The night doorman who helped me out of the taxi held an umbrella to shield me from the pouring rain. A bellhop took care of the luggage as I walked into the Fasano Hotel—the same place Rurik and I stayed New Years Eve.
Tane thought my return here would be a reasonable conclusion for Colby to make.
Rumors of my leaving the vampires flooded the city before I left the mansion.
I obtained my keycard from the desk, crossed the foyer and hit the elevator button.
Colby would have to be deaf not hear the news. He needed information on vampire movements since the minor clans hunted the streets tonight and the werewolves would take over before morning. Worse, Tane sent his two Nosferatu brothers still visiting Rio to monitor human thoughts for signs of Colby. They wouldn’t fight for Tane, it would make him look weak, but this assistance apparently was acceptable. So they coordinated everything. Airports, train and bus stations were watched.
A shiver ran down my spine. The power Tane held scared me and this was only the tip of the iceberg. I hoped to never be the focus of such a hunt.
Like a pawn caught between two chess masters, I waited for Colby to respond and make his move. I could only hope he didn’t checkmate me.
The decadent empty lobby’s reflection in the mirrored wall paled in comparison to Tane’s home. My heel clicked on the cold marble floor as I tapped my foot. I crossed my arms while examining my image. The pink business suit Rurik chose enhanced the color in my cheeks. Lace peeked from under the trim jacket so I tucked it back under. I remembered the night he took me shopping and talked me into buying the suit. He wanted me to have something professional, yet feminine, in my wardrobe.
I glared at the lit floor numbers as it slowly crept to the lobby. Crap, I hated waiting.
After being vampire bait for two years, I should be used to it by now.
A ping announced the elevator’s arrival and the door slid open. I entered and hit the button to my floor.
Waiting made me nuts, but fear tamed my crazy urges, such as using my cell phone to call Red, or circumventing the lobby and taking the back door. The elevator stopped on my floor and I shook the temptations from my mind. Too much rode on this for me to flake out.
The deserted hall echoed with my footsteps. I had to admit Tane was smart to send me out in the middle of the night. Who the hell checked into a hotel at this time?
Someone pissed off who just allegedly stormed out of her lover’s life.
Slipping the keycard into the slot, it signaled the door unlocked, and I entered the room to exhale the breath I’d been holding. Had Colby been watching? Did I look upset enough or just terrified?
I leaned against the door and scanned the room. “Hello?” Did the guards arrive before like planned?
“Keep up the act, Connie.” Gwen’s disembodied voice startled a small squeak out of me. I didn’t expect a response.
The room wasn’t a suite like we’d booked before. It contained a sitting area with a couch and a chair by the entrance, then a bed by the far wall next to the bathroom.
A knock announced the arrival of my luggage and the tension in the air rocketed. I could almost hear the guards' muscles straining to pounce.
I straightened my skirt and pulled at the hem then wiped my sweaty palms on the material before opening the door.
The bellhop carried my empty suitcases and placed them by the closet then left after I gave him a tip.
Maybe I should have filled them? Would the vampire nation notice if I boarded a plane and left the country? Once I arrived at my destination and escaped the clutches of the vampire nation, I could send a note to Rurik and we could agree to meet somewhere.
Then in a few months my hunger would rear its ugly head and I’d be forced to find Tane.
No doubt he’d make me pay for running away. I shuddered, all fantasies dissipating into thin air replaced with dread.
A chill ran down my arms and goose flesh developed on them. Rurik didn’t appear ready to leave Rio anyway. He probably missed his own kind. Intrigue and politics seemed to be his bread and butter. Power his aphrodisiac. All these things orbited around Tane. How long before my lover gravitated to him? What if Rurik never wanted to leave?
My soul shriveled at the thought. I’d be alone again. Plopping onto the couch, I wanted to sob, a drowning-in-your-own-boogers kind of cry, but not in front of an audience. Instead, I stared at a blank television for a few minutes then turned it on.
Nothing caught my interest, my Portuguese sucked so I couldn’t understand most of the channels, except the ones running porn. Heat rose to my cheeks knowing others watched the room.
I kicked off my heels then stomped across the room and threw open the curtains.
Through the rain, a dark outline of Sugarloaf Mountain stood across the bay. Rising above the harbor, the name refers to its resemblance to the traditional shape of concentrated refined loaf sugar. It took two cable car rides to reach its peak. I pressed my forehead against the window. Rurik promised to take me there. Only three nights ago, he chased me through the Jardim Botanic for fun, it felt like an eon.
Nothing guaranteed Colby hearing the rumors tonight, he might not show. A small part of me hoped he didn’t come. He may have almost killed me and we needed to have words about that, yet I understood his desire to murder Tane. Without the bond, I would have staked him myself by now.
God only knew what Colby endured on Tane's yacht in Budapest. When I rescued him, he’d been chained to a wall wearing only his briefs. Tane confessed to studying Colby’s slayer activities for years. If anyone could catch Colby it was him.
Stupid of my ex-boss to attempt killing Tane on his own property. Maybe the urge overcame him when he came with his team to investigate a body Gwen and I found. The crossbow was ingenious though, but why didn’t he use a UV light grenade like he usually did with the powerful vampires?
A well-placed shot would have toasted Tane and any other vampire in the vicinity.
The burst of artificial sunlight wouldn’t have hurt any humans. I might have gotten a tan.
Outside the hotel window, traffic trickled on the streets. People had normal lives in the city. This was the first contact I’d experienced with my own kind in days. The night’s activities and adrenaline rush faded, leaving me exhausted. I undid the buttons of my jacket without looking.
For the first time since meeting Rurik, I missed living like a human. I touched the window, the cold barrier between our worlds. It wouldn’t take much to shatter it.
A traitorous tear slid along my nose until it dripped off my chin onto the window ledge.
Caught.
Hook, line and sinker, the anglers had their catch. Rurik had me by the heart and Tane with his blood.
If there was a heaven, my dead husband, Laurent, probably fumed at my predicament and stupidity.
I didn’t do helpless well, though. A release from these bonds would come one day, but I didn’t know if I had the balls to take it.
Stepping away from the window, I slipped my pink jacket off and laid it over the back of the chair. I sat on the sofa to watch the colors of the television and took comfort from the white noise of people talking.
Exhausted, my eyelids sank closed. Hell, the guards watched the room, no point in my staying awake. Too tired to move, I curled onto the sofa. My last thoughts were of soft, black hair and a set of amused pale, blue eyes.
Yellow warmth greeted me in the morning. When was the last time I awoke to sunlight pouring into the room? It streamed like golden honey through the window and a clear blue sky accompanied it.