"No. I'm saying he is in over his head." Again Ezekiel gazed into the bottom of his glass as if searching for inspiration. Then his eyes flicked up and held his. "You do realize you must bring Sorcha into this?"
Again Duncan stood utterly still.
He shook his head.
"Not yet."
He was doomed.
He knew it.
That it had come to this?
Hadn't his wife told him there would come a day, when he would be on his knees before her?
Who'd have thought that the time to leave his sons, his world, was approaching and approaching fast?
Ezekiel made to leave, but as he stepped onto the balcony he turned his head to look him dead in the eye.
"Oh, and Duncan, remember... witches embrace technology, too."
He was gone.
What the fuck did that mean?
Chapter Seventeen
Gia breezed through the door Jesus held open for her with a saucy smile that had made his dark brows lift. She was so damned pleased with herself for her easy escape from Daniel, she didn't catch the Rutherford brothers share a look of alarm. And she most certainly didn't notice Jerry reach for his cell to call a number embedded in his psyche by a vampyre.
She entered her tiny dressing room in the Sly Fox club with a jaunty confidence and a sexy sway of her hips. Quickly she applied her make-up, focusing on her eyes and mouth. Tonight her lipstick was a deep and erotic red. She pulled the tie from her hair and let it fall to her waist.
Next up, her dress.
Stripping to her bra and matching string panties, she shimmied into the black silk number with a slit up to the hip and couldn't help but do a little shoulder boogie of delight.
She pulled her hair to the side and checked out the back all the while grinning at herself like a loon in the mirror.
Hot damn.
She looked amazing.
There was a single knock on the door.
"Five minutes, Gia," the voice of the manager yelled. "We have a full house tonight, babe."
Babe just tossed back her head and laughed.
God, her whole system felt as if she'd been charged with sixty thousand volts of electricity.
It didn't occur to her that perhaps she should have fed before she left Daniel's apartment.
It didn't occur to her that perhaps the scent of human beings might trigger the rise of her vampyre.
All Gia was worried about was putting on the performance of her life and then dealing with one Enricho Donatti.
Meanwhile, the man himself was settling down at a table right at the front of the stage with two of his enforcers.
Enricho Donatti was not a man used to waiting for things.
And that included women.
The first time he'd seen Gia had been at her husband's wake.
Her beauty was a natural and breathtaking one, tinged with a naïveté, an innocence, that sang to him. No artifice. It pleased him she didn't need paint to enhance that fabulous face.
His body had reacted in a way that had certainly surprised him.
He wasn't a particularly sexual creature.
His emotions were too controlled for that.
But he'd taken one look at the young widow Del Russo and he'd gone as hard as stone.
Certain social customs had to be maintained, especially after a funeral, so it wasn't as if he could have just picked her up and carried her out of the hovel she called a home. Although, God knew, he'd wanted to.
Enricho liked to possess nice things, beautiful things.
He was proud of the mansion, the fast cars and of course the money.
Who said crime didn't pay?
However, tonight wasn't the night to think of such things.
His dick hardened with the sense of sheer anticipation.
He'd been toying with her for months and the fact she hadn't given in to him too soon had only made the chase even more enjoyable. He'd thought the single white rose delivered every day a nice touch.
When a human being was in despair and on its knees and one squeezed, one never knew what might emerge. Desperate for the increasing amount of cash he'd demanded from her, she'd worked all hours in some pretty dingy places.
According to his enforcers, people he paid well to keep a close eye on her, apparently his Gia had the voice of an angel.
Maybe he'd make her a star?
But then the room darkened, the only light from flickering candles in clear glass jars, centred on the tables.
The click of drumsticks counting down the beat of introduction.
Three.
Two.
One.
A spotlight hit and there she was.
For a second his mind went blank.
All he could do was stare up at the beautiful creature standing alone on the tiny stage.
A creature who in no way resembled the Gia Del Russo he knew.
This woman wore a dress that left nothing to the imagination with a lazy, almost feline, confidence.
She was a sensual woman, filled with an innate eroticism that oozed from her very pores.
He had no doubt, no doubt at all that something life-changing had happened to her.
But what?
What could have wrought a change in a woman in such a short time?
And when had it occurred?
The next logical thought that followed was, and by whom?
A man?
Anger burned like battery acid in his gut.
His fists clenched on the table.
If a man had touched her, he would kill him and then he would kill her... after he had punished her.
Then she opened her mouth, took a single breath and the purity of the sound that emerged meant he simply ceased to think at all.
Heartbreaking.
Arousing.
His dick throbbed in time to the low throaty sound of a woman who knew and understood the sexual demands of her own body. The carnal needs and how those needs were met by the man she loved with all of her heart.
Enricho Donatti clearly heard and clearly understood the subtext of those emotions pouring from her very soul and what they meant.
And he understood, too, that he'd thrown away his chance to have her.
She would never be his, not the way he needed her to be his.
He'd lost.
A fury that could hardly be contained was a storm, a need for violence, raging inside his heart, his head.
He sat, as if carved from solid stone, absolutely still.
Hardly daring to breathe as his eyes, unblinking, stayed upon the woman who had betrayed him.
Gia had been more than thrilled to find her tormentor sitting up close at the table nearest the stage.
Thrilled.
And she sang each and every song from the heart and just for him.
To show him she was her own woman and that she no longer feared him.
But as she neared the end of the first half of her performance, Gia instinctively knew something was wrong with Enricho Donatti.
Very wrong.
Not once had his eyes, dead eyes, left her.
Not once.
When she sang, she tended to get caught up, lost in the music and the emotions of the lyrics. Which was why she hadn't realized that her vampyre was threatening to burst through her skin. Now as she inhaled, all she smelled was the mouth-watering sweet honeyed ambrosia of human blood. Her heart went crazy in her chest, battering against her ribs as she bowed her head in thanks for the roar of applause. But then her gums tingled as her fangs dropped. It took an act of appalling will to turn and walk away to her dressing room.
By the time she closed the door, locked it and leaned back against it, her vampyre ruled.
She kicked off her heels as her claws released from her fingers, her toes.
'Bloodlust,' the voice of her vampyre screamed in her head. 'Get out of here!'
Frantic now, her eyes scanned the room to find a high narrow window with bars on the
outside.
She didn't hesitate and leapt.
It took time, but she'd managed to rip out three steel bars before there was a knock on her door.
She ignored it and disposed of another two bars, the metal ringing on the concrete outside in a way that made her wince. What if someone heard the noise and came to investigate?
Just as she was about to throw herself through the opening, another knock came at her door, this time accompanied by a voice that made her blood ice.
"Gia. It is Enricho. Open the door."
Her head tipped at an inhuman angle as her vampyre listened.
She could hear the fast beat of Donatti's black heart along with a low voice, one of his goons, warning he was attracting attention. Then the sound of the lumbering footsteps and the voice of Jesus Rutherford politely informing Donatti that no one was permitted in the artist's dressing area.
And then the sound of footsteps moving away.
Another knock at the door.
"Gia," Jesus said. "Donatti's gone, but he looked pretty pissed. If I were you I'd get changed and leave now."
Except for the part of changing her clothes, Gia absolutely agreed and for once in her life took advice.
She was through the window and into the night.
A newborn vampyre alone, her system flooded with bloodlust in streets teeming with human beings.
Chapter Eighteen
"My Lord."
Without warning, Ian Macpherson barged through the penthouse balcony's French doors. He had two Centuri guards hot on his heels. By the thunderous look on Ian's face and the way one of the Centuri guards had a face like a spanked arse, Daniel read the signs.
"Bad news? What is it?"
Ian held up a cell phone.
"We've just received word Gia is at the Sly Fox club."
Daniel blinked and absorbed the shock, the fist fear punched to his heart.
Fuck.
Saira moved fast. "I'll alert Ezekiel."
Daniel didn't wait and he didn't certainly didn't have time to change into combat gear.
He ran through the French doors and took to the air.
"How the hell did she get through a secure door and past the guards?" he wanted to know as he leapt with the Centuri across the rooftops from building to building. They travelled faster than any car. He just hoped they reached her before her vampyre rose in bloodlust. They hadn't spent any time tutoring her in what it meant to become a vampyre. Frustration was a snarl in his throat. Newborns should come with a fucking how-to handbook.
How had he been so stupid?
He'd made so many mistakes with her, he couldn't believe it.
"She used the maintenance stairs. Must've had the door code. We checked CCTV and spotted her in jeans and a grey hoodie getting into the back of the taxi. She gave us the slip," said Ian as he beaned the Centuri guard, who'd let her get past him, with a hard stare.
"She's slippy alright," Daniel growled the words.
If Gia came out of this night in one piece, she'd pay a high price for disobeying him.
It was time for the gloves to come off.
As could be seen by her latest act of sheer defiance, he'd been too soft with her.
Well, that stopped now.
It didn't take them long to arrive at the Sly Fox club.
It wasn't the dive Daniel had imagined.
In fact, although the club might be smoky and dark, it appeared the clientele were well-heeled lovers of good music.
He immediately tagged a huge African American as a doorman. His bulk, black suit and the earpiece gave him away. Doormen knew everything that went on in places like this.
"Gia Del Russo?" Daniel asked him.
The response was raised black brows.
"I'm her boyfriend," he added.
Beefy arms folded in front a vast chest as the brows rose even higher.
"Seriously. She's worked for me for two years as my PA. I'm Daniel Gillespie."
He reached into his suit pocket for a business card and handed it to the man.
The guy took it, read the name, the company.
"She's in her dressing room on her break," he said in a deep voice. A voice that resonated with the music of Caribbean. "No visitors allowed."
Jeez, he wasn't getting anywhere with this guy.
"Look, she wasn't feeling well earlier, not quite herself. I just want to make sure she's okay," he said.
The man blinked once then nodded. "Follow me."
Daniel did as he was told.
They stepped into a dingy corridor before a closed door that badly needed a paint job.
The doorman knocked.
No answer.
Daniel looked at him.
He looked at Daniel.
The doorman tried the handle.
Locked.
"Gia, my wee darlin’. Open the door," said Daniel.
The flutter of anxiety in his gut made him try the handle himself.
It seemed his new friend was worried, too, because he put his shoulder to the door and it gave after one hard shove.
The room was empty, except for jeans, T-shirt, running shoes and heels dumped on the floor.
Daniel's gaze lifted to the broken window high on the wall, the metal bars tossed on the floor and lingered on the bloody claw marks tracking down the concrete of the wall.
"Fuck," he whispered at the desperate evidence her vampyre was in full control. It cost him, but he managed to force back the panic that gripped him by the throat.
"How did she manage to do that?" the doorman asked in an awed voice.
"She's a woman of many talents," replied Daniel.
It was nothing short of the truth.
By the time he left the club and found the alley below the broken window, he'd been joined by Ian, Saira and a full team of Centuri.
"Where the hell has she gone?" he wondered. All the time his enhanced hearing was straining, listening for any sounds of human distress from a vampyre attack. If Gia had gone rogue, she'd need to be eliminated and sent unto The Fade. And since he was responsible for this shit-storm, he'd have the task of killing her.
Three Centuri's landed from the rooftops above.
"My Lord. We've spotted her up there." A Centuri pointed to the top of the eight story building opposite.
As one, they looked up.
With his night vision, Daniel saw a very pale and very frightened face peering down at them.
"Aww, she removed herself from temptation," said Saira as she stared up into the night. "To go against her nature like that is an amazing achievement. Go Gia!"
Daniel turned his head to stare very hard at the vampyre medic.
"Go Gia?"
Saira punched him on the shoulder.
"She won over bloodlust and the beast. Good for her."
None of them were aware of the being, who'd merged into the brickwork in a dark corner, watching and listening.
His eyes were those of a snake, unblinking and dead.
He tipped back his head to watch them scale the building to the roof.
"Vampyres," Enricho Donatti whispered the word. He certainly hadn't seen that coming. The only outward sign of his fury was the way his hands fisted at his sides at the realization and probability Gia was, most likely, no longer human. His mind was still reeling as he turned and walked down the alley to his waiting enforcers and his car. Of course, it meant he must report this development to his master. It wasn't worth the risk of losing his life not to. However, he'd bide his time, too. As a demon in human form, he understood that there were times when bad news might work in one's favor at some in the future. For now Gia was well out of his reach and under the protection of a powerful vampyre clan. For now. "No," he muttered as his car sped away into the night. "I didn't see that coming at all."
***
Gia didn't need to see Daniel's stony face to know she was in very deep shit.
Deeeeeep shit.
She'd ignored his specific and very clear instr
uction not to go to the Sly Fox club. Okay, she hadn't quite understood the very real dangers, since no one had taken the time to explain to her the consequences of her actions. However, she was a woman who owned up to her mistakes in life. And this one was a beauty.
"I'm sorry," she said.
They were in the backseats of a limo with blacked out windows.
Daniel sat in the corner.
He hadn't looked at her, hadn't said a single word to her since he'd lifted her in his arms, leapt from the roof of the building and bundled her into the back of the waiting limo.
Her bare feet were a bloody mess, the flesh and nails ripped and they were freezing, as were her hands.
She shivered.
In an economical move, he shrugged out of his jacket and placed it around her shoulders.
He sat back.
She sniffed and burrowed her mouth, her nose, in the warmth.
His body heat and the way the jacket smelled of Daniel made her feel a little bit better.
But her system was jazzed, electrified, in a way that made her realize that she was still getting used to the changes in her physical body and in her personality.
Silence.
She tried again.
"I know you're beyond angry with me, Daniel..."
"You have no idea how I'm feeling, Gia. If you did you'd keep your mouth shut."
She wanted to tell him about Enricho Donatti's behaviour in the club. She wanted to tell him he'd been right about her staying in his apartment and not mixing with humans, but a quick look at his furious face told her that to say a single word right now might not be such a bright idea.
When the car purred to a stop in the underground parking at the GPH building, four guards dressed in black leather awaited them.
Vampyres.
They were all uniformly tall, dark, handsome Latin's and armed to the teeth.
Without giving her a choice, Daniel lifted her in super-strong arms and entered the elevator.
The guards were right on their heels.
One of them pressed the button for the penthouse suite.
They didn't look at her.
Neither did Daniel.
No one spoke.
The Vampyre Legal Chronicles - Daniel: Book: 3 Page 12
