She frowned, and he realized she was of the modern world and human. “Last night,” he corrected. “She is with Andre and he will keep her safe.”
Trixie drew in her breath and shook her head, dropping her hand to look around for her pack. “I have to go, to get to her. She doesn’t know the danger she’s in and neither does this Andre.”
“Tell me.”
“I came up the mountain with a group of crazy men. Fanatics. I left them in the middle of the night. They’re with a man from the local village, a man by the name of Denny Jashari. I overheard him describe Teagan and a man she’s traveling with. He persuaded the men I was with to hunt and kill her. They have all kinds of strange weapons with them, and I knew they planned on killing me after I led them up to this monastery and to my granddaughter. Fortunately, they didn’t realize Teagan is related to me.”
“They know,” Fane said. “There is a society of humans who hunt those they consider vampires indiscriminately. They have killed several of my people over the years, but I doubt if they have ever come across and successfully killed a vampire. Evil feels and smells different. They wouldn’t recognize that stench because . . .”
“They smell and feel the same way,” she finished for him. She looked down at her hands. “I’m sorry I tried to kill you. I should have known you weren’t like them.” Her gaze jumped back to his face. “But you were in the ground.” She was very confused. His song confused her. That and the fact that he rose out of the ground and was looking so fine when he should have been a really ugly, scary corpse, and that he seemed to make sense when really, he didn’t.
“How did you get through the safeguards?” he asked.
She tried to pull her gaze from his, but his eyes held hers captive. His voice was gentle, but instinctively she knew there was nothing gentle about the question. It was a demand. He wanted to know. He was just a little bit scary, and that kind of set her temper on edge. She was too old to be scared by a man.
Now that she had a good chance to really look at his face—without the distraction of his naked body—he looked hard-edged and beautiful, but very bossy. She didn’t do bossy. She was the boss. Just to be on the safe side she took a better grip on her stake gun.
“Would you mind giving me back my holy water and the two stakes I fired at you?” She was proud that she managed to sound matter-of-fact and maybe a little snippy as well. After all, he had her things. She’d bought and paid for them.
“You want them back?”
She scowled at him and narrowed her eyes to show him she wasn’t a woman to be trifled with. “I feel very strongly about this. They’re mine.”
He looked at the vial of holy water and then reached up to his arm and casually removed the dart. Blood dripped down his shoulder. She bit her lip. She hadn’t thought the little stakes were still in him and that they’d actually hurt him. She felt bad about that. He seemed too invincible for her tiny little stake gun to do much damage. Secretly, she was just a teensy bit elated. Her money wasn’t a complete waste.
Fane’s gaze never left hers as he removed the second dart and more blood appeared, dotting his immaculate shirt. That didn’t look good.
“I’ve got a first aid kit,” she volunteered, although she wasn’t certain she wanted to touch his muscles again. Just touching his chest made her go weak at the knees, and for a dried-up old prune, she had responded in areas of her body she had given up all hope on too many years earlier. “I could let you use it.”
His steady, focused, unblinking stare made her nervous. It was the way he looked at her, as if he might devour her.
“You’re actually bleeding a lot,” she pointed out. “We aren’t anywhere close to a hospital and if you don’t stop the bleeding . . .” She trailed off.
“You will supply the blood necessary. You are my lifemate. And put that silly weapon down. You are liable to shoot me again by accident.”
She tried her sternest look, the one that made her girls quake and run to their rooms. It always worked. “It wouldn’t be an accident. Don’t try bossing me around. I am not intimidated by you.”
A slow smile curved his mouth and softened his features. Did he have to be so beautiful? She had never been able to stand seeing anyone hurt. And she’d been the one to do it. Still. He came out of the ground. Naked. And he floated. And put clothes on without actually getting dressed.
Her fingers closed harder around the gun. It wasn’t loaded and she needed to try to get to the other stakes. When she put up her one-star review she was going to mention how the gun really needed to carry a full six rounds. You obviously couldn’t bring down a real vampire with one or two mini-stakes. You needed a big gun.
“I am reading your mind,” he announced softly.
“I don’t believe you. No one can do that.”
“A bigger gun? Are you thinking of staking me again?”
The amusement in his voice annoyed her. “You need to take me seriously,” she snapped. “I’ve got the gun, not you. And I’m not afraid to use it.”
“You closed your eyes when you shot it. Your hand jerked and that sent you off target twice,” he pointed out. “And then you forgot to take the stopper off the vial of holy water.”
She glared at him. “It isn’t very nice to sound arrogant and amused when you’re pointing out a couple of minor mistakes. I’m certain I’ll improve with practice.”
“Lifemate. You have enough attitude for ten women.”
“Exactly.” She was more than pleased he saw that. That should send him screaming for the hills and respecting her vampire-hunting kit, even though it was kind of lame and needed a few improvements, which she intended to see to.
He was standing close one moment and the next he was there. Right there. In her space. The gun was in his hand and he tossed it away. She hadn’t even seen him move. She’d blinked and there he was. All gorgeous, a hot, hunky mass of muscle in her space. Touching her. She raised both hands to ward him off. Her palms landed on his chest and she closed her eyes, feeling the muscle definition there.