Sex, Lies, and Vampires

minute! Melissande is desperately trying to find her nephew and her brother. If you know where Damian is, you have to tell her so she can rescue them.'

'Saer needs no help.' His eyes were ice blue now, so cold I felt as if I'd been burned where his gaze touched me. I tried fighting his hold on my wrist, but he pulled me through the empty hall like I were a sack of potatoes. I hate pushy vampires!

'You know Saer?'

'Yes. Stop fighting me. You cannot escape.'

'Ha! Just watch me,' I yelled, grabbing at a nearby suit of armor.

The vamp spun around and scooped me up in one move. The breath slammed out of my lungs as he stalked off with me slung over his shoulder.

'Hey!' I yelled, dragging my gaze off the fascinating sight of his upside-down butt. I pounded my hand on his back. 'Let me down! All the blood is rushing to my head!'

'Perhaps it'll do a little good there,' he muttered as he flung open a wooden door, my body bouncing painfully as he raced down a long flight of stone stairs.

'I heard that! Now put me down and we can discuss this kidnapping plan you have.'

'No. Stop struggling or I will be forced to subdue you.'

'Subdue me?' I asked his butt, which, I'm ashamed to admit, I couldn't seem to stop ogling. Encased in snug-fitting black jeans, it was a thing of joy to behold as it moved. 'Oh, right. Like what, you're going to bite my leg?'

He didn't even pause. One minute I was bouncing on his back as he trotted down the stairs, the next minute a sharp sting burned the back of my thigh.

I rose up as far as I could, shocked (and strangely thrilled) to my very core. 'Oh, my God! You bit me on the leg! You drank my blood! I am not an appetizer!'

You are much more than an appetizer. You are a twelve-course banquet.

'Oh!' I yelled, pounding his back again. 'Stop it! Stop it right now! Stop whispering into my mind, and stop biting my leg. Let me down!'

'No.'

Without the least sign of gentleness or concern for me, he continued down the stairs. He didn't even pause when he reached the floor, he just headed straight into the inky-black abyss of what must have been a very large basement. Looming up in the faint light coming from the stairwell I could see stone statues, statues that seemed oddly lifelike in the shadows that embraced them.

Worry began to well up inside me. It was one thing to banter with a vampire, but if he had plans of dragging me into his crypt with him… my breath stuck in my throat at the thought of being buried alive. It was my worst nightmare. 'You're squishing my stomach! I'm going to barf if you don't let me down.'

That did the trick. He came to a halt, lowering me to the ground, his fingers encircling my wrist as I took my first full breath since he'd picked me up. 'Whew! That's better. Now, about this—'

'We have no time to waste in conversation. The sun is rising. Come.'

'You know, I can walk and talk at the same time. I bet if you put your vampy mind to it, you could do the same. Now, I know you've got some sort of a bee up your'—incredibly attractive—'butt, but I'm not leaving without letting Melissande know where her nephew is. She's worried sick about him.'

'Regardless, you will not return to her,' he said grimly, pulling me after him as he entered a narrow stone passage. There was a metallic clink as he flipped open a lighter, the blue flame set high. It did little to illuminate the tunnel, however. All I could tell was that it was damp, seemed to go on forever, and smelled earthy. As I was dragged down the passage after the vampire, the floor changed from rock to sand, then to root-riddled dirt.

My worry turned to anger as he dragged me deep into the bowels of the castle. How dare he leave poor Melissande to worry and fret when a simple word from him could help? 'You heartless bloodsucker! How can you be so selfish?'

'Selfish?' The vamp cast me a disdainful glance.

'Yes, selfish. I'm not an idiot, you know. I saw the way your ears pricked up when you found out I am a Charmer—not that I am, but Melissande thinks I am. You want me to unmake the curse I saw on you, don't you?' I asked, stumbling over a tree root that poked up out of the ground. He caught me, wrapping one arm around my waist. I ignored the voice inside me that was screaming to enjoy the embrace, realizing he was simply trying to keep me on my feet. 'You think you can use me to charm away your troubles!'

'Yes.'

The word was spoken with a coldness that left me shivering.

'Well, you can just think again. I can't charm anything. I'm just here to help Melissande… which is what you should be doing, as well. There's a boy's life at stake, and even if you aren't particularly kind or even polite, surely you're not so much of a monster that you don't care.'

'How do you know I'm not a monster?'

Something flickered deep in his eyes, and once again I felt a warmth within me answering his silent call. 'Don't be silly. If you were a monster, you would have ripped out my throat or made me your queen of eternal night or something like that. You're just a man, not a monster. Yes, a man with really sharp pointy teeth and hands like a steel trap, but you're still a man, and because of that, you're bound by the constraints of humanity to help Melissande.'

He marched onward, not even pausing at my plea. 'She wouldn't welcome my help.'

'But—'

'No!' The word was spoken with a finality that was just shy of chipped into stone. I glared at him and promised myself that the first chance I had, I'd pry the information from him about the kid, and pass it on to Melissande.

'This way.' He veered off into a yawning black opening, releasing me in order to throw his weight against a root-bound stone door. It squealed its protest, a nasty stone-grinding-on-stone noise filling the small chamber as the vampire slowly pushed the door closed. I stumbled backward over a large rock, the dim flame of the lighter not doing much along illumination lines.

'Who are you?' As I spoke, a dull, solid rumble shook the room, stopping with a horribly final sound. The vampire turned from the now closed stone door. 'Who are you, and where are we, and just exactly why have you kidnapped me?'

The vamp searched until he found an arm-sized piece of wood. It must have been dry, because it flamed pretty quickly when he applied the lighter to it. He held the burning wood high like a torch, his shadow massive as it flickered on the rough-hewn stone walls behind him.

'My name is Adrian Tomas, this is a small room off the tunnel leading from the castle's bolt hole, and I have taken you so that you will unmake a curse created by the demon lord Asmodeus.'

'Adrian?' I whispered, my brain reeling. 'Adrian the Betrayer? The one who turns his people over to Asmodeus for endless torture and horrible deaths? That Adrian?'

'Yes,' the vampire answered, the light from the burning wood glinting on his fangs as he smiled a grim smile. 'I am the Betrayer, and you, Charmer, are my prisoner.'

Chapter Four

'You're going to kill me, aren't you?'

'What?' Adrian held the burning root high as he walked the perimeter of the dank hole he had thrust me into. It was approximately the size of my bedroom back home, two of the walls carved out of stone, the other two made of earth supported with aging wooden beams. Judging by the broken barrels heaped in one corner, at one time this room had probably been used as some sort of storeroom. 'Why would I want to kill you?'

The root had burned down almost to his hand. Adrian came to a halt in front of me, evidently satisfied that no light could get into the room.

'Why? I'm trapped, caught, ensnared with a rogue vampire who spends his leisure