Getting What You Want (28 page)

Vittorio stepped into the room, wanting to go to her, but he stopped just short of the bed. He couldn’t touch her. Not when what he was about to tell her would scare and likely repulse her.

But there was no avoiding it. “What do you remember?”

She told him about being at the gallery and Isabella’s call to come to her house. Then she told him about the dream.

Vittorio wished he could assure her it was all a dream. That she’d gotten sick or something and missed her showing and all the rest was a dream. But he couldn’t. He loved her, and the truth would come out eventually.

He needed to tell her and let her decide what she wanted from there.

“Erika,” he said slowly, “that wasn’t a dream. Everything really happened.”

She stared at him, her eyes wide. “What?”

“All of it. Isabel really being my mother. A conjured demon from the seventh circle of hell. Me—being a vampire. Or rather a lampir, which is just a vampire who—”

Erika held up her hand. “You can’t be serious.”

“Sadly, I am.”

She just stared at him for several moments, then shook her head. “I don’t know why you would tell me this.”

Vittorio gave her a helpless look. “Because it’s true. And I love you. And you need to know the truth.”

“You love me? And you are telling me
this?
”

Vittorio knew it couldn’t sound true to her. But he was tired of lies and he was who he was. He couldn’t change that fact or hide from it any longer. Not with her of all people.

“Erika, I want to spend all eternity with you. And it just happens I can do that. For real.”

Erika didn’t know what to say. This was crazy, and she couldn’t…

“I can’t deal with this.”

Vittorio nodded as if he expected that answer. Maybe that was the answer he’d hoped for. But this was one convoluted way to get a person to dump you.

“So if you are a vampire—is Ren one?”

He nodded.

Then a thought hit her. “And Maggie?”

He nodded again.

Erika stared at him. This was nuts. Totally nuts.

“Vittorio, I’m not sure how I’m supposed to deal with this. This is…”

“Unbelievable,” Vittorio supplied.

“Yes. Yes.” She blinked, feeling the urge to cry. How could this be real, how could she have fallen for a…vampire?

“I know it is way more than anyone could ask a person to understand. But I am still the same person who had pretty much fallen in love with you from the moment I first met you.”

His words made her heart dance and jump in her chest, but they were also bittersweet. He was a vampire. A vampire with a mother who wanted her dead.

“I don’t think your family approves of me,” she said wryly.

“Ren loves you. Maggie is your best friend. They are the only family who needs to approve.”

“What about your mother who wanted to—” She couldn’t believe she was about to say this aloud. “Sacrifice me to a demon?”

“Would you believe the demon took her instead?”

“That was fortunate, I guess,” Erika said wryly.

Vittorio started to sit on the bed, but the wary expression on her face must have stopped him. Instead he crossed his arms over his chest.

“I know this is a lot to handle. But my mother was the only reason we couldn’t be together and she’s gone. I am crazy in love with you.” He cringed at his wording. “Okay, I’m madly—” he paused. “I’m head over heels in love with you. And I want us to be together, but I do understand if you need some time.”

“I do,” she said. “I—just do.”

Vittorio nodded and took a couple steps toward the door. “I’ll be around. Just call for me and I’ll be right there.”

Erika frowned as he stepped out the door, closing it quietly behind him. Call him and he’d be right there? Somehow she didn’t think that he meant with her phone.

She stayed in bed for several minutes, just trying to sort out what she had just heard. What she felt about it. What she was supposed to do with all this information.

Finally she rose and headed to her dresser. She found a pair of jeans and a sweater and tugged both on. Her apartment was silent as she tried to locate her purse, which she was surprised to find on the coffee table.

Near-sacrifice to a demon by a crazed vampire, and still Vittorio thought to locate her purse. That had to make him a keeper, right? Even with the fangs?

She laughed to herself, the sound slightly hysterical. What was she going to do? Then she noticed Boris sitting on the windowsill.

She walked over and stroked the grumpy animal. “What would you do, Boris?”

The cat meowed, but that didn’t clarify much for Erika.

She patted the cat one more time, then headed to the door. She knew this was a weird place to go—at least many people would think so—but it was the only option she could think of.

“Hey, girl, where were you last night? I was there all gussied up and you weren’t. Were you sick?”

Erika forced a weak smile at Philippe. “I had—something come up.”

Philippe raised an eyebrow. “Really? Good or bad?”

“That’s what I’m hoping you can tell me.”

Philippe made a face that she didn’t quite understand, then nodded.

“Tea leaves or tarot?”

“Tea leaves, I think.”

He nodded and prepared the cup. After she’d tipped the cup up and he lifted the saucer off the top, he paused without looking at the leaves clinging to the side of the stained porcelain.

“Erika. I know you come here because you want answers. You like answers. But the truth is, the future is always uncertain.”

Erika’s heart did a funny flip in her chest. Wasn’t that essentially what Vittorio had said to her on the night they’d admitted they were in love? That there weren’t always answers and you had to trust yourself to make the right choices.

“You know your own emotions,” Philippe said. “You know what you want and what you need. And while I can tell you what’s ahead of you, you have to ultimately decide what you want.”

Erika stared at him, not sure what to say or do.

“Like with your fair-haired, dark-eyed prince, I knew he was coming, but it was up to you to go for him or not.”

And she had gone for him. And she didn’t regret that.

She stood, the wooden chair bumping the wall in the small cubicle as she did so. “I think I need to go.”

Philippe smiled as if he knew she would do that. Probably he did.

“I’ll catch you at your next show.”

“Absolutely,” Erika said, suddenly feeling giddy. She pushed aside the curtain batiked with stars and moon that served as a door, and practically dashed from the shop.

“She’ll come around,” Maggie assured Vittorio, who sat on the sofa in the carriage house. “She just needs some time.”

“Not everyone can just go with this concept. Except for Maggie, who didn’t apparently have the sense to be scared of a lampir,” Ren said with a teasing smile.

“True enough,” Maggie agreed, then touched Ren’s knee with affection.

Vittorio somehow didn’t think he’d be getting a reaction like that from Erika anytime soon.

“Well, it probably helps that our mother didn’t try to sacrifice you to the demon, Aosoth,” Vittorio pointed out.

“That was one time when being her least favorite came in handy,” Ren said.

“There were plenty of times,” Vittorio said. “Believe me.”

Ren sighed, and Vittorio knew that his brother was truly bothered by what Vittorio had suffered at the hands of their crazy mother.

“I think it’s over,” Vittorio finally said. “How can she get past all that?”

Just then the front door flew open, and Erika dashed into the room, her cheeks flushed, her hair coming out of the knot she had on the top of her head. Her chest rose and fell as she tried to catch her breath.

Vittorio stood. “Erika? Are you okay?”

She brushed back a lock of dark hair that clung to her cheek and she smiled. “I am. Just a little breathless.” Then she paused. “Crap, I could have just called you to me, couldn’t I?”

Vittorio nodded, confused by her words and her sudden change in mood.

“I’ve got to remember that.”

“Okay,” he said, not knowing what else to say.

“So does that mean I’m becoming a lampir too?”

Vittorio shook his head. “No, no it just means I’ve—bonded to you.”

“Bonded—like we have a connection.”

He nodded, feeling miserable. He was probably the last person she wanted to be linked to.

“Is that how you found me last night?”

He nodded again. “Well, in part, some—demon…” Damn, he hated to say that aloud. “Who was involved with my mother told us that she took you, and that’s how I located you once I knew you were in danger.”

“That’s a good trick. It’s like OnStar, but in your head.”

Vittorio stared at her, having no idea what she was talking about. Maybe last night had driven her mad. It
had
been horrifying.

When neither of them said anything more, Ren stood. “Maybe we should go. So you can talk.”

Erika turned her attention to Ren and Maggie. “So you are vampires too.”

They both nodded, Ren looking rather blasé about it, Maggie looking sheepish.

“Maggie, I can’t believe you didn’t tell me. You suck at keeping secrets.”

“I know,” Maggie said in a rush, “but I didn’t think you’d believe me.”

“Probably not,” Erika admitted. “It is a little far-fetched.”

Maggie nodded, then let Ren take her hand and lead her to the stairs. But Maggie stopped at the bottom, making Ren stop too.

“It’s really not scary,” she said to Erika. “It’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Erika smiled and nodded. “I believe you.”

Maggie smiled back, then she and Ren disappeared upstairs.

Erika turned back to Vittorio. “So how does this all work for us?”

Vittorio frowned. “What do you mean?”

“This vampire thing. This relationship.”

“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “This is the first time I’ve been with anyone who actually knows what I am.”

Erika moved closer to him, then rested a hand on his chest. His breath caught at the simple touch.

“Well, you are my first vampire.” She moved closer, her body nearly touching his.

“And your last,” he said, then realized that probably his roughly muttered words sounded more ominous than possessive.

But Erika smiled. “I agree.” She then rose up on her tiptoes and kissed him. “I love you, Vittorio, no matter what you are. All I ever wanted was for you to want me.”

“That’s all I ever wanted too.”

He kissed her again, long and deep and filled with everything he felt for her.

“I have to admit your mother might have been a deal breaker though.”

Vittorio nodded. “Understandably.”

“Thank God for demons.”

Vittorio laughed. For the first time ever, he felt like he was going to be okay. He pulled Erika tighter to him. Better than okay.

M
aksim had to admit he’d never been to a wedding before. It was all too romantic and based in commitment and loyalty and fidelity and stuff he wanted no part of. And it was all a little too—white.

He shoved at a bit of white tulle that kept sticking to the top of his head from where it was draped on the courtyard walls.

He took a bite of the crawfish étoufée that was being served. The food was good though.

He glanced over at Erika and Vittorio dancing in the center of the courtyard. The fountain behind them silhouetted them, like the image of a romantic photograph. Friends and family also danced and chatted and ate. Well, some ate. Vampires really got screwed in that department.

He sighed. What a strange combination of beings. Vampires, lampirs, a werewolf, humans—and a demon of course.

Just then Erika’s black cat—Boris, he believed he was called—jumped onto his lap. The cat perched on him, staring up at him with unblinking, glowing eyes.

“You are a weird animal,” Maksim muttered, stroking it once then pushing it off him. He dusted the fur from his Armani pants. The cat took no offense, and sat on the cobblestones watching him.

Maksim ignored the animal and returned his attention to his food. He still hadn’t found any information about Ellina. But he didn’t think Orabella was involved with her disappearance.

He just couldn’t find any leads, period. But something had happened to her.

“Enjoying yourself?”

Maksim looked up to see Erika’s friend, Jo. She looked lovely in a red dress with a full skirt and off-the-shoulder neckline.

“Yes,” he said, setting down his fork.

“Good.” She smiled and his blood pressure shot up. God, she was stunning.

“Jo, care to dance?”

Maksim recognized the man touching her arm as one of the members of Ren’s band, The Impalers. Chuck? Maybe Buck? Something like that.

“Sure,” Jo said, then offered Maksim another smile, one he couldn’t quite read. “Enjoy your dinner.”

Maksim nodded, knowing what he’d enjoy even more as he watched the sway of her hips as she walked to the dance floor.

His gaze returned to Vittorio and Erika, who held each other close, talking and laughing and clearly so smitten with each other that they could have been alone.

Not for me,
he thought as his gaze returned to Jo. He wanted good sex, good food and to find his sister.

That’s all he needed.

As if reading his mind, and finding his desires lacking, the black cat at his feet meowed.

Maksim laughed and continued to watch Jo with hungry eyes.