First Drop of Crimson

Both of his friend's brows shot up, and then Crispin let out a bark of amazed laughter.

"Lucifer's bouncing balls, that's why you're acting like a nutter! You've gone and fallen in love with her. Bloody hell, if I didn't see it on your face myself, I wouldn't believe it."

Crispin was off the couch in the next moment, slapping him on the back. "This is cause for celebration! And no small relief for me as well. I had to force my wife to let me speak with you alone. She fretted that Denise had somehow gotten into trouble and you were holding her against her will."

Spade was momentarily speechless. Was it that obvious how he felt about Denise, or did Crispin just know him too well?

"I'm quite pleased for Denise, too," Crispin went on, his grin fading a bit. "She was broken up very badly after Randy's death, and then her miscarriage - "

"Miscarriage?" Spade interrupted, gripping Crispin's shoulders.

The smile wiped completely from his friend's face. "Didn't she tell you? Denise miscarried a few weeks after Randy's murder. Doctors reckoned it was grief and stress. Afterward, she moved out of my home and I heard in her thoughts that she intended to pull away from our world. She ceased calling my wife or returning her calls the past couple months, so I figured she'd made the final break."

Spade closed his eyes. Denise didn't just have guilt over her association with vampires for her husband's death; she had it for her unborn child's, too.

"No, she didn't tell me."

Denise cared for him, yes, but with such a loss, would she be willing to relinquish her chance at motherhood forever for him? Vampires couldn't impregnate humans. Cat had been the rarest fluke as a half-breed, and even then, her father had been undead by days only. Not centuries, as Spade was.

Crispin must have read some of that from his face, too. "Does Denise feel the same way about you?"

Spade opened his eyes. "I don't know."

Denise stretched, rolling over. No one was on the other side of the bed, which she was used to, but then her eyes snapped open when she remembered this time, someone was supposed to be.

She sat up, looking around the room. It was large, yes, but a glance still told her Spade wasn't in it.

It's not unusual for him to be up before you, she reminded herself to cover that flutter of nervousness in her stomach. How long did he even stay? an insidious inner voice promptly asked. For all you know, he left right after you fell asleep.

She looked at the bed. The covers weren't mussed where Spade would have slept. Her stomach plummeted. Maybe Spade did leave right afterward. Maybe she'd misconstrued what he'd said last night about this not being casual.

Or maybe she was being an idiot and Spade had just slept without messing his side of the bed and was now getting breakfast.

Hope battled with insecurity. She hadn't dealt with this potentially awkward morning-after situation before. With Randy, the only other man she'd slept with this quickly, she knew how he felt beforehand. The other three guys, she'd dated for a while before sex came into the picture, so relationship parameters had been firmly established. Spade had said his feeling for her weren't casual, but in the harsh light of day, that could mean many things, and a relationship wasn't necessarily one of them.

Well, one thing she wouldn't do was sit in bed and stew until Spade came back. Denise got up and went into the bathroom. Any situation was better faced with an empty bladder, a clean body, and a lack of morning breath.

After Denise emerged from the bathroom twenty minutes later, though, the sight that met her eyes made her heart twist. Spade was in the bedroom, fully dressed, sitting on the couch, and he wasn't alone.

When Bones's dark brown gaze met hers, Denise almost burst into tears. Spade had called him to come get her. He'd even arranged for Bones to be here when she woke up, so there would be no messy scene. God, last night had been a one-nighter mercy f**k.

"Denise - " Spade began.

"No," she cut him off, holding up her hand. "Save it. Just give me a few minutes, Bones, and then I'll be ready to leave."

She wasn't looking at Spade anymore, but Bones's face registered amazement. "You want to leave with me?"

"I told you, she's not going anywhere," Spade snarled. Then it was impossible for Denise to ignore him, because he was right in front of her, gripping her arms. "What the devil has gotten into you?"

She laughed at that, a high-pitched, mirthless sound. "What the devil? Oh, good one, Spade. Har har! Well, it's nothing you need to worry about anymore, is it? Thanks for your time. All your time, but really, the farewell f**k was unnecessary. A vibrator can last all night, too, vampire."

Bones cleared his throat tactfully. "Need a moment alone, mate?"

"It appears so," Spade replied in an icy tone, his eyes glittering emerald.

"Don't," Denise said sharply when Bones got up. "I'm sure you'll tell him all about it anyway, Spade. But then again, when Cat finds out, I hope she sticks something silver in you where the sun doesn't shine!"

Spade's grip lessened. "You think I rang Crispin to come get you. That's why you're acting this way."

"Why else is he suddenly here?" Denise demanded, horrified to feel tears well up in her eyes.

Spade leaned very close, his hands now stroking her face. "I didn't ring him, I promise. He showed up uninvited, but it doesn't matter. I told you before, you're not going anywhere. You're staying with me, where you belong."

He kissed her, slow and searching, until the tears dried from her eyes and warmth spread through her. Even so, that warmth was followed by fear. Her feelings for Spade weren't just a combination of lust, gratitude, and friendship. She'd fallen for him. Hard. That was more than proved by her out-of-control reaction when she thought he'd called Bones to whisk her away. She was in way over her head emotionally, and she wasn't sure she was ready.

"Bugger, what do you have on your arms?" a surprised voice asked.

Denise froze. Spade pulled away, revealing that Bones was right behind them. He stared at her bare forearms, revealed when the robe sleeves fell back after she'd wrapped them around Spade's neck.

"Telly," Spade said.

Bones went across the room and flicked on the television, still set to blaring from last night. Then Bones came back and held out his hand.

Denise glanced at Spade. He nodded once, and she slid her hand into Bones's cool grip, palm up. Bones looked at the tattoos closely, then a slight hiss escaped him.

"Brands." One word, almost inaudible to Denise with the blasting TV, even though Bones was less than a foot away. He took her other hand and his frown deepened.

"You should not have hidden this from me, Charles. Or you," Bones added to Denise.

"Mate," Spade said softly. "You don't even know the half of it."

Denise tensed when Spade reached behind him and took a knife off the dresser. She knew what he intended, and it wasn't the tiny prick of pain that made her flinch when he pierced the tip into her palm. Then Spade smeared the single drop onto his finger and held it out to Bones.

"Don't say a word," Spade ordered in a dark tone.

With an arched brow, Bones took his friend's finger and popped it into his mouth. Immediately his eyes changed to green and he jumped back, knocking Spade's hand away.

"Christ Almighty!"

"Don't say it." From Spade, with more vehemence.

The look Bones gave Denise made her tainted blood run cold. It was shocked, calculating...and pitying.

"Bloody hell," was all he said.

Denise couldn't stop her ironic laugh. "Yeah. That's it exactly."

Chapter Twenty-five

Spade squinted in the afternoon sunlight at the boat heading straight for them. Long, crimson hair came into view at the bow, and he relaxed. Cat and Crispin.

Crispin's presence combined with the power Spade felt from Web last night, plus the several Master vampires Web brought with him, might have mandated that Spade let Crispin know what was in Denise's blood. Still, Spade didn't trust discussing it where it might be overheard, which meant the whole of Monaco. Who knew how many of Web's people lurked about, seeking gossip to report back to him?

But out here on the Mediterranean, with loud music playing and more than a mile between his boat and the closest one to it, it was as safe as it could be.

Denise came up from below deck, her gaze passing over his sleeveless shirt. "You need more sunscreen again."

"Looking for an excuse to fondle me?" he teased. "No need, darling. I want you to."

She smiled as she came closer. "Why wouldn't I look for any excuse to touch you? You've got the most amazing body I've ever seen."

He was glad the physique that had been frozen into permanence when he toiled the fields as a convict was pleasing to her. Once his lean, muscled frame was considered a stigma of the lower classes, but times had changed, and Denise was a modern woman.

"You know," Denise said, rubbing more sunblock onto his arms and shoulders, "if Web does have people monitoring us, he's not going to believe we're out here because you had a sudden urge to get a tan."

Her hands were so soft, and even warmer than the sun on him with the cool breeze. "Vampires don't tan. Without UV protection, we get sunburned, heal, and just repeat the process over and over."

She gave him a pensive look. "Then Web will know you're up to something."

"He'll suspect it," Spade agreed. "But he won't know what, and taking a boating trip is less suspicious than abruptly leaving town."

"I don't know why you told Bones after we'd both decided to keep him out of this," she muttered.

Spade set the bottle of sunblock down and folded his arms around her. "Crispin knew a demon had been in your home. He knew you were avoiding the vampire world, and he knew I normally don't take up with humans. Once he found me, he wouldn't have stopped digging until I told him the truth - and we might need his help, as it were."

Denise took in a deep breath, her scent peppering with anxiety. "You have no intention of giving up looking for Nathanial, do you?"

"No," he said softly. "No matter if I successfully hid you and your family from Raum, as long as those brands change your blood into what it is now, you're not safe, and I won't accept that."

He could feel her jaw grind against his chest. "I won't let you get killed because of me," Denise said.

"I've no intention of getting killed. I've never had more to live for."

Spade pulled back to look in her eyes, tempted to tell Denise exactly how he felt about her, but he paused. Crispin's boat would be here in minutes. He'd rather not declare himself and then immediately have to change the subject, particularly if she returned his sentiments.

No, this wasn't the proper time.

Denise saw the boat approaching and sighed. "There's Cat. Wow, I haven't seen her in months."

The speedboat pulled alongside theirs moments later. Cat had a huge grin on her face as she jumped across, not waiting for Crispin to tie the mooring line.

"Denise!" she exclaimed, grabbing her in a hug.

Denise looked surprised at Cat's greeting. "I thought you'd be mad at me," she said, voice choked either from emotion, or Cat forgetting her strength and squeezing her too hard.

"Of course not." Cat gave Denise another squeeze and then her gray gaze lasered on Spade. "I'm mad at you," she said clearly.

Crispin caught his eye and shrugged, as if to say, What did you expect?

"Don't be mad at Spade, I made him promise not to tell you guys," Denise said at once. Then her hazel eyes brightened. "I've really missed you, Cat. I know it's my fault, but..."

"Don't." Cat hugged her again. "I understood, believe me," she whispered.

A hazy apparition appeared over Cat's shoulder, growing more solid until the translucent form of a man in his forties appeared.

"Fabian," Spade greeted the ghost that Cat had, in a fashion, adopted. "How goes it?"

"Ugh," the ghost replied, shivering. "I hate to travel over water. There's nothing for me to anchor to."

Denise looked around. "Who are you talking to, Spade?"

"That's my friend Fabian, but, um, you can't see him because he's a ghost," Cat explained in an apologetic way.

Denise looked around anyway, her eyes wide. Spade was amused until another thatch of red hair caught his eye as a third person emerged from inside the speedboat.

"Hallo, mate," Ian said, giving Spade a cheery wave.

Spade felt a smile stretch his lips. "Ian!" he exclaimed in an equally cheerful voice. Then he jumped across the boat and punched him hard enough to send Ian catapulting into the ocean.

Denise gasped. Cat hid a grin. Crispin just rolled his eyes. "Was that necessary?"

"Certainly was," Spade replied coldly.

Ian treaded water, looking not the slightest bit surprised. "All right, you got that out of your system. Can I get back in the boat without you striking me again? Or should I stay out here enjoying the marine life?"

"Why don't you swim around until you find a shark? Then you can discuss how much the two of you have in common," Spade shot back.

"He was only concerned for you," Crispin said.

"Indeed? Then he should have grown a conscience on someone else's broken trust," Spade replied shortly.

Ian swam over to the edge of the other boat, avoiding the speedboat where Spade still stood. His lips curled when he saw Ian vault up beside Crispin, Cat, and Denise. You can hide behind them, but I'll still get to you.