by Lexi Blake
Marini stood up. The Frenchman was tall and well built. Like most vampires, he was incredibly attractive. He had dark hair that was slicked back and his skin was like fine porcelain, though it didn’t make him look even vaguely feminine. There was nothing about the head of the Council that didn’t scream dominant male. His eyes were dark, and they heated up with satisfaction as Michael led me to him. His lips quirked up, and he raised an eyebrow at my state of dress. He’d never seen me less than perfect. I could only hope he found casual Zoey unattractive.
“I wasn’t expecting company,” I said by way of explanation.
Marini held his hand out. Unfortunately, I knew exactly what he wanted. It was a little formal greeting between vampire and companion. Forcing myself to stay calm, I allowed my hand to find its way to his. He towered over me and gracefully flipped my hand over in his palm so the wrist was exposed.
He leaned over and sure enough, I felt the little sting of his fangs. “As always, Mrs. Donovan, it is a pleasure to greet you.”
I looked around and saw that the bastard had brought his companion with him. He’d just tasted me in front of her. Most of the companions I’d met were as possessive as the vampires they belonged to. I expected her to look at me with hate, but there was only sympathy in her brown eyes as she watched the scene. Marini’s companion reminded me of a little mouse the last time I had seen her. Now she was a little mouse someone tried to dress up. She was wearing a designer gown. Vintage Versace if I was right, and it was meant for a much fuller figure. She was wearing four-and-a-half-inch heels that I would be shocked if she really knew how to walk in. Someone had done her hair and makeup, but she seemed like a little girl playing dress up.
I smiled at her to acknowledge her presence, and she lit up like no one ever noticed her. Then Marini glanced back and her eyes were downcast again.
“You know Rose,” Marini said as if it didn’t really matter if I did or not.
I didn’t. I’d never heard him say her name, but I nodded anyway. I knew how she must feel, the lone female in a room full of predators. “Hello, Rose. It’s nice to see you again.”
“Hello, Zoey,” she replied shyly and I was surprised she had a very British accent. “I like your pants. I like Hello Kitty, too. They look warm and comfy.”
“Kevin,” Marini barked and one of the vampires moved forward. “Take your mistress home. I no longer need her.”
Rose stood up obediently and tottered on her heels. So young. I couldn’t imagine she was past twenty-one. She should be in college, figuring out her life, not obediently following her master’s wishes. She nodded as she passed with her vampire escort.
Marini obviously forgot about her the instant she walked away. “Why don’t you introduce me to your friend, Zoey?”
It was time to get rid of my other two problems. I’d felt Michael tense behind me when Marini had greeted me. Michael hadn’t liked it, but as a member of the Council, he had the right. I was more worried about the inevitable time when Marini tried taking rights that didn’t belong to him. I would just have to give the man something better to do than watch over me.
Smiling brightly, Nim moved forward. “Hello, I’m Nim.” Marini introduced himself but made no move to touch her. She frowned at me. “Is he not going to do that thing with his tongue to me?”
I fought not to smile. Nim was very straightforward. “I think that’s a vampire/companion ritual.”
“That sucks,” Nim protested, looking very disappointed. “When I heard there were a bunch of vampires hanging out, I was hoping I could get one to bite me.”
I turned to Marini. I needed to set my plan in motion right away before he offered up one of his own men. A little light flirting was called for. “Louis, I was hoping you could help me with that little problem. You see, Nim is very curious. I was thinking Michael could…well…”
“Bite me,” Nim supplied helpfully. “And do all those hot vampire things Daniel does to Zoey. I really think it’s sexy when he sits around and licks her neck.”
The head of the Council seemed very amused now as he turned to Michael. “Do you have any objections, Mr. House? It seems Mrs. Donovan would like to…I believe the current phrase is ‘pimp you out’ to her friend.”
Michael’s jaw dropped in obvious surprise, his fangs already on display. “Does she know all the…stuff involved?”
Nim grinned. “Oh, yes. I’ve listened in on Daniel and Zoey several times. It sounds like heaven. Of course, she usually has Devinshea as well, but I’ll settle for just a vampire.”
“You know about the sex?” Michael asked.
“Of course,” Nim replied like he was an idiot. “Vampires like sex.”
“We certainly do,” Michael said in a low, sexy voice. His eyes took in every inch of Nim’s form and a slow smile crossed his face. “Hello, Nim, my name is Michael House, and I’ll be the one supplying you with multiple orgasms tonight.”
“Why don’t we go back up to my room and you can rock my world?” Nim led the vampire off toward the front of the club. Dev had given her an apartment in the building. Neil, Nim, and I had spent a fun day at IKEA furnishing it.
I watched the last of my problems leave. Unfortunately, they were also the last of my friends, and I steadied myself as I looked back at Marini. I wouldn’t be able to count on Chad. He was in deep cover, and he would let Louis do a lot to keep it. Besides, I wasn’t sure Chad could even stop Marini if he wanted to. “I was going to call you tomorrow.”
Louis smiled but it was a predatory thing. “That is lie number one, chère. I will keep count and mete out punishment when I see fit.”
I crossed my arms defensively over my chest. I didn’t really like the sound of that, but it didn’t seem the time to complain. “I would have called you, eventually. We just got back. It was a hard trip.”
“That is lie number two,” the vampire said forbiddingly. “Keep this up, Zoey, and the night won’t go well for you.” My frustration must have shown through because the vampire reached out and took my hand. “Come and sit. Perhaps a drink will allow the truth to flow more freely from your lips.” He called over the bartender. “Vodka, I believe.”
The bartender nodded. He knew me and what I liked. I gave the shapeshifter a look that tried to convey my comfort with the current situation. If I’d been talking, I was sure Louis would have pointed out lie number three.
“So, Zoey, where are Daniel and Devinshea this evening?” I hated the way he said my name. It was intimate and spoke of a relationship we didn’t have and I didn’t want. I preferred our previous formality.
I was going for honesty on this one. The last thing I needed was Marini thinking Danny and Dev were out doing something subversive. It was the one time they weren’t. “They’re indisposed.”
I said that last word with a certain emphasis to let Marini know they were doing something naughty.
“Truly?” Marini asked, not hiding his surprise. “They didn’t invite you to their little party? I find it hard to believe my Nex Apparatus is upstairs fucking his lover while his wife is down here with me.”
I shook my head. “I don’t think they’ll be doing anything like that this evening. Dev finally managed to get drunk enough that he passed out before he got to the good stuff. Danny passed out long before Devinshea.”
Marini laughed long and loud. “You sound very much like a harried wife. So Daniel discovered that little vampire secret. It’s very hard, you know. The person who donates must have an unusually high capacity for liquor. If, say, I wanted to use your blood to get that sweet high, you would be dead from alcohol poisoning before I could even taste the liquor. Your faery prince must have a legendary tolerance.”
“Yeah, well, he doesn’t have much tolerance for blood loss,” I muttered.
“Your husbands have been very naughty boys,” Marini said, and he stopped to gauge my reaction. I opened my mouth to protest but he stopped me. “Think carefully before you react. I wouldn’t like another lie to pass tho
se sweet lips of yours.”
“Yes,” I said finally. “My husbands have been rather obnoxious tonight. I fear it will be even worse tomorrow.”
“So your faery prince is not so disengaged as he wanted me to believe.” Dev always played the idle, negligent lover around Marini. “I heard of the pagan rites performed at the werewolf gathering last year. Should I offer congratulations? I’m not so sure. You’re Vampire property. I don’t know how much I like you being tied to Faery. It could cause trouble down the road.”
I was very sincere in my response. “I assure you, I married Dev for love. I don’t want to be tied to Faery. And Dev and his brother are fighting again, so I wouldn’t expect that the Seelies would even care if anything ever happened to us.”
It was true. When we left Faery, I was tied to a tribe, but it wasn’t the Seelies. King Angus of the Unseelie had allied himself with both Dev and Daniel, but I decided not to mention that little tidbit.
The vampire weighed my words and pinned me with his dark eyes. He finally nodded and sat back, crossing one leg over his knee. “I believe you, chère. You’re very young and foolish, all three of you, if you believe it will work in the end. The prince should have been kept as a lover and nothing more. Daniel will regret it. Perhaps not. Perhaps he will regret other things.”
He let those enigmatic words hang as the bartender brought me an icy cold martini just how I liked it, with two plump olives. I took a long sip as Chad came to sit beside me.
“Mrs. Donovan,” he greeted me. “Or is it Quinn now?”
Well, at least I knew who told Marini about my marriage. It would have been nice if he had kept that to himself. “In the vampire world it’s easiest to be Mrs. Donovan.”
“Of course,” Chad said flatly. “Daniel’s claim is the one we recognize. You can play house with the faery all you like, but no vampire will recognize his claim on you.”
“Though I wonder how being married to the luscious Zoey would change the prince’s mind should anything happen to Daniel. In the past, he has been adamantly against belonging to a vampire. I wonder if he would follow his pretty little wife should she require another vampire master,” Louis pondered. “He might simply think he could find the nearest sithein and hide her from us.”
Chad tsk tsked that suggestion. “That wouldn’t do, master. She’s far too sweet to let her rot away in some Faery mound with a man who could never truly appreciate her. Speaking of appreciation—where’s that little werewolf who follows you around like a lapdog?”
I was startled at his tone. I turned to see Chad looking perfectly serious. I wanted to slap him and ask him why he would talk about his boyfriend like that. Instead I turned away, for once finding it easier to look at Marini. “He’s upstairs.”
“Mr. Thomas was very pleased with the hospitality he was shown in Colorado when he brought you the information on that assignment I had for you,” Marini explained. “He said the little wolf was very…accommodating.”
“I thought they got along pretty well.” I would have to keep this conversation to myself if I wanted it to stay that way. Neil wouldn’t like to be referred to as a lapdog.
“We got along really well, Mrs. Donovan,” Chad drawled with great relish. He set his booted feet on the expensive coffee table. “Mrs. Donovan likes to surround herself with beautiful men. I envy her greatly. Her husband is a paragon of male dominance, but the wolf and the faery are just to die for. I swear that faery is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, and the wolf isn’t far behind.”
“Unlike me, Zoey, you will find my friend here is only interested in his own sex,” Marini laughed. “It isn’t surprising he would love to switch places with one such as you.”
The dark-haired vampire was a vision of decadence sitting negligently on the couch and talking about the men he wanted. Chad’s dark eyes found mine. He licked his lips, and I could see a hint of fang. “Of course, if Mrs. Donovan here wanted to try me, I wouldn’t kick her out. What do you say, sweetheart? Want to see if you can turn me straight? I’d try it just to get a taste.”
Marini’s hand shot out and suddenly there was blood on Chad’s mouth. He didn’t react at all to the fact that the Frenchman had slapped the holy hell out of him. He just ran his tongue along his lip, making sure he got that blood back.
“You will not speak that way to her.” Marini stood over him, violence in his very stance. “She doesn’t belong to you.”
“Of course, master,” Chad said evenly as he gave me a serious look. “I apologize, Mrs. Donovan. I hope you don’t take offense. I meant neither you nor your husband any disrespect.”
I wished I could read people better. It seemed like Chad was trying to tell me something. Maybe he’d set up the entire scene to show me that Louis Marini was getting terribly possessive of things that didn’t belong to him. It wasn’t a good sign. Marini sat back and continued speaking like he hadn’t just exploded.
“You will have to excuse our Mr. Thomas,” Marini said, looking at Chad with a strange sort of affection. “He’s different. His powers of illusion are very rare, and it makes his idiosyncrasies worth putting up with. He’s a class of vampire that has gone almost extinct.”
“Class?” I’d heard a little something of the different classes, but I’d mostly met warriors.
“It’s rare, but some would qualify,” Marini explained. “Most vampires are of the warrior class, your husband being a splendid example. Marcus is not a true warrior. His talents lie in persuasion and obviously his ability to walk about during the day. We used to call them academics because they tended toward study and a fascination with specific intellectual pursuits. Mr. Thomas here is what would have been called a magician.”
“That’s me, full of magic,” Chad said with an odd little laugh.
Marini shook his head. “They were not the most stable of vampires. Mr. Thomas is the first to rise in centuries, and he finds himself alone. Most of his class don’t survive long. There are other classes who never leave the underground. They are misshapen and deformed, but their brothers care for them anyway.”
I decided then and there to never spend much time in the underground.
“To get back to the topic at hand,” Marini said, relaxing again, “Mr. Thomas was fascinated by the fertility rites of the prince’s people. He said they contained some powerful magic.”
Chad’s eyes closed like he was experiencing it all over again. “They made me stay far away, but I could still feel it. I was so full. I hear the wolves were happy, too. Many of the couples who were there managed to conceive.”
“Yes,” Marini murmured, “I’m sure they feel a debt of gratitude toward Daniel. I know they paid him well.”
I didn’t like where this conversation was heading. I frowned and pouted. Hopefully it was a pretty sight. “They should be grateful to me. I was the one who nearly broke my jaw.”
Both the vampires thought that was very amusing. Marini was still smiling when he said, “Perhaps you will perform this little ritual of yours for the Council. We meet next month and we always have certain entertainments to make our political sessions more palatable. Your husband is already required to be there. I think you and the prince should come as well. I would like to feed from this magic as Mr. Thomas has, as Daniel does every night.”
“You’ll have to speak to Daniel,” I said quietly. Daniel would never agree and it would cause a lot of trouble, but I would have to deal with it later.
Marini stood now and he held out his hand to help me up. “I’ll do that. If you will excuse us, Mr. Thomas, Zoey and I have some business to discuss. I assume we can use the office.”
My eyes went wide. “You want to go to the office?”
He reached down and hauled me up. “Yes, we shall speak privately. I don’t think you have my item in the pocket of your charming little pants, do you?”
This was the moment I’d been dreading. This was the moment I’d been trying to find a way out of for months.
“Or do you
want out, companion?” Marini asked, his deep voice silky. “I do have an eject button, if you recall.”
And there was no way around that. I took a deep breath and let him start to lead me out of the VIP area. Ivan gave us a look that had me worried.
“Have fun, boss,” he said in a thick accent as we walked by.
I glanced back at Chad, but all he did was wink.
Chapter Three
As a person who has actually been escorted to her own execution before, I can safely say that walk with Marini up to Dev’s office was the longest of my life. I kept trying to come up with a way to not give him the Blood Stone, but I couldn’t think of one that would work. I was going to have to turn it over and then figure out a way to get it back later.
“Zoey?” The bouncer at the bottom of the stairs stared at me with questioning eyes. “Should I come up with you or maybe call Mr. Donovan?”
I tried smiling at the shapeshifter named Erik, but he didn’t look very convinced. Neil wasn’t the only one having trouble telling a lie tonight. “It’s fine. I just have to get Louis something I left in the office. He’s an old friend, really.”
“Yes,” Louis said in that dark seductive voice vampires used when they went into persuasion mode. All vampires had the talent, some more than others. “Allow us to pass. Your mistress is in no distress. We’re…good friends, she and I.”
Erik smiled suddenly and let us pass. “Good night, Zoey.”
I hated the blankness in his eyes. Sometime in the near future he would come out of it and wonder what had happened. He would remember very little.
“Why don’t you just do that to me?” I asked as I led the vampire upstairs. In some ways it would be simpler. I wouldn’t have to remember that I’d given Marini my prize.
Marini’s voice was filled with amusement at the thought. “You really should have spent more time in our society, Zoey. You would know that my talents in persuasion would never work on you. My greatest skills lie in strength and my abilities to kill even other vampires. I would never be able to get past your husband’s hold on you. His blood is your protection.”
