Dying to Date Read online

  Halfway through their first course, Dominic finally turned his attention back to her. “Is the blood not to your liking?”

  She glanced at her chillingly solicitous host. “Not hungry,” she lied.

  “Nonsense. Drink.”

  Her hand reached out of its own accord and brought the glass to her lips. She swallowed twice before her hand set the blood back down.

  “See, this won’t be so bad,” Dominic said. “I doubt you’ll be here more than a few days, and now that the rield problem is taken care of, you will have full reign of the house. Though I caution you, this home is always full. Someone will be close to you at all times if you choose to make…poor decisions.”

  “What do you want with my father?” she asked.

  “To broker an exchange, so to speak.” Dominic cut a precise piece of meat and popped it in his mouth. “Your father is the vampire elder of New York.”

  “Yes.” It was common knowledge. Each faction of supernatural had an ancient representative speaking on behalf of their people. Lucian was, for all intents and purposes, the king of the undead in New York.

  “He has the power to give us what we want.”

  “Which is?”

  “Why, a home.” He took a sip of his wine.

  Melissa waited, but Dominic seemed to be finished with his explanation. “What do you mean, home?” she said. “What’s this then?”

  “Not a house, child,” he said. Though his smile remained in place, his eyes were blank. She’d seen gazes like that before and never in well-adjusted, peaceful individuals. “For centuries necromancers have been unwelcome in the supernatural community merely because of the threat we pose to the leading race. To avoid further conflict, we took our banishment in silence and did our best to stay away. We stick to rural areas. We scatter to avoid detection. Well, no longer. We want New York.”

  “The…the city?”

  “Precisely. You for the city. Finally we’ll have a place where we can live in peace. Vampires can go anywhere. You’ll be fine.”

  “But…do you have any idea how many vampires live and work in the city?”

  “Do you have any idea how many necromancers are currently living on the fringes of society?” he replied.

  “My father isn’t going to be able clear out an entire city of vampires. Not to mention the rest of the elder council won’t help support such a takeover. And certainly not over one vampire hostage.”

  “For your sake, Melissa, I hope you are wrong.”

  She looked away from the dead eyes staring at her. Dominic wasn’t the sort of man to be dissuaded from his plan by anything she said.

  And her father wasn’t the sort to give in to threats. She had no doubt Lucian loved her utterly and completely, but he wouldn’t uproot hundreds of lives for her.

  She was well and truly screwed.

  I have to escape, she reasoned. That was the only way out of this. Their plan required a Redgrave hostage. If she could just get away, they would have nothing to bargain with.

  But how?

  She looked down the table at the necromancers eating. A little girl sat near the end with her mother and a drop of sympathy touched her heart. No doubt necromancer children led hard lives, but they grew up into the nightmares of her people. They didn’t deserve New York. Hell, they should be grateful the rest of the supernatural world didn’t hunt them down and eradicate their frightening powers.

  Movement caught the corner of her eye, and she turned to see a man hurrying toward Dominic.

  Dominic gestured him closer and listened while the man whispered in his ear.

  “What do you mean he’s here?” Dominic demanded.

  She arched a brow, wishing her sensitive hearing could pick up the other man’s words.

  “I suppose there’s no help for it. Show him in, and set another place beside me.”

  The nameless man bowed and hurried away as Dominic reached over to take her hand. Melissa forced herself not to recoil.

  “My apologies, my dear, but it looks like your night is about to get worse.”

  Worse than being kidnapped by monsters able to control my every move? she wanted to snap.

  “What do you mean?” she asked instead.

  “You’re in for a bit of a shock I’d imagine.” He patted her hand.

  Shock? But the double doors at the end of the room were already opening.

  A man strode forward, his face shadowed by the darker hall. When he stepped into the light, however, Melissa pushed to her feet, her jaw dropping.

  “No,” she breathed.

  Tarian stopped at the foot of the table, staring back at her with eyes as cold as ice.

  Chapter Six

  People were speaking all around her. The low buzz in her ears was proof of that. They didn’t matter, though. Not her captors or their mad leader. All that mattered was that Tarian had walked into a room full of necromancers.

  Necromancers who didn’t seem surprised to see him.

  There was no expression on Tarian’s face as he waited for her to come to grips with her new reality. Her brain felt frozen, her thoughts sluggish. She didn’t know how to process the idea of Tarian standing in this pit of vipers.

  And when she did, she wished she hadn’t.

  He was a necromancer. He’d known her from the first moment they’d met, and his people had been looking for a high profile vampire to use as leverage. How easy it must have been to flirt with her, a lonely vampire willing to jump at any chance that presented itself.

  The pieces of this tragic puzzle fit together one after another. His resistance to the idea of a night spent in her apartment, instead of at a restaurant, made perfect sense. Changing locations would have screwed up her abduction.

  What made everything worse was the realization that his “gentlemanly behavior” had probably been one more strategic act. He was her enemy. The odds that he’d actually wanted her were slim, but stringing her along had been a good way to ensure he’d be able to maneuver her as he wished while he waited for his chance to strike. Shame sliced through her. Here she’d been plotting to get him into bed and he’d neatly sidestepped her every attempt. The passion in his kiss had all been artifice. No one could touch a lover the way he had and then hand them over to kidnappers if their feelings had been even remotely engaged.

  Which meant every word, every caress, had been a lie. He’d played her and she’d fallen for every bit of it.

  Her eyes closed, blocking out the sight of him. Her father had warned her. She should have listened. Now she found that one of the last people to see her before her abduction was part of the scheme. Would her family ever track her down? Even for Lucian it’d be an impossible feat.

  The hope that someone would be able to find her flickered and died in her chest. No doubt Tarian had already been questioned. It’d be child’s play for him to send the investigation in the wrong direction.

  Resolve filled her, banishing the pain ripping her apart. When she opened her eyes she did not look at Tarian with the longing of a lover but the clear gaze of an adversary. Every person on this property was her enemy, and she’d best them all. She didn’t need someone to rescue her. She’d do it herself.

  Somehow.

  Tarian moved forward, though his eyes never left hers. Rounding the table, he crossed the length of the room to Dominic’s side.

  “Grandfather,” he said with a bow.

  Melissa didn’t even flinch at the word. His relationship with her captor was irrelevant. It was just one more piece of proof that all she’d been to him was a means to an end.

  “How did you find us?” Dominic said, gesturing to the chair that had been brought for Tarian.

  “Eilin,” he replied as he sat. “You should have told me yourself.”

  “I didn’t think you’d have the stomach for such business.”

  Tarian reached for the roll on Dominic’s plate. “It’s been a long time since we’ve spoken. You don’t know what I have the stomach for anymore.”r />
  “You’ve left your pacifist ways behind you then?” Dominic passed him the butter as if his sudden appearance was the most normal thing in the world.

  “Of course.” Tarian sliced open his roll. “They were the ideals of a foolish young man. I can see this new world we’re in, Grandfather. The vampires need to be reminded they fear us for a reason.”

  Dominic clapped a hand on his shoulder. “I can’t tell you how good it is to hear that, Tarian.”

  He took a bite of the roll before saying, “You should have brought me in on this.”

  “Apologies. Even leaders make mistakes. But you played your part all the same. Without you we never would have had access to the Redgrave.”

  Both men turned to her, but she kept her face carefully blank.

  “Melissa, I realize you may have lost your appetite,” Dominic said solicitously. “But you need to keep up your strength. Drink.”

  Again her body moved without her permission, raising the glass to her lips. Beneath the table, she fisted her hand in fury. It seemed a hundred times worse being treated as a puppet in front of Tarian. Was he enjoying her humiliation?

  She risked a glance at him in time to see a tiny frown mar his face before it smoothed into bland amusement.

  “She is easy to control,” Dominic said with all the interest one would show a lab rat. “Given her relatively young age it should be a simple matter to confine her to the house.”

  “Excellent,” Tarian replied. “Perhaps the children can practice on her.”

  “Terrific idea. I’ll see to it a session is arranged for tomorrow. We’ll need every member of our community in the best shape possible in case things go wrong with the vampires.”

  Tarian gestured to one of the waiting servers to fill his plate. “They may outnumber us but our powers are stronger than they believe. It would be unwise for them to attack directly.”

  “I doubt it will come to that. Lucian is a reasonable man and say what you want about the vampire, he loves his family.” Dominic reached out to stroke her cheek. Melissa quelled the urge to sink her teeth into his hand. “He’ll want this lovely creature back.”

  “When will you send the ransom demand?” Tarian asked, cutting a piece of chicken.

  “I thought I’d let them stew for a day or two. Once they are truly panicked they’ll be more inclined to consider our offer.”

  “Wise.” He ate without so much as glancing in her direction. The irony that they’d shared their last meal together laughing and flirting didn’t escape her. What a difference a day made.

  Grabbing her wine glass of her own accord she drained the last drops.

  “Dominic,” she said, setting the glass down. “If you were speaking truthfully about allowing me to walk around this house freely, then I’d like to be excused. Recent company is turning my stomach.”

  Though the smile never left Dominic’s face, she saw anger flash through his eyes. Perhaps she should have resisted the urge to comment on Tarian.

  However, Dominic merely patted her hand. “Of course, my dear,” he said. “You remember the way to your room.”

  “Yes.” She tossed her napkin onto the table and stood. Not bothering to look at her betrayer, she stalked from the room with her head held high.

  The second the doors to the dining room closed behind her, she collapsed against the wall. Out, she needed out.

  Calling on her vampire super speed she raced to the window, only to see armed guards patrolling the perimeter of the property. She retraced her steps to the front hall to find another guard in black posted at the door. He looked at her with dead eyes as if daring her to try something.

  Caged in, she thought.

  Abandoning the obvious exits, she raced up the stairs to the second floor. She searched through all the guest bedrooms but no window was free of bars, though thankfully it seemed only her room was rigged with twenty-four hour monitoring. On top of that dilemma was the added problem that no room held weapons of any sort. All she was able to find was a silver letter opener in what looked like one of the necromancer’s private rooms.

  “Damn,” she breathed, looking down at the metal that would severely burn her. She’d have to wrap it in something.

  Fangs lengthened in her mouth as she walked to the long gray curtains. Grabbing the material, she tore a strip off the bottom with her teeth.

  It wasn’t terribly thick, but it would do the job. Carefully she draped the cloth over the letter opener. Though her hand tingled uncomfortably, her palm didn’t blister when she picked up the blade.

  Melissa raced back to her room, thankful not to cross paths with one of the guards. Her black dress didn’t leave many places to hide a weapon. Upon entering her room, she was careful to block the camera’s view of her treasure until she was able to safely store it under her pillow.

  Her brief spurt of victory was short lived, however, when the reality of her situation crashed back to her. One weapon that she could barely hold wouldn’t get her out of a compound this well locked down.

  She needed a plan and fast. Because everything she’d seen so far made it impossible to imagine a successful escape on her own.

  And she was, without a doubt, alone.

  …

  Rage churned within Tarian as he pasted a smile on his face and ate his dinner as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

  “Was Melissa always your target?” he asked, choking down his food.

  “We had a short list of candidates,” Dominic replied. “But she made the most sense. When Eilin called about your date, we had our chance. She’d be away from the office with its advanced security, and the odds of her taking guards on a date were slim.”

  “What did you do to her driver?”

  Dominic waved his hand. “A casualty of war, I’m afraid.”

  “I trust Lucian won’t find the body anytime soon.”

  “Burned up in the dawn,” Dominic said. “But you know what was interesting? The vampire had a rield on her wrist.”

  Tarian kept his face carefully blank. “Really? How is that possible?”

  There was no denying the sharp intelligence in his grandfather’s eyes. “She said her father gave it to her.”

  Relief spiraled through him, though he had little doubt Melissa’s instincts to protect him had ended the moment he’d walked into this room “It’s possible,” he mused. “We should look into how he acquired one. Was it a lucky purchase, or does he have a necromancer captive who made it?”

  “A good point,” Dominic said. “But any necromancer strong enough to make a rield would be very hard to capture.”

  “True.”

  “Still, it is in our best interest to discover the rield’s origins just in case.”

  “It must have been difficult to capture her without using necromancer magic,” Tarian said.

  “I always plan ahead,” Dominic replied. “We had some deadman’s thistle ready, but the leech still put up a fight. Jamie has a set of claw marks across his chest that can attest to the battle.”

  Good girl, Tarian thought, giving in to a moment of bloodlust. He’d known Melissa was strong. “He’ll recover I trust,” he said, keeping up his facade.

  “Yes, but it’s fortunate you are here. We could use an extra set of hands to replace him while he heals.”

  “Whatever you require, Grandfather. I’m here to help.”

  Dominic smiled as his plate was cleared away. “We’ll be on a nocturnal schedule for the duration of the vampire’s confinement. To ensure she is always watched, of course. We’ll drug her through the daylight hours.”

  “She’s barely a century old,” Tarian replied. “I doubt she’s able to keep her eyes open during the day.”

  “Even so. Better safe than sorry.”

  “As you wish.” Tarian paused, weighing his options. He mustn’t look too eager to interact with Melissa or suspicion would be raised. Still, an opportunity was an opportunity. “Do you drug her by drink or injection?”

&
nbsp; “Drink,” Dominic replied. “With only a small glass of blood for dinner, she’ll be hungry by the early hours of the morning. We might not even have to force her to drink.”

  “Allow me,” Tarian said. “It would give me a certain satisfaction to bend the vampire to my wishes.”

  Dominic sipped his wine, studying Tarian as he did so. “Have a soft spot for her, do you?”

  Tarian laughed derisively. “For a leech? The world would be a better place if they were wiped from existence.”

  “And yet you were attempting to date her.”

  He shrugged. “I am serious about finding a mate, and our dinner was set up by the agency I joined. Besides, I was curious. To be that close to a Redgrave, to toy with her as one would a mouse…” Tarian smiled and knew it wasn’t a comforting expression. “What an opportunity.”

  “What would have become of it had we not kidnapped the girl?”

  He set down his cutlery on the empty plate. “I would have enjoyed playing with her. I couldn’t have revealed myself, you understand, but there’d be some vindication in breaking her heart.”

  “How cold. I wouldn’t have thought you capable of such calculated cruelty.”

  “I’ve never forgotten what killed my father,” he replied, truth coloring his words. “The vampires owe me.”

  Dominic clapped a hand on his shoulder. “That they do, my boy. Take the leech her blood. Wring whatever satisfaction you can out of her, but remember, we need her in one piece to negotiate with.”

  “I’ll control myself,” he promised. He didn’t know what Dominic read in his face, but it put a wide smile on his grandfather’s lips.

  “Good to have you onboard,” Dominic said.

  The approval in the older man’s eyes turned his stomach. All the years he’d spent avoiding this man hadn’t been wasted.

  But he had someone to protect now. And somehow, he had to sneak a vampire out of a full house of necromancers, without anyone realizing what he was about until it was too late.

  Chapter Seven

  Dawn was coming. She could feel her energy draining and struggled to keep her eyes open. The day would make her more vulnerable than she could afford to be. Dominic could walk in and stake her, and there wouldn’t be a damn thing she could do about it.