A Blood Seduction (Vamp City #1)(42)

But if she didn't have any power, why did the vampires insist she was a sorceress?

With a sigh, she pushed her hands out in front of her, stared at the chamber pot, and imagined it moving back, just a little.

Nothing.

So she imagined it flying back, shattering against the door.

Still nothing. Dammit. Maybe she needed some emotion to spur the power.

She glared at the chamber pot and threw up her hands. "I hate you!"

The door swung open, banging into the ceramic pot and sending it rolling. Arturo stuck his head in the room, peering around the door to see what he'd hit.

"Am I interrupting something?"

"Go away." Just looking at him hurt.

He entered the room and closed the door behind him, glancing at the pot. "I heard you yelling." He quirked a brow, wry humor crinkling his eyes. "Pretending it was me?"

She refused to gift him with an answer. "What do you want?"

He lifted his hands, then dropped them in a gesture that almost seemed . . . helpless. "I am sorry, cara, for deceiving you." His tone sounded genuine, but it hardly mattered. "My loyalty is to Cristoff first and always."

"I don't like being lied to."

"Understandable. In the future I will endeavor to - "

"Spare me the false promises, Vampire. Snake." She was playing with fire, but she no longer cared. If he wanted to retaliate, he could have at it. What difference did it make? What difference did anything make, now?

But if her words annoyed him, he hid it well.

"I sent word to my contact within Lazzarus's kovena. About your brother."

Her gaze snapped to his. She wanted to turn her back on him and his tantalizing words and pretend they didn't matter. But they did. Far too much.

"I should hear back within a day or two," he said softly.

"Days?"

"The kovenas are enemies, cara. And there are no telephones within Vamp City. Communication takes time, particularly when one must be very careful."

"What will your contact be able to tell you?"

"If your brother lives. And if he possesses sorcerer's blood. The vamp masters are very careful to screen all new slaves for sorcerer's blood. We have been looking for a savior for a long time. If your brother is a sorcerer, my contact will know. And, soon, so will I."

"If he is one, will you bring him here?"

"No. Lazzarus will not give him up." He tilted his head, studying her. "Do you believe your brother possesses power?"

Quinn looked away, debating what to tell him. Even if she lied, it wouldn't change anything. "No. My mother was the one they called a witch. Zack and I share the same father."

"That is too bad." He held out his hand to her. "Come. Cristoff wants you to attend him."

She shuddered at the prospect, remembering all too well the woman, bloodied and burned, in his throne room. "I don't suppose that's an offer I'm allowed to refuse?"

Arturo's eyelids dropped, his expression softening with pleasure. "It is not."

"Dammit, you're feeding on me again!"

He shrugged. "I am what I am."

"A fear-feeder? A liar?"

His lashes lifted, and he pinned her with that dark gaze. "I cannot help the way I feed. But I do not wish to feed from you in that way. Not from you."

"Then don't."

"The feeding of emotions is not a choice. If there is fear, I will feed. I cannot turn it off."

"I don't know why you care one way or the other. You told me you don't want your slaves afraid, but I'm never going to be your slave. So what in the hell difference does it make?"

"I don't know." He caught her wrist and pulled her off balance, into his arms. As she struggled to right herself, he buried his nose against her temple. "Your fear offends me."

She forced some space between them and slammed her fists against his chest. "Well, your lies offend me. Let me go."

His arm tightened around her waist, holding her hips flush against him as his breath teased the rim of her ear. "It is your body I crave, piccola, your touch, your passion. When you are near, I can think of little but getting you beneath me and burying myself inside you."

His nearness, his warm breath, his words, sent damp heat pooling between her legs. The last thing she wanted was to be affected by him, to desire him. But her body had a will of its own. "Vampire," she said through clenched teeth. "Let me go."

Instead, he pressed his mouth to her neck, a kiss, not a bite. And a gentle one at that. Then he straightened and released her.

Quinn stepped back, out of his reach, struggling to get control of her unruly pulse. She hated that he still had this effect on her.

Arturo turned and opened the door. "Come."

She stared at him, her feet refusing to move, every bone in her body suddenly too heavy to push forward. Fear of the unknown, of what Cristoff might have in mind for her, had welded her to the floor.

Arturo turned back and met her gaze with surprisingly gentle eyes. "I do not believe he'll hurt you, cara. He will not wish for anything to happen to you before you renew the magic of Vamp City. And Cristoff, for all his vices, is a man of extreme control."

His words eased the simmering panic. A little. "And afterward? After I've renewed the magic?" Assuming she ever managed that feat, which was exceedingly doubtful.