Dark Redemption (17 page)

As
realization sank in, the thought made her sick. Before the night was through,
she’d sell her soul to do just that. She would sacrifice her dignity and honor
for a glimpse into Alexander’s mind. Then again, if there was even the
slightest chance that Dominic was alive, it would be worth it a hundred times
over.
Dominic, wherever you are, please
forgive
me
…

“‘So’? ‘So!?’
So, I refuse to let our
princess and my future
bride go
out in public like
that.”

“Not
really your call, Ambrogio. You may be in charge of her safety, education, and
schedule, but that’s it. Last I checked
,
she could
wear whatever the hell she wanted to.” Massimo gave Kate a sly, sideways grin.
“May as well fly your freak flag loud and proud now.
Sow
those royal oats while you still can. Next thing you
know, you’ll be saddled with this buzz kill for the rest of eternity.”

Kate
turned to glare at Alexander.
“Over my dead body.”
Though the venom in her voice was genuine, it felt like a lie, knowing what she
was about to do.

Alexander
glowered at the pair of them.
“Fine.
Massimo, you want
your cousin to go out looking like a cheap prostitute,
then
you get to babysit her while she does it. I can’t stand to look at her like
this. I’ll handle the general security detail. You keep her in your line of
sight at all times. But you listen to me, Cacciatori. Keep her out of trouble.
You lose her, you step up. I refuse to take even one more lash for her.”

Massimo
crossed his arms over his chest. “I run my club. I run my city.
No one so much as sneezes without my blessing.
Katerina will
be safe under my watch, I’d bet my life on it.”

“Fine,”
Alex snapped, working his jaw as though chewing rubber. “I’ll meet you up front
with the motorcade.”

He
spun on his heel and stormed out of the room in a blur of furious golden
vampire and black designer threads.

“Oh
look. It’s a huff and he’s leaving in it,” Kate cracked in an attempt to break
the tension he left behind.

Massimo
barked his laughter and chucked her chin. “I don’t know what you’re up to,
cuz
, but I hope you know what you’re doing. Ambrogio is not
a man to fuck with.”

“I
can handle him,” Kate assured him, doubting herself as she said it.

“I
hope so,” Massimo said, his dark eyes serious as he searched her face. Kate
didn’t want to know what he saw there. “But if you can’t, no matter how deep
you’re in, I’ve got your back.”

“Why,
Massimo, perhaps you’re not one-hundred-percent-grade-A asshole after all.
There might even be a shred of decency somewhere in that barbaric brain of
yours.”

Massimo
grinned. “Nah, I’m one hundred percent grade-A bad ass vampire and don’t you
forget it.”

“Perish
the thought.”

Massimo
draped one heavily muscled arm over her bare shoulders and led her toward the
door. “Come on, my little succubus cousin.  We’ve got a party to get to.”

Chapter
18

         
Massimo’s exclusive underground vampire club was packed as usual, with standing
room only in a coursing sea of flawless immortal bodies. Yet their party split the
crowds like the Red Sea, every vampire stepping aside to allow them passage.
Kate tried to ignore the curious glances as they passed. She couldn’t really
blame them. She was their twice-lost princess, returned once again to the fold.
She’d be curious too.

         
Kate couldn’t help but remember the last time she’d come to
Noche
del
Reyes. Giovanni had braved the wrath of a nest of
vampires to bring her a message. Dominic loved her and she’d betrayed him.
She’d thought Dominic’s brother spoke out of hatred and cruelty, but in
reality, Gio was only trying to bring the two of them together.

         
Her heart ached at the memory. Yet, here she stood, prepared to betray Dominic
once again. Only this time, she did it for him. She’d march through Hell and back
if there was the slightest chance she could see Dominic again.

         
Katerina rustled with anticipation in the shadows of her mind. Blood and
alcohol flowed freely in this house of vampires, their scent thick in the air.
The thirst-inducing aroma called to the dark demon, begging to be tasted.
Katerina couldn’t wait to be off her leash. This was her scene and she was
ready to play. The time had come for Kate to let her dark side do her thing and
pray the stars aligned as planned.

         
“I need a drink,” Kate shouted over the pulsing music. Without waiting for a
reply, she headed in the direction of the bar. Armand stumbled behind her,
close at her elbow. Kate ignored him. It figured Massimo would pawn her
security detail off on someone else the first chance he got.
So
much for familial love.

         
The cute bartender performed a double take when she sidled up to the bar in
front of him. He gave her an appreciative grin, a flash of fangs and boyish
dimples. “What will it be, Princess?”

         
Kate channeled her best James Bond. “O-positive vodka martini, shaken, not
stirred.”

         
His grin widened. “You got it.”

         
“Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship,” she said in
her best Humphrey Bogart impersonation.

         
“I sure hope so,” the bartender said as he sank several ice cubes into a
shaker.

 Tossing
and twirling the vodka and vermouth bottles like flaming batons, he performed
an elaborate routine then, poured the liquor with a flourish. He stooped and
disappeared behind the bar, returning with a blood bag from the special fridge
beneath the counter.

With
a dance-like movement, he slid the blood bag down his arm and caught it midair
with a tap of the back of his hand. He juggled it back and forth like a hacky
sack, then popped the cap and added the blood to the shaker. “I’m Marco,” he
said as he agitated the shaker.

         
“Katerina.”

         
“I know.” He poured the strained concoction into a martini glass and garnished
it with an olive. “Do you think the boss would fire me or kill me first, if I
asked you to dance on my break?”

         
Kate laughed. “Massimo’s not your problem.”     

“That
is yet to be seen,” Marco said.

“Hardly.”
Kate waved his concern off
with a flip of her hand. “He told me to ‘sow my royal oats’”

Marco
studied her, his face filled with intrigued curiosity. “Ambrogio would surely
take issue.”

         
“Alexander
Ambrogio,
is not my problem.”

         
Kate took a big gulp of her drink, liquid courage if ever there was some.
Katerina sighed with pleasure, growing stronger as the blood and liquor spread
through her system. Kate resisted her natural impulse to slam the prison door
shut in Katerina’s face. She needed her dark side to come out and play.

         
Marco raised one dark eyebrow. “Would he not be mine were he to see you in my
arms?”

         
Kate leaned in close, her lips brushing the shell of his ear. “I guess you’ll
just have to see if I’m worth the risk.”

         
Heat filled Marco’s hazel eyes. “Princess, there isn’t a doubt in my mind.”

         
“Perhaps I’ll see you on the dance floor then, Marco.” Kate smiled and walked
away, sipping her drink and swinging her hips as she walked. Armand followed
behind her, bristling with disproval as he kept pace at her elbow.

         
Making her way to the center of the dance floor, Kate danced in time with the
music. Knocking back the remainder of her drink, she thrust the empty glass at
her silent bodyguard. “Here, make yourself useful and get me another drink.”

         
Armand stared at the empty glass as though he hadn’t heard her.

“Are
you deaf? Get me another,” Kate said, enunciating each word slowly. She felt
bad for being such a bitch to Armand. He’d always been so sweet to her. But she
couldn’t have him glued to her side all night, bristling with disproval. She
had a plan and he had his part in it.

Armand
continued to stare silently back at her. He looked as though he wanted to say
something, but thought better of it.

“Is
there a problem, Armand?”

Armand
chewed his lower lip, a bundle of nervous energy. “It’s not right,
principessa
,”
he mumbled, shuffling his feet in discomfort.

Kate
arched a brow at him. “What’s not right?”
          “What you are doing.
Capitano Ambrogio loves you. He would do anything for you. You dishonor him by
carrying on with other men.”

“Let’s
get one thing straight, Armand. The only person Alexander Ambrogio loves is
himself. He loves what I can do for him, nothing more. Any humiliation he
experiences from my behavior is rightly his and not my problem.” Kate thrust
the empty glass in his face. “Now, mind your own business and get me another
drink.”

Armand
dipped into a slight bow and accepted the glass. “As you
wish,
principessa
.”

Watching
him disappear into the crowd, Kate smiled.
Perfect
. Alone at last, she
let the music carry her away. She danced as though no one was watching
,
even if a small army and numerous onlookers watched her
like primetime television. Sure, she had an entourage larger than the leader of
a small country, but at least she had the illusion of freedom.

As
the music coursed through her, Kate let go. Katerina clawed her way to the
surface of her consciousness. Only this time, Kate made no effort to stop her.
“Remember our deal,” she muttered under her breath to her dark alter ego. With
that, Kate relinquished control to the demon, willingly taking a back seat in
her own mind.

She
wanted no part of what Katerina must do next, but wanted the results badly
enough to allow it. If she could, Kate would take a nap until it was all over.
Instead, she remained painfully aware of her other self’s thoughts and actions.

Her
darker self danced with fluid sexuality and a seductive abandon Kate couldn’t
fathom. A primal being, Katerina was comfortable in her own skin and it showed
in her every movement. The sensual motions were as natural to her as breathing.
Tossing her hair and swinging her hips, Katerina ran her hands up and down her
body as she pulsed and gyrated to the music. Armand returned with her drink,
only for her to toss the cocktail back like a shot and send him away for more.

“May
I have this dance?” A familiar male voice said from behind her.

Katerina
turned at the voice. Marco stood behind her, stark masculine appreciation
burning in his eyes as he watched her move. Katerina gave him a feline smile.
“I thought you’d never ask.”

Marco
took Katerina’s hands in his and drew her body close to his. The pair of them
moved together in a fluid, sensuous dance as the music thrummed through them.
Marco’s hands trailed down her arms to cradle her hips, dragging them up
against his own as they swayed to the music. Katerina turned in his arms and
wrapped arms around his neck, arching her back as he ducked his head to her
throat.

His
hands moved up and down her bare thighs as she ground her backside against his
pelvis. His mouth brushed up the column of her throat, tasting her skin with a
low growl. Katerina tipped her head back and met his lips with her own,
tangling her fingers in the back of his dark, curly hair as she dragged him to
her. He tasted of sweet blood and hard liquor as their tongues danced. Katerina
pressed against the rigid line of his arousal and drank him in.

Then
he was gone, torn from her in a flash. Katerina stumbled backward in his
absence, landing in an ungraceful heap on her backside on the floor. Shoving
her hair out of her face, Katerina glared up at the source of her buzz kill.

Alexander
towered over her, his face dark and murderous. Two men in her guard’s signature
dark suits dragged Marco away by his arms. Marco kicked and cursed at them as
they beat their way through the crowd.

“What
the hell do you think you are doing?” Alexander snarled, grasping Katerina’s
upper arm none too gently and yanking her to her feet.

“I
was having a good time, until you came along and ruined it,” she shouted back
at him, ripping her arm out of his grasp. Rubbing the offended flesh, she
turned away and headed back into the crowd after Marco. Alexander caught her
arm again, this time with enough force to make her flinch as he dragged her
back to face him.

“Don’t
you think I’ve suffered enough pain and humiliation at your hands?” Pinching
her chin between his thumb and pointer finger of his other hand, he forced her
to meet his fiery golden gaze. “Let me make this perfectly clear, since
apparently I’ve failed to do so thus far. It’ll be a cold day in Hell when I
let another man touch you, Katerina. You need to get that through your
titanium-plated skull. You belong to me, no one else.”

“I
belong to no one,” Katerina snarled, jerking away from his grasp.

Without
further warning or argument, Alexander picked her up and tossed her over his
shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

“What
the hell do you think you are doing?” Katerina squawked, thumping on
Alexander’s back as he maneuvered through the crowd as though he wasn’t lugging
one hundred plus pounds of angry female vampire over his shoulder.

“Doing
what I should have done a long time ago,” Alexander grunted as he shouldered
the door to Massimo’s private office open. He unceremoniously dumped her on her
butt on the hardwood floor.

Massimo
glanced up from his desk, one dark brow arched in annoyance. “What the fuck,
Ambrogio?”

“Out,”
Alexander ordered, his voice a low growl.

“Listen,
asshole,” Massimo groused, rising to his feet and pointing an angry finger at
his friend.  “This is my city, my club, and my fucking office. No one
barges in here and tells me what to do. Friendship only goes so far, man and
you’ve crossed so far over the line you’d need a passport to get back.”

“I
need to have a private word with Katerina,” Alexander hissed through clenched
teeth. He glared at his friend, his nostrils flaring with impatience. Massimo
glared back at him in silence.

“Please,”
Alex added as a terse afterthought.

Massimo
looked unimpressed.
“Katerina?”

Katerina
rose from the floor and smoothed down her skirt. Shooting a sharp look at Alex,
she shrugged at her cousin. “Whatever.”

“Fine.”
Massimo smirked at Alexander.
“Enjoy your little talk. Don’t come crying to me if she tries to carve your
heart out with my pen.”

“I’m
sure I will be perfectly satisfied with our conversation, Cacciatori.”
Alexander chuckled, a dark, throaty sound Kate found particularly menacing for
its alarming quiet. “I can handle her.”

Massimo
shook his head as he swept past them.
“Yeah right.
I’ve heard that one before. News flash, Ambrogio, it didn’t end well for you.”

With
one last glance at the pair of them, Massimo huffed and slammed the office door
behind him.

Alexander
ignored him. His golden eyes remained fixed on Katerina. He studied her as
though she was an unsolvable puzzle, aggravating and possibly missing a few
pieces. The look set Kate’s teeth on edge, but she stayed back. They had a deal
and she needed to see it through. Still enraged and indignant, Katerina crossed
her arms over her chest and disregarded Alexander’s intense gaze.

“Do
I have to kill every man on this damn planet before you finally choose me?”
Alexander growled. The harsh words were spoken in a low, quiet voice, filled
with hurt and anger.

Katerina
didn’t move or flinch at his words, she stared dead ahead as though she hadn’t
heard him at all. Inside, huddled in a tight ball in the corner of her mind,
Kate lifted her head and begged Katerina to look at Alex. She needed to know
what he was thinking, was dying to know if the old Alex was still in there
somewhere.