Kissing with Fangs

Chapter 7

Anthony had captured Claudia’s gaze and mesmerized her. Or so he’d thought. Instead of the slack-jawed, unblinking response he’d expected, she frowned, blinked, and said, “What the hell? Your eyes are turning colors.”

He quickly looked away and sucked in a deep breath. She wasn’t under? Am I losing my touch?

“Seriously. One minute your eyes were the color of milk chocolate, like I’m used to, and then they shimmered gold and then a little purple and finally blue.”

Anthony laughed. “It must have been a trick of the light.”

She hesitated. “Either that or I’m losing my mind—again.”

“What do you mean by ‘again’?”

“Uh, you know. Sometimes when I was coming off a bender I thought I saw things that weren’t really there.”

He snapped to attention. “You hallucinated?”

She shrugged and grinned sheepishly. “Only a little.”

“Has it happened since you’ve been sober?”

“No. I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m sure it was just a trick of the light or something. I’m getting better every day. I didn’t mean to worry you.”

“Let’s not dwell on it. You’re probably just tired. I need to get you home.”

“And I need to get to an AA meeting. Maybe the people who’ve been through this before can tell me if seeing weird stuff is normal.”

Shit. “Fine. I’ll take you.”

“You can’t do that.”

“I’m afraid I have to. I don’t trust Ruxandra.”

Claudia tossed her hands in the air. “So I’m supposed to hide from her until she gets the hint and leaves us alone? Do you really think she’s around every corner, gunning for me?”

The word “gunning” shocked him. But he couldn’t let her see his momentary panic. Anthony caressed her arms and kissed her forehead. “I can’t take that chance. You’re too important to me.”

“Someone needs to be here in case Autumn or Chelsea runs into a problem. The tea room is brand-new, and there are bound to be a few bumps to smooth out.”

Anthony sighed. He had to know more about the protective spell Kurt cast around Claudia to keep her safe. Would it work if Ruxandra was literally gunning for her? Massachusetts had strict gun laws, but there was nothing to prevent her from mesmerizing a gun-shop owner in New Hampshire.

That seemed far-fetched, even for Ruxandra. Maybe he was being overprotective. “Fine. What if Kurt goes with you?”

Claudia’s cheeks grew dark pink. “Kurt knows? Did you tell him?”

“No, but I’m sure he’d understand.”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, sure. He was at the bar every day and hardly drank at all. Angie told me he could nurse a beer for five hours. I’m sure he’d know exactly how I feel.”

Should he tell her Kurt was his undercover bouncer? He paid him out of his own pocket and Claudia knew nothing about it. Kurt was needed there in case the paranormals got out of hand. Then Anthony remembered that Kurt was helping Nick on a paranormal PI case right now. I shouldn’t keep taking him away from that.

“Claudia, isn’t there something else you can do? Aren’t there meetings online?”

“Oh, for the love of…” She sighed. “I’ll call my sponsor. Maybe she can come over and we’ll have our own meeting.”

Uh-oh. That was the woman who’d cautioned Claudia to wait a year before getting into a relationship. He mulled over the possible consequences and figured that anything was better than losing Claudia permanently.

“Give her a call. Meanwhile, I’ll go check on the girls and see if there are any problems.”

Claudia smiled, but only slightly.

As soon as he left the office, he strode to the men’s room to call Kurt. He had to know how safe Claudia really was—before she kicked him to the curb for being overbearing and paranoid.

“I’m not giving up on dating Ruxandra. She’s just playing hard to get,” Kurt said.

“I don’t know, buddy. I heard her tell you to ‘go to hell,’ and I’d say she meant it. If you intend to keep trying, you’ll have your work cut out for you.”

“Maybe you can give me some tips. You know her better than anyone. What does she like?”

Anthony leaned against the stall in the men’s room and groaned. “Me.”

On the other end of the phone, he heard Kurt laugh. “Well, that’s not going to help. Can’t you give me any other ideas? Does she have a favorite flower? Favorite color?”

“You know her. She has very expensive tastes. Are you prepared to buy her diamonds and furs?”

“Hmmm… How about tickets to the ballet or opera? Does she enjoy those things?”

“No.”

“Museums?”

“Only if she can knock one over and steal its priceless artifacts.”

Kurt chuckled. “That might make an interesting first date.”

Anthony pinched the bridge of his nose. “Maybe this was a bad idea. I don’t want you spending your life savings or getting arrested, and Ruxandra is trouble with a capital T.”

“There must be something she enjoys that’s not illegal. Long walks on the beach?”

“No. She likes long bouts of hot, sweaty sex.”

“Now we’re talking!”

“But, as far as I know, only with me.”

“Wasn’t she a prostitute in the seventeen hundreds?”

“Yes. And she occasionally worked in a brothel in the eighteen and nineteen hundreds. What of it?”

“She can’t be that opposed to new partners.”

“It was a means to an end. Money is the only thing she understands…well, that and making my life a living hell.”

“Why? What makes her so attached to you?”

“I’m the one who found her near death in a ditch outside the Marquis de Sade’s castle. One look at her innocent beauty, and I would have moved heaven and earth for her. I knew looks could be deceiving, but I chose not to believe it that day.”

After a short pause, Kurt said, “Don’t worry. I know how it goes. Hot girl. Cold dick.”

“Tell me about it.”

“How and when did you two break up?”

“I masked my scent with some hooker’s overpowering perfume and fled New Orleans like it was on fire.”

“So, it sounds as if you two spent some time together if you found her in France during the reign of the Marquis de Sade and were still an item recently in New Orleans.”

Anthony flopped against the back of the couch. “We were together for over a century, and after that, off and on. I was obligated at first. I taught her what she needed to know to survive—something I never learned from my own maker, but that’s another story. Ruxandra and I even had a few happy decades. Unfortunately, that makes it worse. She remembers the good times but conveniently forgets that things haven’t been good between us since the turn of the century.”

“2000 wasn’t that long ago.”

“I was talking about 1900, the century before.”

“Oh. So, where does she sleep?”

Anthony paced the nine-by-nine room in two strides. “I don’t know, and I don’t care.”

“Whoa. Aren’t you supposed to look after the vampires you turn? Isn’t that some kind of vampire law or something?”

“I fulfilled my obligation to her years ago. She knows as much about survival as I do. Maybe more. There’s nothing more I can teach her, other than how to let go of me and move on. She seems unwilling to learn those lessons.”

“So, what you’re saying is, you’re kind of fucked.”

“Unless you can find some way to entice her far, far away from here.”

“I, um…I’ll have to think about it.”

Something in Kurt’s voice told Anthony he had an idea but wasn’t willing to share it yet.

“Meanwhile, my friend, I need to know that Claudia is safe—no matter what.”

“She is. Trust me. She can go anywhere and do anything she likes. The protection spell won’t wear off or fade with distance. She could leave the state and still be fine.”

The idea of Claudia being miles away bothered Anthony, but he didn’t have time to examine that now.

“You’re sure?”

“Positive.”

“Okay. Thanks, buddy. I owe you.”

“You sure do.”

Kurt laughed, but Anthony meant every word. Claudia’s safety was worth whatever promises he had to keep.

“So, how’s the investigation going?”

“Not well. Every time Nick thinks he’s found a lead, the trail goes cold.”

“Are more paranormals disappearing?”

“A few. At first it was just wolves. Now, it seems a couple of vampires are missing.”

“Vampires?” This development hit home for Anthony. “Who? Where? Are you sure they’re missing and not just moving on?”

“According to Nick, a family reported their mother and young son missing. They seemed genuinely distraught. Said there was no way they’d ever leave the rest of the family willingly. Considering they went to a werewolf for help, they must have been desperate.”

“Shit.” How did humans sneak up on a vampire—never mind two of them—and then manage to capture them?

“Exactly. A werewolf capture is hard enough to understand, but they can’t move quite as fast as vamps can when threatened. They must have been shot with some kind of fast-acting sedative.”

“That’s the only thing I can think of. Is there anything that works so fast it could take down vampires before they disappeared?”

“Not that I know of.”

Anthony scratched his head.

Kurt elbowed him. “If I find out what it is, maybe I can use it on Ruxandra. Then lock her up until Stockholm syndrome kicks in and she falls madly in love with me. That would take care of your problem.”

Anthony laughed bitterly. “How did you know what I was thinking?”

Claudia had made sure everything was okay and said good-bye to her waitresses. She figured she’d better beat it before Anthony handcuffed her to his side. She took two strides toward her apartment entrance, but before she reached her door, Ruxandra stepped in front of her. Dressed in red as usual, she was hard to miss, but she also wore gobs of sparkly jewelry and a fur stole. The only things missing were a tiara and long, white gloves.

“Yikes. You startled me.” Claudia glanced all around. “Where did you come from anyway?”

Ruxandra’s frown edged up into a slow, creepy smile. “Never mind that. We need to talk. How about if you invite me up…for a drink.” Her teeth seemed to gleam and looked sharper than Claudia had remembered.

Doing her best to mask her alarm with annoyance, Claudia blew out a deep breath and dug in her purse for her keys. “What about?”

“I think you know.”

“Sorry. I don’t, and I’m…I have to be somewhere in…” She glanced at her watch. “Ten minutes. I barely have time to change.”

“Into what?”

Huh? She’s just trying to get to me. Claudia didn’t actually have to leave her apartment for another hour, but letting the pushy blond know that would be a mistake.

Ruxandra reached out as if she were about to grab Claudia’s arm, then recoiled and said, “Ouch. I broke a fuckin’ nail. What are you made of? Iron?”

Claudia tried to step around Ruxandra, but the woman maneuvered herself directly in front of Claudia again.

“I won’t take much of your time.”

Claudia closed her eyes and blew out a deep breath.

“May I please come up to your apartment so we can talk in private?” Ruxandra asked in a syrupy sweet voice.

Claudia was about to tell her to take a flying leap when Anthony flew out of the tea shop and wedged himself between the two women.

“Do not invite her in, Claudia.”

How did he hear what was said from inside the shop? She was tempted to defy him and invite Ruxandra upstairs just to show him she could do whatever she liked, but technically, it was his apartment. And considering how much Ruxandra wanted her out of the way, defying him on this—or anything else where the blond bombshell was concerned—would be just plain stupid.

“Honestly, Anthony. Are you going to tell me what to do every minute of every day? I mean, evening.”

Come to think of it, I’ve never seen Ruxandra during the day, either. Did they really spend their days apart? Is that why his former girlfriend feels she still has some kind of right to him? Claudia told herself she was being ridiculous. Anthony wanted nothing to do with the buxom blond.

He put a hand on the small of Claudia’s back. “Why don’t you go inside? I need to have a little talk with Ruxandra.”

“And she says she needs to have a talk with me. Maybe the three of us should just sit down and talk until we all have nothing more to say.” Claudia glared at Ruxandra. “I’m getting sick of being ambushed.” Then she faced Anthony. “…and ordered around.”

“That’s not a good idea,” Anthony said. “I’ll handle this.”

“Handle what?” She folded her arms. “Did you two break up or not?”

Ruxandra tipped her nose in the air. “What we have is something that can’t be broken.”

“And yet,” Anthony said through gritted teeth, “it’s been broken for a long time.”

What the hell cryptic nonsense are these two saying to each other? “You know what? This is between you two. I’ll be upstairs getting ready to go out. If you’re still here when I leave, pretend you don’t see me.”

“Claudia, wait.” Anthony started to follow her.

She yanked open the door to her stairwell and said. “No. I’ve waited long enough.”

Anthony hoped Claudia wouldn’t refuse to let him in. He needed to talk to her. She must be wondering what Ruxandra was babbling about when she said their relationship couldn’t be broken, and he had to do damage control.

He knocked and heard Claudia mutter, “Frig,” from the other side.

He waited impatiently until he saw her hazel eye peer into the peephole. He was relieved…sort of. On one hand, he wanted to give her an explanation of why his ex-girlfriend wouldn’t go away, and on the other hand, he had to walk a fine line between the literal truth and something that wouldn’t expose what he was.

She opened the door slowly and peeked around it.

“She’s not with me,” he said.

When Claudia opened the door wider, he added, “In any sense of the word,” and then he strode inside and closed the door behind him. When he reached for her, she took a step back.

In disappointed surprise, he let his arms drop. “What’s wrong?”

“I think I’m entitled to an explanation, and I don’t want to get distracted by your talented mouth and hands before I hear it.”

He smiled sadly and nodded, acknowledging the backhanded compliment.

Claudia plodded over to the armchair and gestured for him to sit on the couch. He wanted to sit closer so he could soothe her. Stroking her cheek or caressing her back might have helped, but apparently she knew his moves.

“I want to know about a number of things. First, why is she being such a pain in the ass? It can’t be just because she thinks she can break us up. What did she mean by ‘what you have can’t be broken’?”

Anthony let out a long sigh. The truth was about to get twisted. “In a way, we’re related.”

Claudia’s jaw dropped. “You’re what? Wait a minute… Are you married?”

“God, no.”

“Divorced, but she won’t accept it for religious reasons?”

Tempting, but he didn’t even want entertain the thought. “No.”

“Cousins? Isn’t that illegal?”

“It’s more distant than that.” Hey, I turned her in the distant past. That counts as distant.

“So, distant cousins. Can’t she just see you once a year at a family reunion?”

“You’d think, but for whatever reason, she wants it to be more.”

“Okay…that brings up another question. I never see you two during the day. Are you spending your days together?”

“Absolutely not!” He had already formulated an explanation using a rare genetic illness if she ever asked about the daylight thing. Now, perhaps he could use the “relatedness” to back it up. “My, er—‘family’ has a rare condition, and photosensitivity is a major problem for us.”

“Really? What’s the condition called?”

“Xeroderma pigmentosum.” He was proud of the fact that it rolled right off his tongue.

“Sounds made up.”

“It’s very real, I assure you. Cancer is about three hundred times more likely in those who have this condition. The best defense is no sunlight at all.”

Claudia’s hands flew to her cheeks. “Oh, no. How awful. I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do to help? Should I know what symptoms to look for?”

“No. I’ll be fine and you’re already helping. Because of you, I was able to flip my sleep schedule to daylight hours.”

She shook her head slowly. “Oh, my God. I had no idea. I’m so sorry, Anthony. No wonder you didn’t want to be bothered during the day—even with emergencies at work.” She rose and moved to sit beside him.

This is working better than I had hoped.

“Does Ruxandra have it too?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“Oh, dear. Now I’m sorry I was mean to her.”

“Please, don’t be.”

“But she’s your relative and she has this terrible illness. I should invite her to have dinner with us sometime. Maybe just letting her know someone cares will help. She must think you’re the only one who understands…and she’s probably right.”

Oh, crap. That backfired. “No. I don’t want you anywhere near her. Sometimes, um, people with this condition become very volatile and violent.”

Claudia’s eyes rounded. “Does that mean that you…”

“No. Not at all. I have a mild form of the condition, and as long as I avoid all sun, it won’t get worse.”

“So Ruxandra’s condition is severe?”

“Yes. I’m afraid so.”

Claudia placed a hand over her heart and flopped back against the sofa cushions. “I feel so awful for her. Isn’t there anything we can do?”

He put on his saddest expression. “No. There’s nothing. I mean, I could institutionalize her, and at some point, I might have to…”

Claudia gasped. “Oh, my God. I hope it doesn’t come to that.”

“Me too. Really, the best thing you can do is stay away from her.”

“So, you’re saying she won’t fly into rages if she’s not jealous?”

Uh-oh. Anthony had a feeling he didn’t like where this was going.

Claudia folded her hands in her lap and stared at them. “Maybe we should break up. It’s the only way to make sure she stays calm.”

“No! Please don’t do that. I’ve put my life on hold too long as it is.” He pleaded with his eyes. “I want to live before I die.” Good Christ. Could I have laid it on any thicker? With every lie, he dug a deeper hole. He’d need to fix it so it wouldn’t collapse and bury him. “We don’t like to talk about it. I hope you can be discreet and tell no one. Don’t even mention it to Ruxandra if you see her. Having this disease makes her angry. Let’s not remind her of it.”

“I understand the anger. Having alcoholism made me angry at first, but talking about it at meetings really helps. You should consider letting her express her feelings.”

Shit. I should have known Claudia’s compassionate side would complicate things. This bullshit has gone too far. Fortunately he could mesmerize her and take it all out of her head. Then he’d just have to come up with some other explanation for Ruxandra’s behavior…if he could figure it out himself. So far all he could gather was that she was sociopathically obsessed with him. That in itself was concerning, but he’d just have to find another way to deal with it. He was sick of the blond bombshell ruining his life.

He turned to Claudia and held her gaze. Trying to mesmerize her before didn’t work, so I’ll have to really concentrate.

“There! It happened again,” she said.

He quickly glanced behind him while his eyes returned to normal. “What? I don’t see anything.”

“Your eyes. They changed color.”

He chuckled. “It must have been the light reflecting off my clothes or something.”

“Your shirt is white. Your pants are black.”

“Well, they could have been reflecting something else.”

She glanced all around. “The place is beige, but your eyes were brown, then shimmered gold, then turned purple, then blue. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Damn. Why did I paint the place with neutral colors?