Steal the Moon (19 page)

I kissed the smooth skin of his back, feeling him begin to relax under my ministrations. “Don’t blame Dev. It fooled you, too, and you have supersenses.”

“I was concentrating on other things,” he admitted quietly. “I wonder if they’re going to ruin every good minute I have, Z. Tonight was…god, tonight might have made the whole vampire thing worth it.”

“It just might have.”

“And now I have to hold a piece of myself apart when we make love because the fuckers can get me wherever I am,” he said bitterly. “I always have to listen because they could be anywhere.”

“It won’t be forever,” I said, hoping I was right.

Dev walked in, cell phone pressed to his ear. “Yes, that’s what I want. I want the entire place wired with motion detectors and whatever the hell can detect heat signatures. I don’t care what it costs, Albert. We also need to change the keycards to thumbprints and voice recognition. Get them in here tomorrow.”

Daniel shifted and leaned over, kissing me softly. “I’m sorry to drag you into this, Z. I’ve got to get some stuff together. You get dressed. It’ll be okay.”

Dev was issuing further edicts on new security protocols and I looked sadly at our bed. I wanted to be back in it where we’d been safe and secure and loved. Now we had to worry about safety and subterfuge, and my stomach was already rumbling because I skipped dinner. I was betting they didn’t have a dining room at Daniel’s club, at least not one where I wasn’t on the menu.

Chapter Eleven

In every major city where there is even a small vampire presence, one can find a vampire club. It’s usually in an out-of-the-way part of the city housed in a neat, unassuming building that does nothing to attract unwanted attention. The club provides the vampires with anything they require. It serves much the same function as an old-world gentlemen’s club. This is the place a vampire comes for a meal, companionship, or a game of cards. In addition to serving the local vampires, the club is capable of housing visitors and is the place to entertain.

I’d never been in this inner sanctum. After we began living together, Daniel stopped going. When we’d been apart, he spent a good amount of time in the club, but once Dev and I became his regular meals, he no longer required it.

I looked the place over with more than a little bit of curiosity as the limo pulled up in front of the small three-story building. It was a townhouse, and a Victorian one at that. I could see the lights from the windows, but they were dim as though lit by candles rather than modern light bulbs.

Daniel took my hand and helped me out of the limo. “Stay close to Dev. I’ll be in a meeting with Marini and the rest of the Council, so I think you’ll be fairly safe. Michael and Alexander are probably here. I know you can handle them.”

“Perhaps she can, but Michael is always looking for a way to righteously kill me,” Dev said with a jaunty smile. I could tell he was hoping for a fight. He’d been tense ever since the vampires showed up in our room. He’d dressed in a three-piece suit and had forced me into something designer. Daniel looked slick and sexy in his suit.

“Michael knows our situation,” Daniel replied, picking up the briefcase he’d loaded his laptop into. Michael House was Daniel’s friend and ally. Though he had a problem with Dev, he wouldn’t cause trouble here. “Just try to stay inconspicuous.”

I didn’t laugh, but it wasn’t easy. I might be the kind of girl who doesn’t get a second glance in a bar or a club, but when I walk into a room full of vampires, all eyes are going to be on me whether I like it or not. I’m a companion. I can’t hide the shine I have for those who walk the night. I glow for them, and they know my blood will make them strong. I would give pretty much anything to be able to be inconspicuous, but that wasn’t going to happen on this particular night.

Dev’s hand went to the small of my back as he guided me up the steps to the house. Daniel pulled out a keycard and the door opened for us. He held his hand out and Dev moved me to Daniel’s side. He took a step back and allowed us to enter before him. This is what I hated about so called “society.” I hated the little games we were forced to play whenever we left the confines of our home.

“Good evening, Daniel,” a husky female voice said. A woman in a killer dress stood in the lobby. A brilliant smile crossed her face as she rushed forward to greet my husband. “It’s been so long I wondered if you would ever visit here again.”

And bitch was not happy to see me. The tall, lithe female had murder in her eyes as she took me in. She was pretty with short, blonde hair and light-blue eyes.

“It’s nice to see you, Stacy.” Daniel nodded casually to the woman as if her eyes weren’t completely filled with desire for him and animosity for me. He was totally oblivious as he smiled at her and pulled me forward. “I got married. You know how it goes. You get married and just want to stay in. I only came tonight because Marini’s in town and ordered me to. This is my wife, Zoey Donovan. Z, this is Stacy Sears. She runs the club. She was really nice to me after I turned.”

I just bet she’d been nice to Daniel. I wondered just how many times she’d offered to be especially nice to him. As far as I could tell, she was human and the humans in a place like this were good for the dinner table or the bedroom, sometimes both. “Nice to meet you.”

“So she’s a companion.” She looked me up and down, letting me know she didn’t see anything special.

“She’s my wife,” Daniel corrected, apparently not noticing she refused to speak directly to me. I heard Dev chuckle behind me. “We’ve been together since we were kids, but we just got married about two years ago. Gosh, I guess I haven’t been in here in a really long time.”

“Yes.” Her mouth tightened with displeasure. “You just stopped coming.”

Daniel shrugged, looking past the foyer into the hallway beyond, searching for something. “I guess you could say I prefer to eat at home. Do I need to sign Zoey and our friend in?”

Stacy shook her head as though trying to shake something off. “Your companion is already on the books, but your friend will have to sign in. Your name is Quinn, right?”

“Yes, Devinshea Quinn, Prince of Faery, at your service.” He bowed at the waist but not before I saw the amusement in his eyes.

Stacy produced a leather-bound book and Daniel signed it. While he handled the formalities, I took a moment to look around the place that had been a mystery for so long. There had been a time when I would have given anything to follow Danny in here as his companion. Now I just wanted to go home.

The carpet beneath my feet was lush and ran the length of the foyer. It looked expensive and old. The room was lit with candles and gas lamps. I could have been on the set of a Victorian film. Music thudded softly from somewhere in the building. It was a sexy hip-hop beat, much like the stuff that played at Ether, and I wondered just how the Council partied. I’d attended a ball last year but that had been a formal occasion. This was a more casual affair, and there was a small part of me that was fascinated by seeing vampires in their element.

“I’ll need the conference room,” Daniel was saying to the blonde, who nodded vigorously and promised she would do anything she could to help him. “Are they in the parlor?”

“Yes, they are.” Stacy began to lead us down the hallway. She smiled back at Daniel. “You should know that I don’t believe any of those rumors about you. I know you, Danny. You aren’t like that.”

“Like what?” Daniel asked, not sounding like he really cared.

I cared. She said “Danny” in an intimate way. Danny was my husband. Danny was the boy I grew up with. Daniel was a badass vampire. Everyone called him Daniel except me. She might as well have called him “baby” or “lover.”

Stacy turned and she almost touched him. Her hands came out to reach for him before she caught herself. “I know you aren’t really living with him. You’re not the type.” She glanced back at Dev and was the first woman I’d ever met who didn’t melt at the sight of him. She glared at him like he was a bit distasteful. “Did the Council force you to take a companion? It makes sense. They need you to be strong for the important work you do. You don’t have to pretend with me. I can keep your secrets. The faery can have her. You can come back to me and no one is going to think less of you.”

Daniel looked to Dev, a confused light in his eyes.

Dev laughed outright. “Seriously, Dan, you’re screwed now. Don’t you know to handle your ex-lovers before introducing them to the wife? The preference, of course, is to never introduce them to the wife.”

“Lover?” The question came out of my mouth as a little screech.

Daniel went the slightest bit pale. “Z, baby, I swear to you. I never…”

Stacy put her hands on her almost nonexistent hips. “I was his favorite. I fed him for years. He’ll come back to me. He only keeps you because of that blood you have.”

Dev’s arms went around my waist just in time to keep me from launching myself at the woman and snatching that bleached blonde hair straight out of her head. “Don’t, sweetheart. She isn’t worth messing up that dress. It’s Versace, and you’ll ruin the line if you tumble around on the floor.”

“Z, I never slept with her.” Daniel was talking as fast as he could. “I swear I never touched her except to feed. I had to eat. That’s what this place is for, but I didn’t even feel her up or anything. There was no funny business going on.”

“He was a gentleman because he loves me,” Stacy continued. “Tell her about all the nights we sat up talking, Danny. Did you know he used to take me with him when he went on assignments?”

“You did what?” I growled at my husband and tried to bring my heel down on Dev’s toe. He was far too used to my moves as he avoided the four-and-a-half-inch stiletto with ease.

My husband had the good sense to stay a couple of feet away from me. “It was only a couple of times, baby. I had to go kill some people in really rural places. It was easier to pack a lunch than find one in the field.” He frowned at Dev. “You don’t have to look so damned amused.”

“Oh, I assure you it is entirely necessary,” Dev returned. “I’ve dreamed of this day, Dan.”

“You never take me on assignment.” I tried to push Dev’s arms down. It was no use.

Stacy had the audacity to put her hand on Daniel’s shoulder.

Daniel stepped away quickly. “I don’t take you with me because it’s dangerous, baby. I love you so much. I’d never put you in harm’s way like that. God, I do everything I can to keep you safe.”

Stacy rolled her eyes. “That’s not you talking, Danny. That’s the addiction. You fought it off once before and I’ll help you do it again. You don’t need her. She’s been nothing but trouble from what I’ve heard. She isn’t even a good companion. I was good for you. I took care of you. She gets you in trouble. And she’s far too short for you. I certainly didn’t expect her to be so pudgy.”

“Let me go, Dev,” I snarled.

“Oh, thank the heavens.” Marcus’s rich voice was filled with amusement as he leaned against the wall and watched—which apparently is something he really likes to do. “I worried after the earlier events of the evening that Zoey would be far too embarrassed to misbehave. I see I was mistaken. Don’t listen to her,
cara
. You’re stunning and she knows it. Daniel might be attracted to your shine above that body of yours, but I believe Mr. Quinn will attest to the fact that there is nothing pudgy about you.”

“Zoey knows how I feel about her body.” Dev loosened his grip.

“I’m pretty damn attached to her body,” Daniel corrected. “I think I proved that earlier tonight.”

Marcus shifted his stare to Stacy, and the affectionate look on his face vanished. “As for you, Miss Sears, if you ever treat Mrs. Donovan in that fashion again, I will see you turned out. She is your mistress yet you insult her. You’ll remember your place or I’ll be forced to show you. Make your apologies.”

Her head was down now and her eyes averted. “I’m sorry, master.”

“Not to me. To her.” Marcus gestured my way.

“Please accept my apologies, Mrs. Donovan,” she said quietly, and I realized this wasn’t the first time she had been forced to humble herself.

“Of course,” I returned, and Dev finally let me loose.

“Miss Sears, try to stay out of Mrs. Donovan’s way for the rest of the night. And you should definitely keep your distance from her husband,” Marcus ordered.

The blonde walked away, a sheen of tears in her eyes.

I turned on my husband and pointed at him. “You have a lot of explaining to do. I believe that you didn’t sleep with her, but that girl is obviously in love with you. She was hurt. You should have told me about her and don’t throw Dev in my face because I never hid him from you.”

“How can you hide him from me when he’s always on top of you?” Daniel asked, still seemingly confused by the entire episode.

“I’m not always on top,” Dev replied. “I often enjoy being on bottom. I like the view.”

Daniel had gotten good at ignoring Dev. “Z, I had no idea she thought that about us. I swear I just needed someone to talk to, and she was a good listener. Hell, most of the time I was talking about you. I never said anything to make her believe she was more than a friend.”