Thrusting his past behind him, Giovanni willed himself to his lair in the bowels of an abandoned church. He had another, more comfortable place where he occasionally passed the daylight hours, but resting here, among the dead, seemed more appropriate for one of his kind.
Stretching out on the cold stone floor between a pair of ancient coffins, he closed his eyes, and surrendered to the death-like sleep that swallowed him whole.
Cassie ran headlong through the darkness. Heart pounding with terror, lungs burning, she plunged through the thick hedge that bordered the east side of the park. She whimpered as sharp thorns raked her arms and tore at her clothing.
She never should have let Darla talk her into attending that party. Something had warned her not to go, but she hadn’t listened. It was Friday night, after all. Time to forget about her boring life. Time to stop wondering if she was going to get fired. Time to have a little fun for a change.
She darted a glance over her shoulder. Had she lost her pursuers?
But no, she could hear them clamoring through the hedges, their drunken laughter as they called back and forth, their threats of what they would do to her when they caught her.
Her legs were trembling when she reached the concrete walkway that meandered through the gardens.
Gasping for breath, sides heaving, she glanced over her shoulder again. They were gaining on her.
She was doomed.
A startled cry erupted from her throat when she slammed into something solid. Only it wasn’t something, but someone.
The man took a step back, his arms darting out to grab hold of her to keep her from falling.
Cassie stared up at him, but it was too dark to see his face clearly. Had she run away from one predator only to fall into the arms of another?
And then Lynx and four of his buddies were there, circling her and the stranger. Moonlight glinted on the wicked-looking knife Lynx held in front of him.
The stranger’s arms tightened around her waist. “Easy, girl,” he murmured. “There’s no need to be afraid.”
No need to be afraid, she thought. Was he blind? Didn’t he see Lynx and the others surrounding them like hungry wolves around a wounded animal? The knife blades glinting in their hands?
“Give us the chick, old man,” Lynx demanded. “And we might let you go.”
Cassie closed her eyes and buried her face against the stranger’s side. She felt an odd tremor in the air. It made the fine hairs at her nape stand at attention. Gathering her courage, she dared open her eyes to see what was happening, only to find that Lynx and his buddies were nowhere in sight. “What? Where …?”
“They’ve gone.” Her rescuer’s voice rumbled in her ear, deep and kind. “What are you doing out here, child, wandering in the park alone at this time of the night?”
Child? She was over twenty-one. “It wasn’t my idea,” she said, taking a step away. “My girlfriend took me to a party. I didn’t know what I was getting into. When I said I was leaving, Lynx said I couldn’t go until I … until I’d paid the toll.”
It took him a moment to comprehend her meaning. “He’s a friend of yours?”
“No! I just met him tonight.” He had seemed so nice when she was first introduced to him.
“If he’s smart, he won’t bother you again.” Feeling suddenly protective of her, he asked, “Where do you live? I’ll walk you home.”
“That’s not necessary.”
“Maybe not, but I’m still taking you home.”
Shoulders slumped, Cassie muttered, “Whatever,” and started walking.
“What’s your name?” he asked, falling in step beside her.
“Why?”
“Suspicious, much?” he asked.
She glanced up at him. In the glow of a nearby street light, she saw his face clearly for the first time. His eyes were light—hazel, perhaps—his shoulder-length hair black and wavy and edged with silver. He seemed awfully young to have gray hair. “Sorry, but you are a stranger.”
He nodded, a faint smile lifting the corners of his mouth. It was, she thought, a very nice mouth.
“Perhaps I should introduce myself first. My name is Giovanni Lanzoni, but please, call me Johnny.” It was what his mother had called him, though he’d given the girl the English translation.
“Hi, Johnny.”
“I’m very pleased to meet you, Miss …?”
“Douglas. Cassandra, but everyone calls me Cassie.” She frowned, thinking she had never known a man with such nice manners. Not that she’d known that many men.
They walked in silence for a time. Cassie was acutely aware of the man beside her. Though he was not big and bulky and stood only a few inches taller than she, there was an air of power and authority about him that was both comforting and unsettling. With a shake of her head, she dismissed it as nothing more than the after effects of the night’s events.
She felt drawn to him in a way she didn’t understand. But what was even stranger, she felt safe with him, and that was really odd, because she hadn’t trusted anyone since her parents abandoned her when she was fifteen.
“What happened back there?” she asked as they left the park. “Why did they leave without a fight?”
“I merely advised them that it would be in their best interest to leave you alone.”
Cassie frowned. “I didn’t hear you say anything.”
He shrugged. “Perhaps you were too frightened to pay attention.”
Cassie shook her head. She had been scared, sure, but too scared to hear whatever threat had sent Lynx and the others hurrying away without an argument? She didn’t think so. She shook her head again. Why was she always drawn to the wrong guys? First her ex, and then Lynx? Not that she ever wanted to see him again.
She
