Bait

Chapter Thirteen

Rurik gave me a wonderful gift, something I cherished. We toured the Fishermen’s Bastion and he told me of its history. Details I don’t think the official tour guides knew. I finally got to see a part of Budapest that wasn’t vampire related, not counting my guide. A place so old it made Rurik seem young. The history of this city made my bones ache with curiosity.

We stood in the middle of the promenade and he pointed to the seven towers. “Each one symbolizes the seven Magyar tribes that came to Hungary in Eight Hundred and Ninety-Six.” He glanced at me. “You don’t mind my telling you all this? You’re not bored?”

I laughed. “That’s the third time you’ve asked me. Now finish the story.”

He crossed his arms over his muscular chest. “I don’t mean to annoy you, Rabbit. This modern age has bred a generation uninterested in their past.”

I pursed my lips in thought and noticed the amused twinkle in his eyes. “I’ll admit listening to North American history puts me into a coma but we didn’t have Romans and Huns.”

“Unfortunately, we’ll have to finish this another night. I can feel the dawn approaching.” He took my hand and we walked to the stairs. Before we descended he turned to me. “I can stay with you?”

“I’ll hide you for the day.” My libido was going to get me killed. After I’d spent time with him tonight, I realized I enjoyed more than just looking at him. I liked to talk to him as well.

I didn’t get the ‘killer ’ vibe from him. He’d been given endless opportunities to do-away with me. Yet, instead he saved me, seduced me, and took me on a personal history tour. Yeah, that spells ‘mass murderer’. Hell, I spent less than an hour with Tane and he threw me in the river.

Rurik was innocent, I was sure of it. Now, I needed to find the proof.

We stood in the center of my hotel room after a quiet drive from the Bastion. I didn’t have a spare coffin to lend him. “I don’t think these curtains will keep out all the sunlight.” This may not have been the best thought out plan. How much light could a vampire take?

“The bathroom has no windows. I’ll just block the light from under the door and lay in the tub. I’ve done that before. You’ll have to find an alternative place to use for the day.”

“I can use the public restroom in the lobby, that’s not an issue, but the tub sounds uncomfortable.” I grabbed a pillow and an extra blanket from the room’s closet then followed him into the bathroom.

He pressed himself against the sink as I pushed past him and laid them out in the tub. I turned to quirk an eyebrow at him.

He watched me in silence, an odd, soft look on his face.

I’d rather have had him in my blankets on my bed instead of in my tub. That tender look disturbed me. “I’m not Betty Crocker or June Cleaver. Don’t get used to this.”

His eyes wandered slowly down my body and back up. “I would never make such a mistake.” There wasn’t anything in his tone but I could read the subtext. What would he do if he knew that I was more like Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Legally Blonde? He rubbed at his jaw as he glanced at the door.

I took my cue to leave. As I passed him, I stole a quick kiss, just a press of my lips to his soft, sweet ones.

He reached out to me but I retreated from the room. Always leave them wanting more, my grandma gave me that piece of advice. She was a smart woman.

I huddled in a cocoon of pillows and blankets to watch the sunrise. The creep of light behind the thick curtains grew until it brightened up the room to look like twilight. I couldn’t keep my eyes from wandering to the bathroom door. Each time I snagged them away they eventually made their way back.

No howls of torment came from behind it. That comforted me. I wondered if he slept like humans did or went into another state of unconsciousness. Rurik’s taken care of himself for centuries, he knew his own limits.

Why did I worry? I understood my attraction. He was a striking man. But my affection bothered me. Last night I would have staked him. The manila-envelope-of-trouble sat on a table across the room. If I could delete the memories of those pictures, I’d burn them and be done with it. Unfortunately, it could never be that easy.

Something told me to keep them safe. Tane’s involvement in this confusion tainted the picture’s validity and my growing attachment to Rurik tainted my sanity.

A little over a year ago, life had been simple. No vampire hunts or being chased through dark alleys. I didn’t even know they existed. Then Laurent’s stomachache turned to cancer. The Connie Bence I’d been disappeared with his death forever.

At least I thought she had. I think she may have peeked out last night. Rurik did that to me, drew out the person I used to be. He gave me genuine smiles, laughs, and cries.

Something knotted and twisted deep down in my heart loosened its grip. I never knew it could do that. My grief, my dirty little obsession, didn’t seem so constricted.

Laurent must be disappointed in me. He’d made me promise to move on afterwards, to find someone to love and continue living. I would’ve promised him anything. Instead, I nurtured and grew this demon inside of me. Fed it alcohol and drugs so it would blind me, make me forget. It taught me not to feel.

Colby helped me tame it by giving my life purpose but it never went away. Until now, I didn’t think it could.

Rurik was a man who couldn’t get sick, who couldn’t grow old, and was difficult to kill. Someone who appeared to care for me.

All I needed to do was let go of my past.

A knock on my door made me jump and squeal like a greased pig at a country fair. I struggled with the blankets tangled around my legs so I could stomp out of bed and check the peek hole. Would I ever get some sleep?

“Delivery for Ms. Bence.”

That stopped me in my tracks. Only two people in Budapest knew my real last name and one of them lay asleep in the tub. My heart dropped. I felt like a kid who got caught stealing money from her mom’s purse.

Another knock echoed through my room. “Ms. Bence?” Yeah, that was his voice, all right.

Colby.

He wouldn’t even have to stake Rurik, just open the bathroom door and let the sunlight in. If I didn’t answer soon he would break the door down. In my over-sized, teddy bear printed PJ’s, I cracked the hallway door open. A man in a navy blue uniform with a matching cap stood looking at his feet. He held a bouquet of white lilies.

He raised his piercing green eyes to glare at me.

“What are you doing here?” I hissed.

Colby placed his hand on the door and pushed it open then scanned the room behind me. Meeting his clearance, he brushed past me as he entered and laid the flowers on the manila envelope across the room.

I closed the door and leaned on it. Without its support, I think my knees would have given out.

“I wanted to check on you. You sounded strange last night when you called.” He stared at the envelope, his back to me, and traced a finger around it. “Like you had other things on your mind.”

“What do you expect? I’m hunting vampires with Nosferatu lurking in the shadows.”

He spun around. “You saw more?” His eyes shone with excitement, almost the way Tane’s did when he spoke of Colby.

“I saw Tane, Dragos ’ sidekick, at the club. That’s why I left early, before he saw me.”

He pointed his finger at me and raised his voice. “You should have brought him to me. That’s your job, remember?”

“My job was to lure Rurik.” Who, by the way, lay in the bathtub. I had to swallow a hysterical giggle and struggled with it until it became just a grin. “I’m not Tane’s type. He likes men—maybe you should check him out yourself.”

That took the wind out of his sail. He dropped his arm to his side. “He’s gay?” His voice returned to a normal volume.

“I don’t know, maybe he’s bi, but his date was a guy named Eric.” I tried to hint. Maybe I could lay it on thicker but Colby could catch on and make me tell him everything. Then we’d all be dead.

He nodded, his expression lost in thought.

I stood away from the door confident my legs would support me now. “I’ll admit, I feel like I’m over my head. You’ve pitted me against some pretty strong monsters. It’s one thing to take on street thugs and small timers but this is beyond me. They’re going to get me if we’re not more careful.”

“I agree. The tension level in this city is high. Things are about to explode.” He leaned against the table and crossed his arms. “I’m thinking of bailing out.”

“Really?” Colby’s never given up on a hunt as far as I knew. Hope made me lightheaded. With him gone I had one less thing to worry about. This would solve half my problems.

“The contractor has offered to pay triple our price to finish the job. Most of the others want to stay. What about you?”

“He tripled the offer.” Damn, that bastard, Tane. What was he up to? If he wanted Rurik dead, all he had to do was not warn him of the attack on his resting place yesterday.

“Who said it was a he?” Colby’s voice sounded strained.

I shrugged.

He stalked up to me, backed me against the door, and then loomed. “I can’t help you if you keep secrets. I know you, Connie. You’ve been hiding something since Rurik took you from that club.”

Colby’s stare pierced mine and I glanced away. I’ve faced centuries old vampires who were less intimidating. The memories of his ruthless training returned, of spending nights with him building my mental shields while he used his small psychic abilities to pound at them. Drunk, exhausted, starved I learned to defend my mind or pay his price. It gave me chills and my stomach clenched.

He placed his hand against the door and leaned down to my level, then lifted my chin with his free hand to look at both sides of my neck. He found it clean of vampire bites and sighed, letting go of my chin, but he didn’t back off. “Do I need to search other body parts?”

“No!” Horrified at the thought. “I’m clean. I’m nobody’s meal ticket.”

“I’m worried about you.”

He should be. I was worried about me too.

“I-I’m in trouble.” I caught myself about to look at the bathroom door and stomped on the urge. “That’s all I can tell you, I’ve told you everything else I could.” I tugged at the hem of my PJ top and looked at my bare feet, corralled by his size twelve boots.

He stepped back allowing me to take a deep breath. I watched him as he took his hat off to run his hand through his blond hair, disturbing the neat part. By the end of the day his hair would be all over the place like Einstein’s, as always.

I couldn’t help but smile at the gesture and realized there was something I could impart to him. “Rurik’s lair got attacked yesterday.”

His eyebrows rose up to his hairline. “Who did it?”

“I thought it was you.” From his reaction, I would guess not.

He shook his head. “Is he dead?”

“No.”

“Yeah, you’re not in mourning.”

The comment rattled my already confused morals. I stepped forward and slapped his face without thinking. Colby knew me and how Laurent’s death affected my soul He shouldn’t have crossed that line.

He rubbed his chin and nodded. “I deserved that.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a white envelope to place in my hand. “Plane ticket home. Leaves tonight.”

I stared at it, not sure what to do. This was what I wanted, wasn’t it?

Colby nudged me out of his way and opened the door. “Take the plane, Connie. Get out. Red and I will take care of things here.” Then he left.

I sat on the bed with Colby’s present in my hands. The battle lines drawn across this city were taut with tension, ready to explode. I assumed it to be just between Rurik and Dragos, but Tane seemed to be playing both sides and Colby was the wild card.

Tane told me I’d have to pick a side. Forget Dragos, he’d just eat me. Rurik wanted me but could he protect me? Tane needed me and had the power to protect me but I didn’t know what he would do with me once I outlived my uses. Then there was this plane ticket home. If I took Colby’s offer and left all this trouble behind, I’d live.

But at what cost? Rurik framed for a mass murder and no one believed his innocence but me. Colby and his men hired by Tane and didn’t even know it. If they succeeded in killing Rurik they’d be hunted down by his people and if not, I think Tane would go after them anyway. The city of Budapest would be taken over by a new unknown Overlord chosen by Dragos.

The thought sent a shiver down my spine.

Did I think I could stop all this? No.

If I left and those I cared about got hurt because I kept my mouth shut and did nothing, I’d be responsible. That was unacceptable. I’d already had to sit back and watch one person I loved die. Not again, never again.

This little rabbit was about to draw her own battle line and cross all of theirs.