“What was that for?” I arched away before another jab could land.
“You scared the shit out of me, and I dropped it, and now...”
“That’s not really important right now,” I said. She glowered back at me, and I realized that Valente was wrong. She wasn’t pretty. She was stunning, even when she was mad.
Especially when she was mad.
“How can you–”
“Listen very carefully to me,” I stopped her. “That man is not what he seems to be. You need to run.”
I waited, but she didn’t move.
“Run,” I repeated, dialing up my compulsion.
She just stared at me like I was nuts.
“Why aren’t you running?”
“Why would I run?” she asked.
“Because I told you to.” My compulsion had failed. I didn’t know why. She’d stayed quiet before, but now it was like she was immune to me.
She planted a hand on her hip as if to prove my point. “So?”
“That’s usually enough.” I didn’t have time to explain compulsion to her. Or vampires. Or why she needed to leave. The longer she remained, the less likely I could clean up this mess.
“If that’s all…”
I only had one more trick I could try–a human trick. “Ok, will you please run?”
She laughed. “One more time since you appear to be hard of hearing. Why?”
“Fine.” I threw my hands up. I had tried to be gentle. I’d tried to warn her. I’d even tried to compel her. “Because that man is going to kill you and drain you of your blood.”
She hesitated, but before I could feel relieved, she hit me with another question. “Why would he do that?”
“Why the fuck would he do that?” I exploded. “Isn’t it enough that he might? A sane person would run.”
“Look, I don’t know how to tell you this,” she said slowly, “but I don’t think it’s my mental health that you should be questioning.”
“I’m not crazy,” I said through gritted teeth. I should leave her to her fate. Clearly, she couldn’t care less if she wound up as Giovanni’s evening snack. Why should I?
“That’s the spirit,” she said flatly. “Now if you’ll excuse me.”
I didn’t trust myself to touch her, but I had to stop her from returning to that room. If Giovanni saw her without me at her side, his interest would be renewed. So, I blurted out the only thing I could think to say, “Because he’s a vampire.”
“Vampire?” She said the word like it was a different language. There was a pause as she stopped to study me again. “Up until now, I thought you were just an asshole, but you are crazy sauce.”
I should have seen that coming, but I found myself trying again.
“You need to trust me.”
“Um, yeah, no.”
Charm. Compulsion. Even the truth. None of it was working. And I was getting more annoyed by the minute. So what if this tiny human wanted to endanger herself? Why was it my job to save her? I stared at her, realizing she wasn’t going to budge.
“I need to get back. They can’t start without me.” She looked over at her cracked cello. Pain flitted over her face. “On second thought, I can’t play at all with that. You can come with me and explain.”
Now we were going to fight over a bloody cello. I’d had enough. “No, you need to come with me. You can’t go back to that party.”
“Because you’re going to save me from a vampire?” she guessed, and I realized that not only was she ignoring my warning, she wasn’t a bit afraid of me. What the hell was going on? “How do I know you aren’t going to get me alone and murder me?”
“I’m starting to consider it,” I growled, feeling the tips of my fangs lengthen. “Are you always this stubborn?”
She crossed her arms, shrugging a single shoulder. “Are you always this weird?”
“I’m trying to save your life,” I reminded her. “Some people might call that chivalry.”
“Chivalry is dead,” she said without missing a beat.
Clearly, I wasn’t going to win this argument. “Well, let’s not join it in the afterlife. You’re not going to run, are you?”
She didn’t move. That only left me with one choice. I swept her off her feet, threw her over my shoulder, and carried her away before she could even blink.
CHAPTER FIVE
THEA
