vampire following me through Grosvenor Square—one of Valentine’s bloody subjects.
He admitted to knowing about the firestone, even though he claimed he hadn’t sent it. Every piece in this incomplete supernatural puzzle added up to a bored Vampire King looking to spark things up with an old flame.
“Is this a bet?” I asked.
His brows furrowed. “Did you hear what I said?”
“I suppose this is the point where I stare into your eyes and beg you for help?”
I retreated back along the leather seat, trying to put as much distance as possible between myself and the manipulative vampire. I wasn’t in any danger whatsoever. That vampire who had followed me through the park had probably come from Valentine.
“Tell me why you’re really here,” I snapped.
“We think you’re being watched,” he said.
“By?” I folded my arms across my chest. “And is this the royal ‘we’ or do you have an accomplice?”
His nostrils flared, a sign that I was wearing out his patience. I clenched my teeth. If Mr. Tall, Dark, and Brooding Vampire King wanted a sycophant, he was fishing in an empty pool. The only thing he would get from me was belligerence until he started sharing some facts.
“Well?” I asked.
“It’s best for your safety that you change location—”
“No,” I shrieked.
He reared back. “Mera.”
“Prove it.”
The limousine turned right at the traffic lights between Park Street and Upper Brook Street and paused in the traffic. To our left was the leafy expanse of Hyde Park.
At this time of the year, most of the leaves had changed into the glorious oranges and yellows and crimsons I associated with autumn in Britain, but the lush colors were shades of dark blue through the limousine’s tinted windows.
My fingers twitched toward the door. If I’d been in a limo with any other man, I’d have ta
ken the opportunity to leave, but Valentine loved to hunt, and I wasn’t in the mood to play Jerry to his Tom. Besides, Valentine had already predicted I might bolt, hence the central locking.
As the vehicle continued alongside the park, Valentine said, “You want me to find your assassin?”
My skin tightened with annoyance. The way he said the words made me sound like I was too stupid to live and wasn’t prepared to take precautions until someone had made an attempt on my life.
The girl who had once believed in him had been stupid, gullible, and naive, but even she had grown up and wouldn’t put her trust in Valentine’s cold cruel heart.
I met his curious gaze with a hard glare. “I’ve lived in Mayfair for three years, and the only supernaturals we’ve seen have been customers.”
“Except for the person who stalked you through Grosvenor Square,” he replied.
“A vampire who was probably working for you,” I said.
Valentine turned his gaze away from mine, and a muscle in his jaw flexed. Clearly, our reunion wasn’t going as he’d planned.
I stared out of the window into Hyde Park, wishing I was alone and taking a stroll in the fresh air. Anything was better than sitting next to a man who hadn’t acknowledged having sliced through my heart with his cutting words.
It wasn’t like I was being stubborn. That vampire stalker only appeared once and could have followed me into the shop or attacked me on the doorstep when I’d dropped the keys. Instead, he remained on the other side of the road and never returned.
There was no reason to uproot myself and move away from my apprenticeship with Istabelle and my friendship with Beatrice. Especially not on the say-so of the vampire who had already proven himself a liar.
“Your ten minutes are over,” I said without looking into his face. “Take me back to the shop.”
“I can’t do that,” he murmured.
Anger flared in my chest. Who did he think he was, the police? “Why not?”
“I can’t in good conscience leave you here to be hunted.”
“This conversation is going around in circles, and I have a session with a client,” I said. “Why would I believe a word of what you say when you won’t give me any details?”
