Blue-Blooded Vamp (30 page)

I nodded. “I have a feeling that was the easy one, though.”

Adam glanced up. “You think he’s going to ramp up the difficulty since you hurt Horus?”

“Nah. He doesn’t strike me as that petty. But I do think he’ll want to test my magic.”

“So?”

“Tristan’s a Chthonic. I’m thinking he’ll want to make sure my skills are up to snuff.”

“Sabina, your Chthonic skills are wicked.”

“When I’m in danger, sure. But they’ve never been tested by another Chthonic in a controlled environment.”

“Ah,” Adam said. “You’re nervous about impressing him.”

I shifted uncomfortably. “No, I’m not.”

He shot me a dubious look. “Red, it’s only natural you’d be worried. I mean, I know you say you don’t care that he’s your father, but part of you has to want to prove yourself to him.”

By that time, he’d finished wrapping the finger. I pulled it away, pretending to inspect his handiwork. “The only thing I want to prove is that I am the Chosen so I can kill Cain.”

“Whatever you say.” His tone clearly implied he wasn’t buying it.

“I mean it. I don’t care what Tristan Graecus thinks about me. Especially when he’s made it clear he’s already made up his mind.”

“Sabina—”

I waved my uninjured had to cut him off. “Don’t Sabina me, Adam. You heard him. He thinks I’m just some hotheaded killer.”

Adam checked the ice bag on my knee. “No offense, but given the information he had to go on, I don’t blame him for that.”

“Thanks,” I said in an injured tone.

“Stop,” he said. “You know what I mean. All he knew before three days ago was that you killed his informant in L.A. and you worked for the Dominae. Tristan may have fallen in love with a vampire, but mage ways die hard. You lived as a vampire and were raised by Lavinia. Who, by the way, tried to kill him. I’m not saying his prejudices were right, but I understand where he’s coming from.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve got one more test to get through to try and undo those prejudices. I just hope it’s enough. Every moment we’re wasting on these tests gives Cain a chance to track us down.” I paused, realizing I hadn’t had a chance to fill Adam in on the new developments with Asclepius. “Adam?” I started slowly. “There’s something I have to tell you.”

He set down the bottle of antiseptic. “That doesn’t sound good.”

I cringed. Smart guy, that Adam. “Asclepius made another appearance last night. He’s pissed it’s taking so long for me to off Nyx. Especially since he somehow figured out I’ve found her.”

Adam cursed and lowered his head into his hands.

“It gets worse. He’s decided to up the stakes. If I don’t kill Nyx in the next three nights”—I blew out a breath for courage—“he’s going to tell Cain where we are.”

Adam’s head jerked up. His face was pale. “Sabina, you have to tell Tristan about this.”

I threw up my hands. “I can’t! Best case, he’ll kick us all out of here and we’ll lose our chance at Cain. Worst case? He and his team turn on us and we’re suddenly fighting for our lives.”

“So what are you going to do? Kill Nyx in cold blood?”

I shook my head. “I don’t want to, but I don’t see another choice.”

“Sabina, there’s always another choice. You know that. Promise me you won’t kill her until we’ve had time to consider all the angles.”

“I just wish we had more time.”

“We have tomorrow night and the next, right?”

“Yes,” I said slowly. “But I really don’t see how that’s going to make a difference.”

“A lot can happen in two nights, Red.”

I blew out a long breath. “Okay, you’re right. I won’t kill her. Yet. But you need to prepare yourself for the possibility. If it’s a choice between saving you and Giguhl or sparing Nyx, you know what I’m going to do.”

“Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that.” He patted my good knee. With a sigh, he rose to put away the supplies. I glanced at the clock and realized Giguhl had been gone for more than an hour. Way too long in my opinion for him to tell off the Vanity demon.

With a groan, I pushed myself off the couch. Adam’s gaze jerked toward me. “What do you think you’re doing?”

I could have told him I was worried about Giguhl, but that would only earn me a lecture about staying out of the demon’s personal business. So instead, I told him the other issue I wanted to go check on. “I’m going to go look for Rhea. By now she has to have more information about tomorrow’s test.”

Adam watched me for a moment. I could practically see the wheels spinning in his gorgeous head. Weighing the pros and cons of trying to talk me into sitting my ass back down and resting. I also saw the moment he realized he’d just be wasting his breath. “Fine, but I’m going with you.”

I shrugged casually. “Fine by me.”

He frowned. My easy acceptance made him more suspicious of my motives than not arguing. He held up a hand. “After you.”

Despite the twinge in my knee, I managed to walk to the door without a limp or a grimace. In truth, I was feeling a ton better than I had when he’d helped me back to the house. But I’d feel even better once I knew what the hell was keeping Giguhl and got the lowdown from Rhea on my father’s tests for the next evening.

The demons weren’t in the courtyard. Adam had no idea I was looking for them instead of Rhea, so he strode right through the area and made a beeline for the villa. I limped behind him, figuring the demons might have taken their discussion inside.

We made it to the second floor and were halfway down the hall toward Rhea’s room when a grunting noise reached me from inside a door. I paused and listened. A moan joined the groaning. Either someone was injured or there was some serious sexing going on in there. I pursed my lips and considered my options.

As I stood there undecided, Adam turned back with a frown on his face. “What are you doing?” he whispered.

I shushed him. “Something’s going on in there.”

Adam tilted his head and listened. A high-pitched squeal cut through the door. We jerked back and exchanged shocked looks.

“C’mon,” I said.

Adam grabbed my arm. “What? You can’t just barge in there.”

Time to come clean with my suspicions. “What if it’s Giguhl and Valva? Adam, he could be making a huge mistake. We have to stop him.”

He sighed the sigh of the martyred. “Seriously, Red? You don’t even know if that’s Valva’s room. Besides, I don’t know about you, but I’m not real eager to witness those two making the beast with four horns.”

I chewed on my lip, undecided. “Adam, we can’t risk Tristan finding out. You saw how protective he is of her. If he sees Giguhl nailing her, he’s going to freak and we might lose any chance of him helping out.”

He sighed. “All right, but I’m keeping my eyes closed.”
He reached past me and pushed the door open slowly. It was dark outside, but the inside of the room was deep midnight. Only a slim stream of light peeked from the cracked door across the room.

More groaning and the sound of squeaking springs assaulted my ears. Adam nudged me from behind, his hand on my shoulder. I glanced back and true to his claim, he had his eyes clamped shut. What a baby.

I crept in farther. “Giguhl,” I whispered.

The only response was male grunting on the other side of the door.

Adam nudged me. “Even I could barely hear that. If you’re gonna do it, put some volume on it so we can get out of here.”

I swatted him away and stood straighter. “Yo, Giguhl!”

The sex sounds cut off. Panicked scrambling. A whispered argument.

“Guys, we know you’re in here,” Adam called. “Might as well come out.”

I crossed my arms and prepared to deliver a lecture to the demons. Except the body that ran by the cracked door wasn’t green or gold. It was flesh colored. I also thought I caught a flash of red hair.

My stomach dropped with embarrassment. “Oh.” I breathed. “Sorry, we thought—”

The door flew open a foot or so and a head emerged. This one had no horns and the hair was black. A second later, I recognized my father’s enraged countenance.

“Oh shit!” Adam yelped.

Nyx’s face appeared over Tristan’s bare shoulder. When she saw Adam and me standing there with our mouths open, her cheeks flamed red. “Sabina!”

Tristan’s initial surprise quickly morphed into outrage. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I… I… I—”

“We’re so sorry,” Adam said smoothly. “We thought you were someone else.” Then he put his hands on my shoulders, pivoted my body, and pushed me out the door.

I stumbled over the threshold and into the hall. “Keep walking,” Adam warned, pulling me along now.

He guided us down the stairs, through the villa, and into the courtyard. He didn’t stop until we were in the olive grove behind the bungalow. A small sitting area had been set up around a fire pit. He pushed me onto one of the benches.

While I sat in shock, Adam busied himself lighting the fire.

“Adam?” I said finally.

He looked over his shoulder from his kneeling position. “Yeah?”

“You know how some things can’t be unseen?”

His lip twitched. “Yeah.”

“Was my father really naked?”

“I’m afraid so.”

I shuddered and scrubbed my hands over my face. “Jesus. It’s bad enough to have to witness that, but with Nyx? Am I the only one who finds it weird he’s with a vampire?”

“Yeah, why would a mage be into a hot vampire chick?” He cocked an ironic brow at me.

“That’s different. You aren’t with me because of some unresolved psychosis from a past love affair that may or may not have been orchestrated by a psychotic human. Face it, Tristan has issues.”

“The same could be said for the fact you’re with me.” He leaned toward me and whispered, “Daddy issues.”

I tilted my head and shot him a look. “I do not have daddy issues!”

“Riiight.” He rose and brushed his hands on his jeans. Behind him, the fire roared to life.

“Because that guy isn’t really my father. He was a sperm donor. That’s it.”

“So the fact that he was alive all this time and didn’t try to find you doesn’t play into this at all?”

I crossed my arms. “Absolutely not. It’s just that… he’s… he’s being unfaithful to my mother’s memory.”

Adam’s mouth fell open and a sharp laugh escaped. “Oh please. Sabina, your mother died almost fifty-five years ago. Surely you don’t expect a male to be celibate for five decades. Especially after he found out about Cain’s love spell.”

“Um, hello, she didn’t just die. She died giving birth to the kids he knocked her up with. Then he just disappeared.” I shook my head. “It’s not right and I’m not buying the whole ‘males have needs’ line of bullshit.”

Just then, the crunch of approaching footsteps reached me. I sat up straighter and looked toward the noise. I groaned audibly when I saw Nyx approaching.

“Awkward,” Adam said under his breath. He must have also realized Nyx had been close enough to hear our conversation.

I blew out a breath. “Hey, Nyx.”

She walked up with a solemn expression. A few tense seconds passed as we each tried to think of things to say. She rubbed her arms against the chill. “Sabina, may I speak with you privately?”

Adam raised an eyebrow. “I need to get more wood for the fire, anyway.” As he passed, he squeezed my shoulder. I wasn’t dumb enough to believe this was a comforting gesture. Instead, he was warning me not to kill my father’s girlfriend.

“What’s up?” I said, trying to feign a casualness I didn’t feel.

“May I?” She motioned to the space on the bench beside me.

I shrugged and scooted as far over as I could without falling off.

Once she was settled, she leaned her head back and looked up at the night sky, as if collecting her thoughts. “I love it here,” she said. “In Paris, you can’t see the stars.”

Okay,
I thought.
She wants to ease into this. I can handle that.
“Oh yeah? Is that where you grew up?”

She nodded, her eyes still heavenward. “My family lived there until I was about seventy.”

In my head, I was calculating the fallout if I took advantage of the lack of audience and fulfilled my promise to Asclepius. On one hand, clearly my father would be really pissed if I killed his fuck buddy. On the other, if I made it look like an accident, I could mark it off my To Do list.

I didn’t have anything personal against Nyx, not really. If she wanted to bump uglies with a bitter mage, that was her business. But Asclepius was too serious a threat to ignore, despite Adam’s advice to wait and see. Still, he couldn’t have foreseen that this perfect opportunity would present itself so soon after our conversation.

To buy myself some time for more internal debate, I played along with her conversation. “Where’d you all move after that?”

She dragged her gaze from the celestial display to look at me. “We didn’t move anywhere. I escaped after Cain murdered my mother and father.”

My mouth fell open. That must have explained why Georgia’s friend had met Nyx in Lyon. She’d been on the
run. “I’m sorry to hear that.” Shit. I didn’t want to sympathize with her. “Do you know why he killed them?”

“I have theories, but it was a long time ago.” Her tone told me she just didn’t want to get into it. “After it happened, I moved all over Europe. Part of me was terrified he’d come after me, too. I spent more than a century always looking over my shoulder. It takes a toll on a person. The constant fear. And the soul-crushing loneliness.” She shrugged, as if she were telling someone else’s story. “I suppose a psychologist would claim I was depressed, and I guess I was. Anyway, there’s this bridge in Budapest—the Chain Bridge. Have you heard of it?”

I shook my head, wondering where all this was going. I looked around quickly. The assassin I used to be was weighing the variables. We were very alone. If I could woo her into taking off the vest, my problems would be solved.

“It’s glorious at night with its light reflecting off the dark waters of the Danube. Buda Castle is nearby and the bridge offers a breathtaking view of its towers and crenellations.” She sighed wistfully and then shook herself out of her reverie. The longer she talked, the harder it was to work up the nerve to just off her and be done with it.