Sabrina's Clan (7 page)

She hitched the heavy briefcase back into place, gave him another small smile and left. He watched her hips swing as she walked away, processing the fact that she was leaving and wouldn’t be back.

He had led debating teams at school. He’d aced law exams right up until they kicked him out. So why couldn’t he find a single argument against anything she had said? Why was he even
trying
to?
Let her go and move on
, he told himself firmly.

The direction roused as much enthusiasm in him as getting ready for work did. Five o’clock couldn’t get here fast enough to suit him…and it was still only just gone six in the morning.

* * * * *

Sabrina gave the cab driver directions to her apartment building. It was early enough for her to shower and change into clothes no one would remember from the previous day and return to the office in time for a Danish and coffee at her desk, along with the morning’s emails.

In the cab, she reactivated her phone. Because of the prestige of the client they had been dining with, she and Cory had turned their phones off. Nothing created a worse impression than leaving a client to play with breadsticks while talking or texting with someone else. She had forgotten to turn it back on last night in all the…excitement.

Sabrina scrolled through messages, emails, texts and alerts, her heart starting to thud unhappily. She had missed her nine o’clock coffee meeting with Harold. She had stood him up. She had never missed an appointment. She had always cancelled, if she really had to. She had never just failed to show up. This time, though, the appointment had evaporated clean out of her head.

Get a grip, girl
, she told herself. Today was a new day. Even though it had gotten off to a rotten start, she still had time to make it a winner day. Even small achievements counted, including getting through her day without missing another appointment.

Guilt squirmed in her belly.

Why on earth had she behaved so…oddly? Nothing she had done last night from the moment she had stepped into the restaurant had been usual. She was supposed to be level-headed and logical. A strong manager.

At least Cory hadn’t seen her fall into Jake’s limousine and become the next bimbo on his string.

And who the hell was Brandy?

The name made her think of models and leggy, rich women with drawling accents and extended wardrobes. Blonde, of course. Someone who played the game with flair and powerful self-interest. She was probably into Jake for some of his millions.

Except there had been real emotion in his voice when he’d warned his uncle to leave Brandy out of it.

So who was Brandy?

Whoever she was, it was part of Jake’s baggage, the history that would have just screwed up everything, sometime down the road, just as hers would. Had she really seriously considered taking him up on his offer to see where things went?

Stupid, stupid, stupid. And they talked about men being lead around by their cocks….

By the time she reached the apartment, her temper was simmering nicely, stirred into a bubbling mess by her guilt and self-flagellation. So when she walked into the apartment and found Nyanther standing at the dining table honing the edge of a short sword, with his duffel bag open and showing a dozen other blades and weapons among the shirts and jeans, she fired from the hip. Again.

“You’re going somewhere?” she asked sharply.

“Up toward Buffalo,” he said, his deep voice rolling out of his chest with the rich cadences of someone who had spent more than a few years in Britain. “We’re following up on a gargoyle that—”

“I don’t need the details,” she said, cutting him off. “It’s enough to know I won’t have to put up with you for a few days. It will be a few days, right?”

He put the sword down, studying her with his colorless eyes and frowning. Then he did something strange. He sniffed. Then he smiled. “You’ve had sex recently. Last night, I would guess, as you’re wearing the same clothes you left in yesterday.”

The unexpectedness of his observation caught her by surprise. She could feel her cheeks heating with a rare embarrassment. “Even if I had, is there a point to mentioning it?” she demanded, pulling her jacket around her. She wanted to fasten the buttons, only it would say far too much about what she was feeling. It was bad enough she was clutching it in front of her like a shield.

His smile grew broader. “I have to wonder what sent you hurrying out into the night to trip the nearest biddable male.”

Astonishment warred with her embarrassment. “You think this is all about you?” She rolled her eyes. “Why am I not surprised? You’re male. You
were
male. Your ego hasn’t been dented an inch, though, has it?” She poured as much derision into her tone as she could manage.

Nyanther moved. She had forgotten how fast vampires could move if they didn’t care about being seen. Inside a heartbeat he had moved across the room from where the teak dining table sat in the corner by the window, all the way to where she was standing by the armchair and lamp. Except he didn’t stop there. He pushed her up against the bookcase behind her, making it rock on its base and several of the books to tilt forward and fall.

It happened so fast, she only figured out what he’d done
after
she was pressed up against the bookcase, his arm across her throat. She was so surprised, a little soundless shriek escaped her.

Her heart raced as she remembered that vampires were
dangerous
. They fed on humans. They were far more powerful than the average human and they held themselves outside human laws. They were unaccountable—at least, vampires other than Nick and Damian, who embraced humanity with glee.

She didn’t know Nyanther. She didn’t know the shadowy, risk-filled world he moved in, that Riley and the others had one foot in while pretending to be human at all other times.

He leaned forward and sniffed her again. “Frightened?” he breathed and it sounded as though her fear amused him.

“Yes,” she said, as firmly as she could manage. “You know I am. You did that deliberately.”

“It stopped you from heading any farther down the path you were following.” He moved his arm away from her throat. Instead, he gripped the edge of the bookshelf behind her shoulders, which boxed her in just as efficiently. It didn’t help her heart slow down at all.

“What do you want?”

He shook his head. “That’s a question you should ask yourself.”

She swallowed. “I don’t understand.” And she didn’t. That was the problem with Riley’s hunter world. There was just too much of it she didn’t understand. That she didn’t
want
to understand.

“Your temper was roused when you left yesterday afternoon,” he said, his voice low. “You had meetings. You said you were late. So you were rushed. Then you bedded a man. You’re not a woman who grabs the nearest male and holds him down when the itch rises, so something happened yesterday that made you do it. It might have been me, except that contrary to your opinion, my ego is not so large I would assume the threat of a kiss from me would cause you to run amok as you did.”

She licked her lips. “You’re right. It wasn’t you.”

He nodded. There was a tiny frown between his eyes. “You’re a strong woman. You’ve been knocked off your feet. Hard. Now you’re wallowing in the consequences. Stewing in your guilt.”

It was a far neater description of the last eighteen hours than her raging thoughts had managed. “So?” It came out almost as a whisper.

“I can take your mind off all of it,” he said.

Sabrina almost laughed at the pure ego of his statement. Almost. Except there was a look in his eyes that evaporated her amusement. It wasn’t ego. It wasn’t amusement. He wasn’t laughing at his own joke. He was in earnest.

Then she realized he wasn’t touching her at all. He wasn’t leaning against her. He wasn’t using his body to persuade her. He was standing close, but not close enough for that.

As she looked at him, trying to analyze his motives for saying something so extraordinary, he dropped his arms and just waited. All she had to do was step out around him and move away.

“You are not of my world and don’t want to be,” he said. “I have…other priorities. For a while, though, we could indulge ourselves. You would not regret it.”

There was a certainty in his voice, a knowing, that told her she would absolutely not regret it. He would make sure of it. She believed him, too. Nyanther was of a different age, when a man’s word was beyond price and not given easily.

“I had someone make almost the exact same offer, barely three hours ago,” she said. Her voice shook. “Only he
is
of my world. He’s successful, he’s rich and he’s going to end up running his own corporation and he wanted
me
. If I turned him down, what makes you think I would agree to your offer?”

He brought his hand to her face and she tried to back away, except the bookcase kept her where she was.

“Shh,” he breathed. “I won’t hurt you.” His big hand cupped her face. His touch was gentle and his flesh surprisingly soft, even if it was cool against her flushed face. “I’m just going to kiss you.”

“Why?”

“To explain why you might consider my offer.”

She wanted to laugh at him. She wanted to tell him no and squeeze out past him and get away.

She did neither. Instead, she let him kiss her.

He still did not touch her, except for his lips, which pressed against hers with the same gentle touch. Only, it didn’t last because despite being braced to experience something awful, his kiss was the opposite.

It was nice. It was very pleasant, in fact. There wasn’t the same sparks-exploding sensation she’d had when Jake had kissed her, but she could let a kiss like this continue without objections.

When did it shift and change? She didn’t know. She didn’t really care. Somewhere in the few moments when he kissed her, it became far more than a pleasant sensation. It was as if she had to get past the novelty of a vampire kissing her, to truly appreciate the kiss itself.

Why had she thought vampires were cold? Nyanther was not. He was as warm as she was. His lips were almost hot against hers.

His tongue slid against her lips, coaxing them open. She let them part and he delved deeper, exploring. It was a slow seduction. There was no hurry. It was as if he had all the time in the world to spend upon coaxing her to open up, to see that this was something she could learn to crave….

Then he lifted his mouth away from hers and just looked at her. He was measuring her.

Sabrina tried to get her breathing back under control. Her heart was thudding against her chest, fluttering like a caged bird. She blinked. It had become very bright in here in the last few minutes.

She found her voice. “Jake’s history got in the way and he only has thirty years of it. What about your thousands of years, Nyanther? What would that do to your proposal? To me?”

He took a breath. It was the first time she had ever seen a vampire breathing deliberately and deeply. He nodded and she thought she could see regret in his eyes. “Perhaps you’re right,” he said. “I might not be able to protect you from the legacy of my past, not if you were more than an irritating roommate.” He touched her cheek and it was almost as if he was absent-mindedly passing the time by caressing her skin. “Only, you must not go farther down this trail of regret you’re following.”

Her insides jumped, although she was already so shaky it didn’t show. “What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean,” he said gravely, his voice low. “Let go of whatever it is that made you act as you did yesterday and is still driving you today. Go back to your ordinary life that you value so much.”

Her breath shook. “How can you know…?”

He shook his head. “If you insist, if you continue as you are, you will end up bitter and hating your life.”

Then he turned and went back to the table, leaving her to stand staring at him, her mind whirling. He picked up the short sword and stuffed it into the duffel bag and zipped up the bag.

“Nyanther?” It was Nick’s voice, floating down from the apartment above.

“Coming!” Nyanther bellowed. He hefted the duffel bag and moved over to the iron stairs.

As he passed her again, he glanced at her. Unlike the first time she had met him, now his eyes were alive with emotion and feeling.

She shuddered as he climbed the stairs and disappeared.

You will end up bitter and hating your life.

Was he…had he been talking about himself?

Sabrina stayed where she was, her arms wrapped around her for warmth, as she fought the urge to follow him and demand answers. She realized that Nyanther
was
dangerous, after all—just not in the way she had been anticipating.

Adirondack Park, south of Lake Placid, NY.

They had been moving steady west for the last two hours. Now it was past four in the morning and they weren’t getting any closer, that Nyanther could sense. What he
did
sense was the coming sunrise, like a glow in the back of his mind, making him restless.

He glanced at Nick, who was moving soundlessly through the heavy undergrowth, then at Riley. For a human, she could move with remarkable silence, although in the last hour she had stumbled three times. Even though she had not breathed a word of complaint, he knew she was tired. Humans could not evade their need for sleep for too long and she had only had one night back in New York to properly recover.

Even so, Nyanther did not suggest they stop and rest because the uneasiness building in him told him they were close. He could not smell the beast, not yet. He just knew it was somewhere ahead of them, trying to circle around them as it had been for the last few hours.

“Sunrise soon,” Nick murmured. “He’s trying to get back to his nest. Wherever that is.”

That was the other puzzle about this night. They were in among the lower slopes of the Adirondack Mountains and the area was a wilderness close to human habitation, which made it perfect for gargoyles. However, there were no caves that were not already staked out as tourist attractions. None of the Stonebrood clan would dare venture into a tourist cave, not after 1984, when Tally and Nick had cornered the last of them in such a cave, pincered between a dead end and too many humans.