First Drop of Crimson

He stifled a snort. "Good to know, since it will still be me."

"But you just said no one would believe I'm your property anymore."

They certainly wouldn't, but that wasn't her fault. It was his. He'd whisked her away when she panicked, though any self-respecting Master would have sent someone else to calm her. Then he'd clung to her hand, seated her at his right, obeyed her demand to stay for the duel, nearly gotten himself killed being distracted by her, and rushed to her side after she'd sprayed vomit into his shirt.

Indeed, there was no chance his people would believe she was just his property anymore.

"We'll have to play a besotted couple instead of a vampire and his property. It will require more acting on both our parts, but nothing that will violate your limits."

She looked confused. "I thought you said that would be suspicious, because you don't date humans."

"It will complicate things, but if we find Nathanial soon, the charade could be brushed off as a passing fancy." Or passing stupidity, if he was being more accurate.

She touched his hand. Her fingers were so warm on his cooler skin. Just another reminder of her humanity.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," Spade said tightly.

Fool, he lashed himself. He wasn't doing this out of pity, obligation, or honor, as Denise might believe. No, he'd just recommitted to helping her for the staggeringly witless reason of not wanting to let her go yet.

Even now, her scent and nearness tantalized his senses. It was the height of stupidity to be tempted by a woman he could neither bite nor shag. Perhaps for his next brilliant notion, he'd take up shaving with a chain saw.

He pushed that aside. Yes, he'd felt an unusual draw to her from the start, but it was just the circumstances that made her extra tempting. Denise was forbidden, so as a result, he wanted her. Add in danger, uncertainty, and close proximity, and it was no wonder he was lusting after her.

But nothing would come of it. Because she was a human, only a few heartbeats stood between Denise and the grave. So fragile, he thought, looking at her. So easily destroyed...

Spade glanced away. Detachment was what he now needed. Detachment, and a demon-dodging sod named Nathanial.

"Tomorrow we'll leave for New York. I know the Master of another large line we can check next."

Her fingers slid off his hand. "We'll just go from Master vampire to Master vampire, checking through their people?" Denise's tone said she thought that was akin to looking for a needle in a haystack.

"For a start. Once I've exhausted my friends' lines, we'll have to try different measures."

Ones that would be more dangerous than sifting through his allies' people, but he wouldn't expose Denise to the darker side of the vampire world again, if he could help it.

By the time they arrived back at the house, Spade felt in control again. Denise tried once or twice to speak to him during the drive, but he kept his answers short. Soon she fell silent. Once inside, he brought her up to his room - the only place anyone would expect her to sleep, after tonight's display - then went to shower without another word. When he came out, she was already asleep, curled on her side in his bed.

He gave her a final, grim look before he settled himself into a chair and closed his eyes. Sleep was what he needed. He'd feel better on the morrow.

When he fell asleep, however, he kept dreaming of Denise...only her hair was blond, her eyes were brown, and her throat had been cut from ear to ear.

Chapter Seven

Denise gasped when she saw the red-haired man who waited for them in the drawing room. "You!"

Sadly, it wasn't her relative Nathanial she'd recognized. Ian blinked, obviously surprised to see her, too. Then his turquoise gaze slid to Spade and he laughed.

"When you said you were coming to see me, I thought this was going to be another boring social call, but I was wrong, wasn't I? Look at you, sneaking behind Crispin's back with his wife's best friend. I'm impressed."

Spade crossed his arms. "Don't snicker so, Ian. We're here on business, though yes, I don't want Crispin informed of it."

The sly smile stayed on Ian's lips. "Silence like that will cost you, mate."

"I have no doubt," Spade replied in an ironic tone.

Denise still couldn't believe Spade involved Ian in this. Bones's sire didn't have a good reputation on the best of days, and at his worst, he'd nearly gotten several of Cat's soldiers killed.

"Don't trust him, he'll go right to Bones and Cat," she muttered.

Ian's gaze settled on her, unoffended by the accusation. "Not if Charles makes it worth my while, poppet."

"Who's Charles?" Denise repeated, looking around. Then she remembered. Right, that's what Bones called Spade, too.

"My human name," Spade said, even though Denise figured it out.

"Don't know why you still insist on being called by that other name," Ian said, shaking his head. "I'd just as soon forget we were ever prisoners, but you've chosen to remind yourself of it every day."

"Keeps me focused," Spade replied lightly.

"Prisoners?" Denise cast a look at Spade. He was a former convict? How could someone keep a vampire locked up, anyway?

"Didn't you know, poppet?" Ian purred. "It was how we met, on the voyage to the New South Wales penal colonies. Baron Charles DeMortimer here thought it was very beneath his station, being chained to common criminals like me, Crispin, and Timothy. Imagine his horror once we arrived and the overseer only addressed him by the tool he had to labor with instead of his title. Makes no sense that he insisted on being called that after he became a vampire, too."

A tick in Spade's jaw said he didn't appreciate the subject, but Denise was intrigued. She'd had no idea Spade had been both a prisoner and a noblemen. In a way, it explained some things. Spade reeked of danger, true, but he also never let her touch a door or car handle, streaking to open them for her. Then his insistence on sleeping in a chair despite it being his bed he was kicking himself out of, and she'd never heard him so much as raise his voice. Add that to the regal air he carried himself with, and she should have guessed that he'd come from far different circumstances than Bones.

"Aren't you interested in hearing what I'll offer in exchange for your discretion, Ian?" Spade asked, coolly changing the topic.

Ian grinned. "Of course."

"My property in the Keys you've long admired. I'll loan it to you for the next decade. That should be more than adequate to ensure your silence."

Denise let out a shocked noise that both men ignored. "Not good enough," Ian replied. "Crispin will be very angry at me if he discovers my part in whatever it is you're up to with her, so you'll have to give me the house to make it worth my while."

"You greedy schmuck!" Denise burst out.

Ian cast a leisurely glance in her direction. "And now my feelings are hurt. That'll cost you the boat, too."

Spade shot a look at her that had Denise clamping her mouth shut. Greedy SCHMUCK, she silently screamed at Ian.

"Only if I have your silence and cooperation by letting Denise pick through your property for a bloke that I'll leave with, no questions asked, if she finds who she's looking for."

Ian's brows went up. "Do I get to know what this person did?"

Spade's smile was more a baring of teeth. "No. You don't."

He'll never go for it, Denise thought, seeing the crafti ness flit across Ian's features. But then the other vampire smiled back.

"I do love that house, Charles. Done."

Denise let out her breath, relieved and guilt-ridden at the same time. Now she could add a house and a boat to what it cost Spade to help her, all because she manipulated him. She had to find a way to pay him back, even if it meant making installments for the next thirty years.

Ian stretched. "You're welcome to start with who I've got in the house and work your way from there. I don't need to tell you how far-flung some of my people are, but I'll put the word out that they're to give you their full cooperation."

"And you won't mention you recognized the human I'm traveling with," Spade added, his voice steely.

Ian's gaze slid over Denise in a way that made her feel like she'd somehow lost all her clothes. "No, but it'll be interesting to see how long you can keep this a secret. Need a place to stay while you're in town?"

"Thank you, I've made arrangements elsewhere," Spade replied, to Denise's relief. The sooner they were away from Ian, the better. He was handsome, but there was something openly cold and ruthless about him. Without even realizing it, she found herself inching closer to Spade. Let's look at his people and get the hell out of here.

As if Spade had heard her mental directive, he took her hand. "Ian, if you'll direct us?"

Fifteen minutes later, Denise was cursing to herself in frustration. Out of the dozen men, human and otherwise, who lived at Ian's house, none was Nathanial. How long before Raum became impatient and started threatening her family again? Or how long before the demon marks manifested more dramatically in her? Right now, the only changes she'd noticed were an increasingly short temper and constant hunger, but she knew that was just the beginning. How long did she have before the marks turned her into the same sort of monster Raum was?

"Tell whoever you've got in the area to meet you at the Crimson Fountain tonight," Spade said to Ian as they made their way out. "It'll give us a chance to look at more of them without arousing suspicion."

Ian cast another speculative look at Denise before nodding. "I had other plans, but this situation piques my interest. I'll see you there, mate."

Denise waited until they were miles away from Ian's before she spoke. "I'm so sorry about your house. Please, let me reimburse you. I have a 401(k) I can tap into - "

"No." The single word was crisp. Spade didn't even look away from the road when he said it.

"But this isn't what I intended!" she exclaimed, the tension from the past several days sharpening her voice.

Spade looked at her, briefly but thoroughly. "You had no idea what this would entail when you involved me, but I did, and I agreed nonetheless."

More guilt piled onto her. This was wrong. So wrong. "What if it takes months to find him?"

She couldn't bear the thought, but the initial, na?ve assumption she'd had that she could quickly find Nathanial if she just had an in with the vampire world had been shattered. Spade had thousands of people in his line. How many other Master vampires had thousands of people spread out all over the world?

"Then it takes months to find him," Spade replied, no emotion in his tone. "I'm in this to the end, as I promised."

And she might not have months before she became a monster. Her former feeling of helplessness turned to anger. When she did find Nathanial, she'd make him pay for what he'd put her, her family, and Spade through.

Then the hatred faded, leaving a hollow fear instead. It's happening even now. Every day, a little more of me gets replaced with something else. The realization terrified her.

"Maybe tonight will be our lucky night," she said, forcing an optimism she didn't feel into her voice.

"Perhaps," Spade agreed.

He didn't sound like he believed it, either.

Denise's knuckles were white as she clenched her fists. The scent of her anxiety filled the cab, covering the stale sweat, perfume, and lingering odor of vomit in the backseat. The cab made another lurching movement into traffic, narrowly missing the car that had been vying for the same lane. Denise paled until her skin almost matched Spade's in color.

"Could you be a bit gentler on the gas?" Spade said to the driver. Poor girl, this was her first experience with a New York cabbie. From Denise's expression, she'd like it to be her last.

"What you say?" the driver replied in thickly accented English. Little wonder the man had trouble hearing him, with how loud his radio was.

Spade placed the driver's accent. "Possa-o ir devagar guiar, por favor?" he said, speaking louder.

The driver gave him a wide smile that revealed a lack of recent dental attention. "Oh, fala portuguesa? Nenhum problema," he exclaimed, easing off the accelerator.

"What language is that?" Denise asked, distracted enough to unclench her fists.

"Portuguese."

She looked impressed. "I kept meaning to learn more languages, but all I know is some Spanish left over from high school. When did you learn Portuguese?"

"When I was in Portugal," he replied, amused to see the surprise on her face.

"Oh," she said softly. "I've never been overseas. I haven't even been out of America, except for..."

Her voice trailed off and shadows settled over her expression. For Canada, Spade mentally finished. Where your husband was murdered.

"Remember your part tonight," Spade said, more to take her attention off that than out of concern over her forgetting. "I may have to leave you for a short time, but if I do, stick by Ian."

"I don't trust him," she said at once.

Spade let out a snort. "Nor should you, but he won't attempt to mesmerize you or feed from you. Since we're going to a place filled with different types of vampires, that makes him safer than anyone except me."

He didn't think there was any real chance of danger to Denise, but he wanted her on her guard nevertheless. Neither one of them brought up the other possibility - that with these circumstances, she might have another panic attack. Their best hope of finding Nathanial was to expose Denise to the largest number of undead persons and their property at a time, but while that was efficient, it was also hazardous to her emotional state.