A Blood Seduction (Vamp City #1)(20)

Quinn's heart pounded from exertion, from indecision, from the need to get out of there before the vampires found her. The thought had barely formed when a strange vamp male materialized not ten feet in front of her, his fangs long and sharp, his eyes gleaming with white centers, his gaze fixed firmly on her.

Her heart clogged her throat.

A second later, a second vamp, a female, appeared beside the first. "Did you find him?"

"No. I found another. A sweeter one."

Quinn shook her head with disbelief. This escape attempt was a flaming bust. If she didn't do something quick, she was going to die right here, right now. Pulling the knife from her back pocket, she opened her mouth to call for her vampire. Better the devil she knew . . .

He appeared beside her as suddenly and unexpectedly as the others had, startling a gasp from her.

"Arturo!" the male vamp called in greeting. "I didn't know she was yours."

Arturo's arm snaked around Quinn's waist, pulling her close. "She is mine, Salazar. How goes your hunt?" he asked the pair affably.

The woman smiled, her eyes dancing with excitement. "This one is clever, Arturo. He eludes us well. Come join us!"

The vampire's cheek brushed Quinn's temple, and he chuckled. "My breakfast awaits, don't you, cara?"

Quinn stiffened in his hold. Was he toying with her even as he plotted retribution for her escape attempt? Or simply making his excuses?

"While your breakfast gets away," he added.

The other two vamps looked at one another, laughed, and were gone faster than her eyes could track.

Quinn tried to pull out of the vampire's hold, but her strength was nothing compared to his, even when she wasn't clammy and shaking.

"Were you going somewhere?" he asked coolly, the friendliness gone from his voice as if it had never been.

There was no sense in lying. Or telling the truth, for that matter. They both knew exactly what she'd been up to. Her sheet rope hung from the window, the end lying on the generator, where she'd left it.

He released her, took her elbow, and steered her toward the door, the threat of punishment thick in the air. The question was, what form would it take? Would he tie her to the bed again? Or worse? Cold fingers of dread crawled along the back of her neck.

Opening the door, he ushered her into a kitchen oddly incongruous to the times - either the one in which Vamp City had been created or her own. With its olive green fridge and range and the big butcher-block-topped island, it looked more 1970s than 1870s. Over the island hung a rack laden with pots and pans of every shape and size. Recessed lighting on the ceiling and undercounter lights lit the room admirably.

The smell of frying hash brown potatoes filled the room as a girl of perhaps twenty served up a plate. She was cute, with a pert nose and fine features. Unlike Ernesta, she wore modern clothes - a worn sixties retro dress with faded splashes of pink and green. Her light brown hair hung long and straight, parted down the middle and highlighted with a strange, phosphorescent glow.

"Your breakfast is ready, Master."

The hand on her arm tightened. "Did you eat the eggs brought to you earlier?"

"I'm not hungry."

"Two plates, Susie. And have Horace close the window upstairs." He steered Quinn through the doorway on the other side of the kitchen and into a formal dining room complete with gold-and-crystal chandelier, dark red wallpaper, and what appeared to be large golden candelabras casting flickering light on the gilt-framed paintings lining the walls.

Ernesta bustled in, setting a place for Quinn with gold-toned . . . maybe real gold . . . flatware and a linen napkin. Susie followed, setting plates before each of them. Eggs Benedict, broiled tomatoes, and hash browns.

Did he really expect her to eat? Her stomach was in knots.

"Thank you, cara mia," Arturo said kindly to the girl. But when Susie and Ernesta had left, his voice turned cool once more. "Dispense with your fear and eat. I will not punish you for your escape."

She looked at him warily. "Why not?"

"Every slave attempts escape at least once. Now you know what will happen. You will be caught."

Maybe. Maybe not.

He gripped her wrist. "Oh, I will catch you, cara. Every time."

"You can read my mind now?" she snapped.

He smiled and released her. "I can read your expression. Now eat. The food is exceptional, but it will not remain so once it is cold."

The food did smell good. And she was hungry. Cutting a small bite of the eggs Benedict, she lifted it to her mouth and nearly moaned. Perfect. The English muffin was neither too crisp nor too soft, the Canadian bacon perfectly cooked and flavorful, and the hollandaise sauce the best she'd tasted.

She glanced at the vampire, who sat watching her, making no move to join her. "I thought you said you ate."

"At the moment, all I can taste is your fear. I will not be able to enjoy my meal until you calm."

She stared at him. "You're really not going to hurt me?"

"I am not. It would be counterproductive, would it not, when my goal is for you to lose your fear of me?"

The tension slowly fled her body. "I suppose."

"Yet still you tremble."

"I'm exhausted."

He straightened, picking up his knife and fork. "I did warn you that you've not yet recovered from the blood loss."