Blood Shadows (32 page)

And that was to destroy the evidence.

Purring with lazy canine satisfaction, Nachari Silivasi licked his lips and lowered his head to the demon’s torso. He sank even lower on his haunches, dug into the entrails, and began to feast in earnest—

He had fifty pounds of demon to eat before someone came to his door and discovered his rebellion.

twenty

Dark Moon Vale ~ Sunday

Kristina Riley-Silivasi walked through the front doors of the Dark Moon Vale Clinic with one solitary mission: to get Deanna out of there as quickly as possible before Kagen Silivasi began asking questions. She was relieved to see the beautiful, bluish-gray-eyed woman waiting for her in the foyer with an oversized tote bag and beach towel in hand, clearly ready to go.

“Hi, Dee,” she called in her cheeriest voice. While they really didn’t know each other that well, Kristina always shortened people’s names and figured Nachari’s
destiny
would be fine with it, unless she was unnaturally uptight.

Deanna smiled graciously. “Hi, Kristina.”

“You ready?”

Deanna held up the tote bag and nodded. “Think so. I have my suit, my cell phone, a large bottle of water, and a towel. Was there anything else I needed?”

Kristina opened the front doors and stood in the doorway, motioning Deanna forward. “Nope. That should do it.” She reached out, took the towel from Deanna’s hand, and quickly stuffed it down in her tote. When Deanna appeared slightly taken aback at the impulsive behavior, she shrugged her thin shoulders. “Easier to carry that way.”

Deanna opened her mouth to reply, then apparently thought better of it and nodded, letting the odd behavior go. She followed Kristina to the door, and they had almost cleared the doorway when Kagen’s deep, resounding voice rang out from down the hall.

“Hold it,” he called, picking up the pace to catch up with them.

Kristina watched the purposeful way he walked, impressed as always with the sleek, animalistic stride that defined his gait:
Damn, but she had some fine brothers
. She sighed, hoping to conceal her nervousness, and plastered a huge smile on her face. “What’s up, bro? How are you?”

Kagen smiled warmly. “I’m well, and you?”

“Peachy,” Kristina answered, leaning against the door to prop it open. “Looking forward to an exciting night at the blackjack tables.”

Deanna eyed her sideways, frowning. “I thought—”

“Well, we might try our hand at a little Texas Hold-Em and the slots, too, but I am a total sucker for the blackjack tables.” She winked at Deanna conspiratorially and prayed her newfound cohort would not give them away before the night had even begun. If the Silivasis knew they were headed to the secluded hot springs, even with one of Napolean’s sentinels as escort, they would insist on coming along. However, if they thought they were at the casino, they would leave them be. After all, the casino was run by none other than Marquis Silivasi; it was loaded with security cameras and kick-ass personnel; and there were enough vampires—sons of Jadon—going in and out of the place on any given night to cast a Dracula film. It was probably the safest place in Dark Moon Vale. She grabbed Deanna by the wrist and gave her a gentle squeeze of reassurance. “We shouldn’t be out that late—maybe midnight, one o’clock.” Kagen eyed her suspiciously then, and she danced from side to side on her toes impatiently.

“Where is Ramsey?” he finally asked, peeking over her shoulder.

Kristina turned her head to look out toward the car, careful to remain centered in the doorway in order to block Kagen’s view. “He’s out in the car, waiting—didn’t want to come in.” She felt a sudden stir in the air around them, and knew that Kagen was about to reach out telepathically to the steadfast sentinel in order to verify her statement. “Kagen!” she exclaimed impatiently, “
damn
—are you ever going to let up? Can I at least plan my own girl’s night out with Deanna, or do you plan on micromanaging that, too?” She glanced at Deanna and frowned. “I swear they think females are nothing but weak and incompetent.” And then she glared back at Kagen. “And it gets
very
old…very fast.”

Kagen redirected his attention toward Kristina, releasing the telepathic bandwidth—
thank god.
“Not a minute past twelve-thirty,” he said in an authoritarian voice.

“See?” Kristina said, rolling her eyes. “You would think we were twelve years old.” She pointed at Kagen. “And
he
was our father instead of our brother.”

Deanna chuckled, apparently finding the whole situation amusing. She held both hands up in a gesture of surrender. “Hey, my dog’s not in this fight. You two figure out what you want to do; I’m just along for the ride.”

Kristina smoothed her skirt. “No fight; it’s all good—right, Kagen?”

Kagen looked back and forth between the two women. “Not that Ramsey needs to be told, but make sure he stays with you the entire night…direct line of sight, got it?”

Kristina nodded in agreement. “Of course.” She did feel a bit guilty for lying about where they were going, not to mention the fact that Ramsey wasn’t actually in the car—he was meeting them at the hot springs—but all in all, it really wasn’t
that
dishonest. Ramsey Olaru
was
one of Napolean Mondragon’s bad-ass sentinels, and he
would
be with them all night—
direct line of sight
. Kristina might be rebellious, and even a bit too independent, but she would never take an unnecessary risk with her safety…or Deanna’s. She knew what was up. She had been through a Blood Moon from start to finish, and she knew quite well who the Dark Ones were—and the kind of shit they liked to pull. So, she didn’t care to have her first real evening out with Ramsey and Deanna spoiled by Nathaniel’s inquisitive eyes and Marquis’s inexcusable rudeness. Sue her.

They were safe.

And that was all that really mattered.

She turned to Kagen and grinned. “So, what’s the word, bro? Do we have a hall pass or not?”

Kagen ignored the familiar sarcasm and turned to Deanna instead. “You have my number programmed in your phone?”

Deanna nodded. “Yes, I do.”

“And Marquis’s and Nathaniel’s as well? Jocelyn’s?”

Deanna laughed. “Everyone’s, I think.”

Kristina couldn’t help but chime in then. “And it’s not like she can’t just call you guys telepathically if she needs you…right?”

Kagen flashed a gentle smile and placed his hand lovingly on Deanna’s arm. “These things take time to learn, Kristina. You know that.”

“Yeah,” Kristina replied sarcastically, “and it’s not like I’m going to be right there with her or anything.” She rolled her eyes in an exaggerated manner. “Can we go now, Daddy?” She added a note of pleading to her voice: “Before Ramsey gets out of the car and comes in here to get us?”

That seemed to put Kagen at ease. “Okay,” he said reluctantly. “Just be back by curfew…
daughter
.” He chuckled then. Turning to glance at Deanna, he added, “And you call if you need anything, okay?
Anything
.”

Deanna nodded. “Will do.” As she followed Kristina out the door, she slung her bag over her shoulder, raised her eyebrows, and whispered, “You sure that was wise? Lying to him like that?”

As the door slammed shut behind them, Kristina snickered and blew out a long breath. “I’m surprised I got away with it.” Gesturing with her hands, she added, “All he had to do was dip into my mind, or worse—step out the door and look inside the car.”

“Look inside the car?” Deanna’s frown betrayed her confusion.

“Oh, yeah,” Kristina said. “Ramsey isn’t actually riding with us; he’s meeting us at the hot springs.”

Deanna stopped dead in her tracks and squared her shoulders to Kristina. “And what else aren’t you telling me?”

Kristina reached out for Deanna’s arm and gave it a firm tug, urging her forward. Laughing, she whispered, “Okay, so it’s like this: Ramsey and I are kind of
seeing each other
, if you know what I mean.” Her next words were rushed. “Well, we haven’t been hanging out that long, but we’re kind of trying it out, and I just don’t need a bunch of overprotective brothers giving him—or me—the third degree right now; feel me?”

“Ohhh,” Deanna sighed, her eyes alighting with sudden understanding. “So, then, why did you invite me on this…date? Won’t I be a third wheel?”

Kristina shook her head adamantly. “No! Not at all. I really want to get to know you. In fact, I’m hoping we can be friends, and I know you could really use a break from all the intensity. Besides, I think it would be good to spend some social time with Ramsey—you know, not always just the two of us alone—I just don’t want to do it with the Silivasi clan. So in a way, you’re doing me a huge favor by coming.”

Deanna looked as if she had a dozen questions, each one just dying to leap off her tongue, but to her credit, she held them back and shrugged. “Well,” she said, “it’s your world, and I’m just the new girl—so I’ll have to trust your judgment. Just so long as it’s safe.”

Kristina couldn’t believe how cool Deanna was; maybe they really would become good friends. She gestured toward her pink Corvette and smiled. “No worries, Dee—we’re gonna have a great time. And trust me, we’re perfectly safe.”

Braden Bratianu stood outside Napolean’s manse pacing back and forth on the lawn, mulling the problem—and his dilemma—over for the umpteenth time: To tell or not to tell. That was the question.

To risk Kristina’s anger—or see to her safety?

To risk Marquis’s disappointment or provoke his wrath?

To betray a friend or honor the house of Jadon?

He stared at the front door and steadied his resolve: He
had
to say something. He just had to. What he had read in that diary was wrong, and Napolean needed to know about it. He was just about to approach the front door when he felt the distinct presence of another vampire’s energy close by; and by the size and intensity of the vibration, he knew it was someone fairly formidable.

Spinning around on his heels, he found himself face-to-face with Ramsey Olaru. The warrior was standing less than two feet away, clad in a pair of dark blue jeans and a hunter-green shirt, with a characteristic scowl on his GQ face and a thin reed of grass protruding from his teeth. Braden had never even heard him approach. “Oh…uh,” he stuttered, “Ramsey…I didn’t hear you—”

“You got some business with Napolean?” Ramsey asked, his penetrating hazel eyes taking the kid’s measure in the space of a second.

“Yeah, well…sort of.” He tried to stand tall and puff out his chest. “I guess I kind of have some business with you.”

Ramsey’s perfectly arched brows shot up in curiosity. “With me?”

“Yeah,” Braden mumbled in a shaky voice. He took a deep breath and tried again. “Yeah—with you.”

Ramsey shrugged, seemingly indifferent. “All right.”

“I wanna know what’s going on,” he said, practically forcing the words out of his mouth. Ramsey Olaru was nobody’s punk—the guy could swallow you whole and spit you out just as easily as look at you. He was notorious for being both ruthless and cruel—just for the hell of it—and no one, but no one, took him on unless they had to. Or questioned him. Yet here Braden was, a fifteen-year-old, once-human-turned-vampire kid, squaring off with the legendary warrior over a silly redheaded girl who was being played like a fiddle by the much older, much more experienced sentinel. Braden drew courage from the knowledge that Kristina was in jeopardy, Ramsey was simply wrong in what he was doing, and Napolean was
hopefully
not that far away. “With Kristina Riley,” he added.

Ramsey spit the reed out of his mouth and took a lazy step backward, crossing his massive arms over his iron chest. He looked the kid over but said nothing.

Okay. What now?
Braden wondered. “Well?”

“Well, what?” Ramsey said, his gravelly voice growing short with impatience.

Braden sighed. “Well, what the hell is going on with you and Kristina?” The moment the curse word left his mouth, he regretted it; but it was too late to take it back now. Shaking a bit in his boots, he struggled to maintain eye contact.

The corner of Ramsey’s sarcastic mouth turned up in a parody of a smile. “I think you better watch your tone, boy.”

Braden squared his jaw. “And I think you better watch who you’re effin’ around with.” He gulped at his own audacity.

Ramsey ran a huge hand through his hair, causing Braden to flinch in response to the sudden motion. He chuckled at the kid’s reaction. “Little nervous?”

Braden shook his head defiantly. “No. Are you?”

“Not in the least,” Ramsey drawled lazily.

Braden took a bold step forward. “Well, maybe you should be.”

At that, Ramsey laughed.

Laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Braden demanded.

Ramsey shrugged and swept his hand in a gentle arc. “This. You. What the heck’s going on, kid?”

Braden felt his eyes dampen with moisture, and more than anything, that made him even angrier. Bolder. “You know damn well what’s going on.” His hands shot to his hips and he leaned forward in a threatening manner, unable to stop his smaller body from moving. “And you better start talking!” As if possessed by someone else, he felt his arm raise, his index finger extend, and his hand move toward the massive giant’s chest. To his utter horror, he poked Ramsey Olaru squarely in the bread-basket. “
Now
,” he growled. Apparently, his voice had been hijacked as well.