He stopped in front of me, lips curled upward. I was doing it again, lost in lusty thought, forgetting to talk.
Stupid brain.
“Uh, thanks.” Oh smooth, real smooth. The blood rushed to my face.
“You’re welcome.” Now Alexander gave me the once-over and I shivered from his heated look.
“May I?” His hand rested on my waist.
My girlie bits twitched and clenched. “Huh?” Impossible to think with him staring at me, his warm hand touching me. He was too close, too yummy, just too, too much.
“Your piercing. May I?” His fingers hovered near my belly, waiting for permission. I liked that a lot. I nodded, mouth dry.
Alexander placed his forefinger on the top gem of the barbell, and circled it, round and round, as if he touched something far more intimate. And lower. His finger trembled where it touched me, his taut body seeming to vibrate with a need to match my own. A sharp inhale on my part made his other hand tighten its grip on my waist.
My body surged with heat, muscles twitching, aching to jump him. But if more of him came in contact with more of me, I wouldn’t care my brothers lingered in the next room, that Kai and Faith and Stella lounged mere feet away. I’d do it, jump on his body, wrap my arms and legs around him and devour him with lips, hands, teeth...with every part of me.
I slid my hand over his, pressing it against my stomach. His eyes snapped up from their study of my belly, locking with mine. He pulled me against him. Right where I wanted to be.
“Carina.” His lips grazed my forehead, his breath warm against my skin.
My heart pounded in my chest, our hands pressed together between us. If I tilted my head, we would kiss, if I tilted my head it would be over and nothing, no one, could stop what happened next, if—
A thud from the dining room made us jump. Dom slammed the salad bowl against the table. He picked it up and retreated to the kitchen without a backward glance.
Tony, still in the kitchen, called via the pass-through. “You two lovebirds want a drink?”
“Sure.” Dazed, I worked hard to switch gears.
Dom entered the dining room and continued clearing the table.
I frowned in his direction. Guess our fight wasn’t over. Alexander and I pulled apart. Faith and Kai joined us, exchanging polite hellos with Alexander. I appreciated their effort. Stella, a permanent fixture on the couch, shared a look I couldn’t interpret with my guy before returning her attention to the magazine on her lap.
Tony approached bearing two wine glasses. “Cabernet for my lil’ sis and blood for you.” He handed the glass to Alexander.
“Thanks, Tony.” At least one of my brothers knew how to play nice. In the kitchen, the refrigerator door slammed.
“Drama king,” Tony muttered, rolling his eyes.
I gave Alexander a faint, resigned smile. “Sorry, I need to go deal with Dom.”
I followed Tony into the kitchen.
Dom slouched in a chair at the table holding a glass and a bottle of wine. He poured himself a hefty dose and downed the entire thing as we approached. I joined him and put a hand on his arm when he went to pour another. The last thing we needed was a drunk, crazy Dom. Or a drunk me, for that matter.
I put down my glass. “Hey.”
Silence.
Tony tried next. “Dominico, che cosa c'è che non va?”
Dom snorted. “Wrong, he asks me what’s wrong.” He shook his head, avoiding our stares. I squeezed his arm and he rewarded me by putting a hand over mine.
“This isn’t how I pictured our reunion dinner.” His voice was subdued.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Your head is fixed and you’re all you again. I wanted, we wanted—” His expression twisted in pain. “One night. Just one normal night, one damn family dinner before they—before you found out the truth. I mean, more of it.”
Tony chimed in. “Yeah, Lorenzo wanted us to tell you about uncle Maurizio. Thought you’d take it better if we told you the dad part.”
Well, that explained why Lorenzo was so upset earlier when Thomas and Jonas dropped the big daddy bomb on me.
“Sorry to tell you this, but I don’t think a different messenger would’ve made any difference for this particular message. My uncle is my dad. My dad is a vampire. It doesn’t get any weirder than that.”
They were silent. Dom patted my hand. “I’m sorry Carina.”
“For what?”
“Everything.”
“Everything is not your fault, big brother.”
“Okay, then I’m sorry for being rude to your friend.”
I gave him a skeptical look. “Oh, yeah?”
He scowled. “Okay no, no I’m not. I don’t want you dating him. You’re human.”
My brow arched. “You sure?”
He narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”
“Uh, hello, vampire daddy? Didn’t we just cover that?”
Dom dropped my hand. “No. You’re human.” His brown eyes flashed angrily, jaw set in a stubborn line.
“Wake up, Dom. I’m not your garden variety human. Again I say, vampire daddy.”
He continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “You’re human and you don’t date the monsters. Especially not that one. He’ll ruin everything. He’ll change you.”
“What do you mean? Are you referring to the key thing, and my so-called destiny as some kind of preternatural ninja warrior chick? Because yeah, been there, already got the memo on that one.”
“But he’s a vamp—”
I held up a hand. “Alexander is not the problem. In fact, he’s the reason I’m not insane right now. Or dead. You heard about the restaurant fight, right? He saved my life, Dom.”
Not quite the gospel truth. Alexander had played a part in healing me in the aftermath of the fight, but saved my life? No. Stella, Thomas, and Jonas received that credit. But Dom didn’t need to know. My dear brother needed to calm down and stop acting like some prejudiced jerk.
He shot to his feet, toppling his chair. “You’re my sister. You’re alive and I want you to stay that way. He’s not. He’s dead, Carina. You don’t date a corpse.”
“Well, apparently mom did.”
Oh, shit.
Dom yanked me out of the chair, shaking me so hard I yelped. “You bitch!”
Tony tried to pry him off. “Stop, you’re hurting her!”
I was too shocked to fight back, but it didn’t matter. A blast of air preceded the arrival of Alexander and Stella. Alexander grabbed Dom’s wrists and stopped him from shaking me, but Dom wouldn’t let go.
“Release her.” Steel edged Alexander’s voice.
“Fuck off, vampire,” Dom snarled, eyes on me.
“Let her go, or I break your wrists. Your choice.” He backed up his threat by tightening his grip.
My brother sucked in a breath and released me. Stella snagged Dom by an arm and hauled him away.
Alexander tracked their movements, eyes flashing, anger pouring off his body in hot waves.
I massaged my arms where Dom had squeezed them. “Thanks for the save and for not hurting Dom. He’s not usually so crazy.”
His expression softened when it landed on me. “Sure.” His hands curled around my waist, pulling me close. I relaxed against his chest, listening to the rapid beat of his heart.
Across the room, Tony spoke to Dom too low for me to hear. For the second time tonight, regret flashed across the latter’s face. And shame for his actions. I was ashamed, too, of my smartass comment about our mother. She might be some abstract concept to me, but to my brothers she was much more. Until I came along and took her away from them.
I stepped out of Alexander’s embrace and approached my brothers. Stella hopped up on the counter nearby, just in case.
I gave Dom good eye contact. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” I glanced at Tony. “Either of you. Can we try this again, but without the drama? And Alexander stays. He’s a
part of this. Capito?”
They nodded. We stood in awkward silence.
~ * ~
On Adrian’s back deck, Dom and Tony sat at the small café table near the kitchen’s bay window. I reclined on the chaise longue across from them, wrapped in a cashmere throw. Hot day, chilly, foggy night. Typical San Francisco.
Alexander perched on the railing, close but not too close, allowing me to think straight without hormonal distraction. Stella remained in the living room watching TV while Faith and Kai had gone ahead to the club. I hoped less of an audience would make confession time happen, but no. My brothers weren’t talking. Dom stared at his wine glass while Tony made a serious study of his bare feet.
I huffed and gazed in the direction of my club hidden by the yard’s foliage. Haven had opened its doors almost an hour ago and the faintest hint of beat bled out to us. With wizard magic and clever construction, we’d made the club sound proof. A good thing given its proximity to many homes on Hartford and businesses topped with apartments on Castro Street proper. Keeping the party noise inside made for happy, uncomplaining neighbors outside.
Sure wish I were happy. Sure wish someone would say something already so we could proceed to the fun, dancing portion of the evening. I let out another disgruntled breath. Neither brother reacted.
Alexander broke the silence. “I think we’re done here.” He hopped off the railing and extended his hand. “I can answer most of your questions now, anyway.”
I gave him a doubtful look. “Really?”
He nodded. “The Contessa paid me a visit while you were here with Thomas and Jonas. I bet she covered everything you want to know.”
I raised an eyebrow. That info eased my annoyance over her conspicuous absence chez Adrian. Since we were getting nowhere with my reluctant brothers, why not go? I let Alexander help me up, leaving the throw behind on the lounger.
Tony stood, too, relieved he was off the hook. “I’ll get my shoes. And Stella.” He padded into the house.
Dom scowled. “That’s it? You’re leaving? Don’t you want to know why they want you to be with this guy? This particular vampire? You think he’s going to tell you the truth? He doesn’t care about you, none of them do. They just want your power. They want to use you.”
I shook my head, angry he was baiting me, spoiling for another fight. “You had your chance to share, Dom. I don’t know what has happened to you to make you this insane doppelganger of yourself and right now, I don’t care. I’m tired of the cryptic shit. If you have something concrete to say, you’d better say it fast, because I’m out of here.”
Alexander and I turned as one and made it to the end of the deck before Dom spoke again. “Mi dispiace, sorellina.”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re sorry. So you keep saying. What else you got?”
“She loved them both.”
I released Alexander’s hand and faced Dom. “What?”
“Mother loved both of them.”
Okay, didn’t expect that.
“And they loved her,” he continued. “Somehow they made it work. Like some big, weird happy family. I don’t know much more about their relationship. Tony doesn’t, either. We were kids, too, you know, so they didn’t tell us anything. Honestly, we—that is, Tony and I—never thought to ask.”
“You didn’t ask when you were older?”
He shook his head. “Why would I? After she died, nothing else mattered.”
A lump formed in my throat at the sound of the pain in his voice, still raw after all these years. I stepped toward him but he waved me off.
“If you want to know more about our parents and the dynamics of their relationship, you’ll have to ask Lorenzo. I bet he knows. Or ask uncle Maur—I mean your father.”
I nodded.
Dom took in a brisk breath. “Anything else you want to know? Pick a topic. You’d be surprised what I can tell you.”
I suspected he wanted me to ask about Alexander, but instead I said, “Dom, I’m sorry I killed your parents.”
He gaped at me.
Tony strolled out the door, his mood buoyant. “Okay, party people let’s go get our groove on—oh no, what’s wrong now?”
We both ignored him.
Dom’s face darkened. “You didn’t kill them.”
“Your mom died because I was born.”
“Not your fault. And she was your mother, too.”
“Yeah, for like a minute and then she died. I took her away from you. Like you said, nothing else mattered after that.”
“I misspoke. You matter. You’ve always mattered. To everyone.”
I closed the distance between us. “What about Edoardo? Did you still feel that way after I killed him, too?”
Dom stepped back and bumped into his chair. “It wasn’t your fault.”
“How can you say that? He died because someone—or something—was after me, right? And he got in the way.”
Dom was quiet for a moment. “Who told you that?”
“No one. I remember.”
He shook his head. “No, you can’t remember that. You were five.”
“It doesn’t play like a complete movie in my head like a lot of my recovered memories do. But I remember bits and pieces, and believe me, some of those bits are way more graphic than I’d like them to be.” The image of tiny, bloodied me and the big burnt vampire flashed through my mind. Ick.
“No. Impossible.”
“Oh, yeah?” I strode to the railing and stared out at the yard. “We were in the rec room. You guys were shooting pool. I was on the floor playing with a doll. Daddy, um, I mean, Edoardo rushed in and picked me up. There were sounds. Gun shots, people shouting, screaming. Then we were outside. It was dark, but there was a flash and then there was blood all over me. Edoardo fell in the fountain. I was on the ground and these huge, cold hands picked me up and—”
I hesitated, not wanting to describe the vampire chewing on my neck followed by me turning it into a crispy critter and a pile of ash. They probably knew about that, anyway.
Something else caught my attention in the memory. Something new.
“Wait a minute, there’s someone behind him. Behind the vampire.” I whispered, as if speaking loudly would scare the other figure away. A dark, blurry figure, not present in my earlier flashback. Was I remembering more, or was my mind playing tricks on me? No time to find out. The memory closed in on itself as if a vacuum had sucked it out of my head. I gripped the railing. A wave of nausea hit me hard.
“Did you see who killed him?” Dom gripped my arms, trying to turn me. I resisted, afraid if I moved, I would throw up my dinner.
Tony approached us. “God, Dom, stop. You’re going to make her cry. You’ll ruin her make-up and it will take me ages to fix it.” He tried for a teasing tone, but failed.
It took me two tries to speak through the nausea. “Yes, I mean, no. I don’t know, I think I saw someone else but I can’t get at it. It’s slipping away.” I doubled over, forehead on the railing. Was someone messing with me? Breaking through the barrier I’d placed in my head earlier this evening?
Dom squeezed my shoulders. “We never found out who did it. His throat was...someone used a knife on him. Uncle blamed the servants of some powerful vampire he’d killed way before we were ever born. He destroyed every enemy he found that night, but we never knew for sure who murdered father. Did you see? Try to remember.”
“Dom, stop,” Tony protested. “Can’t you see something’s wrong with her? Stop making it worse.”
Alexander whooshed to my side and pulled me from Dom, holding me close. But it wasn’t enough. A whirling black vortex pulled at my mind. The more I tried to remember, the harder it tried to suck me into its nothingness.
Instinct told me this wasn’t vampire energy, therefore, not Thomas or Jonas or Tessa, but my gut didn’t know what it was, either.
Alexander’s arms tightened around me. “Don’t shut me out. Let me help you.”
Didn’t have to ask me twice. I destroyed
the mind block, pictured it like a wall of melting wax. Once gone, Alexander’s warm power rushed into me, clearing the darkness, eliminating the dizziness and nausea. My body relaxed against his and my power awoke, curling up to greet his like some happy, purring cat responding to love pets.
My brothers hovered nearby. “I didn’t know,” Dom said. “I didn’t understand.”
“Understand what?” I addressed them both.
Tony answered for him. “He thought they were using Alex as an easy way to suck you into their world. And get at your power. But he was wrong.”
“I was wrong,” Dom agreed.
Yes, you were, doofus. “What makes you say that now?”
“He can feel it,” Tony explained. “Your connection. Its power and the validity of it.”
I pivoted to lean my back against Alexander, his arms encircling me. “You both can sense it?”
They nodded.
“Wait. Do you guys have any wacky super powers I don’t know about?”
They shook their heads. Dom had rediscovered his blank face, over his uncharacteristic chattiness. Tony, on the other hand, was happy to share. “No, but we can sense vampire power. A perk of our bloodline, I guess.”
“What, now you approve of my date? Is that it?” Irritation sharpened my voice.
“Hey, I never disapproved. Unlike some people,” he gave Dom a disapproving look. “I believe in our family and their love for us, and trust them to do the right thing. Even when I don’t understand or condone their methods.”
I nodded, knowing he referred to my twelve-year stint with vampire-induced amnesia.
“Besides,” he added. “Tessa was the one who told me about Alex. That made me doubly sure it was the real deal.”
“How so?”
He tilted his head, expression thoughtful. “Let’s just say Tessa doesn’t like men, generally speaking, so when she does happen to approve of one, you pay attention.”
“Hold on, are you saying she’s a lesbian?”
Stella took that moment to arrive on the deck. She snorted at my question.
Tony laughed. “No, not at all. In fact, she and Thomas—” he stopped. “You know lil’ sis, you have a lot to learn, but if we keep this up, we’ll never get to the club. We’ve pulled enough skeletons out of the closet for now, don’t ya think?”
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