The Vampire's Temptation Page 4
He told himself the shiver that ran through him had everything to do with what she was and nothing to do with the anticipation of seeing Alessandra Fiore again that evening.
After seven hundred years, he should have been better at lying to himself.
She tried to pick up her book, but Alessandra’s hands were trembling. Ever so slightly. She’d been asked out on many a date, certainly. But never quite like that.
In many ways, Kenton was everything she despised in a man. She’d always said there was a fine line between cockiness and confidence, and Kenton, high-handed and autocratic, skirted that line just a bit too much.
And yet, there was something about him. An invisible, undeniable pull that had been apparent the night before and was even more so now. She knew nothing about him aside from the fact that he was English and had once lived in London. Still, she got the sense that he was well-read, and his speech definitely lent him an air of . . . sophistication . . . beyond his years.
He needs me.
Alessandra pushed aside the absurd thought the moment it popped into her head. He was clearly very rich, likely powerful, and most certainly he did not need her.
Oh yeah, and he was hot. Like the hottest guy in the history of mankind. How could she have missed his eye color the night before? Granted, it had been dark. But they were as ice blue as Lawrence’s were green.
Yeah, super hot.
And sexy.
And mysterious.
Someone is watching me.
The thought was so powerful Alessandra turned in her seat and glanced around the room. Ah. He wasn’t looking at her now, but sure enough, Lawrence sat alone at a high top table on the other side of the coffee shop. Gathering her things, she noticed Kenton’s abandoned cup. Picking it up, noticing the scent that identified it as another chai latte, Alessandra walked it to the trash before making her way to Lawrence’s table.
“So we meet again?”
He looked up from the paper he’d been reading.
“Good morning, Alessandra.”
Though it was very likely a coincidence—there weren’t an abundant number of coffee shops to choose from in town—she couldn’t let it go.
“We’ve met like this two days in a row. No, three.” He’d been at the bar too. Stone Haven was small, but it wasn’t that small.
He didn’t answer. Instead, the newcomer watched her, no, inspected her. She would not squirm under his scrutiny, but it struck her that the man in front of her was a far cry from the affable jogger she’d met the day before. Or the easygoing stranger who’d joined them at the concert.
What the hell was going on here?
“So serious,” she commented, refusing to be nervous. At times, her imagination ran wild, a product, her mother said, of all the fantasy stories she read.
“Will you join me?”
“Sure,” she said, sitting. “I’d planned to camp out here for the morning and read—”
“Until Kenton showed up?”
OK, that had gotten weird quick. Was he . . . jealous?
“Uh, well—”
He pointed down to his paper. A sticky note with The Witch’s Brew logo on top stared back at her.
We must talk. Privately.
What the hell?
He nodded toward the bathroom. She shook her head, annoyed by the whole cloak-and-dagger approach. If he had something to tell her, he should just speak already.
Lawrence nodded.
“I—”
“Forget I mentioned Kenton,” he said, interrupting her. “Enjoy your book.”
Now she was thoroughly confused. He was nodding once again toward the back of the store, where the bathroom was located, an action completely at odds with his words.
“I’m going to grab another coffee. Excuse me.”
As he took a step away from her, his eyes pleaded with her to join him.
Before she could question him further, he headed toward the back of the coffee shop. Was he nuts? She should probably run in the opposite direction. She certainly should not abandon her things to follow a virtual stranger into the bathroom of her favorite coffee shop. But of their own accord, her feet moved toward him.
She was nothing if not curious. Besides, if he wanted to murder her, wouldn’t he have done it on the running path and not inside a crowded shop?
“Lawrence, what the—”
When she reached the door, he pulled her inside with such force, she immediately knew she’d made the wrong decision.
“Shhh, I will not hurt you,” he whispered, putting his hand over her mouth. “But Kenton will. Please just listen to me.”
She had to be on Candid Camera. Or some other prank show. Things like this just did not happen in Stone Haven.
“Will you listen?”
She nodded—what choice did she have?—and he took his hand from her mouth.
“Why are you whispering?” she asked, amazed that this was the question she found herself asking.
“We don’t have much time, and you must whisper too.”
It struck her that the strangest part of this bizarre situation was her complete lack of terror. Here she was, trapped in the bathroom with a man who had biceps bigger than a tree trunk, who was spouting nonsense and acting like they were a part of some covert operation . . . and she wasn’t one bit scared.
“I cannot explain everything. If I did”—he frowned—“you would think me crazy.”
“Too late for that,” she muttered.
“Please listen to me. You need to be alert on your date tonight. He—”
“How did you know—”
“I realize we just met. But you trust me enough to be in here with me right now. Why?”
She opened her mouth and then closed it again. She was truly at a loss to answer him—or herself. It didn’t make sense.
“I will tell you why. It’s because you sense I’m not a danger to you. You have special abilities, Alessandra, and they’re only now beginning to unfold. Haven’t you noticed you’re changing? Consider how long you ran yesterday without getting winded—or the way you knew Kenton and I were here in this shop before you spotted either of us.”
His words sent a chill down her back, but a second later, her logical mind dismissed them. He was crazy, all right, nuttier than a can of Planters. To think she’d tried to set him up with Toni.
“If we don’t resume our conversation out there as if everything is normal, Kenton will know I spoke to you. Please, I beg of you—believe me when I say he is a very real threat to you.”
Her pulse, already racing, beat even faster.
“You pull me—”
“Shhhh!”
Lord help her.
“You pull me in here,” she whispered, “after clearly stalking me for two days in a row, whisper weird threats in a women’s bathroom, and then tell me that Kenton is dangerous?”
She reached for the door.
“I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing, buddy, or how you know Kenton. But I think you should stay away from me and my friends.”
His hand covered hers, preventing it from turning the knob.
“I realize this seems highly unusual—”
“If you’d like me to call the police—”
“And I will stay away from you. And your friends. But please heed my warning and stay as far away from Kenton Morley as you can.”
She opened the door, feeling an overpowering need to get away from him. Though he hadn’t seemed harmful, her gut was clearly wrong on this one. Thankfully, he let her leave.
But she barely had one foot out the door before his next words cemented her to the floor.
“He means to kill you.”
Chapter 5
That had gotten her attention.
“Excuse me?”
He nodded for her to come back inside. And like a lamb to the slaughter, she did. Thankfully, there was no one in the hallway to witness this weird spectacle or to comment on what they might be doing in the
restroom.
“As I said, there is not time to fully explain. But—”
“You tell me a gorgeous—”
“And dangerous.”
“Fine. A gorgeous and dangerous man”—she would play along—“shows up in Stone Haven on the same day as you. Said gentleman—”
“I’d hardly call Kenton Morley a gentleman—”
“Asks me on a date and you tell me to be cautious because, let me get this straight, he wants to kill me. But we can’t discuss the particulars because there is no time. Got it.”
“Are you finished?”
If it weren’t for the strange circumstances, Alessandra might have smiled. Lawrence had sounded very much like her brother just then.
“Quite.”
“I did not want to involve you, but it seems Kenton will not be put off. If we tarry much longer, he will know I spoke to you. If he doesn’t already.”
“This is absurd.”
“Very much so. But it also happens to be true. I will find a way to get you alone for longer so I can explain everything, but in the interim, I need you to be cautious around Kenton.”
“As if I would go on a date with a man who’s trying to kill me. Not that I believe you, but just in case you’re not fully crazy—”
“You must go.”
She really should call the cops.
“If you don’t go out with him, he will know I spoke to you. And your mother and brother are in danger from him too.”
Alessandra’s blood ran cold at his words. Not that she’d thought this was some kind of a joke, but he knew about her family. This guy was not just a stalker . . .
“You can’t go to the police either. Trust me. He won’t hesitate to kill you and your family. I have to go, but you must trust me to protect you.”
“Protect me?” Who the hell was this guy?
Alessandra sank into a crouch on the floor, no longer able to stand. But not willing to sit on the floor of a public restroom either.
Lawrence knelt down beside her. “I promise to explain everything, but please, do not let him know we spoke.” He paused, then added, “Trust yourself. Your gut. Logic does not always win the day.”
With that, he opened the door and left.
Alessandra stayed where she was, crouched on the cold tile floor of the bathroom of The Witch’s Brew, until a knock at the door made her jump.
“One minute.”
She stood, flushed the toilet, and went to the sink. Turning on the water, Alessandra stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes looked wild, and no wonder.
Holy shit. What was that?
The weird thing was that her gut wasn’t screaming at her to run to the cops. Lawrence was kind of right—she had an instinct to trust him . . . which made zero sense since the guy was clearly out of his ever-loving mind.
Turning off the water, she made her way back toward the table where Lawrence sat as casually as if he hadn’t just informed her that she and her family were being targeted by a maniacal killer who’d asked her to dinner.
Fantastic.
“There you are. I worried you’d fallen in.”
She blinked. Was he serious?
“I didn’t want to skip out on you without saying goodbye, but I need to head out.”
She blinked again, standing there like a walking mound of Jell-O.
“Head out?” she managed to ask.
“Job interview.”
She simply stared. “Job interview?”
“Yep.” He stood. “As a bartender at Amendment 18. Do you know the place?”
He was serious. He’d just gone loony on her, and now he was talking about job interviews and bars, and . . .
“I do,” she heard herself say.
Grabbing his paper, Lawrence smiled and then nodded toward the door. What was he trying to tell her now?
“Well, then. See you later, Alessandra.”
He nodded in parting, and left.
It struck her what that little nod had meant—Lawrence wanted her to follow him. Why she actually listened, she wasn’t sure—blame her godforsaken gut again—but she found herself drifting toward the front window, choosing a spot where she could not be seen from outside. She watched as Lawrence walked out the door and up Main Street toward the speakeasy bar where he apparently had an interview.
She was about to walk back to the table when she saw the slightest movement from the corner of her eye. Then—holy shit!—it resolved into Kenton. He was half a block away, leaning against the stone front of a building the same color as his coat. She watched as he pushed back from the building and began to follow Lawrence up the street.
Shaking, though for a very different reason than from her first encounter with Kenton that morning, Alessandra grabbed her things and tore out of the place as fast as possible. A few minutes later, she slammed open the door of Ye Old Curiosities and nearly knocked over a display of figurines on her way in.
Thank God, no customers were in sight.
“Alessandra. What are you doing here so . . .” Her friend’s forehead scrunched up. “What’s wrong? What is it?”
Tossing her bag behind the counter, Alessandra sat on the empty stool next to her friend.
“You are not going to believe this.”
And she told Toni everything. From Kenton’s visit, to Lawrence’s warning, to her own strange impulses. Toni was the smartest woman she knew, and she always seemed to have a solution to every problem. Surely she would tell her what to do. Surely.
“Well?”
Toni visibly swallowed. “Hell if I know.”
Oh shit. She was screwed.
Alessandra jumped to her feet and started pacing the small area behind the desk. “Clearly, the guy is bonkers, right? But then why is Kenton following him? Could he possibly have been telling the truth?”
“I have no idea what to think. What did he mean when he told you to trust your gut and all of that? And what he said about you not getting winded yesterday?”
She shrugged. “I mean, yeah, I felt great on my run, and I do have this weird feeling that I should trust Lawrence, but maybe that’s just because he’s been messing with my head. The important thing here is that my family might be in danger. I’ve got to go to the police, don’t I?”
It really was the only option, though they’d likely think she was a fruitcake too.
“What if he’s telling the truth?” her friend asked, eyes wide.
She froze.
“Are you suggesting—”
“I’m just saying . . . maybe he’s right—maybe you should trust your gut.” Toni shrugged. “What if he really is trying to protect you? Is it at least worth considering?”
“That the guy who asked me out wants to kill me and my whole family? And that it’s imperative for me to keep quiet about Lawrence’s warning?” The whole thing sounded even more ludicrous when she said it out loud.
“Yes,” Toni said without flinching. “All of it.”
If anyone but Toni had made that suggestion, she’d have already dismissed it. But her friend had always been logical to a fault.
“Um, no. It’s not. Mainly because I’m not equipped to protect myself against someone like Kenton Morley. Or Lawrence Derrickson. And I’m sorry, by the way, for trying to entice you away from Tyler with a crazy stalker.”
Toni smiled. “No apologies necessary. But speaking of Tyler, he is equipped to protect you.”
“I don’t follow.”
“Why don’t we make it a double date tonight?”
“Oh no, no way. I am not going out with a guy who is apparently trying to kill me.”
Toni sighed. “Is Kenton trying to kill you, or is Lawrence crazy? Both can’t be true, you know.”
“Oh, yes they can! Maybe they’re really friends and they’re both—”
“OK, you’ve lost me now with your conspiracy theories.”
Alessandra crossed her arms.
“Look,” Toni said, “you may not love Tyler, but you
know he can hold his own.”
Toni’s boyfriend fancied himself a boxer and had even won a few regional matches. He was a tough son of a bitch, that much was true. But her skin crawled at the prospect of going on a date with Kenton after what Lawrence had said . . .
“You have three options. Go to the police, despite Lawrence’s warning. Cancel your date and make Kenton suspicious. Or let us come with you guys. Up to you.”
The mere fact that Toni would even consider putting herself in danger to protect her . . .
“Thank you. But I can’t let you do that. If he truly is dangerous—”
“If he’s dangerous, we’ll find out soon enough. Put 911 in your favorites. Bring pepper spray. But think about it. We can go somewhere public, maybe Roberto’s? What can happen in three blocks?”
The Italian restaurant was within walking distance of their house.
“This is nuts . . .”
“Agreed.”
“And I really should just go to the police station right now.”
“Then go.”
Trust yourself. Your gut. Logic does not always win the day.
Rationally, she knew what she should do. But something . . . some pull, the same one that had informed her of Kenton’s and Lawrence’s presence in the coffee shop told her not to involve the authorities. Kenton was dangerous, and smart. She needed to be smarter.
It felt as if some outside force, more knowledgeable in dealing with such intrigue than she could ever be, had taken possession of her brain. Her body.
“OK.” She took a deep breath. “Let’s do it.”
Chapter 6
Lawrence had gotten to her.
Had Alessandra honestly believed she could pull off such a spectacular lie?
Still, Kenton had to admit she’d done well. Even though she’d insisted on making it a double date, bringing along her red-haired friend and the woman’s stupefyingly dull companion, he hadn’t suspected anything until the dinner had nearly run its course. Kenton chastised himself for not having realized it sooner. But then, even untrained and uninitiated, Alessandra was a descendant of a long line of ancestors whose life purpose was to balance the curse that had made Kenton and the others.