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“Riley, wait!”
It was a command, one I ignored. The would-be assassin was ru
He kept ru
He didn’t head over the bridge, as I’d expected, ru
He weaved through the machines, not quite ru
Another aroma joined the throng—sandalwood. I smiled and glanced over my shoulder. Qui
His dark gaze was filled with anger as it met mine. “You could have gotten yourself into trouble ru
It still could be. Who knew where Gautier’s double might lead us? “That arrow was aimed at you, not me.”
“It would have got me, too.” He reached out, catching my hand and raising it to his mouth as we walked. The brief caress of his lips across my fingers was unlike anything I’d ever felt before. Sweet, and yet at the same time, erotic. “Thank you,” he added softly
I took a deep breath, trying to control my suddenly erratic pulse
Ahead, our would-be murderer ducked through a door and disappeared. I looked up at the sign above the door and smiled. He’d gone to the toilet. Perfect
“You mind the door.” Qui
“Anyone else in there?”
His gaze narrowed slightly, and I knew he was using his infrared vision to check. “No.”
“Good.”
I followed him in, but stopped just inside, leaning back against the door as it closed. I have to say, the smell of men’s toilets was never pleasant, no matter how much air freshener they used. Not that I’d been in all that many, but hey, it was one way of avoiding the queues in the women’s during intermission at the theatre or concerts
The urinals weren’t occupied, but one stall was. It had to be our man. Why he thought he’d be safe behind the closed door of a toilet was anyone’s guess. Maybe he didn’t get out amongst vamps or werewolves much
Qui
Silence fell. No conversation, no nothing. But I knew what was happening. Qui
The door behind me bumped slightly, then someone knocked. “Sorry,” I called. “Closed for cleaning. Someone vomited.”
The gent on the other side cursed and walked away. “You’d better hurry, Qui
He came out five seconds later and closed the stall door before walking over to the basin to wash his hands. I watched him for a moment, then my gaze drifted back to that closed door and I felt a sudden chill. “He’s dead, isn’t he?”
“Yes.” He didn’t look at me, just finished washing his hands, then tore off some paper towel to dry them
“How?” I hadn’t heard the snap of bones, so he certainly hadn’t broken the other man’s neck
“Heart attack.” His dark gaze met mine and the coldness there chilled me. “An easy thing to do when you can read their minds and know their worst fears—and have the empathic capabilities to enforce the belief those fears are currently happening.”
So he was empathic as well as telepathic. That certainly explained why he was catching my aura so strongly, despite my shields and his. “He died of fright?”
“I’m afraid so.”
He dumped the paper in the bin and walked toward me. I would have backed away had I had anywhere to go. And while I recognized it was a ridiculous reaction, I just couldn’t help it. As much as I was certain I could protect myself, I had the strangest feeling that, against this vampire, there was no defense
“We’d better get out of here,” he continued, in that same soft, flat tone. “Security is coming.”
I opened the door and walked out. Sure enough, two men in black security outfits were walking toward us. They didn’t look at us, didn’t even appear to notice us, and I knew Qui
His fingers pressed into my back, but this time I stepped away from his warm touch, walking quickly through the room and out into the night. I stopped at the curb, crossing my arms and drawing the cool, flavorsome air deep
He stopped behind me, a heat I could feel more than hear. “I scared you.”
“Yes.”
“Why? You work with guardians. They do far worse than what I did in there.”
“I know. But I expect it from them. I didn’t expect it from you.”
“I’m a vampire. That’s what we are.”
“Yeah, but for some reason I’d been hoping you were different.” That the exterior gloss was fact, not merely a show. But that was my problem, not his. Hell, it wasn’t as if he hadn’t warned me that he could kill as easily as he drank blood. And, truth be told, the demonstration hadn’t really killed my desire for him. “Did you uncover anything useful?”
He was silent for a moment, then said, “He was partially blocked. I caught images. Moneisha’s not where these things are coming from.”
I glanced over my shoulder. He wasn’t even looking at me, but staring up at the cloudy sky, his expression thoughtful
“What images?”
“It’s underground. Lots of concrete, bright lights, white walls, that sort of stuff.”
“Nothing recognizable in the way of scenery?”
He shook his head and finally looked at me. His eyes were shuttered. “It could have been anywhere. Any country.”
Great. “Then let’s go get Rhoan out.”
“Disguises first.”
“Where? It’s midnight and there’s not a lot open.” Not a lot beyond restaurants, clubs, and the Casino, that is
“As I said before, that doesn’t mean a lot when you have money.”
A point he proceeded to prove by having the largest retailer in the city open its doors so we could shop. “Can you do tarty?” he said, as we headed up in the elevator to the women’s floor
I gri
A smile warmed his dark eyes. “I’ve noticed that about wolves. I shall leave you to your own devices, then, and go get the supplies I need.” He glanced at the assistant. “Anything she wants. Charge it to my account.” His gaze came back to me. “I’ll meet you downstairs in half an hour.”
Half an hour wasn’t long when you’d just been given full use of unlimited credit, but hey, I wasn’t about to bitch. I wasted ten minutes simply walking around looking, and eventually went for the thigh-length silver snakeskin boots, simply because I’d always wanted a pair. But I settled for the four-inch heels rather than the six-inch, just in case I had to run. I combined those with a barely decent blue net skirt that was way too short to be described as micro, and a silver crop top that had peekaboo holes for my nipples. To complete the effect, I went for a bright blue wig and blue-toned skin makeup. Then I headed into the change room to make the transformation