by Lynsay Sands
Cristo didn’t take the life jacket at first. Instead, his eyes narrowed on Raffaele and then widened with something like realization, or perhaps recognition. She saw the pirate’s hand reach instinctively to his side as if to grab a sword, but the scabbard that hung there was empty. Apparently, he’d left his weapon on the ship rather than risk trouble from mortals for carrying it around.
Cristo’s mouth tightened briefly, and then his gaze slid to Jess before moving beyond her and narrowing again.
Jess glanced over her shoulder with curiosity, her eyebrows rising when she saw Santo and Zanipolo pushing their way through the crowd in the lobby, trying to get to the doors and, presumably, out to them.
A curse from Cristo drew her gaze around in time to see the look of regret he cast her way.
“I fear this is one of those situations where discretion is the better part of valor, little dove,” he said, beginning to back toward the bus. “But we will meet again. Vasco will see to that.”
Raffaele released Jess’s arm and started after the pirate, but she caught his hand to stop him. He paused at once and glanced back with surprise.
Jess merely stared at him at first, too surprised by the tingle of awareness that shot through her fingers to speak. She lowered her gaze to their clasped hands with confusion. She hadn’t experienced that same awareness when he’d grabbed her arm, she thought. But their skin hadn’t touched then; his hand had closed around the sleeve of her T-shirt.
Raffaele gave a tug on his hand, trying to free himself, and Jess instinctively tightened her grip. Lifting her head, she said, “Let him go. He can . . . do things,” she finished lamely, and then added, “I wouldn’t want you hurt.”
Raffaele’s expression softened at her words. He covered her hand with his own, sending more tingles up her arm, and then squeezed gently, before removing her hold.
“It is fine,” he assured her, and then turned to start forward again, only to pause almost at once.
Jess glanced around to see that while they had been distracted, Cristo had returned to the bus. She let out a relieved breath as she watched it pull away. They were safe. For now, she thought grimly, recalling Cristo’s promise that they would meet again. He’d said Vasco would see to that, and remembering the passion that had exploded between them on the ship, Jess had no doubt Cristo was right. Vasco would come for her.
The thought was a terrifying one. The man was a big scary vampire, but all he had to do was touch her and she went up in flames. She had managed to override the desire he stirred in her and escape him once, but wasn’t at all sure she could again. She needed to get away from there. She needed to check out, head straight for the airport, and catch the first available flight out of Punta Cana. Jess didn’t even care where it was going. She could catch a connecting flight home to Montana from nearly anywhere, but she desperately needed to leave Punta Cana as soon as humanly possible.
With that thought dominating her mind, Jess glanced around a bit wildly for Allison and frowned when she saw that her cousin was gone. Every last member of the returning party was now inside the lobby, heading for the exit at the back, and the steps down to the short path around the pools. It left only her and Raffaele under the lighted porte cochere. And Santo and Zanipolo, Jess saw as the two men finally pushed through the hotel doors and hurried toward them.
Quite sure that Allison would head back to their room, Jess turned to Raffaele and forced a smile. “I need to speak to my cousin. But thank you again. For everything.”
Not waiting for a response, Jess then turned and hurried back the way she’d come. She could have taken the shorter route this time and tried to catch up with Allison; but while going down stairs was always easier than going up, she wasn’t sure her rubbery legs could manage them. Jess had no desire to take a tumble down the stairs and end up dead, or stuck in a hospital here where Vasco might find her and tempt her to join the dark side.
Grimacing, Jess rolled her eyes at her own thoughts. Join the dark side? Seriously? Could she get any more drama queen-ish? But it did speak to what was happening. Vasco was a huge temptation. Well . . . when he could manage to keep his mouth shut he was, she added on a sigh. However, if she gave in to the temptation he offered, and he turned her into a vampire . . . The thought of sleeping in a coffin made her shudder. As for biting people and drinking their blood? Well, that was just gross.
“Not gonna happen,” Jess muttered to herself as she rounded the corner and started down the slope toward the buildings holding the hotel rooms.
Raffaele watched Jess hurry away, torn between chasing after her and waiting for Santo and Zanipolo to reach him. In the end, he waited for the men. The pirate had left. Jess should be safe . . . for now at least. But he needed to talk to Santo and Zanipolo and come up with a plan to keep her that way. He hadn’t missed Cristo’s last words to her. They’d sounded like a threat to him. The man seemed sure that this Vasco fellow would pursue her, and he probably would. Even rogues weren’t foolish enough to leave mortals running around with the knowledge of their existence in their heads. The pirates would want to wipe the memory of the whole incident from her mind.
“That guy was one of the vampirates from the ship Jess was on,” Zanipolo said as he and Santo reached him.
“Yes,” Raffaele said grimly. “And now that they know Jess survived her dunk in the ocean, they’ll be back. We’re going to have to keep her safe.”
“Hmm.” Zanipolo nodded. “Did you see the people who came off the bus? At least half of them had visible bites on them. Some had more than one.”
“And the others no doubt have them where they aren’t easily seen,” Raffaele said, running a hand through his hair.
“They think they were feeding the sharks,” Santo said in a deep rumble full of disgust.
“They were,” Raffaele assured him. “Just not the kind with fins and gills.”
Santo grunted in agreement, and turned to Zanipolo. “Has Lucian returned your call yet?”
“No. I’ll call him again,” Zanipolo said, pulling out his phone and scrolling through his contacts.
“What will you do about Jess?” Santo asked.
“Keep her safe,” Raffaele said at once.
Santo nodded and then they both glanced to Zani as he muttered under his breath and put his phone away.
“No answer,” he explained. “I’ll try again in half an hour and leave a message if he doesn’t answer then.”
Nodding, Raffaele turned to start following the path Jess had taken just moments ago.
“So, are we heading back to the restaurant?” Zanipolo asked as they rounded the building. “I still haven’t had my dinner.”
“You and Santo can go there if you like. I need to go talk to Jess, convince her that she needs protection, and assure her that we can be that protection.”
Zanipolo nodded, and then pointed out, “She probably hasn’t eaten either. Do you want us to pick her up something when we head back?”
“That’s a good idea. Thank you.”
Zanipolo nodded. “You can text us her order and her room number after you ask her what she wants.”
Raffaele stopped walking.
“What’s wrong?” Zanipolo asked.
“I don’t know her room number,” Raffaele admitted with alarm. He peered from one man to the other. “Did either of you read it from her mind?”
Both men shook their heads, and Raffaele was just starting to panic when Zanipolo said, “We can go to reception and have them look up her room number.”
“Right,” Raffaele said with relief.
“Except we do not know her last name,” Santo pointed out quietly. “Once she told us her name was Jess, I didn’t trouble to read her mind for the rest of her name.” Turning to Zanipolo, he asked, “Did you?”
Zanipolo grimaced and shook his head apologetically.
Cursing, Raffaele closed his eyes briefly and then shook his head and started walking again. “We’re going to have to search this enti
re resort again to find out her room number. We’re going to have to go door-to-door.”
“Or we could go to the restaurant first,” Zanipolo suggested, and then pointed out, “She has to be starved after expending all that energy in the ocean, not to mention everything else that has happened to her today. The beachside restaurant is the only one still open. She’ll have to go there if she wants food.”
Raffaele’s mouth tightened briefly with irritation at the suggestion. It was obvious the man was just trying to find an excuse to be able to eat. But then he forced himself to be patient. Zanipolo wasn’t yet a hundred years old. He still ate food, and he’d been without it for quite a while. The man must be starved, he realized. Besides, they weren’t on a job. Finding Jess was really his problem, and not something the other two men need trouble themselves with, yet neither of them were protesting being tasked with the chore. Zanipolo just wanted some food to sustain him for the effort. He could hardly begrudge him that.
“You two go down to the restaurant and see if she shows up while you’re there, and I’ll start the door-to-door search,” he suggested. “Perhaps I’ll get lucky and find someone who knows her and can give me her room number before you guys get done.”
“Or you could ask her,” Santo said suddenly.
When Raffaele glanced at him sharply, the big man nodded to the path ahead. Raffaele turned to scan the area. His eyebrows rose and relief coursed through him when he saw Jess sitting on a bench across the footpath from where Buildings 1 and 2 met.
“Thank God,” Zanipolo muttered. A sentiment Raffaele silently echoed as he hurried forward, determined to get to the woman before she disappeared again.
Five
Shifting impatiently on the bench, Jess glanced toward Building 2 and then along the path between it and Building 1, but there was still no light coming from their room, or sign of her cousin on the path. Allison appeared to be taking her time about returning to their room.
Jess sat back with a disgruntled sigh. She needed to get into their room. She had to put some clothes on, pack, call the airport to see what the first available flight out of Punta Cana was. And find out if she could somehow switch her ticket or, if not, figure out if she could afford the new one, she thought grimly. Fortunately, the room was already paid for. They’d had to prepay months ago. Having to buy a new plane ticket would be a problem, though. She would have to put it on her credit card, and work extra shifts at the bar, or get a third job, to pay for it once she got home.
Sighing, Jess glanced toward Building 2 and then to the path between the buildings again. There was still no sign of Allison.
Muttering impatiently under her breath, Jess leaned her head back to peer up at the stars. She planned to try to convince her cousin to leave with her, but didn’t think she was likely to succeed. As far as she could tell, Allison had absolutely no memory of what had really taken place on the pirate ship. She and Tyler, and everyone else from the bus, seemed to be convinced they’d had a grand time.
Jess shook her head with amazement. Several groups of people from the bus had passed her while she sat here waiting for Allison, and everyone had been laughing and talking about what a great time the shark feeding tour had been, and how they should tell so-and-so to go on it. But Jess had seen the bite marks on several of them, and she distinctly remembered Tyler’s horrified and pain-filled expression as Ildaria had chewed on his family jewels. She knew he hadn’t had a good time. He, however, didn’t.
Lowering her chin, Jess rubbed her forehead unhappily. Part of her wanted to tell them all what had really occurred, but she was sure they’d think she was crazy. They all had a different memory of events. Besides, it seemed the pirates were smart vampires. They didn’t kill their victims, which might have drawn attention to their existence. Instead, they just snacked on the tourists they lured aboard ship, and then returned them safe and sound and even with happy memories of the trip. What would she achieve by changing that? Did she really want them to be as afraid and freaked out as she was? Where was the value in that? As far as she could tell, they were all probably safe enough now that they were back. She doubted any of them would suffer a second encounter with the pirates, unless they went back to the pirate ship on their own because they thought they’d had such fun. Jess didn’t think the pirates would come back looking for a second round themselves, though. At least not with the others. If the pirates had wanted more from them, they could have simply kept them. No, Jess was pretty sure she was the only one who had to worry about the vampirates coming for her.
She gave her head a shake, finding it hard to believe she was even thinking that. Jess had never imagined that would be a concern in her life. That she’d have to worry about vampirates coming for her. It hardly seemed possible. She could still hardly believe there were vampires, or even pirates.
“Maybe I’m crazy and hallucinated it all,” she muttered.
“Jess?”
Stiffening, she jerked her head up and stared at the man approaching through the shadows. Jess breathed out a sigh of relief when he got close enough that the light from the lamppost behind the bench she sat on reached his face.
“Raffaele,” she said, managing a shaky smile. “Hi.”
“Hello,” he responded, pausing in front of her. Glancing around with a frown, he asked, “What are you doing out here?”
“Waiting for Allison to come to our room so I can get in,” she admitted, and then added ruefully, “Apparently, I lost my room key today. Along with everything else I had in my waist belt.”
Raffaele’s eyebrows rose slightly. “What is a waist belt?”
“Oh.” Jess smiled faintly. “It’s a small nylon sack, kind of like a big wallet, that you wear strapped around your waist. You keep your valuables in it,” she explained. “Money, ID, room key, stuff like that.”
“And you lost it in the water?” he asked with concern.
Jess frowned. She’d had it when she’d boarded the pirate ship, but not when she left it. She was quite sure about that. It would have caught on the porthole when she’d pushed herself through it. Besides, Jess couldn’t remember it being there when Vasco had pulled her shorts off during their wrestling session on his bed. The only thing she could think was that she’d lost it during their first session on deck when Ildaria had sent her out to kiss him and Jess had found she’d climbed the man like a telephone pole. It must have somehow got dislodged then, along with Vasco’s hat, she decided.
“Jess?” Raffaele queried.
“Sorry,” she muttered, forcing a smile. “I was thinking. But no, I didn’t lose it in the water. I’m pretty sure I lost it on the pirate ship.”
“The pirate ship?” he asked with interest.
Jess glanced to him with surprise and then realized she hadn’t yet told him anything about her adventures. Probably a good thing, she decided. He’d seen everyone get off the bus happy and chatty, and would hardly believe her version of events anyway. She was having trouble believing it herself.
“It doesn’t matter,” she said finally, and glanced past him to Santo and Zanipolo as the two men joined them at the bench and took up position on either side of Raffaele.
Before she could offer a greeting to the men, Raffaele asked, “Did you have anything of value in the waist belt?”
“Well, my key card to our room was in it. That’s why I’m sitting here waiting for Allison,” she pointed out. “As for anything of value—”
“What is it?” Raffaele asked when she stopped abruptly, her eyes going wide with alarm.
“My iPhone and driver’s license were in it,” she breathed shakily.
“You took your iPhone and driver’s license with you on your outing?” Raffaele asked with surprise.
“Yes,” Jess moaned, closing her eyes. “My iPhone is my camera, of course I took it. I wanted pictures of the sharks and stingrays and our swimming with them,” she explained, and silently mourned the loss of those pictures. All of her pictures from this trip were on
it—the wedding, the wedding dinner, their excursions so far—and she’d lost all of them.
“I understand the phone,” Zanipolo said. “But your driver’s license?”
“Oh,” Jess sighed, and waved a hand vaguely. “Allison insisted I bring my driver’s license. She said she’d heard that you had to have photo ID if you wanted to rent anything on these excursions. She thought there might be Jet-Skis or Seabobs to try at the Seaquarium, and if there was, she wanted to rent one.”
“And her wanting to rent one meant you had to bring your ID?” Santo asked heavily, sounding like he didn’t like her cousin. She didn’t know how that could be, though; as far as she knew they hadn’t even met. Of course, they were in the same resort and might have had a brief encounter in passing. With Allison, a brief encounter in passing could be enough to cause animosity in the kindest person.
“Both of our driver’s licenses were in the waist belt,” she admitted unhappily. “That way we could both rent a Seabob. Unfortunately, I lost hers as well as mine, and she is so going to kill me for it.”
A moment of silence passed and then Raffaele cleared his throat and asked, “So these vampires have your room key?”
“Vampires?” she squeaked, peering at him with wide eyes.
“That is what you called them when we were in the water,” he reminded her.
“Oh, right.” She stared at him wide-eyed, suddenly understanding why these men were following her around. They thought she was off her nut because of the vampire thing. Clearing her throat, she forced a laugh. “Yeah. Vampires. Ha ha. That was a joke,” she lied anxiously, not wanting him to think her crazy, and then she stiffened as his question filtered through her mind. The vampires had her room key.
Vasco had her room key.
For a moment, panic assailed her, but then Jess realized that was okay. The room keys didn’t list the room number on them, so it wasn’t like he could use it to find her here. Unfortunately, he also had her iPhone and driver’s license, which meant he had tons of info about her, including her home address. But surely, he wouldn’t sail all the way to Montana to hunt her down? Well, no, he couldn’t. Montana was hundreds of miles from the ocean. No one could sail there. She supposed he could fly, but what would he do about his coffin?
