mind.” He walked a few steps away, as though considering his options, then turned back. “But you could be right about the reaction to any form of influence right now.” He studied his shoes a moment longer. “What do you intend, if I say no?”
“I’m not sure. I guess I’ll find a way to go alone.”
“They will kill you.”
“I don’t kill easy.”
He laughed harshly. It wasn’t at all pretty this time. “Have you ever been inside a vampire nest?”
“No.”
“I didn’t think so. Few outsiders survive the experience. The location is a closely guarded secret.”
“I know that, but I’ll find a way.” She wasn’t half as confident as she sounded.
“I think not. Unless I agree to help you.” He slowly shook his head, as if arguing with himself. “You are correct that I very much want to find Marcus. Since you could possibly speed that process, I will take you to the nest. As long as you do exactly as I say.” Spinning on his heels, he headed toward the door. “I am overdue for the last set. If you wish, we can continue the discussion when I finish.”
“That'll be fine.” Ari was dancing mental jigs and ready to agree to almost anything. Until she remembered that unexplainable moment of their magics intertwining when she first arrived tonight. A very dangerous moment. She didn’t intend to spend the rest of the night fighting off his allure. “Uh, wait. When I got here, you knew when I entered the club, right?”
About to punch the security code into the door pad, he gave her a blank face.
“And you turned up the magic?” she persisted.
A corner of his mouth twitched.
“If I stay, you have to promise you’ll tamp it down. Agreed?”
The smile reached his eyes. “Did you not tell me your magic was strong enough to resist vampire…persuasion?”
“Agreed?” Ari repeated. She wasn’t sure her magic would even try to resist if he really turned up the wattage.
“That would seem to give you an unfair advantage. But in the interests of our, ah, partnership, you have my word, on one condition. You too are bound by the same restriction.”
“Me? I don’t understand.”
A frown touched his forehead, then smoothed away. “That is a problem, but nothing to worry about tonight. You still have my promise. For tonight only, madam witch.”
She smiled at him. “I have a name. Have you forgotten it?”
“Arianna.” He let his magic run over her as he reached out and touched a curl below her ear. “Nice hair.”
Ari’s pulse leaped as a shiver from his light touch raced through her. When his eyes dropped to her outfit, she felt her face grow warm.
“In fact, you look delightful. But it was not necessary. All you had to do was ask.” With that cryptic remark, his smile flashed, and he opened the door.
Victor seated her at a table in the back as Andreas slipped behind the stage. Victor’s stiff body language said he wasn’t pleased to see her. Although Ari acknowledged she had a talent for annoying Andreas, she hardly knew Victor. Maybe he was the sensitive type. Didn’t like being accused of murder. When the music started and her new partner began to sing, Ari forgot about the club’s assistant host.
Andreas had a breathtaking voice. Masculine, powerful, and, at times, unexpectedly tender. Even though Andreas kept his promise and didn’t try to breach her defenses, the performance held a richness of sensory experiences, his repertoire a mixture of English and Italian songs.
Ari sipped at a glass of white wine and watched the audience respond to his talent as much as his magic. She developed a quick preference for the songs in his native language, where unimpeded by words her imagination followed the meanderings of his voice. Images of warm, sunny skies, rolling hills, fig trees, and tangled vineyards stretching as far as the eye could see floated through her head. She sighed with regret when the last of the music faded. As the lights came up, she blinked, a sleeper snatched from a fascinating dream.
“You appear far away, young witch.” Andreas stood next to the table, looking down with those laughing eyes.
Ari gave herself a vigorous, mental shake. “Sudden light change,” she muttered. If they were going to be partners, she couldn’t continue to be so transparent. He didn’t need to know how much the music affected her.
“Come,” he said, holding out his hand. “Let us leave here and find a place more appropriate for planning strategy.”
Ari rose but didn’t take his hand. Touching