Tori sighed and fidgeted. “Remember when Robert left?”
LeAnne nodded.
“He didn’t really take off with that girl. Well, he did, but not really the way I let you think. He cheated on me with one of them. She turned him and—”
“Wait.” LeAnne threw up a hand. She swallowed and tried to turn the chaos of thoughts in her head into words. “First, tell me what they are.”
“Well…the easiest way to put it is vampires.”
“Vampires?” Anger, fear, and curiosity fought for dominance inside her. “You mean like blood-sucking, nocturnal, bite-you-on-the-neck, Twilight vampires?”
Tori cackled. “I dare you to call Michael Twilight!”
“Focus, Tori. This isn’t fucking funny.”
Dropping the F-bomb caught her friend’s attention. Tori wiped the smile off her face and sat up straighter. “Sorry. I’ve had a long time to get used to this. It’s kind of a relief to know I can tell you.” Tori sighed again and shook her head. “But I am sorry you’re involved. It will make your life more difficult. See…there are rules. They can’t let anyone know they exist.”
“Then how do you know?”
Tori rubbed her eyebrow nervously. “God, that’s a lot to explain. Let’s just sum it up and say Michael is how.”
“All right, back to the vampire part then. Let’s start with the basics. They drink blood?”
“Yes.”
LeAnne shivered. Her vegetarian nature eliminated meats. This was a completely different kind of wrong. “Go out in the sun?”
“No.”
“Live forever?”
“Well, sort of. They can die but it’s a lot harder to kill them.”
LeAnne took a deep breath and let the information sink in for a minute. The number of questions she had was growing to an overwhelming burden that was threatening a headache. “All right, they have some kind of way to make this”—she pointed to her neck—“heal faster, right?”
“Yeah.” Tori leaned closer. “It’s almost gone, actually.”
She rubbed the lingering bruise. “Why do they keep making my head hurt? They’re doing something, aren’t they?”
Tori’s mouth pulled sideways. She bit the inside of the corner of her mouth the way she always did when she thought hard. She looked away, then back.
“What is it, Tori?”
“I don’t know how much Michael wants you to know, but I’m going to tell you everything.” She took a deep breath. “He’s not going to kill me for breaking the rules.”
LeAnne’s voice went high. “What about me?”
Tori laughed. “No. He won’t kill you either. He’s going to protect you and make this right.”
“Why do you sound like something bigger is going on than what I see?”
“Well, they can usually wipe out the memories of humans when they feed. Something’s wrong with—”
LeAnne let out a loud, “Ha!” She let out a mad laugh. “My brain is so screwed up that they can’t brainwash me.”
“Nah. Not screwed up. Michael thinks it’s because you’re stubborn. He should have been able to do it even if Dorian couldn’t because he’s a lot stronger. But it didn’t work.”
“Figures.” LeAnne started scratching her thumb with her index finger. “What happens if they can’t wipe my memory?”
“Um.” Tori looked down. “You will have to be bound to one of them or turned.”
“Bound?”
“Kind of magically tied to them.”
LeAnne swallowed hard. This was sounding worse by the moment. “You’re bound to Michael, aren’t you?”
Tori blushed. “Yeah.”
Ugh. Leave it to Tori to be right in the middle of trouble. “And he’s more powerful?”
“Yeah.”
“How powerful, Tori?”
“Well, he’s the boss. He runs the area. The vampires here answer to him and they’re under his protection.”
“Does he have a boss?”
“He only answers to a group that governs all of them from Italy.”
At least Michael could protect them, LeAnne thought. She wasn’t sure it was worth the danger to work with him, but she was in it now. From the sound of things, she was in and there was no getting out. “So, they’re less like Twilight and more like The Godfather.”
Tori laughed again, and the sound broke the tension in the room like a bursting balloon. “Exactly.”
“Great. So, you got me involved with mafia vampires?”
“Well…”
“Dammit.” LeAnne sighed.
“I told you not to let him come up.”
LeAnne opened her mouth, then closed it. She nodded. Tori was right. They had warned her. Jonas had made it clear he didn’t trust him, too. “Wait…Jonas?”
“Yep.”
“Living a little dangerously, aren’t ya?”
“Not because I want to.”
LeAnne arched a brow, unsure if that was true. “Is the whole club full of vamps?”
“No. Only some of the customers and most of the staff.”
“Gah! Were you trying to get me killed?”
Tori’s eyebrows went up, and she looked as if she had no idea where that idea came from. “You were protected, LeAnne. You can’t get safer than being in Jonas’s club with Michael watching over you.”
“Except that I got bit!”
Her shoulders went down. “Yeah.” Tori fell back against the back of the couch. “Dorian is new. There’s something else going on with him that even I don’t know about.”
“Like?”
“I don’t know. Michael’s a master secret-keeper, but I’ll find out soon enough.”
The two sat in silence for a few minutes. LeAnne finally spoke. “How deep are you in this, Tori?” Then she gasped. Asking that question triggered a thought she hadn’t entertained until that moment. “Are you still human?”
“Yes!”
“Open your mouth.”
“Good God, Lee.”
“Open it.”
Tori did, then closed her mouth again. “That’s not a good way to know.”
“I don’t care.” LeAnne pulled the throw up around her neck as the shivers returned.
“Are you shaking?”
“Yeah.”
“You need to build your blood back up,” Tori said. “He probably drank too much. Got any black strap molasses?”
“What do you think?”
“Get some. And take your vitamins. Veggies aren’t enough now.”
“Okay.” LeAnne stuck her hands under her armpits to warm them. “Don’t change the subject this time. How deep are you?”
“Eyebrow deep. Maybe even hairline.”
“What does that mean?” LeAnne asked.
“Let me heat you a blanket in the dryer. I can’t stand to see you shaking. You get a bottle of water and a shot of something strong. Then I’ll tell you the whole story.”
Chapter Ten
Just after seven, LeAnne sat on a black sectional sofa of the small theater in Michael’s mansion, which was quite a bit bigger than Tori had let on. The news that Tori’s friends were all vampires was slowly sinking in, but she wasn’t processing it as easily as she’d anticipated. Plus, the day had slowly decayed. She had felt almost flu-like ever since she calmed down enough to notice. Then Michael canceled the plans for meeting at Jonas’s club, though neither she nor Tori knew why. He had redirected them to bring LeAnne to Michael’s. That added to her nerves, but having her bestie there with her made it tolerable.
Unfortunately, the department called Tori out to a crime scene at sunset, despite the fact that she’d called in sick. Since LeAnne wasn’t supposed to be alone until Michael felt sure she wouldn’t tell, Tori had taken her to the mansion for supervision. They
’d picked up Chinese food, and Tori showed her how to start a movie by starting The Hangover for her, but she wasn’t watching or eating. Her nerves wouldn’t allow it. Being in a house full of the walking dead was creeping her out.
The door behind her opened slowly. She turned to see Jonas step in wearing black boots, black fatigue-type pants, and a black muscle shirt that showed off the tattoos on his arm. He’d pulled his hair back into a low ponytail that accentuated the chiseled beauty of his face. Since he was a vampire and already in all the makeup he wore at the club, she half wondered if that wasn’t how he really looked.
LeAnne was suddenly aware of how powerful he seemed. It radiated from him and made her arm hairs stand up. There was sensuality to it too; a primal part of her always wanted the powerful men, and Jonas triggered that desire in her.
He gave her a kind smile that looked odd on his face and moved toward her. “How are you dealing?”
“I’ll be okay.”
He sat on the edge of the sectional and watched the movie for a moment, then something like anger twisted his mouth slightly. “I could kill that little bastard for doing this.”
She swallowed hard. Dorian had to have known who Michael was and what he was risking by telling them what he’d done to ask for help. He’d known about Tori, obviously. So, she had to stand up for him, too. “I dragged him into the apartment and practically had my way with him.”
Jonas laughed. “Well, I guess I can’t kill him for being a man, then.”
“Nah. I think he’s a good guy.”
He looked at her then. “Be careful, babe. He’s dangerous. We all are.”
LeAnne nodded. “Tori warned me.”
“She loves you.”
She smiled. “I know.”
“She would kill us all if you got hurt.”
LeAnne laughed. Yeah, that sounded like Tori. She wouldn’t think twice about destroying everything to right something she felt like was a wrong. She’d promised to protect LeAnne, and she’d keep that promise to whatever ends that meant. Even if that end was hurting herself by destroying Michael.
“She told you everything, didn’t she?”
LeAnne looked at him and considered lying. For some reason she didn’t quite understand, she confessed. “I think so.”
The corner of his mouth pulled up in a crooked grin. “I knew she would. Michael underestimates her.”
“You don’t, though.” The words were out before she could stop them.
Jonas’s face went blank. He stared at her for a long moment, then gave her another crooked grin. “No. I guess I don’t. But that’s because she’s me as a chick.”
“Kindred souls?”
“Of sorts.”
LeAnne had to stop talking. Jonas loved Tori. So did Michael, who she liked. She didn’t want to know more. “Maybe Michael just trusts her.”
Jonas nodded and stood. “He wants us to meet him in his office. Walk with me?”
LeAnne started picking up the food.
“Don’t worry about it. We’ll get it later. His office is just next door.”
“Okay.” She set down the containers and walked beside him toward the door.
“And this is how I really look,” he said.
She stopped and felt her mouth fall open.
Jonas turned and winked at her.
“Oh, that’s freakin’ creepy.”
He laughed, and the sound tickled her neck. “Tori keeps telling me that.”
“I need to be very careful around you.”
“Wait till you start remembering everything you’ve thought about when I was around.”
She groaned. “Let’s just keep that between us.”
“Blackmail, baby.” Jonas opened the door and held it for her to walk out.
LeAnne walked beside him into Michael’s office. Inside, the head vampire sat on the edge of his desk in an outfit similar to Jonas’s, but with a black T-shirt. To the right of Michael stood a curvaceous woman with her hand on his shoulder. She looked like Marilyn Monroe’s Goth sister and wore jeans and a tight white top that showed her headlights were very much on. Based on Tori’s description, this had to be Elena, Jonas’s love. LeAnne couldn’t quiet put her finger on why, but something made her feel like she’d walked in on something.
Jonas crossed the room and took her straight into his arms, as if he had sensed it, too. Tori just might be right about them.
Someone cleared his throat. LeAnne glanced in the direction of the sound. Against the right wall, a big guy with dark skin, green spiky hair, and an outfit similar to the other guys’ sat with his arm around a woman who was his complete opposite. She was thin, pale with blond hair, and wore a soft pink sweater with dark, expensive-looking jeans and red-bottomed pink heels. LeAnne guessed the duo were Blane and Christiana, the two hybrids of the group that Tori had told her about when she shared their secrets. They were talking quietly and didn’t seem to notice her.
LeAnne looked left to where movement caught her attention. Dorian turned around to face her from a window beside Michael’s desk. She’d missed him because he had been looking out the blinds. He wore dark jeans and a navy T-shirt that made his eyes look brighter. He gave her a sad smile and walked toward her. “How do you feel?”
“I’ll be fine.”
He held out his hand. She took it, then walked with him to stand closer to Michael.
“We’ve got a long night. I have to meet with the others in an hour, so let’s get this going,” Michael said. “Elena, keep your phone close.”
“Okay.” She kissed Jonas before she headed toward the door.
“Christiana, I need you in here for a few moments more. Blane, please escort Dorian to the den.” Michael rubbed his forehead.
LeAnne looked at Dorian, silently asking what they were doing. Everyone looked more serious than she’d expected; sad, even. They were beginning to scare her.
“It will be okay.” He kissed her on the cheek and whispered, “I’m sorry. I will make this up to you.”
Dorian turned and walked out with Blane hot on his heels. The door shut, leaving LeAnne in the room with three vampires: Christiana, Jonas, and Michael. It was silent except for the sound of her breathing and the pounding of her heart in her chest. All of her human instincts were screaming for her to run, but she breathed and focused on keeping still. She had to believe Michael would not hurt her.
“LeAnne, I apologize for Dorian’s behavior. Also because my relationship with Tori has put you in this situation. You do not deserve the burden of this knowledge of our existence, but there is no way to relieve you of it without risking further damage.”
“Yeah, I’ll just live with it. I don’t want to end up in a rubber room.”
Christiana and Jonas laughed. Michael didn’t. “I appreciate your acceptance, and I agree, but this leaves us with a problem. You must be spoken for or anyone of our kind may take you for themselves. I won’t allow that to happen. Since this is my fault, I take responsibility. I’ve decided to mark you myself.”
LeAnne’s heart sank into her belly somewhere. She didn’t want to be marked by anyone, especially Tori’s fella. They were besties, but she knew her friend. If the process made her as infatuated with Michael as Tori said, this was gonna be a huge problem.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and glanced over to Jonas. He smiled. “She has the same qualms about this that I do.”
Michael glanced at Christiana. “You’re here to witness, but this discussion doesn’t leave this room. Not even to Blane.” The woman nodded, and he rubbed his forehead again and sighed. “I know, and you’re both right. And I realize I haven’t fed enough to make you comfortable, garante.” He practically spit out the last word. “Tori won’t like it.”
“She doesn’t know?” LeAnne panicked for the first time.
“No,” Jonas said.
“What the hell are you thinking?” She glared at Michael.
“I know, but this is how it has to be. I’d planned to discuss it with her but her work has pulled her away again.”
“You realize she’s going to think you’re an asshole.” LeAnne scratched her thumb with her finger. Her stomach tied in knots.
Jonas let out a grunt. “She’s going to think you’re doing this to get revenge over me.”
“Oh. Shit. She is going to think that,” LeAnne said.
“Perhaps, but there’s no time to wait,” Michael said. “When you find someone suitable, this can be undone. For now, this is how it has to be. But I would like to have your permission.”
She looked up at Jonas, who looked away. Then she looked at Michael. “Can we just call her first?”
“And tell her what? How do you think she will react in front of her colleagues?”
Michael had a point. Still—“Just for the record, I think this is a horrible idea. She’s going to feel betrayed.”
“Noted,” Michael said coolly.
He offered no other alternatives. LeAnne groaned. Her life had come down to this: live as a slave to a random vampire or let Michael mark her and really piss Tori off. Well, that wasn’t much of a choice. She closed her eyes. “Do it,” she said.
Jonas’s hand slid off her shoulder at those words. She listened to him walking toward the door and just breathed in and out.
Michael walked the few steps toward her, and the warm scent of his cologne came with him. “Please look at me.” She did, and he continued speaking. “We will be tied after this. I will know when you have strong emotions. You’ll feel things that I feel, and your feelings toward me will be stronger. If you have questions that you don’t want to ask Tori, ask me. ” He took her wrist and raised it. He bent toward it, then cut his eyes up to her. “Tori told you everything, didn’t she?”
LeAnne nodded.
“Told ya,” Jonas muttered.
Michael groaned then. “If she needs to use it, she won’t be able to, Michael,” Jonas said quickly.
Dorian Page 10
