Waiting in the Wings

Soulgirls - 3

by

Heather Long

As always, for my beautiful soulgirls. You make me laugh, sigh in exasperation and charm me with your personal levels of crazy. And for my personal Minion, you may get your own book yet.

Prologue

Surviving an opera took dramatic license and the ability to block out high-pitched singing. Richard Casere possessed both, thankfully, and arrived at his Manhattan penthouse none the worse for wear. The footman alerted him to the presence of his guest, and the valet waited at the door to accept his coat and scarf. Black-tie events in an election year were a necessary evil, particularly with so many courting his wealthy contributions and endorsements. He’d just as soon ignore the entire rabble-rousing lot of humans. They played politics like a blood sport.

Amusement curved Richard’s lips as he strode through the apartment to the drawing room. If they put the candidates in a ring and let them beat the hell out of each other, he would enjoy it more too.

“Malcolm.” He called the greeting and waved the man back into his seat. The head of the Reynolds family was both a great ally and a dear friend. Since Richard took over New York in the early eighteen hundreds and Malcolm assumed the mantle of leadership for his family, the men enjoyed few respites from business.

“Your Majesty,” Malcolm rose despite his order and bowed once. “Please forgive the presumptive audience.” If not for the glint of humor in his eye and the wryness in his tone, the Prince of New York might have taken offense at the disobedience.

But Malcolm never offered challenge—not once—in four hundred years of friendship.

“Drink?” Richard didn’t slow his pace until he stood at the bar. He hated the publicity stunt events, hated the speeches and—most of all—hated the company. But he attended, did his civic duty and now he hoped they all tore themselves to shreds before the election month was out.

“Thank you, I helped myself to the scotch.” The Reynolds family head toasted him with the tumbler.

“Good.” Pouring himself a drink, Richard tossed it back in one swallow and then poured a second. The warmth couldn’t touch the icy core of him—nothing did—but the burn took the edge off the agitation. “I heard about your cousin. If you need me to call Andrew, I would be happy to begin negotiations.” His teeth sharpened at the possibility. Ripping out the Prince of Las Vegas’ throat would offer some satisfaction.

“I appreciate the offer, but Frederick committed the crime—he can serve out his sentence. I mediated it down from three centuries to one. He could stand a little toughening up and discipline.” Malcolm remained standing until Richard chose the second wingback chair at the fireside and sat.

“I doubt your aunt took that well.”

“I gave her a bride to fuss over.” Malcolm grinned. “They are thick as thieves—she and my Jeannie—they will do well.”

“Ahh, how the mighty have fallen.” Richard had heard the rumors. Malcolm had refused to try and turn his bride; instead he’d chosen blood bonding. He wouldn’t risk her to the possibility of madness, but the bond would elongate her life, allowing her to walk the centuries with him. Richard had been fortunate in his own choice, but he couldn’t fault Malcolm’s reluctance.

“Mightier than I have fallen before.”

Richard tried to ignore the surge of violence in his soul. Fury seethed just below his skin, but he merely flexed his fingers, checking his rage and containing it. Fifty years made him an expert in denial.

Sitting forward, Malcolm set his glass on the table and clasped his hands together. “Now, Your Majesty, I must beg your indulgence as I overstep the boundaries of propriety and bring up a subject I know full well you will disapprove of…”

Only one subject could earn such an introduction. Richard slammed back his drink and set it down lest the glass shatter in his hand. “Malcolm, have a care—”

“I found Kiki.”

A red haze descended across his vision. “Do not toy with me.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it, my lord. Nor would I bring up such a sensitive matter if I didn’t have some confirmation.” Rather than continue his explanation, Malcolm held out a cell phone.

The thud of Richard’s heart shook the dust off his soul as the prince accepted the device and rose from his chair. He walked a few steps away and flipped the phone over. Midnight eyes, alabaster skin and a rich mane of tawny, golden-brown hair struck him like a physical blow.

The coy smile on her lips raked him over the coals. The playful glint in her eye disguised a far deeper sadness—a sadness only he saw. Everyone else saw her bombastic attitude, her unmitigated joy and her party spirit. But Kiki—Kristina—she was so much more than that.

“Where?” The word came out a hard growl.

“Las Vegas—at the Arcana Royale.” His somber voice warned the prince of more.

He didn’t look at Malcolm. “Go on.”

“She’s ‘working’ in the Midnight Mystery Lounge where I found Jeannie. Jeannie knows her—that image came from Jeannie’s phone. She texts with her friends now and again. The Lady Kristina sent her that picture two nights ago. I recognized her immediately.”

He would not crush the phone. “I hear the ‘more’ in your voice, Malcolm. Tell me.”

“I don’t think she remembers you—or her life. Jeannie said that she joined the revue a few decades ago, but she was a clean slate when she arrived. Playful, adventurous and a delight were my lady’s words. But Kiki didn’t know where she came from or why she was even there. This is not as unusual for some of the performers.”

She hadn’t left him to never return on purpose. She didn’t remember him. White-hot pain lanced through his skull. “Send emissaries immediately to bring her home. We can resolve this here…”

Malcolm’s silence stretched over the prince’s nerves. He turned to study one of his oldest and dearest friends. The ally he would trust at his back in any battle. “What?”

“No emissary we send can free her directly. Each of those who serve in that lounge is a prisoner of the casino. The Overseers own their souls—”

The phone crunched, the glass screen shattering in Richard’s hand.

“Contact Andrew. Make arrangements to allow me to fly into the city. Arrange an escort to the Royale—”

“As you wish, and I will gladly give you the run of my suite there. But Your Majesty…”

“But nothing. What wouldn’t you do to free your bride?”

“Nothing, Your Majesty. I would stop at nothing. I will approach Prince Andrew immediately.”

Richard waved him out, his own focus turning inward. Fifty-three years before, Kiki had stood in this same drawing room, furious with him. Her temper—a sight to behold—practically crackled the air around her. Their argument—he could barely remember the topic now—a mundane one. But his patience had worn thin that night, and now he regretted the words. Regretted them more than she knew.

At sundown the following evening, he awoke to find her gone.

He never saw her again.

Until tonight.

His secretary stepped into the room. “Your Majesty. Your plane will be ready within the hour. You have an audience with four emissaries of the Prince of St. Petersburg. Mr. Reynolds offered to redirect them to his corporate offices—”

“That’s fine. Malcolm has my full authority. Draft a letter to that statement and bring it to me for my seal. He will be in charge until I return.”

The man didn’t question, merely bowed and backed out of the room. The air crackled around Richard—he glanced down at the broken phone in his hand and flung the device into the fireplace. Striding across the room, he pulled down the lever on the side of the fireplace, and a panel slid open to reveal the oil painting above the mantle.

Kiki reclined on a bed of fur. The nude painting was a personal favorite of Richard’s—and one he shared with no one.

He would have his princess back.

If it meant destroying the casino, so be it.

Chapter One

Music thrummed through the walls, and Kiki bobbed in time to it. Sprawled on the bed of her cell, she flipped through a fashion magazine. Jeannie’s latest care package included a variety of cosmetics, magazines and a dozen DVDs of movies Kiki never heard of before.

“Whatcha doing?” Minion bounced into the room and flung herself onto Kiki’s back. The little imp’s tail tickled her spine as the imp clambered up to peer at the magazine over her shoulder. “Ooo! Pretty!”

“I know, right?” She reached up to rub the red-skinned imp’s ear affectionately. “I like this one.” Kiki tapped the black lace dress. It hugged the torso, flaring at the hips, and featured strategically placed circles baring the shoulders and elbows.

“This one.” Minion thumped the opposite page’s sheer red and black evening dress where flames hugged the breasts and covered the hips and juncture of the thighs.

“Yeah, not thinking Heidi would go for that.” She laughed, imagining their Rubenesque stage manager in such an outfit.

“Ha!” The imp rolled on her back laughing. “For me!” Her tail started to flick in time with the music. “Who is this?”

“Maroon Five.” Kiki flipped the page. The way the dresses emphasized bare skin like an erotic flirt continued to fascinate her. “Jeannie sent them.”

“Jeannie!” Minion squealed and then flopped over onto her back in dramatic pause. “I miss Pandora.”

“Me too.” A curious disappointment tugged at her insides. Pandora’s relationship with the vampire Malcolm provided her with an escape. An escape Kiki admired and envied in the same breath. She understood the admiration—but not the envy.

“Britta is having a party.” Minion’s abrupt subject changes took some getting used to, but like all the other dancers in the Midnight Mystery Lounge, Kiki indulged Heidi’s demon companion.

“I hear that. Did you want to go to the party?” She flipped to the next page. The cars seemed different than what she—she didn’t really remember cars, so why they seemed different she couldn’t explain. However, the model, not the car, captured her attention. The man leaned against the driver’s side door, arms folded in front of his chest, head turned away from the camera. The rakish black hair feathered over his forehead and down over his ear. He looked stunning in a tuxedo.

Stunning and familiar…

“I want to go!” Minion bounced on the bed. The action jarred Kiki, and she let the magazine fall. Snagging the imp, she pounced on her and started tickling. The little beast squealed with laughter and they tussled onto the floor. Wiggling, the imp fled out the door. With the theatre closed for the night, the dancers indulged themselves with mani-pedis, pizza, music and a private party—just for them.

Of course, the theatre only closed because Roseâtre, their headliner, and Anthony, her scrumptious man candy, were off to Eastern Europe and Turkey to meet with their respective families.

Peppermint bumped hips as she padded past, a slice of pizza in one hand and a glass of wine in the other. “Come party, girl. Hiding in your room is just not you.”

She pasted on a smile and laughed. “No, but I thought I would try on something different—you know, sedate, scholarly—thoughtful…”

Peppermint stared at her, hazel eyes widening. They both burst out laughing at the same time, and Kiki danced forward to give her a hug. Outside her cell, the music pulsed around them. Britta grabbed her hand and pulled her into the dancing throng. Dayna held out a glass of wine. Kiki took it and tossed it back. She thrived on these moments, the wild party atmosphere—the dancing, the playing, the squeals of laughter.

She was on her third glass when Heidi beckoned her with a simple gesture. Heidi was the stage manager, the mistress of the Midnight Mystery Lounge, matron and enforcer… The woman served many capacities. More than a little tipsy, Kiki held her arms up and weaved a path through her friends and hugged her. “Heidi!”

The stage manager gave her a small squeeze, guided her down the hallway and around the corner. The music continued to pulse, but the noise level decreased. “You need a drink.” Kiki glanced at her own glass. “Speaking of which, so do I.”

Heidi stopped Kiki’s pivot with a hand to her arm and shook her head. “No, we just need a moment to chat. We’re going to launch a new show this week—a little extemporaneous thing—like the drunken debauchery debutante ball you have going on here.”

Kiki leaned against the wall and laughed. “Drunken debauchery debutante ball?” Her lungs squeezed from the laughter and she wheezed. At Heidi’s hard stare, she sobered with a sigh. “Fine. Why do we have to do some extemporaneous thing?”

“Because Roseâtre and Anthony won’t be back until the end of the week, and we can’t stay dark that long. So what I want you to do—”

“Argh. Heidi. You’re killing me here…or at the very least you’re killing my buzz.” The dancer dropped her chin to her chest and faked a moan. “Night. Off.”

“Why yes, I am aware, but since you can’t actually die, suck it up.” The stage manager’s dry response sent another titter of amusement through Kiki. “Tomorrow night. It will be extemporaneous for everyone—”

Kiki’s teeth ached—which was stupid because the last thing any of the dancers ever worried about were medical issues, much less dental. The spells that tied them to the theatre locked them in at the age they arrived, their lives dedicated to every performance—not that they didn’t have time for fun occasionally like tonight. But it didn’t matter where a dancer came from. Once her soul was bound, she remained bound for the duration of her contract.

Her mouth probably hurt because she’d ordered fake fangs and forgot to take them out before the spell swept over her during daylight. Who knew where the damn things were now.

The hum of Heidi’s words coupled with the throb in her gums dried up her buzz. “Oh my God.” She snarled. “I got it—why are you bugging me with this now?” She clapped a hand over her mouth, as if trying to shove the words back in, but they’d already escaped.

The stage manager’s expression chilled, and her gaze became positively glacial.

“Ooo—someone’s gonna get it.” Minion danced a jig around their legs and then scampered up to Heidi’s shoulder.

“Go away.” Heidi told the imp without looking away from Kiki.

“But…”

“Now.” One word. A single tone. The imp literally vanished with a bamf of noise. Kiki envied the creature. She’d like to disappear. Her quickly ignited temper flamed out as fast.

“Heidi—”

“I am telling you because you will be acting as lead for the next six nights. The girls will follow you. They will improvise their performance from yours.” The arctic breeze slicing through the words cut Kiki to the bone.

Lead. She would dance lead.

Her mouth opened, but words failed her.

“Don’t be late—or hung over.” The manager left, but the frozen tundra of her presence left Kiki rooted to the spot.

She blew out a breath, awareness creeping up the back of her neck. Turning, she spotted Cerveau standing in the doorway to her own cell.

“What?” At least that word came out exasperated rather than furious. The agitation surging up in her blood surprised her. Her skin itched. The music throbbed in her ears. Her mouth hurt. She was the party girl, not the killjoy. She left that job to everyone else.

“Nothing. You seem distressed.” Like Roseâtre, Cerveau was an Amazon. But the similarities between the women ended at the statement. They were tall, strong, well defined and athletic, but where Roseâtre’s presence commanded attention, Cerveau virtually faded into the background. It was like her two-dimensional reflection stood next to them—an old photographic negative.

Kiki shook her head. The throb in her teeth made her head ache too. “Just need to go track down the party spirit and shove it back in the bottle. I’m heading up for a bit.” Her black mini dress and combat boots were hardly high fashion, but she wasn’t going out to be noticed.

“Wait…” More scholar than warrior, Cerveau caught her arm in a surprisingly hard grip, and Kiki’s eyes burned. She whirled, a grimace pulling her lips back. To the academic Amazon’s credit, she didn’t retract her hand. “We’re not supposed to go out alone.”

“And I never do.” She struggled to smile—a real struggle because the heat in her belly bled into the rest of her system, and the fingers on her free hand curled into a fist. The urge to strike rode through her, a wild storm blasting through common sense and courtesy. “See you later, darling!”

She pulled herself free and trotted down the hall toward the theatre steps. The closed lounge opened onto the main lobby, and from there she could access the rest of the casino. The dressing area lights were off, a relief for her eyes. Her headache receded with every step away from the music. Where she would normally clomp noisily up the stairs, she virtually prowled.

Why the hell am I running away from the party? The thought crystallized in the sweet silence at the top of the stairs. But she had to go. Out—out of the theatre, away from the girls, away from the music and the distractions.

Hunger gnawed at her belly.

The hunger and an indefinable need twined through her, urging her onward. She was halfway across the stage and descending the steps to the lounge when the drive became a pull. Movement to her left sent her crouching into the shadows. She touched three fingers to the floor and stilled. Nostrils flaring, she caught the scent of nothingness. Not just empty theatre where the scents of human, shifter and vampire lingered amidst the ghosts of alcohol, food and perfume.

Stan appeared at the top of the stage, his normally bland expression grim and serious. His gaze swept over the empty lounge as he studied it. Kiki didn’t dare breathe, but her muscles were tensed, coiled and ready to spring. The sentinel was the guardian to all the women serving as showgirls in the Midnight Mystery Lounge. He escorted them when they stepped out of the safe haven of their cells and he protected them—but he was also a jailor.

Tonight, Kiki refused to be caged.

The lure calling to her increased, but she ignored it. Better to wait the guardian out than allow impulse to get her caught.

She’d made that mistake before.

A ripple of awareness shivered through her. The elusive thought trickled through her mind and vanished before she could capture it. Seconds became minutes, and Stan turned—finally—and vanished toward the back of the stage. Kiki remained frozen until the whisper of the door closing and the definitive echo of the sentinel’s shoes on the steps reached her ears.

The pull tugged her again, but still she waited. When a full five minutes passed and the sentinel didn’t return, she rose and drifted through the shadows until she reached the main doors. A quietly as they allowed, she slipped out into the blast of light and a cacophony of noise. Her eyes narrowed, and she squinted against the fluorescent overheads and beaming crystals reflecting onto the marble parquet lobby floor. Clusters moved through—coming and going—in groups of two, three and twenty.

Cheerful alarms rang up winnings. Cards shuffled. Men swore. Women laughed. Alcohol flowed. A woman sauntered past wearing the musk of sex and a satisfied smile. A man followed behind her, adjusting his tie. A couple in the corner all but rode each other through their clothes, while a grandmother smacked her husband in the back of the head and shooed him out the main doors.

It took her minutes to filter through the overwhelming barrage drowning out that nascent push-pull sensation driving her from the safety of the theatre. Striding across the lobby, she turned away from the all-seeing sphinx and the waterfall-fed wishing pond. She circled away from the elevators and down the steps into the casino proper.

The pull beckoned.

Irritated with the constant jerking tugs, she slowed her pace and drifted through the gamblers. She paused to enjoy one woman’s victory over the slots and again near a blackjack table—where defeat hung like a shroud over the players, but they tapped their fingers expectantly as if their luck would be found with the next turn of the cards.

The stronger scents of perspiration mixed with desperation on the casino floor. Her gums throbbed again. The twisting, squeezing of her belly rumbled. A waitress passed, and Kiki snitched a glass of wine so smoothly the succubus never noticed. The fruity grapes carried the tang of copper, and she drank it down swiftly. The alcohol eased the cramps in her stomach, and a flutter of euphoria stretched out inside her like a lazy cat batting at the air.

She traded her empty glass for another, this one a darker red with a far heavier metallic taste. The one-two shot of wine settled her jitters, and she resumed her prowl toward the mysterious lure all the way across the five-thousand-square-foot maze of gaming tables and slot machines to a dark and smoky lounge she had never entered before.

Unsurprising considering how many lounges the Arcana Royale featured—from sex clubs to bloodletting to dancing djinn and more. The Royale catered to every creature and their deepest desires.

She recognized the masculine pull three steps into the darkly lit bar. Her eyes adjusted slowly, but she didn’t have to search. He walked straight toward her, a smile curving his sweet lips.

He was why she was here. He was waiting for her.

His nearly jet black eyes were like velvety pools of darkness after someone stole all the stars away. He wore a beautiful suit, black-on-black silk. If someone carved out the night and gave it human form, it would have been this man. Wrapped in the scents of patchouli and sandalwood, she barely processed his arms closing around her—the whisper of his lips feathering along her jaw to her ear.

Head tilting back, she saw the light above kaleidoscope. His teeth grazed her throat.

“Darling, I didn’t know where you were.” The words, so drenched in need and affection jolted her from the lethargy stealing over her body. He pulled back, and she met his gaze. He closed the distance, head tilting and mouth open.

He’s going to kiss me.

She slammed her forehead into his. He swore, but she snapped her arms out, breaking his hold and caught him by the shirtfront. “Who the fuck are you?” Fury blossomed in her like a match dropped into a can of kerosene.

“Kristina.” His voice shuddered with command, the hum of it draped over her like misty netting, and she rebelled.

With a fling of her arm, she knocked him three feet back into a table. The occupants squealed and fled. Her teeth hurt so badly she wanted to scream, but the man was on his feet and coming for her. She braced herself.

If he wanted a fight, she would give him one.

But deep below the anger, a savage thrill sent a grin to her lips.

She really hoped he wanted a fight.

Richard rebounded to his feet. The sluggish beat of his heart surged double time. Adrenaline flooded his body, and his blood caught fire. By all that’s holy, I’ve missed her. Fifty years of separation vanished in a single blow. Her eyes glittered with suppressed passion. The potent scent of her filled his nostrils. The teasing lick of her throat was just a bare sample, and he wanted more.

On borrowed time, he’d called to her the moment he set foot inside the casino. Her blood sang to him—his blood running through her veins—his lover, his wife.

He slid a hand around the back of her neck and pulled her to him. Defiance shone in her expression, but he easily caught her hand before the next blow landed. Shackling her wrist, he brought her fist to his lips and kissed the knuckles. Her lips parted, and she exhaled a startled little sigh.

“Hello, my darling Kristina.”

“No one calls me that.” Her chin came up, curiosity warring with the rebellion in her gaze. His Kristina was a creature of impulse, a delightful assault on all proper etiquette and expected behavior. She loved to laugh, dance, drink and surrounded herself with others as carefree as herself. Her wicked sense of humor and unabashed wonder at the world filled his dark and lonely nights with welcome distraction.

Sad how easily he slipped back into old habits without her.

“I have always called you that.” He kissed another knuckle. Around them, waiters cleaned up the destroyed table and the bar’s patrons gradually drifted back to their own pleasures. The two men he’d been allowed to bring with him distracted the other voyeurs, affording them a modicum of privacy for this most public reunion. He studied her, hungry for every detail. She seemed leaner, as if all the soft curves had been erased. Her face, always angular and exquisite, was even more refined—like fine porcelain—perfectly pale and unblemished. Her lips were a rosy red, lacking her normal darker lipsticks and cosmetics. Oddly, she wore almost no makeup at all and yet seemed to shimmer from within.

His heart fisted in his chest. He turned her hand and slid his thumb along the pulse point in her wrist. The blood responded to him, drumming as if pumped by his own system. He kissed the soft skin just above the pulse point. The flutter of it tingled against his lips.

“Who are you?” Unlike her earlier antagonism, this question echoed through him, shattering his bliss. Malcolm told him she didn’t remember, but she had answered the blood call. She had come straight to him. Her gaze had locked on him the moment she entered the lounge; he didn’t mistake that.

“My name is Richard, and I am here for you, Kristina.” He watched her eyes, looking for any glimmer of recognition, but despite the liquid heat in her black eyes, no spark of recognition ignited.

“Richard.” She rolled the name around on her tongue, as though testing it. “I like that. My friends call me Kiki.”

“Do they?” This was not how their reunion should go. Stroking the hair back from her cheek, he tucked a lock behind her ear. “Come sit with me, Kristina.” He drew her deeper into the private lounge. The Bloodletter Bar seemed appropriate considering the first time he’d met her was in a rowdy little tavern in Vienna.

She hesitated, sucking her lower lip into her mouth. His eyes narrowed. Where are her fangs? The rich vetiver of the succubi in the room combined with the heavy undertones of blood should have aroused a hint of bloodlust and—even if she exhibited remarkable self-control around the hedonistic pleasures offered in the bar—he called her blood. Excitement would have skittered through her and her fangs should have descended.

“I don’t think I can.” Her wince softened the rejection, but he was not in a mood to be denied. Not after this many years.

“Why do you think that?” Controlling the urge to whisk her out the door and into his waiting car took every ounce of effort. Malcolm briefed him on the plane ride via conference call. Kristina’s binding to the casino meant he couldn’t just steal her—not without damning her. He sent word ahead to the Overseers with a five-million-dollar offer to buy out whatever contract they held over her.

Kristina flicked a look left and right before leaning in toward him. “Do you want to know a secret?”

Glee filled her eyes and drew a reluctant, if genuine smile from him. “Always.”

“I snuck out.” She mouthed the words, but this close, the whisper of breath carried the words to his ears. “If they catch me…”

They would take her away. Richard lifted his gaze from his bride to sweep the area. Malcolm had given him the codes for his private apartments. “Then let us go somewhere private.” He released her wrist and offered his arm.

“I don’t know you.” An amused smile quirked the corner of her mouth, her head tilted and her gaze roamed him from head to toe. “Do I look like the type of woman who is just going to walk out of a bar with some strange man at his invitation?”

Melancholy and delight stabbed him. “Yes. You look exactly like the woman who will join me this evening.”

Her grin grew and her eyes lit up. “Well, considering I’ve already hit you, we know I can do that again, right?”

“Oh yes. Without a doubt.” The thrill of the hunt thrummed through him. This conversation mirrored their first so closely he could almost imagine the coach waiting just outside the doors ready to whisk them away to his castle.

She sidled up to him, threading her arm through his and glancing around. “Then I suggest we go now—or we won’t have time for any fun.”

In wholehearted agreement, he led her from the bar. His men fanned out before and after him. Kristina snuggled against his arm and the hole in his heart began to knit. She stiffened next to him and slid behind him, hiding. He went still. His fangs began to elongate, and he stared at the crowds of partygoers flowing through the maze of the casino. His men closed ranks, and the three of them shielded Kristina in the triangle between them.

“Kristina?” He breathed her name softly.

“Salt and pepper, four o’clock. He’ll make me go back.” Her fingers dug into the back of his jacket.

Richard located the man, nondescript and unthreatening, Richard would have dismissed him. He folded his hands together, one over the other and waited. The vampires he chose for this—Anton and David mirrored his pose. The man took his time. He examined every face, studied every walk and finally took another path.

Nodding to his men, Richard took Kiki’s arm and they moved through the casino to the lobby and blockaded her again at the elevators. He maintained vigilance until they were inside. Kristina bounced when the elevator doors closed.

“That was so exciting!”

He gave her an indulgent smile. “I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

“So,” Kristina leaned back against the elevator wall and glanced from Richard to his guards and back. “Do I get to have all three of you?”

Chapter Two

Richard’s startled glare sizzled her nerves. Despite her playful question, she really didn’t care if she got all three. His two companions did little for her. Their reactions to her proposition, however, were almost as interesting. They retreated, pressing back against the walls of the elevator and as close to the doors as possible—far away from her.

“No.” The level response pulsed with electric heat, a lid on a kettle about to boil. “You do not get all three.” The elevator ride ended with the doors opening and his men slipping out like obedient shadows. Richard loomed over her, but Kiki merely grinned and curled her finger down his black tie before sauntering out.

The icy-hot sensation of his presence draped across her like a cloak as she walked out into a Greco-Roman decorator’s wet dream. The columns with their filigreed leaf work and alabaster and marble statuary took her aback. Low white sofas and sedan chairs filled the primary space around a circular fireplace. Golden pillows with tassels and fringe added a spark of color.

She rolled her tongue against her lower lip as her gaze swept the room and rose to the vaulted—painted—ceilings. The vivid colors took her breath away. She turned in a slow circle, trying to take it all in. The men attending Richard murmured to him and disappeared beyond a pair of double-wide doors.

Richard strode past her, caressing her cheek in passing. The intimate gesture filled her with a deep sense of familiarity and security. The intensity of the feelings begged questions, but she couldn’t stop staring at the room.

“Why do I feel like someone got Dionysus drunk and he went a little crazy in here?”

“The Reynolds family was kind enough to provide me with their apartments here.” He answered, pouring two flute glasses with bubbling champagne. The scent of it tickled her nostrils. “Malcolm’s aunt has a deep affection for all things Greek.”

“Where is the light coming from?” She knew it was nighttime, which meant the sun could not be in the sky, but the room’s brightness reminded her of an open-air temple in daytime—on the shores of Montre Corsica, in the Greek isles. The sea air combing through her hair—the taste of salt on her lips—but no sooner did the memory blossom than it too drifted away on the breeze before she could capture it.

Her companion walked over and held out the champagne flute. “Does it matter where the light comes from?”

Accepting the glass, she leaned against a column and pulled off her boots. She wanted to feel the cool marble against her bare feet. She clinked glasses with him and grinned. “No, but I’m still curious.”

“Of course you are.” His indulgent smile unfurled another wave of warmth in her belly. “Tell me about you.”

“You don’t want to know about me.” She deflected the question and skipped away to bound up onto the white sofa. Feet sinking into the plush fabric and pillows, she wiggled her toes in delight. “I’m just a girl in a bar.”

“No. You’re an exquisite woman in my suite.” He followed her path bouncing from the furniture to the tiled floors to dance around the great fire pit. She paused at the thick, white furred rug. The soft hairs tickled her skin, and she knelt down to run her hand over it. “Wolf?”

He slanted a look down at it, nostrils flaring and shook his head. “Bear.”

“Aren’t they endangered?” She wrinkled her nose in disapproval.

“I doubt it was a polar bear, darling. More likely one of the bear clan who tried to double cross the Reynolds.”

Not as blasé as he about such violence, Kiki stepped away from the were-skin rug, and shuddered. She sipped the champagne and frowned—it tasted odd.

“You don’t like?” A frown gathered between his brows. “It’s your favorite.”

“How would you know what my favorites are?” I don’t even know.

“I know everything about you, Kristina.” The confidence in his tone, the compulsion in his words—she wanted to believe him.

“And I told you, my name is Kiki.” She drained the rest of the champagne and grimaced. “It tastes funny…”

He lifted the champagne flute and sniffed at it. The deep black of his eyes tinged red briefly. “The blood is old. That is all. I will order fresh for you.”

The blood…

Surprise ripped through her, and she dropped the glass. It never hit the marble. Richard caught it and stood right in front of her. Her mouth opened and she stared at him. “Are you a vampire?”

He hesitated, his expression sobering. “Kristina…”

“Are. You. A. Vampire?” Her heart thudded in time with each word, all trace of playfulness gone.

“Yes, darling. I am.” There it was again, the notes of familiarity and expectation—the seeming knowledge. He watched her with a trace of wariness.

Holy crap, he’s a vampire. “How cool is that?” She squealed and threw her arms around him. “Will you bite me?”

His eyes darkened, red surging around the irises as his pupils dilated. Need quivered through her. She loved vampires—devoured every ounce of vampire fiction she could get her hands on and even stalked a few in the casino, but they always avoided her—and then Pandora landed herself one. And never even introduced me…

Is he cold? She didn’t bother to wait for his answer and pressed her lips to his. They’d kissed in the bar, and his hot mouth left hers tingling—but she’d broken the kiss before she could truly appreciate it. Rubbing herself against him, she appreciated the hardness of the muscles beneath his clothes, the velvet smoothness of his lips, and bit down until his mouth opened and she could thrust her tongue inside.

Lust speared through her. Her sex clenched. A need so wild and raw stampeded through her, and she stroked his fang. He is—oh my God he is. He wasn’t cold—far from it in fact. The champagne glasses fell to the floor and shattered. The tinkling sound like so many drops of rain spattered against her awareness. His arms came around her, his hands stroking her spine, and everywhere he touched she went up in flames.

His silky hair flowed through her fingers—midnight black silk—an oil canvas brought to life. Electricity tingled in her lips, radiating out through her body until even her toes ached with the want of him. He tasted of wine-dipped chocolate but ten times more intoxicating. Her heart boxed with her ribcage and threatened to burst from her chest. He ran a palm over the curve of her ass, and she hopped up, wrapping her legs around his hips.

She rehearsed these seductions in her head—planned for them—whenever she stole away from the theatre. But never had she allowed herself the opportunity to seduce and be seduced. Before, her plan simply let her tease the man, drive him wild, bring him to the brink and walk away—denied. But not Richard. Richard she wanted.

God how she wanted him. Their hips bumped, and she ground her sex against the hard length of an erection that his finely tailored suit couldn’t disguise.

Her pulse raced at the impulsiveness of this acquaintance, threatening to spin out of control completely. He fisted a hand in her hair and pulled her head back, but only long enough to change the angle of his mouth. The kiss scorched and threatened to devour her. One moment they were upright and then they were on a bed—in another room completely.

Her breath hitched, and heat shimmered across her eyelids. They sprawled on the bed, his weight blanketing her. Her nipples tightened beneath the dress and an ache formed between her thighs. He abandoned her mouth and trailed kisses to her throat. Her back arched, and she dug her nails into his shoulders.

“Kristina.” The single, husky word sent pleasure over her skin.

“Yes.” She urged him as though it were a question in need of answering. “Yes.”

Excitement wound through her belly as his teeth grazed her throat. Her vision dimmed and her heart—or was it his?—thundered in her ears. Every fantasy she ever imagined over the years rushed in, and she flung herself off the edge, eager to embrace it. “Please, Richard…”

Desire blazed through him. He could barely stifle the urge to strip her naked and plunge into her all too willing body. His fangs extended with every move of her mouth against his. Never a passive lover, Kristina flipped him over on his back, breaking the kiss to sit up and straddle his hips. His cock throbbed fiercely against the zipper of his trousers. She grinned down at him and caught the edge of her dress and stripped the whole thing upwards to send it flying.

Lace cupped her creamy, pale breasts. He trailed his gaze over the alabaster skin, following the contours with his palms. She leaned down, teasing him with a nipping kiss. Loosening his tie, she dragged it slowly from his neck and wrapped it around hers. The black fabric provided an erotic contrast to her paleness. She worked the buttons on his shirt, nails stroking his skin with each downward stop.

A devious smile lit up her delicate features, and her dark eyes filled with mischief. She arched her back, pushing her breasts forward in open invitation. She was beautiful, so absolutely carefree and reckless in her passion.

Gliding his palms over the lace, he massaged her breasts slowly, reacquainting himself with their shape and their weight. She’d become so lean in the five decades since he’d last held her in his arms. Where she had once been always curvy and delicious, she seemed somehow more defined. There was nothing spare—not even in the subtle roundness of her breasts or the sweep of her tight ass. Her hips rolled, and she rubbed her barely clad sex against his erection.

He grumbled when she pushed his shirt wide and he let go of her breasts to jerk the material out of his way. Sitting up, he wrapped his arms around her and captured her mouth for another hungry kiss. She laid her hands on his chest, and his muscles jumped at the contact. He’d dreamed of this moment for fifty years, waking aroused and eager for her touch, her kiss—her embrace. He’d controlled himself every day, containing all that dangerous passion behind the fury and loss at her abandonment.

The sweet muskiness of her arousal tortured the thin, frayed edges of his control. She sucked on his lower lip, dragging it out until a small drop of blood welled up and she lapped at it like a kitten. His breath caught. His hips flexed and he rubbed himself up against the promised heat. She gasped and moved against him, her eyes widened. Every rub of her panty-clad sex against the bulge of his dick teased her. The bra snapped under his fingers, and he stripped it away, baring her breasts.

Gliding a hand along her back, he lifted her up and bent his head to capture the nipple, sucking it between his teeth, careful to not graze her skin. It pebbled and hardened under the thrum of his tongue. In response, she dug her nails into his scalp, little daggers of pain. He bit her, lightly enough to avoid damaging her skin, but hard enough to remind her to loosen her grip.

Her fingers relaxed, and he flipped her over. The lace panties were scraps with one hard tug. In his dreams, he tumbled her over, ripping her clothes off and driving his cock into the tight clasp of her sex, thrusting until all she could feel was him. He’d imagined her shallow breaths driving him deeper until she shuddered with release.

So many years of aching to have her back in his arms—to feel her move with him, to drown in her passion. He skimmed his fingers up the inside of her thigh, prolonging his torture until he slid a finger along the seam of her sex.

She was soaking wet.

For him.

Need punctured rational thought. He wanted to awaken her memories, to bring back his bride, to see the recognition flame in her eyes as she held him—but the naked desire sparkling in them and the sweet heat of her body responding to him was his undoing.

He surged up and slanted his mouth over hers, crushing their lips together. She tasted so sweet and utterly feminine. Intoxicated by her scent, her reactions and her touch, he let go of anything beyond that moment. Her stiff nipples poked at his chest. He touched her everywhere. His hands glided over her sides, her breasts, her hips, her back and down to her ass. She wrapped her legs around his hips, and he ground his erection against her cleft.

His control warned him this was a mistake. But was he really taking advantage? She felt so good—so right—in his arms.

“I want you,” she growled against his mouth, demanding and impatient. Her nails scored down his back, and she tugged at his pants. “I want you inside me…”

The word fueled the fire burning through his blood, igniting every nerve. Arousal punched him, and he skimmed a hand down to glide a finger against her slick sex, pressing in against the tight walls that clasped his fingers. She rode his finger, gasping when he added a second. Her fingers fumbled with his belt, and he growled, jerking back to rip the pants open and slip them off.

She tried to follow him, but he caught her and tossed her back down, holding her with one arm, while he dipped his head down to follow the trail of his fingers. Her moans were music to his ears as he nuzzled his way to her clit, sucking it against his teeth. She cried out, and her thighs clasped at his head. He soothed her legs wider and, lapping at the damp desire pouring from her, eased another finger into her.

Wanton desire clouded his vision. He drove her ruthlessly to the edge, withdrawing his fingers and tongue only when he sensed her on the precipice. Her scream of frustration echoed in his ears, and he began the slow assault all over again.

She writhed, twisted and rolled onto her side. He shifted to follow her sex, spearing his tongue against the hot, velvety walls that tried to clamp down on his invasion. He didn’t realize why she adjusted her position until her mouth closed over him, her lips crowning the head of his cock. He shuddered and gasped, losing the thread of his rhythm as she worked her magic. She sucked hard and fast, her teeth grazing him adding the lightest amount of pain to spark the pleasure. Her tongue swirled around him, and he could barely kiss the inside of her thighs, mouth opening to bite down on the tender flesh.

Enough.

He threaded his fingers into her hair and urged her back. She looked up at him, eyes slit with passion. He climbed up the length of her, until they were face-to-face and nestled himself into the cradle of her body, her nipples peaked and tight, flushed with need. Her hand wrapped around his cock and guided him to her entrance. He pressed in slowly, savoring every stretch of her wet folds.

The tight clasp of her inner muscles threatened pure madness. He wanted to be inside—all the way, one hard push—but the pleasure on her face told him to take his time. A low whimper escaped her throat as he finally settled deep inside of her. So hot. So tight.

They fell into a rhythm, rocking together. He wanted to stay like this forever. Their lips collided in a series of nipping, licking kisses. Her hands were everywhere, digging into his shoulders, stroking his back, and when she clasped his ass, he didn’t know how much longer he could last.

He wanted to see her pleasure—needed to see it—ripple over her face. He wanted to savor her bliss before taking his own. He worked a hand between them, flicking his fingers against her clit. She shivered and jerked, her hips almost losing their rhythm. He rocked into her. Hooking one of her legs over his arm, he scented and felt her release as her inner muscles clamped down on him.

She came with a scream, and he growled in savage satisfaction. Dropping his head to her throat, he sank his teeth into her skin and ecstasy tore through him. He thrust once, twice more, and his body clenched. His release flooded out of him as her blood filled his mouth. His soul sang with joy and he collapsed against her, even as his mind winked out.

Chapter Three

Kiki emerged from the shroud of bliss slowly. The events of the last couple of hours rushed in, echoing through the pleasant soreness tingling throughout her body. Richard’s weight pressed her into the bed. He slept on his stomach, his face buried in the pillows. At some point, he must have dragged the covers over them. She didn’t remember. Sliding out from under his arm, she slipped off the bed and looked around the opulent bedroom for her clothes. Her panties were in tatters, so she dropped them into the trash.

Her bra wasn’t in much better shape. She held up the frayed lace and grinned. The vampire had turned out to be an absolute beast in the bed. Dropping the bra after the panties, she shimmied into the dress and tiptoed into the bathroom. Turning on the water, she splashed her face and inspected her appearance in the mirror. Her lips were swollen and red from his kisses. Two faint puncture marks marred her throat.

Thrill skated up from her belly. A real vampire. She’d had sex with a real vampire, and he bit her. She just might swoon. She ran her fingers through her tousled hair and grinned. The romp definitely took the edge off her restlessness. Now she could concentrate on Heidi’s “you’re dancing lead” news. Regret fluttering in her belly, she padded back into the bedroom and stared at the sleeping vampire with his thick shock of black hair, square jaw and absolutely delicious body.

But one look at the clock stymied the desire creeping over her. It had been a lot longer than two hours.

Closer to eight.

Panic flared.

When is sunrise?

Spinning on a heel, she darted for the door and pulled it open as silently as she could. Speeding through the unfamiliar apartment, she found her shoes near the door. She vaguely remembered tugging the boots off to dance around on the furniture. Heat suffused her skin. The reckless abandon allowed her to accompany a total stranger—three total strangers—to a private apartment, and the reality of it all sobered her mood.

She opened the front door a crack when a hard masculine arm slammed it shut. Richard spun her around and pressed her right up against the door. Gloriously nude and rumpled from sleep, his mouth fused with hers and stifled her objections. Releasing her lips, he leaned his forehead to hers. “Where are you going?”

Even his voice, husky and deep from sleep, sent shivers racing up her spine.

“I have to go.” She sighed. “Places to see, people to be.”

He drifted closer, the musky scent of him wrapping around her. He nuzzled her cheek and feathered kisses along her ear. “You don’t have to go anywhere…”

She stopped his sensual assault with a hand flat against his chest. “Look, sexy beast, this was fun, and those orgasms were amazing. But I have to go now.”

His expression darkened. “Kristina…”

“Richard?” She lifted her eyebrows, challenging.

“We have much to discuss. You need to stay here.” Command flowed through his tone and stroked against her.

Trailing her fingers down his chest, she admired the cut of his muscles even if he was paler than the guys she might normally tease. Her sex clenched, but her internal clock ticking down warned her against giving in. “I appreciate the offer, beastie boy, I really do. But I have a show tonight…” Inspiration struck and she gave him a little shove backwards. “Midnight Mystery Lounge—come watch me. Maybe we’ll party again after.”

He let her move him, but when she tried to open the door, he pulled her back around. “No. No more shows. No more performances. It’s time for you to come home.” The demand scorched her—urged her to obey—and she shoved again. Only this time he didn’t move.

“Yeah, okay. Look—you’re great in bed. Loved the sex. Had a blast. Even enjoyed the bite. But stop being a douche. You don’t own me.” Twisting beneath his arm, she hooked her leg behind his and pushed. But he snaked an arm around her waist and instead of toppling, he had her back up against the door.

“Kristina, look at me.” His gaze pinned her. His pupils dilated. The room faded away, elongating behind him as though the world retreated in a rush. His eyes filled her vision, his heart thundered in her ears and his scent filled her nostrils. “Remember.” The word, heavy with so much meaning, pushed at her and the world snapped, like a rubber band stretched too far. The recoil stung and Kiki did the only thing she could think to do.

She drove her fist into his solar plexus. She aimed lower, but he dodged. Breaking from the trance, she wrenched the door open and marched over to the elevator. Goon One and Goon Two straightened as she exited. She punched the button to summon the elevator. Awareness blanketed her.

Richard stood at her back.

“Don’t.” She ordered. She could barely make out his reflection in the golden doors, but his hand hovered at her shoulder.

“Kristina…”

The doors opened and she stepped inside, pivoting to face him. “My name is Kiki. Thanks for the fun—and the creepy look into my eyes shtick. I enjoyed it.”

She winked and hit the down button. Richard stared at her, brows drawn together in a scowl so fierce relief flooded her when the doors closed him out. She sagged back against the wall, heart pounding. Bravado was all well and good, but she had a feeling she just poked that sexy beast a little too hard.

Rubbing her fingers against her lips, lightheadedness surged through her. She flicked a look to the controls. The elevator’s descent seemed to be taking forever. The languid heat from their lovemaking receded. Sunrise was close.

Too close.

“Hurry.” She whispered. She couldn’t afford to be caught in the open. “C’mon…” Her foot tapped and as soon as the doors opened, she rushed out.

The normal throngs of people and creatures were absent from the lobby. She cut across the sphinx’s path and circled the fountain. Stan leaned against the entrance to the theatre and her heart sank.

He just stared at her.

“I am not even going to try and explain.” She gave him a tired grin. Her cheeks ached, and it took effort to smile. Lethargy pumped through her blood. The sun’s ascent sped the day’s arrival.

“Good.” Expressionless, he nodded, but made no move to get out of her way. Kiki cut her gaze to the left. Sound muted, like a dozen cotton balls being stuffed into her ears.

“Stan…”

The guardian merely looked at her. His folded arms, firm stance and cold eyes denied her.

“I have to get inside.” She looked left again. Sunlight glittered like red fire on the horizon. Liquid gold spilled upwards behind the building…and splashed against the front windows, stretching out like greedy fingers across the marble floor.

Fear stabbed her in the belly.

“Stan…”

The guardian didn’t move. “You escaped the safety of the theatre. We cannot be held responsible for what happens next.”

The elevator doors dinged across the lobby. She twisted to look back…no, no no…not like this. She didn’t want Richard to see her. He couldn’t see her when this happened. Wrenching around, she begged Stan with her eyes. “Please…”

The sun inched closer, and icy heat swarmed over her. Her heart slowed, her hands clenched. Richard appeared in her periphery, his dark slacks open at the waist and his dark expression tight.

“Don’t look at me.” She ordered him. “Look away.” But the words garbled, mashing together with the slowness of her tongue. Denied entrance, she would die on this spot when the sun touched her. Frozen, she could only stand there and wait her inevitable end. At least she got to have sex—really, freaking amazing sex—before it ended. A tiny sigh escaped. She would like to have danced the lead too. But…

She closed her eyes, the lids fluttering down, desperate to not see his face when the end came and a sparkling gray curtain dropped over her, blotting out the world.

Rage and frustration drove Richard to follow her down to the lobby. It imploded, sucked into a black hole of horror. Malcolm had warned him. He had explained the curse trapping the dancers to their servitude—a curse that transformed them into a doll-like state while the sun rose. The sunlight trickling through the paned glass windows continued to inch forward toward her booted feet. Everything about her changed, except for her clothing. She looked like a mannequin.

The salt-and-pepper haired man she’d fled in the casino stepped forward and put his hand on Kristina’s porcelain arm. Violence strained at the leash of common sense. He needed a plan. A plan to recover her memory and free her. A plan that extended beyond attack.

“Interesting. You are not surprised.” He lifted Kristina’s frozen form to his shoulder, carrying her as he would just so much extra weight.

Surprised? No. Horrified? Yes. Richard refused to share those thoughts, however. He studied the man. He had no scent, his heart rate didn’t increase and no blood pounded ferociously through his system—there was no trace of fear on him at all. “Where will you take her?”

“Downstairs. She will be performing tonight—maybe. You can check the schedule later. And I suggest finding a shirt and shoes. Dress code is lax, but not that lax.” The man turned, and the doors opened as if by a thought, and he carried Kristina inside. Richard forced himself not to follow. When one of his men stepped forward, he held up a hand.

“Anton, find Frederick Reynolds. Now.” Malcolm’s younger, far more impulsive cousin currently worked within the boundaries of the Arcana Royale serving out a penance of his own to the overseers.

“Yes, sir.” The man spun and crossed the lobby at a clipped pace.

“Sir?” David, his second bodyguard, edged around him. “The sunlight.”

Richard glanced to his left. The pool of sunlight rippled toward him, and he watched the edge creep towards him dispassionately.

David didn’t move, but the vampire’s concern rippled across his guarded expression. The doors to the theatre closed behind his bride and her caretaker. Caretaker. The thought left a rancid taste in his mouth.

Drumming his fingers against his thigh, a blast of warm air drifted in the front doors as they opened. The sunlight intensified and a lick of it scalded his shoulder. David gave him a shove, moving him away from the light.

“Sir?” A woman appeared in his periphery—dark hair, dark skinned, with a tilt to her eyes and a Turkish lilt to her accent. Dressed in a skintight black bodysuit, she wore an air of danger and desire. She held up a cream-colored card with stylized writing.

He pivoted to face her. Too many questions without enough answers. Making love to Kristina again was everything he’d imagined and dreamed—except she still didn’t remember him. She was still trapped by some damnable curse.

“A personal invitation for you.” She offered the card, but Richard didn’t touch it. The casino specialized in games within games, deception wrapped in puzzles and ambushes disguised as aid.

“From?” A burst of noise from the main doors spilled into the lobby as a group of weres stumbled in, arms around each other for support, singing drunkenly. Richard sensed more than saw David shift his position, blocking Richard’s bare back.

The woman’s coy smile did not touch her eyes. “It is a private invitation for the prince of New York.”

“David.” Richard motioned to the bodyguard, who held out his hand and took the card without hesitation for possible spell work laid into the paper. The man’s dedication would be rewarded.

The exotic beauty bowed her head. “I am to wait for an answer.”

“I’ll send one along.” He wouldn’t be pressed into a rash act—not while his temper already danced on the precipice of the abyss. He wanted to tear the doors off the theatre and march in there to claim his bride. This woman would do well to stay out of his way.

Finished with the conversation, Richard walked away. He almost hoped she would try to pursue him—or better, attack him. It had been some time since the urge to hunt, tear and rend surfaced inside him. Sadly, she did neither and remained where she was, her gaze unflinchingly meeting his when he faced her from inside the elevator.

“I don’t smell magic.” David informed him when the elevator doors closed.

“That doesn’t mean anything.” The best spells lay dormant until activated by contact with the target or through some manipulation by the caster. The doors opened to Anton waiting with Frederick Reynolds. The younger Reynolds leaned against the wall, weariness etched into his expression, but he straightened when Richard strode out. Bowing slightly, the younger vampire said nothing.

“Inside.” Richard pointed to the doors. Anton swung them open, and all three followed him. Kristina’s scent layered over everything. He could pick up the traces of their lovemaking—the sweet decadence of her arousal—and practically taste her on his tongue.

A fresh wave of anger crashed through him. He didn’t slow his pace until he reached the bar. He poured a three fingers of brandy into one glass and tossed it all back with a swallow. Shutters blockaded every window, providing them with a safe refuge from the desert heat and dangerous sunshine.

“Your Highness, my cousin called to tell me about the Lady Kristina…”

Holding up a hand, the prince silenced him. “What can you tell me about the Midnight Mystery Lounge?”

Planting both hands on the back of a sofa, Frederick leaned forward. “Malcolm and his bride would know more, but I’ve done some homework. The casino does not own the theatre and lounge outright. In fact, no one knows who owns the Midnight Mystery Lounge. The stage manager, however, is in charge of the whole operation.”

“Heidi.” Richard pulled the name from the conversation with Malcolm.

“Yes. I know even less about her than I do the theatre itself. Security is minimal on the surface, but it is tied into the casino’s private security—a combination of wraiths and weres. I wouldn’t recommend going head to head with them.”

He didn’t plan to challenge the casino directly. To do that, he would need to kill Andrew and put Las Vegas under his thumb. He didn’t have months to put together his plan, but if he needed to absorb the territory, he would. “What do you know about Heidi?”

“She lives in the theatre somewhere. She rarely if ever leaves it. In the months that I’ve been here, I think I’ve see her twice.” Frederick blew out a breath. “I have no idea what the hell she is. I thought a witch maybe—”

“Did you scent her?” Richard poured himself a second drink. The guardian at the door had no scent. Kristina’s scent carried subtle alterations, as did her blood. The curse was one explanation, but the weakness he sensed—the starvation. Was that the curse or something else?

“Never got that close. Lots of rumors about her. Rumors about soul stealing, puzzle boxes, transformations and manipulations. She also has some kind of demon pet—which is what made me think witch.” His discomfort apparent, the younger vampire straightened, fists clenching as though trying to keep himself from fidgeting.

“Is there a problem, Frederick?” He swirled the drink around.

“A lot of people know you’re here, Prince Richard. A lot of people, and there is a rumor that you will be challenging Prince Andrew—and a betting pool began.”

Of course it did, because why else would the Prince of New York leave his city for the hellish oasis in the middle of the desert? He took a long drink of the alcohol, the burn quenching the knots of tension in his gut.

“Do not let it trouble you. But I need you to do something for me…”

“Anything.” He was almost too eager, and the flash of a wince in his eyes answered Richard’s unspoken question. Frederick had orders where he was concerned. Orders from the masters he now served.

“Get close to this Heidi. Find her weak points, places I can negotiate.” He wanted him to do another task, but that would be impossible now. Not when he served dual masters.

“If you wish, Your Highness. I’m not sure how close I can get to her, my job…” The younger Reynolds trailed off at Richard’s bland look and bowed his head. “I will do my best, sir.”

“Good and one more thing.” He stopped the vampire from leaving. “Read the message David has.”

Frederick cut a look toward the bodyguard and the card he held. “I’m not sure I should…” He spun and raced for the door, but Anton pinned him before he made it out. The younger vampire struggled, but he was no match for the much older Anton to contain and pin against the wall.

Richard contained his disappointment. Swirling the drink in his glass, he nodded to David. “Give him the card.”

The second bodyguard approached and Frederick’ efforts to escape redoubled. “Please, sir—”

Saying nothing, Richard merely waited him out. Anton shackled one of Frederick’ wrists and forced the palm open, leaning his shoulder and hip into the other man to keep him still. David lowered the cardstock, and Frederick yelped. “It’s a trap sir. It’s challenge from Prince Andrew.”

David froze, the card not quite touching the boy who should be a man.

“So why is it such a problem for you, Frederick? If it’s a challenge, surely your masters won’t let you accept it anyway…”

“Malcolm. You left Malcolm in charge. I’m his representative here—sort of—it can be argued that if I touch it and accept it, then he must fulfill the blood duel.”

The logic was sound, almost rational. “Andrew cannot challenge me until three full sunsets have passed.” He had time, particularly since he arrived after sunset last night.

“Perhaps not, but there’s a rumor the Arcana Royale may leave Las Vegas for a reservation in New York and…”

Richard laughed and shook his head. “You’re an idiot. The Overseers will not move their entire operation—nor would it matter if they did—as they cannot operate it within the boundary of the island of Manhattan, not when many of their clientele cannot cross water.” He drained his drink and held out his hand to David. Anton continued to keep Frederick captive while David passed the card to Richard.

Scanning the information, the vampire prince sighed. “It is an invitation—but not to combat. But thank you for the information that Andrew is planning something and the Overseers are encouraging the rumors.” Why shouldn’t they? If the princes of two cities came into conflict, a lot of profit stood to be made—particularly for a third party.

Frederick sagged. “I’m sorry. I thought—”

“No, you didn’t think, but then that is why you are in this situation. Do as I bid you. Get close to the stage manager. Learn everything and tell me before you tell the masters holding your leash.”

“But they might find out.”

The younger cousin of his oldest and closest friend or not, Frederick Reynolds had a great deal to learn. “Then remember you only serve them for a century. After that you return to my court—and my city.”

Frederick swallowed. “Yes, sir.”

“Show him out, Anton.” He tossed the invitation down and stared at the were-bear rug Kristina wiggled her toes against. “You two may retire for the day.”

Less than a minute later the two were gone. The card stock invitation announced a special show for one week only—featuring Kristina as the lead dancer—and his presence was requested. He didn’t recognize the handwriting, but he expected this was their answer to his five-million-dollar offer.

Picking up the phone, he dialed Malcolm’s number and the man answered on the first ring. “Malcolm, my apologies for calling so late in the morning. But I need to speak to your bride…”

He heard a murmuring and rustle of sheets and then a soft, breathless feminine voice said a tentative hello.

“Can you tell me what happens…exactly…when the curse activates during the daylight hours?”

“I can try.” The woman sighed. “I don’t know if it’s the same for everyone.”

“I understand this may be difficult.” He owed Malcolm’s bride that much respect, but he needed the answer. He needed to understand.

“It’s not painful. It’s cold and it’s lonely. You are you one moment and then you are in a gray place—alone—no sense of time or place or even self. It’s not sleeping, and I never dreamed. But I know one of the others did…”

“Kristina?” The daylight slumber of vampires was sometimes dreamless, but only in the first few years for the turned. Those born—like he and Malcolm—always dreamed.

“No. Her name is Cerveau. She dreams. A great deal, but she never told us what happened in the dreams. I used to tease her that she made it up, but maybe she didn’t.”

“And when you wake? What do you feel then?”

“I—it’s like being turned back on. The rush to the senses can be a little overwhelming at first. But you don’t really feel the passage of time. It’s more like you step from that one moment you were in when you went to sleep to the next, when you are awake.”

“And no pain?” As little comfort as the idea brought him, he wanted her to feel no pain.

“No physical pain. Of course, when you do it in front of someone you love, it hurts you to hurt them.”

The sadness in Kristina’s gaze, the faintest glimmer of horror and tears in her eyes as the polished white sheen took over her body and froze her features.

She still loved him.

Relief flooded through his soul. She may not remember him. She may be trapped in that limbo. But she still cared…

“I don’t know how this can help you.” Malcolm’s bride sighed. He appreciated the candor and the sympathy.

“Tell me, do you know why she was cursed?”

“No.” The answer disappointed.

“Is it likely the stage manager will tell me if I ask her?” He carefully avoided using the woman’s name. Malcolm indicated his bride and Heidi seemed friendly.

“Only if she really wants to but—” Her hesitation to complete the thought warned him of her concern. Her nails drummed against a wooden surface. “What Heidi knows, Minion almost certainly does and she and Kiki are really close. Minion also adores shiny objects, toys and chocolate…”

So the pet demon can be bribed…

“Sir, I know you want to help Kiki, but please don’t hurt Minion. She’s crazy and unpredictable and completely without a malicious bone in her body. I can try to send Kiki a text, Minion always reads her phone, but that might alert Heidi, and I don’t know what they would do.”

“No, thank you, you’ve told me quite a bit.” He soothed. “And I appreciate it. I will not hurt the little demon. You have my word.”

But the potential to trade one hostage for another…

That he could do.

Chapter Four

Awareness swarmed over Kiki in a rush, and she stepped forward with a jerk, startled to find herself not in her own cell, but Heidi’s office. Coldness climbed through her limbs, an icy sensation pumping through her blood with every beat of her sluggish heart. Heidi sat behind the desk, a single manila folder in front of her and an unreadable expression on her face. Grasping the back of a guest chair, Kiki leaned her weight on it.

“I’m in trouble, aren’t I?” No sense in beating around the bush. She had been caught outside the theatre when the curse kicked in…but only because Stan wouldn’t let me in. She chose not to dwell on Richard seeing it happen. Talk about a buzz kill.

“More than a little.” Heidi tapped the manila folder in front of her. “This is your contract.”

The chill in her blood dropped to arctic levels. Digging her fingers into the fabric of the chair, she kept herself upright. “I was trying to get back in…”

Unmollified, Heidi shrugged. “You snuck out.”

Guilt poked her. “Yes. But it wasn’t for why you might think…”

“You wanted to party and you were bored?” The stage manager challenged her blandly.

“Okay, so maybe it is why you think. We’re not tied to the theatre when we’re off for the night. We are allowed to go out…” She sighed. Is Richard completely freaked out by the Dancer Jekyll and Mannequin Hyde routine?

“You are allowed, of course, but—for your personal protection and security—you notify us. You let Stan accompany you.”

“I was fine.” Kiki straightened, fighting the weakness invading her limbs. “I had fun and I didn’t break any rules.” Right? I didn’t… She had a few drinks, partied, and more than one awesome orgasm with the sexiest vampire she ever—Ooh, vampire. She touched her fingers to her throat where he bit her…but the smooth skin didn’t feel puckered or damaged.

“You went up to a private suite with three men you’ve never met, propositioning all three, I might add, and raced the sunrise to get back to the theatre.”

“It’s not like it hasn’t happened before. Pandora did it. Roseâtre did it. Hell, you sent both of them off to do it.” She ticked the names off on her fingers.

“And I knew where they were, who they were with and Stan was prepared to defend them as necessary.” Heidi’s disappointment slapped at her. “Do you not see the danger you were in?”

“Richard would never hurt me.” Her faith in that statement surprised her. She didn’t have to think about it. Even when they’d tussled and she struck him, he’d never hurt her—and something unfamiliar unfurled within her. He wouldn’t ever hurt her. She didn’t know why she knew that, but instinct seemed solid. Richard would never hurt her. If anything, his touch seemed to awaken something dormant within her.

Instead of attacking her belief or dismissing it, Heidi leaned back in the chair. “How do you know that?”

“I…” The words seemed to dance right on the edge of her tongue, but darted away before she could give them voice. “I…I don’t know.” If she closed her eyes, she could conjure an image of him. His smile, the dark velvet of his midnight gaze, the muscles straining in his jaw as pleasure took him. He wouldn’t hurt her.

Ever.

“I guess I don’t know why.” Disquiet deflated the balloon of faith, and she walked around the chair to sit down. “I’m sorry, Heidi.” Contrition washed in to fill the empty space in her soul.

“Kiki, do you know who Richard is?”

The layers of meaning beneath the question dragged the dancer from her internal musings. “He’s a vampire.”

“I asked who, not what.” The stage manager’s voice warmed, thawing out her disapproval.

“No. Just a guy in a bar.” A beautiful man in a bar, and it was like I knew him—for all of three seconds—but I wanted to find him, and there he was. “I won’t do it again. I’m sorry I upset you. I just needed to get out.” She glanced at the manila folder, curiosity about the contents pricking.

“You will do it again.” Not that the woman sounded unhappy about it, but the note of concern worried Kiki. “We will try to stop you, but if you truly want to escape, you know you can. So, I propose to you that I will not prevent your escapades, as long as you tell us about them. Don’t venture out unprotected.”

“I made it back. I would be fine.” She appreciated the offer, but half the fun of sneaking out lay in the sneaking itself.

“Kiki, if you break the rules again, I will have no choice but to punish you.” So much for understanding-Heidi. The stage manager’s voice lowered to a stiff, neutral tone. “I have no wish to see you suffer, but I do not own your contract. I have less influence over it than I would like. Every time you push the boundaries and play fast and loose with the rules, you wear down the patience of those who do. This latest event—it has them talking.”

“Wait a minute—I work for the Arcana Royale and I belong here…” she tried to wrap her mind around it, but the thoughts wouldn’t take purchase. Her concentration slipped and slid around the facts until a dull ache formed behind her eyes. “How do you not own my contract?”

“Because I have been trying to buy it out for fifty years. The one who holds it does not wish to sell.” Heidi tapped the desk. “Your latest escapade could jeopardize any progress I’ve made.”

“Which can’t be much if you’ve been trying to buy it for fifty years.” Kiki clapped a hand over her mouth, but it was too late. The sarcasm and annoyance in her voice surprised her.

The manager shrugged. “Agreed. It hasn’t been much. Just keeping you here. Under my protection…and allowing you to perform this week as the lead.”

“You’re taking that away?” Her stomach sank. She may have blown the offer off the night before, but she’d waited for decades to get a chance to tackle the lead. Always the backup dancer, never the star. She had so many ideas, and if this chance worked out—it could be her shot.

“No. I’m not taking it away.” The woman leaned forward and rubbed her forehead. The utterly human gesture softened her generally tough appearance and no-nonsense attitude. “This would be far easier if you remembered.”

“Remembered what?” Kiki latched onto that oblique frustration and leaned forward. She inched her hands towards to manila file folder.

“Why did you go out last night?” Heidi turned the question back on her.

“Because I wanted to get out. I was restless—”

“Why were you restless? The girls were dancing, partying, playing games…you love that.”

“I know, but I…I…” Kiki stopped and frowned. The restlessness hit her, agitation flowed through her, and she bounced up from the chair. The pervasive weakness was no match for the urge to go. She walked to the door, but the handle wouldn’t turn. She pulled at it twice.

“You want to go now, don’t you?” The cool splash of words halted her jerks on the door. She glanced down at her hands and then the door handle. She barely even remembered standing up.

“What’s wrong with me, Heidi?”

“Short answer? You’re cursed. You have a show in two hours. You’re still improvising it. You’re still leading it. But you have to stay in the theatre until the final curtain drops. After that, you can go to him.”

“Him?” Richard? The urge to rip the door out of the frame struck her again. She needed to go now. She didn’t have time to wait.

“The show, Kiki. You have to focus on it.” The command resonated inside her, clashing with the urge to go.

“I went because he called me.” She spit the thought out swiftly, before it slipped away.

“Yes, you did.”

“He’s calling me now.” How had he called her before he bit her? Didn’t they have to share a blood tie or something? Or at least be compelled before? “Oh crap. Is that why I can’t remember anything before being here? He compelled me?”

The stage manager didn’t answer. Instead, she rose, file in hand and walked over to the cabinet beneath her shelved collection of puzzle boxes.

“Heidi? Is that what’s wrong with me?”

“You have a show to put on. You should probably shower and find some costumes and let the others know what you’re doing.” The stage manager didn’t look back at her.

Pushing away from the door, Kiki stalked across the office. Stifling the urge to go left her twisted in knots inside. “You have to tell me.”

“He is the reason you came here, but he is not the reason you stayed.” Heidi locked the cabinet.

“That doesn’t really answer my question.”

“And yet, it is the only answer you will get tonight. You have a puzzle to solve and resources to call upon. Figure out the puzzle and you will know what you need. But be careful…I can only protect you for so long.”

Dread curled in her stomach at the warning. “I want to see him after the show.”

“Okay.”

The anticlimactic response surprised her. “That’s it? Just okay?”

“Yes. You have an hour and fifty-five minutes now. You should go.”

“Heidi!”

“One hour and fifty-four minutes.” The doors behind Kiki swung open, and Heidi returned to her desk and turned to the computer screen.

Suppressing the urge to scream, she pivoted and stomped out of the office, and found Minion. The imp bounced up from a sofa, magazines tumbling to the floor to fling herself at Kiki.

“Can I be in the show tonight? Can I? Please? Please?” The enthusiastic hug and eager bounce helped restore Kiki’s equilibrium. She gave her an affectionate squeeze and settled the imp onto her shoulder, tail curled around Kiki’s neck.

“I don’t even know what I’m doing for the show—”

“I do!” Minion tossed a look behind her at Heidi’s office door and crouched, murmuring into Kiki’s ear.

Laughter welled up, the amusement loosening the pull of Richard’s call on her body. Minion’s idea was just enough out there that it might work. In fact…

“I like that. And I’ll make you a deal,” she scratched the imp’s ears affectionately as she put distance between them and Heidi. “You can totally be in the show if you’ll do me one little favor.”

“I love favors.” Minion promised.

“Well, it might be hard…”

“I like hard favors even more. What is it?”

“Now, don’t agree so quickly.” Ahead of her she could see the dancers stirring and waved to Peppermint and Britta. “It could be tricky.”

“Tell me!” Minion demanded.

“Think you can steal a file folder from Heidi’s office for me?” She watched the ruddy little face intently.

“Oh snap. You want yours or someone else’s?” Minion clicked her fingers together and grinned.

Showered and dressed in a simple leotard, Kiki leaned close to the mirror to apply her makeup. The near constant eddies of weakness collided with persistent urge to be elsewhere. It took every ounce of her concentration to apply her mascara. When a rather violent tug contracted all of her muscles, she scowled and stormed over to the phone. Picking it up, she rang reception.

“Richard Casere’s suite, please.” She tapped her foot impatiently and carried the cordless receiver back to her makeup station. The other dancers hustled, but everyone seemed to lack the usual energy associated with a new performance. Maybe because they had no idea what the performance would be. Heidi said improvisation—so they had to watch Kiki and match her dance.

She managed to smear her makeup, thanks to the trembling in her limbs—trembling that had something to do with the sexy beast. She used a tissue to blot at the black smear carefully. The phone rang through, and a masculine voice answered it on the first ring. It wasn’t Richard’s voice however. “Put Richard on.” She didn’t bother to tack on a please.

Apparently she didn’t need to either. “Kristina?” The sound of his voice wrapping around her name sent a pulse of heat from her breasts to her sex and back up again. Peanut butter crunch on toast, he’s better than chocolate.

“Kiki. And stop calling me—I have a show to put on and I just screwed up my makeup. I will see you after the performance unless you keep pissing me off.” Proud that she didn’t dissolve into a quivering mass of sexual need and satisfied with telling him off, she hung up and went back to repairing her makeup.

Britta appeared in her periphery and leaned a hip against the counter. Cosmetics applied to perfection, right down to her ruby lipstick and glittering eye shadow, Britta looked like Kiki always wanted to—together and seductive without being slutty.

Not that there is anything wrong with slutty when it teaches a lesson… Amusement streamed through her. She dressed slutty on any number of occasions, just to tweak him when his arrogance got out of hand—

The mascara applicator fell to the counter as the constant drag pulling her sideways ceased.

“You okay?” Britta caught her arm, steadying her. Kiki belatedly realized she swayed and forced herself to sit down.

“I used to dress slutty just to piss him off.” Planting her hands on the tabletop, she trembled. “I used to dress slutty just to piss him off.”

“You realize you’re repeating yourself, right?” Britta bit her lip and tilted her head sideways. “Honey, you’re really pale. You want me to get you a drink?”

Her stomach cramped hard at the offer, but she shook her head. “No—I mean yes—but not right now. I used to dress… I knew him.” She waited for the thought to get swept away like every other half-formed memory she managed to glimpse, but it stuck stubbornly and she looked up at Britta, grinning. “I knew him. What he said about knowing me? I knew him too.”

“Yeah, okay. You’ve got the crazies tonight, but we need to know what we’re dancing to.”

“No.” Kiki bounced up. “I mean—yeah, I’ll tell you. But I met someone last night and…”

“You met someone and you’re just now mentioning it?” Rising, hands on her hips, Britta gave her a hard look. “You went out and didn’t invite me?”

Wrapping her in a quick embrace. “Not on purpose and don’t be like that. I just had to get out and I didn’t realize he was calling me, but he was and I went and then he was there and we were together and we up to his room. Oh my God can the man kiss, and three orgasms later I had to get back down here, but I was late and Stan was pissed and I woke up in Heidi’s office—but I know him and I haven’t known anyone but us for years.” She panted, the torrent of words spilling out of her added another layer to the euphoria bubbling in her blood. “I know him!” She squealed and gave Britta another hug.

A bell rang, and Kiki jumped.

“Oh hell. We need to go. We’re doing Diamonds are a Vampire’s best friend—blacks, reds and loads of glitter.”

“Glitter?” Peppermint interrupted, annoyance flaring in her eyes. “I just did my hair, and you want me to dump glitter on it?”

“Yes and all over your body too.” Kiki danced down the row of tables, giving every one of the girls a hug as she passed by. “Load up on the gems. You need to sparkle when the lights turn on you. We’ll show them the real reason vampires can’t go out in daylight…they won’t be able to handle our bling.”

The other dancers grumbled good-naturedly and laughed, but Kiki barely heard them.

I know him…oh. I can’t wait to see him again…

Frederick Reynolds waited at the entrance to the lounge. It was early by Vegas standards—hell, it was even early by Richard’s standards. The sun set just two and a half hours before, and the new show was scheduled to begin promptly at nine. Irritation slid along his skin. The younger vampire had nothing to report. But Frederick made a point to be seen as the person most likely to stay out of trouble.

“Frederick.” The prince acknowledged him with a nod, but didn’t slow his pace. Inside the lounge, the shadowy tables were staged at various levels, allowing maximum privacy while viewing the exotic shows. Succubi weaved through the tables trailing invitational vetiver in their wake. Fortunately, the allure only proved appealing to baser natured creatures—like the table of weres already on their way to a good drunk. He recognized them from their arrival that morning.

Boorish lot.

The hostess directed him to a table near the front, tucked into a well of privacy. The occasional voice climbed high enough to be heard, but otherwise he enjoyed the peace. Anton and David stood at either end of the rounded booth, and Frederick hesitated at the table’s edge.

He hadn’t been invited to sit.

Fortunately he seemed smart enough to understand that. Richard leaned back and studied him. “Well?” He asked after the silence stretched out his irritation—irritation kindled by Kristina’s annoyed phone call. One corner of his mouth quirked up, the call told him two things. She understood the call he sent out, one that summoned her blood to him—an act he could only perform because it was his blood that turned her.

And despite the curse, her loss of memory and a fifty-year separation—she still knew exactly how to spit in his eye and turn him on in the same breath.

“The stage manager doesn’t want to talk to me,” Frederick lowered his voice to barely a whisper. Richard needed to sit forward to hear him.

“Charm her—you landed yourself in hot water with twins, one can only imagine you possess a certain amount of appeal to the fairer sex.”

“I’m sure he does,” a Rubenesque woman interrupted, stepping around the booth and favoring Frederick with a gimlet glare. “But I am neither fair nor interested in sex. So go away, little vampire. You annoy me.”

The stage manager’s—because Richard doubted she could be anyone else—bluntness shocked Frederick, and his eyes widened. An actual trace of fear rolled through his scent. Intrigued, Richard waved the younger vampire away. Perhaps his time at the Royale would harden the soft, spoiled brat into a real man. A century or so would prove that out.

“May I sit?” She motioned to the booth before Richard could rise.

Manners dictated he should stand, but power suggested a better option in remaining in his seat. He inclined his head. “Please. You are the stage manager, Heidi.”

“And you’re the Prince of New York. Now that we’ve gotten the obvious out of the way, let’s discuss Kiki.”

“Her name is Kristina.” He’d never been fond of that nickname and would prefer to wash her free of it altogether. “And she is the Princess of New York, not some common performer.”

“Well, in one area we are agreed—she is no ordinary performer. That said, you are forbidden from interfering in her service to the Midnight Mystery Lounge. She may see you if she chooses in the free hours after the show, but she is to return to the Lounge before sunrise. That is non-negotiable.”

Richard snapped his mouth shut lest he gape at the woman. “You don’t—”

“No. Look, I can pander to your title and your ego and I can say all the polite things, but the truth here will serve you far better. I cannot help you. I cannot help her. I will protect her for as long as I am able. The rest is up to the two of you. I will provide you with no clues and no access to my files. I will certainly not cater to the boy vampire’s crude attempts to befriend me. You are fortunate that I am not forbidding Kiki from seeing you, nor am I reporting her infractions.”

Anton and David shifted imperceptibly, but Richard waved them off. The harsh tone, the forceful words and the cold look in the woman’s implacable gaze—they were too direct, too specific and far too harsh no matter his position. The house did not show its hand, did not display power or disdain unless…

“You wouldn’t be wise to forbid her. She has never been one to obey even when it was in her best interests.” It flew in the face of his nature to forgo orders, but four hundred years together gave him some insight into his bride’s needs, or so he’d always believed.

“Excellent. Then we have an understanding.” Heidi rose, and Richard moved, catching her arm before she could take a single step away. The chill in her stare sliced at him, but he didn’t relax his grip. His nostrils flared. The stage manager’s scent confused him. White peppermint—snow cold and crisp—mingled with dark chocolate, an undertone of dark woods or bark found hidden in deep southern forests and an herbal almost-wintergreen hint, sharp and piquant in taste.

Witch.

She had to be. He filed that information away for future reference.

“She is going to leave this place.” No other option existed. He would not leave her here. She belonged with him.

“That is not up to you or I, Richard.” Every muscle in his body locked. Something in the way she said his name—as if she captured the entire essence of which he was from his first breath of life to the last drop of blood he tasted. “We do not control her fate. You are here at the sufferance of the Prince of Las Vegas, and he only allowed it because of the terms of his treaty with the casino. He cannot block you forever, but he does not have to allow you access. I suggest you take advantage of the time you have—get to know Kiki—appreciate her for who she really is, unfettered by the chains and burdens of the past. Let her know you beyond the arrogance and expectation.”

Another warning? Another piece of information? He couldn’t move or open his mouth to respond.

Heidi smiled, removing his hand lightly and setting it back on the table. She gave him an almost motherly pat on the cheek. “Sometimes it’s better to look and to listen, when you can’t do anything else.” She walked away. He followed her with his gaze, still parsing the information. She gave him clues—he had no idea why or what her actual endgame was, but she meant to be helpful.

Of course, she didn’t have to vague it up so damn much.

You know, at your age, I expect more.

Her voice whispered into his ear as if she still stood right next to him. But he could see her clearly, right near the lip of the stage and ascending disguised stairs toward a curtain that vanished into the back. She paused to look back at him.

Consider for a moment why she left you in the first place.

He didn’t have to consider it. They fought. They always fought.

Exactly.

She vanished behind the curtain and the force holding him still went with her. He leaned back, sparing a glance at his men, neither of whom seemed to notice anything was wrong. The sound in the room rushed around him—the lights dimmed and behind the curtain, he heard heartbeats.

She left because we fought…again…

So why that fight?

He still chewed on that thought when the curtain swept upwards and his bride ascended the stage in a floor length black evening gown slit up to reveal both thighs and a plunging collar that emphasized the sweet swell of her breasts. She wore a stand-up-collared cape framing her head and so many diamonds that his eyes burned from the reflection.

Oh yes…that’s why we fought…

Chapter Five

The explosion of movement on stage held Richard captivated. He barely acknowledged the waitress delivering a bottle of blood wine or filling his glass. Kristina danced with verve. She shimmied and shook to the music, riding the crescendos up with leaps, twists and spins. The other dancers writhed in and out, playing a scene of battle—and seduction. The stage smoke and lights gave the illusion of storms and shadows.

One by one, Kristina conquered the other dancers. When she bent her head to take the neck of one, his whole body sizzled in reaction. A sensation not unlike hunger flooded through Richard. The fallen dancer writhed against Kristina’s assault, and despite the provocative nature of the red droplets slipping down her throat—it wasn’t blood.

Amusement curled through him. It was syrup. The sugar tickled his nostrils, but the knowledge hardly detracted from the exotic allure of her tossing her hair back as she lifted her head. A hint of the faux blood turned her lips ruby, but the pitch-black midnight of her eyes—that couldn’t be faked.

Those midnight skies pulled him in, beckoned him to dive into their velvet embrace. Unlike the natural born, the changed always betrayed their nature through their eyes—some turning blood red, but more often like his Kristina’s starry-sky gaze.

Cursed or not, she remained a turned vampire, and her arousing performance awakened the hunger in her blood…or perhaps it was his presence. He rubbed a hand against his jaw. His will wouldn’t allow his fangs to descend—no matter how provocative. But he longed to taste the passion reflected in her gaze—the eagerness, and the energy.

The music changed. The dark and somber threat of the hunters of the night segued into something uplifting. The lighting on the stage changed, blazing brighter and brighter until he was forced to squint. The black clothing slithered off her body and she sparkled.

Diamonds glittered over her skin, shimmering and rainbows danced off the different prisms as the light struck them. Naked, save for the gems, she stood there, arms up, radiant and captivating. The music plummeted and the lights muted, reducing the blinding glare. Kristina looked right at him.

“Diamonds are a vampire’s best friend,” she murmured in a throaty whisper and winked.

The theatre plunged into darkness and breathless silence. Richard rose first, hands coming together in applause, and as the house lights came on, every member of the audience stood, cheering, applauding and wolf whistling. The dancers pranced back out onto the stage, each bowing with grace and playfulness. But the crowd waited for Kristina to stroll back out—he expected her to have draped something over her nudity, but she strutted before the entire assembly, bold, brash and fearless.

They rewarded her with renewed applause and cheers. She bowed twice, waving her hand with a smile so wide and effortless it pulled at his heart.

Happiness cloaked her. Pure, unadulterated happiness. It struck him a physical blow when her gaze found his, and she smiled at him. The pulse of heat, the instantaneous connection sizzled through his veins. She winked and took one last bow, and the curtain dropped.

Show over.

He resumed his seat, finally picking up the glass of wine and draining it in one long swallow. The coppery flavor of the blood slaked some of the hunger her performance aroused, but couldn’t quiet the ever-growing list of questions in his mind.

A flash of movement blossomed into existence across from him. Anton and David whirled as a ruddy skinned creature stared at him with saucer-wide eyes and flicked her tufted ears first toward his men and then to him. Her tail lashed back and forth, agitated like a cat.

Richard held up a hand to halt any action on the part of his guards.

Less than two feet in height, the slender little beast shifted from side to side as though uncertain of whether to sit. She glanced up at Anton and pointed a clawed finger at him. “Go get me a booster seat.”

The vampire stared at her but didn’t move.

“Anton, please get our guest a booster seat.”

“Yes, sir.”

The ragamuffin’s face wrinkled in a frown. “Hmm, kind of rude that he didn’t do it when I asked.”

“You didn’t ask.” He offered the observation with a careful smile. Considering Heidi’s earlier visit, he should have expected the Minion—was that actually her name?—to make an appearance.

“True. But he’s getting it anyway, so I guess I didn’t have to.” She grinned and set a folder on the table in front of her. She hopped up to lean toward the wine bottle, and Richard pulled it away and refilled his own glass.

“Can I have some?”

“Perhaps.” He set the bottle well out of her reach and swirled the wine in his glass. “But I suspect you are not allowed, or you would simply order your own.”

“Hmmph.”

Anton returned with a booster in hand. Richard suppressed a snort of amusement at the vampire’s befuddled expression. The bodyguard set it down behind Minion on the seat and backed away. The imp hopped down and bounced on the seat once before sitting. She shifted, as though crossing her legs, and tapped her claws on the file folder.

“I am…”

“Richard, Prince of New York—giver of fabulous orgasms. I know.”

He managed not to choke on his wine—but only barely. Clearing his throat, he set the glass down. “And you are?”

“Minion. But you know that, Mr. Prince Big Shot.” Hostility and annoyance twisted in the little one’s tone.

“I seem to have offended you somehow.” He studied the large, almost luminous eyes staring back at him, unblinkingly.

“You can’t have Kiki.” Minion flattened her hand against the folder. “You can play, make her happy and then you can go away.”

Not going to happen. A snarl strained against the jesses of his control, but he smoothed it over. He handled negotiations regularly through the centuries—often with despicable nuisances. He could manage an imp. “I’m sorry you feel that way. What can I do to set your mind at ease?”

“Hmmm.” Minion cocked her head to the side. “Leave.”

“No.” He reclaimed his wine for another sip and let his gaze wander away from the creature.

“But you have to. I won’t let you take Kiki away.” The imp folded her arms across her chest and glared. The hair at the nape of his neck stood on end. Nostrils flaring, he scented only the mildest hint of sulfur. The imp was young—very young. Her magic was nowhere near its maturity, which meant she couldn’t set him on fire.

He could afford to be patient with her. “If you wish to bargain with me…”

“Bargain?” Minion jumped to her feet and hopped onto the table. She marched across the wood, pointing a clawed finger at him. “No, sir. I came here to threaten you.”

She was barely a foot away from him. He could snap her neck before she took another step. Anton and David twitched, but he shook his head once, and they remained where they were. “And how do you plan to threaten me, little one?”

“I don’t know. But I am.” She stomped her foot and the bottle of wine jumped. He caught it before it could spill.

He suppressed a smile. She was well and truly angry with him. “You care about Kristina that much?”

“Her name is Kiki.”

“No.” He shook his head, offering her a hint of sympathy. “Her name is Kristina. She may go by Kiki now, but she was Kristina when she was born, and she will always be Kristina to me.”

“I don’t like Kristina.” A plaintive note entered the Minion’s voice.

“I don’t particularly care for Kiki, either. So we are at an impasse.”

“No. We’re at the Midnight Mystery Lounge. She’s Kiki here—says so right there.” Minion pointed to the poster hung on the wall near the stage. Richard sighed. His bride blew a kiss to the camera. If those posters were everywhere outside the theatre… He swept a look around the theatre…nearly every table was full. She packed the house with her performance.

“Very well.” He could concede this to the little creature and perhaps draw her attention back to the file folder. But the moment his gaze touched on it, Minion leapt backwards and gripped the manila folder tightly. Pretending innocence, he lifted his brows. “Problem?”

“You can’t look at this.” She hugged the folder to her chest.

“Okay.” He nodded agreeably and glanced at the stage. He resisted looking at his watch. Kristina told him she would join him after the show. So where was she?

“She’s probably washing off her makeup and dancing with the girls. But she’s coming. She told me to wait for her here.” The imp spoke with the defiant air of one who wouldn’t have joined him otherwise.

“You really care about her, don’t you?” He could appreciate the affection.

“I love her. She’s my best friend. I won’t let you take her away.” The trembling lower lip spoke volumes for the imp’s emotional investment.

“I love her too.” Why the hell he was confessing this to Minion, he didn’t know. But maybe it would make her feel better about the whole situation—particularly if it turned her into his ally. He leaned forward, hands on the table. “I have loved her for a very long time and missed her for far too long. We were happy together.”

“Yeah?” Minion’s nose wrinkled and her ears swiveled forward, her attention focused on him. “Then where have you been for the last fifty years?”

“That’s an awesome question.” Kiki strolled around the edge of the booth and leaned against Minion’s side of the booth, arms folded and chin lifted. “I know we knew each other. I didn’t know that last night, but I know it now. So where have you been all my life, Richard? And why the hell don’t I remember you?”

Her heart had raced from the moment she stepped on the stage until the final curtain dropped. She’d dreamed of stepping up center stage, taking lead and bringing the house down. But taking control also meant bearing the brunt of the responsibility. The sheer joy she took in dancing couldn’t quite overcome the nervous zing. The improvised show went darker than she expected, but “hunting” her sisters on that stage felt good.

Good and right.

Richard had watched her from the audience. Even in the uneven darkness, her gaze found him unerringly. He drew her like the proverbial moth to his incandescently cold flame—why the hell do I think of him as cold? His passion consumed her, searing heat and unquenchable lust. In the audience, however, a deep inner light shimmered about him—blazing brighter than anyone else. Her mock hunger toward the end became very real and, if she’d possessed actual fangs, she would have sunk them into Britta’s neck.

She lingered longer backstage, apologizing to her friend, and delayed her meeting. She might have skipped it altogether, but when she peeked out into the post-show audience, she saw Minion at his table.

Halfway to the table, uneasiness and questions had swirled around her like an unstable whirlpool. She wasn’t sure what she planned to say to him—if anything at all.

“You really care about her, don’t you?” Richard’s dark chocolate voice had poured over her, soothing and arousing.

“I love her. She’s my best friend. I won’t let you take her away.” Minion’s unabashed declaration brought a smile to Kiki’s lips. She adored the little rascal.

“I love her too. I have loved her for a very long time and missed her for far too long. We were happy together.” The statement thrust a hot poker into her gut. The heat seared through layers of ice shackling her heart. The painful melt thawed her unease and filled her with questions. She knew him—she’d remembered that much in the dressing room. But he’d loved her for a long time?

He spoke to and about her with a familiar intimacy. Why? The question pounded against the inside of her skull, smacking with every thud of her heart.

“Yeah?” Minion’s voice filled with skepticism and challenge. “Then where have you been for the last fifty years?”

“That’s an awesome question.” Spurred into motion, Kiki forced her feet to move, one in front of the other, until she arrived at Minion’s side of the table. This close to Richard, a wild hunger surged through her. The familiar ache in her gums swelled with a vengeance. “I know we knew each other. I didn’t know that last night, but I know it now. So where have you been all my life, Richard? And why the hell don’t I remember you?”

He rose to his feet in a smooth, artless gesture. A hopeful smile turned up the corners of his lips, but she ignored the lust surging through her insides. Answers before pleasure.

Whoa…answers before lust? Where the hell did that come from?

“Kristina.” He held out his hand, and she studied it and him. Uncertainty quivered through her. But she refused to be chased away—or to be afraid. She took his hand, intending to shake it and retreat, but the feeling of his palm gliding along hers awoke a fresh wave of lust and eagerness. With surprising charm, he bowed his head and lifted her hand to his mouth. The whisper of his lips feathering the gentlest of kisses to her knuckles unspooled her tension.

“Richard.” He glanced up and smiled. Her heart did a little flip-flop. She would do anything for that smile—anything. Kill, steal, maim—suffer—it didn’t matter. With regret, she pulled her hand away and folded her arms across her chest again. Easier to keep from dancing into his arms or throwing herself at him.

“Please, sit with us?” He gestured to the table, and Kiki glance down at Minion. The imp gave her a wide-eyed shrug and bounced her booster seat to the side. Perching on the seat, with one leg out, Kiki knew she could bolt at anytime. Across the room, Stan leaned against the wall. As promised, she’d told him when she planned to head out, and he merely nodded.

Where she typically resented his watchfulness, she appreciated it tonight.

“I don’t know how long I will stay this time.” She lied, recklessly abandoning her plan to get laid. Minion leaned against her arm, comforting and supportive in the same innocent gesture.

Richard sat slowly. Like the night before, he dressed in comfortable, casual elegance in a blue button-down shirt and midnight-black pants. He wore them as though they had been tailored just for him.

Who knew, maybe they had?

“I was hoping you would spend the rest of the night with me.” He poured a second glass of wine and slid the glass across to her. Minion reached for it, but Kiki slapped her hand lightly.

The imp growled, and Kiki bared her teeth at her until Minion giggled. “I just wanted a sip.”

“Uh huh and the last time you had wine, you teleported all of the shoes around the casino, and it took us hours to find them. No way.” Amused, but watchful, the dancer picked up the wine and swirled it in the glass. Her stomach cramped with hunger at the sinfully sweet scent. She didn’t gulp the wine, but the first flush taste of it against her tongue doubled the hunger. Richard watched her with a vibrant intensity in his eyes.

“We have plenty,” he soothed. “Drink all you want.”

“Answer my question, and maybe I will.” Defiance unfurled. No matter how much she longed to drain the bottle, she would pace herself until he answered the mystery frustrating her.

He glanced at Minion briefly and then to her, eyebrows lifted.

“Minion, sweetie, can you excuse us for a bit?” She swallowed the rest of the wine. The coppery undertones coated her tongue like ambrosia. Sighing, she slid the glass across to Richard, and he refilled it with a small smile.

“But I brought you the file you wanted.” Minion tapped her claws against the folder. “I was sneaky careful and everything.”

Ignoring the fresh wine, she wrapped her arms around the imp and gave her a hug. “Thank you, sweetie—I appreciate it. Really. And you can totally go play with my clothes and my makeup.”

Minion’s eyes widened in disbelieving joy. “Really?”

“Absolutely. Anything you want, you go right ahead and do.” She knew she’d just invited a hurricane to blast through her closet and cosmetics table, but Minion deserved a reward.

“Thank you!” Minion bounced, kissed her cheek and squeezed Kiki super hard before poofing out in a flash of light tinged by the faintest trace of sulfur.

“She’s adorable.” The surprise in his voice tickled her senses.

Shrugging, Kiki picked up the wine and pulled the folder toward her. Now that she had it, her gut twisted with uncertainty. “She’s a friend.”

“I can tell. She doesn’t want me to take you away from here.”

“Good.” Kiki nodded once, drinking down half the glass. The warmth in her belly seeped out to her limbs, relaxing the unease. Hunger still seemed to gnaw at her backbone, and the ache in her teeth left her jaw humming. “Do you mind if we order some food?”

Richard’s gaze narrowed. “Of course not—allow me to order it?”

“Sure. Let’s see if you know what I like.” She drained the wine and started to flip the file folder open. His hand blocked the action, keeping it closed.

“Kristina, I have one favor to ask you.” The wild intensity in his gaze arrested her complaint.

“What?”

“Don’t read that yet.” He exhaled the request on a slow breath, as though it cost him to even make the suggestion. “If it is your file, it probably has some of the answers you want—but I am starting to believe that may not be the journey we need to take.”

Confusion fisted in her stomach. “You make me crazy.”

His quick grin made her pulse jump. “The feeling is mutual, darling. I want to answer your questions and I have more than a few of my own—but tonight I just want to be with you, talk to you and spend time together. The past—let’s leave it there tonight.”

What doesn’t he want me to know? “Do you really love me?”

“Yes.” No flowery declarations, no passionate oaths—just one simple word ringing with absolute certainty.

Chewing her lips, she drummed her fingers against the folder. “Did I love you?”

“Yes.” No hesitation. He covered her nervous fingers with his hand.

Her heart thudded against her ribs. “Can I trust you?”

“Yes.”

She believed him. She couldn’t explain why or sort out the tangles of it in her mind, but she believed him. “Okay. I won’t read it tonight but I want answers.”

“So do I.” He squeezed her hand and motioned to one of the succubi. The flirty little bitch came over and gave Richard a fuck-me-now smile.

Kiki growled, but Richard rolled his thumb along the side of her hand, soothing the anger. She pulled her gaze from the waitress to meet his apologetic, if amused, eyes. She barely heard the order he gave to the waitress or the request for another bottle and a different drink. She didn’t calm until the waitress sashayed away.

“Your teeth are showing, my love.” The tease didn’t settle the irritated anger flaming through her. “And they need not. I have exactly who I want right here.”

Barely mollified, she pulled her hand away and drank her wine. “She all but tried to climb into your lap.”

“She’s a succubus. They thrive on sexual tension and feed off pleasure. But she isn’t who I want.” The heat of his gaze scorched her, and her sex clenched at the memory of his pounding into her, the fever on his skin, the pleasure winding through her. No, he definitely didn’t look at the succubus with the raw need he displayed then.

Okay, I feel a little better.

As if reading her thoughts, Richard laughed softly and linked his pinky around hers. She knew she should pull away, but the intimate, possessive gesture unlocked some of her tension.

“Did you like the show?”

“I loved the show.” His immediate response surprised—and delighted—her. “I didn’t particularly like you strutting nude up there, but you were magnificent.”

“Well, I wasn’t completely naked. I had on a lot of diamonds—and glitter dust—all strategically placed. See?” She pulled her dress to the side and bared one breast. Her nipple twinkled, outlined by gleaming cosmetic gems. Lust rippled across his expression and tightened his jaw. His hand locked around hers.

He flicked a look at his men, and they came together, backs to the table. He didn’t want anyone else to see, and they complied, blocking her breast on display from the nearby tables. Not that she cared, but he obviously did. Excitement scrambled through her. Her nipple hardened, and the quivering in her thighs doubled.

“It’s exceptionally lovely.” The strained words sounded forced. Maybe she shouldn’t tease him. If they were closer, she would settle his hand against the breast just to see what he would do. Another thrill skated over her skin. The table wasn’t that wide. She could slide around, lay his hand to her breast and slide her hands over that silk shirt.

Would he make love to her right here? Temptation tingled up her spine, and she squeezed her legs together. Sliding the fabric of her dress closed, she couldn’t suppress a shiver at the whisper of aching need racing from her nipple to her sex and back again.

Just looking at him turns me on.

He exhaled noisily and picked up his wine glass, she claimed hers and held it out. “To unexpected delight?”

“To familiar pleasure.” Their glasses clinked together and she drank. The waitress returned and set out two large platters of food and a frothy red drink. Her stomach growled, and Kiki laughed.

Richard grinned at her and released her hand. They dug in. The meat was exceptionally—downright bloody—rare. It tasted of heaven. The frothy drink was rich and super sweet. It did more to quench her hunger than the food. They spoke little, but he watched her eat with gusto throughout the meal. She refused to contain her enthusiasm. It had been a while since she’d been this hungry and, for the first time in days, she managed to assuage her cramping stomach.

Satisfied and replete, she let him reclaim her hand after the succubus cleared away the meal. The alcohol zooming through her system warmed her, relaxing the post-stage anxiety and filling her with a deep sense of contentment.

“So, tell me, Richard, where have you been all my life?” She meant the question to be playful, but a core of unexpected sadness echoed within the words.

His fingers tightened around hers. “Waiting for you, my love.”

Chapter Six

Stopping her from reading the file was an instinctual choice. He wanted her to know their life but he didn’t know what it actually contained. It could be lies, a carefully wedged play on the part of the casino to keep them apart. The lack of response from the Overseers rang his internal alarms, but it was more than that. He wanted Kristina to remember their love, not be told.

Her eyes darkened at his declaration, and he smiled. Her arousal perfumed the air around them.

“But why wait? I’ve been here for years.” The poignant question stabbed him.

“Because I was a thoughtless, self-centered prick.” The criticism—even self-directed—stung. But he couldn’t escape the truth of his actions. No matter his reasons or belief that she would come back—he had let her go and he hadn’t chased her.

Never again.

Kristina tilted her head. She picked up the Blooded Mary and wrinkled her nose when she found the glass empty. Richard caught the succubus’ eye and pointed to the drink. The woman bowed her head in acknowledgement. The fresh-blood drink had done wonders for her color, returning warmth to her pale cheeks and diminishing the sharpness of her features. No matter what else he did, he wanted her fully blooded before that curse broke. Starvation could drive the natural born vampire mad—the turned suffered a worse fate. Desiccation of the body led to destruction of the mind until only a revenant remained. Whatever curse held her bound kept her starving body alive.

The succubus delivered the drink, and Kristina picked it up with delight. She drank down nearly half of it before setting the glass down again. “Okay, I’m confused and I don’t mind admitting it. We knew each other before I woke up here. But I don’t remember the times before the casino. For me, I’ve always been here. This is my home and my family.”

The words hurt, but he ignored the abrasive scrape to his soul. He was her home and her family. The only family she needed—or wanted.

“And I wish I could explain that. But I can’t. I don’t know what happened to earn you this fate.” His internal clocked ticked loudly in his mind. So little time remained in his agreement with Andrew. The rest of this night and all of the next—a few scant hours. “We disagreed, as we often did. You left, as you always did.” He softened the words with a smile. “It was your habit to storm off in great dramatic fashion—just as it was your habit to return, and we would make up.”

“But I didn’t come back.” She licked her lips, as though tasting the truth of those words.

“No.”

“And you didn’t look.” The accusation rode a gentle tone, but still staked his heart.

“Not at first.” His pride curdled on his tongue. “I thought you were trying to teach me a lesson and were simply being stubborn.”

“Wow. I sound like a bitch.” Kristina sat back, withdrawn and introspective.

“Absolutely not.” He swallowed back the urge to yell. “Occasionally insecure, over the top, radiant with laughter and verve for life—but never a bitch.”

“I walk out and disappear for fifty years? Sounds pretty bitchy to me.” She wrinkled her nose and traced a finger over the manila folder. “And if it took you fifty years to even look—why now?”

“I didn’t wait that long. I swear that to you. I began discreet inquires within a few months—the longest you ever left me before was two moons. But no one knew where you were. We tore the city apart, and you weren’t there. I sent hunters out, and not even a whisper of you came on the wind.” His heart clenched. One of the hunters had suggested she had walked into the sun, but he’d refused to accept that no matter how many years passed.

“So I walk out, disappear for fifty years and you just happen to show up in Vegas, and I just happen to run into you in a bar?” Skepticism ripened in the statement. “I’m really not buying that.”

“Malcolm Reynolds brought me a picture of you. One you texted to your friend, Jeannie.” This was not going at all well. They needed to be alone—at least there he could seduce her at his leisure and quiet the uncertainty in her expression. “Would you care to come upstairs with me again? We can—”

“Yeah, no.” She shook her head swiftly. “We’ll go upstairs and have monster sex and, while that’s really hot, I don’t think that will solve any of this.” She rubbed a hand against her face. “Jeannie left here with a vampire. It was really romantic, and she’s having a blast out there, but she remembered her life, and I don’t. I don’t think I really want to go back to a place or a person that I walked out on so regularly he didn’t even realize something happened.” She drained the last of her drink and stood.

Richard rose with her. “Kristina…”

“Seriously? I want to be called Kiki. If you love me as much as you claim, you could at least show me that much respect.”

Taken aback at the anger boiling in the words, he nodded. “Very well, Kiki. Please don’t go.”

“I want to go for a walk—out of here. Maybe around the casino. I need to think.” She withdrew further, retreating from the playfulness. The blood humming in her system restored her strength and with it the ability to reject him.

It burned him to ask, but he pressed on anyway. “May I join you? You don’t remember, and I do—the woman I remember is Kristina. But you are right. You’re Kiki now. I would very much like to know Kiki.”

She bit her lip. “And if I open this file folder?”

He curled his fingers into his palms, fighting the urge to drag the folder away. “That is your choice. I have told you why I didn’t want you to read it—”

She flipped the folder open and stared at the page. His gaze dropped to it with a sigh. Kristina laughed, the damn-near unfriendly sound carrying very little humor. Glancing from her to the page, he frowned.

That’s cheating—do your own dirty work.—H.

She flipped through the blank pages and laughed again. “Apparently Heidi is not on board with this.”

Eyes narrowing, he scooped up the lot and scanned the pages. They carried no hint of magic or scent at all. They were exactly what they appeared to be. “I’m sorry.”

Kristina shrugged. “It’s okay. I liked the idea of cheating, so I guess she’s right about that. I don’t like not remembering.”

Setting the file down, he rubbed her arm. “I don’t like that you don’t remember either. If I could give them back to you…”

“You tried.” She tipped her head up to study his face. “Last night, you told me to remember in that deep and spooky voice.”

Uncertain of how to react to his voice being called deep and spooky, Richard sighed and nodded. “Your blood—it answered mine when I called you. I thought surely your memories would do the same.”

Kristina slid her arm through his, the comfortable intimacy in the familiar gesture filled him with hope. Anton took care of the check, and Richard guided her to the exit. Awareness simmered over him—the salt-and-pepper haired guardian followed. He spared the man a hard look.

“It’s okay. I told Heidi I wouldn’t do the runaway game again, so Stan can tag along. You have your guards. I have mine.” Playfulness erased the disappointment on her face. They were halfway across the lobby when she glanced up at him. “Wait, if your blood called mine, and I answered—dude, am I a vampire too?”

No way to soften this answer. “Yes.”

Excitement struggled with resentment over his answer. Kiki squeezed his arm, and swept her gaze across the throngs of people entering and exiting the casino. Women hung on to their men or each other, laughing carelessly. Hardened gamblers walked with determination, while dabblers traveled in various stages of enthusiasm from profound disappointment to quivering excitement.

They were all on their way to or arriving from somewhere. They knew who they were, who they were with and what they were doing.

“Kris—Kiki?”

“Shh.” She shook head, unwilling to talk yet. A vampire. She was a vampire. How the hell did a person forget that? How did I forget? I love vampires… Was that the key though? Or at least the reason for her passion for all things vampire? She loved them all—regardless of their mythology or abilities. Give a character a pair of fangs, a lust for blood and some sexy times, and she was all in.

Because I am one? I don’t drink blood…

They were inside the casino proper, just strolling arm in arm with their little entourage fanning out behind them. She barely noticed the blinking lights, soft sighs of disappointment or quivers of excitement rippling through the players they passed. Every one of the dancers came from somewhere. Some remembered, while some chose to forget. She didn’t know any other life.

She’d awoken that first day in her cell, and Heidi had introduced her to the dancers, and she went to work. It was what she did.

Night in and night out.

For fifty years…eighteen thousand nights…and I never really wondered why I didn’t remember. I didn’t care. Troubled, she ran her tongue against her upper teeth. The flat surfaces didn’t provide any answers. She explored her gum line, and despite the faint aching throb, no fangs popped out or descended or whatever the hell they actually did. Richard stopped abruptly, and she glanced up from her inner musings to see a blond gentleman blocking their path.

The tension flaring in the space between the two men was palpable. Glancing from Richard to the stranger and back again, Kiki gave him a nudge. “We can go around.”

“No. He can.” Richard rubbed her hand where it rested gently on his arm.

“Or you could introduce me.” The blond man took a step forward. Kiki didn’t see so much as feel Richard’s bodyguards close the gap behind them. Suppressed violence rippled through the air.

“She doesn’t need to know you.” The politeness in his tone didn’t conceal the disdain—or the dismissal.

“And maybe she would like to make that determination for herself.” Considering they both referred to her like she wasn’t present, she tugged her hand free from Richard’s arm and held it out to the blond. “Kiki.”

“Charming, Kiki. I am Andrew and very pleased to make your acquaintance.” He cupped her hand, his cool touch trailing ice over her fingers and, like Richard before him, brushed a kiss to her knuckles. But unlike Richard, his gaze didn’t lift to her so much as taunt the vampire at her side.

“Not sure how pleased I am, Andy.” She took her hand back. The undercurrent flowing between the two teamed with antagonism. “Please excuse us, we were off to—”

“I’m sorry, my dear. I’m afraid I can’t do that.” Andrew straightened, and three other vampires drifted out from next to the slot machines and tables to form a semi-circle behind him.

“Are you really planning to break your own word here, Andrew?” Richard’s laconic tone was a lie. Steel, finely honed and razor sharp, slid along the bottom of his words.

“Tsk tsk, Richard. Your paranoia is showing. I’m actually here by invitation to greet the new lead dancer of the Midnight Mystery Lounge.” The blond vampire edged closer, and Kiki pinned him with a glare.

“Seriously? You’ve never greeted a lead dancer in all the years I’ve been here.” Jeannie would have said something. Pandora’s often-requested presence among the high rollers was common knowledge. Anthony, however, was wildly possessive of Roseâtre, and despite the pricks of envy Kiki felt for Pandora and Roseâtre’s success and happiness, she never longed for their mates.

“You rarely venture out so publically unless you’re playing, Kiki. You wouldn’t know. And Pandora arrived here long before you did. I dined with her after her first night taking lead—didn’t I, Stan?” Andrew looked past them both to the guardian.

The salt-and-pepper haired man gave the vampire a bored look. “Do not invite me into this game of bait-and-switch. You are making the other casino guests uncomfortable.”

He wasn’t wrong. Several players at the local slot machines gathered their coins and moved away. In fact, they and their respective guards were virtually alone in the alley created by the slot machines.

“Boring man, really. I don’t know why that stage manager keeps you around.” Andrew dismissed him with a wave of his hand. “So, Miss Kiki—if you will join me, we can discuss your performance.”

“Hmm, no.” She shook her head. The subtext flying back and forth irritated her, but beyond that, she wanted to spend the time with Richard.

The other vampire didn’t seem to take the hint, reaching out to take her arm and tugging her forward. Richard’s hand caught his wrist before she moved an inch, and the potential for violence stormed through the gathering. The bodyguards surged forward on all sides.

“Release her.” Richard’s words collided with Stan’s. Guns appeared in the guards hands, and an actual sword blade pressed into Andrew’s throat—and she was sandwiched between them all—the bone about to be pulled apart.

Shadows surrounded them, pressing in from all sides. Andrew released her immediately, and Richard drew her back as a shifter—because nothing human was as large as the man—stepped between them.

“Problem?” His voice was a growl, low and menacing.

“Yes.” Kiki announced before Richard could shush her or anyone else could speak. The man turned to look at her. Wild heat burned in a pair of yellow eyes.

Wolf.

Her nostrils flared. Wolf. She didn’t question how she knew. At this point, she was just going to roll with it.

“What is the problem, ma’am?” The wolf offered her a polite, if somewhat feral, smile.

“That vampire assaulted me.” She pointed at Andrew. “Apparently he thinks that just because I star in a show, he has the right to manhandle me. Richard and Stan were defending me.”

The wolf flicked a look from her to the guardian and Richard and then slowly turned to face Andrew. “You have no authority here, Prince. You realize that, right?”

“You have no authority out there either, dog, but I allow you to do your job.” The blond straightened and arrogance flowed over him like some dramatic cape.

“Fantastic. Then you’re really going to appreciate this.” The shadows converged on Andrew and his party and escorted them away.

Kiki bit her lip when her gaze clashed with Andrew’s cold one. This wasn’t over.

The wolf shifted, blocking the vampire’s line of sight and looked at her again. “You should return to your theatre. It might be safer there.”

“I feel perfectly safe now.” She dredged up a smile. What a completely insane night. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He ignored Richard and nodded to the guardian before striding after his men. “Stan.”

The bubble of tension burst with their exit and allowed the sounds of the casino to rush back in. Exhaling a shaky sigh, she looked at her wrist and sighed. A bruise matching Andrew’s fingers blackened her flesh. Dammit.

“Are you hurt?” Richard lifted the damaged arm to look at critically.

“No, not really. It’s just ugly.” Maybe she should go back before more trouble occurred. Go back, drink and try to figure out what the hell was going on.

“Why don’t we go upstairs? I know you wanted to walk around, but we can be comfortable, and you won’t have to worry about any other incidents.” A reasonable alternative, and she didn’t want to leave him. Or did she?

Haven’t I already left him? Left him so hard and so long I forgot… Pivoting on a heel, she looked at Stan. “Do you remember when I arrived at the casino? The first time?” Because she had to have visited the Arcana Royale to be trapped here—that made sense. Maybe the first thing to make sense since Heidi announced she would be dancing lead in Roseâtre’s absence.

“Yes.” Stan nodded slowly.

“Do you know what happened to me?” She tried to read his expressions, but his absolute neutrality revealed nothing.

“I do.”

Hope swelled within. “Will you tell me?”

“No.” No explanation, no terseness, just a simple, kind no.

“But you have to. Heidi won’t tell me. Richard doesn’t know.”

“I’m sorry.” The contrition sounded real but hardly helped her situation.

“Don’t be sorry—tell me!”

Richard’s arm wrapped around her middle and pulled her back to his chest. The strength in the embrace warmed and enveloped her in security. “Sweetheart, he may not be able to tell you. As Minion was not able to give you the answers you crave. I think we are on our own in this, and it is up to us to solve the puzzle.”

A flicker of a nod from Stan confirmed the vampire’s words, and Kiki sighed. “Fine. I hate this.”

“You are not alone. I swear that to you—you will never be alone again. We will figure this out. Together.”

The promise helped, but it didn’t take away the feeling that she should know all of these answers. She should understand why this happened. Sadness crashed through her—it was her debut night, and instead of celebrating and dancing with her girls, she stood out in the middle of the casino amidst a sea of strangers—alone.

Richard pressed the gentlest of kisses to the side of her neck. The intimate little caress sent another spiral of light to battle the darkness filling her.

No, she wasn’t alone.

“Okay, upstairs.” Despite agreeing with the idea, disappointment unfurled inside of her. She wanted to play and to celebrate. But even the walk to the elevators dragged, sedate and controlled. Stan rode up with them, but like the two guards, he remained outside when she and Richard entered the suite.

She walked three steps inside and turned. “Look, I don’t know where to start—” But Richard’s mouth slanted over hers in a hungry kiss that curled her toes. She forgot about thinking and wrapped her arms around his neck. His hands roamed over her body, and the banked excitement from the performance burst free.

Okay, this was a good place to start.

Chapter Seven

Rubbing against him, she kissed him harder and moaned as his hands pushed the dress down. The cotton and silk body sheath hugged her curves, but provided no real barrier to his touch. Never breaking the kiss, she fumbled her way to freeing the buttons on his shirt, ripping the fabric apart and sending them flying. Bare-chested, they kissed, exploring a passion that threatened to consume her.

What a way to go…

He swept her up, and her legs wrapped around his hips. He carried her through the apartments, tongues tangling together. Every step rubbed his cock against the sensitive folds of her sex. His fingers explored every contour of her hips and ass, gliding up and down her spine. She didn’t know who she had been, but tonight she was the woman who wanted him.

Badly.

He set her down on the bed gently, as though she were the most precious of items. She arched her hips up, eager to feel him thrusting inside her, but he pressed her back against the bed and trailed kisses down her throat to her breasts. His tongue outlined delicate circles against her flesh, tracing each nipple, sucking off the pasted diamonds until she thought she might go mad from the caress.

He worked his way across her belly, warm breath teasing her skin. His hands pressed her thighs wider. Pushing up onto her elbows, she glanced down to meet his gaze as he blew warm air against her clit. A whimper clawed its way up her throat.

She wanted him.

Needed him.

He flicked his tongue over her clit, and she let her head fall back, closed her eyes and moaned. Decadent pulses of heat skated up from the lavish contact. Every time he rolled the little nub, her body shook from the force of it. The sweet, sensuousness was familiar, as were the lazy circles he drew around her clit. She expected his fingers, and when he slipped two inside her to thrust gently, the world shattered in pleasure.

He sucked her clit between his lips and plunged her relentlessly toward orgasm. She dug her fingers into the bed and let go, riding his hands and mouth until the world completely rent apart and collapsed. Richard petted her through the orgasm, running his hands up and down her over-sensitized flesh, eliciting more tingles of rapture. He knew her body better than she did.

The little stab of resentfulness popped the balloon of sin she basked in. A growl vibrated in her throat, and she wrenched herself free of his caresses and rolled him over. Straddling his hips, she wrapped her hand around his cock and stroked him from base to tip, watching him.

A lazy, wanton smile curved his lips upward. He trailed two fingers against her cheek. “What do you want, darling?”

“I want you. I want to know you the way you know me.” She dragged her nails down his chest, leaving three red welts on the taut muscle. She rolled her thumb against the crown of his cock, spreading the dampness over the tip. Her teeth ground together—

She wanted to bite him.

But she had no fangs.

He sat up, catching her mouth in a hard kiss and working their lips together until her jaw relaxed. Another moan worked free, and she guided his cock to her entrance, rubbing him against her sex until they were both soaked and panting. He pushed her hands aside and positioned himself, thrusting into her in one swift stroke that left her gasping for air. He clamped his hands on her hips and seated himself deep inside—and then stopped moving.

Her gaze jerked to his, and she snarled. Her nipples ached, wanting his attention, and her sex clamped down on him, squeezing, and she wanted to move—to thrust and ride until they fell over the edge. But he resisted her attempts to thrust, holding the door to their mutual pleasure locked and barred.

Tangling his fingers into her hair, he guided her mouth to his throat. “Take what you want, darling…”

“I can’t.” Despair twisted inside of her. She tested her tongue against her teeth, but they remained flat, squared off and even the scent of him—musk, masculine and aroused—didn’t draw them out.

“You can.” He soothed, his free hand trailed caresses up and down her spine and his body withdrew and then thrust up inside of her hard.

She moaned, opening her lips to draw a sucking kiss against his neck.

“Take what you want.”

The salty taste of his skin teased her, and she grazed the flesh with her teeth. He jerked against her and flipped them over so he seated deep between thighs. She wrapped her legs around his hips, and he angled his throat to stay with her mouth.

“Harder.” The order reverberated through her as he drove himself in to the hilt. She bit down, terrified of hurting him—she couldn’t puncture his throat—not like he had…

“Again.” He growled and thrust.

She dug her nails into his back and started to pull away, but his fingers tightened in her hair and he dragged her mouth against his throat. Her mouth throbbed, in tune with every thrust he drove into her. Stars danced across her vision; her whole body shook with tremors of need—awareness of every brush of their skin. The pounding of his heart echoed against her ears, and she reared her head back and clamped onto his throat. Her teeth elongated, sharpening in a burst of pain, and she pierced his skin.

Moaning, she tasted him. Her head spun with the dizzying connection. His blood tasted like the sweetest nectar. It spilled across her tongue, and she rode the shockwave rocking through her body. His thrusts grew more fevered, but she drowned against the intensity of the feeling. A doorway opened inside of her, and he flooded her with pleasure. She saw herself, standing inside a rustic bar, bound breasts pushed up against the corset and grinning saucily at him.

She danced to some jaunty tune. Weaving in and out of the tables. Men occasionally tried to grab her. She always slapped them away with a smile and a flippant comment. A shyness in her eyes when she looked up at him and a breathless wonder.

The images flipped at her so fast, she couldn’t comprehend them all, and they tumbled her over, the intensity doubling and redoubling.

Her heart echoed the frantic pace of his. Mine…always mine…

She didn’t know whose thought that was, but it plunged over the edge with her as her body came apart, a second orgasm tipping her into a third. He stiffened against her and thrust a final time before following her over the edge and collapsing together, all warm limbs and nuzzling kisses. She lapped at his throat, closing the wound on instinct. Her fangs relaxed, losing their shape, and she lay there quivering.

He loves me more than himself. The depth of emotion she tasted in his blood, the loving memories he treasured—they filled her with wonder.

And terrified her.

What if she never remembered him?

Or worse, what if she did and she didn’t want him?

I left him once, didn’t I?

They lay wrapped up in each other, Richard’s face pressed against her throat. She trailed her fingers up and down his spine. She wanted to know every inch of him, to remember it the way he remembered her.

Why did I leave?

“Richard?” She whispered his name, softly and gentle. If he slept, she wanted him to sleep. Did vampires actually sleep?

He sighed and lifted his head. The troubled look in his eyes warned her that his mind traveled the same twisting path hers did. “Yes, my love?”

“What if I never remember?” No sense in holding her fear to her breast. Better to rip the bandage off and face it head on.

“You will.” Such confidence.

Lifting her brows, she trailed her fingers over his shoulder and up his neck to the spot she bit. No mark remained on his smooth, hot flesh. “You don’t know that. What if my memory is like this wound—gone, healed over and never to return?”

He shook his head once. “No. I will not accept that. A few days ago you didn’t even know you were a vampire. You didn’t have fangs. And yet here you are—you know you know me, you drank from me. What did you see when you did?”

“Me. I saw how you see me.” Tears gathered in her eyes. “You remember everything—and I’m a blank slate.”

“Not true.” Richard shifted, rolling onto his side and propping his head on a hand. His palm rubbed over her belly, warm and possessive. “You are still you. You are the woman you’ve always been. It’s all inside you—the quirky antics, devoted loyalty, playful mannerisms. You’re still my Kristina.”

She pushed his hand aside and sat up, scooting to the edge of the bed. She needed to think and not just to roll him over and fuck his brains out again.

Although that idea held a certain appeal.

“I left you.” She didn’t look at him when she spoke, staring unseeingly across the room to the leafy wallpaper with its exotic designs. “I walked out.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

He was silent for so long, she thought he might not answer. He sighed, and the bed dipped as he moved. He rose and walked around. She tried not to watch the muscles ripple across his ass, but for a man—a vampire—who dressed in expensive suits, he cut a fine figure with nothing on his body.

Pouring a drink, he shot her a questioning glance, and she nodded. Her body hummed, whether from drinking his blood or the sex, she couldn’t really put her finger on the cause. He passed her a glass. She scented the coppery hints of blood. He’d been giving her blood steadily with every meal, but she couldn’t resent it.

She felt great.

“Why did I leave, Richard?”

“We argued. We often did.” He sighed and walked over to sit on the bed next to her. “You—you were always supportive of my business efforts. You even supported my bid to take New York. But the busier I became, the more you seemed to resent it.”

“And?”

“And one evening you wanted to go to some event. I couldn’t go because of a small crisis with some of the younglings who went too far. I needed to attend the situation. You were angry with me and demanded that I go, because I promised…” He grimaced and tossed back the drink.

“So you wouldn’t go to a party with me, and I walked out? What kind of shallow bitch was I?”

“You were not a shallow bitch.” His voice hardened, and he caught his hand around her neck, capturing her gaze with a passionate force. “Never—ever—refer to yourself that way again. Do you understand me?”

Trepidation shivered through her, and she nodded slowly.

He leaned in and kissed her, soft and sweet. Forehead resting against hers, he studied her eyes. “It was hardly the first time I disappointed you, sweet. I didn’t see it then, but I was often too busy to do any of the things you loved, and you were frustrated, battling for my attention when an entire city needed me. I told myself time and again, that it was just this one time more and that I would make it up to you, but that night—that night you were done with my choices. You left me to my phone calls and went to change. When you returned, you were dressed in the most provocative of fashions.”

“I tried to seduce you into going with me.” It was a guess, but it sounded like her. Dress her best and strut it out there for him to see and weep.

“Yes, and I was a complete bastard. I forbid you from wearing the outfit out of our home and then asked you to please stop so I could just get the mess cleaned up.” The forlorn note in his voice turned dark. “I was an idiot.”

“I went out that way anyway, didn’t I?”

“Yes.” He gave her a small smile. “Stubborn, sexy and supremely confident, you told me to go to hell and enjoy the heat, because you wouldn’t be there to warm my bed again. You stormed out.”

“And never came back.” Sadness welled up inside of her. Loneliness echoed in his words—loneliness and self-recrimination. She knew herself well enough to know if she had truly been that angry with him, she would have made a spectacle of herself—rubbed his nose in it.

“No. And at first, I thought it was to teach me a lesson, so I was stubborn about looking for you. I was determined that you would come back when you were ready, and I would be there. We would make up, settle our differences and it would be perfect again.”

“But I didn’t come back—” Kiki pulled away and took a drink, rolling the information around in her brain. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“Well, I didn’t think so. But you were angry and very frustrated—rightfully so. I should have looked for you that night.”

“No, that’s not what I mean.” Catching his hand in hers, she lifted his fingers to her lips and kissed them with affection, the gesture both familiar and new. “Maybe I don’t remember being her, your Kristina, but I know me. I know what I would have done if I thought someone was ignoring me. Hell, I know what I do now. I make a huge scene. I dress up, I sneak out and I do everything I’m not supposed to do because I want someone to notice. So, if I was really trying to prove a point to you, I would have made a hell of a scene—one you couldn’t ignore.”

So the question was why hadn’t she done that?

Richard stilled, his expression turning pensive. “Yes. You had done something similar before—in London. I still blame you for that Bram Stoker nonsense.”

Her mouth twitched. “Really?”

“Absolutely. You went out drinking with every would-be writer and playwright in the countryside. You were determined to make headlines everywhere you could until I dragged you back in and took you to the States. London bored you—you wanted an adventure.”

Kiki laughed. “Okay, I want to remember that for sure.”

“You would.” He teased, but a somber note arrested his smile. “Still, you didn’t even arrive at the party you wanted me to go to.”

“Okay, so I was mad. I got dressed up. I wanted to teach you a lesson and make a scene. But I didn’t go to that party. Did I have guards?” It made sense, Richard traveled with them. Wouldn’t she have had her own?

“Yes. But you escaped them, trading vehicles and visiting about two-dozen different dance clubs. They spent the better part of two days trying to hunt you before they told me they didn’t know where you went.” Violence surfaced in his voice, a dark threat, and Kiki winced. She didn’t envy those guards that explanation.

Chewing her lower lip, she tried to put the pieces together. Maybe she didn’t remember, but what would she do? Right now, if she wanted his attention and he wasn’t giving it—she lifted her drink and stared at the faint bruises on her wrist. They faded, almost gone, but still…

“Richard?”

“Yes, my love?”

“Have you and Andrew always not gotten along?” She knew the vampire prince of Las Vegas, they all did. He was a regular visitor at the casino, but she’d never really cared for him, and after the events earlier this evening, she could safely say she despised him.

“We knew him in the Wolcotts, darling, and no, we have never gotten along. The sycophants around him too easily sway his choices. It’s why Las Vegas is so perfect for—” He stopped and she could almost see the leap his mind made. The leap hers already assumed.

After all, how better to irritate the hell out of her lover than to…

“You didn’t?” He didn’t quite glare at her, but disbelief and disgust twisted in his expression.

“I don’t know that I did and I’m rather hoping not, because he’s a lot skeevy, but I wanted to teach you a lesson and get your attention—why not seek out someone who would thoroughly piss you off?”

Pain flashed through Richard’s eyes, a dark and seemingly bottomless well of it that vanished behind a shuttering in his expression. He pulled away from her and rose. Kiki sighed. She didn’t want to be that woman—not anymore. Even if it meant never remembering, she didn’t want to hurt him that way.

Ever again.

“Richard, I’m—”

He held up a hand, silencing her. He walked over to the dresser and set his glass down. Hands braced on the wood, he seemed to study the counter top. Every muscle in his body rigidly flexed.

“I’m sorry,” she began again. But he didn’t seem to hear her words. He stood so very still.

The sound of the wood snapping cut through the silence as he ripped the dresser sideways. Glass crashed to the floor, and the wood slammed into the wall and shattered.

Richard exhaled a long breath. “You have nothing to be sorry about, my love.” The control in his voice didn’t match his actions at all. Nor did it reflect the fists of fury clenched in his gut. Kristina may have toyed with the Prince of Las Vegas, but he knew his bride…she would never have taken it beyond the teasing stage.

The shattered wood and glass piled against the wall, and he turned to look at her wide-eyed worry and fought to find a smile. “You didn’t do anything wrong—impulsive, I’ll grant you. But I trust you, Kristina.”

“That’s great,” her voice trembled. “But how can you when I don’t know for sure? I must have done something that landed me here. Heidi said she didn’t own my contract, which means someone else does. I have no memory of a life before being in the Midnight Mystery Lounge, but obviously I had one. And…” She rose and walked toward him, unabashed and beautiful in her nudity. “…and I don’t know. I don’t know how to find the answers and I don’t know if I want them.”

He frowned. “You don’t want to remember?” Did he hear that correctly?

She picked her way past the glass and debris until she stood in front of him. Cupping his cheeks in her palms, she stared at him with such honest devotion it took his breath away. She still loves me. He believed it, tasted it in her kisses and her caresses—but the surge of emotion he felt from her now made those other experiences pale. His blood flowed through her, the fractured, latent connection sizzled to real life.

She loved him.

“I don’t want to be the woman who hurt you.”

He looped his arms around her and tugged her close. “I hurt me too, darling. I do not blame you for our fights and I would never blame you for what has befallen you. I blame myself. I blame my stubbornness and pride. I put my city before you and I shouldn’t have done that—”

“But being Prince must mean a lot of work and a lot of responsibility—I could have been more understanding.”

“You understood for several centuries, Kristina.” He leaned back and mirrored her pose, holding her face in his hands. “Centuries. You supported every effort I made, you didn’t complain…”

She snorted. “Seriously? Ever?”

“Okay, you complained.” A reluctant grin tugged at his lips. “But you never stopped supporting me. I should have been more sensitive to your needs.” But it was easier to say later. I would do it later, and then later disappeared, and you weren’t there. He swallowed the grief of her absence, burying it deep. He’d sustained himself with irritation and anger for decades. He could hold on longer—hold on until she was his again.

Frustration rent through him, but he kissed her as gently as he could before letting her go so he could begin cleaning up the destruction. He would have to replace Malcolm’s furniture.

“I could talk to Andrew. He’s often in the Arcana Royale…”

“No.” He glared at her over his shoulder. “You will stay away from him.”

“But we still don’t know why I’m here or how to get me free. Malcolm had to play a game for Pandora. And Roseâtre… Roseâtre was only trapped because she willed it…” Kristina jerked and glanced at her wrists, examining them carefully.

Sweeping the glass onto a discarded sheet, he frowned. “What are you doing?”

“Roseâtre had on slave bands, but you couldn’t see them. I just wanted to see if I did.”

“You can’t use slave bands on a vampire, love.” He gave her an indulgent smile when she grumbled. “You can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because vampires answer to their makers, the slave band can’t force them to do anything because—” He considered the reasons behind the sire-child bond. A maker had to be able to control their child, but the natural born—their makers were their parents. Those bonds stayed in effect until the parent died. Yet, slave bands didn’t affect the natural born. The act of making a human into a vampire was difficult enough, and the unpredictable results on the turned negated any potential gain.

“No. Not slave bands and even if they did, that wouldn’t take away your memory.” He carried the debris into the other room and set it in a corner. Kristina still stood in the middle of the bedroom, looking a little lost and forlorn when he returned. “We will figure this out, I swear that to you. I will not leave you here.”

“Leave?” The color in her cheeks faded. “You can’t stay here.”

“Don’t worry about it, darling. We will figure this out before I have to go.” He had one sundown left. One more day. It wasn’t enough time.

It has to be.

“Come—” He held out his hand. “Come sit with me by the fire and just be with me for now. The sun will rise in just a little while. Let us have that time…”

“No.” The rejection stung, but she took his hand and squeezed it. “I can’t. I’m sorry. I promised Heidi I would return before the sun came up and I don’t—I don’t want you to see what happens when it does.”

His gut clenched. “I already saw, love. I would rather be with you and have you know I will be here when you waken.”

But she shook her head. “No. I hate that you saw me like that. I really hate it. I want you to remember me like this. Not cold and asleep and lost. I wake at sunset. I’m whole again. And I have to dance tonight…”

Anger crashed through him again, anger at the situation, at the casino, at the stage manager—at himself. He held her in his arms. He’d tasted her sweet lips, and she’d drunk from him but still she wasn’t free. If only he just had to kill someone—Andrew. He could kill him. But would that be enough to free her?

“Please, Richard.” It was the soft note of pleading around the first word that undid him. “Please don’t watch when it happens. Let me go away where you can’t see. I swear to you as soon as the performance is over, I will be yours again.”

He wanted to deny her, to hold her captive and tell the whole hotel to go to hell. If he held her, maybe he could stop the curse from taking her. But that was what he wanted—not what she was asking.

“I hate letting you go.” He admitted. He wasn’t sure he physically could let her go. She’d escaped the night before because he’d been too dazzled by their reunion and her rebuff to stop her. But could he really hold her captive?

“I hate having to go…but thank you. You will be at the show, you promise?”

“Of course.” He would never leave her side again if given his way. She rewarded him with another kiss and snuggled against his chest, resting her head on his shoulder. Tomorrow night could very well be their last together…

He clamped off the thought and discarded it. It would not be their last, no matter what it cost him. He wouldn’t allow it.

“I’m going to shower.” She slipped away and sidestepped the glittering shards of glass in the carpet. He followed her inside and leaned against the wall. She turned on the hot jets and glanced over at him. “You could join me, you know…”

He smiled slowly. “I like to watch.”

“Dirty, dirty boy.” She winked and slid a hand over her breast. His whole body twitched as she rolled her thumb back and forth over it until it puckered. “Okay, if you like to watch. I’ll make sure it’s a show.”

She stepped under the water and left the door open. She took her time rubbing the water onto her skin. Eventually, she added soap, and when the washcloth glided up between her thighs, he launched off the wall and into the shower.

Scooping her up, he pressed her flat against the wall and claimed her mouth, thrusting into her in the same motion. Her laughter rang into his ears, and he let himself drown in her touch.

Thirty minutes later, he helped her into her dress and laid a kiss against her shoulder. “I love you, Kristina. Please don’t forget that.”

“I love you too.” Her easy declaration made his soul sing. “I may not remember where we met or all the years we spent together or even how I ended up here…but I know I love you. I won’t give up on us.”

He kissed her, slow and soft, and gentle, but when she pulled away, he let her go. He prowled after her as she walked out to the sitting room and reclaimed her shoes, shadowing her all the way to the door. The sun would rise soon—he could feel it in his blood. Another long, slow kiss at the door and he wanted to bolt it shut, but he forced himself to open it. Anton and David waited patiently along with her guardian.

He crushed the door handle as he watched her walk into the elevator. The doors closed on her winsome smile, and his faded.

“David. Find the Overseers—any of them. I want a meeting. Now.” David headed for the elevator immediately. Richard glanced at the other guard. “Anton, who do we have on the ground here?”

“A few contacts, but Sobrit’s cousins live here. And they are always reliable sources of intel.”

“Good, reach out to them. I want to know everything Andrew has done for the last few decades. What business deals is he into, where his political interests are…everything.”

“As you wish.” Anton bowed his head and paused to glance at the door. “I will have that repaired immediately.”

Richard waved him off and walked back into the suite. Picking up the phone, the trace of glitter on his hand surprised him. She may have retreated, but everywhere she touched his life—it was a brighter place for it. Clenching the hand into a fist, he dialed New York and ignored Malcolm’s annoyed “yes” when he answered the phone. “The Prince of Las Vegas is up to something. I want you to find out what.”

“Okay.” Malcolm yawned. “Have you—are you and Kristina…?”

“Together, but not. You challenged the Overseers to a game for your bride. What other leverage do we have?”

“Not much. But I’ll find something.”

“Be quick. I have one night left and I will not lose her again.”

Chapter Eight

Kiki raced after the butterflies, chasing them up the hill. At the crest, she halted and stared at the verdant valley below. The sun danced low on the horizon, not quite setting. But the shadow of clouds overhead kept the light at bay. She loved the isle, the tropical breezes, the white sands, the warm water and the colorful villages nestled into the hills. The natives were sweet, always welcoming and they didn’t bar their doors against the strangers. Richard took over the island easily upon their arrival, and they welcomed the European lord with great fanfare.

She considered the position of the sun, the fingertips of light stretching over the valley below. She could outrun them, dance between the beams or she could sit here and wait patiently for the sun to completely sink below the horizon. But if she did that, she would be late for supper, and Richard would know for certain she’d snuck out to play in the rain. Her damp clothing clung to her, but she didn’t care. The best part of the isle was the heavy storms that rolled in every afternoon and provided her a respite from their manor house. She could play in the woods and dance in the rain.

Decided, she raced down the hill. Her bare feet slipping and sliding on the damp earth didn’t cause her to slow her pace. She played with the sun, chasing around its burning edges, hugging village huts and darting from shadow to shadow. Over the high walls she leapt, hissing only once as the sun scorched the back of her neck. The burn hurt, but she made it, and the scalded skin would heal.

Still giggling, she skipped up the thick, tree-lined drive to the main house, but her laughter failed as Richard stepped out onto the porch. His dark and forbidding expression chastised her more loudly than any words.

“I know.” She trailed mud up onto the porch as she padded toward him. “But it was so beautiful, and you should have seen the rainbows after the storm.” She threw her arms around him, uncaring of the water dripping off of her or the expense of his billowy shirt and fine linens. “And I would have waited for full sunset, but there’s a party tonight…”

“We have to go to London, my love.” Her happiness deflated in one single instant.

“No.” She pulled back and scowled. “I don’t want to go to London. It’s crowded and noisy and dirty…”

“And the Prince of the City is fading. He’s requested that I come.” Richard tucked her damp hair behind her ears. “It is a wonderful opportunity. I will be able to expand our holdings tenfold, and you will have access to the finest of European dressmakers and parties.”

Kristina rolled her eyes and pushed him away, walking into the house and trailing mud with her. She might have cared except for the news. “You promised when we came here we would be here for a few decades. It’s been ten years, that’s it. One decade is not a few.”

“I know, darling. And I promise to make it up to you. But you love London. It rains all the time, which means never having to be trapped inside.”

She walked over to the bar and poured herself a drink. Richard slid his arms around her and nuzzled her neck. “We’ll be closer to our friends—”

“Your friends. The Reynolds, the Coulsons, the Whitehusts—they are your friends, Richard. They only tolerate me, the little bourgeois-turned-vampire who traded up for a blue blood.”

He growled against her throat, and the light pinch of his teeth scraped at her. “Do not talk about yourself that way, Kristina. They love you. They cannot wait for you to join them again. And they’re even going to throw a party in your honor.”

She shrugged. “Fine. But we have a party tonight.”

“We do, unfortunately with the change in plans—”

Kristina threw the drink across the room and it shattered. “You can’t go.” Disappointment flooded her. It was their very first party in a year, and she hadn’t wanted to throw it, but Richard insisted. And she’d worked for weeks to plan their anniversary into it, and now he wouldn’t even be showing up. She pushed away from him and strode toward the stairs. She would show him.

“Kristina…I will make it up to you—later. I promise.”

She ignored the censure in his voice and didn’t stop until she reached their suite and slammed the door for good measure. She knew he meant it. He always meant it, but if he saw another route, he would take it. But the London offer—it was too good to turn down. She padded over to the wide veranda doors and pulled them open.

She would miss her paradise…and dancing in the rain.

The world snapped back into place, and Kiki gasped. Her eyes went wide as she looked around her cell. She’d returned to her cell and sat down on her bed before the sun rose and went into her gray oblivion peaceably—only it hadn’t been oblivion this time.

She’d dreamed. She never dreamed. Standing up, she glanced down and half expected to find her clothes damp and clinging to her or her feet covered in mud. But she’d had enough time to change into her pajamas when she came in and to hang up her dress. She’d even put away the crystal shoes Roseâtre gave her. They winked from the light cast by the single bulb. The air was a little musty, tasting of perfume, feminine deodorants and recycled air conditioning.

Padding out of her room, she walked over to a phone and dialed the front desk. They connected her to Richard’s suite.

“Kristina?” He answered the phone, his voice gruff with concern and no small amount of tired.

“We lived on an island. A beautiful tropical island and it rained every afternoon and I loved to go dancing in it.” The words blurted out of her. Was it real? She had to know.

“Yes. For a few years, not as long as you wished…”

“Because the Prince of London summoned you.” She wound the phone’s cord around her finger and leaned on the wall. “I was so angry with you and I’m sorry.”

“Darling, you didn’t want to go to London, but you did. You were at my side and you fell in love with the city. You brought sunshine and joy with you to those dour and reserved nobles in the London court.” She could almost hear the smile in his voice. “And every decade, I took you back to the isle to try and make up for forgetting our anniversary that night.”

“Really?” Her heart squeezed at the words.

“Yes. We still own that isle.”

“Oh, Richard, I thought it was a dream—but I remembered it. I want to see it again.”

“You will. I swear it to you, my love. How long till your show?”

She bit her lip, wishing for the first time she’d asked Heidi to just skip the show, but she didn’t think the stage manager would go for it. Not after this week. “In a couple of hours. You will be there, won’t you?”

“I wouldn’t miss it. Now, ask for some blood. You need to feed.”

“Yes, sir.” She grinned. “But only if I get to bite you later.”

“You better.”

She laughed and would have lingered, but one by one the other dancers roused and stepped from their rooms. It wasn’t until she hung up the phone that she realized she woke before they did.

Huh. Well how about that?

Richard hung up the phone and glanced at the five men in his suite. “You have two hours. Go.” They rose as one and filed out. David and Anton waited for him at the door.

“Sir,” David motioned to the others. “They may not find the answers you want.”

“I don’t care what the answers are, David. I just need the details.” If she had fucked Andrew to get at him, then he deserved it. He would not allow anger and petty jealousy to take away from him the one person he found most precious in this world.

They rode the elevator up in silence. The Overseers agreement to meet with him had finally arrived five minutes before Kristina’s call. The doors opened on an upper level and the werewolf who’d interfered with Andrew’s assault the night before.

The man’s rough features would never be called handsome, but his dominance was not in question. He leaned against a wall in an over-bright corridor. He straightened from his slouch as Richard exited with his men.

He held out a thumb drive. “I found what you needed.”

Richard nodded and sent a text message to Malcolm. Transfer the funds to Brandt.

They waited in silence until Brandt’s phone chirped. He glanced at the message and handed the thumb drive over. “Do you need my testimony?”

“It won’t hurt.” He offered his hand to the wolf. “And I will owe you a favor.”

Brandt grinned. “I usually collect on those sooner rather than later.”

“Whenever you need it.” Richard didn’t care about the cost. Brandt nodded and motioned to the doors at the end of the hall.

The mysterious Overseers waited beyond the door. The recent sunset left him with a twitchy feeling. He had less than twenty hours left in the city of Las Vegas before he would have to board his private jet for New York. He wasn’t leaving without his bride.

With his men flanking him and the werewolf walking at his side, Richard approached the door ready to negotiate, bully, barter—trade his own damn soul if necessary—but he would have her freedom.

The door swung inward at his arrival. As expected, a gray room awaited him, along with five shrouded figures. Malcolm identified at least one vampire and one witch. But Richard didn’t give a damn about their origins or their life story. They wanted their secrecy intact. They could have it.

But he had three of their identities and he wasn’t afraid to use them.

“Richard, Prince of New York.” The first figure greeted him. The intonations were South American—Argentinean if he wasn’t mistaken.

He inclined his head. He had no idea what if any affectation they preferred and he would rather forgo the political pleasantries. “I will keep my audience brief, if it pleases you all. I am here to purchase the freedom of Kristina Casere.”

“And why should we negotiate with you, Prince Richard? This is neither your city nor your matter. Her debt is owed to the Royale direct.”

“I am her mate, her husband and her sire. She is my bride and the Princess of New York. The burden of her debt should have been brought to my attention.” He kept his emotions checked, his voice rigidly neutral and his gaze frank. “Such oversight could be considered a grave insult at best and an act of war at worst.”

“Perhaps, but the debt was covered, only the punishment remains. The punishment deemed by the wronged party.” This from the figure in the center, cool and feminine—the witch then.

Andrew’s fingerprints were all over this. “So now you are the messengers and minions of outsiders? Does this not violate your oath of neutrality in all political matters?”

“It wasn’t political. It was personal.” The second from the left added. This was the vampire. He should have known better than to speak with a Prince in the room. His identity remained hidden, but the Eastern European accent narrowed the possibilities.

“Personal matters with political underpinnings are even more delicate.”

“Yes, we are aware of your concerns, Prince Richard.” The witch in the center waved a gloved hand. “What is it that you propose?”

He held up the thumb drive and waited for her wave forward before walking to the dais they occupied and setting it down. “This is evidence of Kristina’s arrival at the Arcana Royale. The political enemy stalked her, set her up and was the subsequent cause of her incarceration. I expect you to rectify your decisions where she is concerned and release her from the curse holding her bound and starving.”

A low hum of muttering filled the air. They blocked his ears as they conferred and he allowed them their privacy. He retreated back only two steps and studied each of them. They carried no scent, no discernibly recognizable features, and magic obscured even the room itself. He could almost taste the power present on his tongue.

The white noise vibrating against his eardrums vanished, and the vampire leaned forward. “The debt to the Arcana Royale was paid. The vampire owes us no service.”

“Then why is she still here?”

Silence reverberated.

The witch shifted. “That would be a question for the stage manager of the…”

Richard withdrew a marker from his coat pocket and tossed it on the dais. “That is the chit of Heidi, the stage manager. She is bound by geas from providing answers, and the Midnight Mystery Lounge does not own the contract on Kristina, despite the curse associated with her incarceration. So what, were you lying?”

The temperature in the room plunged to frost. Richard waited. There was a deeper game, a longer game, being played here. Kristina was never the target. It had taken him hours to begin unraveling the twists and turns the clues led him through. But he understood it, now. Every action taken was meant to bring him here—to the Arcana Royale—and this room.

They wanted the Prince of New York.

They had him.

If they conferred this time, it wasn’t audible.

Finally, the vampire rose from his seat and turned to face the others. “The accusation against our neutrality is accepted.”

Two more figures rose and joined him, leaving only the witch and the silent fourth at her left hand seated. Richard expected that. The vampire turned toward him, the gray facelessness disturbing.

“We accept that charge and will make reparations. But we cannot interfere with the contract, as we did not enforce it.”

“Very well. It may interest you to know that Marguerite DuBois and the local Prince of the city were engaged in a long-term affair for nearly twenty-five years before DuBois vanished. A very skilled witch, DuBois specialized in the creation of trap charms—and they often fetched the highest price at auction. They could steal souls—or memories—and for a blood debt, they could replace them.”

The witch in the center jerked.

Gotcha.

“If the personal debt is being enforced and chains held within this casino and resort in violation of neutrality as a personal favor to the Prince of Las Vegas, you will have openly aligned yourselves with him, which means any contracts you hold with other cities will be null and void. As of fifteen minutes ago, information regarding the entire matter including all the evidence we have gathered was delivered to the Princes of Monte Carlo, Atlantic City, Reno, Singapore and Bangladesh. All cities I believe you have operating interests in—”

He didn’t hear anything else, the five figures vanished and the gray filter on the room dissipated. He stood alone in the white chamber. He glanced at his watch and waited.

One figure strode back into the room, the air around it blurring to hide any recognizable features.

“You have evidence of DuBois’ liaison with Prince Andrew?” The Argentinean—whatever the hell he was.

“I do.”

“And you will give us this information?”

“As soon as you free my wife.”

“What will you give up for her? You offer us money and information, but what sacrifice are you willing to make to engage the Overseers on your behalf?”

“Whatever you want.” Malcolm advised against such a gamble, but Richard would not leave her trapped here one hour longer than they’d already lost. “If you want my city, you can take it. If you want my soul, it’s yours. I just want Kristina free from obligation, from the memory loss, from the curse turning her to stone every day. I want her to have her life back.”

“You would give up everything for her?”

“If necessary and without reservation.” He wouldn’t leave her here, but if he remained—so be it. She gave up everything for him, time and again. He could do nothing less for her.

“Yet not without regret, I imagine. What would it be to reunite with your bride only to have to tell her goodbye again?”

“Painful.” He admitted. “But it is my sacrifice and choice to make. She will be safe and she will be free. She deserves so much more, but she will have that.”

“As you wish.” The man vanished.

It wasn’t an answer. But the offer had been made. He looked at his watch and reclaimed the thumb drive and Heidi’s chit. Minion had delivered the item just before the summons from the Overseers. She grumbled and complained, and even managed to wheedle a black opal ring from a collection of baubles he considered using for bribes before handing over the chit. She also delivered a frustrating message. Heidi can’t tell either of you what you want to know. But she can vouch for the evidence you have gathered and that the Midnight Mystery Lounge does not control Kiki’s contract. Don’t ask her for anything else.

In less than an hour Kristina would take the stage—for the last time, if he had his way. He paused on the thought. No, for the last time if it is her wish. If she is free and chooses to stay, then she may have her choice.

It was enough, for now.

It had to be.

Chapter Nine

Kiki’s hands shook as she tried to apply the eyeliner. They were doing the diamonds show again. But the last thing she wanted to do was take the stage. In fact, the concept made her ill. Agitation skated over her skin, and her gums hurt. Minion peered up at her, uncharacteristically silent. Flicking a look down at the imp, Kiki tried to smile, but her lips trembled.

“You’re going to leave.” Minion stated, her flat voice filled with sad desolation.

“Minion…” She sighed.

“Nope. Just like Pandora and Roseâtre, you’re going to choose the guy and go. And I can’t blame you. Richard’s hawt—even if he is kind of cold.”

“He’s not cold.” Kiki frowned. “He’s old. Determined. Steadfast. I—”

“Do you remember him?” The imp rose from her crouch and picked her way across the cosmetics table. She pawed through the eyeliners and found one with a better tip.

Trading the bad eyeliner for the fresher one, Kiki chewed her lip. “Some, little pieces, but I know I know him—or knew him.”

“Do you love him?” Minion picked through the powders, choosing the one with the most glitter.

“Yes.” No hesitation or doubt marred the answer. She quivered thinking about him and, for the first time in fifty years, she didn’t want to bother with a show, much less star in one.

Minion nodded glumly and started patting Kiki’s cheek with the powder, moving in slow circles the way she’d taught her. Kiki stood still for the attention.

“Who will you give the shoes to?” The imp nodded to the shimmering pair of crystal and glitter pumps. The shoes had passed from Pandora to Roseâtre and finally to Kiki. Regret tugged inside her tummy. The girls joked they were magic—gifting them lead dancer to lead dancer—and maybe they were. Kiki had inherited them, and Heidi’d given her the lead. Taking them with her would be wrong and giving up the shoes really meant she planned to go—but she wanted to leave didn’t she?

“I don’t know. I’m sure I’ll think of someone.” It wasn’t a longing to leave the theatre so much as just to be with Richard. He didn’t live in Las Vegas or at the Arcana, so that meant going to where he did live. The trembling in her soul ceased. It had made leaving the island paradise bearable and probably why she hadn’t minded leaving London or any of the other places they’d lived. She could love a place—like this theatre—she could adore spending time there, but without Richard, it was just a place.

An empty place.

“Ladies! We need to get this show going! Move it!” Heidi’s voice boomed through the dressing room, and Kiki rose from the chair and checked her makeup. It wasn’t perfect, but the glitter combined with the flush of her cheeks gave her an oddly ethereal look—fire and ice in one. She liked it.

Setting the cosmetics aside, she scooped Minion up and gave her a hug. “No matter where I go, we’re still buds, and if you want to visit me in New York, you can totally do it. Okay?”

The imp’s wrinkled face bloomed into a smile. “Really?”

“Absolutely. We can shop. Go see shows. Anything you want.” Richard had his friends. She wouldn’t abandon hers.

“Ooh! We could visit Pandora!” Minion bounced and hugged her tight.

“Yes, we could.”

The imp squealed, and Kiki shared an indulgent grin with Peppermint as she reached around to scratch Minion’s ears. The imp almost purred and then disappeared in a poof of smoke and light sulfur.

“Show time!” The friendly nudge encouraged her to get moving. She grabbed her black dress and the heels—but she hesitated. “Hey, Peppermint?”

“Yeah?” The petite dancer glanced at her while touching up her hair with some glitter spritz.

“Catch.” She tossed her one shoe and the other. “All yours.”

“Thank you!” Peppermint stared at the beautifully bedazzled shoes. They’d all envied Pandora’s pair, even if no one knew where they came from. Kiki thought she would experience sadness at saying goodbye to them. The dress slipped over her, and she hummed as she trailed after the others racing up the stairs to the stage. The concrete was cold against her bare feet, but she didn’t mind. Glancing back at the empty dressing room, she smiled.

She wouldn’t forget a moment she spent with her girls—never them. But her playful sojourn was over, and it was time to get back to real life. Real.

Fear punched her in the stomach. What if she couldn’t leave? She assumed a lot, but she was still cursed, still bound. And she still didn’t know who held the lease. Sucking in a breath, she forced her legs to keep moving. They were on stage in less than two minutes. Picking up her skirt, she dashed up the stairs and slid to a stop at the edge of the darkened stage.

The spotlight came up and struck her, dazzling her eyes and sending out a kaleidoscope of rainbows. The music cued and she lifted an arm, striding forward the eight-count from the wings to center stage. Mock glaring at the audience, she planned to give them the show of their life. The next bars brought the other dancers prowling onto stage.

The music repeated, but instead of letting her frenetic energy go, her soul froze. She missed her mark.

The other dancers hesitated. The audience stirred. The refrain echoed through the theatre.

Still, she didn’t move.

“Kiki.” Britta hissed from her left.

But she couldn’t move.

Memories poured in, storming through her like a flash flood.

Kristina arrived at McCarran Airport and strode through row upon tacky row of slot machines and hard, ugly plastic chairs. She took a commercial flight, paying for her whim with a cabin full of sweaty bodies, too much perfume and screaming children. Of all of them, the screaming children bothered her least. They at least didn’t choose to be on that flight. She couldn’t say the same for her—or the others.

A limousine waited in the slip in front of the airport doors. Black-suited guards stood just inside the airport doors and another at the door to the vehicle. The sun peeked across the desert, and she scooted quickly across the sidewalk and into the open door.

“Hello, beautiful.” Andrew leaned forward to catch her hand and press a cool kiss to her knuckles.

She let him give her the perfunctory greeting, but when he added a caress of his thumb to her pulse point, she pulled away. “Thank you for overlooking the haste of my request, Your Highness. You honor me with the personal greeting.” His personal touch surprised her, but in retrospect—it shouldn’t. She knew Andrew and Richard had had their differences through the years. Her suspicious last-minute request and arrival sans her mate without observing any of the proper protocols undoubtedly rang more than a few bells.

“My lady, you are always welcome in my city, you must know that. I have arranged for a private suite at my villa—”

Oh hell no. Kristina shook her head gently. “Andrew, you honor me with the kindness in your gesture, but I just want to go spend some time at the Arcana Royale. I’ve heard such fascinating stories about the casino and the clientele—and the shows!” She played off her distrust of his offer with her very real interest in the world famous casino.

Richard had refused her entreaties nearly two decades before to visit and every year since. He didn’t trust anything about the operation and the location—the location more than the casino, I imagine. His problems with Andrew go all the way back to London.

The younger Lord Wolcott had never gotten over his uncle’s selection of Richard as the new Prince of London—he always believed it should have passed to him. Leaning back in the seat, she crossed one leg over the other and feigned curiosity at the passing landscape. The desert held a certain dangerous allure. But the lack of real cover and the all too threatening sunshine danced far too close to the edge for her tastes.

“Very well. I’ve some contacts there, let’s get you set up in style.” He tapped the glass separating them from the driver. “Arcana Royale, Jean”

“Yes, m’lord.”

Andrew studied her from across the car. The extra-wide compartment of his expensive limousine promised every luxury, but she was of half a mind to ask him to turn back to the airport. No sooner did the thought take purchase than she dismissed it immediately. Richard would expect her back, and it wouldn’t matter how he angered or disappointed her, he would expect her return.

And why shouldn’t he? I always come back. I always forgive him. Well, dammit, this time he can earn his forgiveness. He can come and find me. Renewed anger blossomed in her chest, and she gave Andrew her attention once more. “So, how have you been?”

“Well enough. The local influx from back East has my city booming.” Now that he brought it up, she studied the hustle of construction. “This strip will be the most lucrative in the country. A fortune will flow into the city, and I will receive one percent from every transaction.”

“One percent?” Her eyebrows drew together in a frown. “That doesn’t seem like a large amount.”

“Not individually, no. But when you are discussing millions—yes, one percent will add up quite nicely.” He opened a bottle of Pinot Noir and poured two glasses. Hints of copper and a touch of gold filled the air. “Imagine, if you will, that one percent of every transaction from land sales to construction to gambling and taxes—one percent of every single dollar spent in this city will flow into my coffers.”

Basic math wasn’t sexy, no matter how his voice caressed the words. He handed her a glass and she swirled the wine. “For how long?”

“Forever.” Andrew smiled and touched his glass to hers with a clink. “So many laughed when I took this city—a former military base and a collection of houses in the middle of nowhere. But where others saw only emptiness, I saw potential.” He watched her expectantly, so she smiled and touched the glass to her lips.

The wine tickled her throat, the blood almost too fresh as though decanted that day. “Well, then allow me to offer my congratulations for your brilliant planning.” And could we possibly change the subject from money and your plans? The limousine swung into a dark garage and slid to a stop. Outside, a uniformed valet reached for the backdoor and opened it with a bow. The man’s uniform shone, brushed and cleaned to a fare-thee-well.

Grasping the excuse, she set her wine glass down and slid over to accept the valet’s hand. The desert heat wrapped its suffocating grip around her. For a moment, she was transported to Egypt and the long moonlit camel rides she’d taken with Richard—a lifetime ago. Her mouth tightened. She’d wanted to see the pyramids, and he’d indulged her. One of the last such indulgences before politics consumed so many years of their lives.

Politics and ruling—she married a noble, had been turned by a noble, a man who took on the burdens of others. She thought it heroically romantic when they first met. But after four hundred years of coming in second to his ambition and the duties associated with those ambitions—

“Welcome to the Arcana Royale, madam.” The valet bowed to her and she spared him a half-smile. Andrew exited close behind her and his hand came to rest against her waist. She couldn’t shake him off without giving possible offense, so she endured the intimate contact and entered the Arcana Royale proper.

The lobby took her breath away. The warm sandstone marble surrounded sweeping pale columns, fountains and lush foliage. A true oasis of splendor, but the crown jewel stood overlooking the whole of the lobby—a sphinx.

“The rumors are true…” She breathed out the words and hurried forward, head tilted back so she could gaze upon the enormity of it all.

“Yes, they did import a sphinx. It took enormous magic and coaxing.” Andrew shadowed her steps, his presence a buzzing irritation against the private satisfaction of the moment. “I helped.”

Helped what? Talk the workers to death? Her skepticism must have showed on her face because he gave her a wry smile.

“I smoothed the memories of those who observed too much.”

“You compelled humans?” Her mouth fell open. It happened, they all did it, but few admitted it out loud—not after several Princes from around the world dictated that it may only be done in the most desperate of circumstances.

Richard had spearheaded the unpopular effort as early as the mid-1800s, when too many vampires took advantage of the European and American wars to feed with impunity. The savagery on the battlefield fed their natural instincts as predators—unfortunately—it also led to some inaccurate compulsions and left more than a few victims with permanent brain damage.

Noticeable brain damage. They used a variety of excuses to explain it, but the persistence of it—vampires couldn’t afford the war that outing could bring them. So the various princes met and decided that the ability to compel could no longer be used without just cause.

“Only as necessary, dear lady. Only as necessary.” Andrew stroked her arm. She slipped away from the overly familiar touch.

“Maybe we should avoid any further confidences. I’m not comfortable being put between you and Richard.” The decision to let Richard stew over her disappearance sat uneasily in her belly. She needed to check into a room and call him. Well, maybe not call him. She fought the urge to grumble and smiled at Andrew instead.

“Lady Kristina.” The Prince of Las Vegas captured her hand and kissed it lightly. “I swear to you that you are not between us, nor will I ask you to act against your conscience. Feel free to tell Richard anything you like.”

Not that she needed his permission, but…“Thank you. I appreciate that and everything you’ve done to make me welcome in Las Vegas. For now, I’m just going to arrange a room.”

“Allow me.” He smiled and strode away from her before she could protest. Kristina sighed, gaze wandering back to the sphinx. She walked toward the sphinx. Perhaps she could just blend into the crowd, and Andrew would forget her she was there.

At sunset, she’d sat at a table across from the Prince of Las Vegas and a dozen of his friends. At least she hoped they were friends. The bejeweled crowd all seemed to be vampires, born if she were to guess. They talked too loud, drank excessively and eagerly consumed large quantities of blood—most of it free-flowing from the offered veins of the wait staff and other questionable parties.

“So you traveled here from New York, Kiki?” The platinum blonde leaned toward her. Copper and alcohol mixed on her breath and threatened to burn Kristina’s eyebrows off. She’d adopted the nickname at Andrew’s urging. While he took no offense at her presence in Las Vegas, others might read too much into it.

Better to not invite trouble or let Richard know before she was ready. Swirling the wine in her glass, she gave a little shrug. “Arrived this morning. I haven’t seen much of the city yet.”

“Nothing better to see than this place.” The blonde put her hand on Kristina’s arm and gave it a hard squeeze. Kiki didn’t flinch despite the force. She knew a test when she felt one. The woman was strong.

But born or not, Kristina was definitely older. “Really? And why do you say that?” She propped her chin in her hand focusing all of her attention on the female. The woman withdrew her hand—smart.

She gave a little titter and shrugged. “The other casinos are too small. They are mostly run by humans—a butchering lot of humans, though. If you’re really hungry and don’t mind bending the rules—” Stealing a look at Andrew, she leaned closer and her voice dropped to a near murmur. “—you can feed on the most delicious vices. These men kill each other for sport—they won’t miss a few here or there.”

“Lora.” Andrew’s voice snapped like a whip across the conversation, and the blonde turned a faint shade of pink.

It took every ounce of Kristina’s will to just laugh and shake her head. “I can imagine.” She tossed back the wine and met Andrew’s steady gaze with a warm smile. Richard would be so furious when he found out. She should have called him.

As soon as the dinner ended, she would do exactly that.

She just had to make it through the meal.

Andrew watched her take every dainty bite, swallow every sip and when the dinner carried on to drinks and gaming—she tried to slip away.

“Kristina,” he was right at her elbow and urging her toward a quiet gallery off the main concourse.

“Andrew, it has been a wonderful party, but I just want to go up to my room and draw a long bath and just…be alone.” She hated to be alone. She preferred to be with Richard. If she could just get away from these guys, she could slip back to the airport and go home.

“I understand. I really do…but Kristina, you’re not happy. You’ve been wearing your sadness since you walked off the plane and I promise—I will let you have all the time you need, but I want to show you something first.” He smiled, all goodwill and charm.

Run.

Her instincts screamed, but she didn’t dare show him fear or flinch in the face of his charm. No, she would trot along with him dutifully and admire whatever flirtatious invitation he wanted to share with her and then retreat to her room.

Never anger the prince of a city. They are often slow to forgive and they never forget. Richard repeated that phrase often—typically before he assigned a punishment to the fool who angered him. While Andrew was hardly as fearsome as Richard, she clung to the advice.

“Of course.” She took the arm he so graciously offered. He waved off the sycophants, and she strolled with him into what looked like an art exhibit. The style of paintings tickled her memory. “These look familiar.”

“I thought they might. We met the artist a few decades ago. He visited the court of King George in London and presented several pieces for the Queen Mary to choose from.”

“Really? Gedarme?” The French sculptor, painter, and inventor harbored the talent of Da Vinci in his blood—an illegitimate child or so he claimed at one time. “I thought he was human.”

“He was.” Andrew nodded slowly. “But I made him an offer. Talent such as this should not be allowed to pass away.”

He continued talking, but Kristina failed to hear the next words. Her attention focused on the artwork. Where it once questioned the nature of man in exotic lines and contrasting colors, Gendarme’s work seemed to be a study of opposing lines and geometric shapes. The bold color bled away, leaving only the stark contrasts of black on white.

“Kristina?”

“Yes?” She gave Andrew a vague look over her shoulder and ventured deeper into the gallery. The artwork was so cold, violence suppressed and caged. She vibrated with the hum of seething ferocity beneath the work.

“The crown jewel of the collection is there, in the center.” Andrew’s voice pushed her onward, urging her deeper. She didn’t need the coaxing. She’d loved Gendarme’s work when he painted portraits for the nobles of the royal court. He truly captured the essence of the individuals he painted. She couldn’t fathom what inspired this work. Turning in a slow circle, her breath caught in her throat.

She wanted to understand it.

All of it.

A glimmer of red splashed against the negative relief, and she hurried her pace. She detected no scent of blood, but the crimson color startled her visual senses. Circling around a column etched with obtuse triangles, she exhaled noisily.

How exquisite.

Sitting like a crown jewel was a ruby rose. Cold and hot in equal measures, her palms itched to caress the petals. Would they be hard? Soft? Her hand hovered so close to it. It beckoned her—like the needle on the end of a spinning wheel.

“Why did you bring me here, Andrew?” She clenched her fingers into a fist. Light glimmered on the edges of the crystalline structure. But despite the obvious presence of quartz, she wanted to know if the smoothness replicated the velvet kiss of the blood-red rose or if it was all just an illusion.

“Because you belong in this gallery,” Andrew’s soft whisper teased her ear. He stood right next to her. She hadn’t even noticed him moving. “You’re like that rose, perfectly shaped and honed. A precious jewel—and Richard let you slip through his fingers.”

The words warned her, but he caught her wrist before she could turn, and the pressure forced her hand wide. Unlike his vapid companion, Lora—he was far stronger than she. He pressed up against her.

I can’t move. Every muscle in her body locked. The ruby rose beneath her fingers warmed, but she wasn’t touching it.

Was she?

“He shouldn’t have let you get away, but don’t worry, sweet Kristina—I am sure he will come for you soon enough.” Andrew kissed the side of her neck and her skin crawled. His lips massaged her pulse point, but despite the erotic nature of the caress, it left her cold. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. “I wanted to make you an offer, but I’ve watched you all day—from the moment you arrived. Even furious with him, you will return as soon as you can, and I can’t allow that.”

Can’t? Her mind shrieked. Why the hell couldn’t she move? What did you do to me? He slipped an arm around her middle and stroked her belly through the fabric of the dress.

“I need him to come for you. It’s not personal, I promise.” He whispered again. His teeth sank into her throat and she winced.

Get your teeth off me, you son of a bitch. Richard…

The bite ended as swiftly as it began, and he let her go. She stumbled forward and closed her hand around the ruby. She seized it and swung, intending to strike him—and the world went blank.

She woke in the Midnight Mystery Lounge two days later.

She was Kiki.

The dancers picked up the beat and Britta cut in front of her with Peppermint coming alongside. They took up the lead while Kiki—No, my name is Kristina. Kristina Casere. We met in a dusty little pub in Eastern Europe. He changed my life…he changed me…

Her gaze flattened, dilating, and she caught every scent in the room. Somehow her feet remembered the steps and she pivoted, threading her body through the dancers and taking back her spot. She stalked after Dayna and hissed. Her fangs descended and a titter of excitement went through the audience. Hunger cramped her stomach, but she controlled it. She needed to feed, and soon, but first she had to survive this gauntlet.

A provocatively masculine scent, mysterious and powerful drifted across the stage and she whirled. Her pupils expanded to absorb the light. She looked into the shadows, heard the heartbeats thundering below the music and her gaze locked with Richard’s. Feral glee speared through her. Around and around, the dancers twined, closing in, and she pushed up from the stage, flipping over their heads to land behind them.

She would not be caged.

Shock rippled through the girls and the audience. The heat of Richard’s gaze pinned her. His blood thrummed through her veins, and she could feel the warning.

I have this… Confidence flooded her as she crouched and stared at Cerveau. The scholarly Amazon’s gaze narrowed. Kiki winked and launched herself. They came together in a crash. Of all the dancers on the stage, Cerveau had the strength to take the blow. They twisted, twining—turning their dance into a wild fight that ended with Cerveau’s mock surrender, and if not for Richard’s soothing presence, she might have actually taken the throat offered to her.

Sweat glistened amidst the gems on her body and she let out a hunter’s cry and raced after Britta. Twisting in and around, they repeated the pulse of the hunt from the night before, and when she closed her mouth on her “victim’s” throat, the dancer thrashed—but she kept her fangs in check. The show ended with the audience on its feet, cheering, whistling and applauding. Rising for a final bow, she danced toward the edge of the stage and launched herself off. She was so done with the show. She wanted her man.

They’d been apart for too damn long.

Richard arrived in the theatre after the curtain went up. He stood at the back as Kristina strode forward. He saw the memories rush in to swamp her—she transformed before the whole audience. Her expression grew dark, and all light fled her eyes. Her scent changed, beckoning him closer, and he glided down the steps slowly. He didn’t know what method they used or why they acted at that moment, but the Overseers reversed the spell.

But was she free of the curse?

The blood pounding performance thrummed through him. She prowled with ferocious delight, unabashed in her reawakened state. Riveted to the final lash of the music, he opened his arms when she landed on the floor and raced toward him. He caught her to his chest, rocking back a step at the strength of her embrace.

“Richard.” All the lost years threaded through the syllables of his name. Closing his eyes, he tightened his grip, thankful to just have her back. But she wouldn’t be contained. Pulling away, she stared up at him. “Is it over?”

“Soon.” Rubbing her arms, he tugged her away from the audience of well wishers closing in around them. Anton and David forced the crowd back, but their aroused state threatened violence. Kristina glanced from him to those calling her name. As if sensing the danger, the other dancers descended from the stage and drew the crowd off, the dozen eager dancers more alluring than the reluctant diva.

Stripping off his coat, he wrapped it around her nude form. She glanced down belatedly and laughed. “Okay, so that didn’t change.”

He lifted a brow.

“I’m still not shy.” Her grin grew.

“You never were. You just restrained yourself so I wouldn’t have to rip out the eyes of the men staring at you…”

“I didn’t have sex with Andrew.” The blurted out words steamrolled over his humor, and he exhaled a long breath. “I came here to show you that I could have fun without you—to prove it. It was stupid and impulsive, and I just wanted you to see what you were missing…” The torrent of words tumbled through a rocky channel of aggravation and despair. “But I swear, I never let him lay a finger on me.”

Pressing his mouth to hers was the only way to stop the tide. She welcomed the kiss, matching his intensity until his mind swam from the contact. Their hearts beat in steady tempo together.

The noisy crowd pressed toward them again, and she pulled back, grabbing his hand and ran toward the stage. He followed, easily jumping up the few feet to land on the polished wood. She guided Richard behind the curtains and into the wings, the heavy fabric muting the throng outside.

“I mean it,” she began again as soon as they were alone. “I was going to torment you with him—be petty and stupid—but I didn’t. I just wanted to make you think I had—”

“Kristina.” He gave her the tiniest of shakes and her mouth snapped shut. “I know, darling. I never thought you would have.”

“Oh yes you did.” She snorted, inelegant and amused. “I saw you trash that dresser, my love. I may not have recognized your temper then, but I know you well enough to know you only get destructive when you want to kill someone.”

“No, I have no problems with killing him. But I didn’t believe you would have taken him to your bed—maybe—” His heart sank. No, he would not ask it. What happened in the last few years…

“Not even when I didn’t remember you, Richard. I looked for you everywhere. In every magazine article, every photograph and every face in the crowd. I would sneak out to dance and to play in the casino. I flirted and tormented other men, but not one did I have sex with. Not until I found you again.”

Relief left his muscles weak. He bowed his head to hers. “I do not deserve you.”

“You never have.” She grinned. “But I want no one else. Your loyalty, your devotion to your tasks—the responsibility you carry so close to your heart—I love you all the more for them.”

“Never again.” He shook his head. “You will never feel like I place others above you, I swear it.”

“Shh.” She caressed his cheek. “No foolish promises. I knew what you were—who you were—when I agreed to marry you. I have never wanted you to change, but sometimes…”

“…you were lonely, and I failed to see it.” He gathered her hands in his and kissed them. “You will never feel that loneliness again.”

“Damn right I won’t.” Her gaze sparked with renewed humor. “You’re going to buy me a Cabaret.”

He paused, frowning.

She pursed her lips and stared.

A cabaret? There were worse acquisitions.

“Nuh uh.” She tapped his lips. “You will buy it for me. It will be mine, no interference, and when I need to play, I’ll play.”

“Done.” She could have asked for his crown, and he would have given it to her.

“That was almost too easy.”

“You can persuade me on the terms of purchase later.” He teased, his heart lighter than it had been in years. He didn’t even care that they were necking in the back of the stage’s wings.

“And as soon as we can, I want to invite Pandora to go—”

“Mr. Casere.” The cool tones of the Argentinean intruded. Kristina whirled and Richard barely got an arm around her in time to keep her from launching at the vampire.

“Shh,” he murmured to her hair, but keeping his grip firm. “Overseer.”

“Your presence is requested.” The world slid sideways. Kristina’s hands closed on his. He hated magic. He hated anything to do with it.

They arrived in a sickening rush in the same plain paneled room he’d visited earlier in the evening. Four figures waited on the dais, not five. Nostrils flaring, he detected no hint of the witch. Too bad for her. She should have been friendlier when he stood there as a supplicant.

Kristina went still as she gazed from the gray figures to him and back. Tucking her firmly against his side, he freed his right arm. If this came to a fight, he suspected he could take at least two of them. That left Kristina to fend off another two. Not good odds when she still needed to feed. He didn’t have to look around to know neither Anton nor David had been invited to the private soiree.

He’d hoped they would accept his offer, but not this soon. He smoothed away the anxiety knotting inside. They would face the Prince of New York, not a husband facing separation from his wife for the second time in a century.

“What’s going on?” Kristina asked, her voice somber and quiet.

“What is going on, Mrs. Casere, is a rare event—one you are being invited to witness because of our complicity in your imprisonment.” This came from the fourth figure, the one who hadn’t spoken during the earlier conversation. Richard hated the gray faces and blurred appearances. Harder to judge words and actions when he couldn’t read the body language.

“Does that mean I’m free?” She found his left hand with her right, fingers threading through his. She rubbed against his wedding ring, and a small smile turned up the corners of her mouth.

“Conditionally.”

The single word erased Richard’s joy and hardened his resolve. The banked fires of his anger surged through his blood. “Conditionally?” He demanded, abandoning polite protocol.

“You made us a provocative offer, Prince Richard. We have one to make you in return.”

“What is he talking about?” Kristina hissed the words in a quiet whisper from the corner of her mouth.

“He offered to trade his freedom for yours.” The Argentinean answered before Richard could. Kristina stiffened. “We were intrigued—the Prince of a City, arguably one of the few truly elite vampires in the entire nation, with an army at his beckoning—and he supplicates himself to us.”

“Richard,” Kristina turned away from the Overseers and stared up at him. “You can’t—we just—”

“I know. But I want your freedom more than I want my own. You have been trapped here for decades, my love, and I blame myself for that.”

Her expression softened. “I blame me for that too. But what good does my freedom do if you’re here and I’m not?”

“What are a few decades when I know you are safe and I will be able to return to you?” He smiled. “You have given up everything for me time and again. How can I do less for you?”

“No, I forbid you to do this—”

“Forbid me?” The mild disapproval in his voice just incensed her.

“Yes, I forbid you. You promised to put no one else above me and now you’re just going to make this decision without me? Choose to give your life to these…these…chickenshit power mongers in their gray shrouds of oblivion? How the hell does that bring us together?” She waved a hand toward the Overseers. “You forget, I have been here for fifty years. No one gets the better end of a bargain with them. The house always wins—”

“Except when it doesn’t.” He bowed his head, meeting her gaze. “I know. I will not agree without your consent, but, Kristina, I must leave Las Vegas before the next sun sets. Please do not make me leave you here. I would do anything for you, but I can’t do that.” He could survive whatever hell they plunged him into, if he knew she was safe. Malcolm would watch over her, and the families would keep her safe until he could join her again.

“I didn’t remember you for fifty years, and in five minutes I fell in love with you all over again. Please don’t make me leave without you. I’d rather be here, at least then we’d be cursed together…”

One of the Overseers cleared their throat, and Richard glared at him. “What?”

“This is very sweet, the declarations and passion, but you haven’t heard our offer.”

Kristina scowled and leaned into his arm. “We don’t want to hear your offer unless it includes the two of us being together.”

“Sweetheart…” While he shared her desire, he didn’t want her in the casino—much less the meeting—and they didn’t need to risk pissing off the keepers to the keys of this particular kingdom.

“No.” She stomped her foot. “Just no. Together or not at all.”

“Very well.” He acquiesced. It was a hell of a lot easier than he expected, and didn’t leave him feeling weaker as it might have in the first centuries of their relationship. He’d tasted life without her—it wasn’t worth living. He turned his attention to the Overseers. “Grant your boon, and then make your offer.”

Their impatience seemed to color the air around them. “What we are about to share with you must never leave this chamber—to do so would be to court death. If you agree, then you will be geas’d against ever mentioning it again. Do you understand?”

All four spoke in unison, the varying intonations and accents creating an eerie stereo effect.

Kristina glanced up at him, and he smiled. The agreement cost them nothing. He inclined his head to her and she nodded. “Very well, we agree to accept the geas, but only on this matter we are about to discuss and only for the length of time until that matter is no longer the topic.”

His bride grinned. “What he said.”

“Our boon is Kristina Casere’s freedom from the curse and lease held by Andrew, Prince of Las Vegas. Her placement in the Midnight Mystery Lounge and her contract as a dancer.” A snap of fingers crinkled the air, and Kristina exhaled a startled breath. She leaned against Richard, her legs buckling, and he caught her.

Her fangs appeared and the starry black of her eyes deepened. Hunger struck in the same breath, and he didn’t hesitate to bite his own wrist and hold it to her mouth. She latched on, almost desperately. The connection sizzled to life, and the hard pulls of her sucking filled him with delight. She was still too underfed, but the curse was broken. His blood was more than strong enough to slake her—particularly after she’d drunk from him the night before. And since he’d fed up for the occasion.

Their witnesses served as his only resentment. The intimacy of the moment should have been reserved for a more private location, but her safety and well being overrode his need for seclusion. Holding her closely, he dared any of them to comment, but they waited patiently.

It was Kristina who halted her feed, lapping at his wrist with sensual little licks until the wound closed. She let out another ragged little breath and smiled. “Thank you.”

“Always.” Forever and always, his body and soul were hers to command.

“And thank you.” She leaned her head against his shoulder tiredly. They needed to wrap this up. She needed rest and he needed to make arrangements for transport.

“Your offer?” He turned an expectant eye on their judges and hosts.

The magic settled over him like fine mesh netting. He recognized the geas and didn’t fight it. Kristina barely stirred.

“The identification of Marguerite DuBois’ crimes leaves us an Overseer short. We would extend an invitation to you, Richard Casere, Prince of New York, to join us in oversight. Your abilities, your intelligence, your indomitable will would serve us all well.”

Of all the offers he’d expected, that was not even on his list. He stared at the creatures. The Overseers exerted incredible global influence, even in cities where they held no property. Offending them was considered the greatest of crimes, their punishments were whispered like tales of boogeymen in the dark to quiet irascible youths. The money associated with the facility, the power at their fingertips—it surrounded them everywhere in the casino. One could even argue the fanatical devotion of their gambling addicts increased their reach.

The offer tempted.

Kristina stirred against him and he looked down at the most precious being on the planet. “Would she stay with me?”

“As Overseer, you would create your own terms. Your bride is your own.” It wasn’t exactly an answer.

“Richard?”

“Yes, my love?”

“Fuck no.”

He laughed and kissed her nose. “As you wish.” Still amused, he glanced at the gray figures. “We must respectfully decline your most generous offer and further, deem the matter of offense against my bride settled. You will have no quarrel with New York.”

The Overseers took the news well enough—they vanished. The doors opened behind them, and he swept Kristina up into his arms.

“I want to go home,” she tucked her head to his shoulder.

“As soon as I can call a car for us, darling.”

“And I want to invite Minion to New York.” Kristina yawned. “So we can go shopping.”

“Anything you want.”

“Hmmm.” Her smile took on an almost satisfied purr. “I could get used to this.”

“Good. Because I plan to spoil you, so you will never run away again.”

Her eyes slitted open to stare at him. “Even if you’re a blockhead?”

“Especially when I’m a blockhead.”

“Deal.”

He pressed the button for the lobby and snuggled her closer. No matter what else happened, Kristina was his again.

All was right with his world.

Epilogue

New York, One Week Later

“So you like it?” Richard raised his arm as his bride twirled on their walk through the main doors of the Casere building. He maintained offices on several floors and allowed other vampires leases for apartments or businesses. The top three floors belonged to him and Kristina—their New York palace.

“I haven’t decided. I want it to have that cozy, yet exotic, dark, yet colorful atmosphere—more speakeasy than the girls are easy.” She skipped along beside him, her black boots clicking on the marble floor.

“We have plenty of properties to look at, and if you can’t find the one you like, we’ll build one.” He grinned.

She sprinted ahead and pressed the elevator button and beckoned him closer with a crook of her finger. He bent his head to hers—their mouths meshing together in a sweet kiss—and sighed. The trip home from the Arcana Royale was wildly uneventful, just the two of them making love every chance they could, and Kristina feeding more than she had since he’d turned her, but she glowed with vitality.

Her reunion with Pandora turned into squeals of laughter and shopping—which he was more than happy to indulge. Malcolm brought him up to speed on matters of business and helped him identify two lieutenants to shoulder the day-to-day burdens, freeing his time to spend with Kristina. He also instituted a no working after midnight rule. If his bride wanted to go somewhere, they went.

“Does it seem weird to feel like newlyweds again?” she murmured against his ear.

“Not at all. I am definitely the happy groom. We can even get married again if you like—invite anyone you want.”

The corner of her mouth quirked upwards and she slid a sideways glance at him. “I take it a Las Vegas chapel is out of the question?” The teasing glint in her eyes promised she wasn’t serious, but he nodded gravely nonetheless.

“Not even a remote possibility—I would rather live in sin.” The doors opened to their penthouse, and she danced out ahead of him. He followed, hands in his pockets and enjoying the whimsical joy she exuded.

“Speaking of sin…no more meetings tonight?”

“Just the quick check in with the boys, and then I’m all yours.”

“Perfect.” She made a show of looking at her watch. “My next performance begins in exactly thirty minutes. Don’t be late, or I’ll get started without you.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

She sashayed up the stairs, and his body tensed. Her last show had left him unable to walk for a day. One could only hope the encore left him similarly incapacitated.

Activating the security system, he stepped back into the elevator and rode it down to his private offices. The rooms were dark, and only a handful of his most trusted guards led by Anton and David remained in attendance, both of whom straightened as he exited the elevator.

“Is it here?” he asked.

“Arrived an hour ago, sir.” David set off ahead of him while Anton flanked him.

Even in the privacy of the building they maintained a discreet watch over him. A dozen others had drifted with him and Kristina on the streets earlier, but maintained a greater distance to give the princess the private time she craved.

A large trunk sat squarely in the middle of his office. Half-dozen vampires ranged around the bolted monstrosity. He walked around to the front and studied the seals. They were intact.

“Open it.”

The men took turns hauling off the chains and freeing the locks. When the lid flipped open, Richard smiled down at the bound and gagged Andrew. He was pale, but hardly emaciated. A week of incarceration hadn’t even begun to desiccate him.

“Good evening. Welcome to New York. I owe you for about fifty years of hospitality.” His smile grew. “I truly hope you enjoy your stay. I know I will.”

Yes.

All was right with his world.

About the Author

A national best-selling author, Heather Long lives in Texas with her family and their menagerie of animals. In addition to military romance, Heather writes a wide variety of romance from paranormal, historical western romance to contemporary romance and romantic suspense. She loves characters and the stories they have to tell. As a child, Heather skipped picture books and enjoyed the Harlequin romance novels by Penny Jordan and Nora Roberts that her grandmother read to her. Heather believes that laughter is as important to life as breathing and that the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus are very real. In the meanwhile, she is hard at work on her next novel.

Visit her at www.heatherlong.net

Content

Waiting in the Wings
Soulgirls - 3
by
Heather Long

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Epilogue

About the Author