First Drop of Crimson

Denise's heart started to race. What if Spade wanted her, too? If the other times he'd stared at her with heat in his eyes, it hadn't been bloodlust? Spade disdained relationships with humans, but he admitted to ha**ng s*x with them. Could she do that? Sleep with a vampire who thought her humanity made her unworthy of anything more than casual sex? The idea was insulting.

And yet could she say no if Spade started to touch her the way he had in the park? To kiss more than her throat with that knowing, passionate mouth? She'd had a hard time controlling her cravings lately when it came to food. Would this craving prove more powerful than her pride, how she missed Randy, and her intention to leave everything supernatural behind once she got these brands off?

Denise didn't want to find out. "I think the food upset my stomach," she lied, and rushed to the safety of the bathroom.

Spade waited until they were well into their flight before he told Denise about their change in plans. She'd been antsy enough once she saw they weren't flying commercial, but a twin-engine prop plane instead. No need to upset her with the rest of the itinerary before she needed to know about it.

"We're not going to Vegas. We're going to your parents' house in Virginia," he told her.

Denise looked stunned. "Why?"

"They're your closest family, and I don't fancy taking Raum at his word that he won't kill one of them in an attempt to motivate you to greater speed. Demons aren't trustworthy, to say the least."

"But we can't tell my parents about this. My parents aren't in the best of health, not to mention they know nothing about vampires, demons, or anything paranormal."

Spade waved a hand. "Nor shall they. You'll introduce me as your new beau and tell them the good news that you're sending them on a cruise."

Denise simply stared at him for a second. "My parents are Jewish, and my aunt and cousins just died within a few weeks of each other. They're not going to go on a cruise; they'll barely be done sitting shiva!"

"They'll go once I'm done changing their minds - and before you protest, what is more important? Their lives, or your aversion to me using mind control on them?"

Her mouth opened and closed, as if she was about to start several arguments but then discarded each one. Spade watched in amusement despite the seriousness of the topic. She looked quite fetching that way.

"All right," she said finally. "I don't like it, but you're right. Their safety is more important."

One potential argument averted, now on to what would really upset her.

"In case Raum isn't following you through your brands, it's important we throw him off from tracking us the normal way," Spade said, unclipping his seat belt. "Which is why we won't be on this plane when it lands."

"What?" Denise gasped, looking around in sudden agitation. "No way. I'm afraid of heights. If you think I can strap on a parachute and go skydiving, you're crazy. I'll puke and then pass out before I can even pull the cord."

Spade didn't say anything, but the look on his face - and the lack of any parachutes on the plane - must have clued her in.

"Oh hell no," she said, whitening.

"It's the best way to find out if Raum is lying about the brands," Spade replied, unclipping her seat belt even though she smacked at his hands. "I've already tranced the pilots into believing we were on the plane the whole time and then disembarked with them in Vegas. And you don't have to fret about pulling a cord with me."

Denise didn't look comforted in the least. "You're out of your mind! Splattering on the ground won't kill you, sure, but I'll be nothing more than a stain wherever I land!"

"I won't let you splatter," he said, picking her up when she clung to the seat in refusal. "We have to do it now; we're flying over the right area."

"This is too much," she argued as he dragged her over to the door, sliding it open and bracing them both in the sudden vacuum of wind. "Don't do this, Spade, don't do this - "

"Hang on to me and close your eyes," he replied, settling his arms around her.

Denise cursed him, but she grabbed him with the hold of the damned. The co-pilot stood, ready to close the door behind them and then forget about their jump, just as Spade had instilled in him earlier.

Spade looked at the hazy ground below them, seek ing the natural landmark that would confirm their location. Denise's heart hammered against his chest, her scent of fear enveloping him and her breathing so accelerated, he wished she hadn't made him swear a blood oath against trancing her.

Once he found what he was looking for, Spade pulled Denise tighter to him and jumped out of the plane.

Chapter Thirteen

The air rushed past Denise too fast for her to suck enough of it in to scream. It felt like all her organs rose within her, making her earlier threat about puking a real possibility. The whooshing speed and endless emptiness beneath her was terrifying. If she could have crawled inside Spade's skin to cling tighter to him, she would have. Only the feel of Spade's arms around her, hard and steady, kept her from passing out.

Then some of that nauseating lift in her guts began to ease and the roar of wind became less deafening. Now she could breathe enough to scream, so she did, in longer and longer peals.

Over that, she heard Spade speaking. "We're fine, no need to scream. You could even open your eyes now, if you like."

She did, looking down - and then squeezed them shut with another shriek. Spade had them zipping through the air parallel to the ground, still so high that cars looked small in contrast. Was he crazy, telling her to look at that?

"How much longer?" she managed to grit out.

"Just a few more seconds."

Even freaked as she was, it didn't escape Denise's notice that Spade sounded amused. Sure, laugh at the human who can't fly, Mr. Master Vampire. Just wait until they got on the ground.

After what seemed like hours, Denise felt a small jerk, and then Spade said, "See? We're here and you're perfectly safe."

She tilted her head down and opened her eyes a slit. Their shoes, surrounded by grass, met her gaze. Beautiful, solid, wonderfully flat grass. Spade let her slide from his arms, but it took a few moments before the shaking left her limbs enough for her to stand on her own.

As soon as she did, she shoved him away hard enough to make him take a step backward. "How dare you laugh at me on the way down!"

Spade held out a conciliatory hand, but that amused expression didn't quite leave his face.

"Now, Denise - "

"Don't you 'Denise' me," she snapped. "I don't care how old, powerful, or strong you are. If you ever do something like that again, I'll stab you in the heart. Son of a bitch, I can't believe you threw me out of a plane!"

Spade still looked like he was fighting back his laughter. "I didn't throw you out. I jumped with you. Very different."

She wanted to smack him, but the small part of her that wasn't still crouched in an inner ball over their recent free fall recognized the logic behind his actions. No way could Raum track her in a normal way, with Spade winging them several thousand feet off the ground after leaping from a plane. Denise had known vampires could fly, but she hadn't realized the extent of that ability. She'd just thought they could do short little spurts off the ground. Not double as a helicopter with fangs.

"Now where?" she said, trying to calm her still-slamming heartbeat.

"To your parents' house, of course. I've had a car left for us over by the monument. Then we'll be off to my home."

"Your home in St. Louis?"

Spade smiled. "No, Denise. My home in England."

Almost twenty-four hours later, Spade saw the familiar high hedges that encircled the perimeter of his property in Durham. He nudged Denise beside him. Although she'd stayed awake for the entire flight from Virginia to England - flying a commercial jet, much to her preference - she'd finally fallen asleep on the car ride from the airport. Alten drove, so Spade would have settled her more comfortably in his lap, but she'd insisted she wasn't tired right up until she nodded off.

"We're here," he told Denise.

She blinked...and then her eyes widened as they pulled into the driveway.

"This is your house?" she asked.

Spade heard the shock in her voice and suppressed his grin. His estate properties used to be much larger, but as he traveled so much, he'd sold off several acres in the past century and just kept his manor home for sentimental reasons. The main house was considered average-sized in his youth, but it would look sprawling by modern standards. The first segment was built in the early sixteen hundreds, and then different generations of DeMortimers added to it for the next two hundred years. It changed hands in the early eighteen hundreds when Spade was a new vampire in Australia, but once he reclaimed it in the mid eighteen fifties, he'd added two new wings. Then he'd renovated it every few decades or so. The result was a mixture of gothic architecture and modern convenience.

Denise swung her gaze back to Spade. "You must be filthy rich."

He shrugged. "I inherited it, at first. Lost everything when I was sent to New South Wales, of course, but over time, I managed to get it back."

She still seemed unable to reconcile him with the manor they were pulling up to.

"I thought barons were a smaller class of aristocracy. Guess I remembered my history wrong."

"Barony was indeed the lowest level in the rank of nobility back in my time, but baron was also a courtesy title given to the oldest son. My father was the Earl of Ashcroft, the title I inherited after his death. But by then I was a vampire, so I never felt right about using earl as my title. That was intended for a living son, something I no longer was."

Spade couldn't stop the memories from thickening his voice. The last time he'd seen his father was in the jailer's cell, shortly before being sent off to the colonies. His father hadn't said anything to him. He'd stood there, his once proud frame hunched, and cried. Not in shame at the fate of his only son being transported due to debts that couldn't be repaid, but in guilt.

Denise was silent for another minute. Then she said, "I don't want to know what that house looked like that you gave to Ian because of me. No wonder you keep telling me you won't let me pay you back. I probably couldn't, even if I gave you every cent I had."

Spade jerked his memories back from the past. "Will you stop fretting about that? Ian will likely offer it to me in a wager over something in the next few years, then I'll win it back. Or he'll want a favor and he'll swap it in return for my assistance. Its loss isn't permanent."

She gave him a watery smile. "You'd tell me that even if it wasn't true, wouldn't you?"

Yes, he would, not that he'd admit that. "Nonsense. That's just how vampires are. If you want something, it has a price, but then it comes back 'round again."

Alten stopped the car at the front of the house, leaping out to get their bags from the boot. Denise looked away.

"You've never asked me to pay a price," she almost whispered.

Spade felt something tighten in him as he stared at her profile. Oh, I want many things from you, Denise. Too many to tell you about right now.

"You're not a vampire," was all he said.

Alten opened his door. "If you will?"

Spade got out and extended his hand to Denise. She took it, then let go self-consciously once she was out of the car.

He walked her to the front door, which was opened by his smiling housekeeper, Emma. Then he let Denise know the last bit of the plan.

"I'm leaving now. Alten will stay with you for the next few days."

Denise's mouth dropped. "You're leaving?" she repeated. "Where? Why?"

Spade leaned in, lowering his voice. "Don't leave the house under any circumstances, and no matter what, do not invite anyone in."

She still had that look of surprise on her face, but underneath that was something else. Hurt.

"Are you coming back?"

Frustration competed with another, deeper emotion in him. Did she really think he'd flown her all the way here just to abandon her? Didn't she know him enough by now to realize he wouldn't do that?

"Yes, I'm coming back," he said, his voice rough.

Then he did what he'd wanted to do for longer than he'd admit. He pulled her close, tilting her head back and covering her mouth with his. Denise's surprised intake of breath parted her lips, and he slid his tongue along them. They tasted even better than her skin had, and when he delved deeper, stroking her tongue with his and learning the curves of her mouth, her taste there was like red wine - dark, heady, and sweet. Absent the drugging effects of her blood, but somehow just as potent to him.

Spade let her go and spun around. If he didn't stop now, he'd be carrying her straight to his bed, and that wouldn't do for the rest of his plans.

He got into the car and drove away, leaving Denise staring after him.

Denise gave Alten a pointed look as she shut her bathroom door. If she hadn't insisted that there were some places the vampire couldn't follow her, he'd have taken up a perch right on the countertop while she peed.

According to Alten, Spade had given instructions for her not to be left alone while he was gone. At all. Thus she had a constant shadow in either Alten or Emma, except in the bathroom - and Denise was beginning to fake the need for trips there just to grab a few minutes of privacy.

Her feelings swung in a pendulum. One part of her was irritated that Spade had arranged for round-the-clock protection. If he was that worried about something happening to her, then where was he? The other part was touched that he took her safety so seriously - though was that because of his friendship with Bones and Cat, or another reason?