The City Beneath (15 page)

I swallowed. “What does any of this have to do with me? Besides the fact that Kaden and his rebels are hunting me for the taste of my blood, why do you care if they drain me or not? Why do you want me to be your night blood?”

“I need your help, Cassidy DiRocco. I must subdue Kaden and his followers before they massacre the city and expose the existence of vampires to the world. If Kaden blows our cover, Day Reapers will come to New York, and our ways of life for vampires and humans alike will never be the same again. Are you willing to assist me? Will you help me protect our city?”

Dominic asked me to help him kill vampires, protect his coven, and save New York City in the same tone that a less ambitious man might ask a woman to coffee.

“You want my help to
what?
”

“Help me subdue Kaden and his followers, Cassidy, and kill them if necessary. They're a threat to your society, the survival of my entire coven, and a threat to you personally, as well. If I'm not mistaken, you value your human life.” Dominic leaned back slightly, giving me a little more physical space, but the calculation in his gaze pinned me motionless against the chair. “You're the weapon they won't expect.”

“
You
want
my
help to
kill vampires
,” I repeated. My brain felt like a skipping record. I could hear the words leaving his mouth, but my brain refused to progress to the next track. “I'm not . . . I can't . . .”

Dominic's gaze grew more intense as he stared. Puzzle pieces were snapping into place in his mind, and if the slow smile breaking across his face was any indication, he liked their fit very much.

I took a deep breath and started again. “I'm hopelessly ill-matched against any one of you, let alone all of you. How could you accomplish anything with me that you couldn't accomplish on your own? You took care of Kaden just fine without my help in the alley last night.”

“Yes, I did take care of him last night, and that's exactly my point, Cassidy DiRocco,” Dominic purred. “I wasn't alone in the alley last night. I was with you.”

My name coming from his voice pulled something taut inside my mind, like someone wrapping rope around his palm in preparation for tug-of-war. I looked away, trying to dispel the feeling, but it persisted.

“I didn't help you last night,” I insisted, but it was difficult to impress a point without meeting someone's eyes.

“On the contrary. Kaden is usually much stronger, but he was slow and distracted after drinking from you. They all were. You're the key to overcoming this rebellion and stopping their escalating violence before the entire city crumbles under their bloodlust.”

“You don't care about this city,” I scoffed. “You just don't want to be overthrown on the Leveling, and you'll use every trick in your arsenal, even little old me, to make that happen. If Kaden's powerful enough to regenerate an aorta within minutes of having it torn out, how powerful will he be at the end of the month when you lose your powers entirely? You'll be toast.”

“You certainly have been talking around,” he growled.

I shrugged. “Like I said, I'm a reporter. That's what I do.”

Dominic was silent for a long moment. He smoothed his thumb over the grains of my desk as he mulled his next words. “You're right about my motivations. I fear a revolution in my coven. Despite my motivations, however, stopping Kaden before he furthers his hunt benefits you, as well. You'll be protecting his future victims from being slaughtered, you'll be guaranteeing your own future safety, and you'll be preventing the Day Reapers from visiting New York. Our motivations may be different, but we have the same ultimate goal. We must combine our strengths if either of us hopes to see Kaden stopped.”

I shook my head slowly, unconvinced.

“You said yourself that you're hopelessly ill-matched against any of us, let alone all of us. Let me even the score. Instead of being alone and vulnerable when you next encounter Kaden, you'll be at a planned location, prepared for his attack, and you'll have me protecting you.” Dominic leaned back in his chair, sure of himself and his argument. “Give me one reason we shouldn't combine our efforts against him.”

“I don't trust you.”

Dominic nodded. “You shouldn't, but that isn't the point. I don't trust you, either, but you need me, as I need you.”

“You don't trust me?” I gaped. “Your entire plan revolves around using me as bait,” I said, jabbing a thumb at my chest. “Whether I die fighting them alone or die fighting them with you, I still end up dead.”

“You're merely a distraction. Once I overtake them, I'll heal any injuries you may have sustained. Your chances of survival are higher with me.”

“I'm bait,” I said flatly. “Even if I agreed to this, which I haven't, you're expecting a very large leap of faith on my part, and I'm not normally one to jump. After you've taken exactly what you want—Kaden is subdued, the threat to your coven is defeated, and you're once again secure as Master of your vampires—why would you bother to heal a useless little human like me?”

“You are not human,” Dominic hissed succinctly. He was suddenly out of his chair and directly in front of mine, wedged between the desk and my legs. He leaned down and pressed his cheek smoothly against my cheek. “You're a night blood. I will have use of you long after Kaden and his followers are killed, I promise.”

“That sounds more like a threat than reassurance,” I whispered. My voice shook.

Dominic boxed me in with an elbow against each armrest. His hands grasped the back of my chair on either side of my shoulders. He pulled the chair close—the smell of warmed pine wafted down from his hovering body—and buried his face in my neck. I froze. His lips grazed over the skin behind my ear, and the hard point of his teeth scraped casually along my hairline. The core of my chest began to shake the harder I tried to remain still. I took in his scent in a slow, shallow breath, trying to let thoughts of Christmas and family and love temper the panic trembling over me.

“You fear death,” he said. “You fear being maimed, but I can save you from that, Cassidy DiRocco. Trust in me, and I will give you eternity.”

“First you warn me against trusting you. Now you're coaxing me to trust you. You don't know what you really want from me, but it doesn't matter because whatever it is, I don't want it,” I snapped, but if he could smell my fear beneath the bravado, really, what was the point of pretending? I sighed. “I don't want eternity. I don't want anything you have to give me.”

Dominic laughed suddenly. “I know exactly what I want from you. It's you, I believe, who is conflicted. You can't possibly think to win against Kaden alone.”

“I won't be alone.”

His body stilled. “Ah, you think that without me, you'll still have your friend, the night blood. Do you trust him, Cassidy? Do you trust him like you can't trust me?”

“He would never use me as bait for his own purposes. You saved me because you think I'm useful to you, but he saved me simply because I needed saving.”

“You think he's selfless and that makes him trustworthy?”

“I can't trust someone who would risk my life for his own gain. That's not what friends do.”

“But you've remained friends with him even after he used you for his gain. He used you to find my coven,” Dominic said coldly.

I stared him down, but with his strange blue and white eyes and carefully veiled expression, I couldn't read anything except for my own hesitation in the reflection from his irises. Their depths didn't pull at my will this time. I jerked my eyes away and focused on the wall behind his shoulder. “You don't know what you're talking about.”

“He knew you were in grave danger as you walked home from the precinct, but he allowed Kaden and the others to attack you. He anticipated it, knowing they'd recognize the taste of your blood, but he assumed they'd take you back to their Master, to me, to transform you. In normal circumstances they would have, but Walker doesn't know about the rebellion. He assumed he'd be able to track you back to the coven before you died.”

I stared at him, shocked that he'd referred to Walker by name. “How do you know Walker?”

Dominic raised an eyebrow. “Ask him yourself.”

I shook my head in denial. “You're wrong. He didn't know I was a night blood at the time.”

“He knew enough to assume,” Dominic dismissed. “You were the only one of all the witnesses I entranced who still believed the bodies had bite marks, and you were ignorant enough to let everyone know that you remembered.” He tutted again, and it sparked my temper. “Oh, I'm sure he pieced the puzzle together.”

I felt my anger wash over me in a bright red tsunami. “He had no way of knowing that vampires would attack me. And even if he had, Kaden would've killed me, not brought me to you. Walker would not risk my life just to find your coven!”

“Yes, he would, and he did. In any other circumstance, Kaden
would
have brought you to me. At any other time of year, my vampires
would
have brought you back to the coven to complete your transformation. Your night blood took a risk, but if it hadn't been for me, it wouldn't have paid off.”

“No,” I insisted. “Walker wouldn't do that.”

“Why not? Because he saved you? So have I. Maybe you should acquaint yourself with the facts before deciding whom to trust. We've both used you for our own gain, but only I can guarantee your safety.”

“Who will guarantee my safety from you?” I pushed back from him, scared that he was right about Walker but certain that I was right about him.

His fang sliced into my neck from my own movement. Its razor edge stung, but it wasn't pain from the cut that raised goose bumps down my arms; it was the hiss that rattled from his chest. The noise, this time, was all vampire. I felt blood drip down the side of my neck, and Dominic's slick tongue flicked over its path.

“Cassidy DiRocco,” he growled roughly, “look into my eyes.”

I felt the overwhelming, desperate urge to look, like my entire body ached to drown in his gaze. “No!” I screamed. “You can't—”

Dominic's mouth covered mine, muffling my screams. His lips were cold and demanding, forcing my mouth to remain open against the threat of his fangs. I struggled away from him, but he was too strong and too experienced. He wrapped an arm around the curve of my back, pulled me from the chair, and held my body immobile against the length of his with one hand. He grasped my chin roughly with the other hand, limiting my options to either shrieking ineffectively against his mouth or taking the kiss. The first was a waste of energy, and although the second was unwelcome, my mind was still my own. I would rather kiss him than look into his eyes and lose myself again, so I closed my eyes and took it.

He seemed to sense my reluctant acquiescence because the pressure of his lips lightened. I still couldn't move and I could barely breathe, but his mouth found a rhythm, an invitation that gave more than it took. A strange heat built between his cold, sleek body and mine. The heat was a pressure against my chest, urging me forward, and he must have felt its burning encouragement, too. His hands tightened roughly on my waist, and I wanted more. He might have stolen the kiss at first, but he offered more now. Unlike when he'd bitten me last night, Dominic actually invited my participation, and God help me, I responded. I kissed him back.

My lips moved against his, soft and languid at first, tentative because I'd never liked the unexpected. His left hand kept a firm hold on my chin and the other roamed over my back, moving slowly farther and farther down until his fingers slipped beneath the waistband of my pants. I felt the light brush of his touch against my hip, and instinctually, I pressed closer. He took my response as the permission it was and deepened the kiss. He angled his head to swipe his tongue against mine. I moaned into his mouth, and he pressed deeper, ruthless and untamed. I could feel my heart physically pound against my chest from need and want and heat this time instead of fear. He could probably hear it, too, and likely smelled the difference, but in this one brief, insane moment, I simply didn't care. His hands dipped into my pants to cup my ass as I shivered, feeling urgent and achy and hot and everything I hadn't felt with anyone in years. My tongue matched his movement. The kiss turned hard and feral as we collided, and I felt certain this was right because I'd always trusted my instincts.

“Ms. DiRocco, is everything all ri—Oh!”

Dominic broke the kiss. I gasped, surprised at first by the loss of the heat between us, but as my body cooled and my mind refocused, I only felt shame. I hadn't needed to meet his gaze to lose myself.

“Yes,” Dominic murmured, looking up at Deborah, who was presumably standing behind me. “Everything is just fine.”

“I can see that.” Deborah giggled, her voice uncommonly light and schoolgirl-like.

“Deborah Rogers, please close the door on your way out,” Dominic said, and the moment the words left his lips, Deborah turned on her heel, left the room, and closed the door on her way out.

I narrowed my eyes. According to Dominic, drinking my blood had weakened Kaden and his vampires, and Dominic had just tasted my blood. I had the potential to be a vampire, and what did vampires do best besides kill humans? Exert their will over others. I took a deep breath and went for broke.

“Dominic Lysander,” I said with conviction, hoping that the conversation among the coven vampires last night had revealed Dominic's true full name. I commanded his name the way he always wielded mine and ordered, “Look into my eyes.”