He snatched the phone out of his pocket and texted, I’m at the front of the museum. Where are you?
Justine replied, Stop. Wait.
Coming to a standstill, he did as she ordered, studying his immediate surroundings with a soldier’s sharp eye. Palm trees dotted the area, and despite the heavy fog, there were several people walking along the sidewalk. He focused on their conversations. All of them sounded innocuous enough.
A young girl came running toward him. Perhaps twelve years old, she wore a school uniform and she carried a laptop. He had dismissed her as harmless while she was standing in a crowd of schoolchildren several yards away, but as she came closer she caught his attention again.
Several dangerous creatures could masquerade as an innocuous school-age girl, and he tensed.
“Hi!” she called out as she ran up to him. “The lady from the museum said you left your laptop. She asked me to bring it to you.”
Catching a hint of the girl’s human scent, he relaxed somewhat. “Did she?” he asked, glancing behind her at the museum’s entrance. “What did she look like?”
The girl gave him a bright smile. “Oh, she’s very beautiful, and she has red hair. Is this yours?”
“I guess it is.” He took it from her. “Thanks.”
“Have a nice day!” She raced off again, heading for a yellow school bus where several other children in the same uniform were climbing aboard.
His phone vibrated. Did you get my present?
Tucking the laptop under one arm, he texted, Yes. Quit texting, dammit. Pick up your phone and call.
Oh, we’ll talk, she sent back. Just not by phone. Open the laptop and click on the Skype window. It’s logged into the museum’s Wi-Fi. Don’t move away from the building, or you’ll lose your connection.
Furiously, he yanked open the laptop and clicked on the Skype window.
Even though he braced himself for what might come next, the image that appeared made him go more than a little insane.
The scene was the same as the photo Justine had sent him. The background looked like rough rock, as if it might be a cave, or perhaps an unfinished basement. There were no windows or other potentially identifying characteristics. The lighting was odd and inadequate, and very slanted, as if it came from a lamp set on the floor.
This time there was no sign of the unknown male. Justine stood with Melly in front of the camera. They were both near the same height and size, but Melly was no match for Justine’s far superior strength and speed. Melly had a bunched cloth stuffed into her mouth in a simple, brutal gag. The Vampyre held the younger woman in a tight clench, and in one hand, she held a knife.
Julian ran his gaze compulsively over Melly. By some trick of nature, she was ridiculously photogenic. Even in such a horrible setting, with bad lighting, no makeup and a great deal of stress and danger, the camera loved her features and figure.
She looked disheveled, furious and scared. Her bare arms showed a few smudges that might be either dirt or bruises, but other than that, she didn’t appear to be seriously injured or abused.
Yet.
Their gazes locked. Even through Skype he felt such a strong connection to her, for the tiniest moment nothing else mattered. All his anger and bitterness fell away. She looked at him like she used to with her beautiful eyes so full of emotion. Light glimmered in the wetness of her gaze, and in that moment, he would have given anything, anything at all, to be able to put his arms around her and tell her that everything would be okay.
Anything, just to feel her in his arms one more time.
“First things first,” Justine said. She smiled into the camera. “I want you to tell me you didn’t say a word to anyone.”
He snapped, “I didn’t tell anybody anything.”
“Excellent. Put your phone in your pocket and leave it there. Remember — I have eyes on you right now, and I don’t mean through our Skype session. If you try to do anything stupid, I’ll carve off Melly’s face and make it into a mask to wear to our next encounter.”
His own truthsense told him that Justine wasn’t making an idle threat. He hadn’t targeted anyone suspicious when he’d studied the scene, but that didn’t mean that watchers weren’t there.
Hissing, he jammed his phone into his pocket. “I’m not going to try anything stupid.”
Justine laid her cheek against Melly’s golden hair and rocked her back and forth. “I guess we have an answer to our question, don’t we, kitten? Apparently he does have some feeling left for you after all.” Her smile widened. “Julian, you might want to compose yourself. Remember, the fog offers you some cover, but you’re still in public. Those fangs and red eyes are sure to bring you more attention than you want right now.”
He hadn’t been aware that he had lost such control, and he struggled for some measure of composure. It was difficult, when the need for violence filled his mind with a red haze.
“You’re going to be okay,” he told Melly. “Remember that.”
Briefly, she closed her eyes. When she looked at him again, she did so with a steely calm. Good girl. Gods, she might be faithless, but she was damn brave.
Only then did he turn his attention back to the psychotic bitch holding her captive. “I’m here, just like you wanted,” he said in a harsh voice. “Let’s get on with this.”
“Don’t be so hasty,” Justine said with evident relish. “I can’t tell you how long I’ve looked forward to doing this — or something like this, anyway. This specific scenario is a surprise, but I’m excellent at improvising when I have to. I just want you to take a moment to really appreciate everything I’ve set up here.”
He said between his teeth, “Believe me, nothing you’ve done in the last few days has escaped my notice.”
She batted her eyelashes at him. “I’m so glad. This wasn’t easy to do on short notice, you know. We’re in a remote enough location I had to use a couple of relays just to establish a Wi-Fi connection. You can’t imagine the hassle.”
“You want me to tell you it’s really fucking amazing?” he said flatly. “Okay. It’s really fucking amazing. Justine, you’ve screwed up. Forget about me for a moment — take me out of the picture completely. If you do anything to hurt Melly, Tatiana will never rest until she has you hunted down and staked.”
Justine pursed her lips into a moue. “I guess that means we’ll have to make sure Tatiana never finds out I was involved. Maybe I should just kill her now. After all, it’s not like I can let her go, because as soon as I do, Tatiana will know I was the one who kidnapped her.”
She raised the knife to Melly’s throat.
He started to talk fast, and desperately. “That’s not true. You haven’t gone too far yet. Tatiana will be pissed you kidnapped her, but no real harm has been done. She’ll get over it — Justine, listen to me —”
Watching his face, Justine started to draw the knife slowly across Melly’s neck. A red line appeared on the tawny skin of Melly’s throat. With a hoarse, muffled scream, Melly fought against Justine’s hold, but the other woman held her firmly captive.
Panic blew out Julian’s mind. He roared into the camera, “Stop. Justine, stop! TELL ME WHAT THE FUCK YOU WANT ME TO DO, AND I’LL DO IT!”
Cocking her head, Justine pulled the knife away and licked the blade with evident relish.
As Julian stared while she tasted Melly’s blood, he wanted nothing more than to punch his fist into Justine’s chest, pull out her beating heart and crush it in one hand.
Justine said, “Or maybe I shouldn’t kill her, since she seems to be an effective way to control you. Hm, what to do.” She said to Melly, “Darling, you taste delicious. Stop struggling so hard, I barely scratched you.”