Present Tense (Out of the Fire #3) - Candace Blevins Page 0,73

she’d begun to understand the flaw in that thinking. Fabio offered for two reasons — the first was because it scared him a little, and because he felt he needed to face anything that scared him. Face it head-on. It wasn’t a death wish, he wouldn’t step in front of a speeding semi-truck, for instance, but things like this, where there was a reasonable belief he’d be fine, meant he needed to do it because he was scared.

But there was more. He’d died and been brought back when he was tortured. Several times. He’d expected to die for good in that hellhole, and the things he regretted most, when he thought his life was over, were the things he’d backed away from, not the things he’d done. So now, he didn’t back away from much. The next time he was at death’s door, he didn’t want to have those regrets.

She’d seen some of the fights he’d been in, and granted, she’d seen them from inside his head, and thus from his point of view, but still — there was no doubt the three of them tied for bad-ass, but in completely different ways. She imagined that when they worked together, they were a formidable team.

“Okay. You first. Etta tells me I can give stronger orgasms if I wait to take it when you’re coming. I won’t be able to do that the first time, because she wants me to practice, but we’ll see how it goes the second time.”

“Who trained you before?” Eunice asked. “Did you have the second most powerful vampire in Australia personally training you?”

She started to argue that Etta wasn’t that powerful, but then realized that once Marco officially took over this territory, it wasn’t far off. And considering the territory he currently held — New York State and several New England states, he held power over more people than anyone in Australia.

“No. I was trained by a number of people, but none of them even close to Etta’s power.”

“She was pretty high up in Europe’s hierarchy, before she came here,” Eunice pointed out. “She’s a powerhouse. Most vampires are terrified of her. Shapeshifters don’t know about her, so we don’t know any better.”

“And you think it’s odd she’s spending so much time with me.” It was a statement. No need in asking, because he did, and now that he’d pointed it out, she agreed with him.

“Rumor has it she feeds off more than blood,” Eunice said.

Kelsey knew this was true, but she couldn’t confirm it. Etta had forbidden her.

“Which, if the rumor is true, would give her more insight to training me, I suppose.”

“It’s also possible they know how powerful you may one day become,” James pointed out. “New vampires who exhibit this kind of power are either brought on board early, or killed before they’re too powerful to take out.”

“Do you think your old Master knew how powerful you could one day be?” Fabio asked.

“Ya’ll have talked about this,” Kelsey noted.

“Of course,” Fabio said. “You’re one of us now. We’re security specialists. If any of us sees a potential security issue, we talk about it.”

“And you think... what? She might kill me?”

Eunice had been leaned against the wall, and he stepped away from it. “The question is, do you?”

“If I fuck up, maybe.” She shook her head. “I’m a long way from being so powerful they can’t put me in my place. I’ve seen the packet that went to Marco. I know my old master told him I have the possible capability of one day being a powerhouse, and that with my intelligence and control, they need to keep a close eye on me. He was against me coming here — not against coming to Chattanooga, but to this house. He felt I needed the supervision of the coterie, but he acknowledged this would be my new Master’s decision.”

“How did you see the packet?” James asked, but she could tell by his expression he already knew the answer.

“I respect other people’s privacy, but this was about me. I had no moral dilemma about taking a peek into the mind of a vampire I knew had seen it. If I hadn’t been able to do so, I’d have hacked a computer to get the information.” She eyed Eunice a moment, weighing one decision over another. “It’s also occurred to me they’ve put you I charge of my training so I’m not pissed off at the vampires for putting me in my place while I’m being brought