Christian (Vampires in America: The Vampire Wars Book 10) (17 page)

She forced herself to climb the stairs to her bedroom. She had no intention of primping for the date, but she needed to get dressed. She walked into her bedroom and looked around aimlessly, then crossed to the bathroom, and stood staring at her reflection in the mirror. She looked awful. Stress did that to a person. She hated the idea of spending even an hour with Anthony, but hated even more what he might do if she refused. He’d already hurt Cibor, and, by extension, Jaclyn. And what about her family? Anthony was just petty enough to take it out on them because she wouldn’t go out with him.

Which reminded her. She needed to call her parents, just to be safe. She picked up the phone and hit the appropriate speed dial, then listened to it ring. Part of her wanted to get their answering machine. It would be so much easier to leave a message. But another part wanted to hear their voices.

“Hey, baby girl.” Her father’s words rolled with a Cajun accent that was much deeper than hers, and the more time she spent with him, the stronger her own accent became.

“Hey, Daddy.”

“What’s wrong?”

She forced a laugh. “Why would you ask that?”

“Because I know my Natalie. Come on, talk to your daddy.”

She blew out a long breath. “I just wanted to warn you . . . about Anthony.”

“If that bloody bastard’s giving you any trouble, you just come on home. Don’t you worry about anything else.”

“It’s not that bad. Honestly. But you know how he likes to play games. Well, he’s playing one now. There’s this guy I’m dating—”

“Who?” her father demanded, forgetting all about Anthony.

“Now, Daddy. Don’t go getting all protective on me.”

“As if there’s any other way for me to be with my own baby girl.”

Natalie smiled, and it felt good. If there was one thing she was sure of, one thing that would never change, it was that her parents loved her.

“That means more than you know,” she murmured, then stiffened her resolve. “His name’s Christian . . . the guy I’m dating. And he reminds me of you.” She thought she might have heard a light sniff from her father’s side of the phone line. “Anyway, Anthony and Christian don’t get along, so Anthony’s pretending he and I are . . . involved, as a way to get back at Christian.”

“As if.”

Those two words issued in her father’s deep voice with its Cajun accent were so perfect that she laughed out loud.

“That’s what I said, too,” she told him. “But you know how Anthony gets. So if he calls you or anything, just ignore him. And, you know, you and Momma be careful.”

“That old bloodsucker doesn’t scare me. Don’t you worry about us. And if your new beau is worth your time, he’ll tell you the same thing.”

“You’re right about that,” she muttered, then said. “I’ve got to go, Daddy. I expect Christian any minute now.”

“You tell him what I said.”

“I will.”

“And you come visit us. Your momma misses you.”

Natalie smiled. Translation . . . her
father
missed her.

“I’ll come soon. Now I’ve got to go. Give my love to Momma.”

“I’ll do that. You take care, baby girl. I love you.”

“I love you, too, Daddy. Bye-bye.”

When she hung up, she felt both better and worse. Better because she always felt better after talking to her father. And worse, because talking to him made her so homesick.

Her phone beeped with a new voicemail. She’d ignored the incoming beep when she’d been talking to her father. And she ignored the voicemail, too. She’d left Christian a message earlier, but ignored all of his calls and messages since then. She wasn’t going to debate this on the phone. He was just going to have to wait until she could talk to him in person. Besides, she already knew what he’d say. He wouldn’t want her to go tonight, would insist he could handle Anthony. But he didn’t know Anthony like she did. She wasn’t going to risk Christian’s life just to avoid one crummy date.

Pushing away from the mirror, she leaned into the shower and turned on the water, waiting until it was hot before stepping under the spray. While she showered, she obsessed about how angry Christian was going to be. Her stomach churned, and she wondered how she’d gotten involved so deeply, so fast. And when he’d become so important to her.

Once out of the shower, she did a quick blow dry of her hair, and pulled on some underwear, then wrapped her robe around herself, and was crossing into her bedroom when the ringing doorbell made her jump. Her gaze shot to the clock on her bedside. A little early, but not unexpected.

Doing a quick finger-comb of her hair as she went past the mirror, she hurried down the stairs and over to the door, doing a quick check through the peephole. Her already knotted stomach twisted harder.

Time to face the music.

She looked again. He did not seem happy.

“Open the fucking door, Natalie,” Christian growled. “I can hear you breathing.”

Damn vampire hearing. She yanked the door open. “You’re early.”

Christian’s back had been to the door while he’d been saying something to Marc, but when the door opened, he did a graceful spin, and now he was glowering down at her. “It’s lovely to see you, too,
chére.
Invite us in.
”

Natalie stared at him. She’d been so set on her course when she left the estate earlier, so certain she was doing the right thing. But now . . . now she was beginning to think she’d acted rashly, that her much vaunted intellect had been overtaken by fear, and she’d let it rule her decisions. That wasn’t like her. She usually over thought everything, so what had happened? She suddenly realized she didn’t know what she wanted anymore. And Christian was waiting.

“Of course,” she said finally. “Come in, both of you. But you have to listen to me,” she added, as first Marc and then Christian slipped past her.

Turning, Christian moved her out of the way, and closed the door, only to loom over her, his deep blue eyes glittering with anger. “So talk,
mon ange.
Tell me why you left Jaclyn’s office, left the estate, without a word of explanation. Why you ignored my repeated calls to ascertain that you were,
at the very least,
alive and well.”

“I called you,” she snapped. “And I told you to come over here. There was no point in arguing over the phone when it’s so much more satisfying in person!”

Christian grinned. “Are we going to argue,
chére
? What about?”

Natalie licked her lips nervously. This was it. Doomsday. “About me going out with Anthony tonight.” She didn’t even finish her sentence before Christian’s eyes filled with blue fire and she braced herself for his roar.

“Have you lost your fucking mind?” he growled, in a voice so deep it made the floors tremble.

“No, I have not,” she said, standing firm in the face of his anger. It was nothing she hadn’t expected. “He’ll be here at midnight, and—”

“
Merde!
Do you have any idea what a vampire like Anthony can do? You were there at Jaclyn’s. Did you see what he did to Cibor? And believe me he’s much—”

“He threatened you!” she shouted, abruptly tired of being treated like an idiot. “Yes, I know what he can do, and, yes, God damn it, I know what he did to Cibor. Why do you think I’m doing this?” She snapped her lips shut, having said far more than she’d planned.

Christian stared at her a long time, while she waited for him to explode. Maybe shoot fire out of his eyes or something this time. But he didn’t do any of those things.

“Do you trust me, Natalie?”

She blinked at the sudden question, but there was only one answer. “Of course I do.”

The corner of his mouth ticked up in a smile at her quick response, but his next words were deadly serious. “I want to check your head, to see if your mind’s been tampered with. Because I can’t think of any reason why you’d think that I need
your protection
.”

Ah, yes. There was the roar she’d been waiting for. “Well, pardon me, great one,” she drawled sarcastically, “for believing you might need me for anything. And, no, I will not let you tap into my brain.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Afraid I’ll discover you think I’m brilliant and handsome?”

She puffed out a dismissive breath. “Hardly. Now sit down and listen to me.”

Christian cupped her cheek in one hand, his thumb moving in slow, soothing circles over her chin. “No,
chére
. You listen to me. I need you for many things, but I do not need you to protect me against Anthony, or any other vampire. That’s my business, and I’m very good at my business.”

“But—”

“No,” he said, that one word saying it all.

He was completely unwilling to discuss it. Why had she ever thought they could have a rational conversation?

“He thinks if he gets you away from me, he can win you over. And if not, then he’ll force your mind to his way of thinking. Never mistake Anthony’s pettiness for stupidity. He has no morals, no limits when it comes to—”

“Christian,” she said patiently.

“—getting what he wants. And he wants—”

“Christian,” she said again.

“—you. There is no way I’m letting you spend five minutes with him, much less an entire—”

“I agree with you,” she said flatly, giving him her version of the blue fire stare.

“—evening. What?”

“Geez, how stupid do you think I am? I’m not going anywhere with Anthony. Why the hell do you think I called you over here?”

Christian was frowning at her, but she could hear Marc laughing softly.

“I assumed—” he started to argue, but she stopped him.

“You know what they say about assuming.”

His frown deepened, while Marc laughed harder. Christian glanced over at his lieutenant, and then back to her. “I don’t think I want to know. Okay, I’m listening. Tell me why I’m here.”

She reached up and stroked Christian’s face, so smooth over the curve of his cheekbones, slightly rough where his beard was a dark gold shadow. He leaned into her hand, rubbing like a cat. It made her smile. “Can we sit down first?”

He pulled her toward the sofa.

“You want some coffee?” she asked innocently.

He gave her a narrow look as he sat down, taking her with him. “Very funny,” he said. “Now tell me why I’m here.”

“Don’t you want to be?”

“Natalie,” he growled in warning.

“Fine. First of all, do you think you
should
check my head, just to be sure Anthony didn’t do something to me? He was waiting for me in the hallway outside Jaclyn’s office. That’s why he messed with Cibor, to get him to go back inside and leave me alone.”

“I can check, but I don’t think so. You wouldn’t have called me here otherwise.”

Her eyes widened. “What if
that’s
the compulsion? What if he wants you here?”

“Then I’ll be Lord of the South before the night is over. What’s your plan?”

“Simple. I knew I couldn’t deal with Anthony on my own, and I knew I’d never talk him out of coming here tonight. So I called in the big guns. You.”

Christian laughed, putting his arm around her and pulling her against his side. “Just for that, I’d kill him for you tonight. Unfortunately, Raphael wants him, because of what he did to Cibor. I promised I’d wait until he arrives tomorrow to discuss it.”

“The challenge,” she said, surprised she’d forgotten. Raphael and the others were still coming for the challenge
tomorrow night
.

Christian nodded. “Nothing will stop that, but Raphael would have come anyway. Anthony’s a fool to mess with you on my watch, but he’s many times a fool for trying to compromise one of Raphael’s people. If Raphael’s known for one thing, it’s loyalty to his own.”

Natalie swallowed her sigh of relief. She didn’t want to prick Christian’s alpha ego, but she was happy to let Raphael take on Anthony. She didn’t need Christian to prove anything to her, and she didn’t want him risking his life. Anthony wasn’t worth it.

“Oh my God, how’s Cibor?” she asked, ashamed she hadn’t asked already.

“He’s fine. Jaclyn’s with him.”

“Jaclyn probably hates me. I never should have tried to hide up there. None of this would have happened.”

He tightened his arm, squeezing her close. “Of course she doesn’t. She’s worried about you.”

Natalie shrugged, not sure she believed that. She glanced away, wanting to change the subject, and caught sight of the clock in her kitchen. “I need to get dressed!” she said urgently, pushing away from Christian, and standing up. “Anthony will be here any minute, and we need to be gone.”

Christian stood next to her, but he clearly didn’t share her urgency. “But that would be rude,
ma chére.
To make Anthony drive all this way for nothing? I wouldn’t dream of it.”

She gripped his hand tightly. “I thought maybe we’d go somewhere, be gone when he gets here.”

Christian gave her a disbelieving scowl. “You want me to run? From
Anthony?
I know you can’t judge this for yourself,
mon ange
, but he does not have the power to kill me, even if he was inclined to try. Which he won’t, because he’s too afraid of dying, himself.”

Natalie rubbed her eyes, thankful she hadn’t put her makeup on yet. She wanted this night to be over. She wanted Anthony out of her hair, and Christian in it. In that order. “But you said you can’t kill him, because of Raphael.”

“I can’t kill him tonight, but I can sure as hell make sure he understands what’s mine. And what will never be his.”

Natalie gave him an exasperated look. What was with the
mine
bullshit? She didn’t belong to anyone. Although, in her deepest, non-feminist heart, she had to admit it gave her a little thrill to hear him say it.

“I need to get dressed,” she repeated abruptly. It was the one thing that made absolute sense right now. Clothes. “Make yourselves at home. I know you don’t like my coffee, but there’s vodka in the freezer, and scotch in the cupboard next to the sink. Glasses are in the same—”