“You…” his face flushes with his outrage and he sputters in his haste to spew his indignation out at me. “You have no…who do you think you are? I treat her fine. She is here in your resort with me, is she not? I protect her.”
“If that’s the case, how is it that someone’s been inside her mind playing marbles and wasn’t very neat about it?” I’m calm and cool in my response, but I need to diffuse his anger and get Sheba alone somehow.
Theresa, his buxom, brunette mate, wisely chooses that moment to step in. Also dripping wet from the pool, she places her hand on Sal’s arm to calm him before addressing me. “What are you saying, Vivian? Do you think that’s why Sheba feels off? I thought maybe she was getting a cold or something.”
Theresa’s concern for Sheba sounds sincere. Her brow creases with worry and she steps from Sal’s side to place a hand on the young woman’s shoulder.
“Look at me, dear. Is what Vivian saying true? Are you missing some points in time from yesterday?”
Sheba looks uncomfortable under our scrutiny. She pulls back into herself. Her arms come up to wrap around her body and a shudder passes through her. “I’m not sure… can either of you tell?” Sheba turns to Salvador, hoping he’ll come to her rescue.
Ah, and now the moment I’ve been waiting for. Damn, Sal is not going to be happy with me in the next few seconds. Hopefully, he’ll shake it off and we can talk it out later, like two civilized bloodsuckers.
I rise from my seat and draw up to my full height. I now allow my aura to come to the surface and I push gently against Salvador’s. His face shows his shock while I keep my own expression perfectly neutral. There’s no need to rub this in anymore than necessary.
The tension in the air fairly crackles from the power we’re exuding and the unknown of what the next moment holds. I adapt the formal speech associated with an act of importance, hoping it will dissolve the barrier between us and allow him to think clearly.
Extending my hand to Sheba, I bow slightly to Sal then turn to face the young woman. “I request your presence in a formal audience, and I implore you to honor my desire. You have ingested my blood and I lay claim to that which runs through your veins.”
Sheba’s jaw drops open as a gasp emits from both Sal and his mate. Sal and I lock gazes and I can see some of his anger drain away, replaced by a look of loss.
His quiet voice holds a note of hope. “You have not fed from her yet then?”
“No, and I will not. I do not feed from our guests. You should know that in the fifty-odd years you’ve been coming to my properties.”
He smiles weakly at me. “I’m finding there are lots of things I was unaware of in those fifty years. You hide very well.”
I pull my aura back in and present them with the picture they all know so well: the lush, redheaded vampire who feels only about a hundred or so years old.
“Hiding my power was never done to deceive you—only to help you relax.”
No more words need to be spoken. I take Sheba’s hand to lead her from the pool. As I’m leaving, I can’t help but deliver one last thought, hoping I can make this four-hundred-year-old vampire master look at his people in a different light.
“If you care about them, you should mark them as your own. They are not pets but human lives entrusted to you in the very dangerous world you brought them into. You risk losing that which you do not honor accordingly.”
His head flashes up and heat fills his black eyes.
Ah, there I go again, making friends everywhere I go. The way I feel right now, I couldn’t give a rat’s ass if we lose a steady customer. Hell, it’s not like we need the money. His arrogance caused this woman some considerable pain. Now it’s up to me to fix it.
Can I repair the damage or is she better off the way she is?
Chapter Sixteen
It’s a delicate balance sorting through someone’s ravaged mind. Although all vampires are able to perform mind control and erase memories, not all are gifted in how to use the power with subtlety. What can be damaged can almost always be fixed, but