"So they're not all monsters who lie in wait to feed off the blood of the innocent?" she asked hesitantly.
"Some of them are," her grandmother replied with utmost seriousness. "But most of them are decent people who only feed enough to live and don't kill their donors. Most people who've given blood to a vampire don't even remember it afterward. Their gaze is very powerful, and they have the ability to manipulate both behavior and memories. But being a vampire doesn't make them a monster, Isa. They'd have to choose that route for themselves."
So that was how Chance had hypnotized her before. So much for his being a freelance magician.
"And apparently shooting a vampire and sinking him to the bottom of the river doesn't kill one, so what does? A wooden stake through the heart?"
"Silver through the heart. Or decapitation, but a vampire won't hand you his or her head. Nor will one stand still and let you poke his heart with silver, either. Never try to battle against a vampire, Isa. They can kill you before you even blink."
Isa remembered how fast Chance had moved at the restaurant earlier. She hadn't even really seen him, he'd only been a blur. Yes, it was easy to believe how deadly vampires could be. Fangs. Mind control. Incredible speed and strength. All of it was very frightening.
…with their stamina, six women for an entire night is simply a healthy start…
Isa jerked her mind out of the gutter. Okay, so maybe it wasn't all frightening.
"You got Chance involved because of me and Frazier," she said at last. "I guess it makes sense. What's scarier than a mobster, if not a creature of the night? Well, why hasn't Chance just…eaten Robert, then? It would be no great loss to the world, in my opinion."
"I'm not sure myself," her grandmother replied slowly. "At first I thought it was because he wanted to make sure Frazier was safe. Then I wondered if he was waiting for some sort of backup from Bones. You know, if Chance intended to clean Robert's entire gang off the street, he'd get a few more mouths together to feed off them? But I spoke to Bones today, and he was very surprised to hear Chance still hadn't wrapped things up. So I'm guessing it has to do with you."
"Me?" Isa burst. "What about me?"
Her grandmother sighed. "Youth is truly wasted on the young. Come now, dear. Don't be stupid."
Isa stared at her. Her grandmother stared right back, unblinking. The thought formed in Isa's mind, hitting against wall after wall of uncertainty and anticipation.
Could Chance have been stringing along Robert just to spend more time with her? If so, what was she going to do about that? Scream and grab lots of garlic?
Or meet him with her hair up while wearing a low-necked gown?
Isa shook her head to snap out of her mental meanderings. Frazier was out there somewhere, and whatever she did or didn't feel for Chance, her brother's safety took priority. If Chance had been deliberately slow about bringing this situation to a conclusion, then she would have to speed him along. After all, if she had a vampire on her side to use as a weapon against Robert, then she was damn well going to point and fire him at the would-be mafioso.
"Do you think he was serious?" Isa asked at last, her gaze sliding toward the still-open window. "About killing the Salucci brothers, I mean?"
"Oh, Isa. With how angry Chance was, in all likelihood, they're already dead."
Isa looked at her grandmother and wondered how she had ever, ever thought this woman was a straight-laced Italian housewife. That cold glint in her grandmother's eyes belonged more to a shylock than the gentle old lady who'd raised her.
But as Isa had been reminded via a bullet cut out of her torso by a man who happened to be a vampire, looks were very deceiving.
Chapter 9
With everything that happened, Isa never expected to fall asleep. But after being awake all last night, drinking multiple shots of whiskey while she waited for Chance to return, and then lying down on her grandmother's couch, she must have dozed off. A soft touch on her cheek made her eyes flutter open. Chance was kneeling next to her, the room cast in shadows. It was dusk. He'd been gone for hours.
"The Salucci brothers?" she asked quietly.
Chance dropped his hand from her face. "You won't have to worry about them again."
There was a hard satisfaction to his voice that said Isa wasn't the only one who wouldn't have to worry about them. Neither would anyone else on the planet. She supposed she should be aghast that Chance had murdered them so easily, but she could only muster up the faintest feeling of…caution.
"What about the police? I'm amazed they haven't come by yet. With holes shot into my restaurant and my staff telling them I'd been there, I thought for sure they'd come to my grandmother's asking about me."
"They won't. I took care of them," Chance replied.
That did make Isa uneasy. "Um, the permanent way?"
Chance smiled faintly. "No. The mind-altering way. After I was done with the Saluccis, I went back to your restaurant and pulled aside the lead detective there. He now believes he's spoken to you and that you didn't see who fired the shots. I can't imagine Robert would say anything to contradict that, whenever he surfaces again."
"So Robert wasn't hit earlier? He's okay?"
"For now."
There was that coldness to Chance's voice again. Isa shivered. The man—no, the vampire—kneeling just a foot away from her had admittedly killed two people today, and from his tone, he wanted to up that number.
"Robert struck you," Chance said, as if reading her thoughts. "You think I'd let him live after that?"
"Robert's done much worse to a lot more people," Isa countered. "If you're going to kill him, kill him for them, not for me."
Chance shrugged. "Dead is dead, darling. I suspect those other people will care more about the end result than my motivation."
"I care about your motivation," Isa said sharply.
Green began to swirl in Chance's blue-gray eyes. "Do you?"
It seemed like he caressed those two words, as if they had a taste he enjoyed. Isa shivered again, but for a different reason this time.
"Why didn't you show up last night?" she asked, mostly because she was worried about Frazier, but also to cut the growing pull she felt toward Chance. "Was it because of what Paul did to you? I mean…did it take a while, to, ah, heal?"
Chance must have seen her refusal in her gaze, because he stood up and walked to the other side of the room.
"No, my head healed very quickly. That's how it is for vampires. Why I didn't show up was because Robert confessed he didn't know where Frazier was. He thought I'd stolen him away, that I was someone the Salucci brothers hired to make him look incompetent. So I paid them a visit last night. An all-too-kind one, as it turned out, since I should have just killed them once I'd gotten what I needed to know out of them. Nevertheless," Chance waved his hand curtly, "that's been remedied."
He hadn't killed the Salucci brothers last night when he could have. She wasn't upset by that, though it had ended up almost costing Isa her life. In fact, she was relieved, because it re info rced her grandmother's claim that vampires weren't random killers despite their vicious legend. Chance had killed the Saluccis today out of necessity. She didn't need him to tell her how violent a power struggle between two competing crime lords could be. She still had the evidence smeared around the hole in her shirt, in fact. If they were alive, the Saluccis would have only become more dangerous. They'd know Robert would retaliate, and anyone caught in the crosshairs would end up as collateral damage. Like she nearly had.
"Did they know anything about Frazier?"
"I'm sorry, no. They truly believed Robert still had him. In the gangster world, Robert holding your brother hostage to ensure you'd marry him isn't the shameful act of cowardice it should be, but just a strong-minded way to get a woman to behave."
The scorn dripping off Chance's words echoed Isa's own anger. All right, now she didn't feel the slightest bit bad that they were dead. In fact, she hoped it had hurt.
"This do
es complicate things, however, since the two most likely sets of suspects in Frazier's disappearance are innocent," Chance went on. "Is there anything about your brother you haven't told me? Anything at all that might shed light on where he could be?"
Isa got up as well and began to pace. "I have no idea where he is. When he called me a couple weeks ago, he just told me to play along being Robert's fiancé and that he'd contact me again, but he hasn't."
A low sound came from Chance. "You neglected to tell me that."
Isa swung around, shooting him an accusing glare. "Oh, don't even! If you want to talk about withholding info rmation, I'd say you, Mr. Vampire, are far more guilty than I am!"
Chance inclined his head. "Touché. However, I intended to tell you about that. Remember when I said yesterday we had to talk? It wasn't to discuss a new dish for your menu, darling."
"Yes, well, I don't think artery d'jour would go over big with the locals, anyway," Isa muttered.
"You might be surprised. There are more of us than you realize. No doubt you've served several vampires in your establishment already."
"You're the only person who's sat there for two hours without eating," Isa replied, rattled by the thought of the undead mingling among her patrons without her knowing it.
"We can eat solid food, and we can drink liquids aside from blood. It just doesn't nourish us, but if we're out with humans and we're trying to blend in…" Chance lifted his shoulder. "When in Rome , as they say."
It still seemed unbelievable to Isa that he wasn't human, because he looked so normal. Well, aside from being pale, but then most people were this time of year in Philly.
"Does your heart beat?" she found herself asking.
Chance stared at her. "Come and find out."
She walked over to him, her own heart rate accelerating with every step. It sounded so loud to her, Isa knew Chance had to hear it too. Did it make him hungry? Was that why his eyes began to tinge with green whenever she got close to him?
"Do I need to worry about you eating me?" she joked when there was less than a foot between them.
There was a bright flash of emerald in his eyes. "Not the way you're thinking of."
Her hand froze in mid-reach to his chest. Chance caught it, pressing her palm inside his shirt over where his heart was. Cool, hard flesh met hers, but there was no throb of life underneath. Just stillness.
"You see?" Chance almost whispered. "My heart doesn't beat, I don't breathe, I will never age in appearance, father children, catch diseases, or die of natural causes. I am a vampire. Nothing will change that."
Isa's hand was still on his chest. Chance dropped his hold on her and backed away, letting her fingers slide off until he was out of reach.
"Why are you telling me this?" she asked, equally hushed.
A small, despairing smile curled his mouth. "Because I want you to know everything I am…and accept me regardless. My feelings for you have gone far past mere friendly accord. In fact, these are feelings I haven't had for anyone in a very long time. I want you in my life, Isabella, so I'm telling you what that life consists of. Whether you choose to be a part of it is up to you."
Isa glanced down, oddly enough, at her hand. She'd felt no revulsion when it had been pressed to Chance's skin. Yes, he was cooler than she was, but how important was temperature, really? Was it enough to risk the first true tug on her heart she'd experienced? Okay, Chance was a vampire, and that was undeniably a large relationship hurdle. But did it mean she shouldn't even try? Was she going to always run from people because of the pain she'd felt when those closest to her, her parents, had been taken away? Wasn't it time she risked getting hurt again, instead of just accepting the numbness of never letting anyone in? If she kept going on like that, then the real dead person in the room was her, not Chance.
Well, not anymore, Isa thought, and stepped toward him.
Chapter 10
Chance watched her approach. He didn't move, because he was afraid the slightest unexpected motion from him would stop her. She paused when she was a foot away, reaching out to slide her hand around his neck, and then pulled him down to her.
Chance closed the space between them, wrapping his arms around her and—at last—covering her mouth with his. Her lips were soft and she parted them at once, letting his tongue penetrate into the warm sweetness of her mouth.
She tasted like whiskey and honey, so intoxicating, and Chance inhaled through his nose to absorb the waves of desire coming from her. Her heartbeat was a rapid vibration against his chest, the race of blood through her veins like singing, and Chance moaned as he pressed her closer. I need you, he thought with a surge of lust so strong, it made his hands itch to tear her clothes from her body. Give yourself to me.
Chance didn't dare utter the words aloud, let alone open his eyes to look at Isa. This was where the power of vampiric mind control could cross unintended lines. With how aroused Chance was, there was no controlling the light in his gaze that would take Isa's decision away from her. He wanted her, yes, so badly—but never enough to steal what should only be given.
Isa's fingers curled into his hair as her head fell back. Chance followed the motion, letting his lips slide to her neck. Her pulse pounded so strongly against his mouth, it seemed to be begging him to bite it. Chance licked it instead, swirling his tongue around the throbbing apex and hearing Isa moan with pleasure.
He wanted to hear her moan again, but louder, and while he was licking a different part of her. The thought of her scent surrounding him while he filled his mouth with her juices made his blood nearly scream to travel elsewhere. Chance let it, directing the flow, feeling himself thicken and harden as it flooded his cock. Isa must have felt it too, because she pressed herself there in a long slow rub that almost ripped Chance's control away entirely.
He'd grasped her hips and ground himself against her before he could form another thought. Isa let out a strangled noise, then her hand was ripping at his shirt while the other one tangled in his hair.
"Chance," she gasped. "I want you."
A blaze of exultation made his words choppy. "Not here. Come."
Chance picked Isa up and went swiftly to the guest room, not knowing or caring if Greta would object. Once there, he kicked the door closed and rent Isa's shirt from her with one hard tug. Her pants met the same fate, as did his clothes, until at last his bare skin pressed against hers. She blinked at the speed of his actions, but Chance didn't give her an opportunity to be bashful. He dropped to his knees, pulling her underwear down with him, and buried his mouth between her legs.
Her whole body shuddered. She would have fallen, but Chance gripped her thighs and held her as he took long, greedy licks into her wet hot depths. Her nails dug into his shoulders while gasping cries reached him above the pounding of her artery, so deliciously close to his mouth. She tasted salty and sweet, not unlike blood. The deeper Chance penetrated his tongue inside her, the more Isa shuddered against his mouth, until her cries became sobs of ecstasy. Chance licked her harder, faster, glorying in the rich scent of her lust and the fiery wetness slicking his mouth.
She ceased clawing at his shoulders to push on them instead.
"Now, Chance, now. Fuck me."
Something primal flared in him hearing Isa say that word for the first time. In response, he lifted her up and set her on the side of the bed, his tongue still thrashing deep within her.
A groan that ended in a roar came from her. "Damn it, for once, do as I say!" And she yanked at his head hard enough to pull out a clump of hair.
Her mouth flew open in horror as Isa stared at the dark strands around her fingers. Chance just laughed, fiercely delighted with her impatience and burning with the need to be inside her. He pushed her back along the bed until they were both stretched out, and then settled his hips between her legs.
His eyes met hers in the instant before he thrust forward. Her mouth was open, breathing in short rapid pants, and her hair was a dark tangle framing her wide cedar eyes.
Chance groaned, wanting to tell Isa how beautiful she was, or that he'd never forget how she looked at this moment…but a more powerful need took over than the one to talk. He pushed inside her even as she arched up against him—and then he couldn't think anymore. There was nothing aside from the hot sweet embrace of her walls, the indescribable rapture of plunging deeper and faster within her, her sweat clinging to his skin, their scents merging into one…and the twisting spasms of her orgasm that seemed to squeeze his cock with a thousand tiny hands.
Chance knew he should have let himself climax then, too. After all, if he were thinking, he'd remember Isa was tired and she'd had a difficult day from being shot, for God's sake. But he wasn't thinking. He only knew he didn't want to stop, so he didn't. He held her and kissed her, sucking on her breasts or between her legs to tease her into a fevered state of excitement, before he'd plunge inside her over and over again. He finally allowed himself to come when he realized Isa was close to exhaustion. She was drenched in sweat, and her cries had a distinctively hoarse note to them.